The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Finishing and Dedicating the House of God,' discusses the completion and dedication of the temple as described in the book of Ezra. It begins with King Cyrus's decree that allowed the Israelites to return from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple, highlighting God's faithfulness over the 25 years it took to complete the work. The speaker emphasizes that the narrative in Ezra is unique as it is purely historical, detailing how God used foreign kings like Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes as instruments for His purposes. The sermon underscores the importance of diligent obedience to God's word, as seen through the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, which led to the successful completion of the temple in record time. The concept of God's sovereignty is reinforced, illustrating that even powerful earthly kings are merely tools in God's hands. Dohm also addresses the significance of the sacrifices made during the temple's dedication, comparing them to the larger sacrifices of Solomon's time, and notes that the people's obedience and dedication, even with fewer resources, were pleasing to God. The sermon concludes with five key lessons, emphasizing that kingdom work prospers through obedience, God's control over earthly rulers, His preference for working through small, faithful groups, and the necessity of joyful worship. Ultimately, it is only through Jesus Christ that our work and offerings are made acceptable to God.

The title of the sermon this morning is finishing and dedicating the house of God. It's sort of a boring title, but those are the two main things in our text. The Lord's people are given grace to finish the work that God had given them to do. So the temple is completed and then they take a good measure to dedicate it to the service of the Lord. This all began at the very beginning of the book of Ezra in Ezra chapter 1 verse 2 as as King Cyrus makes his decree King Cyrus says that the God of heaven had commanded him to build a house at Jerusalem And so King Cyrus let the Lord's people return from their 70 years of captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem to do this work, this work that God had commanded Cyrus to do.

And this all began, Cyrus came to power, became king of Persia in 539 BC, 539 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. And now It's finished probably in the year 515 or 516 BC, so it's been 25 or 24 or 25 years since Cyrus gave the decree so that the Lord's people could return from captivity. So in this 25 years, God has faithfully sustained his people and now they are finishing the work and dedicating the temple. As we go to the text, let's begin with prayer. Our God, I thank you that you govern all things, that all things are happening according to your will, according to your purposes, according to what was in your mind before you ever brought the world into existence.

And now God is your people, I pray that you would help us to look only to you for the building of your church, knowing that you work in and through all things for the good of those who love you, the called according to your purpose. And that our hope would not be in anything on this earth, but that we would have this unshakable confidence that it is you who build your church. We would look to you in faith. Oh God help this text accomplish this in our hearts in Jesus name amen. So I want to begin with a just a simple explanation of the text.

Our text today is a little unusual in that it is 100% narrative. It's all narrative, all an account of historical events. So there's no dialogue, There's no speaking between people or groups of people and there's no teaching per se, there's no doctrine, at least not in the normal form, but it's an account of history of how God has worked in and through his people. At the end of his decree, we were studying the decree of King Darius in the beginning of this chapter, leading up to today's text. So at the very end of King Darius's decree, he encourages diligent obedience.

And he encourages it by saying if you're not diligent and if you're not obedient, a plank is to be taken from your home and you should it should be erected and you should be impaled on it. Well, that encourages diligent obedience. And so Tatni and Shefnar Bosni, Shefnar Bosni and their companions accepted the encouragement. They passed the intelligence test. And so they obeyed diligently and they obeyed immediately.

Now what does that mean? According to the decree of King Darius, it means that they let the work alone. It means that they stayed out of the hair of the Lord's people and let them do the building. It means that they didn't participate in the work, which is very important. This was a work that the Lord's people, and only the Lord's people, were to engage in.

So, these foreign people didn't participate in the work. It means that they collected taxes from their region and funded the work. So they weren't allowed to interfere with the work in any way, and they weren't allowed to participate in the work in any way, and yet they were to do certain things, which is to collect taxes from the region and provide the funds for the building of the temple. And it means that they supplied whatever things the priest requested for the daily offerings. So there was going to be ongoing provision from these people who inhabited Samaria in the region beyond the river for the Lord's people.

