A Revival of Repentance among the People

Well take your Bible, I'm sure you've already turned by now, but take your Bible turn with me to Ezra chapter 10. Ezra chapter 10, you see that we are very, very close to the end of this study through the book of Ezra. We will not cover all of the chapter tonight. We got a little more time in this last chapter. But tonight we will cover verses 1 through 8. I know that in our scripture reading I read verses 1 and 2. That is the heart of what we are going to look at tonight. Although there is a lot of meat on the bone with the rest of the verses. Now we weren't in Ezra last week because of our homecoming service. Not meeting in the night.

But it's been a little while so sometimes we can need a little refreshing. But we finished up a couple of weeks ago, chapter 9. We finished that up on the 16th. And within chapter 9 we saw how Ezra led the people. He led the people in great brokenness and confession. Concerning the grievous sin that had come into the lives of the people. Remember how Israel had slipped into very grievous sin. And that sin had been reported to Ezra. Really it was just a few months after his return. And I used this language and I used it again on purpose. Their sin that was so prevalent within the lives of the princes, those leaders in the government.

Within the spiritual leaders and also the common folk if I can use that language. That sin was very prevalent but it had flown under the radar of this great godly leader Ezra. Now I want to ask you a question. This is not necessarily one for you to answer but one to ponder. What was their great sin? I want you to remember that. We're going to revisit that here in these verses. But their great sin was they had intermingled with the pagan peoples within the land. They had married into the pagan peoples. They had taken wives with their sons. And they had given their children away in marriage. They had made alliances with the people.

And they were really one step away from falling into pagan idolatry. And the reason that was so grievous to Ezra was that was the sin and the sins that they had committed before the fall. Before they had gone into captivity. But being the great man of God that he was. Ezra was used greatly of God to address the sin of the people. And that's what chapter 9 is all about. He is addressing this sin. It is so grievous. It's at the top. It's at the bottom. It's in the lives of the common people. It's in the lives of those who are in government positions. And then those priests and those Levites.

Really it seems like there's a small minority who are not guilty. And they report this to Ezra. Now I want to pause here and I want to make some application out of that review. By no means am I saying we have arrived here at Noah. But we are in the midst of God rebirthing and rebuilding and reforming a church. And there are a lot of struggles that we don't face that a lot of our brothers and sisters face. There are a lot of us who have family. We have friends and they're in churches. And they're in very sick churches. They're in churches who struggle in areas that we do not struggle.

And the point of application that I want to make is what is needed in the lives of these churches. These sick churches are Ezra type figures that will address the sin according to the word of God. And not just address the sin but be willing to be God's remedy for the sickness of the church to bring about reform, to bring about renewal, to bring about repentance, to bring about rebuilding. Do we really see the great man of God Ezra that is right here before us?

Maybe there were times at night when he laid his head down on his pillow when he thought, "You know, it would be a lot easier if I was back in Babylon pastoring those who didn't come back." Maybe he wondered how easy his job could have been if he would have just stayed the pastor of those who didn't leave. But what did he do? He followed the leadership of the Lord and he went back to a very sinful and difficult situation. And that's what's needed in the lives of the churches that we see around us that are so sick. And I could not help but pause there in my preparation to make that application.

We need to be in prayer for our brothers and sisters, our family, who are struggling in very sick churches. That God would bring leaders in the lives of those churches Ezra type figures. Now, if we take a step back from chapter 9, we will notice that chapter 9 is really nothing but a great prayer meeting. I don't know if you remember that, but if we look back in chapter 9, basically from verse 6 all the way down to verse 15, is nothing but one big prayer. It is Ezra praying and that is really the heart of the chapter.

So chapter 9 is really one big prayer meeting, but chapter 10 moves from the prayer meeting to a movement of repentance out of that prayer meeting. And we will see that there is a revival of repentance among the people. And I phrased it purposefully. There is a revival of repentance. Remember, revival is a thing that God does. It is a work of the Spirit. Revival, a true work of revival comes down. It's not something that man does. And so there is a revival, a work of the Spirit that has come among the people and it is a revival of repentance. Now, I give you the title of the message that is the title of revival of repentance among the people.

And we're going to look at four main truths. Four main truths. We're going to look at a great brokenness among the people out of verse 1. We're going to look at a great lay leader of repentance. That was Sheknaiah. And that is in verses 2 through 4. And then we're going to shift a little in the passages. And we're going to see that Ezra made the spiritual leaders lead the way in this repentance. That's a rather lengthy phrase. I know that. And then Ezra made the people participate in this repentance. Now, I know that the notes are divided on the screen. We'll go back and forth. I won't leave you hanging.

