Ezekiel: A Love Story, Pt. 1 (GCBI 107.03)

Let's go to chapter one and can I suggest to you that Warren weby in his uh book called be reverent which is his description of the um uh of the Book of Ezekiel he says that the thesis of the book was moving a priest to a prophet that part of what God's call involved for Ezekiel was to stop being a priest not stop but you know I to focus his attention from being a a priest to being a prophet guys let's Just think for a minute what's the difference between a priest and a prophet what

did a priest do talk to me about a priest performed daily sacrifice what else people consecrated people clean the temple there were certain Levites probably did the bulk of the cleaning but priests uh did you dress differently yes so when you walked down the street did everyone know you were a priest okay so a priest then was an esteemed person in their society right He studied the word studied the law understood it learned the roles that he had from the law specifically and precisely learned how to do each sacrifice priests didn't really do counseling they

didn't really they took care of the prescriptions of law you went to the priest as a leper that was apparent ly cleansed to be checked for your cleansing and they using the laws applied the law to your situation right so it's very kind of cut and dried You get that but a prophet on the other hand was not normally esteemed normally they were despised often they were persecuted a prophet couldn't learn God's word I mean they could study the written word but when you get up to prophesy you're the first one saying it see the

problem so a prophet couldn't just learn it but what he could do was follow God he couldn't just learn a script he had to stand up with God's burden and message on his heart and Pronounce it sometimes he would uh give hard words sometimes he would suffer harsh taunts and by by the way his esteem in the community plummeted Amos would have been better off as a fig pincher than a fig pincher who became a prophet when you become a prophet somebody hates you cuz generally think about the words of all the prophets we studied

their condemnation and consolation everybody likes the second half it's the first Half they hate my wife years ago well I was uh serving in a local church and I said something to her and she said well that's okay everybody always likes me it's you they have problems with it's true because I was the guy who was bringing the word and so if you're going to be mad at God you're going to be mad at the person who told you and I'd like to think that that was really the reason they weren't mad at me maybe

it was Probably other things but the point is that when you get here false prophets abounded in his day so as we open up chapter one and we look at this there's three parts to the vision of chapter one chapter one chapter 2 chapter 3 the one through three the call is three parts first in chapter one I would simply call it seeing um seeing the Majestic one seeing the Majestic one that's chapter one seeing the Majestic one this is all part of his call chapters 1 2 and three Second chapter hearing the word of

the Lord so chapter one seeing the Majestic one chapter two hearing the word of the Lord and then chapter three becoming the prophetic Watchman becoming the prophetic Watchman in other words he saw the Majesty of God he heard his word and then he was commissioned to become a prophetic Watchman one who would call out in the night and call out in the darkness and let people know that God was at work what I want you to see as you're looking at this is that Ezekiel one offers three specific requirements what's involved in becoming a spokesman

for God in the face of false speakers let me suggest to you that there are three specific requirements the first one is preparation and and that's what I have next to verse one preparation God waited until he was ready to serve him to reveal great truths about himself look at verse one In the very beginning now it came about in the 30th year on the fifth day of the fourth month while I was by the river kabar among the Exiles the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God stop your reading right there so

the preparation principle is this God has a time for everything in our lives we're not always ready to do what needs to be done so preparation is a real part of the process of succeeding in our mission for God there's no need to become impatient about what God is doing in us so right now you are sitting in class it would be wonderful if you were out saving souls and stamping out disease and changing your your generation for Jesus but you're not ready yet the Cake's only good when it's finished baking now the point is

that you can get into a situation where you try to jump the gun out of impatience and you're not ready in the recent Summer Olympic Games Back in 2012 Kim rad won the gold medal in ski shooting which made her the first American to win five Olympic medals in five consec consecutive Olympic Games in 2012 games she hit 99 out of 100 ski setting on the new olympic record and tying the world's record for the event she um she was asked by New York Times how she managed to achieve this she said she shoots anywhere

from 500 to 1,000 rounds every day of the week year round if you do the math that's three million Shots from a shotgun a year 600,000 per each gold medal in other words serious achievements are seldom done haphazardly you you take a lot of time you spend a great deal of time preparing the better you prepare for something the easier it will be to go through the experience I will tell you this and I know that some of you know this I am neurotic about planning I have planning days to plan my planning days I

do I'm serious I Have three levels of planning I'm planning the planning then I'm planning then I'm planning what I planned okay and I I actually have this very weird system here's the thing I would rather Panic today about Sunday and say I've got to have this ready by the way they're all typed and ready in the file ready for Sunday but the point is if they weren't I'd be like ah I'd rather Panic now so I can relax then if you prepare panic in the Preparation don't panic in the delivery okay if you're ready

you're ready by the way some people are going to look at you and they're going to say yeah but it's not spirit-led can I just suggest that the spirit is available in the study as well he's not only available when you get up on on the stage or the platform he was available back in the preparation room I prefer to think lukee actually practiced the guitar somewhere along the way he didn't just get up and go oh Lord Hit me with the knowledge okay because if it could really be like that then I would do

