Join me this morning, if you
would, once again in the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter nine, Ezra
chapter nine, or as we've mentioned at other times, the gospel according
to Ezra. As I was listening to the Bible
class this morning and heard once again, that account of our
savior going to a town, a small town by the name of Nain, by
divine appointment. I thought of Ezra being here
by divine appointment and by divine appointment we get to
read it. Now Ezra is a minister of the
gospel. He is a scribe of the Word of
God. He knows about the gospel because
it's been revealed to him. That man that we heard about
at Nain, that young man, he knew more about life than he'd ever
known when the Lord raised him to life by God's providence. Now notice here in the book of
Ezra chapter 9, we have spent some time in verses 8 and 9 because
in those two verses, is the gospel in its whole declaration. We have in their grace and mercy,
we have God who appointed it and we have a remnant mentioned
and how God has been so merciful to that remnant. according to
the election of grace, that God has been merciful to them to
release them from the captivity that they had known there in
Babylon. They had been given the grace
of God in the person of Cyrus and later Artaxerxes that they
appointed these folks to leave as God stirred them and we're
thankful that the release God places upon sin and death and
all of the things that hold us In that desperate situation by
our natural birth, have been declared to be released by the
blood of the lamb. We are released from sin. We
are released from that old nature that we were related to Adam,
and we're adopted by the God of heaven, and we're his children. Now he's always known his children,
but we haven't always known that God. And we're thankful that
in time, as Ezra brings out, in a small space of time, he
brings the gospel to his people. And everyone have the same response
to the gospel, because it is not an offer, it is a declaration. I declare unto you the gospel. And God has a reason for the
gospel being brought to places like where he met you. where
he stopped you. Well, as we go through the gospel
here in Ezra chapter 9 verses 8 and 9, we
come to verse 10. Now, verse 10 is part of Ezra's
prayer, but he is mentioning something about the fact that
now, and now, O our God, what shall we say after this? Now, there is nothing to be said
about the gospel after this, but we're going to find that
Ezra, as a faithful minister of the gospel, brings up the
reason that he's praying to begin with. That is a whole bunch of
folks who said they knew something when they were given the opportunity,
went out and adopted the religion of the people in the land. Now
back up to verse 1 of this chapter, and let's just read that, where
it tells us now, and now when these things were done, the princes
came to me saying, the people of Israel and the priests and
the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of
the lands, doing according to their abominations. Now we're
going to find in scripture that it's never wrong to marry someone
out of our culture. But boy, the hammer falls when
we say we know something about the gospel, and then we agree
with that which is not the gospel. That's a real problem, and that's
what we're finding here as Ezra brings it up. There were people
who said they knew the gospel because they're called Israelites,
they're called Levites, they're called servants of God, and when
they were given the opportunity, they went out and they adopted
the abominations of the people. Well, we find out that there
is only one kind of abomination of the people, and that catches
the eye of God, and that is to say that salvation is by works. That's the abomination. When
people say, I believe in grace, but there has to be a little
works just like what we find the Apostle Paul. They followed
him and followed him and followed him, and the gospel will always
make enemies. We're thankful that sometimes
those enemies are just short-lived because the Lord gives us peace,
the Lord gives us Christ. But sometimes they're not at
peace, just like we find the Apostle Paul was not very peaceful
to the gospel until he was saved. And we find that the Apostle
Paul, in declaring the gospel to the far reaches of the world,
had people following him and saying, yes, what the Apostle
Paul has to say about grace is good, but you must be circumcised
in order to be saved. And we put that into today's
vernacular, you must be baptized to be saved. You must come and
appreciate the communion. to be saved. You must keep working
and working and working to be saved. And that's what Paul had
to say about those things, that that's an abomination. And Ezra
was bringing it out many, many years before the Apostle Paul,
saying this is an abomination to adopt the religions of the
folks. This passage is not directed
towards who we marry as much as what we do with what they
believe. Now, case in point, Nancy Believed
she was marrying a saved person and She was not I'm thankful
for the grace of God that came to me many years after we were
