Through the Bible (Ezekiel 2:8-3:27)

all right why don't you grab your bible turn with me to ezekiel chapter three we began our study last week in ezekiel and we found um well already getting into some of the mysterious mystical stuff that ezekiel saw and he was kind of a whole other level and a different kind of prophet and uh and we ended last week there uh in chapter two where ezekiel was instructed by the lord to eat something but what was he supposed to eat well it was kind of an unlikely thing i remember as a kid hearing about a guy named michael lotito um during his lifetime michael latito uh was born in 1950 in june of grenoble france and he was a guy who ate metal and glass he was famous for doing this and throughout his lifetime beginning in 1959 a gastroenterologist x-rayed his stomach and described his ability to consume 900 grams or or two pounds of metal per day uh they said there's something unique about him and as they studied him uh they realized that you know he was just kind of unique in the way that his stomach and the digestive system work since 1966 his diet included 18 bicycles 15 supermarket baskets seven tv sets six chandeliers two beds a pair of skis and a low-calorie cessna light aircraft and also a computer he said to provided the only example in history of a coffin handles and all ending up inside a man uh he ate a coffin uh as well um he he first became aware of his ability when when he had a glass in his hand which he was drinking from and it broke and he began chewing the fragments by october 1997 he had eaten nearly nine tons of metal and he said that bananas and hard-boiled eggs made him sick he died of natural causes june 25th 2007. what an interesting guy maybe you remember seeing him in the world guinness book of world records they had to stop uh putting that in the guinness book because people couldn't do what he was doing and they were trying and people were dying trying to eat stuff that this guy ate he could do it they they actually tested his uh intestinal lining and it was like uh it was like bulletproof it was leather like leather uh and uh just kind of an interesting guy but uh you know eating weird stuff well ezekiel's asked to eat something that we wouldn't normally ask to eat and that is a scroll take the scroll and eat it up that's what ezq was told let's pick it up where we left off last week there in chapter two it says here uh in verse eight um it says but thou chapter two verse eight but thou son of man hear what i say unto thee be not thou rebellious like the rebellious house open thy mouth and eat that i give thee and when i looked behold a hand was sent upon me and lo a roll of a book was therein and he spread it before me and it was written within and without and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and woe and verse one of chapter three moreover he said unto me son of man eat that thou find us eat this roll and go speak unto the house of israel so so he's supposed to eat the roll now if this was a you know cinnamon roll uh i'm in but the scroll uh he's supposed to eat up the scroll of a book what's that all about well verse two so i opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll and he said unto me son of man cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that i give thee then i did eat it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness interesting here ezekiel is going to be quite picturesque in a lot of the examples and illustrations and you know some people just dismiss the book of ezekiel as weird and this is one thing eating a scroll okay got it weird let's go have a burger you know and so they just don't want to talk about it but you gotta understand all of this has meaning and all of it is very figurative in fact in the next several chapters we're going to see ezekiel doing some really strange behavioral things that are all meant to be lessons for the children of israel but also lessons for you and for me that we can hopefully glean from and learn from but this idea of eating a scroll might sound foreign unless you're a bible student uh we read about eating up the book of the word uh in several places uh and and there's some interesting things about this scroll one thing that we're told about it is it has writing on both sides of the role does anybody remember you bible students where else do we find a role or a scroll that's written on both sides book of revelation and that's an interesting thing because it causes for me just a little confusion if you do your study in history most of the scrolls were not written on both sides um the reason is functionally that's a little hard you know you'd have to roll it one way then you'd have to roll it up the other way and if you wanted to get to the other one you have to unroll it and re-roll it the other direction and see the other side it's a little tricky there was however a roll or a document that was often rolled with both sides printed on and that was none other than title deeds to property and and there would be written on both sides on a title deed information defining the property defining the terms of your purchase and your mortgage or whatever the situation was and those would be often scrolls that were shorter but they were written on both sides maybe it was to save you know paper i don't know but that's the main thing if you if you look at it historically those scrolls were titled these now this fits by the way with the book of revelation because if you recall the the scroll there in revelation chapter 1 is none other than the title deed to planet earth so that all makes sense but why is this scroll here with ezekiel written on both sides is that a title deed well it doesn't seem so unless the lamination and mourning that's talked about has to do with the reason john kind of freaked out in the book of revelation remember when when the lord you know up there in that heavenly scene it says in the book of revelation who's worthy to open up and loose the seals of this scroll of this book and that's the title deed in the book of revelation there and there was no one worthy and so john starts to kind of freak out oh no there's no one word worthy to take back the earth from satan the title deed to planet earth but then he's comforted there because behold jesus was the one worthy to open up and loose the seals on that scroll and that's the whole story of revelation how jesus is the one who earns the right by dying on the cross for the sins of the world taking back right now satan's the prince of this world jesus said satan is the god of this world but there's coming a time where jesus christ the messiah will take rightful reign in the throne in jerusalem he'll take the title deed back so interesting here this scroll like the one in revelation chapter one this scroll here is interestingly enough um written on both sides so you wonder but our definition of what it is in verse 10 of chapter two it was written on both sides within and without and there was written there in lamentations and mourning and woe some people wonder is this the scroll of jeremiah because jeremiah wrote the lamentations and his book of jeremiah was a very mournful book and maybe we're just reading jeremiah and it happens to be written on both sides that could be but some say no this could be that same title deed to the world and ezekiel just doesn't see the full picture until the book of revelation comes out so there's debate on what is the scroll but most agree this is a sort of an idiom or type of the word of god in general and we get that from so many of the other passages in the bible you might want to jot some of these down like for example it says when he did eat the scroll verse three uh it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness does that ring a bell um jot down psalm 19 verse 10. there in psalm 19 10 it says speaking of the word of the lord the law of the lord that's perfect