The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - The Lord Will Raise Up New Leaders

00:00:00.000 All right, let's stand for the reading of God's Word.

00:00:06.200 We are continuing our series through the book of Ezra.

00:00:09.820 Our text for today is Ezra chapter 7, verses 1 through 10.

00:00:14.960 I'll read the text in its entirety.

00:00:16.480 When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say,

00:00:18.000 this is the Word of the Lord,

00:00:19.080 at which point I would appreciate very much

00:00:20.800 if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.

00:00:23.500 Again, one final time, our text for today

00:00:25.840 is Ezra chapter 7, verses 1 through 10.

00:00:28.580 The Bible says this,

00:00:30.000 Now, after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Sarariah,

00:00:37.660 son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalem, son of Zadok, son of Ahittob, son of Amariah,

00:00:47.720 son of Azariah, son of Marioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukhi, son of Abishua,

00:01:00.000 son of Phinehas, son of Eliezer, son of Aaron, the chief priest. This Ezra went up from Babylonia.

00:01:10.400 He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses, and the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the

00:01:17.580 king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord, his God, was on him. And there went

00:01:24.360 up also to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of

00:01:30.100 Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple

00:01:35.740 servants. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year

00:01:41.940 of the king. For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and

00:01:48.740 on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on

00:01:55.260 him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes

00:02:03.200 and rules in Israel. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Man, I'm not going to

00:02:12.220 reread the first couple of verses. Those names are tough. But one takeaway from that, just I love

00:02:18.420 that the Bible does this continually again and again and again because it's not a story. It's

00:02:24.380 not merely a narrative. There are narratives in the Bible. There are stories, but it's not

00:02:29.440 fiction. It's not fantastical. It is history. It's a record. And I love how it ends with verse 6.

00:02:37.960 It says, after all these different names in his lineage, this Ezra. Which one? You know, because

00:02:44.600 they didn't always use last names back then, and you didn't really necessarily have them. You're

00:02:48.400 last name was, you know, Joel, son of Edward. You know, it was that kind of, you know, the father

00:02:53.680 would have been the last name. But in this case, they're like, hey, you know, we're going to make

00:02:58.500 it real clear. This is history. This is record. It's not just a story. Which Ezra? This Ezra.

00:03:04.840 The son of, the son of, the son of, the son of, onward and upwards. Lots of important names

00:03:11.140 tracking all the way back to Aaron. All right, so there's three main points that I want us to see

00:03:16.580 in the text today. Let's go ahead and start with this. The Lord is faithful to raise up new leaders

00:03:21.680 for a new day. New leaders for a new day. In your notes, I've written the following. It is not until

00:03:28.000 the seventh chapter that we finally meet with the man for whom this book of the Bible is named,

00:03:33.460 namely Ezra. Here we are in the seventh chapter, and this is really the first time that we come

00:03:38.080 face to face with Ezra. By this time, we are meant to assume that Zerubbabel and Yeshua have grown

00:03:45.440 old and retired or perhaps died. Neither do we hear any more of Haggai and Zechariah. We are

00:03:53.040 meant to assume that they have finished their prophesying. But when these useful instruments

00:03:58.620 are laid aside, the cause of the Lord continues to go forth. God remains faithful to raise up

00:04:05.300 others to take their place. Ezra here and Nehemiah in the next book of the Bible that follows Ezra.

00:04:11.760 they both prove to be just as useful in their days for the will of God to be accomplished in

00:04:18.360 the good of Israel as their predecessors were in their own days. So that's the first thing that I

00:04:24.460 feel like we see in the text that stood out to me is that we're being introduced to a new character

00:04:30.940 and it's the particular character that this book of the Bible is actually named for, Ezra. And we

00:04:36.660 see that his predecessors, they're at the end of their journey, their chapters have ended. But the

00:04:43.060 overarching story of what God's doing, the narrative, God's will, it continues to go forward.

