Ezra 9 Bible Study (Ezra Prays About Intermarriage) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Bible Study Series)

Let's go to the book of Ezra now together.

And we are at Chapter 9 this evening.

And as you're turning there, I want to let you know how

encouraged I was to hear from so many of you who expressed how

last week's study moved you as we explored very important and

powerful insights from the last verses of Chapter 8.

And one of the main details that we spent time on from last

week's study is that Ezra has proven to be more than just a

man of the word. He's also a man of prayer.

And that aspect of Ezra's character is going to be further

confirmed in Chapter 9 because most of this chapter is

essentially a recorded prayer of his, a very moving 1A sincere 1.

And essentially, Chapter 9 invites us to listen in on this

man's heart cry to the Lord because it is documented in such

rich detail. And so that's what we will seek

to do this evening. We're going to try to complete

this chapter in its entirety, but we're going to do so

carefully. So this is one of those Bible

studies where you'll have some headings to keep you in the flow

of these verses. So I want us to look at three

things in this Bible study in this new chapter, and they all

begin with the letter. I hopefully that makes it a

little easier to remember. The first thing that we are

going to examine is the iniquity.

The iniquity. The reason why Ezra is going to

pray so passionately here is because he's going to receive a

report that is going to be quite disappointing shortly after

arriving in Jerusalem. He's going to learn about the

true spiritual condition of the Exiles who preceded him.

And this report mainly deals with a sin issue that has been

tolerated and justified and widely practiced.

What is this iniquity? What can we learn from it?

What we'll see in a moment from the iniquity, we're going to

consider the indignation, Ezra's immediate response to this

crushing news and how it's reflective of his piety and his

relationship with the Lord. Finally, we will look at the

intercession and that is the main portion of this chapter,

how Ezra is going to pray and not just what he's going to pray

but how he prays and how that can help us know true fruit and

results in our own praying. So let's begin looking at the

1st 2 verses of this chapter. Then we'll pray and ask God to

help us as we always do in these studies.

Ezra 9 beginning in verse one. After these things had been

done, the officials approached me and said, the people of

Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated

themselves from the peoples of the lands with their

abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the

Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the

Egyptians and the Emirates. For they have taken some of

their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons,

so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the

lands. And in this faithlessness the

hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.

Lord, we thank you that there is power in your word, and we thank

You that this is what You have provided for us to know you, to

hear your voice. Help us hear your voice.

Lord, we pray that You would wash away all distraction, all

agitation, anything that would obstruct the seed of Your Word

being planted deeply in our hearts.

We pray that even though this is a study, we would sense the

power of the Holy Spirit, that we would see Christ and Christ

alone, that He would be our ultimate treasure.

So Lord, help us tonight. We need Your help.

We do not rely on man's eloquence or intelligence.

We need Your help. And we trust that You hear us as

we come to you now together, in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

Remember 3 things we're looking at.

And the first thing is the iniquity.

But for us to understand the 1st 2 verses of this chapter, we got

to really understand the 1st 6 words of this chapter after

these things had been done. The statement raises at least

two questions #1 after what things have been done right,

Chapter breaks sometimes do as a disservice.

They almost divide the thought unintentionally in our reading.

So it's important when we see things like this, transitional

comments, to pause and say, OK, wait, what just happened for us

to be led to this point? And it's no surprise.

The things that have been done are the things that occur in the

last verses of chapter 8, which include Ezra and the rest

arriving safely to Jerusalem. It includes the temple

treasuries being preserved and protected and accounted for.

It includes the generous and exciting offerings that these

new exiles made upon their arrival to the holy city.

But there is something else in the very last verse of chapter 8

that we can't afford to miss. Let's look at it again in Ezra

836. They, that is the Jewish exiles

who came with Ezra, they also delivered the King's commissions

to the King's satraps, that is, lieutenants or officials, the

King's satraps, and to the governors of the province beyond

the river. And they aided the people and

the House of God who are the day here, the King's representatives

who were closer to the Jews, who dealt directly with the Jews.

So here's what this shows us that upon Ezra's arrival and his

time spent at Jerusalem, that brief time, we know that the

surrounding environment was one of calm and civility.

In other words, Ezra and the Exiles in Jerusalem, we're not

weathering persecution. They were not dealing with

political obstacles. They were not dodging threats

and trying to maintain courage in the face of danger.

There's peace. There's tranquility.

