THE SERMON - The Lord Will Raise Up New Leaders
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Summary
Ezra, the seventh and final chapter of the Book of Ezra, is the first person in the Bible to be named as the author of the book of the Bible, and one of the most important figures in the history of the Hebrew Bible.
Transcript
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All right, let's stand for the reading of God's Word.
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We are continuing our series through the book of Ezra.
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Our text for today is Ezra chapter 7, verses 1 through 10.
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say,
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if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.
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Now, after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Sarariah,
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son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalem, son of Zadok, son of Ahittob, son of Amariah,
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son of Azariah, son of Marioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukhi, son of Abishua,
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son of Phinehas, son of Eliezer, son of Aaron, the chief priest. This Ezra went up from Babylonia.
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He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses, and the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the
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king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord, his God, was on him. And there went
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up also to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of
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Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple
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servants. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year
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of the king. For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and
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on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on
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him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes
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and rules in Israel. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Man, I'm not going to
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reread the first couple of verses. Those names are tough. But one takeaway from that, just I love
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that the Bible does this continually again and again and again because it's not a story. It's
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not merely a narrative. There are narratives in the Bible. There are stories, but it's not
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fiction. It's not fantastical. It is history. It's a record. And I love how it ends with verse 6.
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It says, after all these different names in his lineage, this Ezra. Which one? You know, because
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they didn't always use last names back then, and you didn't really necessarily have them. You're
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last name was, you know, Joel, son of Edward. You know, it was that kind of, you know, the father
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would have been the last name. But in this case, they're like, hey, you know, we're going to make
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it real clear. This is history. This is record. It's not just a story. Which Ezra? This Ezra.
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The son of, the son of, the son of, the son of, onward and upwards. Lots of important names
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tracking all the way back to Aaron. All right, so there's three main points that I want us to see
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in the text today. Let's go ahead and start with this. The Lord is faithful to raise up new leaders
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for a new day. New leaders for a new day. In your notes, I've written the following. It is not until
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the seventh chapter that we finally meet with the man for whom this book of the Bible is named,
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namely Ezra. Here we are in the seventh chapter, and this is really the first time that we come
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face to face with Ezra. By this time, we are meant to assume that Zerubbabel and Yeshua have grown
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old and retired or perhaps died. Neither do we hear any more of Haggai and Zechariah. We are
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meant to assume that they have finished their prophesying. But when these useful instruments
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are laid aside, the cause of the Lord continues to go forth. God remains faithful to raise up
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others to take their place. Ezra here and Nehemiah in the next book of the Bible that follows Ezra.
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they both prove to be just as useful in their days for the will of God to be accomplished in
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the good of Israel as their predecessors were in their own days. So that's the first thing that I
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feel like we see in the text that stood out to me is that we're being introduced to a new character
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and it's the particular character that this book of the Bible is actually named for, Ezra. And we
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see that his predecessors, they're at the end of their journey, their chapters have ended. But the
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overarching story of what God's doing, the narrative, God's will, it continues to go forward.
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God is faithful to raise up leaders in each generation, particularly geared towards, there's
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always a common denominator, there's always faithfulness, faithfulness to his word, and
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righteous character, and these kinds of things. So no matter where it is, what culture, or what time
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period, there's going to be a few common denominators across the board for anyone that
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God raises up to be a leader. But there are some, when it comes to the realm of gifting, there may
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be some unique giftings and particular traits that may be more suitable in one place at one
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particular time. And one of the things that we'll see with Ezra as we move on to verse 6, I want us
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to spend some time there, is that Ezra is very different. His skill set, his learning, his
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education, his abilities, likely even his personality and many other traits. Ezra is very
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different. He has godly, righteous, moral character, just as his predecessors had. But he is very
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different in his learning and his skill set and his gifting from the Lord than those who came before
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him especially Haggai and Zechariah so this is Ezra chapter 7 verse 6 it says this this Ezra
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went up from Babylonia he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel
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had given and the king granted him all that he asked for the hand of the Lord his God was on him
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See, at this point, Haggai and Zechariah had finished their prophesying.
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So you had certain, you know, different sets of leaders as Ezra is now coming onto the scene.
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We saw him in the first few chapters of the book of Ezra.
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He was a leader in among his people, Israel, when they were still in captivity in Babylon.
