Finish
by Darrell W. Johns
February 5, 2023 · Atlanta West Pentecostal Church (Lithia Springs, GA)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Ezra 4:24, Ezra 6:15, Jeremiah 25:11, Jeremiah 29:10, Ezra 1:2-3, Ezra 3:11, Ezra 4:4-5, Ezra 4:21, Haggai 1:1-14, Ezra 5:5, Zechariah 4:9, Ezra 6:14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/darrell-w-johns--finish
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Ezra 4 24. that's the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius King of Persia turn a couple pages to Ezra chapter 6 verse 15. now the temple was finished everybody say finished on the third day of the month of Adar which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius I'd like to speak to you from the book of Ezra today and my subject is simply finish look at your neighbor if you don't mind and just tell them finish just say finish God bless you please be seated amen in just history there is a period called the Captivity of 70 years when the Jews from Judea the southern Kingdom were exiled to Babylon 70 years it started in about 597 BC 70 years of discipline by God for their negligence and Disobedience to his word God had commanded them every seven years I want you to let the land rest don't plow it don't plant it don't cultivate that ground let it rest but for 490 years they had disobeyed God and so the land needed its rest it needed its Sabbath the Lord told them that in your greed you've ignored this Divine principle 490 years and you're going to pay for it with 70 years of captivity now there were certainly other things that they had disobeyed Pagan practice his ungodliness that persisted in the Northern Kingdom of Israel a southern Kingdom of Judah and so the Lord told him in second chronicles the land is going to enjoy its Sabbath Jeremiah prophesied about this Chronicles referenced it but in Jeremiah 25 11 and this whole land shall be a desolation an astonishment and these nations Shall Serve the king of Babylon 70 years the deportation of the Jews was in three ways basically of Exiles that were removed from Judah into the land of Babylon nothing was going to cut short this 70 years of discipline that God had mandated them because of their Disobedience now there were some false prophets that got this big idea that they could they could change that they prophesied that it was only going to be two years but Jeremiah told them they were false prophets he called them out you cannot change the consequences for your decisions you've got to serve your time even with unintended consequences there is always the law of sowing and reaping and whatever you sow you will reap and sometimes while you're reaping what you sowed that was evil you can sow good but in the same way that Jeremiah prophesied about this 70 years of captivity he told them they would not be there forever that there would be a return in Jeremiah 29 and 10 Jeremiah prophesied for thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished in Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place now that's what God Said but how it happened is especially fascinating if you know the Bible and if you know politics I want you to look at this Liberation from Babylon there was a change in political leaders the Persians conquered the Babylonians Cyrus King of Persia conquered Babylon October 539 BC he became the king of Babylon which was a title that he was real really the king of the entire Earth all the Civilized World in 538 BC about a year later he drafted a proclamation it seems like it is out of nowhere there may be some political motivation but we know there's something even higher than that he makes a proclamation that allowed the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their Temple he let them all who wanted to go free he let him go free it's in his first year now he had been king of other territories for about 20 years this edict came because the Lord moved on his heart he told everybody it was a public announcement in Ezra chapter one and two thus saith King Cyrus King of Persia the Lord God Of Heaven had given me all the kingdoms of the earth and hath charged me king of the world really to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah this is an amazing thing that he wants a temple to be built to a God that he does not serve he asked the question who is there among you his God be with him let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel in parentheses he is the god which is in Jerusalem now Cyrus probably did not believe that Jehovah God was God of everything he knew he was that Israeli God that Jewish god but the Bible is plain that while Cyrus ruled on Earth God rules in the heavens and he rules in the Affairs of men Cyrus's edict also instructed all the neighbors of these Jews who would go back to help them out he told them give them silver and gold and livestock material Goods we're going to help fund the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and so the Bible says that their neighbors actually helped them they obey the king's decree and all those who lived around those who would return to Judah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem they encouraged them with articles of silver and gold and goods and livestock and precious things and and then Cyrus raised his hands and said I want to help with this also you see when Nebuchadnezzar ransacked Jerusalem in the temple they took all the articles of worship and service out of the temple they brought it back to Babylon and they put it in their storehouses what they didn't know is that they were really taking care of them for the Israelites for 70 years but now Cyrus says I'm going to give back everything we took away the temple was burned the City was destroyed those things would not have survived but now Cyrus contributes