Confessing for the Faithless

American Christianity has a problem. I’m sure there are several problems that could be mentioned, but in preparing for today’s message, I want to point one out to you. I say this, not to promote self-righteousness in our hearts or to elevate ourselves, but to warn you. Because if you’re not aware of the problem, then you are more affected by it than you think. What’s the problem?

One of the most devasting and fundamental errors in the popular forms of Christianity in our country is a misunderstanding of, or a disregard for, confession and repentance. It’s a problem of ignorance, and it’s a serious one.

We have a culture that downplays sin, and we have churches and Christians that been molded more into the world than into God’s truth.

Listen, if we don’t get confession and repentance right, we don’t get the gospel right. This was the error of the Pharisees, and Jesus said they were leading people to hell. To know God rightly, through His Son Jesus Christ, is to understand confession and repentance.

In Acts chapter 2, when we find the first recorded sermon given after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, Peter pointed to the supremacy of Jesus as Lord and Christ. This was the man which the Jewish people had put to death. And when the people cried out, “What do we do? How should we respond?” Peter didn’t give them four spiritual laws or a simple little prayer to repeat after him. He said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” The first word in his response was “Repent.”

In Acts chapter 3, we get a second sermon, also given by Peter. And again, he speaks to the people of their sin in putting Jesus to death. And he says, “Repent therefore and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

Repentance is a critical part of the gospel message. And Ezra 9 is a helpful reminder of the nature of confession and repentance.

I think most of you remember that Ezra was a priest and a scribe. He was an expert in the Law of Moses, and his heart was to lead the Jews in Israel back to obedience.

The Bible tells us about three different groups that left Persia and returned to Jerusalem. Ezra was the leader of the second group.

The first group was led by a man named Zerubbabel, and they rebuilt the Temple. The third group was led by a man named Nehemiah, and they worked to rebuild the wall around the city. Ezra, however, didn’t have any kind of physical building project. His plan was to bring a spiritual reformation.

Once Ezra and his team arrive in Jerusalem, they deliver the gold and the silver set apart for the Temple treasury, and this leads right into chapter 9 which can be divided into three sections. First, Ezra hears the sin. Second, Ezra mourns the sin. And lastly, at least in this chapter, Ezra confesses the sin. He hears, he mourns, and then he confesses. We’ll talk for a bit about the first two sections, but the bulk of our time will be spent on Ezra’s prayer.

Let’s start with Ezra hearing of the sin. This is what verses 1-2 tell us. I’ll read that one more time. Ezra chapter 9, verses 1-2—After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. [2] For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.”

This is not some tattletale leaders going to Ezra to complain. Ezra has come to understand and address the spiritual state of the nation, and this is the information he needs to know.

Before the Israelites ever came into the Land promised to them, it was inhabited by other peoples and nations. They were idolatrous, wicked people who did not serve the one, true God. So, God promised to help Israel drive them out. Those who wanted to convert, like Rahab for example, could be welcomed, but Israel was not to accept their idolatrous worship which even included offering their children as burnt offerings.

Israel was to have nothing to do with the wickedness of the people. In Exodus 34, God says, “Do not make a covenant with these people. Tear down their altars. Break their pillars.” In Deuteronomy 7, Israel is explicitly instructed not to intermarry. The point is not ethnic purity; it is purity of worship.

In each of the first two verses, we see a word that helps us understand the nature of what is happening.

The practices of these nations are described in verse 1 as “abominations.” To say that something is an abomination means that it is detestable; its disgusting. There is no good way to look at this. There is no context that justifies what is happening. It is abominable.

From a human perspective, we can all think of things that are truly detestable and disgusting, but the word here points us to God’s perspective. God’s determination of something is ultimate reality, whether we agree with it or not. And God’s perspective is supposed to shape our perspective.

The practices of these foreign nations are abominations, yet the Israelites don’t have a problem with it. This new generation is unwilling to separate itself.

In verse 2, we get another word that describes the nature of the problem. The foreign nations are committing abominations, and the nation of Israel is accused of faithlessness. That’s the word at the end of verse 2.

