In his sermon titled 'God’s Right Way,' James Lundquist delves into the story of Ezra 8:15-23, focusing on the importance of fasting and prayer as acts of faith and humility. He recounts Ezra's proclamation of a fast to seek God's guidance for the Israelites embarking on a perilous 900-mile journey from Babylon, emphasizing the need to humble themselves before God and seek His right way for spiritual and physical protection. The sermon contrasts big outward works of faith with the ordinary means of grace, such as Bible reading, prayer, and sacraments, emphasizing that true faith is rooted in these daily practices. Lundquist also discusses the significance of turning down human means when they might dishonor God or hinder the Gospel, as seen in Ezra's refusal to request an escort from the king, choosing instead to trust in God's protection. The sermon highlights the characteristics of fasting, such as worship, humility, and repentance, urging believers to make it a regular spiritual discipline. Lundquist stresses the importance of seeking God's right way in all aspects of life, encouraging Christians to entreat God earnestly and persistently, trusting in His sovereign guidance and care.

Servantess today, Ezra chapter 8 verses 21 to 23, but we're going to read starting verse 15. Now I gathered them by the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there for three days. And I looked among the people and the priests and found none of the sons of Levi there. Then I sent Eliezer, Ariel, Shema'iah, El Natan, Jerib, El Natan, Natan, Sekaraiah, and Mishulim, leaders, and also for Joey Arip and El Natan, men of understanding. And I gave them a command for Aido, the chief man of the place, Cassiphia, and told them what they should say to Aido and his brethren, the Netanim at the place of Cassiphia, that they should bring us servants for the house of our God.

Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Malik, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebaia, with his sons and brothers, 18 men. And Hashabiah, and with him, Heshaiah, the sons of Merari, his brothers, and their sons, 20 men. Also the nettenim whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, 220 nettenim. All of them were designated by name. Then I proclaim a fast there at the river of Ahabah that we may humble ourselves before our God to seek from him the right way for us and our little ones and our possessions.

For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road because we had spoken to the King saying, the hand of our God is upon all those for good who forsake him, but his power is rather against all those who forsake him. So we fasted and entreat our God for this and he answered our prayers. Amen. God is sovereign even over preaching schedules. God is sovereign even over preaching schedules.

A couple months ago, looking at the preaching schedule, seeing Jason's going to be out. Jason comes to me and Jim, which week do you want? I go to my wife, which week do you think would be most comfortable for you? And she says, probably not the August 31st. September 7th we should be safe.

By God's grace, August 31st was Jim preaching. And not me. But even at that, I looked at it and go, wow, look at that. I get to preach on the recitation text. What a blessing.

What a blessing. But then listening to Jim's preaching last week, what a blessing it was. I wish I would have dug in that deeply. And thank you, Jim, for digging in that deeply and serving us so well last week. That was so wonderful.

So the setting, the setting is we're at the river Ahava. We don't know where that is. We know it's in Babylon somewhere. They're getting ready to go. This week the Levites are now there it seems.

Maybe the fast happened that whole three days. Maybe it didn't. The Levites come at some point and they're at this location. The sermon title is God's Right Way. God's Right Way.

Is the right way of God what matters to you? You heard that last week as well. Is What matters to God? Is His right way? What matters to you the most?

Do you believe in the complete sufficiency of Scripture? Do your works of faith demonstrate to the world that God's way is the only right way. Last week, Jim started the sermon by reading Deuteronomy 529. Listen, Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever." But Jim said, faith and love toward God always has been and always will be an issue of the heart. This week we're going to see that Ezra's primary concern is with the heart of the people.

That's his primary concern. His primary concern really isn't safety. His primary concern is the heart of the people and does what God says matters most. Is that what matters to the people? That's his primary concern.

Last week we saw Ezra as a man of action going to get the Levites. Not sitting around waiting for him to come to go get them. This week we're going to see Ezra still a man of action in a much different way. But he's still a man of action. We know from James, faith without works is dead.

Before I go over three ways we look at this works of faith, I'm going to go backwards in importance. I'm going to go backwards in importance because the way I'm going to go through this is the way we generally think of these works of faith. When we think of people with great faith, we generally think this first one is the biggest, and it's probably the last. The big works of faith, the outward works that all would see. See how much faith I have by standing at the abortion mill, by being at the nursing home, by moving to South Dakota, by going to Malawi, by walking 900 miles to Jerusalem.

Really, this should be, those kind of big works of faith should be probably last on our list of concerns about our works of faith. They're important, but probably last. Not everybody can do that. Not everybody's going to be called to do those big works. Two, the one that probably belongs in the middle, what I call the Works of faith in common parts of life.

You might also call it the mundane, but I just have a problem with the word mundane because life is great, right? God's given us life. But the common parts of life, right? We usually talk about changing diapers, homeschooling, meals, driving to and from work, right? Mowing the lawn.

But those are all works of faith from this standpoint. How are you conducting yourselves during those common parts of life? What is it proclaimed to the world about your God? So we're going to be focused on today, what is what you're doing, proclaim to the world about God? Those common areas of life, you're not going to be writing blogs about your common everyday drive to work, and mowing, there's no newsletters going out to the far reaches of the world about changing diapers, right?

But these are still wonderful works of faith, demonstrating your faith in how you conduct yourself in these things. And the last one, which should be the first one, which is the primary focus today on the works of faith to prepare you for those common everyday activities, which would then prepare you for those big works of faith that we may talk about. Works of faith, these are works of faith that are central for spiritual health and spiritual growth. We might call the ordinary means of grace. Your Bible, You're reading it, you're studying it, you're meditating on it, the preaching of it, prayer, or entreating as we see today.

