Chapter 2, verse 19, for in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is the image of
the invisible God. So we see that Christ has been
given all these things to speak to his people. Look at verse
two, and the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and
sent me upon my feet that I heard him that spake unto me. And he
said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel,
to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me. They and
their fathers have transgressed against me." Now, here again,
we see the same thing. Jesus Christ was sent unto the
lost children or lost sheep of Israel. If you would, back into
Matthew again. And this time, let's go to chapter
15. Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 it says, Then Jesus
went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Canaan, Gentile, came out of the same
coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and beside him saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. Verse 24. But he answered and
said, I am not sent unto the lost sheep. I am I am not sent,
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and
said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. So here we see that Christ now
granted the Lord did heal this woman's daughter, but. He made
clear here that his purpose, whenever he came in that ministry,
was to come and to bear testimony to the lost sheep of Israel,
the remnant of God among those Israelites living at that time.
So Christ is come to be a testimony of the Father to the lost sheep
of Israel. It says in verse 4, for they
are impudent children and stiff-hearted. Jesus said that this is a stiff-necked
people, hard of heart, He says, I do send thee unto them and
thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord God. And we know
that Jesus came and said everything that the Lord had given to them.
He says, and they, whether they will hear or whether they will
forbear, for they are a rebellious house, yet shall know that there
have been a prophet among them. Now, what's God saying here whenever
he's sending Jesus to preach to these people? He said, whether
they hear or whether they forbear, the word forbear there is a word
that means Whether they hear or whether they reject or whether
they don't listen. Okay, whether they Matter of
fact the word actually means fatty. It's what the Hebrew word
there means It means fatty and that remember in some of the
verses the Lord said make their ears fat Okay, whenever he was
talking to I believe it was Isaiah he said I send you two of people
and I will blind their eyes I'll make their ears fat So it means
that he will not hear. They won't hear what I have to
say. They will either hear or they won't hear. So Jesus was
to go and to declare this testimony of God before those that God
would give to hear and those he would not. Matter of fact,
Jesus even said that. In John chapter 17, if you want
to turn there. Very familiar verses to us, and
I think you know exactly what I'm referring to in John chapter
17. Verse four, he says, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Verse six, I have manifested
thy name unto the man which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, meaning that
thou givest to me. And we just read that a while
ago, that all things was given to the son by the father. All
things were put into his hands. OK, God has entrusted all of
his purpose to Christ Jesus. Verse 8, For I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them,
and have known surely that I have come out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. Okay, so here we see
there's the testimony. I've been sent to the lost sheep
of Israel. I've been sent to them to bear
witness and testimony of the Father. I'm here to bear witness
of what God and His purpose is in me. If you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. If you've known me, you've known
the Father. If you have believed on me, you've believed on the
Father. Why? Because I have come from the Father. I am the Father,
the Word, the Holy Spirit in flesh. I am the mediator between
that invisible God that you worship as one God. I am Him in flesh. That's me. And so he has came and he's given
them words. And what do you say? They believed it. Why? Because
God said, go preach to them, whether they hear or whether
they forbear, you go preach to them. There are rebellious people.
