May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
book of Ezra, chapter 9, and reading verse 8. The book of
Ezra, chapter 9, and reading verse 8. And now, for a little
space, grace hath been showed from the Lord our God to leave
us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place
that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving
in our bondage. We realize that the book of Ezra
and the book of Nehemiah speak to us of those glorious times
really when Israel or Judah had come out of the captivity in
Babylon when they'd been for 70 years and they had been coming
back to Jerusalem and they were proving the faithfulness of Almighty
God in fulfilling His promise that they would again return
to that land. They were, of course, not deserving
of it. And they walked contrary to the Lord even when they were
away and even when they were in Babylon. And now we find that
in Ezra's day they have returned really to Jerusalem and he speaks
of the situation which existed at Jerusalem and how he proclaimed
the fast and then we come down to this situation which we read
of in this chapter when he was made aware of what had been going
on in the non-separation of the people of God, people from Judah,
and what they'd done, they'd intermarried with those people
from other countries. And this of course was forbidden,
and yet they'd carried on and done it. We might just pause
for a moment and say, well, that of course is reference to those
times, but it's also referencing to our times today, because children
of God, people of God, Those who are called by grace are not
to be married to any unbelievers. And it's a very sure and certain
position which is spoken to us in the Word of God and yet today
we find many people trying to make excuses and people trying
to get out of such a commandment by God and carry on in their
own way and to not be separated. Well, the great blessing is to
be separated unto the Lord, and to walk before him in the light
of his countenance, and to be united in the Lord." And so we
see here that as Ezra was made aware of the situation which
had occurred, we read, he sat down astounded. He was amazed
that the children of Israel should have walked so contrary to Almighty
God. Not only, of course, in that
particular element, but many other situations. But particularly
in that, and how sad it was, and how concerned he was, and
how ashamed he was that this situation had developed and had
occurred, notwithstanding his great mercy and favour toward
Israel. So we need to be aware and the
word of God speaks to us today in very clear terms and therefore
we should always be concerned to advise our young people with
regard to these things. Well here was Ezra then speaking
now and thankfully was to be able to say that since the days
of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day
and for our iniquities have we our kings Our priests being delivered
into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity,
and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day."
And then he says, and now, for a little space, grace has been
showed from the Lord our God. If we think of that in reality,
it's wonderful, isn't it? To think that God should have
shown them grace, unmerited favor, to such a people, such a hard-hearted,
such a rebellious people, such a sinful nation. And yet, we
here have this statement, for a little space, the Lord has
showed them grace. Well, I wonder, in our lives,
whether we can recollect, whether we can observe God's grace toward
us. And we need to be very honest
and try to discover our true state and to see whether We have
acted as these children of God and have walked contrary to the
Lord, have not fulfilled his commands, have disobeyed his
word, have gone our own way and pleased to go our own way, have
ignored God's statutes, and then to think that the Lord has been
gracious to us. He hasn't cast us off forever. He may, as it were, have hid
his face from us. We may feel that God is ignoring
us, and we may feel very deeply that, especially if we walk contrary
to God. And now we may feel we've tried
to come back, we've tried to pray, we've tried to commit our
way unto the Lord, and we don't seem to make any headway. It
seems still as though God is not hearing. My friends, God
does hear. But it may be God does not see
fit to answer us at the present time. It may be that we need
to go down a little deeper in confession and true sorrow for
our sin. Not just a mere statement of
words, but the real effect of this grace in our hearts. Because the favor of God, the
unmerited favor of God, is for the spirit of God to show us
something of our true state before a holy God. And that will be
a wonderful mercy if you and I are not allowed to just carry
on in this vain world and think we're not doing too badly, and
think we're doing the right things, and think that we're praying
for forgiveness of sin, but yet not really, and yet not honestly,
and yet not wholeheartedly. If you and I are praying for
the forgiveness of our sins, there will be that concern and
that desire to be able to leave our sins, to not carry on with
them. And very often those things which
