Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the passage we read. Ezekiel
chapter 36 and verse 37. Verse 37. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this being inquired of by the house of Israel to do
it for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock. Ezekiel 36 and verse 37. What we have read in this portion
relates in the first place directly to the children of Israel, God's
ancient people, those 580 or so years before Christ. when they are brought into captivity
in Babylon. However, it is also applicable
in a spiritual way to God's children, to the Church of God, to those
of whom the children of Israel were a typical people. And again, the benefit, the blessing
from such passages It's good to look firstly at where it was
first written to, the state and condition of the children of
Israel, and then apply it to us, as was designed by the Holy
Spirit. We would remember what the Apostle
Paul tells concerning the children of Israel when he writes to the
Corinthians. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. And that
which was written aforetime was written for our learning, that
we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have
hope. And then also we have, it told
us that these things happened unto them, that is the children
of Israel, for in samples or examples. that we should not
follow the same sins or same way. So here we have the children
of Israel that have been carried away into captivity in Babylon. Prophet after prophet had warned
them of their sins and of their evil works and we have that basically
rehearsed in this chapter where We read in verse 17 that when
the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before
me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. And so God speaks through
the prophet and says of the evils that they had done, the blood
that was slain in their land, the children that they slew,
the idols that they worshipped, the forgetfulness of the true
God of heaven and of earth, their own God, their Redeemer that
brought them out of Egypt, formed them into a nation, and they
had walked in a way so contrary to him, so disobedient, so rebellious,
and so God had at last brought the Babylonian armies, the temple
had been destroyed, the walls of Jerusalem broken down, and
the nation brought into captivity for 70 years. And then God said
that he would bring them out of that captivity and bring them
back to their own land. And we're told here that the
reason why they went into captivity was because of how they had dealt
with their God. And even the heathen could see
how that they had dealt with their God. And so God says, and
he gives the promise that is not for their sakes, not because
of any good in them, not for any good works that they had
done or would do or could do, but that he would bless them
and that he would bring them back into their own land. But
he wouldn't just bring back a people that were the same people, a
people that were rebellious and hard-hearted, unrepentant and
with a wrong spirit. He was going to bring a people
back that were changed, that were different. And he would
make that difference in them. They would not do it themselves.
They couldn't do it themselves. But God would do it. And then
he would bring them back and he would bless them in their
own land. But he tells us in the words
of our text that it will be something that they will pray for. Or in the words of the text,
I will yet for this being quiet of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. As yet at the time of this prophecy,
There was not prayer for this. They were not asking. But God
says through the prophet that he will be inquired of in time
to come. I will yet for this. In another
time, I will be prayed to for this. And what they shall ask
is that God would do it for them. Those things that are set before
us in this chapter. And then there is this beautiful
promise, I will increase them with men like a flock. And we know the children of Israel
were brought back from Babylonia's captivity. We know that from
the time they were brought back, Though they had times that they
needed reformation, they needed chastening, they were never brought
into captivity again until the Lord Jesus Christ came, and 70
years after, then the city was destroyed again. But the Lord
did bring about these promises, and he did give them a new heart,
and he did bless them and help them in that land. And so Israel
is a literal country, a literal nation, a people that are God's
people, that we can look upon their history and we can look
upon these promises and see how they were fulfilled. We know
especially the prayers of Daniel when he knew that the time of
the 70 years were coming up, you can read in the prophecy
of Daniel how he prayed for these things and confessed their sin
and humbled himself before God and God heard him and blessed
him and then in due time the children of Israel were brought
back to their own land. And of course we even have in
our day another prophecy fulfilled, that they should be brought again
back to their own land. And they are there now. And as history unfolds, we know
that it will come a time that the children of Israel, the nation
of Israel, shall be brought back into the fold or into the church. How, we don't know, but it shall
be in a very clear way that they will acknowledge the Lord. Remember in the Acts of the Apostles
when the Jews rejected Christ, they rejected the Gospel, then
the Apostles turned to the Gentiles, but the Apostle Paul says that
when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, that's when most in
the heathen and Gentile nations, our nation, are called and blessed,
then the Jews shall again be grafted in. They shall be brought
to acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, is the
Christ, and they shall be brought to believe, grafted in, as the
apostle tells us in the epistle to Romans. What concerns us this
evening is the ties that we have with God's people, because with
God's ancient people, We see them what they were, murmuring,
complaining people right from the beginning when brought out
of Egypt. And so provocative, so sinners. And you know, we, we are like
that by nature. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We are all under the sentence
of death. We cannot change or turn our
own heart. We cannot change our own way.
