Ezra 8 - The Good Hand of Our God

In Ezra 8, the repeated theme of the “hand” of God comes into full focus as Israel continues its return from captivity and the work of restoration moves forward. From Cyrus to Artaxerxes, and throughout the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Scripture repeatedly emphasizes that every step is directed not by human strength but by the sovereign hand of God. This passage draws attention to that reality and calls us to see God’s hand as active in provision, preparation, and protection.

As Ezra leads the remnant on a long and vulnerable journey back to Jerusalem, he depends not on military strength or political security, but on the mercy of God. Through fasting and prayer at the river of Ahava, the people acknowledge their dependence on the Lord, and God proves faithful to guide, supply, and preserve them. The same hand that moves kings also equips His people, raises up leaders, and guards them along the way.

Ezra 8 confronts the temptation to trust human strength while revealing the sufficiency of God’s hand over every circumstance. The passage calls believers to humility, dependence, and confidence in the God who both calls His people and faithfully completes His work.

Thanks for listening to the Living Faith St. Louis podcast. This episode is part of our weekly sermon ministry from Pastor Blade Sbisa, with occasional guest speakers and special series.
 For more information, visit the LFSTL website.

Transcript

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And this morning we will be in Ezra chapter 9. So hopefully, and we will pick up where we left off. By the way, I know it's probably pretty obvious, but we're super casual church, alright? So if I say something and you're like, no way, that's not the Bible, feel free. Speak up. We had a guy do that this last week and just encourage us to be a praying people, and that's perfectly fine. We're continuing our study, though, and the book of Ezra. This is a 10-chapter book. We're coming to a close, and so if you found your way to us this morning, just know that you are hopping into a pretty long study that we've been in since the first of the year. God uh just put on my heart a burden to talk about Ezra, mainly for uh the purposes of a verse that we will find in our study this morning. A verse that reminds us that God has a plan and a purpose for this little remnant of Israel, believing Israel, that is, to uh find a little bit of reviving, a space of grace to uh see a spiritual life once again. Sadly, Israel rejects that mercy God extends to them. But devotionally, what I wanted us to see, or what I was at least burdened for, was uh this opportunity to talk about uh a God of revival. And uh that idea, that word alone in the church today is super overused. Like we we have churches that are planning quote unquote revival events. And I just want to say on the outset of this message that revival is not something that you get to plan. It's not a ministry event or a nice brand name for a good church push. Uh, revival is an act of God when men and women choose to repent and get right with God according to his grace. And so that's what we're looking at. It's just a little window, a little moment of grace that God has given the nation of Israel. If you remember, by way of review, last week in chapter 8, we saw that Ezra finally arrives in Jerusalem. The writer of this book, the book of Ezra, has talked to us for seven chapters about what was happening in the land after Israel had rebelled and God had judged the northern ten tribes and the southern two tribes by Assyria and Babylon. And he's writing to us about all these things, but he hadn't yet arrived in Jerusalem. There were a few waves of this remnant that were returning to the land. And what we find in chapter 8 is Ezra leads a few thousand people, 900 miles. That's New York to St. Louis. 900 miles on a journey whereby God provides for them, prepares Ezra and other leaders, and through prayer protects God's people on this long journey. They finally arrive in the land and in chapter 9. Now we find Ezra discovering the first group that had arrived and a broken heart over it. The title of our message this morning is A Heavy, Humble Heart. And that's certainly what we need when we find ourselves in really broken situations. Maybe that's in our home. We we finally come to terms with God's perspective on what our home looks like, or what our church family looks like, or maybe it's how we parent, or maybe it's just a relationship we have. A humble or and heavy heart is what God wants us to have like Ezra. We ought to be broken for the things that God has broken over. As we turn from chapter 8 to chapter 9, we find this contrast between God's faithfulness to Israel to the remnant's unfaithfulness having a return. We move from a long journey, a long journey, a few months long journey, to now a remnant settling in and coming to a crossroads in their life regarding whether or not they will accept or abuse the grace that God has given. If you remember, as I mentioned just before, Ezra's coming in a second wave. We find in the Bible three different waves of Israelites returning to the land, some under Zerubbabel, the governor, the son of Sheltiel, some under Ezra, and others under Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. And so Ezra shows up finding a group of people who had taken the grace and the mercy God gave them to return and then abusing it. Look at with me, Ezra chapter 9, in the first four verses, that's where we will begin. In verse 1, it says, Now, when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the land, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perizites and the Jebusites and the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Egyptians and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons. So the holy seed have mingled themselves, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and the rulers hath been chief in this trespass. Verse three. Ezra here speaking. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and I plucked off the hair of my head and my beard, and I sat a stone. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. And I sat a stone until the evening sacrifice. And this all leads us to our first key point this morning, and that is that a sanctified life will require you to be separated from this world. Now, obviously, as a Christian, God is not asking you to become a monk and go climb a pole and stand on it and be isolated. But your life and your lifestyle ought to be distinct and peculiar to what the world does and how the world behaves. Look at with me once again in the first verse, it says that the princes came to Ezra, saying that the people and the priests, the Levites, and if you were to go on in verse 2, you find also the princes and rulers, they had not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples, and they ended up doing according to those lands, those peoples' abominations. As we begin our time this morning, I want to talk to you about the sanctified life. When you accept the gospel, that is to say, when you by faith acknowledge that Jesus Christ became sin for you who knew no sin, that you might be imputed the righteousness of God, you are saved. You are born again, the Bible says. In a moment you are justified. That should be something you see in the scriptures. When you place your faith in the finished work of Christ, that all-sufficient merit, you in a moment get saved. You're born again, just as a natural birth would occur and you are brought into this world. But you may hear many say things like, a life of sanctification isn't in a moment, but it's a process. You ever hear this? Your spiritual life is a journey. That's sometimes how people will describe it. Now, if you look throughout Christian doctrine and different denominations and you consider these two ideas, justification or salvation and sanctification, you're going to find a lot of different ideas. Okay? The Bible teaches that you are saved on the front end and then you go through a life of sanctification. But many church traditions teach that ultimately you have to be sanctified before you're going to finally find justification. And so just know that you have to consider and determine in your life what the Bible says regarding sanctification. And so I want to concede to the fact that sanctification is a process. We get to be set apart or sanctified by the transforming work of the Word of God as our mind is renewed via the words of God. And we reframe our understanding about what it means to be human and what it means to go through this life and this world according to the scriptures. John chapter 17 and in verse 17, I just want to give you a few cross-references to talk to you about this idea of sanctification. What is sanctification according to the Bible? Well, Jesus said in John chapter 17 and verse 17, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 25 through 27. It says, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy, or that is to say, set apart, sanctified, and without blemish. Now, Ephesians 5 is talking to husbands about their role to reflect the work of what Jesus did, but it is ultimately about Christ and the church. It goes on in verse 32. It says, This is a great mystery, Paul says, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. Okay, so Jesus, our husband, desires to sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of the water by the word. How am I sanctified? Well, that means I gotta actively, through time and through a process, get the word of God to give me new thoughts and new ideas about, again, what it means to live. What it means to be human, what it means to serve Him. Literally every aspect of our life and our thinking and our meditation has to be transformed. That's why Paul says to the church at Rome in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2, and be not conformed to this world, like this remnant had been with the other lands surrounding them as they returned, having received great mercy and great grace, and yet then being conformed and intermarrying with these other nations. Again, Paul says in Romans 12, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In the Christian life, how do I get my mind transformed? Well, I have to get new thoughts, right? I don't know about you, but there are thoughts that run through my mind that run contrary to what God intends and what he says about me and how he thinks about me. And so those things have to be overturned according to God's perspective. Okay, so yes. In one sense, sanctification is a process. Can you see that? It is the process of us getting washed by the water of the Word. The Word of God is that sanctifying truth that cleanses us. That's true. But in another sense, I want to draw your attention to a few additional verses in the New Testament that tell you sanctification is something you've also been given. It is a process, but it's also a gift in your identity. First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11 it says, And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Okay, so is it a process or is it something I have, and something I get, or something that I am? Acts chapter 26 and verse 18, it says, To open their eyes. This is Paul reciting why God had made him a unique minister for the dispensation of grace, namely the grace of God given to him to the Gentiles. Acts twenty six and verse eighteen, to open their eyes, the Gentiles, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Okay, so there's this there's this doctrine that says that sanctification is a process, true. I'm gonna can contest that, though, and say it's also something you get at your salvation. So what does this mean, this idea of a sanctified life, a life set apart? I think it's very misunderstood in the church today. The root word here in sanctification is, if you can hear it, sanctify. It simply means to set something apart or to be holy. God is holy, he is sanctified from his creation, and yet