May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Ezekiel, chapter 14, and we'll read verse 14. The prophecy of
Ezekiel, chapter 14, and reading verse 14. Though these three
men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver, but
their own souls, by their righteousness, saith the Lord God." We can perhaps imagine the scene
of Ezekiel and their prophet of the Lord, who as we know was
carried away captive with the captives when Jerusalem was overthrown
and taken down to Babylon. And there he was and on this
particular day there came certain of the elders of Israel unto
him and sat before him. We're not told of course where
these elders came from. They may have come from Jerusalem,
there may have been those who were still residing there. They
may have been those who were captive along with the other
captives in Babylon. But nonetheless, there were these
elders, obviously eminent people. We would say they were grandees
in our current kind of language, not necessarily elders in the
church. But they came and they sat before
me. and then there they were sat before Ezekiel and God then
spoke to Ezekiel and he was instructed what to say. There are very many
messages that God gave to Ezekiel to speak to the people and sometimes
in a general way but here was a very specific word to these
elders and he tells them And the word of God is always very
straight. It's not in flowery language. Very straight to the
point. Son of man, these men have set
up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of
their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all
by them? What's being spoken to Ezekiel? Ezekiel's really being told that
these men are acting in a hypocritical way They are pretending to come and
Sit before Ezekiel and by so doing desiring to hear something
from his lips but in fact, they don't really the truth is that
as God told Ezekiel, they've set up idols in their heart. Now we've all come this morning,
haven't we? We're all sat here in chapel this morning. And therefore
it may be that we all are pretending to hear what the preacher is
going to preach this morning. But there may be idols in our
heart, which already have occupied our mind. We've been thinking
about things which are our idols, things we are doing in our daily
life, things that we anticipate doing. And instead therefore
of coming with an open mind and a real desire to hear what God
the Lord will say, we may be no better than these elders who
have got idols in their heart. Now, of course, and sadly, we
know that, but by the grace of God, we do have idols in our
heart. And the problem with that is,
very simple, it separates us from God. If you've got an idol in your
heart, it will separate from God. See, Israel had come out
of Jerusalem, they'd been captured, and we know one of the problems
was, That Israel, again the Church of God, professing anyway, had
been worshipping idols in that place. Well, it wasn't now a
physical worshipping. It was a worshipping in their
minds, in their hearts. And that is very subtle. And
we have a devil today who would try and bring things into our
minds, into our hearts, so that we're found not really worshipping
God, but we're really worshipping those idols in our hearts. Now that's a very important thing,
isn't it? To try and comprehend, to try
and analyse our act of worship. Our acts of worship, perhaps
through the years, whether we've come really desiring to hear
what God the Lord will say, or whether we've been like these
men. These men, no doubt, were all
suitably attired and all wearing the right gear. But you see,
the great question was, their hearts weren't right. And that's
the great question with us today, isn't it? Whether our hearts
are right. And so Ezekiel is commissioned
to speak in this way, therefore speak unto them and say unto
them, thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel
that setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth up, putteth
a stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to
the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according
to the multitude of his idols." Well it's a very sad thing isn't
it, if you and I have a multitude of idols in our heart. And I can't tell who has, neither
can anyone else. You as an individual, I as an
individual, as we stand before God, we'll have to analyse our
own heart in order to discern whether there are those idols
in our heart which only we and God knows about. And if we realise, and if God
convicts us, and what a blessing it is when the Spirit of God convicts
us of such sins before a holy God. It's a very solemn thought, isn't
it, as we come to worship, that we are, by our demeanour, pretending
to worship God. And when we think that we are
before the presence of Almighty God, who we cannot deceive. We can deceive each other, can't
we? We cannot deceive God. And it's that God before whom
you and I will have to stand on that great day of judgment.
And so, as we read this account of the Prophet Ezekiel had, how
necessary it is for us to examine ourselves. You may have thought,
Book of Ezekiel. Well, that's not an easy book.