I'll enable you to be able to take notes. I always encourage you to take notes. I want you to learn to take notes and develop that discipline so that you can go back and study and learn. This can be a great resource for you years from now when maybe God has you elsewhere. It can be a great tool so that you can grow and be the Christian that God wants you to be. So let's look at our scriptures together. We're going to be in verses 1 through 8.

Now, while Ezra was praying, making confession, weeping, and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men and women and children, gathered to him from Israel for the people wept bitterly. It's very similar language to what we saw in chapter 9. Then verse 2 changes, "And Sheknaiah, son of Jehel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, 'We have been unfaithful to our God, and we have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.'" I love this spiritual optimism. That is very good.

Verse 3, "And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandments of our God, and let it be done according to the law. Arise, for this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you, be courageous, and act." Then notice that verses change. "Then Ezra rose and made the leading priests and Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do according to this proposal so they took the oath." Verse 6, "Then Ezra arose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehoam, the son of Elisha.

Although he went there, he did not eat bread or drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles." And they made a proclamation throughout Judah in Jerusalem to all the exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, and that whoever would not come within three days according to the counsel of the leaders of the elders, all this possession should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles." Now, you see what we're going to look at first, these first main truths that we're going to look at. We're going to look at the great brokenness, a great brokenness among the people.

That's what we see there in verse 9, excuse me, verse 1 of chapter 10. "Now while Ezra was praying, making confession, weeping, then it says later on in the verse, 'A large assembly of men, women, and children gathered from Israel, and the people wept bitterly.'" Here we see a continuation of the previous prayer meeting really that we saw in chapter 9. What does it say? "While Ezra was praying." So this is a continuation of Ezra's prayer in the chapter. "And the actions which come out of such prayer have not come forth yet, but the actions are on the way, and they come starting in verse 2." But let's notice the great brokenness.

First, we see that Ezra led the way. Ezra led the way. This is the same leadership that we see in chapter 9 verses 1 through 2. What happened? The sin was reported to Ezra, and what did he do? He led out in brokenness. He led out in confession. He led out in humbling himself before the Lord. In chapter 9, he tore his garment. He pulled his hair. Those were signs of brokenness and humility before the Lord. And so Ezra is leading the way in prayer and brokenness, humility, weeping, confession, and prostrating himself before God. And I want you to notice, Ezra is leading the way in a seeming undignified manner.

This would have brought about a lot of attention. The people would have noticed everything that he was doing. It would have been very disruptive to their way of life. So Ezra led the way. And second, there was a large assembly. We see that at the end of the verse, a very large assembly. "Men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel." The King James reads a great congregation. The modern translations that we study read assembly. But notice this assembly. Specifically, Ezra lists that this was men, women, and children, and they have assembled, and I use this language to emulate Ezra's behavior. Notice they are copying Ezra's behavior.

Now, they weren't doing this in a pretentious manner. They weren't doing this physically. This was a spiritual work. But they are emulating this behavior that has been exhibited by Ezra. They were now broken, as Ezra had been broken. So that's why it's important to see that God used Ezra. He led the way in this brokenness. He allowed this work of God to come from God, and Ezra led the way in this work of God. And now there is a large assembly that is following and emulating Ezra. This is a work of God. This is not a work of the flesh. And so this is a great brokenness among the people. And this is what we see.

This brokenness, and I like this language, spread from Ezra to the people. In other words, God started with Ezra, and it was just a spiritual contagious brokenness. It spread to the men, the women, and the children. Now, I want to make a couple observations and applications. First, this brokenness among the people came after the brokenness in Ezra. And second, the men were on the forefront of this brokenness. Now, I'm going to make application here. Notice that's what took place. The brokenness among the people came after the brokenness of Ezra. And the men were on the forefront. Ezra writes every word of this book purposefully.

And what does he say? A very large assembly? Men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel, and the people wept bitterly. It's important for us to see this. Now, this question in application. How many revivals of brokenness? Remember, revival is a work of the Spirit. A work of revival is a work that comes down. It comes from God. And that's what we have. A revival of brokenness in Ezra that is spread to the people. But how many revivals of brokenness do we see among the leadership of sick and dying churches? Most of the leadership, it seems, in sick and dying churches seek another how-to method.

Most of the leadership, it seems, in sick and dying churches seek physical fixes, add more staff, better programs. The list can go on and on. There's nothing wrong with staff. There's nothing wrong with church programs. But that's not what we see here. We see that the spiritual leadership led out in brokenness. And listen, this brokenness in the lay people came after and through the brokenness and the work of the Spirit in the leadership. Another question. Are we seeing men lead out in this type of spiritual work within the church? Men in the pew, men from the laity. You see?

