In the sermon 'Standing in a Stream,' Jason Dohm reflects on Ezra 3, where the Israelites begin rebuilding the temple after returning from captivity. The title emphasizes the idea of standing in a stream of faithful service, drawing from the examples of past biblical figures like David and Solomon. The sermon highlights the importance of recognizing the heritage of faith and following the examples set by those who came before. During the temple's foundation laying, the Levites, priests, and people unite in praising God, acknowledging His enduring mercy and goodness. The sermon urges believers to act with eagerness in serving God's purposes, while also taking time to worship and give thanks at every milestone. It also calls for recognizing God's unending mercy and goodness, encouraging emotional investment in worship. The sermon concludes by connecting the Old Testament temple to the New Testament reality of believers being a spiritual temple, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone.

Verses 8 through 13. Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zarebabel the son of Sheetal, Jeshua the son of Josadach and the rest of their brethren, the priests and the Levites and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem began work and appointed to the Levites from 20 years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Cadmeo with his sons and the sons of Judah arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God and the sons of Hinnadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites. When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever towards Israel.

Then all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the Father's houses, old men who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of his temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted a loud shout and the sound was heard afar off." The title of the sermon this morning is Standing in a Stream. Almost always I'm taking my titles from a text, and usually the text that's being preached. This is sort of a strange sermon title.

It's not to be found either in words or in concept in the text itself, well maybe in concept. But what I'm getting at with the title is that we're seeing here in the book of Ezra, chapter 3, People who are very conscious that they have not been tasked by God to reinvent the wheel. To start from scratch with a clean sheet of paper and to make up how they ought to be faithful to God. But they demonstrate a consciousness that they're not the first ones who have ever tried to serve God faithfully. And They are looking back to those upstream who have tried to serve God faithfully, who have labored to honor God with their lives, and have given themselves over to the praise and thanksgiving of the God who is.

So we're going to see that very distinctly in this text and it's a blessing And I just want to say, skipping right to the punch line, we should be that kind of people. We should be the kind of people who look upstream to those who have tried to live godly, tried to be faithful to God in the century that God placed them in. And we should be so thankful for the heritage of these men. We'll find nothing but imperfection there. And yet, They loved the Lord.

They wanted to serve Him. They had a heart towards faithfulness. You know, when our great grandchildren look back, they'll see nothing but imperfection here. But hopefully God will give them the good sense to also show them that we really did desire to serve God, to be faithful to Him in our generation. So that's why the title of the sermon, We Are Standing in a Stream, and in Ezra 3, they're so conscious, they must be conscious, because of how the text unfolds, they must be conscious that they're standing in the stream of those who have tried to be faithful.

Last week the title of the sermon was a calendar of remembrance and it had to do with this calendar that God had given to the Old Testament people of God. There's a calendar that God gave to his Old Testament people and we're not different, we're under a different covenant, but God has given us a calendar too for the same purpose. So the new covenant calendar functions much like the old covenant calendar functioned, at least in terms of purpose, which is to give us more joy of God, to have us remembering the goodness of God and to wean us away from the world. So last week the example of that was the Feast of Tabernacles where you go, you live on the roof maybe, of a perfectly good house in your tent for a week to remind you that what you really need is God. That you can strip away the comforts that you normally enjoy, and you can still find yourself full, full of everything that's needed.

So, this calendar that God has given his old covenant people, his new covenant people, is to give us more joy in the Lord, to cause our eyes to be turned to God, to consider His goodness, and to wean us away from the world. And to know that you can strip away everything that the world has to offer and you can still be so full of joy because everything that we need is to be found in Christ. The text last week ended with preparations for the work of rebuilding the temple. They were paying workers, They were paying masons to go and carve out these huge hunks of stone that needed to come out of the mountain to be used for this temple. They were paying carpenters who would be needed to do the woodwork for the interior of this magnificent structure that God had prescribed for his worship.

And they were trading for materials. They were bringing cedars of Lebanon from 100 miles away or more to be brought to Jerusalem. This week we're fast forwarding several months. Several months of time has elapsed and they are actually beginning the work of rebuilding the temple. And they're laying the foundation.

If you're going to start the work on any building, you start at the same place, in the ground, with something that will never be seen after you get the building up again. That's the last that you'll ever see of your foundation. Once the building goes up, that's where every building that ever was built was started was in the ground and laying the foundation. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, I pray that you would make us a people who are so zealous for your house.

I thank you for this text that brings us to a people who had a zeal for your house. They were ready to give their resources and the sweat of their brow to see the temple rebuilt. I've got to thank you for the special meaning that this has for us now under the new covenant where it's not a physical building, but that it is your dwelling place, it's your people. May we have a zeal for this temple. You dwell among your people.

