Living for the Word of God

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Ezra 7:6–10 Pastor Rob Kimsey September 17, 2023

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We're going to be spending some time with Ezra. Ezra chapter 7, we're going to look at specifically verses 6 through 10, 6 through 10.
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I've titled today's sermon, Living for the Word of God, Living for the
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Word of God, Ezra chapter 7, verses 6 through 10, and I'll be reading today out of the
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Legacy Standard Bible. This is in a section of the narrative where Ezra goes up from Babylon to Jerusalem, and we find this in verse 6.
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This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which
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Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all he requested because the hand of Yahweh, his
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God, was upon him. And some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests and the
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Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
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He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
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For on the first of the first month, he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem because the good hand of his
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God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it and to teach his statute and judgment in Israel, the word of God, living for the word of God.
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The book of Ezra is a wonderful text. Like all of scripture, it is unique, it is informative, it bears some wonderful fruit that we can draw from and apply to our everyday lives.
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The book of Ezra is one of many that focuses on the post -exilic Jews that have returned from the
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Babylonian captivity. This morning, we will dig a little deeper into the historical realities of the time so that we can paint a really clear picture of the context of this writing.
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This will help us to enhance our understanding of the lives of the people living then, and also how we can allow what the
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Lord teaches us today to affect a positive change in our lives for his glory and for our benefit.
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My goal today is to examine the book of Ezra in the way it fits with the rest of scripture, and most importantly, how can we draw a connection to Christ?
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How does Ezra affect our lives in light of the antecedent revelation of the gospels and the rest of the
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New Testament? In other words, why should you care? By the end of our time together, we will have a better understanding of the book of Ezra and what biblical truths this passage contains, more importantly, in understanding how we can apply the lessons that we learn from scripture.
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It is critical that we transform the way we interact with others and strengthen our
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Christ -likeness as followers of Christ. God changes hearts according to his purpose and divine will.
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Based on this passage, there are really four main points I want to leave you with.
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They're pretty straightforward. They come right out of the passage. I think pretty clear to see that in the passage. The author of Ezra communicated that God graciously works out all things for good.
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For those who set their heart on seeking to know his word, to live by it, and to teach others to do the same by instructing them in all that God has commanded.
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Believers are reminded of four unchanging truths that call them to adjust their hearts for the living of the word of God, really dedicating our lives and our living for the word of God.
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God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life, number one. Number two, the need to learn the word of God, the need to learn the word of God.
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Number three, the importance of living out the word of God. And number four, the obligation to share the word of God.
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The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were one book in the earliest Hebrew manuscripts.
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The early church historian Origen was the first writer known to have distinguished between the two books, and he actually called them
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Ezra 1 and Ezra 2. Of course, we have Ezra and Nehemiah. Although they were regarded as one volume,
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Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 1, the caption clearly indicates they were two separate compositions.
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The majority of scholarship today have assumed the author or compiler of Ezra Nehemiah was also the author or chronicler of 1 and 2
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Chronicles. This viewpoint is based on a commonality of style to both of the texts.
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The verses at the end of Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra are virtually identical.
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Both of the books have a strong affinity for lists, and that being said, there are also some striking differences.
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The book of Ezra can be dated approximately 440 BC, but the events of book being dated as 538 to 457, so written a little after the events.
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Ezra chronicles the return of the Jews from exile in the Babylonian captivity and also the rebuilding of the temple.
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The people of Israel completed and dedicated the temple in 516 after being delayed for approximately 18 years by their enemies from the north.
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Think about that, 18 years. They just kept going. A decree from Darius, king of Persia, in 520
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BC allowed them to finish the construction of the temple. Ezra taught the people the law of God and helped to reform their spiritual life so that the nations around them would see that they were
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God's chosen people, that these people had the true God, the only
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God, Yahweh. The title of the sermon, Living for the Word of God, points to the idea that Ezra wanted to live for God, and we should too.
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When looking at the lives of the post -exilic Jews, I'm referring to the group of exiles who had been taken into Babylonian captivity.
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The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, sieged the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.
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The siege started in 588 BC and concluded in 586. Two years, he just starved them out, and they were in there just languishing, no food and no hope.
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Eventually, of course, we know the temple was destroyed. I'll read an excerpt from a book called
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Kingdom of Priests, A History of Old Testament Israel. It's by a guy named Eugene Merrill.
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Here's the quotation, the major public buildings and the residences of Jerusalem were set afire and leveled to the ground by Babylonian troops commanded by Nebuchadnezzar.
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They then reduced the great defensive walls to rubble so that the once magnificent city lay as a smoldering ruin, unable to protect the rabble who still resided there.
