The New Moses

Benjamin Sexton

The Work of Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Ezra 7:1–28

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The Work of Revitalization

Good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. If you are visiting today I am Pastor Ben and it is good to have you here with us. We would ask that you grab one of our visitor cards or go to our website, burroak.org, and fill out the visitor form so that we can stay in contact with you.

We are continuing in our series The Work of Revitalization. Including today we have three more messages from Ezra. Next week, Kerry Goodrich will be bringing the message from Ezra 8, the following week I will finish up Ezra with chapters 9 and 10. After that we are going to break thing sup a little bit. Paul Eager our missionary in Poland will be here on the 16th of July. We will have an introductory message from Nehemiah 1. Then we will break for two weeks with our next worship Sunday and then Communion Sunday following that.

With that, I want to continue to drive home the points that we have covered. We have established that revitalization is primarily heart transformation work.

This work of revitalization is a supernatural work of sovereign grace. It is not merely the rescue of a building and a bank account, but it is fundamentally the transformation of human hearts.

Andy Davis

And within this work there are not defined steps but rather markers that we are to be looking for.

Hearts soften & desire to grow in Godly wisdom

Repentance of sins

Growth in knowledge and understanding

Increased attacks by the enemy

New conversions & baptisms

Last week we as we worked through Ezra chapters 5 and 6, we saw how God brings about some of these markers. We saw last week, that in the revitalization process, God provides for his people both in an internal and external fashion. The internal fashion that we saw was that of brothers and sisters in Christ that God uses in our lives to come along side us to help us to continue in to grow in Christlikeness. This hits our first three markers.

The external provision comes from the fact that God uses the situations in our life that are intended for evil to work for our good. Those increased attacks from the enemy God uses for our good. The key to this though is us understanding this principle so that we can see the good that God is bringing about from those trials. The outcome from these is the motivation to carry through with what we have been called to do. As Christians the mission we have been given is to take the gospel to the world, which if you think of it, is a continual building of the temple of God as he dwells inside of all believers. This mission we have been given hits our last marker of new conversions and baptisms.

Finishing with chapter 6 last week, brought to a close the first wave of returned exiles and the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel and Jeshua. We saw that at the end of that time frame, the Jews were living according to God’s word, and God had filled them with joy. Moving into our text for today we begin to see the next wave of returned exiles.

But before we go to much further let us do our heart work by reciting our focus verse for this series.

Psalm 51:10–12 NKJV

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Please pray with me. Father we thank you again for another day. Another opportunity to honor you by living as you have called us to live. Lord may you bless this day. May you bless our time together and this message. Father we ask that you open our hearts and minds to receive your word. May we be edified by it today. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Our message for today is titled, “The New Moses: God’s Faithful Servant” and we are looking to Ezra chapter 7. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn their now. If you are using the blue pew Bible it is on page 433 or you can follow along on the screen.

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

Ezra 7:1–28 ESV

1 Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him. 7 And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. 8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. 11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: 12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now 13 I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. 14 For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, 15 and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. 17 With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. 18 Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. 19 The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20 And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury. 21 “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, 22 up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. 24 We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. 25 “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach. 26 Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.” 27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, 28 and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word.

As we consider our passage for today there are three biblical truths that we need to consider; Standing on God’s Word, Seeing God’s Blessings, and Courage to do What We are Called To.

Standing on God’s Word

Now as I mentioned, the first thing we need to understand is that we have entered a new timeline in chapter 7. In chapters 1-6 Ezra is detailing what has happen in the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Reading towards the end of chapter 6 we see that the temple was completed in the sixth years of Darius or what would have been 515 BC. Our passage today timestamps us in the seventh year of Artaxerxes or about 458 BC. Doing some quick math we can see that nearly sixty years have passed since the finish of the temple to the time of Ezra.

In seeing that we are entering a new timeline how could we sum up the last six chapters? Zerubbabel and Jeshua were tasked with rebuilding the temple of Yahweh. The place were Yahweh dwelled with man and man worshipped or exalted God. In essence as the Jews are returning, the first thing they are tasked with correlates to the first purpose of the church, their exaltation of God.

As we transition to this new timeline we see a shift on the emphasis. This emphasis will carry us through the rest of Ezra. Our passage today starts by introducing us to Ezra.

Ezra 7:1–6 ESV

Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

There are a couple important things that we need to see here. First is Ezra’s family line. Now we have discussed lineages in the past, that they document history. But notice where Ezra’s stops, at Aaron. Who is Aaron and why is this important? This is Aaron the original chief priest, the brother of Moses. Often when we consider the Exodus we overlook the role that Aaron played and the tasks him and his sons (the priesthood) were given once the nation was established.

Being a son of Levi, they were the tribe of priest. Aaron’s specific line was set apart as the high priests. Now the priest in general served as the intermediaries between man and God. John D. Barry notes the specifics of the high priest.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary High Priests in the Old Testament

The high priest served several purposes that were crucial to Israelite worship. It was the high priest’s responsibility to see that the covenant was enforced, and to direct people to complete the duties of the temple and the law of Moses. As the representative for the nation of Israel, the high priest had a tremendous responsibility to direct the hearts of the people toward God and the fulfillment of the covenant. Some of the primary responsibilities of the high priest were the regular handling of sacrifices and offerings, the blessing of people, and the annual entrance into the most holy place within the tabernacle/temple during the Day of Atonement.

