Open your Bibles with me to Ezekiel
chapter 24. Ezekiel chapter 24. The title of the message this
evening is Man's Glory Destroyed. Man's Glory Destroyed. and of course what we're talking
about that is the things that man by nature man naturally glories
in or has confidence in now you remember back in chapter twenty
three the Lord spoke through Ezekiel to the people in captivity
in Babylon a parable where he compared Israel and Judah with
two sisters who had committed spiritual whoredom, spiritual
harlotry, spiritual adultery, speaking of their alliances with
other nations, heathen nations, not trusting in the Lord, not
depending upon Him. And through this, God told them
for the final time that they were about to bear the penalty
of their sin. Now here in chapter 24, the day
of judgment has arrived. This is the time. This chapter
23 brought him up to the brink of destruction. The eve of destruction,
as the song says. Well, chapter 24 is that destruction. This is the time, the exact time,
as God revealed it to Ezekiel, that Jerusalem, the holy city,
which God calls the bloody city, the holy city and the temple,
We're all about to be destroyed. This is the exact day. We see
this very day. Look at verse 1. Again, in the
ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month.
That's the date. The exact date is given back
in Jeremiah chapter 52 and verse 4, if you want to mark that.
You might have a reference to it in your concordance. It's
also related historically in the book of 2 Kings chapter 25.
This is the third time that King Nebuchadnezzar with his Babylonian
army came through and this was it. This is the absolute destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple. And so this very day, Ezekiel
in captivity in Babylon, you know he had no earthly way to
know what was happening in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, you understand now,
is about 500 miles away from Babylon. So he had no earthly
way except that God revealed it to him. And God gives him
this exact time. Because this nation and this
city were ripe for destruction. And it's a good lesson because
it teaches us that there is coming a time, a time appointed by God
for His judgment to take place on this earth because of sin.
That's just as much part of the faithfulness of God as the salvation
of his people is. When the Bible talks about great
is thy faithfulness, well God's faithful to his promise to save
his elect people through Christ by his grace. But he's just as
faithful to carry out his threats. He doesn't make a threat that
he doesn't follow through with. And that's what this teaches.
And it also teaches us this, that there's no way to escape
this judgment. for sinners but by the Lord Jesus
Christ that's the promise that rings through all the Old Testament
and is set forth in such clarity in the New Testament that there's
no hope of sinners escaping the just wrath of God against our
sin but to be found in Christ to be washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness So because we don't know the
exact day and Ezekiel now listen see he kept telling this day
was coming The false preachers kept saying the day is not coming.
You're going to be found. We're going back to Jerusalem
Ezekiel kept saying the day's coming. He didn't know when it
was coming. They didn't know when it was coming now on the
day it happened He reveals that date We don't know when Christ
is coming again. We know he is coming But we don't
know when, but we know He is. And so what are we to do? Well,
we're to prepare for that judgment. How? By trying to work our way
into God's favor? No. By submitting to Christ,
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, resting in Him, following Him,
trusting Him. We're not to seek alliances with
other religions. That's why we're opposed to the
ecumenical movement. We're not part of the crowd that
says doctrine doesn't matter. It's just how you live and we
gotta love each other. Yes, we should love one another.
But love won't lie. Godly love won't lie. You understand? So that's the kind of atmosphere
you have here. Now here it comes. And I wanna
just read through it. The first half of this chapter
is a parable or a metaphor, you might say, of a boiling pot.
A pot that is stoked with fire underneath and it's boiling over. That's the wrath of God, you
see. And this is an illustration. And what you have to understand
is Ezekiel was commanded of God to actually go get a pot, put
water in it, boil that water, put meat and bones in that water,
stoke the fire underneath it as an actual illustration of
what's happening. So listen to it. He says again
in the ninth year, In the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
verse two, son of man, write thee the name of the day, even
of this day, the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem
the same day. There's the date. And utter a
parable unto the rebellious house. This is a parable of destruction
to a rebellious people. And there's a good description
of all of us by nature, rebels. And say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God, set on a pot, and set it on, and also pour water
into it, gather the pieces thereof into it, every good piece, the
thigh, the shoulder, fill it with the choice bones of an animal,
something take the pot, fill it with what, put meat and bones
in it, pile wood, under it for fire bring the water to a furious
boil look at it verse five take the choice of the flock and burn
also the bones under it and make it boil well and let them see
the bones of it therein so this is this is a this this boiling
water represents the the fiery wrath of god the hot wrath of
god now he tells them the meaning of it look at verse six He says,
wherefore, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city. Now that's Jerusalem. The holy
city had become the bloody city. That's idolatry. That's sin and
depravity. And he said, to the pot whose
scum is therein. That word scum, it could be a
film that collects on top of the water which a cook, if he's
really cooking, usually removes and casts away. Some translations
say it's rust that's in the pot, that rust from the pot. Either
way, the scum represents sin. It represents sin, the sin of
the people that cannot be removed. And the reason it cannot be removed
is because here's the lesson of this. There's no way to remove
sin. There's no way to put away sin.
