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If you'd like to obey your heads and pray with me.

Gracious Father, we ask that you might send your spirit to us now as we have your word

in front of us so that as we hear, give us this blessing we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

On the eve of a desert storm in January 1991, President Bush Sr. said it was America's

responsibility as the leader of the world to protect Kuwait.

It would seem from that statement that the United States had a particular view of itself.

Before they, and I think that view flows out of a little bit of their history, because

they had won the Second World War, they were the economic powerhouse of the world at the

time and they had Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Maybe there was a culture of arrogance and presumption that they would always be on top

of the world.

Is it justified?

When you think about in reality, in terms of the world history, they had been a world player

for about 90 years.

In that time, they were defeated in Vietnam.

They'd been sorely bruised in Korea, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

And yet you get a sense, if you've ever visited the United States, that there will always be

on top of the world.

Part of it is also of their theological framework, where, like on their banknote, in God we trust,

but the assumption is that God is always on our side.

We are the good guys against the bad guys.

Now, United States, in the grand scheme of things, might not be justified thinking the

way that they do, but two and a half thousand years ago, God's people did.

They had, in fact, had the promised land and they had been on top of the world for a thousand

years.

Something that Hitler wanted to do.

And Israel had been there for a thousand years.

And maybe they thought they were always going to be on top because in the middle of their

capital, Jerusalem, stood a temple.

And in that temple, God ruled and God would never allow his city to fall.

Such was their arrogance and their complacency and apathy as the people of God.

It, in fact, came to an abrupt ending, as we saw last week in 597 BC.

The Babylonians swept through Judah, captured large elements of the aristocracy and the

academics and the leaders, and they took them off to Babylon, one of which was Ezekiel.

And so the question is that, well, what's going back in Jerusalem?

What's happening back there in Jerusalem?

How are they getting on?

Those who weren't deported, how are they getting on?

Well, as it turns out, they thought that everything was still okay.

As I mentioned last week, there are people like the prophet Hananiah back in Jerusalem

saying things like, don't worry, be happy.

We've still got the temple.

It's still there.

God's still with us.

We'll never be defeated.

Those who were deported were probably the ungodly ones.

It's a terrible arrogance.

Because as we discover here that all is not peace and safety back in Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is commissioned.

We're doing basically chapters 2 to 32 today.

So it would be great if you had your Bibles in front of you.

And my extensive reading is going to be hopefully packaged down into something slightly over 30 minutes today.

So have your Bibles in front of you.

Ezekiel is commissioned in chapter 2.

He is told that what is in front of him is an extremely difficult task.

In fact, it says that if he'd been called to be a cross-cultural missionary,

it would have been a whole lot easier job than being the pastor of these people.

It says this in chapter 3, verses 5 to 7.

You are not being sent to a people who are obscure speech and difficult language,

but to the house of Israel.

Not too many peoples are obscure speech and difficult language,

whose words you cannot understand.

Surely if I sent you to them,

they would have listened to you.

But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you,

because they are not willing to listen to me.

For the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate.

The message of these chapters that we're scanning today is that God is angry with his people.

They are hardened to his word.

And in chapter 16, you can see why God was feeling the way he was.

You don't need to move there.

I'll give you a bit of a picture.

He paints a terrible picture in chapter 16 of this relationship between God and his people.

The story there in chapter 16, the analogy is of a baby.

A little baby girl that's cast aside in her birth.

She's been born and thrown aside into the bushes.

She's still covered in all the muck from birth,

crying out, just dumped there, uncared for, unloved, abandoned.

And then God comes along and takes up this little girl.

He washes her.

He nurtures her.

He protects her and comforts her.

Nourishes her as she grows up.

God, watch this little girl grows up into her childhood and then into adulthood.

And God adorns her with jewellery and lavishes love on her.

But instead of love and appreciation and faithfulness in return, she becomes a prostitute.

She, in fact, rejects her divine lover, if you like.

And so God feels like the husband's scorned, the rejected husband.

Chapter 8, flick over there, describes, if you like, how their unfaithfulness to God works itself out.

But the first three verses reveal that Ezekiel receives visions of God,

where he's taken from the Kibar River to Jerusalem.

And he gets a vision of what God wants him to see back in Jerusalem.

And he's taken to the temple in Jerusalem.

He's shown three things in the temple in Jerusalem.

The first is in verse 5.

