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Ezekiel Ch 33
Calvary Chapel Sermon
by
Pastor Barry Forder
on 2026-06-07

Text within << and >> is “Editor’s notes”


We are continuing, then, this incredible journey through the book of Ezekiel.
 
John Patterson said, Probably no book of the Old Testament is as little read as his.
 And it may well be the least popular, as it is the least known of the Old Testament.

 Well, I kind of hope and pray that as a congregation, that won't be our testimony.

 I hope that when we get to heaven and Ezekiel comes up to us and says, Hey, did you read my book? You're going to go, Yeah, it was brilliant.
 But beware, because Obadiah might also come up and ask you the same question.
 But let's just look very quickly at where these things fit.
 If we look at the timeline of the Bible, as in terms of when it was written and these things.
 So Genesis covers a huge amount of history, right from the beginning of creation, right through to the time that Israel becomes a nation as they come out of Egypt.
 And then we've got obviously the rest of the Torah, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and so on that give us the law, and the details of their wanderings, and finally crossing over under Joshua into the land that we now know, the land of Israel.
 And all these other books where they fit in.
 But Ezekiel fits in down the bottom there.
 So let's go back the other way.
 So that's where Ezekiel fits in, in this period of time, round about 600 BC.
 That's typically the kind of time that we're looking at.
 If we were to look at geographically where these things are taking place, that was roughly what became the Babylonian Empire.
 During this period of history.
 And we've got Nineveh.
 That was the capital of Assyria.
 A major empire before the Babylonian Empire.
 Qar Shemesh is an interesting place.
 It's a significant place in regards to a battle that took place there.
 Babylon itself and its area, the modern-day Iraq, as we would know it.
 And then of course over here, right on the Mediterranean coast, we've got Israel and of course Jerusalem.
 And then just down here you've got Egypt.
 So geographically, this is the area of course in terms of today's history, in terms of today's map, this would be Turkey.
 Later in biblical times, we know this as Asia Minor.
 And of course all of this was under Roman occupation during the time of Jesus.
 But way before the Romans, before the Greeks, we have the Babylonians.
 And this was the empire and this was the area.
 Now in terms of times, Nineveh fell to the Babylonian Empire in about 612 BC.
 That was the fall of Nineveh.
 Three years later, we have the fall of Haran.
 That's up here, around this area somewhere here.
 Kind of modern-day Syria.
 And that's also when King Josiah dies.
 Pharaoh, Necho of Egypt, was on his way up to battle up here.
 And Josiah comes out in one of the most bizarre verses and passages in Scripture.
 It's recording Chronicles for us.
 I think about 2 Chronicles 34, if memory serves.
 And he comes out and he kind of picks a fight with Pharaoh.
 Pharaoh had no business with Josiah, but Josiah ends up dying in the battle.
 And it's a fascinating story.
 And it's a fascinating study for different reasons.
 Not least of which, because it would seem in the text, that Pharaoh is actually carrying the Ark of the Covenant.
 And the reason Josiah goes out and challenges him is because Josiah wants it back.
 And he specifically says, stop carrying it, bring it back.
 So it's just an interesting aside.
 And there's all sorts of suggestions as to why the Ark had been removed and so on.
 But that's another study in and of itself.
 And in 6 BC, this famous battle of Qar Shemesh, Nebuchadnezzar is at this point.
 His dad is ruling, but his dad dies at this point.
 Nebuchadnezzar wins this decisive battle, really subduing the whole of this area and forces Pharaoh back down into Egypt so he's no longer got any control.
 And of course, right in the middle of all of this, we have the land of Israel.
 And then of course, Nebuchadnezzar comes down from the north and comes down against Jerusalem, lays siege to Jerusalem.
 And as I said already, there are a number of sieges that take place.
 If you look at a zoomed in timeline now, 606 BC at the beginning here, the Babylonian Empire spans this period of time from 606 BC up to about 539.
 537 is the year we think that the Jews returned home.
 It's a couple of years after the Persian Empire had taken over.
 Cyrus lets the Jews go back to their land.
 But there's a first siege that takes place in 606 BC.
 That triggers a time, biblically, that we refer to Jeremiah actually gives us this title as the servitude of the nation because the nation effectively is now in servitude.
 They're under the control of this Gentile king.
 It's a period of exactly 70 years to the day.
 And that concludes 537 when this decree by King Cyrus, this Persian king who takes over from the Babylonians, this Persian king makes this decree and allows the Jews to return to their homeland.
 Why that's significant is, we've got so much history.
 If you go to the British Museum in London, there are many things and many artifacts from this time, including what's known as the Steel of Cyrus.
 It's a very small little cylindrical thing, but written in cuneiform around the edge of this is this decree from Cyrus allowing the captives to return home.
 So it all fits perfectly, the history and archaeology supporting all the Bible.
 We've then got a third siege which takes place in 587.
 We'll come back to the second in a moment.
 The third siege, and that's when after a period of rebellion against from the king, Zedekiah that was ruling in Jerusalem, we've already covered this in our study in Ezekiel.
 This is when Nebuchadnezzar has had enough and he comes back and Jerusalem is destroyed.
 And all the captives are taken away or some flee to Egypt and so on.
 That starts another separate period of 70 years.
 And that one we refer to as the servitude of the nation.
 The first one has to do with the land, but this one has to do with the servitude of the nation.
 And it's interesting that when this is terminated, this period of 70 years in 518, this decree of Darius, or Darius, it depends if you're English or American or which commentaries you're listening to, and I use those names interchangeably so just bear with me.
 But this king is the one that allows the temple to finally be rebuilt.
 So these are all fascinating things from a prophetic perspective.
 And then we get the second siege, and this is the one that's kind of interesting for the study of Ezekiel, because it's in 597 that Ezekiel then and many others with him are taken away from Israel and they're taken to Babylon.
 About a three month journey and a long arduous trek through desert terrain and so on.
 The books of Daniel deal with this period of history.
 Ezekiel, of course, we're studying.
 Second Chronicles covers all of this as well.
 And then we've got other books that we're familiar with that deal with when they return into the land.
 So we've got Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, all again relevant to the time after Israel are back in their land.
 So just to give you some of the history and the context.
 Alright, it's been a few weeks since we've gone through the summary.
 So let me just give you a quick overview of what we've already seen.
 The first chapter is Ezekiel's call to the prophetic office.
 He was a Levite, he thought he was going to be a priest, and God says, no, no, I've got something else for you to do.
 And because he's taken away from the land, he's no longer going to serve in Jerusalem in the temple, because he's taken out of the land completely, and he ends up in this foreign land in Babylon.
 And God then, in chapter 2 and 3, gives him his commission.
 It's to speak God's word, and also to be a watchman.
 And we're going to see that reiterated this morning in this chapter, chapter 33.
 In chapter 4 through 11, Ezekiel's task had been to show the necessity of Jerusalem's judgment because of her disobedience.
 And he's demonstrated the fact of the siege through a whole variety of different signs and signs, and God gets him to act out.
 It's a real kind of amateur dramatics kind of performance that he's putting on for the exiles in the land to try and explain why God is bringing the judgment.
 And we get these couple of messages and this extended vision in those chapters.
 From chapter 12 through 19, the people were still not ready to accept the fact that Jerusalem's full.
 You see, there was a pride, there was an arrogance.
 They thought, well, this is the city that David ruled in, that Solomon ruled in.
 It's not going to be destroyed.
 It's the place that God had put his name.
 He's not going to allow Jerusalem to fall.
 Well, of course he did, on account of their disobedience.
 And so Ezekiel gave a new series of signs and messages so that any optimism would be futile.
 And Jerusalem's fate had already been sealed.
 And again, these messages actually occur between the second siege and the final siege that we just looked at on that chart a moment ago.
 And then we get to chapters 20 through 24.
 Ezekiel shifts from arguing about the judgment, as it were, to pronouncing its immediate and historic necessity.
 And the rhetoric becomes intensely urgent as that kind of final hour now approaches.
 Ezekiel exposes Israel's deep-rooted, chronic history of rebellion.
 He goes all the way back, looking at Egypt onwards, proving that Jerusalem is beyond that point of turning back and that this judgment will now come.
 In chapter 25 to 32, which is that portion we've been in recently, where the judgments against Jerusalem, they're complete, Ezekiel then targets seven of the surrounding nations.
 And as we looked at when we were studying this, it's fascinating because three have already fallen.
 It leaves seven, so we have ten.
 Three fall, and it leaves seven.
 If you know your prophetic scriptures, you'll know how significant that is because it occurs a couple of other times, at least in the Bible, not least in Revelation.
 But these Gentile nations that God has created, that God judges, are really symbolic of God's judgment on the whole Gentile world.
 And so these nations that are surrounding Israel are specifically spoken of.
 And there's so much in those chapters as well, particularly in chapter 28, where we get a glimpse behind the scenes at the power behind the king of Tyre, which clearly from the text we understand, ultimately, who is being spoken about there is the one that was formerly known as Lucifer, who we know as Satan or the devil.
 So these are really interesting chapters.
 And again, all these studies, you can look online, all the details and notes are there.
 And so we're now in this section.
 This is the second half of the book, if you like.
 If you divide the book into two sections, we've now completed the first section.
 And this now acts as like a grand pivot for the whole book, this chapter 33, that we're going to look at this morning.
 Jerusalem's been destroyed, as we said.
 The autism is gone.
 It's been replaced by total despair among the exiles.
 In chapter 37, verse 11, we're going to read this statement.
 They say, And it's as if for them, as if there is no way out of this, no way to recover what has gone.
 And in contrast, Ezekiel's message now shifts from tearing down to building up.
 It's moving from imminent judgment to unconditional future restoration.
 And one of the quotes that we looked at from Mr.
 Blackwood, he said this in his commentary, Ezekiel adds something almost completely missing from modern times.
 It's the element of thought, the element of hope.
 And that's what we see with Ezekiel.
 There's so much in this chapter we've already looked at about the judgment, but the rest of the book really is going to be given over to this whole idea of the hope and the restoration of all that God is going to do.
 It really is a wonderful portion of the text.
 So Ezekiel is going to be recommissioned as a watchman, but this time it's as a shepherd to a broken people.
 And then in chapter 34 we're going to see that he prophesies again against Israel's corrupt past leaders.
 And he tells them, but there is a shepherd coming.
 Someone is coming who's going to rule over you.
 He's going to be a good shepherd.
 Of course he's a picture of a Messiah.
 And then we're going to hear these references in chapters 35 and 36, fascinating to look in detail when we get there, about the physical restoration of the land.
 We're going to touch on it this morning, but there's so much more to come.
 And then chapter 37, some of you will know very well already.
 This incredible prophecy, this valley of the dry bones.
 A really amazing prophetic statement that we now know.
 We live in the days where these things have come to pass.
 And then the last couple of chapters of this section, we see this defeat of Gog and Magog.
 A lot of people know about it, Ezekiel 38 and 39.
 And of course it's really fascinating to us because we're living in the days when these things are very likely to be fulfilled.
 We may not even get to chapter 38 and 39 before those events take place.
 It's events that are going to take place in the Middle East with Israel and with the nations that surround Israel.
 Well, has there ever been a time, can you ever remember a time where the Middle East is as turbulent as it is now, where the conflict is constantly raging? Well, we're going to look at that when we get there, Lord willing.
 And again, we may look back and say, well, that's what it was talking about.
 Or we may be going, well, this is what we think is going to happen.
 But one way or another, when we get there, we'll go through it.
 And then the last eight chapters or so, from 40 to 48.
 And we've got this.
 And it's restored people and it's perfection that is detailed for us of what God is going to do.
 And we get a highly detailed vision.
 It's given 14 years after the city's fallen.
 And it shifts the focus from the messy realities of the history governed by man to the ultimate ideal future governed by God himself.
 You see, man has always tried to do things his way.
 And throughout history, it's just a catalogue of the way man has messed up.
 And ultimately, God will place his king on the throne.
 And Jesus will rule over the whole earth.
 That's what Revelation will tell us about in Revelation 19 and 20.
 About the millennial reign of Christ.
 But actually, what we know about the millennium, we really know from the Old Testament.
 Very little in the New Testament other than a few of the details.
 But actually, all that's going to come to pass during that future time of Christ's reign on earth, we get the information from the Old Testament.
 Some people try and say, oh, it's a New Testament.
 Doctrine, no, it's not.
 It's throughout the Old Testament.
 The idea that Christ would sit, or the Messiah would sit and rule and reign over the house of Israel is promised in 2 Samuel chapter 7, seven times.
 We're told in that chapter that the king, the descendant of David, will sit on the throne and he'll rule over the house of Israel forever.
 If you remember when Mary is visited by Gabriel, Gabriel makes that declaration that the child that she's going to give birth to will sit and rule on the throne of David.
 It's not happened yet.
 It's going to happen.
 Chapter 11, we saw the glory of God depart.
 And we're going to see in these chapters, 40 through 48, the glory of God is going to return.
 But as he departed from the old temple that was then destroyed, so God's glory is going to return to a new temple that is going to be rebuilt.
 And we're going to be given the details and the dimensions and everything.
 And the land is going to be redistributed amongst the tribes of Israel.
 And the city is going to be renamed to its wonderful ultimate title, which is Yahweh Shammah, or the Lord is there.
 So that's a little glimpse of what's coming in the book.

<<Detailed analysis of Chapter 33 begins>>

 Let's jump into chapter 33.
 Let me give you a very quick overview of this chapter.
 So the silent phase of Ezekiel's ministry is now over.
 Okay, way back at the beginning, God said to Ezekiel, I'm going to basically shut your mouth and the only things you can say are the things I give you to say.
 And now we're going to see that's going to change a bit.
 And of course the debate, as we've said, is over as to whether or not Jerusalem would fall.
 It's already fallen.
 And so Ezekiel's role, as we said a moment ago, is going to shift from that of pronouncing this national doom to that of being a pastor to this broken remnant in the land.
 There's only a handful left in the land of Israel at this point.
 Many had fled down to Egypt against God's and Jeremiah's warnings.
 And many others have been brought now to the land of Babylon.
 So it's those in the land really that Ezekiel is speaking.
 
Verse 1 through 20, we get the recommission of the watchman.
 Ezekiel's role is restated in a sense.
 And his pastoral duty is going to be laid out using this kind of military kind of analogy of a watchman looking out.
 And the message highlights the individual accountability over inherited national guilt.
 You see there was this kind of sense of, well, you know, the nation's done it, but it wasn't my fault.
 And it's going to be brought home that actually individually people have a responsibility.
 And then God's going to make this declaration that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
 But we're going to see this new formula for this new era.
 That if the wicked turn from sin, they will live.
 But if the righteous trust in their past merits and turn to sin, they're going to die.
 And we're going to talk about these things.
 And then the next section from verse 21 through 22, just a few verses.
 We're told it's in the 12th year after the fall of Jerusalem.
 A fugitive who's escaped.
 It's the 12th year of the exile of Ezekiel.
 Just after Jerusalem's fallen.
 A fugitive escapes and he comes to Babylon.
 And he comes to bring the message that the city has fallen.
 It's kind of unimaginable.
 Some of them just didn't believe it would happen.
 But the night before that happens, God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him this is going to happen.
 And God kind of opens Ezekiel's mouth again, getting him ready to start to speak and to declare.
 And then the last section is like a reality check for the survivors.
 And the chapter closes by addressing two stubborn mindsets.
 Firstly, that the Jews left behind in the ruins of Judah arrogantly claim ownership of the land based upon Abraham's inheritance.
 Again, ignoring the fact that they're still involved in idolatry and everything else.
 And God's going to pull them up short and say, no, that's not going to happen.
 You're not going to stay in the land.
 And secondly, we're going to see the exiles in Babylon all start to listen to Ezekiel.
 They kind of flock to listen.
 And we're going to see, as if he were a singer of love songs, that's how the text is going to put it.
 People love to be entertained.
 And they were coming to listen to his performance.
 But they weren't really willing to change or act on what he was saying.
 And God warns that when the rest of Ezekiel's prophecies come to pass, they're going to know that they really truly had a prophet among them.

