Good morning, everyone. Good to be with you all this morning. And I just wanted to say before we get into our reading from Psalm 51 this morning, I wanted to say thank you to everybody who has been praying for Wendy as we kind of await test results this week on the biopsy that's going to be performed tomorrow. That's kind of the update. We have a biopsy scheduled tomorrow. and should Lord willing know the results of that by Wednesday. But we are just so grateful to all of you for your prayers and we know how many of you have been praying and all of the phone calls and all of the notes and the letters and just the well wishes and the blessings that have been lavished upon us and that has really sustained us and really given us a lot of comfort and a lot of courage these last couple of weeks. So please keep praying and we covet your prayers. Wendy's not here this morning because we also have two sick kids, so you can pray for them as well. But we are grateful. As we come before the Lord's throne this morning, we need to come confessing our sins and receiving the greatness of His grace and proclaiming our gratefulness to Him and our love for Him because of what He has done for us. And so, Psalm 51 this morning, David's wonderful words of repentance as he meditates upon his own sinfulness and asks for the Lord's cleansing grace. He says, have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love. According to Your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth and the inward being and teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. And then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem, and then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings, in whole burnt offerings, and then bowls will be offered on your altar. And so this morning, come before Him, confessing your sin to Him, acknowledging your fallenness before Him, praying that He would create a clean heart within you and renew a right spirit within you and restore the joy of salvation to you that would cause you to walk according to His ways. And thank Him for everything that He has done to shower you with His steadfast love and to give you forgiveness and to give you grace and to give you life. Let's pray this morning. Father, You are a great and sovereign and mighty God. And we count it as the greatest of privileges to stand in Your presence as Your people this morning. And we confess, Lord, that we don't deserve to be here. We don't deserve to be on this earth. We don't deserve to be breathing air in our lungs. Because in our sinfulness, we have rebelled against You who have given us life. And you would be fully just, as David says, to speak to us words of judgment and death and condemnation. But by your grace, Father, we continue to live. And by your incredible mercy, you have sent your Son to die the death that we deserve in order that we might live not only on this earth, but eternally with you in your presence. And so, Father, this morning we come confessing our sins before You and pouring out our hearts to You in great thanksgiving for the steadfast love by which You have given us this great salvation and caused us to be able, Father, to be called Your children, sons of the living God. And so, Lord, we ask that this morning You would not allow us to take this lightly or flippantly, that You would not allow us in our hearts to trivialize the great nature of the salvation by which we have been bought and redeemed and reconciled to You. Lord, we confess that sometimes that's easy for us to do. That because of the busyness of our lives and the cares of the world and the temptations and the things around us that enamor us compete for our attention and our affection, that Father, sometimes it's easy for us to forget how precious the name of Jesus Christ is, how precious this great salvation is, how precious a treasure it is that we are able to come into Your presence and bow before Your throne of grace, Lord, and to stand before You with boldness and with confidence and with great joy Because our Savior has paid the price, has shed His blood, and has given us this life. And so Lord, restore to us the joy of salvation this morning. Cause our hearts to be filled and overwhelmed with love and gratitude to You. And Father, may there be nothing in this world that competes for our affections and for our attention. Because Lord, You are the only thing that we have in heaven. and that there is nothing on this earth that we desire besides You. Lord, we praise Your great name this morning because even when we have rebelled against You and broken Your law and gone after our own way, Father, You sent Your Son to die and save us. And so, Lord, help us to stand in Your presence and help us to stand according to this great salvation and give us the strength and the grace that we need to live our lives in a manner that is worthy of the calling by which You have called us. We need Your grace this morning, Lord. We need Your strength this morning, Lord. We need Your Spirit to be present with us this morning. Because in our strength, we can't live in a way that's worthy of You. And we can't worship You in a way that's worthy of Your holiness and Your glory. And so, Lord, pour out Your Spirit and pour out Your grace and give us that strength. And Father, we look to You also for the strength that we need to endure the many trials and the many hardships in our lives. We think of all of those who are sick this morning and not able to be here and ask that You would heal them and that You would comfort them and that You would give their bodies rest. We think of all of those who are traveling today and so not able to be with us and we pray for mercy. And we pray for Your providence as they travel and as they go to the places and see the people and do the things that You have given them to do. Lord, I praise You for this church and we