Let us pray once again. O God, infinite, all-powerful, three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we now come with a trembling at your Word, pleading for your Spirit to join your Word as your Word goes out. that you will revive us, that you will rise and shine in our hearts this morning. Be with your servant, Lord. Be with us, Lord, as we come before your greatness, and we are so small. We plead for the assistance and help of your spirit. In the precious name of Jesus Christ, your Son. In His name we pray. Amen. It seemed to me I should never have any success among the Indians. This was the words of David Brainerd, famous missionary to the American Indians, who said this, my soul was weary of my life. I longed for death." That's what he wrote in the early 1700s as he's ministering to the Native Americans. Things didn't improve much the first two years of his ministry. He felt his prospect of winning converse was as dark as midnight. And yet three years into the work, he finally witnessed a revival. among the tribe of the crosswinds sung in New England. And 18 months later, the number of converts reached to 150. Brainerd died only after five years on the mission field at the age of 29 years old. And after his death, Jonathan Edwards, America's greatest theologian, published the journals of Brainerd. which were read widely throughout North America and Europe. And one man, a Baptist, William Carey, ignited the Protestant missionary modern movement, which resulted in millions of conversions worldwide, said that Brainerd's journal, and these words that I read to you were the key inspiration to take up his missionary life. So friends, who can judge whether our work for the Lord is worthwhile? Certainly, we cannot. When we are in the midst of discouragement, like Brennert, the man in our story, Ezra, faced overwhelming discouragement for the sins of God's people. The hopelessness, of having experienced God's judgment, and yet through his humbling in prayer, as he humbles himself before God, he becomes the instrument of bringing about God's answers to his prayer for revival. I'm going to title this message as, A Prayer for Revival, and this will be the first part of the message. Ezra chapter 9, verses 1 to 15, that our sister just read, are the first part. Lord willing, in two weeks from now, we can look to another prayer for revival from Daniel. But let me introduce the man to you, the man who prayed this prayer, Ezra. Ezra means in Hebrew, help, assistance. And we can indeed see through the life of Ezra that he experienced God's divine help in revival firsthand. He lives, as it was mentioned, after the exile. And we can summarize this man from the words of chapter 7 verse 10. It tells us why this figure is so important. What is the ingredient for revival? Ezra sets in his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Here you have a man who is in love with God's words. Ezra is not just filled with good doctrines. Ezra is not just filled with a theological understanding. He puts the Word of God in practice for himself. He lives it out before he teaches it to the others. He studies the Word, he applies the Word to his life, and then he teaches it to others, which is the essence of discipleship. He's a scribe and a priest. He's committed to live for God. And because of that, not because of his Leadership skill found in a modern-day book of leadership. No, it is because of that that his influence leads to a, we could say, a reformation, a revival of the Old Testament people of God. The judgment of exile is over. If you read the last verses from the historical books of Kings and Chronicles, you have this hope with Cyrus. Now restoration begins. Now we are coming back. After 70 years, an entire generation, we're coming back from Babylon to Jerusalem. This first started with Zerubbabel, who started to rebuild the temple long before Ezra. And wave after wave, Israelites are coming back to the promised land, only to find, however, a city in ruin. without a temple, without walls. And so they begin to build an altar, the foundation for the temple, the worship is restored. And as you read Nehemiah, you see that there's a conflict and an opposition to that work. And now 80 years after Zerubbabel had began the restoration, here comes Ezra. who, with another wave of exiles, returns from Babylon. What is the goal of this man? He wants to reestablish the Old Testament law among the Jews. He wants to rebuild the temple. Yes, but that rebuilding of the temple is no good if we don't start with inward obedience, without an inward change, without repentance, without becoming again that holy nation. All these external elements of religions are vain. And so he came to Jerusalem. And what does he find? Fartelkes tells us he finds a blatant disobedience to that Old Testament law, particularly the issue that is in our text, which is a marriage with unbelievers. Now, you have to understand this from the Old Testament, that for a Jewish person to marry foreigners, non-Jewish people, it was an issue of worship, that if you entangle with the nations, then it led to idolatry. The issue was outlined in the Old Testament law, Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 1 to 4, which is alluded in our text. Deuteronomy 7, verse 1 says, When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, you shall cast out the Canaanites. You shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor shall you make marriages with them, nor shall you give your daughters to their son, nor take their daughters for your son. Why? For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly." So here the issue was, it's already a problem to fail to wipe out the nations when Joshua entered the Promised Land. But then these pagan nations became a thorn in the flesh for Israel. And at worst, now we come back after the exile, for those very sins. And what does Ezra find? He finds them intermingling with pagan worship. And it's so crucial that in the following chapter 10, Ezra has to put aside those foreign wives. And even Nehemiah chapter 13, 25, Nehemiah himself pleads with the Israelites not to give their daughters to these pagans. Now, it may sound cruel, but remember, This makes sense only in light of what the breach to the old covenant disrepresented. Especially after what Israel went through just coming back from exile. Sexual sin threatened to demolish the little hope of restoration after exile. And so friends, only a drastic break with the past could save the situation for Israel. for this city that is in ruin, for the temple that is half done. Reformation starts with this revival of religion. I want to say this text is very important because it is the last spiritual awakening recorded in the Old Testament. And why am I bringing this topic of revival to your attention this morning? Because I believe that this nation I believe that our churches are in desperate need of awakening. And by revival, I do not mean what's often passed with the word revivalism, this emotional campaign to get people to run the aisle. If that was revival, I'm not interested in revival, just like you are now. No, I'm talking about what Jonathan Edwards and David Brenner understood as true spiritual awakening. That there was a time in this nation when people came to this deep conviction of sin. They experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit. And so we want to look at patterns of prayers for revival from the Old Testament. And what do we see in this first one today? In this first prayer for revival that is uttered here by Ezra. The next one we'll see is Daniel, is characterized by this humble, corporate, repentant confession of sin. Humble, corporate, repentant confession of sin, which is also accompanied by a plea for mercy. The reason why this prayer is starting is sin. And that is the first point in our text. This prayer for revival is uttered because of sin. Verse 1 to 4, the sinning question back then was intermarriage with unbelievers. The Old Testament law prohibited Jewish people to marry people of other ethnicities, not because of issues of racism, okay, but for the religious syncretism that follows inevitably from that marriage. This violation was doubly problematic also in our text, verse 1, because The families of the priests and Levites were engaging in this, the leaders, the rulers. And there needs to be a reviving. The wisdom of God, someone said, the wisdom of God and His Word is quite clear on this issue. Believers marrying someone who is not a true Christian, it remains by definition being unequally yoked, regardless of what this person claims to believe. Why is being unequally yoked either in marriage or even as you consider someone for marriage a problem? You think ever since Genesis chapter 6, you have sons of God marrying daughters of men, or you look at Israel's history, marrying with Canaanites, all the way to the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 7.39, 2 Corinthians 6.14 says that the Bible warns that when you marry an unbeliever, There are devastating consequences. Think about divorce, addiction, family violence. But family is the heart that then impacts the church. Ultimately, it brings destruction into the church. And He brought destruction in God's people in the Old Testament. He brought apostasy. See, Israel was supposed to be set apart, to be different from the world. And that remains a call for us as the Church of God to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. And so it begins, friends, with us as parents. Christian parents are to pray for the salvation of their children, to share and model the gospel with a burden for the salvation of their children. Now, of course, we cannot control their salvation, but it doesn't mean that we leave them to themselves. We're still called to Like he's drawing the old testament to obviously we cannot impose that but to protect our children from bad choices Bad companies corrupt good morals and when he when he comes to believers contemplating marriage I hear so many times people rationalizing it, you know, it's too too hard for me to find a solid believer of the opposite sex these days and so I gotta I gotta go with this relationship listen, I After I came to Christ, for seven years, I never dated. And I was there in Italy, pagan land, there