The sermon, titled 'The Chastening of the Lord' by Jason Dohm, explores the themes of discipline and obedience as depicted in the biblical texts of Ezra 5 and Haggai 1. The sermon begins by examining the historical context, where the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, after being freed from Babylonian captivity, neglect the rebuilding of the temple due to opposition and delay. This neglect prompts God to raise prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to deliver authoritative messages urging the people back to their mission. The sermon highlights the importance of hearing, believing, and obeying God's Word, emphasizing that delayed obedience is disobedience. The speaker draws parallels with Hebrews 12, explaining that God's chastening is an act of love, aimed at bringing His people back to righteousness. The timeline of prophetic messages in Haggai and Zechariah illustrates God's persistent call to obedience, blending immediate concerns with prophecies pointing to the Messiah. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to embrace chastening, depend on God's Spirit for sanctification, and actively engage with God's Word.

We're reading from two passages today, starting with Ezra chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, and then we'll proceed to Haggai 1 verses 1 through 8. Ezra 5, then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. So Zerubbabel the son of Shilteel and Jeshua the son of Jezadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem and the prophets of God were with them, helping them. Ok, Haggai chapter 1 verses 1 through 8. In the second year, I'll give you a minute.

Haggai 1. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shiltil governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Jehazadak the high priest saying thus speaks the Lord of hosts saying this people says the time has not come the time that the Lord's house should be built. When the word of The Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, And this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little.

You eat but you do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves but no one is warm. And he who earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.

Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord." The title of the sermon this morning is, The Chasening of the Lord. It's a phrase that comes out of Hebrews 12, a favorite chapter of mine, and we'll be making our way to Hebrews 12 in time. But this passage is about The Lord intervening to bring discipline to His people because they're off mission. He's brought them out of captivity by His mercy for a very specific reason. That's to rebuild the temple.

That's to re-institute true worship. The worship that he had prescribed through his servant Moses. And he's brought them back from Babylon specifically for that purpose. And Our text today finds them not working on that at all. God is kind.

He doesn't leave them there. He doesn't leave them in disobedience, but He raises up prophets to speak his word. To this point in Ezra, the things that we've been seeing have been so encouraging. They've started well. The Lord's people were stirred up to return.

A Gentile king was stirred up to put them at liberty to return, and they did return. They immediately rebuilt the altar and gathered together and began worshipping God as He had prescribed. So they began well, but they've been derailed by opposition. That's where we find them in our text today. As a people who have been derailed, the train is off the tracks, by opposition.

Not everyone was happy that they were obeying God and being brought back from captivity. So they began well, but they did not continue well. In the last verse of last week's text, the last verse of chapter 4, We find that the work ceased. They had begun the work, but it ceased. And it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius.

Most of the commentators say this was 15 or 16 years. It could have been as little as 9 years, but in any event, a period of years has gone by and no work has been done on the rebuilding of the temple. Complete standstill. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Our Father, I thank you that you approach your people as a father.

You treat us as true sons and daughters. Oh God, I thank you for your chastening hand, that when we stray, you are not content to let us drift and drift and drift, but you're kind and you're merciful and you bring us back through your discipline. God, where would we be today if it were not for your chastening hand? We are so frail. We're so prone to wander.

But you are a faithful God. You are faithful, even when we are not faithful, to intervene and to bring us back. I pray Lord that you would cause us to be glad in your presence today because of your faithfulness. In Jesus name, Amen. So it's a pretty simple outline.

Verse 1 and then verse 2. And then we'll apply. So let's start with verse 1. Ezra chapter 5 verse 1. Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Ito, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them." In verse 1, The word of the Lord comes.

The people are off mission, maybe off mission for as many as 15 years. There's probably a number of 15 year olds in the room, and That's all of life that you've known. For all of that span of time, there's been no progress on the temple. So the Lord's people are off mission, and God speaks into that. God raises up two men, one named Haggai and the other named Zechariah.

They are prophets and He puts His words into their mouths. They speak to the whole region, to Judah and Jerusalem. So it's not an isolated message, it's to go far and wide to all the Lord's people who came back from captivity. We see in verse 1, it says that these two prophets spoke in the name of the God of Israel. In other words, they delivered the Word of God authoritatively.

