1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,000 Let's go to the book of Ezra now together. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:05,800 And we are at Chapter 9 this evening. 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:08,800 And as you're turning there, I want to let you know how 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:13,680 encouraged I was to hear from so many of you who expressed how 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,800 last week's study moved you as we explored very important and 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,600 powerful insights from the last verses of Chapter 8. 7 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,640 And one of the main details that we spent time on from last 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,480 week's study is that Ezra has proven to be more than just a 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,200 man of the word. He's also a man of prayer. 10 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,800 And that aspect of Ezra's character is going to be further 11 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:44,160 confirmed in Chapter 9 because most of this chapter is 12 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:49,720 essentially a recorded prayer of his, a very moving 1A sincere 1. 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,960 And essentially, Chapter 9 invites us to listen in on this 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,880 man's heart cry to the Lord because it is documented in such 15 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,880 rich detail. And so that's what we will seek 16 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,800 to do this evening. We're going to try to complete 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,200 this chapter in its entirety, but we're going to do so 18 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,000 carefully. So this is one of those Bible 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,680 studies where you'll have some headings to keep you in the flow 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:16,880 of these verses. So I want us to look at three 21 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,560 things in this Bible study in this new chapter, and they all 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,880 begin with the letter. I hopefully that makes it a 23 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,720 little easier to remember. The first thing that we are 24 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,360 going to examine is the iniquity. 25 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,720 The iniquity. The reason why Ezra is going to 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,960 pray so passionately here is because he's going to receive a 27 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:41,000 report that is going to be quite disappointing shortly after 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,840 arriving in Jerusalem. He's going to learn about the 29 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,120 true spiritual condition of the Exiles who preceded him. 30 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,280 And this report mainly deals with a sin issue that has been 31 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,800 tolerated and justified and widely practiced. 32 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,400 What is this iniquity? What can we learn from it? 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,720 What we'll see in a moment from the iniquity, we're going to 34 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:08,400 consider the indignation, Ezra's immediate response to this 35 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,400 crushing news and how it's reflective of his piety and his 36 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,080 relationship with the Lord. Finally, we will look at the 37 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,880 intercession and that is the main portion of this chapter, 38 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,800 how Ezra is going to pray and not just what he's going to pray 39 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,240 but how he prays and how that can help us know true fruit and 40 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,680 results in our own praying. So let's begin looking at the 41 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,360 1st 2 verses of this chapter. Then we'll pray and ask God to 42 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,440 help us as we always do in these studies. 43 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,080 Ezra 9 beginning in verse one. After these things had been 44 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,800 done, the officials approached me and said, the people of 45 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,120 Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated 46 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,360 themselves from the peoples of the lands with their 47 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,960 abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the 48 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,000 Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the 49 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,080 Egyptians and the Emirates. For they have taken some of 50 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,320 their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, 51 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,480 so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the 52 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,400 lands. And in this faithlessness the 53 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,720 hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost. 54 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:26,520 Lord, we thank you that there is power in your word, and we thank 55 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:31,400 You that this is what You have provided for us to know you, to 56 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,920 hear your voice. Help us hear your voice. 57 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,720 Lord, we pray that You would wash away all distraction, all 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,600 agitation, anything that would obstruct the seed of Your Word 59 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,600 being planted deeply in our hearts. 60 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,240 We pray that even though this is a study, we would sense the 61 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:56,360 power of the Holy Spirit, that we would see Christ and Christ 62 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,280 alone, that He would be our ultimate treasure. 63 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,000 So Lord, help us tonight. We need Your help. 64 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,040 We do not rely on man's eloquence or intelligence. 65 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,200 We need Your help. And we trust that You hear us as 66 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,400 we come to you now together, in Jesus name we pray. 67 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,240 Amen. Amen. 68 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:19,560 Remember 3 things we're looking at. 69 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:21,680 And the first thing is the iniquity. 70 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,960 But for us to understand the 1st 2 verses of this chapter, we got 71 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:33,280 to really understand the 1st 6 words of this chapter after 72 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:38,400 these things had been done. The statement raises at least 73 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:44,480 two questions #1 after what things have been done right, 74 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,680 Chapter breaks sometimes do as a disservice. 75 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,640 They almost divide the thought unintentionally in our reading. 76 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,880 So it's important when we see things like this, transitional 77 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,160 comments, to pause and say, OK, wait, what just happened for us 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,280 to be led to this point? And it's no surprise. 79 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,200 The things that have been done are the things that occur in the 80 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,720 last verses of chapter 8, which include Ezra and the rest 81 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:12,000 arriving safely to Jerusalem. It includes the temple 82 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,800 treasuries being preserved and protected and accounted for. 83 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,480 It includes the generous and exciting offerings that these 84 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,760 new exiles made upon their arrival to the holy city. 85 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,720 But there is something else in the very last verse of chapter 8 86 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,640 that we can't afford to miss. Let's look at it again in Ezra 87 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,720 836. They, that is the Jewish exiles 88 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:41,480 who came with Ezra, they also delivered the King's commissions 89 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:46,200 to the King's satraps, that is, lieutenants or officials, the 90 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,520 King's satraps, and to the governors of the province beyond 91 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,560 the river. And they aided the people and 92 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,280 the House of God who are the day here, the King's representatives 93 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,800 who were closer to the Jews, who dealt directly with the Jews. 94 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:08,160 So here's what this shows us that upon Ezra's arrival and his 95 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,240 time spent at Jerusalem, that brief time, we know that the 96 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:16,240 surrounding environment was one of calm and civility. 97 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,040 In other words, Ezra and the Exiles in Jerusalem, we're not 98 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,920 weathering persecution. They were not dealing with 99 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:29,560 political obstacles. They were not dodging threats 100 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,560 and trying to maintain courage in the face of danger. 101 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,920 There's peace. There's tranquility. 102 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,920 More than that, you even have the approval of the king 103 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,880 extended to his representatives who are dealing directly with 104 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,040 his people to the point that they're supporting the people 105 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,680 and their pursuit of worshipping at the temple. 