I with excitement now I'll ask you and invite you to turn with
me to the book of Ezra in chapter 10.
We already began this chapter, but we were looking at another
section in it. And if you're wondering if we're
going to complete it tonight, I will let you know from now.
We will not be completing it tonight.
But who's in a rush anyway? Ezra chapter 10, and just plant
your eyes there, verse 7. For a moment, you would think
that a book like the book of Ezra that highlights the return
of the Exiles from their captivity, the revival of their
covenantal identity, and their perseverance through obstacles
and persecution, that it would end on an inspirational and
hopeful note. Unfortunately, it doesn't, at
least at first. We already know this, but since
the opening of Chapter 9, the dominant theme of these closing
passages have been the infection of sin in a community of
believers, a dangerous trend of interfaith marriage that has
threatened the survival of the remnant of Judah.
But thankfully, as soon as the unthinkable was made known to
the very man who led the second expedition of Jews back to their
homeland, it was put to a stop before it could spread.
And this should help us see the ending of the book of Ezra.
On a more encouraging note, this is teaching us more than just
how sin can revisit and can cause a people to tolerate it
even though they just recently experienced and tasted the
kindness and mercy of God. There's there's something else
going on here. The primary thing in focus is
that we have a man with such God fearing conviction who confronts
sin, and because of his courage and because of his piety in his
own walk with the Lord, the sin that is so disheartening to him
and even to us is eventually and actually quickly repented of.
That's what we're about to read. We are about to look at
repentance on a national level, the contrition and the humility
of a people who could have hardened their hearts instead.
But they chose not to. Which means, despite all the
disappointment that you and I might have experienced in the
past couple of weeks, we can breathe a sigh of relief because
this story ultimately ends in victory.
Do you know why? Because whenever sin is repented
of, no matter how long it has been enjoyed and no matter how
much damage it has caused, is a triumph.
It's a triumph. And that being said, this is not
the only victory that you and I can experience over sin.
There's something more ideal than us just repenting after
we've committed sin or lived in a season of disobedience.
And that is, by the grace of God, refusing sin, gaining even
a foothold in our lives to begin with, to rejecting it at the
phase of temptation, to denying it when it is still in seed
form. And that's how I want us to
approach this study tonight. Although we are going to be
looking at a people who lost their way but are now recovering
and reconciling to the Lord. There are principles here that
can help us in our resistance against sin before it has a grip
on us. And so I want us to consider in
this Bible study six insights about sin that will help you.
And I hate it more and fight it more effectively.
And the beauty about these six insights is that they are not
necessarily in any particular order, nor are they
interdependent in actuality. Each of these points can be a
standalone Bible study. And so I want us to read the
first 2 verses of the passages that we'll be examining, and
then we'll pray, and then we'll consider these six things
together. So remember, the last thing that
we saw about Ezra is that he publicly wept, publicly prayed,
and shortly after that he made his way and isolated himself to
do just that in private. And what we're about to look at
in verse 7 is what's going to take place the very next day.
Let's read. And a proclamation was made
throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles, that
they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that if anyone
did not come within three days, by order of the officials and
the elders, all his property should be forfeited and he
himself banned from the congregation of the Exiles.
Lord, we ask that You would help us now with these verses.
And Lord, this study is organized in a way to despise
sin with a righteous hatred. And so, Lord, we pray that this
would not be a study that would encourage condemnation or
discouragement or frustration. We pray that we would feel as
though you were equipping us and you are urging us on, and you
are motivating us into greater sanctification, greater worship,
greater holiness, greater relationship with you.
So Lord, use every single one of these things for personal
reflection. Help us not think too much about
how this can help others, and help us translate it as Your
voice directly to our lives. We believe that you will guide
us now. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. 6 insights, 6 truths, 6 points about sin that will help
you and I hate it more and fight it more effectively #1 as we
just read. Sin must be confronted swiftly.
You know what we just read will
make more sense when we remember the authority that was granted
to Ezra by the Persian government.
And so we read verse 7 and verse 8.
But let's look back at Chapter 7, verse 26.
Notice what the king of Persia said to Ezra before he even left
Babylonia. In Ezra 7 verse 26 it reads,
Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the
king, let judgement be strictly executed on him, whether for
death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for
imprisonment. So Ezra is not operating with an
independent or a self promoting authority.