More than that, you even have the approval of the king

extended to his representatives who are dealing directly with

his people to the point that they're supporting the people

and their pursuit of worshipping at the temple.

You can't get any better than this.

And yet, as we just read in Chapter 9, we reminded that

spiritual warfare for the Church includes much more than external

problems. It also means that there is the

potential danger of issues from within.

And that's what transpires here, because problems from within the

community of faith tend to become most prevalent when there

is calm outside. See how Satan works?

If he can't agitate us with attacks, he will seek to slowly

destroy us through internal defilement.

Another way of putting it is if you don't hear Satan roaring

like a lion. That's how Peter describes

Satan's threats and his persecution.

If you don't hear his roars echoing in the atmosphere, he's

very likely Slytherin, like a snake in our midst, quietly

sowing corruption and discord, which means in times of peace

and prosperity. My dear brother and my dear

sister, if you, if you really take the local church seriously,

this is important for us. We always have to be on guard.

Always. It's easy to be on alert when

you are being threatened and oppressed from external forces,

but as we learn here, we often miss the stealth of Satan's

attacks where he seeks to pollute us without us even

realizing it. And that's what precisely

happens here. The people of Judah failed to

discern and to walk in the Spirit until they eventually

became assimilated with their ungodly culture that surrounded

them. And that is something for you

and I to consider. After these things had been done

means even after all the great blessing that they were

enjoying, uninterrupted blessing really, they still fell for a

trap. The second question that this

initial statement raises is after how long Ezra came to

Jerusalem, did this news come to him?

We answered after what things, right?

But now we have to ask what was the exact timeline?

Because the impression that we get here is that it almost

happened immediately Ezra comes to Jerusalem.

We learn in chapter 8, he spends 3 days of rest with the rest of

them. And then on the 4th day they

sacrifice. So you almost think all it took

was four days before the people came to Ezra and said, oh, by

the way, this is what the Exiles have been up to while you're

away. Is that the case?

No, and the only way you would know that is if you go to

chapter 10. Chapter 10 is a seamless

continuation of what we find in this chapter.

And notice the time stamp in verse 9 of chapter 10.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem

within three days. It was the 9th month on 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. Highlight that it was the 9th

month and the 20th day of the month.

Do you remember when Ezra came to Jerusalem?

Well you have to go to Chapter 7 if you forgot look at Chapter 7

verse 9. Ezra narrates and he says from

the first day of the first month he that is Ezra began to go up

from Babylonia and on the first day of the 5th month he came to

Jerusalem for the good hand of his God was on him.

So when we put this together, we get a more precise understanding

of how long it took before these officials broke the news to

Ezra. 4 1/2 months. He got there on the 5th month.

And according to Chapter 10, it was in the ninth month, on the

20th day that he learned about the spiritual compromise in

Jerusalem. You know what my first question

is? When I learned that, why didn't

Ezra learn about it sooner? There was four days.

I get it. That's pretty.

That's pretty quick. 4 1/2 months.

Here's the answer we're not explicitly told.

Could it be that Ezra is seeing the fruit of what he came to

Jerusalem for, to teach, to preach, to explain the law?

And throughout those months, consciousness were awakened,

conviction settled, and eventually what was hidden in

the private lives of so many came to the surface.

Or could it be that these officials who reported it to

Ezra tried to deal with this problem themselves to no avail,

and so they came to Ezra as a final resort, perhaps.

Or could it be that what we find here is that these officials

came to Ezra after realizing that they themselves were

unaware of this intermarriage taking place, and so they came

to him as soon as they learned of it?

That could be true also, but we can't say it with absolute

certainty. So what do we learn about this?

I think one thing you can take from it is that the protection

of the purity of the community of believers is not dependent on

one man, even if that man is a godly leader.

I see these leaders working with Ezra to preserve the holiness of

the people of God. In other words, sanctification

and accountability is a collective effort.

You know, this might sound silly to say, but I was reminded that

as spiritual as Ezra was, he was not omniscient or omnipresent.

You know why I say that? Because you have some people in

the church who think that overseas in the church possess

such powers, they know everything that's going on in

everybody's lives, and they should be responsible because

they have such abilities to keep everybody in check.

No, that's not true. That's not even true for some of

these prophets who are given insight into things that nobody

else knows about. And so this is a very strong

illustration that shows us that even overseers and leaders in

the church require the support and the collaboration of others

in order to see the church remain healthy.