This talking about a breach of contract, if you will. It is to step outside the established boundaries. It’s a trespass. Israel belonged to the Lord, but now, like an adulteress wife, they are uniting themselves to other gods.

Ezra immediately understand the severity of the problem. The covenant loyalty to Yahweh has been destroyed, and this transgression has affected every level of the people. It has affected the general population, but also the priests and the Levites. In fact, the leaders, verse 2 says, are the worst offenders. Israel is upside-down spiritually.

After hearing of the grievous sin of the people, Ezra’s immediate reaction is to mourn. He grieves. He laments. Look at verses 3 and 4.

It says this—As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. [4] Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.

Ezra’s actions are cultural expressions of anger and sorrow. Ezra sits there in shock and horror. He is devastated because he loves God and he loves Israel, but Israel has abandoned God’s truth.

We are told today that a good leader is not supposed to show a lot of emotion. I think there’s some truth to that in the sense that emotion shouldn’t usually be in the driver’s seat. But a godly leader is also someone who recognizes sin as sin and feels its ugliness.

Ezra led a group to travel to Israel, and now he is leading his people to respond appropriately to heinous sin. Those who, like Ezra, fear God join him in stunned and reverent silence. Ezra is not only processing the severity of what has happened; he is demonstrating it as well. He is speechless.

But once the appropriate time comes, once it’s time for the evening sacrifice and the people gather, Ezra leads in a prayer of confession. This is the final and longest section of the chapter.

What we have in verses 5-15 is identifying and intercessory confession. Ezra identifies with the sinners, and he confesses because of the sin. Ezra is not personally guilty for what has taken place in Israel, but he is a member of this covenant community, and so he makes a corporate confession.

Before we look more closely at the confession, I want to address this issue of identifying with the sins of others. I want to talk about this idea of corporate confession, or intercessory confession, from a theological perspective. The question I want to address briefly is this: What is a fair application of this principle in our culture today?

I have heard pastors say or imply that Christians today should be confessing and lamenting the past and present sins in our culture and our nation. Is that correct? Should we do that, and if so, how?

Based on the examples I see in Scripture, there are some appropriate ways to respond to the sins of the culture, but I don’t think every kind of prayer is helpful. Let me unpack that briefly with some examples.

Number one, it is appropriate to grieve over the effects of sin around us. We have numerous examples of that in the Psalms. David is sinned against, and he expresses his pain to God and his trust in God. He laments and he trusts. That’s an appropriate prayer. We should grieve over the effects of unbelief and the wickedness that exists in this world.

Number two, a second kind of prayer that is appropriate when we see the sin of the culture is to allow the wickedness we see to remind us of the sin in our own hearts, and then let that lead us to confess and ask for the grace to overcome it. This is the heart of the father in Proverbs who describes the foolishness and stupidity of men, and then says to his son, “Don’t do that. Stay away from that.” This is also the heart of the prayer—think Lead us not into temptation.

So we should grieve the sins of the culture, and we should be warned by the sins of the culture. Number three, we should also pray for the salvation of the culture. I hope that’s obvious. Stephen prayed like this for the men who were putting him to death. Jesus prayed the same thing. “Forgive them, Father. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

Having given those examples, however, I do not believe it is appropriate for us as Christians to identify with and make confession on behalf of the sins in the culture. I say that because I can’t think of any example of that happening in Scripture.

Ezra is not confessing on behalf of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Moabites. He is praying for Israel, the people he is bound to by God’s covenant. Yes, he has a political tie to Israel, but more than that he is united to Israel because of their mutual covenant with almighty God.

So, it’s okay for you and me to talk about all the ugly sins, past and present, in our own nation. And it’s good for us to think about how to promote righteousness. But we don’t need to get caught up in this modern idea of penance where we have to go confessing shame and guilt for the sins of people with whom we have no God-ordained connection. There’s no biblical support for that.

So, how does Ezra’s prayer of corporate confession get applied today. If you want to closely model his prayer, I think the most appropriate way is to think about sins that have infected, if you will, the covenant community. These are sins that have reached such a level in intensity or in extent that they have caused God to withhold His blessing on His covenant people.

