The People Confess Their Sins

At the end of Daniel’s life, the time of exile was over. The Israelites spent seventy years exiled from their own Promised Land and were captives of the Babylonian empire. The book of Ezra shows the people’s release from captivity and the end of the exile.

The release didn’t happen all at once. The people were released in waves over time to rebuild and eventually reinhabit Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. The prophet Ezra led the second wave of Israelites.

After being released and given blessing by King Cyrus to return and rebuild, the first wave of Jews returned to Jersualem where they rebuilt the temple that was destroyed. Everything started off right. Many people were moved to relocate and rebuild. Those who left were offering sacrifices to the Lord and they were practicing the feasts as commanded in God’s Word. Even when the foundation of the temple was laid, the people couldn’t help but rejoice (3:11).

There was some opposition. Chapter 4 documents the Samaritans writing to the king, who is now Artaxerxes, with complaints about the Jews rebuilding the temple and made claims that Jerusalem was a rebellious city. For a time the king listened to those who inhabited Samaria and the building of the temple was halted. But God, in His sovereignty, worked through the kingdom officials and they decided to allow the building of the temple until they heard again written word from the King that it should stop. When the ancient records were read once again, it was seen that indeed, the King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return and to specifically rebuild the temple. God preserved His people all throughout this opposition and saw their efforts come to fruition.

Imagine a people who relied on God so well that they continued the work the Lord tasked them, and trusted God to protect and provide for them during that whole thing. Church, I believe we are at a transition point in our history. I believe we are at a point of transition, and even though we look around and not much is different, I can tell you that God ordained, before any of us were ever conceived, that we would all be gathering at this moment and in this place. God has always planned that we will be worshipping together. Going forward, we need to be a people who rely solely upon the Lord. We need to practice our faith as He would have us practice. When people from without or within come to oppose God’s Word, we stand up for God’s Word and we continue doing what we are doing anyway. I want and ask all of you to be with me in this way.

When Ezra came on the scene with the second wave of Israelites, he came upon a scene in which the people hadn’t been completely integral. They broke God’s laws about marrying women outside of Israel, and they had not offered repented or asked forgiveness. This is where our passage picks up today. Let’s read Ezra 10:1-5

Ezra 10:1-5

10 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. 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.

Church, are there unconfessed sins among us? When was the last time you have come before the Lord and confessed your sins? When was the last time that you sinned and repented?

If we are going to be a group of people who grow and expand, then confession and repentance are a couple of things we need to do.

What’s the difference between confession and repentance?

Confession is the act of admitting your sin. You admit your sin in prayer to God, because he’s the one who all sin is against. And you also confess your sin to the person you have offended with your sin, if anyone. Additionally, I have found it helpful to have an accountability partner who I can be upfront and honest with about my sin, especially in confessing those sins that one would normally be embarrassed or particularly ashamed of.

Repentance includes confession. It’s the first step in confession. But then to actually repent, you must make concerted efforts to not sin again. It’s confession followed by it’s logical action of not doing that sin in the future.

Being realistic about sin and repentance, because we are people impacted by the fall, we are going to regularly be confessing and repenting of our sins to God. The church, operating as the bride of Christ, is supposed to also be able to confess our sins to one another. I think the Roman Catholics have it wrong in a lot of ways, but one thing I admire about their practice is the ability to come before another and confess their sins. Now, you don’t have to use the pastor as your tool of confession. And it isn’t the pastor who forgives your sin on behalf of God. But the act of verbally confessing sin to one another is freeing and relieving. I want for our church to get to a point where we follow the teachings of Jesus so well that we can confess to one another and do so with the assurance of love and forgiveness on all ends. Because folks we all sin, and at some point we probably all sin against one another.

But we don’t to stop at confessing. Confessing is not good enough. We need to turn away from our sin completely. We can think, “Oh I will confess and ask God for forgiveness” but then later plan to not repent and actually keep up those same practices.

What do we repent of?

James 4:17 “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Repentance is necessary because of God’s laws. God’s laws exist because people are evil. People are evil because of the choices they make coupled with the fall of mankind with Adam and Eve. We must repent of breaking God’s law.

