THE SERMON - National Repentance Is Not Easy ｜ Ezra Tells Israel To Send Away Their Foreign Wives & Children
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Summary
This is the final text in the Book of Ezra and the final chapter in the book of Ezra. In this text, we see that the majority of the people of Israel intermarried with foreigners, which is against the command of the Lord's Word.
Transcript
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It's Lord's Day, and he will be preaching the final text, chapter 10 of the book of Ezra.
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And then we will begin, well, we'll have an intermission.
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I've already said this, but for those of you who aren't here,
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I'm going to be teaching from various New Testament texts on the topic of elders, deacons, and church members.
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And then we'll begin, Lord willing, a new sermon series through the book of Matthew.
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So we'll get into a gospel and be looking at the teachings of Jesus and the narrative of all the miracles and the things that he did and said.
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So that'll be, I think, a very rich time season for us as a church.
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So today is Ezra chapter nine. This is our second to last chapter in the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter nine.
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I'll read our text for us in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
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at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
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One final time, our text for today is Ezra chapter 9.
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sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness,
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the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost. As soon as I heard this, I tore my
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garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled
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at the words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered
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around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice and at the evening sacrifice I rose from
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my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the
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Lord my God saying oh my God I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you my God for our
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iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens from the
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days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt and for our iniquities we our kings
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and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands to the sword to captivity
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to plundering and to utter shame as it is today but now for a brief moment favor has been shown
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by the lord our god to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place
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that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery for we are slaves
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yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery but has extended to us his steadfast love
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before the kings of Persia to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God to
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repair its ruins and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem and now oh our God what shall
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we say after this for we have forsaken your commandments which you commanded by your servant
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the prophet saying the land that you are entering to take possession of it is a land impure with the
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impurity of the peoples of the lands with their abominations that have filled it from end to end
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with their uncleanness therefore do not give your daughters to their sons neither take their daughters
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for your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the
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good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. And after all that has
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come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us
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less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your
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commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations would you not be
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angry with us until you consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape oh lord the
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god of israel you are just for we are left a remnant that has escaped as it is today behold
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we are before you in our guilt for none can stand before you because of this this is the word of the
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Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and begin. There's a few things that I want to
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draw out of the text. I'll point a couple to your attention right from the very beginning. In verse
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two of our text, at the very end of the verse, it talks about the people intermarrying with the
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foreigners, the aliens, the stranger. And at the end of verse two, it says this, this faithlessness,
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the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.
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So this wasn't just a fringe minority of the people of Israel
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who gave themselves into marriage with foreign people,
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which was explicitly against the command of God.
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But this example, this wicked, sinful, disobedient example
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had been actually set for the people by their leaders.
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Their civil leaders, even their ceremonial religious leaders had led the way.
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The chief men and the officials, they had led the way in this rebellion against God.
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Doing precisely what God had explicitly commanded through the prophet, that is through Moses, not to do.
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Which again, namely, is to intermarry with these foreign people in the land.
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Now verse 3 is another thing that I want to draw to our attention.
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It says this, as soon as I heard this, I being Ezra. So this news is brought to Ezra. If you
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were with us last week, Ezra has now, he didn't lead the way, but he is now joined up, kind of
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bringing up the rear in this rebuilding restoration project in Israel. Ezra has now arrived. He has
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left Babylon, which is now overruled by the Persians. There's been a change in power and by
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the providence of God, a change in heart. That's what ultimately led the captives of Israel, the
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captives who were then in Babylon out of captivity after the 70-year exile, which God prophesied
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would come about because of their, shocker, faithlessness, the faithlessness of Israel, right?
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That's, you want to talk about constant themes in the Bible. One is be like God, follow his example.
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Another is don't be like Israel, right? They're constantly faithless again and again and again.
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But God is constantly merciful and in his mercy, after 70 years of Israel's captivity in Babylon, now taken over by the Persians, they are released from captivity.
