God is in Control!

2:18Well, friends, today we begin our new sermon series for this school year, and this fall in particular, Renewed Worship, the Book of Ezra. Over this school year, we're going to be covering the three what are known as post-exilic historic books, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, which were all written after and about the time after the exile into Babylon. And one of the major themes of the book of Ezra, as well as all of these books, is the providence of God.

2:50And when we say the providence of God, what we mean is that God has an ongoing relationship with his creation. And directs everything in it according to his good purposes. That theme is on vivid display here in Ezra chapter 1, which we're going to cover today. And that is great news because all of us need to grow in our understanding of the providence of God. You see, the reality is this: the more that we understand and believe that God is in control of all things, the more faith we will be able to exercise in Him when it seems that nothing is going right in our lives, when our circumstances feel out of control, when we are going through difficult times and trials of various kinds.

3:50And in those times, I don't want you to think that God has forgotten you, He has not. I don't want you to think that God does not care about you, He does. And so, what we're going to learn today through Ezra chapter 1 is God is in control, and He is working all things together for our good. Now, before we jump into the text, I want to give you a little bit of background. It's always nice to have that for any book of the Bible, but especially when we're going back to the Old Testament into some unfamiliar territory for a lot of us. So, many years ago, after the The reign of King Saul and then King David and then King Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel were united in one kingdom that was passed down to Solomon's son Rehoboam.

4:42But because of his sin and because of his unwise political choices, the kingdom split into two parts: the northern kingdom, which included ten tribes of Israel and became known as Samaria, and the southern kingdom, which included two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and was just known collectively as Judah. Now, for both of these kingdoms, they went through long periods of rebellion, long periods of idolatry, followed sometimes by brief periods of revival and worship of the Lord God alone.

5:16But for hundreds of years, they refused to sustain any real repentance. They refused to sustain any real worship of God. And so God sent them prophet after prophet to say, if you guys continue in your rebellion and your idolatry and your disobedience, I am going to discipline you. They wouldn't listen. And so God sent the nation of Assyria to conquer the northern kingdom in 722 BC. And then a little over 100 years later, the kingdom of Babylon conquered Assyria and then conquered the southern kingdom, Judah, in 605 BC.

5:51And in both cases, the Assyrians exiled the northern tribes, and then the Babylonian kingdom exiled the southern tribes. And all of this. Was happening because of their sin and idolatry. Now, over the next 50 years, the kingdom of Babylon, from 605 B.C. down into the 550s B.C., Babylon was getting weaker and weaker, and the Persian Empire was getting stronger and stronger. And so in 559 B.C., Cyrus the Great took power in Persia, and he went and he conquered all of the nations around him, culminating in 539 BC with conquering Babylon, the country that had exiled the southern kingdom.

6:36And all of this was in direct fulfillment of the prophecy that we read at the start of worship today from Jeremiah 25. Look again on the screen. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. Then after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

7:04I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands. So after 70 years of captivity, God punished him. Punished Babylon, just as he promised, through Cyrus and the Persian Empire. And that takes us to Ezra chapter 1. And here in Ezra chapter 1, you see that one of Cyrus's first acts is to make a proclamation about the Jews.

7:45Now, why does he do this? Cyrus is not a worshipper of God, so why does he care about the Jewish people? Look again at verse 1. It says, The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation. Now, what's amazing is that God's plan all along was to use Cyrus to accomplish his purposes. At least 140 years before Cyrus made this proclamation, the prophet Isaiah spoke these words in chapter 44.

8:22Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, she shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, they shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins.

8:58Who says of the deep, Be dry. I will dry up your rivers. Now, listen to this. 140 years earlier, who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and of the temple, your foundation shall be laid. How incredible is that? At least 140 years before Cyrus came to power in Persia, the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah, This is what I'm going to do, and this is exactly who I'm going to do it through. Cyrus is my instrument to fulfill my purpose toward Jerusalem and to the temple for my people.