00:04:47.820 God is faithful to raise up leaders in each generation, particularly geared towards, there's

00:04:54.200 always a common denominator, there's always faithfulness, faithfulness to his word, and

00:05:00.140 righteous character, and these kinds of things. So no matter where it is, what culture, or what time

00:05:05.800 period, there's going to be a few common denominators across the board for anyone that

00:05:10.440 God raises up to be a leader. But there are some, when it comes to the realm of gifting, there may

00:05:16.400 be some unique giftings and particular traits that may be more suitable in one place at one

00:05:24.560 particular time. And one of the things that we'll see with Ezra as we move on to verse 6, I want us

00:05:29.700 to spend some time there, is that Ezra is very different. His skill set, his learning, his

00:05:37.500 education, his abilities, likely even his personality and many other traits. Ezra is very

00:05:44.420 different. He has godly, righteous, moral character, just as his predecessors had. But he is very

00:05:50.980 different in his learning and his skill set and his gifting from the Lord than those who came before

00:05:57.620 him especially Haggai and Zechariah so this is Ezra chapter 7 verse 6 it says this this Ezra

00:06:05.520 went up from Babylonia he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel

00:06:13.040 had given and the king granted him all that he asked for the hand of the Lord his God was on him

00:06:20.300 See, at this point, Haggai and Zechariah had finished their prophesying.

00:06:26.480 So you had certain, you know, different sets of leaders as Ezra is now coming onto the scene.

00:06:33.820 You had Zerubbabel.

00:06:34.820 We saw him in the first few chapters of the book of Ezra.

00:06:38.020 He was a prince in many ways.

00:06:40.640 He was a leader in among his people, Israel, when they were still in captivity in Babylon.

00:06:46.240 Many people looked up to him and admired him.

00:06:48.540 many of the Israelites. And he helped kind of lead the way. And he was a civil ruler, a prince

00:06:54.100 or of some sort among his people as they were in Babylonian exile. And he goes with these exiles 0.65

00:07:01.260 as they're released to go back to the land of Israel. And he helps leading Israel in a, well, 0.83

00:07:08.680 in many ways, it's not divorce. It's not that he just leads politically and he doesn't lead

00:07:13.660 spiritually. All these things are tied together. But if we had to put him in a practical category,

00:07:20.380 he would be more in a civil, political category. Again, that's Zerubbabel. Yeshua, he seems to be

00:07:28.180 a priest, but there's also some civil capacities there. But we have prophets that are very clearly

00:07:34.780 in this church category, Haggai and Zechariah. They, you know, the book of Ezra, as we saw in

00:07:41.920 chapter 5 and chapter 6, it says that they built the temple as Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying

00:07:48.960 that the word of the Lord was literally going forth and it was God's word that was establishing

00:07:54.260 this temple. It was God's word that was making it happen. It was building a house for himself. The

00:07:59.560 people were doing the work in the human sense, but they were invigorated and they were strengthened

00:08:04.740 and they were pushed on by the very words of God

00:08:08.100 spoken by these two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah.

00:08:13.400 But what we should notice is that Ezra is not another prophet.

00:08:17.840 Ezra comes on the scene, and Ezra, as we see in our text,

00:08:21.800 he is a scribe.

00:08:23.580 Again, this is verse 6, Ezra chapter 7, verse 6.

00:08:27.340 This Ezra went up from Babylonia.

00:08:29.740 He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses,

00:08:33.560 that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked for the

00:08:40.160 hand of the Lord. His God was on him. So Ezra is a scribe, and you're probably familiar with the

00:08:46.440 gospel narratives, the gospel accounts. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, there were Pharisees,

00:08:52.660 there were Sadducees, but there were also scribes. And a scribe was someone who was very skilled in

00:08:59.000 the law particularly the law of God the law of Moses and so this Ezra he's not a prophet and so

00:09:06.280 in a nutshell I'll say it like this Ezra is not raised up by God for this time for the good of

00:09:13.560 Israel and the glory of God in order to provide more revelation that's not God's purpose in raising

00:09:20.320 him up God doesn't send Ezra and raise him up and give him to Israel to say that you know the

00:09:27.160 prophetic words that God had already given through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah

00:09:31.700 were not enough and they were insufficient. So we need another prophet. No, in this particular case,

00:09:39.280 God raises up Ezra to take all the words of God, which had already been revealed,

00:09:45.380 especially a focus on the law of Moses, which is God's word revealed through Moses, who was a

00:09:51.020 prophet but essentially god is saying my people already have enough words they've heard from me

00:09:58.060 plenty the problem is not a lack of communication on my part god's part to israel i've sent my

00:10:07.460 prophets i've spoken my words the problem is not that israel needs a fresh word from the lord

00:10:14.180 The problem is that Israel maybe just once

00:10:17.840 should obey a word from the Lord. 0.86

00:10:21.720 Might, you know, it's a bold strategy.

