0:01 Welcome to another program of Words of Life. Today we are studying the book of Ezekiel in our study through the Bible. We just finished studying 0:21 the book of Jeremiah. Ezekiel was a man who was greatly influenced by Jeremiah. And he was in Babylon for at least 25 years. God had tried 0:43 to save his people from having to go to Babylon through Jeremiah's preaching for 40 years. But they had not listened to Jeremiah. So the Lord said, "Okay, then you have 1:02 to be punished. Then submit to the king of Babylon joyfully." God does not want to chasten us. But very often he has to. 1:22 It's like as a father, no father likes to punish his children. But all children need chastening. Jesus, for example, never had to be chastened. As a man, 1:41 he did everything he pleased the Father. But even a man like Paul needed a thorn in the flesh because he was in danger of spiritual pride. Jesus was the only one who walked as a 1:59 man perfectly without ever displeasing the Father anywhere. Always walking in humility. 2:17 Never in danger of spiritual pride. But even the mighty Apostle Paul was in that danger. So chastening becomes necessary when God sees you are going astray or have gone astray. When that happens, the best thing to do 2:37 is submit to the chastening and accept it joyfully. So God said to Judah, "Go to Babylon and accept my chastening for 70 years." "I'll bless you there." 2:57 And some, like Daniel and his three friends, just obeyed and went immediately. And some others who stayed on in Judah were forced to go. But in Babylon also, God was good to them and gave them these two prophets, 3:16 Ezekiel and Daniel. And that shows God's great love for his people even when they're backslidden. Ezekiel was the son of a priest and he was 3:33 training to be a priest. But when he was 30 years old, God suddenly called him to be a prophet. You know, we can sometimes plan for a certain ministry and God may suddenly change our direction and call us to 3:51 something completely different. Then we must be willing. Actually, the life of a priest would have been much safer for Ezekiel than the life of a prophet. Priests were not usually killed, 4:14 prophets usually were. A prophet has a very tough time because he suffers at the hands of the people. And also, God has very heavy demands on 4:31 a prophet as to what how he should live. Ezekiel could have avoided all that if he had just decided to be a priest. There are certain ministries that 4:48 involve more suffering than others. And we are not to compare our ministry with somebody else's. Peter was told that he would have a very difficult time in the future. He asked the Lord, "What about John? Is he going 5:06 to have an easy time?" And the Lord said, "That's none of your business. You just follow me." And here we see that Ezekiel responded as soon as God called him. And so we hear about him. 5:31 If he had not responded and chosen the easy path, we may have never heard the name Ezekiel at all. A number of people came into their ministry when they were 30 years old. Joseph, David, 5:51 Jesus, and here we see Ezekiel. I think most of the apostles, too, were around 30 when they started their ministry. That's a very significant age. If God lays hold of you in your teenage years, 6:10 and authority, be broken by God, then the chances are very strong that by the time you're 30 or 35 years old, God will lead you into his the ministry he 6:29 has for you. If there's a delay, it's because you are not broken quickly enough. We read here in Ezekiel chapter 1 6:51 that one day God opened the heavens over Ezekiel and gave him visions of himself. It says the hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel. See, that expression occurs seven times in Ezekiel. And um 7:11 you see that in verse 1 and verse 3. Just like God gave a vision to Isaiah and to John before they went into a writing ministry. In the same way, God begins by giving 7:35 Ezekiel a vision of himself. And then leads him into his ministry. We must have a clear vision of the Lord before we go into the ministry God has called us to. And 7:54 in chapter 1, he describes a vision that he saw. And you read that in verse 6 onwards. Somewhat similar to the vision that John the Apostle saw in Revelation later on. And 8:16 there are four pictures here. One is four faces. One is the face of a lion. Verse 10. That speaks of authority. The other was the face of a bull, verse 10. It speaks of service or sacrifice. 