Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Ezra 10 (Part 1) Bible Study (The People Confess Their Sin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

Transcript

Ezra 10 (Part 1) Bible Study (The People Confess Their Sin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Before we even go into the the book of Ezra, you know, as we
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  were singing, I was reminded of an interesting phrase that Paul
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  the Apostle made to the Galatians.
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  He rebukes them. I mean, Galatians is an intense
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  book because usually when Paul writes his letters, he commends
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  the believers no matter what their situation is.
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  He thanks God for them. He highlights certain things
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  about them. But when it came to the
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  Galatians, he went straight for the jugular.
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  He didn't waste any time because they were tampering with the
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  gospel. They were messing with the
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  fundamentals of the faith. And so he went straight to
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  correction. And he says something so
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  interesting later on in that book.
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  He says, was not Christ crucified before you?
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  Do you know that phrase? Do you remember that phrase?
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  I always wondered what Paul meant by that because there was
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  no way that the Galatians were there on Calvary witnessing the
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  crucifixion of Christ. But he states it as though they
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  did. And the only explanation for
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  that is that Paul preached the gospel to the Galatians so
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  clearly, so accurately, so powerfully.
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  It was as though the Galatians witnessed the crucifixion.
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  And walking up to this platform, I said, Lord, please may that
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  same grace rest upon our services here, that when Christ
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  is preached, when these truths from his words are declared, it
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  would be so real to us. It was, it would be as though it
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  was happening right before our eyes.
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  That's possible. And the only way we can access
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  that as we're about to learn is through prayer.
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  And so I hope you didn't come here just to hear a lecture.
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  I hope you didn't come here mechanically understanding how
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  the order of service functions on these evenings.
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  But let's pray with expectation and believe that God can open
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  our eyes really and make Christ so vibrant and so actual to our
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  reality. Lord, we thank you for this
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  night. We pray that you would purge us
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  from any obstruction to the truth, anything that would
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  hinder us from receiving your voice.
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  Lord, please rescue us. We pray that you would relieve
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  us of any distractions, anything that would sabotage what you
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  want to do this this night, Lord, all the cobwebs of
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  indifference and compromise. We just pray that you would blow
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  it all off and that we would be clean vessels, empty vessels,
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  ready for a fresh filling of truth and of your Spirit.
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  And Lord, as Paul even mentioned over and over again the
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  necessary power to deliver the Word, We pray for that same
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  grace. Let this be more than just
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  words. Let this be more than just
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  interesting connections and scripture quotations.
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  Let there be. True power.
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  True power. And we believe that you will
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  meet us here because we believe you're the living Christ.
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  We ask these things in the precious name of the Lord Jesus,
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  Amen and Amen. You came to a very important
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  Bible study tonight because we have reached the final chapter
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  of the book of Ezra. And so I invite you now in your
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  Bibles to turn with me to Ezra chapter 10.
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  And as we approach this final text, I I think it will help us
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  to be reminded of why Ezra left Babylonia to return to Jerusalem
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  the way he did. It's plainly stated for us in
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  the very chapter that we are introduced to this man, Ezra.
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  So you're there in Ezra 10, but take a peek quickly at Ezra
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  Chapter 7, verse 14 in Ezra 714. It reads, For you are sent by
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  the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries
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  about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your
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  God, which is in your hand. Ezra's burning concern and
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  packing his bags and making his way back to the Holy Land was to
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  investigate and see if the Exiles who preceded him we're
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  still abiding according to God's law.
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  You've heard this before. Allow me to repeat it again
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  since we have such little time left in Ezra.
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  When Zerubbabel led the first wave of exiles, his mission was
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  to rebuild the House of God. When we're going to learn in
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  Nehemiah about his leadership and his calling, it's going to
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  focus on the erecting of the city walls to protect the people
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  of God. But when it comes to Ezra, we
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  know that his callings to fashion the people of God and to
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  ensure that they are molded and shaped by the law of God.
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  You see, Ezra had a revelation that the psalmist had in Psalm
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  93, verse five. You don't have to turn there,
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  but listen to this one part of that verse in Psalm 93 is this
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  holiness benefits your house. Benefits is not a common word
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  enough vocabulary, but it helps to know the original.
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  The original word more accurately means beautify, and
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  that's why some translations re render it.
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  Holiness adorns your house. In other words, there is
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  something about holiness that makes the house God, and not
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  just something about it. It is the very factor that makes
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  God's house delightful and ravishing and attractive.
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  So Psalm 93, what? What?
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  What's essentially being communicated there is.
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  More than the. Gold embedded in the structure
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  more than the artistic carvings in the walls, more than the
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  furnishings. It's the piety, it's the
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  holiness, it's the purity of those who represent God's house.
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  And that's what Ezra understood. We can have a building, but if
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  the people are not holy, then the House of God is not truly
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  beautiful. And so his mission was to ensure
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  that God's people were set apart.
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  That they were. Living according to his precepts
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  that they were loving his word in a.
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  In a way that translated into their transformation.
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  But here's the problem. You know this because you were
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  with us last week, the last couple weeks actually, after a
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  little bit of four months being in Jerusalem, Ezra received the
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  tragic news of the true condition of the people of of
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  Judah. They were living in compromise.
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  They were living in deep sin. And the main crime that was
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  committed was that many of the men had married Pagan wives.
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  And this was. A grave concern, and we talked
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  about why that was such a serious problem briefly, but we
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  spent more time looking at Ezra's response to this.
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  The man broke down, he lamented, he cried out to God.
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  He was overcome by pain. He could not believe that even
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  after all these years in exile, it would be so short of time
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  before the people would come back to the very sin, among
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  other sins, that would kick them out of the Promised Land.
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  And so this man, Ezra, he seeks God, He tries to process it in
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  his emotional state, and then he goes on to pray about it.
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  And when he prays about it, it's.
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  Recorded to us and for us in great detail in Chapter 9.
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  But what we're going to see in chapter 10 is that Ezra does
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  more than feel pain and he does more than pray.
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  He's actually going to act. He's going to do something about
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  it. And even in that observation, we
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  have a wonderful example in Ezra.
