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And what I think I'll do is,
Emile, can I call on you to read verses one through three for
us? And then Paul, can I ask you to turn your Bible to Zechariah
5, verses one through four? And then Ken, can I have you
look to Revelation 5? Well, let's start there, but Emile,
if you'd read Ezekiel 3, verses one through three for us first. from their own book. Moreover, he said to me, son
of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go speak
to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he
caused me to eat that scroll. And he said to me, son of man,
feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that
I gave you. So I ate. And it was in my mouth like honey
in sweetness. Amen. As we looked at last time,
we met. God calls Ezekiel into the ministry. He sends Ezekiel out in the ministry
and he equips Ezekiel with the word of God. And he strengthens
Ezekiel with the word of God and by his Holy Spirit. And here
we see the actual communication of God's word. We're given this
beautiful description, this beautiful imagery of a scroll. as an example,
as a representation of God's word. And Ezekiel is told to
eat it, partake of it, internalize it, be nourished by it, be strengthened
by it. This is not an unusual description
or a means for God to powerfully communicate to us the importance
of his word and the importance of taking his word to heart and
making his word a part of our lives and living it out in our
lives. And we see this illustration
throughout the scripture. That's why I asked Ken to open up to us
to Zachariah, or did I ask you, Paul? I'm sorry, Paul, would
you read for us Zachariah 5, verses one through four? Then
I turned and raised my eyes and saw there a flying scroll. And
he said to me, what do you see? So I answered, I see a flying
scroll. Its length is 20 cubits and its
width 10 cubits. Then he said to me, this is the
curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth. Every
thief shall be expelled according to this side of this scroll,
and every perjurer shall be expelled according to that side of it.
I will send out the curse, says the Lord of hosts. It shall enter
the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely
by my name. It shall remain in the midst
of his house and consume it with its timber and stones. Once again, we're seeing a glorious
image of a scroll, a big, powerful scroll, 20 cubits high, all right? But we're giving these apocalyptic
visions, so to speak. Once again, this is God speaking
to an Old Testament prophet, Zechariah, and he's giving warning
to the house of Israel. He's about to bring judgment
upon them. But he's using this image of a scroll of God's word. And it's God's word is going
to be communicating to the people of Israel and much as we'll see
here in Ezekiel, God's judgment is coming. But we're given this
big glorious picture, so to speak, of a scroll for us to really
take, you need to take God's word serious. This is how big
it is, this is how powerful it is. Take God's word seriously.
And we're also gonna find this concept is also found in the
New Testament as well. So Kenny, I think I had you read.
Would you read then Revelation chapter five for us? The whole
chapter or just? Yeah, the whole chapter, thank
you. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne
a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose
the seals? And no one in heaven or on earth
or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at
it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open
and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders
said to me, do not weep. Behold, the line of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David. has prevailed to open the scroll
and to loose its seven seals. And I looked, and behold, in
the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and
in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and
took the scroll in his right hand of him who sat on the throne.
Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and
the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp
and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints. And they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take
the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and you have
redeemed us to God by your blood, and out of every tribe and tongue
and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to
our God, and we shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and
heard the voice of many angels around a throne, the living creatures
and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands and of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb who is slain to receive the power and riches and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory and blessing. and every creature
which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying,
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him who sits
on the throne, and the lamb forever and ever. And then the four living
creatures said, amen, and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped
him who lives forever and ever. Is there any parallels to Ezekiel? We see a Christ and Ezekiel,
we see the Christophany of Christ, Christ sitting on his throne.