8:43 And another is the face of an eagle. Which speaks of our heavenly-ness. And the fourth is the face of a man symbolizing compassion. So, these are the characteristics that should be found in every servant of 9:02 God. Spiritual authority, willingness to sacrifice, to serve any to any extent, heavenly-mindedness, and compassion. And then 9:22 Ezekiel saw some wheels within wheels in verses 15 to 20. And it had a wheel going one direction and a wheel in the inside going another direction. So, you could move in any direction, 9:41 this instrument. And sometimes it'd go one direction, sometimes another direction. This is a picture of the sovereign working of God in different ways at different times. North, south, east, or west, whichever 10:05 way the wheel goes, it's a picture of God's sovereignty everywhere. And a servant of God must believe that wherever he goes, north, south, east, west, God is sovereignly working on his behalf there. Now, I want to show you something else. 10:29 Now, these living beings, verse 14, ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. How quick their obedience was. That's the way God wants his servants to obey. Lightning is the fastest thing we know 10:47 in this world. Imagine obeying God like that. Delay at all. As soon as God says something, we go. The authority of God is something that we all need to know if we are to serve 11:07 God in these days. Read in verse 26 to 28. Ezequiel sees a throne and a rainbow. And verse 28, the symbol of the covenant. And then we see here 11:30 I There was a figure in the appearance of a man, the latter part of verse 26. Very similar to what John saw in the in Revelation. This is the picture of Christ having all 11:50 authority in heaven and earth. And it's knowing this authority that we go forth to serve God. And that's very important. 12:07 And God gave Ezequiel this vision before he commissioned him to serve him. And what he saw physically, we must all see at least spiritually before we go out to serve God. So, with that preparation, Ezequiel goes 12:30 forth into the ministry. Now, we go to chapter two. The Lord Here we see a picture of a man who's totally under the authority of God now. The Lord says, "Stand up on your feet." 12:48 And the spirit of God came upon him. And he stood up on his stood up on his feet. And he responds to whatever God is saying. And what does the Lord say to him? He says in verse six, "Don't be afraid of these people even if 13:09 they are like the like thorns and scorpions." "They may threaten you. There may be dark scowls on their faces." You know, the people 13:29 uh were angry at Ezequiel. Every prophet faces opposition like this because they speak the truth. But the Lord told them, "You got to speak my words to them whether they listen or not." See, most preachers try to find out what 13:53 will make their congregations happy and preach that. Most are like that. But a prophet is not bothered whether what is not bothered to find out what people like to hear. He listens to God. 14:15 He speaks what God tells him to speak. So, this is very important to understand in God's dealings with Ezequiel give us a clear picture of what it means to be a prophet. And in chapter three, the Lord told 14:32 Ezequiel to eat a scroll. Again, you see something similar in the book of Revelation. This is a picture of eating God's word. I have to digest and absorb God's word 14:52 into my system before I can give it out to other people. And in verse it says, "The spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went and bittered in the rage of my spirit." Notice in many places in scripture the 15:14 joint operation of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. He saw that in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. We see it in all the ministry of all the prophets. And every true servant of God who 15:34 proclaims God's word must experience this joint ministry in his life. God's word and the Holy Spirit. And sometimes we may not feel like going where the 15:51 spirit is leading us. And it says here, "The spirit lifted me up and took me away, but I went and bittered in the rage of my spirit." Now, 16:11 that means he didn't really want to go. But he still went. Very often, if you really want to be a servant of God, you may have to go when you don't feel like going. If you go only where you feel like 16:31 going, you'll never be able to serve God. And there's nothing wrong in feeling uncomfortable. Or I don't feel like going. If you still go, you're obedient. 16:54 Don't get condemned because you don't feel like going. Let me give you an example. Jesus didn't feel like drinking the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane. In fact, he even prayed, "Lord, Father, 17:11 take away this cup." But he did not sin. We know he didn't sin. So, what about this feeling of not wanting to drink the cup? Wasn't that a sin? No, it's not a sin. It's a temptation. 17:30 And you can What about saying to the Father, "Take away this cup?" that's not a sin. If you end your prayer by saying, "But Father, thy will not mine." And great encouragement to us. 17:51 You can go and pray anything in the world to your heavenly Father. Anything. When I say anything, I mean anything. Nothing is excluded. 