married Heard the gospel many years after we were married and
God was gracious to me to allow me to know Christ in his fullness
through the new birth We're fooled many times by those who we marry
and but thanks be unto God. Sometimes he just straightens
it out. All right, this is the problem. It says there in verse
1, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands,
doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, and the
Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, the Ammonites,
the Moabites, and the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Now we go through
the scriptures, we find out that there were a number of those
groups of people were represented by the grace of God. He appeared
to them in great grace. So it's not that issue, the issue
is adopting the abominations of the people, and that is saying,
you know, just to make things happy, I'm going to go into their
ungodly religion and adopt it. Well, if you're really born again,
you can't do that. You may think it for a while,
but you can't go there because the Lord does not leave his people
in that pit. When the glorious gospel is declared,
there will always be those who say they can't take it. Turn with me if you would. Keep
your finger here. I appreciate Mike bringing that out the other
day. Keep your finger right here. Put a bookmark in there and join
me in John Chapter 6. John Chapter 6. I often think
of this as the Lord was the most glorious minister of the gospel
this world has ever known. He was gracious in all his acts. He was gracious in all his words. He was compassionate. He was
filled with the mercy of God for he has mercy personified. He was filled with the grace
of God because he has grace personified. All of the glorious attributes
of God are personified in this one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. and he preached the glorious
gospel everywhere he went. He never once leaned over to
the side of works because that is not going to help anybody.
He always declared what the gospel is and that is, if you knew who
was speaking to you, you would know that I am the water of life. Well, here in the book of John
chapter 6, the Lord has spent some time speaking to a great
host of people. I mean, this is a great host
of people. Thousands of people have been
following the Lord along. And they enjoyed the food he
was providing. But when he got to talking about the gospel,
it tells us here in John chapter 6 verse 65, John chapter 6. Therefore say I unto you that
no man can come unto me except it were given of him of my father. That is the gospel. If God doesn't
come along to that beer that we're on, being carried out to
the burying place, and if he doesn't come and stop those who
are carrying us out and speaks to us, son arise, then we're
just going to be carried out. So he said, if the Father of
heaven, what does it say there? No man can come to me except
they were given of him of my father, no man. can come to me
except to a given of my father." Notice the next verse, from that
time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. He is the gospel personified. He is eternal life personified. He is the host of heaven personified,
and he has the glorious gospel of life and life everlasting,
and yet people heard him, speak the gospel and walked with him
no more. You know what he did to his disciples?
The very next passage there, will you also go away? The apostle
Peter answered for the church to where will we go? You have
the words of eternal life. Well, when you have the gospel,
that's your feeling about it, that he has the words of eternal
life and nowhere else will you find it. The gospel always divides. This happens in among the folks
that wandered in the wilderness among Israel. Turn with me just
a little further in the New Testament to the book of Hebrews chapter
3. In the book of Hebrews chapter 3, we have these words that are
given to us of a warning. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12,
beginning with verse 12. It says, take heed, brethren.
Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. What does that mean? By simply
thinking. I just read this passage, but
I don't believe it. Now, you don't have to say it out loud.
By simply thinking that, that is just an evil heart of unbelief. Cuz belief is trusting God with
everything. But exhort one another daily
what is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ, and if we hold that the beginning of our confidence steadfast
to the end, While it is said today, if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when
they had heard, did provoke, howbeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into rest, but to him that
believeth not? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. That's the problem. That's the
problem that Ezra is facing here with a whole group of people
that call themselves Israelites. A whole group of people that
were leaders among Israelites called Levites. They had adopted
the abominations of the people. Without Christ, that is so easy
to do. I remember changing religions.
