Will the Prophets Say the Hard Things?

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:41.960 You may be seated. Please turn your attention to Ezekiel, Chapter Twenty three. 2 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:49.000 Ezekiel twenty three, let's give our attention to God's word, the word 3 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.159 of the Lord. Came to me, son of man. There were two 4 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:57.399 women, the daughters of one mother. They pray, they played the whore 5 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.359 in Egypt. They played the whore in their youth. There their breasts were 6 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:06.959 pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. Oholah was the name of the elder, 7 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:11.359 and Oholibah was the name of her sister. They became mine and they bore 8 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:19.599 sons and daughters. As for their names, Aholah is Samaria and Aholiba his 9 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:26.159 Jerusalem. Aholah prayed the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after 10 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:32.000 her lovers, the Assyrians, warriors clothed in Purple, governors and commanders, 11 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:38.159 all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her 12 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:41.920 horring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them, and 13 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:47.040 she diviled, defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lasted. 14 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:49.760 She did not give up her horring that she had begun in Egypt, 15 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:55.000 for in her youth, young men are in her youth, men had laid 16 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.840 with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their horring lust upon her. 17 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.719 Therefore, I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the 18 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:08.800 hands of the Assyrians after whom she lusted. These uncovered her nakedness, they 19 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:13.639 seized her sons and her daughters, and, as for her, they killed 20 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:17.960 her with a sword and she became a byword among women. When judgment had 21 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:24.639 been executed on her, her sister, a Holba, saw this and she 22 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:30.039 became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her horring, which 23 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.280 was worse than that of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors 24 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.319 and commanders, warriors clothed in for full armor, horsemen riding on horses, 25 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:44.400 all of them, all of them desirable young men, and I saw that 26 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:49.159 she was defiled. They both took the same way, but she carried her 27 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:53.120 horring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the 28 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:58.719 Chaldeans, portrayed in vermilion, wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on 29 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.879 their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of 30 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:07.400 Babylonians, whose native land was Chaldea. When she saw them, she lusted 31 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:12.240 after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. And the Babylonians claim to 32 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.000 her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with the wharring, 33 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:20.400 with their horring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned 34 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:24.159 from them and disgusted. When she carried on her hohrring so openly and flaunted 35 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:30.479 her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in 36 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:37.240 disgust from her sister. Yet she increased in her wharring, remembering the days 37 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:40.159 of her youth when she played the WHO in the land of Egypt and lusted 38 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:45.680 after the her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose 39 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.120 issue is like that of horses. Thus, you longed for the lewdness of 40 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:54.400 your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts. 41 00:03:54.439 --> 00:04:00.080 Therefore, oh Oholiba, thus says the Lord God behold, I will stir 42 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.919 up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgusted, and I will 43 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.280 bring them against you from every side, the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, 44 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:14.319 Pec God and Showa and Coa and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young 45 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:17.839 men, governors and commanders, all of them officers and men of renowned all 46 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:21.759 of them riding on horses, and they shall come against you from the north 47 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:27.480 with chariots and wagons and a host of people's they shall set themselves against you 48 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.160 on every side with Buckler, shield and helmet, and I will commit the 49 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:34.959 judgment to them and they shall judge you according to their judgments, and I 50 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:40.600 will direct my jealousy against you that they may deal with you in fury. 51 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:44.639 They shall cut off your nose in your ears, and your survivors shall fall 52 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:47.040 by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your 53 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:53.000 survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes 54 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:57.000 and take away your beautiful jewels. Thus, I will put an end to 55 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.360 your lewdness and your horring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you 56 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:05.720 shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt any more. For 57 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:10.040 thus says the Lord God behold, I will deliver you into the hands of 58 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.519 those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in 59 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.839 disgust and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit 60 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:21.240 of your labor and leave you naked and bear and the nakedness of your horring 61 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.120 shall be uncovered. The Lewdness and your the Your Lewdness and your horring have 62 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:33.199 brought upon have brought this upon you because you played the whore with the nations 63 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:38.439 and defiled yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister. 