(Through The Bible) Ezekiel by Zac Poonen

[Music] today we turn to Ezekiel zekiel was a man who was deeply influenced by Jeremiah at least for 25 years he was in Babylon you know God had told his people you have to be punished except this judgment I'm standing upon you submit to the king of Babylon and go he tried for more than 40 years as we saw through Jeremiah to save them from going to battle on but they would not listen and finally he said well now the best thing for users to accept the chastening see God does not want to chasing us jesus never had to be Jason Paul would never have needed a thorn in the flesh unless he was in danger of spiritual pride Jason is when he sees that we are going astray or have gone astray and when that happened the best thing to do is to submit to the chase name so he told the people if you go to Babylon I'll bless you except the chastening for 70 years six at the discipline and a lot of people went some were forced to go but their god-given profits Ezekiel and Daniel see that's a great encouragement the prophets were not only in when they were in Judah that they're in that distant land God love them and profits even in a time of discipline and backsliding God still sends his prophets to speak to us he does not forsake us and in verse 1 we read of Ezekiel we read in verse 3 that he was the son of a priest and he was training to be afraid but in the 30th year when he was 30 years old verse 1 God called him to be a prophet we may plan our life to have a certain ministry and God may call us to something totally different and then we must be willing like Ezekiel to drop whatever God has called us to actually the life of a priest was much safer than a life of a prophet priests were not usually killed prophets were and a prophet had a very tough time because God hand was very heavy on a profit most of the diamond yet to suffer a lot as his he killed did suffer he would not have suffered like that if he would have preached there are certain ministries in God's kingdom which involved more suffering than others you know the Lord told Peter that you're going to stretch out your hands and or somebody's gonna carry you where you don't like to go and when we suffer the temptation is to look at other people like Peter looked at John and said what about him and the Lord says that's none of your business you just follow me if God calls you to a ministry which enroll suffering my advice to you is don't look at anybody else don't worry about them Ezekiel responded immediately and thank God he responded if he had not responded we would never have heard of him if Hudson Taylor had not responded when God called him to go to China and CD said it not responded when God called him to Africa we never heard of him if Jim Elliot has not responded when he was called to go to South America we'd never heard him we never have heard of Ezekiel yeah they responded as soon as God called him and the 30th year seems to be very significant Joseph was 30 when he became ruler in Egypt David was 30 Lincoln was 30 Jesus was 30 both in the old and the New Testament and I think most of the apostles were around 30 when they started their ministry and that gives me an indication that that's around the age God wants to pick us up and to fulfill administrator to us but prior to that he spends years in preparing us for a ministry and if you allow God to prepare you during the years prior to your coming to that age of ministry then you can be ready by the time you're 30 or 35 you can be ready for a ministry got is planned for you but a lot of young people are impatient now I'm not saying we cannot go out and serve God that you can serve God when you're 16 sure but in the early years God has to keep you under Authority and a lot of young people chase under that authority and so they never in their whole life come into a ministry I'm sure is he cool in his younger days submitted to the prophecy of Jeremiah and listen to it studied it and God saw the faithfulness of this young man and said you're not going to be a priest you're going to be my profit and it says here the heavens were open over him and he saw visions of God and the Lord gave him a message the heavens were open and it says the hand of the Lord was upon him now that's an expression that comes seven times in his equal the hand of the Lord on him it meant that he could not do what he wanted it's like God says you got to go where I want you to go now if we can live like this all our life with the heavens open over us all the time and that's very easy if you keep your conscience clear and you humble yourself by humility and the fear of the Lord the heavens can always be open over you and you allow the hand of the Lord to be upon you even when he takes you where you don't like to go you see certain times in chapter 3 for example the hand of the Lord was upon him and he went in the heat of his spirit he didn't want to go but he went because he was submitted to God a true servant of God does not live by feeling it's not a question of whether I feel like going feeling like going is for those who serve themselves those who serve God go whether they feel like going or don't feel like going they move by the hand of the Lord and the message of God in verse 4 onwards we give us a description of this vision that he saw and just a few things I want to mention in this vision there were four living beings that came out of that cloud in verse 5 and each