willing to condescend to us. Okay, so more, moreover, while sanctification is a process, it is also a gift you get at salvation. Why? Why? Well, because when you accept the gospel by faith, the Bible says that you are born again of the Spirit, and that you have not only been forgiven, but that you've been given a new identity entirely. You, in the moment of your salvation, when you're born again, are given separation from that first birth in the flesh. This is what Paul says to the churches of Galatians chapter 1. He says, I've been separated from my mother's womb. He's been set apart from his natural identity. He's been sanctified from his natural condition in Adam, and he's been given a new identity in Christ. He's been set apart from that thing. Colossians chapter 2 says, God does an invisible work, an operation of God, made without hands, whereby a Christian is given a new spiritual identity, separated from their flesh. And yet, you and I know, while new in identity, as new creatures in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, we are also left in this body of death, aren't we? And so, in one sense, I am sanctified. I am holy. I am righteous because God has imputed the righteousness of Christ to my account. That is my standing before God. Judicially, if I were to die today, God in his justice would be able to declare me righteous because Jesus is my righteousness. And yet, I'm left in this body of death, that I might learn how to reconcile that spiritual truth with this physical world and life. And so the Christian experience is me living spiritually separated, but in a life where I'm actually bound to a body of death. And I have to learn how to put that thing to death daily, that I would see my life become, as it were, the gospel. Does this make sense? Man, I hope so, because this this doctrine and understanding that sanctification is a process, but also something you've been given, is super important. And it will actually free you to understand what God intends for you to do in the Christian life. The Bible says that you have not only been set free, and I don't want to get on a big soapbox here, but a lot of Bible translations tell you that you've been set free. But the preserved manuscripts and the preserved Word of God actually says you've been made free. Okay, so that is a big difference. It is way different for you to be set free than to be made free. In other words, something has completely changed about you, whereby you can't go back to that old thing. Romans chapter 6 and verse 22, but now being made free, Paul says, from sin, and are become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Okay, so just in passing here, I want you to just hold this important doctrine in your mind. The Bible says that you are not, if you're a Christian, you are not in the flesh. You are not in Adam. You are not in the flesh. This is Romans chapter 8. But you can live after the flesh. You're not in it. When you're saved, God separates you, gives you a new identity distinct from your natural person. But you can still, in your new identity, live after the ways of the old man. And if you can just hold on to these truths, it'll make your Bible open up, and you'll understand what it means to live a sanctified and a pleasing life before God. We'll talk about this more. I'm sure. It's so important, so central to the Christian life. Moreover, sanctification is a package deal at your salvation. Can I say it that way? In a moment, you were given a new spiritual identity in Christ. You were set apart and made holy in the person of Christ. However, at that same moment, you were left in this corrupt and weak body that is unable to produce any righteousness. In my flesh, Paul says, dwells no good thing. I have no ability. Just like at salvation I could not perform enough righteousness to get into heaven, so too in my Christian life. I also in my flesh can't muster up enough strength to please God. I have to live my Christian life by the power of his grace. And so we're obviously camping out here on this doctrine of sanctification, just looking at that one word pulled out of Ezra. We'll get back to Ezra, don't worry. But I want us to see the New Testament application of what it meant for Israel not to be separated from those other nations. What it means for us to not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27 says, only let your conversation, only let your lifestyle be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. Only let the way in which you live daily, more and more, look a little bit like the work that Jesus did on the cross. A little more humble, a little more broken, a little bit more suffering unto godliness, a little bit more life, a little bit more grace, and a little bit more truth. As it becometh the gospel, our conversation ought to be growing and growing and more of a reflection of who Jesus is and what he's done. Philippians chapter 3, Paul would go on just a few chapters later, writing to the church of Philippi, saying, For our conversation is in heaven. From whence we look, we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So while our conversation is here, becoming the gospel, it is also in heaven. We're sanctified, we're set apart. So the things we do reflect some spiritual reality there. First Peter chapter 1 and verse 15 through 16, it says, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, in all manner of lifestyle. As he who called you is holy, so too. Let your life be holy. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. Here, the Apostle Peter is referencing Leviticus 11. This is also reiterated in Leviticus 19 and 20. Israel was called to be a holy and a peculiar people, a separate people. I believe this is also Exodus 19, if I have my memory straight. God had called Israel to sanctify themselves and to remain separate from that surrounding people and their gods and their abominations. And yet, this remnant that Ezra finds as he ends up in Jerusalem has failed. And they had immediately gone back to the bondage that they had been separated from while in captivity. All the people were rebelling and abusing the grace that God had given them to be able to return. We saw that. The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, they had not separated themselves, verse 1. And at the end of verse 2, we found here this idea that the hand of the princes and rulers had been chief in this trespass. And then it goes on to describe what that trespass was. And yes, there was a mingling of the seed, but I want to call your attention to the doing according to their abominations, as verse 2 continues. What is the trespass that all the people had given themselves to? It had been the works of the abominations of the surrounding nations. Well, what were those? Just want to give you a long list here for a moment so that you can consider what Israel had done with the grace that God had given them. They had done according to the abominations of that long list of nations we saw at the beginning. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, the Amorites. What were the abominations of those groups? Well, if you were to just create a list, you would find that all these groups were given to idolatry. They worshipped other gods, as Israel was commanded not to do. They made graven images and molten images. They worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars, serving Baal and Molech and other false gods. These nations gave themselves to child sacrifice, burning their sons and daughters in a fire, causing children to pass through the fire, as the Bible says. Abominations of these other nations involved occult practices, divination, enchantments, witchcraft, sorcery, spells or charming, consulting with familiar spirits, wizards, necromancy, seeking information from the dead, soothsaying. These abominations included sexual immorality. According to Leviticus 18, Israel was called away from that. Incest, adultery, homosexual acts, bestiality, and general unsexual cleanness. These abominations also included temporal and ritual perversions, prostitution tied to worship, sodomites in the land, defiling God's sanctuary with idols. It included violence and moral corruption, shedding innocent blood, violently filling the land with war, oppressing those that were weak or impoverished, acting unjustly. These abominations also included profaning that which is holy, defiling the land, polluting God's name, and mixing holy things with idols. It's a long list, isn't it? Of abominations. God says, I hate these things. And Israel took the grace that they had been given, this little extension of mercy, and they had mingled themselves with these people. What about your Christian life? You know, if you just think, God has given me an immense amount of mercy and grace. What are you and I doing with it? What are we doing with the grace that God has given us? What are we doing with the little space of grace to have a little reviving in us? What are we doing with that grace? Are we being conformed to this world? Or are we being sanctified? Daily is our life becoming a little bit more separate. Not that we're pretending to be better, but just a little bit more of a reflection of the goodness and the righteousness of God. I just wonder. Proverbs chapter 6 and verse 16 through 19, it says, These six things doth the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift, and running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren. You ever been a part of a church with a discord or disunity? God says, I hate that. You ever know of a person speaking lies? God says that's an abomination. What about a proud look? A lying tongue? Has this ever been true of you as a Christian? I mean, once again, what are you doing? What am I doing? With the mercy and the grace that God's given me. God wants us to be separate from the things that he hates. And what it means is that we have to learn what he hates, and we have to learn what he loves, and we have to agree with what he loves, and we have to yield ourselves because the flesh loves all the things that God hates. Look at verse 3. Ezra chapter 9 and verse 3. This is Ezra's response. And when I heard this thing, that the people have done this. He says, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard. Now, I don't know if you've ever had your hair pulled or your beard ripped out. Any of the ladies have their beard ripped out? I hope not. Alright? It hurts. Like my little my little toddler sometimes will grab my beard and pull on it. I'm like, dang, that does not feel good. This is something that shows us that Ezra's in so much anguish that he was actually going to grieve this at a level that broke him. Verse 4 it says, and uh those that were assembled unto him were all those that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away, that is that remnant that had been allowed to return. And it says, And I sat a stone until the evening sacrifice. When Ezra learned of the state of the people, the text tells us he was astonished. It's an old word. It's similar to the word astonished, but it has a negative connotation. Okay, so being astonished at something could have a positive connotation, to be in awe of something. But here the word astoned is to be appalled or devastated or stunned in complete horror because of some judgment. And that's exactly what Ezra should have felt because he was a ready scribe. He knew the law of God, and he knew the judgment that would come upon Israel if they behaved this way. And so he was broken for his people. He was broken for his people. And uh I just want to show you here in his confession before God, if you would, look at with me, Ezra chapter 9 and verse 6. He says, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift my face to thee, my God. Look at this. For our iniquities are increased over our heads, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Ezra was heavy and he was broken, and yet he was a humble man, and as a leader of the people, he was willing, just as Christ was