Trust in Action

1:09So on September 26th, 1983, Stanislav Petrov was at his post at Soviet air defense, and his job was to monitor satellites and warn his superiors immediately of an impending missile attack from the United States. And at midnight of that day, the computers reported five ballistic. Missiles traveling from the United States to the Soviet Union. Protocol required him to tell his supervisors immediately so that they could launch a retaliatory nuclear attack against targets in the United States. But Petrov disobeyed his orders. And he disobeyed his orders because he had been told that if a nuclear attack was coming from the United States, there would be hundreds of missiles all fired at once to destroy all potential Soviet targets, not just a handful of missiles. Now, if he was wrong about this, he would have been court-martialed and put to death. And he would have been forever remembered by all Russians as the man who was in dereliction of duty and who did not protect his country from this attack.

2:20But instead, Stanislav Petrov is known as the man who saved the world from nuclear war because he determined that the computers were malfunctioning and were giving a false report. And he determined that all because he acted in faith on what he was told. Well, friends, today we come to Ezra chapter 5. And in chapter 5, it has been 16 years since the people laid the foundation for the new temple. So we have gone from 536 BC to 520 BC, and several kings have come and gone in those years. And now, kings. Darius I is in power. He came in the year before in 521 BC. And so politically, a lot has changed over the last 16 years.

3:10But a lot of things just remain the same. The one constant in the life of Israel was opposition. So if the people stopped working on the temple because of opposition, and their circumstances with respect to opposition haven't changed at all, why would we expect anything to change? I mean, from a human standpoint, there's no reason to expect that, right? Their circumstances are still the same. The opposition is still there, so you'd expect the same response from the people.

3:41But the problem wasn't their circumstances. The problem is that they began focusing on their obstacles instead of on God, who is powerful enough to overcome any obstacle. They had lost faith in God and his word. But as Paul teaches us in the book of Romans, faith comes through hearing the word of God. And so God is going to send his prophets to speak to his people and reignite their faith. And so what we're going to learn this morning from Ezra chapter 5 is that trust in God's word leads to faith-filled action. Let's take a look at verse 1 now together.

4:28We see here at the start of the chapter that God is going to be a little bit of a faith. God calls two prophets, Haggai and Zachariah, to speak in his name, which is Bible shorthand for with his authority. And what is their message? I want you to look on the screen at Haggai 1, 1 through 4. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

5:22See, through the prophet Haggai, God calls out his people for saying, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Well, I think if Jeremiah and Isaiah were still alive at this time, they would beg to differ. God had spoken through both of those prophets at different times to say, first, that the people of Israel were going to be carried to exile for 70 years, and then they would be brought back to the promised land. Isaiah himself promised that the temple would be rebuilt under the edict of King Cyrus. And we saw at the beginning of the book of Ezra, that's exactly what happened. He said, Sent the exiles back to begin rebuilding the temple. So the problem wasn't the timing.

6:07The problem wasn't that the time had not come to rebuild the house of the Lord. The problem was that the people had lost faith in God's word. That was what the problem was. And they lost faith in God's word because of the opposition. And so instead of working on the temple, which is the very thing that they came back to do, they started working on their own houses. Probably all those Home Depot ads during college game day.

6:33Look at the word of the Lord through Zachariah, Haggai's contemporary. He's speaking at the same time. Look on the screen. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

6:59So Haggai and Zachariah have both addressed the people with a similar message. You need to get back to work. God has called you to rebuild the temple now, not at some later time. And so how do the people respond? Once more, let's look at Haggai's message on the screen. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheoltiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God. And the words of Haggai the prophet. The Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the Lord.

7:36So, this message and these words confirms exactly what we read here in Ezra chapter 5, verse 2. I want you to notice the connecting word then between verse 1 and verse 2 here in the chapter. It says, Then, as in after the prophets Haggai and Zachariah addressed them and spoke the word of God to them, then Zerubbabel the son of Sheoltiel and Jeshua the son of Josedak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Friends, this is very important.

8:07They did not start rebuilding the temple again because their circumstances changed. They did not start rebuilding the temple again because political people in power had said now was the time to do this. They started rebuilding the temple because God spoke to them. His word reignited their faith, and faith always leads to action. Look at what James says in chapter one of his letter. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. We see a lot of similarities between the nation of Israel at this time in their history and many professing Christians today.

8:58It's not like... These people, these Israelites who had returned, it's not like they hadn't heard God's word. It's not like they didn't know what he had commanded. They knew it, but they ignored it and they disobeyed it. And, friends, if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are responsible to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. If all we do is hear the word, even if we hear it and agree with it, if all we do is hear the word, James is clear, we're deceiving ourselves. It is not enough for us to hear the word or even hear the word and agree with it. We must hear the word of God and then do it. We have to put it into action in our lives. And I love the example of hearing and doing here in Ezra 5. God speaks in verse 1, and then in verse 2, everyone immediately gets off the couch and starts rebuilding the temple.

