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as we come to the final message of the camp let's turn to Ezra chapter 9 and let me read chapter 9 and chapter 10 Ezra chapter 9 and chapter 10 beginning with Ezra chapter 9 and verse 1 now when these things were done the princess 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 parasites the jebusites the ammonites the moabites the Egyptians and the amorites for they have taken off their daughters for themselves and for their sons so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands yay the hand of the princes and rulers hath been Chief in this trespass and when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down a Stoney then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of the god of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away and I sat a ston until the evening sacrifice and at the evening sacrifice I arose 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 oh my God I am ashamed and blush 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 being delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands to the sword to 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 oh our god what shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy Commandments which thou has commanded by thy servants the prophets saying the land unto which you go to possess 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 is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou Our God Hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and Hast given us such 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 oh 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 now when Ezra had prayed and and when he had confessed weeping and casting himself down before the house of God there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great Congregation of men and women and children for the people wept very sore and Shaniah the son of jeel one of the sons of ilam answered and said unto Ezra we have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them according to the counsel of my Lord and of those that tremble at the Commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law arise for this matter belongeth unto thee we also will be with thee be of good courage and do it then arose Ezra and made the chief priest the Levites and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word and they swear then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the Chamber of johanan the son of eliasib and when he came thither he did eat no bread nor drink water for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away and they made Proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the Captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem and that whosoever would not come within 3 days according to the counsel of the princes and the elders all his substance should be forfeited and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within 3 days it was the n month on the 20th day of the month and all the people sat in the street of the house of God trembling because of this matter and for the great rain and Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them ye have transgressed and have taken strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and do his pleasure and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the strange wives then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice as thou Hast said so must we do but the people are many and it is a time of much rain and we are not able to stand without neither is this a work of one day or two for we are many that have transgressed in this thing let now our rulers of all the congregation stand and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times and with them the Elders of every city and the judges thereof until the fierce Wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us only Jonathan the son of asahel and jahziah the son of tikva were employed about this matter and mesulam and shabai the levite helped them and the children of the Captivity did so and Ezra the priest with certain chief of the fathers after the house of their fathers and all of them by their names were separated and sat down in the first day of the 10th month to examine the matter and they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month and among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives named of the sons of Joshua the son of jedak and his Brethren Mah and alaza and yarb and galiah and they gave their hands that they would put away their wives and being guilty they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass and of the sons of imma anani and zebediah and of the sons of harim Mah and Elijah and shayah and jeel and Uzziah and of the sons of Pasha ELO andai Mah Ishmael Nathaniel jbad and Elisa also of the Levites jbad and shim and kayia the same is khita PA payah Judah and Eleazar of the singers also eliasib and of the porters Shalom and TM and URI moreover of Israel of the sons of paros riah and jiah and Malia and mamin and Eleazar and Alia and beniah and of the sons of Elum matah Zechariah and jeel and Abdi and yoth and Eliah and of the sons of zatu eloi Elias ship matah and jerimoth and zabad and Aiza of the sons also of bebi jehohanan hananiah zabai and a and of the sons of bani mesulam maluk and adah Joshua and shal and Ramo and of the sons of pah Moab adna and kellal benayah MAA matayah balel and binui and manessa and of the sons of harim alaza yeshia Malia shmaya Shimon Benjamin maluk and shamariah of the sons of Hashim maai Mata zabad elet jeremi manessa and shimi of the sons of bani maai amam and U bayah BEDA chelu vanaya maroth Elias matayah matanai and jasa and bani and binui shim and sheliah and Nathan and adah madii Shashi sharai aariel and shalayah shamariah Shalom amariah and Joseph of the sons of Nebo jel maiah zabad zabina jadal and Joel benayah all these had taken strange wives and some of them had wives by whom they had children amen

