What does it take to stand firm when delivering God's message to a resistant audience? The extraordinary account of Ezekiel's commissioning reveals how God equips His messengers for seemingly impossible tasks.
Ezekiel chapter 3 takes us deep into the prophet's preparation for ministry to the rebellious house of Israel. The divine encounter begins with a remarkable symbolic act - Ezekiel consuming a scroll filled with "lamentations and mournings" that tastes "sweet as honey." This powerful paradox captures the essence of God's Word - though often containing difficult truths, it remains sweet to those who submit to Him. For believers today facing challenging biblical teachings, this offers profound reassurance that even hard truths ultimately work for our good.
God doesn't sugarcoat the difficulty of Ezekiel's mission. Instead of sending him with encouraging promises of success, God bluntly states that Israel won't listen because "they are not willing to listen to Me." But rather than lowering expectations, God equips Ezekiel with supernatural stubbornness: "I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads." This divine empowerment resonates with anyone who has felt inadequate for spiritual challenges - God never sends us into battle without proper equipment.
The central metaphor of Ezekiel as "watchman" establishes a sobering principle about spiritual responsibility. Like sentinels on ancient city walls who sounded alarms about approaching danger, believers today must exercise discernment and warn others about false teaching. The passage makes clear that failing to speak truth when necessary makes us partially responsible for others' spiritual destruction. This timeless principle challenges modern Christians to lovingly but firmly confront deception rather than remaining silent for the sake of false peace.
Join us as we reason through this extraordinary prophetic commission that remains surprisingly relevant for anyone seeking to represent God faithfully in a resistant world. Whether you're facing opposition in sharing your faith or struggling to stand firm in biblical truth, Ezekiel's story offers both encouragement and profound spiritual wisdom.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Today on Reasoning Through the Bible, we're going
to see God make the prophetEzekiel to be very hard-headed.
He needed to be hard-headedbecause he was going to minister
to a people that were veryhard-headed.
Sometimes we find thatsometimes we are hard-headed and
we need some very strong wordsof God to help us out.
(00:42):
Welcome to Reasoning Throughthe Bible, where we go verse by
verse through the Word of God.
We are in the book of Ezekiel,the fantastic book of Ezekiel in
the Old Testament, In chapter 3, we're seeing here God
empowering Ezekiel and puttingthe Word of God in him.
God is going to give him acommission and send him out to
(01:04):
these people that last time wefound out were rebellious and
stubborn.
So, Steve, can you read thefirst three verses of chapter 3
of Ezekiel?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Then he said to me Son of man, eat what you find,
eat this scroll and go speak tothe house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth and he fedme this scroll.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He said to me and we talked about this last time so
we won't repeat much of it here.
But in Revelation 10, we alsohad a place where the heavenly
being gives the prophet John,the apostle John, a scroll to
eat, and it tasted sweet.
That harkens back to right herein Ezekiel, chapter 3, where
(01:58):
Ezekiel eats the Word of God ona scroll, and it tastes sweet,
even though it's full of woe Tothe child of God.
The Word of God always tastessweet, even when the words are
very harsh.
We always accept the Word ofGod, even when they may be very
harsh words.
That's what we have here isEzekiel's given a harsh message,
(02:22):
a very hard message, becausethe people were rebellious, but
he is a person that submits tothe Word of God and submits to
the Lord.
Therefore the words taste sweetto him.
Same thing with us.
To a person that is not a childof God, then they will not like
the taste of the Bible.
(02:43):
But to us that are followers ofGod, even if it's harsh message
, it tastes very sweet to us.
Now, god's Word is good, eventhough sometimes it is very
difficult to digest, and it sayshere feed your stomach and fill
your body with the Word of God,steve, if we get the Word of
God in us, is it physicallybeneficial as well as
(03:07):
spiritually beneficial.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It is both.
Again, as we mentioned in lastsession, getting the Word of God
into us is healthy for us, andwe're going to see Ezekiel here.
God is actually telling him.
You need to assimilate whatthis word is, because you're
going to go out and tell it tothe people.
We get the sense that he istelling Ezekiel.
(03:31):
You need to embody the word,this scroll that has the
lamentations and mornings inthem.
You need to embody them so thatyou can confidently go out and
tell the people what it is thatI want you to tell them.
So we should be the same way.
If we learn God's Word, then weare encouraged to be able to
(03:54):
take it out.
If we have it in us, we feelbetter about being able to
communicate it to other people.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
One of the places I think of Steve is there was a
time in King David's life wherehe had sinned against God and
God was going to punish him forit.
And he gave David a choice ofbeing given over to his enemies
for punishment or turned over tothe hands of the Lord for
punishment.
(04:20):
For punishment, in 2 Samuel 24,14, david turned himself over
to the Lord.
Even though the message washarsh, he said the Lord will
have mercy where my enemies willnot.
So, even though there may be avery harsh message, we still
accept it because it's good forus and we need the surgeon of
(04:44):
the Word of God to come in andcut out some things out of our
lives, and sometimes that'squite painful, but it's good and
in the end we love it becauseit's the Word of God.
He always does good things forus.
Then, in verse 4, we find evenmore of God's commission says
(05:20):
this, whose words you cannotunderstand.
But I have sent you to them,who should listen to you.
Yet the house of Israel willnot be willing to listen to you.
Since they are not willing tolisten to me, surely the whole
house of Israel is stubborn andobstinate.
Behold, I have made your faceas hard as their faces and your
(05:40):
forehead as hard as theirforeheads, like Emery harder
than Flint.
I have made your forehead.
Do not be afraid of them or bedismayed before them, though
they are a rebellious house.