He has been granted this ability, and he wields it at
this time because he knows the nature of sin.
He does not delay. When he receives his report of
widespread iniquity, he acts upon it immediately because Ezra
studies God's Word. Ezra knows God and knows what
God has revealed about everything, including our sin,
and here's what He is showing us.
The longer sin is ignored, the greater it becomes in strength
and in its influence, the greater becomes in its strength
and its influence will increase. So his awareness here becomes
even more inspirational when you consider another important
factor. Look quickly.
Just zoom out in Chapter 10. What do you see in the
second-half of this chapter? A list of what?
A lot of names, and we talked about this briefly last week,
but this record is not a celebratory one.
It is actually one that indicts, it exposes those who are
responsible for this sin of interfaith marriage.
And we'll look at this more carefully next week.
But you know what I decided to do the other night?
Count the number of names you're saying.
Why would you do that? I'll tell you in a moment, and I
think it depends on your translation.
But if we can just have a general ballpark here or a safe
number to go with, 110 men are found guilty for this crime.
Why does that matter? Well, do you remember the number
of people that are mentioned in the book of Ezra that joined not
Ezra but Zerubbabel and the first wave of refugees?
In case you you don't go to Ezra chapter 2 and look at this
number with me in verse 64 of Ezra chapter 2.
The whole assembly together was 42,360 besides their male and
female servants, of whom there were 7337 and they had 200 male
and female singers. So close to 50,000 people joined
Zerubbabel when Cyrus made way for the Jews to go back to
Jerusalem. Now here's what we have to
understand. Ezra comes onto the scene 80
years after this first census. So do you think they multiplied
over those 80 years? Definitely.
We don't know how much their population grew, but you can
expect that it grew over those decades.
You might be still wondering, why does this even count?
Well, what's this leading to? Well, think about it.
If we're honest when we consider that the return exile started
out nearly 50,000 strong and surely grew over time, finding
out only that there is 110 people who have sinned
grievously in this act of disobedience makes you wonder if
Ezra's being a little bit too dramatic in his response to this
news, right? I mean I'm not a math person,
but imagine 110 out of more than 80,000.
Perhaps more than 50,000 for sure.
Wrong. He is not overreacting because
when you factor in sin with statistics, the numbers mean
something different. Do you know what the Bible says
about how many sinners it takes to do much damage to something
good? Anybody have an idea what the
number is exactly? Do you have the biblical proof
for the answer that you have? How many sinners does it take to
do damage? Well, Ecclesiastes 918 tells us
listen to these words from Solomon, who is not just wise,
he was led by the Spirit when he penned these words.
In Ecclesiastes 9/18 it says wisdom is better than weapons of
war. But one Sinner destroys much
good. Just one.
In any community, in any setting, one Sinner, if he is
determined to sin, can wreak havoc.
You know how many sinners Ezra is dealing with?
At least 110. And even if you're still not
convinced that the ratio is as dangerous as the Bible makes it
out to be, or that maybe Ezra as being a little bit overly
zealous here, one thing that you can applaud about Ezra that you
cannot deny in the Bible is his attitude towards the potential
infectious power of sin. That he deals with it while it
is still small, while it is still in its initial phase
before it gains more ground. He puts a stop to it.
And this is what we have to understand about sin for, for
ourselves, whether corporately or individually, it must be
swiftly confronted. So that means take captive that
thought pattern of lust that you may have convinced yourself as
harmless because it's in your brain and nobody else can see it
and nobody else knows about it. Well, apprehend it then, before
it turns into flirtation and before words become action.
Bring your outbursts of anger to the Lord early in your marriage
if you're noticing A trend. If your spouse is calling it
out, listen. Deal with it now before it wears
out. Your spouse and you have other
issues to deal with should you choose to do so later on.
Are you lazy? Do you have that problem?
Seek accountability for your laziness now before it becomes a
burden on others that you love and ruins your testimony.
All in all, listen. When a stone is about to be
pushed over the edge of a Cliff, it is much easier to put a stop
to it then, because gravity teaches, the more momentum it
gains as it descends, the stronger it becomes and the more
difficult it is to stop it. So while the roots are shallow,
while you still have a sensitive conscience, and while the damage
is minimal, take that sin seriously.
Don't wallow in condemnation. Partner with God's Word, God's
people, God's power, and go to war.