as we mentioned last time we come to the end of the book of Ezra which ends on this on this very tragic note now the time period between the end of chapter 8 and the beginning of chapter 9 is not very long in chapter 10:9 this was the ninth month in chapter 8:33 this was this was the fourth day of one of the earlier months on in chapter 31 of Ezra chapter 8 the 12th day of the first month and here in chapter 10:9 this is the 9th month so not very long afterwards in this short period and during this period remember Ezra's mission was to teach the law of God Ezra would have been teaching the law but within this short period came this really this devastating blow that threatened to undo everything that had been accomplished unto this point and all of this leads to a very important lesson for us because this is relevant for us as we seek to serve the Lord today we try to do much for the Lord we try to be fruitful effective profitable in our service to him but perhaps we don't realize how easily the whole Enterprise of serving the lord can come crashing down because of sin because of the disastrous consequences brought in by sin it is is instructive for us to note that the sin of the people was not something that Ezra himself discovered and ferreted out it is not that Ezra was going around investigating the people checking up on them spying on them looking in at their windows in fact it was the people themselves who came to Ezra Ezra chapter 9 when these things were done the princess came to me saying the people of Israel the priests and the Levites they have sinned they have transgressed the Commandment of God the people themselves came to Ezra and it seems this was the result of Ezra's teaching because Ezra had been teaching the law the people of themselves were convicted because they knew about this sin and they came to Ezra to tell him because through the teaching of the law they realized the seriousness of what had been going on they were convicted by the work of the spirit through the word of God remember we learned in our morning devotions that we are not to quench the spirit part of the work of the spirit is to convict us using the word of God to correct us to expose our sin to rebuke us so that we are moved moved to repentance and the people's confession here demonstrates to us the convicting power of the word of God this had been going on already as we read in chapter 10 there were many who had been given to this sin this is not something that could have started just as Ezra arrived it had been going on already it was brought to light it was confessed it was recognized because of the teaching of God's word the word of God used by the spirit of God can convict the hearts of the people can expose sin and error and bring it to light and I think we see a further indication of this in the names that are used in chapter 9:1 when the people came to Ezra when the princes came to him to confess this sin they said the people of Israel the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands and they mentioned the Canaanites the Hittites the perizzites the jebusites the ammonites the moabites the Egyptians and the amorites they mention all these names where do these names come from many of these groups were no longer really in existence by the time of Ezra by the time of the Persian Empire there were no such people as this then where do the names come from the names it seems come from the law of God because those are the groups of people that were named in the law of Moses when the people of Israel were first going into the land they were warned specifically about these people of the lands who were there at that time now of course the specific people groups no longer existed as political entities as in in the time of Joshua and so on but of course the principle still applies these are still strange wives that have been taken by the people of Israel but the choice of words seems to be significant it points again to the conviction that was brought on the people because of the teaching of the law because Ezra had been teaching that old law not outdated the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given and again this is a lesson for us the faithful preaching and teaching of the word of God is used by the spirit of God to expose and to deal with sin it is part of the ordained means by which God deals with sin through his word God's law today God's word today has lost none of its power none of its effort efficacy when it is taught Faithfully when it is taught systematically God uses it God uses it to sanctify us today just as then sanctify us through thy truth Thy word is truth the word of God has this sanctifying effect it shows us our sin and the spirit of God uses it to convict us of sin so that we repent so that we put sin away from us so that we confess and forsake our sins and find Mercy and we should keep that in mind today when the word of God is preached and we realize that that we have sinned against God we should respond with confession and repentance we should not respond with anger we should not say oh this person is out to get me this person is preaching against me it's the word of God it's the spirit of God it is for our good

When sin is exposed and rebuked it is for our good that we should that we should put it away because sin needs to be dealt with it is a reality while we are in this life while we are in this mortal flesh we are surrounded by the world we are prone to succumb to Temptation God's word exposes and rebukes our errors so that sin can be dealt with because sin is destructive destructive to our lives destructive to our service and that's what we want to learn as we go through these last two chapters of Ezra how are we to deal with sin as we seek to serve the Lord again I think there are two things especially that we can focus on first of all we must recognize the danger of sin we see that especially in in chapter n in Ezra's reaction when this sin was brought to him and then secondly we see the necessity for us to be Resolute in repenting of sin and dealing with its consequences and we see that especially in chapter 10 in this particular occasion when they had to deal with this particular sin so the danger of sin and the necessity of being Resolute in repenting of sin and dealing with its consequences first of all the danger of sin again why was this particular thing so serious so severe why was their compromise such a big deal as to cause Ezra to react the way that he did we have to make clear that