64 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:43.000 Therefore, I will give her cup into your hand. Thus says the 65 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.959 Lord God. You shall drink your sister's cup. That is deep and large. 66 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:51.360 You shall be laughed at and held in Derision, for it contains much. 67 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:57.040 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, a cup of horror and 68 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.639 desolation, the Cup of your sister Su Mary. You shall drink it and 69 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:06.519 drain it out and Gnaw it's shards and tear your breasts, for I have 70 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:12.399 spoken, declares the Lord God. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, 71 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:15.839 because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must 72 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:21.759 bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorring. The Lord said to me, 73 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:28.519 son of man, will you judge Aholah and and Oholiba. Declare to them 74 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:32.720 their abominations, for they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. 75 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.240 With their idols, they have committed adultery, and they have even offered 76 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:42.920 up to them for food the children whom they have had borne to me. 77 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.480 Moreover, this they have done to me. They have defiled my sanctuary on 78 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.560 the same day and profaned my sabbaths, for when they had slaughtered their children 79 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:57.120 in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary 80 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.000 to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. 81 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:04.439 They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger 82 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:09.639 was sent, and behold, they came, for they for them. You 83 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:14.120 Bathed Yourself, painted your eyes and adorned yourself with ornaments. You sat on 84 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:17.160 a stately couch with a stable spread before it, on which you had placed 85 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:23.120 my incense and my oil. The sound of a care free multitude was with 86 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:28.439 her and with men of the common sort. Drunkards were brought from the Wilderness 87 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:31.199 and they put bracelets on the ends of the women and beautiful crowns on their 88 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.319 heads. Then I said of her, who was worn out by adultery, 89 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:41.160 now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her, for 90 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:46.160 they have gone into her as men go into a prostitute. Thus they went 91 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:50.319 into a whole lot and to a Holiba lewd women. But righteous men shall 92 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:56.279 pass judgment on them with the sentence of Adultss, adultresses, and with the 93 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:01.319 sentence of women who shed blood because they are adultresses, and blood is on 94 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:05.160 their hands. For thus says the Lord God, bring up a vast host 95 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:09.879 against them and make them an object of terror and a plunder, and the 96 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:15.160 host shall stone them and cut them down in there with their swords. They 97 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:18.040 shall kill their sons and their daughters and burn up their houses. Thus, 98 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.839 I will put an end to the lewdness in the land, that all women 99 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.000 may take warning and not commit ludness as you have done. And They Shall 100 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:31.320 Return Your Lewdness upon you and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, 101 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:48.679 and you shall know that I and the Lord God amen. So here 102 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:56.080 from God's Word, before the Great Seas of the Jerusalem is Ekiel is given 103 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.240 a yet another word to speak, a very hard word, and he's asked, 104 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.799 will you say it? Will you speak it? And of course he 105 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:11.240 did, for we have it written here, but it is a hard word. 106 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:16.039 It is a chapter full of lowdness and violence, of murder and blood 107 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:24.840 and idolatry, and we have to ask ourselves why so awfully graphic, why 108 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:33.279 so pointed, why so harsh? The answer is that it's not needless. 