Ezra 10 (Part 1) Bible Study (The People Confess Their Sin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (3/20/26)

Well, good evening, brothers and sisters. Welcome to our Friday night Bible study. It is a joy to be with you all here tonight, and and and, you know, we get to open the word of God together. We get to mine it for the the treasures that are inside of it. And I'm excited for that tonight, and I hope you are as well.

As we begin our our time together, I'd like to read a familiar passage from one Peter chapter one starting at verse number 13. One Peter one thirteen. The apostle says, Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you with the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fore forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Father, we bow our hearts before you tonight. Lord, and we do celebrate in glory and exalt in the the truth that your word remains forever. Father, it is our hope. It is our anchor in the midst of uncertainty and of confusion and of pain and in sorrow.

For through this word, we know who you are. We know your character. We know your love and your justice and your righteousness, and we know the redemptive plan that you have for us, your children. And father, we worship you tonight. May you receive all of our attention, all of our praise, all of our singing, all of our focus.

Lord, we give it all to you, and we are expecting wondrous things from you tonight. We come before you as needy people needing to be filled up by you. Lord, help us now. May we come away changed from this building tonight. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Church, will you please stand and give worship to our king?

As we will be when he

comes.

Laura, we thank you for the joy it is together in your house tonight. We thank you for the joy it is together in your

house tonight. We thank you for these songs

that we just sang to remind us of your truths and of who Christ is. Our savior, the living Christ resurrected. Give him all the honor and glory tonight. Christ, that he may increase and we may decrease. We ask that as we worship you, as we fix our eyes above, that anything in us that is of the world, of the flesh, would die away.

May we just be focused on you, on your word. We want to hear your voice tonight. We ask that you would speak powerful through your servant, through your word. You may your spirit move in every part of your tonight. Hear from you.

And, we just give you this night where we're gonna worship you with our own being. And we worship you tonight. Jesus. Amen.

Well, take a moment before you get too comfortable. Greet somebody to this important bible study this evening. Welcome them. What a blessing it is to be here on a Friday night. The weather is changing.

And as the season changes, so is the season for this church. We are the threshold of a very historic transition as a ministry. We're getting closer and closer to our new home, our new building. Isn't that exciting? Yes.

And as you know, we are praying and believing the Lord for a peaceful transition and a peaceful, procedure as we make these decisions and we're also believing God to continue to help us with our funding as we wanna enter into this new chapter with the least amount of financial burden as possible. And so as you continue to pray, pray that God would provide as he has up to this point, pray that it would be above and beyond what we hoped, and, he's already done that. And we're believing for more. So if it's on your heart to give tonight, the ushers will assist us in that very act of worship. And while that is taking place, it is my responsibility, a joyful one, to let you know of a couple of things that we're doing here at the church, even before we transition in a few weeks.

Number one, men, you know this well. You've been been you've been prepared. I'm sure that tomorrow morning is our men's breakfast, the first one of 2026. So brothers, be there, come and join, this important time of fellowship as we get to know each other on a deeper level. And if you've never been a part of this, you're welcome as well, as long as you're a man.

You can come. You can join. There'll be breakfast at 10AM. There'll be time of prayer, and there'll be testimonies and singing. And it's always a lovely time.

We don't have too many of them, so when they come along, take advantage of it. So that's tomorrow at 10AM. And please be mindful of that. Of course, we're meeting here this Sunday. We have our Lord's Day service at one.

Every Wednesday, we're in this very room seeking the Lord in prayer. And God has answered our prayers in this building. And so I hope that builds your faith, and I hope it will continue to stir you to seek the Lord in this place and in your own life. And as you know, on Fridays, we're here going through the Old Testament. One more thing, we're also doing our times of fellowship outside of these services.

That looks like picnics at some times of the year. That looks like events at other times. And and another way, we do sports. And so there is a a basketball, time, for the brothers on April 11 from two to four. And if you wanna be a part of that contact list where you get to know what's going on outside of these walls, on Saturdays or different days of the week, just sign your name up.

There's a sheet at the sound booth, put your phone number down and we'll give you updates and notifications relating to these things and we're excited for that. There are other things I can mention but I wanna reserve the time to get into the word of God. And before we even go into the the book of Ezra, you know, as we were singing, I was reminded of an interesting phrase that Paul the Apostle made to the Galatians. He rebukes them. I mean, Galatians is an intense book because usually when Paul writes his letters, he commends the believers no matter what their situation is.

He thanks God for them. He highlights certain things about them. But when it came to the Galatians, he went straight for the jugular. He didn't waste any time because they were tampering with the gospel. They were messing with the fundamentals of the faith.

And so he went straight to correction. And he says something so interesting later on in that book. He says, was not Christ crucified before you? Do you know that phrase? Do you remember that phrase?

I I always wondered what Paul meant by that because there was no way that the Galatians were there on Calvary witnessing the crucifixion of Christ. But he states it as though they did. And the only explanation for that is that Paul preached the gospel to the Galatians so clearly, so accurately, so powerfully, it was as though the Galatians witnessed the crucifixion. And walking up to this platform, I said, Lord, please may that same grace rest upon our services here. That when Christ is preached, when these truths from his words are declared, it would be so real to us.

