Great Texts of The Bible: The Babylonian Captivity | Pastor William Hixson

just mentioned we're in a we're in a

little bit of a different uh series,

right? Couple of serieses. I'm teaching

one series on the resurrection of

Christ. That's a that's a big one.

That's a big issue in Christianity. Uh

and we're going through the Bible with

that. We all ought to be experts on

that. If we don't know anything else, we

ought to know that and know it well for

our own benefit, our own walk with the

Lord or our own ministry to others and

giving them the gospel. And so that

series is going on. And the other series

we're going on is great text of the

Bible. Great texts of the Bible. And the

idea I'm going through the Old

Testament. We'll get to the New

Testament. Great text in the Old

Testament.

And we're usually taking one out of each

book. Today I'm going to take three.

three texts out of each book because I

told you we were going to skip Ezra and

Nehemiah because I taught that about

nine years ago and I know you remember

everything that I said

that was invi that was on Wednesday

nights so some of you didn't get that

and uh but Ezra and Nehemiah are kind of

hard books uh but uh we have taught

those all the way through verse by verse

chapter by chapter and we talked through

Esther and that's one of my favorite

books of the Bible. I hope you love it.

I love it. Uh and uh so we're going to

look at one verse from Ezra, one from

Nehemiah, one from Esther. Now, if you

are a new Christian or you're here and

you don't know the Bible that well, how

do I find Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther?

Go to the Psalms. Open your Bible and

the middle book will be the Psalms. 150

Psalms. And then before Psalms is Job,

right? Just go backwards. Before Psalms

is Job and before Job is [clears throat]

Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Okay, so that's

how you find it quickly. And uh if

you'll be willing to do that and follow

along. If you did not bring a Bible and

you want to follow along, please raise

your hand. John's sitting back there.

We'll get a Bible to you. Anybody not

have a Bible with them today that would

like one. [clears throat]

Same thing for a hymn book. We we we

will do that. We should have done that.

Okay. I guess we don't need one from

anyone today. Okay, that's our that's

our uh but again, we usually go verse by

verse. That's my favorite way of

teaching the Bible, but sometimes you

need a break from that. And that's what

we're doing in this particular series.

Let's uh look to the Lord in prayer.

Father, as we wait upon you today, may

your grace and your help be my portion

and the portion of all of us who hear.

[clears throat] Our Lord said, "Take

heed how you hear."

And so may all of us hear your voice,

not the preacher's voice,

not any Bible teacher's voice that's

quoted today.

with the voice of the Savior speaking

through his word to our hearts.

And we know, Father, some of this is

very unfamiliar territory

or some people who are new here.

Maybe they've never read Ezra or

Nehemiah or Esther.

[clears throat] They're a little bit

behind and trying to grasp this. But we

ask your blessing on our time together

and use it as you see fit. And may we

have a taste of the truths of these

books so that may it increase our

appetite for them. So we go and ponder

them alone with you and do the hard work

in Jesus name. Amen.

Okay. Um that's the plan. We're going to

take a verse from each of these books

and we have an outline this morning.

Now, if I was to ask the question,

what's Ezra all about? What's the book

of Nehemiah all about? [clears throat]

What's the book of Esther all about?

Some people could not answer that

question. They don't have a clue. So,

we'll we'll we'll just u hit that just a

little bit.

Ezra is about the Jewish people who've

been [clears throat] uh taken captive to

Babylon

and now are coming back uh from the

Persian king Cyrus who conquered

Babylon. He I guess what the Iranians

were sending the Jews back to build a

temple.

That's what was going on here. And we're

talking fifth century BC.

So this is hundreds of years before

Jesus was born. The Jews are in

captivity. They are experiencing

political death. God set up a theocracy

on earth.

And because of their sin, they're sent

into exile. And just like in physical

death, your spirit leaves your body. In

political death, the Jews leave the

land. They're taken off of it.

That's political death for them. That's

what God predicted of them if they would

not uh obey him and hear him.

And so now God's resurrecting some of

them to come back. He's allowing them to

come back to Jerusalem which have been

totally destroyed. The city of Jerusalem

was smashed by the Babylonians in 586

BC.

And now after 70 years, they're getting

to come back.

It's a journey of almost 1,000 miles.

And they didn't have an airplane to take

it.

I don't know about you, but even,000

miles on an airplane is to me a long

journey.