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The point is, this was complete annihilation. The city and the temple were burned.
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This was the latter captivity of the Jews. Some had been taken years earlier by Nebuchadnezzar when he conquered the city, but did not destroy it in Ezekiel's time.
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If you remember in the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar took all the best and brightest of the people.
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The young, the strong, the politicians and anyone he deemed had any value or worth.
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The cream of the crop, he wanted the best and that's who he kidnapped and took to Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, took as exiles the rest of the people who remained in the city.
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The defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population.
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You can find this in 2 Kings 25. Before going into the book of Ezra, it is worthwhile to look at the book's place in scripture.
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The narrative of the major and minor prophets found in the latter half of the Old Testament, really from Isaiah through Malachi, connects to the
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Babylonian captivity and the return to Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah unveiled the full dimension of the judgment of God.
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He warned the people of Judah, Israel's southern kingdom, of the impending doom they would face for their idolatry and lack of repentance.
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The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the Lord's word in Judah during the reigns of Josiah and the succeeding kings up to the
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Babylonian exile. The prophet Ezekiel was among the more than 3 ,000 Jews exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597
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BC. So he was also taken early. He lived among the
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Chaldeans approximately 1 ,000 miles away from Jerusalem. So when we read Ezekiel, we don't often think where he was, but he was about a thousand miles from Jerusalem giving his prophecy to the exiles, those who had been kidnapped.
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The first recipients of his prophecies are fellow exiles in Babylon. The prophet
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Daniel was brought to the king's palace to serve as a youth. He was among the first taken.
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Daniel prophesied many nations rise and fall, including the final government of God's anointed.
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He foretold of the anointed one's eternal kingdom and millennial reign.
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The book of Daniel, in some regards, is the Old Testament mirror of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the
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New Testament regarding eschatology, the study of the last times.
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The context places Ezra after Daniel, but before 1 and 2
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Chronicles. Understanding the historical reality is vital to the reading of Scripture, that we have the right context.
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We don't want to cherry pick verses. We want to stay in the context. It is irresponsible really to take shortcuts when attempting to understand the meaning of any biblical text.
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In these verses, believers are reminded of four unchanging truths that call them to adjust their hearts so that you are living for the
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Word of God. Number one, God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life.
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We'll see that in verses 6 through 9. And then the last three points are all in verse 10.
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Number two, the need to learn the Word of God. We'll call that 10a, the first part. Number three, the importance of living out the
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Word of God, 10b. And number four, the obligation to share the
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Word of God. Four unchanging truths that call us to adjust our heart so that we are living for the
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Word of God. Number one, God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life.
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Verses 6 through 9. This is the first truth that calls us to adjust our hearts.
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God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life. And if we just go back to verse 6, we see this.
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This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which
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Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of Yahweh, his
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God, was upon him. This section stands out as the introduction of the man
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Ezra. We are given valuable historical data in the circumstances of his departure and how the good hand of God was upon him.
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God was in control. The king Artaxerxes grants the request, but it is
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God who is doing the real granting. God remains in sovereign control.
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We learn Ezra is a skilled scribe in the law of Moses. This is significant as it describes the kind of scribe
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Ezra was. He was skilled, reflecting his vocation as well as his character.
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As one commentator notes to the nature of Ezra's office as the Hebrew concept of the scribe is a writer or secretary, someone who's taking down information.
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Ezra is a skilled scribe, alluding to one learned in the scriptures, as someone who made the law of Moses and by extension the law of Yahweh a subject of investigation.
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The law of Moses is instruction as an embodiment of instructions given through Moses referring to the
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Ten Commandments. Whenever we see Lord in the Old Testament, we can read it as saying
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Yahweh, Yahweh God. This is the personal and covenantal name for God given to Moses.
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In the Hebrew word God here, there's a masculine plural noun. The plural noun hints at the
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Trinity, the Godhead of Israel. This is personal. This is personal.
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God's chosen people with whom he made the Mosaic covenant. The significance of verse six is that it alludes to Ezra as one learned in the scriptures, as someone who made the life of instructions of Yahweh a subject of his life to investigate, to spend time with God.
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And then he continues in verses seven through nine. It says, and some of the sons of Israel, and some of the priests, the
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Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
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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 he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his
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God was upon him. With repetition of the year of the king in verses seven and eight, it shows that the guiding hand of Yahweh was with him as he traveled.
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Ezra went in the company of many other Jews. God always keeps a faithful remnant in Israel.
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The significance is that the author is using repetition from verse seven to stress the point,
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Ezra arrived in Jerusalem the same year as his departure from Babylon. Not an easy feat in this time.
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The guiding hand of Yahweh was with him as he traveled. God's provision and care extended beyond merely being granted requests from the king of Persia.
