Amen. Oh, how things have changed. I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, well, in our study
anyway, I mean, the children of Israel here were being stopped from building the temple
and they had stopped them, you know, they had a whole troop of people stopping them
from doing things. And it's kind of been a little bit of a fight to get this place built.
Last week, remember, they got the temple fully built. And the king said, if you let these
people alone, let them do the work of the Lord. And if you don't leave alone, I'm going
to tear your house down. I'm going to hang you upon the wood of your own houses and make
your house into a dung hill. So now we have the reign of Artaxerxes, the king here. And
I want to spend some time tonight talking about the person who's the title of the book
that we're actually studying. I want to talk a little bit about Ezra tonight himself. So
the book is called Ezra. And obviously, he doesn't really take a major role in things
until really, you know, you start seeing more and more in the later chapters of the book.
But Ezra is known as being a really great man of God in the Bible. And obviously, these
are historical books. So we're seeing things from a more historical position. You're not
seeing the miracles, so to speak, as in seeing, you know, the Red Sea parting and those types
of things. We kind of talked about that last week. But you do see God's hand working with
the people. And you kind of see more of what you would see in modern times, like God, you
know, the children of Israel, you know, and people doing things by faith. And then you
see God working through him, allowing things to get done, allowing kings' hearts to be
turned toward them and things like that. So I'm going to talk about Ezra a little bit
more tonight, and what kind of a man he was, and kind of apply some of these things to
how we should be. Because the title of the sermon tonight is Ezra, a ready scribe. And
point number one tonight, Ezra was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest, making him a priest.
So Ezra was a descendant of Aaron, you know, the brother of Moses, the high priest. So
look at verse number one. The Bible says, Now after these things and the reign of Artaxerxes,
king of Persia, Ezra the son of Sariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son
of Shalom, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahiatib, the son of Amoriah, the son of Azariah, the
son of Mariah, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzi, he's the person that made that automatic
machine gun, and the son of Buki, and the son of Abushai, the son of Phinehas, the son
of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the chief priest. So there's his genealogy. That's why he's
the priest. His genealogy can be counted. Remember, some of the priests were not allowed
into the priesthood. They were polluted because they couldn't trace back their genealogies.
So he is actually directly related to Aaron himself. Remember, Joshua or Joshua is the
high priest. So why is Ezra not the high priest? And I know that was the inquiring thing that
you were really thinking of when the chapter was being read. It's like, why is he not the
high priest? Well, you probably weren't thinking that, but I was. So let's find out together
here. So turn back to a couple chapters and look at Ezra chapter three, verse two. Ezra
chapter three, verse two. So he is a priest. He's just not the high priest. So why is that?
Well, in Ezra chapter three, verse two, it says, then stood up, Jeshua, the son of Josadak,
and his brethren, the priest, and Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, and you don't need to
read the rest of it. So Jeshua is the son of Josadak, okay? Now let's turn over to First
Chronicles 6, 14. First Chronicles 6, 14. First Chronicles 6, 14 says, and Azariah begat
Sariah and Sariah begat Jehozadak, and Jehozadak went into captivity when the Lord carried
away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. So why is Ezra not of the high priest? Well,
Ezra is not the high priest because his father, Sariah, was not the firstborn son of Azariah.
So in those genealogies, Sariah's older brother, Jehozadak, was the firstborn. So that's why
Joshua is the high priest and not Ezra. So it all comes down to who the firstborn was.
And it was therefore Jehozadak's son, Joshua, who inherited the position of the high priest.
So if you're wondering why, because it kind of makes this point to tell us that he's directly
related to Aaron and that he's a priest, but then it's like, well, why isn't he the high
priest? Well, it's because he's not, you know, his father was not the eldest son of Azariah.
That's why. And you'd only know that if you, you know, kind of went back and did a little
bit of study about that. So now in the New Testament, we are all brethren with the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek by faith. Not hereditarily, but it is spiritually inherited
by faith. So the priesthood in the New Testament is different. You're like, well, there is
no priest in the New Testament. Yes, there is. We're priests and kings unto our God.
So and Jesus alludes to this. Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 23. So, you know,
people will say, well, there's not a lot of difference in the New Testament and the
Old Testament. Well, there is differences, and this is one of the differences that we
should understand because it was a hereditary thing in the Old Testament. That's why genealogies
did matter back then. But genealogies don't matter anymore because Christ has come and
fulfilled those parts of the law that were necessary for genealogies to happen. But there
is no more need for the genealogy of Levi because the priesthood is no longer in Levi.
The priesthood is now the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. So Matthew chapter 23, verse 8 says, But be not called Rabbi, for one is
your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. So who's the master? Christ. And we're brethren.
So who are we brethren to? We're brethren to Christ. So now turn to Hebrews chapter
2, verse 9, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9, and it really kind of helps us understand this.
