Let's turn in our Bibles now to the book of Ezra, chapter 4.
We have not been together in the book of Ezra for a couple of
weeks now, so I think it will be helpful to refresh our memories
of where we are in the study. The. 1st wave of exiles have
returned and established themselves back home.
They did not wait very long to re established the brazen altar,
to offer right sacrifices and to even lay the foundation of the
temple down. Now the site of this progress
got mixed reactions from the remnant.
The younger generation rejoiced those who lived long enough,
however. To see the grandeur in the
splendor of Solomon's temple. Interestingly, strangely,
perhaps wept, they could not help but compare the glory of
the former temple with the, in their perception, inferior
quality of this newer structure. And so they were broken about
it. And what you?
Had at the end of Ezra chapter 3 is this mingling of sounds.
You had the shouts of praise from the younger and from the
seasoned Saints. You had sorrow and weeping.
But as we're about to discover in this new chapter, there is
also going to be reactions from a different group of people.
They have been relatively quiet since the Exiles have returned
to the Promised Land, but that's about to change.
And what we are going to discover in this new chapter is
that the response of this particular group is not only
disturbing. It's actually quite dangerous.
And that really sets up the main theme of this section of
Scripture, and we can really summarize it in one word,
opposition. Ezra chapter 4 is about
opposition. And I want to show you how
that's not something that's inferred or imposed.
That's actually what the author intends to convey.
And so if you're there in Ezra chapter 4, skip over to verse 7
for a moment. This is after Ezra describes how
this first group of returnees experienced many obstacles in
their attempt to rebuild the temple.
Ezra in verse 7 is going to Fast forward in time, and he is going
to bring to our attention a letter written by the enemies of
the Jews to a. King, who comes much later in
the story. Look at it with me very quickly
in verse 7. In the days of Artaxerxes,
Bishlam and Mithridath and Tabil and the rest of their associates
wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.
Now Scroll down to verse 16 because verse 16 really gives us
the essence of this letter of accusation.
We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its
walls finished, you will then have no possession in the
province beyond the river. This is strange.
Why? Because at this moment in Ezra's
timeline, the Jews are nowhere near rebuilding the city or
resurrecting the walls. They just finished laying down
the foundation of the House of God.
So what is Ezra doing here by including this document that
comes way down the line with a different king who rises the
power far down in the chronology of the story and inserts it
here? Well, here's what you have.
Ezra is not concerned by providing us his book with
strict chronology. Instead, he actually wants to
emphasize a theme, and the theme is clear, the opposition that
these exiles face in their attempt, in their pursuit of
glorifying and obeying God. So what Ezra is doing is he's
reaching into the future because he's writing this as a
historian. And now he compiles this text
together to show us that these exiles not only faced obstacles
when they return and rebuilt the temple, but also as they
continued to restore all things. So this opposition, it, it began
under the reign of Cyrus, it continued during Darius, and it
extended even in the days of Azuris and Artaxerxes.
And you have to be mindful of that because not just in Ezra,
but in different parts of the Bible, there will be moments
when the author doesn't honor the chronology and instead wants
to present a. Theme.
And so he will bring things in that at first glance may seem
contradictory or a mistake, when in fact that's how many of these
ancient authors put together their information.
And so with this in mind, this is how we can understand this
chapter. Opposition is what?
The people of God should always expect in their desire to stand
for what is right and to obey what God has revealed.
And this is something that we are going to look at.
This is going to be to our benefit because opposition is an
ongoing reality even for the church.
And so as we come to this text, we are going to realize that
the. Evil 1 is determined to resist,
and he is determined to fight as long as you are committed to
living for the advancement of God's purposes.
But his consistency in this regard is not the only.
Thing that's on display, we also find in this chapter his
craftiness. Here's how we're going to
organize our thoughts. We're going to look at six
strategies, 6 devices, 6 schemes that Satan often employs in
order to hinder and harass the efforts of God's people to build
his house. Now this is going to be applied
on a corporate level, but it can be also understood and
experienced on an individual basis.
So, so be mindful of that. And though Satan does not
explicitly mention in this text, his fingerprints are all over
it. And we can find throughout the
Bible how he has a similar playbook to what we find here in
this portrait. And so we're going to begin by
looking at the first scheme by reading Ezra chapter 4 one to
three. And we'll continue from there on
and seek to accomplish reading and explaining this entire text.
And when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that
the return exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of
Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of
Father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for
we worship your God as you do. And we have been sacrificing to
them ever since the days of Essar Haddon, king of Assyria,
who brought us here. But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the
rest of the heads of Father's houses in Israel said to them,
You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God,
but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King
Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.
Can we pray together and ask for the Lord's help?
Lord, the words of the apostle Paul come to mind where he said,
But this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and
straining forth to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
And Lord, we pray that you would use this study to help each of
us press on, to help us continue steadfastly in humility, in
dependency on you, with joy as we sang about unspeakable joy.
