Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
One of the saddest verses in the bible is:
judges 16:20
Here, Samson wakes up to fight the Philistines but didn’t realize that the Lord had left him and was no longer in His presence.
If you think back to Moses, he treasured the presence of the Lord so much that he didn’t want to move forward with the Israelites if God wouldn’t go with them.
ex
In , the prophet receives a vision of Jerusalem.
Again this is bad news.
Because of the people’s rampant disobedience, debauchery and defilement that ultimately leads to their destruction.
While reading through this our focus could be only on the fact that God’s glory departs from the people but based on everything that is going on we should ask why did God stay as long as He did?
Ezekiel
I don’t talk about this much because I’m a little embarrassed but I’m a fan of professional wrestling.
I’ve been watching wrestling for the majority of my life.
I grew up watching characters like Hulk Hogan, The Junkyard Dog, Rick Flair, Jimmy Superfly Snuka all the way through more current guys like The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
One of the more recent wrestlers is John Cena.
John Cena is like the superman of wrestling.
He’s seems to be unstoppable.
One of the things he does is wave is hand in front of his face and says, “You can’t see me.”
In reading the opening few verses of chapter 8 here, this image comes to mind of the elders of Israel doing this to God.
v. 8:12
God asks Ezekiel if he’s been paying attention to al the things they are doing in the darkness?
They say, “The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.”
Israel is going on acting like God doesn’t see them.
They act like He is not going to do anything about their rebellion.
Not only that, they didn’t care what God had to say about what they were doing.
Of course, they were wrong.
The Lord could see everything and He was going to put an end to it.
Ezekiel is shown a vision where men, women, leaders and various people but none of that worship was directed to the Lord.
“It includes idolatry imported from all sorts of surrounding nations (Canaan, Egypt and Babylon) and involving all kings of gods.
This is a unified, universalized religion, the ultimate multifaith worship service.
From the Lord’s perspective, however, the picture is one of abomination piled on abomination.”
I’ve had a few conversations with people about what we do and don’t do in our worship services.
As we refocus FBC Bolingbrook on how we glorify God and make disciples, it’s good and healthy to step back and take a look at what we do and how we do things.
However, It’s sections in scripture like this that highlights why we need to not only take our worship seriously but ensure that what we are doing is, in fact, worshipping our Father in Heaven.
Listen to what Iain Duguid says in his commentary on this verse:
“It includes idolatry imported from all sorts of surrounding nations (Canaan, Egypt and Babylon) and involving all kinds of gods.
This is a unified, universalized religion, the ultimate multifaith worship service.
From the Lord’s perspective, however, the picture is one of abomination piled on abomination.”
Chapter 10
The presence of God is truly a blessing.
de
The absence of God is a sign of His rejection.
God had been very patient with them but this patience was coming to an end.
Due to their disobedience, their punishment would not be death but the departure of God’s presence.
Eze 11:16-
Eze 11:
Even amongst all the bad new that Ezekiel is asked to deliver, there is some good.
The Lord would not leave His people in foreign lands forever but would gather them and give them the land of Israel.
Conclusion
What about you?
How much do YOU value the presence of the Lord?
Does His presence make you distinct in Bolingbrook, in your workplace or even in worship?
If God were to remove His presence, how would you feel about that?
Would you be devastated?
Would you even notice?
Are you like Asaph where he writes in Psalm 73:25:
psalm
Are you like David when he says:
psa
When we talk about hell, the worse part isn’t the fire.
The worse part is the forsakenness.
Not being in the presence of God.
That is why, right now, at the moment, I urge you submit you life to God and follow Him.
Christ lived among His people and the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
The departure of the Lord that we read about in will not happen to Christians because it happened to Christ on the cross.
God forsook His Son so that He would never depart from US.
Brothers and sisters, the gospel is not about cleaning yourself up and doing something to get God’s attention.
The gospel is not about working your way to heaven.
The gospel is the news that Christ left heaven to live among, atone for and rescue the exiles.
All that God expects from us, He provides for us in Christ.
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