Good evening. Open up your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel. We'll further our study in this great, often neglected book, Ezekiel. Now today we are in chapter 36. We will pick up in verse 16 and run through the remainder of the chapter. But before we do, I just thought I'd lay a few of the cards on the table. There's always some foundational or fundamental truths that we carry into Bible interpretation. There's some things that we just know that Scripture teaches and we carry them with us as we're reading any passage. And I'm going to tell you right now, here's a couple of them that I'm carrying into this with me. One is Israel is the people of God. You can turn to Jeremiah 31 if you want to. It's just one book prior to Ezekiel, one book to your left. Jeremiah 31, verse 35 is where I'm going to be reading. But we also have the promise that God made to Abraham, that they would be a people. He would bring a people from him. They would be an everlasting nation. But in Jeremiah 31, verse 35, beginning there, we read this. This says the Lord Yahweh. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." So when you look out and you see the sun giving its light during the day, you look out at night and you see the moon and the stars, you go to the beach and you see the waves giving and making their roar, then you can know that, as it says right here, that the offspring of Israel has not ceased from being a nation before the Lord. We can continue, verse 37. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel, for all that they have done, declares the Lord." So in spite of all that they had done, they're still a nation and a people of God. Look, one of the things that to me is just amazing as you read through Scripture is Israel, and for that matter us, you can't mess up the plans of God. You can't botch the purposes of God. Even in their failures, they further the purposes of God. Even in their failures. So, Paul was in good company. Maybe Paul looked outside and saw the sun was still giving its light by day and the moon and stars were giving their light by night when Paul asked in Romans 11.1, I ask you then, has God rejected His people? No. By no means. No, no, no. Don't even consider it. Verse 2, God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Paul stressed that and the Lord stressed that. So Israel is the people of God. Number two that I'm carrying into this, these are some things that are kind of undergirding this passage. Israel, the land of Israel, is His land. Back in Ezekiel 36, We read this in verse 5. Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all of Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession. You could glance down in verse 20. Ezekiel 36 verse 20. When they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, and that people said of them, These are the people of God, Back to point one, the nation of Israel is the people of God. These are the people of God, and yet they had to go out of His land. This is God's land. He says as much in Leviticus 25 when He tells them, do not sell your land in perpetuity, for the land is mine. But a sub-point of that is, He has given this land to them. That's in verse 17. Son of man with the house of Israel lived in their own land. So they had a land. They defiled it by their ways and their deeds. So this is the Lord's land that He had given to them. This is really driven home in Genesis 17 verse 8. I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." So the nation of Israel, they are the people of God. The land that He had given to them, He gave to them as an everlasting possession. Those are two things that I'm carrying into this. I guess the third point, if I want to just build on it, is this language that He uses over and over, everlasting, everlasting. So if the people of Abraham are to be an everlasting nation, they will not cease from being a nation before him as long as the sun shines and the moon and the stars give their light at night. So if that doesn't have an expiration date, If the land that he had given to them as an everlasting possession doesn't have an expiration date, then we can have great confidence in the new covenant that we're partakers in doesn't have an expiration date. You follow me? To me, it should terrify us a bit when we say, no, Abraham's not, the people of Israel are not a people of God. The land is not theirs as an everlasting possession because what does that do with the language we read over here? You follow me? I think it's important that we understand God to mean everlasting when He says everlasting. So those are a few things I'm carrying into this passage before we get started. So a little bit of context before we jump into chapter 36. The people of God, Israel, has been cast out of their land. His people have been cast out of His land. They're in exile. They're in Babylon. Their homes have been destroyed. The temple has been burned. The city has been ravaged. Look in chapter 37, verse 11. Surely y'all can find that. So his people have been cast out of the land, in exile, in Babylon, homes destroyed, temple burned, city ravaged. You see what they're saying, 3711, Israel saying, our hope is lost. We are indeed cut off. There's no one to seek them, no one to save them. You see their despair? And so the Lord speaks in chapter 34. We went over there for three weeks. And he begins by condemning the false shepherds of Israel, those who only fattened and fed themselves and never tended to those who needed to be healed, never sought the lost, never sought after the strayed, never rescued any. They were only after self-gain. And so the Lord says that he himself would be their good shepherd. He would fulfill the role