This is not a lecture from the front of the classroom. This is an authoritative delivering of the very words of God. Think of what it's like to claim, to speak on behalf of God and not just to say, this is a good idea, but to say, thus says the Lord. When you go to the books that bear the names of these two men, to the book of Haggai, to the book of Zechariah, that's what you see over and over and over and over and over again. Thus says the Lord.

These men are thundering the Word of God. It is an authoritative delivery. Not speaking in their own name, but speaking in the name of the God of Israel and saying, I have His very words. God is speaking this to you. This is not two men with a good idea.

These are prophets raised up by God for this moment in time to call his people back to obedience, to stir them up to obedience. Then we see this phrase, who was over them. They are speaking in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. God is the King of His people. This is how it's been from the very beginning of time.

From Adam to Moses to Abraham to the time that we are to the time of Jesus Christ to the time of the New Testament Church. God is and always has been and always will be the King of His people And he rules his people through his word. This is an eternal truth from the very beginning of Genesis 1 to the very end of Revelation 22. God is the king of his people and He rules his people a certain way through his word. He speaks his word and he governs his people that way.

So we're in Ezra and the Lord's people have encountered stiff opposition. Not everyone's been happy and they've been actively opposed. Not everyone has been happy, and they have been actively opposed. But opposition is never to be determinative. Opposition is never to be what decides what happens.

God's Word is always to be determinative. God's Word is always to decide what happens. Brothers and sisters, if we are to be governed by God, we must hear the Word of God. We must believe the Word of God. We must obey the Word of God.

This is the sequence, and what a blessing it is to be in this text. This is the sequence that we have in this text. Hearing, believing, obeying the Word of God. Happy ending. At least this week.

That is the sequence for our lives. We must hear the Word of God. We must believe the Word of God. We must obey the Word of God and then we see fruit. So many times so many people stop short of the full sequence.

Some don't hear the Word of God, some hear and that's the end of it. Some hear and believe, but that's the end of it. We are to hear and to believe and to obey the Word of God and then there is fruit at the end of the branch. Now I'm going to give you a timeline from the books of Haggai and Zechariah. It's probably worthwhile jotting this down so you get a sense.

The whole books of Haggai and Zechariah are compressed into verse 1, Ezra chapter 5 verse 1. So If you didn't go to Haggai and Zechariah and read the books, you'd think these guys said a few things and then they started rebuilding the temple. Well, it's not that simple and it wasn't that fast. So here's the timeline from the books of Haggai and Zechariah. So this begins in the second year of King Darius.

Darius becomes king his second year, which historians squabble about whether that's 520 or 519 before Christ. But it's right in that range. 520 or 519 BC. Then in the second month, Haggai begins to prophesy. We get his first prophecy in the book of Haggai in the second month of that second year.

He delivers a strong rebuke. That's what was read as the sermon text this morning. Haggai 1 verses 1-8. Strong rebuke for the people having given up on rebuilding the temple. Then in the sixth month, the people begin to work.

So there's about four months and three weeks between this strong rebuke that Haggai brings, and the beginning of rebuilding the temple. Then in the seventh month, There's another prophecy given by Haggai, the word of the Lord through Haggai in the seventh month. So it began in the second month with the first prophecy, and then in the sixth month they began to work on the temple. And then just a month after they begin working on the temple in the seventh month there's the second prophecy but this time it's not a strong rebuke it's a strong encouragement where we find Be strong three times. Be strong, Zerubbabel.

Be strong, Joshua or Jeshua. Be strong, all you remnant of people. So the first prophecy has a very distinct purpose and it is to rebuke them for bailing out on the work, for abandoning the work. But then four months later they've begun and God sends a month after they've begun rebuilding the temple another prophecy with a completely different purpose. It's to encourage them.

They've begun to obey, and they're working, and God wants them to be encouraged, so he sends his word again. This time, it's a be strong prophecy. It's an encouraging prophecy. Then, a month later, in the eighth month, we have Zechariah's first prophecy. So there is a prophecy from Haggai, then they begin working on the temple, and then there's a second prophecy from Haggai, and then in the eighth month, Zechariah begins to prophesy.

