The sermon, titled 'So We Must Do,' focuses on Ezra 10:12-17, where the people of Israel acknowledge their sin of marrying pagan wives and the need for repentance. The speaker, Jason Dohm, highlights the moral authority of Shekiniah, who, despite lacking positional authority, urges Ezra to lead the people in accordance with God's Word. The sermon describes the marriages as a constitutional crisis, violating Israel's divine constitution, Deuteronomy. The people propose a process for addressing the issue that includes representation by leaders and the involvement of local elders and judges, reflecting biblical principles for just judgment. The sermon emphasizes the importance of having a heart inclined to obey God, recognizing His holiness and mercy, and rejecting any 'keep out zones' in one's life. It also underscores the need for a disciplined, orderly approach to obedience, involving godly counsel and adherence to the means ordained by God.

This morning's sermon text is Ezra chapter 10 verses 12 through 17. Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, Yes, As you have said, we must do. But there are many people, it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside, nor is this the work of one or two days, For there are many of us who have transgressed in this manner. Please let the leaders of our entire assembly stand and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times together with the elders and judges of their cities until the fierce wrath of God is turned away from us in this matter. Only Jonathan the son of Asael and Jezihiah the son of Tikvah opposed this and Meschilam and Shabbatai and the Levite gave them support then the descendants of the captivity did so and Ezra the priest with certain heads of the father's Households were set apart for the father's households Set apart by the father's households each of them by name and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

By the first day of the first month, they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan lives. The title of the sermon this morning is, So We Must Do. And I'm lifting it right out of the sermon text, verse 11, this first verse of our text. This is the response of the people, so we must do. So far in chapter 10 there have been two sermons.

The first sermon looked at verses 1 through 4 of chapter 10 And in verses 1 through 4 we meet this character that we've not met before him. We won't meet again and his name is Shekiniah. And he comes with a message of hope for Ezra and the people. And the message of the hope is this, God is merciful, it's not too late. If we repent, God will turn away his wrath.

And he also, Shekiniah also comes with a strong exhortation for Ezra. Shekiniah is a man with zero positional authority, meaning nobody made him boss. But he has moral authority because he is standing on the Word of God and he is actually able to speak very boldly to a man who is in authority over him to say what God has said and to call him to do it. And he actually says to Ezra, you're the man. This is your responsibility.

We're with you, but you do it." And then in verses 5 through 11, this has been our second sermon in Ezra chapter 10, and verses 5 through 11 we see that Ezra, having been exhorted strongly by Shekiniah, he does it. He takes bold action. Here was a phrase from that sermon, Ezra is a godly man taking manly action. And that's really what we see. He's not just a hard headed and a hard hearted man, but he's a godly man.

He's still going into the temple and weeping over the sins of the people. So he's a very tender-hearted man, but he's hardened against any sentiments that wouldn't want to do what God has called them to do for some reason of loving the world. He is hardened against that. That he's tender-hearted towards God. And he makes, you know, and I'm sure their world was like our world.

Nobody wants to be made to do anything. But he makes the leaders of the priests and the Levites and all the people enter into an oath that they're going to lead the people into repentance and going to insist that the people repent, turn away from these marriages with pagan wives. And then the leaders make good on the oath that they've just taken and they make a proclamation that if you don't come in three days from when the proclamation is made, all of your property is forfeit and you're out. You are excluded from Israel. So the people gather, they gather in a cold rain probably in late December.

And it's probably in the 40s or 50s as it is in Jerusalem at this time of year. They're at 2500 feet of elevation and they're standing out there in a cold rain. And Ezra comes and he confronts the people so sternly in their sin. He tells them that they should repent, that they should confess their sins, and that they should put away these pagan wives. One of the things that I said in this last sermon was that I described the problem of pagan marriages as a kind of constitutional crisis.

I think that's really important for understanding what is happening in Ezra 9 and 10 with the putting away of these pagan wives. You have a constitutional crisis. What does that mean? That means that Israel as a nation, as a nation on earth has a constitution and it's Deuteronomy. God has given them their constitution and it can't be amended because it doesn't have imperfections that need to be addressed.

It's been given by the mouth of God through Moses and they've broken, they've violated their constitution by engaging in these marriages. Now imagine for a minute what would happen in our own country if a brother and a sister said we're married. We're married. Or imagine last year, a year ago this time, if two men had come forward and said in North Carolina, we're married. The government would immediately step in and say to the brother and sister or say to the two men, no, you're not married.

