Ezra 8 (Part 2) Bible Study (Fasting & Prayer/Priests to Guard Offerings) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Amen. Good evening. What a pleasure it is to see you here on this Friday night. For our call to worship, allow me to repeat something that I mentioned at our prayer meeting a couple of nights ago from the book of Hosea in chapter 14. Listen to these words that the that the Hosea the prophet declares over a very broken and backslidden people.

It says here in Hosea 14 verse four, I will heal their apostasy. I will love them freely for my anger has turned from them. I will be like dew to Israel. He shall blossom like the lily. He shall take root like the trees of Lebanon.

His shoots shall spread out. His beauty shall be like the olive and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow. That's where God wants you and me so close to him in his shadow. And the fruit of that, they shall flourish like the grain and they shall blossom like the vine.

Their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what shall I do or what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress. From me comes your fruit.

Verse eight was my meditation today. Verse eight is what I was chewing on all morning. And the question that I asked was, why does God say that he is like an evergreen Cyprus? I mean, he could have said so many things about himself. But here he says, I'm like an evergreen cypress.

And I discovered something about evergreen cypresses. They are green all year round. They bear fruit all year round. They are never dormant. They never go to sleep.

They are never unalive. They are evergreen. And then he says this, because of that, because I'm an endless source of life, you will produce fruit. In other words, you can remain green. And you don't ever have to become dormant in your spirituality.

And you don't have to ever become lifeless. Because if you are abiding in me, the evergreen cypress, then the flow of life is continuous in your life. And that is a promise. And that is something that you and I have access today. But it requires us to do what?

Dwell beneath his shadow. And we've come here to draw closer to the Lord, I hope. I mean, I trust that's why we're here on a Friday night. So let's thank God for this promise and claim it for ourselves. Lord, we thank you for this evening.

We thank you that you have shown us that you are the fountain of all life and we need life. Lord, we are so quick to become dry, apathetic, lethargic, indifferent even to the things of God. So we pray that you would use this service to surge greater power into our hearts, that you would melt us in your love, and that we would leave here with greater energy for the kingdom of God. We love you and we pray that tonight you would cast your shadow upon this service that we may know your nearness, that we may hear your voice. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Amen, church. Let's stand. Let's worship the living God.

My my savior and my God. One with himself I cannot die. My soul you. Praise to the Lord. Oh, let all that is before.

Lord, we thank you for tonight. We thank you for another Friday night. We get to be here to worship you, to be near you, to be close to you, and to hear from you, Lord. It is our joy to worship you and to be called your children in Christ. We thank you, Lord.

And Lord, as we are about to receive your word, we ask that you would prepare our hearts even now in a few moments before we enter our bible study. We ask that you would touch our hearts tonight. We want to meet with you. We wanna hear your voice. We believe that you have something to say to every heart here, and we anticipate to be changed because we have heard from you.

We ask that you would, allow us to walk out of here today with more humility, more thirst and hunger for righteousness, righteousness, and to be more changed into the image of your son tonight. We thank you, Lord. We love you, and we give this night to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, before you're seated, you know what we do here. Take a moment to greet somebody on this Friday evening. Again, welcome to Friday night bible study. This is I mean, every meeting that we have here on a weekly basis is special, but I am very excited to be here on Fridays because we touch on books and passages of the bible that are often neglected. And we have tasted so much of God's goodness week by week, and we've come here to do that again.

But before we pursue that, we're gonna continue in our worship. If you wanna give from your heart joyfully, gladly back to the Lord for what he has given you, you can do that at this time. The ushers will help us. And a reminder from the announcement on Sunday that there is a building right before us, a new building, and we are believing by faith that we can enter into this new space with no debt. And if we're gonna do that, then we need to raise $1,500,000 in thirty days.

Can God do it? He can do it. If you heard the stories leading up to this moment, then you have to believe it. You can't doubt God. God has bring brought so much provision already and we're believing that as we make our way towards this, that the Lord will continue to provide especially because it's his will, if it's his will.

And we're already encouraged since Sunday, the contributions that have come in, and we're just believing God for more sacrificial giving because this isn't going to a man, this isn't going to a ministry necessarily. It's going to the advancement of the gospel. It's going to a place that will host God's presence, God's word, God's people for generations to come. So more updates on that this Sunday. I wouldn't miss this Sunday.

Beyond that, a couple of things for in house, activities and events. We have our men's breakfast on March 21 at 10AM. That's on a Saturday. Brothers, if you don't come here on a regular basis but breakfast interests you, more importantly, Christians who meet on a Saturday morning to pray, hear testimonies, and fellowship interests you, join us on that day, 10AM. We'll be here together in the basement enjoying a wonderful meal together in God's house.

So we look for we look forward to that. And one more thing, this is mainly for the members. We announced this on Sunday as well that there are two, specific ministries that need help. And so if you are a sister here and you have been praying about how God can use you in this church, we have need for Sunday school teachers. And so please, if you're interested to just send an email to info@mbchicago.org.

You can find that online on our website, m b chicago dot org. And you can, just let us know in the headline, in the subject line there, hey, I'm interested in the Sunday School ministry. If if you are interested in the hospitality ministry, which is the second need, that's open for both men and women, we'd love for you to email us as well and say, I'd love to help. This will lighten the burden of those who have been so committed week by week, month by month, and, will be able to continue to enjoy the ministries that flow from this place. So that's all I really have to share with you tonight.

