The sermon by Jim Tsantles, titled 'Ezra: A Deuteronomy 5:29 Man', explores the biblical narrative of Ezra as a leader who exemplified true faithfulness and obedience to God's commands. Ezra is portrayed as a 'Deuteronomy 5:29 man', a reference to the desire expressed in Deuteronomy for people to have a heart that fears God and keeps His commandments. The sermon begins with Ezra's gathering of people by the river Ahava for their journey back to Jerusalem, highlighting the absence of Levites, which prompts Ezra to take decisive action to ensure their participation. This action underscores the importance of the Levites in fulfilling religious duties. The narrative draws a parallel between Ezra's leadership and the faithfulness required of believers, emphasizing that true love for God manifests in obedience and alignment with God's will. The sermon further explores the consequences of neglecting God's commands and the blessings of aligning with His will, as demonstrated by Ezra's preparation and leadership. It concludes with a call to self-examination, urging believers to consider their own faithfulness and obedience to God's commands.

Okay, so our sermon text this morning is Ezra chapter 8 verses 15 through 20. Now I gathered them by the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And I looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there. Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, El-Nathan, Jerob, El-Nathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Mishulim, leaders, also for Joirab and El-Nathan, men of understanding. And I gave them a command for Ito, the chief man at the place Cassafia.

And I told them what they should say to Ito and his brethren, the nethanim, at the place Cassafia, 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 Mali, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebaia, with his sons and brothers, 18 men, and Tashabiah, and with him, Jeshiah, of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty men. Also of the nethanim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty nethanim. All of them were designated by name. In Deuteronomy, we see something really amazing happen.

God chooses a man. God chooses a man to lead His people. God chooses a man to impart His laws to the people. And as we know, Moses is standing on this side of the Jordan and he can't enter into that promised land, he's left to gather the people together and to speak the things that God has spoken to him. To repeat all of the commands that God has spoken to him.

And also to speak of the things in God's heart towards His people. So now we get to the second discourse that Moses is giving to the people. This is the second speech. We get to chapter 5. God's having a discussion with Moses, and Moses is now recounting this discussion to the people as he's gathering them there.

And Moses speaking to the people says this of God about them. This is in Deuteronomy chapter 5. When you get to chapter 5, here's what you hear God saying to Moses. Oh, that they would have such a heart in them. That they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children forever.

Deuteronomy 5.29. I'm going to say it again. 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. Faith and love towards God has always been and always will be an issue of the heart. Faith and love towards God always has been and always will be an issue of the heart.

Faith and love towards God always has been and always will be an issue of the heart. An issue of your heart. An issue of all of those who say they love God, it always will be an issue of the heart. And when we see faithful and obedient hearts, we see the evidence of those faithful hearts how? How do we see the evidence of it?

It makes for action. It makes for feet that move in a direction according to the obedience and the love they have toward God. Because people have been moved, who have been moved by the love of God, march to this drumbeat. Are you ready? They march to this drum beat.

The things that matter to God really matter to me. The things that matter to God really matter to me. This was the fulfillment of Jesus Christ's life. He came to fulfill the will of the Father. How many times did we see when we read the New Testament, Jesus saying, I'm here to do the will of my Father.

I'm here to do the will of My Father. And He's here and He came when He was here and came, live in person. He was here to fulfill the commandments of God the Father. He was the fulfillment of the commands. Listen to this.

If you don't have time to turn, Mark this down. John 14, verse 21. We're going to come back to this. John 14, verse 21 says this, Christ speaking saying, He who has My commandments, make sure you're with me, He who has My commandments and keeps them. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves Me.

And He who loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him." The study that you're entering into today for those who are visiting is a study of Ezra. Ezra is such a man. Ezra is such a man who had such a heart in him. And he loved God so much that the things that matter to God really matter to Ezra.

And that's why the title that you see on your page, if you have your note page, says this. Ezra, Deuteronomy 529 man. Ezra is in fact a Deuteronomy 529 man. We're going to study what's happening here in our text, but you need to understand the background. We've got some visitors.

Where are we in the story? So to understand what's happening, you need to know the background. As is always the case when God says to His people, follow my commands and you will be blessed. When people refuse to follow the commands of God, they do so at their own peril. Such is the case of the story that we're in now.

Where the people of the Jews, the Israelites, have been dispersed. Conquering armies have come in and now we're under Persian government. You follow this in the story, We're under Persian government. The Jews and Israelites are dispersed because of the judgment of God. Godly men are confessing.

This is why we know why we're in this condition, because we've rejected the laws of God. And that's why we're here. And then God raises up, as He always does. He takes a remnant. He raised up Zerubbabel and Jeshua.

And they started to rebuild in Jerusalem the temple of God. They restore worship of God. And that's the beginning of the book of Ezra. That's where we are for those of you visiting. We're in the book of Ezra.

We're now in the eighth chapter. So you're entering into the middle of a story. And it's a story of God working in spite of man's rebellion. God takes a remnant and He begins the work of restoring worship to Him. And where we are now is where a second wave is being brought back to Jerusalem.