That, whatever that was is not marriage and whatever it is is null and void and separate. You get away from each other. That is not permissible here in this country. This is sort of what's happening in Ezra 9 and 10. You have a government stepping in where people have said, we're married, to say no, null and void.

And it's actually an action of the civil magistrate to come in where a constitution has been violated to say no, we're going back on that. As we come to the text, again to speak about this week's text, let's come to the text in prayer. Our God, I pray that you would make us a people that say the words of the text, Yes, as you have said, so we must do that your word would be a law to us. Your word would be the sweetest thing, the best thing, the wisest thing to us and we would have such a strong conviction that all that you have said is right that we would have hearts that are thrilled by your words and that we would have such a longing to obey you God Give us hearts that long after obedience that we would hunger and thirst after righteousness and be filled. Oh God send your Spirit to work among us to use this text to be a blessing to us now.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So I'm going to divide the text this morning into three sections and the first section is just going to be verse 12. So let's look at Ezra chapter 10 verse 12. Read it together and then consider it. Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, yes, as you have said, so we must do." The text puts before us people who have come to understand that what God has said through Ezra is good and right.

It's the best and the wisest thing. And it shouldn't be run away from, it should be run towards. And it should be embraced and loved and obeyed. You can't miss the connection between what the people are saying here, yes as you have said so we must do, with what has come before. So what has Ezra said?

What are they embracing and running towards? Well look back just a verse into verse 11 where Ezra is confronting the people about this sin and he says, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do his will. Repent, make confession before God and turn around and do his will. You've been doing your own will. So stop it.

This is the essence of what Ezra was confronting the people with last week. You've been doing your own will, stop it. Turn around and do God's will. Confess and agree with God that you have sinned and then turn around and do God's will. Confess and agree with God that you have sinned and then turn around and do God's will.

And even going back to verse 3, if you look back in verse 3, this is what Shekiniah is saying. He says, let it be done according to the law. So don't miss the links between our text this week and the people saying, as you have said, so we must do. They're not essentially saying, Ezra, as you as a man have said, let's follow a man. The context is so clear.

Ezra's confrontation and exhortation towards the people has been, do the will of God. Shekiniah's exhortation of how Ezra ought to lead the people is, do it according to the law. That is what is in view of the people. That is what they are running towards. That is what they are embracing.

So they are expressing in a loud unified voice, they're saying it together, and they're saying it loud so you have passion and vehemence here. These are not people who are ambivalent, who are lukewarm about the topic. They're saying together in a unified voice, in a loud voice, that they're willing to repent and obey, that they're willing to turn around and go in another direction, that they're willing to forsake their own will in order to do the will of God, that they're willing to obey God, to embrace his law. Friends, does this describe our hearts before God? This is the big question from the text.

We're 10 minutes in and we're already to the punchline of the joke. Does this describe your heart before God? As you're hearing preaching, as you're reading your Bible, as you're praying to discern the Lord's will, What is your response to those things? What is your response to preaching or reading your Bible or praying to discern the Lord's will? Do you even bother to respond to it?

Do any of those three things elicit a response from you or have we become so mechanical about these things that they're just part of the pattern of life. It comes and it goes and there's no response from us. This becomes an intellectual exercise where our brain gets a little workout and then we go home to rest our brain for the rest of the time. There's really no response from it. We gather up some facts from hearing preaching or reading our Bibles or praying because we ought to And it doesn't lead anywhere.

Nothing comes of it. Sometimes We hear a sermon where conviction is brought and we say to ourselves, I've got to think about it. Knowing that the preacher has rightly pegged you. You've said that to a preacher before. This one was for me.

I know you were preaching right to me and the preacher didn't have any idea, but it was a zinger. It was right at the time you needed it. You don't want to be too hasty in obedience. That's really the truth of it sometimes. You don't want to be too hasty in obedience.

You want to think it over. Mowling it over when it's clear what you should do to obey is the death of obedience. Do you know that? Mowling it over when you're sure. God has really put his finger on this and I know what it takes to obey him.

I know what it takes to turn around and stop doing my own will and start doing his will. You know, this is a big one, I've got to mull it over. That's going to be the death of that obedience. There's not going to be any obedience there. Maybe we just say no.

