(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, the title of the sermon tonight is The Second Temple Completed. The Second Temple Completed, or if you remember last chapter, the work had stopped, well actually the chapter before that, the work had stopped due to a letter that was written by the enemies of God. But the people in last chapter, in chapter number five, they chose to civilly disobey the decrees of the king, not this king that wrote the letter in this chapter, but another king. So, because when they wrote that letter, they tricked basically the guy that was after Cyrus and basically got him to listen to what they were saying, which, and this kind of happens when our enemies do these types of things too against us, it really applies to modern enemies as well, because there's multiple different types of attacks that enemies will do against God's people, and sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword. Sometimes the pen can get you shut down quicker than any other way. And so they will use the government, in this case that's what they're doing, using the government to try to bend them to the will to get God's people to stop doing what they're doing, and there's lots of examples of this in the Bible, we looked at a lot of those last week, but they wrote another letter because when they went to the children of Israel and said, hey, what are you guys doing? Who told you guys to start building this thing again? And they just kind of ignored them, and then they told them the decrees that were given before by Cyrus to build the house of the Lord, and so then they basically wrote another letter to Darius here and said, this is what the children of Israel basically told us, look, will you look into this and see if this is true, which was a stupid move because it is true, and it was true, and this is why Darius makes this inquiry to find out whether those things were so. And then last week, if you remember, I took us and showed you where in Daniel chapter 6, when he's thrown into the lion's den, the reason why he gets thrown in the lion's den, because Darius gets tricked by some bad guys that wanted to use the government and use laws to try to get Daniel killed because he was praying, so they made a law. They tricked Darius into signing a law that said nobody can ask any petition of any ruler or god besides King Darius, and Darius probably was just like, okay, whatever, and didn't think of the ramifications of signing such a law, and the law of the Medes and the Persians are that once something is put into law, you cannot annul it. You can't change that law, and so Daniel gets thrown in the lion's den even though Darius realized what a foolish mistake he made. He tried to tell the sun went down that night. He tried to free Daniel, but it didn't end up happening. Now, of course, the nice part about the story is that God protected Daniel, and he shut the lion's mouth, and then the people that made that stupid law got thrown in the lion's den, and they got crunched to death and killed and eaten. So, I mean, ultimately, God's people always win, and it seems like God will put us in these situations where our back's against the wall. It seems like there's no remedy. It seems like there's no way help is going to come, but then as long as you're faithful or just stand like the Bible says, just put on your armor and stand, and sometimes that's all you can do, then God's going to come through and give the victory, and there's lots of examples of that in the Bible. So, this is the response letter that we're going to kind of look at tonight, and I do want to have you turn over to Haggai chapter 1, verse 2. So, the children of Israel, you know, the elders wouldn't give their names. Remember, in the last chapter, they're saying, well, what are the names of the people who are telling you that you can build this place? And they refuse to tell them their names, and so this is another thing they like to do. They like to get the names of people so they can tattle on them to the government and say, well, so-and-so's doing this. So-and-so preached his sermon about the homos and, you know, that kind of stuff, right? So, I mean, it does directly apply. They still use the same tactics today that they used thousands of years ago, and the devil just has his playbook as to how he'll stop things from happening. But the thing that they're not counting on here is that Cyrus actually did say it, and God is the one that empowered Cyrus and anointed him to be the king in the first place, and he's the one that, you know, put that decree forth before Cyrus was even born, and named him by name in the book of Isaiah 150 years before he was born, and God himself, through the preaching of the prophets, said that he would bring the children of Israel back into the land after 70 years of rest for the land to rest in that Sabbath time, that 70 years of Sabbath, right? So, look at Haggai chapter 1 verse 2. It says, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house to lie waste? So, God is the one that's also proclaiming for the temple to be rebuilt. So, look, when God proclaims something needs to happen, it's going to happen, right? And he's having his prophets preach these things. And I kind of talked about how it's important to have good leadership, and, you know, I mean, it's weird how, you know, different times have different types of people. I mean, Moses was a great leader. He really was. He was one of the best leaders in the whole Bible, and people wouldn't follow him. Which is, you know, it's kind of a picture of how, under the law, people are going to fail. You know, the law can't save us, right? But, you know, Joshua, they did follow, and Joshua pictures Jesus, and if we follow Jesus, if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll make it to the Promised Land. We don't have to keep the law, because we just can't do it anyway. So, anyway, but Moses didn't have, you know, a lot of people rebelled against them, and, you know, people look at Moses' ministry and say it wasn't very successful. I wouldn't say that. But, you know, human reasoning would probably tell people, well, you know, a whole generation died in the wilderness. You know, what about that? You know, you failed with all those people. Well, no, they failed, because people still have to respond to what the leadership is teaching them. Everybody in here has an individual responsibility to follow what God's program is, and the leaders that he puts in place over them. So, God's enemies came to try to stop the work, though, here, once again, but got stonewalled, basically. And, you know, sometimes it's time to civilly disobey, and in this case, they were right to do that, because the king, who, you can't change the law, they had that law in their favor, and so any other king that tries to make another law against that is null and void, basically. It's kind of like the Constitution. If something law is made against the Constitution in the United States, that law is null and void according to the Constitution itself, right? So, you know, if somebody says, no, you can't have freedom of speech, well, the Bill of Rights says we do have freedom of speech. The Bill of Rights says we do have freedom of religion. So, if they make laws that say that those are taken away, then they're null and void. If they make a law that says we can't go soul winning, that law is null and void in our mind, and