SPEAKER_00: Well church, we are in Ezra chapter 10 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when you read passages of Scripture, you hear a Bible verse and it's kind of quoted to you and it sounds kind of like a threat.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, that sounds like a threat in a way.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've heard this threat of a verse before out of Numbers.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember hearing this just throughout my life, Numbers chapter 32, verse 23, the end of that verse it says, be sure your sin will find you out.
SPEAKER_00: And when I was, would hear that, I would think, man, that's, you know, it's kind of like, well, be careful, be cautious, because be sure your sin will find you out.
SPEAKER_00: It felt like a threat.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you hear that this morning and it feels like a threat to you.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you that this is God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: When God reveals our sin, when he doesn't allow us to hide in our sin what grace he has given us.
SPEAKER_00: That we should be given an opportunity to repent and to turn to him, to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the beauty of Numbers 32, 23.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure that your sin will find you out.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure that God is gracious enough to reveal to all people your sin if you do not repent and turn to him.
SPEAKER_00: Ezra chapter 9 was about how some of the exiles had turned from God to sin by marrying pagan women, women who didn't were not of the tribe of Israel, they didn't worship the God, the only true God.
SPEAKER_00: They had turned.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra comes back, he's a teacher of the law, he studied the law, and he's coming back to encourage the people.
SPEAKER_00: And he no sooner gets off his cable and kind of gets things stoned away, and then the leader's like, hey, by the way, you know, we have kind of a sin problem here among us, among the exiles.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not even like, um, not that there's really classes of sin, but this was a blatant teaching, God a blatant command he had given his people.
SPEAKER_00: Do not intermarry with pagan tribes.
SPEAKER_00: They come to Ezra and they say, Hey, we kind of messed up.
SPEAKER_00: We kind of intermarried with these pagan tribes.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra in chapter 9 cries out for the people, a great anguish from him.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 9 ends with Ezra just saying, Lord, you can destroy us.
SPEAKER_00: You are right and just to destroy us.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, you have commanded us not to do this lest you destroy us.
SPEAKER_00: And so chapter 9 of Ezra ends on this note.
SPEAKER_00: What is God going to do?
SPEAKER_00: He is fully just and fully right to destroy his people.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds pretty harsh, feels pretty harsh.
SPEAKER_00: But this is a God who is continuing to work to renew his people and restore their love for him.
SPEAKER_00: So chapter 9 ends in this despair.
SPEAKER_00: What's the Lord going to do?
SPEAKER_00: And then we get into chapters 10, we see the weight of this sin, the consequence of their sin, and even the weight of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: They've transgressed the law, they've broken the law, there's weight to that, it's costly, and now their obedience is weighty and costly.
SPEAKER_00: But it does bring freedom in life.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me in Ezra chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to read the first 18 verses.
SPEAKER_00: While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: A very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him outside him, out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.
SPEAKER_00: And secondaiah the son of Jahil, the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my Lord, and those who tremble at the command of our God.
SPEAKER_00: And let be done according to the law.
SPEAKER_00: Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you.
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and do it.
SPEAKER_00: Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said.
SPEAKER_00: So they took the oath.
SPEAKER_00: Then Ezra withheld, withdrew from before the house of God, and went to the chamber of Jehoinan, the son of Elishab, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.
SPEAKER_00: And proclaiming and a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that if any one did not come within three days by order of the officials and the elders, all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.
SPEAKER_00: Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days.
SPEAKER_00: It was the ninth month on the twentieth day of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and because of the heavy rain.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will.
SPEAKER_00: Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from foreign wives.
SPEAKER_00: Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, It is so, we must do as you have said.
SPEAKER_00: But the people are many, and it is time of he it is a time of heavy rain.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot stand in the open.
SPEAKER_00: Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
SPEAKER_00: Let our fate officials stand for the whole assembly, let all our cities who have taken foreign wives come and appoint at appointed times, with them the elders and the judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.