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  There's a pattern here that should be replicated because
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  there's going to be times for the serious Christian where you
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  will be disappointed. You will be disappointed by the
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  failures of others. And when that time does come,
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  whether you're the object of somebody's sin, whether you are
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  the one who is offended or you're witnessing it, you have
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  permission to mourn. You have license to sit there
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  and try to process it, But you can't stay there.
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  You have to pray. At some point, you have to bring
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  it before the Lord. And as important as prayer is,
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  if the situation calls for it, prayer may not be enough.
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  There might be some kind of intervention on your part.
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  There might be a time, a moment for you to get up and actually.
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  Confront it yourself and that's exactly what this man of God is
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  going to do. And we will not complete this
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  chapter. We're going to look at the 1st 6
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  verses together and let's begin by reading it before we look at
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  it closely. Ezra 10 verse one.
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  While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting
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  himself down before the House of God, a very great assembly of
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  men, women and children gathered to him out of Israel.
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  For the people wept bitterly, and Shekinah, the son of jail of
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  the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra.
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  We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign
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  women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope
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  for Israel in spite of this. Therefore let us make a covenant
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  with our God and put away all these wives and their children,
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  according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at
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  the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the
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  law. Arise, for it is your task, and
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  we are with you. Be strong and do it.
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  Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and
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  all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said.
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  So they took the oath. Then Ezra withdrew from the
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  House of God and went to the Chamber of Jehonan, the son of
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  Eli Asha, where he spent the night neither eating bread nor
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  drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness
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  of the Exiles. You know what's so amazing about
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  the verses that we just read? That before Ezra said or did
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  anything directly to the people, the people were stirred with
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  conviction. We read it since Ezra heard this
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  tragic news about what the people were doing.
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  He didn't, He didn't engage with anybody until verse 5, where he
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  made the nation take an oath that they would obey moving
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  forward. But before that, Ezra took the
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  brokenness and the sin and the failure of the people, and he
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  brought it before God himself. And as he sought the Lord,
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  something miraculous happened. The hearts of the people were
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  beginning to be drawn to the Lord.
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  And it's at this point where I realized something.
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  That Ezra provides an illustration how it is totally
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  possible for any of us to make an impact on others indirectly.
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  There is an influence that we can have as we deal with people,
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  but there is a way of drawing people to the Lord and for the
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  Lord, though we may not directly engage with those people.
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  And in verse one alone, we have three ways that's possible.
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  Three ways that your witness, your testimony, your walk with
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  God can be a fragrance unto others to want the God that you
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  serve and love. 3 and verse one, you ready.
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  The first one is obvious. It's through our praying.
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  Look again at the first words of verse one.
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  While Ezra prayed, while he sought God, he didn't preach A
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  sermon. Yet he didn't rebuke anybody he
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  didn't correct. He understood that this was a
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  time where I must speak to God about men instead of speaking to
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  men about God. And so he spent this time
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  looking to the. Lord, and as he was doing this,
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  we should believe that God is answering the prayer while it is
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  being prayed because a crowd gathers around this man, Ezra,
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  and they're hearing his words and they begin to weep bitterly.
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  They begin to be stirred and realize the sin that is plaguing
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  the people. God is moving in the spirit.
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  God is moving in the spirit of these people.
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  And it is totally because of this main thing Ezra prayed.
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  And any true man of God, any true woman of God, understands
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  that prayer contains that kind of power.
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  Not to say that prayer replaces preaching or that it substitutes
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  personal confrontation, but what prayer does, and we see this
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  throughout the Bible, is that it prepares the hearts of God's
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  people and even the lost in order to accomplish something.
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  Look at Paul's rare prayer requests throughout his letters.
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  One that comes to mind is in 2nd Thessalonians 3.
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  One in that brief verse he says, pray for us.
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  Listen to these words. Finally, brothers, pray for us
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  that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as
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  happened among you. Pray that there would be some
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  grace on our preaching, on our evangelism, on our missionary
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  work. And I love this part as happened
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  among you. Do you know why I love that
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  part? Because we know exactly how the
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  Word of God was received among the Thessalonians.
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  This is Second Thessalonians 31. But when you go to 1st
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  Thessalonians chapter 1, you read where Paul says, look, the
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  Word came to you in the Holy Spirit in full power with
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  conviction. And then when he comes to his
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  2nd letter, he goes, I'm asking that that same experience that
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  you had with the gospel would be copy paste in our next adventure
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  and preaching the word of God in our next expedition.
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  But here's the main point. Paul understood that prayer
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  prepares hearts. Prayer does something
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  preemptively, even before preaching.
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  Paul had this conviction and this truth embedded in his
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  convictions. There has to be prayer.
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  Ezra prayed and it worked. But there's a second thing.
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  There's a second observation here in how Ezra indirectly
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  draws the people to the Lord. It's not through his praying
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  only, it's also through his passion.
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  Look again at verse one. While Ezra prayed, yes, and made
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  confession, absolutely weeping and casting himself down before
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  the House of God. What is that?
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  Can you imagine a dignified priest with his garments, this
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  teacher of the law, this well respected man, weeping, not
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  crying, not wiping away tears from the corner of his eye,
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  weeping and more than weeping, casting himself down.
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  Imagine somebody pounding the ground with their fists, getting
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  up on their knees and throwing themselves again, doing that
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  over and over again. Clearly, this display of raw
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  emotion says something about how he felt, about the sin, about
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  his deep concern. For the people of God and the
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  holiness of God. Now we have to be careful here.
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  Passion is more than emotion. Primarily, it is about
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  conviction. And there's a difference.
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  You can be emotional about many things.
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  It doesn't legitimize your passion.
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  It doesn't even necessarily mean you're passionate about
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  something. This is just the manifestation
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  of something. That is so rooted in this man.
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  He had conviction. He had this all consuming
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  understanding of what God deserves and what the people of
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  God are called to. And so he's broken.
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  He's broken because he has this conviction and he is reflecting
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  the sincere concern. And listen, when a man or a
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  woman possesses this kind of godly ambition and drive, it
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  will not go unnoticed. It's going to show up in one way
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  or another. It's going to it's going to be
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  demonstrated through one's compassion.
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  It's going to speak loudly through a steadfast commitment
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  to the work of God. It's going to show up through
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  bold confession of the truth. It's the same thing that you
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  find. And anybody who possesses what
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  Ezra has here, he's the real deal.
