Somebody cut that heat
The heat cut the heat
All you're freezing
How could you be freezing? I guess freezing who else is freezing raise your hand
All right besides kids. I don't care about you right now. I'm mad at you still
As a matter of fact while I'm getting this microphone working here. I
Don't normally say this but
I'm encouraging you to snitch on your brother and sister tell
Your mom and dad exactly who it was
There's a code of honor that you shouldn't break sometimes, but
You know when it's things at church. You better just get it right anyway
Alright, thank you
so I
Have it on you guys hear me, okay?
All right, so we're in Ezra chapter number three and
That's how the sermon tonight is the house of the Lord restored
And so let's kind of recap back on chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 1 of course we had Cyrus
gives the proclamation to build the house of the Lord and
We saw that
Cyrus is actually called by the Lord by his name 150 years before
he was even born in the book of Isaiah chapter 44 and chapter 45 and
So then we also saw that
Daniels
kind of interprets
that Jeremiah's time of 70 years is up and
So Jeremiah prophesied that after 70 years after the temple is destroyed that the children of Israel go back to the land and so
That's kind of a lot of what this book is covering just how all that
Took place and some of the different things that and different people and places that these things happen
Chapter 2 we saw the actual return of the captivity to the cities of Israel and of course I was 70 verses and
It just kind of explained what cities they were and then sometimes it was explaining
the priests and the names of the priests and Levites and the and the
Nethanim's and the sons of Saul are the servants of Solomon and all those different things
And it kind of just gave a list of people, but it said that only about four
I think it was forty two thousand. I want to say six hundred or all that came back into the land
I mean when they left Egypt there was millions of people that left and when they came back from being dispersed into Babylon
It's only 42,000 people left so God really whittled it down because he was very angry and destroyed had
Babylon destroy their temples so now we're in the time of the Medes and the Persians and so
So last week like I said they all went back to their cities
So let's take a look at
verse number one and point number one is rebuilding the altar and
Verse number one says and when the seventh month was come and the children of Israel were in the cities
the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem and
Then stood up, Jeshua the son of Jezodak and
his brethren the priest and Zerubbabel the son of Sheltiel and his brethren and builded the altar of
The God of Israel to offer burnt offerings thereon as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God, so
So they get all the people are in their cities the seventh month when they were come
They all gather together themselves as one man towards Jerusalem
And why are they going there because that's where God has called them to play that his name is to be placed there
obviously
History it wasn't always like that, but ultimately God
wanted his
Tabernacle to be in Jerusalem
They built the first temple at the time of Solomon David stored up all the stuff for them
and so now here the people are gathered together in the city and
Then it's and then Jeshua now. He is the he is the high priest so
This Jeshua, and he's also called Joshua in the book of Zechariah
So basically it's the same same name just different spelling there, and it says his brother the priest and Zerubbabel
He is the like the governor. He's in the lineage of Christ
He's in the genealogy of Christ
And I think that as we go through we're going to study more about him
Later on and probably do a little more in-depth about him and Ezra himself
But right now we're kind of just you know going through the motions of how they redid everything so and and then so
They builded the altar of the God of Israel
So it doesn't necessarily say how they built that what they built it with and it doesn't really say it in this chapter
But I want to do kind of just a little mini study
Just even about the name, Jeshua before I get any further so because a lot of people will say
Yeshua that that's Jesus's real name and this and that and they'll say it because and
There's a controversy about it now
There's just like this big movement of people that want to go back to
you know to the messianic and Judy and they kind of want to judy eyes everything and
you know the
Holy Scriptures and the New Testament were written in Greek they weren't written in Hebrew
They were written in Greek and so when they're written in Greek
That's different than Hebrew. It's a different language and so names are pronounced differently names are said differently
Certain sounds in their language are different
so when you see like you'll see like Isaiah in the Old Testament, and then you'll see him called Esaias in the New Testament, it's because of
Transliteration so and I'll explain through that that to you in a minute here
But I want you to turn to Zechariah chapter 6 verse number 11 Zechariah chapter 6 verse number 11. I'll show you
Where it says that?
Let's talk about the same guy, so it's even spelling the name different of
Josedek
It's like Jose deck know
Josedek, but it's spelled with an S instead of a Z
Zechariah 611 it says then take silver and gold to make crowns and set them upon the head of
Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest so he is the high priest that's you know clear Zechariah as a counter
You know he's around at the same time
as all this is kind of going on and
so Joshua is the same name as Joshua, so and
You see the different spellings in the different books here. It's just like Nebuchadnezzar and never
They it's said differently Nebuchadnezzar and never never never could
Kedrezer I think is how it said in other books so just because a name is spelled a little bit differently. That's not
The biggest deal in the world so now turn to Acts chapter 7 verse 45, so
It is a little bit of a controversy and people will really try to push this
Yeshua thing to
Say hey, you're not saying his name right his name isn't Jesus as Yeshua. This is like
well my Bible says Jesus, and I speak English and
And the King James Bible
It calls him Jesus doesn't it so and when we see the word J. It's with a J sound right
Now some people like in Spanish his name is Jesus
And that it's still spelled the same, but they just don't say the J like we do so you see how there could be
The same name, but it's just said differently depending upon the tongue in which it's spoken with
So
Acts 7 45 it says which also our fathers that came after
Brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles
Whom God drove out before the face of our fathers unto the days of David now when you read this
This is not talking about Jesus our Jesus the Savior Jesus is talking about Joshua
so
They they translate it the same way
because
You know it's in English, it's Jesus, okay, that's how
We pronounce it in English, so this is again not talking about Jesus Christ, so
All we know in our language is that his name is Jesus
Why would we change it to something that it's not saying so in our language? That's what it is
so we don't need to go back and
Look at the Hebrew language of how you know jesh, so like maybe they don't pronounce
Maybe they do pronounce it yeshua as in Joshua in Hebrew
But that's just not how we pronounce it because we're not here. We're not we don't we're not Hebrew
We don't speak that language, so I'm not saying like if you if you're an Israeli and you speak is you know you speak Hebrew
Then they probably would call them that I don't even think that they'd pronounce the J
Actually, they might call them yeshua. Yeah, they call me yeshua right so but it's you know here
It's jeshua even in you know, but they probably wouldn't pronounce it like that so hopefully you understand that but in the Old Testament
Joshua actually has you know Joshua the servant of Moses the one that took the children of Israel into the Promised Land
He his name is spelled differently in multiple in multiple books, and I'm just like I don't understand why that is
Maybe it's just helping us prove the point for later. I don't know but but he is pronounced as Joshua or
Joshua or
Ocea, and what is it in the new test does it say his name in the New Testament or yes, Jesus?