May we be zealous for your people, for your worship among your people. Thank you for this godly example we desire to stand in this stream of those who have desired to be faithful. May it be so in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's begin with verses 8 and 9.

I'm going to split the text up into just three sections, two verses each. Ezra chapter 3, verses 8 and 9. Now In the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Joshua the son of Josadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. Then, Joshua with his sons and brothers, Cadmiel with his sons and the sons of Judah arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God. The sons of Hinnadad with their sons and their brethren, the Levites.

So in verses 8 and 9, they're beginning the work of rebuilding the temple. The first temple, Solomon's temple, took seven years to build with all the massive amount of resources that Solomon had to build. They don't have one zillionth of the resources that Solomon had to throw at the building of the first temple. But even so, even with all the riches and human resources that were given to Solomon to build this first temple. It still took them seven years.

So they have a lot of work ahead of them. And in the second year and the second month of that year, they get started on this massive task. In 1 Kings chapter 6 and 2 Chronicles chapter 3, both those texts say the same thing, which is that Solomon also started in the second month. So the first temple began to be built in the second month. And now with this second temple, the rebuilding of the temple, it begins in the second month also.

One of the commentators that I'm reading every week is Charles Fincham. Charles Fincham died in 1989, so he is a contemporary commentator, but his commentary on Ezra is excellent. And here's what he says to explain why that might be that both first Kings 6 verse 1 that's the first temple and this verse refer to the second month should be expected. Because it is then the beginning of the dry season after the major harvest is gathered in and the important festivals are already held. It is thus the right time to start building operations.

So the building operations start in the second month for the first temple and for the second temple and Charles Fincham says that makes sense because It's the beginning of the dry season. It's after the major harvest has been brought in. And the major festivals are over, meaning Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So the second month straddles our April and May on our calendar. That's the time of year it is.

And in Israel that's the perfect time of year that gives you the long season for building of good weather and you're beyond the harvest which would require resources and you're beyond the first major feast of the year, which is the feast of unleavened bread. So it makes sense that they would be beginning the building of any temple, the first or the second or the hundredth, in the second month of the year. Again, the civil leader, Zerubbabel, of the line of Judah, the grandson of the king, is leading and the spiritual leader, Jeshua, of the line of Aaron, the grandson of a high priest, are leading the work of beginning to rebuild the temple. So you have the civil leader, and you have the spiritual leader out front of the people and spurring them on to begin the work that God has sent them back miraculously by the decree of a pagan king to do this work and they're now doing this work. And as we've already seen multiple times and we'll continue to see two men are leading the charge, Zerubbabel and Jeshua.

Ezra gives us an order. You have these two leaders, the civil leader, the spiritual leader. Then You have the priests who have the most at stake in the rebuilding of the temple. Then you have the Levites who have the next most at stake in the rebuilding of the temple. And then you have all those who had come out of the captivity.

So the 50, 000 that came back, everyone is engaged in this work. But Ezra gives us a pecking order. He gives us an order. The two leaders, the priests who have the most at stake, the Levites who have the second most at stake, and then all the rest who came back out of captivity. It's going to be important next week that we understand that those engaged in the labor are all those who came back from captivity, and only those who came back from captivity because other people are going to want to join the work next week and they're going to be refused and it's going to cause problems.

So Ezra tells us who is engaged in the work and it's the ones who came back from captivity. They begin the work, they appoint overseers. Levites from 20 years old and above. That's who's overseeing the work of rebuilding the temple. Levites from 20 years old and above.

So we have the who and we have the how old. The who, the Levites, Remember the Levites were set apart to help the priests. They were essentially a tribe that was a gift of God to the priests to help them. They are in charge. They are entrusted by God with temple worship.

The worship that happens in the temple, not the worship of the temple. And it's big work. They have very specific things that they're supposed to do. The priests are, and the work goes beyond that, and it's too much for the priests. So God gives them a tribe to help them and that's the Levites.

So temple work is the business of Levites. Fast forwarding 70 years from this time in Nehemiah 8, when Ezra stands before the people to read the law, the Levites are going to be alongside him helping the people understand the law. So the Levites have a teaching role among the people of God. They're supposed to know what's in the book. So they're good supervisors for the rebuilding of the temple because they know what's in the book.

They know what this temple is supposed to be like. And so they're made overseers. Now, the how old? 20 years old and above and older. In 1 Chronicles chapter 23, By the last words of David, the Levites, 20 years and older, are numbered.