All those things were wrapped up in the decree of King Darius and they attended to these things diligently and that was to their benefit. So the elders led the people, that's what our text says, the elders led the people and they prospered through the word of the Lord. Meaning that God raised up prophets Haggai and Zechariah to speak his word to the people and they heard and they obeyed and they prospered. God gave them success in the work because they gave attention to God's word. Because of this, because the work prospered in the sixth year of King Darius, they complete the temple.

Four years. We learn in the book of Haggai that Haggai began prophesying in the second year of King Darius. And now our text today says the temple is completed in the sixth year. So it's simple math. It's four years, and the temple is finished really in record time.

And this was in obedience to the command of God. That's what our text today says. That everything flows from the command of God and the command of God was then supported by the commands of these three kings, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. Now, why Artaxerxes? It's sort of strange that he should be mentioned here because the time of the completing of the temple is the time of Darius and Artaxerxes is the next king and so it's going to be many years until Artaxerxes is even on the scene.

So since the topic is about the completing of the temple it would seem like it would be Cyrus and Darius and it would be limited to Cyrus and Darius. They both make sense. Cyrus gave the first decree that the captives could return to build the temple. And then Darius discovered the command of Cyrus, and he reaffirmed the command of Cyrus and he provided for the protection and support of building the temple. But why art exerxes?

I want to give you two reasons why Ezra puts art exerxes in with Cyrus and Darius. Number one, thinking back to chapter four, so thinking back a couple of chapters, chapter four was a detour that took us out of the present and showed us a century. That's what chapter four was. It's a detour that backs up and shows us the century well into the future from where we were in the text up to that time. And it was a century of relentless spiritual opposition.

It's a clash, it's a hundred years of a clash of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy of God, the devil. And so chapter four was Ezra showing us this hundred years of relentless spiritual opposition. And now Ezra is showing us a century of the favor of God. Okay, it's a contrast to what chapter 4 is. He's showing us that God stirs up kings to support and protect his people across a century.

So in chapter 4 you have a hundred years of relentless spiritual opposition but now in chapter six Ezra is showing us a hundred years of the favor of God of God moving kings to protect and support the work that he had given his people to do. And it's the same century. It's the same hundred years. You say, How can this be? No, this is how it always is.

God permits his people to be challenged, to be attacked, for opposition to come relentlessly against his people and in the middle of it all he's sustaining his people. So chapter 4 is a hundred years of opposition and chapter 6 is a hundred years of favor and it's the same hundred years Because God actually uses this opposition to bring his people along, to bring them to maturity. And this is what we should expect. Every time there's opposition to the work of God in our lives, in our church, in our nation, we should expect to see, we will see, because we serve a faithful promise-keeping God, we will see right along with the opposition, we'll see favor. We'll see Him sustaining us.

The same period of time, relentless opposition and the favor of God right alongside it sustaining us, causing us to be able to endure it, to persevere it, and even to flourish right in the middle of the opposition. So that's number one. That's why Art Exerxes is here because it's being set alongside us chapter four to show us that while there was a century, a hundred years of opposition, at the same time there was a hundred years of the faithfulness of a promise keeping God. Second reason, Ezra is setting us up for what follows. So far we have seen our exerxes once and he's actually hindering the people of God.

But now we're coming into a new time where God is actually going to turn the heart of our exerxes from opposition to protection and help. And Ezra is setting the table for that. We're leaving the time of Zerubbabel in the first wave coming back from captivity and we're entering the time of the second wave returning from captivity with Ezra. So this is it. Chapter 6 is it.

The first wave is chapters 1 through 6 and Ezra is bringing it to a close and he's introducing us into the next wave of captives coming back from Babylon to serve God in Jerusalem. So then the temple's done and they dedicate the temple and its celebration and its joy. And there are sacrifices. There is the killing of 712 animals. That's the count.

That's the math. 712. 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and 12 male goats. Sounds like a lot. 712 animals sacrificed for the dedication of the temple.

That is nothing. If you go to 1 Kings 8 or if you go to 2 Chronicles 6 and 7, both of those record the dedication of the first temple, the temple that Solomon led the building of. You find the sacrifice of 142, 000 animals. This is nothing. So the first temple is completed, is dedicated, and there's the sacrifice of 142, 000 animals.