But but oh so Ocea, and then Joshua is also another pronunciation of it in the Old Testament
So Jesus is Joshua translated or transliterated into English does that make sense?
So and it's and I'm not trying to go back to the Greek so don't sit there and accuse me of it
But the Greek word that's used for his name is
Iesous and
It's pronounced Iesous and so that I that's in the front there
You know over time in English that became the J, and so we pronounce that jaw G. You know Jesus and
I was kind of wondering like you know why it's it sounds so different, but
It doesn't really I mean it probably just again depends on what tongue you have what tongue you were born with of how it's said
but
from what I saw and I looked this up on a couple different sources, but
Greek letters are spelled out exactly how they're pronounced in written form
I think is that is that true of anybody that kind of has any background at all and there are no silent letters or or
Shh sounds or
Sounds is that true does anybody know that that's true. I mean I found on the internet. It must be true, right?
Abraham Lincoln said it so no. I'm just kidding but uh
But if there's no shh sounds wouldn't that make sense that in English if they translated it Jesus that
there it's not
Joshua or
Joshua there's no sound in the Greek language so when they transliterate it they translated or transliterate it because
There's no sound in in that language, so
So when translated from Hebrew to the Greek names
It is really like a transliteration, and there's a lot of words in the Bible that you probably just don't even realize are just
transliterations of the Greek words
like baptism
Like I mean even Christ you know
Christ and Messiah don't sound anything alike, but they mean the same thing right and
so
there's also the word angel apostle Passover and
Passovers like posh key or some other kind of you know and so they had to make it
You know so that we could kind of you know use those words correctly or whatever baptism
All those types of words and some of them are just kind of words that weren't really necessarily in English
I don't know that they had an English word for the word baptism
so I think that's just why they that's why they'll transliterate something like if if
Passover was not in the English language
Then they kind of had to make that based upon the the words that they found when they interpret
You know when they translated these these things so John 141 says he first findeth his own
Brother Simon, and he saith unto him we have found the Messiah's which is being interpreted the Christ so again
they don't sound the same and
I think they're like when I've heard Jews say that it's like they say Mashiach or something like that, but it's
Jesus you know John it helps us interpret it. He said you know he's because he's a he's a Jew obviously
But he also speaks Greek and so they're they're helping us to interpret it as we would interpret it today
He's the Christ so when people try to say you know yeah, it's yeshua you got to say his name right they're wrong
They're just you know they're referring
You know they're they're referring to his name
that's not sure it if now if
The the New Testament was translated in Hebrew then that might be his name in Hebrew or whatever
But they weren't and if you want to this is funny these people that love to go back to the original languages
Then they want to try to use something from the original language. It's not in the text. You know what I mean because
They're using things that aren't like Jehovah the word Jehovah is not in the New Testament
So and yet the Jehovah's Witnesses will put Jehovah after every instance of the time that it puts God or the Lord God or something
Like that so they like to break their own little rules
Because they're hypocrites and these people that want to use the word yeshua
Just want to try to judaize us in one way that they can
So that's just kind of like a little a little time out there, but I just think it's important to kind of
To say that because people will say that you're like well
Why do they think that why why do they think that we as English speakers should call him that it's like
You know it's just it doesn't make sense, but his name is Joshua or yeshua in Hebrew or whatever
but
I mean, that's not what it is in English pretty pretty simple right now
Let's go back to verse number two again and check out the rest of this verse
Says instead of jeshua the son of joseph
Josadak man I can't pronounce it when it's spelled that way and his brethren the priest and his rubable the son of Sheltiel and his
Brethren and builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings
They're on as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God
so
They're doing it the way God said it that's important for them when they go back into the land to do things the way God
Said it this is where they got into trouble in the first place, and why God ended up having to
Wipe them like a dinner plate off the face of the planet and just save a few remnant because they stopped doing what the Bible
Said they stopped doing things that as God told them to do them
So I think it's really important that they start off on the right foot and here
They are they're in the land like God told them to go back to and they're meeting in this place
Where God told them to meet they're meeting in where Jerusalem right, and they're all as one people and then now they are building the altar
And we know that part of this main story is what is rubables main job and duty what he's been asked to do is do
What to rebuild the temple right?
So why is he doing this first?