It was it would be as though it was happening right before our eyes. That's possible. And the only way we can access that as we're about to learn is through prayer. And so I hope you didn't come here just to hear a lecture. I hope you didn't come here mechanically, understanding how the order of service functions on these evenings.

But let's pray with expectation and believe that God can open our eyes really and make Christ so vibrant and so actual to our reality. Lord, we thank you for this night. We pray that you would purge us from any obstruction to the truth. Anything that would hinder us from receiving your voice, Lord, please rescue us. We pray that you would relieve us of any distractions, anything that would sabotage what you wanna do this this night.

Oh, Lord, all the cobwebs of indifference and compromise, we just pray that you would blow it all off and that we would be clean vessels, empty vessels ready for a fresh filling of truth and of your spirit. And Lord, as Paul even mentioned over and over again, the necessary power to deliver the word. We pray for that same grace. Let this be more than just words. Let this be more than just interesting connections and scripture quotations.

Let there be true power. True power. And we believe that you will meet us here because we believe you're the living Christ. We ask these things in the precious name of the lord Jesus. Amen and amen.

You came to a very important bible study tonight because we have reached the final chapter of the book of Ezra. And so I invite you now in your bibles to turn with me to Ezra chapter 10. And as we approach this final text, I I think it will help us to be reminded of why Ezra left Babylonia to return to Jerusalem the way he did. It's plainly stated for us in the very chapter that we are introduced to this man, Ezra. So you're there in Ezra 10, but take a peek quickly at Ezra chapter seven verse 14.

In Ezra seven fourteen, it reads, for you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand. Ezra's burning concern in packing his bags and making his way back to the Holy Land was to investigate and see if the exiles who preceded him were still abiding according to God's law. You've heard this before. Allow me to repeat it again since we have such little time left in Ezra. When Zerubbabel led the first wave of exiles, his mission was to rebuild the house of God.

When we're gonna learn in Nehemiah about his leadership and his calling, it's gonna focus on the erecting of the city walls to protect the people of God. But when it comes to Ezra, we know that his calling is to fashion the people of God and to ensure that they are molded and shaped by the law of God. You see, Ezra had a revelation that the psalmist had in Psalm 93 verse five. You don't have to turn there but listen to this. One part of that verse in Psalm 93 is this, holiness befits your house.

Befits is not a common word in our vocabulary but it helps to know the original. The original word more accurately means beautify. And that's why some translations read render it holiness adorns your house. In other words, there is something about holiness that makes the house God and not just something about it, it is the very factor that makes God's house delightful and ravishing and attractive. So Psalm 93, what what what's essentially being communicated there is more than the gold embedded in the structure, more than the artistic carvings in the walls, more than the furnishings.

It's the piety, it's the holiness, it's the purity of those who represent God's house. And that's what Ezra understood. We can have a building but if the people are not holy, then the house of God is not truly beautiful. And so his mission was to ensure that God's people were set apart, that they were living according to his precepts, that they were loving his word in a in a way that translated into their transformation. But here's the problem.

You know this because you were with us last week, the last couple weeks actually. After a little bit of four months being in Jerusalem, Ezra received the tragic news of the true condition of the people of of Judah. They were living in compromise. They were living in deep sin and the main crime that was committed was that many of the men had married pagan wives. And this was a grave concern and we talked about why that was such a serious problem briefly but we spend more time looking at Ezra's response to this.

The man broke down. He lamented. He cried out to God. He was overcome by pain. He could not believe that even after all these years in exile, it would be so short of time before the people would come back to the very sin among other sins that would kick them out of the promised land.

And so this man Ezra, he seeks God. He tries to process it in his emotional state and then he goes on to pray about it. And when he prays about it, it's recorded to us and for us in great detail in chapter nine. But what we're gonna see in chapter 10 is that Ezra does more than feel pain and he does more than pray, he's actually gonna act. He's gonna do something about it.

And even in that observation, we have a wonderful example in Ezra. There's a pattern here that should be replicated because there's gonna be times for the serious Christian where you will be disappointed. You will be disappointed by the failures of others. And when that time does come, whether you're the object of somebody's sin, whether you are the one who is offended or you're witnessing it, you have permission to mourn. You have license to sit there and try to process it.

But you can't stay there. You have to pray at some point. You have to bring it before the Lord. And as important as prayer is, if the situation calls for it, prayer may not be enough. There might be some kind of intervention on your part.

There might be a time, a moment for you to get up and actually confront it yourself. And that's exactly what this man of God is going to do and we will not complete this chapter. We're gonna look at the first six verses together and let's begin by reading it before we look at it closely. Ezra 10 verse one. While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel for the people wept bitterly.

And Shekaniah, the son of Jeiel of the sons of Elam addressed Ezra. We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land. But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God and put away all these wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

Arise, for it is your task and we are with you. Be strong and do it. Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said, so they took the oath. Then Ezra withdrew from the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehonan the son of Eliashab where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. You know what's so amazing about the verses that we just read?

That before Ezra said or did anything directly to the people, the people were stirred with conviction. We read it. Since Ezra heard this tragic news about what the people were doing, he didn't he didn't engage with anybody until verse five where he made the nation take an oath that they would obey moving forward. But before that, Ezra took the brokenness and the sin and the failure of the people and he brought it before God himself. And as he sought the Lord, something miraculous happened.

