In 'The Necessary Divorce,' Jason Dohm explores the themes of sin, repentance, and covenant in the context of Ezra 10:1-4. Ezra's prayer of weeping and confession draws a large assembly in front of the house of God, illustrating the gravity of the people's sin in taking pagan wives. Shekiniah emerges as a bold figure, advocating for a covenant to put away these wives and children according to God's law, indicating a profound understanding of corporate guilt and hope. Dohm emphasizes the importance of approaching sin with a radical and sincere commitment to God's commandments, drawing parallels with New Testament teachings on cutting off sin to avoid spiritual peril. The sermon calls for a metaphorical 'divorce' from sin, urging believers to examine their lives and prioritize their affections towards God above all else. It highlights the concept of radical discipleship and the necessity of aligning one's life with God's will, acknowledging the potential for hope and spiritual refreshment through repentance.

Our sermon text for this morning is Ezra 10 verses 1 through 4. Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel, for the people wept very bitterly. And Shekiniah, the son of Jehael, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land, yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and Let it be done according to the law Arise for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you be of good courage and do it The title of today's sermon is The Necessary Divorce.

And we're beginning to deal in a serious way with the putting away of the pagan wives and the children that were the result of those marriages. Last week, the title of the sermon was, Less Than Our Iniquities Deserve. And it was lifting a phrase directly out of Ezra's prayer. He was praying and confessing. And He prays very honestly about themselves, about the people and their sins.

And it's a very forthright confession of who they are and what they've done. They're sinners. They're in a desperate place because of their sin. And it's also a very forthright declaration about God, about God's mercy and compassion, even in the face of the sinfulness of the people. So Ezra prays about themselves and their desperate need.

He prays about God and His great compassion. And then he concludes the prayer asking, how then shall we live in light of our desperate condition but God's mercy? How should we live? This week, we're introduced to a character that we've not met before, Shekiniah. And Shekiniah is among the weeping throng.

We find there's a throng of people who gathers around Ezra this week. Shekiniah is one of them, and we're going to find that he's such a bold man. He says very bold things, and he is encouraging Ezra and all the people. I had planned this week to really seriously start unpacking the issues associated with the divorces that are called for by Ezra here. I'm going to delay.

I'm buying time. Not so I can study more. I've really studied through the end of the chapter. I probably won't read hardly anything else, but I would like to soak in it another week or two. Because it's a serious thing.

The reason I'm slowing down, So we're going to be essentially a month in chapter 10. It's divided into four different sections. There's this week. Next week will be 5 through 11. The week after that will be 12 through 17.

Then the week after that we'll get into the names of the men who actually went through with it and divorced their pagan wives. Here's the reason I'm slowing down. When you teach on or preach on marriage And divorce, because of what Paul says in Ephesians 5, you're touching the gospel. Okay, so errors in teaching on marriage and divorce introduce subtle errors in the Gospel. So I just want to be very careful.

I'm sort of trembling to preach through these texts because I don't want to make mistakes because of lack of carefulness that will touch the Gospel in a way that's harmful. So I've done lots and lots of studying, and now I'm just soaking in it, hoping it will just give me additional clarity and that I'll be able to be precise. So we're going to talk more in generalities today about how the Lord's people must view sin. So I'm starting there. This text, verses 1-4 of chapter 10 really lends itself well to start there.

So we're the Lord's people. Those here who have trusted only in Christ are the Lord's people. And there's a way that God would have us think about sin, approach sin, deal with sin in our lives. So we're starting there, and then in the coming weeks we're going to apply that, those general principles about how the Lord's people should deal with sin and think about sin. Then we'll be applying that specifically to marriage and these wrong marriages that have been engaged in.

The words people should never marry pagans, those who follow other gods. As we go to the text, let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, I pray for our time now, and I thank you for this text, and I pray that you would use this text among us, God, to give us such a holy zeal, that because we love you we would hate our sin. I pray God that you would use the words that you've given us in Ezra 10 verses 1-4 to help us to love you more, and as a consequence of that, to see our sin and to hate it. And I know I don't hate my sin as I should.

I know we don't hate our sins as we should. God, I thank you for bringing us to this text and I pray it would be a mighty weapon in your hand, in the hand of your spirit to come and to stir up our love for you and hatred for sin among us. In Jesus name, amen. So I'm going to divide the text into I'll look at verse 1 by itself then we'll look at verses two through four And then I want to conclude by speaking of what this means about sin. So that's where we're headed.