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  This is everything to him. Being a priest was not a job, it
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  was his calling. Being a teacher was not about
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  impressing people. It was about helping people
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  really come to the truth. And when he saw something that
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  challenged his ministry, that caused people to drift away from
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  the truth, it genuinely shattered him.
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  You know, Jesus was the most profound teacher.
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  He was the most authoritative preacher.
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  That's what many people said over and over when they heard
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  him preach. No one speaks like this man.
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  There's authority. He grips you.
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  When He speaks, there's power, and that is an indication surely
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  of a zeal that He had. Do you remember what happened
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  when Christ entered into the temple for the first time and
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  flipped tables and made an impression on the disciples?
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  So much so that they reference Christ's demonstration of a zeal
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  for the purity of God's house to a verse in Psalms.
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  This is in John 217 where it says that the disciples
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  remembered, where it said, Zeal for your house has consumed.
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  Me. Jesus Christ had zeal.
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  Jesus Christ had passion, and that passion was contagious.
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  That passion carried a perfume. And this is something for you
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  and I to consider as well. Ezra had passion.
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  But there's one more thing worth highlighting apart from his
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  praying. Apart from his passion, one more
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  element that contributed to the hearts of those who are watching
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  Ezra in this moment and caused them to melt was his piety.
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  His piety. So what you have here is in
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  verse one. The subtle part of the verse in
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  the middle where it says after the people witnessed him doing
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  this says they gathered to him out of Israel, they gathered to
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  him. Ezra has been in Jerusalem for
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  about four months, a little bit more than that, and we should be
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  absolutely certain that he wasted no time doing what he was
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  called to do. That was to teach, to teach the
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  law. And the fact that if you go back
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  to verse 1 of Chapter 9, the officials approached them, the
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  leaders approached, it means that he developed a reputation
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  very early. He was respected and more than
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  just respected. He was somebody that could be
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  trusted, somebody that could be relied on, somebody that these
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  leaders believe could actually deal with this sin problem
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  rightly. And so Ezra is new to the scene,
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  but Ezra was somebody who won the admiration of many which.
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  Speaks about his virtue, which reflects his.
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  Righteous character. And so the people understood who
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  Ezra was, and when they saw him weeping and casting himself down
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  like this, it meant something. You see, it's more than just the
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  weeping and the wailing and the casting.
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  It's who is weeping and who is. Broken.
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  And who is crying out publicly like this?
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  This isn't a random fellow, this is somebody that they knew.
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  This is somebody that they understood to be a true priest,
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  a true man of God, and that gave him authority.
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  All of us should want authority in our witness and the secret.
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  To having. A compelling force to our
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  testimony as followers of Jesus Christ is authenticity.
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  Let me say it again, Ezra was no fraud.
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  He was the real deal. Ezra was committed.
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  Ezra was consistent. Ezra was careful with his walk
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  of the Lord. And so when he did weep and when
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  he did cry out, people took it seriously because they took Ezra
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  seriously, because Ezra took his walk with God seriously.
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  We damage our authority, our ability to actually compel
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  people to Christ, when we are not cautious about our
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  consecration. And as I was meditating on this,
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  you know who I thought about Lot.
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  If it wasn't for the New Testament, if I just had
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  Genesis, I would think that Lot was unsaved.
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  But Peter comes in by the Holy Spirit and calls Lot righteous
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  more than once, and it's like, really he is.
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  So he's a picture of a worldly believer.
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  Because of Abraham's praying, angels are sent to rescue him
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  and his family. But Lot still had a choice, and
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  so the angels tell Lot. Do you have any relatives here?
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  Do you have any family left here?
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  Take this time now to warn them of what's to come.
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  Some of you know where I'm going with this, but listen to these
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  words in Genesis 19 verse 14. So Lot went out and said to his
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  sons in law who are to marry his daughters up, get out of this
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  place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.
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  But he seemed to his sons in law to be jesting.
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  Did you catch it? How did the sons in law
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  interpret their future father in law's warning?
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  Oh, the Lord's going to destroy the city, huh?
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  OK lot, there's a long day at work for you at the gate.
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  Have a meal, sit down, relax. And many people focus on the
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  ungodliness of the sons in law for not taking this warning
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  seriously. And we can't.
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  Forget to factor in that Lot is partially guilty in this.
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  Why did they take him as a joke? Because he took his walk with
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  God as a joke. You're living in Sodom.
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  You're giving your daughters off to these men who don't fear God,
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  who don't love God, and all of a sudden now you're serious about
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  God. All of a sudden now you want to
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  warn about God. You've lost credibility, lot,
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  and that's why there's no weight to your warning anymore.
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  You're a leader in Sodom, and now you're talking about this
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  Yahweh, and now you're trying to get us to believe this message.
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  Ezra was no such man. Because of this man's piety,
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  there was power. There was power behind his
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  words, behind his praying, behind his concern, and, as
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  we're about to find out, behind his correction.
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  And one of the ways that you and I can secure that authority in
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  our lives is provided in Ezra's example, actually.
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  If you and I want to evade artificial Christianity, there's
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  only one thing you have to do. Come back to Ezra.
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  Look at chapter 10. We read it in verse 6, Ezra 10,
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  verse 6. This moved me when I understood
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  the implications of it. Then Ezra withdrew from before
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  the House of God and went to the Chamber of Jeho Hanan, the son
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  of Elias ship, where he spent the night neither eating bread
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  nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness
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  of the Exiles, saying what's the big deal with that?
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  Here's the big deal. Up to this point, Ezra was
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  fasting and tearing his garments and seeking the Lord publicly.
• 25:03
  And when he had opportunity to get alone, guess what?
• 25:06
  Nothing changed. What does that show?
• 25:10
  That he wasn't putting on a show?
• 25:13
  What does this mean? That who he was publicly, he was
• 25:16
  privately. What he said and what he did
• 25:21
  before men was totally in alignment with who he was when
• 25:24
  he was by himself. That's how you and I possess
• 25:29
  authority with our testimony. It's real to us.
• 25:32
  It's not something you just flip on and turn off depending on
• 25:36
  your environment. No, Ezra was the same whether
• 25:42
  people are watching or not. And when people were watching
• 25:45
  and when they were listening because of who he was, when
• 25:48
  nobody was watching or listening, oh, there was
• 25:51
  something behind his praying. There was something behind his
• 25:53
  passion. There was something about his.