Go to war. Ezra means business because Ezra
is a man who's in tune with God and he understands there may be
110 people out of hundreds of thousands, but this can get ugly
real quick. So I'm going to do something
about it today. Let this be the attitude of the
redeemed. So truth number one about sin,
if we want to hate it more and conquer it with greater
effectiveness, confront it swiftly.
Confront it swiftly #2 Let's read verse 9 of verse 10.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled that
Jerusalem within three days. It was the 9th month of the 20th
day of the month, and all the people sat in the open square
before the House of God trembling because of this matter
and because of the heavy rain. So the people responded and we
can applaud them for that. We can rejoice in the fact that
they actually arrived and they, they gave, they gave themselves
over to Ezra's guidance and his exhortation.
However, this verse broke my heart.
And the reason why it broke my heart was because you have a
group of people, a large group of people who are assembling at
the House of God and they are trembling, they are paralysed
with fear. You're saying, well, shouldn't
they be? Yes, but think about it.
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, what you find is
that when there is a call to come to the House of God, it's
an invitation to joy. It's an invitation to festivity,
to warm fellowship, to song, to celebration.
And yet what you find with this group instead is that they're
coming terrified. Why is that the case?
Because it teaches the second point about sin in our study
tonight, and that sin robs us of joy.
Sin robs us of true joy. And we never really think about
that while we're being tempted, do we?
That when sin is tolerated, when sin is something that we
continually pursue and justify and excuse, then eventually
peace is replaced with paranoia, blessing is substituted for
burden, and a confident conscience is now replaced with
a tormented one. That's exactly what we see here.
These people who should be coming to the House of God with
exuberance and delight are in dread.
And so here they are trying to figure things out, trying to
wonder what is this going to lead?
Do they understand that they are in trouble?
They understand that they are going to have to face
consequences for their actions. And you have to always remember
this if you want to be more equipped, because temptation is
inevitable. You can be tempted at any time,
in any place, no matter how much you know.
This is a reality that we will have to experience and face
until we are in glory. That's what makes glorification
so glorious. We will never have to know the
presence of sin again. Put this in your arsenal.
Sin in the form of temptation will never tell you what it's
going to take from you. It will only tell you what it
will give to you. Isn't that what you're always
thinking about when you're being tempted?
This is what I'm going to gain. I'm going to gain satisfaction.
I'm going to gain security, I'm going to gain confidence.
I'm going to gain enjoyment. I'm going to gain whatever the
case may be. And so these men come and
they're trembling. Now here's what's amazing.
There's this added detail. What's the added detail?
That they're coming because they're obviously they know that
they're being challenged for their sin.
But notice the last part of verse 9.
And because of the heavy rain, Why tell us that?
Some are satisfied in saying, well, it's because Ezra wants to
be historically accurate. This is just more evidence of
his eyewitness account that he not only tells us the timing of
this meeting, but even some of the details of that particular
day. OK, that's nice.
But is that really what's happening here?
Others are more comfortable in interpreting this as how the
people are translating the setting of this moment, that
this rain, this heavy rain is perhaps a manifestation of God's
displeasure over them. And that can certainly be true.
But whether the people are afraid and whether they are
translating this whole scene as God showing His anger, there is
a note of hope in this saying How it seems gloomy, seems dark,
seems scary. I'll give you the answer, but
you have to go to the book of Deuteronomy.
Go to Deuteronomy Chapter 11 with me.
These are God's instructions, warnings, promises for the
people before they entered into the promised land.
And I want you to see what He says here in Deuteronomy Chapter
11 when you Scroll down here to verse 13.
And if you will indeed obey my commandments, that I command you
today to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your
heart and with all your soul. He will give the rain for your
land in its season, the early rain and the later rain that you
may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
One of the features that make the Old Covenant unique is found
here. That rain, the supply of this
grace, is totally dependent on the whole hearted obedience of
the people. You obey.
I'm going to give you rain. You don't obey, then I'm going
to make the heavens bronze. It's plain, it's clear.
So you have this in the background, right?
And your understanding of how God works, especially in this
dispensation. Then you come to Ezra.
You look at the same covenant people.
They are in disobedience. They are being confronted for
their sin and what's happening. It's raining and it's heavy
rain. Not just casual rain, not just
sprinkles, heavy rain. You would think that God would
unlock this vault after the people had confessed, after they
had proven their repentance to be sincere and genuine.