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And what we can tell from the text is they have been there, now returned and resettling the land and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
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So a military defense measure, the homes and businesses, right?
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So an economic and household portion of Israel and then the religious center, namely the temple.
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The temple is certainly done by the time Ezra arrives.
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And so biblical commentators and historians are at odds in regards to the exact amount of time
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that is passed from the end of the 70 years of captivity
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when the first wave of Israelites go back to resettle the land
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and then the time that Ezra now brings up the rear
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and to give their sons in marriage to foreign wives
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that had inhabited the land in their 70-year absence
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And so Ezra now arrives, and he arrives on the scene,
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and ultimately it seems as though he is encouraged.
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chapter 11, verses 22 through 24, which says this,
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The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.
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and it's marvelous it's wonderful and so certain leaders then this report comes to the ears of the
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church in Jerusalem and they sent a man named Barnabas to go and inspect the work of the Lord
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that was occurring in Antioch and when Barnabas came and saw the grace of God he was glad and he
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exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for he was a good man full
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of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. That's similar to
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what's going on here with Ezra. Ezra, as you've heard me say for a couple weeks now, he's first
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introduced. We find him in chapter 7. Ezra is a scribe. He's not a prophet like Haggai and Zechariah
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who have an early appearance in this first wave of restoring Israel. He's not a prophet. He's not
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bringing a new word or a fresh word from the Lord to Israel, but he is rather a scribe. He's also not
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a political ruler, although he does have, you know, there's a little bit of overlap in Israel under the
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old covenant at this time. He is certainly a leader and he is certainly making constant civil
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applications, but he is first and foremost not a prophet like Haggai or Zechariah and not necessarily
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a prince like Zerubbabel but he is Zerubbabel rebuilt the rubbabel right that's how you remember
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him and so but he is a scribe best way to think of a scribe is he was well versed since his youth
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in the law of Moses and being able to exegete to not only have the revelation not a new revelation
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a fresh one but an old one given through Moses so he has the revelation he is well acquainted
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with the scripture, with the law of Moses, the revelation, he is also well versed in his ability
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to provide the interpretation to that revelation and also to provide for Israel in regards to their
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practical daily obedience and application. Revelation, the scripture. Interpretation, the
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proper exegesis of the scripture. And application, how then shall we live? He's a scribe. And the way
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that I've just described the scribe, essentially, I hope, without me even saying it, that naturally
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you were thinking, that sounds like a pastor. And very much, it was. Obviously, some distinctions,
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but very much, Ezra is fulfilling the role of a pastor of Israel. And so, once there's been
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progress, God in His providence sees fit that there needs to be a shepherd in Israel. There
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needs to be a pastor. Not bringing fresh words, a prophet, that's already been done, but dusting
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off the old words, the words, the revelation that has already been given and saying, hey, you know
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what? Before we get a new word, why don't we try to just obey the word that's already been given?
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And that's where Ezra comes in and says, this is the word of the Lord. This is the meaning,
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the interpretation of that revelation from the Lord. And here is how we obey. Here's the
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application of the interpretation of the revelation from the Lord. Okay, so that's what's
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going on. So Ezra now arrives, and very much like Barnabas, Ezra is coming and inspecting the work
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that the Lord in his providence has already been doing. Ezra's not the tip of the spear. He's not
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leading the charge. He's coming in with authority, with confidence, with leadership, but also with a
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sense of humility. He's coming in recognizing that God has been doing something for arguably well
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over a decade since the 70-year captivity of Israel in Babylon had ended. And Ezra is now
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coming in as a second wave or third wave, depending how you see it, to continue a work. Not to start
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it, but to continue a work that God has has mercifully and sovereignly already begun. A work
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that is already well underway. He comes much like Barnabas in the way that he comes from Jerusalem
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to Antioch. He's encouraged. I think that that is likely his reaction, that he's coming. And
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generally, he's looking to say, there's a lot of good things going on. Matthew Henry, the late
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great Puritan, that's his take of the passage. So it's not just my original interpretation. For
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the record, if you like my preaching, if you don't, well, you're welcome. But if you do,
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if you do, here's my secret. Never have an original thought. That's my secret. That's the
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secret sauce. Man, that's insightful. How do you do that? I ignored every theologian and pastor
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since the 1960s, and I found someone who was dead, and I just repeated him. That's my secret sauce.