<< The examination verse-by-verse begins>>

 Okay, so let's jump into Chapter 33, verse 1.
 And again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coast and set him for their watchman, if when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet and takes not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

 He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning.
 His blood shall be upon him.
 But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
 So this is this picture of a watchman.
 It was a typical military kind of idea that any city would have somebody standing up on the towers, looking out, just seeing if anything, if any danger was approaching and so on.
 And of course their job was to warn.
 They had to stay alert, they had to be ready.
 And of course once this watchman has warned, if anybody then takes appropriate action, well they're likely to be safe and spared.
 Those that are casual and careless, those that maybe don't want to come inside the confines of the city walls, well when the enemy arrives, we know they're going to be in trouble.
 That's the historical kind of perspective that's being used as an analogy here.
 So God warns that if and when he brings judgment on a land, and this is really the bigger picture.
 Those who recognize it as a judgment from God on account of the nation's sin, they have a responsibility to warn those around them.
 And all who hear the watchman and respond to the message, ultimately calling for repentance and a return to God, will be spared from the coming wrath.
 That's really the message that's being communicated.
 Those who reject the message and continue on in their sin are then going to be subject to the wrath that God pours out.
 And they're going to have no recourse on account that they've already been warned.
 Now since the time of Jesus, the church has been given the great commission.
 That's typically the expression we use for Matthew 28.
 To go and make disciples of all people.
 So the church and thereby each individual Christian has a duty to tell those around us the good news of the gospel.
 Why? Well because there is a time of wrath and judgment coming.
 And again, the implication in this is that as we are preaching and proclaiming the gospel, we're warning of the wrath to come.
 And warning people that they need to put their faith and trust in Jesus now.
 Because there is salvation in no other name.
 They need to put their faith and trust in Jesus now, before it's too late.
 Either before an individual leaves this life and their opportunity, to make that decision is over.
 Or before we enter into that time of judgment.
 Those who respond to the gospel, putting their faith and trust in Jesus, will be saved from wrath through him.
 That's the message of the gospel.
 And those who choose not to listen, who don't want to hear.
 Those who as Psalm 14 say, no God.
 Actually Psalm 14 says, the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
 Actually the there is has been inserted by the translators.
 It's not wrong, but what it's really saying is, the fool has said in his heart, no God.
 It's a little bit like if you were going out for a meal.
 And they were to bring up the dessert menu.
 And you went, “Oh no dessert”.
 Imagine that possibly happening.
 You're not saying, I don't believe dessert exists.
 What you're saying is, I don't want it.
 That's what the fool has done in his heart.
 He's not saying, I don't believe God exists.
 He's saying, “no God”.
 Because our conscience, everybody's conscience is enough to convict and convince that God is really there.
 Romans tells us that.
 Even atheists, they know deep down.
 There's always that nagging.
 There's always that something they can't quite get away from.
 They may not understand it, but there's something that's there.
 
J.Vernon McGee made this comment.  He said,
“ I don't know how high a man's IQ is, or what his position in life might be.
 If he's outside the place of refuge, he's lost.
 If the truth were told at many funerals today, the preachers would have to say about the departed person, a fool has just died. He would not turn to Jesus Christ who is in the place of refuge.”

 Now, of course, you may say, well that's not a particularly nice thing to say at a funeral.
 Not for the person that's gone.
 But for the person that remained, they need to hear the gospel.
 In Luke chapter 10, I'm just going to read you this portion of the text, and then we'll comment.
 After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
 Therefore he said unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
 Tell you therefore that the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
 Now, of course, this is a situation in Israel at that time, but it speaks of what's going on in the world.
 The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
 There are countless numbers of people that are going through life, they don't know Jesus, they don't have hope.
 And the laborers are so few.
 The people that are willing to go and to preach and proclaim the gospel.
 We read, this carries on, Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
 What a great depiction of the world we live in.
 Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way, and whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house, and if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon you.
 If not, it shall turn to you again.
 And in the same house, remain eating and drinking such things as they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.
 Go not from house to house, and into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you each such things as are set before you.
 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is to come unto you.
 Verse 10 goes on and says, But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you.
 Notwithstanding, be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for this city.
 Now, this is the same kind of picture that Ezekiel is painting.
 He's saying that the watchman is to bring this warning, and those that listen and respond, great.
 Those that choose not to listen, okay, that's not your responsibility.
 Your responsibility is to bring the message.
 That's exactly what Jesus is saying to his disciples here.
 And then it's just interesting, because the last part of this tells us, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works have been done in you, they have a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.
 Chuck Smith, in his commentary and study notes, made this statement.
 He said, Interestingly enough, the citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida are both totally obliterated, very much like Tyre and Sidon, as we already commented.
 They have now found the side of, sorry, interesting enough, the citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida are both totally obliterated.
 In another denunciation, Jesus also said, Woe unto thee, Capernaum! It was also obliterated.
 They have now found the side of Bethsaida.
 It was so totally obliterated.
 Woe unto you, and the judgment surely came upon Bethsaida, on Chorazin, upon Capernaum.
 So, as Jesus said, so it came to pass.
 Chuck Smith also made this statement.
 He said, The people of Bethsaida are still in the midst of the rebellion against God, because of its rebellion against Him, and their rejection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
 But God is still sending us to proclaim the everlasting gospel, which does mean that there is still time for them to repent.
 All the time the church is still here, there is time.
 There is opportunity for people to take the sword, come, and blow not the trumpet.
 And the people will be not warned.
 If the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
 You get the picture.
 In a time of war, if the watchman was on the walls and he saw an invading army or people marching close and he didn't bother telling anybody, he's kind of culpable.
 Matthew 28, we read this, And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
 Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
 And lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world.
 Amen.
 It's a really clear statement.
 It's not, if you feel like it, maybe you could mention these things to others.
 It's a command.
 Go ye therefore and teach your nations.
 The word nations actually is ethnos.
 It's where we would get ethnic from.
 We could translate that, go therefore and teach all ethnic groups.
 Every people group that you can find, preach the gospel to them.
 In 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy, preach the word.
 Be instant, in season, out of season.
 What does that mean? It means just to preach the word and to be in the midst of it.
 And that's what we're going to do.
 We're going to preach the word when it's convenient and when it's not convenient.
 Just preach the word.
 Reprove, rebuke, exalt with all long suffering and doctrine.
 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust they shall heap themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables.
 I mean, does it sound a little bit like the world we're in today where people won't endure sound doctrine? And they try and find people to tell them the truth.
 People get turned aside to fables.
 Verse 5 says
, But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
 1 Peter 3v15
 But sanctify the law of God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

 I get the fact that not everybody's going to go stand on street corners and preach the gospel.
 Not everybody's called to do that.
 There is some very specific roles that are given to the church, and one of those is the role of an evangelist.
 And not everybody is to be an evangelist in the same way that not everybody's going to be a pastor.
 But we're all called to preach the gospel.
 You know, you get some people that are just truly gifted, and they can just stand in a crowd and they can just talk and, you know, maybe we struggle with that a little bit.
 Maybe that's not you.
 But this needs to be you.
 Verse 15 of 1 Peter 3.
 You need to be ready to give anybody an answer.
 If anybody says, “Why are you a Christian?” You must have an answer for that.
 And it's no good to say, well, I was brought up in church, and my mum and dad went to church.
 That's no good.
 You need to have an answer.
 

John Trapp, one of my favourite commentators from the 17th, 18th century, said this.
 A letter was framed in Hyde-Brand's days as sent from the devil, wherein he kindly thanked the clergy for the many souls they daily sent him to hell by their negligence and wickedness.
 Wow.
 In other words, a letter being put up as if the devil had written it saying, thank you to the church for what you're doing.
 You're doing a marvellous job in sending people to hell.
 Spurgeon said this.
 Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself.
 Be sure of that.
 That's quite a chilling statement, isn't it? Do you want others to be saved? Do you have any regard for their eternity? Tozer said this.
 The world lives in such a time of crisis.
 Christians alone are in a position to be in a state of crisis.
 They are in a position to be in a state of crisis.
 Christians alone are in a position to rescue the perishing.
 We dare not settle down to try to live as if things were normal.
 Truthfully, we like to try and do that.
 We tend to think, we don't know when the tribulation is going to come, when the rapture is going to come, when all these things, hopefully now everything can be normal for a little bit.
 It's not normal.
 And we've got to stop kidding ourselves that things are normal.
 You know, if you saw a fire, you know, and you saw somebody stuck in a building, you would do whatever.
 Recently, there was a fire in one of the roads adjacent to here.
 And there were some men coming along, I think in a car, and they happened to see the smoke coming out the window.
 And they got out of the car and they went rushing toward the house.
 They had no idea who was in there or if anyone was in there.
 And there was an old man who was sat in his living room who was unconscious.
 And they managed to get in through the window and they dragged him out.


They didn’t go and knock on the door and say “ excuse me, have you got a minute I’d just like to have a chat?
 Spurgeon said this, “If sinners will be damned,
  at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.
 And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.
 If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions.
 And let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for.

 Can I feel the church has lost a little bit of the fervor that maybe the church had in the time of Spurgeon and others?
 We go on with the text, verse 7.
 So thou, O son of man, I have sent thee a watchword unto the house of Israel.
 Therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me.
 So God now takes it from a generic and general thing to a very specific.
 God is saying to Ezekiel, right, I've just been talking about the duties and responsibilities of the watchman, that's you.
 And this morning, it's us.
 Verse 8.
 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die.
 If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.
 Now we really need to take notice of this.
 This takes us back to a principle that we see that is given to us in the Torah.
 The phrase to require blood at the hand of is actually rooted in Genesis 9 verse 5 and the Levitical laws of capital punishment.
 We find this idea of the avenger of blood.
 So if somebody is murdered, the avenger of blood would be a family relative.
 And they're legally responsible for hunting down that killer and seeking justice for him.
 Or for the one that's died.
 And using this specific idiom, God positions himself as the avenger of blood on behalf of the person who died unwarned.
 God is saying that he will investigate the lost sinner's death, as it were.
 Track the negligence back to the silent watchman and hold that watchman legally accountable for the blood guiltness.
 

See, the sinner still dies for their own sin.
 God makes it clear that the wicked person dies in his iniquity.
 But the watchman's silence does not make the sinner innocent.
 The sinner is still judged for their rebellion.
 But the watchman is guilty of negligence, not of the sin itself.
 The watchman isn't being judged for the idolatry or the wickedness of the citizen.
 They're being judged for the negligence that has led to that death.
 In a military setting, a guard who falls asleep on the wall or refuses to sound the alarm when an invading army approaches, is executed for treason.
 Their silence makes them an accessory to the slaughter … and exactly why the Apostle Paul uses this precise Ezekiel phrasing when he says goodbye to the Ephesian elders.
 If you remember, he comes back to the beach at Miletus and calls the elders of the Ephesian church to come and see him.
 And he says to them, amongst other things, he says, therefore I testify to you this day that I will not be a sinner, but I am innocent of the blood of all men.
 He's literally quoting what we're looking at.
 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
 Paul is saying, you can't lay to my charge the death of anybody that ends up in hell because I didn't preach the gospel.
 Because I have preached the gospel to everybody and anybody.
 And he says, and I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
 

Paul knew the Ezekiel 33 mandate, if you like, inside out.
 He understood that as a Christian missionary and a watchman, the only way to be legally clear of the blood guilt before God's courtroom was to fully and faithfully discharge the warning, proclaiming the gospel to everyone in his sphere of influence.
 That means friends, family, colleagues, anybody we come in contact with.
 Once he blew the trumpet, his hands were clean.
 If they rejected it, well, their blood was on their own heads.
 But at least the trumpet had been blown.
 

Once again, this verse we looked at from 2 Timothy, that last line, make full proof of thy ministry.
 Really, paraphrase that, don't leave anything undone.
 If you have opportunity to speak to somebody, speak to somebody.
 

Verse 9:
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.
 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, thus ye speak, saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then live? What does this mean, how shall we then live? The verse is a fascinating psychological and spiritual turning point for these exiles that were now in Babylon.
 So to understand what God's really addressing here, we've got to look at this massive shift in attitude of the house of Israel.
 So before Jerusalem fell, the people were filled with this kind of false and arrogant confidence.
 They mocked Ezekiel's warnings, assuming God would never destroy and allow the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed.
 But now this fugitive has arrived with this devastating news that the city's fallen.
 And suddenly reality hits them like a sledgehammer, if you like, that their arrogance is completely shattered as a result.
 Verse 10 captures their slide into the exact opposite extreme.
 It's like total paralyzing fear now.
 And they cry out, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then live? They're raising a threefold desperate, hopeless objection.
 Firstly, they're saying this, for years the people denied their guilt.
 Now they're looking at the smoking ruins of their homeland and their own chains in Babylon.
 And they finally admit it.
 Our sins are real.
 They've caught up with us.
 This crushing weight of their past rebellion is now sitting squarely on their shoulders.
 They're owning, effectively, this situation.
 The second part of this is this feeling of paralyzing hopelessness.
 Again, the word pine away comes from a Hebrew word.
 It means to rot, decay, waste.
 And they're saying we are spiritually terminally ill.
 So firstly they're kind of owning their sins, but then they're saying, okay, but there's no escape now.
 We're rotting in the consequences of our own choices.
 There's nothing we can do to reverse it.
 
And the third thing is this question of despair.
 And they say, how shall we then live? And this is the heart of their objection, if you like.
 They're essentially saying to Ezekiel, look, if what you've been preaching all these years is true, that God is a holy God of absolute justice who punishes sin, then we're completely done for.
 There's no point in trying anymore.
 That's kind of their argument.
 If we're already under judgment and rotting, and finding a way in our guilt, what hope is there? How can we possibly survive or find a way forward?

 John Trapp again says this:
 Before, they were secure; now they were desperate.
 So before, they were prou;, now they're desperate.
 Thus the devil plays his games.
 Either he keeps a man in a fool's paradise, or else he drives them into a hell of horrors.
 And Spurgeon actually used this kind of situation in a number of times in the things he preached, looking at the condition of the human heart, explaining that when a person is first awoken to their sin, they often feel that they're too far gone, that mercy's not going to cover what they've done.
 And Spurgeon noted that this despair is actually an insult to God's grace, because it assumes our sin is bigger than his power to save us, which of course we know is not true.
 Verse 11 goes on, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
 Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? This verse is considered by some commentators to be like the John 3.
16 of the Old Testament.
 It's one of those verses in the middle of the text you could easily read over it, but there is so much here.
 I'm just going to pause for a second.
 Firstly, it's a statement of hope.
 See, when the people reach the absolute rock bottom of the despair in verse 10, believing that they're completely trapped in their past and God was just this merely cold executioner, God responds with this astonishing, passionate declaration of his true heart.
 And again, to really appreciate the depth, if you like, the hope that's packed into this verse, we can look at how God systematically tears down their despair through three powerful elements once again.
 So their three kind of things are responded by God's three things here.
 Firstly, the divine oath.
 Okay, God says, As I live, saith the Lord God.
 In the ancient world, an oath was sworn by the greatest available authority.
 Well, there is no one greater than God, so he swears by himself.
 Okay, it's the highest possible legal guarantee in the universe.
 God is essentially saying, As sure as it is true that I am the living, eternal God, what I am able to tell you is the absolute, unchangeable reality of my character.
 He stakes his very reputation on his desire to save them.
 So their three things are, they're now counted by God's three things.
 The first one is God says, I am the one that's saying this, and you can trust because of my nature and my character.
 Secondly, it's the disclosure of God's heart.
 As God says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
 And again, directly answered that unspoken lie that the exiles were believing that God was a kind of tyrannical deity who delights in crushing and catching them out in their sin.
 And God shatters that myth.
 He takes no delight, no joy, no satisfaction, in the destruction of those that are lost.
 Judgment is his, as Isaiah puts it, his strange work.
 And his true desire and pleasure are found in mercy, in restoration and life.
 And then finally, the third response that God gives is this, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die? Now the repetition that's given to us in the Hebrew here, you see the Hebrew word, it denotes intense emotional urgency.
 It isn't a cold bureaucratic command.
 It's the passionate plea from a loving father begging his children to step back from the edge of a cliff.
 He sees the danger there in their predicament and he's calling them to him.
 “Turn ye, turn ye.”
 Again, asking why will you die? God places the ball squarely back in their court.
 He's showing them that their destruction is completely unnecessary.
 The door to life is flung wide open and the only thing standing between them and restoration is their own willingness to turn around.
 Another quote from Spurgeon, he says this, He first says it, then he swears it, as I live.
 He gives us his oath to put an end to our doubts.
 He does not wish our destruction.
 He longs for our salvation.
 If you want to know what God's heart is like toward a crying, broken sinner, read it in his oath.
 

John Trapp again noted the beautiful pastoral tenet of the phrase, “turn ye, turn ye”, writing that God speaks here as if he were more concerned about our lives than we are ourselves.
 He doubles his words to show his earnestness as if he would gladly take us by the hand and turn us to himself.
 Oh, sorry, and turn us to himself, yeah.
 J.Vernon McGee, again, also ties his verse to the absolute freedom of the human will to respond to the gospel.
 He says God makes it as clear as a bell.

 He doesn't want you to perish.
 If you go to hell, my friend, you will have to go there against the expressed will of God, walking over his invitation to turn and live.
 