Even if it's a couple hours,

they they made it in, you know, two,

three months.

because they did couldn't go a straight

flight just like our jets don't go in a

straight flight to Europe but curve

around uh they did they had to curve

around where the desert was and go up go

north to go south.

So in Ezra, we have the Jews going back

to the city of of um Jerusalem, the

capital city.

And in Nehemiah, we have the same thing.

Jews going back to the capital city of

Jerusalem. In Esther, we have Jews still

in Persia, which is modernday Iran.

So, and we we have that book and what's

going on. So these books are very much

related. Uh they were going back in

stages. Some are going now and some are

going later. And they were scattered

into other countries besides Avalon

which is in modern day Iraq.

And so they're going back. So turn go to

Psalms and then go back to Job and then

go you'll go through Esther uh and

Nehemiah and get clear to Ezra and

that's where we will begin today.

Three great texts

that we're going to take our message

three great text for one message

and there's three great points and I'm

going to add a four fourth point no

extra charge at the end. Number

one in Ezra,

the lesson we learn from Ezra today is

God's priorities must become our

priorities, especially when it involves

God's work.

God's priorities

must become our priorities,

especially when it involves God's work.

Then we'll go to Nehemiah.

And the lesson there today is God's work

is a great work and must not be

neglected.

God's work is a great work and must not

be neglected.

And then in Esther, we have a third

point. God's work will be done whether

we do it or not.

Whether we do it or not.

If we don't do it, God will have

somebody else do it.

God's work will be done whether we do it

or not.

So these are the three books that are

certainly worthy of our intense

investigation, meditation, and

application in their original context.

They are certainly worthy of us going

verse by verse and chapter by chapter.

We're not doing that this morning. We're

just dipping in each one. And today

through coalation and interaction and

application

we will enjoy ourselves today. Okay.

First Ezra the book of Ezra

[clears throat]

and the point I want to emphasize today

is this

God's that my first point God's

priorities must become our priorities.

Sometimes we we want God to come to our

priorities. This is what I want. This is

what I want done first. That's not the

way it works in life. God's priorities

must become our priorities.

And those priorities must be applied to

the work God has given us to do.

Um, you and I have got something to

accomplish in our life

besides just eat,

drink, and be married because tomorrow

we die.

God's priorities need to become our

priorities.

Individual Christians have good works to

do. We can't be saved by our good works.

By grace are you saved through faith and

not of yourselves. It's the gift of God,

not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Every religion in the world except

Christianity has a merit theology

where your good works save you. Whether

it's the eightfold path of Buddhism or

the uh five pillars of Islam or the Jews

that misinterpret the Bible by trying to

earn their way through doing the ten

commandments.

Every man-made religion glorifies man.

But by grace are we saved through faith

and not of ourselves. It's the gift of

God. It's not of works, lest anyone

should boast. But what's the next verse?

We're not saved by our good works.

Don't think you can go to heaven and

say, "Uh, God let me in because I'm a

good person. I'm better than other

people.

I go to church. I've done this. I've

done that." That's not it. If you don't

get in through the blood of Jesus,

you're not getting in.

Doesn't matter what else you got.

So

it says the next verse in Ephesians 2

and verse 10 is for we are created,

we are created unto good works, those

that are saved by God's grace, a gift we

don't deserve. We are created in Christ

Jesus unto good works. That God has

before ordained that we should walk in

them or live in them. So God doesn't

save us because of our works, but he

saved us so we can do something for him

and for others.

Uh every Christians, God's got a job for

him.

You don't have to, you know, a lot of

young people are graduating from

college. I need a job now. Well, we

Christians don't have to worry about

that. We got a job.

We don't get paid for it, but we got a

job

to give the gospel to the lost, become a

blessing to the saved, and give glory to

God in everything we do. We got a job.

And in the book of Titus, Paul was very

much that salvation is not by works of

righteousness, which we've done, but

according to his mercy, he saved us.

>> [clears throat]

>> But he he's very very clear in Titus

that we're saved to good to good works.

God saved us so we can do something

good. [clears throat] That's very clear

in Titus 3:8. And uh and we were to be

Titus 3:8

fit for every good work. Titus 1:16.

Titus 1:16

Now in Ezra's day,

the good works that God wanted done

was rebuild

the temple,

rebuild

the city,

rebuild

the country.

That meant traveling a thousand miles to

get it done.