That's a boring book. I'm not going to be very interested
this morning. And you may almost have turned off before we even
started the service. In actual fact, such words are
very relevant to us today. As much so as they were when
these elders came and sat before Ezekiel. We've come this morning
and we've sat here Well, have we idols in our heart? And so the prophet goes on, that
I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they
are all estranged from me through their idols. Now that's a tragic
thing, isn't it? There is that estrangement, that
means there's that separation. That means as though we may be
here pretending to worship God. In actual fact, we're not able
to because of these idols in our heart which estrange us,
produce a separation. And therefore, when we come to
the end of the service, we recognize that we haven't profited from
the words at all. Is it because of idols set up
in our heart? Well, it's a good thing, isn't
it? If the Spirit of God convicts us of such a situation. And so,
if that is so, and it may well be so, that then we read what
God spoke to Ezekiel to say. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, is there no hope for them? Is there no possibility
of any blessing? No. There's encouragement. Thus saith the Lord God. Let
us always remember, this is God speaking. The Word of God is
God speaking. It's not my words, it's God speaking. Thus saith the Lord God. What
does he say? Repent. and turn yourselves from
your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations."
Very clear instruction, isn't it, from Almighty God. What a blessing if you and I,
therefore, are given that grace, that real desire to turn away
from our idols, turn away from those things which are estranging
us from Almighty God. Surely it's true today, we find
ourselves living in a busy world, in a materialistic world, in
an idolatrous world, where there are so many things which come
into our minds into our hearts and therefore cause this estrangement. And the result is therefore that
instead of being healthy in our souls, healthy in our spiritual
life, we find that we are not in a good state. We may perhaps
like to think we are. We might like to think, well,
we're not too bad. And we attend the services, and
we pray, and we read the word of God. But all these things
are right and good and nothing to be spoken against. But in
none of those things is really true worship unless the Lord
blesses us with it. Otherwise, it may just be a purely
going through a form, going through the actions. My friends, I've
seen people live all their life in a situation like that, with
no life of God in their soul, and no concern about it. And
they wasted hours and weeks and years hearing the Gospel preached,
and all they've had is idols in their hearts. Tragic, isn't
it? Terrible, isn't it? And eternity
is before us. And so we should recognise that
it is a wonderful blessing a wonderful favour to be able to come and
to gather together to hear the Word of God preached and never
belittle the preaching of the Gospel because it is through
the foolishness of preaching that the Lord has ordained that
men should be saved, that men should be blessed and therefore
never speak against the preaching of the Gospel. And so here we
have these gracious words, gracious words from the Lord God to people
who are in this condition, whose idleness are set up in their
hearts. And I'm pretty sure if you and I were honest this morning,
we'd have to say that we are guilty. We can't say, well, I've got
a pure mind. You'll find if you look carefully,
you'll find you haven't. And therefore, for all of us
today, such a gracious exhortation is surely so appropriate, repent
and turn yourselves from your idols." And that's not as easy
as it sounds. The devil is a very powerful
being and he'll try and make us cling to our idols. Those things which, if we're
really honest, do not profit our souls. Because the important
consideration is, in our lives, do we do, do we think, do we
say those things which are profitable for our souls? Or do we spend
our time on idols? Worst still, do we set up those
idols in our hearts? Well, my friends, the devil may
be very happy. He may be clapping his hands
because of what he's achieved. But you know, we don't have to
worry about the devil. We have to worry about what God
thinks and what God sees. And so this morning, what a wonderful
blessing if God gives us the wonderful blessing of repentance
to turn away from all our idols and our abominations. It's a
strong word, isn't it? Abominations. We don't like,
perhaps, to think that we are categorised with having abominable
things in our heart. But when God shines his light,
and he proves to us that we are far worse than we ever thought
we were. Because it's not as we consider
ourselves, it's as God considers ourselves. And there's a vast
difference. Because you and I may pat ourselves
on our back. My friends, God may be angry
with us. because of the attitude that we have and because of the
idols. But bless God this morning that
we have such an encouraging statement as this, a word for deliverance,
a word for true contrition, true sorry, sorrow for sin. If you and I possess the life
of God in our souls, and that life of God is lively, we will
be sorry for our sins. And we will be sorry that we
have such idols set up in our hearts. And we shall desire that
we may be blessed with this right repentance to turn away from
such things. Turn away your faces from all
your abominations. for every one of the house of
Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth
himself from me. Very clear, isn't it? Separate
himself from me, and set it up his idols in his heart, and put
it a stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to
a prophet to inquire of him concerning me I, the Lord, will answer him
by myself. The prophet may not give a truthful
answer, but God will. God will speak. And when God
speaks, you won't need a dictionary to understand what he's saying.