we're going to civilly disobey that law. If they say we can't preach whatever we want, then we're going to preach whatever we want anyway, because, first of all, God tells us, first of all, but then our own government system based upon the Constitution and the Bill of Rights tells us that we can. So, it's just like the Second Amendment. I mean, they're not supposed to take that away, but look at what they try to do all the time, limiting us to 10 rounds in a magazine in Washington state. It's like, why? So we can't protect ourselves from a mob? I mean, people are like, well, that's not going to really get you any duck hunting done. It's like, that's not why it was made. You know why the Second Amendment was made? So that we could defend ourselves against the tyrannical government. That's why it was made. I mean, if you read the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, it doesn't say in the Second Amendment, you shall have the right to bear arms so that you can go duck hunting. That's not what it's about. It's about being able to defend yourself. Why did they rebel against the British Army? Because they were tyrannical, according to the Founding Fathers. So, at least that's what they tell us. So, the tea tax and all that kind of stuff. So anyway, I think that we're living in a time in our country, though, where we're kind of living in a way worse situation than what they rebelled against in the first place, it seems like to me. But I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that in a lot of ways. But anyway, let's not get into politics. So, you have this letter that they sent, and then now Darius is going to send back his letter. But there's some kind of confusing timelines about Darius and different people named Darius in different times. And when you look into the history books, it makes it even more confusing. So, I'm just going to kind of avoid that at this time. And I think that there probably was more than one Darius, obviously. The history books do say that. But one thing I do want to say, though, is that if the Bible contradicts the history books, the Bible's right. So, if you say that, 99% of people will say, you're crazy for saying that. But it's called his story for a reason. To the victor goes the spoils, and they get to write the history books, right? Who learned in school that George Washington told his father he could not tell a lie for chopping down the cherry tree? Who's ever heard that before? Do you think that that's actually true? I don't know. I kind of doubt that story's authenticity. It's just kind of trying to make him on par with Jesus or something. I don't know. But there's a lot of stuff that I'm sure we're told that's just not true. And again, I'm not saying that all history is a lie or anything like that. I'm just saying that if the Bible says something, like one thing I've always kind of struggled with, I used to read commentary. And so, when you read commentary, this is something important you really need to understand. Commentary is not scripture. So, if you have a study Bible, just take that study Bible, wrap it up into a bow, and then take it outside into a safe spot that you can burn it, and then just burn it. Because you're getting the opinions. The Holy Spirit is going to teach us all things. And if you don't quite understand something, just ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand. If he still don't understand it, then maybe he's just not ready to teach you that right now. But if you're going to some person who you don't know, and they're telling you what the Bible says instead of the Holy Spirit, then you're believing the commentary of some man, and you don't know whether that's true or not. Even me preaching, I'm giving you commentary, and I make mistakes. And sometimes I am wrong about stuff. So, you should study the scriptures for yourself. And if I'm wrong about something, the Bible's right. So, I never claimed to be perfect or inspired. I'm not the pope. And the pope isn't either, by the way. He's actually more wrong than I am, but way more wrong than I am. But anyway, I want to have you turn to Daniel 9 real quick. Daniel chapter 9, verse 1. I do believe that this is the same Darius. I mean, at least I'm pretty sure it is. I don't think the Bible's just trying to confuse us, obviously. But in Nehemiah, there's a guy that's called Darius the Persian, and this guy is called Darius the Mede. So, I don't know if that makes a difference. And again, when you're going and looking at history books, you don't really just know that everything's 100% sure and true. But anyway, it says, in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. Now, when I look this up online, people will say, the historians will say, well, apart from the Bible narrative, they always want to put shade on the Bible and say that the Bible isn't true, or we can't count on the Bible narrative. This is what the historians tell us, or what we've dug up in the dirt someplace, right? But they'll say stuff like that and make you think that, well, that's not true, that Darius was actually just a regent in the area of Babylon. But what does the Bible actually say? It says, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. So, was he like some kind of figurehead or something? Well, if he was, he was called king. What does Daniel call him? Daniel calls him a king. You know, oh king, live forever, when he comes out of the lion's den. Isn't that what he says? He doesn't say, oh regent, live forever. Thank you for taking care of Babylon's province for me. So, I mean, we got to really be careful. That's why I'm saying, if you put too much junk in your brain from online sources or from commentaries from the Bible, the study Bibles, they can kind of mess you up. So, okay, let's look in our text now at Ezra 6-1. So, the first thing I want to point out is that God's people are victorious through Darius the Mede. So, look at Ezra 6-1. It says, then Darius the king made a decree. So, this is his letter back to the guys that are trying to stop the work again. And search was made in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid in Babylon. So, the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon. They took it over. And so, he is in charge of Babylon and obviously in charge enough to go have a search of the rolls. So, this is like a records haul or basically, you know, we have the similar type of things where we can go and look at records, right? And it says, and there was found at Akmetha in the place that is in the province of the Medes a roll and therein was a record thus written. In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid, the height thereof three score cubits, that's 90 feet for us if you're trying to do the math, and the breadth thereof three score cubits, so 90 feet by 90 feet, right? And then verse four, with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber and let the expenses be given out of the king's house. So, I mean, this is the royal decree from Cyrus. The rule can't be changed, right? This is how it's supposed to be done. So, he said let it be built in the place where it's supposed to be built and how is it supposed to be paid for? Out of the king's house, right? And it says, and also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple, which is at Jerusalem, and brought into Babylon be restored and brought again unto the temple, which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place