Rich Jones – 2026-09-20 Ezekiel 37:24-38:16

The Heart of a Shepherd
Ezekiel 34:11-26
August 29-30, 2026

The book of Ezekiel. Welcome, everybody here. Welcome, everybody online. We’re going to be in Ezekiel 34, and I said it’s in verse 11, we’re going to begin in verse 1. The title of our message, The Heart of a Shepherd. Let’s pray and receive from God’s word together. Lord, we are so thankful because we know that you send your word to reveal to us your heart’s desire to bless our life, to show us the way of life, to stir up revival. God, we open our heart, pour out your Spirit through your word. Meet us in this place, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said, amen. Ezekiel 34, God is speaking through Ezekiel to the leaders of Israel that are there in Babylon.

He’s going to give a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. By that, he means the leaders, the princes, the officials who were supposed to be shepherding His people. It’s an analogy that they would surely understand. Shepherding was certainly a very important part of the culture of their day, but he calls them out for not leading them, not shepherding them. He gives a prophecy against them. The leaders of Israel had a spiritual responsibility because Israel had been chosen by God to be a people who carry His name and marked by an everlasting covenant between them and God. He commissioned leaders to shepherd His people Israel. They did not shepherd them. They did not serve them.

No, they used them for their own advantage. They did not lead them to draw near to the Lord. They did not feed them so that they would be strengthened spiritually. If they had done that, they would not have been in all of this trouble. He lays it bare on them that they did not serve or shepherd the people. They served themselves, and they took what they wanted from those under them. Now, the first half of the chapter was written prophetically against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. The second half of the chapter, God reveals the heart of a shepherd, His heart, and He says that He Himself would be their shepherd.

That also that God would raise up leaders after His own heart that would follow the way of the Great Shepherd, that they would build up and strengthen His people with His heart and His way. Reminds me of when Jesus was restoring Peter after he had faltered there. He came to Peter and says, “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.” It’s the heart of the Lord in it. If you don’t know, the word pastor actually literally means shepherd. God calls pastors to feed the sheep, to tend to the flock. In fact, the greatest king in the history of Israel was himself a shepherd. That’s David. David, in fact, when the prophet Samuel came to the house of his father Jesse to anoint the future king of Israel, David wasn’t even there.

He was out shepherding the sheep. When Samuel first entered the house of Jesse, he saw his oldest son, Eliab, who was tall and good-looking. He thought, “Oh, surely this must be the next king who will be anointed for Israel,” but no, he was not the one. God said to him, “Do not look at his appearance. God sees not as man sees.” He is looking for the heart of a shepherd. One by one, the sons were presented before the prophet Samuel, but God had chosen none of them. He said to Jesse, “Are these all of your sons? Are there none further? He says, “Well, there is one, but that’s David, and he’s a shepherd. He’s out with the sheep.” “Well, go and get him, and we will not sit down until he arrives.”

What a powerful scene. God uses those years when David was a shepherd to prepare him. God was preparing David. He wanted that heart of a shepherd. When David was watching the sheep, one day a lion came and took one of the lambs. David, with great boldness and courage, confronted the lion, snatched the lamb from its mouth, killed the lion. Later, then a bear came attacking the sheep. David confronted the bear, snatching the lamb out of its jaws, killing it. God was preparing David to one day face a giant. You can imagine all of the hours David spent to himself as a shepherd over the flock. What do you do with all of those hours all by yourself, out shepherding the sheep?

Well, you start throwing stones. That’s what you do. You start target practicing with your sling. That’s what a young man would do. Now, the slings that David had in those days, by the way, were real dangerous things. When we were growing up, we had these wrist rocket things that we would have and little tubing things. You could maybe put someone’s eye out with that thing. At least that’s what my mom said. You couldn’t really hurt somebody. The slings that David used, you could kill somebody with that. They would wind up with such speed. David, hour after hour after hour, was target practicing with that sling and those rocks.

God was preparing David that one day with that sling and a smooth stone, he would save the nation of Israel. David wrote Psalms and he was a musician. While he’s out shepherding the sheep, you can just imagine him out there singing and worshiping unto the Lord. I had this picture in my mind that David’s out there just singing at the top of his lungs and the voices of David just falling on the ears of the sheep. This beautiful picture of David’s heart, a shepherd caring for his sheep. The heart of the shepherd. There’s that loving relationship where the sheep completely trust the shepherd and they know the voice of their master.

Reminds me of the story that took place during World War I in the days of the Ottoman Empire. There’s a conflict with Israel and some of the Turkish invaders broke into a Jewish sheep fold, of course, to drive away the sheep and steal them. The shepherd heard the commotion, went out into the field and called out to them, and the invaders were powerless to stop the sheep as they ran back to the shepherd following his voice. That is the heart that the leaders, the shepherds, ought to have had, but the leaders of Israel had lost their way. They were not caring for the sheep at all. Quite the opposite. They were taking advantage of the sheep and thought nothing of it.

There’s a personal application for us to see in this chapter as well. Interestingly, in this chapter there is a prophecy fulfilled by the Lord Jesus that is so clear, a messianic prophecy, amazing, where he speaks that God would raise up a shepherd, His shepherd, and that that is the one who will arise as prince over His people. Of course, we know His name, Yeshua HaMashiach. Jesus is that Messiah who comes, Jesus says, “I am that good shepherd who lays down my life for his sheep.” All right, let’s read it. We’re in Ezekiel 34. We’re going to begin reading verse 1 and we’re going to read just different verses through this chapter.

I. Sheep Need a Shepherd

We’ll cover the other verses around it at our midweek verse-by-verse service. Verse 1, “Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, you say, Thus says the Lord God, woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, clothes yourselves with wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.”

Then verse 11, “For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and I will seek them out as the shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep. I will care for my sheep and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and I’ll bring them into their own land and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in good pasture and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel.”

Beautiful picture. The land of Israel is the glory of all nations, he says. “And there they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel, and I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. And I will seek the lost. I’ll bring back the scattered. I’ll bind up the broken. I’ll strengthen the sick. But in the fat and the strong, I will destroy, and I’ll feed them with judgment.”

Verse 23, “Then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David,” of course, Jesus is called the Son of David “and He will feed them. He will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, has spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them, eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing, and I’ll cause showers to come down in their season, and there will be showers of blessings.”

A wonderful, amazing chapter that God has much in store for us to see. I want us to really begin by seeing it from this perspective, that sheep need a shepherd. When God says that He Himself will be a shepherd over His people, it says wonderful things about God, but when God describes us and uses the word sheep, I’m not sure that it’s necessarily a compliment. Sheep aren’t necessarily the sharpest tool in the tool shed, mixing my metaphors.

Can you imagine a sheep without a shepherd? Phillip Keller some years ago wrote a book called Lessons from a Shepherd, and in it he wrote this. That the strange thing about sheep, he wrote, is that because of their very makeup, it’s almost impossible for them to lie down unless certain requirements are met. Owing to their timidity, they refuse to lie down unless they are free from all fears. Sheep are so easily panicked that even a stray jackrabbit suddenly bounding from behind a bush can stampede the whole flock.

When one sheep is startled and runs in fright, a dozen others will bolt with it in blind fear, not even waiting to see what frightened them in the first place. Sheep need a shepherd. Sheep are weak and vulnerable. They’re gripped by fear, often irrational fear. Some of you are old enough to remember when newspapers were a thing, and they would have a column in the newspaper called Dear Abby. Some of you remember Dear Abby. Later it was Dear Ann Landers. People would send in their letters describing their problems, and then Abby or Ann Landers would answer and give advice.

Interestingly, both wrote later that the one problem that dominated the letters they received, and they received thousands and thousands and thousands of letters, the one problem that dominated the letters they received was fear. People are gripped by fear. Fear of losing their health, fear of losing their wealth, fear of losing a loved one, all manner of fears.

In fact, it reminds me of Matthew 9:36, where it says, “Jesus, seeing the people, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” Sheep need a shepherd because wandering sheep are in danger. Oh, sheep are absolutely prone to wander. If sheep don’t have a shepherd, they’re just gone.

A. Wandering sheep are in danger

They’ll see a tuft of grass, and they’re just gone. Prone to wander. The analogy is meant to be seen personally, for people are prone to wander as well. Reminds me of that hymn that we’ve sung in the church, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It says in verse 3, “Prone to wander, Lord,” I feel that “Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.” Sheep need a shepherd. Sheep are vulnerable. They can’t run fast. They have no natural defenses. They don’t have sharp teeth, and without a shepherd, they’re easy prey for being attacked. That’s the point. When sheep wander, they are in grave danger. The application is easy to see in a personal application.

When you wander from the Lord and go into wilderness places, when you go into worldly places, it is going to end badly. You are in great danger when you wander away from the Lord and into wilderness places. There’s a lot of people in this very room that can add their testimony to that great truth. Sheep wander, and they are in grave danger because they’re easily attacked. Notice verses 5 and 6, “My sheep were scattered, and they became food for every beast of the field. My flock wandered through all the mountains and every high hill and were scattered over the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search for them or to seek for them.”

See, when you wander from the Lord, you’re in great trouble because you’re in danger when you wander away. You have turned away from His guiding hand. You have turned away from His wisdom that you need to guide your steps. It’s like Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” See, when you wander into wilderness places, in the worldly places, you are vulnerable to an attack from the enemy, spiritual attack. Notice 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, for your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Lions prowl about looking for those who are weak, who are separated from the group. They prefer to attack those who are vulnerable.

They are vulnerable because they’ve wandered away from the hand of their shepherd. They have wandered into wilderness places. One of the things He next shows us is that wandering sheep must be found. Notice verses 11 and 12, “For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I myself will search for my sheep. I will seek them out as a shepherd cares for his sheep in the day when he is among his scattered sheep. I will care for my sheep. I will deliver them from the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.”

B. Wandering sheep must be found

See, in other words, wandering sheep must be searched for. They must be pursued.

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard stories of dogs who have been lost and then climbed over hill and dale to find their way home. For example, one of the most famous of such stories actually takes place here in Oregon. One of the most amazing stories in the country takes place right here in Oregon. The story is that the Brazier family of Silverton, Oregon, one day went on a long road trip, and they took their two-year-old collie mix, Bobby, with them. When they were in Indiana- from Silverton, Oregon, they were on a road trip and they were in Indiana in the town of Wolcott, and Bobby got chased by a local pack of dogs. They went after Bobby, but they could not find Bobby.

They searched, and they searched, and they searched, and despite great effort, they could not find him. Finally, they had to give up and take the long, sad journey home without their beloved Bobby. Six months later, to the amazement of the whole town of Silverton, Bobby staggered into town, thin, weak, filthy, toenails worn to the nubs. The Oregon Humane Society investigated. They collected witness reports along the route and concluded that Bobby had walked 2,551 miles, crossing the Rocky Mountains in winter, averaging 14 miles a day. He is today buried at the Oregon Humane Society in the town of Silverton, Oregon, and Silverton still holds a pet parade in his honor to this day. That is an amazing story.

You’ll even hear stories of cats. Even cats can find their way home, trekking sometimes hundreds of miles, but you will never hear of a story of a sheep.

You can search for all eternity beyond. You’ll never hear a story of a sheep that trekked over hill and dale to find their way home. No, sheep have to be searched for. You got to go looking for them because they’re never going to find their way home. That’s the whole heart of the chapter. These false shepherds would not go after those who were lost. I myself will go after them. I myself will seek them out. I tell you, this is one of the most glorious truths of the gospel. It’s in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it’s found right here in Ezekiel 34. It’s such an important understanding because so many people don’t understand this.

Many people have it the wrong way, and I mentioned this before, it bears repeating because so many people believe that God is offended at their sin, therefore, God rejects them. I have nothing to do with thee, you have offended me with your sin, and that God rejects them. That is not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, I will seek out, I will go and search for them, and I will find them. I find them, I’ll bring them home. That’s the gospel. There are many stories, of course, in the gospels. One of the most famous, I think, is that of Zacchaeus. The story unfolds that one day Jesus is approaching Jericho, and there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and rich.

Now, I mentioned before that tax collectors were like the worst of sinners. He wasn’t just a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. He was despised. One day he heard that Jesus was coming through Jericho, and he wanted to get a look at him, but because of his small stature, he could not see because of the crowd. He ran on ahead, went up to a sycamore tree to get a look at Jesus. When Jesus passed by, of course, He called him by name, “Zacchaeus, come down. I’m going to your house today.”