The church, the sacraments, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. Faith without works, Faith without the works of the ordinary means of grace is a dead, foolish faith. You can go to the far reaches of the world. You can have as many children as you want. But if your faith is not rooted in the works of these ordinary means of grace, your Bible, church, the sacraments.

If it's not rooted in that, it is a dead foolish faith. It is not faith. It is purely works based, not works based on Faith. And today we're looking at two wonderful works of faith that we're going to focus on. Fasting and prayer.

Fasting and prayer. Let's pray. Oh, God, all of us, all of us need your help. God, we need your help, that we only see the truth from your word. Of all the words I will say, God, please, please God, I beg you that all my brothers and sisters that I love so much, all that they hear are the words of truth.

Please, guard their ears. Guard their hearts, God. Please just let it be truth that they hear no matter what I say, but please also guard my mouth. And help us, God. Build our faith that we would trust you as you are fully trustworthy our God and our Savior.

Amen. Verse 21 Verse 21, then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. Here are Ezra's works of faith. His works of faith. We need to fast and entreat our God, he says.

His first and most important concern are their hearts and seeking God's right way. So what does Ezra do? He proclaims a fast to be able to focus on that. Let me talk a little bit about fasting. When we were in Matthew 6, Jason gave a sermon titled, The Lost Practice of Fasting.

Now, I'd love to point you to that sermon to listen to, but we don't have it. But what we do have, as good as they may be, are my notes that I took on that sermon. Now, what I love, and I've said it before, I've said it before, what I love about the exhibition preaching is I've been able to put together my own commentaries from my favorite preachers in Deuteronomy, in Matthew, in 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Malachi, I think there have been some other places too. Some in Hebrew, some in Romans. From my favorite preachers, now it's Jason at that point, my favorite preachers were Scott and Dan.

So I've got this commentary. So those notes, if you want them, because you can't listen to the sermon, I did print them out and they are in the back. And you're welcome to get those afterwards. But I'm going to round out. I'm not going to repeat those notes.

I'm going to put some other things here on fasting. We don't have a specific command to fast anywhere in scripture. The Israelites may have fasted on the day of atonement, but we don't have a specific command for us to fast. But what we do have is Jesus in Matthew 6 saying, when you fast, That's as close enough to a command as I need. When you fast.

Jesus is assuming that you are going to fast. When you fast and how to conduct yourself when you fast. That's close enough to a command to me. But I really shouldn't need this command to fast. The more we understand our desperate need, our desperate need, even as saved people, even as redeemed people, the more we understand our desperate need and continue need for Christ, the more we will want to fast.

The more we'll understand our need to fast. Now fasting, we've been told before, fasting is not a lever you pull to get God to do anything. It's not a lever. Ezra is not pulling this fast lever, fasting lever, to make God protect them. Ezra is proclaiming a fast to help the people humble themselves and seek God.

That's what he's doing, to help them. Help them focus. Fasting. Usually we're talking about skipping meals for a day, or more or less. Generally, fasting is a time set aside for deliberate, intentional, undivided, passionate, wholehearted turning toward God.

To focus. You're turning all year, you want to turn as much, if not all, if you're able to, pin on your schedules, Turn all of your attention upon God. Seek His right way. God may cause circumstances like we see here in Ezra that would seem to make the decision to fast an easy one. It seems like, of course, you're going on this 900 mile journey.

Of course, fast. That seemed like an easy decision, not so much. There's a lot that we've done without fast. A lot I have done on big time decisions where I haven't fasted. But it seems like an easy one.

Other circumstances that might come up, like deep sorrow, death, financial distress, church issues, just a great need for repentance that might stir our hearts toward fasting. But no matter what is happening, big circumstances are the common everyday parts of life we have and we will always have a desperate need for Jesus who is the bread of life. If we understand our constant need of Jesus to shepherd us, to preserve us from our sinfulness, to protect us from the devil that is roaming around seeking whom he may devour, then we will want to intentionally, regularly set aside time, an extended time for an undivided, passionate, entreating, praying, wholehearted seeking and turning toward God. We will want to. While fasting, let our outward hungering point us to our need for Christ.

Let it build in us a hungering and a thirsting for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. As much as I hunger for food, when you're fasting, and even before you fast, here's a motivation. As much as I hunger for food, as much as you hunger for food, we love food, we need food, God created us to need food, but as much as we hunger for it, may we hunger more for Jesus. May we hunger more for His grace. May we hunger more for His mercy.

May we hunger more for His paths of righteousness. That be what we hunger and thirst for way more than anything else. Here are a couple examples that aren't in those notes back there. I'm fasting Daniel 9, 3. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Daniel set his face toward the Lord God with intensity of focus, with worship, and with humility in his presence. He was seeking forgiveness for his sins, for the nation's sins. Repentance. Nehemiah 1.4. We're going to be in Nehemiah here in a not too distant future.

Here's a taste. Nehemiah 1, 4. So it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days. I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah was a man of great faith.

We're going to talk about that here in a little bit. But he's sitting here mourning over Israel's sin, his sin, and crying out to God for mercy. So no matter why you are fasting, there are common characteristics to fasting. You're worshiping, you're humbling yourself, there's prayers of confession, there's repentance, there's an urgency, there's a passion, there's a focus on God and His right way that He would direct our paths. It'll often also include mourning and weeping for a sorrow over sin.

But fasting can also be full of joyful tears, full of joyfulness as we see the beauty of the wonderful and amazing work of Jesus Christ through His mercy and His grace toward us. Israel's about, or these subset of Israel, these 7, 000 people are about to embark on a 900 mile walk. Wrap your mind around 900 miles, That's up to the top of Maine, over to the border of Texas, below South Florida. If you could walk across the ocean, that'd be all the way to Havana, Cuba. Wrap your mind around 900 miles.

