Turn into the book of Ezekiel
to chapter 22. Ezekiel 22. The title of the message tonight
is taken from verse 30 of this chapter. No man to stand in the
gap. No man to stand in the gap. Ezekiel had been prophesying
in these months and years of the destruction of Jerusalem.
That destruction is certain. False prophets have been saying
the opposite. They said peace when there was
no peace. They said everything was going
to be fine, but Ezekiel was true to the Word of God. It wasn't
a popular message. It wasn't received well among
the people, and especially among those prophets of false peace. But the destruction of Jerusalem
was certain. And God is having Ezekiel prophesy
to these Jews in captivity regarding that very fact. But he makes
certain that they understand the reason that this destruction
was coming. And in Ezekiel chapter 22, what
we have here is a catalog, basically, of the sins of Judah and Jerusalem.
It's like a record, God keeping a record of their sins. And as you read down through
this, consider these things. As you read down through this,
we have to consider, number one, the question that the Apostle
Paul posed in Romans chapter 3 and verse 9, when we think
about the sins of the Jews. And that's this, are we better
than they? You might see a lot of differences
between our society and theirs and our individual selves and
theirs. But when it's all, when it comes
down to the very basics, a person standing before God by nature,
are we any better than they? And the answer that Paul gave
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit was no and no wise. No and no
way. We're all sinners. We all deserve
and have earned nothing but damnation. The second thing that you want
to consider as you read down through passages like this is
what the psalmist posed in a question, in the form of a question, in
Psalm 130 and verse 3, and I quote this quite often. And that's
this, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? Who among us would stand? That's
the thing. If God cataloged your sins, how
would you stand before God? If God kept a record of your
sins, how would you stand? Well, we know. We know from God's
testimony that we wouldn't stand at all. We would all be doomed
forever if God kept that record. And he's keeping that record
here, isn't he? And there's a reason he's keeping that record. Because
God must justly charge sin where the law demands it. And He's either going to charge
it to us personally, or He's going to charge it, impute it,
to someone whom He has appointed, someone who is able to take those
charges and do something with them, and three, someone who's
willing to do it. Now at the end of this catalog
of sins, what he says in verse 30 is this. He says, I sought
for a man among them that should make up the hedge. To make up
the hedge means like to build a hedge or a fence around them
to protect them from the wrath of God. And stand in the gap
before me for the land that I should destroy it, should not destroy
it. Someone to go in between. And
look at the last four words. Somebody said those are the saddest
words, saddest four words of the whole Bible. But I found
none. I found none. Now that's the
issue. Let's just read through chapter
22. He starts off in verse one more,
over the word of the Lord came unto me saying, now thou son
of man, wilt thou judge? Wilt thou judge the bloody city? That's Jerusalem. Through the
years, Jerusalem had been called the holy city, a city set apart
by God. It was the city where the glory
of God rested for so many years, in the tabernacle and in the
temple. You know what holy means. It means to be set apart, to
be consecrated, dedicated for God's service, for God's use
alone. But Jerusalem had certainly not
behaved like a holy city. and that for a long time and
so now God says the bloody city that bloody city or city of bloods
the blood of idols the blood of murder the blood of injustice
and he says judge that city and he says yea thou shalt show her
all her abominations here's the record you see you see that's
that's that's why we keep remembering as you go through passages like
this that our hope our only hope is that God will not bring us
to trial for our sins and not deal with us after our sins and
that he will not remember that's what he says not remember or
charges with our sins that's our only hope is there a way
Verse 3, he says, then saith thou, thus saith the Lord God,
the city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may
come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. There
was injustice, bloodshed, idolatry. Thou art become guilty in thy
blood that thou hast shed and hast defiled thyself in thine
idols, which thou hast made. Thou hast caused thy days to
draw near, and art come even unto thy years. In other words,
the time has come for judgment. Therefore have I made thee a
reproach unto the heathen and a mocking to all countries, the
countries that surround it. Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, they
were to be a testimony to the glory of God to the nations,
but they failed in their sin. And now they became a reproach,
a joke to the nations, a point of rejoicing for those heathen
nations. And so he says in verse five,
those that be near and those that be far from thee shall mock
thee, which are infamous and much vexed. You'll be infamous. Your name will get out, but it
won't be for anything good. It won't be for a good reputation.
