8/19/18 Intro to Ezra (Foundations for understanding Ezra-The sovereignty and providence of God

Here I Stand Theology

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I am so thankful this morning for the

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Word of God. I am torn.

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You know how sometimes when you are preparing to, I'll just say it like this,

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I really can't speak for you. When I'm preparing to preach, there are times when I feel like the message may be very short and the thought crosses my mind this might very well be one of the shortest messages that I've ever preached.

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But inevitably if I get up and say that, I end up preaching for an hour and make myself a liar.

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So I'm trying to learn how to discipline myself, not necessarily to make assumptions on what

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I think so much as compared to what we have prepared to share with you.

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But I do feel like it is very important and I do not ever want us to back down off as far as from a preaching perspective to say that we want to give you any less than what the

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Word of God says, even more so than any less than what we feel like you need to hear.

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It's very, very important that when we are preaching from the Word of God, that we stay in the

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Word of God, that we stick to the Word of God, and if the Word of God seems a bit more teachy than preachy sometimes, then so be it.

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Our desire for this church, for Reformed Baptist Church is to be built upon, said this probably most recently just a couple of years back, but that this church be founded and based and built upon the preaching of the

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Word of God. You can get a positive thought, you can get positive reinforcement from the world, but the

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Word of God will simultaneously not only build positivity into you, but it will tear you down at the same time, amen?

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There are plenty of places and plenty of times when we read and look through the pages of the

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Word of God where personally we are offended. Kenny talked about it last week in class, the

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Sunday school lessons he didn't much care for because it talked about our responsibility on how we as Christians ought to behave at work.

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And throughout the Word of God we find that the Word of God effectively changes the believer, but beginning this week what we're going to do, we're going to be going to the

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Old Testament. It's been some time since we've been verse by verse through an Old Testament book, and we are not today, don't get afraid, but we are going to be going through verse by verse, word by word, through the book of Ezra.

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Good news here, the book of Ezra is only ten chapters long. Philippians was only what, five chapters?

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And it only took us seven months to get through. But this is a different, it's going to be kind of a different, not necessarily a different approach, but a different perspective when we're looking at the

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Old Testament, this book of Ezra, and if you're taking notes there are just a few things I want to share with you and leave with you today to kind of build the foundation for the book of Ezra as we study through it.

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We're going to see the theme of the sovereignty of God, we're going to see the theme of the providence of God, and today we're going to kind of define those terms a little bit to you.

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And also, from the book of Jeremiah, we're going to be reading to you a little bit of the foundation for where we are here in the book of Ezra.

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Just a quick overview, the book of Ezra is the history of God's people

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Israel coming out of Babylonian captivity. They had been taken captive by the

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Babylonians due to their disobedience to the Lord himself.

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And so, in looking at this, some of it may not seem like it's that happy -go -lucky, but throughout this book of Ezra we're going to see the sovereignty of God at work in His creation.

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And when I say the sovereignty of God, to define that term, and any time we use that term, regardless whether it's concerning the book of Ezra, concerning the book of Psalms, concerning the

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New Testament, whatever it may be, when we talk about the sovereignty of God, this is what

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I want you to kind of have in your mind what sovereignty is. Very simply, define the sovereignty of God as this, it is

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God's authority. The sovereignty of God, when we speak of the sovereignty of God, we are speaking of God's authority and God's right to govern all things.

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So when we say God's sovereignty, we're talking about God's authority and God's right to govern all things.

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By the way, we are a Christian church, amen? So our worldview ought to be biblical.

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I'm not here to present to you a worldview outside of the

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Scriptures. The worldview that is preached and taught is going to be a biblical worldview.

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Don't expect it to line up with the world's standards. Don't expect it to line up with the world's view of God.

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The church has a responsibility, the preacher has a responsibility within the church to preach who

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God is according to God's word, amen?