9:45You see, friends, God is in control, and he works all things together for our good. Leading up to the exile, Israel had gotten so stubborn that they simply would not listen to God anymore. He sent them prophet after prophet to call them to repentance, to repent of their idolatry and to obey him, and yet they just wouldn't do it. For hundreds of years, God patiently appealed to them and said, I want you to turn to me. He disciplined them through foreign invaders. He disciplined them through drought. He disciplined them through pestilence, and they would not do it. They wouldn't listen. And so, like a good and loving father, what did he do?

10:31He disciplined them. He had them carried away for 70 years, telling them before and during that time, I have not forsaken you. I have not forgotten you. I have plans for you. The verse that's on all of your coffee cups, plans to give you a hope and a future. You see, that's not written directly to us. It does apply to us, but it's written directly about these people in this time. Friends, that's the amazing thing about God.

11:04See, he is just not like all of the gods that people have invented since the beginning of time. The God of the Bible is all-powerful, and he is in control of all things, including all the things that happen to you. And the God of the Bible is a loving father who does not, excuse me, he does not punish his children, but rather he disciplines them for their good. That's a truly amazing thing that we serve that kind of a God. So when his people wouldn't repent, God said, I'm going to discipline you for your sin, but I love you, and I will never leave you or forsake you. Instead, after I discipline you, I'm going to restore you.

12:03See, what happens to you in this life? It is no accident. Sorry about my voice here. We're just on the struggle bus this morning. Allergies are intense. It is College Station, Texas. If you're new here, get ready. They are coming for you. What happens to you in this life is no accident. But a good and loving and all-powerful Father is orchestrating everything in your life, including times of trial, including times of difficulty, so that you will come to know Him and worship Him from the heart. That is what He is doing. Look on the screen at Hebrews chapter 12. This is a reminder that we need so badly. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

13:03Those 70 years in Babylon, they were not fun, they were not pleasant, they were very, very hard for the people. Their homeland was destroyed, the temple was in ruins, but God had not forsaken them. And what he did through that time of discipline was he opened their eyes to their sin, he opened their eyes to their need for freedom and forgiveness for that sin. He brought them out of captivity. No discipline seems pleasant at the time. It only seems painful, but it's worth it. And so, what does Cyrus do? He makes this proclamation. And not only that, you notice here in verse 1, he puts it in writing. I want you to remember that. Because when we get to chapter 6, that's going to be very relevant, very important that he wrote this down. He didn't just say it, but he wrote it down. Look at verse 2 again, and look at what he says: The Lord, the 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.

14:12Now, I want to make two observations about what Cyrus says here in the decree. The first thing that I want you to notice is that Cyrus credits God with giving him all the kingdoms of the earth. Now, did Cyrus really believe that God, the God of the Bible, had given him all the kingdoms of the earth? Well, we don't really know, do we? We don't really know if he actually believed that in his heart or if he was simply saying that as a good politician because he knew that that's what the Jews believed. It's impossible for us to know. But what we do know is that the ancient historian Josephus, who wrote Jewish Antiquities, their history of the people, he said that when King Cyrus was shown the prophecy of Isaiah, written 140 years earlier, he was so moved that there was a God who could foretell the future like that that he said, I want to fulfill everything that's written.

15:15And so, whether he was responding directly to the word of God through Isaiah or if he was responding indirectly in some way, the reality is that what Cyrus says is true. God, as the prophet Daniel later says, is the one who removes kings and the one who sets up kings. It is God who does that. God is in control and he's working all things together for our good. He even uses people who may not worship him or do not worship him to accomplish his purposes, including politicians.

15:52And in our day and age, that is so critical to remember. It is so critical to remember because many people are convinced politics and politicians will either save us or ruin us. So almost two years ago, when President Trump was elected, half the country lost its mind. And four years before that, when President Obama was re-elected, half the country lost its mind. And when President Bush was elected, and when President Clinton was elected, it happens every single time because people. Have bought into the lie that politics and politicians will either save us or ruin us.

16:37Friends, when Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church, he was being serious. He was being serious about that. We don't have to worry about who is in power. Righteous leaders are a great blessing to our country and to the world. And unrighteous leaders are a great burden to our country and to the world. But God is in control in either case, and he is working all things together for our good.

