The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - National Repentance Is Not Easy ｜ Ezra Tells Israel To Send Away Their Foreign Wives & Children

00:00:00.000 It's Lord's Day, and he will be preaching the final text, chapter 10 of the book of Ezra.

00:00:05.500 And then we will begin, well, we'll have an intermission.

00:00:08.320 We'll take a few weeks and actually teach.

00:00:10.220 I've already said this, but for those of you who aren't here,

00:00:12.960 I'm going to be teaching from various New Testament texts on the topic of elders, deacons, and church members.

00:00:19.760 So we'll take a few weeks and we'll do that.

00:00:21.680 And then we'll begin, Lord willing, a new sermon series through the book of Matthew.

00:00:26.520 And so I'm excited about that.

00:00:27.500 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.

00:00:35.760 So that'll be, I think, a very rich time season for us as a church.

00:00:39.560 So today is Ezra chapter nine. This is our second to last chapter in the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter nine.

00:00:45.880 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,

00:00:51.000 at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.

00:00:55.080 One final time, our text for today is Ezra chapter 9.

00:00:58.640 The Bible says this.

00:01:25.080 sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness, 0.90

00:01:33.040 the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost. As soon as I heard this, I tore my

00:01:40.100 garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled

00:01:47.040 at the words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered 1.00

00:01:52.780 around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice and at the evening sacrifice I rose from 1.00

00:01:59.420 my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the

00:02:05.660 Lord my God saying oh my God I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you my God for our

00:02:13.860 iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens from the

00:02:19.980 days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt and for our iniquities we our kings

00:02:26.600 and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands to the sword to captivity

00:02:33.020 to plundering and to utter shame as it is today but now for a brief moment favor has been shown

00:02:40.420 by the lord our god to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place

00:02:47.300 that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery for we are slaves

00:02:54.460 yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery but has extended to us his steadfast love

00:03:00.560 before the kings of Persia to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God to

00:03:07.960 repair its ruins and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem and now oh our God what shall

00:03:14.300 we say after this for we have forsaken your commandments which you commanded by your servant

00:03:19.540 the prophet saying the land that you are entering to take possession of it is a land impure with the 0.98

00:03:26.060 impurity of the peoples of the lands with their abominations that have filled it from end to end 1.00

00:03:31.840 with their uncleanness therefore do not give your daughters to their sons neither take their daughters 1.00

00:03:37.900 for your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the

00:03:44.860 good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. And after all that has

00:03:50.960 come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us

00:03:57.560 less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your 0.98

00:04:03.340 commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations would you not be 0.99

00:04:09.200 angry with us until you consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape oh lord the 0.99

00:04:16.380 god of israel you are just for we are left a remnant that has escaped as it is today behold 0.53

00:04:23.260 we are before you in our guilt for none can stand before you because of this this is the word of the

00:04:30.460 Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and begin. There's a few things that I want to

00:04:37.420 draw out of the text. I'll point a couple to your attention right from the very beginning. In verse

00:04:43.620 two of our text, at the very end of the verse, it talks about the people intermarrying with the

00:04:49.660 foreigners, the aliens, the stranger. And at the end of verse two, it says this, this faithlessness,

00:04:56.540 the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.

00:05:01.920 So this wasn't just a fringe minority of the people of Israel

00:05:06.320 who gave themselves into marriage with foreign people,

00:05:10.720 which was explicitly against the command of God.

00:05:14.200 But this example, this wicked, sinful, disobedient example

00:05:18.560 had been actually set for the people by their leaders.

00:05:22.940 That's what we see at the end of verse 2.

00:05:25.760 Their civil leaders, even their ceremonial religious leaders had led the way.

00:05:32.400 The chief men and the officials, they had led the way in this rebellion against God.

00:05:38.880 Doing precisely what God had explicitly commanded through the prophet, that is through Moses, not to do. 0.99

00:05:45.040 Which again, namely, is to intermarry with these foreign people in the land. 0.82

00:05:50.200 Now verse 3 is another thing that I want to draw to our attention.

00:05:53.640 It says this, as soon as I heard this, I being Ezra. So this news is brought to Ezra. If you

00:05:59.720 were with us last week, Ezra has now, he didn't lead the way, but he is now joined up, kind of

00:06:05.640 bringing up the rear in this rebuilding restoration project in Israel. Ezra has now arrived. He has

00:06:13.400 left Babylon, which is now overruled by the Persians. There's been a change in power and by 0.97

00:06:18.860 the providence of God, a change in heart. That's what ultimately led the captives of Israel, the 0.88

00:06:25.040 captives who were then in Babylon out of captivity after the 70-year exile, which God prophesied 0.95

00:06:31.000 would come about because of their, shocker, faithlessness, the faithlessness of Israel, right? 0.80

00:06:36.880 That's, you want to talk about constant themes in the Bible. One is be like God, follow his example.

00:06:41.420 Another is don't be like Israel, right? They're constantly faithless again and again and again. 0.98

00:06:46.800 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.

00:06:57.720 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.

00:07:06.200 So a military defense measure, the homes and businesses, right?

00:07:11.620 So an economic and household portion of Israel and then the religious center, namely the temple. 0.86

00:07:21.640 All of this is just about done.

00:07:24.120 The temple is certainly done by the time Ezra arrives.

00:07:27.480 And so biblical commentators and historians are at odds in regards to the exact amount of time

00:07:33.360 that is passed from the end of the 70 years of captivity

00:07:36.380 when the first wave of Israelites go back to resettle the land

00:07:40.420 and then the time that Ezra now brings up the rear

00:07:43.140 and goes after the temple has been completed.

00:07:47.960 But it's pretty, everyone pretty much agrees

00:07:51.280 that it's well over 10 years.

00:07:53.340 In other words, it's been a while.