106 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:52,320 You can't get any better than this. 107 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:59,600 And yet, as we just read in Chapter 9, we reminded that 108 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:04,760 spiritual warfare for the Church includes much more than external 109 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,480 problems. It also means that there is the 110 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,840 potential danger of issues from within. 111 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,720 And that's what transpires here, because problems from within the 112 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,720 community of faith tend to become most prevalent when there 113 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:27,600 is calm outside. See how Satan works? 114 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,120 If he can't agitate us with attacks, he will seek to slowly 115 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,360 destroy us through internal defilement. 116 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,200 Another way of putting it is if you don't hear Satan roaring 117 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,800 like a lion. That's how Peter describes 118 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,880 Satan's threats and his persecution. 119 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:51,320 If you don't hear his roars echoing in the atmosphere, he's 120 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:56,280 very likely Slytherin, like a snake in our midst, quietly 121 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:02,720 sowing corruption and discord, which means in times of peace 122 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:04,760 and prosperity. My dear brother and my dear 123 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,680 sister, if you, if you really take the local church seriously, 124 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,680 this is important for us. We always have to be on guard. 125 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:18,680 Always. It's easy to be on alert when 126 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,440 you are being threatened and oppressed from external forces, 127 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:29,600 but as we learn here, we often miss the stealth of Satan's 128 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:34,400 attacks where he seeks to pollute us without us even 129 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,799 realizing it. And that's what precisely 130 00:08:37,799 --> 00:08:41,480 happens here. The people of Judah failed to 131 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:46,400 discern and to walk in the Spirit until they eventually 132 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,640 became assimilated with their ungodly culture that surrounded 133 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,960 them. And that is something for you 134 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:56,040 and I to consider. After these things had been done 135 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,680 means even after all the great blessing that they were 136 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:03,920 enjoying, uninterrupted blessing really, they still fell for a 137 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,640 trap. The second question that this 138 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:14,000 initial statement raises is after how long Ezra came to 139 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,760 Jerusalem, did this news come to him? 140 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,160 We answered after what things, right? 141 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:24,640 But now we have to ask what was the exact timeline? 142 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,200 Because the impression that we get here is that it almost 143 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,520 happened immediately Ezra comes to Jerusalem. 144 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,360 We learn in chapter 8, he spends 3 days of rest with the rest of 145 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,040 them. And then on the 4th day they 146 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,920 sacrifice. So you almost think all it took 147 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:41,120 was four days before the people came to Ezra and said, oh, by 148 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,760 the way, this is what the Exiles have been up to while you're 149 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,560 away. Is that the case? 150 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,640 No, and the only way you would know that is if you go to 151 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,200 chapter 10. Chapter 10 is a seamless 152 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,160 continuation of what we find in this chapter. 153 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,480 And notice the time stamp in verse 9 of chapter 10. 154 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,000 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem 155 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:08,040 within three days. It was the 9th month on the 20th 156 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,560 day of the month, and all the people sat in the open square 157 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:14,440 before the House of God trembling because of this matter 158 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,600 and because of the heavy rain. Highlight that it was the 9th 159 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,320 month and the 20th day of the month. 160 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,600 Do you remember when Ezra came to Jerusalem? 161 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:29,160 Well you have to go to Chapter 7 if you forgot look at Chapter 7 162 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:35,120 verse 9. Ezra narrates and he says from 163 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,440 the first day of the first month he that is Ezra began to go up 164 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,520 from Babylonia and on the first day of the 5th month he came to 165 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,760 Jerusalem for the good hand of his God was on him. 166 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,760 So when we put this together, we get a more precise understanding 167 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,280 of how long it took before these officials broke the news to 168 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,880 Ezra. 4 1/2 months. He got there on the 5th month. 169 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,200 And according to Chapter 10, it was in the ninth month, on the 170 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:06,240 20th day that he learned about the spiritual compromise in 171 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,600 Jerusalem. You know what my first question 172 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:11,920 is? When I learned that, why didn't 173 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,840 Ezra learn about it sooner? There was four days. 174 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:16,800 I get it. That's pretty. 175 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,480 That's pretty quick. 4 1/2 months. 176 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:22,600 Here's the answer we're not explicitly told. 177 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:31,600 Could it be that Ezra is seeing the fruit of what he came to 178 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:37,120 Jerusalem for, to teach, to preach, to explain the law? 179 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,640 And throughout those months, consciousness were awakened, 180 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,200 conviction settled, and eventually what was hidden in 181 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,520 the private lives of so many came to the surface. 182 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,800 Or could it be that these officials who reported it to 183 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:56,200 Ezra tried to deal with this problem themselves to no avail, 184 00:11:56,200 --> 00:12:00,480 and so they came to Ezra as a final resort, perhaps. 185 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,600 Or could it be that what we find here is that these officials 186 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:12,200 came to Ezra after realizing that they themselves were 187 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,960 unaware of this intermarriage taking place, and so they came 188 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:17,400 to him as soon as they learned of it? 189 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,200 That could be true also, but we can't say it with absolute 190 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,440 certainty. So what do we learn about this? 191 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,200 I think one thing you can take from it is that the protection 192 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,240 of the purity of the community of believers is not dependent on 193 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,320 one man, even if that man is a godly leader. 194 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:44,520 I see these leaders working with Ezra to preserve the holiness of 195 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,480 the people of God. In other words, sanctification 196 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:52,240 and accountability is a collective effort. 197 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,440 You know, this might sound silly to say, but I was reminded that 198 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,200 as spiritual as Ezra was, he was not omniscient or omnipresent. 199 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,960 You know why I say that? Because you have some people in 200 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,440 the church who think that overseas in the church possess 201 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,280 such powers, they know everything that's going on in 202 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,360 everybody's lives, and they should be responsible because 203 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,800 they have such abilities to keep everybody in check. 204 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:24,120 No, that's not true. That's not even true for some of 205 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,480 these prophets who are given insight into things that nobody 206 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:31,040 else knows about. And so this is a very strong 207 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:35,000 illustration that shows us that even overseers and leaders in 208 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:40,280 the church require the support and the collaboration of others 209 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,480 in order to see the church remain healthy. 210 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,720 There's a New Testament example of what we just read in these 211 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,600 first 2 verses. Did the Corinthian church have a 212 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,040 lot of problems? A lot. 213 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,080 How did they become known to the apostle Paul? 214 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:02,960 How did Paul learn about their problems? 215 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,320 Go to chapter 1 and 1st Corinthians. 