It won't be for the glory of God. It'll be for the trouble.
Verse six, he says, behold, the princes of Israel, One, were
in thee to their power to shed blood. In other words, they used
the princes, the ones who were in charge, they used their power
not for the glory of God, not to lead the people in the ways
of God, the ways of the covenant, the ways of the gospel, the ways
of Christ, but they used it to pad their own pockets, to promote
their own names. even to the point of shedding
innocent blood. That's what he's talking about.
Injustice. He says, in thee, verse 7, have
they set light by father and mother. In the midst of thee
have they dealt by oppression with the stranger. In thee have
they vexed the fatherless and the widow. Those are the ones
who are the most in need and they neglected them, even persecuted
them. And then he brings many abominations
here. Look at it, verse 8, Thou hast
despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbath. The
things of the temple or the tabernacle, they despised them. That means
they counted them as nothing, as a common thing, instead of
using these things for the glory of God. They profaned the sabbaths. We looked upon that in the last
chapter or the chapter before where all those sabbaths that
God gave Israel to set them apart as a sign unto other nations,
that our rest must come in Christ, Christ who is our Sabbath. In
verse 9, in thee are men that carry tails to shed blood, tail-bearers,
accusers. In thee they eat up on the mountains,
that's idolatry, eating up on the high mountains, that's idolatry.
In the midst of thee they commit lewdness, immorality. In thee have they discovered
their father's nakedness. In thee have they humbled her
that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed abomination
with his neighbor's wife, committed adultery, prostitution, fornication. Another hath lewdly defiled his
daughter-in-law. Another in thee hath humbled
his sisters and his father's daughter. See, it just keeps
getting worse and worse as far as the immorality of it. Verse 12, In thee have they taken
gifts to shed blood. They took bribes. Thou hast taken
usury and increased, took advantage of people in need. Thou hast
greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten
me, saith the Lord." That didn't even enter their mind. All of
these things. He says in verse 13, behold therefore
I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast
made and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. Can
thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the days that
I shall deal with thee? You're not going to be able to
hold up against the wrath of God. Your heart will fail, your
hands will fail. I the Lord have spoken it, I
the Lord will do it. I'll scatter thee among the heathen,
and disperse thee in the countries, will consume thy filthiness out
of thee, and thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself
in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord." You're going to understand this is the work of God, the
judge. Then Ezekiel says, the word of
the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel
is to me become dross. Now, he likens it to impure metals. And that's important. Let me
just read this part and I'll come back. He says, you become
dross, an impure metal, a mixture. They're brass and tin and iron
and lead. In the midst of the furnace,
they're even the dross of silver, impure silver. Silver is the
metal that symbolizes redemption. The picture here is one who seeks
redemption, but by impure means. Oh yeah, we know we've sinned
against God. They come to that point. They
come to a point where they realize they've sinned against God and
they want to turn to God and they want forgiveness, but they
want it by impure means. Means that doesn't honor and
glorify God. Means that are fraught with the works and the wills
of men. And look on, he says in verse
19, therefore thus saith the Lord God, because you are all
become dross, behold therefore I will gather you into the midst
of Jerusalem, as they gather silver and brass and iron and
lead and tin into the midst of the furnace. What is the impure
metal is only good to be put into the fire. To blow the fire
upon it, to melt it. So I will gather you in mine
anger and in my fury and I will leave you there and melt you.
Yeah, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath
and you shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted
in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the
midst thereof, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured
out my fury upon you." Now, the picture here is that man, by
nature, fallen in Adam, ruined, is like an impure metal. We're
full of sin. We're full of impurities. As
I say we have no righteousness. We have no way of working one
where there's none that do with good So what's the answer will
hold your finger there turn over to Malachi chapter 3? The reason that that is that that's
such a an appropriate Analogy is this this right here
in Malachi chapter 3 if I can find it He speaks of his messenger coming. And he says in verse 1, Behold,
I will send my messenger, he shall prepare the way before
me, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold,
he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Now he's speaking of
John the Baptist there, you know that, who proclaims the coming
of Christ. But who may abide the day of
his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is
like a refiner's fire, like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver." That's Christ. That's one of the ways
that the Messiah is often described in the Old Testament. He's like
a refiner and purifier of silver. See, that's what we need. We're
no better than Jerusalem back here. We're like impure metals.
