[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Ezra chapter 9. That is a beautiful name to us, but to so many people around the world, it's not a beautiful name. In fact, as a lot of people around the world, it is a name that is despised and hated.
[0:13] It's the name of Jesus Christ. They're not that pleased with him. The book of Ezra, that's kind of the story that's going on in Ezra chapter 9 and 10. When I was a boy, my favorite uncle or one of my favorite uncles, I had like 14 of them, 13 of them.
[0:28] But one of my favorite uncles, his family, when he married his wife, he married a Methodist. And he was a Baptist. And so every Sunday when their children were born, my cousin Dave, on Sunday number one of the month, they went to the Baptist church, Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Church.
[0:46] And on Sunday number two, they went to the Methodist church. And on Sunday number three, they went back. But she kept going to her church. She kept going to his church. And the kids just ping-ponged back and forth. Lexa, the sister, went one Sunday.
[0:58] They just swapped kids back and forth. They grew up rather confused. They didn't know what they were, what they believed. Not sure they even go to church anymore. But I know Dave doesn't. He's in heaven.
[1:08] But in the Bible story, in the book of Ezra, here's what you got going on. God's people who are supposed to have single focus on that sweet name and love the God of heaven with all their hearts, they have ended up marrying women who worship other gods, who worship gods that don't love our God at all, who actually hate our God and don't believe like what the Bible teaches about God.
[1:32] And so if you can imagine my cousins being confused as they got swapped back and forth, what in the world happens when one week you go up to the temple to worship the God of heaven who says, there are no other gods and there's only one God.
[1:43] And the next week, mama says, we're going to go worship my demon God this week. And we're going to have idols and temple prostitutes and a whole bunch of junk going on in their religion. And so what happened was God's people were very confused about who they were and what they believed.
[1:59] There's a major problem going on in Ezra chapter 9 and 10. And we're ending the book. And in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 10, they need God to send some revival and God's doing some revival.
[2:10] But they've got to straighten up a big problem they got. They need to be focused on the one God, the one God, the God of heaven and no other gods. And so Ezra actually comes in.
[2:21] He says, this is not going to work, guys. You cannot be married to these women and have children that are confused and worshiping other gods. This is one of those weird parts of the Bible where you look at it and you go, what in the world?
[2:34] Because it's the one time God just demanded divorce. He said, get rid of those women, get those kids out of the house and you worship and you serve only me. That's not what we're looking at. We're looking at the example that's given.
[2:45] And that example is this. He is God and God alone. And he is to be worshiped and worshiped alone. So I want you to go through with me, if you would, Ezra chapter 9 and 10.
[2:55] And the first thing I want you to notice was what happens when you mix God's people and not God's people, God's people and lost people, God's people and people that worship at another altar, you get infected with worldliness.
[3:08] Look, if you would, at Ezra chapter 9 and verse 1. The Bible says, Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, underline, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands.
[3:25] So the princes, the people, and the priests, that's everybody. Religious people, political people, regular people. They have not separated, and Levites, servants that work like deacons and leaders in the church, they have not separated themselves from the people of the land.
[3:40] And here's what the problem was. They have begun to do according to their abominations. They're now doing what all these wicked nations do. Which I'll just stop and tell you, they did a lot of really wicked stuff.
[3:53] Like when you go to the temple of God, and you worship at God's altar, there's no idols, there's no statues, there's only a place where you focus on the God of heaven, the creator God, and you can't make an image that looks like him because he made everything, and no one even really knows what he looks like.
[4:10] You go to the other place, and there's all kinds of idols. They even take their babies in there and walk them up to an oven and place their babies in there and cook their babies and kill them, kill them and cook their babies in their worship to their false gods.
[4:25] They even have temple prostitutes that you go in, and part of your worship is you go to a prostitute. And it's like these are things God hates. And God says, I'm telling you, y'all are mixed up with this crowd, and you are really messing up.
[4:38] They were infected with worldliness from the regular people all the way up through the spiritual leadership. They all knew what they were doing was wrong, and they all knew that there was sin that ought to be confessed, but they wouldn't do it.