So verse 10 was that hopeless question of how shall we then live.
 Verse 11 is that glorious response.
 You live by turning to the living God.
 And it proves no matter how far a nation or individual has fallen, no matter how rotten their past choice is, the sounding of the watchman's trumpet is always an invitation to grace, never just a sentence of doom.
 Now we know, of course, John 3v16, we've just spoken of the Old Testament analogy or equivalent in a sense.
 John 3v16, 
“for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.”
 God didn't send Jesus to condemn, but the world through him might be saved.
 Let me just share this.
 You may have seen this before, but it's wonderful <<Powerpoint SLIDE>>
.
 For God, the greatest being,
 so, that's the greatest degree,
 loved, the greatest affection,
 the world, the greatest object of love,
 that he gave, the greatest act,
 his only, greatest treasure,
 begotten, the greatest relationship,
 Son, the greatest gift.
 That whosoever, is the greatest company,
 believeth, the greatest trust,
 in him, the greatest object of faith,
 should not perish, the greatest deliverance,
 but have, that's the greatest assurance,
 everlasting, the greatest promise,
 life, the greatest blessing.

 Verse 12.
 Therefore, thou Son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness, neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

 Okay, so there's a warning against complacency in these verses.
 When a person who has lived an upright life chooses to rebel against God, their past good deeds will not rescue them for the consequences of that sin in the here and now.
 And we see New Testament examples of this, particularly in 1 Corinthians we see.
 Conversely, if a deeply wicked person genuinely repents and turns away from their wrongdoing, their past sins will not preclude them from a life of blessing and grace.
 Spurgeon again.
 He says, if a man says, I am saved, and then lives in total worldliness and sin, he's a liar.
 Truth, faith changes the heart and produces perseverance.
 If your faith does not make you holy, it is a dead faith, a delusion, and it will leave you without excuse at the judgment.
 J.Vernon McGee said,
 people think they can lean back on an experience they had 30 years ago at an alter rail.

 Well, they like to live like the devil today.
 Ezekiel blows the whistle on that.
 God doesn't look at your spiritual scrapbook, he looks at your life today.
 If there is no fruit today, you'd better re-examine whether you ever knew him at all.
 As Ron Matsen, former pastor here, used to say, if there's no fruit, you'd better question the connection to the root.
 Ray Steadman, another commentator, said this, the Bible never permits us to trade on past virtue.
 The security of the believer is found in the fact that Christ keeps us, but the evidence that he is keeping us is that we are walking with him today.
 2 Corinthians 13.
5 is a great passage.
 This is a paraphrase from the Living Bible.
 Check up on yourselves.
 Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ's presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren't at all? Sadly, there are so many in the church who are just pretending.
 It's just a big social club, there's so many.
 This person again says, Do not take salvation for granted.
 Examine your heart by the word of God.
 Ask yourself, is my life different from what it used to be? Do I hate the sin I once loved? If there is no ongoing change, your assurance is a delusion.
 And then Tozer said this, (I love this quote):
 “The checking of the spiritual life must be continuous.
 We must examine our fruit. A tree is known by its fruit, not by the plaque nailed to its trunk stating when it was planted.”

 Just think about that.
 So many people say, well I became a Christian in such and such a way.
 Such and such a time.
 Okay, great, what have you done with it? Where's the evidence of it? Just saying something because you stepped forward once and made some sort of profession, if there's no fruit, if there's no ongoing evidence, it's a delusion.
 The whole reality of a changed life is a changed life.
 Ezekiel goes on, When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live, if he trusts to his own righteousness and communes iniquity, his righteousness shall not be remembered, but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.
 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right, if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he has robbed, walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
 None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him.
 He that has done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live.
 Yet the children of the people say, The way of the Lord is not equal, but as for them, their way is not equal.
 They're saying that God's not fair.
 This is the kind of challenge, and he's saying, well, they're not fair.
 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.
 And then again, Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal, O ye house of Israel.
 I will judge you, everyone, after his ways.
 And it's the same cry as we get today, that God's salvation by grace alone isn't fair.
 In other words, people have this idea that we have to contribute, we want to contribute.
 And God's not fair the way he does it.
 That I've worked harder than they've worked.
 That's not how it works.
 We are all sinners, fallen far, far below God's standard.
 At least we think our past efforts should give us some sort of credit, but again, that is not how it works.
 Furthermore, it's surely not just to forgive people worse than us, is it? You know, you think of the people that are, everyone's worse than we are, aren't they? That's not how God does it.
 So now in this next section, this fugitive comes, and again, as we said, Ezekiel's already had, kind of, the Lord has spoken to him the night before.
 It came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten, the city's fallen.
 Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening afore he that was escaped came.
 In other words, so the night before, the Lord had his hand upon Ezekiel, and had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning.
 And my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
 So God's kind of allowing Ezekiel to speak again.
 And then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel, speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, the land is given for our inheritance.
 So they're saying, okay, so Nebuchadnezzar has taken away so many captives, we've managed to kind of escape, we're living in the land, and because we are descendants of Abraham, we're going to stay in the land, and we're okay.
 I think somehow they've got away with it.
 Wherefore, say unto them, thus says the Lord God, ye eat with the blood, and ye lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood, and ye shall possess the land.
 Like, you know, you're still committing yourself to committing your iniquity, you're still involved in all the sin you're involved for.
 You really think you're going to get away with it? You think you're going to stay in this land? Verse 26, stand ye upon your sword, and work abomination, and ye defile everyone his neighbour's wife, and shall ye possess the land? He's reiterating some of the crimes.
 Say thou thus unto them, thus says the Lord God, as I live, surely they that are in the waste shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beast to be devoured.
 And they that be in the forts of the land, and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of the strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.

 This is staggering.
 Verse 29,
 then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

 Now history has verified this prophecy, given about 600 BC, by Ezekiel whilst he was in Babylon.
 According to Moses in Deuteronomy 29 verse 22 to 23, there would be a stranger who one day would visit Israel, and he would note that the whole land is just brimstone and salt.
 Well, in 1867, Mark Twain, who was not a believer, he had no desire to prove the Bible, he arrived after being on a world tour in Israel, and he wandered through the land and he wrote, O people, desolate and unpeopled, miles of desolate country, the far-reaching desolation, the waste of a limitless desolation, exactly as it had been prophesied, so he declares.
 He writes it down, it becomes a best-selling book, goes around the world for everybody to read.
 According to the prophecy in Deuteronomy, the stranger would also say, all the land is a burning waste.
 Or as another translation puts it, it would become a scorching desert.
 So Twain would then write, it's a scorching, arid, repulsive solitude.
 Such roasting heat, such oppressive solitude, and such dismal desolation cannot surely exist elsewhere on earth.
 Nowhere in all the waste around was there a foot of shade, and we were scorching to death.
 The prophecy declares that the land would become devoid of anyone to sow it, and Mark Twain wrote, all the land is un-sown.
 One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.
 These unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness, that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines.
 There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent, not for thirty miles in either direction.

 Are you getting this? This is what Ezekiel said would happen, and exactly to the letter of what was prophesied in Deuteronomy, Mark Twain, many years later, writes, and by the way, that year he visited the land, it was also the year that Charles Warren went and he discovered the shaft that led up into the city of David, it was the first rediscover of the old land, everything prophetically started moving from that date.
 We've done a six-week study on that some time ago, it's all on the website, we might go over it again because it's so powerful.
 And we will look at it in subsequent chapters of Ezekiel.
 But Moses also prophesied that the land wouldn't bring forth, nor does it bear, is what it says in the text, the word
???
 semech is used, which refers to sprouting, or a branch.
 And Mark Twain brought with it to the land's inability to sprout vegetables, writing, The valleys are unsightly deserts, fringed with a feeble vegetation, a desert paved with loose stones, void of vegetation, glaring in the fierce sun, this blistering, naked, treeless land.
 And the prophecy states that the stranger who comes will specifically speak of grass, or rather the absence of it, no grass grows in it.
 One translation puts it, not even a blade of grass.
 And Twain again in his notebook almost quotes scripture word for word, no sprig of grass is visible.
 Wow.
 Again, it was said that the land would become most desolate.
 That Hebrew phrase is like a double expression.
 And it means desolation upon desolation, or utterly wasted.
 You start to see how dramatically these things were fulfilled.
 God really does mean what he says, and says what he means.
 And when Ezekiel wrote this, Israel was a flowering, terraced, agricultural paradise.
 It was a land flowing with milk and honey.
 And it would have seemed utterly unreasonable and impossible for it to become a permanent wasteland.
 Yet when Twain turned up two millennia later, his camera-like descriptions captured that exact Hebrew shemana: it's a desert paved with loose stones, void of vegetation, glaring in the fierce sun.
 And the land was kept in a state of supernatural arrested development, if you like, for centuries, precisely mirroring Ezekiel's prophecy, waiting for the people to return.
 And in the subsequent chapters, we're going to look at what God said, at what would happen when the people went back to the land.
 And that is equally as staggering.
 Last couple of verses.
 Also thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and the doors of the houses, and speak one to another.
 And everyone to his brother saying, come I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord.
 So everyone loves a good story.
 The trouble is they just didn't believe it.
 And so they're coming to listen to Ezekiel.
 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them.
 For with the mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
 And lo, thou art unto them a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument.
 For they hear the words, but they do them not.
 And when this cometh to pass, though it will come, God says, they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
 They will realise the things he was speaking weren't just a nice little bit of entertainment.
 This was God warning the people.
 We'll pick it up from there in a couple of weeks time.


 Let's bow our hearts.

 Father God, we just thank you for your word.
 We thank you for the wonderful prophecies that we see fulfilled in the days in which we live.
 But Father, we thank you too for these reminders that you've called each and every one of us to be as watchmen.
 Lord, that we have a duty, a responsibility to reach out to this world around us and just share the gospel.
 Lord, just to speak the truth in love, to let people know that there is a way, that there is a saviour, that Lord, you don't want anyone to perish.
 Lord, you take no delight in the death of the wicked, but that they might live.
 Lord, help us to have the boldness and the confidence.
 Help us as we've sung and declared this morning in our songs not to be ashamed of the gospel, but Lord, to speak.
 Lord, whenever you give us opportunity to have an answer, Lord, for those that ask of the hope that's in us.
 Lord, we pray you stir our hearts.
 Give us a desire and a passion to see people saved.
 We ask this morning in Jesus' name.
 Amen.

