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Ezra Made the Israelite People Repent

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[Ezra 9:5-6]

Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God and prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

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Judah had fallen to Babylon because they did not live the life God wanted.
And they lived as slaves of Babylon for 70 years.

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The Israelites who were brought to Babylon as slaves prayed for forgiveness and hoped to go back to Judah one day. God listened to their prayers.

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As God had promised after 70 years they were allowed to go back to Judah.
Through God`s help the Jews went back to their homeland.

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The people who came back to Judah promised to live their lives according to God`s words. At first they lived their life well. However, after some time passed they did not live their lives as God told them to. There were some people that even served idols.

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There were some people who married with foreign woman who did not believe in God. Even worst the leaders, who should have shown their faith in God better than the rest of the people, became corrupt and liked money even more than God. They lived their lives against God and used their position to do bad things.

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There was one person who saw these acts and wanted to fix this terrible situation.
This person was Ezra who knew a lot about God`s words.

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When Ezra heard that the people did not live their lives for God he was so sad. Because he was so mad, he tore off his outer cloak and torn off his hair and beard.

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When the people heard about Ezra some people who feared God gathered around Ezra. Because Ezra was so sad he did not move until the sun set.

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Just when the time for praying to God came he bowed down to God and repented loudly and prayed. When the people saw this they gathered around Ezra and repented and began to pray also.

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The people who realized what their problem was came to Ezra and asked for guidance.
"We were wrong. So rise and teach as what to do. We will do whatever you say."

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Ezra asked the people to gather altogether in 3 days. As Ezra told the people they all gathered in front of the temple. That day the rain poured heavily. However, the people realized how heavy their sins were so they did not move an inch.

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Ezra told them, "You people have committed many sins against God. You people have married with foreign women. So you have sinned greatly. Right now confess your sins and follow what God says to us. Return back all the women who are not Jews."

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All of the people heard what Ezra said and replied,
"Yes, you are right. We have committed a great sin. As the leader has said, we will follow."

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The people did everything as they promised. They were not pleased but they followed as God said because it's more important to follow what they promised, so they sent back every foreign wife. Through Ezra, Judah`s relationship with God was restored.

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We also should take some time to look back on ourselves. As Ezra said we should try to look back and see whether we have lived our lives as God has told us or not. And ask for forgiveness and go back to God and restore ourselves as God`s children who have received the great gift of salvation.

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)