This whole passage or this whole
chapter pretty well in Ezekiel 44 is speaking about the ordinances
for the priests, things that they were supposed to do, things
they're not supposed to do, how they were to minister different
things among the people. So the whole passage deals with priests, preachers, you know,
Old Testament. And they were, it says, you know,
verse, for example, verse 21, neither shall any priest drink
wine when they enter into the inner court. So there is various
types of ordinances and charges, responsibilities that these men
have when they were ministering of the things of God for the
people, for themselves and etc. So We're going to look at two
verses tonight. I was going to get over into
Daniel and I thought I'm going to read the end of Ezekiel, the
last several chapters. And in my study Bible at home,
I had these two verses. I've had them circled for years
and years. And I went through and I went
through and I couldn't get any further than this chapter. I
couldn't get into Daniel because there's something for us. I'm
not sure what, but there's something in here for us tonight. And basically,
well, I've got it just briefly titled Teach My People and I
Will Be Your Inheritance. Teach My People and I Will Be
Your Inheritance. And sometimes preachers are asked,
why do you do what you do? You know, I've had people ask
me, you know, if they find out that I'm a preacher or a pastor,
they want to know why we do what we do. And some ask, Why preach
nothing but the pure and free grace of God in Christ Jesus? Why do you do that? Because when
you preach the gospel of God's grace, there's no add-ons. It's
not the gospel and something else. And when we preach the
gospel of God's grace, there's no subtractions. Christ is all
in all in the gospel. It's not popular, and it is certainly
not very fancy. There's not a lot of frills.
We preach the simplicity that this book tells us about the
Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, where He came from, what He did,
why He did it, and where He's at now. We don't get real complicated
with it. We don't try to add things to
it or add decorative statements and comments and all these different
things. Why do we do what we do and why do we preach nothing
but the pure and free grace of God in Christ Jesus? Before I
get to our passages, we're going to go to the answer that Paul
had for such questions, which is our answer, which is my answer. The number of years. that I've
been pastoring since I was 91. This is my desire, is to answer
that question as Paul answered it. So turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. And then we're going to look
at a few things and then we'll get back to our text in Ezekiel
44. But turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
2. We've been over these many times.
But it's often good to reevaluate or to remember why we do the
things we do. Obviously, we do it for the glory
of God and not the praise of men. But look at Paul's answer
to these questions. Why do preachers do what they
do? Why do they say the things, preach
the things that they do? And I'm speaking about gospel
preachers, because a lot of preachers are not gospel preachers. They're
hirelings, as Christ says. They're more concerned about
themselves than the flock. But Paul answers this question.
1 Corinthians chapter 2, starting in verse 1, he said, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, Came not when I came preaching
the gospel speaking of the things of God. I came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God
for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified and I was with you and in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. You know, Paul is human. He's
just like, you know, I'm not going to stand up here and tell
you that I don't have fears, that I don't have weaknesses,
that I don't have struggles when I go out into the workplace,
that I don't struggle with things, fears within, sin within, and
all these different things. I, like Paul, were just sinners
preaching, sinful men preaching to sinners. He says, I was with
you in weakness and fear and much trembling. And he said in
verse 4, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power. Why? That your faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I've told
you this time and time again, and I quote again from Pastor
Scott Richardson, if you simply reason people into the truth,
somebody smarter than you, smarter than I, to come along and reason
us out of it. But, and that's what Paul's saying
here, he wasn't trying to impress people with his oratorical ability. But he simply preached, not in
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the power, the spirit of power,
because he didn't want somebody that said they trusted in Christ
to stand in their own wisdom or the wisdom of other men, but
in the power of God. We preach, determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Everything about Christ. Because everything we need is
found in Christ. back in 1 Corinthians, but the
first chapter, look at verses 17 and 18. Paul says, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Just preach
the gospel. Not with words of wisdom, excuse
me, with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross,
that is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, It is to
them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God. So when we preach the gospel,
it's not a game. We're not fooling around. Because
one old preacher said, if you care for what you preach, somebody
just might believe it. So we don't preach what tradition says
to do. We don't preach what our fathers
told us to do. We preach what this book tells
us to do. Turn to Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, and look
with me at verse 14. Paul says, as he's writing to
the brethren there at Galatia, he says, but God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Gospel. How he died, for whom he died,
why he died. By whom, that is the gospel,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is
crucified unto me and I unto the world. The world never liked
the gospel, it never will. But he said God forbid that he
should glory in anything other, and when he's not saying he's
proud to be a preacher of the gospel, but he's saying the manner
in which he's honoring to God. glorying in that, that which
glorifies God. And turn lastly to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. I'm going
to start in verse 1 instead of coming right in the middle of
a verse. Philippians chapter 3 verse 1. Finally my brethren
rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me,
Indeed, it is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of
dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for
we, gospel preachers, are the circumcision, one, which worship
God in the Spirit, two, rejoice in Christ Jesus, three, have
no confidence in the flesh. We preach the gospel. When the
gospel is preached and believed, God is worshiped in the Spirit,
Christ is rejoicing, and we don't put any confidence in the flesh.
