Shabbat Shalom. We are going to open our Bibles to the last chapter of the book of Ezra. And today, Lord willing, we are going to conclude with study of the book of Ezra. And we are going to turn to Ezra chapter 10. It's a very long chapter. We are going to read the first 17 verses of Ezra chapter 10. We're not going to read every name from verse 18 to the end. But please follow me beginning with Ezra chapter 10 verse 1. And I'm reading. Now when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, weeping, and casting himself down before the house of God, they assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept very sore.

And Shechaniah, the son of Yechiel, one of the sons of Elam, 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. So, 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 priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word, and they swear. And Ezra arose from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Yohanan, the son of Eliashiv. 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 three 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 three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth 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. Ezra the priest stood up, and he 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 had 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 work of one day or two. For we are many that have transgressed in this thing. Let now our rulers and 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 Yonatan, the son of Asael, and Yechayazah, the son of Tikva, were employed about this matter. And Meshulam and Shabtiel, the Levites, helped them.

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain of the 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 tenth month to examine the matter. And they made an end of all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. And from here on, beloved brothers and sisters, from verse 18 to verse 44, let me just read these remarks. First of all, from verse 18 to verse 23, we have the sons of the priests are listed. And then from verse 23 to verse 24, we have the Levites, the singers, and the porters are listed.

And then from verse 25 to verse 44, we have the names of the rest of the children of Israel. Their names are listed. These are all the names of the people who have taken strange wives, wives that belong to other nations. And we read in verse 44, "All these had taken strange wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children." You know, when I was preparing for this message over the week, I've been going over this passage. I was listening to some messages on that passage. I was reading the text and looking for the Lord's help to minister on this 10th chapter of the book of Ezra.

And really almost everyone that I've been listening to, and I've read somewhat about their comments about this chapter, almost everyone said that this is not an easy chapter to speak about. In a sense, beloved brothers and sisters, this chapter is a chapter that's challenging our own hearts. It shows us the reality of the human nature. And it shows us that even the best of men or women is a sinner by nature. That even though we are making a recovery, and we are going back to the principles that God has taught us in the Word of God, there is still this battle that is going on because of the human nature that all of us have.

In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, it was the Apostle Paul who said in Romans chapter 7, he said in verse 24, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Shaul, Paul, the Apostle, that was ministering to the nations of the world in one of the most climactic times of his life as a servant of the Lord, he said, "O wretched man that I am." He didn't say, "O wretched man that I was," but he said, "O wretched man that I am." And then he asked the question, "Who shall deliver me?" Shaul, Paul, from this body of death. And then of course he turned in verse 25 on Romans chapter 7 to the only person that can help us in our lives, and this is none else but our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

I thank God through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord. He is the only one that can help the believer to be delivered from the influence of the world, from the satanic attraction, and from this old nature that we have. So he turned to the Lord for help. And this is exactly what Ezra does and the leaders of Israel in a time of decline. So this Jewish remnant, first nearly 50,000, later an additional 2,000, returned to the promised land, to the city of Yerushalayim. They built a temple with all the opposition at the head. The temple was now laid there before them. They began the restoration of the worship of the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The sacrificial system was going on. The worship was going on. Everything seems to be in order. But something happened. And in chapter 9, we have learned that Ezra received information when he arrived to the city of Jerusalem. And they told him in verse 1 and 2 of the 9th chapter, he says, But when these things were done, the princes came unto me, and they said to me, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the land, doing according to their abomination, Even as unto the Knaanim, Chitim, Perizim, Yevusim, Amonim, Moavim, Mitzrim, and Amorim. All those nations of the land.

Can you imagine now? Ezra began his mourning. The whole chapter 9, which we have covered in our last meeting, he was broken before the Lord because he was assuming, I'm coming back to my homeland, to Yerushalayim. I'm coming back to the temple. Will I find there that which is honoring unto the Lord? And when he came, what does he find? The people of Israel, not only that they took strange wives, they were doing the abomination of all these lands. Perhaps worshipping idols. Perhaps living a lifestyle that is sinful. And on and on and on. Ezra was at awe. He was amazed. And Ezra, we find out in this chapter that we have already read.