In this passage, steve, howdoes God say the people of
Israel are going to react whenthey hear the word of God that
Ezekiel is going to speak tothem?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They're going to be unwilling to listen to him of
what God is telling them.
Through him, they're not goingto want to have anything to do
with his message.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
That's what we have here is that God knows how
they're going to react.
They freely rebel, but Godknows what's going to happen.
God knows all things.
He says they didn't listen tome, they're not going to listen
to you, but nevertheless Godsends out the Word.
He gives His people, he givesthe world plenty of chance.
It's not that God does thingswithout telling people.
(06:32):
God is long-suffering, he isvery patient, he has a long
patience and he goes over andover again what people should do
.
He puts up with a lot ofrebellion, but he will
eventually act.
He is not infinite in hispatience, in the sense that he
will do justice.
Yes, he's loving and yes, he'spatient, but he will administer
(06:55):
justice.
He will administer his wrath,as sure as can be.
With this, I think we have anexample.
Steve, don't you think ofpeople today?
How do people today react whenthey hear the Word of God?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, the God-haters react in a way that is hateful
and they will call people thattell them the Word of God or the
gospel that they're liars, andthey'll make fun of them,
they'll insult them.
Those are the people that areGod-haters, that actually just
really truly hate God.
They will react in a veryhateful way back.
(07:31):
Other people will just benonchalant about it.
They're not necessarily hatersof God, they just don't want to
have anything to do with God.
They might listen to you, buttheir response might be a polite
thank you but no thanks.
The people that don't want tohave anything to do with God one
way or another, whether it'shateful or whether it's in a
benign way, they're not going tolisten.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What I find interesting is that this is over
2,000 years ago and peoplehaven't changed.
The people of ancient Israelreact to the Word of God.
The same way people today reactto the Word of God is that
people rebel against it in theirnatural state, but God sends
out the Holy Spirit and drawspeople to himself I'm thinking
(08:13):
of in the Gospels.
Matthew tells us that Jesuscried over Jerusalem and Jesus
actually wept.
He had tears in his eyes whenhe looked at Jerusalem and he
says oh Jerusalem, jerusalem,how often I wanted to gather you
to me, as a hen gathers herchicks, but you were not willing
(08:35):
.
So it's the same thing here.
God says they're not going tobe willing to hear you because
they aren't willing to hear me.
So I've made your head hard,I've made you hardheaded because
you're going up against a veryhardheaded people.
I'm giving you the strength togo out and deal with a difficult
people.
Steve, will God give us thestrength to do his ministry when
(09:00):
he sends us out to do a job?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
He does it in such a way that you get encouragement
whenever you come across peoplethat actually do want to hear
the word of God and you see themaccept God, change their mind,
trust on Jesus Christ and thenchange their life, and you get
encouragement from that.
That's what keeps you going.
(09:23):
You're out there to tell theWord, to tell the gospel.
It's not up to you to convincethem.
The Holy Spirit's going toconvict them and God's going to
work with them.
Our place is just to tell andthen be able to follow up and
help them and disciple them ifthey want to become believers in
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
When God tells Ezekiel in verse 9, I have made
your forehead harder than flint.
What he's saying there is I'vemade your mind strong.
I've made your mind and yourwill strong enough to go out and
deal with a difficult people.
That's really what he's sayingthere.
I've given you the mentalstrength to go out and deal with
(10:05):
these people, because it'sgoing to be very difficult.
I submit that when God selectsus for a ministry, we may not
feel like, look, I don't havethe strength to do that, I don't
have the ability.
But God will prepare us.
He never sends us out to doministry without strengthening
us and giving us the Spirit andthe will and all these things.
(10:25):
We may look at a task and say,lord, you picked the wrong
person.
But he didn't pick the wrongperson.
He knows what he's doing and hewill prepare us.
Just like he prepared Ezekielbefore Ezekiel went out to do
ministry.
He'll prepare us and do thesame with us.
We can depend on him.
We can't depend on our ownstrength.
When God gives us a job, heprepares us.
(10:49):
Then, in verses 10 and 11, godrepeats his message to Ezekiel
to speak to the people, whetherthey listen or not.
He repeats this and he's goingto say these things over and
over because he wants to makesure Ezekiel gets it.
He tells Ezekiel go out, givethe Word of God, regardless of
(11:09):
whether they listen.
Your job is to give out theWord of God.
He repeats it here and we havethe same assignment and we need
it repeated to us.
Give out the Word of Godwhether they listen or not.
Am I right to us give out theword of God whether they listen
or not?
Am I right, steve?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, and in verse 8, he says I've made your face as
hard as their faces and foreheadas hard as their forehead.
The picture that comes to mymind is two bulls.
If you've ever seen two bullsgo fight with each other, they
go forehead to forehead and pushagainst each other.
Of course you have the famouspictures of rams that come at
(11:46):
each other from great distancesand they bang into each other
with their ram's horns on theirforeheads.
I get from here that God issaying I'm forcing you and
equipping you to be just ashard-headed as they are and
stubborn as they are to givethem my word to them.
I'm going to equip you andempower you to be just as
(12:09):
stubborn and obstinate with themas they are with me.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
In verses 12 to 15.
In this chapter we have Ezekielagain describing the sound of
the wings of the being and whereGod sent him.
God has now appeared again inglory and he is now sending
Ezekiel out, and he gives exactplace where God's sending him.
(12:34):
I'm going to pick up in verse16 and read what happens with
Ezekiel once he gets to thepeople that he's to speak with.
At the end of seven days, theword of the Lord came to me
saying Son of man, I haveappointed you a watchman to the
house of Israel.