There's a lot of religious activity that all it is, is movement,
tradition, ceremony, and flesh. And God's not in it. Though,
verse 4, I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
think that he might trust in the flesh, I more. He's saying,
you know, here's my pedigree. Here's my pedigree. circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law. I was a Pharisee. I
knew it backwards and forwards concerning zeal. I persecuted
the church, touching righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. But look at what he says. But
what things were gained to me, those I count loss for Christ. I'll take all that religious
nonsense, all that activity, all that stuff, superstition,
whatever it might be, I'll count it but loss for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excelsis of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may
win Christ. and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness." That's Paul's answer, back to our text
in Ezekiel 44. That's Paul's answer to why he
did the things he did. Not glorify the flesh, but glorify
the Lord Jesus. Rejoice in Christ. Worship God
and, excuse me, the Spirit. Determine not to know anything
except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Which this whole book
is about, chapter to chapter. You know, people think and say,
well, if you just preach about Christ, you're not going to have
a whole lot. Oh, yeah, he's there. He's everywhere.
He's in this whole thing. And Paul's desire or desire of
every gospel preacher is to beseech the Lord and preach the gospel
and pray for one another until Christ be formed in you. And
that's our desire. We don't want to make people
a little you know, preachers, or make them like us. Like Scott
Richardson told me years ago, you know, when you imitate some
man, most of the time what you're going to pick up is their bad
traits. That's what you'll imitate. And he further told me that in
that same conversation, he said, If there's anything that we do
that glorifies Christ, do that. But don't do this other stuff.
But now let's look at our text. Our verse, Ezekiel 44, look at
verse 23. The preacher's responsibility,
the priest's responsibility. And it says, and they shall teach
my people. This is our charge. One of the
things, one reason why we do the things that we do. This is
a charge that we have and why we enjoy preaching the gospel
of God's grace. Among many other things, but
this is just one. And they shall teach my people
the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to
discern between the unclean and the clean. Holy and profane. Now what he's not saying is merely
in ceremonial or moral way. Oh, I can see, you know, that's
what religion does today is that they just pick people apart.
Oh, that's unholy. That's holy. That's good. That's
bad. You know, your children ought
to be doing this and not doing that. That's not what he's talking
about. It's not the external. clean and profane, holy and profane
that he's speaking, but he's speaking in a spiritual sense.
Truth versus air. Teach my people. Preach the gospel
to them. So they, when they believe upon
Christ, when somebody tries to feed them something other than
the truth, they'll say, I don't want to hear it. They won't want
to go back to Egypt. We don't desire to go back to
Egypt to listen to that stuff. Truth versus error. Doctrine
which is according to godliness, like Paul says, as opposed to
that which is corrupt and unsound, which eats at the soul like a
canker. True worship versus superstition. You ever ask people why they
do what they do? When people make comments, biblical
comments or religious comments about something they heard or
said or whatever. And if you just ask them according
to scripture, they're just like, you know, I never thought about
that way or. you know, they look at you like there's something
wrong with you. But one thing that the gospel preacher does
is they teach my people, teaches people the difference between
the holy and the profane, cause them to discern between the unclean
and clean. And if the gospel's not being
preached clearly and soundly, how's that going to be done? If we waver, if we take the middle
road, if we worry about what men think, I don't want to offend
anybody when we're up here preaching gospel and we have visitors.