00:10:23.460 We'll see if it works out, you know,

00:10:24.580 but maybe they could consider, you know,

00:10:26.740 just not killing one prophet

00:10:28.620 and obeying one commandment that God has given.

00:10:33.600 You know, it would be a great, you know, great strategy.

00:10:36.180 You know, let's change it up.

00:10:37.100 You know, couldn't hurt.

00:10:38.120 You know, give it a shot.

00:10:39.740 And that seems to be the sentiment.

00:10:42.240 That's what the Lord is doing.

00:10:43.340 he's saying that my word is sufficient my word is sufficient i've given my law what is needed now

00:10:49.380 is to obey and more than that we'll see a little bit further in the text especially in verse 10

00:10:55.240 not only to obey but in obeying to obey properly there has to also be a proper understanding

00:11:01.480 my people have heard my word but but they don't have understanding they're deafened and blind and 1.00

00:11:07.780 and they're they're dumb and i don't mean it in the you know a dumb beast not able to speak 0.99

00:11:15.280 but no i mean they they can't interpret they can't understand they're not understanding what i'm 1.00

00:11:22.000 saying and so what god is doing through ezra is he's sending a scribe to say you have enough

00:11:27.500 fresh words from me over at this point centuries i have been speaking but you have not been hearing

00:11:33.980 and you have not been obeying.

00:11:36.360 And so I'm sending Ezra the scribe.

00:11:38.220 And what Ezra's going to do,

00:11:39.500 as we'll see in the rest of the book of Ezra,

00:11:42.020 is he is going to take this book of the law,

00:11:46.900 these prophetic words,

00:11:48.260 they were fresh revelation

00:11:49.500 at the time that they were given through Moses.

00:11:51.940 But he's going to take this law,

00:11:54.060 this revelation from the Lord

00:11:55.580 through his prophets of old.

00:11:57.620 He's going to dust it off

00:11:58.960 and he's going to say,

00:12:00.680 this is what it means.

00:12:02.320 This is what it means.

00:12:03.980 And this is what you need to do.

00:12:06.400 You need to hear a revelation from the Lord,

00:12:08.960 but then you need to understand.

00:12:11.220 You need to have minds and hearts to interpret

00:12:13.640 the proper meaning of this revelation.

00:12:15.940 And then you need to have hands and feet

00:12:17.780 that are willing to go into action and obey.

00:12:22.960 Now, God sent some prophets after Ezra.

00:12:26.280 Certainly, we know that we had many prophets

00:12:29.220 in the first century church at the time of the apostles.

00:12:34.520 We know that we had prophets before Ezra.

00:12:36.440 We had prophets after Ezra. 0.69

00:12:38.280 Malachi would have been one.

00:12:40.960 So it's not that Ezra, 0.59

00:12:42.140 that God raising up Ezra as a scribe

00:12:44.460 is to say at this point in chronological history

00:12:48.240 in God's redemptive plan for his people

00:12:51.620 that God is saying,

00:12:53.960 all right, no more prophetic words.

00:12:55.840 Ezra's on the scene now.

00:12:56.960 It's only scribes.

00:12:58.560 Chronologically, that just doesn't add up.

00:13:01.180 There were prophets before Ezra

00:13:02.460 and there were prophets after.

00:13:03.500 and there were fresh words that came from the Lord

00:13:06.780 after the time of Ezra.

00:13:08.520 But I think the principle, the picture that we see,

00:13:12.320 I do think that that is something that applies

00:13:14.840 to this New Testament gospel age.

00:13:17.580 And I think it certainly applies to our time today.

