Signs of Judgement (Ez 4-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:24.260 So let's turn now to Ezekiel verse, chapters four and five. Ezekiel has 2 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:29.339 been told that his work will be difficult. Now he begins to find out 3 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:36.609 exactly how difficult it will be. Ezekiel, for and you, son of 4 00:00:36.689 --> 00:00:41.450 man, take a brick and lay it before you and engrave on it a 5 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:46.530 city, even Jerusalem, and put siege works against it and build a siege 6 00:00:46.570 --> 00:00:51.039 wall against it and cast up a mound against it, set camps also against 7 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:55.439 it, and plant battering rams, rams against it all around. And you 8 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:00.320 take an iron grittle and place it as an iron wall between you and the 9 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:03.989 city and set your face toward it and let it be in a state of 10 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:10.909 siege and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the House 11 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:15.189 of Israel. Then lay on your left side and place the punishment of the 12 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:19.060 House of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie 13 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:23.340 on it, you shall bear their punishment. For I assign to you a 14 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:27.780 number of days, three hundred and ninety days, equal to the number of 15 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:33.409 the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the 16 00:01:33.489 --> 00:01:37.370 House of Israel. And when you have completed these you shall lie down a 17 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:40.730 second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the 18 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:44.290 House of Judah. Forty days. I assigned to you, a day for 19 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:49.680 each year, and you shall set your face towards the siege of Jerusalem with 20 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:55.359 your arm beard, and you shall prophesy against the city. And behold, 21 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.079 I will place cords upon you so that you cannot turn from one side to 22 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:05.549 the other till you have completed the days of your siege. And you take 23 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:08.830 wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and Emmer and put them into 24 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:14.750 a single vessel and make your bread from them during the number of days that 25 00:02:15.469 --> 00:02:17.979 you lie on your side, three hundred and foot ninety days. You shall 26 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.979 eat it, and your food that you shall eat shall shall be, by 27 00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:25.500 weight, twenty shekels a day. From day to day, you shall eat 28 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:29.979 it, and water you shall drink, by measure a sixth part of a 29 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:34.250 hen. From day to day, you shall drink and you shall eat it 30 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:40.050 as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on Human Dung. And 31 00:02:40.169 --> 00:02:45.240 the Lord said, thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean among 32 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.599 the nations where I will drive them? Then I said, Ah, Lord, 33 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:53.360 God behold, I've never defiled myself from my youth up till now, 34 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:58.830 I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor 35 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:01.750 has taint to meet come into my mouth. Then he said to me, 36 00:03:02.669 --> 00:03:07.389 see, I assigned to you cows Dung instead of Human Dune that you may 37 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:12.469 prepare your bread, on which you may prepare your bread. Moreover, he 38 00:03:12.550 --> 00:03:15.219 said to me, son of man, behold, I will break the supply 39 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:19.620 of bread and Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, 40 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.379 and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. I will do this 41 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:28.490 that they may lack bread and water and look at one another in dismay and 42 00:03:28.729 --> 00:03:32.569 row away because of their punishment. And you, Oh son of man, 43 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:38.050 take a sharp sword, use it as a razors, Barber's razor, and 44 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:43.120 pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and 45 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:46.919 divide your hair. A third part you shall burn in the fire in the 46 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.599 midst of the city when the days of the seas are completed, and the 47 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.800 third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city, 48 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:58.229 and the third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe 49 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:01.590 the sword after them, and you shall take from these a small number and 50 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:04.750 bind them in the skirts of your robe, and of these, again, 51 00:04:04.830 --> 00:04:08.949 you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burned 52 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:12.819 them in the fire. From there, a fire will come out into all 53 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:17.139 the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God. This is Jerusalem. 