And they're the ones that are doing the work in the temple. So if you're a Levite, age lower than 20, if you're not yet 20, you're not engaged in the temple work. But at the time of David, at the end of David's life, when you become 20 years old, you can engage in the temple work. But I believe There's an additional significance to the age of 20. I actually believe the more I look at it, 20 is a very significant age in the Bible.

In the book of Numbers, The people of God have sent out spies to spy out the land. They're going to go into the promised land, or they're supposed to go into the promised land. The spies come back with a mixed report. The good news is that the land is as good as advertised. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey.

They come back with this huge bunch of grapes that they have to put on a pole because it's such an abundant bunch of grapes. The bad news is that there are giants in heavily fortified cities, and 10 of the 12 spies don't think the people of God can do it. So there's a debate about whether they should or they shouldn't, and the shouldn'ts win by numbers. Even though Moses and Joshua and Caleb are imploring them to trust God and to do it, regardless of the fortified cities, regardless of the giants to go into the land. But they decide they can't risk it.

Here's what we see in Numbers chapter 14 verse 29. Numbers chapter 14 verse 29. This is God speaking. 29, this is God speaking. The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness.

All of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above. So, this isn't a rule in Numbers 14, contrived by any man, this is the voice of God saying, if you're 20 years old or older, you die because you complained against me by saying that I can't bring you into this land that I promised you. If you're under the age of 20, you don't die. You can actually go into the promised land. So God is holding all those 20 and older responsible to have stood up and been counted when the debate is happening about whether they should or shouldn't.

And if you're 20 or older, you're culpable and you die in the wilderness. If you're not 20 yet, God doesn't hold them culpable. And he allows that younger generation to go into the promised land. We like to give the answer, there is no certain age. It doesn't depend on age.

That's one of my favorite answers. When should we baptize? There is no certain age. It doesn't depend on age. When should someone get married?

There is no certain age. It doesn't depend on age. But here in Numbers 14, there is an instance where it actually depends on age, and it's God who sets it. And I think this is instructive for us as parents in the room, for sure, that We should be aiming towards our children being ready to stand up and be counted by the age of 20. We should learn that.

There is an expectation here in Ezra 3 that the Levites when they're 20 they're ready to supervise the work of rebuilding the temple. A no joking around kind of job. Ready not just to engage in the work. And heaven knows that our children should be ready to engage in all sorts of meaningful things before 20. I'm not saying anything contrary to that.

Our children should be progressively ready. But according to Ezra 3, what we see in Ezra 3 and Numbers 14, as parents we should be targeting having our kids ready to rumble by age 20, ready to stand and be counted for God on their own two feet by the age of 20. It was the difference between dying in the wilderness or going into the promised land in Numbers 14. It was the difference between being a worker or overseeing workers in Ezra chapter 3. Verse 9, I believe, in Ezra chapter 3, gives further detail regarding verse 8.

In other words, it speaks about beginning the work and overseers being put over the work, Levites who are 20 years old and older. And now verse 9 speaks of the leading families of the Levites. You might get thrown off by Jeshua being put in here. I do not believe this is the same Jeshua that is mentioned earlier in the text. The one who will be high priest, the one whose grandfather is a high priest.

I don't think it's the same Jeshua. If you go back to chapter 2 and you look at verse 36, you see a listing of priests and you have Jeshua in that line of priests. Ezra chapter 2 verse 36. Priests, Jeshuas in that line. Then in verse 40 of chapter 2, just a few verses later, it speaks of Levites.

It's a much smaller number and there's another Jeshua in there with Cadmeo who's in our text today as leading families among the Levites. So I believe this is a different Jeshua and you have these same names, Jeshua and Kadmiel, then you have another name, Judah. I do not believe this is the tribe of Judah. I believe it's a man named Judah who is leading a family of Levites because the other names are clearly personal names, not the name of a tribe. Jeshua is not the name of a tribe.

Cadmiel is not the name of a tribe. Hennadab is not the name of a tribe. These are names of individuals, and I believe Judah fits that same mold. So I believe in verse 9 what we have is overseers of overseers. There are prominent families among the Levites who are managing at a higher level the work.

And then beneath them you have the Levites who are 20 years old and over managing the rest of the workers. So here's a parting shot on this section. Notice the fast start. Notice the eagerness. God brings them back out of captivity, out of Babylon.

Gives them safe journey, maybe a four or five month journey, probably a four or five month journey. They come to Jerusalem, there's an offering, they disperse to their cities, and then in the seventh month, they're back to Jerusalem. Probably only a few months later, they're back in Jerusalem to begin offering the daily sacrifices and to begin celebrating the feasts that have been prescribed by God. And then in the second year, in the second month, that's four or five months later, they're back and they're beginning to work. Consider the eagerness for the work.

