Okay, now this evening we'll
conclude our study from Ezra chapter 10, and I will say that
it has been a personal blessing to me. I've enjoyed reading and
studying these ten chapters. And I must confess to you that
I have spent much time in studying and preparing these messages
for you. Now I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said, a very encouraging statement
that is said down in the end of verse 2. They said, we have
sinned against God. And we have taken these strange
pagan people to ourselves, yet now there is hope in Israel. Is there any hope for a sinner
like you? Is there any hope for a sinner like me? With the Lord
there is the forgiveness of sin. Yes, there is hope in Israel. Now, it was true. The people
were guilty before God. Right? Guilty. They said that
over here in verse 19. And they gave their hand that
they would put away their wives. Being guilty, they offered a
substitute, a blood sacrifice for their sin. It is true. The people were guilty
before God. They sinned willfully against
the commandment of the Lord our God in taking these strange wives,
marrying the pagan idolaters of the land. Now you can go back
and read Deuteronomy chapter 7. God warned Moses and the people,
when you go into this land of Canaan, People in that land do
not believe God, and they are idolaters, and he warned them
not to enter Mary with them. He said, they will lead you away
from the true and living God. Now, the Lord gives several reasons
for this, and this not allowing them to intermingle with the
pagans. keeping the people of Israel
from being influenced by their idolatry. And we've seen that
over and over again, haven't we? All through our study, even
in 1st and 2nd Kings, we see that over and over and over again.
And even remember when Solomon got involved with all them different
women, and caused him to even raise up idols in the land there. It was a great hindrance to the
people. A great hindrance to the people.
But more importantly, as my friend Robert Hawker pointed out, a
preacher from years past, 1800s, he pointed out this. One of the reasons the Lord did
this as well was in preserving the line of David. preserving
the line of David. Why was that important? With
looking, with an eye looking toward the coming of Messiah
through David. That seed, he calls it over here
in chapter 9, a holy seed, because that holy seed is Christ. The
Lord promised that the Messiah would come through David, remember?
He said, I'll raise up a king from your loins. We've read that
several times. And that's why one of the reasons
the Lord and mainly the reason the Lord wanted to preserve that
line of David. When Paul writes to Timothy,
he said this, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was
raised from the dead according to my gospel." There is the seed
of David. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
humanity was of the seed of David, house of Jesse. You remember
from our study in Romans chapter 1, remember? Concerning His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God, according
to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,
declared to be the son of God with power. Now, in verse one
down through verse four, when Ezra confessed the sin of the
people before God, they were made to own it and confess it
before the Lord as well. When Ezra, you remember weeping
and lamenting over this sin, grievous sin of this people.
Look at verse one, now when Ezra had prayed, and that goes back
to what? Our lesson was all about last
week in Ezra chapter 9, when Ezra had prayed that great prayer
of begging God for mercy and confessing their sin. When he
had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house
of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great
congregation. of men and women and children
and the people wept sore. He was openly praying and confessing
and these people publicly, he was doing this, and they heard
and their heart was convicted and smitten and God granted them
repentance. The people also gathered with
a great weeping. The Lord granted them a broken
heart, a convicted heart over their sin. This is the work of
God. We'll never weep over our sin. We'll never confess our sin before
God unless He gives us a broken heart. You remember Psalm 34
says, He's nigh unto them of a broken heart. Save us such
as be of a contrite spirit. And these people, with Ezra,
along with Ezra, started praying and lamenting before God. Praying unto our God is a privilege,
a privilege that He gives us. We've been given, He said, pray
without ceasing and in everything give thanks. What a blessing
it is to call upon our great God, not telling Him, how much
we've done, not doing like the Pharisee did, Lord, I thank you,
I'm not this, I'm not that, I've done this and that, but rather
to call upon our God, confessing our sin, but also thanking him
for the forgiveness of sin. Yes, Lord, we have sinned against
you, but Lord, we thank you that you have forgiven our sin. Why
would the Lord forgive us our sin? There's only one reason. There's
only one reason the Lord will forgive any sinner his sin, and
that's for Christ's sake. John writes this in 1 John 2,
I write unto you these things, I write unto you little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his Name sake. That's the only reason. Faith
does not put away sin. Repentance does not put away
sin. Only the blood atonement of Christ. True repentance and