Whenever you hear a word frommy mouth, warn them from me.
(12:56):
When I say to the wicked, youwill surely die, and you do not
warn him or speak out to warnthe wicked from his wicked way
that he may live.
That wicked man shall die inhis iniquity, but his blood I
will require at your hand.
Yet if you have warned thewicked and he does not turn from
(13:17):
his wickedness or from hiswicked way, he shall die in his
iniquity.
But you have delivered yourselfAgain.
When a righteous man turns awayfrom his righteousness and
commits iniquity and I place anobstacle before him he will die.
Since you have not warned him,he shall die in his sin, and his
(13:37):
righteous deeds, which he hasdone, shall not be remembered,
but his blood I will require atyour hand.
However, if you have warned therighteous man that the
righteous should not sin, and hedoes not sin, he shall surely
live because he took warning andyou have delivered yourself.
Steve, what is the main thrustof what he was just saying there
(14:00):
, and what is the role of awatchman.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The main thrust that he's telling him is that you
need to go out and tell thepeople, and he gives them some
conditions.
If you don't tell the peopleand they don't change their ways
the ones that are in theiriniquity then the blood's going
to be on you.
But if you do tell them what Iwant you to tell them and they
(14:24):
still don't change their way theones of iniquity then you're
free and clear, the blood is noton you.
And then he repeats that samecondition for a righteous person
and he's telling them, as awatchman, you are to tell the
people what it is I want you totell them.
That's your job.
Don't worry about how they'regoing to react.
(14:47):
Now, a watchman in general wassomebody that stood on the wall
around a city and they were tolook out and they were to be
watchful for both good and badpeople that were approaching the
city.
They were to set an alarm thatsomebody was coming, whether
they were good or bad.
They were to alert somebodydown close to the gates or
(15:09):
somebody in charge that therewere people that were coming.
That's what a watchman did.
This is what God is tellingEzekiel as a prophet and being a
watchman to the people ofIsrael that are there in
captivity.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
The watchman was exactly what you said.
A watchman was a securityperson who was supposed to stand
in a position and remain awakeand keep a lookout in case
something approached.
It was the watchman's job to ohsomething's coming and let
everybody else know.
If the watchman fell asleep ordidn't do his job, or saw him
(15:46):
and just didn't say anything andan enemy came and got right up
to the gates and was already onthe city or on the camp before
they let anybody know, well, thewatchman failed to do his job.
The watchman's job is toannounce the problem well before
it got there, so that thepeople would have time to
(16:07):
prepare to defend themselves.
But if the watchman doesn't dohis job, then the whole rest of
the city can't defend themselves.
God lays out a very clear rulefor Ezekiel.
He says Ezekiel, I'm going tohold you as responsible as a
watchman If he fails to warnsinners and they end up staying
in sin.
God's going to hold Ezekielresponsible simply because,
(16:31):
ezekiel, I told you to go warnthem.
If Ezekiel warns the sinnersand they still stay in sin,
god's not going to hold Ezekielresponsible.
And then he repeats it and saysGod says the same is true for
evil people and righteous people.
If Ezekiel does not warn themand they stay in sin, god's
(16:54):
going to hold Ezekielresponsible, regardless of what
the people do.
It's Ezekiel's job to be thewatchman and tell people God's
warnings.
He's supposed to announce, justlike a watchman announce to the
town hey, this is what'shappening, this is what God's
about to do.
Are there evil things todaythat arise and come and either
(17:19):
attack Christians or drawChristians away into sin or
doctrinal?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
heresy.
That mainly happens becausepeople don't know the Word of
God and they're deceived, andthey're also willingly deceived.
I think they want to have theirears tickled, as it's put in
the New Testament.
They don't pay attention towhat's going on.
So you have the outright wickedthings that go on to pull
(17:48):
people away from God.
And then you have thesubtleness, the wolves in
sheep's clothing that are withinthe church that will pull
people away from God.
We have to be diligent, we haveto be watchmen in our day and
age to look out for those typeof situations.
The ones that are outrightwicked, those are easy to spot.
(18:10):
The subtle ones, the wolves insheep clothing that are within
the church, those are the onesthat are a little bit more
difficult, but we should callthem out just like we would a
wicked person, and not shrinkback.
I think too often, glenn, inour day and age people might
notice the subtleness of somefalse teaching that's being
(18:34):
taught, but yet they don't sayanything.
They just go ahead and go alongwith it and they don't warn the
other people, and I thinkthat's a grave mistake.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Imagine in Ezekiel's day, in a walled city, when
suddenly there's an enemy at thegate and people ask the
watchman well, didn't you seethese people coming from a long
way away?
Well, yeah, I saw them.
I saw them coming from a longway away.
Well, why didn't you tell us?
Well, they seem like nicepeople.
Well, they got all the way upto the gate and now they're not
(19:07):
nice people and they're ready toattack us.
You should have let us know sowe could decide Same thing.
In the church today there'speople.
If we read the New Testament,many of the books of the New
Testament were written becausethere already had been false
teachers that had crept in thechurch even during the days when
the apostles were still alive.
Some of them they mentioned byname in the New Testament.
(19:28):
We need the watchmen today.
We need watchmen that willpoint out to the church watch
out, there's some evil coming,there's a false teacher coming
or there's a heresy coming, andwe need to watch out for that so
that non-believers don't getdrawn away into false teaching,
so that people inside the churchdon't get drawn away.
(19:49):
We need watchmen today just asmuch as in Ezekiel's day.
We need people in the churchthat have enough spiritual and
doctrinal discernment to soundthe alarm about false teachings
that are about to attack thechurch.