of them had four faces and those four faces were those of a lion worse then a human face in the front the lion an ox and an eagle now we don't know exactly what these mean but we see something about revelation to perhaps we could refer it to it like this that the lion speaks of strength power authority the ark speaks of service the eagle speaks of being heavenly and the man speaks of in spite of all this being very human and there you could relate this also to the various aspects of Christ but these are characteristics certainly that need to be found in all of God's servants I just mentioned that in passing now the point I want you to notice here is about this vision where he saw wheels on the ground verse 15 the wheels who are moving along with the spirit it says in verse 20 the spirit of the four living beings was in the wheel wherever the spirit went the wheels in the living beings went to on the living beings move doing food believing being stopped the wheel stopped when the living beings flew the wheels froze up and it speaks here of wheels within wheels in verse 16 each wheel at a second wheel turning crosswise with in it and that means going this way or going this way and this is a feature of the sovereign working of God in the circumstances that come across our life the circumstances we encounter whether it's in this direction of this direction wherever we go there's a sovereign working of God and the Holy Spirit works through these circumstances when the spirit went the winds winds that's what it says wherever the spirit went though we will also win so the Holy Spirit is the one who controls the circumstances of our life this is I believe one of the most important things that we need to recognize in these last days the sovereignty of God over all circumstances whether the wheels are going north-south or east-west it makes no difference one week goes this way one bill goes that way but it's a sovereign working of God in it all wherever you go you'll find the sovereign working of God from north to south from east to west you remember jesus said all authority in heaven and earth is given to me therefore going to and make disciples of all nations now today that has been changed by preachers who say people are dying in sin therefore going to all nations that's not what Jesus said jesus never said people are dying in st. therefore going to all nations he said all authority is given to me in heaven and earth Matthew 2818 therefore going to all nations if I went out to serve the Lord because I believe that is a need in my case okay I'm a teacher and I feel there's a need for a teaching ministry so i go here there and everywhere i'm going to become a nervous wreck like a lot of christian workers have become I don't do that I say Lord you have all authority in heaven and earth and you tell me to go and make disciples I'll do it in other words i'm under that authority that's the way you are to serve the Lord then you find all circumstances work for your good but if you wonder where you like and do what you like you may find things don't work out exactly as God wanted it or as you would like it to work so we here we see of a life led by the spirit that is a truly spiritual life the eyes of the Lord and says the it speaks about the eyes of the Lord here the eyes of the Lord moved to and fro throughout the whole earth we saw in second chronicles 16 verse 9 working on behalf of those whose hearts are completely his so we turned out to verse 28 all around this person around this throne where there was a figure with the throne in verse 26 was a glowing halo like a rainbow shining through the clouds and this is God's symbol of God's covenant as we know if there are two things that we must remember both are here in this chapter one is God's sovereignty overall the circumstances of the earth that affect us the second is God's covenants symbolized by the rainbow you must remember God has made an everlasting covenant with us through Jesus Christ he has said in Hebrews 13 five and six I will never leave you nor forsake you he has made an everlasting covenant with us that is the basis on which we move we don't move on the basis of need human need although we look at it we don't live in fear of human governments or their rules and regulations we move under the sovereignty of God believing that we are covenant people it's so important in these days to remember that let's go to chapter 2 we find you find here a man who is under God's Authority the Lord says to him stand up I want to speak to you and the Spirit came into him as he spoke and set me on my feet and he said listen carefully I am sending you to the nation of Israel you know as we wait upon God though we may not hear an audible voice like Ezekiel I believe it is it's possible to have just as real and as certain a sense of calling and a sense of God sending you as Ezekiel had it may take time now when i started my ministry i did not know immediately what my ministry was going to be but now as the years went by I began to discover it and as I stuck to that now as I look back I find fulfillment but I know so many people who tried to drag me away from the ministry God called me to the Lord says I am sending you with a particular ministry and it's very important that you learn to wait upon God and to hear God speaking to you and telling you what he has called you for sometimes you can choose God second best I remember about 30 years ago when I