Ezekiel 17–24
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A whole lot of years ago, more really than I want to admit, when I was in seminary, I was taking a class that I think was the hardest class I ever took, maybe with the exception of one other by the same professor, and the class was called Advanced Greek Grammar. It was with a guy named Dr. Peter Gentry. Let me just take a quick survey. Raise your hand if you know Peter Gentry. That's a bunch of you. raise your hand if Peter Gentry kind of terrifies you yeah that's like one-to-one raise your hand if you also know Peter Gentry is one of the sweetest people on the face of the planet yeah me too and this advanced Greek grammar class was one of those moments when I learned that see one morning I was sitting in a different class advanced Greek grammar was in the afternoon I was sitting in a morning class don't remember what that was feeling pretty good about life sat down next to this buddy of mine and we were getting everything out getting ready to go with this class and he said, he kind of punched me in the arm. He said, hey, so how are you feeling about the big Greek
exam? And I said with great peace and assurance in my heart, yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I mean, you know, I'll have it nailed when the time comes because, you know, we got plenty of time to get ready for it. Because in my mind, the big Greek exam was a week from now. My buddy sort looked at me funny and he said, Greg, the exam is today. It's in six hours. Now you have to understand what happened in my mind and in my stomach over the course of about one second. I went from total serenity, this is an easy, normal Tuesday, to physically sick to my stomach. Because this thing that I was so sure I had all the time in the world to get ready for was actually bearing down on me right then. And I had nothing ready. Now, you know what my first instinct in that moment was?
It was not to crawl to Peter Gentry's office and beg for mercy. That wasn't it. My first instinct was, I am going to save myself. I'm going to get myself out of it. So I gathered up all my stuff, closed the computer, you know, the whole deal. I left class. I found a little nook to sit in over at Southern Seminary. And I started trying to cram about eight weeks of advanced Greek grammar into the six hours that I had left before the test.
Well, about an hour and a half into that, sweating over paradigms and Greek vocabulary and all the rest. it started to dawn on me, slowly at first, but then kind of all at once, that this could not be done. It's impossible. I mean, it's not even that if I had started two hours earlier in the day, I could have crammed half a semester of advanced Greek grammar into 10 hours. That wasn't the point. It was that this thing, at this point, could not be done at all. There was no amount of effort at this point in the situation that was going to make me ready. And I was sunk. So you know what I ended up doing? Crawling to Peter Gentry's office and begging for mercy. And thank God he gave it to me. But here's what I want you to take from that. What I want you to take from it is that feeling. At the moment you realize that you thought you had time for something, but then you realize, oh my gosh, the day is upon me. I know you've felt that at some point in your life, and if you haven't, you're kind of missing out. But I want you to take
that feeling, that sort of ice in the stomach feeling that this is totally hopeless. I want you to hang on to it, because that is exactly the feeling that Ezekiel, the prophet, is trying with everything he's got to force onto a whole nation who doesn't see it coming at all. And the worst of it is what's coming down on the nation of Israel in the middle of the book of Ezekiel is not just an exam. It's not just an advanced Greek grammar test, as terrifying as that is.
It's something far worse and far more consequential. Well, let me invite you to take a Bible, turn over to Ezekiel. If you want to grab one of these pew Bibles in front of you like this one, you will find at least the beginning of our passage on page 704 in that Bible. If you have your own Bible, maybe, you know, turn two-thirds of the way into it, and you'll hit Ezekiel, Isaiah, something like that. Just kind of flip around, you'll be able to find Ezekiel. We're going to be looking at eight chapters of it today. So it's a pretty big chunk of text. But I think by the end of it, it's not that difficult.
It's pretty easily organized, pretty nicely organized. So I'll tell you what it looks like, and then we're going to make our way through it. But we're going to be looking at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. So those eight chapters. So what's going on here? We've been in Ezekiel for a few weeks now, kind of broken up because of the summer. But basically, as we approach chapter 24, we're coming to the end of Ezekiel's first great movement or the first great act of the book. So the first half of the book, 24 chapters, is all about judgment.
From chapter 1 all the way up to the end of the sermon today, this has just been one long drumbeat of judgment. Because of her sin, God is going to destroy Jerusalem. He's warned them and warned them and warned them. And they have thrown off his warnings and ignored the emergency alarms. And now the time has come. God is going to destroy them. And it finally lands here. We've been waiting on it for 24 chapters. But it finally lands here in chapter 24 when God tells Ezekiel that Nebuchadnezzar has finally laid siege to the city.
But before that, for these eight chapters, what you get is this kind of, it's well organized. but man it is a kind of fever dream of visions folding in and out of one another but it's doing one really important thing it's assaulting Israel's self-assurance that's what it's doing it's assaulting their sense that they've got it all together that they have time that the judgment isn't really going to fall and in fact they've got this whole case that they kind of make to God for why, and to themselves, for why the judgment is not going to fall and really shouldn't fall.