00:07:55.060 How long? 1.00

00:07:55.660 Well, long enough for Israel to go back 1.00

00:07:57.860 and to give their sons in marriage to foreign wives 0.98

00:08:01.600 that had inhabited the land in their 70-year absence

00:08:05.460 when they were in captivity.

00:08:08.620 And so Ezra now arrives, and he arrives on the scene,

00:08:11.000 and ultimately it seems as though he is encouraged.

00:08:14.300 It makes me think of the book of Acts,

00:08:17.740 chapter 11, verses 22 through 24, which says this,

00:08:21.520 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.

00:08:25.580 God is doing something somewhere else,

00:08:28.660 and it's marvelous it's wonderful and so certain leaders then this report comes to the ears of the

00:08:36.560 church in Jerusalem and they sent a man named Barnabas to go and inspect the work of the Lord

00:08:42.940 that was occurring in Antioch and when Barnabas came and saw the grace of God he was glad and he

00:08:49.600 exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for he was a good man full

00:08:55.420 of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. That's similar to

00:09:02.420 what's going on here with Ezra. Ezra, as you've heard me say for a couple weeks now, he's first

00:09:08.540 introduced. We find him in chapter 7. Ezra is a scribe. He's not a prophet like Haggai and Zechariah

00:09:14.640 who have an early appearance in this first wave of restoring Israel. He's not a prophet. He's not 0.61

00:09:21.400 bringing a new word or a fresh word from the Lord to Israel, but he is rather a scribe. He's also not

00:09:27.500 a political ruler, although he does have, you know, there's a little bit of overlap in Israel under the

00:09:33.300 old covenant at this time. He is certainly a leader and he is certainly making constant civil

00:09:37.940 applications, but he is first and foremost not a prophet like Haggai or Zechariah and not necessarily

00:09:44.660 a prince like Zerubbabel but he is Zerubbabel rebuilt the rubbabel right that's how you remember

00:09:51.620 him and so but he is a scribe best way to think of a scribe is he was well versed since his youth

00:09:59.200 in the law of Moses and being able to exegete to not only have the revelation not a new revelation

00:10:06.660 a fresh one but an old one given through Moses so he has the revelation he is well acquainted

00:10:12.040 with the scripture, with the law of Moses, the revelation, he is also well versed in his ability

00:10:17.600 to provide the interpretation to that revelation and also to provide for Israel in regards to their

00:10:23.860 practical daily obedience and application. Revelation, the scripture. Interpretation, the

00:10:30.300 proper exegesis of the scripture. And application, how then shall we live? He's a scribe. And the way

00:10:37.820 that I've just described the scribe, essentially, I hope, without me even saying it, that naturally

00:10:43.700 you were thinking, that sounds like a pastor. And very much, it was. Obviously, some distinctions,

00:10:51.160 but very much, Ezra is fulfilling the role of a pastor of Israel. And so, once there's been

00:10:59.860 progress, God in His providence sees fit that there needs to be a shepherd in Israel. There

00:11:06.020 needs to be a pastor. Not bringing fresh words, a prophet, that's already been done, but dusting

00:11:11.980 off the old words, the words, the revelation that has already been given and saying, hey, you know

00:11:17.440 what? Before we get a new word, why don't we try to just obey the word that's already been given?

00:11:23.540 And that's where Ezra comes in and says, this is the word of the Lord. This is the meaning,

00:11:27.900 the interpretation of that revelation from the Lord. And here is how we obey. Here's the

00:11:32.200 application of the interpretation of the revelation from the Lord. Okay, so that's what's

00:11:37.540 going on. So Ezra now arrives, and very much like Barnabas, Ezra is coming and inspecting the work

00:11:43.440 that the Lord in his providence has already been doing. Ezra's not the tip of the spear. He's not

00:11:48.020 leading the charge. He's coming in with authority, with confidence, with leadership, but also with a

00:11:54.580 sense of humility. He's coming in recognizing that God has been doing something for arguably well

00:11:59.980 over a decade since the 70-year captivity of Israel in Babylon had ended. And Ezra is now

00:12:06.140 coming in as a second wave or third wave, depending how you see it, to continue a work. Not to start

00:12:11.800 it, but to continue a work that God has has mercifully and sovereignly already begun. A work

00:12:18.640 that is already well underway. He comes much like Barnabas in the way that he comes from Jerusalem

00:12:23.840 to Antioch. He's encouraged. I think that that is likely his reaction, that he's coming. And

00:12:30.620 generally, he's looking to say, there's a lot of good things going on. Matthew Henry, the late

00:12:34.880 great Puritan, that's his take of the passage. So it's not just my original interpretation. For

00:12:40.440 the record, if you like my preaching, if you don't, well, you're welcome. But if you do,

00:12:45.980 if you do, here's my secret. Never have an original thought. That's my secret. That's the

00:12:52.780 secret sauce. Man, that's insightful. How do you do that? I ignored every theologian and pastor

00:12:58.540 since the 1960s, and I found someone who was dead, and I just repeated him. That's my secret sauce.

00:13:06.700 It's not that hard. We have like 1,900 years of great theology until about 80 years ago.

00:13:14.300 So that's it. It's not much of a secret. You can do it. You can do it too. Start a YouTube channel.

00:13:19.940 there you go it's really it's really easy um but seriously don't be original um tried and true

00:13:25.720 tried and true tried and true uh god has been faithful one common denominator i've said this

00:13:31.080 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

00:13:35.920 cult that's a that's that's the bad team that's the opposing team one of the common denominators

00:13:40.880 that they all share uh in terms of christian cults they're they're christian spinoffs they

00:13:46.520 all have a restoration movement agenda. In other words, their history is this. The first century

00:13:53.560 of Christians, the time of Jesus, the apostles, and those who immediately followed him, good. 0.99

00:13:58.740 Within a hundred years, bad, right? They all have some kind of Illuminati, you know, Constantine, 0.96

00:14:07.600 Nicene Creed, Roman Catholic version of the WEF, you know, theology that got, you know,

00:14:13.740 It was ultimately corrupted.

