The Book of Ezra

… As you've probably gathered, I felt led to look at the book of Ezra this evening, in some part at least. And so I'd be grateful if you turn to the first chapter of Ezra. Ezra chapter 1 verse 1 Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God, which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he is sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. And all that was about them strengthened their hands, with vessels of silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. Now chapter 3 verse 1 And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. They stood up Joshua, the son of Josedach, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and built up the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. And afterward offered the continual burnt offerings, both of the new moons, and all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters, and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the Sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia. Verse 10, And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they sang together by court, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests, and Levites, and chiefs of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And many shouted loud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. For the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. Because I travel by train, I didn't bring my large charts. I've got some miniature charts this evening, which may be a help to us to see something of the plan of this book of Ezra. We know that Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries, and historically they are well placed here, because the books of Kings and Chronicles end up in almost the same words that we began to read. And it's interesting to see that this is after the Babylonian captivity, which again was after the Assyrian dispersal of the ten tribes, and I put these two headings to the book here. There were two periods of return, as there were two periods of going into exile. There was quite a period of seven years between the various stages of the taking away of the children of Judah. We read this in the various historical accounts. And the time of coming back spreads over quite a long period, as you may see if you've got dates in your Bible. But the two are distinct. There was a return under Zerubbabel, and the second return was under Ezra, the priest, and these are separated by almost 60 years. It's interesting to see that there's a period between those two chapters, the sixth and chapter seven. And I made a little note that between those two chapters there were battles that come in the history books, if you know ancient history, battles of Thalamus and Thermopylae, a marathon in Greek history. And during the same period two eastern wise men, Confucius and Buddha, died. There's no mention of any of these facts, historical facts, in here, because the historian is concerned with God's center and God's purpose for his people. And if we just think of the purpose of God, going back to the time when he called Abraham to go from that wonderful place of the Chaldees to a place that God would tell him, where he never really owned anything except the one field of Machpelah. And then the choice of Abraham's descendants through Isaac, the promises were made, then the triumph of Israel, and finally when they were brought into the land, God would give it to them for inheritance. But we read at least 21 times in the book of Deuteronomy that when they came into the land, which God would give them to possess it, there was one place where they should worship. Not their choice, but God's choice, the place that God would choose to make his name to dwell there. That place we know is distinctly mentioned in the historical books when David had the people numbered and the plague stopped by the threshing floor of Orona, and that was the very place chosen for the building of the temple. And significantly it seems to have been the very place of which God had spoken all those centuries before to Abraham, offer thy son upon the place that I will tell thee. Mount Moriah was apparently the very place chosen. God had chosen it already, the place where he would put his name. That was to be the center of worship for his people. They were not to worship as the others did, and as they did. In fact, in disobedience to God's law, under every green tree and on every hill, worshipping idols, God was going to make his name to dwell in one place, Jerusalem. We know that he came and dwelt in the tabernacle when that was built in the wilderness. He came and took possession of it. We read in the last chapter of Exodus. Similarly, when Solomon built the temple, God came and took possession of it. So the priest could not even stand to minister because the Lord took possession of it, and the glory of God filled that temple. Some of us were looking the other evening at the sad story in Ezekiel, when the nation got to such a terrible low condition that the glory hovered over the threshold. No one took any notice. It was raised above the city and finally went to the mountain and up away. The glory had departed. Then we read that the temple was destroyed. Gates were burned with fire. All the utensils, all the precious things that had been prepared by Solomon and his successors were taken away to Babylon. We know what happened in Babylon, how the idolatrous king, Belshazzar, brought in these vessels. He said, bring those vessels from the temple of God at Jerusalem, so we may praise the gods of wood and stone, silver and gold. We know how that very night, Belshazzar was slain. Then the people were, after the 70 years that God had purposed, able to come back. We read how in Daniel's book in chapter 9, he'd been reading the prophecy of Jeremiah, and he realized the time was near, the time of deliverance. He set himself to fast and to pray and to confess his sins and the sins of his people, and plead with God that he would regard his holy place, his holy temple, the mountain of Jerusalem. We know how that prayer was heard. Daniel was greatly beloved. From the moment he began to pray, his prayer was heard. God brought the people back. Daniel lived to see that wonderful day when, as we see here, Cyrus gave decree. He made a proclamation throughout all his kingdoms and put it all in writing. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven has given me the kingdoms of the earth. He's charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. The king, of course, took all the pride to himself, but God had raised him up, as we find in the book of Isaiah, already long before he existed. God said, I've chosen my servant Cyrus, my servant. Well, they didn't know God. God had chosen him to do this wonderful thing and bring the people back to Jerusalem, to bring the vessels back to Jerusalem, that at last God could be in that place he'd chosen to put his name. This is the remnant that we find here in Israel. First of all, the return under Zerubbabel, and we find this first chapter concerned with the decree, and then we find how they went up. They went up, the chiefs of the people went up. How important it is to know, first of all, what the mind of God is. These people needed to know what was the mind of God. God had made it plain, he chose a heathen ruler, an idolater, to carry out his purpose. Just as he'd raised up Nebuchadnezzar to take someone into Babylon, so he raised up Cyrus to enable them to go back. He speaks of both, of his servant. God can use all sorts of people, even if they don't recognize him, and he is here described as the God of heaven. It's interesting to see this title. I notice some of the interesting names God has given here, and it's interesting to see that in the book of Daniel this name is used, the God of heaven. The God of heaven. Yet the God of heaven, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, says Solomon. He's still concerned with this one place on earth, the place he's chosen to make his name to dwell there. In spite of the idolatry of his people, in spite of their unfaithfulness, God remained faithful. Here a little remnant is coming back, coming back to carry out his purpose, that God at last shall have his name honoured in that place he's chosen. We know that Jerusalem has a more important role to play, and has still an important role to play in the history of this world, in the future history of this world. We read in prophecy, Jerusalem is going to be the centre of the earth. No wonder God had his eye upon that place. We read that the eye of the Lord was upon the whole land. The eye of the Lord is upon this land from the beginning of the year to the end of it. There's no land like it. But this one spot, Jerusalem, is the one place where we know our blessed Lord is going to stand on the Mount of Olives and dwell in Jerusalem as the one Lord. One Lord, his people see him. But there's a little fortation away in this restoration that we find in these two books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah, we know, is concerned with the city, building of the city, that's quite important. But this one, this book, is concerned with the building of the house of God. I notice that the house of God is mentioned 38 times. The house of God. House of the Lord, 8 times. Temple of the Lord, 3 times. So it goes all together. You find that there are over 40 references to this one place, the house where God was going to dwell again. It's a wonderful grace, isn't it? God could deign to dwell in a place like this, with people like this, unfaithful as they'd been, and God was going to deign to dwell among them again. That's why he used this man, Cyrus, raised him up. He said, I've raised you up for this one purpose, to bring my people back and to bring back to Jerusalem, that which belongs there, the temple of the God of Heaven. God of Heaven. We know that Nebuchadnezzar had to recognize that the Most High ruled. The Most High, there. Also, later, the following king, Darius, recognized that Daniel's God was the Living God. The Living God. He said there was no other God who could deliver like this Living God. These are wonderful titles, important titles, because we read again in the New Testament with the Thessalonian saints, turned to God from idols to serve the Living and the True God. The expression is used again in Hebrews, the Living God. The Living God. Isn't it wonderful to be brought into relationship with the Living God? These gods of gold and silver, wood and stone, they can't see, they can't hear, they can't do anything. They have to be put. They have to have a nail in the water to hold them up. They have to be carried. God said, I carry you. The Living God. That's the one whose place was there in Jerusalem. We see how it began here with the decree of Cyrus, the decree that God had purposed, according to God's purpose. That's very important. It says here that it was according to God's purpose that he made this decree. And then we find here that he gave them all this instruction and the vessels. It's interesting to see as we read through this book how carefully these people brought up all the things that were delivered to them. We know that it failed. We know that it was a mere handful of people. It was something that was despicable in the eyes of the enemy. But it was at least a willingness to return to basic principles. I think this is perhaps something that we need to have before us again. These people in exile had learnt a lesson. They couldn't learn why they could go freely three times in the year to the place that God had chosen. They didn't learn the lesson then. They became slack. They allowed, as we find, all sorts of things to go on. So God's house was polluted. We read of the bones that were burnt and put right near God's sanctuary. Men's bones were there defiling the house of God. And the sacrifices that were brought were worthless, God has to say. It's like an empty hut left behind after the harvest. There's nothing in it. God found there worship, idol worship. It wasn't a real thing at all. It was empty. So that's why he had to take them away to learn the lesson. Sometimes God has to deal drastically with us because we're his children, because he loves us. Sometimes he has to deal very drastically with us because we don't learn the lessons in the place where we ought to learn them. There's no better place to learn the lesson than in company with God's people. Yet we've seen it again and again, haven't we, how God has to use discipline over his people because although they come regularly under the sound of God's word, although they perhaps know much of the scripture by heart, although they know what God requires from them, they don't do it. They don't carry it out. God has to bring us sometimes to our knees and lower us still to be flat on our faces and acknowledge that we've been unfaithful. Unfaithful as individuals, but unfaithful also as companies of believers. Unfaithful to the sacred charge delivered to us. We see in the New Testament epistles of Paul particularly, the sacred charge is entrusted to the saints of God to hold the truth in love. Sometimes we love at the expense of truth. Sometimes we hold the truth at the expense of love. There's a wonderful expression that's used there in Timothy's epistle to Timothy, holding the truth in love. It's a lesson perhaps that we can only learn when God beats us down and brings us to our knees to recognize sometimes in a far country, in some cases, away from the contact with his people, he brings them back to the fundamental principles. That's what happened to these people. God wanted to bring them back to himself, not only to the principles, to himself, because the principles abound on this relationship of God's people with himself. Moses said to them, didn't he, in the early chapters of Deuteronomy, there's no other nation like this nation, having God dwelling in their midst. The living God dwelling in your midst. No other nation has such laws as yours, perfect laws, righteous laws. No other nation has the wonderful privilege of being able to be directed by the living God. Yet they didn't appreciate, as we see in the book of Judges, later in the time of the kings, they didn't appreciate God's love for his people. I'm afraid we fail to appreciate very often how loving God is to us, how gracious he is, how patient he is with us, as he was with these people. And so we find here that these things were ready and he gives us a list, once or twice a month, of all the vessels that were brought and the value of them. It's interesting to see how everything was weighed out and brought in. And in the second chapter, I didn't read the second chapter because it's just a list of names. These lists of names are important. I remember Eric once, reading through the Bible every evening when he went to bed, he said, I've got to Chronicles now, Dad, and I don't know what to make of all these lists of names. I said, well, it does seem a bit tiresome to go through all these names, but even if you don't see the little notes now and again, I think it's wonderful that God has put all these names in these books. He knew them, not as a list of names, but as people. When I pray for Mrs. Smith, God knows who I mean. I know Dad was a Mrs. Smith, but God knows who I mean when I pray for Mrs. Smith. I was praying for Mrs. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Smith this morning. Well, God knew which Mr. and Mrs. Smith I was praying for. And with these other people, you find Jahiel, three times in one chapter, Jahiel. We say Jahiel 1, 2, and 3, but God knew which was which of them. They're names, were names of people that God knew. And God took account in the second chapter of the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, carried away into Babylon. And came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city. They came with their upper bill, and God noted who they all were. He took account of those that wanted to go back, because they wanted to go back to the place that God had chosen, because they wanted to get back to this land that was the land of promise. God has noted all their names and put them in the Bible. We may not be able to read them through, or we'd quickly brush through the list, but to God they were people. They were people that were intent on getting back to a place that God intended them to dwell in. Isn't that important? God notes today all those that are faithful, those faithful old sisters that keep coming to the prayer meeting. It costs them a great deal. God notes that. He knows their names. We read in the last book of the Old Testament, those that feared the Lord's bake often one to another. The Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was kept for those that fought on his name. Those that spoke about him. Don't you think it touched the Lord's heart when he called those two people up going to Emmaus? What things? The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, how precious when he listens to us. What do we talk about? The fashions, or the business, or the radio programs, or all the other things that come in. Well, we do talk about those things, perhaps much too much. But isn't it wonderful to catch up people that are talking about Christ? Doesn't that warm the Lord's heart to hear them talking about him? These two people are talking about him. We don't even know their names, but he knew their names. And these names are in the book here. With their genius and the number of each of these families and where they went, God noted it all. These are people that wanted to get back, back to him, back to the land, back to the first principles that he'd given them. And it's interesting to see how these people are also mentioned separately as companies in verse 36. The priests, the children of Jediah, the house of Joshua, and the children of Emmaus, and the children of Pascha, and the children of Harim. The priests are noted. There were priests that went back. Good thing they went back. Of course, they couldn't start the worship of God without priests, could they? And there were priests that went back. Not all of them. That's why the names of these families are mentioned. Families were the priests that went back. Now today, we know every one of us, every believer in the Lord Jesus is a priest. And how important it is that we as priests carry out our priestly office. The priest represented the people before God, and also instructed the people about God. There's intercession on behalf of the people, and there was the expression of God's nature to the people. This is something that we, each one of us, as believers, have entrusted to us. Then, too, the Levites, in verse 40. The Levites, the children of Joshua and Cadmeo, all those, 74 of them, Levites, those that worked in the service of God. So far, they hadn't got any work to do, because the temple wasn't built yet. But they were there, ready to do it. They were ready there, with their sleeves rolled up and their loins girded, ready to do the work of God. How important it is, isn't it, to be ready when God calls us to a task? The Levites were ready. Then there were the singers, 41. The singers, the children of Asaph, 128. The singers, people that were ready to sing God's praise. I was always ready to sing God's praise. It was lovely sometimes to come to visit some of these old saints. One I went to the other week, just quite near the harbour, there's a brother and sister, and we usually drop in there. I had to get there early, and we spent an hour with them. He said, come down and see Mother. Mother was downstairs in her little room, all to herself. Mother was, she used to be the headmaster's wife, actually, years ago. He's with the Lord, and there she is in her nineties. He said, often in the middle of the night, she's singing Silent Night. Happily, there aren't any neighbours very close to them. He said, it only wakes us up. But Mother sings. She sings sometimes all night. Mother sings. She doesn't even realise it's night, but she sings. But God gives songs in the night, even to old people like that. And it's wonderful to sing. She's so charmed to see us. I bet she forgot and immediately asked us if we'd been there. But just to see us. You will stop for coffee, won't you, she said. And it's lovely to see these people singing. The singers, the singers. I think we sing that too little. We sing together when we're here, and perhaps drone on with each other and make some kind of noise. But these are people that enjoy singing. I'm sure otherwise they wouldn't be called the singers. They were the singers. People that were ready to praise God in the proper way. Children of Asaph. Now Asaph, we know, has psalms, and his children were ready. In another place we read earlier on, those sons of Asaph were ready to sing and praise God day and night. So that's something, isn't it, that these people were ready to sing, ready to sing God's praises. Then we find the porters. People had to carry things about. Children of the porters, the children of Shalom, 139 of those, they were porters, only porters, only people who had carried their things along. Very important. I was there with a porter the other week, and I was confronted with a staircase that high and couldn't carry my case all up those steps. I said, what shall I do? And they said, I'll fetch a porter. Yes, he fetched a porter and happily he brought my luggage over. Porters, useful people, aren't they? It seems a mean sort of task. It's a jolly useful task. Porters, those that are willing to do the mean jobs, to sweep the floor and to dust the chairs and to get everything ready, even providing the preacher's glass of water, they're porters' jobs. God takes note of those little things. Inasmuch he did it to the least of these my brethren, he did it unto me. Out of its context it's true, but the principle is there. The porters are named here. And the Nethinim, remember the Nethinim? Those are the children of these people who didn't really belong there, but they were there to do all sorts of jobs. Chores of wood, chores of water, the odd job men. Yes, God notes even those odd job men. Those that come in to patch up the meeting room, or patch up our homes for that matter. It's very good. But there are those too who patch up the differences between Christians. That's a very important task. Those that can sweep up the mess when brethren have had a quarrel. There are those that can come and pour oil on the troubled waters and clear it up. Porters, Nethinim, chores of wood, chores of water, whatever the task may be, God values it all and he puts their names here. It's interesting, verse 55, the children of Solomon's servants. They'd been in kingly service. They'd been entrusted with the wonderful task in the palace of serving Solomon. But these are their descendants now who are coming back to Jerusalem, well, nothing to see of Solomon's palace, nothing to see of the temple anymore, all lying in ruins. But they're there. These are the people, no doubt, that remembered the former things. Then we find, in verse 59, there were they which went up from Telmila, Telhassa, Cherub, Adam, and Inmuh, but they could not show their father's house and their seed, whether they were of Israel. Later on we find, in verse 62, those that sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found. These were priests and they were put away from the priesthood because they couldn't prove that they belonged. It's a very solemn thing here, isn't it? Some people did creep in unawares. People do creep in today unawares, and they can't even show their genealogy. And how careful we have to be, don't we? I know we can't read the heart, but there should be godly discernment if there are people that come in unawares, people that don't really belong to the Lord at all. Sometimes, I'm afraid, we know it happened in the Church of God, and I'm afraid it even happened in meetings of brethren, people take positions of responsibility and we wonder if they really belong at all to the Lord. They're not showing, whereas we cannot look at the heart, I say, but we need discernment, and they should be able to prove their genealogy. These couldn't. They sought their register, but they couldn't find it. They were doubtful people, and we have to watch out sometimes with doubtful people. We need to be on our guard against anything that would dishonor the Lord. If these people had been allowed to act as priests, and they didn't even belong to the family of Aaron, it would have been a disgrace. They would pollute the very priesthood, so they were put away. They couldn't serve. How important it is, isn't it, for each one of us to search our hearts and see if we are truly sure of our genealogy, that we belong to him. Tushartha, the governor, said, well, there's nothing to be done. We have to wait until there's stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim. That day hasn't come yet. They're still waiting. The priest hasn't yet arrived. Then we find the whole congregation is numbered. It tells us just how many there were. In verse 64, how many there were. The whole company there, 2,360. Quite a good number that came up. God knew just how many there were. That's again a wonderful comfort to me. The Lord knows all that are his. We can't always tell whether people are his or not, but the Lord knows them all. The whole number of the redeemed are known to him. Those that came here, he knew them all. Even the servants and the maids are numbered here, 7,337. And the 200 singing men and singing women. Yes, it wasn't only the men that sang, the women sang as well. They had their task. Oh, how grateful we are for the sisters that sing. There's something they can do in the meeting. They can sing, can't they, and help us sometimes keep to the pitch. These were singing men and singing women, 200 of them, to keep the people on their pitch, to keep them in tune with the things of God. It's again important, isn't it? Then we find, they came to the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord, they offered freely, verse 68, they offered freely for the house of God set up in his place. They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work, three score and one thousand grams of gold, five thousand pounds of silver, and a hundred priest's garments. These are people that could afford it, and they gave what they could afford. Sometimes, in our experience, we find it's the people who haven't got very much that give the most. And we know this is so, that the widow, she gave all that she had. The rich men making a big show of taking their banknotes out of their pocket and showing everybody what they were putting in. This widow didn't have very much, that was all she had, and the Lord knew that. He said, she's given all that she had, and he appreciated that. But these were rich people, and they gave according to their ability. That's a very good thing, isn't it? Because sometimes we hold back. I'm not talking only about money, I'm talking about our time, I'm talking about our gifts. Sometimes we hold back that which we can do. Perhaps there's a task which God's expecting us to carry out, and we haven't done it according to our ability. We hang back. These people didn't. It says here, they gave themselves, they offered after their ability, they offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place. They were determined that God's honour should be vindicated and that this house should be built. So they made sure of it, they gave freely. Then we find when the seventh month has come, in chapter 3 verse 1, they were there. The seventh month, very significant, we know the seventh month is very important in the Jewish calendar, in God's calendar for his people. First the Feast of Trumpets, then the Day of Atonement, then the Feast of Tabernacles. There they were, and there wasn't even really a temple yet. How could they carry these things out? They gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem and said, whatever we haven't got, we can come together in the place, the place, this is the place that God has chosen. The temple isn't there yet, but we can come together in this place at the time when he wants us to be there. Sometimes we see this, that the testimony is removed, and it's very sad when the testimony is removed, as we've often remarked about many places where there used to be a testimony for the Lord, and now there's nothing left. Just think of the seven churches in the Revelation, what is there left in Turkey today? All those churches, and God had warned them, if they were not faithful, the testimony would cease, and it has ceased. It's very solemn, isn't it, to see this? But it's good to know that our Christians are coming from those spots and praise the Lord, even in the memory of the place. But it's important here, these people, they gathered themselves together as one man. It makes us think again of the day of Pentecost. They gathered of one accord in one place. I know we can't expect to go back to that. We've made such a terrible mess of things as believers, as stewards of the truth of God, we've made a terrible mess of things. But we can at least seek, as they sought, to go back to the fundamental principles, and that's what we have in this chapter particularly. And we find here they were offering burnt offerings on the altar. They built the altar, and the offerings were according to the writing in the law of Moses, the man of God. It wasn't their idea, it wasn't just after their passion. They said, well, things are different now, we are different people, let's have a modern sort of worship. No, not a bit of it. They went back to the words of Moses, the man of God. If you look at the last chapter in the Old Testament, you'll find that Malachi reminds them again. They were to remember that word had been given to Moses, the man of God. It's very important that they had to go back to the fundamental principles. Some of it's later than what we read here, but they were getting away from the purity of the faithfulness and the worship there, and so he warned them to go back to the fundamental things, the law of Moses, the man of God. God had given Moses the instruction as to how they were to worship. God had given all the instruction as to how the tabernacle was to be built and how the offerings were to be brought, and they went back to that. It was according to the burnt offerings as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the order upon its bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries, and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, morning and evening. They were faithful in going right back and doing it just as God had instructed. So often, if you want to bring in innovations, let's do it differently. Don't let's be old-fashioned. Let's have something new. But no, it's important to go back to the fundamental principle. What does the scripture say as to how we gather, as to how we worship? We should always be able to substantiate it with scripture. Whatever we do, it's important to go back to the fundamentals. So here they set it on its base, and they offered their burnt offerings, and then they come round to the 14th day, and they kept the Feast of Tabernacles as it is written. They kept it as it is written. Yes, they said, well, we can't really do it properly now because we haven't got all the things. We haven't even got a temple yet. We haven't got the altar. But they kept it as it was written. So I take it they did actually dwell in booths as it is written. And they brought the offerings day by day. Seven days, and then the eighth day, the special day, they carried it out as it was written. Meeting recently when they were having some problems, and brother said, well, there's one thing about these problems. It made us search the scriptures to see how to deal with these very problems. It's a good thing, isn't it? Come back, see what the Bible says about it, not what we think, not what men have written, what the scripture says about it. These people came back to keep it as it was written. Then it says they carried out the burnt offerings according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. Good. Plainly taught them. Here it was carried out just according to the custom as God required it. So they had these sacrifices, and it does note in the end of the sixth verse, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They hadn't got a temple yet, not even a foundation, and how important it was to get on with that. They then started paying the people, the masons, the carpenters, and all the others that were bringing the wood there, to begin to build up, to rebuild the temple of God. Wonderful opportunity, wasn't it now? Opportunity to do things, perhaps not on the same scale, but in the same manner as Solomon built the temple. Obviously they couldn't do it so lavishly as Solomon had done, but at least it was in the right place. They had all the plans, no doubt, that God had given to David. They had the instructions that God had given in the law, so they laid the foundation. We find here it was in the second year of their coming onto the house of God, it took them two years, the second month, when they began finally to build, and they set forward the work of the house of the Lord. They set forward the work of the house of the Lord. It wasn't their house. We know how Haggai later on had to speak to them, the remnant there. Later time he had to remind them that their houses were sealed. They were looking after their own houses very well. God's house was still lying waste. How easy it is, isn't it, to furnish our own