The Good Hand of God

Introduction

Today we are going to be spending a few minutes in the Book of Ezra Chapter 7 so if you have your Bible’s with you, you can go ahead and be finding your way there.

It’s going to be located between the Books of 2nd Chronicles and Nehemiah.

Now, for those who have been following along with us each week in our Bible reading plan, we have been slowly working our way through the Old Testament and have finally come down to our final few weeks and are about to jump over to the New Testament.

Last week, we looked if you will remember in the Book of Esther and we talked about how just because God may not be mentioned in the Book there is no denying that He is there and still at work behind the scenes in every chapter!

It was amazing to see how He worked everything out for Esther and Mordecai wasn’t it?

If you will remember, Esther took place during the reign of Ahasuerus or Xerxes I as some called him.

Today, we will be moving along a little further in His-story, to the Book of Ezra.

Ezra’s setting takes place under the reign and rule of king Artaxerxes I, son of king Ahasuerus, which ruled Persia from 465-425 BC. The story of Ezra before us today picks up around 458 B.C. in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes.

Now, this week in our Bible reading plan we completed all but the last chapter in the Book of Nehemiah and next week, we will be reading the final chapter of Nehemiah and then finishing out the Old Testament with the last and final Book in the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi.

I want to take a moment here though before we actually get into the message and just say what a blessing the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah are.

They have always been some of my favorite Books of the Old Testament and there are so many principles in these two Books that speak to the life of a Christian and the functioning of the Church.

One man has a heart for the Word of God while the other has a heart for the work of God and both have a desire to see God’s people revived and God’s kingdom extended!

They are chocked full of pictures of repentance and restoration and revival and I just love sitting and soaking up the guidance and education that one can gain from reading through these wonderful Books!

Today though, we will be looking at Ezra and I want us to look at a message that I’ve entitled The Good Hand of God.

In today’s message, we’ll be looking at how Ezra prepares himself with God’s purpose in mind and because he aligns his will with the Will of God, The Good Hand of God is upon him.

My prayer today, is that as we get ready to move over into the New Testament where we will see the culmination of the Old Testament come to fruition in Christ, that we too will prepare our hearts to ensure that our will is also aligned with God’s will.

For when our will is aligned with God’s will, The Good Hand of God will be upon us as well!

With no further adieu, let’s look here before us in Ezra, starting in Verse 1. Ezra Chapter 7, Verse 1.

Ezra was a Skillful Scribe — (Vs. 1-6a)

The first thing I want you to know about Ezra is that he was a Skillful Scribe.

The Bible begins here in Chapter 7 of Ezra by giving us the lineage of Ezra. And as you will notice here, Ezra came from a very long priestly line spanning all the way to the first priest instituted by God which was Aaron the brother of Moses.

No doubt, being brought up in a generation of priests, seeing and partaking of the daily duties of the priest were the norm for Ezra.

Being a priest, knowing the word of the Lord and the law of Moses was part of the job description and the Bible says here that Ezra was a “ready scribe” in the law of Moses.

The word “ready” used here, means skillful. It means that Ezra new the law of the Lord frontwards and backwards, inside and out!

It meant that Ezra had written the word of the Lord on the tables of his heart. As the Psalmist said, “his delight was in the law of the Lord and in his law did he meditate day and night!”

He was a Skillful Scribe in the law of Moses and not only was Ezra a Skillful Scribe, but he was also a Sanctioned Scribe.

Ezra was a Sanctioned Scribe — (Vs. 6b)

Look what the Bible says next there in Verse 6. It says, “and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.”

As we will dig into more here in a moment, Ezra’s desire was to take the word of God and teach it to the people of God and therefore, because his will aligned with the Will of God, The Good Hand of God was upon him and he found favor with the mightiest king in all the land!

You see, the Bible says in...

1 John 5:14-15 — 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

The key phrase according that verse is “according to His will.”

So many of the prosperity preachers nowadays want to use this verse and others like it to say just ask God for whatever and if you believe you will get it then He will give it to you.

It’s called the name it and claim it gospel!

But dear friend that’s not how things work! The only way God’s going to give you what you ask for is if it lines up with His will! Not your will but His will!

My mom told me about something she had heard somewhere here recently and it really was something special!

It said something like this…we get all upset when we don’t get what we want or ask for but remember Jesus…the one and only Son of God…he asked that if it be God’s will let this cup pass from me but he, the Son of God, didn’t even get the petitions of his own heart because the didn’t line up with the will of the Father!

So, the next time something doesn’t go our way or we don’t get what we ask for, instead of complaining about it, we simply need to understand that it must not have been according to God’s will or at least not at the moment!

But when you seek God’s will for your life, and you seek to align your will with His will, you can rest assured that The Good Hand of God will be upon you as it was Ezra here!

He was granted the petitions of his heart because he had Sanctified his heart which is the next thing I want us to look at here.

Ezra had Sanctified his Heart to Seek the Law of the Lord — (Vs. 10a)

The Bible says here in Verse 10 that Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.

The word "prepared" is from the Hebrew word (kuwn {koon}) which means "to be firmly established, grounded, secure, fixed, prepared, or ready."

He had prepared his heart by removing every inkling of the world from it and filling it will the word of God!

He was grounded, he was fixated, he was established in the word of God!