00:14:15.580 And this is their idea.

00:14:16.880 100 years faithful.

00:14:19.080 And then from 8100 all the way up until,

00:14:22.640 and you just fill in the blank,

00:14:23.660 Joseph Smith, Azusa Street Revival,

00:14:27.040 whatever it is.

00:14:28.220 You can do it with Charismatics. 0.99

00:14:29.440 You can do it with Mormons. 0.99

00:14:30.400 You can do it with everything. 1.00

00:14:32.620 It's all the same story.

00:14:34.280 The story is one century of faithfulness,

00:14:37.760 almost 2,000 years of faithlessness,

00:14:40.420 and then our guy got it right.

00:14:43.740 And he got it right, give or take, 15 minutes ago.

00:14:49.000 Here's a freebie.

00:14:50.320 It hurts.

00:14:51.320 It hurts me, I'll admit.

00:14:52.420 It might hurt you.

00:14:53.100 It definitely hurts me.

00:14:55.760 Reformed guys, we can do that too.

00:14:59.760 We just do it with Luther instead of Joseph Smith.

00:15:04.120 Now hear me. 0.74

00:15:04.620 I'm not saying that there weren't serious problems 1.00

00:15:06.840 within Roman Catholicism,

00:15:09.200 especially in the 1500s at the time of Luther.

00:15:11.540 There were.

00:15:13.740 tetzel right that he's not our guy if you're not familiar with tetzel here's his famous line

00:15:18.940 every time a coin in the coffer clings a soul from purgatory springs right if you're sometimes

00:15:25.880 you know you look around like i'll be like man roman catholics have all these cathedrals they 0.85

00:15:30.280 seem to have so much power and so much wealth yeah indulgences with compound interests over 0.95

00:15:36.060 the last 500 years will do that if you think how do you get such an inheritance um what you do is

00:15:42.800 you rob people blind half a millennia ago

00:15:46.780 and then never give the money back.

00:15:49.600 It's not that hard, right?

00:15:51.520 That's why they're rich.

00:15:52.540 That's why they have cathedral. 0.97

00:15:53.580 Protestants don't care. 0.78

00:15:54.640 They don't recognize that there's angels in the architecture

00:15:57.560 and they don't recognize the symbolic beauty

00:16:00.600 of high vaulted ceilings

00:16:02.560 that speak to the transcendence of God.

00:16:04.300 No, I just can't afford it.

00:16:08.180 I would love a cathedral.

00:16:09.560 but i don't have in my lineage in my theological history i don't have ancestors who robbed people

00:16:18.660 blind by lying to them 500 years ago so so we're going to have to wait 500 years and do it the

00:16:25.440 ethical way through faithfulness and giving and maybe our great great grandchildren can have the 1.00

00:16:30.920 cathedral or maybe we'll just take the catholics because if we don't the muslims will 1.00

00:16:36.560 okay glad we got that out of the way so the point is here's the point 0.92

00:16:44.380 reformed guys can do it too roman catholicism was bad at the time of luther and it also had

00:16:51.520 major theological problems here or there throughout 1400 years of history from 8100

00:16:57.380 to the 1500s but you do need to be careful in the way that you word that as a reformed christian

00:17:05.440 five solas all the way yes and amen saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone

00:17:12.120 according to the scripture alone to the glory of god alone i am reformed and i am not embarrassed

00:17:17.520 that is my tradition even if modern reform guys don't don't you know they wish that it wasn't my

00:17:23.440 tradition they don't want me necessarily on the team but i am on that team that said if you're

00:17:30.120 not careful you can overdo it and condemn 1400 years of god's providence with his church

00:17:37.100 you can say that that you can do exactly what every restoration movement does and say for 1400

00:17:43.120 years there was no gospel witness there was no faithful christian remnant uh and what you have

00:17:50.640 to do with that is you actually have to adopt the secular humanist and neo-marxist idea and say

00:17:56.880 crusades bad king alfred bad charlemagne bad constantine bad nicaea bad i don't even know

00:18:07.460 if we have the right books of the bible and who's to say like and then all of a sudden

00:18:11.100 you're not reformed anymore you're joe rogan which is a low bar

00:18:16.680 so god was doing something the catholic church needed reformation and for the record that was

00:18:25.340 Luther's goal. He never wanted to leave it. He didn't want Roman Catholicism to be crushed.

00:18:31.180 He wanted it to repent. And sadly, it has not. Still to this day, for 500 years, remaining 0.85

00:18:37.120 impenitent. The Council of Trent is still on the books. They anathemized the very gospel of Jesus

00:18:42.920 Christ. They said that it is a curse. Anyone who says that we are saved by grace alone, apart from

00:18:48.920 works is a curse. They cursed Jesus. They cursed the gospel of Jesus Christ. But by God's grace,

00:18:56.400 I still, 500 years later, like Luther, don't want to see Roman Catholicism crushed. I want to see

00:19:02.820 it repent. I would love to see it repent. I would love, my first choice is not to take their

00:19:09.180 cathedral. My first choice would be that we could join forces, but not like evangelicals and

00:19:14.860 catholics united like billy graham and others did no joining forces but with the condition

00:19:21.660 the absolute condition of their full-fledged repentance and belief in the lord jesus christ

00:19:28.820 and his gospel which is by grace alone and not the works of men so that no man may boast so all

00:19:35.540 that being said ezra comes in here's the point how i got onto this humbly i do think that that's

00:19:40.980 the correct assumption here. It's implicit, but I do believe it's there. He's coming in

00:19:46.680 confidently. He has a very authority of God. He's coming to lead. He's coming to lead.