17:15Listen to what the pastor and theologian Robert Files has to say about this. We need to view our Christian work in that light and not be overwhelmed if the establishment tries to suppress the church, nor overexcited if the establishment favors it. Both are phases through which God's purposes will be worked out. So, first, I want you to notice that Cyrus credits God with giving him all the kingdoms of the earth. But the second thing that I want you to notice about his proclamation here is how seriously Cyrus takes obedience to God.

17:57Again, there is no evidence that Cyrus himself. Worshiped God, and yet he says, God has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Now, I want you to think about this for a minute. For hundreds of years now, God has been speaking to his people through the prophets. He's been calling them to repent, he's been calling them to obey, he's been calling them to put away their idols, and yet time and time again, his very own people have said, No, we're not going to do that.

18:31And then he appears to Cyrus, he makes his word known to him, and Cyrus, this pagan king, obeys immediately, fully, and wholeheartedly. He obeys immediately, fully, and wholeheartedly, without hesitation. In fact, he's so wholehearted in his obedience. If you look again at verses 3 and 4, he says, Look, any Jews in the kingdom, you have my permission and my blessing to go home and rebuild the temple of your God. That's truly amazing. And not only that, in verse 4, he says, Look, and if you live near one of the Jews, I want you to assist them. I want you to give them, look at all this stuff, silver and gold, goods and beasts, besides free will offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

19:31Now, that is incredible. This is essentially a second exodus for the people of God. The first Exodus, of course, was out of the land of Egypt many, many years before. And this bears so many similarities, but some of the big differences here are that, first, unlike Pharaoh, king of Egypt, King Cyrus is glad to send the people out. He's wholehearted in his support for them. And unlike the Egyptians, who only gave up their stuff out of fear for what God might do to them in an 11th plague, these people, Cyrus's citizens, they're giving freely at his urging all of their things.

20:16Church, Cyrus's immediate and wholehearted obedience should be a challenge to us, as it was no doubt a challenge to the people of Israel. Look at what the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 13. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. The message all throughout scripture is that God cares more about obedience, doing what is right, than he does about simply knowing what is right. In the book of Samuel, Saul is told that the Lord desires obedience and not sacrifice.

21:08God takes obedience seriously, and we are called to do what God commands. Now, every faithful parent, every faithful parent wants to see their children obey right away, all the way, with a happy heart. That's the standard. Every faithful parent wants to see their kids obey right away, all the way, with a happy heart. No parent is okay, at least no faithful parent is okay, with delayed obedience, or partial obedience, or grumbling obedience. No faithful parent is okay with those things, and yet, don't we have to admit that so many professing Christians, including we ourselves at times, we give God delayed obedience, partial obedience, or grumbling obedience. And the chief of sinners is right here.

22:09I see those things in my life so much more than I want them to be there. But that's not what Cyrus did. Cyrus obeyed right away, all the way, with a happy heart. He was wholehearted in his obedience. And so the question becomes: that's what Cyrus did. Are the people of God going to respond to this proclamation? Let's look now at verse 5 together. Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.

23:08Now, one of the things that you may not catch here if you weren't paying complete attention to what's going on is that the Persian Empire not only includes all of the lands that were currently controlled by Babylon, but also all of the lands that were formerly controlled by Assyria. And as I was reminding you earlier, Assyria is the kingdom that conquered the northern ten tribes of Israel back in 722 BC. Cyrus is now in charge of all of this land. So the Israelites in the northern kingdom, they have not been in exile for 48 to 70 years, like the southern kingdom has. They've been in exile for almost 200 years.

23:56Almost 200 years. And Cyrus calls them. 2. If you go back to verse 3, what does he say? Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem. Whoever is among you. So this includes not just the southern tribes, this includes all of the people of God from the northern and the southern kingdoms. But who answers the call? Only the leaders of Judah and Benjamin, only the priests and the Levites. They're the only ones who respond.

