Just take that and flow with your spirit, God. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, well, we're there in Ezekiel chapter number 11, and we're studying through the book of Ezekiel on Wednesday night.
It's taken one chapter a week, and we're in the 11th week of our study, in the 11th chapter.
And if you remember, in Ezekiel, we basically dealt with two different visions so far that Ezekiel saw.
And in chapter number 11, we're actually finishing the second vision.
If you remember, in chapter 8 began that second vision that was about a year after the first vision that he saw.
And, of course, he's in Chaldea, he's in Babylon as one of the captives, but he, in the spirit, is transported back to Jerusalem.
And God gives him a tour of the temple, and he sees the abominations, different things that are going on there.
Last week, in chapter 10, we saw how the glory of the Lord departed from the temple.
We're going to finish seeing that today in this chapter, but in this chapter, we finish this vision that Ezekiel has.
I want you to notice verse 1 there. It says this.
Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward, and beholdeth at the door of the gate five and twenty men.
And these twenty-five men are the subject of this chapter.
Now, if you remember when we started this second vision, in fact, go back to chapter 8 just real quickly.
Ezekiel chapter 8 and verse 16.
Ezekiel 8, 16 says this, and he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house.
This is, of course, when that tour of the abominations began.
It says, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about, notice what it says,
five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and they worshiped the sun towards the east.
If you remember, you had all those different abominations that we saw there in chapter 8, and there was these twenty-five men that were worshipping the sun.
Well, when we get to chapter 11, we're talking about these five and twenty men.
Now, whether these are the same twenty-five men, we don't know for sure.
To me, it would make sense that it is the same twenty-five men.
But I want you to notice what these twenty-five men are doing.
Look at verse, go back to Ezekiel chapter 11 and verse number 2.
Bible says this, then said he unto me, son of man, these are the men, talking about those twenty, those five and twenty men.
Notice what they're doing.
Number one, that devise mischief.
Number two, and give wicked counsel in this city.
So, we're talking about these twenty-five men who are devising mischief, and they are giving wicked counsel in the city.
And that's really what this chapter is about, where he goes through and explains, you know, what these people are doing.
So, we're going to do that tonight.
We're just going to walk through this chapter, verse by verse, and show you what it is that these twenty-five men were doing, and how they were hurting the nation of Israel.
And then at the end of Ezekiel 11, we have a really interesting prophecy of the coming New Covenant.
And we're going to spend a little bit of time on that, just kind of running some references and showing that to you in Scripture before we're done tonight.
So, I want you to notice, first of all, there's basically two things that Ezekiel is teaching us that these five and twenty men are doing for the nation of Israel.
And if you're taking notes, I'd like you to write these statements down.
And there's on the back of your course of the week, there's a place for you to write notes.
If you don't have a baby sitting on your lap or something like that, maybe you can write this down.
The first thing we see is that they are giving the people a false sense of security.
They're giving the people a false sense of security.
Notice verse three there, and notice what it says.
It says, which say, so we're talking about the five and twenty men, right, the twenty-five men.
This is what they're saying, which say, it is not near.
Now, when they say it is not near, what they are referring to is the judgment that Ezekiel is preaching about.
And by the way, it's not just Ezekiel.
It's Ezekiel in Babylon, because if you remember, the Babylonian captivity happened in three ways.
We learned that in chapter one.
And Ezekiel was taken in that second way.
Ezekiel is in Babylon, he's in Chaldea, and he's pronouncing judgment upon Israel.
He's telling them that Nebuchadnezzar is going to come back.
And when he comes back, it's going to be a total annihilation.
They're going to destroy the temple, they're going to destroy the walls, they're going to destroy the city.
And of course, we knew, we know that all of that came to pass.
But also, in Jerusalem, Jeremiah is a contemporary of Ezekiel.
He's in Jerusalem, and he's also prophesying the same thing,
saying that Babylon is coming, and Babylon is going to destroy the people,
and telling them that they should not try to fight against Babylon,
because fighting against Babylon is fighting against God, because it is God's will.
And of course, one day when we study through the book of Jeremiah,
we'll see how they threw him in prison, and how they mistreated him for these things.
But here you have these 25 men, because you have Jeremiah preaching destruction,
and the judgment of God coming upon Jerusalem.
And then you've got Ezekiel in Babylon preaching destruction, and the coming wrath upon Jerusalem.
And you've got these 25 men who are, notice that they are leaders.
In fact, look at verse 1 again.
And we don't really know who these guys are.
It seems like they're kind of the ringleaders of these guys.
But notice what it says at the end of verse 1.
Princes of the people, meaning all 25 of them were leaders of the people.
They were principalities.
They were people who were in charge, maybe politically or things like that.
And these men are the ones that are saying in verse 3, it is not near.
They're telling the people, look, the judgment that Jeremiah is preaching about,
the judgment that Ezekiel is preaching about, it's not near.
It's not going to happen.
And notice, they're saying, because it is not near, here's what they're saying.
They're saying, let us build houses.
And this is a term that they would use, kind of a parable that they would use.
They would say, this city, talking about the city of Jerusalem, is the cauldron.
Now, a cauldron is a pot, a big pot that you would use to cook meat in, or soup, or something like that.
And they said, the city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh.
They're saying, look, in the same way that if you put flesh in a big pot, and you cover it, and it's safe there,
they're saying, that's what we are.
We're the flesh that are in the city, and we're safe.
They're saying, there's no judgment of God that's coming.
It's not near. It's not going to happen anytime soon.
And they're saying, in fact, build houses.