Because again, so Aaron and his sons were the priests in the Old Testament, so the first
high priest was Aaron, his sons inherited, you know, the priesthood after him. And so
when Aaron died, his oldest son would be the high priest, and then that's how the transfer
of power would happen, and the rest of them would be priests, they just wouldn't be the
high priests. But the priesthood always remained in that family, so it always inherited through
the sons. So now it still inherits through the sons, but it's a different kind of sons,
it's sons of God through faith. Look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9, it says, But we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, excuse me, in bringing many sons
unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. So Jesus is the one that sanctified
us and we are the ones that are sanctified, but it says we're all of one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. So what does Jesus Christ call us? Brethren.
Saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto God. So Jesus Christ considers us brethren, he's not ashamed to call us that, and he is
the high priest and we inherit with him. So Jesus Christ is a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, so what was Melchizedek? Well he was the king of Salem and he was the
high priest, he was the priest of God at the same time. So Jesus Christ is the king of
kings and the lord of lords and a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So
he doesn't lose that, he's always gonna be that, and because we inherit with him, we
are son, Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, but we are also sons of God through
adoption and therefore we inherit what he inherits, right? We inherit like he inherits
and so therefore we are, that's why the Bible says we're kings and priests unto our God.
Doesn't that make sense? So it says in verse 17, skip down to verse 17, it says wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins
of the people. So he was made like unto us, he was God, but he was manifest in the flesh,
he was made like we are, and then so he could feel the infirmities that we feel, he understands
us, he understands what we go through because he was tempted like we are. We're tempted,
he was tempted and yet he did not sin, but he does understand the fact that we're tempted.
And so he got down on our level basically to understand what we go through. He understands
it, he doesn't condone it, but he does understand it and that's why he's able to be merciful
and also a faithful high priest and he's not ashamed to call us brethren to believe on
him. So that's the difference between the priesthood in the Old Testament and the New
Testament. Now, number two tonight, Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of Moses and that
word ready means what? It means in a suitable state for an activity. Are you ready to go?
Are you ready for work? Are you ready to go play or whatever it is, are you ready? Do
you have your shoes on? Are you dressed? These are states of readiness. Military people,
are you ready to go? If you're still the last one in the barracks and it's like time to
go out to war, you're not ready, are you? So to be ready is to be in a suitable state
for an activity, action or situation or in other words, fully prepared. So Ezra was a
ready scribe in the law of Moses. He was ready to not only just, you know, and you think
scribe because you think about the scribes in the New Testament and the scribes in the
New Testament weren't necessarily good guys, were they? But they were, it was a biblical
office because what Ezra did was a biblical office. He wasn't the high priest but he was
a scribe, he was a priest but he also, his specific job was to copy out the law and write
things about the law and he also was to teach the law. So what does that mean? Well, he's
ready and able to copy the law of Moses in the Bible and because somebody had to do it
because stuff wears out. You know, you keep unrolling and rolling back a roll or a scroll
and it's going to wear out. You know, you keep using the Bible over and over again,
it's going to wear out. You know, your fingers are going to, you know, if you have a dirty
thumb or whatever, a dirty finger, it's going to smudge. If you're sweaty, if something,
you know, you're drinking coffee and it gets spilled on it, eventually you're going to
have to get another copy made, right? Or your Lay's potato chips, you know, end up in there
somehow as a grease spot, whatever, you know, just from use, you're going to need a new
copy. Well, we live in an age where we don't have to just copy things out with a pen and
paper. They actually had to carefully copy things out because I don't think that they
had stuff like, you know, they didn't have erasers back then, I don't think. You know,
if they're writing out something in ink on a, you know, paper wasn't exactly as easy
to come by as it is now. I mean, they had to make it out of animal skins or they had
to weave it together out of papyrus or whatever. They had to, it was a lot bigger of a process.
It took a long time to copy things out. So in order to be a ready scribe, you know, he
had to be schooled. He had to understand the letters. He had to understand how to write
it. And from what I've been told, that they had to, they had a certain amount of letters
and stuff that was on the one page and if it was wrong, then they would have to just
take the whole thing and destroy it. And if they made a mistake, they had to destroy it.
So I'm sure they had like a really hard editing process because people always say, well, you
know, people make mistakes and yada yada yada. Yeah, they do. And I'm sure bad ones got in
there somehow at some point. But you know, here's the thing. God said that it was His
job to preserve the Word of God in Psalm chapter 12 verse 6. He said, you know, the Bible says
that His Word would be preserved from this generation forever. And thou shalt preserve
them, O Lord. That's what the Bible says. So if it's God's job to preserve it, He made
everything. He made the most complicated things on this planet, how everything works, how
everything functions, how our bodies function, even all the interior things in our body.
We don't even know how some of that stuff works. Obviously, modern science explains
some of that to us, but some things are just unexplainable to us. But God understands it.
