Less than our iniquities deserve

Wesley Wright

Lighthouse Bible Church

Sunday, November 23, 2025

 

Title: Less than our iniquities deserve

 

EZR 9:1-15

 

Remember:

Ezra is part of a second group that left Babylon for Jerusalem

Decades between the first group and the second

 

The second group arrived to see others in mixed marriages, a direct violation to God’s law (Ezra 9:1-2). Even princes and rulers were engaging in them — leadership, no doubt.

 

These marriages served to pull the Israelites away from the same God that had just before delivered them from persecution.

 

EXO 34:8-16

 

There’s a long precedent to this, given their history: DEU 7:1-8

 

Solomon, also a leader, struggled with this too:

1KI 11:1-12

 

NEH 13:23-31

 

 

God has an extraordinarily high view of marriage, and we should too.

 

MAT 19:2-9

MAR 10:1-12

1CO 7:8-17

MAL 2:14-16

 

A distraught Ezra (EZR 9:7-9) acknowledged the sins of his contemporaries and their fathers — think of fathers as ancestors more generally.

 

God referenced His covenant and how would honor if the Israelites acknowledged their sin: LEV 26:36-46

 

PSA 106:6-10

 

Jeremiah did this:

JER 14:19-22

 

As wayward as they became, God always promised the Israelites a remnant, and Ezra acknowledged that He did so here (Ezra 9:8).

 

God never made a

full end of them:

JER 5:16-19

EZE 11:13-20

HOS 11:5-12

 

Ezra acknowledged that God’s treatment of the guilty Israelites was less than the punishment due them (EZR 9:13-15). He showed grace to them.

 

Keep in mind that God has also punished us less than our iniquities deserve, too.

 

PSA 103:8-18

 

MIC 7:18-20

 

ROM 6:17-23

 

2CO 5:17-21

 

By engaging in mixed marriages, the Israelites clearly strayed away from the laws and statues God provided them.

 

Even then, God showed them grace — and us, too in some very significant ways. Show grace in our lives, which will point folks to the God of all grace.

 

Don’t think your marriage must end if you’re already in one with an unbeliever. Spouses + kids have benefits being associated with you. Pray earnestly for them.

 

These mixed marriages end in chapter 10, and Ezra has the Israelites do it a certain way, which we’ll address next week.