Four tons of silver, $2.4 million today. Eighteen tons of wheat, the equivalent of 3, 000 bottles of wine, 600 gallons of oil and all the salt they want. They don't have a cloud to lead them by day. They don't have a pillar of fire to lead them by night. No escort.

Lots of enemies along the way to ambush them. They would love to steal the king's treasure. Think of the story of the good Samaritan, right? Ambushed along the way, left for dead. He didn't have all the King's treasure.

He didn't have all of these things. It's a dangerous journey. So they better feel desperate. It seems to us obvious that they better feel desperate. We're not traveling with all that, but we need to feel desperate as well.

So they better feel desperate. They better know their need to humble themselves before the one, the only one that knows the right way and by his mercy can get them there safely. So Ezra has two primary purposes for fasting in verse 21. The first one is that they would humble themselves before God. Back to verse 21.

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God. Everything's ready for the journey. Everything's ready. They have all the people there. They have all the treasure.

The Levites eventually show up. They have everything they need. They are prepared materially. None of this will matter without the good hand of God upon them. Not going to matter how well you're prepared for that trip.

Not going to matter how well you're prepared for that vacation to wherever it is you're going. It may not be 900 miles, it's probably, it's definitely not walking if you're going that far. Without the good hand upon you, your trip is going to be for naught. No matter whether you think about it or not. Ezra knows, including himself, that they're not completely ready.

They need to prepare their hearts for this journey. Ezra knows the power of the gracious good hand upon him. He wants that upon the people as well. So Ezra calls a fast to humble themselves. To humble themselves.

The KJV says, afflict themselves. Humble. Afflict themselves. To be bowed down. Now this is not a groveling.

This afflicting yourself is not a groveling. A groveling is a type of flattery. We can't flatter God. We're not trying to flatter God to get what we want selfishly. That shouldn't be.

It may be at times you have to correct yourself and seek forgiveness if it is, but that's not what this is. This is showing submission to the sovereign God of all, the capital K King, capital K King of Kings. Sovereign of all, the King of Kings. It was only last December that we were looking at 1 Peter 5, verse 5, be clothed in humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." In a couple verses we looked at Psalm 3418, the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and save such as have a contrite spirit. Isaiah 57, 15, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place.

And with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to receive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Where in Matthew we saw in the Beatitudes that the humble, Those that are poor in spirit, that mourn, that meek are blessed. God gives abundant grace. He gives a lavish grace. He gives a persistent, continuous grace to the humble. I want more grace.

Ezra wants more grace. So humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Robert Layton, a Scottish preacher in the 1600s says this, It is undoubtedly the secret pride and selfishness of our hearts that hinders much of the bounty of God's hand in the measure of our graces. The more we let go of ourselves, the more we will receive from God how foolish we are if we refuse so blessed an exchange. That exchange is the more we let go of ourselves, the more we receive from God.

That is a wonderful exchange. It's not the great exchange. Christ's righteousness, taken on the wrath of God, that we may be saved. But this is a wonderful exchange. The more we let go of ourselves, the more we receive from God.

Oh, how much pride hurts us. Confess. Confess that secret pride. It's not a secret to God. It may be to the person next to you.

It's not to God. Confess and repent. 1 Peter 5, humble yourselves in the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. He loves you. He is for your good.

You are his son. You are his daughter. You have been adopted into his kingdom. And since you are a Christian, talking to Christians, since you are a Christian, that means he has loved you forever for all of eternity before the world began. That's how much He cares for you.

He has ordained that He would love you forever and ever and ever. He cares for you. So humble yourself under His mighty care, His mighty hand. He cares for you. Ezra knows that if the people humble themselves under his care, under the love of God, he will lead them in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Now, I'll caution here about humbling and afflicting oneself. This is not, here's a big word, asceticism. Let me help you with this. This is not asceticism. This is not a self-denial or even harming oneself to try to please God.

It's not what this is all. It's people who think that the body is evil, therefore I must beat it into submission. If you remember back in 1 Kings 18, that's what the prophets of Baal thought. Hey, he's not listening to us. Let's cut ourselves and bleed.

It says gush out blood And maybe he'll listen to us. That's what we need to do, to draw his eye. How well did that go for them? Not very well. Because God doesn't delight.

God doesn't take any delight in His people intentionally harming themselves. He cares for you. Let's be gracious to you. Affliction of the soul. Affliction of the soul is really where one humbles themselves before God.

Pouring out their heart to God. Confessing specific sins. Mourning and grieving over sin. Repenting. And turning from sin into God.

The purpose of humbling ourselves, of afflicting our souls, is to point us in the right direction, of fasting and humbling. To point us in the right direction, the way we should go. His paths of righteousness. Turn to Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2.

Daniel, Hosea, Joel, if you make it to Amish, you've gone too far. Joel chapter 2. If you want to read some chapters on fasting, Isaiah 58, Joel chapter 1 and 2, you might as well throw in 3 since that's all that's left. But Isaiah 58, Joel 1 and 2 would serve us all well when we're fasting to look at, when you're preparing to fast. Joel chapter 2, Look at verses 12 and 13.

Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, humble yourself, so rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm." Ezra's proclaimed a fast so the people would humble themselves before God with this intense prayer, with confession of sin, prayer for forgiveness, rending their hearts. Why? Because God is gracious we see here.

He is merciful. He is slow to anger. He is kind and He does guide in paths of righteousness. That's why. Our God is so trusting.