was in a lot of financial difficulty I didn't have much at that time Christian organization invited me to be its director and offered me a lot of earthly advantages if I joined it to the Western organization working in India and I should know I can't do that because even though i'm in need this is not the ministry god has called me to to sit behind a desk and be an administrator God's called me to preach the word and I'm so thankful I didn't accept that offering it was like a temptation not a temptation to sin the temptation now if I look back if I showed made that decision 30 years ago I don't think I've gone into sin I have still been doing something for the Lord but it wouldn't have been God's presence so from these examples of these servants of God in the Bible that meaning considering i want to encourage you to remember and to consider the fact that god has a specific task for you and it's wonderful to realize it when you're young wait on the Lord and say Lord show me that and once you've shown it to me it won't become clear in one day or a period of years it'll become more and more clear and as it becomes clear for you stick to it and you won't have any regret when you come to the end of life and the Lord told him and there are some things here which are specific for those who are called for a preaching ministry son of man verse 6 don't be afraid of them you notice that I mentioned that before how very frequently in the prophets this word comes don't be afraid don't be afraid even though their threats are sharp as thorns what a word for people who are serving the Lord in northern India and other difficult places today do not fear them don't be afraid even though that threats are sharp as thorns Bob like briars and even though that threats sting like scorpion reading from the New Living Translation don't be dismayed by that dark skulls on their faces remember they are rebels Israel was like this when when Ezekiel prophesied they stalled it then scowled at him and threatened him and threatened to kill him and all types of things every prophet faceless and these prophets will be read out of the bible were facing the very same thing that a lot of God sermons are facing today and their confidence was in the sovereignty of God and the Lord said to him you must give them my messages whether they listen or not it doesn't make a difference don't think don't say all they won't listen okay they won't listen but they need to know that a prophet came and told them after that your responsibilities over that's one of the things that the Lord kept on stressing Ezekiel once you have told them the message your hands are clean otherwise their blood is on your hands because you didn't tell them what I told you chapter 3 we read about the Lord telling is equal to eat the scroll eat this first yourself this message which is for other people you must eat yourself first so I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll he said eat all of it verse 3 and when I ate it it tasted as sweet as honey now you find in Revelation the Lord told John also to do the same thing and after eating and he said now we can go in prophesied see this is a principal in Ministry of the word that that word which God wants to speak through you to other people God wants to speak to you first you who teach that others should not steal is there any area in your life where you're spilling something for example when you speak evil about somebody you're stealing a man's reputation you recognize that they're stealing or you recognize only seeing one hundred rupees SB gossiping is stealing a man's reputation that's what it said you who preach that other people should not steal do you steal you who preach that other people should not commit adultery you commit adultery do you less than the right so the message is not if I don't eat the scroll first God is not going to anoint my ministry I can still get up and preach there are multitudes of preachers today who are preaching without eating the scroll if you want an effective ministry eat the scroll first the Word of God is like a two-edged sword one edge is to cut me and the other is only I can use to cut the other if it has not cut me it's no use trying to cut the other person you will be a hard unmerciful useless Pharisee of a preacher so eating the scroll is very important called by God anointed by God the hand of God upon him eating the scroll this is how God prepared this man to serve him and he told him in chapter 3 verse 14 it says the spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness and turmoil for the hand of the Lord upon me was strong sometimes when we have to go somewhere we may not have feelings of excitement and joy like we have when we go to other places it may be feelings of turmoil in our heart all speaks in both second Corinthians 7 about Fighting's outside and fears within all had fear but he still wins so don't go by feelings if you go by feelings you'll never go where the Lord wants you to go I remember once when I was waiting in the railway station in bangalore many years at all to take a train to go somewhere for ministry and some of my children were safe I had to leave him at home with my wife and I know I knew I had to go to this place and I thought there what shall i do should i cancel my trip and go home and the word that came to me was whatever decision you take don't take it don't take it on the basis of fear you can take a decision to go