Verse 1, let's read verse 1 again together. Ezra chapter 10 verse 1. Now while Ezra was praying, while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel, for the people wept very bitterly." So the first bullet in your handout is, a large assembly gathers to Ezra. So if you're filling in the blanks, it's large assembly. A large assembly gathers to Ezra.

So if you're filling in the blanks, it's large assembly. A large assembly gathers to Ezra. In chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, the leaders have come to Ezra to give a report, not a good report, but a bad report about the sins that the people have engaged in in engaging in mixed marriages. The holy seed has been mixed with God haters through intermarriage. So the Lord's people have married those who are following false gods and who are still engaged in the abominations of the nations.

Then in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 9. After getting the report, we see this remarkable response of Ezra. A very physical response where he tears his garments and he starts plucking out hair from his beard and from his head. And he just sits down astonished. Ezra has been such a man of action in the preceding chapters.

We have not really seen him in a place where he doesn't know what to do, but in chapter 9 he seems to not know what to do. He gets this report and he just sits down astonished. And he's grieving. And then in verses 5-15, he arises from sitting down astonished and then he just prostrates himself. It says that he falls on his knees, he spreads out his hands, and he begins to pray to God.

And it's a beautiful prayer of confession. And he realizes that he's a sinner, like the people who have been reported to Him. And that He might not have engaged in that sin, but He's got His own. And so it's a humble prayer of confession. Now what we have in verse 1 here in our text today is a summary.

So he prayed, we have a long prayer, we worked through that last week and now in verse 1 it is summarized. It says that he had been praying, we saw that last week. He had been confessing. We saw that last week. He was weeping.

That's new. We didn't see that last week. But certainly in working through the prayer last week, you can tell every emotion is engaged. It is an emotional prayer. And now we see in chapter 10 verse 1 in the summary of his prayer it says that he was actually weeping as he was praying.

It says that he was bowing down, we saw that last week, And it says that this was happening before the house of God. We didn't know that last week. We did know that it was at the time of the evening sacrifice, but it had never explicitly been said that he was right before the temple, or maybe even within the temple. This prayer of weeping is happening before the house of God. Now consider Acts 3 verse 1.

Acts 3 verse 1 says this, Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. So we know the song about this. Peter and John went to pray. They met a lame man on the way. And you can finish the rest, but that comes from that verse.

It's right after Pentecost, and at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, they go to the temple. It's a time where many of the Lord's people who are in Jerusalem would go up to the temple to pray. And almost certainly this is connected with the evening sacrifice. So The hour of prayer from Acts 3 verse 1, where Peter and John were going to pray at the temple, almost certainly associated with this evening sacrifice. So it's not just Ezra going at the time of the evening sacrifice, but many in Jerusalem are going to pray and to be there as this lamb without blemish is sacrificed and the wine is poured out and the bread is there being offered as well.

So Ezra, in his weeping prayer, has placed himself at the crossroads. He's physically put himself where the people are going to be coming by. And people have taken notice. Ezra is not just anyone, he is the one sent by the king of the empire to appoint magistrates and judges and to apply the law of God, to teach the people the law of God and then to apply it. And people have noticed this weeping man who has been sent by the emperor and he is praying and he is confessing and he is bowed down and he has got his hands stretched out to heaven, and people have begun to gather.

Now I'd like for you to turn in your Bibles, not very far, but back to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles is right before Ezra, to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. And this is right after the dedication of Solomon's temple. So earlier in chapter 7, then what we're going to read is the dedication of Solomon's temple. And then we'll be reading in 2 Chronicles 7 beginning in verse 12 through 16.

This is God appearing to Solomon for the second time. 2 Chronicles 7 beginning in verse 12, Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open in my ears attentive to prayer made in this place, for I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever, And my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

We've always lived in the New Covenant. Everybody here always lived in the time of the New Covenant. So for us it's a strange thing to think that it would matter where you pray. Because we're so familiar with the doctrine of God's omnipresence that He's present everywhere at the same time. We know He's everywhere.