We are by nature in bondage, the same as the children of Israel
were in bondage in Babylon, or scattered throughout the earth.
God's children, as they're born into this world, they are Under
Satan's power, they're scattered through every nation and kindred
and tongue, and they are not a people until the Lord gathers
them. And He doesn't gather them because
of any good in them. He doesn't make any difference
because they are different than others. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And so in the very first calling
and quickening and making alive or bringing out of captivity
from Satan and being gathered unto the people of God is God's
work. And He it is that changes the
heart, renews the will, and turns the feet to Zion's hill, turns
to the Lord, turns to the church, turns to the people of God. So
if we are in that condition, if we are realizing that we are
like where Ezekiel was and the captives there in Babylon, that
we are captive to sin, we are captive to the world, we have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, then the word that
is here is a word to us. And if also we have known the
Lord, like the children of Israel, they did know the Lord, they
were his people, and they're in Babylon because of the chastening
hand of God. So if that is us, this word is
for us as well. If we are under the chastening
hand of God and are in bondage, captivity to sin, and feel a
hard, cold heart, and feel our sins, our rebelliousness, then
this Word is for us as well. I want to look then at three
points. Firstly, we have prayer yet to
be made. Our text says, Thus saith the
Lord God. It is the Lord speaking, a reminder
that we have in the Holy Bible, the Word of the Living God. Again
and again throughout this blessed book we have, thus saith the
Lord God. I will yet for this being quieted
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Prayer yet to
be made. Then secondly, a work of the
Lord to be done in answer to prayer. In answer to prayer,
I will yet for this be inquired of by the House of Israel to
do it for them. And then lastly, we have a beautiful
promise, a promise of increase. I will increase them with men
like a flock. Firstly, we have prayer that
is yet to be made. All God's people start off and
they are not a praying people. We may have a form of prayer. We may have prayer that we think
is good prayers. The Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus
as he was, was a Pharisee and they were well known for their
long prayers. And yet when God met with him,
on the Damascus Road when the Lord spoke to him and convinced
him of his sin, then spoke to Ananias to go and see him when
he was blinded for three days. Ananias objected because Saul
of Tarsus had been putting men and women into prison who were
calling on the name of the Lord. But God said to him, behold,
he prayeth. And so we have a Pharisee, and
God said, now he is praying real prayers, heartfelt prayers. And we might say with the words
of the text here, prayers that have a very definite asking to
them. I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Prayer that is
asking. Our Lord said, ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. He says, if ye being evil know
how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit or good gifts to
them that ask Him? There's many aspects of prayer. In prayer we may tell the Lord
things, we may praise the Lord, but we may ask the Lord. When
we think of 1 Samuel chapter one, we have Hannah who was childless
coming asking the Lord for a man-child. In that prayer she promised if
God would give her that child, she would lend him all the days
of his life to the Lord. He should stay in the temple.
