The sermon 'Jesus Christ in the Book of Ezra' by Jason Dohm explores the presence of Jesus Christ throughout the Bible, emphasizing His presence in the Old Testament, particularly the Book of Ezra. Dohm highlights the significance of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, which includes important feasts such as the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles, all pointing to Christ. The sermon discusses how the Mosaic Covenant and Old Testament sacrifices illustrate the need for righteousness outside oneself, foreshadowing Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice. It underscores the concept of generational reversal, as exemplified by the faithfulness of Zerubbabel and Jeshua despite their ancestors' unfaithfulness. The sermon encourages believers to seek unity and love within the church and to approach personal sanctification and obedience as progressive, focusing on making small beginnings in faith. Dohm concludes by emphasizing the freedom found in worshiping God as prescribed in the scripture, and the ultimate fulfillment of Old Testament sacrifices through Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice.

The title of the sermon today is Jesus Christ in the book of Ezra. Jesus Christ is in every single book of the 66 books of the Bible, even in the 39 Old Testament books. And the more you study the Old Testament, the more you understand it's not right to say even in the Old Testament books. In some cases it's right to say, especially in the Old Testament books. So the New Testament is a blessing.

You'll never find Jesus Christ more clearly, more beautifully than in the New Testament. But is He there? Is He there? In every book of the Bible. And the more I study the Bible, Old Testament, and New, the closer to the surface in the Old Testament Jesus Christ becomes.

And if you repeatedly undertake, read the Bible through in a year plan, in the first year you find yourself saying, I don't understand very much of what I'm reading. If you're going to get through in a year, you just can't stop and chase down everything. You understand you just have to keep reading. But if you'll do it again the next year, and you'll do it again the next year, and you'll do it again the next year, what you find is you begin to see connections that you didn't see the first time through when you thought, I don't understand anything of what I'm reading. You begin to see the connections and they're not imagined connections, they're connections that Jesus makes with the Old Testament.

That Paul makes with the Old Testament, that Peter makes with the Old Testament, that John makes with the Old Testament, and they train us as we read through the New Testament, Jesus, and Peter, and Paul, and John are training us what to look for in the Old Testament. So it's not imagined connections, they're real connections. And the New Testament writers will teach us what things we ought to look for in the Old Testament. So it's not imagined connections, they're real connections. The New Testament writers will teach us what things we ought to look for in the Old Testament.

Then we'll study the Old Testament and we'll see Jesus Christ rising very near the surface. And this is one of those texts where he's just right there on the surface in beautiful colors. In many colors. As we saw in chapter one, the reason that God stirred up this Gentile King, Cyrus, was so that God would be worshipped in Jerusalem in the temple as he prescribed himself to be worshiped. And the reason he prescribed himself to be worshiped in this way in Jerusalem in the temple according to all these ordinances of the Old Testament was because they point to Christ.

That's why God stirred up this Gentile King was to bring back this form of worship that points to Jesus and points to Jesus and points to Jesus and will, if you're paying attention, awaken the heart for just an intense desire for God to send his Messiah to redeem a people. That's why. That's why the heart of this Gentile king gets stirred up. So this type of worship that gives a beautiful picture of the Messiah will awaken in the people a desire for this Messiah to come. And will let them know that righteousness is outside of themselves.

If you don't get anything from the Old Testament ordinances from the Mosaic Covenant you should get this, you're not righteous. In the death of all these animals, you find out righteousness is outside yourself, not inside yourself. You have to go to God for mercy or you will be lost forever. Chapter 1, the dominant feature was God stirring up this Gentile king, and then God stirring up this people. Some to go, and some to help.

Chapter one has this dominant feature of the movement of God on the hearts of people. Chapter 2, the dominant feature is the response. Certain people of certain families are going to take Cyrus up on his offer and his encouragement to come back to Jerusalem and Judah to repopulate this city and this region to rebuild the temple and to reinstitute the worship that God had prescribed. So chapter 2 was the response to what God had done in chapter 1. And then chapter 3 now that we're moving into is the beginning, making a beginning of reinstituting the worship that God had prescribed.

So we have three verses in our text this week, Ezra chapter 3 verse 1, verse 2, verse 3. We're going to take them one at a time. And there are key phrases in each verse that I'm going to be camping on. There are key phrases which really tell it all of what God is wanting to bless His people with by giving this text. As we go to the text, let's pray and ask the Lord to help us.

Oh God, I pray that you would show us Christ in this text, that he would rise to the surface. We would see him in his beauty. I thank you for the clarity of the New Testament, but I thank you that we can find our Savior even here in the Old Testament books. He's right beneath the surface, the Redeemer, the one who was promised to be sent by a loving Father. He would give his life as a ransom for many.