Now what we notice is that while Aaron’s line serves as the high priest, this is not a role tied to Ezra. When we get to Nehemiah who is a contemporary of Ezra, we will see that there is another high priest who is most likely a cousin of Ezra. But in looking at the duties of the high priest we see the second thing that is pointed out about Ezra that we need to notice.

Ezra 7:6 ESV

this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

It is highlighted throughout this chapter that Ezra knew the holy Scriptures.

Ezra 7:11 ESV

This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel:

Ezra 7:12 ESV

“Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now

Ezra 7:21 ESV

“And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,

Ezra 7:25 ESV

“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach.

Ezra 7:26 ESV

Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

The connection that we are to make is that when we think of Ezra we think of someone who is committed to living as Yahweh has commanded in his word. This is explicitly stated in verse 10.

Ezra 7:10 ESV

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

This is where we see this type of new Moses figure appear. Moses’ role as leader, as priest, was to guide and teach the Israelites the ways of Yahweh. We see this in Ezra. They have rebuilt the temple. They are exalting God through their system of worship with the temple and now God delivers to them a man to teach them God’s word.

Why is seeing Ezra as a new Moses important, and what does it have to do with revitalization? When we understand that revitalization is the transformation of human hearts. When we consider that some of our markers are hearts soften, and the desire to grow in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. We have to ask how does this take place? Paul helps us to understand in a couple different places in the Scriptures.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Our Scriptures are authored by Yahweh so that the the one who claims Yahweh as his God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Well how is that one going to come to know and understand these concepts? Dealing very specifically with salvation Paul states this.

Romans 10:13–14 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

That transformation of heart that takes it from lost to saved, from saved to sanctified, comes as a work of the Spirit through the preaching of Yahweh’s word. Ezra is sent to continue to grow the people in righteousness, to continue that heart transformation by preaching and teaching God’s word.

Paul also warns us what happens when the preaching of God’s word is removed.

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

We live in that time. Many churches are rejecting God’s word. Many speak against it’s authority. I recently saw a video of a church in Massachusetts where the pastor from the pulpit denied the divine authority of God’s word. The church was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Many old mainline denominations are moving away from even using scripture in their messages. For true revitalization to happen, we must stand on the sufficiency of God’s word.

And when we do. When we stand on the truths of God’s words and we allow them to guide how we view this life. How we respond to this life. How we live in front of others, there are blessings that come from that.

Seeing God’s Blessings

I know as a pastor I spend a lot of time talking about suffering. Talking about how we are to understand and respond to the difficulties in our lives. Whether those are people or situations. I know that often times I can present that idea that this life is just flat difficult and we need to accept that. I believe that those moments is when our true character shines through and that God uses those moments to draw us closer to him. What it doesn’t mean is that I believe that Jesus is unconcerned with our here and now. I believe very much that Jesus is concerned about our current state of happiness and has given many keys in his word to understand how to find happiness within this life despite the struggles.

Some of the passages that more specifically explain how to find happiness in this life are Psalm 1 or the Sermon on the Mount. As we get near the end of our passage today we see Ezra key in on this principle.

Ezra 7:27 ESV

Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem,

Peter Adam in his commentary states that here in Ezra 7 there are three miracles that take place. The first miracle is that of Ezra and faithful Bible teacher being raised up. The second miracle is that of king Artaxerxes. Adam comments.

Ezra & Nehemiah: Walking in God’s Words Miracle 2: King Artaxerxes

How wonderful that God provided Artaxerxes to support and promote the ministry of Ezra in his teaching of the Scriptures, and to ensure that the Law of Moses was kept and implemented by God’s people throughout the province of Trans-Euphrates (7:25–26).

Now Artaxerxes decree indicates why he said yes to all that Ezra asked.

Ezra 7:23 ESV

Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.

Artaxerxes motivation was self-preservation. Yet, Yahweh used that selfish desire to provide for his people and to see his purposes accomplished. And Ezra saw it for what it was. Ezra proclaims blessed be the Lord who put such a thing into the kings heart. One point that was made in our message last week, was to be able to see God’s blessings was to begin to ask God how to use the hard times in our lives for good. To give us eyes that can see the good. This is where happiness can come in.

Wait happiness? Yes, happiness, a concept that does not get talked about in many churches. We have joy, joy, joy down in our heart, but the most experienced mining crew would never be able to find it. Joy is founded in something that is outside of this life. Happiness on the other hand is founded on something in this life. The secret is knowing what that foundation is to be.

Helen Keller had some insight on this.

Christian Quotations Happiness

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Helen Adams Keller

Fidelity or rather faithfulness to a worthy purpose. In our passage today, we could probably guess that both Artaxerxes and Ezra sense the feeling of happiness regarding the temple being built and God’s word being taught, but who do you thinks happiness is going to be longer lasting? Ezra and why so? His was connected to his faithfulness to a worthy purpose. Artaxerxes was connected to self-gratification, the preservation of himself and his lineage. Ezra’s was connected to helping God’s people grow in holiness according to God’s word.