are before us and are in us and the things that we enjoy doing,
our nature goes after them. And therefore we need wonderful
grace to be able to turn from them, to desire that Lord would
help us turn from them, and that we do then understand the blessing
that we have received, his grace, his favour, and to be able to
thank God for his goodness to us. Well here was Ezra then,
thanking God, and therefore, little space, grace hath been
showed from the Lord our God. And so I wonder, again, if we
can look into our hearts and find that, yes, God has showed
me His grace. It's a wonderful blessing, you
know, to have been shown the grace of God, the favor of God,
that we haven't been left to ourselves. We may have found
that our way has been hedged up. We haven't been able to get
out. We've tried to break through
the hedge, but the Lord has restrained us. and constrained us to perhaps
leave some things which we were really very happy to be involved
with, liked to be involved with, didn't want to give them up,
didn't want to forsake them. But the real truth of the matter
is, were those things profitable for our souls? Were they beneficial? Were they granting us that spiritual
growth? Or were they bringing us into
a place of stagnation and a place of famine? Perhaps famine of
the hearing of the word. That's what we read of, don't
we? And how sad it is when that is so. And if it is so, what
a blessing if we examine ourselves and find the fault's not in the
preacher, the fault's in ourselves. I think I may have told you Before
I remember preaching at church, soon after I started preaching,
and the old deacon there was a gracious old man, and he said
to me one day, he said, you know, he said, if you had to sit down
after five minutes and couldn't say anything else, he said, I
wouldn't blame you, I'd blame myself. Well, that's a good gracious
thing, isn't it? You know, to blame ourselves,
not to blame the preacher, but blame ourselves. It's good, you
know, to come and have the Word of God applied to our hearts,
so we don't look around at other people, we look at ourselves.
And we see that we're the cause, we're the problem. It's not outside
of us, we're the problem. Well, if the God of grace shows
us that, it'll be a time of favour. And now for a little space, grace
has been showed from the Lord our God. You see, they come up
out of Babylon. Here they were now. They'd taken
that long journey and were come back into Jerusalem or near Jerusalem. And God had therefore blessed
them with this little space, this little time, this little
time of favor. And he says, it's been showed
from the Lord our God. It's God that had showed him
and showed them this blessing. It's God that shows us these
things. Because by nature we don't want to see them, we don't
want to know them. What a mercy it is if God is dealing with
our souls in love, and directing us to observe that it's His hand,
His work, and not our hand, and not our work. And so, and now
for a little space, grace has been showed from the Lord our
God. You would think, as you read
an account like this, and as you read the history of Israel,
to see how The Lord was so merciful to them in bringing them back.
He said they would be overjoyed with the prospect and overjoyed
with the benefit which was theirs and would desire to do everything
which was God honoring and everything seeking for God's favor. And
yet it's not so. It's not so. They continue still
really by nature enmity with God, walking contrary to the
laws of God. And so we need to observe these
things in our own life and to examine ourselves whether we
are still walking contrary to our God. Contrary to our God
are maybe those things which perhaps we don't like to confess,
don't like to admit. And yet in reality, we're not
walking in accordance with our God's will. We're walking contrary
to our God. Well, here we have this statement
that this little space of grace has been given, has been showed
from the Lord our God. And he says that the benefit
of this was to leave us a remnant to escape. This remnant, as it
were, had escaped from that place of Babylon, that place of bondage. It wasn't a happy place, was
it? They weren't happy in Babylon. They left behind the temple,
they left behind that place where God had so wonderfully met these
people over so many years. It was no longer with them. There
was no ark. There was no altar of incense. There was no candlestick. There
was no veil. All those wonderful symbolic
items were no longer And so here was Israel in bondage. In bondage. How sad it was, the
next verse tells us, for we were bondmen. Bondmen. When you're a bondman, it means
you're bound up. It means you can't do what you
want to do. You're bound up. And so, for
we were bondmen. And yet we read, yet our God
hath not forsaken us, in our bondage, but hath extended mercy
unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving,
to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations
thereof, and to give us a ward in Judah and in Jerusalem." He's
just telling us and recording the benefit which was theirs,
that they had come back, they had been bondmen, And yet, they'd
been a remnant, and through the grace of God, this remnant was
