Ezra 10 (Part 2) Bible Study (The People Confess Their Sin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

I with excitement now I'll ask you and invite you to turn with

me to the book of Ezra in chapter 10.

We already began this chapter, but we were looking at another

section in it. And if you're wondering if we're

going to complete it tonight, I will let you know from now.

We will not be completing it tonight.

But who's in a rush anyway? Ezra chapter 10, and just plant

Ezra 10 · chapter mention

your eyes there, verse 7. For a moment, you would think

that a book like the book of Ezra that highlights the return

of the Exiles from their captivity, the revival of their

covenantal identity, and their perseverance through obstacles

and persecution, that it would end on an inspirational and

hopeful note. Unfortunately, it doesn't, at

least at first. We already know this, but since

the opening of Chapter 9, the dominant theme of these closing

passages have been the infection of sin in a community of

believers, a dangerous trend of interfaith marriage that has

threatened the survival of the remnant of Judah.

But thankfully, as soon as the unthinkable was made known to

the very man who led the second expedition of Jews back to their

homeland, it was put to a stop before it could spread.

And this should help us see the ending of the book of Ezra.

On a more encouraging note, this is teaching us more than just

how sin can revisit and can cause a people to tolerate it

even though they just recently experienced and tasted the

kindness and mercy of God. There's there's something else

going on here. The primary thing in focus is

that we have a man with such God fearing conviction who confronts

sin, and because of his courage and because of his piety in his

own walk with the Lord, the sin that is so disheartening to him

and even to us is eventually and actually quickly repented of.

That's what we're about to read. We are about to look at

repentance on a national level, the contrition and the humility

of a people who could have hardened their hearts instead.

But they chose not to. Which means, despite all the

disappointment that you and I might have experienced in the

past couple of weeks, we can breathe a sigh of relief because

this story ultimately ends in victory.

Do you know why? Because whenever sin is repented

of, no matter how long it has been enjoyed and no matter how

much damage it has caused, is a triumph.

It's a triumph. And that being said, this is not

the only victory that you and I can experience over sin.

There's something more ideal than us just repenting after

we've committed sin or lived in a season of disobedience.

And that is, by the grace of God, refusing sin, gaining even

a foothold in our lives to begin with, to rejecting it at the

phase of temptation, to denying it when it is still in seed

form. And that's how I want us to

approach this study tonight. Although we are going to be

looking at a people who lost their way but are now recovering

and reconciling to the Lord. There are principles here that

can help us in our resistance against sin before it has a grip

on us. And so I want us to consider in

this Bible study six insights about sin that will help you.

And I hate it more and fight it more effectively.

And the beauty about these six insights is that they are not

necessarily in any particular order, nor are they

interdependent in actuality. Each of these points can be a

standalone Bible study. And so I want us to read the

first 2 verses of the passages that we'll be examining, and

then we'll pray, and then we'll consider these six things

together. So remember, the last thing that

we saw about Ezra is that he publicly wept, publicly prayed,

and shortly after that he made his way and isolated himself to

do just that in private. And what we're about to look at

in verse 7 is what's going to take place the very next day.

Let's read. And a proclamation was made

throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles, that

they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that if anyone

did not come within three days, by order of the officials and

the elders, all his property should be forfeited and he

himself banned from the congregation of the Exiles.

Lord, we ask that You would help us now with these verses.

And Lord, this study is organized in a way to despise

sin with a righteous hatred. And so, Lord, we pray that this

would not be a study that would encourage condemnation or

discouragement or frustration. We pray that we would feel as

though you were equipping us and you are urging us on, and you

are motivating us into greater sanctification, greater worship,

greater holiness, greater relationship with you.

So Lord, use every single one of these things for personal

reflection. Help us not think too much about

how this can help others, and help us translate it as Your

voice directly to our lives. We believe that you will guide

us now. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. 6 insights, 6 truths, 6 points about sin that will help

you and I hate it more and fight it more effectively #1 as we

just read. Sin must be confronted swiftly.

Sin must be confronted swiftly. You know what we just read will

make more sense when we remember the authority that was granted

to Ezra by the Persian government.

And so we read verse 7 and verse 8.

But let's look back at Chapter 7, verse 26.

Notice what the king of Persia said to Ezra before he even left

Babylonia. In Ezra 7 verse 26 it reads,

Ezra 7:26

Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the

king, let judgement be strictly executed on him, whether for

death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for

imprisonment. So Ezra is not operating with an

independent or a self promoting authority.