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A lot of folks have an idea, a lot of folks have an interpretation of who they think

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God is and how they think God speaks and how they think God works and how they think

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God moves. But friends, we have it from the word of God itself that this is how we know who

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God is. That through the Holy Spirit illuminating the word of God to us as His people, we can know who

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God is. We can know who God is. Now, so we know that according to the

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Scriptures, several different places, and I'll just quote you a couple of different verses, Psalm chapter 66 and verse 7.

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If you want to make a note of that, Psalm 66 verse 7, Psalm 135 verse 6, the psalmist writes this concerning God, that God who rules by His might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations and to not let the rebellious exalt themselves.

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Now, so keep in mind when we speak of sovereignty, we're speaking of God's authority and God's right to govern all things.

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To have authority and to have right in anything really means that you need to have ownership of that thing, amen?

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Now, does anybody in here have ownership of this world by a show of hands? No. Truly, none of us have ownership of anything.

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It's given to us by the Lord if we've got anything, amen? Good or bad, it comes through the hand of God.

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So, the psalmist also said in Psalm 135 verse 6, whatever the Lord pleases,

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He does. Now, whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven alone.

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Uh -uh. Whatever the Lord does, He does what He pleases in heaven and in earth.

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The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

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He owns the cattle of a thousand hills, as it's said, quoted many times by old timers, amen?

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He is sovereign over all of creation.

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And being sovereign over all of creation means that He is sovereign over all of the creatures.

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When I say the creatures, I'm talking about everything that is created. He is sovereign over.

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We think about Noah and the ark. When the

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Lord decided that He was going to flood the earth because of the wickedness in the heart of man, the

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Bible says He commanded Noah to build an ark. He gave Noah specific instruction on how to build this ark, right?

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He gave him the prince. He gave him the plan. Noah built the ark according to God's plan, according to God's sovereign direction.

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Now, the Lord told Noah, Noah, take you and your family into the ark when it is time.

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And the Bible says the Lord closed the door of the ark. The door of the ark was not something that a man could close in and of himself.

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It was only God that was able to do such a thing. But even greater than that, speaking of God's sovereignty, remember, over all creation,

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God not only directed Noah and his family into the ark, but by His sovereignty and by means of His providence,

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God directed the animals into the ark. I mean, I don't believe you know how the

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Robertsons, the Duck Dynasty bunch are famous for duck calls, right? But imagine, imagine,

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I don't know how he did it, but imagine how in the world would Noah have gotten all those animals on the ark had he even had a call for each of them animals to draw them in.

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Only the Lord could have done such a thing. The Lord is sovereign over all.

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So the sovereignty of God means that He has the right, He has the right and the authority to govern all things.

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To govern means to oversee all things. As I said, we're going to speak about the providence of God.

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The providence defined is this way. God's providence is

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God's governance of all things. Not only does

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He have the right and the authority to govern all things, but providence is

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God actually governing all things. You motorheads in here,

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Kenny, Pat, probably Chris, you just look like a motorhead. I don't know. James, you may be.

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Isaac, you know anything about motors? What do they do? At NASCAR, Kenny was telling me about this here a while back.

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NASCAR, they have to actually put governors on the engines, right? To slow them down to a certain speed or so they'll only go so fast.

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Stock cars. Lawnmowers. Governors. I need to be corrected on this because like I said,

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I'm ignorant, generally speaking, of engines and motors. But they are governed. They are slowed down.

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When you go to the go -kart track, right? They've got some go -karts that will go a little bit and some will go a little bit more.

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Because they're governed, right? They're slowed down. But what God does is

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God in His sovereignty, because He has the right and the authority to govern all things,

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God governs all things, God oversees all things, God oversees and directs all things.

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However, I do want to make a point of clarification here and I want to make sure no one ever gets confused on this issue.

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God is not the author of sin. Okay? So when we speak of God's sovereignty and God's working through means of His providence, we are not saying that God causes sin, but I'm saying

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God permits sin. We know that because guess what?