00:13:22.360 I'll use it like this.

00:13:23.440 Not only when it comes to new revelation

00:13:25.020 or the gift of prophecy or those kinds of things,

00:13:27.620 which is controversial and people hold different views,

00:13:29.940 but even revelation that you're not claiming to be infallible words from the Lord. I don't think

00:13:36.940 in our generation, just being honest, this is my opinion, I could be wrong, but I don't think even

00:13:41.860 if we're not, you know, if the individual is not presenting it as words from the Lord,

00:13:47.560 infallible prophecy, I don't know if we need a whole lot of new books in this generation.

00:13:53.180 like honestly i you know i i've heard people say you know we need a really good book on

00:14:00.300 you know a theology of politics it's like really this generation is going to write that

00:14:06.940 why like read lex rex you know i mean we've got some great great works and honestly like

00:14:17.980 i think one of the things that we can do out of love for our children and our children's children

00:14:22.740 is try not to write too many books.

00:14:30.040 Our grandchildren will be well-loved

00:14:32.720 if we leave them little works of literature

00:14:35.420 and just point them to Calvin, Luther,

00:14:39.800 a bunch of other guys that actually were intelligent.

00:14:44.800 Like I've had people, you know,

00:14:46.020 some people are, you know,

00:14:47.440 they hold to the conviction of the TR,

00:14:51.440 The text is Receptus, the received text, the King James.

00:14:59.120 It doesn't have to be the King James.

00:15:00.420 It could be the Geneva Bible.

00:15:02.380 But they believe that that particular text that was preserved,

00:15:07.560 that it was used for the Geneva Bible, it was used for the King James Bible,

00:15:12.340 a few others, they would say that that is the infallible Word of God.

00:15:16.560 And the ESV or the NASB, the critical text, contains mostly, almost entirely, the Word of God.

00:15:24.780 But it's not perfect.

00:15:28.720 And it has, you know, because it's not the same text.

00:15:32.420 It's a different text.

00:15:33.460 And there's debates with Erasmus and all this stuff.

00:15:35.680 And it's a long thing.

00:15:37.000 If you ever want to look into it, feel free not to.

00:15:39.100 But you could.

00:15:40.800 For the record, my position, I think the King James is great.

00:15:43.300 I also like the ESV.

00:15:44.440 I think we're okay. But my point is some have said, you know, it doesn't have to be the King

00:15:50.800 James. It just needs to be a good translation from that particular text. But if that work

00:15:59.120 is going to be done, if we're going to have a new King James, a new, new King James or something

00:16:03.900 like that, it probably shouldn't be done in this generation. And again, I'm including myself in

00:16:10.280 that i'm not picking on everybody else except for me like no i it wasn't that long ago 200 years

00:16:18.280 ago people would walk into church everybody could sight read music um people had memorized you know

00:16:24.640 hundreds of questions little kids of catechism questions and verses and um yeah we just we have

00:16:32.840 fallen we have fallen and we just need to be aware of that we need to be aware of that we don't need

00:16:39.960 Fresh words, more words.

00:16:42.480 We don't need more words.

00:16:43.380 We certainly don't need more words

00:16:44.660 at some kind of, you know,

00:16:48.040 strange fire,

00:16:49.620 new apostolic reformation summit

00:16:51.380 where you come and somebody's,

00:16:53.660 you know, some chick's wearing a flowing gown 1.00

00:16:55.960 and going back and forth 1.00

00:16:57.180 and laughing like in a hysterical,

00:17:00.080 like she should be in some kind of asylum.

00:17:02.260 It's very clear, you know.

00:17:04.560 And I just feel the Lord.

00:17:06.260 Like, we definitely don't need that.

