Episode Transcript
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Ezekiel Chapter Twenty. I'm going to
read from the beginning through verse Forty Four.
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As I read, you can consider
this passage in light of the Psalm
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we just saying and read these other
things that I've mentioned. We get a
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sense, in among other things,
a sense in Ezekiel twenty, of what
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happens when we don't praise God,
when we instead turn our hopes, our
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fears are praises to idols. We
see why we must give him our ourselves,
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are faith, our love and him
completely in him alone. What happens
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when we don't, and what God
has done, even in spite of our
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great sinfulness. So we come to
a better understanding of both what God desires
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ourselves and our sin, and also
his great mercy to us. So let's
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hear God's Word Now Ezekiel Chapter Twenty
one through forty four. In the seventh
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year and the Fifth Month, on
the Tenth Day of the month, certain
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of the elders of Israel came to
inquire of the Lord and sat before me,
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and the word of the Lord came
to me. Son Of man,
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speak to the elders of Israel and
say to them, thus says the Lord
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God. Is it to inquire of
me that you have come as I live,
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declares the Lord God. I will
not be inquired of by you.
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Will you judge them, son of
man? Will you judge them? Let
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them know the abominations of their fathers
and say to them. Thus says the
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Lord God, on the day when
I chose Israel, I swore to the
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offspring of the House of Jacob,
making myself known to them in the land
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of Egypt. I swore to them, saying I am the Lord your God.
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On that day, I swore to
them that I would bring them out
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of the land of Egypt into the
land that I had searched out for them,
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land flowing with milk and honey,
the most glorious of all lands.
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And I said to them, cast
away the detestable things your eyes feast on,
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every one of you, and do
not defile yourself with the idols of
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Egypt. I am the Lord your
God. But they rebelled against me and
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were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable
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things their eyes feasted on, nor
did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
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Then I said I would pour out
my wrath upon them and spend my anger
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against them in the midst of the
land of Egypt, but I acted for
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the sake of my name, that
it should not be profaned in the sight
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of those nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself know
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own to them in bringing them out
of the land of Egypt. So I
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led them out of the land of
Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
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I gave them my statutes and made
known to them my rules, by which,
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if a person does them, he
shall live. Moreover, I gave
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them my sabbaths as a sign between
me and them, that they might know
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that I am the Lord who sacrifice, who sanctifies them. But the House
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of Israel rebelled against me in the
wilderness. They did not walk in my
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statutes, but rejected my rules by
which if a person does shall if a
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person does them, he shall live, and my sabbaths. They greatly profaned.
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Then I said I would pour out
my wrath upon them in the wilderness
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to make a full end of them, but I acted for the sake of
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my name, that it should not
be profaned in the sight of the nations
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in whose sight I had brought them
out. Moreover, I swore to them
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in the wilderness that I would not
bring them into the land that I had
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given them, a land flowing with
milk and honey, the most glorious of
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all lands, because they rejected my
rules and did not walk in my statutes
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and profaned my sabbaths for their heart
went after their idols. Nevertheless, my
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eye spared them and I did not
destroy them or make a full end of
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them in the wilderness. And I
said to their children in the wilderness,
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do not walk in the statutes of
your father's, nor keep their rules,
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nor defile yourselves with their idols.
I am the Lord, your God.
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Walk in my statutes and be careful
to obey my rules and keep my sabbaths
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wholly, that they may be a
sign between you and me, that you
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may know that I am the Lord, your God. But the children,
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but, but the children, rebelled
against me. They did not walk in
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my statutes and were not careful to
obey my rules, by which, if
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a person does them, he shall
live. They profaned my sabbaths. Then
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I said I would pour out my
wrath upon them and spend my anger against
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them in the wilderness. But I
withheld my hand and acted for the sake
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of my name, that it should
not be profaned in the sight of the
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nations in whose hand or in whose
sight I had brought them out. Moreover,
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I swore to them in the wilderness
that I would scatter them among the
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nations and disperse them among the through
the countries, because they had not obeyed
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my rules, but had rejected my
statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their
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eyes were set on their father's idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that
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were not good and rules by which
they could not have life, and I
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defiled them through their very gifts,
in their offering up all their first born
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that I might devastate them. I
did it that they might know that I
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am the Lord. Therefore, son
of men, speak to the House of
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Israel and say to them thus,
as the Lord God, in this also
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your father's blasphemed me by dealing treacherously
with me, for when I had brought
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them into the land that I swore
to give to them, then, wherever
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they saw any high hill or a
leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices
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and there they presented the provocation of
their offering. There they sent up their
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pleasing aromas and they poured out their
drink offerings. I said to them,
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what is the high place to which
you go? So its name is called
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Bomba to this day. Therefore,
say to the House of Israel, thus
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says the Lord God, will you
defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers
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and go whorring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer
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up your children and fire? You
defile yourselves with all your idols to this
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day. And shall I be inquired
of by you, O House of Israel,
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as I live, declares the Lord
God. I will not be inquired
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of by you. What is in
your mind shall never happen. The thought
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let us be like the nations,
like the tribes of the countries, and
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worship Wood and stone, as I
live, declares the Lord God. Surely,
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with a mighty hand and an outstretched
arm and with wrath poured out,
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I will be king over you.