Oh, use these Old Testament texts to cause our love for Jesus Christ to increase. Increase that He might be Lord in our hearts. We might love Him and honor Him there. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, verse 1, Ezra chapter 3 verse 1, gathering as one man. Let's read the verse. When the seventh month had come, and the Children of Israel were in the cities. The people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. First, understand how significant The seventh month is to the people of God under the Mosaic Covenant.

These are people who are living under a covenant that God gave through the man of God. We'll see in verse 2. They're living under this system of how they're going to relate to God. Not every month is created equal in that system. The seventh month is a very precious month in that system.

So this is not a random month. It's not when they happen to have time, they gather together in Jerusalem. They gather together because God has prescribed very specific and very precious things to happen under this old covenant in the seventh month. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 16. Deuteronomy 16, 16.

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses." And he chooses Jerusalem. At the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. It's the feast of tabernacles that happens in the seventh month, as we're going to see next week. Next week will be all about the feast of tabernacles. So there are these three wonderful, precious, specific, very important feasts.

All the males are required to gather together at Jerusalem. But we find as we look at the Old Testament and the New that it's not just the males who are coming. The males are required to come and represent their families in the worship of God. But it's much more normal for the whole family to come. This is what we see in Luke chapter 2.

Jesus is 12 years old and the whole family comes up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. So in Jesus' family, it certainly was not just the males, it was the whole family coming to worship God. As you look across the Old and New Testament, that was normal. The family is going up to Jerusalem to worship. When we consider the seventh month, really the place you go to is Leviticus chapter 23 verses 23 through 44.

So in Leviticus chapter 23, here's what we see about the seventh month. The seventh month spans our September and October. So it's part of our September and part of our October. So that's the timing that we're talking about, the seventh month on the Jewish calendar is that. In Leviticus chapter 23, we see that the first day is a memorial of blowing trumpets.

If you've heard of the feast of trumpets, that's it. It's the first day of this seventh month. Leviticus chapter 23 calls it a memorial of blowing trumpets. It's a time of rejoicing. You're not supposed to do any customary work on that day, and there are offerings made by fire on this first day of the seventh month.

We know it as Rosh Hashanah. That's the first day of the seventh month. The Jews celebrate it to this day, and they call it Rosh Hashanah, which literally means head of the year. It is the New Year's Day of the civil calendar of the Jewish people. It's sort of like their New Year's Day, Rosh Hashanah.

Then on the tenth day of the seventh month, you have the Day of Atonement. So the first day is the feast of trumpets. It's a day of rejoicing. You set aside your customary work and there are burnt offerings. It's a day of rejoicing, but the tenth day of the seventh month is not a day of rejoicing.

It is a day of afflicting your soul. That's what we find in Leviticus 23. The description of the Day of Atonement is a day to think about your sins. The Day of atonement is a day for afflicting your souls. And in Leviticus 23 it says, if you don't afflict your souls, you're to be cut off from the people.

You're to be put to death. If you will not take this day to consider your sins and what your sins deserve before a holy God, then you should be cut off from among your people. We know this as Yom Kippur. That's the Day of Atonement. And it's celebrated by the Jews today, and they know it as Yom Kippur.

So when Jesus comes and he begins preaching the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are those who mourn. This is not a New Testament thing. This is Jesus picking up on what was so well established in the Old Testament. You're blessed if you're poor in spirit, if you set aside time to consider your sins, how many they are and how great they are and what that means in the eyes of a holy God and you afflict your soul. God actually wants us to do that.

He always has. He did in the old and He does in the new. You're blessed if you're poor in spirit. You're blessed if you mourn, if you set aside time to consider your sins and where that leaves you before a holy God, you are blessed. And then on the 15th day begins a week long feast of tabernacles.

And We'll spend all next week talking about the feast of tabernacles, but it's remembering the Exodus from Egypt. They're going to live in booths. They're going to live in temporary dwellings for a week to remember that God brought them out of slavery. The first day is the Feast of Trumpets. The tenth day is the Day of Atonement.

The fifteenth day begins a week-long feast of tabernacles. This is the seventh month and it's an incredibly important month in the life of the people of God. So when we come to Ezra 3 and it says in the seventh month the people came together as one man to Jerusalem, this is not a random month, This is a holy month, a precious month, a significant month in the life of the people of God. Secondly, understand the cost. Understand the cost of the people coming together now as one man all together coming to Jerusalem.

