A Revival of Repentance Among the People part 2

Well take your Bible, turn with me tonight to the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter 10. I know that most of you are probably there already because of our earlier scripture reading. Ezra chapter 10. Now tonight we're going to finish up this chapter. Like I said earlier, we're not going to go into verses 18 through the end of the chapter, verse 44, because it would be very laborious to go through that lengthy list of those who had offended the Lord and sinned against the Lord. But we're going to finish up the chapter, but we're really going to finish up one big event. This is a part of one big event.

Ezra chapter 9, chapter 10 is one big event that is a revival of repentance among the people. That's where the title of these messages come from. This revival could not come about until the great sin of Israel was brought to the attention of Ezra. We know that true biblical revival comes down. We live in a revival culture. People have revival meetings. Sometimes those are good, sometimes those are bad, but those most likely are not true revivals. But a work of revival comes down, and that's what we have. God worked, and the life of Ezra brought about repentance.

A brokenness for this repentance brought about a burden for this repentance, and this revival that came first into Ezra did spread among the people. But this is one big event, chapter 9 and chapter 10. Now, I want to help us get our mind around this one big event. And in doing so, I want to go back, and I want to touch on what we have seen in the past. Some of the events that have transpired. If we turn back a page or two, and we look in chapter 8, what we see in chapter 8 is that second wave of exiles that came back to Israel. They came back not just to Israel, but to Jerusalem. They didn't just come back to Jerusalem.

They came back to help complete and be a part of the construction and the completion of the temple. Of course, this is the second wave, and Ezra was the leader, the main leader there in that return of that second wave. There was a great provision that was made. Remember, they brought back tons of silver and gold and a large amount of valuables that were used in the worship there in the temple. We see that at the end of chapter 8 verses 33 through 34 when they brought all of the goods back, and it was all listed, and it was numbered, and they brought every piece, and they brought them to the temple.

Then we see that all of the 12 tribes are represented there at the end of the chapter. We see that in verse 5. There were offerings made for all of the 12 tribes. So everything is complete in this second wave of the exiles coming back. Then we see things change in chapter 9. In chapter 9 we see the very grievous sin reported to the man of God Ezra. We see that in verse 1. This sin that was so prevalent in the life of the people really flew under the radar. Ezra did not know of this. Many people speculate. Bible commentators and writers speculate how much Ezra knew. I do not think that he knew. I think he came. I think he came to town.

He brought the people back. He delivered those great goods, and he was unaware of the sin that was in the life of the people. But this sin was made known in verse 1. This was a great sin. It was a sin on a national level because we see the princes that represented the government officials. We see the priests and the Levites. Those were the spiritual leaders of the people, and then we see the people. They were guilty, and it seemed to be a very small minority that was not guilty. Now, after the great sin was reported to Ezra, we see this work from God in Ezra. He was broken. He was burdened. He tore his clothes.

He tore his outer garment, his inner garment. He pulled the hair from his beard and his head. And this is representative of a true brokenness from God. And so he was broken. And we see this start in chapter 9 around verse 5. And this brokenness is carried all the way through chapter 9 and into chapter 10. But then we see in chapter 10 that the people are brought into this spiritual burden. God draws them into this burden. God draws them into this brokenness. And God draws them into a spiritual solution for their sin. Now, notice the order here. The sin is reported to Ezra, the man of God, the man appointed by God to lead the people.

Ezra is broken for the sin. He's broken for the condition of the people. He had no guilt. He was not guilty in any way. Really, our approach would have been to stand up and point. Ezra did not stand up and point. He was broken. He identified with the sin of the people. If I can use this language. He felt the way God felt about the situation. And God uses this man of God to bring the people into this brokenness. God uses Ezra to lead them to identify with this brokenness and to share this brokenness and this burden. And then God brings about a spiritual solution. Therefore, we have the title of tonight's message and last week's message.

This was a revival that comes down of repentance among the people. And tonight we will have a part two. Part one was from verses one through eight in chapter ten. And how wonderful it was to see that man, the layman Sheknaiah, step up. I called him the great lay leader. And he was the great lay leader among the people who was drawn into this work. No doubt that had to be very refreshing to Ezra. He is being used of God and there among the people Sheknaiah stood up. And he was used of God to be a part of the solution. So a question before we dive into our verses for tonight. Why this review?

Why do I take a few moments to go all the way back to chapter nine eight and just try to get our mind around this big event. Chapter nine and chapter ten is one big event and that is the event of a revival of repentance among the people. And we're finishing that up and I want that to be fresh in our mind from chapter eight all the way to chapter ten. So you can see how it all comes together because it's one big message in this big event. So we have the title of the message. I've given that to you already. This is a revival of repentance. This is part two. And we're going to have four main truths.