• 25:55
  Piety, it all had authority because he was authentic.
• 26:02
  It's not a mystery. Just let this thing called faith
• 26:08
  and worship and obedience be your life.
• 26:13
  Let it be your life, not a part of your life.
• 26:16
  All of your life, and only then. Will you exude the fragrance of
• 26:20
  life and people? Will.
• 26:23
  There's something. This is real to you, isn't it?
• 26:25
  That's one of the greatest compliments you can get from
• 26:28
  unbelievers. This is real to you.
• 26:31
  Yes, it's real to me because God is real.
• 26:33
  And he did a real work of my life, and I love him with a real
• 26:35
  love. Oh, Ezra teaches us so much in
• 26:39
  verse one alone. But we better hurry up.
• 26:43
  The spotlight now shifts from Ezra to someone else, someone
• 26:46
  that we've never met before and we know very little about with
• 26:50
  what we have of him. Look at verse 2 again, and
• 26:53
  Shekinah, the son of JL, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra.
• 27:00
  We've broken faith, faith with our God and have married foreign
• 27:02
  women from the peoples of the land.
• 27:04
  But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
• 27:06
  Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put
• 27:08
  away all these wives and their children according to the
• 27:10
  counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commitment of
• 27:13
  our God. And let it be done according to
• 27:15
  the law. No detail is wasted.
• 27:19
  You know this very well. Here's what stuck out to me.
• 27:22
  Evidently the Holy Spirit wants me to know about this man's
• 27:25
  family lineage. Shekinah, He's the son of JL, of
• 27:30
  the sons of Elam. That's an invitation for us to
• 27:35
  explore further, but we'll pause here and consider what we have
• 27:39
  first with these verses that we just looked at.
• 27:41
  If you were to just work with what we have here, then Sheikh
• 27:45
  and I seems to be among the guilty party of those who
• 27:47
  married foreign wives. How do we know that?
• 27:49
  Because he says it here in verse 2.
• 27:51
  Again, we have broken faith with our God and have married foreign
• 27:54
  women. So he includes himself, but more
• 27:58
  than that, he's clearly repentant.
• 28:00
  He's broken about this, and in his brokenness, in his
• 28:04
  contrition, he offers a solution.
• 28:07
  And more than offering solution, he actually extends
• 28:09
  encouragement to Ezra. Look at verse 4.
• 28:12
  Arise, for it is your task and we are with you.
• 28:16
  Be strong and do it. And you read in verse 5.
• 28:20
  Then Ezra arose 3 important words here.
• 28:22
  He arose. There was something about
• 28:24
  Shekinah's immediate motivation and exhortation that set into
• 28:31
  motion a wider repentance in the land.
• 28:33
  This is a significant moment and initially, again at face value,
• 28:38
  would say, look at the grace of God.
• 28:40
  Here's a man who was in sin. He turns from his sin and God
• 28:43
  immediately uses him to help others come out of sin.
• 28:48
  But there's something deeper going on here.
• 28:53
  Can you look at verse 18? It's about the halfway mark of
• 28:57
  chapter 10, and don't read it just yet, but look at the rest
• 28:59
  of the chapter. What do you find there?
• 29:01
  Another list of names in the book of.
• 29:04
  Ezra But this list is different. The reason why it's different is
• 29:09
  because what we've seen prior to this are the list of names and
• 29:13
  families who have left Babylonia to come back to Jerusalem.
• 29:18
  That's not what we have here in chapter 10.
• 29:21
  This record conveys a different message.
• 29:25
  And it's in verse 18. Look at it with me now.
• 29:28
  There were found some of the sons of the priests who had
• 29:30
  married foreign women. And then he lists the names.
• 29:33
  And then there are more names and more names.
• 29:35
  What is this list about? It's a list of the names who
• 29:39
  have committed this sin of marrying Pagan wives.
• 29:44
  It's not a list you want to be on.
• 29:48
  And as you read this, you you stumble upon something familiar.
• 29:51
  You've been reading this chat. If you've been reading this
• 29:52
  chapter carefully, look at verse 26 of the sons of Who Do.
• 29:59
  You see it, Elam OK matanaya zechariah jail Abdi.
• 30:10
  Jeremiah and Elijah. Does this sound familiar to us?
• 30:14
  Scroll back to verse 2. And Shecheniah, the son of JAL,
• 30:19
  of the sons of Elam. Who's the Shecheniah?
• 30:26
  Shecheniah is the son of a man who was indicted for this very
• 30:34
  grievous sin. He's the son of JAL, and JAL is
• 30:38
  the son of Elam. And he is mentioned here in this
• 30:42
  registry. But at the same time.
• 30:46
  Shekinah is not mentioned in it. So Shekinah's father is guilty.
• 30:51
  Shekinah himself is not. So how do we make sense of his
• 30:57
  word, word choice, though? What does he say early on?
• 31:00
  And verse 2, we have broken faith with our God, and I've
• 31:04
  married four women. So did he do it or did he not do
• 31:06
  it? When it came to the official
• 31:09
  list, He's not mentioned there, but he admits to it.
• 31:12
  It's no different than what Ezra did in Chapter 9 when he prays
• 31:16
  out on behalf of the nation and he says our iniquities and our
• 31:22
  guilt. Was Ezra guilty of the sin?
• 31:25
  Absolutely not. You see, Sheikh and I had a
• 31:29
  revelation just like Ezra, that though this was a sin that some
• 31:32
  have committed, it affected the whole nation.
• 31:36
  This problem threatened God's blessing from.
• 31:40
  Continuing on this people and for this people.
• 31:44
  He had this revelation understanding that this is
• 31:47
  something that we all play a role in to some degree.
• 31:51
  In other words, he's not. He is not speaking about the sin
• 31:54
  issue from a place of self righteousness.
• 31:58
  Instead, he identifies with the people.
• 32:01
  And yes, he identifies with the people, but he also seeks a
• 32:03
  solution from a place of humility.
• 32:07
  So this man is humble. He dares to say we have, we have
• 32:12
  done this. And yet in his humility, he was
• 32:15
  not afraid to denounce his family for openly defying God's
• 32:22
  word. That's a brave thing to do.