I'm probably never going back because

that's not a trip you'd make too often

in your life.

Let's look at Ezra chapter 1.

Ezra 1 · chapter mention

Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of

Persia, so that the word of the Lord by

the mouth of Jeremiah might be

fulfilled. Many of you are studying

Jeremiah with us, uh the book of

Jeremiah. We're doing verse by verse

through that. The Lord stirred up the

spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he

made a proclamation to all his kingdom,

and put it in writing, saying, "Thus

says Cyra, Cyrus, the king of Persia,

the Lord God of heaven, hath given me

all kingdoms of the earth. He's charged

me to build him a house at Jerusalem,

which is in Judah." That seems like a

funny thing for an Iranian to say.

You hear the opposite there now, right?

from the river to the sea, get rid all

of them.

But that's what Cyrus was saying.

Now, he conquered Babylon and he was the

big dog. And he had a different policy

than Babylon. Babylon's policy was to

transplant people to other countries, to

get them out of their country, to wreck

their culture, to bring them into other

countries where they didn't know

anybody. hopefully so they'd assimilate

and not be a problem. That was the

culture of Babylon. They did it to

everybody, not just the Jews. They

conquered you. You're going on trip.

Burn your city and take you out

someplace else. Transplant you.

There was no bloom where you're planted

doctrine.

Persia had a different thing to Cyrus.

We're going to reverse that policy. I'm

going to I'm going to make everybody

want to follow me,

not because they have to, because

they're grateful. And everybody that has

been scattered into different countries,

Jews and other people, I'm going to send

back to build a temple. And so he did it

for the Jews, he did it for others as

well. Of course, the Jews jumped on the

bandwagon.

Okay. So in verse uh

two, thus says Cyrus, king of Persia,

the Lord God of heaven, has given me all

the kingdoms of the earth, and he has

charged me to build him a house at

Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is

there among you of all his people, his

God be with him. Let him go up to

Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build

the house of the Lord God of Israel. He

He is the God which is in Jerusalem. And

whoever remains in any place where he

sojourns, let the men of his place help

him with silver and gold and goods with

beasts besides the free will offering

for the house of God that's in

Jerusalem.

So he's reversing the previous policy of

the Babylonians. And of course that's

the assignment.

And so now the Jewish people had 70

years in Persia and Babylon and other

places. Now they've got to make a

decision. I've worked hard to get myself

established here. Am I going to pay the

price to go back

to the country that's destroyed where

the temple's destroyed? The city's

destroyed.

The country's filled with other people.

Now, some Jews never got taken out.

There was about 20 to 30,000. Some say

even 50,000 that never left. But most of

them were gone. strangers coming back.

So that's the assignment from the

Persian ruler.

Uh uh Iran had that policy. This was 537

BC.

You get your

minimum. Now if you look at Ezra 264,

42,360

Jews did that right away.

42,360

Jews went back to Jerusalem to rebuild

the temple. That was their mission.

And no doubt that was sacri that was

very sacrificial financially for them to

do that.

And and uh now uh that and of course

they would be joined by the 20,000 or

5,000 poor Jews that never left because

they never they let the poor people

stay. They just took the people educated

and could do something in their country.

So the Babylonians had demolished both

the city and Solomon's temple. Temple

was gone. City was gone. Cities in

ruins. Temple's in ruins. I'm

oversimplifying, but in Ezra, we're

talking about the rebuilding of the

temple in Jerusalem. in Nehemiah, the

rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.

Now,

so both Ezra and Nehemiah were on

building projects and heading up

building projects.

Ezra was dealing with the temple.

Uh Nehemiah with the city. Nehemiah was

a governor, uh appointed by the

Persians. Nehemiah was a Bible teacher.

uh he's going to deal with the temple

and Nehemiah the city.

Now, here's where we come to something

very practical.

And this may hit you a little hard. As

the old Baptist preacher said, the shoe

might pinch here now

because maybe we're not maybe God's

priorities aren't our priorities.

If God's if your priorities aren't God's

priorities, you need to change your

priorities.

So number point A, God's temple was

rebuilt before the city of Jerusalem was

rebuilt. Think of that. Have you ever

thought about that?

First things first, second things

second, third things third. I've taught

whole lessons on priorities.

Here are people traveling a thousand

miles, spending their money to get

there,

and the first thing they do is rebuild

the temple,

not the city.

Now, the city's vulnerable.

