Shabbat shalom. We are studying the book of Ezra. Please turn with me to Ezra chapter 9. Ezra was this godly man. And as we continue on in our study, we'll find out something that really hurt the heart of Ezra when he found out what kind of condition existed in Israel when he had arrived. So please follow me as I'm reading those verses for us all today. Beginning with verse 1. Ezra 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 land, doing according to Israel, doing according to their abomination, even of the Canaanites, the Chittites, 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 has been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and I plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the word 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 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 blushed to lift up my face to Thee, my God. For our iniquities are increased over our hand, and our trespasses is grown up unto the heavens. Since the day of our fathers, we have 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 land, to the sword, to captivity, and to the spoil, and to the confusion of faith, as it is this day.

And now for a little space, grace has 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 has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has 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 desolation 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 commended by thy servants, the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land, with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abomination, 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 live 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 has punished us, lest then our iniquity deserve and has given us such deliverance at this, should we again break thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?

Wouldn't not thou be angry with us till thou had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, no escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee and are trespassers, for we cannot stand before thee because of this. An amazing chapter, this ninth chapter of Ezra. Now if you just visualize what happened here. We have this second group of Jewish people arriving to the land of Israel after so many years that they have been in Babylon. Ezra is this leader of the group, about 2,000 individuals, and that they have finally arrived to Jerusalem.

He was so happy to join the early group, about 50,000 of them that went earlier, some 70 years earlier, when he arrived to the land, to the city of Jerusalem, to the temple. He rested for three days and on the fourth day he came and he gave all the silver and the gold and the vessels that he brought from Babel to the leaders of Israel. And then he received that very, very sad news. And what we learn from there, and we can apply it to ourselves here, the group that have left the world, Babel. They have come all the way to Jerusalem and they established the temple and its service and its principles that God had gave the people of Israel.

And you would say, well, we are no longer in the world, we are no longer in Babel, we are right where we belong in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, around the temple. We can begin to worship the Lord in the right way. And then things change. If something had happened there, it crept in, the druid, the very remnant who left the world, who left Babel, and now around the temple in Jerusalem, and things have crept in, and things have been presented to Ezra when he had arrived. So this ninth chapter divides itself into three sections. The first section is verses 1 and 2. We see Ezra receive a report about Israel's sin.

In verses 3 to 5, Ezra reacts to Israel's sin, and we see what he does. And in verses 6 to 15, Ezra prays to the Lord on behalf of his people, whom he loves so much, the people of Israel. The first point is Ezra receive a report, in verse 1, that Israel did not separate themselves from the nations that were right there, around them, in the city of Jerusalem and in the land of Canaan, the land of Israel. It says here in verse 1, "Now, when these things were done, the princes came unto me." This is unto Ezra. And the princes and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the land, doing according to their abomination.

Ezra, you came all the way from Babel. You have left everything there because you wanted to come to the place where God's name is set, in Jerusalem, in the temple there, to enjoy the things of the Lord. And when he finally have arrived, what does he hear? That the early group that have left years before him, already they began to mingle with the nations of the world around them. Now, this is amazing. You would think, if you don't want to separate yourself from the people of the land, why did you take this 900-mile trip to Jerusalem? Why didn't you stay in Babel? It's far better for you because there you had all the people of the Babylon there around you.

There you could have had whatever you want to do. All the way to the city of Jerusalem. And there to mingle yourself and to not separate yourself from the nations around. You see, what happened is someone, beloved brothers and sisters, can be in a right place, but with a wrong spiritual condition. Someone can be right in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple, and yet with the wrong practices in his or her life. And they haven't separated themselves from the people of the land. Now, God said this to our forefathers, our Jewish people, a long time ago. He gave a warning to the people of Israel.

Israel, I know what's going to happen to you if you are not going to submit to me. I'm giving you a head start warning before you even go into the land of Israel. You are going to come into the land of Canaan. This land is filled with nations that worship other gods. And if you are not going to separate yourself from this nation, you will see what's going to happen to you, Israel. They're going to draw you after them. They're going to pull you, beguile you to follow after their God. You're going to end up worshipping their God instead of worshipping me. Israel, I'm giving you these warnings before you go into the land.

Turn with me to Exodus chapter 34. After Israel have built the golden calf, then Moses gave them a warning. Look what he said to them. In verse 11 of Exodus chapter 34, it says, "There observe thou that which I commanded thee this day. Behold, I drive out from before thee the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Chittite, the Perizzites, and the Chivites, and the Jebusite." This is long before they even arrived into the land. In fact, this is almost 40 years before Israel have entered into the land, the beginning of their journey. God, through Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses, the lawgiver said to Israel in verse 12, "Take heed to yourself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land.

Whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves." Verse 14, "Thou shalt not worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous," is a jealous God. God is jealous over his people Israel, whom he loves so much, as a husband is jealous over his own wife. Israel, the wife of Jehovah. Just similar to you, beloved brothers and sisters, and I, as believers in the Messiah today, the bride of Christ, the bride of the Messiah. Yeshua, the Messiah, is jealous of his own people. And so notice what it says in verse 15, "Lest thou make covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-hooring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their God, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take their daughters for thy sons, go a-hooring after their God, and make thy sons to go a-hooring after their God, thou shalt make thee no molten God." You see, God gave to Israel long before they had entered into the land these warnings.

Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Forty years later, He gave them an additional warning in Deuteronomy chapter 7, and there, just before Israel entered into the promised land, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 1 to 4, He gave them to the next generation. Another warning before they entered into the promised land. And it says in chapter 7 and verse 1 of the book of Deuteronomy, "When the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, and hast cast out many nations before thee, the Chittite, the Girgashite, the Amorites, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hevites, the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, 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 marriage with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, neither his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." Why?

Verse 4. "For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, and so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee utterly." You see, beloved brothers and sisters, their warning had been given after so many years in Babel. You remember in Psalm 137, they have sung earlier by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept when we remember Zion. There those that took us captive said unto us, "Sing unto us one of Zion's songs." And you remember there, because they couldn't sing, they said, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" And our finally God had brought them into the promised land, into Jerusalem the city, and the temple right in the midst.

And Ezra finally arrived a few years later when they find, "Israels have not separated themselves from the people of the land." And not only that, they did according to the abomination of the people of the land. So you may ask yourself the question, "What's the use? Why don't you stay in Babel? Why come to Jerusalem?" In other words, if we will apply this to us as believers today in the body of Messiah, well why come to an assembly or a local congregation when the Bible is being taught, when you don't want to learn and to grow and to get closer to the Lord? You far better stay in the world.

Say outside, return to the principles that are taught in the Bible, and not seek with the help of the Lord to follow those instructions. How sad, how grieved it was to the heart of the Lord. And you know brothers and sisters, we don't blame and look at our people of all the people of Israel, because this is existing in our very own hearts. Our hearts are just the same. We can be in a right meeting, or in a right, what we call church gathering, but our hearts can be in a wrong condition. Our spiritual state can be rather sad. Do you remember there was a man by the name of Eutychus?

We read of him in the book of Acts, when the apostle Paul Shaul was preaching. Eutychus was inside in the meeting hall, but he was sitting on the window. He was listening to the apostle Paul to Shaul, but then later his mind was outside, and he ended up falling from the third loft. In other words, his body was in, but his heart was out. And this is how our hearts can be when we don't get stirred up by the Spirit of God. If we are not in tune with the Lord, we can be in a right place, but with a wrong spiritual condition. Turn for a second to Hosea chapter 11, to show us the inclination of the human heart.

The Lord said to our people, Israel of all, he said in chapter 11 and verse 7, "My people are bent to backsliding from me." God said this about Israel, and as might as well he can say it about you and I today, we so quickly are being backsliding from that which the Lord would want us to enjoy in fellowship with him. And so Ezra arrived finally to the land of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem, and he gets this report about the people that should have been there enjoying the Lord, but they didn't. They haven't separated themselves, and even more, they began to act and do the things that the people of the land were doing.

One more verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, in verse 11 and 12, we often make a reference to this, when we study the Brit HaChadasha, the New Testament, about the things that happened to our forefathers, the people of Israel, and here the Apostle Paul Shaul is saying, all these things happened unto them, namely Israel. Why it happened unto them? And what's the lesson? It's become an example. And they are written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the age are come. You see, the thing that happened to Israel historically had been put in the record in the Hebrew Scriptures to help us as believers today to be admonished.

And then it says in verse 12, wherefore let him, the thing that he stand, take heed, lest he fall. Don't you think for a moment that whatever was written about Israel was written in order for you to criticize Israel and to say, that can never happen unto me. The lesson is, it is applying to me because I am just the same. I have the same old nature like Israel of all, like every Israeli, every believer in Yeshua the Messiah have the same sinful nature and we are able to do the very same thing. And notice, he lay before us the name of these countries. The Canaanites, Knaanim, Chivites, Chivim, the Perizzites, Perazim, the Jebusites, Yevusim, the Ammonites, the Amonim, the Moabites, the Moavim, the Egyptian, Mitzriyim, and the Amorites, the Amorim.

