Because of marrying the wrong wife, one must divorce and abandon the offspring. Why would someone be so self-reproaching about this, even willing to make such a decisive break? It is to tell us to have an uncompromising attitude toward sin. Sin is like a poisonous sore that will corrode your life until you perish. Resist it!

Questions for Reflection:

• In this chapter, what is Ezra praying about? What is the reaction of the people?

• What is Ezra's attitude toward the sins committed by the people?

• In our lives and in the church, what attitude should we have toward sin?

Uncompromisingly Dealing with Sin Is the Beginning of Restoring God's Wonderful Work

This chapter speaks about the attitude toward sin. I believe that if we were to adopt Ezra's attitude toward these sinners today, many would disagree. They might ask: Why be so resolute? But do you know why God leaves a church? It is because people take a compromising attitude toward sin! If God abandons a place, it is not because God lacks grace or mercy, but because of the sins people commit. If a church cannot maintain a holy attitude, God's wrath will be manifested in that place. Therefore, when God begins to restore His wonderful work in our church, the first thing He does is to change your and my attitude toward sin. If you and I do not have Ezra's resolute attitude toward dealing with sin, God will not be able to restore His wonderful work.

Thank God, even those who have just arrived among us today will be influenced to know that we cannot take a compromising attitude toward sin. The testimony written by Sister YM is very good. She began to be strong and courageous in dealing with sin, and as a result, she saw God's presence. The matter of marrying foreign women written in Ezra is not considered a big deal by many people. Today, we still see many Christians marrying non-believers, and their reasons are very simple: because I cannot find anyone in the church, there is no suitable person in the church, so I marry foreigners.

But I tell you, marrying foreigners is a very serious sin because you are taking a compromising attitude toward sin in this marriage process. When you choose to do this, if you give an inch to sin, sin will advance a foot; if you give a foot, it will advance ten feet. It goes on and on until you abandon God. Then, when you call out to God, you will not see God's response at all. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must take an uncompromising attitude toward sin.

How Ezra Viewed and Handled Sin

Let's look at Ezra Chapter 10 to see how Ezra viewed and dealt with the sin of marrying foreign women after returning to Jerusalem. First, he had an overall view. It records eighty-six people who married foreign women. You may say: There were tens of thousands who returned with Zerubbabel, and thousands who returned with Ezra, but in the end, only eighty-odd people committed this sin. Is this a big deal? Does it have such a deep impact on the entire people of Israel? This is a crucial point that everyone must understand today, and the church is the same. Don't think that it's no big deal if one person sins in the church, because in God's view, the church is a whole, and one person's sin will corrupt the whole! Ezra was very clear about this. He knew that the sin of those eighty-six people was like yeast that would continue to spread and eventually corrupt the whole, which was very serious. But even after Ezra had cleared away these sins, the same problem continued to occur when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem thirty years later. Why was this? It was because the people later on did not have an overall view and still thought that it was no big deal if a few people committed sins.

Second, Ezra took an uncompromising attitude when dealing with this sin. The method he took was called to send away all these wives and their children (verse 3). To divorce your wife and abandon your children, can you accept that? I myself must admit that this is very difficult for me, but this is Ezra's attitude toward dealing with sin. What would happen if the same thing happened in the church today? If a pastor of a church told you to forsake the foreign wife you married and forsake your children, I believe that pastor would probably be driven out of the church. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must learn two lessons in this chapter today: first, overall holiness; second, in the process of overall holiness, if there is sin, it must be dealt with. Don't say: Oh, the precious blood of Jesus has covered this sin, so it's okay! Sin must be removed. Brothers and sisters must have Ezra's uncompromising attitude toward dealing with sin, so that then the fierce wrath of God will turn away from us (verse 14).