There's no way to take away sin. There's no way to remedy sin.
There's no way to forgive sin. To be found in man. The only
way that can be found to do all of that and put away sin is the
blood of the Lamb of God. The blood of Christ. And you
notice here, there's no blood mentioned here. Just the bloody
city, the murderous city, the idolatrous city. The bloody city. No way to put it away. And he
says to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not
gone out of it, bring it out piece by piece, let no lot fall
upon it. What is that? When he says let
no lot fall upon it, he says make no distinction. That's what
that means. There's no distinction made here.
There's no election here, you see. Every bit, every person
who is found without Christ is going to perish. No distinctions. All without exception are going
to get what they deserve. That's why we pray continually.
Lord, don't give us what we deserve. That's why we love the truth
of electing grace. God's election of grace. We all
deserve His wrath. But God chose a people in Christ. Gave us to Him. Put all the responsibility
of our salvation upon Him. And all who are found in the
day of judgment without Christ, they'll perish. No distinction.
All found in Christ will be glorified forever. Look at verse 7. He says, for her blood is in
the midst of her. She set it upon the top of a
rock. She poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust
that it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance. I've set
her blood upon the top of a rock that it should not be covered.
What he's saying here is the blood that represents her sin
is not hidden or buried under the ground. It's prominent. It's
clear for everybody to see. It's before all eyes. It has
been openly committed. It will be openly judged. It's
on the top of a rock, the top of a mountain. I mean, this is
an announcement of public wrath, public justice. And so it's not
poured on the ground to be covered up with dust or to soak into
the ground. You see, blood which is uncovered testifies of sin
with no remedy. Sinners with no atonement. There's
no way out. So there's the boiling pot. And
so beginning at verse 8, then he talks about how this is Jerusalem,
destroyed for her sins. Look at it, that it might cause
fury to come up to take vengeance. I've set her blood upon the top
of a rock, that it should not be covered. Therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, Jerusalem. I will even
make the pile for fire great. Heap on wood, kindle the fire,
consume the flesh, spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
Stoke the fire. Then set it empty upon the coals
thereof, that the brass of it may be hot and may burn. Brass
or brazen, that's the metal that represents wrath and judgment. And that the filthing of it be
molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. She hath
wearied herself with lies, Her great scum, her sin, went not
forth out of her. Her scum shall be in the fire.
She'll be burnt up with her sins. Don't tell me that God loves
the sinner but hates the sin. No. You can't separate the two. If you could, we wouldn't need
a Savior, but we do. Verse 13, And thy filthiness
is lewdness, because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged.
There I believe he's talking about the blood of animals. that
was given to ceremonially take away their sin, not in an eternal
spiritual way, but it's sanctified to the purifying of the flesh.
