1028. Ezra: A Servant Chosen and Equipped

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series from Seminary Chapel called Old Testament Servants. Today's speaker is Dr. Eric Newton.

Well, good morning. I would invite you to turn with me to the book of Ezra chapter 7. Dr. Horn was originally scheduled to speak today, but because of some things that came up in his schedule, you're stuck with me.

Sorry about that. And to clarify, we are talking about Ezra today, but not just any Ezra. Now, we had an Ezra pray for us, and he happens to be one of my 26 favorite systematic theology students.

There are 26 in the class, just for the record. I didn't leave anyone out there. And I have a son, my one and only son, and his name is Ezra. So I am partial to this biblical character for sure. Before we get to Ezra himself, though, and our theme of a heart devoted to the Word, I actually want to draw our attention to somebody who is much more modern than Ezra, and that's Jonathan Edwards. Edwards, as you know, is perhaps the most influential and important theologian in American history. He's known as a theologian with a very big view of God. As one author puts it, Edwards looked first at God and then viewed all other things in relation to him.

That's a pretty good worldview. He spoke of the beauty of God's glory. But I think it's interesting that he also understood the necessity of personal diligence.

He's famous for resolutions that he wrote when he was 18 and 19 years old. Perhaps you've seen this first one, resolved that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory and to my own good, profit, and pleasure in the whole of my duration without any consideration of the time, whether now or never, so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most of the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, however so many and however so great.

And then the 28th resolution. Resolved to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of them. And I think history bears out that he did that. I think it's significant that one of the most amazing minds, theologically, since the Reformation is a man who's known both for exalting the glory of God and for resolving at a young age to work as hard as he could to bring God pleasure by studying the Scriptures. He didn't see God's glory and grace and his own personal diligence as being at odds with one another.

Now it's difficult for us to hold these two things together. God's grace and our diligent effort. There's a compartment in our finite minds that can be filled either with grace or with effort or maybe a combination of the two that adds up to 100%. But to think that our diligent preparation glorifies God because it's the very evidence of his grace at work in our lives, that's a little harder to grasp.

But it's absolutely true. When you think of the Apostle Paul and what he said in 1 Corinthians 15, this is not bragging, these are the inspired words of God. He says, but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

As one writer puts it, grace is not opposed to effort but to earning. Now Jonathan Edwards can motivate us, he motivates me, but it's the Word of God that savingly instructs and corrects and rebukes and trains us and equips us. So let's open our Bibles if you haven't already to Ezra 10. And we're going to consider this post-exilic priest scribe who in many ways bookends the Old Testament canon.

He's the counterpart at the end to Moses, the man of God at the beginning. Let's read the first 10 verses of Ezra 7. Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Sariah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalom, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amoriah, son of Azariah, son of Moriahoth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzi, son of Bukhi, son of Abishua, son of Phineas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the chief priests. This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of king Artaxerxes. That was 458 BC. He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month which was in the seventh year of the king for on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon and on the first of the fifth month, four months later, he came to Jerusalem.

Why? Because the good hand of his God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. I think it would be helpful for us before we focus in a little bit more on this verse that you see up on the screen to get a little bit of context.

I think it's important to note that Ezra showed a believing response. If you turn back to the very beginning of this book, Ezra chapter one, you see in verse two him reciting the words of Cyrus. Thus says Cyrus king of Persia the Lord the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has a pointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people may his God be with him. Remember what it said in Ezra seven that the good hand of the Lord was on Ezra? May his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord the God of Israel.

He's the God who is in Jerusalem. And if you know anything about the end of second chronicles you know that this very same thing is said and second chronicles typically in how the Hebrew canon is ordered. Sometimes Ezra and Nehemiah comes last but usually at second chronicles the very last idea in that book is to go up. To rebuild. To be part of this spiritual revival that the Lord was going to work through this remnant. And Ezra took God at his word. He actually took these these pagan kings at at what they said in articulating the word of God. And he returned to help this restoration of a remnant in Jerusalem. I think it's it's instructive that Ezra was was not pray he did not order his life according to his circumstances which is so easy to do. But according to the identity and the calling of his God he didn't just look around at his miserable circumstances and try to survive. He didn't give up on his calling as a priest even though he was 900 miles away from a city that had no temple or even a united people to worship God. He understood that God's people needed revival they needed a reformation of of worship of holiness of a commitment to the covenant. And so Ezra prepared himself in the words of Esther for such a time as this.

We see not only his believing response but but a blessed heritage. I read those first five verses of this chapter intentionally not to drag us through Hebrew names but because there's a heritage here. He's descended from Aaron he was a priest.