able to escape out of that time of captivity. Well, it's a wonderful
blessing if the Lord has granted us to escape the bondage, the
captivity of Satan. Satan keeps us bound up. He doesn't
want us to think about the things of God. He doesn't want us to
be involved in the things of God. He wants us to be kept from
them, bound up as it were, so we're not able to be once again
enjoying the privileges and the favours that God has granted. But here, Ezra says that they've
been blessed, favoured, so they've been left to leave us a remnant
to escape. And they had escaped. And not
only had they escaped, but the Lord wonderfully blessed them
in this way. He says, a remnant to escape
and to give us a nail in his holy place. A nail in his holy
place. You know, when a nail is fixed,
it has to be hammered home, doesn't it? It's not just pushed in But
a properly fixed nail is hammered in, hammered home, so it's a
fixture. It's there, and it can't be easily
dislodged. And that's precisely what God
granted to his people. He'd given them a place, once
again, a place in the holy place, a place in Jerusalem. The Lord
once again granted them the favor of being come into this place
and to give us a nail in His holy place. A place to abide
in. A place of fixture. Not that they had to wander around
again. And it wasn't a place where they
wouldn't be happy. It was in the holy place. The
Lord had given them a nail in His holy place. Well, it would
be a great blessing, you know, if the Lord gives you and me
a place in the Church of God. In a holy place, the Church of
God. The thing that Almighty God is still the same today as
He took charge of Israel of old and brought them back and to
give us a nail in His holy place. Rebellious Israel brought back
Israel who turned their back upon God, who followed their
own way, God had favoured them. God had given them grace. God
had blessed them with this escape from that place of bondage and
had brought them into the holy place and fixed them there. Fixed them there, a place of
dwelling. Well, isn't it a mercy to think
of that in our lives? If God has brought us into the
holy place, into his church, and has fixed us there as a nail,
a nail in his holy place. Now then, the favour of these
people was that they'd been brought back, the Lord had mercy on them,
delivered them from their bondage, escaped out of that place, Place
them in the holy place. And it was for a purpose. It was for a purpose. My friends,
that's so in our lives today. You see, if God is dealing with
us, it'll be for a purpose. And the purpose here was that
our God may lighten our eyes. Lighten their eyes. They might
be able to observe wondrous things, might be able to see the truth
of God, might be able to rejoice in the great sacrifice for sin,
but their eyes might be lightened as they were once again brought
into the holy place. And so it would be a favor for
you and me, my friends, if God brings us into the holy place,
into the church of God, that our eyes may be lightened, that
we may see the truth of the word of God. The darkness has been
taken away. That condition that we were in,
our eyes were darkened. There was no light. And then
to know that God has lightened our eyes. Here was the statement
by Ezra, what a blessing it was for these people to have their
eyes lightened. Their eyes lightened so they
might see properly, see spiritual blessings, see God's work, see
God's dealings. See, when our eyes are lightened,
then it is that we observe God's work. We see his mercy, we observe
his favour, we see his guiding, we see his directing. What was
to be observed here was that they'd received grace, that they'd
been left as that little remnant to escape, and that they were
fixed in the holy place, and they were able to observe this
and to see it. that our God may lighten our
eyes in that place, to behold the truth and the favor of God. Now it'll be a blessing for us
today if we're able also to come to this light, lighten our eyes,
and to give us a nail in His holy place that our God may lighten
our eyes. Surely that's where they were
able to observe the truth and the glory of God. Now they were
in the holy place. Once again in Jerusalem, and
as we read in that last verse, that they were to set up the
house of our God, to repair the desolations therefore, and to
give us a ward in Judah and in Jerusalem. The Lord had brought
them back to give us a reviving. So once again, the house of God
was to be set up. The glorious temple was to be
rebuilt. The walls of Jerusalem were to
be rebuilt. And of course, as we know, if
you read in Nehemiah, it wasn't an easy time. No, there was much
opposition, but God was with them. And the walls were rebuilt
and the temple was built again. And they were able to continue
in a state of worship and to praise and to bless their God. that our God may lighten our
eyes in the holy place." Wouldn't it be a favor, wouldn't it? If
we're found in the holy place, if we're found in the church
of God, and if we're found there observing wondrous things out
of his law. Israel were able to observe wonderful
things from the law of God, that law which had been given by Moses
so many years ago, and yet what wondrous truth it contained.