It was like getting a new car and really you're just getting
an old car, a worn out car. One has got sawdust in the transmissions,
it'll run off the parking lot. I remember going down to Dallas,
Texas in 1971, 50 years ago. Going down to Dallas, Texas and
being among two or three guys that were agitators. they had
this doctrine of Calvinism. You know what? Being a smart
guy and listen to them, I adopted because I was smart. That's all
it is. It makes you more intellectual.
But before you know it, you find out that you're hard, and you're
bitter, and you argue at the drop of the hat. and you make
fun of people who don't believe like you do because you're smarter
than they are. I just changed religions. I came
back a Calvinist. I believe the doctrines of grace
intellectually, but you know what? You can't believe the Bible
without regeneration. So as time went on, God was gracious
to me and he met me as I was being carried out as a dead man
through the preaching of the gospel. God moved a man from
Kentucky to come to Oregon. Now some of us as we talk about
things find out that God moved us to hear the gospel, and sometimes
he moves somebody who knows something to us, but he's going to get
the job done somehow. Why is Ezra brought out of Babylon
back to Jerusalem so that somebody could hear something when he
began to preach about the gospel? He was not satisfied with the
status quo and leaving things alone. Preach the gospel. Now he didn't go out and name
names, but he did indicate that there was some people that have
a problem, and guess what? He was preaching to himself,
and he was preaching to everybody else in earshot. Here's the problem,
ruined by the fall. Here's the answer, Jesus Christ
the righteous. The folks that Ezra was concerned
about in our passage, knowing the points of the gospel, saying,
it's not enough. They went out, adopted the religion
of the land as demonstrated by who they married. Turn with me
back to the book of Exodus, if you would. Exodus chapter 34,
God long beforehand had this to say, about them going into
the land. They're not there yet. They're
in the wilderness wanderings. In Exodus chapter 34 beginning
with verse 10, the scriptures share this. Exodus chapter 34
and verse 10, he said, behold, I make a covenant. He made a physical covenant with
Israel. Later, he said, they kept it not, therefore I regarded
it not. I don't have to regard it. A whole lot of people, their
entire religion is based upon their reverence for national
Israel. You know, that's just adopting
the abomination of the land because our relationship to God is based
upon our relationship with Jesus Christ. There's an article in
the Bulletin this morning that I thought was very apropos because
it says if we're going to meet God alone, we're going to meet
an angry God. If we meet Him through Christ, He is satisfied
with the sacrifice of the Son on the behalf of our sins. But
if we want to meet Him alone, circumvent the right way, go
around Christ, approach Him in any other way, we'll meet Him
on an angry basis, and He will be angry. All right, here in
the book of Exodus, chapter 34, And there in verse 11, observe
thou which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before
thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite,
and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest,
lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy
their altars. What's that about? He's not talking about intermarriage.
He's talking about, you shall destroy their altars, break down
their images, cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship
no other god. For the Lord, whose name is jealous,
is a jealous God. When you go in there, there's
going to be all of these things. You know we follow Israel just
a short time and they adopted, many of them adopted these religious
things. We get down to the time of the
Lord Jesus Christ and he must needs go to Samaria and met a
woman by a well. What did she believe? Just like
these folks in Canaan believed before they entered into the
land. They were worshiping a golden calf. They were worshiping at
altars and they were worshiping in groves. He says, if you knew. Before she left, she knew. She went into town and says,
I want to tell you about someone who knew me as I am. Is not this the Christ? All of
that stuff was thrown aside. All of that altar worship was
kicked out. That golden calf meant nothing.
She may pass it on the road, but she didn't do nothing about
it because she knew who God was through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Religion encompasses the entire world, but God's people march
through it and they worship Jesus Christ the Lord and Him alone. Nothing will come between them
and that, even the stake, even the firing squad, even, even,
even. The Lord speaks through Ezra.