We pray that you would use this time to help us imitate this man
of God who said follow me as I follow Christ.
So though we we yield now and we ask for you to guide us through
every verse in this chapter, believing that you will speak to
our hearts. We pray these things in the name
of the living Christ. Amen and Amen. 6 schemes that
you and I have to be aware of if we really want to withstand all
that Satan would throw at us to thwart or to derail us from what
God has called us to do #1 compromise.
Compromise. That's quite obvious, is it not?
But not to some. There are those who look at the
response of the leaders in Judah here in the first few verses and
feel as though it was a little harsh, maybe insensitive, and
even unnecessary. Here you are moving back into
the neighborhood. There are still inhabitants in
the land. I think it would be good to not
just build a temple, but maybe build relationships, a foster
harmony, maybe even build some kind of alliance on top of that.
You can use some help exiles and they're willing to offer it.
Now, that might be a debatable thing if the author had not
included the detail in the beginning of this chapter.
Plain and clear. Whatever assumed innocence there
might be on the part of this group of representatives who
approach the Exiles, all of that is quickly dismissed by the fact
that we're told that they are the adversaries of Judah and
Benjamin. These are not friends, nor are
they friendly. We know from the beginning that
these residents have not come to help, that we can actually
question their motives because we're told that they're enemies
of God's people. So whatever they're presenting
here as a veneer, we have every right to see that this is
actually a veiled sabotage. This is something sketchy, this
is something to question. And the way that they're
actually going to try to take advantage and hijack the
resurrection of this temple is by trying to convince these
exiles to form an unholy alliance.
There's no hint here that they're going to physically
assault or damage the structure. That would actually be a foolish
move because they have some knowledge that the King of
Persia gave them permission and even the funds to actually build
it. So what are they going to do
instead? They're going to try to
contaminate the House of God. And we can confirm this further
when we understand the origins of these adversaries.
Where do they come from? Well, we have a clue here in
verse two. Look at it again at the end they
said, and we have been sacrificing him ever since the
days of Sr. Haddon, king of Syria, who
brought us here. So we studied second kings
together, 1st and 2nd kings. And we remember that before the
Babylonian invasion of the people of Judah and Benjamin,
there was an Assyrian invasion that removed the northern
Kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel.
But we also studied that not only were these tribes removed
from their land, but they were replaced.
And this was a common strategy of the Assyrian Empire.
It was a way of disorienting and demoralizing their captives.
They would take them from one place and put them in another
country, and from this country they would remove them and place
them into this region. And that's what they did with
the Israelites. They removed many of them, and
then they replaced them, according to Second King 1724,
with men and women from Babylon and Kuthan, Ava, Hemeth and
Sephirvaiam. And they settled in these vacant
cities in Israel. But these new residents realize
that there is a God of Israel, and so the Syrian leadership
sends back one of their priests to teach him about the God of
Israel. We learned that they attempt to
worship him, but their worship towards the true God was not
pure worship. Listen to this verse, it's very
important. It's actually worth putting in
your margin here in Ezra 4 in Second Kings 17 verse 33 it
reads. So they feared the Lord, but
also served their own gods after the manner of the nations from
among. Whom they had been carried away,
so they. Devoted themselves to Yahweh,
but they place them on the same level as other deities.
Here's why all of this matters. What you have here in Ezra
chapter. Four are the descendants of
these idolaters. These are the descendants of
those who were placed in the land of Israel and remained ever
since, who would later become known as who the Samaritans.
So this is a generational problem, actually.
It doesn't begin here and it won't end here.
But here's the point that we want to we want to understand if
they had assimilated with these exiles who had returned, it
would have proved to be disastrous for the spiritual
life and testimony of this people.
So many other temptations would have opened up.
You can imagine what kind of demands they would make on the
people of Judah had they helped build the temple.
Well, we helped you. So we want these rights and we
want to worship in this way. Or maybe it would have been less
threatening than that and there would have been intermarriage.
It would have been. Dangerous.
Had they accepted this offer? Here's a lesson for us to
consider. One of Satan's most prominent
devices in getting the church to accept and partner with
falsehood under the guise of honoring God and looking out for
the interests of his people is exemplified here.
And he wears many pleasant masks.
And he offers many ways of fulfilling supposed needs that
we might have in order to be more convincing.
And here's how you and I can protect ourselves from listen.
Dangerous friendships, regretful partnerships, heartbreaking
marriages, and even compromised ministries.
It's not by simply asking those who present themselves to us if
they worship God. That's not enough.
Do you worship the true God? And do you worship the true God
alone? That's what we have to ask.
That's what we have to discern. So you say you believe in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. What do you believe about it?
Don't just tell me you believe in the gospel.
What? Gospel do you believe in?
You tell me that you submit to the word of God.
OK, To what degree and on what issues?
There's a lot of people who pay lip service to the Bible, but is
it the whole Bible? Is it part of the Bible?