converting the soul remember that whole psalm 19 but it says speaking of the word more to be desired are they than gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb the idea of the word of god is being sweet as honey that's a common thing that we see in the bible it's not just in psalm 19 it's also psalm 119 and psalm 119 verse 103 the scriptures say of itself how sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than honey to my mouth the psalmist wrote about how the word of god is sweet you know i find the word of god to be sweet and uh and mostly when i when i've been sort of hearing and listening and seeing the world and the way the world talks the way the world thinks you know when you watch a lot of news and then you go back to the book back to the word of god there's a sweetness to it there's a sweetness in the sense that man it's so redemptive and it's a book about how god loves us and he's merciful and compassionate and gracious where we look at the world and we hear what's going on out there it's harshness and anger and dismissiveness and and uh vitriol so we go back to the word and we find sweetness to the soul sweeter also than honey even the honey of the honeycomb it's not just psalm 119 psalm 19 but also proverbs chapter 10 verse 19. it says in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that refraineth his lips uh is wise um we're going to see here in ezekiel chapter 3 that he's going to read the word of god but he's also going to have to be careful what he says with his own word his own lips that's going to be a major part of this chapter 3 of of uh yeah read the word but be careful what you say with your words wouldn't it be great if you and i would speak the sweetness of the word and then be really careful with our own words because the word is sweet and that's something you and i can pass on to others but uh all that to say the word of god i love i love the sweetness of the word of god um speaking of eating a book jeremiah by the way spoke of eating the book as well in jeremiah 15 16. we read this a few months ago it says thy words were found and i did eat them and thy word was unto me joy and rejoicing in my heart for i am called by thy name o lord god of host there's a sweetness to the word now interesting while there's a sweetness to the word did you know that there's also sort of a bitterness to the word have you ever read the word and felt a bitterness in your belly maybe that gut feeling where you feel like ugh you know it's just not it's not it's not always sweet it can't be bitter where do you get that well not from ezekiel as it turns out keep your finger here and flip over to the book of revelation with me in revelation chapter 10. we told you there uh about the book of the scroll um you know that was in revelation chapter one the title deed and what have you but also in um also in revelation chapter 10 uh this is where john is is uh told to eat the word so this this is such a theme in the bible it's revelation chapter 10 verse 8 is where we'll begin now by the way this this chapter 10 of the book of revelation is uh awesome it's during the tribulation period and there's going to be crazy stuff going on in the tribulation we're going to see uh a court according to the bible those that are here not us but angels flying around declaring the glory of god that that's going to be kind of awesome uh don't you wonder if the people with their mark of the beast will go oh man i chose poorly uh seeing these angels flying around saying you're pretty much doomed um but in in in revelation chapter 10 there's this huge angel giant and he puts one foot in the ocean and one foot on the continent and starts speaking like like do you get i'm not talking about staying on the beach with one foot in the water and one foot on the sand it's like this honking angel giant and one foot you know in the ocean one foot on the land and everybody's going to be stunned by this angel um that's what you see in chapter 10 but during that that angel appearance the voice comes to john in the revelation about jesus christ and he speaks and and he says this in verse 8. and revelation 10 8 says and the voice which i heard from heaven spake unto me again and said go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth and i went unto the angel and said to him give me the little book and he said unto me take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it will be in thy mouth sweet as honey and i took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as i had eaten it my belly was bitter sounds like you're eating it you know um uh you know like denny's or something sweetness going in but bitterness in the belly and verse 11 and he said unto me thou must prophesy again before many people and nations and tongues and kings interesting that before john would prophesy before many nations tongues kindreds and people he had to eat up the word of god and it would be sweetness going in but bitterness in the belly why would the word of god cause bitterness when you eat it up i think that you know there's there's the sweetness because of the redemptive nature of the lord and his kindness and his compassion and the forgiveness and the mercy and the grace all those things are great um but the word has a bitterness to it in that um and this is the part that i think by the way some churches are leaving out of their agenda you've got to read the whole bible and there's parts of the bible that are a little bit bitter things like sin and wrath and hell and judgment and god's holiness and what he demands of us to be righteous and people say oh let's forget that part that makes my belly bitter so let's just talk about the fun stuff so then you got joe olsteen there in texas you know with uh with his message of just you know only happy happy happy he won't ever talk about sin or the wrath of god or judgment that is still coming you know the bible there's some bitterness in the bible but the bitterness drives us to the truth of the redemptive work of god and i believe it's really difficult to hear the real gospel message unless you know that judgment is coming that wrath is on our way uh it's coming to us apart from the redemptive work of jesus um you know i've always likened it too and uh you know who is it ray comfort way of the master he tells the story uh when he's speaking the gospel you've got to tell people the bad side first and he uses the example of you know you're on a 747 flying to europe and the flight attendant comes and says ladies and gentlemen we have for your enjoyment you know a few peanuts and and some you know time magazines and an ipad with some movies if you'd like you can have those and also we have uh some parachutes if you'd like a parachute we'll issue each one of your parachute um and and you'd say well that's great uh parachutes a little cumbersome holding it in my seat and i don't really need a parachute i don't think so i'll take the ipad and the peanut um but but what if the flight attendant actually said this um by the way you can have some you know ipad and movie enjoyment and some peanuts and stuff but as it turns out we're out of fuel we're in the middle of the atlantic ocean and this plane's going down in three minutes who would like a parachute um you see at that point suddenly oh everybody forget the peanut forget the ipad just give me the parachute i don't care if it's uncomfortable i don't care what has to happen but you know you need to have that sense of urgency and and if a pastor doesn't give the bitter part of the bible people are going to ah salvation that if it makes me feel good if salvation makes me happy and wealthy and you know it's really sadly the american gospel being preached here today where it lacks the true full story of why you need to be saved why you need to repent of your sins we leave that part out so people think oh you mean becoming a christian makes me happy