Well because they're in the Old Testament. They're on the old covenant and they must
resume the sacrifices
Okay, and it's gonna take some time to build this building
So the first right thing that they've done is they've gone to that place that they're supposed to go and now they're gonna
Reinstitute the atonement system that God set up now
We know in the New Testament that that the that the blood of animals cannot really atone for sin
It's a picture. It's something that God made them or told them to do and it really didn't
It's like a picture of what in Christ
retroactively
forgave everybody's sins in the Old Testament when that were saved
Obviously covered all those sins to the back and everything to the future so
So, but anyway these these guys are
Making the altar here by the by how it's written in the law of Moses
And like I said, I don't know if they've made a brass one. It doesn't really say that but
let's go ahead and turn to Exodus chapter 27 look at Exodus chapter 27 and
There are a few different ways that God has told them to make the altar now
Everything that they make the altar out of though has to do with the earth and
You when you get brass, how do you get brass you dig it out of the earth?
So the brazen altar is is actually really made out of
Rock and out of the earth look at Exodus 27 the one says it says now shall make an altar of Shittim wood
Five cubits long and five cubits broad the altar shall be four square and the height thereof shall be three cubits
Now shall make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof his horns shall be of the of the same
Now shall overlay it with brass
So
So now keep in mind that even
This altar as laid out by Moses was not like the previous one that was destroyed in the temple
they built it bigger in the temple because
You know Solomon just like to do everything bigger and better. You know. I mean he it was a it was a gigantic
It was like a 16-foot
huge
altar and
They had to cut it in chunks
Because they couldn't get it all out the door so they had to cut that thing in chunks and get it out
So that altar is gone
But that wasn't the first altar so this is the one that the God told them to make for the tabernacle
But you got to understand that people have been sacrificing to God for
Thousands of years already you know Abraham sacrificed to God, and he didn't have a temple
you know Jacob sacrificed to God he didn't have a temple and
So but both, but the way that they were told to do things after Moses took over when they agreed to this covenant is
That they're gonna do it this way, and it's gonna be part of that tabernacle setup now
Let's turn to Exodus chapter 20 verse 24, and God's gonna tell us like
If you don't you know obviously if you don't have this setup
And you need to make some sort of a sacrifice obviously he wants you to sacrifice where he told you to but it wasn't necessarily
You know forbidden for them to make a sacrifice in a different way or with a different
With with different different things here, so look at what it says in Exodus 20 24
it says an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, so what is that earth is dirt right and
Shalt sacrifice there on thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings and thy sheep and thine oxen in all places where I record my name
I will come unto thee and blood and I will bless thee
so
He says in all places where he records his name so and it says in verse 25
And if thou will make me an altar of stone, so there's another way of doing it
It's also part of the earth, but it's stone thou shalt not build it of hewn stone for if thou lift thy tool upon it
Thou has polluted it
So he says don't don't chip out the rocks with some kind of cutting tool and then build it like some ornate kind of
Thing he says once you put the tool upon it you've defiled it
You know so but here's three ways so one way was wood overlaid with brass
and then you had the altar of earth, that's the you know if you just have to make it do a makeshift one and
Also an altar of stone you could take stones, and you could do that so I feel like it was Samson's
Parents that I'll actually made a they made an altar in the book of Judges, and it was of rock so
Anyway, those are the rules for making altars now
Verse 26 says neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar that thy nakedness not be be not discovered
They're on so there wasn't supposed to be steps on it
So you know I like to beat kick this dog when I walk past it, but you know there's no steps
There's no altar up here. You know why because we're not in the Old Testament and
And
Because every church that you see with with like what they call an altar is literally like steps
it's like literally what God said not to do and
Then people go up and cry on it and the book of Malachi says you know quit
You know it's upsetting God that they're weeping on the altar with their tears
Because in reality I mean we've gone through the book of Exodus with the fine-toothed comb
And and if you touch and mess with the altar
You know it's or anything that's God's its holy
There was like a big cleansing that had to take place and all this stuff
So if you got a bunch of people doing some big
emotional cry up on the altar
That God has said you know you're not supposed to pollute and then a bunch of people are weeping all over
I mean you're getting your fluids all over it, and you're making it on unclean
You're making it unholy
And it's just you're just angering God by doing not doing things the way you said to do them
there's some things that God's really particular about and
you know because a lot of times it it'll ruin the picture that it's meant to have and
Sometimes just because he said don't do it this way or do it this way and God wants you to obey
He wants obedience over sacrifice
He wants someone that's going to obey rather than someone's going to give a gift
And I think that even parents or you know wives are like that too. Not that you have to obey
Then I'm not saying that but sometimes they want the affection instead of like you bringing them flowers or something
they want you to actually be sorry for being a big brute and
You know love them and not just bring a present to appease them
So I think that's kind of the idea that God is like you know it's it's not just a sacrifice
But it's your motive behind it. You know and so God would say like I'm sick of your sacrifices
I'm tired of your your new men's and your Sabbaths. You know wait. I want I want to take these away
so
He gets kind of sick of that stuff so anyway, so
My question is is so why are the Jews today not doing animal sacrifices?
If they're under the law of Moses like they say that they are like they claim they are
Then why aren't they doing them? Why are they not doing them right now?
Every morning every night every time someone has a free will offering every single feast
Every single Sabbath or whatever whatever holiday. It's supposed to be why are they not doing it?
That's a good question isn't it and they haven't been doing it since 70 AD when Titus came in and wrecked the place
because Jesus died for our sins and
God said he was going to destroy that place so not want not one stone was gonna be left upon another
so if they
Believe in Moses like they say they do and they want to follow God's law and they follow the Torah
And they do this kind of stuff with their funny hats and their weird outfits on and they just think that you know
They're they're right with God, and they're the they're God's chosen people well. How come you're not doing what God said?
So the funny thing about this these guys they're coming back kind of with a little bit of shame
you know they're it's they're coming back to a
Shadow of the former glory of what Israel was like and yet they have a right heart because what are they doing?
