2006-09-17 - A hard Choice - Ezra 9
Message: A Hard Choice Newport Baptist Church
Scr: Ezra 9 Date: 2006-09-17
Intro: Richmond Church - sanctuary - facilities sit on a prominent corner on the south side of Richmond, Va. the main sanctuary has a circular vestibule with white columns, a marble floor and a brass chandelier. On either side, white-columned porticoes lead to gracefully proportioned educational and gymnasium wings. 750 people! decline through 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's - community changed around them…
Explanation – -Ill - frog in the kettle - changes happen slow and doesn't notice.
Look at advice from Richmond church to our church.
Asked what advice they might have for other churches, the strategy
committee responded, nearly in unison: "Change."
- The church that does not change is destined to die.
- Some of those changes are very hard!
- Core values – what matters to us most?
- Imagine how Ezra felt – cleaning house hurts
Last week – work at hand - return to the land he promised us, rebuild his church, resist the devil and resume the work which he has given.
TS – Challenge in these things – Ezra met it head on… need hearts of repentance, spirit of willingness to address difficult issues and to deal with them.
Backup a moment – ask some key questions
1) Who was Ezra?
a) ILL – The easy way or the hard way – old boss – old equipment!
b) Ezra was a priest. (Ezra 7:1-5)
c) Ezra was in Babylon during the exile. (Ezra 7:6)
d) Ezra was returning to Jerusalem with the king’s blessings. (Ezra 7:12-26)
2) What was the state of Judah and Jerusalem?
a) ILL – Dolf and I rearranging our room to clean it – big mess when do!
b) The altar was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. (Ezra 3:1-6)
c) The temple was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. (Ezra 3:7-13)
d) The people were falling into disobedience. (Ezra 9:1-2)
i) Problem – law prohibited marrying women of foreign nations
ii) Reason – always brought idolatry
iii) Today – 6:14 Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in themand will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Co 6:14-16. (NET Bible)
3) Ezra prays for the state of Israel.
a) Ill – prayer from last week of Joe Wright? Are we willing to confess?
b) Ezra recognized how far Israel had fallen. (Ezra 9:6-7)
c) Ezra recognized God’s grace to Israel. (Ezra 9:8-12)
d) Ezra recognized the need for repentance. (Ezra 9:13-15)
4) How do we apply this today?
a) Ezra, Judah, Jerusalem, marriage, sin… what difference to me?
b) We need to see how far away we have fallen.
i) Read Romans 1:18-32
c) We need to remember God’s grace.
i) Romans 5:8 – But lGod demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NKJV)
ii) 2 Chron 7:12 – “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
d) We need to express our repentance.
i) More than feel sorry - Turn and go the other way – genuine repentance.
ii) 2 Cor 7:8-10 - 8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it — for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while — I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything 1through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (NASB)
e) We need to recommit ourselves to follow God’s commands.
i) Matthew 22:37-40. – MSG - Jesus said, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Conclusion – Key Verse and Theme: “What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this.” (Ezra 9:13)
Guess what those people did. Something almost unthinkable for us, and yet what was absolutely necessary. The sent away their foreign wives and children.
Chp 10:4 – people said to Ezra – “Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.”
God has left a remnant. He always does according to scripture. Like Ezra in the OT, Jesus in the NT has challenged us, his people, to live lives holy and pleasing to God.
Don’t be a frog in the kettle! CHANGE – Richmond Church
Prayer – Corporate prayer – circle around the sanctuary – confession of sin and request blessing of God as we repent and turn to him
Issues – change, tradition, selfishness, hurts, offence to others, SIN!