When God answered that prayer, then she came back and said to
Eli the priest, for this child I prayed. She could clearly identify
an answer to her prayer. The Lord hath given me my petition
that I asked of him. And then we have her praying
again, and this time she's not even mentioning Samuel, the child
that had been given her, but she is full of praise to God,
full of glory to God. So prayer is asking, it is praise,
it is thanksgiving, it is supplicating. It is confession. In this example
here, prayer is asking, asking the Lord to do something for
us. And it is already said that really
implying here as yet that this people is not praying, but they
will pray. Going back to Samuel, It was
said of him when he was a child, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. It would have been true to say
Samuel did not know the Lord. But when it's put in a way, did
not yet know the Lord, there's that hope that he will, in God's
time, he will know the Lord. You think of our children. You
might think, well, they are not yet grown up, but we hope they
will. They have not yet achieved their
grades at school, but we hope they will. They're not yet in
their chosen profession, but we hope and they hope that one
day they will. There's many things in our lives
that we have an expectation of something happening. And here,
God is saying, and really it applies to all of his people,
they begin prayerless, they begin not asking. And then there comes
in their lives when they begin to ask. And they ask for specific
things. And there's another thing that
is to be noted in this first point. And that is, God says,
I will yet for this being quite of, by the house of Israel to
do it for them. It's another one of those texts,
and I often draw this to your attention, where we could leave
out several of the words, and if you didn't have your Bible
and weren't following the word, then you wouldn't realize it
was left out. And we could read this word,
I will yet, for this being quite of, I will increase them with
men like a flock, or I will yet for this be inquired of to do
it for them." For whom? The words are put in by the House
of Israel. In the first place it was relating
to Israel, God's ancient people. In a spiritual way, it applies
to God's chosen people, God's people that he has shed his precious
blood for on Calvary, those that are spoken of in Jeremiah 31. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And so bound up with this Inquiring
in this prayer is a token of being one of God's children,
of being called, of being chosen, of being a believer. That is
why God said to Ananias concerning Saul of Tarsus, behold, he prayeth. In other words, he has an evidence
of being a child of God. God gives his children prayer. He brings them to pray. And the
question with us, where are we with this verse? It might be said, we do not pray. And that might be true. But it may then be said, we do
not yet pray. And if that is true, Then may
it be from this night that we be a people that do begin to
pray, and do begin to pray for those things that are set before
us in this chapter. May the Lord give us this scriptural
token of being his children, his spiritual Israel. that we
are a praying people. The Lord taught his disciples
the manner of prayer. He himself spent long nights
in prayer and he has bid us to pray and bid us to ask. So this prayer yet to be made,
may it be if that is the case tonight, that it changes to be
prayer that is being made. Instead of, I will yet be inquired
of, before this being inquired of, I am being inquired of by
the House of Israel to do it for them. How backward often
we are with prayer, and sometimes we have to even pray that the
Lord would give us prayer and teach us how to pray. And may
we be able to do that. And we pray for those things
that we really feel we lack and feel we need. Not just empty
prayers, but prayers for specific things. Prayer yet to be made,
may that be then prayer that is now. being made. Secondly, there is a work, a
work of the Lord to be done in answer to prayer. God has a plan for his people,
he has a plan for the world. But he has so decreed it in his
wisdom that before these events happen, that there will be prayer
made, especially when it concerns the people of God. We mentioned
Daniel and how that he prayed when it came to the time of the
end of those 70 years. And we know of those times in
our lives where we have prayed and prayed and sought the Lord. And when the Lord has brought
these things to pass, he's shown us very clearly that they have
been given in answer to prayer. We might say, well, what use
is there in prayer? God has determined the use of
prayer. He says that before they call,
I will answer. While they are yet speaking,
I will answer them. And I say, how far before they
call? And we know that it's been one
of those appointments and things that are determined by God, that
he uses it. He uses those things that the
people of God lack and that need and the troubles they come into
to bring them to call unto him. Man in his sin has gone far from
God, but God in his work of grace brings man back to himself. And that is not just by putting
away his sin, it's not just by bringing him to love God, but
in making sure that there is constant communion a constant
speaking one to another. We need that in our relationships
in life, especially where there's love one to another. We like
to hear one another's voice, to speak to each other. And in
the Song of Solomon, we hear the bride by groom, which is
Christ. asking and desiring to hear the
bride, the church's voice. And God has determined in this
that those things that come in our lives, and to think of the
things that are here in this chapter, God has said in all
these things, I want to hear my people's voice. I want to
hear them in prayer. I want to see them at my throne.