home if you like but don't take it on the basis of fear fear Oh what will happen to my children when I go away and I learned a lesson that day and I didn't go home the Lord took care of my children now I'm not saying you should do that always sometimes you got me tell you to go home and help your wife so don't follow this rule what I say is whatever decision you take take it in faith not in fear never in fig you say no I think I should this is not the sort of organizing it's more burden on my wife go home that may be right in certain situations particularly if your wife is worn out it's not able to scope but sometimes the situation may be that the devil is preventing you from fulfilling in effective ministry so don't go by feeling sometimes in the spirit lifts us up and takes is the way we go with turmoil what we go that's what we learn from this passage and when you come to where's 23 you see there so I got up and I saw the glory of the Lord just as a teeny first night fell face down in the dust here's another important principle see it's more important to understand these principles of serving God than just studying a whole lot of scriptures put your face in the dust always sometimes it's good to physically do that to lie down on the floor in your room alone before God and say Lord this is where I rightfully belong this is what I am and nobody in your eyes you know I tell you my brothers and sisters we who preach and stand up in front of others we are in tremendous danger because so many people admire us exalt us that we'd more than anybody else need to get alone before God and lie down flat and recognize what we are before God what can we say God can take away off breath in a moment he can take away our anointing in a moment I live in fear of that every day of my life I say Lord I never want to lose my anointing I don't want to lose it for money I don't want to lose it for a small slip-up of conscience I don't want to lose it for anything heat your face in the dust a wonderful example and a man who lives like that it says the Spirit came into him and set him up on his feet and good when the spirit falls upon us and lifts us up and he talked to me and said go shut yourself in your house there you'll be bound with ropes so you cannot go out among the people i will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won't be able to pray for them and you won't be able to speak whenever I give you a message I'll loosen your tongue and let you speak and then you say this is what the Lord says some will listen some will ignore him doesn't make a difference it's wonderful to live like this before God God says now don't go don't speak then don't speak the Lord says I'll tell you when to speak and then you speak my brothers and sisters can you hear the Holy Spirit or do you go by reason reason says it's always right to speak the Holy Spirit says sometimes it's not sometimes you should keep quiet learn to live by the spirit this is what I've seen as he killed is a man who lived by the leading of the Holy Spirit we see here in chapter 4 now through a number of science the Lord teaches Ezekiel he first asked him to make a clay tablet and then asked him to lie down on one side for 390 days and then asked him to lie down on the other side for 40 days each symbolizing he was an object lesson to the people of Judah for the people of Israel who were in Babylon showing them how God was punishing Jerusalem and the people of Israel and Judah it was he was a living demonstration he wasn't just preaching it he was demonstrating it by his life the Lord asked him to do some amazing things like cooking food with dung and to cut off his to shave his verse 5 his head chapter 5 sorry chapter 5 verse want to shave his head and his beard and to keep just a little bit of that hair with him where's for to show that only a few people in Israel a remnant alone will be saved so you see if you become a profit you have to forget about all your good looks and all that you got tells you to shave your head you shave your head you don't go and say well that won't make me look nice a person was worried about you know he had to cook his food and um make simple food see a prophet it'll be far easier if he was the priest but when he was a prophet he have to be disciplined in his eating habits discipline in his appearance he had not he could not be bothered about what people thought about him God was sovereign don't ever complain about anything in your appearance or anything to God God is sovereign Lee determined every little thing in your life it's absolutely true I remember when I was a young man of about twenty two and I started preaching God's Word I started using my hair it wasn't that bad at this but it was still pretty much had gone I was 22 and I never prayed that I would get hair on my head and I began to think there must be a reason why God is allowed and I I got light on it I found everything was related to my ministry for the Lord see when I would get up to speak because I had lost so much hair people thought I was 30 35 years old and so they listen to me if they knew that I was only 22 as it all we'll wait for the next Bridget so I saw that God had a purpose even in something like that so it may not be like that in your life but I just want to tell you that any little thing that happens if you if you're totally sold out for God from your youth say Lord I have no consideration I'm not interested in food appearance