54 00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:21.500 I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around 55 00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:27.170 her, and she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the 56 00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:30.889 nation's and against my Statu choots more than all the countries all around her, 57 00:04:31.569 --> 00:04:35.009 for they have rejected my rules and, if not, walked in my statutes. 58 00:04:35.689 --> 00:04:41.000 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you are more turbulent than 59 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:45.079 the nations that are all around you and have not walked in my statutes or 60 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.879 obeyed my rules and, if not, even acted according to the rules of 61 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.910 the nations that are all around you. Therefore, thus says the Lord God. 62 00:04:53.470 --> 00:04:59.829 Behold I even I am against you and I will execute judgments in your 63 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:02.829 midst, in the side of the nations, and because of your abominations, 64 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:08.019 I will do with you what I have never yet done and the like of 65 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:12.699 which I will never do again. Therefore, father's shall eat their sons in 66 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:16.019 your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers, and I will execute judgments 67 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:19.379 on you, and any of you who survive, I will scatter to all 68 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:24.649 the winds, therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God. Surely 69 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:29.610 because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your 70 00:05:29.649 --> 00:05:33.810 abominations. Therefore, I will withdraw, my eye will not spare and I 71 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:39.000 will have no pity. A third part of you shall die of pestilence and 72 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.360 be consumed with famine in your midst, a third part shall fall by the 73 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:46.160 sword all around you, and a third part I will scatter to all the 74 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:51.990 winds and will unsheathe the sword after them. Thus shall my anger spend itself 75 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:58.069 and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself, and they shall 76 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:01.110 know that I I am the Lord that I have spoken in my jealousy. 77 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:05.459 When I spend my fury upon them, moreover, I will make you a 78 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:12.019 desolation and object of reproach among the nations all around you and in the sight 79 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:15.899 of all who pass by, you shall be a reproach and a Taunt, 80 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:19.850 a warning and a horror to the nations all around you, when I execute 81 00:06:19.889 --> 00:06:25.689 judgments on you in anger and fury and with furious rebukes, I am the 82 00:06:25.810 --> 00:06:30.329 Lord. I have spoken. When I send against you the deadly Arrows of 83 00:06:30.449 --> 00:06:33.560 famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and 84 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.839 when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply of bread. 85 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:43.360 I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will rob you 86 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.829 of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you and I will bring 87 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:53.990 the sword upon you. I am the Lord. I have spoken. Blessed 88 00:06:54.149 --> 00:07:11.019 be the Lord God. These hard things that the Lord Commands, that will 89 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:17.730 be done among his people, among his beloved among the apple of his eye, 90 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:25.449 the children whom he has brought out of Egypt, are not arbitrary, 91 00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:30.600 they're not capricious, they're not done on a whim. Him, I'm God, 92 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:36.759 is not some kind of unrighteous tyrant who simply likes to mess with people, 93 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:43.720 as many of the false gods of the world are proclaimed to do by 94 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:53.110 their very own followers. Not Our God. Our God rules with perfect justice 95 00:07:54.990 --> 00:08:03.939 and he calls evil evil, he calls good good. He is patient, 96 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:09.699 he is merciful, he waits and waits. He calls to repentance, but 97 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:15.689 he does not wink at sin. He does not simply let things go on. 98 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:22.649 There's a lot of people in this world who doubt the even the existence 99 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:28.399 of God and say, what about evil? Doesn't God care about evil? 100 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.080 Doesn't he want to do anything about evil? This passage and others like it 101 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:39.559 make clear that, yes, God does care about evil, he does punish 102 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:45.750 evil, he does bring about justice in this world. It may be delayed, 103 00:08:46.950 --> 00:08:52.269 it may be something that happens not immediately. But why? Because he's 104 00:08:52.309 --> 00:08:58.379 patient, because he forbears our wickedness, because he gives us time to repent. 