109 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.399 This chapter and other chapters like it that we've come across, and is equal 110 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:46.679 in other parts of scripture, are not here just to make us feel embarrassed, 111 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:52.000 but they are here to impress upon our minds and our hearts what we 112 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:56.919 so often forget. They are to make it perfectly clear, crystal clear, 113 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:05.679 forever rememorable, memorable of what idolatry is, of what it means when we, 114 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.320 as a people, or any people, go after other gods, when 115 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:13.320 we go after our sins and our lust, when we go after power and 116 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:20.960 protection all apart from the Lord, when we use humanistic means and human ends 117 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:30.519 to achieve penultimate goals or, worse, just downright evil goals, thinking that 118 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:35.360 we can find the safety and security and all the things that we need and 119 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:43.279 the arms of anyone other than God. Most of what Jesus said came in 120 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.320 the form of a story. When you read the Gospels. You find them 121 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:52.080 over and over and over, these parables. One reason this is like, 122 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:56.879 one reason he likely use these, was to impress these truths on us, 123 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.679 to make the memorable. And in the same way the Lord speaks here, 124 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:09.720 even Jesus speaks here. Ezekiel, twenty three in gives us a parable of 125 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:16.240 two women, one representing Samaria and Israel to the north and the other representing 126 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:24.799 Jerusalem and Judah to the south, to people two places that were called to 127 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.679 dedicate themselves to Yahweh and to him alone and instead when every other way. 128 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.320 What are the ways that we see on them going other ways? What are 129 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:41.679 the ways in which is ekiel describes it? Well, he describes it, 130 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:46.080 of course, in terms of idolatry, and especially towards the middle of the 131 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:52.639 chapter, he middle of the last two thirds, he paints this really stark 132 00:11:52.679 --> 00:12:03.600 picture. These people, his own people here presented as women. They did 133 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:09.600 not fall into this sin by accident. They didn't stumble into this. Notice 134 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:15.639 how he says several times. They they sent messengers, right they they heard 135 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.559 the about these these young men, as it's portrayed here. They heard, 136 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:22.440 which is to say they heard about the power and the wealth and all the 137 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.879 great things of these cities of Babylon and Assyria, and they sent messengers to 138 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:35.879 them. They actively pursued this idolatry and then they they prepare themselves for them. 139 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:41.320 They painted their eyes and all of these sorts of things and they brought 140 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:46.840 them in. And you hear the Lord expressing the shamefulness of this and his 141 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:52.120 his his anger and his wrath over this when he says, and all this 142 00:12:52.240 --> 00:13:00.360 was happening in my house, right his his bride, his church, his 143 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:07.519 people were bringing it, the adulterous idols, into his place, into his 144 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:13.240 home. On top of that, they used his resources, his incense, 145 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.000 his cups, his all the things that had been dedicated to the temple for 146 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:22.879 holy purposes. That's where the people put their idols. That's where the people 147 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.759 went about their sin. It was in the worst possible ways, in the 148 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:33.240 most egregious ways, to the furthest three. And even after Israel had been 149 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:37.080 judged for this, even after Samaria, a whole lot here, as she 150 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.200 is named, was judge for this, Jerusalem, when even further, rather 151 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.559 than seeing the sin of her sister and the wrath poured out upon her, 152 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:52.159 she went further and pressed it further. In this again, as we have 153 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:58.759 seen so often, the Lord lays upon his people the the the the case 154 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:01.919 against them, the case against their sin, and says, what do you 155 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:07.279 have to say for yourselves? I've been eminently patient. Over and over and 156 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:11.919 over, I have waited on you, I've given you chances for repentance, 157 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:15.600 I have sent to you my prophets, and over and over and over again 158 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:18.679 you have rejected me. You have pressed it further, you've gone after these 159 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.480 idols in the worst possible ways. We remember these themes that have been coming 160 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.720 up in his EK. You'll not only of idolatry and adultery, but also 161 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:35.559 murder as well, these things all tied up with one another. He speaks 162 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:39.279 several times about the blood being on their hands. How is blood on their 163 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.919 hands? Well, in lots of different ways, as we've seen. One 164 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:48.879 particular way he mentions here is that they were sacrificing their very own children, 165 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:54.120 which is to say God's children, the children of the Covenant, the Children 166 00:14:54.159 --> 00:15:00.159 of his promises, the children through whom we're supposed to come the Messiah, 167 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:05.879 right through whom the seed was being preserved his very people, and these mothers 168 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:13.720 and fathers in Israel were taking their children and sacrificing them to idols, murdering 169 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:20.679 them to Bale and to others. Blood was on their hands, and not 170 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:28.159 the blood of some nameless enemy or bad neighbor, but the blood of their 171 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:39.000 own children, sacrificed to other idols who were in fact the children of the 172 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:48.039 Lord. And so what does God doom, as he often does with sin, 173 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:54.240 he gives them exactly what they wanted. You Want Assyria, you want 174 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:58.559 Babylon, have them and all of these young men. Here is their portrayed 175 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:02.960 in their chariots and their horses, and that their finery and their power. 