Now let's look at Ezekiel chapter
20. I'm not going to try to get through
all these verses, 49 verses here, but I want to try to deal with
as much as I can tonight. The title of the message, as
I said, is For My Name's Sake. For the sake of the glory, the
majesty, the uniqueness, the name of God Almighty for my namesake. He says that several times here.
And in this portion of scripture, he begins by showing the people
of Judah their history, the history of God dealing with them from
their formation as a nation, as God brought them out of Egypt
and established them at Sinai. and the many blessings that God
gave them, temporal blessings, that they spurned, took for granted,
and denied, and used them in evil, idolatrous ways. And of course, once again, we
see in things like that, not just a picture of a certain class
of people that we can stand in our self-righteousness and look
down on, But we see a picture of ourselves by nature. Fall
in humanity, in unbelief, in sin, in idolatry. So when we
look at these things, I always like to remind myself as I study
them and as I prepare these messages that, but for the grace of God,
there go I. Now you know a lot of people
say that. You probably said it yourself, I have. But do we really
mean it? Do we really mean it? But for
the grace of God, there go I. If we really mean that, that
means this, I have nothing to boast in. I don't have anything
to brag about. And I have no reason to look
down on them for what I am and what I would be, but for the
grace of God. Now that doesn't mean we condone
evil because we're sinners too. It doesn't mean that we promote
evil because we're sinners too. But it does mean that we walk
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in all humility, knowing
that our sins and our transgressions are many, many, many. And we
have no hope but that which is in Christ. And that's really
what the last part of this passage in Ezekiel 20, which I'll be
dealing with next Wednesday, in a message I think I'm going
to entitle, A Great and Glorious Hope for the Future. And it's
a prophecy of Christ. But we'll see Christ in these
first verses too. For whenever God says, for my
name's sake, that's His glory. And His glory is found and revealed
manifested as the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
6 says in the face of Jesus Christ. And we'll talk about that in
just a moment. But look here in verse 1, Ezekiel 20, he says,
it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the
10th day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came
to inquire of the Lord and sat before me. They came to the prophet
Ezekiel, sat before him, And they came to inquire of the Lord.
And what you're going to see is God refuses to be questioned
by the elders of Judah. Now why? Somebody said, well,
you know, God will always give an answer. Well, that's true.
But listen to what he says in verse two. Then came the word
of the Lord unto me, son of man. Now this is the identification
of Ezekiel, speak unto the elders of Israel and say unto them,
thus saith the Lord God, are you come to inquire of me? As
I live, now there's his oath, there's God's oath, swearing
by himself, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of you.
I swear by my oath, by my very existence, by my nature and attributes,
I won't be inquired of you. And then he goes to Ezekiel verse
four. Wilt thou judge them, son of
man? Wilt thou judge them? Now that's not just simply posing
a question. This is making a statement. This
is a rhetorical thing. This is a rhetorical question.
They're going to be judged. And he says, cause them to know
the abominations of their fathers. And then verse five, and say
unto them, thus saith the Lord God, in the day when I chose
Israel and lifted up mine hand unto the seat of the house of
Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt,
when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your
God, God chose them, God identified himself to them. He says in verse
six, in the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them to bring
them forth of the land of Egypt, That's their redemption by power. That's the Exodus. Into a land
that I had aspired for them. And he says, flowing with milk
and honey, there's the promised land, which is the glory of all
the lands. It's the best of all of them.