thank You for drawing us all together and for calling us all to come into Your presence and to celebrate Your goodness this morning. And we know that as we do that, as we ascribe worship to You, Father, as we call upon Your name and as we hear from Your Word, Lord, that You will be feeding us with the richest of foods. And so we praise You, Father, for what You will do and what You continue to do in our lives and ask that the result would be Your glory and the increase of Your kingdom and Your fame and Your reputation on this earth. Lord, be pleased this morning to give us that grace and to make Your name known to the community around us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Please rise and receive the Word of God. This morning's text is Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death, their bodies are fat and sleek, they are not in trouble as others are, they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace, violence covers them as a garment, their eyes swell out through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice, loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, How can God know? Is their knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in incense. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places, you make them fall into ruins. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. Like a dream, when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast towards you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." And God's people said, Amen. Well, our Scripture reading today was from Psalm 73, even though our text for today's message is Ezekiel 44. And the reason is that I really believe that both of these chapters of Scripture are focused on the same foundational theme, and that theme is the nearness of God. The nearness of God. In Psalm 73, the psalmist Asaph, he was one of King David's chief musicians and choir masters in the temple. Asaph, I think in Psalm 73, was being honest about his sin. He starts out by acknowledging the goodness of God. So he's a believer. Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but then immediately Asaph turns to confessing that in spite of God's goodness, he has been tempted by the things of the world around him. Tempted almost to the point of sinning, he says, but as for me, my foot had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He looked around him and even though he coveted and cherished the goodness of God, he was envious of the unbelievers, of the wicked people around him who seemed to prosper, who seemed to never have trouble in their lives, who seemed to be fat with all abundance and all food and all wealth in their lives. And he was a little jealous of that. And truth be told, how many Christians can identify with Asaph's confession there? How many Christians have to admit that sometimes the way of the world seems pretty attractive? When you look around and you see people prospering even though they're living wickedly. They're living lives of ease. They're living lives of abundance. And at the same time, Christians, believers all across the globe are suffering for their faith. Asaph, he's the chief choir master. He's the musician to the king of Israel. So he's not exactly living in squalor, is he? He's got it pretty good. But as he looks around and sees the absolute luxury that the wicked live in, and the excess that they seem to have lavished upon them every time they decide that they're going to throw humility and character and integrity to the wind, Asaph has to admit that there's a part of him that's envious. There's a part of him that wants all of that. He goes so far as to say, all in vain have I kept my heart clean. and washed my hands of innocence." That's how enamored his heart sometimes was with the pleasures of this world and with the life of self-indulgence that he saw people all around him living. He wanted a piece of that pie. Until, he says, he was enamored with that indulgent life until verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God. until he stood in the presence of God, until he experienced the nearness of God, until he came into God's house and worshipped Him in His holiness, in His glory, and then, just like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, then Asaph came to understand just how absolutely worthless all of the indulgence and all of the pleasure and all of the stuff that the world has to offer, how worthless all of it is compared with the privilege of being in God's presence. And he realized how fleeting all of the temptations of the world really are. And he realized how really in the end, God will judge everyone who prefers the stuff of this world to Him. Everyone who turn their backs on the Creator in order to worship the creation instead, God will judge them all. Everyone who store up their treasures on earth instead of heaven. Everyone who seeks first the cares of this world instead of His kingdom. and His righteousness, the judgment of God is coming against all of those people. And having gone into the sanctuary and been in the presence of God's holiness, Asaph could say, truly, you set those people in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin. In the end, the way that ultimately seems right to man ultimately leads to destruction, doesn't it? And then on that day of judgment, when all of the world's wisdom is exposed to be absolute foolishness, and when all of the wealth and prosperity that the wicked have amassed proves to be worthless in the final analysis, in eternity, and when all of their fleeting false joy has turned into eternal despair, and when all of their idolatrous pride has been shamed, on that day, nothing Nothing that they have preferred over God and His kingdom will be worth anything, will it? And the only thing that it takes for Asaph to realize this is the presence of his God. Coming