• 32:27
  You are calling out this sin, and among those who committed
• 32:32
  the sin was your father and your uncles.
• 32:37
  And he didn't care because sin is sin and God's word is God's
• 32:41
  word. I love this man, Shekinah.
• 32:44
  You know why? Because he's standing on the
• 32:46
  side of truth, even if it means he has to stand apart from his
• 32:51
  own family. You can disagree with me if
• 32:56
  you'd like, but that's why I believe God uses this man.
• 32:59
  Even though he's a flash in the pan of the story.
• 33:01
  He is an important key to what we see in the rest of this
• 33:04
  chapter and I'm persuaded because of what I see in the
• 33:07
  rest of the Bible. That when a person loves the
• 33:10
  truth to the degree that they're willing to stand alone for it,
• 33:15
  such a man, such a woman, as a candidate for great things in
• 33:18
  the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, you have too many
• 33:21
  people who love mommy and daddy too much.
• 33:24
  They love them more than Christ. They love their brothers and
• 33:27
  sisters and their events and the invitations and the memories and
• 33:32
  the vacations more than what God.
• 33:34
  Asks of them the very ABC's of discipleship is you have to hate
• 33:40
  your father and your mother, your brother, your sister, your
• 33:43
  wife and your own children, yes, even your own life.
• 33:46
  That's that's the entry level of discipleship that Christ.
• 33:52
  I put you above everybody else. And that doesn't mean that we
• 33:57
  actually hate our family that we're hostile towards them and
• 33:59
  we're arrogant and we despise them.
• 34:01
  Absolutely not. All it means is that your love
• 34:03
  for Christ should be so vibrant, so bright, so white hot that it
• 34:08
  makes every other relationship look like hate.
• 34:12
  This is foreign to American Christianity.
• 34:15
  American Christianity says, do you have room in your life for
• 34:18
  Jesus? He wants to fit in on a Sunday
• 34:19
  afternoon. That's what many, many, many
• 34:21
  people preach. That's not gospel.
• 34:26
  The Bible shows us over and over again that for us to even have a
• 34:30
  a chance one of becoming one of his two to be used by him, you
• 34:36
  have to make this determination. Whatever the word of God says,
• 34:40
  if anybody's going to stand in my way.
• 34:43
  I'm going to choose the word of God.
• 34:48
  Perhaps 1 is not persuaded. Here's another example.
• 34:52
  Do you know why the Levites became the Levites?
• 34:57
  Here's what's so interesting. Reuben disqualified himself as
• 35:00
  the first born. Then you have Simeon and Levi
• 35:05
  who essentially commit small scale genocide.
• 35:10
  And then Judah is chosen to be the royal lineage.
• 35:14
  That's another Bible study for another time.
• 35:16
  But Simeon and Levi? If you focus on on their
• 35:19
  punishment, it's severe. Simeon virtually disappears from
• 35:24
  the tribal inheritance. He doesn't have a designated
• 35:29
  place in the Promised land as a result of that sin.
• 35:32
  Levi also has that kind of same destiny.
• 35:35
  But then something changes in the narrative, and it's because
• 35:38
  of one decision that Levi made before they even entered into
• 35:42
  the Promised land. It was the golden calf incident.
• 35:46
  Moses up there, and he's receiving instruction and
• 35:48
  revelation from God. And the people are impatient.
• 35:50
  They begin to worship a false image and Moses comes down the
• 35:54
  scene and he's standing at the gate and he goes whoever's on
• 35:56
  the Lord's side. Come to me, who came Only the
• 35:58
  Levites, and whatever curse that they inherited was reversed to a
• 36:06
  certain degree. Look at Deuteronomy 33.
• 36:08
  This is wonderful, Deuteronomy 33.
• 36:19
  Look at verse 8 and at Levi. He said, Give to Levi our
• 36:32
  Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at
• 36:36
  Massa, with whom you quarrel at the waters of Miraba.
• 36:40
  Look at verse 9. Now who said of his father and
• 36:43
  mother? I regard them not.
• 36:46
  He disowned his brothers and ignored his children, for they
• 36:51
  observed your word and kept your covenant.
• 36:58
  The tribe of Levi had to make a very difficult decision when
• 37:01
  they heard that invitation from Moses.
• 37:04
  Take a sword, put it on your side, run back and forth, and
• 37:07
  whoever you have to slay, slay. And they did so, and many lost
• 37:13
  their lives that evening. But then you come down here and
• 37:17
  you realize just how difficult it was.
• 37:19
  Among those who were slain under God's judgement was who?
• 37:23
  Father and mother, children. And they're commended.
• 37:31
  Why? Because they observed God's
• 37:34
  Word. It's an illustration of what we
• 37:36
  find with Ezra, what we see in Jesus teaching that our
• 37:40
  allegiance to Christ is supreme. Shekinah was was he proud?
• 37:47
  Was he puffed up? Was he like, not like my father
• 37:51
  and his uncle. They're a mess.
• 37:52
  They weren't really true. No, we, we, he's broken himself.
• 37:57
  He's among those who are weeping.
• 38:00
  He's tender. And yet.
• 38:03
  There's this rock solid standard.
• 38:08
  They're wrong and I will not justify it.
• 38:13
  I will not show favoritism. This is an open sin.
• 38:17
  This is public. And so I will publicly
• 38:19
  acknowledge that they are an error and they must be handled
• 38:23
  accordingly. And God use this man for a
• 38:28
  moment to speak life into Ezra himself.
• 38:35
  It's amazing. Let's come back to Ezra 10 verse
• 38:42
  3. This is how God uses this
• 38:45
  manshek and I am. Therefore, let us make a
• 38:48
  covenant with our God. That happens often in the Old
• 38:51
  Testament when there is great public scandal.
• 38:54
  They want to renew their covenant.
• 38:55
  But more than that, to put away all these wives and their
• 38:59
  children according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those
• 39:01
  who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done
• 39:03
  according to the law. This is a text that has caused
• 39:06
  much debate among students of the Word of God throughout the
• 39:09
  years. Because it seems to be to our
• 39:11
  shock that Shek and I suggesting that the solution to this
• 39:13
  problem is widespread divorce. Put the wives away and their
• 39:18
  children the children too. More concerning is that it seems
• 39:24
  that Shek and I is appealing to the law for this kind of ruling.