See, they've talked themselves into a false confidence on really two fronts at the same time. On one front, they've decided the judgment isn't really going to come for us. It's not going to come for us. And then they've talked themselves into another idea that when God finally does save them from all these enemies that are surrounding them, it's going to be because they of all people deserved it. So they were self-assured on every front. And it's that double confidence. God's not going to judge us. And when he saves us, it's going to be going to be because we deserve it. That's what God sets out to demolish in these chapters. So here's the main idea that these eight chapters press down on us. It's pretty simple. Self-assurance is deadly.
Self-assurance is deadly. It'll blind you to the judgment that's coming and it'll flatter you about your own salvation. Self-assurance is deadly. It'll blind you to the judgment that's coming and it'll flatter you about your own salvation. So there's going to be three points to this sermon today. We're going to make our way through the whole text. It doesn't exactly break up perfectly. We're going to be looking at themes through the whole thing. But three points I want you to see here. Number one, don't fool yourself.
Judgment is coming. Don't fool yourself about that. Number two, wake up because the sword is already drawn. And then number three, don't flatter yourself because your salvation is not about you. So those three points. Number one, don't fool yourself. Judgment is coming. Number two, wake up, the sword is already drawn. And number three, don't flatter yourself, your salvation is not about you.
So let's look at point number one, don't fool yourself, judgment is coming. So the passage really breaks up into sort of two main sections. So you've got 17 through 20, the first four, that are kind of a unit together. And then you've got 21 through 24 that are their own unit. So let me tell you what happens in each one of these things. 17 through 20 is made up of four chapters, 17, 18, 19, and 20. And in each one of those four chapters, the Israelites basically advance an argument for why they think they're not going to get judged. Four different arguments for why they're not going to get judged, one per chapter, and in those chapters, God takes each one of those arguments down, like violently takes them down one at a time.
So that's what happens in the first four chapters. In the second four chapters, 21, 22, 23, 24, this is where it goes like clockwork orange fever dream. Because basically what you have is an extremely slow motion movie almost, a close-up of a movie of God drawing his sword of judgment. You get to see that very slowly. He draws the sword out of the scabbard at the beginning of 21, and then he begins to slowly through that whole chapter sharpen the sword. Somehow he sharpens it, says that he's sharpening it. And then he begins to sort of swing it around in this sort of threatening way that swordsmen do. He swings it around to show what's about to happen. Then there's a pause in the whole thing for chapter 22 and 23, where God basically says, now that I'm swinging this sword around and getting ready to plunge it into your heart, here is one last recounting of why this is happening. In chapter 22 and 23, grossly show you
the sin of Israel. And then finally, in 24, the sword strikes and goes right into the heart of Jerusalem. So that's kind of what happens. 21 or 17 to 20, four reasons why they don't think they're going to get judged. 21 to 24, this slow motion sort of swinging of the sword and then it driving into the heart of Jerusalem. So that's kind of where we're going. If you read these eight chapters in advance, and my advice to you would be always do that. Like find out what the text is for the next week read it in advance because it'll it'll prime your mind for what we're about to be doing but if you've read them you know that the tension in these chapters is palpable I mean judgment is close now even if you didn't even even if you didn't know it it's close and Israel's last move before it falls the last move in fact of every self-assured heart is to retreat into a whole bunch of reasons, arguments, meticulous, sophisticated explanations for why this thing
can't really be happening. Why everything that Ezekiel's been warning about is not in fact going to land on them. So chapters 17 through 20 lay out four of those reasons, and God just takes them apart one at a time. One per chapter 17 through 20. So let's look at it. If you look down at chapter 17, you'll see the first of those. Ezekiel gives us this parable, basically, of two eagles and a vine. It's a strange image, but Ezekiel does this kind of thing, but he tells this story about two eagles and a vine. Now, the story is going to seem a little opaque to you at first, but it's aimed at this assurance in the Israelite heart that says, look, we're not going to be judged.
We have alliances. There's no way that Jerusalem can fall because we have strong alliances taking care of us. Now, that's a long sort of theme running all the way back in Israel's history because she has a long, long story of trying to protect herself by cutting deals with the most powerful guy in the neighborhood. So as the centuries go, you have these various empires that are rising and falling, right? You got Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, the Greeks eventually, you know, it's all these empires.
And little Israel is sitting right in the middle of all of that, kind of trying to triangulate and figure out who's the big bully on the block. Let's make friends with him because he can protect us. And the whole story of the Old Testament has been about God pleading with his people, don't trust in the bully on the playground. You don't need their chariots. You don't need their horses. you don't need their armies to protect you you've got me and again and again they just don't do it they run off to Egypt they run off to Babylon whoever it is that's the big guy on the playground they run to him for help and right now as we're sitting in the story in in Ezekiel right now news is filtering out to these exiles in Babylon that Zedekiah this sort of puppet king back in Jerusalem, is doing the same thing again. He's basically making overtures to Egypt and trying to use Egypt's armies and muscle to throw off Babylon. And guess what? The people are loving it.