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It's not that hard. We have like 1,900 years of great theology until about 80 years ago.
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So that's it. It's not much of a secret. You can do it. You can do it too. Start a YouTube channel.
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there you go it's really it's really easy um but seriously don't be original um tried and true
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tried and true tried and true uh god has been faithful one common denominator i've said this
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before i'll say it again of all cults and and just for the record you don't want to be a part of a
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cult that's a that's that's the bad team that's the opposing team one of the common denominators
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that they all share uh in terms of christian cults they're they're christian spinoffs they
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all have a restoration movement agenda. In other words, their history is this. The first century
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of Christians, the time of Jesus, the apostles, and those who immediately followed him, good.
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Within a hundred years, bad, right? They all have some kind of Illuminati, you know, Constantine,
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Nicene Creed, Roman Catholic version of the WEF, you know, theology that got, you know,
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And he got it right, give or take, 15 minutes ago.
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We just do it with Luther instead of Joseph Smith.
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I'm not saying that there weren't serious problems
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tetzel right that he's not our guy if you're not familiar with tetzel here's his famous line
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every time a coin in the coffer clings a soul from purgatory springs right if you're sometimes
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you know you look around like i'll be like man roman catholics have all these cathedrals they
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seem to have so much power and so much wealth yeah indulgences with compound interests over
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the last 500 years will do that if you think how do you get such an inheritance um what you do is
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They don't recognize that there's angels in the architecture
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but i don't have in my lineage in my theological history i don't have ancestors who robbed people
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blind by lying to them 500 years ago so so we're going to have to wait 500 years and do it the
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ethical way through faithfulness and giving and maybe our great great grandchildren can have the
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cathedral or maybe we'll just take the catholics because if we don't the muslims will
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okay glad we got that out of the way so the point is here's the point
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reformed guys can do it too roman catholicism was bad at the time of luther and it also had
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major theological problems here or there throughout 1400 years of history from 8100
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to the 1500s but you do need to be careful in the way that you word that as a reformed christian
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five solas all the way yes and amen saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone
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according to the scripture alone to the glory of god alone i am reformed and i am not embarrassed
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that is my tradition even if modern reform guys don't don't you know they wish that it wasn't my
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tradition they don't want me necessarily on the team but i am on that team that said if you're
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not careful you can overdo it and condemn 1400 years of god's providence with his church
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you can say that that you can do exactly what every restoration movement does and say for 1400
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years there was no gospel witness there was no faithful christian remnant uh and what you have
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to do with that is you actually have to adopt the secular humanist and neo-marxist idea and say
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crusades bad king alfred bad charlemagne bad constantine bad nicaea bad i don't even know
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if we have the right books of the bible and who's to say like and then all of a sudden
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you're not reformed anymore you're joe rogan which is a low bar
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so god was doing something the catholic church needed reformation and for the record that was
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Luther's goal. He never wanted to leave it. He didn't want Roman Catholicism to be crushed.