it but I can't all right there's a second principle I want you to notice and it's the second part of verse one God chose the word I use is consecration God chose to come to the prophet though it didn't seem like it was the right place and it didn't seem like it was the right time look at look at the place and time God came he's on the kabar river in Babylon away from Home look at verse two on the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King je yin's Exile in other words

he's in the middle of a place where he doesn't belong in the middle of an exile that is a terrible thing and God decides to meet him there consecration is this this is the principle consecration is God will set you apart and the work of God is in Ed to the ones he sets apart and they have to know their call let me say another way God will set you apart and You have to know it to be consecrated God doesn't just call you to something and then you just kind of blindly do it without

knowing it consecration is about you preparing and you being ready for God to do it because he's called you to do it there's a reason I think I go home at after these classes with great joy I go home after these classes with great joy because the day is over and I can relax but that's not the only reason seriously When you're called to do something and you do it it's fun when you're called to do something and you do it it's fulfilling it's not always fun in every moment but it's fulfilling and you feel

like you're actually doing what God put you on the planet to do look I'm going to take up the number of years I'm here anyway the question is whether or not I'm going to actually accomplish what God wants me to accomplish and the same Is true of you so as you move toward it you'll feel completed in doing what you're con consecrated to do now for some of you consecration will come in the form of pregnancy you will know God has called you to raise a child how will you know one will appear and then

you will know and you will not go gee I wonder if I'm supposed to be the mom you're supposed to be the mom how do I know it's in you that's how I know okay and you just go With it and that's your call and from the moment of that call God begins to tenderly shape your heart as he shapes that child and then you begin to move to that's fun as you're you're not just raising a child you're sculpting a life you're doing something that has incredible hundreds of years in front of it because

their children and their children and their children okay it's worth noting that the word of the Lord was mentioned 50 times in the book and The Hand of the Lord is mentioned seven times in the book so God seems to be moving uh on him and it says in verse uh verse three the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest son of bie in the land of the calans by the river kabar and there the hand of the Lord would Came Upon him so it's very clear that not only did the word

of the Lord appear but also God began to move in his life it's interesting um that when you're looking at the scriptures You can see that God is sculpting it but there's there's a third one there's preparation there's consecration let me give you the third one presentation presentation and presentation I get from verse four God personally presented a message to the prophet in a personal meeting let me say it this way you can't give out what you do not possess you can't give out Jesus if you don't have him you can't get people Jazzed about

getting into the word if you don't you can't get people to buy a passion that you don't have so here God personally met ezekiel's call was not a simple one it was accompanied with a an incredible vision of the glory of God and the storm of the four living creatures are going to come upon him in verses 4- 24 hang on to your hat for what you see in this Vision because it's unbelievable look at verse four and look at the coming clouds with with these Three prerequisites in mind with with the the the preparation

and Consecration and presentation Watch What Happens verse four as I looked Behold a storm wind was coming from the north a great cloud of fly of fire flashing fire flashing not fly Flash flashing fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it and in the midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire what's he seeing right next to that verse Isaiah 6 habac 3 Jeremiah 4 nahm 1 Isaiah 6 Havoc 3 Jeremiah 4 naam 1 God's judgment coming in the form of a a great vision but in this case like havakuk

3 comes in the form of a storm the the ruach the ruach is the word for Spirit wind blowing the storm ruach was coming from The north the Hebrew terminology for the normal place of an invasion is the north because when you came into the land of Canaan you always came by way of the north so I want you to see that that there was immense power in what he was seeing scientists say that a typical lightning bolt Bridges a potential difference of voltage of nearly several hundred million volts one lightning bolt several 100 million

Volts a famous strike on a 15 in 1971 measured 100,000 amps by magnetic links attached to the umbilical Tower currents of over 200,000 amps have been reported one lightning strike can carry enough electricity to power 10 million homes for one month one lightning strike that's how much electricity is there the temperatures of lightning are somewhere between 15,000 and 60 ,000 degrees fah that's Hot and the interesting thing is that um there's cold and hot lightning cold lightning is 15,000 degrees fahren hot lightning is 60,000 so it's interesting because over 10,000 fires a year are reported

that are struck by lightning in the United States alone all that to say God has immense power that's just a lightning strike you need to step back and see the immense power of God one who can hurl the Stars into place and on one Little Rock in one little solar system produce one little zap one time that could power 10 million homes for a month that's the size and immensity of God so so what does he see he sees in verse four that there's this storm wind coming and this great fire flashing in the clouds

lightning is coming and Bri bright light is all around it and then it says one's coming in the midst like the midst of a fire and then it says that there's an absolute distinctiveness of God God's Holiness comes toward you look at verse five God is Holy and what is the marker of God's holiness normally who protects or guards or pronounces the Holiness of God there's one group that says it and one group that protects it the cherubim come like a wall in front of him him and so it says within it within it were