216 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:10,080 It's through an obscure individual that appears only 217 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:15,520 once and look here First Corinthians chapter one, verse 218 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,440 11. Paul writes in the opening words 219 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:23,960 of this letter for it has been reported to me by who? 220 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:30,520 Chloe's people, Chloe's people that there is quarreling among 221 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,320 you, my brothers. So even in Paul's day, the way 222 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,240 he learned about the the factions and the divisions in 223 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,520 the Corinthian church was through somebody who clearly was 224 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,760 a reputable individual, somebody trustworthy who sent an e-mail 225 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,240 to Paul. Their version of an e-mail at 226 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,800 least said Paul, there's things happening here at the church. 227 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,400 So I bring up these verses to you not to encourage gossip 228 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:02,960 veiled as concern. Instead, this reminds us that 229 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,360 each of us play a role and preserving the purity of the 230 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,760 church. So here's what that means for 231 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,400 you and I. When you see a fellow brother or 232 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,720 sister in blatant sin, don't turn a blind eye. 233 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:27,480 When you hear murmurings and backbiting and divisions 234 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:33,680 brewing, don't plug your ears. Do something, do something about 235 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,440 it. See, I look at these verses that 236 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,880 I'm reminded one of the main responsibilities of the church, 237 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,520 one of the main purposes of the local church. 238 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:48,720 Matthew 18, Jesus tells us that if a brother sins, you go to 239 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,560 them, they don't listen. Take two or three others, they 240 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:53,040 don't listen. You bring it to the church. 241 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,120 Do you realize that one of the purposes of the church is to 242 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,080 keep each other accountable? Jesus rarely used the word 243 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,920 church in the Gospel accounts, and one of the only times that 244 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:09,200 he does bring it up is to describe the call of calling 245 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,200 each other to repentance when necessary. 246 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:15,800 And that's why membership is so important. 247 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:21,000 The one of the main reasons for membership is just that I want 248 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,560 to be held accountable and I'm willing to hold my brothers and 249 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,520 sisters accountable. And that's what we find here. 250 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:33,080 Ezra is being told about the iniquities of this people and 251 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:34,920 that's let's talk about this briefly. 252 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,720 What it was exactly the sin that was so concerning. 253 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:40,840 There's a keyword in the 1st 2 verses that we read. 254 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:46,280 Look at again here, verse one, the people of Israel and the 255 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,520 priests and the Levites have not separated. 256 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:54,680 Underline that word separated. That word separated doesn't 257 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,160 appear frequently in the book of Ezra. 258 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,880 It should then cause us to say, OK, where else have I seen this 259 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,240 word? And it appears in chapter 6 for 260 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,200 the first time, and it's given to us in a positive sense. 261 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,599 Now in chapter 6, you have Zerubbabel with the first exiles 262 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:16,160 coming into Jerusalem many, many years before Ezra arrives on the 263 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,760 scene. But go to chapter 6 and notice 264 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,560 what it says there about the separation of the people in 265 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:23,640 verse 21. Well, actually look at verse 19 266 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,119 down to verse 21 in Ezra 619. This is not the first time the 267 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:34,440 word separated comes up on the 14th day of the first month. 268 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,160 The return exile kept the Passover for the priests and the 269 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,120 Levites had purified themselves together. 270 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,280 All of them were clean, so they slaughter the Passover lamb for 271 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,920 all the return exiles, for their fellow priests and for 272 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,200 themselves. It was eaten by the people of 273 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,800 Israel who returned from exile, and also by everyone who had 274 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:57,320 joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of 275 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,480 the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of 276 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,880 Israel. OK, what's happening here? 277 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,240 We're rewinding the tape. This is describing what 278 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,360 Zerubbabel and the first exiles experience with their holy 279 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:12,200 enthusiasm. When they came back to 280 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,800 Jerusalem, they wanted to honor the Passover. 281 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,440 But in verse 21, we learned that a group joined them. 282 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,960 See, when Babylon initially came and removed the people of Judah 283 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,000 from their land, there was a remnant that stayed back. 284 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,240 There were Jews who remained in the Holy Land, and over time, 285 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,760 they began to conform to the world. 286 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,560 They began to adopt their practices. 287 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,280 And it stayed that way for decades. 288 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,760 But then, according to what we just read, Zerubbabel comes back 289 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,360 and the Exiles returned with him. 290 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,920 And they want to honor God, and they want to truly worship them. 291 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,240 And they push away, especially the neighbors of the north who 292 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,040 say, hey, we serve the same God, let's help you build. 293 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:00,360 And they said, no, no, no, no, no. 294 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,680 This isn't for you. This is for the holy people, and 295 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,840 those Jews who had conformed to the world, according to verse 296 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,720 21, had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the 297 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,400 peoples of the land to worship the Lord. 298 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:21,440 Here's what's interesting. After many years, Ezra arrives 299 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,800 and discovers that those who had once influenced others to 300 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,880 separation have now been influenced by the world 301 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:36,120 themselves. It is very rare for a professing 302 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:38,800 Christian to become worldly overnight. 303 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,440 It is always gradual. It takes time. 304 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,000 It begins with small, small compromises, adapting to and 305 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,920 accepting their customs and their convictions until you 306 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,960 blend in to the point where you begin to do things that you 307 00:19:54,960 --> 00:20:00,400 never thought you would do. So from chapter 6 to Chapter 9, 308 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,760 you went from the people influencing their world to the 309 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,280 world influencing the people of God to the point where, 310 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:14,720 according to verse 2 of Chapter 9, they were intermarrying and 311 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,560 this is a serious crime. I'm not going to spend much time 312 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,360 here explaining why this is such a grievance according to the law 313 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:24,440 of God, because we've discussed this in previous studies, but I 314 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,640 want to offer some clarification in case this is new to you. 315 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,800 The prohibition here is not about interracial marriage. 316 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,560 This is about different religions, not different races. 317 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,080 This is about ethics, not ethnicity. 