New Heart From A Stone Heart
Notes
Transcript
Welcome / Introduction
Welcome / Introduction
New Visitors? We like it when you’re here!
Bible in 5 Years - 2nd week in Ezekiel
Introduce Theme & Break the Ice
Introduce Theme & Break the Ice
Ezekiel can be a difficult book to read, and is unfamiliar to most church goers.
Let’s get real for a second:
If your kid approached you and asked you, “Mom, Dad, what is Who was Ezekiel and what is his book about,” how many of you feel, right now, you would have an answer to give?
Don’t feel bad, please. But ask yourself this: Why is this the case?
Why do books like Ezekiel, Zechariah, Revelation go unread and unstudied in your Bible?
It’s because Satan doesn’t want you to get deep in the Word.
He wants to trick you.
He wants to keep you in the shallow end.
Jesus was just a middle eastern guy that did some stuff a few thousand years ago.
He doesn’t want you to realize that Jesus Christ is so much more than that. He doesn’t want you to learn that you can find Jesus on every page in this book.
And so the stories that show utter victory over the enemy, utter victory over the devil and his demons… those stories…
...reside in the middle of a battlefield.
Even right now, in this very moment, I am certain that the enemy is trying to distract.
He wants you thinking about how tired you are
How busy you are
How behind you are
How messed up and broken you are
He wants you to get excited about that thing you are going to do after church
All in an effort to hide Ezekiel’s words from you.
They are big words.
So I say, In the name of Jesus Christ I bind all spirits of lust, anger, depression, anxiety, spirits of suicide, spirits of fear and doubt; all demonic entities I command to bow at the feet of Jesus Christ.
Go immediately and go directly, so that He may do to you as He wills.
Go now and never return, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
We are going to dive into Ezekiel, but as you’ve heard me say a thousand times…
When studying scripture, any scripture context is everything.
Let me give you an example:
I was scrolling through my photos the other day, and have you ever stumbled across a screenshot that you don’t remember taking?
Well, I found a screenshot of my text message conversation with my wife, Gio.
It made me double-take for a second, what?
Imagine coming across this conversation with zero context:
In the picture, I start off the conversation: “We need to talk about the midget in the garage.”
Gio responds: “I don’t think we have enough room for it anymore. broken heart emoji.”
I said, “I think I found a buyer. He has cash and wants to bring his mom with him to look at her. ”
Gio: “Praise God.”
Blair: “Amen, and they have a trailer with chains.”
Now, CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING.
Because if you didn’t know that Gio and I were trying to sell a small British racecar, specifically a 1976 MG Midget, then that story might have read very differently.
The same thing applies to reading any text. Ancient texts, especially.
Reading Ezekiel is akin to jumping into the deep end of the pool.
Ezekiel uses visions, prophecies, parables, signs, and symbols to proclaim and dramatize the message of God to His exiled people.
Much of it can be difficult to wrestle with, so it is all the more important to understand the context, both for Ezekiel and for ourselves.
What did it mean for him?
What does it mean for us?
We will be studying the 36th chapter this morning, so let’s seek the Lord in prayer and then look at the background and setting of Ezekiel.
Prayer
Background | Setting
Background | Setting
Ezekiel’s name means: strengthened by God
It was an apt name for him, as only a man who was strengthened by the Lord could have endured what He did in the way that he did it.
What Ezekiel has to say, if we take it as truth and allow it to change our lives, will result in OURSELVES being strengthened by God as well.
Going back into Israel’s history, we have King David around 1200BC and immediately following the reign on his son, Solomon, Israel falls into civil war and splits into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
North Kingdom = Bad
South Kingdom = also bad but there are people who are trying to keep God at the helm of the ship.
A few hundred years go by and it’s 596BC.
Babylon is on a mission to conquer the middle east and they have Israel in their sights.
There are two waves of attack - spaced 10 years apart
The first attack from Babylon is in 596BC and they take many captives from the land of Israel. Ezekiel was one of those captives.
10 years after Ezekiel is taken, Babylon returns and burns the entire city of Jerusalem; killing or taking captive every man woman and child, and destroying the temple.
This is where we get the book of Lamentations from.
People like Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego were taken during the second attack.
The book of Ezekiel is written right between both attacks, 5 years in exile, 5 years before Babylon destroys Jerusalem and the temple.
It is Ezekiel’s 30th birthday, the year he would have been installed as a priest.
Ezekiel is sitting on the banks of a river, when he has his first vision from the LORD.
The imagery in this book is wild, so I am not going to spend too much time on it.
He sees a the LORD’s heavenly chariot with a throne it; There is an intense light in the form of a silhouetted man sitting upon the throne on top.
From the chariot, Yahweh speaks to Ezekiel.
