All right, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezra, chapter number four. We're in our nickel and dime series, five to 10 chapters. So we'll pick up with verse number six tonight, but I do wanna recap just a little bit for the sake of maybe some that haven't been here. But I have enjoyed the study of the book of Ezra and we'll keep continuing on as the Lord helps us to do in a verse by verse manner. So as you're in Ezra chapter number four, you can just kind of get ready here, but just to recap, In verse number one, we're reminded they are adversaries that are arising up here because we've been looking at the time of the altar being built and they reconnected the altar and the focus of it being the foundation of the foundation of them getting back into Jerusalem. and that they're building the temple before they would build the walls around the city. They're putting all these priorities of God first and you would think there'd be a happy ending and everything would go smoothly, but it's usually just the opposite. You really sell out and commit to live for God, then the enemy is going to stick up his ugly head. There will be adversity and there will be adversaries. And notice verse number four, the Bible says, then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. So as they're trying to build, they cause trouble. Or, you know, the devil likes to stir people to cause trouble. And when you're trying to build something, he tries to stop it from being built. And then in verse five, it said they hired counselors against them. Powerful phrase here to frustrate their purpose. You ever been frustrated? The whole church can say amen to that one, amen. The devil loves to frustrate our purpose. Our purpose should be prioritized as putting God first, amen, and then focusing on our family. He said the family should be first. Well, you need an individual, purposeful, spiritual relationship with just you and God Almighty. You need that personally. Otherwise, your family doesn't have a chance to really do anything for God. It's not gonna glorify the Lord and it'll be hard to survive in the wickedness of this world as the devil tries to cause frustration. But it doesn't mean I'm not trying to scare you to quit living for God so everything will go easy. The devil still wants to destroy the creation of God. He still wants to destroy your children even if you're paying attention or not paying attention. But the purpose here was frustrated. And there was adversity, adversaries, things going against their purpose when they were trying to do right. And so that can get real discouraging. When you're trying to do right and then all this stuff starts falling apart people start rising up against you and try to stop what you're doing because there'll be things come in your mind like well if we're doing God's work God's way then why why is this happening that's exactly why it's happening because the devil's real he wants to frustrate the purpose so we have adversaries enemies here gonna apply this spiritually to the devil using things and people against us. Then in verse number six, it's mentioned here, and in the reign of Ahasuerus, one of the Persian kings, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him, talking about the adversaries now. These are people who are against the Jews building the temple. They wrote unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. So here rises up accusations, people accusing people of things. When you get that many times, you'll get a lot of stuff. You'll get lies and deceitful things brewing up. People accuse people of things that they did not do, or they might accuse something that somebody did 100 years ago. Out of context, of course, but 100 years, not too many people live past that, but you know what I'm trying to say. They'll bring up something from the past, way back, been buried, don't even smell bad anymore, amen? And they still try to dig it up and bring up accusations. So they're bringing up accusations here in the context of our story tonight in the book of Ezra. And so they're gonna write this letter, they're gonna get some things together, make a legal letter, and send it back to the king. And so there's accusations against them, and so they're gonna compile this letter to accuse them, basically, of rebellion against the empire. And so we'll see this in these verses here in six through eight. So let's read this. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of its reign, verse six, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes, wrote Bislam, Mithradath, Tabeo, and the rest of their companions unto Artaxerxes, King of Persia. And in the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. Rahum the chancellor and Shemshiah the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort. So you can see this is telling us, I'm getting ready to tell you what's in the letter if you were interested, amen. If you're not interested, you're gonna hear it anyway, amen. But so he's talking in that way. So you've got some things I want to bring out here as there are accusations against him There are many people here this little verse comes together Of this group of companions. It's mentioned in verse 7 the rest of their companions and in verse 9 It's mentioned again the rest of their companions. So they're compiling a letter and there's a group of companions coming together, allies