 May God richly bless you through this coming week.
 Let's spend some time fellowshipping and we'll see you in the next week.
 God bless.
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00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.820 We are continuing then this incredible journey through the book of Ezekiel.
00:00:07.140 --> 00:00:08.540 John Patterson said,
00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.160 Probably no book of the Old Testament is as little read as his.
00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:14.580 And it may well be the least popular,
00:00:15.360 --> 00:00:18.220 as it is the least known of the Old Testament.
00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:21.180 Well, I kind of hope and pray that as a congregation,
00:00:21.740 --> 00:00:23.160 that won't be our testimony.
00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:26.240 I hope that when we get to heaven and Ezekiel comes up to us and says,
00:00:26.360 --> 00:00:27.300 Hey, did you read my book?
00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:28.220 You're going to go,
00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.540 Yeah, it was brilliant.
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.500 But beware, because Obadiah might also come up and ask you the same question.
00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.680 But let's just look very quickly at where these things fit.
00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:42.160 If we look at the timeline of the Bible,
00:00:42.400 --> 00:00:43.960 as in terms of when it was written and these things.
00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:47.080 So Genesis covers a huge amount of history,
00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:49.660 right from the beginning of creation,
00:00:49.940 --> 00:00:54.680 right through to the time that Israel becomes a nation as they come out of Egypt.
00:00:55.120 --> 00:00:58.000 And then we've got obviously the rest of the Torah, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
00:00:58.379 --> 00:00:59.740 and so on that give us the law,
00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.740 and the details of their wanderings,
00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:06.740 and finally crossing over under Joshua into the land that we now know,
00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:07.740 the land of Israel.
00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:10.140 And all these other books where they fit in.
00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:12.340 But Ezekiel fits in down the bottom there.
00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:13.640 So let's go back the other way.
00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:16.980 So that's where Ezekiel fits in, in this period of time,
00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:19.140 round about 600 BC.
00:01:19.740 --> 00:01:21.540 That's typically the kind of time that we're looking at.
00:01:22.740 --> 00:01:26.440 If we were to look at geographically where these things are taking place,
00:01:26.740 --> 00:01:29.740 that was roughly what became the Babylonian Empire.
00:01:29.839 --> 00:01:31.839 During this period of history.
00:01:32.039 --> 00:01:34.039 And we've got Nineveh.
00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:36.140 That was the capital of Assyria.
00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:39.240 A major empire before the Babylonian Empire.
00:01:39.339 --> 00:01:41.740 Qar Shemesh is an interesting place.
00:01:41.839 --> 00:01:44.839 It's a significant place in regards to a battle that took place there.
00:01:44.940 --> 00:01:48.840 Babylon itself and its area, the modern-day Iraq, as we would know it.
00:01:48.940 --> 00:01:51.840 And then of course over here, right on the Mediterranean coast,
00:01:51.940 --> 00:01:54.840 we've got Israel and of course Jerusalem.
00:01:54.940 --> 00:01:56.840 And then just down here you've got Egypt.
00:01:56.940 --> 00:01:59.539 So geographically, this is the area of course in terms of today's history,
00:01:59.740 --> 00:02:02.039 in terms of today's map, this would be Turkey.
00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:05.539 Later in biblical times, we know this as Asia Minor.
00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:09.340 And of course all of this was under Roman occupation during the time of Jesus.
00:02:09.440 --> 00:02:12.540 But way before the Romans, before the Greeks, we have the Babylonians.
00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:14.640 And this was the empire and this was the area.
00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:22.040 Now in terms of times, Nineveh fell to the Babylonian Empire in about 612 BC.
00:02:22.140 --> 00:02:23.840 That was the fall of Nineveh.
00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:26.840 Three years later, we have the fall of Haran.
00:02:26.940 --> 00:02:29.540 That's up here, around this area somewhere here.
00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:31.640 Kind of modern-day Syria.
00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.140 And that's also when King Josiah dies.
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:39.140 Pharaoh, Necho of Egypt, was on his way up to battle up here.
00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:44.640 And Josiah comes out in one of the most bizarre verses and passages in Scripture.
00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:46.640 It's recording Chronicles for us.
00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:49.640 I think about 2 Chronicles 34, if memory serves.
00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:52.640 And he comes out and he kind of picks a fight with Pharaoh.
00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:57.640 Pharaoh had no business with Josiah, but Josiah ends up dying in the battle.
00:02:57.740 --> 00:02:59.640 And it's a fascinating story.
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.640 And it's a fascinating study for different reasons.
00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:06.640 Not least of which, because it would seem in the text,
00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:10.640 that Pharaoh is actually carrying the Ark of the Covenant.
00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:15.640 And the reason Josiah goes out and challenges him is because Josiah wants it back.
00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:19.640 And he specifically says, stop carrying it, bring it back.
00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:21.640 So it's just an interesting aside.
00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:25.640 And there's all sorts of suggestions as to why the Ark had been removed and so on.
00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:28.640 But that's another study in and of itself.
00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:34.540 And in 6 BC, this famous battle of Qar Shemesh, Nebuchadnezzar is at this point.
00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:38.540 His dad is ruling, but his dad dies at this point.
00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:44.540 Nebuchadnezzar wins this decisive battle, really subduing the whole of this area
00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:48.540 and forces Pharaoh back down into Egypt so he's no longer got any control.
00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:51.540 And of course, right in the middle of all of this, we have the land of Israel.
00:03:51.640 --> 00:03:56.540 And then of course, Nebuchadnezzar comes down from the north and comes down against Jerusalem,
00:03:56.640 --> 00:03:58.540 lays siege to Jerusalem.
00:03:58.540 --> 00:04:01.440 And as I said already, there are a number of sieges that take place.
00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:06.440 If you look at a zoomed in timeline now, 606 BC at the beginning here,
00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:12.440 the Babylonian Empire spans this period of time from 606 BC up to about 539.
00:04:12.540 --> 00:04:15.440 537 is the year we think that the Jews returned home.
00:04:15.540 --> 00:04:18.440 It's a couple of years after the Persian Empire had taken over.
00:04:18.539 --> 00:04:21.440 Cyrus lets the Jews go back to their land.
00:04:21.539 --> 00:04:25.440 But there's a first siege that takes place in 606 BC.
00:04:25.539 --> 00:04:28.440 That triggers a time, biblically,
00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:33.340 that we refer to Jeremiah actually gives us this title as the servitude of the nation
00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:36.340 because the nation effectively is now in servitude.
00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:39.340 They're under the control of this Gentile king.
00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:43.340 It's a period of exactly 70 years to the day.
00:04:43.440 --> 00:04:48.340 And that concludes 537 when this decree by King Cyrus,
00:04:48.440 --> 00:04:51.340 this Persian king who takes over from the Babylonians,
00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:56.340 this Persian king makes this decree and allows the Jews to return to their homeland.
00:04:56.440 --> 00:04:58.340 Why that's significant is,
00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:00.239 we've got so much history.
00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:02.239 If you go to the British Museum in London,
00:05:02.340 --> 00:05:04.239 there are many things and many artifacts from this time,
00:05:04.340 --> 00:05:06.239 including what's known as the Steel of Cyrus.
00:05:06.340 --> 00:05:08.239 It's a very small little cylindrical thing,
00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:13.239 but written in cuneiform around the edge of this is this decree from Cyrus
00:05:13.340 --> 00:05:15.239 allowing the captives to return home.
00:05:15.340 --> 00:05:20.239 So it all fits perfectly, the history and archaeology supporting all the Bible.
00:05:20.340 --> 00:05:25.239 We've then got a third siege which takes place in 587.
00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:27.239 We'll come back to the second in a moment.
00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:33.140 The third siege, and that's when after a period of rebellion against from the king,
00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.140 Zedekiah that was ruling in Jerusalem,
00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.140 we've already covered this in our study in Ezekiel.
00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:43.140 This is when Nebuchadnezzar has had enough and he comes back and Jerusalem is destroyed.
00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:47.140 And all the captives are taken away or some flee to Egypt and so on.
00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:52.140 That starts another separate period of 70 years.
00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.140 And that one we refer to as the servitude of the nation.
00:05:55.140 --> 00:06:01.039 The first one has to do with the land, but this one has to do with the servitude of the nation.
00:06:01.140 --> 00:06:06.039 And it's interesting that when this is terminated, this period of 70 years in 518,
00:06:06.140 --> 00:06:08.039 this decree of Darius, or Darius,
00:06:08.140 --> 00:06:11.039 it depends if you're English or American or which commentaries you're listening to,
00:06:11.140 --> 00:06:14.039 and I use those names interchangeably so just bear with me.
00:06:14.140 --> 00:06:20.039 But this king is the one that allows the temple to finally be rebuilt.
00:06:20.140 --> 00:06:24.039 So these are all fascinating things from a prophetic perspective.
00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.940 And then we get the second siege, and this is the one that's kind of interesting for the study of Ezekiel,
00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:34.940 because it's in 597 that Ezekiel then and many others with him are taken away from Israel
00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.940 and they're taken to Babylon.
00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.940 About a three month journey and a long arduous trek through desert terrain and so on.
00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:44.940 The books of Daniel deal with this period of history.
00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:46.940 Ezekiel, of course, we're studying.
00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.940 Second Chronicles covers all of this as well.
00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:53.940 And then we've got other books that we're familiar with that deal with when they return into the land.
00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:56.840 So we've got Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi,
00:06:56.940 --> 00:07:00.840 all again relevant to the time after Israel are back in their land.
00:07:00.940 --> 00:07:04.840 So just to give you some of the history and the context.
00:07:04.940 --> 00:07:07.840 Alright, it's been a few weeks since we've gone through the summary.
00:07:07.940 --> 00:07:09.840 So let me just give you a quick overview of what we've already seen.
00:07:09.940 --> 00:07:13.840 The first chapter is Ezekiel's call to the prophetic office.
00:07:13.940 --> 00:07:15.840 He was a Levite, he thought he was going to be a priest,
00:07:15.940 --> 00:07:17.840 and God says, no, no, I've got something else for you to do.
00:07:17.940 --> 00:07:22.840 And because he's taken away from the land, he's no longer going to serve in Jerusalem in the temple,
00:07:22.940 --> 00:07:27.739 because he's taken out of the land completely, and he ends up in this foreign land in Babylon.
00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:31.739 And God then, in chapter 2 and 3, gives him his commission.
00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:34.739 It's to speak God's word, and also to be a watchman.
00:07:34.840 --> 00:07:39.739 And we're going to see that reiterated this morning in this chapter, chapter 33.
00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:45.739 In chapter 4 through 11, Ezekiel's task had been to show the necessity of Jerusalem's judgment
00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:47.739 because of her disobedience.
00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:52.739 And he's demonstrated the fact of the siege through a whole variety of different signs
00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.640 and signs, and God gets him to act out.
00:07:55.740 --> 00:08:00.640 It's a real kind of amateur dramatics kind of performance that he's putting on for the exiles in the land
00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:04.640 to try and explain why God is bringing the judgment.
00:08:04.740 --> 00:08:09.640 And we get these couple of messages and this extended vision in those chapters.
00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:15.640 From chapter 12 through 19, the people were still not ready to accept the fact that Jerusalem's full.
00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:17.640 You see, there was a pride, there was an arrogance.
00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:21.640 They thought, well, this is the city that David ruled in, that Solomon ruled in.
00:08:21.640 --> 00:08:24.539 It's not going to be destroyed. It's the place that God had put his name.
00:08:24.640 --> 00:08:26.539 He's not going to allow Jerusalem to fall.
00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:30.539 Well, of course he did, on account of their disobedience.
00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:37.539 And so Ezekiel gave a new series of signs and messages so that any optimism would be futile.
00:08:37.640 --> 00:08:40.539 And Jerusalem's fate had already been sealed.
00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:47.540 And again, these messages actually occur between the second siege and the final siege
00:08:47.640 --> 00:08:50.540 that we just looked at on that chart a moment ago.
00:08:50.540 --> 00:08:52.439 And then we get to chapters 20 through 24.
00:08:52.540 --> 00:08:56.439 Ezekiel shifts from arguing about the judgment, as it were,
00:08:56.540 --> 00:09:00.439 to pronouncing its immediate and historic necessity.
00:09:00.540 --> 00:09:05.439 And the rhetoric becomes intensely urgent as that kind of final hour now approaches.
00:09:05.540 --> 00:09:10.439 Ezekiel exposes Israel's deep-rooted, chronic history of rebellion.
00:09:10.540 --> 00:09:12.439 He goes all the way back, looking at Egypt onwards,
00:09:12.540 --> 00:09:19.439 proving that Jerusalem is beyond that point of turning back and that this judgment will now come.
00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.340 In chapter 25 to 32, which is that portion we've been in recently,
00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.340 where the judgments against Jerusalem, they're complete,
00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:30.340 Ezekiel then targets seven of the surrounding nations.
00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:35.340 And as we looked at when we were studying this, it's fascinating because three have already fallen.
00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.340 It leaves seven, so we have ten. Three fall, and it leaves seven.
00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:41.340 If you know your prophetic scriptures, you'll know how significant that is
00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:46.340 because it occurs a couple of other times, at least in the Bible, not least in Revelation.
00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.340 But these Gentile nations that God has created,
00:09:49.340 --> 00:09:55.240 that God judges, are really symbolic of God's judgment on the whole Gentile world.
00:09:55.340 --> 00:09:59.240 And so these nations that are surrounding Israel are specifically spoken of.
00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:03.240 And there's so much in those chapters as well, particularly in chapter 28,
00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:08.240 where we get a glimpse behind the scenes at the power behind the king of Tyre,
00:10:08.340 --> 00:10:12.240 which clearly from the text we understand, ultimately, who is being spoken about there
00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:17.240 is the one that was formerly known as Lucifer, who we know as Satan or the devil.
00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.240 So these are really interesting chapters.
00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:23.140 And again, all these studies, you can look online, all the details and notes are there.
00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:25.140 And so we're now in this section.
00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:27.140 This is the second half of the book, if you like.
00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:31.140 If you divide the book into two sections, we've now completed the first section.
00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:37.140 And this now acts as like a grand pivot for the whole book, this chapter 33, that we're going to look at this morning.
00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.140 Jerusalem's been destroyed, as we said. The autism is gone.
00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:45.140 It's been replaced by total despair among the exiles.
00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:49.140 In chapter 37, verse 11, we're going to read this statement. They say,
00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:56.140 And it's as if for them, as if there is no way out of this, no way to recover what has gone.
00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:03.140 And in contrast, Ezekiel's message now shifts from tearing down to building up.
00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:09.140 It's moving from imminent judgment to unconditional future restoration.
00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:15.140 And one of the quotes that we looked at from Mr. Blackwood, he said this in his commentary,
00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:19.140 Ezekiel adds something almost completely missing from modern times.
00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:23.140 It's the element of thought, the element of hope.
00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.140 And that's what we see with Ezekiel.
00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:28.140 There's so much in this chapter we've already looked at about the judgment,
00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:34.140 but the rest of the book really is going to be given over to this whole idea of the hope and the restoration
00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.140 of all that God is going to do.
00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.140 It really is a wonderful portion of the text.
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:48.140 So Ezekiel is going to be recommissioned as a watchman, but this time it's as a shepherd to a broken people.
00:11:48.140 --> 00:11:54.040 And then in chapter 34 we're going to see that he prophesies again against Israel's corrupt past leaders.
00:11:54.140 --> 00:11:57.040 And he tells them, but there is a shepherd coming.