Where are you finding your happiness today? Are you happy? If your happiness is coming from what you can provide for yourself, the items that you amass, that happiness will be fleeting. As soon as you lose those items or that ability to earn, your happiness will be gone with it. If you are a Christian your happiness is to come through the means of being faithfully committed to the purposes of Yahweh. It will not and cannot be found anywhere else. And that happiness that we receive ought to move us to something. It ought to move us to action.

Courage to do What We are Called To

Realizing what Yahweh was doing at this point in time, we see Ezra’s response.

Ezra 7:28 ESV

and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Seeing Yahweh’s blessing, seeing that God extended his steadfast love to Ezra, Ezra took courage. There are a couple things we need to understand from this verse. This courage is not born out of Ezra’s pride. It is not born out of what he believes that he can do. It is born out of Yahweh’s steadfast love.

Now this is a term that we have looked at before. This steadfast loved, is Yahweh’s hesed, his loyal or rather his covenantal love. This is his love that is extended to his people that is based on his character of being faithful and true. When understanding Yahweh’s character, and seeing his blessings, something should happen inside of us. Ezra states here that he took courage.

In trying to understand what took place in Ezra we need to realize that this taking courage was not simply a feeling of inspiration. This is where the CSB translation might give us some better insight.

Ezra 7:28 CSB

and who has shown favor to me before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God, and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.

I took courage because I was strengthen. See in Ezra understanding Yahweh’s character and seeing his blessings Ezra was strengthen to follow through. This is an area where many of us need to wake up out of our complacency. We are easily inspired, but rarely do we follow through with the tasks that God has led us to do. If we look at this chapter that introduces us to the man Ezra, we can see a plan of action here for how we are to operate.

Step 1: Pray

Ezra 7:6 ESV

Step 2: Make a plan

Ezra 7:10 ESV

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Step 3: Take actionable steps

Ezra 7:28 ESV

Most Christians are great at step one. They are willing to pray for anyone and any situation. Some Christians will go as far as making a plan to grow in holiness and to be obedient to God. Few Christians take actionable steps. And we can very easily replace Christian in these statements with the term church. In fact many times the corporate is worst off then the individual.

Part of this is because we fail to understand who we are as Christians. Moses was a priest who taught people how to live for God. Ezra was an echo of Moses. Both were a type in which Jesus would be the perfect or the great high priest. And because we are to imitate Jesus and carry his image into the world, we are a nation of priests.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Our status as priest serves a purpose, to proclaim Jesus’ excellencies. Actionable steps.

As we pray, as we understand God’s character, as we see his blessings, we should be strengthen to follow through with what we have been called to do. A.W. Tozer states,

True faith commits us to obedience.

A. W. Tozer

Last fall as we prepared for our board retreat, we put out a survey and the last part of the survey dealt with how our congregation believed our local community viewed our church. Overall our congregation believed that the community held a neutral to negative view of our church. There were three primary reasons for this. First nobody knows where we are at. Second, there is a reputation of a church that has lots of conflict. Finally, the view that we are judgmental tied directly to our Baptist heritage.

The positive thing that came out of that was that all we really had to address and work on was getting our church known in the community. This became a primary goal for our church over for this year. We revealed this in November, it is now the last week of June. I would ask that you consider what actionable steps that you as an individual and we corporately as a church have taken to make ourselves more known in our community.

This is an area where I believe we need to continue to make progress. Our exaltation of God is great. Our edifying of the saints is growing excellently. But our evangelizing of the lost still needs work. Fortunately, we have several opportunities currently available for us to work on this.

First, Ryan and Lisa Ule have come to me about a neighborhood ministry that they are already doing. Living right in Albion, they have many kids that come over on a regular basis to their house. They are working on building relationships with these kids and their parents. One thing that is a current need is many of these kids ask Lisa and Ryan for snacks or drinks as they have very little at home. I would like to ask our church family to help Ryan and Lisa keep stock of individual drinks and snacks for these kids. Any other questions you have you can ask to Ryan or Lisa.

Another opportunity we have is having a group of people be in the Onion Days parade. Along with this, for our people who live in town, one thing we have thought of is have a yard sign made up with our logo that you could place in your yard simply to bring attention to the fact that we exist. If you are interested in either one of these please see me.

Another opportunity that we have will be presented next week in more detail, but would consist of men and women of our church becoming mentors for teenagers who are in a program similar to Inspiration Ministries.

As you pray individually, as we pray corporately, we need to keep Jesus’ words in mind that he told his disciples.

Luke 10:2 ESV

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Ezra had the hand of the Lord on him, meaning his blessing was with him to accomplish what Yahweh had called him to do. What we will come to see is that Ezra was not to do this alone. That he was to raise up others to work along side of him. Derek Kidner commenting on this aspect of Ezra states.

Ezra and Nehemiah: An Introduction and Commentary A Personal Interjection (7:27–28)

He would need this help just as much for the next task, for a powerful signature is sometimes easier to get, and to give, than the volunteers to take advantage of it.

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

END IN PRAYER