figures resembling four living beings and this was their appearance they had a human form but each one had four faces and Four wings this is different than seraphim who are like the chanters or um callers what are the seraphim calling holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy but they have six wings these are living creatures with four wings and they go Before the Throne of God these will be um the four wings are different than the six wi seraphim in in Isaiah 6 cherubim are also seen in Daniel 7 so

we can identify these now what's interesting is I you're going to freak out I know but God apparently moves on a chariot okay it's a it's a series of Wheels within Wheels it's a gear system some kind kind of Technology okay just watch it for a second and I'll try to describe what it is in verse seven their legs were straight and their feet were like a Cal's hoof they gleamed like burnished bronze under their wings and on the four sides were human hands as for the faces and the wings of the four Of them

their wings touched one another their faces did not turn around when they moved each went straight forward as for the form of their faces each had the face of a man the face of a lion the face of a bull and the face of a of an eagle verse 11 says such were their faces their wings were spread out above each had two touching another being that is they actually they came as a team and their wings touched one against the other so they lined up and they were Like a solid wall of winged something

coming at you okay as they came in kind of a formation verse 12 says and each went straightforward whenever the spirit was about to go they would go without turning as they went and in the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire like torches darting back and forth among the living beings this is this is almost like if you could visually see What a fiber optic Network looks like it's flashes of light moving back and forth between them as they're communicating it's like you can see in light

the communication between them okay in the midst of the living beings there was something like burning coals of fire like torches darting back and forth among the living beings the fire was bright and the lightning was flashing from F from the fire and the living beings ran to and fro like bolts Of lightning so you see the visual marker of the inner sanctum of the temple uh had cherubim on it in First Kings 6 these cherubim are representative Guardians of the Holiness of God they come before God and apparently they have faces but not a

neck they never turn their head they're always facing the same way when they move their their face always stays in the same position the four faces are always fixed so they don't turn their Head in other words it's like they're forged in One Direction okay so how do they move well I'm glad you asked uh this there's the spirit is in the eyes of the wheel I want you to look at the Providence of God here the way it's described now verse 15 as I looked at the living beings behold there was one wheel on

the earth beside the living beings for each of of the four of them what's he saying it's not only in heaven there's a connection between what They're doing and what's happening on Earth the connection in verse 15 is one of their wheels is actually fixed to the Earth so in other words in Ezekiel what Ezekiel is seeing is God coming in Holiness and power and this these great living creatures coming toward him but their impact is felt one of the wheels touches the Earth there's a connection between what's going on in heaven and what's going

on on Earth give me a Jacob story that approximates the same Idea a a Stairway or a ladder with angels coming and going in other words one part of it fixed in heaven the other part of it's touching the Earth he's saying they're on these chariots but one wheel is on the earth and the other one is in the in the spiritual world so they have a direct connection between what's going in on in both World 1.0 and World 2.0 it's worth noting that the wheels not only moved the creatures about but they left an

impact on the Physical Realm and the spiritual one so the wheel touched the earth now look at the appearance in verse um 16 the appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like like sparkling barrel and all of them had the same form their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel was within another now here's what I don't know I don't know if it's a gyroscope where you have a wheel inside of another wheel like this or if what you're Looking at is actually something more like gears where one one wheel's going this way

and one's going that way and the gears are turning like that does that make sense I can't can't tell which he means we don't know the language doesn't he he's trying to tell you he saw something incredible remember when John in Revelation sees a city of glass he's never been to San Francisco if you go to San Francisco it looks like a city of Glass here's this big tower and it's all made of glass and elevators made of glass if John saw that he'd say I saw a city and it was like Crystal and it

glowed cuz he's never had an electric company he's never seen an elevator so they're only telling you what they see but they don't understand the technology of it because it's beyond anything they ever saw in Revelation if a if a a hail Falls onto the Earth but it blows up in fire he's never seen a ballistic missile He doesn't know what it is he just knows it's something hard that comes from the sky like hail and when it hits the ground it blows up so he calls it hail it doesn't have to be hail it

just he doesn't have another word for it okay so in prophetic language when you're looking forward to the technology understand that if a person 100 years ago dropped into our life and was handed one of these they wouldn't have a clue what it is they'd say can you eat it can You fry on it what can you do with it and by the way a 100 years from now nobody will care what this was because they'll have some other communication device so here you have in verse 17 look at the movement whenever they moved they

moved in any of the four directions without turning as they moved so they're always I want you to a picture if the if it's geared it's like they move up they move down they move like this but they never actually turn their face wherever They're going they just move like this so it's all like a wall the only thing I can get from the description is that they're they come as a unit their wings touch and they move like one wall moving and they keep their eyes faced on or not their eyes their faces faced

on front we haven't done the eyes yet okay verse 17 it seems like it remains like they remain facing you always regardless of whatever Direction the axis is Turning now Verse 18 look at the purposes as for their rims that which he's talking about the rims of these wheels as for their rims they were lofty and awesome like the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all the way around okay so you got rims of wheels that have eyes everywhere and um whenever the living beings moved the wheel moved with them and

whenever the living beings Rose from the earth the wheels Rose also see the Wheels are rimmed but the rims are not Treads they're eyes all the way around them they're eyes this direction this direction so what you're seeing is something that perhaps could be a good artistic re rendition of omniscience the ability to see it all to know it all kind of the allseeing eye if I could do it that way except for instead of just being one big eye like a cyclops in the middle of their head it's wherever they're moving they're moving Knowledgeably

they see they they see they know now look at the direction whenever the spirit was about to go they would go in that direction verse 20 and the wheels Rose close behind them for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels okay apparently the beings are big winged beings but their life is in the wheel system underneath their power is in the wheel system underneath imagine that somebody came From 500 years ago and Dennis drove up in his car and they would say and I saw a great beast and I looked through the

