God has Left the Building
Ezekiel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsWhen it seems God’s glory is gone from our homes we mourn, but don’t stop there, repent from our sins and idol worship and look to hope. God’s promise of future redemption.
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever been rejected?
Have you ever rejected someone else?
In 2013, Business Insider, had an article titled, “7 Brutally Honest Job Rejection Letters.” I can’t read the entire article, but I’ll share a couple of the letters.
One states:
Sub Pop, an independent record label in Seattle, sent the following rejection letter: Dear Loser, Thank you for sending your demo materials to Sub Pop for consideration. Presently, your demo package is one of a massive quantity of material we receive everyday at Sub Pop World Headquarters. [Your material] is on its way through the great lower intestines that is the talent acquisitions process. We appreciate your interest and wish the best in your pursuit. Kind regards. P.S. This letter is known as a “rejection letter.”
and the other one states:
New Delta Review, a literary magazine in Baton Rouge, sent the following rejection letter: Thank you for submitting. Unfortunately, the work you sent is quite terrible. Please forgive the form rejection, but it would take too much of my time to tell you exactly how terrible it was. So again, sorry for the form letter.
(Vivian Giang, “7 Brutally Honest Job Rejection Letters,” Business Insider, 6-24-13; www.PreachingToday.com)
Ouch!!! Sometimes the truth hurts.
Some young people today, may not even know what a rejection letter is. Because today, instead of sending a rejection letter, people just ghost you.
They just abruptly end all contact with you.
No more texts, emails, chats or phone calls. They just disappear. And we like to pretend this is something new.
But how often are we guilty of doing that to God. We may not outright reject Him, we just simply ghost Him.
We no longer have two-way communication with Him. We only pray when we’re in desperate situations. Then we refuse to listen to Him.
What does God do when He’s ghosted, and/or when we reject Him?
He tells us in Ezekiel 10 and 11. If you want to follow along in your Bibles, turn to Ezekiel 10. We’ll look at what God’s Word tells us, God does when we reject Him.
We’ll start with verses 1-5.
1 Then I looked, and there above the expanse over the heads of the cherubim was something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli. 2 The Lord spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with blazing coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in as I watched.
3 Now the cherubim were standing to the south of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherub to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.
5 The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
In 2 Chronicles 7:1, the glory of the LORD fills the temple, when Solomon finished it, 200 years prior to the time of Ezekiel:
1 fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Now Ezekiel sees that same glory of the LORD leaving the temple. And it’s because God’s own people rejected Him.
Ezekiel chapters 8-9 tell how the Israelites were worshipping idols in that very same temple. Amir Tsarfati says,
“Imagine a woman bringing her boyfriend into the family room, snuggling up to him on the couch, flipping on the television, then starting a make-out session. All while her husband is watching the disrespectful display from his easy chair.” (Amir Tsarfati, Exploring Ezekiel, Harvest House Publishers, 2025, p.57)
God is packing up His stuff and heading out of town. Can you blame Him? His bride, Israel, is making out with other lovers in His house.
They literally rejected God, in His house, and worshipped other false gods. God is leaving town and He orders it burned to the ground.
And that’s exactly what happened when the Babylonians overran the city of Jerusalem. 2 Kings 25:8-9 says,
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 9 He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses.
When Ezekiel sees God leaving the temple in Jerusalem. God pauses over the eastern gate, orders the city burned, then He leaves the Israelites and Jerusalem altogether.
Now, Ezekiel is tasked with telling the Israelites that, because they ghosted, rejected God, He is departing from their home and there’s impending doom coming.
What do we do when God’s glory leaves our home?
What do we do when His presence is no longer felt?
Well the first thing we do if we’re honest is feel sorry for ourselves and throw a pity party. But the first thing we should do is mourn.
Mourn
Mourn
If there’s ever a time to hang our heads and cry, to grieve a loss, this would be it. I’m not talking about having a pity party and feeling sorry for ourselves.
