Ezra 7:10

0:00 Have you ever heard of the GOMAD challenge? That's G-O-M-A-D. That's GOMAD. GOMAD is an acronym for gallon of milk a day. This is a challenge to drink an entire gallon of milk every single day. And it's weightlifters that will take on this challenge and devote themselves to this for bulking season. So I've actually known guys who will literally be carrying around a gallon of milk all day long and finishing off a whole warm gallon of milk at nearly midnight.

0:39 So the theory is that they can put on tons of weight in a very short span of time, and it works. They can put up to 20 pounds in a single month. I mean, after all, they're drinking nearly 2,000 extra calories of milk per day. It's an absolutely absurd challenge, but they're so set from their hearts to putting on weight that they're just willing to do whatever it takes. Isn't it crazy how wildly devoted people can get to things? I mean, as Christians, we should be wildly devoted to God. But should our devotion to God look so extreme? Or can wild devotion from the heart look more normal and more routine? The main question tonight that I want to answer from our text is, what does devotion to our God look like? What does devotion to our God

1:39 look like? We find the answer in Ezra chapter 7 verse 10. Ezra chapter 7 verse 10. You can find the text actually on the front of your bulletin or in one of the pew bibles provided on page 393. That's on page 393. Ezra chapter 7 verse 10. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Our text provides three actions of what devotion to our God looks like and they actually build off of one another. It looks like studying God's word, obeying God's word, and teaching God's word. These three actions, studying, obeying, and teaching, can be thought of with the acronym SOT, study, obey, teach. SOT can also mean that it's the same old thing. These are

2:41 the same old things of Christian discipline. They're simple and routine, and you'll actually hear them all throughout your life, especially tonight. So what does devotion to our God look like? Well, first it looks like studying God's Word. Studying God's Word. Ezra is the leader of the Israelites who have returned from exile up to this point in biblical history. And elsewhere in the book, we actually find out that Ezra is a priest and a scribe. So as a priest, he would mediate between God and his people by offering sacrifices. And as a scribe, he spent most of his life copying God's word. But central to both of his jobs was studying God's word. But I wonder if you noticed the idea and that thought that comes before the word study. So look with me real quick at the beginning of the verse. For Ezra had set his heart. So before Ezra does anything, he sets

3:44 his heart. But what does that mean? I think what it means is that he's seriously committed, that he's wholeheartedly devoted to God's word. And so he devotes himself to the study of it. That word study communicates the idea of a long and careful investigation. It takes time and thoroughness. So Ezra's determined to study fully and understand fully what God's word says. And this is a good example for all of us. And it makes sense. If Ezra wants to lead God's people well, he must study God's word well. And that's still true today of God's leaders. God's leaders today are elders of local churches. Elders must take long and careful time to investigate and understand God's word. And so we should be encouraged here at Third Avenue that our elders are devoted to this.

4:37 But Third Avenue, we should pray for our elders that they would find time, that they would be provided time to study God's word during the week. I mean, the week moves so fast from Sunday. So here's just something practical. Pray for your elders tomorrow morning, that they would be provided time to be in God's word. Or even pray for them on Friday, because Sunday is quickly approaching. But it's not just God's leaders who need to study God's word. You and I need to as well. But the elephant in the room is that many of us feel pressed for time.

5:12 And maybe not even just pressed, we legitimately don't have a lot of time. From working 12-hour shifts to provide for our families, to running around the kids to every last sporting event all evening, to even cramming for finals that are coming up. We just simply feel like we don't have enough time. But I just want to challenge you. Devotion to God shows itself first in the tangible way of studying his word. And devotion without action actually isn't devotion at all. It's fake.

5:44 So let me encourage you to build the routine of being in God's word. And I know that, like I said, we're pressed for time. So even if it's just the simple practice of setting a timer for five minutes in the morning when you wake up, get in God's word. or during your lunch break for five minutes, listen to God's word on your AirPods. Devotion isn't crazy, it's just consistent. And when you build the habit of study, you actually gain knowledge of God and his demands of his people.

6:18 Knowledge of God's word isn't actually the finish line. True devotion to God's word naturally moves from studying God's word to obeying. So devotion to studying God's word leads to obeying God's word. Obeying God's word. And that's actually the next action you'll see in our text. So if you look down with me, for Ezra has set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it. Ezra didn't just absorb knowledge of God's word.

