We read the word of God from several passages in the book of Ezekiel. I want to start with the last few verses of chapter 1. Remember that in chapter 1, Ezekiel sees the Lord's glory chariot. And then at the last bit of the chapter, he sees the driver of the chariot, verse 26. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward. And I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." And turn to the main passage, which we consider, and that's chapter 8. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire. from the appearance of his loins even downward fire, and from his loins even upward as the appearance of brightness as the color of amber. And he put forth the form of in hand and took me by a lock of mine head. And the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north. where was the seat of the image of jealousy which provoketh to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. And he said furthermore unto me, son of man, seest thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court. And when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood Jeazaniah, the son of Shaphan. With every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, The Lord seeth us not, and rather the Lord hath forsaken the earth. Then said he also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north. And behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. And said he unto me, Hast thou seen this? O son of man, turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house. And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east. and they worship the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence and have returned to provoke me to anger, and lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. And though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. Then turn to Ezekiel chapter 9, verses 1 through 4. He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of the high gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry. for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Then turn to chapter 11, verses 17 through 21. Therefore say, thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered. I will give you the land of Israel, and they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God. Thus far the reading of the holy and divine scripture. It's on the basis of those passages and many others in the word of God. that we have the teaching of our Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 34. Question and answer 92 asks, what is the law? And answers with a summary from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Question 93, how are these commandments divided into two tables, the first of which teaches us how we must behave towards God? The second, what duties we owe to our neighbor. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment? That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints or any other creatures, and learn rightly to know the only true God, trust in him alone with humility and patience, submit to him, expect all good things from him alone, love, fear, and glorify him with my whole heart so that I renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to his will. What is idolatry? Idolatry is, instead of or besides the one true God who has manifested Himself in His Word, to contrive or have any other object in which men place their trust. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, man by nature is an idolater. That is man's root sin. And out of that idolatry come all man's sins. And that's because the most basic question for a man is, who is your God? And if you tell me what your life is like, if you can tell me that in which you place your trust and that which you seek and in which you glory, tell me about your life, then I'll tell you who your God is. And man, by nature, denies the one true God. And we see that in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel's description of Israel is a description of us. So that God exposes the root of all of Israel's apostasy from Him. And that root was Israel's rank and pervasive idolatry. And God also in that chapter, chapter 8, gives the remedy. For the idolater, there is no salvation. The idolater makes God jealous. And the idolater provokes God to anger. So that God deals with the idolater in fury. And then too, in that book of Ezekiel, we see that there is salvation for the idolater according to God's choice of those idolaters. God puts a mark on them, and those idolaters manifest themselves as the ones whom God has chosen by their sorrow over their idolatry. And God promises the salvation of those idolaters that He has chosen, that He will put a new heart and a new spirit in them. Man's spirit and heart by nature is idolatrous. God's salvation of the idolater involves not only the forgiveness of that idolater's sins, It also includes the giving to that idolater of a new heart that loves the Lord his God. You must understand that because in the Heidelberg Catechism, the preaching of the law is to have two basic effects on the church. That preaching of the law is to be a strict preaching. Preaching of I'm not going to preach the law to you or do your best. I'm not going to preach the law that way I'm going to preach the laws that law absolutely condemns you and me you don't keep it That law demands perfection and That law exposes you and me not only in our deed, but it exposes us in our nature and We are by nature idolaters