He has been granted this ability, and he wields it at

this time because he knows the nature of sin.

He does not delay. When he receives his report of

widespread iniquity, he acts upon it immediately because Ezra

studies God's Word. Ezra knows God and knows what

God has revealed about everything, including our sin,

and here's what He is showing us.

The longer sin is ignored, the greater it becomes in strength

and in its influence, the greater becomes in its strength

and its influence will increase. So his awareness here becomes

even more inspirational when you consider another important

factor. Look quickly.

Just zoom out in Chapter 10. What do you see in the

second-half of this chapter? A list of what?

A lot of names, and we talked about this briefly last week,

but this record is not a celebratory one.

It is actually one that indicts, it exposes those who are

responsible for this sin of interfaith marriage.

And we'll look at this more carefully next week.

But you know what I decided to do the other night?

Count the number of names you're saying.

Why would you do that? I'll tell you in a moment, and I

think it depends on your translation.

But if we can just have a general ballpark here or a safe

number to go with, 110 men are found guilty for this crime.

Why does that matter? Well, do you remember the number

of people that are mentioned in the book of Ezra that joined not

Ezra but Zerubbabel and the first wave of refugees?

In case you you don't go to Ezra chapter 2 and look at this

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

number with me in verse 64 of Ezra chapter 2.

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

The whole assembly together was 42,360 besides their male and

female servants, of whom there were 7337 and they had 200 male

and female singers. So close to 50,000 people joined

Zerubbabel when Cyrus made way for the Jews to go back to

Jerusalem. Now here's what we have to

understand. Ezra comes onto the scene 80

years after this first census. So do you think they multiplied

over those 80 years? Definitely.

We don't know how much their population grew, but you can

expect that it grew over those decades.

You might be still wondering, why does this even count?

Well, what's this leading to? Well, think about it.

If we're honest when we consider that the return exile started

out nearly 50,000 strong and surely grew over time, finding

out only that there is 110 people who have sinned

grievously in this act of disobedience makes you wonder if

Ezra's being a little bit too dramatic in his response to this

news, right? I mean I'm not a math person,

but imagine 110 out of more than 80,000.

Perhaps more than 50,000 for sure.

Wrong. He is not overreacting because

when you factor in sin with statistics, the numbers mean

something different. Do you know what the Bible says

about how many sinners it takes to do much damage to something

good? Anybody have an idea what the

number is exactly? Do you have the biblical proof

for the answer that you have? How many sinners does it take to

do damage? Well, Ecclesiastes 918 tells us

listen to these words from Solomon, who is not just wise,

he was led by the Spirit when he penned these words.

In Ecclesiastes 9/18 it says wisdom is better than weapons of

war. But one Sinner destroys much

good. Just one.

In any community, in any setting, one Sinner, if he is

determined to sin, can wreak havoc.

You know how many sinners Ezra is dealing with?

At least 110. And even if you're still not

convinced that the ratio is as dangerous as the Bible makes it

out to be, or that maybe Ezra as being a little bit overly

zealous here, one thing that you can applaud about Ezra that you

cannot deny in the Bible is his attitude towards the potential

infectious power of sin. That he deals with it while it

is still small, while it is still in its initial phase

before it gains more ground. He puts a stop to it.

And this is what we have to understand about sin for, for

ourselves, whether corporately or individually, it must be

swiftly confronted. So that means take captive that

thought pattern of lust that you may have convinced yourself as

harmless because it's in your brain and nobody else can see it

and nobody else knows about it. Well, apprehend it then, before

it turns into flirtation and before words become action.

Bring your outbursts of anger to the Lord early in your marriage

if you're noticing A trend. If your spouse is calling it

out, listen. Deal with it now before it wears

out. Your spouse and you have other

issues to deal with should you choose to do so later on.

Are you lazy? Do you have that problem?

Seek accountability for your laziness now before it becomes a

burden on others that you love and ruins your testimony.

All in all, listen. When a stone is about to be

pushed over the edge of a Cliff, it is much easier to put a stop

to it then, because gravity teaches, the more momentum it

gains as it descends, the stronger it becomes and the more

difficult it is to stop it. So while the roots are shallow,

while you still have a sensitive conscience, and while the damage

is minimal, take that sin seriously.