There's only one problem. It's a long way away from where they were dispersed. When I say dispersed, listen to me. Here's what I'm saying by dispersed. God judges them and they are scattered everywhere.

They're running for their lives. We have Assyrian kings, Babylonian kings, and now we have Persian kings. They're running for their lives. And now, enter into this piece of history where Ezra, a high priest of the tribe of Levi, he's leading a group of how many men? If you remember from last week, how many men essentially is he leading?

I'll help you. About 1, 500 men. What's our total population of people? What's the estimate? The total.

1, 500, roughly 1, 500 men. Our total population of people that Ezra's leading back in this second wave is anywhere from seven to 8, 000. Some say 6, 000. They try to do the math and project the number of women that you would expect, the number of children. So here we are.

Ezra's getting ready to lead them back on an extremely dangerous journey. So let's see if you can fill in the rest of the blanks. If you're visiting, you get a pass. But if you've been listening, you don't get a pass. Let's see if you get this right.

Where are these people departing from? Where are they departing from? If you heard me say it in the intro, and you know it, If you know it, say it quietly with confidence. It's Babylon. They're coming from Babylon.

Where in the world are they going? Where is Ezra taking them? I said it in the intro as well. Where are they going? You can say it.

I can see if you're saying it right. Where are they going? They're going to Jerusalem. That's exactly where they're going. Okay, how many miles is involved?

We know if it's, Jason said if it's, as the crow flies, it's how many miles? See if you can get A and B right on this one. It's about 500 miles as the crow flies, but these ain't no crows. These are people with feet. They don't have wings.

And so the path they have to take is a longer path. What's the estimate of the number of miles they have to travel? Come on, you know this. Now you said it very well. Very well done.

900 miles, That's exactly right. So this is a 900 mile journey we're about to embark on, but we ain't ready yet, as they like to say here in North Carolina. Is that proper, North Carolina? We ain't ready yet. In the story, they're not ready yet.

So we jump in the scene, and this is the text that we're coming to now, chapter 8, verses 15 through 20. Let's pray together before we go into this text. Father, we confess a great need. A need is for You to help us. God, I pray that these words would be words that You would bring to the hearts of those who have gathered today.

Some who love You, some who may not. I pray for every heart in this room. God, I pray for every soul that You would work the work of healing in souls today. That You would bring restoration to people's hearts and souls by the preaching of Your great and powerful Word. Amen.

So, back to our scene. We've got one big camping trip. A lot of campers. So, here's where we are in the scene. They're coming from the area of Babylon and we're now into our scene at the river Ahava.

Take your Bibles. Take your Bibles. Don't be afraid of it. We need it. Take your Bibles.

Turn to Ezra chapter eight, verse 15. You can see this text for yourself. See if I get my facts right. Correct me later if I don't. So we're at verse 15.

Chapter 8 verse 15. Now I gathered them by the river that flows to Ahava. Some say Ahava. And we camped there three days, and I looked among the people and the priests and found none of the sons of Levi." Now, let's get some more facts together about what we're dealing with. Nobody knows precisely, the commentators, none of them know exactly where Ahava is.

They know it must be, the text demands that it must be close to Babylon. So it's somewhere dumping into the Mesopotamia, close to Babylon, is what the estimates say. And most commentators agree. And here's what we have to do to try to figure out where we are in the story. In terms of the time frame, I said we've got a long camping journey.

So to figure out the math on this, I'm just going to go through a reminder of some of the texts that we've been through. Chapter 7 verse 9 says, on the first day they leave, the first day of the first month, and on the first day of the fifth month they arrive. So therefore, How long is this journey on foot? Audience, how long is the journey? They leave on the first day of the first month and arrive on the first day of the fifth month, do the math.

It's four months worth of journey. Now in verse 28, he says, Ezra's saying that I gather leading men of Israel. So he's gathering the leading men of Israel in verse 28 chapter 8 verse 15 in the beginning of our text He says specifically where he's gathering them. He says I'm gathering him at the river of Ahava There he discovers he's missing something we're going to talk about that It's the focus of our text verse 16 then it says he after three days sends leading men to Ito. I'm going to tell you who in the world Ito is, or the best guess of who Ito is, but that's after three days.

And then James' text next week will hear about fasting and how Ezra proclaimed to fast. And how long is the fast? How long is the fast? Those of you who know, it's three days worth of fast. And then it says in verse 31, the whole story that we're engaging in from Ahava to the departure to Jerusalem runs all the way to chapter 8 verse 31.

So when you guys come in as visitors, you're entering into a story that's happening right now, but the context runs all the way through verse 31 where it says on the 12th day they depart. So in verse 32, 832, they arrive in Jerusalem. So what about the beginning of our text here? What about verse 15? Where it says this again, Now I gathered them there by the river that flows to Ahava.

Take your pick. We were there three days. We had camped for three days. And I looked among the people and the priests and found none of the sons of Levi there. So Ezra's busy as a leader.

What is he doing? He's gathering people together. He's observing. He's paying very close attention to detail. Men, you ought to be on alert today because there's a lot for us in Ezra's example.

