God's Word is to be Obeyed (Pt. 2)

Intro

I have a secret to share:

I don’t always obey God’s Word properly

Which is a problem given that our entire last lesson was that God’s Word is: to be obeyed

But I know I’m not alone… my kids don’t obey perfectly either

And neither do your counsellors, or you for that matter

So we need to know what to do when we mess up… because we all will at some point

The last 2 chapters in Ezra paint an emotional picture of how God’s people should respond to sin

While their response is an example we can follow, their situation is entirely different: The people sinned by intermarrying with neighbouring people

This was a direct violation to God’s Law that they were committed to following

Cf. Deuteronomy 7:3-4.

The Law also captures the reason for the rule: So that they would not turn away from following the one true God

I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of all the cultural details; just know that this was a direct violation of God’s command for His peolpe during that time. It was sin

What did Ezra and the people do? What can we learn from it?

Conviction of Sin

The whole process starts with the conviction of sin

I mean, look at Ezra’s response when he learns of this disobedience!

Read Ezra 9:2-3; 6.

Ezra was appalled and ashamed by this sin

He even pulled hair from his hair and beard!

The rest of the people shared Ezra’s disappointment

Read Ezra 10:1.

The people wept bitterly; they were convicted of their sin

When we disobey God’s Word (and we will), what is our response?

Are we appalled, ashamed and moved to tears?

I would pull my hair out, if I had any to spare...

Do we feel guilty and slightly ashamed, but use those emotions to keep everything a secret?

Then we can’t move through the rest of the process

Or maybe we don’t care at all

Sin doesn’t bother us; we don’t care anymore, or have never cared

A dangerous place to be; talk about a seared conscience

Show picture of skin branding for emphasis

In order to move forward, we need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin

We will never seek to fix anything if we don’t acknowledge that there is a problem

Once again, the Spirit works through God’s Word to convict us

Cf. John 16:7-8.

How do you know what sin is? Where do you find the commandments of God? What about examples of how to live?

It’s all in God’s Word; by the power of the Holy Spirit

Confession of Sin

Once the Spirit has done the work of convicting us of sin, our response begins with confession

This is what Ezra and the Israelites choose to do

Read Ezra 9:15.

Instead of ignoring the sin, justifying the sin, belittling the sin, the people confess their sin to God

Share about not wanting to fess up when backing into Tim’s car

We are called to take that exact same step

Doesn’t have to be in a “confessional” (Father, forgive me, for I have sinned)

Just be honest with God, and acknowledge your sin before Him

But the Bible asks us to take an additional step:

Cf. James 5:16.

You see, confessing privately to God can often still help us keep our sin secret; in the dark

To truly bring it out into the light, we are asked to confess to ONE ANOTHER (in addition to God)

Doesn’t mean a public proclamation of your sin

Though they did this in Ezra, with a complete list in chapter 10

It does mean to find 2 - 3 people in your life that you can be completely honest with

They will keep your confidence, and help you overcome sin in your life

Repentance of Sin

So we have been convicted and then confessed, but none of this helps us change our behaviour

This is where the repentance of sin comes in

Repentance is action taken to turn 180 degrees around and live differently

As opposed to repeating the same mistakes over and over again

Of course, Ezra and the people made a drastic change

Read Ezra 10:3.

They gave up their wives and started over

A crazy price to pay; they showed their commitment to make a change and move away from sin

Sometimes, we need to make drastic changes too

Use Matt’s story (anonymously, of course) with the extra steps he took to avoid lust and temptation

I thought he was crazy! But it is actually in line with the teaching of Jesus

Cf. Matthew 5:27-30.

Clearly, we need to take repentance of sin seriously

Now, don’t get carried away with the talk of hell, because there is one more piece of this puzzle

Forgiveness of Sin

When we are convicted, confess and repent of our sin, we are FORGIVEN

Cf. 1 John 1:9.

The “he” is Jesus

In Jesus, we always have forgiveness

He cleanses us from all unrighteousness

Think about all the muck and grime that you were covered with after rec during all this rain… and how good it was to feel clean after a shower

In fact, that main point of this whole talk is not the conviction, confession and repentance

It is the forgiveness that it leads to

Which allows us to keep going; imperfect; but always right with God

Pray