The sermon, delivered by Scott Brown, focuses on the challenges faced by the Israelites during the rebuilding of the temple as described in Ezra 4. It highlights the 'tricks of the devil' aimed at discouraging and halting the work of God’s people. These include temptation to compromise, accusatory letters, slanderous misrepresentation, people of influence believing lies, and intimidation leading to discouragement. The sermon underscores the broader biblical theme of conflict between the seed of the woman and the serpent, illustrating that opposition and attack are an intrinsic part of the Christian journey. Despite these adversities, the sermon reassures believers of God’s sovereignty and ultimate victory, emphasizing that God turns satanic attacks for good and for His glory. It draws parallels between the historical events in Ezra and the modern Christian experience, urging believers to remain steadfast, reject compromise, and trust in God’s overarching plan, even amidst trials and setbacks.

Good morning. This morning's text is Ezra chapter four. I'm going to read it in a little different manner. I'm going to read verses one through five and then verse 24 as they are contemporary to Sarubabell during the rebuilding efforts in approximately the year 536 BC. And I'm going to read verses six through 23, which the author does a parenthetical move into the future of approximately through four kings, spanning 117 years.

And those four kings are Cyrus, Darius the first, Hashuerus and Artaxerxes. Follow along with me now as I read verses 1 through 5 and verse 24 from Ezra 4. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel in the heads of the father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do. And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Ezra-Haden, king of Assyria, who brought us here. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. Now moving to verse 24. Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. In the reign of Ahashuerus, in the beginning of his reign, They wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days of Artaxerxes also, Bishlem, Mithredath, Tabal, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and the letter was written in Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language. Rahum, the commander, and Shimshae, the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes in this fashion. From Rahum the commander, Shemsheh the scribe, and the rest of their companions, representatives of the Dynates, the Epharsathites, the Tarpelites, the people of Persia and Erek and Babylon and Shushan, the Deivites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnaper took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria and the remainder beyond the river, and so forth. This is a copy of the letter that was sent to him, to King Artaxerxes, from your servants, the men of the region beyond the river, and so forth. Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem and are building the rebellious and evil city and are finishing its walls and repairing its foundations.

Let it be known to you, let it be known to the King, sorry excuse me, let it be known to the King that if the city is built and the walls completed they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king's treasury will be diminished. Now because we received support from the palace, it was not proper for us to see the king's dishonor. Therefore, we have sent and informed the king that search may be made in the book of the records of the fathers and you will find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city harmful to kings and provinces and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the river. The king sent an answer to Rahum the commander, to Shemshe the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and to the remainder beyond the river.

Peace and so forth. The letter which you sent to us has been clearly read before me. And I gave the command, and a search has been made, and it was found that this city in former times has revolted against kings, and rebellion and sedition have been fostered in it. There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the region beyond the river, and tax and tribute and custom were paid to them. Now give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me.

Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage increase to the hurt of the kings? Now when a copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rahim, Shemsheh the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease." Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this section of Ezra. We know that Lord through various seasons and through many times hostility does come against God's people.

But Lord, we also know none of these things happen outside your sovereignty. That you do protect your church and that it is for our greater good. We pray that we can take these lessons here in the Book of Ezra. And although we live at a fairly mild time toward Christian hostility, although it does not seem so sometimes to us. We pray that we would learn many lessons that we're to learn here in your scripture, Lord.

We thank you for preserving your church. We pray now that you'll be with Scott Brown as you come and exposes this text to us in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Well, Ezra, chapter four is explaining a 117 year period of conflict against the work of God. People were streaming to Jerusalem to rebuild their lives through worship. And what you see here in Ezra chapter four are the dirty tricks of the devil to come against those who are rebuilding their lives by the word of God.

And there are two really critical words that you need to get fixed on to understand the main thrust of this historical section. The first word is found in the fourth word of verse one. Do you see it? It's the word adversaries. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the God of Israel.

So the first word is is the word adversaries Because that's what this whole chapter is about and then the second word is the word accusation in Verse 6 and the the word that is used here is a Hebrew word that is sometimes used of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. This is a satanic attack against the building efforts of the people of God. And this passage of Scripture helps us to understand that conflict, accusation, and resistance is one element of the Christian life. It always was and it always will be. This really is an exposition by example of Genesis 315, where the Lord prophesies that there will be enmity between the devil and the people of God.

And this prophecy reads, "'I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel God is talking to the devil and he's saying here's what life is going to be like until until the Messiah comes and gathers his kingdom. You will be biting the heels of the people of God. You will bite them, but he will destroy you. Your head will be crushed, and at the same time, he will be biting the heels. This is the trouble that the devil brings upon the people of God.