24:33Now you might say, well, yeah, of course they responded. This is essentially their homeland. This is the home of Jerusalem. This is the home of the temple where the priests and the Levites performed their service. Of course they said, we'll go. But when you think about it, it's not that simple at all. These people had been in exile for between 48 and 70 years. And what that means is that two or three or even four generations have been born in Babylon. That was home.

25:14These people have no first-hand experience of Jerusalem or of the temple. They've only heard stories from their parents or their grandparents or their great-grandparents. And on top of that, many of these people have families. They have jobs. They've got kids to think about. They've got elderly parents that they're taking care of. And so, this was not a situation where it's like, Jewish citizens of Persia, we are now offering large tax incentives for you to move to a brand new, master-planned community, the woodlands of Jerusalem.

25:52You'll have quality infrastructure, beautiful parks, and neighborhood pools. It's not at all like that. This situation is like: okay, who wants to go back to the country that you've never seen before, that has been laid waste for half a century? Who wants to go back and rebuild that, knowing that many people have settled there and all of them are hostile to you? Knowing that if you survive the months-long journey to get back there, you're going to have to figure out a way to eke out a living while you build your own house with your hands. But don't forget, you'll have to do that at night and on the weekends because the main order of business is to rebuild the temple.

26:41So, who's with me? That's what this situation is. And that only adds to the awe when you see that the leaders of the houses of Judah and Benjamin the priests and the Levites step up and they say, We're in, we'll go. And why did they do that? Look again at verse 5. Because God stirred their spirits to go and rebuild. This was not going to be quick. This was not going to be easy. This was going to be a long, difficult, painful path of obedience. But the people knew the cost and they said, we will go anyway.

27:25Friends, listen to me. So many Christians are convinced that if something is easy, it must be the will of God. And if something is hard, it must not be the will of God. But over and over again in Scripture, we see that oftentimes the hard thing is the will of God, not the easy thing. And you don't have any clearer example of that than in the person of Jesus Christ. Right at the outset of his ministry, Satan came and tempted him in the wilderness. And he said, listen, why don't you just go ahead and prove that you're God right now? Don't go through all the misunderstanding.

28:18Just throw yourself down off the temple, have the angels bear you up, and just prove to everybody right now that you're the Son of God. Satan said, you don't need to go through all that stuff. Suffering. You don't need to deal with that. No, instead, just fall down before me and worship me, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world. That was the easy road. That was the easy thing. But that was not the will of God.

28:52The will of God was the hard thing. It was for Jesus to say, I will be misunderstood. I will be despised throughout my entire life and ministry. The will of God was for him to take the whip and the crown of thorns and ultimately the cross and God the Father forsaking him as he bore our sin in his body on the tree. That was the will of God, and that was the hard thing. And going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple, that was not the easy thing, that was the hard thing, but the hard thing was absolutely the will of God.

29:36And here's what you come to know through Scripture and through your own life experience. When God wills something to happen, he always makes a way for it to happen. How would the Jews be able to make this costly journey? How are they supposed to just pick up, leave their businesses, and move back to a desolated land? How would that even be financially possible? God stirs the hearts of the Persians to give them silver and gold and goods and beasts, everything that they need.

30:12Even if they rebuilt the temple, how would they ever reinstitute worship there? They had nothing. Then you see here, starting in verse 7 through verse 11, King Cyrus brings out all of the vessels of the temple. All of the things that they needed to perform the sacrifices and to worship God according to his commands. Remember, these things were stolen between 48 and 70 years ago. Two different kings, two different kingdoms. In the book of Daniel, you see these things being misused and abused by a foreign power, and yet they're all still there. He brings all of them out. He gives them all back. He didn't sell any of them. He didn't keep any of them as kind of mementos of his conquest. He gave them all back. When God wills for something to happen, he makes a way for it to happen.

31:05And we have to believe that. We have to believe that. And yet I will be the first to admit that that is very, very hard for me to believe. And maybe you're like me. Maybe it's hard for you to believe that when God calls you to do something, that he's going to provide a way for that to happen. When we started this church and told us, 2009, I was absolutely convinced that God was calling us to do it. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the will of God, and here we are 10 years later, so it must be His will.