You know, there are many people who are teaching in seminars
that don't believe that there's a single miracle in the Bible,
but they'll say they teach the Bible.
OK, what about it? OK, you claim to be a part of
the Church of Jesus Christ and that your church is worshipping
God. To what degree does the church
that you are a part of submit to the word of God?
And how much of your worship is actually instructed by the
principles of the scriptures? See, they, they approached the
Exiles and says we worship the same God as you.
And many people are making the same claim.
And here's the thing though. Those who actually profess
devotion to God oftentimes will expose themselves how by the way
that they live for him. And you find that even here,
what do they say? They said here that they worship
the same God and that they have been sacrificing to him ever
since that they were brought into the land through the
Assyrians. Here's a question.
How did you sacrifice to God when you had no altar or no
temple? Good question, right?
I think so. So you see there are false and
compromised worshippers who sometimes expose themselves and
if they're very clever, it takes a little bit of time.
So I know this may hard may be hard to believe, but you have to
know it that there are many who affirm a desire to honor God and
even build for God but have ulterior motives.
They have selfish agendas in mind.
They are harboring something else that is not in alignment
with the truth. They're out there, and they're
bold enough to even step foot into the Church of Christ and
claim that they are an ally and they're not.
And that's why each of us has to possess discernment and courage
unless we succumb to syncretism. That's you and I.
Open ourselves up to an infiltration of those who have
different ideas and can even harm what we want to protect.
And praise God, these leaders had it.
Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the others, they can smell it from a
mile away. They didn't entertain it for a
moment. They saw right through all the
facade and all the verbiage and all the supposed niceness.
They said no way. We are the pure breed.
We worship the true God. You don't.
And we have nothing to do with you in terms of working together
for the glory of God. This belongs to us and to us
alone. And here's where those who
promote ecumenical philosophies in the name of love, in the name
of Christian unity need to keep this in mind.
Because we see something here exemplary with Zerubbabel, but I
see something with a descendant of Zerubbabel known as Jesus
Christ. You understand that he himself
is a descendant of Zerubbabel, right?
And now only is he from this royal line.
He also had a conversation with a Samaritan.
And yes, Christ is filled with grace and emanating glory and
oozing compassion, but with this woman who is beaten and battered
by her own people, who is ostracized by her culture, when
Christ approached her, that was scandalous enough.
He never compromised in her pursuit, in His pursuit to win
her. You understand that, right?
They had a conversation about many things and one of the main
things was worship. And do you remember what Jesus
said in John 4 verse 22? Let me remind you, He says to
this Samaritan, a descendant of the same group that approached
Zerubbabel, you worship what you do not know.
We worship what we know, for salvation comes from the Jews.
He's drawing a line here. He's making something very
clear. In his desire and in his
endeavor to win her heart, he never compromised.
He says you don't worship the truth.
You don't we do. We have the truth because
salvation has come to the Jews. So this is this is something we
even see in our Lord and our Savior that when something's
false, he was willing to call it false and he wasn't unloving.
That's the most loving thing you can actually do.
And he didn't. Bend and he didn't massage and
he didn't twist and he didn't dilute anything to to try to
allure and to try to win. No, no, no.
He's stuck with the truth. He believed that it was powerful
enough to set the hearts of people who are captives free and
he proved it. He proved it.
But Satan loves to to come and to.
Present himself in a way that seems unharmful, that seems even
optimistic, that seems even fruitful, when in fact it's
compromised. Be aware of that.
But if he can't get God's people to compromise, he will find ways
to discourage. He will find ways to discourage
us in our pursuit of righteousness.
That's the next plan of action in our passage here.
Let's look at verse 4 together. Now then the people of the land
discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose.
All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of
Darius king of Persia, discouraged.
So the original word actually. Conveys the idea of sinking down
and letting go or relaxing, which is often what you see in
someone who continues in a disheartened state.
Dejection is one of the most common temptations implemented
to weaken Christians in their service to the Lord or to even
just give up altogether. It has claimed many victims.
It has hindered many, many men and women of God.
And though we are not explicitly told how or what they said to
discourage these exiles, we might have an idea from a
different part of the Bible. Nehemiah's own experience is
very similar to that of this first group of exiles.
Nehemiah will be the leader of the third wave of exiles 1/3 in
the final wave and as he sought to rebuild the walls.
You almost have a copy paste of what you find here in his book I
Want You. To see what happens in Nehemiah
chapter 4, let's go with it together in Nehemiah chapter 4,
beginning in verse one. Remember, Nehemiah comes many,
many years after Zerubbabel and Joshua between the. 1st wave and
the third wave you have a span of 90 to 100 years.
But all the tactics of the evil one do not change.
Look at Nehemiah chapter 4, verse one.
Now when Sanballat heard that they were building the wall, he
was very angry and greatly enraged, and jeered at the Jews.