I am very excited to come to this chapter with you. And so let's turn together now in our bibles to Ezra chapter eight. Let's turn to Ezra chapter eight. And in case you weren't with us last week, Ezra chapter eight is a detailed account of Ezra's movements from Babylonia to Jerusalem as he is under God's direction, called to lead the second wave of Jewish exiles back to their homeland. And what we find here in the beginning of chapter eight is Ezra in Babylonia.

When we come to the end of the chapter, we'll find him finally in Jerusalem. But the middle of this passage, which will be the focus tonight, is Ezra and his thinking and planning and doing at a place called Ahava. If you remember in our last study, it was in Ahava where Ezra took those who follow him and camped for three days and he made inventory and learned that there were zero Levites who had committed to this journey with them. And so, he finds leading men, he sends them back, and he asked them to persuade the Levites to partner with them in this expedition of faith. And we discovered that there were a total of 38 Levites who joined them.

But the chapter is not over yet. And in the rest of this chapter, we're going to see that what takes place at Ahava is not over yet either. There are still things that Ezra wants to accomplish before they resume on this trek back to the promised land. And where we're gonna begin tonight is in verse 21 and we'll read down to verse 23 and then we'll pause and pray and ask for God's help as we always do. Ezra eight twenty one, then I proclaimed a fast there at the River Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.

For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way since we had told the king, the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. So we fasted and implored our God for this and he listened to our entreaty. Father, as we just read, you listened to the entreaty of Ezra and the families with him. Now as a family here, we ask that you would hear us. And we pray that you would guide us through these passages.

And we ask that every verse that we unlock would be a force to our hearts that would drain out all sin and pride and envy and doubt. Anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit, we pray that you would use this study to relinquish it, to destroy it, and to replace it with that which pleases you. Lord, change us. We pray that the delivery of this study would be empowered by your Holy Spirit. We pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would rest on each heart in this place to receive everything that is said here with humility and eagerness.

And so Lord, we do not rest on eloquence. We do not rest on human ingenuity. We rest on the truth of your word and the power of the spirit that makes it real to us. Help us Lord see Jesus Christ even in these verses. We pray these things in his name.

Amen. Amen. We remember hopefully that in Ezra chapter seven, we were introduced to this man as a man of the word. It is in that chapter where he is famously recognized as one who set his heart to study the law, to do it, to obey it, and to teach others about it. And now we continue to chapter eight and we learn that Ezra was more than just a man of the word.

We find out that man, this man, Ezra, was also one of prayer. Ezra was a man who sought the Lord. Ezra was a man who knew how to seek God. And I think it's important to consider what has transpired up to this point in this expedition. Ezra has received incredible favor and wonderful financial support from the king of Persia.

Ezra has the priestly and the royal lines with him. He has many families who have chosen to trust in his leadership and follow him and recently, there are now Levites who have been added to the convoy. So from a human standpoint, everything that Ezra needed to go to Jerusalem, he had. All the bases are covered. But before they continue, in the verses that we just read, we see that this man refused to move forward unless he knew that God himself would go with him.

So again, in Ezra seven, you and I are to be persuaded and convinced that this man was a man who was saturated in the scriptures. He was immersed in them. He studied diligently. He had the word of Christ dwelling in his heart richly. But I believe chapter eight and what we see here is the fruit of that.

In other words, one of the ways that you know that you can determine if the word of God is truly at work in you is that it will cause you to be a man or a woman of prayer. Because studying the Bible is not an end in itself. It is a means to relate to God and to seek him regularly in order for him to move in and through your life. And so this man who was swollen with the scriptures shows us what that should produce and that is a sense of dependency on God. That is one who would seek God.

Again, a word that's very important in Ezra seven, especially verse 10, is that Ezra set his heart to study. To study. In some translations, it means to seek. But the ESV renders it as study. And then you come to chapter eight and what do you find?

That this man who studied sought God diligently as well. He was diligent in his studies and it made him desperate for God. And so if you wanted if you wanna really measure is the word of God working in my life, one thing that you have to ask yourself is, am I being drawn to the Lord in the place of prayer? Am I becoming more sensitive and aware of my neediness of him? Do I just look at him as I would look at a petri dish and pick apart doctrines and know how to put certain things and files in my mind or does it melt me and soften me to actually draw near to the Lord on a personal level?

And this is what we have to consider here with Ezra's example. But he's doing more than just praying. Is that what we see in verse 21? He was fasting. He called for a fast at a hava.

Now we don't have time in this bible study to look at what the bible teaches about fasting. What it is, what it does, how to do it. But what we do see here is a familiar pattern. That what you'll see throughout the bible is that fasting is often coupled with prayer. And the reason for that is because fasting is a means to pray.

In other words, fasting is the discipline to eliminate distractions namely that of consuming food, preparing food, so that you can reserve your energy and your time to pressing into the Lord. And so if one is fasting and they are not praying, they are missing one of the major points of fasting. There are some people who fast and really it's just a concealed diet. Fasting is not about losing weight. Fasting is not about just not eating.

Fasting is about making a way for you to give yourself over to seeking the Lord more intensely. And that's how we know they're doing this right because in verse 23 says, so we fasted and implored our God. We sought God. But my question is, why now? Why call for a fast at the Canal Ahava?

