0:00 I, with excitement, now 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 gonna 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 at verse seven for a moment.
0:30 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 nine, 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.
1:37 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.
2:27 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?
3:01 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 have 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.
3:48 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 two verses of the passages that we'll be examining and then we'll pray and then we'll consider these six things together.
4:42 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 seven 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.
5:31 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 are 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.
6:17 We believe that you will guide us now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Six insights, six truths, six points about sin that will help you and I hate it more and fight it more effectively. Number one, as we just read, sin must be confronted swiftly.
6:35 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 seven and verse eight, but let's look back at chapter seven verse 26. Notice what the king of Persia said to Ezra before he even left Babylonia. In Ezra seven verse 26, it reads, whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.
7:14 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.
7:39 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 it 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.
8:10 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.
8:27 It exposes those who are responsible for the 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.
8:46 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, a 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 two and look at this number with me in verse 64 of Ezra chapter two. The whole assembly together was 42,360.
9:31 Besides their male and female servants of whom there were 7,337 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 eighty years after this first census. So do you think they multiplied over those eighty years? Definitely.
10:01 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? 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 a 110 people who have sinned grievously in this act of disobedience, makes you wonder if Ezra is being a little bit too dramatic in his response to this news.
10:40 Right? I mean, I'm not a math person, but imagine, a 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.
11:08 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 nine eighteen tells us.
11:30 Listen to these words from Solomon who is not just wise, he was led by the spirit when he penned these words. In Ecclesiastes nine eighteen, 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?
11:57 At least a 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 is 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 a potential infectious power of sin. That he deals with it while it is still small, while it is still in its initial phase. Before he 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.
12:46 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 outburst 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?
13:41 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.
14:41 Go to war. Ezra means business because Ezra is a man who's in tune with God and he understands there may be a 110 people out of hundreds of thousands but this can get ugly real quick so I'm gonna do something about it today. Let this be the attitude of the redeemed. So truth number one about sin, if we wanna hate it more and conquer it with greater effectiveness, confront it swiftly. Confront it swiftly.
15:09 Number two. Let's read verse nine of Ezra 10. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month of the twentieth 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.
15:37 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 paralyzed with fear. You're saying, well, shouldn't they be?
16:09 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.
16:38 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?
16:56 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 gonna lead to.
17:35 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.
18:00 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 gonna gain.
18:15 I'm gonna gain satisfaction. I'm gonna gain security. I'm gonna gain confidence. I'm gonna gain enjoyment. I'm gonna gain whatever the case may be.
18:25 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 nine, and because of the heavy rain.
18:38 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. Okay. That's nice but is that really what's happening here?
19:00 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. 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?
19:38 It seems gloomy, it seems dark, it 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.
19:59 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 wholehearted obedience of the people. You obey, I'm gonna give you rain. You don't obey, then I'm going to make the heavens bronze. It's plain, it's clear.
20:33 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.
21:07 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.
21:57 And it's no different for you and I that even if you have grievously offended Him, even if like these 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.
22:47 Even though the repentance is not yet complete, it's just because their hearts have been broken and the Lord saw that. You gotta 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. I I don't think that's how the text reads.
23:03 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 pushed 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.
23:30 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.
23:54 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 ten and eleven. And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, you have broken faith and married foreign woman and so increased the guilt of Israel. Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will.
24:26 Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives. Point number three 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?
24:56 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 feared 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.
25:27 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 nine and look at verse six again, his opening words in his prayer. When he found out about this sin to begin with, he says here in verse six, 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.
25:56 He's being inclusive here. Our guilt, our heads, our iniquities. But go back to verse nine 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 increased the guilt of Israel. What do we make of this?
26:20 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 were guilty of sin, he said you. You know, there are some people who give different kinds of advice for preachers.
26:47 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 negative one 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.
27:38 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 judgment ultimately upon himself? Did he say, we are the man?
27:58 Isn't that what he said? No. 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.
28:15 If you rely too heavily on the we, 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...
28:47 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.
29:22 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...