So they had come long journey, settled in the cities of their heritage, and now they're gathering back together at Jerusalem for a holy purpose. But not without cost. Here's what Matthew Henry says. In the close of the foregoing chapter, we left Israel in their cities. But we may well imagine what a bad posture their affairs were in.

The ground untilled, the cities in ruins, all out of order. But here we have an account of the early care they took about the reestablishment of religion among them. Thus did they lay the foundation well and begin their work at the right end. When Matthew Henry says they're beginning their work at the right end, he's saying they're prioritizing correctly. They're doing rightly.

It's better to leave the fields untilled and to leave the cities in ruin and to come and worship God together. They brought him back to worship him. They brought him back to reestablish this worship. So, though so many things, a million things are undone at home, they drop what they're doing and they gather as one man in the seventh month to worship God. Because it is better to leave all the things undone at home, the cities in ruins, the fields untilled, and to come for the purpose that God had stirred them up for back to Jerusalem and worshiped God.

If you worship God first these other things are going to you'll find that they work themselves out. The untilled fields will work themselves out. The ruined cities and the broken down houses will be fixed in God's time, in due time. They began their work at the right end. These people clearly have an awareness of the reason for their captivity.

The reason that they're going back to cities that haven't been lived in in 70 years is because they did not give careful attention to the worship of God. Even the number of years was set by their neglect of the worship of God. 70 years. Why 70 years? Because for 490 years they ignored the seventh year Sabbath.

It was supposed to be a rest for the land. That's even why the captivity was the length that it was, because they neglected worship. So now they come back and we have a sense here in Ezra chapter 3 that there's a heightened sense, A heightened sensitivity to not neglecting the worship of God. So they're willing to leave fields until cities broken down houses a mess to come in the seventh month and to worship God. Jesus says in Matthew 6 verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

You'll have the food you need, you'll have the clothes you need, You'll have the shelter you need if you seek his kingdom first and his righteousness. God will take care of the rest. And so they can leave those cities in disarray and come and worship God. And they ought to. They ought to.

It's right to. Finally, consider the beauty of the phrase, as one man. Just consider the beauty of the phrase, as one man. In the New Testament, this will be even clearer and even more beautiful. It will be the body of Christ.

One man under one head. But here we see it sort of in seed form. In the New Testament, the church is the body of Christ, and it's the full-grown plant. You can see it full-grown. But here, you're seeing it in seed form, as one man.

Whenever God revives the hearts of his people, this is what happens. You don't see this. God hasn't revived the hearts of his people. He has not. Whenever, always, comprehensively, when God awakens the hearts of His people to love Him as they ought to love Him, this is the result.

As one man. Unity, love flourishing among the people of God. Listen to Jesus in John 17. So John 17 is Jesus' high priestly prayer. It's at the very end of his life.

John 17 is the high priestly prayer. John 18 is his Gethsemane. John 19 is the crucifixion. So in John 17 when Jesus is uttering the high priestly prayer to his father, he's in the last hours of his life. Only a few hours left of his life.

So these are the things that are pressing upon the heart of our Savior Jesus Christ in the very last hours of his life. And in John 17 verses 20 and 21 Jesus says, I do not pray for these alone. He's just been praying for his disciples. So he prays for his disciples and then he says, I do not pray for these alone." He's just been praying for his disciples. He prays for his disciples and then he says, I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

That's us. We're the ones who believe in Jesus through the word of his disciples. If you believe it's because the disciples have given us his word, you believed it. So he's talking about us. So now what what is Jesus praying praying for us about?

Next verse John 17 21 now that they all may be one As You father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. This is what is pressing on the heart of our Savior in the last hours of His life. That those who believe in Him through the words of the Apostles would be made one. There would be unity, there would be love flourishing among his people. And this is exactly what we see in the life of the early church.

In Acts chapter 1, they're waiting, they've been told to wait in Jerusalem. They're in the upper room, There's about 120 of them who are there waiting for Pentecost. We read in Acts chapter 1 verse 14, These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. 120 people in the upper room waiting because Jesus had told them to wait. And what is their disposition there with one accord?

They are as one man in the words of Ezra chapter 3. So what happens when the church grows? Is this diluted when the church grows and it stops being 120 people and it becomes 3, 120 people on the day of Pentecost? Here's what we read after the pouring out of the Spirit in Acts chapter 2 verse 46. So continuing, with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and sincerity of heart.

When God pours out his spirit, when God revives the hearts of his people, This is what you see. You see gladness and sincerity of heart. You see love flourishing. You see unity. You see with one accord.

This is what we have at least a little taste of in Ezra chapter 3. They gather together as one man at Jerusalem. Why is that? Why is it that when God revives the hearts of his people, that there's an increase in unity and love, it is because love of God and love of the brethren are inseparable. You cannot pull them apart.

