“Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.” (Ezra 10:1)

“And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.” (Ezra 10:2)

“Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.” (Ezra 10:3)

We now come to the third basic principle of genuine repentance: a Putting away and Forsaking of Sin.

There must first be a godly sorrow over the sins; acknowledging that we have trespassed against a holy and righteous God; confessing our sins before Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

We have learned from our text verses of Ezra 10: in verse one there is a genuine godly sorrow over the sin that was committed. Ezra 10:1, “Ezra had prayed… confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God...” (He humbled himself, as did the people, before Almighty God.)

In Ezra 10:2, we see the acknowledging of sinning against God and a confession of the sin, we “have taken strange wives of the people of the land.” Only when we acknowledge that we have sinned against God, and confess that sin, can genuine repentance be made.

And lastly, in Ezra 10:3, we see the putting away of the sin, “Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them…” We cannot hold on to any sin in our lives if we are to have genuine repentance. We confess our sins before God; making a covenant, or a promise to Him, to put away sin, to forsake sin, in our lives. We have been called to holiness.

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

The final point of this devotional is: we must do it God’s Way.

“Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.” (Ezra 10:3)

We do it God’s Way; and His Way only. Our God has set the standard for living a godly life. We have a Hope; and that Hope is Jesus Christ.

Have we a genuine repentance after a godly sorrow; or is our sorrow the sorrow of the world?