There's a New Testament example of what we just read in these

first 2 verses. Did the Corinthian church have a

lot of problems? A lot.

How did they become known to the apostle Paul?

How did Paul learn about their problems?

Go to chapter 1 and 1st Corinthians.

It's through an obscure individual that appears only

once and look here First Corinthians chapter one, verse

11. Paul writes in the opening words

of this letter for it has been reported to me by who?

Chloe's people, Chloe's people that there is quarreling among

you, my brothers. So even in Paul's day, the way

he learned about the the factions and the divisions in

the Corinthian church was through somebody who clearly was

a reputable individual, somebody trustworthy who sent an e-mail

to Paul. Their version of an e-mail at

least said Paul, there's things happening here at the church.

So I bring up these verses to you not to encourage gossip

veiled as concern. Instead, this reminds us that

each of us play a role and preserving the purity of the

church. So here's what that means for

you and I. When you see a fellow brother or

sister in blatant sin, don't turn a blind eye.

When you hear murmurings and backbiting and divisions

brewing, don't plug your ears. Do something, do something about

it. See, I look at these verses that

I'm reminded one of the main responsibilities of the church,

one of the main purposes of the local church.

Matthew 18, Jesus tells us that if a brother sins, you go to

them, they don't listen. Take two or three others, they

don't listen. You bring it to the church.

Do you realize that one of the purposes of the church is to

keep each other accountable? Jesus rarely used the word

church in the Gospel accounts, and one of the only times that

he does bring it up is to describe the call of calling

each other to repentance when necessary.

And that's why membership is so important.

The one of the main reasons for membership is just that I want

to be held accountable and I'm willing to hold my brothers and

sisters accountable. And that's what we find here.

Ezra is being told about the iniquities of this people and

that's let's talk about this briefly.

What it was exactly the sin that was so concerning.

There's a keyword in the 1st 2 verses that we read.

Look at again here, verse one, the people of Israel and the

priests and the Levites have not separated.

Underline that word separated. That word separated doesn't

appear frequently in the book of Ezra.

It should then cause us to say, OK, where else have I seen this

word? And it appears in chapter 6 for

the first time, and it's given to us in a positive sense.

Now in chapter 6, you have Zerubbabel with the first exiles

coming into Jerusalem many, many years before Ezra arrives on the

scene. But go to chapter 6 and notice

what it says there about the separation of the people in

verse 21. Well, actually look at verse 19

down to verse 21 in Ezra 619. This is not the first time the

word separated comes up on the 14th day of the first month.

The return exile kept the Passover for the priests and the

Levites had purified themselves together.

All of them were clean, so they slaughter the Passover lamb for

all the return exiles, for their fellow priests and for

themselves. It was eaten by the people of

Israel who returned from exile, and also by everyone who had

joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of

the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of

Israel. OK, what's happening here?

We're rewinding the tape. This is describing what

Zerubbabel and the first exiles experience with their holy

enthusiasm. When they came back to

Jerusalem, they wanted to honor the Passover.

But in verse 21, we learned that a group joined them.

See, when Babylon initially came and removed the people of Judah

from their land, there was a remnant that stayed back.

There were Jews who remained in the Holy Land, and over time,

they began to conform to the world.

They began to adopt their practices.

And it stayed that way for decades.

But then, according to what we just read, Zerubbabel comes back

and the Exiles returned with him.

And they want to honor God, and they want to truly worship them.

And they push away, especially the neighbors of the north who

say, hey, we serve the same God, let's help you build.

And they said, no, no, no, no, no.

This isn't for you. This is for the holy people, and

those Jews who had conformed to the world, according to verse

21, had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the

peoples of the land to worship the Lord.

Here's what's interesting. After many years, Ezra arrives

and discovers that those who had once influenced others to

separation have now been influenced by the world

themselves. It is very rare for a professing

Christian to become worldly overnight.

It is always gradual. It takes time.

It begins with small, small compromises, adapting to and

accepting their customs and their convictions until you

blend in to the point where you begin to do things that you

never thought you would do. So from chapter 6 to Chapter 9,

you went from the people influencing their world to the

world influencing the people of God to the point where,

according to verse 2 of Chapter 9, they were intermarrying and

this is a serious crime. I'm not going to spend much time

here explaining why this is such a grievance according to the law

of God, because we've discussed this in previous studies, but I

want to offer some clarification in case this is new to you.

The prohibition here is not about interracial marriage.

This is about different religions, not different races.

