The title of this message from
Ezekiel 36 is a simple statement. I couldn't, you know, whenever
I go to a passage, I don't really look for catchy titles. Sometimes
one might pop into my head, you know, and you hope that you put
things like that on a message, not in order to draw attention
to your cleverness and your wit, but hopefully that somebody might
remember. what you say and that's that's the goal but this is a
simple statement and here it is God will accomplish his will
God will accomplish his will now this is a simple message
to Israel to the people in captivity to Judah rather the southern
kingdom known as Israel from God through the prophet Isaiah
and here's his message look at verse one he says also thou son
of man prophesy unto the mountains of israel now the mountains of
israel is a is a term referring to the to the nation itself and
prophesy unto the mountains it's a term that that has to do with
making this message known to everybody it's sort of like a
equivalent in the old testament of the great commission which
says go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature and so it's like Ezekiel go stand on the highest mountain
and proclaim this to everybody make sure that they hear it you
need to hear this that's what God is saying to the prophet
you need to hear this message this message that God has for
this nation is the most important thing they'll ever hear and he
says go and prophesy unto the mountains of Israel and say,
you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. So it's
not the word of man, it's not just some preacher talking, not
somebody just trying to entertain, but it's a true, honest, vital
message from the Lord. And it's to be heeded. it's not
just uh... it's not just something that
you just sit there and look at me and listen to what i say and
then get up and go home i mean this is something that we need
to understand and we pray that god the holy spirit will apply
it to our hearts and our minds and we live in it we live by
it uh... this is a life-changing message
and thank god it's a message of hope but now the hope that
he has for these people is not a hope in themselves. It's not
a hope that just applies to temporal matters here on earth. We all
may have desires for things here on this earth. And they're not
all bad desires. But you know that if God fulfilled
those earthly desires, at some point in time, they do come to
an end. They wither away. where did we
our greatest desire needs to be for the things that don't
wither away the things that last forever and ever and ever nothing
in this life last forever you know that i don't know why we
act like we think it is we know better than that but we know
that for example our standing in christ is forever and ever
and ever and i think about that a lot you read the scripture
you can't get away from it if the holy spirit has opened your
your eyes and your ears to know. Our standing in Christ is forever.
And so this is the word of the Lord. Verse 2 says, Thus saith
the Lord God, because the enemy hath set against you. Aha! Even
the ancient high places are ours in possession. Now, he's going
to make the point in the first few verses of this chapter, and
I'm not going to read every verse, because you can read it all,
but like in the first seven verses here. Now, I'll point out a few
things. what he's going to say to the mountains of israel to
the to the nation is god's wrath abides on all who despise him
and who despise his people and he goes back to to the nation
of he calls it you do me a uh... down in here and you can see
that as you read it and that you do me a that is the descendants
of the song now we've talked about that when we talked about
Mount Seir over in chapter 35, when we talk about Edom, those
are Mount Seir, Edom, and Edomiah. Those are all terms that refer
to the descendants of Esau. And that chapter 35 especially
was very, very graphic in God's wrath upon the descendants of
Esau. Now what he's talking about there
is the spiritual descendants of Esau. Remember Esau who despised
his birthright, who had no thoughts and no heart for God or the things
of the Lord, no trust in God's promise of salvation by grace
through the promised Messiah. He didn't care about it. All
he cared about was for the things of the world and he despised
Jacob, the one whom God loved. and so that's what he's making
the point of here in the first seven verses and the issue that
said that comes forth in this look at verse five he says therefore
thus sayeth the lord god surely in the fire of my jealousy have
i spoken against the residue of the heathen and against all
idumea there's idumea now whenever you read about god's jealousy
what's it talking about let's read on he says when which have
appointed my land into their possession of the words they
desired the land that belong to god they wanted they wanted
to be able to possess things that belong only to god you know
that's really the essence of idolatry and unbelief right there
when a person fails to to acknowledge that god that god is everything
and owns everything and that everything we have I know in
human terms and in human relationships we may claim ownership but we
who know Christ we know that ultimately it all belongs to
God. and that's what's happening here
see Israel as a nation for that under the old covenant for fifteen
hundred years they belong to God and hit they were going to
continue to belong to God until God wrote them a bill of divorce
meant when we spread about that in Jeremiah but these these it'll
means these heathen They wanted it for their possession, and
they said, with the joy of all their heart. The joy of their
heart was not in glorifying God, not in trusting the Lord, not
in the hope of salvation by grace in the promised Messiah, but
the joy of their heart was their possessions. And he says, with
despiteful minds to cast it out for a prey. Verse six, prophesy
therefore concerning the land of Israel and say unto the mountains
and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, Thus saith
the Lord God. Now listen to this. He says,
behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury because you have
borne the shame of the heathen. Now what is God's jealousy? Well,
that's God's honor. That's what it is. It's God's
glory. It's his reputation. God, for
his purposes, had joined himself to this nation, not for any goodness
or any value in the people of the nation, but for one reason,
his own sovereign purpose and glory. And so when these nations
claimed the land of Israel for their own and rejoiced at their
fall, what they were doing is they were They were coming against
the glory of God Himself. And God said, I'm jealous of
my glory. And that's the issue. That's the issue in all of it.