The hearts of the people were beginning to be drawn to the Lord. And it's at this point where I realized something, that Ezra provides an illustration how it is totally possible for any of us to make an impact on others indirectly. There is an influence that we can have as we deal with people, but there is a way of drawing people to the Lord and for the Lord though we may not directly engage with those people. And in verse one alone, we have three ways that's possible. Three ways that your witness, your testimony, your walk with God can be a fragrance onto others to want the God that you serve and love.

Three in verse one. You ready? The first one is obvious. It's through our praying. Look again at the first words of verse one, while Ezra prayed, while he sought God.

He didn't preach a sermon yet. He didn't rebuke anybody. He didn't correct. He understood that this was a time where I must speak to God about men instead of speaking to men about God. And so he spent this time looking to the Lord.

And as he was doing this, we should believe that God is answering the prayer while it is being prayed. Because a crowd gathers around this man, Ezra, and they're hearing his words. And they begin to weep bitterly. They begin to be stirred and realize the sin that is plaguing the people. God is moving in the spirit.

God is moving in the spirit of these people and it is totally because of this main thing, Ezra prayed. And any true man of God, any true woman of God understands that prayer contains that kind of power. Not to say that prayer replaces preaching or that it substitutes personal confrontation, but what prayer does and we see this throughout the bible is that it prepares the hearts of God's people and even the lost in order to accomplish something. Look at Paul's rare prayer request throughout his letters. One that comes to mind is in second Thessalonians three one.

In that brief verse he says, pray for us. Listen to these words. Finally brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you. Pray that there would be some grace on our preaching, on our evangelism, on our missionary work. And I love this part, as happened among you.

Do you know why I love that part? Because we know exactly how the word of God was received among the Thessalonians. This is second Thessalonians three one. But when you go to first Thessalonians chapter one, you read where Paul says, look, the word came to you in the Holy Spirit in full power with conviction. And then when he comes to his second letter, he goes, I'm asking that that same experience that you had with the gospel would be copy paste in our next adventure in preaching the word of God, in our next expedition.

But here's the main point, Paul understood that prayer prepares hearts. Prayer does something preemptively even before preaching. Paul had this conviction and this truth embedded in his convictions. There has to be prayer. Ezra prayed and it worked.

But there's a second thing. There's a second observation here in how Ezra indirectly draws the people to the Lord. It's not through his praying only, it's also through his passion. Look again at verse one. While Ezra prayed, yes, and made confession absolutely weeping and casting himself down before the house of God.

What is that? Can you imagine a dignified priest with his garments? This teacher of the law, this well respected man weeping, not crying, not wiping away tears from the corner of his eye. Weeping. And more than weeping, casting himself down.

Imagine somebody pounding the ground with their fist, getting up on their knees and throwing themselves again, doing that over and over again. Clearly, this display of raw emotion says something about how he felt about this sin, about his deep concern for the people of God and the holiness of God. Now we have to be careful here. Passion is more than emotion. Primarily, it is about conviction and there's a difference.

You can be emotional about many things. It doesn't legitimize your passion. It doesn't even necessarily mean you're passionate about something. This is just the manifestation of something that is so rooted in this man. He had conviction.

He had this all consuming understanding of what God deserves and what the people of God are called to. And so he's broken. He's broken because he has this conviction and he is reflecting this sincere concern. And listen, when a man or woman possesses this kind of godly ambition and drive, it will not go unnoticed. It's gonna show up in one way or another.

It's gonna it's gonna be demonstrated through one's compassion. It's gonna speak loudly through a steadfast commitment to the work of God. It's gonna show up through bold confession of the truth. It's the same thing that you find in anybody who possesses what Ezra has here. He's the real deal.

This is everything to him. Being a priest was not a job, it was his calling. Being a teacher was not about impressing people, it was about helping people really come to the truth. And when he saw something that challenged his ministry, that caused people to drift away from the truth, it genuinely shattered him. You know, Jesus was the most profound teacher.

He was the most authoritative preacher. That's what many people said over and over when they heard him preach. No one speaks like this man. There's authority. He grips you when he speaks.

There's power. And that is an indication surely of a zeal that he had. Do you remember what happened when Christ entered into the temple for the first time and flipped tables? It made an impression on the disciples. So much so that they reference Christ demonstration of a zeal for the purity of God's house to a verse in Psalms.

This is in John two seventeen where it says that the disciples remembered where it said, zeal for your house has consumed me. Jesus Christ had zeal. Jesus Christ had passion and that passion was contagious. That passion carried a perfume. And this is something for you and I to consider as well.

Ezra had passion. But there's one more thing worth highlighting. Apart from his praying, apart from his passion, one more element that contributed to the hearts of those who are watching Ezra in this moment and caused them to melt was his piety. His piety. So what you have here is in verse one, it's a subtle part of the verse in the middle where it says, after the people witnessed him doing this, says they gathered to him out of Israel.

They gathered to him. Ezra has been in Jerusalem for about four months, a little bit more than that. And we should be absolutely certain that he wasted no time doing what he was called to do and that was to teach. To teach the law. And the fact that if you go back to verse one of chapter nine, the officials approached him.