houses beautifully, yet not attend to the things of God. Sometimes you just occupy with the things of this world. That's what happened with these people, but here at last after two years, the second year, the second month, they got together to set it forward. They set forward the work in the house of God, and here's a list of those that did it. And then when they laid the foundation, it says here, it was after the ordinance of David, the king of Israel, they got the plan there, and the praise was carried out by the sons of Asaph and the Levites. They were able to sing together, verse 11, they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good. His mercy endures forever toward Israel. They could sing, they could sing because they'd been obedient. If we're disobedient, we can't sing. We can't sing the songs of Zion if we're disobedient. We can't praise the Lord if we're being disobedient to his word and denying his name. So it's important these people, first of all they carried it out, began at least to carry out this work. Then it says they could sing. They sang together, and then when they saw it, all the people shouted. They shouted because the foundations of the house of the Lord were laid. What a joy there was. Then there was another group. The old people remembered. We still have a few of them among us, haven't we? I can remember the time when there were capable brothers, brothers that were faithful, and they were always telling us what happened. Here they are moaning their heads off and weeping, and the others are shouting for joy because at least the temple of God, the foundation at least is made. And it's one shout really. You can't distinguish between the two. There are those moaning about the comparison, not to be compared with the, I can remember the original temple, I can remember the glory there, I can remember all the wonderful spectacle of the gold and everything there. The others say yes, but we've got at least a beginning of the temple. And as one shout goes up, a shout that couldn't be distinguished, it says here, they couldn't distinguish between the noise of the shout of joy and the noise of the weeping of the people. The people shouted with a great shout, a loud shout. Noise was heard afar off. I wonder what sort of noise is heard afar off. Is it grumbling, the things not what they used to be? Is it the noise of moaning because we can't get our own way? Or is it the shout of joy that God is getting his portion? Shout of joy to know that at least there's a company of people who want to do it according to the will of the Lord, want to be obedient to his name. There should be one shout, there should be one voice, and may we indeed be those that are ready to give the Lord his portion. The Lord would like to carry on in another portion if we spare him until Tuesday evening, but we'll leave it there with this challenge again to each one of us. What do we shout? Do we shout what used to be, or do we seek now to be faithful to our Lord? …

… You may have remembered that we spoke on Saturday about the book of Ezra and we looked at the early chapters and we noted in the end of chapter 3, the foundation of the temple was laid and that the young people particularly shouted with joy, but the older ones wept when they compared it with the original temple, Solomon's temple. I don't know if everybody has a little paper with the secret on, sometimes helpful to see the way in which it's been divided into two sections and we would like to read together today from chapter 4, verse 1, particularly the subject of the adversaries, so it's Ezra 4, verse 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers and said unto them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do, we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Asser, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, you have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God, but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius, king of Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And you have the letter there reported, and we look at the end of the chapter, verse 17, and the letter had reached him, then sent the king an answer unto Rehob, the chancellor, and to Shimshire, the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river, peace in such a time. The letter which he sent unto us hath been plainly read before me, and I commanded, and such hath been made. It is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition are being made therein. There be mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river, and toll, tribute, and custom was paid unto them. Give ye now a commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now, that ye fail not to do this. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Now in the copy of King Ataxerxes, his letter was read before Rehob, and Shimshire, the scribe, and their companions. They went up in haste to Jerusalem, and to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of Israel. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. In chapter 5, then the prophets Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Edo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. They rose up to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedach, and began to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God helping them. At the same time came to them Tetnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shethar Bosnai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building? But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius. Then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. The copy of the letter that Tetnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shethar Bosnai, and his companion, the Aphaxoxites, which were on this side of the river, sent unto Darius the king, to send a letter unto him, where it was written thus, Unto Darius the king all peace. Be it known unto the king, that he went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands. Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? We ask their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. Thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king in Israel built and set up. But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto Roth, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed the house, and carried the people away into Babylon. But in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon. Those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name was Shesh-bazar, whom he made governor. And said unto him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in his place. Then came the same Shesh-bazar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And since that time, even until now, hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished. Therefore now, if it seem good to the king, let there be such made in the king's treasure house, which is out of Babylon, whether it be so. The decree was made of Cyrus the king to build the house of God in Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning the matter. And find the next chapter, the search was made, and you find towards the end of the chapter, verse 15 of chapter 6, and this house was finished. On the third day of the month, Adar, which was the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king, and the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, and offered it as a dedication to this house of God, and a hundred bullocks, two hundred lambs, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. They sent the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem, as is written in the book of Moses. And the children of Israel, the children of the captivity, kept the Passover until the fourteenth day of the first month, for the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, for they breathed in the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. We may be sure wherever God is active, the devil will also be active. We find this in our own experience, we know that the devil was never more active than at the cross of our blessed Lord, and yet we know that God had the victory, the Lord had the victory there where Satan was most active. And here in this Old Testament history we find, as soon as there is a testimony for God again in Jerusalem, the chosen land, the chosen place, the place that God had chosen centuries before, a place for his name to dwell in, as soon as there was a testimony there for the God of heaven and earth, as it says here, the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel, he's also called here, the Lord Jehovah, the devil had his friends ready to try to break up and to stop the work by all means. We experience this of course today, wherever we are active in preaching the gospel, the devil will come in with all sorts of ways to prevent souls from listening to the word of God's grace. Where there is prosperity in any way among the people of God, spiritual prosperity, the devil will seek to sow disharmony and by one means or another break up this harmony of God's people. We will stay on our watch constantly against the wiles of the devil. He comes sometimes in a very specious way as with these adversaries. They were adversaries, it says plainly, they were enemies, enemies of the faith. But they pretended to be going the same way, the same direction. They began by saying, let's build with you. We seek your God as you do. We sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, which brought us up here. We worship the same God, why don't we work together? It sounds very simple and reasonable, doesn't it? But what sort of people were these? Well we find that when the children of Israel were taken out of their northern kingdom, particularly during the time of the Assyrians, the king of Assyria put there various people from his own country to look after the land. And God sent lions among them. They said, well it's because we don't know the gods of this country. And so he sent some priests back, what kind of priests, I don't know, that were willing to go back and tell these people a sort of mixed worship. It says they worship the God of Israel and the other gods. Pantheism, very prevalent today, isn't it? People like to have a veneer of religion. They like to be seen going to some place of worship, as they say. But what worship is it? It's sometimes a mixture of paganism and a sort of veneer of Christianity. What was the answer of these people? By no means, they said, you have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God, but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel. We are the people of the God of Israel. God is our God. We're building a house to our God and no one else is going to interfere with it. Very clear cut, isn't it? We're not always so clear cut about these things. Sometimes we accept help from other people outside and invariably it leads to trouble. In the book of Amos, chapter 3, it says, can two walk together except they be agreed? Of course they can't. If I'm going north and you're going south, we can't walk together. If one is serving God and the other is serving Satan, we cannot walk together. These were worshipping gods of their own imagination, pretending to worship the God of Israel. They'd lost all sense of what was due to that God who'd removed the testimony from Jerusalem. We know that we know that the worship of those northern tribes was idolatry. Oh yes, they pretended to serve God, but they were idolatrous altars, one in Dan and one in Beth-El. So it wasn't anything like the true worship of God, yet they pretended here to be going the same way. We have to be on our guard against this sort of thing. The people that want to cooperate, many of the councils of churches and various other groups, would love to have true believers on their committees to keep the balance, as they say. Yes, what balance? What sort of balance can you keep if you're having to do with people who just don't believe in the inspiration of the scriptures? There's no balance to be kept there, is there? We can't cooperate with such things. These people are quite clear-cut. We are going to build it ourselves. We have the commission to build. We are going to build it. That's very plain, isn't it? And so they did. And it says here, they were so clear-cut that the people said, we'll have to try something else. And so what they did was to weaken the hands of the people of Judah and trouble them in the building. And then they hired councillors against them to frustrate their purpose. If the enemy can't get it by pleading and by seeking cooperation, then he'll try active opposition. That's what they did. They weakened their hands. I take it they withheld the supplies. They got in the way of all the convoys that were coming to them with materials. And they made it impossible to work. And they also discouraged them. They troubled them in building. And so then they found these councillors to write a letter to the king. By this time, there was another king, of course. And so this king hadn't heard what it was all about. And so that's why they sent this letter. And we get the whole copy of the letter here, be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up to us had come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city. And they set up the walls thereof and joined the foundations. Now as this goes on, you'll find trouble because they won't give tribute or toll or custom, and they'll endamage the revenue of the king. It sounds very specious, very convincing to the king. And so the king sent out this decree that it was to stop. And of course, because of the discouragement on the part of the remnant there, they were, it seems, only too lazy to put down tools. And so it's very sad here we find here that the work stopped. The work stopped and it says here that they managed to get them to cease to build. Very sad, isn't it? He's done this again and again. We're talking about it today. So many of the places where there was active Christian witness, there's nothing left. Nothing left at all in so many places. The enemy managed by one means or another to discourage the workers, discourage the testimony. And I'm afraid some of us were only too easy to put our feet up on a hassack and sit back and say, well, we've done our best. We can't do any more. And yet, sadly, as in this case, God desired a testimony and there wasn't anyone ready to respond to that. Even the leaders of the people we find here, they had lost interest. It was too much for them. It's certainly very discouraging to be put in prison for your faith. It's certainly very discouraging to be unpopular, very discouraging when everything you try to do is broken down. And yet, we must expect this in this world. It's Satan's world. And this country was still under the domination of Gentile kings. Mustn't forget that. It was no longer the land of the people of Israel. They had forfeited, as they recognized later, forfeited their right to possession because of their disobedience to God's law. But God protected them still. We find here at the end of this chapter that the king's answer says, yes, these people, I know all about it. We've had trouble with them before. There have been mighty kings in Jerusalem which have ruled over all countries beyond the river and told tribute and custom was paid unto them. You see here again, it's a question of money, revenue, and this is something that hits very hard. Hits the enemy hard, but I'm afraid sometimes hits Christians hard. You mustn't do anything that costs them any money, any time, or any trouble. And it's very sad that much of God's work is languishing today because of those very simple things. We can't afford to support that work of God. Yes, it's very good work, but well, we've got other things to do with our money, got other things to do with our time, other things to do with our talents that God entrusted to us to use for him, and much that could be done isn't done. And so we find here that the work ceased. Verse 24, it's a very sad verse in this Bible. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. It ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. There was a whole period now that the work wasn't being carried on. It's very sad to think of this. Sad to think sometimes we go back to a place and back to the meeting where I went to Sunday school, see a little handful of people there, surrounded by hundreds of flats, children scurrying around the meeting room there all the time. Not one comes inside. And I don't know whether anybody ever goes to them. They're even more important with the gospel of God's grace. There have been those that did, have been those faithful servants. I remember when we were there, we had an elderly caretaker. She never married. She lived out on the very top floor of the building, and she got interested in all the ladies in the neighborhood. And she, it was, started the women's meeting there. And it was carried on for years and years and years. Nobody ever took any notice of her. She was just the lady that cleaned the meeting room. She was just the one that put all the chairs ready. She was just the one that kept the place spic and span. But apart from that, she began a wonderful work, and many of those women that came to the women's meeting later came into fellowship in that meeting. Nobody thought twice about her. She was just part of the scenery. She was just there. And yet, while she lived, that work carried on. She lived to be over 80, and she was still carrying on that work in that place. It's sad to see that there's no one living in that spot now, because it's just a building on its own, and a great need all around. There's nobody, unfortunately, on the spot. Everybody comes towards that meeting, and they go away again. They don't know anybody there. Yet, we think, as the people thought in those days of the former glory, we're sorry. Very sad, indeed, to see a handful of believers coming together there on Sunday evening. No, nobody from outside. Not a soul. Not all those people living in all those flats. Not one comes in. Maybe some of them hear the singing. I trust that even that may prove to blessing. We don't always know, of course, what goes on. But sometimes it's sad, like here, to see the work ceased. For a whole time, there was no more progress on that building. And then, God raised up these two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. We can read their prophecies in this chapter five. We find there that God raised these two men up, and it's good to read in that book of Haggai, oh, how he slates those people. You in your sealed houses, you with your mod cons, you with all your privileges there. What about my house? What about my house, says God? Go, bring wood, build my house. God never said the work had to stop. It was the enemy that did that. It was the people that gave in to the enemy that stopped the work. God never intended it should stop. That's why he sent these two prophets to them. Haggai and Zechariah, you read those two prophets through, you see how God used them. Yes, Zechariah gave wonderful promise of future glory. He gave a glimpse of what was going to be on this very spot where so far there was just a little foundation laid and the work had stopped. And so, we read here that they prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel. I like that. It's not the God of Judah, it's the God of Israel. It's very important this. I remember a brother saying, along with the Lord, it's wrong to think in any less terms than the whole church of God. It's not this company and that company, it's the whole church of God. It's one body, the body of Christ upon earth. We mustn't think in any less terms than that. And so here, they prophesied in the name of the God of Israel, just as Elijah, when there was such division, when there was hardly any testimony left in the northern kingdom. He appeared in the northern kingdom and he set up an altar with 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And here again we saw, didn't we, that they recognized that although they couldn't see much of the other tribes, there was nothing to be seen of them, yet they again, when they got so far, they carried out the offerings, 12 in number, the offerings for the 12 tribes of Israel. They thought in terms of the whole company. And God sent these two men. What was the result? I think it's wonderful. Verse 2 of chapter 5, Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Joseph, and began to build the house of God. And with them were the prophets of God helping them. The prophets didn't just talk, they helped them. It's easy enough to talk and tell other people what to do, but they helped them. The prophets of God helped in the work. They set about getting the job done. It's good to see this, isn't it? It's good to see that there were those that were ready and they prophesied and these two were ready to build. Now we get real opposition. Now we get the actual opposition on the part of the enemy because as soon as they see that they really mean business, they come and say, who commanded you to build this house, to make up this wall? Who? What are the names of the men that make this building? Very important. Very important to know who commanded them to do it. It wasn't their idea. It wasn't their idea at all. Who commanded you to build this wall, to rebuild this place of worship? Who commanded you? What are the names of the men that are building? They wanted to know it all in full. It's good to be identified like that, isn't it? Are we identified like that? Do people know the names of those that love the Lord? It's good when you find that sometimes. I remember a brother in Plumstead who did a wonderful work through the years and somebody said one day, that's Mr. Buxton's house. One of the Sunday school children said, oh I thought he lived in heaven, he just came to us on Sundays. That's the sort of man he was, a heavenly man. But he had his house right opposite the meeting room. Not a better place could he find. And all the children just loved Mr. Buxton. They used to flock to him, flocked to him as he appeared at the Sunday school gate. So they used to flock to him. He was a man that was known there and everybody knew Mr. Buxton. Yes, he was the man that loved the Lord. The man that loved the Lord. And I know another village where somebody came along, he asked the first person he met, where's the man that preaches the gospel? The man that preaches the gospel. He found the house too. He was directly right to the house, the man that preaches the gospel. Are we known like that? Are the names known of those that love the Lord in the place where we live? They wanted to know the names. What are the names of the men that do this? So we can tell the king. Tell the king who's doing this work. Go on, tell him then. So they sent a letter to him. And we see here how they told the whole story, be it known unto the king, verse 8, that we went into the province of Judea to the house of the great God, notice, which is built with great stones and timbers laid in the walls. This work goes off fast on and prospers in their hands. So we asked them, who command you to build this house and make up these walls? We asked their names also. We might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. And the answer of these men is very humble, but very important. Verse 11, they returned this answer saying, we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We've noticed it comes in many times in this book, the God of heaven. He's the God of heaven and earth. And we build the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built it and set up. But after our fathers broke the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who destroyed the house and carried the people away into Babylon. Here is confession of the cause of their weakness. It's important, isn't it, when we're ill to get a diagnosis. It's important to find what's the cause of that illness. It's important, of course, to find a cure, but we can't find a cure until we find what's caused the state of things. And they go right back to the original cause and they confess it. That's very important. They confess these people and they took the message to the king. These people have said, we were disobedient. We provoked the God of heaven to wrath. And he gave us into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. There cannot be true blessing individually, as a company. There cannot be true blessing until we acknowledge where we've gone wrong. Acknowledgement, confession, humble confession. Some of the finest meetings we've had, the most fruitful meetings we've had, have been when brothers came together in humiliation and prayer. We came as a rule, fasting. There was very little, there was no singing, as far as I remember. But we came together to pray and to confess our failure. And God raised up two or three times from those meetings a little revival. And I'm sure God would do the same today, if only we were genuinely ready to confess our weakness and to seek the cause of our weakness. That's what these people did. They knew why this had happened. Oh, but it wasn't us, it was our fathers, it was our grandfathers. No, no, no. They take the blame as well. We may often attribute the things today on things that happened long ago, and that may be true. But we're also guilty. We're carrying on the same way as our forefathers did, trying to smooth things over, instead of putting them right. And here again, there was humble confession. Our fathers provoked the God of heaven unto wrath. And so they acknowledged they deserved to be carried away captive. They deserved to go into exile. But in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus made a decree to build the house of God. And the vessels too that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away were to be brought back. So they come now unto the authority, the authority of the decree of Cyrus. Now we know why Cyrus made the decree. God had purposed this. He said it already in Isaiah's time before the captivity. He told them plainly that Cyrus, his servant, would be raised up. And here he is, being raised up, he's made the decree. Now he said, see if you can find this decree and then it'll be put right. So in chapter 6, Darius made a decree. Search was made in the house of the rolls and he found this record. It was all there. The record was there. And so he said, now we've got it here. Let the house be built in the place where they offered sacrifices. Let the foundations thereof be strongly laid. And so he said the whole description of how it's to go. And so the work is to continue. Also we notice that the king has said they were to have everything they needed for the purpose. And we know this is something with the Medes and Persians. If a decree was made, it couldn't be altered. So this king was bound now to carry out what had been decreed by his predecessor. He was bound to carry out this. They may offer sacrifice of sweet savour unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and of his sons. It's a different story, isn't it? Just now they were saying that if the temple were built in Jerusalem, the king will be robbed of his dues because toll will be paid to the ruler, whoever he might be in Jerusalem. They said the king will be damaged by allowing these people to build the temple. When he comes to examine the original decree, he discovers that Cyrus was anxious that the temple should be built. Anxious they should pray for his life and the life of his sons. And this was one of his sons now, one of his descendants. He was on the throne and prayer was to be made for him. Makes a difference, doesn't it? He had now an interest in seeing that this was carried out because there were people going to pray for him. It's good to know there are people praying for us, isn't it? It's good too to pray for those in authority. We've been commanded to do that plainly in the scripture, to pray for those that rule over us. They may not be pleasant people, may not always agree with their policies. It doesn't matter, we can still pray for them. It does much more than joining committees and councils and that sort of thing to try to interfere with the business that goes on in the countries. Much better to pray and pray that God will give them wisdom. Pray for the life of the king and his sons, it says here. There were people going to pray for him and by withholding the materials for this temple, the king was withholding prayer for himself and his sons. Isn't it often the case with us that we withhold a blessing that might be ours when we too are disobedient, when we may be convicted and we are convinced that God has a task for us and we don't do it. We are losing the blessing but someone else is losing the blessing too. How important it is, isn't it, step by step as these people did, to come back to the fundamentals. They wanted the things to be carried out, it says here, according to the law of Moses. It comes again here, as it's written in the book of Moses. That's the authority for what they do. It's not just offerings as the other people do. It's not just prayer in a very casual way, but it's according to the law that God entrusted to Moses. It's to be done in God's way. That's so important, isn't it? So they realize this and as they rebuild the temple, there will be an opportunity for them there to have times of prayer for the king. While in Shushan or wherever he happens to be, they can pray for the king and for his sons. How valuable it is, isn't it? So we find here, the house was finished. It was finished on the third day of the month, Eidah, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. Oh, what a date that was. A date to be remembered. The house was finished. The house was finished. The date is plainly given, the day of the month, the month and the year. So it is to be recorded. On that day, the house of God was ready, ready to be used for the service of God, ready for the offerings to be brought day by day, the new moons, the Sabbaths and the set feast of the Lord. It was all to be done according to the words of the book of Moses, God's command to Moses and Aaron from the very beginning. It had to be done in God's order. Isn't it wonderful to think of the finished work, the finished work? Yes, we are grateful, aren't we, for the finished work of our blessed Lord. And yet, the work is going on, isn't it? The results of that finished work of the Lord Jesus are going on today. We're singing about it in our hymn. View the vast building, see it rise, the work, how great, the plan, how wise. Oh, wondrous fabric, power unknown, that rears it on the living stone. All these things are types and shadows. The temple is no more. The temple's gone. When they showed the Lord the wonderful pillars of the temple and the decorations of Herod's temple, he said not one stone should be laid upon another. He has something greater, more wonderful in view. The house of God, and you and I, believers in the Lord Jesus, are members, stones in that building. Isn't it a wonderful privilege to be stones in that building, living stones put into that building? And it's going on. Day by day are being added stones in that building. I don't think there's a single day that passes without stones added to that building. It's rising and rising. Oh, what a wonderful building. It couldn't be otherwise, we said the plan, how wise. It's not according to our plan. God forbid, anything should ever be to our plan. It's his plan. The great architect is God himself. The cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. That cornerstone, I take it, was still there because when Solomon filled in that valley, he put that cornerstone there, secure. That cornerstone was firm, and the whole building rested on that cornerstone. It was safe, that chief cornerstone. And so the building of God today, the house of God, is resting upon that one cornerstone, Christ himself. It cannot fail. We may fail in our testimony. We do fail miserably in so many ways. Fail to recognize the wonder of the work the Lord has wrought. Fail to recognize what he's doing even today, and what he wants to do with us. But he doesn't fail, and we see it going up step by step, and finally it says, the house was finished. The house was finished, and the date is recorded there. Oh, what a glorious day, when we hear that shout. The house is finished. The house is finished, but our stone has been added. The Lord takes his own to be with himself. What a glorious day it will be, and we see him face to face, when not a stone will be missing. We know from the old temple of Solomon, there were certain stones still in the quarry. I've got pictures of those stones that were found in the quarry, marked already, but they weren't needed. The house was finished. The house was finished, and they were left behind. Some were begun, some were half finished. There were stones ready to put in the building, but no. The cry went up, the building's finished. They were all prepared in the quarry, and set in place. There was no sound of a saw or hammer. They were all put into place, because the plan was God's. God had given the plan to David. This is what they counted upon here again. They had that plan before them. They fitted in the plan, and so again, we may think of those that are in the quarry today. Unbelievers still in the quarry, not yet finding a place in the church of the living God, because they haven't trusted in the Lord Jesus as saviour. What a sad day, when the cry comes out, the church, the building, the fabric is finished. The house of