Don't wallow in condemnation. Partner with God's Word, God's

people, God's power, and go to war.

Go to war. Ezra means business because Ezra

is a man who's in tune with God and he understands there may be

110 people out of hundreds of thousands, but this can get ugly

real quick. So I'm going to do something

about it today. Let this be the attitude of the

redeemed. So truth number one about sin,

if we want to hate it more and conquer it with greater

effectiveness, confront it swiftly.

Confront it swiftly #2 Let's read verse 9 of verse 10.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled that

Jerusalem within three days. It was the 9th month of the 20th

day of the month, and all the people sat in the open square

before the House of God trembling because of this matter

and because of the heavy rain. So the people responded and we

can applaud them for that. We can rejoice in the fact that

they actually arrived and they, they gave, they gave themselves

over to Ezra's guidance and his exhortation.

However, this verse broke my heart.

And the reason why it broke my heart was because you have a

group of people, a large group of people who are assembling at

the House of God and they are trembling, they are paralysed

with fear. You're saying, well, shouldn't

they be? Yes, but think about it.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, what you find is

that when there is a call to come to the House of God, it's

an invitation to joy. It's an invitation to festivity,

to warm fellowship, to song, to celebration.

And yet what you find with this group instead is that they're

coming terrified. Why is that the case?

Because it teaches the second point about sin in our study

tonight, and that sin robs us of joy.

Sin robs us of true joy. And we never really think about

that while we're being tempted, do we?

That when sin is tolerated, when sin is something that we

continually pursue and justify and excuse, then eventually

peace is replaced with paranoia, blessing is substituted for

burden, and a confident conscience is now replaced with

a tormented one. That's exactly what we see here.

These people who should be coming to the House of God with

exuberance and delight are in dread.

And so here they are trying to figure things out, trying to

wonder what is this going to lead?

Do they understand that they are in trouble?

They understand that they are going to have to face

consequences for their actions. And you have to always remember

this if you want to be more equipped, because temptation is

inevitable. You can be tempted at any time,

in any place, no matter how much you know.

This is a reality that we will have to experience and face

until we are in glory. That's what makes glorification

so glorious. We will never have to know the

presence of sin again. Put this in your arsenal.

Sin in the form of temptation will never tell you what it's

going to take from you. It will only tell you what it

will give to you. Isn't that what you're always

thinking about when you're being tempted?

This is what I'm going to gain. I'm going to gain satisfaction.

I'm going to gain security, I'm going to gain confidence.

I'm going to gain enjoyment. I'm going to gain whatever the

case may be. And so these men come and

they're trembling. Now here's what's amazing.

There's this added detail. What's the added detail?

That they're coming because they're obviously they know that

they're being challenged for their sin.

But notice the last part of verse 9.

And because of the heavy rain, Why tell us that?

Some are satisfied in saying, well, it's because Ezra wants to

be historically accurate. This is just more evidence of

his eyewitness account that he not only tells us the timing of

this meeting, but even some of the details of that particular

day. OK, that's nice.

But is that really what's happening here?

Others are more comfortable in interpreting this as how the

people are translating the setting of this moment, that

this rain, this heavy rain is perhaps a manifestation of God's

displeasure over them. And that can certainly be true.

But whether the people are afraid and whether they are

translating this whole scene as God showing His anger, there is

a note of hope in this saying How it seems gloomy, seems dark,

seems scary. I'll give you the answer, but

you have to go to the book of Deuteronomy.

Go to Deuteronomy Chapter 11 with me.

Deuteronomy 11 · chapter mention

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

Deuteronomy 11 · chapter mention

11 when you Scroll down here to verse 13.

And if you will indeed obey my commandments, that I command you

today to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your

heart and with all your soul. He will give the rain for your

land in its season, the early rain and the later rain that you

may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.

One of the features that make the Old Covenant unique is found

here. That rain, the supply of this

grace, is totally dependent on the whole hearted obedience of

the people. You obey.

I'm going to give you rain. You don't obey, then I'm going

to make the heavens bronze. It's plain, it's clear.

So you have this in the background, right?

And your understanding of how God works, especially in this

dispensation. Then you come to Ezra.

You look at the same covenant people.

They are in disobedience. They are being confronted for

their sin and what's happening. It's raining and it's heavy

rain. Not just casual rain, not just

sprinkles, heavy rain. You would think that God would

unlock this vault after the people had confessed, after they

had proven their repentance to be sincere and genuine.

