Restore the Word part 2

Date
Monday, March 4, 2019
Speaker
Bobby Grossi
Series
RESTORE
Book
Ezra

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Restore the Word part 2 / Ezra 8

Jesus says this, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24–27

Who in this story do you want to be? The wise or the foolish? Hopefully, the wise man. But even in this desire, to hear the words of Jesus and do them, we fall short and need help… We need something more.

Please turn to Ezra 8, page 394 in the Pew Bibles
Last week we asked 4 simple questions as we learn about the man, Ezra.
- - Who is he? He is a Priest, vs. 1-6,
  - What does he do? Study, live, and Proclaim God’s word, vs. 7-10
  - How was he sent? By the King, vs. 11-20
  - His response? Worship, vs. 27-28
- What can we learn from Ezra, as he restores the word in Jerusalem, for us to restore our church? As we saw from the New Testament as we ask those same questions;
  - Who are we? We are priests
  - What do we do? Study, live, and Proclaim God’s word
  - How are we sent? By the King of Kings
  - Our Response? Worship
His desire was to bring about a restored covenant. What covenant?
- Ezra 1:1, “by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled”
  - This “hyperlinks” us to the book of Jeremiah. especially Jeremiah 31.
  - Describe hyperlink

Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, Jeremiah 25:12

For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.” Jeremiah 30:3

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 31:31–32

Ezra is looking to restore the covenant between God and his people by “studying, living and proclaiming God’s word”. Worship is being restored since the temple is back up but he is coming to be a living exegete, a life lived “out of the word”. Trying to be “the wise man.”
He is so specific about this that even his entourage reflects in his mind the ideal Israel.

Ezra 8:1-14

3 patriarchs and 12 families.
- -Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) —> 12 tribes of Israel
- EXODUS NARRATIVE, God’s chosen people in slavery, he sends someone to save, God’s wrath is poured out, the people are set free and brought into the promise land.
- Being “skilled in the Law of Moses” in 7:6, Ezra is presenting himself as the New Moses.
- Ezra 7:9, the first day of the first month which coincides with the departure of Israel from Egypt with the establishment of the passover in Exodus 12.

He is a living exegete, a life lived “out of the word”. Trying to be “the wise man.”

Ezra 8:15-20

Who carried the “holy things” when the children of Israel after the Exodus? The Levites
Read vs. 18, now they are set. Ready to make the journey.

Ezra 8:21-23

Fast and pray
“Safe journey”= “Straight path” hyperlink to Isaiah 40.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Isaiah 40:3–4

Dana’s vision for our church.
He also alludes to Jeremiah 31:9

With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, Jeremiah 31:9

There they are by the river, fasting and praying for a straight path.
He is a living exegete, a life lived “out of the word”. Trying to be “the wise man.”

Ezra 8:24—36

Read 28-32
- Ezra 8:32, rested for 3 days like Joshua rested after taking the promise land
- Ezra 8:35, made offerings
Ezra 8:36 All things are in order for the new covenant… But they are not.
- Even though Ezra is a living exegete, a life lived “out of the word”, the wise man, he and they are missing one thing.
- The entire story of Ezra/Nehemiah, with all the prophets, and ultimately the entire OT is anticlimactic. It falls short… Why? The problem is within… They need a new heart.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33–34

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26–27

GOSPEL, We have a new heart, and The Spirit of God! live from the word
Lead into communion He is a living exegete, a life lived “out of the word”. Trying to be “the wise man.”

Benediction– May you be a living exegete, and live a life lived “out of the word”, and may you, by God’s Spirit, be the wise man.