[4:50] Now, you might be reading this and think to yourself, well, that's an Old Testament problem. That's not in the New Testament. So open your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14.
[5:02] This is a New Testament passage. It is a parallel passage that goes right along with what's happening in this passage of Scripture. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, and he tells them there's a problem when saved people marry lost people, when God's people marry people that don't love God.
[5:25] When even, in fact, if you yoke up in business with them and you're in this kind of partnership, you're going to have to do some compromising. If I worship the God of heaven and the other guy worships another, there's going to be some compromising.
[5:36] So look what he said in 2 Corinthians 6, 14. Be not unequally yoked. Don't hook up with people you're not equal to. You don't hook an ox and a donkey together to pull a yoke.
[5:49] Now, we don't even understand that. You don't. I've seen animals in traces. But you don't hook up a big farm tractor with your little lawnmower. They might be both John Deers, but they ain't hooked up the same size there.
[6:01] And so look at it. It says, Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. And here's why you don't put lost people and saved people in a yoke where they're hooked up together, where they're one and working together.
[6:14] You don't do that for this reason. Look at it. Because what fellowship, what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Does doing right get along with doing wrong? Does doing right get along with doing wrong?
[6:26] No. No one needs to answer that question. You know the answer. And then he says, What communion? How well does light get along with darkness? Have you ever noticed that light and darkness, they just don't get along?
[6:38] I get up in the morning to come to church on Sunday morning. It is dark all through my house. There are no streetlights out where I live. Once I turn that bathroom light off, it is like faith walking.
[6:50] Except I turn my flashlight on on my phone so I can get through the wilderness. Amen. And find my way to my car. And so they just don't get along. You turn the light on, the darkness takes off running. You turn the light off, the darkness invades.
[7:01] They don't get along. They can't be in the same place. Then he said, How well does Christ get along with Bilal? How good does God, Jesus Christ, get along with the devil?
[7:12] They just don't get along. What part does he that believes have with somebody who doesn't believe? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? There's not. And then he said, You are, verse 16, the temple of the living God.
[7:26] You belong to God. As God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God. They shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them.
[7:37] Be separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. I'll be a father to you, and you'll be my sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let's cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God.
[7:57] You are commanded not to walk with unbelievers. So it's Sunday morning. It's Sunday morning. The believer gets up and says, I love Jesus. I want to go to church. And the lost wife or husband says, well, not me.
[8:08] I don't love Jesus. I don't want to go. I don't have anything to do with it. Or maybe you wake up in the morning, and one spouse says, let's go worship Jesus at the church and open the Bible and study about Jesus.
[8:19] And the other one said, nope, I plan on going over here and doing a little Islamic stuff today. They just don't get along. They don't get along. That's the reason between a true believer and a lost person, there is no common ground.
[8:34] There's no similar interest. That's what the Bible says. God's people love him so much and want him so much that they have no time for other gods and worldly interests. Our God calls us his children.
[8:47] And with that sort of promise, how could you not want to go and be with your father if you're a born-again believer? Go back to Ezra chapter 9 and verse 1. Here's what happens when you hang around people. To be blunt honest, it's what's happening in the United States with this politically correct coexist society you live in.
[9:04] You're kind of like, well, it's okay to be Islamic. It's okay to be Hindu. It's okay to be Buddhist. Everybody's good, and we're all headed to the same place. It's okay to be a non-believer, and you think it can coexist.
[9:15] But God said, it can't coexist. It can't coexist any more than light can with darkness. It can't coexist any more than I can with the devil. And here's why. Because you learn to do what they do.
[9:28] Look at chapter 9 and verse 1. I asked you to underline it a while ago if you didn't underline it. Now it says, the princes came to me, and the people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, they have not separated, just underline this, doing according to their abominations.
[9:41] Now can you imagine, can you imagine a person? Here's a God-fearing, God-of-heaven-fearing dad, and a woman. And we know this story happens in the book of Solomon, or the life of Solomon.
[9:55] It's happening here, and she's worshiping a God where you burn your baby in a sacrifice. And he wakes up one morning, and she says, I'll be back in a little while.
