February 20th - The Watchman

Prayer Requests

Pastor Aaron Preaching John 14

Princess Weekend

Men's Dinner

Athens Preaching

Swift Cantrel Preaching

Students Traveling:

-Hannah DC

-Westbrooks Caribbean

Kari Birthday

This morning we will look at a topical lesson at our purposes in evangelism. Please turn to Ezekiel 33, actually start in Jeremiah 23. Next week we will start Nehemiah 1, which is the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile. What major structure was rebuilt in Zechariah and Haggai? The Temple, this was also rebuilt after the Babylonian exile and the destruction of Jerusalem.

I realized as I was looking at Nehemiah 1 that I didn't do a very good job of explaining to you why Jerusalem was destroyed and Israel sold into captivity by God. This exile happened from 605~535BC. The sin of Israel was great, it started partly in her prophets, who preached "Peace!" when in fact there was no peace, neither peace with Babylon, nor peace with God. Prophets who were godly who warned beforehand were Isaiah and Micah, prophets who were godly who preached during the exile were Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel. Prophets who were godly after the exile were Zechariah, Haggai, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Let's let a prophet tell us why God is so furious with false preachers then and now and why he sent Israel into captivity then, and the church today.

Jeremiah 23:9-32 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right. "Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD. ¹² Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the LORD. In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah." Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land." Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'" For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds. "Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, 'declares the LORD.' Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.

This passage perfectly sums up why Israel was taken into captivity, because they rejected God, substituted an idol, chased after their sin, and then found preachers who would tell them that God had no wrath and was not angry and did not require them to repent. These false prophets became a burden both to God and to the people, and so God sent them both from his presence in Jerusalem into far away lands, and also from his spiritual presence into everlasting pain. Besides lying prophets, Israel had a problem with prophets who wouldn't tell people about sin or the consequences of sin,

Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

A lying or lazy prophet will reek havoc on a people spiritually, and we see this today in a myriad of preachers who say, "It will go well with you," or "No disaster shall come upon you," or "Live your best life now," or "I'm ok and you're ok," or any such thing pretending that God is not angry. Let me start out by saying because of our sin, you and I are in grave danger from the God of Heaven.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

There is but one hope, it is listed throughout the Bible, but my favorite is in

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are in Christ, not because we do good works, but by faith, but if we are in Christ, then we will do good works. If you have not been changed, not born-again, not seeking to the will of your Father who is in Heaven, then beloved, the chances that you still stand in condemnation are great. This message is a painful one, and one which is not popular today just as it was not popular then, check out Jeremiah's response when he preached this message, people HATED him for it, and though he preached for at least 50 years, he never so much as reaped one convert, because the people were so sinful:

Jeremiah 20:8-10 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" say all my close friends, watching for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him."

So now, let's go to our application. Every person who speaks for God is a prophet, if we speak of the true and living God, then we are true prophets, if we say we speak for God but we preach a different god, then we are false prophets. We do not receive new revelation, for in these latter days God speaks through his Word, but this revelation is more than sufficient and it is the Word of Faith which we are to proclaim. Let's read two verses to support this:

Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Romans 10:8 "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)...

Beloved, here is where it gets personal; you may say, I don't want the office of a prophet, I don't want the derision of Jeremiah, I don't want to be persecuted, so I will not speak for God and therefore will not have this responsibility. But just by your affiliation with a Christian church, you have a reputation as a Christian, and if you do not speak then you fall into the camp of the lazy and hungry dumb dog of Isaiah, and you tell the world that the message of Christ is not worth proclaiming.

I don't say this simply to scare you, but to impress upon you the huge responsibility and privilege you have in being called out of the darkness into the light of Christ, that we cannot waste this life nor this Word we have been given, not just to avoid punishment, but there is a threat of punishment,

Luke 12:47-48 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Not just to avoid punishment, but for the great reward of both the glory of Christ, and to be welcomed home as a faithful witness,

Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'

It has taken us a while to get to Ezekiel 33, but here we are. Ezekiel was a great sinner, sent away from the presence of God in the Babylonian exile, but who was called to be a prophet in Ezekiel 2. He was instantly changed and declared the Word of God to many and converted some and angered others. In chapter 3 he is given a command which he heeds, which is again reiterated in chapter 33. This is reiterated for a purpose, to assure us that the office of prophet is not a one-time command, but extends over our entire lifetime. So let's read

Ezekiel 33:1-9 The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand. "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

The picture here is of a watchman set in a high tower to watch for danger. His job is simple, it is not to defend the people against an army, it is simply to see an army coming and sound a trumpet saying, "There is danger coming, brace yourself!" This is his one and only job.

He can fail in this job one of two ways. First by seeing the advancing army and not caring. Or two by falling asleep and missing the advancing aggressor, or by seeing the aggressor and being too lazy to do anything to warn the people.

Either way, this failed prophet/watchman will answer for his sin to God.