318 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,720 This is not about interracial. Again, it's about interfaith and 319 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:53,480 God warned early on in the people's history of not doing 320 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,640 exactly what we find them doing here because it had the 321 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,000 potential of corrupting the holy seed. 322 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:02,560 Now partly why that's so important is because there is a 323 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:07,560 messianic plan in this whole Old Testament narrative that Christ 324 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,400 was to come through this holy seed. 325 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,760 And the danger, the danger of marrying into the world's around 326 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:18,760 them is that eventually what was supposed to be pure and holy 327 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,680 would disappear because cultures and other faiths would then take 328 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:24,960 over. If you don't believe me, listen 329 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:29,080 to these words in Deuteronomy 7 and Deuteronomy 7 verse 3, 330 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,160 before the people even entered into the land. 331 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:33,840 The Lord says this through Moses. 332 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,400 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to 333 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,480 their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for 334 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,120 they would turn away your sons from following Me to serve other 335 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:45,320 gods. You see, that's the main 336 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,920 problem, not that they have different skin tones or 337 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,400 different foods. It's because they serve 338 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,920 different gods and you yoke yourselves to them and they will 339 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,800 surely introduce their gods to you. 340 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,080 And that has way bigger problems than just their testimony as a 341 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:09,040 nation set apart unto God. It has the potential of actually 342 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:13,280 interfering with the seed that was promised to save the whole 343 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:17,240 world. And so this was extremely 344 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,360 dangerous. And that is why we can now see 345 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:22,920 why Ezra reacts the way he reacts. 346 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:24,560 We look at the iniquity. Now let's consider the 347 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,560 indignation in verse 3 of Chapter 9. 348 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:34,280 Ezra writes, as soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my 349 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:42,080 cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 350 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,960 Then all who trembled at the words of God, the God of Israel, 351 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,280 because of the faithlessness of the return to exiles, gathered 352 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:54,040 around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. 353 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,360 We've seen reactions like this before in our study, the Old 354 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:00,560 Testament. We've seen prophets do this, men 355 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,760 of God doing this, other notable figures. 356 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,440 But there is something in Ezra's actions that are quite unique. 357 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,800 Tearing of the government. Have we seen this before? 358 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:16,200 What stands out? The pulling of his hair. 359 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,680 And not just his hair, the pulling of the hairs from his 360 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:22,160 beard. Man, you know how painful that 361 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:28,480 is, Even one hair. So this is so egregious. 362 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,080 This is so appalling, this is so shocking to this man that he 363 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,320 actually begins to pull out his hair from his head and his face. 364 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,160 And as unique as this is, there is one other instance of another 365 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,160 person doing this. Does anybody know who? 366 00:23:49,380 --> 00:23:55,100 Anybody want to take a guess? He's a friend of Ezra's. 367 00:23:56,620 --> 00:24:00,100 Nehemiah, you don't believe me, do you? 368 00:24:00,660 --> 00:24:02,620 You're staring at me like I don't think I believe you. 369 00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:05,780 So I have to show it to you. Go to Nehemiah chapter 13. 370 00:24:09,140 --> 00:24:12,960 Nehemiah joins Ezra a few years after this. 371 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,800 They work together to see revival in the land. 372 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,160 But even after wonderful movings of the Holy Spirit in this 373 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,480 community, at the end of Nehemiah's book he records a 374 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,840 similar account to what we just read in Chapter 9 of Ezra. 375 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,040 Look at chapter 13, Nehemiah verse 23. 376 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,680 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married woman of 377 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,800 Ashdod, Amen, and Moab and half of their children spoke the 378 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,880 language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of 379 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:45,920 Judah, but only the language of each. 380 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:47,440 People paused. Do you see how this is so 381 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,520 problematic? They're losing their identity. 382 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:52,720 They're losing their distinctiveness. 383 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,960 And this, this is more about spirituality than it is anything 384 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,600 else. But let's move on. 385 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,760 In verse 25, what? How does Nehemiah respond? 386 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:06,040 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and 387 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,440 pulled out their hair. That's the difference. 388 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,200 When Ezra learns about it, he pulls out his hair. 389 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,120 When Nehemiah learns about it, he chases them and pulls their 390 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:20,080 hair. And I made them take an oath in 391 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,600 the name of God saying you shall not give your daughters to their 392 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,560 sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 393 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,800 Would you believe me tonight if I told you that there's a lesson 394 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,560 here about pulling hair? Here's how most interpret this 395 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:34,040 passage. When they compare Ezra and 396 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,240 Nehemiah, they try to make a case that Ezra, because both our 397 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:44,880 leaders, is much more gentle and self controlled and humble than 398 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,480 Nehemiah was. Nehemiah was a great leader, but 399 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,320 he had an anger problem. Clearly, that's not the point at 400 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,600 all. I think there are two things 401 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,560 that we can learn from this. At least two things that can 402 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,160 help us clarify what's happening here. 403 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,280 Number one, who came first, Ezra or Nehemiah? 404 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,480 Ezra. So when Ezra learns about the 405 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,560 intermarriage, he deals with it appropriately. 406 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,200 He is going to make demands of them. 407 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:20,960 He is going to confront them. But this is something that takes 408 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,000 place initially, but then you go to Nehemiah and you realize that 409 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,560 the same sin that Ezra confronts is still tolerated, it's still 410 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:35,040 practiced. Therefore, we can make the case 411 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,200 that the situation demanded even justified disciplinary action, 412 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,840 that this was something that needed to be resolved a 413 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,640 different way because the gracious approach didn't work. 414 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:48,040 Now you. That might make you a little 415 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,680 nervous. So consider the second point. 416 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,920 Don't interpret the actions of Ezra and Nehemiah independent of 417 00:26:54,920 --> 00:27:00,560 their unique offices. What was Nehemiah's role in this 418 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,840 whole story? He was appointed. 419 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,240 What does anybody know? He was appointed a governor. 420 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,600 Now you have to remember there was no king recorded after the 421 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,760 Babylonian exile. There was representatives of the 422 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,640 royal line, but no official monarch. 423 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,480 The next time you find a king appearing in this story is when 424 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:26,480 Jesus comes, which is amazing. But with whatever is left in 425 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,480 this Old Testament narrative, there is no king. 426 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:33,400 The closest thing to a judicial power, a political figure, is a 427 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,480 governor, and Nehemiah operates as such. 428 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:40,840 And because of his office, he has the authority to enforce 429 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,840 punishment, even if it's physical. 430 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,680 He has the right to actually discipline those in this way for 431 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:53,320 their crimes. Was Ezra a governor? 432 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,240 What was he? Good? 433 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,760 He was a priest, so his function is a little different, isn't it? 434 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:04,240 And now it makes a little bit more sense. 