[10:06] I'm taking Junior with me. And he's got to be going, what are you doing with Junior? I'm going to take him down and worship with him. Oh, wow, just exactly what kind of worship you're going to do. I'm going to take him and offer him to the gods.
[10:20] I'm going to burn him in that oven we put him in over there. That way God will bless your business. He'd be like, I hope he'd be like, no, you're not. But that's really not even what happens in the story.
[10:32] What happens in the story is he woke up and he said, I've been praying to God, and he ain't been answering our prayers. She said, well, I think if we burn our baby today, we might get a little help from God. My God, your God ain't pulling out.
[10:42] My God might. And he got up and said, maybe we ought to try that. That's what it says. He picked up their practices. They're infected. They're infected with that.
[10:54] You see, you become like your friends. You do what your friends do. You pick up their habits. Birds of a feather do flock together.
[11:08] The facts are you're going to do what they do. The motorcycle riders, they got their own little club. You ever watch them riding down the road? We was talking about that in Sunday school. You know, they come by when they're riding by another motorcycle rider.
[11:18] Throw that hand out there. They never do that when I go by. They throw a hand out, but it's a different hand. Amen. Them bicycle riders. Them bicycle riders. You ever notice them? You're on your way to church, and nine million of them are in the road.
[11:31] They're supposed to be single filed. They got 12 lanes full of cars. And when you go by, they're like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, no communion here. I don't mind you riding a bicycle at all.
[11:43] Just please stay out of my way. But anyway, you get the idea. See, they were intermarrying, and they're raising confused children. Look at Ezra chapter 9 and verse 2. For they had taken their daughters for themselves, and their sons also, and the holy seed mingled with the people of these lands.
[12:03] The holy seed, God's people, was now marrying lost people. God's people are marrying devil people. That's what's going on in the verse.
[12:14] God's people are marrying devil people. Now that they're such friends, they became friends with them. Now their families marry each other. Those that have been raised to love and worship God are now loving those that hate God.
[12:32] Kind of like I met with a guy not long ago, and he told me, he said, yeah, my daddy was a Catholic. My mama was a Baptist, so they raised me Methodist. So somewhere along the way, you're going to have to make a compromise.
[12:45] And that's what happens so that the holy is no longer holy and separate unto God. That's the story of Ezra chapter 9 and 10.
[12:55] They were infected. I don't need to stop here and just say that you're being infected much more than you think you are. You're accepting false religion. You're accepting false salvation. You honestly think maybe if a Muslim is good enough in the way he does things, he can go to heaven his way.
[13:12] And the Hindu can go his way, and the Buddhist can go his way. And you have somehow bought into that politically correct junk. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[13:25] No man comes to the Father but by me. There's only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's the name of Jesus. Well, in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 3, we find God's man shocked and embarrassed.
[13:42] In chapter 9 and verse 3, he expresses his grief publicly. In chapter 9 and verse 3, it says, I heard this, and I rent my garment. That means I tore my garment. I tore my clothes. And I plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and I sat down astonished.
[13:56] I need you to look at this. Look, they walk in the church building, and the pastor's over here sitting in a chair, and he's sitting there going, they are married a bunch of heathens. They're all doing wrong.
[14:08] And he just reaches up and grabs his clothes and rips them, which is a part of their custom to show their grief. And then he grabs his hair and starts plucking it out. He grabs his beard, and you can see him. He's going, I can't believe this.
[14:20] And he just sat there. Everybody in the room is like, what's wrong with him? Because he is shocked that God's people, that God's people would hook up with those people and do that stuff.
[14:37] It's blowing his mind. He's sitting there shocked. He's brokenhearted over his sin. When's the last time you were brokenhearted over your sin? When have you been willing to publicly let it be known you're sorry for your sin and you hate your sin?
[14:57] After a long time of astonishment, in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 5, if you'll open your Bible there, he falls on his knees, and he spreads out his hands to the Lord God of heaven.
[15:07] He's on his knees. In my younger days, I dropped to my knees right now, but I'm afraid I couldn't get back up without a help from a wrecker or a bunch of you guys. So I'm just going to stand. But he looks up, oh God.