All of us. But men in particular, be on alert today. Ezra's on alert. He's looking at every detail. He's looking through the lens of God Himself because we already know what the Scripture says.

That He loved God and He loved the laws of God. So now He's paying close attention to detail as these people are coming. Now, you must understand that Ahab is a rendezvous point and as they're coming out He's observing those that are coming and he's paying a close attention to detail. The question is this What is motivating Ezra? What's motivating Ezra?

I mean he's gathering, he's observing everybody who comes. He's paying close attention to detail. This man's really leading. Well, let's see. Chapter 7.

Look back at chapter 7. Look at verse 10. Let your eyes see chapter 7, verse 10. For Ezra had done this work in advance. He prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

And because Ezra had done those three things, he prepared his heart to do what? To seek, to do, and to teach. If you remember, you weren't with us, but we read the king's letter that Ezra got back. Ezra remembers in Babylon he's serving Artaxerxes the king. The problem is, as he's serving the king, he's not just free to go.

So what does he do? He makes requests of the king. And in chapter 7, it lays out these details. You have to see some of these details to understand what Ezra's doing now at the river Ahava. So let's look at a couple of these details.

Look at verses 15. This is chapter 7, verses 15 through 20. This is the letter that comes back from Artaxerxes, the king, to Ezra. Make sure you're following this. You've got to see this.

You're not going to understand today's text unless you understand this letter and then Ezra's response. So, if you begin in verse 15, let's look at verse 15. And whereas you, Ezra, this is from Artaxerxes, Whereas you, Ezra, are to carry the silver and the gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem. And whereas all the silver and gold that you may find along the province of Babylon, along with the free will offering of the people and the priests that are to be freely offered to the house of their God in Jerusalem. Now therefore, be careful to buy with this money the bowls that are needed, the rams that are needed, the lambs that are needed, and all the offerings.

So it continues and goes on. Look at verse 19. All the articles that are given to you for the service of the house of your God deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. And whatever more, verse 20, may be needed for the house of your God with which you have occasion to provide, pay for it from the king's treasury. Now look at verse 25.

Gotta see this, look at verse 25. And you, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are in the river beyond the river, all such as know the laws of your God, and teach those who do not know them." Hey, this is a big marching order, you guys. You have to understand when Ezra gets this letter back from the king, his response is, oh, the good hand of God is upon us. But now he's got some serious work to do. Because what the king gave him permission to do, Ezra as a man of God is going to utilize every resource at his disposal.

And now as he's gathering the people, he has the letter in hand from Artaxerxes, magistrates, articles, gold, silver, and he's looking at all the people that are coming. The order from this king of kings, as Ezra likes to call himself, small k, he gets the marching order from the small k king of kings, but He's not willing to do anything and move forward until he understands how to fulfill the laws of his great, capital K, King of Kings. Did you follow that? Ezra's not willing to do anything. He stops the presses.

Why? In his observation of everyone coming to Ahava, there's something vital missing. Something critical is missing. And if you don't understand this, you don't understand any of Ezra's motivation of why he's doing what he's doing. We told you first it's because of his law of God.

His love for the law of God. Even the king says you're an expert in the law of God. And we know his heart's motivated to please God. So there's something missing from the law of God. What is it?

Well, the text tells us. What the text tells us. I'm sure I'm looking at the right text and turn my page. And I looked among the people, this is verse 15 still, and I looked among the people and the priests and found that none of the sons of Levi were there. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. He says there's priests that are there, right? He looks and he sees people and priests. Now if you're like me, anytime you would read that in the Scriptures, you would say, you would read priests and Levites. But aren't the priests Levites?

So I know I never understood this like I understand it now. And if you don't understand what Ezra is doing, he sees priests who are Levites, but yet he says, there's no Levites. What's the disconnect? Do you know the disconnect? Let's discover this.

What is the disconnect? Time out, he calls. Stop. Stop the presses. Don't anybody move.

I know we're camping. There's seven or eight thousand of us here. It's probably hot. Who knows? They're traveling.

They're already three days into this thing and he says, time out. We're not going anywhere. There are no Levites. You figure there's got to be somebody in the group that says, come on Ezra, let's just move on out. No.

No. There's no Levites. We aren't going anywhere without Levites. Why? Because the things that matter to God really matter to Ezra.

Really matter to Ezra. And God gave very specific instruction to all the Levites. And in order for you to understand this, we've got to do some history right now. Let's do some history work. You ready to do some history?

Okay, numbers. Turn to Numbers chapter 3. Let's do a little history lesson together. Numbers 3, I want you to turn to verse 5. You have to understand this about the Levites.

Because there were Levites there. There were priests who were Levites that were there. But what Ezra is looking for is something altogether different. Why? Look at Numbers 3 verse 5.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. And they shall attend to the needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. Also, they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel to do the work of the tabernacle. Also, they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting and to the needs of the children of Israel to do the work of the tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons.

