Light Shining in the Darkness: Exposing Sin

1. The crooked way is revealed 1-2

God’s Word has its effect

We ended Chapter 8 with the second wave of returnees arriving in the 5th month (august) in 458 BC with Ezra the priest and Scribe set out to set some order to Jerusalem. He had been instructed by Artaxerxes to set up magistrates and judges and to teach the law of God to the people who did not know it.

Ezra 7:25

Ezra 7:25 ESV

25 “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach.

Wouldn’t you know it that Ezra’s preaching ministry had its effect on the returned exiles so much so that local leaders came to Ezra and revealed a big spiritual problem among exiles to their leader Ezra.. Notice that from the fifth month to the ninth month, Ezra was faithful to declare the law of God to the people and the result was that sin was exposed among the people.

How is sin exposed?

The word of God is declared and it comes in conflict with the spirit of the man/woman. It does a supernatural work within a person so that it brings about conviction of sin and that conviction of sin comes from the exposure of understanding of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.

Look with me for a moment Hebrews

The writer of Hebrews has been looking at Jesus in the first three chapters of Hebrews, as the one who is preeminent, better than all else: angels, Moses and all the OT shadows.

Hebrews 3:5–6 ESV

5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Skipping down to verse 12 of chapter 3 of Hebrews, the writer warns the readers to be careful to not fall into unbelief like Israel who heard the word of God and who were given the promises but who rejected it in unbelief.

Hebrews 3:16–18 ESV

16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

Hebrews 4:11–12 ESV

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Now the rest that is being spoken of here is the rest that is found in Jesus. Eternal rest, rest that was promised to Israel pointing to the promised land and beyond to Jesus who gives spiritual prosperity in Him. The point of the writer, is that those who rejected the word of God did not attain the promised land just, because they were hardened by sin and they rejected the word of God that was declared to them. But those who believe in Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, or the incarnate word, will find rest in him.

This leads us the well known, verse 12 about Jesus, the living word and the written word, which is the revelation about him that brings about spiritual change in us. Some of Israel, not all, but some of Israel serve as an example of the lack of spiritual faith in God’s promises. Therefore, the contrast is set up for us to see how spiritual change occurs by the word of God.

The word of God exposes sin Life is given by the life giver, who is Jesus. Therefore his words give life. They actually replace life where only deadness existed. Ephesians 2 tell us that all humanity suffers from spiritual deadness but God makes us alive by the power of Jesus Christ. This called regeneration.

John 1:1-4

John 1:1–4 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:9-14

John 1:9–14 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In the process of regeneration and throughout the sanctification of the believer, that living word is said to “(pierce) to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

This shows us that the word of God penetrates within us and by God’s mercy is reveals the sin of our hearts, including both the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. What is challenging to every person who has understanding of these verses, is that well before your acts are judged by God’s word, your sinful thoughts and your hears desires are exposed. This means that the myriad of sinful thoughts and intentions of your heart continually bring a guiltiness before God.

Spurgeon writes,

Hebrews (Exposition)

The Word of God is so sharp a thing, so full of cutting power, that you may be bleeding under its wounds before you have seriously suspected the possibility of such a thing. You cannot come near the gospel without its having a measure of influence over you; and, God blessing you, it may cut down and kill your sins when you have no idea that such a work is being done.

Yes, when Christ comes, He comes not to send peace on the earth, but a sword; and that sword begins at home, in our own souls, killing, cutting, hacking, breaking in pieces. Blessed is that man who knows the Word of the Lord by its exceeding sharpness, for it kills nothing but that which ought to be killed. It quickens and gives new life to all that is of God- Charles Spurgeon

What makes those actions and thoughts sinful?

The word of God exposes sin in light of God’s sovereignty and holiness

God’s word defines sin as that which is in contrast to his holiness and his standards for his creatures. Although the term sin is not used in Gen 3, we know that the what occured in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve is considered rebellion against God and is therefore sin. Sin is all rebellion against God’s kingly rule over all he has made.

Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ (Chapter 1: The Origin of Sin)

The point of the “fall” narrative in Genesis is to point to the human desire for autonomy from God. To “know good and evil” is to become the determiner of good and evil; it is to decide for oneself what is right and wrong and not submit to any external law. In short, to seek the knowledge of good and evil is to desire emancipation from God; it is to want to be “like God.” -Herman Bavinck

There are many Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as sin in the Bible. A few of them are translated as twisted, crooked or perverse in regards to sin.