When God speaks, he speaks with clarity. And my friends, it's
like a It's like a sharp, two-edged sword, as the Word of God describes
it. And it pierces our heart. And
it has an effect. And we stand indeed like David
did when he was before Nathan, when Nathan spoke to him. And
he said, Thou art the man. You and I will stand condemned
before a holy God. And that's a good thing. That's
a good thing. It's not pleasant for the flesh,
but it's good for our soul's benefit. And so here we have
this statement here. I, the Lord, will answer him
by myself and I will set my face against that man and will make
him a sign and a proverb and I will cut him off from the midst
of my people and ye shall know that I am the Lord. The Lord doesn't do things by
halves. How we need to understand, we
come before a great God, not a little God. People today treat
God as a little God. They can dispense with Him when
it's not convenient, and call upon Him when they suddenly want
something. My friends, we stand before the
great God, the ruler of the whole universe. And then Ezekiel goes on and
he speaks and he says, and if the prophet be deceived when
he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out my hand
upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment
of the Prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that
seeketh unto me." So you see, the Prophet is not excused. All
come and stand guilty before Almighty God. So we have here
this morning, in these verses so far, a very solemn statement and a very powerful statement
And something that you and I need to look to very carefully to
see how our soul stands before a holy God. Again, let me say,
not before men, but before God. We don't have to try and please
men. We do try and please men, don't we? But we should be concerned
to please God. And then the Lord graciously
says through the prophet that the house of Israel may go no
more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all
their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may
be their God, saith the Lord God." Well, the Lord has spoken. Gracious words of warning through
the prophet. What a blessing it is if We recognize
the conviction of the Word of God to our souls. Don't look
around. Let God examine you and me individually
as to whether it applies to our hearts. And so he says that the house
of Israel may go no more astray from me. We have wandered, haven't we?
But if the word of God is applied to our hearts, and we are blessed
with this godly repentance, to turn away from these idols in
our heart, that the house of Israel may go no more astray
from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions,
but that they may be my people, that I may be their God, saith
the Lord God. Well the greatest blessing is
to be numbered amongst the people of God. That we may know that
we are God's children. Those whom he has called, those
whom he has chosen, those who he is speaking to. What a blessing
this morning if the Spirit of God speaks to our hearts. And it comes and it has a good
and a gracious effect upon us. And that we are really concerned
and sorry for our sins and desire to repent and desire to turn
to the Lord that we may not suffer those going away from God. Don't forget the devil wants
to occupy your minds. That's what he wants. He doesn't
want God to occupy your mind. He wants to occupy it. And he'll
bring into your mind all the things that naturally attract
you. that you'd like to dwell upon. Bless God when the Spirit
of God comes and grants us a turning away from the way of the devil,
to seek unto those things which are godly. And what are those
things which are godly? They concern the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, there's no greater
blessing and the Spirit of God turning our minds away from idols
to serve the living and true God. And that means to be lifted
up and to be taken up with our thoughts upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that we do think on his name. The hymn writer tells us, what
think ye of Christ is the test. What do we think of Christ this
morning? Are we thinking of Christ? Today is the Lord's Day, isn't
it? A day set apart for worship. We woke up this morning. What
did we think about? Were the idols in our heart?
Why did we meditate upon Christ? Did we rejoice to think this
is a day the Lord has made? I will be glad and rejoice in
it. Rejoice to think that we're able
to set this day aside to worship the God, the God of heaven, in
the beauty of holiness. We might be delivered from all
the vain things of life and be able to read his word, to pray
unto him, Concentrate our minds on things above, those things
which will ever remain and not be left to the poor putrid things
of time. Oh, it's a wonderful blessing
to be found taken up with the things of God. Well, the Prophet
was spoken to and he said, the word of the Lord came again to
me saying, What a blessing we have a God who speaks his word
to our hearts. Son of man, he now speaks in
a more general way. Son of man, when the land sinneth
against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand
upon it and will break the staff of bread thereof and will send
famine upon it and will cut off man and beast from it." Now,
in the rest of this chapter he goes through, apart from the
last two verses, he goes through four situations of those things
which he brings upon nations and upon individuals who walk
contrary to him. And the first one which he's
bringing before us is he will send famine upon it and will
cut off man and beast from it. This of course has two meanings
really, one a natural and one a spiritual. Naturally we have
those occasions in the history of the world when there have
been great grievous famines which have been sent. And when God
sends a famine, there has been a great shortage of food to eat.