00:17:07.480 but we also really don't need a bunch of new books on old topics that have already been done

00:17:15.040 better than what we could produce ourselves we need here's my point as i was reading the text

00:17:22.200 this week and preparing i i think that we are in an age a generation where we need ezra's we need

00:17:28.860 scribes we need lots of scribes and scribes are really well trained for the record ezra has

00:17:36.740 pedigree pedigrees he's he has his bona fides he is he's very intelligent and he's very studied

00:17:45.920 much more than probably 99 percent of pastors a day again i would include myself and that 99

00:17:54.320 percent ezra is very educated very gifted very intelligent very studious and i think that that

00:18:02.940 is in large part it's not the only thing we need we need courage today but we also need Ezra's we

00:18:09.560 need Ezra's who are not going to write new works or give new prophetic words from the Lord but who

00:18:15.420 are going to take the Bible first and foremost but then also take other works theological works

00:18:21.180 and and help them to be understood by the church and help them to be obeyed by the church

00:18:29.540 and in order for that to happen you need Ezra's you need scribes scribes don't come in with brand

00:18:36.660 new novel strategies scribes come in and they've been spending their entire life studying the law

00:18:42.480 of Moses day and night like David says meditating on the law day and night they know it backwards

00:18:47.720 and forwards they've been meditating on God's word they're not coming in with novel strategies

00:18:52.380 and ideas they're coming in with something tried and true namely the infallible word of God but

00:18:58.940 with unique insight, not even unique, but deep, profound insight into the Word of God, because

00:19:07.040 they've just been marinating in it for years and years and years and years. In other words,

00:19:13.320 scribes, if you met them when they were 12, they probably got beat up on the playground.

00:19:20.040 If you're wondering, like, is that guy a scribe? Like, they're very disciplined, and they're okay

00:19:26.240 being a little nerdy. And it's not flashy. It's not novel. It's not necessarily attractive. It's

00:19:33.240 just week in and week out faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. We need scribes.

00:19:40.880 That said, okay, bang that drum. We need Ezra's. That said, we also do need Zerubbabel's. Or as

00:19:49.740 we'll see, you know, if we come back to it when we're done with Ezra, we're going to go to the

00:19:54.020 New Testament for a while, but if we come back in the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah would be a good

00:19:58.260 example. And there are others as well, but you need scribes, but you also need, you need courage.

00:20:07.340 You need brains, you know, intelligence and giftedness and someone who's highly disciplined

00:20:14.720 and has been studying God's word day and night. It's not given to the flashy or to the novel or

00:20:20.640 to the new that's just willing to say this is the word of the Lord. Here's tried and true

00:20:25.160 interpretation of God's word. And this is what it looks like to obey God's word and to understand

00:20:30.320 properly God's word. You need scribes. But then you also need courage. You need spines. You need

00:20:37.880 leaders. And somehow, I don't know how this exactly works, but you need the leaders with spines and

00:20:46.040 the scribes to get along you need them to be able to play well with each other that they're 0.53

00:20:53.400 that they don't give in to turf wars and petty pride and arrogance that they're actually

00:20:59.220 willing to see themselves view themselves with sober judgment remember the scripture said do

00:21:06.240 not view yourself more highly than you ought but each man should view himself with sober judgment

00:21:10.080 you don't need to debase yourself God's not pleased with that he's not impressed if you say 0.99

00:21:14.300 oh, I'm the dumbest person on the planet. 0.99

00:21:17.180 Well, if you are, then praise God. 1.00

00:21:19.140 Go ahead and say that and confess it. 1.00

00:21:20.640 But honestly, if you're the dumbest person on the planet, 1.00

00:21:22.860 you're probably not aware. 0.99

00:21:24.920 That's, you know, I mean, they've done a lot of tests.

00:21:27.440 You know, people who think they have lower IQs

00:21:29.020 usually have higher IQs.

00:21:30.260 People who think they have higher IQs

00:21:31.880 usually have lower IQs.

00:21:33.800 There's a pro tip, you know, if anybody asks you,

00:21:35.720 what's your IQ?

00:21:36.660 Just whether you believe it or not, 0.93

00:21:38.140 just say something low.

00:21:38.980 Oh, probably like, I don't know, 90, 95.

00:21:42.040 You know, they'll walk away and say,

00:21:43.120 oh, he's so humble.