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Every one of us are under the curse of sin. But He does so in order to bring glory and honor unto

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Himself. So God's providence is God's governance of all things based upon His omniscience, based upon His omnipresence, and based upon His omnipotence.

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Omniscience meaning that He is everywhere. Sarah, where are you?

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Can you see God? Amen. Thank you.

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That's the desire. That's what we want at this church, for the church to be so theologically sound that when you ask a five or six year old, they can answer these questions.

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The world needs to see a church who knows who God is. A theologically sound people.

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So God is omniscient, He's everywhere. God is omnipotent, meaning this, that He is

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King above all. Amen? He is the King of all kings and the

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Lord of all lords, according to the Word of God.

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And so in considering and in thinking about and in laying the groundwork for this study through the book of Ezra, we're going to see

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God's sovereignty, we're going to see God's omniscience, we're going to see God's omnipotence, we're going to see the guiding hand of God's providence throughout the lives of His people

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Israel. But friends, we will not see this or know this outside of the

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Word of God. We might likely go back to the New Testament for references, we might likely go back further in the

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Old Testament for references, but every one and all of the references will be from the

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Word of God. And I'm making a distinct point about this today because there are many in the church world today, popular church world, who will tell you that we do not need the

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Old Testament, but my friend, the Old Testament is just as necessary as the

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New Testament. It is not less important nor is it more important.

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Nor is the New Testament more or less important than the other. God gave us both

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Testaments that we might know Him, that we might know who

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He is. Much of what we read within the pages of the Old Testament are going to be prophecy concerning and foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ.

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We're going to see many books as this book of Ezra is a historical book telling us about the life of God in relation to His people.

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I want to share something with you very quickly if I might. Let me see if I can find it here. Because it's easy again many times for a preacher to make a statement and to not give you any evidence that people actually will try to lead you away from the

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Word of God. But I want you to listen to just one little statement here concerning the

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Old Testament concerning the Word of God. This has been said, doing what

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He says, this is what is spoken concerning the Old Testament and the Law. Doing what

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He says is far more than reading what is written and obeying it. That is a given.

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What if He actually is talking about listening to His current, present, active, ongoing personal and powerful voice that we can hear in the now?

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When the phrase, I will do what I say is translated it is speaking of logos which is way more than the written word.

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This is a quote from an individual who is saying that God speaks to His people outside of the

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Word of God concerning who He is. Now God does not speak and tell us who

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He is. He does not come and whisper in my ear and say, Claude, I want you to tell the people of Reformation Church that I am good and that I am kind.

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We know He is good and kind not because I had that whispered in my ear or had that thought come through my mind but because the

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Word of God tells us He is good and He is kind. Those folks who want to stray from the

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Scriptures are all about telling you that God is good and that God is kind but God not only is good and kind but He is a just God who must carry out righteous judgment which is who

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He is righteous and many times that is worked out through the wrath of God.

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We learn about the law and the wrath of God from the Old Testament and we learn about grace and truth in the

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New Testament. You see why you can't have one without the other? Jesus Christ is the

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Logos. It's not something that we imagine or hear whispered in our ear.

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He is the Logos. In the beginning was the Word John chapter 1. In the beginning was the

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Logos and He was the Word and the same was in the beginning and He was in the beginning with God and the world was made by Him and without Him nothing that was made is made according to the

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Scriptures. As we delve into this Old Testament book it is so important that you do not discount the importance of both the

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Old and the New Testaments. They are very, very, very important.

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J .I. Packer said this It is inadequate to regard this term wrath concerning the wrath of God merely as a description of the inevitable process of cause and effect in a moral universe or as another way of speaking of the results of sin.

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It is rather a personal quality without which God would cease to be fully righteous and His love would degenerate into sentimentality.

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This is J .I. Packer that said this back around the 1900's. He said the wrath of God is as personal and as potent as His love and just as the blood shedding of the

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Lord Jesus was the direct manifesting of His Father's love toward us, so it was the direct averting of His Father's wrath against us.