And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of
Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing?
Will they restore for themselves?
Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day?
Will they revive the stones out of these heaps of rubbish, and
burned ones at that, to buy the Ammonite was beside him, and he
said, yes, what are they building?
If a fox goes up on it, he will break down their Stonewall.
So let's point out a few things of this mockery and this
scornful verbal attack. The first thing that Sambala
does here in terms of his discouragement is that he
targets the condition of the Jews.
What are these feeble Jews doing?
So he, he, he. Wants to under score their
weakness, their inability that they're unqualified, that
they're they're uncapable in themselves to actually do
anything of worth. Another tactic you use is to
emphasize the unlikelihood of finishing it in a reasonable
time. Will they finish up in a day?
What do you guys are actually going to do?
How do you think you're going to actually do this?
You think you're going to do it in your lifetime?
Who knows how they added to that?
Most of you won't even be alive to see half of this build.
You can only imagine. Finally, he underscores the
magnitude of the damage as just to suggest that this, this whole
thing is not even worth it. Your, your efforts are a waste.
Those are you going to revive these stones out of the heap?
These are burn stones, maybe even showing them their lack of
resources. This is all pointless.
If it wasn't disheartening enough, you got this.
Tobiah the Ammonite who chimes in, and what does he do?
He attacks the quality and the effectiveness of the work.
Even if you were to build it, if a little fox walked on this
wall, it would just crumble. So I want to suggest to you that
these seeds of doubt by these men are no different from the
thoughts that frequently arise in the hearts of servants of God
today. You're too weak to accomplish
anything. You're now you're not going to
be able to achieve anything significant or realistic amount
of time anyway. You're too old, you got saved
too late, you wasted most of your life.
Oh you have these big dreams to serve God, huh?
Be realistic. You don't have the resources to
even do anything. Where?
Where are your partners? Who's going to support you?
And even if you do, is it really even going to matter?
Is it going to have an impact? Is it going to bless people?
Nobody knows your name. But Nehemiah here shows us at
least one thing that we have to do in order to prevent these
seeds from taking root in our hearts.
Look at verse 4 of Nehemiah 4. In the middle of this journal
entry. He he breaks out into prayer.
Hear, O our God, for we are despised.
Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be
plundered in a land where they are captives.
What an example, what an instruction for us that when
voices internally, even externally ambush your faith,
you take every threat, every criticism, and you go to the
Lord and you lay it at his feet and say, Lord, you do something
with this. There are times where you have
to respond to people and there are other times you give it to
God and let him respond to them. And you have to develop a
discernment to know when. There are times where Paul spoke
up in defense of his credentials as an apostle, and there are
other times where you don't say anything because it's a waste of
time and energy. Nehemiah, at this point, he
comes straight into the presence of God and he says, Lord, you
deal with these lies. I refuse to believe them.
Be aware, believer, that discouragement is one of Satan's
favorite weapons to deflate us in our faithfulness.
Let's come back to our main tanks and look at the third
scheme that Satan will employ to stop us from building something
for God. It's in the same.
Verse Verse 4 The people of the land discouraged the people of
Judah and made them. Afraid.
That's point #3 fear. Satan loves fear.
And again, like the discouragement, we aren't given
the exact details of his fearful tactics.
But what is clear is that if the enemy cannot discourage you, he
will seek to intimidate you, to frighten you, to make you second
guess, to make you reconsider. And if you and I want to be a
church that is prepared to make a difference, we also have to be
prepared that Satan has his vessels, his instruments, his
tools to threaten you. If you dare to expand or you
dare to reach out and do greater things for God.
Many years ago, I knew of a church that wanted to equip the
members of how to defend and how to evangelize Muslims.
And so they just started, if my memory serves me right, they did
one evening service. They had evening services and
then the second one came along the second week and I was told
this that they had received, I don't remember if it was an
e-mail or a YouTube comment from an anonymous individual that
said because you were speaking against Islam, I will come and
bomb this church. What do you think that church
did? They didn't delete the comment.
They deleted their videos and they stopped that series of
teachings in Islam. What did it take?
All it took was an anonymous comment from somebody
threatening them to snuff out that light that could have built
up the church and even opened the eyes of those in.
Darkness. That's all it took.
You know, for other ministers, it doesn't even take that much.
Sometimes it just takes some bad Google reviews to reconsider
their biblical methods. That's all.
It takes a thumbs down on your Facebook page for them to have a
meeting. Well, what do we do?
You can't, you can't even entertain the thought of doing
something significant for the Kingdom of God if you are a
fearful Christian. Yes, I understand that there is
wisdom, but a lot of things that people say is wisdom is actually
cowardly fear. And you and I have to decide
we're either going to be a ministry that's going to
interpret things like I just gave as an example to say we
must be doing something right, or allow fear to convince us
that the work is not worth the risk.