00:11:57.140 --> 00:11:59.040 Someone is coming who's going to rule over you.
00:11:59.140 --> 00:12:03.040 He's going to be a good shepherd. Of course he's a picture of a Messiah.
00:12:03.140 --> 00:12:09.040 And then we're going to hear these references in chapters 35 and 36, fascinating to look in detail when we get there,
00:12:09.140 --> 00:12:11.040 about the physical restoration of the land.
00:12:11.140 --> 00:12:14.040 We're going to touch on it this morning, but there's so much more to come.
00:12:14.140 --> 00:12:18.040 And then chapter 37, some of you will know very well already.
00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.040 This incredible prophecy, this valley of the dry bones.
00:12:22.140 --> 00:12:26.040 A really amazing prophetic statement that we now know.
00:12:26.140 --> 00:12:29.040 We live in the days where these things have come to pass.
00:12:29.140 --> 00:12:35.040 And then the last couple of chapters of this section, we see this defeat of Gog and Magog.
00:12:35.140 --> 00:12:38.040 A lot of people know about it, Ezekiel 38 and 39.
00:12:38.140 --> 00:12:44.040 And of course it's really fascinating to us because we're living in the days when these things are very likely to be fulfilled.
00:12:44.140 --> 00:12:48.040 We may not even get to chapter 38 and 39 before those events take place.
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:54.040 It's events that are going to take place in the Middle East with Israel and with the nations that surround Israel.
00:12:54.140 --> 00:13:00.040 Well, has there ever been a time, can you ever remember a time where the Middle East is as turbulent as it is now,
00:13:00.140 --> 00:13:03.040 where the conflict is constantly raging?
00:13:03.140 --> 00:13:06.040 Well, we're going to look at that when we get there, Lord willing.
00:13:06.140 --> 00:13:09.040 And again, we may look back and say, well, that's what it was talking about.
00:13:09.140 --> 00:13:11.040 Or we may be going, well, this is what we think is going to happen.
00:13:11.140 --> 00:13:13.040 But one way or another, when we get there, we'll go through it.
00:13:13.140 --> 00:13:16.040 And then the last eight chapters or so, from 40 to 48.
00:13:16.140 --> 00:13:18.040 And we've got this.
00:13:18.140 --> 00:13:24.939 And it's restored people and it's perfection that is detailed for us of what God is going to do.
00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:26.939 And we get a highly detailed vision.
00:13:27.040 --> 00:13:29.939 It's given 14 years after the city's fallen.
00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:35.939 And it shifts the focus from the messy realities of the history governed by man
00:13:36.040 --> 00:13:40.939 to the ultimate ideal future governed by God himself.
00:13:41.040 --> 00:13:43.939 You see, man has always tried to do things his way.
00:13:44.040 --> 00:13:47.939 And throughout history, it's just a catalogue of the way man has messed up.
00:13:48.140 --> 00:13:50.939 And ultimately, God will place his king on the throne.
00:13:51.040 --> 00:13:52.939 And Jesus will rule over the whole earth.
00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:56.939 That's what Revelation will tell us about in Revelation 19 and 20.
00:13:57.040 --> 00:13:59.939 About the millennial reign of Christ.
00:14:00.040 --> 00:14:04.939 But actually, what we know about the millennium, we really know from the Old Testament.
00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:07.939 Very little in the New Testament other than a few of the details.
00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:13.939 But actually, all that's going to come to pass during that future time of Christ's reign on earth,
00:14:14.040 --> 00:14:15.939 we get the information from the Old Testament.
00:14:16.040 --> 00:14:17.939 Some people try and say, oh, it's a New Testament.
00:14:18.140 --> 00:14:20.939 Doctrine, no, it's not. It's throughout the Old Testament.
00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:25.939 The idea that Christ would sit, or the Messiah would sit and rule and reign over the house of Israel
00:14:26.040 --> 00:14:29.939 is promised in 2 Samuel chapter 7, seven times.
00:14:30.040 --> 00:14:34.939 We're told in that chapter that the king, the descendant of David, will sit on the throne
00:14:35.040 --> 00:14:37.939 and he'll rule over the house of Israel forever.
00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:40.939 If you remember when Mary is visited by Gabriel,
00:14:41.040 --> 00:14:45.939 Gabriel makes that declaration that the child that she's going to give birth to
00:14:46.040 --> 00:14:48.840 will sit and rule on the throne of David.
00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:51.840 It's not happened yet. It's going to happen.
00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:55.840 Chapter 11, we saw the glory of God depart.
00:14:55.940 --> 00:15:00.840 And we're going to see in these chapters, 40 through 48, the glory of God is going to return.
00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:03.840 But as he departed from the old temple that was then destroyed,
00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:07.840 so God's glory is going to return to a new temple that is going to be rebuilt.
00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:10.840 And we're going to be given the details and the dimensions and everything.
00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:15.840 And the land is going to be redistributed amongst the tribes of Israel.
00:15:16.040 --> 00:15:19.840 And the city is going to be renamed to its wonderful ultimate title,
00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:22.840 which is Yahweh Shammah, or the Lord is there.
00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:24.840 So that's a little glimpse of what's coming in the book.
00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:27.840 Let's jump into chapter 33.
00:15:27.940 --> 00:15:30.840 Let me give you a very quick overview of this chapter.
00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:35.840 So the silent phase of Ezekiel's ministry is now over.
00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.840 Okay, way back at the beginning, God said to Ezekiel,
00:15:38.940 --> 00:15:44.840 I'm going to basically shut your mouth and the only things you can say are the things I give you to say.
00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:47.740 And now we're going to see that's going to change a bit.
00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:51.740 And of course the debate, as we've said, is over as to whether or not Jerusalem would fall.
00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:52.740 It's already fallen.
00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:58.740 And so Ezekiel's role, as we said a moment ago, is going to shift from that of pronouncing this national doom
00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:03.740 to that of being a pastor to this broken remnant in the land.
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.740 There's only a handful left in the land of Israel at this point.
00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:14.740 Many had fled down to Egypt against God's and Jeremiah's warnings.
00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:17.740 And many others have been brought now to the land of Babylon.
00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.740 So it's those in the land really that Ezekiel is speaking.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.740 Verse 1 through 20, we get the recommission of the watchman.
00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:30.740 Ezekiel's role is restated in a sense.
00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:39.740 And his pastoral duty is going to be laid out using this kind of military kind of analogy of a watchman looking out.
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.740 And the message highlights the individual accountability
00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:46.640 over inherited national guilt.
00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:52.640 You see there was this kind of sense of, well, you know, the nation's done it, but it wasn't my fault.
00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:56.640 And it's going to be brought home that actually individually people have a responsibility.
00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:02.640 And then God's going to make this declaration that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
00:17:02.740 --> 00:17:06.640 But we're going to see this new formula for this new era.
00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:08.640 That if the wicked turn from sin, they will live.
00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:13.640 But if the righteous trust in their past merits and turn to sin, they're going to die.
00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:15.540 And we're going to talk about these things.
00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:20.540 And then the next section from verse 21 through 22, just a few verses.
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:24.540 We're told it's in the 12th year after the fall of Jerusalem.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.540 A fugitive who's escaped.
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.540 It's the 12th year of the exile of Ezekiel.
00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:32.540 Just after Jerusalem's fallen.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.540 A fugitive escapes and he comes to Babylon.
00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:38.540 And he comes to bring the message that the city has fallen.
00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:40.540 It's kind of unimaginable.
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.540 Some of them just didn't believe it would happen.
00:17:42.540 --> 00:17:47.440 But the night before that happens, God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him this is going to happen.
00:17:47.540 --> 00:17:54.440 And God kind of opens Ezekiel's mouth again, getting him ready to start to speak and to declare.
00:17:54.540 --> 00:17:59.440 And then the last section is like a reality check for the survivors.
00:17:59.540 --> 00:18:03.440 And the chapter closes by addressing two stubborn mindsets.
00:18:03.540 --> 00:18:06.440 Firstly, that the Jews left behind in the ruins of Judah
00:18:06.540 --> 00:18:11.440 arrogantly claim ownership of the land based upon Abraham's inheritance.
00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.340 Again, ignoring the fact that they're still involved in idolatry and everything else.
00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.340 And God's going to pull them up short and say, no, that's not going to happen.
00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:20.340 You're not going to stay in the land.
00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:25.340 And secondly, we're going to see the exiles in Babylon all start to listen to Ezekiel.
00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:26.340 They kind of flock to listen.
00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.340 And we're going to see, as if he were a singer of love songs, that's how the text is going to put it.
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.340 People love to be entertained.
00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.340 And they were coming to listen to his performance.
00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.340 But they weren't really willing to change or act on what he was saying.
00:18:39.340 --> 00:18:43.240 And God warns that when the rest of Ezekiel's prophecies come to pass,
00:18:43.340 --> 00:18:46.240 they're going to know that they really truly had a prophet among them.
00:18:46.340 --> 00:18:50.240 Okay, so let's jump into chapter 33, verse 1.
00:18:50.340 --> 00:18:52.240 And again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
00:18:52.340 --> 00:18:56.240 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them,
00:18:56.340 --> 00:19:01.240 When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coast
00:19:01.340 --> 00:19:07.240 and set him for their watchman, if when he sees the sword come upon the land,
00:19:07.340 --> 00:19:09.240 he blows the trumpet and warns the people,
00:19:09.439 --> 00:19:13.240 then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet and takes not warning,
00:19:13.340 --> 00:19:18.240 if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.
00:19:18.340 --> 00:19:21.240 He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning.
00:19:21.340 --> 00:19:23.240 His blood shall be upon him.
00:19:23.340 --> 00:19:27.240 But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
00:19:27.340 --> 00:19:29.240 So this is this picture of a watchman.
00:19:29.340 --> 00:19:34.240 It was a typical military kind of idea that any city would have somebody standing up on the towers,
00:19:34.340 --> 00:19:38.240 looking out, just seeing if anything, if any danger was approaching and so on.
00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:40.140 And of course their job was to warn.
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.140 They had to stay alert, they had to be ready.
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:44.140 And of course once this watchman has warned,
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:49.140 if anybody then takes appropriate action, well they're likely to be safe and spared.
00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:55.140 Those that are casual and careless, those that maybe don't want to come inside the confines of the city walls,
00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.140 well when the enemy arrives, we know they're going to be in trouble.
00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:02.140 That's the historical kind of perspective that's being used as an analogy here.
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:08.140 So God warns that if and when he brings judgment on a land, and this is really the bigger picture.
00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:13.140 Those who recognize it as a judgment from God on account of the nation's sin,
00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:17.140 they have a responsibility to warn those around them.
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:24.140 And all who hear the watchman and respond to the message, ultimately calling for repentance and a return to God,
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.140 will be spared from the coming wrath.
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.140 That's really the message that's being communicated.
00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:36.140 Those who reject the message and continue on in their sin are then going to be subject to the wrath that God pours out.
00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:40.040 And they're going to have no recourse on account that they've already been warned.
00:20:40.140 --> 00:20:49.040 Now since the time of Jesus, the church has been given the great commission.
00:20:49.140 --> 00:20:52.040 That's typically the expression we use for Matthew 28.
00:20:52.140 --> 00:20:56.040 To go and make disciples of all people.
00:20:56.140 --> 00:21:06.040 So the church and thereby each individual Christian has a duty to tell those around us the good news of the gospel.
00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:10.040 Why? Well because there is a time of wrath and judgment coming.
00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:17.040 And again, the implication in this is that as we are preaching and proclaiming the gospel,
00:21:17.140 --> 00:21:19.040 we're warning of the wrath to come.
00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:25.040 And warning people that they need to put their faith and trust in Jesus now.
00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:27.040 Because there is salvation in no other name.
00:21:27.140 --> 00:21:32.040 They need to put their faith and trust in Jesus now, before it's too late.
00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:36.040 Either before an individual leaves this life and their opportunity,
00:21:36.139 --> 00:21:37.940 to make that decision is over.
00:21:38.040 --> 00:21:41.940 Or before we enter into that time of judgment.
00:21:42.040 --> 00:21:47.940 Those who respond to the gospel, putting their faith and trust in Jesus,
00:21:48.040 --> 00:21:50.940 will be saved from wrath through him.
00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:52.940 That's the message of the gospel.
00:21:53.040 --> 00:21:57.940 And those who choose not to listen, who don't want to hear.
00:21:58.040 --> 00:22:00.940 Those who as Psalm 14 say, no God.
00:22:01.040 --> 00:22:04.940 Actually Psalm 14 says, the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
00:22:04.940 --> 00:22:07.840 Actually the there is has been inserted by the translators.
00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:09.840 It's not wrong, but what it's really saying is,
00:22:09.940 --> 00:22:12.840 the fool has said in his heart, no God.
00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.840 It's a little bit like if you were going out for a meal.
00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:17.840 And they were to bring up the dessert menu.
00:22:17.940 --> 00:22:20.840 And you went, oh no dessert.
00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:22.840 Imagine that possibly happening.
00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:26.840 You're not saying, I don't believe dessert exists.
00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:29.840 What you're saying is, I don't want it.
00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:31.840 That's what the fool has done in his heart.
00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:34.840 He's not saying, I don't believe God exists.
00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:36.840 He's saying, no God.
00:22:36.940 --> 00:22:40.840 Because our conscience, everybody's conscience is enough to convict and convince
00:22:40.940 --> 00:22:42.840 that God is really there.
00:22:42.940 --> 00:22:44.840 Romans tells us that.
00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:46.840 Even atheists, they know deep down.
00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:48.840 There's always that nagging.
00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:50.840 There's always that something they can't quite get away from.
00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:54.840 They may not understand it, but there's something that's there.
00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.840 J. Vernon McGee made this comment.
00:23:02.840 --> 00:23:04.740 He said,
00:23:04.840 --> 00:23:06.740 I don't know how high a man's IQ is,
00:23:06.840 --> 00:23:09.740 or what his position in life might be.
00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:13.740 If he's outside the place of refuge, he's lost.
00:23:13.840 --> 00:23:16.740 If the truth were told at many funerals today,
00:23:16.840 --> 00:23:19.740 the preachers would have to say about the departed person,
00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:21.740 a fool has just died.
00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:25.740 He would not turn to Jesus Christ who is in the place of refuge.
00:23:25.840 --> 00:23:27.740 Now, of course, you may say,
00:23:27.840 --> 00:23:30.740 well that's not a particularly nice thing to say at a funeral.
00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:32.640 Not for the person that's gone.
00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:35.640 But for the person that remained, they need to hear the gospel.
00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:37.640 In Luke chapter 10,
00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:40.640 I'm just going to read you this portion of the text,
00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:42.640 and then we'll comment.
00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:46.640 After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also,
00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:49.640 and sent them two and two before his face
00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:51.640 into every city and place,
00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:53.640 whither he himself would come.
00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:55.640 Therefore he said unto them,
00:23:55.740 --> 00:23:57.640 The harvest truly is great,
00:23:57.740 --> 00:23:59.640 but the laborers are few.
00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:01.540 Tell you therefore that the Lord of the harvest,
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.540 that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.540 Now, of course, this is a situation in Israel at that time,
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:10.540 but it speaks of what's going on in the world.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.540 The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:17.540 There are countless numbers of people that are going through life,
00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:20.540 they don't know Jesus, they don't have hope.
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.540 And the laborers are so few.