He delivers a warning against hearing and he says, Don't you be like your fathers. He points back into Israel's history and said, see how the prophets were sent, and see how the people ignored the prophets, and see what happened to them. Don't you be like your fathers. God is being gracious to you. He's sending your words.

Don't you be like your forefathers who would not hear." So that was the eighth month, Zechariah's first prophecy. And then in the ninth month, it's Haggai again. In the ninth month, Haggai delivers his final prophecy of the book of Haggai. If there were more prophecies from Haggai than are in that book, I can't speak to it, I don't know of it. In the book of Haggai, His final prophecy was in the ninth month, and it's God saying, from this day I will bless you.

And it's from a very specific day. It names it down to the day in the ninth month. I think it was the twenty-first day, but my memory could be failing me there. But on a specific day in the ninth month, they finished laying the foundation of the temple. And God says, from this day forward, I will bless you.

And then in the eleventh month, there is Zechariah's second prophecy, where God says, I am zealous for Jerusalem. God sends another prophecy of encouragement. I am zealous for Jerusalem. I am going to come to Jerusalem in mercy. I've had my hand of discipline on you, but now I'm coming to Jerusalem in mercy.

Know this, I am zealous for Jerusalem. So that's it. That is the timeline of Haggai and Zechariah. It begins in the second month with the first prophecy of Haggai and it ends in the eleventh month with the second prophecy of Zechariah. So that is what is rolled up into Ezra 5 verse 1.

Now here is a summary of Haggai and Zechariah as they have a bearing on Ezra. These are books we could spend months in these books, but we're not going to. We're going to keep moving after today. I'm going to give you a summary as best as I can of Haggai and Zechariah as they have a bearing on Ezra. Here's Haggai.

Four key points that I want to call attention to in Haggai. Point number one, the people have become comfortable with delay. That's point number one from Haggai. The people have become comfortable with delay. So Haggai is not coming.

God has not stirred up this man and put his words in his mouth because there's open rebellion and idolatry. That's not what's happening in Ezra chapter 5. There's a much softer brand of disobedience among the Lord's people. Not open rebellion. God, we will not be governed by you.

That is not what's happening. Not idolatry. Not building altars to foreign gods, but simply comfort with delaying obedience. Listen to Haggai chapter 1 verse 2. God says, this people says, the time has not come.

The time that the Lord's house should be built is not here yet. Then Haggai 1 verse 4, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? The people encountered opposition. It was real opposition. It was really discouraging opposition.

They stopped and they never restarted. Probably for 15 or 16 years they never restarted. They became comfortable in the delay. They said, not yet. Another year passes.

Not yet. Not time yet. Not time yet. Not time yet. I have to have time to work on my own house.

I have time to upgrade at home while the Lord's temple lies in ruins. But they were set free from captivity. They were given liberty to return from Babylon to rebuild the temple, not to upgrade their houses. Parents, you know this. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Isn't that how it is at your home? That's how it is at the dome house. Delayed obedience is disobedience. It's a softer brand of disobedience. What about us?

Okay, this is where we have to bring it into our own kitchen. Where has the Lord put His finger on something in your life? And you've said, not quite yet. When I get to this milestone, I'll do that. When I get to this point, I'll do that.

It's not quite time to obey the Lord yet. He came to you in His mercy and He put His finger on something in your life and said this. And it might be something that no one else would ever pester you about, but it is a matter of obedience because God has put his finger on it in your life and you know it if nobody else knows it, you know it. And you've said, not yet. I'll obey you when I'm ready.

We should come to Ezra chapter 5 and tremble at the danger of telling God we'll obey when we're ready. So point number one, the people have become comfortable with delay. Next year, God. Next year. Next year.

Number two, God chastened His people for this. So we think it's a softer brand of disobedience. It's not open rebellion, it's not idolatry. God views it differently. God views it as worthy of chastening, of bringing the hand of discipline upon His people.

Listen to Haggai chapter 1 verse 6. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat but do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves but no one is warm.