Full of sin. Without any righteousness. But
the Lord sends Messiah. It says in verse 3, He shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and He shall purify
the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. Gold is the
metal that represents deity. This is the work of God. Silver
is redemption. This is the work of God. that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Now how do you offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness? You plead Christ. You rest in
Christ. You believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the purifier. He's the refiner. He took the fire of God's wrath
that we deserve and out of Him comes this refinery. Verse four,
then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto
the Lord as in the days of old as in the former years. You see
that? Now go back to Ezekiel 22. We're impure metals. We're dross. That's what we are. That's not
a good thing if you're looking for purity. That's a mixture. We have no goodness in us. There's
no soundness in us, Isaiah said. We're nothing but sores and putrefying
sores, open sores from the head from the head to the feet. And
there's nothing good in us. And so if there's any goodness
about us or in us, it comes from the Messiah who is the refiner,
who is the worker of purity, the worker of righteousness.
Now look back at verse 23, Ezekiel 22. He says here, he lists four groups
that were offensive to him. And it includes prophet, priest,
and king. And the people, the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, Son of man, saying her, thou art the land that is not
cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There's
a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst there. The prophets
couldn't help. The prophets were telling lies.
The prophets were preaching a false gospel, crying peace when there's
no peace. And they conspired to do it.
A conspiracy of prophets, false prophets. And like a roaring
lion ravening the prey, they just did it for their own selves.
They have devoured souls. They've taken the treasure and
precious things. They've made her many widows
in the midst thereof. And then verse 26, he goes to
the priest, the priest of the temple. Her priests have violated
my law. These priests, they did violence
to the law. They profaned the holy things.
Profaned mine holy things. They put no difference between
the holy and the profane. They didn't make a proper distinction
between that which was dedicated solely unto the Lord and that
which is to be used for common purposes. Neither had they showed
difference between the unclean and the clean. You remember the
laws of the old covenant. There were laws of cleanness
and uncleanness. Well, they didn't make these
distinctions. You know, the priests were the major teachers of the
people concerning the law. And they didn't teach people
these things. They just neglected them. It's like people today.
They hold a Bible, but they don't read it. They don't study it.
They don't look at its context. Most people, and probably the
majority of religion that comes in the name of Christianity today,
they don't even bring a Bible to church. They don't read it. They don't test the preachers.
They said, well, he's a good guy, he's a preacher, he's got
to be telling me the truth. You see, that's not the way of
it. These priests had relinquished their authority and their responsibility
to teach the people in the ways of God, in the law. And so it
says, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profane
among them. So the priest failed, the prophet
failed, the priest failed. Verse 27, her princes, these
are the nobles, the leaders, and they would represent the
office of king, even though they all weren't kings, but the king
too had failed. Her princes in the midst thereof
are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy
those to get dishonest gain. In other words, they're getting
rich on their injustices. And so verse 28, her prophets
have daubed them with untempered mortar. In other words, the princes
have promoted, or the prophets had promoted the princes in this
thing. And encouraged them, seeing vanity,
divining lies under them. You see, there's no popularity
in telling people that they're doomed. You're not going to win friends
and influence people, and you're not going to gain high position.
That's why, you know, when I think about Daniel, Daniel is one of
the most amazing stories in scripture to me because Daniel told the
truth and still he rose in office. And you know what? That's the
providence of God. And that's it. That's the only
thing you can attribute that to. But here it is, they divine
lies unto them. Verse 28, saying, thus saith
the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken, And then the people
of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have
vexed or troubled the poor and the needy. Yea, they have oppressed
the stranger wrongfully. So there you have it. There's
the prophet, there's the priest, there's the princes, and there's
the people. All four have failed, sinned
against the Lord. So now comes to verse 30. And
here's the Lord representing himself as one who seeks for
a man. Now we know what this is about.