They are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel. So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to the priesthood, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death." Now skip down to verse 14. Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi by their father's houses, by their families. You shall number every male from a month old and above. So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord as he was commanded.

Listen carefully. Look at verse 17. These were the sons of Levi, by their names Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Say them with me quietly. It's Gershon, Kohath, and Morari.

I think I'm pronouncing them correct. If you do history in a research on Aaron and Moses, who's their father? It's Amram. Who's Amram's father? Kohath.

The high priestly line, the priests were to be of the Levitical line defined through Kohath and his sons. But Levi had two other sons. What were they again? Hopefully I can remember them. It's Gershon and Merari.

So we had Kohan, the priestly line, or Kohath, the priestly line, Gershon and Merari. God specifically changes tactics when he says, instead of Aaron's sons, now I choose the Levites. So when he's leading them into Sinai and setting up the tabernacle, you have to understand this. God sets all the tribes around the tabernacle, but He specifically assigns the location of where He wants the tribes of Levi. On the east side of the tabernacle, He wants Moses, Aaron, and the high priests that are serving to go into the most holy of holies.

On the south side, the rest of the Kohathites to be on the south side. The Gershonites are to be encamped on the west side. So all the rest of the families of Israel, all the rest of the families are surrounding them, and the Levites are on the inside closest to the tabernacle ministering there. And when you read Nehemiah, or not Nehemiah, numbers you understand that God prescribes specific locations where they're to go. I didn't finish by telling you that the Mararites got the north.

So the Mararites are on the north. Quick review, Gershonites on the west. I don't know if I can do it like Jason did. I have to turn this way backwards. I haven't mastered the way to be ninja-esque like he was.

So The Gershonites are on the west, Kohathites on the south, and Mara'ites on the north. So this is the way God establishes worship of Him. Why does it matter? Because God said so. And it was His prerogative.

He's holy. And When He prescribes a pattern to serve Him, He does it in a way that's holy. Some people get this and care about that, and some don't. Nadab and Abihu, for example. God prescribes exactly how it is to put the incense offering together to give it to God.

Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, just offer what we've got. Let's go. Come on, we're ready to go. Here it is, God. Up in smoke, God destroys them immediately because they approach the holiness of God with carelessness.

Korah? Korah's rebellion? A little reminder for Korah? Here's Korah's problem. Who made you bosses over us, Moses and Aaron?

He gathers even Rubenites. Korah, ignoring the law, structure, and order of God, could care less. He gathers Rubenites and other tribes that aren't even Kohathites. That aren't even of the tribe of Kohath, the high priest. Korah doesn't care.

Korah gathers them. Alright, fine. I'll bring my incense and see what happens. And we saw what happened. A holy God dealt with Korah and his rebellion.

Korah's whole problem was No one's going to lord over me, and I don't care what the law of God says. Who made you rule over us, Moses and Aaron? Well, God did. And God dealt with him. Well guess what?

The man of our focus and study is Ezra, and he is no Nadab. And he is no Abihu. And he is certainly no Korah. He cares greatly about the law of God he is a Deuteronomy 529 man the things that matter to God really matter to him here some observations before we move on to the rest of the text. If you see something that's out of order, God's order, if it's out of God's order, does it really matter to you?

Does it really matter? It should matter to you. So much so that it motivates you to action. Ezra is holding up the whole crowd because he sees something critical is missing. And he springs to action.

This is what godly men do. They see something that's wrong. They see something out of line and they spring to action. Godly men don't sit back and bite their nails. Oh, there's no Levites.

What do I do? Somebody help! Godly men don't act like that. Godly men rise to the occasion. They deal with the needs of what's happening.

They care about the law of God. And they're not going to move forward until they fulfill God's requirement. And they're not careless. Godly men aren't careless. I have been so careless in my life.

Come on kids, jump in the car. Let's just go. Come on, let's just move ahead. Let's go do this spiritually for the Lord without making adequate preparations and taking the time to care about the things that God cares about. Godly men don't do that.

They don't figure it out on the way. The Levites, they'll catch up with us. Maybe we'll find them when we get there. Maybe when we're halfway there. You guys have been waiting a long time, we better just go.

It's hot. You have to fan yourself. It's hot. Let's just go ahead and start marching on our way to Jerusalem. No!

There's no Levites. We're not going. They man up. They figure out the problem. Fathers and mothers, Please listen to what I'm going to say to you right now.

If you let your sons, I'm not talking about your two year old, your eight year old, ten year old, twelve year old as he's developing toward manhood, If you let him practice being a quitter when things get hard under his own roof. If you let him practice being a quitter when things get hard, when that math problem is just too hard, when that yard work is just a little too hard, I'm not sure how to figure this thing out. It's okay. Yet you expect him to grow to be a man that's a warrior for Jesus Christ in the gates of the city. How do you expect that man to be a warrior at the gates?

Oh, There's counter protesters at the clinic. What do we do? We better leave. We have opposition. Godly men don't do that.

Fathers and mothers, you must train your boys to be men with humility, yes. But men who can stand in the gates. Bring those kids out to that clinic. Let them see what's going on. Train them for war.