But he says, thou wast not purged. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin. Thou shalt not be purged from
thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest
upon thee. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
It shall come to pass. I'll do it. I will not go back,
neither will I spare, neither will I repent. According to thy
ways and according to thy doings shall they judge thee, saith
the Lord God. What a sad, sad commentary. Jerusalem and the temple are
destroyed. Now in this next part, there
is something that is very strange, something that we by nature just
don't understand and grasp, It's the working of God. It has a
purpose. It may sound cruel to us, but
it's not cruel at all. But what happens here, beginning
at verse 15, is the death of Ezekiel's beloved wife. The death
of the prophet's beloved wife. And she dies. But listen to what
happens. Also the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I take away from thee
the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. He loved his wife. Don't know exactly how old he
was or how long they've been married at this time. But she's
called the desire of his eyes. Now that's not just sinful lust. I know we talk about the lust
of the eyes. But it's a way of describing
his love for his beloved wife. God said, I'll take away her
from you with a stroke. The stroke of God. The Lord giveth,
the Lord taketh away. But listen to what he says. Yet
neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears
run down. Now I don't believe, and most
commentators will back this up, I don't believe that he was telling
Ezekiel not to grieve at all in his heart. within himself. I believe what he's telling Ezekiel
the prophet here is to keep your grief to yourself. Very common
practice in that culture that the grief was to be displayed
not only publicly and openly but loudly. Wailing, the rending
of the clothes, the throwing of dust in the air, that was
common. In fact, you know, it was a common
practice for him at a funeral to even hire mourners. to do
that. And I believe that's what God's
telling Ezekiel not to do. Not to do. I'm sure Ezekiel was
just as human as we are. And when his wife died, he grieved. But God's saying don't do it
openly. Why? Look at verse 17. Forbear to
cry. Make no mourning for the dead.
Bind the tire of thine head upon thee. That's put a turban around
instead of uncovering and throwing up dust. Put on thy shoes upon
thy feet, walking barefoot was a sign of mourning. Cover not
thy lips, and eat not the bread of men, that's the bread that
they would bring at a funeral. And verse 18, now this is what
he's told to do, and he obeyed God, look at it. So I spake unto
the people in the morning, and at even my wife died. He spoke
to them in that morning, and that evening his wife died. And
I did in the morning as I was commanded. He did what was commanded. By the grace of God, I believe
this prophet was enabled to show no visible signs of mourning.
And then the people confronted him, demanding to know what all
this meant. What's all this about? Now that's what the rest of the
chapter deals with. Let's look at it. They said, And the people
said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us,
that thou doest so? Why are you acting this way?
Then I answered them, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Now listen to it, verse 21, Speak unto the house of Israel. Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, that's
the temple, God is going to profane His temple. Now, what does He
mean? Nebuchadnezzar is going to destroy. You know what happened?
He leveled the temple. It was reduced to nothing. Remember,
He took the vessels of the temple that were to be used in the priestly
duties, took them back to Babylon. He said, I will profane My sanctuary. Look at the excellency of Your
strength. The desire of Your eyes. Now you think, well, you know,
that seems awful cruel of God to do that to Ezekiel just to
give this lesson. Let me tell you something. The
lesson here is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. Do you realize that? Is there
anything that we can imagine that is more important than eternal
life or eternal death? That's the lesson. He took away
the desire of Ezekiel's eyes. And he tells them, this is what
it means. I'm going to profane my sanctuary, the excellency
of your strength. You know what that means? That's
what they gloried in. That's what they imagined was
their strength. Now hold on. The desire of your
eyes, and he says, and that which your soul pitieth, you sorrow
over the loss of this physical city, you sorrow over the loss
of this physical temple. Now just to give you an idea,
you didn't sorrow over the glory of the Lord departing, You didn't
sorrow over the profanity that you brought to it with the idolatry
and your alliances. But when the actual buildings
brought down, and when the actual city is destroyed, the walls
of it, now you're sorrowing. Alright? He says, And your sons
and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword.
And you shall do as I have done. You shall not cover your lips,
nor eat the bread of men. He's talking about their sorrow.
You know why? Because they're going to die. They're going to
be taken off to Babylon. Some of them are going to die.
And your ties, your turbans shall be upon your heads, your shoes
upon your feet. You shall not mourn or weep,
but you shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn one toward
another. And then he says, Thus Ezekiel
is unto you a sign. The prophet himself is a sign.
According to all that he hath done shall you do. And when this
cometh, you shall know that I am the Lord God. Also, thou Son
of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their
strength, their glory, their power, their confidence, the
joy of their glory. I'm going to take away the joy
of their glory. The desire of their eyes, and
that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters.
That's how they glory in these things. that he that escapeth
in that day shall come unto thee to cause thee to hear it with
thine ears. God's going to let one person escape this wrath
and go to Babylon and tell Ezekiel that it actually happened. He's
going to testify. He's going to be a testimony,
a witness. You know, God told you this was
going to happen. Well, I just come from there, it happened.
