A Love Story

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.919 We come now to the reading and preaching of God's Word in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:11.230 Chapter Sixteen. So turn with me, if you would there. This is 3 00:00:11.429 --> 00:00:15.150 a long chapter. You know, I am going to read all of it 4 00:00:15.710 --> 00:00:25.219 and you'll you'll see why once we get going. But might be helpful, 5 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:29.699 excuse me, might be helpful for me to make just a few comments here 6 00:00:29.739 --> 00:00:37.049 at the beginning to frame a little bit and give our ears some understanding so 7 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:40.969 that as we listen, we can be listening for for certain things and be 8 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:47.409 listening with understanding. I'm Ezekiel Sixteen is the story of the city Jerusalem. 9 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:53.520 It's the story of the people of that city. But instead of giving us 10 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:58.159 an account of names and dates, which is not a bad thing to do, 11 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:02.479 but the Lord does something different here. He gives us the history in 12 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:07.829 the form of an allegory, a story that characterizes that history, that helps 13 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:14.189 us to understand those people, the things that happen, the things that God 14 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:19.299 did. And, as you'll see, this chapter sixteen is powerful and memorable. 15 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:25.739 It's even graphic in some spots. I can't remember the quote off the 16 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:30.140 chop of my head, but Charles spurgeon says something about warnings to even reading 17 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:37.370 it in public. There are maybe reasons you've not heard this chapter before, 18 00:01:37.890 --> 00:01:42.930 but you know how we roll here and we we read God's word and we 19 00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:47.760 read it. I'm trusting that he has given it to us for a reason, 20 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:53.799 for a purpose, and so there will be no reason to exaggerate anything 21 00:01:53.040 --> 00:02:01.269 or Jinet up beyond what's here, or any reason to downplay it or excuse 22 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:06.909 it. It's important for us to hear God gives us this story in this 23 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:09.430 form of an allegory. You give in this to make it, I think, 24 00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:15.389 a powerful and memorable as you'll see, and you can look for this 25 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:20.699 theme as we read, for throughout a remembering or failing to remember, is 26 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:24.939 part of the problem that Israel is facing. It is one of the reasons 27 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:30.169 that things get so bad. And remembering, well God's remembering any way, 28 00:02:31.009 --> 00:02:37.729 is as one of the reasons for the surprising ending of the story. And 29 00:02:37.889 --> 00:02:40.969 over the course of this story we come to know and see very clearly of 30 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:49.120 the righteousness of God, the abhorrent sinfulness of man, and then also God's 31 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:53.280 amazing and atoning grace. So I encourage you to listen for all of those 32 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:58.750 things and let's give our attention to God's word. Now an Ezechiel, Chapter 33 00:02:59.349 --> 00:03:08.150 Sixteen. Again, the word of the Lord came to me. Son Of 34 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:14.259 man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, thus says the Lord 35 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:19.060 God to Jerusalem. Your origin and your birth are of the land of the 36 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:23.219 Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a hittite. And as 37 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:27.210 for your birth, on the day that you were born, your cord was 38 00:03:27.289 --> 00:03:30.289 not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed 39 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:35.810 with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. No, I pitied you to 40 00:03:35.889 --> 00:03:38.169 do any of these things to you out of compassion for you. But you 41 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:43.879 were cast out on the open field for your abhorred on the day that you 42 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.400 were born. And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your 43 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.039 blood, I said to you, in your blood live, I said to 44 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:57.590 you, in your blood live. I made you flourish like a plant of 45 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:01.870 the field, and you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. 46 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:06.990 Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked 47 00:04:08.030 --> 00:04:13.699 and bear when I passed by you again and saw you behold, you were 48 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:17.019 at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over 49 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:21.379 you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into 50 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.209 a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. 