We know there's nowhere where we can offer a prayer where God isn't and so this seems strange when we go to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and read that God has a special place in His heart for when people will come and humble themselves and pray at the temple. His ears will be extra attentive. His eyes are on the lookout for his people coming and humbling themselves at this place to pray for relief when they realize that their sin has brought the judgment of God upon them. This absolutely has to be in Ezra's mind as he comes and puts himself at the crossroads at the evening sacrifice to come and call the Lord's people to join him in a humble prayer of confession because he has a promise from God in 2 Chronicles 7 that God will hear those humble prayers and He'll Heal the land. If the people will humble themselves and confess and turn from their sins, then He will have mercy.

Ezra in Ezra chapter 9 and 10 is seizing upon the promise of God that we have in 2 Chronicles chapter 7. So men, women, and children from Israel have been watching Ezra weeping and confessing his own sins and the sins of the people, especially these God-dishonoring marriages, where the holy seed has been mixed with God-haters. So they've been watching him cry and weep before God and confess. So what we have here in the text is a family integrated time of confession. The men and the women and the children are all there.

It's not just the men, it's not just family heads, but it's families of people. Husbands and their wives and their children probably, as they're coming to the evening sacrifice, coming to the temple at the time of prayer like Acts chapter 3 verse 1, are coming and they're watching him weep and now they're weeping with him. So that's the picture. Ezra comes, he places himself very intentionally at the crossroads where people will be coming and he's praying and weeping and the people come and God moves on their hearts. And they weep with him.

It says that they wept very bitterly. In chapter 9 verse 4, we see that just as soon as Ezra has heard the report, and he tears his garments and he starts plucking out hair, that there's a gathering there in chapter 9 verse 4 too. All those who tremble at the Word of God began to gather around Him. So this is actually the second gathering in our text today. As soon as he heard the report, those who feared God and trembled at His word began to gather at Ezra and now more and more are coming so that it is described as a large assembly that is gathering to Ezra.

God is moving on their hearts. You have to see this. God is doing this. Has anyone ever seen this happen? Someone is weeping in prayer and then a lot of people gather and then they're just all weeping bitterly.

I've never seen this. This means that God is doing this. This doesn't happen every day. God is moving on the hearts of His people just as surely as Ezra started with God moving on the heart of King Cyrus to send people back in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 44 and 45. Just as sure as he was moving on the heart of King Cyrus, he is moving on the hearts of these people, because people don't just start weeping over sin, unless God is there moving them.

So you should come to this text and see God at work. Here's my question. Has God ever given you a moment like this? A moment when you were running, a moment where you were drifting, a moment where you were hardened, and you had minimized sin and you were cold to it. And then all of a sudden your eyes are opened and you begin to see it much more like God sees it.

And you begin to be grieved by it, and you just begin to be weeping over your sin. Ten minutes earlier you had not a care in the world about that sin, but God all of a sudden comes, and by work of His Spirit He makes you tender to your sin, to your state, and you just begin to weep. If you know what that moment is like, then you know what a blessing it is. Because when you're hardened to your sin, You're a slave. You're a slave to it.

But when God begins to soften your heart and begins to grant you the gift of repentance, when people repent, it's a gift from God. When God begins to give you that gift and soften your heart towards sin, towards drifting that you are hard-hearted towards. It's a blessing. Also in Acts chapter 3, they go to the temple, they heal this lame man, and then Peter begins preaching to the people who are astonished at the healing of this lame man. He says, repent that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

That's what happens when God gives a moment like this. When God makes you tender to your sin and removes your hard-heartedness towards sin and just melts you so that you begin to weep over your sin. This is the result. Not ongoing sorrow, but times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. He refreshes you.

It's a blessing to be made tender towards your sin and have the hard-heartedness melt away because of the work of the Spirit of God. That's what's happening in this text. God is melting away their hardness towards their sin, their corporate sin. Now let's look at verses 2 and 4. Now we meet Shekiniah.

Ezra chapter 10, verses 2 through 4. And Shekiniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, we have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law. Arise for this matter is your responsibility.

We also are with you. Be of good courage and do it." In this section, Shekiniah speaks up and exhorts the people and Ezra. So if you're filling in the blanks on the handout, it speaks up and people. Shekiniah speaks up and exhorts the people and Ezra. We've never seen Shekiniah before.

He's not introduced to us before right now. And we're not going to see him again. He makes this one appearance, but he is center stage in today's text. He's really the main character in today's text. Ezra fades a little bit into the background as Shekiniah comes forward.