00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:24.540 The people that are willing to go
00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.540 and to preach and proclaim the gospel.
00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:29.540 We read, this carries on,
00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.540 Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.540 What a great depiction of the world we live in.
00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.540 Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes,
00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:39.540 and salute no man by the way,
00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:41.540 and whatsoever house you enter,
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:43.540 first say, Peace be to this house,
00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:45.540 and if the Son of Peace be there,
00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:47.540 your peace shall rest upon you.
00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:49.540 If not, it shall turn to you again.
00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:51.540 And in the same house,
00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:53.540 remain eating and drinking such things as they give you,
00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:55.540 for the laborer is worthy of his hire.
00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:57.540 Go not from house to house,
00:24:57.640 --> 00:24:59.540 and into whatsoever city you enter,
00:24:59.540 --> 00:25:01.440 and they receive you each such things
00:25:01.540 --> 00:25:03.440 as are set before you.
00:25:03.540 --> 00:25:05.440 And heal the sick that are therein,
00:25:05.540 --> 00:25:07.440 and say unto them,
00:25:07.540 --> 00:25:09.440 The kingdom of God is to come unto you.
00:25:09.540 --> 00:25:11.440 Verse 10 goes on and says,
00:25:11.540 --> 00:25:13.440 But into whatsoever city you enter,
00:25:13.540 --> 00:25:15.440 and they receive you not,
00:25:15.540 --> 00:25:17.440 go your ways out into the streets of the same,
00:25:17.540 --> 00:25:19.440 and say, Even the very dust of your city
00:25:19.540 --> 00:25:21.440 which cleaveth on us,
00:25:21.540 --> 00:25:23.440 we do wipe off against you.
00:25:23.540 --> 00:25:25.440 Notwithstanding, be you sure of this,
00:25:25.540 --> 00:25:27.440 that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
00:25:27.540 --> 00:25:29.440 But I say unto you,
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.340 that it shall be more tolerable in that day
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.340 for Sodom than for this city.
00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:35.340 Now, this is the same kind of picture
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.340 that Ezekiel is painting.
00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.340 He's saying that the watchman is to bring this warning,
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:41.340 and those that listen and respond, great.
00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:43.340 Those that choose not to listen,
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:45.340 okay, that's not your responsibility.
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.340 Your responsibility is to bring the message.
00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.340 That's exactly what Jesus is saying to his disciples here.
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:51.340 And then it's just interesting,
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.340 because the last part of this tells us,
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.340 Woe unto thee, Chorazin!
00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.340 Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!
00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.340 For if the mighty works have been done
00:25:59.340 --> 00:26:01.240 in you,
00:26:01.340 --> 00:26:03.240 they have a great while ago repented,
00:26:03.340 --> 00:26:05.240 sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
00:26:05.340 --> 00:26:07.240 But it shall be more tolerable
00:26:07.340 --> 00:26:09.240 for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment
00:26:09.340 --> 00:26:11.240 than for you.
00:26:11.340 --> 00:26:13.240 Chuck Smith, in his commentary and study notes,
00:26:13.340 --> 00:26:15.240 made this statement. He said,
00:26:15.340 --> 00:26:17.240 Interestingly enough,
00:26:17.340 --> 00:26:19.240 the citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida
00:26:19.340 --> 00:26:21.240 are both totally obliterated,
00:26:21.340 --> 00:26:23.240 very much like Tyre and Sidon,
00:26:23.340 --> 00:26:25.240 as we already commented.
00:26:25.340 --> 00:26:27.240 They have now found the side of,
00:26:27.340 --> 00:26:29.240 sorry,
00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:31.140 interesting enough,
00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:33.140 the citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida
00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:35.140 are both totally obliterated.
00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:37.140 In another denunciation,
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:39.140 Jesus also said,
00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:41.140 Woe unto thee, Capernaum!
00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:43.140 It was also obliterated.
00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:45.140 They have now found the side of Bethsaida.
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.140 It was so totally obliterated.
00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:49.140 Woe unto you, and the judgment surely came
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:51.140 upon Bethsaida, on Chorazin, upon Capernaum.
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:53.140 So, as Jesus said,
00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:55.140 so it came to pass.
00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.140 Chuck Smith also made this statement.
00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:59.040 He said,
00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:01.040 The people of Bethsaida
00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.140 are still in the midst of the
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.040 rebellion against God,
00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:07.040 because of its rebellion against Him,
00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:09.040 and their rejection of His Son,
00:27:09.140 --> 00:27:11.040 Jesus Christ.
00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:13.040 But God is still sending us
00:27:13.140 --> 00:27:15.040 to proclaim the everlasting gospel,
00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:17.040 which does mean that there is still time
00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:19.040 for them to repent.
00:27:19.140 --> 00:27:21.040 All the time the church is still here,
00:27:21.140 --> 00:27:23.040 there is time.
00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:25.040 There is opportunity for people
00:27:25.040 --> 00:27:26.940 to take the sword, come,
00:27:27.040 --> 00:27:28.940 and blow not the trumpet.
00:27:29.040 --> 00:27:30.940 And the people will be not warned.
00:27:31.040 --> 00:27:32.940 If the sword come
00:27:33.040 --> 00:27:34.940 and take any person from among them,
00:27:35.040 --> 00:27:36.940 he is taken away in his iniquity,
00:27:37.040 --> 00:27:38.940 but his blood will I require
00:27:39.040 --> 00:27:40.940 at the watchman's hand.
00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:42.940 You get the picture.
00:27:43.040 --> 00:27:44.940 In a time of war,
00:27:45.040 --> 00:27:46.940 if the watchman was on the walls
00:27:47.040 --> 00:27:48.940 and he saw an invading army
00:27:49.040 --> 00:27:50.940 or people marching close
00:27:51.040 --> 00:27:52.940 and he didn't bother telling anybody,
00:27:53.040 --> 00:27:54.940 he's kind of culpable.
00:27:55.040 --> 00:27:56.940 Matthew 28, we read this,
00:27:57.040 --> 00:27:58.940 And Jesus came and spoke unto them,
00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:00.940 saying, All power is given unto me
00:28:01.040 --> 00:28:02.940 in heaven and earth.
00:28:03.040 --> 00:28:04.940 Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
00:28:05.040 --> 00:28:06.940 baptizing them in the name of the Father
00:28:07.040 --> 00:28:08.940 and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
00:28:09.040 --> 00:28:10.940 teaching them to observe all things
00:28:11.040 --> 00:28:12.940 whatsoever I have commanded you.
00:28:13.040 --> 00:28:14.940 And lo, I am with you always,
00:28:15.040 --> 00:28:16.940 even until the end of the world.
00:28:17.040 --> 00:28:18.940 Amen. It's a really clear statement.
00:28:19.040 --> 00:28:20.940 It's not, if you feel like it,
00:28:21.040 --> 00:28:22.940 maybe you could mention these things
00:28:23.040 --> 00:28:24.940 to others. It's a command.
00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:26.840 Go ye therefore and teach your nations.
00:28:26.940 --> 00:28:28.840 The word nations actually is ethnos.
00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:30.840 It's where we would get ethnic from.
00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:32.840 We could translate that,
00:28:32.940 --> 00:28:34.840 go therefore and teach all ethnic groups.
00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:36.840 Every people group that you can find,
00:28:36.940 --> 00:28:38.840 preach the gospel to them.
00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:40.840 In 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy,
00:28:40.940 --> 00:28:42.840 preach the word.
00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:44.840 Be instant, in season, out of season.
00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:46.840 What does that mean?
00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:48.840 It means just to preach the word
00:28:48.940 --> 00:28:50.840 and to be in the midst of it.
00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:52.840 And that's what we're going to do.
00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:54.840 We're going to preach the word
00:28:54.940 --> 00:28:56.840 when it's convenient
00:28:56.940 --> 00:28:58.840 and when it's not convenient.
00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:00.840 Just preach the word.
00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:02.840 Reprove, rebuke, exalt with all long suffering
00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:04.840 and doctrine.
00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:06.840 For the time will come when they will not endure
00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:08.840 sound doctrine, but after their own lust
00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:10.840 they shall heap themselves teachers
00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:12.840 having itching ears, and they shall turn away
00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:14.840 their ears from the truth and be turned
00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:16.840 unto fables.
00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:18.840 I mean, does it sound a little bit like
00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:20.840 the world we're in today where people
00:29:20.940 --> 00:29:22.840 won't endure sound doctrine?
00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:24.840 And they try and find people to tell them
00:29:24.840 --> 00:29:26.740 the truth.
00:29:26.840 --> 00:29:28.740 People get turned aside to fables.
00:29:28.840 --> 00:29:30.740 Verse 5 says,
00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:32.740 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
00:29:32.840 --> 00:29:34.740 do the work of an evangelist,
00:29:34.840 --> 00:29:36.740 make full proof of thy ministry.
00:29:36.840 --> 00:29:38.740 1 Peter 3.15
00:29:38.840 --> 00:29:40.740 But sanctify the law of God in your hearts,
00:29:40.840 --> 00:29:42.740 and be ready always to give an answer
00:29:42.840 --> 00:29:44.740 to every man that asks you a reason
00:29:44.840 --> 00:29:46.740 of the hope that is in you
00:29:46.840 --> 00:29:48.740 with meekness and fear.
00:29:48.840 --> 00:29:50.740 I get the fact that not everybody's going
00:29:50.840 --> 00:29:52.740 to go stand on street corners
00:29:52.740 --> 00:29:54.640 and preach the gospel.
00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:56.640 Not everybody's called to do that.
00:29:56.740 --> 00:29:58.640 There is some very specific roles
00:29:58.740 --> 00:30:00.640 that are given to the church, and one of those
00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:02.640 is the role of an evangelist.
00:30:02.740 --> 00:30:04.640 And not everybody is to be an evangelist
00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:06.640 in the same way that not everybody's going
00:30:06.740 --> 00:30:08.640 to be a pastor.
00:30:08.740 --> 00:30:10.640 But we're all called to preach the gospel.
00:30:10.740 --> 00:30:12.640 You know,
00:30:12.740 --> 00:30:14.640 you get some people that are just
00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:16.640 truly gifted, and they can just
00:30:16.740 --> 00:30:18.640 stand in a crowd and they can just talk
00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:20.640 and, you know, maybe
00:30:20.740 --> 00:30:22.640 we struggle with that a little bit.
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:24.540 Maybe that's not you.
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:26.540 But this needs to be you.
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:28.540 Verse 15 of 1 Peter 3.
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:30.540 You need to be ready
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.540 to give anybody an answer.
00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:34.540 If anybody says, why are you a Christian?
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:36.540 You must have an answer for that.
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.540 And it's no good to say,
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.540 well, I was brought up in church,
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:42.540 and my mum and dad went to church.
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:44.540 That's no good.
00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:46.540 You need to have an answer.
00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:52.540 John Trapp, one of my favourite
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.540 commentators from the 17th, 18th century,
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.540 said this.
00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:58.540 A letter was framed
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:00.540 in Hyde-Brand's days as
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.540 sent from the devil,
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.540 wherein he kindly thanked the clergy
00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:06.540 for the many souls they daily sent
00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:08.540 him to hell by their negligence
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.540 and wickedness.
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:12.540 Wow.
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:14.540 In other words, a letter being put up
00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:16.540 as if the devil had written it saying,
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.540 thank you to the church for what you're doing.
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.540 You're doing a marvellous job in sending people to hell.
00:31:20.540 --> 00:31:24.440 Spurgeon said this.
00:31:24.540 --> 00:31:26.440 Have you no wish for others to be saved?
00:31:26.540 --> 00:31:28.440 Then you are not saved yourself.
00:31:28.540 --> 00:31:30.440 Be sure of that.
00:31:30.540 --> 00:31:32.440 That's quite a chilling statement, isn't it?
00:31:32.540 --> 00:31:34.440 Do you want others to be saved?
00:31:34.540 --> 00:31:36.440 Do you have any regard for their eternity?
00:31:36.540 --> 00:31:38.440 Tozer said this.
00:31:38.540 --> 00:31:40.440 The world lives in such a time of crisis.
00:31:40.540 --> 00:31:42.440 Christians alone are in a position
00:31:42.540 --> 00:31:44.440 to be in a state of crisis.
00:31:44.540 --> 00:31:46.440 They are in a position
00:31:46.540 --> 00:31:48.440 to be in a state of crisis.
00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:50.340 Christians alone are in a position
00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:52.340 to rescue the perishing.
00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:54.340 We dare not settle down to try to live
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:56.340 as if things were normal.
00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:58.340 Truthfully, we like to try and do that.
00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:00.340 We tend to think,
00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:02.340 we don't know when the tribulation is going to come,
00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:04.340 when the rapture is going to come,
00:32:04.440 --> 00:32:06.340 when all these things,
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:08.340 hopefully now everything can be normal for a little bit.
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:10.340 It's not normal.
00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:12.340 And we've got to stop kidding ourselves
00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:14.340 that things are normal.
00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:16.340 You know, if you saw a fire,
00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:18.340 you know,
00:32:18.439 --> 00:32:20.240 and you saw somebody stuck in a building,
00:32:20.340 --> 00:32:22.240 you would do whatever.
00:32:22.340 --> 00:32:24.240 Recently, there was a fire
00:32:24.340 --> 00:32:26.240 in one of the roads adjacent to here.
00:32:26.340 --> 00:32:28.240 And there were some men coming along,
00:32:28.340 --> 00:32:30.240 I think in a car,
00:32:30.340 --> 00:32:32.240 and they happened to see the smoke coming out the window.
00:32:32.340 --> 00:32:34.240 And they got out of the car
00:32:34.340 --> 00:32:36.240 and they went rushing toward the house.
00:32:36.340 --> 00:32:38.240 They had no idea who was in there
00:32:38.340 --> 00:32:40.240 or if anyone was in there.
00:32:40.340 --> 00:32:42.240 And there was an old man who was sat in his living room
00:32:42.340 --> 00:32:44.240 who was unconscious.
00:32:44.340 --> 00:32:46.240 And they managed to get in through the window
00:32:46.340 --> 00:32:48.240 and they dragged him out.
They didn’t go and knock on the door and say “
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:52.140 excuse me, have you got a minute
00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:54.140 I’d just like to have a chat?
00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:56.140 Spurgeon said this,
00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:58.140 if sinners will be damned,
00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:02.140 at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.
00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:04.140 And if they will perish,
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:06.140 let them perish with our arms about their knees,
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.140 imploring them to stay.
00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:10.140 If hell must be filled,
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:12.140 at least let it be filled
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:14.140 in the teeth of our exertions.
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.140 And let not one person go there unwarned
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:18.140 and unprayed for.
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:24.140 Can I feel the church has lost a little bit of the fervor
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:27.140 that maybe the church had in the time of Spurgeon and others?
00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:31.140 We go on with the text, verse 7.
00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:33.140 So thou, O son of man,
00:33:33.240 --> 00:33:35.140 I have sent thee a watchword unto the house of Israel.
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:37.140 Therefore thou shalt hear the word
00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:39.140 at my mouth and warn them from me.
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:42.140 So God now takes it from a generic and general thing
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:43.140 to a very specific.
00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:45.140 God is saying to Ezekiel,
00:33:45.240 --> 00:33:47.140 right, I've just been talking about the duties
00:33:47.140 --> 00:33:49.040 and responsibilities of the watchman,
00:33:49.140 --> 00:33:51.040 that's you.