176 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:11.799 They come and they are going to destroy these people, expose them and their 177 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:18.279 lewdness, explos them in their idolatry. And this is indeed what will happen. 178 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:25.840 And what did happen? They came in and instead of loving their lovers, 179 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:33.200 they destroyed them, killed their children and burnt up their houses. That 180 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:36.480 it might be a warning to all, is ECIEL says. God says to 181 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:41.559 Ezekiel at the end of the chapter that, as he can so frequently ends 182 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:47.080 and include throughout the books, that we may know that I am the Lord, 183 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:48.879 that we may know that God. Yeah, Wagh is the one true 184 00:16:48.960 --> 00:17:02.399 God. With that parable in front of our minds and, hopefully, on 185 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:04.880 our hearts, what should we remember from it? What do we take away 186 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:08.839 from it? What do we leave with? Well, one point, I 187 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:14.200 think, is the need that we have for this kind of word to us. 188 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:26.160 God didn't include such a difficult and graphic even chapter for no reason. 189 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.240 Right. God didn't say, well, I don't really need this, but 190 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:33.519 I'll just thrown in there anyway. Right. God Put is Eciel twenty three 191 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:40.119 in the scriptures because we need to hear it, because our hearts are not 192 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:48.680 as sensitive as we need to be, because we're forgetful about idolatry, idolatry, 193 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:56.359 about adultery, about murder and about all the other commandments. We are 194 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:02.599 forgetful, we get desensitized, we get lazy, we stop being watchful. 195 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.000 And Ezekiel Twenty three is what you know. We sometimes talk about you know 196 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:12.519 too, before hitting up subside the heads like wake up. That's about Ezekiel 197 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:18.079 twenty three is. It's one of those wake up chapters. Let's actually take 198 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:22.720 a look at sin and see it for what it really is, because so 199 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.359 often we down play it, we nurture it, we start let it go 200 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:33.519 and be what it is. Is Ekiel twenty three. We hear this word, 201 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.680 we hear this parable and hopefully we say, okay, no more of 202 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:47.039 that. It's too awful, it's too evil, it's too destructive. Another 203 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.920 thing I think Ezekiel twenty three helps us to remember is the patterns of Sin. 204 00:18:53.160 --> 00:19:00.119 There is a kind of predictable nature to these things which we don't always 205 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:07.480 learn from right Jerusalem being an example of that. But we should learn from 206 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.000 and we should pray to God that he would give us the grace to learn 207 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:18.319 from there are patterns to sin. Listen to God's Word in James Chapter One. 208 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:26.200 In James Chapter one versus thirteen through fifteen, James says, let no 209 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:30.240 one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God 210 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.400 cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one but each person. 211 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.519 That's you and me. Okay, each person is tempted when he is 212 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.079 lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, 213 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:51.319 gives birth to Sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, 214 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:56.599 brings forth death. Does what I mean by the pattern of sin there's this 215 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:03.160 predictable way things happen and for some reason we always look at saying we're like, 216 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:10.039 what happened that way? This time right, nothing, this time I'm 217 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.799 just going to I'm just going to notice, but I'm never going to get 218 00:20:14.839 --> 00:20:18.079 to the actual scheming. Right. Or this time I'm going to do the 219 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:23.359 scheming but I'm never actually going to get to the satisfying part. Or this 220 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.079 time I'm going to do the scheming in the satisfying part, but of course 221 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:34.839 I won't really suffer for that. Come on, that's not how it works. 222 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.920 There is a predictable pattern here that we experience, of course, in 223 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.319 our own lives, that we see a tested to and parables like this and 224 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:47.160 is Ekiel twenty three, and that's laid out pretty clearly for us in a 225 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:52.160 passage like James. We see, we are lured, we notice, we 226 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:57.640 desire, we start planning. We say, HMM, what can I do? 227 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:03.279 Maybe I'll and a messenger, I'll send a messenger and we'll see if 228 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.920 they be, you know, we'll see what happens satisfying. And then, 229 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.680 ultimately, one of the things that this passage impresses on us so as much 230 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:17.279 as that this the pattern that goes all the way to the end. There 231 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:22.000 is that noticing and wondering and scheming and desiring and satisfying, and you remember 232 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:30.480 what the last one is, death, suffering. These things do not end 233 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:38.039 well. Sin Never ends well. It never does. Now, when we're 234 