From Despair to Hope
Ezekiel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 10 viewsNotes
Transcript
When people hear the word pride today, what do you think is one of the first images that comes to mind?
I did a Google search for pride illustrations and here are a few examples of what came up. There wasn’t one single image I could find in four pages of scrolling that actually depicted a true biblical understanding of pride.
So I went back and did another Google search for biblical illustrations of pride and I grabbed these images.
Even so called “biblical illustrations” revolve around societal ideologies of pride.
It feels like Christians have become exiles in a land that was founded on biblical principles. The church has been overrun, our walls and gates tore down and the buildings destroyed. And society is pridefully gloating over the destruction.
We can feel like we as Christians and the church as a whole are defeated. Even those we thought were allies seem to turn against us. It was no different for the Jews 600 years before Christ. God had a message for them and it’s the same message for us today.
The church in America had it far too easy for far too long. Like Judah, we became prideful ourselves, then when society began turning against us we began compromising with society, that compromise was our biggest downfall.
We claimed the United States to be a Christian nation. God is reminding us that He decides what nations and what people are His! Is God judging the church in America right now? I think He’s handed us over to our enemies like He did Judah.
We’re going to be covering a lot of ground in the Bible today from Ezekiel chapter 26 verse 1 - chapter 28 verse 19. We’re going to see how even in moments of dire judgment, God’s grace remains our beacon of hope, urging us to respond with humility and trust in His promise of ultimate victory.
We should respond to God’s promise in three ways:
Hear God’s Message of Grace
Humble Ourselves Before God
Hope in His Ultimate Victory
If you have your Bibles and want to follow along, turn to Ezekiel chapter 26. We’re going to start in verse 1 and look at what God says about hearing God’s message of grace.
Hear God’s Message of Grace
Hear God’s Message of Grace
The destruction of Jerusalem was celebrated by all the Gentile nations located around the kingdom of Judah. The Jews claimed that there was only one living God and the Gentiles only worshipped dead idols made by man.
The Gentiles suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of Saul and David, thus, they resented the Jews. When the Jews turned from the One God and started worshipping the Gentile nations’ gods, the Gentiles considered the Jews hypocrites.
Then when God used Babylon to pronounce His judgment upon Judah by destroying Jerusalem and the temple, they sought human allies instead of trusting their “one true God.” The Gentile nations were elated to be able to laugh at the Jews in their humiliation.
Does that sound familiar? Here we are almost 2700 years later and God’s people, the church, are called hypocrites, despised by society, and society is elated to be able to laugh at the churches humiliation.
However, what society doesn’t realize is exactly what the Gentile nations 2700 years ago didn’t realize. God’s judgment upon the Jews, upon the church, isn’t just a reprimand for His people, it’s a warning to the Gentiles. To society.
31 If the righteous will be repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and sinful.
In chapter 25 God tells Ezekiel to declare to the nations that judgment is coming. It covers judgment upon Ammon, Moab and Edom. In chapters 26-28 Ezekiel narrows the focus upon Tyre. Let’s look at chapter 26 verses 1-6.
1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre said about Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gateway to the peoples is shattered. She has been turned over to me. I will be filled now that she lies in ruins,’
3 therefore this is what the Lord God says: See, I am against you, Tyre! I will raise up many nations against you, just as the sea raises its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and turn her into a bare rock.
5 She will become a place in the sea to spread nets, for I have spoken.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and her villages on the mainland will be slaughtered by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
The Jews were exiled because they sinned and turned away from God. Tyre is being judged for their sins. Primarily pride, hatred and revenge. The same sins that still strongly motivate people today.
Sin masquerades arrogance as patriotism, hatred as national zeal, and revenge as justice.
When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, Tyre began to gloat over the demise and arrogantly thought they would control all of the trade routes. Tyre was a prominent commercial center with crucial seaports located in two harbors.
The city of Tyre had two main parts. One part was located right on the Mediterranean coast and the other was located on an island about half a mile off the coast. Not long after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem it began a 15 year siege against the coastal city and overcame it, but they failed to capture the island city.
250 years later Alexander the Great besieged the island city for seven months. He flattened the land and took rocks to build a causeway to the island and conquered the city. Even today, Tyre has not been rebuilt and fishermen use that causeway to lay out their nets to dry.