How can we see this in our life? Is a real army going to march upon Swift Cantrel? Very unlikely. But is there a great danger from God towards sinners? Yes, check out

Nahum 1:8-9 But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time.

Let's read some places where the Apostle Paul quoted or alluded to this passage:

Acts 18:6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

Acts 20:26-27 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

This is our charge, to never shrink of declaring the whole counsel of God, to proclaim Christ and him crucified, the offense of the cross, telling people that they must repent or perish, they must be born again to inherit the kingdom of God. Now, if we are genuinely a Christian, but we fail to do our duty as the watchman, will we lose our salvation? Let's let 1 Corinthians 3 answer that:

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

We're not saved by our efforts, but the efforts of Christ, so we cannot lose our salvation, but we can be disobedient and enter Heaven with nothing to show for our lives at all. Lecrae says, "I would hate to never lead someone to Christ before I face the Lord."

So what do we say? Ezekiel continues,

Ezekiel 33:10-20 "And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: 'Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?' Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? "And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, though I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just,' when it is their own way that is not just. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this.

There is salvation in none other than Jesus Christ, who is the just and the justifier, the righteous one who died for the unrighteous. If we do not repent towards him, putting on his righteousness, then we will fall in the final judgment. But wearing his righteousness, him paying for our sin and rising again, we have a strong and perfect plea, we will live.

So let us go out and proclaim this message of reconciliation, let us not be dumb dogs, let us not be lying prophets. We have the words of eternal life, let us declare them with boldness, both so that we are not bad stewards and watchmen, but so that many will turn and live, and Christ will get the glory for being a perfect Saviour, and we will be welcomed into Heaven on the phrase, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master."

October 3rd - The Pleasures of Sin

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Scheduled Revival
Covington Fair
North Cobb Witnessing
Judgment Journey
Kyle Preaching at FCA
Boy Scouts fund raiser

Text – Zechariah 5:5-11, Proverbs 9

Today we approach Zechariah’s seventh vision, one of the more difficult ones to tell you what the exact details mean, but one where the greater point shines forth. We’re going to look at the attractiveness of sin, the world’s efforts to elevate it, and God’s ability to suppress it.

Let’s do just a bit of review, there isn’t much coming forward in this vision from the last ones, but I didn’t clarify a major point last week that I really apologize for missing because it’s an important point.

The last two visions talked about the Word of God, if we are in God’s New Covenant, in the church, symbolically depicted as a lampstand, then how does the Word of God relate to us? It is as a blessing. But if we have broken God’s everlasting covenant and are outside of the church, then how does the Word of God relate to us? As a curse.

How did God redeem us from the curse of the law? By hanging his blessed Son on a tree, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Was Jesus hanged on a sycamore or oak tree? He was hung on a cross; what is the cross made of? A tree. Is it a living tree? No, it is a dead tree; I think we could call it a tree of death. Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us, he has given us his blessings, he died on a tree of death to grant us access to the tree of life; for whosoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.

What part did God play in the sending of the curse and in cursing his Son? Did they surprise him? No, he accomplished both by his own power. The only real tie-in that I see between the sixth and seventh visions is that both are being sent by God’s will. The wickedness we see today is not outside of God’s plan, indeed it comes from the same place as the curse, it may be that this vision is the curse in manifestation. So let’s read this seventh vision.

Zechariah 5:5-11 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, "Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out." And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the basket that is going out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land." And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! And he said, "This is Wickedness." And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they taking the basket?" He said to me, "To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base."

I’m going to do my best today to teach this like it should be taught. That’s what I always do, but today it could be tempting to try to take some of the offense out of this message, but I want you to see just how God sees the world and that outward beauty is not everything, I’m going to teach this along with Proverbs 9, because the two are closely tied together. If you’re not offended by the end of this lesson, then I’ve done something wrong.

v.5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, "Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out."

Visions six, seven, and eight all proceed out of Heaven, God sending forth either his law, or his plan, or his ministers. Zechariah is going to see a measuring basket, he’d know it was a measuring basket because these were really common in Israel, they hold about 7 gallons of whatever you want them to hold. When he asks what it is, he knows it’s a measuring basket, he wants to know what it’s measuring.

v.6 And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the basket that is going out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land."

This verse is translated to interpret the passage for us. I’m not sure if I like that, though if you were reading the Bible in a year and only spent four days on Zechariah, I think I would like this interpretation, though this verse says something different in the Hebrew than what it says here, though they did a good job capturing the meaning of the passage without capturing the wording. What Jesus actually says here is that this is the resemblance of the world, or this is what God sees the world as, the original doesn’t have any meaning of sin, the translators are interpreting rightly what they read in verse 8. So what this measuring basket holds is what God sees the world as. So let’s see what this basket holds.

v.7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted,

Wait, let’s stop there. The first thing we see is that whatever this basket is holding is protected by a big heavy weight. God is keeping what is inside inside…we see something odd here for a measuring basket, you wouldn’t put a heavy weight over seven gallons of grain. What do you think a weight would be used for? Whatever is inside is living and wants to escape!