And my friends, today we are able to look back. We're able
to see the wondrous truths which were shown forth in those old
ceremonies. But today, we're blessed with
that light which directs us so clearly and directly to all that
the Old Testament led to. And that was, of course, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if our eyes have been blessed
like this, lightening our eyes to behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world, to realise that God has been
gracious to us, and as it were, established us in the holy place,
in the Church of God, to reveal himself unto us in his glory,
in his majesty, in his sinatoning sacrifice. They are wonderful
truths and wonderful things to be able to meditate upon. And
so we have this word here, that our God may lighten our eyes. And then we read, and give us
a little reviving in our bondage. Reviving in our bondage. You see, they weren't completely
free. They were still, as it were,
had restraints upon them. What a blessing it was if the
Lord did come and grant them this favor so that they were
like this. They were granted a little reviving
in their bondage. Their spirits were revived. And their spirits were revived
because they were as fixed in this holy place, and their eyes
were lightened, and therefore, because of those truths, they
were revived. There was a reviving. Sometimes we need reviving, don't
we? Sometimes we may be very parched.
We become very dry. You know, if we don't possess
any moisture, any dew, any rain, we can become very hard, no softness. Our heart's like a stone, and
we realize we need something, but yet we are not very concerned
about it. Well, a little reviving, naturally
speaking, a little rain, a little dew on a parched surface, on
a parched plant, on a dry plant, can bring much blessing, can
bring much reviving. And very quickly, you know, you
can see a revival commencing in a plant which may appear to
be almost dead, when rain comes upon it, how quickly there's
a reviving. And how quickly that is. So,
in our spiritual life, when the Lord comes and applies his word,
His word when the Lord comes and applies His word. It's not
something that we can do naturally. You know, Israel were unable
to free themselves from Babylon. And it was really the amazing
work, mercy of Osiris and then later on Darius, who were not
kings of Israel, kings in Babylon. Chaldean kings, and yet they
authorized and desired that these captives might return to Jerusalem
and brought into that time of wonderful blessing. See, the
Lord can use means that we might be surprised at. No doubt they
would never have thought that would have occurred in their
lives, but the Lord ordained it so. for His honor and for
His glory. So none of those Israelites,
none of those people in Judah would have been able to boast
and say, well of course we behaved ourselves so well and you know
they had to let us go. No, it was completely the opposite.
It was the mercy of the Lord that brought this about. And
so here they were then, brought to this place and given a little
reviving in their bondage. Do we know something of a little
reviving when the Lord's come and, as it were, granted a shower
of blessing? A little shower of blessing as
it revived our hearts? We may have been very cast down. We may have thought, well, there's
no hope for me. I've gone beyond any mercy. Well, Israel might have thought
so, but God was faithful, and God was kind, and God was gracious,
and God brought them back through strange ways. It may be in our
lives, God does that for us. He uses unusual means that may
be good for us and may prove to be a blessing for us, things
that we look not for. Yes, these people were granted
this and here was Ezra in this prayer, and give us a little
reviving in our bondage. He desired this little reviving. Think of those words, a little
that a righteous man hath is better than the treasures of
many wicked. A little that the Lord gives
will do us real good. It will produce a reviving in
our heart. It may not be what we might think
in our minds, a wonderful, great spiritual experience. But it
may be a little blessing, a little revival, which will indeed be
a wonderful encouragement. An encouragement to know the
Lord is still mindful of us. He hasn't cast us off. He hasn't
forgotten us as we deserved. But here was a little revival
in our spiritual life. Well, I wonder if we know what
a little revival is. A little blessing. A little softening
of our hard hearts. As the Lord shows us His compassion
and His love. And as perhaps He comes And He
directs us to Calvary. We may have, as it were, passed
by. May not have touched our hearts.
And when the Lord comes and applies the Word, applies that view of
Calvary to our hearts, and we're touched to realize the Lord died
that we might live. It's the application of his word
to our souls. And here we are then, blessed
with that privilege of being found in the holy place, in the
church of God, and found blessed in this way with a little revival. They're reviving in our hearts. You know, it's a wonderful, joyful
experience to realize the Lord has granted us a little reviving. You'll be thankful for that.