This is about ethics, not ethnicity.

This is not about interracial. Again, it's about interfaith and

God warned early on in the people's history of not doing

exactly what we find them doing here because it had the

potential of corrupting the holy seed.

Now partly why that's so important is because there is a

messianic plan in this whole Old Testament narrative that Christ

was to come through this holy seed.

And the danger, the danger of marrying into the world's around

them is that eventually what was supposed to be pure and holy

would disappear because cultures and other faiths would then take

over. If you don't believe me, listen

to these words in Deuteronomy 7 and Deuteronomy 7 verse 3,

Deuteronomy 7:3

before the people even entered into the land.

The Lord says this through Moses.

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to

their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for

they would turn away your sons from following Me to serve other

gods. You see, that's the main

problem, not that they have different skin tones or

different foods. It's because they serve

different gods and you yoke yourselves to them and they will

surely introduce their gods to you.

And that has way bigger problems than just their testimony as a

nation set apart unto God. It has the potential of actually

interfering with the seed that was promised to save the whole

world. And so this was extremely

dangerous. And that is why we can now see

why Ezra reacts the way he reacts.

We look at the iniquity. Now let's consider the

indignation in verse 3 of Chapter 9.

Ezra writes, as soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my

cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.

Then all who trembled at the words of God, the God of Israel,

because of the faithlessness of the return to exiles, gathered

around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.

We've seen reactions like this before in our study, the Old

Testament. We've seen prophets do this, men

of God doing this, other notable figures.

But there is something in Ezra's actions that are quite unique.

Tearing of the government. Have we seen this before?

What stands out? The pulling of his hair.

And not just his hair, the pulling of the hairs from his

beard. Man, you know how painful that

is, Even one hair. So this is so egregious.

This is so appalling, this is so shocking to this man that he

actually begins to pull out his hair from his head and his face.

And as unique as this is, there is one other instance of another

person doing this. Does anybody know who?

Anybody want to take a guess? He's a friend of Ezra's.

Nehemiah, you don't believe me, do you?

You're staring at me like I don't think I believe you.

So I have to show it to you. Go to Nehemiah chapter 13.

Nehemiah 13 · chapter mention

Nehemiah joins Ezra a few years after this.

They work together to see revival in the land.

But even after wonderful movings of the Holy Spirit in this

community, at the end of Nehemiah's book he records a

similar account to what we just read in Chapter 9 of Ezra.

Look at chapter 13, Nehemiah verse 23.

In those days also I saw the Jews who had married woman of

Ashdod, Amen, and Moab and half of their children spoke the

language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of

Judah, but only the language of each.

People paused. Do you see how this is so

problematic? They're losing their identity.

They're losing their distinctiveness.

And this, this is more about spirituality than it is anything

else. But let's move on.

In verse 25, what? How does Nehemiah respond?

And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and

pulled out their hair. That's the difference.

When Ezra learns about it, he pulls out his hair.

When Nehemiah learns about it, he chases them and pulls their

hair. And I made them take an oath in

the name of God saying you shall not give your daughters to their

sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Would you believe me tonight if I told you that there's a lesson

here about pulling hair? Here's how most interpret this

passage. When they compare Ezra and

Nehemiah, they try to make a case that Ezra, because both our

leaders, is much more gentle and self controlled and humble than

Nehemiah was. Nehemiah was a great leader, but

he had an anger problem. Clearly, that's not the point at

all. I think there are two things

that we can learn from this. At least two things that can

help us clarify what's happening here.

Number one, who came first, Ezra or Nehemiah?

Ezra. So when Ezra learns about the

intermarriage, he deals with it appropriately.

He is going to make demands of them.

He is going to confront them. But this is something that takes

place initially, but then you go to Nehemiah and you realize that

the same sin that Ezra confronts is still tolerated, it's still

practiced. Therefore, we can make the case

that the situation demanded even justified disciplinary action,

that this was something that needed to be resolved a

different way because the gracious approach didn't work.

Now you. That might make you a little

nervous. So consider the second point.

Don't interpret the actions of Ezra and Nehemiah independent of

their unique offices. What was Nehemiah's role in this

whole story? He was appointed.

What does anybody know? He was appointed a governor.

Now you have to remember there was no king recorded after the

Babylonian exile. There was representatives of the

royal line, but no official monarch.

The next time you find a king appearing in this story is when

Jesus comes, which is amazing. But with whatever is left in

this Old Testament narrative, there is no king.