into his courts to worship Him, praising Him, having access to the presence of his God is all he needs to know with every fiber of his being that nothing is worth turning your back on God for. Nothing. Whom have I in heaven but You, Lord? There's nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He's better than life itself. Take everything that I love and remove it and take it away. And it's okay, because the presence of God is my good. Just like David says in Psalm 62, I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and your glory, and because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. My soul will be satisfied with you. My soul clings to you. David and Asaph came into the presence of God and beheld His power and His glory and His love, and they came to understand and to realize and to experience that there's nothing that can ever compare with it. There's nothing that can hold a candle to the nearness of God. Asaph says, those who are far from you shall perish, but for me, the nearness of God is my good. Can you say that this morning as God's people? That the nearness of God and it alone is your good? That's what life is all about. is all about the absolutely satisfying and incomparably precious reality of having access to the presence of our God. That's what it's about. And that was the reality that Adam and Eve were created to enjoy in the first place in the Garden of Eden, day by day by day, walking with God in the Garden, created in His image, perfect reflections of His glory and His majesty, fellowshipping with Him and commuting with Him as the essence of what life was on a day-to-day basis. And then they gave it all up. They exchanged all of that for their own way. And they were cast out of the Garden, and they were cast away from His presence. And since that day, that casting away has been what God is graciously and mercifully working to restore. To restore access to Himself. to grant His people reconciliation and adoption, that they might once again live in His presence and dwell with Him forever. He's been working to restore all of that. In the Old Testament, He worked to restore it through the tabernacle and through the temple where He filled the most holy place with the presence of His glory. And then He allowed sinful people to come and to be near to His holiness And the way that He worked that out and allowed for that was by that ongoing, continual sacrifice of animals. But as we saw last week, all of that, that whole Old Testament ceremonial temple sacrificial system was deficient, wasn't it? It was inadequate to deal with the heart of the problem of human depravity at the root level. Hebrews is so clear about that. And even without Hebrews in the New Testament, the Old Testament itself is so clear about that. Because the animals were killed over and over again and the blood was shed year after year after year on the Day of Atonement, coming up to the knees of the high priests. Because so many animals had to be killed and yet the sin of the people was not taken away. Generation after generation, things only got worse and the situation only snowballed. It was a system that was inadequate to deal with the problem of human depravity at the heart level. It couldn't take sin away. It could only cover sin temporarily, and it could only cover sin imperfectly, because again, those sacrifices had to be repeated. But remember, as we saw last week, It was a system that was deficient by design. God didn't mess it up. He made it that way on purpose in order to show just how desperate our sin really is, because even all of that blood could never do anything to cleanse it. And it was God's way of showing how we need something far, far superior to animal blood and animal sacrifice. Far superior to priests who are themselves sinful and living under the curse of death. far superior even to temples that are made with sinful human hands. All of that was a foreshadowing of the greater reality of Jesus Christ, His high priestly ministry, His better sacrifice, His blood, and the eternal redemption that He has accomplished. Listen to how the book of Hebrews puts it so clearly. Hebrews 8 and verse 5, Speaking of the priests who served in the temple in Jerusalem at the time that the book of Hebrews was written, and the author says that they serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tabernacle, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. You see, everything that went on. in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, down to its very design, all of it was patterned after the heavenly reality. In Exodus chapter 25, as God gave absolutely precise and exacting specifications for how the tabernacle was to be built, and He gave those things to Moses, its size, its exact dimensions, the materials even that were to be used in its construction, and the furnishing, and the utensils, and the clothing that the priests were to wear, down to every last detail, all of it was to be made precisely as God specified. And He said there in Exodus 25 to Moses, see to it that you make everything after the pattern that exists for them, which is being shown to you here on this mountain. There was a pattern that already existed for what God was telling Him to build. For the tabernacle and everything that went into it, it was all patterned after something that already existed. And Hebrews 8 tells us, that it was being patterned after the heavenly reality, the heavenly throne room of God. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that when we die and all get to heaven, that we'll see something that looks remarkably like the Old Testament tabernacle physically looked? I don't think that's necessarily what it means. I don't think that It means that we're going to understand what heaven actually looks like through what the tabernacle looked like, but that we're going to understand what the glory of God's presence and His worship is like as it is reflected in the very architecture and structure and design of that tabernacle. Who God is. His holiness. His righteousness, all of His attributes, His glory, how He is to be approached, how He must be worshipped, the majesty that must be ascribed to Him, all of that heavenly reality was to be reflected in the tabernacle and in its ceremonies here on earth. And all of that Old Testament tabernacle and temple worship pointed ahead to Jesus Christ, of course, the true High Priest. the perfect sacrifice, the new and better covenant in His blood. And so, you see, it wasn't just that when Jesus came, He fulfilled everything that the Old Testament temple was. He did that, but it's even more than that. It's that everything that the Old Testament temple was in the first place was patterned after Christ. after the heavenly reality of Him and His holiness and His glory and His worship. That's what Moses was designing the temple to reflect in the first place. In Colossians 2.17, Paul says that all of the Old Testament ceremonies and rites, the Sabbath days and the festivals and the dietary restrictions, all of the temple regulations, Paul says that these things are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. And in His incarnation, you see, that heavenly reality, the substance itself came down and dwelt among us, showing us the glory of God in human form and doing everything that the shadows of the Old Testament system were designed to do but could never do. Removing everything. that separated us from God, cleansing us and forgiving us, redeeming us, and reconciling us to the presence of our holy God forever, and granting us eternal life in that presence. David says to God in Psalm 16, in your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. And this is what Jesus Christ did. who is Himself forever enthroned at God's right hand interceding for us. He's there guaranteeing us by His blood the fullness of joy that is ours. Because in Paul's words in Ephesians 2.18, through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. access to God, the privilege and the right through Christ to draw near to our holy God, and to be able to say in a way that is even more profound than Asaph could have ever said, that the nearness of God is our good. And it's that nearness of God, the possibility of His presence that Ezekiel unfolds in visionary form in chapter 44. The focus, of course, Chapter 43 last week was on the return of the glory of God to His temple. The glory of God that had left the temple back in chapter 10 has now returned through the east gate, and the question that chapter 44 poses is now that God has filled His temple, who may enter into His courts? Who may be present with Him there? And so really this chapter is posing the same question that David poses in Psalm 24 when he asks, who may ascend the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? And the answer that David gives is this, he who has clean hands and a pure heart. who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully, access to the presence of God is restricted on the basis of holiness and righteousness and purity. That's what the whole design of the Old Testament temple shows. God's holiness is pure and no impurity may come into His presence. And those who draw near to Him if they are impure in their hearts, will be destroyed by Him. God's holiness is pure. And it's kept separate so that He may not be defiled. And then on the other side of the coin, it's kept separate from impurity so that those who are impure may not be destroyed. Because being in the presence of God is deadly for those who are impure of heart. And that's the message of this chapter. in the new temple that Ezekiel envisions, God's holiness will not be defiled by any impurity and all of those who draw near will not have to live in fear of being destroyed by His holiness." That's the picture that he's painting. The first thing that we see here is that the gate by which the glory of God returns to the temple, the east gate, is here in chapter 44 in verse 1, it's shut. And in verse 2, God tells Ezekiel, this gate shall remain shut. It shall not be opened and no one shall enter by it, therefore it shall remain shut and only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate. and go out by the same way that the vestibule was the inner part of the gate, past all of those guard stations that would have been armed as one passed from the outside in. Once you ran that gauntlet, there was a vestibule that you could come into and the prince, whoever he is, wasn't able to pass through the east gate to get from the outside in to the temple. He had to go through the north gate or the south gate and then go around from the inside and sit in the vestibule to eat His food. The gate is shut forever. Why? It's significant for several reasons. Most basically, the closing of the gate that God had come in through signifies that He's there to stay. He's not leaving through the same gate that He came in. Last week in chapter 43, as He returned to the temple, He said in verse 7, Son of Man, this is the place of My throne, and this is the place of the soles of My feet where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. He's not leaving. Once God comes into this temple, He's here forever, and Ezekiel is given a visual confirmation of that here in chapter 44 as the east gate is shut and sealed. And then secondly, sealing that east gate signifies restriction of access to the outside world. The pagan nations that had once come in and defiled the temple and the presence of God, this is sacred ground now. And not just anyone can come in whenever and however they want to. The way to access God's presence is guarded and carefully regulated. And then thirdly, access to God, even though it is granted