Heed God's message

Introduction

Ezekiel

Priest

First Babylonian attack - first exiles

5 years after (30 yrs old - installed as priest) - vision

Son of Man

sign acts

God’s communication -

Pictionary - Big Bang Theory - Sheldon and Penny

I. The Utterance of the message.

vv. 1-16 (sign act) - King Zedikiah and his people

vv. 17-20 (sign act) - The people in Jerusalem

II. The Urgency of the message.

vv. 21-25 - proverb “saying” - a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.

Men display great ingenuity in making excuses for rejecting the message of God’s love. They display marvelous skill, not in seeking salvation, but in fashioning reasons for refusing it. They are dexterous in avoiding Divine Grace and in securing their own ruin. They hold up first this shield and then the other to ward off the gracious arrows of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which are only meant to slay the deadly sins which lurk in their bosoms. The evil argument which is mentioned in the text has been used from Ezekiel’s day right down to the present moment, and it has served Satan’s turn in tens of thousands of cases. By its means men have delayed themselves into Hell. (“A Sermon for Young Men and Women”)

- Charles Spurgeon

vv. 26-28 - Delay of the Lord

III. The Ultimacy of the message.

2 King 25:1-7 - King Zedikiah and His people

2 Kings 25:8-12 - The remnant of the people in Jerusalem

Conclusion

New Testament Message - The Gospel

2 Peter 3:3-9

Utterance

Through Creation

Through His word

Through His people

Exalting Jesus in Ezekiel Will We Disregard and Delay Responding to God and His Word? (Ezekiel 12:26–28)

we must be careful not to be quick to discern a word for others and miss the word for us.

Urgency

CapriSun straw paper

James 4:13-14 “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Exalting Jesus in Ezekiel Will We Disregard and Delay Responding to God and His Word? (Ezekiel 12:26–28)

For some, disbelief of God’s Word is not their primary struggle but disregarding it and delaying their obedience.

“Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience, partial obedience is complete disobedience.”

- Tony Evans

Ultimacy

Exalting Jesus in Ezekiel Will We Disbelieve and Deny God and His Word? (Ezekiel 12:1–25)

Ultimately, every denial and disbelief of God’s word can trace its roots back to one source. The first denial of the Lord’s word was in the garden of Eden. There the serpent hissed to Eve, “No! You will not die” (Gen 3:4). We never look more like the Devil than when we deny and disbelieve God.

True folly is thinking things will turn out differently from what the Lord declares. Do we think He does not know what He is talking about? Is He not trustworthy? Has His Word not been proven right time and time again? Of course, God does not just know what is going to happen, but He is also decreeing and accomplishing it.

True folly is also not believing that God’s plan is best.

Psalm 95:7–8 NASB95

7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

Communion