They are inseparable so that you can troubleshoot your own heart and when you're having trouble loving the brethren, you know there's a deeper problem. It's your love for God. Because when love for God is flourishing, love for the brethren is flourishing. They're inseparable. They're distinct.

They are two different things, but they're inseparable. They travel together. If you're having trouble loving your brethren, if you're finding yourself exalted over and against your brethren, you've got a bigger problem. That's not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is your love for God is failing.

It's languishing. Love of God and love of the brethren are inseparable. Now verse 2. Verse 2. Building an offering as it is written.

Let's read verse 2. Then, Jeshua the son of Jezadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God." In chapter 2, verse 2, where we've already been, we had a list of the 11 men who are leading the first wave back from captivity. So there are 11 names in chapter 2 verse 2. And Zerubbabel and Jeshua head the list. And we find out as we work our way through Ezra and Nehemiah, it's not a randomly ordered list.

These are the two leading men, even of the leading men, these are the leading men. That's why they head the list. Because Zerub, Babel, and Jeshua will continue to be the most prominent men in what God is doing when the captives are brought back from Babylon. This time though, the order is reversed. Did you notice that?

It's Jeshua and his brethren the priests, and then Zerubbabel and his brethren. I believe that's because this is work, the building of the altar is work that is very fitting for priests, for Levites. All priests are Levites. This is the work of priests and Levites for sure. So it appears that they are out front.

They are leading the work of the building of the altar. So these men rally their families around what God wants. What a blessing it is when that happens. When men rally their families, we see that. It's Jeshua and his brethren, the priests, all part of the family of Aaron, the line of Aaron, and Zerubbabel and his brethren.

They're rallying their families around what God wants. That's what we should do. Fathers and mothers, this is our job to rally our families around what God wants. Not what we want, not what would make us more comfortable, more well entertained, but what God wants, what would bring Him honor, to rally all the resources that God has given us around one great cause, the cause of bringing glory to God. That's what these men are doing.

Fathers and mothers, that's where the leverage is. We have many years behind us. We have fewer years ahead of us. And we're small in number. This is how families work.

Have you noticed that? Family trees, they get bigger as you go up the trees because they have more years left and there's more of them. This is where the leverage is. What we can accomplish in our lifetime is this. If God would give us grace, if God would put His hand upon our children and our grandchildren, if God would be pleased to do that, if God would use faithfulness in our lives, I'm not saying that we can do this, I'm saying if God would be pleased to do this, use frail offerings of faithfulness from us.

To put his hand upon our children and our grandchildren. What we can do with ourselves in our lifetime is this, But what our children and grandchildren can do is this, in faithfulness to God and God being honored. That's where the leverage is. It's not in you and what you can get done in your 24-hour day. You can multiply it exponentially, if God is pleased, to use your weak offering of faithfulness, which is mixed with some unfaithfulness and all the rest of it.

I acknowledge all that. I acknowledge it must be God doing it, but God is so often pleased to work that way. To take the offering of faithfulness from a man and a woman and to bless it and to multiply it. We should be striving for that. We should be desiring for that.

We should be praying towards that. We should be begging God for that. That our lives and what is done in our lives would be such a small thing compared to what is done in our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. So here we have these two men who are rallying their families around what God wants. God wants the reinstitution of the worship that he has prescribed.

These men are rallying their families around that. Now don't miss this. Don't miss this. This represents a generational reversal. This represents a massive generational This represents a massive generational reversal.

Why do I say that? Who is Zerubbabel's grandfather? Jehoiachin. There are three kings in the last chapter of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 23.

There are three kings that Nebuchadnezzar comes and deals with and carries off into captivity. Jehoiachin is the second of the three. That's Zerubbabel's granddaddy. An unfaithful king who does not live by faith and gets his people into a heap of trouble. He is leading the people in unfaithfulness.

That's Zerubbabel's granddaddy, Jehoiachin. But now, there's been a generational reversal. And this grandson, Zerubbabel, is leading the people not in unfaithfulness but in faithfulness. God can do that. God is pleased to do that.

It brings glory to God to do that, to reach into a broken family and reverse things. So that a grandfather who has led the people in unfaithfulness becomes a grandson who leads the people in faithfulness. What a blessing. What about Jeshua? Jeshua's granddaddy was the last high priest in Solomon's temple.

Who was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar himself. He was an unfaithful high priest. He was leading the people in unfaithfulness, but his grandson, Jeshua, now comes back from captivity and he's leading his brethren, he's leading the charge to reconstruct the altar so that the worship prescribed by God can be restored in Jerusalem. There was a reversal between the generations. Think about the people in this room and who is upstream on their family chart and the lives that they lived.