willing. Here, Ezra, a type of Christ, is willing to say, Our trespasses. A man that was actually right before the law, willing to take the sins or the trespasses of the people upon himself. And he cries out to the Lord, he says, Our trespasses. He says, Lord, I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed to even come to you in this way. And this is important for us to see just that heaviness and that brokenness that Ezra felt because it should be the same heaviness and brokenness and desire that we have to go to this world and plead on behalf of their souls. Lord, we have sinned. Lord, we are a broken people. Lord, would you have mercy on my neighbor? Would you have mercy upon those that don't know you, my family, my friends? God, please, would you allow me in some way to have a broken spirit that they might be saved? This is a feeling of being in shock from some tragedy. And it really is a feeling that would come with devastation or disaster. And I don't know if you've ever been put in a position in life where you've had to feel that. Hopefully not. But a moment in your life where everything is just stripped away. Maybe it was a sudden death or a sudden accident, or maybe a friend that lost somebody. Just complete devastation in a moment, just ruined. This is how Ezra felt. He was completely broken over the sin of the people. And man, I just don't know in the church today if we're broken enough over the things that God is broken over. Now we should rejoice knowing that Christ has become sin for us. We should rejoice knowing that Christ has taken sin. And yet we should not abuse that grace that's been given. Our second key point this morning, as we move quicker through this text, is that restoration will always require at least a little space of grace. And this is pulled from verse 8. We'll read it here in a moment. What I want us to see is that they needed grace to escape the bondage of Babylon, but they also needed the grace of God to respond rightly once they had landed. And I want you to know that restoration requires not only that we get right, but that we learn how to stay right with God, how we how to stay the course. And that's why God has given us the scriptures, to not only know doctrine and be corrected and reproved, but also to be instructed in righteousness. Not to just know what's right, but know how to keep it right. And that is really important. God has given us the word of God that we would not only know how to live the Christian life, but how to continually live the Christian life so that we could be perfected into the Son's image. Ezra chapter 9 and verse 6, we just read that, didn't we? Our trespasses, he says, is grown up into the heavens. Verse 8, he goes on, he says, And now for a little space, grace hath been showed or showed from the God of the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. Goes on in verse 9, For we are for we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, that is, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. He then says, To give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God. That's the whole purpose here, that they might be in right relationship with God and be able to worship the Lord, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. If you were to look at this text and just kind of camp out on these verses, you would find Ezra using five different images to describe God's covenant faithfulness to them and ultimately the mercy that they've been given. First, he uses this idea of a remnant or a ripped or leftover piece of cloth after the full garment had been destroyed. A remnant. He's saying, you are that little piece that has been preserved, and that is the work of God to preserve us. We find some similar language in 1 Kings 11 and verses 26 through 40 when the kingdom is taken from Solomon. This language calls us back to when God took the land from Solomon and gave it to the ten tribes. So first, the image we get is this little piece of garment that's been preserved after the rest had been destroyed. But second, a nail to give us a nail in his holy place. Kind of a strange, strange turn of phrase. This nail was language to describe to the remnant that God had called them back to build the temple, or the tabernacle, or as we see prior in Israel's history, that that tabernacle, that tent, a stake driven into the ground to bring security or stability. And same too with the temple project. There were probably many nails that would hold this structure and the beams together. God was saying, I brought you back to build a temple. He's reminding them that little space of grace was given to you so that you would be able to worship me and be in fellowship with me. It wasn't for you to abuse. A remnant, a nail. It goes on to say that our God may lighten our eyes. Light. God gave them a little bit of light when they had been blinded. You know, Israel right now, the Bible says, is blinded in part. That this is a great mystery, but in a time to come, God is actually going to lift those blinders off and allow Israel to see Jesus, their Messiah, for who he is, and he will turn ungodliness from Jacob and will allow Israel to be revived again, causing her to walk in his ways. It's a beautiful uh foreshadowing here in the book of Ezra to what is to come, even yet. A little light, light to bring the blinders off so that we can see. Israel was living in a very dark place, in a dark land, because they had ultimately darkened hearts. And God, by his word, by the prophet Zechariah and Haggai would come in, and then later the voice of Ezra would come in with words to help them see what God had done for them. Psalm 119 and verse 130, it says, The entrance of thy words giveth light and giveth understanding unto the simple. Israel has been enlightened, and the Bible says will be. And once God lightens them again, as the book of Hebrews says, they ought not repent from that acknowledgement of everything God shows them. Alrighty, as we continue, we see that little garment, that little remnant, a