God, you can't touch that one. I'm already obeying in these other areas. You should leave me alone here, God. This one's untouchable. No one ever says that.

That's not going to cross your lips. You're just going to live that way. So I'm not making the case I've ever heard anyone say that, and I don't expect to. Most people aren't that intellectually honest about their disobedience. We baptize our disobedience and describe it in much different ways than that.

But sometimes we have untouchable things. Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ bought our lives with His blood. You can't have untouchable things. God, you can't touch this one. I'm obeying over here.

Now you leave me alone in this spot. No, no, a thousand times no. No untouchable spots if you've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You can't have keep out zones from God. Or is the disposition of our heart, yes, as you, O God, have said, so I must do.

You said it, I must do it. You have bought me with the price of the blood of your Son, therefore I will worship you with my life." Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 19. Deuteronomy chapter 5 is the second giving of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 is the first giving of the Ten Commandments, and then it's repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 5. And after the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5, we read this in verse 19.

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would always fear me and always keep my commandments. So it's about the disposition of the heart. That's what's being spoken of both in Ezra chapter 10 and in Deuteronomy chapter 5. It's the disposition of your heart.

Is your heart inclined that way? To fear God and always keep all His commandments. Why? That it might be well with you. Did you know that it doesn't add to God when you obey Him?

Oh God, you are so lucky I am obeying you. No, God is not lucky when we obey. We are blessed and helped when we obey. It adds to us. It doesn't add to God.

You didn't make Him something that He's not before you obeyed Him by obeying. It's that it might be well with us and with our children forever. Friends, do you fear God? In this verse in Deuteronomy chapter 5, Deuteronomy 5, 19, it starts with fearing God. Have you understood his righteousness, how holy he is and how unrighteous and unholy you are?

So we can't talk about obedience before that has been established in your mind and in your heart. You have to know God as holy and righteous And you have to know yourself as completely unholy and completely unrighteous like Isaiah when he comes into the presence of God in Isaiah chapter 6. Woe is me for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips, but my eyes have seen the king and all his holiness." It starts there.

If you start a discussion about obedience in any different place. He's holy, I'm unholy, I must have His mercy. Forget about it. You'll go and have a good week in self-effort. And then the walls will come crumbling down and you'll be back to square one or worse.

It starts with a recognition of who God is and who you are so that you throw yourself upon His mercy in Christ. That's where His mercies are to be found. In the work of His Son. And then, you've been set free from all that condemnation, then you can talk about obedience. Nobody's going to make progress in obedience until you get that straight.

If the Holy Spirit is indwelling you, if you have believed savingly in the work of Jesus Christ, then this is the great object of His work. Did you get that? If the Holy Spirit lives in you because you've been saved, this is the great object of His work in you to help you to understand the beauty and holiness of God, to understand your own sinful, desperate estate, to make you humble to be saved and then to make you be humble after you've been saved. That's still his work, to keep you humble. And then to cause you to have a hunger and thirst to grow in obedience.

Here's what Matthew Henry says about this verse. Matthew Henry says, �There is hope concerning people when they are convinced not only that it is good to part with their sins, but that it is indispensably necessary. We must do it or we are undone. This is where the people are in Ezra 10. We must part with our sins or we are undone.

The Holy Spirit has done this work among these people to bring them to the place through the confrontation of a man of God, bringing the Word of God, that they understand that if they don't repent, God will destroy them. God will take them right back into the captivity that they've just come from. Friends, let, yes, Lord, be the overwhelming disposition of our hearts. Whatever. Everything on the table.

No keep out zones for God. No can't touch areas. Let yes Lord be the overwhelming disposition of your heart. The periods of my life that have been the happiest have been when I'm in that spot. From the outside looking in, it might sound like a real drag.

It might not sound like much fun at all. God can just, you know He's going to ask for things that you have been nurturing off to the side. You know He's going to ask for those things. You think, that's going to be bad. No, that's not bad.

That's great. That actually leads to your happiness. Let's look at verses 13-15. Ezra chapter 10 verse 13-15. But there are many people, this is still the people responding, but there are many people, it is the season for heavy rain and we are not able to stand outside.

Nor Is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter? Please let the leaders of our entire assembly stand, and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jehaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this. And Meshalim and Shabbathai, the Levite, gave them support. In these verses, a process is proposed.