Think about the parents and grandparents that are represented by the adults in this room. God has accomplished some magnificent generational reversals. He should be praised for it. He deserves praise. Think about your parents and your grandparents and the sins that were there.

If God has had mercy on you and made you something different, it's because he wanted to praise His name by reversing things in your family line. He can do that. He can reach right into the most defiled family and in a generation and two generations and three generations you have faithfulness. Why? Because God is faithful.

Because God is merciful. So these families led by these men made a beginning. They made a beginning. That's all we have here in Ezra 3 as a beginning. Think of the end state.

The end state is a glorious temple precisely built. Go back and read the instructions for the temple. Great precision, great detail. So the end state is a glorious temple precisely built. An altar, but not just an altar, a bronze sea in the court of priests, and there's tables for the showbread, and there's lamp stands, and there's a sanctuary called the Holy Place.

And within the sanctuary called the holy place, there's the most holy place, or the holy of holies, where the special presence of God resides. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere at once. But He promised that his special presence would be behind that veil. So this is the end state.

And what these people are doing in Ezra 3 looks nothing like that end state. The end state is glorious. The end state is complex. And they can't probably hardly see from here to there. In Ezra chapter 3, when they've just come back, and there is no temple, there's ruins.

They're a million miles away from the end state. Here's a question. Do you wait until you can do everything before you do anything? Do you wait until you can do everything before you do anything? Do you wait until you can do everything?

Like it's the end state or nothing? Like If I can't have the glorious temple all the way, then I'm not doing anything. You're crossways with the faithful from centuries and millennia past, if that's how you think. That's not how they're thinking in Ezra 3. They're thinking, we need to make a beginning.

We need to take a step in faith. Start being faithful with what we can do today. We can't do the whole ball of wax today. But we can come together in the seventh month and we can erect this altar and we can start. We can make a beginning.

When coming out of captivity you are far from the end state. This has an application for us doesn't it? It's not just historically interesting that God brought back a people from the captivity he had sent them into. It applies to us. We were captives.

We built a life of mess in our captivity. God liberated us by His grace and His mercy. When that happens, you are a million miles away from the end state. You can't hardly even see the end state. You just can't act like all that stuff didn't happen back there.

You have to extract yourself from it, sometimes over a period of years. It's possible to see those who are so much closer to the end state, who God has matured way beyond where you are because you're new in this, and to be very discouraged and to think I can't do anything for the Lord. The guy down there near the end state, he's the one who does things for the Lord. And you can even be discouraged from making a beginning. But here in Ezra 3 they're making a beginning.

They're getting started. God has graciously brought them back from captivity and they're not even in shooting range of doing that out there, the end state, but they'll start. They'll take a step of faith and begin to be obedient. I'm not giving us an excuse to be ignorant. I'm not giving us an excuse to not obey God.

I'm not saying, well just do a little something and you'll be okay. That's not what I'm preaching. I am saying there is a reality when you're coming out of captivity. You can't do everything. You cannot be the mature Christian in a day.

That's not how it works. When we walk by the light God has given us, He's pleased and He gives us more light. This is how it works. It's called progressive sanctification. God gives you some light.

He saves you. He's gracious. He puts his hand on you and calls you out and says, you're mine and then you start. You're at the starting line. And he gives you a little light and you obey.

And he's pleased. Even though you're so weak, even though it's so far from the end state, He's pleased, he's honored, he's glorified that you believed and were walking by the light that he's given you and then he gives you more light. Brothers and sisters, this goes right to the nature of God. Who is God is the question on the table. With his people is God pleased only with perfection.

Now a distinction needs to be made here. If you're not a part of his people, then he holds you to the standard of perfection, so that you'll be crushed by that weight, so you'll flee to him for mercy. This is how it works. So if you have not repented and believe the gospel, he's holding you to that standard of perfection. And if you'll be made wise by it, you'll flee to him for mercy.

But those who have repented and believe the gospel and they're born again, the heart of stone is gone, the heart of flesh has come, then you're in a different state. And you are not held to the standard of perfection because you could never attain to that standard anyway. You're under the banner of Jesus Christ, and you're totally dependent on the work of Christ. And He's pleased When you take a step, when you make a start, when you walk by the light He's given to you, He is acting as a Father then. Think of how you relate to your children.

Are you waiting for perfection before you give any approval? God's not like that either. If you're not like that, how much less is God like that? Those who have repented and believed the gospel and been born again, when you take even a feeble step of faith and obedience, He's pleased, he's honored by that. He loves it.