51 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:30.009 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed 52 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:34.290 you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with 53 00:04:34.410 --> 00:04:40.199 fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk, 54 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:45.079 and I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain 55 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:47.519 on your neck, and I put a ring on your nose and ear rings 56 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:53.949 and your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned 57 00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:58.430 with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and 58 00:04:58.509 --> 00:05:03.470 embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly 59 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:11.300 beautiful and advanced to royalty, and your renown went forth among the nations because 60 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:15.819 of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed 61 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:20.810 on you, declares the Lord God. But you trust it in your beauty 62 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:28.050 and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your hoarrings on any passer 63 00:05:28.209 --> 00:05:32.529 by. Your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made 64 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:38.600 for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has 65 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:42.240 never been, never been, nor shall be, nor ever shall be. 66 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.199 You also took your beautiful jewels, of my gold and my silver, which 67 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.629 I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with 68 00:05:49.829 --> 00:05:55.829 them played the whore. And you took your embroidered garments to cover them and 69 00:05:55.990 --> 00:06:00.750 set my oil and my incense before them, also my bread that I gave 70 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:04.500 you. I Fed you with fine flower and oil and honey. You set 71 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:11.220 them before a pleasing aroma. You set before them a pleasing for a pleasing 72 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:15.620 aroma, and so it was, declares the Lord God. And you took 73 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:18.490 your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these 74 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:26.209 you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your hoharring so small a matter 75 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:30.850 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to buy fire 76 00:06:30.050 --> 00:06:34.360 to them? And in all your abominations and your warnings, you did not 77 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:40.399 remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bear wallowing in your 78 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:45.360 own blood and after all your wickedness, woe, woe to you, declares 79 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:49.230 the Lord God. You built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty 80 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:54.470 place in every square, at the head of every street. You built a 81 00:06:54.589 --> 00:07:00.509 lofty place and made your beauty and abomination, offering yourself to any passer by 82 00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:04.939 and to multiplying your wharring, you also played the war with the Egyptians, 83 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:11.339 your lustful neighbors, multiplying your hoharring to provoke me to anger. Behold, 84 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:15.930 therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted plot portion 85 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:19.889 and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, 86 00:07:20.170 --> 00:07:25.610 who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You laid the horror also with 87 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:30.079 the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied. Yes, you played the whore 88 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.240 with them, and you still were not satisfied. You multiplied your horring also 89 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:39.360 with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. 90 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:45.910 How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God. Because you did 91 00:07:45.949 --> 00:07:50.230 all these things the deeds of a brazen prostitute, building your vaulted chamber at 92 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:55.509 the head of every street and making your lofty place in every square. Yet 93 00:07:55.550 --> 00:08:01.500 you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment, adulterous wife who 94 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:05.860 receives strangers instead of her husband. Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but 95 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:09.939 you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you 96 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:15.769 from every side with your horrings. So you were different from other women. 