Beast and in the heart of the Beast was a man but the power of the man was not in the man it was in the the Beast and then the wheels underneath of him you see the Poetry it's all he's doing is describing to you how something functions when he doesn't understand how it functions that's all he's doing don't get all Caught up in what does God want us to know about the eyeball is the third eyeball more important than the fourth eyeball get off of it he's just trying to tell you man I saw

this thing and I got to tell you God came and there was this wall of angelic beings each one had four faces there were these four beings they came at me they had this weird con Bayer and wheel system in which they were being transported and the and the wheels were full of eyes and inside the Wheel mechanisms were were the spirit or the driving force or the wind of the actual beings themselves they were deriving their power and energy from that and the way they communicated were the black flashes of light running between them

and they were directed by the spirit of God but the spirit of God was separate than them they weren't the spirit they were just getting communication and whichever way the spirit desired to go they would then Follow that direction always in a wall always in tandem always with knowledge and always with their eyes and their wheels anybody lost yet so it says verse 21 whenever those went these went whenever those Stood Still these Stood Still whenever they rose up from the earth the wheels Rose close beside them for the spirit of the living ones was

in the wheels these didn't determine their own Direction they moved by the will of God's spirit whatever God's spirit Wanted to do that's what they did the very Spirit of the living creatures was within the wheels they were made to be mobile their purpose included inspection to see and propulsion to move so that's what they were now stop and look at the expanse that he saw above so this is what he saw coming toward him and then he said I looked up and look at the expense it says now over the heads of the the

living being there was something like an expanse like an awesome gleam of Crystal spread over their heads under the expanse of their wings were stretching out straight one toward the other each one also had two Wings covering its body and on one side and on the other so apparently they've got four wings and two of the Wings are are are are flapping and touching the other wings of the other one and the other two are wrapping around them okay it's it's it's worth noting though that they're powerful command came from Where where did the commands

come he saw powerful beings but above their head was something else in other words they took command from something above them and what's interesting is that um that the picture of the temple as it opens in Antiquity look at verse 24 I want you to see the unmistakable voice of God as the Director of the entire scene says I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant Waters as they went like the voice of the Almighty a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp whenever they Stood Still they

dropped their wings and there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads whenever they Stood Still they dropped their wings so the wings apparently are used in the propulsion system they get direction from above their head and what I think is so cool is he gives you it sounds like a crowd it sounds like a a massive number of people I have an app That I can play that has like a sound of a crowd but it's it when when when they're moving it's not a singular voice it's a massive thundering

multitude of voices interconnected God's voice is often described just like this you'll see it in Revelation 1 you'll see it in Revelation 19 like the voice of many Waters it's like the th wondering of the falls something like that in Jeremiah 51 you'll see it uh Ezekiel 43 you're going To see the same description God's voice sounds like this it's like this loud thundering tumult now look at the unshakable Throne of God in verse 26 because God is not only the director in verses 24 and 25 he's the ruler in verse 26 it says now

above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne like lapis Laz in appearance it's a blue in appearance uh on on that which resembled a throne with high up there was the figure with the Appearance of a man what's interesting is you're looking at the Throne of God and God looks like a man now he's not a man and you're just you were made in his Salem His Image or his shadow or his casting but here's the truth he looks at something and he sees there's one on a throne high

above these four living creatures you know Revelation 1 opens with the scene of the throne room in the similar way Revelation 20 and the Great White Throne judgment same scene he says I got a vision of God and these four living creatures in front of me then it says in verses 27 and 28 my favorite thing about God he is colorful God is Not Bland it says uh then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it and from the appearance of his

loins and downward I saw something like fire and there was a Radiance around him as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day so was the appearance of the surrounding Radiance such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and when I saw it I fell on my face and I heard a voice speaking Yeah you have to understand what he just saw he didn't just see a cool shot of Heaven he saw god with the Holy Guardians coming to toward him cuz no man can serve a