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In the Old Testament we see much of the outworking of the wrath of God the displeasure of God with the sin of His people and many folks don't want to hear about this because the world in which we live everybody wants to be able to do what they want to do without any kind of consequence or without any kind of repercussion but my friend there is a price to be paid for sin and the wages of sin is death according to the word of God but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord however you also must know this that there is a, old timers put it this way, a heaven to gain and there is a hell to shun.

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That was in our Sunday school lesson. Most people wouldn't even see hell in that but my friend

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Jesus said that those who did not obey Him did not live according to His word the goats who were divided from the right, the goats and the sheep who were divided the sheep on the right and the goats on the left were sent to depart into everlasting punishment.

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Hell is a real place. Whether you believe that or not it does not change the truth and the veracity of what the word of God says hell is just as real as heaven.

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We need the good along with what we deem as the bad and so in understanding the

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Old Testament in understanding the sovereignty of God, in understanding the providence of God we must recognize and fully and I have to say this myself personally, surrender to the sovereignty of God and many times we read things that God did as He sold

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Israel into slavery to the Babylonians as a punishment for their sins but here is the good news turn to Jeremiah chapter 29 please

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Jeremiah chapter 29 Jeremiah chapter 29 and let's begin in verse 10 and we're going to read down through verse 14 and as we read through this passage of scripture tell me if you recognize a much used verse of scripture you'll see this on plaques you'll see this on notebooks, you'll see this on t -shirts and you'll see this one verse touted as an explanation that God wants good for everybody

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Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 10 the Bible says for thus says the Lord after 70 years are completed at Babylon by the way that's another point of reference that if you're taking notes you keep down keeping your mind as we're studying through the book of Ezra that was the length of time that God left

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Israel in captivity to the Babylonians after 70 years are completed at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place the context of this passage of scripture many many years before this has taken place this is what the

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Lord has sent through the word of the prophet Jeremiah as a warning to the people of Israel concerning their being sold into Babylonian captivity and he says

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I will visit you and I will perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place so before we move any further in this passage in that one verse of scripture right here in Jeremiah 29 10 we see the sovereignty of God God's right and authority to govern all things and we see in this the faithfulness of God that God is always always always true unto his word that God is not limited by time and space as we are amen ain't that good and that he is faithful and that he is true and he said but I will cause you to return to this place what a word is this

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April talks about I won't say repeatedly but quite a bit she remembers ma 'am going on trips with you and when she would get in trouble you would tell her wait till we get home and she said she always hated the ride home because you were true when you got home she got it by the way sir's a softy ma 'am was the punisher just so that you all know but the bible goes on here and he says this verse 11 for I know the thoughts that I think towards you says the

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Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope have any of you ever seen that on anything how many of you ever heard the folks who only want to preach the goodness of God not preach the severity of God say well

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God wants something good for you this is the plan God has for you they have no idea likely that the context of this verse is

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God saying because of your wickedness and your evil sinful rebellion against me you are going to be taken captive by the

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Babylonians for 70 years and for 70 years you will have to suffer but God says know this

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I know the plans I have for you God is speaking to Israel in the face of their captivity in the face of this awful horrible circumstance and he says but know this

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I know the thoughts that I think to you and because God is omniscient and God is omnipresent and God is omnipotent and God is not limited by time and space that he is not going to be like you and me where if we go for a little period of time after we said we are going to do something we forget that we are going to do it sometimes intentionally sometimes not intentionally sometimes just simply because nature takes its course but God is not a man like you and I where he forgets where he ceases to do every single word that he says he is going to do it is why the

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Old Testament is just as important as the New Testament so going on verse 12 there he says then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you here we see the love and the compassion of God and you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart and the

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Lord says in verse 14 I will be found by you says the

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Lord and I will bring you back from your captivity I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you says the

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Lord and I will bring you to the place from which

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I caused you to be carried away and when we