Chapter 9. He was mourning, and he was weeping, and he was crying before the Lord. And if you remember, we read in verse 6 of chapter 9. And he said, "Oh my God, I am ashamed. I blush to lift up my face unto thee, my God. For our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." You know what happens when sins are over our heads? When water is over your hands, you are drowning. Here what we see, the people of God are drowning in their ways of living, even once they are already back in the promised land. And to apply this to the present day church age.

If we are not careful, we are all able to be under the same condition, beloved brothers and sisters. So what do we do? If we find this condition, what do we do? Is there any hope? Should we just carry on and say, "Well, what's the use? All had failed. I have failed. He had failed. She had failed. They had failed." So what should we do? Should we just give up and we say, "There is no hope. There is no tikvah." Well, in the 10th chapter, beloved brothers and sisters, we learn that there is a hope. There is always a hope for the people of God to be restored back to the Lord.

It doesn't matter where you and I are. It doesn't matter where we were. It doesn't matter how we fail. There is still a hope for restoration. And if we do not realize that we are losing out because God is always delighted to see the people of God coming back to Him. He is the God of the second chance. He is the God that is always going to draw us back to Himself. Even after we fail, He always can restore us back to Himself. So I would like you to see, beloved brothers and sisters, in this chapter, that especially this expression, and I want to highlight this expression, "There is a hope in Israel." Notice this expression?

In Hebrew it says, "Yesh mikveh le Yisrael." "Yesh tikvah le Yisrael." The word tikvah is the national anthem of the nation of Israel today. If you are going to Israel, and the national anthem is being sung or being played, it is a moving song, and the words are wonderful, and it is called hat tikvah, the hope. There is hope. There is no such a thing that there is no hope. There is no hope in the world. There is no hope with Satan. There is no hope for the flesh on its own without God. But there is a hope in the God of Israel. There is a hope in our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

From the book of Ezra, in chapter 10, we learn there is a need to be conditioned in order that this hope can be presented to us or accomplished in the life of the believer. Well, we cannot just say there is hope and not act upon this. So, in this chapter, I would like you to see, first of all, in verses 1 to 6, that Ezra is being encouraged to know that there is a hope in the land with the God of Israel. There is a hope in Israel. So, look what Ezra does. In order for restoration to come to pass, and in order for revival to occur, there must be some condition met.

We cannot expect revival in our personal life. We cannot expect revival in our fellowship life. We cannot expect revival in the ecclesia, the church, the called out one, if conditions are not being met. Look at some of the conditions. First, if there will be a revival and a restoration, and hope brought to the surface, there must be a burden in prayer about the needs of the people of God. Look at verse 1. Now, when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, they assembled unto him, out of Israel, a very great congregation of men, women, children.

For the people wept very sore. We find immediately that prayer is necessary. In Hebrew, we call it tefillah, lehitpalel. To pray means that I am speaking with the living God. That I am telling him my situation. That I am sharing with him my heart. In your personal life, how is your prayer life? How do you and I spend time during the week in prayer? Do we take the time and simply go on our knees before the Lord and just ask him to help us, and you share with him our challenges, our problems, our family needs, our jobs, our finances, all the things that are ahead of us.

Well, Ezra, we find out the first thing that he does, he is praying. But you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, that when he prayed individually, somehow others were led to do the same. If you and I don't pray on our own, how do we expect others to learn from that and do the same? We individually should be praying to spend time in speaking with the Lord. So, Ezra is praying, it is a sincere prayer. You know, it's weeping and casting himself down before the house of God. You know, many years ago, I used to go to prayer meetings in Iago on the Lake, in our local assembly there.

And I tell you, it really moved my heart. When some of the brethren were praying, they were weeping. They were not only saying things. They were broken before the Lord about the needs, the conditions that existed and problems that they all, maybe some of them had more than others. But they were praying, they were crying before the Lord. It was sincere weeping before the Lord. Lord, we need your help. This is important. Even among our own Jewish people historically, here we see this brokenness before the Lord, the reality. Oh God, we need your help. And you know, when we were going through prayer meeting and if we were not right before the Lord, the prayer was just words.