and place them in the house of God. So, all the things that Nebuchadnezzar took out of the original temple and stored those things were commanded to be brought back. That's what the first chapter of Ezra deals with, right? That was the decree. Now, I do want to kind of bring this up just really quickly as a real quick side note. You notice that the Ark of the Covenant is never talked about again after that first temple. It doesn't really say that it comes back. So, a lot of people think that it just didn't come back. I mean, it's just never really mentioned again after that first temple is destroyed. And a lot of people think it's in Ethiopia in some secret place where it's being guarded day and night or something. Once the Nazis got it back from Indiana Jones or whatever, now it's in some warehouse with a whole burning through the side of the wood or whatever. If you look inside of it, your face will melt like a skeleton or whatever. But I don't know what happened to it. There's this wild theory that it was underneath where Jesus was crucified and the blood leaked down onto that. That's the Ron Wyatt. I think it's Ron Wyatt. He went down and dug under there and he actually saw the blood and they got a sample of it and tested it. It was like some special blood or whatever. It's just like, whatever. I don't believe that for a second. That's really just being carnal, isn't it? It says he took the blood up to the mercy seat, which is in heaven. It didn't have to be on the mercy seat on earth. And the Bible doesn't say that. When the Bible doesn't say something, don't just put all your eggs in that basket. So it says, Now therefore, Tat Nai, governor beyond the river, Sheth Arbaz Nai, and your companions, the Afar Sakites, which are beyond the river, be far from thence. So now he's going to start getting tough with these guys because he's sick of them. You can already tell he's sick of them. They're a bunch of kiss ups. Peace forever. This is the kind of stuff that they write. This is how these types of people are. They'll suck up to the people. They'll flatter them and act like they're just these great people. They're just trying to look out for the kings and the money that they're going to be making because they care about money a lot. And so they think that that's all anybody else cares about. But he said, Be far from thence. And notice how he says, which are beyond the river. All these people that are beyond the river, be far from thence. Stay away from that place. Stay away from them. Because what are they doing? They're going to that location and pestering them and it's none of their business. It's like they're the enemies of God and they're just looking for, you know, they want to get in on it and try to stop what's happening. Verse seven, Let the work of the house of God alone, really plainly tells them, just leave these people alone, stop bothering them, stop trying to stop the work of the house of God. And if you want to apply that to our modern times, you know, if someone were to tell our enemies that, like say if they filed a lawsuit against us or something, they just said leave these people alone, then, or you lost the lawsuit, or, you know, you lost and if you don't, you know, if you want to keep going, you're going to owe for the rest of your life or something like that, then, you know, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. So, and this is the kind of thing that happens, you know, these things have happened and, you know, they end up giving up because they lost, you know, and then when it comes to money, you know, they're after money, they think they're going to get some big payday of millions of dollars because of all the hurt feelings they got because they got preached against or something. Oh, it hurt my feelings. Every time I look at the video, I cry. I can't work. I'm an alcoholic. Shut up, you lying snakes. But anyway, this is the kind of things that they do, just out and out lie. But it says, let's see, what verse are we in here? Yeah, let the work of the house of God alone. There comes a time when even the secular people get sick of it, too. And like this is kind of what happens with our types of churches, that people just continuously just mess with us all the time. And after a while, the people that, like, they're, because people, they're not used to stuff like we go through. And so when a normal person that's not saved, and they're like, what's going on here? Why are all these people going after these people and just saying all this crazy stuff? And after a while, they start seeing that they're just continuously not stopping. All they want is destruction. It's like with the whole thing with wanting to take steadfast name and wind up the corporation and make steadfast not exist anymore. That's what they wanted. That was the end game. And get a whole bunch of money for nothing, for free, because people's feelings got hurt or something, you know? Claiming to be the directors when they really weren't. I mean, it's just crazy, right? So, but this is what happens, you know? And so eventually it gets to the point where it's like, just leave these people alone. Like, what's wrong with you? And this is kind of where we're at here. The response letter is, okay, just stay away from them. Leave them alone. Let the work of the house of God alone. Leave them alone. Leave the house of God alone. And let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. So, you know, and this is what happens when we're done with a battle, then we just keep working. That's what we do. That's what we're supposed to do. Moreover, I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God. That of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river. So the tribute is what they would have to give to the king in this region. But he's saying that the tribute beyond the river forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. So basically what they were whining about in the first place to get it shut down in the first place was, they're not going to give you your tribute. They're rebels. They're going to build this place and they're going to stop paying you and they're going to rebel against you. And they're not going to give you the tribute money and you're going to be lacking your resources because they're not going to pay you anymore. But he flips the script on them and everything gets reversed on them. And now their money that they're supposed to pay to the king is going to the people that they hate. Right? I mean, they have to give it to the elders of the people. And the wicked are always going to get their just desserts. They're always going to end up paying for what they've done. And even if it isn't in this life, they're going to pay for it in the life to come. All these freaks and God haters will never win. They're never going to win. I guarantee that. They might seem to win battles. They might seem to win things for a while. But in the end, they're going to get this same treatment. And whether it's a secular king or whatever, look, they don't want to deal with stuff like that. They don't want to deal with ecclesiastical or yeah, ecclesiastical issues. Do you think a judge in a regular court in Texas cares about church bickering? They don't. They don't want to rule on it. There's a separation between church and state, isn't there? According to all these people, but then they want to take us to