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The first month on the Passover occurred. The month
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God freed the Israelites from their long Egyptian bondage. It begins at the spring equinox and ranges from the latter part of March and the beginning of April.
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It is derived from the full growth of wheat in Egypt, which took place anciently as it does now at that season.
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The ordinal number functioning as an adjective fifth gives us very precise detail.
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He would have arrived in July or August. Perhaps also significant is that the fifth month is the month
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Moses's brother Aaron died. That's in numbers 33. We'll see a few other things here.
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This is interesting. At the beginning of chapter seven, it shows Ezra's genealogy and that he is a descendant of Aaron.
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It was in the fifth month that the Lord decreed the original generation rescued from Egypt would die out in the desert.
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For doubting him and grumbling and complaining and rejecting his appointed leader Moses, and of course the idolatry that accompanied that.
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They were to be deprived from entering the promised land because they believe the faithless report of the spies.
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That's in numbers 13 and 14. Even more significant, it was in the fifth month in 586
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BC that the first temple was destroyed. Jeremiah 52. In God's providence, he allowed
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Ezra to return the very same month to continue to rebuild the second temple.
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And in God's providence, in 70 AD in the fifth month, the second temple would be destroyed according to the first century historian
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Josephus. A lot going on here. And if you look at the timeline, it's like, wow, those are not coincidences.
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Yahweh is in control. Yahweh remains in sovereign control.
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Things happen in history when he wants them to happen. Yahweh's provision for Ezra extended to safe travels from Babylon to Jerusalem, as the author is keen to give the reader the exact time of four months in what would have been an extremely dangerous journey.
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The reason for Ezra's safe journey was that Yahweh was directly intervening on his behalf.
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The Lord's care for believers is always personal and always loving because he is a good father.
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God is sovereign over the events of history for his glory and for the benefit of his people.
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In the biggest profound moments of the facts of history and in the smallest personal moments of our lives,
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God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life. The gracious providence of God in every believer's life demands that we acknowledge his sovereignty.
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We ought to be offering every prayer, every prayer request for others, every prayer request for ourselves on a regular basis.
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The Lord's care should inspire us to prioritize a life of prayer and devotion.
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If you aren't praying and devoting yourself to scripture reading every day, you are doing yourself a great disservice.
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Ask yourself, what distractions or substitutions have you allowed to take the place of the
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Word of God? You can change that. You can change that today.
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It is possible to form new habits. It's not as difficult as we might think.
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You can do this. You can start with a 15 -minute time of prayer. Start with a 15 -minute prayer time every morning.
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Read a psalm. Start in Psalm 1. Read it. Put a timer on your phone, 15 minutes.
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Read it and pray God's Word back to him. Start with the psalm. Meditate on it as you reflect in prayer.
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Is the Lord worth 15 minutes of your day? Is the Lord worth 15 minutes of your time?
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The second outline point bleeds through here as well. Four unchanging truths that call believers to adjust their hearts so that you are living for the
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Word of God. Second, the need to learn the Word of God.
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We'll just read verse 10. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it and to teach his statute and judgment in Israel.
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The need to learn the Word of God. This part of the passage is significant because it is giving us the reason for why the good hand of Yahweh was upon Ezra.
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The word for is important. This conjunction makes verse 10 the pinnacle of the text as it explains and gives the reason for God's action toward Ezra in verses 6 through 9.
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The verb in the original for set is also significant because the sense of the verb communicates that Ezra had established in his inner person, in his inner being, that he would dedicate himself to studying and interpreting the
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Word of God. A literal translation of the Hebrew would be like this. For Ezra had firmly resolved in his heart to seek with care the law of Yahweh.
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You can't follow directions if you don't read the directions. You know, for some of us, we might have had this experience, and I might be talking more to the men here, but you try to build a piece of furniture and you think,
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I don't need to read the directions. And your wife says, hey, you should probably read the directions.
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Nah. And then what happens? It's 50 -50. The couch is built, but you notice the arm is on the wrong side or something.
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I mean, just think about it practically, though. You don't know how to live your life if you don't read the Bible and what the
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Bible tells you about how to live your life. If you don't follow the directions, you're just off course, right?
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And you can't follow directions if you don't read the directions. Ezra firmly established with his inner being to study
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God's Word. The verb here translated to study needs a closer look.
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The Hebrew verb means to seek out with care. It qualifies what Ezra had established in his heart to do.
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This is heart. He would seek out and investigate the Word of God, and by extension, his
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God, Yahweh. This is personal. We need to guard our hearts from studying
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Scripture for just knowledge. We study Scripture to know the God who loves us, that we may know
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God personally and intimately, as a friend, as our counselor. This is more than intellectual study.