I mean we should be in deep heartfelt mourning over the loss of God’s presence. And that’s exactly what Ezekiel did, along with those who were with him in exile.
And when I think about the spiritual condition of the church in America today, I have the same reaction. In far too many churches we can announce, ladies and gentlemen, God has left the building.
Sure we hear some stories of revival, hundreds of our youth turning to Christ. Yes, that’s great and we should be rejoicing over that.
But, I can’t help but think, what has brought so much division and hate to our country?
Oh, we can blame politicians, news media, social media, government and many other outside forces. And guess what? The Israelites could have blamed all the Gentile nations influence upon their circumstances as well.
The truth is, the church quit worshipping God and God alone. We brought other idols into the house of God. We let society change perspectives. We let society change the gospel.
It starts out with good intentions.
How do we get more people in church?
How do we get people to hear the gospel and convert?
I hear so many say, “well you know it started when we took prayer out of schools. It started when we took the ten commandments out of our courthouses.”
No, no, it started much earlier than that. It started when the church started making converts instead of disciples.
You see, converts aren’t convicted by God as much as they are the world. So they compromise. Their idols are materialistic. Those idols are brought into the church and worshipped.
Their views of biblical values change alongside societal values. Pretty soon God is ghosted and we’re worshipping worldly idols.
We are in a dark hour. Not just in America, but in the church as a whole. We must get back to being more convicted by God and His Word than anything in this world.
We must be discipling the young in Christ. And only those who show an outward appearance of change, an outward appearance of sanctification, should be allowed to be leaders in the church.
If we want to see God raise us up out of this dark hour, then we must first mourn over our sin and idolatry. And then we must repent.
Repent
Repent
Turn ourselves and the church away from the idolatry. Stop making converts and start making disciples.
Stop letting the world influence the gospel. Stop letting the world convict us more than God and His Word.
Stop depending on our own understanding and start depending on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
That’s what Israel’s leaders failed to do. Look at Ezek 11:1-4
1 The Spirit then lifted me up and brought me to the eastern gate of the Lord’s house, which faces east, and at the gate’s entrance were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.
2 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 3 They are saying, ‘Isn’t the time near to build houses? The city is the pot, and we are the meat.’ 4 Therefore, prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man!”
These are the same 25 men who earlier in Ezekiel 8:16 stood in the courtyard of the temple with their backs to the temple worshipping idols.
16 with their backs to the Lord’s temple and their faces turned to the east. They were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.
Israel’s spiritual leaders, who are supposed to be guided by God, are worshipping worldly idols. Now, I’m just going to say it, they’re literally worshipping demons.
They’re lying to the people. Babylon is practically at their gates and they’re saying build houses. They are the watchmen who are supposed to warn the people of danger. Instead they have become a major part of the danger themselves.
Isn’t that what we see in the church today?
The gospel is compromised and God’s true biblical principles no longer exist. Society breaks down, chaos, hate and division ensue and eventually evil conquers all.
We must repent of our sins and our idols must be destroyed. We must make that clear to all true believers.
Just think about this:
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Repentance
Noah’s message from the steps going up to the Ark was not, “Something good is going to happen to you!”
Amos was not confronted by the high priest of Israel for proclaiming, “Confession is possession!”
Jeremiah was not put into the pit for preaching, “I’m O.K., you’re O.K.!”
Daniel was not put into the lion’s den for telling people, “Possibility thinking will move mountains!”
John the Baptist was not forced to preach in the wilderness and eventually beheaded because he preached, “Smile, God loves you!”
The two prophets of the tribulation will not be killed for preaching, “God is in His heaven and all is right with the world!”
Instead, what was the message of all these men of God?
Simple, one word: “Repent!”
Yes, we’re seeing a revival happening in some places. Large numbers of our youth coming to Christ. Part of the reason this revival is happening though, is due to uncertainty and lack of hope. The lack of the church doing its job for how many years?
God’s glory is sitting at the eastern gate right now. His glory is going and for many already seems to be gone.