God is complete. Those souls left behind in the quarry. Those stones were rejected. They're no good anymore. They were left there behind. Sad to be left behind, certainly, when the Lord takes his own to be with himself. What a glorious thing for the living stones to be there. And so we find here, it was completed. But that's not the end of the story. That's the beginning. When the temple is completed, the worship can start. So we find they were immediately there. It was the third day of the month, Adar. That was the time when they kept the Passover, and that's what happened. They offered up the dedication of the house of God, a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. Yes, they remembered that, just as we on the Lord's Day morning have one loaf. One loaf speaks of the whole body of Christ, speaks of his body that he gave, but also in figure of the whole body of Christ, one body. We, being many members, are one body. And so here again, they reminded themselves with these twelve he goats, that they were part of that one nation. We know that the time is coming when even those other tribes will be brought back to Jerusalem, when the Lord reigns over them, and they'll each have their portion there. And so we find that the first thing they did really here, they dedicated it, they set the priests in their divisions, the Levites in their course for the service of God, and then they could keep the Passover. On the 14th day of the first month, they didn't have to postpone it. Sometimes they did, when they were unclean, when they were on a journey, then they could postpone it to the second month. But no, they were ready, it says here, they had cleansed themselves, they had separated themselves from the filthiness of the heathens to seek the Lord God of Israel. They were ready. And so on the very day, the 14th day of the month, the first month, they were able to eat the Passover. They kept it up, and also the feast of unleavened bread, seven days with joy. So the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Yes, they gave all the thanks to him, the God of Israel. It wasn't to be an empty place, it wasn't to be a place that was just a decoration, a monument. No, it was a place where there was activity, there was going to be the feast of unleavened bread, seven days. It wasn't just something for Sundays, it was something for the whole week. This is again important, isn't it? The unleavened bread had to be checked day by day. They kept the feast of unleavened bread. There was nothing in the house, they make still quite a business of this, you know, among the Jews, for the Passover feast, there mustn't be any leaven in any of the drawers or the cupboards. No leaven. They go on for seven days. It reminds us again of our responsibilities, doesn't it? Leaven, the evil that corrupts, must be absent. Not only, as we come together, it's important that we come prepared, but every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on, they kept it, it says here, they kept this. They kept the feast, they were ready to keep the feast of God according to his own command. So, at last we come to the end of this particular section, it's the first section, the return under Zerubbabel. You may notice he had a different name there, Sheshbaza, but it's the same man, just a different spelling, because this section is in Aramaic and the other was in Hebrew. That's why I get a different name there, the letters are different, but it's the same man, these same two men, it is Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest, who saw to it that the work of God was carried out. I suppose we have again an injunction that whatever our hands find to do, let us do it with our might. If the Lord will, we'd like perhaps further on Thursday to take up the next section, or part of it at least, to see how the work continued after about 60 years. It's good to know that there was a foundation laid, there was a temple built, and there were sacrifices and offerings brought to the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel. Can we sing 126? One, two, six. Jesus our Lord, with joy we wait to see thy blessed face, though weak on earth our present strength is in thy grace. 126. …

… Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraia, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shanum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahithob, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meiratoth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Buki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the chief priest, this Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was already a scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his requests, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethanim, unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Then we have the letter that the king wrote, in verse 21. We read, And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, is to be done speedily, and to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt, without prescribing how much. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethanim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Then we have the message of Ezra himself, Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. And just in the next chapter, verse 15, chapter 8, verse 15, And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahavah, and there abode we in tents three days. And I viewed the people and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. And sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Michelam, chief men, also for Joirib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. And I sent them with commandment unto Ido the chief at the place Cassiphia. And I told them what they should say unto Ido, and to his brethren that live in him, at the place Cassiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sheribiah, with his son and his brethren, eighteen, and Hashabiah, and with him, Jeshiah, and the sons of Merari, his brethren, and their sons, twenty. Also of the Nethanim whom David and the princesses appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethanim, all of them were expressed by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahavah, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted, and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us. Shall we sing another hymn, 115? 115, Head of the church, thy body, O Christ, the great salvation, sweet to the saints it is to think of all thine exaltation. All power is to thee committed, all power on earth, in heaven, to thee a name of whitest fame above all glory is given. 115. All power is to thee committed, all power on earth, in heaven, to thee a name of whitest fame above all glory is given. All power is to thee committed, all power on earth, in heaven, to thee a name of whitest fame above all glory is given. A day of final freedom, no round or end possessing, when heaven and earth, God all in all, shall live with our yet blessing. O rules of evil banished, no breath of sin to rid us, of love, of heart, of death, but joy and bliss for each forever. If you have dates in your Bible, you'll probably notice that between chapters 6 and 7, there's a period of about 56 years. It's quite a long time. Two generations have passed since the building of the temple in Jerusalem, since those went up with Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, and set up the foundations, and finally we noticed when the work had ceased with the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, the work was completed. They were obedient to these prophets and the temple was rebuilt. The offerings were recommenced and the people were keeping the feasts of the Lord according to the words of the law of Moses, which God had entrusted to him. They were carrying on. They've been carrying on now for two generations. Now a third generation comes up and we begin to wonder. We just think of many meetings we've been talking today about some of us oldens, remember things that happened years ago. It was much better years ago. Things were always much more beautiful and perfect 50 years ago and we like to dwell on those things. But two more generations have come since then and we may sometimes compare, as the preacher does, the things of now with the things of then and begin to say, well, things are not what they used to be. Yet there's no reason why things should be different. The world, it's true, round about us, is getting darker than ever and things are getting worse and worse. We must expect that because it's given us in the scripture as a sign of the last days. But yet it's very precious to come into a meeting and see a third generation of believers still faithful to the Lord, still seeking to be obedient to the principles of New Testament doctrine. It's good to see that, that after so many years of gathering together, and this hall is one of those that's seen some generations pass, it's good to see that there are those that seek the mind of the Lord, that seek to be obedient to that mind of the Lord. That's why we're introduced here to the pedigree. That's why I read all those early verses with some difficulty, with strange names. The pedigree of Ezra the priest. He was of the sons of the priest. He could trace his genealogy right back to Aaron. And it tells us here, this Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. He was a ready scribe. He took the trouble to copy out the scriptures and I'm sure he did this very conscientiously. It's a wonderful thing that the scriptures have been preserved in a remarkable way through the centuries. Not only by the printed word, but before there was any printing, these were carefully copied and copied and checked and copied again and checked again. It's remarkable. It's one of the miracles that God has preserved the scriptures intact. And here this priest of the tribe of Levi, but also of the house of Aaron, he could trace his genealogy right back to those well-known priests of old time, was a ready scribe in the law of God. It means to say he was one that probably copied out himself as a young man, copied out this scripture, but he took it to heart. He was obedient to what he read there. And so, although he was in Babylon, a strange country, he didn't forsake the law of God. It tells us here that he went up from Babylon and he decided to go up there. He asked for the king to be able to leave that place in Babylon, as Nehemiah later did, to go up, and it says here, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. It's an expression that comes on many times in this book, and I'd like to trace it through the hand of God. The hand of the Lord his God was with him. And we know that the hand of the Lord will be with those that seek to do his will. And he wants to get to this place because, although there had been a start made, many of the vessels were still left in Babylon. Many of these precious things had been collected together, been made specially in the time of Solomon and later kings, when there was restitution of the worship of God, these were still back in Babylon. And so he determined to go up to Jerusalem and take these precious things with him. And that's what it says here, it's very important, to do this, he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel, statutes and judgments. Very good example, isn't it? A young man, I take it he was still young here, he prepared his heart, first to seek the law of God, the law of the Lord, then to do it, and then to teach others the way. That's the right order of things. Not only to read and to teach, as is often said about universities, universities that the subject comes from the notebook of the professor to the notebook of the students, without touching the minds of either. It shouldn't be so, certainly with spiritual things. It says here, he sought the law of the Lord and he did it. He carried out what he read in the law of God, and then he was able to teach others. Think of the apostle Paul, he said, what you've seen in me and heard from me, do. What you've seen as well, not just what you've heard, but what you've seen in me and heard, do. I'm afraid not many of us would dare use those words to others, but it's important, even when we're young, to seek the law of God and to do it, and then as we get older we can teach others the way that we ourselves have trodden. That's what he did, he prepared his heart. He prepared his heart. It's good to have a prepared heart, isn't it? We know that out of the heart come the issues of life. We love with all our heart, do we? I hope we do love the law of God, the 119th Psalm is full of that. The psalmist can't talk enough about the word of God and the words of God, the commandments and the precepts and the statutes of God. They were his delight. He loved that word. Oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation day and night. And then he goes on to say that he knew more than his teachers. And then he goes on to teach others. He may teach sinners thy ways. And it's good to be able to do that, isn't it? This man could because he had done it. He'd carried it out and he was able to teach. And then we find this letter that the king gave him instructing him and preparing him for this long journey he had to make. It took him a long time. He'd been on the first day of the first month and he got there on the first day of the fifth month, four months on the way through difficult, dangerous country, through enemy country. And we read there that he didn't presume to ask God to go with him because he told the king that God would protect him. There's faith for you. We often pray to God to protect us, but we still think we ought to take all protection and all precautions and ensure ourselves against disaster. Well, that's good. We ought not to be slovenly about our businesses or our homes or anything else. But he was a man who trusted God to such an extent that he was going to gather together all these things, a list of all that he took with him. He saw the things he was going to take with him. And anybody could have fallen upon this little company of people and taken away these precious things on the way. But he trusted in the Lord, his God. He said to the king, I don't need soldiers to guard me. I'm trusting in the Lord. That's faith, isn't it? Real faith. It's good to see examples of real faith in exercise of this man. He said he would go up of his own free will. Those, again, of their own free will would go with him. He should go up to Jerusalem. It took them four months to get there. And so they came up there. And we find this interesting piece. That's why I read it as part of the letter. It says here, I out-exercise the king to make a degree to all the treasures which are beyond the river that whatever he requires, it be done speedily. And then he gives an account. And then he says, in verse 23, Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? It's interesting, isn't it? The earlier king had said he was depending on prayers for himself and his sons. And this king out-exercises one or two kings later on. He again recognizes if there are people in Jerusalem praying to the God of heaven, they'll pray too for him and his sons. And so, far from his kingdom being damaged by taking away all these precious things, he finds he's advantaged. And he says, you do it by all means. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king? He recognizes, he's a heathen king that recognizes the power of the God of heaven. This title we notice comes in very often here, the God of heaven. And that was the title he used here. And we recognize that this, he said, Ezra the priest, he calls him again, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven. A scribe of the law of the God of heaven. And so he could recognize these people in Jerusalem were going to pray for him. So gladly, he let these people go. And then we notice how he came to Jerusalem safely. And at the end of that chapter we saw there how he was able to give thanks. It's very good to see in the following book, in Nehemiah, I think there are 13 times we read of prayers of Nehemiah. Some very short prayers, just remember me, oh God, just like that. Very short prayers. Others, as in chapter 9, very long prayer. But it's good to see that Ezra too was a man of prayer. And here we find his giving of thanks. So often our prayers are give, give, give, aren't they? Somebody says shopping lists. And yes, we have many petitions to offer. But here, it's all thanksgiving. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And so he says, I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me. And I gather together these people. With thankful prayer, he can begin his journey. It's good, isn't it, every time we make a journey, we all do this, we commit the journey to the Lord. It's very important, isn't it? Do we give thanks at the end? Sometimes we forget, don't we? We ask him to keep us safe, but here he says, oh, I'm grateful. Grateful for this hand of the God of heaven upon me. This hand of God is upon me. And then in the next chapter we find a whole list again of names. Did you notice we read those names there, how several names are repeated? El Nathan, for example there, El Nathan comes in three times. But it's not the same El Nathan. It's three men with the same name. But it's interesting to see that this is recorded here. We are used to having surnames. They didn't always have surnames in that time. And so it's just El Nathan. And the other one is El Nathan. I mentioned the other day when Eric was going through the chronicles, he said, oh, I can't make head or tail of all these lists of names. I said, yes, they are just lists of names to us, but to God they were real people. He knew them all. He knew which El Nathan was there and which El Nathan was there. And the other El Nathan was around the corner. El Nathan, El Nathan, El Nathan. And when I pray for Mr. Smith or Mrs. Smith, God knows which Mrs. Smith or Mr. Smith I'm praying for. He knows whom we mean because they're all known to God. It's like the list at the end of Paul's epistles. Interesting to see all these names there, but he knew them. And he could give greetings according to their particular needs. And he would remind them of things that only he would know because he knew them personally. They were real people. Not just names, they were real people. And to God as well, they were real people there that came together. And we have a whole list here of all these people that went up with him. They went of their free will. They weren't forced to go up to Jerusalem, but they went of their free will. They wanted to go up. It's like in the first book of Chronicles, the end of that lovely last chapter, when David, he prepared everything for the temple, but he wasn't allowed to build it. But he got everything ready. Then that wonderful prayer of thanksgiving to God there, and he rejoiced that the people had brought so willingly of their substance. They brought willingly of their substance. It's wonderful to see willingness, isn't it? Willing hearts. Not a drudgery of, I've got to go to the meeting again. Oh dear, I went last week. Is it like that? I hope not. It doesn't look like it this evening. It looks nice to see so many willingly come out another evening in the week. And it's very nice to see sometimes in a very small meeting two or three nights after each other, and they were willing to come. Willing to come under the sound of the word of God. It's good, isn't it, to be willing. These people are willing, their own free will. They went up to the place where prayer was wont to be made, the temple of the God of heaven. But in chapter 8, verse 15, he gathered them together and he found there was something missing. Yes, there were priests there. It mentions the priests there, but no Levites. No one to do the work of the Lord in the sanctuary. That was a very sad thing, wasn't it? No Levites. Where were the Levites then? Weren't they willing to come up? Well, he had to send for them. He sent for all these people, the Levites. And I sent them with commandment, in verse 17, and I told them what they should say unto Ido, and to his brethren, and Nephilim, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mali. He could trace his pedigree too, back to Levi. He was one of those that could trace his pedigree back to Levi. And he was a man of understanding. That's what we want, isn't it? Men of understanding. It's good to have people that understand. It's nice to be understood. Some people misunderstand us. So many people fail to grasp what we say. It's good to find a man of understanding. Here's someone that can be trusted. He's a man of understanding. He's well-hearted, but he's also a man of understanding. So he brings him along, and he says here, he's the one that was able to instruct there, instruct the others, and to help them. And they had appointed these Levites to help the Nethenim. The Nethenim were the people that, you remember the Gibeonites who had come in by trickery. I take it that's the same people. They were hewers of wood and thawers of water. They were content to do just that. Just the menial jobs. Just the ordinary work. But the Levites had a special task. Their task was in the sanctuary of God. In the courts of the temple and in the sanctuary where the priests were ready, there were Levites that had to attend to all the supplies and to preparing the sacrifices. These were very necessary people. We need Levites, don't we? We need those that attend to the Lord's business. Oh, we have them. We're grateful for them. It's good to have those of understanding that know what they're doing. I remember a brother who was along with the Lord. He said on the mission field there's a great deal of faith but sometimes a great deal of folly. Perhaps it's not only on the mission field. Sometimes I'm afraid it happens on the home front that we don't always work in a way of understanding. There's not always a wisdom in the way we work. We need to be obedient to the word of God but also in wisdom. We find, don't we, some people that are extremely zealous protect this. We find people that are very well instructed in the scriptures but it's never occurred to them that they have to speak in a way that people can understand. And I know several people that have wonderful knowledge of the scriptures but they can keep it to themselves. They can't tell anybody else about it. But here's a man of understanding who could give the Nethnyms their tasks and he knew what each man could do. He understood that that man was an expert at cleaning windows. That man was an expert at sweeping the floor. And that was a strong man that could bring the coal in. I know it wasn't in the temple but the sort of jobs that have to be done today is need someone that can understand what his own task is but also to set other people to work. I'm speaking from experience because our own son, our oldest son is a marvel at that way. Every time there was some particular campaign or what it was, you never saw him doing anything but he could always set everybody else to work. It is quite a gift I know to do that. What are you doing, Hans? Well, I'm telling them what to do. And he could, he could get them going and he sort of has a wonderful way of convincing people it's their idea that they took up that job. And it's very nice to have people like that but again this is a man who is of the sons of Levi. This is a man who can trace his pedigree right back to the beginning. And I'm afraid sometimes a brother has a position of trust just because he has a big business. Or just because he has a good head for figures. That isn't the most important thing. It is important. It's important that we don't waste those money. It's important that we don't waste the brethren's time. But on the other hand it isn't everything that a man is good at his own business or has a good head for figures. It's also very important that those in the service of God should know they're in the place where God wants them to be. And that means that they should be spiritual people. You've sometimes seen that people have positions of trust in the Church of God who run their businesses, it's true, in a wonderful way but they're not spiritually minded. And consequently they want to run the Church of God as a business project. It isn't the way of the Lord. And so we need clear minds and it's good that God gives to those that are in positions of trust, a sound mind, but also we need spiritual leaders, spiritual workers too. And this man here was one who was a man of understanding who was able to see that every man had the right task. On the mission field you know there are many people Elsie Cole said once to us, on the mission field we're all cranks otherwise we shouldn't be on the mission field. What she means is that everyone is quite sure that he or she is there to do a particular job. But because they're all so convinced that they're in the right place, you get clashes on the mission field even more than at home. At home there are so many ordinary sober people to keep the balance but on the mission field we're all equally sure that we're in the place the Lord wants us to be. So sure that we sometimes turn on each other's toes and cause trouble. It's a prayer that we need to pray constantly for our brethren and sisters on the mission field they may be kept in happy fellowship with each other and with the people whom they serve. We know many of the things have been happening recently but it struck me here as we read this that we find people of spiritual understanding that are able to keep the peace between people that are all convinced that they're going the right way. It's a gift from God to have this understanding. Then what did he do? Well he proclaimed a fast there at this very place. Very place. They got to the river now. They're on their way to serve God. Verse 21 I proclaimed a fast there at the river that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. Oh wonderful prayer meeting. They fasted and they besought God for the right way. Not only for themselves but for their little ones and for their substance. Very important isn't it? That we seek the right way for ourselves. It's very important for young people as well as older ones to be sure that if we change our employment we're changing that in the will of the Lord. Very important. But not only ourselves but our little ones as well. They besought the Lord for their little ones. And it's wonderful. We were talking about it the other day and had our children and grandchildren with us. What a privilege it is to be entrusted with these little ones. What a privilege. What a responsibility too. To seek the right way for them. To besought the right way for ourselves but also for our little ones. And even a right way for our substance. Now we are much better off than most people in this world but how difficult it is sometimes to know how to have a right way for our substance. To use the things that God has given us. The things, the money, the time, the talents, whatever it may be that God has entrusted to us. Let us beseech the Lord that we may have the right way for our substance as well. And that's why he tells us we fasted and besought our God for this. And he was entreated of us. God heard their prayer and he gave them the wisdom they needed to tread the right way. And then we find how he separated these people. Twelve of the chief of the priests and he gives their names as well. In verse 25, we didn't read that just now but I'd like to refer to it. We weighed unto them the silver and the gold and the vessels even the offering of the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel their present had offered. I weighed them unto their hand. And then he gives a list of what it all was. It's very wonderful that what they took out of Babylon was brought in to the temple. They hadn't lost anything on the way. They weighed it when they came out of Babylon. They weighed it again when they came in. And they could write it all up and say we've got the lot. We've got it all. Nothing is missing. That's faithfulness. It reminds me too of the faithfulness of our God. Isn't it wonderful to think all the souls that have been saved, all the people that have come to know the Lord since the day of Antichrist. And not one will be missing on that day of glory we were singing about just now. The day of glory when all the redeemed will be there. Not one vessel missing. It's as though we're weighed out of this world. Weighed into the glory. Not one missing. There's a wonderful picture here I believe of that. They brought into Jerusalem the whole lot. All that came out of captivity. Babylon speaks of the captivity. Everything came into Jerusalem. It was all there. Nothing was missing. The faithfulness. He speaks of the faithfulness of God. God was faithful to them. And so he brings the whole lot in there with the good hand of our God upon us. Can't we say that too? The faithful God has preserved us hitherto. This faithful God will bring us in. He'll bring us into the land. He'll bring us into the glory. Not one will be missing. And we see of the faithfulness of Ezra, the picture of the faithfulness of our blessed Lord. And then we find here how he said to these priests and Levites who were entrusted with it. In verse 28. I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the Lord. The vessels are holy also. And the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. Watch ye and keep them until ye weigh them in the chambers of the house of the Lord. This little interval of receiving the goods and putting them into the house of the Lord. He reminds these people they're holy. They're holy. And the vessels are holy. They've been brought as a freewill offering to God. He said I want you now to take this trust and make sure that it gets now into the temple. I've brought it all this way. I've brought it through all these countries on the way to Jerusalem. God's preserved us. Now you are holy. You have a holy task. A sacred task. To see that all these are used for the service of God. And here again is a lesson for us. We are holy. A holy people. A holy nation. Those that love the Lord Jesus are holy people. And God's entrusted various things to us. He's entrusted a precious word to us. We need to preserve that word intact. He's entrusted various gifts to his church and there again in holiness and obedience those gifts must be used in his service. And then again he speaks here of the gifts the freewill offerings that were brought to the Lord God. One of the most difficult things is how to use our money for the Lord. And it's something that should exercise us constantly because there are various demands upon our purses to know that these things are holy too. People speak of dirty money and so on but money that comes into the Lord's service, we need to pray for our brethren that are seeking to administer the funds that come in. It needs great wisdom. They come together from time to time to present these gifts to the various mission stations or works of the Lord. Do we pray that they may have wisdom? It's important, isn't it, that they have wisdom. They're holy. And these gifts are freewill offerings unto the Lord. How important to see they're used for the Lord's service, not for the service of men. Watch and keep them and weigh them before the chief of the priests and Levites. And then they were to bring them into the chambers of the house of our God. The house of our God. Not just the house of the hand, the house of the God of heaven, but the house of our God. There's a personal interest there. The house of our God. And then it says we departed from the river of on the twelfth day of the first month. It came on the first day, it's taken eleven more days to go into Jerusalem. In verse thirty-one, the hand of our God was upon us. And he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. And we came to Jerusalem and abode there three days. So they could give thanks at the end of this journey that the hand of the God of Israel was upon them. They could say the hand of our God was upon us. And then they could bring this into the house of God. And then it says they delivered, in the last verse of the chapter, they delivered the king's commission unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the river. And they furthered the people in the house of God. They encouraged them. They were the people of God. They were God's own people who'd come back, remnant it's true. We see how few they were really compared with the large number that went away. But here they are, the people of God. And these people of God, it says here, were furthered. They didn't stand still. They furthered the people. And they furthered the house of God. They went on with the work that had been begun. There again we find ourselves in a place of a sacred trust. 150 years ago there were very faithful men of God who gave up good positions, many of them, lucrative positions, positions of responsibility, and sometimes the places where they were highly respected, came together in all simplicity, together in the name of the Lord Jesus. It cost a great deal for many of them. Their children have entrusted the truth to their generations, and we've received these things. And here again there's a responsibility, isn't there, here to further, to further the people. Not to stand still. It's so easy to rest on our oars and say, well, we're there now. We're not there. Remember an old brother with the Lord some years, but in a conference we had in Brussels, in Belgium, and he said, I used to see those brothers on the first row there, their black suits, I hope they've got there. Now I'm sitting myself on the front row. Oh, haven't started yet. He realized, although he was getting on for 80, he had hardly started. He said, we haven't got there yet. We haven't got there yet. That's why we need to be on our guard. The enemy wants to rob us. We read of those who were ready to lie in wait on the way. The enemy is lying in wait at all times to rob us of our heritage, to make us slack in holding fast to the things that have been entrusted to us. The Apostles Doctrine, read of the early church, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine. And fellowship. Again, very important, isn't it? They continued in fellowship. These people were furthered. There was a fellowship there. The people were furthered in the house of God. They continued in breaking of bread and in prayers. And so I think here again we find a little picture of what had been entrusted to them is a picture of what has been entrusted to us, the faithful charge. We are holy people. We are people who have been set aside for the service of God. He has given us wonderful privileges. The truth that has been entrusted to us is precious. We need to learn from Ezra himself, not only to hear it but to do it and teach others also. Remember Timothy? He was told to learn these things and then he had to train others that were apt to teach. It goes on, generation after generation. He would teach others that they could teach. And thank God for those young people that are still going on, being furthered. God wants us to go further. There's no standing still. We either go forward or go backward. So may we take this to heart indeed and I'd love to look at the next chapter but perhaps the Lord may give us the opportunity next week to look at the final chapters of this book where we see how they were there in the place and how they behaved in the house of God. But here again we need to take it to heart and think again of what Paul wrote to Timothy and may us know how to behave in the church of the living God, pillar and ground of the truth, the house of God. We need to know how to behave ourselves there. And it's important to go further. Go on, go on with the Lord. Go on with the truth, holding fast, not denying his word or his name. …