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This is much more than intellectual study. This is seeking out with great care in your whole being.
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Scripture is God -breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness so that the follower of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
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And if you were with us this morning, that's straight out of 2 Timothy chapter 3. We're going through the foundational words there, teaching, reproof, correction, training, and discipleship, and practicing to one another.
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That's what we're doing in Sunday school. Think about it like this. We've all heard this saying.
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It's kind of a pithy statement. It says there's only 18 inches between the mind and the heart, only 18 inches between the mind and the heart, and in those 18 inches, some will miss the mark and go to hell.
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I don't know if you've ever heard that before. That was one that I've heard quite a bit just as I had got saved and had some older folks tell me that one, and it's true.
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There's something that happens in our minds, but it's not real in our hearts, and you can miss the mark in that space.
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While at seminary, I was told a couple of disturbing stories by a professor about a few men who missed the mark because of their intellect.
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These stories were different, but they shared one common feature. They're especially disturbing because they are true.
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The first was about a guy who graduated the seminary with a 4 .0 GPA. He achieved the highest honors at the graduation ceremony, but later left the ministry because he was arrogant and proud, and instead of uniting a church, he was just dividing churches.
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As of the time of that story, as of today, as far as I know, he is still not serving in the pastorate.
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The second was equally sad, but I found it to be terrifying and disturbing.
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This guy was also a very smart person. He received top marks for his classes. He was an
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A student. He also had a high GPA. He graduated the seminary. The second person not only does not serve in the pastorate, but he renounced his faith and is now a professing atheist.
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Four or five years in seminary, learning all of these wonderful theological truths, being around like -minded brothers, getting some of the just top, top rate,
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I mean, in the world, just great instruction from really godly men. Five years, and what was the result?
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He walked away. He was never in Christ to begin with. It was an intellectual pursuit for him.
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That's not what's going on with Ezra. You know, that one really was disturbing to me, having been a professing atheist for the majority of my adult life.
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In God's graciousness to, in my own walk, I got saved 10 years ago, and I lived as an atheist.
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I even said, I'm an atheist. That's like a punch to the gut when you're in this place of learning and you're trying to learn about Christ, thinking about how you can serve
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God and his people, and you're hearing these kind of stories. That's true. That happened. The verse says that Ezra set his heart on studying the law of the
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Lord, or the word of God, not his mind. Intellectually speaking, it is possible to know a lot about the
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Bible and still have no salvation. The Bible says whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
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That's Romans 15. When you read the Bible, are you trying to attain knowledge?
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Are you trying to attain head knowledge? Or are you setting your heart on learning the instruction of God, the instructions for life that come from God?
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This is not a list of rules to follow to show how good we are. This is about life learning, life instructions for God's glory and for our benefit.
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This is personally and intimately knowing God through Christ and through his word.
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Intellectual pursuit alone is often devoid of love. The genuine heart pursuit is a desire to know
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God in a personal way. One pursuit leads to hell, and one pursuit leads to the kingdom of God.
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Intellectual pursuit with no conviction in the heart is a doom. We don't want to be like the
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Pharisees. We want to be like Ezra. The word of God will judge us all.
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For believers, it's not wrath or judgment. There is now no condemnation in Christ. We need to have the mindset of letting our hearts be filled with the word of God.
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So, when we are placed under the purifying judgment of God's word, it is his word that he finds in our heart.
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We don't want to be like the Pharisees. We want to be like Christ. Remember, though Jesus was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, of a slave, being born in the likeness or fashion of mankind, and being found in human form.
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He humbled himself by becoming obedient, obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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Philippians 2. The gospel of Luke describes Jesus listening to teachers and asking them questions, and describes how he was increasing in wisdom, stature, and also favor with God.
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If you try to live a holy life without knowing the word of God, you are like a person who tries to build something without following the instructions.
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You are that person building without following the directions.
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It never works. The need to learn the word of God. You can't obey the word if you don't know what it says.
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An application would be setting apart a special time of devotion between you and the
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Lord, a private time. It's just you and God spending time with him personally.
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That means reading your Bible. When you spend time alone with God, reading the
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Bible and praying, making a commitment to attend a Bible study on a regular basis, being in the fellowship.
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You can't practice the one another's by yourself. Can you? I don't know how to do that.
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I have to be at church to do that. I have to be in fellowship to do that. I have to be in Bible study to do that.
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I have to make a committed, a commitment to attend worship. This is not some activity that we do.
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This day of the week is the most important day of your life, whether you're a believer or not, because it's where you hear the word of God.