You'll bless God for a little reviving. You may perhaps have,
in your foolishness, demanded great blessings. My friends,
the Lord gives us that which is good for us. He gives us that
which will sustain us. You think of Israel. You think
of them in the wilderness. Did they have great feasts as
they traveled those 40 years? No. They had manna. A little. A little to revive
them every day. To keep them going as it were. It was good food, it wasn't bad
food, it was good food. And it kept them going. It was
sufficient. Thank God if you and I received
a little reviving. A little which has enabled us
to Press on with that hope, that good hope, because of the Lord
looking upon us and being gracious to us, and perhaps in some measure,
revealing himself unto us. It may not have been what we
might have hoped for, and what perhaps we may have prayed for,
but remember the Lord gives you and me that which is good for
us. My friends, blessings of God are not wasted. God's blessings
come to us where we are. And they suit us, and they give
us strength to continue. A little reviving is what we
all need. And, my friends, what a blessing
it is if we have this little reviving again and again. And we can be thankful for it,
because if we are set then in the Church of God, in the living
Church of God, there's only one Church of God, only one true
Church of God in the whole world. And what a favour it is to be
found in that church, part of that church, a living stone,
yes, a lively stone, part of that building which is being
built by our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we're placed
in that building. Yes, the Lord is shaping us to
fit well The Lord deals with His people in that way to shape
them so they are then fit to be found in that eternal dwelling
at glory at last. And so we have this statement,
and give us a little reviving in our bondage. Reviving by the
Holy Spirit. It's only the Spirit's work,
my friends. It's not something you and I can produce ourselves.
We cannot work ourselves up into a time of revival. You know,
people do try that today, don't they? They try it naturally,
they try to work themselves up. They try to have revival meetings. Well, it's good to pray for revival,
nothing wrong in that at all. But my friends, you and I can't
produce a revival ourselves. We can't produce revival in our
own souls, let alone amongst other people. We need the great
and glorious spirit of God to do this for us in our own souls
and in the church of God and in our nation. We might say in
the world at large, the Lord will indeed be gracious to us
and give us. You see, it's him that does it
and give us. We can't give ourselves revival,
but the Lord can give us. Remember, as we read, he will
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for
them. He will be. And we are to pray for them.
And sometimes when we're in this prison house as bondmen, it's
very hard to pray. It's very hard to pray. It's a real struggle to pray. The devil tries to stop us. It brings all sorts of, all manner
of thoughts into our minds. And we try to pray. He's a great
adversary. My friends, if you pray like
this for a little reviving in your heart, you'll find the great
adversary of your soul. But here is the word before us,
and give us all that we might be able to pray in faith. He
would give us, each one of us, a little reviving in our bondage. So there might be a time of true
blessing. time of true favour as we may
be able to look out of ourselves, out of that bondage, to view
the freedom which is to be found in the Saviour. And it's the
Saviour that can free us from being in this place of bondage. It's the Saviour and Him alone.
And as it is so, He will have all the honour and all the glory
as we come confessing our condition, confessing our sins, and seeking
unto him that he will be gracious to us, and hear our cries." Well,
Ezra prayed. We're thankful that we have a
record of his prayer. And it's important to realize
how he commenced his prayer. He commenced it as an undone
sinner. Yet he didn't stand up proud
like a Pharisee. He stood up, didn't he, like
the publican, and he confessed, I am ashamed. And blessed lift
up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased
over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the heaven.
It's good to come before our God, recognizing what we are. Not to think we're any great
person, but to realize we're less than the least of all saints.
and to pray that God will look upon us, and that he will hear
our cry, and that he will give us a little spiritual revival
in our souls, so that we may be able to rejoice in his great
and glorious work, his finished work, that work he accomplished
on the cross at Calvary. Surely our concern must always
be that this reviving directs us to Christ. so that his name
is lifted up, so that he is honoured and glorified and our souls emblessed,
and then we are able to realise that we find our help in ourself. All our help, all our help comes
from almighty God. And so may we be thankful tonight.
We have such an account and such a prayer in this great word of
God we have for, and now for a little space, grace hath been
showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape,
to give us a name in His holy place, that our God may lighten
our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. Amen.