SPEAKER_00: Only only Jonathan, the son of Assael, and Jehaziel, the son of Tigvah, opposed this, and Meshelem and Shabbatai the Levite supported them.
SPEAKER_00: Then the returned exiles did so.
SPEAKER_00: Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name.
SPEAKER_00: On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter, and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of the men who had married foreign women.
SPEAKER_00: Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women.
SPEAKER_00: All the names of the men who had married foreign women, the priests and of the Levites.
SPEAKER_00: There is a weight to their sin.
SPEAKER_00: We see in verse 1 that Ezra prayed and he made a confession, weeping and casting himself down.
SPEAKER_00: So often we see from public figures just kind of fake remorse.
SPEAKER_00: Now keep in mind, Ezra did not commit this sin.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't condone it, he didn't support it, but nonetheless, as a part of God's people, the tribe of Israel, there is this sin, and he feels it.
SPEAKER_00: There's a weeping and a casting himself down.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been on the receiving end of someone else's sin, an atrocious, heartbreaking sin, there is a despair within you, a feeling of desperation and brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: And no doubt Ezra feels this.
SPEAKER_00: It's genuine.
SPEAKER_00: He's a man of the word.
SPEAKER_00: He knows God's word.
SPEAKER_00: He's not trite or light with sin.
SPEAKER_00: And the assembly, they take notice of this.
SPEAKER_00: This genuineness.
SPEAKER_00: There begins to be a genuine repentance among all the people.
SPEAKER_00: The men came, the women came, the children came.
SPEAKER_00: They're all here saying, like, this is our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to own this.
SPEAKER_00: And one of them says to Ezra, listen, we trust your counsel.
SPEAKER_00: You who know the word, you who are following God's commands, we trust you.
SPEAKER_00: And whatever you tell us to do, that we will do.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting as we kind of, as you read through the names at the end of the chapter, as you understand, there are a lot of the biblical leaders, the Levites, the priests.
SPEAKER_00: It's estimated that about a 15% of the cases of intermarriage have to do with the priests.
SPEAKER_00: They knew the law.
SPEAKER_00: They knew the commandments.
SPEAKER_00: They had it memorized.
SPEAKER_00: They would quote it, but yet they neglected it.
SPEAKER_00: And so often we treat sin like this.
SPEAKER_00: We want to act as if we're innocent because, well, we didn't really know.
SPEAKER_00: But so often, for almost all of our sin, we know exactly what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: And we even see, just because you're a religious leader or a pastor or an elder or you went to Bible school or you lead at some kind of group that does not exempt you from falling into sin.
SPEAKER_00: You still have to guard your heart and guard your life and fight sin.
SPEAKER_00: These brothers are broken over their sin.
SPEAKER_00: There's a weight to it.
SPEAKER_00: They know the counsel that has been given to the people.
SPEAKER_00: The counsel is divorce.
SPEAKER_00: All these women who are worshiping pagan gods, you're to divorce them.
SPEAKER_00: This feels so backward for us as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Especially, you know, we read the New Testament and we're to contend for marriage.
SPEAKER_00: We know, and Mike God says he hates divorce.
SPEAKER_00: And Malachi, he says he hates divorce.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, hundreds of people are going to just divorce, and these kids are going to be caught up in this.
SPEAKER_00: It's a mess.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra doesn't say, well, let's try to clean it up a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: You know, let's just try to mend some fences here.
SPEAKER_00: Take your wives, just act like they worship the God of Israel, kind of do your best, try to raise your kids the right way, and it's going to be okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's just part of why Ezra is broken.
SPEAKER_00: This is a disaster.
SPEAKER_00: The sin that has come because of these men's wickedness is going to leave a mark for generations.
SPEAKER_00: You just can't clean this up.
SPEAKER_00: You can't come in and just wipe it all clean and think we've all repented and we're all going to church on Sunday, and it's all good.
SPEAKER_00: There is a mess here from men refusing to be obedient to God.
SPEAKER_00: Disaster.