[15:18] He's been crying. By now he's bleeding. He's jerked his hair out. He's jerked his beard out. His clothes are ripped. He looks a mess. And now all of a sudden they see him crying out to God.
[15:29] After the conviction and the shame, it was time to pray. And he humbled himself and he begged God. Chapter 9 and verse 6, he said, I'm ashamed, oh my God. I blush.
[15:41] Now we don't know what that word means anymore. Between television and dirty jokes and everything else that we do, we no longer blush at anything. Everything goes with us now. But he blushes.
[15:53] He said, God, I'm ashamed to even lift my face and look up to you. My face is turning red. God, I am so sorry. So sorry. Our sin, our iniquities are increased over our head.
[16:06] Our breaking the rules has grown all the way up into heaven. And our sin should embarrass us. And I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed. I'm the pastor, the leader, the priest of these people.
[16:19] And I am embarrassed to talk to you on their behalf. I would ask you a question. Does your sin embarrass you? Have you gotten so used to it? It's okay. We should never get used to it.
[16:32] We should never accept it. And what they were doing was stacked up all the way to heaven. It was like you didn't do a little bit of sin, but they were filthy, wicked. You know where they learned it?
[16:42] From their parents. Your Bible. Verse 7. Verse 7. Since the days of our fathers. Underline that. You know, mom and dad didn't have any convictions either.
[16:54] Mom and dad didn't take a stand for what was right and wrong either. Since the days of our father have we been in a great trespass. Our parents did it.
[17:04] Our grandparents did it. We're used to doing it. And our iniquities, our sin, our kings and our priests. You know what, God? We have done wrong so long because our parents did it.
[17:14] What are they learning from you, mom and dad? Notice in the verse it says, and it's our sin that's caused us to be delivered into the hand of the kings. You know what happened?
[17:25] When they sinned and they did wrong, God said, okay, you sin and you choose and you do wrong, you're going to get punished. And so their country had been sold into slavery.
[17:36] All their things had been stolen. All their good things had been broken down. It was horrible what's going on in the mess right here. Their sin had brought God's judgment. Now they're embarrassed.
[17:47] And I wish you'd underline in verse 7, confusion of faith. They were like, man, are we embarrassed? Are we ashamed? We are hanging our heads. We're supposed to be God's people.
[17:58] But just to be blunt, honest, we are not living it and not acting like it. Our sins affect even our children. Go with me to Ezra chapter 9 and verse 8 now.
[18:10] And God is going to send them a little bit of revival. That's what I'm praying for this morning in your life and in my life. We're just going straight through the scripture here. They've seen their sin and they won't help.
[18:22] They've seen their sin and won't help. Do you see your sin? Do you want help? You've been half-hearted in your prayers and your Bible reading and your church attendance and your giving. The truth is you're so hooked up with the world you even think you're better than everybody because you walk with so many dark people.
[18:37] Your little candle shines like a big street light. Because you're always in the dark. You think you're really bright. But the truth is you've been in the dark too long. So in Ezra chapter 9 and verse 8 it says, For a little space grace.
[18:51] I wish you'd underline it. For a little space grace has been showed from the Lord our God. He left us a handful, a remnant of people that would get out of this.
[19:02] And he gave us a nail. He nailed us down and said, You can make it in his holy place. And God may lighten our eyes. God, give us some light. We've been in darkness too long.
[19:13] We've been doing stuff we ought not do. Give us a little reviving. You don't underline that in your Bible. Give us a little reviving, God. Wake us up. It's always God's grace that gets the job done.
[19:27] The nail is his security. The revival is getting right with God and coming to life again. That starts to happen in God's people. It's because God extends grace and mercy. Look at 8 at grace.
[19:38] 9. We were bondmen. Let's not forget where we were. We were in slavery. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage.
[19:50] Our God has not forsaken us. He hath extended mercy. You should underline that. He has extended mercy unto us. He has given us to give us a reviving. To give us a reviving.
