Repentance of Sin: Desire to Please God

As we look deeper into this passage, what can seem like a difficult passage that's just commit this time to the Lord and ask for his help in understanding and also just applying it into our lives with great focus and clarity.

PRAYER:

INTRO

There wouldn't be too many books that finish on a heavier note than Ezra does here in Chapter 10, and during our bible readings this morning you might have thought to yourself “what exactly is going on here?” And in treating this passage, I would like to do it with the level of sensitivity that it deserves, esepcially in the topic of divorce.

This week I was reading some interesting statistics about marriages and divorce in America and through an article on Ligonier Ministries, an RC Sproul. Harvard sociologist Petrum Sorokin did a study. And that study details the exponential rate in which divorce. Has increased in America over the past century. In the year 1910, the divorce rate was 10%. By the time it got to 1950, the divorce rate had already increased to 25%. What was staggering was in 2006, when this article was written, the divorce rate in America was well and truly over 50%, meaning half of the marriage or more than half of the marriage unions had ended up in separation. Australia’s statistics isn’t as clear but according to the ABS, in 2019, 113,815 marriages were registered and 49,116 divorces were granted in Australia.

Divorce in marriages has become a social norm. Statistically speaking in the US, there is a higher chance that a marriage will end in divorce than not. This is quite alarming and it is even more concerning once we realise why a lot of these marriages end up breaking down whether it is from in reconcilable differences or just from incompatibility.

A study shows in Australia that 71% of divorces are as a results of communicaiton problems, Losing connection, and trust issues.

Is this just a secular problem? R. C Sproul said something very alarming,

“The big problem in our day is people, even in the church, who get divorced over every reason in the world other than the ones the Bible allows.”

So in case there are any misunderstandings about the events of Ezra 10 — that it is a chapter that speaks on the matter of divorce that is contradicting to the teaching of the rest of the bible; that we can have a more liberal approach; that Christians are free to no-fault divorces— we want to treat this passage carefully and clearly so that we are able to focus and deal with the root problem, and find a greater hope.

THE PROBLEM IS SIN

So from the outset. I want to make it abundantly clear that Ezra Chapter 10 isn't so much about divorce (in isolation) than it is about sin. And what is at stake is worship of God shortly after God had redeemed His people and brought them back from exile. And there are a couple of issues — perhaps the questions you were asking in the reading of this passage — I would like to tackle first.

In the first issue is a matter of application and whether this chapter validates divorces. Now it is important that we view this chapter in light of the whole Bible and the bible clear teaches that divorces are against the will of God. Jesus, in fact faced this very question when the Pharisees came to test him by asking is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason or cause? And this is what he says:

Matthew 19:4–9 ESV

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians Chapter 7

1 Corinthians 7:10–11 ESV

To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

… And he extends that Charge in the context of having an unbelieving spouse, but that is not a grounds for divorce.

And we come back to the Old Testament when Malachi in Chapter 2 says, “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.”

Malachi 2:15b–16 ESV

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

So the Bible's teaching is clear. And this passage in isolation does not validate divorce and we should not use it as a means to Justify or reason For the affirmative of separation and leaving of your spouse.

So then, we can ask if the remedy was correct?

To help us with this issue, I think the commentator Charles Fensham is the most helpful here when he says:

Foreign women were married contrary to the law of God. The marriages were illegal from the outset. The sending away of the women is to guard the exiles against the continuation of an illegal act. With their foreign wives they lived in sin.

Now, to give a clearer picture as to what sort of marriage this would look like today, or what it compares to the marriages of today, it compares to having multiple wives where if you if you are married to a woman. And you're married to a second woman. That second marriage is illegitimate, and it is only right for you to divorce or separate from that wife. Or you could compare. This situation to the marriage of a close relative, whether it is a sibling close cousin, whether it's. A marriage to your father's wife as we see in First Corinthians Chapter 5 where a man had sexual relations with his father's wife and even to the pagans knew that was wrong. It would be once again correct that you would separate or divorce from that illegal marriage.