This is an eager people to get off to a fast start and to get on with it. Here's what Matthew Henry says, when any work is to be done, it will be our wisdom to set about it quickly and not to lose time, yea though we foresee difficulty and opposition in it. Thus we engage ourselves to it and engage God for us." I believe we see this in Ezra 3. They're engaging God for them by showing their eagerness to do what God has sent them back to Jerusalem to do. They are getting after it in a very short period of time.

They're mobilizing the resources, they're making the preparations, and then they're getting down to business. And I want to say this. Always planning, Always strategizing, never doing is an enormous trap. Always learning and training but never getting after it is an enormous trap. And If you've been alive long enough, you've fallen into that trap a bunch of times and you know it's true.

Always having a good reason not to get going. This is not what we see in Ezra chapter 3. They're not needing an excuse not to get going. They're chomping at the bit to get going. They can't wait to get moving.

And there are certain people who give into that frailty. And they're always talking about it. They're always planning it. They're always training for it. They're always reading books about it.

But they never actually get to it. And We shouldn't be that kind of people. I find this in my own heart for sure. I love strategy. I love planning.

I love reading books. But honestly, we need to get about the business that God has given us to do. Is there anything in your life where you know in your heart of hearts that you're pushing back the start date by reading another book, by seeking out more training when you'd be better served to just get to the task at hand and start it. And then when you hit an obstacle, then read the book. Verses 10 and 11.

So it's beautiful. It's beautiful to have an example in Ezekiel 3 that will help us out of that trap because they're eager, because they get right after it and they're a good example for us. It's a good stream to stand in. People who will go and they know what they're supposed to do and they get right to the work and they put their shoulder to the wheel to start to make progress is a good stream to stand in. We should stand in that stream.

Ezekiel chapter 3 verses 10 and 11. When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Here in verses 10 and 11 we see an outburst of praising the Lord.

That's also a good stream to stand in of people upstream who were known for their outbursts of praising the Lord. It's a good stream. Verse 10 says, when the builders laid the foundation, when that happens, When the builders laid the foundation, the first of the work is done, they gather together to praise the Lord. Here's what we find in Zechariah 4 verse 10. Zechariah as a prophet is going to be introduced to us in Ezra in chapter 5.

So we're not quite to Zechariah yet. But in the book of Zechariah, chapter 4 verse 10, God through Zechariah says, for who has despised the day of small things? Some translations read the day of small beginnings. Who has despised that? In Zechariah, God is encouraging the people not to despise the day of small things.

The truth of the matter is that God is worthy of praise and we shouldn't wait till the end to praise him. At every milestone, at every sign of his faithfulness, we should stop and gather and praise him. It shouldn't be an infrequent thing. It should be a frequent thing. Put that on the calendar.

Put some reminders on the calendar to remember to thank God for his faithfulness at every milestone. So here we have the two ends of the continuum. On one end, On one extreme, we have those who are always planning and talking and training but never doing. On the other end of the continuum, at the other extreme, you have those who do nothing but work. Work, work, work.

We can't even stop to rest for a moment. We can't even stop to celebrate the milestones of progress that God has given us. That's wrong too. Both of the extremes, both of the ends of the continuum are wrong. It's wrong to always plan and never do.

And it's wrong to only do, do, do, do and never stop to say, God, thank you. We praise you for progress. It's good to be eager to get to work and eager to praise God in the milestones, to gather together to praise God for the progress that he has given. It's an acknowledgement that he has given the progress, that it's not your hard work. Okay, because also if you've been alive long enough, you know you can work really hard and end up with big fat nothing.

Isn't that true? Isn't it possible to work really hard to exalt yourself and end up with nothing. So if that doesn't happen, then you know it's the favor of God that has allowed you to be successful, to achieve the milestone. And you ought to stop and to praise Him. So we have the priests and their apparel with trumpets.

In Numbers chapter 10 talks about the trumpets, the silver trumpets and talks about the priest blowing those trumpets and one of the occasions that the priest ought to blow the trumpets in Numbers chapter 10, verse 10 talks about in the day of gladness. That's what we have in Ezra chapter 3. The day of gladness has arrived and so it's right for the priest to be standing there in their vestments and their apparel with the trumpets that God has prescribed because it's the day of gladness bring out the trumpets and we have the sons of Asaph remember they're Levites Asaph was a Levite So the sons of Asaph are Levites. And they're standing there with the symbols ready to clang them together to praise God. So you have the priest with the trumpets, the sons of Asaph with the symbols, and then we have this phrase, according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel.

