Chapter 9. We are involved in
reading and studying Ezra's prayer. And the more I read about Ezra
in this prayer, the more I know that I would have wonderful fellowship
with him if we were permitted to sit down together across a
table over a cup of coffee. Why? Because he believed the
gospel. Why? Because he believed God
was sovereign in all things. Why? Because he believed in grace
and grace alone for all his salvation. Why? Because he believed in mercy. He believed in God's mercy to
God's people and that alone is what is marked out and given
to God's people is his mercy. We find that simply in this prayer. Now, this prayer was given by
Ezra, but the author of it was God Almighty. We know that because
it's recorded in this word, it's recorded in the Bible. Recently,
I've had several discussions with people about whether this
book or that book should have been in the Bible. I have said,
I know that it wasn't supposed to be there or it would be there
now. I just trust God in that matter. Whatever other extra writings
there are, they may have been good historical books, but they
were not divinely inspired. Here in the book of Ezra chapter
9, and I'd like to read verses 6, 7, and 8. And we're going
to spend the most of our time in verse 8. But in Ezra chapter
9, in Ezra's prayer, He reveals so much about himself, and he
would be able to say, as the apostles were able to say after
the Lord Jesus shared with them, flesh and blood did not reveal
these things unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. Ezra
did not come to these conclusions by his own study, or by his birth,
or by his position as being a rabbi, or by being a scribe of the Word
of God. He came to these by the power
of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. In Ezra chapter 9, beginning
with verse 6, and said, this is his prayer, and said, My God,
I am ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to thee, my God, for
our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass
is grown into the heavens. We find that this man of God,
this Ezra the prophet that we read about, this minister of
the gospel, he shares with us that from the very beginning
this has been a problem. He didn't notice a space, but
after creation of Adam, and then Took a while, way down time before
sin came into the family of Adam. But Adam was the problem to begin
with, and Adam was the one that sinned against Almighty God,
and Adam was the one that brought this into our nature. This last
week, I was visiting with someone, and they shared with me that
Jesus could have sinned if he'd wanted to, and I shared with
him, don't go there. He is the God-man. and he did
not have this human part in him. He was born of a woman. I simply
ask him this question, who was Jesus' father? The answer is
God. God is Jesus' father. He is holy,
holy, holy. He could not have sinned. It was an impossibility by his
very nature to have done that. And so Ezra understood that.
He had to have a perfect savior, one that was incapable, but capable
and strong to do it, to have our sins placed upon him, imputed
to him, that he could take care of them boldly on the throne
of the cross. It tells us that with a great
loud voice he spoke from the cross. He was in complete control
of all that was going on on the cross. Well, as we go down here
to the next verse, in verse number seven, since the days of our
fathers have we been in great trespassing to this day, we can
just follow the genealogy back and find out that it started
there in the garden. For our iniquities have we our
kings and our priests No, Ezra understood that there wasn't
one person that was exempt. A man might be called to be a
king, David, but he was not exempt from the problem. A person might
be called to be a prophet, Ezra himself, but he was not exempt
from the problem. a prophet, a priest. Aaron was
called of God and anointed by God to be the first high priest
over Israel, but he was not exempt from the problem. And Ezra understood
this, that there was no exemptions, that everyone had the same problem
as everyone else, as descendants from Adam. The kings and the
priests have delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands
to the sword, to captivity, to spoil, and to confusion of face
as it is this day. All these problems have come
about us as a result of the problem that God has with us. Now, the
problem that man has with God is, there is no God. And then he goes on here in verse
eight. And now for a little space. For a little space. As we look
back over what Ezra has just said, he has shared with us that
the people, he mentioned Babylon and that was a real place to
them. He knew that place because it was a city not real close
to him at the moment, 1,000 miles away, that he had just been delivered
from, and that was a place where you could go to every street
corner and see some kind of religious place. That religion was hardcore
in Babylon. Does it remind you of any place?
Everywhere you go, there are places of religion and Ezra understood
that, but he had been brought out of Babylon. We find that
it was called in another place, Lodibar, a place of no grass,
no pasture. It's called in another place,
a waste howling wilderness. In another place, a land of deserts
and of pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death. That's what Jeremiah said about
it. This is where we are by nature. And Ezra said, let's get to the
heart of the issue. And he shares that here in verse
9. In verse 9, he shares, first of all, in that very first verse,
part of that verse, or verse 8, and now for a little space,
grace. Now compared to eternity, the
little space that we have here is a space of grace. I hear it
often, that as long as someone draws a breath, they have not
committed the unpardonable sin. And that's the exact truth. That's
what I pray for my brother. That's what I pray for my sisters.
