Ezekiel 36 verses 16 through 38, hear the word of God. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. To me, their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore, I poured out my fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries. I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned my holy name. When they said of them, these are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went. and I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses, I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you and I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, the land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, and the cities are now fortified and inhabited. Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus says the Lord God, I will also let the house of Israel inquire of me to do this for them. I will increase their men like a flock, like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days. So shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. Let's pray and ask God to bless his word to us this morning. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this portion of your inspired, inerrant, infallible word. We pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would help us to understand what is taught here, and that your Holy Spirit would apply it to our hearts and to our lives for your eternal glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Normally. One preaches a one farewell sermon in a place. And so when I'm doing that, I wanted to give quite a lot of thought to what I should preach. And a lot of things came to mind. And not this passage 1st. but I think the Lord has shown me this one as an appropriate way to underline some of the things that I have tried to teach while I've been your pastor here for the last little over 15 years. So I want us to look at this passage because it is very relevant to today, even though it has a setting of during the time of the Babylonian exile. During the time of the Babylonian exile, the people were cast out of the promised land. They were in exile from the promised land in Babylon under unrighteous and ungodly kings. During that time, they despaired and lost hope, many of them. God gave them Daniel and revelations through him and Ezekiel and revelations to him to both teach them and instruct them and encourage them and prepare them for return to the promised land. but to prepare them as well to receive the benefits of the covenant that he had made with them. And so that's a part of the background and the setting for this passage. But there is more, and actually the first few verses, verses 16 through 21, help us to understand more of the setting for what follows, beginning with verse 22. Not only are they captive in Babylon, They are there because God put them there. He sent them into captivity. He did it because of their sin. They have deserved it. Verse 17 talks about how they had defiled the land in many ways. And several verses pursue that line of thought. So they had sinned, they had sinned and transgressed, they had done so greatly. And verse 18 says, therefore, for this reason, God says, I have poured out my fury on them. And then verse 19, so I scattered them among the nations. So there's part of the setting, but you need to understand another part of the setting. Not only was their sin real, not only was God's wrath real and deserved, but also God in this, Introductory portion of this passage sets forth his reason and his concern. Verse 21, but I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. I think I can say now, and we'll see it more in terms of application, but I just want to underscore here the importance God places on his own name. Remember the first petition of the Lord's Prayer is, hallowed be thy name. And yet, his name had been profaned by his people. We as well are taught in the third commandment not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain. God is concerned about his name because it represents him. It reflects on him. What is said about his name, what is done with regard to his name is said and done with regard to him and about him. And so God says his big concern here, and his big concern we'll see going forward in the rest of the passage where we see what God plans to do about this problem that is the setting, that is identified in the setting. We find there also that God's primary concern is for him. Even though he makes wonderful promises to the Jewish people, and promises about the impact of what he will be doing on the Gentile nations, yet his concern is not primarily those things. His concern is primarily his name, his glory, that his name be set apart, sanctified, considered, and treated as holy and sacred because he would be treated as holy and sacred and worthy of glory. That's not the concern of much of the church in our day. It's too much about us. If we get beyond us, it seems to center mostly on the world around us and their needs. That is not where God places first emphasis. He calls us to seek first His honor, His glory, His kingdom, and His righteousness. And yet the church so often is a self-help place. or an evangelism center. And that's not to denigrate evangelism at all. It is to say that the primary concern of God and what should be the primary concern of the church is God's glory. So that's his concern. And so this background and this setting of Israel's sins, God's punishment and wrath, and God's concern for his name is the background for the promises that follow in verses 22 through 36. And that needs to be thought of as a promise section. And he prefaces that section in verse 22 with these words, therefore say to the house of Israel. He's addressing Ezekiel. He's telling Ezekiel, this is my message to the house of Israel. And here he has a first reference, of course, to the Jewish people themselves. Say to them, thus says the Lord God. So this is God's message to them, not Ezekiel's message to them. I do not do this for your sake. Now he's not reflecting back on the previous things, but on what he's about to say. I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. So he goes back to and makes a part of the promises that he's giving the background that has already been given. Verse 23, here's the first thing. Here's the summary thing. And I will sanctify my great name, verse 23, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. So, God is saying his concern will be in these covenant promises, and they are covenant promises, as we'll be seeing, that he makes. He is setting forth as undergirding all of them and central to all of them, his own glory and the sanctity and glory and honor of his name. But that will be seen most when there is an impact upon the Jews, producing an impact upon the Gentiles. Look there at verse 23, midway through. And the nations shall know, the Gentiles shall know, that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. Something is going to happen to the Jews, resulting in something happening to the nations. First thing that's mentioned, verse 24. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. So the first thing is bringing them back to that promised land, again, a part of the covenant promises. Verse 25, and then it changes. Not only is there a return to the land, but especially this in the way of spiritual blessings that God will grant. Verse 25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you. and you shall be clean. Do I need to say this is not rain, nor is it water under a waterfall or a shower or washing in a tub? It's not water at all. It is God's work by His Spirit, as we'll see in following verses, of cleansing them, not from physical dirt, but spiritually. So he says that, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. The word idols there makes it abundantly evident that he's not talking about filthiness of dirt, but filthiness of iniquity. And he goes further, in line with, parallel to, and meaning essentially the same thing as, he says in verse 26, I will give you a new heart. That's what this cleansing is. And put a new spirit within you. and will take the heart of stone out of your flesh. So he's not talking about a hardened heart physically, but a hardened heart spiritually. He says, that's gonna be gone. And I will give you a heart of flesh, one that is soft, one that is malleable, one that is responsive to God. Verse 27, I will put my spirit within you. That's what putting a new spirit in the previous verse refers to. I will put my spirit within you. And he's talking about the Holy Spirit. He is promising to give them the Holy Spirit in a way beyond what they had known it before. and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them so there will be obedience. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people and I will be your God. Those last words, you shall be my people and I will be your God, are the essential words, the essential statement of God's covenant of grace for all time. We see it again and again and again throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, all the way to the closing chapters of the book of Revelation. It is God's covenant. So he is saying, you have not been faithful to the covenant, but I will be anyway. And so we see grace. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And then he changes to the temporal, this world blessings. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you, and I will multiply the fruit on your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations." It is not that God's primary concern is their temporal blessings. It is not. Nor is his primary concern for them to give them temporal blessings, but to give them instead the spiritual blessings he has already begun to promise. But these temporal blessings are more visible. The temporal blessings encourage them to know and see how greatly God is blessing them. but also demonstrate to the Gentiles around them how God is blessing them and that's unfolded further later in the passages. And then we see in verse 31, what in one way is the heart of all of this. with verse 32, then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord God. Let it be known to you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways. O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, and he goes on. Things that is lacking, was lacking among the Jews, was lacking among the Jews at the time of Christ, as well as at the time before and during the exile. One of the things that is lacking in the church of our day is an acknowledgment of our sins, a hatred of our sins, a self-loathing because of our sins. It fits, doesn't it? Less with the Bible, and more with the spirit of our age, that we would have and be taught to have good self-esteem. And that's simply not what God is concerned with here, but that God's people then and now would recognize their sin, hate their sin, our own sin, the sins of God's people in general, and loathe those things and loathe ourselves, hate ourselves because of our sins. He goes on and talks about the desolate land being tilled, In verse 34, becoming like the Garden of Eden. In verse 35, the cities being built up from being ruins to inhabited and finished. And the nations around shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken and I will do it. Now, I want you to recognize that when God says he has spoken this, he is doing something that he has referred to a number of times. He does so a number of times, especially in the book of Isaiah, when he says, before I did it, I told you. So that when I did it, you would know that it was for me and that I remember that I had told you I would do it. He's doing that here. I told you. And so this is the passage that speaks of God's promise. It's a covenant promise. It's a promise that gives him the glory, that convicts his people of their sin, that rewards them with both temporal and spiritual blessing, rewards them not for having obeyed, but for being recipients of God's grace and having faith and trust in him. And the result is going to be not just that the Jews will glorify him, but the nations will know that God has done it. And then the third section of the passage, as we just kind of walk through it, I wanted to say quickly, but I can't. As we just walk through it, the third section of the passage is one of petition. He says in verse 37, thus says the Lord God, I will also let the house of Israel inquire of me to do this for them. He doesn't just say, I'm just gonna do it, period. But whereas before the Jewish people could not expect an answer to their prayers, while they prayed for themselves and their own benefit without regard to God, yet for this they can pray. And God will hear and answer that prayer. And in answer to that prayer, he will increase their men like