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Second Thessalonians tells us that God is also restraining the spirit of antichrist:

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

Let’s then look at what’s inside:

v. 7-8 and there was a woman sitting in the basket! And he said, "This is Wickedness."

Strange. I don’t know where to start, there are several exceedingly great points here. Let’s start with the fact that the woman is called Wickedness, because I think that’s important. This isn’t the part that’s meant to offend you, but if I taught this wrongly, then it could.

Do you think the woman represents wickedness because all women are irredeemably wicked or wickeder than men? No, of course not, we know that the Bible says ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Zechariah just said this is the appearance of ALL land. I believe, and we’ll look at the verses that make me believe this, that this woman must be pretty cute and attractive and she represents the allure of sin as well as the actual sin.

Some sin is ugly and nasty and only certain people enjoy it, but most sin has a pleasure that comes with it. Sin can be really fun, if it wasn’t people wouldn’t do it…though some people sin and are miserable for it.

Hebrews 11:24-25 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

The attractiveness of the female form is an amazing representative of this, John calls it the lust of the flesh and eyes.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Before you think God hates women, let’s read Proverbs 9 where both wisdom and wickedness are represented by women:

Proverbs 9:1-6,13-18 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" To him who lacks sense she says, "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" And to him who lacks sense she says, "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Hell.

So let me give you the practicality of this, and it’s pretty much the same for both the ladies and gentlemen in this class: not all that is beautiful is good and not all that is frugal is bad. Guys, the girls that show off the most are the ones you want the least, because everything they are is on display; while the modestly dressed and reserved ones are a depth of beauty that goes far beyond their appearance.

Ladies, there is a reason that sin is compared to a woman, because just by wearing immodest clothing you can ignite a fire in a man’s heart that cannot be put out. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you do us a huge favor when you dress modestly. The true danger of seeking the fleeting pleasures of sin is that it is insatiable, it will burn every last bit of fuel you give it and still want more. Lust cannot be satisfied just once or through one inappropriate look, and so you only have two choices, to feed your sinful desires indefinitely, or to kill your sin immediately. John Owen put it better than I ever could, he said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

Guys, Job said we should make a covenant with our eyes to avoid looking at the fleeting lust of the eyes. And ladies, besides the opportunity to cause someone to lust, you have to also worry about pride, having an obsession with guys finding you attractive. I’m not lying when I say that each and every one of you is beautiful beyond words, and I hope you realize when I say that it is also considering your inward person. You have a tremendous responsibility to practice discretion in what you wear and how much you show to the world. You have one chance to preserve a gift you will someday give to your future husband when he is privileged to something the rest of the world has never seen.

I hope this at least makes you think, and even a little uncomfortable. This is a sin area that we avoid discussing way too often in the church and one that, if we get it right in this class, will bless you and me and hopefully the whole church for the whole next generation. The only part of teaching middle school that I don’t like is the never ending cycle of seeing young ladies flaunt themselves and young men follow their eyes wherever they take them. By me saying this now hopefully I’ll never have to smack one of you guys in the back of the head when I catch you looking at something or someone you shouldn’t, and I’ll never have to ask you ladies to remove a picture off of facebook or put on a sweater in the middle of summer to cover yourself up, things I’ve had to do in the past.

Let’s conclude this thought with a bit of humor, but also great depth, through a Proverb and then move on with Zechariah:

Proverbs 11:2 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

There are vast and reaching reasons why God symbolizes wickedness with a beautiful woman, because the façade can and does hide all manners of uncouthness and evilness; a little honey can hide the taste of poison. God sees to the inward person; describing that sin makes everything ugly and that even if there is a bit of external beauty, it’s like a gold ring in the nose of a pig.

Back to the basket: there is a measuring basket full of wickedness. What do you think this means? That our sins aren’t just a pinch or a little bit, but are filling up the fullness of what God allows us to do. Imagine God’s patience as the payment for this measure, that when sin is filled God’s patience runs out. We see this in reality in the destruction of the Amorites as God waited for them to sin to the full measure before he destroyed them.

Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

We see a measure for nations and also a measure for the human heart,

Acts 8:22-23 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.

Acts 13:10 You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

Let’s look at this from the standpoint of modesty, let me use the guys as an example. Just thinking someone is pretty is not a sin, but if you fail to kill the possibility of sin, of becoming obsessed with that person and having no intention of marrying them then you are sinning against five people: her, you, her future husband, your future wife, and above all you sin against God.

James 1:15 Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We’ll see the gospel in just a bit, but let’s look at what happens next:

v.8 And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.

We see that God is more than capable of restraining sin, yet he lets sin happen every day. This was alluded to when we read earlier that God is restraining the spirit of antichrist in what Paul calls the Mystery of Iniquity, God showing us why righteousness is good and evil is bad, showing why he is God and we are not, that he is able to use everything for good, even evil, as demonstrated most amazingly when he took the most wicked execution tool ever, the cross, and used it to save his people. We see though that as he thrusts Wickedness down, there is no love between God and evil.