He has brought it upon the people of God from the beginning. We have a 117-year snapshot of it here in Ezra chapter 4 and he has continued and will continue it until Jesus Christ finally throws the devil into the lake of fire. The accuser of their brethren will no longer be accusing and the church will prevail. And The problem is getting bitten because the devil is always out to bite the people of God He has been biting us and he will bite you For the rest of your life, but you have to recognize that that the Lord Jesus Christ will prevail even though you're being bitten, smitten, afflicted. God is mighty and he will overcome all the works of the devil.

Now as the world is celebrating Christmas, We're reminded of how vicious this war is. Because even in the Christmas story, you see how vicious it is. King Herod opposed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And what did he do? He tried to kill, he tried to wipe out the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.

And you know the song that we sing, Joy to the World, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King. Well, Hera did not want a king greater than he. And so he did not want one who ruled the world with truth and grace and so he desired to destroy and stamp out the seed of the woman. And so this Christmas story really is a story of difficulty. We think we have many wrong ideas about it.

It's such a silent and peaceful night. All is calm. All is bright. I don't think so. It wasn't like that and it never will be like that in the way that we often try to think about it.

Mary and Joseph did not have their own home. They lived on the edge so much that they didn't even have a decent place to have their baby. And they had to settle for this abnormal situation. And they laid their baby in a manger in a farm animal feeding trough. They had a very unsub life.

Mary was pregnant as a young girl out of wedlock with no husband. Joseph was embarrassed. He was considering how to put her away because of the shame really upon both of them. Herod was so terrified and shaken that he was killing the babies two years and under there in the land. He'd already killed some of his own sons and out of his paranoia and so Mary and Joseph lived under a civil ruler who was a killer he would he would kill his own son his own wife and This is the environment that they lived in this was not a settled environment at all it was a very difficult time The Lord Jesus Christ himself experienced the same opposition and accusation.

He was despised and rejected of men. He came into his own and his own did not receive him. Everyone deserted him and fled, Matthew 27 tells us. And even Nathaniel, his disciple, said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Let's just recognize this for a minute that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the world came at a time of conflict and it caused enormous conflict in the lives of everyone who is associated with his birth.

And that has always been ever since his birth. And we must remind ourselves of the reality of the devil's attack against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because most people in modern evangelicalism today They've drifted into thinking that if you're godly you'll have no conflict. You'll have your best life now you'll have your deepest desires and will met and It's And it's often forgotten that the center of Christianity is a cross where the Son of God is crucified, where the hail of slander and opposition becomes so fierce that the greatest and most wonderful person who ever walked the face of the earth is slandered and spat upon and struck and finally pierced through with a spear and died on a cross. And this is the story of the war against the seed of the woman.

And so Ezra is writing about 117 years of this conflict and he's writing these verses actually looking back to the moment when Zerubbabel leads the rebuilding of the altar and then the foundation of the temple. You just have to see there's a very long historical footprint here that's being spoken of. And as Ezra's writing about all these things that have been happening for the last 117 years, Two generations have come and gone. And the moments of exhilaration and joy of the rebuilding of the altar and the foundation of the temple have been done. And it's almost as if Ezra wants the reader to know of the conflict that there is against the seed of the woman.

And to say this, and I want to say this to us as well, it's always been that way. And it'll always be that way. And Ezra wants us to make sure that we don't get too discouraged, that we don't get caught off guard when the devil is attacking the church. And he will attack the church. He will bite you, but there will be a day when his head will be crushed.

And so in these intervening times, Ezra gives us this testimony. Now in the first three chapters, it's been glorious, hasn't it? Not a hint of conflict. The altar, the blood sacrifice is reestablished and you, the joy of the remission of sins through the shedding of blood and then the happiness of thinking about the temple being reestablished and reigniting the feasts and all the wonderful things. That's what we've read about so far.

You turn a corner into chapter four and all you get is opposition for the rest from now all the way through the end of Nehemiah and you see the effect of the opposition that takes place The effect of the opposition is a crippling discouragement and capitulation where they quit building. And that's always our danger. When the devil is biting us in the heel, that we would get discouraged and we would give up and we would just go back to just filling up our houses with trinkets because that's exactly what happened to them. One writer said that they were using a loophole, the loophole of the pressure, not to build anymore. And everybody knows how the attacks of the devil can sap your energy, they can neutralize your vision, they can make you lifeless, and sometimes even bitter.

And out of your broken heart, everything else gets broken as well. And this is the danger that we have. The devil works through discouragement. And that's exactly what happened to these people and they stopped building as a result of that of that discouragement Have you ever had screw-tape letters? There's there's this one section the screw-tape letters where where the the debt this trainee This demon he's just not getting traction on his subject.