6:50 He obeyed it. And if you read the rest of this book, you'll actually know that this is where everything went wrong for God's people. they were studying his word. They just weren't doing it. So to do it in this verse means to do it. It's that simple. And I think parenting actually helpfully captures this well. When I was a kid, when my parents instructed me to obey, I was expected to obey then and there. But what often happened was either delayed obedience or half-hearted obedience. I think these are the two traps that we still fall in today as Christians. So we'll delay and put off what God has already commanded of us because it doesn't fit with our calendar. It's inconvenient. Or we'll do the right action but with a defiant heart and pretend that God doesn't care about that. He just cares about the external obedience. But guys, true obedience for the Christian is immediate and delightful

7:54 submission. We're in an area that accumulates so much biblical knowledge. But God isn't after making you some literary genius. He's not after making you nerdy. He's after making you godly. And what that looks like is you obeying God's word. So here's a simple question to think about this week. Are there parts of God's word that you're mentally cutting out in avoiding to obey.

8:25 So much so that if it was your way, that command from God's word just wouldn't have made it in. Christians, you need to work to delight in obeying God's word. Now, there's one more piece we can't miss to Ezra's devotion. A heart set on God's word doesn't just stop at personal study and personal obedience. It actually moves outward into the lives of others through teaching. So, devotion to God moves and builds towards teaching God's word.

8:59 Teaching God's word. Ezra was devoted to teaching God's word publicly. Ezra's public teaching is like, you can think of, like the visible part of an iceberg. But the real huge and unseen part of the iceberg was his personal study and his personal obedience. So without either of these, he actually wouldn't have been qualified to teach God's word publicly. So here's just two quick thoughts for everybody to reflect on. But first, if you aspire to teach God's word publicly, but you aren't devoted to spending long hours studying it, you actually have no business teaching God's word for a future vocation.

9:44 The reason for this is because if you ignore this, you'll actually end up in a ditch of teaching things that aren't in God's word because you just don't know it. But here's the second ditch. If you aspire to teach God's word publicly, but you fail to obey God's word regularly or are never thinking of conscious ways for you to obey his word, you also have no business one day trying to teach God's word publicly. Because what you're going to do is you're going to challenge your congregation Because what you're going to do is you're never going to challenge your congregation rightly with God's word because you yourself are never challenged by it.

10:20 But if you look down at our verse, it says that Ezra sought to teach God's statutes and rules. This phrase is trying to communicate the idea that Ezra was teaching the entirety of God's word, even the hardest parts. So this is a clear example to us in God's word from thousands of years ago of expository preaching. He was working through God's word every time he taught publicly. And just one reason that expositional preaching is so helpful is that it brings us face-to-face with the most challenging parts of God's word.

10:56 Our elders here are committed to that same practice week in and week out. So if you aspire to one day preach vocationally, I think you should commit now to the regular practice of expositional preaching. That's the basic mark of leading God's people well. But for other members of Third Avenue, many of you are actually going to one day move on from here and eventually move to new cities, which means you're going to need to join a new church. So let me challenge you, for your own spiritual good, that you ought to join a church that preaches expositionally.

11:32 So before you move one day, I would challenge you to make that commitment even now to join a church that preaches expositionally through the Bible. but of course none of us not even ezra are perfect in our devotion to god if each of us actually really examine our lives we know that we don't actually give enough time to studying god's word we're constantly disobedient and sometimes we even punt on teaching god's word and challenging one another with it so for my non-christian friend in the room you need to know that there's simply only one teacher of God's people who's fulfilled this verse perfectly, and that's the God-man Jesus Christ. Jesus was perfectly devoted to his father, and this devotion worked itself out in his studying and knowledge that he was the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament, that he would be the chief substitute for his people's sin. And he did the next step of even,

12:32 that's even harder, of obeying God's word, even to the point of death. And he defeated sin in death. So my non-Christian friend, that's the gospel, and you need to believe that. So don't be confused tonight. Don't walk away from here thinking that the way you're going to stand before God is by submitting your time spent in God's word, or by the effort you put into trying to obey God's word, or even how many people you sought to teach. No, the only way you're going to stand before God is by having his perfect life and his substitutionary death credited to you.

13:10 That's the only way. You just can't stand before God by any of your own merit. Salvation only comes through trusting what God says that he's accomplished in his word. So don't rely on any of your efforts for your salvation, but trust in the salvific effort of another, of Jesus's. Christians, this text gave you the blueprint of what it looks like for God's leaders or our elders to be devoted to him.

13:45 And our elders really do model that well for us. But it also gave you the blueprint for yourself. So what does devotion to our God look like? It looks like studying, obeying, and teaching his word. That's the SOT. It's hard work, but it's been the same old thing for Christians for thousands of years. So, brothers and sisters, persist in this. Practice these things until Christ returns or he calls you home. Let's pray. Father God, we praise you that your word is clear and that it actually sets out real ways for us to practice our devotion to you.

14:28 We also praise you for the good gift of our elders who are faithful to your word. So as we turn down to the supper, we ask that we would understand clearly what the supper is, how we can obey this ordinance, and how we can teach others likewise. It's in Christ's name and by his merit that we have come before your throne. Amen.