97 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:18.889 In Your horrings, no one solicited you to play the whore, and you 98 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:24.970 gave them payment, while no payment was given to you. Therefore, you 99 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:30.439 were different. Therefore, oh prostitute, here the word of the Lord, 100 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.559 thus says the Lord God, Because Your Lust was poured out and your nakedness 101 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.000 uncovered in your horrings, with your lovers and with all your abominable idols, 102 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:43.950 and because of the blood of your children that you gave them. Therefore, 103 00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:48.269 behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all 104 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:52.710 those who you all those you loved and all those you hated. I will 105 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:56.980 gather them again to you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, 106 00:08:56.460 --> 00:09:01.539 that they may see all your nakedness, and I will judge you as 107 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:05.299 women who commit adultery and shed blood, are judged and bring upon you the 108 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:11.009 blood of Wrath and jealousy, and I will give you into their hands, 109 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:15.809 and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. 110 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:18.769 They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you 111 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:24.480 naked and bear they shall bring up a crowd against you and they shall stone 112 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:28.200 you and cut you to pieces with their swords, and they shall burn your 113 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.879 houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will 114 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:37.559 make you stop playing the whore and you shall also give payment. No more 115 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:43.870 so will I satisfy my wrath on You, and my jealousy shall depart from 116 00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:48.789 you. I will be calm and I will no more be angry, because 117 00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:52.299 you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with 118 00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:56.820 all these things. Therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your 119 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:01.340 head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed loudness in the Obama 120 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:07.210 in addition to all your abominations? Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use 121 00:10:07.250 --> 00:10:13.649 this proverb about you. Like mother, like daughter. You are the daughter 122 00:10:13.769 --> 00:10:18.129 of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children. And you are 123 00:10:18.169 --> 00:10:22.279 the sister of your sisters who loathed their husband's and their children. Your mother 124 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.720 was a hittite and your father an Amorite, and your elder sister, Sumeria, 125 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.360 who lived with her daughters to the north of you, and your younger 126 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:33.559 sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom, with her 127 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:39.309 sisters or daughters. Not only did you walk in their ways and do according 128 00:10:39.309 --> 00:10:43.269 to their abominations, within a very little time you were more corrupt than they 129 00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:50.580 in all your ways. As I live, declares the Lord God your system, 130 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:54.419 Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 131 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.019 Behold this was the guilt of your sister, Sodom. She and her 132 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:03.690 daughters had pride, excess food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the 133 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:09.409 poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me, so 134 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:15.289 I removed them when I saw it. Sameria has not committed half of your 135 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:20.279 sins. You have committed more abominations than they and have made your sisters appear 136 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:26.360 righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace you also, 137 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.919 for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters, because of your sins, 138 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.870 in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the 139 00:11:33.909 --> 00:11:39.909 right than you. So be ashamed you also, and bear your disgrace, 140 00:11:39.070 --> 00:11:46.190 for you have made your sisters appure righteous. I will restore their fortunes, 141 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:50.580 both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Sumeria and her 142 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:54.940 daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, that you 143 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:58.019 may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming 144 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:03.289 a consolation to them. As for your sister's Sodom and her daughters, as 145 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:07.889 for your sister's Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and 146 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:11.889 Samaria and her daughter shall return to their former state, and you and your 147 00:12:11.929 --> 00:12:18.519 daughters shall return to your former state. Was Not your sister Sodom a by 148 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.279 word in your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was 149 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:26.840 uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach to the daughters of Syria 150 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:31.509 and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines those all 151 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:35.990 around who despise you. You Bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, 152 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:41.830 declares the Lord for. Thus, says the Lord God, I will 153 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:46.220 deal with you as you have done. You have despised the oath in breaking 154 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:52.340 the covenant. Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of 155 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:58.570 your youth and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. Then you will 156 00:12:58.610 --> 00:13:03.529 remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder 157 00:13:03.649 --> 00:13:07.610 and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not 158 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:11.049 on account of the Covenant With You. I will establish my covenant with you 159 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:16.080 and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and 160 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.679 be confounded and never open your mouth again because of your shame. Aim when 161 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.879 I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God. 162 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:39.669 God blesses reading as word to us, so I said. As I 163 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:46.100 said at the outset of reading this passage, it's an allegory about a city. 164 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:54.340 It's the story of Jerusalem. I'm going to summarize it so that we 165 00:13:54.500 --> 00:14:01.009 can remember it and also understand it, and then draw a few applications as 166 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:07.970 we conclude. The story begins with very beautiful beginnings, wonderful, tender moments, 167 00:14:09.929 --> 00:14:15.519 a sadness happens. I'm out of Canaan, Jerusalem is born. I'm 168 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:20.759 here, Jerusalem is characterized as a place of Canaan, and that's exactly what 169 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:24.789 it was before. Israel, that is their Jerusalem, was an important city. 170 00:14:24.950 --> 00:14:31.710 Out of Canaan, this place was born. But she was neglected and 171 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:35.909 left aside. But God made her to live. God did not let her 172 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:41.899 die. He said live to her in this sad state of being left alone, 173 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:48.940 and she grows in splendor and praise she she becomes a very beautiutiful and 174 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:56.850 mature. Then I'm God passes by her again and when she is the age 175 00:14:56.970 --> 00:15:03.129 for love and he marries her, he is he clothes her with this embroidered 176 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:07.639 cloth and fine letter leather, the materials that are mentioned here, the things 177 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:11.320 that she eats, all these things relate and have echoes of life in the 178 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:16.720 Tabernacle, of ways in which I'm Zion and the temple and the or the 179 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.950 Tabernacle were adorned. God blesses her in all of these ways. But then 180 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:28.669 after this beautiful beginning in which this the Lord establishes this loving relationship with his 181 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:37.059 bride, there is this terrible turn. She takes her beauty and trusts it 182 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:41.779 instead of the one who gave it to her. She takes her life and 183 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:46.899 trusts it instead of the one who gave her life, and she takes these 184 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:54.409 things and uses them for idols, for idolatry and for murder. We are 185 00:15:54.529 --> 00:16:00.049 told, I'm here, in the histories and kings, and in Jeremiah as 186 00:16:00.169 --> 00:16:07.320 well, of instances where of kings and people at large sacrificed their own children. 187 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.840 This terrible thing. As the way God puts it, he says, 188 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:17.279 and after giving all of these things that I have given you a way to 189 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:23.110 your lovers, then you take my children and you sacrifice them to these idols. 190 00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:29.629 We have records of Ahas and the NASA doing this and others as well. 191 00:16:30.190 --> 00:16:34.659 And God describes this in terms of prostitution. She is going after an 192 00:16:34.700 --> 00:16:38.700 adultery and giving herself away. But you notice how bad it is? Right? 193 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:42.779 We have a similar story in the book of Josiah. Perhaps you remember 194 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:48.009 a similar allegory of that kingdom and all that happened there. But even there, 195 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:52.690 in the northern kingdom, as bad as it got, it's never described 196 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:57.529 quite like this. Here, not only does she go giving herself up, 197 00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:03.840 to these idols, chasing after other husbands, but she doesn't even take payment. 