and therefore by nature we find it very easy to break all the rest of God's commandments. And the strict preaching of the law exposes that nature. God says, be a lover of me. And there by nature is a hater of God. And in exposing that nature, the purpose of the preaching of the law is to make us sorry for that sin. That we weep for it. That we turn from it. And secondly, the purpose of the strict preaching of the law is to show you perfection. That's what heaven will be. In heaven, I'll know the one true God rightly. I'll love the one true God. I'll receive his word, I'll worship him with my whole being, that's heaven. And God gives that to us in principle in the new heart. And the purpose of the law is that I ask for God's grace and his Holy Spirit that in my life I'm more and more conformed to that image of perfection. And understand, too, the law doesn't do that. The law doesn't make you sorry. The law doesn't make you pray. The law doesn't make you a better person. The law doesn't do that. The law doesn't make anybody better. The law has no power in itself to make you keep it, or to make you sorry, or to make you desire to be more and more like that. That's God's grace. By His grace, He uses the preaching of the law for the good of his people. And that preaching of the law begins with its most basic commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Or to state that positively, worship God alone. And we notice the Lord's into that theme. Worship God alone. Notice the glory of the Lord. Notice have no idols. And notice finally, trust God alone. We consider the Lord's Day from the viewpoint of the passages that we read in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was in the captivity. There was two main sections to the captivity. The first was during the reign of Jehoiachin, and that was about 12 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a part of that first captivity, so that he prophesied to the nation in the captivity. And Ezekiel prophesied not only to that nation in captivity, but he had a word about the people of Israel back in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was still standing. And we see that his word to that nation back in Jerusalem. We see that here in chapters 8 and 9 and 10. The beginning of that word is Ezekiel's vision of the glory of the Lord. He says, I saw the glory of the Lord as I saw it in the plain. And that's a reference back to chapter 1, where he saw the glory chariot of the Lord. There was this immense storm that was sweeping down on the nation out of the north. And that storm was caused by an immense chariot. And that chariot was pulled by four cherubim, huge beasts. And that chariot sat upon a wheel that could turn instantly wherever the owner of that chariot and the rider of that chariot wanted to go. And on that chariot sat a sapphire throne, and on that throne sat he who had the appearance like unto a man. And that was the revelation of the glory of the Lord. And that glory of the Lord now Ezekiel sees right in the temple. That huge storm had swept down and that glory of the Lord took its abode up in God's house among God's people. And that revelation of the glory chariot was the revelation of God in all of His perfections. It was the revelation of God in His omnipotence as He has the power to carry out His will. It's the revelation of God in His sovereignty as He has the right and the authority to rule over all things and to determine what the creature will be before Him. It's a revelation of God in His holiness as He is a consuming fire, in His righteousness as He judges rightly in the earth according to the perfect standard of God's own being. It's a revelation of God in all His power and might and glory. And it's a revelation of that glory of God in a man. The glory of God no man can see nor has seen. That glory of God must be revealed. That glory of God must be made known. And so that glory of God shone out especially in that man who was surrounded by fire. And as that man was surrounded by a rainbow, and as that man seated himself upon the sapphire throne, And that was a revelation of God's glory, especially as God is the Savior of His people, and as God fulfills His covenant promise to be a God to His people, to forgive the sins of His people, to take His people into His covenant, and to bless His people with His presence, and with His favor, and with His wonderful grace. And so too, that is the revelation of God in His glory as the God whose name is jealous. He's jealous for His covenant. He's jealous for His glory. He's jealous for His people. This glory is revealed now in His temple. And who is that? That man in his temple, who is that but Christ. Christ is that temple. Where the glory of the Lord is revealed. And in that temple is then the revelation of the glory of the living God. As he is omnipotent and as he is sovereign and righteous, gracious and merciful and true. As he's a faithful God and unchangeable God. as He's a God who will by no means acquit the guilty, and as He's a God who always fulfills His promise. And now in that temple, before the revelation of the glory of God, what does God demand? And I can say really in one word, faith. You can't stand in that temple apart from faith. You can't stand in that temple before that glory apart from faith. Indeed, you cannot even see that glory apart from faith. What does that faith do? That faith clings to the promise of that glorious God. The promise