Now the second temple is completed and dedicated. And there's only 712 sacrificed. You don't get anything, you don't get anything in our text today, but that God took pleasure in what's happening, that God was pleased. You have obedience, and you have the prospering of the work, and you have the people who are celebrating the goodness and the faithfulness of God, and there's no hint that this much smaller number, 1, 200, okay, in Solomon's dedication to the temple, there are 200 times the animals sacrificed. For every animal sacrificed now in the time of Zerubbabel, There were 200 sacrificed in the time of Solomon.

God doesn't despise this. The people are giving according to their ability. They're giving to according to their ability and God is pleased. And they're rejoicing and they should be rejoicing. God has been good to them.

God has been faithful to them. Finally, the priests and the Levites are assigned their places in the temple worship. So now there is a temple and there's going to be ongoing temple worship. There's going to be requirements every day so that the priests have particular duties that they're going to be doing. But there's too much work for the priests so that God had given this family, this priesthood family, help.

And that is the Levites and they're assigned their places. And then we see this phrase that we've already encountered a couple times in Ezra as it is written. People aren't making up the worship of God. God has said how he wants to be worshiped, how the people ought to worship him, and they're ordering their lives around this phrase, as it is written in the book of Moses. Now, so that's just a simple explanation of what's in the text, that's what's there.

Now, I want to give you five important lessons from the text. Five things that we shouldn't move on to the next section until we have acquired the wisdom of these points. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is speaking of events in Israel's history. And he's teaching from them. He's teaching this New Testament church in Corinth from the events of Israel's history.

And then he says this in 1st Corinthians 10 verse 11. Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. What's Paul saying? Paul is saying that these events from Israel's history have been written down and passed forward as examples to us. So, so far from being irrelevant to the New Testament people of God, to the New Covenant people of God.

They're for us. Not only are they useful, they were passed forward for this very reason, to be examples to us. They were written for our admonition. That's why this book, most of it being Old Testament, most of it being an account of what God has done through the centuries to his Old Testament people. It's examples for us.

It's written for our admonition. So this is very applicable to us, to the New Testament Church of Jesus Christ was given for us. Alright, point number one. Point number one. Kingdom work prospers through hearing and obeying the word of God.

That is so clear in this text. Kingdom work prospers through hearing and obeying the word of God. Look at the first part of verse 14 from our text. So the elders of the Jews built and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Itto. Ezra doesn't leave us wondering why they got so much done so fast.

He tells us exactly why they went so far so fast. Because God stirred up these two men. He could have raised up anyone. The important thing about Haggai and Zechariah is not who they were, but that God raised up men to speak his words, so that his people would have his words. And the people heard, and the people obeyed, and God prospered them.

So through these two men, through these two prophets Haggai and Zechariah, God rebuked the people. He said, you've slipped into compromise and disobedience. Repent, turn around, come back. And God commanded the people to resume the work that he had so clearly given them to do. And God encouraged the people that if they would trust him and if they would act in obedience that he would bless them.

And this is exactly what happens. The word was prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, through obedience to the Word of God. They obeyed and God blessed them just as He says in the books of Haggai and Zechariah, He would bless them. Now look at the timeline. The timeline tells the story.

They lay the foundation. They come back from captivity, and in a very short period of time, they start the work, they lay the foundation, and then they encounter opposition. And because of the opposition, they do what they shouldn't have done. They compromise. They drift into disobedience, and there's nothing happening for 16 years.

Zero progress for 16 years. And then God stirs up two men to thunder His word, to thunder forth His word, to rebuke them for their disobedience and to command them again to begin the work and to encourage them that he'll be with them and bless them if they'll only obey. And the people here and the people obey and they're done in four years. Okay, so the 16 previous years, zippo, no progress. And then the people throw off their compromise and begin to obey and in four years in record time The temple is complete.

The first temple took seven years. Solomon with all his gold, with all the people and money and resources he had to throw at the first temple took seven years. But now because of the blessing of God, because God prospered their work, the second temple essentially took four years. Foundations had been laid 16 years earlier. This is why the adoption of pragmatism, okay, I'm going to define pragmatism as measuring success by numbers, not by obedience.