00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:53.040 And this morning, it's us.
00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:54.040 Verse 8.
00:33:54.140 --> 00:33:56.040 When I say unto the wicked,
00:33:56.140 --> 00:33:57.040 O wicked man,
00:33:57.140 --> 00:33:59.040 thou shalt surely die.
00:33:59.140 --> 00:34:03.040 If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
00:34:03.140 --> 00:34:05.040 that wicked man shall die in his iniquity,
00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:11.040 but his blood will I require at thine hand.
00:34:11.140 --> 00:34:14.040 Now we really need to take notice of this.
00:34:14.140 --> 00:34:16.040 This takes us back to a principle
00:34:16.040 --> 00:34:18.940 that we see that is given to us in the Torah.
00:34:19.040 --> 00:34:21.940 The phrase to require blood at the hand of
00:34:22.040 --> 00:34:24.940 is actually rooted in Genesis 9 verse 5
00:34:25.040 --> 00:34:27.940 and the Levitical laws of capital punishment.
00:34:28.040 --> 00:34:31.940 We find this idea of the avenger of blood.
00:34:32.040 --> 00:34:33.940 So if somebody is murdered,
00:34:34.040 --> 00:34:36.940 the avenger of blood would be a family relative.
00:34:37.040 --> 00:34:40.940 And they're legally responsible for hunting down that killer
00:34:41.040 --> 00:34:42.940 and seeking justice for him.
00:34:43.040 --> 00:34:44.940 Or for the one that's died.
00:34:44.940 --> 00:34:46.840 And using this specific idiom,
00:34:46.940 --> 00:34:49.840 God positions himself as the avenger of blood
00:34:49.940 --> 00:34:53.840 on behalf of the person who died unwarned.
00:34:53.940 --> 00:34:56.840 God is saying that he will investigate
00:34:56.940 --> 00:34:58.840 the lost sinner's death, as it were.
00:34:58.940 --> 00:35:01.840 Track the negligence back to the silent watchman
00:35:01.940 --> 00:35:03.840 and hold that watchman legally accountable
00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:05.840 for the blood guiltness.
00:35:09.940 --> 00:35:13.840 See, the sinner still dies for their own sin.
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:18.740 God makes it clear that the wicked person dies in his iniquity.
00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:23.740 But the watchman's silence does not make the sinner innocent.
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:26.740 The sinner is still judged for their rebellion.
00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:31.740 But the watchman is guilty of negligence, not the sin itself.
00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:33.740 The watchman isn't being judged for the idolatry
00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:35.740 or the wickedness of the citizen.
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.740 They're being judged for the negligence that has led to that death.
00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:41.740 In a military setting, a guard who falls asleep on the wall
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:43.740 or refuses to sound the alarm when an invading army
00:35:43.740 --> 00:35:46.640 approaches, is executed for treason.
00:35:46.740 --> 00:35:50.640 Their silence makes them an accessory to the slaughter.
00:35:53.740 --> 00:35:59.640 And exactly why the Apostle Paul uses this precise Ezekiel phrasing
00:35:59.740 --> 00:36:02.640 when he says goodbye to the Ephesian elders.
00:36:02.740 --> 00:36:04.640 If you remember, he comes back to the beach at Miletus
00:36:04.740 --> 00:36:07.640 and calls the elders of the Ephesian church to come and see him.
00:36:07.740 --> 00:36:10.640 And he says to them, amongst other things, he says,
00:36:10.740 --> 00:36:13.640 therefore I testify to you this day that I will not
00:36:13.640 --> 00:36:16.540 be a sinner, but I am innocent of the blood of all men.
00:36:16.640 --> 00:36:18.540 He's literally quoting what we're looking at.
00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:21.540 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
00:36:21.640 --> 00:36:25.540 Paul is saying, you can't lay to my charge the death of anybody
00:36:25.640 --> 00:36:28.540 that ends up in hell because I didn't preach the gospel.
00:36:28.640 --> 00:36:31.540 Because I have preached the gospel to everybody and anybody.
00:36:31.640 --> 00:36:34.540 And he says, and I have not shunned to declare to you
00:36:34.640 --> 00:36:36.540 the whole counsel of God.
00:36:38.640 --> 00:36:43.540 Paul knew the Ezekiel 33 mandate, if you like, inside out.
00:36:43.740 --> 00:36:46.540 He understood that as a Christian missionary and a watchman,
00:36:46.640 --> 00:36:50.540 the only way to be legally clear of the blood guilt before God's courtroom
00:36:50.640 --> 00:36:53.540 was to fully and faithfully discharge the warning,
00:36:53.640 --> 00:36:57.540 proclaiming the gospel to everyone in his sphere of influence.
00:36:58.640 --> 00:37:05.540 That means friends, family, colleagues, anybody we come in contact with.
00:37:05.640 --> 00:37:08.540 Once he blew the trumpet, his hands were clean.
00:37:08.640 --> 00:37:12.540 If they rejected it, well, their blood was on their own heads.
00:37:12.540 --> 00:37:15.440 But at least the trumpet had been blown.
00:37:17.540 --> 00:37:20.440 Once again, this verse we looked at from 2 Timothy,
00:37:20.540 --> 00:37:25.440 that last line, make full proof of thy ministry.
00:37:25.540 --> 00:37:29.440 Really, paraphrase that, don't leave anything undone.
00:37:29.540 --> 00:37:33.440 If you have opportunity to speak to somebody, speak to somebody.
00:37:37.540 --> 00:37:41.440 Verse 9, nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it,
00:37:41.440 --> 00:37:44.340 if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity,
00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:46.340 but thou hast delivered thy soul.
00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:49.340 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel,
00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:54.340 thus ye speak, saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us,
00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:58.340 and we pine away in them, how shall we then live?
00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:01.340 What does this mean, how shall we then live?
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:05.340 The verse is a fascinating psychological and spiritual turning point
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:07.340 for these exiles that were now in Babylon.
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:10.340 So to understand what God's really addressing here,
00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:14.240 we've got to look at this massive shift in attitude of the house of Israel.
00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:19.240 So before Jerusalem fell, the people were filled with this kind of false and arrogant confidence.
00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:23.240 They mocked Ezekiel's warnings, assuming God would never destroy
00:38:23.340 --> 00:38:26.240 and allow the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed.
00:38:26.340 --> 00:38:31.240 But now this fugitive has arrived with this devastating news that the city's fallen.
00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:35.240 And suddenly reality hits them like a sledgehammer, if you like,
00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:39.240 that their arrogance is completely shattered as a result.
00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:45.240 Verse 10 captures their slide into the exact opposite extreme.
00:38:45.340 --> 00:38:49.240 It's like total paralyzing fear now.
00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:52.240 And they cry out, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us,
00:38:52.340 --> 00:38:55.240 and we pine away in them, how shall we then live?
00:38:55.340 --> 00:38:59.240 They're raising a threefold desperate, hopeless objection.
00:38:59.340 --> 00:39:03.240 Firstly, they're saying this, for years the people denied their guilt.
00:39:03.340 --> 00:39:08.240 Now they're looking at the smoking ruins of their homeland and their own chains in Babylon.
00:39:08.340 --> 00:39:09.240 And they finally admit it.
00:39:09.240 --> 00:39:12.140 Our sins are real. They've caught up with us.
00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:17.140 This crushing weight of their past rebellion is now sitting squarely on their shoulders.
00:39:17.240 --> 00:39:21.140 They're owning, effectively, this situation.
00:39:21.240 --> 00:39:25.140 The second part of this is this feeling of paralyzing hopelessness.
00:39:25.240 --> 00:39:28.140 Again, the word pine away comes from a Hebrew word.
00:39:28.240 --> 00:39:30.140 It means to rot, decay, waste.
00:39:30.240 --> 00:39:33.140 And they're saying we are spiritually terminally ill.
00:39:33.240 --> 00:39:36.140 So firstly they're kind of owning their sins, but then they're saying,
00:39:36.240 --> 00:39:38.140 okay, but there's no escape now.
00:39:38.140 --> 00:39:41.040 We're rotting in the consequences of our own choices.
00:39:41.140 --> 00:39:43.040 There's nothing we can do to reverse it.
00:39:45.140 --> 00:39:48.040 And the third thing is this question of despair.
00:39:48.140 --> 00:39:50.040 And they say, how shall we then live?
00:39:50.140 --> 00:39:53.040 And this is the heart of their objection, if you like.
00:39:53.140 --> 00:39:55.040 They're essentially saying to Ezekiel,
00:39:55.140 --> 00:39:57.040 look, if what you've been preaching all these years is true,
00:39:57.140 --> 00:40:00.040 that God is a holy God of absolute justice who punishes sin,
00:40:00.140 --> 00:40:02.040 then we're completely done for.
00:40:02.140 --> 00:40:04.040 There's no point in trying anymore.
00:40:04.140 --> 00:40:06.040 That's kind of their argument.
00:40:06.140 --> 00:40:08.040 If we're already under judgment and rotting,
00:40:08.240 --> 00:40:10.040 and finding a way in our guilt, what hope is there?
00:40:10.140 --> 00:40:13.040 How can we possibly survive or find a way forward?
00:40:13.140 --> 00:40:18.040 John Trapp again says this,
00:40:18.140 --> 00:40:23.040 before they were secure, now they were desperate.
00:40:23.140 --> 00:40:26.040 So before they were proud, now they're desperate.
00:40:26.140 --> 00:40:28.040 Thus the devil plays his games.
00:40:28.140 --> 00:40:31.040 Either he keeps a man in a fool's paradise,
00:40:31.140 --> 00:40:34.040 or else he drives them into a hell of horrors.
00:40:34.140 --> 00:40:37.040 And Spurgeon actually used this kind of situation
00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:38.940 in a number of times in the things he preached,
00:40:39.040 --> 00:40:40.940 looking at the condition of the human heart,
00:40:41.040 --> 00:40:44.940 explaining that when a person is first awoken to their sin,
00:40:45.040 --> 00:40:46.940 they often feel that they're too far gone,
00:40:47.040 --> 00:40:50.940 that mercy's not going to cover what they've done.
00:40:51.040 --> 00:40:54.940 And Spurgeon noted that this despair is actually an insult to God's grace,
00:40:55.040 --> 00:40:57.940 because it assumes our sin is bigger than his power to save us,
00:40:58.040 --> 00:40:59.940 which of course we know is not true.
00:41:00.040 --> 00:41:00.940 Verse 11 goes on,
00:41:01.040 --> 00:41:05.940 As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
00:41:05.940 --> 00:41:08.840 but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
00:41:08.940 --> 00:41:15.840 Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
00:41:15.940 --> 00:41:21.840 This verse is considered by some commentators to be like the John 3.16 of the Old Testament.
00:41:21.940 --> 00:41:24.840 It's one of those verses in the middle of the text you could easily read over it,
00:41:24.940 --> 00:41:26.840 but there is so much here.
00:41:26.940 --> 00:41:27.840 I'm just going to pause for a second.
00:41:27.940 --> 00:41:29.840 Firstly, it's a statement of hope.
00:41:29.940 --> 00:41:35.840 See, when the people reach the absolute rock bottom of the despair in verse 10,
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:37.740 believing that they're completely trapped in their past
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:40.740 and God was just this merely cold executioner,
00:41:40.840 --> 00:41:45.740 God responds with this astonishing, passionate declaration of his true heart.
00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:48.740 And again, to really appreciate the depth, if you like,
00:41:48.840 --> 00:41:50.740 the hope that's packed into this verse,
00:41:50.840 --> 00:41:54.740 we can look at how God systematically tears down their despair
00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:56.740 through three powerful elements once again.
00:41:56.840 --> 00:41:59.740 So their three kind of things are responded by God's three things here.
00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:01.740 Firstly, the divine oath.
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:02.740 Okay, God says,
00:42:02.840 --> 00:42:05.740 As I live, saith the Lord God.
00:42:05.940 --> 00:42:11.740 In the ancient world, an oath was sworn by the greatest available authority.
00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:15.740 Well, there is no one greater than God, so he swears by himself.
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.740 Okay, it's the highest possible legal guarantee in the universe.
00:42:18.840 --> 00:42:20.740 God is essentially saying,
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:23.740 As sure as it is true that I am the living, eternal God,
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:29.740 what I am able to tell you is the absolute, unchangeable reality of my character.
00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:33.740 He stakes his very reputation on his desire to save them.
00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:35.740 So their three things are,
00:42:35.839 --> 00:42:37.640 they're now counted by God's three things.
00:42:37.740 --> 00:42:38.640 The first one is God says,
00:42:38.740 --> 00:42:40.640 I am the one that's saying this,
00:42:40.740 --> 00:42:43.640 and you can trust because of my nature and my character.
00:42:43.740 --> 00:42:45.640 Secondly, it's the disclosure of God's heart.
00:42:45.740 --> 00:42:46.640 As God says,
00:42:46.740 --> 00:42:49.640 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
00:42:49.740 --> 00:42:52.640 And again, directly answered that unspoken lie
00:42:52.740 --> 00:42:56.640 that the exiles were believing that God was a kind of tyrannical deity
00:42:56.740 --> 00:42:59.640 who delights in crushing and catching them out in their sin.
00:42:59.740 --> 00:43:01.640 And God shatters that myth.
00:43:01.740 --> 00:43:05.640 He takes no delight, no joy, no satisfaction,
00:43:05.839 --> 00:43:07.640 in the destruction of those that are lost.
00:43:07.740 --> 00:43:10.640 Judgment is his, as Isaiah puts it,
00:43:10.740 --> 00:43:12.640 his strange work.
00:43:12.740 --> 00:43:15.640 And his true desire and pleasure are found in mercy,
00:43:15.740 --> 00:43:18.640 in restoration and life.
00:43:18.740 --> 00:43:22.640 And then finally, the third response that God gives
00:43:22.740 --> 00:43:25.640 is this, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,
00:43:25.740 --> 00:43:27.640 for why will ye die?
00:43:27.740 --> 00:43:30.640 Now the repetition that's given to us in the Hebrew here,
00:43:30.740 --> 00:43:31.640 you see the Hebrew word,
00:43:31.740 --> 00:43:34.640 it denotes intense emotional urgency.
00:43:34.640 --> 00:43:37.540 It isn't a cold bureaucratic command.
00:43:37.640 --> 00:43:40.540 It's the passionate plea from a loving father
00:43:40.640 --> 00:43:44.540 begging his children to step back from the edge of a cliff.
00:43:44.640 --> 00:43:46.540 He sees the danger there in their predicament
00:43:46.640 --> 00:43:48.540 and he's calling them to him.
00:43:48.640 --> 00:43:50.540 Turn ye, turn ye.
00:43:50.640 --> 00:43:53.540 Again, asking why will you die?
00:43:53.640 --> 00:43:55.540 God places the ball squarely back in their court.
00:43:55.640 --> 00:43:58.540 He's showing them that their destruction is completely unnecessary.
00:43:58.640 --> 00:44:01.540 The door to life is flung wide open
00:44:01.640 --> 00:44:04.540 and the only thing standing between them and restoration
00:44:04.640 --> 00:44:07.440 is their own willingness to turn around.
00:44:07.540 --> 00:44:10.440 Another quote from Spurgeon, he says this,
00:44:10.540 --> 00:44:13.440 He first says it, then he swears it, as I live.
00:44:13.540 --> 00:44:16.440 He gives us his oath to put an end to our doubts.
00:44:16.540 --> 00:44:18.440 He does not wish our destruction.
00:44:18.540 --> 00:44:20.440 He longs for our salvation.
00:44:20.540 --> 00:44:22.440 If you want to know what God's heart is like
00:44:22.540 --> 00:44:24.440 toward a crying, broken sinner,
00:44:24.540 --> 00:44:27.440 read it in his oath.
00:44:30.540 --> 00:44:34.440 John Trapp again noted the beautiful pastoral tenet
00:44:34.640 --> 00:44:36.440 of the phrase, turn ye, turn ye,
00:44:36.540 --> 00:44:38.440 writing that God speaks here
00:44:38.540 --> 00:44:40.440 as if he were more concerned about our lives
00:44:40.540 --> 00:44:42.440 than we are ourselves.
00:44:42.540 --> 00:44:45.440 He doubles his words to show his earnestness
00:44:45.540 --> 00:44:48.440 as if he would gladly take us by the hand
00:44:48.540 --> 00:44:51.440 and turn us to himself.
00:44:51.540 --> 00:44:53.440 Oh, sorry, and turn us to himself, yeah.
00:44:53.540 --> 00:44:55.440 J. Vernon McGee, again, also ties his verse
00:44:55.540 --> 00:44:58.440 to the absolute freedom of the human will
00:44:58.540 --> 00:45:00.440 to respond to the gospel.
00:45:00.540 --> 00:45:02.440 He says God makes it as clear as a bell.
00:45:02.540 --> 00:45:04.440 He doesn't want you to perish.
00:45:04.640 --> 00:45:06.440 If you go to hell, my friend,
00:45:06.540 --> 00:45:08.440 you will have to go there
00:45:08.540 --> 00:45:10.440 against the expressed will of God,
00:45:10.540 --> 00:45:14.440 walking over his invitation to turn and live.
00:45:17.640 --> 00:45:19.440 So verse 10 was that hopeless question
00:45:19.540 --> 00:45:21.440 of how shall we then live.
00:45:21.540 --> 00:45:23.440 Verse 11 is that glorious response.
00:45:23.540 --> 00:45:26.440 You live by turning to the living God.
00:45:26.540 --> 00:45:28.440 And it proves no matter how far a nation
00:45:28.540 --> 00:45:30.440 or individual has fallen,
00:45:30.540 --> 00:45:32.440 no matter how rotten their past choice is,
00:45:32.540 --> 00:45:34.440 the sounding of the watchman's trumpet
00:45:34.640 --> 00:45:36.440 is always an invitation to grace,
00:45:36.540 --> 00:45:39.440 never just a sentence of doom.
00:45:39.540 --> 00:45:41.440 Now we know, of course, John 3.16,
00:45:41.540 --> 00:45:43.440 we've just spoken of the Old Testament analogy
00:45:43.540 --> 00:45:45.440 or equivalent in a sense.
00:45:45.540 --> 00:45:47.440 John 3.16, for God so loved the world
00:45:47.540 --> 00:45:49.440 that he gave his only begotten Son
00:45:49.540 --> 00:45:51.440 that whosoever believeth in him
00:45:51.540 --> 00:45:53.440 should not perish but have everlasting life.
00:45:53.540 --> 00:45:56.440 For God sent not his Son into the world
00:45:56.540 --> 00:45:58.440 to condemn the world.
00:45:58.540 --> 00:46:01.440 God didn't send Jesus to condemn,
00:46:01.540 --> 00:46:04.440 but the world through him might be saved.
00:46:04.540 --> 00:46:05.440 Let me just share this.
00:46:05.540 --> 00:46:06.440 You may have seen this before,
00:46:06.540 --> 00:46:07.440 but it's wonderful.
00:46:07.540 --> 00:46:09.440 For God, the greatest being,
00:46:09.540 --> 00:46:12.440 so that's the greatest degree,
00:46:12.540 --> 00:46:15.440 loved, the greatest affection,
00:46:15.540 --> 00:46:18.440 the world, the greatest object of love,
00:46:18.540 --> 00:46:21.440 that he gave the greatest act,
00:46:21.540 --> 00:46:24.440 his only greatest treasure,
00:46:24.540 --> 00:46:28.440 begotten, the greatest relationship,
00:46:28.540 --> 00:46:30.440 Son, the greatest gift.
00:46:30.540 --> 00:46:34.440 That whosoever is the greatest company,
00:46:34.540 --> 00:46:37.440 believeth, the greatest trust,
00:46:37.540 --> 00:46:41.440 in him, the greatest object of faith,
00:46:41.540 --> 00:46:44.440 should not perish, the greatest deliverance,
00:46:44.540 --> 00:46:46.440 but have, that's the greatest assurance,
00:46:46.540 --> 00:46:50.440 everlasting, the greatest promise, life,
00:46:50.540 --> 00:46:52.440 the greatest blessing.
00:46:52.540 --> 00:46:54.440 Verse 12.
00:46:54.540 --> 00:46:56.440 Therefore, thou Son of man,
00:46:56.540 --> 00:46:58.440 say unto the children of thy people,
00:46:58.540 --> 00:47:00.440 The righteousness of the righteous
00:47:00.540 --> 00:47:02.440 shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression,
00:47:02.540 --> 00:47:04.440 as for the wickedness of the wicked,
00:47:04.440 --> 00:47:06.340 he shall not fall thereby
00:47:06.440 --> 00:47:08.340 in the day that he turns from his wickedness,
00:47:08.440 --> 00:47:10.340 neither shall the righteous be able to live
00:47:10.440 --> 00:47:13.340 for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:16.340 Okay, so there's a warning against complacency
00:47:16.440 --> 00:47:17.340 in these verses.
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:20.340 When a person who has lived an upright life
00:47:20.440 --> 00:47:22.340 chooses to rebel against God,