If your God is impossible to please, either you're not born again or You're not thinking rightly. You're not thinking biblically. If your God can never be pleased, it may be that you just never repented and believed the Gospel. And so you're under the weight and condemnation of sin. But if you've repented and believed the Gospel, if you're born again, you've got to start thinking biblically about this.

You cannot have a God who can never be pleased. That actually dishonors God because you've said something about God that isn't true. You've not understood his nature. You've not understood what he's like. And you're accusing him of being something that he's not and has never been.

He's a merciful God who loves his children, who thinks about his children in some ways like we think about our children. He's not waiting for perfection. Otherwise, he would always be waiting, wouldn't he? So what is said in Psalm 34, 18, and Isaiah 66, 2, in both of those, Psalm 34 verse 18 and Isaiah 66 verse 2, you both use the same phrase, contrite spirit. You have a contrite spirit.

You have a heart towards God. Are you sorry for your sins? If you're sorry for your sins, He will receive you. He will receive you like a father. Question, Do you have an area in your life where God has given you light but you haven't made a beginning?

We should take that from this text. Is there an area in your life where in progressive sanctification, God has identified this is next for you. And He's given you light to walk by and He's made truth plain to you, but you've not made a beginning. You said, I don't know if I want to go there. That is a very dangerous place to be.

That is right at the place where the heart starts to harden, where the work of the Spirit starts to be grieved and quenched. The Spirit starts to be grieved and His work begins to be quenched. When you say, I see the light that you're showing me, but I'm not going to make a beginning. That's a dangerous place to be. Coming out of this text, we should look, we should ask the Lord that prayerfully.

Is there a place where you've given me light but I just am refusing to make a beginning and we should repent and get started take a feeble step of faith into obedience. Finally consider the beauty of the of the phrase as it is written. This is how Jeshua and his brethren the priests and Zerubbabel and his brethren are going about their business as it is written. The people of God are the people of God's book. People of God are people of the book.

The book. We love the book. As it is written, we hang on every written word. These are the words we can't self-deceive ourselves about. They're there in black and white.

I praise God for the written word. I'm thankful for the promptings of the Holy Spirit and things like that, but I found them to be so easily misinterpreted, so whatever. I'm thankful for these black and white words. They serve as the standard for all the rest. Moses was God's man and God put in place a covenant through this man.

And there's a really good summary of this covenant in Deuteronomy chapter 12. So I'll ask you to turn there. Holding this text up is a good summary of the whole Mosaic Covenant. Deuteronomy chapter 12 verses 1-14 is where I'll be reading. Deuteronomy chapter 12 beginning in verse 1.

These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire. You shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.

But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling place. And there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heath offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households in which the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you Cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety. Then there will be a place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you your burnt offerings your sacrifices your tithes the heath offerings of your hand and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God you and your sons and your daughters your male and female servants and the Levite who is within your gates since he has no portion or inheritance with you. Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes.

There you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you." Now that's a long reading, but the reason that I think it's a good summary of the Old Covenant is because of the three basic elements that you have in these 14 verses. The first being that they had to kill idolatry. The whole first section talks about breaking down and burning down the idols and the altars that existed in this land before they were going to come in. There was to be no mixing, no straddling the fence between worshipping the living God and worshipping those other things. That all had to be swept away and done away with before they could start worshipping the true and living God.

So killing idolatry was the first order of business. And then God is to be worshiped as He prescribed. And the verse that said that so perfectly was verse 8. You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes." God was telling his people how he wanted to be worshiped. And they weren't free to make it up as they went along.

They weren't free to do as they pleased and then insist that God accept that as worship. God said, this is how I want to be worshiped, you worship me this way. Not everybody doing what is right in his own eyes. And then that section even ended by saying, don't just do your burnt offerings everywhere, I'm telling you where to offer your burnt offerings. And then finally, we see rejoicing.

Rejoicing. The Old Testament in a hundred different places sweeps away the notion of cold mechanical outward worship. Worship is supposed to in the Old Testament and in the New Testament result in rejoicing before God. The heart was always to be engaged under every covenant. The heart was always to be engaged under every covenant.

The heart was always to be engaged and the result of worship was to be joy. It was to be the rejoicing of His people. So doing things as it is written is not stifling restraint, it's freedom. You have to understand that about Ezra chapter 3 and them coming to build the altar. As it is written, this is not stifling restraint.

It's freedom. It's such freedom to know what God will accept, what pleases God, because worship is about pleasing God. God hasn't left us guessing. Will God be pleased with this? Will God be pleased with this?