They were eager to control the very lucrative overland trade routes like they controlled the sea trade routes. But God had different plans for Tyre. God said, you want to gloat in pride. You want to celebrate the destruction of my people. Then “I will scrape the soil from her and turn her into a bare rock.”
God had sent Ezekiel with warnings of the judgment over their pride and arrogance. And their zealous celebration of the humiliating demise of God’s people. Warren Wiersbe here, quotes 1 Pet 4:17
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
He goes on to say, “There’s a great difference between a loving parent chastening a child and a judge punishing a guilty criminal.”
God’s warnings, were in themselves, a message of grace to Tyre. They failed to hear God’s message of grace and faced criminal punishment for their sins.
God also punished Tyre as He keeps His covenant promise to Abraham.
2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
God punished Tyre with complete annihilation. The Jews were sent into exile with a message of eventual restoration.
Even when we turn away from God He remains loyal and merciful. He keeps His promises and offers grace to all who trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, and repent. Repentance requires us to set our pride aside and humble ourselves before God.
Humble Ourselves Before God
Humble Ourselves Before God
Karl Barth, the famous Swiss theologian, once wrote that all human sin finds its roots in three basic human problems. He included pride, dishonesty and slothfulness in his list of rudimentary sins.
None of these basic evils is instantly eradicated by spiritual regeneration. As Christians we must struggle against these problems through our entire pilgrimage. None of us is immune. If we are going to deal with the discipline of Bible study, we must recognize at the outset that we will need the grace of God to persevere.
The impact of God’s judgment upon Tyre wasn’t just a minor ripple effect around the region. It brought financial chaos throughout the entire coastal region.
Look at verses 15 and 16
15 This is what the Lord God says to Tyre: “Won’t the coasts and islands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan and slaughter occurs within you?
16 All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble continually, and be appalled at you.
The Hebrew word translated appalled here implies that Tyre was deserted, abandoned from all help. They were left in poverty.
God calls out Tyre’s pride in itself in Eze 27:3
3 Say to Tyre, who is situated at the entrance of the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coasts and islands, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Tyre, you declared, “I am perfect in beauty.”
We’ve all heard the expression “pride comes before the fall.” There are many Bible verses that elude to that expression, mostly in Proverbs. A few examples are:
18 Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.
2 When arrogance comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
12 Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Paul states it this way in 1 Cor 10:12
12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.
We see a lot of pride in the world today. Our country is wrought with pride. We have taught people to have pride in themselves. To take pride in your country. Take pride in your work.
I saw a couple of cartoons a while back that were pretty much on point. One said something like, “I’ve always been able to maintain my humility, I’m proud to say.”
The other depicted one person saying to another, “sooooo… Brian you think you’re good enough to be a member of the humility club!”
The church has become prideful in many ways. We claim that the United States is a Christian nation. Some Christians even go so far as to claim that God created the United States in similar fashion as God created the nation of Israel as His people.
Yes, our founding documents and Constitution are full of biblical principles. Yes many of our founding fathers were Christians. That doesn’t make the United States a Christian nation and it definitely doesn’t mean God claims the United States as His nation and His people.
God has blessed our nation for over 200 years. I believe that’s because for most of that 200 years our population, to a large majority, were faithful believers. And even those who weren’t, until about 50 years ago, held to moral standards that mirrored biblical truths.
The church over the last 20 years has become a lot like Judah. There are leaders in the church living openly sinful lives, worshipping various ideologies over biblical truths and compromising with society.
Society over the last 40 years at least has rapidly started to openly despise the church because the church has become prideful and hypocritical. We must lose the pride and be humble before God.
We are witnessing a fall in the church due to the lack of spiritual growth in the body as a whole. There has been a lack of discipleship and a lack of Bible reading and Bible study which all contribute to the lack of spiritual growth.
The lack of spiritual transformation leads to an individual and the church over all not taking responsibility and not having humility. Many can’t even describe what it means to be humble before God.
Andrew Murray describes humility this way:
Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.
When we hear God’s message of grace and humble ourselves before God then we have hope in His ultimate victory.