and healthy and wealthy and that's not what being a christian is you're doomed to hell because of your sin and the good news is god loved you so much that he came and died on the cross for your sins if you don't get the doomed part and the wrath and the righteousness and the holiness of god part you're not going to really see the need for salvation so that's when the bible says of itself the bitterness i think it's talking about the bitterness of our own sin and our own failure in our own you know really doomed direction but that's also where the sweetness comes in where we see the salvation that christ gives to the world so we see john here speaking of the you know the bitter and the sweet together so really this whole idea of eating up the word it's all throughout the bible um by the way even jesus talked about this didn't he uh when he was there in matthew chapter five there on the sermon on the mount uh jesus said in mount you can jot this down in your notes if you want to matthew 5 4 do you remember when he was led out in the wilderness to be tempted i shouldn't say a sermon on the mount but um it was um when he was led out in the wilderness to be tempted there in matthew 4. um and it says you know when when uh satan tried to tempt jesus with making stones into bread jesus said this um it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god isn't that interesting jesus was hungry he hadn't eaten you know for 40 days and satan tempts him you just command these stones turn them into bread you have the power to do that but jesus said man man shall not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god the word of god was his sustenance it's what he needed uh and and even the book of hebrews the author of hebrews chapter five do you remember what the author of hebrews compared the word of god to um he he said it's both uh food like milk but also like meat uh in hebrews five he's he's challenging the the jewish people by saying uh in hebrews 5 12 for when a time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles in the oracles of god and are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a baby but strong meat belongs to them that are full of age even those by reason of use have exercised by their senses to discern both good and evil the author of hebrews is saying man you can be drinking the milk like a baby but you also need to grow up and start you know getting into the meat of the word of god that's what he says the unskillful person in the word of righteousness he's just a baby still nursing but the hebrews should have been you know experts in the word of god and and eaten some rib eye steaks i like that analogy by the way it's a good analogy so so scriptures all over the place about the word of god likened to food and uh and sustenance now i mean if you go to basic you know food 101 what does food do for you well it's enjoyable uh but it's also uh you know gives life you gotta eat if you just stop eating uh forever you will die sad to say i think there's people that are christians and they want to walk with the lord but they wonder why they're spiritually dead and it has to do with they've not been eating of the word of god and and the the correlations of eating the word and and stuff they just go on and on and on think of everything you can think of that has to do with food and sustenance and you kind of go wow it sort of fits for example if you're eating junk food all day are you going to be hungry for a steak for a really nice dinner um you know i've used the example before and i don't do this as much anymore but when i was a young man and i was newly married you know as a single guy you kind of just get food wherever you can and you kind of survive that way but i remember once once i got married my lovely wife debbie she would cook these nice meals and i'd know that they were at home and ready to go and um but you know i'd kind of forget sometimes and i'd be a little hungry and on my way home i think i'll just get a little a little uh you know uh snack before i get home for dinner uh and i'd stop by and get a delicious just a small snack you know a double quarter pounder and um and some french fries and a hot fudge sundae and you know just just a little snack and i'd junk food out you know and then i'd get home and i'd smell the aroma of you know chicken cordon bleu or or you know something really delightful that debbie cooked up but the problem was i i wasn't really even hungry anymore and i didn't have the appetite for the good stuff and i learned very quickly that that wasn't good for marriage uh you might you young guys learn from an old guy here you shouldn't do that that's that's a lose in a marriage situation so i've learned to come home very hungry and i've also learned even if i'm not hungry i'm still really hungry when i get home but but uh no it's really it's really something how um you know we can junk food out and and people if they're taking in you know all kinds of entertainment with their eyes and consuming you know uh material that's just kind of worldly and cotton candy and and the french fries and all that stuff uh spiritually you're gonna you're gonna be lacking and you need to eat food that's good and gonna give you strength you know and the word of god is that it gives you the strength and the sustenance to be strong and healthy uh i love that about the word of god so there's a spiritual correlation there as well but all that to say um this chapter chapter three sort of divides up into several little chunks five little sections i'd like to show you as we look at chapter three the first section is um the consuming of god's word verses one through three you might even say verses eight nine and ten of chapter two is included there uh in this description of you know ezekiel eating up the word of god or consuming the word and uh and he's given that charge and i think that you and i have to remember to be those that eat of the word of god and and like you eat food daily you need to read the word daily and and eat it up and it'll be sweetness as you eat it uh good stuff uh honey but that's that's the consuming of god's word now before ezekiel could do the rest of his ministry that's the first thing that had to happen the consuming of god's word then and only then after he consumes the word of god the scroll it's then number two on our list here the commissioning to preach god's word after the consuming of god's word he then was given the commission to preach god's word let's take a look at that it's in chapter 3 verse 4. and it says there and he said unto me son of man go get thee unto the house of israel and speak with my words unto them how do you speak the word of god you got to know the word of god boy wise is the man wise is the woman who has the word of god on the tip of their tongue um so many people need to hear good wisdom uh your friends need to hear good wisdom well bro i'm pretty smart person and i can give them you know a thing or two give them a piece of my mind truthfully i've learned i don't have much of my mind to give i need to keep every little piece i have but every time i share the word with someone oh it's powerful and it's applicable have you guys noticed in your own personal morning devotions when you're reading something um how the lord tends to use that that very same day have you ever found that to be true like i've been reading the word in the morning and i'll think man i don't even know how that applies to me but whatever and then i go off to work and then somebody talks to me and it's like wait a minute that perfectly falls in line with what i read this morning in my morning devotions and i and i can show people see the bible says and they're thinking that i pulled it off of some massive database in my brain but actually it was what i read this morning you know and uh the lord just put that there so that it could be an exacting word for that person