this is not some kind of cultural xenophobia it's not that they just didn't like these people who were not Israelites because of course as we know from scripture those from other nations who embrac the god of Israel who submitted to the law of God they were welcomed we can think of examples like Rahab like Ruth they were brought in there was room for them there was provision for this kind of thing if they would submit to the god of Israel and worship Him truly the problem here was not cultural but but spiritual what these people had been doing was expressly forbidden by God and it was forbid forbidden for a spiritual reason in Deuteronomy chapter 7 the Commandment was make no Covenant with them don't give your daughters don't take their daughters for your sons because they will lead you astray because they will lead you to worship their gods they will draw you into idolatry they will lead you away from the Lord God of Israel the people were prone to this kind of thing prone to be led astray prone to do according to these Abominations prone to go along with this idolatry and that's exactly what happened here Ezra chapter 9:1 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 they have taken daughters for themselves and that has led them into idolatry they do according to their Abominations and so the holy seed Ezra chapter 9:2 have mingled themselves with the people of those lands they have lost their Holiness they have lost their witness they have committed this grave sin against God to participate in in Pagan idolatry to be dissolved away into the surrounding Nations that's a contradiction of their holy purpose as God's people to be separate to be holy to be Witnesses of the Lord to serve him remember it was precisely their failure to recognize this that had led to the Exile in the first place it was precisely their idolatry their doing according to the Abominations of the surrounding Nations that had provoked God to anger that had led to the Exile in judgment and now they are repeating the same thing so their compromise was severe because of the nature of the prohibition it came from God for a spiritual reason it was a clear command it was often repeated they were warned about this again and again the compromise was severe because of the nature of the people prone to sin prone to being led astray prone to succumb to Temptation compromise was severe because of the nature of their purpose to be a holy witness unto the Lord to keep themselves separate as God's people and we we must realize that the same thing applies to us we also have the same prohibition love not the world neither the things that are in the world be not unequally yolked together with unbelievers we have the same prohibition we have the same proness to Temptation we also uh very easily drawn away evil Communications corrupt good manners be not deceived that's the reality we are weak if we surround ourselves with temptation we will give in to Temptation and we also have this holy purpose to be God's Witnesses in this world so just as the people in those days so also for us we need to realize the danger of sin we need to see the consequences of sin we need to see it as a contradiction of the Holiness of God we need to see the enormity and the seriousness the gravity of Sin Sin cannot be a small thing for us sin cannot be a trivial thing for us sin must be something that we take very seriously and perhaps the best way to do this in light of this season especially is to think of the Cross because on the cross we see what sin really is we see what sin deserves we see the price and penalty that had to be paid for my sin for your sins all the things that we have done that was the price that had to be paid that's how serious a thing sin is that the Son of God had to give his life in our place he had to Bear the wrath of God that we deserve all his sufferings were for our sins that's what sin is it's not a small thing we cannot think lightly of sin when we look at the cross surely we want we want to be rid of sin we don't want sin in our lives we don't want to add to the sins that caused the Lord to hang there on the tree we don't want any compromise with sin and we see its seriousness and Ezra recognized this that's why Ezra had this reaction notice this in verse three of Ezra chapter 9 when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and my beard and sat down a ston that was Ezra's reaction now we might think that's a bit over the top that's a bit melodramatic that's that's a bit too too much but it wasn't a show it wasn't a pretend Ezra wasn't putting on a performance this was genuine this was from the heart this was his reaction to what the people had done because he saw the sin for what it was he realized the seriousness of this this was his deep shock and grief even though he wasn't personally implicated it's not something he had done the people had done it yet he reacted in this way there was great heaviness a sense of abasement before the Lord he rent his clothes expressing his his deep grief he was stunned

and as he prayed he said I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God this is not the response of someone who takes sin lightly this is the response of someone who sees sin for what it is and this is something we must learn remember in First Corinthians chapter 5 how the Apostle Paul rebuked the Corinthian Church precisely because because they were thinking carnally and they were taking sin lightly 1 Corinthians chapter 5: one it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that has done this deed might be taken away from among you that's the reaction they ought to have had like Ezra they should have responded like Ezra when they realized this they should have mourned that such a thing could be found in the church they should have reacted to get rid of it to put away this sin and the one who has done this deed who is unrepentant they should have mourned but they took it lightly they thought it a small matter in fact they were boasting as if the grace of God gives a license and an excuse to tolerate sin but it doesn't Ezra recognized the seriousness of this because he recognized the holy presence of God in their midst this is the city of God this is the temple of God these are the people of