SPEAKER_00: Divorce.
SPEAKER_00: These women sent away.
SPEAKER_00: Children sent away.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know what happened to these women.
SPEAKER_00: We do know back in Ezra chapter 2, there's a provision for those who were of the land who desired to worship the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They were welcome.
SPEAKER_00: They were welcome to stay and worship God, be a part of his people.
SPEAKER_00: But for those who did not want to follow the God of the Bible, did not want to follow the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, they were to be sent away.
SPEAKER_00: Most commentators say they probably just went back to their father's houses, back to their dad's, and they took care of them.
SPEAKER_00: They lived with them either as widows or they got remarried.
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, the cost is tremendous.
SPEAKER_00: Tremendous.
SPEAKER_00: They see the weight of this.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra, he lingers over this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5, then Ezra arose and made the leading priests take this oath that they would obey him.
SPEAKER_00: Then he withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chambers of his friends and rested there.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't eat, he didn't drink, he was mourning the faithlessness of the exiles.
SPEAKER_00: And so often our own sin, it's ugly, it brings suffering, it's costly to others.
SPEAKER_00: But we're just, we're quick to kind of just clean it up, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is our tendency.
SPEAKER_00: And it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: Like we we don't want to stay in this feeling of just condemnation or guilt.
SPEAKER_00: And scripture commands us to come quickly to the throne of grace, to understand what God has done for us.
SPEAKER_00: That He's forgiven us if we're following after Him and repentant.
SPEAKER_00: He's forgiving us of our sin, and there's grace and there's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't want to get too confused here, but there is a time for us to just kind of stay there in a broken state and say, this is what happened, and this is the cost.
SPEAKER_00: They figured out what they're gonna do by this point.
SPEAKER_00: They know they're gonna do all these things, and Ezra retires, he doesn't eat, he doesn't drink, he mourns.
SPEAKER_00: He's not like, well, okay, let's be quick to say our repentance and confess and then get on with this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just kind of get back to the way it was.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just kind of get back into the way life is before I did this, before I committed this wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Can we just kind of get back on track and make things right again?
SPEAKER_00: There's a time for that.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're genuine, the Lord is gracious.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a time to sit, not and dwell and kind of fester in our sin, but to see the weight of our sin and the cost of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra is wise to do that with other people.
SPEAKER_00: We see the people are broken.
SPEAKER_00: He's not moving them too quickly, then, hey, it's good.
SPEAKER_00: We're good to go, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: But he does call the people to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And there is weight to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem, and they all were to return in three days to gather.
SPEAKER_00: If they didn't gather, they're going to lose their property, they'll be kicked out.
SPEAKER_00: And that feels kind of harsh, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you have to repent or you're losing everything.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what's going on because the reality is God said, repent, or I will destroy you.
SPEAKER_00: So they weren't kind of playing games like, well, hopefully your neighbors are repenting.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, we have to repent.
SPEAKER_00: We have to turn from our sin and follow the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not about that, if you don't want to do that, you can just get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're not playing games with our sin anymore.
SPEAKER_00: The weight is destruction if we disobey.
SPEAKER_00: So there's this command to assemble and gather, and they do.
SPEAKER_00: They all gather.
SPEAKER_00: It's cold, it's rainy.
SPEAKER_00: All thousands of people are gathering in the square listening to Ezra rebuke them again.
SPEAKER_00: Reminding them what Deuteronomy 7, 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_00: You must not intermarry with them.
SPEAKER_00: And you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.
SPEAKER_00: The people had heard that and hardened their heart to those things for years.
SPEAKER_00: Ezra comes teaching the word, calling them to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: They're not taking it lightly.
SPEAKER_00: They gather, it's cold, it's rainy, everyone's just depressed, broken over their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Broken over their sin.
SPEAKER_00: So they hear again Ezra's instructions.
SPEAKER_00: And they prepare to obey Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: But they do say to Ezra, this is going to take some time.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't something that we can just do in a day or two.