10:02That's what it's supposed to look like. Trust in God's word leads to faith-filled action. Because if we trust God, we will trust what he says. And if we trust what he says, we will do what he commands. It just logically follows. And that truth is going to be illustrated clearly in the rest of the chapter because all All of the same obstacles are still there. None of the obstacles have gone away. Look now at verse 3.

10:41You see here in this verse that these two government officials, Tatanai the governor, and then Shethar Bozanai and their associates, they come and they begin questioning the people. Now, at first glance, this looks like more opposition. Nothing more than more opposition. They're like, what are you doing? Who gave you permission to do this? What are your names? It seems like they're going to be in big trouble. But as we'll see, these men are simply faithful government officials who are trying to do their job well. That's all. They didn't know anything about the temple project. They probably got into their positions long after the exiles returned, long after the exiles had already built the foundation. They didn't know anything about what was going on. They just know that it's their job to make sure that anything that is happening under their jurisdiction is going on according to the law.

11:35So they asked them two questions: one about authority, who gave you a decree, and one about accountability. What are your names? And I want to take some time to consider those two concepts of authority and accountability, because I think it's so important to address them in a day and age that we. Live in that highly questions both authority and accountability. Authority is the power to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Authority is the power to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Well, of course, God is the ultimate authority, but He has also called human beings to exercise appropriate authority underneath His authority.

12:32And so, in Scripture, you find lots of delegated authority from God to people. Parents have authority over their children. Masters or employers, as we would refer to them today, they have authority over their servants or over their employees. Government officials have authority over the people that they are called to govern. Churches have authority over their members. And so, we have lots of different examples in Scripture of authority under the authority of God. And authority is very important because order is important. And order is important because God is a God of order. And order leads to human flourishing. If you doubt this, all you have to do is look at scripture, read history, or watch the news, and just consider what happens when human beings have. No authority over them, and everyone does what is right in his own eyes. It's not a good situation.

13:39Same thing when authority is abused. And that's why these principles are always found together: authority and accountability. The second question revolves around accountability. Accountability is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility. It's an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility. Now, ultimately, we are all accountable to God, but we're also accountable to one another, particularly to those who are in authority over us. Now, as we know, everyone loves accountability in theory, don't we? We all love accountability in theory, and it shows up in our expectations of other people.

14:28So, with government officials, we expect them to keep their promises, and we want them held accountable when they don't keep their promises or when they act in ways that are unbecoming. We expect coaches to win games, and we want them held accountable if the team does not perform according to standards. We expect our colleagues to complete projects on time, and we want them held accountable. If they don't do that or if their work is substandard, everyone loves accountability in theory.

15:09But we don't particularly like it when people try to hold us accountable, do we? If we want to do something, we don't want to be told not to do it. And if we don't want to do something, we don't want anybody to tell us you need to do that. It's our sinful human nature. We want standards applied to others that we don't want applied to ourselves. Now, I point all of this out first because the Jews here in Ezra chapter 5 understood that ultimately they were under the authority of God and that every one of them would be held accountable by him for their obedience or for their disobedience. So that's the first reason I point those things out. But the second reason is that questions about authority and accountability are instructive for us today in our life in general, but especially in our life together in the local church.

16:10See, God is our ultimate authority, so we submit to His word, not to the culture, not to tradition, not to powerful personalities in the church. We submit ultimately to God because he is our ultimate authority. And we are accountable. We're accountable. Accountable first to God and then to one another. And that's exactly why membership in a healthy local church is such a gift. Because in a healthy local church, we are holding one another accountable to not just hearing, but also doing, obeying the word of God.

16:50And if you're not a member of a healthy local church, then you have essentially removed yourself from those authority and accountability structures that God has ordained for your good and for our good. These are good things. So these two government officials, Tatanai and Shethar Bozanai, they ask these questions, but you notice they don't stop the people from working on the temple. They don't stop them until they hear back from King Darius. How come? Look at verse 5.

17:27But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews. But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews. Once again, we see evidence of God's providence. He's clearing out the obstacles so that his word can be obeyed. I mean, very easily, they could have told him, listen, we don't know who you are, we don't know what you're doing, you have to stop working on this temple until we hear back from the king. They could have done that. But God, in his providence, has cleared the obstacles. Once again, so that the people can obey his word.

18:04God will clear the obstacles for obedience. And when you know God is watching over you, directing all things to achieve his purposes for his people, then you don't have to worry about the future. I want you to look with me now at how this chapter ends. Because in these final verses here, 6 through 17, you're going to see a faith-filled response from the people. A response that is so different than anything we have seen since the first couple of chapters. So let's pick up now in verse 6.