This is not God trying to find something that he didn't know
about before. It's not about God learning.
He's making a point. Just like he made to Abraham
back in the days of Sodom. Remember how Abraham sort of
bargained with God? It really wasn't bargaining at
all. Abraham was just interceding for the people of Sodom. The
problem is that Abraham could not properly play the intercessor. He wasn't qualified. He couldn't
stand in the place of the people of Sodom. And so he said, well,
if there's 50 righteous men, or if there's 40, or if there's
30, 20, well, only them to five, remember that? And God said,
well, if there's five righteous men in Sodom, I'll spare them.
Well, God knew there weren't five righteous people in Sodom.
He knew that, but he's making a point. And what was his point? Well, Abraham asked the question,
shall not the judge of all the earth do right? God's going to
do right. You can mark it down. My friend, there weren't five
righteous people in Jerusalem in this day. Verse 30, and I
sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, build
the fence, protection. And he said, and stand in the
gap before me for the land. Stand as a mediator. stand in
between the wrath of God and the people, that I should not
destroy it, but I found none. No one in that city sufficiently
righteous to save that city. What does the Bible say about
us? There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that do
of good, no, not one. What do we have here in this
chapter? It's a point that the prophet needs to make. And that
is, here is man without a mediator. Here is man without a righteousness. Here's man without a ransom.
Here's man without Christ. Right there. I found none. Unless there is one man. Now
you notice what he said here? I sought for a man. That's singular. Not many men. If I sought for
a man. Just one man. Not ten, not a
thousand. Just one. Unless there is one
man. One man who is able. One man
who is willing. One man who is appointed of God. And we're doomed forever. Doomed
forever. Job spoke of this. Look back
at Job chapter 9. Job declared this. You know,
in this chapter 9, he started off asking the question of questions
in Job chapter 9. Verse one, then Job answered
and said, I know it is so of the truth, but how should man
be just with God? How's a man, sinful man, going
to be righteous in God's sight? Be not guilty, not charged with
sin. Verse three, if he will contend
with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousands. If you would
contend with God, if you would have the opportunity to state
your case before God, you couldn't answer God one of a thousand.
He'd have a thousand charges, you couldn't even answer back
one. To justify yourself. And you know thousand lets you
in on something here in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew way of thinking
and speaking. The term a thousand is a way
of stating an uncountable number. An infinite number. So many you
can't count them. And that carries on later on
even in the New Testament when it talks about a thousand years
or thousands of years. That's an infinite number. Only
God knows. You know, God knows how many
sins we've committed. And if He were to catalog them
or record them or charge them, He could take them right down.
And He could bring thousands upon thousands against me and
against you. And we wouldn't have even one
answer that would justify us against the thousands. That's
what Job is saying there. That's how bad this mess is of
humanity. Fallen humanity. Look over at
Job 9, look over at verse 29. Listen to this. Job still considered,
how can a sinner, a man, that's who we are, sinners, be just
with God? And he says in verse 29, if I
be wicked, why then labor I in vain? If I wash myself with snow
water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge
me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shalt pour me. For he
is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come
together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman
betwixt us. That daysman, you might have
the word umpire in your concordance. Now don't think about a baseball
umpire there. Even though there is some similarities,
because a baseball umpire is supposed to make the right call.
And what Job is saying here, there's no daysman betwixt us.
There's no one to make the right call for me as far as justification
and righteousness. I'm a sinner. He says that I
might lay his hand upon both of us. One to stand between.
Just like he's saying here, there's no man. There's no man here. He found
none. Let me show you another, look
over at Job 19. Now Job says there's no man on
earth who can stand between me and God and state my case, plead
my case to where I can come out looking good. That I can come
out justified, pure. But look what happens. In Job
chapter 19, look at verse, Job 19, look at verse 23. He says,
Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and laid in
the rock forever. For I know, now here it comes,
I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. My Redeemer liveth. We read in the opening of our
service in Job 33, what did Job say? I found a ransom. You see,
this whole thing, shows us that when it comes to man and his
abilities, his will, his efforts, when God seeks for a man among
us that could make up the hedge or stand in the gap, there is
none. But God has found a way. God's way, God's provision, God's
righteousness. Turn to Psalm 89 with me. Let
me show you this. Psalm 89. This is the covenant
psalm. And God's way is plain and pure
and clear. And that way is Christ the Lord. It is totally by His grace through
Jesus Christ the Lord. There's no other man. The Bible
says there is one God and one mediator between God and men.