198 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:08.000 In her poverty is she doesn't even take payment. And said she is 199 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:15.200 bribing the people, bribing these false husbands, these idols. I'm she is 200 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:19.150 giving these things away. It just does. Her situation keeps getting worse and 201 00:17:19.309 --> 00:17:25.750 worse and worse, not only her plight, her heart being so sick, 202 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:29.269 as Ezekiel says, as the Lord says in verse thirty, but all the 203 00:17:29.430 --> 00:17:34.539 things that she does. You can sense the Lord's indignation at the abominations growing 204 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:42.019 and growing and growing. There's a place where God speaks around verse thirty nine 205 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:47.849 and talks about temporary judgments that were given. He talks about the doucing of 206 00:17:47.930 --> 00:17:55.049 her provisions, the giving over of of her to other cities, and we 207 00:17:55.250 --> 00:18:00.519 remember reading about these, perhaps in the historical records, or Israel or Jerusalem. 208 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:06.640 Would enter into alliances with other places, often to her disadvantage, often 209 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:12.509 paying more than what she was getting. God brought upon her this kind of 210 00:18:12.589 --> 00:18:21.910 judgment, and yet she did not turn alliances that cost her enemy success. 211 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:27.180 They were even ashamed at her behavior. He says, so bad as what 212 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:30.940 you're doing. The other nations are looking at you, this place that's supposed 213 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:34.819 to be a holy city, and saying wow, we wouldn't even do that, 214 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:41.970 much like Abimelech right when Abraham sort of tricks him with Sarah and the 215 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:48.130 Abraham says our aboo. Milik says to Abraham, we don't even do these 216 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:53.809 things. Why are you doing this? There's this sense of righteousness even among 217 00:18:53.809 --> 00:18:59.160 the unrighteous, a sense of knowing the law, as Paul Talks about it, 218 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:03.279 written on their hearts, even though not having the law of Moses. 219 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.240 They know it simply by nature the way that God has made the world. 220 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:11.390 They know it by virtue of being made in the image of God. They 221 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:17.470 know that there are some things that are just not right. Sodom is an 222 00:19:17.549 --> 00:19:22.150 example of this. We read in verse forty that Sodom and her daughters, 223 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:26.660 a phrase referring to Sodom as a city, and then kind of surrounding villages 224 00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:32.259 around Sodom and her daughter's go Moura being one of those. They had, 225 00:19:32.380 --> 00:19:37.700 except they had pride and excess food, prosperous ease, but did not aid 226 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:42.369 the poor and the needy. They were haughty, they were prideful and they 227 00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:48.690 did an abomination before me, and we know what happened. Sodom becomes this 228 00:19:48.210 --> 00:19:52.480 by word in the scriptures, a place for for a place which it just 229 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:03.440 which immediately calls to mind pride and disgusting acts, and a place that was 230 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:08.069 ultimately judged by God. And what does God say of Sodom? She doesn't 231 00:20:08.069 --> 00:20:14.509 even compare to you, Sodom to the south and Samaria to the north. 232 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:21.430 You make them look good when when these places look at you, Jerusalem, 233 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:26.339 they're consoled, he says, not consoled because their sins are forgiven, but 234 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:29.859 consoled in the sense that they look at Jerusalely go or not that bad. 235 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:36.329 That's how dad things have gotten in Jerusalem. They have at you have acted, 236 00:20:36.490 --> 00:20:41.410 he says in Verse Fifty Two, more abominably than they they are more 237 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:47.329 in the right than you are. So be a shamed. Where is your 238 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:56.920 shame? The hardness of Jerusalem's heart is so tough. She is going at 239 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:03.910 these things in lewdness and in horror and in murder with such intensity and fervor, 240 00:21:04.990 --> 00:21:11.750 without any care of cause, without any sense of God's coming judgment. 241 00:21:14.349 --> 00:21:18.220 Then enough is enough and the Lord says that she will be judged. God 242 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:26.019 warns her and then God's wrath comes. He speaks of her being exposed, 243 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:30.339 of being cut into pieces, of being destroyed. In this, of course, 244 00:21:30.339 --> 00:21:36.170 is language that applies to the city, the city, the the enemies 245 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:41.329 come in and they ravage it, strip it, bear, they destroy it 246 00:21:41.490 --> 00:21:47.960 down, they leave it in pieces, in such a way that Jerusalem becomes 247 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:53.880 the new by word. Like mother, like daughter, they say, and 248 00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:00.829 not in a pleasant or happy way. And so God's wrath comes, and 249 00:22:00.990 --> 00:22:08.710 comes so strongly, the guilt of her coming upon her head. This guilt, 250 00:22:10.190 --> 00:22:14.470 this judgment that comes upon Jerusalem, is not accidental. As we see, 251 00:22:15.190 --> 00:22:22.700 God is not being unfair. He had counts for the things that she 252 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:26.299 has done and he's very clear that her punishments, her own deeds, will 253 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:32.410 come upon her own head. We have a sense of God's fairness in this 254 00:22:32.609 --> 00:22:37.130 when he says in Verse Forty Two, that I will satisfy my wrath on 255 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:44.049 you and my jealousy shall depart. When God pours out his wrath on peep, 256 00:22:44.210 --> 00:22:48.119 on his people for these things, there will be a time when it 257 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.000 comes to an end, I will be calm and I will be angry no 258 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:59.630 more. God will have his judgment and it will be fair. But of 259 00:22:59.710 --> 00:23:04.109 course, this judgment ends in death. This one who was dead, that 260 00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:11.750 was brought to life, is now dead again, exposed naked, as she 261 00:23:11.910 --> 00:23:18.380 came into the world, not an and on account of her own unrighteousness. 