Okay? So pragmatism says, as long as we're drawing a crowd, we're doing great. As long as the building's full and we're having to build new bigger buildings for the work, we're doing good. So when numbers are the measure of success and not are we obeying our God, are we acting in faith, trusting that he's wiser than we are and doing just what he's told us to do. If that's the measure of success, that's not pragmatism.

So the adoption by the church of pragmatism, of measuring success by numbers, is devastating because it looks like prosperity but it ends in spiritual poverty. You see that? The measuring stick has to be are we being faithful? Are we obeying God? Are we trusting that He's wise?

Whether God brings many people or few people. Now it's better to have it all. I happily concede that point, that it's best to be faithful and have big numbers. But if you have to pick between the two, between having the multitudes come or be faithful, if you have to choose, then you should always choose to trust God and be faithful and know that he's wise and know that the fruit the fruit that is produced from faithfulness is lasting fruit. That's the problem with pragmatism.

It looks like prosperity but it ends in spiritual poverty. And the progress that you thought you were making doesn't last. It evaporates. It's gone. And you thought, because the building was full, God was blessing you, but it doesn't last.

Those people are gone a year from now, or two years from now, or five years from now. And that is not the mark of the work of God. The mark of the work of God is that it lasts, that is, people persevere. When the Spirit is at work, people persevere. Number one, kingdom work prospers through hearing and obeying the Word of God.

Number two, the Kings of the earth are instruments in the hands of our God. That's what they are. The kings of the earth. The greatest kings of the earth are instruments in the hands of our God. This is probably the fourth sermon that this has been a key point in the sermon.

So why do I keep coming back to it? Because the text keeps bringing us here. I'm not making this stuff up. The text has brought us here again. God controls the kings of the earth.

They're instruments in his hands. We must need the repetition Because God keeps bringing us back to this point and bringing us back to this point and bringing us back to this point. Listen to Daniel chapter 2 verses 20 and 21. Daniel chapter 2 verses 20 and 21. Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his.

He changes the times and seasons, He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. The testimony of Daniel in Daniel chapter 2 is that wisdom and might belong to God. It might seem to be in the hands of kings, but it is not so. Wisdom and might are gods and he removes and raises up Kings to accomplish his purposes.

The good ones and the bad ones, the faithful ones and the unfaithful ones, the holy ones and the profane ones. God raises them up and God puts them down. Listen to Proverbs 21 verse 1. Again, Proverbs 21 verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes.

Our text names three kings, Cyrus the Great. He's an instrument in the hand of God the Greater, God the Greatest. Darius, our exerxes, great and mighty kings of the Near East, just instruments, just tools in the toolbox to God. Or remember our memory verse from last quarter. The last verse of Isaiah 44, it's verse 28.

Isaiah 44 verse 28, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and He shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built, and to the temple Your foundation shall be laid." And then it continues in the very next verse, beginning in Isaiah 45 verse 1, just the very next verse, thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him and lose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors so that the gates will not be shut. Why Cyrus? Because he was God's shepherd. He was God's anointed. God appointed him for this task and he made him the ruler of kingdoms.

God raised him up. That's why Cyrus, the kings of the earth, are instruments in the hands of our God. And there's another side of this. Listen to Isaiah chapter 10. Note this one.

Just write this one down and look at it later. Isaiah chapter 10 verse 15. So in Isaiah chapter 10, God through the prophet Isaiah has spoken of kings that have been raised up by God for God's purposes and God has used them, but then these kings start to think that they've done it themselves. And this brings us to Isaiah chapter 10 verse 15. Shall the axe boast itself against him who chops with it?

Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up. Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood. God brings to us the absurdity, the insanity of an axe that exalts itself against the one who uses the axe to chop, or the audacity and pride and arrogance of a saw that exalts itself against the one who uses it to saw as if a staff could wield itself, as if a piece of wood could somehow pick itself up and use itself. It is a dangerous error when those in authority think they are anything.

Okay, did you get that? This is important for us because during the course of the day at some time or another almost all of in this room, all of us in this room function as authorities. Fathers function as authorities. Mothers function as authorities. Older siblings often function as authorities.

