What To Do When You Suffer A Defeat
Category: Suffering, Trials & Burdens
Key Passage: Ezra 4
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 5, 2024
I do apologize. I can’t really get your seats from the inside, so they don’t run. I thought about taking it now. I said, no, we’ll be all right one way tonight.
That’s a UFO just landed outside there. Yeah, this car. That’s his car. That’s what it is. Babe, do you have a good pair of my glasses? This is—you don’t. Good deal. We’re going to be in the Book of Ezra here. We’re a little bit more casual than typical Wednesday night for sure. I think these are Brother Larry’s glasses. I’m going to see. That work. That’ll work. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.
Book of Ezra. We have been studying through the book on Wednesday nights, but I, of course, been gone so much. It’s been probably a month since we’ve been on it. So we’re just going to kind of get our wheels turning, get our minds refreshed a little bit, and then we’re going to try to leave the Lord to have us just focus on one thing a little bit tonight as we study the Book of Ezra.
If you know it, you don’t have to raise your hand; just say it out loud, kind of review here a little bit. Help me out if you don’t hold out, though, say it if you know.
Book of Ezra, it’s all about the rebuilding of the temple. Good, good, good, good. Remember, Nehemiah’s about the rebuilding of the wall, and then Ezra’s rebuilt the temple. And chapter 6:15 of both books talk about they were finished, very interesting.
Chronologically, if the Bible is just kind of written chronologically, it’d be right towards the end of the Old Testament, a little before Malachi. The book of Ezra really chronologically picks up right at the end of the children of Israel being in captivity for how many years? 70 years, right, right. Remember the 70 years’ captivity?
And God had said, “Hey, you’re going to be punished for 70 years,” and at the end of that, God had this—now Israel was still captives in Babylon—and God had this new king come on the throne of Persia, or who took over Babylon. Anybody remember him, that king’s name? Cyrus, right. Some are comparing Trump to Cyrus because President Trump has been very favorable to the Jewish people and to move the capital to Jerusalem. And Cyrus as one said, “Hey, I’m going to free you. You can go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.” In fact, some are calling on President Trump to rebuild the third temple, and we even have that coin. I think Brother Bruce pulled it up. You can buy one for 70 bucks. It’s got Cyrus on it and President Trump on the coin and whatnot. So anyway, very interesting.
Remember they were coming back. We’ve showed it on the map a couple times from Babylon all the way back to Jerusalem. Anybody remember as a crow flies straight across how many miles? I remember that? 500 miles. Yeah, good, good. Typically, we think everybody—nobody really debates that studied out—but we think they went kind of up around the Nile River, I believe it is, and that would be about 900 miles a trip. A lot of people just shy. Remember this number? Just shy of? Close, close. 50,000. Just shy. Just a little bit shy. 50,000. That’s good. I hadn’t looked at the notes. I wouldn’t know, brother, so I’ve checked. You’re doing great. Good.
Now, when we were kind of left off, they had started. Remember they had started the feast. Back was that kind of parallels. It was a little bit like our Thanksgiving, if you help remember what that was. They had started the rebuilding of it. And then the last—the last Wednesday night we studied this—they had opposition. And we’ll talk about any time you do something for God, there’s going to be opposition. Okay, just mark it down. And remember, they opposed them, and then eventually they wanted to join up with them. The devil’s always about that, trying to join him, the world and Christians together. We’re supposed to reach the world, love the world, but we don’t want to become like the world. And Satan always tries to do that. That’s what happened here.
And now we’re in Ezra 4. And we’re going to start in verse 6. Ezra 4, in verse number 6. And just briefly, we won’t be long tonight, but we want to talk about what to do when you suffer a defeat. What to do when you suffer a defeat? We’re going to start up here, verse number 6. Ezra 4.
Verse number six, if you would, would you stand if you’re able to, just out of respect to the Word of God as we read it together. Ezra 4, in verse number 6. We’re going to read a little bit more than usual, so stick with me through the reading, kind of keep your mind if you would, focus on what we’re reading.
“And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”
So Cyrus was not on the throne anymore. The next king was there, right?
“And in the days of Artaxerxes, wrote Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeal and the rest of their companions unto Artaxerxes, king of Persia: And the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem unto Artaxerxes the king in this wise: Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinates, and the Tarphelites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpalites, and the Arphaites, and the Archevites, and the Babylonians, and the Shushanchites, and the Dehavites, and the Elamites.”