Who is this man? Well the text says he is the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam. So on the family tree, Elam is way upstream somewhere. And then a man of The descendants of Elam is born named Jehiel, and he has a son named Shekiniah. And this is our character.

We meet the sons of Elam for the first time in Ezra in Ezra chapter 2 verse 7 in the listing of all those who came back in the first wave. So 85 years before today's text, when the first wave of captives comes back, during the time of King Cyrus, one of the families represented in that wave are the sons of Elam. And they're listed there in Ezra chapter 2 verse 7, which says that 1, 254 of the sons of Elam come back in the first wave. They're also represented in the second wave that comes back from Babylon. We see more sons of Elam in chapter 8 verse 7.

Chapter 8 verse 7, it's also in the listing of those who come back in the second wave. We see that one of the descendants of Elam named Joshua plus 70 males of the sons of Elam come back in the second wave. We're going to see one more thing that's very, very relevant to today's text in chapter 10. So later in chapter 10, when we get to the list of those who had wrongly engaged, sinfully engaged in a mixed marriage. We see in verse 26, look at chapter 10 verse 26, of the sons of Elam, Mataniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremiah, and Eliah.

There are six of the sons of Elam. Maybe one of them is Shekiniah's father, who is engaged in a marriage with a pagan, and puts away his pagan wife. Now you can't know that for sure, because we saw one verse earlier that had three El-Nathans in it. So they have common names like we have common names. But at least we know it's among the sons of Elam, that narrows it down some, and we know that the name Jehiel is the name of his father.

So it's very possible, I think it's likely, that his father was one of these men who had wrongly engaged in a marriage with a God hater. So imagine if, you know, at least his relatives have, his close relatives have engaged in these marriages, and maybe even his father has engaged in this marriage, and he stands up and says, we have to enter into a covenant to put away these pagan wives. Imagine the boldness it would take to say that with your dad standing there, knowing that your dad is guilty of this. We know from the list that Shekinai himself had not engaged in that marriage, but He speaks like Ezra prayed. He knows that these sins are shared sins, the guilt of them.

There's corporate guilt for them. So he joins Ezra acknowledging grievous sin. He says that. We have sinned grievously. But then he declares this.

There is hope in spite of this. Just like Ezra in his prayer, God, we acknowledge that we have grievously sinned against you. But he doesn't stop there. He says there is hope in spite of this. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul is talking about Gentiles.

What it has been like previous to Paul's time to be a Gentile. And he says, they were without hope and they were without God in the world. Before the time of the New Covenant, overwhelmingly that's what it was to be a Gentile. It was to be passed over by the grace and compassion of God. Overwhelmingly.

There were a few Gentiles grafted in, But overwhelmingly they were not grafted in. Overwhelmingly they were passed over by the mercy of God. So Paul's looking back on that, the old covenant, and He's saying to be a Gentile in those times was to be without hope and to be without God in the world. Here's what that means. God is your hope.

If you're without God, you're without hope in the world. If you're with God, there is hope in this world. If you are a part of the people that God has made promises to, you have hope. If you're part of a people that had been given exceedingly great and precious promises, Remember 2 Peter chapter 1? He has given us his exceedingly great and precious promises.

They are promises for all his people. If you are part of his people, You are the target. You've been targeted by what? By the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Lord. And so you live a life of hope.

Those who are without God or without hope, those who are the Lord's people, are bathing in hope. They are awash in hope because they have these promises. They are the target of God's promises of grace. This means us. The words of hope in today's text are for me and they're for you.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, Paul is talking about grieving over death. That's the subject in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. What happens when people die? Paul says this, don't grieve like those who have no hope. So he's writing to brothers and sisters in Christ.

He's saying, we grieve when someone dies, but we don't grieve like those who don't have hope. It's a completely different kind of grieving. And so Paul is arguing in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13 that it's inappropriate for the Lord's people to be hopeless. Have you ever thought of it that way? It's not appropriate.

We should be rebuked in our hopelessness in the moments where we despair and we're hopeless. We should be rebuked by this text. We should be rebuked by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 14. It's not appropriate. What about you, friends?

You got some things going in your life that are making you hopeless right now. I'm looking around the room, I know it's true. The Lord's people have hope because the Lord's people are the target of the exceedingly great and precious promises of the grace of God. You've been targeted. You've got a target on your back, brothers and sisters.