Because I know so little of the original languages, I don't feel like it's fair for me to be miffed very often with the translators. But in this isolated instance, I'm sort of miffed with the translators, with them calling it an ordinance and translating the Hebrew word that way. It literally means according to the hands of David. So my perceived problem with the translation is it makes it sound like David commanded this and that's not true. You'll not find it anywhere in scripture where David commanded this.

But you will find in scripture David's hands being busy with this. So it should be according to the hands of David. In other words, like David did. They brought out the priests in their apparel with the trumpets and they brought out the sons of Asaph with their symbols like David did. Like the pattern of David.

Like the example of David. So we won't find a command where David says do it this way, but we will find an example of David doing it that way. I want to show you. First Chronicles, go to First Chronicles, Chapter 16. It's not very many chapters back.

Before Ezra is Second Chronicles, before Second Chronicles is First Chronicles, First Chronicles 16. And I'll be reading verses 1-7. First Chronicles, chapter 16, verses 1-7. So they brought the Ark of God and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. So we have a milestone.

The Ark of God is being brought into the tabernacle. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. Verse 2. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Then he distributed to everyone in Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins.

And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph the chief and next to him Zechariah, then Jiel, Shemaramoth, Jehiel, Matataiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom. Jiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals. There you have it. Asaph made music with cymbals.

Baniah and Jehazal, the priests, regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God. On that day, David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren to thank the Lord. And then this song that you would read in the following verses, I guess verse 8 through verse 36, this song that David hands over to Asaph is sort of a highlights of the Davidic Psalms. David wrote so many Psalms in the book of Psalms and he has key phrases, memorable phrases from some of those Psalms. A lot of those phrases you'll find in this.

So David sort of hands off a highlight of his Psalms to Asaph to be singing before the Ark of the Lord. And then in the song, in verse 34, part of this song is, Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. So with a sort of consecration of this tabernacle, when the Ark of God is brought into the tabernacle, David brings Asaph with his symbols, in Ezra 3, the sons of Asaph are with the symbols, and the priests with their trumpets, in Ezra 3 we have the priests with their trumpets, and they're singing this song, and part of this song is, God is good, His mercy endures forever. You can believe that Zerubbabel and Jeshua knew about 1 Chronicles 16. It's impossible to overlay them and see All those similarities and say they didn't have that in mind when they did this.

It's impossible. They had what David is doing in mind when they have this milestone. The foundation of the temple has been laid. It's a time for joy. It's the day of joy.

Bring out the trumpets. Bring out the sons of Asaph with their cymbals and let's sing about the goodness and the mercy of God like David did at a milestone with the tabernacle. They are standing in David's stream. They're looking upstream. 435 years, something like that.

More than 400 years. They're looking upstream. And they're seeing this man after God's own heart with all of his sins and imperfections they see a man after God's own heart. They knew that he wanted to be faithful to God and they see him celebrating and praising God in this way and then they stand in that stream because it's a good stream. Now turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 5.

2 Chronicles chapter 5. Now it's Solomon. David wasn't allowed to build the temple. He wanted to, but God wouldn't let him. God left that to Solomon.

Now Solomon builds the temple. Now 2 Chronicles 5, 6, 7 is about the beginning of temple worship. So let's read in 2 Chronicles chapter 5, I'll read verses 11 through 14. 2 Chronicles 5 beginning in verse 11. And it came to pass when the priests came out of the most holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without keeping to their divisions.

And the Levites, who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jettetham with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, and with them 120 priests sounding with trumpets. Indeed it came to pass when the trumpets and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they had lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures forever. That the house, the house of the Lord was filled with the clouds so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. What a scene. But it's the same scene.

It's Asaph with the cymbals and it's the priests with the trumpets and it's the people singing about the goodness and the mercy of God using the same words that David had used. So in Ezra 3 they're also standing in Solomon's stream, a man who desired to be faithful in his generation. And we're seeing continuity among the people of God. Solomon wanting to stand in the stream of his father who desired to be faithful. And now 400 years later, people of God brought back from captivity not wanting to reinvent, but there's a milestone associated with the temple.

What did these faithful men, how did they celebrate? How did they praise God? How did they thank God and express their gratitude for the progress that God had given them? And then they're doing the same. Now, just flip one page to 2 Chronicles chapter 7.

2 Chronicles chapter 7 verses 1 through 3. When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord saying, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever." People can't contain themselves at the goodness of God. And so they're singing this phrase that's found so often in the Psalms.