I have this strange attraction to sports related injury. It is immediately painful to watch the bone on a running backs leg snap, causing him to buckle from the weight and fall to the ground and as you watch it, no one can say “ that is normal movement of the leg bone.” Everyone knows that something is wrong. This week Seahawks QB Russell Wilson had his middle finger dislocated. It was bent all crooked, sideways actually, and the commentating crew immediately notice the twisted finger as he tries to straighten it up.

The standard of medical science states, bones look like this and x-rays of these injuries are compared to the normal function of bones and ligaments and that standard proves something is twisted, perverted.

In other words, sin is any thought and action taken by a human being that twists what God desires or is crooked from straight path laid before us. Therefore sin is an attack against God’s sovereign rule over all creation. Adam and Eve rebelled against that authority and so do we all.

Also, sin is a failure to comply with God’s moral law. The first Hebrew word translated as sin is CHATHA and it means to miss the mark. The Greek equivalent of that word is HARMATIA. The idea implies a standard of God that rests in his perfections, righteousness and holiness. He is our standard and we miss the mark to living up to that standard. His word that gives guidance for our lives actually is for our good, and when we sin, not only do we offend God’s commands but we engage in sinfulness that corrupts and destroys our lives. Sin therefore leads the human being to not only to miss the mark of God’s standard of living but it also leads all humanity of God’s blessing and best for our lives.

God’s word exposing sin through Ezra

Now back to Ezra 9, as Ezra ministered the word of God to the people who returned to Israel, God’s standard of morality written in the law of Moses was set before them as His righteous requirement for living as exiles or freemen. As God’s word was delivered, the glaring conflict was apparent as staring directly into the sun. According to some of the leaders of the Jews, the exiles who had returned initially with Zerubabbel, had settled in and disregarded what God’s law had taught Israel for hundreds of years.

Deut 7:1-6

Deuteronomy 7:1–6 ESV

1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. 6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Psalm 106:34–39 ESV

34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, 35 but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. 36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; 38 they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. 39 Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.

You can see that God’s people were called to only marry those from Israel, not because of prejudice, but because of the striving for holiness. These other cultures worshipped false gods and the warning from the Lord was that marrying women from other nations, invited the idolatry into your own lives, which was an abomination against God.

Ezra’s preaching exposed that sin and sadly, that sin trickled down from the leadership to the people. Notice the words used in verse 2,

Ezra 9:2 (ESV)

2...so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. ”

It is not called the holy seed because these people were born into the world without sin. Instead, they are holy because God had chosen them as his people to be a holy nation among the godless people of humanity. He would guide them to holiness according to faith in Him.

His command to avoid intermarrying foreign peoples was solely about his glory as the One True God. He knew human nature would lead his people to worship false gods if they fell in love with people who were worshipping false gods.

This is why the believer in Jesus Christ is called not to be unequally yoked in 2 Cor 6:14

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

God is against two people from different ethnicities falling in love and getting married. What he is concerned about is a believer in Jesus Christ uniting themselves in marriage and intimacy with a person who does not truly believe in Christ as the only true way to salvation. I have watched countless friends through the years get married to unbelievers and those who talked religious game but were not truly regenerate. Not only is that disobedience to the commands of God, but as Paul states in 2 Cor. what fellowship does light and darkness truly have together? There is such a difference in worldview and believe, it is dishonoring and impractical.

Verse 3 states that ruling men, the elders among the Jews were some of the very ones guilty of this as well as men throughout the remnant who returned. This just shows how sin that is apparent in the leadership will be a stumbling block to those who are being led. The high standard of leadership is set forth in God’s word for God’s leaders not only because the office of priest and not shepherd is a reflection of God’s leadership in their lives, but it has the potential to lead people towards Christ or is can be a huge stumbling block to their faith. Sadly, it doesn’t appear that these leaders themselves were the ones to initially repent of the sin, but instead, their co-workers came to Ezra to expose them.

In the end, we understand that sin will not go unnoticed, in secret, or covered up. God’s omnipresence and omniscience allows him to see all the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and he will hold us accountable for these grave offenses against his name and his holiness.

The consequences of exposed sin

Ezra 9:15 “15 O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.””