• 39:29
  We have to ask ourselves, where do we find in the law
• 39:32
  instructions or guidelines concerning divorce?
• 39:35
  And there are places in the Old Testament that give clear
• 39:40
  exhortations of how to deal with divorce and remarriage within
• 39:44
  the context of Israelite unions. But this situation is very
• 39:52
  unique. What's the problem here?
• 39:55
  The problem is these, these men of Judah married foreign wives
• 40:00
  who did not abandon their worship of false gods.
• 40:05
  They were not like Ruth who said your God is my God.
• 40:08
  Now that's a Moabite. This who became a follower of
• 40:12
  Yahweh and God blessed her and God blessed her union with Boaz.
• 40:17
  That's not what we have here. We don't have converts that were
• 40:20
  Gentiles. And now this is a matter of
• 40:23
  race. Nothing of the sort.
• 40:26
  What you have here are Pagan women who still worship their
• 40:30
  false gods and marry these men who are supposed to be men of
• 40:34
  God and are now alluring them and drawing them them away into
• 40:37
  idolatry. And you'd be very hard pressed
• 40:42
  to find anything that speaks into that in the law.
• 40:46
  The only thing that speaks into that is a clear prohibition of
• 40:50
  such marriages from Deuteronomy 7, verse three, that there is no
• 40:55
  option whatsoever for anybody to marry into these foreign peoples
• 41:00
  who will not forsake their false worship.
• 41:04
  And so if anything, these marriages are not legitimate
• 41:06
  from the start. They're not supposed to exist.
• 41:11
  They're not viewed as legitimate in God's eyes, and so it's so
• 41:15
  important to see this text in that way.
• 41:18
  This is not a matter of personal preference.
• 41:20
  This is not a matter of severing relationships because there is
• 41:22
  this marital tension among. These groups this.
• 41:27
  Is a matter of recovering Israel's spiritual identity,
• 41:32
  about preserving their distinctiveness.
• 41:34
  And listen, this is potentially about to vanish if it's not
• 41:40
  dealt with. They just returned from exile.
• 41:43
  You're just butting again. And now you're already
• 41:45
  intermingling and polluting the holy race.
• 41:50
  So when we see it that way, we understand that this is
• 41:52
  emergency protocol. This is cutting it at the root.
• 41:56
  This is dealing with the spiritual cancer before it
• 41:58
  spreads and kills. Now, perhaps in the coming
• 42:03
  studies, maybe the next one will be the final one.
• 42:05
  We'll we'll talk about it. This is the best approach
• 42:08
  because you think about the practicality of it, divorcing
• 42:10
  and then the children. What are you going to do with
• 42:12
  the children? So that's where the debate
• 42:13
  surrounds. But what we?
• 42:17
  Can say for now is this under the new covenant?
• 42:19
  We do have clear ruling of what to do in this situation.
• 42:23
  It's very much clarified. You know this very well in First
• 42:25
  Corinthians 7 where Paul tells the believers who had many
• 42:29
  questions about. What to do in their
• 42:31
  relationships, namely marriage? Once somebody becomes a
• 42:35
  Christian, if one party or both parties, what do we do with this
• 42:39
  Paul and and Paul is addressing the groups that are believers
• 42:43
  after they have gotten married and their spouses did not become
• 42:46
  believers and what does he tell them clearly stay, stay.
• 42:52
  You don't divorce, you don't walk away.
• 42:53
  Let me read it to you in first Corinthians 712.
• 42:56
  To the rest, I say, I, not the Lord, that if any brother has a
• 42:59
  wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him,
• 43:02
  he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who
• 43:06
  is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not
• 43:08
  divorce him. One of the reasons for that is
• 43:12
  you as a Christian, even if you're the sole Christian in
• 43:15
  that household, carry enough sanctifying power that you can
• 43:19
  actually rub off on those in your house that don't love
• 43:21
  Christ. So stay.
• 43:23
  If they want to leave, be at peace, let them leave.
• 43:26
  But if they consent to stay, as difficult as it is, that's your
• 43:29
  mission field every morning. So stay.
• 43:34
  May the grace of God be with you, Shekinah.
• 43:41
  Though this man, he's a lover of the truth, it's obvious, but
• 43:49
  he's more than just an enforcer of the law.
• 43:54
  This man is a strategic encourager.
• 44:00
  The ministry of encouragement is so underrated in the church and
• 44:10
  I believe that it holds atomic power for the church if
• 44:18
  Christians knew how to exercise it wisely and the way God
• 44:23
  designed it to be exercised. The greatest men and women of
• 44:31
  God throughout history survive through encouragement.
• 44:40
  You have this man, Ezra, he's falling apart.
• 44:47
  And it's, it's a very moving scene.
• 44:50
  I mean, the people watching this man are weeping and what they're
• 44:54
  witnessing here. And Sheikh and I has a
• 44:59
  discernment to not just offer a solution, which is helpful, but
• 45:06
  he sprinkles encouragement. For Ezra, he needs it and it's
• 45:13
  going to do something to Ezra and maybe you can find more.
• 45:17
  I settle that two ways that Sheikh and I encourages Ezra
• 45:21
  that can inform and equip us to be more effective in our
• 45:24
  encouragement for other believers.
• 45:28
  Look back at verse 2. Sheikh and I, the son of JAL of
• 45:32
  the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra.
• 45:35
  We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign
• 45:38
  women from the peoples of the lands.
• 45:39
  But even now highlight this. Even now there is hope for
• 45:43
  Israel in spite of this. Makes you wonder what was
• 45:49
  running through Ezra's mind. I mean, I'm not saying Sheikh
• 45:50
  and I read his mind, but maybe he thought potentially I can see
• 45:56
  why Ezra is so broken now. Maybe Ezra's thinking we really
• 46:01
  blew it. I mean, we already experienced
• 46:04
  this exile. Is God going to severely
• 46:06
  discipline us again? Maybe like we just got a taste
• 46:10
  and a sample of this was so complex, like the implications
• 46:14
  and and the consequences of how. We were we are going to deal
• 46:17
  with this, especially if we go with what Sheck and I recommends
• 46:20
  can be so daunting. Now we have to separate families
• 46:25
  to try to deal with this, try to purify the people again and and
• 46:29
  this is daunting again. This is terrifying, perhaps to
• 46:31
  Ezra, who knows what he's wrestling with.