I refuse the latter. I refuse the latter because if
you understand how the enemy operates, that you are better
prepared when fear comes knocking in your pursuit of
obedience to Christ. Fear.
I wonder what they said to them. We're not told, but we come to
the fourth point here in verse 5 of Ezra 4.
And bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose.
All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of
Darius, king of. Persia, Frustrate, frustration.
This phrase really struck me as I was meditating on it because
the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin went so far as to
actually hire people to actually pay.
People to counsel against the remnant from building the
temple. This could have been done by
people actually going into the community of faith and advising
them why it's not smart and and maybe they should reconsider.
It could have been sowing discord among the group, but
what's even more likely is that they went out to those who
partnered with the Exiles and tried to persuade them to
reconsider their investments. So you remember back in Ezra 3
seven that this same group received a grant from Cyrus to
do what? Hire the Lebanese workers and
and cedar from Lebanon to build a temple.
And it could be that these same counselors that were bribed even
went out to the Persian courts and spoke to officials and
governors and leaders to maybe change the amount of money that
they're giving to put into different use or to even just
stop the flow of funds altogether.
We don't know. But all we do know is that,
listen, they were so filled with hatred that they were willing to
to reach into their pockets and actually make expenses in order
to stop what God was doing. That should convict us.
These, these were so opposed to righteousness that they were
willing to spend their own resources to stop this thing
being built for God. They bribed these counselors.
How much do you have to despise something or someone to do that?
People love money. They're willing to hold on to
every penny if they could. But for these adversaries to
actually make payments says volumes about their passion.
And on the other hand, you have some Christians who love money
in their possessions more than fulfilling their part to support
God's work. It's a convicting thought.
Here you have Satan's representatives willing to
spend, to hinder, I don't know, just talking about money.
I'm talking about our time, our energy, our efforts.
This is just another illustration, at least for me as
I read it, of how it's possible for those who serve darkness to
outshine those who serve the light in their commitment and
determination for their 'cause God forbid.
Frustration. They they try to make things
more difficult, they try to actually hinder and divide this
group. Whispers from inside, whispering
outside, and now we come to our fifth tactic and it really takes
up most of this chapter. And I labeled it defamation.
Defamation. Look at verse 6.
Now remember Ezra now is fast forwarding in time.
This is a parenthetical part of Ezra chapter 4.
He stops the chronology. And he now inserts something
from the future because again, he's trying to present and
emphasize a theme. The theme is opposition.
Look what God's people had to go through.
And so he goes to what? Look at verse 6.
And in the reign of Asuras, in the beginning of his reign, they
wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and
Jerusalem. So now they're slandering.
Now they're actually putting together letters and and
arguments, and they're trying to compile evidence to try to put
an end to this endeavor. And so they reach out to the
Asuras. This is the same Asuras, by the
way, who is ruling and reigning. The world at the time?
In the days of who? Does anybody remember Esther the
same as Asuras and Esther? And doesn't seem like he gave
any attention to it. But it didn't stop this group.
The resilience of these foes is evident in verse 7.
So what did they do? They sent another letter in the
days of Arctic Xerxes showing us that they were not deterred all
again, all that believers would have this kind of commitment
assures didn't answer them. So what do they do?
I just let him build it. No, we're going to wait for the
next king to come up and this is a new opportunity and we're
going to jump on it because he's a fresh mind.
He's removed from the actual historical elements of it, and
we can inform him so that we can actually gain what we're trying
to accomplish. So he's giving us a glimpse of
the future and he's showing us here that even after the temple
was completed, opposition didn't end.
The Samaritans continue to harass and to.
Prick this remnant even as they sought to rebuild the city and
the walls. And as we read this letter, now
we're going to notice some features of satanic slander, how
the devil will actually malign our reputation.
If you're able to overcome compromise and you're able to
conquer discouragement, and you're not given to fear.
And you're not easily agitated by circumstances when there's
things happening in the background that are trying to
frustrate your commitment to the things of God.
Be ready. Listen carefully.
Be ready for your reputation to be dragged.
And to be bruised by those who hate what you do for God.
Let's begin. I want us to rehear verse 7 down
to verse 12. In the days of Artaxerxes,
Bishlam and Mithridath and Tabil and the rest of their associates
wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
The letter was written Aramaic and translated.
Rehab the commander and Shimshi the scribe wrote a letter
against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows.
Rehab the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of
their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials,
the Persians, the men of Iraq, the Babylonians, the men of
Susa, that is the Elamites. Wow.
Pause there. Like who's left?
Everybody you can think of is behind this letter.
Let's go on. And the men of Susa, that is,
the Elamites and the rest of the nations, whom the great noble
Asanapar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria, and in
the rest of the province beyond the river.
This is a copy of the letter that they sent to Arctic Xerxes.
The king, your servants, the men of the province beyond the
river, send greeting. And now, being known to the king
that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to
Jerusalem, they are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city.
They're finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.