to some, like this prince that we're introduced to here in verse 3, but he's not identified, even though some people do have access to God's presence, it isn't on the basis of their own merits or their own status. We don't really know who this prince is, and honestly, I don't think it's really very important in my view. Some people think that he represents Jesus Christ, but I reject that because there's all sorts of things that the prince isn't allowed to do. He can't come in the east gate, and he can't ascend the steps into the inner courts with the priests, and he certainly can't go into the Holy of Holies. For these reasons, I don't think that we can say at all that the prince here represents Jesus Christ. He's a person who has to stay down below where the priests, he can't even go where the priests are able to go. And he has to eat his meal at the vestibule of the east gate as far away from the temple complex as you can get while still being inside the gates. I think that he's here as a part of the vision that Ezekiel has given in order to make the point. And the point that God is making is that even though He's the Prince, even though He's the most prominent figure in all of Israel, that the status that He has by itself doesn't guarantee Him anything in terms of gaining access to God's presence. The point of this portion of the temple vision is access to God. And the Prince can't get it just because He's the Prince. you gain access purely by the grace of God and not by your own merits or your own status. Access is the key here, and that's made clear in verses 4 and 5, where the vision sort of rewinds for a minute, and once again, Ezekiel is seeing the glory of the Lord filling the temple there in verse 4. And then in verse 5, God says to him, Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning the statutes of the temple and all of its laws, and mark well the entrance to the temple, and all of the exits from its sanctuary. That's what's significant of this chapter. The entrances and the exits. The access that is being regulated to God by the laws and the statutes of God. The continued presence of God is contingent on the proper control of access to these areas. That's what the temple vision is showing us. And again, like we saw last week, what God is showing in deliberate contrast to what had gone on in the Old Testament temple, the one that had become so badly defiled with the sin and the idolatry of the people. It was a failure to control access to the Old Testament temple that brought the wrath and judgment of God down upon them, wasn't it? That's exactly what God says in verse 6. "...Say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in My sanctuary profaning My temple when you offer to Me food and the fat and the blood. You have broken My covenants in addition to all your abominations, and you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge for you in My sanctuary. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, no foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel shall enter my sanctuary." The problem in the past was that impurity was allowed into the presence of God. Foreigners were let in and the problem wasn't their ethnicity or their nationality. It wasn't a racial problem. The problem was the uncircumcision of their hearts and the impurity of their lives. They were unrepentant and they were idolatrous. They were unclean of spirit and they were living in immorality and in unbelief and in rebellion against God, but they were being let into the temple And 2 Kings 11 even records that this kind of people were being led into the temple and even being employed as temple guards. The temple guards were supposed to keep the unclean out. How can they do that when they themselves are unclean? That's what verse 8 is talking about when God says, you haven't kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge for you in My sanctuary. Can you imagine that? The guards are supposed to be keeping paganism and idolatry away from the holiness of God, so what good is it to hire pagan, idolatrous guards? It's sort of like hiring a kleptomaniac to house-sit for you. That doesn't make a lot of sense, and it's not a good idea. But that's exactly what the Israelites were doing. And that's how the defilement and the impurity was allowed into the presence of God's holiness. But God says no more. that sin won't be allowed in the New Temple. Verse 9 clearly says that the uncircumcised of heart will have no rights of access into the New Covenant sanctuary. And the ones who are given the guard duty in the New Temple are no longer foreigners and pagans, uncircumcised of heart. They're the Levites. The priests will be the new guards who keep the uncircumcised idolaters out. Verse 10. but the Levites who went far from Me, they sinned, they were going astray from Me after their idols. When Israel went astray, they shall bear their punishments." So they're no longer allowed to go up into the holy place and make sacrifice like they once were. Now they're relegated to being ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and ministering in the temple. So the Levites were culpable for the sin that was going on in the temple, weren't they? When the idols were being brought in to be worshipped, it was the Levitical priests who were administering that false worship to the people in front of those false gods and idols. And they have to bear their punishment for that. And that means that their ministry does not include access to the Holy of Holies in this vision. Verse 13, "...they shall not come near to me, to serve me as a priest, nor come near any of my holy things, and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame in the abominations that they have committed." And again, the emphasis that that picture draws for us is on the separation of the holy from the profane, from the