We can’t keep making the same mistake of just getting people to convert. Say this prayer and you’re good. Rather, we must make repentant disciples.
We must be repentant ourselves and express the importance of their repentance. Show them Jesus Christ in and through us. Because it’s our faith in hard times that provides us with the certainty of our hope.
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
When God’s glory has gone and we’re faced with dark times, yes, we mourn, but we can’t stop there, we must repent. Turn away from our sins, and our idols, and look towards our hope.
Hope
Hope
Anticipate the future eternal kingdom, God has for us. Look forward to the day when God will return in the fullness of His glory. The day He will restore our bodies and souls.
That was Ezekiel’s message to the exiled Jews. God is with you in these dark days and He will restore you to His glorious presence forever!!
Look at Ezek 11:14-16
14 The word of the Lord came to me again: 15 “Son of man, your own relatives, those who have the right to redeem your property, along with the entire house of Israel—all of them—are those to whom the residents of Jerusalem have said, ‘You are far from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.’
16 “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Though I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
Even though we have rejected God in our sin, He’s still with us. He promised the Israelites to be a sanctuary for them. The Hebrew word translated “sanctuary” literally means a temple, a place consecrated and recognized as sacred.
God may seem distant, it may seem like we are in a dark time, but God hasn’t abandoned us. God hasn’t left the building. He’s here with us. He’s living in us. Our bodies are a temple of the Lord, holy and sacred.
Our society might be going crazy, it might seem dark. But God promises to restore us. We have hope in the promise of God. We see that in verses 17-20.
17 “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18 “When they arrive there, they will remove all its abhorrent acts and detestable practices from it.
19 I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they will follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and practice them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
We have so many in the church talking about how we are in the end times. The tribulation is upon us and Christ is going to return at any moment. Some are so sure of it that hey have staked everything on it.
Listen, I don’t know if Christ will return in 2 minutes or if it will be another 2 thousand years. But I do know He will return.
No matter when that happens, we still have a responsibility to keep our house, our community, our nation and the world in order.
Some years ago a hydroelectric dam was to be built across a valley in New England. The people in a small town in the valley were to be relocated because the town itself would be submerged when the dam was finished. During the time between the decision to build the dam and its completion, the buildings in the town, which previously were kept up nicely, fell into disrepair. Instead of being a pretty little town, it became an eyesore.
Why did this happen? The answer is simple. As one resident said, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no work in the present.”
Many Christians today don’t have a hope for the future of this world. I don’t mean being worldly minded. I mean they’re so focused on Christ’s return and the end times that they forget to be the witness we’re called to be to the world.
Our country desperately needs a lot of hearts of stone to be replaced with hearts of flesh. Our country is in dire need of more people clinging to Jesus Christ. That’s the only way morality will ever change for the better.
We can’t legislate it into reality, it’s only through Christ loving, transformed hearts of flesh. And that only happens when we stop making converts and start making repentant disciples.
People who truly understand the depth of their sin and redemption.
Looking around our society today it might seem like God’s glory is gone. It may seem like God has left the building. But just think about the exiled Israelites and how dark that must have felt.
Russell Moore put it this way: The next Billy Graham might be drunk right now. The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal. The next Charles Wesley might currently be a misogynistic, profanity-spewing hip-hop artist. The next Charles Spurgeon might be managing an abortion clinic today. The next Augustine of Hippo might be a sexually promiscuous cult member right now, just like, come to think of it, the first Augustine of Hippo was.
But the Spirit of God can turn all that around. And seems to delight to do so. The new birth doesn't just transform lives, creating repentance and faith; it also provides new leadership to the church, and fulfills Jesus' promise to gift His church with everything needed for her onward march through space and time” (Russell Moore, “Could the Next Billy Graham Be Drunk Right Now?” Russell Moore blog, 10-1-15; www.PreachingToday.com).
Just think about the possibilities when God gets ahold of our lives and the lives of those around us who penitently turn to Him.