00:19:52.700 But there is a sense of coming in with humility, bringing up the rear, recognizing that this

00:19:58.340 restoration movement of Israel has already been underway for well over a decade, that God

00:20:04.080 has been moving, that Aslan has already been on the move, that God's already been doing something

00:20:08.940 in Ezra's absence. It's not like when I show up, then God will begin a work. Don't have that

00:20:15.580 attitude, brothers and sisters. God has had a work since the very beginning. He's been doing it with

00:20:22.540 you or without you. Don't have the Elijah complex, right? I'm the only one left. 7,000 on reserve 0.98

00:20:30.920 in the batter's box. You want to quit? It'll be your loss, right? Same as Esther. What does

00:20:38.400 mordecai say to her right well you're you're the the only person who's strategically positioned

00:20:43.760 as the queen who's able to save our people there's a sense of that for what if god raised you up for

00:20:51.700 such a time as this right but also he adds but if you don't do it salvation for the jews will come

00:20:59.980 from someone else but you and your house will be forgotten god will get it done the question is not

00:21:07.680 whether or not you're going to help God get it done.

00:21:10.920 The question is whether or not you want to be forgotten

00:21:13.180 or whether or not you want to be a part

00:21:15.960 of what God will do with or without you.

00:21:17.820 It's your privilege to get to play.

00:21:21.500 It's your loss, not the kingdom's loss, not God's loss.

00:21:24.980 He'll get it done with or without you.

00:21:26.560 It is simply your privilege to partner in what God is doing

00:21:30.520 or you and your legacy, your lineage, your heritage,

00:21:35.800 everything will be forgotten.

00:21:37.680 okay so ezra shows up with a sense of humility matthew henry puts it like this

00:21:42.600 the affairs of the church were in a very good estate or a very good posture now that ezra

00:21:48.140 presided in them he's arrived look without the government was kind to them we hear no complaints

00:21:55.260 of persecution and oppression their enemies had either their hearts turned or at least

00:22:00.260 their hands tied classic puritan writing right there that's good i can't do it he can do it

00:22:05.620 their enemies they had their hearts turned so they've either become gone from enemy to friend

00:22:09.700 they've joined them and we've seen that earlier chapters of Ezra that it wasn't just Israel's now

00:22:14.480 when they first partook of the Passover feast right this coronation is starting before the

00:22:20.820 temple was completed they were already giving sacrifices making sacrifices on the altar before

00:22:25.520 they had the temple so worship is already ramped up even before the completion of the temple

00:22:29.460 and there's this coronation ceremony as they've come in before even all these things had been

00:22:35.820 complete. Things are still in progress and yet they observed the Passover and when they did

00:22:40.660 there were other people who were outside of Israel, outside of God's covenant people who

00:22:45.680 were welcomed in. But they weren't welcomed in with their sin. They were welcomed in the same 0.73

00:22:50.860 way we would welcome in Rome, the Catholic church, as I was saying earlier. They were welcomed in on

00:22:54.920 the strict condition of repentance. That Yahweh would become their God, that they would not hedge

00:22:59.900 their bets, that they would not be a principal pluralist or polytheist, that they would not 0.92

00:23:06.320 merely add Yahweh to their pantheon of false gods, but they would forsake their own heritage and say,

00:23:13.300 I count it all as loss, as the apostle Paul said. Whatever is there that is good in God's common

00:23:18.960 grace sure but as far as our our idolatrous pagan worship it was all a loss i'm not redeeming any of 0.74

00:23:26.880 it i'm letting it all go and i'm joining israel in the same way that ruth joined her mother-in-law

00:23:32.780 naomi you're god right your people will be my people your god will be my god and there were

00:23:37.880 many that did that and as it speaks to that and so they they joined so some as matthew henry had

00:23:44.300 their hearts turned. They're a part of Israel in a covenantal sense. And those that did not,

00:23:51.220 in God's mercy and providence, they had their hands tied. So things are good right now. Their

00:23:57.320 neighbors were civil, and we hear of no wars, nor rumors of wars. There were none to make them

00:24:02.760 afraid. All was as well as it could be. We hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor Molech, nor

00:24:11.840 images nor groves nor golden calves no nor so uh so much as high places not only the idolatrous

00:24:19.420 altars to false gods uh but even separate altars right they're following the regular principle

00:24:25.860 of worship they're doing it one way they're not like protestants in the negative sense

00:24:31.660 where it's just like what do we do when we disagree as protestants we start a new presbytery

00:24:39.120 if you're presbyterian well first if you're presbyterian you do a two-year study committee

00:24:43.260 so you can outline with with exact detail how you're going to compromise and and then you

00:24:50.460 compromise and then you know a few people are left um no well usually not that actually the

00:24:56.200 compromisers they're the ones that are left and they take all the stuff the buildings and a few

00:25:00.100 people like machin they go and they have to start something new um baptists we're not much better 0.76

00:25:05.020 I don't think we're better at all. 0.57

00:25:06.560 The way that we compromise,

00:25:08.160 how do we do this?

00:25:09.460 Church splits. 0.99

00:25:11.440 Church splits over anything.

00:25:14.660 Color of the carpet.

00:25:18.080 Right?

00:25:18.600 Not enough potlucks.

00:25:20.200 You know what?

00:25:20.600 You name it.

00:25:22.160 Baptists, that's what we do. 1.00

00:25:23.860 We split churches.

00:25:28.360 And all of a sudden, 0.53

00:25:29.480 it's the equivalent.

00:25:30.440 It's not the equivalent,

00:25:31.020 but conceptually,

00:25:32.860 it would be a New Testament

00:25:33.720 and maybe application.

00:25:35.800 We have another altar.

00:25:37.980 So we're still worshiping God.

00:25:39.780 It's not like we split a church

00:25:41.060 to go worship the devil,

00:25:42.900 at least not explicitly.

00:25:45.400 But we have another altar

00:25:46.620 and another altar and another altar.

00:25:48.200 There's not unity.

00:25:49.380 There's not regularity.

00:25:51.200 It's not sticking to the script. 0.64

00:25:52.740 It's not Israel worshiping one God,

00:25:55.080 one way, in one place.