And it seems to not rise above the ceiling. And notice what it says, confessing and weeping and casting himself down before the house of God. Beit HaMikdash, Beit Elohim, there in the city of Jerusalem. And he was praying. You know, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the shortest verse in the Bible, in John 11, we read, "Jesus wept." We never read one time Jesus laughed. But we read that Yeshua wept. Now he had a joy. He was a man of joy. But he wept because he saw our people Israel. He went to the funeral service of Eliezer. And we saw the condition of the people. He wept over our city.

And you remember what we read in scripture, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem." When Yeshua was approaching the city of Jerusalem, He says, "Oh, how long would I have gathered you?" I said, "Hand gathered her cheeks, but you would not." And he wept over the city. We need to weep over our failure and our sins. We cannot just brush it. We need to realize we failed the Lord. We have sinned against the Lord. And the Lord wants us to be sincere in our prayer. And if we will do so, God will exercise others to do so. Because look at this, beloved brothers and sisters. Not only Ezra, because it says in verse one, "They assembled unto him out of Israel a great congregation." Men, women, and children.

Now you know what we learn from this? It's not only for the men that the men should exercise the prayer. Our wives, the women, need to pray as well. And you know, we are mentioning every Shabbat meeting. That at twelve o'clock or twelve something there is a prayer meeting. I challenge you, dear sisters, to take the time to pray for us. For the fellowship, for the meeting. To pray that the Lord will just help us. That it will be a time of blessing here when we gather together. The Lord will be honored. We will encourage and have another week able to be charged and going to face the world that is before us.

But it's not only the men, not only the women, but also the children. It's so beautiful to see. You know, it's so wonderful to see when the children, praying for their parents. Praying for their mom and dad. Praying for the brothers and sisters. Take the time to pray. And to say, God, I love my parents. I love my brothers and sisters. I love my elders. I want them to be blessed. Lord, help them. The Bible said the little ones that will cry to the Lord. God is always ready to hear the cry of his people. And it's so wonderful, brothers and sisters, to see that this has existed already that time in the time of Ezra.

I was thinking of a verse that is found in a song of Solomon in Shir Hashirim. Where we read in that song of Solomon in chapter 1 and verse 4. It says, draw me and then we will run. Draw me first and then we, plural, will run. First, going to do a work of God. Do a work in me first. So I can be an influence to the others. And the others will follow after. Shaul Paul said, follow me as I follow the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So we learn, beloved brothers and sisters, the first thing in order to revive the people of God. To restore the people of God is necessary to spend time in prayer, in a sincere prayer for the people of God.

And I want to say that. We have a problem. Because we like to talk to men more than to talk to God. And you notice, you and I spend more time telling people what they need to do instead of telling God to help me what I need to do in order to live for him and to follow after him. Don't you feel it is the same like this in our life? We are always ready to tell somebody. Well, we are not as ready to talk to the Lord. And this is what we find in Ezra. Ezra gave us an example. He took the time to pray, to confess, to weep, to cast himself unto the ground before the temple of the house of God.

And others did follow him from the nation of Israel. Men, women, and children. And notice, it says at the end of verse 1, "For the people wept very sore." So it was really contagious. When they saw Ezra praying, it moved their heart. And the Lord speaks to them that they realize, "Oh, Lord, it's not them, it's me. We all are the ones that need to pray." And they all began to pray. And it's so wonderful to see that in this passage. And, beloved brothers and sisters, there are so many verses that we can read. It's important for us to pray. We are exhorted in Hebrews 4 and verse 16, "Let us, therefore, come to the throne of grace." And the presence of the Lord is a place where God can give us grace and help us in time of need.

And we can share this with our Lord. Secondly, I want you to notice, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 2 now. If there will be a restoration and recovery from failure, not only that there must be a burden in prayer, but also there must be a true confession. I want you to notice this in verse 2. There must be a true confession because when we sin, when Israel has sinned, they sinned against God. As we have read already in chapter 9 and verse 1 and 2, they have taken the wives of the nations around there, and they not only have not separated themselves, they have committed the abomination of the people of the land.