I will bring you out from the peoples
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and gather you out from the countries
where you are scattered, with a mighty
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hand and an outstretched harm and with
wrath I poured out, and I will
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bring you into the Wilderness of the
peoples, and there I will enter into
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judgment with you, face to face, as I entered into judgment with your
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fathers and the Wilderness of the land
of Egypt. So I will enter into
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judgment with you, declares the Lord
God. I will make you pass under
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the Rod and I will bring you
into the bond of the covenant. I
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will purge out the rebels from among
you and those who transgress against me.
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I will bring them out of the
land where they sojourn, but they shall
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not enter the land of Israel.
Then you will know that I am the
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Lords for you, a house of
Israel, thus says the Lord God.
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Go serve every one of you his
idols, now and hereafter, if you
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will not listen to me, but
my holy name, you shall no more
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profane with your gifts and your idols, for on my Holy Mountain, the
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mountain height of Israel, declares the
Lord God. They're all the house of
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Israel. All of them shall serve
me in the land. There I will
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accept them, and there I will
require of your contributions and the choicest of
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your gifts, with all your sacred
offerings, as a pleasing aroma. I
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will accept you. When I bring
you out from the peoples and gather you
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out of the countries where you have
been scattered, and I will manifest my
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holiness among you in the sight of
the nations, and you shall know that
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I am the Lord when I bring
you into the land of Israel, the
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country that I swore to give to
your father's and there you shall remember your
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ways and all your deeds with which
you have defiled yourselves, and you shall
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loathe yourselves for all the evils that
you have committed, and you shall know
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that I am the Lord when I
deal with you for my namesake, not
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according to your evil ways nor according
to your corrupt deeds. O House of
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Israel, declares the Lord. Men, in the back of your hymnals,
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a few turned to the shorter catechism. I'm going to do this now,
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and you find that question which I
am looking for, because I don't remember
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the exact number here. It is
twenty six. How does Christ execute the
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Office of a King? This is
on page nine hundred and sixty nine.
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Nine hundred and sixty nine. How
does Christ, Howeth Christ execute the office
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of a King? The answers this
Christ execute the office of a king in
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subduing us to himself, in ruling
and defending US and in restraining and conquering
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all of his and our enemies.
This question an answer is on full display
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here. In Ezekiel, Chapter Twenty, you see and hear the mighty power
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and words of God as he speaks
with great authority over his people. He's
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very clear about this point. You
are my people. And for the person
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who's rebelling against God, for who
hates God, who loves the idols,
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this is constantly frustrating because he keeps
bringing them in and giving them laws and
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giving commandments and they want to do
other things. Those who rebel against God
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do not want to be under his
kingship. And the fact of the matter
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is he's unrelenting. He doesn't just
say lest forget about it, never mind,
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I don't want you anyway, or
this is too much trouble, or
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I'll go find some other people.
He just continually goes after them, again
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and again and again. We have
at the end, another expression of that
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kingship of Great Power and glory,
as he conquers us for himself, as
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he subdues us to himself, but
does it in a gracious way, no
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less powerful, no less strong,
no less full of majesty and might,
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but coming not according to our corruptees, coming not according to our evil ways,
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but according to his own perfect will
and as well, of grace.
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It's really amazing, it's outstanding.