This is war. Because God cares about every baby and every soul. God cares. And so should we. Don't stand in the background.

Stand up. Like Ezra did. Because the things that matter to God really matter to him. Now let's look specifically at how Ezra handled what was before him. Let's look at verses 16 and 17.

Hold on, I'm back in numbers. I've got to get back to Ezra. Verse 16. Then I sent to Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, El-Nathan, Cherub, El-Nathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshalim, leaders, also for Joyrib, and El-Nathan, men of understanding. And I gave them a command for Ito, the chief man at the place Cassiphia, and I told them what they should say to Ito and his brethren the Nethanim at the place Cassiphia that they should bring us servants for the house of our God.

So Ezra does three things. He sends for, he gives a command, he even tells them what to say. He sends for, he gives a command, and he tells them what they should say. So we see the first thing that happens in the sent for. In the sent for section in verse 16 we get the names of these men who are leaders.

These are men of understanding. It begs this question of all of us now. We'll talk about this more in applications. What kind of man or woman are you when you seek people of understanding or when you face situations of conflict or difficulty? What do you do?

Ezra went to leaders, men of understanding. Ezra is not a Rehoboam. He's not a Rehoboam who goes to the counselors, his father's counselors, and rejects his father's counselors to take the counsel of his peers." We laugh at that idea, but that's in a lot of our hearts. We'll talk about this more in applications. This is not what Ezra does.

Ezra, no, goes to men of understanding. He sends for them. Jameson Fawcett Brown says it this way. He says, Ezra sent this deputation, like deputies, either by virtue of authority, which by his priestly character he had over the Levites, or of the royal commission that he was holding from Artaxerxes. The deputation was dispatched, and it was dispatched to Ito, who was a prince or chief of the Nethinims.

Ito's influence obviously generates a tremendous response. All commentators agree on this. Under Persian government, the Persian government would give great liberty and freedom for you and your religion to exercise the authority of that religion within its context to set up the laws and the government. So we have every indication that though the Jews were exiled under Persian control, they were still allowed to maintain their level of consistency with ecclesiological government and with a place that we have here in the text called Kassiphia. Kassiphia is much like Ahava or Heva.

Kassiphia is a place that nobody knows specifically where it's at. The text demands from us that we understand it's got to be close to Babylon, because they're there three days before Ezra realizes we're missing. So now he sends for these men. So it's got to be close enough that he sends for them and it certainly makes sense before he sets out on the journey that he's going to be sending. So, Cassiphia is believed to be close to Babylon as well.

Here's what Matthew Henry says, I kind of like some of the verbids that Henry uses here. He speculates a little bit, but it's Henry, you can get away with it. Here's what Henry says, of their being sent, Ezra sent them to a proper place where there's a College of Levites. He calls it a college. A College of Levites, this place, Cassiphia, probably a street or a square in Babylon, he sent them to a proper person, namely, Ito, the chief president of the college, not to urge him to come himself.

This is where Henry speculates and says, perhaps he will suppose him to be old and unfit for such a remove, but instead to send juniors, ministers, of the house of our God. That's the first thing Ezra sends Ezra sends forth and he sends a command. This is the second thing we see we see that Ezra is giving a command Seriously this is the day we live in, and I'm going to talk about this more in applications too, but hey, you try this today, even in Christianity today, you try to send somebody with a command, You tell them where to go, what to do, and you tell them what to say. Try that in our day. Tell somebody where to go, what to do, and what to say.

You even try that with some of these young Christians in this room. You know what's in your heart. We're going to talk about this a little bit more. But this is exactly what godly leadership does. He gives this command.

Godly men are different than worldly men. Because they understand something about the order. They understand something about the command. They understand who's giving it. They don't balk.

Godly men don't balk at receiving instruction. They don't bristle. I don't want to be governed by anybody. I'm not going to listen to this command. They don't do that.

No, they receive instruction. They receive it. They receive it from the source of the instruction. Did you hear me? They receive it because they recognize the source of the instruction.

They receive it and they love it because they've proven patterns of faithfulness where they love the things that God loves. Godly men receive godly instruction. And godly authorities like Ezra don't lord it over. This is not Ezra saying, I command you to come over here right now! With an iron fist that demands obedience to Him.

Ezra understands that He's subject. He's subject to a holy God. And with great humility, He can instruct and He can give commands. Because He knows that it ain't about Him. North Carolinian.

It ain't about Him. It's about the one who sent Him to give these instructions. We'll talk about this more. Now, let's look at the results that Ezra gets. This is really, really, really cool.

Look at verse 18. 19 and 20 with me. Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, They brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Molly, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely, Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men, and Hashabiah, and with him, and Hashabiah, and with him, Jeshiah of the sons of Morari. Names sound familiar? OK.

His brothers and their sons, 20 men, also of the nethanim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites. Two hundred and twenty Nethanym, all of them were designated by name." So Ezra sends commands, instructs. The instruction is followed obviously so well because the recruiting process is like, it's unbelievable. The recruiting process is amazing. They send forth these men to Ito.