But He's just not powerful enough to make a book that we can count on. He just can't
do that. That's what modern scribes believe. That's what modern, you know, there's people
that think that there's no perfect copy of the Bible. That's just garbage. We have a
Bible we can trust. And Ezra was already scribed, so he was probably really good at what he
did. And he also was able to, he was ready to teach and preach the Bible, and to expound
it to the people. So people just maybe get this idea that priests just chopped up animals,
burnt them on the fire, put out candles, lit candles, and all this other stuff, and washed
their clothes all the time, which they did. And they had to do all these certain things
they did, but they also had to know the law and to teach it. And turn to Leviticus chapter
10 verse 8. Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8. Look at what it says. It says, And the Lord
spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee,
when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. That's a pretty interesting one
because his sons died because they went in and it says they lit strange fire before the
Lord. But then right after that, he says this specific verse. So, you know, and in the New
Testament, being a drunk, you know, you're not allowed to be a drunkard and be in the
house of God. So that still applies today. And if we're kings and priests today, and
he's saying the priests aren't allowed to go into the house of the Lord, you know, having
drink and alcohol or strong drink, then that applies today too, folks. So anyway, just
a little side note there. But it says, lest ye die, it shall be a statute forever throughout
your generation. So yeah, how long is forever? Lasts forever, right? So verse 10, and that
you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean. So, and he's
specifically talking about strong drink and alcohol right here. So is he talking about
strong drink being unclean? Yes, he is. That's why we don't take the elements of the Lord's
Supper, we don't use alcoholic beverages, we don't use wine, we use grape juice. You're
like, grape juice, yeah, oh yeah, grape juice. Grape juice is pure blood of the grape. So
Jesus' blood was sinless. So why would you use something that's poison and something
that can get you drunk, and what the Bible is plainly telling you here is unclean, why
would you use that as an element to show sinless blood when you're doing the Lord's Supper?
Why would you use a loaf of leavened bread, which I've seen done, where you just walk
up and hunk, and take a hunk of leavened French bread off of a loaf? I mean, and Franza boxed
wine right next to it. I mean, I've been with my family, we were at like a thing with
my uncle, was like playing some music, and he invited us to come, and I was like, alright,
this is a mistake, but let's go. And of course it was a mistake, because at the end, they're
doing the Lord's Supper, and it's not the Lord's Supper, it's Franza wine with a hunk
of French bread, and people are walking up and just tearing chunks off of it, and then
drinking wine. So leaven is a picture of sin, and in the Passover, they were not allowed
to have leavened bread for seven days in any of their dwelling places. They were supposed
to eat the bread of affliction, the Bible says. And so, nobody goes, oh yeah, when you're
just dreaming about hot, fluffy, fresh bread, it's not unleavened bread, is it? That's the
bread of affliction, it's like if you're really just wanting to put yourself through
some drastic diet, that's what it is, because it says it's to afflict your soul, right?
And that definitely afflicts your soul when you can't have carbs, doesn't it? So, I mean,
what's better, carbless bread, or that bread that comes right out of the oven, or that,
just like, what is it, those rolls that you get at Texas Roadhouse, you know what I'm
talking about? Huh? Yeast rolls? Well, I'm talking about Texas Roadhouse. I'm talking
about those little honey rolls, you know, and then they have that butter, that special
butter that you dip them in. If I worked there, or went there all the time, I'd be like 800
pounds. But anyway, so, I mean, people just, I just don't understand how you could say
you're a pastor of a church, and then you have your deacons literally standing in front
of the congregation, come on up, don't be shy, there's literally a hunk of bread in
their hand. And then, like, first of all, it's disgusting that everybody's just using
their bare hands, you don't know whether they just went to the bathroom and didn't wash
their hands, they're just like, you know, and it's, French bread isn't like the easiest
bread to rip a chunk off of, you know, and people are just like, you know, just trying
to rip this chunk off. And then, like, literally, wino, you know, soccer mom wine box, here,
and there's kids coming up. It's like, we're not partaking. You know, and I just felt like,
what did I bring my family to? Of course, this was a long time ago, but obviously we
did the right thing and didn't partake, but we had no idea. But that's the kind, you know,
this is in a Baptist church, too, by the way. So, you know, in a Baptist church you wouldn't
expect that to happen, but there we were. But anyway, so, Ezra's a ready scribe, look
at verse 11. So it says, so one of the, you know, they're supposed to, you know, God's
given these rules for the priests, and it says, and that you may teach the children
of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
So was it the priest's job to teach the Bible, to teach what Moses taught? Yes, it was. And
because, because of this, you know, sometimes the children of Israel fell into a bad way
because, you know, at certain points, even in the book of Judges, you know, you got this
guy coming from Bethlehem, Judah, going after his concubine, who played the whore in her
father's house, and he's, you know, drinking and making himself merry, and decides to go
into a place where the, you know, where Benjamin is, and then, you know, he gives his concubine,
which is basically his lesser wife or whatever, into the hands of a bunch of Sodomites. And,
you know, one of the priests in the, I think in the next chapter, becomes a priest for
the tribe of Din, like, paid to the highest bidder or whatever. He just, they just come
and capture him from the first place that he's been, like this fake priest to, you know,
where they have a literal idol set up. I mean, you know, when you have priests doing what's
right in the Old Testament, things are a lot better. Just like right now, in this particular
time, you have, you know, Joshua standing up and doing right, and he's got Satan trying
to resist him on one side. If Satan's trying to resist you, you're doing something right.