No, we stand up there and we tell the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace. And that's the difference between
true worship and superstition, true responsibilities versus
unwarranted tradition and religious service. What do you light those
candles for? Mom did it. What do you, you
know, I have been to different places as I was younger and I
would always, you know, I went with some of my friends to different
churches to just spend the night with them. So you do that. And
I remember asking, you know, asking, well, what do you know?
This is not what we do. So why are you doing that? It's
just what we do. He says they teach my people
the difference. That is, we preach Christ. Christ Jesus the Lord. He is
the truth, the way, the light, grace, the just, and He is the
one. And Him being preached, as He
is revealed in this book, God gives you grace, you will
be able to discern Therefore, the difference between the false,
the wrong way, darkness works unjust and the unholy one. That is anything or anyone preached
other than Christ. And I know for a fact that you
could stand up here in Bible class or behind this pulpit and
you could you could teach all the church morals and traditions
You can teach all these rules and regulations and no amount
of rules and regulations are going to keep a depraved sinner
in check. It's not going to happen. You
can put legislation on it. You can do all these different
things and you just keep mixing up those works. Keep mixing them
up. Keep changing around. You're not going to ever keep
a depraved sinner in check. The only way that's going to
happen is by supernatural sovereign grace, by making us new creatures
in Christ Jesus. And we still struggle with the
old nature, but we understand the principles, the life of grace
in the soul We must be taught truth, this is true, doctrinal
truth, accurate truth, being clear about the gospel. But being
taught truth, it has to be also penetrated by the spirit of grace
and supplications. I can speak, but God and the
spirit must activate, must regenerate in order for us to know the difference
between the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean. But
that is a responsibility that we take very seriously. Teach
my people the difference between the holy and the profane. Cause
them to discern between the unclean and the clean. Do that by preaching
Christ. Not much of rules and regulations.
Preaching Christ. Secondly, well let me finish
up a few thoughts on this. by nature and by birth and practice
we're unclean. So then a total and complete
work of majestic grace has to be performed upon us to set us
free. There's no way we can differentiate
between these two. And that's why God's preachers
tell of Christ day in and day out. He's the only message that
this book, in this book and of this book, and he's the only
one that will last an eternity and will do any of us any good
everlastingly. I'm speaking of him. Secondly,
look at verse 28. So we preach the gospel. And God gives grace and He gives
assistance. And He causes you and He causes
me to understand somewhat between holy and profane and between
unclean and clean. Because He makes us to differ.
We don't have a formula to figure these things out. This world
is way too complicated. The beauty of the gospel is it
cuts through all that. And we see Him for who He is.
And I'm not saying we understand everything alright. But I guarantee
you, we understand and we know who we believe and we know what
we understand and we know why things are as they are, because
he's on the throne. So you believe this gospel. This
gospel is being preached. So then what is our inheritance
for such devoted service and undying love and worship towards
the Lord? What's our inheritance? Some
people would say, what's our reward? Well, it's not recognition
by the community. It's not praise of men. It's
not to be honored among family. It's not to have the glory. It's
not for money, for titles, positions, nor anything attached to self.