true faith acknowledges how sin is put away. And that's by the
blood atonement of Christ. Verse two, Ezra 10 verse two,
Shechaniah the son of Jeiel, one of the sons of Elam answered
and said, evidently this man was a spokesman for this great
congregation that assembled, we read about in verse 1, and
answered and said to Ezra, we have, we have sinned against
God, we have trespassed against our God. Against our God, that's
the key right there. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. All of our sin, it may involve,
while it may involve other people and other things, but the essence
of it is against God. It's against our God. We have
trespassed against our God. Indeed, we are guilty of taking
these pagans and making them our wives. And yet, they said,
Shekinah said, yet now there is hope in Israel concerning
this thing. Ezra confessed and the people
did so too. We indeed have sinned. And can't
we all say that? We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Their sin brought them to the
doorstep of repentance, the conviction of their sin. But their sin did
not bring them to despair of any hope of forgiveness, did
it? Yet there is hope. Yet there is forgiveness. There
is the forgiveness of sin in Christ. We're going to read in
Nehemiah 9, when we get over there, Nehemiah chapter 9, where the priests there pray
unto thy God, and again we'll find that prayer to be a prayer
of confessing our sin, and then they confess this, thou art a
God ready to pardon. He's a God ready to pardon, yet
there is hope. Is there any hope for a sinner
like me? When we were yet without strength,
the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came
to save sinners. Yes, there is hope for a sinner
like me. We too, before the Lord revealed
the gospel unto us, like these people, Now, I'm not going off
the track here, but stay with me. Pay attention now. We too
had taken many strange wives and involved ourselves with the
strange doctrines of men and the traditions of men. We married
ourselves unto many things contrary to the law of the Lord, thereby
going about to establish a righteousness of our own. not submitting to
the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel. What are these
strange wives that we by nature have married ourselves unto?
We married ourselves to the ideas of the flesh producing enough
good works to make ourselves acceptable to God. Now that's
what appeals to the flesh. Do the best you can, everything
will be alright. We've married ourselves to the
ideas of false religion and false hope. We've married ourselves
to the refuge of lies, contrary to the law of God, contrary to
the gospel of God. You remember Paul in Colossians
2 talked about that religion of men, touch not, taste not,
handle not. That's what I call the religion
of not. Touch not, taste not, handle not, everything be okay.
You see, we've married ourselves to these strange, pagan, foreign
ideas. It's foreign to the Word of God,
isn't it? And it's contrary to the Gospel of God, going about
to establish your own righteousness. Like the stronger man we talked
about last week, last Sunday, the stronger man must invade
our heart, our mind, our thoughts to divorce ourselves from these
strange ideas, these strange things. Now, this is true of
every believer today. Our sin when made known unto
us, brings us to repentance before God. It brings us to the conviction
of our sin. If you miss Holy Spirit conviction,
you'll miss repentance. If you miss repentance, you'll
miss faith in Christ. You miss faith in Christ and
you'll miss salvation. This is true of every believer
today. Our sin, when made known to us, brings us to repentance
before God, but not to despair of any hope of forgiveness. Yes, we're convicted of our sin,
but when God gives us a repentant heart, He also shows us how sin
is put away. That's what true repentance acknowledges. True repentance acknowledges
that the only way my sin can be put away is through the blood
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet there is hope. There is hope. You see, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. Yes, there is hope. We have a
good hope and an everlasting consolation, a good hope through
grace. In Christ, there is the forgiveness
of sin. Well, some might say, well, most
of my sin. I've got some back there in the
past that are, wow, they're pretty bad. They're pretty bad. In Christ, there is forgiveness
of all our sins. Past, present, and future sin. Preacher, you don't have any
present sin, do you? Every day, every moment, every
thought. All sin, original sin, what happened
in Adam, what happened in the garden, actual sin, the sins
that I commit every day, sins of omission, sin of commission,
things I should have done and didn't, things I should not have
done and did, all sin. Forgiven what we read a moment
ago the blood of Jesus Christ. God's son cleanses us from all
Sin, is there hope for a sinner like me? Absolutely Absolutely
his blood is the only hope any sinner has." Listen to these
scriptures. Ephesians 1, 7, "...in whom we
have redemption." We have it right now, not some future thing. We have it right now. "...in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of His grace." I'm going to bring a message
one of these days on this word, according, according, according,
according as He has blessed us in Christ. And then we had this
from Psalm 130 last Wednesday. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.