Those are the same list that were given in Exodus chapter 34 and the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 7. They began to mingle with the nations of the world and they have happened to do the things that they do. It's one thing for us to fall. It's another thing for us to carry on this kind of lifestyle. It's one thing for a believer to stumble and to fall, to confess it and to repent it before the Lord and to get up and to continue to follow the Lord. It's another thing to begin to live this kind of lifestyle and to do just what these nations have done.

It grieved the heart of God. It grieved the heart of Ezra, the servant of the Lord. What an example we see here in Ezra. So notice that. While in verse 1 Israel did not separate themselves from the nations of the world, the emphasis in verse 2 is that they not only didn't separate, they did exactly the opposite in verse 2. They mingled themselves with the nations of the world. In other words, you could see no difference now between the Israeli individual which was chosen by God and the nations of the world, the nations around them which worshipped idols and other gods. And so we read, listen what happened.

Look what God is pointing out here in the second verse. It says here, for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons. And notice it says, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princess and the rulers have been chief in this trespass. So while the emphasis in verse 1 is they did not separate, the emphasis in verse 2 is they actually have mingled themselves with the nations. They took their daughters for their sons, they gave their sons for their daughters and instead of drawing others to believe in the God of Israel, they ended up to be drawn away from the God of Israel to worship the idols of the nations of the world.

And you notice this expression here, the holy seed. In Hebrew, it's Zerah HaKodesh. That is the holy seed, the one that is set apart. You see, Israel is always called in Scripture a holy nation. The word holy means set apart. Mekudash, set apart to the Lord. Israel as a nation were called to be a set apart nation for the Lord himself. You can read it in Exodus 19 verse 6. Ye are a holy nation. In chapter 22 verse 31 of Exodus as well, The holy people unto me. So now the seed of holiness end up to be mingling with the nations of the world and instead of drawing them unto the God of Israel, they end up to be drawn away from the God of Israel and they begin to worship their gods.

You and I sometimes think, you know what? I'm strong enough. I can do it on my own. I'm going to make sure that I'm going to lead somebody else to the Lord and we end up kind of beginning to mix ourselves with others, to go to places we shouldn't go, to practice things we shouldn't practice and it does not take too long and we find ourselves in no time, no longer in the same spiritual condition we used to be when we first began with the Lord. You agree with me, right? We know very well how it can happen unto us as believers in Yeshua the Messiah.

Sometimes you hear statements such as this, Oh no! Don't worry! The Lord will protect me and I'm able to take care of myself and we end up exposing ourselves to that which we shouldn't be exposing ourselves and it doesn't take too long and we end up to be drawn away from the things of the Lord. Beloved brothers and sisters, when God gave the warning to Israel, He knew why. When God gave the warning to the body of Mashiach, the believers in Yeshua the Messiah, any one of us who is parents or who had been child of a parent who gave us warning, know very well that listening to the Word of God to preserve us from such a mess that we can fall into if we're not listening to the Word of God.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 12. The Apostle Paul, Shaul, in chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2, he says, Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You see, Shaul, Paul, writing to the Roman believers, he called them Achim, brethren, because they were his Achim, his brothers and sisters in Yeshua the Messiah. He says to them, brethren, listen, I appeal to you on the basis of the mercies of God, present yourself, yield your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or spiritual or intelligent service.

We are going to be conformed to this world. Why? Because we are going to be conformed like the world, the world will swallow us. We are not matched against the world. We are not matched against Satan. We are not matched against the old nature, the flesh that we have. Satan beguiling, the world attracting, the flesh is allowing in its own sin nature. And he says, look, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. How are you going to be transformed? By the renewing of your mind, be occupied with the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. And we become more and more like Yeshua the Messiah as we are occupied with him.

Israel, our people of all become more and more like the God of our fathers who have brought our people of all out of the land of Egypt. See the application is so real here to believers today that you will prove what is good, what is acceptable, what is the perfect will of God. every time a believer make a decision for the Lord, he or she are only going to be blessed by God. When we don't listen to the word of God, we're going to preserve so much headaches, so many troubles that come our way. God's word was given to us to protect us, to preserve us.