This is not a reason, they think, for them to be concerned. This is a reason for celebration. Egypt is going to save us. This, they think, this is our way to get out from under God's judgment. And so, in chapter 17, God tells them a story. You look down through it. We're not going to read the whole thing, but I want you to look down through it. It starts with this one great eagle, big feathers, big talons, big beak. It's an incredibly powerful eagle. It represents Babylon, swoops in, plucks off the top of this big cedar tree, and carries off what, you know, the top of the cedar tree is basically the top people in society, right? Plucks off the top people of society, takes them off to Babylon, plants them there next to the water. Then he takes a little seed, and this is the king this is Zedekiah and plants it down on the ground where it's not going to grow into a tree it's going to be a low spreading shrubbery vine right it spreads out but it's low and it's humble and it's not what king Zedekiah wants to be he wants to be a cedar and so instead of sort of just
accepting his place under the eagle of Babylon he starts to put out little feelers toward another eagle that's flying up in the air now that eagle is impressive also not nearly as impressive as the the Babylonian one but Zedekiah the little vine starts to look toward this other eagle for help and the question comes from God will this work and look at verse 9 that's that's the question that God wants to ask hey Zedekiah Israel you guys are so excited about this Egyptian alliance but will it thrive? Is this plan of reaching out to Egypt for help going to work? And the answer comes back, well, no, of course it's not going to work. You can't save yourself from the judgment of God by just cutting a better deal with the world. All right, now that's the ancient kingdom stuff. That's a little bit of the history there, but what I want you to see, and I think what Ezekiel wants you to see too, is that this whole thing is not just about ancient kingdoms making alliances.
I mean it is about that in its own context but it's way more about us making alliances and thinking that those alliances are going to do anything to save us from God's judgment see I think for some of us in the room this is especially important because you may be in a position where you hear all this talk about judgment and salvation and maybe you're you've gotten to the point where you're just not worried about any of it it just doesn't bother me when I hear a sermon about judgment it doesn't bother me when I hear that I need salvation it just doesn't bother me and why is that it's because you think you've got your alliances in place you've got the things that are going to make life solid you got the things that are going to make life good you built a you built a good life for yourself you got money in the bank you got a roof that doesn't leak in a house whose walls are standing up you have people who love you you got a body that still has its health, at least for now, you've made your deals with the world. You've made your deals with
the stuff of this age, and they've paid off. So God and judgment and salvation seem like a pretty distant concern. You see what that is though, right? I mean, even just thinking a little bit about chapter 17 you can see what that is right it's just you the vine reaching out for a second eagle to save you look houses bank accounts cars family all of it those are not sinful things are they every single one of those things can be a good gift from God but friend not one of them not one of them can hold the weight that every single one of us is tempted to put on them and the fact is that God and his providence can make the whole arrangement worthless in a minute don't stake your soul on an alliance with a world that is under judgment itself what a foolish thing to do
that's the first reason the second reason that they think judgment's not going to fall comes in chapter 18 this one kind of cuts the other direction it's not it's not so much we're doing great. We have our alliances, so we're safe. It's not really that. It's just flat. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve judgment. I mean, look how chapter 18 opens. The word of the Lord came to me. What do you mean? What do you people mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel? The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. What do you mean by that? Well, as I live, declares the Lord, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father, as well as the soul of the son, the soul who sins shall die. So see, the Israelites hear all these warnings about judgment, and they have this little proverb that they say to each other, that the fathers have eaten the sour grapes, but it's the son's teeth that are set on edge. In other words, all of this,
even if it did fall. It's not our fault. We're not the ones who ate the sour grapes. Not talking about envy. It's talking about sin. We're not the ones who ate the sour grapes. Our fathers ate the sour grapes, and you're telling us that now we have to have our teeth set on edge in judgment, but we didn't do any of it. It was them, and God spends the entire chapter 18. I mean, he does it in like four or five different ways, but he basically says, no, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. The soul that sins will die, and you have sinned.
In fact, they're so committed to this line, if you look down at verse 25 of chapter 8, they say it right out loud. The way of the Lord is not just. You can't punish us for sin that we don't think we did. See, these people have gotten so self-assured that they're hauling God into court and accusing him of injustice. And God just takes it head on. No, no, you're not innocent. Yes, your father's sinned and their teeth were set on edge.
But you also have sinned. And your teeth are going to be set on edge also. You know, there are a lot of people who aren't worried about judgment. Because when it comes right down to it, They figure they're basically a decent person. Or at least I'm more decent than that person. You know the reason that that argument has weight in our hearts? It's because depending on who you're comparing yourself to, you're probably right.