In fact, go ahead and build houses, and go ahead and get established because of the fact that judgment of God is not coming.
Now, here's what's interesting.
Keep your finger there in Ezekiel 11.
That's obviously our text for tonight.
But go with me to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 29.
Now, if you head backwards from the book of Ezekiel, you have the small book of Lamentations,
and then you've got the book of Jeremiah.
And do me a favor, put a ribbon, or a bookmark, or your bullet, or something there in Jeremiah,
because we're going to come back to Jeremiah throughout the sermon.
So I want you to be able to just get back to Jeremiah quickly.
Now look, if you believe that you were living in imminent danger, impending danger,
that Nebuchadnezzar was going to sweep down at any moment and destroy the walls of the city,
kill everybody in the city, take certain people captive, and destroy the temple,
you would not be looking for land, down at the Home Depot, buying supplies,
because you're going to build yourself a house.
That's not something you'd be doing if you believe that the judgment of God was imminent.
And if you believe the men of God, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, that's what you would believe.
But these men were saying, no, it's not near.
Go ahead and build houses.
And here's what they were doing.
They were creating a false sense of security for the people.
Now here's what's interesting.
Contrast that to the message of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 29, look at verse 4, because remember, Jeremiah's living during this time.
Jeremiah's living in Jerusalem, you know, while all this is happening.
In Jeremiah 29 and verse 4, the Bible says this.
We saw this earlier in the Ezekiel Bible study, but let's look at it real quickly together.
Jeremiah 29 and verse 4 says this,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, until all that are carried away captive.
So he's talking, Jeremiah's in Jerusalem, and he's talking to those who've been carried away captive.
They're in Babylon, like Ezekiel.
And he says, this is what God wants me to tell those of you who have been carried away captive,
come unto Babylon, verse 5, build ye houses.
Now the message from God is, look, the captives are the ones that need to be building houses
over there in Chaldea, over there in Babylon.
And you say, well, why would God say that?
Here's what God is telling them, creating this false sense of security.
Keep your place there, Jeremiah.
We're going to come right back to it, but go back to Ezekiel 11.
Look at verse 4.
Ezekiel 11 and verse 4 says this,
Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
And I want you to notice how when God calls men to preach,
he always calls them to preach negative sermons.
You know, God never calls for a positive only preacher.
Now, you know, we should all preach positive things from time to time, of course,
but there's never a man who says, my ministry is just to be positive only.
You'll never find that in the Bible.
Now that's what Joel Osteen says.
You know, Joel Osteen says, I don't use, you know, he's interviewed and he says,
I don't use words like this, sin, hell, condemnation.
You know, I don't like to use those type of words.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Jesus used all those words.
You know, Jesus preached about hell and sin and condemnation.
And I want you to notice here we have God telling them,
therefore prophesy against them.
You know, people say, oh, why do you guys have to preach against Donald Trump?
And why do you have to preach against Barack Obama?
Well, here you got God telling Ezekiel, look, these 25 princes of the nation of Israel
that are leading people astray, prophesy against them.
Mark them out.
Call them out.
Prophesy, O son of man.
Notice verse five.
And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me and said unto me,
Speak, thus saith the Lord.
Thus have ye said, O house of Israel, for I know.
Notice the last part of verse five.
For I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
That's a great verse.
If you want to just jot down a little note next to Ezekiel 11 and verse five,
that's a great verse to prove the omniscience of God.
Now the omniscience of God is an attribute of God.
You know, God has different attributes.
Omniscience and omnipotence and he's omnipresent.
And here we have a verse that proves the omniscience of God.
Now maybe you're not familiar with that term.
And that's, by the way, it's a biblical term.
The Bible actually uses the term omnipotent or omnipotent.
It's used several times in Scripture.
But you know, the word omniscience, omni is a Latin word that means all.
And of course, the second part there, science means knowledge.
When we talk about the omniscience of God,
we're talking about the fact that God is all knowing.
He knows everything.
And here we're told, you know, God is speaking and he says,
For I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
So you know, here we learn that God is omniscient.
That is one of the attributes.
One thing that makes God different from us,
there's several attributes of God.
One is that he's omniscient.
Another one is that he's omnipotent.
He's all powerful.
Another one is that he's omnipresent,
meaning present everywhere at once.
And you say, well, why does that matter?
Here's why it matters.
Because if you remember the ministry of Christ,
remember that he's often telling the Pharisees what they're thinking.
And when they brought the man down through the roof,
remember he was born of four.
We saw that on Sunday night.
And he says, you know, thy sins be forgiven thee.
And the Pharisees are saying, you know, can this man,
you know, who does this guy think he is?
Can this man forgive sin?
And they spoke that in their heart, the Bible says.
And he answers them out loud and says,
you know that you can believe that I have the power
to forgive sin.
And then he has the man, you know, get up and walk.
But that shows that Jesus was God.
Because of the fact that he had an attribute which
belongs to God, that he knew the things that
came into their minds.
And we see that in Ezekiel 11.
Five, so just something for you to jot down there.
Notice verse six.
I want you to notice these five and 20 men
are giving a false sense of security.
But I want you to notice, in fact, don't look at verse six.
Look at verse three again.
The false sense of security is based
on their physical blessings.
The false sense of security is based on the fact
that they have been blessed by God.
And listen to me.
Whenever you use the blessings of God
upon your life as the determining factor
whether God is pleased with you,
you are giving yourself a false sense of security.
Because notice what they said in verse three.
They say, which say, it is not near.
Let us build houses.