He is so worthy, so good and kind and merciful. Ezra knows Israel's history. He knows the history of why they're captives. He even wrote about it in chapter 5, verse 12, because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath. He gave them to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and then several kings and kingdoms after that even.

They've been in captivity for a while. Ezra knows this history, but he also knows the good hand of God. And he doesn't want the people to repeat the wrathful hand of God. Ezra is encouraging good works of faith. Fasting.

Being humble before God. They're humbling themselves before God while fasting. And they're saying, I hunger for God's ways. I hunger for God's help. I hunger for God's wisdom.

I hunger for God's grace. I hunger for God's mercy. I hunger, God, for Your kindness and Your hand of favor, way more than food. I'm going to humble myself underneath your hand, because these are the things that matter to you. These are the things that matter to me that I hunger for the most.

There's no place for pride. They were captured because of their sin. They did what was right in their own eyes at the time, now they want to do what's right in the eyes of God. Just like us, they can only stand on the merit of Jesus Christ. They didn't know the name of Jesus Christ.

They knew Messiah. They didn't know who He was, but that's the only thing they could stand on, the merit of Jesus Christ, the mercy and grace of Jesus for His people. And because of that, we should be the most humble people on earth. We were created from dust, children of wrath, despising Jesus. We were like the unforgiving servant that had 200, 000 years of wages that he owed.

Remember that parable? And then He was forgiven that incalculable debt. We should be the most humble people on earth. We are only saved and they are only saved by Jesus' perfect work, His sinless life, death by taking on the wrath of God, raised from the dead and sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, interceding for us every moment of every day and preparing a place for us. Humble ourselves before your God who saves, who delivers us from our greatest need, which is sin, and seek from Him the right way.

This leads us to the second purpose. So the first purpose was to humble yourself before God. The second purpose for fasting, the second purpose why he is calling for this fast is to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones in all our possessions." Here's a question. A question that comes about right here. Is Ezra just talking about a safe journey?

He talks about the right way. Is that all he's really concerned about on this part of his goal, of his purpose for fasting? At the NIV, ESV, NASB say safe journey. Seek from God a safe journey. Even with that translation, is that all that Ezra is really concerned about in this prayer for the right way?

Or, might he be thinking of Proverbs 4, starting in verse 25 through 27. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left, remove your feet from evil. For Psalm 119, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I don't think it's one or the other, I think it's both.

Yes, he's concerned, right? He's concerned about the direction. Are we going to go this way or that way? But he's more concerned with their hearts. Is their heart going to be directed in the right way?

There's a lot of things they're going to need to decide on this way. A lot of things they need to decide. How are they going to decide it? Nine hundred miles to go, children to protect, women to protect, ages to protect, the king's treasure to be concerned about. How will they decide the right way to go.

Will they make it based on their feelings? Well, look back at Israel's history. How well did that go for them based on feelings when they were first gonna go into Canaan? And 10 of the 12 spies said, we're afraid of the giants, We're afraid of that land. And those ten men were able to get all those people, millions maybe of people, to say, no, we're not going in yet.

How well did it go for Israel when they did it based on feelings and did it in their own eyes? Do what's right in their own eyes. Are they more concerned with the easiest, the shortest way, the right path in their own eyes, or the way that will honor and glorify God? How are they going to make these decisions? They're going to have to make them.

They're going to have a great awareness of their need. There may be some fear of the way they have to go, enemies to ambush them. So they're crying out to God's power, protection, perseverance for a safe journey. For the direction they have to go. Safety from thieves that are trying to steal the king's treasure.

That's a big deal. They're going to find other captives along the way that are saying, hey, Here's my opportunity to get what I deserve. People that will want to hurt their children, hurt their wives, hurt their grandparents. With this great treasure, if you talk about their heart, with this great treasure, 7, 000 people, I can easily imagine, just like Aiken, there might be a couple people that would be tempted to say, who's going to miss a couple ounces of silver? A bottle of wine, little oil, little wheat.

They need their hearts protected along this way. They need their hearts directed in the right way as much as they need direction on the right way. They don't have that cloud, they don't have that pillar of fire to direct them, so they don't have to think about where they're going. But even with those pillars, they still had to have faith that that was the right direction, still had to follow. Now they don't have those things.

Are they going to trust the authority that God's put over them and the counselors that Ezra has around him to lead them in the right direction. Along this way, as they humble themselves to seek God's direction in the right way, The right conduct of themselves. What's going to be the right conduct? How might that play out? How might God use their right conduct along the way?

Think about it. There's a lot of opportunity along this long journey to proclaim the greatness of God. They might see other Jewish captives along the way that are holding the rope and encouraging them as they go. There's going to be Gentiles, the other people that are hating them and watching them, watching how they conduct themselves along the way. Remember 1 Peter, beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, these are sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, definitely in Gentile land, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they have tons of opposition, they may by your good works which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation.

Are they prepared for the right way, the right direction, and have their hearts prepared for whatever they may face? So when especially faced with a tough task, rough road ahead, job loss, disease, financial hardship, dishonoring children, husbands and wives that may be struggling loving one another, Parents and children that may be struggling to honor one another. We have persistent sin where you're not wanting to participate in the means of grace. What is going to govern your conduct? Where are you going to turn to first and the most?

That's what Ezra is trying to do. That's what he wants them to do. He wants them to turn to God first and most, and he set aside three days. We're going on a journey, and we're prepared. This is what we need to do.

This is way more important. This journey is going to fail without this. No matter what happens, it's going to fail without this. No matter your situation, whether you're working through something common every day, whether you're working through a circumstance that you can't see how you can possibly get past without God doing an obvious, miraculous thing in your life, no matter what the circumstance is, where are you turning first and most? Is it God?