And he's trying to figure out how to bring this believer down, and he's tried every trick in the book, and he can't take him down. And so Uncle Screwtape counsels the novice in the art of temptation He says work hard on the disappointment or the anti climax in other words, it didn't turn out exactly like you thought you got there You got there and it wasn't like what you thought it was going to be. And the devil works in times like that when things just don't work out the way that you planned. You get there and you say, how did this happen? And this is the way that God is working in history.

And we're given here a 117-year footprint in the lives of many believers across probably three generations to help us to understand this and so, excuse me, Ezra is weaving the story of how the opposition started, who started it, and exactly what they did. And it's just to declare that there'll always be conflict. And it gives us insight on how to detect the wiles of the devil, to how to see the way he works in our lives. Now, and here they were so discouraged, the work was interrupted and it continued on. It was a century of sustained spiritual opposition from the time of Cyrus to the time of Artaxerxes.

Now in your outlines there's all this historical stuff and kings and dates and things like that. I do that because this chapter can be confusing if you don't understand how Ezra has constructed this chapter. And so I hope you're able to see that. But the structure of this chapter is that in the first five verses there is a disclosure of what happened right when they were trying to rebuild the temple. They already built the altar, they start building the temple, and the first five verses speak of that but then after that from verse 6 all the way to verse 23 is like a 117 year period and what Ezra is doing is what you've probably seen in a film or you turn the page of a book where a scene has just completed and then on the screen you see five years later or ten years earlier to try to give the background so you understand how all of this happened.

That's exactly what Ezra's doing. He's talking about the current moment in verses one through five, and then he gives this big picture of history that's been rolling on for 117 years. So Ezra is writing thematically, not chronologically in chapter 4, and you have to understand that or you won't really understand. So there are five tricks of the devil that these people experience. You need to understand the wiles of the devil.

And so this is a good chapter to get a feel for how the devil attacks you. He attacks you the same way that he attacks the church. And so I've listed five of them. First of all, the first trick of the devil is temptation to compromise The second trick of the devil is accusatory letters. The third trick of the devil is slanderous Misrepresentation the fourth trick of the devil is people of influence believe a lie The fifth trick of the devil is intimidation and discouragement, and that's why the work stops.

So let's take these one by one. We'll walk through this text to see them. The first trick of the devil is temptation to compromise. Now there's opposition from Cyrus to Darius and and it's in this because of this the work stopped for 16 Years and it was a temptation to compromise there was an attempt to pollute the the builders through syncretism and The alliances that would cause that syncretism to happen So verse 1 now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord, God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for We seek your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to him in the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here." Now, Esarhaddon, where did he come from? Well, he came on the scene over 100 years before.

This happened around 700 BC. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom. They had established false worship in the northern kingdom and these people were taken, the people were attacked by Assyria and they were they were taken and scattered throughout the nations and people from Assyria were taken and put in the northern kingdom. So there was this population swap that happened during the time of Esarhaddon and what these people are saying we've been worshipping the true God since the days of Esarhaddon. That was a lie.

They never worshiped the true God. That's why God brought the Assyrians in to destroy them. They had mixed their worship with paganism. And so God brought the Assyrians in to chastise them. And then in verse three we read, but Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the father's houses said to them, you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the King of Persia, has commanded us." So Zerubbabel said, no, we don't want to mix with you because you don't worship the true God and this is this is the temptation for compromise and Now who are these adversaries?

Well, we've already learned a little bit about them they were the people that were deported under probably Sargon the second up all the way up to SR Haddon. And these these were adversaries of Benjamin and Judah. They were the Samaritans. You read about the Samaritans in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ encounters a Samaritan woman and he says you worship, you don't know, you don't understand the worship of God that's what he tells her because they never they never got over their syncretism and they were a mix of pagan peoples who had intermarried with the Jews in Samaria They came from Ashdod and Ammon and Moab, and they were called foreigners.

And it wasn't, it was a religious matter. It had to do with worship. And Zerubbabel did not want them to help because they did not worship the true God. Now let's let's get a window into who these people are. They're saying they're worshiping the true God.

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17. Now they said we seek your God as you do. This was a lie. And so in 2 Kings chapter 17, we learn about who these people were really. Verse 22, for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did.

They did not depart from them. So he's talking about the false worship that caused God to come in and destroy the northern kingdom. They walked in the ways of Jeroboam. They never worshiped the true God. Verse 23, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight and he said, as he said by all his servants the prophets, so Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria as it is to this day.

And then verse 24 tells about how the pagans were brought in to Israel. Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthoth, Avah, Hamath, and from Seph-e-Rayim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities and it was so at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the Lord Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations whom you have removed and placed in The cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the god of the land. Therefore he sent lions among them. And indeed they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the god of the land.