And then you have Ezra here, this ready scribe of the law of Moses, and one of the things
he excels at is teaching the Word of God. Look at Ezra 7, verse 6. Because of these
things, Ezra, you know, as we see in the last part of the chapter, Ezra is able to hold
sway with the king of kings of that day in the world. I mean, Artaxerxes is the world
power king. He ran the whole thing. He was a world power. He's the second of that statue
that was shown to Nebuchadnezzar. You know, Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, and the
Medes and the Persians was that second part of that statue, and he holds sway with that
man, one of those guys, a couple of those guys, a few of those guys. And then, and also,
you have Ezra being greatly blessed by the Lord. Well, how do you know that? Well, just
look at all the great things that were happening because of what Ezra was doing, the great
sway that he had. If he wasn't a great man of God, those things would not have been,
those opportunities wouldn't have been open to him, and then God wouldn't have been blessing
the children of Israel and blessing through his teaching. Look at verse 6, where I had
to turn back to. It says, This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in
the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his
request according to the hand of the Lord, his God upon him. So the hand of the Lord,
his God was upon him. Is that true or not? It's true. And so it says in verse 7, And
there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and of the Levites, and
the singers of the porters and the Nethinims unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes
king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the
king, for upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and
on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of
his God upon him. It says, For Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and
to do it. So why is he successful? Well, here's a good reason why he's successful. He prepared
his heart to seek the law of the Lord, not just to seek it. See, it's good to seek out
knowledge, but what else does it say? And to do it. See, it's not just seeking out the
things of the law of God, but also doing what it says. We're supposed to know what
it says, to believe what it says, and also to do what it says. And it says, And to teach
in Israel statutes and judgments. So Ezra took it upon himself to do what the Bible
said in the book of Leviticus. He's not the high priest. He's not the head honcho or whatever,
but that didn't stop him from doing great things for God, did it? You know, he just
happened to not, his dad happened to not be the first born. So what? He's still a priest.
He's still gonna do what God says. He's still gonna teach the Bible. He's still gonna seek
the Lord. He's still gonna go and seek the law of the Lord and do it and do what it says,
and that's why Ezra was supremely blessed. I mean, Joshua was a great man. You know,
the high priest was a great man too. But I mean, he doesn't have a book of the Bible
named after him either, does he? Who's got a book named after him? Ezra. You know, Nehemiah
has a book named after him. I'm not saying that he wasn't a great man. Don't get me wrong.
I'm just saying that he got that just because of who his dad was. Really? I mean, it wasn't
because of merit necessarily. But obviously, again, I'm not trying to put Joshua the high
priest down. I'm just saying, but if you compare the two, which we're not supposed to compare
ourselves amongst ourselves, I understand that. But, like, you can just see whose hand
was God upon to do the greatest works. Well, and why? Well, because Ezra prepared his heart
to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach Israel statutes and judgments. It
says the Spirit of God came upon. Oh, go ahead and turn to 2 Chronicles 15. 2 Chronicles
chapter 15. This is just an example of when they didn't have a teaching priest, okay?
And this is, like, one of the good, for instance, I found. But it says, and the Spirit, look
at verse 1. It says the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. This is no
relation to Azariah the priest, but this is just a prophet, right? It says, and went
out to meet Asa, he's the king of Israel, of Judah, and said unto him, Here ye meet
Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you be with him and if you
seek him. So God is with you while you be with him. Notice that. And it says, if you
seek him, he will be found of you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. So he
comes with this message. He's filled with the Spirit of God. He says this to Asa at
a specific time because there's a problem. And what's the problem? Well, it says in verse
3, Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching
priest and without law. You see how the teaching priest is a big deal. You know, we give a
lot of credit to the prophets and rightly so, but a big underlying thing that you don't
see throughout the Bible is the teaching priest. But that is an integral part of the success
of the children of Israel. And so he says it's been a long season that they've been
without a teaching priest. So, you know, what Ezra was doing was extremely important. It's
not just important to have the prophets that were preaching these great sermons and preaching,
you know, Zechariah, Haggai, and having a great high priest and having Zerubbabel to
lead them, but also having a teaching priest. I mean it says, right, I mean the prophet
is telling him here it's been a long season Israel has been without the true God and without
a teaching priest because without a teaching priest they're not going to know about the
true God and they're going to be without the law because they're not teaching him about
the law because there's not a teaching priest. These things all go together. It says,
but when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought him he was
found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him
that came in. But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries and the
nation was destroyed of nation and city of city for God did vex them with all adversity.
But the result of good ready preachers is this, verse 7, be strong therefore and let
not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded. And what's the result of this
great preaching, this great teaching, and him telling him this message? Well, it says,
and when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded, the prophet, he took courage and
put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of
the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim and renewed the altar of the Lord that was
before the porch of the Lord and he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with
them and of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon for they fell to him out of Israel
in abundance when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So what good does it
do to have a great teaching priest, to have great preachers preaching the Bible? Well,
it lets those messages go out and then men like Asa, you know, hear those things, they
take courage and they do what's right. They hear what's right to do and they implement
those things. They take courage about those things and say, hey, if I do the right thing,
people are gonna follow me. People are gonna do what the Bible says to do and then this
is gonna be a great revival in our country. And obviously, Asa did a lot of great things
for God and he was counted as one of the great kings in the Bible. Obviously, he wasn't perfect.