of the Good Shepherd. And part of the role of the Good Shepherd in Ezekiel 34 was He would seek and rescue those who had been scattered. He would bring them into their own land. He would cause them to dwell securely in their own land. So this is the promise that He made them in chapter 34, that they're not cut off, their hope is not lost. He will seek them, He will find them, He will rescue them, He will heal them, He will feed them, He will shepherd them, and they will dwell securely in their land. They're still His people. This is still His land, and He still will make good on His promises. So now we take note of Israel's history. We take note of their future. And let's not let the current state of affairs alter our scripture interpretation. Don't let it change the way we interpret the scripture because after their exile into Babylon, the surrounding nations swept in and laid claim to the land. Even to this day. We read this in verse 2 of chapter 36. Todd had this last week. Thus says the Lord God, because the enemy said of you, Aha! The ancient heights, really speaking of the land of Israel, has become our possession. You see, they swept in and took possession of the land. You see this even in the current state of affairs with the Israel-Hamas war. Those who are pro-Palestine and all these pro-Palestinian rallies, what's one of their cries? They cry, from the river to the sea. They want Palestine to have control from the river, the Jordan River, to the sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the land of Israel. They're still staking claim to this. They're still, as it says in verse 5, chapter 36, 5, the rest of the nations and all of Edom who gave my land to themselves. possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt. When God judged the people of Israel, He drugged them off in the Babylon for their sins. They did this with joy. It was with great joy that they saw this because they hated the people of Israel. And so they lay claim to the land and still to this very day fight tooth and nail. There still remains this struggle for the land to this very day. Israel's not dwelling in their land securely as was the promise in Ezekiel 34. They shall be secure in the land. They're not dwelling securely. Ever since the Babylonian exile, they've not dwelt securely in their land. But yet we read the passage of Ezekiel 34 and we see that the Lord is going to clear the land and plant them there, but He's not kind of shooing them away as you would do maybe a puppy or some stray animal. He's going to destroy them. He's going to destroy them and plant His people in their land and they would dwell in peace and prosperity. That's what Ezekiel 34 says. It's going to be echoed here in Ezekiel 36. So as we come to this, with all that being said, we have a couple of options on how we can run to this passage. Option 1, you could say, well, these promises to Israel are not to be taken literal. They are to be spiritual. They are to be spiritualized, right? They're not literal. And Todd kind of mentioned last week that you should always take a literal, grammatical, historical, hermeneutic approach to Scripture. But these promises are not to be taken literal, they're to be spiritualized. That's option one. Option two, and to be fair, I hadn't heard anybody say this, but option two would be the Lord didn't completely fulfill His role as a Good Shepherd. That is an option. He either didn't do it, He didn't do exactly what He said He would do, it is to be spiritualized, or option three, These are literal promises. They are certain, and therefore, they must still yet be future. Okay, that's the option we're going with. So now that you know the interpretation that I'm going to approach this with and the undergirding I have that Israel is His people and it's still His land, it's still their land, He's given it to them for an everlasting possession, let's start looking at this passage. So the title of this sermon will be, Displaced but Not Replaced. Israel is displaced, but they're not replaced. In the section we're going to cover tonight, there's really going to be the answer given to two questions. The first question is going to be answered in verses 16 through 21. The question could go like this, if we're your people, and they are, and this land is given to us as an everlasting possession, and it is, why are we in Babylon? Why are we not in our land? Let's read verses 16 through 21. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land. They defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways were before me like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds, I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, and that the people said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the nations to which they came." So why are they not in the land? The answer is obvious. Their way of life was as unclean as a woman in her menstrual impurity. That's what it says. And if you notice in verse 17, it says, they defiled it by their ways. They defiled the land. Even the land was defiled by their manner of life. Maybe this kind of harkens back to the Law of Leviticus 15. The woman during her menstrual impurity there was considered unclean. Everything she touched was unclean. Everything she laid on was unclean. Everything she sat on was unclean. That's where they are. Their life was so vile and so unclean that it even defiled the land. So we're going to move on. In verse 18 it says, So I poured out on my wrath I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed, for the idols which they had defiled it." So, two things right here. You can either have this pointing out two sins or one particular sin. Like it could be saying