It gives us a sense, as I
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mentioned earlier, very specific sense of
God, a God who is big,
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a God who is not small,
a God who is bigger than we imagine
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agin gives us better than we deserve. To review just a little bit of
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ezechiel twenty, I won't go verse
by verse or will be here a little
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while, but very simply, we
have there's a repetition, right, you
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notice that there's three generations. God
deals with those in Egypt, those who
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were brought out of Egypt, those
of their children, and with each generation
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God sees them and commands them don't
go after the idols, don't defile yourselves,
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don't do to detestable things like sacrificing
your children, burning them on the
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altars to this or to that God. And in each of these generations,
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what happens? They do exactly what
he has commanded them not to do,
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and he gives them very he's he, as he speaks to is equel.
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He recounts specific ways in which they
do that, you know, in different
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times and in different ways. One
of them is a refusal to obey his
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laws and statutes. Another the sacrifice
of children, another refusal to repent.
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He called alls them and he passes
them under judgment. This image of the
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Rod and each of these instances.
The Sabbath is another example. He he
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has created these institutions as a sign
of the Covenant, a marker in time,
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and their weekly rhythms, on which
he himself defines, is something that
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sets them apart and they don't care
about it, they don't observe it,
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they don't remember it and ensuing so
they fail to remember him as their king.
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And all these things. God prosecutes
the Covenant. It's one of the
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things you can think of. Is
Ekiel's kind of like a lawyer standing up
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in the courtroom on behalf of the
one who has been harmed, on the
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behalf of the king who has not
been given his dues, and he says
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the law was clear, the expectations
were clear. The gifts that he gave
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you are innumerable and many. He
called you out for these specific purposes and
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again you failed and you disobeyed.
Next part of the cycle that we see
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with each of these generations, as
after the after, God brings the accusation.
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He says, I'm going to be
done with you, and then he
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relents. Did you notice that you're
kind of expecting it all over, be
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over, because he says it's all
over, I'm going to put an end
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to you, this is all the
defilement and corruptions will stop. And then
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he doesn't. He relents from the
disaster. He stops short of destroying his
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people, in removing them all from
the face of the earth. And there's
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a specific reason he gives. Do
you remember what it was? The specific
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reason he gives several times over,
and it's it's because of his name,
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because of the watching nations, that
he will not do this thing. We
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have to ask yourself, what is
it about God's name? What is it
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about his honor that he wants to
uphold? And the answer is his promises.
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He made a promise to Abraham to
make him the father of many people,
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a blessed father, an exalted father, one through whom all the nations
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of the Earth would be blessed.
And if God blots out his people from
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the earth, if he takes his
thumb and just says never mind on Abraham
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and that family over, then he
has failed to fulfill the covenant that he
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promised to fulfill. Yes, is
people under Moses have failed to fulfill the
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covenant that God brought them out and
told them do this and you will live.
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He says two three times in this
passage. This is the law,
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that you may live by it.
And they are not living by it and
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they are dying by it. So
the question is is that, how come
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they don't die? How come he
keeps relenting? Well, it's because there
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was an earlier covenant, because this
covenant that God made with Moses was attached
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to another covenant, promise to Abraham, by which he walked through these animals
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and animals cut in half and said, essentially, may these thing, this
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death that has come upon these animals, happen to me if I don't fulfill
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my promise to you, Abraham.
He says to Abraham, I will do
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this period, I will fulfill my
promise, I will do these things for
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you. And so if God blots
out his people, then we have to
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ask, and the nations of the
world will ask, well, what was
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that Abraham thing all about? Yes, the people disobeyed, but how did
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God fulfill his promises? How did
he keep his word? Over and over
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in the psalms right we read about
his steadfast love, his loving kindness that
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never fails, his promises that never
fail. If God were to blot out
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his people, what would that say
about his name? When he says to
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Abraham, I will be your God, to his children, you will be
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my people, God has sworn by
his own name. Hebrews says, to
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keep the oath, to keep the
promise, and so he relents once,
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twice, three times. He relents
over and over again. And of course
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we know that these summaries, if
you know a little bit about the Old
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Testament, our summaries, we could
pile up the examples, over and over
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and over again, of the even
more specific ways in which God relents from
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disaster, in which God saves his
people and Pours Out His grace even as
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he judges them and disciplines them for
his sin. He keeps these promises to
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Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Israel, his people. He
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holds a remnant, he presses them
on, he gives the next generation another
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chance and he doesn't blot them out
from the face of the earth. One
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of the things this teaches us is
exactly what our sins deserve. The Lord
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is very clear about this. When
we refuse him, when we cast him
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off as our king, we deserve
death, not only because the evil of
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our sins, but let us remember, he is the God of life.