Too many liberal andprogressive churches today
refuse to be a watchman, butinstead call the enemy a friend
(20:13):
and then allow them to storm thegates.
That's what's happening acrossthe landscape in Christianity.
We need watchmen today.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Glenn, one of the ways to be able to stop false
teachers from what they're doingis to stop going and listening
to them.
There are false teachers thatare in the world today that fill
up sports arenas and you canlook at them and you know that
they are false teachers.
You know the reason why theycontinue to be false teachers is
(20:44):
because all those people thatare sitting there that come see
them week after week after week,they are essentially supporting
this false teaching.
So the way that you get falseteachers to quit being false
teachers, or at least spreadingfalse doctrine, is to stop going
to them, stop seeing them.
(21:05):
So when you have a watchmancome up to you and say this
person that you're going to weekafter week, here is some false
doctrine that they're teaching.
You might need to heed them andlisten to them and at least go
and investigate what it is thatthey're telling you.
If you succumb to the sameconclusion that they're false
(21:27):
teachers and I mean by falseteachers the ones that
definitely are leading peopleaway from God and God's message
then stop going to that churchand go to another church.
Go to one that's not beinghalf-false teaching in it.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
If you're in church leadership, you need people in
your church that are sensitiveto discernment, that can be
watchmen and let everybody elseknow At least then you can make
an intelligent, wise decisionabout it.
But being accepting of everyonethat comes along that speaks
anything that sounds like Godwords, that's just very
(22:03):
spiritually naive.
You will eventually get wolvesin sheep's clothing that will
destroy the flock.
Lastly, in this section, verse20 talks about a righteous man
dying in his sins.
This verse is most definitelynot talking about a saved person
losing their salvation, becauserighteousness, in a salvation
(22:24):
sense, is accounted to people byfaith, not earned.
We don't get into heaven byearning righteousness.
Salvation, since, is accountedto people by faith, not earned.
We don't get into heaven byearning righteousness.
We get into heaven by Jesus'righteousness being accounted to
us.
It tells us that in Romans 4.3.
Next we have the first of thethings that Ezekiel must act out
in front of the Jewish people.
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 3,verses 22 to 27?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
people.
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 3,verses 22 to 27?
The hand of the Lord was on methere and he said to me Get up,
go out to the plain, and there Iwill speak to you.
So I got up and went out to theplain and behold, the glory of
the Lord was standing there,like the glory which I saw by
the river Kabar, and I fell onmy face.
The Spirit then entered me andmade me stand on my feet and he
(23:11):
spoke with me and said to me Go,shut yourself up in your house.
As for you, son of man, theywill put ropes on you and bind
you with them so that you cannotgo out among them.
Moreover, I will make yourtongue stick to the roof of your
mouth so that you will be muteand cannot be a man who rebukes
them, for they are a rebellioushouse.
(23:34):
But when I speak to you, I willopen your mouth and you will
say to them.
Thus says the Lord God he whohears, let him hear, and he who
refuses, let him refuse, forthey are a rebellious house.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
With this.
Ezekiel describes this visionof God similar to what he saw in
chapter 1.
God takes him out to a desolateplace and appears there to him.
Verse 23 says the gloryappeared to him as it did at
first.
That was back in chapter 1.
Therefore, it could have beenthe entire same thing that
(24:11):
Ezekiel saw.
It was not just an animatedmovie, it was a very real thing
that he saw of God, an entiremagnificent, glorious image of
God's throne.
God then again fills Ezekielwith his Holy Spirit and stands
him on his feet.
We once again need a repeatedempowerment from the Holy Spirit
(24:33):
, just like this isn't the firsttime the Spirit entered him and
stood him on his feet, but heneeds it again because we need
the Holy Spirit over and over.
The Holy Spirit needs to comein and strengthen us because we
are so weak.
We often need filling of theHoly Spirit and we often need
empowering for ministry.
So Ezekiel bowed before God andthen God's Spirit entered him
(24:58):
and stood him on his feet.
The lesson for us is just as itis Ezekiel If we bow before God
, he will stand us up and set usright.
If we refuse to bow before God,he'll pour out His might and
His wrath and make us low.
It tells us over in the NewTestament, peter tells us if we
but submit before God, then hewill strengthen us and bless us.
(25:22):
God tells Ezekiel here to gointo his house and he's going to
be tied up there.
So the people really didn'tlike Ezekiel's message and would
try to stop him from speaking.
God tells him here to go insidehis house, shut the door.
And the symbolism here is quiteclear.
(25:42):
Ezekiel was speaking.
God's message, the message tothe people of Israel, is going
to be shut up.
The message is going to bestopped.
God's going to go back into hishouse and close the door and
not speak to the people ofIsrael.
The symbolism here God is goingto go back to heaven and not
(26:04):
help Israel.
Everything Ezekiel does is amessage to the people of Israel.
Steve, what else do we get outof this passage?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
He's also going to make Ezekiel mute, except for
the times whenever he gives himthe words to speak to the people
.
And he puts it in such a way inverse 26,.
He says you will be mute andcannot be a man who rebukes them
, for they're a rebellious house.
He is making it to whereEzekiel is not going to be able
(26:34):
to put in his own words with thepeople.
You sense the frustration thatGod has with the people of
Israel, the nation, becausethey're stubborn and obstinate.
He is taking these precautionswith Ezekiel because he knows
Ezekiel is a man just like themand he's going to get frustrated
(26:57):
with the people because they'rerebellious, they're not going
to want to listen to God's Word.
So God is making him mute sothat Ezekiel's not going to be
able to push back on them andrebuke them.