They're setting themselves to go in and be one people at Jerusalem
To set up the the offerings the way God said and notice it
It's not an accident that it says that they did it the way. It's written
They did it the way the law of Moses said so why aren't the Jews today doing that?
And they here's here's their excuse we don't have a temple anymore
Well did Abraham have a temple did Jacob have a temple?
They didn't even have a temple when Moses was was enacting all this stuff
That's why he said here's here's your other makeshift ways. You can do it. Here's how people have always sacrificed unto me
But yet they're like oh we can't do it we don't have the temple
When did when where does it say in the Bible you can't sacrifice burnt sacrifices unless you have a temple?
Unless it's at Jerusalem unless it's where the mosque is that's on top of it right now
And if you know that's really their place. Why aren't they bulldozing that mosque and building the temple?
Because they're scared
Because they know it's probably not right deep down inside
Or God's just not letting them do it. I mean
You know he's withholding
He's withholding them from being able to do it because it's an abomination to continue to just chop up animals
And pretend like that's gonna atone for them when Jesus has already done it for them
so
the original
temple didn't exist until
Solomon built it many years after
Moses had the tabernacle erected and that was at the command of God
And you'll notice in the book of Hebrews
When it's doing all the comparisons between the New Testament and why those things were instituted in the book of Hebrews
You know so it's always talking about the tabernacle and the things of the tabernacle
That's the original thing that God set up. He doesn't say the temple
he talked about the tabernacle and those things were patterned after what's in heaven right now and
God told Moses to build them after the pattern that I showed you and that's what they built
But you know David wanted to build the temple for the Lord and God allowed him to do it
But that wasn't the original plan
so
In Hebrews it clearly lays out for
Us that it's the temple. That's the tabernacle is what it's comparing everything to but here's another
Excuse verse for them. This is one that they like to use why they don't currently sacrifice
Hosea 6 6 says for I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings
So they'll take it a verse and obviously that's true
But it doesn't mean that they're not supposed to do the sacrifices if they're under the Covenant
He's just saying that these things are better than the burnt offerings
You know people just lose track and want to
To they want to geek out on the details of things that aren't as important as the other. It's like judgment mercy love
All these types of things and they and they just want to stick to the letter of the law so much that they're you
Know the Savior has come to them and they're and they're yelling at him because he healed a man's arm. That was withered
And
They're they're murdering him over picking some grain off of off of a stock because they're hungry
I mean and raising people from the dead, you know, I mentioned this last week in my sermon
I just just mind-boggling to me, you know the level of hypocrisy
That's why he said well into these scribes and Pharisees hypocrites and he's just like telling them why they're all hypocrites and they're just
May get them even they're even more mad after that but
He really gets them worked up a lot of times if you just read through you've read the New Testament just recently
he really likes to just
You know toy with them. Sometimes it seems like to me he'll answer their questions
But then after a while he just like then he'll just like not say anything
And he just leaves them hanging
Well, where is he going is he gonna kill himself, you know, it's like where I'm going you can't come then
He I felt like he just kind of walks off a lot
They're really gonna go spinning after this
And they do
so
anyway, but
So the fact remains though they if they're truly observing the Old Testament then that requires a sacrifice
That requires them keeping the feast that's as it's written in the law of Moses
and
Right today they still keep the Passover, but you know what? They don't do they don't sacrifice a lamb
They might cook one in the oven. They might buy one at the store
But you know what? They're not doing they're not taking a lamb without blemish and
cutting its throat draining out all the blood and
Then cooking it the way the Bible says with the certain bitter herbs and all those things. They're not doing all that
So
What's atoning for their sin?
Under their covenant that they think that they still live under
That that covenants gone and it drives me crazy
When Christians try to still say that God is is still allowing that covenant to exist
He's not it's it's waxed old. It's done away with and
They're not even observing it
and and it seems like the more
Orthodox they get the weirder they get and we might think oh, yeah
Well, they're really close, you know, they're probably more close to getting saved than anybody. I actually think it's probably the opposite of that
They're even more they're just weird. They're like the Pharisees
they're probably a bunch of perverts and
pedophiles and
weirdos
these Orthodox
People that are rocking back and forth like they're autistic or something
And I'm not trying to make fun of autistic people
I'm just saying that they're doing it
You know the autistic people do it because they can't help it
But the Jews are doing it for who knows what reason because they're possessed with Devils or something. I
Mean, that's how they act
You're like, well you're getting kind of mean about the Jews
Well, I'm I'm cool about these Jews these guys came back and started doing things the way God said to do it
But the ones today the fakers over in the land of Israel, they're phonies
They are
They're white
They're white as bread
Isn't it funny how like they're all white and everybody that surrounds them is brown. I
Mean, how did that happen?
But anyway
So, I mean the Bible is very clear that you still can do these different you can put an
Earth you could put an altar of earth an altar of stone
So what's stopping you? What's stopping you from making the dimensions of?
What Moses said in the tabernacle and making that and doing it?
Well, Peter would be all over them. I
Think that people would be really mad about it
I mean you see how freaky people are over any animal being put to sleep or anything like that
Imagine if it's just full-on slaughterhouse every day
It's gonna free people are gonna get mad it is gonna happen though. It's gonna happen someday
it's gonna come back for a short time, I believe but
Let's look at an instance where it's actually done when the temple is in play. Let's look at first Kings chapter 18
So Elijah, of course, I don't have time to go into the whole story. It's a great story though, but
Elijah is
Having this showdown with the prophets of Baal and he's on Mount Carmel. Is that Jerusalem? No is Jerusalem
There at this time. Yes. Is there a temple in Jerusalem at this time? Yes
but Elijah's coming out against the
Wicked King Ahab and his witch wife and against all these prophets of Baal
So look at verse 30
It says and Elijah said unto all the people come near unto me and all the people came near unto him and he repaired the
Altar of the Lord that was broken down
So he repaired one that was broken down and Elijah took 12 stones
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word of the Lord came saying
Israel shall be thy name and
with the stones
He built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures
of seed
So we know that he built an altar, right?