We will look at more of this section of Scripture next week, but Ezra’s words here bring this section to a close very well. Ezra acknowledges that at the end of the day, God’s wrath against sin is to be feared. God is a just God and therefore He must fairly and completely punish all sin. He cannot let sin go unpunished.

ps 90:7-9

Psalm 90:7–9 ESV

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

Mankind should not fear a global war, a massive meteor hitting the earth, or the effect of climate change that will freeze the earth like a Popsicle. Those things might happen but they will only kill the body. What mankind should truly fear is the wrath of God against our sin. Once we die, we will still endure an eternity in one of two places…eternity with God’s presence, filled with satisfaction in him, or an eternity of suffering for the crooked rebellion that we have committed against his holy name.

Where will you spend your eternity?

If you are relying on yourself to escape the wrath of God, you will quickly learn that your efforts are as futile as removing individuals grains of sand with a pair of tweezers until all the beaches are gone. Its impossible! God will judge all people according to the deeds they have committed against Him.

But there is another option. Jesus! Jesus, the only Son of God came into this world and he lived a perfect life. He did this because He is God and only he is able to obey the law of God in every way. So every moment of his life, he obeyed the Father, he shunned sin and he lived perfectly in an imperfect world. He is sinless and therefore when he submitted his life as as sacrifice for sinners, he was a worthy, sinless sacrifice offered up to God.

Friend, I hope this message encourages you because Jesus lived an obedient life and died for sinners. He wasn’t dying for his own sin, but the sins of sinners like you and me. Because God could not let sin go unpunished, when Jesus died, he took the full weight of God’s wrath for sinners. Again, because He is the divine Son of God, he could bear such an unimaginable weight. He suffered for sinners and he died and was buried.

But on the third day after being his lifeless body was put in the grave, He walked out of the grave alive and restored because death could not keep him in. Jesus rose, defeating the power of death and sin, and all those who trust in Him will also be made alive spiritually and they will escape the wrath of God.

2. The crooked way is repulsive 3-5

Let me conclude this sermon with Ezra’s initial response to the sin of his brethren. Ezra is not guilty of this sin, because he was not guilty before God for marrying foreign women, but he is disgusted by it. Twice in verse 3-5, the emotional response from Ezra after discovering the sin of the people is DIGUST. The HEB word used is SAMMA and it is often used to describe the physical desolation after the judgment of God. When God laid waste to his enemies, what remains is SAMMA. But the word is also used to the reaction of God’s judgment against sin …the horror of the sin against God that will incur his judgment. We might say that murdering children is horrific not only for the loss of precious life but for the consequences that occur.

Ezra is horrified at the sin of his brethren who once again fall into idolatry in their interactions with foreign peoples. He is so repulsed he mourns over their sin. This is a sign of a good leader for their sin does have ramifications of his leadership. He is not accountable before God because they sinned, but He loves these people and his disgust is a disgust with the disgracing of God’s name and the judgment that will come from this treason. All leaders bear some weight of sadness in their minds for the failures of their people. Its just part of leadership over people and the love that Ezra has for those under him.

Ezra mourns in typical ways as many Jews did: tearing his clothes, ripping out his beard, and fasting in grief. It says he sat until evening sacrifice, which would have been around 3pm so he sat overwhelmed with grief over sin for close to an entire day, and was even accompanied by others, who had not committed the similar sin, but were equally stricken with grief. Verse 5 ends with Ezra doing the only thing someone in his position can do…pray. We will look at this amazing prayer next week, but I want to ask you this one question as I close…are you disgusted with sin like this?

We should be disgusted with sin like Ezra and we are not because we often times become calloused by the world and our flesh. The more we step close to the electric fence of sin and get shocked, the less the electricity hurts each time moving forward until we are able to walk through it with pain. The more we injest the sinfulness of this world, the sicker we become. We must turn away from sin and we must detest all sin! For the sake of God’s name, we cannot be lethargic re: sin but we must be detesters of all sin because it dishonors our God. Because of God’s holiness, his goodness and his glory, that he has lavished upon us in Jesus Christ, let us live in such a way that as sin is exposed, we hate it and if its our sin, we repent of it and we place our trust in the only way of escape Jesus Christ.

Ps 130:3-4

Psalm 130:3–4 ESV

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.