[20:02] God's going to give some CPR here. God's going to breathe some life back into you. God's going to get the blood pumping again. And you know why he's going to do it? Look at the verse so you can set the house of God up.
[20:13] So you can fix all that's messed up. So you can get it all done right. He's wanting you to leave those idols and leave all that junk you got in your life. And leave all that compromise with the world. And walk over to him and say, God, it's you, you, you, you.
[20:26] No gods of the world. They remembered where they came from. You need to remember where you came from. He saved you out of a mess of sin and on your way to hell. He gave mercy to us. They recognized God's still there for them.
[20:37] And God gave them mercy and reviving. Look at 9.10 if you would. Ezra 9.10. And now, oh, our God, what shall we say after this?
[20:51] They realized that God was doing something. And how could they do anything but serve him? And here's what they said. Oh, our God. What can we say now? We have walked away from your word, from your commandments.
[21:06] We have forsaken your commandments. Look, if you would, in the next verse, 11. You told us not to do it. But we came into an unclean land, underline that unclean land, full of filthiness.
[21:20] Underline that filthiness of the people of the land. With their abominations, the things that makes God angry and makes him want to throw up. And they have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
[21:33] We're not talking denominations here. We're not talking about whether you're Baptists or Independent Baptists or Southern Baptists or Methodists. We're talking about God-worshippers and non-God-worshippers. And so over here, God's people had been living in, they had walked away from God and walked over into this world so much.
[21:49] And when they walked down the street and they saw the temple prostitutes out plying their trade in front of the worship of a false god, it was like, that happens every day, it's okay. And they walked over here and they're killing babies and that's okay.
[21:59] And all the things are going on and it's just like we've accepted it. It's all okay. It's all okay. And the man of God says, we came to an unclean place, full of filthiness.
[22:13] And we've accepted it. Something's wrong here. It's filled with it. They admit they've sinned and disobeyed His commandments. It doesn't get that far.
[22:26] I mean, that doesn't stop, it gets worse. Look at chapter 9, verse 12. He says, you were told, give not your daughters to their sons. Neither take their daughters to your sons.
[22:38] Don't seek their peace. Don't seek their money. Forever. That you may be strong. So all of a sudden, you got the deacon at the Baptist church over here hooking his wife up, his daughter up with a Dalai Lama or a Buddhist or an atheist or a non-God believer.
[23:00] They said, we know you didn't want that. We know you didn't want that. You never were for that. And that's what's brought all this junk on us.
[23:11] Look in chapter 9, verse 13. Their disobedience brought horrible consequences. He says, after all that's come upon us, this morning, I'm eating a luxury breakfast at McDonald's.
[23:26] Egg McMuffin, large diet Coke, two hash browns. I'm eating there, and a man in there says, man, I'm an old man now, about ready to die. I looked over, I said, how old are you?
[23:39] He said, 73. I was like, nine years ahead of me, buddy. I'm not ready to say that myself today. He said, you ever seen the world so messed up in your whole life? He said, I lived in this town when the only two roads in town that were paid was 19 and 20, and everything else was a dirt road, and there was no 400.
[23:57] Nine was 19 back then. I'm like, I don't know nothing about that. He said, it was all dirt roads here. He said, that's what you know when you're old, a bunch of useless information. That's what he taught me. But this guy, they're looking around the town, and they say, man, it's a mess.
[24:10] Look at it. All that's come upon us, our evil deeds. Our great trespasses, and God has punished us. Underline it. God has punished us. We're losing our kids.
[24:23] Our kids don't go to church. That's not the big deal. They're not saved. They're not going to go to heaven when they die. He punished them less than they deserved, and he gave them deliverance.
[24:37] They knew they were experiencing the consequences of their sin and rebellion. They knew their punishment should have been much worse, and they are now determined to get their life right with God. In Ezra chapter 9 and verse 14, the Bible said, should we again break thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?
[24:56] We're not going to do that again. I need you to underline in that you're breaking the commandments. The word of God told them not to, but the word I really wish you'd look at is affinity there. We hook up and like the same things they like.