Then the king of Assyria commanded saying, send there one of the priests whom you brought from there let him go and dwell there and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land so things weren't going very well in the land and So they cried out to the king and the king said, well, send one of your priests back there. He'll teach them how to worship. Here's the real problem with that. That priest never worshiped God the right way anyway in the first place. So he comes back and just teaches them to do exactly what they've always done.

These were people who had compromised the worship of God. And, you know, we've said many times that the Bible makes it very clear that God judges nations based on how they worship Him. Do they worship him in spirit and truth? Did they worship him the way that he has designed them to worship? And so these were worldly people.

They wanted to be part of the religion and they had a lot of lions in their lives and they wanted to get some protection from all these lions that were killing their people. So that's where these people came from. They pretended solidarity. Their motive was infiltration, not really to bless them. These were offers from the world and they were presenting themselves as friends when actually they are enemies.

That's going to happen to you when the devil is attacking you. He's going to send people who actually hate you to counsel you and they're going to want to help you build. They're going to want to help you figure it out. But they actually have rejected the true worship of God. And this is one way that the devil attacks.

They were wolves in sheep's clothing. Now you'll see in the next verses that when they were resisted they just finally took off their sheep's clothing and they were wolves. They did not seek God alone, they did not seek him faithfully, and they did not seek him the way that God had prescribed. But Zerubbabel in verse 3 says, No, you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we will build alone to the Lord God of Israel. So they were going to continue to worship strictly the way that God prescribed for them to worship.

You know, separation is necessary to fulfill the Great Commission and that's exactly what's happening here. What was at stake was their distinctiveness as the people who worshiped God the way he had prescribed. They wanted to be a holy people But these people wanted them to be like the rest of the nations. They wanted a little bit of God, but not everything from God. And that's always the greatest danger to the church.

It's the people who want a little bit of God. The devil uses those kinds of people to discourage you and to unravel the true worship of God. And so Ezra saw right through their smooth talk, You know, I think he really, he understood Psalm 5421, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. You know people like that? You know, you're not obligated to subject yourself to every predator.

There are people out there that want to counsel you, but war is within their heart. They don't love you. And you have to understand that's going to happen. It is going to happen to you. This is the normal conflict that you see in the world between now and the time the Lord Jesus Christ comes.

And Zerubbabel refused to compromise with the world to get ahead. And he was really fulfilling what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6, 14, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness. And so when you find people who they do not really love God and they want to become your Counselors and they've proven it by their lack of love. They've proven it by their by their pagan Worldly lifestyle you don't want them to be your counselors and that's what was happening here Jesus said beware of men be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. But then their their friendship turns to hatred and that's how it always works.

They come with smooth words, verses four and five. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, the king of Persia. Now with this verse you just jumped ahead 15 years because remember there's a you know this he's talking about things that have happened in this 117 year period and but so there's a there's a lying spirit in the mouth of the enemies of God. They pretend to be your friend, but they're not your friends.

I was listening to a sermon Jason preached on this. He said, you need to recognize this. Unbelievers are actually your enemies. And that's what we find here. They offer you peace.

There are many offers from the world to go and be accepted by the world by being like them. And you want to resist them just like Zerubbabel did. Okay, so the first trick of the devil is temptation to compromise, and it comes from worldly people who want you to be worldly just like them. And then secondly, accusatory letters. You find this in verses 6 & 7 and now there's a disclosure of the opposition that happened from Ahasuerus to Arta Xerxes that's beginning in 522 BC.

So that's a big jump forward, isn't it? We've just we've gone from 436 to 522 BC. So he's giving these examples. He's just giving various examples so that we would understand how the devil works to try to undo the works of the people of God. And he does this through accusatory letters.

And so we pick up in verse 6, in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah in Jerusalem. Now this is another this is another jump ahead in time. Now we're in the reign of Ahasuerus. Remember who was involved with Ahasuerus? It was Esther.

And you know so the whole story of Esther is the story of Haman who wants to try to obliterate the people of God. It's not silent night, holy night. I mean, it's, they're hard times because the devil is wanting to destroy the church and God raises up Esther and the people of God are saved because God is going to preserve his people and He he he promises to do it and this is you know I think Ezra just wants us to understand you see the threats coming from and the difficulties coming but God is gonna prevail Don't get too discouraged. And so anyway, this is in during the reign of a hazardous in the beginning of his reign And so there was this accusation and so this person Rahum is, hang on, hang on, I'm jumping ahead here. But these men, they wrote this letter and they kind of they had the advantage of being the first to speak and they speak to the hazards to try to hurt the people of God and you know they're like you know in Proverbs 18 17 you know you hear a story you hear a story and you know it sounds good and you believe it, but then you hear the rest of the story.