I am so glad you brought us to Psalm 118 during the worship time. If we went to Psalm 136 you would see the same phrase over and over and over again. God is good as mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever.

This phrase was so familiar to the psalmists. So we're given the continuity among those who desire to serve God faithfully. World history did not begin the day you were born. The history of the world did not begin the day you were born. There was actually things that preceded your birth.

I say that jokingly but we have a hard time jarring ourselves out of that mindset. The truth is people have been trying to serve God with all their heart for a long time. You're not the first one. You didn't invent earnest worship if you worship earnestly. There have been people worshipping earnestly for a long time, centuries, millennia.

And they have given a stream of faithfulness that points to God and we should stand in that stream. David does it, Solomon stands in his stream. Solomon does it, the people in Ezra chapter 3 stand in his stream even though it's 400 years later. Before we leave this section of our text, we have to go one more spot which is Jeremiah chapter 33. So turn So turn to Jeremiah chapter 33, you won't want to miss this.

Jeremiah chapter 29, you don't need to turn there, but in Jeremiah chapter 29, Jeremiah is in Jerusalem and he is writing to the captives in Babylon. So this is subsequent to that. Jeremiah chapter 33, I'll be reading verses 7 through 11. Jeremiah is prophesying about the people being brought back from captivity. So at the time when Jeremiah is saying this, the people are in captivity, and God is saying through his prophet, I'll bring you back.

Jeremiah chapter 33 beginning in verse 7. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. Then it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honor before all nations of the earth Who shall hear all the good that I do to them? They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it Thus says the Lord Again there shall be heard in this place, of which you say, It is desolate without man and without beast, in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast.

The voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride. The voice of those who will say, praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good. For his mercy endures forever. And of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord for I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first says the Lord." Ezra chapter 3 and the saying of these words, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endures forever is a direct fulfillment of the prophecy in Jeremiah 33 verse 11. God said it, I'll bring you back and I'll restore the voice of joy in Jerusalem.

It's going to be weddings again. You're going to hear the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride in Jerusalem. And you're going to hear the sacrifice of praise in the house of God and God did it. He said it and He did it. One final word about this section.

This is how the Lord's people know Him. This is how the Lord's people know Him. They know Him as good. They know Him as the one whose mercy endures forever. Those who are not the Lord's people don't seem like that at all.

They see a tyrant. Or they see a father that can never be pleased. They don't see him as good as one who has unending mercy, but the Lord's people know him that way. If you don't see God that way, then you need to repent. And either believe the gospel and be saved for the first time, or I know there are many people in the faith that have wrong thoughts about God.

And They really are Christians, but they really do see God as a Father and they just never feel like they can please Him because they don't understand what He's like. He's good. His mercy endures forever. He is not an unyielding Father who can never be pleased. And because of your many imperfections and because of your ongoing sin, you just, God is glowering over you.

This is not how the Lord's people should know Him. He's so kind. He's so full of mercy. Know Him as good, know Him as the one whose mercy endures forever. He has unending mercy for His people.

In spite of all their deficits, even in spite of their sins. To us, God is the God who sent Jesus to stand as a substitute, to bear the wrath of God towards sin. So if David saw God as good as a God of unending mercy, and Solomon saw God as good and a God of unending mercy, and the people of Ezra 3 saw God as good and the God of unending mercy. How much more should we after the coming of Jesus Christ see God as good and the God of unending mercy. If the goodness of God and the mercy of God, the unending mercy of God has ever been on display, it has been on display in the work of Jesus Christ.

In the coming and living and dying and being raised from the dead of Jesus Christ. How much more should we see God this way? It was totally appropriate for them to see God this way in Ezra. And now I'm just piling onto that and say how much more should we view God that way? Back to Ezra.

And the final section of our text. Verses 12 and 13. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers houses, old men who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off." Verses 12 and 13, we have these competing noises, loud noises, shouting and weeping. The end of verse 11 said the people shouted with a great shout.

It's a shout of praise. So much for tame praises. They were shouting their praises to God. We tend to think of Old Testament worship as stoic, unemotional, complex and technical. In some ways it was complex and technical.

But Old Testament worship often was nowhere near stoic or unemotional. Here we see a large group of worshippers, these 50, 000 who have come back from captivity, and they are emotionally invested in the worship. And it's to their praise. It's right. It's good.

What's happening here at the end of Ezra chapter 3 is wonderful. They are emotionally invested in their worship. Not emotionally intoxicated. Some of that have that in our background. Emotional intoxication.

Emotions for emotions sake. Whipping yourself up into a frenzy and your life didn't change one bit from one Sunday to the next. I'm not talking about emotional intoxication. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I'm talking about emotional investment.