At that time it was too. And then verse seven, then said
I unto them, cast you away every man, the abominations of his
eyes and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am
the Lord your God. So what is it? What is he going
to do? He said, I won't be inquired of you. Now, what he's saying
here is this. You're not going to put God to
the test. You're not going to put God on
trial here. You know how people bargain with
God. Lord, if you want me to do this, then you do this. God's
not going to be put to the test by you or by me. God works all
things after the counsel of his own will. God knows what's best
for me and for you. We don't know that. We think
we know. But that's just arrogance. You know that. But God knows. God does as he wills among the
armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? But you know what the real
issue here is? Why won't God be inquired of
them? I'll tell you why. Because God has already told
them what they need to hear and they won't believe. They won't
believe. He's already told them what to
do, what not to do. He's already told them why they're
in this captivity. That is his judgment against
their sins. They're only getting what they
deserve. And so why repeat it? You won't
listen. And so he goes about to remind
them of their glorious past in Egypt, which didn't start out
that way. They were in bondage. And then
he brought them out and he formed them as a nation. And look at
verse 8. It says, but they rebelled against me. That's what we did
in Adam. We rebelled against God. Or as
by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin. We
rebelled and would not hearken unto God. He said, they rebelled
against me and they would not listen to me. What he said. And that's what we did in Adam
too. And that's what we do by our nature and by birth. We're
born dead in trespasses and sins. We rebel against God. We won't
listen. We won't hear. And I constantly
remind myself and try to remind you how blessed we are if we
pay heed to the things of God. Because that's not natural. You
realize that? You're doing something tonight
if you're listening and believing what God says. You're doing something
that is not natural to man. It's unnatural. The natural man
receiveth not. the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
And you know if it's unnatural that it's not of you. In other
words, you're not listening because you're better than the ones who
won't listen. I'm not listening because I'm better than them.
You understand that? If you bow and submit to Christ
and God's way of salvation in Him, you're not in rebellion.
But that's the way you were naturally. What happens? You must be born
again. You have to be given ears to
hear, eyes to see. Who gave them to you? God did. By the power of His Spirit as
He applied life from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a miracle.
I'm telling you folks, think about this. This is not bragging.
But if you believe the Gospel, if you're hearing the things
of God, you are a miracle. If you died here tonight and
somebody came in and raised you from the dead, we'd say easily,
that's a miracle. But you sitting there and listening
to the gospel preached and enjoying Christ being lifted up is an
even greater miracle. That's an even greater miracle.
That's unnatural. God did that. But look at this,
he says in verse eight, he says, they rebelled against me. They
would not hearken unto me. They did not every man cast away
the abomination of their eyes. Neither did they forsake the
idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour out
my fury upon them to accomplish mine anger against them in the
midst of the land of Egypt. So there they are coming out
of Egypt. Turn back to Exodus 14. I always
like to go to this passage here. to show you exactly the reference
that is in mind when he talks about their rebellion, their
abominations, after having been brought out of Egypt with a mighty
hand. And you know the story of the
Exodus. You know the story of the children of Israel in bondage
under hard taskmasters and how God sent His prophet Moses there
how God operated with that between Moses and Pharaoh, and the ten
plagues of Egypt, and all of that, and how they came out.
And here they are, the children of Israel, having been brought
out of Egypt, and they're standing on the shore of the Red Sea.
And they look behind them, and look at verse 10 of Exodus 14.
It says, when Pharaoh drew nigh, here comes Pharaoh and his army,
After him and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and
behold the Egyptians marched after him And it says and they
were sore afraid Now that's the fear of men All right, and the
children of Israel cried out unto the Lord Now did they cry
out in faith in trust? In submission no They said unto
Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken
us away to die in the wilderness? Did you bring us out here just
to let us die? Did you bring us to this place
in our lives just to forsake us and let us die and let us
dry up on the vine? He says, wherefore, or they said
in verse 11, wherefore or why have you dealt thus with us to
carry us forth out of Egypt? Why did you even bring us out
of Egypt, if that's the case? He says in verse 12, or they
say in verse 12, is not this the word that we did tell thee
in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?
For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we
should die in the wilderness. Now that's us by nature. That's
us in our religion, left to ourselves, to our own devices, our own wisdom,
our own sight, our own way of thinking. Our fears, our ignorance,
put it all together. There you have just, boy, there's
a great picture of the natural man. And we say, well, you know,
that's just natural. Anybody would think that way.
That's right. Yes, you got her. Pegged right
there. But listen to what Moses, the
prophet of God, tells him. Verse 13, and Moses said unto
the people, fear ye not. That is, don't fear men. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today.
For the Egyptians whom you've seen today, you shall see them
again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you
and you shall hold your peace. Now there's the answer. Just
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God didn't bring
his people out of Egypt to let them die. and to forsake him.