God is aiming His exceedingly great and precious promises at you. In verse 3, Shekiniah says, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them. So what Shekiniah wants to happen is for the nation to gather together and enter into a covenant with God to reverse the wrong that's been done in mixing the holy seed with God haters. He's calling for action. He wants them to make a binding covenant with God that they will repent.

Repent just means turn around and go in the wrong direction. Go in the opposite direction. They've been going in the wrong direction. So they've got to turn around. And they have to go in completely the opposite direction.

So he's calling for that. He's calling on a covenant that they will repent, that they will turn around from the wrong direction they've been going in, and that they will obey the Lord. He says, according to the advice of my master. So here we know that Ezra has been giving advice on this matter. He's been giving counsel on this matter.

So Shekiniah recognizes Ezra and he recognizes Ezra's mission. He recognizes Ezra, remember he's the man who has prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it. So he recognizes Ezra's this kind of man. And so This is the kind of counsel that he gives. And he's recognizing Ezra's mission, that he's been sent by the Emperor, by the King of the Empire, to come to Jerusalem and Judah, and to compare it with the law of God and then to make those things match.

To bring the circumstances of Judah and Jerusalem into conformity with the law of God. It actually has authorized him to appoint magistrates and judges to teach those who don't know the law of God, to teach it to them, and then to enforce it. And he's actually given him the ability to confiscate property, to punish, even to enforce the death penalty in certain instances. Ezra has the authority to do this. So Shekhaniah comes and he recognizes Ezra and he recognizes Ezra's mission.

He says, according to the advice of my Master. And he says, according to those who tremble at the commandment of God. So not only is it according to Ezra's counsel, but it's according to the counsel of those who tremble at the Word of God. In other words, this is to be undertaken in the fear of the Lord. They are to join those who tremble at the commandment of God.

They too are to tremble at the commandment of God. There's a group of people here who are at the core who are God-fearers. They fear God. So this is to be done according to the fear of God. It's to be done in the fear of God.

And then he says, let it be done according to the law. Let it be done according to the law. He wants to be hemmed in before and behind by the law. He wants to act according to what God has said. So this is not a rash overreaction to sin as an intended fix.

That happens a lot. We do that. But that's not what this is. We know that the desire here is to submit to the man who's prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, the law of God, and to do it and to teach it. So these things are to be done according to the law.

Now in subsequent weeks we're going to see how this matches up with the law of God and how they're proceeding according to the law of God. So placeholder for that. But at least today I want to establish that what is being contemplated is not a rash overreaction to sin as an intended fix. So think about how we do that. A mother has been too harsh, let's say, And she becomes convicted.

I'm being too hard on my children. And so then she goes too soft. In an attempt to fix the sin in her life being too hard, being too overbearing, being too heavy handed, the pendulum swings and she won't even give them the necessary discipline. This happens often. But we can know with confidence that we're not talking about that here because Shekiniah is advocating that all these things be done according to the law of God.

So it's not an overreaction. Then in verse 4, Shekiniah speaks boldly and directly to Ezra out of moral authority. So it sort of reads like he's barking orders. It reads that way. He's speaking boldly, and he's speaking directly to Ezra, who's the king's man.

But he's speaking out of moral authority. Meaning he doesn't have positional authority. Nobody made him king. He hasn't been given the position to tell Ezra what to do. But He's a man who fears God.

He's a man who loves God's Word. He knows Ezra is a man who fears God and loves God's Word. And so he comes and makes the appeal based on the Law of God. We should never underestimate the power of moral authority, of coming with the law of God to exhort one another even though we may not have any positional authority at all when we stand on the Word of God we actually have a moral authority that comes with coming with counsel that is in accord with what God has said. Because then it's not me barking orders, it's God has said we should obey.

All Christians are able to do that. All Christians should be doing that. This is how we should counsel one another. Not because somebody made us king, and We have the positional authority to bark orders, but because what God has said is good and right, and we should stand on it with confidence and boldness, and we should give each other the truth in love. This is what Shekiniah is doing.

He calls for Ezra to get up and lead. Arise. Ezra, it is your responsibility to lead us out of this mess. We're in a mess. We made the mess, but God made you leader.

So get up and lead us out of this mess. That's my paraphrase. Here's what the Expositors Bible commentator says. Shek and I gave a clarion call to action. Weeping was not enough.

Courageous and painful decisions had to be made. The people themselves had to respond. Here's what Matthew Henry says, weeping in this case is good, but reforming is better. This is what Shekiniah is driving at. Yes, he comes, He weeps bitterly.