Then he said to me, son of man, look towards the north.

And so I looked.

And in the entrance north of the gate of the altar, I saw this idol of jealousy.

And so he's standing inside the north gate.

Ezekiel looks to the north as instructed.

And he sees what is most likely the statue of a Canaanite mother goddess.

A crude Canaanite symbol of fertility.

It is referred here as the idol of jealousy.

Because if Ezekiel had instead looked to the south,

he would have seen, standing there in the opposite from this idol,

in full view of this idol, a symbol that represented God's presence in his place.

You see, Yahweh, the husband of Israel, joined to her by solemn covenant,

had demanded exclusive allegiance from his people.

Exclusive devotion.

And yet, like a brazen hussy, she was openly committing adultery in his house.

In fact, in the living room of the house, in full view of her husband, as it were.

Then down in verse 10, Ezekiel has shown another thing.

So I went in and I looked and I saw portrayed all over the walls,

all kinds of crawling fiends and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel.

And so, not only this crude fertility symbol, but in God's temple,

Egyptian animal gods are being worshipped.

It also says there, linked with that, that while they are appearing,

there are priests there while appearing to perform service to Yahweh,

each one of these priests, the elders of the people,

are pursuing their own personal idols and preferences in his house.

And so, bit by bit, Ezekiel was just more shocked by what he saw.

Behind each door of the temple, gradually, God was bringing him in,

showing him more and more detestable things.

He showed another thing in verse 16.

So, step by step, God is bringing his prophet Ezekiel closer to the central sanctuary of the temple,

the holy of holies, and God draws Ezekiel's attention to a group of men,

standing, most likely the priests again,

standing on the very threshold of the temple buildings.

This is the place where these people would normally plead to Yahweh for the pardon of the people for their sin.

Forgive us, Lord, for our idolatry and our arrogance and our sinfulness.

And here they are, standing there, but instead they've got their backs to the altar,

and instead they're looking to the east and they are worshipping their son.

Verse 17 sums it up.

Have you seen this, son of man?

Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do detestable things they are doing here?

Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger?

Look at them putting the branch to their nose.

Now that last phrase is pretty difficult to understand,

but it most likely means they're a stench to my nose.

Instead of being in the temple and in their worship,

being a fragrant offering to the Lord,

they are a stench to his nose.

They're rebelling against God,

they've got their backs to God,

they're prostituting themselves with God,

and they're doing it all in the name of their religion.

And it stinks, is what God says.

And so in chapter 9,

the glory of God is avenged.

It was what was read out to us a moment ago.

And it is a terrible chapter that describes

God devastating his people in judgment.

In verses 1 and 2,

we're introduced to seven soldiers.

These are not human soldiers.

They are seven archangels

whose normal function is to defend God's people.

And here they are, given new orders.

Their job now is to, in fact,

stop protecting God's people

and to attack God's people.

It is to execute judgment on them.

And then we notice something happens in verse 3.

This is, take note of verse 3.

Now the glory of the Lord of Israel

went up from above the cherubim,

where it had been,

and moved to the threshold of the temple.

Notice that.

Notice that point.

It's the first step of God withdrawing from his people.

And what happens when God withdraws from his people?

Verse 5,

Five, the seven soldiers execute judgment on them.

Without showing pity or compassion,

slaughter old men, young men and maidens,

women and children,

but do not touch anyone who has the mark.

Notice verse 4.

The godly are afforded protection.

Then the Lord called to the man,

clothed in linen,

who had the riding kit at his side,

and said to him,

Go throughout the city of Jerusalem

and put a mark on the foreheads of those

who grieve and lament

over all the detestable things that are doing in it.

Notice the criteria that God uses

to instruct these men

to distinguish between those who receive judgment

and those who receive the mark.

Notice the criteria.

It is those who grieve and lament

over all the detestable things that are done.

That's the difference.

What God expects of his faithful people

in days of national, moral, and spiritual degeneration

is descent.

That's what he expects of his people.

He expects us to emphatically reject the values

and the practices of a pagan, irreligious, secular world.

That is, a refusal to be conformed by them.

He looks for a measure of disgust

and a deeply felt sense of horror and outrage

of what is happening in his world.

A feeling of distress and grieving and lamenting.

Let me just clarify that, what I've just said.

God is not impressed by Pharisees.

What God seeks are people who express their rejection

and their moral outrage

not by a sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude

but by an agonizing sorrow of heart.