• 46:36
  Maybe to him, he thought there is no way out of it.
• 46:38
  We're stuck in this and Sheikh Anaya, says Ezra.
• 46:46
  There's hope still. It's bad.
• 46:49
  It's really bad. It's ugly, it's unthinkable to
• 46:53
  certain extents, but it's not beyond hope.
• 46:59
  And I'd like to think that when there's a sin issue that
• 47:05
  somebody's grieving over, when there's a problem of somebody's
• 47:10
  own stupidity brought them to, we should convey a similar
• 47:18
  message. It's bad.
• 47:22
  It's vicious. There might be long term
• 47:25
  consequences, but there's still hope.
• 47:27
  Ezra, we serve a God who still offers hope and we need to know
• 47:34
  when to offer such a message. Sometimes when people are
• 47:36
  sinning, you don't offer them that kind of message, you rebuke
• 47:39
  them. But I don't see that appropriate
• 47:42
  here, especially because Ezra's so broken and the people are
• 47:45
  broke and what they need is relief.
• 47:50
  And the relief here is there's a way out.
• 47:55
  God is not done with us. It may seem like it, but it's
• 47:57
  not the case. And the reason why you and I can
• 47:59
  have the confidence to give such a message is because God does.
• 48:07
  You know, we're talking about actual marriage here, real
• 48:10
  physical relationships that are compromised.
• 48:13
  And yet God throughout the Scriptures communicates his
• 48:16
  relationship with his redeemed, with his covenant people, like a
• 48:20
  marriage. One of the strongest prophetic
• 48:22
  books that communicates that is the book of Hosea.
• 48:25
  And you open up Hosea chapter 1. It's graphic.
• 48:28
  It's, it's really shocking what God says about his people.
• 48:33
  And you go into chapter 2 and it doesn't take very long before
• 48:35
  the Lord changes his tone and he says something to this people
• 48:40
  who are steeped in spiritual adultery.
• 48:44
  You know this very well. Listen to these words from Hosea
• 48:46
  chapter 2, verse 15. And there I will give her her
• 48:53
  vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope, and there
• 49:02
  she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time
• 49:05
  when she came out of the land of Egypt.
• 49:07
  That's God speaking to a filthy and adulterous people who are
• 49:16
  harlots in God's eyes, who are committing horrish acts,
• 49:22
  spiritually speaking. And in the midst of this, God
• 49:26
  lets him know there is a door of hope.
• 49:31
  And the Lord is so poetic and he is so brilliant and how he he,
• 49:36
  he makes these things known. He says specifically, I will
• 49:39
  make the valley of a corridor of hope.
• 49:42
  Does anybody know where the Valley of a Corps comes from?
• 49:46
  If you know you can actually answer it.
• 49:47
  Where does that come from? What's that a reference to the
• 49:52
  Old Testament? Do you remember when Joshua and
• 49:57
  that generation entered into the Promised Land and after
• 50:01
  defeating Jericho, they were told not to take any specific
• 50:06
  items but to move on? And somebody did.
• 50:09
  What was his name? Aiken.
• 50:12
  And Aiken was exposed for his covetousness, for his
• 50:16
  disobedience, and both he and his family were killed for it.
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  And a pile of stones was heaped upon them.
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  And that valley was called the Valley of Acor.
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  Acor means trouble. And the Lord uses that as a
• 50:30
  reference to say, listen, you, my people in this generation,
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  you're all in trouble. You've gotten yourself in
• 50:35
  trouble. Your sin brought this trouble.
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  But I want to tell you that because of my grace, I can
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  change this valley of trouble into a door of hope.
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  Ezra, I want you to know, Sheikh and I says there is hope for
• 50:52
  Israel in spite of this. And from time to time, that's
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  what somebody needs to hear. That is, they're, as they're
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  trying to understand how they got themselves into that
• 51:06
  predicament, maybe ruining their marriage, their testimony, maybe
• 51:10
  stepping outside of ministry because of a foolish scandal.
• 51:13
  Whatever the case may be, there's a time for us to be
• 51:20
  encouragers in this sense. Listen, God can still change the
• 51:25
  story. He can rewrite this.
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  He's so brilliant in his love that he can transform this.
• 51:37
  Don't think it's over. But there's another type of
• 51:42
  encouragement that's offered here back in Ezra 10 and it's so
• 51:46
  clear in verse 4. He ends his brief exhortation by
• 51:53
  saying arise for it is your task and we are with you.
• 51:57
  Be strong and do it. So he challenges Ezra, right?
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  He says, listen, you're a leader.
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  This is your responsibility. But maybe maybe Sheikh and Naya
• 52:10
  perceived that as much of a giant Ezra was spiritually that
• 52:16
  this is an intimidating thing that he has to face now, that
• 52:21
  you actually now have to confront men and their marriages
• 52:26
  and even in some cases their children and you.
• 52:30
  Have to tell them this is wrong. This is not even legal what
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  you're doing. Maybe Ezra wasn't sensing that.
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  Whatever the case is, Shekinah wants to encourage him in this
• 52:45
  way. He says this is your task, but
• 52:48
  look at that middle part and we are with you.
• 52:52
  We are with you, Ezra. We are with you.
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  Be strong. Do it.
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  You want to be an effective encourager.
• 52:59
  Do I want to be more fruitful in that ministry?
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  Discern when to communicate to somebody that you are behind
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  them and you are supporting them.
• 53:14
  And don't just say those words mean it.
• 53:18
  I'm with you in the trenches, brother.
• 53:21
  I know that you have a difficult season that you're trying to
• 53:23
  weather. I know that you have some
• 53:24
  choices you have to make. And I want to let you know that
• 53:27
  as long as you serve Christ, I will serve Him with you.
• 53:32
  You know who especially needs this?
• 53:35
  Just like what we have here, leaders.
• 53:39
  Ezra is a leader. Ezra has to carry more load than
• 53:42
  the average person, and Ezra shows us that even such type of
• 53:46
  men need encouragement from time to time.