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Lord willing next week when we get into actually get into the book of Ezra itself when we get into this and we begin to read through this you are going to see that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy that God gave unto

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Jeremiah men want to throw that term around today prophecy prophecy prophecy prophecy concerning God and his people and God's word are what we find in the

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Old Testament and throughout the Old Testament we see the word that God has spoken fulfilled time and time and time and time again faithfully and regularly it's as sure as the sun rises and as the sun sets is the faithfulness of the word of God heaven and earth

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Jesus said in the New Testament heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall endure forever more turn back to Jeremiah chapter 25 for just a moment please we are going to read a short passage here

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Jeremiah chapter 25 so back four chapters beginning in verse 8 therefore thus says the

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Lord of hosts because you have not heard my words behold I will send and take all the families of the north says the

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Lord and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and will bring them against this land against its inhabitants and against all these nations all around and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment a hissing and perpetual desolations the sovereignty of God the providence of God the providence of God is

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God working through means because he is governing all things when

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God works through his providence he uses natural means many times natural circumstances natural situations to get us and to place us and to put us exactly where we need to be because God is not a mean

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God in the true sense of the word ok many people think when you preach the sovereignty of God that you are preaching a

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God that is like that little mean kid that sits with the magnifying glass on top of the anvil and burns ants no

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God is not mean in that sense God is not mean in that sense but God is holy and God is righteous and God will not allow sin to go unpunished from the very foundation of the world he has intended that his only begotten son be the sacrifice for our sins

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God is that sovereign he is that omniscient but notice here in verse 9 there he says

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Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant when you look at that you think well

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Nebuchadnezzar must have been a godly man oh no God can use the ungodly just as good as he can use the godly because guess what he is sovereign over all that is what the scripture says

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Nebuchadnezzar my servant and will bring them against this land against its inhabitants this is how

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God works through means of providence by using the wicked Nebuchadnezzar to bring

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God's own people into captivity because of their disobedience and God didn't sugar coat the situation he didn't try to make it more palatable for them more easy for them to take the truth he simply said that he is going to utterly destroy them he is going to make astonishment he is going to make them a hissing so that when people look at them they go you ever heard that before right that is what he says that when people think of them at this time that they are going to do that oh when

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I see people give blood or think about giving blood that is my first response to hiss to think about that it makes me dizzy just thinking about that right now let's move on moreover

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I will take from them the voice of mirth and the sound of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp and this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for how long 70 years now do you think that God is going to be untrue to his word no let's close in this

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I am going to give you all what I have put down in my notes as the summary of what we are going to see when we go through the book of Ezra 20 things that we are going to see through the book of Ezra number 1 in chapter 1 we are going to see the end of captivity as promised by God himself in chapter 1 we are going to see the sovereignty of God on display in chapter 1 we are going to see the providence of God put on display in chapter 1 we are going to see the provision of God put on display that God in chapter 1 as well as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9 and 10 we are going to see the protection of God put on display when we are the thing about it is

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I think as children children will think let's see let's pick on you a minute you ever get in trouble yeah when you get in trouble and are corrected do you deserve to be corrected yeah but it could be worse right

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Kira what about you my voice is almost gone so good news you ever get in trouble right you ever think they were too rough on me when they punished me honestly yeah

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I mean parents if you are a parent we have all been there our child does something stupid and we say that's it you are grounded for the next 32 years and 3 months don't come out of your room right until your 22nd birthday

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Hannah that punishment is extreme that punishment is harsh

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God never over punishes though the punishment may be extreme though the punishment may be harsh to us when we are chastised for our sin it's still not an over much punishment because God is just He is righteous in all of His doings and guess what we are protected even in times of punishment it could be worse right

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God even in the Babylonian captivity we'll see when we look through the book of Ezra that God even in their punishment is protecting and preserving

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His people that is so good in chapter 3 in chapter 2 let me not skip that in chapter 2 we are going to see let me just put it this way we are going to see the omniscience of God and I'll give you a forewarning