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It's where the preacher preaches the word of God. God puts a man in the pulpit to feed his people, to shepherd his people.
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What follower of Christ would want to abstain from hearing from Christ? You're not hearing from the preacher.
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You don't care what I have to say. You want to hear from God. You need God's word. Your soul wants it.
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It desires it. We have to make this our, about our, this is our life.
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Nothing else matters. How about thinking about it like this, turning off the TV or video games?
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I'm trying not to look at my son right now. And I play,
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I play games with him too, so I need to look at myself. Turning off the TV or video games.
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I mean, honestly, you know, just turn it off for a little while. Replace that time and read through a section of one of the
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Gospels. Try to get to know Jesus a little better. All of our salvation rests on faith in Jesus Christ, and knowing the man means knowing salvation.
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How well do you know Jesus? And if we can think about his really disturbing words at the end of the
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Sermon on the Mount, how well does Jesus know you? Right? I've heard this illustration, and I'm stealing here, but there was an illustration
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I thought about where, you know, Christ tells people, depart from me. I never knew you. And the illustration
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I heard was about a guy who was listening to basketball statistics. He knew everything about Michael Jordan you could know, where he went to high school, where he went to college, the championships, the points, the averages, all these statistics.
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He knows everything there is to know about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan doesn't know who he is.
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There's no relationship with him. Is that the relationship we have with Christ? How well do you know
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Jesus, but more importantly, does Jesus know you? In this passage, believers are reminded of four unchanging truths that call them to adjust their hearts so that you are living for the
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Word of God. Third, the importance of living out the Word of God, the importance of living out the
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Word of God. And we'll read verse 10 again. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it and to teach his statute and judgment in Israel.
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Ezra had settled his heart that what he learned, he was going to do. He didn't just say he set his heart to study the law.
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He said he did it so that he could live it out, so he could practice it. The verb for doing is the idea that one carries out or performs a task.
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Ezra had set the scripture as the only rule of action for his life.
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The most important reason to practice the Word of God is because yours and others' eternities are at stake.
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And you're probably saying in your mind, wait a minute, wait a minute, he's preaching works -based salvation.
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And let me be crystal clear, salvation is based on works.
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Where's the pitchforks and torches? I'll say it again, just make sure everybody's awake.
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Salvation is based on works, just not on your works.
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No, they're not based on your works. It's on the perfect, sinless work of Jesus in his life and his death.
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Salvation is based on the perfect work of God's grace as a free gift. We are not saved by works.
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We are saved by God's grace through faith and not of ourselves. But it is a gift from God and not the result of any works,
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Ephesians 2. Does that mean we shouldn't be concerned with living out our faith or performing good works?
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Well, what has the scripture said on this subject? The Bible very clearly teaches that the person claiming to have a relationship with God that does not practice the commandments of God is a liar and the truth is not in him or her.
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That's 1 John 2. Another way to say it, if you love
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Jesus, then you will live out your convictions about the Word of God just like Jesus did, because Christlikeness is the goal.
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The good works we walk in demonstrate our allegiance to Christ, our Christlikeness.
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They don't earn salvation. Jesus gave some very strong warnings to those who claim to have saving faith but do not demonstrate any adherence to the
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Word of God in the Sermon on the Mount. Depart from me, I never knew you. Their works did not equal salvation.
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That's, of course, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7. The parable of the tree and its fruit warning about false teachers is followed by the parable of the two foundations.
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The parable of the two foundations is another reminder about living out our faith and acting accordingly in light of God's judgment.
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You can read that in Luke 6. Jesus is coming back and he is going to judge the world.
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There is no other person living because, make no mistakes, our
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God is a living God. He is the living Word of God. He has authority to cast people into the eternal fire.
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He will judge this world. He is the only one that has been given that authority to do so because God the
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Father has elevated Him above all other names.
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He's the one. No one else. It's Jesus. He's coming back and he's going to judge the world.
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It's not enough to set our hearts to learn the Word of God. We must set our hearts on doing what the
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Word of God says. James chapter 1. You must not just be listeners, you must be doers of the
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Word. The importance of living out the Word of God.
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You know, one way to think about this and just trying to be practical here is how about the way we talk to one another?
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Think before you speak. You know, that is a lost art.
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That is a lost art. It is hard. I get it, but with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, we can think before we speak.
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Is your speech edifying? You will have to give an account to your
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Lord, to the Master, Jesus, for every idle word that has ever left your lips.
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When you speak, are you edifying other people? Is your speech edifying? Are the words that come out of your mouth lifting up other people or are they tearing down?
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That's fine. You can say whatever you want, just make sure you settle it in your mind. You're going to have to explain that to Jesus, why that came out of your mouth.
