We're turning in the word of God to the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter nine. And we're going to read from verse number one down to the end of this chapter. Ezra chapter one, reading, sorry, Ezra chapter nine, reading from verse number one. Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands, yea, the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garments and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. And I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness, and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to thee. My God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day, and for our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to the captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space, grace hath been showed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia to give us a reviving to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast commanded by thy servants, the prophets saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it, it is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever, that ye may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve and has given us such a deliverance as this, should we again break thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hast consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee because of this. Amen. we have before us a very sobering, very serious portion of God's word. Chapter eight concludes with the returning band of exiles, headed up this time by Ezra, arriving in the promised land. And as you enter chapter nine, we might be expecting Ezra to come to do the work he'd been commissioned to undertake. He had been commissioned to teach the law. He had come to do a work of education, and to some degree, reformation. We find also, if you look back at chapter eight, that it was his responsibility to be part of beautifying, or chapter seven rather, of beautifying the house of God, making everything as it ought to be, but this is not the case. The situation that he was presented with was far deeper and far more serious than he had expected. I was reading a little commentary, Dr. Gerald Bilkis, he preached here back in September last year. He wrote on this, the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, and he used the illustration of home improvements And he said, imagine that you need to put some new flooring into your home. You have chosen the carpet, you've arranged the fitter, and the day has come for it to be laid. And then you remove the old flooring, the old carpet, whatever it might be, and then you discover that there's a problem with the floorboards. They have woodworm, or rot, in them. The work that is required is suddenly much greater, certainly more expensive than you had expected or anticipated. And that work is far more urgent than laying the carpet that you had wanted to do. And so the rot in the floor needs to be dealt with, treated, repairs made before the carpet can be laid. And this is, in a sense, what Ezra has found. He is coming to do one thing, but as he enters into Jerusalem, he has this report and discovers that things are far more serious, far more desperate than he had imagined. and the sins and the issues that he discovered needed urgent and drastic attention. So whilst he had been commissioned to do one thing, the most needful work was being brought before him now. Now as we look at the situation here in Ezra's time, there are certainly very strong parallels with the Church of Christ in the New Testament, but also in our own time as well. And so we could think about an example of a New Testament church, that on the face of it seemed to be going well, on the face of it everything was in order, but you peel back the layers, you peel back, as it were, the skin on an onion, and you discover that all was not well. The church at Ephesus. You can read about that in the book of Revelation. On the surface, it had everything going for it. They were orthodox. They were faithful. They were consistent. They were bold. They were what you would hope a local church to be. And just imagine a minister being called to that church. You would imagine, well, everything has been sorted. And all you have to do is somehow keep the people together and carry on in the way that they have been going. Well, although they thought they had everything, they had something which the Lord examined and identified as being far more concerning. They had lost their first love. They perhaps in their eyes had everything going for them, but they had that lack of love, primarily for the Lord. That devotion for Christ was missing. Perhaps they had all of the procedures All of the orders sorted out, but their hearts was not right before God. And here in Ezra's time, he would no doubt have heard about their faith, their zeal of the returning exiles, how they had defied the enemies, how they had continued on in the face of great persecution. The temple has been built, the altar has been established, worship is now taking place. But actually there's a major heart issue that still needed to be addressed, that needed to be dealt with. And we find that like in the church at Ephesus, and like here in Ezra's day, it can be very easy for us to think that all is well, when in fact all is not well. Well, we can look at examples in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We can identify situations around us that we may be familiar with, but we have to bring this very much more closer to home, to our lives as individuals, but also in the context of the local church here in Devizes. We have to be careful that we don't have a proud attitude concerning our walk and our condition before the Lord. Now, it can be so easy to be judgmental. We can be so judgmental and condemning of others in their failures, and we can be so judgmental and commending of ourselves and congratulating of ourselves as to how good we are, how reformed we are, how faithful we are, how spiritually mature and refined we are, how vital it is that we come humbly to God and his work, and seek his holy gaze upon all that we say, think, and do. Those words we find at the end of Psalm 139. They're a very hard phrase to pray, really, if we're praying it with sincerity. Search me, O God. and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. The truth is the closer and the more conformed we are to the Lord Jesus Christ, the closer we get to that light, the more it exposes our failure, our sin, and our unworthiness of the least of his benefits. And so although a great work had been done by Joshua, Zerubbabel, and then in the early parts with Ezra himself, there was a great work of reformation of the hearts of the people to