Ezra 4-6 Wait.....You Thought This Would Be Easy?!

In last weeks message, we looked at the victory the Nation of Judah had experienced in overcoming great odds, which included their fears of the people who had taken over the land during their 70 years of captivity and their return to The Heart of Worship. They had come to realize that true worship does not need a Temple, it can take place anywhere and starts in the heart. They also had come to realize that their only hope for victory came from hearts wholly devoted to worship of God. That Ultimately, Victory over Fear and Anxiety Come from Hearts Completely Dependent Upon God. That God would be their protector, He would be their strength, He would be their Sustenance.

To a very large degree, Ezra 3 is a chapter filled with victory!

Is there anything more glorious than being a part of God’s victory in your life, in the life of your family, in the life of your church family? For me, those victories fill me with a great deal of excitement, almost like an adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, too much of the time what appears to be an adrenaline rush ends up being more of a sugar rush.

Have you ever had a sugar rush? It’s pretty incredible....for an hour or two....then comes the crash and you are more like the walking dead than a bundle of energy.

That happens a lot, in fact to a certain degree that “crash” frequently follows our times of great victories, except for us spiritually, the crash is not the result of too much sugar, it is often the result of an attack of the enemy, a spiritual attack. The last thing our enemy wants is for us to get used to spiritual victories, so following each spiritual victory we are a part of, he attacks.

Early March 1993, we had just had a baptismal during our evening service. 27 individuals were baptized that night, publically acknowledging their faith in Jesus Christ. Of the 27, 24 were teens who had come to Christ through our youth ministry. The church was packed and a good deal of those there that night were non-Christian family members of the teens being baptized! Every Sunday night we had both youth group and the adults also had an evening service, pretty much every Sunday we had more teens for youth group than the adults had in their evening service. God’s mighty Hand was on His youth ministry there, and as the Youth Pastor, I got a front row seat to His move. Honestly, from a ministry standpoint, it was one of the most exciting things I have ever been a part of! I believe it was the following week that Pastor Jake and his wife and 2 youngest kids headed to Florida to watch one of their oldest sons at spring training for the college baseball team he was on. He was playing baseball on a scholarship to Malone College. So off they went to enjoy some spring baseball.

It was either Monday or early Tuesday that I got a call from the chairman of the Elder board, they had called a special board meeting and since I was on the elder board, I needed to be there. I really didn’t think anything of it, we had just had a meeting 2 or 3 weeks earlier. This would have been about the 13th or 14th Elder meeting I had been a part of and at each and every one they all talked about how exciting they were at watching what God was doing in the youth ministry. There was a part of me that was more excited than ever for this meeting, I mean the baptism was barely more than a week past, surely they would be more excited than ever about the youth ministry now!

I could not have been more mistaken. In fact the whole surprise meeting was called to critique the youth ministry. For the next hour or two, I dejectedly listened as the youth ministry, in my eyes, was torn apart piece by piece. Before the evening ended they let me know that if I was going to stay, my salary would be cut in half and the youth ministry budget would be cut by 90%. They needed an answer within a week on whether I would stay or not. I was devastated. At that time, Pam was midway through 5 months in the country of Chile. That is a story for another time, but I can tell you that this was not the time to share with her what was happening, she had enough on her plate. I had to talk to someone so I called my dad. I was certain he would tell me to leave. Instead he began to ask me some questions;

Jim, did God call you to Monument Bible Church?

Yeah, He really did, Dad.

Has He called you somewhere else now?

No, I really don’t think He has.

Well if God has called you there, and if He hasn’t called you anywhere else, then why does your salary matter? If He has called you there, then He has obligated Himself to take care of all your needs.

I wasn’t prepared for my Dad’s response. If I’m honest, I was looking for a way out, encouragement from him that it was OK to leave. That isn’t exactly what I received!