God God dwells in our midst we must be holy as he is Holy we cannot tolerate sin in the camp we cannot treat it lightly because God is here that's a recognition we need to have know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost the spirit of God dwells in you we also must be holy as God is Holy God's presence is here we are called by the name of Christ by the name of the son of God we are Christians this is a Christian church we must be holy we must be Sanctified we must be dealing with sin and putting it away we cannot tolerate it Ezra recognized again and had this sense of of personal involvement that's why he responded in this way that's what the Corinthians should have done ye have not rather mourned why should They Mourn they're not the ones who have done it why should Ezra react like this he hasn't done anything wrong but Ezra had this sense of personal involvement this corporate recognition we are the people of God we are all together in this sin in the camp affects us all and Ezra felt a personal burden for the sins of the people perhaps especially as the one who was there to teach them the law he felt morally responsible in this corporate sense and he recognized that sin affected their corporate witness he was grieved by this sin that was taking place among the people and Ezra recognized this as something that that had increased and grown up unto the heavens as he says in verse 6 of chapter 9 our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespasses grown up unto the heavens this was the result of Ezra's study of the law again already scribe in the law of Moses that's what it means his study of the law had made him sensitive to sin his study of the law had made him recognize the seriousness of sin that's how we know that he had really studied it again not like the Pharisees who read and memorized and were great students but they had not really understood had not really applied had not really humbled themselves before the word of God because as the Lord rebuked them you tithe Min and and anise and kumin and you have neglected the weightier matters of the law and mercy and judgment great sins like a camel they allowed they tolerated they thought nothing of they were straining at the Nets but not Ezra he recognized the seriousness of this sin he was sensitive to it notice again the contrast between Ezra's reaction and and even those who came to him in verse one the princes came to me saying the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves but these princes did not come with their clothes rent did not come with ashes on their heads they just came and told him Ezra reacted so strongly even though they recognized the sin and came to Ezra it seems they didn't yet have this sense of the enormity of it until they saw Ezra's reaction the people learned from Ezra's reaction and they saw in his response the seriousness of their sin and it moved them to realize what they had done when they saw him rent his rent his clothes when they heard him pray to God when they heard him rehearse the grace that God had shown to them for the idolatry the Abomination the wickedness of their fathers God has given them a little Reviving a little Grace a Remnant they are back in the land and now they have done the same thing again when they saw Ezra's reaction when they heard his prayer then they realized chapter 10:1 when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed weeping and casting himself down before the house of God there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great Congregation of men and women and children for the people wept very sore they wept when he wept his response to sin galvanized them and caused them to realize the seriousness of what they had done and it's the same for us also if we respond to sin with this great sensitivity God can use that to move others to see sin for what it is to recognize the seriousness of sin because they see our response to sin my contrast if we take sin lightly then we send the opposite message again just like the Corinthians they will contradicting the gospel contradicting their witness treating sin like it's no big deal and they ought to have mourn this also we can learn from Ezra we can see how Ezra's example was used by the Lord to Galvanize the people so that a very great Congregation of men and women and children all assembled themselves together but they recognized also in Ezra's reaction in Ezra's prayer that there is hope that's what they said Ezra 10:2 we have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing there is hope there is forgiveness there is Grace if they will repent and return to the Lord he is gracious he is is abundant in Mercy he's ready to Pardon longsuffering as we sang in in the hymn just now Grace that is greater than all our sin that's not Grace to take lightly but it is Grace that we can cling to and cry out for when we are truly contrite and penitent a broken and a contrite heart thou wil not despise that's our hope even today sin is a great and serious thing sin is a thing of enormity

sin is a thing that needs to be dealt with but it can be dealt with there is a place for repentance there is forgiveness for sin sin is not something that that need crush us or overwhelm us because there is forgiveness with God so there is hope in Israel there is a way of repentance but it is not easy sin is a serious and terrible thing yes there is Grace there is forgiveness that doesn't mean sin is an easy thing to deal with great resolution is needed to repent of sin and to deal with it sometimes very disastrous consequences and we can we can see that here in chapter 10 in what the people had to do to deal with this sin we see their concern now as a result of of Ezra's concern and we see here their commitment in verse three let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them a covenant expressing their firm commitment to repentance and reform they signify this with a solemn oath repeatedly in times of Revival we find this covenanting with God you see it in the history of Israel in the days of jeho the priest in the days of Hezekiah in the days of Josiah the people were called to make a covenant with God to s ify their commitment to repentance and obedience by making this solemn oath