The book of Ezra is often overlooked because it contains genealogies, lists of names, the manifest of temple items the Israelites took back to Jerusalem with them and descriptions of rebuilding the temple. Yet beneath those details are some remarkably practical lessons for Christians today.
Our text this morning is based on the book of Ezra, specifically chapter 7 and verse 10, where we read:
"10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and rules in Israel."
Ezra 7:10
This may very well be the greatest single verse in the book of Ezra.
Our scripture in Ezra calls people to action. He doesn’t leave the listener or reader asking “What did Ezra do?” Instead it leaves us asking “Am I preparing my own heart?” Ezra emphasizes respect for God's authority, spiritual renewal, and faithful obedience.
Of all the themes in Ezra, one stands above the rest as especially powerful because it is timeless, practical, and deeply personal:
God does extraordinary things through people who first prepare their hearts.
This verse gives us four deliberate steps that transformed an entire nation. It also provides a blueprint for every faithful Christian today. And that is: Prepare, Seek, Live (obediently that is), Teach
Introduction
Every successful endeavor requires preparation.
• A farmer prepares the soil by tilling it and planning for a weather window before planting.
• An athlete constantly prepares before a big game or championship by running through plays and practicing them on the field.
• A musician practices endlessly before performing.
• A pilot prepares by going through a whole checklist before even moving the plane away from the gate.
• A bride and groom spend months preparing for a wedding.
Preparation always precedes accomplishment, and the same is true spiritually.
Far too often, we want God's blessings but we want them without preparing ourselves to receive them.
• We want strong faith without studying.
• We want close families without investing in them.
• We want vibrant churches without personal
commitment. OR
• We might want heaven without daily discipleship. We
see that prevalent in the world today don’t we.
Ezra understood something we often forget:
God works through prepared people.
Notice the wording carefully in our text.
The Bible does not say God prepared Ezra's heart. It says Ezra prepared his own heart. The Hebrew word here is “he-kin” and translated it means prepared (or set) carries the idea of making something firm, establishing it, making it steadfast or fixed.
Ezra didn't merely decide one morning to study Scripture.
He deliberately settled the issue beforehand.
His heart was already committed before God ever asked anything of him.
That doesn't diminish God's grace. Rather, it highlights our human responsibility. God calls us to respond willingly, to cultivate receptive hearts, and to cooperate with His will.
To accomplish this we must -
I. Prepare Our Heart to Seek God
(NIV) “10a For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord…”
Seeking God is intentional.
No one accidentally becomes spiritually mature.
No one accidentally develops a deep prayer life.
No one accidentally knows Scripture.
It requires effort. Jesus said:
"33 Seek first the kingdom of God..."
Matthew 6:33
Jeremiah wrote:
"13 You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:13
Notice how Ezra didn't merely possess God's Word. It wasn’t just given to him. He sought it.
Many people own multiple Bibles. I know I do. I have a whole bookcase of Bibles. Family Bibles, a Spanish language Bible, several different versions of the Bible, including a parallel Bible that has four different versions side by side. Having all those Bibles is fine even if I don’t ever open them, as long as I have at least one Bible that I do open and study from.
The problem though is so few even bother to open one or even truly search them. And there is no excuse for that in today’s world. Most of us have the Bible on our phones. We have Google, Perplexity and a whole host of other apps on our computers and our phones with which we can use to do research on Bible subjects. Even some documentary TV shows can be helpful. I love history and I enjoy watching shows about archeology that can in turn enlighten me on how the people of Bible times lived and knowing such things can add depth to the stories of the Bible.
Don’t get me wrong, the Bible is the final word. But having tools like concordances or computers and phone apps or websites that we can go to is a real blessing. Such as seeking out the Hebrew or Greek words the Bible was written in and learning their etymology, or the study of those words and their use, in the original context of a scripture and that can often give a fuller picture of what the writers are saying.
The point is – we have tools to use, principally the Bible, and if we don’t open it and study God’s Word then that Bible on the shelf is just decoration.