He's only going to be able tocommunicate to them God's word
when God wants him to.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
In that last verse in this chapter, verse 27, god
tells Ezekiel he who hears, lethim hear, and he who refuses,
let him refuse.
I'm reminded over in the gospelof Jesus, who used a very
similar phrase many times he whohas ears to hear, let him
refuse.
I'm reminded over in the gospelof Jesus, who used a very
similar phrase many times he whohas ears to hear, let him hear.
Steve, I think that's still themessage today, is it not?
(27:37):
As we in our day proclaim outthe Word of God, all we can say
is those who have ears to hear,let them hear.
I say amen to that.
That brings us to the end ofchapter three, but there's more
to.
We've just really got our footin the door of the actions that
God's going to have Ezekiel do,and they're going to get quite
(27:57):
amazing as we continue to reasonthrough that next time.
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
May God bless you.
Today on Reasoning Through the Bible, we're going
to see God make the prophetEzekiel to be very hard-headed.
He needed to be hard-headedbecause he was going to minister
to a people that were veryhard-headed.
Sometimes we find thatsometimes we are hard-headed and
we need some very strong wordsof God to help us out.
(00:42):
Welcome to Reasoning Throughthe Bible, where we go verse by
verse through the Word of God.
We are in the book of Ezekiel,the fantastic book of Ezekiel in
the Old Testament, In chapter 3, we're seeing here God
empowering Ezekiel and puttingthe Word of God in him.
God is going to give him acommission and send him out to
(01:04):
these people that last time wefound out were rebellious and
stubborn.
So, Steve, can you read thefirst three verses of chapter 3
of Ezekiel?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Then he said to me Son of man, eat what you find,
eat this scroll and go speak tothe house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth and he fedme this scroll.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He said to me and we talked about this last time so
we won't repeat much of it here.
But in Revelation 10, we alsohad a place where the heavenly
being gives the prophet John,the apostle John, a scroll to
eat, and it tasted sweet.
That harkens back to right herein Ezekiel, chapter 3, where
(01:58):
Ezekiel eats the Word of God ona scroll, and it tastes sweet,
even though it's full of woe Tothe child of God.
The Word of God always tastessweet, even when the words are
very harsh.
We always accept the Word ofGod, even when they may be very
harsh words.
That's what we have here isEzekiel's given a harsh message,
(02:22):
a very hard message, becausethe people were rebellious, but
he is a person that submits tothe Word of God and submits to
the Lord.
Therefore the words taste sweetto him.
Same thing with us.
To a person that is not a childof God, then they will not like
the taste of the Bible.
(02:43):
But to us that are followers ofGod, even if it's harsh message
, it tastes very sweet to us.
Now, god's Word is good, eventhough sometimes it is very
difficult to digest, and it sayshere feed your stomach and fill
your body with the Word of God,steve, if we get the Word of
God in us, is it physicallybeneficial as well as
(03:07):
spiritually beneficial.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It is both.
Again, as we mentioned in lastsession, getting the Word of God
into us is healthy for us, andwe're going to see Ezekiel here.
God is actually telling him.
You need to assimilate whatthis word is, because you're
going to go out and tell it tothe people.
We get the sense that he istelling Ezekiel.
(03:31):
You need to embody the word,this scroll that has the
lamentations and mornings inthem.
You need to embody them so thatyou can confidently go out and
tell the people what it is thatI want you to tell them.
So we should be the same way.
If we learn God's Word, then weare encouraged to be able to
(03:54):
take it out.
If we have it in us, we feelbetter about being able to
communicate it to other people.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
One of the places I think of Steve is there was a
time in King David's life wherehe had sinned against God and
God was going to punish him forit.
And he gave David a choice ofbeing given over to his enemies
for punishment or turned over tothe hands of the Lord for
punishment.
(04:20):
For punishment, in 2 Samuel 24,14, david turned himself over
to the Lord.
Even though the message washarsh, he said the Lord will
have mercy where my enemies willnot.
So, even though there may be avery harsh message, we still
accept it because it's good forus and we need the surgeon of
(04:44):
the Word of God to come in andcut out some things out of our
lives, and sometimes that'squite painful, but it's good and
in the end we love it becauseit's the Word of God.
He always does good things forus.
Then, in verse 4, we find evenmore of God's commission says
(05:20):
this, whose words you cannotunderstand.
But I have sent you to them,who should listen to you.
Yet the house of Israel willnot be willing to listen to you.
Since they are not willing tolisten to me, surely the whole
house of Israel is stubborn andobstinate.
Behold, I have made your faceas hard as their faces and your
(05:40):
forehead as hard as theirforeheads, like Emery harder
than Flint.
I have made your forehead.
Do not be afraid of them or bedismayed before them, though
they are a rebellious house.
In this passage, steve, howdoes God say the people of
Israel are going to react whenthey hear the word of God that
Ezekiel is going to speak tothem?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They're going to be unwilling to listen to him of
what God is telling them.
Through him, they're not goingto want to have anything to do
with his message.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
That's what we have here is that God knows how
they're going to react.
They freely rebel, but Godknows what's going to happen.
God knows all things.
He says they didn't listen tome, they're not going to listen
to you, but nevertheless Godsends out the Word.
He gives His people, he givesthe world plenty of chance.
It's not that God does thingswithout telling people.
(06:32):
God is long-suffering, he isvery patient, he has a long
patience and he goes over andover again what people should do
.
He puts up with a lot ofrebellion, but he will
eventually act.
He is not infinite in hispatience, in the sense that he
will do justice.
Yes, he's loving and yes, he'spatient, but he will administer
(06:55):
justice.