God he does not Worship that man has to believe in the power and the benevolence of God to such an extent that no other following deserves his attention I if I if such a a belief is going to change the path of my life it can't be for anything less than a than a fabulous magnificent beautiful Majestic awesome God let me say it another way the side size of your vision of God has a lot to do with the size of your sacrifice for God if God is too small in your eyes you Will discount

him cheaply there's a song that was written a generation ago and one of the lines I think of often it says I have made you to small in my eyes oh Lord forgive me I have made you too small in my eyes when when something else is bigger than God it becomes the very Idol that God has choose it's the thing he doesn't want in our life now here's the thing you can't give what you don't have you can't share a personal walk with God if You haven't experienced a personal walk with God the depth

and the passion of your call and your walk are all the basis on which you're going to do anything for God no matter what God called him to say no matter what opposition Rose Among the people Ezekiel knew who God was and because he had seen God nothing could turn him off the the I don't there's not words for this the depth of The Well of your Dealing with God in intimacy has everything to do with whether or not you can stand in the face of the person who wants to take your life and say

I Stand For the Living God and I will not turn back you know a guy like a Martin Luther that says I will obey and I can do no other it comes because they have an experience with God you're going to you're going to give up and cut and run if you don't have a deep walk with God And he's being called to do something well I've already warned you as a spoiler alert he's being called to a crappy work Ezekiel knew whom he believed and he knew and he heard and he followed I want

to tell you something in the Bible the people that God used the greatest were not the people with the greatest talents the people that God used the greatest were the people with the most Intimate walk with God they weren't the perfect people they were the David's and the Abrahams Abraham's trading off Sarah David can't keep his pants on and here's the bottom line God used them both deeply because he had an intimate walk with them intimate walk does not equal never sins intimate walk does not equal has the best talents in the room intimate walk

is they learned how to really pour themselves out before God so every person in this room has the potential to do unbelievable things for God but they it will be directly correspondent not to your talents but to Your Surrender and what I think is interesting is you know Paul second Timothy 1 listen to what he said for this reason I also suffer these things but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard that which I entrusted To him until that day Timothy retain

the standard of sound Words which You' have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you I I want you to I want you to grasp that not only that but the people the people were going to know when they saw Ezekiel that he had met God I I think it's interesting look look at chapter 2 ver5 I want you to see Something in 25 it says as for them whether they listen or not for

they are rebellious house they will know that a prophet has been among them underline that if you have a walk with God people may slander you but they will know you're different that if you have a walk with God people may laugh at the notion that you have of God but they will know that he has marked your life in other words if you're a real believer you don't need A t-shirt that says you are because it will show and people will know it here's the thing he he has this incredible experience so I want

you to wrap up chapter one and here's what I want you to do search the whole of the scriptures and you will not find God calling anyone and then asking them to figure out what to do for him you will ever you will not find that in scripture you will never see him going I have called you now go figure out what it is that will help me God simply does not do this God repeatedly asks only for two things in scripture their agreement to search his revealed truths and their surrender to what he tells

them God is not interested in you solving the problems of your life God is interested in two things will you listen to the word that I have given you and will you surrender the will that you have Within you if you will do those two things you will have accomplished what God has asked you to do by the way 53 Years of life and I'm still struggling to do it it is a lifetime adventure to try and get done second thing I want you to know is God often called a man or woman as the

platform to share his plan in in the case of Noah build an ark make it a living display in other words God may call you to go do something I'm going to show you that Ezekiel becomes better than television to watch this guy is so weird and has such weird things to Do in public he's better than watching TV so God may call you and your life to be the spectacle to get other people to watch him I want you to understand that very often God will call a man or a woman to use their

life as a platform to share his plan Okay the third thing I want you to see is God can use the wrong place and the wrong time in your life chapter one is all about one thing I'm in the wrong town I'm surrounded by the wrong people I'm supposed to be a priest priest serving in the temple in Jerusalem and here I am sitting in the kabar river in Babylon yuck but God can use the wrong place in the wrong time because the fact of the matter is it's not it's not always what you think

it is God is not limited to you being in the right spot or the pretty place for God to do something Profound in your life very often God will do something profound in your life at a moment when it's absolutely totally Beyond listen somebody here is going to meet the love of their life because you're going to get a flat tire okay and you're going to be pulled over the side of the road you know you could just see Ashley pulled over the side of the road crying because her tire is flat and she doesn't

have a spare and she's like I don't know what to do and Then he then come here comes Prince Charming comes up in a tow truck you know and here's the thing you know all I'm trying to tell you is you don't put on your daytimer the cool things God is going to do he's going to do cool things but you're not going to know they're going to happen until they happen and for some of us like me who were pretty obtuse you won't even know they happened after they happen it will be years later