And it's been clearly the judgment of God. And that's been a very
solemn situation. And to such an extent as the
prophet says here, and we'll send famine upon it, and we'll
cut off man and beast from it. Well, we know that's a natural
situation. But also we know it's a spiritual
situation. And you may ask, well, what does
that mean? Well, we read. Sometimes the
Lord will send a famine of the hearing of the word. And what
does that mean? That means this. Because of the
idol set up in our hearts, we come and go from service to service,
and we don't find us any profit. And we may be blaming the minister,
And we may be blaming various reasons, but it's a good thing
when we recognise the reason really is because of the idols
that have been set up in our heart. And the effect has been,
therefore, that God has sent a famine. A famine. We're not receiving spiritual
food. We're not receiving spiritual
drink. God has sent a famine. Well, it's a wonderful blessing
when the Spirit of God points to us and shows us the reason
why it's a famine. Why it's a famine. I remember years ago, soon after
I started preaching, I was preaching in a chapel in a godly deacon
and we walked home lunchtime and he said to me, he said, you
know Stephen, if you came and preached, And you had to sit
down after five minutes with nothing else to say. He said,
I wouldn't blame you. I blame myself. That was a good,
humble testimony, wasn't it? Often we can blame ministers,
can't we? We should first of all blame
ourselves. Blame ourselves for our situation. And it's perhaps
because God is sending a famine. because of the idols set up in
our heart. Well, here was this situation
here then, that Ezekiel was told to preach to these men, to tell
them, and then he comes and he says, and he draws this analogy,
though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they
should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness
saith the Lord God." Now it's very significant that the Spirit
of God should direct Ezekiel to speak of these three men.
Daniel was still alive, of course. He was one of those who was carried
down into Babylon as one of the captives. But what we do know
is that Daniel was greatly blessed, and blessed with prayer. providing prayer in his life. And he was able to pray to God
and we know that there were those deliverances in his life. So
they would have been no doubt familiar with Daniel. But he
also speaks about Noah. Now of course, Noah was that
one who was on the earth when there was such wickedness. that
God destroyed man upon the earth, apart from just those eight people,
Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives, and all the
animals which were saved on the ark. No doubt, you see, Noah
was a man of prayer, but it was only Noah that was saved and
his family. None else. They were all destroyed. And although Noah, as a righteous
and gracious man, might have prayed that there might have
been the world spared, no, they were in a situation where God's
judgment was to come upon them. And therefore, they were indeed
destroyed. So this was a very important
person to bring before them. And then the third person was
Job. Well, Job was a man who was greatly
blessed, greatly favoured, and yet the Lord saw fit to cause
much trouble and havoc to come into his life. But again we know
that the Lord brought wonderful deliverance when Job prayed for
his friends. It was then that the Lord brought
deliverance. So we have these illustrations, these three people,
well-known, godly men, righteous men, not of their own righteousness,
but that which God had given to them. And it's set before
them that even if they had been there, they would not have been
able to have stopped the judgments of God. They would have only
delivered themselves. Though these three men, Noah,
Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own
souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. And it's
good to realise that you and I today, although we covet the
prayers of other people for ourselves, my friends, they cannot in actual
fact deliver us. They cannot in fact save our
souls. Don't be reliant on other people's
prayers, be thankful for them, but recognise that you and I
stand before God. And it's as God deals with our
souls that we need that gift of repentance before God. It's
not something that someone else can bring into our lives to deliver
us. We need to be directed to the
Lord Jesus Christ. we need to realize the wonderful
blessing is to meditate and to think upon his name and to consider
him for his great and glorious salvation so that we may rejoice
in that and not rejoice in idols which come into our own minds
and into our own hearts. And then he goes on and he says
and If I cause noisome beasts to
pass through the land, and they spurn it, so that it be desolate,
that no man may pass through, because of the beasts, though
these three men. It goes on. Now, there was a
situation, we got famine first, and now we've got a situation,
noisome beasts. Well, again, no doubt in this
day when Ezekiel prophesied, there were many ravenous beasts
which the Lord could increase. which could have brought havoc
amongst the people. But now, of course, more today,
we can realise it may be noisome beasts, there may be noisy and
evil people that may be raised up in our life to oppose us. And they may indeed be the messengers
of Satan, like roaring lions going around. And so, sometimes the Lord may cause
this, come into our lives, to alert us again to our situation. My friends, how as a nation that
we might realize these things, how we departed as a nation,
and many nations of the world have, to realize just like Israel
of old, they've forsaken the Lord. And truly as a country,
we've forsaken the Lord and followed our own way. Perhaps the Lord
may cause noisome beasts, evil people, to rise up and to fill
places of importance in our country. And we find ourselves, as it
were, under condemnation, guilty before our holy God. And in that
event, as Ezekiel says, though these three men were in it, as
I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor
daughters, not even their loved ones, no. but only their own
selves. They only shall be delivered,
but the land shall be desolate. The natural land and then, my
friends, the spiritual land. Our spiritual land to be desolate.