before God to bind themselves and that's a recognition of the weakness of our nature we can make promises or we can break them very easily words are cheap so the people here wanted to bind themselves by a covenant to make sure that they would stick to it that they would really maintain this resolve to repent of their sin and that's what we need to do to repent it must be serious it must be Resolute repentance is not something easy the work of a moment especially where the sin is so severe as this with such great consequence quences as this that's also something that we need to recognize sin can take only a moment but it can be a lifetime of dealing with the consequences of it the indiscretion of a moment the transgression of a moment can lead to lifelong consequences for us sin is not something to be trivialized or to fool around with we see that here there was a way of repentance but it was not easy it required courage that's why Shaniah urges Ezra to act verse four of chapter 10 arise for this matter belongeth unto thee we also will be with thee be of good courage and do it Ezra had the responsibility to lead the people in the perhaps this was not probably this was not at all what Ezra imagined when he came to to Jerusalem with this desire having prepared his heart to seek the law of God to to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments never expected that this is this would be the result that he would have to do this but again that's the the reality of sin courage was required sometimes when when you're doing gardening I don't do any gardening but I'm sure some of you do gardening and we all know that when you are doing gardening you have to pull up the weeds right sometimes I'm told these weeds have very deep roots very extensive roots and you can't just you can't just pull up the top you have to take everything out you have to take out all the roots otherwise it just comes back sometimes it can be very extensive under the surface more than you realize you can't stop halfway you have to go through with it and deal with the whole thing and so it was here they had to deal with their sin they couldn't just leave it they couldn't allow it to continue so also in First Corinthians they had to deal with that sin and that menant in that case putting away the one who had committed that sin because he obviously was not repentant he was fine with what he had done that person had to be put out of the church it's not an easy thing to do but on such occasion occasions it is the necessary thing to do to deal with sin according to the word of God so also here this was Shah's proposal to Ezra his exaltation to Ezra let us make a covenant to put away all the wives and such as are born of them let it be done according to the law Ezra you take the lead we will be we will be with you we will do it and Ezra did it verse 10 of chapter 10 Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them ye have transgressed and have taken strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and do his pleasure and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the strange wives Ezra calls the people to confession and repentance and to action to truly repent of their sin and to and to put it away from them to get rid of it and the people agree but it needs to be done right it needs to be done systematically it needs to be done in an orderly manner verse 13 this is not the work of one day or two for we are many that have transgressed in this thing so the people are with Ezra just as they said and they are willing to to go through with with this all the way to the end let now our rulers of all the congregation stand let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times with them the Elders of every city and the judges thereof until the fierce Wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us it had to be done systematically it had to be done properly there had to be evidence there had to be Witnesses they couldn't just say all of you who have taken strange wives just come up and then put them away because of course such a thing could be exploited people can take advantage I don't like my wife I'll just say she's a strange wife and then and then I'll be done with it people can do that again that's a recognition of the wickedness of man our fallen nature so it had to be done right the people had to come with the Eld ERS and the judges of their cities Who would know the situation and who and who could verify anything that was said all of this had to be done rightly there were many complications what if they're children how to deal with that it's not an easy thing it's a painful thing even to consider but again that's the reality of sin it gets its roots deep in our lives and it can be very very difficult to uproot and get rid of that's why again this list of names is here it's not insignificant it's not irrelevant it tells us the reality of what happened these were the people who had done this their names are recorded the priests the Levites and so on this was real this happened even there after the Exile after the return the priests and the Levites mentioned first because their responsibility was greater it was a public sin it had to be dealt with publicly and the names are recorded

Add line breaks, correct punctuation and capitalisation where it makes sense so that this transcript it reads like a sermon transcript. Do NOT – I repeat – do NOT under any circumstances, change any of the words in the original transcript: here now we must say something about how this specifically applies to us because there are those who have anounced this whole procedure as as wrong they shouldn't have done this how can they put away their wives doesn't God hate putting away doesn't God hate divorce but we must realize that there's every indication In this passage that it was the right thing to do in that situation Ezra recognized the necessity of this Ezra a man of God a ready scribe in the Lord law of Moses and the people showed their concern to do this according to the law of God according to the Commandment of God he recognized the necessity of it in that situation of course this is not to say that separation between husband and wife is something to be taken lightly it is indeed alien to God's original