defilement of idolatry. God is saying these things to the exiles in Babylon, remember? That's who this is all addressed to, first and foremost, and He wants them to feel the weight of their sin. To feel the shame of what they've done in their idolatry, and to understand that that idolatry will no longer be allowed in God's presence ever. And then by contrast, to the people who remain in the outer courts of this new temple, and the Levites, who have watched over the gates but can't go into the holy place. By contrast, to these whose access to God is so restricted, in this vision, it's the sons of Zadok, the Zadokite priests who are given the privilege of closer access to the inner courts and to the altar to offer sacrifices on the altar itself. Zadok was the high priest in the time of David and Solomon. And he was known for his righteousness and for his integrity in contrast to some of the other high priests around him. Zadok is held up as the standard bearer in the Old Testament, the one to aspire after in the office of high priest, and verse 15 says, that in contrast to the compromise of the Levites and the people, the sons of Zadok kept charge of my sanctuary when my people went astray from me, and because of that, they're able to come near to God and minister to Him, because they were unstained. But in this vision, even the sons of Zadok aren't perfectly holy. And so their access is limited to the inner courts. Even they aren't allowed into the Holy of Holies. In this vision, no one goes into the Holy of Holies except for God. Not even a high priest. Not even once a year on the Day of Atonement. God alone fills that holy space in the New Temple so that no impurity whatsoever will ever be allowed in His presence. That's the point here. The point is not to identify who the Levites are. and who the Zadokites are in the New Covenants, or who it is that has the greater privilege in God's Kingdom. Somebody said maybe one's the Baptists and one's the Presbyterians. One gets to be closer and the other has to stay farther away. That's not the point. The point isn't that there are separate groups who are represented by Levites and Zadokites. The whole point of this part of the temple vision, I believe, is to show that in the new temple there will be, and there can be, absolutely no intrusion of impurity into the presence of God's holiness. That's the whole point. and to show that access to the actual presence of God in His sanctuary in the Holy of Holies doesn't depend on anything to do with the people of God themselves. You can't ever get in on your own merits. Your status can't get you in. Even the prince sits outside and eats his bread in the vestibule. Your righteousness can't get you in because no one, even the Zadokites, are not righteous enough to be in God's presence. And your heritage can't get you in. Even being the son of Zadok can't get you in. The whole vision depicting these various levels of restriction from God's presence paints a picture that when this temple is built, nothing will ever be allowed to defile it. No impurity. will ever be allowed to defile the presence of God again. And notice something interesting here. This is fascinating with reference to the Zadokites. In the New Temple, the holy and the profane are kept strictly separated for two reasons. First of all, which we've just seen, to keep from defiling the presence of God. That's laid out in verses 17 and 18 very clearly. The Zedekites are required to wear linen clothes instead of wool because linen breathes more, whereas wool is hot and it makes them sweat. And their sweat, according to Deuteronomy 23, would be considered unclean in the presence of God. So they can't bring that into His presence. But secondly, look at verse 19. This is fascinating. God says, "...and when they go out into the outer court of the people, they shall put off the garments in which they had been ministering, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments..." Why? "...lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments." Isn't that amazing? Now that doesn't mean that if the Zadokite priests didn't change their clothes and somehow brought some holiness that was on their clothing out to the people, that the people might become more holy themselves or more righteous, more sanctified. That's not what God is saying here. If that's the sense of it, then that would be a good thing, wouldn't it? Let them out. Sprinkle some of that all around. If coming into the contact of the clothing of the priests caused you to be more holy, then by all means, spread the holiness. Now, what God means here is that these sacred garments that had been in His presence might actually be dangerous to the people in the outer courts who are sinful in their hearts. Because in their sinfulness, if they come into contact with His holiness, even in that way, it might kill them. Just like Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, who offered impure fire and incense in the presence of God and so immediately were killed, burned alive. Or like Uzzah, the man who reached out his hand to stabilize the Ark of the Covenant as it was being transported and it started to fall off of the cart, and Uzzah put his hand up to keep it from falling, and immediately when he touched the Ark, he was stricken dead. because he, a sinner, had come into contact directly with the holiness of God and it was fatal to him. See, the sanctuary of God was not a place that you just entered into lightly or flippantly. It was a danger zone for sinners. Because the presence of God is fatal for sinners. It's kind of like a nuclear power plant. Not just anyone could go wandering in there. They keep people out. There's armed guards that make sure that people who aren't supposed to be in there don't go in there. There are strict precautions that keep people out. And one of the reasons is