Corporate Prayers of Confession
Praying with Confidence • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Ezra’s Prayer
Ezra’s Prayer
Throughout the Old Testament, we see numerous examples of prayers of confession; Job on behalf of his children, the priests at the start of every day for the nation, Solomon for the nation, Hezekiah for the nation, Elijah for the nation, Jeremiah for the nation, Daniel for the nation, Ezra for the Nation, Nehemiah for the nation, Amos for the nation and so on. These serve as examples of true repentance and of how we should confess our sin. The Today we are going to look to the example of Ezra for our lesson. Many Christians have not studied through his book or considered these prayers from a new covenant perspective. However, I aim to help change that with this short lesson.
There are no examples of corporate prayers of confession in the New Testament. Nor are corporate prayers of confession commanded anywhere in the scripture, though we do see them in the Bible. Whenever we see confession of sin in the Bible it always includes a change of mind. This is what repentance is, changing one’s mind from following selfish and sinful desires to follow honorable and godly desires. There are only two major and one minor example of corporate prayers of confession in the Bible. One major example is the passage we are looking at today from Ezra and the other is in the Book of Jonah when the King of Nineveh leads his people to repent, confessing their sin and turning to God for forgiveness. The minor example is found in the instructions for temple worship. The Jewish priests would begin each day by confessing their own sin and then confessing the sins of the nation.
For a similar but more modern example of a corporate prayer of confession we can look at Abraham Lincoln’s prayer of confession on behalf of the nation when he proclaimed the national day of prayer and fasting in 1863: “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness” (signed March 30, 1863)
Now for a little background information. Ezra was a scribe from the tribe of Levi at the end of the Jewish exile. He lead a group of Jews back to Israel from their exile in Babylon. Along with Nehemiah, God used Ezra to spark a great revival in the nation of Israel and bring the Jewish people back into obedience to the Torah (the Law of Moses). Most historians believe that Ezra instituted both the Jewish synagogue and the reading of the Torah every Sabbath evening which continues on to this day. Interestingly, many theologians believe Ezra is the author of several psalms including Psalm 119 (Thomas Nelson). He is also credited with compiling most of the books we see in the old testament into one collection. We will pick up in the middle of this revival and look at Ezra’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the Nation of Israel.
6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from 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.
9 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, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
15 O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
Ezra lead in sorrowful recognition of sin (v. 6-7).
God alone is perfect.
God is holy and the only thing that He cannot do is sin. God is far above us and our selfish ways. He is our judge. He neither sins nor does He enjoy that others sin. Just as the Theologian Matthew Henry said, “No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.”
The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary Holiness
[Now,] by the holiness of God, [we are not saying that God] is subject to some law or standard of moral excellence [outside] Himself, but that all moral law and perfection have their eternal and unchangeable basis in His own nature. [God] is the One in whom these eternal sanctities reside, who is Himself the root and ground of them all. In this sense it is said without qualification, “There is none holy like the Lord” (
Unconfessed sin separates us from God.
If we attempt to worship God while living in unconfessed sin He will not hear our worship. It does not matter if our worship is in prayer, praying with music (singing), reading His Word, or offering the things He has given to us back to him. If we have not changed our minds about our sin to think of it in the same way God does, He will not accept our worship. This is one reason why we must heed the Holy Spirit’s prompting and confess our sin as soon as we recognize our failures.
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Ezra showed a thankful reliance on God’s Grace (v. 8-9).
God is gracious toward His people. God enabled the Jews to return to the land of Zion. The only reason they were even given the land of Israel was because of God’s grace. We experience grace when God gives us what we don’t deserve. Ezra recognized that God was the only One Who gave them their land. He realized God was the only One Who protected them. Ezra had seen God’s grace as He kept His promises to Israel.
6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
God’s grace keeps us from sin.
The New Testament makes it clear that by the very same faith that we were saved, God keeps us from sin (Colossians). When we fully rely on the power of Christ and His finished work on the cross, He frees us from sin. There is nothing we can do to free ourselves from our bondage to sin or the guilt of our sin. All we can do, all we must do, is trust Christ.
Where faith is genuine, through the Holy Spirit’s power [grace], it works a cleansing from sin, a hatred of evil, an anxious desire after holiness and it leads the soul to aspire after the image of God. Faith and holiness are inseparable.
Railings, Volume 52, Sermon #2999 - Deuteronomy 22:8
Charles Spurgeon
Ezra expressed amazement at God’s mercy (v. 10-15).
God did not destroy the Jews.
The sins of the children of Israel were numerous, much like ours today. However, they were not altogether destroyed because of God’s love. He was merciful and allowed them the opportunity to repent and turn to Him. Because of God’s mercy we can see later in the book of Ezra that there is national repentance and revival. God allows us to continue to live after we sin because he is merciful and long-suffering toward us. He desires all men to repent because of this mercy.
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God is merciful to sinners.
There is no one who is as merciful as our Lord. It is only because of His mercy that any of us are alive today. He loves mankind more than anyone of us loves our dearest friends. It is because of His immense love for us that He gave Himself freely as the sacrifice for our sins. He alone is worthy of our praise because of the compassion He offers to us.
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Conclusion:
If you read the context you will see that the whole assembly was there with Ezra praying the prayer of confession with him. They had just finished reading through the Law and were deeply and utterly convicted because of their many sins. One important thing to note, like I mentioned earlier, is that true confession is a change of mind from one’s selfish desires to conform to godly desires. This confession of sin is what we see in the New Testament as well.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The Greek word that we translate as confess is ὁμολογέω. It is a compound word meaning to ‘say the same thing’. Therefore, true confession of sin is not only saying that you told a lie, but also agreeing with God and saying that you broke His command making you worthy of death. True confession requires you to feel the same way about your sin as God feels about your sin.
Now, some of you may have been to a church where they began their services with a corporate prayer of confession. In most fundamental Baptist churches I have been to in the west, we only seem to do corporate prayers of confession at communion. However, there is good reason to begin a Sunday morning service with a corporate prayer of confession. As we read earlier, God has made it clear that He will not accept worship from anyone who is living in unrepentant sin. Therefore, as a congregation we ought to be sure that we are keeping short accounts with God. When the Holy Spirit convicts us and we know we have sinned, we must confess and forsake it. A congregation is made up of individuals and God desires His people to be holy. We must confess and forsake our sins or else God will not accept our worship. The other reason is that it provides a time when you can teach directly to young believers showing them what confession of sin really is and explaining the assurance of pardon found only in Christ Jesus. There is some reason to be skeptical about doing corporate confessions like these though. Oftentimes people do it because it is just “the thing that we do” and not because they are seeking to keep short accounts with God. However, these dangers can be avoided by carefully teaching. If you explain that we are to be confessing our sins individually as soon as you realize you have sinned and possibly even giving a time for personal confession before you lead the congregation in a prayer of confession, you will avoid these errors.
In conclusion, there is much we can learn from Ezra’s prayer: Firstly, that God cannot abide sin in His presence. Secondly, that God offers us his power to keep us from sin when we trust Him. Thirdly, that God values sinners and provides mercy so that we can repent. We are never explicitly commanded to pray corporate prayers of confession, but there is value in them if done correctly because if we regard iniquity in our hearts God will not hear our prayers.