Now we know because we've been given the New Testament. That they hear because God has
given them to hear. But in the Old Testament we learn
that also the hearing ear and the seeing eye the Lord has given
both of those, right? but in the New Testament, we
see that the hearing the believing the coming the Receiving all
those things come from God God the Spirit comes and gives us
life and whenever he gives us life and he gives us faith He
causes us to believe the testimony that Jesus Christ has brought
and given us of God. And here we see Jesus claiming
that that he says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them, which thou has given me. See, he's praying for
the ones that God has given him. He's not praying for everybody
else. What's he praying for them for? Praying that all are mine
and thine and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And
now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And
I come to thee, Holy Father, Keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are." That
there may be this relationship, like me and you have, that they
might have with me. Okay? That there might be this
relationship of dependence, of love, of testifying of who you
are and what you have done. He says, while I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me, I have kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Look at verse 14, I have given
them thy word and the world have hated them because they are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that
thou should take them out of the world, but thou shalt keep
them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so I have sent them into the world. OK, so as God
has sent Christ into the world to testify of what he is like
and what his purpose and will is, Christ has sent us into the
world to testify of who he is and what he has done. Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their words." So there we see the Gentile inclusion,
which goes back to say that it's for everybody, not just the Jews. Now back in Ezekiel, if you would. Notice if you would, he says,
and they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear,
yet shall Yet shall know that there has been a prophet among
them. Listen, even to those that weren't
believing upon Jesus. Remember Nicodemus? Whenever
he came to Jesus, he said, we know that nobody can do this
except God be with him. They heard Jesus preach whenever
they heard Jesus preach that man, this man preaches as one
who has authority. You know, they knew, even though
they may not believe upon him, they realize and recognize, hey,
this man doesn't speak like the Pharisees. This man speaks as
one who has authority. course he did because he's God
but he said whether they hear whether they forbear and that's
a testimony to us as well brother whenever we preach the gospel
wherever we're at whenever we share the gospel or preach the
gospel whenever we do that we are bringing a declaration of
what Christ has done see the problem is with so many people
and I think the reason why there is so much fear in the heart
of people to share the gospel is because they look at the gospel
as an invitation to come to Jesus. They look at it as some sort
of formula that they have to do to encourage or entice somebody
to Christ. And if they don't do it right,
then they fail and that person could go to hell. They think
it's up to them to bring people to Jesus, that it's up to them
to get people saved. And so they look at the gospel
as an invitation or a duty, and therefore they have to have all
their information right. They have to have all their knowledge
right. They have to have all the things right. And because
they don't, they're fearful of speaking of the gospel. But see,
brethren, that's the thing. There is so much freedom in preaching
whenever you know it's not an invitation. It's not on you to
get people saved or to convince those. that are in front of you.
It's up to you to declare his word as the Lord gives you to
declare it. It's a declaration. And what it is, is telling the
elect of God who are out there that we don't know where they're
at and what they're doing and who they are. It's telling them
of their salvation. And whenever the Spirit gives
them to hear, they will hear it. They will believe it. And
they will come to Christ and trust in Christ and believe upon
Christ and live upon Christ. It's not your job to do all that.
That's the Spirit's job. Christ has called us to just
declare the Word, preach the Word, tell of Him, declare His
name. That's all we need to do. And
whether they hear or whether they forbear, that's on God. So just declare it. You declare
it to somebody, they spit in your face and tell you no thank
you, okay, well go right along. God did not give them to hear,
they have given Him to forbear. That's on God, not on you. So keep preaching that. And so
Jesus here, God has said go, and whether these people listen
to you or whether they don't listen to you, you declare that they
might know that there is a prophet among them. and thou son of man,
be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though
briars and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions,
be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks,
though they be a rebellious house. So God's saying, listen, it's
not going to be easy. It's going to be tough. They're
going to come against you. And Jesus, we learn that whenever
we hear of Jesus, whenever he came, he was a man of sorrows,
full of grief. They were against him in all
places. Listen, they tried to kill him before his time, several
accounts. Now, they couldn't because God
had an appointed time for him to die. But they tried to kill
him. They tried to persecute him.
They didn't listen to him. They. So, yeah. But when the time came, yes,
he was heavily persecuted whenever they came and they took him and
they arrested him and they give him a mock trial. And in that
mock trial, they they spit on him. They mocked him, they threw
a robe on him and hailed king of the Jews, you know, he thinks
he's a king. They blindfolded him and beat
him in the face and said prophesy who was it that hit you. They
took his beard and they ripped his beard out with their hands.
I don't know about you, if you've ever plucked a whisker or a hair
or something off your face, that hurts. Yet they plucked his beard
out with their hands. They hit him with a cat of nine
tails till he almost died his guts were spilling out I mean
these things were horrible things that Jesus endured but it says
here be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks
though they be a rebellious house and thou shalt speak my words
unto them whether they will hear or whether they will forbear
for they are most rebellious just a side note here they're
a rebellious house We are a rebellious people. Naturally, in our nature,
we are a rebellious house. But I come across this and I
checked it out. I checked it out. Nowhere in scripture, nowhere
in scripture does God call his elect people rebels. He calls
them rebellious, but not a rebel. The only time he uses the word
rebel is for those who are reprobated. Now you can go look that up.
Look everywhere in this place that the word rebel is used.