It's extremely vulnerable because the

walls are all torn down.

any city that was going to last in the

ancient near east over attack had to

have walls around it.

They had the walls are just a rubble.

So when they're rebuilding the temple

before they're rebuilding the city,

that was the commission. They said the

commission said nothing about rebuilding

the city. It said rebuild the temple.

And so these people are going to

a a city that had been burned, a city

that had been trashed, a cities whose

walls have been knocked down, whose

buildings have been knocked down.

Think of that.

And

that means you got to live outdoors, not

indoors. You're going to be camping.

You're going to be vulnerable.

Have you ever been camping with your

family? You know, I went camping as a

young man by myself. Never thought about

it, but I remember the first time we

took we took three of our kids on a

camping trip just to get them used to

camping.

And I felt vulnerable.

There's no door.

What? You know, there's no door.

And so, you know, you feel that

vulnerability.

A city with one like walls is like

camping with an open tent.

Air can walk in, a thief can walk in,

murder can walk in.

And I didn't feel that when I was by

myself, but I certainly found that when

I went camping with my family.

Now there are people today

who live without doors.

I'm talking today.

They live without walls. They live

without doors. For the walls they have

are very insufficient.

And I've had the privilege of traveling

in different mission fields. But I

remember seeing an old lady. We visited

her in Argentina. I don't even remember

where I was. And she lived in an old

concrete

locked house.

No doors.

No doors. No way to lock the door.

There's nothing there. Just an opening.

She slept on a mattress on the floor.

Someone was probably in her 80s.

Now, not all of Argentina's that way.

Argentina's got some really nice places,

but in that particular neighborhood,

that's where she was.

Dave Flake will be with us and he's

starting a church in Eureka, which is

the northern part of Chile. But before

that, they uh started a church in a city

a little bit south of there. And in that

city, Linda and I were over there and we

saw and that's a modern city. They do

modern work, but there was up on the

mountain side there was a city. There

was a whole neighborhood of cardboard

houses. Cardboard,

no roof.

It doesn't rain up there. They didn't

need a roof. This is on Pagasta. It

doesn't rain.

No roof.

And all you had as walls was cardboard.

I remember being in South Africa and we

had one of the elders in Mike's church

was taking us and I've told this story

before. But we were in um

wasn't Johannesburg or someplace else.

John, do you remember where we were? I

forgot. But um it's a very famous place.

Anyway, they had a we were walking down

and this gal had had a heart attack.

and she needed some help with her roof.

Now, South South Africa got some really

nice homes, really nice neighborhoods

and very adequate places, but in this

place, it wasn't so nice. And so, we

were walking down with these 10

corugated

uh things on our heads, trying to hold

them up and go down in this mud path.

And here was a gal. She'd had a heart

attack. She went to Mike's church.

No running water, one electric bulb in a

mud hut.

All four walls were mud.

She didn't have money for it.

So, what we were doing is replacing her

roof. And we did that for her and she

was so grateful. But no running water.

She had a thing of water outside and uh

one electric bulb in that mud hut. And

she wasn't the only one. There were

hundreds

in that neighborhood.

Like

I think they called it the land of a

thousand hills. I called it the land of

a thousand heart attacks. I thought I

was going to die

up out of there. But what I'm saying is

there are people today, that was 20

years ago when John and I were there.

But there are people today that live in

places where they have no doors

or the doors they have couldn't keep

anybody out.

So when you're in that situation, think

about how in the ancient world walls

were important. Walls with big gates

that could be shut. Walls that were high

that couldn't be climbed over.

So if you're attacked, you've got some s

some some uh you you have some

protection.

But the first thing that was built was

not walls. The first thing that was

built

that was commissioned to be built was a

temple.

And that that just shocks you the

priorities here.

Do you know the pilgrim fathers when

they came to America? If you've I've

read several accounts of that and I've

been to I've been over there in

Massachusetts where they landed

and

they've got re they've rebuilt a village

there. You know, the first thing they

built was not their own. By the way,

they didn't build cabins.

Thinks it was cabins. No, they they had

these conical

things. They built cabins came later uh

by other people out of Denmark. But for

them, they they they didn't even build

their houses first. They built what they

called a common house, which was for

defense.

Guess how big it was? 20 by 20.

20 by 20.

And so they built that first. And that

was protection was a priority. and had

these old cannons that probably couldn't

hit anything, but they had them other

stuff.