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In every situation, whether at home, at work, or at school, think about how you are treating other people.
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How are you treating other people around you in a very common sense way and in a genuine way?
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Ask yourself, what would Jesus do in this situation? If you're engaged in activities, you know that Jesus wouldn't like, then stop doing them.
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If Jesus walked through the door in your daily routine, would he like what he sees or would he rebuke you?
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Be kind to the people around you. Be patient and treat people the way you would like to be treated.
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We have the law of Christ, do we not? Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.
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This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Jesus says this covers all the law and the prophets.
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If you treat people the way you would want them to treat you, again the Sermon on the Mount. Consider what the
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Apostle Paul taught in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4. This one is a life verse for me, chapter 4 verse 32.
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It says, be kind to one another, tender -hearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ has also forgiven you.
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Ephesians 4 .32. What does it mean to forgive like God in Christ? In the
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Old Testament, we can see an example out of the book of Micah. Micah, a prophet of the Lord, proclaimed a message of judgment to a people persistently pursuing evil.
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They were living as if there was no God, like many people living today.
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In the context of Yahweh's covenant faithfulness and his loving kindness, we see an example of how
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God forgives. What does it mean when we hear those words? Forgive others as God in Christ has also forgiven you.
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Micah chapter 7 verses 18 through 20. Micah says this, where is another
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God like you who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people?
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You will not stay angry with your people forever because you delight in showing unfailing love.
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Once again, you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean.
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You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors
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Abraham and Jacob long ago. That's how God forgives. He doesn't keep a list that he can pull out every time there's a new argument.
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Remember you did this. You never do this. You always do this. No, he takes it and throws it into the sea.
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It's gone forever. It's not on the shoreline for us to see. No, it's in the depths.
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In the New Testament, we see an example in the book of Hebrews in the context of speaking about how the old covenant is obsolete compared to the new covenant of Christ.
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We see another example of God's forgiveness. I love this one. Hebrews chapter 8 verses 7 through 12.
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It says this, if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
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But when God found fault with the people, he said, The day is coming, says the
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Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
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This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt.
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They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the
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Lord. This is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the
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Lord. I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.
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I will be their God, and they will be my people, and they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying,
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You should know the Lord, for everyone from the least to the greatest will know me already, and I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.
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Never again remember their sins. That's how we are to be with each other, because that passage in Ephesians is about believers, forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven you.
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That's one way you can practice the Word of God. All of our salvation relies on Christ, and living out good works is evidence of our salvation.
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More importantly, the people around who are watching to see what we do. Does your life match your profession of faith?
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Are you living for Christ? Are you living for the Word? Is it evident to people around you?
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Forgiveness is a mark of a true Christian. It always disturbs me when I hear about Christian brothers and sisters who are estranged from one another.
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That's not possible. We are united in Christ. There should be reconciliation.
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There should be a wanting to be gracious, and forgiving, and patient, and loving, and kind. Why? Because Christ was that way with you.
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While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yeah, you weren't doing so great when he voluntarily let himself be tortured and murdered so that you wouldn't have to face the wrath of God.
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Can you forgive a slight that another brother or sister made against you? Even a perceived slight.
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It might not even be a real slight. Forgiveness is the mark of a true
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Christian. Is it evident to people around you? Or are you just a hypocrite that brings a reproach on Christ by the way that you live your life, by the way that you treat your family, by the way you treat your friends, or your co -workers?
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Or we could add fellow students here. Those around you. Are you kind?
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Are you forgiving? If people have to ask whether or not you're a
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Christian because your actions contradict scripture, your actions contradict the very word of the person you claim to follow, you may want to rethink that.
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This is a time for a genuine self -assessment. Are you living for the
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Word of God? Four unchanging truths that call believers to adjust their hearts so that you are living for the
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Word of God. Number four, the obligation to share the Word of God.
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Notice how verse 10 ends. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it and to teach his statute and judgment in Israel.
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The final point neatly exemplifies the saying, last but not least. This is really important.
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This might be the most important point today because it affects the people around us and their salvation.
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Ezra did not take the knowledge of the Word of God and put it on a shelf. He wasn't a secret
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Christian. He set his heart to instruct others for their benefit as prescribed in the law.
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We have something very similar, the Great Commission. Do we not? We have a commission to teach others what
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God has commanded. And let's be clear, the Lord is the only one who can save. We may plant the seed by sharing the
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Word, but we are not anything. It is God who causes the growth.
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That's 1 Corinthians 3. Ezra may have been a scribe and a priest, but does that mean that only spiritual leaders or pastors should be the ones sharing the
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Word of God with unbelievers? Surely not all the people in Israel were saved or had a clear understanding of the law and statutes of God, or Ezra would not have set his heart on teaching it to them.