He had his problems later on in life, but for the most part, Asa was a great king and
the reason why, I mean, this specific message, you probably haven't, there's a lot of preaching
about Asa in the Bible, but how many know about this specific passage? I mean, I really
have never zoned in on this passage before until I started thinking about and preaching
tonight about how important it is to have a teaching priest. And so Ezra is important
as that teaching priest. Look at Nehemiah chapter eight. You're not gonna get a lot
of the preaching that Ezra did and a lot of the teaching that he did in the book of Ezra
so much, you're gonna get the fact that he was a ready scribe. He's ready to go. He's
ready to do what he's supposed to do. We saw in Leviticus that their job is to also
preach the Bible, but in Nehemiah eight, this kind of lays out just how important Ezra was
because you have all these great men and who are they picking to read the Bible? They're
picking Ezra. And why do you think they picked him? Probably because of how great he read
the Bible. And then he's teaching them, you'll notice, he's teaching them the Bible, and
then on the second day after he teaches all the people, then he teaches all the leaders
the Bible even more perfectly. Watch. In verse one it says, and all the people gathered themselves
together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate, and they spake unto
Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded
to Israel. So who'd they pick? The ready scribe. Ezra, right? And Ezra the priest brought the
law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding
upon the first day of the seventh month. Now, you know, one of the reasons why we're family
integrated is because, you know, we believe it's right for men and women to be in the
congregation, but look what it says here, and that all with understanding. So anybody
that can understand and hear, and it wasn't just like they put all the little kids in
daycare that couldn't understand. You know, I doubt that they had a daycare system for
this time necessarily, but I'm sure everybody was still hearing, but they couldn't understand.
So that's why it's saying that. Anyway, it says, and he read therein before the street
that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday before the men and the women
and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto
the book of the law. So he had a way of reading that really captured the way that people,
you know, obviously they were attentive to it because of, you know, their state of being
spiritual at this time, but I think it had a lot to do with the way that Ezra read the
Bible. It says, and Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they made or had
made for the purpose, and beside him took Mattathiah and Shema and Anahiah and Urijah
and Hilkiah and Massiah on his right hand, and on his left hand, Padahiah and Mishael
and Malkiah and Haisham and Hashab, Bedanah and Zechariah and Mishalim. And Ezra opened
the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and when
he opened it, all the people stood up. So this is why people say, please stand for the
reading of God's word. This is why people do that. So I don't think there's anything
wrong with that. And Nehemiah 8, 6, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the
people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads
and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And Joshua and Bani and Shababiah
and Jamin and Aqab and Shabbathiah and Hodijah and Massiah and Caledon and Azariah and Jezebad
and Hanan and Pellaiah and the Levites caused the people to understand the law. So those
are the guys that helped him teach the people how to understand. It's not just enough
to hear the Bible being read, but they were also teaching the people what the Bible means.
This is what it means to teach the Bible, teaching Bible preaching. And the people stood
in their place. So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense.
So when it says gave the sense, they're helping people to understand what it means and cause
them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershathah, which is kind of
like saying he's the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites taught
the people and said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God, more not
nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. This is a special
day in the history of God's people, and Ezra is the main guy that they used. Why did they
use him? Because he sought the Lord, he sought to the knowledge of God's law and to do it.
Look at verse 10. Then he said unto them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto our
Lord. Neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled
all the people, saying hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither be grieved. And all
the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth
because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And that is a great
blessing. It's not just enough to hear the words of God, but to actually understand them
and to know them. And because they had the right priest at the right time teaching them
the statutes and the laws of God and helping them to understand. And obviously he's teaching
other people. Look what it says in verse 13. And on the second day were gathered together
the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests and the Levites, unto Ezra the
scribe even to understand the words of the law. So he's not just teaching the common
people, he's also teaching the leaders the Bible probably more perfectly. It sounds like
some of them knew the Bible, but maybe they needed to understand some of the things that
he was teaching because obviously he knew the Bible really well. So what's the application
for us? Well, as Christians we should also be ready scribes. And how should we be ready?
Well, ready through reading to hear the word of God ourselves. Because as Christians with
the Holy Spirit, we can also hear the prophets. We can hear the teaching priests. When we
read the Bible, then the Bible should speak to us. The Holy Spirit teaches us what the
Bible says. And if we'll seek the law, then he's going to teach us what the law says.
And then also we should apply those things in our daily life. And then the Bible says
in that verse, it's funny because I didn't write the whole verse down in my notes, but
the verse of the week says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. I mean, that's a great verse to go along with that point. We need
to be ready also to read and hear the word of God and be ready to give an answer. Why?
So we can give other people answers like Ezra was giving answers to the people and
helping them understand the Bible too. And also, another thing in James chapter one verse
19 says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath. But instead of always talking, we should be ready to listen also. So when
the preaching is happening, we should be paying attention to what the preaching is saying
because God gave preachers and pastors and evangelists for the perfecting of the saints.