But instead, when they make the initial move of restoring their

obedience, God meets them with rain.

In other words, He honors though they are fearful, though they

are wondering, though they are gripped with terror.

The Lord is meeting them in mercy.

In fact, He is pouring out mercy on them.

I'm not sure if they understood it that way, but it makes you

wonder if God was trying to convey that, that He's pouring

out rain, pouring out rain, pouring out rain, and they're

standing there because God is honoring their initial steps

toward repentance. And it's no different for you

and I that even if you have grievously offended Him, even if

like this people, you have received His grace upon grace

upon grace, and this is how you respond to it.

The moment you choose to turn back to Him, there is an open

heaven. One of the greatest forces in

leading us to greater repentance and holiness is God's kindness,

is it not? You know, your life is not what

it's supposed to be, and He still blesses you and He still

meets you with mercy day by day. And this is what these people

are experiencing, a shower of God's love, even though the

repentance is not yet complete. It's just because their hearts

have been broken. And the Lord saw that.

You got to think about it, this day was a day of heavy rain.

I don't think they just stepped to the temple courts and then it

start raining out. I don't think that's how the

text reads. Could it have been easy for them

to make the excuse of delaying this meeting with Ezra because

of the weather? Remember, they're outside.

They don't have what we have going on here, and yet they

still made the effort. They still push through whatever

obstacles there were, including the heavy rain, and that showed

and proved to the Lord that they mean business, that they really

want to hear what God has to say to them.

And the Lord saw that, and He met them with mercy.

Come to the Lord whenever and if ever you are in sin, no matter

how deep it is, and He will meet you with His kindness every

single time. You have to believe that.

You have to trust that no matter what, no matter what your own

mind tells you, no matter what anybody else tells you.

So we have to understand that sin robs us of joy, but God is

ready to give that joy back. He's always ready to give us

that joy back. Let's come back to our main text

to the Third Point of Ezra in chapter 10, as we look here at

verse 10 and 11. And Ezra the priest stood up and

said to them, you have broken faith and married foreign woman

and so increase the guilt of Israel.

Now then, make confession to the Lord, the God of your Father's,

and do His will. Separate yourselves from the

peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.

Point #3 about sin is that sin is weakened within a righteous

community. Sin is weakened within a

righteous community. Where would the people be

without Ezra's leadership? What if he had delayed coming to

Jerusalem? What if he was not as serious

about his role as a priest, about his study of God's Word,

about his zeal for God's honor? We can only imagine.

But Ezra was a real man of God. Ezra fear the Lord and because

of his presence in this moment, he was able to stop the bleeding

of the people who could have easily lost so much more life

and put themselves in a very dangerous predicament.

Now notice what he says here. You have to compare it with how

he prayed. So we read those two verses, but

go back to Chapter 9 and look at verse 6 again.

His opening words in his prayer when he found out about this sin

to begin with, he says here in verse 6 saying, Oh my God, I am

ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God.

For our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our

guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

He's being inclusive here, our guilt, our heads, our

iniquities. But go back to verse 9 or verse

10 rather of chapter 10. And Ezra the priest stood up and

said, you have broken faith. You have broken faith and

married foreign women and so increase the guilt of Israel.

What do we make of this? That it is necessary at times to

point the finger and hold somebody accountable.

Ezra demonstrated his humility already.

When he got before God, he said we, he said ours.

But when he got before the people who are guilty of sin, he

said, you, you know, there are some people who give different

kinds of advice for preachers. One of the things that is

commonly shared for preachers to be more fruitful perhaps, or

accepted by their listeners is that when you bring up any kind

of command or exhortation or insight, especially if it's a -1

concerning our nature and our tendencies, don't say you say

we, never say you, we us our. And that is certainly true

because you find that in the Scriptures, you find that in the

epistles, you find that in the writings of men of God, prophets

of God. But it is unbiblical to say that

you must always include that language in every message, in

every rebuke. That is not true.

And Ezra shows us that here, that there are times when a

leader has to look at a people and say, you what did Nathan the

prophet say to David when he gave that parable that was meant

to cause David to make a judgement ultimately upon

himself? Did he say we are the man?

That what he said? Now he says you are the man.