And their authority is delegated from above. That's true of all of us. And so as you function in authority at various points of your day, remember this, it is dangerous. It is a dangerous error when those in authority think they are anything. When you're in authority, if things go well, you should give the glory to God because if not, you're like the axe who exalts itself against the one who uses it to chop.

If it's true of kings, how much more so the father over a household? If it's true that God raises up a king to fulfill his purposes, how much more a mother who's in authority in her home most of the day over the children that God has given to the home. So number two was the kings of the earth are instruments in the hands of God, not one bit more. That's all they are. God raises them up, God puts them down, His own pleasure.

They should never think that they're anything. Not even the kings of the earth should think that they're anything. Number three, God normally works through a Gideon's army. Number three, God normally works through a Gideon's army. What is a Gideon's army?

In Judges chapter 6, God calls this man who is in hiding. People are being oppressed. The Lord's people are being oppressed by the Midianites. And there's this insignificant little man named Gideon who's trying to hide his work by treading out the grain in a wine press in hiding, so that the fruit of his labors won't be stolen from him by the oppressor. And the angel of the Lord comes in Judges chapter 6 verse 12 and says, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor to the man in hiding.

And Gideon's thinking, Are you talking to me? And then in Judges chapter 7, the next chapter, God uses Gideon to defend his people against the Midianites, against the oppressors. And the people rally to Gideon, and there are 32, 000 of them. And God says, no, too many. He brings on circumstances to make the multitude go away.

Then the Lord says, no, still too many. And he gives another test to make the multitude, more of the multitude, go away. And so he started with 32, 000 and God has whittled it down to 300. And God says why he's doing that. He says, if I deliver you by the hand of these 32, 000, you'll say my own hand has saved me.

So God gets the glory if he whittles the army down to 300 and then defeats the multitude of the Mennonites with the 300, then no one can say, my hand saved me. When God delivers His people, He wants it to be recognized that he delivered his people. He doesn't want us taking the credit, the glory, for what he has done. So his normal mode of operation is to work through this Gideon's army, a little remnant, so that we won't think it was our own strength and our own might, and he will receive all the glory. People will look at 300, at a teeny army of 300 going against a multitude, and they'll have to say, what God is this who can do that?

This is what we see in Ezra chapters 1 through 6. We see the first wave returning from captivity is only 50, 000 people coming back to this large desolate land totally outnumbered by their enemies and yet God fights for them. The Lord's people should actually be encouraged when they are small and weak but they have hearts to obey. If you're among a small and weak people, but those people have hearts inclined to obey God, be encouraged. God just might do something there.

If you're among a small and weak people, does that sound like anyone you know? But the hearts, God seems to be doing something, seems to be inclining the hearts towards him so that people will be obedient. Sin is being stripped away. Secret sins are being brought to the surface and dealt with. This should be a sign of encouragement to people that God might be bringing together a little band of people for his own great purposes to do something disproportionately great for the sake of his own name.

If he raised up many people to do it, if he raised up strong people to do it, they might take the credit. God wants to put himself on display. He doesn't want to put us on display. He wants to put himself on display so that people see what he does and accomplishes in our lives and say what a great God. Number four.

Number four. Celebration, joy, and thanksgiving must mark our acts of worship. We saw this the first time in Ezra in chapter three. The people lay the foundation of the temple and when the foundation is laid it's time to celebrate. So they gather the people and there's responsive singing and there's praising God and there's joyful shouting.

Now you're awake. There's joyful shouting. And There's joyful shouting. And now we see it again. And next week, look at chapter 6, the final verse, chapter 20, Excuse me, verse 22, Ezra chapter 6 verse 22.

And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord made them joyful. So we saw it in chapter 3, we see it in today's text, we see it in next week's text, the people of God are a joyful people. They know how to celebrate. They know that they ought to celebrate. They know that their worship ought to be marked by celebration and joy and Thanksgiving.

And verse 22 is actually going to say why the Lord's people are a joyful people. For the Lord made them joyful. Wherever the Lord is working, there's joy. Not uninterrupted joy. I'm not saying if you're the Lord's, you're giddy in the middle of all kinds of pressure.