He said, worship me this way and engage your hearts in it and I'll be pleased. I will accept the offering from your hand. I'll be pleased with you. Such freedom in that. This is not stifling restraint.

Listen, when we look at this as stifling restraint, we have missed it. It's freedom. It's God revealing His mind to us so that we'll know and not be guessing what God is thinking. He's telling us what he's thinking, so that we'll be free to worship him without fear all of our days. This is reminiscent of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4.

As it is written is reminiscent of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 when he is being tempted by the devil. In Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, verse 7, verse 10, when he answers the devil, he answers him this way. As it is written, it is written again, as it is written. The point being that Jesus is our pattern. The image of Jesus is the image that we're to be conformed to.

So what Jesus does, we're supposed to learn to do. Except the things he does that God can do and we can't. Jesus is our pattern. And if he doesn't make it up on the fly, how much less should we make it up on the fly? If you get nothing else from the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4.

Get that. Jesus doesn't make it up on the fly. He says, as it is written. Again, as it is written. As it is written.

And if Jesus rejoices to stay within the boundaries of Holy Scripture, how much more should we rejoice to have the boundaries of Holy Scripture? Okay, back to Ezra. Ezra chapter 3, verse 3, the morning and evening offerings. Let's read it. Though fear had come upon them, because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord both the morning and evening burnt offerings.

This verse begins with the word, though fear had come upon them. It's a recognition of the precarious position that they're in. Fifty thousand people come back in the first wave. They're surrounded by so many more enemies than that. This isn't an army that's come back.

This is a people who have lived in captivity for 70 years coming back to obey God. So they realize that their enemies are all mightier than they are in their own strength. But in spite of the recognition of their precarious position, they build this altar. And they start to make offerings on it. They weren't paralyzed by the fear, they were propelled by the fear.

They could have been paralyzed by the fear. They could have been paralyzed by their enemies. We're going to continue to work through Ezra, we're going to work through Nehemiah, we're going to see they got enemies on every side. Enemies mightier than they are militarily. They're not paralyzed by this fear, They're not kept from obedience by this fear.

They're actually propelled into obedience by this fear. New King James renders it though fear had come upon them. What that implies is that even though they had fear, they did it anyway. They obeyed anyway. In spite of the fear that was in their hearts, they obeyed God.

But the ESV, the way the ESV renders it, is representative of how the King James renders it and how the New American Standard. So really the other translations that I like render it sort of a different way. Listen to the ESV. They set the altar in its place for fear was upon them. So that even goes beyond not being stopped by the fear and obeying anyway.

The ESV renders it. They set the altar in its place for fear was on them. In other words, obedience was the response to the fear. They viewed worshipping God as the solution to their fears. They were afraid so they said, we should worship this God.

We should be faithful to this God. We can't protect ourselves, but our God can protect us. Let's worship. So that their Obedience was the solution to the fear. Isn't that how we should think?

Obedience is the solution to the fear. It's not like, I'm afraid, I can't afford to obey. No, it's, I'm afraid, I must obey this God who can care for me. Listen to Proverbs 29 verse 25. Proverbs 29 verse 25.

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. They act on Proverbs 29, 25. They know that the fear of man is a snare. They know that if they trust the Lord they'll be safe. So even though they're afraid, they gather as one man to Jerusalem to build this altar and to worship Him.

Or Jesus in Matthew 10 verse 28. In Matthew 10 verse 28 Jesus says, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." They bet everything in Ezra 3, that If they fear God, this other fear, they'll be okay. Because these other people might be able to kill their bodies, but that's the end of it. But God can kill the body and then bring eternal destruction to the soul.

So he's the one to be feared, not even mighty enemies. Here's what Matthew Henry says, I love this quote. Matthew Henry says, have we many enemies? Then it is good to have God our friend and to keep up correspondence with him. This good use we should make of our fears.

We should be driven by them to our knees. It's a good use of your fears to have them drive you to your knees. If you have many enemies, then you better have God as your friend. That's what Matthew Henry says, and he's right. God is always greater than however many enemies than you have.

And it's a good use of your fears. We don't want to fear, but sometimes we find ourselves fearing, now what will you do? Now what? You're afraid. Be driven to your knees in desperate dependence upon God, who can kill the body and then destroy your soul forever.

Fear him. They begin to offer burnt offerings, specifically morning and evening offerings. So notice that there's a daily pattern of worship being reestablished. Daily, twice daily actually. Often stopping to worship.

Psalm 1 describes the blessed man. Blessed is the man. And the blessed man meditates on the law of God day and night. It is his meditation all the day. He's like a tree planted by rivers of water, always has the resources that he needs.