But instead, when they make the initial move of restoring their
obedience, God meets them with rain.
In other words, He honors though they are fearful, though they
are wondering, though they are gripped with terror.
The Lord is meeting them in mercy.
In fact, He is pouring out mercy on them.
I'm not sure if they understood it that way, but it makes you
wonder if God was trying to convey that, that He's pouring
out rain, pouring out rain, pouring out rain, and they're
standing there because God is honoring their initial steps
toward repentance. And it's no different for you
and I that even if you have grievously offended Him, even if
like this people, you have received His grace upon grace
upon grace, and this is how you respond to it.
The moment you choose to turn back to Him, there is an open
heaven. One of the greatest forces in
leading us to greater repentance and holiness is God's kindness,
is it not? You know, your life is not what
it's supposed to be, and He still blesses you and He still
meets you with mercy day by day. And this is what these people
are experiencing, a shower of God's love, even though the
repentance is not yet complete. It's just because their hearts
have been broken. And the Lord saw that.
You got to think about it, this day was a day of heavy rain.
I don't think they just stepped to the temple courts and then it
start raining out. I don't think that's how the
text reads. Could it have been easy for them
to make the excuse of delaying this meeting with Ezra because
of the weather? Remember, they're outside.
They don't have what we have going on here, and yet they
still made the effort. They still push through whatever
obstacles there were, including the heavy rain, and that showed
and proved to the Lord that they mean business, that they really
want to hear what God has to say to them.
And the Lord saw that, and He met them with mercy.
Come to the Lord whenever and if ever you are in sin, no matter
how deep it is, and He will meet you with His kindness every
single time. You have to believe that.
You have to trust that no matter what, no matter what your own
mind tells you, no matter what anybody else tells you.
So we have to understand that sin robs us of joy, but God is
ready to give that joy back. He's always ready to give us
that joy back. Let's come back to our main text
to the Third Point of Ezra in chapter 10, as we look here at
verse 10 and 11. And Ezra the priest stood up and
said to them, you have broken faith and married foreign woman
and so increase the guilt of Israel.
Now then, make confession to the Lord, the God of your Father's,
and do His will. Separate yourselves from the
peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.
Point #3 about sin is that sin is weakened within a righteous
community. Sin is weakened within a
righteous community. Where would the people be
without Ezra's leadership? What if he had delayed coming to
Jerusalem? What if he was not as serious
about his role as a priest, about his study of God's Word,
about his zeal for God's honor? We can only imagine.
But Ezra was a real man of God. Ezra fear the Lord and because
of his presence in this moment, he was able to stop the bleeding
of the people who could have easily lost so much more life
and put themselves in a very dangerous predicament.
Now notice what he says here. You have to compare it with how
he prayed. So we read those two verses, but
go back to Chapter 9 and look at verse 6 again.
His opening words in his prayer when he found out about this sin
to begin with, he says here in verse 6 saying, Oh my God, I am
ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God.
For our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our
guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
He's being inclusive here, our guilt, our heads, our
iniquities. But go back to verse 9 or verse
10 rather of chapter 10. And Ezra the priest stood up and
said, you have broken faith. You have broken faith and
married foreign women and so increase the guilt of Israel.
What do we make of this? That it is necessary at times to
point the finger and hold somebody accountable.
Ezra demonstrated his humility already.
When he got before God, he said we, he said ours.
But when he got before the people who are guilty of sin, he
said, you, you know, there are some people who give different
kinds of advice for preachers. One of the things that is
commonly shared for preachers to be more fruitful perhaps, or
accepted by their listeners is that when you bring up any kind
of command or exhortation or insight, especially if it's a -1
concerning our nature and our tendencies, don't say you say
we, never say you, we us our. And that is certainly true
because you find that in the Scriptures, you find that in the
epistles, you find that in the writings of men of God, prophets
of God. But it is unbiblical to say that
you must always include that language in every message, in
every rebuke. That is not true.
And Ezra shows us that here, that there are times when a
leader has to look at a people and say, you what did Nathan the
prophet say to David when he gave that parable that was meant
to cause David to make a judgement ultimately upon
himself? Did he say we are the man?
That what he said? Now he says you are the man.