He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. John says, my
little children, these things I write unto you that you sin
not, but when you do, preacher, you don't do. Oh, yes, we do.
Yes, we do. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. It's not so much the outward
things of the feet and the hands, it's my wicked heart, mind, and
thoughts. But the blood of Christ even
cleanses those sins away. Listen to this scripture, Romans
5. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. that as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Is
there any hope for a sinner like you? Like me? Yes, there is. Christ is our hope. He is our Redeemer. Now, Shekinah goes on, verse
3. Ezra 10, verse 3, "...Now therefore
let us make a covenant with our God, covenant mercy, he's a covenant
God, to put away all these strange things, these strange wives,
and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my
Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God,
and let it be done according to the law. Let us make a covenant,
and let it be done according to the law. Had not the Lord
Jesus Christ come to us and made us new creatures in Christ Jesus. And that's what He does in regeneration.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away, behold, all things have become new. Had not the
Lord Jesus Christ come to us in saving mercy, saving great,
and to cause us to divorce ourselves from every false hope, Every
strange doctrine of men, we would still be married unto them instead
of counting them as dumb. Had not the Lord come to us in
saving mercy, we'd still be married to our self-righteousness, our
ceremonies of the law, and trying to justify ourselves before God. But when the Lord comes in saving
mercy, As he did the Apostle Paul, we say with him, oh, that
we may win Christ and be found in him and count everything else
as rubbish, dumb, and to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And now my friend, we must confess
as David said, this is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing. This Lord coming, and the Lord
invading us, and the Lord making us new creatures, the Lord causing
us to count everything done but the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the Lord doing, is it not? And it's marvelous in our eyes,
is it not? God, be confident of this thing,
being confident of this thing, that God, who has begun a good
work in you, He will perform it. And the Lord Jesus Christ
saves every sinner He saves. Let it be done according to the
law of God. Let it be done according to the
command of God. The Lord just doesn't shove His
law aside and save us contrary to His holy character. The Lord
Jesus Christ honored the law of God for us, to enable God
to be a just God and Savior, to enable Him to be just and
the justifier. The Lord Jesus Christ honored
His own covenant for us. Now, because of that covenant
of grace, He's made us His bride, His child. You see, now we're
married to Him. Now we're married to Him. Listen
to this scripture in Isaiah 54, 5. Thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is His name, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall He be called. Believers are married to the
Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. Now we didn't
know it until He invaded our heart and made us new creatures
in Christ and commanded the light to shine in our hearts. that
we might see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. Now, look at verse four. Shechaniah
also said to Ezra, arise for this matter Belongeth unto thee
now Ezra the type of the Lord Jesus Christ remember Arise for
this matter and concern thee And salvation is a saying that
the Lord Jesus Christ has performed and accomplished for us Salvation
is of the Lord. It's a matter that belongeth
unto the Lord. We will also watch this we will also be with thee
and Be of good courage and do it. Be of good courage and do
it. We are with thee. Remember from
our study Sunday, Luke 11, 23, where our Lord said, if you're not
with me, you're against me. What's the confession here? We
will also be with thee. Same thing, isn't it? Same God,
same message, same gospel. You're either with Christ in
this matter of salvation or you're against Him. There's no middle
ground. You can't straddle the fence.
Salvation is either all of grace or all of works. All in Christ
or none of it at all. Christ is either all and in all
or He's nothing at all. You can't straddle the fence.
But He says here, We will also be with thee, because salvation
belongs unto thee. Be of good courage and do it.