The leaders approached him. It means that he developed a reputation very early. He was respected. And more than just respected, he was somebody that could be trusted. Somebody that could be relied on.

Somebody that these leaders believe could actually deal with this sin problem rightly. And so Ezra is new to the scene but Ezra was somebody who won the admiration of many, which speaks about his virtue, which reflects his righteous character. And so the people understood who Ezra was. And when they saw him weeping and casting himself down like this, it meant something. You see, it's more than just the weeping and the wailing and the casting.

It's who is weeping and who is broken and who is crying out publicly like this. This isn't a random fellow. This is somebody that they knew. This is somebody that they understood to be a true priest, a true man of God. And that gave him authority.

All of us should want authority in our witness. And the secret to having a compelling force to our testimony as followers of Jesus Christ is authenticity. Let me say it again. Ezra was no fraud. He was the real deal.

Ezra was committed. Ezra was consistent. Ezra was careful with his walk with the Lord. And so when he did weep and when he did cry out, people took it seriously because they took Ezra seriously because Ezra took his walk with God seriously. We damage our authority, our ability to actually compel people to Christ when we are not cautious about our consecration.

And as I was meditating on this, you know who I thought about? Lot. If it wasn't for the New Testament, if I just had Genesis, I would think that Lot was unsaved. But Peter comes in by the Holy Spirit and calls Lot righteous more than once. And it's like, really?

He is. So he's a picture of a worldly believer. Because of Abraham's praying, angels are sent to rescue him and his family. But Lot still had a choice. And so the angels tell Lot, do you have any relatives here?

Do you have any family left here? Take this time now to warn them of what's to come. Some of you know where I'm going with this, but listen to these words in Genesis 19 verse 14. So Lot went out and said to his sons in law who were to marry his daughters, up, get out of this place for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons in law to be jesting.

Did you catch it? How did the sons in law interpret their future father in law's warning? Oh, the Lord's gonna destroy the city, Okay, Lot. There's a long day at work for you at the gate. Have a meal, sit down, relax.

And many people focus on the ungodliness of the sons in law for not taking this warning seriously and we can't forget to factor in that Lot is partially guilty in this. Why did they take him as a joke? Because he took his walk with God as a joke. You're living in Sodom. You're giving your daughters off to these men who don't fear God, who don't love God.

And all of a sudden now you're serious about God. All of a sudden now you wanna warn about God. You've lost credibility a lot and that's why there's no weight to your warning anymore. You're a leader in Sodom and now you're talking about this Yahweh And now you're trying to get us to believe this message? Ezra was no such man.

Because of this man's piety, there was power. There was power behind his words, behind his praying, behind his concern, and as we're about to find out behind his correction. And one of the ways that you and I can secure that authority in our lives is provided in Ezra's example actually. If you and I want to evade artificial Christianity, there's only one thing you have to do. Come back to Ezra.

Look at chapter 10. We read it in verse six. Ezra 10 verse six. This moved me when I understood the implications of it. Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehoanan, the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.

So what's the big deal with that? Here's the big deal. Up to this point, Ezra was fasting and tearing his garments and seeking the Lord publicly. And when he had opportunity to get alone, guess what? Nothing changed.

What does that show? That he wasn't putting on a show. What does this mean? That who he was publicly, he was privately. What he said and what he did before men was totally in alignment with who he was when he was by himself.

That's how you and I possess authority with our testimony. It's real to us. It's not something you just flip on and turn off depending on your environment. No. Ezra was the same whether people are watching or not.

And when people were watching and when they were listening because of who he was, when nobody was watching or listening, oh, there was something behind his praying. There was something behind his passion. There was something about his piety. It all had authority because he was authentic. It's not a mystery.

It's just let this thing called faith and worship and obedience be your life. Let it be your life. Not a part of your life, all of your life. And only then will you exude the fragrance of life. And people will, there's something this is real to you, isn't it?

That's one of the greatest compliments you can get from unbelievers. This is real to you. Yes. It's real to me because God is real and he did a real work in my life and I love him with a real love. Oh, Ezra teaches us so much in verse one alone but we better hurry up.

The spotlight now shifts from Ezra to someone else. Someone that we've never met before and we know very little about with what we have of him. Look at verse two again. And Shechaniah, the son of Jael, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra. We have broken faith faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land.

But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law. No detail is wasted. You know this very well. Here's what stuck out to me.

Evidently, the Holy Spirit wants me to know about this man's family lineage. Shechaniah, he's the son of Jael, of the sons of Elam. That's an invitation for us to explore further but we'll pause here and consider what we have first with these verses that we just looked at. If you were to just work with what we have here, then Shechaniah seems to be among the guilty party of those who married foreign wives. How do we know that?

Because he says it here in verse two again, we have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women. So he includes himself. But more than that, he's clearly repented. He's broken about this. And in his brokenness, in his contrition, he offers a solution and more than offering solution, he actually extends encouragement to Ezra.

Look at verse four, Arise for it is your task and we are with you. Be strong and do it. And you read in verse five, then Ezra arose. Three important words here. He arose.

There was something about Shechaniah's immediate motivation and exhortation that set into motion a a wider repentance in the land. This is a significant moment. And initially, again at face value, you would say, look at the grace of God. Here's a man who was in sin. He turns from his sin and God immediately uses him to help others come out of sin.