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He wanted it to repent. And sadly, it has not. Still to this day, for 500 years, remaining
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impenitent. The Council of Trent is still on the books. They anathemized the very gospel of Jesus
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Christ. They said that it is a curse. Anyone who says that we are saved by grace alone, apart from
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works is a curse. They cursed Jesus. They cursed the gospel of Jesus Christ. But by God's grace,
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I still, 500 years later, like Luther, don't want to see Roman Catholicism crushed. I want to see
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it repent. I would love to see it repent. I would love, my first choice is not to take their
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cathedral. My first choice would be that we could join forces, but not like evangelicals and
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catholics united like billy graham and others did no joining forces but with the condition
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the absolute condition of their full-fledged repentance and belief in the lord jesus christ
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and his gospel which is by grace alone and not the works of men so that no man may boast so all
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that being said ezra comes in here's the point how i got onto this humbly i do think that that's
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the correct assumption here. It's implicit, but I do believe it's there. He's coming in
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confidently. He has a very authority of God. He's coming to lead. He's coming to lead.
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But there is a sense of coming in with humility, bringing up the rear, recognizing that this
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restoration movement of Israel has already been underway for well over a decade, that God
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has been moving, that Aslan has already been on the move, that God's already been doing something
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in Ezra's absence. It's not like when I show up, then God will begin a work. Don't have that
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attitude, brothers and sisters. God has had a work since the very beginning. He's been doing it with
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you or without you. Don't have the Elijah complex, right? I'm the only one left. 7,000 on reserve
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in the batter's box. You want to quit? It'll be your loss, right? Same as Esther. What does
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mordecai say to her right well you're you're the the only person who's strategically positioned
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as the queen who's able to save our people there's a sense of that for what if god raised you up for
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such a time as this right but also he adds but if you don't do it salvation for the jews will come
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from someone else but you and your house will be forgotten god will get it done the question is not
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whether or not you're going to help God get it done.
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The question is whether or not you want to be forgotten
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It's your loss, not the kingdom's loss, not God's loss.
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It is simply your privilege to partner in what God is doing
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or you and your legacy, your lineage, your heritage,
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okay so ezra shows up with a sense of humility matthew henry puts it like this
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the affairs of the church were in a very good estate or a very good posture now that ezra
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presided in them he's arrived look without the government was kind to them we hear no complaints
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of persecution and oppression their enemies had either their hearts turned or at least
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their hands tied classic puritan writing right there that's good i can't do it he can do it
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their enemies they had their hearts turned so they've either become gone from enemy to friend
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they've joined them and we've seen that earlier chapters of Ezra that it wasn't just Israel's now
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when they first partook of the Passover feast right this coronation is starting before the
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temple was completed they were already giving sacrifices making sacrifices on the altar before
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they had the temple so worship is already ramped up even before the completion of the temple
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and there's this coronation ceremony as they've come in before even all these things had been
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complete. Things are still in progress and yet they observed the Passover and when they did
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there were other people who were outside of Israel, outside of God's covenant people who
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were welcomed in. But they weren't welcomed in with their sin. They were welcomed in the same
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way we would welcome in Rome, the Catholic church, as I was saying earlier. They were welcomed in on
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the strict condition of repentance. That Yahweh would become their God, that they would not hedge
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their bets, that they would not be a principal pluralist or polytheist, that they would not
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merely add Yahweh to their pantheon of false gods, but they would forsake their own heritage and say,
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I count it all as loss, as the apostle Paul said. Whatever is there that is good in God's common
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grace sure but as far as our our idolatrous pagan worship it was all a loss i'm not redeeming any of
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it i'm letting it all go and i'm joining israel in the same way that ruth joined her mother-in-law
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naomi you're god right your people will be my people your god will be my god and there were
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many that did that and as it speaks to that and so they they joined so some as matthew henry had
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their hearts turned. They're a part of Israel in a covenantal sense. And those that did not,
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in God's mercy and providence, they had their hands tied. So things are good right now. Their
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neighbors were civil, and we hear of no wars, nor rumors of wars. There were none to make them
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afraid. All was as well as it could be. We hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor Molech, nor
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images nor groves nor golden calves no nor so uh so much as high places not only the idolatrous
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altars to false gods uh but even separate altars right they're following the regular principle
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of worship they're doing it one way they're not like protestants in the negative sense
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where it's just like what do we do when we disagree as protestants we start a new presbytery
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if you're presbyterian well first if you're presbyterian you do a two-year study committee
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so you can outline with with exact detail how you're going to compromise and and then you
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compromise and then you know a few people are left um no well usually not that actually the
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compromisers they're the ones that are left and they take all the stuff the buildings and a few
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people like machin they go and they have to start something new um baptists we're not much better
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He's saying not only were there not high places and altars that were idolatrous to other gods,
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but there weren't even other high places or other altars to the right God.