because the radioactivity is dangerous to anybody who might come in. Anyone who goes into the reactor itself would be killed by it if they weren't properly shielded, properly clothed. And if they came out alive, they'd never be allowed to go outside because they'd bring the radioactivity with them and contaminate everything that they touched and everyone that they touched. And so their clothes would have to be burned specially disposed of, and the people who do go in have to wear that special clothing to protect them and to shield them and to make sure that the radiation isn't transmitted to the outside world. That's sort of the picture that Ezekiel's painting here in this vision. It's a picture of a temple where the concern for keeping the holy and the profane separated is heightened way beyond the levels even of Old Testament worship. It's a containment chamber that prevents God's name from being defiled ever again and ensures that His holiness will not be fatal to His people. That they will be properly shielded and protected. Now sometimes when God speaks in His Word, through His prophets, He speaks in picturesque ways, doesn't He? Sometimes he speaks in a very straightforward way, laying out commands or records of history very clearly, very understandably. But then at other times, he speaks through dreams and images and pictures. Like when Joseph, the youngest of Jacob's twelve sons, God gave him two dreams, didn't He? Joseph saw eleven stars that were bowing down to one brighter star. and he saw eleven wheat stalks that were all bowing down to one taller stalk of wheat? Now what was Joseph seeing there? Was he seeing real stars and wheat stalks that actually existed in the real world? Or was God using those images like parables to teach Joseph something? That even though he was the youngest son of the twelve, he'd be the one that God would use Bring about His purposes. Or what about Jacob's dream? When he saw a ladder ascending up into heaven and stretching all the way down to earth with angels climbing up and down. Was Jacob seeing something that actually exists somewhere in physical reality? Could someone discover that ladder sometime and start climbing it and see where it goes? Or bump into an angel on the way down? Or was God using that imagery of a ladder to show Joseph that whereas we can't ever make our way up into heaven to be with God, God is sending His blessings down on us? Isn't that the point of that vision? And don't forget what Jesus said to Nathanael in John 1.51 about that vision. He said, Nathanael, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. He says, Nathanael, I'm the ladder. Right? I'm the one who brings the ultimate blessings of God down from heaven to people who could never climb up and get them on their own. You see how God uses pictures sometimes to teach us about His plans to redeem us? And very, very often when God does that, He does it through dreams and visions that He gives to His prophets. Like Jacob's and Joseph's, or like Daniel's dreams four terrifying beasts and giant statues. He wasn't seeing real things. He was seeing images that had meaning in terms of the world around him. Or Zechariah's night visions. And if you take them too physically and too literally, they make no sense. A man riding a red horse, standing on the beach surrounded by myrtle trees. What's that about? Well, each part of that vision means something that God is teaching to Zechariah about the fact that he will be present with his people in the midst of trouble to protect them. He has visions about workmen smashing horns into pieces with hammers and women flying around in baskets off to Babylon. God's using the imagery to teach him something. They're not visions of things I think that really exist in time and space. They were images that God used to signify His plans and His purposes for His people, like the sword that John saw coming out of Jesus' mouth in Revelation chapter 1. It's not a physical sword that is coming out there as Christ sits at the right hand of God, and when He returns, that might lop off somebody's head if they're standing too close to Him. It's God's way of showing us that Jesus' Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And I really believe that the same thing is true of Ezekiel's visions. I really don't believe that they are visions of things that exist in real time, in real space, any more than Jacob's ladder did or that sword did. But just like Jacob's ladder, These visions teach us something about God's plans and promises and purposes for redemption. And those plans and those promises and purposes find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And so through this vision of a new temple, God showed Ezekiel a series of images that signify great things about his future plans to redeem his people. What does he seek? This ex-priest turned prophet when God abandoned His people to the Babylonians. What does he see as he's sitting there by the Kabar Canal, surrounded by exiles who are filled with despair because their whole nation that was built by the God who was present with them has now been destroyed because their idolatry has run them out? What does he see? He sees a vision that teaches him that beyond God's purposes of judgment is His plan of perfect mercy. He sees that there is coming a day when God will return to His people in love and grace and nothing will ever separate them from Him again. That's what he sees. Because there will be an absolutely impenetrable barrier placed between His holiness and any impurity. And because the atoning sacrifice that is made in His presence is perfect and is undefiled, so there won't ever be anything to drive Him away from them or any possibility that His holiness would destroy them. They're perfectly insulated. That's what He sees. the way in which the perfect separation of God's holiness from all that