[25:10] We like the same things they like. We like this world. They like this world. We like money. They like money. We like popularity. They like popularity. We like doing our own thing. They like doing our own thing. We're all the same.
[25:21] God was like, no, you're not. You're my people. It's supposed to be about me. Would we join in affinity in their abominations? Are we going to be, somebody comes in the house and says, yeah, we just cooked our baby to the demon God today.
[25:34] And you as a Christian look at us and say, well, God bless you. Amen. Pray God brings you some blessings. They're like, no. No, you shouldn't have had that thought. God, wouldn't you be angry with us until you consumed us if you hadn't have been so good to us?
[25:51] That's what he's saying in that verse 14. Wouldn't you have been angry enough to consume us? Chapter 9, verse 15. It was only God's goodness that would give them another chance. And we're in the book of Ezra.
[26:01] You can think I picked this one to pick on you today. But we've come from Genesis. Come on, give me a break. In Ezra chapter 9, verse 15. Oh, Lord God of Israel, you are right.
[26:14] You are righteous. We cannot stand before thee because of this. We can't really get right with God until we realize we've been breaking his command.
[26:27] Ignoring his word and doing stuff that just disgusts him. That's what Ezra's saying in the verse. So it means they're going to have to turn from their sin and turn to God and honor God.
[26:43] In Ezra chapter 10 and verse 1. Now when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, the people, last few words in the verse, the people wept very sore.
[26:56] The people were like, oh, you're so right. Now you've got to look up here. You're seeing Ezra. His beard has been ripped out. He's got gaping holes in his face. Blood's dripping down on his clothes.
[27:06] His clothes are ripped and torn. His hair is pulled out of his head. And he's looking at them. And now they're saying, you're right, we're wrong. That's when the revival's getting ready to start. So now the people confess.
[27:18] In chapter 10 and verse 2. We have trespassed against our God. We have. Not just the man of God saying it now. The people of God are saying it. We have taken strange wives.
[27:32] That means wives that don't love God. And then he says, and yet now there is hope in Israel. Concern that there's still a chance to get right with God. And today there's still a chance to get right with God.
[27:44] He loves you. He's calling you back. You can have this revival. So in Ezra chapter 10 and verse 3. They make a covenant with our God to put away the wives.
[27:55] Get rid of this false worship. Get it out of your life. Go in the house and take down the idols to these false gods and these demons. And get that out of your house. And think only about the God of heaven.
[28:07] Don't be worshiping Buddha and Mohammed and God. Get rid of all that junk. Be only God people. That's what he's saying to them. In Ezra chapter 10 and verse 4. They had to do the hard thing.
[28:19] And he says to them, be of good courage. And just do what you know is right. You see revival wasn't a feeling they were going to have. Revival wasn't a bunch of people crying. Revival was a bunch of people setting up and saying, we know what's right.
[28:31] We know what we're supposed to do. And we're just going to go do it. They're crying. They're crying because they made a decision to honor God. In chapter 10 and verse 11. They make confession.
[28:44] This is a great verse. Underline these words. They make confession. They do his pleasure. And they separate themselves. They make confession. We've been wrong to run around with people that don't love God.
[28:56] And make them wives and marry my children to them. Some atheist comes over to your house. Some atheist comes over to your house and says, I want to marry your daughter. And you're like, so my grandkids ain't going to love Jesus.
[29:07] Nope. Don't even believe in him. Take my daughter. That's fine. And he's saying, no, no. No. Confess that's wrong. Do his pleasure.
[29:20] And separate yourselves. By the way, I really realize I'm like the Lone Ranger in the room right now. And y'all are kind of aggravated because you're saying, this is hard, mean. I've just been reading the Bible. I mean, if you're upset, you need to be upset with a guy named Holy Spirit.
[29:33] And a guy named Ezra wrote it down. Because I have really my preaching. A lady said last week, she said, your preaching is like matter of fact. It's just like you don't even say hi. You just go, here's what the Bible says. Well, it's what the Bible says. You're reading it. Ezra chapter 10 and verse 14.
[29:46] The rulers of the congregation, deacons and Sunday school teachers and pastors and singers and all the people out in front, stand up and get rid of your strange wives. Stand up and get rid of the sin that's in your life that's hindering what God would do.