coming together, and there's a lot of sensation of fear here that they're being outnumbered and that everybody's against them. You ever felt that way? You know, the world tries to make us feel that way today, that everybody is all buying into all this homosexual agenda, and everything like that's normal, and we're the abnormal. That's the fear this world's trying, and they're trying to put them into this place of fear that everybody's against them. Listen, there's a lot of Arabic nations involved here in the context of this area. And here it is in 2023, the same thing's happening to Israel again. They're a small little territory. And all these nations around them and even other world powers who are not Arabic nations are putting the influence on them that there's just too many people against them and they need to back off. Now I wanna bring out something in verse number six, excuse me, verse seven. It says in the bottom part of verse 7 that the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. This goes back to the Assyrian Empire. It was before the Babylonian Empire. and they're, we call it the Chaldean language, they're a part, and then this verse in chapter four, it's written physically in that language. That letter was written in that language, and they wrote it in that language in the original Hebrew in our Bible. And that empire was around before Nebuchadnezzar was around. And then Nebuchadnezzar was taken over, the Babylonian Empire was taken over by the Persian Empire. And all these names we're throwing around tonight, Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, these are Persian emperors. But what's important here is that they wrote this letter in a legal tongue that had to be written to be recognized to the king of Persia. I mean, they had every dot, every letter dotted, everything. You ever felt like, man, there's no way, they're doing everything legally. I mean, we are overpowered. We are outnumbered. We are outclassed. They even wrote this thing in the right language. You ever get a letter like that, some kind of legal letter that just blew your mind and you felt weak? So thereas and thereto and all this and all that. And you can't even read half of it. It sounds like it's in another language. And all the bottom line is you're terrified you're getting sued. I remember my oldest son, Micah, he had a pretty bad wreck. Him and Jerry were in the actual vehicle together. And Micah ran the stoplight. And it just barely, but you don't have to just do it, but barely. And they were on their way to a tent revival that was up there in Brunswick. What is it? I can't remember. A Tennessee brother, C.T. Towns, was preaching a tent revival. Big tent revival going on. They weren't going to get into trouble. They weren't going to go drinking. They weren't going partying. They weren't going chasing women. They were going to pick up Jesse Coon and Evan Clark. And they were going to pick up these other preacher boys and go up there to go to this tent meeting. And he had a head-on collision. And I mean, he tore that other guy. And there's an older man in there. and the older man, I think, was in his 90s, and he was in the hospital for a while, and they sued our family, they sued the insurance company, and boy, all this paperwork comes in into the Syrian language, and that scared us. It was in the Syrian language, and I'll just use this to get down, it was in some serious language. And it brought fear to us. And that's why many times the enemy compiles this plan. and he gathers the companions together. And the Bible says in the multitude of counselors there is safety. and the Lord helps us to lean back on his promise of his word to help us. But many times, we're trying to do right, and here comes the evil present with us, the opposition against us. So we see here, this was written in an authoritative language that would be sure to go to the king's audience, and he would hear it, read it, and have to pay attention to it. So in verse number nine, it says, then wrote Rahim the chancellor, and Shemshei, the scribe, and the rest of their companions. I don't know why that jumps out at me so many times when I read that thought. I have been in some things where all the companions joined together, if you've ever been around something like that. Well, there are nine nations that are referred to here in this group of companions. of this letter, these allies. And then it talks about the rest of the nations. There were other nations. There were just so many people on board with this letter and legally sending it to the king. And the Bible says, and verse number 10, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapar brought over. Now this man's name was an emperor all the way back to the days of the Assyrian Empire before the Babylonian Empire. So they're going back in all this special language, they're going back to appeal to the king, they're going back to connections that these people have been here a long time. They've been here while the Jewish people have come and gone and come again, so they're trying to play all these cards. They belong there. You ever heard that out of the Palestinians, that they belong there? I mean, it's happening even on modern day today. And there have been protests of people that are pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and there might even see some skirmishes and more things break out in America