SPEAKER_00: See, I don't even know if Ezra knew the scale or to the magnitude of this disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, we're going to take care of this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if it's raining.
SPEAKER_00: Get here, we're going to make it happen.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, like, we are for that.
SPEAKER_00: We want to obey, we want to do those things, but this is going to take time.
SPEAKER_00: And so that does take time.
SPEAKER_00: We know there are a few who oppose this.
SPEAKER_00: We see this at the end of verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: There's a few men who oppose it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why they opposed it.
SPEAKER_00: But they're in opposition.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they felt like it was unfair.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were like, hey, I don't want to leave my wife and my kids.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Some of those people were people who came from the first return.
SPEAKER_00: Some of those even came with Ezra, who just pretty much showed up.
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, they're assembled together.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, this is what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to take time.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have everyone come before the council at different times.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to work through this.
SPEAKER_00: And it takes them three months to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Three months to figure out who's married to who, whose kids are who, who wants to repent and worship the God of Israel, who doesn't, how's this going to play out?
SPEAKER_00: They're very diligent with these things.
SPEAKER_00: They're very diligent.
SPEAKER_00: And again, this takes time.
SPEAKER_00: We often can kind of indulge ourselves, especially with like hidden sin, secret sin.
SPEAKER_00: We think, does it affect anyone else?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody else knows about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's just my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And we kind of indulge in that.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see consequences right away.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like we're getting a divorce or we're going to prison or we're losing social credit because it's all hidden.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing about hidden sin is it's so deceitful because you hide it, and the longer you hide it, the harder it is to bring that into the light.
SPEAKER_00: The weightier the cost, the more it costs to just confess that.
SPEAKER_00: But so often we hide these things and we think it's not really costing much.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm functioning about the same.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know about it, and it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas public sin, sin that's just kind of out there, people see it, people see many years you're either you're lying or you're cheating or you're getting convicted of it.
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's all these sins that are just out there for everyone to observe.
SPEAKER_00: And even that creates a hard heart in us.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I forget them, I'm doing my thing.
SPEAKER_00: They got their own problems, I know they do.
SPEAKER_00: They can't judge me, they're sinners.
SPEAKER_00: It creates a hardness of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And it takes time to repent of those things.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take time to acknowledge them.
SPEAKER_00: You can acknowledge them in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: You can go to a brother or sister and say, here's my sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I did.
SPEAKER_00: This is how many times I've done it.
SPEAKER_00: This is all my sin.
SPEAKER_00: Everything laid bare.
SPEAKER_00: You can do that in a few moments.
SPEAKER_00: But the work of the heart of separating yourself from a pattern of sin, turning from sin and living in the light of Christ, that takes time.
SPEAKER_00: And there are situations, many situations in our life, where our sin does bring about long, slow restitution, marriages that have been broken, infidelity, serial infidelity again and again.
SPEAKER_00: People who are just who lie or who are dishonest with their spouse.
SPEAKER_00: You can repent of that in a moment, and you should.
SPEAKER_00: It's weighty, but in there is life.
SPEAKER_00: The reality of these men in chapter 9 and 10 is they had rebelled against God and they had lived, and they everything they want to do, they just did.
SPEAKER_00: It was empty.
SPEAKER_00: They knew it was empty, and they were ready to confess, follow God's ways.
SPEAKER_00: It cost them, though.
SPEAKER_00: Their obedience cost them.
SPEAKER_00: But it was good.
SPEAKER_00: It was very, very good to return to God.
SPEAKER_00: As we've been in Ezra since September.
SPEAKER_00: I've said on repeat that the story of Ezra is about God's faithfulness to restore and renew his people.
SPEAKER_00: And we know he's faithful to restore and to renew his people.
SPEAKER_00: And then we get to the chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Families are broken up, kids are sent away.
SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: We pick the story up in Nehemiah and we see God's faithfulness to renew and restore his people.