In Ezra, there was priorities.

Temple first

before walls.

It doesn't seem right. Doesn't seem

normal.

It doesn't seem prudent.

Without walls you have no protection.

So the first thing they built it the

first thing point here is God in Ezra

God's temple was built before the city

of Jerusalem was rebuilt. They rebuilt

the temple before they rebuilt the

walls. Nehemiah came later to build the

walls. That's the book of Nehemiah. But

Ezra is about building the rebuilding

the temple.

Do we spend all our time for ourselves

to protect ourselves to provide for

ourelves or do we spend time in God's

work?

Seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness. That's what Jesus said.

>> Amen.

>> That's what Jesus said.

And all these other things will be added

to you.

Everybody else is seeking something else

first. Money first, fame first,

something else first. You seek first the

kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Put that first as your priority.

Now, so the temple was a prioritized o

over the walls. And only after the

temple was built do you start getting

walls.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Before you had a temple, there was

something even of a greater priority

than a temple.

The first thing they built in Ezra was

an altar. You say, "Well, the altar is

part of the temple." That's right. The

altar is part of the temple, but they

built the altar before they built the

temple.

The altar was destroyed. They knew where

it was, and they built a new altar on

the same place the old altar was.

So, the altar is rebuilt before the

temple. They didn't want to have, you

know, you'd think, oh, they'll finish

the temple first and then they'll build

the altar inside. No, altar first.

Now you're camping out

or you've got some kind of rough thing

to live in

and you're focusing on the altar.

It's fascinating because what's the

altar all about? The altar is about

animal sacrifice. The altar is where the

blood of the sacrifice went.

And in Old Testament religion, if you

couldn't butcher an animal, you'd be in

bad shape because you had to butcher

your own animal

and then give it to the priest and he

put the blood on the altar

and you had a real hit. My sin cost this

animal their life.

How's that for getting you ready to

worship?

You read Leviticus chapter 1 and the

Leviticus 1 · chapter mention

burnt offering and then you go to

chapter 4 and the sin offering. You'd

confess your sin over the animal's head

and you would kill the animal. You'd

slice their neck and the animal bleed

out and then the priest would get it and

put it on the blood on the altar.

You say that's gruesome.

It is gruesome. I'll tell you something

more gruesome. the son of God on the

cross of Calvary bleeding for your sins

and mine.

That's gruesome.

So the altar was before the temple. They

didn't wait for the temple to get

finished and then build the altar. The

altar is first. I repeat, the altar is

first. And you know what? The cross of

Calvary should be first. We should be

preaching Jesus Christ and him

crucified.

That's the main thing. Keep the main

thing the main thing. Isn't that

biblical? Keep the main.

There's many things in the Bible and

preachers get mixed up and they get off

on this and they get off on that. They

specialize in this, they specialize on

that.

But Paul said, "God forbid that I should

glory saved in the cross of the Lord

Jesus Christ by whom the world is

crucified to me and I to him

and I to them." See, pardon. So their

priorities were right. They had the

right priorities.

And the right priority was to put the

altar first.

And where was that? Why? Where was that

temple? And where was that altar?

It was in Jerusalem.

Oh, but that's not all.

It was in the very spot Abraham was told

to offer up Isaac

2,000 years before Jesus was born.

In Abraham's mind, Isaac was dead for

three days.

You think the Bible isn't of God? You

think that's some kind of accident?

Isaac was delivered right there on Mount

Mariah.

And that's the very spot where King

David a thousand years after Abraham

built an altar to the Lord because of

his sin and numbering the people and

people were dying

and the blood of that altar

saved the people.

So the temple of the Jews and the altar

in the temple was built on a historical

place. There was a history to it. Why?

Because God controls history.

The real God controls history.

There's no accidents here. This isn't

coincidence here. This isn't designed

here. Where was the cross of Calvary?

Same place.

So God help us to grasp some of these

things. to the right altar and the right

not just any kind of altar, not just any

altar, an altar in the right place. A

new altar was built on the original

site, the site of Abraham in Genesis 22

and the sight of David in 2 Samuel

exactly where the old altar was placed

in Solomon's temple. And even and now

that the temple's being rebuilt, it's

put in the same place. So read Genesis

22 and 2 Samuel 24 and you'll get some

of that.

Listen, when you're building for God,

you better have a good re rear view

mirror.

Why? When you drive a car, do you have a

rear view mirror?