Well, we don't have the guess. Verse 21 lets us know to seek him for a safe journey for ourselves, our children and all our goods. This is one of the strongest biblical examples of where the frequent requests of traveling mercies come from. Maybe you've asked somebody to pray for what? Traveling mercies or somebody's asked you, hey, can you ask the Lord to give us traveling mercies?

Right? Does that term sound familiar to us? I think this is where it might come from because Ezra prayed for it, which shows us that you and I have the right to ask God for a safe journey no matter how far or long it is. So the main focus of this time really is to seek the Lord for safety. It became a desperate plea.

And when you understand the context, you can see why. Consider a few things. When we studied chapter seven, we learned and calculated that from Babylonia to Jerusalem, it would take about four months. Four months by foot. We're talking about 900 miles.

That's grueling. These are not just men who are making their way back to Jerusalem. You have women, you have children, you have the elderly, presumably. So you you can see why this is gonna be a difficult task just naturally speaking. It's been very demanding so we need God to help us.

Secondly, Ezra was aware that even in his day, there were people who hated the Jews. Now there was already a first wave of Jews many decades before this that had been restored to to Jerusalem and had begin begun to really rebuild the house of God. They they brought it to completion and that irked the nations around them, many of them. And so to see just another transition, another accumulation of Jews going back to the promised land, Ezra mentions here that he is worried that the enemy on the way will try to stop them. So there are real threats, real dangers.

Consider a third thing. Is Ezra leading this expedition with just clothes on their back? No. They are not going empty handed. In fact, they are going back with caravans filled with supplies.

Peek over to verse 26 of Ezra eight. Notice what it said here. I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver. Now that may not mean much to you because you think talent, we don't use that measurement today. One talent is approximately 75 to 80 pounds.

650 of silver and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and a 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth a thousand derricks, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. So you can imagine how just the resources alone that they're taking with them would make Ezra very nervous. And you can imagine even at this time how word would get around that some of the Jews are making their way back to Jerusalem and look at all the stuff that they're bringing with them. It wouldn't take very much for robbers and bandits to take advantage of this, especially when they are helpless Jews and as we're about to discover have no bodyguards, no soldiers, no battalion going with them. They're exposed and Ezra knows this.

So he says, listen before we leave Ahabah, we have to seek God. We have to ask the Lord for help. And so we find here that there is potential fear on Ezra's part, natural fear. Wisdom is being employed. There's caution and so he seeks God.

But look what happens in verse 31. Look what he testifies about. Ezra goes on to say later, then we departed from the River Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes. By the way, Prayer works.

And more than prayer working, sincere prayer invites God's protection against any threat. And the Lord's blessing can extend to anyone or to anything that you would commit to his care. That includes your children and that includes your possessions. One of my favorite examples of this is how David responded when he learned that one of his greatest advisors chose to side with his rebellious son Absalom. Do you remember what he did?

What was his knee jerk reaction according to second Samuel 15 verse 31? He sighed a prayer and his prayer was very brief, very short, very simple. He He said, oh Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. So Ahithophel who was one of David's greatest assets, the bible says that his wisdom was like the wisdom of God. People revered this man.

When he came up with a plan, people listened intently and they trusted him. And overnight, David learns one of your closest confidants has now conspired against you and joined your son to kill you. So one of his greatest assets now becomes one of his greatest threats. And what does he do? He prays.

He seeks God. If you're with us in second Samuel when we studied it, you remember that God answered that prayer, did he not? And he actually went above and beyond what David asked. So over and over we have examples that when you and I pray, there is not one person nor is there any problem that God is not willing to confront and bring a solution to. In this case, there are many things that Ezra was worried about.

He asked for God's protection over himself and others, their children and their possessions and God was faithful with every single thing that they brought to him. Is there a person causing a problem in your life? Do you pray about it? Do you actually believe that God will do something about it? He did it for David?

Are you worried about your finances? Are you worried about your resources? Are you worried about how you're gonna pay rent? Are you worried about how you're gonna pay for your children's education? Do you pray about it?

Ezra, this man filled with the word teaches us that prayer works. With all that said, we see another reason why he was so desperate to pray and I already alluded to it. He mentions here that he refused armed security. That when the king of Persia learned of his journey, he offered help because even the king understood how dangerous it would be for them. And Ezra refused.

He denied it. Why did he deny it? Well, he seems to have a relationship with the king and throughout his relationship with the king, he was constantly testifying of the greatness of God. That he actually helps. He's a real God.

He actually interferes with our lives and invests and invades, intercepts. He's tangible. And he thought to himself, if I'm gonna say this to the king and at the same time ask him for help, that might weaken my testimony. Worse, it might contradict my testimony. And so Ezra refuses this and it made him all the more aware of his neediness for God to come through.

Now here's what's interesting, if we're not careful we can take a text like this and teach ourselves and others that if we really have faith, it's unnecessary to implement safety measures or to take precautions to protect ourselves. Is that what this text is teaching? If you're inclined to believe that, let me remind you what Nehemiah does when it was his turn to make his way back to Jerusalem. Go to chapter two of Nehemiah. It's just the next book over.

And notice what he says in Nehemiah chapter two beginning in verse seven. This is how you know that what Ezra is demonstrating is not teaching something about self defense. And if Christians should pursue it or not. Look at Nehemiah two verse seven. He says, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.