You know what that does? When you personalize these kind
of things, it sharpens the blade of conviction upon the
conscience. If you rely too heavily on the
Wii, you blunt that blade. Now we have to be careful
because Ezra also shows us that that kind of approach must be
wielded carefully and wisely. I'm aware that there are some,
especially preachers, who make it their ambition every week to
beat up the people that God has entrusted to their care and to
make them feel guilty week after week after week after week, and
to make it seem as though they're superior, they're
holier. You're all making this a more
difficult church. You're all making this a
difficult and that is not the right attitude either.
But a true man of God, like Ezra demonstrates, begins with a
revelation and an awareness of their own fallenness, our
iniquities, our heads, our guilt, and from that place when
it's the right time to say you. But what's the lesson that
accountability. If you and I want to be able to
have a greater chance of overcoming sin.
We need people to speak like this in our lives, to love you
enough to say, listen, you're out of order here.
Listen, I've been noticing your language.
You're not talking the same way. Where have you been?
I haven't seen you in church in months.
Not we haven't been at church at months for months.
That doesn't work. And so there are moments when
this, this kind of bold confrontation in love is
required. And it's this very thing that's
going to lead the people back to the will of God.
And Ezra proves further in his very rebuke how the right kind
of community, the right kind of partnerships and influences in
our lives is absolutely necessary to be strength in this
area. Notice what he says.
He's so he's a brilliant spiritual surgeon.
He knows exactly what to point out.
He knows exactly the symptoms. He knows exactly the root cause.
Look again here at verse 11. Now then he's speaking to the
same people. Make confession to the Lord, the
God of your Father's and do his will.
Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the
foreign wives. What's the key issue here?
What's the problem? The main paramount predicament,
interfaith marriage, right? So you would think that Ezra
would emphasize separate yourselves from the foreign
wives, but he put something before that.
What does he say? Separate yourselves from the
peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.
Again, this man is insightful. This man is in tune with God and
he understands that the marriages, the illegitimate
unions, is a symptom of a deeper issue.
Something came before this. This is just the fruit of a
root. And what was the root?
Association with the wrong people.
The fellowship with the people of the lands eventually led to
marriage with the people of the lands.
The companionship with unbelievers led to the most
serious kind of companionship that you can have on this
planet, and that is marriage. And so when Ezra's thinking, he
realized if we just deal with the symptom, then we risk
repeating this. So I'm making it a primary
charge. You have to reevaluate your
circles of influence. You have to reconsider who you
are inviting into your life and who you're allowing to walk with
you in this life because in this case, it led to this kind of a
disaster. And if we have to, if we're
going to be honest with ourselves, some of the sins that
we can't seem to gain victory over is because of some of the
people that we won't let go of. So the question we have to ask
ourselves at this point in the study is, do I have anybody like
Ezra in my life who has a walk with God?
Not just anybody, a sincere love for the Lord.
And I invite them to speak into my life, even if it hurts at
times. And more than that, who do I
have in my life that influences me?
Who do I look up to? Who do I enjoy being around?
Who do I have partnerships with? Who do I find in my social
circles more than anybody else? Because a true spiritual man or
woman understands that who you do life with will determine the
direction of your life. Ezra understood this.
Men like Paul understood this when he told the Corinthians bad
company corrupts what good morals?
First Corinthians 15 verse 33. But on the positive, we read
here and we find out here that sin is weakened within a
righteous community. So don't think that you can
drift away from the church and think that you're going to be
stronger because of it. Inevitably you will become
weaker yourself and sin will become stronger.
Let's continue verse 12 then all the assembly answered with a
loud voice. It is so.
We must do as you have said. But the people are many, and it
is a time of heavy rain. We cannot stand in the open, nor
is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly
transgressed in this matter. Let our officials stand for the
whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have
taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and within the
elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our
God over this matter is turned away from us.
Do you see what's happening here?
The people, praise God, are enthusiastic, this kind of
exhortation, but they're also honest with the practicalities
of it. And this group of people, this
assembly, realizes we can't do this as speedily as we would
like. One, it's pouring out here.
It's uncomfortable. Two, there's a great.
Crowd to try to decipher and to try to organize.
This is not feasible. And thirdly, there needs.
More organization. Moving forward, if we're going
to be able to do this with with any effect, this is going to
take. Longer than one or two.
Days, they said. And we know that they are not
trying to delay. This because they don't want to
have to face the consequences because they give an immediate
solution in verse 14. And here's the solution.