Now go back to Ezekiel 20. Here's how it's related in the
prophet's message. Now here they are. They're in
rebellion. They've been brought out of Egypt and they're in rebellion.
They're in unbelief. They're complaining. Things aren't
going their way. But what does God do? Well, you'd
think he'd just wipe the whole mess out. The whole bunch out. That's what we deserve, isn't
it? And no, he says, look, verse nine, but I wrought. Now you
know what wrought means? It means I worked. God's gonna
do a work. And he says, I worked. And that
work is a work of wisdom, a work of power, a work of goodness,
a work of purpose. He said, I wrought for my namesake. And you know what he's telling
them there? He's telling them, I'm not doing this for you. I'm
not doing this because of you. I'm not doing this for anything
you do or try to do or promise to do. It is totally for my name's
sake. What is God's name? Well, He
has many names. And He has many names because
He's not many gods, He's one God. But he's so glorious and
vast and majestic that it takes many names for us to even begin
to comprehend his majesty, and still we don't even touch the
surface, do we? He's the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Here, his name is his covenant
name, Jehovah, the God of promise. And that's what he says, I wrought,
I worked for my namesake, that it, my name, should not be polluted
before the heathen. Now, if it were left up to the
Israelites, his name would have been polluted among the heathen.
It would have been done by their unbelief, by their transgression,
by their complaining, by their despair. You know that's how
you pollute God's name? That's right. I'm not saying
we're to be stoic. or fatalistic or anything like
that. But what I'm saying is here's
a people who had been shown such great power and goodness from
the Lord which they didn't deserve one degree of it. And God says,
well, but I worked for my name's sake that it should not be polluted
among the heathen among whom they were. in whose sight I made
myself known unto them in bringing them forth out of the land of
Egypt." I brought them out and I formed them as a nation and
I protected them and brought them across the Red Sea for one
reason and one reason alone, that's the glory of God. Now
let me tell you something, folks. Do you know if you're saved tonight,
that's why He saved you? And that's why He saved me? And
there's no other reason. We think we're so good. We're not even on God's scale.
Isn't that right? We think we're so blessed, and
we are. But it has nothing to do with our goodness, our worthiness. It's all wrapped up in worthy
is the Lamb. That was fun. That's right. That's what it's
all about. That's what he's telling me.
It's for my namesake. You know what his name does? Now his name,
you know, if you holler out Bill here tonight, I know that I'm
going to look and Bill Pemberton's going to look and Bill Pennington's
not here. Bill's got another grandbaby
now. And so that's why he's not here.
So he's not here. And, you know, we got many Bills,
you know, usually. So few of us are going to look
because the name Bill just doesn't do it. You'd have to say Bill
Parker. You'd have to say Bill Pemberton.
You couldn't say Bill P. because mine's Parker, Pemberton,
Pennington, you know. But see, God's name, what it
does, it identifies and distinguishes Him as the one true God, the
only one of His kind. There's none other like. You
can't even compare. Don't ever compare anything with
God because there's no comparison. Don't ever try to illustrate
God. Now you might illustrate His works, because He does too
in the Bible. But don't ever try to illustrate
the nature of God. I've heard people try to illustrate
the Trinity. I'm telling you, you can't do
it. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I've heard people say, well,
it's like water. It comes in liquid, and it comes
in a gas like steam, and if you freeze it, it's ice. Well, that's
an element in three forms. The Trinity is not one God in
three forms. I've heard people try to illustrate
it and say, well, I'm a son, and I'm a husband, and I'm a
father. Well, that would be one God in
three roles. It's not one God. I'll tell you,
it's one God in three persons. Don't go any further than that. You can't do it. You can't illustrate
God. His name is His glory. He's jealous
of His name. He won't give His name to anybody
else. He doesn't tolerate those who
pollute His name, those who deny His name, and He doesn't tolerate
those who take His name in vain. And that's not just saying GD.