Their response is yes, so they've committed to obeying the Lord. But they can't stand out in the rain for days on end. There are many who have transgressed And it's not the work of one or two days. It's going to take a while to sort through the mess, to untangle the mess. And so the people propose a process.

So I want to talk about the process, but Before we talk about the details of the process, I want to observe this from the text. What you have in the text is a righteous appeal. We're all under authority in different areas of our lives. And it would be good for us to master the righteous appeal, to appeal to our authorities like this. This is a great example to look at.

So Taylor is going to be going back to the Civil Magistrate for, what do you call it, permits. Yes, thank you, for permits. And We're going to be dealing with the civil magistrate as we continue to be a voice for life in our community. This is something we come to and learn. Children in the home, You're dealing with your parents.

I deal with the civil magistrates. I have co-elders that I'm also under the authority of. We're all here under authority. And this is a great example of how to appeal to those in authority. Look at verse 14, please let...

Please let us do this, please let us do that. There's an acknowledgement of the authority. So there's no pushback that Ezra has the authority to do the things that he's doing. There's an acknowledgement. They're not telling Ezra, I'll only obey if we follow this process.

There's not even a hint of that in the text. Ezra, please let us go about it in this way. And even in the way that they propose the process, they are acknowledging his authority. And they're proposing a solution, Not complaining about the challenges associated with doing what he said do. Said do.

You understand the difference? There are challenges associated with all sorts of things out there. So you can complain about the challenges or you can propose a solution. And this is a righteous appeal. When you're under authority, If you want to appeal to that authority, propose a solution in a way that acknowledges their authority.

Not a complaint about the challenges, but bringing a solution. Now to the process. First in verse 14, they say, let the leaders of the entire assembly stand. Listen to how the New American standard renders this. Let our leaders represent the whole assembly or the English standard version.

Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. So they're proposing representation, leaders on behalf of the people. Now when we fast forward to verse 16, we haven't considered that yet, but in verse 16, the middle of the verse it says, Ezra the priest with certain heads of the father's households were set apart by the father's households. So every family tree or every branch on the family tree has representation and they're going to come together with Ezra and there's going to be a representative body to judge these matters. That's what you have here.

This is incredibly wise. This is a great solution to the challenges that will be associated with judging these marriages. Every branch on the tree has representation. Selected leaders who are known to have wisdom, join with Ezra to form a representative body to judge these matters. Now here's the second thing in the process, also verse 14.

Let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times together with the elders and judges of their cities. So rather than we all stand out here in the rain while the mess gets sorted out one by one. We'll all go home. There will be appointed times for the marriages in question. You come when it's your time.

You come with the elders and judges of your city when it's your time, and the matter will be judged then." Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 18. Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 18. You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates which the Lord your God gives you according to your tribes and they shall judge the people with just judgment." So this is the local governments that God has established. Within city gates, within the gates, officials and judges are going to be appointed and their job is going to be to judge justly. And it's clear that the people have done this because Ezra is actually calling for these people.

People, men attached to a city, leaders, and judges. Exactly like we see in Deuteronomy 16 through 18. And they're going to come with those who are involved in the marriages in question, and stand before the representative body of judges. So you're going to come if you're in one of these marriages, but it won't just be you. It won't just be your version of the story.

There will be your local leaders and your local judges who know your circumstances are going to come with you. And that will be the way that you can establish facts as they look at this. Then the people say, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter. So Yes we will obey. Here's how we think we should go about it.

We're proposing a solution acknowledging your authority. And then they end it by saying until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter. They acknowledge that their rebellion in engaging in these treasonous marriages will bring the wrath of God If they persist in them, if they refuse to repent of them, they know the wrath of God is coming. They know that because they're the descendants of the captivity. That's a phrase that we see again in our text.

They're the descendants of the captivity. They're the children of the people who were dragged out of the promised land to live under pagans because of the just judgment of God for things just like they are engaging in now. So they know if that made God angry before, it makes him angry now. And if we don't repent, the clock is ticking. It's good to know that about your sin, friends.

It's good for us to know that about our sin. If God puts his finger on things, but we've got a keep out zone, you can't touch that God and we won't repent of it that the clock is ticking. It's sooner or later, he doesn't say when he's going to spring the trap. You can know that God hasn't changed. He's the same God.