was no godly woman. And I waited and waited. And God brought His answer. He brought a godly woman. But you got to trust Him. Many say, well, He's not a believer now, but I'll bring Him to Christ later, right? Or, I got such chemistry with this person. And he's got so much charisma. And if I pray long enough, he's going to come to Christ. None of these excuses matter. None of them can replace the complete absence of spiritual communion with God that an unbeliever lacks. And so marrying results in all sorts of problems. All sorts of compromises. It introduces separation as a couple. You think about the believer will be hindered in pursuing his relationship with God. It will impact and alter so many aspects of your life calling, so many aspects of your parenting. In every decision you face, you realize how painful it feels not to be on the same page, not holding the same values. And what would you do when a hard time comes? When the storm hits the house, where will you go? And worse is like in our text there, let's say a pastor kid engages in this. That was the situation back then in Israel. So what do you think this situation tells you of the spiritual state of God's people? Now, this doesn't mean, don't get me wrong, that if a person comes to Christ after such marriage, then now he should divorce his spouse. No. In the same letter of Corinthians, Paul exhorts the early Christians, in such situation, not to leave their unbelieving spouse. In fact, by their conduct, to pray and share Christ, so that the person may come to Christ. You see that, however, the problem with Israel under Ezra is that the emotional bonds had become, however, an hindrance for true reformation, for true revival among God's people. And the sad truth that back then few cared. I want to say one man was the only one who cared. Let's go there in verse 3 of our text, Ezra 9, verse 3. As soon as Ezra hears about this, our text says, he tore his garments. That is a sign of humbling. He's so upset that he even plucked some of his hair and beard. He takes that extra step of humiliation. He sits down, he's astonished, devastated, reduced to shuddering. This word is found also in verse 4, for stupefied, horrified by such sin. discouraged that this would happen after all that we've been through, through exile. And there's Ezra standing alone in complete silence on the ground in front of the ruins of the temple for hours until evening. And Ezra thinks he's so alone, but in verse 4 says, many assemble around him. See here, God is on the move. Our text says, verse 4, everyone who trembles at the word of the God of Israel came. See how obedience is at times scary. Whether it's an unbeliever trapped in sexual addiction that he realizes that he must stop his lifestyle or he will end up in hell, then he repents. But why does he repent? Because he trembles at God's word. A Christian whose job is on the line, if he won't compromise, feels that he must obey regardless. Why does he do it? Because he trembles at God's words. When a pastor, David Brainerd, felt called to the mission field, he went. Why? Because he trembled at God's Word. Israel now is frightened by what God has said in His Word against sin, and they leave that state of apathy toward God's Word. They are convicted, pricked in the heart, as we saw in Acts of the Apostle weeks ago. Sadly, however, it wasn't always the case. Isaiah 43 says this indictment about God's people in Israel. You did not call upon Me, O Jacob. You have been weary of Me, O Israel. That is the opposite. A nation that forgets God, that continues in apathy. No, true believers instead, if God's Word says something about anything, they grieve. They have this inward burden to heed the Word of God, to obey it without question. Truly and intentionally, they desire to pursue the Word of God. What were the spiritual resolutions of Jonathan Edwards? The first two resolutions were these, and I quote, I will live for God and I will do so even if no one else does. That's where revival begins, friend. One man. One man. One man humbling himself before God as if the sins of God's people were his very own. This is what Ezra does. That's what Ezra portraits for us. The reaction of a godly man when he just hears about the sin done by God's people. He's so awakened by God's holiness, so aware of the perfection of God's standard in His Word. Is this the way you react whenever you encounter sin? In the church, with consternation of spirit, sorrow for sin, profound humiliation, such an awe of His presence. Has anyone half of the righteous indignation for sin in the church that Ezra displays here? He doesn't just ignore the sin and says, Oh, well, is there a problem? Is there a fault? He doesn't tear. He goes and rips his clothes, tears his hair. Why? Not because he's mad at them, it's because his God has been offended. He cares most about God, his reputation, his glory that we, as God's people, are supposed to portrait. How must God feel over this than anything else? Even my own comfort, which is what ultimately sparks revival. The things like this are rare, but they don't just stay with one man. they bring to a corporate revival. Here the