And here’s the thing I do want to note. Brother Larry’s laughing at me, so try to read all those names. Here’s the thing I want you to know: they had a lot of enemies, had a lot of opposition. It wasn’t just one person going against them. All these people came back—they must have kind of organized a little bit—because they’re right back to the king, basically the same thing again: the people that are rebuilding the temple.
“And the rest of the nations, whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the river, and at such a time.”
In other words, the nations that were on the other side of the river there, Jerusalem, they didn’t like Israel coming in and building the temple. And so we’re all getting to writing this letter back to the king of Persia. Now, this is a copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king: “And thy servants that be on this side the river, and at such a time, be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and bad city, and have set up the walls thereof and joined the foundation. Be it known now unto the king, that if this city be built, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, so thou shalt endanger the revenue of the kings. Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king.”
They’re trying to look good to the king, in other words. “That search may 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 city is a rebellious city of kings, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause was this city destroyed. We certify the king, we certify the king, that if this city be built it again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side of the river.”
And let’s just stop. We’ll pray, and we’ll kind of explain a little bit and try to pull some truths out of it.
Would you pray with me? Lord, these people, they’d be faithful. Lord, it would be an easy night for people to miss church. You’d be asked going on, people working here and there, but they’re here. And, Lord, we sure would love for you to do something in our hearts. Grow us, encourage us, Father. Give us something tonight. These people are making time out of their schedule to be in your house and hear from your word. So, Lord, would you give us what we need? Feed us tonight from your word. Father, I’m asking for that in faith because I’m asking in Jesus’ name. I’m praying for that, Father. Well, thank you for it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
And so the enemies of Israel, the enemies of rebuilding the temple, they sent this letter back over to the king. Now, we’ll talk later on about several different kings that came over there in Persia. And they sent this letter, and they said, “Now look, this city has been rebellious.” And there is a partial truth to that. You remember specifically in the northern kingdom—excuse me, the southern kingdom also—that oh, they would not listen. And you remember Jeremiah said, “Hey, if you just listen to them, it would be all right.” They didn’t listen to them. That’s why they just eventually just crushed the city. So there’s some truth. Now, if he had studied a little bit farther in the records, he’d have found out that King Cyrus had said, “Hey, I’m going to let him rebuild the temple.” So that’s maybe a poor search, but some truth to that. But they found these records, and they said, “Well, it’s true. There’s been times that have been a very rebellious city.” So let’s see what happens.
Look down in verse number 21, chapter 4. You’re there. Look at verse number 21, and let’s find out what the king does. Verse number 21: “Give ye now 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, lest damage grow to the hurt of the king.” Bad news.
Can you imagine these people? 50,000 people traveled 900 miles. They had been 70 years in Babylon. They had their jobs established. They had their families. They left all that. They came all the way back over here to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, doing something for God. And now, bad news: You can’t rebuild it. You’ve got to stop.
By the way, notice what happens next. The enemies, man, they’re flushing in this. I mean, they’re like take off running to go tell the Jewish people: Stop building. Look at the next verse. Verse number 23 right there. Verse number 23: “Now when the copy of the king Artaxerxes’s letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem, to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.”
Most will think it’s about 15 years. Some will debate and say nine. Part will say around 15 years. Bad news. Defeat. I mean, defeat to the work of God, the building of the temple. Every angle you look at, that’s a defeat. Can you imagine how crushed they would be? We left home. We gave up our jobs. We’re trying to serve God. We’re trying to do right. Look what’s happened.
Just briefly: What to do when you suffer defeat? There are a couple of things, and we’ll be done for now.
Number one: Number one, by the way, you will suffer defeat. Even good, godly people are going to suffer defeat from time to time. You will.
Number one: Don’t doubt the will of God. It was still God’s will. In fact, God had already predicted, remember we studied out 150 years earlier, that they were going to be out of captivity. He had pronounced Cyrus, the one that was going to do it, allow him to do it, and they’re going to go back and rebuild the temple. That was God’s will. Just because of this defeat doesn’t mean what they’re trying to do is not God’s will.
So many, so many people: “Well, I’m trying to serve God, trying to go to church, trying to do…” And then you’re going to have a defeat here and forget church. Doesn’t work. Fully all reading my Bible every day. I’ve been trying to memorize Bible verses. Now this happens. Prayer doesn’t work. Why don’t waste my time in the prayer closet trying to sing? And you’re going to be tempted, and you’re going to have a defeat, and you can be tempted to say, “Well, it’s not God’s will.”