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They were worshipping the right God in the right way in unity.
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But the temple was duly respected and the temple service carefully kept,
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So in a general sense, Ezra shows up like Barnabas.
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And when he shows up from Jerusalem to Antioch, things are overall, there's a lot of great stuff.
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But there's actually one thing that's not great.
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See, the purest ages, I like the way that Henry says this,
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the purest ages of the church have had some corruptions.
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and it will never be presented without spot or wrinkle
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till it's a glorious church, a church triumphant.
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On the whole, the church has neglected church discipline.
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On the whole, that said, so that's the headline.
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headline overall churches um need to care more about the purity of the church care more about
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church discipline and be willing to excommunicate in obedience to jesus what he's clearly said
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that said there is a way to over purify the church there is something to be said for pulling up the
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tares in such a way that presumptuous prematurely it damages the wheat there is a way to behave in a
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a god-like manner that is not emulating god in his character in a good way but but presumptuous
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and arrogant to pretend omniscience to begin to not only um not only follow the script and what
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god has said with those things which are external and witnessable and visible but when we begin to
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speculate and guess at heart motives incentives it's it's when a church begins to um to practice
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excommunication in the way that if you ever watch the movie the tom cruise minority report
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right trying to stop a crime before it's even occurred because i just got a feeling
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You don't get to exercise the keys of the kingdom
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That is overstepping your ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
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the church will not be perfect it'll be at its best but not perfect and it's worth us remembering
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that Ezra on one hand what we see in our text is serious betrayal to Yahweh the God of Israel
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serious compromise serious sin but I don't want us to see that at the cost of seeing the the 30,000
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foot view Ezra shows up and the 30,000 foot view is the general senses pretty good
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this is a pretty good moment for israel it's not this is their worst moment you want to see bad
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moments for israel we've got plenty this isn't one of them this is not israel's worst moment
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this is one of israel's better moments and i believe that the point of this text maybe not
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the point but a point of this text is to say that even in israel's better moments one of their better
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moments, there's still serious failure. So it's not to say, look at this failure. It's one of the
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worst moments in Israel. It's to say, here's one of the better moments of Israel. And even when the
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church is at her brightest, there will always be profound corruptions. And let's take them
00:31:20.340
seriously on the one hand. Remember what I said the headline is, the church today has neglected
00:31:24.480
church discipline. And yet also temper it with the footnotes, which is there is a way to seek
00:31:31.460
to over purify the church in this life. Thinking or pretending presumptuously as though we could
00:31:39.000
achieve some glorious and triumphant state of the church this side of heaven. The church here,
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if you've ever heard the phrase militant and triumphant, this is the way that that breaks
00:31:53.600
down. The church here, now, militant. The church then, there, triumphant. That's the way that it
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breaks down. The church will never be perfectly glorious or perfectly triumphant in this gospel
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age here, now. So in its best and brightest moments, there will still be deep, dark, profound
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corruptions and failures and we should care about them but also not seeking to over purify the
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church in such a way that as we rip out the tares we end up destroying the wheat
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all right continuing now oh you know what one more verse that i want to draw our attention to
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and then we'll turn the notes over to the back side of the page this is verse 12 therefore do
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Do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace.
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In the year of our Lord, 2024, never seek their peace?