God has many ways of restraining sin, one of which is our conscience, telling us what is right and wrong, second is the Bible, explicitly telling us what is right and wrong, and another is shame, making us feel bad when we sin; the Christian also has the Holy Spirit who leads us and is grieved, saddened, when we sin. I believe God’s major tool for loosing sin is when he removes shame, I want to read you a passage in a bit from Ezekiel where God is furious at Israel’s sin, I’m going to read it because of the choice words God uses, first though let’s read verse 9.

v.9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.

This is the ONLY place in the whole Bible that remotely says that angels can be female, though because it’s a vision I don’t think we should make that jump. It sounds like angels are only male and Jesus explicitly said that angels never marry, so it'd be weird if there were boy and girl angels. What we should see these women as is sin elevating sin, think of them again as embodying wickedness, and we see that through a sort of strange way: they have wings like storks. The stork in the Bible is representative of uncleanliness, it is a carnivore and scavenger that will eat anything; these women, whether fallen angels or just symbolic of more evil, are definitely meant to convey that evil is elevating evil, and the wind in their wings means they are able to move swiftly, accomplishing evil things very quickly.

Deciding the best order to teach this in is difficult, there is so much to say, so let’s read Ezekiel 16 so I can get to where I want to get to.

Ezekiel 16:15,23-25,28-29,30,31 You trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your renown and lavished your sexual favors on any passerby; your beauty became his. And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord GOD), you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your harlotries. You played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the harlot with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your iniquities also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

Do you get the point that God hates it when sin is elevated and made the ultimate goal of everything? Let’s see what those winged women are going to do with this basket of wickedness.

v.10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they taking the basket?" He said to me, "To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base."

I really wish Zechariah would have asked, “What are these two winged women?” But he doesn’t, and so this is one of the details I can’t tell you exactly what they mean, though I think we’ve seen it pretty closely that they represent more sin. They are taking the basket to the land of Shinar, which is in Babylon. This is played out exceedingly in the New Testament that the world is referred to as Babylon and Christians are the exiles from our home in Heaven.

The word for house is more than just a plain building, but it’s less than a temple. It’s like a really nice house, even a palace. The two winged women are building a palace for wickedness, I don’t think it would be wrong to allegorize that they are making sin comfortable, even to the point of worshipping their sin.

We run into problems as Christians with displaying the 10 Commandments in public, or reading the Bible in school. Do you know why the world hates these things? I mean, what is to hate about any of the Commandments morally? If everyone kept them we’d have a nice society. The problem is that the Law and Word of God make people uncomfortable in their sin, they don’t want to hear of a judgment to come, they want to eat and drink and be merry and at the end of the road die and not face judgment. But comfortable sin is living in a lie, we need to know that apart from Christ’s saving work, we are set to be judged, and that in Christ’s saving work we are changed to hate sin and seek not to make it comfortable, but to kill it.

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Finally, are you and I counted in this appearance of all the world? Are we full of sin? Absolutely, I bet you we’ve all broken every one of the 10 Commandments in spirit if not in flesh, and the measure of our sin is draining God’s patience. But let’s look at some verses to conclude why we do not despair and why we turn from making our sin comfortable to striving for holiness through Jesus Christ.

Let’s look first at my all time favorite Bible verse:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Psalm 86:15 You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 116:5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

While we were filling up the full measure of our sin, Christ filled up the full measure of righteousness, and in his fullness he humbled himself to become nothing, pouring out his life on cross so that we who are poor in spirit may be rich in spirit in Christ. He has canceled our sin and made us abound in his grace.

Therefore, let us put sin to death in our lives, not pampering it, not worshipping it, and certainly not living with it. Else we see that our God is also full of wrath towards his enemies, and will make a complete end to them, even pursuing them into the darkness.

March 21st - The Treasure of All Nations

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching

Sarah Driving

Adam Feeling Better

Emily C.
PasXa Outreach - April 2nd
Spring Break Missions Trip

Text – Haggai 1-2

For about four or five weeks now I haven't felt like I've been doing Peter justice or that I've been giving you the full amount that each passage has in it. At first it was just nagging at me, but I've gotten to the point where I can't continue Peter until I get a better grasp of what he is saying and find a way to present it to you that will be both worthwhile, memorable, and exhorting you to action.

As I was preparing all week for chapter 3:8-12 and 4:7-11 I just felt like I was skimming the surface of the beauty in these passages and by last night I couldn't bear to teach you the lesson I had prepared for the lack of quality in it. I erased it and was going to start over when I thought, why don't I skip a week to look at something else?