Ito has some kind of gathering, a college as Henry calls it, where all these men are there, ready to go. And we see here, Sherebiah, sons and brothers, eighteen men. Sherebiah, who was the son of Molly. You know who Molly is? Molly is the son of Morari.

You know what line that is? We remember we have Kohathites the priests, we have Mararites, and we have Gershonites. So we see here that this is clearly exactly what Ezra asked for. Here comes the Levites. So here comes men of Mali and men of Merari.

Now we have a total of, do the math, looks like about 38 men. God pours forth results. And here, verse 20, we see the nethonym come pouring out. The nethonym, the definition of nethonym, all we have in the text of scripture, some commentators believe this was the Gibeonites. Because we see in Joshua, I think it's 921.

Yes, it's 921. In Joshua, David appoints the Gibeonites to be servants of the servants. So what you have in nethonym, essentially it means servants of servants. So not only you have the Levites of Gershon and Morari, who are servants to the Kohathites in the specific things they're assigned by God. But now we have the nethonym who are joining in as well.

Anyway, we have all these servants that are going. Ezra says in verse 18, I think one of the critical things in our text that we have to understand. He says, according to the good hand of our God upon us. Remember when he said this before? He said this right after he got the letter from the king.

Here's a man who understands. It's a godly man who understands godly authority and when he uses it, God produces godly responses. And now here comes a wave. God sends a wave of 258 willing servants. Men who are perhaps sitting there one day under the tutelage of Ido.

And here comes a knock on the door. It's Eliezer and the boys. We made a three-day journey. We have a command from Ezra. Ezra says this, and the men perhaps listening, crowd maybe, I don't know, probably bigger than this.

Well, it was bigger than this. We had 258 willing people. There's a lot of people there. So he says, I'm here on behalf of Ezra. God is creating something in Jerusalem.

They've reestablished the temple. His worship's being rebuilt. Who's with me? 258 of them in the crowd. Send me.

Send me. No cell phone. No car. No air conditioning. No problem.

Send me, I'll go. Send me, I'll go. Send me. Tell Ezra, I'm first in line. I'll go.

258 willing servants. 900 miles. Dangerous terrain. How dangerous? So dangerous that next week if you come back, you'll see in James' text that they are going to fast for three days and cry out to God.

That's how dangerous. Because he was ashamed to request of the king, an escort of soldiers and horsemen. He was willing to trust God in this journey. Holy, trust God in His journey. Why?

Because what mattered to Ezra is what matters to God. What mattered to the 258 men sitting in their college class or whatever it was, we don't know. Send me, I'll go. Restore the worship of my King, whom I love. Actually see His laws again being established in a place of worship again?

Could it be so? Could it be so that God would do this? Send me! Send me, Eliezer! Tell Ezra I'm on the way now!

That's my God! And what matters to Him matters to me. So let's bring this to a close. What's the theme of what we see running through this text? I think there's a couple of them.

I think the major theme is that the good hand of God is on those who love Him. Those who care about the things that He cares about. His good hand is upon them. He cares about you. He cares about you.

You may still be God rejecting. You may still be God hating. But He cares for you. God's hand was upon Ezra and these men. Do you want to hear the contrast?

We're going to make time for this. Genesis 4. Look here with me. Genesis 4. Let your eyes.

That's why it's so important you pick up your Bibles. Because your eyes have to see what God Himself has instructed. So Genesis chapter 4 begins this way. Now Adam knew Eve and his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord, and she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Oh listen, listen carefully. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.

You ever get anger, angered or angry when your countenance falls? Listen to God's response. Verse 7. If you do well, Cain, if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, or if you do not do well, Sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you.

But you should rule over it. And we know the rest of the story. We see that indeed sin was camping at his door. And with all of his anger, with all of Cain's bitterness toward God, you didn't accept my offering, God. It's your fault!

Coveting his brother Abel in the favor of God. Rather than repenting himself, he takes his own brother's life. He who cares about the things of God cares about how He does. Cain did not care. And God dealt with his lack of care.

What Ezra does, the 258 men who joined, as well as the volunteer army of 7, 000 to 8, 000 people volunteering 900 miles, They really cared about what mattered to God because it mattered to them. Before I get to applications, here's the question I have for you. Is there such a heart in you? You can convince me by doing some outer things and perhaps you have me convinced that there is such a heart in you. But does he see such a heart in you?

Does he see what he saw in Ezra? Do you believe now that Ezra was a Deuteronomy 529 man? I sure do. Applications, I've got 37. Making sure you're awake.

OK, I don't have 37. I only have six. What about you? What about you? Ezra prepares leaders.

Leaders prepare. Leaders care to prepare. The question then, application number one, what in the world are you preparing for? What are you preparing for? If you're here today, you're one of two people.

Let me, make sure I've got you on this. Listen closely. Listen, don't miss this. If you're here today, you're one of two people. Make sure I've got you on this.

Listen closely. Listen, don't miss this. If you're here today, you're one of two people. One who's been made to care by the hand of God, and you love God and you love His commands or you're a pretender, you're a fake, you're a fraud. You've just got other people convinced and you're a fraud.