18:08 You can ask the Father for anything. Or say you want to do this or you don't want to do this. Anything. But why did if you end your prayer with, "But not my will, but thine." Then there is no sin. 18:30 But if you don't conclude with that sentence, you don't conclude with, "Lord, I want your will, not mine." Then you have to be careful about what you ask. So, I just want to encourage you that sometimes you don't feel like going and 18:48 you still go because you're obeying God. You're still doing the right thing. There are many times I read the Bible, I'll tell you honestly, when I don't feel like reading it. Don't get discouraged if you don't feel 19:08 like reading the Bible. That's not a sin. That's because we've got a body. We're We have so many feelings. I may feel once I'm Oh, am I really saved? So, what? 19:26 I don't live by my feelings. I live by faith. And I know I'm saved. And if I don't feel like reading the Bible, I say, "I'll still read it." I don't feel like going somewhere. If God wants me to go, I still go. In fact, it's a greater credit if you go 19:47 when you don't feel like going. That's a greater mark of obedience to God. When you obey God, when you feel like going, that's not a great thing. You read the Bible when you feel like 20:06 reading the Bible, that's not a great thing. You read it when you don't feel like reading it. That's a great thing. In verse 23, he says, "I got up and went out and I saw the glory of the Lord there." When we obey God like this, we'll always 20:28 see the glory of God. And then the Lord told him, "Now when you go, verse 26, I'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, you'll be dumb, you cannot uh say anything. And when I speak to you, then you 20:46 speak." Many lessons we can learn about being a prophet from Ezekiel. There are times when the Holy Spirit says, "Don't say anything." Then we must be like our tongue stuck to the roof of our mouth, we say nothing. Other times the Lord says, "Speak." We 21:08 speak. We must be very sensitive. And then here's the Lord asked him to do something very special. He said, "I want you to lie on your left side for 390 days." In verse chapter 4, verse 4 and 5. 21:29 Um Now, not that he was sleeping though all the time, but when he went to sleep, he must always sleep on the left side. After that, verse 6, you sleep on the right side for 40 days. And then 21:49 he told uh him to cook his food on dung. And you read that further in verse 12. You know, the Lord asked Ezekiel to do 22:07 some strange things. And other people were watching him and they were assigned to the people. And he said, "Lord, I've never been defiled. I'm so difficult for me to cook food with human dung." So he said in verse 15, the Lord said, 22:29 "Okay, you can use cow dung instead." Now, all this was a sign to the people of Israel as to the way they were going to suffer in the future when they were judged. You know, when you want to serve God, 22:51 you must be willing to eat any food, sleep anywhere, do anything. That's basically what I learned from here. If you're going to seek your own sleep and things like that, you better decide not to serve God. In chapter 7, 23:16 verse 9, we see a title of the Lord that not many people would like to hear. He calls himself the Lord the Smiter. What a title. 23:37 The Lord who smites. That is also the way these when people live in sin, that's the way they are to know God. In chapter 8, the Lord showed Ezekiel all the idolatry that was going on inside the temple, the 23:55 reason why God had to judge his people. See, when a man is a prophet, God gives him some understanding of the secret sins going on among God's people. He doesn't tell him that this particular 24:16 person and that particular person their private life and their sins, no. In a general way, when he gets up and speaks, he'll be revealing the sins of people in the congregation. He knows nothing about them. 24:36 He will not know which particular person is doing those sins. God doesn't do that. Very rarely. But we read in 1 Corinthians 14, when a man prophesies, the secrets of people's hearts are made manifest. That's what we see here. God showed 24:58 Ezekiel the secret sins that these people were committing in secret. Idols they were worshipping. You read the whole of Ezekiel chapter 8, you see that. 14, they were the women were weeping for 25:17 some idol. The Lord was saying, "That's the reason why I'm punishing these people." So may we learn the lessons God wants us to learn from this passage. Amen. 25:39 Welcome to another program of Words of Life. We are studying through the Bible and we have reached the book of Ezekiel. And Ezekiel chapter 9, 25:57 we read about the Lord sending some executioners, verse 1, into the city. He's trying to show Ezekiel the reason why the glory of God is departing from 26:15 his people. The book of Ezekiel is basically a story of the glory of God departing and then coming back. And here he says, he tells these angels 26:35 to go through the city of Jerusalem and put a mark, verse 4, on the foreheads of all those who are groaning over the abominations done in the city. And when he does that, 26:54 there's hardly anybody left. It's difficult to find anybody who is groaning over the abominations being done in the city. The he says the other executioner, "Go and kill all those people who don't have 27:12 this mark." But don't touch anybody who's got the mark. You got the picture? All those who are groaning, put a mark on their foreheads. But kill all the others. 