31:45And at the same time, I will admit to you that I have struggled to believe the entire time, month after month, year after year, that God is going to provide for us to do the thing that He is doing. There are multiple times every single year where we miss our monthly budget goal, and every single time that happens, I'm like, well, it was a good try. Guess I'll call Cody. Have him put a sign on the door, closed.

32:19Every single time. And yet, every single year, God provides exactly what we need. I remember when we were moving into this facility in the spring of 2013, we had about three months to go to finish our construction, and we needed to raise still $200,000. Now, for a church in a college town, that is equivalent to a gajillion dollars. There's not even a number that high. And yet, God provided every single dollar that we needed. I share those stories with you because they illustrate the truths that we see right here in this passage. When God wills for something to happen, He makes a way for it to happen. See, from a human standpoint, the Jews were never going back home. That was just not going to happen. From a human standpoint, the temple was never going to be rebuilt. And even if it was, how would they ever be able to worship God in the way that He prescribed again? Those things had been stolen. They were gone.

33:23But, friends, the things that seem like insurmountable obstacles to you and me, they are nothing to God. The things that seem like insurmountable obstacles, our health problems, like allergies, our financial setbacks, our relationship disappointments, our parenting disappointments and letdowns, these things that seem like insurmountable obstacles are nothing to God. He is in control, and he is working everything together for our good. So, this morning, we begin the study of the historical account of the people returning from exile to rebuild the temple, the second Exodus.

34:16And what's so beautiful about this book is that this book is essentially a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why were these people in exile to begin with? They were in physical captivity because of their sin and idolatry. Their physical captivity was a picture of their captivity to sin. And God could have put them to death. He could have judged them. He would have been right to do so. That's what we all deserve. But instead, in his grace and in his mercy, he disciplined them like a father with a view to their full restoration. Nothing that the Jews did in captivity earned them the right to still be called the people of God.

35:09Nothing that the Jews did in their captivity earned them the right to worship him and serve him afresh in the land that he promised and in the temple that he promised. They didn't do anything. But God brought them out of physical captivity so that they would have yet another picture and yet another reminder of their need to be delivered from their spiritual captivity to their sin. That's what the book of Ezra is really all about. And friends, every single one of us was born in captivity to sin. Every single one of us is in need of forgiveness and freedom from that captivity, and that could only be found in Jesus. Look at what Jesus said in John chapter 8.

35:58Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Our freedom was not free. It required the death and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the only perfect man who has ever lived. But he willingly laid down his life for us so that we would be set free from our spiritual captivity. And to receive that freedom, we must repent, turn from our sin, and receive Jesus and His finished work by faith.

36:49Friends, I think sometimes when our circumstances are really, really difficult, every one of us is tempted to believe God has forgotten me. He doesn't care. He doesn't love me. But in the gospel, you have a perfect and permanent reminder that he has not forgotten you, that he does love you enough to give up his only begotten Son. He is in control. And he's working all things together for our good. Let's pray. Father, this morning, it is our privilege to celebrate our weaknesses, our failures, to acknowledge that you are God and we are not.

37:55To acknowledge that Jesus alone was and is perfect, and that he is the Savior that we need. I pray that we would remember in good times and in bad times when our circumstances just look terrible that you are in control and that you are working all things together for our good no matter what it looks like. I pray that you would help us to believe that in those dark moments where we are tempted to doubt. I pray for all of our students today, some of whom are beginning their college careers. I pray for all of them that no matter what happens in this next semester, no matter what happens in this next year, that they would believe, they would choose to believe day by day, that you are in control.

38:58And I pray, God. For those who join us this morning who may not know you, who may not yet be followers of Jesus, God, would you reveal yourself to them through your word? Would you reveal Jesus in all of his beauty and perfection, his ability to save them? And I pray that they would turn to him in repentance and faith this morning. Help all of us to exercise faith in you, God, because you have proven yourself all through human history to be worthy of faith.

39:36God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the book of Ezra. And we pray that we would be not just hearers of the word, not just people who know the right things, but those who do what you have commanded. In Christ's name, we pray all these things. Amen.