There is still grace. Grace is still here. God's grace. God's the only one that has grace.
And for a very small part, as it tells us there in verse 8,
now for a little space. For a little space. When it pleased
God is how we find it in another place. When it came to Saul of
Tarsus, it was a time when it pleased God for a very little
space. In all eternity, God appeared
unto Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. and whoever he saves,
there's been a little space that he has been given to bring the
gospel to them and to have them born again by the power of the
spirit. God has used this very little
space of time to bring to us the gospel compared to eternity,
what is 6,000 years? Compared to eternity, what is
10,000 years? It is just a very little space
in time that God has promised to bring the gospel to everyone
that was given to the Son by the Father before the foundation
of the world. Oh, if he had passed over that
very little space, no one would ever be able to say, our Father
which art in heaven. But this little space of time. To me, it was a long time in
religion, but compared to eternity, it was just a short expanse until
God was pleased to bring the gospel. As I was listening to
that lesson this morning about the blind leading the blind,
I was so thankful after all that time that God sent me somebody
that knew something. All the other people I'd ever
heard in my life had works and grace mixed up. They'd had the
church involved in it, they had this involved in it, they had
that involved in it, and grace was never the center or the core
of the issue. Jesus Christ was never the most
important thing. He was co-equal to other important
doctrines. But that person that brought
me the gospel, he knew something because God had given him something. When we read about Ezra, we find
out that God gave him something, and when he spoke, God was going
to use him as a mouthpiece. God had revealed to him. Jesus
asked Peter who who do you say I am and he said thou art the
Christ the son of the Living God You know to most people they
just want to stop there and say that Peter by his education came
to that conclusion But the Lord Jesus Christ did not stop there.
He went ahead and gave him the reason that he knew that very
thing Flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my
father which art in heaven For a very little space when it pleased
God the day of salvation his appointed time Would you just
hold your place right here and quickly go over to to Ephesians
chapter 1 and I'm gonna have to be like Mike I'm not going
to read it all Ephesians chapter 1 I want to read verse 5 and
verse 9 Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5 and verse 9 As we think about
this very little space and time, we look back and say, thank you,
Lord, for using that time on my behalf. Thank you, Lord, for
sending someone that knew something about the gospel to me in that
very little time that I have. In Ephesians chapter 1, there
in verse 5, the scriptures share this. Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, in God's purpose I have an appointed
time. I reach down through all eternity
to that very special point when I bring the gospel to my lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Then in that same chapter in
verse 9, it says, having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, a very special thing that God does to us in the new
birth is he allows us to know the mystery of his will according
to the good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. We would
be fools to say, I understand it all. But by the grace of God,
I can understand some of it. It's by grace and grace alone,
nothing I had, nothing I did was able to get there. And then
as we go back to the book of Ezra, chapter 9, and there in
verse 8, he said, grace. I'm so thankful as I read his
prayer that this came out in his prayer. Ezra chapter nine
verse eight, and now for a little space, grace hath been shown
from the Lord our God. Oh my goodness, we'll never get
to the end of the meaning of grace. The whole gospel is called the
grace of God. The whole gospel is the grace,
it took the grace of God bring it to pass. It took the grace
of God to call those who it's ordained to send it. It was the
grace of God that lifted us out of a horrible pit so that we
would be able to see him in his purity and in his truth. And
the application of it, of grace, in any individual instance of
it is saying power is called the grace of God. By the grace
of God, Paul said, I am what I am. For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God.
Grace is God's unmerited favor. It is the grace of God is free. As someone wrote, it's like the
light. This morning, I saw one of the
most beautiful sunrises I've seen in years here in the Dalles.
And it was free. I just stepped outside to start
my pickup so it would be warm when I left, and I was given
a free declaration of the light of God, the morning light. Light,
the sun is free to us. And the glory of it is free to
us. And like the dew of the morning. Go out in the morning and it's
been just dry. Go out in the morning. Don't
go out in bare feet. You'll have wet feet in the grass.
Dew is free. There are critters that depend
on the dew alone for all their moisture intake. The morning
dew, grace is from God himself. Grace acts from itself to itself. Nothing of human power or merit
is in grace. Everything by Christ is grace. and to suppose any of the predisposing
act of the creature or any merit of the creature would altogether
alter and destroy the very property of grace. As Paul brings out
in the book of Romans chapter 11 verse 6, and if by grace then
it is no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. And here Ezra is in probably
one of the greatest prayers he ever prayed, and that is for
those folks in Jerusalem and in Judea. Judah, praying about
the problem that they have before Almighty God, and here he comes. Oh, grace. What's it say? Now for a little space, grace
hath been shown from the Lord our God. Now, when God deals
with us according to his grace, he makes us gracious folks. I'll
never forget what was instructed to me, grace makes us gracious. And that's the truth. Now, we
may not be as gracious as we would like to be, but we're certainly
more gracious than we were. And we're not quite as gracious
as we will be when we see him as he is. But grace made all
the difference in the world. Even when we were dead in sins,
he hath quickened us, that's grace. And so this prophet, this
preacher, this minister, this missionary of the gospel of God's
grace in Christ Jesus, shares with us in his great prayer before
God about the people of God. Now for a little space, grace
that's been shown from the Lord our God. Then he says here, to
leave us a remnant. Ezra understood God's
sovereignty and salvation. That is an absolute essential
when it comes to hearing somebody that knows the gospel. What do
you believe about God's sovereignty and salvation? He is absolutely
sovereign in all things and particularly in salvation. We see him sovereign
in creating the heavens and the earth, but is he sovereign in
creating new life, giving us salvation in Christ Jesus? Well,
absolutely. Ezra understood election. He
understood there was a remnant according to the election of
grace. He had heard all his life about those great numbers and
masses of people traveling through the wilderness under Moses and
under Aaron, and they got up to a land, And God said, send
in some spies. And they came back, and 10 of
them had an evil report. They said, we can't do it. You
know, I've heard that all my life. It was an evil report.
It was a lie is what they brought back. They were lying on God
and that's just religion to its core, lying on God. They came
back with a lie about God. God can't do what he said he
would do. Two of them came back and said,
God can do what he said he could do. Those were the guys you want
to listen to. God is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think. He's the one that
can keep the thing moving. He's the one that's got it going.
And so, Ezra believed that to leave us a remnant to escape. Isaiah, would you turn with me
to the book of Isaiah chapter 1? Isaiah mentions this in that
great chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah is the gospel according
to Isaiah, just like Ezra is the gospel according to Ezra.
God used these great men of God who had been revealed the grace
of God to write wonderful things about His grace. And in that,
He's going to bring up a remnant. Because Isaiah was able to write
this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 9 He
mentions a lot of problems with Israel here Israel's just related
to Adam. That's the problem and in verse
9. He says except the Lord of hosts We've run into that name many
times in the book of Zechariah and the best definition given
in the Bible was by Nebuchadnezzar and He rules in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say, what doest thou? Now, that's the Lord of hosts.
He's the Lord of the armies of God. It says, except the Lord
of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. What? If he hadn't what? Isaiah goes on to tell us we
should have been as Sodom and we should have been like into
Gomorrah What is he meaning? We would have been sinners to
the core and we'd have been bared up just like that that's a Remnant
and that is a very small remnant and it wasn't for the Lord we
would not have a remnant there was nobody that voted to be in
the remnant and None of those folks that traveled from Egypt
over to what we call the promised land, none of those folks would
have been voting themselves into the remnant. They all thought
they were there already by their works, but there were a few that
were in the remnant. How many of those folks that
left Egypt got to go into the land? How many? Two that were
under 20 years of age. or over 20 years of age, two,
Joshua and Caleb. Now it doesn't mean that Moses
wasn't saved, doesn't mean that Aaron wasn't saved, they just
died before they went in. They represented the law and
God's not gonna have anybody that's saved being represented
by the law. They're gonna be represented
by grace, the Son of God, the Savior. Jeremiah, I will gather
the remnant of my flesh. Jeremiah even though he wrote
a great scathing report about the activities of national Israel
against a holy God He said there's still a remnant and we find as
we follow through the scriptures I will surely gather the remnant
of Israel found in the book of Micah chapter 2 and Romans Paul
wrote a remnant shall be saved and And then he says, a remnant
according to the election of grace shall be saved. So out
of the whole host of people, Ezra wrote or said in this prayer,
there's a remnant. He understood that not everybody
that made a profession of faith really understood what was going
on. He understood that everyone that was called by the name Israel,
children of Israel, not everyone understood who they were. Many
of them thought it was just by who they were related to. We
be, those folks could say the same thing as the Pharisees said,
we be the children of Abraham. And you know, it didn't make
any difference. We're all children of Adam. Doesn't
make any difference. It is God that makes all the
difference in the world. Ezra understood the sovereignty
of God. He says there, going back to
the book of Ezra, chapter 9 and verse 8, now for a little space,
grace hath been shown from the Lord our God. He knew where it
came from. He understood a little bit about
grace. He realized he was related to Adam just like everybody else.
Nobody was exempt. Even being a prophet, nobody
was exempt. And then he goes on to tell us,
he left us to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail
in his holy place. Well, that word nail is used
a number of times in the book of Leviticus. Over there they
were brass. And they were about a cubit in
length. And they had cords wrapped around
them and driven into the ground. They became tent stakes for the
tabernacle. All the boards that were supported
were supported by these ropes and pins driven into the ground.
And the great coverings that were put over the tabernacle. They had ropes attached to them
and these pins attached to them and they were driven into the
ground and it was for stability. You know, wind blew there just
like it does here. I remember going elk hunting
one time and we set up a tent and then we went and looked out
the, spying out the land. And we came back and we were
down in the canyon and we didn't even know the wind blew. But
when we came back, this 12 by 18 tent was completely upside
down and all of our camping gear was exposed. You know why? We didn't drive the tent stakes
down. We just thought it would stay
there till we got back. Ezra shares with us that in the
Lord Jesus Christ, Only holy place is Christ in Jesus Christ
there is Stability because he is our nail driven down He is
our security The Bible tells us in the book of the Psalms
would you turn with me to the book of the Psalms chapter 73
for just a moment Where I grew up There was a lot
of dirt, sandy loam, I don't know what it was, what they call
it, but you walk when it was really wet and you could grow
inches by the step. You'd step down, you'd pick up
about an inch of mud and you'd lift it over and you'd step down
again and you'd lift up another inch of mud. We had our high
heels on and didn't even know it. That was just muddy, but
it was slick. You could almost skate across
it. Well, notice here in the book of the Psalms, Psalm 73.
The one who is involved here is looking out on how rich people
are and he really wanted some of that. And then it comes to
the conclusion of this in Psalm 73 there in verse 16. It says,
when I thought to know this, It was too painful for me. I
really wanted the riches that everybody else had, and they
didn't seem to have any pain in their life. They didn't have
any problems. And then it says in verse 17,
until I went into the sanctuary of God. Now, I've had a lot of
people call this a sanctuary, and I've just tried to talk people
out of saying that. This is an auditorium. The sanctuary
of God's people is Christ. This isn't a sanctuary. Now,
it is today in the sense it's warmer in here than it is outside.
I like it. But a sanctuary, Christ is our
sanctuary. He says, I went into the sanctuary
of God. I went and saw a view of Christ that I had never seen
before, then understood I their end. If they don't know grace,
look where they're going. And then it says in verse 18,
surely thou did set them in slippery places. Slippery places. Over there in the Goose Lake
Valley up on the Warner Mountain is what we call Blue Rock. And
my mother told me one time, never go across Blue Rock. I wish she
hadn't have said that because now I needed to know why. And so I started across this
face of this rock, and there's 10 billion little pieces of rock
that were like ball bearings. And it's a slope about 45 degrees,
and I wondered, am I ever going to get off of here? Scared me. Well, it was slippery places. Now when I got down onto the
terra firma, I was very glad it was ground that wasn't on
slippery places. Ezra is sharing with us in his
prayer about the Lord Jesus Christ being a nail in Slippery places
he is our security we sometimes sing a song This is the chorus. We have an anchor that keeps
the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to
the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's
love and the author of that hymn used Hebrews chapter 6 for part
of his sharing in that, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast. Ezra is sharing to those who
are of the remnant, they have a nail holding them in place,
and that nail is Christ. He will not be destroyed and
he will take care of all his people in himself. I will lose
none of them. I will not have any problems
with this. I can take care of them. Not
only am I powerful enough to do my word, but my word said
I will do it. And God cannot lie. And he had
nothing greater to swear by. He swore by himself. We have
to put our hands on the Bible sometime. I don't know if they're
going to do that anymore or not in the courtroom, but I did when
I went to court, put my hand on the Bible and swear. I swore by the Bible, the truth
of the Bible. Well, a lot of people have put
their hands on a Bible and lied right there in the stand. Didn't
mean anything. But God said, I could swear by
no greater. I'll just swear by myself. I
will keep my people. So Ezra brings that out over
here in this wonderful prayer. Ezra chapter nine again. As we
look at this great prayer of Ezra, he said there in verse
8, and now for a little space, grace hath been shown from the
Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail
in his holy place. Right there in front of him is
the temple. But he knew that wasn't the holy
place. There was a place called the
holy place and the holy of holies. But that was far from the real
holy place. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
holy, holy, holy one. He is the holiness of God. And it says there, give us a
nail in the holy place that our God may lighten our eyes. Brother Craig read over there
this morning in Luke chapter 2 about Simeon being given the
information by the Holy Spirit that when Christ would come,
he would be a light to lighten the Gentiles. He would be a light. to lighten the Gentiles, there
would be the ability of Almighty God in the Lord Jesus Christ
to enlighten people that were in a dark place, to give them
light where there was darkness in their mind and in their heart,
to quicken them to life. In the last part of this verse,
it uses the word a little reviving. We used to participate in revival
meetings. Well, I was looking that word
up, and the original meaning was to give life. That's what
revival is. God gives life. He raises the
spiritual dead and gives them life, and that's what Ezra is
talking about here. May lighten our eyes. Would you
turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter nine? In Isaiah chapter
nine, we have this thought brought up again by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter nine, and there
in verse two, the scriptures share this. The people that walked
in darkness. Have you ever walked in darkness?
Boy, the only people that know about that are the ones that
have been given the light. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 2,
the scripture share this, it says, the people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. They have dwelt in the
land of the shadow of death. Upon them hath the light shined. What is that? Jesus said, I am
the light of the world. I am the light that lightens
the Gentiles. I am the light that lightens
my people. They all are walking in darkness.
We are by nature darkness, darkness in our heart, darkness in our
mind. Our spiritual eyes are unable to see. It's no wonder
that people have real problems with the Bible and make up all
kinds of nursery rhymes about it. make up all kinds of stories
about it because they cannot see. They are darkened to it.
It's just words on a page. I'll never forget when I was
subbing one time, I was working with a Hispanic boy and he could
pronounce every word in that book. But you know what? He didn't
know what one of those words meant, and that's the way it
is. Just can't get past. I can read
the words, but I don't know anything about it. That's exactly what
that Ethiopian eunuch said. What is it? Is this man talking
about himself or some other? That man who knew something,
that gospel preacher that knew something, it could have been
Ezra, Isaiah, Haggai, or Philip, and began at the same place and
preached unto him Jesus. That's what Ezra is doing. He's
preaching Jesus Christ to us. In Isaiah 60, would you look
there? In Isaiah 60, verses 1, 2, and 3. Isaiah brings us out
again. Isaiah chapter 60, verses 1,
2, and 3. Arise, shine, for thy light has
come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people, but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall
be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to
thy light, the kings to the brightness of thy rising. What a promise
Isaiah brings out here to people who are part of the remnant in
darkness, and yet they shall be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in that last phrase,
of Ezra's part of his prayer there in verse 8. Ezra chapter
9 and verse 8, we read these words. And he says there, and now for
a little space. Grace hath been shown from the
Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail,
security in his holy place in the Lord Jesus that our God may
lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. I'm still bound. Did you know
that? I still have bondage. I carry this flesh around with
me every day. I'm still bound by the flesh.
God did not purpose to save the flesh at this time. I'm still
bound. But you know what? I got a little
reviving in me. The Holy Spirit was given to
me in salvation. I have part of me that will never
see death. I have part of me that obeys
completely every command of Almighty God. The Holy Spirit in me, Christ
in me, the hope of glory. I have life in me that was given
to me in salvation, and that will never die. They'll put this
carcass away someday, but that will never die, and in time,
In a little time, God has promised to bring that body, new like
his body, back to that my spirit and we'll be together for eternity. We shall see him as he is. We
will leave this world in bondage to this flesh, yet in this fallen
flesh we have the new birth, the spirit dwelling in us. New life. Never was there before. It wasn't just a little spark
that needed some blowing on it. It was dead and he raised it
to life. So Ezra in this verse 8, now
verse 9 just goes on with this. We don't have time though. But
next week, Lord willing, we'll look at verse 9. We were bondmen. 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, and to set up
the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof,
and to give us a wall in Judah in Jerusalem. Woe! What more
promises God gives us in that, and we have verses 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, and 15 to go in his prayer. As time permits, we'll look at
those verses. May God bless you. Brother Mike,
if you'll come at this time.