for that day there's no better thing you can speak to someone than speaking out the word of god i if you're a if you're a good friend you'll share the word if you want to be a legitimate counselor you won't be giving the the freud the fraud you'll be giving the word of god that's the better way to go good counseling is biblical counseling giving scripture and here's what the bible says you know you and i should be good at saying as it is written written where in the word of god so the the premise for ezekiel's preaching was eating up the word first then he was told uh verse 4 go and speak my words to the people of israel and the reason he knew the words of the lord is because he was in the word of the lord very very practical very important part of your my faith to have the word of god on the tip of our tongues and he goes on in this section of you know the commissioning to preach god's word in verse 5. for thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language but to the house of israel ezekiel was you know called to minister to the jews question quiz time see who remembers where were the jews that ezekiel was ministering to at this time they were in babylon they're in captivity and ezekiel was a captive along with daniel shadrach meshach and abednego they were living there in babylon ezekiel lived outside of babylon by the river kedar and and so a little outside but he was a minister he was speaking to the jews in their captivity verse 6 not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language whose words thou cast not understand surely had i sent thee to them they would have hearkened unto thee but the house of israel will not hearken unto thee for they will not hearken unto me for all the house of israel are impudent and heart hard-hearted sad verse 8 behold i have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads as an adamant harder than flint have i made thy forehead fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house moreover he said unto me son of man all my words that i shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears and go get thee to them of the captivity unto the children of thy people and speak unto them and tell them thus saith the lord god whether they will hear or whether they will forbear interesting that the lord wants them to preach even though they may not listen sometimes preachers have had to do that that's their mode of operation you know just preach the word and nobody listens jeremiah is the classic example of that but there have been preachers throughout history um where no one was listening um it's something that i have to think about because i'm sort of spoiled i have to say i live in a day where and i live in a city that nobody wants to hear the word of god but but for some reason god has blessed athe creek we've got a lot of people who are willing to come to a wednesday night bible study and hear the word of god like like i don't know why why i get this great congregation that's willing to do this there's a lot of people that would preach the word in a city and nothing happens but for some reason god is blessing you know this this last sunday um it was you know normally we don't count people that much just because uh we we don't care about you know growing a big church or anything like that but sometimes you have to know how many chairs to set out and stuff like that and last sunday was kind of a big test of that six services 7 114 people went through the building this last sunday and 35 000 people were watching online for the services this weekend like like to me that's amazing in a day where people largely are saying yeah whatever on the word of god for some reason i think in these days we're living people are hungry they're hungry for the word of god and and uh i just feel like oh thank the lord that i get to preach the word it's the my favorite thing i get to do is share the scriptures um but i also have to be careful because what happens and god forbid this happens i know it wouldn't happen with you but if people just said we don't want to listen do you remember what the bible says about the last days the last days there's going to be a famine in the land of people willing to you know hear the word of god there'll be a famine of not not the word of god but the hearing people just won't want to hear it um and i think we're headed there real fast and for some reason we're seeing uh just really great revival here and people tons of people over 50 people accepted christ over the weekend uh at eighty which we're just so blessed by that awesome that's the that's the best part of it i think um so we've we've seen the power of the word of god and i think people are sensing the word is living and powerful and uh i i just feel like i get the privilege of sharing the word uh that's where it's at but um the commissioning to preach the word jeremiah or pardon me ezekiel was told like jeremiah you got to preach it they probably won't listen to you but preach it anyway um and he says something that is interesting that i can relate to uh he says you know you can speak to the hebrew with their their you they speak the same language as you they're your people but they're not going to listen to you you could preach to the babylonians in their and they don't even understand your language but it says and they'll hearken to what you have to say the babylonians um what what's that all about well i've i've been a part of that in my life sometimes god's people and the jews are an example of us as god's people sometimes we get to a place in our life where we we've heard the word of god and maybe for decades maybe you were part of a god fearing bible teaching church and congregation but there can be a human nature thing where it's going yeah yeah yeah i've heard that scripture before whatever and you become sort of jaded to the word of god i've already heard the story of daniel and the lions and yeah brett we've already and some people get sort of jaded with that and um and then there's people that are from babylon who've never heard of they're like what what what was that um when um when i was a young youth pastor i remember uh seeing this and the lord kind of showed me this section of scripture on the same day i had two speaking engagements one was at a christian school a high school that was um you know full of christian kids and it was their morning chapel i was speaking at and then that afternoon i was going to a secular high school the medford black tornadoes it used to be one big school and now it's two but um but i was going to go speak in a class where the the teacher in that class was an evolutionist and the whole class uh that whole term was talking and preaching his evolutionary theory and one of the students challenged him and said you know you're not letting anyone speak the other side of that of that coin and you're just you know spouting evolutionary theory but you need someone here who can tell about creation well the the teacher said bring it on find somebody who'll come here and teach in my class so that's what the student asked me to come and speak to their class so then okay count me in so i went to the medford black tornadoes school there and um it was a big glass a bunch of kids packed in this room and and uh you can see the you know the teacher sort of you know looking down his uh he was kind of i think he was wearing a cardigan sweater he wasn't puffing a pipe but i think he was wearing a cardigan um and i got to share for over an hour in this class now right when i was done it was lunch hour and the you know the bell rung and but it was so cool because the kids were just eating up what i was sharing and i was just sharing what the bible says here's what the bible says this is what the world says this is evolutionary theory but here's what the bible says about how god created the heavens and the earth and here's why it says it the way it does