What’s the covenant community of God today? It’s the local church. We have covenanted together as a local church.

When there is grievous sin that has permeated us as a local church—even if you feel like you had nothing to do with it—that’s a time when you can apply this principle of identifying with and making confession for the sins of others.

One New Testament example of corporate guilt which could call for corporate confession is in 1 Corinthians 5 when Paul talks about the man caught in horrible sexual immorality. His sin was public, and nobody was doing anything about it. So, Paul doesn’t just scold the man, he goes after the whole church. He doesn’t tell the other churches to confess the sin, but he rebukes the Corinthian church. He says, “You’re out here bragging about how tolerant and loving you are, but your church is a disgrace to a holy God! You have permitted an abomination!” I think if a godly man came into that church at that time and found out what had happened, he could very much have responded like Ezra with intercessory, corporate confession.

So, again, I think the most appropriate expression today of what Ezra is doing would be an identification with, and a confession of, some sin that has dangerously permeated your own local church, the people you have covenanted with as the visible people of God.

I’ll just leave that right there for now, and let you meditate on the implications, but let’s move on now and look more closely at Ezra’s confession. What do we learn from hearing the confession of a man who knows, serves, and loves God?

Let me share with you four components that stand out to me in Ezra’s prayer. These are things Ezra understands and expresses in the prayer of confession.

Number 1, Ezra understands and expresses the holiness of God. He understands and expresses the holiness of God.

To say that God is holy is to say the He is far beyond us in power and essence and righteousness. He is at a level we cannot fully comprehend, and we do not measure up to him.

Look at verses 5 and 6. Listen to the tone with which Ezra speaks—And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, [6] saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

This is nothing like the “my bad” prayers you might hear people make. There are no excuses. There are no explanations. This is an awareness on Ezra’s part that, in himself, he has absolutely no right to go before the God of all creation. He deserved God’s judgment. And as the prayer continues, you are going to see him repeat some of these words and sentiments. You’ll see his shame, and you’ll see the words like: guilt, iniquities, impurities, abominations, and uncleanness. This is a man who knows the holiness of God.

A second component we see hear is that Ezra understand and expresses the authority of Scripture. The authority of Scripture.

Beginning in verse 7, Ezra starts describing the history of Israel. How did he know what had happened generations before his time? It was recorded in the word of God. There is a historical component to this confession. It’s not just rooted in his feelings; it’s rooted in what he knows to be true because God has said it.

Look at verse 7—From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

The judgments Ezra describes are the judgment God had already said in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. God had already warned Israel what would happen if they persisted in their rebellion.

Again, this is a thoroughly biblical prayer, and it teaches us that when you and I confess our sin, we should not only recognize the holiness of God, but we should also use God’s own words in describing what we’ve done. We should use the language of Scripture.

Our culture twists words to soften the reality of what’s happening. We talk about an “affair” instead of adultery. We talk about “reproductive rights” rather than about murdering a baby in the womb. We talk about “wandering eyes” instead of confessing greedy, lustful hearts. We make excuses about why we think we were justified, rather than confess a lack of patience and a heart of selfishness. We talk about “personal struggles” rather than name our sin before our God.

God knows what our sins are. But in confession, we are aligning our hearts with the heart of God. And one of the ways we do that is by using the words he has given us.

There are popular worship songs that churches sing, and they talk about our shortcomings, but they never define them in any biblical way. That’s not helpful. That’s ambiguous. That allows the people singing to define those shortcomings however they want. So people sing about not “measuring up” to God, but what they might have in mind is that they don’t earn enough money, or that they have self-doubt, or that they don’t love themselves enough, or that they haven’t forgiven themselves. At its worst, you get people calling good evil and evil good. Because they have strayed from God’s word which should guide worship and prayer.

Some of you think might be thinking, “Well, if I pray like Ezra prayed, I’m just going to feel awful about myself!” Maybe you will. And maybe you should. How do you think Ezra felt? Do you get any sense here that Ezra is concerned about his self-confidence or his self-esteem? His concern is the glory of God.

Now, in saying this, however, there is a balancing truth. And this is the third component. Ezra both understand and expresses, number three, the grace of God. The grace of God.