… We've come now to the last two chapters of Ezra, so I'd like to read from Ezra chapter 9 in verse 1. Ezra chapter 9 verse 1, Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down and astoned. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that were being carried away. And I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness, and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to Thee, my God. For our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day. And for our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now, for a little space, grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it is an unclean land, with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now, therefore, give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever, that ye may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come upon us through our evil deeds, and through our great trespass, seeing that thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this, shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Where is not thou angry with us, till thou hast consumed us, that there should be no remnant, nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee because of this. Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept very sore. And Jeconiah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and taken strange wives of the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law. Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also will be with thee. Be of good courage, and do it. Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word. And they swore. As we read the rest presently, shall we sing another hymn? Ninety-four. Ninety-four. A pilgrim through this lonely world, the blessed Saviour passed. A mourner through his life was he, the dying Lamb at last. Ninety-four. A pilgrim through this lonely world, the blessed Saviour passed. A mourner through his life was he, the dying Lamb at last. The tender heart which hath borne him, for all his life of years, he hath not, hath no resting place, save only in the grave. Such was the Lord, and shall be his, the cross with all his foes, O Lord, the faithless, feeble world, that we did draw it home. No place in all its boundless love, like it only doth give, we of good rest restore, for come, to yon celestial hill. There's no love with him who dies, to be a part of us, we return with our soul and head, his spirit dwell above. We notice at the end of chapter eight that they furthered the people and the house of God. Very good note to end up with, wasn't it? They furthered the people and the house of God. But now we find in chapter nine, that when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of thence. Have not separated themselves. Some people blame us, because we are separate. They say, you separate yourselves. We don't. God has separated those that are his from the world. On the very first page of the Bible, we find that there was darkness. God said, let there be light. And God made a distinction between the light and the darkness. The darkness he called night, the light he called day. When in Egypt, the people of Israel were under bondage to Pharaoh, God said, I have made a difference between my people and thy people. God had made the difference. God distinguished this in a very special way, by redeeming them from the power of Egypt, as we know, under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, and they were to keep the Passover feast ever after, to remind them that they were a separated people. Separated from Egypt. Separated too, from the people of the land to which God was going to bring them. We had here a whole list of the peoples of the land, there a whole list, and we find that these people were one and all idolaters. They had different gods, but all these gods were false gods. All these gods were gods of wood and stone and the sun and the moon and the stars. Nature gods, fertility gods, abominations, God says a whole lot, abominations. They were no gods at all. They were worshipping creatures instead of the true God, the Creator. And so God said, you are not to mingle with them. And in Deuteronomy especially we find Moses warning the people, when they came into the land, they were not to give their sons to the daughters of that land, nor to give their daughters to the sons of the people there. There was not to be intermarriage. They were not to ask even how these people worshipped their gods. Not even to ask questions about their worship. He said, the less you know about that the better, because you are the people of the Lord your God. How much more today, for those who are purchased with the precious blood of Christ, the truth of Passover land, how important it is for us to be separate. We are separate from the world that crucified our Lord. We have been singing about it, haven't we, what the world did to our blessed Lord. He was a stranger here. He went about doing good, but they didn't appreciate that. They cast him out and crucified him. If we are faithful, we too shall be cast out. And we wonder sometimes why we are allowed so much freedom in these wonderfully privileged countries in which we live, in Western Europe especially, we wonder why we are allowed to carry on. And perhaps one of the reasons may be that we can hardly be seen to be different from the people around about us. But God has distinguished his people. They are purchased people. Whether it were the Canaanites, or the Hittites, or the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, or the Amorites, all those nations, God had said, you are not to look at their idols, you are to destroy them. Destroy the people and their idols. Get rid of the whole lot. And now they have come back to the land, they have come back to Jerusalem. God has been kind to them and freed them from the bondage of Babylon. And what do we find? Corruption here. Corruption. They have corrupted themselves. They have gone after the gods of the people around about. So the first thing I gave a heading for this chapter 9 is the conviction. Conviction on the part of these people. They had to be convicted of the wrong position in which they were found. Many of the priests and the princes were chief in this trespass. Those that should have been an example to the people were the worst culprits. It often has been so in the history of Israel that the kings gave a very poor example and the people followed them. When there was a good king on the throne, they didn't all follow the good example. It's much easier to follow a bad example than a good one. And here we find that the priests and the princes, the rulers, have been the chief in this trespass. Even the priests and the Levites. It says here, they mingled themselves. They married wives. They had children that couldn't even speak. We find in Nehemiah they couldn't even speak the language in which God's law was read to them. It's terrible, isn't it? They couldn't even listen to the reading of God's word because they had a mixed language, partly Hebrew and partly of the countries from which these wives, these strange wives came. So it was a very solemn thing. They had to be convicted of their evil. Conviction is one thing, but we find here that they had to confess what they'd done. Confession is the next step. We may be convicted that the thing is wrong, but we have to confess it, don't we? That's what they're doing here. And this man was so full of the sense, what was due to God. We read that he was a ready scribe in the law of his God. His God. And we read in verse 3, When I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down and stoned it. Here was a man who was concerned about God's honor. He was concerned about what had happened to the people who were dishonoring the God of his fathers and their fathers. Are we concerned about these things? The other day we were looking at the ninth of Ezekiel where the judgment was set out over Jerusalem again. The remnant was there, and the man with the inkhorn was told to see if there was anyone that was concerned, one that sighed or grieved. What was happening? The abominations going after these very gods. If you look at the eighth chapter of Ezekiel, you'll find these very gods of these nations mentioned. It's not a pretty subject to look into, but they're mentioned there as a warning. And it shows us plainly that all these people that should have been leaders, even at that time, had turned away. And later, as they go back again, we find the same picture. The priests and the Levites, those that were separated for the service of God, they too have sunk so low. They married heathen wives and had children that didn't even know the words of the Lord. They couldn't listen to the reading of the law. How solemn, isn't it? How solemn when we think of the application to ourselves. How easy it is to compromise, being not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Plain enough, isn't it? Unequally yoked. Whether it is in marriage, whether it is in business, whether it is in friendships, we have to be so careful, don't we? Can we indulge in these things and not damage our own souls and damage the testimony? No, it's plainly taught us in the scripture, be not unequally yoked. And so these people had done this, and there were those, as he sat down before the temple, before the house of God, he mentions it, before the house of God, this was the place to be, then were assembled unto me, everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgressions of those that had been carried away. There were people, happily, who assembled to him because they had the same concern. Oh, isn't that good? It makes us think, doesn't it, of what happened 150 years ago in Jamaica and in Ireland, when people were concerned about the state of things in Christendom. They came together to weep and to pray and to confess the weakness and the things that were going on. And God raised up wonderful men of God, as we know, at that period. And we are pleased even to be able to read their writings, even if their voices have been still for a long time. It's good to know there were those who were concerned. They assembled together to a center. This was the place of the house of God, it was the center where God had chosen to put his name. That was the place to which they gathered because they were concerned about this. And at the time of the evening sacrifice, he said, I rose up from my heaviness, laid out my hands unto the Lord my God. They kept the sacrifices, the priests were there to do their duty, they brought the sacrifices, the smoke ascended from this evening sacrifice. That was all obedient to the word of God. But it's quite easy, isn't it, to sing the hymns. It's quite easy to come together and to use pious words even. And yet our heart can be far from God. We think of the Pharisees who quote the scriptures at length. They knew the scriptures by heart. And yet the Lord had to say, their hearts were far from God. They drew nigh with their lips. There's a great danger for us to be so easily drawn nigh with our lips. There's some beautiful hymns that we sing together, scriptures that we read together. And it comes so lightly off our tongue. And yet it's possible that in our heart we're not even really thinking what these words mean. I'm sure if we did take notice of what we were singing or what we were reading, it would have much more effect on our lives. It had an effect on these people's lives. They had to put things right. Before we find this confession, at the time of the evening sacrifice, he fell upon his knees and he spread out his hands unto the Lord his God. And he said, I'm ashamed. And I blushed, lift up my face to thee, my God. Our iniquities are increased over our head. Our trespasses have grown up unto the heavens. He recognized that they deserved all that had happened to them. They deserved to be taken away into captivity. But now God had given them a little respite. As for a little space, he said, grace has been showed from the Lord. To leave us a remnant to escape. We were bondmen. But now we've been brought here and we've come here to repair the house of God. We've been able to build this wall of Jerusalem. Now, verse 10, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandment which thou hast commanded. But I serve as the prophets. God had been good to them. If you read the similar chapter in Nehemiah, it's a wonderful chapter. The ninth of Nehemiah. It's interesting, these are easy to remember. Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel nine are wonderful prayers. In Nehemiah, there's a lengthy prayer there. When they confessed that God all through the centuries had been faithful, had been faithful, had been faithful. And they had been unfaithful all the way through. And even in the wilderness they had to confess. God never withheld the manna from them. Forty years long, in spite of their murmuring, God never withheld the manna. He never took away the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night. He gave them water in their thirst. Their feet didn't even get weary. Their clothes didn't wear out. All the wilderness journey. God was faithful. And they were unfaithful. What a confession that was. And often we need to come together, don't we, for confession. It's good to have these meetings. We've had many, as I can remember, times when in individual meetings, sometimes groups of meetings, felt the weight of things, saw the flippancy and the irreverence that was coming among us. We came together to pray, to fall upon our knees before God and pray and confess our weakness. God can raise us up if only we're ready to confess. Convicted of the failure, we confess our sins to him. We don't like using that word sometimes, sins. But they recognize it here as being sins. They were sins of omission, sometimes worse than sins of commission. We sometimes think, oh, we haven't done anything very wrong. No, we haven't done anything at all. We haven't been obedient. Then we've been disobedient. Very often God has to speak very sharply to us, to recall us. We've been lazy. Slothful. We've missed many opportunities of serving the Lord. He's given to us in his wonderful mercy. These are sins of omission that we also have to confess before him. And now grace has been showed. He says, we're bondsmen. And now what shall we say? What shall we say? We've forsaken thy commandments. What shall we say? We've forsaken thy commandments. And God says, they were not to mix with these people. We've plainly given them this commandment. All the way through he reads back from the book of Moses. He's still got these books there, and he could read it to these people there. The Bible tells us plainly, he says, how we should have behaved. We've done just the opposite. As good as it is to have confession. When we come to the next chapter, we find there's correction. They start putting the matter right. It's never very easy. There's a terrible lot to clear up. I think of Nehemiah again, where he went to view the walls. He went by night, just on his own, to go around and see what the state of things was. And he couldn't even get through. There was so much rubbish. Can't we say that about many of our lives? My daughter was telling us, after 20 years away from the Lord, I couldn't believe it when she phoned me up on Sunday evening. She said, Dad, you've been praying for me. I said, I always pray for you, Corrie. She said, I've been to church today. I started reading my Bible and praying. We've been praying for her for years. 