12/12/25

Ezra 9:13 NASB95 “After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this,

In our text, Ezra is speaking about the fact that Israel has sinned by intermarrying with non-believers. God warns against this throughout many places in the Bible, but people continue to do it even today. We see over and over that the majority of those who commit this sin end up turning from God rather than bringing their pagan spouse to God.

However, I want us to look at our verse today as encompassing all sin, not just the sin of marrying outside the family of faith. All sin is dangerous and is worthy of death but our text today shows how merciful and gracious our God is.

I don't think anyone will truly comprehend this verse until we stand before God face-to-face. We can understand it now only to our level of humility. We will never experience total humility until we stand before the total Holiness and total Righteousness of God. Then and only then will we understand the vastness of our sin. When scripture says our righteousness is like filthy rags, we are not able to understand the filth of our righteousness. I imagine if we were to jump into a full septic tank and open our eyes and compare what we would see to our righteousness, then the septic tank would look clean in comparison. This is what our text describes

After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt. ( He is speaking of the sin of mixed marriages with unbelievers, but all sin applies.)

Since You, our God, have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, (you have allowed all this punishment for sin and still haven't punished us as our sins deserve. We deserve and have earned death, total and eternal separation from you. However, you have only allowed partial separation for a limited time. This shows us how merciful and gracious you are.)

And have given us an escaped remnant as this, (you have allowed a portion of our people to continue on the covenant you have made with us. You are truly worthy of praise.)

However, praise is not what His people did then nor is it what His people do now. Listen to the next two verses.

Ezra 9:14-15 NASB95 shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? “O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.”

When you think about sinning, stop and realize that no one can stand before God because of your sin.

Then realize Jesus took all of that punishment upon Himself.

That is how Holy, Righteous, Just, Merciful, and Gracious He is. Now then do you still want to sin against Him?

Ezra 9;13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt,

since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve,

and have given us an escaped remnant as this,

I will strive not to sin and to praise and worship my Lord and Savior, Jesus!

Love Bro. Scott