And so it says in verse 27, In that day shall thy mouth be opened
to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more
dumb, and thou shalt be a sign unto them, and they shall know
that I am the Lord. Now you know what that means,
you know, I mentioned back a few messages ago, you know Ezekiel
for a long time there as a prophet was not even allowed to say a
word to the people unless God told him to. And what he's saying
here is, when all this happens, I'm going to let you speak openly
to the people. You can talk with them. Alright. That's the message. What's he
talking about? Well, he says it. He said, I'm
going to take from them their strength. I'm going to take from
them the joy of their glory. It's what they had confidence
in, what they gloried in, what they trusted in. What they depended
upon. And I ask myself this question
going through, what do I glory in? What do I depend on? What
is, where is my strength in all of this? What is my glory? What
is your glory? That's the issue. What did the
Jews glory in? Well, they gloried in the fact
that they were physical descendants of Abraham. I think about John
the Baptist as he was standing on the shore of the Jordan River
baptizing. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees
came to him. Remember, it's recorded in Matthew
chapter 3. He openly called them vipers, poisonous snakes, because
of their false doctrine, their false gospel of salvation by
the works and the wills of men. And he told them, God's going
to judge this nation. He said, and don't think to say
in yourselves, we be Abraham's seed. That'll do you no good.
If you glory in the fact that you're a physical descendant
of Abraham, You know, the Jews today glory in the fact that
they're physical descendants of Abraham. They equate that
with being children of God. And if they didn't do it, they've
got enough people in this country who are glorying in it for them. But is that your glory? Is that
your confidence? They gloryed in their circumcision.
Look over at Galatians chapter 6. We read this quite often,
but it's so appropriate here. They gloried in their circumcision.
They said, we be circumcised. We're not uncircumcised Gentiles.
We're not unbelievers. We're not heathen. We're not
children of the devil. They gloried in their physical
circumcision. Paul writes here in Galatians
chapter 6 and verse 14, But God forbid that I should glory save
in what? The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the glory of God's people.
That's the confidence, the strength of God's people. He says, By
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation. What's that new creation? Well,
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in. The new
creation is the redeemed of the Lord. The people of God created
in Christ Jesus by His redemptive work on the cross, His blood.
We glory in His blood for the forgiveness of all our sins.
We glory in His righteousness for our justification before
God. We glory in His power to bring life. And that's what He's
saying here. Verse 16, as many as walk according
to this rule, this doctrine, this gospel, peace be on them
and mercy upon the Israel of God. The Jews gloried in their works
because they were working to make themselves righteous. But
they didn't know the truth about God. That was their strength. They said, we keep the law of
Moses. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. Brother Bill read. He says in verse 22, He said, the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
We preach salvation in Christ crucified. We preach the forgiveness
of sins. We preach justification. We preach
eternal life and glory in Christ crucified and nowhere else. We
glory in Christ crucified, his glorious person as God manifest
in the flesh, his redemptive finished work to secure and save
all of his people. But he says, now we preach Christ
crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness,
but under them which are called. Now don't tell me God doesn't
make distinctions. Here's Jews and here's Gentiles.
We all by nature, dead in trespasses and sins. But unto them which
are called, now that's a passive verb. You know what that means?
That means the one who it describes here is not the one doing the
action. They're being acted upon. This is God acting upon His people
with a heavenly, invincible calling of the Holy Spirit. And if you're
called, here it is, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God. Now think about it in context
of our text. He said, I'm going to take from
them their strength. Well, what was their strength,
their power? It was in their works. It was in the city, the
holy city. God's not going to destroy this
place. This is the holy city. God's not going to destroy this
place. This is where the temple is. This is our strength. He
said, I'm going to take away your strength. Well, unto us
which are called Christ the power of God. Christ is our strength. You see? It's not anything else. Not anyone else. It's Christ.
He's my strength. People talk about being destroyed.
We can't be destroyed. Why? Because Christ is our strength. Now, if our strength is in anything
else, if it's in this building or even this organization, He's
going to take it away sometime. He can't take away the strength
of His people, those who are called. And then He says, Christ
the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God. All worldly wisdom
is going to be taken away, but our wisdom can never be taken
away. Our wisdom existed before the world began. Read it in Proverbs
chapter 8. Our wisdom will go on and on
forever and ever because our wisdom is Christ. And he says in verse, he says,
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness
of God stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. God does make a distinction.