27:33 And see what happens. First of all, all the elders get killed. That means none of them were concerned about the abominations. All the people in the city. See, this is all a vision. Not actually happening. 27:53 And then finally, who is left? Verse 8, only Ezekiel. The one who was concerned about all these abominations. And Ezekiel is concerned. 28:11 That means there's no remnant also left. The Lord says the iniquity of the house of Israel and and Judah is very great. And then in chapter 10, he sees in verse 4 the glory of the Lord lifting up 28:30 uh from the cherub to the threshold, that means the gate of the temple. There you see slowly the glory is departing. Because of these reasons. Then in chapter 11, we read the Holy Spirit lifted up Ezekiel and 28:50 brought him to another part of the Lord's house and told him to prophesy. And finally, we see that the glory of God departs from the temple altogether. Verse 23, 29:11 the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain. That mountain is the Mount of Olives. That is the same place where the glory of God will finally one day come back when Jesus comes again. 29:29 When Jesus comes back. That's pictured later on in Ezekiel chapter 40 onwards. See, but what were the people saying? In verse 15 of chapter 11, the Lord was telling Ezekiel, 29:46 "Your brothers, relatives. They have said, "Go far from the Lord. This land has been given to us for a possession." Now the Lord has given us their land. But he says, "Tell them, 'Thus says the Lord, 30:04 'Though I have removed them far away, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.'" "I will gather you out of the countries, and I'll bring you back to the land of Israel." The Lord told Ezekiel to comfort the 30:28 exiles in Jerus- in Babylon. Those are the ones who obeyed God and went to Babylon. The people in Jerusalem were saying, "Aha, it's good. These fellows went. We disobeyed the Lord. We've got the land now." And those who obeyed God have lost their 30:51 property. It may look for a while that those who disobey God are prospering. But in the long run, you'll discover that it's the one who obey God who finally get back what God wants them to have. In chapter 13, the Lord continues to 31:15 speak against the false prophets. He says, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit, verse 3, and have seen nothing. They see false visions, verse 7. And when there's a crack in the wall, 31:36 verse 10 and 11, they don't repair the crack. They just put plaster over it and say everything is okay." Now, this is the mark of all false prophets. That they don't repair or show the crack 31:59 in the wall. The sin in God's people, they cover it up. If you have a crack in your wall, you just put some whitewash on it. People don't see it. 32:18 That's the most foolish thing to do. You just want to show others everything is okay. And that's what a lot of pastors and preachers are doing. They don't speak against sin to repair that crack. In Ezekiel chapter 16, 32:39 we see a very beautiful picture of God's love for fallen man. He's pictured like a helpless girl who was lying thrown out in the on the roadside. As a little girl, 33:00 and God picks her up. God helps her to come to adulthood. And then marries her. This is a picture of our salvation. Ezekiel 16 is a beautiful picture of that. And then in this chapter, 33:21 we are told in verse 49 about the real reason why Sodom was judged. We know that the predominant sin in Sodom was sexual sin. But what is the reason for sexual sin? 33:45 And it's good for us to know that because many peop- most of us, young people especially, are struggling with sexual sin. Even if not outwardly, at least in the thoughts. Here is something that can help you. 34:07 What was Sodom's sin? It is not sexual sin first. It was pride. You know that there's a very close connection between pride and sexual sin? A humble person finds it much easier to overcome sexual sin. The other thing it says here is there's 34:29 plenty of food. The love of good food. Gluttony. You know there's a close connection between that and sexual sin? You know that if you fast and discipline yourself, you can overcome sexual sin better? Verse 49. 