So they needed to deal with it in confession. And so we read in verse 2, and I'm reading this, Shechaniah, the son of Yechiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, Ezra, we have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land. Yet, Ezra, yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. You see, all of a sudden, one of the men there, of the people of Israel, his name is Shechaniah, the son of Yechiel. In Hebrew, Shechaniah ben Yechiel. I think it's so beautiful because every Hebrew name that God has given our people of all, the people of Israel, has a meaning.

Shechaniah ben Yechiel. Shechan means dwelled. Ya means Jehovah dwelled. Son of Yechiel means God is alive. He makes us alive. He's able to bring us to be alive again. He's able to restore us. So this man, he's the one that came and told to Ezra, and he says, you know, Ezra, we have sinned. Ezra, we have trespassed against, and notice, he doesn't say against them. We have trespassed against our God. You know that every time that we sin, we might hurt somebody else. Yes, of course. And maybe we hurt ourselves because we sin against ourselves. But really, beloved brothers and sisters, this trespass, first of all, was against God.

Every time that we sin, we sin really against God himself. First of all. And that's what he says here, this man by the name of Shechaniah ben Yechiel. He says, you know, we have trespassed against our God. We have sinned against our God. And if we sin willfully against our God, we need to confess this to him. And so here, the next thing that is very important, there must be not only a burden in prayer, we need to pray, but there is also necessary to have a true confession. I want you to read with me Psalm 32 and verse 1. David has written this Psalm. David, of all, he sinned against the Lord, and David needed to repent.

David says in verse 1, he says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, because God forgave him whose sin is covered. But if you notice a bit later on in Psalm 32, he says that when I kept silence, my bones waxed all, and so on. All day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me, and so on. And then he says in verse 5, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. In other words, God had heard from David saying, I have sinned against you, God. Notice what he does say in Psalm 51 and verse 4. He said against thee, thee only have I sinned, David said unto the Lord.

So we realize that when we do wrong, and we do. Beloved brothers and sisters, when we sin, we are actually, first of all, sin against the Lord. And then we, of course, hurt others along the way. And we hurt ourselves along the way. But confession is important for believers in Yeshua the Messiah. And what did we read? Many times we read that verse in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9, where the apostle John said, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. So, not only that we need to pray, but we need to tell God and confess before him our sin, because he is always ready to restore us back to himself.

He does not condone us doing so, but he is always willing to restore us back to himself. So, number 1, there must be a burden in prayer, verse 1. Number 2, there must be a true confession, Ezra chapter 10 and verse 2. Now, number 3, and here is another thing that is important to realize, and that is found in verse 3. There is another need in order for us to enjoy restoration. There must be also submissiveness to God's word, to God's law, to God's commandment. And so we read in verse 3. Now, therefore, let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives and such that 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.

God-giving word. You see, here is the third thing that is important. If they will receive revival and restoration, this man, by the name of Shechaniah, the son of Yechiel, gave this encouragement to Ezra. Ezra is saying to him, There is a hope in Israel. Yesh tikva le'israel. But if we are going to receive this hope fulfilled in our lives, something has to be done. And he says we have to follow the principle that God had given us in Scripture. And therefore he said, Let it be done according to the word of the law, according to the law that God had given us in Scripture. And you notice that he says here in the same verse 3, Let us make a covenant with our God.

This means to make a commitment to the law, to make a commitment that we are going to follow, to put away the wives such that are born of them. Now this must have been extremely difficult for these Jewish people, the people of Israel at that time. You know how difficult it is to put away the wives that they have already had been married to them for some years, and then those that had children out of them to put them away. How do they do that? How they are going to do so? Well, let's remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that these wives of them did not adapt to themselves the God of Israel.

The opposite happened here. What they have done, they drew them away from the true and living God. They drew them away from the word of God. They didn't follow their husbands in following the God of Israel. Now in biblical history, there were those who did so. For example, if you remember Rahab in Joshua chapter 2 and verses 9 and 10, Rahab says, "We have heard about your God." And Rahab, who was a prostitute living in Jericho, have adopted the God of Israel. She did not draw Israel after her gods, but she was drawn towards the God of Israel. It is a completely different thing. There is another woman, if you remember, by the name of Ruth.