You're probably not as bad as that guy or as bad as that woman. But it's a rigged test, isn't it? It's a rigged test because you get to pick out in your own mind and heart who you get to compare yourself against and you'll always always pick out somebody to compare yourself against that you are not as bad as but here's here's the honest test not to pick out somebody that you favorably compare to but but here's the honest test go home this afternoon and read jesus's sermon on the mount matthew chapter 5 to 7 read the sermon on the mount where a flash of anger Jesus says is like murder and where a second look he says is like adultery read the sermon on the mount where the standard isn't better than the guy over there but rather be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect read that and then come back and tell us how comfortable you are with your own decency
if you'll do that I think I think if you will do that and be honest with yourself you'll finally admit that you do not actually want God to give you what you deserve nobody in this room does but you know what the realization of that does finally it doesn't it doesn't leave you in hopelessness in fact That's the very thing the gospel of Jesus Christ exists to rescue you from.
It's just that you have to realize it before you'll ever reach out to Jesus for the good news in the first place. You'll never, you'll never, ever once reach out for Jesus as long as you are convinced that you don't really need him. Ask God to show you your sin. Third reason that they think judgment's not going to fall on him. chapter 19. And you can see that it's in the form of a poem or a song. I mean, it's actually a lament. It's a funeral song. It runs all the way through the chapter for three different kings of Israel. And the assurance that it's kind of aiming at, the false assurance that God is firing at with this one, is basically the Israelites saying, look, whatever else happens, we still have the Davidic kings. We have the dynasty of kings that comes from David, and God promised that David is always going to have somebody sitting on the throne, and therefore that means we're safe.
As long as there's going to be a Davidic king, we're safe. So you get this poem that's kind of broken up into three sections. You can look at it. Verses 1 to 4 are talking about one king that He reigned a few years prior and says that he's dragged away to Babylon. Then you've got 5 through 9. That's the second one. You've got another king there, Jehoiachin, also dragged away to Babylon. You can see the details there. And then you get the last part of it, 10 through 14. Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful, full of branches by reason of abundant water.
Strong stems became rulers, scepters. It towered aloft among the thick boughs. It was seen in its height with the mass of its branches. But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit that was stripped off and withered. And as for the strong stem, well, fire consumed that. Now it's planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty land, and fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots, has consumed the fruit so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruin. Okay, a couple of things. The stem there. So you've got this vine on the ground, right?
It talks about the vine, and it talks about these stems that come off the vine. The stems are the kings. That's the image. Every stem that comes from the vine is one of the kings. And you have this one stem in 10 to 14 that's really strong. This is Zedekiah, the last king of Israel. And God says he's strong. He's got a certain amount of power. But he too gets plucked off, thrown into the fire, and then the whole thing gets burned up. So that's what that is. Stem is Zedekiah. What's the vine? What's the vine from whom all the stems come?
I mean, you can look at it another way. Look at verse 2. then verse 5, then verse 10. Who is the mother of all these kings? Every one of them, it talks about a mother. Who's the mother? It's not God. It's not the mother. The mother is the whole dynasty. It's the whole line of kings from David all the way through Zedekiah. So the vine is there, and each stem is a king that comes out of that vine.
But the vine is the mom. It's the dynasty that underlies all of it. And you see what the point of the poem is. The point of the poem is not just that the stems are getting broken off, but the vine is fine. It's that the whole vine gets plucked up and thrown into the fire. The entire dynasty gets thrown into the fire. So the point lands like a hammer on these self-assured Israelites. This thing that you're leaning on, this dynasty of David that's supposed to be your guarantee of safety, is itself burned up and destroyed.
It's not going to hold you up because it can't even hold itself up. Now, I think you've got to be careful with this one. I think you've got to be real subtle with it because it hides better than the others. It looks good. It looks like faith. It looks even like faith in the right thing to trust in the Davidic kingship. But you see the difference, right?
You see the difference. It's not trusting things like money or power or influence. It's not trusting even your own goodness. No, it's trusting something outside of you. It's trusting Christianity instead of the Christ. It's trusting religion instead of the Lord. It's trusting the institution. It's somebody who says, you know what, I grew up in the church. I was baptized as a baby by the priest.
I'm united to the church. I'm united to the Catholic Church, to the Pope. My family's been Christian for three generations. I know all the hymns. I know all the liturgy. I know this building like the back of my hand. I know the rhythms of this place. I know it all. Somewhere deep down, you are quite sure that your trust in the institution of the church will be enough. But friend, listen to me.
A heritage like that is exactly what Israel was falsely leaning on. And God let that heritage fall. Standing near the throne of Christ is not the same thing as bowing to him. Being close to him is not the same thing as knowing him. You can think yourself united to the oldest, deepest, most solid Christian institution or church on the face of the earth. But that church can't carry you one inch into the kingdom of God.
Only Jesus Christ can. And there's the fourth reason, chapter 20. Fourth argument for why they think judgment won't actually fall. And it's really the most insidious of all of them. So the chapter 20 opens with this scene in which some of the elders come and sit down in front of Ezekiel. And they say, hey, Ezekiel, we want to inquire of the Lord. We've come to inquire of the Lord. In other words, they want to ask God a question. They've got some things to go over with God.