The closest thing to a judicial power, a political figure, is a

governor, and Nehemiah operates as such.

And because of his office, he has the authority to enforce

punishment, even if it's physical.

He has the right to actually discipline those in this way for

their crimes. Was Ezra a governor?

What was he? Good?

He was a priest, so his function is a little different, isn't it?

And now it makes a little bit more sense.

Ezra is a priest, and so he's really a mediator.

And as a mediator, when he learns of the sins of the

people, he stands in the place of those who have disobeyed by

pulling out his own hair. He goes to the temple as we're

about to read, and he invokes pain upon himself as one who

stands in the gap between the people and God.

Nehemiah doesn't have that office.

Nehemiah is a judge. Nehemiah is, in a sense, the

Chief Police. And so he he rightly targets

those who are doing wrong and disciplines them for it.

I don't know if you see it, but I I smell a gospel fragrance on

this. Because our Lord Jesus possesses

both offices, does he not? He is a ruler and he is a

priest. And we understand that, as

Nehemiah and Ezra demonstrate, those who trample on this

selflessness and the sacrifice and the gracious priestly work

of Christ will face judicial punishment in the same way that

Nehemiah comes after Ezra. Ezra takes the punishment upon

himself, and many people did not allow that to change them.

And so Nehemiah comes, and what does he do?

He deals with them directly. Christ takes our sin upon

Himself. And for those who swat that away

and reject that, well, you're going to have to face Christ as

judge. You don't accept His sacrifice,

then you will receive His scepter.

That is the gospel message. That is the good news and the

bad news at the same time. And we find it even here.

Isn't the Bible amazing? We can learn something about

even how people pulled their hair.

But there's more to learn about the indignation demonstrated

here by Ezra. We should understand that one of

the main reasons this godly priest reacts so strongly is

because he is so filled with God's Word.

That's hinted at by the description of those who join

Ezra as he is crying out in this way.

Look at verse 4 again. Then all who trembled at the

words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of

the return to exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled

until the evening sacrifice. Did you see the description?

Those who were magnetized toward Ezra were those who trembled at

God's Word. And certainly Ezra was somebody

who trembled at God's Word. So now there is a remnant.

There's a remnant among the remnant who feel with Ezra.

They agree with Ezra. They're drawn to Ezra.

Why? Because they have the same word

in their hearts as Ezra did. They revered and they believe

the same word. Can I tell you something very

important that one of the wonderful outcomes of loving

God's Word and digesting God's Word and investing God's Word in

your life is that over time you will begin to see as God sees.

What did the psalmist say in Psalm 19?

That the commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the

eyes. But more than that, you will

even begin to feel as God feels. The reason for this outrage is

because this man is in tune with God.

If you don't believe what I'm saying to you, can we turn to

one verse in Psalm 119? What's Psalm 119 all about?

The Word and the psalmist's love and adoration for the Word, his

compliance to the Word, his desire to understand the Word.

It's about the Word, the Word, the Word, the Word.

And you'll find from time to time in that lengthy chapter the

effect of the Word and the One who pursues it with such zeal

and commitment. Here's one example.

Look at verse 53 of Psalm 119. After many verses describing the

wonders of the Word and the glories of the Word and the

value of the Word, notice what he says.

Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked who

forsake your law. That's strong language.

I'm boiling on the inside. There's a volcano in my soul.

Why? Well, up to this point he's been

talking about how the Word is everything to him.

And I think that what we find here is one of the fruit of the

Word, living in somebody, that when they look out and see

people breaking God's law, they feel something, something burns

inside of them. You remember Moses on the top of

the mountain, He's getting commands from God.

And what are the people doing down there?

So impatiently they think, OK, let's just move on here and

let's make our own God. And so they build a golden calf

and they dance around it. And the Lord tells Moses as he

is fellowshipping with him, look what your people are doing.

Moses eventually says, look, they're not my people, they're

your people. But it says that the the Lord

burned with anger. And what do you find Moses

coming down that hill? And he burned with anger.

Why did he burn with anger? Well, he was in the presence of

God. When you fellowship with God in

His Word, in his presence, miracles begin to take place in

your outlook. You will see and feel

differently about sin, not in a self-righteous way, not in a

proud way. You're going to see here that

Ezra is not proud. He's broken, he's shattered,

he's consumed because he's consumed with God's Word.

And those who tremble at God's Word are also sensing this.