And they're saying, look, we're secure.
This city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh.
Here's what they're saying.
They're saying, you know, after all,
we're the ones that were not taken captive.
Because remember, there's already been two waves
of this captivity.
And they're saying, look, Jerusalem is the place of God.
It's the city of God.
It's the house of God.
Other people have been taken captive.
We've maintained.
We've stayed.
We're in the holy land.
We're in the city of God.
God has spared us.
Therefore, God must be pleased with us.
And they give themselves a false sense of security
because of the physical blessings that they have.
And you say, well, how can we apply that?
Look, we can apply it today as American Christians
because American Christians can trick themselves into thinking,
well, look where we live.
We live in the most prosperous nation on Earth.
We live in the most secure nation on Earth.
I mean, we live in houses like no one else in the world
lives in.
And we drive vehicles like no one else in the world drives
in.
And you say, well, Europe is Westernized,
and Europe is garbage.
Go live there if you think it's great.
It's not that great.
There is no nation on this Earth
like the United States of America.
And Christians today have tricked themselves
into having this false sense of security
and thinking, well, God must be blessing us.
But look, whenever you look at physical blessings
and use that as your sense of, if you're thinking,
well, God must love me because I've
got a lot of money in the bank,
God must love me because look where I live
and look what I drive, if you're looking at material wealth
as your reason for being blessed with God,
you've got another thing coming.
Because notice, they use their physical security.
Their physical blessing, that was a false sense of security.
But I want you to notice in verse 6
that this false sense of security
emboldened them in their sins.
They said, well, God must be pleased with us
because look at us.
We're the ones that are still in the city.
God must be pleased with us because we're
the ones that survived the last two waves of destruction.
And then that false sense of security
emboldened them in their sin.
Notice verse 6, notice what Ezekiel says to them.
He says, ye have multiplied your slain in the city.
Ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
He said, look, you guys are a violent city.
There are people dying all over the place.
Verse 7, therefore, thus saith the Lord God,
your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it,
they are the flesh, and this city is the cauldron.
But I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
And God kind of uses their parable,
and he turns it on them.
And he says, look, he says, look on the street.
He said, you live in a violent city.
And by the way, whenever sin abounds, there will be violence.
And he says, you live in a violent city.
He says, you know what?
You think that you're the choice flesh?
You think that I'm going to protect you
because you're in the cauldron?
He says, those corpses, those dead bodies, that is the flesh.
And this city is the cauldron.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, the only people that are safe in that city
are the ones that are already dead.
He said, you want to know who's safe from my wrath?
The ones that are slain on the floor, dead.
The corpses that are piled up.
He says, why?
Because when you allow physical blessings to give you
a false sense of insecurity, that false sense of insecurity
is going to embolden you to sin.
Did you keep your place in Jeremiah?
Go to Jeremiah 17.
Look at verse 5.
Let's just run a quick verse here.
Jeremiah 17 and verse 5.
Jeremiah 17 and verse 5 says this,
thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord,
cursed be the man that trusteth in man.
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.
So many people ask me, Pastor Man,
why don't you get a little more political?
Why don't you get like some of these other pastors
that are always talking about politics,
always trying to get us to support this politician
or support that politician or get behind this guy.
Maybe we can, you know, why don't you
do stuff like that?
Here's why I don't do stuff like that,
because cursed be the man that trusteth in man.
It's a false sense of security when
you think that some man other than the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to be your savior about anything.
Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man,
and maketh flesh his arm, notice,
and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
See, what happens is when we allow ourselves,
if you think to yourself, well, you know,
I've been committing adultery, but nothing's happened.
You know, I've been in this sin or I've been in that sin,
and nothing's happened.
Everything's fine.
In fact, I got a promotion.
In fact, I got a raise.
In fact, things are going great.
You know, and you think, therefore, God
must be pleased with me.
You are allowing physical blessings
to create a false sense of security,
and that false sense of security
will embolden you in your sin.
But here's what you need to understand.
This false sense of security is going to eventually betray them.
Notice verse 8, Ezekiel 11 and verse 8.
God says, ye have feared the sword.
See, it's not that they didn't understand
that there was an army that might come,
but they were like the ostrich, you know,
putting their head in the sand and choosing to ignore it.
Ye have feared the sword, and I will bring a sword upon you,
saith the Lord God.
And I will bring you out of the midst thereof
and deliver you into the hands of the strangers.
We'll come back to that statement in a minute.
Look at the last part of verse 9.
I will execute judgments among you.
Verse 10, ye shall fall by the sword.
I will judge you in the border of Israel,
and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
This city shall not be your cauldron,
neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof,
but I will judge you in the border of Israel.
So how can we apply this?
Well, we can learn that the security of God's blessing
and protection, the security of God's blessing
and protection should not be measured
based on the physical blessings that we have.
Because here's the thing about physical blessings.
God can turn those things around like that.
You say, everything's going great.
Look, all God needs to do is just make one phone call.
Look, whatever judgment that God wants to bring upon you,
you can lose your, you can walk into work tomorrow,
everything is great, and they hand you a slip
and walk you out with some security guard.
I mean, all it takes is one accident.
All it takes is one mistake.
What I'm saying is this.
Everything we have in this earth, it's fragile.
You could lose it at any moment.
So when you sit there and think, well, God
must be pleased, and I must be safe,
because everything's great.
Just realize, just realize that God can take it away
like that.
So you say, well, then where do we get security from?
Where do we learn to trust and get security from?
Notice what he says in verse 12.