So from the outset, these marriages were not legitimate. We also need to remember that we are governed by civil law today. But in Ezra’s time they were governed and ruled by God, and more specifically, by the Laws of Moses. And according to the Law of Moses, they were living in since they were living in direct opposition and disobedience to God, and from the peoples reaction they knew that this was the case. Then they knew that they were disobeying God and this was the core issue.

So the focus here is not the divorce of legitiamte marriages: whether it is permissable to divorce for any reasons. But in light of the illegal marriages, the issue was sin and see how Ezra reacts to it and consequently Israel’s reaction to their sins as well.

URGENT ACTION AGAINST SIN

And how troubled was his soul as he came before the Lord with the heaviest of hearts (Ezra 10:1-6):

While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. [ His reaction was so strong it will still uncharacteristic his his grief and so profound that it was infectious to the rest of Israel] 2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 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 of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. 4 Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.” 5 Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.

And there are three vital lessons for us to learn.

The first is that sin must be recognised As soon as Ezra arrived back into Jerusalem and heard the officials report about the dealings of people in the land, immediately he knew the gravity of the situation as we read last week, Ezra was appalled because of the faithlessness of the return excels—the extent of the faithlessness is reiterated today

Ezra 10:12–13 ESV

Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

— and he approaches God in such shame and guilt. And friends, we must be quick to recognise sin as well. I think you have heard me say multiple times that the greatest lesson that I learned when I got married was just how great of a Sinner I am. But what I realise is that I am so slow to recognise my wrong-doings and to recognise my sin. Even when my wife keeps me accountable, a lot of the time, I don’t listen and don’t accept the things she says. But just as Ezra was able to recognise the sins of his people and nation, we too must also be able to recognise sin.

The second lesson we ought to learn is that sin must grieve us Perhaps we can sit here and say that Israel in the chapters nine and ten was being a bit overdramatic. We can say that he was overreacting being a bit over the top— a bit like a soccer play rolling over the ground 5 times as if he was hit by the truck. No, this was real emotion; real heartbreak and dismay that God’s people not long after they had returned from their exile— punishment for sin.

Derek Thomas says,

He was moved to tears by the offense of sin in the eyes of the Lord. His conscience had been made tender by the Word of God. The fact that others joined him—men, women, and children—was not evidence of mass hysteria, though this phenomenon can be genuine and Christians should be sensitive to it; rather, it was evidence of a genuine work of God, convicting the people of God of wrongdoing.

Along with being slow to recognise our sins, perhaps we are also slow in reacting to it. We are sort of nonchalant about it and convince ourselves “ahh, it isn’t too bad.”

What is our honest rection towards sins? Perhaps we have been conditioned so that we don't show emotion that it's all in our head that we just know the scriptures. And I know that a lot of the times it can be frowned upon when you cry when you pray or when you cry or show any bit of emotion when you sing worship songs. And perhaps there is a point when there is over exuberance of the emotion Without any knowledge of why they are emotional in the first place. But does seen grievous. Does it break our heart that we are in direct disobedience to God? Does it grieve us when we attack God and his character?

And after we recognise sin. And after we grieve because of our sin, there's nothing left. But to deal with our sin. Adrian Reynolds concisely says that "we must view sin soberly and deal with it ruthlessly”. Sin must not be left unchecked.

Ezra 10:10–11 ESV

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. Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”

CORPORATE IMPACT OF INDIVIDUAL SIN

The impact of sin doesn't just end with the individual. We see that the impact of individual sin can have a corporate impact that it can affect the wider community and the church.