people of God are running around this man praying. Sadly, what was the reaction of the people to such sin before Ezra did what he did? Before Ezra showed up, they kept going through the motions. They had no grief, no tearing of clothes, no tearing of the hair. They knew all about the sin, but they went about their business as if it wasn't a big problem. as practical atheists. But when revival comes, then your personal interests become completely secondary to seeking and pleasing God. We mentioned Joel, too, when we went to Acts in verse 16. Joel says, gather the people, consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. That when God is in His place, when God comes down and anyone, you and anyone around you, would rather be there than anywhere else in the world. Notice 1st Hour Revival cannot come with power until the church confesses their sin corporately. It took one righteous man to awake everyone else to their unrighteousness. The moral outrage that Ezra has is what awoke everyone else about their sin. When they looked at Ezra, they saw the mirror of their own sin. When people see just one godly man expressing the righteous concern toward God's honor being defiled, they rally behind him. They tremble at God's word. They finally have this proper perception of the holiness of God. Friends, has God's Word ever gripped your heart in such fashion? When was the last time that you had a quiet time and you were struck like this? That brings you to go on your knees like Ezra? Friends, that's through leadership, by the way. You lead people not just by words, you do through action. Ezra is actively grieving over the sin of God's people. Now let's look at the content of his prayer, and there's the second and third point. The first part of the content of the prayer is that this prayer, first of all, Ezra is in thanksgiving. Thanks God for the past deliverance from exile. Verse 5 to 9. The first thing that he admits as he comes to the throne of grace, Ezra is recognizing that God has been just in punishing Israel's sin. He has no quarrel with God. God, you are right. This exile came on us because of our sin. It was, verse 5 says, the evening is the final sacrifice of the day before you close the temple. And it's a time for the Jewish people for confessing their sin. And that's where, finally, Ezra, he takes his fasting and touring of clothes, but then he goes back to his knees and he prays and he says, in shame and humiliation, This man who is a righteous man is ashamed to approach God. Why? Because of the amount of sins that have heaped through the history of Israel that has brought to this place. See how true revivals come with this extraordinary view of sin. People crying, overwhelmed by their sin, crying out, unable to contain the awareness of their wretchedness. Why? Because God is in the room. And all of a sudden they begin to see all their smallness. Ezra is unable to even lift up his face. The image here in Hebrew is almost of a drowning man. Sins have piled up to the brim. The nation is completely sinking under sin that it reached to heaven. Verse 7 recollects the disobedience of Israel. how kings and priests and leaders all the way to the exile have brought apostasy. But he doesn't say, yeah, they did this. Verse seven says, we did this. When the king of England was being asked to arbitrate a dispute in South America between two nations, Argentina and Chile, he wrote a letter and he said, we not But we, why? Because obviously he's a man of authority, but also because he represents the entire country of England when he makes a decision. And so Ezra here identifies with his people, even with the sin of his people. Although he's a righteous man, he owns the sins of his people, the sins of his fathers. He places himself under the same scrutiny. That's why someone says repentance is not just sorrow and confession. It's the turning around of the wrong behavior toward the right and just action. Repentance from sinful corporate sins require corporate repentance. And for many, the cost of this is too high. You talk about genuine repentance, which is always what accompanies true revivals. It's not an emotional high, a man-centered going down the aisle, I'm going to do this. And then a few weeks later, I'm the same man. It is not proudly coming to the presence of God without reverence or any shame for your sin. It's the very opposite. It's a deep-seated conviction of sin, abasement, a sense of unworthiness, and shame for having offended God. That you are zealous and totally humble before this God, on your knees, neglecting even to eat. Not caring about external attires, praying and praying more as if your life depended on it. Not just a few people, but this becomes a national event. Something that I want to say our nation desperately needs at the moment. The sins that indeed are piling up to the heaven. Friends, may God brings us to our knees. As we will see also in Daniel, in two weeks, the righteous identifies himself with the sin of God's people. Let's meditate on that. It is not that Ezra is actually responsible for those sins, but he's doing here a corporate act. He's speaking to God on behalf of God's