He will administer his wrath,as sure as can be.
With this, I think we have anexample.
Steve, don't you think ofpeople today?
How do people today react whenthey hear the Word of God?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, the God-haters react in a way that is hateful
and they will call people thattell them the Word of God or the
gospel that they're liars, andthey'll make fun of them,
they'll insult them.
Those are the people that areGod-haters, that actually just
really truly hate God.
They will react in a veryhateful way back.
(07:31):
Other people will just benonchalant about it.
They're not necessarily hatersof God, they just don't want to
have anything to do with God.
They might listen to you, buttheir response might be a polite
thank you but no thanks.
The people that don't want tohave anything to do with God one
way or another, whether it'shateful or whether it's in a
benign way, they're not going tolisten.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What I find interesting is that this is over
2,000 years ago and peoplehaven't changed.
The people of ancient Israelreact to the Word of God.
The same way people today reactto the Word of God is that
people rebel against it in theirnatural state, but God sends
out the Holy Spirit and drawspeople to himself I'm thinking
(08:13):
of in the Gospels.
Matthew tells us that Jesuscried over Jerusalem and Jesus
actually wept.
He had tears in his eyes whenhe looked at Jerusalem and he
says oh Jerusalem, jerusalem,how often I wanted to gather you
to me, as a hen gathers herchicks, but you were not willing
(08:35):
.
So it's the same thing here.
God says they're not going tobe willing to hear you because
they aren't willing to hear me.
So I've made your head hard,I've made you hardheaded because
you're going up against a veryhardheaded people.
I'm giving you the strength togo out and deal with a difficult
people.
Steve, will God give us thestrength to do his ministry when
(09:00):
he sends us out to do a job?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
He does it in such a way that you get encouragement
whenever you come across peoplethat actually do want to hear
the word of God and you see themaccept God, change their mind,
trust on Jesus Christ and thenchange their life, and you get
encouragement from that.
That's what keeps you going.
(09:23):
You're out there to tell theWord, to tell the gospel.
It's not up to you to convincethem.
The Holy Spirit's going toconvict them and God's going to
work with them.
Our place is just to tell andthen be able to follow up and
help them and disciple them ifthey want to become believers in
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
When God tells Ezekiel in verse 9, I have made
your forehead harder than flint.
What he's saying there is I'vemade your mind strong.
I've made your mind and yourwill strong enough to go out and
deal with a difficult people.
That's really what he's sayingthere.
I've given you the mentalstrength to go out and deal with
(10:05):
these people, because it'sgoing to be very difficult.
I submit that when God selectsus for a ministry, we may not
feel like, look, I don't havethe strength to do that, I don't
have the ability.
But God will prepare us.
He never sends us out to doministry without strengthening
us and giving us the Spirit andthe will and all these things.
(10:25):
We may look at a task and say,lord, you picked the wrong
person.
But he didn't pick the wrongperson.
He knows what he's doing and hewill prepare us.
Just like he prepared Ezekielbefore Ezekiel went out to do
ministry.
He'll prepare us and do thesame with us.
We can depend on him.
We can't depend on our ownstrength.
When God gives us a job, heprepares us.
(10:49):
Then, in verses 10 and 11, godrepeats his message to Ezekiel
to speak to the people, whetherthey listen or not.
He repeats this and he's goingto say these things over and
over because he wants to makesure Ezekiel gets it.
He tells Ezekiel go out, givethe Word of God, regardless of
(11:09):
whether they listen.
Your job is to give out theWord of God.
He repeats it here and we havethe same assignment and we need
it repeated to us.
Give out the Word of Godwhether they listen or not.
Am I right to us give out theword of God whether they listen
or not?
Am I right, steve?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, and in verse 8, he says I've made your face as
hard as their faces and foreheadas hard as their forehead.
The picture that comes to mymind is two bulls.
If you've ever seen two bullsgo fight with each other, they
go forehead to forehead and pushagainst each other.
Of course you have the famouspictures of rams that come at
(11:46):
each other from great distancesand they bang into each other
with their ram's horns on theirforeheads.
I get from here that God issaying I'm forcing you and
equipping you to be just ashard-headed as they are and
stubborn as they are to givethem my word to them.
I'm going to equip you andempower you to be just as
(12:09):
stubborn and obstinate with themas they are with me.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
In verses 12 to 15.
In this chapter we have Ezekielagain describing the sound of
the wings of the being and whereGod sent him.
God has now appeared again inglory and he is now sending
Ezekiel out, and he gives exactplace where God's sending him.
(12:34):
I'm going to pick up in verse16 and read what happens with
Ezekiel once he gets to thepeople that he's to speak with.
At the end of seven days, theword of the Lord came to me
saying Son of man, I haveappointed you a watchman to the
house of Israel.
Whenever you hear a word frommy mouth, warn them from me.
(12:56):
When I say to the wicked, youwill surely die, and you do not
warn him or speak out to warnthe wicked from his wicked way
that he may live.
That wicked man shall die inhis iniquity, but his blood I
will require at your hand.
Yet if you have warned thewicked and he does not turn from
(13:17):
his wickedness or from hiswicked way, he shall die in his
iniquity.
But you have delivered yourselfAgain.
When a righteous man turns awayfrom his righteousness and
commits iniquity and I place anobstacle before him he will die.
Since you have not warned him,he shall die in his sin, and his
(13:37):
righteous deeds, which he hasdone, shall not be remembered,
but his blood I will require atyour hand.
However, if you have warned therighteous man that the
righteous should not sin, and hedoes not sin, he shall surely
live because he took warning andyou have delivered yourself.