I want to hear their pleas and their cries. I want to have them
by me. And then I will answer these
petitions and I will do this for them. The faithless will
say, what's the use of prayer? What will be, will be. It will
happen anyway. But God's children will see God's
plan. and they walk according to that
plan. And may we be amongst those that
see God's plan in this. If we were to say to our children,
look, if you need something, if you're in trouble, you come
and tell us and you ask us and we will help you. And we looked at the children,
and we could see them, and we could see them perhaps getting
into trouble, and we could see them with things that they lacked. And we'd look at them, and we'd
think, didn't we say to them that they were to ask? Well,
maybe they don't need it. Maybe they're trying to get on
without it, and to just go on. And maybe after a while, they'll
come in and say, didn't you see? the trouble we're in, or didn't
you, wouldn't you help us or give us the things needful? And
you say to them, but didn't we ask, say to you, if you want
something, you come and ask, why didn't you ask? And so the Lord has directed
us in the path of prayer, but not only that, but told us what
things to ask. And so in the words of our text,
it will be, Inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for
them. These things. For this, I will
yet for this be inquired of. And what do we have then? Going
back to verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. Do you and I feel our filthiness,
our idols? Do we want cleansing from them?
Is it one of those things we ask? What about verse 26? Do we feel to have a stony heart? Do we ask the Lord to take it
away? He says, I will take away the
stony heart. What will he do? I will give
you a heart of flesh. A heart that is tender, that
feels, instead of hard and cold and unfeeling. And what about
our spirit? How often our spirit is wrong. The disciples were, you know
not what spirit you are of, the Lord said to them on one occasion. The Lord says, I will put my
spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Is that
your grief? Is that my grief? That we're
not walking in his statutes, we're not keeping his judgments,
we're not doing them. Did we say that there's no hope? There isn't any hope of us changing
ourselves, no. But God says that he will do
this. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments
and do them. What about in verse 29? Uncleanness, uncleannesses. What a unclean heart we have. our thoughts and affections so
often unclean and carried away. You know what is said in verse
31? and shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations." In
other words, a soul that actually is remembering their evil ways
and loathing themselves already has a soft heart, already has
some of these benefits and blessings that God has promised to give.
It also implies this, when we are just asking these things,
we ask them when we do not really, deeply, feel our sin. We may know it, may give a scent
to it, but there's a very different thing When we really feel against
Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. When we really see what an evil
thing sin is, when we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ whom we
have pierced, because the only reason why God will do these
things, and he makes it very clear in verse 32. Not for your
sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. It
is for his own name's sake. It's because of his great name. That is why when we pray, it
is we pray for Christ's sake. We ask in the name of the Lord. And the blessings the Lord gives
to the Church of God are because of what Christ has done, because
of his great name, because of his righteousness. We have an advocate with the
Father. The Lord Jesus Christ takes our
petitions and he offers them up. He makes intercession for
us. He points to his own wounds. That's the reason why blessing
can come to the Church of God. We don't deserve it. We've sinned
it away. But it's because the Lord has
paid the debt and made satisfaction and makes intercession. He says,
I've redeemed that people. I've saved them. I've shed my
blood for them. I've made atonement for them. Here they are with a hard heart. Here they are with an unclean
spirit and here they are groaning and praying and asking that thou
has take this away and give them a soft heart and give them a
heart to serve me and to follow me and to seek me. That intercession avails and
that blessing is given to the people of God. in answer to their
prayer, in answer to the intercession of the Lord. Israel had destroyed
themselves, but their hope was in God. You and I, whether it
is under Adam's sin or whether it is through chastening, have
also destroyed ourselves. We are like the children of Israel. We cannot promise future good
to bring. We may look and Say like them,
where the Lord has chastened us sore. And we're in a very
low place, a dry place, a place far off from God. There's no
hope for me, but there is hope, and there's hope in the Lord,
and there's hope in the gospel provision for sinners. In the
very next chapter, we have a vision of dry bones that are revived,
and this vision that Ezekiel had, the Lord says, of the very
house of Israel. And there was his valley and
all these dry bones and all scattered. And as he prayed and as he prophesied,
they all came together and sinews came on them. And then he continued
prophesying and breath came into them. They stood up a living
and a great army. We might feel just like that.