He knows how to spring the trap at just the right moment on those who simply will not repent. He's patient. He's so patient. He gives us so much more time to repent than we deserve and than we should need. But there is an end where God says enough.

And He will take you off into captivity and let you eat the fruit of what you've planted. There is still sowing and reaping. So they acknowledge that their rebellion is going to bring the wrath of God unless they repent. But they also acknowledge that God is merciful. The whole point of what they're saying is if we turn, we know we'll find God merciful.

Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 30. I want to read Psalm 30 verses 4 Psalm 30 verses 4 and 5. This is a Psalm of David. Psalm 30 verses 4 and 5. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name.

For his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. These people seem to have a sense of what David has written about in Psalm 30, that his anger is but for a moment, but his favor is for life. They know if they turn from their sins, though he's been angry at their sins, that they will enjoy his favor if they repent. How do you think about God?

What is He like in your mind? Is He a God who is always glowering? One more mistake and you're going to Get it. And every once in a while though he has a loving thought, or he'll begrudgingly turn away from his wrath. No, no.

It's exactly the opposite. David in Psalm 30 saying it's exactly the opposite. He doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's Ezekiel 33. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

He just wants them to turn from their wicked ways. And this is the God that David is putting before us in Psalm 30. One whose anger only lasts a minute but his favor lasts for life. The ratio is the other way around from what you've been thinking, maybe. If you think that God is always just looking for one more mistake, ready to drop the hammer.

No, He's a God predisposed towards mercy and compassion. He's a God of compassion. And yes, He is angry at sin, but He is so desirous that we would turn away from it so that He can lavish His mercy upon us. God wants to restore sinners. He doesn't grudgingly do it.

He receives glory from it. Nowhere is this on greater display than in the life and death of Jesus Christ. How could we think that God is grudging with His mercy? How could we think anything other than his anger is for a moment but his favor is for life when we look at Jesus, when we look at the cross. He didn't owe us that.

He didn't owe us any of that. He could have left us in our sins with no way back, but he has sent his own son to stand in the place of sinners who would turn, repent so that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. God desires that. God is bringing that about all over the world. He's granting repentance to sinners all over the world and He's receiving the glory for it.

His anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life. That's the ratio. Finally in verse 15 we have four names. Verse 15 says that Jonathan and Jehaziah opposed this plan and Meshalim and Shebaithai the Levite gave them support. It is possible that these men were opposed to what the people were proposing here.

Undoubtedly, all of this was unpopular with some or even many. You can't think this was universally loved, what's happening here. People are caught in their sin, exposed for their sin, and now it's being dealt with, and it's going to be painful. It's already painful. They've been standing outside in the cold rain.

That's just a down payment on the pain that is coming in dealing with this sin. So it's undoubtedly that all this is unpopular with some or maybe even many. The commentators say, these men thought Ezra was being too strict. So they opposed him. Some of the other commentators say, these men thought Ezra was being too lenient.

They wanted action immediately. No waiting for appointed times. Deal with it now. And the text just doesn't say. The text doesn't help you sort that out.

I personally think it's something completely different. So, but I'm going to, I'm holding this really loosely. So if you want to reject this, feel free. Here's what I think it is. The King James stands alone among the good translations and how they render this.

But here's how the King James renders it. Instead of opposed this, the King James renders it, we're employed about this matter. So if you didn't have the other good English translations, you just read the King James, you would think, oh, there's appointed times, there's a lot of people coming, there's a lot of coordination, these men are doing that. There's four men who were set aside to make all this run, make the process run. I think that's what it is.

The Hebrew word here, translated opposed by the other good translations and employed about by the King James is also in verse 13 and 14. And in 13 and 14 it's rendered stand by everybody. In verse 13 they're standing in the rain. So physically on your feet in the cold rain. In verse 14, stand is representing the people.

Let the leaders stand for the assembly. So it's representing them. And I think that is the sense in verse 15 also. That they're going to stand in a capacity for the people to administrate the process. Matthew Henry and Matthew Poole give it that sense as well.

But the construction in the Hebrew does lend itself to them being opposed to it being a very appropriate, a good translation. So I'm not sure, but I think that's what it is. They're administrating it. Back to Ezra 10 and the last two verses. Ezra chapter 10, verses 16 and 17.

Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest with certain heads of the father's households, who were set apart by the father's households, each of them by name, and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. By the first day of the first month, they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives. Verses 16 and 17 we have them executing the plan. Now there's follow through.

It says that the descendants of the captivity did so. We're down to the doing. We had the committing. Yes, we will. We had the planning.

Let's do it this way. Now we have the doing. Ezra and certain heads of the father's households convene on the first day of the tenth month. So this is probably early January. Verse 9 says that the gathering in the rain happened on the 20th day of the ninth month.

So get the timeline. On the 20th day of the ninth month, they're in the rain planning. Then on the first day of the tenth month, ten days later Ezra and certain heads of the Father's houses meet to begin judging the matter. So ten days have passed and now this representative judging body has convened on the first day of the first month, probably early January, and they're going to meet for three months. So they begin with this matter on the first day of the tenth month.

They're done by the first day of the first month. So this is ending in late March or early April and two weeks before the Passover. So it ends by the first day of the first month, the Passover is in the middle of the first month, late March, early April. So consider some statistics. Now We have some math lovers out there, so let's consider some statistics.

88 days in the three months. We have a lunar calendar. The Jewish calendar is lunar so it's not quite 31 days. It's 28 and a half days per month. 88 days total in these three months.

If you take out the Sabbaths, then you're left with 75 working days. The rest of the chapter tells us that there are 113 marriages that have to be forsaken. So 113 guilty verdicts across 75 days. So you have, that leaves you with about one and a half guilty verdicts per day. So this gives you an idea about the level of activity.

And it gives you the idea that you have thoroughness to what is happening. How many cases did they take per day? Well, we don't know how many acquittals there were. We only know the guilty. You have to imagine that not all of them were guilty.

Some of them were acquittals. So you ended up with an average of one and a half guilty verdicts per day across these 75 days. You have to speculate about what happens during this time. But I think we can make educated guesses, though they're not explicit in the text. My belief, my strong belief, is that the time was spent investigating to see If the foreign wives were pagan wives, meaning they had retained their identity as pagans, or whether they had been grafted in, like Rahab, the harlot from Jericho, was grafted in, like Ruth, the Moabitess, was grafted in.

You can find both of these women in Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 in Jesus' genealogy. They're there very on purpose. There's not a lot of women in that genealogy. Their names are mentioned on purpose. It's usually Father, Father, Father, Father, Rahab, Ruth.

Father, Father, Father. That's how that genealogy goes. So they're there on purpose. Matthew wants you to know that these foreign wives are part of Jesus' genealogy. Rahab, the harlot from Jericho, the repentant harlot from Jericho, the former pagan, is Boaz's mom.

Boaz marries Ruth, the Moabitess. Boaz does just what his dad did. His dad married Rahab, the repentant foreign harlot. And then Boaz marries the repentant Moabitess, Ruth, who forsook her gods and her people. When Ruth's husband dies and her mother-in-law Naomi is coming back into Israel.

She says, go back to your house and your gods. Go back to your family and your gods. You remember what she says? No. No.

Your God is my God. Those aren't my gods anymore. And your people are my people. Those aren't my people anymore. Those aren't my gods anymore.

I've forsaken that. I have turned my back on the filth of the nations. I'm part of this now. So you can be grafted in. Women can be grafted into the people of God.

I think these months we're given to finding out who's the daughter of Rahab and Ruth here, and who has maintained their foreign pagan identity and are still caught up in the abominations of the nations. And you have local elders and judges there, the people who have been living in their cities, the people who have heard their stories and know the deal, there to help establish what's what before this representative body of judges. Applications. I have two applications from the text. I think they're critical.

Number one, cultivate a heart before God that is a yes heart. You've got to cultivate it like a gardener cultivates a garden. Plucking weeds and fertilizing. Watering. You've got to cultivate it like a farmer cultivates a crop.

There is labor involved in that. There is effort involved in that. Let your heart be one of those hearts that says, Yes, as you have said, O God, so I must do. This is a heart that listens. There's reading of the Word of God.

There is a hunger for it. There is praying to discern the Lord's will. There is listening to preaching with a disposition to hear from God. I want to say that there can be hearing sermons, reading the Bible, praying that is worthless. You have to come to those things to hear from God.