court and sue us when it suits them, right? Weirdos. Turn to Proverbs chapter 26. But the Bible, and I love these verses here. Proverbs 26 verse 23. The Bible really kind of just guarantees us in a lot of different places, but these are some of my favorite verses here. The Bible kind of guarantees us that what the things that they were going to do to us are going to end up happening to them in the end. Proverbs 26 verse 23, it says, burning lips and a wicked heart are like a pot shirt covered with silver dross. Now a pot shirt is just like a piece of broken pottery, right? And silver dross is the scum that you wipe off the top after you're purifying silver. So it's garbage, isn't it? So we're talking about trash and scum, right? So basically these types of people, a person that's with burning lips that's always just trying to lie and produce fire, you know, burning lips, they're trying to get problems started, and a wicked heart, they're trash. That's what it's saying, right? They're like trash, meant to be burned. But it says in verse 24, he that hateth dissembleth with his lips. So they want to dissemble, they want to cause issues and divide people, and it says, and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. So these types of people, they can talk fair, they can talk a good game, they can act like they're saved, they can act like they're nice, they can act holy and right and just, but don't believe them because it says there are seven abominations in their heart. Really they just hate you and want to kill you or destroy your life. It says whose hatred is covered by deceit, so they hate you and they cover up that fact by acting fake and pretending like they really love you when they really don't. And it says his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation, and I love it when this really happens. I love it when it's finally revealed that someone that I knew was wicked this whole time ends up being revealed to the whole congregation. But the Bible says this is what will happen, and it says whoso diggeth the pit shall fall therein. Isn't that what these people are doing to the children of Israel here? They're just trying to build the house of the Lord so they can worship God and work for him and serve him, but the haters of the Lord want to stop that. And so it says whoso diggeth the pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. So the traps that they try to set for us are going to spring upon their own selves. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. So a lying tongue, they hate those people that are afflicted by it. So people will lie because they know the harm that it's going to cause. So they're lying to hurt them, they hate those people. So when people are lying about things, about issues, or whatever it is, and again a couple weeks ago I talked about this, I said if people have to lie to put their story out, then you already know that they're not of the truth. Because if their story was true, then they could just tell it without telling a bunch of lies with it. And it says, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. Isn't that what these guys try to do when they sent the letters? Oh king live forever, and you know they say all this stuff. They're flattering him, and they're trying to make him feel secure about his money and stuff. And this is what they want, they want to stop the house, the work of the house of God. They can act nice and kind when they're writing letters to people, but how they really are, I mean if people could see the messages that are sent, I mean just today I get a message on my phone from of course it's an anonymous text message saying the reason why people stalk you is because it's just like you're just proving my point. For you to make up a fake phone number, like for you to sign up for an app, develop a fake phone number so that you can harass me when I'm out and about and just say all this, you know you don't want to say who you are because you want to be anonymous, because you know that if I found out who you were, you know I would be able to just say a lot of things about you to you, and they don't want to do that. You know what I mean? And it's just, you know the reason why people stalk me is because they're psychopaths. That's why they do it, because they're freaks. I mean why else would someone do that? When you see the, like I don't know if anybody watches those like crime documentaries or whatever, when guys start to stalk women, what ends up happening in the long run? They kill them, don't they? A lot of times it leads to that or they harm them in some way. Well you know stalkers are freaks, that's why. And so if someone's stalking me, and whether it's look cyber stalking is against the law, it's punishable by the law. And so again they don't have to play by the rules, but I do. And you know what happens when I turn them in? Nothing. They say they're going to do something, but they don't. And like go ahead stalk me, I don't care. You're the one just heaping up coals of fire upon yourself. You're heaping up, you know, the just desserts on judgment day, you know. And look, it doesn't bother me. I just tell them they're trash and that they're weird. I mean I call them all kinds of names, but and then I block them. Now they got to regenerate a new one. So it's just weird. On Thanksgiving, I had one like make a meme about me and like me standing on a pile of money or something, like a giant mound of money. And I forgot, it was just a, you know, some picture with me, I don't know, I'm just like smiling or whatever on top of this pile of money. I'm just like, okay. And I'm just like on Thanksgiving day, when you're supposed to be spending time with your family and thinking about, you know, how thankful for you are to God about the things that you've received through the year, this freak decides to just take time out of his day to write this long paragraph about me and say all these different things. And it's like, do you know how crazy you are? Do you realize how much of a psychopath you actually are to do something like that? I mean, just go to another church like normal people do. If you don't like our church, no one's making you come here and no one's ever made you come here. Did I make anybody come here tonight? No, you came here of your own free will. Nobody, I don't say, well, if you don't come here anymore, you're out. I'm going to preach against you tomorrow. So weird. These people are psychos, man. Anyway, let me move on here. But you know, because at a certain point, reasonable men, even unsaved men will grow tired of the tactics of these reprobates. They will. And look, God will impress upon those people and turn their hearts against those type of people. So even if they don't really care, God will still move in that direction to stop them. And we're going to get to see a recompense someday. So, you know, one day God's vengeance is going to be upon those people. I don't have to do anything back. God's going to take care of that for me. I don't care. You know, that's just something I've had to learn to deal with. And it's hard. I mean, Pastor Jones was talking about it in his sermon. He's just like, you know, we don't have to get the vengeance. God's going to do it for us, and the worst it's going to be for them when we don't react back to them. And, you know, at a certain point, people that are reasonable are going to see the tactics in their fake