In everything God does, it's for His glory. And that ought
to be the issue of our hearts and our desires and our things
as we walk in this earth, as we see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Whatever happens, whether we're
agreeable to it or not, our desire ought to be that God be glorified
in all this. And whenever we lose sight of
that, we get in trouble, don't we? That's when problems come.
Well, he mentioned here in verse 6, you have borne the shame of
the heathen. To bear their shame is to be humiliated. To be humiliated. That's when all strength turns
to weakness. All riches turn to poverty. All goodness turns to evil. All
righteousness turns to iniquity. Anytime I think about bearing
the shame, I think about Adam and Eve in the garden. After
the fall, they were ashamed. They were exposed to the wrath
of God. And what did they do? They had
to cover up their shame. And what did they do? They sewed
fig leaf aprons together. That won't do it. I think about
the false preachers of Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23. Haven't we prophesied in your
name? Haven't we done many wonderful works? Haven't we cast out demons?
And what did Christ say? Depart from me you that work
iniquity. I never knew you. That's their
shame. Their glory became their shame. You see? And that's why
we understand that if we glory in anything but the cross, the
finished work of the God-man, if we glory in anything but His
blood for the forgiveness of our sins, if we glory or boast
in anything but His righteousness imputed for our justification
before God, if we glory in any of our own power, our own strength,
or our own will to gain life, then our glory is going to be
turned into our shame. We're going to bear the shame.
That's why, Lord, we pray, Lord, teach us thy way. Teach us thy
way. Now, from verses 8 down to verse
15, he brings out here how he's going to preserve the nation
Israel, and he brings out here also, in a type and a picture,
his grace on all whom he has chosen. Look at verse 8. He says,
but you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches
and yield your fruit to my people of Israel. There's fruitfulness,
you see. For they are at hand to come. They're ready to come.
And he says in verse nine, he says, for behold, I am for you,
or literally, I for you. God is not against you, and I
will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown. That is,
you're going to be planted and you're going to bear fruit. That's
what he's talking about. God's salvation and God's deliverance
of the nation Israel and God's salvation of His elect people,
Jew and Gentile, is often described in the scripture with agricultural
terms. Tilling, planting, watering,
planting the seed. We read about that in Psalm 1,
the tree by the water that's planted. We read about it last
week in Isaiah 61.3, the people of God are called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord. And we could go on and on with
that. And what's behind all of that? What is behind their deliverance,
their salvation, their fruitfulness? And it's in this one statement,
I for you, God is for you. God's purpose for the nation
Israel here in their captivity was to keep them together until
what? Until what the book of Hebrews
calls, and I believe it's Hebrews chapter 9, the time of reformation. What is that time of reformation?
Well, that's not talking about Luther and Calvin and Zwingli
and Hus there. It's talking about the coming
of the Messiah into the world. That's the time of reformation.
That's the time of change. That's the time when Christ hanged
on that cross and cried, it's finished. And it was finished. And the veil was written to from
top to bottom. That's when the old covenant
ended. The new covenant began in time. And so God's purpose
for that nation was to keep them together and preserve them until
that time. God's purpose for spiritual Israel
of which we who know Christ are included, is eternal life and
glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He preserves us and keeps
us and brings us to that point. And it's by His grace. And so
we know that God is for His people. Now how do we know that? Well,
are you trusting Christ for all salvation? Are you trusting the
God-man? Are you trusting the surety,
the surety of the covenant upon whom all the sins of God's elect
was laid? Or are you looking somewhere
else or to someone else for salvation? What is your hope? That's the
question you've got to answer within your heart of hearts from
the word of God as you're motivated by the Spirit. What is your hope?