You try to witness to Uncle Joe or Aunt Susie, or here may be him, and boy, you’re burdened about it, and you’ve been praying about it, and you’ve been seeking and want them to get saved, and you go witness to him, and they’re going to get mad at you. And they’ll say, “I never want to talk to you about this again in my life. As long as I live, you better never bring this thing up.” And you go, “Well, that’s not God’s will.” No, it is God’s will for them to get saved. It is God’s will for us to witness. Now, we’ve got to be wise. You can’t force it on anybody. That’s God’s will. He’s not willing that any should perish. Now, they’ve got a choice in the matter. But I’m simply saying, you realize how many years Paul spent in jail? The last years of his life were spent in jail. He’s for—oh, they’re sitting in God to preach an apostle to the Gentiles. This really isn’t working out very good. It’d have been easy for him to have that attitude.
And we all have defeats from time to time. And you can be tempted to say, “Well, this isn’t God’s will.” You know, a lot of prophets in the Old Testament, almost all of the apostles were martyred. When you suffer defeat, that was going to be there. So, “Well, just give up on all of it. This serving God stuff doesn’t work anymore.”
And the devil, he’ll be there. They had a major defeat here. And can you imagine they’ve poured their life into that, and it wasn’t turning out like they thought?
So number one, what do you do when you suffer defeat? Don’t doubt the will of God. You say, “Well, it’s the thing that’s not a right or wrong. I don’t know God’s will.” That’s when the Holy Spirit comes in, and some wise counselors come in. And sometimes this principle comes in: Don’t undo—don’t doubt a decision made in faith. But you’re going to just automatically—your reaction is going to want to be, “Well, this isn’t working. This isn’t God’s will.” Often when you’re doing God’s will, there’s going to be attacks. You can’t always judge God’s will on whether there’s attack or not.
Number two, number two: Go along here. Realize defeat doesn’t mean destruction. You know, a fighter can lose a round but still win the fight. Often that’s a sign of a good fighter. You ever hear this term: saved by the bell? You know, there’s actually guys that’s been knocked out—I think a couple of them—but not down, at least, till the bell rings. And the count’s over. And in between rounds, they get up and kind of get the wits about them, and they come back and they have won the fight. And just because you’re knocked down doesn’t mean the fight’s over. Okay?
And the children of Israel, they’re knocked down. Look—look, here’s the thing. Very important what you do when you’re laying on the mat, if you will. Okay? And you’re going to be there. If you live long enough, you’ll breathe long enough, you’ll be there. Okay. Very important. When you’re laying down there, a couple things to do: Tell yourself, “By the grace of God, I’m going to get back up.” Now, I’m going to accept not what God has in my life, but I’m not going to be down here. Tell the devil, “Devil, I’m not going to wallow in this saying. I’m not going to stay down. I’m going to get back up.”
When you’re down there, here’s very important: When you’re down, you get knocked down, you get it—maybe whatever. I mean, a good man, and I was praying for him to get this, and he was applying for a position at his work, and I thought maybe he’d get it. I think he’s worthy of it, but he texted me this afternoon: didn’t get it. Messed up. He’s wanting that position. I want him to have it. And when that time comes…
Be careful because you’ll be prone to go to your comfort sin, your besetting sin. Whether it be—whether it be, you’re just prone to negativity, you’re going to be tempted to go back to that. Gossiping, whatever it may be. So many, so many people I’ve talked to: “Man, I quit smoking for months, and then such and such happened. Man, went back.” Whatever it may be. And when you get knocked down, you’re going to be so tempted to go back to your comfort sin, your besetting sin. Be careful.
Let me say this: Study yourself a little bit. Find out how best you can deal with defeats. I don’t know that I’m there. I’m trying to learn it. We were looking at buying that land over the—most of you know about the 50. Man, I was dreaming about that. I mean, I would ride by that property into the middle of my mouth, you know. I was—I was, I was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, man, I’d been looking at that thing for, oh, nine months, I don’t know. I mean, I—and we were just—we were just right at the time I was meeting with deacons about it: “Let’s proceed, let’s go forward on this thing,” whatnot. And well, I was kind of lying. I’m going to have a meeting here, meeting, business meeting, we’ll vote on it, and I had all, you know, I thought. And man, I got the news: somebody else has got it.
And I’ve teased several times and said I only got drunk, but it’s a defeat. And it bothered me. And I’m not—I don’t know exactly how I handled it, but I’ve learned myself. Usually for me, it’s good if I just kind of keep it to myself for a little bit. But not so I’d be a day or so. I didn’t tell anybody. Then after a day or so, I told my wife. And then maybe a day or so more, I told the deacons. And why? Because I was trying to handle it myself.