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:42.359 satisfying our sins, we sort of think in the moment that it's ending well, 235 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:52.000 but it doesn't. Sin Lens ends in heartbreak and sorrow, in suffering 236 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.000 and all kinds of ways, and we see that here in Isekiel. These 237 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.440 are where these things lending. So this is the second thing I think that 238 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:03.839 we ought to notice from Ezekiel twenty three. Is this pattern of sin a 239 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:10.039 warning that we ought to pay attention to. And as we can pay attention 240 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.000 to that pattern, it's helpful to us not only to stay away from sin, 241 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:17.079 but when we find ourselves in some part of that cycle, we have 242 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:22.119 to notice that to be watchful. I'm scheming here. Why am I scheming? 243 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:27.000 I need to stop my scheming. I'm I'm being tempted here, I'm 244 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:32.079 being lured here. Let's take a second notice. That is a lure, 245 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:37.720 allure that catches, allure that brings death. These things are important to us 246 00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:45.839 and helpful for us to remember. A third thing to remember is our need 247 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:55.000 for grace. When we see the you know, the the the the trajectory 248 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:03.799 that Israel takes and crashes, who and crashes, we ought to look at 249 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:08.400 ourselves and say, apart from the grace of God, the same thing is 250 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:15.240 going to happen to me. And it does and it has in all of 251 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:19.319 our lives. This passage, and other passage is like us, were like. 252 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:25.599 It remind us of all our need for grace. We are not a 253 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:30.039 people that can look at the law of God and say I've got this, 254 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:36.200 because when the law is given to us, the good law, the holy 255 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:41.319 law, the wonderful law, as it was given to Israel, we end 256 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:48.160 in failure and we need so much with the laws unable to do, but 257 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.559 the spirit is able to do, and that is to bring us a word 258 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:57.920 of grace. Apart from Christ, apart from God's work in the Gospel, 259 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:03.799 we are all in this death spiral of idolatry, of adultery, of of 260 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:10.119 covetousness, of murder and all kinds of different ways, in two different degrees, 261 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:15.839 across all of our lives and every faculty in our bodies and in our 262 00:24:15.880 --> 00:24:21.319 souls. The whole thing is tending in that direction. That's how we're born 263 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:27.799 into. David says, in sinned and my mother conceived me. Paul tells 264 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:33.319 us in Romans that in Adam we were born into a state of sin and 265 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:40.319 misery. Are Born receiving the death and the penalty and the suffering which he 266 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.960 has passed on to us. This death and this death spiral and all that 267 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:52.279 is attached to it is infected the whole human race. And so the passage 268 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.799 like this teaches us so desperately how we need the Lord Because Without Him, 269 00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:03.200 as Paul tells us, Zeekiel tells us, the wages of sin is death. 270 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.519 If we want life, if we want salvation, if we want hope, 271 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:14.559 if we want reunion and communion and fellowship with God, if we want 272 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:22.519 freedom from our sins and our slavery, we must turn to him. But 273 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:26.880 I'd like to conclude with this, this question that the Lord asks, Ezekiel, 274 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:33.240 will you speak? Will you speak this word? It is a word 275 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:37.920 very much of law. It is a word that comes and points at our 276 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:42.039 hearts and pricks our sin and causes us, hopefully, to wake up. 277 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:48.200 It's a word which brings conviction. It's a word that hurts in many ways 278 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:55.759 and it's a word that must be spoken. The Lord Calls His Prophet to 279 00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:59.720 speak and he does, and he does speak the word of the Lord, 280 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:06.000 the word of Yahweh, the word of Christ. We need to hear that 281 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:14.160 that we might wake up from our slumbers. But God also spoke, through 282 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:19.119 Jesus and his ministry and his work in this world, a word that not 283 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:26.440 only promised death for the wages of sin, but also promised life, not 284 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:33.799 for obedience but through faith. And this is the wonderful story in the amazing 285 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.039 grace of God. As you read a chapter like as Echiel twenty three, 286 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.559 and it would seem like it is all over the very people of God. 287 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:45.839 Everything has gone wrong. Perhaps you felt like this at moments in your life, 288 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:49.599 at very low points, at very sinful points. I am irredeemable, 289 00:26:51.319 --> 00:26:56.920 this is all over for me. What could God possibly do that could save 290 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:03.160 me from my sin? The wages of sin our death, and here I 291 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:07.599 am to die. But is ekiel twenty three isn't the last word. The 292 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:11.200 law isn't the last word. God speaks to us. The Gospel in e 293 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:18.119 Ekiel and, of course, even more clearly in Christ and that word he 294 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:25.640 speaks as a word that redeems to himself even people like this, like you, 295 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:30.240 like me, people who are born into sin, people who do sin, 296 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:36.400 who have sin, and he promises to us to save us, to 297 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:41.720 save us from our lewdness, to save us from my our idolatry, to 298 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:47.279 save us from our chasing after sin, to save us from death itself. 