He's among the throng that are weeping bitterly. He's not against the weeping, but he knows at some point you've got to get beyond the weeping and do something. And now he's saying, Ezra, now's that time. Thank you for leading us in confession and weeping. Now let's go!

Arise! Lead us out of this mess. Weeping in this case is good, but reforming is better. Matthew Henry has it right. That is the heart of the text.

This sounds very much like Joshua in Joshua 1 verses 6 and 7, or rather like God. In Joshua chapter 1, the very beginning of the book of Joshua, God speaks to Joshua and says, be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go." Maybe Shek and I is thinking about what God said to Joshua.

It sort of sounds like it to me what he says. He knows that in order to do what God has commanded, to do this according to the law, he's going to have to be strong and very courageous. What a blessing it is when leaders are among a people who say, we're with you. Lead us in obedience to the Lord. We are ready.

We are ready to obey. You lead us out of this mess that we are in. I know a lot of pastors who would love to trade places with me because of this. Hey, we haven't arrived. I know that.

We've got a long ways to go. I know that. But I'm so thankful that when I read this and think of the blessing that it is, that I'm among the people. I'm an elder in a church where the Spirit is like this, where people's hearts really want to be led in obedience. I think that's what we have here, and that's a blessing.

Now what this means about sin. We looked at verse 1, we looked at 2-4. Now. What this means about sin. Imagine for a minute if the righteous thing to do before God, What you knew in your heart of hearts, to the depth of your heart, what God required of you, was to put away your spouse and your children.

It was to separate from your spouse and your children. So I'm just in getting you to think about this I'm just skipping past all the what ifs and I'm skipping past that to just say, what if you knew that in your heart of hearts, the thing that God required of you was that you put away your spouse and your children, you separate from them. It would turn your world upside down. You would have to think really hard about whether you could obey that or not. We're going to unpack the marriage and divorce issues in the coming weeks.

And I'll just tell you now, I'm going to land with Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 to say, under the New Covenant, I don't think this would be the Council. I think there are some fundamental differences that are on display. So I'm going to land there. But there are a lot of issues. There are a lot of tentacles on this octopus.

So we'll trace many of them out in the coming weeks. It's going to be interesting. So in light of the question, you're imagining, God requires me to put away my spouse and my children. I want us to consider together two things that Jesus has said. The first is in Matthew 5.

Turn to Matthew 5. And in Matthew 5, Sermon on the Mount, I'm going to be reading 27-30. Matthew 5 verse 27. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell." I had never thought of this text in relation to Ezra and this putting away of the pagan wives. But Jesus says if something causes you to sin, cut it off and put it away from you. Now in Matthew chapter 5, why does he speak of an eye and a hand?

Why that? Why such dramatic imagery? Pluck out your eye and cast it away from you. Cut off your hand and cast it away from you. Here's what Jesus is doing, I believe.

He's keeping us from dodging. He's forcing honesty. If he gave as examples things to be separated from and put away that were out there, we'd find the reason why it somehow didn't apply to us. Apply to us. But in saying what he does, Jesus doesn't give us something you can distance yourself from.

You have an eye. Nothing inherently wrong with the eye. It's useful. Jesus says, pluck it out and cast it from you. No distancing yourself from an eyeball, especially if it's yours.

You have a hand, there's nothing inherently wrong with your hand. It's very useful. There's nothing that allows you to distance yourself from your hand. So Jesus, when He comes and teaches us this way, your eye, your hand, He keeps us from dodging. He forces us to deal honestly.

Because what He is saying is anything that causes you to sin, unlawful, lawful, loved, unloved, anything that brings you into sin, you amputate it and you put it from you, because that's better than the alternative. Now turn to Luke 14, 25 through 27. So relating Matthew turn to Luke 14, 25-27. So relating Matthew 5 while you're turning to Luke 14, relating Matthew 5 to Ezra, Would it be better for you to put away your wife and children or to spend eternity separated from God in hell? Just the other issues aside about the appropriateness of divorce or anything, that's the question you have to face in Matthew chapter 5.

Which would be better? As agonizing as the thought of putting away a spouse and your children would be, if There are only two doors, door number one and door number two. Door number one is to put away your your spouse, your pagan spouse, and your children from that marriage or to spend eternity separated from God in torment for a million ages. Which door do you take? You take door number two.