It's not enough to look ahead. You got

to know what's behind you as well.

If you're going to drive safely,

we need to know the Old Testament.

That's our rear view mirror.

That's the rear view mirror on the left

side. The other rear view mirror is the

New Testament on the right side.

We got to know what's behind us if we're

going to be a safe driver. But you don't

just look into the rearview mirror all

the time either. you'll crash into

somebody else. You got to look ahead.

And that's true of a business. It's true

of a household. It's true of a church.

You got to look, you got to have a

rearview mirror, but you got to have you

got to be looking forward. We're looking

forward to the death, not to the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus that

died.

But we're looking back to the Lord Jesus

that died. We're looking ahead to the

Lord Jesus's coming.

Now, that's all very important. May God

help us to hear this.

God's priorities must become our

priorities. And there's a good lesson

there right there from the book of Ezra.

Are they Are God's priorities our

priorities? God's priority was get that

temple running.

Exile's over.

Are God's priorities ours? John the

Baptist said, God John the Baptist was

that way. He said, "If Jesus, he must

increase. I must decrease." I'm good

with that.

Paul said, "God forbid that I should

glory save on the cross of Jesus

Christ." Don't put your faith in me. As

George Whitfield said, "A minister is a

poor savior in the day of judgment.

Trust Jesus, not me."

Jesus said, "Seek you first the kingdom

of God." So may God help us to do that.

Now, that brings us to Nehemiah

to turn over from Ezra to Nehemiah. And

again, we're just dipping into these

books.

Nehemiah's job was to rebuild the city.

Remember, Ezra is rebuilding the temple,

the Jewish temple. Nehemiah's job, he's

a governor, provisional governor, is to

rebuild the city. That's a big job.

and he's busy doing that. He's got a

commission to do that and he's doing it.

But the people of the land didn't like

it.

They didn't want it rebuilt

any more than the people of the land

today want the Jews to rebuild their

temple.

And so these folks were doing their best

to discourage everything that was going

on.

Do you think you can start a church and

keep a church going and then grow a

church without opposition?

Not going to happen. You can't even have

a Bible study without opposition. You

can't even have children without

opposition.

Try to raise them for the Lord. You

think you can do that in a fallen world?

Think that's an easy assignment? I'm

going to tell you, it's impossible.

apart from God's grace and God's

guidance, God's intervention.

Now, Nehemiah's got a big job. He's got

to rebuild the city and he's rebuilding

the walls. So, find it's the city walls

that he's rebuilding.

But in Nehemiah chapter 6,

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

there's some people don't want those

walls rebuilt

and they're they're doing everything to

hinder it. And so in Nehemiah chapter 6,

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

they invite Nehemiah to a meeting. We

don't like what you're doing, but you

come down and talk about it. We'll have

a pow-wow. Sounds like the Iranians with

the Americans right now. Let's talk.

Do you think they were sincere with

that?

Now, some people are. Maybe you need to

talk something out. But in this case,

notice what happened. Nehemiah 6:1. Now

Nehemiah 6:1

it came to pass when San Ballot and

Tobaya and Gisham the Arabian and the

rest of our enemies heard that I built

the wall and that there was no breach

left in it. Though at the time I had not

yet set up the doors upon the gates. So

walls built the gates aren't. It's

almost getting close to being done.

Then Sam Ballad and Gisham sent to me

saying come let's meet together in one

of the villages in the plain of Uno. And

they thought to do me mischief. If he

read that like a book,

they want to assassinate me.

They want to stop this project.

They kill me. They figure the project

will be over.

Listen, if the pastor dies, the church

should go on without him.

You think you need a pastor to go on?

Open hot.

Pastors die too. You know that.

You know, the church is bigger than a

pastor, even a good pastor.

So, some things stop when the leader

dies, but not all things.

So, the head of the church is Jesus

Christ. He can make it go on even

without the leadership.

You say, "Well, how's that going to

work?"

Wait and find out. Maybe I'll die before

the sermon's over. You'll find out.

But notice in verse three, and I sent

messengers to them, saying, I am doing a

great work, so I cannot come down. Why

should the work cease while I leave it

and come down to you?

I'm doing a great work. I'm not going to

be diverted. I'm not going to be uh uh

uh talked out of what I'm doing. I'm not

going to have you take my time. I'm

doing a great work. I can't come down.

I'm too busy.