But these men claimed the advantage of being the first to speak. And these were masters of spin and they were altering facts. They were isolating certain facts and then to draw meaning out of them. They were spinning the story to suit their own purpose. And so they write these letters.

And then the next trick of the devil is slanderous misrepresentation. And this is Rahum's letter to Artaxerxes, and you see this in verses 8 through 16 and this is an attempt to destroy through misrepresenting the people of God and to apply pressure for public censure And so in verse 8 we read, Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes in this fashion. Now Artaxerxes is the king that Nehemiah served. Nehemiah was the cutbearer of the king Artaxerxes. He was a pretty rough guy.

How did Artaxerxes get to the throne? He killed his father. That's how he got there. And now Rahum writes a letter to this king Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes is paranoid.

He's a lot like Herod. He'll kill anybody in his way. He's afraid. He's paranoid. And You've seen this this phraseology of the people beyond the river.

You know who that is. That's probably Egypt You know Artaxerxes is probably doesn't care that much about Jerusalem but he cares a lot about Egypt and he knows that a political alliances can be made and So anyway, this letter goes to Artaxerxes from Rehum, Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their companions, representative of the Dianites and then he mentions in verse 10, the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnaper took captive and settled. The great and noble Osnaper? The great and noble Osnaper was one of the most vicious, bloodthirsty of the kings. And so they're calling him the great and noble awesnapper.

They take bad guys and try to make them look good. And this is how the devil always works. And then there's the copy of this letter. To King Ahasuerus, verse 11, I'm sorry, to King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the region beyond the river. We're talking flattery now.

Your servant, we are your servant. We are your faithful servants, but we want you to know how bad these other people are. And let it be known, verse 12, to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem and are building the rebellious and evil city it's a rebellion these are the these are rebellious and evil people these Jews they're coming back and they're worshiping God. And there's really no evidence they're just really called a rebellious and evil city and are finishing its walls and repairing its foundations. Now be careful, He's not talking about rebuilding the temple now.

When this is written, it's already done. It's been done for over 50 years. So they're talking about rebuilding the city. They're mad about rebuilding the city. And this is what you find with the enemies of the people of God.

They start with one thing and they just keep going on. They're going to keep finding things wrong with you. Now you're building the city. Well, they were building the temple. That was bad.

Now they're rebuilding the city and are finishing its walls and repairing its foundations. Let it be known to the king that if this city is built and the walls completed they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom and the king's treasury will be diminished." Well that was just a prop, they were just prophesying that. You know, you're, now kings, You know, kings need money. That's why all kings tax you. And the worst thing that can happen for a king is to have his revenue go down because he won't be able to have the armies that he wants and he won't be able to have the opulence that he wants.

So he needs taxation. So when this king hears, hey, you might lose your taxes out of this group. Now, he was ruling over 127 provinces, and this is just one of them, maybe less than 5%. It was not much at all. But these men wanted to play on the paranoia of our deserts and say these people are so dangerous and so he they say that they won't pay taxes the king's treasury will be diminished now because we receive support from the palace it was not proper for us to see the King's dishonor oh now we learned something they are all these guys are also on the doll of the King you know it's it's it's helpful for them to have taxes coming to them and so They're very self-serving and then he he tells them to go look in the book of the records to know that the city was a rebellious city harmful to kings and provinces and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times in which case this city was destroyed well what's he talking about well these people are just spinning the story I mean it was it was Nebuchadnezzar who came in and attacked these people.

They weren't being rebellious they were just worshiping their God and so it was it was spin and the letter spoke some things that were true, some of the things that happened actually happened, but they were interpreted in a self-serving way. And so, he was rewriting history, He was manipulating the story to make it say whatever he wanted to say in it. And they were assigning qualities to them without proof. Very vague, generalized. They are just a rebellious, wicked city.

These are just mood words. And there's really no supporting evidence. They were playing on the fears of Artaxerxes and they were whitewashing the abominable behavior of the noble Osnaper who was also called by Ashurbanipal. So here you have the spin doctors here are bringing slanderous misrepresentations and I think I think one of the things that we can draw from this is don't let your behavior be controlled by your fear from the spin doctors. Speak the truth, don't worry, God will take care of you.

God is going to preserve his people. And you know There's so much in the Bible about this. In the 23rd Psalm, David says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." So this trick of the devil to bring slanderous misrepresentation is nothing new. And it's going to continue to go on. The devil is always going to work to destroy the reputation of the true church of Jesus Christ. The people who want to worship God the way that God wants to be worshipped, who've humbled themselves and put themselves under His word genuinely, and they have the true Spirit of God in their hearts, they are going to be hated by some people in this world. And there are two kinds of people they're hated by.