They want to have a little consultation with the Almighty. And the assurance, the false assurance that's running underneath that was a conviction that God is always available to me. Because of who I am, because of who we are as a nation, God is always available whenever we want Him. he's on call so whenever we get around to wanting to talk to him he's there well do you see what God says back to that look at look at verse 3 as I live declares the Lord God I will not be inquired of by you I will not be inquired of by you so no you don't get to just walk in here and summon me now on your schedule like none of this has happened and then God spends the whole rest of the chapter. Basically walking them back through their story. Egypt, the wilderness, the land, the idolatry, the alliances, all of it. And the refrain through the whole thing, when you read it, just breaks your heart. Because it's God saying to his people again and again, I reached
out my hand to you. And again and again and again, you turned away and ran after your idols. So don't stand there now acting like I'm the one who's been hard to get. I was here. You're the one who left. You know, I think that might be the most dangerous false assurance of all of them. Because it feels the safest.
You feel safe. Because the fact is, you're not against God at all. You respect him. I think a lot of this stuff is true. You're not fighting him. You're not arguing with him. You fully intend at some point to get things right with him someday. Straighten a few things out first. Get some things in order. Then I'll come back in. And God will be there. Of course he'll be there. Because he's always there. and there's never any particular rush to talk to him, but he'll be there when I decide I'm ready.
My friend, listen to me very carefully, because this is the one, this is the one that is going to quietly damn the nicest people in this room. Chapter 20 of Ezekiel is God's own warning that there is such a thing as too late. There is such a thing as too late. You can tell God not yet, so many times that the not yet eventually hardens into never. Not because God slams a door, but because a heart can slowly harden so much that it no longer even wants God.
See, these elders came to inquire of God on their own schedule, on their own terms, and the answer came back I will not be inquired of by you oh friends please please do not sit here today and presume on the patience of God like it's something he owes you you're here this morning the door is open to you this morning you're hearing the words of this sermon the door though that's open to you this morning I can't promise you that it's going to be open the next time you glance over at it the next time you feel like you've got time for it. And the terrifying thing is you don't know when it closes. You don't know when the cement of your heart sets so that you don't even want him anymore. So that's what we've got here. Four reasons that the Israelites were giving themselves for why judgment was not actually going to fall on them. In other words, four self-assurances.
This is why we are safe. And one after another, God basically prides them out of their hand like a father pries a knife out of a toddler's hand because he's about to hurt himself. See, they had answers. They had answers. Ezekiel promised judgment, and they had their answers. And they were sophisticated about it. They used theology to answer Ezekiel. They had four pretty good reasons to tell themselves that the sword was not going to fall, and it fell anyway. Friends, there's a lesson in there.
Don't fool yourself. Whatever case you've assembled that you're not going to answer to God, however airtight it might feel as you're sitting there this morning, the judgment of God is coming. It really is. So point number two, wake up. Wake up because the sword is already drawn. So here's what happens next, starting in chapter 21.
It runs all the way through chapter 24. What happens basically is that the arguing, the sophistication, the reasons, they all just stop. They all go away. You don't get another reason from Israel in these chapters for why they're not going to be judged. All the reasoning is over. And what we get to do in these chapters is just watch in this kind of horrible slow motion as the sword is drawn and sharpened and swung around and then finally falls in the heart of Jerusalem. And here's, it's just, it's stunning. They're not even making excuses anymore as this happens.
You know what they're doing? They're just partying. They're just partying. That's what they're doing. I mean, look at how chapter 21 opens. So in the first few verses, like one to five, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the land again. There's nothing really new there. But look at verse six. Look at verse six. as for you son of man as you're making this prophecy of doom against the land against the people here's what I want you to do groan groan with breaking heart and bitter grief groan before their eyes in other words take on to your emotional shelf the reality of what's happening here I'm about to destroy Israel and I want you to double over groaning in agony because of that that's what he wants Ezekiel to do, but then look at seven. They are going to say to you, why are you groaning?
Why are you groaning? And you tell them again, because of the news that's coming, every heart's going to melt, and all hands will be feeble. You see the point there? Ezekiel, the one guy who knows what's coming, is doubled over in agony, groaning about this judgment, And then in seven, they feel none of it. They can't see it. They don't even care. It's just, what's wrong with you? Why are you all doubled over groaning? They're just kind of puzzled by him.
Well, then starting in verse eight, God draws the sword. And that's the image that runs through the whole chapter, starting in verse eight. You should read it sometime because it's really interesting to watch each step of the sword being drawn and then sharpened and then flashing around. That's what happens. But I want you to look with me at verse 10, because there's a little line in the second half of verse 10 that I think is chilling, if it means what it seems to you. So in verse 9 and 10, you've got this little song, a sword, a sword is sharpened and polished, sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning.
And then this parenthesis in the second part of 10, or shall we rejoice? That's interesting, isn't it? So Ezekiel is saying, guys, the sword is being drawn. It's swinging at your neck. And the Hebrew is a little bit funny here. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on there. But what it looks like is that they look at Ezekiel's message. Uh-huh, we hear you. Sword is being drawn. It's swinging at our necks. We should repent. We should feel sorrow about that like you do.