Story picks up in Luke 19:6-10, says, “He hurried and came down and received Him gladly. Now, when they saw it,” who are the they? The Jewish, the leaders of Israel, the false prophets, the false shepherds, I should say, “they began to grumble, saying, Would you look at this? He has gone to be the guest of a man who’s a sinner. Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I’ll give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The famous verse that declares the heart of the Lord so wonderfully and so clearly, for the Son of Man–

II. The Good Shepherd Cares for His Sheep

By the way, the same word described Ezekiel describes the Lord. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Then we see this in Ezekiel 34, that the Good Shepherd cares for His sheep. Notice verse 11 and onward, God declares He Himself would be their shepherd and that he would be a shepherd like no earthly shepherd could ever be. He will search for them. He will deliver them. He’ll bring them out of the places from where they were scattered, and he will bring them into their own land. He will do much more than that. He is the good shepherd who will do what the false shepherds of Israel did not and would not do. Number one, He will feed them in good pasture.

A. He will feed them in good pasture

Notice verses 14 and 15, “I will feed them in good pasture, and the grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and lead them to rest, declares the Lord God.” Now when He says he’s going to feed them, He means He’s going to feed them on the word of God. That which strengthens the soul, that nourishes the soul within, because God reveals His heart through His word. The word of God is not just pages or ink on a page. No, it is sent in power by the Holy Spirit. The word of God is alive, sharper than any two-edged sword.

He sends it with His heart to speak life, to revive, to build up, to strengthen, to accomplish by revealing His heart to His people through His word. Isaiah 55:10-11, “As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty or void without accomplishing what I desire, without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” God sent His word in power. He sent it to reveal His heart and to accomplish His desire, that you might know Him and that you would take His word into your heart, and by that word you would be transformed.

It’s like when Moses said to the Lord, “Show me your ways, I want to know you.” God reveals Himself, His ways, His heart in His word. It’s like what I mentioned before in Luke 6:45, where Jesus says, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what’s good, for the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.” How do you get that treasure that he speaks of into the heart? It’s like Psalm 119, “Your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you. Your word, Lord, is the treasure I take into my heart.”

It’s like what Job wrote in Job 23:12, “I have not departed from the command of His lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Oh, what God does upon the soul.” See, many do not understand the treasure of God’s word, the value that God brings to the soul, the wisdom that comes with it. Wisdom, I say to you, is life. It is glory. It’s more valuable than money. If you could choose between vast wealth and vast wisdom, which would you choose? I submit to you, you would choose wisdom. Amen. Because it is far more valuable than money. I can prove it to you. If you had to leave an inheritance to your children, would you rather leave to them great wealth or great wisdom?

Oh, wealth can ruin them, but wisdom would build them up. Wisdom would strengthen the soul. Wisdom would edify them. It’s like what he wrote in Job 28:13-18, “Man does not know the value of wisdom.” This is true. “Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price. The acquisition of wisdom is far above that of pearls.” Then it says next that He will lead them to rest. Notice verse 15, “I will feed my flock. I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God.” That is the heart of a shepherd. David wrote this in Psalm 23. David understood, of course, the heart of a shepherd.

B. He will lead them to rest

He says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The idea, of course, of lying down in green pastures is that they have the freshest, most nourishing, lush grass that feeds the soul. It’s a spiritual picture. God wants you to be well fed, spiritually speaking. The soul must be fed well, He says. In other words, God doesn’t want you to go to a church just because that church serves Krispy Kreme donuts on Sunday, or serves dinner three times a week, or fresh cookie after the Wednesday service. No, He wants you to go to a church because that church delights in the word of God. Healthy sheep love to feed on the word of God, and that’s why I love this church. There is a heart and a delight in the word of God here.

Amen. Amen. Amen. It says, “He leads them beside still waters.” He brings the soul to peace, a deep residing peace. It’s beautiful. The soul at rest, the soul that is at peace, he speaks of, is a soul that believes. Because of that faith, he rests on that grace. He believes. He takes confidence that he is under the protection and covering of his Great Shepherd. It’s like what David wrote in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Stop all this striving, be still. Let this be settled in your heart. I know in whom I have believed. I know my God. This matter is settled with me. I am resolved. There is no striving.

It’s like what David wrote in Psalm 71:1, 5, “In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Never let me be ashamed- For you are my hope, O Lord God, and you are my confidence from my youth.” There David speaks of it, such a wonderful truth, I know in whom I have believed. I am persuaded that my God is able to take that which I have committed to Him until that day. I know my God, and I rest in His hand over my life. One of the ways to say that, one of the ways to see that would be this. I submit to you that one-on-one David had no chance against Goliath. You say, “Wait, was there somebody else there? I think I read that story.”

Was there somebody else there? I say to you, yes, there was. God was there. In fact, David makes this very clear in the answer that he gives to the taunts of the Philistine giant, Goliath. This is found in 1 Samuel 17:45-46, “Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have just taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” That is a great speech. He makes it clear that it was by God’s help that this great thing was done. By my God, I can leap over a wall. By my God, I can run over a troop.

C. He will bind up the broken

It is the hand of God that moves in my life by which David had his confidence. That is the soul that rests. That is the soul that believes, I know my God and I know how He moves. Then we see this, the heart of the shepherd, and He will bind up the broken. Notice verse 16, “I will seek the lost. I’ll bring back the scattered. I’ll bind up the broken and strengthen the sick.” Here, the beautiful heart of a shepherd that cares, meant to be personal, hurting, broken within, the heart that cares is revealed in these words. He carries your burdens.

He carries your hurt near to His heart. Like Psalm 56:8, “You have taken account of my wanderings. You have put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” That is a beautiful verse. My hurts, my tears mean so much to you, you put them in a bottle and write them in a book. How beautiful. It’s like Isaiah 40:11, “Like a shepherd, He will tend His flock, and in His arms, He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom.” The way a shepherd cares. There’s an intimacy. There’s a heart that’s so beautiful. Carrying your burden in his arms. When I think of that, I’m reminded of a time when our daughter, Nicole, was nine years old, and she came down with this mysterious illness.

She woke up one day, and every joint in her body hurt with excruciating pain. She could not move. Every joint in her body hurt. Then she had rashes on the palms of her hands, soles of her feet, and her neck. She had a fever of 106.5. We called the doctor, and the doctor said, “Bring her in right away, but bring her in through the back door in case–” We don’t know. The doctor looked at her and said, “I don’t know. She needs to go to the children’s hospital now. I will call ahead. You get her to Emmanuel Children’s Hospital now. Don’t wait for an ambulance. You go. Carry her up there yourself.” I carried her like a board. She was so stiff. It hurt so bad. Brought her and put her there. The doctor started doing all these tests.