The man, Christ Jesus. The perfect God-man. who can
make up the hedge, build the fence, and who can stand in the
gap between God and us. Christ, who gave Himself a ransom
for all, all His people, to be testified in due time. Look at
Psalm 89 and verse 18. Don't read the whole Psalm. It says, For the Lord is our
defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King. There's the
man, the God-man, It says, Then thou speakest, the Lord speaking
here. He says, Then thou speakest in
the vision to thy holy one and says, I have laid help upon one
that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant.
That's not David personally, that's the Messiah, the greater
David, the one whom David personally typified, with my holy oil have
I anointed him, with whom my hand shall be established, mine
arm also shall strengthen him. The man Christ Jesus, God Almighty,
found him before the foundation of the world in the everlasting
covenant of grace. He chose a people in Christ.
He placed all of the responsibility of our salvation upon Christ. Do you realize that Christ, in
essence, has been standing in the gap for you, if you're one
of His, for eternity? Paul spoke of that salvation
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
That's the eternal purpose of Almighty God. There are things
that had to take place in time. The ground of that salvation
had to be established by Christ on that cross in the fullness
of time. But Christ, in essence, as our substitute in surety,
has been standing in that gap for us, making that hedge against
God's wrath that we earned and deserve from all eternity. God
Almighty found Him before the foundation of the world. We find
Him When we, by God's revelation, find Christ. We find that man
whom God did not find in Ezekiel 22-30 among men. We find Him
when God's revelation, by God's revelation, we find Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel.
We find salvation. We find the only remedy for our
sins, that's His death, His blood. For His blood cleanses us from
all sin. We find the only righteousness
God will accept. Isaiah spoke of it. Hearken to
me, you that follow after righteousness, you that seek the Lord, look
unto the rock which you are hewn and to the hole of the pit which
you are digged. Think of the first disciples.
Look at this with me. Turn to John 1. Remember the
first disciples. when Christ went out in His public
ministry after His baptism and after the temptation. Look at
John chapter 1 and look at verse 41. This is talking about Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother. And when he saw Christ, it says
in verse 41 of John 1, he first findeth his own brother Simon,
that's Peter, and he saith unto him, we have found the Messiah,
which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought Peter
to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, thou art Simon, the son of Jodah, thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. We found him. And look on down in verse 45,
Philip. It says in verse 44, Now Philip
was a Bethsaid in the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip
findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. We found him. We found him. And so the question comes to
me and to you. Have you found him? Have I found
him? Somebody says, well, we're not
going to find Him until the Lord reveals Him to us. You know that's
exactly right. But what does the Scripture say?
It says this in Jeremiah 29 verse 13, listen, it says, You shall
seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all
your heart. Scripture never tells you to sit there and wait. It
tells you to seek the Lord. Isaiah 55, 6, Seek ye the Lord
while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is
near. He is near right now in the preaching of the Gospel.
Oh yeah, it's true. You will never find Christ until
God reveals Himself. But how does God reveal Himself?
The revelation starts right here. Here is the revelation in the
book. From Genesis to Revelation. Now you pray that God will open
your eyes and ears to see Christ. That's what you're to do. That's
right. Now we know man won't do that
on his own. But that's what he's to do. Seek ye the Lord. Christ said to the Pharisees,
you search the Scriptures, in them you think you have eternal
life. They are they which testify of me. You know the Bible teaches also
there's a time when men shall seek Him and not find Him. Because
then it'll be too late. Don't wait till it's too late.
Somebody asked me one time, well when is it too late? I don't
know. You don't either. You seek the
Lord today. Right now. Now is the day of
salvation.