Now let me give you a little bit of the back story on what was taking place. Most of our elders had been there from the very beginning, in fact they started the church. What neither Jake or I knew at that time was that they had been forced out as Elders at the church they were all a part of before starting Monument Bible Church. Because of that, they decided to start this new church. What they didn’t anticipate was that the people of the church had quickly fallen in love with Jake and me, and these men were loosing their grip on the people. They called this special meeting while Jake was out of town on purpose. Their feeling was that if they could get me out of the door quickly, it would be easier to go after Jake next. A man of God, My father, kinda spoiled their plan.

Now let me share with you what was really happening. God was moving, and He was moving in a powerful way! God was blessing both Jake and my ministry there and our enemy hates it when God moves.

The enemy often attacks at the weakest point and I was the weakest point. It probably would have worked had I not called my dad.

This is something very key we all need to understand. Next Slide

Our enemy, the devil, knows our every weakness and that is where he attacks first and most.

If you think about it for a moment or two, you can probably come up with the area you are the weakest. In fact, I’d like you to write it down right there in your sermon notes.

My area(s) of Weakness is/are:

_______________________________________

That is the lesson we learn in the section of Scripture we will be looking at this morning.

Ezra laid out for us the greatest weakness the returning exiles had in Next Slide

Ezra 3:3

Ezra 3:3 ESV

3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening.

They were fearful of the people of the land. Now that fear dissipated a bit when they all gathered at the altar, but it came back strong in chapter 4.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ezra chapter 4 Next Slide

Ezra 4-Page 495 in the Pew Bibles

Next Slide

Ezra 4:1–2 ESV

1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

Now if you just skimmed over these verses you might think, “Hey, this is great! There are people already in the land that want to come alongside the returning exiles to help them rebuild the Temple!”

However, as you look a little closer, you realize that they were nothing more than: Next Slide

Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

We see this in both verses. First of all, at the start of verse 1 we read: “ 1Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel”

In writing this verse, Ezra immediately identifies them as “adversaries”. As we have mentioned several times, there is nothing in Scripture that is here accidently, there is a purpose behind every word we read. Ezra identifies them as adversaries because that is what they were, they were not their friends, they were enemies. In verse 2 we read: “for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to Him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here”.

Now this identifying factor is not quite as clear as Ezra identifying them specifically as adversaries, but it is there. In looking at verse 2, how does Scripture indicate they got into the land?

“Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here”.

A couple of things to note here. The fact that Scripture indicates they were brought there by an Assyrian King tells you they were currently living in, what was once, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the place where the 10 northern tribes lived. After the Israeli civil war split the Nation in 2 following the death of King Solomon, this Northern Kingdom had nothing to do with God, as a Kingdom they turned their back on Him and that resulted in their destruction at the hand of the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. When the Assyrian Empire would conquer a land, to the best of their ability they would take everyone captive. Then they would bring either some of their own people, or perhaps captives from other conquered lands and have them move to the newly conquered land. That is what they did in this case, so when we read in verse 2 that “Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here”, we are seeing that these were not Israelites here. Now they likely had some Israeli blood in them, because history indicates that when the Assyrians conquered the land, some of the Northern tribe were able to escape being taken away. Then, once the dust settled, they came back and over time intermarried with the people the Assyrians brought back to the land.

Something else happened right around that time, because the people there did not worship or fear God, we learn in 2 Kings 17:25 Next Slide

2 Kings 17:25 ESV

25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

Once people started dying from lion attacks, the Assyrian King starts thinking; “Oh no, we have angered the God of this land!” So he had them locate some of the former priests of the land and brought them back to teach the people the rules and regulations of the God of the land. These ungodly priests established a loose form of worship to the God of Israel, but it was a loose worship and they all continued to worship their other gods as well. While it did stop the lions attacks, they had no true devotion to God. He was one of the many gods they worshipped to cover all of their spiritual bases.

These people later on became what the New Testament calls Samaritans. They were a people that may have had a small percentage of Jewish blood, but they had no real devotion to the God of Israel.

This brings us to something very important to consider this morning, and that is: Next Slides

The Dangers of the Enemies Subtle Attacks.