garbage, and they're going to put a stop to it. You know, psychopaths and sociopaths are known to the secular world. They're known to them. It's not like they're just completely oblivious about it, but they just don't understand that it's a spiritual problem that got them that way in the first place. So they understand how to study them, what to look for in the psychopathy checklist. There's a checklist. They know how to study them. They know what to look for, and if they check a certain amount of things, they're a psychopath. That means they're unable to be reasoned with. They have no real moral compass. They have no feelings. They could just kill somebody and just go on with their day as if nothing ever happened. And there's obviously not all psychopaths are murderers, but they're capable of anything, but the Bible calls them reprobates. So we understand the difference. There's really no difference but what society thinks that they are, and society really thinks that they're more rare than we probably would, but we think it's rare too. So probably about 3% of the population, I would say. Maybe it's going up because of all the weirdness that's going on, but at this point, it's probably about that. But they are aware of the situation. Maybe they don't deal with it or think that it should be dealt with the way we think. But I mean, again, I'll tell this story again. My mom worked at Reeser's, and when Ted Bundy was being put to death for the crimes that he committed, somebody put a Reeser's burrito in the microwave and did the countdown when they were counting down on television and said, fry you sucker. And then when it went off, everybody clapped and cheered and was happy that Ted Bundy got fried. These aren't church people. I mean, normal people hate psychopaths too. I mean, he was a sick individual. And these types of people are sick individuals too. Now you're like, well, they're just writing letters. Yeah, well, that's what these ones are doing. That's what their area of expertise is. But not everybody is the same. There are some people who are just murderers. And the line between sociopath and psychopath is very blurry. Sociopaths apparently can learn empathy or whatever, but there's really not a lot of difference between them. So now I want to look at Acts chapter 18 real quick. Acts chapter 18. There's a couple of different instances where you see the government kind of maybe not stick up for Paul or other Christians, but they intervene in a way where the people that are on the side of right end up not getting punished or they end up everything being okay for their situation. And of course, there's a lot of them for this, but I thought of Acts chapter 18 right here. It says in Acts chapter 18, 9, it says, Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. So the Lord comforts the Apostle Paul before he goes into this situation. And this should give us peace too, knowing that when we go and set out to do something, that God is going to be the same way with us. And it says, And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaea, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. So Paul is doing this great work. What happens? The enemies of God attack. This is what happens every time. Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O he Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matter. See, secular people don't care about religious things. That's what he's just saying. If it's about, like, religious stuff, like, I really don't care. And he says, And he draped them from the judgment seat. The Jews that were trying to, like, get him in trouble, right? Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things. Here's a great example. Obviously, he moved and allowed this to happen. And, you know, for Sosthenes being the leader of this little ragtag group that's trying to go and stop what Paul's doing, he takes a beating for it, right? It says the Greeks, so it's more than one person, right? And they put the, you know, the Pankration moves on him. He was done. And it says, And Paul, after this, tarried there yet a good while. So Paul continued to be able to do his works. God took care of him. Now, when, you know, again, when secular people have all these weirdos approaching them with all these church and religious issues, you know, they don't really know what to think. I was thinking about, like, when all this first started happening with all the steadfast stuff, and Pastor Shelley's lawyer sat me down and he was, I'm not going to say, obviously I can't talk about everything that was said, but one of the questions he asked me, he says, because I think that he was just trying to wrap his mind around, why is this happening? Like, what is going on here? And he said, he said this to me, he said, why do you think these guys are doing all this? And it's like, I said, because they're wicked, because they're evil, because they're Judas Iscariots. And like, I could just tell that, like, even though I was on the phone with them, I could tell it wasn't registering on the other end. You know, they just don't understand. You can't really understand it unless you go through it, unless you see it happening. And so, I mean, and to have those lawyers for all these years, you know, and my attorney, same thing, like, he understood it because I believe that my attorney was saved. You know, and I think that, you know, it's possible that that attorney was too, but I just don't think that they ever saw anything quite like what they were seeing. It's like, it was kind of a crazy situation. But again, they just don't understand. And when they see, you know, what we know to be reprobates, they always seem to say, well, we just don't understand why they would do these things. I know you don't understand because it's just, it's spiritual warfare. And it's not something, so God has to really move people away from, you know, when these people use unsaved, not reprobates, but the reprobates use unsaved secular sources or whatever to try to move against God's people, God really has to kind of intervene or at least help those people to see, well, these people, I don't know what their issue is or why they're doing this thing, but I know there's something, they're weird in some way, shape, or form, and then they stop them. So, and, you know, some of these things are just like, you know, kangaroo court type issues where, you know, the government will side with a side that's just because they're the LGBTQ mafia or whatever, and they'll just allow something to happen and some kind of judgment to happen against, you know, God's people where it wouldn't happen against somebody else, but it's because it's these protected people. John Gruden got fired from the Raiders because the NFL went through all of his emails and saw where he called Roger Goodell a fag. And they said the reason why they fired him is because he was racist. And it's like, no, that's not racism. They're not a race. They're not a race. They're a perversion of society, you know. It's like, am I protected because I'm heterosexual? No. That's just normal. So they're protected because they're just deviants. I mean, how does that work? On what planet does that work? Oh, yeah, planet earth right now, but it's just unreasonable. It's just unfathomable that these things are allowed to take place. So, you know, and we can use these things to our advantage. Look at Acts chapter 16. You're already in Acts 