a flock. Verse 38, like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast day, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. Brothers and sisters, these things, are promised, prophesied in the scriptures and in this passage and in other places that parallel this passage, but they have not yet been fulfilled. The return from Babylon was not a fulfillment. There was some rebuilding. but not a full rebuilding, nor had it happened by the time of Christ. But certainly it is less apparent that there was a fulfilling along the spiritual lines. The Jews continued, even with some purifications of some of the errors before the exile, in the post-exilic period and up to Christ's day, and they didn't do idol worship in a physical sense anymore and make idols in the physical sense any longer. but they weren't turned to God. And when the promised Messiah, who is the heart of all of this covenant came, they did not receive him. And then they were once again dispersed. And our expectation for the fulfillment of this prophecy is still future. It is tied very much with the prophecies in the second part of Romans chapter 11, with prophecy after prophecy throughout the book of Isaiah that we looked at when we went through. It is not correct to think in terms of saying that since God has, quote, done with the Jews and dispersed them because they broke the covenant, that now we are to look at every Old Testament passage that talks about the Jews and replace that term in our minds with the church. Because some of the places like this, sets the Jews and the Gentiles alongside of one another and separate from one another. Yes, Romans 11 shows they are brought together in the church. And we recently saw that in Ephesians as well, in chapter two especially. And so there is this bringing them together. There is a destiny for the church, but we need to see that somehow it includes Israel as well. And that there is blessings that accrue to the Gentiles through seeing what God does with and among the Jews. So we are looking still for this to be fulfilled. And for its fulfillment, yes, inclusive of the whole people of God, but as Paul puts it in Romans a number of times, the Jews first and also the Gentiles. that we are to see that this is applicable to us. And so I want us to go through and kind of summarize what I think is taught in this passage. And these are things that I have tried to preach from this pulpit. And basically, we're to see in this kind of historical, biblical, covenantal context that even here and throughout the life of the church, the church and Israel are to be Bible-based. looking not just at words and history, but a redemptive historical setting and context that focuses on Jesus Christ. A Bible-basedness that shapes our views rather than having our views shape our exposition of scripture. that the Bible is over any systems. That's not so much taught here, it's assumed here as the background for it. But taught here, especially first, is God-centeredness. That's what God says was his first concern. Is it ours? Certainly it should be ours. We should be God-centered. We should be God-centered in a Trinitarian sense, concerned for His name and His glory. Some have had questions about the importance of God-centeredness, saying, well, why not Christ-centeredness? And the answer is that we're Trinitarian, that we have a triune God. I think some of that comes from a statement that I heard or read by R.C. Sproul one time. I don't remember the exact words, but he said something to the effect that he's concerned that so many times he hears people talk about their religious commitment and they talk about God, and they never mentioned Jesus. And he says that's wrong, and I think he's right to let you in on something currently going on with me. I've been going online at a Christian dating site called christianmingle.com and looking at profiles. and have connected with some people there. But one of the things about the profile, and the reason I'm mentioning it, is that as you read through what they say about themselves and their Christianity, there's some that never mention Jesus Christ. They just mention God. And their thinking of God, oftentimes in some generic, general sense, with no real commitment to the triune God of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's what R.C. Sproul was talking about. But I've been seeing that in profile after profile and seeing, on the other hand, very good, solid Christian profiles as well. But God in this passage in Ezekiel is teaching us that we are called to be God-centered. He himself is, he is concerned for his own glory. Is the Father concerned for Christ's glory? Of course he is. Is the Spirit concerned for Christ's glory? Of course he is, but Christ is concerned for the Father's glory. This passage also teaches us that in our Christian lives now, we should be grace-oriented. And nothing more orients you toward grace than conviction of your own, of our own sin. It is when we know how much we deserve God's wrath and how little we deserve any of his blessing. When we are aware of our own sinfulness, our transgressions, our sins, but not just the sins and the deeds, but the sinfulness in their heart. When we are aware of that, then we adopt a grace orientation. I've been more specific about this in talking sometimes, but in general, I'll say I knew somebody who was a sinner and their church didn't know how to deal with them as sinners and basically felt like they had to shun that person because to do otherwise, in their mind would be to condone the sin. You see, their problem was that they had no sense of their own sin. And so, a recognition of our own sin and God's grace leads us to be gracious and welcoming and forgiving toward other people and their sins because we're aware of our own. Of course, our grace orientation also recognizes, as is abundantly clear in this passage, God's initiative, but we'll come back and talk about that in a few moments further. But this passage also teaches the church to be God-focused. In a broad, not a narrow sense, But the gospel for Jews and Gentiles alike is the concern after the glory of God and for the glory of God, the concern of God in this passage. That the Jews would believe and would honor Him and follow Him and obey Him and glorify Him. And that the Gentiles would come to do the same partly through that example by the Jews. We