Text: Ezra 9-10, Title: Window of Opportunity, Date/Place: NRBC, 7/29/12, AM
A. Opening illustration:
B. Background to passage: the temple had been completed and dedicated, and so Ezra was setting up the Levites and priests to serve in it. In the process, he finds out about a huge underlying sin that will hinder the work of the Lord among His people (preach here a little about the sin that lies within hindering the work without). But the time surrounding the sin and the exposure of it was an opportunity to be seized.
C. Main thought: Certain seasons of opportunity and time exist for people and churches. Don’t miss yours because you are not willing to do the serious soul searching needed to seize the day.
A. The faithlessness of the people (9:1-2)
1. Don’t know what the motivation of the tattletales was, but they let Ezra in on a secret, many men in Judah had taken foreign women into their homes to be wives or concubines. The word used the text is not the normal word for marriage, but indicates that these women were taken into the homes of these men. In Ezra’s prayer before the Lord, he quotes/cites Deut 7:1-4 reminding everyone that God had forbidden what these men had done. And the leaders were the worst of offenders (probably because they were of the most means, and were used to the most pleasures; and in the new found freedom from exile, sexual sin was easy to indulge in at Jerusalem). The Deut passages concern was not really sexual sin, but the failure to pass on the worship of the One True God to the coming generations. But God knew that sexual sin touched parts of the soul (regardless of official marriage) that would affect faith.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration:
4. It may not be sexual sin for all of us, but we all give in to things that we shouldn’t; things that God has clearly forbidden, to provide temporary pleasure. Although if we wrote all our names on the wall of the church, and someone who could see within our hearts wrote all our sins on the wall, lust, pornography, adultery, etc, would be among the list. What kinds of things that you know God forbids lie in the deep crevasses of your heart? They will hinder you. I promise you, God will not bless in the fullest capacity while you harbor known sin. Also know that the people will never rise above the leadership. Deacons, Sunday School teachers, ministry leaders, heads of households: the people under you will not grow and mature beyond you. Often it is the lives of the leadership in a church that holds it back. If we want to see revival and growth in our church we will need to see an across the board acknowledgement and repentance of sins that we have willfully overlooked or kept secret. Revivals usually begin with people getting real with God and real with their hidden sin.
B. The mercy of God (v. 9:8-9)
1. Ezra does give them some hope (there is hope in our gospel! You can be forgiven if you repent and believe and follow Christ!) He says that there is a brief moment of favor or mercy. He uses the word that means and instant, then a word that means smallness. So he says that there is a teensy weensy window of opportunity where God has shown grace and mercy, punishing them “less than their iniquities deserved” (v. 13). He understood that even the captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem wasn’t enough for their rebellions. He says that this grace has left them five things: a remnant of true believers, favor in the eyes of the king, a foothold in Jerusalem (the temple), an opening of their eyes to His glory and to their sin, and a measure of revival. He is encouraging them to take hold of the opportunity for repentance, commitment, and serious pursuit of God and His will and ways.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration:
4. When the favor of God comes upon your life, you may only have a moment to seize the day, and that will require holiness on your part. Do you realize that if God points out sin, it is mercy? Is this your window? Is God opening your eyes to your sin, and calling you to repentance, to salvation, to a deeper walk, to holiness, to seriousness about your walk, your service, your devotion? Is this our time as a church to seek Him and experience a measure of revival? We are about to celebrate the new building God has provided, the THRIVE team is working on a fresh vision, we have strong ministries. Will we come together as a family, truly repent of division and strife and bitterness and self-centeredness? Will we seek His face?
C. The grief of the contrite (v. 9:3, 10:1)
1. Ezra was the first to express true contrition. When he heard of the behavior of the rulers, he tore his clothes, pulled out his beard and was dumbfounded, sitting down in sackcloth and ashes. This was a public display of heartfelt brokenness. Later in 10:6, he also retired to his room (even after the first round of repentance by the Jerusalem crowd. Public and private mourning. His example led to the people to feel the brokenness as they approached him weeping about a solution and a covenant. It says that they wept bitterly. In 10:3 the covenant made was with those who trembled before the commandments of God. 10:9 says that they stood in the heavy rain trembling before God because of their sin.