But there's something deeper going on here. Can you look at verse 18? It's about the halfway mark of chapter 10 and and don't read it just yet but look at the rest of the chapter. What do you find there? Another list of names in the book of Ezra.

But this list is different. The reason why it's different is because what we've seen prior to this are the list of names and families who have left Babylonia to come back to Jerusalem. That's not what we have here in chapter 10. This record conveys a different message and it's in verse 18. Look at it with me.

Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women and then he lists the names and then there are more names and more names. What is this list about? It's a list of the names who have committed this sin of marrying pagan wives. It's not a list you wanna be on. And as you read this, you you stumble upon something familiar.

If you've been reading this chapter carefully, look at verse 26. Of the sons of who? Do you see it? Elam. Okay.

Mataniah, Zechariah, Jael, Abdi, Jeramoth, and Elijah. Does this sound familiar to us? Scroll back to verse two. And Shechaniah, the son of Jeiel, of the sons of Elam. Who's the Shechaniah?

Shechaniah is the son of a man who was indicted for this very grievous sin. He's the son of Jael, and Jael is the son of Elam, and he is mentioned here in this registry. But at the same time, Shekinah is not mentioned in it. So Shekinah's father is guilty, Shekinah himself is not. So how do we make sense of his word word choice though?

What does he say early on in verse two? We have broken faith with our God and have married four women. So did he do it or did he not do it? When it came to the official list, he's not mentioned there but he admits to it. It's no different than what Ezra did in chapter nine when he prays out on behalf of the nation and he says, our iniquities and our guilt.

Was Ezra guilty of this sin? Absolutely not. You see, Shechemiah had a revelation just like Ezra that though this was a sin that some have committed, it affected the whole nation. This problem threatened God's blessing from continuing on this people and for this people. He had this revelation understanding that this is something that we all play a role in to some degree.

In other words, he's not he is not speaking about the sin issue from a place of self righteousness. Instead, he identifies with the people. And yes, he identifies with people but he also seeks a solution from a place of humility. So this man is humble. He dares to say, we have.

We have done this. And yet in his humility, he was not afraid to denounce his family for openly defying God's word. That's a brave thing to do. You are calling out this sin and among those who committed this sin was your father and your uncles. And he didn't care because sin is sin and God's word is God's word.

I love this man Shekinah. You know why? Because he's standing on the side of truth even if it means he has to stand apart from his own family. You can disagree with me if you like but that's why I believe God uses this man. Even though he's a flash in the pan of the story, he is an important key to what we see in the rest of this chapter.

And I'm persuaded because of what I see in the rest of the bible that when a person loves the truth to the degree that they're willing to stand alone for it, such a man such a woman is a candidate for great things in the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, you have too many people who love mommy and daddy too much. They love them more than Christ. They love their brothers and sisters and their events and the invitations and the memories and the vacations more than what God asked of them. The very ABCs of discipleship is you have to hate your father and your mother, your brother, your sister, your wife and your own children.

Yes, even your own life. That's that's the entry level of discipleship. That Christ, I put you above everybody else. And that doesn't mean that we actually hate our family, that we're hostile towards them and we're arrogant and we despise them. Absolutely not.

All it means is that your love for Christ should be so vibrant, so bright, so white hot that it makes every other relationship look like hate. This is foreign to American Christianity. American Christianity says, do you have room in your life for Jesus? He wants to fit in on a Sunday afternoon. That's what many, many people preach.

That's not gospel. The Bible shows us over and over again that for us to even have a a chance, one of becoming one of his, Two, to be used by him. You have to make this determination. Whatever the word of God says, if anybody's gonna stand in my way, I'm gonna choose the word of God. Perhaps one is not persuaded.

Here's another example. Do you know why the Levites became the Levites? Here's what's so interesting. Reuben disqualified himself as the firstborn. Then you have Simeon and Levi who essentially commit small scale genocide.

And then Judah is chosen to be the royal lineage. That's another bible study for another time. But Simeon and Levi, if you focus on on their punishment, it's severe. Simeon virtually disappears from the tribal inheritance. He doesn't have a designated place in the promised land as a result of that sin.

Levi also has that kind of same destiny but then something changes in the narrative and it's because of one decision that Levi made before they even entered into the promised land. It was the golden calf incident. Moses is up there and he's receiving instruction and revelation from God and the people are impatient to begin to worship a false image. And Moses comes down the scene and he's standing at the gate and he goes, whoever is on the Lord's side come to me. Who came?

Only the Levites. And whatever curse that they inherited was reversed to a certain degree. Look at Deuteronomy 33. This is wonderful. Deuteronomy 33.

Look at verse eight. And at Levi he said, give to Levi our Thummim and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah. Look at verse nine now. Who said of his father and mother, I regard them not. He disowned his brothers and ignored his children for they observed your word and kept your covenant.

The tribe of Levi had to make a very difficult decision when they heard that invitation from Moses. Take a sword, put it on your side, run back and forth and whoever you have to slay, slay. And they did so. And many lost their lives that evening. But then you come down here and you realize just how difficult it was.

Among those who were slain under God's judgment was who? Father and mother. Children. And they're commended. Why?