We see Christ giving the word of God to Ezekiel. And here's
the Apostle John being given a similar experience, seeing
Christ on his throne, but not as a Christophany, not as some
pre-incarnate Christ, but now the crucified and resurrected
Christ, the eternal glorious Christ. Same Christ, same person,
but now he's been fully revealed to us. And John is being brought
up into heaven. He's being brought up into all
eternity. Some people like to ask me the
question, do you believe in time travel? I believe you can be
taken out of time, because that's what exactly happened to the
Apostle John here. He was taken up into heaven and
given this eternal perspective of Christ and his full glory
on his throne. And we see that Christ is giving
his word to his people through his apostle John. Once again,
the image of a scroll. This powerful image of God's
word. The Lord Jesus Christ and his holy word go hand in hand
with each other. You can't separate Christ from
his word. It doesn't matter what's written
about in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter what's written
in the New Testament. It all speaks of him. It all speaks
of his glory. It all speaks of his work to
make us holy and righteous before God. All of God's word reveals Christ
to us. God has revealed himself to us
through his son, Jesus Christ. They go hand in hand with each
other. Yes, they are two distinct entities. Christ is eternal and
mighty God. The Bible, his holy word, is
his utterance, his communication to us. But they're inseparable,
because the scriptures help us understand who Christ is. And
Christ tells us who he is through his scriptures. Yes, I see Angela
had a question. I believe it's in Genesis. I'm
really, forgive me, I'm really bad at quoting what's where,
but it says in the beginning the Word was with God and the
Word was God. It's actually John 1, which runs parallel to Genesis
1. In the beginning was the Word, the Logos. Christ is referred
to as the Word, the Logos, the ultimate truth, the ultimate
definition of everything. Yes, so it's John 1, and yes,
you're absolutely right on track that it goes parallel to Genesis
1. We're supposed to make that conclusion. We're supposed to
say, yeah, when we read Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, we're to see, well, that also means
Jesus Christ was the Logos, and he was the Word from the very
beginning, and he spoke this world into existence. By God's
Word, we are created. Same thing, so you weren't wrong
by saying Genesis 1. It goes right hand in hand with
John 1. John 1 and Genesis 1 go hand
in hand with each other. They both tell us about how Christ
and how Christ spoke this world into existence from the very
beginning. Now that's a great illustration. Doesn't Jesus also
say that he's the bread of life, right? He also said that in the
Gospel of John. The bread, I just think it's
interesting. Is the word, exactly. All these
analogies, all these representations we see here are to constantly
remind us of who God is and how we need Christ and how we need
his word to nourish us and to strengthen us and to lead us.
What I also want to point out here is this, once again, John,
the apostle John, is being brought up into eternity, he's being
brought up into glory, and he's being shown this word of God
represented by this scroll, and this is gonna be the revelation
now that Christ is gonna give to the early first century churches,
those seven churches that you read about in John two and three. This is the word of God that
he's about to reveal to these early first century Christians,
for them to see all that God has been doing throughout all
of redemptive history to save himself a people through the
lamb. The book of Revelation, if you
treat it like it's some da Vinci code to try to figure out when
Jesus is gonna return, you missed the point of the book of Revelation.
and you will constantly be frustrated by it. And you'll be constantly
trying to figure out, well, when this happens, that should happen,
this happens, that happens. No, the book of Revelation is meant
for us to see the glory of God and how throughout, from all
eternity and throughout all ages, he has been saving and sanctifying
himself of people through his son, Jesus Christ, all to his
glory. And he's revealing that to the
early first century churches. And he's about to give them that
full big picture, so to speak. This is how God throughout all
of eternity, through all ages, has made his glory and his holiness
and his righteousness known to sinful fallen man, and how he's
been saving sinful fallen man through his son Jesus Christ.
When you understand it in that greater overall context, when
you see that it's really a complete history of God's working through
his son, Jesus Christ, and not just something off in the future,
believe it or not, the book of Revelation's a much easier read.
It makes a lot more sense. But what's interesting here in
Revelation five is, is that here are all the angels, here are
all the elders, they're saying, hey, who's worthy to open up the word of
God? Who's worthy to open up the scroll? There's no angel in heaven. There's
no human on earth that is able or worthy to reveal God's word
to us. Stop and think about that for
a moment. Understand what's going on here. There is no creature
worthy to open up God's word and speak to us. What did God say to Job's friends
and to Job himself when he finally spoke? Who darkens my counsel? Who are these people to speak
for me? No one, no one has the right,
has the authority, has the means, has the qualifications, has the
worthiness to speak God's Word. Why? First and foremost, even
before you start talking about us being sinful and holy creatures
who've rebelled against God, how dare we try to speak for
God as sinful creatures, before you even get to that point, you're
still just a creature anyway. Look at the angels. The angels
aren't even worthy to speak the word of God. These angels that
we read about here in Ezekiel and here in Revelation, these
were godly, holy creatures who worshiped and served God. They
didn't sin against God. They're not even worthy to speak
the word of God. Why? They're creatures. Who is
any creature to speak for God? I'm gonna speak to the husbands
and wives here tonight. Do you like it when your spouse
speaks for you? Oh, I know how my wife feels
about that. I've gotten into more trouble that way. Who am I to speak for my wife?
I get the shot, the ribs from my wife. No, that's not what
I meant. That's what I'm saying. Oh, I'm sorry. Who are we to
speak for anyone else? There is no one worthy to speak
for God except God himself through his son, Jesus Christ. And these creatures and these
elders, they're worshiping Christ because they're, oh, thank you
for revealing to us God's word, God's truth. God, thank you for
making your glory and your love known to us through your son,
Jesus Christ. God, thank you for speaking to us. Thank you
for leading us. Thank you for instructing us.
Thank you for strengthening us. Thank you for encouraging us.