by giving all of that back you can read this in Ezra chapter one and seven dishes and pans and bowls and other articles things used for worship and this Edict of Cyrus sets in motion a series of events that allows the temple to be rebuilt after all these years of Exile the book of Ezra has many components but it primarily tells a story of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem Nehemiah which is a sequel which may have at one time been one book is more focused on the rebuild building of the walls in Ezra chapter 3 we learn about the rebuilding of the Altar and the laying of the foundation of the temple now it took a little while to get this project off the ground about a year to get the materials to get the plans to get the permissions and it had been 50 years since any sacrifice had been made there but in this altar that they rebuilt they sacrificed to the Lord they allowed laid the groundwork in this period of preparation that lasted for quite a while after they got back to Judah all of this was very important they had wood to get from Lebanon that would be shipped along the coastline from jopp or down to Joppa and then carried over land to Jerusalem and then after they got the Altar and after they got the foundation now if you've ever built or seen something built the found nation is not that beautiful it's really not that exciting nowadays it might be concrete then it was probably Stone but the Bible says when they got the foundation built that they had a big celebration and they gave thanks to God and they said for he is good for his Mercy endures forever and they shouted with the great shout and they praised the Lord because the foundations of the house of the Lord were laid I want to pause right now to tell you it is a good thing it is all right to celebrate a start now the end of a thing is better than the beginning but if you made some decisions to start doing better living for God you can stop and celebrate that brand new start maybe you made it back on January 1. you don't have to wait to the end of a thing to celebrate the beginning of a thing amen praise God they celebrated the start of the building of the Temple now there's something that was going on at the very same time there were some very old people that had seen the first temple in his perfection in his completion now it's really not fair to compare a foundation with the finished product but they did and some of these priests and Levites and family heads who had seen that they were very discouraged and the Bible says that they wept with the loud voice so simultaneously you have some people shouting you have other people weeping the noise can be heard for miles and miles away and no one can distinguish the the voices or the shout of Joy from the cries of Sorrow it was all happening at the same time there are some people that live in the past and the past will always be better than the present or the future and that's exactly what happened here and what I want to tell you about that is no matter how good the past is it is the past and we need to celebrate what God is doing right now and rejoice about the future that God has for his people amen about 16 years later the same thing happened haggai writes about this he said who who's among you that saw that first house in its first glory and how do you see it now this rebuilt Temple it did not have as much gold it was not as expensive billions and billions of dollars would be the value of solid and simple and haggai the preacher asked them the question is it now not in your eyes in comparison as like nothing you look at this new house compared to the old house but then haggai said to them the glory of this ladder house is going to be greater than the glory of the former house he said it is in this house that would later be like the rebuilt or renovated Temple of Herod that Jesus Christ would walk in that Temple what haggy I saw is that this built Temple when one day house the physical presence of God Almighty come in flesh when Jesus would walk in there amen so I have another word from you that the glory of the Latter-Day Revival will eclipse the glory of the early day Revival that God always Saves The Best For Last so if you're excited about the past I want to encourage you to get excited about the future because I believe the glory of the latterhouse will be greater than the glory of the former amen God has great things for his church in this end time amen you may say well sin is abounding in 2023 but the Bible says where sin does abound there does Grace much more abound and in the evening time there shall be light [Applause] hey I want to get on board with what God is doing right now in this generation [Applause] I feel the spirit of God right now wow like every good thing that God does this building was opposed they weren't just able to go work unimpeded or unhindered the enemies used two methods to try to keep this Temple from being built first they offered to help now you may not think that's negative but it's who wanted to help that was the problem they wanted to infiltrate and sidetracked this plan that God had in mind we need to be careful who we walk with because you can't walk together unless you agree the Bible said and we should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers and these people did not worship the same God so so under zaruba Bell the governing side and under jeshua the religious side they said no thank you we don't need your help first this Temple is our Temple and you don't worship Our God like we do and we don't want you to undermine our efforts by acting like you're on the same page with us and then they said we've got a right to carry this up this is our responsibility and we're going to do the building well that opposition didn't work so they tried a second thing they tried to