He built an altar and of course, you know the rest of the story
Did God burn his sacrifice with fire?
I mean the the prophets of Baal were cutting themselves and jumping up and down and you know muttering and peeping and whatever they do
And Elijah's mocking them by the way. We're not supposed to make fun of people but Elijah was
and then
He poured all this water on top of the sacrifice all over the wood
So it's so drenched that there's no way you're gonna start a fire and then God just goes
During the time that the temple is in a different place in a different location
So don't tell me you can't make the sacrifices without having a temple because that's just not true
so
Now we have Zerubbabel and Jeshua the high priest reinstating the altar before the temple is rebuilt
Isn't that the context of the of the where we're at here? How is the temple built yet? No, it's not built
They just went back to it. They just went back to the place
Where it's supposed to be built. So again, the Jews have no covering for their sacrifices
They have nothing and people are like, there's still God's chosen people. Okay, and they're all going to hell. How does that work?
How does that work? Well, there's a remnant
There's a remnant and
Just like there's a remnant of Ammonites. There's a remnant of the children of Esau. There's a there's a remnant in every place
They're just like that remnant, but they're blinded even there. They're so severely blinded though
Because they rejected Christ because they should have known
They should have known
Out of all the people in the world that Jesus comes to he comes to his own people and they should have known
They
Knew what the Bible said and so that's why as a people as a whole they're rejected
And so people are just like and yet we have Christians just just giving to the temple foundation
Just trying to get the Antichrist to come faster. I
Mean, that's bizarre
So, let's go back to Ezra chapter 3 Ezra chapter 3
Verse number 3 it says and they set the altar upon its bases for fear was caught
What was upon them because of the people of the countries and they offered burnt offerings thereon
Unto the Lord even burnt offerings morning and evening. Were they supposed to do one morning evening?
yes, they were every day and they kept also the Feast of Tabernacles as it is written and
Offer the daily burnt offerings by number according to the custom as the duty of every day required
Now that certain feast they had to have a certain amount of sacrifices each day and then it
Decreased or I can't remember if the decrease
It's it was a certain number a day. So what it's saying though is that they kept this to the T and
The
Feast of Tabernacle wasn't kept the way it was supposed to be for many many years from the time of Joshua wasn't kept
Right, but they did it like they were supposed to now keep in mind though that this is without the temple being built yet
They're keeping this feast, aren't they? Does the temple have to be kept or be built for them to keep the feast today?
No, it doesn't look at verse 5
Afterwards offered the continual burnt offering both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were
consecrated of everyone will that willingly offered a free will offering unto the Lord so
Everything that was supposed to be offered including people just coming up and saying hey, this is my free will offering
This is above the tie. This is above what I'm supposed to do
This is above my duty and it's called a free will offering checkmate Calvinist
Free will offering that means they give it out of their own free will wasn't preordained
It wasn't pre suppose those out of their own free will not because God made them not because God told them to
It's because they wanted to do it because they wanted to do it
All right, which flies in the face of Calvin is Calvinistic teachings, but I'm not going to preach about that
I just wanted to kind of throw that in for free. So
Now in the New Testament though in the book of Colossians, you don't have to turn there
I'll just read it for you
All this talk about new moons and continual feasts and all this other stuff in the New Testament
That's done away in Christ
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or the new moon or of the Sabbath
Days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ
So in the New Testament, we don't have to keep all this stuff. Praise God for that
Jesus is good enough. His blood is good enough one time
One death one time put it on the the altar up in heaven and that's a that's good enough to where we don't have to
Do all this
Extra religious stuff. That's nice, isn't it? You know, praise God that we're in the New Testament
So look at Ezra 3 6 it says from the first day of the seventh month begin
They to do burnt offerings unto the Lord
But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. Are they doing it before the temples built?
Because they are
So and that says they gave money also unto the masons to the carpenter carpenters and meat and drink and oil
Unto them of Zidane and to them of Tyre to bring cedar trees and Lebanon trees
Excuse me Lebanon to the Sea of Joppa
according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia, so
The they're making a point here to tell us that they're doing all this stuff. They're keeping these feasts
They're doing these sacrifices without the temple being built. I think it's a good point
It's a it's a point that we you know to look at what we're seeing today. It helps us know that they're wrong
and they have to know that they're wrong and
it's proof that the sacrifice can be done without the temple and
So that's that so let's move on to
verse number eight and number two
The rebuilding of the temple so now it says in the second year of the coming of the house of God at
Jerusalem in the second month began Zerubbabel the son of Sheltiel and
Joshua the son of Josadak and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites and
and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem and
Appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord
So here we're in the second year. They still haven't done
They still haven't built anything yet
They just built in the altar and they're still just doing the things in there
They're gathering everybody up to do what they're supposed to do and getting ready to do the work because a work of this
this
Magnitude you can't just like say okay go build it and then like two weeks later. It's built
I mean it takes time to get all the materials and get all the workers and pay everybody and
You know, but the point I want to make here is that we're two years in they still don't have a temple
But yet they're doing everything they're supposed to do
Because in reality the building really means nothing
And I think this helps us to see the picture for the New Testament that the building means nothing
You know, we're meeting here because it's comfortable and and obviously, you know
There's probably been times and in the past where believers weren't able to be in this much comfort
You know just sitting in the building or whatever and there might be a time when we're not in that much comfort
We're hiding in some cave with
Flashlights reading the Bible or something. Who knows?