The first 11 chapters of Ezekiel focus on God’s accusations against Israel.
Israel has broken their covenant agreement with the LORD.
They are worshipping other gods, building and establishing idols, lots of social injustice.
During this vision, Ezekiel is commissioned by God to WARN Israel of imminent destruction. The first attack would be followed up by another, even more devastating attack.
Following God’s commands, Ezekiel performs several “Sign Acts”, as they are called.
A form of street theater, bizarre behavior that acted as parables of his prophetic message.
He built a tiny model of Jerusalem and organized a seige, like we used to do with GI Joe or Army Men.
He shaved his head and then chopped all his hair with a sword.
The most extreme: he played the role of the scapegoat on the day of atonement. He tied himself up and laid on his side for over a year, 390 days, eating food cooked over poop as a sign of the nasty food people will have to eat during the seige.
But by the time chapter 3 rolls around… we get some very bad news.
BAD NEWS: NO ONE IS GOING TO LISTEN
7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.
What’s that mean for me?
That means that I can stand up here all day, and prepare the most elaborate sermons, the most engaging worship sessions…
… but if YOU have hardened your heart; If YOUR heart is rebellious and you love your sin…
You won’t listen.
This would make me sad if it weren’t for the next two verses:
8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
God is saying, “hey buddy, the people I have placed you around and in the midst of, those people have hardened their own hearts and they cannot hear my voice. But, SO THAT YOU ARE NOT DISMAYED BY THEIR REBELLION, I will harden your head in turn.”
“I will pit their strength against my strength, and YOU are the vessel.”
9 Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”
The word for Emery here, is the Hebrew shamir and it is also translated as diamond.
What is significant about diamonds? Anybody? What makes a diamond special?
Diamonds are the HARDEST natural minerals we have on this Earth.
What does this mean for us?
When you are carrying the gospel, you are spiritually banging heads, like a ram, against the enemy.
And the strength God gives to you… it’s the hardest, most durable there could ever be.
God also uses the word flint here; harder than flint have I made your forehead.
What is significant about flint?
It can create sparks.
And what do sparks do?
They start fires.
Biblical fires represent purification; cleansing; perfecting; toughening
But the Israelites… had hardened their hearts so fully, so completely, their rebellion was rooted so deep… they refused to listen.
Moses saw this coming:
18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
About 1 year after the first vision, Ezekiel receives another.
This time, he gets a virtual tour of the temple that is in Jerusalem (remember Ezekiel is a captive in Babylon).
What Ezekiel sees is NOT GOOD.
Idols have been built throughout the temple and he sees the priestly elders worshiping other gods outside AND inside the temple.
The women have all gathered and are worshipping a Babylonian god named Tammuz.
The vision ends with God’s throne chariot moving up and away from the Temple. It is leaving, headed East toward Babylon.
Israel’s rampant, senseless and destructive idolatry has driven God away.
No more blessing.
No more protection.
When I first read this, I felt conflicted because it seemed to me that God was abandoning His people.
How do you reconcile that?
Here is the truth that the Holy Spirit revealed to me:
God did not abandon His people, He went East… WITH them INTO exile.
16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’
17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.
19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
What does this mean?
A remnant of God’s people will return with new, transformed hearts.
What happens to the people that DON’T accept the offer of a new heart? The hearts that refuse to repent?
The following verse says it plain:
21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”
Lord God I pray that every heart here this morning would be softened by your Word. I pray the Holy Spirit would move in ways that confirm who you are and what you want for us. Chase us down, God, so that none in here would be held accountable for our countless acts of rebellion. Knock loudly this morning, God.
Quick recap:
First 11 chapters: God declares his accusations against Israel
Chapters 12-24: God warns of his coming judgement over Israel
Chapters 25-32: God declares judgement upon the surrounding nations as well.
… and He will use Babylon to judge these nations alongside Israel.
Because He is Holy, because He is JUST… He cannot abide evil.
He is long suffering, yes, but God will ALWAYS balance the scales, as a proper judge would.
And then in chapter 33, a refugee from Jerusalem arrives in Babylon and tells Ezekiel that the worst has happened: Babylon has invaded a second time, and this time they destroyed the temple and the entire city, killing or taking captive every man, woman, and child in the city.
1. God respects His reputation.
1. God respects His reputation.
But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’
People in the surrounding nations have lost respect/concern for Yahweh because of Israel’s hypocrisy and idolatry.
What kind of God puts up with a people who are kicked out of their own promised land?!
But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
How did Israel profane the name of the LORD?
Look at where they were vs. where they were called to be.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
This was the deal, and Israel broke it. Again and again.
YOU’RE supposed to obey, yet you rebel.