18. Look at Acts 16. This is in Acts 16 verse 36. So Paul, you know, the Philippian jailer gets saved, the keeper of the prison, you know, they're in prison, they get beat up. And Paul is a Roman citizen. And apparently, you know, the people that beat him weren't. Or there's a law that you can't just put your hands on a Roman citizen like that without, you know, having them being found guilty in some kind of crime. Because this happens to Paul when he's actually captured when the Jews are trying to beat him to death. And then they're about to beat him and find out, you know, let's beat him and find out why they're so mad at him. And then he's like, hey, you think you're just going to be able to beat a Roman citizen like that? I mean, and so Paul will use these types of situations in his advantage. But look what he does here in Acts 16 verse 36. It says, and the keeper of the prison told the same to Paul, the magistrates have sent to let you go now or to go. Now, therefore, to part and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned being Romans and have cast us into prison. And now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily, we'll let them come themselves and fetch us out. So Paul's kind of, he's kind of giving it back to him a little bit here. You know, he can't blow, he can't hit them back with blows or punches or anything like that. But he can definitely make them, you know, feel the heat a little bit. It says, and the sergeants told these words unto the magistrates and they feared when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them. So that means that they're scared, right? They're like, oh, please. And brought them out and desired them to depart out of the city. But do I think that Paul turned them into the proper authorities to have them prosecuted under the fullest extent of Roman law? Probably not. I think that what Paul's doing is just saying, next time you try to do this, buddy, you better make sure you're not doing this to a Roman citizen. And he's probably just kind of putting the fear of the Roman law into them. And I think that there are situations where we should use the laws of our land to dissuade people from mistreating us like this. Like, for instance, the apartment managers have tried to come at us and say that we're not allowed to knock on those places and then they harass us and get in front of our kids and, you know, yell and scream at us and cuss us out and stuff like that. You're not allowed to do that kind of stuff to people. So I don't know who died and made them the guardian of all the apartments in that place, but apparently it was Satan when he signed in blood the contract of being an apartment manager or something. He signed the—he pricked his finger and burned a saint or something and became the apartment manager from hell. But, you know, you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to stalk people just because they're Christians and are knocking on people's doors. Anyway, so let's get back to Ezra chapter 6, verse 9. Ezra 6, 9 says, And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointments of the priest, which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail. I love how the king's just using really strong—these are absolutes, without fail. So, you know, they're having to come out of pocket. The same thing that they probably really love the most is money, and they're having to come out of the pocket for what they've done. God's making them pay one way or the other. That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savers unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and of his sons. So Darius is coveting the prayers that they're going to pray for him and his sons. I think that's pretty cool. And he's definitely favorable of Daniel. You know, he loved Daniel. He didn't want to die. And it says, Also I have made a decree that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dung hill for this. So he's basically stopping him right here from doing anything else again. Don't write another letter. Don't talk to me. Stay away from them. Pay what I told you to pay. Pay them for building the house. Leave them alone. Just pay the money. Shut up. And if you do anything, you know, because he's making a decree. It's not changeable. And so they're going to be hanged upon their own house. You know, they're supposed to leave them alone while they build this house. And he's like, Well, if you don't want to do that, then I'll just destroy your house and then hang you upon your own timber. How about that? And that kind of seemed to carry over from the Babylonian empire because I think that's what Nebuchadnezzar used to say to people. And he's like, Well, you know, I'll just kill you and turn your house into a dung hill or whatever. Oh, yeah, if they couldn't interpret his dreams that he had at night, he was just going to kill them and make their houses a dung hill. So, you know, I mean, for people to think, you know, obviously, I can't remember what Solomon is, but it's like it's where you look at the wicked and you see that they seem to be getting away with everything. And then, you know, he realizes he's foolish and that, you know, sometimes, you know, that we're going to get punished and we're not going to get away with things because we're God's children and their end is hell. But there are still consequences in this life also for reprobates and for evil people. They still are going to die sometimes in a really horrible way or they're going to have some kind of repercussions for the things that they do in this life. I mean, again, Ted Bundy, you know, he didn't get out of it, did he? He ended up frying in an electric chair like that burrito, right? And there's lots of people that end up getting what's coming to them, and they might not see it coming. But I just think it's really funny, these people, you know, they probably know these verses are in the Bible, these enemies of God, and yet they still continue to do it. It's like they just somehow think they're going to win. It's like the devil, even though everything is written about him, you know, and he knows what happens in the end, but yet he still thinks that there's a chance that he's going to win. They're just delusional. They have delusions of grandeur, and that's kind of one of the things that narcissistic psychopaths have in their brain. They have delusions of grandeur. That's how they always end up getting caught. They start thinking they're smarter than everybody else, and they can get away with everything they're doing, but they forget one thing, that when you get sloppy, you're going to get caught. And the other thing is, they forget that God is a God that judges in all the earth, and that he will recompense, and he is going to step in for God's people when they're being wronged. Look at verse 12, and the God that have caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God, which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree, let it be done with speed. Now that's a strong king. That's a strong, that's a strong statement there. He's not, he's definitely not a power puff. So he's a strong ruling king, and he seems to know what he wants to say. So I don't think he's mincing any words here. Make it happen, so let it be written, so let it be done, right? So I think it's kind of interesting, though. I kind of thought about, this might be an allusion to the end times Babylon and the 10 kings