that was made manifest in that temple and made manifest especially at that brazen altar. And that promise was a promise that that glorious God had a chosen people. A people whose sins he would surely forgive. A people whose iniquity he would not impute to them. people he would consecrate to himself in righteousness and in holiness, and who would do that through the blood of the Lamb that was slain upon that altar, so that in that blood his people stood before him, perfect, holy, righteous, redeemed." Faith. And that faith then also gives glory to that God. And that glory is the reverence and the fear and the worship of that God. That glory is to say fundamentally, God will do what God said. That faith says fundamentally, let God be God. Let God be revealed in all His glory, in all His faithfulness, His omnipotence, His sovereignty, and His power. And unbelief does the opposite. Before unbelief, God loses all His glory. You can see that You were just witness to it. God was revealed in His church, in His glory. He was revealed in that church in the glory of His salvation in Jesus Christ. He was revealed in that church in the glory of His covenant. Revealed in that church through the preaching. And they sat and they heard that preaching. And they said, ah, what a pitiful word. That's what unbelief always does with the word of God. Unbelief doesn't receive that word. Unbelief doesn't bow before that word. And what is that? Is that to denigrate a man and the preaching of a man? No, it's to denigrate the very glory of God. It's to strip God of all His sovereignty, His omnipotence, His righteousness, His holiness, His grace, and His mercy, and to make God a big nothing. Unbelief hears the word of God and unbelief says, that's absurd. Unbelief hears the word of God and unbelief says, that's the word of man. Unbelief does not regard God. Faith hears His Word, and faith submits to that Word. Unbelief hears that Word, and unbelief says, that's not the Word of God. I have another Word. I have the Word of man. And as faith, then, is the source of all the keeping of the First Commandment, unbelief is the source of all idolatry. And that's what Ezekiel saw in the temple when God lifted him up in the Spirit and brought him to Jerusalem. He saw unbelief made manifest. And that unbelief was made manifest in the idolatry of the people right there in that temple. That man whom he saw sitting on the throne, steps off his throne, and he takes Ezekiel on a tour of the temple. And he says to Ezekiel first, as they stand in the broadest court, he says, look north toward the sanctuary. And Ezekiel looks north and right in the entrance to the sanctuary, right opposite of the altar, stands the image that makes jealous. The very presence of that image and the very place where they put that image was a challenge to the living God. That altar said there is only one way to God. That one way to God is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that altar says. That altar said God keeps His promise, God saves His people. That altar even said God chooses who will be saved, whom He will bring into His presence. Blessed is the man whom God chooses and brings near to Him. That's what that altar said. And that image now is a direct challenge to that. That image was man saying that there is another way to God. There's another entrance. Doesn't matter how man says it, that's idolatry. Man can say you and your act of faith are the way to God. Man can say you and your works are the way to God. Man can say you and your spirit wrought works are the way to God. Man can say Jesus and your act of faith, Jesus and your choice, those are all the way to God. But what is that? That is a direct challenge to the living God. That's to overthrow the word of the living God about himself and about his righteousness and holiness, about himself and the way of salvation. That idolatry was a very public thing. It wasn't an idolatry that men held in secret, you might say, but it's an idolatry that man proclaimed off the pulpit. That pulpit that's consecrated to proclaiming the truth of the altar. That there is only one way to God. Now that pulpit serves the purpose of proclaiming Jesus plus something. That's idolatry. You better believe that. That's what we left. We left idolatry. And that idolatry that's present in the false doctrine will culminate in the idol that makes desolate the worship of God. When that, you might say, is set in the temple of God, you can't be there anymore. You can't worship there. It's defiled. But it got worse. He takes Ezekiel to a little hole in the wall, and he says, dig in that hole in the wall. So Ezekiel pulls away all the bricks, and he sees a door. And he goes into that door, and he sees portrayed on the walls of that chamber, that inner secret chamber, he sees every man's favorite idol. creeping and crawling things and whatever men wanted. And he sees in that room there are 70 men who are led by Jeazaniah, the son of Shaphan. That was the private idolatry of the people. Why did they not care that it was proclaimed in the very temple of God that there is another way of salvation? Why did they not care? Because they were idolaters in their inner chambers. And that inner chamber really was their heart. They were idolaters in their very heart. And in that 70 men, in those 70 men, the whole nation was represented. The nation, all people, were idolaters in their inner chambers, in their homes, and in their hearts, and