7, verse 11, Ezra chapter 7, verse 11, the commission of the king. I sure am looking forward to this tonight and we're going to draw a lot of parallels out of here for our walk today, amen? Ezra chapter 7 verse 11. I hope I said that right. 7-11. You know the story, man. 7-11. The commission of the king. Let's get into our text tonight. It's the letter from Artaxerxes given to Ezra. It's his commission letter, his royal commission. And we're gonna make some parallels tonight, as I mentioned, but let's just read the chapter and then we'll come back and break down some of the points we wanna bring out of here tonight. Now this is the copy of the letter that the King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, and even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord. and of his statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, only if you knew, amen, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God of heaven, perfect peace and at such a time. I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand, and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priest offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem that thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs with their meat offerings and their drink offerings and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem and whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold that do after the will of your God. The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those delivered thou before the God of Jerusalem and whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasures which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of weed, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt, without prescribing how much. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? And we certify you that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, nephenims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them. And thou, Ezra, After the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river. All such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers. which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem and hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord. My God was upon me and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity tonight to open this passage of scripture. Father, we thank you for the record of history here. We know everything that is happening in this chapter is because of your hand, because of your sovereign hand, because of your work, because of your opening hearts and stirring hearts of kings and changing their hearts. Father, We thank you for Ezra, a faithful man of God. But we thank you even this King who gave a commission. Father, how it just opens the door for us tonight to see the commission from our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And help us to be reminded, Lord, of that commission from our King. And Father, how we see it through this passage. and help us to be faithful as Ezra was, and wisdom as he sought your wisdom and the Word of God and taught the truth. And Father, we just thank you so much for a great example we have in this book, and help us tonight, all of us, to be obedient to this pattern that is set forth. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. So this royal commission for Ezra to return to Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes, as we read here in the text, king of Persia, who now follows, what now follows is actually a copy. That's what we're reading. This is a copy of the letter. Verse 11. This is what the King presented to Ezra. This letter spells out exactly what Ezra was being commissioned to do. And it also serves as an outline, as I mentioned, before the message of the commission of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have some things we need to see here tonight, and we have some things we ought to do. Amen. Number one, we see authorization from the King. Verse 11. Authorization from the King. The king is giving this letter. Now, this is the copy of the letter that the king gave on Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes. This is the authorization. He was appointed by the king. He was authorized by the king to be a personal representative of the king. Amen. That's what this letter is spelling out. I think of the authority that he had, you know, he's taking this back. Think of the authority he's shown all these, the leaders on the, the local officials, he had to break out this letter, and they had to obey the letter, amen? So I think tonight of our king, do we realize tonight we have, we've been authorized and appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? Let's go to Matthew 28. Very simply tonight, a simple, He was commissioned. We are commissioned. We have a royal commission. We have authorization. Matthew 28, verses 18 and 19. Very familiar of the word of God, but how important it is, amen? How important it is tonight to see our commission, to renew our hearts to this purpose. It says in verse 18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power. This is God giving him all authority. Amen. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Praise God. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We have a commission here. Amen. We have all authority. Jesus Christ is giving us authority. He's given us this letter. Amen. The New Testament. And now he's giving us our marching orders to go. Let's go back to our text. We see not only authorization from the king, but we see qualifications from the king. Verse 12 qualifications. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God, of heaven. Perfect peace and at such a time. Listen, he's a priest. Ezra was a man qualified, amen? We see the qualifications of Ezra. But not only is he qualified, you think he was a priest, he was a scribe, and we know that he was a teaching priest. As we were going back over this last week in the first 10 verses, what a message. But here's a man. He's a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes. So here he is, a man giving out the word of God. He's a priest. He's a scribe of the law of God. Remember, he's talking about the God of heaven. He's talking about the sovereign God, amen, the sovereign Lord. So I want you to think of us. We're qualified to do this job. Aren't you thankful? When God calls us and saves us, He qualifies us. Amen. 1 Peter 2, 9, we'll jump over to the New Testament. Look at some verses over there. I like this parallel that we also are priests. If you go to Revelation chapter one, we're kings and priests. The Bible tells us. Amen. But here we see this calling. He says in 1 Peter 2, 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, amen, and a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now, why, brethren, let's not miss the purpose. We are qualified to do this, that we should show forth the praises of Him. Brethren, we are to show forth the praises. We're to be praising the Lord. We're to be exalting the Lord. We're to be thanking the Lord, talking about the Lord. Amen. Show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Brethren, there's a message to tell. He saved us. And now we have this qualification. But you know, It takes us to be good scribes of the law of God. You know, scribes, they had to diligently write the word of God. They had to understand every letter, every word. In fact, it says that he's a scribe of the commandments. I mean, he had to pay attention to every commandment of God and the statutes of God, amen? All of this is something we ought to be doing. Let's not lose sight of our qualification. This, 2 Timothy, go to 2 Timothy. Have we lost sight of that? Vision that the Lord has given us that Commission 2nd Timothy 2 15 will be in chapter 2 look at two verses Brethren, what are we to do? This is for you. This is for all of us to study to show thyself Approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Amen you have the responsibility we all have the responsibility to be in the Word of God and and to learn the Word of God and to teach the Word of God. You are called, you are qualified. Don't think, well, you know, I can't. No, you have to do it. Why? I'll go back to the gospel, to Matthew 28. What did your Savior tell you? He says, go ye therefore, ye is plural, is corporate, is the church. Go ye therefore and do what? Teach all nations. He's commanding us to go and teach. Don't think you're not qualified. You are qualified. Because he gave you that authority. He's given you that commission. And he's given you that qualification. Look at chapter 2, verse 2. And this is where we need not to fall down. Brethren, be faithful. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men. We have to be faithful, amen? If someone's gonna commit truth to us, if God's gonna allow us to be committed to truth, it's because we are faithful. And what are we faithful to do? We're gonna be teaching others also. Do you ever hear the saying, sit, soak, and sour? That's what many church members do. They sit, they soak it in, and they sour. Because you can't, if you don't give it out, you're gonna sour. It's like the Dead Sea. You take it in, but there's no outlet, and it becomes dead. Listen, we need to give we're commanded. We have a authorization. We have qualification. Amen. The sad thing is many of us are like these believers over here in Hebrews chapter five, Hebrews chapter five. What was wrong with them? What's exciting about going out on Saturdays, whether you go out Saturdays or Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I believe in, you know, church visitation because it's the body. It's we're following the commission of the Lord. Amen. And so it says in Hebrews five, very clearly says, verse twelve, five, twelve, for when For when, for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracle of God. And are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. But then he tells us why. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, but strong meat. Belongeth to them that are of full age. That's maturity. Amen? Even those, now look at this, who by reason of use. Do you see that? You have to use it or you lose it. Amen? For by reason of use have their senses exercised to both discern good and evil. Now one of the good things about going out on visitation and you talk to people and you start talking to people is that you are challenged by them because you have to have answers. And sometimes you don't know those answers. So you got to go back and study the word of God. You have to pray and seek God's face. Maybe seek counsel, read, you know, get some counsel in the past. What do you what do I study here? I need to go answer this person. This is what you says. This is how you grow. This is how you mature. This is God's process for us. Amen. So do we have the same vision authorization from the king qualifications from the king? And we see liberation from the king. Go back to our text liberation from the king. Verse number 