Let's all go back and let's set up appointments and let's have
local leaders assess every case and determine how to move
forward. You know, it's possible that
some of these foreign wives converted or maybe they are
willing to convert. So is separating from them the
best answer? Probably not.
But all of that is going to require more investigation, more
examination, more time. And, amazingly, Ezra.
Agrees, which further confirms this man's humility.
I'm aware that there are some leaders listening to this study
and potential leaders in the future who are tuning in.
Here's what you have to understand about Ezra.
This is a side note. Ezra shows us that that leaders
need to be open to receiving insight and instruction and
guidance from those who are not leaders.
Yes, a leader has to take initiative.
A leader needs to give direction, he needs to have
vision or else he's not operating as a leader.
That being said, there will be moments where even a leader
doesn't come up with the right way to move forward, and others
may. And you have to acknowledge that
and you have to accept it. And God will bless that humility
up to this point. Ezra has taken.
Cues from two different people. Remember in Chapter 10 earlier,
Shek and I said, look, there's hope in this and here's what I
propose. And Ezra goes with it.
And even now you have the crowd saying, Ezra, we're willing to
do this, but can we go about it in this way?
And Ezra does the same. Humility is such a key component
to longevity in leadership, to effectiveness in leadership, and
Ezra proves that. So there's so much.
Positive going on here. Right, there's a unification of
thought, of method of conviction.
That being said, there is something here that is sobering.
Which brings us to the fourth point about sin that I hope will
make you hate it more and more. Sin often comes with lasting
consequences. The confession was immediate.
The. Repentance is there, but the
restoration is going to take time.
You know, sometimes people think that if they just repent, it'll
fix everything. Praise God.
Reconciliation with the Lord is immediate, but the impact of sin
goes beyond just God's heart. As much as that is primary,
there's there are some things that happen with our sin,
depending on the nature of it, that demands patience.
For things to turn around. For the better.
Do you know how long this ultimately took?
For them to clean up this mess Fast forward look here verse 16.
Then to return exiles did so. Ezra, the priest selected men
heads of Father's houses according to their father's
houses, each of them designated by name.
On the first day of the 10th month, they sat down to examine
the matter, and by the first day of the first month they had come
to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.
You look in about 3 months. So they were right.
This is going to take more than one or two days.
And you know what? This made me think about that
Sin is a greater thief than we actually.
Think we heard? Earlier that sin robs us of our
joy. But you know what I see here?
Sin also steals our time. This is just me, I couldn't help
but. Wonder what could have been done
for the Kingdom? If all this organization and
all. This energy and all these
meetings were given over to something that could build and
strengthen and increase. Look at about two to three
months dedicated to this one thing for those who.
Were here a couple nights ago. For a prayer meeting?
Do we remember how long it took Nehemiah and his team to build
the city walls? How many 52 days?
That's what we're going to find. Out in the book of Nehemiah in.
The coming weeks, 52 days, less than two months to resurrect the
walls and to bring the protection of the people
desperately needed from outside forces.
It's sad what sin takes from us. It's sad how it delays us.
You remember Miriam, the sister? Of Moses and Aaron, Miriam and.
Aaron got into. A conversation, I guess they
ended up being very. Unsatisfied with?
Their position in the ministry and they began to criticize
Moses and they began to talk about his wife.
And God heard it. So what did he do?
He makes Miriam Leprous. She has to go through this whole
the same. Protocol you would find in the
book of Leviticus and she is ostracized and placed outside of
the camp and the whole camp had to wait until she was cleansed
again before they can move ahead.
Gossip hindered. The Israelites.
From advancing in the. Wilderness.
Interfaith marriage here in this case.
Brought the people at a standstill when there was so
much yet to be done. It would do us good to become
more Kingdom. Minded and Kingdom focusing and
gospel centered and Great Commission motivated.
Because when you really had that as an.
Ambition. It gets rid of the petty things
that that often turn into sinful things.
That wasn't the case for this people.
There were lasting consequences. I'm.
Sure, more than they anticipated.
But let's continue to read. Look at the last part of verse
14. Until the fierce wrath of our
God over this matter is turned away from us.
Here's point #5 about sin. Sin, when justified, lived,
exercised, blocks our fellowship with God.
And the people understood that. And it's amazing.
Here, I applaud them. Because their primary motivation
and getting this solved was because they wanted to restore
the favor and fellowship they once knew with God until.