Ruth, the Moabitish woman. She, in Ruth chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17, said to Naomi, "Your God shall be my God. Your people shall be my people. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Where you die, there will I be buried also." It's a different story between what was going on in the time of Ezra here and what these women of old, like Rahab and Ruth Hamoaviyah have done. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, if you remember, it was even in the time of Moses. Moses had married this Ethiopian woman. We read of him in Numbers chapter 12 where his sister and his brother were against him because he married this Ethiopian woman.

We don't hear so much about her. But apparently Moses carried on the life of following the God of Israel and she must have adopted what he believed in. It is a completely different story. Just yesterday and the week before, we have studied that which happened in the time of the book of Numbers when Bil'am was trying to curse the people of Israel. And you remember in Numbers chapter 25, the Moabitish women were presented before the people of Israel and instead of Israel leading them to know the true and living God, they led Israel after Baal and Israel committed the sin and abomination and God had to judge the people of Israel.

Let us distinguish here between Rachav and Ruth and the Ethiopian woman in the time of the people of Israel who embraced the God of Israel. And in contrast here, we see these women who led the people of Israel astray. And I don't have to tell you, in 1 Kings chapter 11, it says that Solomon loved many strange wives. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Did he lead his wives to follow the God of Israel? Not at all. In fact, the opposite had happened. What happened that Solomon ended up following after the idols that the wives that he had married have led him after. And so I would like you to see the contrast between Ezra 10 and all what we have read in other passages in the Tanakh.

When it's come to Rachav, she adopted the God of Israel. When it's come to Ruth, she adopted the God of Israel. Even the Canaanitish woman in Matthew chapter 15 who came to Yeshua, she believed in the God of Israel. And therefore, she could have been blessed. But here, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 3, they had to obey the Lord. And they had to remove the women and their children because of the fact that they led the people of Israel astray. Not following the God of Israel. So, number one, prayer must be sincere. Number two, there must be a confession of our sin that we have committed.

And number three, there must be obedience to the counsel, to the word of the Lord, to the Lord that God had given his own people. Now, fourthly, one more point here that I want to mention in verse 4. If there will be a revival, if there will be a change in restoration, there also action must be taken. Not only to listen to what the leader said, what the word of God is saying, but also to take an action and literally do it. And so we read in verse 4. This is what Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, is saying to Ezra. Ezra, he says to him in verse 4, arise.

For this matter belongeth unto thee, we also will be with thee, be of good courage, and do it. In other words, Ezra, take action. You are the leader among the people of Israel, take an action. You and elders of the people of Israel, not only pray, not only be ready to confess, not only listen to the advice that is written in the word of God, but also do it. Act upon it. And this is extremely difficult. Imagine what it meant for the so many from among the people of Israel literally to put away their wives and some of them who had children already with them.

To put them away. To put them away. And amazing how difficult it must have been. But these individuals have led them away from the Lord, led them away from the word of God. And so these are the four conditions that we see here in these verses. So what we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, that Ezra responded to the encouragement that were given to him from Shechaniah, the son of Yechiel. And in verses 5 and 6, Ezra is now responding. And look what we read. It says in verse 5. And now Ezra arose, and he made the chief priests and the Levites and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word.

And they swear. And Ezra rose up from before the house of God. And he went into the chamber of Yohanan, the son of Eliashiv. And when he came thither, he did eat no bread, no drink water, for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. Ezra took action. He got up. He told the people in verse 5, the people of Israel, he says, listen, I want you to make an oath. I want you to make a promise that you are going to go along with it. We're going to have to deal with it and be restored to the Lord. And it says that they swear to him.

They made an oath. In Hebrew, we call Vayish Shavu. They made a promise. And in verse 6, you can see that he's going now, he's rising up from the temple area. And he's going to a man's house by the name of Yohanan, the son of Eliashiv. And there, on his own, he's going to a secret chamber. And there, he himself, he didn't eat, he didn't drink, and he mourned because of the condition that existed that had to be dealt with among the people of Israel. That reminds me of the verse in the Gospel of Matthew, when Yeshua gave the Sermon on the Mount. And he says, when you pray, he says, go into your closet.