You know what that does? When you personalize these kind

of things, it sharpens the blade of conviction upon the

conscience. If you rely too heavily on the

Wii, you blunt that blade. Now we have to be careful

because Ezra also shows us that that kind of approach must be

wielded carefully and wisely. I'm aware that there are some,

especially preachers, who make it their ambition every week to

beat up the people that God has entrusted to their care and to

make them feel guilty week after week after week after week, and

to make it seem as though they're superior, they're

holier. You're all making this a more

difficult church. You're all making this a

difficult and that is not the right attitude either.

But a true man of God, like Ezra demonstrates, begins with a

revelation and an awareness of their own fallenness, our

iniquities, our heads, our guilt, and from that place when

it's the right time to say you. But what's the lesson that

accountability. If you and I want to be able to

have a greater chance of overcoming sin.

We need people to speak like this in our lives, to love you

enough to say, listen, you're out of order here.

Listen, I've been noticing your language.

You're not talking the same way. Where have you been?

I haven't seen you in church in months.

Not we haven't been at church at months for months.

That doesn't work. And so there are moments when

this, this kind of bold confrontation in love is

required. And it's this very thing that's

going to lead the people back to the will of God.

And Ezra proves further in his very rebuke how the right kind

of community, the right kind of partnerships and influences in

our lives is absolutely necessary to be strength in this

area. Notice what he says.

He's so he's a brilliant spiritual surgeon.

He knows exactly what to point out.

He knows exactly the symptoms. He knows exactly the root cause.

Look again here at verse 11. Now then he's speaking to the

same people. Make confession to the Lord, the

God of your Father's and do his will.

Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the

foreign wives. What's the key issue here?

What's the problem? The main paramount predicament,

interfaith marriage, right? So you would think that Ezra

would emphasize separate yourselves from the foreign

wives, but he put something before that.

What does he say? Separate yourselves from the

peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.

Again, this man is insightful. This man is in tune with God and

he understands that the marriages, the illegitimate

unions, is a symptom of a deeper issue.

Something came before this. This is just the fruit of a

root. And what was the root?

Association with the wrong people.

The fellowship with the people of the lands eventually led to

marriage with the people of the lands.

The companionship with unbelievers led to the most

serious kind of companionship that you can have on this

planet, and that is marriage. And so when Ezra's thinking, he

realized if we just deal with the symptom, then we risk

repeating this. So I'm making it a primary

charge. You have to reevaluate your

circles of influence. You have to reconsider who you

are inviting into your life and who you're allowing to walk with

you in this life because in this case, it led to this kind of a

disaster. And if we have to, if we're

going to be honest with ourselves, some of the sins that

we can't seem to gain victory over is because of some of the

people that we won't let go of. So the question we have to ask

ourselves at this point in the study is, do I have anybody like

Ezra in my life who has a walk with God?

Not just anybody, a sincere love for the Lord.

And I invite them to speak into my life, even if it hurts at

times. And more than that, who do I

have in my life that influences me?

Who do I look up to? Who do I enjoy being around?

Who do I have partnerships with? Who do I find in my social

circles more than anybody else? Because a true spiritual man or

woman understands that who you do life with will determine the

direction of your life. Ezra understood this.

Men like Paul understood this when he told the Corinthians bad

company corrupts what good morals?

First Corinthians 15 verse 33. But on the positive, we read

1 Corinthians 15:33

here and we find out here that sin is weakened within a

righteous community. So don't think that you can

drift away from the church and think that you're going to be

stronger because of it. Inevitably you will become

weaker yourself and sin will become stronger.

Let's continue verse 12 then all the assembly answered with a

loud voice. It is so.

We must do as you have said. But the people are many, and it

is a time of heavy rain. We cannot stand in the open, nor

is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly

transgressed in this matter. Let our officials stand for the

whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have

taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and within the

elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our

God over this matter is turned away from us.

Do you see what's happening here?

The people, praise God, are enthusiastic, this kind of

exhortation, but they're also honest with the practicalities

of it. And this group of people, this

assembly, realizes we can't do this as speedily as we would

like. One, it's pouring out here.

It's uncomfortable. Two, there's a great.

Crowd to try to decipher and to try to organize.

This is not feasible. And thirdly, there needs.

More organization. Moving forward, if we're going

to be able to do this with with any effect, this is going to

take. Longer than one or two.

Days, they said. And we know that they are not

trying to delay. This because they don't want to

have to face the consequences because they give an immediate

solution in verse 14. And here's the solution.