this. that I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land." They had shed innocent blood in the land. That's absolutely true. You can read about that through the Minor Prophets. "...and for the idols which they had defiled." That's again true. Jeremiah, who is prophesying at the exact same time, writes this. Judah has as many gods as they have towns. And they have as many altars as they have streets. So all the streets in Jerusalem, they had an altar for every street that's in Jerusalem and for every town they had a god. Look, they were headlong into idol worship. Or it's two sins he could be addressing there, or it could be one particular sin where he says, for the blood that they had shed in the land for the idols. He's speaking of child sacrifice here. Look, that's not new. It's sick, but it's not new. Chapter 16, verse 36 says this, "...because of the blood of your children that you gave to them," being the little g-gods, the idols. Chapter 20, verse 31, he says this, "...when you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire." Chapter 23, verse 37, for they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them, the idols, for food the children with whom they had borne to me." They were offering up their children to these little G gods. It goes on in 2339. This is what's so startling. It says, "...for when they had slaughtered their children and sacrificed to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it." You see, they didn't dabble in idolatry. They were a headlong in idolatry. They were a sinful, rebellious people worshipping idols of wood and stone, sacrificing their children. And it actually says that they were defiling themselves with all your idols to this day, in Ezekiel's day. They're in Babylon still worshipping idols to this day, Ezekiel's day, under judgment for worshipping idols, in judgment still worshipping idols. So again, this could be two sins. shedding innocent blood out of worship, or it could be the one sin of child sacrifice that they're shedding innocent blood for the idols, which that would be the way I would lean. Verse 19, I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries in accordance with their ways and their deeds. I judged them, I judged them, I judged them. The Lord is the one who brought about this judgment, The Lord poured out His wrath on them, scattering them, judging them, and He does so according to their ways and their deeds. Verses 20 and 21. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned My holy name. And that the people said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of His land. but I have concern for my holy name with which the house of Israel hath profaned among the nations to which they came." Look, it's very clear right here that God is going to act for His namesake. When it says His name, it's not His name as in Brian. It's talking about His character, the whole, the totality of who God is. All His attributes and all His character is what's encompassed with that word. So, when they lived in the land of Canaan, when they lived in the land that He had given to them, they profaned His name by their wicked lifestyle. So, for His name's sake, He rightly and perfectly judges them right? Sending them out, scattering them, judging them, but there's an effect to this judgment. Now the people are saying, these are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of His land. See, it presented Yahweh, the God of Israel, as an impotent, powerless, weak, unable to keep His people. Overpowered by the Babylonian gods, That's the way a polytheist would have saw this. You see, His perfect judgment on them for their good gave Him a black eye. But you see, God doesn't cover up the sins of His people like a parent who's so concerned with his name that he doesn't address the sins of his children. He exposes the sins of His people. He chastens them. He judges them. This is amazing and heart-wrenching all at the same time that God is for Himself and God is for the believer. And that's something we all know. We probably recite verses and passages of Scripture and never really hone in or zero in on that particular phrase. Psalm 23 is one of the most common psalms, or most well-known psalms, right? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me by still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. God is for God and God is for His people. So this is something that kind of perplexed me. How can God be for Himself and not be selfish? Don't throw rocks. Because one of the most selfless acts was God lowering Himself, as He does in Philippians, right? Taking on flesh, living among sinful men, giving the best He had, He gave His Son. And you see, those selfless acts, we could say, or acts of mercy, acts of grace, are for our good and His glory. Our greatest good is found in Him. Which you could take it all the way back to the fall. All the way back to the fall. What was Eve doing? Eve was seeking fulfillment and pleasure in something other than God. And we shake our head, but we do it every day. And here, again, God is for God. and our greatest good is found in Him. And it's in His goodness, His namesake right here that He's going to act because they have profaned His name for far too long. And the Lord stresses that five times in this passage. They have profaned His holy name. They're wicked, and God is just and perfect in judging them. So why would God seek them? Why would God save them? Why would He rescue them, feed them, heal them, protect them? Why? Again, this is the second question that's going to be answered in 22 through 36. We'll just start reading. Therefore say to the house of Israel. You know, they have profaned His name, right? So say to them, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I'm going to act. but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate my holiness of my great name, which you have profaned among the nations, and which you profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. And from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, and I will put it within you. I will remove the heart of stone from 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 be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God, and I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain, and make it abundant, and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that are not good. and you will loathe yourself for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord. Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God on that day. I will cleanse you from all your iniquities. I will cause the cities to be inhabited, the waste places to be rebuilt. The land that was desolate shall be tilled." Instead of being the desolation that it was, and the sight of all who pass by, they will say, the land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden. And the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord. I rebuilt the ruined cities and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord, I have spoken, and I will do it. Thus says the Lord God." God says, the Lord God, this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them, to increase their people like a flock, like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feast. So shall the way cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Then they will know that I am the Lord. So again, he starts off in verse 22. It's not for your sake that I'm going to act. It's for the sake of my holy name. The nations have belittled the God of Israel for far too long. The nation made light of the promises of God. Those who would try to rob Him of His glory be warned He's going to act. He's going to be vindicated. He says that in verse 23. Verse 23 says, and I will vindicate my holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations. And the nations will know that I am the Lord when I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. When I vindicate, that means prove. It can be taken that way. When I prove my holiness, the holiness means he's other than, there's none like him, he's set apart. So what he's saying is pretty much what he says in Isaiah. For I am God and there is no other. There's no other. I'm holy, I'm different, I'm other, I'm set apart. I am God and there is none like me. Isaiah 46. So here's what the Lord will bring about that will cause the nations to know when, as it says in verse 24, and I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. gather from where they have been scattered." He had scattered them. He's going to gather them. He's going to bring them into their own land. It says here, verse 25, He's going to cleanse them from all their uncleanness. All their uncleanness. Actually, in that parallel passage, Jeremiah 31, the promise of the new covenant, it says there, Jeremiah 31, 34, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. I will cleanse them from all their uncleanness, and from all their idols, I will cleanse them." Then he starts talking, I will give you a new heart, a new spirit. Remove the heart of stone from your flesh, give you a new heart. Removing the heart of stone, giving them a new heart, a new spirit. This spirit would be with them, this spirit would be in them. They will know Him, they will walk in His ways. Jesus really points to this New Covenant promise in John 14. We fortunately have just went through that here. And He says that. He says, I will send the Spirit. It's for your benefit that I go away. I'll send the Helper. I'll send the Spirit. It will be with you. It will be in you. This is one of the New Covenant promises that we as Gentile believers have today. And it's a blessing. It's an amazing blessing that the Old Testament saints didn't enjoy. And you shall dwell, look in verse 28, you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. He had said in verse 24, I will bring you into your own land. But verse 28 makes it clear that it's not simply any land. This isn't 40 acres in Florida, right? You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. The land of Canaan that he had promised as an everlasting possession. He hadn't forgot. And he says, you shall be my people and I will be your God. A renewed, restored relationship, 29 and 30. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness, I will summon the grain and make it abundant, and lay no famine upon you. The fruit of the tree, the increase of the field, you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine. The land will produce its grain, the trees will yield their fruit, famine will be a thing of the past, famine will be forgotten." 31. You're going to see what they're going to do. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good. You will loathe yourself for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I'm going to act. You see, they're going to repent. It's not for your sake that I'm going to act. Rather, you should be ashamed and confounded in your ways. Look, it's not for your sake. You didn't earn this. You didn't merit this. So let this be known to you. Know and understand there's nothing that you've done or will do or can do that will earn, merit, or deserve this. When Israel is restored as He has promised, it will prove that the God of Israel, Yahweh the Lord, is a grateful, merciful God that keeps His covenants, that keeps His promises. And the nations will recognize this. The nations will know this glorious truth. They will be glorified. God will be glorified through this, either in judgment, either through judgment or through mercy. He'll be glorified either way. 33 through 38 really shows the results of restoration. Just kind of summing it up for you. We see the people will be cleansed. We see the city will be rebuilt. It will be inhabited, the land tilled and fruitful. And look in verse 35 while we're here. And they will say, the land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden. So that should, if nothing else, that should teach us that the Garden of Eden is presented as a real place. This underscores the historical understanding that Eden was a literal, physical place. Eden was not a mythical place. We should reject such notions. So the people will be multiplied. We see that in verse 38. Like the flock for sacrifice, like the flock of Jerusalem during the point of feast, so shall the way cities be filled with people, filled with flocks of people, multiplied. Now look, notice this too. I want you to notice who's building this kingdom. One, it says in verse 36, go there, who's building this kingdom? We aren't. We're not building this kingdom. Israel's not building this kingdom. To our Post Mill friends, the answer is in verse 36. Verse 36, I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord, I have spoken, and I will do it. God is the one who is going to build His kingdom. That language, by the way, is echoed in Daniel who is prophesying the same time, by the way. Daniel 2 verse 44. Let me get there and read it for you. 2 verse 44. It says, "...in those days the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed." and shall the kingdom be left to another people." The kingdom will never be left to another people. It will never be destroyed. God's kingdom. God will build His kingdom. That's what He says here. I will do it. So, I know we ran through a lot. I kind of gave you how we're going to approach this passage, how we're going to understand this passage. Let's kind of recap this real quick. This promise that we're reading about here, the Good Shepherd, how He's going to gather Israel, He says He's going to regather them. He's going to plant them in their own land, the land that He gave to their fathers. He's going to cleanse them. He's going to give them a new heart. He's going to give them a new spirit. The trees will bear their fruit. The land will yield its grain. They will repent. Cities will be rebuilt. Cities will be fortified. Cities will be inhabited. The land and produce will be like that of Eden. The people will increase in number, and they will never again know famine, and they will all know the Lord." That's a mouthful. And in case it was overlooked, or maybe you didn't catch it, maybe I didn't stress it, I hope you noticed just in the passage I had from 16 throughout the end of the chapter, It says, I will. The Lord says, I will. I will. I will. Sixteen times. And so you're saying, well, what would they do? What would they do? All they're going to do, the only time you read, you will, is in verse 31. They're going to repent. They're going to weep and mourn and loathe and hate themselves for what they have done. How they just squandered the goodness of God. You see, the Lord here is acting for His namesake. He's acting in a unilateral, unconditional way to bring these things to pass. And by unilateral, I mean it's not no if-then, or that'd be unconditional, I'm sorry. The if-then unilateral means He made this covenant by His own namesake. Unconditional, there is no if-then conditional requirements to be met by the people Israel. And so this new covenant promise that we read about here, read about it in Jeremiah 31, it reads this way. Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Again, parallel passage to what we're reading here. "...Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not the church." So we as Gentile believers, we're grafted into these new covenant promises. or we can enjoy this, we can benefit from this, but it's all because we're being grafted in. It's not us that supports the root, but the root that supports us. So don't profane His holy name like the nations by thinking He can't He doesn't keep His promises or He's altered His promises. The people of God, the people of Israel, are His everlasting nation. Look outside. The sun is still providing us light by day and the moon and stars providing light by night. So those promises are still in place. And it's just as you read over the history of Israel, you're just taken back. No, no, we have a sinful history as well. We're sinners by nature. But even the most sinful acts of men and the most sinful acts of Israel as a nation furthered His purpose. That's what's so amazing about God. Israel crucified their Messiah. Well, that brought about our salvation, right? Amen. Israel rejected their king. Then the Lord just extends the gospel to the Gentiles, which He promised Abraham He was going to do. So praise God for a God whose will always comes to pass. A God who acts for His namesake. And His namesake is an unchangeable character of an awesome God. And He's acting for His namesake. And help us consider how we may reflect His character as we go about our lives, how we represent His name. Let us not be on the wrong side of this phrase when He says, you have profaned My name for far too long. Pray that's not us, Lord. You know, I know we're imperfect, but we do, we dig to know You better, to understand You, to better represent You, because we love You and we know that The comfort in this is knowing that even in our failures, your purposes and plans are still being accomplished. He is a great, big God. So if you would, please stand.