105 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:05.139 But God does deal with evil. He does, and we see him 106 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:09.409 doing that and we see him doing that here in just ways. Why are 107 00:09:09.450 --> 00:09:16.769 all of these things coming upon his people? Because he set them in the 108 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:24.009 midst of all the nations to be this shining light to the world of holiness, 109 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:28.039 a shining light to the world of what God, by his power and 110 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:33.399 His grace, can accomplish. What it looks like when God breaks the power 111 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:37.870 of Foreign Enemies, of people who would rebel against him, when he breaks 112 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:43.470 the power of idolatry and he stabbed and he establishes a kingdom of holiness, 113 00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:50.110 of brotherly love, of freedom, of prosperity. He set them in the 114 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.539 world to be this shining light, or he called them to be a shining 115 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:00.620 light. He commanded them to do this, and instead they acted in ways 116 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:05.419 worse than the nations that surrounded them. That's what God condemns them of. 117 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:11.610 Here in Chapter Five, we read in verse six, and she rebelled against 118 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:16.929 my rules by doing wickedness, more than the nations, against my statutes, 119 00:10:16.169 --> 00:10:22.320 more than the countries all around her. He then, he says even in 120 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:26.039 verse seven. And if no, you have not even acted according to the 121 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:35.000 rules of the nations that are all around you. Remember Abimilech speaking to Abraham 122 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:39.549 and Genesis and saying these things are not done. There's a there's a sense 123 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:46.870 of righteousness or law abidingness, even here in our city, that doesn't follow 124 00:10:48.029 --> 00:10:56.460 you all way. What are you doing here? Israel has gone twelve steps 125 00:10:56.059 --> 00:11:03.580 further. They haven't even acted according to the rules of the nations that are 126 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:07.490 around there, there, Bay, there they are not only disobeying and breaking 127 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:11.570 the Law of Moses. They're baking, but they are breaking just the natural 128 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:18.960 law that is common among all men. Every point. These people have have 129 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:26.039 gone against the word of the Lord, and so, as a consequence, 130 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.360 he says in Verse Eight, behold, I even I am against you and 131 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.470 I will execute judgments in your midst, in the side of the nation's God 132 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:39.389 is going to teach the whole world, even as he is teaching us here 133 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:43.950 tonight, that he does not wink its sin. He doesn't, he won't, 134 00:11:45.309 --> 00:11:48.980 he will execute his judgments and he will do so in a way that 135 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:58.820 all can see. Well, those things, those judgments, comes straight out 136 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:01.570 of the covenant. We read of them in Deuteronomy. Read of them and 137 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:07.850 Leviticus Twenty six. The Lord promised to his people, if you keep these 138 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:15.169 laws, blessings will come upon you. There will be fruit in your womb, 139 00:12:15.289 --> 00:12:16.919 there will be fruit in your land, there will be fruit in your 140 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:22.600 cattle, that everything will be producing, there will be plenty, it will 141 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.720 be sweet, you'll have homes to dwell in, you'll be taking care of 142 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.549 there will be fellowship, there will be freedom. This is the this is 143 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:39.190 the reward for obedience. But you disobey, he says, and I will 144 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:43.149 condemn you and I will bring upon you these judgments. God was very clear 145 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:46.259 at the beginning. And you know what the people said at the beginning? 146 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.220 All this we will do. They said that, they promised that, they 147 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:54.299 said we understand, we've bought it and we're going to do it. And 148 00:12:54.460 --> 00:13:00.049 indeed they had. They had kings who upheld the law at times, they 149 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:05.210 had judges who saved them and prosecuted things well, and they had profit after 150 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:09.929 profit after profit coming to them and telling them you must obey the law. 151 00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:16.600 You made a promise and God made a promise. And so there is this 152 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:22.080 covenant that has been established, a requirement that they have been called to fulfill, 153 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.519 and they have broken it and they have broken it and they have broken 154 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:31.029 it and they have broken it in such agreed just ways. And so now 155 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:41.860 judgment. Now Judgment Famine. Instead of plenty of food to eat, instead 156 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:48.980 of figs and grapes and milk and honey, they won't even be able to 157 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:54.970 eat. They will resort to eating one another. They will waste away from 158 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.450 starvation on this is signified not only in his ekiel's words, but in his 159 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:05.649 actions. God commands him, when he is laying on one side and then 160 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:13.120 another, to eat just this bare amount of food, tiniest amount of what 161 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.960 is likely some rather disgusting bread, not only from the way it's cooked, 162 