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many of the Israelites. And he helped kind of lead the way. And he was a civil ruler, a prince
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or of some sort among his people as they were in Babylonian exile. And he goes with these exiles
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as they're released to go back to the land of Israel. And he helps leading Israel in a, well,
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in many ways, it's not divorce. It's not that he just leads politically and he doesn't lead
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spiritually. All these things are tied together. But if we had to put him in a practical category,
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he would be more in a civil, political category. Again, that's Zerubbabel. Yeshua, he seems to be
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a priest, but there's also some civil capacities there. But we have prophets that are very clearly
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in this church category, Haggai and Zechariah. They, you know, the book of Ezra, as we saw in
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chapter 5 and chapter 6, it says that they built the temple as Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying
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that the word of the Lord was literally going forth and it was God's word that was establishing
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this temple. It was God's word that was making it happen. It was building a house for himself. The
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people were doing the work in the human sense, but they were invigorated and they were strengthened
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and they were pushed on by the very words of God
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spoken by these two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah.
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But what we should notice is that Ezra is not another prophet.
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Ezra comes on the scene, and Ezra, as we see in our text,
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Again, this is verse 6, Ezra chapter 7, verse 6.
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that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked for the
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hand of the Lord. His God was on him. So Ezra is a scribe, and you're probably familiar with the
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gospel narratives, the gospel accounts. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, there were Pharisees,
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there were Sadducees, but there were also scribes. And a scribe was someone who was very skilled in
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the law particularly the law of God the law of Moses and so this Ezra he's not a prophet and so
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in a nutshell I'll say it like this Ezra is not raised up by God for this time for the good of
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Israel and the glory of God in order to provide more revelation that's not God's purpose in raising
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him up God doesn't send Ezra and raise him up and give him to Israel to say that you know the
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prophetic words that God had already given through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah
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were not enough and they were insufficient. So we need another prophet. No, in this particular case,
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God raises up Ezra to take all the words of God, which had already been revealed,
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especially a focus on the law of Moses, which is God's word revealed through Moses, who was a
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prophet but essentially god is saying my people already have enough words they've heard from me
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plenty the problem is not a lack of communication on my part god's part to israel i've sent my
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prophets i've spoken my words the problem is not that israel needs a fresh word from the lord
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and obeying one commandment that God has given.
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You know, it would be a great, you know, great strategy.
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he's saying that my word is sufficient my word is sufficient i've given my law what is needed now
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is to obey and more than that we'll see a little bit further in the text especially in verse 10
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not only to obey but in obeying to obey properly there has to also be a proper understanding
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my people have heard my word but but they don't have understanding they're deafened and blind and
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and they're they're dumb and i don't mean it in the you know a dumb beast not able to speak
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but no i mean they they can't interpret they can't understand they're not understanding what i'm
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saying and so what god is doing through ezra is he's sending a scribe to say you have enough
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fresh words from me over at this point centuries i have been speaking but you have not been hearing
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at the time that they were given through Moses.
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in the first century church at the time of the apostles.
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is to say at this point in chronological history
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and there were fresh words that came from the Lord
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But I think the principle, the picture that we see,
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And I think it certainly applies to our time today.
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or the gift of prophecy or those kinds of things,
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which is controversial and people hold different views,
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but even revelation that you're not claiming to be infallible words from the Lord. I don't think
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in our generation, just being honest, this is my opinion, I could be wrong, but I don't think even
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if we're not, you know, if the individual is not presenting it as words from the Lord,
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infallible prophecy, I don't know if we need a whole lot of new books in this generation.
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like honestly i you know i i've heard people say you know we need a really good book on
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you know a theology of politics it's like really this generation is going to write that
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why like read lex rex you know i mean we've got some great great works and honestly like
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i think one of the things that we can do out of love for our children and our children's children
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a bunch of other guys that actually were intelligent.
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The text is Receptus, the received text, the King James.
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But they believe that that particular text that was preserved,
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that it was used for the Geneva Bible, it was used for the King James Bible,
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a few others, they would say that that is the infallible Word of God.
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And the ESV or the NASB, the critical text, contains mostly, almost entirely, the Word of God.
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And it has, you know, because it's not the same text.
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And there's debates with Erasmus and all this stuff.
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If you ever want to look into it, feel free not to.
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For the record, my position, I think the King James is great.