SPEAKER_00: But right now at the end of Ezra, we just see the brokenness of the situation.
SPEAKER_00: We just see the brokenness of the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And we see God's command, his call to his people to return to him.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't noticed, I think this is the theme in Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: They would return.
SPEAKER_00: The exiles in chapter 1 and 2, they would turn from captivity to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They rebuild the altar and return to worshiping God as the law commanded in chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 4, they stopped rebuilding the fence because there was opposition, so they stopped building the temple.
SPEAKER_00: But in chapters 5 and 6, they repent and they again return to the work that God had called them to.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 7, Ezra brings another group of people back to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: They return again.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the midst of the heartbreak of chapter 9 with this intermarriage.
SPEAKER_00: And the people convicted by their sin, they are to return.
SPEAKER_00: They are to forsake the empty ways of sin and cry out to God for grace and for mercy that they might be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And he does.
SPEAKER_00: He always does.
SPEAKER_00: They cry out to him.
SPEAKER_00: They return to him.
SPEAKER_00: They go back to him.
SPEAKER_00: He shows them grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Before the people were even carried off into captivity.
SPEAKER_00: So when generations, decades and decades before, the prophet Jeremiah said to the people, in Jeremiah chapter 2, my people have committed two evils, God's people.
SPEAKER_00: They've committed two evils.
SPEAKER_00: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have dug out for themselves broken cisterns.
SPEAKER_00: Broken sisters that cannot hold water.
SPEAKER_00: They did this before they were carried off into exile.
SPEAKER_00: They did this when they were in exile.
SPEAKER_00: They did this when they returned from exile.
SPEAKER_00: See, the condition of the heart is that we are prone to wander.
SPEAKER_00: We're prone to leave the God that we love, as the hymn says.
SPEAKER_00: Our wandering hearts must be brought into submission through the Holy Spirit, through the truth of God's word, with the encouragement and the admonition of believers, because our heart is prone.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart is prone to go forget God, the source of living water, and to dig for ourselves broken cisterns that don't hold water, that are empty, that leave us wanting.
SPEAKER_00: If Ezra has taught us anything, it's that the greatest threat to our own holiness as God's people is not the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's not politicians or the media or the entertainment industry or the education system or the LGBTQ plus ideologies or whatever else you want to throw in there.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the main threat to our holiness.
SPEAKER_00: The threat to our holiness is ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We quickly turn away from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's the sin that we allow, we let remain in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that we kind of prefer to just watch TV than ever read our Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We prefer to kind of do anything else other than pray and seek the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that we listen to worldly people talking about worldly things more than we listen to godly people talking about godly things in the midst of our day.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest threat to our holiness, a thing that steals our affection for God, is not outside of us, as we've clearly seen in Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: It's within us.
SPEAKER_00: Our proclivity to stray.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
SPEAKER_00: For those who feel like they're doing well, like I think I've got this together.
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty good at just following the commandments of the Bible or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing whatever good Christians are supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: And you're kind of starting to take pride in that.
SPEAKER_00: That becomes your identity.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful.
SPEAKER_00: You who think you're doing well in the Christian faith, lest you fall, lest you take your eyes off Christ and fall.
SPEAKER_00: This is the threat to our holiness.
SPEAKER_00: As Ezra has pointed out.
SPEAKER_00: Take our eyes off of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We begin to boast, hey, we returned to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: We're part of the group that returned.
SPEAKER_00: We built the altar.
SPEAKER_00: We built the temple.
SPEAKER_00: We're fulfilling the thing.
SPEAKER_00: So slowly does sin creep in.
SPEAKER_00: Almost unnoticed.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even really sin at first.
SPEAKER_00: It's just we're not diligent about following the ways of God.
SPEAKER_00: We stop reading.
SPEAKER_00: We stop studying.
SPEAKER_00: We pull out of community.
SPEAKER_00: We stop being with the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We stop opening up our lives to those who are Christians where they can encourage us and rebuke us if need be.