It's always used of the reprobated. It's not talking about God's
people. That goes along with what the Bible says in the New
Testament when it says, we walked according to the course of this
world just like them. We who are by nature children of wrath
as others. See, we have their nature. We
have their characteristics because we are of their father Adam,
but we are not rebels because we have been made and brought
to the footstool of God. We have been made servants. We
have been brought in and given to be subservient and have faith
and trust and dependency upon God. The rebels will continue
to be rebels, but we have been brought into submission to Christ.
So here was one of the works of Christ is to come to this
rebellious house It says and thou speak my words unto them
whether they will hear whether they Will forbear for they are
most rebellious But thou son of man hear what I say unto thee
be not thou rebellious like the rebellious house Open thy mouth
and eat that I give thee Now you're saying well. Oh preacher
you're saying that Jesus could have been rebellious there and
No, I don't think Jesus could have been rebellious. Matter
of fact, I believe in the impeccability of Jesus Christ. Jesus not only
did not sin, Jesus could not sin. There was no way at any
time under any circumstances that Jesus Christ could have
sinned. And I know there's a lot of people
and there's people in the past that in the churches that I grew
up in, There are people that believe that Jesus could have
sinned, but he just held out. He held strong. Brethren, listen,
he did hold strong. He didn't sin, but it wasn't
because he could have sinned. The reason he held out and did
not sin is because there was nothing in him that could be
tempted. He is God. God cannot be tempted.
He is God. Therefore, he could not be tempted.
While the outward enticement and testing came, There was nothing
in him that could be tempted. Meaning, he did not have a nature
that could sin. He did not have a nature that
could be drawn away by his own lust. Because all of the lust,
if you would, of Christ was for the Father. All the desire of
his heart was to do the will of God. And so whenever his full
desire is to do the will of God, there is no desire to do something
else. There's no desire to go against himself. God cannot deny
himself. And so therefore, there was nothing
in Christ that could be tempted. So he could not have sinned.
What this is showing forth for us here is that Jesus Christ
was sent. Look where it says there. Be
thou not rebellious like the rebellious house. He came to
do the whole law on our behalf. He came to be the un-rebellious
Son where all the rebellious sons have been towards God. Rebellious people. So for us,
because we are a rebellious people, He came and was not rebellious
on our behalf. He who knew no sin, became sin,
that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. But look what
He says. He says, Open thy mouth and eat
that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, a
hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. And He spread it before me, and
it was written within and without And there was written therein
lamentations and mourning and woe." Seems like a lot of the
views that we see of this same role in the revelation where
Christ is the only one who can take the role and open it up
and to bring forth all the things that are written in it and on
the back of it. It's the whole purpose and declaration
of God. Christ is the one who is fulfilling
it all. and he says take this and eat it in it in the purpose
of God from before the foundation of the world and to the end where
the Bible says he has declared all things the end from the beginning
and all things that are not yet done he has declared those things
before the foundation of the world that's what we're looking
at here in this roll now we're not talking about yeast rolls
like my wife makes okay I'm sure the Lord would probably like
one of those too Hope that wasn't blasphemous,
but because he's a kind man, he would eat it, not say anything
about it, I'm sure. Anyway, we're not talking about that kind of
roll. We're not talking about Lambert's throw rolls, right? We're talking about a scroll.
We're talking about a book that to us, these are books. To them,
a book was a scroll. And he opened up that book, and
that book had writing on the inside, it had writing on the
outside. In those days, the only thing that had writing on the
inside and the outside were legal contracts because a legal contract
could not be separated into separate books. It had to be all in one
book where you could read everything and not be one or the other so
that something might be shifted around and mistaken or deceived
by saying, well, here's the rest of it, and that's something else
written. No, the contract was all on one thing. God's covenant
is all in one covenant. And he is declaring the covenant
and he's given it him. And Christ has given them this
thing. And he says, and written therein is lamentations and mourning
and woe, brethren, not only for himself as the man of sorrows
who was to come on our behalf, but also there is lamentations
and mourning and woe for all of his people who in this life,
there is much tribulation. He goes on to say, Moreover,
he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this
roll and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth
and he caused me to eat that roll. Brother, that says to me,
it speaks of Christ and how how willingly he came to do what
he was sent to do. The Bible said that he came and
that he did this with joy for the joy that was set before me.