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I think we're okay. But my point is some have said, you know, it doesn't have to be the King
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James. It just needs to be a good translation from that particular text. But if that work
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is going to be done, if we're going to have a new King James, a new, new King James or something
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like that, it probably shouldn't be done in this generation. And again, I'm including myself in
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that i'm not picking on everybody else except for me like no i it wasn't that long ago 200 years
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ago people would walk into church everybody could sight read music um people had memorized you know
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hundreds of questions little kids of catechism questions and verses and um yeah we just we have
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fallen we have fallen and we just need to be aware of that we need to be aware of that we don't need
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you know, some chick's wearing a flowing gown
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but we also really don't need a bunch of new books on old topics that have already been done
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better than what we could produce ourselves we need here's my point as i was reading the text
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this week and preparing i i think that we are in an age a generation where we need ezra's we need
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scribes we need lots of scribes and scribes are really well trained for the record ezra has
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pedigree pedigrees he's he has his bona fides he is he's very intelligent and he's very studied
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much more than probably 99 percent of pastors a day again i would include myself and that 99
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percent ezra is very educated very gifted very intelligent very studious and i think that that
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is in large part it's not the only thing we need we need courage today but we also need Ezra's we
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need Ezra's who are not going to write new works or give new prophetic words from the Lord but who
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are going to take the Bible first and foremost but then also take other works theological works
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and and help them to be understood by the church and help them to be obeyed by the church
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and in order for that to happen you need Ezra's you need scribes scribes don't come in with brand
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new novel strategies scribes come in and they've been spending their entire life studying the law
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of Moses day and night like David says meditating on the law day and night they know it backwards
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and forwards they've been meditating on God's word they're not coming in with novel strategies
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and ideas they're coming in with something tried and true namely the infallible word of God but
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with unique insight, not even unique, but deep, profound insight into the Word of God, because
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they've just been marinating in it for years and years and years and years. In other words,
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scribes, if you met them when they were 12, they probably got beat up on the playground.
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If you're wondering, like, is that guy a scribe? Like, they're very disciplined, and they're okay
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being a little nerdy. And it's not flashy. It's not novel. It's not necessarily attractive. It's
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just week in and week out faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. We need scribes.
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That said, okay, bang that drum. We need Ezra's. That said, we also do need Zerubbabel's. Or as
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we'll see, you know, if we come back to it when we're done with Ezra, we're going to go to the
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New Testament for a while, but if we come back in the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah would be a good
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example. And there are others as well, but you need scribes, but you also need, you need courage.
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You need brains, you know, intelligence and giftedness and someone who's highly disciplined
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and has been studying God's word day and night. It's not given to the flashy or to the novel or
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to the new that's just willing to say this is the word of the Lord. Here's tried and true
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interpretation of God's word. And this is what it looks like to obey God's word and to understand
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properly God's word. You need scribes. But then you also need courage. You need spines. You need
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leaders. And somehow, I don't know how this exactly works, but you need the leaders with spines and
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the scribes to get along you need them to be able to play well with each other that they're
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that they don't give in to turf wars and petty pride and arrogance that they're actually
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willing to see themselves view themselves with sober judgment remember the scripture said do
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not view yourself more highly than you ought but each man should view himself with sober judgment
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you don't need to debase yourself God's not pleased with that he's not impressed if you say
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But honestly, if you're the dumbest person on the planet,
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That's, you know, I mean, they've done a lot of tests.
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There's a pro tip, you know, if anybody asks you,
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he's probably a genius but my point is this it's good to have sober judgment and to know
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first and foremost of course who God is but then in light of God and his calling and his equipping
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and gifting who are we how has God made me who has God made me to be one of the things that's
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been helpful for me over the past few years of pastoral ministry and as I've continued to grow
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just as a man a Christian man and wanting to grow in character and wanting to grow in usefulness and
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all these different things, it has been helpful for me to grow in an accurate, more increasingly
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accurate assessment of myself. Realize where I'm gifted and realize where I'm not. A lot of my
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friends are much more educated and trained and just raw IQ than I am. And I think that's something
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that the Lord, and I'm saying this not to make it about myself. I want you to think about this in
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your own terms. How's the Lord from childhood equipped you? But for me, I was adopted as a baby.
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Both of my brothers, they're younger brothers, but they were both national merit scholars. They're
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both highly intelligent, very gifted. And so I'm the older brother, you know, and there's a sense
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in which, you know, physically I've got superiority and dominance, but intellectually, you know, I'm
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having to work really hard to keep up with little brothers, not older brothers, little brothers.
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They're just, my brothers are very, very intelligent. And so, you know, growing up with that,
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sensing that, the Lord used that. And one of the things he used was not, you know, that through
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osmosis, you know, that it just, you know, I was in proximity close enough to my brothers that it
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made me smart. That's not my point. My point is what I did learn early on from childhood
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is not necessarily how to be the 170 IQ guy in the room, but I did learn how to relate to the
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170 IQ guys in the room. It didn't make me a genius, but it did actually make me pretty decent
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and being friends with people who are highly intelligent.