And when you are there in your closet, pray into your Father, which is in heaven, who will hear your voice. When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites that pray loud and so on, that everybody will hear them. But go into your closet and take the time there to pray. And you can see Ezra practiced this. As if he heard it from the Lord himself, he went to the chamber of the men by the name of Yohanan, the son of Eliashiv. And he continued to mourn because of the condition that existed there. He didn't eat, he didn't drink, he fasted, and he mourned for a certain time because those things are going to be done in the next verses.

What does that tell us, brothers and sisters? And by the way, the name Yohanan, the son of Eliashiv, are also speaking volume. The word Yohanan comes from the Hebrew word, Jehovah, have mercy and grace. He is the son of Eliashiv, Eliashiv means God will restore, God will bring us back to himself. So he went to the house of one that his name represents, Jehovah is gracious, and he is able to restore us. And there he went on his knees, and he didn't eat, he didn't drink, he fasted, and he mourned because of the condition of the people of Israel. Shaul Paul wrote this to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verses 9 and 10.

He is talking about the importance of repentance. And he says, "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but I rejoice for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing." I don't want you to be damaged," he's saying to them, "but you had a godly sorrow." Verse 10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of." Godly sorrow worketh repentance. Here we see in Ezra a godly sorrow. We too, beloved brothers and sisters, also need to have godly sorrow. You know, sometimes we have our hearts so hardened, we have our conscience seared, and we are not tender in our conscience that we can carry on, do wrong, and not have any godly sorrow over the wrong that we are doing.

Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing? And we are believers. We go to meetings, we read our Bible, we are with other friends and so on. Yet, how at times our hearts are so hard hearts. And that's why when Paul said, "Oh wretched man that I am," he's speaking about a believer when he's not in a spiritual state that is right before the Lord, we can be just like the others in the world. Not different at all. Because our human nature hasn't been improved. It is the same sinful as the nature of an unbeliever. The same thing. So godly soul produces something that is to the honor of the Lord.

And so we see this in the first six verses, how important there is a hope in Israel. There is a hope for the believers today as well. Well, let's move on because in the next verses, verses 7 to 17, we have actually Ezra and Israel really seriously taking action. First of all, verses 7, 8 and 9. Here's the call of Ezra for everyone to gather to the city of Jerusalem. It says in verse 7, "And they made a proclamation throughout Judea and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem. And that whosoever would not come within three 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." Now I want you to notice that there is a proclamation made.

And then there is a warning given to the children of Israel by the leaders of Israel. What is the warning? It's twofold warning. Number one, it says in verse 8, that whosoever would not come within three days to the city of Jerusalem, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, it says in verse 8, two things are going to happen to him or her. Number one, their substance should be forfeited. All that belonged to them will be removed from them. And secondly, he himself will be separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. Now what we learn here from this, that there is a corporate action.

In other words, where someone had carried on in a life that is sinful, there is a corporate action. There is a need to say, wait a minute, you cannot continue on in your way of life and not to be disciplined. And therefore, like we have in 1 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul said to put this man outside of the fellowship, not because he hated him, it's because he wanted that he will be restored back to the Lord and change his ways. And you see here, it says, he himself is going to be separated from the congregation. They would have to put a person out, that person will not sincerely going to repent and turn back and come to the city of Jerusalem to take action upon it.

And what we learn actually, and very nicely thank the Lord for that, because in verse 9, we learn that the people gathered in obedience to God. It says, all the men of Judea and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem. Within three days, it was the ninth month on the 20th day of the month, and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of the matter, and for the great rain. Apparently, they gathered themselves there together, all the people of Israel, and it was right before the house of God, according to verse 9b, and they were trembling. There were two reasons why they were trembling.

Number one, they troubled because of this matter. They are going to take a stand for God. They are going to put away their wives, who have led them already astray, away from the living God, and they are going to have to take an action. And they were trembling to do that. It was not an easy matter to do. But secondly, apparently, it was in a season when it was raining. And they were on the streets in Jerusalem, before the temple, and it was wet. And they were shivering externally, and they were shivering internally. They were shivering because of the situation that they had to deal with, but they were also trembling because of the rain that is falling down in the city of Jerusalem.