He came. And He said unto me, Son of man,
cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that
I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was
in my mouth as honey for sweetness." See, although it was full of
lamentations and mourning and woe, the Bible says that Jesus
took this task upon Himself, and He said it was honey for
sweetness. Why? Because He knew the outcome of
it. He knew what the purpose of all the lamentations and the
mourning and the woe were going to bring. Verse 4 he says, And
he said unto me, Son of man, go get thee into the house of
Israel and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent
to a people of a strange speech and a hard language, but unto
the house of Israel. There again we see in Matthew
11 and verse 27 what Jesus said that we read earlier that he
wasn't sent to the to the Gentiles, he was sent to the lost house
of Israel. Now eventually, that word would be sent to the Gentiles,
to all the world, but here we're seeing specifically to the house
of Israel. He says, But the house of Israel
will not hearken unto me, for they will not hearken unto me,
for all of the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and
in thy forehead strong against their forehead. So even though
there was a rebellious people, even though they did not receive
him, even though they did not understand him, they did not
know what was going on. All this stuff. The Lord was
set to finish the work that God had given him. Look, if you would,
back in Isaiah chapter 50, if you would. We just read there
that he said, Matter of fact, it's the next verse, verse 9
in Ezekiel. It says, as an adamant, adamant,
harder than flint, have I made thy forehead. Okay? Now look back in Isaiah chapter
50, speaking of Jesus Christ, in 50, and look at verse 4. The Lord hath given me the tongue
of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning,
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God
hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious. So see there,
Jesus wasn't rebellious like Israel. Neither turned away back. Verse six, I gave my back to
the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.
I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Here it is, verse
seven, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore, shall I not
be confounded? See, the Lord God would help
him. He told him, don't worry, go to this people. There's going
to be briars. There's going to be thorns. There's going to be
a rebellious people. Some will hear, some will forbear.
but go and declare my name to my people. Go and do what I have
sent you to do. And look what he says there.
Therefore, because the Lord shall be with me and help me, therefore
have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed. He is near that justifies me
who will contend with me. Let us stand together Who is
mine adversary? Let him come near me. Behold,
the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall
eat them up. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow."
So Jesus here, his face set like a flint, it says, as an adamant,
harder than flint. He says, fear them not, neither
be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Moreover,
he said unto me, son of man, all my words that I shall speak
unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears and
go get thee to them of the captivity. Speaking of us. Remember, he
led the captivity. Led the captives free. Go get thee of the captivity
unto the children of thy people and speak unto them and tell
them, thus saith the Lord God, whether they will hear or whether
they will forbear. Then the spirit took me up and
I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying, blessed
be the glory of the Lord from this place. So brethren, we see
once again, the glory of God is connected to the work and
the person of Jesus Christ. He is the glory of the invisible
God. He is the manifestation of the
glory of the invisible God. And brethren, we see a beautiful
picture of Christ here in Ezekiel. Alright, does anybody have anything
they'd like to add to this? Questions? Comments? Corrections? Rebukes? Anybody? Alright. Let's go to the Lord
in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank
you for this day. Thank you for your grace and
mercy once again. We thank you for the word of
God and we thank you for the pictures that you have given
us of our Christ. Thank you, Lord, that Christ has come and
revealed himself to us and in doing so has revealed you as
well. You are God who indwells the
man Jesus Christ. the Ancient of Days, Lord of
Lords, King of Kings, the right hand of God. And so, Father,
we praise you. We give glory to you. We ask, Lord, that you'd be with
us as we leave this place, that you would help keep us. We pray
for Brother Len Terry. We pray for my stepmom, Sarah. We pray for Heather and her children,
Lord. We lift up all those who are sick, my Aunt Judy, Lord,
we pray for all those who are sick, for my wife this morning,
Lord. We ask, Lord, that you'd be with them all in their physical
ailments. But Father, Lord, more than anything,
we pray that you'd be with us in the spirit and that you might
help us, that you might enable us and that you might grow us
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We once
again are astonished and amazed at the beauty that we find in
the Lord Jesus Christ. May we always preach his name. And it's in his name that we
pray. Amen.