Salvation's by his doing, not ours. Be of good courage, Ezra,
and do it. Do it according to the law of
God. Honor the law of God and save us by your grace. Now, then Ezra, verse five, look at
verse five. Then arose Ezra, and made the
chief priest and the Levites and all Israel to swear that
they should do according to this word. That is, in other words,
be obedient to the word of the Lord. And they swear that they
would do according to this word, and they said, we will. We will. Let us, as believers, vow before
the Lord and swear before the Lord to do it. That is, to believe the gospel
of Christ. Let us not only hear the word
of the Lord, but let us also do it. That is, to believe it. Believe the gospel. That they
should do according to this word. We're going to see in our study
on Sunday, Luke 11, 28. Blessed are they that hear the
word of the Lord and do it. Obey it. James in our study,
remember, be ye doers of the Word, not hearers of the Word
only. Look over the next page over,
verse 12. Then all the congregation answered
and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we There's
no option but to obey the Word of the Lord. That's the only
option there is. And when the Lord does that work
of grace in the heart, He causes us to believe Him according to
the working of His mighty power. Now watch this. Verse 6, Then
Ezra rose up from before the house of our God, and went into the chamber of
Johannes the son of Elishab. And when he came there he did
eat no bread, drink no water, now watch this, for he mourned. He's still mourning because of
the transgression of them that had been carried away. Ezra the priest of God continues
praying and mourning and weeping over the sin of the people. Now,
using Ezra as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, remember Ezra was
the priest of God, and we use Ezra as a type and picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Using Ezra as a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our sin against God caused The Lord Jesus Christ,
great sorrow, did it not? He's called a man of sorrows
and acquainted with griefs. In the garden of Gethsemane,
when our sin was laid upon him, he sweat out out of the pores
of his body, great drops of blood. because of our sin. Even before
he got to the cross, when our sin was made known to him, in
fact, the scripture says, being in agony, he sweat out great
drops of blood for our sin. And upon the cross He shed His
blood to put away our sin. We are redeemed in God only by
the blood of Christ. He redeemed us with His precious
blood, it's called. For He mourned because of the
transgression of them that had been carried away in our Lord
Jesus Christ. How can you describe the agony
and mourning of the Lord Jesus as our sin was made to be His
sin? The one who knew no sin, did
no sin, had no sin. Now, look at verse 7 and 8. And
they made a proclamation, a decree throughout Judah and Jerusalem,
and all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves
together unto Jerusalem, and that whosoever would not come
within three days, you got three days, according to the counsel
of the princes and elders, if you don't come in three days,
all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the
congregation of those that had been carried away." Well, that's
a pretty strict penalty, isn't it? Now, let me ask you this. They didn't, in verse 7 and 8,
they didn't go around and say, now we're going to invite you.
We're going to invite you, if you're so impressed, to come
down here in three days and take care of this matter according
to the law of God. We're going to invite you to
do this." And what an invitation was it. It was a proclamation
made to Judah and Jerusalem. It wasn't a proclamation made
to all men everywhere. It was a proclamation made to
the elect of God, Judah and Jerusalem. What are you trying to say, preacher?
Well, here's my point. A proclamation was sent out throughout
Judah, the elect of God, to Jerusalem, and to all Jerusalem within three
days you come to this city or forfeit all your substance and
be banished from Israel forever." Now it was not a mere invitation
was it? It was a specific, definite command
of the priest of God. It was a command. Here's the
point. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a simple invitation. It's not a mere invitation to
come to Him. It's a command. The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is a command, is it not? A king, when he talks
to his servants, the king doesn't invite his servants to come and
serve him. He commands them. He demands
of them to come. And that is the gospel, my friend. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a mere, simple invitation. It's the command
of God Almighty, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Listen to scripture in Acts 17. But now God commanded all men
everywhere to repent. It's not an invitation, it's
command. The Lord says, all you that are
laboring and heavy laden, you come to me and rest. Come unto me and rest. Now, what's going to happen?
The command went out. The proclamation went out. You
either come or you're going to forfeit everything you have and
we're going to kick you out. We're going to throw you out
of the kingdom. Pretty severe consequences, is it not? What
do you reckon is gonna happen? Look at verse nine. Then all
the men of Judah and all the tribe of Benjamin gathered themselves
together unto Jerusalem within three days. They all came. You see, the gospel of Christ
is an effectual call to the elect of God, and they will all come
to Christ. All that the Father, John 6,
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and those
that come to me I will unknowwise cast out. All the men of Judah
and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within
three days. And I love the specifics of this.
It was the ninth month, the twentieth day of the month. It was a certain
time that the command went out and all the people sat in the
street of the house of God trembling because of this matter, for there
was a great rain came down. Here is the effectual call to
the elect of God. They came trembling before the
house of God. And there was a great praying.