00:25:57.420 And that's what was clearly said,

00:25:58.720 at least for Israel,

00:26:00.080 according to the Old Covenant.

00:26:01.340 That's what Matthew Henry is getting at.

00:26:03.240 He's saying not only were there not high places and altars that were idolatrous to other gods,

00:26:09.560 but there weren't even other high places or other altars to the right God.

00:26:13.800 They were joined as one.

00:26:15.740 They weren't just worshipping the right God.

00:26:17.500 They were worshipping the right God in the right way in unity.

00:26:21.980 That's what he's getting at.

00:26:23.240 That's a big deal.

00:26:25.240 We need some of that.

00:26:27.220 But the temple was duly respected and the temple service carefully kept,

00:26:30.660 yet all was not well either.

00:26:33.240 So in a general sense, Ezra shows up like Barnabas.

00:26:37.000 And when he shows up from Jerusalem to Antioch, things are overall, there's a lot of great stuff.

00:26:41.500 And then he gets worried.

00:26:43.640 But there's actually one thing that's not great.

00:26:46.400 In fact, it's terrible.

00:26:48.120 It's terrible.

00:26:51.560 See, the purest ages, I like the way that Henry says this,

00:26:54.500 the purest ages of the church have had some corruptions.

00:26:57.620 and it will never be presented without spot or wrinkle

00:27:01.460 till it's a glorious church, a church triumphant.

00:27:06.360 On the whole, the church has neglected church discipline.

00:27:13.000 And that is something that churches,

00:27:15.060 99 out of 100 need to repent of.

00:27:18.960 On the whole, that said, so that's the headline.

00:27:22.580 Here's a footnote, and I want to clearly say

00:27:24.500 one's a headline, one's a footnote.

00:27:25.740 headline overall churches um need to care more about the purity of the church care more about

00:27:33.560 church discipline and be willing to excommunicate in obedience to jesus what he's clearly said

00:27:38.980 that said there is a way to over purify the church there is something to be said for pulling up the

00:27:48.300 tares in such a way that presumptuous prematurely it damages the wheat there is a way to behave in a

00:27:57.280 a god-like manner that is not emulating god in his character in a good way but but presumptuous

00:28:03.280 and arrogant to pretend omniscience to begin to not only um not only follow the script and what

00:28:13.380 god has said with those things which are external and witnessable and visible but when we begin to

00:28:19.860 speculate and guess at heart motives incentives it's it's when a church begins to um to practice

00:28:30.820 excommunication in the way that if you ever watch the movie the tom cruise minority report

00:28:35.080 right trying to stop a crime before it's even occurred because i just got a feeling

00:28:42.320 You've got a feeling.

00:28:45.320 Forget your feelings.

00:28:47.040 Who cares?

00:28:49.460 You don't get to exercise the keys of the kingdom

00:28:52.280 on sola philae, not philae, but philae.

00:28:56.040 It's not about your feelings.

00:28:58.000 You don't get to do that.

00:29:00.080 Christ is not giving you that authority.

00:29:01.860 That is overstepping your ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

00:29:07.900 And it's worth remembering.

00:29:10.520 This again, like in our opening,

00:29:12.580 our call to worship,

00:29:14.540 our prayer of ascent

00:29:15.720 as we began our worship service this morning.

00:29:19.700 I don't want this to be taken too far.

00:29:21.940 This is not to carve out leniency for apathy

00:29:25.460 or moral mediocrity

00:29:29.000 or theological mediocrity.

00:29:31.980 But it is to say, as Matthew Henry said,

00:29:34.900 and I believe he said it well,

00:29:36.200 the purest ages of the church

00:29:38.300 have always had some corruptions

00:29:41.080 and it will never be presented

00:29:42.760 perfectly without spot or wrinkle

00:29:45.180 till it's a glorious church,

00:29:47.600 a church triumphant.

00:29:48.600 Meaning what?

00:29:49.600 Until the end of the gospel age.

00:29:52.100 There is no such thing.

00:29:53.800 Even if there were a golden age

00:29:56.020 and you're post-millennial

00:29:58.620 and you're eschatology and you hold,

00:30:00.200 not every post-millennial does,

00:30:01.440 but to a golden age period

00:30:02.700 toward the end,

00:30:04.300 leading up to the final

00:30:05.440 physical return of Christ,

00:30:06.700 even in that,

00:30:07.580 the church will not be perfect it'll be at its best but not perfect and it's worth us remembering

00:30:14.740 that Ezra on one hand what we see in our text is serious betrayal to Yahweh the God of Israel

00:30:23.680 serious compromise serious sin but I don't want us to see that at the cost of seeing the the 30,000

00:30:31.820 foot view Ezra shows up and the 30,000 foot view is the general senses pretty good

00:30:36.960 this is a pretty good moment for israel it's not this is their worst moment you want to see bad

00:30:45.800 moments for israel we've got plenty this isn't one of them this is not israel's worst moment

00:30:50.740 this is one of israel's better moments and i believe that the point of this text maybe not

00:30:55.880 the point but a point of this text is to say that even in israel's better moments one of their better

00:31:01.120 moments, there's still serious failure. So it's not to say, look at this failure. It's one of the

00:31:07.900 worst moments in Israel. It's to say, here's one of the better moments of Israel. And even when the 1.00

00:31:12.280 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,

00:31:47.700 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

00:32:02.380 breaks down. The church will never be perfectly glorious or perfectly triumphant in this gospel

00:32:09.160 age here, now. So in its best and brightest moments, there will still be deep, dark, profound

00:32:17.180 corruptions and failures and we should care about them but also not seeking to over purify the

00:32:25.360 church in such a way that as we rip out the tares we end up destroying the wheat

00:32:30.780 let's be aware of all these things

00:32:34.800 all right continuing now oh you know what one more verse that i want to draw our attention to

00:32:41.980 and then we'll turn the notes over to the back side of the page this is verse 12 therefore do

00:32:46.840 Do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace.