and i was able to explain uh you know in my own way as a youth pastor to these kids when the bell rung the kids didn't go to lunch they all stayed and just kept asking me questions and you know you could almost tell the teacher was getting uncomfortable in the back there uh it's like it's time to eat uh but the kids just wanted to hear more about what the bible had to say the the the the speech that i gave to the christian kids fell on deaf ears i'm not kidding i remember thinking i don't think i'm ever gonna go speak at the school ever again the early morning one where was the christian kids they were all kind of jaded yeah whatever you know we've heard all this bible stuff and and and i i saw this sort of a b comparison the the christian kids and then all the secular kids and the secular kids were hungry can i just challenge you if you've been a christian for a long time don't let yourself become jaded you know well i already know all this stuff i already heard all this stuff um you know what i've learned is i can learn from even a child who's sharing the word of god and and and wise is the person who who opens their heart and mind to things that that even the most simple might be sharing um you know i would hope to be one who learns all the time and and uh you know the best way to get past that is to start sharing the word yourself i remember when i was hearing my pastor and i'd hear a story that i'd heard him tell before or a bible thing that he'd already and i just think well i know what he's going to say and i could almost mouth the words with him but i st i was pretty you know a little bit arrogant a little bit highfalutin there um until i started teaching the word myself then i was like what did he say again now how did he say that and and what were the examples and illustrations and i i started listening with a great hunger uh in how my pastor was teaching so that i could you know like paul told timothy the things you've heard me teach that's what i want you to teach paul told timothy you know it's almost like the lord wants us to stand on each other's shoulders and you know none of us are going to come up with a whole new doctrine ourselves and if you are you're probably wacko anyway but but you know when you hear someone teach learn from them uh when you hear a scripture don't just don't just be consumers of teaching and hope that it's entertaining take it in and internalize it so that not that you just know it but you can actually teach it and share it and pass it along there's so many ways to do that um you dads of young kids in this room you you need to take some of the stuff that i'm sharing on sundays and wednesdays here and make a family devo out of it you know and you don't have to be fancy you don't have to talk as long as me please don't your poor kids will not like that um but but like you know uh even tonight you could share did you know what ezekiel was told to eat um and and you could tell your kids and maybe mom could have made some cinnamon rolls as the kids are eating cinnamon rolls you say well guess what ezekiel had to eat a roll what kind of roll well it was a scroll like this and you out in the garage you made a little scroll and you show them this is and this and ezekiel ate the scroll why would he eat the scroll because it was an example of what we're supposed to do eat up the word of god and like as a dad you could make a fun family devo out of something we studied on wednesday night and suddenly you'll own that dad what do you mean well if you don't do that devo and you just heard pastor brett yak for you know 30 minutes on the scroll and the eating of the book you'll forget it you'll go back and somewhere the bible says something about the book and a scroll and getting a tummy ache or something um but if you teach it to your kids i guarantee you'll own that scripture from that point on you'll remember there's some there's nothing better to internalize and own a scripture and say i know where that is i know where it is in the bible and i know how it goes and i know why it's there when you share it with someone else you start to own that scripture you can do that in devos with your family you can do that in sunday school you can do that in a friday morning bible study with a bunch of your friends you can like there's so many ways you can take and share the word of god it's one of the things i'm most thankful for is early the lord put me in a place where i had to uh really learn from my pastor how to how to share the word of god and i'm so thankful for that a lot of my friends say yeah we've heard that before or whatever and they dismissed it but i i got a great diet of scripture when i was a kid from my parents from my pastor from my church and a love for the word i hope you have that same thing don't become jaded that's what happened to the children of israel you know here's ezekiel the prophet sent from god to share the word but the people like yeah whatever we don't want to hear them that's the idea same as jeremiah well you've got number one the consuming of god's word number two the commissioning to preach god's word in verses 4 through 11 there that's the commissioning to preach god's word number three we have then something else that's important for ezekiel not just to share the word but to do it with the spirit the holy spirit and that's number three the coming of the spirit that's number three on our notes the coming of the spirit and that's really just as verse verses 12 through 14. it says there then the spirit took me up and i heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying blessed be the glory of the lord from his place i heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another and the noise of the wheels over against them and the noise of a great rushing so that the spirit lifted me up and took me away and i went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit but the hand of the lord was strong upon me so why did he have bitterness that was because he ate up the scroll that's where the bitterness might come in uh only in the first part we read about the sweetness but now he's got bitterness and that matches the book of revelation chapter 10. are you guys with me on that we saw the bitterness in revelation now we see bitterness he's lifted up in the spirit and he's got the bitterness uh in the heat of his spirit um now what's going on here and who's lifting him up i don't know but it seems like these these creatures that we looked at last week with the wings and the wheels the wheels within wheels the gyroscopic flying creatures remember that whole thing maybe he's being lifted up by the spirit that was within those wheels within those characters or those creatures if you missed that last week you'll probably need to catch up but that's probably where ezekiel's being sort of caught up in this uh the holy spirit is kind of the idea and you and i we need to depend on and lean on the holy spirit um you know ask the lord for a fresh filling of the spirit uh what does the spirit do for you uh read john 14 john chapter 16 you know the holy spirit will come in comfort but he'll also remind you of truth when you're sharing the word with your kids or with your bible study group ask the spirit to speak through you um you know we sort of magical uh you know he be zebe the holy spirit oh speaking in tongues and all this stuff but um but i believe in the manifestation of the holy spirit i'm not a cessationist uh the bible speaks very clearly of how the church is to operate in these things and speaking in tongues is the least of the gifts the bible says and it should only be done in certain situations and it's very restricted honestly read first corinthians 14. but a word of prophecy and this is not being a prophet but a word of prophecy in the new testament church is when the spirit speaks through a person a word of exhortation edification and or comfort um and