be done as well. And so Ezra discovers that there's a far bigger problem that has to be dealt with. So we're thinking about the problem this evening. What was the issue? Well, before we look at the specifics of this issue that became apparent to Ezra, we do have to be careful how we read and then how we might apply a passage of scripture like this. One danger is to take it very superficially. and Ezra identifies that there was mixed race marriages taking place, and we might therefore conclude certain outcomes from that. One might be that this isn't an issue that I'm facing. It's not an issue that's facing our church. It's not an issue that we have in our family. Therefore, it's fine to record it here, but ultimately it has no impact or message for me this evening. And so we may take it very superficially, this is only talking about the sin of mixed-race marriages. Secondly, another outcome of reading it very superficially, is that we might conclude and then promote teaching that suggests mixed race marriages are condemned for Christians and that can tend to lead to racist tendencies. Both of these conclusions are damaging and they neglect the real issues that are at play here before us. So what were the issues? Well, the issue was that the political and the religious leaders, and along with many of the people, were marrying outside of the nation of Israel. We have a list of countries and peoples that are mentioned here. In chapter nine, you see in verse number one, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Not only had these leaders married people from outside of Israel, they had adopted the sins and practices of these pagan people, and in particular, their sins of idolatry. Now, why was it so wrong? Why was it that God was angry with them? Why was it that Ezra here, when he hears about this, He rents his garment in verse three, he plucks out the hairs of his head and of his beard, and he sat down in an astonished state until the evening sacrifice. Why was it that Ezra is affected so badly by these particular sins? Well, the first thing to say is that these are sins against the express commandment of God. God had brought the nation of Israel through no favor of themselves, through no inherent goodness of themselves into a privileged position. They were to be the people of God and therefore they were under covenant and they were to be blessed if they kept the word of the covenant. And we find that God gives them commandments for their own goods. but we find that one of those commandments was concerning who they were to marry and who they were not to marry. You have it referred to later on in chapter nine, but if you turn to Exodus chapter 34, verse 11 and following, observe thou that which I command thee this day, behold, I drive out before thee the Amorites and the Canaanites, the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, take heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And now take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods. So the nation of Israel were about to embark upon entering into the promised land, and God has told them that they are to go and to drive out these wicked people because of their sin. It was a righteous judgment of God upon these nations. And if they did not do this, then it would be to their detriment. It would be to their ensnaring, and it would be to their ruin. In Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verses 1 to 4, Again, the nameless is here again. The Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than now. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son or his daughter, thou shalt take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me. They may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. Very clear, God gives this commandment. We find that this commandment is specifically given concerning the Moabites that are mentioned there in verse number one. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to their 10th generation, shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever, because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pithor of Mesopotamia to curse thee. Nevertheless, the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever. So the nation of Israel, they were to be distinct, a holy people. They were to inhabit this promised land and take up their inheritance. And God had required this of them. When we look back at Genesis chapter 11, we have the dispersal of the people into different language groups and different geographical locations. That was a judgment, and God has his design for nations. When you come to the nation of Israel, God would have his Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, come through the people of God, through the nation of Israel. And then at Pentecost, as the gospel, as it were, explodes. It is then to go to the whole world. And there was this reason in the providence of God in the redemption plan as to why Israel must be distinct. Very much linked with this, not only is it a command, but there is a consequence to breaking this command. If you do this, then the likelihood is this is going to happen. They were going to be led astray. These nations were condemned people. They engaged in sin, particularly idolatry, and there were all kinds of wickedness taking place, and they are being judged by God. And so, if they were to engage in marriages with these nations roundabout, and to form alliances with these nations roundabout, then there would be consequences. The people would be led astray. And notice the phrase that we have in verse number one of chapter nine saying, the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands doing according to their abominations. It seems that they are engaging already in the sins of these people. they were being led astray. These marriages were not having a positive effect upon the nations round about, but rather these marriages were having a detrimental effect upon the professed people of God. They were led astray. I think one of the saddest accounts that we have in scripture is that of Solomon. You have him being the wisest king that has ever walked the face of the earth. His wisdom was such that the Queen of Sheba, she remarked that the half had not been told her. We find that his wisdom was such that people would travel great distances to inquire of him. But at the end of his life, we see how foolish he was. His downfall was the multiple marriages that he had to pagan women. And that didn't have an effect upon them, rather they upon him. And he was the one that was led astray. And he accommodated and allowed the worship of idols in the nation of Israel. When we think about how we might apply this to ourselves, well, an