In many ways this is the enemies most effective attack, not only for individual believers, but for churches and church leaders as well. Often times these individuals say, and in many instances do the right thing. But if you watch closely, and listen carefully, you begin to see things, inconsistencies in what they say, things in their life that don’t match what they say.

If my memory serves me correctly, I met Steve in the spring of 1979. I had just moved to Lockport NY, about 45 minutes from Buffalo. I met he and his father when I was looking for work. His dad ran a business and their most effective workforce was guys about my age at the time. They sold things that went into a young ladies hope chest, things like china, nice cookware, silverware…things like that. I’m not even sure girls these days even have hope chests! Steve went to a different church than the one we went to, but he and his family talked just like us. Same Christian lingo. Steve was a year or so older than me, taller, and he already had a mustache! I still can’t grow much of a mustache! On top of that, he drove a brand new Trans Am, Firebird decal on the hood and everything. His Dad drove a sweat Cadillac. I must admit, I kinda idolized them!

One night Steve invited me to go with him to a Christian concert. He picked me up and off we went. Within a short amount of time I realized that Steve was more interested in the girls than the music! In fact, it soon became clear that this was all a set up from the start. Steve had arranged to meet a girl and her friend there, sort of a double date. Within about 20 minutes Steve decided we could have more fun somewhere else, there was really nothing I could do, we were about an hour from Lockport and he was my only transportation, so off we went. We didn’t drive far before he found a place to park. Let’s just say that the next hour or two were very uncomfortable for me and the girl Steve had introduced me to. It turns out that while Steve and his family may have used all the right words, may have gone to church and all, the life they lived was pretty nasty, and had I continued my friendship with Steve, there is no telling what I might have done, he was constantly pushing me to do things that I knew were not pleasing to God.

Looking back now, I believe this was one of our enemies subtle attacks, the last thing he wanted me was to be fully surrendered to God, thankfully my parents picked up on this pretty quickly, like that night when I tried to sneak in quietly at 2 am!

In some ways this is what is taking place in the verses we are looking at right now. These people used the right lingo and everything, but they had no real relationship with the God of Israel, and had the returning exiles permitted them to assist with the rebuilding of the Temple, they would have introduced them to a watered down version of worship to God and soon they would have been doing the very things that led them into captivity to begin with.

Fortunately, Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the leaders realized what was happening and as a result we read in verse 3: Next Slide

Ezra 4:3 ESV

3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

This brought out their adversaries true colors in verses 4 & 5 where we read: Next Slide

Ezra 4:4–5 ESV

4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Had they been true worshippers of God, they may not have been pleased to not be invited to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple, but they wouldn’t have worked against the returning exiles.

The theme of verses 4 & 5 is: Next Slides

If You Can’t Join them, Beat Them.

Since Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused to let them join in the rebuilding of the Temple, they decided to go on the attack. We see them begin to do everything they could to discourage them from rebuilding the Temple, including bribing government officials to “frustrate their purpose”.

Now just a quick note, what we read in verses 7 through verse 23 does not take place historically right at that time of the rebuilding of the Temple. One of the Kings mentioned was the King that Esther married, we will learn more about him when we look at the Book of Esther. Another King ruled over seventy years later when Nehemiah and Ezra returned to the land.

I believe the purpose God had Ezra add these other Kings, is to let us know that when were are doing the work of the Lord, the opposition never ends, we can always expect the enemy to attack.

But I believe there is another reason God had Ezra add these verses, and that is to let us know that often times the enemy intensifies his attacks on us.

In verse 1 & 2 we see the enemies subtle attack.

In verse 4 we see the attack intensifies to the point of verbal discouragement and the bribing of government officials.

But in verse 23, which probably takes place 60-70 years in the future, right before Nehemiah returns to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, we see the attacks of the enemy now include the use of force:

Next Slide

Ezra 4:23 ESV

23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.

So God’s purpose here is to help us prepare in advance for the continued and often times intensifying attacks of the enemy.