scare them they threatened their lives they hired counselors to try to frustrate their purpose Ezra 4 4 and 5 says and they tried to discourage the workers and make them afraid and so now they started this policy of harassment and it continued all the way through the reign of Cyrus until the reign of dairy is who they'll Reign Persia and reign in Persia later now it was not enough that they would oppose them but then they started appealing to the king they wrote let letters of opposition to try to stop the work of the temple and they told them if you let these people build this Temple you're really going to run into problems they're causing some political pushback and costly delays in rebuilding but then because they got the king a little worried they said these are rebellious people if you let them build they're going to get strong they're going to rebel against you they're not going to pay taxes to you you're going to regret this decision so in Ezra 421 the king said stop cease and desist the King James just says cease don't build another block until I give you a command so instantly the decree of Cyrus the return of the builders the building of the altar the laying of the foundation the progress that has been made is suddenly stopped dead Ezra 4 24 thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius King of Persia we are now at a standstill the work is suspended nobody can do a thing for about 15 years nothing happened at the construction site you can imagine how this felt it was 18 years since they had first gotten back 15 years nothing's happening have you ever seen an unfinished building project a house that was halfway built never finished never painted I remember seeing a building a large building that never finished Jesus spoke about not getting started and not having enough to finish you need to count the cost before you build a building so here is this eyesore in Jerusalem 15 years they're walking around an unfinished product they cannot do anything to advance the building of the temple in Jerusalem sideline and I feel that that what happened to them and you'll see this in the preaching of haggai is that they now diverted their attention away from the work of God to their own personal business morale is low in the church balls are half finished nothing we can do the emperor shut this project down so let's just go ahead and focus on something else but God was in this project and he brought two prophets haggai and Zachariah to prophesy and revive the will of the people to build haggy I only prophesied for about five months Zechariah for about two years agai kind of got in their face a little bit and he preached to them to get them to rethink the priorities of their lives now Ezra tells us about the political opposition but haggai drills down to an underlying issue for the length of time this this project is not moved forward haggy I one and one New Living Translation on August 29th the second year of King darius's reign the lord gave a message through the prophet haggai to zaruba Bale son of sheiltel governor of Judah and to Joshua or jeshua the son of jehoshadak the high priest this is what the lord of Heaven's Army says the people are saying the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord it's been 15 years that they started building but now they've decided that it's not time to do this we need a way then the Lord sent this message through the prophet haggai he said why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in Ruins this is what the Lord says here's what's happening to you haggy I preached you've planted much but you harvest a little you eat but you're not satisfied you drink but you're still thirsty you put on clothes but you can't keep warm your wages are disappearing as though you're putting it in Pockets that are filled with holes this is what the Lord is saying this is what's happening to you now go up in the hills and bring down Timber and rebuild my house and I will take pleasure in it and be honored says the Lord he now preaches to them again you hope for Rich Harvest but they were poor you brought your Harvest home but I blew it away why because my house lies in Ruins says the Lord of Heaven's armies well all of you are busy busy building your own fine houses it is because of you the Lord says that the heavens we're told to do and the Earth produces no crops the Lord said I have called for a drought on your fields and Hills a drought to wither the Grain and grapes and all of trees and all of your other crops age drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get Dan to Ruth's Aruba Bell and jeshua and the whole remnant of the people began to obey the message from the Lord when they heard the words of the Prophet haggai whom the Lord had sent and the people feared the Lord and the Lord told them I am with you so the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of jerubbabel and the enthusiasm of jesua and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God's people and they begin to work again on the house of the Lord here's what I want to say to all of us we have many committed people in this church faithful people but we have to be careful that we don't determine God's time frame amen and say it's not time for this to happen or that to happen when we divert our attention away from seeking the kingdom of God first and we focus on our stuff first God will not bless it but when we seek first the kingdom of God and our busy building the kingdom of God then God will bless the work of our hands in every area of Our Lives so under the Civil leadership of zerubbabel and the spiritual leadership of jesua they started building again they repented they got back on track they didn't neglect or abandon their families but they began to focus on the reason they had returned to Judah they