Let's all go back and let's set up appointments and let's have

local leaders assess every case and determine how to move

forward. You know, it's possible that

some of these foreign wives converted or maybe they are

willing to convert. So is separating from them the

best answer? Probably not.

But all of that is going to require more investigation, more

examination, more time. And, amazingly, Ezra.

Agrees, which further confirms this man's humility.

I'm aware that there are some leaders listening to this study

and potential leaders in the future who are tuning in.

Here's what you have to understand about Ezra.

This is a side note. Ezra shows us that that leaders

need to be open to receiving insight and instruction and

guidance from those who are not leaders.

Yes, a leader has to take initiative.

A leader needs to give direction, he needs to have

vision or else he's not operating as a leader.

That being said, there will be moments where even a leader

doesn't come up with the right way to move forward, and others

may. And you have to acknowledge that

and you have to accept it. And God will bless that humility

up to this point. Ezra has taken.

Cues from two different people. Remember in Chapter 10 earlier,

Shek and I said, look, there's hope in this and here's what I

propose. And Ezra goes with it.

And even now you have the crowd saying, Ezra, we're willing to

do this, but can we go about it in this way?

And Ezra does the same. Humility is such a key component

to longevity in leadership, to effectiveness in leadership, and

Ezra proves that. So there's so much.

Positive going on here. Right, there's a unification of

thought, of method of conviction.

That being said, there is something here that is sobering.

Which brings us to the fourth point about sin that I hope will

make you hate it more and more. Sin often comes with lasting

consequences. The confession was immediate.

The. Repentance is there, but the

restoration is going to take time.

You know, sometimes people think that if they just repent, it'll

fix everything. Praise God.

Reconciliation with the Lord is immediate, but the impact of sin

goes beyond just God's heart. As much as that is primary,

there's there are some things that happen with our sin,

depending on the nature of it, that demands patience.

For things to turn around. For the better.

Do you know how long this ultimately took?

For them to clean up this mess Fast forward look here verse 16.

Then to return exiles did so. Ezra, the priest selected men

heads of Father's houses according to their father's

houses, each of them designated by name.

On the first day of the 10th month, they sat down to examine

the matter, and by the first day of the first month they had come

to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

You look in about 3 months. So they were right.

This is going to take more than one or two days.

And you know what? This made me think about that

Sin is a greater thief than we actually.

Think we heard? Earlier that sin robs us of our

joy. But you know what I see here?

Sin also steals our time. This is just me, I couldn't help

but. Wonder what could have been done

for the Kingdom? If all this organization and

all. This energy and all these

meetings were given over to something that could build and

strengthen and increase. Look at about two to three

months dedicated to this one thing for those who.

Were here a couple nights ago. For a prayer meeting?

Do we remember how long it took Nehemiah and his team to build

the city walls? How many 52 days?

That's what we're going to find. Out in the book of Nehemiah in.

The coming weeks, 52 days, less than two months to resurrect the

walls and to bring the protection of the people

desperately needed from outside forces.

It's sad what sin takes from us. It's sad how it delays us.

You remember Miriam, the sister? Of Moses and Aaron, Miriam and.

Aaron got into. A conversation, I guess they

ended up being very. Unsatisfied with?

Their position in the ministry and they began to criticize

Moses and they began to talk about his wife.

And God heard it. So what did he do?

He makes Miriam Leprous. She has to go through this whole

the same. Protocol you would find in the

book of Leviticus and she is ostracized and placed outside of

the camp and the whole camp had to wait until she was cleansed

again before they can move ahead.

Gossip hindered. The Israelites.

From advancing in the. Wilderness.

Interfaith marriage here in this case.

Brought the people at a standstill when there was so

much yet to be done. It would do us good to become

more Kingdom. Minded and Kingdom focusing and

gospel centered and Great Commission motivated.

Because when you really had that as an.

Ambition. It gets rid of the petty things

that that often turn into sinful things.

That wasn't the case for this people.

There were lasting consequences. I'm.

Sure, more than they anticipated.

But let's continue to read. Look at the last part of verse

14. Until the fierce wrath of our

God over this matter is turned away from us.

Here's point #5 about sin. Sin, when justified, lived,

exercised, blocks our fellowship with God.

And the people understood that. And it's amazing.

Here, I applaud them. Because their primary motivation

and getting this solved was because they wanted to restore

the favor and fellowship they once knew with God until.