all our religion, all our life, just like dry bones and all scattered,
and no life and no breath in us at all. And in these chapters,
the Lord is speaking to a people under his chastening hand in
Babylon, and not for sins just of a few days, but of generations,
hundreds of years they'd walked in this way. The Lord had lengthened out His
mercies to them and then at last carried them away. But still
we have mercy and still we have blessing and still we have those
things that He'll be inquired of by His dear people to do it
for them. If you and I can see things that
we wish we were, that we were free from these sins or more
holy and more godly and more close to the Lord, with a tender
heart and the fear of God in our hearts. You know, that's
a hunger and thirst after righteousness. The Lord has pronounced a blessing
on such. Those that are praying these
things are wanting things that they haven't got and they haven't
got power to get either. But God has said that he will
do them for them in answer to prayer. a work of the Lord to
be done in answer to prayer. May it be a real encouragement
for us to pray. Just before we leave this point,
maybe there's other things as well in your life and in mine
that we are yet to pray for and specific things that it is a
work for the Lord to do. May we be helped to pray for
those things. Accept the Lord, build the house,
they labour in vain that building. And so we come to the last point
which is a promise, a promise of increase. I will increase
them with men like a flock. The children of Israel, indeed,
when they went into captivity, the prophets did exhort them
that during that 70 years that they should marry, that they
should have children, they should be built up and not diminish,
they should even pray for the welfare of their captors and
those that they dwelt with, because God would bring them back. He
didn't want them extinguished as a nation. But we think of
this in a spiritual way as well. That the Lord, when the church
was first formed, and in the day of Pentecost, there were
those 3,000 added unto the church. And we read that the Lord added
unto the church daily such as should be saved, and we know
that that is so worldwide even now. that every day there's those
that are added to his church. Every day there are those brought
out of nature's darkness and into his marvellous light. Every
day there are those that have been chastised, that have been
restored and brought again into sweet fellowship and union with
the Lord. Every day there are those that
are plucked as brands from the burning. and that they are placed
amongst the people of God. A redeemed people, a saved people,
a people that once were not a people, but are now the people of God. The Lord says with his people. I will increase them with men
like a flock." And certainly in the Gospel days, as recorded
in Scriptures, he was doing that in a mighty way, and we know
that it is so even today. Though in our nation we have
small numbers in our churches, and few seem to fear the Lord,
yet with Elijah he thought in his day, just in Judah alone,
that there was none that served the Lord. And he was the only
one left. The Lord said there were 7,000
that had not bowed the knee to Baal. And how many would there
be in England, let alone in other nations of the world? So we have this promise, a beautiful
promise. May we be amongst that increase. May we be part of it, those that
are numbered amongst the people of God. numbered with them, may
I be now and to eternity. May we see them as the choice
of the earth. We know that we have passed from
the death unto life in that we love the brethren. And so to
be gathered, there's a beautiful illustration here, men like a
flock. And when we think of John chapter
10, Our Lord is the good shepherd and his flock, his people, my
sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me. May we be of those
that hear his voice and follow him and hear his voice this evening
and follow him in the path of prayer and be asking that the
Lord will do for us those things that we are so ensnared with,
so entrapped with, so bogged down with, so hindered by, in
serving the Lord, and for which things sake the Lord's wrath
is upon us, or is hand-heavy upon us, as it was with the children
of Israel. May we for those things pray
that the Lord would do this work, a work in answer to prayer. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet, for this being quite of, by the house of Israel, to do
it for them. God, can you know, he moves our
hearts, he changes our affections, he works in us in a miraculous,
powerful way that we cannot resist, that is effectual. By the house
of Israel, to do it for them, I will increase them with men,
like a flock. May we see it in our churches,
may we be part of it, may we rejoice in what the Lord has
done. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.