You know, sometimes people look at believers who go to church meeting and they say, ah, what's the use? Why should I go? I want to have good time. I want to have my own thing. You know, I want to be free. I want to do what I want. And they find themselves very quickly drawn away from the Lord. And then soon enough, things are going from bad to worse. And at the end they realize, oh Lord, I played the fool. I should have listened to your word. And you know, when we sin, we know very well that had we listened to the word of God, we would have saved ourselves so much headaches and so many troubles that come our own way.

And that's what God said to Israel. And that's what exactly the Lord is saying to the believers today in this present day. Look what Peter now, writing to Jewish believers of first century, Messianic Jews, Hebrew Christians, Jewish believers in Yeshua the Messiah, and he's writing to you and I today. And he said to them in chapter one, verse 14 and 15, disobedient children, not fashioning yourself according to the form and lust of your ignorance. But as he which has called you is holy, be also holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be holy for I am holy. In other words, be set apart for God, because God is set apart from all that which is sinful here in this world.

First Peter chapter 2 and verse 11 and 12. Again, beloved brothers, look how Peter now is writing like Paul. Peter says, Heavenly beloved, I love you, my brothers and sisters. I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Having your behavior honest among the Gentiles, that where is they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. Look at one more verse in first Peter chapter 4 and verses 3 and 4. And again, Peter is saying, for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles of the nation.

When we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riots, speaking evil of you, and so on. Again and again, Peter is saying, Paul is saying, brethren, because you belong to the Lord, there ought to be a change in your life. Watch it. And so here you can see, a person can go back into a place that is the right place, and yet he or she can be their hearts away from the Lord. And sometimes we have to be careful that we are not judging others carelessly, because we know very well our very own hearts, how we can be when we are not guarded, when we are not having the help of the Lord in our life.

And so here is the report that Ezra is receiving. He must have been saddened to hear this report. He was probably saying to himself, Wow! All this journey that I took to meet my brethren in Yerushalayim, to exalt God right in a place where God had set his name, and look at the condition. And you notice, brothers and sisters, the leaders in all this were not even the people, because according to verse 2, it says here at the end, the princes, the rulers, and the heads of the people were the ones that were chief in this activity. Not only the people, but the leaders. So really, there was no difference between the Jewish person, who is called to be separated unto God, and the nations of the world.

They look alike. And you know, sometimes we ask the question about a person, and we say, could he or she be a Christian, a believer? Look at the way we live. People ask about us. Are you a believer? Well, if you are a believer, what in the world are you doing? Sometimes we attend places we shouldn't go, and then we tell somebody about Jesus. I don't know if you heard this story. One girl wanted to win a guy to be her boyfriend or her husband in the future, so she went to the place where she shouldn't have been, the disco, the dancing and drinking and swearing and cursing, and she was hoping to win that person for her.

And as they were dancing, she was sharing with him the person of Jesus Christ. And he said to her, well, are you a believer? What are you doing here? That's not a place for you to be. And sometimes we have to realize that we cannot win somebody to the Lord in these locations. We have to share with them the Gospel and to draw them to the place where the Word of God is being presented, and the Lord Yeshua is being exalted. You will take a rotten apple and you will put it inside a bushel. This rotten apple will not become a good apple. The opposite will happen.

If a good apple you put in a rotten bushel, all the rotten bushels will make that one apple become just as rotten as the rest of them. And the lesson is, beloved brothers and sisters, Ezra has heard a sad, sad report, and he has been extremely grieved because of that. So what does he do? In verses 3, 4, and 5, look at the heart condition of Ezra. First of all, in verse 3, his personal affliction. Ezra took it to heart. It says in verse 3, and we have three points. The first thing, he rent his garment. The second thing, he plucked off the hair from his head and from his beard.

And the third thing he did, he sat down astonished. The first thing he did, he applied this to himself. And it's so nice to see, beloved brothers and sisters, the first thing he does, he ripped his mantle. He ripped his clothes. This was really a sign of mourning. He was amazed when he arrived to the city of Jerusalem. He saw this condition among the people of Israel. The first thing he does, he ripped his clothes. If you look at biblical history, Jacob ripped his clothes when he found out about his son, Joseph. And later on, you can find it throughout the history of our people of Israel.

The ripping of the clothes, it speaks of mourning. When a person dies and you go to a funeral service, the family members, even today, the rabbis would come and he will cut their part of their shirt just to give a symbolic expression of ripping your mantle, cutting up your clothes as a sign of mourning. I still remember when my father and my mother died a few years ago. First my father and then my mother. A few years later, when I went to the funeral service in Jerusalem, the rabbi came to me with the scissors, to my brother, to my sister, to me, and he cut the shirt.