He says, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Notice what he says, for ye have not walked in my statutes,
neither executed my judgments, but have
done after the manner of the heathen that are round
about you.
And here's what's interesting.
Here's what's interesting.
He's saying, look, you should not
feel secure in yourselves because of the way
that you're living your life.
Here's what I'm trying to tell you.
Security in God, in the protection of God,
should be based on how we walk with God
and how we live out his word, not on our physical location
or physical blessings.
You say, well, what does that mean?
Here's what it means.
It means that when Job loses everything,
but he knows that his heart is right
and that he's walked in the integrity of his heart,
then he can have a security in knowing that God is with me.
But see, the Bible says the wicked flee
when no man pursues it.
When you've got a guilty conscience,
every bad thing that happens, you stop at a red light
and you're like, this must be the judgment of God.
You know?
I mean, everything is an omen and everything.
When you've got a guilty conscience,
you say, well, where do we get security from?
Where do we know that we're protected by God
and that God's with us and that God wants to bless us?
You get it from having a conscience
void and clear of sin.
He says, you have not walked in my statutes,
neither executed my judgment.
He says this, but have done after the manner
of the heathen.
He says, you have been like the heathen around you.
And you know, Christians in America
are like the heathen around them.
I mean, look at most Christians in America today.
They listen to the exact same music the world's listening to.
The only difference is they take the same music,
they just add the name of Jesus in there.
All of a sudden, it's about Jesus.
That's supposed to be good.
It's this world's music.
I heard a preacher say this.
I thought it was funny.
You know, we want to condemn the heathen in Africa, right?
We'll say, oh, those heathen in Africa.
They stripped down to a loincloth,
and they've got their jungle music,
and they're worshipping the sun god.
But listen to me.
You know, there's so-called Christians
over at the Sacramento River.
There's so-called Christians at the beaches
up and down in the state.
You know what they do?
They strip down in their loincloths,
they turn on their jungle music,
and they worship the sun god, just
like the heathen around them.
And then we expect to believe that the blessing of God
is going to be upon our lives?
Look, you say, where does security,
where can we find security knowing that God is with us?
We find it in the way that we walk with God
and the way that we live out his word.
Now look, God is kind of dramatic here,
because he's trying to show them, he's trying to show them.
You think you're secure.
You think because you live in a walled city that, yeah,
you know, that I must be pleased, or I'm not.
And in fact, if you remember from chapter 8,
when they were in the temple and they
were looking at the portrayal of the abomination of the wall,
remember what they said?
They said, the Lord seeth not.
You think you're secure, and the fact
that I can't get to you, and just
to be a little dramatic, notice what happens in verse 13.
And it came to pass when I prophesied that Pelotia,
the son of Benaiah, died.
Here's what's interesting.
Ezekiel brings this message to these 25 men,
and he says, God can get to you whenever he wants.
God can destroy you whenever he wants.
You think you're safe because of your blessings,
and God can take you out whenever he wants.
And when Ezekiel says, amen, one of them drops dead.
Just to make the point that God can kill you whenever he wants.
The only reason you woke up this morning
is because God gave you breath.
So before you start looking at all your blessings,
Mr. American, and thinking that God must be OK with the music
you're listening to in your car,
and the filth you're watching on your TV,
and the stupid things and filthy things
you're looking at on the computer,
and you're thinking, well, it must be fine
because everything's fine.
Just realize that you're allowing yourself
to be deceived into a false sense of security.
And that false sense of security
will eventually betray you.
So we see that these five and 20 men,
not only were they giving out a false sense of security,
but there's a second thing that they were doing.
Look at Ezekiel 11 and verse 14.
Not only were they giving a false sense of security,
but they were also giving a false sense of superiority.
Notice what they said in verse 14.
Again, the word Lord came unto me saying, son of man.
And notice what he said.
He said, God speaking to Ezekiel, thy brethren,
even thy brethren, and God, just to make sure
he understand, he said, the men of thy kindred,
he's saying, your family, the people you're related to,
the children of Israel, and all the house of Israel holy.
That's not holy, H-O-L-Y.
That's holy like entirely.
Notice what it says.
Are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem
have said.
Now remember, the inhabitants of Jerusalem
are the ones that are still living
in the city of Jerusalem.
The one that said, this city is the cauldron,
and we be the flesh.
The ones that think that they're hot
stuff because they did not get taken into captivity.
Now God is telling Ezekiel, he's telling him,
those people, the ones that are the inhabitants,
he says, they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem
have said.
Notice what they said.
So please understand this.
God is speaking to Ezekiel, and he says, thy brethren,
thy brethren, the men of thy kindred,
he says, your family, Ezekiel.
Remember, Ezekiel is living in Chaldea, in Babylon.
He's a cactus.
He's saying, those are the people
whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Israelites that are living in Jerusalem, have said.
Here's what the people in Jerusalem
are saying to Ezekiel's family in Babylon.
They're saying, get you far from the Lord.
They're saying, forget about God.
They're saying, don't walk with God.
They're saying, don't worry about God.
You say, why would the ones in Jerusalem
be telling the ones in captivity, forget about God.
Here's why they do it.
Notice what they said.
Unto us is this land given in possession.
See, they thought that because they were the ones that
were left behind, they thought that because of the fact
that they were the ones in the city,
that God gave them the land and that they were better
than even the other members of the nation of Israel
that were in captivity.
In fact, they're telling them, get you far from the Lord.
Just get away from God.
Just forget about God, because we're the ones
that the land is given in possession.