Thank you for edifying us. Thank you for making yourself
and your word and your truth known to us through your son,
Jesus Christ. God, you could have just left
us in our sin. You could have left us in our misery. You could
have left us in the futility of our thinking. You could have
left us in the depravity of our souls, in absolute misery, but
God, you decided to speak to us, and you spoke to us through
your Son, Jesus Christ, and he's the only one worthy to speak
on your behalf. We need to take Revelation 5
very seriously in terms of any of our understanding of any scripture.
It is God's grace, it is God's goodness that he even speaks
to us. And who are we to think that
we know better than God, or that we can define God in our own
wisdom, in our own thinking? How many times have we heard
those chilling words, oh, well, my God would never do this, and
my God would, excuse me. What about the God of the Bible?
Who has God said he is? Oh, I think God is, you know, He's a loving God. You know,
He's just, unless you're really bad, you know, God is, He's gonna
love and forgive you as long as you tried. Where are you finding
that in the scripture? Well, no, this is what I think
about God. Yeah, exactly, and who are you to speak for God? Even the most Spirit-filled,
Bible-believing, Regenerated, renewed, born again Christian
has to be very careful handling the word of God and needs to
know and understand this is his word and he speaks for himself. And we're not even worthy to
communicate it. And that's why it's so incredible that God in
his glory, God in his goodness, God in his grace, allows any
of us to communicate his word. This was God being gracious and
glorious to Ezekiel. This is God being glorious and
gracious to us as people to speak to us through another human,
through Ezekiel. But Ezekiel had to know, wait
a minute, if I'm going to speak, if I'm going to say something
to the people of Israel, he needed to know what I, the only thing
I should be speaking is what God has said to me. And he better
get the glory. Because I'm only speaking the
word by God's choosing. by God's good pleasure and will.
I'm not worthy to speak on God's behalf, but God is still working
in me and through me and equipping me to speak on his behalf. So
I better be very careful about communicating God's word here.
Same thing with the Apostle John. Same thing with Zachariah. Same
thing with Isaiah. Isaiah knew that. We saw that
in Isaiah 6. He says to God, I'm a man of
unclean lips. I'm not worthy to speak your
word. And it's only after God is merciful to him and purges
and cleanses him. He says, I'm going to send you
out. And Isaiah says, yes, send me
out. But Isaiah was fully aware of
he's only speaking the word of God on God's behalf because God
had so authorized him. and God had so blessed him. And that Isaiah is strictly speaking
on the behalf of God. When Jesus sent out the apostles,
he said, you teach them everything I commanded. Not what you think, what I've commanded, what I've
taught you. Go out and make disciples by
my authority, by my power, not because of who you are and because
you think, oh, you know better than everyone else. No, this
is my word. I'm the only one really authorized
and powerful enough to speak God's word, because I'm God.
You're not God, but I am sending you out as my spokespeople. I
am sending you out as my ambassadors. I am sending you out as my messengers.
but you're doing it by my power and authority, by my good pleasure
and will, and it better be my word that you're communicating,
nothing of yourself. That's what's going on with Ezekiel
here. Yeah, Ken, I see you're heading up there. It just kind
of hit me how amazing it is to, I guess as humans it's very easy
to try to think about it wrongly and separate the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, but how God, almost everything he
does is Trinitarian, in everything he does. The Father, and then
you have Jesus exegeting the Father and making him known through
his word, speaking the word and being the word of God. Yet you
still can't, as humans, understand that without the Spirit working
through you. And leading us to all truth. All three of them
together working in concert in everything they do, and it just
hit me how... Exactly. And they are working in us and
through us by his word. His Word, His Word is truth. He is the truth. He is the way,
the truth, and the life. This is why we always have to
be very careful today when people say, oh, I had a vision, I had
this, I had that, I had this experience or that experience.
Maybe you did, but where does it stand up to the Word of God?
Is what you think you've experienced in your life or what you thought
God was saying to you was his will for your life? Some calling
you had, some experience you had? You say, oh, God told me
to do this. Is it in accordance to God's
word? Is that really the prompting and the working and the leading
of the Holy Spirit? Because if it really is the prompting and
the working and the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is gonna be in
full conformity with the word of God. not something you think or feel
or experience. So be careful about that. I'm
not saying God won't providentially speak to our hearts and prompt
us to worship him and serve him. I fully believe that God has
put on Paul's heart tomorrow to go and see Laurie Grill tomorrow.