nail, light, and then a revival, a little reviving. That is to say, a resurrection. God, by the voice, by the words of Ezra, reminds Israel that this grace had been given to them to revive them, to bring them from a place of deadness to life. Just as in the church today, God has given us grace to not only be saved and get our ticket to heaven, but have quickened or functioning life that we could actually live for him on a daily basis. And then finally, a wall. A wall. A little piece of fabric that's preserved. A nail, light, a revival, that is to say, life from the grave. And then a wall. God would remind the people that his grace was given to them. This extension of mercy was given to them so that they could be protected. And they could remain in this place forever. God comforts us in that way. We can look forward into the New Testament and see that God has given us grace not to just save us, but to also secure us. You know, your salvation is secure in the Lord. And here the language helps Israel remember that God had secured them despite all of their struggles. And so Ezra repents on behalf of the people, crying out for God's mercy once again. It is this little bit of grace that accomplishes this work for Israel to get back to the land, but they needed the grace of God to continue in right standing with him. It's the same for the Christian. Acts chapter 4 and verse 33, it says, And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Here in the text we find just a little space of grace, verse 8. But God tells us in the New Testament, we've been given great grace. Consider for a moment what Israel did with that little grace. They abused it, didn't they? Well, we've been given great grace, according to Acts chapter 4 and verse 33. What are we doing with the great grace that God's given to us? God says he's not imputing men's trespasses unto them, like he did in the Old Testament. It's not a law-based contract. Romans chapter 6 says, For ye are not under the law, but under grace. God is dealing with mankind in a very unique way right now. What are we going to do with it? Are we going to share with the world that God has been good and his loving kindness ought to draw them to turn from their sin? Our third key point here as we wrap up the message this morning is that we ought to remember that without the mercy of God we would be utterly consumed. If you're familiar with Israel's history, you would recall that this is the same heart Jeremiah had when he laments the Babylonian captivity. Before they get to return, Jeremiah the prophet is lamenting. He's sorrowful, and he's remembering that while God has judged them under Nebuchadnezzar, he's also allowed them to not be utterly consumed. You know, the verse or the passage that talks to us about, you know, great is thy faithfulness, the old hymn. Is Lamentations chapter 3 and verses 20 through 22. Lamentations chapter 3, it says, My soul, Jeremiah writing, my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humble in me. This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. It is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. It is his mercies that we are not consumed. And that's exactly why Israel wasn't utterly consumed at this moment in their history when Ezra shows up. They had been given a little bit of mercy to return, and yet God's mercy still continued to them. And maybe you're looking at Israel today and you're wondering, uh, what is going on what is going on? How is God for this people? I want you to just consider this morning that God's mercy is way bigger than this world ever realizes. It's the whole conclusion of Romans chapter 11. The mercy of God. God is trying to convince the world he is merciful. And so he's going to turn ungodliness from Jacob, from Israel, and he's going to use them again. And he's going to show the Gentiles how merciful he is. He already proved that to Israel by turning to the Gentiles. Now he's going to prove it to the Gentiles by turning back to Israel. I just want you to consider God is way more merciful than we might ever realize. He is a God of justice, and he is long-suffering withholding that justice that some men would turn and come to repentance. But just know, if you've ever questioned the mercy of God, just read your Bible. Have your mind renewed, have it transformed so that you can understand the God that you serve and that you get to speak about. Verses 13 through 15 give us some more insight. If you were to look at the text, it says, And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that our God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve. Do you see that phrase? Hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hath given us such deliverance as this. That is mercy. I don't know of a better way to describe mercy. That is to say, God not giving us what we do deserve. That is mercy. God not giving us what we do deserve. In contrast to grace, which is God giving us what we don't deserve. Grace is God giving us something, salvation, forgiveness, life, when we don't deserve it. But mercy is God withholding his judgment when we do deserve it. And that is this moment in Israel's history. They deserve God's judgment and his justice. And we in this life long for justice. And God is merciful, withholding that, so that we could have a little gift of grace, a little space of grace to respond rightly to that invitation. Alright, verse 14, it says, Should we again break thy covenants? This is Ezra, acknowledging that mercy, acknowledging their opportunity to return, acknowledging this little moment, their sin, their brokenness before God, their trespasses, and he goes on. He says, Should we again break thy commandments and join an affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with us that thou hast consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? The first question here asked is, Should we again break? It makes me think about the New Testament in Romans chapter 6 and verses 1 through 2, when Paul