The fierce wrath of our God. Over this matter is turned away
from us. We want God's.
Face and smile to shine over us again.
So let us let us not put this to the side as we're ready to do
whatever it takes. God is in the picture.
You know, there are a lot of people.
Trust me. I know there are a lot of people
who repent, and when they repent, God is nowhere in the
repentance. It's a worldly sorrow.
They got caught. They disappointed others.
They disappointed their church leaders.
They upset their spouses. They failed their children.
But a person who truly loves God.
Will understand that my sin ultimately effects my
relationship with God and I can't live like that.
I can't. Live knowing that I've grieved
the. Holy Spirit, I can't live
knowing that I am robbing myself of a greater blessing in God.
So I will do what it takes, and I will do it as soon as I can in
order to secure God's blessing God himself.
Is there any New Testament example of this or is this just
an Old Testament thing? Can you think of a New
Testament? Warning or a New Testament
insight that would suggest that the way we live and the
decisions that we make can have an effect on our experiential
relationship with the Lord. You know what came to mind?
What Peter said to husbands in first Peter 3 go to first Peter
3. Look at verse 7.
Likewise, husbands live with your wives in an understanding
way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they
are heirs with you of the grace of life.
Don't you love that God is very. Clear the woman is a.
Weaker vessel. This is speaking about primarily
her, her physical abilities. And in the same breath, he says.
Yet they are equals with you spiritually since they are heirs
with you of the grace of life, right.
So they have a different makeup in terms of their physical
abilities, but in the eyes. Of God, they are heirs.
With you Co heirs, with you in the grace of life.
But notice this so that your prayers may not be hindered.
So a couple of years ago. I was sitting with a friend.
He's a dear friend, and he was about to get married.
And I asked him the question they usually ask people when
their wedding is around the corner, are you excited to get
married? And he goes, yeah, I go, great.
He goes, well, I'm also nervous. And I thought, yeah, that's
normal. And he goes, you know, maybe not
for the reasons you think. And I said, what are you nervous
about? He goes, I'm nervous because
once I do get married, it's going to change my prayer life.
And the way I heard that was, yeah, you know, you're busier
and you have more responsibilities and you have to
take care of the emotional well-being of your wife and you
have to provide for her. And no, no, no, that's not what
I'm talking about. You see the way?
I treat my wife will determine how God hears my prayers, and
I'm nervous about that. I thought that's good and that's
biblical. What is Peter doing here?
He is motivating husbands to be more gentle and more patient and
more loving towards their spouses, namely their wives.
By reminding them that. How you treat that daughter of
His will determine how you experience God.
You know I heard someone saying commenting.
On this verse that, unfortunately for some prayers
of so little value that this warning doesn't mean much to
them, that stings. But if you are a person who has
experienced. God's presence in prayer.
You've seen God answer your prayer.
Then you tremble at a warning like this.
And after that unjustified. Argument that you had with your
wife and you walk away to a separate room.
You know what should be going through your mind if I don't?
Go there and apologize. Doesn't matter how hard I pray,
God's not going to listen. Honey.
I'm sorry, you know, let me give you some advice, single people
here. That's why you need to find a
spouse who fears God. Seriously, doesn't matter how
much they love you and gush over you.
I'm telling you, once you live with somebody else, you're
going. To experience.
Your own fallenness and the fallenness of that person that
you thought was an Angel that fell from heaven.
And in those moments where? You look at this person, you
think to yourself, who are you? Or you look at yourself and go,
Who am I? What's going to motivate you?
What's going to motivate them? To seek for forgiveness, to
serve you, to be committed to you when you've given them zero
reasons to do so. I'll tell you what.
The fear of God, that's what a person who prizes the
relationship with God above all else.
So that husbands who have a. Prayer life.
That's what this is indicating. That's what this seems to be
implying, that they have a prayer life.
Would realize I can. Try to convince myself all I
want that I'm in the right. But God tells me to.
Honor the woman who is weaker. If I don't, he's not going to
listen to me and I care. About my relationship with God.
So I'm going to fix this relationship.
What are the people doing? They are.
Stimulated by the. Fact that God's anger is over
them, even though that reign could be understood dually, even
as we heard it, that God is actually ready to bless them,
they're still in sin and they want to make it right.
And so one of the ways in which you and.
I will be able to overcome sin is by understanding.