And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes. God declares, you can wear yourself out to prosper yourselves. But until you obey, I will not prosper you. I will not allow you to enjoy prosperity. I'll just put a hole in the bottom of your bag.

It won't matter how much earnings you put in your bag, because there's a hole in the bottom, and there's a hole in the bottom because you will not obey. Because you've become comfortable with delayed obedience. If you've been a Christian for long enough, you know that God has a thousand tools in this toolbox. An infinite number of tools that no matter how early in the morning you get up or how late you stay up or how long and hard you toil, he can just put a hole in the bottom of the bag and there's no accumulation. He will not allow you to enjoy prosperity because you would not obey him.

It's a fool's errand. You cannot overcome God's ability to put a hole in the bottom of the purse. When dark days come upon us, we should ask, have I brought this on myself? Last week was all about dark days. And most of last week was about God's ability to sustain us in the middle of dark days.

But when dark days come, We are foolish not to ask the question, have I brought this on myself? Are the dark days here because I delayed in my obedience? I refused to obey the Lord? Has God put a hole in the bottom of the bag because I won't obey and that's why these dark days are upon me? Now remember we just came out of 1 Peter and then 2 Peter.

In 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter talks about the difference between being beaten for your faults and being beaten for righteousness sake. So just because dark days are upon you doesn't mean that it is the chastening of the Lord. Sometimes He is doing it for other reasons. Sometimes he just wants to stretch you. Sometimes he just wants to grow you.

Sometimes he just wants to use difficulties and trials to bring you to maturity and to conform you into the image of your son. But sometimes he does it because you won't obey. So Peter exhorts us to look to the difference, look for the difference. If we come into dark days and we don't even consider the possibility that God might have brought these dark days upon us because we wouldn't have obeyed, we might be prolonging our time in these dark days. That's possible.

The truth of the matter is this. Chastening is the mercy of God. You have to see life through these glasses. Chasening is the mercy of God. It's not a sign of hatred, it's a sign of the exact opposite.

What does Proverbs say about child raising? It says, if you spare the rod, you hate your son. Not the reverse. Son. Not the reverse.

So we can't look at how God deals with us and say, God, you're chastening me, you must hate me. No, it's exactly the opposite of that. We should be so grateful when the chastening of God comes into our lives because it means He loves us. It means He's exercising mercy towards us. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12.

This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is teaching in Hebrews chapter 12. They're familiar words, but they're but they are so appropriate we should review them again. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 11. Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 5, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.

Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best for them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. This is what's happening in Ezra chapter 5 verse 1.

God raised up men not because He hates His people, but because He loves His people, but because He is not content to let His people drift by degrees away from Him, but He would bring them back to greener pastures, to stiller waters. This is the hand of a shepherd. This is the hand of a father who loves his children and will not let them drift away. Praise God for what we see in Ezra chapter 5, what we see in Hebrews chapter 12. So God says, don't despise the chastening.

Not only should it not be a cause for discouragement, it should be a cause for great encouragement. Quite the opposite. We shouldn't be discouraged when we are chastened by God. We should be encouraged to the heavens that God would care enough about us not to let us drift away, but He would intervene and He would bring us back. It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God wants to have a people who thirst for the peaceable fruit of righteousness, who wants to be trained by the chastening hand of God, who aren't afraid to be chastened, who would rather be chastened than to have no peaceable fruit of righteousness. Which is it for us, brothers and sisters? Do we long for the peaceable fruit of righteousness? Do we want to be trained by this hand? This merciful hand?

Yes, yes! Train us, O God! Don't leave us to ourselves. Don't leave us to become cold in heart and delaying our disobedience, but intervene God in that. Train us so that we might share, we might be partakers of your holiness, God.

So number two was God chastened his people for this. Number three, These prophecies are equal parts rebuke, warning, encouragement. When you look across Haggai and Zechariah, this is also true of Zechariah, these prophecies are equal parts. Rebuke, warning, encouragement. You've already heard some of the rebukes and the warnings.

Now listen to the encouragement from Haggai chapter 1 verse 13. I am with you says the Lord. Haggai chapter 2 verse 4. Be strong for I am with you. Continually through the book of Haggai and the book of Zechariah.