And God is explaining to Ezekiel that the people
in Jerusalem were looking down on the people who were
carried away captive from the land.
So not only were these 25 men giving
a false sense of security, but they were also
giving out a false sense of superiority.
Look at verse 16.
Therefore, say, thus saith the Lord God.
So this is God's response to them.
This is Ezekiel giving God's response.
He says, this is God speaking.
Although I have cast them far off among the heathen,
and although I have scattered them among the countries.
God is saying, look, it's true that I took those captive.
And by the way, keep in mind, these five and 20 men
are looking down their noses at these captives and saying,
just get away from God.
God's rejected you.
He's given us the land.
They're telling these, keep in mind,
these are the types of people that they're looking down on.
Ezekiel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Mordecai,
Esther.
I mean, these great believers that
happened to have been taken captive out of their home,
these five and 20 fools are looking down at those men
and saying, God's done with you.
Forget about God.
He's given us the land.
So here's a response from God, verse 16.
Therefore, say, thus saith the Lord God.
Although I have cast them far off among the heathen.
He said, you're right, I've cast them among the heathen.
And although I have scattered them among the countries.
He said, you're right, I took them out of the land.
Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary
in the countries where they shall come.
He's saying, you're looking down on them
because they're away from the sanctuary of God.
They're away from the temple of God.
But he says, you know what?
I'm with them.
He said, I will be to them a little sanctuary
in the countries where they're.
He said, I'm with them.
I'm not done with them.
And look, this is why we must not
measure the blessing of God based on the physical blessings
that we have.
Because we, like Job's friends, might look at Job and say,
Job, God must hate you.
You must have really done something wrong.
I mean, for God to be doing this to you.
And Job was exactly where God wanted him to be.
And these people were looking at men like Ezekiel and Daniel
and Hananiah and Azariah, looking at those men.
And they were saying, God must be done with you.
And those men and those women were exactly
where God wanted them.
In fact, God said, I'm with them.
He said, they don't have the big sanctuary,
but I will be unto them.
He said, I will be a little sanctuary in the countries
wherein they shall come.
Now, here's what's interesting.
God tells that the ones who stayed in the land, the ones
who are looking down at the ones who got taken captive,
he tells them that he's going to do to them,
that he's going to do to them what they are looking
down on others for.
The same thing that they're looking down on others,
that's what God's going to do to them.
Notice verse 7.
Go back to verse 7.
We skipped some of this, but let's look at these statements.
Therefore, thou saith the Lord God,
your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it.
They are the flesh, and this city is the cauldron.
We talked about that, but notice this statement.
He says, but I will bring you forth out
of the midst of it.
Now, remember, these people are priding themselves
on the fact that we're in the city.
We are the flesh, and the city is the cauldron.
And God says, yeah, but I will bring you forth out
of the midst of it.
Out of the midst of what?
Out of the midst of the city.
Notice verse 8.
Ye have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword
upon you, saith the Lord God.
And I will, notice, bring you out of the midst thereof,
and deliver you into the hands of the strangers.
He said, I'm going to deliver you into the hands
of the foreigners.
He said, exactly what you're looking down on them for.
That's what I'm going to do to you.
Verse 10.
Ye shall fall by the sword.
I will judge you.
He said, I'm not going to judge you
in the midst of Jerusalem.
I'm going to judge you in the border of Israel
right before I throw you out of the land.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Verse 11.
This city shall not be your cauldron.
He said, this city is not going to protect you.
This city is not going to keep you from me.
This city is not going to keep my wrath
and my judgment from being brought to you.
Neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof,
but I will judge you in the border of Israel.
He says, you think you're blessed
because you're in this city.
You'll know that I judge you
when you're coming out of the city as a captive.
Because you want to give the people
a false sense of security,
and you want to give yourself
a false sense of superiority.
And you're looking down at someone for their circumstances
and where they happen to be
and thinking you must be better.
And God says, you know what?
I'm going to do to you
exactly what you're looking down on them.
What you're looking down on them for,
that's what I'm going to do to you.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter one.
1 Corinthians chapter one.
You have your place in Jeremiah,
so keep your place there.
But when you get to 1 Corinthians,
keep a place there.
Put a ribbon or a bookmark
because we're going to go back and forth
between 1 Corinthians, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel here
for a little bit as we finish up.
But let me just make a quick application
before we get off this point.
And of course, this whole false sense of superiority,
look, you're going to deal with that.
You say, does that just apply to the nation of Israel?
That applies to Verity Baptist Church.
You say, do we have a problem here?
That applies to every church that's ever existed.
That applies to churches, that applies to schools,
that applies to workplaces.
Anywhere you gather people together,
you're going to have some people
looking down on other people.
But look, it ought not be so in church.
We ought never have a false sense of superiority
over another individual.
1 Corinthians one, look at verse 11.
Notice what Paul said to the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians one and verse 11.
For it had been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you.
Paul is dealing with the church at Corinth.
He's saying, I have heard that there are contentions,
there are fightings, there are disputes among you.
Verse 12, now this I say that every one of you say,
do you say, why, why were there contentions?
Here's why they were saying, what they were saying.
I've said this before, I brought it up several times
when I was preaching through 1 Corinthians,
but let me say this.
Clicks developing in church are a cancer to any church.
And Paul talks about this.
He says, here's why there's contentions.
He says, because every one of you say it.
I am of Paul, and I have Apollos, and I have Cephas.
And then of course you got your extra hyper spiritual,
I don't follow anybody, and I have Christ.
But you know, were there literally people saying that?