See how they call? Jerusalem, what they call
Jerusalem, a rebellious and wicked city.
That might have been true of their past, but this is a
chastened, renewed, redeemed generation.
It no longer applies to them. And yet they were characterized
as evil even in their obedience. Be prepared to be deemed evil,
unrighteous, unloving. Fill in the blank
mischaracterized for doing what was right.
But look at the second part of verse 12.
There might be an element of exaggeration here since they
mentioned how they were finishing the walls and
repairing the foundations. If this letter was put together
before Nehemiah, which is likely the case, then these reports
were likely overstatements. They were inflated.
To make the situation seem more dire and urgent.
O king, did you not realize they're almost done?
They have the walls up the city, the foundations are there.
It's about to get very ugly for you, Artaxerxes.
So there might be exaggeration here.
In order to make their case more convincing, more dramatic.
Be prepared, servant of Christ, for others to exaggerate about
your shortcomings or suppose it flaws.
Or situations or circumstances that make you look bad, that
make you look unfair, make you look unwise.
We all. Have this, humans have this,
that when we want to try to persuade or to convey something,
we rely on exaggeration, not even realize it.
You might have seen this too. You might have heard this where
there might be even a complaint of the church or somebody might
be saying something and they say, well, many are saying when
you actually ask, OK, who? It's like one or two people, but
it sounded like a multitude. Many, many.
Well, what do you mean many? Like who?
Exaggeration. This is what we find here
potentially. But look at verse 13.
What do they say here? They go on from there to say now
be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the
walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll and
the royal revenue will be impaired.
You're assuming now these are just now plain lies.
This is speculation. There is.
No evidence whatsoever that if the people had restored
themselves that they would refrain from giving their
tribute to the king. In fact, you actually see the
opposite in Nehemiah. Nehemiah, as a leader maintained
honor and respect to their overseers and their rulers as
they continue to do what God called them to do.
But at this point, they're just now just accusing they're,
they're actually assuming the motives of this remnant and then
projecting it as fact. And I said this earlier about
Paul, that he had to face that more than one occasion in his
letters, we see that the Corinthians, the Corinthians
were being seduced by false teachers.
And one of the accusations that they were making against Paul
was, you know, this man Paul, he's just preaching for money.
He wants financial gain. He's taking advantage of you.
And Paul had to lower himself and say, I can't believe I'm
doing this. I feel like a fool.
Let me tell you how I'm not doing this for money.
Let me remind you how it came freely to you.
Let me remind you that I actually had to reserve my
Apostolic right to win you and to free myself from any
potential accusation. So you find this.
You find this consistently. So be prepared to be lied about
as you serve God. Be prepared to have words
falsely put in your mouth, to have your intentions misjudged
by those who are determined to smear you.
It is very, very common. Well, there's more that we can
say, but let's go over and finish this in verses 14 to
verse 16 and the rest of this letter we read now because we
eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to
witness the kings dishonor. Therefore we send and inform the
king, Oh, how pious we're doing this.
For you, O king, this is flattery.
Verse 15 An order that search may be made in the book of the
records of your father's. You will find in the book of the
records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to
kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it
from OF. Old These guys are good.
They now encourage art exerses to look back in the Royal
Archives. And to examine and investigate
the key highlights of the people of Judah that would reveal that,
yeah, we've seen it. And 2nd Kings especially, they
have rebelled and they have resisted and they have refused
their overseers, which ultimately led to their exile.
And they're doing this in order to persuade Artaxerxes that the
same will happen if they regain their autonomy, if they regain
their sovereignty. Say bye bye to your revenue out
of Xerxes. And we have the history to prove
it. Now, listen, some defamation,
some slander is just out of thin air.
It's just pure fabrication. The sophisticated ones, though,
they know how to weave in truth in order to make their case that
much more believable. And that's what they're doing
here. This is true.
They do have that history and it's going to validate their
lies. And I remember reading this
months ago when I was just going through Ezra and my personal
devotions. And when I came to this part, I
rejoiced. I still remember the feeling to
this day, reading this and meditating on it, how it stirred
my heart. It was actually on a Wednesday
because I remember sharing about it on a Wednesday night.
And rejoice about what? Well, here's what you have to
consider. This moment serves as a
historical example of a spiritual reality.
Today, Satan is titled many things, including this, The
Accuser of the Brethren. And he accuses you and I day and
night before the throne of God. And I'm sure that in his
accusation he brings up what we have done in the past.
He showcases and he seeks to remind God all our failures, all
our defiance, every moment of disobedience.
Here's the part that's most exciting.
There's a massive difference, though.
There's similarity between the accusations here and the spirit
behind this work. Our king doesn't believe it.
Our king, more specifically, never holds our past against us,
unlike Arctic Xerxes. We're going to find out here
that Arctic Xerxes actually trust these adversaries and
gives them what they want. And this is where I got so
excited. Lord, I thank you that you are
not like the kings of the earth who are blinded, who are easily
lied to. Who?