00:21:43.800 he's probably a genius but my point is this it's good to have sober judgment and to know

00:21:50.140 first and foremost of course who God is but then in light of God and his calling and his equipping

00:21:55.260 and gifting who are we how has God made me who has God made me to be one of the things that's

00:22:03.120 been helpful for me over the past few years of pastoral ministry and as I've continued to grow

00:22:07.400 just as a man a Christian man and wanting to grow in character and wanting to grow in usefulness and

00:22:12.920 all these different things, it has been helpful for me to grow in an accurate, more increasingly

00:22:21.220 accurate assessment of myself. Realize where I'm gifted and realize where I'm not. A lot of my

00:22:28.480 friends are much more educated and trained and just raw IQ than I am. And I think that's something

00:22:40.460 that the Lord, and I'm saying this not to make it about myself. I want you to think about this in

00:22:44.480 your own terms. How's the Lord from childhood equipped you? But for me, I was adopted as a baby.

00:22:52.280 Both of my brothers, they're younger brothers, but they were both national merit scholars. They're

00:22:58.460 both highly intelligent, very gifted. And so I'm the older brother, you know, and there's a sense

00:23:07.840 in which, you know, physically I've got superiority and dominance, but intellectually, you know, I'm

00:23:15.220 having to work really hard to keep up with little brothers, not older brothers, little brothers.

00:23:21.440 They're just, my brothers are very, very intelligent. And so, you know, growing up with that,

00:23:28.460 sensing that, the Lord used that. And one of the things he used was not, you know, that through

00:23:35.560 osmosis, you know, that it just, you know, I was in proximity close enough to my brothers that it

00:23:40.380 made me smart. That's not my point. My point is what I did learn early on from childhood

00:23:46.460 is not necessarily how to be the 170 IQ guy in the room, but I did learn how to relate to the

00:23:55.980 170 IQ guys in the room. It didn't make me a genius, but it did actually make me pretty decent

00:24:04.280 at interacting and talking and relating

00:24:06.660 and being friends with people who are highly intelligent.

00:24:11.120 And so now here I am later in life

00:24:13.020 and most of my friends are smarter than me, you know.

00:24:19.440 Like Stephen Wolfe is a friend.

00:24:21.580 I don't agree with everything, you know, that he holds to.

00:24:26.200 But that dude's smart.

00:24:28.100 You can dislike his position, but that guy's smart.

00:24:32.660 You know, I'm friends with John Harris.

00:24:34.280 John Harris is a better, he's better at research and a better historian than I am.

00:24:39.720 And, you know, every time I talk to him, it's like,

00:24:42.700 it's very clear that he is providing more, he's bringing more to the table

00:24:46.660 than I'm bringing.

00:24:48.860 It's not mutual, you know.

00:24:51.520 He's like, all right, I brought this whole potluck, the main course,

00:24:54.360 you know, the appetizers, the dessert.

00:24:55.720 And I'm like, and I brought paper plates.

00:24:57.620 Our powers combined, you know, we're going to have quite a meal.

00:25:01.460 You know, so there are guys like that, and there's several more.

00:25:05.080 That's just to name a couple.

00:25:07.200 My point is just to say that God equips us in different ways.

00:25:12.000 And I think of, you know, Ezra as a scribe.

00:25:14.240 He's not a prophet.

00:25:15.020 He's not bringing new revelation like Haggai and Zechariah were.

00:25:20.060 And if it was no Ezra, then you'd have Israel still wanting fresh words from the Lord again and again and again, 0.91

00:25:27.280 but never understanding any of them and never actually putting it into practice, never obeying. 0.92

00:25:33.820 That's what would happen if you didn't have any Ezra's. You needed Ezra. But if all you have is

00:25:40.280 Ezra's, well, then what you have is guys who are, you know, pushing up their glasses and arguing

00:25:46.840 about Gehardus Vos and his, you know, 17th edition of XYZ as their churches are closed for 15 months

00:25:55.400 during COVID. And we had plenty of that. So we don't really need that either. Like a lot of you

00:26:02.320 guys will just say it like it is. Maybe not, you know, a lot, but probably 10, 15, 20 percent of

00:26:08.660 you, you're a paedo-baptist by conviction. You believe that infants should be baptized.

00:26:14.120 But you're not going to a Presbyterian church on Sunday morning.