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:25.340 their past good deeds will not rescue them
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:28.340 for the consequences of that sin in the here and now.
00:47:28.440 --> 00:47:30.340 And we see New Testament examples of this,
00:47:30.440 --> 00:47:32.340 particularly in 1 Corinthians we see.
00:47:32.440 --> 00:47:34.340 Conversely, if a deeply wicked person
00:47:34.340 --> 00:47:37.240 genuinely repents and turns away from their wrongdoing,
00:47:37.340 --> 00:47:40.240 their past sins will not preclude them
00:47:40.340 --> 00:47:43.240 from a life of blessing and grace.
00:47:43.340 --> 00:47:45.240 Spurgeon again.
00:47:45.340 --> 00:47:47.240 He says, if a man says, I am saved,
00:47:47.340 --> 00:47:49.240 and then lives in total worldliness and sin,
00:47:49.340 --> 00:47:51.240 he's a liar.
00:47:51.340 --> 00:47:54.240 Truth, faith changes the heart and produces perseverance.
00:47:54.340 --> 00:47:56.240 If your faith does not make you holy,
00:47:56.340 --> 00:47:59.240 it is a dead faith, a delusion,
00:47:59.340 --> 00:48:02.240 and it will leave you without excuse at the judgment.
00:48:02.340 --> 00:48:04.240 J. Vernon McGee said,
00:48:04.240 --> 00:48:07.140 people think they can lean back on an experience
00:48:07.240 --> 00:48:10.140 they had 30 years ago at an alter rail.
00:48:10.240 --> 00:48:13.140 Well, they like to live like the devil today.
00:48:13.240 --> 00:48:15.140 Ezekiel blows the whistle on that.
00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:17.140 God doesn't look at your spiritual scrapbook,
00:48:17.240 --> 00:48:19.140 he looks at your life today.
00:48:19.240 --> 00:48:21.140 If there is no fruit today,
00:48:21.240 --> 00:48:25.140 you'd better re-examine whether you ever knew him at all.
00:48:25.240 --> 00:48:30.140 As Ron Matsen, former pastor here, used to say,
00:48:30.240 --> 00:48:32.140 if there's no fruit,
00:48:32.140 --> 00:48:35.040 you'd better question the connection to the root.
00:48:35.140 --> 00:48:40.040 Ray Steadman, another commentator, said this,
00:48:40.140 --> 00:48:43.040 the Bible never permits us to trade on past virtue.
00:48:43.140 --> 00:48:47.040 The security of the believer is found in the fact that Christ keeps us,
00:48:47.140 --> 00:48:49.040 but the evidence that he is keeping us
00:48:49.140 --> 00:48:52.040 is that we are walking with him today.
00:48:52.140 --> 00:48:57.040 2 Corinthians 13.5 is a great passage.
00:48:57.140 --> 00:48:59.040 This is a paraphrase from the Living Bible.
00:48:59.140 --> 00:49:01.040 Check up on yourselves.
00:49:01.040 --> 00:49:02.940 Are you really Christians?
00:49:03.040 --> 00:49:04.940 Do you pass the test?
00:49:05.040 --> 00:49:07.940 Do you feel Christ's presence and power more and more within you?
00:49:08.040 --> 00:49:11.940 Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren't at all?
00:49:12.040 --> 00:49:16.940 Sadly, there are so many in the church who are just pretending.
00:49:17.040 --> 00:49:19.940 It's just a big social club, there's so many.
00:49:20.040 --> 00:49:21.940 This person again says,
00:49:22.040 --> 00:49:23.940 Do not take salvation for granted.
00:49:24.040 --> 00:49:25.940 Examine your heart by the word of God.
00:49:26.040 --> 00:49:28.940 Ask yourself, is my life different from what it used to be?
00:49:29.040 --> 00:49:30.940 Do I hate the sin I once loved?
00:49:30.940 --> 00:49:35.840 If there is no ongoing change, your assurance is a delusion.
00:49:35.940 --> 00:49:40.840 And then Tozer said this, I love this quote,
00:49:40.940 --> 00:49:45.840 The checking of the spiritual life must be continuous.
00:49:45.940 --> 00:49:47.840 We must examine our fruit.
00:49:47.940 --> 00:49:55.840 A tree is known by its fruit, not by the plaque nailed to its trunk stating when it was planted.
00:49:55.940 --> 00:49:57.840 Just think about that.
00:49:57.940 --> 00:50:00.840 So many people say, well I became a Christian in such and such a way.
00:50:00.840 --> 00:50:02.740 Such and such a time.
00:50:02.840 --> 00:50:04.740 Okay, great, what have you done with it?
00:50:04.840 --> 00:50:06.740 Where's the evidence of it?
00:50:06.840 --> 00:50:09.740 Just saying something because you stepped forward once and made some sort of profession,
00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:15.740 if there's no fruit, if there's no ongoing evidence, it's a delusion.
00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:20.740 The whole reality of a changed life is a changed life.
00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:22.740 Ezekiel goes on,
00:50:22.840 --> 00:50:26.740 When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live,
00:50:26.840 --> 00:50:29.740 if he trusts to his own righteousness and communes iniquity,
00:50:29.740 --> 00:50:31.640 his righteousness shall not be remembered,
00:50:31.740 --> 00:50:34.640 but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.
00:50:34.740 --> 00:50:36.640 Again, when I say unto the wicked,
00:50:36.740 --> 00:50:40.640 Thou shalt surely die, if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right,
00:50:40.740 --> 00:50:44.640 if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he has robbed,
00:50:44.740 --> 00:50:46.640 walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity,
00:50:46.740 --> 00:50:48.640 he shall surely live, he shall not die.
00:50:48.740 --> 00:50:51.640 None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him.
00:50:51.740 --> 00:50:55.640 He that has done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live.
00:50:55.740 --> 00:50:57.640 Yet the children of the people say,
00:50:57.640 --> 00:51:02.540 The way of the Lord is not equal, but as for them, their way is not equal.
00:51:02.640 --> 00:51:04.540 They're saying that God's not fair.
00:51:04.640 --> 00:51:08.540 This is the kind of challenge, and he's saying, well, they're not fair.
00:51:08.640 --> 00:51:11.540 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity,
00:51:11.640 --> 00:51:13.540 he shall even die thereby.
00:51:13.640 --> 00:51:17.540 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right,
00:51:17.640 --> 00:51:18.540 he shall live thereby.
00:51:18.640 --> 00:51:19.540 And then again,
00:51:19.640 --> 00:51:23.540 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal, O ye house of Israel.
00:51:23.640 --> 00:51:26.540 I will judge you, everyone, after his ways.
00:51:26.540 --> 00:51:28.440 And it's the same cry as we get today,
00:51:28.540 --> 00:51:31.440 that God's salvation by grace alone isn't fair.
00:51:31.540 --> 00:51:34.440 In other words, people have this idea that we have to contribute,
00:51:34.540 --> 00:51:36.440 we want to contribute.
00:51:36.540 --> 00:51:38.440 And God's not fair the way he does it.
00:51:38.540 --> 00:51:41.440 That I've worked harder than they've worked.
00:51:41.540 --> 00:51:43.440 That's not how it works.
00:51:43.540 --> 00:51:48.440 We are all sinners, fallen far, far below God's standard.
00:51:48.540 --> 00:51:53.440 At least we think our past efforts should give us some sort of credit,
00:51:53.540 --> 00:51:56.440 but again, that is not how it works.
00:51:56.640 --> 00:52:00.440 Furthermore, it's surely not just to forgive people worse than us, is it?
00:52:00.540 --> 00:52:02.440 You know, you think of the people that are,
00:52:02.540 --> 00:52:04.440 everyone's worse than we are, aren't they?
00:52:04.540 --> 00:52:06.440 That's not how God does it.
00:52:06.540 --> 00:52:11.440 So now in this next section, this fugitive comes,
00:52:11.540 --> 00:52:13.440 and again, as we said, Ezekiel's already had,
00:52:13.540 --> 00:52:16.440 kind of, the Lord has spoken to him the night before.
00:52:16.540 --> 00:52:18.440 It came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity,
00:52:18.540 --> 00:52:21.440 in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month,
00:52:21.540 --> 00:52:25.440 that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying,
00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:28.340 The city is smitten, the city's fallen.
00:52:28.440 --> 00:52:31.340 Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:33.340 afore he that was escaped came.
00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.340 In other words, so the night before, the Lord had his hand upon Ezekiel,
00:52:36.440 --> 00:52:39.340 and had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning.
00:52:39.440 --> 00:52:41.340 And my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
00:52:41.440 --> 00:52:44.340 So God's kind of allowing Ezekiel to speak again.
00:52:44.440 --> 00:52:46.340 And then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
00:52:46.440 --> 00:52:50.340 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel,
00:52:50.440 --> 00:52:54.340 speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land,
00:52:54.340 --> 00:52:57.240 but we are many, the land is given for our inheritance.
00:52:57.340 --> 00:53:02.240 So they're saying, okay, so Nebuchadnezzar has taken away so many captives,
00:53:02.340 --> 00:53:05.240 we've managed to kind of escape, we're living in the land,
00:53:05.340 --> 00:53:08.240 and because we are descendants of Abraham, we're going to stay in the land,
00:53:08.340 --> 00:53:09.240 and we're okay.
00:53:09.340 --> 00:53:12.240 I think somehow they've got away with it.
00:53:12.340 --> 00:53:15.240 Wherefore, say unto them, thus says the Lord God,
00:53:15.340 --> 00:53:19.240 ye eat with the blood, and ye lift up your eyes toward your idols,
00:53:19.340 --> 00:53:22.240 and shed blood, and ye shall possess the land.
00:53:22.340 --> 00:53:24.240 Like, you know, you're still committing yourself
00:53:24.240 --> 00:53:27.140 to committing your iniquity, you're still involved in all the sin you're involved for.
00:53:27.240 --> 00:53:29.140 You really think you're going to get away with it?
00:53:29.240 --> 00:53:31.140 You think you're going to stay in this land?
00:53:31.240 --> 00:53:35.140 Verse 26, stand ye upon your sword, and work abomination,
00:53:35.240 --> 00:53:39.140 and ye defile everyone his neighbor's wife, and shall ye possess the land?
00:53:39.240 --> 00:53:41.140 He's reiterating some of the crimes.
00:53:41.240 --> 00:53:44.140 Say thou thus unto them, thus says the Lord God,
00:53:44.240 --> 00:53:48.140 as I live, surely they that are in the waste shall fall by the sword,
00:53:48.240 --> 00:53:52.140 and him that is in the open field will I give to the beast to be devoured.
00:53:52.240 --> 00:53:54.140 And they that be in the forts of the land,
00:53:54.240 --> 00:53:57.040 and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
00:53:57.140 --> 00:53:59.040 For I will lay the land most desolate,
00:53:59.140 --> 00:54:01.040 and the pomp of the strength shall cease,
00:54:01.140 --> 00:54:03.040 and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate,
00:54:03.140 --> 00:54:06.040 that none shall pass through.
00:54:06.140 --> 00:54:07.040 This is staggering.
00:54:07.140 --> 00:54:10.040 Verse 29, then shall they know that I am the Lord,
00:54:10.140 --> 00:54:13.040 when I have laid the land most desolate,
00:54:13.140 --> 00:54:17.040 because of all their abominations which they have committed.
00:54:17.140 --> 00:54:21.040 Now history has verified this prophecy,
00:54:21.140 --> 00:54:24.040 given about 600 BC,
00:54:24.140 --> 00:54:27.040 by Ezekiel whilst he was in Babylon.
00:54:27.140 --> 00:54:32.040 According to Moses in Deuteronomy 29 verse 22 to 23,
00:54:32.140 --> 00:54:36.040 there would be a stranger who one day would visit Israel,
00:54:36.140 --> 00:54:40.040 and he would note that the whole land is just brimstone and salt.
00:54:40.140 --> 00:54:45.040 Well, in 1867, Mark Twain, who was not a believer,
00:54:45.140 --> 00:54:47.040 he had no desire to prove the Bible,
00:54:47.140 --> 00:54:50.040 he arrived after being on a world tour in Israel,
00:54:50.140 --> 00:54:53.040 and he wandered through the land and he wrote,
00:54:53.040 --> 00:54:55.940 O people, desolate and unpeopled,
00:54:56.040 --> 00:54:57.940 miles of desolate country,
00:54:58.040 --> 00:55:00.940 the far-reaching desolation,
00:55:01.040 --> 00:55:03.940 the waste of a limitless desolation,
00:55:04.040 --> 00:55:07.940 exactly as it had been prophesied, so he declares.
00:55:08.040 --> 00:55:09.940 He writes it down, it becomes a best-selling book,
00:55:10.040 --> 00:55:13.940 goes around the world for everybody to read.
00:55:14.040 --> 00:55:15.940 According to the prophecy in Deuteronomy,
00:55:16.040 --> 00:55:17.940 the stranger would also say,
00:55:18.040 --> 00:55:20.940 all the land is a burning waste.
00:55:21.040 --> 00:55:22.940 Or as another translation puts it,
00:55:22.940 --> 00:55:24.840 it would become a scorching desert.
00:55:24.940 --> 00:55:26.840 So Twain would then write,
00:55:26.940 --> 00:55:29.840 it's a scorching, arid, repulsive solitude.
00:55:29.940 --> 00:55:31.840 Such roasting heat, such oppressive solitude,
00:55:31.940 --> 00:55:36.840 and such dismal desolation cannot surely exist elsewhere on earth.
00:55:36.940 --> 00:55:39.840 Nowhere in all the waste around was there a foot of shade,
00:55:39.940 --> 00:55:43.840 and we were scorching to death.
00:55:43.940 --> 00:55:47.840 The prophecy declares that the land would become devoid of anyone to sow it,
00:55:47.940 --> 00:55:49.840 and Mark Twain wrote,
00:55:49.940 --> 00:55:51.840 all the land is un-sown.
00:55:51.840 --> 00:55:55.740 One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.
00:55:55.840 --> 00:55:57.740 These unpeopled deserts,
00:55:57.840 --> 00:55:59.740 these rusty mounds of barrenness,
00:55:59.840 --> 00:56:03.740 that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines.
00:56:03.840 --> 00:56:07.740 There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent,
00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:10.740 not for thirty miles in either direction.
00:56:10.840 --> 00:56:11.740 Are you getting this?
00:56:11.840 --> 00:56:13.740 This is what Ezekiel said would happen,
00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:18.740 and exactly to the letter of what was prophesied in Deuteronomy,
00:56:18.840 --> 00:56:21.740 Mark Twain, many years later,
00:56:21.740 --> 00:56:24.640 writes, and by the way, that year he visited the land,
00:56:24.740 --> 00:56:27.640 it was also the year that Charles Warren went and he discovered
00:56:27.740 --> 00:56:30.640 the shaft that led up into the city of David,
00:56:30.740 --> 00:56:32.640 it was the first rediscover of the old land,
00:56:32.740 --> 00:56:35.640 everything prophetically started moving from that date.
00:56:35.740 --> 00:56:37.640 We've done a six-week study on that some time ago,
00:56:37.740 --> 00:56:38.640 it's all on the website,
00:56:38.740 --> 00:56:41.640 we might go over it again because it's so powerful.
00:56:41.740 --> 00:56:44.640 And we will look at it in subsequent chapters of Ezekiel.
00:56:44.740 --> 00:56:48.640 But Moses also prophesied that the land wouldn't bring forth,
00:56:48.740 --> 00:56:51.640 nor does it bear, is what it says in the text,
00:56:51.640 --> 00:56:56.540 the word semech is used, which refers to sprouting, or a branch.
00:56:56.640 --> 00:56:59.540 And Mark Twain brought with it to the land's inability to sprout vegetables,
00:56:59.640 --> 00:57:00.540 writing,
00:57:00.640 --> 00:57:03.540 The valleys are unsightly deserts, fringed with a feeble vegetation,
00:57:03.640 --> 00:57:07.540 a desert paved with loose stones, void of vegetation,
00:57:07.640 --> 00:57:14.540 glaring in the fierce sun, this blistering, naked, treeless land.
00:57:14.640 --> 00:57:17.540 And the prophecy states that the stranger who comes will specifically speak of grass,
00:57:17.640 --> 00:57:20.540 or rather the absence of it, no grass grows in it.
00:57:20.540 --> 00:57:23.440 One translation puts it, not even a blade of grass.
00:57:23.540 --> 00:57:27.440 And Twain again in his notebook almost quotes scripture word for word,
00:57:27.540 --> 00:57:30.440 no sprig of grass is visible.
00:57:30.540 --> 00:57:31.440 Wow.
00:57:31.540 --> 00:57:35.440 Again, it was said that the land would become most desolate.
00:57:35.540 --> 00:57:39.440 That Hebrew phrase is like a double expression.
00:57:39.540 --> 00:57:43.440 And it means desolation upon desolation, or utterly wasted.
00:57:43.540 --> 00:57:47.440 You start to see how dramatically these things were fulfilled.
00:57:47.540 --> 00:57:49.440 God really does mean what he says,
00:57:49.440 --> 00:57:51.340 and says what he means.
00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:53.340 And when Ezekiel wrote this,
00:57:53.440 --> 00:57:57.340 Israel was a flowering, terraced, agricultural paradise.
00:57:57.440 --> 00:57:59.340 It was a land flowing with milk and honey.
00:57:59.440 --> 00:58:02.340 And it would have seemed utterly unreasonable and impossible
00:58:02.440 --> 00:58:05.340 for it to become a permanent wasteland.
00:58:05.440 --> 00:58:08.340 Yet when Twain turned up two millennia later,
00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:14.340 his camera-like descriptions captured that exact Hebrew shemana.
00:58:14.440 --> 00:58:17.340 It's a desert paved with loose stones, void of vegetation,
00:58:17.440 --> 00:58:19.340 glaring in the fierce sun.
00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:23.340 And the land was kept in a state of supernatural arrested development,
00:58:23.440 --> 00:58:27.340 if you like, for centuries, precisely mirroring Ezekiel's prophecy,
00:58:27.440 --> 00:58:30.340 waiting for the people to return.
00:58:30.440 --> 00:58:33.340 And in the subsequent chapters, we're going to look at what God said,
00:58:33.440 --> 00:58:36.340 at what would happen when the people went back to the land.
00:58:36.440 --> 00:58:39.340 And that is equally as staggering.
00:58:39.440 --> 00:58:40.340 Last couple of verses.
00:58:40.440 --> 00:58:43.340 Also thou son of man, the children of thy people
00:58:43.440 --> 00:58:47.340 still are talking against thee by the walls and the doors of the houses,
00:58:47.440 --> 00:58:49.340 and speak one to another.
00:58:49.340 --> 00:58:52.240 And everyone to his brother saying, come I pray you,
00:58:52.340 --> 00:58:55.240 and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord.
00:58:55.340 --> 00:58:57.240 So everyone loves a good story.
00:58:57.340 --> 00:58:59.240 The trouble is they just didn't believe it.
00:58:59.340 --> 00:59:01.240 And so they're coming to listen to Ezekiel.
00:59:01.340 --> 00:59:03.240 And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
00:59:03.340 --> 00:59:05.240 and they sit before thee as my people,
00:59:05.340 --> 00:59:08.240 and they hear thy words, but they will not do them.
00:59:08.340 --> 00:59:11.240 For with the mouth they show much love,
00:59:11.340 --> 00:59:14.240 but their heart goes after their covetousness.
00:59:14.340 --> 00:59:17.240 And lo, thou art unto them a very lovely song
00:59:17.240 --> 00:59:19.140 of one that has a pleasant voice,
00:59:19.240 --> 00:59:21.140 and can play well on an instrument.
00:59:21.240 --> 00:59:25.140 For they hear the words, but they do them not.
00:59:25.240 --> 00:59:28.140 And when this cometh to pass, though it will come, God says,
00:59:28.240 --> 00:59:31.140 they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
00:59:31.240 --> 00:59:33.140 They will realize the things he was speaking
00:59:33.240 --> 00:59:36.140 weren't just a nice little bit of entertainment.
00:59:36.240 --> 00:59:38.140 This was God warning the people.
00:59:38.240 --> 00:59:40.140 We'll pick it up from there in a couple of weeks time.
00:59:40.240 --> 00:59:41.140 Let's bow our hearts.
00:59:41.240 --> 00:59:43.140 Father God, we just thank you for your word.
00:59:43.240 --> 00:59:46.140 We thank you for the wonderful prophecies
00:59:46.140 --> 00:59:49.040 that we see fulfilled in the days in which we live.
00:59:49.140 --> 00:59:53.040 But Father, we thank you too for these reminders
00:59:53.140 --> 00:59:55.040 that you've called each and every one of us
00:59:55.140 --> 00:59:57.040 to be as watchmen.
00:59:57.140 --> 00:59:59.040 Lord, that we have a duty, a responsibility
00:59:59.140 --> 01:00:01.040 to reach out to this world around us
01:00:01.140 --> 01:00:03.040 and just share the gospel.
01:00:03.140 --> 01:00:05.040 Lord, just to speak the truth in love,
01:00:05.140 --> 01:00:07.040 to let people know that there is a way,
01:00:07.140 --> 01:00:09.040 that there is a savior,
01:00:09.140 --> 01:00:11.040 that Lord, you don't want anyone to perish.
01:00:11.140 --> 01:00:13.040 Lord, you take no delight in the death of the wicked,
01:00:13.140 --> 01:00:15.040 but that they might live.
01:00:15.040 --> 01:00:17.940 Lord, help us to have the boldness and the confidence.
01:00:18.040 --> 01:00:19.940 Help us as we've sung and declared this morning in our songs
01:00:20.040 --> 01:00:21.940 not to be ashamed of the gospel,
01:00:22.040 --> 01:00:23.940 but Lord, to speak.
01:00:24.040 --> 01:00:25.940 Lord, whenever you give us opportunity
01:00:26.040 --> 01:00:27.940 to have an answer, Lord,
01:00:28.040 --> 01:00:29.940 for those that ask of the hope that's in us.
01:00:30.040 --> 01:00:31.940 Lord, we pray you stir our hearts.
01:00:32.040 --> 01:00:33.940 Give us a desire and a passion
01:00:34.040 --> 01:00:35.940 to see people saved.
01:00:36.040 --> 01:00:37.940 We ask this morning in Jesus' name.
01:00:38.040 --> 01:00:39.940 Amen.
01:00:40.040 --> 01:00:41.940 May God richly bless you through this coming week.
01:00:42.040 --> 01:00:43.940 Let's spend some time fellowshipping
01:00:43.940 --> 01:00:45.940 and we'll see you in the next week.
01:00:46.040 --> 01:00:47.940 God bless.