Hope in His Ultimate Victory
Hope in His Ultimate Victory
In chapter 28 starting in verse 11 Ezekiel begins talking about a second ruler over Tyre. “The King of Tyre” who is not merely a human ruler.
Let’s read through verses 11-19 and then we’ll look at how these verses point to our hope in victory.
11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, lament for the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God says: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone covered you: carnelian, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; they were prepared on the day you were created.
14 You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you.
16 Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendor you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the ground; I made you a spectacle before kings.
18 You profaned your sanctuaries by the magnitude of your iniquities in your dishonest trade. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of everyone watching you.
19 All those who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become an object of horror and will never exist again.’ ”
The “king of Tyre” portrayed as “perfect in beauty,” he was “in Eden, the garden of God,” and was “an anointed guardian cherub.”
He was “blameless…until wickedness was found in [him].” The real power behind the throne of Tyre is one of God’s highest created angels who walked in the Garden of Eden and in wickedness tempted Adam and Eve.
God says he was “perfect in beauty” and Paul tells us in:
14 And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
The greatest manipulation we have is how Satan is portrayed to us in pictures and movies. Hideous and ugly, with horns and a tail. God created him “perfect in beauty” and he’s still beautiful today.
He makes evil look so good and inviting. We can be tempted so easily that we’re trapped in evil over our heads before we realize it.
Christ already secured the victory, Satan is already defeated. This is our hope in His ultimate victory. We don’t just have eternal hope, but immediate hope in victory over sin.
Our overall strength in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is directly related to the amount of time we spend engaging our Bibles.
A study called “The Power of 4” done over an 8 year span conducted on over 100,000 people shows this correlation. The first thing they discovered is that any Christian who reads their bible 3 days or less per week leads a life indistinguishable from non-Christians.
Those engaging in the Bible four or more days a week are much less likely to give in to temptations and hold a much higher sense of self. I’ll give a few examples in different areas the study covered.
Those who engage their Bibles 4+ times/week see the odds of giving in to certain temptations lowered:
Drinking in excess down 62%, Viewing Pornography down 59%, Sex outside marriage down 59%, gossiping down 28%, lying is down 28%.
Might need a little work on those last two.
Bible engagement 4 or more days a week produces more peace and joy:
Feeling bitter down 40%, Destructive thinking about self or others down 32%, feeling like they have to hide their actions or feelings down 32%, difficulty forgiving down 31%, feeling discouraged down 31%, unkind thoughts about other down 18%, and experiencing fear or anxiety down 14%.
They found significantly higher odds of:
Giving financially to a church rose 416% Memorizing Scripture rose 407%, Discipling others rose 231% and sharing faith with others rose 228%.
And they found Bible engagement 4+ days/week have significantly lower odds of feeling:
Spiritually stagnant down 60% and feeling like they can’t please God down 44%.
We are living in a crazy time right now. Satan veils celebration of sexual perversion as a loving alternative lifestyle, antisemitism as caring for Israel’s enemies, and child mutilation as acceptance of their transgender ideology.
All of this done under the guise of tolerance, but their sinful pride underneath shows through in their intolerance of any disagreement with their ideology. We can, as too much of the church has done, just go along to get along.
We can allow anger and hate to cloud our judgment, pretend we’re holier than though and somehow better than others. But that only leads to hypocrisy and heated arguments that just cause an even bigger divide. Again there are far too many in the church who take this approach.
Or we can spend 4+ days/week reading and studying our Bibles. If we do that consistently every week, every month, every year we find that we have a different approach to the craziness in our society.
When we engage in our Bibles 4+ days/week we begin to have the heart God has for all His creation. If you will notice in chapter 28 verse 12 God tells Ezekiel to “lament for the king of Tyre,” to lament for Satan.
Lament is a faithful, active response to pain, suffering, or sin that brings deep emotions to God. God is saying we are to have deep emotions, even over the sins and loss of Satan himself. Believe it or not that leads to a stronger faith in God.
God wants us to have a loving approach to society that doesn’t compromise truth. Yet gently points those who are seeking, to Christ. Keep our eyes on the things above, present Christ to those who are seeking and simply trust God with the results.
That’s what God envisions when He asks us to respond to His promises by hearing God’s message of grace, humbling ourselves before Him and having our hope in the ultimate victory, Jesus Christ.