God is promising His presence. God is promising His help. God is promising the work of His Spirit. Here's what Paul says in Romans chapter 2. In Romans chapter 2 verse 4, Paul says this, Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, Forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

Oh, we need the rebuke, don't we? Oh, We need the warnings, don't we? But it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. People are condemned, they're convicted, they're brought low by the rebukes and the warnings. And this is good.

We need to be brought low so that God can do something with our humbled selves. But people don't usually repent until they apprehend, understand, lay hold of the goodness of God in it, the kindness of God in it, the mercy of God in it. The Gospel is a Gospel of hope. It's a meaningless gospel without the rebukes and without the warnings. But it is good news.

It's good news. God never just leaves us there at the end of the rebukes and the warnings. He always extends the olive branch. Return to me! Why would you perish?

Return and live! Return! I'll be with you! Return! I'll send my spirit to help you.

This is what you find throughout the books of Haggai and Zechariah. Return. Number three, that was number three. These prophecies are equal parts, rebuke, warning, and encouragement. Never let those be separated.

When you separate the encouragement from the rebukes and the warnings, you're asking for trouble. And the reverse is true too. When you separate the rebukes and the warnings from the encouragement, you're asking for trouble. We need them both. We need them to hang together so that we're humbled by the rebukes and the warnings, but we're not left there.

We're encouraged that God will be with us if we turn to Him. That's what happens in the books of Haggai and Zechariah. Number four, God used His word to stir up His people. This is the end point of God raising up these two prophets and thundering His word. He uses His word.

God used His word to stir up His people. That's the end point. They end up stirred up again. This is right where we began Ezra, isn't it? A Gentile king is stirred up to send these captive people back to Jerusalem to build the temple.

And then the people are stirred up. It's exactly in those words. These words are used again in Haggai. Listen to Haggai chapter 1 verse 14. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehoshedek the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of Hosts, their God." It's not enough for the people of God just to receive a written rebuke.

That typically is not enough to get us moving. We need to be stirred up in our spirits by the Spirit of God. These things come together. This is a living and active Word. It's not dead words on the page, but it comes with a tutor, the Spirit of God to stir us up so that it isn't dead words on the page, but it is a live word.

It comes with the stirring of the Spirit of God and it moves us to action. God used His Word to stir up His people, and He uses present tense, His Word, to stir up His people. So often the Lord's people are moved by His Word. How many times has Ezra chapter 5 happened in your life? You're off track.

You're comfortable in the delay. And then you come and you read your Bible. And the Spirit of God activates those words. They are living words and you're stirred up to take a step forward in faith. Praise God for that.

God still does that today. He does that today now more than He ever did. He has sent His Spirit into the world. The day of Pentecost has come and gone, and now the Spirit indwells us. We should expect to be stirred up by the Word of God.

To read His Word. To meditate on His Word. To memorize His Word. And then to be changed. To be moved into action.

Is His Word moving you? Is His Word moving you? We come here, We're drowning in it. We read it at the time of corporate prayer. We read it before we sing.

We read it before the sermon. We read it during the Lord's Supper. We're drowning in the Word of God here. I praise God for that. But you cannot come and be unmoved by that and not be in great danger.

Do you know that? It is such a dangerous thing to hear it, and to hear it, and to hear it, but to never be moved by it. Here's what Matthew Henry says, the Word of God, if it be not received now as a testimony to us, will be received another day as a testimony against us and will judge us. Okay, so you receive the Word of God now as a testimony to you and you're moved by it or it will be received as a testimony against you on the day of judgment, because God gave you light and you wouldn't walk by it. Now a word on Zechariah.

I'm spending most of my time on Haggai because there were two chapters and I pretty much understood them. Zechariah is fourteen chapters and there's a lot that I don't understand. So we're going to go quick. Zechariah. Many of the same things that I just said, these four key points from Haggai apply to Zechariah 2.

But I want to look specifically at Zechariah chapter 4, so turn in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 4. Zechariah is the second to the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi is at the very end of the Old Testament. Zechariah is right before it. Turn to Zechariah chapter 4.