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what but the global gdp what are you talking about i'm a republican pastor the bottom line
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i mean sure my children will have no future and no jobs but
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but do you know how low labor costs are in china
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and it's great for china not just us it's a win-win and i can prove to myself i can sleep a
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little bit better at night because I can I can tell myself that I'm not racist like my parents were
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okay that's not Christian that's American post 1960 let's hear Christian real quick though
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it's always good to just get a little Christian verse 12 therefore do not give your daughters
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to their sons neither take their daughters for your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity
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which are my enemies and ultimately yours,
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it will come at the cost of your children's future.
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Now, again, that's going to have to be explained a little bit
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but I know that he has said it and not just him.
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plenty of puritans plenty of reformers plenty of theologians and and i'm talking about dead guys
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so not just the you know the modern guys who want to avoid racism which for the record insofar is
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it's legitimate racism because the word is nowadays it's be honest it's spelled r-a-y
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then c-i-i-i racist and so i'm not concerned if someone calls me a racist by modern standards
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And I'm not concerned about pretend made-up sense.
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and I do care because I want to please the Lord.
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what Matthew, Henry, and all these other dead guys,
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they'll literally replace the word foreigner or stranger
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God is not getting after the shade of, you know,
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Nobody's, you know, see-through, like Casper the ghost.
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Okay, so, you know, but he's not getting after what shade of brown your skin has.
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His concern with Israel intermarrying with these four nations is the same concern that
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ultimately Solomon gave way to, which is that he took all these foreign wives.
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And then for, you know, anniversaries, I imagine that's how I like to pretend, you know, that
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but i would really like you know for this anniversary you gave me silver you know for
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our five year but now it's our 10 year and all i would like instead of asking for gold
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all i would like is just a little high place to this false god you know just it's sentimental
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it's nostalgia it reminds me of of growing up you know growing up and worshiping mole just a
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little bit over there just a little asherah over here and his heart little by little was led
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astray. Solomon, first half, right? Good. Last half, bad. And the same thing that happened with Solomon
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is the same thing that's happening here with Israel. It's not about the foreigner or the alien
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in terms of pigment. It's about the heathen. It's about these pagan nations. Not just that they're
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foreign, but they're pagan nations who are worshiping pagan gods. And Yahweh said through Moses,
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long ago. They knew this. They knew better. And God had said it more than once on more than one
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occasion. He said this. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 3 and 4. You shall not intermarry with
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them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn
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away your sons. Why? Notice, look, God gives a reason. He doesn't say you shall not marry with
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them because because it you know the skin color of your offspring would not be as light or as dark
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it's not the reasoning no why should you not do it for they would turn away your sons from following
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me to serve other gods then the anger of the lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy
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you quickly. And guess what, brothers and sisters? He did. He did. Israel disobeyed. They did give
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their sons and daughters in foreign marriages with the foreigner who simultaneously, and more
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importantly, was the heathen, worshiping idols, false pagan gods. And Israel was corrupt. It was
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corrupted by these foreign gods and ultimately what happened this is one of the very reasons why
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israel was under god's judgment and put in captivity in the first place and here they are
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they've just got out it's like are you serious we just got out of captivity for this among other
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things breaking the sabbath is is was a big one it wasn't it was no trifle right watch out that
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sabbatarianism they broke the sabbath but also they intermarried with the heathen not just the
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stranger but the stranger who was the heathen and it corrupted their way of life it corrupted
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their worship it corrupted their fidelity to Yahweh and because of all these things they were
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under God's hand of discipline his judgment and placed into captivity for 70 years and God in his
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mercy, despite their sin, has now released them. And they're doing it again. And Ezra arrives on
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the scene, and he catches news of this. At first, the general sentiment is, hey, this is one of the
00:40:30.720
better moments in Israel. We're not at war. We just got done building the temple. People actually
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care about worshiping Yahweh in Israel. That doesn't come around very often. If you know
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Israel's history. It's like, hey, Israel actually cares about obeying Yahweh. This is the
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minority of the time. But praise God. And then he gets word. Oh, but the very thing that brought
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them into captivity in the past, you got here a little late, Ezra. God's providence, the timing
00:41:01.540
was perfect, but we've been here for a little while, 10 years, probably a little bit more,
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maybe 15 at this point and we've already begun to intermarry again again with the heathen
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with these four nations the same ones that we intermarried with and and compromised with in
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the past and how does Ezra respond how does he respond this is one of the the big things that I
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want us to look at and this is where we'll we'll land so we're going back to a verse we've already
00:41:33.640
looked at, but let's look at it once more. Verse 3. As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and
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my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled, appalled. And then he's joined
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his repentance. Look at this. There's a principle here. His repentance is so visible. It's so
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visible, witnessable, and profound and deep, that his repentance is contagious.