Not being able to have church openly
You know, we say we'd like to stand up and be tough and do this
But when your head's about to get lopped off you might feel different
When your whole family's gonna get killed in front of you, you might feel different
I'm not saying that we shouldn't be bold. We should be I'm not saying we shouldn't go to church
I'm just saying that there might come a time when you know, because there comes a time where we're supposed to run
right
So what are we gonna do during that time when we run you're gonna have open church
Well, you're gonna run and be done. I mean, why is Jesus telling you to run so you can get away
Right. So, I mean, I think a certain degree of hiding is gonna be okay
I'm not saying don't do great works and exploits. I'm just saying that
You know if he's telling you to run that's when you run. It's not now
it's not go build a bunker now and go build a you know, a place on a mountaintop someplace and
You know store up all your food and I'm not saying all sort of food. It's not a bad idea
I mean an earthquake could happen and you're without food for
Two three weeks and might be nice to have some our MREs laying around the house
I mean you got to use them up at some time because they go bad, right?
But
Then maybe one of those little filters that you can put fresh water through to get gallons
You know if it's if the water is bad and you have one of those that's nice to have those little straws or what?
You know I'm talking about where you can yeah, I've seen people just like drinking right of a pond with those things like oh, man
I just I don't even know if I can I mean, but if you're thirsty
And it's the tribulation, you know
You're like dang it. Why didn't I get one of those straws?
But
So verse 9 so they're they're they're going for they're set forward to the work of the house of the Lord
But isn't it funny how the house of the Lord isn't there yet?
But yet they're talking about the work of the house of the Lord. They're at Jerusalem
They're doing all the things that they're supposed to and and remember at the beginning
They went to Jerusalem as what as one and so they gathered themselves together there
And what do we do when we go to church we gather ourselves together don't we?
So they're doing basically everything
But they don't have the building some people just think the building is everything and they just worse
You know if they don't have a building if like our building is an old bank building
It's like people will drive by I'm not gonna go to church in an old bank building
I'm not gonna go to church in some window. You know some some retail storefront or something. It's like why?
Well what difference does it make they're doing it apparently outside
I'm sure they probably had tents for when it rained or something like that, but they probably didn't erect the tabernacle
They're building a temple. They haven't even started yet. We're two years in
So in in the very first the beginning of this chapter though
It says the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem now turn to Acts chapter
7 Acts chapter number 7 verse 37 Acts 7 37
Gotta hurry up here Acts 7 37 says this is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel a prophet shall
Shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear?
this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai and
With our fathers who receive the lively oracles to give unto us, so you see how it says the church in the wilderness
Well the word church means
congregation
So in the Old Testament they did have church, so that's just one another one of those words
That's transliterated for us from the from the Greek so in the Greek it translates out to us as a church
And I think it's in Acts 19 when the Ephesians freaked out
he says the Paul that I think that they say that Paul is not a
blasphemer of your churches or a robber of your churches or so I can't remember exactly what it is, but
They say church, and that's not talking about a church a New Testament church is talking about like an assembly of people so
But the ascent you know the church
You know this is a church here and the fact that we're here together gathered in the name of the Lord
Filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what makes it a church
believers
Worshipping and praising God like these people were here. They were here trying to do what the Bible says to do
What's the does the Bible say to to assemble together yes, it does so that's why we're here tonight
I mean, I'm sure there's other things you could be doing tonight
But there's an assembly here and the building doesn't make it the assembly does it?
Regardless of whether we have a building or not it's still a church and back then it was the church of the wilderness
It was a mobile church
It was like a tent that they rolled up and and packed up and moved to a different spot. It wasn't even in one place
So let's look back in our text there in verse 10
It says when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord they set the priests in their apparel
with trumpets and the Levites the sons of Asaph assembles and prayed to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David king of
Israel now David's is the one that set up that after he was king
But the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord so now just after two years are finally putting that foundation
in there from the seventh month and
so
but
So there is a physical place that they were supposed to meet wasn't there and it was in Jerusalem
All right, we know that they were there but the building wasn't there. So were they still a church?
So even without the building they were yeah, and they were still
Gathered together and doing what God had put forth to them at this time in the Old Testament
Now of course in the New Testament things are different
But we're still a church
this is still the house of the Lord and
Would you say that when they were at Jerusalem without the temple being built that where they were at was still the house of the?
Lord I think it was
It's talking about building the house of the Lord
But it's also, you know the in the New Testament
The house of the Lord is referred to as the church, right?
in first Timothy chapter 3 verse 15
It says but if I Terry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God
Which is the church of the Living God the pillar and ground of the truth
Is that because we're in a building or is it because we're gathered together?