13. Do you see what he's doing here? He says, I make a decree that all they see that of the people of Israel. All they, brethren, of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Isn't this amazing? The Jews were liberated. Amen. God did this. They had the privilege, they had the liberty now to leave Persia to go back to Jerusalem and Judah and rebuild the city walls. This is amazing, amen? We know that what was happening in all of this, thank the Lord, that God began to work, remember, with Cyrus, and then you had the first wave of the Jews going back, 50,000 of them, they returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel's leadership to rebuild the temple. Then in 458, we have Ezra here, authorized to lead a second group, about 1,500 men plus women and children to help restore the walls. and the gates and to bring spiritual renewal. Amen. He was a priest. He's a scribe. He's bringing spiritual renewal. Then we're going to see in the future in the book of Nehemiah 444, we have Nehemiah would arrive and finish the job of building the walls and hanging the gates. So do you see what God's doing? What he did in Exodus, amen, the picture of salvation, the Passover. Here we have again, they're being liberated, they're going back. They all have the freedom to go back and worship the Lord and serve the Lord. I think of our liberation, amen. We've been liberated. We are liberated. Go to Romans, a simple thought here, Romans chapter six. Verse 11 and 12. I hope you see that you've been liberated for a purpose. Amen. God has a purpose in your life. And you could, I could preach on this whole subject throughout the whole New Testament, but I hope you just see it right here. He says in to the Romans, he said this. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Brethren, we've been liberated from sin's power. And there's a purpose here. He goes on and explains it, but jump down. to verse 22, and I hope you see that in all this chapter, you can go back and study it, you're being made free for a purpose. It says, verse 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to God. Amen? You have your fruit and the holiness and the end everlasting life. Brethren, we have been saved. We've been liberated from sin to serve God. Let's get busy. So we see liberation. We see instructions from the king. Verse 14, go back to our text. Instructions from the king. What's the instruction? I like this. It's amazing, you know, how God can even use a pagan king, amen? He's telling him. He's commanding him. He's commissioning him to do this. He says, verse 14, for as much as thou art sent of the king, see, there's the authority, you're sent of the king. And of his seven counselors to inquire. What is this? Concerning Jude and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God, which is in thine hand. Brethren, The purpose of Ezra was to go back and to teach obedience. This is his purpose. Isn't this amazing? The King's telling him, go teach obedience. Look, jump down to 25 and 26, same chapter. Still the King saying, see it says in verse 24, we certify you, amen. Verse 25, and thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that in thine hand set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of thy King, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or banishment or confiscation of goods or to imprisonment. His job was to go and investigate. Look, are you being obedient? Are you doing God's laws? He's to teach the law of God. He's to enforce the law of God. Amen. Why? Because remember under Zerubbabel, what happened with the people? They got there, seemed like they were all excited. They had a little bit of difficulties. Remember that story? And then they got off track. They lost their purpose. They went out, Haggai the prophet. Remember, he had to come and rebuke them because they were off course. They're over there working on their own life and they're sealed, you know, they're luxurious houses and all this and that. And the work of the Lord was lying waste. They weren't doing the work of the Lord. They had their priorities. Remember, consider your ways. Brethren, God said, no, I'm sending you. This is the commission. You're to teach the law of God. You're to teach them to obey the law of God. And I want you to understand that has not changed. We're not here just to teach truth. We're here to obey truth. And all the purpose of teaching and the goal of teaching is not just knowledge, but obedience. God wants you to be obedient to the things that you hear. Remember what James says? He says, be not hearers only, but doers of the word. Amen. That's how you're going to be blessed. Remember that last week? Seems like it's a long time from Sunday to Sunday, man. A lot happens. But we heard a message about the word of God and the blessings of the Lord, amen, how to get the blessings of God on your life. And one of it is obedience, amen. And that's why he's going, he's saying, get the people on track, keep them on track. So his commission was obedience. What about us? We are to teach obedience. And there I was, probably nodding my head there and left the word out. Matthew 28, we are to be teaching obedience. Matthew 28, our Great Commission, let's not miss this, because a lot of times we miss it right in the Great Commission, verse 20. And here's how we read it. Most of the time, we may even quote it, teaching them all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Is that what it says? teaching them all things, teaching them to