The Result of Compromising with Sin Is the Departure of God's Glory and Presence

Let's go back to the problems of the church. When I went out for marching prayer at noon today, I said to some brothers and sisters: This used to be a church, but now it has become an entertainment venue; that used to be a church, but now it has also become an entertainment venue; there used to be many churches on this mountain behind us, and many of them have become entertainment venues. What exactly happened to these churches? Many years ago, in this most prosperous and expensive area of Singapore, a group of saints knelt here and prayed desperately, and then many people were willing to donate to build a very beautiful place as a church, one next to another... But later these churches became entertainment venues. I believe that those ancestors who once knelt and prayed and have already gone to heaven would be saddened by this. What is the problem? It started with the church tolerating a little sin and compromising with sin! At first, it was just a little bit of sin, and then that sin raged in the church, and then God's glory left the church, leaving only God's wrath here.

This sounds amazing, but thank the Lord, the church we are building today is growing by leaps and bounds because we have taken an uncompromising attitude toward sin! Therefore, today we must warn ourselves, we are the first generation of Christians, what about the second generation? Will they still be able to take such a firm attitude toward sin? If they compromise with sin and deal with it in a very gentle and humane way, what will be the result? The result is that people continue to walk on the road of sin. The reason why we see God restoring wonderful works among us today is because of our attitude toward dealing with sin, because we do not take human doctrines as doctrines, but take God's doctrine as doctrine. Now, in many churches, God's wonderful works are gradually disappearing because of their compromising attitude toward sin and because they take a more humane approach to dealing with sin.

Let's go back to the New Testament and look at the church built by Paul, which was full of God's glory and wonderful works: we don't see anyone living miserably, and we don't see a large group of people praying for someone to find a job without God's response. All we see are God's wonderful works, and all we see are the problems in people's lives completely disappearing. Of course, we also saw the persecution of some Christians by the Roman Empire, but being persecuted for righteousness is a very glorious thing. But what we see today is a very desolate scene because I have been invited to participate in many WeChat groups and QQ groups, where I often see similar information: Everyone, quickly pray for my brother! My brother borrowed 200,000 yuan in usury, and if he doesn't pay back the money today, they will kill my brother. My brother is so scared that he wants to commit suicide. Do you think praying for his brother will have God's response? No, because he is living in sin without knowing it.

There was also a sister who found my phone number on the website and called me and said: Pastor, quickly pray for my child! He is suddenly going crazy there, he must be attacked by demons! Then I recorded a voice message and sent it to her: In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the spirit that is disturbing my child to go away and leave, Amen! As a result, after she played this voice message, her child was healed! But why didn't she ask her own pastor to pray, but instead made a long-distance call to find me? This is very strange, and it also makes me see the desolation of the church today.

Don't think that I am saying something unreasonable, or that my way of dealing with some things is too extreme. In fact, Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible are far more extreme than I am. If you want to follow a pastor to believe in the Lord and build a glorious church of God, you must choose to follow this kind of pastor who takes a completely rejecting attitude toward sin, and then you will be strong and courageous and start to reject sin. We must not tolerate one person's sin when building a church, and we must never say: It doesn't matter if one person commits a sin! Because our God is holy, jealous, and extremely hates sin! Without holiness, we cannot see God's presence! Today, you and I must take this firm attitude. What if we abandon the foreign wife and children? Abandoning God is the most serious problem, because without God we can do nothing.

Ezra did the right thing. Since those people had the courage to commit sins in the first place, they must have the courage to abandon those sins today. Therefore, I encourage our group leaders and parents to be strong and courageous. If there are some brothers and sisters in your group who are constantly creating problems and constantly releasing sinful things to corrupt people, then hand them over to me, and I also hope to turn them back from sin; if I still cannot shepherd them, then hand them over to God to shepherd; if God cannot shepherd them either, perhaps Satan can shepherd them. Paul also said in the Bible: Hand this kind of person over to Satan to destroy his flesh so that his soul may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:5) Paul will not take a compromising attitude toward sin, and he even said to drive these people out of the church. Today, if we talk about the difference between one church and another, it refers to the different attitudes of the pastors of the churches toward sin. If God is with us, who can resist us? If we choose to be strong and courageous and live a holy life, God will lead us to turn everything around! But today, many people still adopt human thinking and ideas and are unwilling to take such an extreme attitude. When a pastor is like this, how far do you think the sheep he leads can go?