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and most of my friends are smarter than me, you know.
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I don't agree with everything, you know, that he holds to.
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You can dislike his position, but that guy's smart.
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John Harris is a better, he's better at research and a better historian than I am.
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And, you know, every time I talk to him, it's like,
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it's very clear that he is providing more, he's bringing more to the table
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He's like, all right, I brought this whole potluck, the main course,
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Our powers combined, you know, we're going to have quite a meal.
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You know, so there are guys like that, and there's several more.
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My point is just to say that God equips us in different ways.
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He's not bringing new revelation like Haggai and Zechariah were.
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And if it was no Ezra, then you'd have Israel still wanting fresh words from the Lord again and again and again,
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but never understanding any of them and never actually putting it into practice, never obeying.
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That's what would happen if you didn't have any Ezra's. You needed Ezra. But if all you have is
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Ezra's, well, then what you have is guys who are, you know, pushing up their glasses and arguing
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about Gehardus Vos and his, you know, 17th edition of XYZ as their churches are closed for 15 months
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during COVID. And we had plenty of that. So we don't really need that either. Like a lot of you
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guys will just say it like it is. Maybe not, you know, a lot, but probably 10, 15, 20 percent of
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you, you're a paedo-baptist by conviction. You believe that infants should be baptized.
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But you're not going to a Presbyterian church on Sunday morning.
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Even though you do disagree with me. You think I'm wrong. You may be right.
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but why why would you go to a church where you you knowingly believe that the pastor holds to a
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position that according to your conscience and your understanding of the word of God is just
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wrong and it's not some minuscule fringe position it's something that matters it engages all of
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your covenant theology and how you view the household and the family and the church and
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the new covenant and all these different things it's a big deal but you're here why because there
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are Ezra's and the Presbyterian churches down the road, but there's no courage. They folded on Black
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Lives Matter, they folded on COVID, and they'll fold on the next thing too, right? That church
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with its robust liturgy, you know, and its high, you know, William Laud type high church, you know,
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where the clerical robes, the pastor would never be caught wearing a primitive Neanderthal suit
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like a Baptist, you know, that church, you go and turns out that, you know, they're closed for
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months and months and months. And then they open and they do two services, two services. And they
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do it intentionally so that one service can be require mass and have no singing. Even though
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Ephesians and Colossians literally tells us that when we gather together, that's one of the commands.
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It's one of the ordinary means of grace. We're called to sing. It's a command. And they're going
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to say, no, we will not obey the word of God. And we're going to have two services, one where you
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can sing and one where you don't. And this one where you don't, you also mask will be required.
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The other one, they're optional. And then you look and see which service all the elders' wives and
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their kids go to. And neither service is great, but they go to the worst one. And there's your
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sign and that's why you're at covenant bible listening to a baptist and you know that i don't
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have to convince you that you know that you know that's true that's not the only reason i'm not
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saying it's the only reason but the point is this you need ezra's you need guys who are seasoned
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in the word of god who are not given to the flashy the novel and the new but will take the word of
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god chiefly and other men who have studied the word of god and written good helpful theological
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works, and they'll dust that off, and they'll help us in our time understand what it means,
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and obey. We need Ezra's. And you also need some Nehemiah's. It's like, well, Ezra's studying right
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now, and, you know, God bless him. He's got like a pencil in each ear, you know, he's got a protractor,
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you know, tied to his waist. Ezra's doing that, and God bless him. I'm Nehemiah, and I'm over here.
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I've got a sword and a trowel. I like to build things and chop heads. That's my gift. That's my
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spiritual gifting, you know, and we need that too. And so that's what I just, I don't know, in the
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text, reading the text, those are some of the things that I see. So let's go ahead and end now
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with verse 10 of our text. The Bible says this, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of
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the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Matthew Henry, he says the
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following and commentating on this verse but observe the method Ezra he first learned then
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taught he sought the law of the Lord and so laid up a good treasure and then instructed others and
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laid out what he had laid up I like that wording he instructed others and laid out what he had laid
00:29:58.100
out he laid out teaching for others but it's something that he had been laying up studying
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and building up and learning himself privately for a very long time. He also first did and then
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taught. Notice that he first did, not only studied, but he studied, he did, that is he obeyed, and then
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he taught. Practiced the commandments himself and then directed others in the practice of them.