And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of my God was upon me. So notice a similar phrase here. He says, God's hand was upon me. That's why the king did this.

But notice the connection. He goes on to say in verse nine, then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. Ezra refused. Nehemiah welcomed this kind of protection.

And the question we have to ask then, was Nehemiah less godly or faithful because of it? Was he less spiritual? Did he display weaker faith? Here's my answer, it depends. If Nehemiah goes on to show that he had put his ultimate trust in the arm of the flesh, then absolutely this could be a sign of weak faith.

But if you've studied Nehemiah, then you know that that is not the case. That he was a man of fervent prayer himself. That he was a man who took practical means but never failed to seek the Lord because he showed that God was ultimately his success, his secure security. And So who's right here? Who's the greater model to follow?

Who's more godly? I don't think it's a contest. I don't think it's worth comparing. And the reason why is because Ezra is in a unique position because Ezra has been witnessing to the king of Persia. And Ezra made a bold witness about who God is and what he is able to do.

That's what's at stake here. And so with his situation, Ezra wanted to ensure that nothing that he would do, nothing that he would say, nothing that he would accept would cause a problem to what he had told the king about his God. So this is far less about Ezra's beliefs about self defense and you can't use a text like this to make a case for why or why not believers should implement a certain measure of protection over themselves, their family or their ministries. That's not what's being targeted here. There's a different lesson before us and the lesson is this.

Ezra is exemplifying to us that what we say should be backed up by what we do. That we have to be extremely careful about what we say about God to others especially unbelievers and then showing them with our lives that we actually believe it. Because people are much more willing to believe by what you live than by what you say. There's no way around that. And that could be to a greater good or that can be to our detriment.

So understand Ezra's thinking here. I've been telling this king about how awesome God is, but I also understand that the king has more than just ears. He has eyes and he's gonna watch how I'm going to move forward from here. Can I actually back up the greatness of God? Can I actually prove it?

And this man is extremely wise. He understood that this could actually hinder his witness and so he refuses the protection that the king offered. Believer, understand very carefully, there are people who are watching more closely than you think. They are. They may not be telling you that But people are taking into consideration that you have a Bible verse on your social media account and they wanna see if that Bible verse matches with the posts.

When I had social media and I had others say this as well, I don't know if this is still the case, I've been off social media, I recommend it. And I remember back then that people would like certain things and what they would like would pop up on your feet. Is that still the case? Okay. You know, years and years ago, obviously, I was still a believer then.

I was I've been a believer for quite a few years now. And so most of my friends online were were Christians. But you know what? Sometimes I would see what they would like and it would pop up and it was super questionable. Now I'm a believer and I know some of these people or at least I've met them here or there, but I would always think, what do non believers think about what you're liking?

When you like something, you're essentially saying, I'm agreeing with this. I approve of this. I enjoy this. And from what I know what I know from some people, they mindlessly just click on anything not considering what Ezra is showing us here. People are watching you.

People are leaning in. People are studying you and they're hearing one thing and they wanna see, is it consistent? So that's just one way that we might have oversight. The things that we choose, the things that we respond to, the things that we let out and not thinking others are analyzing me. While we're on the subject of witness, there's something else here that we have to appreciate about Ezra in this area.

Did you notice that when he reflects on his testifying before the king, he did not leave out warning? Look again what I mean here. He didn't just stop after saying the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him. He goes on to add what? And the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.

That's bold. Would he have been right if he said that God's good hand rests on those who seek him? Yes. But Ezra understood that that is an incomplete message. And he understood that I may never see this king again.

And so what does he do? He he includes the full message. And what is the full message? Yes. If you seek him, there's blessing.

If you forsake him, if you turn your back on him, there's wrath. This is bold. You're speaking to a king. But it's more than just bold, it's loving. Because love warns.

And we have to be wise in how we warn. But there are some people who think it's wise never to warn. Well, you're out of step with the ministry and message of Jesus Christ, the apostles, and any sincere Christian. The bible warns because the bible is a book that reveals a God who is love and love warns. So king, I wanna let you know that God, he shows favor to those who live for him, who seek him, but he's also willing to show wrath to those who despise him and deny him.

You know what I wondered when I heard this? Looking at these words in Ezra's life, I wondered, did that make any impact on the king? That was my question. Did that make any impact on this king? And then I reflected on the king's own words when he had given Ezra the letter of approval to allow him to take the Jews back to Jerusalem.

Let me remind you. One of the things that the king says back in Ezra seven, look at verse 23. This is in the letter of the king that grants Ezra permission to do what he's doing here in Ezra chapter eight. The king writes, whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. I wonder where he got that idea from.

Well, Ezra's been telling him, I'm sure since he's known him, listen king, you don't wanna invoke God's wrath by forsaking him. And I believe based on this that Ezra planted the seed and it's still in seed form because we learn from this chapter and this text that there are some who are only motivated to serve God out of fear and that's not the way to do it. But that doesn't mean that there isn't an understanding of fear in how we view God. And this king shows that he got it. And I hope that it germinated to a more complete understanding of the nature and character of God.

We don't know. But we will continue now. Let's come back to Ezra eight and let's read on in verse 24 down to verse 29. Then I set apart 12 of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and 10 other kinsmen with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel, their present, had offered.