00:32:52.940 That one offends our post-war sentiments.

00:32:59.560 We're Americans.

00:33:01.480 In the year of our Lord, 2024, never seek their peace?

00:33:07.020 Who's there? 1.00

00:33:08.680 Foreign nations. 1.00

00:33:10.940 Never seek their peace or prosperity.

00:33:13.800 what but the global gdp what are you talking about i'm a republican pastor the bottom line

00:33:22.660 i mean sure my children will have no future and no jobs but

00:33:28.700 but do you know how low labor costs are in china

00:33:32.180 and it's great for china not just us it's a win-win and i can prove to myself i can sleep a

00:33:40.740 little bit better at night because I can I can tell myself that I'm not racist like my parents were

00:33:44.600 okay that's not Christian that's American post 1960 let's hear Christian real quick though 0.67

00:33:55.500 it's always good to just get a little Christian verse 12 therefore do not give your daughters

00:34:01.460 to their sons neither take their daughters for your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity

00:34:07.660 that is the other nations

00:34:09.260 that you may be strong

00:34:10.720 and eat the good of the land

00:34:12.200 and leave it for an inheritance

00:34:14.280 to your children forever.

00:34:15.540 Notice, this is the correlation

00:34:17.160 that God is making through Ezra.

00:34:19.800 He's making a direct correlation

00:34:22.020 between you can't have it both ways.

00:34:25.720 You will either seek the peace

00:34:26.920 and prosperity of these other nations

00:34:28.420 which ultimately are your enemy

00:34:29.940 or you can leave an inheritance

00:34:31.920 for your children.

00:34:33.180 But you can't do both.

00:34:34.000 to compromise here,

00:34:38.360 that is, to seek the peace and prosperity

00:34:40.660 of these other nations, 0.84

00:34:41.720 which are my enemies and ultimately yours, 1.00

00:34:44.140 it will come at the cost of your children's future.

00:34:48.520 That's what God is saying.

00:34:51.420 That's what God is saying.

00:34:53.400 Now, again, that's going to have to be explained a little bit

00:34:56.340 because I can feel like,

00:34:58.640 Joel's getting racist today.

00:35:01.140 I don't like it.

00:35:02.260 I'll explain.

00:35:02.960 and when I say I'll explain,

00:35:05.380 I will let Matthew Henry explain.

00:35:07.860 I think he'll be really helpful.

00:35:10.220 I think I'll let him explain.

00:35:11.580 I've got something here.

00:35:13.500 Let me let...

00:35:19.460 All right, I'll just say it.

00:35:28.340 Matthew Henry would have said it better,

00:35:29.600 but I know that he has said it and not just him.

00:35:31.300 plenty of puritans plenty of reformers plenty of theologians and and i'm talking about dead guys

00:35:36.260 so not just the you know the modern guys who want to avoid racism which for the record insofar is

00:35:43.300 it's legitimate racism because the word is nowadays it's be honest it's spelled r-a-y

00:35:49.200 then c-i-i-i racist and so i'm not concerned if someone calls me a racist by modern standards

00:35:57.380 because you know what it means?

00:35:58.520 Nothing.

00:36:00.020 Nothing.

00:36:01.100 And I'm not concerned about pretend made-up sense.

00:36:04.600 But insofar as it actually is

00:36:06.620 a pre-biased prejudgment

00:36:10.940 based off of race alone

00:36:13.700 and not based off of worship and idolatry,

00:36:16.700 those things which do matter,

00:36:18.700 insofar as it's that,

00:36:20.040 then I do have certain Scripture

00:36:21.220 that would address that issue

00:36:22.780 and I do care because I want to please the Lord.

00:36:25.460 Here's the point.

00:36:26.040 what Matthew, Henry, and all these other dead guys,

00:36:28.180 what they would have said is they actually,

00:36:29.980 as they're commentating on the text,

00:36:31.640 and they say the foreigner or the stranger,

00:36:33.640 they'll literally replace the word foreigner or stranger

00:36:35.720 with the word the heathen. 0.76

00:36:38.040 That's helpful.

00:36:40.180 Because that's what God was getting after.

00:36:43.200 God is not getting after.

00:36:44.680 So hear me.

00:36:45.000 God is not getting after the shade of, you know, 0.88

00:36:49.600 nobody's actually white. 0.92

00:36:51.500 Nobody's, you know, see-through, like Casper the ghost. 0.99

00:36:53.780 Okay, so, you know, but he's not getting after what shade of brown your skin has.

00:37:01.220 That's not his concern. 0.50

00:37:03.080 His concern with Israel intermarrying with these four nations is the same concern that 0.75

00:37:08.740 ultimately Solomon gave way to, which is that he took all these foreign wives. 0.72

00:37:13.400 And then for, you know, anniversaries, I imagine that's how I like to pretend, you know, that 0.60

00:37:16.940 the wife comes, Solomon, I love you.

00:37:19.140 And you know, I love Yahweh.

00:37:20.240 I made my peace with him. 1.00

00:37:21.360 You know, I left my people.