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For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord.
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To teach God's statutes, that is his precepts, his commandments, his laws and rules to Israel.
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And not just teaching them to the pagans who were gathered in that area
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after Israel had been in captivity for 70 years in Babylon.
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Turns out, at the time of Ezra, Israel needed God's law.
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Israel needed learning and understanding of the meaning of God's law
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and application of God's law, what it meant, what it looked like to obey God's law. Let me read one
0.91
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more quote here. Backing up in your notes, just the point above, Matthew Henry again here. He says,
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Ezra was a man of great learning, a scribe, a ready scribe, in the law of Moses. We see that in verse
00:31:42.260
six. And he was very much conversant with the scriptures, especially the writings of Moses,
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had the words ready and was well acquainted with the sense and meaning of them. It is to be feared
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that learning ran low among the Jews in Babylon, but Ezra was instrumental to revive it. In other
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words, think of that. How does that apply to our time, our place? Well, Israel, of course,
00:32:09.460
it represents the church. The church is true Israel, the fulfillment of Israel. And all Israel,
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according to the flesh. They were warmly invited in by the prophets and by Jesus Christ to come
00:32:22.560
into the church. Think of Israel, according to the flesh, under the old covenant as the scaffolding
00:32:28.460
and the workers who are building a temple. And the temple is not, you know, the third temple
00:32:36.400
mound or what, you know, a literal temple in the Middle East. The temple is not the nation state
00:32:41.560
division the temple is the church it's a living temple made with living stones it's a spiritual
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temple the people of god who are children of abraham true children of abraham according to
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the promise by the spirit and not by the flesh okay israel according to the flesh was used under
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the old covenant like like the work worker crew on scaffolding to build this temple and the temple
00:33:07.480
again I'm speaking of is the church and when this project by the by the grace of God was completed
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with the apostles and the prophets laid as a foundation and Jesus after his earthly ministry
00:33:19.000
his incarnation his life death burial resurrection and ascension as the capstone the cornerstone of
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this foundation and now pastors and evangelists right shepherd teachers and evangelists are now
00:33:30.360
building the drywall of this temple the foundation is laid and they're building the drywall as all
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this is going on Israel according to the flesh by the prophets and by Jesus and by the apostles
00:33:42.500
again and again is warmly invited in to join to come into this temple so don't don't get the
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wrong idea it's not that Israel according to the flesh builds this thing with the scaffolding and
0.84
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then when it's done you know God says and get out of here thanks for doing this work there's no
0.69
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place for you no Israel is invited in and in and in again and again and again to join true Israel
00:34:06.740
according to the spirit the promise to join the church what what Israel was always meant to be
00:34:12.200
to culminate and to to fulfill to culminate into the church and they are invited in but unfortunately
00:34:20.020
the prophecies are fulfilled and proven to be true he came to his own but they received him not
00:34:26.620
Some were saved, but many, many rejected the gospel, rejected the prophets, rejected Christ.
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So all that being said, in our day, true Israel, the church, and that's what God was doing from
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the very beginning. It's not that God changed his mind. It's not dispensationalism. It's not God is
00:34:46.280
really excited about what he's doing with this one ethnicity. And then he pushed pause because
0.77
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they rejected the Messiah. And so he's got this, you know, B plan, this side project going for
00:34:56.080
2000 years with the church, but he's really not that interested. As soon as Israel can get it
0.93
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together, then God will get back to what he really cares about his chosen people. And the church
00:35:05.100
will get raptured out of here and God will get back to work with the real story of the gospel,
00:35:08.720
which is Israel according to the flesh. If that's your theology, please repent. That is false
00:35:14.640
theology. That is terrible theology, and it has hurt so many people. It's hurt. It's brought
00:35:21.300
reproach to the name of Christ. It's brought shame to the church. It has hurt the whole world
00:35:26.700
in tangible ways. Even the news that we saw yesterday with Iran and missiles being launched,
1.00
00:35:34.980
I know this sounds, you know, some of you will probably be maybe a little offended, but
00:35:39.520
yes, I absolutely fault dispensationalism. I do. I don't say that dispensationalism is
00:35:48.020
exclusively to blame, the only cause. But yeah, theology, here's the thing, unless we're going to
00:35:54.180
be pietists and just say, oh, what you believe has no impact in the world whatsoever, you just
00:35:58.440
think about it in the 17th dimension, who cares, right? If we really want to be done with that
1.00
00:36:02.860
kind of Christianity and we want to actually admit that Christianity is muscular and tangible and it
00:36:07.960
actually has an effect in the world, then we have to admit theology, good theology helps people and
00:36:13.020
bad theology hurts people. And 150 years of dispensationalism and convincing 90% plus of
00:36:20.840
evangelicals in the West, especially in America, to have bad eschatology, to think that Jesus is
00:36:27.840
going to come back, you know, within 15 minutes, and to believe that things can only get worse and
00:36:33.760
worse and worse until Jesus comes back in 15 minutes. And on top of all that, to think that
00:36:39.160
they should split their tithe, half of it to a New Testament Christian church with a pastor who
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preaches the gospel and the other half, you know, needs to be sent to Israel because those who bless
00:36:49.380
Israel will be blessed. If you don't think that that kind of theology has an impact on the real
00:36:55.060
world, then you're just not thinking straight. Of course it does. And it has been a terrible impact.