That you will realize yes it's true she filled my car with balloons and I did not know she liked me it's absolutely true I didn't know because I'm me and I'm obtuse when you take chapter one and you look at chapters 1 2 and three I'm going to give you a a chart this chart is is really about the way the whole book is divided because what I did was I went through the book and I looked for each thing that had a date in it and then I organized the book around It um I

want you to know that the next section is going to be a section about judgment but I also have to stop and just point out to you that there are a series of Parables I wrote These on the board so I don't have to stand here and do them verbally but this Ezekiel has more Parables than any book of the Hebrew scriptures and it is likened to Matthew in the respect that there are a lot of parables in it I want to take a moment while he's making the chart and Go to Ezekiel 15 and

just show you from um the section this box right here this is condemnation of God's people through the parable of a fruitless Vine and I just want to take a moment and see if I can get you to um kind of know a little bit about what the fruitless the the fruitless Vine is it says the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man how is the wood of the vine better than the wood of a branch which is among the Trees of the forest can wood be taken From it to make

anything or can men take a peg from it on which to hang something so he he actually is asking a question that comes up in Isaiah 22 this is a question that it's already being asked been asked before so you might Mark Isaiah 22: 23 to 25 if it has been put into the fire for fuel and the fire has consumed both of its ends and in the middle part it has been charged is it useful for anything behold while it is intact it is not made Into anything how much less when the fire has

consumed it and it is charred can it still be made into anything therefore says thus says the Lord God as the wood of the vine among the Trees of the forest which I have given for the fuel for fire for the fuel so have I given the inhabitants of Jerusalem I have set my face against them underline this phrase in verse 7 I have set my face against them though they have come out of the fire yet the fire will Consume them then you will know that I am the Lord when I set my face

against them thus I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully declares the Lord all right what is the story about let me use a um an imitation Vine forget the lights there are no lights on this Vine all right let's pretend that what we have is a vine okay if what's the difference between say this tree and a and a a grap Vine in terms of its Wood I'm sorry okay in fact a Vine that's 20 years old can be as thick as all three of these um this would be about the

thickness of a seveny Old Vine um in in Judea so let's say it could be very thick so it's not the thickness but Vines don't grow like this do they they're not very straight they're not very strong they're made I mean essentially a grape vine is like a weed okay I mean it's it grows and it's Stringy and it's fibery but it's very flexible it can go in many directions but it tends not to have a strong form so when he talks about this Vine he says let me ask you something verse three can you

make a peg from a Vine not really because when you cut a Vine it's real spongy wood it's not solid it's not like a hard wood so it's not good for building stuff is it well look at verse four if you put it in the fire for fuel and the burns the ends and The middle is charred is it better or worse than when it was just growing in the ground is it more or less useful after you've burned its edges it's only weaker the vine doesn't get stronger because of the heat it only gets

weaker and he says verse five even though it's intact it's not made into anything you can't use it for anything what's he saying What is the symbol of burning the edges but not burning so it's consumed where are we we are in the first half of the book before 24 and his wife dies after 24 on the day the temple is destroyed is there still a temple at the time in which he's giving this prophecy yes but the Jerusalem has been singed but not destroyed yet the Babylonians have come and CED away people but haven't

totally Dissected or destroyed the city and the temple and What God Says is I'm going to turn my face away from my temple I'm going to turn my face away from Jerusalem and what is now singed on the edges still can't be used for anything so I'm going to burn the whole thing that's what he says so the parable of the fruitless Vine is that the the vine doesn't have any use in building and now that it's half singed and charred and burned it has even less use and I'm Going to turn my face away

and that's going to be the end of it I'm going to get rid of Jerusalem and its Temple now in the meantime what's everybody else in town telling them oh no no we're going to go back it's going to be wonderful things are going to get better and better tomorrow bet your bottom dollar I mean they're just singing about it and here's the thing he gets up and says let me tell you what tomorrow looks Like worse than today okay we look singed now we're going to be burned to a crisp tomorrow in other words

he's going back and he's citing it all right do you see that The Parables when you actually look at them if you look at where he is in the journey they'll make pretty good sense so I want you to notice that in Vision number one that's the glimpse of the Glory do you see that the second Vision that Vision By the way happened on July 13th of 593 how do I know that exactly he tells you exactly what day it is and every one of these dates is in the text I didn't make up anything

so what I can tell you is it was July 13th of 593 and God showed me a vision of himself I mean how cool is that by the way I'd go back in chapter one and I'd write that in um that's what I would do with these I would write them into the verses where you see the beginning of the vision now it's uh August and it gets hot and then September and it is now a year later and it's summertime Autumn and I have a second vision and the second vision is in chapters 8

through 11 and that will be God has left the building it will be God leaving his Temple and what I want to do is finish out uh chapters 1 2 and 3 now and get finish out that first Vision so that we can actually retire and say we know what the first vision is go to chapter 2 okay in chapter one we saw this incredible V vision and in Chapter two what do we see next we're going to go from a vision to learning to hear the word of the Lord and how do I know

that's what it's going to be about because that's what it says look at verse two then he said Son of Man stand on your feet that I may speak with you as he spoke to me the spirit entered me and set me on my feet and I heard him speaking to me when God speaks it's not just the process of verbalization and communication the spirit of God has to Take whatever is in God's heart and insert it into your heart it's more than just hearing something he didn't just hear God God burdened his heart with

what God Said and I'm not going to get words for this how do I say this better it it's if God wants to speak okay Ashley's sitting there it's Sunday morning we're in a text I'm just doing a normal like message whatever but God really wants to speak to you it's not just going to be That you heard certain words it's something different what is it when you say God really spoke to me that day what are you saying it feels like he takes your heart and then just pulls it over it's like this is