00:42:06.340
His repentance doesn't remain private and with him. His repentance, his zeal for fidelity to
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the Lord and sorrow over a sin that he did not himself even engage in, but his sorrow over his
00:42:19.240
brother's compromise was enough to bring him to tears and his genuine tears, not tears of worldly
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vain remorse for the consequence of sin, but tears over the sin itself and its rebellion towards God.
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Those tears of godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow, lead towards not only his repentance, but the
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repentance of others. It is a contagious repentance. So now verse 4, then all who were, then all who
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trembled at the words of the God of Israel
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because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles
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Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel
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because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles.
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and his head, ripping his clothes, he sits appalled. His repentance, his deep, profound,
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gut-wrenching sorrow, the word appalled is used, and those who are now in a contagious fashion
00:43:31.140
joining him in this sorrow and repentance, their sorrow, what is the source? What are they sorry
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for? Let me give you two narratives, and I'll let you guess which one is right. Here's the first.
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is the source of their sorrow. That's the first narrative.
00:44:42.880
but i want us to hear it consider just consider and then we'll go back and see what does the text
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say which one does the text lean towards here's the other scenario ezra and these leaders with
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him in israel pastor ezra catches word he knows the law of the lord he knows the commandments
00:45:01.780
and he catches word that israel has compromised and failed and he is heartbroken and distraught
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and appalled not because repentance will be hard and families will be broken and wives and children
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sent away but because he loves the Lord his God and he cannot stand that his own brothers have
00:45:20.880
sinned against him see we read Ezra 9 this has to be said and this is where again this is kind of
00:45:29.360
the climax of the sermon today we read Ezra 9 and our immediate I believe and I and I know this
00:45:36.100
because you know peter says that sin is common to man i know this because this is how how i'm
00:45:40.700
tempted to read it i read ezra 9 and my first gut-rinching you know inclination is to feel
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sorry for these women and children who are going to be sent away right that's my i mean that's my
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first thing because i have a wife and children i can't imagine i can't imagine and i'm thinking
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this is not just one family but but household after household after household an entire nation
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families ripped apart fathers saying goodbye i'm imagining fathers kissing goodbye their sons and
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daughters and that's the first direction that my heart doesn't just lean it leaps in that direction
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then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel
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Because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles.