34:53 Third thing is careless ease. Slumber them. You know there's a close connection between laziness and sexual sin? You can overcome sexual sin if you keep yourself busy in the Lord's work instead of being lazy. You can overcome it. The fourth thing 35:17 mentioned in verse 49 is not caring for the poor and the needy. Do you know there's a close connection between a lack of concern for others and sexual sin? If you want to overcome sexual sin, why 35:37 not begin with these four easy areas first? That's a very helpful verse. In chapter 18, nowadays there's a lot of confusion in many people's minds concerning 35:54 generational curses. You know, there are Christian preachers who are preaching that. They are suffering today because your great-grandfather worshipped some idol or did some black magic. I'll tell you what that is. 36:16 It's a lot of garbage. It is rubbish. There is no such teaching in scripture. When we are born again, we are cut off from our old connection with Adam and our father, grandfather, everybody. That tree called Adam, we are cut off 36:38 from that. And we are grafted into another tree called Christ. Now my heritage is in Christ. I don't have any grandfather over there. I have only a father, God. I have no connection with whether my 36:58 great-grandfather did black magic. Tandem say that I'm not I'm not in that tree. Remember this. Don't let these foolish preachers get you into bondage. They teach things which are not in scripture. 37:17 There's so many things being preached in Christendom today which have no foundation in God's word. And the generation of people are ignorant of God's word who are swallowing all these lies. Uh 37:37 And paying these preachers to listen to all this rubbish. Now see chapter 18 of Ezekiel. Verse two. "What do you mean by using this proverb, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?'" 37:57 He says, "That's not just not going to happen. If the fathers ate sour grapes, then their own teeth will be set on edge." I mean, that's common sense. How can my father eat a sour grape and my teeth be set on edge? If somebody if my father eats a raw 38:19 mango, and his teeth are set on edge, that's got nothing to do with me. Unless I eat the same mango. That's so it's so clear. And here, 2,500 years ago, the Lord said this proverb is never going to be used 38:39 anymore. But there are well-known Christian preachers writing all this rubbish in books and circulating it today. I want to tell you the good news, Galatians 3:13, Christ has become a 38:56 curse, and there's no curse for you. There won't be any curse on your children because your great-grandfather worshipped an idol. Be free from today onwards. In chapter 22, verse 30, is a 39:15 uh a heart cry of God. He says, "I searched for a man who will stand in the gap and pray for this land, but I didn't find anybody." God is looking for people like that who 39:33 will stand in the gap. The people in the wild and get the kind of money and get the kind of money and get the kind of money. In chapter 28, we read God speaking to the king of Tyre. The real king of Tyre was the devil. He's the king of the whole earth. 39:52 Jesus called him the ruler of this world. And so, you find a little bit of what he said here refers to the devil. Verse 12 onwards. Take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre. You had the seal of perfection, full of 40:11 wisdom, perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Verse 14, you were the anointed cherub that covers, and I placed you there. We know the earthly king of Tyre was never in Eden. But this is similar to what we saw in 40:32 Isaiah 14. You see, Satan was possessing this earthly king. And like sometimes when you we speak to a demon-possessed person, we speak to the person and sometimes to the demon in that person. So, here is the same thing. 40:55 Speak to the king of Tyre and to the devil who's inside him. He's speaking to the devil. So, you were in Eden. That's what God is saying. That teaches us So, one thing which you don't find anywhere else in scripture. There was an Eden 41:15 in Genesis 1:1, which God destroyed when Lucifer fell. And the Eden in Genesis 2 is a remake of that original Eden. How do we know? Cuz he says here, you 41:39 were in Eden. Not in Genesis 3. This is when God placed him there as an anointed cherub in verse 14, we read. And that's what made the devil jealous that somebody else had come to replace 41:58 him in Eden in Genesis chapter 2. And determined to get him out. And he succeeded. Be careful. The devil doesn't like that you've got the anointing now, which he had once 42:18 upon a time. He knows he was the anointed cherub. And today you are anointed in the Holy Spirit. And today you are anointed in the Holy Spirit. I tell you, the devil is after every person who's anointed with the Holy Spirit. 