So this week we're going to look at something else. So please turn to the book of Haggai with me, this is the third to last book in the Old Testament, right before Zechariah, which is right before Malachi. I think one of the reasons I'm having such a hard time with Peter is because Peter explains things so well and so concisely that sometimes there isn't anything left to explain and some of the passages probably ought to be just read, possibly with some explanation of what the words mean that Peter is using.

So the reason we're in Haggai is because Haggai doesn't endeavor to explain anything, he just tells it like it is, and I think there is a huge amount to be learned from his book, which is only two chapters, 38 verses long, and we'll try to look at all of them today. Haggai is one of my favorite Old Testament prophets.

Haggai 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:

This is where we need to camp out for some context. The date given is the Babylonian dating system way to say August 29th, 520 BC. Why didn't Haggai write "520 BC"? Because he didn't know it was BC! Albeit his going to talk about the Christ in a little bit.

The word of the Lord comes through Haggai to the governor of Judah and the High Priest. This is hugely important because this is in Jerusalem, and Israel has just come back from captivity in Babylon where they spent from 587 to 538, a total of 49 years. The reason a nation would move a conquered nation away from their homeland was so they would be assimilated into the new culture and would lose their identity. This has NEVER worked with the Jewish people.

Haggai 1:2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."

The temple was destroyed in 587 BC,

2 Kings 25:9 And he burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

It was pillaged and burned, where a once great temple once stood, now was a pile of rubble. When the Jews returned from exile, they immediately began reconstruction of the city, the wall, and of the temple, but the Babylonian and later Persian overseers made them stop working on the walls and temple:

Ezra 4:23-24 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

The reason the walls weren't rebuilt was so that Jerusalem wouldn't be defensible, and the temple wasn't rebuilt so that Jerusalem wouldn't have a dwelling place with God. Looking back today this seems strange to us, but that is because we are under a new Covenant where we can worship God in spirit and truth anywhere in the world. But check out Asaph's lament over the destruction of the temple:

Psalm 74:4 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.

Under this covenant, God was very specific in who could draw near to him and where he would live on earth. It started with the Tabernacle in the desert, then became a big beautiful temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon, overlaid with gold and totally beautiful and huge.

So it's now 18 years later and the people are still thinking...it's not time to rebuild the temple.

Haggai 1:3-4 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?"

Solomon's temple was paneled, this is a sign of wealth, showing that Jerusalem's houses are quite well furnished, and these nice houses are surrounding a burned-out shell of a temple.

Haggai 1:5-9 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?

Judah is in the middle of a depression, both economically and physiologically, things are pretty bad in Judah. The illustration of the hole in the bottom of the money bag is beautiful and I want to spend a bit of time on it. When I worked on F-15's we had this thing called a Comsec Purse. Comsec means communications security, it is the classified stuff that allows the F-15 pilot to be able to talk to other military people, and drop bombs in the exact spot they mean to drop bombs on, and ultimately so they don't get shot down by enemy and friendly fire. It's really important stuff during a war, and it's also a very bad thing to lose. We carry it in a silver purse with no padding so if we need to destroy the things that are in it we can just swing it and bash it on the ground and the classified stuff is destroyed and/or erased just like that. Well, one day I opened it up to get something and everything that was supposed to be in there wasn't, just a hole. After freaking out for a second, I found it without looking too hard, but it was a great lesson on a bag with a hole in the bottom, that no matter how many things I put in that bag, they would end up on the ground and lost.

I think there is a direct relation to what was happening in Judah and what we see economically in America. More than half of Americans spend more than they make, and that ranges across all age and earnings brackets, people that make $12,000 a year and people that make $120,000 a year spend every last penny they make. You give me a dollar and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone, you give me $100 and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone. This is Judah at the time of Haggai, they can't save, they can't get warm, they are in trouble, and God asks them why? Then he gives the answer.

Haggai 1:9-11 Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.

God is specifically against the efforts of the people, and why, because they haven't seen fit to rebuild the temple. Now don't just think of this as a building, this is where the presence of God dwells among the people. By them not rebuilding the temple, they're saying, "We don't want God in the midst of us." And because of that God is specifically standing against them. Now here is where some of your parents might disagree with me, so ask them today when you get home, but I think this can apply to every nation and not just Israel. Why is America in bad shape today, why is any nation in bad shape? It's because they've forgotten God and have labored apart from him. I have a Bible verse to support this, so it's not like I'm just making it up.

Psalm 9:15-17 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The LORD is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.

The rules apply to whole nations, and not just to Israel and Judah. Where we can get into a major mistake is when we think that these rules apply to individuals instead of whole nations. Like, be good and God will give you stuff. It doesn't work that way, God works with nations, and while he works with individuals there is no rule for him to bless individuals monetarily with money or possessions. Instead you remember from First Peter that the righteous should expect persecution.

Haggai 1:12-15 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, "I am with you, declares the LORD." And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

All this to say, on September 21st, 520 BC God turns the people to rebuild the temple and they get to it with his help. Check out what happens on October 17th of that same year after they've been working on this temple for a little while:

Haggai 2:1-5 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.