nothing I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit I want to be anointed I want to be true to that anointing to the end of my life I don't want to look at other people I want to look at Jesus I want to look at these prophets and I want to follow you I tell you you'll have a wonderful life God will teach you his word god will speak to your heart you give you words to speak to other people but you've got to be totally sold out for him you have to have no ambition or desire on earth not even for honor or acceptance or money or anything it's all gone your body your time your money your family everything is gone if you're like that there's no limit to what God can do through you okay in Chapter seven I'm just going to go quickly through some of these chapters in Chapter seven we read the title of the Lord which most people don't like to hear it's called in verse 9 the Lord the smiter the one who punishes with judgment in separate we read of the idolatry that was going on inside the temple the Lord said do you want me to show you the Lord says i will show you son chapter 8 verse 6 & 7 why I have left these people and God gave Ezekiel an insight into the secret sins that were going on in the midst of God's people and a true prophet God will give him words that expose the sin which other people cannot see you know 1 Corinthians 14 says we prophesied and a man comes in was a total stranger and the secrets of his heart are made manifest and he says boy God is here so I believe we should covered such a ministry if he prophesied that when we speak God's Word in a church people whom we don't know the secrets of their heart are made manifest by the Holy Spirit so God showed his eco what all was going on inside how they were weeping verse 14 for the Queen of Heaven how their idols and all and grave inside see this is not evident on the outside a lot of people who look holy on the outside are pretty filthy inside and the Lord saying this is supposed to be my temple and see what's going on inside and that's why it's also says in verse 16 they were worshiping the Sun they were facing eastward verse 16 and worshipping the Sun just like many people today face east and worship the Sun and chapter 9 we read because of all this the glory of God verse 3 began to move you see the glory of God when it begins to depart when the anointing the freshness the fire has gone you know there's a reason you go to some many churches today there's no anointing there's no freshness there's no fire you see listen to many preachers today and you could hear them twenty years ago there was an anointing upon them it's not there today actually the anointing on your life should increase as you grow older but with most people I've seen in my life preachers in this country it decreases usually because they get corrupted with money or compromise or begin to speak in a way to please people don't ever make that mistake God is called many of you to certain be faithful and don't let the glory depart from your ministry near the glory departed because there were secrets in in their life and the Lord says in chapter 9 verse 4 walk through the streets of Jerusalem and you can say the church walk into the churches and put a mark on the foreheads of those who weep and site because of the sins they see in the church now if God were to send an angel today to put a mark on the forehead or a secret mark on people who are weeping for what we think because the name of Jesus is dishonored in the church how many people do you think would there would be I want to ask you how many times have you been concerned in your heart that the name of Jesus is dishonored in India by Christians dishonored in the church dishonored in the churches whatever denomination you you may belong to is dishonored in all the churches are you concerned about that then there's a mark upon you God marks on such people and the Lord says in that and kill all the rest all the others will end up in spiritual death you will remain in life concern hallowed be thy name the first pray the Lord taught us to pray if you have a concern for that there's a mark upon you and that's the thing that determines that the glory of God will be upon you and as he began to kill it says first of all in verse 6 the last part the seventy elders were killed first the elders were supposed to be the leaders were the ones who had no concern at all tragic that's why the glory departed in chapter 11 verse 1 we read about this the spirit again lifting him up and taking him away chapter 11 verse 23 we find that the glory of God finally left the city altogether and went east to the mountain that is to mount Olive's which is east of Jerusalem that's where Jesus ascended up to heaven the glory departed and one day the glory we read in chapter 43 verse 12 for glory came back to that same mounted one day when Christ comes back the glory he would put his feet on my olives and the glory of God once again fill the earth and as Ezekiel prophesied we read suddenly that one man fell down and died verse 13 probably somebody who was opposing him and notice another thing worse 15 and 16 the Lord says the people in Jerusalem is a very interesting words the people left in Jerusalem are saying oh those people in Babylon are far away from the Lord now he has given this land to us the people in Jerusalem where the people who disobeyed the Lord the people in Babylon were the people who obeyed the Lord and wednes