When you come on Sunday to hear a sermon, you better be coming to hear from God. When you open up your Bible in the quiet morning hours or the late night hours, whenever you do it, you better open it up, not just to exercise your brain, but to hear from God. It is His words to us. When you pray to discern the Lord's will, you shouldn't be surprised to hear from him. I'm not talking about God whispering in your ear every day.

We should expect to hear from our God through preaching, through the reading of His Word, through our times of prayer with Him. And when we hear, we should immediately institutionalize action. When we hear the sermon, when we've read the Bible, when we've prayed and gained a sense of what we think the Lord would have us do, we should immediately, right away, institutionalize action. Here's what I mean. Do something concrete to set your feet in motion for obedience.

Again, if you wait around, you're not going to be obeying. You got to get moving and do concrete things. I think it should involve a pen and paper really. That's what helps me. It's to start writing things down and start to talk to people and burn the bridges behind you by making plans and telling people.

Immediately institutionalize action. Don't wish. Don't think. Well, do Don't think. Well, do think.

Don't just think. Don't just wish. Don't just mean to do it. Don't just intend to do it. Put something on your calendar.

When God makes something clear to you, when you're hearing a sermon or when you're reading the Bible, you get a sense of something as you're before the Lord in prayer, You better put something on your calendar or it's not going to happen. That's just my experience. But it's a long-term experience. I wasn't born again yesterday. And I know how good intentions end.

I know what they paved the road to. Number two. Number one was cultivate a heart before God that is a yes heart. Yes Lord I'll obey. Number two.

Understand that God ordains the means of obedience. Understand that. And then act like it. Then act like you really understand it. Here's what I mean.

What you don't see in this passage is a bunch of thrashing around. What you do see in this passage is orderliness, discipline, and biblical action. I say biblical action because God gave the people local judges and local leaders and the people tap into that. God gave us this, Let's do it this way. God gave them commands about careful inquiry.

Deuteronomy 17 verse four. Go look at Deuteronomy 17 verse four. This is about dealing, judging idolatry and it says, if there's accusations of idolatry among you, you carefully investigate it. God has said that. These people aren't willy-nilly.

These people are going about their business of obedience in a very disciplined, orderly, biblical way. Because they understand that God ordains the means of obedience. Why am I saying that? Because many times people get a sense of direction, God wants me to go here, and they skip steps. Like ten of them.

And they think because God has given them a sense that they ought to go in this direction, that they can just blow past the authorities that God has put in their life, the godly counselors that God has put in their life, principles of wisdom regarding the thing on the table, and skip right to the end point. You cannot tell me you've not seen that a hundred times. Somebody gets a sense God is taking me here so like they want there, we're going to be there tomorrow. Now I do think that they should take concrete steps tomorrow, but you can't think that every sense of where God is going to take you, God wants you there tomorrow. That's not how it works so often.

So we shouldn't slow down to obey, but you better not skip the ten steps between here or there or you're going to bring disaster on your life. God ordains the means. You better be pulling in the godly counselors that God has put in your life say, friends, brethren, I think God is taking me here. Talk to me. They're talking to the authorities that God has put in your life.

I think God is doing this. Talk to me. How can I do this in an honoring way? Do you have cautions? Do you think I might not have heard right?

If we took this approach, we'd have less thrashing around in our lives and more orderly disciplined progress, towards where God is taking us. That's what we see. You can't deny that that's in the text. They have a very well thought out, disciplined process and then they're executing the process. And God appears to bless it.

Here are the next two weeks. Next week we're going to finish the exposition, so we'll go through verse 44. I don't think that's going to take a long time because most of its names, and I'm not going to know much about the names. So I'm going to spend the balance of the time unpacking these divorces and how I believe it relates with the New Testament teaching on divorce, particularly 1 Corinthians 7. So next week should be exciting.

And then the week after, which will be the 23rd, right after Thanksgiving, I'm going to do my best to summarize all ten chapters and bring Ezra to a close. And then after that we head to Nehemiah. Let's pray. Father I thank you for this text and I pray Lord that you would give us hearts to obey. Lord I just want this to be a time for me of repentance knowing how slow I have been to obey in several categories of my life.

Oh God, please forgive me and please give me a heart that is prompt. Help me to offer my heart promptly to obey whatever it is. God make me a man with no keep out zones, no off limit things in my life, no idols. Will God help us to be free from idols? And so that all of our affections would be fixed upon you.

We know this is as it ought to be. Help us to be like that in Jesus' name, amen.