people. Who else does that? That's exactly ultimately what Jesus Christ does. Jesus Christ is the ultimate priest. who identifies himself with your sins. Yes, he's completely righteous. He's completely spotless. And yet he came as that evening sacrifice, the last. ultimate sacrifice at the evening of all redemptive history to once and for all grant you forgiveness by bearing our judgment for our sins, being exiled from the Father on that cross on Calvary. And He now calls us today to turn from our sin and repent of those sins and to trust in His provision at the cross. That is how we are restored to God. and brought back to life. But again, Ezra, let's continue in our text, verse 8 to 9, acknowledges that God has been merciful in restoring Israel despite the judgment was right. You have been right in judging us, O Lord, and yet you also have been gracious. Now, he acknowledges in thankfulness that for a little while you have extended your grace to a remnant, to a holy place that has began to be repealed, verse 8 to 9. calls the temple like a peg. You think about nail driven into the wall. It does grant some stability, yes, but it could fall. It's something that is used for tents. A peg is not very stable, and if it compares to the columns of the temple of Solomon, it's very small, but it's that little grace. And now he prays, God give me more. God give us more. Praise that God may enlighten our eyes. And what is the word there? He begs God to grant them a small measure of revival, of quickening. These words are repeated also in verse 9, for new life. We read Psalm 80 this morning, which by the way, Psalm 80 was written right around this time of Israel history. Verse 18 of chapter 80, revive us and we will call upon your name. And same Psalms in this altar, Psalm 85, verse 6, Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? All the way to Isaiah chapter 6, verse 2, which is the hope of resurrection that we celebrated last week. After two days, He will revive us. On the third day, He will raise us up. Israel needed to resurrect as a nation. And they experienced this small vitality through the little relief of coming back to the promised land, coming back to life after spiritual deadness, after this hopeless season of feeling exiled from God, as God forgotten to be gracious. And here comes this revival, a renewal of religion after the destruction. And the faint breath of freedom, our text continues, while they're still in bondage, This glimmer of hope, verse 9 says, means that God will not forget His people. That yes, there were consequences of sin, but God displayed His mercy through granting, through the King of Persia, to repair the temple and rebuild the walls. And that is the way in which God revives us. A. W. Tozer once said to a friend, have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late? and yet how little revival has resulted. And then he answers to his friends, I believe that the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply does not work. What we learned here, friends, is in order for revival to happen, something has to come alive. The focus of this prayer is a desire for more grace and a gratitude for God's grace. That no matter how little, that even a spark, even a peg, if compared with what was used to be there in God's economy, yet even a peg is a little that we can give to God and say, Lord, would you please bless this? Would you please multiply it? Would you please revive it? Would you please bring a favorable time to your church after so much judgment? That God can still be favorable toward His church if we turn from our wicked ways and we turn back to Him. But we have to give Him something to bless Him, at least. Revival takes place. Something has to be found alive. And no matter how little it can bring revival. Think about the greatness of the old temple of Solomon. Think about the tears of the old people who saw the rebuilding of the newer version of that temple. That's how you should feel about this nation that once had countless of sinners. witnessing the power of the kingdom of God, where it sparked throughout when this was still a colony. Where is that kingdom now? Is it gone? Is it the flame totally quenched or is there something left? Is there someone who cares and will plead this word like the psalmist, revive us again, O Lord, cause your face to shine upon us. And as soon as you experience a little bit of His mercy, you request for some more. But you see, it starts with you. It starts with your private prayer time. It starts with your Scripture reading. It starts with your love for God's Word. As you witness the presence of some reviving of your religion, because you have been a Christian for so long that you have been calloused now. You've been taking for granted all the things that God has done in your life. And now you experience a touch of it, and you want more, and you want more, and you want more. The godly is not satisfied. He wants more of God until he's completely overwhelmed by the presence of God. You cannot get enough of this God. And together with Thanksgiving, however, let's finish with the third point. There's also confession of sin. for