I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth 200 talents and a 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth a thousand derricks, and two and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. And I said to them, you are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy And the silver and the gold are a free will offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of father's houses in Israel at Jerusalem within the chambers of the house of the Lord. What's going on here? Well, Ezra did more than just pray about the protection of himself and others, the children and his goods.

He also prepared. He planned. He strategized. And right away we learned something. Is Ezra a spiritual man?

He's a very spiritual man. Did he study God's word? He did. Did he fast and pray? Absolutely.

But those practices, those disciplines did not negate or cancel out practical life. Ezra understood that we should commit things to the Lord, but he also understood that we have to do some calculation on our part. And so for those who think that being spiritual means you're unorganized or constantly spontaneous or never thinking ahead, you're wrong. Ezra here shows us that a man who is going to bring revival to his generation was also a man who stepped back and thought, how can we do this the most efficient way? How can we do this the safest way?

How can we make our journey that much more gracious? And so he actually delegated responsibility and he put numbers together and he divided things because Christianity is actually practical. And I say this from time to time because you have some people who think that Christianity is about being as mystical as possible. Well, you can't get that from here. And it also shows that Ezra as a man of God was responsible over his resources.

And this is this is a reminder again, that though we are called to be heavenly minded, we're also called to do earthly good. Can Can I ask you a question? When is the first time the word elder in connection to leadership in the local church, when does the first time that word elder appear in the book of Acts? You can answer if you know or if you think you know. Any idea?

Who thinks it's very, very early in the book? Who thinks it's very late in the book? Who's just waiting for me to tell you the chapter to go to? Acts chapter 11. This is the first time the word elder appears in the narrative of the book of Acts that explains the early movements and formations of the bride of Christ.

Look at Acts 11 verse 28, and I'll wait for you to get there. Acts 11 verse 28. And one of the named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea and they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

That's the first time you encountered the word elders in connection to leadership in the in the local church. And I find it interesting that the first time it appears, it deals with financial responsibility. That one of the first things you find with the elders in the church of the book of Acts is the distribution of aid to those who are in need. What does that tell you? Well it tells you that part of the elders responsibility is faithful stewardship over the church's resources.

This is why when you look at the Maranatha Bible church membership covenant, one of the things that the elders promised to the members of the church is that by God's help, we will faithfully steward God's resources according to the principles and the wisdom of his word. The elders here show us that and that requires integrity. That requires wisdom. That requires transparency and accountability. It should be no surprise to us then that one of the qualifications for a pastor according to first Timothy three:three is that he cannot be a lover of money because you're gonna deal with money in the ministry.

And so we find here an excellent example in Ezra of a spiritual leader who takes great pains of avoiding mismanaging God's funds. And so he comes up with a plan. And what's his plan? I'm going to assign the responsibility of oversight of these resources to the priests and the Levites. That's what we see in verse 24.

Right? Look again. Then I set apart 12 of the leading priests, Sherebiah and Hashabiah and 10 of their kinsmen with them. So he sets apart 12 priests and then he sets apart 12 Levites who are with them. Now here's another question.

Why did Ezra think it was important that the priests and the Levites take on this responsibility? The immediate response might be, well, it's obvious. They're they're spiritual leaders, so they will be more, trustworthy for such a task. And that is certainly true to some extent, but there's a deeper reason. Ezra was a man who studied the law.

And what you discover in the law, especially in the book of Numbers chapter four, is that in the movements of the nation Israel from Egypt to the promised land, God had told him to build a house for him. It was portable, a tabernacle, a tent. This is where God would meet with the people. But that tent needed to be transported from time to time. It had furnishings, it had different materials, It had bases and posts and links.

And so in numbers four, what you discover is that God assigned the Levitical tribe to be responsible for disassembling, transporting and then reassembling the tent. And so what we see Ezra doing here now as they are in their own unique exile making their way back to what God had given to them, He wants to imitate this law as closely as possible because this is a unique situation. They are not transporting the house of God. They don't have the same items like the original people did. But do you see Ezra's heart here?

It's a beautiful thing to witness that he is trying to get the spirit of the law. He is trying to get the heart of the law, the principles and the wisdom of God's law and apply it to his situation. He wants to apply it as faithfully as he can. They don't have the tabernacle. They have a temple now.

But again, he's looking at what God had said in the past and he's thinking to myself, how can I get this crowd to obey and to adhere to God's law as closely as possible? You know, if you really love God's word, that's what you'll do with your own life. That you'll look at the practices and the decisions that you have to make and there may not be a chapter or verse that addresses it but what you'll seek to do is say, okay, is there anything that can inform me how to make the most righteous decision here? I'm building this. I'm pursuing this.

I have to invest in this. Is there anything in God's law in 2026 that can help me make the most Christ honoring decision from it? This is what Ezra is showing. And he does it well. These spiritual leaders, they agree with him, but he does more.

He doesn't just get his cues from the book of numbers namely, but he now exhorts them directly. Oh, this is a true leader. Look again at verse 28. What does he say? You are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy.

So he has his plan, he has instruction from the law, he has his men, now he wants to inspire them. And the first thing that he says is, you, you Levites, you priests, you are holy. And then he reminds him that the vessels are holy, but the order is intentional. Before talking about the vessels that they're gonna handle, he talks about them as vessels. And he says, hey, you're holy.

