Turn Back and Live
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Chapter 1 thru 32...
Judgment
On Israel (1-24)
On the Nations (25-32)
Now, chapter 33...
Hope.
Yet, when I read the passage,
it is going to sound a lot like chapters 1 to 32.
You may be left asking,
“where is the hope in that?”
The entire book of Ezekiel has been leading up to this chapter… this event.
Remember the very beginning of Ezekiel’s ministry (chapter 4) ...
lying on his side,
making a model of Jerusalem...
being besieged by a foreign army.
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman,
and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people,
then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.
But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.
“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
“And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins.
Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.
Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right,
if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just.
When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it.
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this.
Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”
In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.”
Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
Roller Coaster
Up, up, up...
building anticipation...
waiting for the crucial moment when you crest the very top of hill.
Then it’s screaming downward...
holding on for dear life...
the gravitational forces pressing in on your body...
“When will this end?”
At the bottom of the hill,
the pressure releases.
Sure, you’re still going 60 miles an hour,
but at least you are on the upswing.
This is the book of Ezekiel.
Anticipation of terrible judgment...
then it gets announced.
Told that Jerusalem is under siege.
Just hold on.
But then, we hear of the finality of the fall of the city...
Now what?
In order to fully understand chapter 33,
you need to look back at three chapters:
Chapter 3 - Ezekiel as the Watchman
Chapter 18 - Call for Repentance, but the people blaming the generations before them
Chapter 24 - Jerusalem being attacked and the death of Ezekiel's’ wife
Much of chapter 33 is restating those chapters.
chapters 3, 18, and 24.
Interestingly,
“Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
Then, the book goes on an 8 chapter focus on the nations.
The reader is left hanging?
“What about Jerusalem?”
Chapter 33 answers that question.
Severe Mercy of God
Severe Mercy of God
(Timer: 20 minutes left)
In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.”
For 7 years, Ezekiel has been warning the people...
now it has finally happened.
As one author said,
This was “the end of the old and the beginning of the new.”
This event is foreshadowed in Ezekiel 24, with the death of Ezekiel’s wife.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.
the delight of your eyes, a term of real endearment, of intense affection
Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.”
Why?
“This heart-wrenching personal tragedy would be the ultimate sign. It would quite literally be the last thing he could give or do that would convince those capable of being convinced that Yahweh was serious in his intention to destroy Jerusalem and the temple” (Christopher Wright)
‘The way of the Lord is not just’ (33:17, 20)
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just.
ILL. John Piper, “Don’t Waste Your Life”
For me, the most influential chapter was “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”
It is a chapter that recognizes God’s sovereignty, even over difficult circumstances.
Don’t waste it.
God brings it for your good and his glory.
Hope is Not Lost
Hope is Not Lost
(Timer: How much time left?)
Ezekiel confirmed again as the Watchman.
This happened earlier in chapter 3, speaking words of judgment and warning.
Now, he will oversee them for renewal.
“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
The newest stage of Ezekiel’s ministry
Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
From (3:26) until now.
What about us? (despair)
Ezekiel has just spoken of the wicked man who will die for his sin (9).
But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’
The people’s confession now amazingly accepts that they are in exactly that category (note ‘our offences’).
They accept the divine verdict (they are the wicked) and the divine sentence (they deserve death), and so they resign themselves to a living death, rotting away in exile.
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
This is not works righteousness
Those who depend upon their own righteousness to save them can expect to be lost (33:13).
Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.
The genuineness of a person’s salvation is judged by his repentance
False Hope/False Thinking
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’
Say this to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.
And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through.
Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.
Repentance Unto Life
Repentance Unto Life
(Timer: How much time left?)
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 15
“Repentance Unto Life”
By [repentance], a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature, and righteous law of God; and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavouring to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments.
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
False Repentance
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’
And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.
And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.
When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Derek Thomas
But however clear their blindness appears to us, we need to ask ourselves how we have responded in times when God’s judgement has fallen on us. Have we also not been guilty of superficiality in our religion?
Have we not listened to sermons, casting aside the words of rebuke as applicable to someone else, seeking only what brings us immediate profit? Before we castigate those of Ezekiel’s day, we had better make sure that we have not committed the very same error.
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
Knowing how God has worked throughout history...
helps us to trust him today.
We study God’s people in Ezekiel (nearly 600 years before Jesus’ birth)...
Why? So we can see God’s faithfulness to his people...
past, present, and future.
“O God Our Help in Ages Past”
Benediction:
Benediction:
