Ezra chapter 9 and I would like
to read starting with verse 5. Ezra chapter 9 and start reading
with verse 5. Verse 5 is where we were last
week and verse 5 is where we'll be today. But from verse six
to the end of this chapter is Ezra's prayer. And it is a tremendous
prayer of dependence upon the Lord and dependence upon the
Lord to deal with sin. And we'll be looking at that
over time. But in Ezra chapter nine and
verse five, at the evening sacrifice, I arose up from my heaviness
and have rent my garment and my mantle I fell upon my knees,
and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O
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 up unto
the heavens. That's as much of his prayers
we're going to read today, but we do find in that that he simply
puts himself in the place with everyone else even though he
was not particularly guilty of those crimes that had been committed. But we'd like to spend our time
in verse 5 again today. And we notice in that passage
of scripture, in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 5, that Ezra uses
a word that's been translated into our translation, the word
heaviness. It says there, at the evening
sacrifice. And last week we saw that that
evening sacrifice was typical and pictorial of the true evening
sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. when he went to the cross to
bear the burden of the sins of his people, where he cried, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then he concluded by
saying, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Well, here
in this passage of scripture, at the time of the evening sacrifice,
I rose up from my heaviness. Now, that word, just in its language
that we read it in, means that Ezra was in a serious condition,
a serious position for his people. He was in a state of heaviness. But when we look at this, we
find that this word means other than just being heavy or having
a heavy burden upon you. This is the only place that this
particular word is used in the Old Testament. This Hebrew word
was translated there, and it means fasting. It means to fast. The Hebrew word is also found
in secular writings, the same word, and it is one place it
is translated fasting, and in another place it means speechless. So we find that Ezra is truly
spending some time in silence. and how great that is because
we find that the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned as being a lamb
before her shears was silent, was quiet, did not bring any
accusations up about that. And we found, as we heard read,
Brother Craig just read over there in the 2nd Chronicles chapter
20, that the king, as he brought his petitions before the Lord,
he says, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. How serious that is and how gracious
it is for God to bring us to that place in our life when we
are brought to a standstill. with regard to our sin, and to
our nature, and to our being, and we cry out to the Lord, I
don't know what to do, but my eyes are up on you. Well, we
see the rest of the story there in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter
20, that the Lord told those people as they gathered out there
to meet the enemy, the battle is not yours. It's mine. And if you go on to read there,
the battle was the Lord's and he defeated them soundly. That is the Lord's business when
he does that. At the end of the chapter, chapter
one of the book of Job, as I read through there, that first chapter,
all of the things that happened to Job, All of his possessions,
his family, and finally his own body was bewailed by these great
boils. And he's sitting there in that
condition. It tells us, if you join me in
the book of Job, I just want to read that last verse of the
book of Job, just there before the Psalms. It says in Job, right
after Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Esther, and then Job, we have these words
recorded. Job chapter 1 and the last verse,
verse 22. Job chapter one and verse 22,
as we think about Ezra in hearing about the condition of the people
that had come back to Jerusalem and come back to Judah years
before and what they had done in adopting the abominations
of the people. Here we find that Ezra was silent
for a bit. He was speechless for a bit.
He was in heaviness for a bit. And in Job chapter one and verse
22 it says, in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."
Or said, what are you doing? In all of this, Job did not charge
God foolishly. Well, it takes us right back
to Ezra as he is a representative of the people. He's a representative
of sinners. He's a representative of God's
people that he comes and says in just silence, in just heaviness,
he did not charge God foolishly about this. And he leaves the
outcome in the hands of the Lord. And then we find in that verse
five of Ezra chapter nine, it says, Ezra did something. It
says there that I fell on my knees and spread out my hands. As I thought about that, there's
some things that you cannot do when you have your hands spread
out. When you have them opened up, there's some things that
you cannot do. We'd like to look a little bit
at that. And the hymn in our blue book
left out a verse of Augustus Toplady's hymn, Rock of Ages. That verse says, nothing in my
hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked came to
thee for dress, helpless looked to thee for grace. Foul I to
the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. Snuffing in my hands
I bring. Now, as Ezra, under this great
heaviness, speechlessness, under this great time of fasting, true
fasting, He fell down and spread out his
hands before the Lord. Nothing in my hands I bring. There is not one positive thing
I can bring about the condition. And I bring nothing about myself. Would you turn with me to the
book of Ecclesiastes? The book of Ecclesiastes. In
this book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes, in some of the commentators
think that he wrote this after his great sins of adopting so
much trash and forgetting about God that he wrote this as a statement
of I've been wrong and I am turning to the Lord again. Now, here
in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2, we find these words recorded
that Solomon leaves us as he's led by the Holy Spirit to write.
It says here, then I looked upon all the works of my hands had
wrought. I looked upon my hands, all that
my hands had wrought, all that my hands have done. Now remember
Ezra's position as he approaches this great God of heaven in prayer. He comes before him with his
hands opened, nothing in my hands I bring. Solomon writes here
in the book of Ecclesiastes and says, then I looked on all the
works of my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labored
to do and behold, this is the conclusion about all of that.
He said here, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there
was no prophet under the sun. What Solomon is sharing with
us, that all that we attempt to approach God with in the flesh
is just that. The flesh profiteth nothing. There is nothing that we can
present to God that is of value that He wants. So we have this
experience of Ezra demonstrating to us how to come before the
Lord, and that is without anything in our hands. We find over in
the book of 1 Samuel, would you turn there to the book of 1 Samuel
for just a moment? There was a man by the name of
Jonathan. And Jonathan was Saul's son.
And Jonathan was nixed in line to rule in Israel according to
the flesh. Saul was king. He'd been appointed
by God. And he has a son by the name
of Jonathan. And God raised up a young man
by the name of David. And he's been anointed to be
the next king. He is chosen to be king before
he actually sits on the throne. Now notice what Jonathan does
to David in this passage of scripture, 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel
chapter 18, and there in verse four, we find out what Jonathan
did when David and he had a covenant together. 1 Samuel chapter 18,
and there in verse four, The scriptures share this, and Jonathan
standing before David, who is, Jonathan is nixed in line to
be king according to the flesh. David has been anointed king
by God. And Jonathan, notice verse four,
stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it
to David, and his garments, even his sword, and his bow, and to
his girdle. Now what did Jonathan do when
he did that? What did he say to David when
he was going through that? I recognize you as king. He could not and he would not
present anything of his own. He gave it all to the Lord. He
came open-handed, if you please. As Ezra comes before the Lord
open-handed, nothing I do not bring anything of my own to this
situation. He's not trying to bargain with
God. He's not trying to do anything,
any dealing with God. He is just laying it out just
as it is. In my hands, I bring nothing. And here, as we read about this
Jonathan, who is next in line to be king, recognizes David
as king, and says, here's my coat, here's my sword, here's
my bow, here's my girdle, here's all that I have. It belongs to
you. I submit to you and how glorious
that is when God's people come to God and submit everything
they have and say, I have nothing of my own that I can bring to
you. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. It's interesting to find out,
that the Lord himself is spoken of in the book of Isaiah and
he is going to have the names of his people graven on the palms
of his hand. Now can you imagine someone going
to have a tattoo, please I'm not advocating that, a tattoo
on their hand and they come in like this with their hands clenched
You're not going to have a graving put on your hand with your hands
clenched. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 49, if
you would. Isaiah chapter 49, and here we
have that the Lord is saying about himself, I know you so
intimately. I know my people so closely. I have been acquainted with them
from eternity. I know where they are. I know
who they are. I know their names. I know all
about them. In fact, I have such an intimate
relationship with them that I have graven them on the palms of my
hands. Isaiah chapter 49, and there
in verse 16, the scripture says this. Behold, I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hand, thy walls are continually before
me. You cannot grave the palm of
the hand if you have a clenched attitude about it. and the Lord
Jesus is sharing with us that I am going willingly to purchase
my people. I'm going so willingly that metaphorically,
your names are engraven on the palms of my hand. I opened them
up willingly before my father. I have opened them up without
resistance. I am pleased and pleasured to
do all this for the purchase of my people. I have your names
graven on the palms of my hand. In my hands I bring nothing except
what God has given me, and that is the grace of God. Ezra comes
before God, hands open, bowed before the Lord, and shares with
us the great need to bring nothing before God, trusting him only. As was mentioned in the Bible
class this morning, Over in the book of Luke chapter 18 there
are two individuals. One of them comes with a whole
lot in his hand and the other one has nothing in his hand.
Now I'm saying this metaphorically because that publican came with
all kinds of things to present before God just as if we would
offer him a contract We'd offer him paperwork, we'd offer him
some kind of thing from our point to his point, and we're asking
him to sign it on our behalf. We're asking to go to the principal
and get this signed so that we can get out of school early.
Well, the publican stood there at the same temple that the Pharisee
stood at the temple in the same place close by the publican,
and here he is with his contract in his hand. God, because I've
done all of this, I expect special treatment. What did the publican
or the Pharisee say? I have tithed. I have fasted twice a week. I'm not like other men are. It's
in the contract, Lord. Read the fine print because on
this word, I expect you to sign it on my behalf and I get out
of jail free. I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. All those things
are in his hands to present to God, and he's doing it out here
publicly so that everybody knows what he's doing. The publican
has nothing in his hands. He brings nothing. What does
he do? He couldn't even hardly smite
his breast, smote his breast, and cried out to God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. He came open-handed before the
Lord. No contract in his hands. He's
only simply trusting God for all his salvation. And we find
that the Lord said, that man went down to his house justified.
The public, the Pharisee did not. The contract was null and
void. It was from man up. It was not
from God down. And it will never work that way.
So he, the publican, like Ezra, come before the Lord without
anything in his hands. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. We find that the publican went
down with a very special blessing from God, and that is to be just
as if he had never sinned, justified. There were two disciples the
Lord had that were former publicans. Jesus was found fault with for
eating and drinking with publicans, but those folks that Jesus dealt
with went down to their house justified because they had nothing
in their hand to bring, simply to the cross they cling. Ezra
shares with us this great attitude. We have nothing to offer God.
We have nothing to present to God. We have nothing to contract
with God. We cannot bring anything before
the Lord. There is no works of righteousness
which we can do and nothing that will perform anything that will
gain God's attention. Well, going back over there to
the book of Ezra chapter 9 and verse 5, we find out where Ezra
bowed before. Ezra chapter 9 and verse 5, it
said he was in great heaviness. I was visiting with a young man
the other day and he brought up the great tribulation. Boy,
this whole thing is just in array today. Everybody wants to talk
about eschatology. Nobody wants to talk about the
Lord. But this young man brought up this great tribulation, and
I just shared with him what I've shared with you. The greatest
tribulation I've ever been through was when I found out my religion
would not do. When God revealed to me All the
works of my hands were valueless. I was in the depths of despair.
I was in a pit. I was, what's the use anyway? Thank God it wasn't long. He
spoke peace to my heart. He showed me where the true value
is, and that's in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's where we find Ezra
goes here in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 5. He doesn't just bring
those hands from heaviness, bringing those hands out to show off,
but it tells us there in verse 5 of Ezra chapter 9, he says,
and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God. Well, that's wonderful words
that Ezra is recorded here about Ezra, because that word Lord
is Jehovah, and Jehovah is God is my salvation. He spread out
his hands before God is my salvation God. He spread his hands out
before Jehovah Elohim. It was not only one, there's
only one place to go with his burden, and it was not to the
preacher. and it was not to the priest,
and it was not to the ceremony. Those, all those things were
going on around there, but that's not where Ezra went. He did not
go in and say, let's offer a lamb. There's only one lamb that can
take care of this problem, and that's the lamb Christ Jesus.
He did not go to doctrine. You know, those guys were orthodox
to the core, except when it came to reality. They would say, I've
never killed anybody and hated people in their heart. That's
what the Lord brought out. And he never went to the law.
He never went to his own works. But to God of his salvation is
where he went with his open hands and presented them before God
and had this wonderful prayer that God gave him to pray. If
we've ever had a good prayer, it's because God gave it to us.
We can't come up with the words to say. In fact, we find out
that I know not how to pray as I ought. You think that prayer
would be the easiest possible thing for a human being to do,
but when it's real prayer, we know not how to pray as we ought,
but we're thankful that the Holy Spirit makes utterances which
cannot be heard, and that's not gibberish, that's just God speaking
to God on our behalf. Only God can deal with the problem
of sin. It was there in Jerusalem and
it was there in Judah. We find out it was called that
they had intermarried with other folks. Now, that's not the real
crime here folks. The real crime is they had adopted
the religion of those other folks. That's the crime. They had mingled
it with their religion. They had taken that which God
had given them, and they took it with what they had married
into, and they put it together and say, it's okay. All roads lead to God anyway. This man, this preacher of righteousness,
is going to share with them that is not the way it is. There is
no salvation in a false God, or in a mingled religion, or
in the ceremonies that come out of it. Only Christ has the offering
for sin. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
14. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
14, we find here this wonderful statement about the true offering
for sin. There's only one offering that
will deal with the problem, and that is the offering of the Lord
Jesus. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I wish I had the ability of putting
enough words out to explain that passage of scripture. But as
was brought up earlier today, if we know it, we don't have
to explain it, and if we don't know it, there's no words that
can explain it. but the word of God shares with
us in Hebrews chapter 10 and there in verse 14 by one offering
and all the offerings of the Old Testament that even Ezra
had participated in there when he got to Jerusalem all those
offerings could not do what one offering did do, and that is
the offering of the Son of God. For by one offering, he hath
perfected, God hath perfected. He has given a righteousness
that has taken away all that was held against us. By one offering,
he hath perfected, God hath perfected. forever. He has imputed righteousness
to such a degree that the law has no hang on us. It has no word against us. No
charge can be found against the people of God. Ezra came before
the God that could provide all that was absolutely necessary
because he provided everything that was necessary. He didn't
come to him in doctrine or law or ceremony. He came in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came with his hands open.
He was ready to insinuate, to share, to declare, to put out
that nothing in my hands I bring. I cannot bring a thing that will
change the course that we're already in. Only Christ was an
offering for sin. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever. them that are sanctified. And
we find out that those that are sanctified were sanctified before
the foundation of the world and are caused to be allowed to know
that sanctification. You know, in our day we have
seen great intermarriage, great intermarriage. And I'm not talking
about worldly intermarriage. We're going to find out that
God permitted the marrying of a Moabitess woman to a to a Hebrew
man and from that union the Lord Jesus Christ was born. He had
a Canaanite woman that was there in Jericho. Married to a man
who is in direct lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not
the crime. The crime is intermarriage of
religion and making a potpourri out of everything and saying
that that is just right. One of the things that astonished
me when I heard the gospel for the first time is the man closed
the service. And you know what he didn't do?
He didn't have 15 verses of just as I am. That was amazing. And I says,
you know, the strange thing, it went through my heart. How
can anybody be saved without an invitation song? The next night, it must have
got to him because he said, the reason we don't give an invitation
is Christ is the invitation. We don't need that. It's been
brought into our system. It's been married into the system
of religion. It was not happening for 1700
years. Then it's brought in because
people want to help God out, make him successful. Well, that's
been brought in and it's been the bane of religion. It has just ruined it. and there
are a few, just a few that see that salvation is of the Lord
and only of the Lord, and in my hands no price I bring, simply
to thy cross I cling. No wonder the Lord said, and
it was as evident in the days of Ezra and Joshua or any other
day, when the Lord comes, the Lord said this, when the Lord
comes back to this earth, Shall he find faith? That's a serious accusation given
by the Lord. When thousands and thousands
and thousands are religious, shall he find faith? Well, there's an example found
in this man in the book of Ezra, by the name of Ezra, who had
faith in the Lord, and he says, I have no faith in myself, I
have no faith in the works of righteousness, I have no faith
in anything, I bring my case to God. I bring it to the Lord
God Almighty. I bring it before him. And he
pours it out. Going back to the book of Ezra
for just a moment. In the book of Ezra chapter 9,
we find as Ezra begins his prayer, we read just verse 6 of that
and he makes a statement here as we find the Lord even pleading
our case. He says, Ezra admits without
reservation there is a problem with himself and with his neighbor,
and with his family, and these families, there's a problem and
that is, there is a man that was asked to hold the right way
and he failed. Adam, the day you eat, you shall
surely die. Adam, the day you eat. Now, it didn't happen when his
wife ate, but it happened when he ate. And when he ate, he realized
he was naked before God and went and hid himself and covered himself
with fig leaves, just a self-righteousness that God stripped away and placed
on him a robe, that lamb skin that covered up his nakedness,
he and his wife. Here in the book of Ezra chapter
nine and verse six, he says, oh my God, I am ashamed. Ezra chapter nine and verse six,
and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities
are increased over our head. How much did he say we are sinners
before God? All the way. Clear over the top. We're in deep water here, and
the water is really bad. I remember swimming in a pond
that I would never ever think about swimming in anymore. It's
on my dad's property and you waited till the end of summer
and there was this pond scum on it and you pushed it aside
so you could get it. You come out green and you wonder
now, why would you do that when you had a bathtub? You know,
that's just the way we are. We'll push out the pond scum
so we can go swimming. It's clear over our head. The
sin that we have is just completely, in fact, the forefathers in the
faith said it is total depravity. There is not one bone that goes
unscathed, one thought that goes unscathed. I heard this morning
that a man probably sinned 90 times coming out to church. I
did that much in my office after I got here. We're just naturally
that way. So we need someone. who is so
kind to sinners that he would say that man went down to his
house justified. We need someone who is the chief
of saviors. The only savior, we need the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it says there, I am ashamed,
verse six, and blushed to lift up my face to thee. Does that
remind you of someone in Luke chapter 18 who would not even
lift up his face to heaven, but smote his breast and said, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. That's the only people God is
merciful to, is sinners. So as we look at this, at the
time of the evening sacrifice, time of remembrance of the coming
Messiah sacrifice, I rose up from my heaviness, from my speechlessness,
from my not arguing with Godness, with my fasting. I kept my mouth
shut before God, and I've rent my garments and my mantle. I
think we do that now more in our heart and our mind. We just
don't go ripping our clothes anymore. It's just a metaphor
for a real serious concern. And I fell upon my knees and
spread out my hands wide open. I can't come to you with anything.
I have nothing to offer. He bowed before the Lord, my
God, and said, I'm ashamed. And blush to lift up my face
to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head,
and our trespasses grown up unto the heavens. Who can handle that
problem? Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That's the only one that can
handle that problem, and that's where Ezra went with the problem.
And as we continue through here in this great prayer of Ezra,
we'll see that time and time again, he understood who he was,
he understood where he was, and he understood the only one that
could deal with the problem was Almighty God in Christ Jesus
to take away his sin. May we pray. Gracious Father,
we once again come before thy throne of grace. We're thankful,
Lord, that in your good pleasure, you brought me to a place where
I could hear the gospel and that you would work a work of grace
in my heart. I'm thankful, Lord, for the privilege
to gather with people of like mind, that we can agree on this,
salvation is of the Lord. Bless us now, we pray, as we
leave this place, We pray that you'd bless us for Jesus' sake.
And it's in his name we pray. Amen.