in their minds. They were idolaters. They each had their favorite idol. And Ezekiel sees that a great big cloud of incense goes up. They're not only idolaters, but they're zealous for their idolatry. And they're led in it by that wretched Jeazaniah. Jeazaniah had a glorious heritage. He was an apostate. Shaphan was his grandfather. And Shaphan loved the temple of the Lord. He loved the truth of that altar. And so did Shaphan's son, and so did Jeazaniah's brother. When the word of the Lord came to them through Jeremiah the prophet, they received it and they bowed down before it, but not that wretched Jeazaniah. was leading the whole nation astray from the Lord as God an apostate when the church can't rouse up any zeal against false doctrine set in the very Church of God that's because their idolaters in their homes Doesn't matter what that idolatry is. Might be your money, might be your doctors, might be your health, might be your clothes. Doesn't matter what that idol is. You serve something else in your life. And the church follows it. And the root of it, according to the text, was their unbelief. He says, Ezekiel says that they said God doesn't see and God has forsaken the land. God is an unfaithful God. God is a God who won't judge. They had destroyed the glory of God in their own mind and hearts. And they turned to their idols. But it got worse. He takes Ezekiel out of that inner chamber and he leads Ezekiel to the very door of God's house. And there he sees the women weeping for Tammuz. Tammuz was the famed beauty Adonis. He was a very good looking man. And the worship of Tammuz was that Tammuz would die, and they would all weep for Tammuz, and through their weeping, they would cause the resurrection of Tammuz, and Tammuz would return, and then they would engage in a wild orgy of hedonism and sex. And that was the worship in the nation and among the women in particular of everything sensual all that's beautiful and lovely in the earth they worshipped it that's what idolatry does it makes superficial women all they care about is how beautiful their home is, what nice car they drive, to be dressed to the nines, to have their hair always done perfect, their makeup always done, they strut and stride into church. That's what they care about. That's the worship of Tammuz. And if you take that away from them, all they can do is weep. Oh, the minister, he's so harsh. Oh, the minister, he's telling us about how wicked our lives are and how carnal we are, and they weep about it. They don't receive it. They weep and wail, and they say, give us our Tammuz back. Sensual, superficial. Women's shadow is a mud puddle. and it got worse if that's possible he takes Ezekiel to the very door of God's house standing as it were in the very presence of the glory of God and in front of that house were two absolutely massive pillars Jachin and Boaz. They declared that God is God alone. He shall establish. And in him is strength. That's what this meant. They declared his sovereignty and his power. They declared that God is God. And right in front of that, 25 men who had turned their backs on God. And they worshipped the sun. They were worshipping not the God of creation, but the creation itself. And that's a That's a reference, that worship of the Son, to the worship of Satan. So that Ezekiel there points out that behind all idolatry stands a special influence of the devil. And that that devil is so bold that he will do that right before God. they turn their back on God they bow down to the sun in the heavens and as if that wasn't enough that they provoke God to jealousy by their idolatry they stuck a stick up his nose by their violence against the people of God who rebuke them. That's what he means when he says they put a branch to their face. If their idolatry was to poke God in the eye, to provoke God to anger, then when God sent against them the prophets to rebuke them, then they murdered those prophets and they hated those prophets and they filled the land with violence through the destruction of those prophets and God says not only did you poke me in the eye but you stuck a stick up my nose and I'll deal with you in fury and in anger and I won't turn therefore I also deal in fury Mine eye shall not spare Neither will I have pity and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice Yet will I not hear them and that's the cross That was the cross That was the destruction of Jerusalem But that was only a type of the cross I There at the cross, God took all of his people's idolatries and he imputed them to Jesus Christ. And he came against Jesus Christ with fury. And he did not listen to the cries, why hast thou forsaken me? Did God stop? No. Because that idolatry offends against the Most High Majesty and the glory of God. And that idolatry can only be punished with extreme. That is with temporal and eternal punishment. But unless we have Christ, we cannot be saved. We're full of idols. Our natures and minds, our senses, our eyes, ears, tongues, noses, they're full of idols. Man makes idols so readily because man by nature hates God. And so too when you read what does God require in the first commandment when you read that you know the true God and you trust in the true God and with humility and patience submit to Him and expect all good things from Him and love and fear and glorify Him. Who did that? You don't do that. I don't do that. Christ did that, and Christ did that as God was punishing him for