Do you remember the account of Ruth? Turn with me back to the
book of Ruth, would you? Book of Ruth. I know it's just before Samuel
because it talks about the king. Ruth chapter one. You know the
account of Ruth. She was someone that lived in
Moab. That's one of the places that
the Lord mentions there in the book of Exodus, the Moabites. She lived in Moab, and someone
came along that knew something. In quiet conversation, I can
just hear her say, now, tell me a little bit about your God. Her mother-in-law and her father-in-law
says, you know, this is the true God of heaven. and there's only
one way of salvation and that is through Jesus Christ the Lord,
the Messiah. They probably use the word Messiah,
the Christ. Well, she'd go home and say,
boy, I just didn't like what I heard because I've grown up
all my life that I'm supposed to go over here to this altar.
The next time she came over with her husband, she said, now, tell
me a little more about that, would you? It just didn't set
well last time. You really didn't mean what you
had to say, did you? Well, yeah, the God, the God
of true Israel, there's one God. And he has promised from eternity
to save his people from their sins. And it's not up to us,
it's up to God's grace. And she'd go away just in a dither. and she'd come back with her
husband to visit her in-laws again. Now, you really didn't
mean that, did you? And they'd go on. Yes, we did.
We meant every bit of it. By the grace of God, after hearing
the glorious gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in the
Messiah, God worked a work of grace in her and she was born
again. Now, her husband dies. And her brother-in-law dies,
and her father-in-law dies. And her mother is prepared to
go back to where she came from. And here in Ruth chapter 1, verse
11, it says this, and Naomi said, now that's mom-in-law, turn again,
my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there not yet any more sons
in my womb? Now remember, under this law,
that if you married someone and he died, you were supposed to
marry the brother to raise up seed. Why is it that way? Because God wanted it that way.
He's sovereign in that. Now, he doesn't have it in effect
today, but he did then. She says, I'm just old and if
I was able to have any children, they would be so young and you'd
be so old, it's not worth it. She goes on to tell us here in
verse 12, turn again, go away, If I should say I have hope,
if I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear
sons, would you tarry for them till they be grown? Would you
stay with them for having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieved
me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out
against me. Do you ever think that the Lord,
his purpose chafes us just a little once in a while? Here's what
we find. And they lifted up their voice
and wept again, Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth claimed
unto her. She said, behold, thy sister-in-law. Now, notice this, please, notice
this. Thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto
her, what? Gods. Orpha has gone back to her people
and to her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Now, did Orpha do something uncommon? No. There's home, there's my
gods. Did Ruth do something common? No. This is not the common thing
to do. Something had happened here.
God was gracious to her here. I will leave here because your
God is my God. What you believe about him is
what I know and believe about him. Your God is my God. Well, we find that Rahab, turn
with me if you would to Joshua chapter 6, Joshua chapter 6. Right before Ruth there is Joshua,
Joshua chapter 6 verse 17. You remember the story, the account
of a woman by the name of Rahab? Rahab had an infamous occupation. I've had commentaries and preachers
tell me that really that was just a term for women at that
time, and I said, you've got to be kidding. Rahab the harlot,
she carried that name to her death. That title, reminder. Joshua chapter 6, and there in
verse 17, it says, and in the city shall be accursed, even
it and all are therein. To the Lord over Rahab the harlot
shall live. She and all that are with her
in the house because she hid the messengers that were sent.
Travel with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and it brings
up Rahab here why she would do that Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
31 Hebrews chapter 11 verse 31 by faith Hebrews chapter 11 verse
31 by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed
not when she had received the spies of with peace. What did she have? She had faith. What did she do? She believed.