But look what he's doing. He's saying, God, you give me
the words, you give me the wisdom to know how to encourage her
tomorrow. Give that to Pastor Doug and I. But that's perfectly
consistent with God's Word, because God's Word tells us to go to
those who are sick and in need and pray with them and minister
to them and encourage them and edify them from the Word of God. That's what Paul and Pastor Doug
are doing tomorrow with the Lord. By the way, I'm sorry for putting
you on the spot here, Paul, but it's a perfect illustration. That's clearly a prompting of
the Holy Spirit working in them, but it's consistent with the
teaching of God's word, what Christ has commanded, what Christ
has spoken, what Christ has told us to do. Be very careful about saying,
oh, well, you know, Jesus would have me divorce my wife and go
become, you know, run for president. Where's that coming from? How's that consistent with the
word? No, the Bible says, no, you love your wife, you care
for your wife. You provide for your wife. You don't leave your
wife to go pursue some new career. Your main priority is to take
care of your wife and you provide for her, and you provide for
her by the means that God has you do. That's clearly not in keeping
with scripture. Yet, if I heard some people,
even in the ministry, say things very close to that, and it's
very frightening. People who claim they have some
vision from God, or some revelation from God, but has nothing to
do with the Word of God, and actually violates the Word of
God. So yeah, the Father, the Son,
the Holy Spirit, as Ken has pointed out to us, they are always working
in perfect harmony with each other. They are always giving
glory to each other. They are always revealing God's
truth to us. And we learn of the Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit from His word. And the word speaks of Him. And so we shouldn't be shocked
here, so to speak, or surprised here, that when God is calling
Ezekiel into ministry and saying, I want you to go out and tell
my word to the people, that he's also displaying the great glory
and power and presence of who he is. All of his power, his
power over all of creation. Now in one sense, we could sit
here and say, oh, that's God, he's God, wow, look how powerful he
is. But do we take that to heart?
Because if God is so powerful over everything, We better listen
to him then. If he is from all eternity, if
he's over all things, if he's controlling all things, as I
said, when we looked at the illustration of these wheels, these images
of the wheels, is to show us how God has everything working
in perfect order. And God is working everything
in perfect order throughout all the earth. Everything in the
heaven and the earth is under his control and is all working
in perfect harmony with each other. So if God is this all-powerful
God who's working through all these things and working through
all these things perfectly, how didn't you better listen to him
and take him at his word and think that he knows better than
you? That he understands and he has a reason for people being
laid off from their jobs, people dying of cancer. Loved ones falling away from
him? Don't you think we better trust
him and go to his word and go to him and say, as we were praying
here tonight, God, you give us the wisdom, give us the understanding
of your word, how to address all these circumstances and things
in our lives. They're all in your sovereign
control and will. You know better than I do. So it's not just God
saying to him, look, I'm more powerful than you guys. No, it's
also God saying, you better listen to me, and you better, you trust
me, you can trust me. You can take me at my word. When I display my glory to you
and show how I do all things well, and I do everything for
a purpose, and everything I do is good, you can take me at my
word, and you should trust my word. It's more than just God saying,
I'm more powerful than you. It's God also saying, because
I'm more powerful than you, you need to listen to me and you
need to trust me. And that's what he's trying to
convey to Ezekiel. That's what Christ is trying
to convey to John here. Look at these early first century
churches that are about to go through this great tribulation.
If you were standing in John's place, you might be saying, well,
God, hey, we just got these churches going. Now you're gonna bring
us through a tribulation? God, what's going on here? Look
how we strive to even get these churches started and now you're
gonna bring these churches through a tribulation? What are you doing
here, God? There's Christ saying to John,
I know better. This is what I've been doing
throughout all eternity to save and sanctify myself and people
through me. So John, listen. Churches, listen. I'm above and
beyond all these things. Take me at my word. Trust me. Because I am above
all things. I am over all things. I am working
in through all things. And I'm making that all known
to you in my word. And you can trust in my word.
But we also see here this illustration of God then giving this scroll
to Ezekiel and telling him to eat it. We see here in verse
three, he said to me, this is what Emile read before, he said
to me, son of man, feed your belly and fill your stomach with
this scroll that I gave you. So I ate and it was in my mouth
like honey and sweetness. Once again, this is not an uncommon
description of how we should take God's word in. Once again,
we were there in Revelation, let's flip back to Revelation
again, and let's go to Revelation 10. We've seen that God is about
to reveal his word, his revelation through John. Jesus Christ is
opening up the scroll, showing us all of redemptive history.
how God is making his glory known to us and how he's made his glory
known to us through his son, Jesus Christ. He's showing us
how sinful we are as a people and how we need Jesus Christ
to save us from our sins. And those who do not know Christ
are gonna be facing God's judgment. This is what God has been doing
throughout all redemptive history, both under the old covenant and
the new covenant. Jesus is about to open up this
word and show this grand scheme of things to the Apostle John.