29:32 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 gonna 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 strengthened in this area.
30:08 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.
30:17 Look again here at verse 11. Now then, he's speaking to the same people, make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, 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?
30:34 The main paramount predicament? Interfaith marriage. Right? So you would think that Ezra would emphasize, separate yourselves from the foreign wives, but he puts something before that. What does he say?
30:47 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.
31:10 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.
31:43 And so in Ezra's thinking, he realized if we just deal with this 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...
32:11 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?
32:50 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.
33:10 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 and think that you're gonna be stronger because of it. Inevitably, you will become weaker yourself and sin will become stronger.
33:42 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.
33:58 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 with them 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 in their response to this kind of exhortation.
34:29 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 is not feasible.
34:53 And thirdly, there needs more organization moving forward if we're gonna be able to do this with with any effect. This is gonna take longer than one or two days, they said. And we know that they are not trying to delay this because they don't wanna have to face the consequences because they give an immediate solution in verse 14. Here's the solution. Let 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.
35:26 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 gonna require more investigation, more examination, more time. And amazingly, Ezra agrees which further confirms this man's humility.
35:51 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.
36:12 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.
36:39 Remember in chapter 10 earlier, Shechaniah 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.
37:03 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 gonna take time.
37:36 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's 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?
38:16 Fast forward. Look here at verse 16. Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men heads of fathers' houses according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth 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.
38:40 You look in there about three months. So they were right, this is gonna 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?
39:06 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?
39:50 How many? Fifty two days. That's what we're gonna find out in the book of Nehemiah in the coming weeks. Fifty two days, less than two months to resurrect the walls and to bring the protection that the people desperately needed from outside forces. It's sad what sin takes from us.
40:10 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.
40:36 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.
41:02 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 focused and and gospel centered and great commission motivated. Because when you really have that as an ambition, it it gets rid of the petty things that that often turn into sinful things. That wasn't the case for these people. There were lasting consequences, I'm sure, more than they anticipated.
41:48 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 number five about sin. Sin, when justified, lived, exercised, blocks our fellowship with God.
42:20 And the people understood that. And it's amazing here. I applaud them because their primary motivation in 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.
42:46 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 their repentance.
43:04 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 affects my relationship with God. And I can't live like that. I can't live knowing that I've grieved the Holy Spirit.
43:33 I can't live knowing that I am robbing myself of 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?
44:11 What Peter said to husbands in first Peter three. Go to first Peter three. Look at verse seven. 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?
44:45 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.
45:10 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 that you usually ask people when their wedding is around the corner, are you excited to get married? And he goes, yeah. I go, great.
45:29 He goes, but I'm also nervous. And I thought, yeah, that's normal. And he goes, yeah, no. Maybe not for the reasons you think. And I said, what are you nervous about?
45:36 He goes, I'm nervous because once I do get married, it's gonna 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.
45:52 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. And 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.
46:35 You know, I heard someone say 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, it doesn't matter how hard I pray, God's not gonna listen.
47:11 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. It doesn't matter how much they love you and gush over you.
47:30 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 gonna motivate you? What's gonna motivate them to seek for forgiveness?
47:59 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.
48:38 And if I don't, he's not gonna listen to me. And I care about my relationship with God, so I'm gonna fix this relationship. What are the people doing? They're 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 wanna make it right.
49:07 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 Asahel and Jahaziiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbathiah 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.
49:53 You know, verse 15 is 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?
50:15 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.
50:38 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 quotes 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, no. We should...
51:16 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.
51:51 And one of the difficulties that it creates is that sin often impacts others that we didn't intend to. And it involves people that are 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.
52:34 If you wanna, 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.
53:14 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 six 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.
54:25 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've we've been trying to hide and we think that we've been unable 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.
55:30 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 and 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 reign grace and reign mercy and reign love over us. Thank you that you're gracious even with our imperfect repentance.
56:24 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, in 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 a 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 one mistake. A church of restoration, Lord, we desire to be because you are a God of restoration, and we wanna be like you.
57:26 Receive our worship now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord together.