A person who has an agonizing sorrow of heart

actually recognizes there is, in fact,

solidarity in all sin.

That is, I am a sinner too.

That is, they feel ashamed and disgusted

with their society

rather than simply for their society.

When you're disgusted with your society,

you will do whatever you can,

like we looked at last week,

Jeremiah 28, 29,

I can't remember exactly where it is,

seek the blessing of the city.

You will work for God's glory in the city.

When you're disgusted for your society,

you withdraw away from them

and have your little holy club.

And the picture here, as we can see,

moving to chapter 10,

goes from bad to worse.

As the slaughter continues

and the fire takes hold,

Ezekiel watches the glory of God

makes its next move

in departing from the people.

Chapter 10, verse 4

describes what we already know.

God has moved from the most holy place

to the edge of the temple precincts.

Then down in verse 18,

then the glory of the Lord

departed from over the threshold of the temple

and stopped above the cherubim.

And then there's a further move in verse 19,

while I watched the cherubim spread their wings

and rose from the ground,

as they went,

the wheels went with them.

They stopped at the entrance

to the east gate of the Lord's house

and the glory of the Lord of Israel

was above them.

And so the unthinkable has happened.

God has left his temple via the east gate.

God is not there.

It is shocking.

And notice what happens

when God leaves through the east gate.

Standing at the east gate

is a group of pompous men

engaging,

they're engaged in planning their future,

apparently unaware

of the mayhem in the city

that's soon going to be upon them.

They are there

complacently assuming their safety.

When the Lord himself,

their only possible protector,

passes straight by them

as he exits the temple

and they didn't even notice.

How easy it is

to be so involved in religion

and not have God,

not even notice that he's not in it.

how easy it is

to sing the songs

and pray prayers

and say confessions

and not even

notice that God's not in it.

And then in chapter 11,

flick over there,

chapter 11 verses 22 to 23

comes the final move.

Then the cherubim

with the wheels beside them

spread their wings

and the glory of God

of Israel was above them.

The glory of the Lord

went up from within the city

and stopped above the east,

the mountain east of it.

The glory of the Lord

went up from within the city

and stopped above the mountain

east of it.

We are to conclude from there

that it was from that east mountain

that the glory of the Lord

departed

from his land.

And with his departure

from the mountain

east of Jerusalem,

God handed his city

and his nation

over to be destroyed

and it happened

in 586 BC.

Nebuchadnezzar had had enough

and so had God.

Do you remember

what I said last week?

That I said that the whole

prophecy of Ezekiel

is bookended by

by one word.

It is the Lord is there.

In chapter 1 verse 4,

even in pagan Babylon,

God was there

for his prophet Ezekiel.

And the last phrase

of Ezekiel

names the city

where God permanently

dwells with his people.

It is the Lord is there.

And these chapters here

that we've just read out to us

in chapter 9 especially

is a picture

of what happens

when God is

not there.

The glory of the Lord

has departed

and so chapter 9

is barbaric.

It is awful.

But perhaps it is

only by painting

such a barbaric

and a gory scene

that the reality

of God's judgment

can be brought home

to us

with sufficient

emotional force.

Ezekiel doesn't

just want us

to think about

this message.

He wants us

to feel

its reality.

Multiply this

massacre

in chapter 9

millions of times

and you get

something of the

reality of the

nightmare of hell.

Hell

hell is where

God is not

for all of

eternity.

It's not just

a matter for

debate.

It's a reality

to be felt.

My friends,

the plight of the

lost should

profoundly

disturb us.

It should

drive us to

your knees.

See what Ezekiel

does in response

to the slaughter

in chapter 9?

Verse 8,

while they were

killing and I

was left alone,

I fell face

down crying out,

Oh,

sovereign Lord,

are you going

to destroy

the entire

remnant of

Israel in

this outpouring

of your wrath

on Jerusalem?

Even the

prophet expresses

identification

with the people

under judgment.

Are you going

to destroy

all of us?

He feels

the burden

of judgment

and it

moves into

crying out.

I don't

believe that

we can speak

about judgment

without praying

for mercy.

And if we

can speak

with judgment

without praying

for mercy,

I don't believe

we've actually

felt the weight

of judgment

in our own

hearts.

God's

judgment

is

and so

friends,

let us

not forget

here that

judgment

begins with

the people

of God.