They had no idea what it was. By this point, the family was starting to come in and to gather in her room. At one point, the doctor says, “We really do not know what this is, but we’re going to need to do a spinal tap in case it’s meningitis.” Which we said, “Of course, we understand.” Then he said, “To do this, I would like to ask that everyone leave the room.” I said, “Why?” “Because her body hurts so bad, this will bring so much pain to her, I’d rather you not see it. I’d like you all to leave the room.” Everyone started to leave. I stayed behind. I said, “No, I don’t want to leave. In fact, if anyone is going to bring this kind of pain to her, it should be me. I’m her father, and she will be in my arms. She will know that she is loved and that she is safe.”

He said, “That’s good.” I came to her and whispered to her what we were going to do. I rolled her towards me. I put one arm around her knees, one arm around her neck, and I started to squeeze, and she started to scream. I just kept squeezing until I had her into a tight ball. The doctors did the spinal tap they needed to do. I released her and held her, held her, and held her. She cried and cried. She was in my arms, and she was loved, and she was safe. There’s something about the intimacy, the Father’s hand over us that He cares so deeply for us pictured in that story. By the way, I should tell you the end of it.

I told this story last night, and somebody said, “What was the end of the story?” She ended up, they believe, having Kawasaki syndrome, which is very, very rare. They treated it with gamma globulin, which is the antibodies from hundreds of people. She eventually got better. Interestingly, she was nine years old when she had this thing happen. She was 19 years old when, then, she got non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, went through cancer. She almost died from that. 9, 19, and then she was killed when she was 29. Very interesting. I know this, that she is now in the arms of the Good Shepherd, and we will be together again.

D. God will send showers of blessing

Amen. Amen. Then lastly, we’ll close with this. He says, “And I will send showers of blessings.” The heart of the shepherd, showers, showers of blessings. Notice verses 23-26, “I will set over them my servant David. Jesus is that servant, and He will feed them Himself, and He will be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I will make a covenant of peace, and I’ll make them and the places around my hill a blessing, and there will be showers of blessings.”

He is that Good Shepherd, and because of His hand over your life, the favor of God rests. Stand in this. Dwell in this great truth. Abide in great peace, faith. I know in whom I have believed. Let faith arise. Rest in this great understanding of His care, His hand. It’s like what David wrote in Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” I know in whom I have believed. Now rise in this. He is the shepherd who places His hand over your life.

Let’s pray. Lord, we are so thankful for this great truth that you’re the one who seeks, you’re the one who pursues, you’re the one who cares, and you pour out upon us blessings, showers of blessings. You feed us with the word that reveals the heart of God poured out. You bring us to peace that we can reside in that with such confidence. I know in whom I have believed, and I am convinced, I am persuaded that my God is able. Church, how many would say that to the Lord, as we are praying, how many would say to the Lord today, I put my trust in your hands for you are my good shepherd? I know in whom I have believed. I will reside in this truth. I will reside in the confidence of this because I know in whom I have believed. You are my good shepherd. Would you just raise your hand as a declaration of saying that to the Lord? God, I stand in this. I will reside in this. I will abide in this. I know in whom I have believed. Father, we love you, honor you, and praise your holy name for all that you are doing among us in Jesus’ powerful name. Everyone said amen.

Give the Lord praise and glory and honor. Can we do that? Amen.

The Way of the Lord is Life
Ezekiel 33:10-20
August 22-23, 2026

Hey, would you all open your Bibles to Ezekiel 33? We’re going to be in Ezekiel 33, and we’ll begin in verse 10, and the title of our message, The Way of the Lord is Life. Very important what God has for us in His Word in these verses. Let’s pray, and then we see from God’s Word together. Lord, we thank You because we know that You send Your Word to reveal Your heart. To show us the way and to pour out Your Holy Spirit through Your Word. God, meet us in this place. We open our heart to receive from You now.

In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray, and everyone said, Amen. Ezekiel 33 is very interesting. One of the most interesting, in my view, of the Old Testament, because the contrast between the Old and the New Testaments becomes so exceptionally clear in these verses. He speaks on some of the deepest matters of life. Life and death, righteousness and sin, relationship to God. It has everything to do with how a sinner is reconciled to the living God. Earlier in this chapter, God told Ezekiel that he would be a watchman for the House of Israel.

This is an illustration, a picture that they all could easily understand, because virtually every city in those days had a watchman, literally a watchman on the wall, whose duty was to watch the horizon for anything and everything that might present danger. Anything that he sees that is of danger, he is to sound the alarm. That’s the duty of the watchman, sound the alarm that he would by blowing the trumpet. Now, the duty of the people then was to heed the sound of the warning. When they heard the sound of the trumpet, they must take that warning to heart and prepare for whatever is coming upon them.

They’re going to live or die by how they respond to that warning of that trumpet call. God told Ezekiel that he is a watchman on the wall, and the duty of the watchman, He told him, was deadly serious. It’s a commission that is of vital importance. Now, He says, “Ezekiel, when you hear a message of the Lord that is a warning of life or death, you must speak that word to the people, or their blood would be on your head.” That is a deadly serious commission. Why is this so important? Because He is trying to transform these people.

He’s already prophetically said, “They are going to be transformed, those who are living there in exile in Babylon. To do that, we got to break through their heart. We got to break through.” He sends Ezekiel there. Now, He gives them a warning here about death and sin, but yes, it’s also a call to revival. He says here famously in these verses, “God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked,” He says, “but rather that the wicked would turn from His way and live.” That’s what gives the Lord pleasure. “Why would you die?” He says to Israel, “God wants you to live.

Now, you can’t read these verses without comparing them to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The contrast between the old and the new becomes very abundantly clear. Now, we need to understand also that God is sounding an alarm yet still today. He says very clearly in the New Testament as well that there is a day coming when everyone will give an accounting of their lives before God. Sinners who stand before the throne of the great Almighty in all of their sinfulness will stand condemned, but that doesn’t have to be the way your story ends.

I. Don’t Give Up. Don’t Quit

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has made a way for sinners to be reconciled to the living God and then, having been reconciled, to walk in that glorious life in an eternal relationship to the living God. These are great verses, very deep and very important. We’re going to begin reading in verse 10. As I mentioned before, we’ll cover the other verses around this at our midweek verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter service. Here today, we’ll start reading in verse 10. Now, He says to Ezekiel, the watchman on the wall, “As for you, son of man, say now to the House of Israel, thus you say, O people of Israel, thus you say, ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we’re rotting away in them. How then can we survive?'”