2. Matt 5:3-4, 6, 2 Cor 7:9-11
3. Illustration: contrition: sorrow for and the detestation of sin with a true purpose of amendment, arising from a love of God for His own perfections, brokenness expressed in the 1995 revivals in Ft Worth, TX,
4. If this is your time; if this is our time, we must have a heavy weight of grief over sin and genuine sorrow that leads to repentance. Most revivals are not only preceded by times of fasting and prayer, but contrition. Contrition is grounded in two things: the holiness of God and the ugliness of our sin. Often our repentance is very shallow, thus leading to a low level of commitment, and an inability to follow through with the determination necessary to break the bonds of sin in our lives. Weeping can indicate depth of sorrow, but it can also simply being caught up in emotion, but when was the last time that you were truly broken over sin to the point of tears? When have you experienced pain because you hurt God or broke his commands? When have you trembled before His holiness because of the shame of sin? It is only in true contrition that revival flows from, and only in it is true forgiveness and freedom found. Most of us need to ask God to produce that true sorrow in us. We need to get reacquainted with the holiness of God, and with the depth of our rebellion and sin. Nobody woke up this morning in Tifton amazed that God allowed us to continue breathing our God-ignoring air. Some of you are awestruck by the sin in our culture, but few are awestruck at the sin in our own hearts.
D. The action plan of God (v. 10:3, 11)
1. Confession was the first step. True contrition should lead to confession. Ezra confessed the national sin in prayer (as if he was a part, this indicated a sense of collectiveness in guilt and solidarity in the people of God). The people confessed in v. 3 and also in v. 11. They publicly acknowledged their guilt. Notice verses 18-44 is a list of the men who did this evil preserved for the whole world to read. The next thing they did was to put away the women that they had taken in to their homes. This was done on an individual basis over the course of several days. Some of these women may have become believers, children fathered would not be abandoned, but sexual sin is over. Can you imagine the collective pain of the ending of these adulterous affairs? Read v. 4. He says to “man up” and do it. Finally, they made covenant and an oath to avoid this sin in the future. Notice that in v. 5 they started with the leaders. Then the leaders issued the proclamation to all of Judah in v. 7. And in v. 12 all the people agreed to do according to the words of the leaders and the covenant. Covenants meant something in those days.
2. James 5:16,
3. Illustration: back in the old days people understood that confession was necessary for the honor of God, forgiveness and accountability in the church, so you can read in the minutes of New River about the times that individuals stood up at business meetings and publicly confessed their sin. Tell about Keith Lloyd confessing his failures to his congregation after my sermon, reaction against SS teachers covenant, against accountability to the church covenant,
4. Public confession helps you and helps the congregation. It brings to light the sins that are plaguing you. It gives you some accountability. It creates an atmosphere of vulnerability and closeness. Sometimes we fear it because of where it may go after here. Charge: if people do confess, to you privately or publicly, you are to respect them, and refuse to gossip. Confession comes in a secure environment. You must put away the sin. Many of us turn over new leaves without contrition, but to stop short of cutting out the sin in our lives, even with true contrition short-circuits the return of the favor of God. We should want to follow, want to achieve holiness, and want accountability and rescue from spiritual failure. Speak about my statement a person about hoping that someone will hurt my feelings to rescue me and my family from grave consequences from decisions we may be making. How many affairs could be avoided if friends who saw it coming would stand up? Again, leaders need to lead in confession, in holiness, in covenant. God’s plan is simple: once you are broken, confess your sin, make a break with it, make amends, and make plans to avoid the trap that you were just delivered from. Many of us need to find a person to confess to. Some of us need to find a public venue to confess. BTW, a good rule of thumb is that the the range of the sin should equal the range of confession. Some of us need to get serious about breaking with our sin, and intentionally making plans not to fail again, and follow God’s will and His way.
A. Closing illustration: the final scene in Courageous where he makes a stand for Christ
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
● Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