We see this several times in Scripture. We just saw an example before when Cain murdered his own brother. The early church saw the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira because their deception In regard to the tides and offerings which threatened the life of the church. And similarly in the Old Testament, in the Book of Joshua, we read of Achan Who secretly stole silver and gold that was to be dedicated to the Lord for himself. And there is also the case of the man in First Corinthians Chapter 5, who is in relationship with his father's wife, and Paul urges the church to deal with the sin appropriately. Even going to the case of excommunication because of the threat of the life of the church.

In this case in Ezra 10, Derek Thomas say,

“The smallness of the community in its postexilic form meant that this issue had consequences for the entire community in ways that threatened its very survival. The proposal that Ezra enforced and the community covenanted to was not fully successful, as we will see. Nehemiah will have to deal with the issue all over again”

And because the sins of an individual had corporate impact, the issure needed to be dealt with corportately as well. And this is the heart of Shecaniah when he says, “We have broken faith with our God”. He himself was not recognised as one of those who had transgressed, so by him saying, “we” he is identifying find himself with the sins of those who have trangressed. And we see that most of the nation is actually in agreement. And a unified in dealing with this sin together. Apart from the few that were written in Ezra 10:15.

So friends, how we as a community how we as a church? In dealing with sin together. How we in confessing our own sins? And how are we in praying for others who are dealing with their sin? Is there care for others who are living in sin at the moment?

When I was at MST for short period of time the men in the college had accountability groups where we dealt with pornography and sexual purity. For many, it was a great help and it was a place where you can be honest and tackle the rise of sexual immorality, especially in the hidden places. It was a place of prayer not judgement. It was a place where we could empathise but not leave another in continuation of the sin, encouraging each other to come to repentance and looked at ways we can not repeat.

Because we know friends, don't we? Falling into this double identity is easier than what we think. You're falling into having this deviant sex-life and other indulgences and other sins is easier than what we think. (Don’t have to mention the recent pastors and aplogists because they have been spoken about enough). But sin is serious and everyone is vulnerable including pastors, elders, and leaders.

And we just have to look at the list of names at the end of chapter 10. Even if we don’t take too much notice of the names at all, those guilty of trangression cover people at every level: priest, Levites, singers, gatekeepers. Those who were serving at the temple— perhaps in our church context it would be talking about elders, leaders, managers, worship team members, board members were guilty of this particiular transgression.

So won’t watch out for our fellow brothers and sisters? Is it not time that we recognise that this isn't a case of “it’s just your life. You deal with it.” But case of “Hey, let's call Spade a Spade. Miss call sin sin. If you keep going down this path, you are going to put yourself in tremendously dangerous territory. Let's tackle it together. Because you know what, I'm struggling with sins too. Let's come before God together in prayer. Let's repent before God together in prayer. Let's confess our sins. Let's trust in Jesus. He is our victory.”

DISOBEY SIN, OBEY GOD

And isn’t he our victory for he has dealt with our sin on the cross!

And what we realise as we see Israel once again come to repentance is that they were able to do so because of the redemption they had received from God. It was God who alway had a plan from the punishment that sent them into exile to when they would return. But looking further, God had a plan from the beginning so that The Fall would not come as a surprise— something that needed to be dealt with on the fly— but perfectly set our the path of our redeemer who would once and for all deal with the sins of humanity (2 Cor 5:14-15).

English Standard Version Chapter 5

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Paul Tripp says,

“It is important to understand that the shame and guilt were not just psychological or emotional experiences; they were real, and they had to be dealt with. Dealing with our guilt and shame is what the whole Bible is about. It is about redemption, that is, the paying of a debt of guilt and shame that needed to be paid. That payment was made on the cross. Jesus took our shame, hanging in public, numbered with the criminals. He took our guilt by taking our sin on himself and paying the price for it—death.

And so won’t we come to find joy in obeying God. Find joy not living for ourselves, but living for him who for our sake has died and rose again. Because even though we have greived God, what he has shown throughout Ezra is that he is sovereign and good. He never abandoned his people. But worked his purposes which was ultimately finished and completed with Jesus.