You say to them, you say, “As I live,” which is one of the great declarations, as surely as the Lord lives, then you know this is true. “As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked would turn from His way and live. Turn back from your evil way,” He says, “and live.” “Why would you die, O House of Israel? I want you to live.” Then He says, very interesting, starting in verse 12, “Now you, son of man, you say to your fellow citizens that the righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression.”

If he turns worldly and waywardly, all the things, anything he’s done, not going to help him. Now, as for the wickedness of the wicked, he’s not going to stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness. No. If he turns, he’s going to live, whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness when he turns and commits sin. He explains more in verse 13. “When I say to the righteous that he will live, and then he trusts in that righteousness so much that he just goes and commits iniquity, then none of the righteous deeds which he’s done in the past are going to help him.

They will not be remembered, but in that same iniquity of which he has committed, he will die.” Now, when I say to the wicked that you will die, and then he turns from that sin, and he practices justice and righteousness, he’s turned this thing around, then if a wicked man, for example, restores a pledge or pays back what he’s taken by robbery or walks in the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he’s going to live. He’s not going to die. None of his sins which he’s committed in the past will be remembered against him. None.

He has done and practiced justice and righteousness. He’s going to live. Now yet, verse 17, interesting, your fellow citizens say the way of the Lord is not right. Really? When it is your way that’s not right? When the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, no, he’s going to die. Change the way you see it. You need to think differently, he says. When the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he’s going to live. You say the way of the Lord is not right. No, I will judge you according to your ways.

All right, these are very deep, very important verses for us to take hold of. I want to begin by really seeing it from this perspective. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. It’s clear from verse 10 that they had given up. They had resigned themselves to their fate. All hope is lost. We’ve come too far down this road of destruction and despair. We’ve lost everything. You can imagine why they would say this. They’ve lost their country. They’ve lost their city. Everything they’ve ever held dear, they’ve lost it all. Now they’re exiled in some foreign country.

Far from home, and it’s like, “We’re done here. It’s finished. The verdict is in. We’re condemned. What’s the use in trying?” Now, I’ve known a lot of people like that over the years who’ve resigned themselves to their defeat. They messed it up so badly, like, “What’s the use in trying? It’s too far gone. It’s too late for me.” Notice verse 10. “Now, as for you, son of man, you say to the House of Israel, thus we have said and spoken, surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we’re rotting away in them. How, then, can we survive?”

When they say they’re rotting away in their transgressions and sins, it means they’re wasting away. They’re pining away. We’ve wasted our lives, and there’s nothing. There’s no hope. We’ve got nothing to live for. We’ve got such a mess here that we’ve destroyed everything. There’s nothing left, right? No hope, no life. They’re looking at their outward circumstances, and they see nothing but destruction and loss. They’ve given up. They’ve quit. God sends Ezekiel to break through, to speak a better word than they have been speaking to themselves.

A. Hear the heart of the Lord

In other words, they have been listening to their own lies, and it’s keeping them in a prison. If God’s going to transform these people, He’s going to break through. I tell you, this is important because many people do this. They look at what has ever happened, and they’ve made a huge mess of their life or whatever, and they’re just convinced it’s too late for them, and they’ve ruined it all, and they define themselves by their shame, and they’re locked into believing lies about themselves. They’re listening to their own lies.

God sends Ezekiel to break through. See, they need to hear the heart of the Lord. That’s the way you see it. That’s not the way God sees it. I tell you, if people could see the way God sees, it would break through. It would change the way that they think. So many people are locked into this prison of their own making, the lies that have consumed them. They’re defeated. They’re looking at their circumstances, and they’re overwhelmed with despair. They can’t see a way out. Many people, they can’t see a way out. If they can’t see a way out, they’re hopeless.

Just because you can’t see a way out doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a way out. The problem is they hadn’t factored in God. They hadn’t factored in God’s heart. They needed to hear God’s heart because God hadn’t given up. They had given up, but God hadn’t given up. In fact, Jeremiah 29, we read that when we were going through the book of Jeremiah, he sent a word to the people there in exile, where he said, “I haven’t given up.” He says, “Listen, I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord. “My plans for you are far better.” He says, “You need to hear the heart of the Lord.”

“I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord. “They are plans for welfare, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Just because you don’t see a way out doesn’t mean I don’t have a way out. I got a way. I have a plan. It’s to give you a future and a hope.” He says, “And then you will seek me, and you’ll find me when you search for me with all your heart.” That’s what you haven’t been doing. You didn’t factor in God. “You search for me.” You’re going to find that God has a plan. God has a way. Break through.

He says, “Because I’m going to restore your fortunes. I’m going to gather you from the nations and from the places where I have driven you,” declares the Lord. “I’m going to bring you back to that place from where I sent you into exile.” They needed to hear a better word than their words of self-defeat and despair. Then the very next verse is amazing. He says, “You say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.'” Look, “But rather that the wicked would turn from their wicked way and live.”

“That’s what gives me pleasure. I’m not done here. Let’s turn this thing around. Turn back from your evil ways. Why would you die, O house of Israel? I want you to live.” He’s breaking through. If we can turn you around, then we can turn this thing around. See, this is a monumental verse here, this verse 11. It’s like a majestic mountain peak over the great ranges of truth in the Bible. He takes no pleasure in the death, or the destruction, or condemnation of the wicked, of sinners. Someone might say, why then does God condemn sinners to eternal damnation?

To which I would say, the Word of God makes it clear. I take no pleasure in such judgments. No, they go to eternal judgment over my dead body. I know that’s an expression, but it’s literal truth. When you think about the fact that he says, “I gave you My Son who died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin.” God’s made a way. He says, “No, they have rejected My heart. They’ve rejected My Son, My offer of life.” See, that’s the Word of the Lord. You got to hear the Word of the Lord. The heart of the Lord is life.

Like I said before you, choose life. For example, there’s many places, but one of the most powerful ones is Deuteronomy 30:15, 19. Here, God is speaking through Moses to the people before they go into the Promised Land. He’s saying to them, “Look, choose the course of your life well. Choose the course of your life. You’re about to enter into this land that I promised to give you, but choose the course of your life well.” Notice Deuteronomy 30. See, I have said before you, life and prosperity, death and adversity, and I call heaven and earth to witness against you that I have said before you, life and death, blessing and church, choose.