Steve, what is the main thrustof what he was just saying there
(14:00):
, and what is the role of awatchman.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The main thrust that he's telling him is that you
need to go out and tell thepeople, and he gives them some
conditions.
If you don't tell the peopleand they don't change their ways
the ones that are in theiriniquity then the blood's going
to be on you.
But if you do tell them what Iwant you to tell them and they
(14:24):
still don't change their way theones of iniquity then you're
free and clear, the blood is noton you.
And then he repeats that samecondition for a righteous person
and he's telling them, as awatchman, you are to tell the
people what it is I want you totell them.
That's your job.
Don't worry about how they'regoing to react.
(14:47):
Now, a watchman in general wassomebody that stood on the wall
around a city and they were tolook out and they were to be
watchful for both good and badpeople that were approaching the
city.
They were to set an alarm thatsomebody was coming, whether
they were good or bad.
They were to alert somebodydown close to the gates or
(15:09):
somebody in charge that therewere people that were coming.
That's what a watchman did.
This is what God is tellingEzekiel as a prophet and being a
watchman to the people ofIsrael that are there in
captivity.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
The watchman was exactly what you said.
A watchman was a securityperson who was supposed to stand
in a position and remain awakeand keep a lookout in case
something approached.
It was the watchman's job to ohsomething's coming and let
everybody else know.
If the watchman fell asleep ordidn't do his job, or saw him
(15:46):
and just didn't say anything andan enemy came and got right up
to the gates and was already onthe city or on the camp before
they let anybody know, well, thewatchman failed to do his job.
The watchman's job is toannounce the problem well before
it got there, so that thepeople would have time to
(16:07):
prepare to defend themselves.
But if the watchman doesn't dohis job, then the whole rest of
the city can't defend themselves.
God lays out a very clear rulefor Ezekiel.
He says Ezekiel, I'm going tohold you as responsible as a
watchman If he fails to warnsinners and they end up staying
in sin.
God's going to hold Ezekielresponsible simply because,
(16:31):
ezekiel, I told you to go warnthem.
If Ezekiel warns the sinnersand they still stay in sin,
god's not going to hold Ezekielresponsible.
And then he repeats it and saysGod says the same is true for
evil people and righteous people.
If Ezekiel does not warn themand they stay in sin, god's
(16:54):
going to hold Ezekielresponsible, regardless of what
the people do.
It's Ezekiel's job to be thewatchman and tell people God's
warnings.
He's supposed to announce, justlike a watchman announce to the
town hey, this is what'shappening, this is what God's
about to do.
Are there evil things todaythat arise and come and either
(17:19):
attack Christians or drawChristians away into sin or
doctrinal?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
heresy.
That mainly happens becausepeople don't know the Word of
God and they're deceived, andthey're also willingly deceived.
I think they want to have theirears tickled, as it's put in
the New Testament.
They don't pay attention towhat's going on.
So you have the outright wickedthings that go on to pull
(17:48):
people away from God.
And then you have thesubtleness, the wolves in
sheep's clothing that are withinthe church that will pull
people away from God.
We have to be diligent, we haveto be watchmen in our day and
age to look out for those typeof situations.
The ones that are outrightwicked, those are easy to spot.
(18:10):
The subtle ones, the wolves insheep clothing that are within
the church, those are the onesthat are a little bit more
difficult, but we should callthem out just like we would a
wicked person, and not shrinkback.
I think too often, glenn, inour day and age people might
notice the subtleness of somefalse teaching that's being
(18:34):
taught, but yet they don't sayanything.
They just go ahead and go alongwith it and they don't warn the
other people, and I thinkthat's a grave mistake.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Imagine in Ezekiel's day, in a walled city, when
suddenly there's an enemy at thegate and people ask the
watchman well, didn't you seethese people coming from a long
way away?
Well, yeah, I saw them.
I saw them coming from a longway away.
Well, why didn't you tell us?
Well, they seem like nicepeople.
Well, they got all the way upto the gate and now they're not
(19:07):
nice people and they're ready toattack us.
You should have let us know sowe could decide Same thing.
In the church today there'speople.
If we read the New Testament,many of the books of the New
Testament were written becausethere already had been false
teachers that had crept in thechurch even during the days when
the apostles were still alive.
Some of them they mentioned byname in the New Testament.
(19:28):
We need the watchmen today.
We need watchmen that willpoint out to the church watch
out, there's some evil coming,there's a false teacher coming
or there's a heresy coming, andwe need to watch out for that so
that non-believers don't getdrawn away into false teaching,
so that people inside the churchdon't get drawn away.
(19:49):
We need watchmen today just asmuch as in Ezekiel's day.
We need people in the churchthat have enough spiritual and
doctrinal discernment to soundthe alarm about false teachings
that are about to attack thechurch.
Too many liberal andprogressive churches today
refuse to be a watchman, butinstead call the enemy a friend
(20:13):
and then allow them to storm thegates.
That's what's happening acrossthe landscape in Christianity.
We need watchmen today.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Glenn, one of the ways to be able to stop false
teachers from what they're doingis to stop going and listening
to them.
There are false teachers thatare in the world today that fill
up sports arenas and you canlook at them and you know that
they are false teachers.
You know the reason why theycontinue to be false teachers is
(20:44):
because all those people thatare sitting there that come see
them week after week after week,they are essentially supporting
this false teaching.
So the way that you get falseteachers to quit being false
teachers, or at least spreadingfalse doctrine, is to stop going
to them, stop seeing them.
(21:05):
So when you have a watchmancome up to you and say this
person that you're going to weekafter week, here is some false
doctrine that they're teaching.