there's nothing like that have you ever been sharing with someone and you just don't really know what to tell them and then the lord just put something on your heart and you speak it out and you can just tell you kind of you kind of nailed what the situation was you think oh that was the lord speaking through me it's not by might nor by your own power but it's by what by my spirit saith the lord of hosts the spirit moving in you that's where the power is when you're speaking the word ask the lord to freshly fill you with the spirit ezekiel eats the word then he's given the commission to preach the word and then the coming of the spirit comes upon him to be effective in his sharing of the word verses 12 through 14. and then you have in verse 15 number four on our list here in the in this chapter uh calling to be a watchman the calling to be a watchman verse 15 through 21. it says then i came to them of the captivity at tel aviv not the same tel aviv by the way bees in the hebrew often are actually sounding like uh v uh so this is the word tel aviv just like the one in israel but this is not tel aviv in israel this is the tel aviv that's by babylon so i came to the captivity at tel aviv that dwelt by the river kibar and i sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days why is ezekiel astonished i think maybe i can't be dogmatic about this but maybe he was astonished at their own inability to hear or their rebellious nature maybe he was astonished man here we are sitting in by the river in babylon and we're just kind of bummed because we're in captivity and all the horrible things that had happened to us um and now here we are maybe he's just sitting there for seven days in a sort of mesmerized astonishment but after he comes to verse 16 and it came to pass at the end of the seven days that the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man i have made thee a watchman unto the house of israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me what was a watchman in bible times supposed to do number one they were to look for the enemy watch out for the enemy they'd stand the watchman on the wall would stand and look for the enemy that's going to come and try to you know destroy and and hurt and attack um so they would number one look for the enemy number two they would declare the time just like in the movies you know uh two o'clock and all is well the watchman on the wall would declare the time uh of the day that was part of a watchman's job uh and i find that interesting because that's that's what ezekiel was supposed to do he was supposed to supposed to warn the people but he was also supposed to declare the times they were living and what god was doing in those times i believe that anybody who's in ministry and especially a pastor or preacher needs to be a watchman i get criticized from time to time for like a comment like i made earlier tonight about joel steen because some of you probably oh i love joe he's got a nice mullet and he smiles and and he just seems like a really happy guy and brett don't be so mean you're just a mean guy um talking about joel that way you know or benny hinn you know or some of these other guys i've called out over the years and some people brought just a grouchy person no no no no uh i believe a good pastor is gonna watch and warn the congregation you've got to warn about things that are off and some people don't like that you know i've talked about bethel and and you know a lot of young people oh but bethel's music is so awesome it is it's amazing they've got some of the best christian music out there the only problem is the church the bethel church is doctrinally way off way off and they look great from the outside and a lot of people haven't really done the due diligence to say what do they believe but if you look and if you do a little research you kind of think there's some really crazy beliefs there they minimize jesus that's the worst thing they do it's not the gold dust falling from the ceiling or them flopping on the ground or soaking up the souls of the people in graves like that's all part of their thing too that's not even the problem that's all what i would call sort of charismaniac stuff that they're still brothers but they're just our weird brothers that flop around um and the bible doesn't teach that about flopping around and soaking graves and glitter falling from the ceiling that's just goofy stuff but where their doctrine is ever so subtle is they they diminish jesus and they glorify themselves that's where bethel's doctrine goes and so people say bro you shouldn't say anything bad about bethel and by the way the the real bethelites they get hugely defensive like almost militant when you when you talk to them about it they get really mad well who are you i'm just a watchman on the wall trying to say hey church watch out don't get don't hook line and sink or you know get sucked into bad doctrine i don't like calling things out i don't enjoy that but you just you need to check and see if the bible says it or not if i'm wrong then show me in the bible where we're um you know diminishing jesus and glorifying ourselves is actually something that we really want to do uh and and that's the problem i i believe that a lot of pastors sort of tiptoe these days around the controversial topics um or don't even really care anymore i've got a lot of pastor friends that i'd say why wouldn't you call out bethel oh i think they just love jesus and we just need to accept everybody and yeah but do you understand that there are good christian people sort of having their faith eventually derailed because they get a little bit off over here and they end up way over here and we need to be watchmen on the wall that's why paul in acts 20 talked about we need to watch and warn the congregation it's part of a pastor's job and the pastor that's not watching and warning about wolves and and people that are eating up the sheep uh that's not a good pastor at all he has no business being in the pulpit i hope we see that and and i hope you understand it's not my uh you know intention to be the the jerk pastor going around saying you watch out for this group and don't like those guys over there that's not my intention at all it's just to be a watchman on the wall watching about the enemy sneaking in and then also declaring the days the time we're living that's what the watchman does well verse 18 when i say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speaketh to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will i require thine hand i think every pastor needs to read that and say what is the lord saying he's going to hold the watchmen accountable when the people get taken by the enemy that's a pretty sobering statement yet verse 19 if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul again when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity and i lay a stumbling block before him he shall die because thou has not given him warning you know warning about the stumbling block he shall die in his sin and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered but his blood will i require thine hand nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not and he doth not sin he shall surely live because he has warned also thou hast delivered thy soul now remember this is old testament and we're talking to jews here there is a little bit of a different thing there in the new testament where um we're saved by god's grace and we you know we know that uh we are sinners and we have iniquity um and so we repent of our sins but even if we make mistakes it's not like we're gonna you know be destroyed for our sins because we believe in jesus the lamb of god who takes away the sin but that's one of the main things we need to be watching and warning about is is anybody who tries to get in the way of jesus christ man that's the number one thing you and i should be watching