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.750 but also from the things it's made of. A tiny bit of water every 163 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:30.830 day, just enough to barely keep him alive. Israel will face this and 164 00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:37.230 and worse. Is ekiels told to enact to this sign where he is to 165 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.700 cut his hair, to shave it off, and not just with a razor, 166 00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:46.379 with a sword. Right. This indicates to us that the judgment that 167 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:52.340 he is facing is a that Israel is facing is a military one. The 168 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:56.610 nations will come with their great armies and they will lay siege, as one 169 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:01.610 of his other signs point points out, against Jerusaleem. The shame of that, 170 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:07.879 the humiliation of that, is captured as Ezekiel shaves his head and his 171 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:13.360 beard. This is prophesied in Isaiah that a razor from afar would come and 172 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:20.750 shave God's people. There's a scene, a story in the historical books of 173 00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:28.549 God's of men, warriors of David, being shaved by the enemies and sent 174 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:35.070 home as a way to humiliate them, as a way to embarrass them. 175 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:39.299 This is what is going to happen to Israel. And then God commands that 176 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:43.500 he takes this hair or that he has shaven from his body and to weigh 177 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:50.450 it, to burn a third of it with fire, to go inside the 178 00:15:50.610 --> 00:15:52.929 city, to go outside the city and whack at it with a sword and 179 00:15:54.049 --> 00:15:58.490 then another set, to just go to the wind. We see in this 180 00:15:58.610 --> 00:16:02.570 God's various judgments. In the city, outside of the city. It's complete, 181 00:16:02.570 --> 00:16:07.519 it's total. We also see in this the Lord's measured justice. He 182 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.840 is not doing things Willie Nilly. He's not just angry and can't control himself. 183 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:21.789 God is perfect in his execution of his judgment. He is unwavering, 184 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:26.149 he is perfectly balanced. Not a step too far, not a step to 185 00:16:26.269 --> 00:16:32.429 us. God doesn't judge like we often judge, and we ought not to 186 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:37.700 impute our anger. Are Sinful anger to his holy anger and his righteous anger 187 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:44.100 over sin is Ekuel is called to take some of this hair and sort of 188 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:48.570 Tuck it into a little bit of his robe and then to burn that. 189 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:52.929 This sends up symbolizing that the even those who might escape a little bit, 190 00:16:53.450 --> 00:16:57.129 who might be able to run away a little bit, will ultimately be caught 191 00:16:57.889 --> 00:17:04.480 by the Lord. The judgment will be complete. It will come in all 192 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:10.960 these ways. The curses will come upon them as the nation's is Babylon wages 193 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:19.549 war against Jerusalem, as Echiel is called to symbolize this coming attack by taking 194 00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:26.789 a brick, when scholar says, approximately the size of the either one or 195 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:34.019 two sheets of paper. Needs to draw on this brick Jerusalem and then needs 196 00:17:34.059 --> 00:17:37.819 to set it and lay siege against it, kind of like a model or 197 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:41.579 a Diorama you would he's going to, and it's a very complete one, 198 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:47.970 set camps again too, plant a battering ram against it, and then he 199 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:51.569 is to take an iron griddle and place it. This is verse three of 200 00:17:51.609 --> 00:17:55.730 Chapter Four, as an iron wall between you and the city, and set 201 00:17:55.809 --> 00:18:00.880 your face toward it. Remember in the previous chapters, gods wood is going 202 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:07.440 to make his face hard, like a hard rock, strong against these people 203 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:14.910 here. This teaches us that it is not just foreign invaders who are coming 204 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:21.549 in, it is God's own hard judgment that is going against the people. 205 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:26.589 The length of these days, the length of this judgment, is not fast. 206 00:18:26.710 --> 00:18:30.420 This is not a one day thing. And then over it will last 207 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:33.299 many days. As equels commanded to lie on one side for three hundred and 208 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:41.690 ninety days and the other side for forty days. All told, he caught 209 00:18:41.769 --> 00:18:45.289 he lays on his side the same number of days. That corresponds to the 210 00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:52.569 years that God's people were in Egypt. The God's people were in bondage. 211 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:06.000 This judgment that is coming is going to be hard, and his Eguel and 212 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:14.349 acts this word with these very physical demonstrations of God's word. Maybe you've done 213 00:19:14.349 --> 00:19:18.190 this at some point in your life. You've wanted to make maybe even an 214 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:22.789 anger, really really clear that you're angry and you pick something up and you 215 00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:30.339 smash it. There's all kinds of songs about this. Right, I'm going 216 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:40.130 to do to you just like this. Right, why? Why does God 217 00:19:40.289 --> 00:19:45.329 command these very hard things for this prophet? I can't really even imagine what 218 00:19:45.450 --> 00:19:51.410 this would be like to do this, to live in this way for this 219 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:56.279 long. One thing it does is it teaches us Goo Ezekiel's great commitment. 