should be setting such an example in our own trust in Christ, our own living for him and for his glory. We should obey and let the Gentiles see that. We should be salt and light that the world would see and recognize that God has been at work. Just as in this passage, God has been at work, God says. That's what they will see. And then, this passage really points us in the direction that I've also tried to emphasize through the years. But as a lower priority than being Bible-based, it's not the system first, it's the Bible first, but the Bible teaches that system. This passage teaches not everything about the Reformed faith, but some of the major things, and particularly it emphasizes, doesn't it, God's initiative. God says, these things I will do. I will make these changes in you. I will send my spirit to you to change your heart, to change who you are, to change what you're like. It will be God's initiative that will someday change the Jews which by God's initiative will also change the Gentiles. Again, I would just encourage you to read and think about what's written about all of this in Romans chapter 11, beginning with the verses that talk about an olive tree, where God's going to bring back the natural branches, the Jews that were cut off. And see how that is to impact the Gentiles as well. But not only is God's initiative, God's sovereignty present, which makes this passage very reformed. But it's reformed also in one of the other reformed distinctives in its covenantal content. The pointing to God's faithfulness to his covenant, that he is going to make them his people and he will be their God. We today live in the new covenant. with greater expressions of God's spirit and his work than was ever seen among the Jews of old. It is here that it is worthwhile to mention the baptismal content of this passage. Where, when we look at God's saying in verse, No wonder I turned the page. In verse 17, well, I'm sorry, he will wash them, he will he will cleanse them and wash them. And so we see that, I'm sorry. Back in verse 25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you. What's the meaning? Well, obviously he's going to cleanse them. Well, why does he refer to water? which he does frequently in the scriptures. And there's a sprinkling not only of water, but of blood. And the passage that we have in Hebrews chapter 10 that we read for the call to worship this morning. talks about us drawing near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And the passage is not intending to say, well, have a spiritual work done in your heart and also take a shower either Saturday night or Sunday morning. This is not the passage that you go to to support the idea primarily of physical and bodily cleanliness. Is cleanliness next to godliness? Well, yeah, in some ways, but it's not the same thing. But in this passage, it is. We have our hearts being sprinkled. Now let me refer you, there are other passages in Hebrews that I'll skip over now for the sake of time. Basically I had a two hour sermon that could easily have been four. And I'm trying to do it not in more, but in less, okay? But if I go to Ephesians 5, verse 26, which is a passage that seems to be on the relationship of husbands and wives, which it says it is, but it's a great mystery and he speaks concerning Christ and the church, so says verse 32. But if we look at verse, 26 about the husband loving their wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Verse 26, he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. There is a washing, a sprinkling, a cleansing that comes from God that is talked about in Ezekiel chapter 36, but it is somehow connected with the sprinkling of water. It is in a covenantal context that this is said. Now, apart from having a commitment to believing that baptism is about immersion and not sprinkling, it should be fairly easy to see that this passage is inclusive of baptism and thus covenantal also. Reformed in the sense of showing God's initiative and displaying that, displaying the covenantal nature of things, and reformed in this sense, because this is a word that basically has its heritage first in the Bible, of course, but historically in the church, among the reformed, and it is the idea of revival. There is no way to understand this passage as being other than a call for revival. That God would revive his people. He poured out his spirit on them, no doubt about that. But can you look at the church of today and say, well, yeah, God's Spirit's poured out and here's this beautiful, glorious church. Instead, we say, here's a church that God has worked greatly in, but a church that, like the Jews, has backslidden. I'm not talking first about providence, but think of the the whole world or even our country, the part that goes under the name of Christian. And we find a lot of it doesn't even believe in Jesus or even believe in God. And even in the evangelical world, there is little of God-centeredness and more of man-centeredness. Little of recognition of our own sins. Oh, how we need to recognize that. Little recognition of God's grace. little recognition of God's initiative and His covenant. We can't help but say we need, just as Old Testament saints did, and just as this passage promised, with the bringing in of Jews and Gentiles, the changing of hearts, the increase in numbers on feast days. God calls us to revival, to inquire of Him, to pray to Him for that, and for the glory that comes to Him from that and through that. I hope you see from this passage that these are not just the things that Alan says and likes, but are what the Bible says. and points us toward. We should be Bible-based, God-centered, grace-oriented, Gospel-focused and Reformed for the glory of God eternally. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace. We thank you for your call to the church, your call even still to the Jews, your promises in your covenant, the convicting work of your Holy Spirit, for which we pray for more of among us and throughout the Christian church and among the Jews. and the work of your spirit, oh Lord, bless us. Revive us as individuals, as a church, as a part of the larger church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revive us along with your original people, the whole house of Israel, all for your glory. We pray that you might receive the glory. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.