obvious application would be in the realms of marriage. In 2 Corinthians chapter six, we're reminded to be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And so when we think about marriage, For those that are professing to be Christians, it must be, as we read in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 39, only in the laws. And in the believer's experience in life, we are not to be unequally yoked. And certainly marriage is included in these directives. Now, we're not talking about a married person who is converted after their marriage. That's not what we have here. But rather, we're thinking about somebody who's professing to be a believer who then embarks upon a relationship and then upon marriage. Now, in any marriage, there's gonna be tensions. Any marriage, there's gonna be different directions that people will want to take, and it has to be worked upon. But if you think about a believer marrying willingly and knowingly an unbeliever, there's going to be added tensions, significant tensions. They have different worldviews. They have different priorities. And you find that there will be declension and compromise ultimately in the life of the believer. And so in Ezra's time, this issue of intermarrying had led to this declension and sin. And ultimately what we have here is a relationship of God's people to the world. The Lord's people are to be called out, or they are called out rather, they are distinct. 1 Peter 1 reminds us that we are to be holy as he is holy. We are not to be entangled with the world. We are not to be seeking the world's confirmation or the world's approval. We are the people of God. And if we begin to entertain worldliness in whatever form that may take it, it will have a damaging effect upon us. Now, sometimes you hear people being very pragmatic. and they will say things like this, well, we need to be like the world to win the world. And so we need to adopt the language of the world and speak how the world speaks and use the music of the world in order to incorporate it into our own worship and things of that nature. This is rather flawed thinking. The result will be not the elevation of the world to godliness, but rather a declension in the believer to worldliness. And so friendship with the world in Ezra's day led to the people being led astray. And friendship with the world for the Christian will lead them falling away. Another reason why this situation was so serious and caused Ezra such heartache and such sorrow was it was repeating of familiar sins. the very sins that had taken them into captivity, with all the consequences of that captivity, they were now indulging in, in such a short space of time after their deliverance and after their return from exile. Their marriages, their subsequent backsliding, their idolatry had taken them away from Israel, away from Jerusalem, and now so quickly, They're indulging in exactly the same thing. They're provoking God to judgment and we see that very much coming out in Ezra's prayer. Now this was a besetting sin to these people. They habitually encountered, indulged in these same sins. And when we think about the life of the believer, As we look in our own hearts, we recognize that there are these besetting sins that we face, those same sins that we keep on committing, those same sins that have brought us great heartache, great sorrow, great pain, and yet we find ourselves doing exactly the same thing over and over again. We read in Hebrews chapter 12, Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. These people, these religious leaders, the whole nation, were engaged in this besetting sin. We find also that this is so sad and so sorrowful to Ezra in that it was affected and being promoted by those that should have been in leadership and authority. This was happening in the homes and families of the leaders themselves. And because of their sin, inadvertently perhaps, but certainly truly, it would end up leading others astray as well. do we realize how powerful our testimony is to other people, particularly to those who are younger in the faith? And there is a responsibility laid upon the Lord's servants to live well. There's no small thing when you look at the qualification for a deacon or the qualification for an elder, how that there is a recognition as to how they live their lives. It's not just about how much they know, it isn't just about how clever they are or how gifted they are in preaching or other pastoral gifts and things of that nature, but their manner of life, their manner of walk, how they're walking with the Lord. And so we must have a good testimony before God and men. When we think about those that are mature in the faith, that's not necessarily those that have been a Christian for a long time, but those that are spiritually mature. If you're in that position, then you are an example to those that are young in the faith. And just imagine the damage that can be done to that young believer, seeing and witnessing a mature believer falling and indulging in some kind of sin. It won't just have an effect upon the individual committing the sin, or indeed the family of that person that's committed the sin, but its ripples and effect can be seen in other places as well. And those that are leaders, those that do hold positions of influence over other believers, must be on their guard. They must be those that are very aware of their failures, very much aware of their own besetting sins, and we must be careful that we do not succumb by the grace of God to these besetting sins. How can we do this? Well, we'll think more about this as we go through our studies in Ezra, but we are, as we see in Hebrews 12, verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So Ezra has come to Jerusalem, he has discovered the problem before him is far more serious, far more extensive, far more urgent than he had imagined, but it needs to be addressed right now. And Ezra discovers that the people were sinning God, They're sinning against his commandments. They're sinning to their detriment and ruin. They were sinning in the same old way that resulted in their captivity, and it's been done primarily by those that were in positions of influence and leadership. This is the kind of task that was before Ezra as we enter. Ezra chapter nine. Well, God willing, next time we'll be thinking a little bit more about Ezra's prayer and the petitions that he makes and the way in which this will have an effect upon him and upon the nation as a whole. May the Lord help us and may we be very much on our guard concerning these sins and concerning the wilderness and not succumbing to it, but rather looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.