before too long, the way things are going here. But what comes back to you is that that land did belong to them way, way long time ago, and God took it away from them and gave it to the Jews. So take that up with God. Hamas needs to do business with God. And he said, well, they are. When they're messing with God's people, they're doing it. That's why they're in a mess, amen. They're messing with God's people. But this goes all the way back to that emperor, the noble Asnapar, brought over all these people. And they set in the city of Samaria. And as I mentioned to you last week, the Samaritans, the people of Samaria and the Samaritan people, they had a mixture of the Jewish religion, the connections to the law of Moses, but they didn't believe everything all together, but they tried to compel them that we believe the same thing you do, we believe the same way you do, let us build with you. What a temptation to compromise. And they did that in the earlier part of chapter number four. So now, verse 11, I know y'all been waiting. This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes. So they're trying to show that everyone's against them, and now this letter goes to the king. So we're gonna look at verse 11, the content of the letter. This is the copy of the letter that the king sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king. Thy servants, the men on this side of the river, and at such a time. Can you just sense that coming across? They're complimenting themselves. We're your servants. They are not your servants. Right? We're your servants, and we're on this side of the river. We're not on that side of the river. You can just see what they're trying to play all this out, and it was all done very tactically. I mean, this is pretty professional stuff. So we're complimenting ourselves that we're the king's servants over here, and they are not here to serve you at all. And then we see here they continue to create fear tactics to try to make the king move, thinking that an action must take place soon, that you need to act now. You ever see our government do that? There's a minority here, or this is going on, and you need to do something now. And many people will act like that without thinking. Verse number 12, yeah, verse number 12. Be it known unto the king, that the Jews, which came up from thee to us, are come up unto Jerusalem. And remember, Jerusalem was burned, the temple was destroyed, they had to dig down and look for the foundation of the altar, and when they did, they rebuilt the altar at the same location. There are no walls around Jerusalem when they got there. They're starting to build the temple, and they're starting to connect things to the wall, and building is being progressing. And he says unto them, verse 12, be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city. That's how they describe these people. They didn't compliment them. They used words to try to say, this is happening quickly. You need to hurry up. They have set up the walls thereof and have joined the foundations. They got walls connecting the foundations. You better get here quick. This is getting out of hand, out of control. These are rebellious people. This is a bad city. Are we talking about the same people in the couple of chapters we already covered? The people who were crying and weeping and thanking God that they had the altars back in their life and they were looking unto God to help them and build this up, they've not stolen anything, they've not murdered anybody, they've done nothing but worship their God, but they're a rebellious, bad city. What sounds like the Jews today? Sounds like Christianity today. You can be trying to live for God, love the Lord, and somehow you're bad for this school. You're bad for this community. Your ideologies, your teaching, you shouldn't be able to teach your children these things. Let us teach them. You shouldn't be allowed to do that. Certain political people, you shouldn't be able to do that at your job site. You shouldn't be able to share your faith, your religion. You're bad for the community. So they're rebellious and bad city. And he says they've set up the walls thereof and joined the foundations, which to me is trying to put fear there that this is happening really fast and you better really do something about this quickly. Verse number 13. Be it known now unto the king, That if this city be builded and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, T-O-L-L. Y'all know what a toll is, don't you? You ever go on our wonderful 185 out here and pay the toll? It's a tax to use the road. Well, toll, taxes, tributes, and customs are all connected to legal things where money is taken in and paid back to the kingdom. Some of them might have something to do with things that are exported, things that are imported. There's all these things. And they're putting fear into the king, saying, you're gonna lose all this stuff. You're gonna lose all this money and all this power and all this control. This rebellious, bad group of people, man, they're gonna set up this city and they won't respect you, they won't listen to you, they're gonna take over, you better do something. That's what they're trying to draw attention to. Then he says, that they will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings. You know you get people's attention when you start messing with their money. You ever get a