Or you know your heart isn't right with God and you've yet to repent, you've yet to turn to Him. Well, I want to make this urgent plea to you. Of all the preparations you can make, this is under application one, what are you preparing for? The most important preparation you can ever make is the preparation of your soul. Your soul.

You have a soul that will live eternally. Repeat that with me. Eternally. Do I have you kids? Do you get this?

You guys think you have forever. We often think we have so long. Your eternity could start this afternoon. We left last week to a drunk driver swerving all over the road Sunday afternoon, almost taking people out head on. I'm not making this up.

Ask Allie, she was driving. We were two cars behind, a guy literally going all four wheels on the left side of the double yellow down Tarboro Road. I'm not kidding. You've got to be kidding. I mean, where's two cars behind?

And our hearts are, what is he doing? Oh my goodness, this is either a five-year-old driving that car, or this guy is so stone drunk. Oh my goodness, what in the world? And there's cars coming the other way. And I know a car is going to be taken out head on by this guy.

And it could be one of you guys, one of my church family. That's what I'm thinking as I'm driving behind this guy. Somebody's going to die. There's big, you drive down Tarboro, there's some big blind curves. There's a truck, a black truck coming around.

He almost runs them off the road. He has to literally go off the road to avoid this drunk. How do you know that's not you today? How do you know that's not you? So application number one, are you prepared for eternity?

You could be meeting your Maker today. Don't meet Him without knowing Him and His Son. We'll talk about that in a second. What about preparation to serve? Are you ready to go?

Men, you've come here. We've got interns here today. You guys have come here to make great preparations. Praise God. Are you ready?

Fathers, mothers, are we preparing our children to be ready? For what? I don't know. The Lord does. Are you ready to go if he calls you?

Are you ready to travel to South Dakota? Take on some blizzards. They've got a car with air conditioning. So they're 900 miles. It's 860.

It's almost the same. Or no, it's more than that. It's like 1, 600. About twice as far. But they've got a car.

So it would be a little different for them. But are you ready to go? Can you be counted on? Are you the young person in this room right now? Can you be trusted?

If it was you sitting in Kassifia that day, Ito is doing instruction, could you have been an Eliezer that Ezra could have turned to and said, listen to me, make eye contact with me now. I'm sending you to say this to them. This is what I'm asking you to say. Do you have this? I mean this is critical.

We're going back to worship God in Jerusalem. The details matter. Look in my eyes. Do I got you Eliezer? Do I got you boys?

When you go over to meet with Ido, this is exactly what I want you to say. Can you be trusted like that? Does somebody give you an instruction? If you're like me, I know I've been like this. I'm five minutes away.

What in the world do you say? Confession. But are you like that? Godly men shouldn't be like that. Godly women shouldn't be like that.

You should be trustworthy. You must be trustworthy. And like Ezra, you must deal, Godly leaders must deal with trustworthy men. How do you handle conflict? Application number two.

How do you handle conflict? You know why it matters How you handle conflict? Like everything else, because it matters to God how you do it. When you're in a situation of conflict, like Ezra was, who do you seek? We touched on this briefly.

Who do you seek? Hey, I've got Christian friends of mine in the past. I called up Joe. I asked Joe, well, who's Joe? Well, he's my friend from high school.

Does he know the good laws of God? Did he counsel you in the... Where did you get that idea? Why are you doing it? Well, Susie said so.

Who in the world is Susie? Does she know the law of God? Does she counsel you in accordance with the laws of God? When God judges you for what you just did. It ain't gonna be Susie.

He'll deal with her in his time. But he's gonna hold you accountable, not to Susie's counsel, but to his. What kind of counsel do you go to? Praise God, he's raised up godly counselors around us. I tremble to get up here and teach these brothers because these brothers know stuff.

I'm not pulling the wool over anybody's eyes in this place and I thank God for that. You've got to study your tail off. You've got to come prepared. That's because of you guys are prepared. And I've got godly counselors all around me and I thank God for that.

He's raised up a Dan Horn, a Scott Brown, a Jason Dome, men of understanding, men that we should seek. You start making your plans without their counsel, you do so to your own hurt. That's foolish. You don't use, not because it's Dan Horn, Jason Dome, or Scott Brown. It's because God has appointed them.

God has lavished on them his goodness, his wisdom. And you know they're going to instruct you here, not here. Oh, I've got another hour to go. Making sure you're not asleep. How do you handle conflict?

Do, point three. Do you love the commands of God? Do you love the commands of God? Do you love the commands of God? Let's see how you do.

Let's take a couple of these, okay? A little litmus test for you today. Children, I want to see your eyes right now. All of you. I want to see your eyes.

Don't you try to hide. Don't you play the shy game. That's just an excuse. And you know that your parents are not being honest enough to tell you that. If they aren't telling you that.

Don't Be shy. Look at me. Do you honor thy father and mother? Do you love the commands of God? Do you honor that the good hand of God has given you a mom and a dad?