Because there's things that you're going to get out of Bible preaching that you might
not get in your personal study. I'm not saying you can't learn everything from the Holy Spirit,
you can, but why did he get it? If God didn't give Bible preaching for a reason, then he
wouldn't have it. It would be just up to us all the time. And I think that he does that
so we can get a different perspective and the Holy Spirit filled man of God can give
you extra things that you weren't thinking about or something that he wants to give you
that maybe you're not getting because maybe you're just not reading what he wants you
to read at the time or whatever. Now, we should also be ready to preach the gospel. Not only
preach the gospel, but if you're a preacher, preaching to your family. Ladies, you can
preach to your family members. I'm sure you do. Preach to your children. Everybody should
be able to preach the word of God. Now, just because you can't preach behind a pulpit doesn't
mean you can't preach to your parents. It doesn't mean you can't preach to your children.
You could be a teaching priest to your family at home and men can get up and preach the
word of God and you get every opportunity at this church. You know that's true. And
in the Bible, Paul said, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel. So we
should be ready to preach the gospel, ready to hear the word of God, ready to listen to
the preaching, and ready to do what God commands us. And so, not just again, not just hearing
it, not just reading it, but applying it to our lives, and then also we should be ready
for the return of Christ. And it's funny, I just want you to turn over to Matthew chapter
24. But a verse about being ready to teach and preach the word of God, how about this
one, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. We're like, well, where's the ready part? Well, how about
be instant? How about be instant? I mean, it might not be a direct synonym, but it's
definitely a cousin, okay? So it's a cousin synonym, okay? It's like instant pudding.
It's ready to go, right? So it is kind of a synonym. I don't know. I didn't find it
in the list of synonyms, and I was really upset about that, but I feel like it kind
of is. Anyway, but we should be ready for the return of Christ. And notice how it tells
us to be ready. Ready is being equated to watching, not just looking up in the sky for
Jesus to come back. Obviously, we know that He can't come back at any moment. But look
at what it says in Matthew 24, 42. It says, watch therefore, for you know not what hour
your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known what watch
the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be
broken up. Therefore, be also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of
Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over
his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when
he cometh, shall find so doing. Shall find so doing. So, if you're not doing anything
for God, and He comes back, you know, you're not going to be blessed. I'm not saying that
you're not, you know, that you're, you know, that God's going to be mad at you for all
eternity or something like that. But I'm just saying, who's going to be more blessed? The
one that was faithfully serving? And it's like, it's kind of like when the boss catches
you working. I've used this a lot. And it's just like, when you're doing what you're supposed
to be doing, and your feet aren't kicked up on the desk, you know, if your feet are kicked
up on the desk and everybody else is working, the boss comes, it's like, oh, hey, how's
it going? It's just like, oh, yeah, I was just taking a break. You know, you just, you
feel like an idiot because the boss caught you not working. But when the boss catches
you working, you're just like, you know, you're hammering on something. You're like, oh, hey,
boss, you know, you're wiping the sweat off your brow. Anything I can help you with? It's
kind of like when Jesus Christ returns. We should be busy about the things of God. That's
kind of the point I think he's making here. So you don't have to be the king. You don't
have to be the high priest. You don't have to be some, you don't have to have some title
behind your name to be what Ezra was. I mean, that's really the point out of it, don't you
think? Because he wasn't the top priest necessarily. He was a priest, but he wasn't the high priest.
Some people would be like, I would be way better of a high priest than he was because
I teach the Bible. What's he doing? Nobody asked the high priest to get up and preach
the Bible. They asked me. I mean, he could have had an attitude way different than he
did, but the guy was humble and that the reason why God used him so much is because he cared
about the things of God, because he was busy about the things of God, and that's why we
have to get humble in order for God to use us greatly. So, now the last thing before
we end here, I just want to go through this letter really quickly. But, you know, I mean,
to be an Ezra, to be a ready scribe, any of us can be like that, but you just have to
seek the Lord. You have to seek his word. You have to seek his law. We're not under
the Old Testament, but seek God, seek his word, and seek to do it. You know, and whatever
teaching you can do, you know, you are, look, don't sell yourself short. We are important
to God. You know, we might not be important to anybody else in this world, but we are
important to God. We individually are important to God, each and every single person. That's
why he made us different. He made us all different. None of us look exactly the same. We might
have doppelgangers that look close. But, I mean, Pastor Jones did this, you know, this
guy on this pizza advertisement in Boise, and it was at a Fred Myers or something. It
looks a lot like me, but it doesn't look exactly like me. He thinks it looks almost exactly
like me. But on the web, on his website, if you go look at his website, he used the promo.
He said, Pastor Thompson's coming to preach for our church, and he used that promo, and
nobody said anything. Everybody just thought it was me or whatever. But God knew that wasn't
me. I didn't even know it wasn't me. It was pretty funny, though. He really got me. He
sends it to me every once in a while just to rid me. But, you know, I mean, God does
love us individually, and what we do individually does matter. And he's looking at our heart
and looking at how we're serving him. So it doesn't matter what other people are doing.