and warning about is when anybody tries to replace jesus or become more important than jesus that's always a dead giveaway of serious trouble so we have here the watchman uh you know and that was his calling his calling so the consuming of god's word number one eating it up the commissioning to preach god's word verses 4 11 the coming of the spirit upon ezekiel before he ministered verses 12 through 14 and then the calling to be a watchman verses 15 through 21 and then lastly we have the controlling of the speech the controlling of the speech check it out verse 22 to the end of the chapter it says in the hand of the lord was there upon me and he said unto me arise go forth into the plane and i will there talk with thee then i arose and went forth into the plain and behold the glory of the lord stood there as the glory which i saw by the river of kibar and i fell on my face there's another example of where you know when somebody's in the glory of god's presence what's the first thing they do fall on their face the flat-nosed people of the bible there's a lot of them they hit the ground as soon as they see the glory of god boom they're on the ground talk about slaying in the spirit um verse 24 then the spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet and spake with me and said unto me go shut thyself within thine house but thou a son of man behold they shall put bands upon thee and bind thee with them and thou shalt not go out among them and i will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth that thou shalt be dumb and thou shalt not be to them a reprover for they are a rebellious house but when i speak with thee i will open thy mouth and thou shalt say unto them thus saith the lord god he that heareth let him hear and he that forebeareth let him forebear for they are a rebellious house isn't it interesting here that the lord says i gotta talk to you so come out to this special place lord shows him his glory and then says here's what's gonna happen you're gonna go home set yourself in your house they're gonna come and get you and they're gonna they're gonna bind you up ezekiel but i'm gonna also bind up your tongue there's a time to speak and there's a time to be silent do any of you wonder what would have happened if jesus just let everybody have it you know there's there's something within human nature that just loves to let people that are wrong and think they're really smart kind of be told off we love that there's movies like that where you know you finally see the bad guy who thinks they know everything uh get a mouthful of thrown out i mean you're like yes they deserved everything there that they got you know um but when you see jesus standing before you know the caiaphas and and the you know pontius pilate and and those scriptures that and jesus you know said not a word like come on jesus if anybody could let him have it you could you could just say a few words that would make them feel like complete idiots do it lord but isn't it interesting that jesus chose to say nothing a lot of his trial he said nothing and there's a time to speak and there's a time not to and jesus who is perfect knew when to say stuff and when not to say stuff how are you at keeping your mouth are you good at saying you know this this is the time i think the lord's really not wanting me to say anything it's hard for me you know i i often get defensive somebody says something and i'll say something defensive well what do you mean what do you think about it start talking you know just jabbering but sometimes it's just best to be silent um i remember you know seeing my dad on the job site have you construction guys you know all those guys that run around think they know everything about construction there's some guys that just know everything they just know everything the the truth is and i know you guys think i'm just bragging but this is true my dad knows everything about construction like he's built just about everything dams giant bridges houses uh skyscraper like he's he's been superintendent he was a superintendent of the cass snake lake dam down in california at the age of 23. uh if you know cal state lake dam it's uh the tunnel the intake tunnel is seven miles long my dad was in charge of that building that um like the guy knows a lot but i remember going on job sites and there would guys walk up oh you know who's this guy you know todd met her they'd always talk like they knew big stuff and and i just remember you know my dad would just quietly listen to the guy with the big mouth talk about how much he knew and my dad would never say well actually you know the funny thing is is uh it wouldn't take long even in my dad's silence this i noticed that somehow it always worked out where the guy ended up just kind of being stumped at watching the way my dad would do things i never forget this one time we were it's a long story i guess but uh it it was this old medco building that we we were down in medford and it was um all these this old timber from this old mill and it was beautiful wood and the owner of the mill was tearing it all apart and he and he told us uh our church and if you guys want any of the wood out of this come and get it and it's all yours for free and we're like yes so we my dad and a crew of guys went down there and some of the guys who didn't know my dad you know my dad was outlining him okay we're going to take those trusses over there seriously there were trusses that were like as big as this truss right here only huge wood and we were going to take that wood from the this like how do you do that well my dad explained it and one guy i remember after my dad explained here's what you guys got to do this whiplash explained it and uh and this guy said well you you can't do that you just can't do that well the funny thing is my dad and i were there the day before and we already cut and lowered one of these trusses and and my dad you know he showed me how to i didn't know anything but um the guy just kind of said um yeah you can't you just can't do that um and i i thought well my dad's gonna tell him uh you really can and you're an idiot um but my dad said okay that's that's right why don't you just uh why don't you just stay there and and and my dad said bruh let's go and i i read all you know i'm like i'm like maybe 14 at this time but my it's a little it's a great story i just remember it happening so perfectly where uh my dad you know zipped up on one side i zipped up on the other and he was on this uh it was you know today i don't think it would pass osha um but uh but we're up there and literally with a chainsaw in one hand and some chains and a come along and a lift over here and stuff my dad's like and we lowered just just my dad and i lowered this huge truss but just the two of us it really should have been like a six or seven man job but because we knew how to do it uh we did it in like just a few minutes and the guys were just like and it wasn't me it was my dad just kind of and he knew i remember my dad using like a skill saw you know some of you guys have fancy chop saws and table saws and all these fans my dad could use a skill saw better than most guys the end product of ripping a piece of plywood he would have a perfectly straight cut he could cut a 45 without using changing the fence or the or the table on the skill saw he could just eyeball and you get a square out and you say that's a perfect 45 like he just knew how to do stuff but the thing about my dad is he never once said i know how to do all this stuff i love that that's what jesus did when he was standing there before the sanhedrin he could have blown their minds he could have told them who's going to shoot jfk he could have told them about uh you know tesla vehicles someday that'll go on energy and they won't need you won't need gasoline he could have flown an f-16 in front of them in jerusalem and said any more questions like