Ezra 9-10
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In last weeks message we looked at a number of key applications for us to consider.
To begin with, we need to continue in following the lead of Ezra in that:
We need to set our hearts to study and apply God’s Word to our lives.
We have a distinct advantage over the people Ezra is addressing, chances are everyone here has a personal copy of God’s Word available each day. In some ways these folks were somewhat dependent on Ezra to remind them of the truths of Scripture. With modern technology the Bible can be at your finger tips at a moments notice via a Bible app on your phone & we need to take full advantage of the availability of God’s Word. As we do, one of the key things that takes place is:
Our eyes are often opened to sin in our own lives.
That is what was happening in the Book of Ezra. As Ezra was teaching them God’s Word, all of the sudden many of them were being reminded of what they already knew but had pushed to the back of their minds for sometime. They had turned their back on God’s commands, doing the very things that brought them into captivity to begin with. As this was taking place, and as it takes place in our lives when our time in God’s Word opens our eyes to sin we have not dealt with:
We should be heartbroken over our own sins.
Additionally:
We need to be heartbroken over sin we see in the lives of other believers.
And: lastly,
We need to realize that when we sin, even the private sins we think no one even knows about, others are always affected.
One of the things we spent some time looking at last week was Ezra’s response to the sins of the Nation, we noted that his response was a Proper Response to Sin and that we would do well to respond in the same way to our own sins as well as the sins of believers we know. A proper response to sin can have a significant affect on the individual as well as others and that is one of the things we will be looking at a little later this morning. But to start with this morning, let’s look at Ezra’s Prayer.
Initially when I was putting this together for this morning, I was going to give this portion the title Ezra’s Prayer, but as I thought about it, I felt the need to change to something different, something that I think fits more with what was taking place, but also something that really challenges us as God opens our eyes to sin in our lives that we have not dealt with: Next Slides
A Proper Response to Sin Brings a Proper Devotion to Prayer. Vs. 3-15
If you haven’t already, turn in your copies of God’s Word to Ezra chapter 9, that is page 500 in the Pew Bibles.
Now initially when you look at this title and the reference to a Proper Devotion to Prayer, you likely will think we should start in verse 6, I mean that is where we see Ezra’s written prayer begin. But as I was looking closer I noticed something in verse 5 that led me to include verses 3, 4 & 5 to the Proper Devotion to Prayer. I saw the following phrase: Next Slides
“And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting”
As you may recall from our study in the Book of Esther, in Old Testament times, a devotion to prayer was always present in times of fasting. With that truth in mind we can safely assume that Ezra’s prayer time began in verse 3, which is likely about 9am.
By the way, Ezra’s prayer here is not a normal prayer, it is a confessional prayer. The reason I say this is that the things we see taking place, what we see Ezra doing during this particular time of prayer, are the exception more than the norm in most of our prayer life. However, I am not so sure that this is shouldn’t be the norm during our times of confessional prayer. I wonder sometimes if one of the reasons we struggle so much with repeated sins in our life, and by repeated sins I am talking about those sins we can’t seem to say “No” too, we constantly struggle with them and are constantly confessing them to God. I wonder if the reason we loose in those battles is because even our times of confession to God are almost flippant. Day after day we bring the same sins to God in our prayer time;
Flippant confessional prayers.
“Well God, here I am again, bringing the same sin to you I brought yesterday. Will you forgive me again, and will you give me the strength to say No tomorrow.”
I’ve got to be honest with you, I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed this type of prayer to God in my times of confessions.
There are at least 2 things wrong with this type of prayer: One is:
We don’t take our repeated sins serious enough.
What we are seeing patterned by Ezra is that he took the repeated sins of the Nation seriously. His heart was broken by this sin, that is clear by what we read in verse 3, 4 and 5, as well as chapter 10:1. We see Ezra weeping, we see him fasting and praying, we see him in great mourning, we see him broken hearted.