I don't know, because he's using preachers here.
He might be using hyperbole.
But what he's saying is that this church
has divided itself into camps,
these little factions and these groups
where people say, it's us four and no more.
And you say, well, what's wrong
with having close friends?
Nothing wrong with having close friends.
So you start gossiping about other people.
What's wrong with having close friends?
None in the world wrong having close friends.
So you start looking down at other people
and say, well, we're better than you are
because I am of this and you're not.
I have this going on and you don't.
Nothing wrong with having good friends.
In fact, friendships and fellowship
is one of the things that God uses to grow Christians.
Iron sharpened with iron, and we understand that.
But there is a sense where people can get too close
where they start feeling comfortable sitting together.
Look, when you start feeling comfortable enough
with someone to gossip about the pastor
or the pastor's wife or some other church member,
you've gotten too close.
You need to back off.
You're in a clique.
He says, there are contentions among you.
Now this I say that every one of you saith,
I am of Paul and I am of Paulus
and I have Cephas and I have Christ.
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Notice what he says in verse three.
I'm sorry, chapter three, verse three.
Go to chapter three, verse three.
Chapter three, verse three.
Look, a church is a family.
We're a spiritual family.
We need to all get along.
It doesn't work.
It doesn't work in your home
and it doesn't work in the church.
Look, it doesn't work in the house
if the kids are just constantly fighting with each other.
Kids are, you know, boys against the girls.
That happens sometimes in our home
and the boys are getting outnumbered.
The good thing is that they're a little bigger,
but, you know, Lydia's feisty.
And, you know, and we have to try to manage that.
You know, your brothers, your sisters, your siblings,
you gotta love each other, you gotta care for each other.
And you say, well, what are you saying to the church?
This is what I'm saying to the church.
Your brothers, your sisters, your family,
you gotta love each other.
Look at verse three.
Verse, Corinthians 3, three.
For ye are carnal.
Look, Christians that divide themselves into cliques
and begin to look down upon others,
you say, what's the word for them?
Carnal.
For whereas there is among you envying,
why does it happen?
Because they got to do and I didn't
because they got a position that I didn't
because they got a recognition and I didn't.
He says, there is among you envying and strife.
Let's talk about fighting and divisions, that's your cliques.
Are ye not carnal and walk as men?
For while one sayeth I am of Paul
and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?
And let me just say this, let me just say this.
What we learned from Ezekiel 11
is that exactly what they were looking down on somebody
for is what God said, I'm gonna turn around
and do that to you.
You get that?
They said, hey, we're gonna look down on you
because you got taken in captivity
and God says, I'm gonna bring the worst captivity on you.
When I bring captivity on you,
everything's gonna get destroyed.
The city's gonna get destroyed,
the walls are gonna get destroyed,
the temple's gonna get destroyed,
it's all gonna get destroyed.
And I'm just telling you,
God seems to have that kind of sense of humor.
So before you start looking down on somebody
because, well, they're not our type of people,
we don't live in those types of neighborhoods,
you might find yourself living in that neighborhood.
You might find yourself driving the cars they drive
and wearing the clothes they wear
before it's all said and done
because God just happens to have
that kind of sense of humor.
So be careful how you look down on somebody
and realize that we need to make sure
we don't have a false sense of security
and that we also don't give ourselves
a false sense of superiority
when we start thinking we're better than people.
Look, we are all sinners.
If we got what we deserve,
we'd all die and go to hell, period.
Go back to Ezekiel 11.
Keep your place in 1 Corinthians.
Keep your place in Jeremiah.
As we finish up this chapter,
that's basically the theme of the chapter,
and that's the message from Ezekiel.
But as we finish up the chapter,
I was considering just skipping this
because of the fact that it doesn't go
with the entire message of the sermon.
And this comes up again in Ezekiel,
and we're gonna deal with it again.
But I thought, it's just too good.
We can't just skip it.
So Ezekiel finishes, and it's connected,
and you'll see how it's connected here in a minute.
But he finishes by giving this prophecy
of a coming new covenant.
Because if you remember,
one of the things that the nation of Israel
prided itself on was on its covenants.
The nation of Israel had three major covenants.
I thought about making a video about this
and explaining this,
because I don't think people really understand
these things.
But there were three major covenants
that they prided themselves on.
One was the Abrahamic covenant.
Now, what they did not understand
is that the Abrahamic covenant
was actually not a covenant with them.
It was a covenant with Christ.
It was not the seed of Abraham,
seeds as of many,
but seed as of one, which is Christ.
But they thought it was about them,
and then they realized,
no, it's about you producing Christ.
And then they had a divinic covenant.
That's when God made a covenant with David
and said that from your loins and from your family,
there will always be someone reigning in Jerusalem,
that someone would reign in Jerusalem
for all eternity, a descendant of yours.
Again, that wasn't about David.
That was about Christ, the son of David.
But there was also the Mosaic covenant.
And if you remember, the Mosaic covenant
was when the children of Israel came out of Egypt,
and they met with God on Mount Sinai.
And Moses goes through the blessings and the cursings,
and he says, if you do this, God will do this,
and if you do that, God will do that.
And they basically vowed.
They said, yay.
They accepted it.
And they had those covenants,
and God is now telling them,
you pride yourself on these covenants
that you think you've got.
But he said there's a new covenant coming.
I notice verse 17.
He says, therefore say, thus saith the Lord God,
I will even gather you from the people
and assemble you out of the countries
where you have been scattered,
and I will give you the land of Israel.