435 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,760 Ezra is a priest, and so he's really a mediator. 436 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,800 And as a mediator, when he learns of the sins of the 437 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:19,960 people, he stands in the place of those who have disobeyed by 438 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:25,400 pulling out his own hair. He goes to the temple as we're 439 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:34,320 about to read, and he invokes pain upon himself as one who 440 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,280 stands in the gap between the people and God. 441 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,440 Nehemiah doesn't have that office. 442 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,920 Nehemiah is a judge. Nehemiah is, in a sense, the 443 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:50,440 Chief Police. And so he he rightly targets 444 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,600 those who are doing wrong and disciplines them for it. 445 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,120 I don't know if you see it, but I I smell a gospel fragrance on 446 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:04,240 this. Because our Lord Jesus possesses 447 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,040 both offices, does he not? He is a ruler and he is a 448 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,080 priest. And we understand that, as 449 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:16,080 Nehemiah and Ezra demonstrate, those who trample on this 450 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:20,240 selflessness and the sacrifice and the gracious priestly work 451 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:26,080 of Christ will face judicial punishment in the same way that 452 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:31,920 Nehemiah comes after Ezra. Ezra takes the punishment upon 453 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:36,800 himself, and many people did not allow that to change them. 454 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:39,720 And so Nehemiah comes, and what does he do? 455 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:46,160 He deals with them directly. Christ takes our sin upon 456 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,280 Himself. And for those who swat that away 457 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,240 and reject that, well, you're going to have to face Christ as 458 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:57,320 judge. You don't accept His sacrifice, 459 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:58,920 then you will receive His scepter. 460 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,000 That is the gospel message. That is the good news and the 461 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,120 bad news at the same time. And we find it even here. 462 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,960 Isn't the Bible amazing? We can learn something about 463 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:10,440 even how people pulled their hair. 464 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,880 But there's more to learn about the indignation demonstrated 465 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:21,040 here by Ezra. We should understand that one of 466 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,760 the main reasons this godly priest reacts so strongly is 467 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:25,680 because he is so filled with God's Word. 468 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,360 That's hinted at by the description of those who join 469 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,960 Ezra as he is crying out in this way. 470 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,600 Look at verse 4 again. Then all who trembled at the 471 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,640 words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of 472 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,480 the return to exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled 473 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,240 until the evening sacrifice. Did you see the description? 474 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:56,040 Those who were magnetized toward Ezra were those who trembled at 475 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,160 God's Word. And certainly Ezra was somebody 476 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:04,360 who trembled at God's Word. So now there is a remnant. 477 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:09,120 There's a remnant among the remnant who feel with Ezra. 478 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,880 They agree with Ezra. They're drawn to Ezra. 479 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,400 Why? Because they have the same word 480 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:19,560 in their hearts as Ezra did. They revered and they believe 481 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,640 the same word. Can I tell you something very 482 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,680 important that one of the wonderful outcomes of loving 483 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,440 God's Word and digesting God's Word and investing God's Word in 484 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:33,040 your life is that over time you will begin to see as God sees. 485 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,200 What did the psalmist say in Psalm 19? 486 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,520 That the commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the 487 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:45,480 eyes. But more than that, you will 488 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:52,560 even begin to feel as God feels. The reason for this outrage is 489 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:54,280 because this man is in tune with God. 490 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,280 If you don't believe what I'm saying to you, can we turn to 491 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,040 one verse in Psalm 119? What's Psalm 119 all about? 492 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,320 The Word and the psalmist's love and adoration for the Word, his 493 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:10,560 compliance to the Word, his desire to understand the Word. 494 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,800 It's about the Word, the Word, the Word, the Word. 495 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,440 And you'll find from time to time in that lengthy chapter the 496 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:22,120 effect of the Word and the One who pursues it with such zeal 497 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,040 and commitment. Here's one example. 498 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:31,200 Look at verse 53 of Psalm 119. After many verses describing the 499 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,760 wonders of the Word and the glories of the Word and the 500 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,680 value of the Word, notice what he says. 501 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:43,040 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked who 502 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,880 forsake your law. That's strong language. 503 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:52,160 I'm boiling on the inside. There's a volcano in my soul. 504 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,640 Why? Well, up to this point he's been 505 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,320 talking about how the Word is everything to him. 506 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,960 And I think that what we find here is one of the fruit of the 507 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:04,560 Word, living in somebody, that when they look out and see 508 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:09,800 people breaking God's law, they feel something, something burns 509 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:14,800 inside of them. You remember Moses on the top of 510 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,640 the mountain, He's getting commands from God. 511 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,080 And what are the people doing down there? 512 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,680 So impatiently they think, OK, let's just move on here and 513 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,400 let's make our own God. And so they build a golden calf 514 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,480 and they dance around it. And the Lord tells Moses as he 515 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,400 is fellowshipping with him, look what your people are doing. 516 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,560 Moses eventually says, look, they're not my people, they're 517 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,840 your people. But it says that the the Lord 518 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,160 burned with anger. And what do you find Moses 519 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,560 coming down that hill? And he burned with anger. 520 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:45,720 Why did he burn with anger? Well, he was in the presence of 521 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,920 God. When you fellowship with God in 522 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,400 His Word, in his presence, miracles begin to take place in 523 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,840 your outlook. You will see and feel 524 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:03,880 differently about sin, not in a self-righteous way, not in a 525 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,640 proud way. You're going to see here that 526 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:10,159 Ezra is not proud. He's broken, he's shattered, 527 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:14,360 he's consumed because he's consumed with God's Word. 528 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:19,639 And those who tremble at God's Word are also sensing this. 529 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:22,800 But listen, God doesn't just want our emotions to be in line 530 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,040 with His. He wants us to come perform with 531 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,080 our pain and frustration and speak to Him about it. 532 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,560 And that's why we come now to the final portion of this study, 533 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,639 and that is the intercession of Ezra. 534 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:40,159 Look at verse 5 with me and at the evening sacrifice. 535 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:47,199 I rose from my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and 536 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:50,199 fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord. 537 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:55,159 My God, can you look at the last part of verse 4 again? 538 00:34:55,159 --> 00:35:00,880 It says gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening 539 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,480 sacrifice. So before we even look at the 540 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,680 details of the prayer here, consider the timing of it. 541 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,360 Ezra sat silently. He refused to put food in his 542 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,480 mouth. He was broken in contrite until 543 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,880 the evening sacrifice. And once he learned it's time 544 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,680 for the evening sacrifice, he prays. 