00:37:00.720
our nation and our tax dollars giving billions of dollars to Israel year after year after year
00:37:08.680
i saw something you know online social media said um you know it's like a through like a mom's voice
00:37:16.160
a meme mom's voice it says do you have money to buy another war you already have two wars at home
00:37:23.660
that you haven't finished, America, right? Like, I mean, but part of that is theology. Isn't that
00:37:33.580
crazy? So it's not just, you know, politics. It's people's theology applied to their politics.
00:37:41.480
They would say, well, but we've, you know, Israel is our greatest ally, right? Remember the
00:37:47.040
illustration I gave earlier about someone bringing every single course for a potluck meal, and then
00:37:51.120
i show up with paper plates that's american israel as allies you can guess which one contributes and
00:37:57.860
which one does not like you've been brainwashed if you think there are you know irreplaceable
00:38:05.080
you know valuable ally in the middle east no they're not no they need us we don't need them
00:38:11.920
not at all and not only do they not contribute but i think there's strong arguments to be made
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but we have to be able to speak in generalities.
00:38:38.200
there's not one courageous man on the planet.
1.00
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There's not one God-honoring, Christ-like woman on the planet.
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We need Ezra's to dust off the old things that have already been written.
00:39:07.260
As I find new material, new books, I'm like, oh my goodness.
00:39:14.120
I thought, you know, man, God has revealed to me this thing that no one, you know, in 6,000 years has ever known.
00:39:25.240
No, it turns out every single one of my best ideas in the last three years since COVID and BLM and this crazy thing and that crazy thing,
00:39:33.880
my best ideas, all of them, have basically been just basic ideas from the Puritans and the Reformers, but not as good.
00:39:44.120
like that's my secret sauce people are like wow you know you're such a gifted speaker or
00:39:50.060
or i love your theology and theology but here's this here's the secret right you want to start
00:39:54.260
a youtube channel and have a hundred thousand subscribers this is what you do ignore everyone
00:39:58.400
everyone who has been alive since 1960 anything they have to say it it's it's wrong it's wrong
00:40:05.980
but world war ii and they're lying and they're wrong and and maybe they're not lying maybe
00:40:12.860
they're just deceived i think a lot of people really are ignorant it's not all malicious but
00:40:16.720
they're wrong they're wrong so just go back and just go back and go back and go back a little bit
00:40:24.360
and then find a few trustworthy guys who spoke the truth and then just dust that off and think
00:40:32.580
how is a good way to explain this to my family and my children and my friends and my local church
00:40:40.260
in our day and how could we follow that and obey that and where do i find that in scripture and how
00:40:45.720
does it apply that's it that's it and if you don't have the skill set to do that which is it's okay
00:40:54.680
not everybody's created the same by god one work on it because you can grow you really can and two
00:41:02.020
find some people that do find some ezra's if you're a nehemiah you're like i'm not super great
00:41:09.000
at all the studying thing because I'm usually like holding a sword in my mouth and one in a hand
00:41:13.020
and a trowel over here. And so I don't always do well with books. You know, like you're like,
00:41:17.920
you know, you show up to a study party and you look like Edward Scissorhand. Like then,
00:41:23.800
you know, then that's maybe not your gift set, you know. But here's the point. If it's not you,
00:41:28.540
then find an Ezra. If you're not Ezra, you need an Ezra. And you need to listen to him
00:41:56.800
okay, but let's put that book down for a second.
00:42:07.900
Haggai and Zechariah are done in our text today.
00:42:10.760
Those are the prophets getting new words from the Lord,
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He has given us all that we need, all that we need.
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charge and lead us into battle with courage. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.