20 years we've been praying for her. We couldn't take it in when she said, what a mess I've made of my life. What a mess to clear up. What a terrible mess I've made of it. Confession. Putting it right is going to be a hard job. A very hard job. There are things that have been done that can't be undone. And this is so in assemblies. It's so in our personal lives. And I bet every one of us can look at something that says, yes, that must be confessed. That must be confessed. It will be put away. Bad habits. The critical spirit. Oh, it's so easy to criticize each other. The chattering, slandering spirit that comes into things. People used to have to write letters in the old days. Now they can grab the telephone. And somebody's character can be ruined in one evening with a few telephone calls. Friends and brethren can be separated by a slanderous tongue. These are things that need to be confessed and put away. It's very hard to put the things right. These people were determined to do it. They were determined to put it right. So they came together, these people, when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, then assembled unto him out of all Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children. These are whole families coming to put it right. It's a good thing when we become as families to put things right. We sometimes blame the young people, but many of us that are older haven't given a good example and don't give a good example. We don't give a good example. It's very sad when we see people like Solomon, who began so well, such a promising life. At the end of his life, he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. It appeared to him twice. He turned to all the prods and the bribes that he'd married. If he'd only been obedient to the word of God, he would have made a copy at the end of Deuteronomy 17 every day from that copy. He couldn't have done that or he wouldn't have multiplied wives. He wouldn't have multiplied horses. He wouldn't have gone down to Egypt. He wouldn't have multiplied gold and silver so that it was like sawdust in the city of Jerusalem. He did all the things he shouldn't have done. That was a man to whom God had revealed himself twice and spoken personally to him. A man who was wiser. It was the very end of Nehemiah, wiser than all the other kings of the earth. Yet he, through these heathen wives, his heart was turned away from the Lord. It may not be our wife that turns us away from the Lord or our husband. There are other things. Sometimes our children. Sometimes our friendships that turn us away from the heart of the Lord. Sometimes our hobbies, even, that may take up too much of our time. All sorts of things can come between us and the Lord. And these have to be put right. Confessed. And put away. They are interfering with our service of God. Cut it out. Get rid of it. That's the word of God, isn't it? So it says here, We'll be with thee. We'll be with thee. It's good, isn't it? We'll be with thee. Be of good courage and do it. It's going to be done according to the law. Not according to their own ideas. It's according to the law. And so we read in verse 5 of chapter 10, Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johannan, the son of Eliashib, a priest. And when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water, for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. He mourned. He meant it. It wasn't just words. He didn't eat bread. He didn't drink any water. He was so concerned for the honor of God. He wanted to see God's worship restored. And everything that would interfere with that, put away. Because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. And so they made this proclamation, Throughout Judah and Jerusalem, unto all the children of the captivity, they shall gather themselves together unto Jerusalem, and whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance shall be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that have been carried away. That's drastic, isn't it? You've got three days to appear before the temple of God, and put this matter right. If you don't come within three days, you lose your substance, you'll be separated from the congregation of God's people. It's very sad when a person has to be put out of fellowship. It's a terrible thing. It's a very solemn occasion when these things have been allowed and have to be put right. It's very difficult sometimes to know where to begin. These people were drastic. They said, we've got three days to do all this business. I wonder what would happen if we had an ultimatum like that. My wife had a very good solution to some of the problems we've been coming up against in Holland. She said those two brothers ought to be put into a room, and not to come out, given no food, no water, no drink, and not to come out until they put it right. It's not a bad idea, I think. Sometimes we're a bit too easy, aren't we? Sometimes. It's not our table. We gather around the blessed Lord himself. We are called by his name. We are members of his body, and his interests should be our interests. These people here recognised this matter had to be done at once. If anybody wasn't ready in three days, you've got three whole days to get ready. If you don't come in three days, you're out. I think if we had something like that, if the Lord told us, I want you to put your matters right in three days, I think we should have something to say or something to do. But here they took it seriously and said, Judah and Benjamin gather together unto Jerusalem within three days. They meant business. They weren't going to lose all their property. They weren't going to be cut off from all the blessings of God's people. They said, we'll come. We'll put the matter right straight away. If only that could be done. I think of three very sore spots that I pray about every day. Three meetings where the brothers have quarrelled and will not put it right. And those follow him, and those follow him. And there are separations, splits in these assemblies that should never have been. And the brothers have forgotten what it was all about. I'm sure it all happened so long ago. They've forgotten what the quarrel was. They still go on saying, I'm right. No, I'm right. I'm right. If only they'd come together and kneel before the Lord. A brother was saying to us, one of the Catholic lectures, you remember someone saying, we should see our brother in Christ, or our sister in Christ, as though the next moment we were going together to be with the Lord. Do you think we'd be quarrelling then? Of course not. These people came together, it says here, in the ninth month and twentieth day of the month. They noted it on their calendar. It was an important day. They sat in the street of the house of God. It was pouring with rain. They sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. They meant business. They were content to sit in the rain, to put this matter right. It took a very long time. We find it was right until the first day of the tenth month. They were busy in it. It didn't get clear until the first day of the first month. They were months and months on this business, putting it right. But they did put it right. They did attend to it. They got it all done. We find this whole list then, of these people. It says here, in verse twelve, all the congregation answered and said as thou hast said, so must we do. They recognized this was the only thing that could be done. It was a painful situation. It was going to be a painful process to put these wives away, to get rid of these children that they'd been gotten in heathen land. It's going to cost a great deal for us, every one of us, to put the matters right. But it's worth it because God was waiting to bless them, waiting to open the windows of heaven, as he says later on, to pour out such a blessing there wouldn't be room enough to receive it, if only. They meant business. And so they did mean business. Now they said, well, let all who have taken strange wives come at the appointed times and with them the elders of every city and the judges thereof were not going to wait any longer. They were going to see that it was done before the judgment of God fell upon them. We know the judgment must begin at the house of God. We read that in Ezekiel again. We read of those elders, the Sanhedrin, who turned their back on the temple of God. And the judgment began with those very men, who had been judged. They hadn't mourned about this matter. They were guilty. And so we find here that people took it seriously as it says, so must we do. But the people are many. This is a time of much rain and we are not able to stand without. Nor is this a work of one day or two. We are many who have taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. They made an end. They got the matter finished. They completed it all. They put the whole matter right. They weren't content with half measures. They weren't content with compromise. They dealt with the whole lot and it took them all these months to make sure it was done. And they had taken strange wives. Their names are even given here. They gave their hand as they had promised faithfully that they would put away their wives and being guilty they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass. The priests, those who should have been interceding for the people were themselves guilty. It's very solemn, isn't it? That's why it's very solemn. We walk from the Lord how we need to be careful. Walk carefully how we need day by day to be before the Lord. Humbly confessing anything that may be out of place, being reminded by the Spirit of God those things that are dishonouring to him how we need to pray. We have many brethren on the mission field. We have many labourers on the home field. Do we pray for them? They need our prayers. They need our prayers all the time. They're the targets for the enemy. These priests were the target for the enemy. If only he could make them fail then the people would fail. If the priest brought the hands, these hands that were in the service of God were guilty hands. These feet that trod the courts of God were treading heathen courts. They were defiling the house of God. How solemn it is when we think of the responsibility of any that are given a task however humble, however great it may be in the assembly of God the church of the living God how we do need to watch our step how we need to be before the Lord day by day putting things right straight away if we see anything our attention is drawn to anything that's not in accordance with his word it's got to be done according to his word in obedience to him not grieving the spirit or quenching the spirit. Oh how sad it is when we look back many very promising believers that we knew that have stranded on the way reminded of the crossing to the crossing of the channel where you see the Goodwin Sands all those masts sticking up out of the water it's an awful sight those were gallant ships that missed their way and landed on the Goodwin Sands a warning to others don't cross the channel don't come here don't come near these sands and how many lives in our experience have been like that promising young men and young women I think one particular two particularly I used to visit sisters that wanted to serve the Lord on the mission field and how sad the end of those sisters right away from the Lord one was absolutely a slave of bad habits married an unbeliever went down down down and died quite young the other right into the world and yet they were both both candidates for the mission field and serving the Lord with diligence when they were young and yet something went wrong in their life they didn't watch their step one thing went to another and they are wrecks wrecks to warn us how solemn it is if we are desires and I trust we are all desires of serving the living and the true God help us to have clean hands clean hearts clean feet to walk in his ways these priests pedigree we notice because they were so mixed up with these others it says here they were guilty being guilty they offered a ram of the flock for the trespass they were guilty but they owned their guilt that's a wonderful thing our God is gracious if we only are ready to confess he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins those who lived here those of the Levites too were there and even of the singers it's sad too isn't it we are looking at the singers that were there those who were ready to sing the praises of God yet even among the singers there were those that had taken strange wives perhaps they were singing still perhaps they were singing the songs of Zion still somewhere in their thoughts were the gods of the wives they'd married somewhere in their house there was an idol may not have been a visible idol but there was an idol there isn't it solemn to think of the singers it's wonderful to have a voice that we can use for God and I'm very grateful sometimes to listen to some people that God to sing this hymns and to praise God in song it's wonderful that God has given this task to some and we're very grateful for those that can serve God in this way but they too they too can do it in such a way that their heart is not in it just as we say we can sing the hymns and sometimes hardly know what words we have sung they're a beautiful voice and somebody said aren't you touched when you sing those words no not really I've sung it so often what? he is despised and rejected of men she sang it with such fervour oh it's just one of the things I sang singers these were singers but the only song that reaches the Lord is that from the heart isn't it we were cheering up our saints and Mary said well it sounds awful to me I said well if it comes from the heart the Lord appreciates the best we can do and it's nice to see those saints there gathered and once a month they come together to practice the hymns from the hymn book and try to get the tunes right and God appreciates I think that little witness for himself in that village everybody knows that just a little group of people listening outside it's far more important than to sing beautifully isn't it these singers had married strange wives and some of them had wives by whom they'd had children there were children of the singers that were heathens children of the singers children of those that there were in the service of the temple and they were strangers yes some of us have to hang our heads in shame don't we don't we have to forgive the sad state of things and we do need to pray for our children our grandchildren we do need to pray for each other we do need to pray that God may even yet be glorified in these last and closing days as we wait for the return of our blessed Lord so we've seen in this outline I'll just refer again to the little outline we made here we came to the city in the first case because of Cyrus decree we saw the discouragement we saw how the enemy sought to work with them but they couldn't they were separated then we found there was opposition then Haggai and Zechariah prophesied and so they began to build and finally it was finished as we saw and then another generation came up and so it's good to see that there is after sometimes a long period again a revival there is again a consideration of God's interest and that is the key to this particular place and then we found there was conviction there was confession and there was a correction of these things that had gone wrong and so it's good to know these people gathered together in spite of the rain they were ready to put things right maybe too in their own lives in assembly life too be ready to be obedient to the word of God we expect the Lord any moment don't we how wonderful it would be if he found us in true brotherly love obedient to his word holding fast that which is good may we be found so for his namesake …