His leaves never wither, he's always got fruit. He's always fruitful in the season for fruit. So they're establishing something here that we should pay attention to. It's a daily pattern of worship, morning and evening. The Puritans often established this in their homes, morning and evening worship.

The domes have never been able to pull that off. I feel like we're doing pretty good if we get it in the evening. But this is a beautiful pattern that we see established here in Ezra chapter 3. So for the morning and evening offerings, there are two places you can go. The two best places that I know of are either Exodus 29 or Numbers 28.

So let's go to Numbers 28. If you want to look later, there are a few differences in Exodus 29 on the morning and evening offerings. For now we'll stick with Numbers chapter 28 verses 1 through 8. So Ezra chapter 3 speaks of reinstitution of the morning and evening offerings and Numbers 28 details what is meant. What are the morning and evening offerings all about?

Numbers 28 tells us. Verses 1-8. Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Command the children of Israel and say to them, My offering, my food for my offering, made by fire, is a sweet aroma to me. You shall be careful to offer to me at their appointed time. And you shall say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord, two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering.

The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening. And one tenth of an ephah of fine flour is a grain offering mixed with one fourth of a hen of pressed oil. It is a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hen for each lamb. In a holy place you shall pour out the drink offering.

In a holy place you shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. The other male lamb you shall offer in the evening as the morning grain offering and its drink offering you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord." So God here prescribes in Numbers 28 two offerings during the course of the day. Both are to be a sweet smelling aroma to him. In other words, he is to be pleased by these offerings. Christ is all over this picture.

The title of the sermon was Jesus Christ in the Book of Ezra. I'm really talking about the morning and evening offerings. If you can't see Christ coming to the surface in the morning and evening offerings, you have more study to do. Christ is everything in the morning and evening offering. He is the priest who comes on behalf of mankind to offer.

He is the lamb. So He is the one who offers and He is the offering. He is the bread that gets offered here. He is the drink offering, the blood that is poured out. He is the sweet smelling aroma, the sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.

Now I have to say, up Until Friday, Ezra chapter 3 verses 1-3 was all hooray to me. People are being obedient and faithful. They're doing things as it is written and they're breaking generations of unfaithfulness and there's a picture of God reversing sin in generations and It's so good and it is so good, but on Friday afternoon as I'm mowing the lawn, I began to think about the morning and evening offerings and there's death. There's just death everywhere. In the morning there's death, in the evening there's death, and then there's a new day, and there's death, and there's death, and there's another day, and there's death, and there's death.

The wages of sin is death. And Ezra 3 verses 1 through 3 is beautiful, but it's also about sin and death. You sin today. Everybody in this room has sin today. Some may be in scandalous ways.

Some may be in very respectable ways. All of our sins are laid bare before God. None of them are respectable to God. And they deserve death because God is holy. He's been good and kind to you and you sin anyway.

You deserve to die. And if you're not going to die, then something innocent has to die in your place. You sin so the lamb has to die. And the evening comes and there's more sin in your life and the lamb has to die. And a new day and new sin and another lamb and another and another.

Blood, innocent blood. Day after day after day after day. More sin, more blood, more death. Because you deserve to die for your sins. If you don't think you deserve to die you just don't understand how holy God is.

He's holy and He's been good to us and we keep sinning and we deserve to die for our sins. So much death, so much blood. Why? So that you don't have to die for your sins. God is making a way so you don't have to die for your sins, but you should die for your sins.

It would be just for you to die for your sins. So let's end in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 explains the whole system of innocent blood being shed under the old covenant. And that it was so deficient, but it was so necessary so that people would see what their sins deserved. That's why.

So they would see what their sins deserved. Hebrews chapter 10, I'll read 1 through 14. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come. And not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they have not ceased to be offered, for the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. So we've got morning and evening sacrifices. We have all that innocent blood. We have all that death, but it can't really take away the sins.

It's just a picture. Continuing in verse 5. Therefore, when he, Jesus Christ, came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold I have come.

In the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. Previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold I have come to do your will, O God." He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That's why the morning and evening offering, not that the blood could really take away the sins of those people, but as a picture that when the time was full, when the time had come, Jesus would lay down his life, one Sacrifice. Think of the value of Jesus Christ. One sacrifice, one death for all of my sins and yours and all of His people throughout all of time could cleanse us forever.

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. To all who repent and believe the gospel, for all who will turn away from trusting themselves and trust only and always in that work of Jesus Christ. You'll be saved from the death that you deserve for your sins. In summary, I just want to go back over the key phrases I've already harped on, so I'll do it fast. As one man, May God revive us.

May God increase our love for Him so that we'll find ourselves growing in unity and love among one another.