True repentance

Happy endings.
I love 'em.
I'm showing my age, I know.
I'm old school: when I watch a movie, I want to invest my time in something uplifting. I'm not too interested in an "important" film, or a kleenex-box-needed tear jerker. (Yes, I will watch documentaries and other videos to know about important issues, but I'm talking about the times that I sit down and want to watch something just for my own pleasure and entertainment.)
There may be some heartache, some tears.
But you know that at the end, all the loose strings will be tied up and a positive outcome will result.
That's why I mostly watch movies from the thirties and forties. (Grin)
Anyway, I digress.
We are ready for the final chapter of Ezra.
Like an old movie, there will be some conflict and some heartache.
But at the end, there will be a positive outcome.
Ready?
I'm going to trust that you will find time to read the tenth and final chapter of Ezra in your quiet time. I am going to post the first seventeen verses here for us, since the remainder of the chapter is a list of the names of men who had married "foreign" women, or women outside of the Jewish faith.

 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. 2 Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel. 3 Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. 4 Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.”5 So Ezra rose up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath to do what had been suggested. And they took the oath. 6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.7 A proclamation was then issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. 8 Anyone who failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property, in accordance with the decision of the officials and elders, and would himself be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.9 Within the three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin had gathered in Jerusalem. And on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people were sitting in the square before the house of God, greatly distressed by the occasion and because of the rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. 11 Now honor the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.”
12 The whole assembly responded with a loud voice: “You are right! We must do as you say. 13 But there are many people here and it is the rainy season; so we cannot stand outside. Besides, this matter cannot be taken care of in a day or two, because we have sinned greatly in this thing. 14 Let our officials act for the whole assembly. Then let everyone in our towns who has married a foreign woman come at a set time, along with the elders and judges of each town, until the fierce anger of our God in this matter is turned away from us.” 15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this.16 So the exiles did as was proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family heads, one from each family division, and all of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the cases, 17 and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women. (Ezra 10:1-17)

Wow......there's a lot here, no?
The focus of our study this week will be repentance, taken from those verses above.
In our world today, we often see that people are caught for their crimes (some seem to get away with their wickedness, but that's a story for another day) and some are defiant; some are repentant. Often the ones who want everyone to think they've repented and turned over a "new leaf," are the ones who turn out to be deceiving us. They may say the right things at first, and they seem sorry for what they've done, but we find out later that they didn't really mean what they said!
Television evangelists, financial wizards, even presidents are exposed for their wrongful deeds. Are they genuine when they say they are sorry? Only God knows their hearts, but sometimes a word or two here and there, or even subsequent behavior will tell us they didn't truly repent.
As believers, we know that sin isn't something that we catch like the latest flu or cold virus!
And the Bible is clear that there's genuine repentance and false repentance. Remember ole Pharaoh? He told Moses twice that he, Pharaoh, had sinned (Exodus 9 and 10) but we see later that his heart did NOT change!
Esau wept about his birthright after he gave it away, but in Hebrews 12 we see that he didn't truly repent. Judas felt remorse over betraying our Savior, but he didn't repent (Matthew 27).
If we want to have a right relationship with our Father, we must make certain that our repentance is genuine, not casual.
Let's dig into our text . . .
First, genuine repentance involves heartfelt sorrow. Not being sorry that you got caught! It means that you are sorrowful for the sins and then take prompt action to mitigate them (more on that later). Remember last week when we talked about mourning over our sins? Agreeing with a holy God that we've flubbed up?
Well, (quick review here) the problem in Ezra 9 and 10 concerns the Jewish exiles who returned to the homeland and took pagan wives. We saw that the instructions in Deuteronomy 7 had been totally forgotten, and they'd disobeyed God's commandment. In the eleventh verse, Ezra gets right to the point, telling them what they must do:

Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” (Ezra 10:11)

We can see here that Ezra is looking for genuine sorrow over what they had done, and he indicates it will not be sorrow in words only . . . it will also be seen in obedience to God.

So as to make these posts easier to study, I will close here and begin again tomorrow.
See you then!