present transgressions." You see, it's not just sins in general, but my own sins, your own sins. And that is the end of our text, verses 10 to 15. See, if you keep ignoring and transgressing God's law after all that the Lord has done, the way in which He has judged, the way in which He has restored you, then it becomes without excuse. Then in light of such restoration, Israel, After judgment, who would dare to go back to the very sins that have brought such desolation about? And sadly, that's exactly what happens. That's what makes Ezra all the more desperate in his reaction. Here we go again. We have forsaken God's commandment again. And he lists this sin in question, the marriage with unbelievers. You see, the condition of the old covenant to stay in the promised land was to remaining separate from the nations. And this was a breach to that covenant. Verse 13, despite that sin, God had all the right to cut us off, but you have delivered us. You have punished us far less than our sin actually deserved. Yes, that is what we can actually celebrate about. God, you have punished us far less than our sins deserve. Psalm 103 says in verse 10, He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. You hear of criminals who get a smaller sentence than what was expected. And Israel had indeed been punished severely, but God is also merciful. And that is the beauty of our text, that even in that occasion, He held back His hand from the complete annihilation that they deserve, that we deserve, and He spares us as a remnant. And we should be eternally grateful for that. Instead, verse 14 tells us that the religious leader, unthankfully, went back to this very same sin that brought us into exile. And verse 15, here's the final plea of Ezra. O Lord, You are righteous. in your judgment, and yet you're left only a remnant spared through this judgment. We instead are in our guilt. And final words, no one can stand before you on our merits. Friends, it's only by grace that we can stand. It is an impossibility to stand before this God with our sin. God's law is perfect. And we have transgressed it. We have reaped the fruit of our sin. But revival comes as you humble yourself and you pray. Pearson said, there has never been a spiritual awakening in any country that did not begin with united prayer. Prayer meetings in churches. are essential. Revival takes place when people, after seeing their sinfulness, for all that it is, they become so overwhelmed by God's mercy. And now they're able to stand only by grace. And by that grace are now able to renounce worldliness. You see, it's beyond the intermarriage here. Think of all the form of worldliness that the church in our country has allowed to creep in into the church. When we are tempted, Satan cannot attack us in one way, he will attack us the other way. And we yield to the lure of this world. As churches, we must turn from any practice that is outside of the will of God. Worldliness. We must set our minds on things above, not on things of earth. And even for believers, it is hard at times to leave these worldly patterns behind, to put on the new self. Worldliness, friends, in this country has been a greater hindrance to God's kingdom than the persecution that Christians for 2,000 years faced. The prosperity and relative freedom that we have lived under has been worse for us than exile. When you have plenty of people today in America who claim to desire revival, but their own comforts, their own sin is what stands in the way to this revival. They point to the solution, yes. But they're actually the real problem. When you have a surface allegiance to the God of the Bible, divorced from a changed life, a sincere humbling for your own sins, until you finally see the mercy of God over your sin, and you are able with the awareness of sin also to see the awareness of the mercy of God. Yes, I have sinned. He punishes me less than my sins deserve. Do not tempt His kindness. Do not take that mercy for granted as an excuse to sin or after you survive a chastisement, you continue and you go back. Only when a proper sense of God's holiness sheds light to your unworthiness that you become truly revived. The point that this becomes not just with you, but everyone around you. It becomes a national lament. Indeed, Ezra says, this is his final message to you this morning. No guilty man can stand in God's sight. Friends, you come this morning, you must have the same resignation. You must surrender to this truth if you want to find God this morning. That's where the hope of the gospel comes in. No guilty man can stand in thy sight, O Lord. And begins with confessing your sins to God in prayer. that He may cancel your guilt once and for all. And He effectively, through His grace, brings you to a heartfelt commitment to change, that you trust in the ultimate One who restores life, who brings resurrection to you, who has overcome sin and death, His sting. He comes out of the grave. He comes from the house of David to restore God's kingdom, Jesus Christ. God's promises is this, He will never blow away His true people. And that promise is kept in Jesus Christ. Just as He took Israel out of