What does that mean for us? Well, it's a wonderful truth about how in order for us to participate in God's work, which is holy, we have to understand that God calls us to be holy. This becomes even more helpful when you remember that in the New Testament, we are all called to be in the priesthood. That we are all a royal priesthood in the new covenant. And we all have to consider this, that if we're really serious about pursuing the honor of doing God's work, whatever that looks like, then we have to be serious about personal holiness.

That's not a popular message today. And it's unfortunate because a lot of ministries are getting exposed and shut down because of it. You know, there's some people who think that because we're in the gospel and this gospel is one of grace and mercy and amazing forgiveness, that holiness is just a peripheral thing. Holiness is some old testament concept. Holiness is irrelevant.

Holiness is a little bit important. No. If anything, holiness becomes more possible, more attractive because of the gospel. And so, yes, we do see here that there is a different covenant from the old to the new, but God's standard of purity has not changed. It hasn't.

You and I are gonna enjoy the privilege of being entrusted with holy things, then you and I have to be holy. And more specifically, we must first be set apart before we are to be invited to join God's special work. You are holy and the vessels are holy. I must be holy if I want to partner with God's holy work. We can go to so many places to confirm this.

Let me give you one that is very, very, very important in connection to this truth. It's what the prophet Isaiah says. This is worth turning to in Isaiah 52. Look at verse 11. He actually addresses the same category of people.

Those who would handle the holy vessels of the Lord. And notice what he says to them in Isaiah 52 verse 11. Isaiah says, depart, depart, go out from there. Touch no unclean thing. And some believe that he is actually speaking about those who would be in Babylon one day and would be called out of it.

He says depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. Is that the same crowd that Ezra is addressing back in chapter eight? Yes. And is the message the same? Yes.

What does Isaiah say? Purify yourselves, you who bear the holy vessels of the Lord. It's the same order here. Because you've been called to a holy calling, God asked you to be holy. You you cannot effectively pursue anything that God asks of you if you're impure.

It can't happen. Is God forgiving? Yes. Do we sin? Yes.

Do we justify it? Do we tolerate it? Do we enjoy it and conceal it? Those are two different things. But to actually ask God continually cleanse me and renew me.

Why? Because I wanna be used by you. Do you ever think like that? Do you ever have that as your one of your motivations at least, I think the primary one is, Lord, I don't wanna break your heart. But we are permitted to also think and pray and use this truth to combat against temptation.

I don't wanna disqualify myself. Let me ask you another question. Is there any place in the New Testament where Isaiah 52 verse 11, the verse that we just read, is referenced or alluded to? Are you just gonna wait for me to give you the chapter? That's okay.

Somebody said something. First Timothy is a very strong one but there is one that I'm thinking about that actually references this verse, that quotes it. Titus. Titus is another place that speaks about holiness, purity. Second Corinthians.

Let's turn there. I want you to see it with your own eyes. Second Corinthians chapter six and place your finger there at verse 16. This is Paul speaking to Christians. This is Paul speaking to the Corinthians who had many spiritual gifts but were living unholy lives.

And so he wants to remind them what the Bible says and notice what he says in second Corinthians six sixteen. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God as God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Verse 17 now. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing then I will welcome you.

So what does Paul do? He reaches back to Isaiah 52 verse 11 and he applies it to believers in the new covenant. God's standard of holiness has not changed. And this is something that you and I have to take very seriously. Again, praise the Lord that he is so forgiving, so ready to forgive.

But what's the context of second Corinthians chapter six? Being unequally yoked with unbelievers. How we live with the world. How we relate to the world. How we embrace the world.

And so the call to the priesthood then, because you are going to handle holy things, be holy yourselves, is no different today. Whatever ministry you're a part of is holy. You may not be wearing a garb. You may not be limited to one holy structure, but the church is holy. Your service to the Lord is holy and God requires holiness for him to bless it.

Let's read on back in Ezra chapter eight. Look at verse 30. So the priest and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. Then we departed from the River Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.

Look again at verse 31. We departed from the River Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month. You know, Ezra tells us when they left Babylonia altogether back in chapter seven. Look at chapter seven. Look at verse nine.

For on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylonia and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem for the good hand of his God was on him. So Ezra remained at Ahava for twelve days. I mean, you have to remember that he sent leading men back to get Levites. They fasted and prayed for a few days. But what moves me is just the meticulous accounting of this man.

He's very detailed and it made it made me wonder if this is a reflection of just how studious he was and if it showed in his study of God's word. He was so so careful. But he wasn't just careful in how he recorded things and archived moments and historical things, he was also careful to give glory to God. What does he do in verse 31? It says here that the hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.

Ezra was very diligent to seek the Lord when they left Ahava. We're gonna fast and pray. It doesn't matter if we have the funds. It doesn't matter if we have all the people in the right places. We need God.

But when he got there, he was just as diligent to give him the credit for it. To thank him for it, to praise him for it, and to point people to him for it. And one of the things that I learned a few years ago just reading this bible cover to cover is that humanity, especially believers, have a tendency to be so fervent to ask God for something and lose that fervency when he comes through to thank him for it. Ezra was careful. Ezra was careful to not get so caught up in the moment that he failed to understand that this is because of God.