00:37:22.240 but i would really like you know for this anniversary you gave me silver you know for

00:37:26.980 our five year but now it's our 10 year and all i would like instead of asking for gold

00:37:30.780 all i would like is just a little high place to this false god you know just it's sentimental

00:37:35.480 it's nostalgia it reminds me of of growing up you know growing up and worshiping mole just a 0.85

00:37:40.500 little bit over there just a little asherah over here and his heart little by little was led

00:37:45.840 astray. Solomon, first half, right? Good. Last half, bad. And the same thing that happened with Solomon

00:37:53.920 is the same thing that's happening here with Israel. It's not about the foreigner or the alien

00:37:59.180 in terms of pigment. It's about the heathen. It's about these pagan nations. Not just that they're 0.96

00:38:05.700 foreign, but they're pagan nations who are worshiping pagan gods. And Yahweh said through Moses,

00:38:11.820 long ago. They knew this. They knew better. And God had said it more than once on more than one

00:38:17.400 occasion. He said this. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 3 and 4. You shall not intermarry with

00:38:23.200 them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn 0.98

00:38:28.540 away your sons. Why? Notice, look, God gives a reason. He doesn't say you shall not marry with 0.99

00:38:34.700 them because because it you know the skin color of your offspring would not be as light or as dark 0.96

00:38:44.100 it's not the reasoning no why should you not do it for they would turn away your sons from following 0.92

00:38:50.940 me to serve other gods then the anger of the lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy

00:38:59.040 you quickly. And guess what, brothers and sisters? He did. He did. Israel disobeyed. They did give

00:39:06.340 their sons and daughters in foreign marriages with the foreigner who simultaneously, and more 0.95

00:39:13.040 importantly, was the heathen, worshiping idols, false pagan gods. And Israel was corrupt. It was 0.99

00:39:22.840 corrupted by these foreign gods and ultimately what happened this is one of the very reasons why 1.00

00:39:28.720 israel was under god's judgment and put in captivity in the first place and here they are 0.98

00:39:35.380 they've just got out it's like are you serious we just got out of captivity for this among other

00:39:43.960 things breaking the sabbath is is was a big one it wasn't it was no trifle right watch out that

00:39:51.720 sabbatarianism they broke the sabbath but also they intermarried with the heathen not just the 0.53

00:39:58.360 stranger but the stranger who was the heathen and it corrupted their way of life it corrupted 0.83

00:40:04.240 their worship it corrupted their fidelity to Yahweh and because of all these things they were 0.86

00:40:09.820 under God's hand of discipline his judgment and placed into captivity for 70 years and God in his

00:40:15.600 mercy, despite their sin, has now released them. And they're doing it again. And Ezra arrives on

00:40:24.660 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

00:40:37.520 care about worshiping Yahweh in Israel. That doesn't come around very often. If you know

00:40:43.420 Israel's history. It's like, hey, Israel actually cares about obeying Yahweh. This is the 0.92

00:40:49.140 minority of the time. But praise God. And then he gets word. Oh, but the very thing that brought

00:40:55.800 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,

00:41:06.800 maybe 15 at this point and we've already begun to intermarry again again with the heathen 0.92

00:41:14.600 with these four nations the same ones that we intermarried with and and compromised with in

00:41:20.280 the past and how does Ezra respond how does he respond this is one of the the big things that I

00:41:29.560 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

00:41:39.120 my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled, appalled. And then he's joined

00:41:48.040 his repentance. Look at this. There's a principle here. His repentance is so visible. It's so

00:41:55.000 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

00:42:12.900 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

00:42:26.520 vain remorse for the consequence of sin, but tears over the sin itself and its rebellion towards God.

00:42:34.020 Those tears of godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow, lead towards not only his repentance, but the

00:42:39.400 repentance of others. It is a contagious repentance. So now verse 4, then all who were, then all who

00:42:46.860 trembled at the words of the God of Israel 1.00

00:42:49.680 because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles 1.00

00:42:52.760 gathered around me while I sat appalled 1.00

00:42:55.300 until the evening sacrifice.

00:42:57.020 So they're joining him now in this repentance.

00:42:59.220 There's one more thing I want to point out.

00:43:00.580 Verse four says,

00:43:02.340 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel 1.00

00:43:04.800 because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles. 1.00

00:43:08.420 This is where I want to land the plane. 1.00

00:43:11.320 Ezra, his sorrow.

00:43:14.200 He's ripping out hair from his beard.

00:43:16.860 and his head, ripping his clothes, he sits appalled. His repentance, his deep, profound,

00:43:25.360 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

00:43:36.660 for? Let me give you two narratives, and I'll let you guess which one is right. Here's the first.

00:43:44.800 Ezra the pastor

00:43:48.020 the pastor in Israel

00:43:50.060 and those who are influential

00:43:52.400 and leaders

00:43:53.220 who are helping him to shepherd

00:43:55.260 the people of Israel

00:43:56.280 the church 0.99

00:43:56.960 they are profoundly appalled

00:44:01.180 and sorrowful

00:44:02.560 to the point of mourning

00:44:04.300 because

00:44:05.280 they've discovered the law

00:44:08.120 of the Lord 0.98

00:44:09.000 and Israel's failure to obey that law

00:44:12.180 and the cost of repentance

00:44:14.700 for Israel, the cost

00:44:16.700 of recalibration,

00:44:19.700 of riding the

00:44:20.820 ship, will be severe. 0.99

00:44:22.820 Israel will have to send away 1.00

00:44:24.280 some of their own wives 0.99

00:44:26.340 and children. Families

00:44:28.800 will be split apart 0.98

00:44:29.860 and it will devastate Israel. 0.98

00:44:34.100 And that 0.87

00:44:34.860 is the source of their sorrow. That's the first narrative.

00:44:37.040 Here's the second one.

00:44:38.640 And this one is,

00:44:40.640 it'll feel strange for us.

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

00:44:49.720 say which one does the text lean towards here's the other scenario ezra and these leaders with

00:44:55.920 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

00:45:08.580 and appalled not because repentance will be hard and families will be broken and wives and children

00:45:14.420 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

00:45:48.580 sorry for these women and children who are going to be sent away right that's my i mean that's my

00:45:54.640 first thing because i have a wife and children i can't imagine i can't imagine and i'm thinking

00:46:04.340 this is not just one family but but household after household after household an entire nation

00:46:12.580 families ripped apart fathers saying goodbye i'm imagining fathers kissing goodbye their sons and

00:46:18.180 daughters and that's the first direction that my heart doesn't just lean it leaps in that direction

00:46:27.220 but that is not the sorrow of Ezra

00:46:32.500 and I look at Ezra and I'm convicted

00:46:35.960 I'm convicted

00:46:39.680 because Ezra is pulling out his beard

00:46:43.660 and his hair and ripping his clothes

00:46:46.540 and mourning and fasting

00:46:48.660 and it is because, back to the text, verse 4

00:46:51.580 then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel

00:46:55.660 because the repentance would be hard.