observe all things. That means to obey. Amen. Our goal of the Great Commission, our goal of preaching the gospel and discipleship and starting churches and sending missionaries all around the world isn't just to give knowledge, but for people to truly become disciples of the Lord and obey him. Amen. And brethren, He says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. We have a lot of commandments. I told you in the New Testament, we should be oriented to searching out the commandments and say, Lord, help me be obedient. Help me. I want to apply this to my life. That's the kind of studying we need to do in the word of God to apply it, to change and to grow. Amen. I think of what Jesus said. Well, let me just say this before I go on to this verse about what Jesus said about this. Really, Ezra was an example of obedience. And I think the greatest way to teach obedience is to show it, to be an example of obedience ourselves. It would be a lot easier for people to receive when they see it in our lives that we are actually obeying God, amen? And we're concerned about the word of God. So let's be an example just like Ezra. You know, he prepared his heart to seek the Lord. Amen. That's what we need to do all the time. John 14. 21, I like love this verse. And it really tells us. Again, about this blessing and and really what God's looking for, he says, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them. He has those words in, does he not? He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself unto him to him. Brethren, don't you want the presence of God in your life? And God working in a special way says, well, if you have my commandments, keep them. That's how you show. Remember the same verse go up to 1415. We know this verse. Well, if you love me, keep my commandment, says Jesus. Amen. Are you still awake? You can say amen every once in a while. Instructions of the king. We still have the same instructions of our king. Amen. But I like the rest of this chapter. Go back to Ezra. Compensation from the king. Amen. This is amazing. Of everything that the king provided for Ezra. Did you get into that list a little bit? Ezra was the man, he was blessed to have the oversight of all these gifts and treasures, the finances. This was all given for God's work, amen, for God's house and And not only that, he's as instructions when you get there, if you're lacking anything, here's what I'm going to, you have authority for this much, all this stuff I'm going to give you. And then if you have any more need, just come to the treasure of the king, you know, we'll get this sorted out. What a wonderful thing, brother, because we know our God is greater than this king and our king has much more. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and he owns the hills too. Amen. So it's all spelled out in this chapter. Verses 15 on, he says, I want you to carry the silver and the gold. Amen. Verse 16, and all the silver and gold that thou can't find in all the province of Babylon with the free will offering of the people. We need, you know, it's not just, okay, I'm going to give you all. No, the people need to get involved. We need to own it. That's why we are to tithe and give offerings. We're to own this work of God. Amen. We're to give our heart to it and our love to it. Verse 17, that thou mayest buy speedily with this money. Bullocks, rams, you know what he wants? I want you to pray for me, amen. I want you to sacrifice to God. See, whatever this motivation of the king is, his was selfish, right? But we know that God, the God of heaven, amen, received worship and glory and honor. When these people were right with God, they were truly worshiping the God of heaven. Verse 18, and whatsoever shall seem good to thee and thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, that do after the will of your God. You know, seek the will of God. Amen. Then he gives him, verse 19, the vessels for the service of the house of God. Amen. And verse 20, whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of the Lord, which thou shall have occasion to bestow, bestowed out of the king's treasure house. Amen. Blank check. And I, even I, Artaxerxes 21, the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river. This means all the local treasurers, you know, of the local localities over there near Jerusalem, I'm gonna, you're gonna give too. If they have any need, you're gonna give to this. Verses 22, and unto a hundred talents of silver. Wow. We're talking about 7,500 pounds of silver. I think I could use a little bit of that in my bank account, amen? 500 measures of wheat or bushels, amen? 100 measures of wheat, I'm sorry, or bushels of wheat, baths of wine. That's like 100 measures or 500 bushels. 100 baths of wine, 500 gallons. 100 baths of olive oil, 500 gallons. And an unlimited amount of salt. Amen, salt's good, see? Give them all the salt they need. And this is amazing, is it not? Look at all the blessing of God and how God touched these hearts. Of course, the king, he says in verse 23, And then he touches on this, which is a great principle found in the Word of God. He says, We certify you that touching any of the priests and Levite singers, porters, nephenims, ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll tribute custom upon them. No taxes for the ministers of God. Amen. And the work of God in the house of God. Amen. That's all throughout the Bible. So we see this wonderful, wonderful provision of God, the compensation there through this. But what about us, brethren? We are compensated. Go to Matthew 6. As touching this, think about what God can do in your life. Think about what God has done, amen? He says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Brethren, who is the owner of all these things? God. He said, I'm going to give you raiment, food and raiment, there would be content. And that raiment touches your house, you know, the roof over your head, your clothing and your food. Brethren, he says, I'm gonna bless you with this. Take care of my work, I'm gonna bless you with this. Look at Matthew 6, 20. Think of what you're getting, amen? He says, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, amen? Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, there is a principle. And this is so true. If you're generous and giving in the work of God and through the house of God, your heart is in the work of God. And most people, when they start, you know, saying, well, you know, I don't have to give your heart departs from the work of God. Be generous towards God. Listen, this is the word of God. This is takes faith. It takes obedience. You're laying up treasures in heaven. That's what God says. And when you get there, you're gonna be thankful you did all you could for the work of God with what God gave you. You're gonna be thankful on that day that you truly gave and sacrificed for the work of God, amen? Look at, I think of this life, go to Mark chapter 10. God, it's not only about, okay, treasures in heaven, rewards in heaven, yeah, thank God for that, but Mark chapter 10, verse 29, And Jesus answered, now Peter said this, verse 28, then Peter began to say to him, lo, we have left all and followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the gospel, but he shall receive a hundredfold, amen. Now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions, Just keep it straight, amen. It's not all gonna be easy. But in the world to come, eternal life, amen. Brethren, there's not only blessings and treasures laid up in heaven, but God's gonna bless you in this life. He's gonna provide all these things that he said when you dedicate unto him. I like what Paul says in the Corinthians, he says, our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Brethren, God's taking note of everything you do, whether anyone sees it or not, God sees it all. And it's not in vain. I think about, you know, we go out from Saturday to Saturday, and certainly, we would love to see a lot more, but it's always good to hear, you know, every once in a while, there's a good conversation, someone's interested, they want the Bible study, or they may even come to church. You know, we had expectations, maybe someone's gonna come today, but God does all that, brethren. What I'm saying is all those that walking and knocking the doors and taking the time out of your schedule, God sees it and it's not in vain. I think the greatest reward is when we hear our Lord say, as Lord said in him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, amen. So there is compensation, amen. But last of all, celebration. I like the last part of our text. Go to our text. 27 and 28, what happens here? If you notice, there's a change. Now we see first-person narrative. It's not so much Ezra, brethren, he's not praising the king, he's praising the Lord, amen? But we can praise our king because we know who the king of kings really is, amen? So he changes narrative. He's not, it's not the King speaking here. It's Ezra. He says verse 27, blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which have put such a thing as this in the King's heart. Amen. To beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem and have extended mercy unto me before the King. and his counselors and before all the mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me. And I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. So what does he do? He praises God. He recognizes, brethren, that whatever is done, it's because of God. He said God's the one who put he's not praising the king. He said God put it in the heart of this king. Amen. and the Lord had extended me mercy, and the hand of the Lord was upon me, and God strengthened me. Amen? He didn't take any credit for this. It was all the result, as we saw, the good hand of the Lord upon him. The good hand of his God was upon him. He assembled the chief men. He got busy. He gathered the people together, and he traveled to Jerusalem. Listen, brethren, we're going to praise the Lord, too. I think of this message, you know, when we arrive to heaven, we finally get to heaven. What are we going to do? We're going to praise the Lord for everything. We're going to look back at our life. We're going to say, man, look what God did here. And thank you, Lord, for this. Thank you for all these blessings. We're gonna be giving Him the glory because we know it's not us, it's Him, amen? It's the good hand of God upon us. In fact, we're gonna cast all of our crowns at Jesus' feet. We're gonna worship Him for all eternity. What a day that's gonna be, and I'm looking forward to that day. But brethren, we are commissioned. As Ezra was commissioned, we are commissioned. We are commissioned by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the true King of Kings. Amen. The true Lord of Lords to go into all the world and preach the gospel. One day he's coming back. We heard that today. We're going to give an account. Did we obey him or not? I ask you, are you obeying your king? Let us stand.