The psalmist said that the man who delighted in the law of the Lord would be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf would not whither and whatsoever he did would prosper!

This was Ezra!

Look back at Verse 9 real quick with me. Notice what the Bible says there… “vs. 9 according to the good hand of his God upon him…vs. 10 “For” he had prepared heart to seek the law of the lord, to do it, to teach it!”

Because Ezra prepared his heart, because he sanctified his heart, because he said I don’t care what the rest of the world does, I want to grow as close to God as possible, I want to learn as much about God as possible, I want to share God with as many people as possible, because he separated himself from the world and set himself apart unto the word, the good hand of God was upon him!

He washed himself with the water of the word, he sanctified the Lord God in his heart and stood ready always to give and explanation to any man who asked him of the reason of hope that lieth within him!

And what I want each of you to take away from this passage today is this…just as Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, I pray you will prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord!

I pray you will prepare your heart as we move into the New Testament here in a couple weeks to seek Jesus!

I pray you will sanctify your hearts just as Ezra did here! I pray you will submerge yourself in the Word of God because here’s the thing… when you prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord do you what you’re going to find?

The LORD!

The law of the Lord is the word of God and the word of God came from God and therefore, when you seek the word of God you’re essentially seeking God and the Bible says in...

Jeremiah 29:13 — ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Dear friend, the Bible goes on to say in...

Acts 17:27 — That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

The reason people can’t find God is because they aren’t looking for Him, Amen!

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and in the process found the Lord and good hand of God was upon him as a result of his seeking!

Do you want The Good Hand of God upon you this morning?

If so, then prepare your heart, sanctify it, set it apart unto the word of God and the will of God and in turn you’ll be sure to have it upon your life as well!

Not only did Ezra Sanctify his Heart to Seek the Law of the Lord but he also Sought “To Do” the Law of the Lord.

Ezra Sought “To Do” the Law of the Lord — (Vs. 10b)

Can I just say, and this may ruffle some feathers but that’s ok, it doesn’t do you a bit of good to come to church on Sundays if you just come to hear the word and not do it!

Listen friend, you can know the Bible better than any other person in the world and still die lost and undone in your sins and bust hell wide open!

I’m convinced that it probably happens every single day!

People come to Church on Sunday’s, they hear the precious, preached word of God, yet they don’t apply it, they don’t settle it and sanctify it in their hearts, they don’t practice what is being preached, and I’d dare say that people are dying and going to hell by the droves because they relied on their church attendance record to get them into heaven instead of their relationship with almighty God!

Listen to me this morning Church, it’s great to know the Word of God but it’s not good enough to just know it, you have to do it!

James 1:22 — But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

The Bible says if you hear only and don’t do, then you’re only deceiving yourselves!

You can call yourself a Christian, you can come to Church and listen to sermons, you can quote scripture, but if you aren’t living like a Christian, if you aren’t practicing what’s being preached, if there’s never been a change take place on the inside, then your’re deceiving yourselves and you need to make a change before it’s too late!

So many people want to hear a great sermon but they don’t want it to move them to repentance! Well I’m here to tell you this morning friend, Jesus said, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish!”

Do you want The Good Hand of God upon you?

If so, then quit playing Church and start Practicing Church!

I’d dare say we got some folks right here at New Home and you’re only playing church! Be not a hearer only but a doer of the word! Prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it!

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord his God and to do it and The Good Hand of God was upon him for it.

Won’t you do the same this morning?

Not only did Ezra prepare his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it but he also sought to teach it!

Look at the last part of Verse 10 with me as we come to a close.

Ezra Sought “To Teach” the Law of the Lord — (Vs. 10c)

Ezra sought to teach the law of the Lord to the people of God. No doubt, with the exile of the people and the fact that they were scattered all over, there was a good possibility that many of the children of Israel didn’t have the best understanding of the word of God.

So, Ezra set his heart to search it, to learn it, to do it and to teach it to others!

We see this very thing play out in the Book of Nehemiah.

The entire congregation gathers together to hear the word of the Lord and guess who it is reading it and teaching it?

You got it…my man Ezra!

You may be saying, “well, I’m not a teacher, preacher.”

Well, you may not be but that doesn’t mean you don’t still need to search the scriptures daily for in them ye shall find eternal life and it is they that speak of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

If you call yourself a Christian, you should want to search them for yourselves: for your well being, for your growth in God, so that you in turn can live it out amongst others so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven for it!

You should search them so that you can know as much as possible about the one who died for you so that you could have eternal life!

You should search them and do them so that The Good Hand of God might also be upon you!

As we come to a close this morning, Ezra was sold out to God and my prayer is that some of you sitting here will do the same!

You can sell out to the word and hell will be your reward or you can sell out to God and not only shall you inherit eternal life but you shall also experience what Ezra experienced and that’s The Good Hand of God upon your life, leading you, guiding you, making a way for you, prospering you and providing for you, time, after time, after time!

Ezra Sanctified His Heart to Seek the Law of the Lord, To Do It, and To Teach It to God’s people!

Won’t you do the same this morning as we get ready to move over into the New Testament where we will meet the one who the Old Testament was written about?

The choice is yours!

You can continue to live a mediocre Christian life or you can choose to live a marvellous Christian life.

Which way will you choose?