You have a say in this. Choose the course of your life well. Choose. He doesn’t just lay it out and say, “You have a say in this matter, choose, and then I don’t care which one you choose.” No, “I want you to choose life. I want you to know my heart.” You have a choice here, but I want you to choose life that you may live, you and your descendants, because here’s what he’s wanting them to see. Look, God is the one pursuing. God is the one trying to break through. God has a plan, and he’s going to change them so he can change this thing.

B. God is the One pursuing

He sent Ezekiel to speak a better word. God is pursuing. They’re the ones who’ve given up. God didn’t give up. That’s why he sent the prophet. God is pursuing them. He didn’t just say before you, life and death. No, he says, “I want you to choose life because I love you and I want you to live.” This is very much like what Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that you may have life. That’s why I came, that you may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus makes clear that God pursues sinners. In the New Testament, it’s very clear God pursues sinners, so much so that Jesus became known as the friend of sinners.

One of the great chapters, I think, on that is Luke 15, where it’s such an amazing, powerful picture of that very truth. Notice what it says in Luke 15. Now, all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. Now, we need to say it that way because the King James and I think some of the other versions say that all the publicans and sinners were coming to hear. Sometimes when people hear that, they say, “Wait, did he just say that the Republicans and sinners are coming?” No, he didn’t say Republicans. He said, publicans. A publican is a tax collector, so I guess that would actually make them Democrats.

Okay, it’s just a joke. Don’t send me any e-mails. Don’t take offense. If you do send me any e-mails, my e-mail address is Matthew@– just joking. Listen to the way these verses speak of it so well. Now, all the tax collectors, by the way, tax collectors were like the worst of the worst. You want to talk about sinners, they were despised worst of sinners. All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. The Pharisees of the scribes, the Jewish leaders, saw that. They began to grumble, saying, “Would you look at this? This man receives sinners, and he even eats with them.

He calls himself a godly man.” He told them a parable. He said, “What man among you, if he has 100 sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? Then when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me. I have found my sheep which was lost.’ I tell you that in the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who need no repentance, or at least they think they don’t.”

Notice there’s two parts to that parable. The pursuing, he makes clear that “I will seek out the lost until I find them.” Then there’s the finding. Then once he finds them, like rejoicing, there’s more joy in heaven, like the angels of heaven rejoice even over one sinner who repents. What a powerful picture is that? Notice the next verses. They’re very deep. He’s speaking here to this, that how you live matters to God. Do you believe this? How you live matters to God. The next verses speak deeply of sin, righteousness, and judgment. How you live matters to God.

II. How You Live Matters to God

Now let me point out first that these verses are speaking of temporal life and death here on earth. Notice verse 10, “We’re rotting away in our transgressions and our sin. How then can we survive?” In other words, how can we survive this judgment of being exiled to Babylon, and we’ve lost everything, our city’s destroyed, our nation’s destroyed, and now we’re here in this place? Are we forever doomed to live here in this God-forsaken place, in this God-forsaken way? We’re rotting away here in this. Is there any hope for us? Now, at least they’re connecting and understanding the connection. What got them into this trouble in the first place?

They had turned their back on God. They had been pursuing the idols of the world, became hard-hearted and rebellious against the Lord. At least they’re connecting and understanding that there were consequences to what they did. He uses Ezekiel to speak through that how you live matters. It has consequences in this earthly life. Now, are there any New Testament verses that speak similarly? Yes, there are. One of the most, I think, poignant is Galatians 6. I mention it because it’s such an important verses to understand.

Notice verses 7 to 8. Look, he says, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.” Now, that is a powerful way to open a verse. He’s breaking through. He’s trying to break through to our thinking. Don’t be deceived. No, God is not mocked. “For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” It has consequences in this life. For the one who sows to his own flesh, he means the nature of flesh, the nature of sinful man, will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap life, even eternal life.

Now, that verse is so important and helpful because it speaks to the fact that there are temporal earthly consequences on how one lives, and how we live carries significant theological weight for eternal matters as well. See, what he wants to show them, he speaks of it in a deep way, that people can change and people must change. God wants them to see it’s not too late to turn this thing around. Yes, they were exiled in Babylon. Yes, they had lost everything they had ever held dear. It was because of the way they lived. Yes, the consequences were real.

A. People can change

He wants them to see, but look, people can change. Hearts can be changed. If hearts can be changed, then the way you live can be changed. If we can turn your heart around, we can turn this thing around. We’re going to turn your heart around first, and then we’re going to turn this thing around. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean God can’t see it. They needed to be transformed. They needed to be transformed, but He’s going to speak to their heart. If we can turn the heart, we can turn this thing around.

It’s like what Jesus says, the good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth what is good, for the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. We’re going to change the heart, then we can turn this thing around. It’s like Proverbs 4:23, watch over your heart with all diligence, watch over your heart, for from it springs forth the matters of life. Notice what He says in verses 12 to 13. The righteousness of the righteous man is not going to help him in the day that he turns wayward and worldly, in the day of his transgression.

If I say to the righteous man that he’s going to live, and then he trusts in that past righteousness and then commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds are going to help him. You’ve got to change the way you think. Now, there’s a modern equivalent. I think there’s a saying, no doubt you’ve heard, don’t rest on your laurels. It’s similar to it, kind of like it. It’s a warning that past achievements or past faithfulness or past whatever does not give you a free pass for the present. See, if you start relying on who you used to be or what you used to do, then you’ve lost your way.

It’s like those who believe that because they went to church when they were kids that they’re good. “I went to Sunday school, I’m good. I can live how I want now because I went to church when I was a kid.” No, this is a very dangerous way of thinking. It’s how one deceives oneself. Such thinking has consequences for earthly life but also consequences for eternal standing before God as well. Then he’s breaking through. People can change and must change. Then he speaks of such amazing grace. Notice he says, “God won’t hold your past against you.”

B. God won’t hold your past against you

Notice verses 14 to 16. “When I say to the wicked that you’re going to die, and then he takes hold of that and then turns and then practices righteousness and justice, he’s going to live.” None of the sins that he’s committed in the past, I don’t care what it has been, none of it will be remembered against you. All of it is gone. This is a call to repentance and revival. They had resigned themselves to the fate of their Babylonian judgment and exile because of the sins of their hard hearts, but God is speaking a word of revival. It’s not too late. It’s never too late.