And then at the conclusion of the opening of the scroll and
opening up the different seals of the scroll and showing all
these aspects of how God has been working throughout all redemptive
history through his son, Jesus Christ, he now comes to the Apostle
John here in chapter 10. And let's read that. In fact,
can we maybe hand over, Lisa, could you read that? I think
you're next in line there. Can I pose on you to read through
chapter 10 for us? And I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow
was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his
feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little
book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left
foot on the earth. and cried with a loud voice,
as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven
thunders othered their voices. And when the seven thunders had
othered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, sail up those things which the seven
thunders othered, and write them not. and the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his head to heaven
and swear by him that live forever and ever who created heaven and
the things that therein are and the earth and the things that
therein are and the sea and the things which are therein that
there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice
of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the mystery
of God should be finished as he had declared to his servants
the prophets. And the voice which I heard from
heaven spake unto me again and said, go and take the little
book which is open in the hands of the angel which stands upon
the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and
he said unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto
me, take it and eat it up, and that shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the
little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth, sweet
as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, thou must
prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Amen. Once again, I had Lisa
read the full context there. I mean, clearly there's the parallel,
both Ezekiel and John were asked to eat God's word, take it in,
okay? And we see clearly that, once
again, this is so they could then communicate God's word.
So we see this illustration here, both in Ezekiel and Revelation. But once again, this is to reiterate
to us, emphasize to us, that this is what the world is facing.
Either people come to be saved through Jesus Christ and be redeemed
to God and reconciled to God through him and know his glory
and share eternity with him, or they are facing his judgment
and his wrath. Ezekiel in this particular point
in history is being sent specifically to the people of Israel, but
to warn them to say, you need to repent. You need to call upon
the Lord. You need to be faithful to God.
Just like the Apostle John is being called to the first churches
and saying, hey, you guys need to repent. You need to be walking
with the Lord. Because God is bringing his judgment
upon this world. Very strong parallels. The only
difference is, is that once again, Ezekiel is experiencing the Christophany
of Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, before Christ came into
this world, became a man, was crucified and raised up. And
John is dealing now with Christ after he has come into this world,
he has been crucified, he has been raised up. But all the more,
more reason why we should be listening to God. Because now
he has made himself known to us through his son, Jesus Christ.
He has raised his son, Jesus Christ, up from the dead. That's
what Paul said to the Greek philosophers and leaders there on Mars Hill. Hey, you guys are without excuse
now. Because now God has revealed
himself through his son, Jesus Christ, who he's raised from
the dead. And now you need to believe. But this glory of God is being
presented to these men, being called out by God. They are both
being pointed to and explained to. This is how God has been
faithful to his people, and why his people should worship him,
and how loving and gracious and long-suffering and merciful he's
been to his people, and why they should repent and believe. And
it is also God revealing, hey, these other sinful people, they
need to repent and believe too, because they are facing my judgment. Ezekiel and John are both given
these powerful images and these powerful commandments and are
being stressed the importance of God's word and taking God's
word into their lives because this is serious business. God's people need to return to
the Lord and follow after the Lord. Sinful man needs to be
called to faith and repentance and call upon the Lord as well.
Because God's judgment is coming. and you either know God through
his son, Jesus Christ, and you're trusting in his mercy, or you're
facing his eternal judgment for all time. Nobody can stand before
God and say, I don't know, nobody told me, I didn't get the email. No, God has made his glory known
very powerfully. The people of Israel couldn't
say to God, oh, we don't know, no. He spoke to you through the prophet
Ezekiel. And God is impressing this point on Ezekiel and saying,
Ezekiel, this is who I am. This is what I've been doing.
Now you go and communicate this to the people of Israel. Same
thing with the early believers in the first century through
the apostle John. God had spoken to them through
his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had sent the apostles,
including the apostle John, to go out and make his glory known.
You guys are without excuse. Isn't it a shame that God has
to keep reminding us? But isn't it also wonderful and
gracious and loving of him that he keeps reminding us? But let's
not take that for granted. And I love this illustration.
Eat God's word. As Angela was saying before,
it's referred to as the bread of life. It's meant to nourish us. It's meant to strengthen us.
It's meant to give us understanding of who God is and all that he
has done for us, especially through his son, Jesus Christ. We need
continual reminder of that. When we're up at four o'clock
in the morning and think about, oh, I got this problem at work
today. We need that, yeah, when you
get the phone call from your sister-in-law saying she needs extensive surgery. It's in those times we need to
be reminded who God is and all he's done for us through his
Son, Jesus Christ. This is why we need to be in
God's Word. This is why we need to be literally digesting it
and taking it in and making it a part of our lives and living
in accordance to it so that we do trust it, so that we do grow
in our faith, so that we do faithfully serve God, so that we do stay
on the straight and narrow, as they say, and continue to walk
with Him and continue to worship Him and serve Him. We need to know who God is. and
how he's revealed himself in his word. When I heard him say this, I
know and I truly believe it was his intent to be humble. And
in one sense, I know what he means when he said this. But
Billy Graham said one time, he said, you know, I'm just a simple
evangelist. I'm not a theologian. I've just
been called to preach the word of God. Like I said, I understand the
sentiment. We should be humble about preaching
God's word. We shouldn't pretend that we
think we have all the answers. Paul and I were having this discussion,
was it a couple of Saturdays ago? He gave me a lift home.