• 53:50
  Here's what that means for us. Do not reserve all your
• 53:52
  motivation and all your uplifting words to those who are
• 53:55
  frequently weak and cycling in their devotion to Christ.
• 53:59
  Keep in mind and be attentive that even the strongest ones
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  experience moments of weakness. And you'd be amazed to know what
• 54:11
  a heartfelt text message can win for somebody who's serving God.
• 54:17
  Don't underestimate how 17 to 10 minute phone call with a prayer
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  in it can boost somebody to be enthusiastic about the ministry
• 54:28
  for another three months. Don't think too little of how a
• 54:38
  smile and a brief word can breathe life into a brother or
• 54:44
  sister. That's what Sheikh and Iya does.
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  Hey, we're with you in this. You're not in this alone.
• 54:52
  You may feel like it. But we're behind you here.
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  Go do this. You want to know how powerful
• 55:01
  that was? You think, what's the big deal?
• 55:03
  I'll tell you the big deal. Look at verse 5 again.
• 55:04
  Then Ezra arose. The words of Shecheniah picked
• 55:10
  this man up from the ground. He probably dried his eyes and
• 55:16
  wiped some dust off his garments.
• 55:21
  And the natural reading of the text demonstrates that it was
• 55:24
  the words of Shecheniah that catapulted Ezra.
• 55:30
  It's effacing the situation with courage.
• 55:35
  Who would have thought? Here's where I'm ending.
• 55:37
  Who would have thought that one of the most inspirational
• 55:43
  reformers in Israel's history would himself be inspired by an
• 55:51
  obscure man named Shekinah? David was being hunted by his
• 56:00
  father-in-law. He thought you had issues with
• 56:03
  your. In laws his father-in-law wanted
• 56:09
  to kill him. But he had a good
• 56:13
  brother-in-law. You read later on there near the
• 56:18
  end of First Samuel, where David is going from cave to cave and
• 56:21
  he's evading Saul and his intelligence agency.
• 56:24
  And there's that one little text that says, and Jonathan,
• 56:28
  strengthen David's hand in the Lord.
• 56:32
  Why? Because he said something.
• 56:36
  What did he say to David? Saul will not find you.
• 56:41
  You will be king and I will be with you.
• 56:47
  And that gave David life, the ministry of encouragement.
• 56:56
  Looking at somebody saying your ministry is a blessing.
• 57:03
  I know that if you did not serve God the way you serve God in
• 57:06
  this church, we would all feel it.
• 57:08
  It's not flattery. Be sincere.
• 57:09
  Like, don't fake it because that will have an opposite effect.
• 57:15
  But what we find in these opening verses of chapter 10, as
• 57:18
  we've been following the steps of this man of God, is that even
• 57:21
  men of God need shekinahs from time to time.
• 57:28
  You may not be a priest. You may not never be a pastor.
• 57:31
  You may never be an evangelist. You may never be a missionary.
• 57:34
  You know what? All of us can be a Shekinah.
• 57:38
  All of us. And here's how I was convicted
• 57:44
  preparing for this Bible study. Lord, help me be generous with
• 57:46
  encouragement. Let me not.
• 57:50
  Seek it all the time and hope for it to come.
• 57:52
  Let me give it because it can save somebody.
• 58:00
  It can redirect somebody. I can tell you stories if we had
• 58:04
  time. I can tell you stories of how
• 58:06
  moments of encouragement have kept ministries alive.
• 58:12
  Because of a Good Wife, because of a best friend, because of
• 58:20
  another pastor from a different church who has no ties with this
• 58:23
  church but are Kingdom minded. Just quick phone call with a
• 58:30
  quick word of encouragement. So perhaps this is what the Lord
• 58:35
  wants us to hear, just to be reminded how effective
• 58:39
  encouragement can be, and that even men like Ezra need it here
• 58:43
  and there. Let's pray.
• 59:05
  Lord, we thank You that You've reminded us yet again that there
• 59:12
  is no portion of Your word that we can ignore.
• 59:16
  We admit that most of us in here have never heard of this fellow
• 59:19
  Shekinah, and yet He was waiting to be discovered at the end of
• 59:24
  this book. Thank You for showing us all
• 59:30
  these truths in a handful of verses.
• 59:40
  Lord, we pray that we would all have authority with our
• 59:44
  testimonies, that we don't have to try to manipulate anything
• 59:50
  with our praying, with our passion, with our piety.
• 59:52
  As long as we are authentic, the authority will take care of
• 59:55
  itself. And Lord, thank you that this
• 1:00:02
  book, Ezra, that's named after one man, shows us that one man
• 1:00:05
  can't do it on his own. And that the ministry of
• 1:00:11
  encouragement can lead to revival.
• 1:00:17
  Oh, we've missed it. Maybe we've heard it so many
• 1:00:19
  times and we forget. So thank you for the reminder.
• 1:00:21
  Thank you for the reminder, Lord, that you can use any
• 1:00:26
  person who has made the decision that I will obey God no matter
• 1:00:29
  what it costs me. No matter who disobeys, even if
• 1:00:33
  it's my own blood, I cherish the blood of Christ more.
• 1:00:39
  Help us know how to stand up for the truth when necessary.
• 1:00:43
  Help us know how to do so in humility, like this man did.
• 1:00:48
  And Lord, give us the discernment and the ability to
• 1:00:53
  know when the weak and the strong need encouragement.
• 1:01:01
  Encouragement for those who have sinned and can't see a way out
• 1:01:05
  of their trouble. Encouragement for those who are
• 1:01:09
  helping people who are in sin and are overwhelmed and can't
• 1:01:12
  seem to understand how they can fix it and to breathe life to
• 1:01:18
  their souls through a simple word.
• 1:01:21
  Brother, I'm with you. I'm praying for you.
• 1:01:25
  I love what God's doing in your life.
• 1:01:27
  I support it, I'm behind it, and I want God to multiply it.
• 1:01:31
  Lord, give. Give us that grace here at this
• 1:01:33
  church. We love you and we thank you and
• 1:01:38
  we worship you now for the wisdom that you've deposited in
• 1:01:40
  our hearts. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and
• 1:01:44
  Amen. Let's stand.
• 1:01:45
  Let's worship the Lord together.