Oh, it's a painful thing, isn't it? To be desolate in your soul,
to be far off from God, And it's good if the Spirit of God convinces
us of the idols in our heart, the reason it is so. And then
he says, or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, sword,
go through the land so that I cut off man and beast from it. What
does that mean? That means war. The Lord sends
a sword, he sends war. And we know there have been wars
which the Lord has sent against his people in days past. Yes, very grievous wars, to show
them the condition that they were in. Again, my friends, perhaps
it may be that you and I may suffer from this, when the Lord
brings, as it were, war into our souls. It was a great battle,
and what is that battle? Well, it's really when the Lord
puts forth his sword, the Word of God, which speaks contrary
to the way that we're going. The things that we are enjoying
are worldly and not spiritual. And nor applies His Word. The
sword is a painful situation to find ourselves in. And so
again the Prophet says, though these three men Noah, Daniel
and Job were in it. As I live, saith the Lord God,
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only
shall be delivered themselves. And then finally, where if I
send a pestilence into that land and pour out my fury upon it,
upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast. The fourth
situation, the fourth judgment, that God brings upon people. How solemn it is then to have
pestilence. You know, Israel, in their journey
through the wilderness, God sent them pestilences sometimes, didn't
he? Remember he sent fiery serpents to bite them. Those who rebelled
against God, those who set up idols in their heart. And what
was the way of deliverance? There was only one way. When
Moses made that serpent, put it on a rod, raised it up high,
they had to look to that serpent and live. What is the way of
deliverance today? It's only to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ, my friends, if we're in that position. And if
we're dying, which we are by nature, if we're dying spiritually,
if we become barren and hard-hearted and wretched, where's the way
of deliverance? To look to the Saviour. To plead
for forgiveness, to plead for mercy, to plead that He may show
us His great love towards such an unworthy sinner. Oh, to look unto the Saviour.
That's the only place of deliverance, when the Spirit of God brings
His conviction to our hearts, and as it were, shows before
us these judgements. Where's the deliverance? To look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. that you and I might be found
looking there. And then he says, for thus saith
the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sword judgments
upon Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the noisome beast, and
the pestilence to cut off from it man and beast. Well, I believe
if the Spirit of God convicts us, and I mean the Spirit of
God convicts us, we will recognise that God will be just if he cut
us off. We wouldn't be able to stand
and say, well, I'm a good man. We'd have to come and say, I
am a guilty sinner and I deserve to be cut off, but I plead for
thy mercy. I look for thy grace. I desire
thy love. But then the Lord comes and says,
Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant, just a few true
believers. Now then, may our concern be
that we are numbered amongst the remnant, those who are the
true believers, those who have been blessed by the Spirit of
God, those who have been led by His Spirit, those who have
been shown their own unrighteousness, and are seeking unto God for
His righteousness, those who desire to turn away from the
evil of their sins and to know what it is to enjoy fellowship
and communion with their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet behold,
there shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth,
both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth
unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings, And ye
shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought
upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon
it. Well, what a comfort it will be to the church of God to see
the Lord does have mercy. He is a kind and gracious God. He does not deal with us as our
sins deserve. And what a blessing it is when
the Lord convicts us of our sins and turns us and leads us and
directs us to Himself, to a crucified Saviour. And there we see is
all our hope for time and for eternity. And they shall comfort
you when you see their ways and their doings, and you shall know
that I have not done without cause all that I have done in
it, saith the Lord of God." This morning, may we be able to say,
is there not a cause? has there not been a cause, is
there not a reason why the word of God should come into our hearts
and to move us and to bless us and to quicken us with that condemnation
and yet to give us the evidence and that good hope in the mercy
of our God and the favor of our God and to thank God that he
has not left us to carry on in our own sinful ways, satisfied
with an outward religion, but has directed us to the importance
of having our heart right with God. and to be delivered from
all that is hypocritical and all that is of the flesh, so
that his name may be lifted up and honoured and glorified, and
we may go on our way, thankful and rejoicing, to know the Lord
has been mindful of us, and he's not left us, and he's not forsaken
us, but he's been gracious to us and caused us to hear his
great and glorious voice. Amen.