You see two of the main truths there on your screen that had to be divided up on the screen. I won't leave you hanging. I will take you to those main truths when we have that come to us. So we see a revival of repentance among the people will be in verses nine through sixteen. And we see those truths on the screen. The assembly of the people in verse nine and the dealing with the sin of the people in verses ten through fourteen. Let's look at our scriptures together and then we will dive into these verses and divide them and see what the Lord wants to show us tonight. Verse nine. So all of the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem.

Remember this is part of those verses. One through eight. This is after Shek Naya has stood up. Ezra has laid out the groundwork of how this work is going to take place. And then we see so all of the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days. It was a ninth month on the 20th of the month. And all the people said in the open square before the house of God that would have been the temple. They were trembling because of the matter and of the end because of the heavy rain. Verse ten. And Ezra the priest he stood up. Isn't it amazing? He keeps standing up all through these chapters.

And he said to them, you've been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the foreign wives. Then all of the assembly. This is the people. Then all of the assembly answered and said with a loud voice. That's right. As you have said. So it is our duty to do. But there are many people and it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can this task or the task be done in one or two days for we have transgressed or sinned greatly in this matter.

Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times together with the elders and judges of each city until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us. See they're seeking mercy. Verse 15 what we see here is only Jonathan and then we see there's other individuals. Those are difficult names there. Pardon me. I'm going to skip over them. They opposed this work and then verse 16 and 17. But the exiles did this and Ezra the priest selected certain men to carry this work out. That's what we see in verses 16 through 17.

So we see this part two of this revival of repentance among the people. Now let's dive into this because we do have four truths I want us to cover and I want us to be able to cover this in the amount of time that we have. So notice number one the assembly of the people. So all of the people of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the 20th of the month and all of the people said in the open square before the house of God trembling because of the matter and of the heavy rain. Now remember that this verse is a continuation of what took place in verses one through eight.

This is a continuation. This is that process of repentance. There is a process that has to take place before they can fully repent. God has brought about this spirit of repentance. I like that phrase spirit of repentance a revival of repentance a work of repentance all of that language is accurate and true. And this is part of a continuation of this work. Now there are three truths or three observations out of this verse I want us to make. First of all they assemble according to the prescribed time to say that fully. We've got to go back back into last week's message.

We've got to look at verse eight look at verse eight and that whoever would not come within three days. Remember that three day time period according to the council the leaders of the elders and then their ramifications if they don't obey all his possessions should be forfeited. And he himself excluded from the assembly excluded from the nation. So there was a time frame set right there in verse eight. But we see in verse nine they assemble according to the prescribed time. Look back in verse nine. So all of the men of Judah and Benjamin they assembled and it gives the time frame and all of them set in the square before the house of God.

So they assembled according to the pre-determined time. They set out and they did this work. Remember there were heralds they were messengers who went out and they spread this message around the land. And in verse nine it says that they responded according to that instruction and according to that time frame. So they assembled according to that three day time frame. Second I want you to notice that they all assembled. Look at verse nine. So all of the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled on down it says in all of the people set in the open square before the house of God.

Now the new American standard reads all the men and then later in the verse all the people and the English standard the King James reads the same. And what is that language telling us. This is telling us that all of those people who were who had received the message on the land did assemble. They were being obedient. This is an all inclusive work. All of the men and then all of the people did assemble according to the prescribed time. And then third notice they assembled at a difficult time. They assembled at a difficult time. Go back and look at the language. It says that they that this was the ninth month and on the 20th of the month.

Now with a little research one can see that this is the time of the year when it was cold and it was wet in the region. The text says that it was the rainy season. And this is exaggerated because Jerusalem was even at a higher level of elevation. Jerusalem is about 25 feet above sea level. So this would have been exaggerated. But this is a difficult time period. This is a difficult time in their year. So what do we see. We see here that this assembly assembled these people assembled these men these people. And these people assembled according to the instruction that was given in verses 6 through 8. And these people were right on schedule.

All of the people came. They followed the instruction that was sent out by Ezra and it was affirmed by Shek Niah that great lay leader. So they were being obedient. And this is the assembly of the people. Now I want to move on and then we're going to make some more application or some application as we move on into the message. I want us to notice the second main truth. The dealing with the sin of the people. The dealing with the sin of the people. Now we see after this assembly right there before the temple verse 10 Ezra stood up. Then Ezra he addresses the people. And this address by Ezra goes all the way down to verse 14.