creation God does hate putting away but in fact in in Malachi where God said that it was the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel to the wives of their youth and they had taken other wives foreign wives and despised their first wives these these were the things that God despised and uphold and spoke against here in this case God also hates their idolatry God also hates their ungodly marriages to these Pagan women which had been expressly forbidden by God in his law which they were warned against repeatedly in the law of Moses so there is every indication In this passage on that specific occasion because of their situation because of their National witness that this was the necessary thing to do not an easy thing to do but the necessary thing to do to deal with their sin now in the New Testament we have very clear teaching that if a Believer is married to an unbeliever a Believer is not to seek a dissolution of that marriage this is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 also in 1 Peter chapter 3 the situation in the New Testament is different why one reason is again in the Old Testament all of them began within the nation as Covenant people circumcised on the eighth day they are all there as a national witness all there as one people together in the land therefore any association with Pagan wives will bring in idolatry will bring in contamination will bring in corruption in the New Testament the situation is different because we all begin outside the Covenant we all as Gentiles begin outside we are brought in when we believe the gospel we are grafted in so the teaching in the New Testament is remain of course in 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 Peter 3 the implication is that the believer is married to the unbeliever because both were unbelievers and then after the marriage Mar one was converted the teaching there in the New Testament in that context is remain and be a witness because God can use your witness to save your loved ones to save your family again that's the New Testament context we all begin outside the Covenant people of God and when we are brought in God can use that to bring our families also that's part of God's covenant concern for the family the Old Testament because of their context because they are a national witness the situation is different the Commandment is don't bring in foreign wives Pagan wives because they will bring idolatry with them they will influence you and the New Testament is the teaching is don't divorce because you may influence them for good so there's a different situ ation and we have to recognize that the point for us is to learn the seriousness of sin to learn how sometimes it can cause very disastrous consequences and it can require very drastic measures to bring in sin brings in all kinds of complications and this is something that we increasingly face today even just with the advancement of Technology there are things that are possible today which were which were unimaginable just a few Generations ago things can be done that our forefathers could not have imagined how are we going to deal with these things these are the complications that sin can bring in when dealing with sin the right thing to do will not be the easy thing to do therefore let us learn this lesson it is much much better much much easier to stay away from sin than to give in and then try and deal with it afterwards stay far away from sin keep clear of Temptation guard yourselves keep yourselves pure and ho be on guard be sober be vigilant don't wander even near to sin and Temptation because again it only takes a moment and it can be a lifetime of pain and heartache dealing with the consequences of that moment in that time of Ezra this transgression had been going on for a long time yes it was exposed yes the word of God was taught yes the sin was brought to light yes the sin was dealt with how painful it was to deal with it so the whole book of Ezra ends on this note in verse 44 of chapter 10 some of them had wives by whom they had children that by itself right there is a is a stark warning and reminder to us of how serious sin can be we don't want to let it get to that point when we are serving the lord we must be on our guard against Temptation and sin because once we allow sin to come in a whole lifetime of service can be ruined a whole life times worth of building up a witness can be brought to nothing by a moment so let us take this warning to heart and be sober and Vigilant against all temptation and sin guard ourselves so that we do not fall and pray that the Lord who is able to keep us from falling will keep us from falling let's close with a word of prayer Our Father in Heaven once again we thank you for your word we thank you for this solemn and and sober reminder the seriousness and danger of sin we pray you would help us earnestly and diligently to examine ourselves to make sure we do not fall into sin that we may serve you purely acceptably and profitably for the glory of your name help us to be holy As You Are Holy you know our hearts you know our weakness you know how easily we succumb to temp ation we cannot do this on our own we pray you would help us sanctify us and guard and keep us we pray you would continue to bless our witness and our service to you in this way and Lord we thank you for for this camp for all that we have learned through your word we pray you would continue to work in Us by your spirit as we meditate and reflect on these things help us to learn these lessons well and help us to serve you and to grow and improve and mature in our service in the years to come if the Lord carries we pray for your blessing on each one here for those who are watching by the live stream and we pray especially for the children that you would work even in them through the lessons that they have learned that they may be drawn close to you that they may learn and know the truth that they may be guarded and kept from Temptation from sin from the Ws of the devil that they may be prepared in their generation when we are gone to serve you to serve you Faithfully to serve you profitably in all this we ask once again with much Thanksgiving with humble joy and gratitude for all your goodness we pray in Jesus name amen