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If you take a plant that needs
daily full sun and yes, get under
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the kitchen cabinet, it's going to
die right. It's just what happens when
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you get away from the light.
Nature runs its course and we, by
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nature, made in the image of
God, are made to be dependent on
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him. We are made our chief
end is to glorify him and enjoy him
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forever. That's what we were designed
by God himself to do. And so
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when we reject him, when we
turn away from him, when we say
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to the king, I'm not going
to obey your laws, not only do
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we receive the just penalty for that
death and his wrath, his curse,
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but it's natural consequences too. You
get out from under the light, you
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escape into the darkness, you believe
the lies of the evil one and you
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will experience those consequences, like the
plant under the counter that needs full sun.
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We die. This passage and the
idolatry and the rebellion that it's found
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in it reminds us of what our
sins deserve. Where they lead, as
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the Lord says, the law.
Those who keep the law live. What
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happens when we don't keep the law? We die. That's what our sins
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deserve. They deserve punishment, they
deserve death. Another thing they is.
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Our sins bring us is at I
shouldn't put it. PUT THEM IN THE
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POST wave of I'll just keep going. Another thing our sins bring us is
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a separation between us and God.
Right, this is restating in a way
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what I just said, but I
want you to see it through another Lens,
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the Lens through which this chapter begins
and ends. The elders of Israel
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do what. They go to inquire
of the Lord. What does he say?
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No, I'm not talking to you. There is a separation between them.
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Now the Lord tells us to inquire
of him all the time. Ask
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and you will receive. Go to
your father, who loves to give to
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you, and on and on and
on. So why here a separation?
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Why is here here? Why here
is he saying no, I will not
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let you inquire of me. I
will not speak to you except this word
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of judgment, because this is another
thing our sins do. They separate us
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from him. God offers us,
over and over and over again, opportunities
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to repent, opportunities to serve him. But there comes a time when judgment
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comes, when those opportunities are no
more, when God turns his ear against
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us and will not hear. Now, in this life we are promised,
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we are promised every opportunity to turn
and save. Even at the very last
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hour of our lives, the very
last minute, the very last second,
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God offers to us an opportunity to
cling to him, to find forgiveness for
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our sins and in in repentance.
But whatever that next second is, whatever
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that next minute is, and we
don't always know when it be, when
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we die, that's it. There
comes a day, God says, when
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he will judge all of us.
We will raise up us out of the
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dead and judge us either according to
our sins or according to the forgiveness of
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our sins that we have in Christ. There is a separation between us and
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him. That happens and we cannot, we must not take that for granted.
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God speak to us in his mercy, is loving kindness. He comes
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to us in his gentleness. Over
and over and over again, hear him,
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receive him, listen to him,
inquire of him, while he yets,
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still offers himself to you. There
are a lot of other things we
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could talk about, to other things
with this patch. That was which this
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passage points us to that we can't
take for granted. But let's turn now
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to the end of the chapter and
the way that God responds to this continuing
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idolatry, the continuing rebellion. He
says in verse thirty three, with great
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power and strength, as I live, declares the Lord. Surely, with
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a mighty hand and an outstretched arm
and with wrath poured out, I will
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be king over you. He is
not going to let this people go,
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is he? He is even going
to pour out his wrath and all of
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his strength and his might to subdue
them to himself. I will bring you
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out from the People's and gather you
out of the countries where you scattered,
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with a mighty hand in an outstretched
arm and with wrath poured out. I
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love at the beginning of this chapter
and and are at the beginning of this
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section and throughout, as we move
towards verse forty four, there's this question
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in our mind, is like,
what's going on here? He sounds like
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he's about to destroy them completely,
as have we've seen before, right mighty
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hand, outstretched arm, pouring out
wrath. And yet the result of these
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things is a gathering in a nations
from the nation's and establishing them on his
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holy mountain, as we read in
Verse Forty on my Holy Mountain, the
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mountain height of Israel, declares the
Lord. They're all the house of the
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House of Israel. All of them
shall serve me in the land. There
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I will accept them, and there
I will require your gifts and offerings,
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he says, as a pleasing aroma, I will accept you. Do you
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feel the tension there a little bit? What is going on? How does
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this idolatrous, evil, corrupt people
becoming, all of a sudden, this
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great nation, this wonderful holy cities
set on mountain tops, being a pleasing
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aroma acceptable in the side of the
Lord, even as he's pouring out his
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wrath upon them? I will manifest
my holiness among you, Verse Forty One,
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in the sight of the nation's and
now they're all going to see.