So here is where the situation of the text and the situation gets deep. Here is where they are truly coming to a crossroad and dealing with their sin. It wasn't just that they assembled. They had to deal with their sin. Now you need to take note of this. When truth is preached. When truth is declared. Men should always be brought to a crossroad of decision. It wasn't enough for Ezra to stand up and it wasn't enough for Ezra to point to their sin. He had to bring them all the way to a crossroad of decision. I could not help but think about what we've been learning about the family on Sunday morning.

We as men need to be brought to a crossroad of decision. I believe they are men. I believe they are wives. I believe they are families. They are going to have to make some decisions. They are going to have to pray over some of the structure in their family. Some of the decisions that they have made. Some of the influences. And we as leadership in the church need to bring you, bring us, bring them to a crossroad of decision. That's what Ezra did. He brought them all the way to dealing with their sin. Now we are going to look and break down these verses. Look at these verses. We are going to break them down. Verse by verse. It needs to be seen.

So first notice Ezra exposes their sin. Verse 10. Then Ezra the priest stood up. Right in front of them all. To them you've been unfaithful. And he does not just say you've been unfaithful. He names their sin. You have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. Here we see that Ezra who is the man of God appointed to the position of God stands up and he does his job faithfully. He boldly, directly and plainly calls out their sin. He directs it to the people. Notice what he says. He says you. All the translations say you. He does not say I have heard there is a sin here. He says you.

I've got to believe he looked people right in the eye. He might have even pointed his finger and he brought that sin into their lap. He calls out their sin and he calls them out and speaks of their guilt. So he exposes their sin and he takes that sin all the way to the guilty party. Second. Ezra calls for repentance. Verse 11. Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do his will and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives. Here we see that not only Ezra exposes their sin but he calls them to repentance. This is that process. This is that work.

Calling out their sin was only part of the job. And calling their sin, calling out their sin in such a way where everyone knew their guilt was only part of the job. He calls them to, notice first, confess their sin. But confess their sin to God. Go back to the text. Ezra, the priest stood up and he says, "You have been unfaithful. You have married foreign wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers." So we see that he calls them to, number one, confess unto God and number two, confess to the people.

And now what we see in verse 11, "Now therefore make confession to the Lord your God, your fathers, and do his will." This would have been a public confession. This would have been a private confession. A private confession in that they would have confessed to God. A public confession in that they would have confessed before the people. This repentance was to be carried out before the people. Now, anytime you talk about public confession, it always makes people nervous. But they had to confess at the same level at which they had sinned. They had sinned before the nation, so therefore they had to confess before the nation.

And then he calls them to separate or to repent and separate from those foreign wives. So he calls for repentance. Third, the people agree with Ezra. Notice the progress, the progression, how the story flows, verse 12. "Then all of the assembly answered, and they said with a loud voice, 'That is right. As you have said, so it is our duty to do so.'" Notice that the text is all-inclusive. All of the translations read the same thing. And this is a loud confession for all to hear. "Then all of the assembly answered, and they said in a loud voice," See how they're confessing before their brethren? "You are right." So the people agree with Ezra.

Then fourth, notice the magnitude of their sin, verse 13. "But there are many people," See? The whole nation assembled. There are many people. It's the rainy season. "And we are not able to stand in the open, nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed or sinned greatly in this matter." First, we see how widespread the sin is within the people, because it says, "But there are many people." We have seen this truth all throughout these chapters, chapter 9 and chapter 10. We saw that at the beginning of chapter 9, because it was a minority that came to Ezra, and we saw how widespread the sin was.

So this is a widespread sin. This is among many people. And Ezra goes on to say that this repentance could not be performed in one or two days. The people say this. This alludes again to the number of people. This is compounded by the heavy rain and the fact that they were out in the elements. So this is the magnitude of their sin. It was widespread among the people, and it was not enough time to deal with it in one or two days. And then fifth, notice the plan is formulated.

Verse 14, "Let our leaders represent the whole assembly, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times together with the elders and the judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us." So there is a plan that is formulated. Here we see a plan to break down and distribute authority among the leaders. See, Ezra could not deal with each situation individually. We see they formed a body of leaders to act with the elders and the judges of the provinces to act in this matter. The cases were dealt with separately in each town.

There was a breakdown of authority, there was a breakdown of responsibility, and they went back and they dealt with it in their own town, in their own provinces, in their own regions. So here we see the deep, the difficult process of dealing with sin in the people. This is a broad sin. Almost all of the people had committed this sin. This is a deep sin, for it involved marriages, it involved wives, and it involved children. You notice that? It's broad. It involved almost all of the people. There was a minority at the beginning of chapter 9 who were not guilty. It was a deep sin because it involved marriages that had wives that had children.