They've been working on this temple and compared to the last one, everybody 70 years old and older remembers, is terrible. This isn't an underfunded temple, I think they were expecting a big beautiful messianic temple which Ezekiel prophesied in eight chapters in Ezekiel 40-48.

Check out this parallel passage:

Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

It's not the temple they were expecting, so many cried, but also many shouted with joy, and the reason they shouted for joy was not that the temple was being built, but that God would once again dwell with them! He is preparing to point to the Messiah, check out verse seven, it's my favorite verse:

Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations, so that the Treasure of All Nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

This temple which appears to be nothing, which the builders rejected, is symbolic of the Coming Messiah. We've read this verse before, but it is so amazing at how the Creator God would enter into the world:

Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Jesus is the true temple of God, not much to look at in his first coming according to the Bible, but the true temple with which God is well pleased. So what did God do with this temple in Haggai when it was built? He dwelt among the people. Check out my favorite verse:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This small man-sized temple, nothing much to look at, was the glory of the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. He is the Treasure of All Nations, what a beautiful name for our King. How do we know for sure this is what God is talking about?

Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.

God is saying this temple isn't small for lack of funds or because God couldn't make it bigger, it's small and humble because that's what God intended. He's saying, "If I wanted a solid gold temple with silver inlay, I could have a solid gold temple with silver inlay. This wooden and stone temple that is being built is the temple I want, just as my Son will later be the tabernacle with which I am well pleased."

Haggai 2:9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.

He's talking about the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the one who will give peace to all who are in his church; not peace with the world, but peace with God.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Check this out, this is where I think it gets really cool. The first temple, built under Solomon, was magnificent, and this new temple didn't compare. God is saying that the latter glory, the later glory, of this temple will be more than the first, than the former glory. He's talking about Jesus, and Jesus basically quoted this in John 2:

John 2:19,21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He was speaking about the temple of his body.

He has the latter glory in view, if you destroy this temple, and in three days it will be raised up as the super-glorious temple which the Jews were expecting from Ezekiel when they built the Haggai temple. And if you look at Jesus in Revelation 1, he's not at all like the Jesus who bled and died, he is wearing his glorified magnificent wonderful radiant temple, his glory perfected in his obedience.

This is the major message of Haggai, and what I want you to get out of it, that Jesus is the dwelling place of God on earth, that his glory is so much greater than anything we can imagine, that if we trade him for the fleeting pleasures of this earth, he will take them away, and that God's temple, Jesus Christ, must be at the center of nations in order for them to be blessed.

The rest of chapter 2 contains an awesome message as well. Because the people to this point might think that what God wants is a building, but he shows them the real reason they were being punished was for their sin, not because they didn't have a temple. They didn't have a temple because their sin kept them from building it, and just having a temple wouldn't have helped if they had continued to sin.

The temple wasn't the issue, see

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The people needed to repent of their sin, which would have resulted in the temple being built. Conversely with Jesus, just having a temple is not enough, you must repent towards him.

The final point of Haggai is setting Zerubbabel up as one like a "signet ring" which is a ring of authority, and if you look at Matthew 1 you'll see that Zerubbabel is in the lineage of Jesus Christ, and through him and his claim to the Davidic kingdom gives Christ the authority of God's Kingdom.

So in conclusion, Haggai is a beautiful prophetic book showing the coming Messiah, the tabernacle of God, and that he is the Treasure of All Nations, and so we repent towards him and in him we find peace and glory which far outweighs anything we can find on this earth. Those who reject this temple to live for themselves will find that God stands against them and keeps nations from temporal blessings and individuals from eternal blessings.

November 22nd - A Failed Priesthood

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Pastor Aaron Surgery Wednesday
Susan Egelhoff Gall Bladder Issue
Zitara's conversion and following
The Family of Pervaiz Masih
Origin of Species Outreach
Ruben's Wedding
Josh's Wedding
Traveling Mercies:
-Geils to Florida
-Costellos to Chicago
-McGullions to Alabama
-Bethany
-Mark

Text – Ezekiel 8-9

We’ve been talking about the priesthood of believers and the importance of evangelism in that role. Peter has quoted Hosea once already, and it got me thinking that we need a good example of why the priesthood needs to be impeccable, because as we’re going to look at, where the priesthood goes, there the people follow.

So today we’re going to step out of First Peter to look at a story in Ezekiel, with support from Hosea. This is not the only story that backs up the importance of an upright priesthood, but it is perhaps the best one. The year is 592BC, the day is September 17th, and a good part of Judah has been taken captive to Babylon about a year earlier in 593BC. The reason nations would take others captive was to utterly destroy their sense of culture and nationality so the people would assimilate into the culture they had been taken captive to. This has never worked for Israel, the Babylonians took them captive twice, the Assyrians once, and after the first century they were scattered to all of the nations of the world, yet still maintain their nationality.