Oh, I think that's when it was. What's God still doing with Israel?
I don't know. I believe he's still working through them though.
but I don't have all the answers for how it all works out in the
end. I don't know the time of Christ's return, but I know he's
returning. So yes, it's foolish of me to
think I have all the answers to explain everything that God's
doing. We should be humble. But that does not negate my responsibility
to know all that I can know about God and be a theologian and know
everything that I can know about him as revealed clearly in his
word and take it to heart. and to understand this is the
reason, the motivation for me worshiping and serving the Lord
because of who He is and all that He's done for me through
His Son, Jesus Christ. We should all be theologians.
We should all be humble. We should never think we have
all the answers. But if we're truly going to communicate God's
word to others and encourage others and bless others and disciple
them, We better make sure we have a good grasp of who God
is, and be constantly reminded about who God is, and who his
son Jesus Christ is, and how his Holy Spirit works, and take
that to heart. So we need to feed on the word
of God. We wouldn't think twice about
having three meals a day. I don't know if I have the time
to do my Bible study this morning, I'm late for work. Oh, I gotta
get William to a CYO basketball game. I just don't have time
to do devotion. Are we serious? Man doesn't live
by bread alone. Man lives by the very word of
God. That's your nourishment. How dare we not read God's Word
at least three times a day? And once again, please understand,
I'm not trying to get into some legalistic regimen for you to
go through. Don't go to Pastor Mark and say,
oh, Pastor Dave said we're not Christians if we're not reading
the Bible three times a day. No, I'm not saying that. I'm not
creating some legalistic point of view here of some practice
for the sake of a practice. I'm just trying to stress the
importance of God's word and how whenever we have the opportunity,
we should be hungering and thirsting for God's word and God's truth
and making it a part of our lives and living it out so that we
can make God known. We can make his word known so
that we can go out and speak to people based on his authorization
and his power and his leading in our lives. So yeah, when we first read this
description, it sounds, like I said, kind of weird. Eating
paper? Who wants to eat paper? My dog
used to eat paper. My dog used to eat grass. All
sorts of weird things. I know that's supposed to be
signs of different things. You know, oh, have to eat something
like paper. But no, what's being stressed here is we're giving
sort of this weird illustration, so to speak, or it seems kind
of out of whack. We're being told this for us
to take seriously just how we should be looking at God's word,
that we need to see God's word as spiritual food. And if we're
gonna effectively worship and serve God and make God known,
we need to know all that we can know about him from his word.
Before we press on any further, any questions or comments about
that? Okay, let's press on then. Let me flip back in my Bible
back to Ezekiel three. And let's see, let's go down
to verse nine. Let's see, are we up to Ken?
Ken, could you read for us now from verses four through nine
of Ezekiel three? Thank you, brother. Then he said to me, son of man,
go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.
For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard
language, but to the house of Israel. Not too many people of
unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot
understand. Surely had I sent you to them,
they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will
not listen to you because they will not listen to me. For all
the house of Israel are impudent and hard hearted. Behold, I have
made your face strong against their faces and your forehead
strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than
flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them, nor
be dismayed at their looks, though they are rebellious house. Thank
you, brother. And once again, we touched upon
this last week in chapter two. Once again, is God reiterating
himself? Yes. But he's reemphasizing,
so we really take to heart who the sinful world is. Now yes,
specifically speaking here, and we need to take this as much
to heart as well, as we said, God is primarily speaking to
his people in their day, in their time. And Ezekiel is speaking
specifically here to the house of Israel, and there's certain
significance to that. But it is telling though, I think
of all human creation, of all human ages, our biggest problem
with God is, is we are hearted, Stubborn, impudent, insolent,
stiff-necked, sinful people. What's that? All of the above. All of the above, yeah, exactly.
I mean, look at the words he says. But to the house of Israel,
they will not listen to you because they will not listen to me. For
all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Stubborn, close-minded,
They don't want to hear about me. I was actually once called by
a judge. He says, you're an impudent young man. Because I defied him
in court. I questioned his authority over
me. And in all honesty, I was being impudent. My bureau chief
had to have me apologize. That's not a nice thing to say
about someone. I didn't like being called impudent, even though
I was impudent. Who did I think I was? The Apostle Paul referred to
himself that way. I'm the chief amongst all sinners. I'm an impudent,
idolatrous man. I think I know better. I think
I am who I am. I do what's wise in my own eyes,
and I'm hard-hearted. I don't want to hear from anyone
else. I think I know better than God, and I don't want to hear
from God. I'm very grateful that we have
two pastors that they don't get up every Sunday morning and preach
to us and just call us all out. Say, you guys are so impudent.