As we move into this new phase of ministry at Liberty Chapel, we need to keep these things in mind.

Now let’s move to Ezra 4:24, which takes us back to the time they had laid the foundation stones for the temple of God we read: Next Slide

Ezra 4:24

Ezra 4:24 ESV

24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

So what we see here is the enemies If you Cant Join Them Beat Them plan worked! Because:

Next Slides

Work on Building the Temple Stopped for 15 years.

For the next 15 years they stopped working on the temple. They decided they would live inconspicuous lives, unnoticed by the people of the land.

That brings us to an important lesson: Next Slides

God has not called us to be inconspicuous, we are to be like a city on a hill.

In Matthew 5:14 we read: Next Slide

Matthew 5:14 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

We are called to do what the returning exiles did when they gathered at the rustic altar they made in the passage we looked at last week, we are called to stand out from the rest.

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end with the 15 years the work on the Temple stopped, because after 15 years of ignoring the directives of God, we read in Ezra 5:1-2: Next Slides

Ezra 5:1-2

Ezra 5:1–2 ESV

1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

God sent the 2 prophets we looked at last week to give the people a wake up call.

In Haggai 1 we read:

“1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest... 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes...

8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little...the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain..

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God...13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God..”

The wake up call from the prophets worked and the people once again began work on the Temple.

Then we read in chapter 5 of a second attempt to stop them in their tracks. Next Slides

Ezra 5:3&5

Ezra 5:3–5 ESV

3 At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” 4 They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” 5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

Now this attack is slightly different, probably meant more to discourage them than anything else, but we see in verse 5 that they didn’t give in this time, they had learned their lesson.

What took place next was that a letter was sent to the current King, King Darius. Asking him to have someone look into the archives of King Cyrus, to see if he had issued a decree that the people should return to the land of Judah and rebuild the temple. We won’t read the entire letter they sent to him, but I do want to look at one very important part of the letter. You see it in chapter 5 verse 12 we read:

Next Slide

Ezra 5:12

Ezra 5:12 ESV

12 But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.

Did you notice what the Nation of Judah didn’t do? They blamed no one but themselves. They didn’t blame that nasty Nebuchadnezzar for their captivity. They took full responsibility. This is a very important lesson for us to learn. Our tendency is to look for someone else to blame when things don’t go our way. Our upbringing, our family, our spouse, our family heritage, our friends....we even say things like “The devil made me do it.” To push the blame on anyone else but ourselves. The lesson we need to take from Ezra 5:12 is this; Next Slide

When we sin, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

The sooner we learn that lesson, the sooner we will start to see great victories in our battle against sin.

As we continue on in Ezra, and moving now to chapter 6, we see that Darius had the archives searched, and low and behold he found the decree by King Cyrus. I love what he does next. He tells Tattenai to leave the people alone, and that he is to see that the cost of the rebuilding of the Temple be paid for from the taxes he collected in that region! That’s what I call a move of God! And just in case anyone tries to cause any problems, Darius adds one more decree. We see it in verse 11 of chapter 6;

Next Slide

Ezra 6:11

Ezra 6:11 ESV

11 Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.

Next Slide

So what we see here is that God gave the returning exiles a very important job to do, but as He always does, He made sure they had everything they needed to get the job done.

When God Calls Us to Do Something, He Always Give Us everything We Need to Accomplish the Task.

He does the same with us today.

So what are the keys for us today?

First, we need to understand that the devil knows all of our weaknesses, and that is the first place he will attack.

Second, much of the time he uses wolves in sheep’s clothing for his attack. These people give you the impression they are on your side, but if you look closer, you will see they are not godly at all, oh they may wear a spiritual mask from time to time, but the life they live is no different than the rest of the world.

Third, God has not called us to live inconspicuous lives. We are to be like that city on the hill we read about in Matthew 5:14.

Fourth, we need to stop playing the blame game when it comes to sin in our life. When we sin, there is no one else to blame but ourself!

and last:

When God calls us to do something, He supplies everything we need to accomplish the task.