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that doesn't mean that the consequences did not hurt
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that does not mean that there later would not be grief and sorrow
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that we should seek as Christians to emulate the central
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our grief our sorrow what what second corinthians paul says godly sorrow that leads to repentance
00:48:25.560
which leads to life our godly sorrow is so shallow because we don't see and recognize and
00:48:34.160
embrace fully the holiness of god and therefore we don't really see the severity of our sin
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we're willing as christians we're willing to at least acknowledge most of the time yeah i know
00:48:43.660
that's wrong. Yes. I, okay. I will say, let the record state that is sin. There's a difference
00:48:48.820
though in saying, yeah, well, technically I guess that was sin. How many times, I mean, think about
00:48:53.500
it. How many times has that been your response? How many times have you been corrected or confronted
00:48:58.320
in the scripture or corrected by a brother in Christ or your spouse lovingly bringing something
00:49:02.440
to your attention or your roommate? Well, and you argue at first, you defend at first, and then maybe
00:49:06.880
after 45 minutes, you eventually get to the level of repentance, the robust level of repentance that
00:49:12.980
is? Well, technically, I guess that does. If I have to put it in two categories with a binary
00:49:17.540
framework, you know, it technically would be sin and not righteousness. That is not the repentance
00:49:23.600
of Ezra. It's not. He's not carving out nuances and exceptions for his sin. And he's not merely
00:49:35.680
acknowledging it because he has so embraced the holiness of God, the holiness of God's law. He
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doesn't just recognize what is sin but he also recognizes the full degree of that sin he doesn't
00:49:47.940
just acknowledge i have sinned he acknowledges the severity of the sin to the point where the
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severity of the sin against yahweh far outweighs ezra is not a cold heartless man it's not that
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ezra doesn't care about families being broken and women and children sent away it is that his love
00:50:07.420
of the Lord is so great that his grief, it's not an absence. I believe the grief was likely there,
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but his grief for broken families pales in comparison to his grief for a broken covenant
00:50:19.140
with God. That's the issue. And the caveat that needs to be given because it does need to be
00:50:28.200
given, not just because of post-war sentiments and we're moderns and blah, blah, blah, but because
00:50:31.880
it's actually in the Bible, and therefore it matters. The equivalent of this scenario going
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on in Israel, according to the New Testament, God's Word written through the Apostle Paul would be
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this, Christian and non-Christian. It's not black and white. It's not foreign nation. And America,
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although I do love America, although I am greatly concerned with its current state.
00:50:57.220
But that's not the distinction that we get in the New Testament. Paul writes,
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in speaking of marriage, the distinction, the only distinction that he emphasizes is this,
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the distinction between the Christian and the heathen, the Christian and the non-Christian.
00:51:12.140
And there's also one other thing that's different because of Jesus and Paul teaching what Jesus
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taught and the changing from the old covenant, which rolled up like a garment, and now the new
00:51:23.840
covenant of the New Testament Christian church. Here's the other thing. Not only is it not foreigner
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who will knowingly date and marry an unbeliever.
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And the church pretends it's not a big deal.
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when the person actually sinned with eyes wide open,
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they were actually saved before they entered the marriage
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Then what does the Word of God say for you?
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No, even in your case, two wrongs don't make a right.
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right even in your case two wrongs don't make a right the first wrong you shouldn't have married
00:53:29.260
him you disobeyed the lord but the second wrong would be to attempt to correct that first wrong
00:53:36.600
by now sending them away and the new testament does not give that impetus instead you pray
00:53:43.720
you work you share the gospel and you hope that god might save them and you also know that he
00:53:50.540
would be perfectly just if he doesn't. And if you had to live with an unbeliever the rest of your
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life, it would be fair. Because you did that. You did that. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you
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for your word. Bless it to your people. Help us to live like Ezra. To live with fidelity. To care
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more about your holiness and the severity of our sin than merely the cost of what repentance would
00:54:17.120
look like and the consequences that we might endure for our sin. Help us to have godly sorrow,
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not worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is vain and shallow and self-focused. It is concerned with
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the consequences that we endure because of our sin, whereas godly sorrow is concerned for how
00:54:37.220
we have sinned against a thrice holy God, how we have trampled underfoot the blood of our Savior,
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you, how we have spurned your gospel and your grace. Help us to have sorrow like that. One sorrow,
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namely worldly sorrow, leads to death, but the other leads to repentance in life. Lord, we pray
00:54:57.320
that you would give us that kind of sorrow. Even that sorrow is not something that we can conjure
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up ourselves. It is granted. It is a gift. So Lord, would you give to Covenant Bible Church
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the glorious, gracious gift of godly sorrow for sin, that we might repent where we're wrong
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and that we might be a church and families and individuals filled with life. We pray this in