You do you in the kingdom of God, and obviously what we do affects other people. But, you
know, if your heart is to serve him and to teach other people and to bring forth fruit
unto his kingdom, then he's going to bless you tremendously, and it doesn't matter what
your title is or who you are or where you came from. He can lift every single person
out of the spiritual dung hill that they were born into and raise them up to be with the
princes of his people, because that's what the Bible says, right?
So number three, Artaxerxes' letter to Ezra, a good report from without. Look at verse
11 in our text. Verse 11. It says, Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes
gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments
of the Lord and his statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe
of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace and at such a time. So, I mean, this is just
this is really cool that the greatest king at that time in the world is writing a letter
specifically to Ezra, not the high priest, not the governor, Ezra. So, I mean, this is
how great the man was. But notice how it says perfect peace, and this is at such a time.
You know, if you think about Ezra, you know, her husband was a has-awares or whatever,
and that term at such a time as this, you know, isn't that what, what was it, Esther's
Mordecai? Didn't he say, who knows if you were born for such a time as this? I mean,
I don't know what the timing of all that was, but it seems interesting that that specifically
gets put in there. Like, maybe it was a saying that kind of became a saying. I don't know.
Anyway, just a little side note there, but it says, I make a decree that all they of
the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their
own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. For as much as thou art sent of the
king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to
the law of thy God, which is in thine hand, and to carry the silver and gold which the
king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is
in Jerusalem. Now, a lot of people say, well, I don't think this guy was really saved or
whatever. I mean, what heathen king do you know that's just giving unimaginable amounts
of wealth to some guy, some priest, some pat, some preacher? Just, here, take all this wealth,
and then, by the way, here's basically an almost unlimited amount of resources for you.
I mean, you just don't see that kind of stuff happening with unsaved people, generally.
It says, and all the silver and the gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon,
with the free will offering of the people and of the priests offering willfully for
the house of their God which is in Jerusalem, that thou mayest buy speedily with this money
bullocks, rams, lambs, and their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them
upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And whatsoever shall seem
good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold that thou
do after the will of your God. So he's like, whatever's left over, just do whatever you
feel like you need to with it. He's not saying, make sure every penny is counted and you give
it back to me. I mean, this guy's pretty generous, isn't he? The vessels also that
are given to thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the
God of Jerusalem. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God which
thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. So, you
know, his own personal treasure house, he's like, whatever else you need, I got you. And
I, even I, Artaxerxes, the king, do make a decree to all the treasures which are beyond
the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God of heaven, shall
require of you, it be done speedily unto the hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred
measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and
salt without prescribing how much. I mean, those are big amounts of resources. I mean,
we don't get those kind of resources from our government, do we? Whatsoever is commanded
by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven, for
why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? So, I mean, this
guy sounds like he's all in, doesn't it? I mean, no, to me, I just don't see an unsaved
man behaving in such a way, but I mean, but people will be like, yeah, I don't think he
was saved. It's like, why not? I mean, usually unsaved men, they're rich like this. They're
not just giving their money freely to religious purposes, unless it's a false religion, right?
It says, also, we certify you that touching any of the priests and the Levites, singers,
porters, Nethinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll,
tribute or custom upon them. That's also a big change that you see. I mean, as far as
I know, the pastors in this country and anybody that's religiously employed of some sort,
we still have to pay taxes, right? So this guy's saying you don't have to pay, they don't
have to pay taxes. And obviously, he's not saying that there's a temple tax. You have
to tax the temple every year. I mean, so today, there's this big movement to tax the churches
or whatever. But here's the funny thing, is that everybody that gives to our church has
already paid taxes on the money that they're giving already, and then they want to tax
the church again. It's like, well, you pay your taxes, and then you can decide this,
and just shut your mouth. Why don't you do whatever you want with your money, and then
you just leave God's money alone. And just don't worry about what we do. And we're going
to go and use it to get people saved, and whatever's left over, whatever God decides
to do with that money. Whatever God leads us to do, that's what we're going to do. But
it says, And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates
and judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river. All such as know
the laws of thy God, and teach them that know them not. So now he's saying, hey, let's break
down the walls of church and state, and why don't you just go ahead and hire the magistrates.
Why don't you hire the judges? And it says, And whosoever will not do the law of thy God
and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon them, whether it be
unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Now some of
those things aren't necessarily biblical, but he's still giving him the power to do
those things. It sounds like he's basically just giving him power. Everything beyond the
river, here's unlimited resources, but if you surpass these resources, just take it
out of the treasure house. Just go ahead and let, just hire your own judges and magistrates
and make sure that they do the things that God commands, and what the king commands.