00:46:59.740 No.

00:47:01.120 Because we'd lose our families.

00:47:04.220 No. 1.00

00:47:05.200 Because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles. 1.00

00:47:10.500 The grief and sorrow is over the sin. 1.00

00:47:16.340 It's over the sin.

00:47:19.000 It is not over the consequences.

00:47:21.520 that doesn't mean that the consequences did not hurt

00:47:26.100 that does not mean that there later would not be grief and sorrow

00:47:30.000 over the consequences but first and foremost

00:47:34.220 the center of Ezra

00:47:38.360 who is a wonderful example

00:47:42.020 that we should seek as Christians to emulate the central

00:47:45.720 source of his sorrow is not over consequences

00:47:49.780 but over sin.

00:47:53.560 His first and deepest sorrow

00:47:56.200 is not over broken families

00:47:58.220 but broken covenant with God.

00:48:01.400 That's his heart.

00:48:04.920 And you and I,

00:48:06.680 because we often make so light

00:48:10.520 of God's law and His holiness

00:48:13.200 and therefore by way of consequence

00:48:16.400 so light of our sin,

00:48:17.980 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

00:48:39.380 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

00:49:40.860 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

00:49:54.600 severity of the sin against yahweh far outweighs ezra is not a cold heartless man it's not that

00:50:02.360 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,

00:50:14.320 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

00:50:37.480 on in Israel, according to the New Testament, God's Word written through the Apostle Paul would be 0.92

00:50:42.380 this, Christian and non-Christian. It's not black and white. It's not foreign nation. And America, 0.79

00:50:51.380 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,

00:51:00.600 in speaking of marriage, the distinction, the only distinction that he emphasizes is this,

00:51:06.180 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 0.55

00:51:19.060 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

00:51:28.660 versus native.

00:51:31.120 It's Christian, right? 1.00

00:51:33.260 An unbeliever. 1.00

00:51:34.220 But not only that, 1.00

00:51:35.760 it's also if you find yourself 0.95

00:51:37.740 to be married to an unbeliever, 0.71

00:51:40.120 the first course of action 0.58

00:51:41.780 is to remain and not separate.

00:51:45.820 That's what Paul says. 0.96

00:51:47.160 If your unbelieving spouse 0.81

00:51:49.060 agrees to remain with you, 0.88

00:51:50.960 then remain.

00:51:53.640 So even in the case

00:51:54.780 of being unequally yoked,

00:51:56.300 in the spiritual sense 0.56

00:51:57.460 of Christian versus non-Christian

00:51:59.080 rather than native versus foreigner.

00:52:02.900 Even in this new rubric,

00:52:05.040 New Testament rubric here

00:52:06.340 of light and dark,

00:52:08.400 spiritually speaking,

00:52:09.640 faith and unbeliever,

00:52:11.480 even in that scenario,

00:52:12.720 if God saves you

00:52:13.960 and you were already married

00:52:15.700 and God saves you

00:52:16.500 but doesn't save your spouse,

00:52:17.760 if your spouse agrees to remain with you,

00:52:19.420 then live with them

00:52:20.420 in a Christian manner.

00:52:21.940 And maybe you'll win them over

00:52:23.120 and maybe not.

00:52:24.820 Or maybe you weren't married

00:52:26.300 before God saved you.

00:52:28.180 Maybe you were actually already saved

00:52:31.280 and you actually disobeyed God.

00:52:34.260 You did precisely what God commands not to do.

00:52:36.200 You chose, eyes wide open, 1.00

00:52:38.460 to marry an unbeliever. 1.00

00:52:40.480 Which many Christians have, by the way. 0.59

00:52:43.160 Many Christians.

00:52:44.300 You want to talk about verses,

00:52:45.740 commands in the New Testament

00:52:46.700 that are utterly neglected

00:52:48.240 and disobeyed and rebelled against

00:52:50.220 with impunity in most churches.

00:52:53.560 This is a serious offense.

00:52:55.140 We have Christians 1.00

00:52:55.960 who will knowingly date and marry an unbeliever. 0.92

00:53:02.140 And the church pretends it's not a big deal. 0.98

00:53:05.320 Even in that case, though,

00:53:07.180 when the person actually sinned with eyes wide open,

00:53:10.300 they were actually saved before they entered the marriage

00:53:13.240 and deliberately chose to.

00:53:14.580 Then what does the Word of God say for you? 0.99

00:53:17.200 To repent is to send that wife away. 0.79

00:53:19.640 No, even in your case, two wrongs don't make a right.

00:53:23.280 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 1.00

00:53:55.020 life, it would be fair. Because you did that. You did that. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you 1.00

00:54:04.500 for your word. Bless it to your people. Help us to live like Ezra. To live with fidelity. To care

00:54:11.020 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,

00:54:24.480 not worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is vain and shallow and self-focused. It is concerned with

00:54:31.480 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,

00:54:43.740 you, how we have spurned your gospel and your grace. Help us to have sorrow like that. One sorrow,

00:54:51.720 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

00:55:02.500 up ourselves. It is granted. It is a gift. So Lord, would you give to Covenant Bible Church

00:55:07.720 the glorious, gracious gift of godly sorrow for sin, that we might repent where we're wrong

00:55:15.160 and that we might be a church and families and individuals filled with life. We pray this in

00:55:21.880 Jesus name. Amen.

The NXR Podcast - May 06, 2024

THE SERMON - National Repentance Is Not Easy ｜ Ezra Tells Israel To Send Away Their Foreign Wives & Children

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