What is your surety? you know that's what you somebody
we used to uh... i used to hear preachers talk
about it was this is almost sinful to have assurance because they
looked at any assurance as presumption and the thing that bothered me
about that and i was a skillful enough to answer i really wasn't
back then but the thing that kept me from going that far was
when i read in the book of hebrews chapter eight how christ is the
surety of a better covenant Now, if I'm looking to Christ and
He's my surety, and you can state that in different ways, for example,
2 Corinthians 1.20, for all the promises of God in Him are yea,
and in Him amen, that means sure and certain. If He's my surety
and I'm trusting Him, why can't I have assurance? Why do people
not have assurance? because they're looking at something
or someone who isn't qualified to perform the duties of assurity. If you're looking within your
own self for your assurance, I can tell you right now, any
assurance you get from that is presumption. But if you're looking
to Christ, and that's what the Scripture says, you know the
sin that so easily besets us in Hebrews chapter 12, that's
doubt. That's what it is, it's unbelief. Well, how do you combat
it? Verse two, looking unto Jesus,
the author and what? Finisher of our faith. So that's
what this is all about. God says, I for you. Now, how do I know God is for
me? Well, it says in Romans chapter 8, remember, what shall we say
then to these things? If God is for me, who can be
against me? How do I know God is for me?
He said, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. How do I know he justified me?
Who can condemn me? It is what? Christ that died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make
intercession for. That's my assurance right there.
That's what the mountains of Israel need to hear. They need
to hear about Christ. That's what this whole book's
about. And he goes on in this section, verse 10, he says, I'll
multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of
it. In other words, it's going to be inhabited with people.
They're going to be populated. You know, now listen to him.
God is going to populate his spiritual nation. He's going
to populate the new heavens and the new earth with a people of
righteousness. But God's purpose is not just
to populate the new heavens and the new earth. God's purpose
is to glorify Himself in populating the new heavens and the new earth.
And if you want to know about God's glory, and we'll see this
in just a moment, learn how He saves sinners. If you want to
know about God's glory and honor, about God's name, learn how He
saves sinners. That's where he reveals it, right
there in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, look at verse 10. He says, I will multiply men
upon you, all the house of Israel. You notice that phrase there?
All the house of Israel. Even all of it, he emphasizes
it. And look, he describes it, and
the city shall be inhabited and the waste shall be billed. Now
what is he talking about? He's talking about the united
12 tribes of Israel. when he says, all the house of
Israel, all the family of Israel, all of the seed of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. And there is God's promise to
the Jews. He made them a promise that he would bring them back
from being scattered among the nations and into the land of
Israel again. Now, when was this fulfilled? Well, you know, there's a lot
of argument on that, a lot of debate. Some say this refers
to their return from Babylon. But that's not so, because all
12 tribes of Israel did not return from Babylon. In fact, Judah,
the southern kingdom, was only mainly made up of two tribes,
mainly the tribe of Judah and then the tribe of Benjamin. So
even when they came back out of the Babylonian captivity under
Zerubbabel, it wasn't all 12 tribes. It wasn't the whole population
of what is known as Israel. Others say this refers to their
return to the land in the 1940s. Well, I don't know the exact
date, 46 or something, 45, I can't remember, when Israel was reestablished
as a nation. But that's not so because, first
of all, again, nobody knows the descendancy of the tribes anyway
from back then. But here's the problem with that. What he's going to show us in
this return here, in this multiplication of people, of all the house of
Israel, that it is a union of all twelve tribes under the headship
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'll show you some more on
that. Others say this describes a future millennial kingdom after
the Great Tribulation, but there's no scripture to back that up.
Well, given the context, I can tell you that this speaks of
the new covenant church. That's what it speaks of. Made
up of God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
Jew and Gentile, remnant of the actual nation of Israel. Somebody
says, well, you can't just ignore the whole nation of Israel. Well,
we don't. Isaiah didn't ignore them. He said, except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd be a Sodom and Gomorrah. There's a seed, there's a remnant
according to the election of grace. But listen, this is a
regathering of the people of God from the four corners of
the earth under the headship of Christ. And we'll see that
in what's described from verses 25 on in this chapter. What's
he going to do to them? What's he going to do for them?