Serving God with a Spirit of Fearlessness

In the Book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas were sent to the Gentiles with letters from the first Christian conference in Jerusalem. The Bible describes them thus: Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 15:26) Why does the Bible say this? Because they would never transmit lies, and would never distort the decisions of the entire conference. Paul adopted an attitude of fearlessness; if one is filled with concerns, afraid of this and afraid of that, one simply cannot serve God. Today, I also encourage you to begin to learn from Paul to lay down your life and serve God with a spirit of fearlessness! After Ezra drove out those foreign wives and children, some might have thrown stones at him or taken actions to harm him. But his attitude was: drive these people out, remove the sin; if anyone wants to throw stones at me, let them throw! Death is death, I don't care! Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must begin to see what kind of God God is. The Bible says, To know the Holy One is understanding.

Today, the root cause of all the problems and tragedies in the world is people's lack of knowledge of God. If you do not know God and live according to your own desires, the devil will not let you go; if you know God, you must know that God is a jealous God, a holy God, then begin to steel yourself to live a holy life, and never tolerate sin. Because Ezra knew God, he adopted this very resolute attitude. But unfortunately, not long after Ezra, the Israelites began to marry foreign women again. Because later there were almost no people who could be strong and courageous, standing firm to deal with sin.

Be Strong and Courageous, Your Family Will Surely Be Transformed

Today, we all yearn to transform our families. In fact, as long as we can be strong and courageous like Ezra and stand firm, God will surely transform our families through your strength! One of our sisters in Shenzhen has also gained a strong and courageous heart through our remote ministry. This sister was persecuted by her mother when she first believed, because her mother thought she was too obsessed with her faith; later, she experienced many of God's graces and began to become strong, and now she persecutes her mother to follow her in believing in the Lord no matter what!

So, if you are taking a compromising attitude in your own family, you must repent today, and you must begin to learn to take a resolute attitude, because it is not others who are ruining your family, it is the devil. Do not wait until you are about to be ruined before you think of saving them! If you can take a strong and courageous attitude to deal with the sin behind the control of your family, they will surely be saved and delivered! If you take a compromising attitude, the devil will surely ruin your family. Therefore, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, we must let our family members receive the grace of Jesus Christ! Imitate Ezra's attitude, like driving a bulldozer, stepping on the accelerator, regardless of mountains big or small, difficulties big or small, flatten them all. I tell you, your family will surely be transformed!

Yesterday, when I was in a meeting with some brothers and sisters, they mentioned a very interesting thing to me. One of our sisters was also persecuted by her parents at first, and they even came to the church to threaten us. However, later I found her father over to talk with many of our brothers and sisters, and it was not bad. When they left Singapore, their attitude towards us was not so bad. Thank God, today this sister's parents have begun to believe in the Lord! Her father does not want to join the QQ group, so he secretly attends the meetings on the remote live broadcast, it is very miraculous! Not only him, but also the mother of a brother also attends the meetings in this way. See? Being strong and courageous really solves problems. If you hold on tightly to God, God will let you gain the rest!

God's Intention is to Deal with People's Sin, So That People May Be Saved

Let's look at the story of Abraham: Abraham first had a son, Ishmael, but God told Abraham to drive Ishmael away, and told Abraham that Ishmael would also become a great nation, and God would bless him. God is not a malicious God, God is a God who wants people to live a holy life, God deals with the sin inside people. Even if that person has been driven out by you, do you think God will want him to perish? No. In fact, God opened another door, that is, Gentiles can enter among the Israelites. The law written by Moses also clearly says: When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34). For example, Rahab, God wanted to destroy Jericho and all that was in it, but because Rahab believed in God, God saved Rahab's whole family, and later they also became part of the Israelites, and Rahab also became a person in the genealogy of Jesus. Another example is Ruth, although she was a Moabite, she later became a person in the genealogy of Jesus. Why? Because they believed and accepted all the statutes and ordinances of the God of Israel.

Ezra drove out those foreign wives and children, not because our God is ruthless, but because what God deals with is not people, but people's hearts, the sin inside people. If a person is willing to believe and accept this God, he can be counted among the Israelites. But those who were driven out by Ezra would rather be driven out than accept God. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must firm such a concept today: deal with sin without compromise. In this way, the devil who rules behind sin will surely retreat!