Agony doubled over. Or maybe we should rejoice. You ever think about that, Ezekiel? Maybe the sword is good news for us. Maybe it's going to fall on somebody else. Let's carry on with the party. This is a stunning moment. The blade of God is out of the sheath. And it is swinging toward their heads. And they're trying to spin the whole thing as a win. We find out in verse 18, if you want to carry on down, 21, 18.
You find out that the sword is actually Nebuchadnezzar. And Ezekiel has this vision. It's an interesting vision because he's watching Nebuchadnezzar. The armies are coming into Jerusalem from the north. Nebuchadnezzar basically in this vision comes to a crossroads. One road leads to this little town called Rabbah and the other leads to Jerusalem. And so Nebuchadnezzar is having a hard time figuring out what he should do. Should I go this way to Rabbah, this little town, or should I go to Jerusalem and do the whole thing, right? He's trying to figure it out. And he says he calls all of his diviners, his necromancers, all of it together.
And they throw the arrows on the ground. Because arrows, of course, are going to point him in one way. And they, you know, cut the animals open and they do the entrails and all this divination stuff. And what the vision says is that basically God reaches down from heaven and he grabs the arrows and he turns them that way. Nebuchadnezzar thinks he's in charge. Nebuchadnezzar, this sword that's been flashing around, thinks he has a decision to make. God's making the decision, you're going to attack Jerusalem. It takes control of the divination. Before that happens, though, you get chapters 22 and 23.
So as the sword is making its way down that road to find its sheath in the heart of Jerusalem, it's like there's one more recounting through chapter 22 and chapter 23 of why this is happening in the first place. Let your eyes just kind of fall over chapter 22. I'm not going to read it. But you can tell pretty fast. This is a society that's just rotted through top to bottom. Every layer of society is corrupt. Prophets, priests, the king, princes, the ordinary people of the land.
Every last layer of it is corrupt until God finally says in verse 30. If you look down there, 2230, that he actually looked through the land for one man to stand in the gap. just one, and he couldn't find him. And so now the sword is going to fall. And then you got 23. Do you ever have chapter 23? Chapter 23 is deliberately one of the most graphic, disturbing chapters in the entire Bible, and I am pretty deliberately not going to walk you through all of its details. But the crudeness is the point. God wants you to cringe when you read some of those lines he wants you to not allow your children to read chapter 23 it's too much and the reason it's too much is because it's calling back to those alliances Egypt Babylon Assyria all those alliances and God is saying those aren't just little friendships that's adultery in the starkest nastiest terms that show up in the Bible that is rank adultery it's whoredom to use a biblical word
that's exactly how god wants you to feel when you read chapter 23 the very thing that they were smug about these clever foreign alliances that they had is to god rank stinking adultery and so the blade comes down well in chapter 24 the sword finally pierces look at verse 1 of 24 in the ninth year in the 10th month on the 10th day of the month the word of the lord came to me son of man write down the name of this day, this very day, the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. And then look, just keep going, utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, thus says the Lord God, look how God pictures his people in that moment. It's a picture of a cooking pot, right? Turn the page, verse three, set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also, put in it the pieces of meat, the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with choice bones. Take the
choicest of the flock. Pile logs under it. Boil it well and seethe the bone. Cook it. In other words, the people of Israel are thinking of themselves, again, we've already seen this image, but they're thinking of themselves as these choice pieces of meat. They're safe in the bowl of Jerusalem and we're putting wood under it. It's going to cook us into this beautiful, wonderful, savory meal for the world that's who we are he says and then it just goes totally clockwork orange fever dream they think of themselves as these choice piece of meat they're safe in the pot but then the image changes through the rest of the chapter it turns out the pot is filthy it's full of corruption it's crusted with rust and corrosion that won't scrub off so it gets it gets thrown over into the fire wood is heaped up under the whole thing and the whole thing turns white hot until it's completely burned away.
See, there's smug little certainty that they were the choice pieces of meat safe in the city of Jerusalem. All of that becomes in a single image, sheer horror of judgment. The last half of the chapter, starting in verse 15, is meant to underscore how quick all of this is going to happen. So God tells Ezekiel that his own wife is about to die, and the shocker in that part of the story is that God tells Ezekiel, you shall not mourn when your wife dies. She's going to be taken probably by some quick sickness, we don't exactly know, but she's going to die, and you will not mourn for her. You will not shed a tear for the death of your life, and it's a sign, he says, that the blow against the land is going to come so suddenly that there won't even be time to grieve. It's all going to happen at once. It's going to happen like an earthquake. Last year when I visited Turkey, believe it or not, I lived through an earthquake.