Is it God who determines your conduct? Is it God's ways, His scripture that is determining what you do? If someone asks you why you're doing something, why are you doing something so what seems maybe so foolish is walking 900 miles with all these people and all this treasure. And your answer is, well, I read a book. Well, John Piper says this about risk.

Well, Jason says this. Maybe good people, good authors. But if that's what you come back with first, go back and start over. You might have the right way, but you better not have any confidence really that you have the right way. Go back and start over.

Seek God first and seek Him often. The Lord is my shepherd and He will guide me with his counsel." Psalm 73. It will not be the might of Ezra that they arrive safely, only the might of God. So Ezra's two primary purposes in this fast are to humble themselves before God and seek from God the right way. These are works of faith.

Faith without works are dead. We tend to think of the physical things that we do that everybody can see. That's what I started with. These are works of faith. Fast because I trust God that this is a way for me to entreat you with all I have, to humble myself before you because you are God Almighty, you are my Savior, you direct paths in righteousness.

I hunger for your righteousness, I thirst for your righteousness. You are my God. You have saved me from the incalculable debt, the wrath of God. I will seek you first. Those are works of faith that will get you on the right way physically and spiritually.

Verse 22. Verse 22 we see the powerful hand of God that we can trust in. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him." In verse 22 we see the God ordained situation that caused Ezra to want to fast and humble themselves and seek God's right way. And it says Ezra is ashamed to request, the King James version, to require an escort of the king. Require seems strong, request seems more humbling, but remember Ezra 7.6, the king granted him all his requests according to the good hand, according to the hand of the Lord, his God upon him.

If he would have requested this, it would have been like a requirement. God's hand was upon him and the king would have done it. The king would have done it. It's a dangerous road. They have the king's treasure.

They have little ones. Of course. Here, take an escort. You can have them. Why would Ezra not take advantage of what seems like common sense?

Why wouldn't he? I'm going to answer that in a little bit. I want to take a little diversion here a little bit. I want to go to Nehemiah, ask for it a little bit, to Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 9. We know Nehemiah is a man of faith and this is what happened.

Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. Nehemiah takes an escort, has an escort. Ezra doesn't. What's the difference? Does Ezra just have so much faith that he doesn't need any of this?

He doesn't need what I'm going to term human means. There's so much faith. He's above that. He's above that. Is that what's happened here?

Or is Ezra just a foolish man? He's foolish that now he's in a place where he's in all the favor of God to now where he's presumptuous. Of course God's going to help me. I have his favor upon me. Is he a foolish man?

Is he a foolish man in that he's been proclaiming the mighty power of God and now he just feels backed into the corner and he can't do anything else but not do this? He can't accept this because he's been backed into the corner? Is that what's really going on? Does Ezra just have more faith than Nehemiah does? No, no, no, no.

Neither book says they sin. In fact, both books will prop them both up as having the good hand of God upon them. It's not because Ezra had more faith. Their missions were different. And it is a key part of this.

Ezra's being spiritual, Nehemiah's being political. That is a key part of this. But that is not the driver here. It's really not the driver that we, to think about. And before we think on that caution, I want to caution you there are two extremes, two cliffs that we'll tend to fall off on.

We'll tend to fall off, and we'll use scripture to back this up. We'll tend to fall off, and most of us don't fall off this first cliff of just walk by faith, not by sight. Sufficient scripture. I don't need counsel. I don't need the church.

I've got scripture. I've got the Holy Spirit in me. Just walk by faith, not by sight. Sufficiently of scripture. I don't need counsel.

I don't need the church. I've got scripture. I've got the Holy Spirit in me. Just walk by faith, not by sight. Most of us don't fall off that cliff.

I'm going to get back to that cliff in a little moment. Most of us, most of us, and we have a tendency, all of us have a tendency towards one of these two cliffs. And even within our marriages, a husband and a wife may differ between, may have a tendency towards one of these and cause some tension. Right, to walk by faith, not by sight, or, but Jesus says count the cost to be a disciple. Jesus used the parable of doesn't a king go out and prepare for battle?

Doesn't a builder before he builds a tower go and count the cost? I need all my ducks in a row. I need more counsel. Jason, I need to spend weeks with you before I make the decision. Brothers, I need to spend lots of weeks and let's pray and pray and pray.

Maybe eventually do something, maybe you do nothing. That's the tendency of probably most people. If you're going to have to lean one way or the other, it's probably that second direction. Let's be careful though of both tendencies. Remember, Ezra was thankful to God for using human means that he calls the good hand of God upon him.

God turned the heart of a king to let the captives go and to give treasure. That is human means, turning the heart of the king. Last week, Ezra just sit around, walked by faith that Levites will come. No, he used human means. He sent people, sent his men of understanding to go talk to Edo to go get Levites.

He said we need to do this. Here's how we're going to do this. We're going to go. He does that. Next week, although Ezra is fully trusting God for protecting them along the way and protecting the treasure, what does he do?

He divides up the treasure among the priests. It says, you be accountable for this. So When we get there, everybody knows that everything got there. That's human means, the priest. Several tons of silver, something's got to carry that, human means.

We all use human means. Lock our doors, Wear our seat belts, use headlights at night. Right? Here's a big one of human means. I'm very thankful that my employer pays me.

All right? I'm very thankful for a job. That pays me. All right? That's human means.

God uses it. The government protects us. All right? Matthew Henry says, those who depend on God must use proper means for their preservation. And they need not be ashamed to do so.

God ordains the ends and the means to do it. He is God. He is holy. He can do things however he wants. He can use the means of water to make wine.

He can do that. He can start off with a few loaves of bread and fish and make more. Or, he can create the whole world and universe out of nothing. He determines the ends And he also ordains and is sovereign over the means, how it happens. And how it happens matters to God, because he ordered it.