No, you take door number one. You take door number one. We'll correct the audio on that. Alright, now Luke 14. Verses 25-27.

Now great multitudes went with him. Jesus turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me, and does not hate his father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Jesus isn't overthrowing all the rest of Scripture, teaching about family relationships, and our duties to each other. Jesus is teaching that our highest affections must be His or we cannot be His disciples. Ok, are you with me?

Our highest affections must be his or we cannot be his disciples. Our affection for father and mother, our affection for spouse, our affection for children, our affection for friends must be like hatred in comparison to our affection for Him, or we cannot be His disciples. In our comfort, in our American Christianity, have we forgotten the radical nature of discipleship? Have we forgotten that Jesus said that? And meant it.

I'm glad we're American Christians. I'm glad our heads aren't being cut off. But if you love your head more than you love Jesus, you cannot be his disciple. And the same with your spouse, and the same with your children. He must have your highest affections.

Here's what Matthew Henry says. As to us now, so he's applying Ezra chapter 10 verses 1 through 4 to us now. So he's pushing us past, I'll never have a pagan wife, this isn't for me. This is what Matthew Henry is doing. He's pushing us past that to say, here's how it applies to you, New Covenant believer.

As to us now, it is certain that sin must be put away. A bill of divorce must be given it, with a resolution never to have anything more to do with it. Though it be dear as the wife of your bosom, nay as the right eye or a right hand, otherwise there is no pardon, no peace. Here's how Ezra 10 applies to you. Think of the love for a spouse and children.

If it's sin, whatever the sin is, whatever the pet sin is, the loved sin is. You haven't married a pagan, okay, Got it. You have a loved sin. Give it a bill of divorce. Resolve never to have anything to do with it again.

Put it away. You love that sin. You sheltered it. You've nurtured it. You've treated it like a friend when it was an enemy.

Divorce it. This is the necessary divorce. That's why the sermon is titled that. There is a necessary divorce for those who will never have a pagan spouse to put away. Make the pagan spouse in the text the sin that you love and nurture and protect and hide.

And now God through this text comes to you and says divorce it. Send it away. Resolve never to have anything to do with it again. What about you? What affection do you need to give a bill of divorce to?

Send it away and resolve never to touch it again. When I say that, I know everybody's mind is going to something. I don't know what it is. Luckily, I can't see past your windshield and you can't see past mine. I know when I say that, everyone's mind goes to the thing.

You've been hiding and protecting. Divorce it. Finally, God told Solomon that he would hear humble prayers offered at this temple. In Matthew chapter 12 verse 6, Jesus says, I'm greater than the temple. Matthew 12 verse 6, Jesus says, in this place there is one greater than the temple.

Shekiniah is right, there is hope. There is hope. Even for those who had the setting sins, they've been nurturing and hiding and treating as a friend, even though that sin will kill you. You've been treating it as a friend. There is hope.

If there was hope then, how much more now? We don't have to go pray humbly at the temple, but one greater than the temple is here. We pray through our mediator, Jesus Christ. We're the target of His exceedingly great and precious promises. There's hope.

We can be free. We can give a bill of divorce to those affections that are not right for the Lord's people. This is about affections that are not right for the Lord's people. If you give way to those affections for long enough, the result of that is hopelessness. I know that's true.

Any Christian who's ever had a time of drifting, which is any Christian who's been in the faith for very long at all, knows that Christians have times of drifting and that the hardness of your heart becomes so discouraging. Let hope be awakened today as a result of this text that those patterns and sins can be broken in your life and let it give you a resolve to hand a bill of divorcement to that pet sin. Let's pray. Father, what a good thing it is to think about your call to radical discipleship. That if anything would cause us to sin, if our right eye or right hand caused us to sin, we should pluck it out or cut it off and cast it from us.

So much better than the alternative. If we love father or mother or wife or husband or children more, then we love you. In fact, if Those relationships aren't as hatred compared to our affection for you. We can't even be your disciple. These are sobering thoughts, God.

But I thank you that you, week after week, as you bring us to text, keep bringing us to sobering thoughts. This is such a great help. Thank you for your mercy in bringing us here. Help us to be a people who give a bill of divorce to our pet sins that we would not have. Not have pet sins.

That we hide and nurture. Help us to be free of these things. That We may live to your honor as trophies of your grace. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.