They're hated by the non-Christians in the church like these guys here or they're hated by just you know overt pagans. You always have trouble from those two kinds of people in this world and that's what they had here. And then the fourth, the fourth trick of the devil is that when people of influence believe the lie, Artaxerxes bought, he bought it, he believed it. And he responds to the letter in verses 17 to 23. And this is an example of self-serving poor research.

He just, Artaxerxes just took it, did a little bit of looking into it, didn't really look below the surface to find out what was really going on. And so the king sent an answer, verse 17, To Rahum the commander, to Shemshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria and to the remainder beyond the river peace and so forth." And now so he says this, the letter which you sent us has been clearly read before me and I gave the command and a search has been made and it was found that this city in former times has revolted against kings and Rebellion and sedition have been fostered in it Well, that wasn't even half true But there was a war that took place and Nebuchadnezzar came in and conquered them and So there was an element of truth in this in the story and then verse 20 There have been many mighty kings over Jerusalem who have ruled over all the region beyond the river, and tax and tribute and custom are paid to them. Now give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built upon the command, built until the command is given by me.

Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage increase to the hurt of the kings? And when the copy of Artaxerxes letter was read before Rehum, Shemshai, the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews and by force of arms made them cease So the enemies of God they used they're very selective in their repeating of history then they're also very sloppy and And it became such a discouraging situation that they capitulated. Now, people did come with arms. But that apparently didn't cease because when Nehemiah was building the wall remember how they built the wall a Trowel in one hand and a weapon in another the reason was those people that had the arms were still there and Nehemiah wanted to make sure that the people could protect themselves from these, you know, from these accusers, these attackers who did not want the walls of the city to be built.

And so, Artaxerxes was spun around by the spin doctors and he didn't do his research. His intelligence report team crafted a story and so he actually got intelligence without intelligence. You've heard the term, it's called an oxymoron, military intelligence. You know two things that are actually self-contradictory. Well, that he got some military intelligence and he listened to the first voice and it's always a danger and it happens and you're gonna get hurt by it and you can be slandered and there's no way to recover your name.

Here's what you need to know. God is sovereign. God is going to be victorious. God is gonna turn everything, he's gonna cause all things to work out together for good, even when this happens. And they did get a bad name that's true and it was just another trick of the devil and then the fifth trick of the devil is found is really sort of summarized in the last verse and it's intimidation and discouragement.

The people are convinced to stop the work and what do they do? They start focusing on themselves and the work ceases for 16 years. So the threats and the opposition worked, and the work ceased. And they were discouraged, and they ceased construction because of that opposition. And often true works of God are stopped in their tracks because it's just too difficult.

The heartache, the roadblocks, the division, the slander, these things can disrupt the work of God. They disrupt churches and they disrupt the work of the kingdom of God. I think Ezra is saying it has happened and it's going to happen. Matthew Henry says it this way, at some periods the church has suffered more by the coldness of its friends than by the heat of its enemies, but both together commonly make church work slow work. Henry points out the coldness of so-called friends and the heat of enemies can cause the work to stop or at least be slowed down.

Okay, so I wanted us to understand how the tricks of the devil were operating on the people of God and how it took place over many, many years. Now, I want to move into a number of applications. And, you know, I think all the applications can be under one heading. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So the first is this.

Is this. God is more concerned with His impressiveness than our impressiveness. You know, the returnees refused to compromise, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't be slandered and become less impressive. They became less impressive. The work actually stopped.

And when you get to Nehemiah chapter 1, you realize the people are in a really bad state. The discouragement is running so hard. And any work of God is not effortless and faithfulness doesn't exempt you from trouble in the building of the kingdom of God. It often gets you in trouble and you know when Solomon said when a man's ways please the Lord even his enemies are at peace with him what does that mean? Well he he wasn't making an absolute statement that works in every situation.

He was speaking of a general principle, but we know from scripture that Christ himself was executed by those who were not at peace with him. He was the purest of all men, and everyone didn't love him. And so we need to recognize that God is more concerned with his own glory than he is with our own impressiveness. Here's the problem with us. We want to maintain our own impressiveness, but God wants the world to know of his impressiveness and he demonstrates it through the trials that he takes us through.

God always takes satanic attack and he turns it around. He always does that. That's what Romans 8 28 is all about. God causes all things to work together for good, for the called, according to his purpose. If you're a child of God and you have been attacked by the devil, you can rest assured that God is gonna turn around every work of Satan for his own glory and for your own good as well.

Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He said it was a minister of Satan. It came from Satan, but God takes what came from Satan and uses it for his good. And God allowed Satan to come and afflict Paul by this thorn to keep him from exalting himself, to keep him from trusting himself. This is the problem with us.