Look at verse 28. To me it can't be any more clear
than this verse here. And it shall be unto them, the
believers, teachers, preachers, believers of God's gospel, the
only gospel, it shall be unto them for inheritance. I am their
inheritance. Not golden streets, not palaces,
not mansions. He says, I am their inheritance. And if that's not enough, and
you shall give them no possession in Israel, why? I am their possession. Now that right there, underline
that, circle that in your Bible. You know, people start talking
about singing these goofy religious songs about the streets of gold
and all these different things. He's your inheritance and he's
your possession. Now we're talking about the great
I am who inhabits eternity is your inheritance in the person
of Jesus Christ. You've seen the father, you've
seen him, one. And your possession. Now, Melinda told me the other day
she met a, she was in a store and she was waiting to check
out and there was this gentleman who had a bunch of stuff that
was checking out too. He kind of made it so everybody
could see, the clerk that was checking could see what was going
on. And then, you know, kind of baiting. And, oh, that's beautiful. That's lovely. You know, what
are you going to use that for? Well, they're going on each side
of my pulpit. And then Linda said by the time
he got done, he preached a little sermonette. I this, and me that,
and oh I want them to recognize me, but I want them to look at
these flowers, and look at these things, and all that kind of
stuff. Self, self, self, to be noticed. And I have, I'm sitting here
writing this down, these notes down, and I ask myself a question,
and I ask this to you. Did you ever meet a preacher, false preacher, that did not
tell you somehow or some way in the planned conversation that
he wasn't a preacher. It always worked out to where
the conversation, they would bait you and then you're probably
going to say, well, what do you do or who are you? Oh, I'm a
preacher. I remember this over 20 years
ago. We had a gentleman that came
when I worked at Sunny Hill. We were potting roses. The owner
brings out this older gentleman, rather distinguished looking.
He didn't have jeans on like the rest of us, but he had work
clothes on. He waddled up to the potting
bed and was working with us on those roses and starts saying
a few things that would lead you to ask questions. And he
wasn't there two minutes. And we found out he was a preacher. And everything was mercy this
and oh Lord that and all these different things. And just like
that. And then when I worked for the
city, same thing. Had somebody come up to me one
time and said, I heard you're a Rev. And I go, what? I heard you're a Rev. I go, what
are you talking about? Somebody told me you were a Reverend.
I said, I'm a pastor. But I said, don't call me that.
Don't call me a reverend. And he said, why? And I said,
well, there's only one place in the whole Bible, one place,
that the word reverend is used. And I said, it's talking about
God. It is not talking about man. It is not talking about... I said, holy and reverend is
his name. Not mine and not anybody else
that stands behind here. He's reverend. And we preach
Him because He is our inheritance and He is our possession. And
that signifies to me, is there anything that you or I could
ever want that He could not satisfy simply by Himself? Not things,
but by Himself. Conversely, there's nothing in
this world that can compare with knowing Him, being found in Him,
and being united to Him by faith. Because He is all in all. And in our substitute, everything
He does is for us and for us right now. Right now. Whether it's His covenant, whether
you talk about God's attributes, whether you talk about His nature,
whether you talk about anything, it's ours by blood redemption. Because He's our inheritance
and He's our possession. And He's our possession right
now. We tend to think, well, somewhere down the road. Right
now. That's what's amazing, because
you know, I listened to a message by Maurice today. And He said,
you know, if you're one of God's, He'll never let you forget how
sinful you are. See, that's why we don't have
to say, you did that, you shouldn't have done that. The Holy Spirit
dwells within us and is constantly telling us what we are and what
He's done. But even as sinful as we are,
He is our possession, right? I know what I'm saying, but I
don't know what I'm saying. You know what I mean? I'm just
a puny, finite, sinful worm talking about an infinite, holy, majestic,
glorious God. But I know, because this book,
which has no air in it, There's nothing but truth written in
these pages. He says, read it again, I am
their inheritance, verse 28, and I am their possession. He is our possession right now,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be served and communed with
now. What earthly privileges and possessions
can be compared to that. Nothing. No wonder Paul said with loudest
declaration and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God to them who are called according
to his purpose. And he says, Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine,
nakedness, peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us, because he
is our inheritance, and he is our possession. And Paul closes
and says, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, or any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, from having
and owning him as our inheritance. and embracing Him as our full
possession, which is ours in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's why we tell people that
God has nothing for us outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
in Him, we have everything, certainly enough. Bruce, would you close
us please?