It seems like this work, this work of brokenness is a rare commodity in the lives of many of these churches. Now, I'm not acting like I'm an expert on sick and dying churches. I'm speaking from a limited experience. But what I'm trying to show you is in this sick, sin-sick situation, there is a revival of brokenness, a great brokenness in Ezra and in the people. And it came through Ezra. And that's what is desperately needed here in these churches today. It is, we need desperately a work of brokenness and humility and confession from the leaders. And then and only then can it spread to the pew.

And then and only then can it spread to the men in the life of the church. Now, I want to make some more specific application. Brother Keith and I seek to be this kind of man, this Ezra type figure. But Brother Keith and I need the help, now listen, of broken men in the life of the church. Listen close people. The church is built on men and the church is built on men who lead their families. And we need God to work in the lives of our men.

We need a revival of brokenness in the lives of our men that they would desire to lead in their homes, to lead their wives, to lead their children, to lead in their workplace and to be the pillars of the church, to lead out in the work of the church. So there's a great brokenness among the people. It starts in Ezra and then it spreads to the people. But Ezra says it started with the men, the women, and then the children. It's a very loaded passage there in verse one. Let's move on to the second main truth. There is a great leader, a great lay leader of repentance in verses one through, excuse me, two through four.

And Shachniah, we've read about him already. What does he say? We have been unfaithful to our God. We have married for women and peoples of the land. He lists out the sin. And what does he say? Yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. I love that optimistic portion of verse two, verse three. So now let us make a covenant with our God. That is a binding agreement to put away all the wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. They are doing it according to the word of God. So what do we see? Shachniah turned out to be a great lay leader among the people.

Now we know very little about Shachniah other than the few specifics that are given in the scriptures. Now there are three things about Shachniah I want us to see. First, Shachniah's confession of sin. What does he say? Verse two, "Shachniah, the son of Jehel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and he said to Ezra, he stepped forward, he stepped out of this great assembly." And what does he say? We have been unfaithful to our God. We have married foreign wives, foreign women, and from the peoples of the land. So there is a confession of sin. Now at first glance it would seem that Shachniah was confessing his own sin, but that's not the case.

He, much like Ezra, is identifying with the sin of the people because he is not listed among those in verses 18 through 44. If you look at your scriptures there is a list, a detailed list at the end of the chapter of those who had sinned in this offense from verses 18 through 44. So he is not listed among those who were guilty, but notice who is listed. His father and five uncles on his father's side do appear in the list. And although he is innocent of these sins, these sins were brought home to him because of the guilt that was in his family. And I want you to see Shachniah's confession of sin. He is identifying with the sin of the people.

He is innocent like Ezra and those leading priests, but what does he say? We have been unfaithful to our God. There is not a prideful bone in his body. He does not say Ezra, they did it. He said we did it. That is very important because in true brokenness they identify, men identify with the sin of the people around them. Second, Shachniah's covenant of repentance. We will get verse 3. "So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law." Here in verse 3 we see two major things.

First, the act of making a covenant. Now that covenant would have been a binding agreement. They could not hedge on this agreement. They could not change their mind on that agreement. They are making a covenant to God before the people. You see? And second, the act of putting away, and this is going to sound strange, or divorcing their foreign wives. All of the translations that we read, King James, New American, English Standard Version, read, "Put away." This would have been a formal bill of divorce. And this would have been according to the written word of God. We see this in 2nd, or excuse me, 1st Chronicles chapter 29 verse 10.

But go back to the verse. So verse 3, "Now let us make a covenant with our God," that's the binding agreement. We cannot go back on our word, "to put away all the wives and their children according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law." So they are adjusting their lives according to the law of God, and they are putting away. Now notice foreign wives and their children. Notice the depth of that repentance. Do you think they love those wives? Do you think they love those little half-breed children? You better know it. But Shechnya issued a covenant of repentance.

3rd, Shechnya's confidence. Look at verse 4, "Arise, for this matter is your responsibility." Who's he speaking to? Ezra. "But we will be with you." Be courageous and act. Here, Shechnya is putting this situation back on the spiritual leader, which was appointed over them, and that was Ezra. He is subjecting himself. He is subjecting himself to the leadership that has been provided by God, and he has confidence that God will use Ezra in the matter. Notice what's taking place. This great lay leader steps up. He confesses sin.