Now, the dispensationalists,
they love these types of verses,
because they'll say, see, God said
he's going to bring all the Jews back into the land.
He's going to bring them all.
That's what happened in the 1940s with the UN,
and this is Bible prophecy being fulfilled.
But there's a problem with that,
because that's what God said.
He says, I'm going to gather you from the people
and assemble you out of the countries.
Now, remember, when we're looking at Bible prophecies,
we're often dealing with what's happening
right then and there in the present,
and then we'll shift into an end times or future event.
And here, God is kind of talking about
what's happening with Ezekiel,
and he shifts into an end times event.
You say, how do we know that?
I'm going to prove it to you in a minute.
Look at verse 18.
And they shall come hither,
and they shall take away all the detestable things
thereof, and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Verse 19, that's what he says.
And I will give them one heart,
and I will put a new spirit within you,
and I will take, I want you to notice
the references to the heart.
Verse 19, I will give them one heart.
Then he says, I will take the stony heart
out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.
Verse 20, that they may walk in my statutes
and keep my ordinances and do them,
and, notice what he says, they shall be my people,
and I will be their God.
Now, here in Ezekiel, he's talking about the fact
that he's going to bring the children of Israel
back into the land.
He's going to bring them back into the land.
You say, who's he bringing into the land?
He's not bringing a guy with a funny hat
and curly curls coming down his face,
wearing a weird outfit.
The people that he's going to bring back into the land
are people that he gives, he says there in verse 19,
I will give them one heart.
He says, the stony heart of their flesh,
and I will give them one heart of flesh.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Now, let's run some verses real quickly.
Keep your finger there in Ezekiel 11.
Go to Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31.
I want you to notice that when the Bible
uses these terms, give them one heart,
take their stony heart out of their flesh,
and give them a heart of flesh, that is all
a reference to salvation.
And when we're talking in theological terms,
it's specifically a reference to the regeneration
of a believer.
Remember when Saul got saved, the Bible
says that the Lord gave him a new heart.
This is what we refer to in the New Testament as being
born again.
In fact, we're there in Jeremiah,
but let me just show you something real quickly.
Go to John chapter number 3.
John chapter 3, and look at verse number 9.
Remember when Nicodemus comes to Jesus,
and Jesus is speaking to him about the fact that he says,
you know, look at verse 5, he says,
Jesus answered verily, I say unto thee,
except the man be born of water, and of the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh and flesh,
that which is born of the spirit of spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
Look at verse 9, how Nicodemus responds.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him,
how can these things be?
You know, Nicodemus did not understand the new birth,
the regeneration.
But notice with Jesus, because people often
ask about this verse.
They think it's an odd verse, because Jesus is saying,
hey, ye must be born again.
And Nicodemus is like, well, how can that be?
And then Jesus rebukes him in verse 10.
The Bible says, Jesus answered and said unto him,
art thou a master of Israel?
And no, it's not these things.
You know, Jesus tells Nicodemus,
aren't you, you know, a religious leader?
Aren't you a Pharisee?
Aren't you, you know, well, how do you not understand
the regeneration?
The fact that somebody can be born again.
And people will say, well, how could he
know that the term being born again
is never used in scripture in the Old Testament?
And though it's true that the term being born again
is never used in the Old Testament,
the principle of regeneration, the fact
that God will make a new creature, right?
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Not a reformed creature, not a repentant creature,
a regenerated creature.
He is a new creature.
Behold, all things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
It's a new creature.
The new man inside of you is new.
He's not reformed.
He's regenerated.
And Jesus expected Nicodemus to know that,
because this is found throughout the Old Testament,
that God was going to bring a new covenant.
Notice Jeremiah 31 and verse 31.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant.
You see that?
Now, people will, you know, to the Israelite nation,
that would really catch their eye, because they
know about covenants, the Abrahamic covenant,
the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant.
And God here with Jeremiah is talking about a new covenant.
And by the way, let me just say this.
The word covenant just means Testament.
And what we call the New Testament, it's a new covenant,
a new covenant that God made with Israel and with mankind.
Notice what it says in verse 31.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break.
Although I was in husband unto them, saith the Lord.
God said, I'm not talking about that Mosaic covenant.
He said, you screwed up that covenant.
That covenant's done.
That covenant's gone.
Look, the covenant of the nation of Israel following God
and God's going to bless them, that's done.
The physical nation, he says, that's not the covenant
I'm talking about.
He says, you messed that one up.
Look at verse 32 there, the last part of it.
Which my covenant they break.
He said, you didn't figure that one out.
That's why you ended up in captivity.
Verse 33, but this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel.
Here's the new covenant.
After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts
and right in their hearts.
And notice what he says, will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
That's what it said in Ezekiel 11, 20.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God.
But it's all connected to this idea of the new covenant.
Just flip one page over to Jeremiah 32.
Look at verse 38.
Jeremiah 32, verse 38.
Notice how it's all connected.
Jeremiah 32, 38 says this.
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
I want you to notice how he keeps coming up.
Jeremiah 32, 38, they shall be my people, I will be their God.
Jeremiah 31, 33, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel 11, 20, they shall be my people, I will be their God.
It's all connecting.
The reason that God gives us those connections
so we can bring this all together, look at verse 29.
And I will give them one heart.
Doesn't that sound like Ezekiel 11, 19?
And I'll give them one heart.
And one way, they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them.
They want to take that verse and say, see,
God's going to give the nation of Israel
back to the Jew.
Hey, I'm good with that.
A bunch of saved Jews in the millennial reign,
and it's not just going to be Jewish people.