The reason that God allowed this to happen was because the people were very sinful, worshipping money, all manners of false gods, murdering each other, so in chapter 7 God says he will send the most wicked of nations, Babylon, to inherit Jerusalem as punishment for their sins.

Ezekiel was not a prophet when all of this stuff began, he was just a normal guy, probably sinning just as badly as anyone else. And he gets taken to Babylon, specifically Chaldea, which is where Abraham was from over a millennia earlier. While in captivity, God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet.

Here is our first lesson, we have inherited a broken and wrecked world. It is not our fault it is broken, because it got broke long before we showed up, although we are not blameless. God has called us out, and given us a duty to proclaim his word, just like Ezekiel.

So as Ezekiel became a prophet, he was given a house in his captivity, and when we pick up in Ezekiel 8, we see that he is teaching the elders of Judah who are in captivity with him.

Ezekiel 8:1-4 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.

Ezekiel here becomes the first astronaut, lifted up over the earth and seeing it laid out before him. Pretty neat. Enoch and Elijah went up, but they didn’t come back down.

The reason we’re given the exact date is because Ezekiel wants us to know that this was an actual vision that he had, he didn’t just make it up. Also, it shows that this is his present day, not before the captivity, but what he is going to be shown is happening in Jerusalem at that moment.

The view of Christ we see here is pretty near to how he is described in Revelation 1, he is so bright that he appears to be on fire, his glory is breathtakingly bright.

God picks Ezekiel up by the hair. This shows how furious God is, you’ve gotta be pretty angry to grab someone by the hair to show them something. Ezekiel doesn’t mention pain, because this is a vision, but in God’s action we see that he is outraged. The events that are going to be discussed, because this is a vision, didn’t actually happen, we’re going to see a total wiping out of Jerusalem in this passage, but history doesn’t record that. It is more spiritual than physical what we’re going to see in this passage.

At this point, God’s glory is still in Jerusalem, which means he is still working and hasn’t totally abandoned Israel yet.

Ezekiel 8:5-6 Then he said to me, "Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."

God is showing Ezekiel how bad things have gotten not just morally in Israel, Ezekiel would have known that, having lived there until only a few months prior, but God is going to show how bad things are spiritually. The first thing he shows Ezekiel is that at the gate of the temple, the priests have setup an “image of jealously.” What this was would most likely have been an Asherah Pole, which is like a totem pole, to one of the false gods of Babylon, but God chooses to call it an “Image of Jealously.” This is powerful language because it doesn’t restrict the sin to only one false god, but we can see any false religion setup here that makes God jealous. The priests set this up to try to keep God out of the temple.

Second lesson, people are still doing this today. This is the false god “Separation of Church and State”, or “evolution”, or keeping prayer out of school, anything that a people group does to try to keep God out of their business. Do you think that will work, is God restricted from going places because we do something to stand in his way? Of course not.

We’re going to see the sins that they are trying to keep God from seeing are pretty much them pursuing a different religion. Dr. Al Mohler recently wrote an excellent article called, “Are we a nation of Hindus?” http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/08/26/are-we-a-nation-of-hindus/ In it he realizes that a lot of people in the United States, while they wouldn’t call themselves Hindus, believe in reincarnation, karma, universal salvation, and that all paths lead to God. The United States can be read quite easily as having committed many of these same sins as Israel.

God tells Ezekiel that he will be shown greater abominations still, he says this three times. Anytime something is repeated within a chapter of the Bible, you should figure out why. In his repetition, God is showing Ezekiel that the sins are graduated, they get worse and worse, and the nation of Israel has utterly abandoned him.

Ezekiel 8:7-13 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, "Son of man, dig in the wall." So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, "Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here." So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'" He said also to me, "You will see still greater abominations that they commit."

The priests, the Sanhedrin, have setup this Asherah Pole to keep God out, but we see God has no problem getting in, and getting Ezekiel in. They go through the wall, and once inside Ezekiel sees their idolatry, these are the priests of Israel, and they have begun to worship the creature instead of the Creator, offering up prayers and sacrifices to false gods.

They justify themselves by saying, “The Lord does not see.” They can mean two things here, maybe both, first they are denying God’s sovereignty and that he is omnipresent and omniscient, knowing everything, and second that maybe the God of Israel doesn’t even exist.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.

We usually ascribe that to atheists, but really it is to anybody who acts like there is not a God who judges the thoughts, words, and deeds. This is certainly these corrupt priests. And we see that God has no problem seeing right to the heart of things.

Hebrews 4:13 no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This is the upper echelon of Israel, Ezekiel is careful to call out Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, because Shaphan was a very godly man who governed Judah, so the priests in this room are sinning in more ways than just meet the eye, they have dishonored their parents, they have abandoned their God, and in chapter 11 it is told to us that they are the cause of Israel’s sin and destruction. Hosea puts it better than anybody though,

Hosea 4:1-6 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

God’s contention is the with the priests, because where the head goes, there goes the body as well. One of the craziest transitions in the Bible is between James 3:1 and the rest of that chapter, James starts out by saying that

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Then he jumps into talking about the tongue, and how it controls the whole body, and just like a little rudder can steer a whole ship, so can a tongue steer you into situations you never intended to get into. But the transition is clear, the teacher is like the tongue, the priest who speaks for God acts as the tongue of the body of believers, and the priest and teacher can get the whole congregation into sin they never intended to get into. A bad priest can cause a whole people to be rejected by God.