I'm talking about the truths of the goodness and the mercy of God sinking down deep enough so that your worship is not stoic and emotional and technical, but that your heart is overflowing when you hit the door on Sunday. You can't wait to be together with the other people you know who have received this great unending mercy of God. And You can't be unemotional about it. You can't be stoic about the worship of such a good and merciful God. Are you emotionally invested in your worship?

It's a question for you. You can fool me. I'm the easiest. I'm a sucker. I'll believe pretty much anything you tell me.

But you know whether you just come and this is mechanical, this is technical, and your emotions are never stirred at the thought of the goodness and the mercy of God when we come together. It's a sign of trouble. It's a sign of trouble if that's true. When I ask myself that question, am I emotionally invested in my worship? The honest answer is sometimes.

I want it to be all the time. I want my emotions to be stirred, rightly, not to the point of intoxication. But I want to know with such certainty the goodness and the mercy of this God. I don't have to trump that up. We don't have to contrive goodness and mercy about God.

It is just there to be seen and known and experienced and worshiped. Emotionally worshiped. The goodness and the mercy of God should elicit emotion from us. In verse 12 we have these old men, these old priests and these old Levites and these old heads of fathers' houses. They're just the kind of men who would have spent a lot of time in the temple in their youth.

The priests and the Levites and members of the prominent families, they're the ones who would have been in the temple a lot in their youth. And here they are at the laying of the foundation and depending on the wave of captivity in which they went into captivity, It's been 50 to 70 years since the destruction of the temple. These are men 60 years old, 70 years old, 80 years old, probably older. They probably weren't younger than 60 years old. The first captives went into captivity in 605, and the very last ones in 586 when the temple was destroyed.

So these are 60 and 70 and 80 and maybe 90 year old men, or maybe older than that. And the text says that they're weeping with a loud voice. So you have the shouting, a great shout of praise. And then you have this loud weeping happening. But Everything that is happening is happening at high volume.

The weeping is at high volume, the shouting of praise is at high volume. So that it's heard afar off is what the text says. You have this jumble of sound and emotion. We're given the motive for the shouting. The text actually says the motive for the shouting is joy.

That's why they were shouting. They were joy. They were full of joy. They were happy. But we're not given a motive for the weeping and my guess is it's because it was a mixed motive for the weeping.

It was bittersweet. That's often where our weeping comes from, is from the bittersweet. Most of the commentators say it's because they were disappointed. I reject that. I don't think that's nuanced enough.

I think there's more emotion going on here than just The old temple was awesome and all we have is the foundation. I think it's more than that here. It would be a mistake not to consider sowing and reaping one more time. In other words, to think why they were in captivity and why they were coming back from captivity. It was unfaithfulness that destroyed that temple.

It wasn't Nebuchadnezzar that destroyed that temple. It was sin unchecked. It was unfaithfulness that pulled that building down brick by brick. It wasn't the foreign army. The foreign army ended up just being the axehead.

But the wielder of the tool was God Himself, and it was the unfaithfulness of the people that brought that temple down. Here's something I've heard Scott Brown say many times. Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go, keep you there longer than you ever wanted to stay, and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay. That's so true of the captivity. God has mercy, God has mercy, God has mercy, God has mercy, God has mercy, God has mercy.

And then the people even start misinterpreting the mercy of God as he'll never do anything. And then God brings judgment and they find that sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go and keep you there longer than you ever wanted to stay and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay. These are men who have spent their whole lives in Babylon because of sin. No wonder they were weeping when they see the foundations laid. No wonder this strong emotion, bittersweet emotion rose up in them again when they think of the 70 years that they were away from where the special presence of God was to be.

Okay, applications. Four of them. Four. Number one, whatever the Lord has given us to do, let's get after it. Enough with the training, enough with the reading of the books, enough with strategizing and planning.

Let's get to work. And it's no mystery what God has given us to do. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ, so we should go to the nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all the things that Jesus has commanded. No more Great Commission training videos and strategizing. It's time to do the work.

Number two, Think about how you know God to be. What's your vision of God? What's your view of God? Here's the people, their vision of God, their view of God is that He's good. That there's no end to his mercy.

That is a healthy view of God. He is just. He does bring discipline, and the discipline is not pleasant at the time, it hurts. But that's just part of his goodness and his mercy. It doesn't change who he is at all.

Even his discipline is good and merciful. If he wasn't good and merciful, he wouldn't bother to discipline you. He would just let you drift off into the weeds and destroy yourself. That's what we would all do without the hand of God upon us to disciple us, to bring us safely to the finish line. If he didn't have his hand on you to bring discipline, you would just go off into the weeds and destroy yourself and you'd be the problem.