when God chasing them God said ok now the punishment is down don't rebel against me just go but the people in Jerusalem did not go and so the Lord says to Ezekiel give the excise this message even though you're in Babylon I'll be a sanctuary for you over there people thought because the temple is here in Jerusalem and be this is the place God chose so God is here God cannot be with the Babylonian I mentioned yesterday how people have separated from the mainline denominations and started separated assembly say that they are Jerusalem and they think God is with us God is with not with those Babylonian groups the tragedy today as I said yesterday is that God is neither there nor here they're just as much corruption in the so-called separated churches today in assemblies as there is the other denomination just as much percent of money just as much politics God is nothing God is not there just because you've come out of a system and say oh I'm meeting in this group now no God watches you all the time to see if you are humble if you're broken if you keep your conscience clear you're free from the love of money and you don't see gone around desert so those are warnings for us from the Old Testament and chapter 13 we read the Lord rebuking the false prophets verse 3 destruction is certain for the false prophets and also for the false prophet this is verse 17 whoo-hoo make magic charms and things like that chapter 14 verse 3 we the Lord rebukes the people for having idols in their hearts and verses 6 to 11 it appears as though as you read this that it is God Himself who allows these false prophets to be deceived verse 9 if a prophet is deceived and gives the message anyway it is because I the LORD have deceived that profits why does God deceive certain people i don't have time to show it to you 2nd thessalonians 2 verse 10 and 11 you read it sometime it says when a man does not love the truth about himself God the season that means when God shows you your sin and you are not willing to acknowledge it you are in tremendous danger you will be deceived when God tells me to go and apologize to somebody maybe someone much younger than me and I don't listen to him I'm in great danger I mean grainger of being deceived it says here i the lord will deceive that prophet because god is the god of truth and when he sees that people don't love the truth he allows them to be deceived chapter 14 and verse 14 it says even if Noah Daniel and Joe were there they would only be able to save themselves it's very interesting to see that God could praise a man like Daniel when Daniel was alive no one's over dead long ago but Daniel was still alive he was right there in Babylon imagine that Daniel was such a godly man that God could praise him publicly while he was alive he was much she younger than Ezekiel Ezekiel was a much older man and Ezekiel says I really appreciate his ego that he could appreciate a godly young man and says the Lord says that if Noah and job and this godly young brother Daniel were there only they could save them from their righteousness there you see the humility of a man like Ezekiel who could recognize godliness in a younger brother it's very rare to find servants of God like that today who can appreciate godliness in a younger person I just mentioned that in passing and chapter 16 is a very lovely chapter you can take time to read it about apply it spiritually the way God found you when you were in sin washed you clothed you decked you with the righteousness of Christ and married you but you have been unfaithful to him I just want to show you one verse here in 49 and 50 now if I were to ask you what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah I think more than ninety-nine percent of Christians would say they're sing was sexual sin homosexuality particularly that was the ultimate result but what was the thing that led them into that that is described in verse 49 and 50 soft sort of sins was 49 were pride laziness gluttony love of food not helping the poor and needy who were around them that's why I wipe them out he doesn't even mention sexual sin now there's something here I want you to notice what was the result of all this sexual sin so what do we learn from that young people listen there is a very close connection between tribes and sexual sin there's a very close connection between laziness and sexual sin there's a very close connection between gluttony and sexual thing there's a very close connection between a lack of concern for other people and sexual sin just think of these four things some of you find like all young people that overcome sexual desire and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh is very very difficult agree it is very difficult why not begin with these four and then you may find that overcoming sexual sin is easier begin with humbling yourself what is the second one laziness begin with being hard-working diligent what's the third gluttony begin with fasting from food once in a while fourth a lack of concern for other people think a little more about the needs of other people you please try this prescription and see if you don't overcome sexual sin much sooner then just trying to battle sexual sin all the time it's a wonderful verse chapter 17 speaks about the Bukit measured chapter 18 there's a very good worse here which I think it's important for us to understand from a theological standpoint and people ask us this question verse 2 18 2 why