God's Grace Runs Deeper

Revelation

Ezra 9:4-15

1. Guilt & Repentance - 9:4-5

The Weight of God Points Us To Repentance

First let’s cover repentance ..

So the thing is, repentance in our culture has become a rather nasty word.

It invokes images of a street preacher spitting on everyone that walks by that they must repent of burn

And as hyperbolic and stereotypical as that is, even biblical examples of calls to repentance have become tainted and blurred in our culture

Because we have that in our mind, OR

We have the image of an altar call, where someone comes down to “repent” of their sin, and you see them the next day, doing the same thing they “repented for”

And again the following Sunday, they are back down in front “repenting” and the cycle goes on and on

Is this repentance? Are these the things we see in the Scriptures? Is it one of these 2 things that God calls us to?

No Biblical repentance, is a brokenness, a grieving over sin as a result of the weight and conviction of God that produces a change in direction

Simply put, it is a godly grief that produces a change

A change whether in attitude, emotion, thought, speech, and direction

Is that not what we are seeing in this text?

Seriously, look at what Ezra is saying and doing here and ask yourself

Is this being done only for this moment so that Israel can go back and do it again?

Or is this not a brokenness over sin that is to produce a change in their actions

But the real question is what is it that produces a biblical repentance

Because again here we can be mistaken through our culture and experiences

It is the conviction of God, the weight of God that brings repentance

You might be asking me, Cody what do you mean the weight of God?

Listen, there is this concept we see in the Scriptures, of God bearing weight upon His people in order to bring them to repentance

If I may, can I just walk through some Scriptures quick to prove this?

Lamentations 1:13-14

Lamentations 1:13–14 CSB

13 He sent fire from on high into my bones; he made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long. 14 My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by his hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.

Psalm 88:1-7

Psalm 88:1–7 CSB

1 Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night. 2 May my prayer reach your presence; listen to my cry. 3 For I have had enough troubles, and my life is near Sheol. 4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit. I am like a man without strength, 5 abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care. 6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths. 7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah

Psalm 38:1-2, 18, 21-22

Psalm 38:1–2 CSB

1 Lord, do not punish me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has pressed down on me.

Psalm 38:18 CSB

18 So I confess my iniquity; I am anxious because of my sin.

Psalm 38:21–22 CSB

21 Lord, do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me. 22 Hurry to help me, my Lord, my salvation.

This, this is the weight of God

Now our misconception is as a result of things that we may have thought were repentance because there was great lighting (not like this),

and there was this amazing band who sold a bunch of worship albums and toured around the world (Gary have you sold a bunch of worship albums and toured around the world)

And as the Pastor was ending the piano player was still up and the mood was just right and WAM! Repentance!

Let me put it this way.

I’m not saying repentance cannot happen like that.

But here is a good way to measure that and to see if your definition lines up with God’s Word

If that is your experience with repentance,

And you can even remember clear moments where you could tell someone the exact song that was playing etc.

Can you name me a time where you experienced that sort of repentance in broad daylight with no emotion music in the background

Can you name me a time when there was no extra things

And you came to the same realization that Ezra does

The same devastation that caused him to mourn and tear his garments

When there was nothing else that added to that

The reason this is the test I would give, is because there are emotional moments of music and realization that happen all the time

To people who aren’t followers of Jesus who just went to a great concert or orchestra

Right? I’ve known people to be in worship services where the music was so beautifully played and sung it brought tears to their eyes

and yet they left the building remaining an atheist

Was that repentance? Was that the weight of God or was it just good music?

You might be thinking I’m taking this too far but when we view repentance and the weight of God in that manner

When a Pastor comes up and preaches from the Scriptures and calls a people to repentance

And their is no music

And there is not mood lighting

We just don’t even take that thought seriously

Yet we see from Ezra, that he comes to a recognition of the sin of the people,

And he is driven from that to the grief over it that will produce a change in attitude and direction (as we will see later on)

The Weight of God Points Us To Repentance

2. Shame & Grace - 9:6-9

The Nature of God Points Us To Grace

Now, after reading this you might be thinking, Cody I don’t see this nature of God pointing to grace thing

But check this out

Out of this godly grief that Ezra is in,

He is manifesting it out loud in his speech

Calling out saying God our sin is higher than our heads, - v. 6

Our guilt is as high as the heavens - v. 6

As a result of our guilt we were handed over - v. 7

But there is this turning point in vs. 8-9

Ezra 9:8-9

Ezra 9:8–9 CSB

8 But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the Lord our God to preserve a remnant for us and give us a stake in his holy place. Even in our slavery, God has given us a little relief and light to our eyes. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us relief, so that we can rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

In spite of the sin of the people, the same sin that led them into exile, being done yet again

In spite of that,

For this brief moment, Grace has been extended

relief has come

light has been given to our eyes

When I say relief has come, you might think, but didn’t you talk about the weight of God

Listen the weight of God to turn us to repentance is far lighter and for more loving and gentle,

Than the weight and ruthlessness that sin bears down on us with

Sin bears down its weight and enslaves us to it

Yet God bears down weight like a loving Father to take that weight from us

“But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve...”

Where God’s Weight brings us to repentance

The Nature of God points us to the grace He extends to us

The grace that sustains us, the grace that preserves us

For it is by grace that we are saved through faith - Ephesians 2:8

This grace, just as Ezra says, is extended to us, this grace is a gift Ephesians 2:8-9

3. Discipline & Mercy - 9:10-15

The Presence of God Points Us To Mercy

The prophet goes on, to as this rhetorical question

“What can we say in light of this?”

Recognizing that Israel, cannot speak

He says, “well we can’t speak to any of this as we are not guiltless, we have broken everything you said not to”

We didn’t separate ourselves - v. 11

We gave ourselves over to the people of the land - v.12

And it has brought us this terrible guilt - v. 13

And even this punishment from God

How are we to find hope in a passage like this

Well, aside from the grace previously mentioned

There is a last thing for us to understand

It is as we just said, the presence of God points us to mercy

Where do we see that

It is best illustrated if I jump over quickly to Hebrews and return back to a couple verses

Hebrews 12:7-13

Hebrews 12:7–13 CSB

7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.

It is this that we are seeing in Ezra

This discipline that God is bearing on His people and it is hard,

This weight He is bearing down seems heavy

And yet, these things, are confirmations of mercy

How?

“though you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have allowed us to survive...”

“Here we are before you with our guilt, though no one can stand in your presence because of this”

And yet....here we are.

Because you are seeing this confirmation of mercy as a result of relationship

To be found in God

To be hidden in Christ, is to be declared, a son of God

And don’t worry ladies, we are all called sons of God and yet, the bride of Christ

But it is this idea of sonship or being a child of God

To be brought into the household of God because of faith

This is what happens, because God then, no longer deals with our sins in the same way

Because as a follower of Jesus, He has dealt with our sin in the way of the Cross so that, in our stumbling, and in our falling, He might not deal with it like those no in Christ

That yes we might receive discipline but never wrath.

And if you are here today, and you have not met this mercy.

Turn from sin, yest that is repent

Come to the godly brokenness of your sin and let that bring you to change and follow Jesus

As surely as the grace being offered here reached Ezra and the people

Surely as the relief was given

Surely as the presence remained

Surely you yourself can come to this deep well of God’s grace

And surely you will find it, inexhaustible

And sufficient to bring you out of bondage of sin and into relationship with Him who loves you and gave His Son on your behalf