He's orchestrated this from heaven. They are imperfect people. They sin. But God Himself has appointed them. Do you see them as you should?

That the hand of God is the one that put them in your life? Do you take their counsel? Do you honor them? Or are you like I've seen in my own heart or some of my own children at times? Okay, Dad.

Okay, Mom. Or walking away murmuring. She's always calling me to do something else for him. Get this, get this, get that. I'm like a puppet.

You laugh. You laugh because I'm being a little silly. But that is the heartbeat of Cain. That is the heartbeat of Cain. You better see that now and you better repent.

God is kind to you to give you a mother and father who are imperfect. You'll never find perfect ones. You'll never find perfect elders. How do you honor thy mother and father? Ezra couldn't send commands through people that weren't people who honored and loved God's authority.

God's authority is a beautiful thing. It protects you, it guides you. It's good hands upon you when you seek that authority, and you love it. Children, do you love your mother and father? Are you lying to them?

Are you a liar? Are you a liar? You lie to me all you want. You can fool me all day long. You lie to your parents all day long.

Do it at your own risk. Do it at your own peril. There's a God who's holy who sees everything that you do. And He's holy. And He cares about what you do.

In private, You know what I'm talking about. And in the choices that you make, how do you follow the commands of God? Do you lie? Do you lie to your neighbor? We could go on all day about the commands of God.

We won't. Husbands and wives. Do you understand what Christ has given to you? Do you understand the commands? Do you read the Scriptures to find your marching orders from Christ?

Then so that He says, you are to live with your wife with understanding. I've been a miserable failure. I'm getting better by the grace of God. Do you do that? Do you live with your wife with understanding in some of the emotional turmoils and challenges?

Are you man enough to handle that? Or do you tuck your tail and run? Let me tell you, you tuck your tail and run. Who are you running from? Let me tell you who you're running from.

It's Him. Ladies, do you understand God's commands and the beauty of His commands and the blessing upon you when you honor that husband. Not because he's worthy of that honor. That's not the point. But because God Himself has put him in that position.

And because you love God so much, what matters to God matters to you, ladies. And you're willing to love that husband of yours in spite of his sin. You're willing to pour grace upon him in spite of his sin because you love your God. Oh, I better close quick now. Turn to Matthew 721.

Why does all this matter? Why does Ezra care about every single detail that matters to God? Let's look at what Christ said in Matthew 7.21. It's one of the most frightening things in all of Scripture to me. And because I care, listen to me, I care about you.

I care about your soul. I want to praise God forever with all of you. There's likely pretenders in this room. There's a lot of us here as likely pretenders in the room. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied and we not prophesied in your name and we've cast out demons in your name, and we've done all these wonders in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. Catch the rest of this. You have to catch the rest of this. You who practiced what?

What? What did they practice? Lawlessness. The commands of God. You acted as though they never existed.

You say that you love me. You can't even love your wife. You say that you love me. You can't even love your husband. You say that you love me.

You can't even honor your mother and father. And these are commands that I gave you to follow. And you say you love me? You say you love Me and this is your offering to Me? That rebellious heart of yours?

Don't fool yourself. If this is what's in your heart, there's a good chance you don't know. You don't know Christ. And there's a good chance if your dying day is today, these words apply to you. I hate that thought.

You've got me convinced. Sure, Billy saved. Whoa, he looks like he saved. Great, I'm convinced. Jim's convinced.

Pull that card out before a holy God. Jim's convinced them, save God isn't that good enough. Goodbye! Good riddance! You practiced lawlessness.

Your heart proved that you didn't love me. Your heart showed the evidence of your feet. It showed it. You never loved me. You're a fake and a fraud.

If that's you today, what do you do? You do the very thing that He calls us all to do, to repent and to turn, to seek his forgiveness. And then you join him as ambassadors, carrying forth his glory. So as we started, I'm going to finish. And I'm only a minute over, so we've got a couple minutes.

Let's end where we began, Close to where we began. And then we'll get to where we began. John 14, 21. Look at it again. Look at it again.

Look at it again. And again, and again, and again. John 14, 21. You must ask yourself this question. Ask your soul this question right now.

Is this true of me? Ask yourself right now. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and manifest Myself to Him." God, listen to me, God manifest Himself amazingly to Ezra. That's the whole heartbeat of this story.

Ezra's faithfulness and love toward God resulted in God producing glory for Himself through Ezra's life and obedience. Let's pray. Oh Father God, we need help from heaven. God, I pray for every soul in this room. Souls that know You and souls that don't.

For souls that don't, where they are, sitting in their seat, they would see the way you see that they're guilty, that they need forgiveness, and they would repent, God. And those who have been made whole by Jesus Christ on the cross and His blood, that you would do a work in their heart to see areas, myself included, Lord, Areas of my life that are out of order. Where there are no Levites. The symbol of the things that mattered to Ezra. That he fulfilled because he loved you.

Help us now as we take time for additional teaching that you would lead men to be bold. That you would stand and speak things to correct, to instruct, to edify. Thank you for this time. We love you Lord in Jesus name amen