God wouldn't be the problem. You should know God to be a good God. You should know Him to be a God of unending mercy, because that is the God of the Bible. Number three, be thankful for the stream we are standing in. Be so thankful.

I think we're standing in a wonderful stream. When we look upstream, we see Jesus, the fountainhead. But there are even those upstream from him. Ezra and Nehemiah. And within the book of Ezra, Zerubbabel and Jeshua.

These men are trying to be faithful to God. God is using them in a mighty way. We're standing in their stream. We should be grateful for that stream. Upstream from them was Solomon.

Upstream from Solomon was David, upstream from David was Moses. We should just go to Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter, which talks about all these people who had faith. They believed God. God credited their faith to them as righteousness. And then Hebrews 12 starts and they're called the great cloud of witnesses.

That's the stream we're standing in. The stream of the great cloud of witnesses that have lived for God and found him to be faithful. But there are others downstream from them between Jesus and all those I mentioned and us. And they tried to be faithful. They tried to serve God faithfully with their imperfections.

And they loved him. And they believed in him. And God credited it to them as righteousness. He saved them and brought them safely to the finish line. The apostles, the reformers in the 1500s, the Puritans, all the way up to the 1800s.

Some say J.C. Ryle was the last of the Puritans. He died almost, it may have been 1900 or something like that, but he was in his prime when we were having our Civil war in 1860. We're standing in that stream and it's a good stream. We should be thankful for the reformers and for the Puritans.

This is not to make the point, be like John Calvin or be like the Puritans, be like J.C. Ryle, take up the traditions that they've handed around. It's exactly the opposite point that I'm making. The reformers and the Puritans recovered the supremacy of scripture. That is the stream that we're standing in when we stand in their stream.

Not be like John Calvin, but think about the Bible like John Calvin thought about the Bible, like J.C. Ryle thought, they put the Bible here at the top of the pyramid. So when you're standing in that stream, even your errors have hope, because it's self-correcting if you're really standing in that stream. You have hope that your errors can be correcting because that stream is always sending you back to the Bible and sending you back to the Bible and sending you back to the Bible So maybe you'll see one day where your errors are. Our confession is from 1689, about 325 years ago.

I'm glad for that. I'm glad we're standing in that stream. It's a good stream. We should be thankful for it. Number four, finally.

The Old Testament gives us pictures of the New Testament realities. We've been seeing that week by week. The theists were a picture of this and Christ is the substance of it. Zerubbabel in the line of Judah in the line of kings is a picture of this and Christ is the substance of it. Jeshua is a high priest, he's in the line of Aaron and Christ is the substance of it.

Week by week by week we keep hitting the things. The Old Testament is the picture, the New Testament is the substance and the fulfillment. So we'll end here in Ephesians chapter 2, turn to Ephesians chapter 2. The temple is a picture. The foundations of the temple is a picture.

Never in view in Ezra explicitly, but couldn't be clearer looking back through the lens of the New Testament. Ephesians chapter 2 verses Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 through 22. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, you Gentiles. This is being written to Gentiles in Ephesus, Paul. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Could have gone to 1st Peter for this too, I'm sure you remember.

Solomon's temple, Zerubbabel's temple, are just a picture. The real thing is you and me, living stones coming to Jesus, receiving our life from Him and then being built up a holy temple to offer spiritual sacrifices. And what is the foundation of that temple? Well, the apostles and the prophets are. And what is the chief cornerstone of that temple?

Jesus Christ, the head of the church is. These are all Old Testament pictures that have New Testament realities. And it is good to bring out the trumpets and to clang the symbols to give thanks to God for His temple, His new covenant temple. The chief cornerstone of that foundation and the apostles and prophets that this spiritual temple is built upon. Let's pray.

Father, I thank You for the New Testament reality of these things. I thank you most of all for the chief cornerstone despised and rejected by men, but acceptable to God and made preeminent given the place of honor, given the place to bear the weight of the structure. Thank you for Jesus Christ that He is sufficient for all these things, our great High Priest. I thank you for the apostles and prophets that you used in a mighty way to build the foundation through the words that they would write and pass down to us to show us how we could live before you, should live before you. Oh God, make us a people who do have a zeal for this temple, who love it, who desire to stand in the stream of all your people through the centuries, who desire to be faithful.

I thank you for them. You've given us so many good patterns on display through your people. Help us to love those, help us to emulate them where it was consistent with your word. We pray this In Jesus' name, Amen.