But listen, God doesn't just want our emotions to be in line

with His. He wants us to come perform with

our pain and frustration and speak to Him about it.

And that's why we come now to the final portion of this study,

and that is the intercession of Ezra.

Look at verse 5 with me and at the evening sacrifice.

I rose from my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and

fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord.

My God, can you look at the last part of verse 4 again?

It says gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening

sacrifice. So before we even look at the

details of the prayer here, consider the timing of it.

Ezra sat silently. He refused to put food in his

mouth. He was broken in contrite until

the evening sacrifice. And once he learned it's time

for the evening sacrifice, he prays.

It's an interesting observation, isn't it?

A lot of remember from the Bible study seminar.

Ask the text questions if you wanted to speak to you.

Here was my question at this point, what's so special about

the evening sacrifice? Now we can explore different

options. One of them is that maybe

there's something meaningful about the evening sacrifice.

And there's examples of this like in Daniel Chapter 9 where

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

he's praying during the evening sacrifice and certain revelation

comes to them. But we won't explore that for

the sake of time. I think there is a clue within

the book of Ezra that tells us exactly why Ezra waited for the

evening sacrifice. Chapter 10 Book of Verse One

While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting

himself down before the House of God, a very great assembly of

men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel.

For the people wept bitterly. Do you see it?

It seems that Ezra waited for the evening sacrifice primarily

because he knew that this is when more people would come to

worship, to be at or around the temple.

Now they're just going through the rituals.

A lot of them, they're just going through the routine.

But Ezra understood, I'm going to wait to make my prayer known,

to say it out loud once the crowd comes in.

And by doing so, he hoped to invoke reflection.

By doing so, he would want them to feel conviction, to realize

the seriousness of their error. He wants to use this opportunity

for the wider community to understand just how grave their

rebellion has been. And so he waits for the evening

sacrifice. And one thing that we can learn

from this is that prayer, as we just read in verse 1 of chapter

10, prayer moves people. Ezra, when he learns the news,

he sits silently. He doesn't even, he doesn't talk

to anybody, including God. He's mourning.

He shattered. But listen, there's a time to

grieve and there's a time to be alone and to lay in bed and to

contemplate something traumatic or heartbreaking.

And then there's a time to pray. There's a time to pray as I

realize, there's a time to pray. There's a time to pray about

this now, not just to internalize it and muse over it,

but to actually say something to God about it.

And he does that. And what I love about Ezra is

that in this situation, before he speaks to the people about

the will of God, he brings the people before God in prayer.

And they're going to be some situations in life where the

best thing that you can do for somebody else is pray for them

before you do anything else. And that's what Ezra does.

He takes this crowd. He waits for them, yes, but he

stands as a priest and representatively seeks God on

their behalf. And prayer can touch people

whether they hear you pray or not.

In this case, they hear, but that doesn't mean whoever you're

praying for needs to know that you're praying for them.

So he seeks the Lord. And now here's what we want to

do. The rest of the chapter is

Ezra's prayer. And I think we would do a

disservice to this section if we just break it up in verses and

look at it separately. I want to read it in one reading

to get the feel of it, to almost put ourselves there with the

wider community that's sitting there and standing there

listening to this man. So let's read with great

attention from verse 6 down to verse 15.

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. 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.

But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our

God to leave us a remnant, and to give us a secure hold within

this holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant

us a little reviving in our slavery.

For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us

in our slavery, but has extended to us His steadfast love before

the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving, to set up the

House of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection

in Judea and Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall

we say after this? For we have forsaken your

commandments, which you commanded by your servants, the

Prophet, saying the land that you were entering to take

possession of it. Is a land impure with the

impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations

that have filled it from the from end to end with their

uncleanness? Therefore do not give your

daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your

sons, and never seek peace or prosperity, that you may be

strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an

inheritance to your children forever.

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for

our great guilt, seeing that you are God, have punished us, lest

than our iniquities deserved, and have given us such a remnant

as this. 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? Oh Lord the God of Israel, you

are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped as it

is today. Behold, we are before you and

our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.

This is one of the most notable prayers of confession in all of

the Bible. And although it is a prayer of

confession, seeing the result of it in chapter 10, I think that

there are things that we can learn about how and what Ezra

prayed that can give us greater confidence to see results in our

own praying. So this is just me.

I'm sure there are so many things that we can draw from

these verses, but I want to leave you with just four

insights about Ezra's praying that can help us pray.