Third lesson, future ministers and teachers, your sin will wreck a church, and a wrecked church will wreck a nation. Because we have been made priests of the Most High God, we don’t have any option if we want to speak for God, we are going to whether we want to or not, so we need to do it right. So the priesthood is broken, now we’re going to step outside of the temple and see that the rest of the country isn’t much better.

Ezekiel 8:14-15 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these."

Tammuz was the false god of fertility and agriculture. He died every Fall and was resurrected every Spring. In order to get him to resurrect, you had to mourn for him when he died, and since this was September, he had just died, and this woman is crying for him. It rejects God as the provider and sustainer of Israel, and also places human exertion on the provision of nature.

Ezekiel 8:16-18 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."

Here we see the people of Israel worshipping the sun instead of God, indeed they’ve turned their backs on God completely. God is furious. He says they have put the branch to their nose; there is dissention on exactly what this means, but I believe it means in reference to burning someone at the stake, you pile wood up around them, but instead of God, in his wrath, piling the wood, they have piled it themselves, so all God has to do is light the pile and Israel will face the wrath. Check out chapter 9, it is going to introduce us to this wrath, but God is merciful and gives opportunity to be saved.

Ezekiel 9:1-2 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand." And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Six angels, and a man clothed in Linen. Likely this is Jesus Christ, not literally because this is a vision, but he represents Jesus Christ, and we’ll see that we can also see ourselves in his role as evangelists. The six angels have weapons for destroying, the man in linen has a writing utensil.

Ezekiel 9:3-4 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the LORD said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it."

God sends the evangelist through the city to mark everyone who will repent and mourn over their sins. He isn’t looking for innocent people, because none are innocent, he is looking for those who will turn back to the Holy One of Israel.

The word “mark” is one letter, the Hebrew letter Tav, which today looks sort of like a backwards Pi, but in Ezekiel’s Hebrew this would have been an X-shaped letter. It is certainly reminiscent of our being marked in the blood of Christ which was poured out on a cross.

Can you imagine being this evangelist? If people will mourn over their sin, then he can mark them and they will live, but without the mark, they will surely die. I imagine it must have been like Noah standing at the door of the Ark, crying out to his friends and relatives, “Get on the boat, if you don’t you will face the wrath of God and perish in your sins!”

Judgment follows close behind our evangelist,

Ezekiel 9:5-7 And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, "Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out." So they went out and struck in the city.

These angels of death meant business, they killed everyone that didn’t have the mark. Check out where they start, in the house of God, going after the corrupt priests. Peter alludes to this which we’ll get to in a few months,

1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

I imagine the evangelist was just in front of the angels, marking some people just in the nick of time, the sword raised over their head when they repent and receive the mark of salvation.

Fourth lesson, we don’t have physical angels chasing people, but we are racing against time, seeking to see people saved before they step into eternity. Lest they have the mark of Christ, the seal of the Holy Spirit, imprinted on their souls, they will surely perish.

Ezekiel 9:8-10 And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?" Then he said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.' As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads."

God’s wrath is just, everyone deserves to be under it. But God is merciful, and that leads us to the end of chapter 9.

Ezekiel 9:11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, "I have done as you commanded me."

This is our goal, to be able to say to God, “I have done as you commanded me.”

So fifth lesson, God’s wrath was abiding on us, we are a people unclean lips amidst a nation of unclean lips, God sees to the heart of things, we had stacked the branches to our noses, God’s wrath was ready to be poured out upon us, when an evangelist stepped out of Heaven, perfect, sinless, undefiled, and he went out among the people, that if they would repent, he would put a mark on them, a mark of his blood that he shed on the cross for those sins which are forgiven, so that the person marked will be justified and spared from the wrath to come.

After Christ died, he rose from the dead, and while he came the first time to save, he will come again to judge, chapter 10, which we aren’t going to read, shows us this evangelist, after marking those to be saved, destroys the city of Jerusalem, and the glory of God leaves the temple.

In chapter 11, the priests are indicted for their failure to lead people to God and for their rampant sin. They are promised death, and told that they have turned Jerusalem into a cooking pot in which the people are the meat and their blood is the broth.

Finally, the sixth lesson, you have been made a priest of God, you must be holy, you must rightly represent him to the people, because if you fail, many will perish, and we as teachers of righteousness and representatives of Christ will be judged much more strictly. Our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, became an evangelist, and so us as his priests must follow in his footsteps and declare salvation available in none other than the Living Christ.