It symbolically, it symbolizes exactly what Ezra had done. We rip the clothes. It speaks of mourning. It's a time of sadness. It is sad because when you lose a loved one, it is sad. But when you have the condition that existed among the people of Israel, Ezra immediately ripping his clothes as a sign of mourning. But not only this, beloved brothers and sisters, according to verse 3, he plucked off the hair of his head and of his beard. And this is also, it is another sign and it's a sign of shame. In the Old Testament, in the Tanakh, the people of Israel, the long beard speaks about age and maturity and growth.

It comes from the Hebrew word "zakan" and "zaken" is the same thing, old man and a beard is the same word. But it speaks of wisdom and maturity and growth and age that you are responsible. And he's plucking up the hair from his beard and from his head. And he speaks of shame. The prophet Isaiah spoke about the Messiah. They pluck off the hair from his cheeks. Speaks about the suffering and the shame that he had experienced at his first coming. Ezra was not only mourning about the condition of his people, but he was a shame. Sometimes, unfortunately, we are not ashamed. I was thinking there is a song that had been sung many years ago by Jews for Jesus, Tim.

And you know what they were singing? It takes from Romans 1:16 and it's still sung today. I am ashamed of my sins and the sins of my people. But one thing, I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Because through the Gospel, my sins have been forgiven. Through the Gospel, I have a message that proclaimed that you, Gideon, and you, whoever your name is, your sins can be forgiven because the message of the Gospel had been given to us and the work had been accomplished to our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. He was ashamed before the Lord. And it is amazing to see the attitude of this man.

Ezra was ashamed to stand before the Lord. But thirdly, notice what he did here in verse 3. It says that he sat down astonished. The Hebrew word for astonished is meshomem. I am astonished. He was astonished. He was amazed. He was amazed. He sat quietly. He didn't proclaim this against everybody and criticize anybody. He sat as before the Lord quietly and said, Oh God! Not only that I am mourning about my people and I am ashamed. God, I am also astonished. How is it possible? Well, it is possible if we know our own hearts. We don't look at them and the nation. We know our own hearts.

It is possible. We are human beings. We are a failing people. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 If all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible tells us in the prophet Jeremiah. The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can know it? And the Lord says, I know it. I know the thoughts. I try the rain. I know your hearts. And so Ezra was so astonished. He was sitting down there and he was mourning. He was ashamed. And he was astonished because of the condition of the people of God whom he loved so much. And so notice, beloved brothers and sisters, it says that not only him.

Because in verse 4 now, others join him. And then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the word of the God of Israel. That word for "trumbled", it comes from the word "chared" or "charedi". You know, if you know the ultra-orthodox Jewish people today, they are called "charedim". People who are "trumbling" at the word of God. And he says, all those that "trumbled" at the word of the God of Israel, gather to me. In other words, they had a prayer meeting where all those who realized, "Oh, Lord, we are failing people." They gathered together for a time to sit before the God of Israel in prayer and confession of sins.

And so we read here in verses 4b and verse 5, Ezra's sitting and rising at the evening sacrifice. You see, after they gathered around him on that particular day, it says, "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 arose up from my heaviness." Now I want to highlight here, this is so precious. There is no coincidence why Ezra is mentioning the expression here, "the evening sacrifice." In Hebrew it is called "beminchat ha-erev." Why is it that he sat down, the whole day he sat down, and he was mourning, he was ashamed, he was astonished with the others with him, and they sat down all this time until the evening sacrifice came.

And all of a sudden at the evening sacrifice, he rises up. And he began to do something, he began to pray. Now this is a wonderful lesson to learn. Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 29 verses 38 to 42. Verse 38 says this, "Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon an altar, two lambs of the first day, day by day, continually. The one lamb you shall offer it in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer it at even." Then verse 42, "This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generation." When God gave instruction to our forefathers, the people of Israel, he told them, "Every day I want you to have a lamb to be offered in the morning, and a lamb to be offered in the evening, and that's going to be continuous sacrifice.

Every day in the history of the people of Israel." As long that the tabernacle stood, as long that the temple stood, there was morning and evening, evening and morning, sacrifices are laid upon the altar. And so Yom Yom Tamid, every day, always, continually, there were sacrifices offered. But it is so interesting, beloved brothers and sisters, that Ezra sat down astonished until the evening sacrifice. And the evening sacrifice is typifying the future arriving of Israel's promise, Mashiach. The evening sacrifice is a picture of the time when the Messiah will come in the fullness of time. And he's going to offer himself as a sacrifice on the tree in order to redeem people for himself.

