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

As we begin this morning, would you please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Ezra 4. We will read the first 5 verses shortly, so please have them marked and ready for that time. If you are using the pew Bibles this morning, you will find these verses on page 336.

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. We also looked at 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 Comes 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 baptism 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 including our participation in the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes, otherwise known as FCA. 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 had ever experienced! 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. Interestingly, that son, OE and his wife Bridgette, recently visited us here, their son, Jake is a Junior at Michigan Tech!

It was either Monday or early Tuesday that I got a call from the chairman of the Elder board, they had called a special Elder’s 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 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 without the Senior Pastor present. 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 that call change, or has He called you somewhere else now?

No, I really don’t think He has.

Well if God has called you there, and if that call hasn’t changed or 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 wasn’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 nor 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. My father, who was and is an incredible man of God, kinda spoiled their plans.

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 one of the lessons 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 and let’s read the first 5 verses. Would you please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word?

Next Slide

Ezra 4:1–5 NASB95

1 Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” 3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

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 the first 2 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”. The NASB calls them “enemies”. 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 collective backs 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. 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 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 was for me 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 of 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”.

By the way, I want to ask you a question right here. In looking at these first 5 verses, do we see any outright physical attacks taking place?

No

Is there any indication that the God that moved King Cyrus to send them back for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple, had changed His mind?

No

Keep those thoughts in mind as we move on.

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 I believe 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 next phase of ministry at Grace, 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.

Keep in mind what we discussed a moment ago, the fact that there is no indication that the God that moved King Cyrus to send them back for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple had changed His mind?

While God hadn’t changed His mind, they let their fear, remember the fear that Ezra had already identified as their weakness, they let that fear of verbal threats stop them for 15 years! They began to live life’s of inconspicuous spirituality.

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.

We need to understand that:

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

By now you have heard me reference some of the Names of God, especially those we see in the Old Testament. Well one of my favorite Names is the Name Adonai. Adonai means Lord/Master. The Name Adonai fits well with the statement on the screen right now. Because God, as our Adonai, our Lord and Master, by virtue of this name, has obligated Himself to give us everything we need to accomplish anything He has called us to do.

So, what is the application for us this morning?

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.

And last:

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

Let’s close our time in prayer.

Benediction:

Ephesians 6:10–17 NASB95

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.