So I mean, and like I said, this nation here is part of a system that really starts in
Babylon. I mean, it's taken from Assyria, you see those stork women or whatever take
that Ephah and that evil woman to Babylon in the book of Zechariah actually. And that
wicked, that wickedness, that spiritual wickedness travels from these nations to the final Babylon
or whatever, right? And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you know, we'll preach
about it again some other time. But this nation specifically is like that. But like if you
believe that Babylon is this current nation that we're in right now, which I believe that
it is, I personally believe that, but it's not like we can't or have not been able to
operate within the bounds of the system. And it doesn't mean that every person that's ever
been in charge is inherently evil and only does evil. Because we've seen that in the
Meade empire, the Meade Persian empire, most of the kings have been able to be turned to
fairly good kings, haven't they? I mean, maybe they're not all, you know, the last one obviously
probably isn't very good. But that's taken from them and then Alexander the Great takes
over and, you know, he dies at a young age. And then it gets divvied up amongst the Romans.
It becomes the Roman Empire, basically, after what? Alexander the Great's four generals
divide it. And then the Roman Empire is what's in place when Jesus is there. And they didn't
stop Jesus from preaching. They didn't really stop him. The only people that were stopping
him were the Jews. And they were just always going and tattling on him saying, he doesn't
pay taxes. And, you know, he wants to be, he calls himself king when there's only one
king and that's Caesar. You know, they're just always trying to get him in trouble.
But what I'm saying is that just because we live in America and a lot of the things we
see are evil today, it doesn't mean that everything is always evil and that there's
no way to ever turn anything or that God can't work within the system that we have. Because
obviously, this church does a lot of good and we haven't been stopped. You know, so
obviously there's a lot of, you can get pretty blackpilled by a lot of the things you see
online and the news reports and everything. But, you know, we haven't lost yet. You know,
we haven't lost and we can still turn the tide in a lot of ways. And even if we can't,
we can still, you know, turn the tide for some people. We can still save some. And as
long as we can operate within the system, maybe there is some politician that might
be able to have his heart turned and be favorable to God's people like this guy was here. We
just don't know. I mean, you know, as prideful as Donald Trump is, like, he didn't go to
Epstein Island. I thought he actually went to Epstein Island a long time ago. I actually
thought that he did. But he didn't. And I'm not saying that, like, I'm going to vote for
Donald Trump or something. I'm just saying that, you know, what if God could change his
mind? What if God could change his heart? How do we know he can't? He might be able
to. Who knows? I mean, obviously, Ron Paul lost. You know, I mean, this world has gotten
so wicked. And the politicians are very wicked right now. I'm not going to try to give you
too much hope in that. But God can still change the heart of people. Like, who would have
thought that Nebuchadnezzar would have changed? But he did. I mean, God had to turn him into
the heart of, you know, give him the heart of the beast for like seven years. But when
he snapped out of it, what did he say? You know, he humbled him because he was filled
with pride. But then in the end, he acknowledged that God was supreme and that he acknowledged
the God of the Bible. He had already acknowledged him before, but he was able to be abased.
And obviously, he didn't rule. And it doesn't really say how he came out of power after
that. But we know that his son obviously was the one that got destroyed when the Medes
came and take over. So I'm just saying that it's not all lost. I mean, most politicians
are evil. It really is true. I mean, especially what we see now, it's just like this country
has gotten very corrupt. I mean, the judges are really corrupt. And it just kind of depends
on what your name is as to how they're going to rule and things like that. And just what
we've seen lately, it doesn't matter who you are, they can find a way to take you down.
And that is true. But when God is on your side, things can be turned the right way.
That's all I'm trying to say. So don't be too, you know, melancholy about things. Because
remember, we still do win. No matter what happens, no matter whether the world ends
for us tomorrow, we all get killed in some explosion or something. We still go to heaven.
We still win. Everything still works out to our advantage. Where was I at? I got to read
these last verses and be done here. What verse was I at? Anybody? Help me. Help me. Oh, thank
you. I wasn't at 28. You're trying to get me ahead. Bill's tired. Now I'm going back
to verse 20. No, I'm just kidding. Okay, so anyway, so let's see. Okay, yeah, 27. Blessed
be the Lord God of our fathers. Okay, so yeah, he ends up writing this great letter in behalf
of Ezra. Ezra takes this letter in his hand and it's kind of like, oh yeah, look at this.
You know, he could just do whatever he wants. I mean, he basically has all this, he's got
a lot of power. And then look at, so this is where the letter ends. Verse 27 is what
Ezra is saying at the end. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such
a thing as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem,
and hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and before the king's
mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me. And
I gathered together out of Israel chief men to grow up with me. And that's a, I mean,
it almost seems like the book could end right there and be the end, but we still got some
more chapters to go. But I mean, that's a great story. That's a great chapter. And really,
Ezra's a great character in the book. And a lot of people think that Ezra is on par
spiritually with men like Moses. And I mean, obviously for his time, he definitely was
a great man of God. And he was very important for the time that he was in. Let's pray. Lord,
thank you so much for the book of Ezra and all the great spiritual truths we can get
out of it. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be ready scribes as your people. Lord,
help us to seek after your law and to do it. And Lord, help us to be people that are willing
to teach at all times. And Lord, that we would just seek others' wellbeing. And Lord, that
you would lift us up and you would help us to be humble so we could abound in your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.