So Ezra is sitting astonished. But he's rising up at the time of the evening sacrifice. Why? Because he understood that at the evening sacrifice, blood was going to be shed. An innocent animal is going to be killed. And God is going to accept the people of Israel before himself and forgive their sins on the basis of the blood of the lamb that is going to be killed according to Exodus chapter 29. And so Ezra understood. He rise up now in verse 5, And at the evening sacrifice, he arose for my heaviness and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and I spread out my hands before the Lord my God.

In other words, he understood now that if God is going to forgive his people Israel, it must be done on the basis of the shed blood of the lamb, the evening sacrifice. Now that's so beautiful because it's so clearly pointing to the Messiah, to Yeshua's death. Because when Yeshua came in the fullness of time, he fulfilled to the letter everything that God had given our forefathers, the Jewish people. That's why we believe on him. That's why we believe on him because he fulfilled totally what God had expected from the nation of Israel. Turn to Matthew chapter 27, verse 45 and verse 46. It says, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." The ninth hour was the time of the evening sacrifice.

And about the ninth hour, Yeshua cried with a loud voice and he said, "Eli, Eli lama shvaktani." That is to say, "My God, my God, why?" "Has thou forsaken me?" Turn to Mark chapter 15, please, and verse 34. There we read, "And when the ninth hour, Jesus, Yeshua cried with a loud voice and he said, "Elohi, Elohi, lama shvaktani." Which is being interpreted, "My God, my God, why?" "Has thou forsaken me?" You can see that it was at the ninth hour, at the evening sacrifice. Yeshua cried, "Why did you forsake me?" And we know the answer, that Yeshua had to be forsaken so we, sinners, Jewish and non-Jewish, will receive forgiveness of sins.

He must be forsaken, the just, for the unjust, in order to bring us to God. There is no other way. And I can read in Luke 23, verse 44 to 46, and in John 19, and verse 28, 29 and 30, and in verse 30 of John 19, Yeshua said, "It is finished." He laid out the Spirit, and He finished the work of redemption. It was in the evening sacrifice. It was exactly at a time when Ezra rose up, and he was now approaching God in prayer, confessing the sins of the nation of Israel, spreading it before the Lord, admitting to Him of their sins, or the sins of the whole nation of Israel, on the basis of the evening sacrifice.

And it's beautiful, even though he didn't know, he didn't have the Berit HaChadashah, like you and I have, the complete canon of the Word of God. He was limited with his understanding, but one thing he understood. If I'm going to approach God, if I'm going to expect forgiveness from God, it must be at the evening sacrifice. It must be at the time where the blood was shed, the lamb was killed, and the blood was spread upon the altar, and God has accepted the confession of the nation of Israel. And today, brothers and sisters, you and I are today accepted in the Beloved. It doesn't justify wrong living, but when we confess our sins, we are grateful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, in order that we will live a life that will be pleasing unto Him.

The Hebrew writer said this in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19, Amen. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Yeshua, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Don't stay far when you and I have gone wrong. When we have sinned, we can draw near to God confessing our sins and saying, Oh God, I have failed you and I repent of my sins, and I want now to draw near on the basis of the precious blood of Yeshua the Messiah, the evening sacrifice of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

So, brethren, back to Ezra, chapter 9, verses 6 to 15. From here on, we have Ezra's prayer to the God of Israel. Notice that he doesn't go and spread it around. He doesn't go and point the fingers to anyone. He first of all applies it to himself, and he first of all approaches God in prayer. Yes, he's going to deal with the things later on, but the first thing that he does, he turns into God in prayer. In verse 6, look what he's saying. He's speaking about the shame and the blushing that he had. Before the Lord. He said, Oh my God, I'm a shame, and I blush to lift up mine face.

To thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses grown up unto the heavens. Notice what he's saying. God, I am a shame, and I'm blushing. You know, when you blush, you have a little bit of red on your face. You're a shame. And it's true. Had we understood how we hurt the heart of God when we sin, we would be ashamed as well. And just like he said, I'm ashamed even to lift up my face before you. But then he says in the second part of verse 6, he says, For our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

Now notice, he says our. He applied this to himself. He identified with the sin of the nation. You know, it's so easy to say to somebody, You have done wrong, and that's the bad thing that you have done, and not to realize if we search our hearts that we have done wrong as well. And so he's including himself. He's not saying they are wrong, and they are bad, and they have done it, and I'm okay. No, he says we have done so. And he's saying our iniquities, and our trespasses. You know, the word iniquity is the Hebrew word avon, crookedness. The word trespass is the Hebrew word for pesha, transgression.