That was his answer.

And notice in verse four, yet they sent

to me four times in this way.

And I answered them after the same

manner.

Four times they said, come down and

meet. Four times he's saying, I'm doing

a great work. I can't come down.

He read them like a book. He knew their

motives. He refused to alter his

priority. I've got a job to do for the

Lord and it's build this city and build

the walls and I'm not going to stop till

it's over.

Alter first,

wall second.

Priorities.

Ezra built the altar.

Nehemiah built the wall.

You and I need biblically in biblically

inspired and biblically directed

priorities in our lives.

Moving about with no priorities is a bad

way to live.

And so may God help us.

And we must be willing to have a

a diminished life

if we will help the work of God go

forward. Nehemiah had kind of a cushy

job. He was the wine tester for the the

leader of the whole whole empire. He

left that to go thousand miles and live

in Jerusalem and become a governor. Now

for most of us a governor would be a

promotion but for him it was a demotion.

But his heart was in God's word.

We must be willing to have a a so-called

diminished life if that will help the

work of God both go forward.

Uh maybe less grand or less spectacular.

I'm okay with that. I don't have to have

the biggest house everybody else has

got. I'm not in that race. I don't have

to have the big best car everybody else

has got. Not in that race.

I got That's not wrong to have big house

or big cars or nice cars. I'm not saying

that. I'm just saying we got bigger

things to do, right? God gives you a

nice house and a car. Nothing wrong with

that.

But God's priorities must be our

priorities. Are they? John the Baptist

said of Jesus, "He must increase. I must

decrease." That's my priority.

I want Jesus people more people to

follow him, more people to think about

him, less people to think about me.

So

when we read our Bibles, first things

first, second things second, third

things third. Ezra had priorities.

Nehemiah had ripp priorities. That cuts

the clutter out of your life. Well, in

my case, it increases the clutter

because I can't I don't always stop

clean everything up. I'm just busy

preparing sermons and doing stuff.

So that's a fascinating thing. God's

work is a great work and it must not be

neglected.

And then there's a fifth invitation. Uh

and it sounded friendly, but it was not

friendly at all. There was assassination

plot behind all of it. And uh

you know, if they really wanted to meet

with him, they could have come to

Jerusalem.

You know, if you really want to meet

somebody, you say, "I'll come to your

place.

So Nehemiah recognized this is a a

veiled attempt on his life and he wasn't

lured away.

Um

leadership always involves strife.

If you're a leader, you're going to make

somebody mad. They're not going to like

the way you do it. Nehemiah was a

leader. People didn't like what he

wanted what he was doing.

You better just get if you're in the

ministry and you even if you're leading

a Bible study or Sunday school class,

somebody's not going to like what you're

doing or how you're doing it.

Somebody's going to say, "Come down.

We're going to talk this out.

I don't have time for that. I'm busy for

the Lord. You do your thing. I'll do

mine."

So, these enemies had a secret agenda.

They wanted to remove the person

responsible for the success of the whole

project. That was

and they were persistent. But listen, he

was equally persistent.

They were equally they were persistent

in trying to get him to quit to come

down. He was equally pers persistent in

steadfastly resisting

their attempts.

We do not let God's enemies and our

enemies define reality for us.

That's God's role,

not theirs and even not ours.

Those that despise gospel work,

ridicule, hate it, uh let them be what

they are, but we got a work to do.

All of God's work is great work.

Even if it's in a very humble place and

a hard place,

you don't come down. Paul said, "I'm not

ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's

the power of God to salvation."

So Nehemiah, it was the great work of

his life was not being a cup bearer for

the king of Persia. It was to be a wall

builder for the King of Kings.

Um, you and I are doing a greater work

than we realize.

We'll find out someday. Let's have a

high view of it.

Nehemiah knew who he was and he knew

what God's work was and he wouldn't come

down. So their first point in Ezra,

God's priority must become our

priorities. Second point in Nehemiah,

God's work is a great work and must not

be neglected. Third point, go over to

Esther,

the next book over Queen Esther.

And we actually looked at this verse

uh when we we taught Esther a little bit

and remember there's a prime minister of

Iran at that point wanted to kill every

single Jew there was everywhere and

Esther was drafted and being the queen

she didn't ask for that of the land and

the husband didn't know what was going

on and [clears throat] Mori her cousin

is encouraging her and we looked at

verse 13 then Mori commands to Esther,

"Think not with yourself that you'll

escape in the king's house more than all

the Jews. For if you hold your peace at

this time, verse 14, 4:14,

deliverance will arise from to the Jews

from another place that you and your

father's house will be destroyed. And

who knows whether you are come to the

kingdom for such a time as this?