You might need to heed them andlisten to them and at least go
and investigate what it is thatthey're telling you.
If you succumb to the sameconclusion that they're false
(21:27):
teachers and I mean by falseteachers the ones that
definitely are leading peopleaway from God and God's message
then stop going to that churchand go to another church.
Go to one that's not beinghalf-false teaching in it.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
If you're in church leadership, you need people in
your church that are sensitiveto discernment, that can be
watchmen and let everybody elseknow At least then you can make
an intelligent, wise decisionabout it.
But being accepting of everyonethat comes along that speaks
anything that sounds like Godwords, that's just very
(22:03):
spiritually naive.
You will eventually get wolvesin sheep's clothing that will
destroy the flock.
Lastly, in this section, verse20 talks about a righteous man
dying in his sins.
This verse is most definitelynot talking about a saved person
losing their salvation, becauserighteousness, in a salvation
(22:24):
sense, is accounted to people byfaith, not earned.
We don't get into heaven byearning righteousness.
Salvation, since, is accountedto people by faith, not earned.
We don't get into heaven byearning righteousness.
We get into heaven by Jesus'righteousness being accounted to
us.
It tells us that in Romans 4.3.
Next we have the first of thethings that Ezekiel must act out
in front of the Jewish people.
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 3,verses 22 to 27?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
people.
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 3,verses 22 to 27?
The hand of the Lord was on methere and he said to me Get up,
go out to the plain, and there Iwill speak to you.
So I got up and went out to theplain and behold, the glory of
the Lord was standing there,like the glory which I saw by
the river Kabar, and I fell onmy face.
The Spirit then entered me andmade me stand on my feet and he
(23:11):
spoke with me and said to me Go,shut yourself up in your house.
As for you, son of man, theywill put ropes on you and bind
you with them so that you cannotgo out among them.
Moreover, I will make yourtongue stick to the roof of your
mouth so that you will be muteand cannot be a man who rebukes
them, for they are a rebellioushouse.
(23:34):
But when I speak to you, I willopen your mouth and you will
say to them.
Thus says the Lord God he whohears, let him hear, and he who
refuses, let him refuse, forthey are a rebellious house.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
With this.
Ezekiel describes this visionof God similar to what he saw in
chapter 1.
God takes him out to a desolateplace and appears there to him.
Verse 23 says the gloryappeared to him as it did at
first.
That was back in chapter 1.
Therefore, it could have beenthe entire same thing that
(24:11):
Ezekiel saw.
It was not just an animatedmovie, it was a very real thing
that he saw of God, an entiremagnificent, glorious image of
God's throne.
God then again fills Ezekielwith his Holy Spirit and stands
him on his feet.
We once again need a repeatedempowerment from the Holy Spirit
(24:33):
, just like this isn't the firsttime the Spirit entered him and
stood him on his feet, but heneeds it again because we need
the Holy Spirit over and over.
The Holy Spirit needs to comein and strengthen us because we
are so weak.
We often need filling of theHoly Spirit and we often need
empowering for ministry.
So Ezekiel bowed before God andthen God's Spirit entered him
(24:58):
and stood him on his feet.
The lesson for us is just as itis Ezekiel If we bow before God
, he will stand us up and set usright.
If we refuse to bow before God,he'll pour out His might and
His wrath and make us low.
It tells us over in the NewTestament, peter tells us if we
but submit before God, then hewill strengthen us and bless us.
(25:22):
God tells Ezekiel here to gointo his house and he's going to
be tied up there.
So the people really didn'tlike Ezekiel's message and would
try to stop him from speaking.
God tells him here to go insidehis house, shut the door.
And the symbolism here is quiteclear.
(25:42):
Ezekiel was speaking.
God's message, the message tothe people of Israel, is going
to be shut up.
The message is going to bestopped.
God's going to go back into hishouse and close the door and
not speak to the people ofIsrael.
The symbolism here God is goingto go back to heaven and not
(26:04):
help Israel.
Everything Ezekiel does is amessage to the people of Israel.
Steve, what else do we get outof this passage?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
He's also going to make Ezekiel mute, except for
the times whenever he gives himthe words to speak to the people
.
And he puts it in such a way inverse 26,.
He says you will be mute andcannot be a man who rebukes them
, for they're a rebellious house.
He is making it to whereEzekiel is not going to be able
(26:34):
to put in his own words with thepeople.
You sense the frustration thatGod has with the people of
Israel, the nation, becausethey're stubborn and obstinate.
He is taking these precautionswith Ezekiel because he knows
Ezekiel is a man just like themand he's going to get frustrated
(26:57):
with the people because they'rerebellious, they're not going
to want to listen to God's Word.
So God is making him mute sothat Ezekiel's not going to be
able to push back on them andrebuke them.
He's only going to be able tocommunicate to them God's word
when God wants him to.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
In that last verse in this chapter, verse 27, god
tells Ezekiel he who hears, lethim hear, and he who refuses,
let him refuse.
I'm reminded over in the gospelof Jesus, who used a very
similar phrase many times he whohas ears to hear, let him
refuse.
I'm reminded over in the gospelof Jesus, who used a very
similar phrase many times he whohas ears to hear, let him hear.
Steve, I think that's still themessage today, is it not?
(27:37):
As we in our day proclaim outthe Word of God, all we can say
is those who have ears to hear,let them hear.
I say amen to that.
That brings us to the end ofchapter three, but there's more
to.
We've just really got our footin the door of the actions that
God's going to have Ezekiel do,and they're going to get quite
(27:57):
amazing as we continue to reasonthrough that next time.
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
May God bless you.
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