YOU’RE supposed to be a kingdom of priests, yet you’ve given this duty to the tribe of Levi and they followed the ways of the world and have led you astray.
They are bringing down the name of Yahweh because they have not fulfilled their purpose: to be a Kingdom of priests, HOLY and separated from the world
“you shall be to me”, “treasured possession”
Special. Set apart. Mine. Like a husband jealous for his wife’s affection… MINE.
Instead, Israel was the opposite of Holy: COMMON. Everyone got a piece.
Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.
“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.
22 “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.
[this next move in the plan has very little to do with you; it is for the sake of my reputation among my creation; you have sullied it; I will restore it]
23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.
24 “ ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.
In the same way Israel took credit for gifts that came ONLY from God, God will restore them in a way that could ONLY come from God.
Raise your hand if you are the victim of a broken relationship and you know it was largely your fault?
Yeah, God is saying here…
You were the vehicle that profaned my name among the world; You will ALSO be the vehicle that proves I AM HOLY. That there is no other like the LORD.
I will restore my reputation by gathering you from scattered exile and bringing you back into the land that was taken from you.
And then, our second point here…
Not only will I restore you physically by bringing you back home, to the place you were always supposed to be…
I will restore your spirit, and give you a new heart.
2. God replaces hearts and spirits.
2. God replaces hearts and spirits.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
[when you become a Christ follower, your two natures will begin to war with one another. Your flesh vs. your spirit. You will start feeling convicted about your actions that you may never have felt before. This is the cleansing process. This is the sprinkling of water.]
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[You don’t like who you have become, you don’t like feeling angry all the time. You wish you could love your wife as much as you know you should. You wish you woke up angry instead of anxious. You want so desperately to escape addiction… this is the new heart. The new spirit, waring against the ways of this world. ]
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Did you know that it’s not you musters up the will power to stay obedient?
I WILL CAUSE YOU to obey my rules. That’s what verse 27 says.
So if it’s Him that gives us the strength to obey, to endure…
Why do we so often lean on our own strength?
We forget this all the time.
We walk around quoting Philippians 4:13 “13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” but then we go DAYS without talking to Him!
Here is probably the most important question of the message:
When was the last time you ASKED God to replace the desires in your heart for the desires of His heart?
When was the last time you asked God to replace your anger for your spouse with anger for evil?
Why is it that I can be in the parking lot of a water park, kids in the back seat, arguing with my wife, and feel so much anger toward her? So much anger that I need to get down on my knees and beg for him to take it from me so that I don’t sin in my anger…
Yet when our own youth in this church, in this family, struggle with taking their own lives… why am I am not overcome with that same anger against the Father of Lies?! For trying to take one of our own!?
How can the person I love most in this world receive that which should be reserved for the one who is trying to condemn me?!
There is a simple answer: We need a new heart. A new spirit. Different than the one the world has given us.
This has been my conviction leading up to this message.
Church, we need to start off ever single day with the following prayer:
Lord, change my heart today.
Fill me with your spirit.
Make me more like you.
Make me see with your eyes, hear with your ears, speak with your words, and walk in your ways.
Create in me, a clean heart that delights in you above all.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Our God is a father, and like any good father, he wants to be in relationship with us.
3. God restores broken relationships.
3. God restores broken relationships.
Our God is a father, and like any good father, he wants to provide for us, and comfort us, and shelter us.
Like any good father, He wants us to turn from our evil ways, and place our eyes back on Him.
Just as Yahweh was speaking to Israel back then, He is using the same words for us today. If you would but turn away from your sins, you would be the recipient of so much more:
28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
This is the first step to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ:
I am a SINNER. My ways are EVIL. My deeds, NOT GOOD.
When you finally understand this truth, and the truth of Jesus’ sacrifice for you on the cross, you can’t help but HATE the sin that controls your life.
This is the gospel, in Ezekiel.
It’s the same gospel that John the baptist preached.
In one sentence, this is what Ezekiel wants you to know:
Repent and TURN from your sins, for the Kingdom of God is near.
Do not be on the wrong side of judgement!
Instead, choose the upright path that leads to everlasting life.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for making it abundantly clear to us through your WORD: apart from you we are nothing but evil, rebellious, disgraceful children. That which our sin creates is abomination.
Thank you for not abandoning us in our sin, but you have made a way for all that would choose to turn back to you.
And if we would turn back to you, you are faithful to welcome us in and clean us and clothe us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for studying Ezekiel with me, next week we will continue in this ancient text and look at valley of dry bones, so please come back and worship with us.
Our ushers are going to be coming around with the tithes and offerings basket while we sing a final song of Praise to Jesus.
Afterward, please stick around for something amazing: The entire Romero family is going to publically declare their Faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized in front of this church family. All of them.
Ezer - Helper