The fierce wrath of our God. Over this matter is turned away

from us. We want God's.

Face and smile to shine over us again.

So let us let us not put this to the side as we're ready to do

whatever it takes. God is in the picture.

You know, there are a lot of people.

Trust me. I know there are a lot of people

who repent, and when they repent, God is nowhere in the

repentance. It's a worldly sorrow.

They got caught. They disappointed others.

They disappointed their church leaders.

They upset their spouses. They failed their children.

But a person who truly loves God.

Will understand that my sin ultimately effects my

relationship with God and I can't live like that.

I can't. Live knowing that I've grieved

the. Holy Spirit, I can't live

knowing that I am robbing myself of a greater blessing in God.

So I will do what it takes, and I will do it as soon as I can in

order to secure God's blessing God himself.

Is there any New Testament example of this or is this just

an Old Testament thing? Can you think of a New

Testament? Warning or a New Testament

insight that would suggest that the way we live and the

decisions that we make can have an effect on our experiential

relationship with the Lord. You know what came to mind?

What Peter said to husbands in first Peter 3 go to first Peter

3. Look at verse 7.

Likewise, husbands live with your wives in an understanding

way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they

are heirs with you of the grace of life.

Don't you love that God is very. Clear the woman is a.

Weaker vessel. This is speaking about primarily

her, her physical abilities. And in the same breath, he says.

Yet they are equals with you spiritually since they are heirs

with you of the grace of life, right.

So they have a different makeup in terms of their physical

abilities, but in the eyes. Of God, they are heirs.

With you Co heirs, with you in the grace of life.

But notice this so that your prayers may not be hindered.

So a couple of years ago. I was sitting with a friend.

He's a dear friend, and he was about to get married.

And I asked him the question they usually ask people when

their wedding is around the corner, are you excited to get

married? And he goes, yeah, I go, great.

He goes, well, I'm also nervous. And I thought, yeah, that's

normal. And he goes, you know, maybe not

for the reasons you think. And I said, what are you nervous

about? He goes, I'm nervous because

once I do get married, it's going to change my prayer life.

And the way I heard that was, yeah, you know, you're busier

and you have more responsibilities and you have to

take care of the emotional well-being of your wife and you

have to provide for her. And no, no, no, that's not what

I'm talking about. You see the way?

I treat my wife will determine how God hears my prayers, and

I'm nervous about that. I thought that's good and that's

biblical. What is Peter doing here?

He is motivating husbands to be more gentle and more patient and

more loving towards their spouses, namely their wives.

By reminding them that. How you treat that daughter of

His will determine how you experience God.

You know I heard someone saying commenting.

On this verse that, unfortunately for some prayers

of so little value that this warning doesn't mean much to

them, that stings. But if you are a person who has

experienced. God's presence in prayer.

You've seen God answer your prayer.

Then you tremble at a warning like this.

And after that unjustified. Argument that you had with your

wife and you walk away to a separate room.

You know what should be going through your mind if I don't?

Go there and apologize. Doesn't matter how hard I pray,

God's not going to listen. Honey.

I'm sorry, you know, let me give you some advice, single people

here. That's why you need to find a

spouse who fears God. Seriously, doesn't matter how

much they love you and gush over you.

I'm telling you, once you live with somebody else, you're

going. To experience.

Your own fallenness and the fallenness of that person that

you thought was an Angel that fell from heaven.

And in those moments where? You look at this person, you

think to yourself, who are you? Or you look at yourself and go,

Who am I? What's going to motivate you?

What's going to motivate them? To seek for forgiveness, to

serve you, to be committed to you when you've given them zero

reasons to do so. I'll tell you what.

The fear of God, that's what a person who prizes the

relationship with God above all else.

So that husbands who have a. Prayer life.

That's what this is indicating. That's what this seems to be

implying, that they have a prayer life.

Would realize I can. Try to convince myself all I

want that I'm in the right. But God tells me to.

Honor the woman who is weaker. If I don't, he's not going to

listen to me and I care. About my relationship with God.

So I'm going to fix this relationship.

What are the people doing? They are.

Stimulated by the. Fact that God's anger is over

them, even though that reign could be understood dually, even

as we heard it, that God is actually ready to bless them,

they're still in sin and they want to make it right.

And so one of the ways in which you and.