paycheck and it be less than what you was expecting? Don't you usually notice that? That's just us common folks. What do you mean? You took 37 cents out of my check. How's a man supposed to make it? And you're in HR trying to, I mean, we want every penny, don't we? Well, they're trying to get the king all riled up. They're gonna take the tolls and the customs and all the tributes that you owe. And another thing too, I might not get to this. Yeah, here it is, verse 14. They had maintenance, they had positions over the territory here. They had authority by the king to collect this money. And as I studied this, I found out that many of those people in leadership positions here, they didn't have salaries from the kingdom, but they would use the taxation to create their income. Now you know that the tax collectors in the New Testament the publicans that they were called. Many of them were hated by the Jews. They would tax their own people, and I mean severely, heavily taxed them. And Zacchaeus was one of those men. And it was historically allowed to go door to door to collect the taxes. And he could go with soldiers and collect the taxes. And so they classified a person like him as a sinner. He was just a wicked, no-good sinner. Republicans and sinners. It became a bad word to throw that around. Well, this group of people had maintenance from the king's palace because of this money that was collected. And so they mentioned here, now because we have maintenance from the king's palace, and it was not neat for us to see the king see the king's dishonor. You see the phraseology there? We knew that we could not ignore this. We didn't want to see the king dishonored and your kingdom dishonored. We knew we had to take action, so we wrote you this letter and sent it to you. And all of us have gathered together, and listen, it's not stated here, but it's almost implied. The Declaration of Independence had all those people's signatures on it. All these men's names and all these nations that they represented that they put their information in their name connected to the letter So when the king gets the letter of this big bad rebellious Jewish city that is going on here and this has been several years now since um We go back to chapter number one when the same empire had a king named Cyrus who was excited to help them build this temple. Y'all remember that? Just a few years ago, now these kings, they've died or they've been killed and they've been replaced. And enough time has gone by to where now Artaxerxes, he doesn't know about the law that allowed them to go. Now you can understand if you had an empire that was as big as the Persian Empire and the Babylonian Empire, you can imagine it. If you lived in Jerusalem, all you think about is Jerusalem. But if you own the empire, you have thousands of little Jerusalems to oversee. You don't know about all the politics and all the things, and for a little temple to be rebuilt, that probably didn't mean even really a whole lot to Cyrus, except for he knew God told him he needed to help him. It means nothing to Artaxerxes. But now they've sent a letter, and now it's on the radar again. And there's claims and accusations against them, and they've created fear tactics to move the king. So in verse 15, the Bible says, my clock's off the wall. They painted in here today a little bit, and my clock's missing back there. I'm trying to make sure it ain't nine o'clock yet. Amen, nobody said a word. I lost you all already verse 15 The letter is still being stated. This is the content of the letter It says in verse 14, now because we have maintenance from the king's palace and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore we have sent and certified the king that search be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. So shalt thou find in the book of the records and know that this, now let's not look at, they're not challenging whether Cyrus gave them authority to rebuild the temple. They're challenging this. Look in these records and know that this city is a rebellious city. Always buck the authority. Now, before you get an attitude or maybe an image in your mind, even understanding the days of Christ, that Pontius Pilate was a governor of Rome. And he had a handful dealing with these Jews under his territory. They're always fighting and carrying on. Can you imagine being Pontius Pilate in the day of Jesus Christ? What's going on? This guy, he's an insurrectionist. He's a rebel. He's trying to cause a rebellion, a revolution against all of Rome. What's going on? How many are they? 13 of them. What's their background? Well, a couple of them know how to fish. I think there's one who's a tax collector. Boy, he's a bad dude, too. I think some of them are from other backgrounds we don't know a whole lot about. And Judas is the best one of them all. And Pontius Pilate had to put up with all this religious uproar. And I'm not being racist here. I'm gonna tell you, they are very passionate people. And you even see in the day of what's going on in Jerusalem and even the Arabic nation, they are way more passionate than we are in our society and our culture. And so they had to deal with this all the time. And they're sending this letter saying, these people have always been rebellious. They've always fought the system. They've always been a problem. Go look in your book, in your record books, and see if we're not