do you court this proverb in the Land of Israel that the parents have eaten sour grapes and the children's mouths are having advantage if that means the parents sins and the children are being punished for their sins there's a common conception among heathen and even among many Christians that children suffer for the sins of their parents the Lord says as I live you will not say this proverb anymore in Israel the Lord said that 2,500 years ago over there a Christian saying it even today you know that there are books being published that the curse which is upon my great grandfather has come down to me and I have to get rid of it somehow or the other what absolutely rubbish Lord said as I live all people are mind to judge parents and children and this is my rule worse for the person who sins will be the one who dies it my great-grandfather worshipped idols or was a practiced witchcraft that's not going to have anything to do with me once I come to Christ why if I have not come to Christ okay then it's different but once I come to Christ God has plucked cut me off from that tree called the tree of Adam in which I was and grafted me into another tree called Christ how in the world can that be a curse upon me and yet there are Christians today a lot of charismatic Christians who believe that this is a curse which descended from the ancestor that means you were still in Adam I've been cut off from that tree and grafted into this tree and there's no curse and right he became a curse for me on Calvary so that the blessing of God can come upon me says don't believe all these Old Testament teachings people go to some worse and here is what God says in Ezekiel to counter that now it's true that if a man is a drunkard is sooner and suffer because there's not enough money in the home that's a different thing physically materially we know that children suffer the parents are bad but spiritually there is no punishment on a child for the father sin completely out of the question there's no curse on a child because of the father is sin especially once once he comes to Christ please remember that everybody is punished for his own sin and let's move on now in chapter 23 we read about the apostasy of Israel and Judah again the message of two sisters both became prostitutes the older one was Israel symbolizing denominational churches and Judah symbolizing separated churches and Ezekiel stood and said both of you have become spiritual harlots both of you are backslidden because you come out of a system you say oh we don't have Pope's and bishops now we have pastors it doesn't make a difference if you got if you want bad conscience and you don't walk in humility and brokenness God said you're just the same as the other just because you change titles doesn't make a difference learn something from these lessons you don't always felt we are better than Israel we're not like them they are so bad ultimately they ended up in the same pit in which Israel ended up chapter 24 we read about part of the prices prophet Ezekiel had to pay his wife died verse 16 and the Lord says this is a sign your wife is going to die and you must not weep you must not will you must not uncover your head or take off your sandals and don't perform any rituals from morning where 17 and don't accept any food brought to you by your consoling friend you see a prophet was under the hand of God there are many things that he was not allowed to do which other people could do remember that when you're a servant of God you live by a totally different set of standards you can't do what other people try to do in chapter 26 verse to be read of tyre rejoicing over the fall of Jerusalem a warning to those who rejoice when other people fall tire said wah my business opportunities I improving now that the Rue Slim is fallen don't ever rejoice in the fall of another in chapter 28 we read of the prince of tyre this is about Satan the Prince of the king of Tyre was sated and you read about him in chapter 28 and verse 11 2 verse 19 he was in Eden verse 13 tells us that Satan was firstly needed that was another Eden that was another Eden which was before the Eden that we read in Genesis 3 before when you know i told you in Chapter Genesis 12 there was a flood which wiped out the original Eden the devil was there and he became the devil because we're 17 his heart was filled with pride because of his beauty he corrupted his wisdom and thus he was defiled there's a description of Satan which we saw along with the one in Isaiah chapter 14 and then in chapter 29 to 32 we read a number of prophecies of judgment on Egypt and on Pharaoh in chapter 33 239 we see the messages of hope for the future the restoration of God's people chapter 33 verses 1 to 16 speak of man's responsibility to respond to God and chapter 34 is a wonderful chapter which all those who are shepherds and fosters of God's people must read it deals with bad leaders people who don't care for the sheep and the Lord says that if you don't care for the Sheep verse 15 I myself will take care of my sheep it's a very good chapter for those who are serious about being shepherds chapter 36 speaks about the New Covenant verse 25 onwards I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean and I will put my spirit in you verse 27 it speaking about this new covenant life where we are going to be you know we're going to find ourselves filled with the Holy Spirit with rivers flowing out through us this