So how do we know when to use human means and when not to? How did Ezra know? Let's look at the context here. That will help us. Ezra had been telling the king that the hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him.

Let's say this, We should turn down human means when we dishonor God and hinder the Gospel. That's your guideline. Is it going to dishonor God to do this this way and hinder the Gospel to do it this way? If so, run from it. Maybe there's another means you can use.

Or maybe God says, no, I don't want you to Walk by faith. Go this direction. Do it that way. Be careful of presumption. I said one day it's, oh you of little faith, God does something to build your faith, and the next day you're presuming upon God to do something He never promises.

But most of us are not close to being in danger of that. Most of us are not in danger of just walking totally by faith. Not taking advantage of human means. Ezra is ashamed, it says here, to request an escort because he is concerned for the honor of God. What might the king think of this powerful God he's been talking about?

About how God's hand is upon those for good who seek Him. And talking about how God protects His people. How God sustains His people. Then He turns to the old king, would you please protect me? I can see the king saying, you hypocrite, your God is a fake.

I could see that. Matthew Henry, continuing from before. I'm going to read what I read before and then it continues on. Those who depend on God must use proper means for their preservation and they need not be ashamed to do so. But when the honor of God is concerned, one would rather expose oneself than do anything to the prejudice of that which ought to be dearer to us than our own lives." This is why there are martyrs in Iraq.

This is why we stand at the abortion mill when it doesn't make sense to the world. This is why you go to a nursing home when it doesn't make sense to the world to spend that time. This is why people go to South Dakota, go to Malawi, why people homeschool, why people adopt a lot of children, why people have a lot of children when it doesn't make sense to the world. It's not common. You know how much that costs?

You know how much time you're putting into that? For the honor of God and the sake of the gospel. May that be why you're doing those things. The difference between Ezra and Nehemiah really comes down to the honor of God. They both honor God.

They both are men of faith. Saw it in their fasting. Just like Paul appealed to Caesar, he appealed to Caesar, the law he used as a means, and how did God use that? For years, read it, For years he was able to proclaim the gospel to these leaders and these people in the jail. His jailers, for the sake of the gospel, he did that.

Not for his own self-preservation, for the sake of the gospel to glorify God. Nehemiah was sent as an official governor to Jerusalem. The king sent an escort and it did not dishonor God or hinder the gospel for him to do that. Just like Paul. It didn't hinder it.

Ezra on the other hand was on a spiritual mission. Yes, Because of their great faith in the hand of God for protection, it would have dishonored God and hindered the gospel to request an escort. That's the key difference. Does it honor God? Does it hinder the gospel?

That's what you need to think of to determine which way you go and is it the right way. Ezra had great faith. He knows God is so trustworthy. He's been proclaiming that God is so trustworthy. He's proclaiming these great attributes of God.

He's primarily focused on God is good and God is just. Here are the attributes. Let's remind ourselves of why God is so trustworthy. He is eternally self-existent. He is infinite.

He is holy. He is sovereign. He is omniscient. That means He knows everything. He is faithful.

He is loving. He is omnipotent. That's all powerful. He is gracious. God gives us what we don't deserve.

He's given us favor through Jesus Christ and we deserve wrath. He is merciful because of the gracious provision through Jesus Christ. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere. He's immutable.

That means he does not change. He is wise. He is good. Only God is good. He is just.

All sin is dealt with. All sin is dealt with either through the atonement of Jesus Christ to cover your sins and save you, or he is just in dealing with all sin through his wrath and people going to hell. And these last two, God being good and just, are the two specific attributes that we know Ezra has been telling the king about at the end of verse 22. So at the end of verse 22, the hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him. We generally don't have a problem with the second half, connecting forsaking God and God's wrath.

Amen, yes, forsaking God brings God's wrath, right? But we do sometimes have a problem with the first part of this, that seeking God would bring his good hand upon us. Because it's kind of, wait a second, that sounds a little bit like I'm pulling a lever. If I do this, this happens. And brothers and sisters, that's not what happens at all.

When you are saved, When you are redeemed, when you are given a new heart, you are not pulling a lever. No. What's happened is God has changed your heart, changed your desires and actions to seek Him. And because you seek Him, the good hand of God is upon you. That's what's going on here.

It's not your seeking that's causing the good hand. It's God's good hand that has caused you to seek in the first place. That is wonderful. This is not new teaching by Ezra. There's plenty of scripture to back this up.

Psalm 33, behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. That was Psalm 33. Psalm 34 puts both of these together like Ezra, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Peter quotes that in 1 Peter 3.

It should not surprise us that since God never changes, that the Old Testament would agree with the New Testament. Those people, maybe some of you, that put a lot more weight on the New Testament, and how kind and merciful God is. Oh, you better listen to this. That was repeated by Peter. The Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

God never changes. As Christians, we love Romans 28, don't we? And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. To those who are the called according to his purpose. We love that.

Let's be fearful of what we read here at the end of verse 22. His power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him. And because Ezra knows this truth, because he's been seeking God, preparing himself to seek God and seeking God, that is why he's so concerned about the people before God. He's proclaimed a fast that all people would humble themselves and seek the right way from God. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Not God, I mean sorry, God, not Ezra, not the king is the source of all that's good. He saves, He preserves His people, especially through the good work of Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry, just diving in on this, says God's servants have his power engaged for them. His enemies have it engaged against them. It makes sense that Ezra should not request protection and put their faith into action.