42:36 Verse 17, his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. That's how he became the devil. And if our heart becomes proud of anything God has given us, intelligence, good looks, wealth, 42:56 good children, anything, Bible knowledge, spiritual You become proud in your heart, the devil takes over. We're looking at some of the important chapters. Chapter 33, Ezekiel is called a 43:14 watchman. He said, "When I tell the wicked man, you're going to die, and you don't warn him, then you're guilty." Verse 8. But if you warn him, and he doesn't turn, 43:33 then you're not guilty. You know what happens? We have a responsibility to share God's word with people around us who are on their way to hell. And evangelists, especially, have been appointed as watchmen to take that word 43:49 to those people. We are all called to be witnesses. But some are called to be evangelists. They're the special watchmen God has appointed. other people about the fact that they're 44:09 lost. So, if you're a watchman, you better do your job. Chapter 34 is a great chapter for shepherds. Where the Lord rebukes the shepherds for not taking care of the sheep. He says, "The trouble with you people is 44:31 that you're feeding yourselves." And um not caring for the sheep. And here is a beautiful promise here. Verse 26, and there will be showers of blessing around you. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 44:53 shepherds. In chapter 36, verse 25 to 37, we have a beautiful description of new covenant life. He cleanses you first of all, verse 25. 45:13 And I will give you a new heart with a new spirit within you. Then I will put my Holy Spirit within you. And fruit will come forth from you, verse 30. And when all this happens, you will detest yourself 45:33 in verse 31 for all the sins in your life. The mark of real conversion is a great sorrow for our sinful life. Chapter 37, we see a parable of 45:52 resurrection. Those dry bones are a picture of our spiritual condition. Initially. And the first thing God does is proclaim God's word. 46:11 Prophesy, verse 4. And as we hear God's word, flesh comes upon the bones. But that's not enough. Then the Holy Spirit has to come, the breath of God. And then they stand up and become a 46:28 great army, verse 10. Notice again, the joint operation of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. From a dry bone state to an army. You need prophecy, the word of God, and 46:51 the power of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 38 and 39 speak of the battle of Armageddon just before the coming of Christ. And chapter 40 to 48 are a picture of 47:10 new covenant life. The new temple. The new Jerusalem. And there are a few things here I want to show you. Chapter 43, verses 10 to 12. He says, "Show this pattern to the house 47:30 of Israel if they are ashamed of their iniquities." If they are not ashamed, don't show it to them. God reveals the plan of the church, the New Testament church, to those who are sorry for their sins. There is a law for God's house. 47:54 That is in verse 12. The whole area will be most holy. In the tabernacle and temple, only one small area was called most holy place. In this new covenant church, even the outer court is most holy place. 48:13 Everything is most holy. I mean, the outer court, no holy place. It's all holiness. That's the law. In chapter 44, you know, the Lord speaks about two types of priests. The backslidden Levites, and the wholehearted sons of Zadok, 48:33 verse 50. The other ones serve the people, he says. But the priests, sons of Zadok, can come and minister to me. It's a far greater thing to minister to the Lord than minister to the people. God wants us in all our service to 48:55 minister to Him like the sons of Zadok. That is that passage from verse 15 onwards. Chapter 47. From this new covenant church, 49:11 flows rivers of living water. The prophecy that the scripture that Jesus quoted in John 7 is actually this scripture. Where it begins like a little trickle in chapter 47. And first of all, water up to the 49:34 ankles, verse 3. Then up to the knees. Up And then up to the waist. And then so high that you have to swim in it. A slow development into a spirit-filled 49:53 life. It's only when you completely come into the spirit-filled life that your feet go off the earth. Then you can't go where you like. As long as your feet are on the earth, 50:12 you can have the operation of the Holy Spirit, but you walk wherever you like. Once you're filled with the Spirit like Ezekiel, you can't go where you like. And we're led by the Spirit, detached from the earth to do God's will. 50:34 And finally, the name of this new covenant church the last part of verse 35 of chapter 48, the last sentence, "The Lord is there." Jehovah Shammah. "The Lord is there." 50:52 That's the main feature of the new covenant church. Not a pattern, but the presence of Jesus. May the Lord help us to build such a church. Amen. Amen.