18:44This is a copy of the letter that Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, and Shethar Bozani and his associates, the governors who were in the province beyond the river, sent to Darius the king. They sent him a report in which was written as follows: To Darius the king, all peace. Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? We also asked them for their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. This was their reply to us. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt, and the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazar, whom he had made governor. And he said to him, Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its sight. Then the Sheshbazar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished. Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem, and let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.

20:56Now, if you were here last week, you probably remember the letter from. Chapter 4 that was addressed to King Artaxerxes. It was written by the adversaries of the Jews, and it was filled with exaggeration and flattery. It was written to play on the king's fears. And the whole thing didn't go well for the Jews, because when Artaxerxes received that letter, he said, This is not good. They need to stop rebuilding the city and the wall. And the work stopped.

21:23Well, this letter is completely different, isn't it? All they do is plainly state the facts. They accurately report what the Jewish leaders have told them. There's just no agenda with this letter. And after reporting that the temple is being diligently rebuilt with these huge stones and timbers, the governors just restate their two questions. And then, beginning in verse 11, they record the leaders' responses to the questions. And what I want to do is, I want to focus not just on what they said, that is the leaders, but on how they said it and in what order they said it. Because all of that, what they said, how they said it, and the order that they said it in, all of those things are important. They're all significant. Look again at verse 11.

22:19The very first thing they say is, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. So this statement is essentially an Answer to both questions, right? It's an answer to the question about authority, and it's an answer to the question about accountability. Who gave us a decree to rebuild the God of heaven and earth? He's not just some regional deity, he's not an idol of our own creation, he is the God of heaven and earth.

22:52And who are we? We are His servants, and therefore we are primarily accountable to Him, not to any human ruler, not even to King Darius. I mean, this response is almost unbelievable when you consider that this is the same group of people who became so discouraged and afraid 16 years earlier that they stopped working on the temple entirely. But now they are so filled with faith after God spoke to them through Haggai and Zachariah that they can confidently say, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We answer to him.

23:39Look at verse 12, the second thing they say: they're rebuilding God's house, which was destroyed because of their sin. That's the next thing that they say. Why are they rebuilding the house? Yes, Nebuchadnezzar. Was the instrument that God used. He was the one who besieged Jerusalem. He's the one who broke down the walls. He's the one who burned down the temple with fire. That's all true. But the people are clear that the reason the temple was destroyed was because of their sin and disobedience. That's why all of this catastrophe happened. It wasn't because they made some political missteps and they didn't do the right things with the kings and the nations around them. It wasn't because they made some military missteps and they just kind of misjudged some battles and things went south for them. No, the people are clear. The reason that it was destroyed, the reason that they were exiled was because of their sin and disobedience.

24:42They own and acknowledge and confess their sin. And friends, that's evidence of real repentance. Real repentance means that you own and you confess your sin. You don't blame it on others and what they said or did to you. You don't blame it on having a bad day. You own and confess your sin. And if you want to do a great study on repentance, I encourage you to read 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Sometimes go and look at that chapter because it defines what real repentance is, and it includes an admission of guilt. It includes an admission of the fact that I was wrong. I sinned against God. Maybe I also sinned against other people.

25:30Includes confession of sin and godly sorrow. It's not just you feel bad because you got caught. It's you feel conviction because you know that you have sinned against God and maybe others as well. And then finally, it results in real changed actions. Real repentance means that you don't go on doing the same thing in the same way as before. And we see every one of those responses displayed by the Israelites. They own and confess their sin, and then their godly sorrow leads them to repentance, to changed actions.

26:12And so the first thing they do is they acknowledge they are servants of the one true God of heaven and earth. They confess their sin, and they acknowledge that their sin and disobedience is why they were exiled and why the temple was destroyed. And then, third, look at verses 13 through 16. They say that they're actually rebuilding under the authority of King Cyrus. Now, it's amazing to me that they wait until now to bring this up.

26:38I mean, I am an anxious person. So, if you come to me and you say, you've got these government officials and you're like, you guys are breaking the law. I'd be like, wait, we have paperwork. We can show you everything is fine. That would be my first response. I wouldn't be talking about me being a servant of the God of heaven and earth. I'd forget that there was a God. I'd just be looking for the paperwork. But they don't do that. They don't do that. They don't even bring up the decree of Cyrus until they've already explained first and foremost who they serve and why this disaster befell them because of their sin. It's only after that that they bring up the decree of Cyrus and how he gave back all of the vessels for the temple, how he entrusted them to Sheshbazar. We talked about earlier, that's the Persian name for Zerubbabel, and how he entrusted him with the rebuilding of the temple.