of the future, because you know, even though God allowed the last, you know, this second temple ends up getting destroyed in 70 AD, but there's going to be another temple that gets built, but Jesus Christ is going to come back, and where's he going to rule and reign from? He's going to rule and reign from Jerusalem, isn't he? And so the house of God will be in Jerusalem again someday, you know, during the millennial reign of Christ, and so people from all nations will come and gather themselves together to him, but before that happens, the beast and his army are going to come and descend upon Jerusalem to make war with the lamb and the people of God, right? So the kings, the 10 kings are going to rule for a short period of time with the Antichrist, and then God's going to destroy all of them. Jesus Christ is going to kill all them with the sword of his mouth, is what the Bible says. So when you come and try to destroy, you know, God's place, I mean, when Jesus is ruling over it, it's going to be his house again, right? So I mean, obviously, he wiped out the one in 70 AD, but I mean, he's kind of pronouncing a curse on anybody to destroy it, and who are the people that destroyed the temple in 70 AD? It was the Romans, wasn't it? So I mean, and it says the people, the prince that shall come, you know, that's Titus and the Romans, and so if it's end times Babylon is that people, then it could be an allusion to that, but something else I wanted to mention about this victory that God's people get here is that it's not some obvious miraculous victory. I mean, it's obvious to us because we're saved Christians, but people just seeing it happen might not see it that way, and you know, God uses his heathen king to fulfill his will through letters of correspondence. You know, those aren't like, these aren't the stories that you generally turn to to go, when this great victory happened, it's like, you know, Darius writes a letter and tells him to, you know, leave these people alone, you know, but it is still a great victory nonetheless, and it's not exactly the parting of the Red Sea or, you know, Gideon in his 300, you know, destroying an innumerable army of median, Medes, but, you know, it's God's ordained leadership through Zerubbabel, his priest Joshua, Ezra, the Levites, the prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and the people of God responding to the leadership. See, because it's quite a change that took place before, right? The generation that was taken captive in the first place was a generation where Jeremiah the prophet is standing alone and basically the only one that's preaching, and everybody hates his guts and wants to kill him. All the princes hate him. All the princes want to kill him. All the leaders hate his guts. The leaders literally take the word of God that Baruch writes down and has them read. They read the whole thing out loud to everybody, and then they take it and cut it up with a knife and throw it in the fire. This is the generation that was before, and then Jeremiah, you know, obviously God wouldn't allow Jeremiah to be put to death, but he definitely had to go to prison and go through some hard things. He got slapped around a little bit, and his own family wanted to kill him, you know, but, you know, Zedekiah, you know, he had a chance to save the city. He had a chance to save himself, but he was too afraid about what everybody else thought. He wasn't a strong leader, and then he says, if you tell anybody, because he said he asked what the word of the Lord was, and then Jeremiah said, you know, he just begged him to just give up, give up, and just, you know, surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, and he'll spare you, and he just said no, and he said, if you tell anybody, I'm going to kill you, and then he had to watch his own children killed, and then the last thing is his eyes being put out before he's taken off and hauled off to Babylon. So, I mean, but now they're in a position where, you know, and all the people didn't like Jeremiah either, you know, nobody liked him. I mean, think about being Jeremiah the Prophet. You're like really the only guy. I mean, he's got a couple companions that are, and I'm sure there was a little bit of a remnant, but most people hated him. The king hated him. All the people hated him, calling him a traitor and all kinds of stuff, but, you know, and really what you see taking place here is kind of how the New Testament is in a way. We don't see, you know, the New Testament was brought in with miracles and signs and wonders, but it didn't stay that way, so today people are like, well, where's all the signs and wonders? Where's the fire being called down from heaven? Where's the people walking on water, you know, and then you've got these phonies like Benny Hinn and people like that that are whipping people with coats and they're slain in the spirit and all this other weird stuff, right? That's phony, and so people see that. They know it's fake, and then people see what we're doing. They think, well, where's the miracles? Well, you know what a miracle is? Is when someone who's headed for hell and they decide to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved, that is a miracle, and the fact that they've never seen God and yet they have enough faith to look at the Word of God and say, you know what? I believe that. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and rose again the third day. I believe these things. That is a miracle. When we pray as a church and when we pray for other people and those prayers get answered, it might not seem like a miracle to other people, but it is a miracle that God is still moving amongst his people, and maybe it is through some letter. Maybe God turned the hand, or he turned the heart of a judge in our favor or something, but you know what? He's still working today, and it kind of likens to this story here. It's like you're not seeing them walking on water. You're not seeing any kind of great miracles here, but it's obvious that God is working with his people, isn't it? It's obvious that God is with them without all these miracles because you know what God desires? He desires us to live by faith, and so when Thomas said, I'm not going to believe unless I can put my fingers into the holes in his hands and thrust forth my hand and put it in his side, he said, unless I do that, I won't believe, and then Jesus walks in the next couple days later or whatever, and he just falls down. He's like, my Lord, my God. I'm sure he didn't put his hands in there. I'm sure he didn't do that. He probably felt like an idiot for saying that, right, but Jesus said, blessed are you that have seen and believed, but he said blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe, so we're the ones that are truly blessed because we have not seen and yet we believe, and it's a big deal. It's a bigger deal than people might give it credit for, and yeah, we're mocked for it. Well, let me just tell God to come down right now and I'll believe. He's not going to do that, moron. He's just not. And the rich man wanted Abraham to send people to his brothers, and he said, well, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. He said, if they won't hear Moses and the prophets, then even if somebody rose from the dead, they're not going to believe it. The scriptures are more powerful. They're a more sure witness to them than whether someone rose