the grave, resurrecting them as a nation. He does the same exact thing for every true child of God. Friends, at the cross, not only He punishes us less than our sins deserve, but in fact, He grants you the greatest mercy of ultimate forgiveness. Christ was punished for your sins, for what your sins deserved, the ultimate exile. He now calls you to place your faith in this work. That brings you to be justified, acquitted, completely this morning. God takes you, yes, you and me, We are worthy of His condemnation, but He can make you acceptable before His holy presence. All this only by grace through faith. All punishment is gone. All your sins, past, present, and future are gone. You are indeed restored and brought back to a right standing before God. But also through what comes and flows out of that grace, which is repentance. which is a twin grace that comes at salvation, inseparable from God's grace. Here is a people, here is a man, Ezra, who radically severs himself from sin, radically resolved to live godly lives from that moment for the rest of their lives, who go back with joy for what the Lord has done. radically turning from sin. See, God's grace is not a license to ungratefully repeat the same sins that brought the judgment on the shoulders of your Savior. God's patience toward those who think that they are saved, like the Pharisee. Two people went to the temple. We know the story. Two prayers. One said, I am such a good man. I'm not like these unworthy sinners. I thank you. because I'm doing such a great job. And the other one, the other one, Lord have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. I don't deserve your grace. And he couldn't even lift up his eyes. That is what God forgives. That is what God justified. A person goes back home, justified the other not. The question remains, who cares that sins offend God. Who is the Ezra that will do something about the mixture with worldliness in the church? Where is our sensitivity to our sin? When we hear of other Christians sinning, it starts with each one of us, friends. We must resolve to honor God and grieve when God's honor is under attack. That's what Ezra did. And I think about our sexualized society. We not only risk to flirt with the world, but the church is at risk of becoming a friend of the world, which is at enmity with God. See, the church left to itself and ignoring God's Word can perish unless God comes and saves us. Nations will sink, forgotten, be gone, unless they turn from their sin. And if they keep heaping up sins unto heaven, then judgment will fall upon nations. We look at our nation today and indeed we are in such dilemma. But I was sad even after facing chastisement, people going back to continuing the course that they were engaging before, flirting with sin, with worldliness. Completely ignoring the chastisement that you just experienced and what consequence come from sin. Who trembles at God's Word, friends? If the church's call is to be holy as God is holy, then some separation from sin, even painful, severing from the world must take place. Our idea about what's more convenient must be put away in light of what God says. End of the matter. The sad truth here in Israel is even after exile, they came back again to the same sin patterns. Because the same sin nature survived the exile. And that testified to the fact that nothing short that God coming on earth and becoming a man could solve this issue. That Jesus Christ, friend, obeyed where you disobeyed. He uttered a better prayer on the Gethsemane. There he faced the shame of the judgment that we all deserve to bring us back to life. He who was the true temple was destroyed and brought back. And now He has opened the mercy's door in heaven to anyone who will turn away from their sin and trust in this perfect sacrifice. That is how we receive the light from God. That is how we are revived from our backsliding. Just as Andrew Murray once said, a revived church is the only hope for a dying world. Let us pray. Oh God, we come humbly before Your Word, and we have no words to express. Just like Ezra, we see how our sins pile up higher and higher. We look at our nation, Lord, who last week declared a day for transgender, where it was the day of Your resurrection. We look at the sins pile up all the way to heaven, Lord. beginning with the church, and we recognize, Lord, our need to turn to You, and we pray that You will revive us, restore us, turn our hearts to You, Lord, in our families, in our lives, starting with our private homes, Lord, with our walk with You, with our hearts, Lord. Would You please lead us back as revival is ultimately returning back to You, just like we experienced when we first came to you as sinners, unworthy, humbled by your gift of mercy. Would you please do that work in our lives? And would you please spread that work, Lord, throughout the land? Because that is the only solution, Lord, to every problem. It's not a political solution, Lord, that can save us. It is your eternal word, the only thing that can stand and give us life. Be with us, we pray. In this day and for the coming week, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.