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In the Hebrew, we see here it translated statute, statute. The singular noun paired with the following noun conveys a singular collective here, statute and judgment, encompassing more than one statute or ordinance, but all that Yahweh has prescribed.
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Hence, the plural in some translations, you may see this as instructions or judgments, judgments.
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It conveys judgment. It signifies the rules or instructions Yahweh has commanded for his people to live by.
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And for us, it's the commands of Christ. Well, what are those commands? Love the
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Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength, Deuteronomy 6. And love your neighbor like you love yourself,
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Leviticus 19. Of course, repeated in Matthew 22, verses 37 through 40.
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The significance is that the hand of God was gracious toward Ezra because he had prepared his heart to seek and to do the law of Yahweh.
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God's sovereignty and his complete control over all creation for his glory and the benefit of his people.
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Ezra made the word of God his rule to action, to living, and to teach the statutes and judgments in Israel as both were prescribed in the law of Yahweh to live by his commands.
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Today, we are to live by those commands in light of our standing in Christ. What was the command of Christ to his disciples when he ascended into heaven?
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Well, we referenced it. It's the Great Commission. He said, go into all the world, to all people groups, and make disciples of them.
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And then what? He says to teach them all I have commanded you. Of course, Matthew 28.
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Another way to say it, when Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome, he touches on this subject.
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Paul questions this. How will anybody be saved if we don't share the gospel, the word of God?
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That's Romans 10. I once had a brother in Christ ask this question. He was serving in the youth ministry.
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I had just started seminary, and we were talking about evangelism. And he said, this one still haunts me.
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It gets me in the heart every time. How bad do you have to hate someone to not share the gospel with them?
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If we believe there is a judgment coming, there's eternal damnation for the unbeliever, the one that doesn't know
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God. How much do you have to hate somebody to share the gospel with them?
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That should be an overriding reality that makes the awkwardness, the embarrassment, or whatever the thing is that's holding you back.
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Think about what's going to happen to that person. And you have the power of the gospel to save them.
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It's not you, it's the gospel. Share the good news with the person. Who cares what they have to say?
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Who cares if your reputation is, you know, you're the Jesus freak in the room. You're not popular, but you have a responsibility, an obligation to tell the truth to people.
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It is our obligation as regenerated, saved people to share the word of God with those around us.
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The obligation to share the word of God. At one time, everyone in this room was not a believer.
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Some still may not be. Every saved person in this room has salvation because someone else shared the word of God with them.
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We don't put our faith on the shelf. We share it. We take it down. Unbox it.
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Look at this. Share it with people. Salvation is God's free gift and he uses his word to convict sinners.
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Open your mouth and share the Bible with your family, with your friends, with your co -workers, with your fellow students.
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If you publicly confess Jesus on earth, he will confess you to his father in heaven.
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Matthew 10. What else do you need to know? But flip that. You're embarrassed about sharing
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Jesus with people? Guess what? He's not going to share you with his father. You're here on earth because God has not taken you off of this earth.
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That means you're here. If you're a Christian, you have one purpose in life to share
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Jesus Christ with those who don't know him. And if you're embarrassed about doing that, think about that verse.
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If you publicly confess Jesus on earth, he will confess you to his father in heaven.
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I don't care what anybody thinks about how I preach the gospel or how I evangelize or what
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I say about the Bible. I confess Jesus on earth knowing that he'll confess me before his father.
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That's all I need. I don't need anything else. We just need
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Jesus and the power of his name, Jesus. Jesus commands all to turn away from sin and return to God and to put their trust in him for eternal salvation.
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People's eternal souls are at stake. We as believers have an obligation to share
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Christ with those who are perishing, that they may find life in the one who gives life, the one who gives eternal life, the king of kings, the wonderful counselor,
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God Almighty, the only true Lord and Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the
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Christ. He's the Messiah. Let us emulate Ezra. Let us emulate
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Christ. And as we conclude, we can ask a few questions. What is the connection from the book of Ezra to Jesus Christ?
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How does the book of Ezra connect to Christ? Where is Christ in Ezra?
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And to best answer this, we simply look at the person of Christ and his presence in the text.
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Do we see Jesus in the Old Testament? Do we see Christ in Ezra's text?
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One commentator said this regarding Christ in Ezra. He said, his birth anticipated in the preservation of the
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Davidic line and the remnants returned to the promised land. His work as spiritual rebuilder and restorer pictured in Zerubbabel and Ezra, his mediating presence and glory pictured in the altar and the temple.
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And that all sounds good. I can't say I necessarily disagree, but I think he might be making, he might be stretching it a little bit there.