telling you the truth. Look at verse 15. It says, this is a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings. This city and the people that live in it have hurt other kings. You say, that can't be true. Well, go back and read your Bible, 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles. Even look under the kingdom of David and of Solomon's reign. They fought the Philistines and all the Hittites and all the Jebusites and all the Ikes around them. There were kings that were killed. There were wars that were fought. They just had a lot of that connected to their culture. And he's telling them, go back in the records and look and see if they not have been hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have been moved with sedition. And that word means they have tried to cause revolution within the same of old time. For which cause was this city destroyed? The very reason, brother Matt, that Jerusalem was destroyed is what's happening now. You better pay attention, king. That's the reason it got destroyed before. Now that's not really completely totally the reason it was destroyed. Babylon went in there and took over and just completely laid it waste and destroyed it, took the vessels inside and took them back to Babylon under the king Nebuchadnezzar. But they're using all this accusations and political language and all this fear tactics. Then verse 16, he says, we certify. They're saying they got records. They got their stuff together. And they're challenging them to go look at the same record and records. He said, if this city be built again, and the walls thereof set up, By this means, if that happens, thou shalt have no portion on this side of the river. You're gonna lose power and control and money if you don't do something about this. So verse 17, it said they sent the king. excuse me, verse 17, then sent the king an answer. Now this didn't happen overnight, but you know the message was sent, they emailed it or faxed it or something. They sent the message, the king, it got to his docket, it was there, it was read and interpreted, all the things, That's even in the Syrian language. I mean, this is jam up, done right. They got all their records together, and these people are causing so much trouble over there. So the king sent an answer in verse number 17. So what I will call this is all their claims and accusations, this is confirmation of those claims and accusations. As a nation, of all the history of Jerusalem and Israel, In verse 17, then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor and to Shemshi the scribe and the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria and unto the rest beyond the river, peace at such a time. It's like the king answered, everything's gonna be okay, peace. The letter which he sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. And your interpretation of plain may not be my interpretation of plain, but that's exactly what he's saying. We've understood everything you've said. And I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings. It has been a rebellious city. These are bad people. They have fought against other nations, and they have. Do you not agree? They're taking it out of context like everybody always does, right? Making accusations, making things look bad. This kind of crowd and culture has always done that. I'll just say this today. There's a lot of liberal ideology and political liberalism in this world. that skews and turns the truth around. So when they fought Goliath, they said they're a rebellious city, they're trying to take over the world, they're going to take over the... No! That was a battle for their lives! But they took it out of context. They have all these records brought up And it says, I commanded, verse 19, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. Verse 20, there have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, referencing no doubt to David and Solomon and probably others along the way. If you ever read those books of the Bible, there are kings that did evil in the sight of the Lord, kings that did right in the sight of the Lord, but there were battles and skirmishes and conflicts and even a civil war between them two, of the northern king tribes and the southern tribes. And he says here, verse 20, they have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river and told, uh-oh, here's the money factor, tribute and custom was paid unto them. And this is biblically true, historically true. They caused other nations around them to pay them tribute. We won't destroy you if you pay us tribute. So you need to read your Bible, that is true. So now they've had research and found out not only are we at risk of not getting our money, they are going to take our money and take it for themselves and start their own little empire. So, verse 21. As those confirmation of claims and fears have been validated, there is a commandment to stop building. This is a decree. And if you've ever studied the laws of the Medes and the Persians, read the book of Esther, look at the book of Daniel. Once a law was written, it could not be canceled or unwritten. The only thing that could happen is either you face the law, the penalty, or it had to be fulfilled. Like Daniel went in the lions then. He survived it. So he has made a decree, there has been a commandment in verse number 21. Give ye now a commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. Why