And this was a public sin, for these sins were committed for all to see. So this is dealing with the sin of the people. And that little phrase there, dealing with the sin of the people, does not capture all that is going on in chapter 10, in verses 10 through 14. Now, what can we learn from these verses? We see this assembly, all of the people gather together in verse 9, according to the instruction of Ezra. They are all brought together to deal with this sin. What can we learn that can be very applicable to where we are? There is sin.

There is sin that is committed among the people within the church that is so deep, that is so grievous, that is so great, that it cannot be straightened out in one sermon. It cannot be straightened out in one sermon series. And it cannot be dealt with in one meeting of a group of elders. There is sin that is prevalent in the life of a congregation and in a church and the people, that is so deep, that is so grievous, that it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to deal with it. It takes blood, sweat, and tears. It takes strong men of God, like Ezra. Strong lay people like Sheknaiah. Listen, there are nameless and faceless people here.

There are people, there are leaders who assumed authority as it was given to them to carry out the repentance of this sin. And there are churches who have sinned in such grievous ways through the years that sin has to be dealt with in a long process with men of God who will approach it the Bible way. In my limited amount of time in the life of the church, I have known churches that it would take years probably to deal with sin in the church. I'll tell you a story and then we'll move on. I knew a man, another church, another day, another time that was involved in a church, and this church had a history of running their ministers off.

I didn't serve in this church. I knew of this church, I knew of this situation. And I knew this man, man who was a leader in the church, and he talked freely with me about how this church had a history of just running ministers off. And he looked at me and he said, "I know who they are. I know their names. I know what they've done. I know how they have made phone calls. I know how they have backed up pickup trucks to the pastor's door. I know how they have forced ministers out the door." He said, "I know who they are. I know where they sit." What was he describing? Years of sinful behavior by people in the pew.

Years of sinful behavior in families in the life of the church. What am I trying to show you? That kind of sin cannot be dealt with in one sermon, in one month. It takes a man of God rolling up his sleeves. It takes Sheknaiahs in the life of the church. It takes a people in the church who want to adjust the church according to God's word. And it takes people who are willing to suffer through repentance. And let me tell you, repentance hurts. Let's move on. Let's notice the third truth. And we have two truths here that are going to be rather short and then we're going to conclude.

But the third truth, what I want us to see is there is opposition to the work. This is a very short verse. It's a verse that we can look over. You know all of us sometimes struggle with some of these names. You know it's really not fair. We're in the Old Testament. We have these Hebrew names and then we're in the New Testament. We have these Greek names and we have a short verse that if we are not careful we can overlook. But what do we see there in verse 15? We see a very small minority that is opposed to the work. They're opposed, the Scripture says, they oppose this work. Now what do we see? How are we to respond to this?

This is a natural and expected opposition. What do you mean by natural? We're dealing with people. We're dealing with sinners. We're dealing with people who have a nature, a nature that's bent against God. We're dealing with the people who want to hold on to their sin. Now we don't have any details here, but this is an opposition. This is a natural and expected opposition. Think about the magnitude of this repentance. What are we seeing? We have men who are having to separate themselves from wives and children. No doubt they love these Canaanite wives. No doubt these women love these Moabite husbands.

And no doubt they love these little half-breed children. But what does the Scripture say? They had to separate. They had to put them out. That repentance hurt. So we have an opposition to this work. There were some. They did not want to pay that price. They wanted to hold on to their sin. They wanted to hold on to their rebellion against God. Now, an application I want you to see this. When there are men of God who are leading the church of God, and they are leading the church to repent, there are people who will oppose. And sometimes that opposition can be good.

Because sometimes that opposition is God's way of revealing who people really are. See, sometimes you really don't know who people are until something like this comes into the life of the church. There's a theological problem. There's a problem maybe a group of people who are rising up, and they want to rule and govern things. See, there's a whole host of problems that can come into the life of the church. And a lot of times we will see that is bad, and yes it is bad. But sometimes things like that come into the life of the church. The enemy Satan means it for bad, but God means it for good. And it can expose people for who they are.

And look, sometimes opposition reveals those who do not have a heart for God. That's exactly what happened here. These people oppose the man of God, and the work of God, and the people of God. They opposed Ezra and Shetaniah and all that God was doing. And they were exposed for who they were, and no doubt if they held on to their foreign wives, they were excluded. And opposition will come. Listen, church, you mark this down. As we plug along doing the things of God, there will come a day when there will be some who will oppose what God is doing.