545 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:24,120 It's an interesting observation, isn't it? 546 00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:27,480 A lot of remember from the Bible study seminar. 547 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,960 Ask the text questions if you wanted to speak to you. 548 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,960 Here was my question at this point, what's so special about 549 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:38,280 the evening sacrifice? Now we can explore different 550 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:39,720 options. One of them is that maybe 551 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:41,920 there's something meaningful about the evening sacrifice. 552 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,040 And there's examples of this like in Daniel Chapter 9 where 553 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,080 he's praying during the evening sacrifice and certain revelation 554 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,560 comes to them. But we won't explore that for 555 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,720 the sake of time. I think there is a clue within 556 00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:59,000 the book of Ezra that tells us exactly why Ezra waited for the 557 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:04,320 evening sacrifice. Chapter 10 Book of Verse One 558 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:11,840 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting 559 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,600 himself down before the House of God, a very great assembly of 560 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,000 men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel. 561 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,240 For the people wept bitterly. Do you see it? 562 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:28,120 It seems that Ezra waited for the evening sacrifice primarily 563 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,520 because he knew that this is when more people would come to 564 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:36,960 worship, to be at or around the temple. 565 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,320 Now they're just going through the rituals. 566 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:41,520 A lot of them, they're just going through the routine. 567 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,920 But Ezra understood, I'm going to wait to make my prayer known, 568 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,280 to say it out loud once the crowd comes in. 569 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,840 And by doing so, he hoped to invoke reflection. 570 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:59,720 By doing so, he would want them to feel conviction, to realize 571 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:04,720 the seriousness of their error. He wants to use this opportunity 572 00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:08,840 for the wider community to understand just how grave their 573 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,280 rebellion has been. And so he waits for the evening 574 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:13,880 sacrifice. And one thing that we can learn 575 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:17,080 from this is that prayer, as we just read in verse 1 of chapter 576 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:27,280 10, prayer moves people. Ezra, when he learns the news, 577 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,400 he sits silently. He doesn't even, he doesn't talk 578 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,800 to anybody, including God. He's mourning. 579 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,760 He shattered. But listen, there's a time to 580 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:42,600 grieve and there's a time to be alone and to lay in bed and to 581 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,640 contemplate something traumatic or heartbreaking. 582 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:49,760 And then there's a time to pray. There's a time to pray as I 583 00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,040 realize, there's a time to pray. There's a time to pray about 584 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:56,880 this now, not just to internalize it and muse over it, 585 00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:58,480 but to actually say something to God about it. 586 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,600 And he does that. And what I love about Ezra is 587 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,440 that in this situation, before he speaks to the people about 588 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,120 the will of God, he brings the people before God in prayer. 589 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:12,880 And they're going to be some situations in life where the 590 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,560 best thing that you can do for somebody else is pray for them 591 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:19,560 before you do anything else. And that's what Ezra does. 592 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,880 He takes this crowd. He waits for them, yes, but he 593 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,720 stands as a priest and representatively seeks God on 594 00:38:27,720 --> 00:38:31,760 their behalf. And prayer can touch people 595 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,000 whether they hear you pray or not. 596 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,800 In this case, they hear, but that doesn't mean whoever you're 597 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,440 praying for needs to know that you're praying for them. 598 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,360 So he seeks the Lord. And now here's what we want to 599 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,280 do. The rest of the chapter is 600 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,680 Ezra's prayer. And I think we would do a 601 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,920 disservice to this section if we just break it up in verses and 602 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,120 look at it separately. I want to read it in one reading 603 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:01,960 to get the feel of it, to almost put ourselves there with the 604 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:04,240 wider community that's sitting there and standing there 605 00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:07,680 listening to this man. So let's read with great 606 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:11,440 attention from verse 6 down to verse 15. 607 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:20,240 Oh my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my 608 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:23,120 God. For our iniquities have risen 609 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:26,760 higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the 610 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:30,160 heavens. From the days of our fathers to 611 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,080 this day, we have been in great guilt. 612 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:35,920 And for our iniquities we, our kings and our priests, have been 613 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,920 given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to 614 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,840 captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 615 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,720 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our 616 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:52,160 God to leave us a remnant, and to give us a secure hold within 617 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,360 this holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant 618 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,240 us a little reviving in our slavery. 619 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,400 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us 620 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,040 in our slavery, but has extended to us His steadfast love before 621 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,400 the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving, to set up the 622 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:13,280 House of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection 623 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,680 in Judea and Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall 624 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:20,600 we say after this? For we have forsaken your 625 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,480 commandments, which you commanded by your servants, the 626 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,120 Prophet, saying the land that you were entering to take 627 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,680 possession of it. Is a land impure with the 628 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,760 impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations 629 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,520 that have filled it from the from end to end with their 630 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,920 uncleanness? Therefore do not give your 631 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,960 daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your 632 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,600 sons, and never seek peace or prosperity, that you may be 633 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,080 strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an 634 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:47,640 inheritance to your children forever. 