Well, if we are to pray with the hope to see results, number one,

we have to pray with humility. Did you notice Ezra's language

in verse six? Oh my God, I am ashamed and

blushed to lift my face to you, my God.

For did he say their iniquities? Our iniquities have risen higher

than our heads and their guilt, our guilt has mounted up to the

heavens. Wait, is Ezra guilty of the same

sin here? No, but what Ezra shows us is

that when we approach the Lord, we must always remember that

there is a way of praying in self righteousness.

There is a way of praying and patting ourselves on the back

while we're praying. This is how sick we are, by the

way. I've been praying for a week

straight, for this long. I think I'm the only person that

knows how to pray like this. We think things like that.

And even if we are praying about the failures of others, Ezra

shows us that we need to be very mindful of our own sinful

tendencies, of our own potential to commit even the same things

that we are broken about. Jesus warns us that there is a

way of praying where we bar ourselves from having an

audience with God. But humility is what brings us

into his courts. And Ezra here doesn't have a

false humility. He's just being very honest

before the law, and he's very aware of his own ability to

commit grievous things. And so he says our he also

understands that one person's sin doesn't just affect them,

whether it's his or someone else's, It has an impact on the

community. The community of faith feels

that when a genuine member does something wrong.

And so he comes before the Lord acknowledging that he also is a

Sinner. Pray with humility and you'll

have God's ear. But secondly, pray with the

acknowledgement of God's grace. And as much as you can recognize

God's grace, bring it to mind. You know, some people have a lot

of struggle knowing how to worship in prayer.

Worship in prayer is important because people think that prayer

is just about petitions. God, I need this, God, this

person's need that. Amen.

OK, that's important. But one of the ways where you

enjoy God is when you know how to worship him alone.

And though this is a prayer of confession, Ezra highlights many

of the gifts that God has given him in his own life that he's

experienced first hand. Look for.

Look for it in verse 8. Notice what he says.

But now for a brief moment, favor.

DSV renders it favor. Other translations render it

grace. For a brief moment, grace or

favor has been shown by the Lord our God to leave us a remnant

because we could have been totally annihilated as a people,

and you've preserved us. He speaks about God's steadfast

love while they were slaves. Can you reflect on the fact that

you were a slave at one point and God set you free?

Do you ever think about how do you ever think about where you

would have been today if you didn't get saved?

What would you look like? What would you be doing on a

Friday night like tonight? I can tell you what I would be

doing on a Friday night if I didn't get saved at the age of

20. You need a reason to worship.

Just think about what you the mess you could have been, the

disaster that you could have caused for yourself and for

others if God didn't get a hold of your life.

Ezra comes before the Lord and he reflects on how they were

slaves. In some sense they're still

slaves oppressed by a foreign government, but that God in his

steadfast love, they didn't leave them in their slavery.

He talks about how they received some kind of revival.

He says it's a small measure, a little revival, but he doesn't

ignore. He doesn't dismiss it.

He makes it a matter of Thanksgiving to the Lord.

We've experienced some kind of refreshment from you.

O God, you want a reason to come before the Lord and give him

thanks and to worship him. Think about the times that he's

encouraged you through friends, through a sermon, through a

community of believers like what we have here, and use that as a

reason to come before Him. Say thank you.

I don't think there's one Wednesday night here when we

pray where we fail to actually give thanks to God for Maranatha

Bible Church. And that's not because Maranatha

Bible Church is anything special in their own right.

It's because of God's grace through this church and the

blessing it is to each of our lives, Ezra says.

I even recognize that we need a big revival, but I'm going to

just acknowledge the little revivals that we've known.

Surely you can admit that even in a very dangerous and hostile

world, God has protected you. Oftentimes we thank God for the

things that He has done, and I want to challenge you to thank

God for the things that could have happened and they didn't.

You see what he says there, the last part of verse 9, and to

give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

The Hebrew word there is wall, but it's symbolic.

Ezra even recognizes the protection that they've

experienced. And so we see here that if you

want to pray, if you want to pray well, if you want to pray

richly, learn to be mindful of the grace of God and as many

areas of your life as possible. Thirdly, pray with an

understanding of the Word of God.

I won't read it, but look at verse 10 down to verse 12.

You know what Ezra is doing there?