like jesus could have done whatever he wanted but he was silent he was silent and there's something really weighty and and strong about the person that's not just jabbering his mouth or her mouth trying to make themselves look good or sound intelligent or anything but just being being quiet and being still that's what ezekiel was told by the lord i want you to to control your your your speech and i'm going to shut your mouth even when they're wrong and they're accusing you but then at the right moment i'm going to open your mouth and then i'm going to give you what you're supposed to say i wonder if you and i we live in a culture where everybody's just jabbering on social media people are jabbering at work and around the water cooler people are jabbering on the news jabber jabber jabber everybody knows everything about everything i wonder if maybe some of us should just say we're going to be the quiet ones and we're going to wait until the lord gives us that exact word that needs to be spoken and you mark my words if you're that person when you open your mouth people go wait a minute what did you just say and everybody will listen because the weightiness of what you're actually saying there's there's something behind it that's actually hefty and legit the controlling of one's speech sometimes i worry that we jabber so much that we we um we almost have lost our effectiveness the philosopher you know kirk regard maybe didn't mean this as a compliment but he once told a story about a circus that caught on fire and the flames from the circus spread to the fields and then the flames from the fields to the surrounding barns and the village was really threatened where the circus was burning the circus master convinced that the village would be destroyed and all the people killed unless they were warned they thought we got to send somebody to go warn everybody so they sent the clown and the clown went running through the village and warning the people the clown dressed in full costume jumped on a bicycle and sped down the hill into the village and he said run for your lives run for your lives as he peddled his bicycle and his clown outfit and the village people came out on their porches and they let oh look at the clown huh that's hilarious he's a real hoot and up and down the streets the village is gonna burn run for your lives they came out and they shouted back at the clown laughing and applauding his great performance but the more desperately the clown shouted the more the villangers cheered but the village burned and the loss of life was great because no one took the crown clown seriously he was just a clown like that story i i wonder and this is where kirk regard probably meant it as an insult but i think sometimes pastors priests religious leaders play a role in the church that sort of negates their message you know if you watch the movies today or the tv shows whenever they have a pastor or priest ever notice how they make him the goofiest weirdest uh guy in the in the whole group for all you ladies that like pride and prejudice mr collins isn't that the name of the the pastor he's a total nitwit in fact he's one of the most nitwitty people i've ever seen in the world ever that's why i hate pride and prejudice um it's a waste of time oh i'm sorry who the ladies like you don't talk about my my pride i've brought you this that way mr collins the clergyman you know um but but i i i i see mr collins and the pride and prejudice and i and i think you know sadly that's where a lot of pastors they're they're these guys that and again i have to be careful i don't want to sound like i'm trying to insult a bunch of bastards i'm just saying what we need is guys that are that sure can laugh and have a good time but also have a seriousness about them that when they are warning the congregation about things that are happening the kind of oh that's great whatever you know and and we've sort of de-legitimized the watchman role or the ministry role um it's up to us or hopefully ordinary people i think sometimes you know people in ministry can stop being ordinary and suddenly they're almost like some actor themselves and they're sort of unbelievable sometimes but you know jesus taught us there you know of course in mark 16 15 that we're to preach the gospel to the whole world and we can't expect people to take the gospel seriously if we are unwilling to speak the word of god seriously and and be a witness about his true power and his true love you and i need to be good representations i think of of what the gospel really means and there needs to be a reality to it and i think we need to maybe measure our words and and not be given to just talking talking talking talking but maybe measure out our words enough to say that when i'm gonna say something serious people know i'm not just a clown and that there's something that's actually legitimate that we need to have said here i'm not just talking to myself i'm not just talking to pastors and preachers i'm talking to all of us we live in a day where people need to hear the truth and there needs to be a weightiness behind what we're saying how do you do that well i think these five things we've looked at tonight are kind of interesting things for us to consider first of all you've got to consume god's word you've got to be commissioned to preach the word you need to have the holy spirit come upon you you have a calling to be a watchman and speak the truth about telling the times that we're living in and warning of the enemy but then lastly controlling of the speech just like ezekiel was told by the lord to control when he spoke and i see all of these things come together that gives ezekiel a weightiness and makes him a great prophet of the old testament something that you and i can learn from and give us weightiness when we talk about matters of the lord so may the lord give us as a church ears to hear what the lord says to the church tonight in jesus name let's pray together and father how thankful we are these good reminders your word is so spot on every single time and i pray that we'd have ears to hear and and lord hearts to do what your word says i pray lord that we would take your word seriously and be ready to um speak your word in season and out of season i pray for the dads in this room that they would be given to teaching the word and sharing family devos with their kids at home and and and passing on what they're learning here at church lord and and what they're reading in the word themselves lord and i pray that that for for the moms that they too would be able to speak truth into their kids lives and and and for parents that they would not just speak but live the things that they're teaching lord there's nothing worse than parents that are saying to do one thing but they themselves do another lord i pray that your church we'd have more and more people raised up to speak your word i pray that the men and women that are out in the workplace that they would measure their words and use their their studying of your word as a springboard to speak truth even in the most secular of minds and hearts that people might have ears to hear the truth i pray that these guys and gals here in this room and also online would get to places where me as a pastor lord could never go people that would never set foot in a church i pray that the men and women of athy creek would go out into all the world and and speak the truth and preach the gospel as well that many might come to know you so lord give us inspiration from what we've read tonight i pray that you'd apply these things by your spirit bless your church tonight we pray thank you for this evening in jesus name amen

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 67,083

Rating: 4.7907171 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: 7QQ0O2CBj2Y

Length: 66min 59sec (4019 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 08 2021