635 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,920 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for 636 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,600 our great guilt, seeing that you are God, have punished us, lest 637 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,080 than our iniquities deserved, and have given us such a remnant 638 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:01,440 as this. Shall we break your commandments 639 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,720 again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these 640 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:06,200 abominations? Would you not be angry with us 641 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,600 until you consumed us so that there should be no remnant, nor 642 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,440 any to escape? Oh Lord the God of Israel, you 643 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,120 are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped as it 644 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,680 is today. Behold, we are before you and 645 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:21,800 our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this. 646 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:29,040 This is one of the most notable prayers of confession in all of 647 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,960 the Bible. And although it is a prayer of 648 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:36,560 confession, seeing the result of it in chapter 10, I think that 649 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,880 there are things that we can learn about how and what Ezra 650 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,640 prayed that can give us greater confidence to see results in our 651 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,040 own praying. So this is just me. 652 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,880 I'm sure there are so many things that we can draw from 653 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,280 these verses, but I want to leave you with just four 654 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,520 insights about Ezra's praying that can help us pray. 655 00:41:55,520 --> 00:42:03,680 Well, if we are to pray with the hope to see results, number one, 656 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:08,080 we have to pray with humility. Did you notice Ezra's language 657 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:12,320 in verse six? Oh my God, I am ashamed and 658 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,240 blushed to lift my face to you, my God. 659 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:21,880 For did he say their iniquities? Our iniquities have risen higher 660 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:27,920 than our heads and their guilt, our guilt has mounted up to the 661 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:30,480 heavens. Wait, is Ezra guilty of the same 662 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:36,360 sin here? No, but what Ezra shows us is 663 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:40,360 that when we approach the Lord, we must always remember that 664 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,400 there is a way of praying in self righteousness. 665 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,520 There is a way of praying and patting ourselves on the back 666 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,440 while we're praying. This is how sick we are, by the 667 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,640 way. I've been praying for a week 668 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,320 straight, for this long. I think I'm the only person that 669 00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,600 knows how to pray like this. We think things like that. 670 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:07,560 And even if we are praying about the failures of others, Ezra 671 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,480 shows us that we need to be very mindful of our own sinful 672 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:15,640 tendencies, of our own potential to commit even the same things 673 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:20,040 that we are broken about. Jesus warns us that there is a 674 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:23,240 way of praying where we bar ourselves from having an 675 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:29,920 audience with God. But humility is what brings us 676 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:34,120 into his courts. And Ezra here doesn't have a 677 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,720 false humility. He's just being very honest 678 00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:39,920 before the law, and he's very aware of his own ability to 679 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:46,600 commit grievous things. And so he says our he also 680 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,320 understands that one person's sin doesn't just affect them, 681 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:53,160 whether it's his or someone else's, It has an impact on the 682 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:55,720 community. The community of faith feels 683 00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:58,160 that when a genuine member does something wrong. 684 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:04,080 And so he comes before the Lord acknowledging that he also is a 685 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:08,320 Sinner. Pray with humility and you'll 686 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:12,280 have God's ear. But secondly, pray with the 687 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:17,680 acknowledgement of God's grace. And as much as you can recognize 688 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:23,480 God's grace, bring it to mind. You know, some people have a lot 689 00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,080 of struggle knowing how to worship in prayer. 690 00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:29,640 Worship in prayer is important because people think that prayer 691 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,400 is just about petitions. God, I need this, God, this 692 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:33,520 person's need that. Amen. 693 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:36,280 OK, that's important. But one of the ways where you 694 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,840 enjoy God is when you know how to worship him alone. 695 00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:45,640 And though this is a prayer of confession, Ezra highlights many 696 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:48,160 of the gifts that God has given him in his own life that he's 697 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:52,080 experienced first hand. Look for. 698 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:54,560 Look for it in verse 8. Notice what he says. 699 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,760 But now for a brief moment, favor. 700 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,200 DSV renders it favor. Other translations render it 701 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,960 grace. For a brief moment, grace or 702 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,640 favor has been shown by the Lord our God to leave us a remnant 703 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,440 because we could have been totally annihilated as a people, 704 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:13,320 and you've preserved us. He speaks about God's steadfast 705 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,160 love while they were slaves. Can you reflect on the fact that 706 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,200 you were a slave at one point and God set you free? 707 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,760 Do you ever think about how do you ever think about where you 708 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:25,400 would have been today if you didn't get saved? 709 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:31,520 What would you look like? What would you be doing on a 710 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,560 Friday night like tonight? I can tell you what I would be 711 00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:36,440 doing on a Friday night if I didn't get saved at the age of 712 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,000 20. You need a reason to worship. 713 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,520 Just think about what you the mess you could have been, the 714 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:45,640 disaster that you could have caused for yourself and for 715 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:47,720 others if God didn't get a hold of your life. 716 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:54,080 Ezra comes before the Lord and he reflects on how they were 717 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:55,440 slaves. In some sense they're still 718 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,120 slaves oppressed by a foreign government, but that God in his 719 00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:00,480 steadfast love, they didn't leave them in their slavery. 720 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,480 He talks about how they received some kind of revival. 721 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:11,080 He says it's a small measure, a little revival, but he doesn't 722 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:12,240 ignore. He doesn't dismiss it. 723 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:13,960 He makes it a matter of Thanksgiving to the Lord. 724 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,440 We've experienced some kind of refreshment from you. 725 00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:20,360 O God, you want a reason to come before the Lord and give him 726 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:24,480 thanks and to worship him. Think about the times that he's 727 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,120 encouraged you through friends, through a sermon, through a 728 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,320 community of believers like what we have here, and use that as a 729 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,080 reason to come before Him. Say thank you. 730 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:36,000 I don't think there's one Wednesday night here when we 731 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,080 pray where we fail to actually give thanks to God for Maranatha 732 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,520 Bible Church. And that's not because Maranatha 733 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,360 Bible Church is anything special in their own right. 734 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:45,600 It's because of God's grace through this church and the 735 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:50,360 blessing it is to each of our lives, Ezra says. 736 00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:53,440 I even recognize that we need a big revival, but I'm going to 737 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,320 just acknowledge the little revivals that we've known. 738 00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,840 Surely you can admit that even in a very dangerous and hostile 739 00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:05,360 world, God has protected you. Oftentimes we thank God for the 740 00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:08,920 things that He has done, and I want to challenge you to thank 741 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:10,840 God for the things that could have happened and they didn't. 742 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,920 You see what he says there, the last part of verse 9, and to 743 00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:17,320 give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. 744 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:21,000 The Hebrew word there is wall, but it's symbolic. 745 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,240 Ezra even recognizes the protection that they've 746 00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:30,640 experienced. And so we see here that if you 747 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:32,840 want to pray, if you want to pray well, if you want to pray 748 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:38,080 richly, learn to be mindful of the grace of God and as many 749 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:43,680 areas of your life as possible. Thirdly, pray with an 750 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:44,960 understanding of the Word of God. 751 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:48,640 I won't read it, but look at verse 10 down to verse 12. 752 00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:50,240 You know what Ezra is doing there? 