SPEAKER_00: We do those things.
SPEAKER_00: And then behind that quickly is the sin.
SPEAKER_00: We're not walking with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're open and susceptible to sin.
SPEAKER_00: Sin comes in, begins to destroy.
SPEAKER_00: We don't even know it.
SPEAKER_00: For too long.
SPEAKER_00: Divorce.
SPEAKER_00: Separation.
SPEAKER_00: Children neglected, forsaken.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing that Ezra screams, well unholiness.
SPEAKER_00: Our main threat to holiness is ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But also that God loves his people enough to not allow them to stay in their sin and complacency.
SPEAKER_00: How easy would it be for God for God just to say, man, I brought you back and you're at it again.
SPEAKER_00: Forget it.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'll find some other people.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need you to do this.
SPEAKER_00: But God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: So, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, take heed lest you fall.
SPEAKER_00: The next verse.
SPEAKER_00: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
SPEAKER_00: God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
SPEAKER_00: But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: Because of what God has done.
SPEAKER_00: You're no longer slaves to sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is the message of what God has come to free us from.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about the good news of the gospel and how there's life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's salvation in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we believe that and we accept that.
SPEAKER_00: But we we do so sometimes thinking, well, I have to still stay where I'm at.
SPEAKER_00: Or I have to stay with my sin.
SPEAKER_00: I can't overcome it.
SPEAKER_00: I've tried.
SPEAKER_00: I can't be victorious.
SPEAKER_00: I've tried.
SPEAKER_00: But what Scripture says, no temptation has overcome you.
SPEAKER_00: That isn't common to everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: It's your dang flesh, wanting what it wants.
SPEAKER_00: But God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: He will not leave you in that.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't leave you unable to conquer your sin.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't leave you unable to obey his commands.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us the Holy Spirit in us to contend.
SPEAKER_00: So what are we to do?
SPEAKER_00: We're to flee temptation.
SPEAKER_00: We're to flee from the things that rob our affections for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're to flee from the sin that entangles us and return to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: To return to Him and enjoy Him.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning we need to examine our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to take communion here in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Communion is a time for us to reflect and to ask, Lord, am I following you?
SPEAKER_00: Am I being obedient to what you've called me to?
SPEAKER_00: We read Ezra 10, we hear about that we're called to flee idolatry and sin.
SPEAKER_00: Trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Hold fast to Him.
SPEAKER_00: Are we doing that?
SPEAKER_00: Are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you're batting a thousand or you're successful all the time, but is that the pattern of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Do you even desire those things?
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire to follow the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want God to be your Savior, but just not your Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm fine with Him saving me.
SPEAKER_00: I just want Him to be my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You do not get one without the other.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to pray for us in a moment, but I just want us to be still and open our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal.
SPEAKER_00: Is there sin in our life?
SPEAKER_00: No, pretty quickly the answer to that.
SPEAKER_00: That we would be faithful if there is to repent and turn from that.
SPEAKER_00: There is weight to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: It's ugly.
SPEAKER_00: It costs a lot.
SPEAKER_00: But the weight and the cost of staying in your sin is eternally poor.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep me still for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: God, we do ask you to reveal, to convect, to build up.
SPEAKER_00: Search us, O God, and see if there be any wicked way within us.
SPEAKER_00: May we be quick to repent.
SPEAKER_00: May I be quick to repent.
SPEAKER_00: May we not be comfortable or just allow the very thing that you died for, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Sin.
SPEAKER_00: May not be comfortable with it.
SPEAKER_00: Allow it to linger without us fighting against it.
SPEAKER_00: May we see the weight of our sin, the cost of it.
SPEAKER_00: The brokenness that it brings.
SPEAKER_00: May we not despair.
SPEAKER_00: For there is yet hope.
SPEAKER_00: God, you are gracious and merciful.
SPEAKER_00: May we repent?
SPEAKER_00: May we go to a brother or sister.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: And keep repenting.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in your holy and precious name, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.