Because they observed God's word. It's an illustration of what we find with Ezra, what we see in Jesus' teaching that our allegiance to Christ is supreme. Shekinah, was was he proud? Was he puffed up? Was he like, not like my father and his uncle?

They're a mess. They weren't really true. No. We we. He's broken himself.

He's among those who are weeping. He's tender. And yet, there's this rock solid standard. They're wrong, and I will not justify it. I will not show favoritism.

This is an open sin. This is public and so I will publicly acknowledge that they are in error and they must be handled accordingly. And God used this man for a moment to speak life into Ezra himself. It's amazing. Let's come back to Ezra 10 verse three.

This is how God uses this man Shechaniah. Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God. That happens often in the Old Testament when there is great public scandal, they wanna renew their covenant. But more than that, to put away all these wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law. This is a text that has caused much debate among students of the word of God throughout the years because it seems to be to our shock that Shekinah is suggesting that the solution to this problem is widespread divorce.

Put the wives away and their children. The children too? More concerning is that it seems that Shekinah is appealing to the law for this kind of ruling. And we have to ask ourselves, where do we find in the law instructions or guidelines concerning divorce? And there are places in the Old Testament that give clear exhortations of how to deal with divorce and remarriage within the context of Israelite unions.

But this situation is very unique. What's the problem here? The problem is these these men of Judah married foreign wives who did not abandon their worship of false gods. They were not like Ruth who said, your god is my god now. That's a Moabitess who became a follower of Yahweh and God blessed her and God blessed her union with Boaz.

That's not what we have here. We don't have converts that were Gentiles and now this is a matter of race, nothing of the sort. What you have here are pagan women who still worship their false gods and married these men who are supposed to be men of God and are now alluring them and drawing them them away into idolatry. And you'd be very hard pressed to find anything that speaks into that in the law. The only thing that speaks into that is a clear prohibition of such marriages from Deuteronomy seven verse three.

That there is no option whatsoever for anybody to marry into these foreign peoples who will not forsake their false worship. And And so if anything, these marriages are not legitimate from the start. They're not supposed to exist. They're not viewed as legitimate in God's eyes. And so it's so important to see this text in that way.

This is not a matter of personal preference. This is not a matter of severing relationships because there is this marital tension among these groups. This is a matter of recovering Israel's spiritual identity, about preserving their distinctiveness. And listen, this is potentially about to vanish if it's not dealt with. They just returned from exile.

You're just budding again and now you're already intermingling and polluting the holy race. So when we see it that way, we understand that this is emergency protocol. This is cutting it at the root. This is dealing with the spiritual cancer before it spreads and kills. Now, perhaps in the coming studies, maybe the next one will be the final one.

We'll we'll talk about if this is the best approach. Because you think about the practicality of it, divorcing and then the children, what are you gonna do with the children? So that's where the debate surrounds. But what we can say for now is this, under the new covenant, we do have clear ruling of what to do in this situation. It's very much clarified.

You know this very well in first Corinthians seven where Paul tells the believers who had many questions about what to do in their relationships namely marriage once somebody becomes a Christian. If one party or both parties, what do we do with this, Paul? And and Paul is addressing the groups that are believers after they have gotten married and their spouses did not become believers. And what does he tell them? Clearly, stay.

Stay. You don't divorce. You don't walk away. Let me read it to you in first Corinthians seven twelve. To the rest I say, I not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. One of the reasons for that is you as a Christian, even if you're the sole Christian in that household, carry enough sanctifying power that you can actually rub off on those in your house that don't love Christ. So stay. If they wanna leave, be at peace. Let them leave.

But if they consent to stay, as difficult as it is, that's your mission field every morning. So stay. May the grace of God be with you. Shekinah, though, this man, he's a lover of the truth, it's obvious, but he's more than just an enforcer of the law. This man is a strategic encourager.

The ministry of encouragement is so underrated in the church. And I believe that it holds atomic power for the church if Christians knew how to exercise it wisely and the way God designed it to be exercised. The greatest men and women of God throughout history survived through encouragement. You have this man Ezra, he's falling apart and it's it's a very moving scene. I mean, the people watching this man are weeping in what they're witnessing here.

And Shekinah has a discernment to not just offer a solution which is helpful, but he sprinkles encouragement for Ezra. He needs it. And it's gonna do something to Ezra. And maybe you can find more. I settled that two ways that Shekaniah encourages Ezra that can inform and equip us to be more effective in our encouragement for other believers.

Look back at verse two. Shekaniah the son of Jael of the sons of Elam addressed Ezra. We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the lands, but even now highlight this, even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Makes you wonder what was running through Ezra's mind. I mean, I'm not saying Shekinah read his mind but maybe he thought potentially I could see why Ezra is so broken now.

Maybe Ezra is thinking, we really blew it. I mean, we already experienced this exile. Is God gonna severely discipline us again? Maybe like we just got a taste and a sample of this was so complex, like the implications and and the consequences of how we we are going to deal with this, especially if we go with what Shek and I recommend can be so daunting. Now we have to separate families to try to deal with this, try to purify the people again.

And and this is daunting again. This is terrifying perhaps, Ezra. Who knows what he's wrestling with? Maybe to him he thought there is no way out of it. We're stuck in this.