We trust ourselves too much. We want to exalt ourselves so much and so We're so hurt when we're attacked by the devil. And Paul, Paul couldn't get rid of the thorn. The thorn never went away. You know, if you get a thorn, Or if you step on a nail You know you can pull it out right But this nail never came out And Paul had to recognize that it was permanent.

And there are attacks of the devil that leave permanent marks on you. You remember times in your life when you're tempted to compromise, you know, through the manipulations of the devil, and, you know, maybe you got a letter, a time when somebody sent some kind of communication to you like a letter or an email of some kind or Or you were despised there was a true work of God going on in your life and you were despised for it or if you were misrepresented and Maybe maybe even you got thrown out of your position or your life because of a misrepresentation, it can happen. And, you know, like even all these things all happened right here. Or the rumors, you know, somebody heard a rumor about you and they believed it and they didn't get the whole story. And it was never the same.

That's going to happen. It happened here and it's going, it's happened there in the days of Ezra and it's going to happen here as well. You might in this life be dishonored. You might in this life be wronged. You might in this life be wronged.

You might in this life be harmed or stopped or deceived or weakened or manipulated or used. All of these things happened here. And it does happen to the people of God. And you end up sometimes with hardships that you can't get rid of. You have a nail in your foot that never goes away and somehow with that nail in your foot you have to come to the place that the Apostle Paul did and he said, my thorn taught me that his grace is sufficient that he was all I needed like this thorn wasn't going away but neither was he going away either going away either.

Sometimes you have hardships, they just don't go away. And Paul actually says that he rejoices in his weakness because it teaches him that God's grace is sufficient and it's really all that he needed. Do you remember when we were going through 1 John and we read those words, our fellowship was with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. You remember what we said about that? If you have fellowship with the Father and the Son, it's all you need.

I mean, you don't need anything because His grace can get you through everything. Your fellowship with him is the central matter. No matter whatever happens to you, it's all you need. Here's another application. Ezra is making it clear that building the temple is a multi-generational matter.

One generation works and the next generation takes over that work. And it shows that one generation can be deceived. One generation can get discouraged because of the pressure, because of worldliness. And the lure of worldliness is always what destroys the rising generation. And they often get discouraged with work and they don't want to be a distinct people anymore.

They want to fit in It's the greatest danger to every rising generation. It always has been and always will be the rising generation wants to be cool, too and This rising generation stopped the work and put it aside for 16 years. And it can take generations to recover from that. And so they fell into discouragement and they start thinking it's just not worth it. The building just isn't worth it.

Have you ever felt that? You look around and it's just you're so different And you know from the Word of God that the difference is actually legitimate and right. But because you don't want to be so different, you embrace the worship of the Gentiles and all the stuff the Gentiles want to do to live out their lives. And so they fell victim to excuses to stop building. Philip Keller, in his commentary, calls it a providential loophole to stop.

A providential loophole to stop. They took it and they stopped. Has it ever happened to you? You know, It got so hard you just stopped building Next application there may be long periods of difficulty where there's no revival Wow, this is a long period wasn't it? It was a hard period 117 years of it But here's here's how it works in the kingdom of God.

There's no victory without pain and there's no peace without trouble and there's no resurrection without death. And God wants you to have a better life than your designer life. I'm gonna say that again. God wants you to have a better life than your designer life. I'm going to say that again.

God wants you to have a better life than your designer life. You know, we talk about idolatry and what is it? Idolatry in most of us is our designer life. And he wants you to be deeper than you are. He wants you to be more real than you are.

He wants you to be more intimate with him than you are. He wants you to be more mature. He wants you to be more steady. He wants you to be more intimate with him than you are. He wants you to be more mature.

He wants you to be more steady. He wants you to be more patient, more loving, stronger, more long-suffering. He's working in you the hope of glory. And we just want our little designer life, but he wants something far better than that. And so you end up sometimes with a life you didn't really plan.

Things didn't turn out the way you thought they would be. They would turn out. Next application. Be separate from the world. Be separate from the world.

There's a time to stand up to the bullies. That's what Zerubbabel did. He stood up to the bullies. He said, no, we have no fellowship. It's worldliness.

It's driving you to try to bring this alliance with us. And all you want to do is to dilute us. And so there's a time to stand your ground and refuse to compromise and to reject the favor and the acceptability of the world to help you along your way. There's a time to expose darkness for what it is, but you need to always recognize this when you don't get along with the world, the world is always going to attack you. You always have to understand what's at stake.

James said it very clearly, adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? You're not thinking rightly if you think you'll have no enemies. If you're a friend of the world, you won't have very many enemies. If you're a friend of God, you're going to have enemies. You know, when I was growing up as a young Christian, I didn't really understand that.