That's all the difference. And she is Rahab, a Canaanite,
Ruth of Moabitess. And the account continues to
go on through all the scriptures. We have that woman that we heard
read about in the scripture this morning in the book of Acts chapter
16, Lydia from Thyatira. She is miles from home, and she
had observed no doubt many religious rites while she lived in Thyatira. She's a seller of purple, royal
blue, and she's in Philippi, and by the grace of God, God
sent a man there down to where she was worshiping on the riverbank,
and he preached the gospel, and God says, whose heart the Lord
opened. We don't come to this conclusion
on our own. We don't have the capabilities
of coming to this conclusion on our own. We'll never accept
God on our own. We'll never trust God on our
own. We'll never believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ on our own. We must be given that by Almighty
God because we have an innate problem and that is we're dead
in trespasses and sin. We're just like that young man
being carried out. He's physically dead. We're spiritually
dead. He's such a picture of that. Book of Acts. Oh, let's go back
to the book of Ezra. I told you we'd get there. Ezra
chapter 9. The problems that we have here
says in verse 10, now, oh God, what shall we say? Verse 11,
which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets saying
the land unto which ye go to possess it is an unclean land
with the filthiness of the people of the land with their abominations
would have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanliness. The world is filled with this,
abominations to God. We will work, we will do, we
will perform, and yet we find that the Bible clearly teaches
on every page, for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves. Now, therefore, give not your
daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your
sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever. that ye
may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for
an inheritance to your children forever. After all that has come
upon us for our evil deeds in our great trespass, seeing that
thou our God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve. They were carried into Babylonian
captivity, they've been mistreated and maltreated, but it is less
than we deserve. Verse 14, should we again break
the commandments and join in affinity with the people of these
abominations? Wouldst thou not be angry with
us till thou hast consumed us, so that there should not be remnant
nor escaping? You know, this part of Ezra's
prayer reminds me of the Apostle Paul's prayer when he was dealing
with the saints that were there, the churches that were in Galatia.
My heart is just broken. I'm astonished that you would
so soon leave the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and go along
with the religions of the land. That's what Ezra is saying here.
If it wasn't for the grace of God, he'd have been in the mix
to that, and so would everyone else. It is only by the grace
of God. But never ever say that you believe
that you've been saved by God's infinite grace, that his mercy
has saved you, that the new birth has been given to you, and then
adopt the religion of this world and say, I have to go along with
it. No. That's the problem. Ezra finally said in his prayer,
O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous. For we remain yet
escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in
our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee because of
this. As the prophet, the minister,
the preacher of righteousness, Ezra. As he comes to the close
of his prayer, he once again brings up the real problem that
is between God and man, and that is the fall. That is that we're
dead in trespasses and sin, and without the gospel, without God's
grace, without God's mercy towards us, without what he had to say,
he has a compassion for us that dies not. If it wasn't for that,
no one would ever have been saved. Whereas the real issues found
here in Ezra's prayer is what's going on in Jerusalem and Judah
and Benjamin. The folks were intermarrying
because of an agreement with false gods. And then we're reminded
of what the Lord said in John chapter 6. No man can come to
me except the Father draw him. unless it
was given of the Father. And then, except for the grace
of God, that He would give us coming ability. Come unto me
all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. It's
God that gives us the coming ability. He's the one that raises
us from the dead. He's the one that brings us out
of that stupor of death and the fall. He's the one that makes
us acquainted with ourself. He's the one that makes us acquainted
with the Lord. He's the one that makes us acquainted
with true life, Heaven life true eternal life that we don't have
to be worried about all the time The grace of God that he would
give us coming ability to give the new birth to give the resurrection
from the dead how glorious is this gospel that Ezra preaching
preached here now in chapter 10 verse We're not gonna go there,
but be prepared. Next Sunday, Lord willing, we'll
go there. Chapter 10, there's a whole bunch of folks says,
it is I. It is I. You remember what the
Lord asked there? He says, one of you is gonna
betray me. You know, all the disciples that
were there said, is it I? Is it I? Knowing our capacity,
knowing our ability, is it I? Well, thank God he protects all
those. There was one there appointed to betray the Lord Jesus, and
he said, it's better that that one was not born, Judas, than
better. But here we get in chapter 10,
as he comes to the end of his prayer, these folks come up and
say, it's me. Thank God that he brings us out
of all the false thoughts that we may have had about Almighty
God, and straightens us up, and sets us on a path that is directed
to the Lord and the Lord only for all of our salvation.