You can turn this thing around. It’s never too late. That is the word that we need to hear today. It’s never too late. Many of you know the story of my father. I’ve mentioned it many times. He was an alcoholic, angry, cantankerous, and difficult. At 75 years old, we sat down one morning, and he said, “I see it now. I have wasted all my life. I don’t know when I got left.” He had already had cancer, and he was not doing well. He said, “I don’t know how much time I got left. With whatever I got, would you help me make something of my life?”

I said, “I would love to.” We moved him back. He had moved away from our family many years ago. I moved him back, and we brought him to church. We brought him to church again. At one point in the service, I gave an invitation to receive Jesus Christ. I kind of panned through the crowd. Then we got to the middle, where he was sitting in the middle. He was standing on his feet like this. He had made his mind. He was determined, it’s never too late. 75 years old. I tell you. Amen. It’s a glorious story. I got to pray with him. All I could say was, “Come here.”

He came down, and I hugged him. I prayed with him. We broke out in song. I got to baptize him with my own hands. It is never too late. That’s what he wants him to see. You can turn this thing around. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean God can’t see it. God will restore what the locusts have eaten. He’ll restore what was lost. You can rebuild your life because God won’t hold your past against you. This is one of the greatest truths known to man. It’s temporal earthly truth, and it’s eternal everlasting truth regarding your standing before God.

This is so important because many are so ashamed of what they’ve done in the past that they live in the shame of it all their lives. It defines who they think they are. God sent his Son to set people free from their past and to set them free to live for God and to have an abundant soul that’s filled with the glory, the beautiful presence of the living God. God has come to set sinners free so that their past sin does not have to define them anymore. Let me give you some great verses. Hebrews 4:16. He says, “Let us therefore draw near to the throne of grace with confidence.”

That is a great verse. He’s speaking to sinners. That’s not the way sinners normally think. What? I can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence? I’m filled with shame. I’m filled with shame because of how I live my life. No, you draw near to the throne of grace. Notice it’s called “grace,” that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. No, you draw near with confidence. God said it. For example, Hebrews 10:21-23. Since we have such a great high priest over the house of God–” Jesus is our high priest.

Now, we have an advocate before God in heaven. His name is Jesus Christ. We have a great high priest over the house of God. “Therefore,” he says, “let us draw near to the throne with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” That is a great word right there. Draw near with a sincere heart because God has done such an amazing work of forgiving any and everything, all the sins you’ve ever done have been forgiven as far as Jesus from the West, so has he removed our transgressions from us. You’re so thankful for it that you have a sincere, genuine appreciation.

“Thank God for what he’s done for you so sincerely that you draw near,” he says, “in full assurance of faith.” In other words, believe it. Take hold of it and believe it. Stop all this doubting, all this self-condemnation, and wrestling and wrestling and wrestling within your heart. He says, “Stop it. Take hold of this in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

That is a great verse. Anybody agree? Let’s give the Lord praise. That’s a great verse.

There is an aspect of love that says, “I love you so much I won’t keep bringing up your past.” It is a beautiful aspect of love, not only between God and us. Really, between us. Like 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, love is patient, love is kind. This is the famous chapter on love. Love is not easily angered, and love keeps no record of wrongs. I tell you, if we could live by that great truth, it would change our relationships. God says, “I keep no record of wrongs.” It’s like Proverbs 25:2. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.

C. Your eternal life matters to God

Then there’s this. Not only does how you live matter to God, but your eternal life matters to God, certainly does. Notice verse 17. It’s very interesting. Yet your fellow citizens say, the way of the Lord is not right, when it is their own way that’s not right. See, they objected. “Doesn’t seem fair. Why can’t we rest on our laurels? Why can’t we do what we want to do? We did some good things in the past. It’s not right. Why is it that we have to change? Why do we have to repent? It’s not right.” You say, “Really, it’s not right? Why is it that someone who’s lived such a wicked, unrighteous way receives forgiveness so freely?”

You object? It reminds me of the parable Jesus taught in Matthew 20 and spoke similarly to those who objected to the generous grace of God. It was a parable about a landowner who hired workers throughout the day. In those days, somewhat true today as well, when people wanted to be hired, they would go to a certain place, and then the landowners would go and say, “I need you or you. I need three workers today.” They became day laborers. He uses this as a picture. He says that he hired workers throughout the day. Some started first thing early in the morning.

He came back and got more at the third hour, and then more at the sixth hour, and then the ninth hour. Even at the 11th hour, some were hired just before quitting time. Now, when the evening came, the day was over, the landowner paying each of them the same wage, a full day’s pay. Now, the ones who had worked all day grumbled, complained. “This isn’t right. This isn’t fair. These last men have only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who were born the burden in the scorching heat of the day.”

The landowner answered, “Friend, I did you no wrong. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own, or is your eye envious because I’m generous?” See, Ezekiel 33 is about the generous grace of God to those who don’t deserve it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about the generous grace of God to those who don’t deserve it. Therefore, we can say it’s not fair. Right, it’s not fair. We don’t get what we deserve. Praise God for that. Grace is undeserved, and God wants you to have confidence in that grace. Believe it. Take in full assurance of faith.

Believe. Draw near, believe. Stop all this doubting, all this wrestling with God. Believe in full assurance of faith. Believe. It reminds me of a great truth that we see in Revelation 20:12, where he says this, “I saw the dead, the great and the small.” It means everyone. “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged from the things that were written in the books according to their deeds.”

In other words, everything that you’ve ever done or said is written in a book. Now that is an ominous thought. Everything is written in the book. The good, the bad, the ugly, the shameful, it’s written in a book. That everyone will come to the end, stand before the throne of the Great Almighty, and someone will say, “Open the book of your life.” Can you imagine how many people on that day would say, “No, please, do not open the book.” Someone says, “Open the book.” “No, I’m begging you, please. I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of what’s written in the book.

Don’t open it before the throne of the Almighty. Please, do not open the book.” Someone says, “Open the book.” I’m here to tell you today that if you have named the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you have received the forgiveness of your sin, and you stand there on that great day at the end of the age, and someone takes the book of your life, and someone says, “Open the book.” I’m here to tell you today that you can say, “Yes, please, do.” “Wait, what? You want me to open the book? You want me to read what’s in the book?”

“Yes, I do.” Let me tell you what’s written in my book. Any sin or shameful thing I’ve ever done has been lifted from the pages of that book and written on the cross of Jesus Christ. Then He took all the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and He wrote it in my book.