is profane and corrupt and wicked, that it guarantees God's abiding presence and nearness with His people forever. That's what Ezekiel sees. And I believe that the time has come. And I believe that we're in that place where we can say again in a way that Asaph could never have dreamed of being able to say that the nearness of God is our good. Because even though we're sinners, His holiness will not destroy us because there's a barrier that insulates us and it is the blood of Jesus Christ. And even though we're sinners, we can stand in the presence of His glory blameless and with great joy because we don't defile His presence, because we are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the barrier. God has returned to His people in the temple of His blessed Son, and He is the only temple where no impurity and no defilement and no idolatry can ever intrude. And He is the only altar where perfect sacrifice could be made. And He is the only one in whom I can stand in God's presence as a sinner and never fear condemnation, that His holiness will undo me. Because again, the blood of righteousness of Christ are my covering. And now, we are all able to stand in the Presence's glory, blameless, with great joy. Now I can draw near to Him with full assurance of faith because I've been saved to the uttermost, Hebrews says. Now I can draw near to His throne of grace in the tabernacle made without hands that is in the heavenly places, and I can do it with confidence, not fear. Paul's words in Romans 8, God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled. And so because God has done what the law of the temple, what the Levitical sacrifices could never do, Now I know that there is no condemnation. Now I know that there is no possibility that as I come before Him, His holiness will destroy me because I am in Christ. And my life is hidden in Him with God. Because He loved me. And He gave Himself up for me. And by that love, I've been given the right to be called not an outsider, not a foreigner, not an idolater, not an enemy, but a son of God. I've been reconciled to Him and I've received adoption as His child. I am no longer a slave, but a son and an heir of the promises through God." And nothing can take that away. Do you believe that this morning? Whether you believe that that is the fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision or not, do you believe that nothing can separate you from the love of God which is yours in Christ Jesus? Because as you stand in the presence of God and have access to His throne, your sin doesn't defile Him and His holiness cannot destroy you, because it rained down on the head of His own Son instead of you. And so I believe with Paul, And I can say with Him that I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will ever be able to separate me from the love of God. Nothing. Ever. And it's on the basis of all of that, everything that Jesus Christ has done by His grace to grant us access to the Father that we can truly say the nearness of God is our good. That's the privilege and the right that He's granted us by the blood of His Son to draw near. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I have no one in heaven but Him. I want nothing else on earth besides Him. Paul says in Philippians 3.8, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, Paul says, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from obeying the law, but a righteousness which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness of God that comes by faith. That's the Gospel. Again, His blood. And by His righteousness, we have gained Him. And in Him, we have gained access to the Father and stand in His presence, not afraid of being consumed by the raging fires of His holiness, but blameless, with great joy. That needs to transform your life today. People live their lives because they don't have confidence that they are blameless before God. And they live trying to cope with their guilt and their shame and their fear all by themselves. Because they don't really trust in their heart of hearts that nothing can separate them from Him. And they don't really trust in their heart of hearts that if they drew near to that temple, if they had that vision that Ezekiel saw, that they wouldn't be turned to dust immediately. But you can trust that. And you can believe that. And it will transform your fear and your guilt and your shame into love and gratitude and peace and joy. And that will change everything about your life. And all of your relationships and your worship and the glory that you bring to God. Bow your head this morning. And really think about your life. Think about the things that you treasure. Think about the things that are most precious to you, more precious to you maybe than the nearness of your God. The things that you'd rather be doing than drawing near to Him. What is it? Is it a person? Is it a thing? Is it money? Is it stuff? Is it entertainment? It's all rubbish. It's all just rubbish that fades away and gets destroyed. But the nearness of God is your good. And you can stand near to Him boldly. and with confidence, knowing that nothing can ever separate you from Him. Heavenly Father, this morning, we pray that You would impress this truth on our hearts in a way that changes our lives. Help us to be satisfied with You. Teach us to say that there is nothing that we desire more than You. And impress upon us the goodness of Your nearness today. so that everything else in our lives might fade away and fill our hearts with an unceasing desire, Lord, to draw near to You and to dwell in Your presence. And as we do that, we pray that You will fill us with that grace that is transforming and that You will wash us and that You will cleanse us and that You will heal us and that You will grow us for your own glory. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.