Say, how do you know that?
Here's how I know that.
Because Jesus told the 12 apostles
that they would sit on 12 thrones
judging the 12 tribes of Israel
during the millennial reign, and one of the 12 apostles
was not Jew.
Simon the Canaanite, he was a Gentile.
But look, I'm good with the idea.
God's going to give the land back to the Jews.
Yeah, sure, to the regenerated Jews, to the saved Jews.
And look, and it's all of us.
We're all the Jews.
It's not that you're not a Jew.
What you have outwardly is not what makes you a Jew,
but what you have inwardly.
If you are in Christ, if you're in Christ,
you are God's people.
But they'll say, oh, he's going to give back to Jews.
I'm fine with that.
144,000 Jews are going to get the land.
It's fine.
It's good.
Any saved person is going to get it.
But he says, I'm going to give them one heart.
But I want you to notice, because there's some things here
that he says that he's kind of alluding to.
Notice, go back to Ezekiel 11.19 real quickly.
We're almost done, Ezekiel 11.19.
Ezekiel 11.19, notice what he says.
And I will give them one heart.
Notice this phrase.
And I will put a new spirit within you.
So this is further proof that we're
talking about a New Testament, a new covenant.
Because the Old Testament saints did not
receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
You understand that?
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit
would come upon certain individuals from time to time
to do some great things for God.
But they did not receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
is something that we received as New Testament believers.
Jesus specifically said that it would
happen after his resurrection.
And when we believe, we receive,
now look, as New Testament believers,
the Holy Spirit of God comes upon some of us
to do great things and not on others.
Because the power of God and the indwelling of God
are two different things.
Every believer gets the stamp.
Every believer gets enough of the Holy Spirit
to mark you that you're one of God.
But that doesn't mean you're walking in the Spirit.
That doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit of God is upon you
and that you're doing a great thing.
That is, God does that for certain individuals
at certain times if they're walking with him,
Old or New Testament.
But in the Old Testament, they
did not receive the indwelling of the Spirit.
They only received the indwelling
of the Spirit of the New Testament.
But here he says, in connection to the New Covenant,
he says, I will put a new spirit within you.
He said, I'm going to give you a new spirit.
And here's what's interesting about that.
Remember that the connecting terms, right,
are they shall be my people, I will be their God.
And will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Or, and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God.
That's what connects all these passages together.
It allows us to know we're all talking
about the same New Covenant.
Here's what's interesting.
1 Corinthians chapter 6.
Did you keep your place in 1 Corinthians?
1 Corinthians chapter 6.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we probably
have one of the clearest teachings
of the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19, notice what it says.
What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
When you got saved, the Holy Spirit came to live in you.
And that's why the New Testament
talks about quenching the Spirit and grieving the Spirit,
because when you sit down to watch something stupid on TV,
you're forcing the Holy Spirit
to watch something stupid on TV.
When you walk into the bar,
the Holy Spirit walks into the bar with you.
When you walk into a casino,
the Holy Spirit walks into the casino with you.
When you're living in sin,
the Holy Spirit is not living in sin,
but He's inside of you.
He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
This is why the Bible says that we quench the Spirit
and we grieve the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 16, what?
Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God.
2 Corinthians chapter 6.
You're in 1 Corinthians 6.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6.
Real quickly, we're almost done.
2 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse 16.
I just want to show you this.
We'll finish up.
Remember, Ezekiel 11, 19.
And I will give them one heart
and I will put a new spirit within you.
This is a new covenant, a new testament
that God is gonna bring in a future time.
2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 16.
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
Now we already learned in 1 Corinthians 6
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
Notice what he says.
For ye are the temple of the living God.
As God has said, I will dwell in them
and walk in them and, does this sound familiar?
I will be their God and they shall be my people.
You say, who is the Jew
that God's gonna bring back to the land?
He said it's gonna be the Jew
that he puts a new spirit in them.
And he said that it's the Jew
that he will say of them that I will be their God
and they shall be my people.
Well Paul seems to think it's the Corinthians.
Because it's not about, look,
there is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
It's all about Christ Jesus.
Always been about Christ Jesus.
It's never been about a race.
Ezekiel 11, go back to Ezekiel chapter 11.
Ezekiel chapter 11, verse 21.
I didn't go to that Marching to Zion conference
but that was my Marching to Zion moment.
Ezekiel 11, verse 21.
But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart
of their detestable things and their abominations,
I will recompense their way upon their own heads,
saith the Lord.
Then did the cherubims lift up their wings.
Remember, all of this is about
the glory of the Lord departing, right?
So it leads in stages.
And by the way, in your life it leads in stages,
the glory of God and the blessing of God.
Then did the cherubims lift up their wings
and the wheels beside them
and the glory of God of Israel
and it was over them above, verse 23.
And the glory of the Lord went up
from the midst of the city
and stood upon the mountains
which is on the east side of the city, verse 24.
Afterward the Spirit took me up
and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God
into Chaldea.
Because remember in chapter eight,
the Spirit took him from Chaldea to Jerusalem.
Now the Spirit's taken him back from Chaldea,
from Jerusalem, excuse me, to Chaldea
to them of their captivity.
So the vision that I had seen went up from me,
verse 25.
Then I spake unto them of their captivity
all the things that the Lord had showed me.
And we end the second vision of Ezekiel
and next week we'll get into something new.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for allowing us to be able to study the Bible
and understand the Bible.
And Lord, thank you for the indwelling of the Spirit,
something that we get as New Testament believers that