It wasn't a very big one, but it was one. I was up on about the eighth floor of a hotel, and in the middle of the night, I woke up and realized, oh my gosh, the hotel is shaking. It's incredible what happens in your mind when something unexpected like that happens. You start coming up with a thousand different explanations for what's going on like what what is happening like is this is i don't know somebody doing construction outside or is the building collapse what is what is going on and then you start to realize no actually the thing that's not supposed to move ever the ground is actually shaking under my feet i mean there's there's no getting ready for an earthquake. An earthquake just happens. It's just there all of a sudden. And friends, that is exactly how the day of the Lord is going to come. You're not going to get an email a week in advance telling you that the day of the Lord is next Monday. There's not going to be a heads up. There's not
going to be a warning shot. There's not going to be a last second chance. The day of the Lord is not going to wait for you to make all your arguments. It's just going to happen. One day the trumpet's going to blow. You're going to hear it in your ears and the sky's going to roll back and there will be Jesus and it will be too late. Jesus said so himself. The day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.
Look, you don't have to be fighting God to fall under his judgment. You don't have to be working against him. All you have to do is be distracted. All you have to do is be asleep when the earthquake starts. When the sword falls. Friend, wake up. Wake up. Before it's entirely too late.
Here's the third thing. Don't flatter yourself. Don't flatter yourself because your salvation is not about you. Don't flatter yourself because your salvation is not about you. Without a doubt, it's the certainty of judgment that is the loudest sort of theme of these chapters. But there's a quieter note that kind of plays underneath it. kind of harmony note that plays under it the whole time too, and that's grace. Now I know that for me to say, oh look, there's grace in the middle of this, is not all that surprising because it's basically happened every sermon in Ezekiel. It's judgment, judgment, judgment. Oh look, there's a little bit of grace right there. So I know that you're not surprised to hear me say that because that's the whole pattern of the book. Well it happens here too. Grace really does break through.
But before we start talking about what kind of grace it is and kind of the note that's being played. I gotta warn you, the grace that God pronounces in these chapters has an edge to it that we are simply not used to. It has an edge that we're just not used to hearing it. And that's because God is making a very pointed point to a very self-assured people. What is that point? Well, it's yes, yes, there's gonna be grace. Yes, I'm gonna save you from this judgment that's about to be poured out on you but let's get this straight it will not be for your sake we we christians are so used to talking about grace as if god just gathers us into his arms and hugs us and strokes our little lamb's heads and says you know the gospel of jesus is because I just couldn't bear to be without you.
That's how we talk about the gospel. God can't bear to be apart from us because we are so valuable to Him. Well, this grace plays a different note. And it's, look, I'm going to save you. But it's got nothing to do with you. There's no nook-a-nook-a. There's no stroke in your head. I'm going to save you. And you know why I'm going to save you? i'm going to save you so that my name will be glorified i'm going to save you because i made these promises to you that i was going to save you and if i break them hell will cackle at me because i broke my promises so i'm going to keep them but it has nothing to do with you deserving it that's a different note isn't it and yet that's what he says so the big the big note of restoration you can look at it falls in chapter 20 verses 40 to 44 you get all this judgment and then in chapter 20 verse 40 God suddenly turns and paints this beautiful picture of this restored
people gathered back at his holy mountain everything's everything's great at last but the thing you absolutely cannot miss is why does he do that why does he do it well look back through chapter 20 before the big you know reveal of the grace look back through it and count how many times God gives his reason verse 9 I'm doing all this for the sake of my name verse 14 for the sake of my name verse 22 for the sake of my name you see the point over and over throughout their history. It's, I didn't save you because you deserved it. I saved you in spite of the fact that all you deserve is to be destroyed. And I did it for the sake of my own name, my own glory, not yours, in front of a watching universe. And then the whole thing crests in verse 44. Look at that. I'm going to save you so that you'll know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my
namesake and not according to your evil ways. See the message? The message is I'm going to save a people who have earned nothing but wrath and I'm going to do it for the glory of my own great name and the glory of something else. What's that? The glory of my own great name and the glory of something else. So there's one more thing I want you to see and it's I think the best of all because it's been kind of playing underneath this whole thing all along. So you look back at chapter 19. Remember that poem, the sort of funeral dirge for the dead kings, for the ruined dynasty? Well, watch what God does with that wreckage. The wreckage of it comes up again in chapter 21. So just kind of look at 19, remind yourself of what that song is about, a bunch of dead kings, and then turn over to chapter 21, because it comes up again. And look at verses 26 and 27.
26, 27. So thus says the Lord God, remove the royal turban, that's what that means, remove the royal turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low and bring low that which is exalted. A ruin, ruin, ruin i will make it in other words the crown i'm going to make the crown the scepter the throne i'm going to make it all a ruin it shall not be it shall not exist it won't the dynasty won't even exist it shall not be but then look what comes next until he comes until he comes the one to whom judgment and royalty and rule and the crown and the scepter and the throne until he comes the one to whom it all belongs and I will give it to him there there's some other places I could show you
but but we'll leave it there do you see what the point is of all of this right God is doing this salvation of the people he's going to restore the monarchy of David for the sake of his own great name and to glorify the king oh brothers and sisters brothers and sisters god forbid that we ever think we are the main point of god's work of redemption we are not but yeah yeah sure the bible says we're gonna be glorified it says that you're gonna have glory in heaven in the new heavens in new earth. But that's not the point. Your glory is just a means to a greater end. You know why God was going to give you a crown glittering on your head in the last day? It's so you can throw it at his feet. Your glory will just shine on him all the more. That's the point. That's why God from eternity past set the machinery of the gospel in motion. Was it for love of us? Yes. Emphatically.