how I do it okay he grabs grabs your heart he pulls it to where he wants it to be he dumps something into you that wasn't there before where you go it's not just I got a new idea it's wow God's really challenging me on this or Convicting me of this you know what I'm saying it's something more I don't have words for this I'm not going to do a good job so I'm just going to say he's trying to describe to you that as this Majestic God came toward him when God spoke he poured

it into his heart then he said to me son of man I am sending you to the sons of Israel to a rebellious people who have rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day I'm sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children and you shall say to them thus says the Lord God as for them whe whether they listen or not for they are rebellious people they will know that a prophet is has been among them I want you to go I want you to be a

prophet they're going to know you're a prophet ET and whether they listen or not is not relevant we've seen this before haven't we we've seen this with Isaiah's call you know and what was Isaiah's question right after God told him that how long do I have to do this Isaiah 6 no it says verse um verse six and you son of man neither fear them nor fear their words though thistles and Thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions okay if you wanted to say to somebody it's it's going to be really tough it's

going to really be uncomfortable you'd say you're sitting on scorpions I have done it I slept on top of a scorpion Nest Near the Dan river in northern Israel and woke up with scorpion blisters all down my leg cuz that was stung repeatedly throughout the night and did not realize that's what was going on um yeah and the next day I move the tent and scorpions go everywhere and I'm going I've got these big blisters all down the side of my leg and I'm I I get up in the morning I say whoow what's going

on here and my leg barely Moves In other words it's really going to hurt That's what he's trying to say and and here's what it says it says um neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence middle of verse six for they are rebellious house but you shall speak my words to them whether they listen or not for they are rebellious he keeps sort of making a point about them they're rebellious obstinate stubborn did you notice maybe they're rebellious maybe they won't listen cuz they're like rebellious and By the way they're really rebellious

he's really underscoring the fact that the people aren't listening and probably won't now you son of man listen to what I am speaking to you do not be rebellious like that rebellious house open your mouth and eat what I am giving you there you see Revelation 10 here take the scroll and eat it okay eat what I am giving you in other words it has to go within you and become part of you do you all understand I would write right Next to this what was the symbol Jesus gave for the New Covenant this is

the New Covenant forged with my blood eat this bread drink this cup why it's got to be part of you I need this to go into you now look at verse nine then I looked and behold a hand was extended to me and a scroll was in it when he spread it out before me it was written on the front and the back and Written on it were Lamentations mourning and woe that's unusual to see a scroll that has written on both sides but he says as they open it up I saw on both sides

of the scroll verse three then he said to me chapter three then he said to me son of man eat what you find eat the scroll and go back and speak to the house of Israel so does Ezekiel make the point that that which he is delivering to the children of Israel is the word of God does he not say by the way this came Exactly from God I ingested it from him so I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll and he said Son of Man feed your stomach and fill your body

with this scroll which I am giving you then I ate it and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth now that's interesting it was sweet as honey in my mouth but then it says then he said to me son of man go to the house of Israel speak my words to them for you are are not being sent to a people of unintelligent speech or Difficult language but to the house of Israel he's not saying you're not being sent to stupid people he's saying I'm not sending you to the Nations I'm sending you

to your own people in Exile they are people who know your language they will be able to understand you verse 6 nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language whose words you cannot understand but I have sent you to them who should listen to you now there it is At the end of this I have sent you to those who should listen Jesus by the way used similar wording in Matthew 11:21 he said basically the same thing yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you since they are not

willing to listen to me surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate I think he's made this point already behold I've made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads what is he Say what does that mean I made you just as tough as the people you're going up against in fact verse nine I've given you a hard head I've made your forehead Like Flint in other words plan on taking a punch plan on getting hit hard do not be afraid of them or dismayed before them

though they are rebellious house moreover he said to me son of man take into your heart all my words which I will speak to you and Listen closely I want you to see in verse 10 it's not he ate them but they were eaten and taken into his heart okay it's not just fill your stomach with the word of God it's take it into your heart and then he said go to the Exiles circle the word Exiles that is the that is the direction he has been called those are the people he's been called to

to the sons of your people speak to them tell them whether they listen or not thus says the Lord God Now I put a box around 12 13 and 14 in my Bible then the spirit lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me blessed be the glory of the Lord in his place and I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels behind them even a great rumbling sound so the spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went

embittered in the Rage of my spirit and the Hand of the Lord was strong on me What is embittered in the Rage of my spirit in the presence of God he picked up the emotion of God the justice of God the in the in the in the aura of the righteousness of God he picked up a sense of God's indignance over his Holiness I know that before lunch there's no way I can do a good job at this but I want you to just see if you can feel the end of these verses God is

Not only hurt like Hosea when we sin He's also indignant against his own righteousness God is Holy and when I affront his Holiness and I Dethrone him in my life I do something that is so wrong at a level of wrong that it's that same Injustice have you ever been just had your stomach turned at Injustice it was just so wrong what was happening you watch something on human trafficking and you walk away and your stomach is turning that's what he says he says so He says I was embittered in The Rage of my spirit