Every step of the way, God's hand was on this man's life because he sought God all along. Now we see something else here. They rested for three days. In verse 32, we came to Jerusalem and there we remained three days. I'm just moved by the fact that Ezra got there.

Imagine, he was born in in Babylonia and all the things that he read and all the testimonies that he heard and now face to face with the holy city, there in person, his dreams come true. And the first order of business is what we find in verse 33. On the fourth day, after relaxing and resting for a few, on the fourth day within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Marimoth the priest, son of Uriah. And with him Eleazar the son of Phineas. And with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Benuai.

The whole was counted and weighed and the weight of everything was recorded. At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, 12 bulls. For all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs and as a sin offering, 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river and they aided the people and the house of God.

You know, Ezra really wants to make sure that you and I understand that the money, the silver, the gold, the materials that they counted and distributed to certain men made its way to Jerusalem and there is no discrepancies. In fact, I think verse 34 is the verse that we should be focusing on. The whole was counted and weighed and the weight of everything was recorded. That becomes even more meaningful when you go back to verse 29 and see what he told the priest. Look at verse 29 of Ezra eight.

He tells them, guard them and keep them until that word is so important. Until. Until you weigh them before the chief priest and the Levites and the heads of father's houses in Israel, Jerusalem within the chambers of the house of the Lord. There is an until for the sanctity and the carefulness of these priests and Levites. They understood they were holding what they were called to was holy and they were to guard and keep them until they arrived safely to their destination.

And I wanna remind you today that there is an until for your holiness and mine. The Bible actually teaches us even though we are blood bought, even though we are freely forgiven and that we are secure in the salvation, There is a day of accounting for each of us. There is a day where the things that we were responsible for, that God has called us to will be measured, will be evaluated, will be examined. The way I like to put it without sounding too casual is that there is a time coming where me and the Lord Jesus Christ are going to have a conversation about my life. Thankfully, not about my salvation Because that's determined and that has been set by his grace.

But we are gonna talk about what I did with that salvation. And so will you. There is an until for your holiness and mine. Paul put it this way in Romans 14 verse 12. He tells these believers, so then each of us I love that.

He didn't say each of you. He said each of us, including the apostle Paul. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Is he talking to non believers here? He's talking to Christians.

Couple verses before he says that we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Wait, I thought that Christ absorbed my judgment. He did concerning your eternal destination. But once again, there's gonna be an evaluation of what you did with your Christianity. So I take the charge of Ezra eight twenty nine and I apply it to my life now on this Friday night.

Guard them and keep them. Guard guard your heart. You know, if you want to take it a step further in the New Testament, yes, we're all called to be a priesthood, but the Bible also says that we are holy vessels. The priests in the Old Testament were holy and they handled holy vessels. We are both the priesthood and the vessels.

There there's nothing holy about this. Right? Nothing. You're the holy vessel. I'm the holy vessel.

So guard it. Guard your heart. Guard your eyes. Guard your ears. Guard guard your mind.

Keep them until until the day where we give an account. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Don't let your guard down. You know, it's amazing how every week these bible studies end differently, sometimes similarly. Sometimes the final thought is one of great encouragement, that God's faithfulness for you is beyond your imagination.

You can rest in him. And there are other times like tonight where God wants us to perk up and be reminded that holiness is real. Holiness is serious to God. Holiness is important to God. You know what's interesting about Paul mentioning this in Romans chapter 14?

Romans chapter 14 deals with disagreements among believers in the church who have different kind of convictions. There are some Christians among the Romans who said, this day is holier than any other day. Why aren't you honoring this day as holy? Why aren't you honoring the Sabbath like in the Old Testament? And Paul says, hey, listen.

In the new covenant, you may honor one day as more holy than the other, but don't judge each other for that. Well, what about the food? This food is unclean, this food is clean. And yet other Christians saying, Christ made all things clean. And they began to judge each other's spirituality based on these convictions.

And Paul gives them many many many many instructions and then he warns them, do you understand that one day you you each are gonna have to give yourself to God and explain your life? So God looks at each of our convictions and and if they're sincere convictions, he'll hold us accountable to them. But more than that, God's gonna hold you and I accountable of how we treat one another. So all the backbiting and the murmuring and the unforgiveness and do you think God's gonna let believers enter into heaven without reconciliation? That would be strange, wouldn't it?

Is it possible for Christians to die without reconciling with one another? Very possible. I think there are gonna be some very very sobering conversations before the judgment seat of Christ. So guard. Keep.

How do I guard and keep? In the same way that these priests and Levites did. Until until you stand before the priests and Levites in the chambers of our of our God and you are able to say, here it is. And in the same way, let me ask you this in closing, how often do you think about the judgment seat of Christ? When's the last time you thought about it?

We think about a lot of appointments. Some of us are better than others about how we keep our appointments with our calendars. And there's one appointment that you can never forget that you're gonna have, and you can't change it. You can't reschedule it. It's set, and that's with Christ.

And Paul uses the judgment seat, the judgment seat of Christ as a motivating factor for holiness today. If you and I do everything that we do in light of the fact that we're gonna have to talk to Christ about it one day, you're gonna think twice. I'm gonna think twice. One day, I'm gonna have to talk to the Lord about how I treated so and so. I might as well deal with it now than then.