220 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:00.799 You notice his only complaint in the whole thing is not, Lord, can 221 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:06.640 you shorten the time? It's not could I not be bound with ropes? 222 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:15.150 It's can I please not cook it on human excrement? And why does he 223 00:20:15.309 --> 00:20:19.390 care about that? Because he doesn't want to be defiled. He wants to 224 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:26.500 hold out hope that he can continue to worship in the Temple of God to 225 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:30.099 be close with God as a priest. Remember, he's the son of a 226 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:34.730 priest. He would doesn't want to become defiled and be separated from this dwelling 227 00:20:34.769 --> 00:20:40.609 place that he is prophesying against. He says, I've never done this, 228 00:20:41.250 --> 00:20:45.970 please don't make me do this. That's the only thing he asks here, 229 00:20:47.289 --> 00:20:52.640 and God grants it and says that he can cook it on cow Dung instead. 230 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:03.549 This is hard thing. Why not just tell us these things? Why 231 00:21:03.589 --> 00:21:10.470 does Ezekiel have to enact this before these people? And why and in the 232 00:21:10.630 --> 00:21:17.869 and why are these recorded here now? For us? It's because God often 233 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:26.740 chooses these physical, tangible signs to confirm to our hearts the truth. His 234 00:21:27.019 --> 00:21:32.299 word is powerful and he uses it all the time, sharper than a two 235 00:21:32.339 --> 00:21:36.250 edged sword. Indeed, even now we hear his word, even as it 236 00:21:36.369 --> 00:21:41.490 is described to us in these signs. But God also wants to awaken us 237 00:21:42.250 --> 00:21:48.559 through physical, tangible things to a deeper realization and conviction of our sin. 238 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:56.880 He wants to impress on our hearts the realities of the things that he's saying. 239 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:03.910 The truth is, we play a lot of games when it comes to 240 00:22:03.109 --> 00:22:10.509 sin. We think very well of ourselves where we ought not to. We 241 00:22:10.670 --> 00:22:15.859 think very little of God, in His Majesty and His justice and His Holiness 242 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:18.619 and his hatred against sin. We think very little of our own sin. 243 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:26.099 Just ask yourself, how quick am I to confess my sins? And when 244 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:32.170 I do, is it perfunctory, like yeah, I'm sorry? How hard 245 00:22:32.289 --> 00:22:34.809 felt is it? How deep does it go? How resolute are you, 246 00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:41.569 when you confess your sins, to persevere in obedience, to really hate your 247 00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:48.000 sin, to Abhorre it, to find it disgusting and polluting and something that 248 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:56.279 is a horror to you? We all fall really short of this. We 249 00:22:56.440 --> 00:23:03.109 think of our sins is maybe a problem, but something that ultimately is kind 250 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:08.069 of okay. It's not okay, and God impresses this on our hearts with 251 00:23:08.150 --> 00:23:15.099 these signs. If you don't see it through these signs, I don't know 252 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:22.619 what to say. God gives these things, through his profit, to these 253 00:23:22.779 --> 00:23:29.410 people and he gives them to US tonight to waken us up, to open 254 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:34.529 our hearts, to be awakened to justice, so that we might seek the 255 00:23:34.650 --> 00:23:44.200 grace of God. These things, as horrible as they are, as awful 256 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:49.000 as they are, are, only a picture of what judgment will be like 257 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:59.509 when the Lord returns to finally give the final death low to Satan and all 258 00:23:59.589 --> 00:24:06.910 evil. And it's going to be awesomely wonderful for all those who are on 259 00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:11.019 the Lord's side and for all of his angels and the Saraphim and the Chairbam, 260 00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:17.380 those who are rolling around in this giant chariot and the divine war and 261 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:21.619 are all the saints of the righteous made perfect. If you are among that 262 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:26.849 people, you will sing with the people of Psalm seventy nine. Have Justice, 263 00:24:27.049 --> 00:24:34.450 Lord, do what is right, conquer evil. Let's go. But 264 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:40.480 if you are on the side of the evil one, if you are one 265 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.519 of those who winks at sin and says it's not a big deal, he 266 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:48.160 says that's okay, I go to church, it's okay, my parents were 267 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:51.559 Christians. It's okay, I do nice things for Nice people, I have 268 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:56.109 a good job, whatever your thing is, whatever your excuses are for covering 269 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:03.430 your sin. Here the word of the Lord, God's judgment, will be 270 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:15.140 final, it will come, be complete and it will be eternal. God 271 00:25:15.740 --> 00:25:22.289 is picturing these things for us in this way so that we might not be 272 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:29.410 drunk in our own sin so that we might be sober minded, awake, 273 00:25:29.849 --> 00:25:36.799 ready, mindful to the