I understand it better now. Here's another application. Are you a success junkie? When the king shut down the work, it was the end of a dream, and their hopes were dashed. And their hopes were dashed.

But this is related to this desire that we all have to have this designer kind of a life and being dependent upon success. And you want to present yourself as so beautiful and so successful and so adequate. And your Facebook and your Instagram accounts and your likes tell you so. They tell you that you do. You are a beautiful person.

The question is, to what degree have we become success junkies? We want to present ourselves to the world in such a way that makes us look so good. And it's always helpful for us When we see how God uses these real attacks of the devil to grow us, to deepen us, you know, the delays and the troubles often point out how weak we are and how dependent we are on our outward circumstances for our inward heart attitudes. Where we get so wedded to this world that when anything of our outward success is touched, We lose it. And it's because we actually become success junkies in that sense.

But here's what you need to know, you know, When your dreams are ended, God's visions always take over. I remember one time, a long time ago, I was in a hospital with Deborah and she was losing baby number. I can't remember. And she said something to me. I've probably said this before, maybe I've said it 10 times, I don't know.

She said, you know, Scott, when one window is closed, another one always opens, and That's true. And actually, success junkies need a few doors to close, to wean them from this world. And then the next application is, hey, don't prejudge your disaster. I mean, here, Ezra's looking back over 117 years. There are temporal setbacks along the way but they do not contradict that God is working all things out together for good.

It doesn't contradict that at all. You can you can count on that. The next application is this. Do you trust the storyline of the Bible? Because I think this 117 year snapshot is really part of the whole storyline of the Bible.

It began in Genesis chapter 3 with the conflict between the devil and the seed of the woman and how during that conflict you know the serpent is going to bite you in the heel. But do you believe that your story is designed to glorify the story of God? You know, have you really embraced the idea that your life really isn't your own, that he can do with you whatever he wishes because he is sovereign and he is good. You know, have you abandoned the idolatry of your perfect life now in this world? Because I mean, Jesus said, in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." And what happened to these people is that their loss hurt their trust in the storyline and They lost sight of the mission that God had put them on in the midst of their discouragement You know the reason they came back to the city in the first place was to worship God, and then they just quit because of the trouble.

But the Bible makes it really clear that if you've turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, your story is God's story, because the whole story of the Bible is the way that God preserves His people through all the trials and tribulations and how He is going to glorify Himself in the end. God is preserving his people through the bloodline of the Messiah. And look at all the trouble that happens to preserve that bloodline. Remember, these people went back for one reason. They had to populate Bethlehem because something was going to happen in Bethlehem in 500 years.

God's storyline is going to be fulfilled. So you have dark days, you have appearances that are very deceiving. You know, somebody described this like a picture of an acorn. You know, an acorn looks really helpless and small and it really is. But then it surprises you and it becomes an oak tree.

And that's what our lives are like And that's really what the kingdom of God is like it starts out very small But it will be a mighty oak an oak of righteousness in time to come and So the dark days are really only for a moment and so we ought to we ought to walk by faith and not by sight. You know, don't dry up and blow away in the time of your trial. Faith in God's promises is really our hope, particularly when the attacks like this come. And then lastly, you know, the greatest battle and suffering is already over. It's the suffering of the Son of God for sin.

Jesus Christ was despised and rejected. He was spat upon, he was crucified, and he destroyed the works of the devil. He unraveled and disarmed the works of the devil. There's death on the cross because he took the punishment that we all deserved for our sin so that we could be free and free indeed and his suffering satisfied the wrath of God forever. He was despised and rejected of men to save sinners.

And if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, then you have the most hopeful story and you're free now. Even though you might experience the things that these people have experienced. If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He will carry you through, because He sacrificed Himself on a cross, so that he would take you to be with him for all eternity. And so we need to recognize that in this world we will have tribulation and that in a time of remarkable conflict and dislocation in Bethlehem, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." That's why Mary said in her great song in Luke chapter 1, she said, My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant For behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed for mighty is he who has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the indignation of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things. The rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. So maybe the serpent is biting your heel. Don't worry about it. God is going to prevail, and He already has prevailed. And He's given you everything you need for life and godliness, and it's found in your fellowship with Him.

Do you pray with me? Lord, we don't even know exactly why you put these words in front of us today. But I pray that you would drive them into our hearts, each person, to understand your will, to see the works of the devil, to see the ways they've been discouraged. And oh Lord that you would come and comfort your people today. I do pray that you would comfort every broken heart.

I pray that you would come and repair all of the wounds from the from the biting of that devil on our feet and you give us perseverance but but more than anything oh lord that you would give us the understanding of the apostle paul that your grace is sufficient. Amen.