You know, I have these gifts that I believe God has given to me, but I still feel like really using them. Okay. You might get away with it now, but one day the Lord's gonna say, what did you do with the gifts I've given you? Let's sit there and let that truth do its work in our hearts. Ezra and his team were able to successfully make it to their destination with no need to be embarrassed, no need to be ashamed, with no loss.

And the New Testament teaches that it's possible to gain salvation, but suffer loss because we didn't take our holiness seriously. But if you wanna take it seriously, Ezra shows us that you can humble yourself and pray for God's hand on your life to not just protect you, your children, and your resources from thieves and troublemakers, but even to protect your holiness and your purity and your relationships and your witness. God is willing to empower us in what seems to be impossible and make it possible and give you more reason to rejoice in him. That not only because he died for you and forgave your sin, but he can now also give you the power to live in victory. This is the complete gospel.

Let's thank him for it. Lord, we thank you for tonight. We bless you tonight. We thank you how we don't know what to expect with a particular passage that we are just going through faithfully week by week, but we can always expect that you will speak to us. And Lord, tonight we've heard your word.

We are holy and what we do for you is holy. So help us live holy. Lord, if there's any sin in our lives that we have justified or we have not resisted in your power. May you use the truce tonight to give us victory, to give us real victory. And Lord, may one of the things that get us moving in that direction is the thought that we want your purpose for our lives.

We wanna serve you. We don't wanna disqualify ourselves. We don't wanna throw away opportunities. We wanna be ready when you're ready to promote someone, when you're ready to use someone or send someone. Your word tells us that those who are clean are ready for the master's use.

So help us be clean. Help us also understand that when we splash ourselves with dirt or filth, that we can come to you freely and you are willing to wash us and cleanse us. So Lord, we love you tonight. We thank you for these incredible truths and we pray to you believing that you hear our entreaty. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Amen. Let's stand and let's worship the Lord together and thank him that he's willing to help us in our holiness.

Forever. Your

I've shared some time ago the testimony of a of a pastor who early in his ministry began to speak at different conferences, and he was out of town one day by himself and spoke at a a conference, and it was powerful. And the Lord did great things, and he made his way back to his hotel room, and he wanted to just relax, couldn't fall asleep. So turns on the television, and it didn't take many clicks for him to stumble upon a very inappropriate channel. And he stayed a little bit longer than he should have watching it. Instant conviction of a a just a cut to his heart, turned it off, put his shoes on, and he walked outside of the room, left the hotel, went into a Cornfield, and began to talk to the Lord.

And he testifies that he was impressed on his heart, that the Lord assured him of his love for him. But he also told him, if you go down this path, I can't use you the way I wanna use you. And that day, he decided that he would never touch that filth again. And that pastor ended up having a world renowned ministry. That pastor had such an ability to preach that it brought people under strong conviction and many people who are even alive today that I know personally have attributed their salvation and their love for God because of this one man's ministry.

And it made me think when I heard him share that in a sermon, oh, is it possible that he could have thrown that all away for a trip thrill? Is it possible that he could have sabotaged his ministry because he thought that he can just manage this sin and enjoy it and nibble on it after a sermon, after a Bible study, after a crusade? What what would have happened to this man's ministry if he didn't deal with that early on? Only God knows. But let me remind you that what I share by way of illustration is not a subjective experience.

It is biblical. Listen to Paul's words to a young pastor named Timothy. In the last letter that he would write to him or to anybody else, Paul writes in second Timothy two twenty one, therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. It could be today that the Lord presses his finger on something in your life, maybe something that he has talked to you about before. But my prayer is leaving this bible study, you would have a ferocious motivation to conquer that sin by his power because you wanna be a vessel ready for honorable use.

And you don't want to throw away what God has for your life because of something that wants to kill you anyway. And that you would say, oh, God, set me apart. I I want I want to be able to look back at my life and not think for a moment what could have been. What could have been. I wanna pray that God would help us pursue that and live in that until we stand before the Lord.

Lord, your word is so loud. We've heard it clearly. But this is the most important part about it. We need to apply it, and we need your help to apply it. You know the secrets of every heart.

You know what happens behind closed doors. We cannot hide from you. But, lord, we wanna be all of us to be able to testify that what you see in public is who I am in private, that I have nothing to hide. I have no skeletons in my closet. I have nothing to be ashamed of.

So, Lord, we pray that you would break chains, that you would set us free, that we would not look at our track record and think it's impossible. I've tried to break free. All these years. Lord, may today be the day where we experience a turning point. Help us believe it by faith.

Help us cling to these truths and say if it's possible for Timothy, if it's possible for Ezra, if it was possible for that pastor, I am flesh and blood like them. It's possible for me because it's the same God who does the work. We pray that you shake off all condemnation and unnecessary guilt. We're talking about real sin. So lord, help us identify what's real conviction and what's Satan's lies.

And lord, make us a holy people. We wanna be ready for the next chapter for Maranatha Bible Church. We wanna be ready for the next phase. We wanna be ready for the next church that you have for us. We wanna be ready for the next set of missions and the next group of souls that will be saved.

Make us ready. And we know that the only way we can be ready is if we're holy. So make us holy. Help us encourage each other even now. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. I look forward to being with you Sunday to celebrate God and what he has done and what he is doing and what he is going to do. We'll see you then, Lord willing. May the Lord be with you.