The second thing I see wrong with this type if prayer is:
2. When we ask God to give us the strength to say “No” to sin, we are putting our struggles with sin on His shoulders.
In other words we are saying to God, if I don’t say “No” to sin, it’s because You didn’t give me the strength.
The truth is, we never have to ask God to give us the strength to say “No” to sin. He has already promised to give us that strength. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read: Next Slide
1 Corinthian 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
The sooner we take our sin seriously, like we see patterned by Ezra, the sooner we will experience victory over that sin. That is exactly what we will see in this mornings passage.
The next thing I want you to notice this morning, particularly in the life of Ezra is: Next Slides
A Devoted Heart Transformed by the Living Word of God Affects Other People. 9:4 & 10:1
I want you to picture what I believe is taking place in 9:3-5 leading up to Ezra’s written prayer that begins in verse 6.
Ezra has just been informed of the sin of the returning exiles, a sin that had been repeated over and over again by the Nation of Israel, a sin that led directly to the captivity they had just been freed from, and he immediately goes into a very public time of mourning before the Lord. Most believe that Ezra was informed about this sin early in the morning. The second he heard of the sin he tore both his outer and inner garment, pulled hair from his head and beard by clumps, and sat down appalled. I also believe, based on his reference to fasting in verse 5, that he is openly and loudly praying to God. That time of fasting and prayer likely included an open proclamation of the exact Scripture the exiles were violating, as well as the judgements God had promised for those that turned their back on His commands. Then look what takes place in verse 4 and what it progresses to in chapter 10:1: Next Slide
4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.
News of Ezra’s response to the sin of the people had spread quickly and pretty soon a crowd of people began to gather around him. As they watch and listen to Ezra, they begin to tremble at his words, because as he prayed Scripture to them they understood, his words are the very Words of God.
So they have moved from:
watching him
to listening to him
to trembling at his words as he makes known to them how God deals with those that ignore His commands.
to what we see taking place in 10:1
Next Slide
1 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.
I recall some of the times of discipline I experienced while growing up. Sometimes when my Dad would discipline me, the discipline was immediate and swift. Other times, particularly when I really made him angry, he would send me to my room. I always thought that was part of the discipline, but actually it was to give Dad a chance to cool down because it was against the law to actually put your child to death. One thing I learned early on was, the longer it took for Dad to come to my room, the more severe the discipline was going to be. When I was particularly bad, as Dad walked into the room I would see him reach for his belt. As soon as I saw that, the tears would begin to flow!
Can I get an Amen in the church!
In many ways that is what is taking place here. As Ezra is praying, as he is declaring God’s Word in prayer, of God’s judgement of sin in prayer, it’s like they could picture God reaching for His belt and they began to weep bitterly before God in His Temple.
Want to see God reaching for His belt? Look at verse 7: Next Slide
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
Next Slide
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
Next Slide
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
Next Slide
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
Next Slide
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
“7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have”:
“been given into the hands of the kings of the lands”
“been given…to the sword”
“been given…to captivity”
“been given…to plundering”
“been given…to utter shame”
He pulls and even bigger belt out in verse 14: Next Slide
14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?
“Would You not be angry with us until You consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?”
(Here we see Ezra step up his important message to those who are listening to this prayer. In verse 8 he reminded them that God had only permitted a small remnant to return to the land this time, and many from that small remnant had once again violated the same commands they had violated in the past. His message is that if God only allowed a small remnant to return this time, will he let any at all escape His judgement if they continue the way they are going?
The pain that came from my Dad’s belt faded pretty quickly, the pain that can come from the belt of God can have a long lasting affect on our lives.
Let’s move now into chapter 10. The first thing I want you to notice in chapter 10 we see in verse 2, and that is: Next Slides
They Accepted Responsibility for Their Own Sin. Vs. 2
Look at verse 2: Next Slide
2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, 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.