They were weeping. They were weeping and trembling
over their sin. And God sends from heaven a great
shower upon them. Now one preacher suggested that
this was a sign of God's displeasure over their sin, and certainly
the Lord cannot look upon sin with favor. But I rather want
to look at this in a different light. I think we see this rain
here as a picture of heaven's joy of these sinners repenting
before God. And I'll tell you why I think
that. You remember this scripture in Luke 15? About likewise there
is joy in heaven over one sinner that repented. More than 99 just
persons who need no repentance. This is joy in heaven. This is
the weeping and the joy of heaven rejoicing over these sinners
who were brought to repentance. The Lord our God does effectually
call out His people with the proclamation of the gospel. And
as we read many times, his sheep will hear his voice and they
will follow him. And heaven rejoices over sinners
who repent or who have been granted repentance. Now in verse 10 and
verse 11, Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them, you have
transgressed. And you have taken strange wives,
and you've increased this trespass. You remember back in chapter
9, verse 6, Ezra said, Oh my God, I'm ashamed and blushed
to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased
over our head, our trespasses has grown up to the heavens,
remember? Now look at verse 11, Now therefore
make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do His
pleasure, do His pleasure, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in His hand. And separate yourselves from
the people of Lamb, from the strange wine. Then all the congregation
answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so
must we do. Now no doubt, there is no doubt
about this, Can't you see the hand of God operating upon these
people? I mean, this wasn't just the
mere words of Ezra that had taken effect upon the people. This
was Ezra declaring the proclamation of God and it went with the power
of God and it had great effect upon the people of God. No doubt
the hand of God was upon them and granted them repentance,
granted them a broken heart and grace did triumph over them. That's exactly what happens when
God gets the victory over the sinner's heart. When he grants
repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How
delightful it is when grace enters the heart and melts the soul
before God We give Him all the honor and glory. Repentance acknowledges
how sin is put away in Christ. And by faith, we look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the faith of God's elect,
like repentance, they both acknowledge that salvation is of the Lord.
Now, one last thought here, and I'll let you go. Verse 14. Now let our rulers and all the
congregations stand and let all of them that have taken strange
wives in our cities come at appointed times with them the elders of
every city and the judges thereof until the fierce wrath of our
God." The fierce what? I thought God loved everybody.
"...the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from
us, the fierce wrath of God. Let us come at appointed times,
our times are in His hand, until the fierce wrath of God be turned
away from us. Now, the only thing that will
turn away the wrath of God from us is the blessed sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not our faith, Not our repentance,
but the blood sacrifice of Christ. And that's what takes place in
verse 19 with the ram for a trespass offering. Now listen to these
scriptures. We read this. I studied this
in Romans 5 today for our Bible study Sunday morning. Much more
than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath Through Him. Through Him. How can we turn
away the wrath of God? Only by being found in Christ. Now, a couple more scriptures. 1 Thessalonians 1.10 says this,
By the Lord's grace you turn to God from your idols to serve
the living and true God. That's repentance. Repentance
is a turning from self, turning to God and away from self, and
to wait for His Son from heaven. That's faith in Christ. Faith
is trusting Christ for all of salvation, whom He raised from
the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us. He delivered us from the
wrath to come. The wrath to come. And then in
1 Thessalonians 5, 9, But let us who are of the day be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and helmet the
hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us. How is wrath turned away? He
died for us. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
us at Calvary and took Upon Calvary's tree, He took all of our sin,
right? Sin of God's elect was laid upon Him. Taking our sin,
He took our guilt. Taking our sin and our guilt,
what was due His lot? The wrath of God fell on Him
without any mixture of mercy. Now, because the Lord Jesus Christ
consumed all of our sin, consumed all the wrath of God, in our
room and in our stead as our substitute, son of God, that
satisfied God. Now there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ once suffered for our
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. We're not coming any other way.
than by the just one suffering for our sin and satisfying the
very justice of God. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Well,
Ezra, thank you, brother Ezra. Thank you for the faithful priest
that we have, Ezra, who is a picture in time. of our great High Priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who effectually intercedes for us. Then, now,
and forever, we give thanks. Amen.