And I heard another preacher. He said, “I get really hit hard. He said, 'I’ve learned myself. He said, ‘I bleed for about three days.’ Then I get back up.” Now, I don’t know what it is for you and how, but learn the best. It’s good for me to have a little time for myself to process it a little bit. But don’t go in seclusion. Satan loves to work, loves to get you in a corner of darkness, just have you over the corner and just beat the snod out of you.
But learn what’s best for you. Study yourself and don’t go in pity party mode. Don’t go back to your comfort sin. And just say, “I’m down. It’s bothered me. I’m down. I’m going to get back up. I’m not going to be here forever. There’s going to be tomorrow, and I’m getting up.” And just—just defeats are going to come to the rest of Christians. They’re doing God’s will. They left their home. They’re doing what God wants, and yet defeat—and defeats do come. But what you’re doing at that time is very important.
Number one: Don’t doubt the will of God. Number two: Realize defeat doesn’t mean destruction. Number three: Don’t run from God’s will.
You know, they could say, “Well, we’re going to—we’re over here stuck over here. Man, there’s good business over in Babylon. It’s the capital of the world. You can make better money over there. Honey, let’s pack back. Let’s go back home.” I mean, we’ve been in Babylon for 70 years. A lot of them had been born, and so that in some ways would be home. “Well, let’s just go back home now. This thing’s not just turned out like I thought it would. Let’s just get out of here.”
It’s so easy. “Well, I thought my coworker would get saved, and I witnessed to him. Man, it just turned from bad to worse. I’m never going to witness to anybody ever again.” It’s easy to do that. Boy, how many people have done that. And Satan loves it.
You know, I still believe it’s God’s will for us to build a building. I don’t know all the details of it. I don’t understand all of it. I just believe that’s right, and we’re still looking to do that. It’s a sad thing when you see God’s people in a defeat. I think of a family, a good family, years ago, and two of their kids actually turned out—had some major issues. I raised them right. And I watched one of the mom that day drop out of church for a while. Now, praise the Lord, before it was all done, a little while later, they said, “What am I doing getting out of church? I’m going to get back in there.” When you suffer defeat, it’s an easy time just to leave the will of God. So many people do it.
Can I say this? Many defeats are only temporary. Can I say this? My first sermon on defeat—man, two feet and a half. I tell you what, I was looking for some hole to crawl in, and I didn’t want to see anybody for a while. Me, be a preacher. Stay in there. Follow God’s will.
I thought about Thomas Edison. You’ve heard it before, but just trying to invent the light bulb. And somebody said, “You failed 700 times.” And he said, “No, I’ve succeeded in finding 700 things that won’t work as a filament.” And he invented the light bulb. Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest presidents, what a strong foundation he was during our war inside our nation. Just an awful time. Great president. You realize he had lost eight elections? Man, he kept running—not just president, but the different election. He lost and he lost and he lost and he lost—eight elections. Wow. He had failed twice in business. I don’t sound like a flop in some ways. Some say he even suffered from a nervous breakdown. He became one of our greatest presidents. They just hang on. Defeats come. Well, that’s not the last chapter of the book.
Can you look ahead just in chapter 6? Answer chapter 6. We’re cheating a little bit. We’re not there in our Bible study, but we’re in defeat, but we’ve got to cheat a little bit tonight, you know. And look over in chapter 6, verse number 15. Chapter 6, verse number 15 over there. Chapter 6, verse number 15: “And this house—” They started building again. And here it is: “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which is in the sixth year of Darius the king.” They had the defeat, but a little while later on, they had a victory.
You’re going to have defeats. Very important what you do when defeats come. Praise the Lord that these people kept at it, stayed faithful. I don’t know if they started maybe rebuilding as quick as God wanted them to, but they eventually got back to it, and the temple was rebuilt.
What do you do during defeats? Let’s pray. And let’s just spend some time with the Lord. Dear Lord, thank you that in your word you showed us there, we do have defeats from time to time. Lord, thank you that even with the children of Israel you gave us their example. And then, Lord, even the end of this thing, you showed us that victory eventually came. Lord, help us, help me to be what ought to be during defeats. Father, I pray to grow stronger and grow in faith and please you, even when you allow defeats in our life. Lord, bless the people tonight. Bless our time together with you. And we’ll thank you. To pray. Amen.
Original File: What To Do When You Suffer A Defeat - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday 6-5-19