299 00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:53.000 It's a wonderful thing what Christ has done, and I want to close by 300 00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:00.759 reading to you about this from God's own word. First, Ephesians A, 301 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:07.640 chapter five. Paul here is giving instructions to husband's, but in the midst 302 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:15.039 of these instructions he gives us doctrines to consider truths about our Lord and Savior 303 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:21.720 and what he has done for Israel and the whole world, even us here 304 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:27.640 tonight. So in Efhesians chapter five, he speaks to husbands and he says 305 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:32.359 in Verse Twenty Five, husbands, love your wives. And here it is 306 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:38.519 as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify 307 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:45.559 her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so 308 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:52.039 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle 309 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:59.880 or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. This 310 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:04.359 is what our Lord and our Savior has done for us. One more passage 311 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.559 along these lines I'd like to read to you. This is from Psalm forty 312 00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:15.279 five, is beautiful marriage psalm and which testifies towards Christ's love for us and 313 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:22.680 his work for us. He speaks about what he does for us in his 314 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:26.079 cleansing of us, in his making us holy. And if you have any 315 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:30.720 doubt about the Lord's work in your life, if you have any doubt about 316 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:34.640 the forgiveness of your sins, I want you to consider these passages and really 317 00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:38.720 hear them. As much as you hear is Ekiel twenty three, with all 318 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.039 of its condemnation, with all of its law, which is all good and 319 00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:45.960 holy and true. I want you to hear the Gospel as well and hear 320 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:52.680 what the Lord offers to us in Jesus. We've read it in effusions five. 321 00:29:52.720 --> 00:30:00.640 Here it now in Psalm forty five, verse thirteen. All glorious is 322 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:07.759 the princess in her chamber with robes interwoven with gold, in many colored robes 323 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:12.079 she has led to the king with her virgin companions following behind her with joy 324 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:18.440 and gladness they are led along as they enter the Palace of the king. 325 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:22.559 The place of your father's shall be your son's. You will make them princes 326 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:26.279 and all the earth I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. 327 00:30:26.359 --> 00:30:30.240 Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and never. There for, 328 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:37.519 speaking of the Prince insolven forty five we hear of the Lord and his coming 329 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:41.759 to his people, his beautifying them is glorifying them. We get other pictures. 330 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:45.079 I won't read these now, I'll let you look at them at home. 331 00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:48.559 But in revelation of the bride of Christ, this beautiful place, here, 332 00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:53.880 the metaphors mixing of in a beautiful way, of both city and people, 333 00:30:55.200 --> 00:31:00.359 of bride and groom, of Land and country, where the city of 334 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:06.440 God and the bride of Christ is described as just decked in jewels. Perhaps 335 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:11.039 we have in popular culture right the pearly gates right. That's not a joke 336 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:18.200 or a cartoon figure. Imagine Gates as big as pearls are made of pearls. 337 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:23.119 What a splendid thing to see the walls and the cities, the streets 338 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:30.200 paved with gold. This picture of Jerusalem is a picture of God's salvation of 339 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:34.079 us, his beautifying us, his making us holy, he's sanctifying us. 340 00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:41.440 Can you imagine a place where blood wants running in the streets, the place 341 00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:45.240 filled with idolatry, and now the light of God just shining out throughout the 342 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:52.359 place, filling it up, gleaming off the jewels and the crystals, off 343 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:57.480 the streets themselves, the people shining with the glory of God, the bride 344 00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:05.519 made ready for her husband, not because of our obedience, but because of 345 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:13.000 his death, his sacrifice and his washing of us. That's how much God 346 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:17.079 loves you. That's what God is doing for you and has done for you, 347 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:22.440 and that's what he is continuing to do in your lives. And so 348 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:28.039 let's fleece in, let's run away, let's despise it, let's notice it, 349 00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:31.160 let's watch it, let's stay away and instead run into the arms of 350 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:37.279 our Savior, our God and our King, who has saved US and is 351 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:43.240 saving us and will wonder they glorify us in all perfection and glory at that 352 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:49.640 great wedding feast for the bride and her groom. Let's pray