753 00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:55,120 He's quoting scripture. He's quoting the law about 754 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,960 intermarriage. And I like to think that Ezra is 755 00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:01,720 doing this by heart. That's how you know this man 756 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:04,480 love to study because he's quoting Deuteronomy and 757 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:10,680 Leviticus. There's a preacher who is in 758 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:14,120 heaven now when he was asked, and I was there, when somebody 759 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,960 asks it, how do you pray? That's a good question. 760 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:18,520 You know why? Because the disciples asked 761 00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:21,520 Jesus that question, teach us how to pray, not how to preach, 762 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:23,880 not how to cast out devils, not to do miracles. 763 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:26,080 Jesus, teach us to pray. You know what that tells me? 764 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,280 That when the disciples spent time with Jesus, one of the 765 00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:32,800 things that made them so odd was when they heard Jesus pray. 766 00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:40,080 So Lord, teach us to pray. And so this man of God was 767 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:41,960 asked, how? How do I pray? 768 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,840 And one of the advices you give that still stuck with me is when 769 00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:49,000 you feel like you don't have words to tell God, Take His own 770 00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:55,920 words and pray them back to Him. Besides that, how do you know 771 00:48:55,920 --> 00:49:00,120 what to say to God? The only way you know who He is 772 00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,040 is through His word. What promises are you going to 773 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:07,640 claim? What strategies are you going to 774 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:11,560 come up with? So many people are so uninformed 775 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:14,520 in their Bibles and that makes them uninformed and virtually 776 00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:16,360 everything else, including how to pray. 777 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:18,600 And that's why so many people give up on prayer because they 778 00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:19,800 don't know how God answers prayer. 779 00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:24,520 They don't know how how God can make himself known through 780 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:26,840 prayer. And only way you can understand 781 00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:28,560 the depths of prayer is by understanding the depths of the 782 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:30,800 word. Ezra knew the Bible and because 783 00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:32,560 he knew the Bible, he knew how to talk to God. 784 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,600 Know the word, Let it inform your prayer life. 785 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:41,880 Let it enrich your prayer life. You know how powerful it is when 786 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:45,080 you take a promise in God's Word and by yourself. 787 00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:50,040 You lay it at his feet and said, Lord, you said this, I want to 788 00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:56,240 see it come to life. Lastly, pray. 789 00:49:57,520 --> 00:50:00,440 Pray believing God can deal with your pain in the best way. 790 00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:06,440 I get that from the last few verses of the prayer, from verse 791 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,760 13 down to verse 15. You know what I find so 792 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:12,160 interesting and how Ezra lands his prayer. 793 00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:14,720 He brings the matter before the Lord, right? 794 00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:19,200 He brings his pain to God, but he doesn't ask God to do 795 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:23,760 anything about it necessarily. He doesn't request specific 796 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:27,520 action or intervention. He just makes it known to the 797 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:29,760 Lord. Now, that is not to encourage us 798 00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:32,440 to not be precise in our petitions. 799 00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:35,360 That's not the case. But what we can take from this 800 00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:38,640 is that when we don't know how to pray about something, just 801 00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:43,000 the simple act of faith of bringing it before the Lord is 802 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:46,920 enough for God to do something about it, even if you don't know 803 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:53,400 the best way to go about it. Notice what he says here in 804 00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:55,360 verse 15. O Lord, the God of Israel, you 805 00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,880 are just. Why is he highlighting God's 806 00:50:57,880 --> 00:51:00,240 justice? Because God's justice is 807 00:51:00,240 --> 00:51:04,360 required for the situation, you are just for we are left a 808 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:06,320 remnant that has escaped as it is today. 809 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,600 Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before 810 00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:11,640 you because of this. In other words, OK, we're here. 811 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:15,040 We've committed this sin, You're just Amen. 812 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:22,000 The Bible tells us that there are moments when we don't know 813 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:23,840 what to pray for, and the Spirit helps us. 814 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,200 Romans 8 tells us that He takes your groans and He takes your 815 00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:31,600 wordless sighs, and He translates them perfectly before 816 00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:37,000 the throne of grace. And in this situation, what 817 00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:40,680 we'll discover in the coming chapter is that God will deal 818 00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:45,440 exactly with this request in the most righteous and redemptive 819 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:50,200 way possible. Pray, believing that God knows 820 00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:54,160 what to do with it, but He won't do anything about it unless you 821 00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:59,080 come to Him in faith. I'd love to know that that I 822 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:01,000 don't have to come up with a game plan to bring before the 823 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:07,560 Lord like it's a presentation. That was my background where you 824 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:11,480 had to almost convince a client why they should believe in your 825 00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:15,400 product or your game plan or your marketing campaign. 826 00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:17,240 You have to almost persuade them. 827 00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:21,800 God is not asking to be persuaded necessarily. 828 00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,000 He wants you to come with childlike faith and be broken in 829 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:29,360 His presence. Some of the greatest men of God 830 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,720 that I've heard preach when they preached on prayer have openly 831 00:52:32,720 --> 00:52:35,640 said that they found themselves in certain circumstances simply 832 00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:40,480 saying before God help me, help me. 833 00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:45,720 I have no other words, just help me and God helps them. 834 00:52:47,680 --> 00:52:50,520 And what we're going to see as we read earlier is that Ezra's 835 00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:54,560 prayers were heard and it's going to bring fruit. 836 00:52:56,320 --> 00:52:58,480 Let's pray and ask God for that favor in our lives. 837 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:22,280 We come to you in humility, Lord, thankful for all the 838 00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:27,040 graces that we've experienced as a church and even the recent 839 00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,960 gift of you opening a door for a brand new home. 840 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:33,520 Thank you that we got here safely. 841 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:38,040 Thank You that in Your perfect mercy You will bring us home 842 00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:47,200 safely, Lord willing. Lord, we have no reason to not 843 00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:52,000 approach You in worship on a daily basis. 844 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:56,680 Help us do that. And Lord, as we learn with Ezra, 845 00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:59,760 one of the fruit of having the word in our lives is that it 846 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:01,480 will make us men and women of prayer. 847 00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:03,000 So may that be true of our lives. 848 00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:09,160 And yes, Lord, we want to learn how to worship You without a 849 00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:13,360 screen, without a talented team before us leading us into song. 850 00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:18,280 Help us worship you with our words because our minds and our 851 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:19,800 hearts have been informed by your word. 852 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:25,480 Help us and Lord, when there is pressing needs, when there is 853 00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:30,720 overwhelming news, help us pray, believing that you have the best 854 00:54:30,720 --> 00:54:33,680 solution and that you will honor our approach. 855 00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:36,800 You will honor us simply coming before you saying, Oh Lord, here 856 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:40,160 it is. You are just do as you please. 857 00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:46,320 Lord, we love you and we thank you for the study. 858 00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:52,520 Thank you for bringing us near the end of the book of Ezra may 859 00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:55,520 bear fruit in our lives. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 860 00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:57,640 Let's stand and worship the Lord together.