This is verses 7, 8, and 9. The call to gather to Jerusalem by Ezra and the elders, for all the people of Israel to begin to deal with this matter. Imagine what it meant for them to do so. They are going to take seriously the business of dealing with this issue. Then verses 10 to 15, Ezra appeals to the people of Israel. He speaks to them. And it's beautiful to see he's appealing to them. He's charging them. He's encouraging to do the thing that is right before the Lord. So the first thing he does in verse 10, he points to the sin that Israel had committed. Ezra the priest stood up, and he said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass in Israel.

People of Israel, he was telling them, Look, you have sinned. You have transgressed. You have increased the trespass, the sin among the people of Israel. Then verse 11, Ezra is now charging Israel to confess it, and to separate from their own wives that led them astray. Verse 11, it says here, Therefore, make a 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. I want you to notice that it doesn't only say separate yourself from your wives, but separate yourself from the people of the land. You see, it is not only that they have married wives who have been brought to be a part of the nation of Israel, but the opposite happened.

They married wives who led them after the nations of the world. And that's why he said separate yourself not only from your wives, but also from the people of the land. Now remember the list of the people of the land that we have already read in chapter 9. All these nations worshipped other gods. And Israel is called to be a separated nation, and to live for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now they were called to take action, to confess it before the Lord, verse 11a, and to separate from the people of the land and from these strange wives. Just remind me of this wife of Ahab.

You remember Jezebel, Isabella? How much havoc she caused among the people of Israel. Even in the time of Elijah, you remember that he was afraid of this woman. That he ran away in a time of weakness, because Jezebel wanted to kill him. And Ahab, a man of Israel, the king of Israel, instead of leading hell to the God of Israel, she led him to worship other idols. And Ahab became one of the worst kings of Israel. And he caused so much havoc, and he caused so much trouble to the people of Israel. And God raised the man Elijah to speak, and to give a word from the Lord against Ahab, and against his wife Isabella.

And how sad part a time of the history of the people of Israel. And so we read here in verse 12, Israel now is responding to Ezra. Look at this verse 12. It takes a lot of nerve and boldness to take a stand like that. And they say, Ezra, you've spoken like that. This is the voice of the Lord. This is the word that God had given us through the elders of Israel. We must do so if we are going to be restored. If revival is going to occur among the people of Israel. But look what they said in verse 13. It takes time. They said to Ezra, Israel needed time to take action.

Why? Because there were so many that have done so. And so we read in verse 13. But the people are many. And it is a time of much rain. And we are not able to stand without. We cannot stay outside like this. Neither is this work is of one day or two. For we are many that have transgressed in this thing. In other words, they say, listen, we are so many of us that have done so that need to do it. We cannot do it in a day. We cannot do it in two days. It's going to take some time. So you can see the orderly fashion in which they have done so.

So they didn't say we need more time in order to give an excuse. No, they needed the time to do it orderly in a proper way. Because after all, even though they are going to send away these women. They were still their wives. And they needed to do so in a right way. In a God honoring way. And so in verse 14, Israel needed to remove the strange wives in a timely fashion. And so I want you to notice, beloved brothers and sisters, that in verse 14 and 15, we find out that they are doing it in a timely fashion. And they are doing it with a leadership order.

It says in verse 14, Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at an appointed time and with them the elders of every city and the judges thereof until the fearless rest of our God for this matter be turned from us. So we need some time. We have an appointed time. Notice that they have done it in orderly fashion. Verse 14 and verse 15. We read, And Yonatan, the son of Ashael, and Ahaziah, the son of Tikva, were employed about this matter. And Meshulam and Shabtai, the Levite, helped them. So the leaders of Israel helped them to do so.

Yonatan and Yehaziah, all of them were employed to help the people of Israel to deal with this issue. And you can see that there was an orderly fashion. And brothers and sisters, they were going to put them away. Well, they did not, they were not supposed to do it in a way that will be careless. It takes time. It has a lot of situation to deal with, various issues to deal with. And so they were gracious enough to do it in a timely manner, in an orderly fashion. And yet, they had to deal with the removal of their wives. Because their wives were not adopting the God of Israel, but leading them astray from the living God.

And well, so, just as we get towards the end in verse 16 and 17, Israel did that which they needed to do. And they separated from their wives, their strange wives from the nations around there. And so let me read verse 16 and verse 17. And the children of the captivity did so. Notice they 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 they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And you notice when it ended in verse 17. And they made an end of all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.