He's going to sprinkle clean water on them. He's going to
give them a new heart. He's going to give them a new
spirit. You know what that's describing? That's the Old Testament
way of saying what Christ said to Nicodemus, you must be born
again. That's regeneration and conversion
right there. So it's going to happen. All
Israel shall be saved. But who is Israel? They'll dwell
securely in the land and all the nations who remain will acknowledge
that they were God's people. Well, look over at verse 16. And like I said, you can read
all of these verses because it just, I think it builds to this
conclusion. Verse 16 through 20 speaks of
the sins of the nation and sets forth the sins of all of us by
nature. And what his point is, is this,
that whatever is going to happen in the blessing of these people
by God, it has absolutely nothing to do with any goodness or power
within them. In other words, this is another
testimony that God justifies the ungodly. Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners. There is no righteousness in
the people that God saves. The righteousness that we have
is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Look at it,
verse 16, Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land,
they defiled it by their own way and by their doings. They
didn't keep the law. They were under that conditional
covenant and they broke it. Jeremiah said that, which my
covenant they break. He says, they defiled it by their
own way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the
uncleanness of a removed woman, an unclean woman. And wherefore,
for this reason, I poured my fury upon them for the blood
that they had shed upon the land and for their idols, wherewith
they had polluted, scattered them among the heathen. They
were dispersed through the countries according to their way. In other
words, if the cause of their sin and their idolatry. According
to their doings, I judged them. And when they entered unto the
heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name." They
didn't honor God. They didn't worship God. They
didn't serve God. They didn't trust God. They profaned
it. You know what profanity is, don't
you? You hear somebody use profanity. And it's not just using cuss
words, it's dishonoring God. It's casting shame and reproach
upon His character, His glory. And that's what we did, that's
us by nature. You see, that's not just an indictment
against Israel, it's an indictment against me and against you by
nature. And if God saved us, it had nothing
to do with any goodness in us. We have no goodness, none good,
no not one. No righteousness, no not one.
And so he says, I judged them. Verse 20, when they entered into
the heathen, whether they went, they profaned my holy name. When
they said to them, these are the people of the Lord and are
gone forth out of his land. There's the sins of all of us
by nature. And you know what this does? It magnet does two
things. Number one, it magnifies the forbearance of God dealing
with the nation. I mean, if God had a stamped
amount right then, he would have been just in doing so. But he
was long-suffering. Now, why was he long-suffering?
Because he'd made a promise to Abraham, years and years before,
to send salvation to his people. And so secondly, it magnifies
the grace of God in the salvation of his elect people. Even in
spite of their sins, God's going to send Christ. That's what Ezekiel's
saying. And he's going to populate the
new heavens and the new earth. And how's he going to do it?
And even in spite of our sins and our depravity, God saves
us. Think about that. It's in spite
of us, isn't it? It is. Well, verse 21 through
23 shows the divine motive for salvation. God says, I had pity
for mine holy name. It's for His name. God's reputation's
on the line here. God's honor, God's glory, which
the house of Israel profaned among the heathen wherever they
went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the
Lord God. Now God says, I want them to know this. And I believe
this is the case in the preaching of the gospel. God wants us to
know. that he's in charge, he's in
control, it's for his honor, it's for his glory. It's not,
listen, it's not to meet our felt needs because we don't even
know what we need until God the Holy Spirit brings us under conviction.
We think we know what we need, but we don't. It's for his namesake. He says in verse 22, I do not
this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's
sake, which you profaned among the heathen, whether you went.
And so here begins the I wills of God. God's will, God will
accomplish His will. I will sanctify my great name.
God's going to be set apart, identified, distinguished as
the one true and living God. He's going to be honored. He's
going to be glorified. in his people. Listen to what
he says. He says, I will sanctify my great name, verse 23, which
was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the
midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord.
They're going to know that God is God. Sayeth the Lord God. Now, God's elect among the heathen,
they're going to know that he's the Lord in his grace in Christ. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. But those who perish, they're
going to know that he's the Lord in his judgment against sin.
And it saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you
before their eyes. Now let me give you these three
things, and I'm going to quit tonight because it's getting
awful hot in here. But let me give you three things
and I will pick up there Sunday night on this and we will go
through the rest of this chapter. Here is what you have beginning
there in verse 24. He says I will take you from
among the heathen. First of all you have a regathering of God's
people. Alright that is number one. Secondly
you have that regathering is based on redemption. The redemption. of God's people. So you have
a regathering and based on redemption and the redemption there that
you see, look at verse 25, he says, then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you. Now what is that clean water?
That's the blood of Christ. And you know how I know that's
the blood of Christ? Because the blood of Christ is the only
thing that will cleanse us from our sin. Nothing else will do. And there's some Old Testament
analogies there, but we'll look at that later on. So you have
a regathering based on redemption. And what he's talking about is
the application of that blood to the conscience, to the heart,
and that's regeneration. So you have regathering based
on redemption resulting in regeneration. You see what he is doing there?
Re-gathering based on, you know Christ said all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. He said the good shepherd gives
his life for the sheep. I have other sheep than I must
bring to me. Re-gathering based on redemption resulting in regeneration. We will pick up there next time.