You guys are so idolatrous. You're so hard-hearted and stiff-necked. They're very gracious to us and
patient with us. But when we know who we are,
and how we live our lives, would we be able to be really, truly
angry at Pastor Mark or Doug if they did get up in the pulpit
one Sunday morning and just say, you people are impudent and hard-hearted
and stubborn and stiff-necked and sinful and wicked and idolatrous. It's God's truth. That's who
we are. How did Paul describe us in Romans
3? There's none of us who are righteous.
We're quick to shed blood. This is a basic certain truth.
But why is God telling it like it is here? Because he does love
them. And he wants them to repent.
He wants them to turn away from their impudence, from their hard-heartedness.
He wants them to worship. Why is he sending them Ezekiel? He's giving them every chance
to repent and call upon his name and to follow after him. God
is speaking the truth in love. He's telling it like it is, but
he's doing it because he loves them. And sometimes we do need to be
spoken to so sharply. I'm reading this and I'm saying,
I can't argue with God. That just proves God's point.
If I start arguing with God about being impudent and being hard-hearted,
it's only proving how impudent and hard-hearted I really am.
And as Ken was telling us before, it's only by His Holy Spirit
that he leads me into that truth and he convicts me of being impudent
and hard-hearted and stubborn and stiff-necked and sinful.
It's only by God speaking to me by his Holy Spirit and bringing
me to a place of conviction, I sit there and say, I can't
argue with God about that. That's what's going on here.
Angela, I saw you had a hand up. Yeah, you have a comment or a
question about that? I couldn't help but notice before
when Revelation 10 was being read,
particularly in verse 9, when he says to take the book and
eat it. And he said, take it and eat
it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be
in thy mouth sweet as honey. I could be totally wrong, but
I, you know, have you ever heard the phrase, the bitter pill to
swallow? You know, like referring about
like kind of truth, like being told something about yourself.
And I feel like that's what it's saying. Like it's sweet because
it's true. True right exactly because when
you speak it to somebody else it does good but to actually
Take it in and digest it and bitters Yeah, it's interesting
Right, yeah and You know, it's not an easy thing,
and it's part of our walk. We have to look at our sin and
how gross we are, truly, as in and of ourselves, we have nothing.
So I just think, you said before that the phraseology, and it's
kind of odd, I think it's perfect. Exactly. It is perfect, yeah. No, what I'm saying, it's odd
to our ears, but it's perfect in what God is saying. It's what
we perfectly need. Yeah, exactly. And I think, although
what you said about our pastors is true, they are merciful, you
know, I feel convicted when I'm talking about the Sermons here,
and we should embrace it. Exactly. Because God is speaking
to us. And that's it. See, I didn't
mean to make a Sally, Pastor Mark, and Doug pull any punches.
They don't. I mean, but they do it in a very loving way. But
they do point out our sin. But then they're pointing us
to Christ. And they're actually pretty candid about their lives. They'll even say, hey, this is
the lesson I'm learning. Because yeah, but we do have to be confronted
with our sin. You can't be cleansed, you can't
be saved, you can't be sanctified if you're not confronted with
your sin. If the doctor does tell you,
yeah, you got cancer and you may not make it to the end of
the year, You're gonna say well, that's fine doc. Don't worry
about it. You know No, you're gonna say well, what can I do?
What treatments can I get? You know, what surgery can I
have? What tests can be run? What diet
should I take? What can I do here? And someone's
if a doctor sells his house it we want the doctor to tell us
Oh, here's the reality and this is how it can be treated If you
go to your doctor's office and he says, oh you're fine. And
meanwhile, you're stage four cancer No, you don't want a doctor
like that That's not helping you. And is there anything more deadly
than sin? You can't compare cancer to sin. Sin is the number one
killer in the world, not cancer. So people need to be confronted
about their sin. And he's telling us too, in terms
of who we are, in terms of our human nature, We don't want to
hear from God. These are very choice words by
God here to say that they're impotent and that they're hard-hearted.
That's showing that, number one, they think they know better than
God, impotent. They're hard-hearted. They don't want to hear. This
is who we are in our nature. This is why it is so gracious
and merciful and loving of God that He did send His Son, Jesus
Christ, into this world. That He did have His Son, Jesus
Christ, obey the law for us. That He did have His Son, Jesus
Christ, pay for our sins for us. That He did raise His Son,
Jesus Christ, up for us. So we could see how loving He
is. and then how loving He is to give us this Holy Spirit to
give us faith in who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has
done for us and use that to soften our hardened hearts and to change
our hearts so that we will listen to Him and we will take His word
to heart. And once again, we see that this
is all the work of God. This is God revealing this to
Ezekiel. This is God putting this on,
and he's not pulling any punches with Ezekiel. He's not giving
him any sort of false promises here. He's telling them, in fact,
you're gonna go, they're not gonna listen to you. Don't take
it personal, Ezekiel, because guess what? They're not listening
to me either, but I'm still sending you. Do we understand, as harsh as
God's words are here about the people of Israel, do we not see
his grace and his mercy in that, though, and his love in that?