We have practiced crookedness, and we have violated your law, God. He's saying, and in verse 7, beloved brothers and sisters, He traces this sin that Israel had committed all the way as far as the Babylonian captivity. It says it didn't begin now. Notice he says, since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day. In our iniquity have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hands of the kings of the land, to the sword, captivity, spoil, and to confusion of faith, even as it is this day. You see, he took back when he was praying. He says, God, this began long time ago.

In his prayer, he takes us as far as the time that the Babylonian captivity began. And you know why our Jewish people were for 70 years in Babylon? They were taken to Babel because disobedience that existed previously in the land, in Yerushalayim. The temple was in existence. But instead of listening to the Lord, Israel had violated his words. So God says, okay, I send the prophets. I send the judges. I send my messengers. Will they listen to their word? But they didn't. So he sent Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar took them to Babel and kept them there. And there they felt the consequences of their sins. And isn't it true, brothers and sisters?

Had we listened to those that have guided us before, we would have been in a far better shape than where we are. But we don't listen. Obedience is an amazing thing. When we obey, there is blessing coming. Do you know the only law that's connected with promise is obedience? Children, obey your parents. Because there is blessing connected with it. When a person obeys his mother and his father, especially believing parents who are saying to them, Listen, follow God. It will do you good. But when we don't obey, we end up suffering the consequences. And here we find out, as I notice in verse 7, since, you notice the word since in the beginning, unto, in the middle, unto this day.

You see that? From that time up till now, look what happened. Again, the prodigal son. He went away from his father. But what did he gain there? The time has passed by. All his wealth had been destroyed and he lost it all. All the joy that he thought he was going to have and happiness away from his father's house, he didn't have. All his friends left him and he ended up alone. And now when he is alone and he is hungry, he has to go to eat the food that belonged to the pigs. And then he remembered. He said, "Oh, my father loved me so much.

I should have listened to my Abba, to my father." And he began to journey back to his home. And I love that story and I can tell it many times. When he came back, his father was waiting for him, you might say, with a binocular looking. Is that my son coming? Is he returning back to me? And when he came back, it's not the son who ran to the father, but the father ran to the son. And he brought him in. And he did everything for him. He celebrated the return of his son. What a joy the father had when his son came back. And yet, how sad the father had been when his son had gone astray.

You can think of here of the Jehovah, the God of Israel, and Ezra, the servant of the Lord. How grieved God had been. How grieved the servant of the Lord had been when the people of God had gone astray. And so Ezra, notice brothers and sisters, verses 8 and 9. Ezra pointing to God's grace for the people of Israel. God is so gracious. He said, now, notice, for a little space, grace has been shown to us 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.

He says, look, God, now you've shown us grace. You have given us a remnant that has escaped all the judgment. And you even give us a nail in your holy place. The word for nail, it's come from the Hebrew word Yated. And it is really one of the messianic titles of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. If you will read in your own leisure, Isaiah chapter 22, verse 21 to 25, you will notice that the word Yated is applied to the Mashiach to come. The remnant of Israel was returning to Jerusalem in view of the building of the temple and the restoration of the promises that God had promised the people of Israel.

And the Yated, the nail in this holy house speaks of the firmness. We could have enjoyed what God had promised to us. But then notice what he says in verse 9. We were bond men, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia to give us a reviving and to set up the house of our God and to repair the desolation thereof and to give us a wall in Judah, in Yehudah and in Yerushalayim. In other words, God had mercy upon Israel. He brought them out from Babel, gave them a remnant that can be now enjoying the presence of the Lord.

And yet, instead of doing so, they fail and they went back to the old way of living like they have done before and which brought the cause of God's judgment upon them. So, brothers and sisters, you can see how Ezra is pointing to God's grace and God's mercy in verses 8 and 9. In verses 10, 11 and 12, now Ezra confesses Israel's failure to obey God's word. Look at this, verses 10, 11 and 12. He says in verse 10, "What shall we say?" In verse 11, it says we forsook God's word. And in verse 12, we forsook God's warnings. We should have listened to the warning of the Lord. Let me read those verses again. Verse 10, "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this?

For we have forsaken thy commandment, which thou hast commended by thy servants, Lord, O our God, what shall we say after this? The land unto which ye go to possess it is an unclean land, with the filthiness of the people of the land, with their abomination, 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 unto your own children forever." You see, God, he's repeating again what God already said in Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy chapter 7, Israel.