I'm not saying anything I like that, but I am saying wherever the Lord is at work, there's joy. It might be disturbed by challenges. It might wax and wane, but it's there because God makes his people joyful just like verse 22 says listen to what Matthew Henry says Matthew Henry says let us learn to welcome holy ordinances with joy and attend on them with pleasure. Let us serve the Lord with gladness. Whatever we dedicate to God, let it be done with joy that he will be pleased to accept it.

That's it. And by the way, he's talking about what we're doing today. When he says holy ordinances, you just substitute Sunday church. And there's more. But think of it as this.

We should embark on this time with joy we must embark on this with joy We must attend on them with pleasure. It should be a pleasure to come among the people of God to worship the God who has redeemed us, set us free from the penalty of our sins. The penalty of our sins was hell, eternity, in torment, but God has set us free. We couldn't have done anything to earn it. God did it for free.

He bids us to come and buy without money. How do you do that? Through Christ. That's how you do it. This is what separates hypocritical external only worship from true worship.

God hates this hypocritical external only worship meaning coming and just going through the motions. You think you ought to. God hates that. God hates that. If there's nothing more to your Sundays, then I think I ought to stay at home.

God wants all of our affections to be engaged. God does want the external worship. There's things He's told us to do. It is true that we ought to. I'm not saying it's not true, but I'm saying if all that's there is that, then you have no way to worship God.

That's not worship. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28 is about the blessings and the curses. It starts out with, If you seek God, if you obey Him, He'll bless you in all these ways. And then it becomes, if you don't seek Him, if you won't obey Him, these are the curses that will come upon you.

This is Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 47 and 48. And it shifts your thinking about sin and about what deserves a curse. Okay, are you ready for that? Are you ready for your mind to shift from how you normally think about sin And how you normally think about the curse of God, Deuteronomy 28 verses 47 and 48. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies." We think we sinned, we did something bad, and so God curses that.

God is displeased with that. So he curses when we do something bad. But there's a whole other side of that. It's that the disobedience, the rebellion displaces what we should have been doing, which is to serve the Lord our God with joy and gladness. Now knowing what you know about God and His goodness and His faithfulness and his compassion demonstrated most fully through the life and the death of Jesus Christ knowing what you know about God is this burdensome will we say what a weight we must serve God with gladness for the abundance of everything?

We think of it in terms of heinous sin, big, bad sin that brings the curse. But God is seeing it differently saying, look at the abundance. Would you not serve me with gladness of heart for my goodness? Paul makes exactly the same argument in Romans chapter 1. Listen to Romans chapter 1 verse 21.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful that became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were dark and Romans 1 is filled with talk of the most vile sins, but at the heart of it is a people who will not acknowledge God as God and they won't be thankful for the abundance that is given to everyone who comes into this world. So the testimony of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament is the same as the testimony of Paul in Romans in the New Testament, which is that the duty of mankind and the privilege of mankind is just to acknowledge the abundance, the goodness, the faithfulness of God and to serve Him with joy and gladness of heart. Maybe you've heard the tagline of John Piper in his ministry. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Do you get that?

John Piper hits the nail on the head. God is most glorified in us. Do you want to know what glorifies God? How can my life glorify God? John Piper is just echoing what scripture says.

Be satisfied in God. Find your joy in God. Serve Him in gladness and joy. And then He's glorified because you've acknowledged His faithfulness, His goodness, His compassion. His goodness, His compassion.

Number five. The last one, number five. Only Jesus Christ makes us and our work acceptable to God. That's right here in this text. Only Jesus Christ makes us and our work acceptable to God.

The people built a temple for God. That's good, right? He said build the temple and they built the temple. That's good. They did it out of obedience.

That's good, right? He said do it, they did it. So why are they killing animals? So why are 712 animals dying in this celebration? Tell me, why is it?

Why do animals have to die to have joy over the temple? Because it's a picture. It's a picture that even the building of this magnificent structure is unacceptable to God when it's offered by defiled people. Even the prescribed temple is an unacceptable offering to God. Because it's defiled, It's built with defiled hands.

There's blood on those hands. There's guilt on those hands. So you you build even the things you work you labor for four years doing what God told you to do but you're doing it with guilty hands you're working every day of those four years with guilty hands. Don't you know how holy God is? Don't you know that His eyes can't even look upon sin?