It is

their sin

that has

been exposed

and they

are now

faced with

a choice

here.

They can

either be

moved in

grief and

repentance

for their

sin or

they can

brazenly

deny the

truth,

mock the

messenger,

harden their

hearts against

God and

further their

rebellion.

No doubt

it is a

terribly

painful and

a threatening

thing to

be faced

with personal

sin.

There is a

fear,

I believe,

in us all

that our

true sins

might be

exposed and

therefore our

reputation

might be

heart-tarnished.

to be

confronted with

sin is a

devastating

encounter with

reality.

When God

really reveals

the blackness

of our

hearts, it

is devastating.

It is a

ruthless

ripping away

of our

mass of

pretense,

mass that

are so easily

put up with

religion,

but it

is also a

profoundly

defining moment

with our

relationship

with God.

In that

moment we

are faced

with a

stark

choice.

One

option is

to fall

face down

before God

in grief

and shame

and be

comforted

only by

the humility

and repentance

that led

the psalmist

to plead,

remember not

the sins

of my

youth and

my rebellious

ways.

According to

your love,

remember me

for you,

O God,

are good.

How could

the psalmist

make that

request?

Because he

was secure

in the

reassurance

that if

you, O

Lord,

kept the

record of

sins, O

Lord,

who could

stand?

But with

you there

is forgiveness,

therefore you

are feared.

And so

their option,

two options,

fall down

in repentance,

second option

is to

continually

move

stubbornly

in sin,

ignoring all

warnings and

all pleadings

and face the

consequences

to fall

on those

who arrogantly

unrepent.

that is

the choice

that we

face today.

Did you

hear my

prayer when

I began?

I wasn't

just trying

to make a

filler here

so that

we're lined

up with

the Mandarin

congregation.

As we

open your

word today,

do not

harden our

hearts.

That is

the choice

that we

face.

Whenever we

are challenged

by other

people or

directly by

the Holy

Spirit over

our sinful

actions.

So,

friends,

perhaps even

today as

we've read

God's

word,

these

scorching

chapters,

maybe our

hearts have

been moved

to a more

profound

awareness of

the sin

that lurks

in the

hidden

recesses of

the present

of our

hearts or

the past

of our

hearts.

Perhaps

we have

been convicted

by the

idolatry

that is

our drive

consistently

for security

in the

West.

Maybe the

flirtation

with sexual

license that

we call

freedom.

Maybe the

arrogance and

the complacency

and the

false security

that feed

off our

relative

wealth and

comfort.

If the

Holy Spirit

has exposed

any parts

of our

hearts,

past or

present

of sin,

then deal

with it

as such.

Do not

like the

exiles,

blame other

people or

blame God.

Do not,

like so

many today,

explain it,

excuse it,

or try to

put it into

some kind

of modern

perspective.

Sin is

sin and

when it is

exposed,

we are left

to one of

two mutually

exclusive

alternatives,

repentance

or hardening.

And so

today,

if you hear

his voice,

do not

harden your

hearts as

Israel did.

for those

of us who

are acutely

aware of

the Holy

Spirit's

conviction of

sin,

aware of

failure,

desiring to

walk with

the Lord

with confession,

repentance and

obedience,

and you're

feeling the

weight of

their sin,

there is

something

absolutely

essential that

you need to

hear from

this text.

It is

true that

there is

anger in

God's

heart that

will bring

judgment,

but there is

also pain

and a

great desire

for reconciliation.

There are,

in fact,

glimpses of

hope in

these chapters

as well.

Back in

chapter 3,

for instance,

when God

commissions

Ezekiel as

his mouthpiece

to his

people,

he says

this to

them,

to him,

to Ezekiel,

son of

man,

I have

made you

a watchman

for the

house of

Israel.

Ezekiel

there is

called a

watchman by

God.

A watchman

is needed

only in

times of

danger.

They're the

person who

stands on

the city

wall as

a lookout

and warns

the city

of any

enemy

approaching.

That's

their job.

They push

the alarm

button.

And so

there's a

profound

irony here.

As the

watchman for

Israel,

Ezekiel

is being

appointed as

such to

that position

by

Israel's

enemy.

It is

God who

is Israel's

enemy at

this point,

but it

is God

who puts

Ezekiel in

the position

of watchman

in that

place to

ring the

alarm bell

to tell

the people

of his

hostile

intent.

