Ezra 4 Bible Study (Adversaries Oppose Temple Rebuilding/King Artaxerxes) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's turn in our Bibles now to the Book of Ezra chapter four. 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 first wave of exiles have returned and established themselves back home. They did not wait very long to reestablish the brazen altar to offer right foundation of the temple down. Now, the sight of this progress got mixed reactions from the remnant.

The younger generation rejoiced. Those who lived long enough, however, to see the grandeur and 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 three 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 four is about opposition, And I wanna 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 four, skip over to verse seven 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 seven, 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 seven. In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithradath and Tabiel 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 is 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 returned 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 Ahasuerus 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 gonna 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 one 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 gonna organize our thoughts.

We're going to look at six strategies, six devices, six 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 in experience on an individual basis. So so be mindful of that. And though Satan is not explicitly mentioned 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 four one to three, and we'll continue from there on and seek to accomplish reading and explaining this entire text. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned 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 him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here. But Zerubbabel Jeshua 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 as 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 Lord, 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. Six 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. Number one, 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. Maybe 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 are 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 gonna 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 where did 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 Esarhaddon king of Syria who brought us here.

So we studied second kings together, first and second 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 Kings seventeen twenty four, with men and women from Babylon and Chthon, Ava, and Hamath and Sepharvaim 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 four. 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 placed 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 wanna we wanna 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. Okay.

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 seminary that don't believe that there's a single miracle in the Bible.

But they'll say, they teach the Bible. Okay. What about it? Okay. You claim to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ and that your church is worshiping 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 did 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 worshipers 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.

Unless 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, needeth 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 not 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, though 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. Do you remember what Jesus said in John four 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 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 you 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 four 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, 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, the third and 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 four. Let's go over that together. In Nehemiah chapter four beginning in verse one, remember Nehemiah comes many, many years after Zerubbabel and Joshua. Between the first wave and the third wave, you have a span of ninety to a hundred years. But all the tactics of the evil one do not change.

Look at Nehemiah chapter four 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 it 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? Tobiah 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 stone wall.

So let's point out a few things of this mockery and this scornful verbal attack. The first thing that Sanballat 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 underscore their weakness, their inability. That they're unqualified, that they're they're incapable in themselves to actually do anything of worth.

Another tactic he uses is to emphasize the unlikelyhood of finishing it in a reasonable time. Will they finish up in a day? What do you guys are actually gonna do? How do you think you're gonna actually do this? You think you're gonna 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 built. You can only imagine. Finally, he underscores the magnitude of the damage as is to suggest that this this whole thing is not even worth it. Your your efforts are a waste.

He goes, are you gonna revive these stones out of the heap? These are burned 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 not you're not gonna 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, Be realistic. You don't have the resources to even do anything.

Where where are your partners? Who's gonna support you? And even if you do, is it really even gonna matter? Is it gonna have an impact? Is it gonna 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 four of Nehemiah four. In the middle of this journal entry, he he breaks out into prayer. Hear, oh 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 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 text 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 four. The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid. That's point number three, 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 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 email 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 ministries, 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. Woah, 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 gonna interpret things like I just gave as way of 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, then 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 five of Ezra four.

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 three 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. The 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 and 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. And I'm not 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 six now. Remember Ezra now is fast forwarding in time. This is a parathetical part of Ezra chapter four.

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 six.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, 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 to Ahasuerus. This is the same Ahasuerus by the way who was ruling and reigning the world at the time in the days of who?

Does anybody remember? Esther. The same Ahasuerus and Esther. And it 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 seven.

So what did they do? They sent another letter in the days of Artaxerxes showing us that they were not deterred. All again, all that believers would have this kind of commitment. Ahasuerus didn't answer them. So what do they do?

I just let him build it. No. We're gonna wait for the next king to come up and this is a new opportunity and we're gonna 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 continued 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 gonna notice some features of satanic slander. And 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 read here verse seven down to verse 12. In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithradath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written Aramaic and translated. Reham the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes, the king as follows.

Reham the commander, Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, 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 Asnapar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and then the rest of the province beyond the river, this is a copy of the letter that they sent. To Artaxerxes, the king, your servants, the men of the province beyond the river, send greeting. And now, be it 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 called Jerusalem? What they called 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. Oh 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 supposed 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 in the church and somebody might be saying something and they say, well many are saying When you actually ask, okay who? It's like one or two people, but it sounded like a multitude.

Many. Many. What do you mean many? Like who? Exaggeration.

This is what we find here potentially. But look at verse 13. What did they say here? They go on from there to say, now be it known to the king that if the 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 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 I 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. In 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 king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, oh, how pious. We're doing this for you, oh king. This is flattery. Verse 15, in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, 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 Artaxerxes 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 in second 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, Artaxerxes, and we have the history to prove it. Now listen, some defamation, some slander is just out of thin air.

It's just pure 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 on 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. 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.

But 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 Artaxerxes. We're gonna find out here that Artaxerxes 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 Reham the commander and Shemshi 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 Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rahim and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went into haste to the Jews of Jerusalem by force and power made them cease. Now this is 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 five. And bribe counselors against him 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.

Haggai. Look at Haggai chapter one. 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 sixth 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 Shealtiel, governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest. So back in Ezra four, we learned that the work in 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 two. 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 in 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 four 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, sixteen years. Sixteen 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 isn't it 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 them to compromise, they discourage. 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 sent one letter to Ahsuerus. He didn't answer. Well, wait to Ahsuerus.

They sent it What is that? And all it took was a little bit of frustration, a little bit of persecution. And what did these guys do? They put their hands in the pocket and said, you guys, there'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 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 and they seem that they're they're in the the right place. Even Jesus looked at the Samaritans and says, you don't know who you worship and what you worship. We do though and I'm gonna 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 and said, look, I gotta 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 the dejection that that paralyzes you? What about fear? Are you fearful? Do you love your life? Do you wanna 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 are you easily agitated by internal and external problems? Are you ready to quit when things get difficult? And 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 cost you. That would kill your testimony and your fruitfulness. Mark my words. One famous revivalist said, one of these old men, I place 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. 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 wanna 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 four can make us ready for spiritual warfare. And we ask, oh 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 one. 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 who are hurt by what others have said about them or are 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.

Lord, we now will stand in triumph knowing that you have infused in us truth to endure another night. And we pray that it would go beyond this evening, that it would remain in us for the days to come. In Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen. Alright 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 one. He is a good God.