I'll tell you what, every time a preacher gets up and misrepresents
God, In the way that he saves sinners, he's taking the name
of God in vain. That's right. Look over at 2
Corinthians chapter 4. See, it's for his namesake. And that's important because
you see, God made a promise to Abraham 400 years before he brought this nation,
these people out of Egypt. And you know what he did when
he made that promise? He engaged himself behind, his
reputation, his honor was on the line. And that's what he's
saying here. Now those people didn't deserve
anything they got. They didn't earn anything they
got from God. They didn't deserve, they didn't
even deserve to be slaves down in Egypt. They got there by the
sovereign providence of God, didn't they? Through Joseph. But here God brings them out.
He chose them and brings them out for his namesake. Look over at 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 6. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now his face here is very similar
to the concept of His name. It's not seeing a literal face.
You know, you hear all kinds of silly, despicable, abominable
things today about people seeing the face of Jesus in a cloud.
I even saw one guy, he saw it in a grilled cheese sandwich.
Things like that. They don't see the face of Jesus
Christ. Nobody has seen His face except
those who walked with Him on earth and they're gone. And Paul
said it in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we don't judge any man by
the flesh. We don't judge Christ by the
flesh. We don't know Him because we've seen Him in a dream or
a hundred feet tall as that false preacher in Tulsa saw. No, that's deception. We see the face of Jesus Christ
in the glory of His person and His finished work on the cross,
the gospel, the righteousness of God in Christ. And we learn
from that how God saves a sinner and forgives a sinner and still
remains to be God. He's a just God and a Savior.
That's the glory of God. You know in that one phrase, every attribute of God is included. in that one phrase. It's not
spelled out now. Arthur Pink wrote that great
book on the attributes of God. It's a good book. You may not be able to quote
every attribute, but if you know God as a just God and a Savior,
you have a saving knowledge of every attribute of the glory
of God. How He can be holy, righteous,
just, and still be love, mercy, and grace. And how do you see
that? You see that in the glorious
person, the God-man, Emmanuel, God with us, and the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to put away our
sins and establish the only righteousness whereby God can be a just God
and a Savior. And if you see that, You've seen
the face of Jesus Christ. You've seen the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And you learn this. Go back to
Ezekiel 20 now. You learn this. That your salvation
and every blessing that God has given you and is giving you now
and will continue to give you is for His namesake. And not
for your sake. We just benefit from His glory. Isn't that right? And you know
what? That was all based on a promise
that He made before the foundation of the world to His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, He said it was for my name's
sake. Well, I'm not going to get very far tonight in this
chapter, but that's okay. Let me just go on a little bit
further though. He says for His glory and His promise, His reputation,
If God had allowed them to just go on their way and forsaken
them, His reputation would have suffered. His honor. But He's
not going to let that happen. That's why there is no way that
anyone for whom Christ died can ever perish. Because God's reputation
is on the line. His honor would suffer. His glory.
And He won't let that happen. And that's why Christ came and
did His great work. Well, He says in verse 10, look
at this. He says, wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land
of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. Now, they're
out of Egypt. And what did they do? They rebelled. Now, they've been delivered from
that for his namesake. Now, they're going into the wilderness.
You know, the wilderness journey, the wilderness story of Israel.
So he said, I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt.
Now, I love that language. It's a true interpretation, translation
of that. I caused them to do it. And he
says, and brought them into the wilderness and gave them my statutes
and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even
live in them. Now, you know, that's the old
covenant, those statutes. He's not talking about how sinners
are justified before him when he talks about keeping those
statutes and covenants, which if a man do them, he'll live.
That's not what he's talking about. He's not saying that they
could have been saved by their works. You see, why was the law
given? It was given to show them their
sin and their need of his grace, the need of Christ. But they
could have enjoyed the blessings of life in the land of promise
as God had given them by keeping those statues. And that doesn't
mean they could keep the law perfectly either. If they could
have kept the law perfectly, they wouldn't have needed the
ceremonial law. All they would have needed was the Ten Commandments.
But they had the priesthood and the blood of animals, the day
of atonement, the tabernacle. But look here, he says, I gave
them all these things, in verse 12, he says, moreover also I
gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they
might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them. Now these
sabbaths, they were a sign of a special people created by and
living for the honor of their covenant God And it set them
apart from all other nations. There was the seventh day Sabbath,
but there were other Sabbaths. There were Sabbath years, Sabbath
weeks, there was the year of Jubilee. That was a type of Sabbath. What happened? He said in verse
13, but the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness.