Does he call everybody? Well, if he does, they all know
this. Christ is the power of God and
Christ is the wisdom of God. Christ crucified. And if everybody's
called, here's what everybody will see, verse 29, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. We're not going to glory in the
flesh. We're not going to glory in our works, our will, our cities,
our churches, or anything. We're going to glory in Christ.
And he says, but of him are you in Christ, who is made of God
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, that
according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. There it is. What is my glory? Now Jerusalem,
back here in Ezekiel 24, was God's city. The temple was God's
temple. But the Israelites, they degenerated
into such a state that they thought that the city and the temple
was theirs to do with what they wanted to do and how they wanted
to do it. And they refuse to follow God's
Word. That's why He said, speak this
to a rebellious people. And I'll tell you what, when
we read that, we understand. We understand in vivid technicolor,
thank God that He makes a distinction. Because that rebelliousness describes
me too, and you too, by nature. And even as believers, we still
have that rebelliousness in us. Now, don't we? That's why we're
in a warfare. We give in to it sometimes, but
God brings us out and He will not let us go. The Jews turned
the things that God had given them to humble them and bring
them to trust and serve Him into objects of pride and self-righteousness
and idolatry and sin. They're like those that Jude
described in Jude 4 as those who turned the grace of God into
lasciviousness. But you remember that God had
made a promise. God had enabled his prophet here
to speak to the people. And when they heard this, Ezekiel
would once again be able to speak freely like he had at the beginning. And his ministry as a prophet
would finally be accepted. And God would reveal to them
things concerning the glorious hope of the future of his elect,
Jew and Gentile, which would come how? Through the Messiah. Through the Messiah. And that's
basically, we've got several chapters in Ezekiel here that
talks about God's judgment against the nations. But then in the
last part, it's all about the Messiah. Now, not that it all
hadn't been about the Messiah, about Christ up to this point,
but what I'm talking about, you're going to see some of the most
beautiful passages of Scripture after we get beyond the judgment
against the nations of the glory of Christ, the coming of the
Messiah, and the hope of the future that's going to be found,
not in a better class of people coming later, but in a better
Messiah, a better covenant, a better mediator, better promises of
the new covenant. Well let me close with this,
over in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1. Now Jerusalem's been destroyed.
The temple is gone. And as you know, 70 years later,
they come back under Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra, and they
rebuild the temple. But it's nothing like Solomon's
temple. And the glory of the Lord was
still departed. Even the worship of God through
the priesthood was still nothing compared to what it was. There
was no Ark of the Covenant. There was no mercy seat in there.
Which tells you that the glory of the Lord was not going to
return until Messiah came. The glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But it's gone. And the lesson
is this, that anything that we glory in other than Christ and
Him crucified, now listen, it's going to be taken away. Now you
can bank on it. It may be so appealing and desirable
today, but you're going to see it for what it is. That compared
to Christ and Him crucified and risen, compared to His glory,
compared to all that He accomplished, it's nothing, less than nothing. It's all done, Paul said. Remember
everything Saul of Tarsus gloried in? So listen to what he's saying
in verse 1 of chapter 2 of Hebrews. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any
time we should just let them slip. Don't hear these things
and just walk out as you were before. I'm talking to me too.
Listen to what God's telling us. This is not just preaching. It's not just pulpit pounding.
It's not just something, well, I'm going to get through that
so I can go back and be the same ignorant, ignoramus I was before. Don't
do that. Again, I'm talking to me too
now. Let's learn and let's grow. I know that's by the power of
God. Don't let them slip. Don't just drift on by this.
He says, verse 2, for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,
that's talking about the old covenant. And every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompense or reward. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Think about the great
salvation we have. You know why it's such a great
salvation? Because we have such a great savior. And we're such
great sinners. He said, which at first began
to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that
heard. How shall we escape if we just neglect it? So don't
let these things slip on by. Don't drift on by these things.
We talk about God's sovereignty. Oh, we just believe in God's
sovereignty and then we get a little rank on our universe and we just
get all out of kilter and stuff. Don't do that! Bill Parker don't do it. You
see what I'm saying? But look to Christ and glory
in Him. Thank God that out of this mass
of fallen humanity He chose you Now and that's something to rejoice
over If that if that doesn't get you out of the slew of despondent
despair, I don't know what will I Don't think we should ever
get over that. How about you? All right