And Shechaniah says, Ezra, there's hope still. It's bad. It's really bad. It's ugly. It's unthinkable to certain extents, but it's not beyond hope.

And I'd like to think that when there's a sin issue that somebody's grieving over, when there's a problem of somebody's own stupidity brought them to, We should convey a similar message. It's bad. It's vicious. There might be long term consequences, but there's still hope. Ezra, we serve a God who still offers hope.

Hope. And we need to know when to offer such a message. Sometimes when people are sinning, you don't offer them that kind of message. You rebuke them. But I don't see that appropriate here especially because Ezra is so broken and the people are broken.

What they need is relief. And the relief here is there's a way out. God is not done with us. It may seem like it but it's not the case. And the reason why you and I can have the confidence to give such a message is because God does.

You know, we're talking about actual marriage here, real physical relationships that are compromised And yet God throughout the scriptures communicates his relationship with his redeemed, with his covenant people like a marriage. One of the strongest prophetic books that communicates that is the book of Hosea. And you open up Hosea chapter one, it's graphic. It's it's really shocking what God says about his people. And you go on to chapter two and it doesn't take very long before the Lord changes his tone.

And he says something to this people who are steeped in spiritual adultery. You know this very well. Listen to these words from Hosea chapter two verse 15. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley Of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

That's God speaking. To a filthy and adulterous people who are harlots in God's eyes, who are committing whorish acts, spiritually speaking. And in the midst of this, God lets him know there is a door of hope. And the Lord is so poetic and he is so brilliant in how he he he makes these things known. He says specifically, I will make the Valley Of Achor a door of hope.

Does anybody know where the Valley Of Achor comes from? If you know, you can actually answer it. Where does that come from? What's that a reference to? The Old Testament.

Do you remember when Joshua and that generation entered into the promised land and after defeating Jericho, they were told not to take any specific items but to move on and somebody did. What was his name? Achan. And Achan was exposed for his covetousness, for his disobedience and both he and his family were killed for it. And a pile of stones was heaped upon them and that valley was called the Valley Of Achor.

Achor means trouble. And the Lord uses that as a reference to say, listen, you, my people in this generation, you're all in trouble. You've gotten yourself in trouble. Your sin brought this trouble but I wanna tell you that because of my grace, I can change this valley of trouble into a door of hope. Ezra, I want you to know Shechaniah says, there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

And from time to time, that's what somebody needs to hear. That as they're trying to understand how they got themselves into that predicament, maybe ruining their marriage, their testimony, maybe stepping outside of ministry because of a foolish scandal, whatever the case may be, there's a time for us to be encouragers in this sense. Listen, God can still change the story. He can rewrite this. He's so brilliant in his love that he can transform this.

Don't think it's over. But there's another type of encouragement that's offered here back in Ezra 10 and it's so clear in verse four. He ends his brief exhortation by saying, arise for it is your task and we are with you. Be strong and do it. So he challenges Ezra.

Right? He says, listen, you're a leader, this is your responsibility. But maybe maybe Shechaniah perceived that as much of a giant Ezra was spiritually, that this is an intimidating thing that he has to face now. That you actually now have to confront men and their marriages and even in some cases their children. And you have to tell them, this is wrong.

This is not even legal what you're doing. Maybe Ezra wasn't sensing that. Whatever the case is, Shekinah wants to encourage him in this way, He says this is your task but look at that middle part and we are with you. We are with you, Ezra. We are with you.

Be strong. Do it. You wanna be an effective encourager? Do I wanna be more fruitful in that ministry? Discern when to communicate to somebody that you are behind them and you are supporting them.

And don't just say those words, mean it. I'm with you in the trenches, brother. I know that you have a difficult season that you're trying to weather. I know that you have some choices you have to make and I wanna let you know that as long as you serve Christ, I will serve him with you. You know who especially needs this?

Just like what we have here? Leaders. Ezra is a leader. Ezra has to carry more load than the average person. And Ezra shows us that even such type of men need encouragement from time to time.

Here's what that means for us. Do not reserve all your motivation and all your uplifting words to those who are frequently weak and cycling in their devotion to Christ. Keep in mind and be attentive that even the strongest ones experience moments of weakness. And you'd be amazed to know what a heartfelt text message can win for somebody who's serving God. Don't underestimate how one seven to ten minute phone call with a prayer in it can boost somebody to be enthusiastic about the ministry for another three months.

Don't think too little of how a smile and a brief word can breathe life into a brother or sister. That's what Shekinah does. Hey. We're with you in this. You're not in this alone.

You may feel like it, but we're behind you here. Go do this. You wanna know how powerful that was? You think, what's the big deal? I'll tell you the big deal.

Look at verse five again. Then Ezra arose. The words of Shechaniah picked this man up from the ground. He probably dried his eyes and wiped some dust off his garments. And the natural reading of the text demonstrates that it was the words of Shekinah that catapulted Ezra into facing this situation with courage.

Who would have thought Here's where I'm ending. Who would have thought that one of the most inspirational reformers in Israel's history would himself be inspired by an obscure man named Shechaniah. David was being hunted by his father-in-law. You thought you had issues with your in laws? His father-in-law wanted to kill him but he had a good brother-in-law.