had gone back from Babylon to build this house and for 15 years nothing happened and it was not just about the political resistance according to the preaching of haggai so they start building again and everything was smooth sailing after that no more resistance another attempt was made the local leaders a guy named tetany I he's the governor of that region he comes and speaks to them and he asked him who told you you could build this where's your building permit from the emperor he was commanded you to build this Temple and finish this wall he tried to stop their progress but the Bible says Ezra 5 and 5 but the eye of their God was upon the elders I want you to watch key statements here the eye of God was on them later in Ezra chapter 8 the Bible said the good hand of God was on them God's eye was on them God's hand was on them God's eye that guides and God's hand that provides and if God is looking in favor with what you're doing and if God provides what you need to build there is nothing that can stop what God has determined to be done the eye of God guiding and the Hand of the Lord providing and with that the building was resumed through Zachariah the prophet the Lord spoke to zerubbabel to strengthen his hands and encourage him the hands of zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall also finish it and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you so God is working on the spiritual he's working on the people and he's working in the politics Cyrus in Ezra chapter 6 issues a decree concerning the house of God he says let this house be rebuilt and he gives three components of this decree that he issues first of all he says let this work alone in other words everybody tetany I and all of you guys over there that are trying to stop this get out of their way and leave them alone and let them build this house that's the first thing he said the second thing he said was on top of that I want you to give them some tax money I want you to take some money out of the coffers of your local government to help fund the building of this Temple I want you to give them animal sacrifices I want you to give them flour and wheat and salt and oil and wine and drink offerings I want you to fund the worship of Jehovah God in the temple and the Pagan King Cyrus wrote that and then he said a third thing anybody who opposes this Temple is going to die that's pretty strong he said you're going to be impaled on a beam taken from your own house and your whole house is going to be demolished in other words if you're for God put God first and get to work if you're against God get out of the way give some tax money or else you're gonna die Ezra 6 14. oh so the Elders of the Jews built they prospered through the prophesying of haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ido and they built and finished it according to the Commandment of the god of Israel and according to the command of Cyrus Darius and artist Xerxes Kings Kings of Persia verse 15. now the temple was finished on the third day of the month Adar which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius according to the Bible knowledge commentary it was 21 years after they had first gotten started it was four years after haggai began prophesying in Zachariah it was 70 years after the temple had been destroyed that it was rebuilt I want to tell you that was not time to let God's work be undone it is time for everyone to roll up their sleeves and go to work and do what God has called us to do there will always be opposition to anything that God does but God will use everything that is against us no weapon formed against us shall prosper but God will turn it around for good God will take what is meant for evil and he will turn it out for good you cannot stop what God has ordained but I've not really come today to preach about a building program I've come to preach today about the building program of your life the Bible gives clear instructions how to build a life there's a firm foundation of hearing and doing what the Bible says and if you're disobedient to God's word your life will end up like a shack with no Foundation that will end up in shambles but if you build your life on the word of God it will withstand the storms of life yes you can expect delays and yes you can expect opposition Satan despises your relationship with God he despises the decisions that you made to True close to God and build your life up into a holy Temple unto God Satan wants to make you think and feel that it will stop forever but I have come today in the first Sunday of February to tell you get Dr work building your ministry building your life building your family building your walk with God I have come today in the spirit of haggai and Zachariah to encourage you and strengthen you and tell you you can do this and no one can stop you amen keep on praying get back to fasting dig back in the word of God things may have been like a setback to you but God will use it if he will not give up the Solomon said this I know and God is for me God is it working you both to will to give you the desire and to do his good pleasure and God will perform or finish what he started in your life so today I want to encourage you to not let anything Sidetrack you don't let the building of your walk with God be put on hold be put on pause don't think that God is not going to use you and then you distract yourself and try to build your own kingdom or your own house if you will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness God will add all these other things unto you he wants to bless your life and your family and your business if you will put him first but let's put God's kingdom first let's build the house of God and watch god build our house amen let's thank the Lord right now that we can do this we can finish this