They walked not in my statues. They despised my judgments, which
if a man do, he shall even live in them. And my Sabbaths they
greatly polluted. And then I said, I would pour
out my fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. That
breaking of the Sabbath, as you can see, was a very, very serious
matter. And you know what those sabbaths
typified. Turn to Hebrews 4. All of the sabbaths, the seventh
day sabbath, and you know what sabbath means, it means rest.
All of those sabbaths were types and pictures of the spiritual
and eternal rest of the true people of God in Christ. That's what they were all about.
But that ceremonial Sabbath, those seven days, the years,
all that, they were special things that God gave to that nation
to set them apart as a sign that these are the people of God under
that old covenant. Well, it's our rest in Christ
that sets us as believers, the true spiritual people of God,
apart from the world. The world doesn't rest in Christ,
but we do. We rest in Christ for everything,
for our whole salvation, for all righteousness, for all forgiveness,
for all eternal life, for all glory. In fact, there's nothing
that we have, eternally and spiritually, for which we do not rest in Christ.
That's what we mean when we make statements, quote scriptures
like, Christ is our all. That's what we mean by that.
It's not just poetic language. It's not just something we want
to impress people with. I really mean it. He's my all.
I don't have anything. He's my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, my redemption. But look here in Hebrews 4, look
down at verse 9. He says, There remaineth therefore
a rest, a Sabbath, or a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of
God. He's talking about under the new covenant, there's a rest
that remains. So what is it? For he that is
entered into his rest, now he there is Christ. That he there
refers to Christ. For Christ that is entered into
his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Now, what's he saying? Just as
God created the world and rested on the seventh day, And you know
that that doesn't mean that he got tired and had to regain his
strength like we do. That means he was satisfied and
he had finished the work and he didn't do any more work because
it was done, the work of creation. Alright? Alright. Just as God
finished that work and did no work on the seventh day, rested
on the seventh day, Christ finished his work, his work of what? Of
redeeming his people. of putting away our sins. And
that's why he said in John 19, 30, it's finished. Now, remember,
equate that with 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For God who created the
world, God who by his glory he created the world, hath revealed
himself in our hearts, giving us the light of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. The God of creation, the God
of redemption. Same God. Christ did a work and
he ceased from his own works when he put away our sins and
established righteousness for his people. And so he says in
verse 11, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example of unbelief. What is it to fall
after the same example of unbelief? It's not resting Christ. Don't
believe in him, see? Now, one more thing, go back
to Ezekiel 20, and let me show you this. Now, he put them through
that wilderness, he gave them all these statutes and judgments,
and verse 14, look what he says. He says, but I wrought for my
name's sake, I worked for my name's sake, that it should not
be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them. You see, he had the rebellion
of the people. There it is, again. They just
keep on rebelling. But what did God do? He suffered
long. Why? For His namesake. His glory. Verse 15, Yet also
I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would
not bring them into the land which I had given them, flown
with milk and honey, which is the glory of all ages. Remember
they had to wander 40 years in the wilderness. This generation
that rebelled didn't go into the promised land. Verse 16,
because they despised my judgments, walked not in my statues, but
polluted my sabbaths, where their heart went after idols, nevertheless
mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end
of them in the wilderness. Now why didn't God just snuff
them out? For His namesake. His honor. He made a promise. He's going
to fulfill that promise. And he says, but I said unto
the children in the wilderness, walk ye not in the statutes of
your fathers, don't do what your fathers did, neither observe
their judgments, nor defile yourself with idols. I am the Lord your
God. Walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them,
and hallow my Sabbaths. And they shall be a sign between
me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
Keep the Sabbath. Now somebody asked, do you keep
the Sabbath? Yes, I do. Every time I rest
in Christ, for my whole salvation, I keep the Sabbath. But what
about Sunday? Well, Sunday's the Lord's Day.
That's what the scripture calls it. That's the day we're to meet
and to worship the Lord in community worship. Identifying with the
people of God, confessing Christ before men as we identify with
the gospel that's preached and with the people of God. But our
Sabbath is Christ. and what he accomplished on Cal.