Imagine someone buys the finest set of woodworking tools available. They proudly display them on the wall of their shop. Friends come over and admire them. But years pass, and the tools remain spotless because they are never used. Owning the tools never produces a table or a chair or some wonderfully useful piece of woodwork.
The Bible can become like that beautiful tool collection—present in our homes, even admired, but unopened except on Sundays.
Ezra refused to let God's Word become a decoration. He searched it because he knew it was meant to shape his life.
Ask yourself:
Do I hunger for Scripture?
Do I schedule time with God?
Am I seeking Him—or merely fitting Him into whatever time remains at the end of the day?
II. Prepare Your Heart to Obey
Preparation. This is where many people stop.
(KJV) "10b ...Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it..."
Ezra 7:10b
Knowledge alone never impresses God.
James says:
(NIV) "22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
James 1:22
Again, “Just Do It!”
The Pharisees knew Scripture, probably much better than we do today. The devil… THE DEVIL quoted Scripture. But what did it change in the Pharisees or in Satan?
Absolutely nothing. You see, knowledge without obedience changes nothing. I could know all there is to know about open heart surgery, but that knowledge is pretty much useless unless I put it into practice.
Imagine visiting a doctor because your blood pressure is dangerously high. He prescribes medicine, exercise, and dietary changes. You thank him, frame his directions and hang it on your refrigerator, and tell everyone what an excellent doctor you have.
Six months later, nothing has changed because you never followed the prescription.
The problem was never the doctor's wisdom. It was the patient's unwillingness to act.
But how do we prepare our heart? Well first we must remove the things that compete for our attention, our loyalties.
When Israel returned from Babylon, they were faced with many distractions. Houses had to be built, businesses needed to be established, fields needed planting, and let’s not forget they still had enemies in the area which they had to be on the lookout for.
A distracted heart cannot fully seek God. Jesus tells us this too doesn’t he. In Matthew 6:21
“21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21
Preparing our heart means we have to make a very important decision. We must decide what deserves first place. Where are our priorities?
God's Word is not merely information to admire. It is instruction to obey.
How can we as Christians apply this to our lives. Well, we could ask If there is something I already know God wants me to change?
Have I substituted Bible knowledge for Bible obedience?
What truth have I postponed putting into practice?
Secondly we must work to cultivate a spiritual hunger. People do not accidentally become hungry for God. Spiritual hunger has to be cultivated.
“1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Psalm 42:1
David didn’t merely know about God. He longed for Him. We must prepare our hearts to know God intentionally and that involves feeding that appetite for Jehovah by prayer, worship, meditation and reading and studying scripture.
Thirdly we absolutely must eliminate hidden sin. You know a dirty window still lets some light in, but a clean window lets in so much more.
A few lessons ago we talked about David’s plea to God to
“10 Create in me a clean heart, O God…”
Psalm 51:10
David didn’t merely pray ask for forgiveness, he asked for transformation. Preparation requires of us an honest self-examination.
III. Prepare Your Heart to Teach
Let’s look at the latter part of verse 10 now:
(NIV) "10c ...and to teach its decrees and laws in Israel."
Ezra 7:10c
Notice the order, the progression which Ezra took.
Prepare.
Seek.
Do.
Then teach.
Too often people reverse the order. Teaching carries enormous responsibility. I can tell you with certainty that is true because I feel the weight of that responsibility as I prepare my sermons and especially when I am here in front of you delivering it.
Paul told Timothy:
(NIV) "16a Watch your life and doctrine closely…"
1 Timothy 4:16a
People learn more from our example than our words.
Children rarely remember every lecture their parents gave. But they remember what they saw.
If Dad says honesty matters but lies whenever it is convenient, the lesson is clear.
If Mom speaks about kindness but constantly criticizes others, her example speaks louder than her instruction.
How many times I have heard the phrase “Do as I say, not as I do.” You know my dad was a great man in my eyes, but he had one principle failing – he was a smoker. I cannot tell you the number of times he, and my mom, told me to never smoke. But when I got out of college and out on my own what did I do? That’s right, one of the stupidest things a person can do – I started smoking. Now I only smoked for about five years and then I quit cold turkey and never picked one up again. But I still miss it every day.