Works of faith by fasting humble themselves before God and in treating God first and most for the right way. Ezra wants God's gracious hand of favor and not his powerful hand of wrath. Verse 23. So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and he answered our prayer. Fasting and entreating these, as I've been saying, are works of faith that help us humble ourselves and seek God, seek from God the right way.

They help us with spiritual warfare against our sin and against Satan who is seeking whom he may devour. I've already talked about fasting, just a couple things to bring back from that. Ezra's not pulling a lever to protect them. Ezra's proclaiming the fast to help the people humble themselves and seek from God the right way. The right physical direction and the right heart direction.

If we understand our constant need for Jesus to shepherd us, to preserve us from our sinfulness, from the devil seeking to devour, then we will want to intentionally, regularly set aside extended time for undivided, passionate, entreating, wholehearted seeking and turning toward God. Entreating, entreating, fasting and entreating. This entreated means that you're petitioning, you're imploring. KJV, NIV, ESV, NASB, all the four other versions that we tend to look at, say sought. Entreated and sought our God for this.

They have a great desire, a great seeking. This is an earnest, intense prayer. And really, this should be part of a lot of our prayers, not just part of fasting. We should have an earnestness. Wednesday nights, is there an earnestness in our prayers?

Is there an imploring in our prayers? An entreating in our prayers? Remember Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32 all night long? Jacob gets his hip put out of joint, and what does he do? He still hangs on.

He says, I'm going to hang on until you bless me. That's entreating. That's imploring. Remember the Syrophoenician woman of Matthew 15 and Mark 7? Her daughter was demon possessed.

She comes to Jesus. What does Jesus do? He is silent. He says nothing. It's not that He is ignoring her.

He knows full well. He has ordained this to happen. He's not ignoring her. He's silent. Disciples aren't so silent.

They're rebuking her and saying, go away. But he's silent. She comes to her. She says, with an exclamation point, Lord, help me. That's imploring.

Lord, help me. Mark 7 says, she kept asking him. She kept begging Jesus. She kept entreating Jesus. What's Jesus' response?

Great is your faith. Great is her faith and her daughter was healed. Wasn't her faith that healed her daughter directly? God was gracious to her and gave her this great faith and she used it to entreat, to seek, to be persistent, Lord help me. What a wonderful title for any of us to have.

To be known as here is so and so, great is his faith, Great is her faith. What a wonderful title that God would bestow on you. Her fruits of those faith were persistence in prayer, talking with Jesus, humility. She addressed Jesus as Lord, as the Messiah. Actions of faith, not just words, not just I believe you can do this, but acted on it and was persistent.

Lord, help me. Fasting and treating are not just sitting back and waiting. And just like God answered Jacob's entreat, just like Jesus answered this woman's entreating for her daughter by healing her daughter, Ezra says at the end of this verse, he answered our prayer. We'll see this next week or in two weeks. I'm going to jump ahead to verse 31.

Here's the prayer. Here's how he answered the prayer. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem and the hand of our God was upon us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road." We don't know what happened along the road. Guess what? We don't need to know what happened because God didn't write it.

We don't know what trials they faced. I guarantee over 900 miles they faced some trials. They faced some trials on, am I going to trust Ezra and his counselors that that's the way to go? I think that way looks better. That has greener grass down there by, like a lot down by Sodom, not there going by Sodom, but those are greener.

That looks a little more dusty. I think there's, I've heard rumors of bandits up that way. I don't know. Ezra says to go this way. Right?

I don't know what happened. How was their food supply? Did they have to ward off some enemies of some sort? I don't know. Did they see them out there?

Did they see great miraculous works of bandits coming and then they were destroyed? I don't know what they saw. This is what we do know. This is all that matters. This is what matters to God because this is what he wrote.

His hand of favor was upon them and they arrived safely with all the treasure. Not only did the enemies not take any treasure, but as we'll see, none of them stolen either. There is no aching in the camp among 7, 000 people, including children. We can be so well-tempted as much as we can with treasure and things. That's what we know.

I have five conclusions, applications. One, make fasting a regular habit. It is essential for spiritual warfare. Make fasting a regular habit because it is essential for spiritual warfare. Don't let your schedules be an excuse.

Don't let it be an excuse. All right, well, I work in an office. Well, maybe you take a day off for this. Maybe you take a day off for this. But you can fast in the office.

You can still take lunch for an undivided time. You can get up early. You can stay up late. I have to watch the children. Men, help your wives in this.

Men, help your wives with this. They have spiritual warfare. They're your sisters as well. And you've come into it with them. You made a vow to care for them and watch over them and help them and help sanctify them.

Husbands, help your wives in this. Children, watch. I understand there are medical reasons that would hinder some, maybe regularly, maybe just sometimes from a fast from food. But maybe within that regulation of what you can eat and how often you might need to eat, you can still divide up time and still have an undivided intentional time of entreating God and seeking to humble yourself. It doesn't always have to be just food.

Food is the main thing that we see in Scripture. I say make fasting a regular habit, a habit, a regular tendency or practice that is hard to give up. That's what a habit is, a regular practice or tendency that is hard to give up. Think of a good habit, a good habit that would be tough to give up. Do you have a good habit that you have that would be tough to give up?

For me, reading. I love to read, love to read the Puritans, love to read other things. That's a good habit. That would be hard to give up. Fasting should be just like that.

I should look forward to a fast. I should look forward to an undivided time, an intentional time, a deliberate time, to seek God and to humble myself before Him. Make fasting a habit during the common mundane days. And that will prepare you for the days when you're saying, I can't see past this without the miraculous happening. Make it a habit now, or in a time of common mundane days so you're prepared for those tough days to come because they will come.

Make fasting that regular practice that you could not think of giving up. Make that a part of your works of faith, seeking from Him the right way. Number two, make humbling yourself a regular habit. Make humbling yourself a regular habit. Yes, that's part of fasting, but it's not just part of fasting.