Despite how unworthy he knows he is and how rebellious Israel has been, you can still see that he remembers God’s goodness, God’s undeserved kindness. That’s called grace.

It’s a lot like the prodigal son when he comes to his senses. He knows he’s sinned against his father, but he also knows that his father can take him back. And so, he returns. And his father’s restoration is much more glorious than he imagined.

I’m going to pick up the prayer in verse 8, and we will continue to see all three elements. And as Ezra remembers the grace of God, this leads him to continue confessing because not only have they sinned against an almighty God, they have also ignored the kindness of God.

Verse 8—But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. [9] For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

Coming back to Jerusalem out of Babylon and Persia was an expression of God’s kindness and grace. They could and should have been destroyed, but God was faithful to them. He was leading the nation back in the right direction. Israel was getting another chance. God was reviving them in their slavery.

In verse 8, we get the first of four times Ezra uses the word “remnant.” A crude synonym might be “leftovers.” When we talk about leftovers, we aren’t talking about gourmet food, right? But if you have leftovers, that means that the food isn’t all gone. Rather than eating it all, or throwing away whatever was left, some of it was preserved.

That’s a remnant. God has not disregarded Israel. He hasn’t thrown them into the trash bin of history. A small group of them has come back, and they are still there. In his grace, God has a remnant.

Israel has not been completely restored, but they haven’t been completely wiped out either. They’re still there. They are still in a kind of slavery because they’re under the jurisdiction of the Persians, but they are making their way back to the glorious design God had for them.

But even after God’s repeated kindness, the people go back to their rebellion of God’s word. Look at verse 10.

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, [11] which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. [12] Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’

Israel, just like in previous centuries and generations cannot remain faithful to God. They are unfaithful. They are faithless. But God is faithful. Ezra’s prayer is a recognition that there is hope to be restored.

Ezra understands and expresses the holiness of God, the authority of Scripture, and the grace of God. Lastly, the fourth component we see in his prayer of confession is that Ezra understands and expresses the nature of reconciliation. The nature of reconciliation.

Here’s what I mean by that. Israel’s problem before a holy God is not going to be solved simply by saying “I’m sorry.” God is not pleased with lip-service. God is not simply after an apology. God wants a heart that returns to Him.

In Romans 6, Paul talks about the ridiculousness of someone claiming to know Christ but still living in sin. Some have referred to that idea as “cheap grace.” It’s a cheap grace that forgives our sin but doesn’t provide any transformation. That’s a perversion of the gospel.

Well, Ezra rejects the idea of cheap grace. And you see that in his rhetorical questions as this prayer comes to a close. Look at verses 13-15.

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, [14] shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? [15] O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

Ezra knows that it is foolish and inconsistent to confess sin and ask for forgiveness without turning away from sin. Without repentance, there is no reconciliation with God.

And the same is true today. We saw it in the sermons in the book of Acts. If you want the cleansing sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the victorious power of His resurrection to be applied to you, you must repent. You need to turn away from your old life and follow Jesus. This is the message of the Bible.

God is holy, and yet God is merciful and kind as well. And if you will trust in Christ and turn from your sin, He will accept you—not on the basis of your own righteousness, but on the basis of what Jesus has done.

Every component I mentioned about Ezra’s prayer leads him to the same attitude. It leads him to a heart of humility. The holiness of God, the authority of God’s word, the grace of God, and the nature of reconciliation lead Ezra to bow before God in humility. And that’s what God wants to produce in us—humble hearts that fear God.

John Newton wrote in “Amazing Grace,” “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” Those were the words of a man who repented of sin and trusted in Christ. That was a man, like Ezra, who understood the greatness of his sin and the kindness of his God. This was a man who understood confession and repentance.

There are so many people praying and talking about revival taking place. And that’s a good prayer. We want God to work among us. But the true measure of revival is not going to be anything sentimental or emotional. True revival begins with a humble recognition of sin, and that leads to confession and repentance.

Ezra led the people in corporate confession. Lord willing, next time we’ll see how Ezra leads the people in corporate repentance.