That includes the 10 commadments, but it doesn’t stop there. Jesus tells us that sin happens in the heart, and it’s not just an outward action. Sex outside of covenantal marriage is a sin, but so is lusting in our hearts. Murder is a sin, but so is hating another. If this is something new to you then I suggest you read Matthew chapters 5 through 7 where Jesus addresses sin being from the heart that leads toward outward expressions of lust, anger, hate, and anxiety.

Why do we repent?

1 John 1:8-10 “8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

1) We repent because God has told us to. We repent because of obedience. We have wronged, now we must repent. It’s doing as God tells us to do.

2) we also do it out of remorse though. 2 Corinthians 7:10, “10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” That’s one of the key reasons we apologize, we should be feeling remorseful for what we have done. If we are not remorseful, then the apology is empty. WHat do you tell a child who superficially says they’re sorry for hitting or hurting a sibling? You tell them to apologize again and to mean it. We mean our apology to the Lord because we are remorseful for what we have done.

3) Out of love. We confess, apologize and repent ultimately out of our love for our creator. He has delivered us, and we love him for that. We don’t want our relationship with him to be marred because of our actions. We love Him too much for that.

How do we repent?

1) We are able to repent because we are redeemed. Only those people whose hearts have been made new are capable of repenting of sin. Repenting of sin is even a necessary step toward salvation. If we do not initially repent of our sin, then we are not saved.

2) Holy Spirit empowers us. We don’t repent on our power or effort, we repent because the Holy Spirit indwells us and makes us capable of wanting to please and obey the Lord and enables us to follow through with those desires.

When do we repent?

1) Immediately. As soon as we sin, we can repent. We are to never use confession, repentance and forgiveness as a cop out to continue in our sin later on, but we as soon as we have a moral shortcoming we can sin. But it doesn’t always work out like that. Sometimes we sin and either we don’t realize our sin right away, or we are not immediately remorseful for what we have done. The second option is evidence of a heart that has been hardened by sin.

2) when we realize we are in the wrong we are to sin. When David raped Bathsheba and murdered her husband, then lied about it, he wasn’t immediately remorseful and therefore didn’t repent. It wasn’t until he was confronted by the prophet Nathan that David realized what he did was wrong. His heart grow hardened and cold toward the Lord, and it took the confrontation to realize that something was wrong. Once David realized the error of his ways, he repented. Psalm 51 is David’s realization of his sin and his repentance.

Where do we repent?

1) Exactly wherever you are. No waiting. There’s no special chair to sit in. There isn’t a special circle on the ground in which you must repent. Sometimes I realize I have wronged while on a walk or riding my bike, and I repent right then and there.

2) Being together as the saints for worship is a good prompt for repentance. Meeting together as we do should make us reflect on our week and how we have worshipped and loved the Lord in the past so that we can point our hearts closer at him in the future.

Who do we repent to?

1) God for our sin. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Psalm 51:4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”

2) To the face of the person you offended with your sin. It is responsibility of the offender to ask forgiveness and to repent. It is the biblical mandate of the offended to offer immediate forgiveness and to not hold a grudge. Matthew 6:14 says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 18:15-35 also talks about the necessary steps for confronting someone for what they have done to wrong you.

What happens after we repent?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1) We immediately are forgiven. Psalm 32:5. Matthew 6:14

2) We are without guilt.

3)We are restored in our relationship with the Father. 1 John 2:1. James 5:15

4) We are restored in our relationship with one another.

Like the Israelites who repented of breaking God’s law in the book of Ezra, I’m asking that each of you repent of your sins and submit yourself to God. A heart that refuses this concept, refuses the Lord. It’s a line I’m drawing. The redeemed will repent of their sin, sin as determined by God’s Word, and will submit themselves to the Lord. Meaning His ways will be your ways. The unredeemed will refuse and think that they aren’t sinners, and that they aren’t all that bad. The redeemed will realize they are wretched, and only by the grace, mercy, sacrifice, forgiveness of Jesus are they redeemed.