27:33But they say, even though we're doing this under King Cyrus' decree, it's still not finished. The foundation is done, but they're still working on it. And that brings us to their concluding remarks in verse 17. I want to look at this verse again in its entirety because it's just so incredible. Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.

28:14I mean, once again, does this sound anything like the same group of people who stopped building the temple 16 years ago because of opposition? Hardly. Their confidence leaps off the page. Trust in God's word has led them to faith-filled action. They started rebuilding, and right away, these two government officials show up demanding to know where they got their authority, demanding to know what their names are, and they don't even seem to put down their tools. They're just like, oh, hey, guys, we're the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We disobeyed him, and so in our sin and disobedience, he exiled us. The temple was destroyed. But thank God, he sent us back here because Cyrus told us to go back and rebuild this temple. If you want to check it out, just look in the archives. Talk to the king and let us know what he says.

29:13The whole thing. Friends, this is what faith-filled action looks and sounds like. When you trust God, you trust what he says and you do what he commands. There is not a hint of worry or anxiety or fear in their response at all. They don't try to flatter the king. They don't try to manipulate him. They don't try to play on his fears like the adversaries did. Instead, they are filled with faith in God, knowing that he has turned the hearts of kings before, and he can turn Darius' heart as well. And so they say, Let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.

29:58And that's it. Chapter ends right there, which is so perfect because there's no greater illustration of faith in action. There's no resolution. I mean, from a human and political standpoint, this whole situation is very much up in the air. And I don't know about you, I don't like stuff up in the air. When stuff is up in the air, I have a hard time sleeping, eating, functioning. I don't like stuff to be up in the air. But from a spiritual standpoint, the matter was resolved as soon as God spoke to his people through his prophets.

30:36I mean, in one sense, it didn't matter at all what King Darius said to them. It didn't matter how he replied because the people were going to obey him. God had spoken, and that settles it. They were going to go on with the work of rebuilding the temple because they trusted in him. But in another sense, they already knew what King Darius was going to say. They already knew. Let me remind you again of what we looked at last week in Proverbs 21.

31:09The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Now, if you've read the book of Ezra before, you also know what King Darius is going to say. But for the Israelites, and for first time reading, Of this book, the situation ends on a total cliffhanger. And it's a cliffhanger because the Israelites don't know for sure what King Darius is going to say. They don't know the future any more than we do.

31:45And that's one reason that I loved studying this chapter so much for the past week because there are so many parallels to our own lives. We don't know the future. We don't know if prosperity and success is in our future. We don't know if trials and suffering and difficulty is in our future. We just simply don't know. But like the Israelites, we do know what God has revealed about Himself and His will through His Word. So the question for us is simply: do we trust God?

32:30Do we trust Him amidst the uncertainties of life? The uncertainties in our relationships, the uncertainties surrounding our finances, the uncertainty surrounding our health or the health of family members or friends that we love, the uncertainty surrounding our career and our future. You see, if we trust God, then we can trust His Word. He has not promised to give. us everything that we want or everything that we hope for. But he has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

33:09The Israelites could rest in that truth and so can we no matter what we're facing. And so if you're a believer in Jesus Christ today, I want you to rest in that truth. To rest in the truth that even though you don't know what the future holds, you don't even know what tomorrow brings, you have a God that you can trust. You can trust what he says, and so you can go forward obeying him, knowing that he is going to be with you and that he will never forsake you.

33:44And for others of you in the room today, I want you to see the model that the Israelites set for us. They hear the word of God and they repent and obey it. See, when Jesus began his ministry, Mark records that he began preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And repent, or you too will perish. And just like the Israelites, we are sinners who demonstrate our need for forgiveness and reconciliation with God every single day. We need to be saved from the wrath that we deserve from God.

34:28And Jesus was very clear. Only way to be saved from the wrath that we deserve is to repent, to turn from trusting in ourselves and to trusting in anything else to trusting in Jesus alone, his perfect life, his death, his resurrection from the dead, that is the only way that we can be saved. And if you believe Jesus, if you believe that he was who he claimed to be, the Son of God, and if you repent and trust in him for salvation, then you must walk that out in your everyday life.

35:08You see, repentance and faith is not merely the first step into the Christian life. Repentance and faith is the Christian life. We don't rest in a decision that we made once in our lives when we were six or fourteen or twenty-one. We rest in the grace of God. And the grace of God is working itself in our lives every single day as we are walking in repentant faith, trusting in God's word and doing what he commands.

35:40And so, friends, I hope you've been challenged today as we look at Ezra 5 and the response of the Israelites to see that trust in God's Word leads to faith-filled action. Let's pray. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church. College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.