Make humbling yourself a regular habit. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Number three. For the honor of God and the Gospel, look for opportunities when you might turn down human means and what seems like common sense especially to the world. For the honor of God and the Gospel, look for opportunities when you might turn down human means and what seems like common sense especially to the world.

This is not an excuse for laziness. This is not an excuse for laziness. This is not an excuse for poor planning. This is not an excuse to not take care of your family. It's not an excuse to not take care of your family.

Does it seem, does it make sense in the world's eyes, and maybe unfortunately in many Christians' eyes, maybe in your own eye you're troubled with this. Does it make sense for a family to uproot themselves to go to South Dakota Where you hear the testimony of three, four, five people may show up for church. Does that make sense to the world? Where he doesn't even know what kind of works there for him to help support his family, does that make sense to the world? Many of us moved here specifically for church.

Does it make sense to the world, and I know it doesn't make sense to many Christians, that when my family decided to move from Pittsburgh, we said, because we couldn't find a church there, we didn't find a church there, We were searching and seeking and even tried with our own church. We said, this is what we're going to do. We're going to have to move from here, it looks like, to find a church. But this is how we're going to determine where we move to. We're going to find that church first.

Depending on where that church is, Then I will start looking for a job there so we can move there. Does it make sense to the world that you would order yourself around the worship of God? It doesn't make sense to many Christians either. Does it make sense to let the Lord determine your family size? Or to adopt a lot of children?

Does that make sense? Does it make sense to the world that you already have several daughters? Family has moved to South Dakota. I'm going to adopt a daughter with all kinds of special needs. Does that make sense to the world?

No, the world says kill them. Last Wednesday, if you read the update, the judge said, the judge had one question for them. Knowing all you know about Katie, are you sure you still want to adopt her? What do you mean, am I sure? Of course I do.

You don't understand adoption the way I understand adoption. That's why you ask that question. I'm adopted by the great king, the king of kings. We like Ezra should be ashamed that any of our words or our actions would bring dishonor to God in the Gospel. Think about that.

People are observing Christians, not just us because of the way we conduct church. People observe Christians. They observe us at home, they observe us at work. If you're part of social networks, they're observing what you're doing there. They're observing at the store, at the abortion mill, at the nursing home, especially the staff.

And they're drawing conclusions on what we believe and what to think about God by our conduct. Remember, 1 Peter 2, right, I read this a little bit earlier, beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation. If the day of visitation is talking about the ultimate judgment, everybody will glorify God. Every knee will bow. Every knee will bow and glorify God either just before you are welcomed into that wonderful feast or just before God throws you into hell?

But your knee will bow. What is your conduct, Christian brother or sister, saying about the God you serve? Is it bringing Him honor? Is it bringing the gospel honor? They're watching.

That should make us fear and tremble and humble ourselves before God and seek from Him the right way. When we understand as Christians we are carrying the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ. It should make us tremble. You don't have to be up here preaching to tremble at bringing his word. You'll be humbled.

You carry his name. You proclaimed him when you were baptized. You will proclaim him in a little bit when we take the Lord's Supper. What is your conduct telling people about your God? Number four, entreat God.

Entreat God. Implore. Desire. With persistence. Don't stop.

Don't stop. Don't stop. Lord help me. Lord help me. He is good, he is all wise, he is sovereign.

Lord help me. 1 Thessalonians 5, rejoice always, pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So one direction you could take this section is determining the will of God. I love passages like 1 Thessalonians. It tells me what the will of God is.

And let's focus on the things that we know are the will of God. And may that direct our conduct. And may that direct us to entreat God. Lord, help me. Lord, help me to rejoice always.

Lord, help me to pray without ceasing. Lord, help me to give thanks in everything because I know this is your will. Lord help me in these works of faith. May I fast to humble myself before you. May I seek from you the right way.

The right way physically for me and my family, the right way for my heart that it would follow you without questioning, Lord help me. Number five, seek God's right way. Seek God's right way. May God be the first you turn to in everything. And may God be the one you turn to the most.

May not be Jason, wonderful as counsel it is. May it not even be your spouse, your wife, or your husband that you turn to the most. Oh, you should turn to your wife or husband a lot. You should be thankful for the counsel you get from Jason directly or indirectly through preaching or other ways. But God should be first that you turn to.

You have a lot here. Don't raise your hands. Is there anybody here that has not read every single word that's in here? If you haven't, you are missing out on God first and God most. I'm not telling you to read it every year.

I'm not telling you how much you have to read in a setting. But have you received the full counsel of God? It's right here, sitting there for you. He has been so merciful to save you from your greatest need, from His just wrath for your sin. And His hand is upon all those for good who seek Him.

I want His good. I want His good for you. We are brothers. We are sisters under the King of Kings in His Kingdom. May His good be with us.

We want His good. Humble yourself in the mighty hand of God. Seek from him the right way. May his good hand be upon all of us. Let's pray.

Oh, God, amazing of how You ordained history to put this text before us. How You ordained Your Word to be ordered that this would be before us. So God help us. Help us God to fast. Not just for a checklist.

God, oh please don't let any fasting be a checklist. God please, please. But God may it be, because we want to humble ourselves before our King of Kings. The one that has saved us from an incalculable weight of sin. So we want to seek Your face because Your ways are good.

Your ways are right. Your order is good. The way You do things, Your ends and Your means are perfect. Please God, help us humble ourselves. Help us honor you in the gospel.

Oh how precious it is to us. Help us to entreat you often to seek from you the right way. Oh God please help us. We thank you for your word. Amen.