That it blocks. Our fellowship with God the
longer we hold on to that sin. Let's come to the final point in
the book of Ezra, verse 15.
Only Jonathan. The son of.
Assahel and Jeziah. The son of.
Tikvah oppose this and Meshulam and Shabbathaya, the Levites
supported them. And then in verse 16 down to
verse 17, we. Read it already.
It's a summary of how this took about two to three months to
solve. You know, verse 15.
It's arguably one of the most difficult verses to interpret in
the book of Ezra. Ezra by the Spirit.
Wants to tell us that there was a level of opposition to this
whole thing for some reason. Now here's the.
Debate There are two main. Interpretations with this verse,
what is the motive of the opposition?
What's the nature of it? So there are some who would say
that this group of four are opposing the plan, or at least
the proposal to delay. Trying to solve this because
that's what they're. Asking for let's just take our
time here. And it could be that these men
are saying no, no, no, no, no, we need to deal with this now.
And. They're doing so because they're
zealous for purity and they're zealous for righteousness.
The second interpretation is that they are opposing the
overall call to separate from the peoples of the land, more
importantly the foreign wives. Assuming that.
They are perhaps a little bit more.
Air. Quote sympathetic.
They think this is too harsh or maybe.
They have people that they. Know that will be personally
affected by this ruling and so they're opposed to the whole
idea. No, no, no, we should.
It's a little bit extreme, Ezra, come on.
And I'm spending time trying to think are.
There any clues here that can at least lean into one of those
possible understandings? And no matter what the motive
is, there is a. Lesson you can still learn from
it. It really shows, by way of
example, the difficulties that sin creates and one of the.
Difficulties that it. Creates is that sin often
impacts others that we didn't intend to, and it's.
Involves people that aren't. Not even directly a part of the
situation. You can almost sense a little
bit of tension. In the community, there isn't
total consensus. Here you have some who think
differently and feel differently.
And again, no matter what the nature of this opposition is,
there's friction. If you want to.
Again, have another additional tool weapon in your arsenal to
fight against sin effectively. Never forget this.
Every sin carries the potential for collateral damage.
No matter how private, no matter how.
Personal it is. It has the ability to leak out
or to explode beyond the radius that you've conjured up in your
mind, thinking even if it does get really bad, it won't
actually go get too far. That's deception.
You have this group of people who are.
Opposing this. And there are other people who
are feeling. Differently about this.
And it should cause us to. Realize that I am a member of
the body of Christ. And I can be a reason for the
body. Of Christ to rejoice more, or
for the body of Christ to grieve more.
So these are 6 things that we. Can learn about sin in these
passages. And in the next Bible study, we
will. Look at the actual ones who
committed this sin and consider why the Bible places their names
in this book for all to see for all time.
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you and we ask
that you would change us. Lord, if if your word tonight.
Pressed any particular transgression in our lives, any
sin in our lives that we we've been trying to hide and we
think. That we've been able to manage.
And to supervise, Lord, let it be the death of that sin today.
Let us put the sword of the Spirit on the neck of that sin
and kill it once and for all. Thank you for giving us a
greater strategy, or at least a reminder to the strategies that
we might have abandoned in our war against sin.
Thank you for this community that helps us fight.
May we all be Ezra's to one another.
Number one. First, being humble and and
mindful of our own weaknesses, but more than that, being loving
enough to at the right time, in the right moment, speaking out
and speaking up in order to rescue one another from walking
to dangerous territory. Lord, we pray that you would be
blessed. Even in this study about sin
that we would be able to rejoice in the Savior.
That as we come in our brokenness.
As we come in our failures, you are willing to rain grace and
rain mercy and rain love over us.
Thank you that you're gracious even with our imperfect
repentance even. As we stumble into your.
Presence, not knowing how to fix the chaos we might have created
in our home, in our own hearts and our churches.
But you are ready to restore. And Lord for those who might
even be. Disheartened by their own
choices and realizing that the ramifications are much larger
and are lasting longer than they had hoped.
May they have patience, may they trust the process, and may we be
people who who do not oppose those who want to make it right
again. May this church be a loving.
Church not when we are lovable, but when we have made so many
mistakes or even 1 mistake. A Church of restoration, Lord.
We desire to be because you are a God of restoration and we want
to be like you. Receive our worship now in Jesus
name, Amen. Amen.
Let's stand and worship the Lord together.