He didn't cast that off. From one standpoint you could say that Israel's history was one that as the priest went so went the nation. You had really bright spots like Jehoiada and and his his mentoring of of Joash you had really low depths like the sons of Eli. Ezra evidently understood that his blessed heritage which I think many of us maybe not in an Aaronic priesthood way but many of us in this room have that kind of heritage entailed a high calling. And thirdly in terms of context and background if you turn with me to chapter 9 verse 6 if you know anything about Ezra you know that there's this amazing prayer here near the end. And so in verse 6 in response to these these appalling circumstances Ezra says on behalf of his people oh my God I'm ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you my God for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens since the days of our fathers to this day we've been in great guilt and on account of our iniquities we are kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands to the sword to captivity to plunder to open shame as it is this day but now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in his holy place. Stop the reading there. The King James I love the King James wording at the beginning of verse 8 it says now for a little space there was a little space a little we would call it a window of opportunity for God's infinite grace to come in and transform these people and Ezra had prepared for that moment he didn't just all of a sudden realize and say I've got a scurry and get something together in the moment he had prepared for that moment he knew there was a window of opportunity to come a little space for the infinite grace of God and so we see this devotion how did he prepare well in a word he prepared with devotion if you'll notice this verse chapter 7 verse 10 it says that Ezra had set his heart the word set is used in the Old Testament for appointing a representative from each Israelite tribe it's used for establishing the Lord's establishing David as king it's the word used for Haman's preparing the gallows for Mordecai Ezra made a firm appointment for his heart he established its direction he prepared it he did everything necessary to set it up to devote it and what did he devote his heart to do I think when I think of devoting our heart to the Lord and his word I think of the personal seal of the reformer John Calvin my heart I offer to you Lord promptly and sincerely that's what the Lord wants from us as people servants chosen and being equipped he wants our heart not just our mind not just our hands he wants our heart we are what we think about and we think about what we love you know the Old Testament concept of the heart it has to do with our intellect it has to do with our emotion it has to do with our volition it's a very full idea Jonathan Edwards talked about the affections of a truly religious a truly regenerate person that the disposition of your will the inclination how is your heart inclined what's it bent toward what is our supreme desire what is ultimate in our lives well what did Ezra devote his heart to what's a very simple outline right Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel to study the law of the Lord the word study has the idea of an inquiring of being on a search he established his heart to explore God's Word carefully if you notice in verse six that we read chapter seven it says that he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that word skilled as far as I can tell happens only occurs only three times in the Old Testament one of the other times is Proverbs 22 29 I'll read it do you see a man skillful in his work he will stand before kings he will not stand before obscure men now how many of us are going to have the chance to to preach before a king or a president or somebody else seemingly important I don't know maybe not many but but what kind of opportunities is God preparing you to step into a window of opportunity a little space for grace to step in and speak a momentous word for God's glory that's why we prepare it reminds me of a parallel verse in the New Testament be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth 2nd Timothy 2 15 study be diligent be earnestly committed be ready to expend energy and effort in discharging this obligation of presenting yourself as a workman one ready to be at the disposal of the one whose work you are doing would propose that how we esteem the book of God the scriptures evidences itself and how we handle the book there are obstacles to this right in our culture our quest for maximal efficiency if I can get it done faster it probably is better the features of our technology that give us all kinds of shortcuts many of which are legal not all of which many of which are legal shortcuts the premium that we put on results and the immediacy of results our innate pension to compare ourselves among ourselves I didn't study as hard as he did but but look at those other 17 people that I did study harder than he studied the law of the Lord because his heart was devoted to it secondly he did the law of the Lord I think of Daniel he purposed in his heart to follow God's laws in a distant land and he was given favor in the sight of God and man they found themselves in this this foreign land far away from home and they they decided that they were going to follow what God had prescribed they were going to try to follow a novel pathway new circumstances new ideas some new ideas are necessary of course but but they established their hearts to pursue God's glory according to what he had already said and that meant for Ezra to study the law of the Lord and to do it personally to do it he didn't forget the middle term you're thinking a lot about study hopefully you're thinking a decent bit about teaching about about counseling about preaching God's Word but don't forget the middle term Psalm 1 blessed is the man who delights in God's law he meditates on it day and night and he flourishes not not just his head flourishes his life flourishes because he's committed imperfectly but sincerely to do the Word of God you think of what Jesus said to the scribes speaking of of people who were scribes in Matthew 15 8 they honored Yahweh with their lips but where were their hearts they were far from him Warfield said a minister must be learned on pain of being utterly incompetent for his work but before and above being learned a minister must be godly but godly doesn't mean perfect God uses very imperfect vessels