Ezra Pt 10: Remember Who You Are
Notes
Transcript
24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
Introduction
We pick up this morning, in verse 24 of Ezra 4, which takes us out of the parenthises section of verses 6-23, and connects in again chronlogically to verse 5
5 And hired counsellers against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
verse 24 tells us the work has ceased, in the second year of the reign of King Darius of persia.
So we are at a standstill.
God’s response to this is to send the people prophets to declare the word of the Lord to get them going again.
The prophets in question are Haggai and Zechariah. Now these two prophets and their accompany books differ in thier contect and character, but never stryinvg from the message of calling God’s people back to Him.
1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
so the prohpets bring the word.
Lets turn to Haggai, to seee what was said to the people through God’s messenger
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.
3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, And this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; Ye eat, but ye have not enough; Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; Ye clothe you, but there is none warm; And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
Haggai gives us some more detail into why the work has stopped, its not just external pressure but internal priorities
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.
they became more interested in their own houses than the Lords, their work rather than His work.
The prophet Haggai came to call them to account, to consider their ways.
If I could put it another way, the prophet came to remind them who they where!!!
They where the elect of God, elected into great privelege, and with that privilege came great responsibilty!! and they needed to be reminded of who they where to regain their purpose. They werent to be about the worlds work, they where to be about the Lords work, becasue thats who they where, they had just forgot, or where denying that truth.
The reminder leads to a response
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
the work began again.. They remebered who they where.
Now we want to leave Ezra for this morning, no thats not the sermon finished, but I want to move straight into application for us today, as the Church.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
You see many today in the Church have a crisis of identity, and you may one of those very people! Some don’t know who they are in Christ! Some think they are in Christ when they are not!
Some, are confused as to their identity in Christ, claiming an identity that is not theirs. Fooling themselves into thinking they are a child of God, when the biblical truth is that without repenatance there can be no forgivenes from God
If you have never been born again, then you have no identity in Christ no matter what you think, what you have done, no matter how much of a good person you are !!
The good news is that you can change that, right here, right now
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
today is the day of salvation
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:
you can come to him, in reptance and faith, and be saved.
saved from what you say? saved from your sin that has sepreated you from God, and that God because he is a holy God and a righteous judge he cannot overlook sin, he cannot turn a blind eye to it, the punishment must be paid.
everybody, everyone of us is a sinner by nature, we need to be saved. That is a biblical truth, but it has to be truth to us, that means we realise or need to be saved!!
Illustration- Addison in Chair
We were all trapped by sin and one point in our lives, but those of us who realised it, and understood the only way of salvation was through Christ
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
we were saved, by grace
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
the hand of faith went up to God and the hand of grace reached down and saved us from our sin.
We become born again, we forgiven, we are redeemed, we are restored into right standing with our Creator. We can affirm verses like
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
that our life is his… and we shout amen to that.
Thats our identity, we are new creatures
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
and because of that we are to live as scripture calls us to live
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We are to live our lives as children of the king, knowing who we are and because we know who we are we know our purpose and prioritise that above all things.
Sadly however, for many born again believers, we have simply forgotten who we are, and because we have forgooten who we are, we are not living as we should be living, we are not serving as we should be serving, our idenity has been forgeotten and our purpose has been forsaken.
Never forget who you are beloved!!
How many of you have seen the Lion King? Who hasn't right? All the Pastors are going “ He’s not going Disney in his illustrations is he!!!” Too late I’m going for it..
So how many of you have seen the Lion King?
Well lets test you: Who is the King that gets killed? Who is the Son who runs away?
Okay so Simba thinks he is guilty of his fathers death and runs away. He then lives out his early years living out his life as an outcast shunning his position as the Kings son right?
Then what happens, one day he bumps into a friend from the past and she recognizes him and urges him to go back and claim his rightful place but Simba doesn't want to go he doesn't feel worthy .
Then simba is taught a valuable lesson by a wise old monkey named rafiki.
Illustration - Lion King Video - Remember who you are
Rafiki speaks with him tells to look at his reflection and remember who he is, remember that he is the Kings Son, you see Simba has to remember and embrace who he is before he can live that life..
And its the same with us as believers we need to understand and accept who we are positionally in Christ before we can live out our new identities...
We need to accept who we are positionally before we can live practically.. You see when God looks on our passport he sees Christ’s Picture there!!
Believers remeber who you are!!!!!
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
You are children of the King, you carry with you great privelge and with that privelege comes great responsibilty.
Understanding who you are in Christ will give you a strong foundation to build your life on. K
Your identity doesn't depend on something you do or have done. Your true identity is who God says you are.
Once you choose to follow Jesus you become a new creation, the old you passes away and you become who you are in Him.
Because you are in Christ, EVERY ONE of these statements is true of you.
You are redeemed and forgiven.
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
You are loved.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
You are accepted.
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
You are free from condemnation.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
You are complete in Jesus Christ.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
You are a child of God.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
They aren’t my words, they are God’s words. You simply just need to choose to believe what God says about you.
Beloved - Remember who you are..
Let’s Pray