It's because we're in a building. I don't know. I mean, it's cuz we're gathered together. Good night
confusing myself up here
but we're in the house of God when we're all together here is my point and
This place where they're at is called the house of God too and the building doesn't matter as far as
You know, obviously the temple did have significance there was different, you know, the tabernacle had significance
I'm not saying it didn't but just because that wasn't there didn't mean that they weren't going to do
What God told them to do so now
Let's see. So there are certain things were changed. Of course in the New Testament. There's no Levitical priesthood
I don't have time to go to those verses but Hebrews 7 and 11 and 12
talk about the priesthood being changed because Christ is is the the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and
There was a necessity of change because we don't have a priesthood after the we don't have altars anymore
We don't have all that stuff
we don't need it and
Then the meats and drinks and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation
Hebrews 9 10 and 11 and
There's a greater and perfect tabernacle not made with hands and that is the Lord Jesus Christ
That picture of the tabernacle really was the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and when the veil was rent
then you know that
That was a picture of you know us
Not being separated from God anymore in the way that we were before where we had to have priests where we had to have
All this blood of bulls and goats and all that kind of stuff
Now let's move on to the last point. I had to kind of rush through that. I'm sorry, but
but verse number 11
Then point three is relaying the foundation stone so they relayed the foundation stone
Look at verse 11 it says and they sang together by course and praising and giving thanks unto the Lord
because he is good and his mercy endureth forever toward Israel and
all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid and
It's interesting because in the New Testament talks about how Jesus Christ and even in the Psalms how he is that foundation stone
And of course the builders rejected that the Pharisees rejected Christ the people as a whole rejected Christ
But he you know this foundation stone that they're shouting for joy about
You know really is representing what it's representing Christ. That's what everything is built upon. That's what our whole faith is built upon
That's why we're saved and so they're shouting for great joy, and these people love the Lord obviously
I'm sure a lot of these people here were saved
They're not just shouting for joy because they're a bunch of heathens
they're shouting for joy because the foundation stone is set again, and you know they can begin building this temple and
You know everything that we do should be built upon Christ all of our works
Everything that we do if it's not built upon Christ, and it means nothing
The fact that we're gathering here tonight is built upon what Christ set forth and
That foundation stone was set. We're sure foundation Baptist Church. What is that representing? It's talking about Jesus Christ being the foundation of
Our faith and
So I there's some other verses a bunch of verses here. I don't have time to go to but
when in job when it talks about how the sons of God shouted for joy when the foundation was laid of the earth and then
There's a there's some good stuff in there if you want to check that out job chapter 38 1st Peter chapter
119 talks about how Christ is foreordained before the foundation of the world
Revelation chapter 13 8 I'll have you turn to that one revelation 13 8
It says if you have time go ahead and actually just go under Matthew 21 42. I'm going to read revelation 13 8
Revelation 13 8 says and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
So the plan was always that Jesus Christ was going to die
And he was slain from the foundation of the world, but in time in our time
He died at a specific time about 2,000 years ago on the Passover, right? So
Christ died at a certain time and he came at a certain time
You know to this wicked generation Matthew 21 look at verse so we verse 42
I'm gonna have us read from there
But Jesus is telling this parable about how he sends prophets and he sends these people and they kill them
so some of them they kill some of them they stone and
Then they're like, he's like wall send my son. Sure. They're gonna listen to my son
I'm paraphrasing by the way, and then they say let's kill him and take his inheritance
And that's what that Jesus is talking about himself here and so verse 42 says Jesus and so they basically
You know they he says what is he gonna do when he comes back?
And they said he's gonna miserably destroy those those wicked people and like they're talking about themselves and they don't realize it at this point
Verse 42 he says Jesus saith unto them
Did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner?
This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes
therefore say I unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and
Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder
so
He is that
Stone that was rejected by the builders. He's this he's he's that chief cornerstone and
They didn't like him. They didn't want him. He's too. Ugly. He's too. This he's too. That whatever whatever their problem was
He's not what we expected
You know and really they just didn't know the Bible and you know in reality
They're just evil wicked men that were sons of the devil a lot of these people
such children of Belial
But what I think what I find interesting there is that he said whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken
And I kind of take that to mean that if you will fall upon Christ for mercy
And you're broken in your sins then God you know he's he's going to have mercy on you
He's gonna read he's gonna. You know you might be broken, but he's gonna fix you. He's gonna put you back together
He's gonna help you
But it's because there's a but there, so I'm thinking that that's actually even though it seems like it's a negative thing
You fall on a rock, and it hurts you break things you know things skin comes off
You know I've seen some pretty nasty
Falls on rocks that were pretty you know grotesque
And it hurts
It looks like it hurts anyway
I'd never really had a bad one, but I've seen people with some pretty nasty wounds from falling on rocks, and it's bad
But he says the but here is but on whosoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder
So that's the negative part of the verse and who's he talking to he's talking to these people that rejected that chief cornerstone
They rejected the the whole reason why they're even existing in the first place in this religious capacity at all is
They're waiting for their Messiah. Who's there right now, and they're rejecting him. He's the head of the corner
he's become the head of the corner and
When you get ground to powder guess what there ain't no coming back from that
You know
If you're one so like really you're gonna get the rock no matter what
You're gonna get the rock whether you like it or not
You know it's just like those people that will bow
Anyway, even though they never wanted to bow while they were here
But at some point they're gonna bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaim that he is Lord
Every knee shall bow that's right now
But everybody's gonna get that rock and whether you're gonna be the one that gets broken on it and
And and you know he can fix you when you're broken that's great
But if it grinds you into powder, I think it's talking about the not so great part of it
You just you're done. He's gonna blow you away. You know so
If that rock falls on you in judgment, you're done. There's no fixing that
Now in Acts chapter 4 this this is mentioned also
About him being the head of corner, and if you want to turn there you can
I know I'm almost out of time here, so I think I'm out of time
I'm close, but anyway
It says in Acts 4 10 be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ
And Nazareth whom he crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him doth this man stand here before you whole
So I mean it's just really interesting that they make him whole but see he fell upon that rock and he fixed him didn't he?