You read later on there near the end of first Samuel where David is going from cave to cave and he's evading Saul and his intelligence agency. And there's that one little text that says, and Jonathan strengthened David's hand in the Lord. Why? Because he said something. What did he say to David?

Saul will not find you. You will be king and I will be with you. And that gave David life. The ministry of encouragement. Looking at somebody saying, your ministry is a blessing.

I know that if you did not serve God the way you serve God in this church, we would all feel it. It's not flattery. Be sincere like, don't fake it because that will have an opposite effect. But what we find in these opening verses of chapter 10 as we've been following the steps of this man of God is that even men of God need Shechaniahs from time to time. You may not be a priest, you may not never be a pastor, you may never be an evangelist, you may never be a missionary.

You know what all of us can be? A Shekinah. All of us. And here's how how I was convicted preparing for this bible study. Lord, help me be generous with encouragement.

Let me not seek it all the time and hope for it to come. Let me give it Because it can save somebody. It can redirect somebody. I could tell you stories if we had time. I can tell you stories of how moments of encouragement have kept ministries alive because of a good wife, because of a best friend, because of another pastor from a different church who has no ties with this church but are kingdom minded.

Just quick phone call with a quick word of encouragement. So perhaps this is what the Lord wants us to hear, just to be reminded how effective encouragement can be and that even men like Ezra need it here and there. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've reminded us yet again that there is no portion of your word that we can ignore. We admit that most of us in here have never heard of this fellow Shechaniah, and yet he was waiting to be discovered at the end of this book.

Thank you for showing us all these truths in a handful of verses. Lord, we pray that we would all have authority with our testimonies, that we don't have to try to manipulate anything with our praying, with our passion, with our piety. As long as we are authentic, the authority will take care of itself. And Lord, thank you that this book Ezra that's named after one man shows us that one man can't do it on his own and that the ministry of encouragement can lead to revival. Oh, we've missed it.

Maybe we've heard it so many times and we forget. So thank you for the reminder. Thank you for the reminder, Lord, that you can use any person who has made the decision that I will obey God no matter what it costs me, no matter who disobeys, even if it's my own blood. I cherish the blood of Christ more. Help us know how to stand up for the truth when necessary.

Help us know how to do so in humility like this man did. And Lord, give us the discernment and the ability to know when the weak and the strong need encouragement. Encouragement for those who have sinned and can't see a way out of their trouble. Encouragement for those who are helping people who are in sin and are overwhelmed and can't seem to understand how they can fix it and to breathe life to their souls through a simple word. Father, I'm with you.

I'm praying for you. I love what God's doing in your life. I support it. I'm behind it, and I want God to multiply it. Lord, give give us that grace here at this church.

We love you. We thank you. We worship you now for the wisdom that you've deposited in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.

Let's stand. Let's worship the Lord together. So some many years ago, when I first start traveling to preach at youth conferences, there is one particular conference where there was another speaker, and we we met and got to know each other and we exchanged numbers. And we never saw each other again, but from time to time, he would just send voice messages that were long, but they were just updates on his end, what's going on in ministry, how he's hoping to be a church planner, and then he would ask how things were going on on my end. That was much more brief in my responses.

And then his you know, we didn't see each other. We didn't really know each other, so his messages became less frequent. But in one of the most intense times of ministry for me, I remember one specific night. I've been laying in bed. And the things that were happening in ministry most people did not know about.

And I get a voice message from this gentleman. And this time, this message was a lot shorter than his former ones, probably, like, fifteen seconds. And I think he had sent it before, maybe a few days before, but because of the chaos and the clamor and everything happening, I didn't really open most of my messages. But on this particular night, I opened it and I looked at it, and maybe to get my mind off things, I just clicked it. When I clicked it, it was simply this gentleman saying, Daniel, keep going, brother.

Keep going, brother. Keep going. That may mean nothing to you, but I'll tell you what it did to me laying in that bed. It was like a bolt of electricity hit me. And there was, like, this gust of wind to my weak sail that it just life from a fifteen second voice message.

And I was so moved, I was so energized by it that I finally sent a worthy lengthy text in response. And to this day, he hasn't answered it. And he didn't need to because all I needed in that season was keep going, brother. The Holy Spirit used that. Do not underestimate how your sincere love for a precious brother or sister can rescue them.

Ask the Lord, and I will join you in that prayer to be mighty in the ministry of encouragement. Amen? Lord, your word says in Romans that you are the God of encouragement. May we be a people of encouragement. Let it not be forced, Lord.

Let it not be let it not succumb to flattery. We don't want that. We ask for Holy Spirit led encouragement. Give us the right words to say, a timely word, a word in season. Make us sensitive to you to know how to help your people.

And may may we be humble enough like Ezra to receive encouragement. It's nothing that we are so strong and studied and respected that we can't receive exhortation. Protect us from such pride. Help us not miss out on this ministry. We love you, Lord.

Help us complete this book together. You've been so good to us through it. Be with us this weekend and fill our hearts with encouragement to the point that it overflows to others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So here's my word to you. Keep going. Don't give up. He'll bring you to the end. Stay strong in Jesus.

Brothers, we'll see you tomorrow. For the rest of you, we'll see you next week. If not next week, we'll see you this Sunday. God be with you. Take care now.