You're in a position I'm not. You're in

a position other Jews are not. You're

you're queen. He doesn't know you're a

Jew.

That's it. Open your mouth.

Think about it.

God's work will and who knows and who

whether you come to the kingdom in a

time of this. And he also says something

very interesting.

He says in verse 14, "If you hold your

peace at this time, then shall there

relief and deliverance arise to the Jews

from another place."

In other words, if you don't do it,

God will get somebody else

to do what needs to be done.

You're the likely candidate, but if you

don't do it, God will get somebody else.

And that's my third point. God's work

will be done whether we do it or not.

God's work will be done whether we do it

or not. God buries his workman but the

work goes on. We are not indispensable.

It is true we're immortal till our work

is done. But it's also true if we don't

do it the work will get done by somebody

else.

Think about this. Elijah was replaced by

Elisha. Moses was replaced by Joshua.

Reuben was replaced by Judah. Such a one

was replaced by Boaz. God's work will be

accomplished.

God's work will move ahead on schedule.

You murder you murder Abel and Seth.

Seth will replace him. The blood of the

martyrs is the seed of the church.

God buries his workmen, but the work

goes on. But and we like Esther are

placed in a particular

uh geographical location, a particular

family, a particular school, a

particular job, a particular city where

we can do something that others can't

do. But if we don't do it, God will get

somebody else to do it

because God's work will be done whether

we do it or not. If Saul can't fight

Goliath, little David will take him out.

If the apostle James is beheaded in Acts

12, Paul will and Silas will replace him

and go into all the world. The New

Testament and third John kicks people

out of his church for supporting

missionaries. Little Gaes will send them

on their way after a godly sword. God's

work will be done whether we do it or

not. You say, "How's that work with the

sovereignty of God? How's that work with

the responsibility of man?" I don't care

about that question. I'm telling this

this to you. God's work will be done. If

you don't do it, he'll have somebody

else do it. He knows whether you're

going to do it or not. He's sovereign.

I'm just simply saying you're

responsible.

And

each of us has a job or put in a certain

place to do something.

Why was Paul put in the Philippian jail?

Why'd he get beat up,

tied to the wall, locked in?

Why was he unjustly accused? Cuz there

was a jailer in this family that needed

to be saved.

Is that what was going on?

So God put Paul in

touch with the jailer and the jailer in

Paul with Paul.

So may God help us. Why did Paul get

kicked out of Thessalonica?

And because there were Bereans that

needed to hear the gospel that heard, so

he got kicked out of that town. So he

went to the next and those people were

more receptive.

So these are three points to glean from

these three books. Uh God's priorities

must be our priorities and the big

question is are they? God's work is a

great work and must not be neglected.

Even if I'm not doing the main thing, I

can do something

and God's work will be done whether we

do it or not.

If Martha won't

love the Bible study,

Mary will

sit at Jesus feet and hear his word.

So, I challenge each of us

to think of these priorities.

Now, if you're not a Christian, here's a

priority for you.

This is our fourth point.

God's greatest work is not providential.

We're not talking, we were talking

providential here in all these points.

who builds the city, who builds the

temple, who bu builds the altar and all

of that.

God's great work is not providential,

but supernatural.

After Jesus fed the 5,000, he began to

preach himself as the bread of heaven

that comes down out of heaven. And the

people said, "What must we do to do the

work of God?"

Jesus said, "This is the work of God.

Believe on him whom he sent.

Believe on him whom he sent. If you're

not a Christian, that's what God wants

out of you.

That's what God wants out of you.

Believe on him whom he sent. Have you

put your Have you repented of your sins

and put your faith in the Savior?

His blood is on God's altar. He is God's

temple

and certainly serving him is the

greatest thing you can do with your

life. Nothing comes even close to it.

Father, we thank you for what we've

learned this morning.

A lot of things to jump about to try to

get these points in with us today. But

we ask that you'd be working in our

lives that which is pleasing in your

sight.

We're not in the Old Testament

dispensation as

Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther were, but

we we have our responsibility in the

church age. May we be about our father's

business

in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Stand. Turn 411.

411.