we were gloriously reminded that the very first sermon of our semester that the doctor Mazek preached but we must pursue God personally we can't forget what we see in the mirror we do something about it by his grace and I would suggest that Ezra's devotion to doing the Word of God positioned him to do the hard thing in ministry that faced him when he first arrived in Jerusalem we don't have time to to get into this at any length but if you look at it the end of Ezra 8 the beginning of Ezra 9 he shows up and he carries out some preliminary tasks and then I can just envision Ezra having this sense of okay I'm finally here I'm going to start teaching and there's going to be revival and they're going to be all kinds of Bible studies and prayer meetings that break out and there's going to be this reformation that sweeps the land and what happens they come to and say all these people are intermarrying we're completely compromised with the surrounding Gentiles I mean what do you do you just kind of crawl in the corner because it's not what you had hoped you would be doing well what does he do well he humbles himself he confesses on behalf of the people he sees himself as one of them he does the hard thing he sees sin for what it is and he leads with spiritual humble conviction that's going to be very hard to do unless by God's grace we're not only studying the law of the Lord but doing it trying to carry it out in the power of the Spirit in our own lives and finally he set his heart to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel we don't know everything that Ezra taught but we do know that 13 years later in 445 there was this amazing moment in the history of Israel that's described in Nehemiah 9 where Ezra gets up and he opens up the scroll he elevates the scroll in the sight of all of these people and they bow in reverence and he reads the scroll of the Torah and they respond they confess their sins they weep they recommit themselves they draw up a covenant to be faithful to the Lord the moment did come when all of that learning all of that studying came to fruition that window of opportunity materialized he stepped into the little space for God's infinite grace and he was prepared because he had devoted his heart to the word I mean think of this he's reading the Hebrew text without vowel pointings I got to tell you this we've already taken a pot shot at Hebrew I was in my study yesterday I've got Logos up on my screen there's Hebrew over in the left hand column my six-year-old comes in and she looks at it and she kind of crinkles up her nose she's like daddy what is that probably not the first person in the history of the world that has had that kind of reaction immature immature reaction to Hebrew he's reading this text and there and he's explaining it why because he had devoted his heart to this he knew it and he had a continuing ministry rabbinic tradition tells us that he directed a group called the sofa ream which were the forerunners of the masoretes who were the preservers and maintainers of the Hebrew text for centuries and we are benefiting from Ezra's devotion to the word today we're reading his words that God inspired that's a continuing ministry if I've ever heard of one and there's one more thing I think we need to notice if you look back at this verse I think there's a very helpful word at the beginning that we need to observe for for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord now notice what proceeds that he began to go up and he arrived because the good hand of his God was upon him for he had devoted his heart I don't think this means that he earned God's grace why did God favor him because because he worked hard I think that connector there is telling us that God favored him by his working hard his diligent effort was the evidence that God's grace was at work in his life God was favoring him through his devotion to the word that was the favor we must push past reductive explanations of God's grace God works graciously and mercifully not to make up the difference or to excuse sloth or apathy but to enable us through faith-filled devoted diligence how would you and I know that the good hand of the Lord is upon us one way we would know is because before it seemingly matters we fix our heart to study and practice and teach the word of the Lord preparation for ministry involves much more than what we've considered this morning of course but certainly no less I propose to you that God equips his servants by blessing by favoring by enabling their devotion to his word that's how he equips us that's how he graces us through faith-filled devotion to his word I want to challenge us to think beyond the immediate results of studying the scriptures in seminary what might God be preparing for you down the road what council Lee needs the careful exegesis and heartfelt application that you're working on this week on that assignment what congregation needs you to understand that text of scripture in a spiritual and true way what denomination might need the kind of skill that God is equipping you to have Romans 12 says to present ourselves as a living sacrifice it's the only worship that makes sense in light of the mountain of God's mercies that he's piled up for all of us it's what God has established our hearts to do and so we must dedicate our own hearts to it if there is anything that we should care about most and work at hardest it should be by God's grace to study and do and minister the word of the Lord may he help us shall we pray Father in heaven we thank you that you would be so kind as to rescue sinners like us and to keep forgiving us and to keep leading us along we pray that our hearts would be devoted to you and your word and that you would be pleased to use that in whatever way you see fit for your honor and glory we pray in Jesus name amen you've been listening to a sermon by dr eric newton one of the seminary professors at bob jones university i'm steve pettit president of bob jones university and i invite you to join us at our beautiful campus in greenville south carolina to see how you can be prepared academically and spiritually to serve the lord through one of our more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs for more information about bob jones university visit www.bju.edu or call 800-252-6363 these daily programs are made possible by the many friends of bob jones university and this radio ministry if you appreciate this program and benefit from the 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