00:26:18.240 Even though you do disagree with me. You think I'm wrong. You may be right.

00:26:22.380 but why why would you go to a church where you you knowingly believe that the pastor holds to a

00:26:29.900 position that according to your conscience and your understanding of the word of God is just

00:26:33.680 wrong and it's not some minuscule fringe position it's something that matters it engages all of

00:26:38.920 your covenant theology and how you view the household and the family and the church and

00:26:43.900 the new covenant and all these different things it's a big deal but you're here why because there

00:26:50.320 are Ezra's and the Presbyterian churches down the road, but there's no courage. They folded on Black 0.88

00:26:57.500 Lives Matter, they folded on COVID, and they'll fold on the next thing too, right? That church 1.00

00:27:03.720 with its robust liturgy, you know, and its high, you know, William Laud type high church, you know, 0.79

00:27:11.340 where the clerical robes, the pastor would never be caught wearing a primitive Neanderthal suit 0.51

00:27:17.520 like a Baptist, you know, that church, you go and turns out that, you know, they're closed for

00:27:25.440 months and months and months. And then they open and they do two services, two services. And they

00:27:31.020 do it intentionally so that one service can be require mass and have no singing. Even though

00:27:38.040 Ephesians and Colossians literally tells us that when we gather together, that's one of the commands.

00:27:42.000 It's one of the ordinary means of grace. We're called to sing. It's a command. And they're going

00:27:45.040 to say, no, we will not obey the word of God. And we're going to have two services, one where you

00:27:52.060 can sing and one where you don't. And this one where you don't, you also mask will be required.

00:27:57.600 The other one, they're optional. And then you look and see which service all the elders' wives and

00:28:04.540 their kids go to. And neither service is great, but they go to the worst one. And there's your

00:28:12.160 sign and that's why you're at covenant bible listening to a baptist and you know that i don't

00:28:18.400 have to convince you that you know that you know that's true that's not the only reason i'm not

00:28:22.480 saying it's the only reason but the point is this you need ezra's you need guys who are seasoned

00:28:29.860 in the word of god who are not given to the flashy the novel and the new but will take the word of

00:28:35.460 god chiefly and other men who have studied the word of god and written good helpful theological

00:28:40.520 works, and they'll dust that off, and they'll help us in our time understand what it means,

00:28:46.340 and obey. We need Ezra's. And you also need some Nehemiah's. It's like, well, Ezra's studying right

00:28:55.200 now, and, you know, God bless him. He's got like a pencil in each ear, you know, he's got a protractor,

00:29:03.120 you know, tied to his waist. Ezra's doing that, and God bless him. I'm Nehemiah, and I'm over here.

00:29:09.780 I've got a sword and a trowel. I like to build things and chop heads. That's my gift. That's my

00:29:15.900 spiritual gifting, you know, and we need that too. And so that's what I just, I don't know, in the

00:29:20.960 text, reading the text, those are some of the things that I see. So let's go ahead and end now

00:29:24.440 with verse 10 of our text. The Bible says this, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of

00:29:30.700 the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Matthew Henry, he says the

00:29:36.500 following and commentating on this verse but observe the method Ezra he first learned then

00:29:43.360 taught he sought the law of the Lord and so laid up a good treasure and then instructed others and

00:29:50.840 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

00:30:04.680 and building up and learning himself privately for a very long time. He also first did and then

00:30:12.520 taught. Notice that he first did, not only studied, but he studied, he did, that is he obeyed, and then

00:30:22.460 he taught. Practiced the commandments himself and then directed others in the practice of them.

00:30:30.280 Thus, his example confirmed his doctrine.

00:30:33.900 Again, that's Ezra chapter 7, verse 10.

00:30:36.200 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord.

00:30:40.980 We need that.

00:30:42.400 And to do it, we definitely need that.

00:30:46.040 And to teach.

00:30:48.480 To teach God's statutes, that is his precepts, his commandments, his laws and rules to Israel.

00:30:54.880 And not just teaching them to the pagans who were gathered in that area

00:31:01.360 after Israel had been in captivity for 70 years in Babylon.

00:31:06.540 No, to teach it to Israel.