He's quoting scripture. He's quoting the law about

intermarriage. And I like to think that Ezra is

doing this by heart. That's how you know this man

love to study because he's quoting Deuteronomy and

Leviticus. There's a preacher who is in

heaven now when he was asked, and I was there, when somebody

asks it, how do you pray? That's a good question.

You know why? Because the disciples asked

Jesus that question, teach us how to pray, not how to preach,

not how to cast out devils, not to do miracles.

Jesus, teach us to pray. You know what that tells me?

That when the disciples spent time with Jesus, one of the

things that made them so odd was when they heard Jesus pray.

So Lord, teach us to pray. And so this man of God was

asked, how? How do I pray?

And one of the advices you give that still stuck with me is when

you feel like you don't have words to tell God, Take His own

words and pray them back to Him. Besides that, how do you know

what to say to God? The only way you know who He is

is through His word. What promises are you going to

claim? What strategies are you going to

come up with? So many people are so uninformed

in their Bibles and that makes them uninformed and virtually

everything else, including how to pray.

And that's why so many people give up on prayer because they

don't know how God answers prayer.

They don't know how how God can make himself known through

prayer. And only way you can understand

the depths of prayer is by understanding the depths of the

word. Ezra knew the Bible and because

he knew the Bible, he knew how to talk to God.

Know the word, Let it inform your prayer life.

Let it enrich your prayer life. You know how powerful it is when

you take a promise in God's Word and by yourself.

You lay it at his feet and said, Lord, you said this, I want to

see it come to life. Lastly, pray.

Pray believing God can deal with your pain in the best way.

I get that from the last few verses of the prayer, from verse

13 down to verse 15. You know what I find so

interesting and how Ezra lands his prayer.

He brings the matter before the Lord, right?

He brings his pain to God, but he doesn't ask God to do

anything about it necessarily. He doesn't request specific

action or intervention. He just makes it known to the

Lord. Now, that is not to encourage us

to not be precise in our petitions.

That's not the case. But what we can take from this

is that when we don't know how to pray about something, just

the simple act of faith of bringing it before the Lord is

enough for God to do something about it, even if you don't know

the best way to go about it. Notice what he says here in

verse 15. O Lord, the God of Israel, you

are just. Why is he highlighting God's

justice? Because God's justice is

required for the situation, you are just for we are left a

remnant that has escaped as it is today.

Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before

you because of this. In other words, OK, we're here.

We've committed this sin, You're just Amen.

The Bible tells us that there are moments when we don't know

what to pray for, and the Spirit helps us.

Romans 8 tells us that He takes your groans and He takes your

wordless sighs, and He translates them perfectly before

the throne of grace. And in this situation, what

we'll discover in the coming chapter is that God will deal

exactly with this request in the most righteous and redemptive

way possible. Pray, believing that God knows

what to do with it, but He won't do anything about it unless you

come to Him in faith. I'd love to know that that I

don't have to come up with a game plan to bring before the

Lord like it's a presentation. That was my background where you

had to almost convince a client why they should believe in your

product or your game plan or your marketing campaign.

You have to almost persuade them.

God is not asking to be persuaded necessarily.

He wants you to come with childlike faith and be broken in

His presence. Some of the greatest men of God

that I've heard preach when they preached on prayer have openly

said that they found themselves in certain circumstances simply

saying before God help me, help me.

I have no other words, just help me and God helps them.

And what we're going to see as we read earlier is that Ezra's

prayers were heard and it's going to bring fruit.

Let's pray and ask God for that favor in our lives.

We come to you in humility, Lord, thankful for all the

graces that we've experienced as a church and even the recent

gift of you opening a door for a brand new home.

Thank you that we got here safely.

Thank You that in Your perfect mercy You will bring us home

safely, Lord willing. Lord, we have no reason to not

approach You in worship on a daily basis.

Help us do that. And Lord, as we learn with Ezra,

one of the fruit of having the word in our lives is that it

will make us men and women of prayer.

So may that be true of our lives.

And yes, Lord, we want to learn how to worship You without a

screen, without a talented team before us leading us into song.

Help us worship you with our words because our minds and our

hearts have been informed by your word.

Help us and Lord, when there is pressing needs, when there is

overwhelming news, help us pray, believing that you have the best

solution and that you will honor our approach.

You will honor us simply coming before you saying, Oh Lord, here

it is. You are just do as you please.

Lord, we love you and we thank you for the study.

Thank you for bringing us near the end of the book of Ezra may

bear fruit in our lives. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Let's stand and worship the Lord together.