I was like everything inside of me was turned upside down this is so wrong who we are our Rebellion is so heinous toward God it that's the sense now he's not going to take that attitude when he goes to preach I'm not telling you to take that attitude I'm saying at some point in your engaging of God you go wow what a what a wretched sinner I am you know the old hymns would call us Wretched you know for to save a Wretch like Me we update them and we try to say you know to

save a person like me because we don't want we don't like to talk about our wretchedness but there's a stench of our life and and he grabs that now he grabs it not only for himself but for his people verse 15 then I came to the Exiles who live beside the river kabar in Tel Aviv and I would underline Tel Aviv there because that's where we get Its name and I sat there seven days where they were living causing consternation among them okay this is the beginning of his career I came and I sat there

for 7even days and people were coming and going and going get a bath at the end of the seven days the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man I have appointed you a Watchman to the house of Israel and that's where I say he moves to the third stage the first one was what he saw then what he heard now this is the commissioning to be a Watchman this is I saw God I I heard him insert his word inside me now I'm called to go out and watch for others and

for what is coming be a Watchman you could say the word Guardian he gets the job as a guardian to become a Watchman of the House of Israel whenever you hear a word from my mouth warn them from me so he becomes Like a warning alert this is kind of like a Judah alert okay and he's to do that whenever God calls him to do it when I say to the wicked you will surely die and you do not warn him him of him or speak out to warn the wicked from his Wicked way which

that he may live that Wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood I will require at your hand what does he say if I tell you to say it and I say look him in the eye and tell him he's Going to die he'll die but if you don't tell him he'll die anyway and it'll be on your head it is your job to speak my word somewhere in the margin put it down it is your job to speak my word I will hold you responsible for the souls you don't speak to yet

verse 19 if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his Wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but you have Delivered yourself in other words Ezekiel your job is to do what I told you to do or I'm going to hold it against you that you didn't if you do what I told you to do even if they don't listen and die and perish wickedly that's not your problem because you did your job just do your job verse 20 says again when a righteous man turns away

from his righteousness and commits iniquity I and I place an obstacle before him he will die since You have not warned him he shall die in his sin and his righteous Deeds which he has done shall not be remembered but his blood I will require at your hand however if you've warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin he will surely live because you because he took warning and you have delivered yourself the hand of the Lord was on me there and he said get up go out to

the plane and there I will speak to you so I got up I went out to The plane and behold the glory of the Lord was standing there like the glory which I saw at the river kabar and I fell on my face before he begins now to give the next message God's presence returns back to him the spirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet and he spoke with me and said to me go shut yourself in your house as for you son of man they will put ropes on you and

bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them moreover I will Make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them for they are a rebellious house but when I speak to you I will open your mouth and you will say to them thus says the Lord he who hears let him hear and he who refuses let him refuse for they are rebellious house so he says I want to do something I want to send you to them and

I I know what they're going to do you're going to get there and they're going to Tie you up and stick you in a room and you're going to be unable to speak you're going to want to go but you don't get to open your mouth until I tell you exactly what to say and at that moment you'll be able to speak but you will be tied up and they will refuse and all of that is I'm going to use your body as a simp symbol of their Spirit I'm going to tie you up because

they are rebellious it is their way of overtly saying I don't want God's word I don't need God's Word I want to do what I want to do you bring God's word and I'll tie you up but notice that God doesn't only say that they will tie him up God says and I will shut your mouth because I'm not going to let you say anything but what I tell you to say so Ezekiel is no no longer able to speak when he wants his mouth will only work when he's ready to say What God Says

how many of you would find this [Music] Frustrating finally they let you speak you're stepping on my foot you know I mean this has got to be a really hard thing to do and yet God calls him all right does everybody understand the call of Ezekiel so that first Vision actually happens over uh part one part two is almost a year later the next summer and and as you grasp the whole thing you're actually looking at something that is going to be a very big and powerful Vision in his life there's going to be another

Vision we're going to see in just a after lunch but to get you there from chapter 4 all the way up through chapter 8 chapter 4 5 6 and 7 starts a series of interesting things that God calls him to do I want you to know that um he's going to do eight different acts and two of the acts are going to be recorded in the section after the vision in 8 through 11 but the rest of them act 1 through six will be what we'll pour Through in the next chapters right after lunch okay

are you following the sense of the book here's what you should know already you should be able to pick out three boxes you should be able to tell me 1 to 3 is his call that 4 to 24 is the condemnation against God's people that in 24 he gets a message about his wife going to die that in uh 25 to 32 he gives people around God's people for two years judgment and in verses 33 to 48 the consolation of God after 33 when God Tells him I need to retune your heart chapter one starts

off with a heart that is called by the de dep and the power and the Majesty of God chapter 33 he's going to run into God's compassion God's love God's richness and fullness and the last part of the book will sound different than the first part and it will all be about the God he met and the message he was given so that changes even the flavor of his life okay that's that's where we're [Music] heading [Music] I don't have an [Music] offering to bring to you