I want to go to Zechariah chapter 4 because God speaks directly to Zerubbabel in Zechariah chapter 4 verses 6 through 10. Zechariah 4, beginning in verse 6. So he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands also shall finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things?

For these seven rejoice to see the plum line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth." I want to pull two observations out of Zechariah chapter 4 verses 6 through 10, these verses that I just read. Number one, the prophet is not calling for personal strength. God through the prophet is not calling for them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. This is not a call for personal strength.

God is calling for faith. He's calling for trust. By my spirit. Not might, not power, my spirit. He's not calling for personal strength.

He's calling for faith that they would trust in God and see God be mighty on their behalf. And number two, God is declaring that they will finish the work. That they'll know that Zechariah has been sent by God because That is fulfilled. They will finish the work. Because it is God's work, because it is not by might and not by power, but by His Spirit, God can say with all certainty, this work will be completed.

This is very important for our lives, for our sanctification. Because if it's by might and if it's by power, how can we know we will reach the finish line, brothers and sisters? Do you trust in your might? Do you trust in your power? Has God not laid you lower than that yet?

Has God not shown you more than that yet? He's shown me more than that. That my strength is not enough to get me to the finish line. That my power is totally inadequate to get me to the finish line. My power is totally inadequate to get me to the finish line.

I'm not trusting in that. I'm trusting that by the Spirit of God, the things that He begins, He finishes. He is a faithful God who says and then does. He puts his hand on you and says, you are mine. And then he sustains you.

And he brings his hand of discipline in your life so that when you're straying by degrees, one degree, two degrees, three degrees, ten degrees, twenty degrees, you don't just keep drifting but He brings you back because He is a faithful God. He keeps His covenants. He always keeps His promises. Now, here's something that I've not mentioned yet, but it's common to both Haggai and Zechariah. Both these books exemplify what I'm getting ready to say.

They have immediate prophecies. They address Today's concerns for that time. The people had abandoned the work and God wanted them to come back and re-engage in the work. And God speaks to that. So there are immediate prophecies.

And They are mixed with prophecies that won't be fulfilled for 500 years. Here's a sampling. Haggai chapter 2 verses 6 and 7. Haggai 2 verses 6 and 7. For thus says the Lord of hosts, Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land.

And I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory says the Lord of hosts that's about the Messiah Jesus Christ is the desire of nations and this is a prophecy about his kingdom and about the Gentiles being grafted into his kingdom They shall come to the desire of all nations and I will fill this temple with glory. This is the kingdom of the Messiah. This is a prophecy about Jesus. How about a famous one?

Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you.

He is just and having Salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a cult, the foal of a donkey. Of course, these are the words that are fulfilled in the triumphal entry when Jesus enters Jerusalem before being crucified. He is just and having salvation. This is a prophecy about Jesus. Now why?

Why with the immediate prophecies, the word they need to hear today, are these mixed with prophecies that won't be fulfilled for 500 years. Why? Because while it is true that we always have immediate needs, our greatest need is for a Redeemer. It's a small thing to get this work or that work kick-started again. It's a large thing to have your sins dealt with, to be reconciled to God.

So it is good that God would raise up these two men to encourage the people and to kickstart this one work of God in this generation. But that's not the big need. The big need is dealing with our sins. And so, sprinkled in with the immediate prophecies, are pointing towards Jesus. Jesus says, I'm the fulfillment of all that.

Of all that you see in the Old Testament, I fulfill all that. So there are minor threads, But the tapestry is about Jesus. It's useful to stare at threads from time to time and say, this is about Ezra 5, but don't lose sight of the tapestry. All these threads are woven together, and Jesus is the story of the tapestry. He is the fulfillment of all these prophecies.

That's why the immediate prophecies that they need for today are mixed with their great need. Which is that God would send a Redeemer to lay down His life that those who trust in Him could be free from the penalty of their sins, that His blood could cleanse them, that they could be reconciled with a God who is holy. Back to Ezra. Holy. Back to Ezra.