should damage grow to the herd of the kings? See, they wanted this taken care of immediately. Can you imagine when that crowd gets the letter? Oh, hallelujah! We get to stop them from building. We've got a letter, a warrant, or whatever. We've got the taking. So in verse number 21, 22, we see all these falsehoods, all these fear tactics, all these fraudulent claims. A very foolish decision is made. And then in verse 23, we'll close out here with these two verses, verse 23, 24. I'm pretty sure that's the end of the chapter. Hallelujah, it is. Verse 23, 24. There is the ceasing of the building and they're gonna do it by force. So they're building, they're minding their own business, they don't even really know what's going on. They never knew somebody traveled there with letters and there's letters coming back. But I'll tell you this, just to help you out a little bit, God knows. And that's really all that matters. Now in the copy of the King, verse 23, Now, when the copy of the King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rahun and Shemshi the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem under the Jews and made them cease by force and power. They physically stopped them from building the temple around the altar and doing what God had told them to do and even what Cyrus had allowed them to do. So we see the ceasing of the building was by force. Then ceased to work, verse 24, of the house of God, which is Jerusalem. If you're a believer, that's a sad statement. It ought to break your heart. They had just rejoiced at God. Although that temple wasn't like Solomon's temple, at least God has given them back a temple. And now they can no longer go forward in building. So it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. I want to remind you that the altar is still there. even though the temple is not finished, they worshiped and shouted and cried, they offered sacrifices, they acted like that building was already built. See how important that is now when they had to stop building it, that they could still act like it's already built because they believe that the God of the altar, the God of the temple is more real than the temple itself, amen? It's more important than anything. This world can try to stop us, but they can't stop real worship. Can't do it. They can lock the doors on this church. Can you imagine if I got here tonight, and I'm standing out there with my flashlight or something, and there's policemen out there, and we've been ordered by decree, by law, by the city of Simpsonville, by the county of Greenville. We can no longer worship here. And here's all these accusations. Here's all these things going on, all this language. It's in the Syrian tongue. We got to get a lawyer and figure it out the next day, but we can't go in this building and worship. But we know that our God is real. He's still on the throne, and he lives within our heart. We can go out there, even when there's a stump of an old oak tree, and gather around there and worship on that grass, even though the temple might not be accessible to us. I'm gonna tell you that's the foundation of the foundation still being there, the altar. We need to learn from this that no matter what happens in our country, in our lives, and what they deem legal and illegal, and no matter what they say about us, how bad and rebellious and how poisonous to society and us as believers are, you know that's an attitude that some people have. They'd rather have a transgendered woman teach our kids in the library and elementary school than me preach the word of God like I'm preaching today. So we know we're living in that time. I'm just glad to know that you can have all the legal papers you want. It can be all tidied up in the right language that they know is legal and matters. And every power and authority can say stop. We'll get into this next week. I want to get ahead of myself, but a prophet's going to rise up by the name of Haggai. He's going to do a little prophesying. It's going to stir Ezra and Zerubbabel up, and they're going to go back to building the temple. And y'all know the story. There was a Zerubbabel's temple. It did get built. Jerusalem was the city again. So God must've done something, he must've figured out a way. He always does, he always has, and he always will. All you can do is you know what to do is write unto God no matter what is said against you. You stand on the scriptures, the truth of the word of God, and you build. You build your family, you build your life for God, you help build the church, you do whatever you can. But listen, there's gonna be adversity, there's gonna be all kinds of accusations, there's gonna be so many things go against us, And even though it might look real clear on paper and very easy to understand, we just need to trust the Lord that the truth will make us free. Amen. Father, thank you for the power of the scriptures. Thank you for this story that is written here. Thank you, Lord, for just getting us excited about your word and getting us excited about a book like Ezra. What a mighty God we serve. Thank you, Lord, for making it fresh and exciting to me as a minister of the gospel to preach. I pray you'll help it, Lord, to be the same to our people. Help us, Lord, as we continue on in this book, in this study, to apply this to our personal lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.