I will be able to overcome sin is by understanding.

That it blocks. Our fellowship with God the

longer we hold on to that sin. Let's come to the final point in

the book of Ezra, verse 15.

Only Jonathan. The son of.

Assahel and Jeziah. The son of.

Tikvah oppose this and Meshulam and Shabbathaya, the Levites

supported them. And then in verse 16 down to

verse 17, we. Read it already.

It's a summary of how this took about two to three months to

solve. You know, verse 15.

It's arguably one of the most difficult verses to interpret in

the book of Ezra. Ezra by the Spirit.

Wants to tell us that there was a level of opposition to this

whole thing for some reason. Now here's the.

Debate There are two main. Interpretations with this verse,

what is the motive of the opposition?

What's the nature of it? So there are some who would say

that this group of four are opposing the plan, or at least

the proposal to delay. Trying to solve this because

that's what they're. Asking for let's just take our

time here. And it could be that these men

are saying no, no, no, no, no, we need to deal with this now.

And. They're doing so because they're

zealous for purity and they're zealous for righteousness.

The second interpretation is that they are opposing the

overall call to separate from the peoples of the land, more

importantly the foreign wives. Assuming that.

They are perhaps a little bit more.

Air. Quote sympathetic.

They think this is too harsh or maybe.

They have people that they. Know that will be personally

affected by this ruling and so they're opposed to the whole

idea. No, no, no, we should.

It's a little bit extreme, Ezra, come on.

And I'm spending time trying to think are.

There any clues here that can at least lean into one of those

possible understandings? And no matter what the motive

is, there is a. Lesson you can still learn from

it. It really shows, by way of

example, the difficulties that sin creates and one of the.

Difficulties that it. Creates is that sin often

impacts others that we didn't intend to, and it's.

Involves people that aren't. Not even directly a part of the

situation. You can almost sense a little

bit of tension. In the community, there isn't

total consensus. Here you have some who think

differently and feel differently.

And again, no matter what the nature of this opposition is,

there's friction. If you want to.

Again, have another additional tool weapon in your arsenal to

fight against sin effectively. Never forget this.

Every sin carries the potential for collateral damage.

No matter how private, no matter how.

Personal it is. It has the ability to leak out

or to explode beyond the radius that you've conjured up in your

mind, thinking even if it does get really bad, it won't

actually go get too far. That's deception.

You have this group of people who are.

Opposing this. And there are other people who

are feeling. Differently about this.

And it should cause us to. Realize that I am a member of

the body of Christ. And I can be a reason for the

body. Of Christ to rejoice more, or

for the body of Christ to grieve more.

So these are 6 things that we. Can learn about sin in these

passages. And in the next Bible study, we

will. Look at the actual ones who

committed this sin and consider why the Bible places their names

in this book for all to see for all time.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you and we ask

that you would change us. Lord, if if your word tonight.

Pressed any particular transgression in our lives, any

sin in our lives that we we've been trying to hide and we

think. That we've been able to manage.

And to supervise, Lord, let it be the death of that sin today.

Let us put the sword of the Spirit on the neck of that sin

and kill it once and for all. Thank you for giving us a

greater strategy, or at least a reminder to the strategies that

we might have abandoned in our war against sin.

Thank you for this community that helps us fight.

May we all be Ezra's to one another.

Number one. First, being humble and and

mindful of our own weaknesses, but more than that, being loving

enough to at the right time, in the right moment, speaking out

and speaking up in order to rescue one another from walking

to dangerous territory. Lord, we pray that you would be

blessed. Even in this study about sin

that we would be able to rejoice in the Savior.

That as we come in our brokenness.

As we come in our failures, you are willing to rain grace and

rain mercy and rain love over us.

Thank you that you're gracious even with our imperfect

repentance even. As we stumble into your.

Presence, not knowing how to fix the chaos we might have created

in our home, in our own hearts and our churches.

But you are ready to restore. And Lord for those who might

even be. Disheartened by their own

choices and realizing that the ramifications are much larger

and are lasting longer than they had hoped.

May they have patience, may they trust the process, and may we be

people who who do not oppose those who want to make it right

again. May this church be a loving.

Church not when we are lovable, but when we have made so many

mistakes or even 1 mistake. A Church of restoration, Lord.

We desire to be because you are a God of restoration and we want

to be like you. Receive our worship now in Jesus

name, Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and worship the Lord together.