from the dead or not. I mean, they saw Lazarus rise from the dead. He was four days dead. She said, surely he stinketh. He's already begun to corrupt in the grave, and Jesus calls him out and says Lazarus, come forth, and everybody knew he was dead. The Pharisees watched him walk out, and then you know what they do? Let's kill him. Let's kill him again. People can see things happen, and they might not still believe. So, I mean, this is something that is maybe below the surface on this subject here, but I think it's important to see that the fact that they were being obedient to what God called them to do is the thing that we need to really focus in on, because that's what God really desires. He doesn't desire the sacrifice. He desires the obedience. He likes sacrifice, but he also likes obedience, and he likes obedience more. Look at verse 13. Then Tatni, governor on this side of the river, Shethar, Bosni, and their companions, according to all the Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily, and the elders and the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo, and they builded and finished it according to the commandment of God, the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. So the preaching, you know, prophesying doesn't always mean that you're telling the future. That's a confusing thing that people think, but prophesying does mean preaching, you know, and if it was something that was telling something in the future, that is also called prophesying, but it's still just preaching. So the preaching that they were getting is what helped them. The elders, the fact that the elders builded, you know, the fact that we finish is really important. You know, finishing the fight, finishing the work, not leaving it undone is an important thing. They had the backing of the prophets and the elders. They had good leadership. They had the kings on their side. That's a good place to be, but verse 15 says, and this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. So, again, it's not just working for God that matters, but it's finishing the work, and in our life as a Christian life, we have to look at it like that. Our life as a Christian is a journey. It's a race, and we have to run that race with patience, and I don't have time to get deeply into this, but, you know, Paul talked about how he finished the course. He kept the faith, and that's the important thing. We don't want to end our life in some hotel drunk or something or doing drugs. We want to end our life, you know, where we can say, hey, just like Paul, I finished the course. I've kept the faith. You know, looking at it in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says, looking into Jesus, the author and finish of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So, you know, we have someone that we can look to, Jesus Christ, who not only authored our faith, but he finished it and showed us how to live our life on this earth. And, you know, we have this great cloud of witnesses, and the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12 one to let us run the race with patience that is set before us. It's not a sprint. It's a lifelong thing that we need to do, and when it comes to serving Christ, we have to understand also that, you know, we have to count the cost. What's the cost of serving Christ? Well, you know, you have to just decide as a Christian. You know, you can't say, well, I'm going to serve him unless this happens, because you know what's going to happen? That thing that you thought I would stop serving him for. You have to say, I'm going to serve him no matter what happens, no matter what happens, I'm still going to continue to serve him, because I guarantee you if you say, well, I would serve him unless this happened, that's going to happen. And you don't want that to be the thing that you say, you know, that you're going to do. You're going to quit over, you know. Verse 16, And the children of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of Israel of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with joy, and offered dedication of the house of God in a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering of all Israel twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the tribes and their divisions and the Levites and their courses in the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. And that's really important. As it is written in the book of Moses, this is where they always seem to fail, but in this instance, they're doing it right. And they're going to keep the Passover. And we're not going to have time to get to that. I'm going to preach a standalone sermon covering the Passover, when I preach about the Lord's Supper. So I'll cover verses 19 through 22 in a later sermon. But as far as like them obeying the words of God in the Bible, this is why, you know, you see the blessings that are coming upon them in these chapters, because they're keeping, this isn't the first time this has been said in this book, that they're keeping things the way that it's been told for them to keep in the law of Moses. And that's why they're being so blessed. That's why he's given them the leadership he's given them. That's why he's given them the victory over the enemies that he's been giving. And then they end up finishing the work, don't they? And so it's important for us as Christians to finish the work also, and to keep on working, you know, because it's not going to be just one battle and like, okay, that was a great battle. You know, we're done. No. Life is a series of battles. Life is a series of tests. You know, the Christian life is always going to be something coming around the corner. Our life is a series of storms. You can put it that way. You know, we're either going into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or coming out of a storm. My favorite is coming out of them, you know, but then there's another storm on the horizon. That's how life works. You know, and it might not just be the Christian life, it just might be life in general. You know, we have a lot of storms coming our way, and you know, we have to be prepared to batten down the hatches. So we ultimately are always going to come out on top, even when it looks bleak. And with victory, we're able to complete the work that God gives us to do. Once the victory is established, we can keep doing the work. And once we complete the work, we can enjoy the fruits of the labor which we have completed. So again, I'm going to preach a whole sermon about the whole Passover and the Lord's Supper later on. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the Scriptures tonight, and for the great victories that we see through Scripture that can help encourage us, Lord, in our lives, in our Christian lives, and Lord, just in our lives in general. I pray that you just help us to keep things in perspective, as if it's a race that we're running, but we're running patiently. Lord, I hope that you would help us to pace ourselves, Lord, and not to burn us out. Lord, we wouldn't burn ourselves out serving you. Lord, we'd just continue to serve you all of our lives, and Lord, we trust in you to win the battles for us. And when the hard times come, we're just batting down the hatches and wait for your victory. And I pray that you'd help us to always continue to work in your kingdom, in whatever state we can. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.