But see the people that don't want to accept them he's gonna grind them into powder, but look at verse 11
It says this is the stone which was set it not of you builders
Which has become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in the other for there is none other name under heaven given among men
Whereby we must be saved and guess what that it says there Jesus Christ of Nazareth
It's not Yeshua. It's not
Yahushua or
Any other kind of name or you know that you want to come up with obviously the Lord has many names
But the name that we're supposed to be saved by is the Lord Jesus Christ
He has a name that's that's better than any other and he earned it first Peter chapter 2 verse 4 first Peter chapter 2 verse 4
says to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious
He also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house
So you see how he's that he's that chief Cornerstone and then we're built upon that spiritual house
It's a spiritual thing in the New Testament's a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold. I lay in Sion a chief Cornerstone
Elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be
Confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient
The stone which the builders disallow the same has made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling
People be tripping over this rock, right?
And a rock of offense people are offended by the Lord Jesus Christ are offended by the idea of Christianity
That they're accountable to God and they're accountable for their sins and
they won't fall upon the rock for mercy and they won't be broken by his word and
They're so there's two different types of people. We fit we find him precious. He's like the best stone that ever was
He's better than the most polished diamond or the most valuable
Stone on the face of the planet, but to them he's just a rock that they trip on
And you know when they trip on it, they're gonna break
And they're gonna be sorry that someday when they could have had everything that we're gonna have in the afterlife
Well, it's not gonna be the afterlife for us to be the afterlife for them
It's gonna be the after dead for them. But for us it's life everlasting
But in verse 9 it says but you're a chosen
Generation a royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his
Marvelous life, so there's just two different types of people out there
We find him precious the rock, you know, and maybe maybe in looks he doesn't look like a polished diamond
He looks you know
It's an ugly, you know, if you think about the cross the picture of the cross is not a pretty picture
And there was nothing beautiful about him himself that people desired to have Jesus. He was just an average probably looking person and
When people see well, this is what I have to accept to be saved that he was beaten beyond belief and
You wouldn't even look at him if you had a chance to if you looked at his face
if you looked at Jesus on the cross, you would probably turn your head in horror and
So the rock isn't necessarily pretty
But it's but it is precious to us, isn't it? Because what came from that cross is our salvation
What came from his death burial and resurrection was our salvation and you know to other people it's a stone of stumbling
How can you believe all that stuff?
How can you believe in a book written by men? How could you you know, it's offensive. He's homophobic
Look what he says to kill all these homos
so
The world would be a better place
Wouldn't it?
Thou shalt not suffer a wish to live world be a better place. I
Mean just all the things that God puts in his law that are offensive to people, you know
They're good for a lot of people though
You know for the people that are victims of these freaks and predators all over the world. It would be good for them
They're probably like I wish that people would kill them. Why doesn't why doesn't God intervene?
Well, because mankind won't listen to what he says
That's why it's not that God didn't intervene. He wrote a book for us and told us what to do
It's like oh, why is it God intervene? Why does he allow these things to happen? You're letting it happen
You're the one that's soft and sorry on things like this and just want to give these mass murderers a second chance
And you're you know going around protesting and stuff. Oh, they shouldn't put this person up
Oh, they put this new type of death gas and it might have hurt him when he died or something
So what they used to fry people in the electric chair?
That was even worse and I don't even really think that's a great method I think what the Bible says is a good method
And really a bullet through the head is probably the most merciful thing. You could probably do in reality
And the but the Bible talks about stoning people I mean that's rocks thrown at high capacity
But you know a bullet is a lot. I would take the bullet by bullet or stone to death. I'll take the bullet. Thanks
New Testament, you know
It doesn't say I have to do that
I'm just saying that look people, you know, they trip over God they trip over, you know
It's a fence and all that they stumble over the Word of God. They say it's not true
It's not real but you know unto us
we're gonna show forth the praises of him that called us out of darkness to his marvelous light and
Verse 12. Let's finish off here
It says but many of the priests and the Levites and the chief of the fathers who were ancient men
That had seen the first house
When the foundation of the house was laid before their eyes
Wept with a loud voice and many shouted aloud for joy. So this is a joyous moment in
Their lives. I mean they're old men. So 70 years has passed plus two and however old they were before it says they're ancient man
They're pretty old guys
And when they see the they knew what the first house looked like but yet they still you know
Some of them wept out loud, but many of them shouted for joy
But I think that you know when we see Jesus when that foundation stone comes back to us
there's probably a lot of people weeping and
Shouting for joy at the same time weeping with probably tears of joy of the fact that we're finally off this
crazy roller coaster called life and in a in a
sin dark world
but
You know also praising God for his salvation because then our salvation will be with a glorified body and
never to hurt again and
Then we know that everything's on the the positive side going
From there at so now look at verse 13 says so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy
From the noise of the weeping of the people for the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise
Was heard afar off
So I'm looking forward to the actual foundation stone coming back someday is obviously not a real stone
I'm not saying that but he's kept Jesus characterized by a lot of different things
But the rock is a good picture because we can trust it we can count on it's not sinking sand
It's something solid that we can trust in his mercies last. You know his mercies are everlasting
They said they praise him because you know he's good and his mercy endure forever
So we're saved forevermore folks. There's nothing you can do about now once you're in the family. There ain't no get now
No matter if you even if you want to you can't leave
It's like the good mafia, but anyway all right. Let's pray
Lord to thank you so much for this great chapter in the Bible pray that you just
Help us to see the spiritual truths from the Old Testament and and Lord
We're so thankful that you laid the the foundation stone for us and Lord to pray that you just
Help us to be thankful for our heritage Lord to be thankful for the place
We get to meet and Lord not everybody has a great place like this
and I pray that you just keep continuing to bring us your people here and
The thirst for your word and want to offer praises and thanks to you Lord you pray
You take us home safely tonight, and Jesus name we pray amen
It's a new prayer letter from brother Stuckey by the way too if you guys want to look at it's up here