Now if my dad had not been a smoker I wonder if I would have ever picked that habit up in the first place. But I’ll never know.
But you know, Ezra's credibility came because he lived what he taught. Or as we were prone to say when I was growing up – He walked the walk and talked the talk. He lived the example he wanted others to follow.
Parents teach.
Grandparents teach.
Bible class teachers teach.
Elders and Preachers teach.
Friends teach.
Whether intentionally or not, every Christian is teaching someone by the way they live.
IV. Preparation Must Come First
Something fascinating about Ezra often goes unnoticed. Ezra wasn't chosen because he held an impressive title.
He became influential because of who he already was.
God entrusted him with greater responsibility because his heart had already been prepared. Throughout Scripture, we can see this pattern repeating
Noah prepared.
Joseph prepared.
Moses prepared.
David prepared.
The apostles prepared.
Preparation preceded their influence, just as our preparation precedes our influence.
If you go to hear an orchestra but they don’t tune their instruments until after the concert begins. That would be kind of silly wouldn’t it. Their preparation happens beforehand.
The quality of the performance depends on the unseen work done before anyone enters the auditorium.
In the same way, the strength of our Christian life is determined by what happens in private long before others see us.
V. A Prepared Heart Blesses Others
Ezra's personal preparation affected an entire nation.
Because one man sought God... people learned. Worship was restored, repentance occurred and the nation changed.
One prepared heart can influence generations.
Biblical Examples
Abraham prepared.
Joshua prepared.
Timothy prepared.
Lydia prepared.
The apostles prepared.
History often changes because one person decided to take God seriously.
Take a small stone. Drop it into a still pond. The stone disappears almost immediately, but the ripples continue outward far beyond the point of impact.
Our choices are much the same.
A parent's quiet faithfulness may ripple into children, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn.
A Sunday school teacher's patient instruction may shape someone who later leads countless souls to Christ.
A single prepared heart can create ripples that only eternity will fully reveal.
Conclusion
Everything in Ezra 7:10 builds toward one simple truth:
God uses prepared hearts.
Notice the progression one final time:
Prepare your heart.
Seek God's Word.
Live God's Word.
Teach God's Word.
That pattern has never changed.
As Christians we need to follow in the example Ezra set down for us. He is remembered not because he was brilliant, but because his heart was prepared.
The greatest obstacle to knowing God is rarely a lack of information. It is an unprepared heart, and when we prepare our heart then Jehovah’s word finds fertile soil. And when His word finds that fertile soil, obedience becomes natural and in turn our influence on others will follow.
That is Ezra’s pattern. It is not simply a model for preachers or teachers – it is the pattern for every Chrisitian.
The wise writer of Proverbs wrote:
“23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23
Everything in the Christian life flows from the condition of our heart. Right doctrine begins with the right heart. You know we rightly emphasize turning to the authority of God’s word, but Ezra also reminds us that God’s truth is most powerfully received when the reader comes to scripture with humility, a determination to obey and a willingness to let the Word of God change them.
Maybe you've allowed business to crowd out Scripture.
Maybe you've known what God wanted but delayed obedience.
Maybe you've tried to teach others before first examining your own life. Or perhaps you've never given your heart to Christ in obedient faith.
The gospel calls us to prepare our hearts by hearing God's Word, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, repenting of our sins, confessing His name before others, and being baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:17; Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27). For those who have wandered, the same God who restored His people in Ezra's day still welcomes those who return with humble, repentant hearts.
The greatest preparation any person can make is to be ready to meet the Lord.
As Ezra prepared his heart to seek, obey, and teach God's Word, may we leave here determined to prepare our hearts so that God can use us for His glory.
In the church of Christ the plea for restoration is always emphasized: Seek God’s Word, Obey it and then teach it to others. That progression is faithful to Ezra’s example and it remains a compelling pattern for Christians today.
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