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I don't want you to skip church that week that we go through chapter 2 I want you to be here but there is going to be a lot of names read in that it don't seem like the most super exciting fantastic, wonderful, horrific passage of scripture in the world but it's important because we are going to see how omniscient

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God is just down to the minute details of human beings lives how omniscient that He is in chapter 3 we are going to see the worship of God restored to the children of Israel in chapter 4 we are going to see the subtle and the sneaky attempts to thwart the work of God in chapter 5 we are going to see that the work of God continues based upon God's word

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Himself in chapter 5 we are going to see the purpose of God being told to King Darius in chapter 6 we are going to see the provision of God by means of providence in chapter 6 we are going to see the

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Lord's Passover practiced again by God's people in chapter 7 we are going to see that the work of God is not limited by time in chapter 7 we are going to see a period of 60 years passed between the 6th and the 7th chapter of the book of Ezra by the way this book of Ezra is going to cover the span of about 255 years give or take a few years that's a long time we'll sit down and read this book in an hour or two and we'll think that's how it all happened no, there's a big picture and there's a great big

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God overseeing all things and there's a great big God working behind the scenes by means of His providence because He is sovereign over all things in verse 7 we're going to see that all glory goes to God alone in verse 8 we're going to see

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Ezra's confidence in God demonstrated in verse 8 we'll see God deliver yet once again

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His people in chapter 9 we'll see that the cycle of sin just as it has from the garden of Eden until now and shall continue until the very end when the

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Lord wraps everything up that the cycle of sin continues in human beings in chapter 9 we're going to see that confession and repentance are made to the

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Lord in chapter 9 we're going to see the loving kindness of God being testified to by Ezra and by God's people themselves and in verse 10 we'll close everything up and we'll see the people of God renewing their commitment to God once again it is so important that you as a people of God know this that there are times of renewal that you need to come upon in your lives that there are times of rededication as it were of yourself anew and afresh to God you say preacher how about a person you gotta be to have to do that?

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well I tell you just about every day I gotta renew and rededicate my life to the

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Lord so necessarily it's not realizing how good a person you are but it's just about realizing how holy and how righteous

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God is and that when you stand before him that we are nothing and yet he has chosen to send his love on us so I'm excited about going into Ezra you say preacher why'd you have us turn to Ezra if we weren't going to be reading nothing?

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it's a good practice that's exactly right now you know where it is now there's no excuse

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I'm excited about going into this but it is so important that we look at it from a biblical perspective it was a actual historical event that took place and it was so preserved for us in the word of God that it's necessary that we stand and proclaim it even today and until the end of days that there is a

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God in heaven he sits upon the circle of the earth he sits on high and he looks down low he has the right and the authority to govern all things and he does still yet do so in this day and age in which we live heavenly father

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I love you and I praise you and I thank you so much for the privilege and this honor that you've given us to be in your house today to sing praises unto your name to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ but more than anything

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God I am thankful for your word and I am so thankful that according to your word that we have no other foundation on which we can rest or rely or trust in outside of your unchanging truth thank you for being so faithful thank you

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God for being so good and so kind and so merciful when we deserve nothing but wrath and justice save the lost

42:05

Lord we have those within the church who have family members

42:10

God I have a family member that I want to be saved my son God I lift him up to you for Tam's daughter we lift her up to you

42:21

God for those dear God who profess your name and live contrary we lift them up to you and we know that dear

42:34

God in the end you will demonstrate who is saved and who is lost that you because you are the just and the justifier of those who have believed upon you we trust in you help us as a body to maintain a true and a steadfast course help us as a body to be hungry and to be thirsty for your word make our minds like sponges and our hearts ready to receive your word and to not only let it go in one ear and out the other but that we may do as the psalmist said concerning your word help us that we might hide your word in our hearts that we might not sin against you

43:40

I love you Lord Jesus and I praise you for salvation for it's in Jesus name