Verse 2. Ezra chapter 5 verse 2. So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Josadach rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. In verse 2, Zerubbabel, Joshua and the prophets lead in obedience.

That's what we see in this verse. Now there's something massive between verse 1 and verse 2. It's not in the words. But we shouldn't miss it. God has spoken in verse 1.

That brings us to the now what? This is always the important part. God is always faithful to speak. Then what? If you're a child of God, if you've been brought from a kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

God will speak to you when you are drifting. Then what? You might have noticed that not all Bible stories end like Ezra chapter 5, 1 and 2. Often times God speaks and they will not listen. They do not believe and they will not obey.

Here we have the sequence that God calls us to. Hearing the Word, believing the Word, obeying the Word. So many times Bible stories don't end that way, but here they do. It's a blessing. God has spoken, Now what?

That is the question that hangs in the air after verse 1. And it's the question that hangs in the air after every sermon that's preached. After every time we sit down with our Bibles and we read it. God has spoken. Now what?

Now what? Will we believe what God has said? Will we act on what God has said? Now this is actually the last time we will see Zerubbabel and Jeshua by name. So let's recap what we've seen from these two men of God.

We see their names together in Ezra chapter 2 verse 2. It's the listing of the people who come back from captivity, and the first two names are these men, Zerubbabel and then Jeshua. Then we see them in chapter 3 verse 2. They are leading the building of the altar. It's the first time we see them leading in obedience.

Chapter 3 verse 2. The altar gets built. How does that happen? Zerubbabel, Jeshua lead the people in obedience and the altar is built. They begin to sacrifice on it.

In chapter 3 verse 8, we see that these two names are first in the beginning of the building and the working of the foundation. Chapter 3 verse 8, Zerubbabel and Jeshua rally the people to begin working on the foundations of the temple. It's the second time that we see these two men leading in obedience. In chapter 4 verse 3, people who are dwelling in Samaria come and say, let us work with you. And the people have a unified response, no, you'll have no part with us in rebuilding this temple.

Who's out front in chapter 4 verses 3? Zerubbabel and Jeshua. And now in our text today, these two men once again are leading the people in righteousness for the fourth time. We've encountered them. They're out front.

Zerubbabel is out front. He's hearing the Word of God. He's believing the Word of God. He's obeying the Word of God. And he has Jeshua with him who's hearing the Word of God, who's believing the Word of God, who's obeying the Word of God.

They're leading in righteousness. They're leading in obedience. We should read these chapters, these texts, these verses about these two men who are always out front in obedience and this should make our hearts burn. Oh God give us this. Cause men to rise up in faith and lead in obedience.

The church needs more men to rise up and lead in obedience. Men like Zerubbabel who are unafraid. Men like Jeshua who when they hear, they will believe and they will obey. May God give us leaders in this country. May God give us leaders in the church who will rise up.

That's exactly what the text says in verse 2. Here we have Zerubbabel and Jeshua. They rose up. They're leading in obedience. And then we see this phrase, and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

So the prophets started this by speaking the word of the Lord in verse 1, but they don't disappear when the time comes to do in verse 2. So they speak on behalf of God, but they are not disappearing when it's time to do, when it's time to obey. They are with them and they are helping them. Those two things. This is precious.

And this is an instruction to all those who are in authority. This is an instruction to me and pastors everywhere. This is an instruction to every father and every mother who operate in spheres of authority in their homes, that we would be with those who are under authority and that we would be helping those who are under authority. Fathers and mothers, do you follow this example or Do you just speak and then when the doing happens you're nowhere to be found. Now I'm not speaking against a division of labor.

I think a division of labor is appropriate and wise in homes. I'm not saying you have to be the doer all the time. But everybody has been around authorities who are great with the speaking and cannot be found when it comes time to doing. That's not what we see in Ezra chapter 5. We see prophets who are with them, who are helping them, and it's a blessing.

And it spurs the people on, it speeds the work up, it encourages the people. If you're in authority, it will encourage those who are under your authority, if they know that you're with them, if they know that you'll help them. Okay, applications. Three. Three applications.

Okay, applications. Three. Three applications. Number one, acknowledge your desperate need for God in sanctification. Okay, So we're back to Ezra being very applicable to today.