He can't accept that temple from these people. They're a defiled people. They're a guilty people. So without the blood of these animals, these people remain defiled and unacceptable and so does their work. You cannot work yourself into the favor of God.

You cannot make this God smile upon you by working. Because you're working with guilty hands. And everything you make with these guilty hands will be defiled. Consider Isaiah. In chapter 6, Isaiah, a holy man, he's the prophet he's holier than you he's more obedient than you he depends on God more than you and in Isaiah chapter 6 he comes into the presence of God and he's undone.

He is flattened before God. And he says, woe is me for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King. This doesn't happen to us nearly as often as it should. We start to think well of ourselves when we make a little bit of progress.

But the truth is when our eyes have seen the King, we're undone. We become aware of how defiled we are, of how everything we do is unacceptable to this holy God. In Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6, God through the prophet says, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. This temple, this four years of hard labor, is this filthy rags before God, except that one stand in the place and take on the guilt of their hands. It's Christ.

Turn to 1 Peter chapter two. We keep coming to 1 Peter chapter two and we're doing it again this week. Again, the temple that is being built in Ezra is the physical picture of this New Testament spiritual reality. So the most significant thing about this temple isn't that the people of God have a place to worship as God prescribed. As important as that is, it's not the most important thing.

The most important thing is that it's a picture, it's a shadow of the spiritual reality, the New Testament reality that is fulfilled in the time of the Messiah Jesus Christ. This is what Peter is speaking of in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 and 5. Coming to Him as to a living stone, Him is Christ, coming to Jesus Christ as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Bingo.

You cannot throw away the last phrase. It loses all of its meaning without the last phrase. Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's what makes them acceptable sacrifices is they come through Jesus Christ. It's like the blood of the 712 animals in Ezra chapter 6.

These defiled offerings have to be purified by the blood of something innocent. That's Jesus. So all of our work will never accrue to our own praise. It will never be due to us. It will never be to our glory because our best works are like filthy rags.

And they only become valuable, they only become acceptable to our holy God through Jesus Christ. Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That is why the gates of hell can never prevail against the church. That is why the gates of hell can never prevail against the church. If it was us and what we could do and what we could offer the gates of hell would prevail against us.

But because the spiritual sacrifices of the Lord's people are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, because they are founded on the work of Christ. The gates of hell cannot prevail against that. Any more than the devil could prevail against the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of the church is founded upon the work of Christ, so the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Lord's people. Okay, applications two, just two applications.

They come in the form of questions to be considered after thinking about this text. Number one, how are you doing in the category of simple, joyful obedience? This tells you so much about the condition of your heart. How are you doing in the category of simple, joyful, obedience? Are you hearing the word of God and obeying with joy?

Not can you make yourself do what you think you ought to do. That's a different question. But Do you have such an awareness of the goodness and faithfulness of God in all that He has done for you through the Lord Jesus Christ that it's your joy to obey? That's why the Bible will not allow there to be a separation between loving God and obeying God. They are distinct things.

They're not exactly the same thing, but the Bible just says they travel together. So people who want to treat them separately have to find another book to support that. Because the Bible says, if we love Him, we'll obey His commandments. Our obedience should be out of joy number two are you longing for a nation where this is the majority report majority report? It's okay to long for that.

It's not very wise to expect it, I don't think. The Lord's people are people who have their eyes somewhere else, who have a different hope. I'm not rebuking anyone for wanting massive revival in our land. Amen. May the Lord pour out his spirit on a nation that has forsaken him.

And grant grace. Amen. But our hope is in another place. It is in the heavenlies where Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. That's where our hope is.

It's a different country. It's a better country. It is founded on better promises. It's usually a Gideon's army. It's usually a whittled down army to a few people who though they're few in number and weak have a heart to obey God not because they're righteous but because they're thankful They know how to serve the Lord with joy and gladness of heart.

Oh God, I pray that you would make us into such a people. People who serve you with joy and gladness of heart. Who are so touched by your compassion for us through Jesus Christ. You would be so kind to such an undeserving people that it would be our great joy to obey you, to follow you, to look to you in faith. We trust you to do this work in our hearts.

Help us Lord fan the flame in our hearts. Make us burn for this Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.