says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? That's Ezra's question to them. That's the really the exact question. God has given you great grace. Are you gonna go back and abuse what he's already delivered you from? Listen, you went into captivity and bondage in Babylon because of the abominations of the land. And I delivered you from all of that bondage. Are you gonna just continue now to go back to it? Why are you gonna be bound to those things? God forbid, the New Testament tells us. Why would we go back to the thing that Jesus died for to deliver us from? And then a final plea in verse 15. Look it with me. It says, O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped. Now they had returned to the land, but they were yet escaped because of their sin. As it is this day, behold, we are before thee in our trespasses. You've delivered us from the bondage of Babylon and our really our comforts there, and the strong hand and the abominations of the lands, but now that we've returned, Ezra says, We're still before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee because of this. And so, in one sense, they had escaped the bondage of Babylon, but it had not escaped them. A similar thing happens in the Old Testament with Israel when they get delivered from the bondage of Egypt. They get delivered, they escape Egypt. And then while they're wandering through the wilderness, it doesn't seem like Israel has really escaped their hearts. And they're fighting and they're longing for those things that they had, those pleasures of Egypt. Isn't that the Christian life? We get saved. God delivers us from a life of sin. We get that new identity, and then we go through that sanctifying process of saying, Lord, help me escape. Help me escape from the elements of this world. Help me escape from all of the things in this time that want to grab my spiritual life and choke it out. Lord, help me be delivered from those things. If you don't feel that, I man, to teach me. I feel that on my life. Everything coming in, trying to choke out what God wants to do by his spirit in my life, in my heart. Verse 15. Verse 15, Ezra says, For we cannot stand. And that's exactly what we find at the beginning of this text. In verse 3, it says that right, he sat down a stone, and then verse 4 he also sat down a stone, and then by fire he falls upon his knees, and he spreads out his hands unto God, and in brokenness he prays before the Lord with a heavy and a humble heart, and he says, Lord, forgive this people. And here at the end in verse 15, he says, We cannot stand before thee because of this sin. And I want to encourage you this morning and tell you that you and I get to stand because of Jesus taking our sin. If you remember in the New Testament, in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1, Paul says to the Galatians, Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. The yoke of bondage. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Remember, this was the assembly that gathered gathered with Ezra, who trembled before the words of the Lord. Job chapter 9 and verses two through four, it says, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just before God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. He hath hardened himself against him or against God, and hath prospered. Hebrews chapter 10, if I can encourage you this morning, you know, Ezra's declaration is we cannot stand, but I want to tell you not only that you can stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, but you can actually enter boldly into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 19 through 22, it says, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. He goes on in verse 22. He says, Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. What we find in the New Testament is that because of the work of Christ, we can stand, and that we get to stand not afraid, not trembling, but we get to stand boldly, and we get to come before the Lord, and we get to be in his presence, and we get direct access to him because of the blood of Jesus. If you've ever worried that God would hear your prayer, I want you to know if you've put your faith in Christ, you get to stand with him in his presence, and you get to bring prayers to him, and you get to commune with him in a way that Israel never got to. And so be bold to go to the Lord this morning and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. As we close, I just want to remind you of our points. The first is that a sanctified life will require you to be separated from this world. In one sense, you are sanctified as a Christian. You have a new identity in heaven, but God now wants to bring you through the process of living a sanctified life, whereby your physical life is in agreement with your spiritual reality. Secondly, restoration will always require a little space of grace. It will require that. For Israel, it was going to require God giving them a little space of grace. And you and I have been given great grace. Great grace. And that should motivate us to live for him and serve him. And I just asked you this morning, what are you doing with that grace, great, great grace he's given? That great mercy, as Ephesians chapter 2 says, He's given. And then thirdly, here and finally, we have to remember that without the mercy of God, we would be utterly consumed. And God is giving us another day, another opportunity, another friendship, another job promotion, another friendship, another, you just list it. God's giving you another chance to have a little bit of mercy to be a part of what He's doing in this world. And what a privilege that is. When we find ourselves in a place of brokenness, when we find ourselves in an environment, in a in a context, in a workplace, in a family that is broken, when we realize that God actually hates the things that we think or that we're doing, I just want you to know that there is need for us to be broken like Ezra was and humble before the God who made us. Alrighty, let's stand, let's work.