So from the first day of the tenth month, the tenth month, the eleventh month, and the twelfth month. And on the first day of this first month, which means three months later, they have finished to remove all the strange wives that they have been with them. And so that's the way whereby the people of Israel were restored back to the God of Israel. Putting away sin from them. Putting away that which was contrary to the will of God. And God had honored that. And restoration had happened. Now the last verses, which I'm not going to read. Verses 18 to verse 44. Therefore, we have that list of the people that have done so.

And you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, the list is a list of their names. But it also shows that these ones dealt with the issue. It's not only talking about them saying, oh, they have done so. They were bad. But it also showed that they were restored. These are the priests. These are the Levites. These are of the people of Israel that had done so. They have repented. And they now restored back to the Lord. The last verse tells us in verse 44, For all these had taken strange wives. And some of them had wives by whom they had children. Now I want to conclude with just one or two remarks.

Turn with me to the prophet Malachi. Malachi actually was preaching in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Around that time, he was one of the last prophets of Israel during the time of the restoration of the remnant of Israel. And you know, he challenged them at that time in Malachi chapter 2 and verse 15. Why did God introduce the marriage union? Why is it? He's saying to Israel. Here it is. It says in verse 15. And did not he. This is God. Did not God made one. In other words, he made a marriage. He united people together. Husband and wife. And yet he continued. And he says, Yet had he the residue of the spirit.

And why did he make them one? Why did he introduce marriage? And look what it says in the middle of verse 15. That he might seek a godly seed. Let me kind of reword this first part of verse 15. Did not God made the two into one in marriage? That which is of the spirit belong to him, belong to God. And why did he unite the two into one? Because God wanted godly seed. Children that will follow him and not the gods of the nations of the world. And you see, this is really important to understand. To understand why does God wanted Israel to be separated from the nations of the world.

Not because Israel is better. Not because the Jewish people were superior. It is simply because Israel was a nation that was called to believe in the true and living God. And the nations of the world worship all sort of idols. Now what's going to happen when you take a person who believes in God and a person who don't believe in God or believe in certain idols and unite them together? What are you going to have? Do you think in a home life you're going to be able to say, hey honey, let's go to read the Bible and to talk about Yeshua the Messiah? Oh darling, let us pray together and read the word of God.

It's not going to happen. Most of the time it doesn't happen. Because God wants a godly seed. He wants that there will be a descendant who will continue to follow. God gave Abraham. And Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac begat Jacob. And God wanted a nation that will follow after him. And it is really the same today for us as well. When a believer is united with an unbeliever, what do you think is going to happen? That's why the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, he said, "Be not unequal yoke with unbelievers." Why? He says, "What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?" What communion has light with darkness?

What concord has the Messiah with Blyal? And what part has he that believeth with the one that does not believe? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God had said, "I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore," Shaul Paul quoting Isaiah 52, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty." Now, beloved brothers and sisters, the thought is here in this chapter 10, it's simply, God is for us, He is not against us.

And by having us instructed to marry in the Lord, to marry believers, it's only for the good of the people of God. Same thing with our people, our forefathers, the nation of Israel. As long as the nation was following the God of Israel, they were exhorted to marry within the nation of Israel, for the benefit of the nation of Israel, because God was a godly seed. But the moment they have adopted from other nations, they most of the time ended up going astray, and they were not following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for this, God had to discipline His people. What a challenging thing this is for all of us.

And may the Lord just help us to see this. God is for us. God is for Israel. God is for the body of Messiah. He wants the people of God to be blessed, but if He is going to bless us, we must submit to His will. Then we will enjoy a fellowship with the Lord, and we're not going to suffer the rest of our life. And we know the stories of broken homes, because things have not been in accordance with the will of God. And it's kind of late. We say, "Oh Lord, I should have listened to what you told me earlier, but I was foolish.

I didn't listen to your counsel." And so, brothers and sisters, may the Lord help us. With this, we conclude the book of Ezra. There was a revival. There was a restoration. But they had to have this condition. And the condition was prayer, repentance, obedience, and action. And then there is a hope for Israel. There is a hope for the people of God.