He says, "Let's make a covenant to repent fully and totally according to the word of God." And then he says, "Ezra, this is back on you because you're the man of God to lead us through this." And Shechnya had confidence in the man of God. So here we see this man of God, Shechnya. He comes from among this group of people that we see in verse 1, that large assembly of men, women, and children. He comes out of that group. He turns out to be a great leader, a great lay leader for repentance among the people, and this was his people. And notice what side he was on. He sided with Ezra.

He sided with the word of God, and he sided with God against even his own family. You see? He sided with Ezra as the man of God. He sided with the word of God because he said, "Let's do these things according to the word of God." And he sided with God against his people and against his own family. Now, in application, we need great laymen like this in the life of the church today. We need great men of God who will love God and hate sin, who will love the truths of the word of God, who will do whatever it takes to line their life up with the word of God and the work of God and the men of God who lead the church.

We need great laymen like this in the life of the church today. But notice something very important. Laymen like Sheknaiah cannot lead in the life of the church unless they are spiritual leaders in the church, spiritual ministers like Ezra. Mark it down. Sheknaiah could have never stood up in that day had not Ezra been the man of God for the day and for the hour and for the need. And in the life of the church, there cannot be a Sheknaiah in the pew who leads out like a layman, taking sides with God and the word of God and the work of God and the people of God, even against those that he loves who are against the work of God.

That Sheknaiah cannot thrive and lead in the life of the church unless the ministers and the elders and those who are leading the church are like Ezra. And we need men like this today. Not to lead just in areas of sin. That's what we have here. But we need them to lead in the total life of the church. Not just when things are bad. And I've said this through this journey in Ezra, Brother Keith and I, we desire and we pray to be Ezra like figures. And listen, we need Sheknaiah type layman in the church. And not only do we need it, you need it. A great lay leader, Sheknaiah, a man of repentance.

Now, within this great repentance, we see Ezra, he takes things a little farther. It might seem that the events that took place in verses one through four are enough. Because if we read these verses, I mean, this is good. Ezra has led the people, the spiritual work of God in Ezra has bled over into the lives of the people, men, women, and children. Ezra has stood up. It almost seems like verses one through four, that is enough. That is a total victory, but that's not the case. Because Ezra, being God's man for these circumstances, knew that there was more work to be done and more work to be done in repentance.

Now, these truths will be a little more brief. We'll zoom through these a little quicker. But truth number three, Ezra made the spiritual leaders lead the way in this repentance. Look at verse five. Then Ezra arose. See, that caught my attention. This has gone on in the lives of the people. There's a large assembly that are broken. Shetaniah has stood up among them. Then what happens is this. Ezra, he rose. He stood up and he made the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do according to this proposal. So they took the oath. So what do we see? Ezra made, he made the spiritual leaders lead the way.

All the translations that we read say the same thing. Ezra made the leaders lead the way in this matter. He made them take an oath. He made them swear that they would meet the conditions of the proposal given by Shetaniah. Shetaniah makes the proposal. He has confidence in Ezra to bring these matters about. And now Ezra steps up and he says, "You, you men of God who are supposed to lead, you are going to lead out in this matter." And notice the end of the verse. It says that they swore they took an oath, a binding agreement. Then fourth, Ezra made all of the people participate in this repentance.

We see that in verse five, but also notice in verse six. "Then Ezra rose from before the house of God, and he went into the chamber of Jeholah." And what does it say? "Although he went there, he was fasting. He did not eat bread. He didn't drink water. For he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exile." See, still in brokenness. "And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles." In other words, word went out all in the land that they should assemble at Jerusalem.

And then whoever would not come there, there within three days, according to the council of the leaders of the elders, all his possessions will be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exile. So what do we see here? Here we will see that Ezra carried this oath or promise to repent of this national sin to all the people. This would have been done by sending out heralds to make oral proclamations throughout the land. This is a common way of delivering laws and edicts from government officials and kings. So what do we see in truth number three and truth number four?

Ezra made the spiritual leaders lead the way in this repentance. He rose up after Shechnya and said, "You who are in leadership positions, you will lead out." And then Ezra made all of the people participate in this repentance. Now three questions that come out of these three truths. First question, what did they swear to do? First, to put away foreign wives and children. I've already touched on that. Imagine the great heartache there. No doubt they love these foreign wives. No doubt they love those children. But see, they had to line themselves up according to God's word.

They had to take sides with God even against themselves, even against their own hearts. So they swore first to put out those foreign wives and second, the spiritual leadership led the way in these matters. We already learned at the beginning of chapter nine that it was the spiritual leaders who led the way in this sin. And now Ezra is forcing them to lead the way in repentance. So they swore to put away the wives and children and to lead the way. Second question, what were they required to do? We see that the people first had to assemble in three days. Proclamation went out through the land. News was spread. They had three days to assemble.