262 00:23:21.099 --> 00:23:26.259 And then we would think we were at the end of this long, sad 263 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:33.170 story. But then things start to turn in after hearing God's warning and then 264 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:37.450 his wrath, we begin to hear of His grace. He begins. I 265 00:23:37.609 --> 00:23:44.720 talking about restoring the fortunes not only of Jerusale Salem, but also Samaria and 266 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:52.920 also even Sodom. Sodom which, as we know, was destroyed, destroyed. 267 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.589 With the Fire of God coming down out of Heaven, Sodom will be 268 00:23:56.269 --> 00:24:02.109 restored. See, it's a Marria will be restored and these sisters, the 269 00:24:02.349 --> 00:24:07.990 sister cities to the north and to the south, will be given to Israel 270 00:24:08.029 --> 00:24:15.059 as daughters, in other words that these these cities, which had no part 271 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:19.539 of the Covenant with the Lord, will be brought into this family, will 272 00:24:19.539 --> 00:24:26.210 be brought into immediate relationship. I'm coming and falling under the blessings of Jerusalem. 273 00:24:27.769 --> 00:24:33.410 This is one of the many prophecies that we have about the incoming of 274 00:24:33.529 --> 00:24:37.890 the gentiles, the promise of the Gospel going out to the world, even 275 00:24:37.890 --> 00:24:44.640 beyond Jerusalem, and gentiles like us of being brought in. But nobody says. 276 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.359 You know what he says in Verse Sixty One. I will give them 277 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.359 to you as daughters, but not on the account of the Covenant With You, 278 00:24:52.789 --> 00:24:57.390 and by that, of course, he means the Mosaic Covenant. God 279 00:24:57.549 --> 00:25:02.470 is going to give them as daughters, but not because Israel was so righteous, 280 00:25:03.230 --> 00:25:07.700 not because she fulfilled the obligations of the Covenant and now she gets to 281 00:25:07.819 --> 00:25:11.700 enter into her a glory. It's not because of that. What the thing, 282 00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:17.819 one of the things that this passage makes so crystal clear is that the 283 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:22.769 salvation that we have in the Lord is not of our own doing. It 284 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:26.970 is not of our own doing. We did not keep the covenant. Our 285 00:25:27.130 --> 00:25:33.009 forefathers are for mothers. They did not keep the covenant. They didn't just 286 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:37.440 keep it, they broke it, they burnt it to a crisp, they 287 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:44.039 spit on it, they despised it, they ran after other gods, they 288 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:51.349 hated God and filled that land with abominations. But God, remembering the promise 289 00:25:51.470 --> 00:25:55.950 that he had made before, a promise to Abraham, a promise that would 290 00:25:55.950 --> 00:26:00.789 be from everlasting to everlasting. He promises to establish a new covenant on the 291 00:26:00.829 --> 00:26:06.299 basis of that one. He would establish a covenant with you for this purpose, 292 00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:10.900 so that you shall know that I am the Lord. If you've been 293 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:15.180 with us, listening to these these passages and is Ekiel, hopefully you're hearing 294 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:21.410 that phrase over and over again. God brings these judgments and he brings His 295 00:26:21.529 --> 00:26:26.690 grace so that we may know that he is the Lord, but he is 296 00:26:26.809 --> 00:26:30.890 the ruler, that he is the king and that he is Yahway and there 297 00:26:30.049 --> 00:26:36.920 is no other like him. Do not go after false gods. They are 298 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:45.000 false. There is no one like me. We must know him, and 299 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:48.789 we know him through his words and we know him through his work and we 300 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:52.829 know him through these things that he is doing. He wants us to remember. 