realities of God, because there is still time, 274 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:45.559 there is still hope. Even now, the Lord is proclaiming the good news 275 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:51.309 of His grace throughout all the world, saying come unto me and I will 276 00:25:51.349 --> 00:25:56.029 remove all judgment from you. Okay, what do I have to do? 277 00:25:56.269 --> 00:26:00.309 Simply receive it as a gift from me. That's it. That's it. 278 00:26:02.789 --> 00:26:07.700 Simply receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ for you. Give Him your sin and 279 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:12.980 he'll give you his righteousness. Good deal, the best there ever was. 280 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:25.369 Our Lord is giving us, he is promising US His grace, and he 281 00:26:25.569 --> 00:26:36.559 promises it through the greatest through the greatest prophetic sign there ever was, through 282 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.319 the Cross of Jesus Christ, which wasn't just a picture of judgment, but 283 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:49.069 was judgment itself. Does God care about evil? Does God care about sin? 284 00:26:51.829 --> 00:26:56.150 He gave his only son to die so that we might be forgiven of 285 00:26:56.309 --> 00:27:06.099 it. The humiliation of shaven heads and all of that the Lord experienced his 286 00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:12.740 close is nakedness, people dividing things that mocking, the ridicule, his DNE 287 00:27:12.819 --> 00:27:21.369 disciples running from him, the beatings from the priests, the the the show 288 00:27:21.569 --> 00:27:26.849 trials from the Roman government, all of it, the crucifixion on the Cross, 289 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:32.559 the father turning away his face from the sun, like an iron grittle 290 00:27:32.599 --> 00:27:37.920 set between them. This happened to the son of God so that we can 291 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:44.240 be saved from judgment. This happened to the son of God and we are 292 00:27:44.549 --> 00:27:49.269 saved from judgment, we who trust in the Cross of Christ. When we 293 00:27:49.509 --> 00:27:53.269 look at the Cross Beloved, we don't fear the coming judgment to come. 294 00:27:53.390 --> 00:28:00.619 We say praise God that I am no longer condemned, that judgment is past, 295 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:06.380 that I have died in Christ and risen with him. I live as 296 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:11.980 a new creation. I live in the newness of life. God has atoned 297 00:28:11.660 --> 00:28:17.609 for my sins. And you know what's wonderful? These things are promised, 298 00:28:17.650 --> 00:28:21.730 even here in our passage. It's a very tiny glimmer of light, but 299 00:28:21.849 --> 00:28:26.250 it's there. You see it. I think in the years that these Ezekiel 300 00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:30.839 or the the the days that correspond to these ears, that he is bound 301 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:37.000 up. The implication is that there will be a release, just as God's 302 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:41.119 people were held in bondage in Egypt for that same number of years. There 303 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:47.470 would be an exodus of the people. There would be a time when when 304 00:28:48.029 --> 00:28:52.109 a remnant would be kept, when Ezekiel would not have to be defiled, 305 00:28:52.230 --> 00:29:00.420 when he would be able to worship in the temple again, perhaps not the 306 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:07.059 temple in Jerusalem, but who cares? We're talking about the heavenly Jerusalem and 307 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:15.690 a new city whose foundations are made by God himself. Ezekiel will find his 308 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:19.450 place there, and all those who seek the Lord. And that brings us 309 00:29:19.450 --> 00:29:26.359 to Psalm seventy nine, which we read earlier. Here we have in this 310 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:33.680 prayer a remnant of people who have been saved. God did not utterly destroy 311 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:40.109 his people. And why? Because in Leviticus and other places in Leviticus, 312 00:29:40.150 --> 00:29:45.789 where those same curses are promised, God promises that he will not utterly destroy 313 00:29:45.950 --> 00:29:51.829 his people, so that his promises of grace to Abraham and their fathers that 314 00:29:51.950 --> 00:29:57.980 he made before would be would be fulfilled. God said, though I will 315 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:03.700 punish you in these ways for your sins, I will not forget the Covenant 316 00:30:03.740 --> 00:30:07.930 of Grace that I made. He will not forget, and he did it, 317 00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:11.250 and one proof of that is us here, and another proof of that 318 00:30:11.490 --> 00:30:18.569 is psalm seventy nine. These people who have seen the destruction of Jerusalem, 319 00:30:18.609 --> 00:30:22.480 who have seen these horrors and who are now calling out to the Lord for 320 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:29.599 two things, that he would vindicate his name against the Nations who mock at 321 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:33.599 God's people and who laugh at God and who say he doesn't care for you. 322 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:40.549 The God would vindicate his name through his Justice on them, and that 323 00:30:40.670 --> 00:30:45.069 he would forgive their sins verse nine. Help us, Oh God of our 324 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:49.460 salvation for the glory of your name. Deliver US and atone for our sins 325 00:30:49.980 --> 00:30:56.700 for your namesake. And that's exactly what God has done. Ezekiel, when 326 00:30:56.740 --> 00:31:00.940 he bore the sins of the people, he didn't atone for their sins because 327 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:04.809 the punishment still came. He bore the sins in a representative way. He 328 00:31:04.890 --> 00:31:10.769 bore the sins is showing this is what is going to happen, but Jesus 329 00:31:11.650 --> 00:31:18.920 bore them as our representative, so that judgment has passed and Salvation and glory 330 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:22.559 and Exodus and freedom have come.