Are who are so lacking in their understanding because here's the
reality in the gospel, no matter what Satan pulls out of his
files and no matter what he points to, every single thing
that we have done in the eyes of Christ is stamped with this
glorious truth paid in full, and it's never, ever, ever going to
change. That's the glorious thing about
the permanency of our salvation. You can't know the joys of the
New Testament and the New Covenant if you believe that
that statement, paid in full, can be erased.
Depending on how God feels about your level of faithfulness.
But to know that there is a concrete reality to our
salvation makes us be able to go to sleep so sweetly even though
Satan is staying up all night accusing you.
Now, it's important to note as we wrap up that verse 23 is
going to mark the end of Ezra's parenthetical inclusion of the
future letter and how its impact was made on the rebuilding of
the city and the walls. But let's just read it here from
verse 17 down to verse 23. This is the King's order.
After receiving this letter, the king.
Sent an answer in verse 17 To Re Hum the commander, and Shim Shy
the scribe, and the rest of their associates who lived in
Samaria, and then the rest of the province beyond the river.
Greeting. And now the letter that you sent
to us has been plainly read before me, and I made a decree.
And search has been made and has been found that the city from
old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have
been made in it. And mighty kings have been over
Jerusalem who ruled over the whole province beyond the river,
to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.
Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and
that the city be not rebuilt until a decree is.
Made by me. And take care not to be slack in
this matter. Why should damage grow to the
hurt of the king and the copy? Rather, when the copy of King
Artaxercy's letter was read before rehab and Shimshi
describe and their associates, they went into haste to the Jews
of Jerusalem by force and power made them cease.
That's not how this chapter ends.
This is where the parenthetical comments end.
And now verse 24 brings us back to the chronology what happens
in verse 24 and the work on the House of God that is in
Jerusalem stopped and it ceased until the second year of the
reign of Darius king of Persia. Do you see how now he now comes
back to present time. Verse 24, look here carefully is
connected to verse five of the same chapter.
Look back at verse 5 and bribe counselors against them to
frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia,
even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
So whatever they did with Zerubbabel and the leaders and
the remnant of their time, it worked.
It put an end to the building of the House of God, and it wasn't
for a short amount of time. This time stamp in verse 24
should remind us of a different part of God's Word.
Does anybody know where a part of God's Word starts or a book
rather starts with the same time stamp?
Somebody said it. Close, but it is a prophet.
No? Well, I won't keep you too long.
You got it. Hey Guy, look at Hey Guy chapter
1. And this is where we are ending
tonight, because it is here where we will find our final
scheme that Satan uses against God's people as they seek to
build his house, build their faith, build their testimony,
build their ministry. It's found here in Haggai.
Haggai one verse one in the second year of Darius the King
in the 6th. Month.
On the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the
hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shaltial,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high
priest. So back in Ezra 4 we learned
that the work on the House of God ceased until the second year
of the reign of Darius. You come to Haggai, and the book
opens up with what in the second year of Darius the king Haggai
has something to do with the continuation of the building of
the house. And this is partly why look at
verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts.
These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the
House of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came
by the hand of Haggai the prophet.
Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses,
while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the
Lord of hosts, consider your ways.
So there was an effort from the adversaries to delay.
The building of the House of God.
But because of this and Haggai, we learned that the delay was
much longer than it needed to be.
And Haggai highlights the justification for their
unwillingness to rebuild. What did he say?
These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the
House of the Lord. What does that mean?
Well, when you collect the evidence from Ezra 4, as we've
been doing, and you merge it with Haggai, here's how this
makes sense. It could be that because of the
opposition, because of the difficulties.
Because of the obstacles the remnant determined, maybe this
is not the right time to build God's house.
Maybe we should just pull back, ease off a little bit, focus on
other things and we can come back to when things.
Are a little easier. Here's the problem, if you
actually do the history and the numbers from when they began to
when they resumed, 16 years, 16 years, and it could have been
more had not God raised up Haggai to step in and say hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, it's time to get back to work.
What happened here? This is the final point to
consider, Distraction. Distraction.
Satan hinders and prevents us from building God's work on
earth. If he can't discourage you, if
he can't frustrate you, if he can't get you to compromise,
then he can slip in some distraction and that may be
enough. Is God against renovations for
homes and building projects and personal hobbies?
No, What's the issue at hand here?
Priorities. You are working on your houses,
and God's house is still in ruins.
The very reason why I called you out of Babylon into this land is
so that you can rebuild my house.
And that's been pushed to the side.
And we have to be careful because many Christians with
misplaced priorities will justify them with challenging
circumstances, just as this generation did.
You can imagine the excuses that they had in their minds that
they shared with one another. Again, what they said was this
is a must not be the time. And So what did they do?
They. Gave no time to God's house.