Because even though they haven't been listening to him, he's still
giving them every chance to believe. He's still giving them every
chance to repent. He's still giving them every chance to turn
their lives around. And we're gonna get into this
next week, because I'm just seeing how the time is running here. We're gonna see that Ezekiel
needs God's strength to speak this word. This is not something that sounds
encouraging to go into the ministry. When I was asked, oh, why do
you feel called to be in the ministry? I didn't answer, oh, because
I don't think anyone's ever gonna listen to me. I gave the usual pastor answer,
oh, I care about people being saved. After 40 years of ministry, I'm learning it's about the glory
of God and making his word known. regardless of how people respond
to it. And it's hard work. I haven't seen hundreds and thousands
of people come forward, say the believer's prayer for my ministry. But I know this is what God wants
me to do. This is what God wants all of
us to do, to glorify his name, make his word known, regardless
of who people are. We don't know, ultimately, everyone
who God is gonna save and who isn't gonna be saved. We don't
know that. And we shouldn't be presumptuous about that. I mean, we can be pretty confident
about those who we've seen who have professed faith in Christ,
and we've seen them walk with Christ their whole life. I'm
pretty confident I'm going to see my mom and dad with the Lord
one day. I'm confident of that. I don't mean to imply that, oh,
we have no idea who's going to be in heaven. But I guess what I'm really more
saying is I should never give up on someone, no matter how
hard-hearted and impudent they may be. Because I don't know
what God's gonna do in that person's life. I may only be planting
a seed. I may only be watering a seed.
It's God who gives the increase. But regardless of whether the people I've preached
to or taught or discipled in my 40 years in ministry, regardless
if any of those people actually do come to know the Lord, it doesn't matter. because God is still glorified
and God needs to be glorified. God needs to be made known. It
is God's desire and it's God's will that everybody has the opportunity
to hear his word and come to him. That's showing how gracious
and glorious he is. The fact that he even still talks
to people, to people who he knows are going to reject him, is showing
how good and glorious and loving God is. We are without excuse. God has
made his glory known to us. If we reject it, it's our fault
and solely on us. And we need to take that to heart.
When we serve the Lord in ministry, when we go out and share his
gospel, when we go out and share his word, when we tell everyone
the reason for the hope that we have in his son Jesus Christ,
whether they be a believer or not be a believer, we're glorifying
God and we're serving God. We're trusting in him. We're
trusting in His power and His purposes. We're trusting in His
glory. That's why God had to show Ezekiel
himself in this powerful, glorious display of fiery whirlwinds and
four powerful creatures and a Christophany of Christ on the throne. For
us, remember, He's God and He's glorious. And even if sinful
man rejects that, it doesn't change who God is. He's still that glorious, powerful
God. His son, Jesus Christ, still sits on that throne. And you
need to worship and serve him, irregardless of sinful man, and
whether they hear the word of God or don't hear the word of
God. We're gonna talk about Ezekiel's
response to this next week. But let's take it to heart, what
we've heard tonight. There's a lot there. And I'm glad we
took the time to look at all that. It's very tempting just to read
through the whole chapter, but all these things are here for
our understanding and for us to really take to heart who he
is. And yes, it seems like we're sitting here saying, well, God
keeps repeating himself. But you know what? I need to hear
it over and over again. And the more and more I hear
it, the more and more I realize how much I have to worship him
and serve him. So thank God he spoke to us through Ezekiel.
Thank God he spoke to us through his son, Jesus Christ. Thank
God he spoke to us through the Apostle Paul. Thank God he spoke
to us through the Apostle John. Thank God he speaks to us through
Pastor Mark and Pastor Doug. Thank God he speaks to me through
my wife, Jill. Everyone's constantly reminding me who God is and all
he's done through his son, Jesus Christ. I need to hear it. I
thank God for all you guys constantly pointing me to Christ. I need
to hear it. And so does the world out there.
Whether they accept it or not is another issue, but they need
to hear it. And God will be glorified no
matter what. And we're gonna just talk about
what God does in Ezekiel and how Ezekiel responds. We'll look
at that more next week. Any other thoughts or comments
before we close out tonight? If not, Paul, can I call on you
to close us in prayer?
Ezekiel chapter 3 - Part A
Series Study of the book of Ezekiel
| Sermon ID | 1291850456244 |
| Duration | 1:01:51 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Language | English |
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