our sins. He loved the glory of God. And he willingly, in love for that glory of God, he placed himself under the fury of that glory against sin. And you have Christ if you are of that remnant. God marks with an ink horn God is going to wipe out Jerusalem for her idolatry And God says stop to the six men with slaughter weapons in their hand and One of the men is clothed in linen, and he has an ink horn on him And God says, mark everyone that weeps for the idolatry and the abomination of the land. What is God doing there? Is God saying, because they repented, now I'm going to mark them and I'll spare them? No, not at all. Not at all. Their repentance, first of all, was a mark. It was a clear indication that they belonged to the elect remnant of Israel. Belong to the people whom God had appointed to salvation and to be saved from their idolatry. And as that repentance was a mark. That they were reserved to the Lord. That they would not be swallowed up in God's judgment. So God also marks them. When I come preaching to you. about your idolatry if you get angry at me I don't know what all your idolatries are I have enough to worry about with myself you know what they are if I come to you and I preach against you and I say you're nothing but a carnal church you serve yourselves You're self-willed. When the Word of God comes, you don't really appreciate it. You ignore it. You seek yourself, you seek your own pleasure, you seek your own glory. When God disturbs your life but a little bit, you become down and full of anxiety and fear. You think more about yourself than you do the glory of God. your idolaters if you get mad at me and you say he doesn't he doesn't know the half we're pretty good people we believe the truth we're a member of a true church we give to the church and the school then you're not repentant then you'll be destroyed for all your goodness because of your idolatry no if you don't have Christ if you don't believe that God doesn't impute your idolatry to you and he imputes to you a righteousness without works if you don't believe that there's no salvation for all your goodness and all your decency Because we're idolaters. And those whom God saves in Christ, forgiving all their idolatry, he also gives a new heart. I hate my idolatrous heart. You know what? God took it out. It was a heart of stone. that was dead to the glory of the living God and he gives to me a heart of flesh and to that heart of flesh he says what does God require in the first commandment first learn rightly to know the only true God trust in him alone it's idolatry not to know God rightly. To know God rightly is to know God as He revealed Himself. It's to receive that Word. Unbelief is a rejection of that Word. And you have to connect what the Catechism says about knowing the One True God rightly and trusting Him, you have to connect that with the Catechism's condemnation of superstition. I suppose we can talk about the pots and kettles and the wands and spells of witchcraft with their tarot cards and their Ouija boards. But there is a far more dangerous form of witchcraft. And that far more dangerous form of witchcraft is that man denies the word of God that comes to him and man substitutes in place of that word his own word. That's witchcraft. That's witchcraft because the Word of God is the only true thing in all the world. The Word of God is the only light in all the world. The Word of God is the only power unto salvation. It's the only power that gives wisdom and that gives understanding. The Word of God does. The Word of God especially is that Word of God is preached unto you. And when man takes that word and man says no to the word of the living God, he becomes a witch or a wizard. He now has to have another word. And he must put the power of his own wisdom and salvation in that word that he substitutes for God's word. That's witchcraft. That's soothsaying. That's sorcery. The deliberate, conscious rejection of the Word of God as our only guide and our only authority is witchcraft. What God says is right, you say is wrong. What God says is wrong, you say is right. What God says is true, you say is false. What God says is false, you say is true. Now you have another word. You have another power to lead and guide and direct your life. And that's the power of your own wisdom, the power of your own understanding, the power of your own intellect. And you're a witch. Knowing God rightly is to receive his word. And if you know him, yes, if you know him, you'll trust in him and all his power and all his goodness his grace and his mercy as the one who will do you no harm as the one who seeks your good all the days of your life then you'll expect everything good from him he'll never do you evil never he only does good Then you'll love Him. And you'll fear Him. And you'll glorify Him. And you'll fear to do anything contrary to His will. Don't you want to be that? How often are you that? Thank God for Jesus. who did that and for a spirit by whose power we have but a small beginning of that obedience. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy holy word. We're sorry, Lord, for all our idolatry and witchcraft and sorcery and soothsaying. and all our unbelief. Do not impute that to us, but impute to us Christ and His perfect holiness, love, and obedience, and all His suffering. Impute that to us, and grant us Thy Spirit, that we might give glory unto Thee. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.