[30:00] Till the fierce wrath of God is turned away from us. Chapter 10 and verse 14. It started with the leaders getting right with God. And the people got right with God. And that's where we'll leave the book of Ezra.
[30:14] Now let me give you some things. Holding on to our sin hinders revival. Too many of us are more infected by the world than we would ever like to admit.
[30:25] We have accepted political correctness to the point that we think everybody's okay. I'm okay and you're okay. No, if they don't know Jesus, they're not okay.
[30:37] And well, they're a good guy and they make good money so they can marry my daughter and not teach my grandkids about Jesus. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. An unbeliever comes to the house, you need to tell him, I'm sorry.
[30:48] You can get saved, get your life right with God and prove it for a few years before you can talk to my daughter. I know it just made you mad, but I am the preacher. And sometimes preachers just got to say stuff you don't like. You have allowed yourselves to think like the world and act like the world and it's affecting your children.
[31:04] We need revival. Go around to the average Baptist church this morning, the only people left, the old people. Because nobody will stand up and say what the Bible says. All of us should be shocked and embarrassed about what sin has done to our family and is doing to our family.
[31:24] It's God that gives revival. Let's seek God and ask him to move in our lives and our family. He's a good God of mercy and grace. So let's ask him today. We now see what we have done and we go back to God and we never want to sin again.
[31:41] How can we sin against such love and mercy and forgiveness? Choose to love the God that loves you. Revival means return from our sin. We confess it and leave it, hate it and serve our God.
[31:54] That's Ezra 9 and 10. I challenge you to read it. See if I'm wrong. If you think that I just made that up because I'm a Baptist preacher and I want to be mean, read the Bible.
[32:06] Every church you go to has the same book. Some of them just don't open it. And most of them don't preach it. Most of them will tell you how to feel good today. But the way that you really feel good is to look to God and be saved.
[32:21] The way to feel good today is to look to God as a Christian and say, I will love you and you alone. I have a very large position in my family. My children and my wife and my in-laws, they need to know there's a man of God in the family who loves God and talks about God and leads a family for God.
[32:40] And since I'm not into political correctness, I'm into Bible correctness. I got grandkids. I got 20 of them. They get married, there'll be 40 of them that time they get a spouse. That's a lot of responsibility.
[32:51] You got responsibility this morning. But I don't know what you're even worried about your family. You're like, everybody gets to make their own decision. They do. That is correct. But their own decision can take them to hell forever.
[33:04] You say, I don't believe in hell. It doesn't really matter what you believe. You say, well, I just don't accept what you're saying. I'm not saying it. It's in the book. And everybody in this room that studies the book knows it's in the book. And if you're not saved, you need to get saved today.
[33:17] You say, well, I'm a Baptist. Well, a Baptist is going to have a special compartment in hell. I mean, I wouldn't trust being a Baptist if no further than I could throw me, and you can't throw me. It's kind of hard to throw somebody as big as me. No, you can't trust that.
[33:29] Well, I go to church. I've been baptized, sprinkled. My wife's had it all done to her. Kristen, sprinkled, baptized. She's had it all. Ain't none of that help you neither. Water ain't help. That little bit of water don't put out a fire. That lasts forever.
[33:41] You need Jesus. Are you saved? And Christians, I really believe that though I didn't speak directly to whatever you're doing in your life, I think the Holy Spirit just told you, you know you're politically correct in this, and you're lined up with the world in this, and you agree with the world in this, and you're wrong.
[33:57] I think he told you that. We're not going to have revival until you get out of those seats and quit playing like everything's okay. You've got to quit playing like everything's okay.
[34:09] Well, I came in here in my best duds, and I am not about to get on my knees, and I'm not about to admit that I've let sin into my house so much that I'm going to lose my family. We're a young church. You're a young church.
[34:20] We can make a difference. We're still young enough to see our children and our grandchildren saved and serving Jesus, but not if we keep on the road we're on, and if we keep on the road every other church is on.
[34:31] God, send us revival.