And then second, they were required to do all that was in the proposal given by Shechnya. We saw that in verse five and we see that Ezra takes that proposal and he is requiring all of the people to do what was proposed by Shechnya. And then the third question, what did they risk in doing this? What was the risk involved? If they did not obey in these matters, they would be excluded from the people. And that what it says, all of their possessions would be seized, be forfeited, and they would have been excluded from the people of God. They would have been kicked out of the people of God.

They would have been excluded from the promise of God and the work of God. So that was the risk. If they did not swear to this proposal, if they did not meet all the requirements, if they did not assemble according to the leadership of Ezra, they would have been stripped of their possessions and kicked out of the promise and the work of God. So here we see the seriousness at which they approached these matters. They laid out a clear path to repentance according to God's word, no matter the cost. Let me repeat that. Ezra, Shechnya, especially Ezra, laid out a clear path to repentance according to God's word, no matter the cost.

They appointed a timeframe in which to work towards repentance, and they assembled to do so. And last, they saw the grievous consequences of disobedience. Now an application, I could not help but think about one thing, church discipline. Church discipline is a subject that is run from in most churches today. You know that church discipline is one of the ten pillars of the church that we believe in here at Nola Baptist Church. Ten pillars being conversion, the church, the gospel, prayer, the word, the work must be centered around the word, evangelism, missions, God leadership, church discipline, and church membership.

Church discipline, it is biblical, it is all throughout the New Testament, and most churches do not practice church discipline. When you mention church discipline, it seems like most people step up and say, "Well, you believe in churching folks." No, that is not what we believe in. We believe in healthy, loving church discipline. As a matter of fact, lots of church discipline goes on behind the pulpit, and lots of church discipline goes on in one-on-one circumstances. But what is the purpose of church discipline?

The purpose of church discipline is that those who are born-again Christians who have strayed in the sin could be led back to be brought to a place of repentance that they would take sides with God and the word of God against their own behavior. That is what we have here. Ezra is leading them in leading the leaders to be right out in front. He is leading them into church discipline, and we believe in church discipline. Why? Because we love you. We pray for you. And when we see you struggle, when we see you struggle in life, it burdens us.

I cannot tell you how many times, Brother Keith and I will mention and talk among ourselves with brokenness because we see struggles in the life of the people, and we pray, and we want to see God work in you. And then, yes, we do step up, and I'm thankful that our wives assist us in helping some of the ladies. Why? Because we want to see you love the word of God, and love God, and love God's purpose and plan for your life even more than your own flesh and your fleshly desires. And I want to ask you a question. Do we view church discipline like Ezra and Shachniah did? Ezra led the way. Shachniah the layman was right behind him.

And what was their heart in this? Were they mean? Were they bombastic? Were they domineering? Were they like dotrophies in 3rd John? No. They were loving. Ezra was brokenhearted, and he led the people in this difficult journey of discipline, but he did it out of love, and he did it first out of a love for God, and a love for the word of God, and a love for the plan of God. And Shachniah was right behind him. And I want to ask you to pray for me. Pray for Brother Keith, as we desire to lead you. It's not an easy thing. It's difficult because we're fleshly people as well. So what do we see?

Ezra made the leadership lead the way, and Ezra made all the people participate. Now, as we transition to the conclusion, what do we see tonight? What's the title of the message? Revival, a revival of repentance among the people. Now, notice how the title fits. This is a work of the Spirit in Ezra through the people, in the people. This is a work of the Spirit. It is a revival of repentance. As the Spirit has worked in them, they are rushing to this work of repentance. As I was concluding this message, I don't know how this came about. Maybe it was my imagination. Maybe it was a work of the Spirit. But what is the key to this whole work?

There are two keys in my opinion. First, church leadership like Ezra. And second, church laymen like Shachniah. God has entrusted his work to men, people. And God entrusted this work of calling his people back to the people of God. He entrusted this work to Ezra and other men as well. And look, he entrusted the work to Shachniah. And the key to the whole thing is godly leadership. In the pulpit, that represents the elders and the pastors and the ministers of the gospel. It is key to have Ezra type men and in the pew. That's representative of the Shachniah type men.

And that is the key because wherever the leaders go, that's where the church goes. You show me a sick church. You show me a sinful church. You show me a dying church. And I will show you pitiful leadership. So, a revival of repentance among the people. And as we close, I ask you to pray for me and brother Keith as we pray for you. And I ask you to pray that God will work among the people and among the men that we would be these type of men who lead the church. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for this message. Thank you for these scriptures. Thank you for all of this really ties together.

Just looking at how things have changed when Ezra came on the scene.