yes it was for love of you but was it for the love of his son a million times more yes it's because he loved his son i think there's a whole lot of christians that need to hear that because i think when you bring it on board it has all kinds of good effects in your life to realize oh i am not the star of this show. The eyes of the universe are actually not on me. See, a lot of us build our faith. We build our sense of spiritual well-being on a bedrock that's just way too shallow. I mean, we say all the right things about grace, right? We say all the right things about justification by faith alone in Christ alone. But when you dig down to what we actually believe, to what we actually build our lives on there are a whole lot of christians who still kind of think that god keeps a hold of us because of something about us because we're basically good because we pray because we serve because we show up because we
try hard that secret logic that runs in so many of our hearts is god saves me because I am the kind of person that is worth saving. Brothers and sisters, that's shallow, shallow bedrock to build your faith on. And here's how you can tell if you're built on that kind of bedrock. Here's how you can tell. It's the week where you sin bad. When you sin really bad and your whole faith caves in on you.
I'm not a Christian. I can't possibly be a Christian. I'm not good enough to be a Christian. and you go into despair. You go into extended brokenness. Because if the logic is God keeps me because I'm good, then the second you're forced to face the fact that you're not good, then God doesn't keep you anymore, does he? That therefore collapses and you're left terrified that he's probably done with me now.
but friends what what if what if it was never about you at all what if it was never about you what if you've been swept up by God's grace into something infinitely bigger than your own track record what if you've been swept up into God's unbreakable determination to glorify his own great name and his son by saving an unsavable people. What if that's the story? You see what that does? You see what that does in your heart? If your salvation never once rested on your own goodness, then your badness can't sink it. If it never rested on your goodness, then your worst week as a Christian can't touch it because it doesn't rest on you at all. It rests on God's own zeal for his own name. I mean, think about it. Think about, think about it. Think about what would happen if your bad week could cause God to give up on you. Think about what would happen if your sin
on a particular day or week or month or year could cause God to give up on you. I'll tell you what would happen all hell would cackle at him and they'd say all this talk God about grace abounding more than sin about you being a God of love about anyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved but this little punk has a bad week he sins and you look at him and go no you're done are you telling us God are you telling us that the blood of this amazing son of yours can handle those sins but it's not good enough for that one ha ha ha you're not a God of grace you just say you are that that's what would happen but no no no God's glory is exactly in the fact that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from his love in Christ Jesus
our Lord. There's nothing in the universe that can bid us depart his presence. And why is that? Because his own son, his mighty son stands there as our representative, our champion, our king. And that, brothers and sisters, is the one foundation in the entire universe that cannot crack. Do you find that glorious or galling? Do you find that glorious or galling? I think there's something in all of us that finds it a little bit galling because it means all of a sudden that we are not the center of the story even our own salvation we turn out not to be the main character of you and me we're not the point we're part of this vast multitude millions of people are going to be there an uncountable crowd and every face of it is going to be turned toward him not you but but listen that's not a loss that's not a bad thing it's the best news that there ever could be
because the one who's at the center of it all to whom every face is turned is worthy of all of it in a way that you and i could never be worthy of any of it we're not the hero of this story we're trophies of his grace we are spoils of his victory we're the little extras part of the great multitude who are going to be cheering the king in the final scene see the last close-up in all history is not going to settle on you it's not going to settle on whether your little life added up to something worth God's trouble now the last frame is going to be on King Jesus standing over a people that he bought with his own blood people who brought nothing to the deal at all except the very sin he had to die for and he's going to throw his arms wide over that whole crowd you one tiny little face among the multitude he's going to throw his arms open and look at the universe and say look what I have done look what I've done
and that that's the question it's just one and it's really simple when that last frame falls and the king throws his arms wide and says look at this people that I have saved. The question is, are you going to be there? Are you going to be one of them? You're not going to argue your way into that picture. You're not going to sleep your way into it. You're not going to be good enough to earn your way into it. Your heritage isn't going to get you there.
There's only one way in, and it's to stop trusting yourself and fall in with the king. Put your faith and your trust in him. Repent of your sins and trust him with everything you are to save you. Friends, self-assurance is deadly. It's deadly. But a grace that was never depending on you in the first place is the safest place to be in the whole universe. Come and stand in that grace. Come to Jesus and live. Let's pray.
Our Lord, we thank you that you are the great Savior, that you are the one who lived and died and rose again so that your people might live with you forever, forgiven of their sins, justified and declared righteous because of you. Oh Lord, we pray that we would not ever as Christians flatter ourselves into thinking our salvation is about us, but that all our lives we would want to bring glory to you for the sake of your great name. We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.