is prophesied here in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 36 and I just want you to notice one thing here that when this happens this is going to happen only if where's 37 you pray for it if you don't pray you want to see and verse 31 when it happens you will remember your past sins and hate yourself this is one of the marks of a man filled with the Holy Spirit he detests himself for all the sin in his own life a spiritual man does not primarily see the scene in others except as God shows it to him he sees his own sin and he loads himself chapter thirty-seven is that wonderful picture of the valley of dry bones where we see this valley that Ezekiel sees of dry bones and God first of all says prophesized to it the Word of God and the bones come together and flesh comes up on it and he says you need one more thing what have we see in Genesis 1 the word of god and the holy spirit so he says this means one more thing now they have come together now you need the Holy Spirit to come upon them and then when the Holy Spirit came upon them they came up and became a mighty army for the Lord I believe that's a picture of what God wants to do in the church so many Christians are like those dry bones no freshness no life and we can say the word of God brings them together and there's a little bit of beauty when the flesh comes on top of the bones there's a certain amount of beauty and we can be people who study the word understand the word and it brings a certain amount of attractiveness in our life but there's one more thing that we need we need the part of the Holy Spirit to come upon us if we are to become an army for the Lord so that's the message of that 37 chapter thirty-eight and thirty-nine deal with the enemies of Israel in the north of Israel dog and may God who are going to attack Israel and were finally going to be defeated it has a reference to the last days and chapter 40 to 48 is a picture I believe of the new covenant church he describes it as a temple with all types of details and i want you to notice chapter 43 especially chapter 43 we read the glory of the lord which went away verse 5 came back it's a picture of the new covenant church that God begins to us began to establish from the day of Pentecost onwards and and the Lord says verse 7 this is the place of my throne today the place of God's throne is this new covenant church the glory of God has come back verse 2 and I want you to notice something here there is a law one law for this new covenant church verse 12 this is the basic law of this temple this new temple absolute holiness the entire top of the hill where the temple is has to be holy this is the primary law of the temple so what do we see here the glory of God coming and the Spirit of God taking Ezekiel up and the glory of god where's fight filling the temple and holiness that's why the Holy Spirit is called Holy Spirit now if we follow this rule this basic law we can build a church not otherwise if you're only interested in gathering people you will get con words you won't build a church you won't build the body of Christ if you want to build a church as a body of crisis one fundamental law absolute holiness for every person in the church the standard is the same and that's was the burden of the prophets and from such a church we read in chapter 47 a river begins to flow this is the passage with Jesus quoted in John chapter 7 when he spoke about rivers of living water flowing out rivers of living water flow out from this new covenant temple it starts as a little trickle and finally becomes a big river and the Lord gives him Ezekiel a little taste of what it means to live a spirit-filled Life notice that in the first few verses it says as he went in he led him along for about 1,750 feet and this water came out to his ankles then he measured a little more distance the water came up to his knees verse 4 and then a little more distance and the water came up to his waist and then a little more distance and then he here to swim now notice this this is a picture of the spirit-filled Life some people like you know the Lord told a lie Elijah told Elijah stay here are you happy he said no I want more I want more I want more the same picture here in Ezekiel are you happy with this much Ezekiel says no I want more ok the Lord leads them further are you happy with this much no I want more and finally he comes to waters to swim in notice one difference when the water is up to your knee up to your ankles you're still standing on ground when it's up to your knees you're still standing on the ground when it's up to your waist you're still standing on the ground you can have a measure of the Holy Spirit it does certain extent in your life and still your whole mind is set on the ground on earthly things but the real fullness of the Spirit is where your feet are taken off the earth where you lifted from earthly things and now you have to swim you're led by the spirit the mark of a spirit-filled man truly spiritual man is his feet are not on the earth he is not attached to earthly things one last word chapter forty eight verse 35 the name of this new covenant church is the Lord is there Jehovah chama this is the church you and I are called to build but it begins when you and I become people like Ezekiel that's great

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: cbSA4JRNR40

Length: 57min 3sec (3423 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 06 2017