And we as leaders in the church, Brother Keith and I, must remain true to the work of God to do it God's way. Listen, no matter who that opposition or where that opposition may come from, and you must be like Shetaniah, and you must stand up for right, no matter how that person may relate to you. It could be your friend. It could be your neighbor. It could be someone that you respect and love. It's even harder when someone that we respect and love opposes the work of God. And I've seen that. Let's move on, and let's notice the process is completed. We see that starting in verse 16, all the way down to verse 17. But the exiles did so.

In other words, the exiles, they did what they were supposed to do. And Ezra the priest selected men who were the heads of fathers' households for each of their fathers' households, all of them by name. And what do we see? On through the verses we see that they went out and they did this work, this work of breaking down the authority, breaking down the responsibility. So here we see within these verses that it took three months to see that all of the cases at hand were dealt with. Three months. Every situation. Every province. Every town. Every village. Every home. Every situation was dealt with. And the process was completed.

This was a very thorough work. And they attended to this work in great detail. Notice that verse 17, what it reads, "And they finished, investigated all the men who had married foreign wives by the first of the first month." So this was a thorough work, and they attended to this work with every detail. They finished with all of the men who had married foreign wives. So what do we see? This process, this work of repentance was brought to completion. Now what can I say in application here? It's not enough to begin a work of God. What is enough to complete a work of God?

Whether it's developing ministry, whether it's leading in the life of the church to develop ministry and to reach people, no matter what ministry we may engage in, we must not just start that work, we must complete that work. But in the area of repentance, in the area of dealing with sin or problems in the life of the church, it's not enough to start the work, we must complete the work. And especially in dealing with sin in the life of the church, we must complete the work of dealing with sin in the life of the church. Maybe it's a theological problem that creeps into the life of the church.

It's not enough to address it, but it must be dealt with and run out of the church. Listen, if there's a rebellious faction that comes into the life of the church, it's not enough to address the rebellious faction. They must be dealt with in such a manner where they repent of that sin and they subject themselves to the authority of God's Word and the authority of the church and the authority of the leaders over them. And if they will not subject themselves, they are kindly let out of the church. We believe in church discipline here, and some of these issues are dealt with with church discipline. But what am I showing you?

The process was completed, and we must be leaders, and you must be Sheknaiah type laymen, that you want things carried out, spiritual issues, ministries, the leadership of the church carried out into completion. See, it's easy to raise the flag, wave the banner, and say what needs to be done, but it's tough to carry it out all the way. Ezra, Sheknaiah, and these leaders did so. All the way, because what does verse 17 say? "And they finished investigating all of the men who had married foreign wives by the first of the month." Now, before I move to conclusion, I want to point out something very, very glorious.

If you do the study, and you look at the months of the year on the Hebrew calendar, you will see that this took place right before Passover. What that tells us is they prepared themselves, they prepared the people to celebrate Passover. Now, we know that Passover is a picture of Christ. They prepared themselves. They were prepared at this point, right here at verse 17, they were spiritually prepared to celebrate the highest point, the most important celebration on their calendar, because in celebrating the Passover, they were celebrating the deliverance out of Egyptian captivity unto God to be God's people, a chosen people, for His purpose and for His glory.

And listen, if we are going to celebrate our place in Christ, we must be a repenting people. You see? Now, in conclusion, I want us to reach back and grab both of these messages, a revival of repentance among the people. We need to see the deep, the long, and the great work of repentance that must take place when there is deep, grievous, even heinous sin within God's work and God's people. We must understand the complexity, the depth, the hard work involved in true Biblical repentance within God's work, God's people, the church. Why is that so important? Two reasons.

There could come a day when something this grievous could come into the life of the church, and we must be equipped to know how to deal with it. Listen, this happened centuries ago, but yet it is so relevant to where we are today. And the second reason we need to know how this works is there may come a day when we come alongside a church and we can help and influence a church that needs deep and broad and great repentance in the life of their fellowship and we will be able to come alongside and say we can take you by the hand and we can pray you through.

We can help you go through months, even years of repentance so that you can be the people of God usable in this world, clean and ready to be able to impact the world. You see? This revival of repentance among the people. I hope and pray that it's been speaking to you. I hope that this great big event, chapter 9, chapter 10, really as it goes over into chapter 8 as they came back home, I hope that this big event really booms in your heart and in your mind because this really is very applicable to where many of us have been. Let's pray and then we'll dismiss. Lord, God, give us a spiritual understanding that can only come from you.

Lord, if we're not careful, we can look at truths like this and we can see this as a historical lesson. We can nod our head at what you did yesterday, years ago.