301 00:26:55.230 --> 00:26:57.710 They God and all so much of this mess because they did not remember, 302 00:26:59.670 --> 00:27:02.500 they did not pay attention, they did not listen, they did not 303 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:06.779 trust him. Instead, they looked at their circumstances, they saw their beauty 304 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:11.700 and they said, I guess we're good. Let's bank on this. God 305 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:17.210 gives to us so many things, beloved, He provides for us, he 306 00:27:17.289 --> 00:27:21.890 gives us jobs and families, so many freedoms. List goes on and on 307 00:27:22.049 --> 00:27:25.410 and on, and they are good and we should be thankful for them, 308 00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:30.000 we should smile and we eat them and drink them and experience them, but 309 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:36.519 they are not our hope. God is the only one that we give our 310 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:40.960 praise to, the only one that we give our fear to, and when 311 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.869 we remember that, when we trust him, he protects us and he keeps 312 00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:51.349 us and he loves US and he clothes US. Well, Israel forgot this. 313 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:53.950 They frowned all these ways. But God was going to do something new. 314 00:27:55.029 --> 00:27:57.190 He says, he was going to establish a covenant. That his verse 315 00:27:57.269 --> 00:28:03.700 Sixty One says. Then, on the basis of his works, you will 316 00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:11.380 remember your ways and you will be ashamed. In God's grace we come to 317 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:18.650 a remembrance not only of his works, but also our lack of works, 318 00:28:18.650 --> 00:28:25.609 also our unrighteousness. He says that never again will you open your mouth because 319 00:28:25.650 --> 00:28:30.000 of your shame, and he means this in the sense of that selfjustifying mouth, 320 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.759 that boasting mouth, that prideful mouth that says, well, I'm here 321 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:37.480 because of this and this, and well, look at these things I've done, 322 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:40.680 look at these things I've achieved, or we've got the temple, or 323 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:47.269 we've got baptism, or we've got this or whatever. No, these things, 324 00:28:47.470 --> 00:28:51.630 these works, the these things, they do not justify us. Only 325 00:28:51.710 --> 00:28:56.460 God, and God alone, who, as we read, promises to atone 326 00:28:56.539 --> 00:29:00.779 for our sins. And that's the most amazing thing of all of this. 327 00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:06.700 After all of these things, after everything that's been done, after so much 328 00:29:06.700 --> 00:29:11.970 wretchedness, God says, even after their death, God says, I will 329 00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:21.369 atone for your sins, for all that you have done. So that's Israel. 330 00:29:22.890 --> 00:29:29.920 Who Are we? We are those who live in the age of the 331 00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:37.279 fulfillment of these promises. We live in an era where the atonement has happened, 332 00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:44.750 the atonement that was promised, this forgiveness of sins that would cover everything 333 00:29:45.150 --> 00:29:51.750 from the most disgusting, the most embarrassing, the most shameful things forgiven. 334 00:29:52.779 --> 00:29:56.779 As we read earlier today, as far as the East is from the West, 335 00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:03.740 so far will our sins be removed. He covers us and he cleanses 336 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:07.329 us, so that we are as white as snow, speaking of his bride, 337 00:30:08.769 --> 00:30:11.930 the bride of Christ, and Ephesians Five, we are told that we 338 00:30:12.009 --> 00:30:19.970 are cleansed and purified, made spotless, and perfect. We are those who 339 00:30:21.009 --> 00:30:26.359 stand as that bride. We are those who belong in the fulfillment of these 340 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:32.200 promises. That's the first thing we are. The second thing we are is 341 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:37.470 very much like these people, similar to the Corinthians, as Paul describes them, 342 00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:45.230 and believe it's chapter ten. He says you were once sexually immoral, 343 00:30:47.190 --> 00:30:55.859 idolaters, drunkards, fools and more, but now you have been washed, 344 00:30:55.940 --> 00:30:59.900 you have been redeemed, you have been brought in to the family of God, 345 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:03.099 brought out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, the 346 00:31:03.180 --> 00:31:11.930 Kingdom of the beloved Sun. We need to remember that when we come into 347 00:31:11.009 --> 00:31:17.250 worship to praise our Lord. We need to remember that we're not here for 348 00:31:17.490 --> 00:31:22.559 any other reason except that we've been saved out of who we once were, 349 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:27.160 that we've been saved out of our old wretchedness, out of the old Adam, 350 00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:34.950 and have been brought into Christ. This should lead us to trust God 351 00:31:37.349 --> 00:31:42.470 more than anything else. This should lead us to flee from idolatry, sexual 352 00:31:42.630 --> 00:31:48.380 morality and murder and all the rest. This should lead us to trust him 353 00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:51.579 and trust him and trust him and keep coming back to him over and over 354 00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:55.420 and over again. When you think about this story on your way home or 355 00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:59.900 over this next week, think about the Lord. So much of the story 356 00:32:00.059 --> 00:32:04.569 is a condemnation of Jerusalem, but think about how vindicated the Lord he is 357 00:32:04.650 --> 00:32:08.170 here, how good he is, how tender he is, how powerful he 358 00:32:08.329 --> 00:32:13.930 is as well, but how he ultimately uses that power for the sake of 359 00:32:14.049 --> 00:32:22.400 his people. He does everything that he does because he loves them. And 360 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:28.079 so as we trust God and remember where we came from, let's shut our 361 00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:32.869 mouths as well, not shutting our mouths from praise and confession and repentance, 362 00:32:34.269 --> 00:32:36.470 but shut our mouths from that fool