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They will be a light to the
world. In Verse Forty Two, you
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shall know that I am the Lord
your the Lord God, when I bring
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you into the land of Israel,
the country that I swore to give to
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your father's and there you shall remember
your ways, in your deeds, which
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you defiled yourselves, and you shall
loathe yourselves for all the evils that you
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have committed, and you shall know
that I am the Lord. Let Read
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Question Twenty six again. Christ executes
the Office of a King in subduing us
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to himself. Doesn't that sound an
awful lot like Ezekiel? Twenty Jesus,
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of course, in fights us.
Jesus woos us, Jesus is gentle with
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us, but he also subdues us. He also is a king who says
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no more sin, I'm done with
it, it's over. You will worship
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me and you will worship me from
the heart. He rules US and he
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subdues us, he strains and conquers
us. The big question, then,
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is, how are we still standing
here? How do we live when the
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Almighty God of all the world is
pouring out his wrath upon us? How
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do you end up after that,
with a city of light. How do
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you end up after that, with
people who are praising the Lord, who
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are acceptable to the Lord? How
is it that he deals with us?
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For his namesake? And he does
it not according to our evil ways,
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not according to our corruptees, when
we have broken the law, when we
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have died in our sins. Was
Because of Christ, of course, because
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of the promised one who comes,
because Yah way come ums into the world
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and manifests his name into the world, in the world, in Jesus,
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Christ executes the Office of a King
and subduing us to himself and ruling and
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defending US and restraining and conquering all
of his and our enemies. How does
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Christ do that? He does it
by going to the cross for us and
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exercising for us and in the name
of God, his kingly power. there.
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Now, the world, of course, laughs and mocks and does not
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see a great God and great power
ruling and subduing all the nations. In
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fact, they nail a funny sign
up above the Cross and King of the
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Jews, isn't he spectacular? And
they laugh at him and they mock him,
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they strip him naked and they beat
him and he dies. What the
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Bible tells us is that when Jesus
went to the Cross and this wrath of
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God that has talked about here,
this wrath of God that will be poured
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out to subdues people to himself,
is poured out not on the people so
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that they die, but he takes
on himself, the wrath of God,
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poured out on Christ, so that
we can live, that he leads the
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devil and all his minions in a
prate of shame. He embarrasses them,
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he shows himself to be the victorious
and the powerful one as he takes on
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all of our sins, all these
the separation, the death, the punishment,
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the misery, all of it,
and he takes it on himself.
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How is it, going back to
Ezekiel Twenty and that question, how is
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it that God will pour his wrath
out and save his people? The answer
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is because he pours it out on
himself and he removes our sins from US
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and he puts a spirit in us
that wants to obey from the heart.
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When Christ executes the Office of a
King and he rules and subdues us to
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himself, we're not kicking and screaming, we're not saying I don't want to
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do it anymore. We're saying thank
you, Lord. He moves his Holy
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Spirit in us so that we,
from the heart, say I love you,
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Lord, and we cling to him
with everything that is in us.
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We become that people that he is
promised that we would become. When we
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think about the sins that we deserve
because of our idolatry, you can see
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why we come to this place whereas
is Echiel puts it, we remember our
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ways, we remember our deeds and
we loathe ourselves for all the evils we
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have committed. What else can we
do? It's why we say, and
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you know in our membership vows,
that we abhor and humble ourselves. And
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yet, though we are greatly saddened
at the defilement that we have put on
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ourselves, that we loathe ourselves and
the evils that we have committed, nevertheless
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we also know ourselves to be the
very people of God, people who have
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been rescued, redeemed and, by
the power of His grace and the work
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of the cross, subdued. Oh, subdue my heart, Lord, subdue
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me, subdue us, not by
your wrath but by your grace. Give
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us the power of the Cross.
That we might no longer disobey, but
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that we might be conformed more and
more to the image of Christ and shine
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with his light and reign with him
forever. That's our prayer