And this

tells us

that while

God is

glorified in

judgment,

he never

delights in

the destruction

of the

wicked.

You see,

God's anger

is not one

of his

eternal

attributes.

It is a

function of

his holiness.

sin.

His anger

comes into

existence

because of

sin and

his anger

is quenched

when sin

is dealt

with to

his

satisfaction.

His love,

on the other

hand, is an

innate divine

attribute,

which is why

the psalmist

says in

number 30

verse 5,

his anger

lasts only a

moment,

but his

favour

lasts a

lifetime.

There's also

further hope

in chapter

11.

Right before

the glory

of God

makes his

final departure

to that

mountain east

of Jerusalem,

he makes

this promise

in verse 17,

chapter 11.

This is what the

sovereign Lord

says,

I will gather

you from the

nations and

bring you back

from the

countries where

you have been

scattered,

and I will

give you back

the land of

Israel again.

They will

return to

it and remove

all its vile

images and

detestable idols.

I will give

them an

undivided heart

and put a

new spirit

in them.

I will remove

from them

their heart of

stone and give

them a heart

of flesh.

Then they will

follow my

decrees and be

careful to keep

my laws.

They will be

my people and

I will be

their God.

what God

promises there

before his

final exit,

he says,

I will

return.

He promises

to return.

He promises

to be

there again.

And true

to his

promise,

five centuries

later,

the glory of

God came

back.

John 1.1

says,

in the beginning

was the

word,

and the

word was

with God,

and the

word

was God.

And then

down in

verse 14,

it says this,

this word

who is

God,

this word

became flesh

and he made

his dwelling

amongst us.

We have

seen his

glory,

the glory

of the

one and

only,

the glory

which departed

five centuries

earlier,

has come

back,

and he

has come

from the

father full

of grace

and truth.

So who

is this

word?

Who

is God?

Who

is this

word?

Who

has come

to us?

Who

is this

word?

Who

is full

and

grateful

of

grace

and

truth?

Verse 17

tells us,

grace

and truth

came

through

Jesus

Christ.

God

returns

in all

his glory

to fulfill

his promise

in the

person

of Jesus

Christ.

God

but as

the glory

of God

departed

unnoticed

by most

so it

came back

unnoticed

by most.

John

says he

was in

the world

and the

world was

made through

him and

the world

did not

recognize

him.

He came

to that

which was

his own

but his

own

rejected

him.

Even

the historic

people of

God

rejected

him just

like they

did

in

Ezekiel's

day so

they did

it again

when he

came back

to Jerusalem

they rejected

him again.

But instead

of taking

up his

sword and

executing

God's

judgment

on the

streets of

Jerusalem

again this

time he

took up

a cross.

He

willingly

turned

God's

anger

away

from his

rebellious

by placing

himself

under the

white

hot

judgment

and anger

of God

for the

sin of

the world.

And as

he climbed

up that

hill and

hung on

that cross

for the

sin of

the world

he cries

out in

a loud

voice

my God

my God

why have

you forsaken

me?

As

his

judgment

fell the

father turned

his back

on his

son.

God was

not

there

for him.

But when

God's

anger for

our sin

was

satisfied

he was

there

three days

later when

he brought

Jesus back

from the

grave

triumphant

over death

and the

consequences

of Christ

taking up

that cross

and not

his sword

is as

John writes

a little bit

later

for God

so loved

the world

that he

gave his

one and

only son

that whoever

believes in

him shall

not perish

but have

eternal

life.

Those who

mourn their

sin have

a safe

refuge

from that

sin and

its consequences

in Jesus

and so if

that is

you

you are

marked

with the

sign of

the cross

and as a

little bit

of information

the mark

that was

placed on

the foreheads

of the

people in

Jerusalem

in Ezekiel's

day was

a Hebrew

symbol for

the cross.

If you're

someone who

mourns your

sin and

feels the

weight of

your sin

you are

marked with

the sign

of the

cross

you are

safe in

him

and so

remember

this

some 40

days

after Jesus

rose

again

he

departed

again

the glory

of God

departed

again

in exactly

the same

place it

did five

centuries

earlier

just east

of the city

of Jerusalem

on the

Mount of

Olives

and as it

departed

it didn't

part in

judgment

this time

it departed

with blessing

and he

says to

his

disciples

surely I'm

with you

always

to the

very end

of the

age

God is

here with

us now

Amen