"You should have listened." Listen, Ezra is saying, "We should have listened to the word of God, and apparently we have forsaken his word." And brothers and sisters, when a believer forsakes the word of God, he's always going to be on the losing side. He or she will later on will say, "I have played the fool." "I should have listened to the word of God." And you and I know that from experience in our very own lives as believers in Yeshua the Messiah. Let me conclude here with Ezra's prayer here in verses 13, 14, and 15. Ezra now confesses Israel's sin as his very own. And so in verse 13, he says, "Notice, our evil deeds." And after all, he says that he's come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou, our God, has punished us less than our iniquity deserve, and has given us such deliverance as it is now." Can you imagine he's saying to the Lord, "Lord, you punish us less than we deserve." He understood that we deserve much more.

If you and I want to receive what we deserve, we will receive so much more than what God have given to us. We deserve to receive much more for the sins that we have committed in our own life. And you notice that Ezra is saying, "God, we have received much less than what we deserve because of our deeds and our trespasses." And in verse 14, he mentions again the trespasses. It says, "Should we again break thy commandment and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Should not thou be angry with us until thou had consumed us? So that there should be no remnant, no escaping." He's really saying, "God, really, God, I am confessing that we deserve to receive much more.

We would be consumed if you will judge us the way we deserve to be judged." And he says, "You know, you could have been angry with us and simply should be no remnant left." And you know, he remembered now. He's looking at the remnant of Israel there. He's looking at himself. He says, "Boy, we are some of the rest of the nation." Where is the rest of the nation? They are in Bavem. We are just a remnant. We came here. Shouldn't we bear in mind what God has done for us and be different?" And then he concludes with verse 15, "Beloved brothers and sisters." He is telling God that God is holy.

God is righteous. He is exclaiming God's righteousness and God's holiness. "O Lord God of Israel," verse 15, "Thou art righteous, atat tzaddik, for we remain yet escaped. As it is this day, behold, we are before thee in our trespass, for we cannot stand before thee because of this." This is the conclusion of his prayer. He is exclaiming and he says, "God, you are righteous. If you are going to punish us, whichever way you are going to punish us, we deserve it. You are right and we are wrong." And by saying this, he gave God the glory that belonged to the Lord. God, holy, pure, undefiled, separated from sinners.

We have sinned. We are sinners who need to receive forgiveness of sins. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, what is the lesson for us from this passage today? I think the lesson is important and I think we should apply this to ourselves. What we learn from this passage is that one can leave Bavel, leave the world, you might say, and go to a good church meeting and even can be part of this church meeting. But it doesn't take so long. If he or she, if we are not careful and watching ourselves and confess our sins before the Lord, we can be in the right place, hear even the right words, but be in a poor spiritual state and not be really the way we should be.

And applying to us today, you know, in the year about 1800s, there was a revival that happened to the church, to the assembly. The word of God began to be presented in church groups and people who wanted to hear the word of God. The gospel had been heard in many places. Missionaries were sent to many localities. But what happened? As time went by, people began to deviate from the teaching of the word of God. All sorts of things have been creeping into the assemblies, into the body of Messiah. False teaching, wrong teaching, wrong practices have been creeping in. And you find out in no time what was so fresh in the 1800s in the body of Messiah have declined and become like today as we are in the Laodicean age in which we live.

Things differ now. The revival that happened some 200 years ago now, it's no longer in the same way. When the apostle wrote to the Ephesians, the letter in the book of Revelation, the Lord spoke to the Ephesians and he said to them, I have one thing against you. You have left your first love. Oh yes, you have a lot of truth. Oh yes, you know your Bible very well. But your affection for me is no longer the same as it used to be when you first became believers. This is the first church, Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 8. Then if you read Revelation chapter 3, at the end, the church of Laodicean, there the Lord is saying to them something completely different.

Because he says you are exalting yourself, you're proud, and you say I have need of nothing. I'm rich and I got everything. The Lord is saying to them, I will spew you out of my mouth. You don't even realize that you are poor, naked and miserable. Don't exalt yourself, he's saying to them. And so everything revival that's starting very well can end up to be in a decline later on when the people of God are not watching ourselves. And we know it in our own hearts, in our own life, we can start well. And we got hope for the Lord. Lord, I will do everything for you.

And it doesn't take too long. And our hearts are turned away from the Lord. And we can be drawn away from Him and be just like Israel of all or the church of the Laodicean, away from our warm affection and obedience that the Lord is expecting from His own people. May the Lord just help us. We need His grace. We need His mercy every day of our lives so we will live a life that will be pleasing to Him.