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I believe in Christology, the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ and how Christ is seen in the
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Old Testament. Certainly, the Bible has one theme and it's the king, the kingdom of God, Jesus.
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I believe you can see Christ in many of the Old Testament texts. In my view, I see
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Christ more in the action of Ezra regarding our passage. If we just simply look at what
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Jesus did with his life while he was on earth in his earthly ministry as one, capital
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O, who sets his heart after God. That's what Jesus did. That is what
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Jesus did in his earthly ministry, is it not? He set his heart after Yahweh. Psalm 16a,
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I will always set Yahweh before me and because I know he is right beside me,
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I will never be shaken. When he set aside his divine privileges and his public display of divinity, certainly he was encouraged by the word of God.
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Was he thinking about those words as he was being crucified? I like to think so. I will never be shaken.
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Jesus came to earth to do the will of the father. He came to undo the works of the devil.
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He came to proclaim the gospel to the lost. That was the earthly ministry.
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Also, Jesus set his heart to study the law of God, to practice it, and to teach
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God's word in Israel. That's the emptying we saw in Philippians 2. He took the form of a human being and he matured.
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God's word leads to action. We see that in Christ. I don't know how to not see
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Christ in this verse. The main thrust of this text is the importance of making the word of God the ultimate thing in a believer's life.
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The author points out that God was with Ezra and was protecting him. Ezra was described as a man of worth because he knew the word of God.
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His character was tied to his knowledge of God. God's protection is highlighted and correlated to Ezra's position in understanding the word.
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The last three outline points are tied to verse 10, as I see this really is the pinnacle of the passage.
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God protects those whose heart belong to him. Consider the words of Jesus in the
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Gospel of John. In the context of Jesus reassuring his disciples shortly before he went to the cross, in John chapter 14 verse 1, he says, let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.
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One commentary I read on this passage was extremely helpful. Instead of the disciples lending support to Jesus in the hours before his cross, he had to support them spiritually as well as emotionally.
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This reveals his heart of serving love. Faith in him can stop the heart from being agitated.
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If you're going through something difficult and you are experiencing fear and anxiety, you have a remedy.
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Let not your heart be troubled. Faith in Jesus can stop the heart from being agitated.
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In other words, one way to practice the word is to believe in Jesus. This is the gospel.
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Listen to the rest of Jesus's statement from John 14. Just picking up verse 2 up to 7.
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In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would
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I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you,
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I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going.
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Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way?
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Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.
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No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also.
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From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Yes, Jesus is
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God. Yes, Jesus is the only way to have peace with God.
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Believing in Jesus is the only way to salvation. True belief will be accompanied by repentance.
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This is the gospel. It is the obligation of every believer to dedicate their lives to learning his word, practicing it, and teaching others to do the same.
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This passage also shows us the doctrine of sanctification and edification for believers.
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The word sanctification describes the upward trajectory of increased personal holiness in the life of a believer over the course of a life.
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Paul comments in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Holy Spirit sanctifies through belief in the truth, in the word, living for the word of God.
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The word is the means in which a believer is sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The word edification is the concept of helping other believers increase in personal holiness by teaching, exhorting, and encouraging them in the word of God.
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The word of God is the sword of the Spirit, the Spirit's weapon in spiritual battle to increase personal holiness in the lives of the believer.
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We ought to encourage and teach one another to ever -increasing levels of holiness.
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As iron sharpens iron, so one sharpens another. One person will sharpen another.
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We all grow together. We all learn together. The sharpening only comes through the knowledge of the word of God by the help of the
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Spirit's ministry of illumination. Studying the word of God must start in the heart.
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Before a believer can rightly teach the word of God, he or she must first practice it in their daily lives.
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Before a believer can practice the word of God daily and teach others to do the same, the person needs to settle it in their hearts to seek after and learn the word of God by studying, interpreting, investigating the word of God.
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A believer will come to a fuller and deeper knowledge of God, a deeper knowledge of God's love.
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God does not want an empty intellectual pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Consider Paul's prayer for spiritual strength from the end of chapter 3 of Ephesians.
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This is one we would read almost every time in our corporate prayer in our church in Long Beach. Ephesians 3,
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Paul says this, for this reason, referring to the gospel, I bow my knees before the
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Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his
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Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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God wants the right heart motivation, which is to want to live out what is learned and to help others do the same.
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Knowledge of the scriptures without obedience demonstrates a lack of love for God and others.
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Four unchanging truths that call believers to adjust their hearts so that you are living for the
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Word of God. God is in control of every aspect of a believer's life, the need to learn the
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Word of God, the importance of living out the Word of God, and the obligation to share the