Maybe. Maybe there's a more profitable
time, a more favorable time. We're not there yet, so let's
just focus elsewhere. And years have gone by.
Makes you wonder how much sooner you could have had the House of
God if you had just had the same tenacity and holy ambition.
That's unfortunately exemplified by who?
The enemies, The enemies of this people.
And when they couldn't get into compromise, they discouraged.
And when they weren't discouraged, they put fear in
their hearts. And when the fear didn't have
its complete control, they sought to frustrate.
When that didn't really come through, they bribed and they
start spending money. They send one letter to Axers.
He didn't answer. Whoa, wait to art exerts they
sent. What is that and all it took was
a little bit of frustration, a little bit of persecution and
one of these guys do they put their hands in the pocket and
said, I guess it's not time. This is pathetic.
And that's why God had to raise up a prophet to confront their
complacency. Your priorities are not right.
It's time to go back to God's house.
It's time to place him first. And if you.
Read the rest of the chapter, we'll get there.
I don't know, I guess a few years from now, but when we come
to Haggai, we'll see that. This group wasn't blessed the
way they could have been had they prioritized God's house.
Everything that they sought to do and everything that they
sought to, to, to grow in and to build for their future never
reach its full. Potential and God actually says
that in his own way because their priorities weren't right.
Here's my question for you tonight.
Do any of these schemes resonate with you?
I'm I know I'm talking to many here who are servants of Christ.
Why else would you be here on a Friday night to study the Old
Testament? Are you tempted to compromise?
Do you find it difficult to stand for the truth because in
your understanding, you think that we can be more effective
as, as Christians and as a church if we just accept others
who have different views that clearly contradict God's word.
But they come in the name of God and they, they claim to hold the
same Bible and, and they seem like they're, they're in the
right place. Even Jesus looked at the smear
and says you don't know who you worship and what you worship.
We do though, and I'm going to tell you what worship means.
That's Jesus. What about discouragement?
Are you haunted by discouragement?
When's the last time you brought it before God and you spilled
your soul? When's the last time you went to
a trusted friend said, look, I got to tell you something.
I've been keeping this inside but I'm hanging by a thread.
When you, when is the last time? You brought that to the light.
So that counsel and prayers can strengthen you and fortify you
so that you're not trapped by Satan's lies and that the
dejection that that paralyzes you.
What about fear? Are you fearful?
Do you love your life? Do you want to just be a
Christian as long as you don't step on anybody's toes?
Or do you love the glory of? Christ more than your life?
What about frustration? Are you easily agitated by
internal and external problems? Are you ready to quit when
things get difficult? Maybe it's not your life that
you love so much, it's your reputation.
And you have this ungodly addiction to make everybody
happy, no matter what it costs you.
That will kill your testimony and your fruitfulness.
Mark my words, one famous revivalist said one of these old
men. I placed my reputation where I
placed my soul in the hands of God.
I think this final one is more relatable than any of the other,
I'm sure. Distraction in this day and age,
it could be that some of you are itching to check your phone
right now. Throughout this whole study
distraction, it has sabotaged so many people's potentials.
I'm not saying that we can't do anything else in life.
No, no, no. But prioritize God.
Where is he? Where is he?
Only you know and only God knows.
But today, through this Bible study, we've exposed many of
Satan's favorite devices, and we can now come before the Lord and
say, oh God, I don't want to be a victim to any of them.
I don't want to be captive to any of them.
Help me overcome each of them so that I may thrive for your glory
and be a part in building your house.
And that's a cry that he will answer.
Amen. Let's do it together.
We thank you, Lord God Almighty. How something like Ezra chapter
4 can make us ready for spiritual warfare.
And we ask, O Lord, that everything that we've heard
would not just be understood, but retained.
Retained for when it matters the most.
That we may be able to quench all of the fiery darts of the
Evil 1. All of them, not just some of
them. So, Lord, we pray tonight that
you would help us identify any of these things that are
beginning to have a foothold and that by your strength and by
your grace, we would slam that door shut and that we would live
secure and steadfast in our faithfulness to you.
And Lord, if there is anybody here who is fearful,
discouraged, frustrated, who might be even in a place in
their ministry where they're having to make a decision, one
that might be compromising. One that might be costly for
standing for the truth. For those who are hurt by what
others have said about them or saying about them.
This very hour, we pray that you would infuse life.
Into our hearts that we would rise above these things and that
we would soar, knowing that you will vindicate us, that you will
keep us, and that in the end, what matters the most is Your
word and what you ask of us, though we now will stand in
triumph, knowing that you have infused on us.
Truth. To endure another night.
And we pray that it would go beyond this evening that would
remain in us for the days to come.
In Christ's name we pray, Amen and Amen.
All right, soldiers of Christ, let's stand on this Friday
evening. Let's turn our attention to the
captain of our salvation and give him thanks for equipping us
to wage war against the evil. 1 He is a good God.