The book of Ezra is just about people coming back from captivity and having to build a life having been captives. Now they're free and now they've got to build a life of worship to God. Well that's just like us. None of us were born Christian. We were all in captivity.

We were all slaves to sin. God set us free and now we have to build a life of worship. It's just like the book of Ezra. So there's a lot for us to learn here. Acknowledge your desperate need for God in sanctification.

Imagine the folly of the people in Ezra having been set free by a mighty work of the Spirit of God, now they are back in the promised land and they say, we will take it from here God. We can handle all the opposition, we can handle all the work, we don't need you anymore. We will do the rest in our own strength. How ridiculous does that sound? Well, it's no more ridiculous than having been justified by a work of the Spirit, a work of grace in your life to say, God, I'll take it from here.

I can handle the opposition. I can handle the work. I understand what's required of me. Now I'll just go do it." Paul addresses this in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you, justification, salvation, the beginning of a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

We don't leave the work of the Spirit back at justification, back at salvation, back at being reconciled with God. We are in as desperate need of a work of the Spirit of God in our lives, 20 years in as you were the day you were justified. Do you believe that? You must believe that. You'll never make progress in the faith until you believe that, until you grasp a hold of that with all of your strength.

Your need for God hasn't dropped one ounce since God worked in your life to save you. Not one. You're in as desperate need of him today as you were the day you were saved. So Paul says it positively in Philippians 1 verse 6. He began the work, He finishes the work.

The beginning of it is his work, and the continuing of it is his work. The beginning of it is his work, and the finishing of it is his work. And he states it negatively in Galatians chapter three. In Galatians chapter three, Paul is rebuking the Galatians for this very thing. He says, having begun by the Spirit, Are you now being perfected in the flesh?

Having been brought to salvation by a mighty work of the Spirit in your life, are you now saying, I'll take it from here in my flesh in my own strength? So Paul states it positively in Philippians and negatively in Galatians 3. That was number one, acknowledge your desperate need for God in sanctification. Number Two, embrace the wonderful role of chastening in that process. Embrace it.

Hug it. Pull it close. Embrace the wonderful role of chastening in that process. You'll never be sanctified. You'll never be conformed into the image of Christ unless God chastens you, if you're human.

If you're not a human, you don't need my preaching. I'm only preaching to humans. We need His chastening. Our hearts are prone to wander. The hymn is right.

The hymn has it right. Our hearts are prone to wander and so we need the chastening of the Lord. The wonderful role of chastening. Do you think of it that way? I tried to think of the most outrageous way I could say that.

The wonderful role of spanking, say that to your children. Embrace, Rebecca, the wonderful role of spanking in your life. But God in Hebrews chapter 12 is teaching us to think that way, actually. To not despise the chastening of the Lord, but to be so grateful that God would care enough about us to chasten us. Number three, Lastly, run towards the words of God.

Run towards them, not away from them. Run towards the words of God. Now there are ways to run away from the words of God that are a softer brand of disobedience. So there's outward rebellion. There's disobedience to the Word of God.

That's running away from the Word of God. But what about neglecting the Word of God? There's a softer brand of disobedience for you. We run away from the Word of God when we neglect it. Would you be the tree planted by rivers of water?

Run to the words of God. Would you have your leaf, your leaves never withering, always bearing fruit? Run to the Word of God. Be the tree planted by rivers of water. Run to His words.

Meditate on them day and night. This is Psalm 1. In the high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus is praying for his people and he prays to God, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. If we're to be a fulfillment of Jesus' prayer in John 17, and we're to be conformed into the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we must be sanctified by the truth and His Word is truth we should run to His Word.

Let's pray. God, oh what a refreshing passage Ezra 5 verses 1 and 2 are. Here are people hearing your Word and believing you and obeying you. Oh God, we pray that your Spirit would come and work among us mightily to make us a people who are attentive to the hearing of your Word, who believe when you speak, and who obey you. God, we know how far we are from the target but our trust is not in our strength or in our power it is in your spirit.

Oh send your spirit to transform us to make us what we aren't but should be. Lord we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.