Brokenhearted
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Intro
Intro
This morning as we dive back into the book of Ezekiel we find two of those special messages. They were messages of judgement here in chapters 6-7. The first messages explains how idolatry of the people defiled the land and the temple. The next message talks about the terrible disaster that would come by the Babylonian army.
We discussed how weird Ezekiel was. God commanded him to remain silent except when God opened his mouth to deliver a special message.
In these two chapters we see two of those special messages. They were messages of judgement. The first messages explains how idolatry of the people defiled the land and the temple. The next message talks about the terrible disaster that would come by the Babylonian army.
As we see time and time again, God’s people continuously turn away from him and worship idols.
Brothers and sisters, this grieves God. It breaks His heart!
So, this discipline that Ezekiel warns the people about is not random but something they deserved.
v. 6:1-7
1 The word of the Lord came to me:
2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols.
5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out.
7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
For whatever reason, Israel could not pass the class Covenant 101.
For whatever reason, Israel could not pass the class Covenant 101.
The main lesson of this class is simple. In order to pass the class you have to know one thing.
God is Yahweh
God is the Lord
Over and over, the prophet Ezekiel reminds the people that God is the Lord.
7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.
14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
eze
But the people had forgotten who He is and what He has commanded.
The Israelites had to be reminded that the land belonged to the Lord and he allowed them to use it, as long as… they didn’t defile the land with their sins.
23 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
lev 18:25, 27-28
25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you
27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean),
28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
If… the they obeyed His law, God would bless them in their land.
lev 26:1-1
1 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.
2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,
4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.
11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
However, if they failed to keep the covenant, the Lord would punish them by withholding blessing from the land or He would “vomit” them out of the land.
lev 18:
24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean,
25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you
27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean),
28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
The people treated their false gods like they were the highest things in the land while God saw them as the lowest and most defiling thing - dung.
The prophet tells the people how the Babylonian army would come in and break down the shrines and altars and destroy the idols.
They wouldn’t stop there. The Babylonian soldiers would kill the worshippers and leave their rotting corpses as sacrifices to the fallen idols.
v. 3-7
The enemy would stack the dead bodies around the shrines like logs of defiled flesh.
Even through all this destruction, Ezekiel reminds the people of the grace of God. By God’s grace, He would spare a remnant. We talked a little bit about this remnant that would be spared the last time we were together and review chapter 5. (V. 5:1-3)****
This remnant is mentioned as a reminder through the book of Ezekiel.
7:16
11:16-21
12:15-16
14:22-23
16:60-63
This remnant is made up of people who are faithful to God and those that would be spared as part of the covenant promise laid out in lev. 26:40-46
It’s this remnant that later returned to the land, rebuilt the temple, restored the worship of the Lord and eventually paved the way for the coming of the Messiah.
The problem is that this worship wasn’t just an abomination but it was also adultery.
Adultery? How so?
You see the Israelites had been married to God at Mt. Sinai and the worship of any other god was an act of adultery.
5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
God is Broken-hearted over this indiscretion. Over this unfaithfulness
9 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.
10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
v. 6.9-10
God is literary broken to pieces, wrecked and devastated.
Why?
Because He loves His people and love makes us vulnerable.
Ezekiel
We saw this theme play out in the book of Hosea. In a similar way we see the defilement of God’s love for Israel, we have the prophet Hosea, whose wife became a prostitute and had to be brought back by her loving husband.
Ezekiel tells the people the people that all they had to do was repent and return to God.
What is Idolatry?
We got the answer to this during one of our responsive readings.
Question 17: What is Idolatry
Answer: Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security.
In the book, “The Church and Idolatry” Jared Wilson says, “All sin is idolatry because every sin is an exercise in trust of something or someone other than the one true God to satisfy, fulfill or bless”
We may not be on the hills of Israel but if we continually offer our worship to seek security in something other than God, then we are just as guilty as Ezekiel’s generation and God is just as grieved.
Even on this side of the cross we’re in danger of grieving God.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
In chapter 7 Ezekiel gives the people a message of disaster.
The nation was blessed with a gracious Lord to worship and love. They were given a fruitful land to enjoy and a holy law to obey.
It was their love for the Lord and their obedience to His law would determine how much blessing He could entrust to them in the land.
The generation that first entered the land obeyed God’s covenant as well as the next generation. But the third generation, they decided to provoke the Lord and broke their marriage vows so to speak. they prostituted themselves to idols.
They disobeyed the law, defiled their Lord and defiled the land and the Lord would not accept that kind of attitude.
He didn’t accept it then. He doesn’t accept it now.
This is a tragic story, but it reminds us that the Lord is serious about His covenant and our obedience.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Even through all this destruction, Ezekiel reminds the people of the grace of God. By God’s grace, He would spare a remnant. We talked a little bit about this remnant that would be spared the last time we were together and review chapter 5.
The enemy would stack the dead bodies around the shrines like logs of defiled flesh.
Even through all this destruction, Ezekiel reminds the people of the grace of God. By God’s grace, He would spare a remnant. We talked a little bit about this remnant that would be spared the last time we were together and review chapter 5. (V. 5:1-3)****
This remnant is mentioned as a reminder through the book of Ezekiel.
7:16
11:16-21
12:15-16
14:22-23
16:60-63
This remnant is made up of people who are faithful to God and those that would be spared as part of the covenant promise laid out in Lev. 26:40-46
It’s this remnant that later returned to the land, rebuilt the temple, restored the worship of the Lord and eventually paved the way for the coming of the Messiah. Our Lord, Jesus the Christ.
The only way for us to avoid repeating Israel’s failures is to clearly identify what they did and turn ourselves from those things.
What did they do?
Their promiscuous hearts turned away from God
Their eyes lusted after their idols
says they took His beautiful ornaments and made abhorrent images from them and detestable things.
Most of all they weren’t even ashamed of their sin. They didn’t try to hide it. They engaged in their adultery “on every high hill, on all the mountaintops and under every green tree and every leafy oak” as it’s described in
Instead of being remorseful, they were arrogant and prideful.
If what or who we worship cannot hear us, see us, move itself or even save itself, then it probably cannot do anything FOR us either, and it is not worthy of worship.
What is Idolatry?
In the book, “The Church and Idolatry” Jared Wilson says, “All sin is idolatry because every sin is an exercise in trust of something or someone other than the one true God to satisfy, fulfill or bless”
We may not be on the hills of Israel but if we continually offer our worship to seek security in something other than God, then we are just as uilty as Ezekiel’s generation and God is just as grieved.