A Word in Season: Seeking, Doing, Teaching (Ezra 7:10)

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Ezra the scribe receives in the pages of scripture a striking commendation.

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In the book of Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 we are given a glimpse into the inner workings of this man of God.

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Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

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Now Ezra was a man who lived under difficult circumstances, the return of the exile from Babylon, he was a man who under God had been put in this place in order to instruct and to guide the people, and the

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Lord had formed him to be just such a man. And we might long to see more preachers and teachers today who have the same essential character as Ezra the scribe, who had prepared his heart to seek the law of the

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Lord and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

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And it's a striking progression, not just as a whole but in its parts. Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the

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Lord, he had purposed in his inner being that he would set out to grasp the truth that God had made known, that every word that proceeded from the mouth of God would be

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Ezra's particular study, that he would desire to know it in its whole and in its parts, that inasmuch as he had it in his hands he would devote himself to understanding it accurately.

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But more than that, Ezra was also going to do it. You notice that the scriptures here don't jump straight from understanding or seeking to teaching, but from seeking to doing.

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Ezra wanted to know the word of God and the first application of that was going to be to his own soul, to his own thoughts, words and deeds.

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Ezra's life was transformed by his study of the word of God. He had devoted himself, not just to know what it said, but to understand it in a way that transformed his life.

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He went to the word of God with the fundamental commitment that whatever he found there, he would do, that wherever it sent him, he would go, that wherever it challenged him, he would submit, that whatever instructed him, he would learn.

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He wasn't just a model of study, but a model of obedience.

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And out of that integrity, out of that personal commitment came his readiness and his ability to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

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Ezra was a man who could say, not just do what I say, but do as I do.

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He was himself an example of the kind of response that he expected and under God demanded when the word of God was brought to bear.

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And it's no surprise then that we read in just the verse before, and the connection is significant, that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem according to the good hand of his

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God upon him, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the

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Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. The Lord smiled upon a man with Ezra's commitment to know and do his will.

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And as we've said, we long for more preachers and teachers who have the same commitment of Ezra, the same preparation of heart to seek the law of the

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Lord, men who search the scriptures with submissive spirits, whose desire and appetite and study and labour is to grasp what

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God has said. But more than that, men who, having understood these things by the help of God's Holy Spirit, are also in dependence upon God, committed to personal obedience, scrupulous righteousness, who are ready to have the word of God brought to bear upon their consciences, who preach the scriptures first of all to their own souls, and then out of that consistent understanding and obedience, they bring the word of God, teaching statutes and ordinances to the people, pointing them to Jesus Christ and leading them in the way in which they should go.

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So let's pray that God would raise up men like Ezra in our day.

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And let's pray for those who are called to be teachers of the word of God, that they might have

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Ezra -like understanding, that they might show Ezra -like obedience, because they have

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Ezra -like hearts, prepared to seek God and his word and to do it, and that God's good hand may be upon them likewise.