We don’t see them making any excuses for their sin here, they didn’t blame the Levite’s and Priests who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the land.
They didn’t blame the Princes and officials who were the civil leaders of the land.
Even though Ezra tells us these spiritual and civil leaders were the leading offenders in these sins.
They accepted responsibility for their own sins.
Way too much of the time we try to make excuses for our sins.
I love what Don Straka wrote for an article for John Piper’s “Desiring God” website. He writes:
“We all know the deadly nature of sin, but we are often unaware of its subtle sidekick — the excuse.
Excuses convert the seriousness of sin into a simple shoulder shrug. “It was just a mistake on a tired night.” No big deal. Not my fault. And just like that, we downgrade our greatest offenses against God into something light, even meaningless. Instead of owning our sin, we excuse it. Instead of killing sin, we explain it away. Our sins become nothing worse, on our minds, than the kind of errors kids make playing soccer.
Grown Up Excuses
This was the moment — the perfect pass right in front of the goal. I could finally be the twelve-year-old soccer star I was made to be. I could hear my mom cheering wildly in the background as I drove my leg toward the ball.
But I missed. I completely whiffed. Chance over. Dream gone.
Where did my mind go in that next moment? The grass was slippery, the sun was in my eyes, I caught my cleat on the grass right before the pass. On and on they went. I needed excuses to calm me down. It wasn’t really my fault.
Cute excuses don’t stay on the youth soccer field. As we grow up, so do our excuses. We move from dismissing soccer goals to disregarding fits of anger; from explaining away dirty rooms to rationalizing clicks on sexually explicit websites. We mindlessly say, “I got angry at my wife because I was tired.” And with that small excuse, we acknowledge sin, but reason that it was okay. But it’s not okay.
A Heritage of Blameshifting
We’re certainly not the first to excuse our sins. Think of the handful of biblical blame shifters. All of them know they have sinned, but they try to explain it away. Adam offered his excuse at the garden as he pointed his finger at Eve (Genesis 3:12). Aaron let the blame for the golden calf fall on the people (Exodus 32:21–24). Saul tried to excuse his unlawful sacrifice on the technicality that Samuel was late (1 Samuel 13:11–12). Excuses have been wreaking havoc since the beginning. And the worst part is, on any given day, we don’t even realize we’re making excuses.
“We can’t give up fighting sin just because we can explain how it happened.”TweetShare on Facebook
Like carbon monoxide, excuses lurk around undetected and carry a deadly poison. Each excuse has its own toxic formula:
I did that because . . . I was in such a hurry. They were yelling, so I started yelling. I was right, and they weren’t listening.
These excuses try to trick us into accepting sin because it was my wife’s fault, or traffic’s fault, or because it was a result of my exhaustion. In short, excuses make sin an inevitable outcome, instead of a deadly killer.”
These people accepted responsibility for their own sins, we must do the same if we are to have victory over sin.
The last thing I want you to notice as we complete chapter 10 is, they understood that: Next Slides
You Cannot Have Victory Over Sin If You Don’t Separate Yourself from the Presence of Sin.
In the case of the Nation of Judah in the Book Of Ezra, they put away their pagan wives who had not committed themselves to the one true God.
Now obviously principles we see in the New Testament do not permit divorce of an unbelieving spouse. In fact we learned as we were going through 1 Peter that we are to live such a life in the presence of our unbelieving spouse that we might win them to Christ by what they see in our lives.
But there is still an important lesson for us in what we see taking place in chapter 10. And that is what we see in the title of our current slide:
We Cannot Have Victory Over Sin If we Don’t Separate ourselves from the Presence of Sin.
So what does that mean for us?
It means that if I am an alcoholic I can’t go to the bar or the liquor store.
It means that if I struggle with pornography, I need to set up protections on my electronic devices, which includes what I watch on TV or the movies I go to.
It means that if I am married and am physically attracted to a co-worker, I may need to find a different job or at least a transfer to a different department.