00:31:09.040 Why? 0.53

00:31:10.220 Because Israel needs help. 0.54

00:31:13.320 Turns out, at the time of Ezra, Israel needed God's law.

00:31:19.320 Israel needed learning and understanding of the meaning of God's law

00:31:24.120 and application of God's law, what it meant, what it looked like to obey God's law. Let me read one 0.91

00:31:30.940 more quote here. Backing up in your notes, just the point above, Matthew Henry again here. He says,

00:31:37.380 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,

00:31:47.580 had the words ready and was well acquainted with the sense and meaning of them. It is to be feared

00:31:54.280 that learning ran low among the Jews in Babylon, but Ezra was instrumental to revive it. In other

00:32:03.140 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,

00:32:16.720 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

00:32:47.360 temple the people of god who are children of abraham true children of abraham according to

00:32:53.520 the promise by the spirit and not by the flesh okay israel according to the flesh was used under

00:33:00.600 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

00:33:13.580 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

00:33:24.460 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

00:33:35.200 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

00:33:48.960 wrong idea it's not that Israel according to the flesh builds this thing with the scaffolding and 0.84

00:33:54.860 then when it's done you know God says and get out of here thanks for doing this work there's no 0.69

00:34:00.660 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.

00:34:35.040 So all that being said, in our day, true Israel, the church, and that's what God was doing from

00:34:42.060 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

00:34:51.560 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

00:35:00.920 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 0.54

00:36:44.500 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 0.98

00:38:20.440 for them being subversive to America.

00:38:24.360 And again, I'm not speaking about

00:38:25.820 each and every individual person.

00:38:28.440 There will always be exceptions,

00:38:31.360 but we have to be able to speak in generalities.

00:38:34.140 Like if I say men today are effeminate,

00:38:37.260 well, that doesn't mean that

00:38:38.200 there's not one courageous man on the planet. 1.00

00:38:41.880 Before I say that women today are bossy, 0.98

00:38:46.020 well, that doesn't mean that 0.78

00:38:47.020 There's not one God-honoring, Christ-like woman on the planet.

00:38:52.960 That's not the point.

00:38:55.700 But the point is, we need scribes.

00:38:58.980 We need Ezra's to dust off the old things that have already been written.

00:39:04.340 There's so much over these past few years.

00:39:07.260 As I find new material, new books, I'm like, oh my goodness.

00:39:11.020 People thought this.

00:39:11.960 I thought I had another new novel exciting.

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.

00:39:22.740 Quit kidding yourself.

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

00:41:33.440 and slow down sometimes

00:41:35.660 because you want to go in guns blazing

00:41:38.160 and listen to Ezra.

00:41:39.620 What is he saying?

00:41:41.060 And if you're an Ezra, right,

00:41:43.180 and you've got your glasses right now,

00:41:45.060 you've got like a rope and it goes,

00:41:46.880 you know, it's attached behind your head,

00:41:48.480 you know, to keep it on.

00:41:49.320 And you're under the age of 30.

00:41:51.560 You might be an Ezra, you know.

00:41:54.160 And you need a Nehemiah.

00:41:55.820 You need someone to say,

00:41:56.800 okay, but let's put that book down for a second.

00:41:59.300 And let's go do some street preaching

00:42:01.320 with Jacob Miller or something, you know.

00:42:03.440 And that'd be really good for you.

00:42:05.480 So we need the body of Christ.

00:42:06.980 We need the team.

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,

00:42:12.620 but they're done.

00:42:13.700 Because at this point,

00:42:15.000 Israel had already had enough words from God.

00:42:17.540 And we too, as true Israel, the church,

00:42:21.020 we've had enough revelation from the Lord.

00:42:23.000 He has given us all that we need, all that we need.

00:42:26.720 But what we do need is we need men

00:42:28.400 to help us understand it and apply it.

00:42:31.340 And we need other men to say,

00:42:32.940 charge and lead us into battle with courage. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

00:42:38.780 Bless it to your people. In Jesus' name, amen.

The NXR Podcast - April 14, 2024

THE SERMON - The Lord Will Raise Up New Leaders

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