That’s what’s in my book. He says, “You have every confidence you draw near to the throne of grace in full assurance of faith. Stop this doubting and believe. Take hold and live.” That’s what God wants to do, to break through, to break. Whoa, when God breaks through, life comes. Break through. Break through. Stop all this doubting. In full assurance of faith, believe. Let’s pray. Lord, thank You. What wonderful truths that You reveal Your heart to us. You speak a better word to break through. Just because you can’t see a way doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a way.

Break through. Believe. Believe My heart for You. Believe My Word for you. Stop all this doubting. Believe in full assurance of faith. Church, how many would say to the Lord today, “I believe. I believe when You speak a word, when You say to me, God, that You will not hold my past against me. I believe that I can draw near in full assurance of faith. I believe God is doing a great work in me, I pray.” Do a great work. Church, is that your heart? Would you just pray that by raising your hand to the Lord, and say that by raising your hand?

God, I want to just declare, I believe, God, that Your grace is greater than my sin. Your grace is amazing. I love You and honor You for all that You’ve done in my life. In Jesus’ name. Everyone say– Can we give God praise and glory and honor? Amen.

The Refiner’s Fire
Ezekiel 22:17-30
August 15-16, 2026

Thank you for allowing me a little time off. As I think Matthew mentioned, I had surgery and my prostate cancer, but they think they got it all, and I’m back, and so praise God for that.

I have been chomping at the bit. I couldn’t wait to get back, so excited. Let’s open our Bibles to Ezekiel Chapter 22, and we’ll begin in verse 17. Of course, we’re going through the whole Bible, and we’re in the book of Ezekiel. We cover the other verses around this at our midweek verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter study. The title of our message, The Refiner’s Fire. Very important what God has for us in His word today.

Let’s pray together and receive from God’s word. Lord, thank you for sending your word to reveal your heart to bless our lives. God, stir up revival, pour out your spirit of grace and of life, and use the word to strengthen us in our faith. We pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said-

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been in Ezekiel, and it’s good to remember, of course, why this book is so important. Ezekiel is a prophet to the children of Israel there in Babylon. The people are in exile there. The nation has been defeated. Babylon has come in two waves so far, besieging the city, taking people captive, bringing them into exile. There will be one more wave, which we’re going to read about, where they come, besiege the city, take everyone there captive, they leave a few of the poor and the weak behind.

As I mentioned before, God had prophetically declared that God intended to do a great work of transformation of the exiles living in Babylon. Yes, they’re going through in the fire. They’re going through a tragedy and a great trouble, but God intended to use it for transforming them through it. Now, as I mentioned before, hardship itself is not enough, right? You need more than that. You need the hand of God moving. You need the word of God spoken. You need the Holy Spirit poured out. That’s why God used Ezekiel that he would speak God’s heart to them there in Babylon.

Now, before this story is over, God says he’s going to put a new heart and a new spirit within them, and they will never again pursue the idols of the world that got them into all this trouble. They will seek him, and they will find him there in the land of Israel, and it will be a time of revival. All right, here we are in Ezekiel 22, and God is showing Israel that Jerusalem is about to go through the refiner’s fire. It’ll be the third wave, the great besieging, the final downfall, but He uses the analogy of a smelter, a refiner, in refining them there.

Now, this is a picture that they would certainly understand, right? Artisans and smelters were common in Israel. Silver and gold coins were used in the marketplace regularly, and goldsmiths, silversmiths would make fine jewelry with it, of course. The refiner they understood, the analogy they got. The refiner would use heat to melt the ore in the crucible. The impurities would rise to the top. The silver and gold, of course, settling to the bottom. Why? Because the silver and the gold were heavy, and the impurities, the dross, were worthless, and light, must be removed and thrown away.

The result was something of great value, something highly sought after, highly desirable. We understand it’s an analogy that we can relate to also. God is still refining our lives. Now, the problem, of course, is that while we understand it, we don’t like it. While we understand the necessity of the refining work of God on the soul, we don’t like it at all. We tend to focus on the fact that fire means heat, and heat means difficulty, or trouble, or pain, or pressure. The result of the refining work of God is the value on the soul being transformed into the weight of the beauty of glory.

I mentioned before that the word glory in Hebrew literally comes from the word for weight, gravitas. The weight of glory transforms the soul by it. In other words, if we could see the beauty and the value of what God is doing in the refining in the refiner’s fire, then we could keep our eyes fixed on the glory of the transformed soul and endure with much patience the process of refining.

It’s very much like James 1:2–4, where he says, “Consider it all a joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith,” it’s the same word, “produces,” something glorious, “endurance. And then let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be complete, perfect, lacking in nothing.” All right, let’s read it. We’re in Ezekiel 22. We’ll begin in verse 17, as I mentioned. We’ll cover the other verses in our Wednesday study, but we begin in verse 17.

“The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead in the furnace. They are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I’m going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem,'” right? Jerusalem is the pot, and he’s going to bring a fire.

Notice verse 20. “As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin in the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I also shall gather you in anger and wrath, and there lay you and melt you.” It’s the refining process. “I will gather you, and I’ll blow on you with the fire of my wrath, that you will blow in a fire and you will melt there in the midst of it.”

It’s the purifying work of God. “As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it, and then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out wrath on you. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, say to her,’ say to Israel, say to Jerusalem, say, ‘You are a land not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.'” No, that would be blessing. No, this is what’s wrong.

Notice verse 25. “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst,” this is not right, “like roaring lions tearing the prey. They’ve devoured lives. They’ve taken treasure and precious things, and they’ve made many widows there in the midst of her.” That’s not right. “The priests have done violence to my word, my law.” No, priests, you’re supposed to be teaching the law to strengthen and edify and call the people to a greater place in the Lord. No, this isn’t what’s happening. “They have profaned my holy things.” Well, that’s not right.

“They made no distinction between the holy and the profane.” Oh, there’s a great distinction. “They have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean.” Oh, there’s a great difference. This isn’t right. “They hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I myself am profaned among them,” among the priests. This isn’t right. “Her princes, her leaders among them, they’re like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood, destroying lives in order for getting dishonest gain.”

That’s not right. Leaders are supposed to protect and strengthen and lead. Her prophets are supposed to speak a prophetic word, and speak a word that draws them to the Lord. No, they’ve smeared whitewash over them. You know what that is. You paint white paint over a mess to make it look like it’s something when it isn’t. “They see false visions, divining lies, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord God did not speak. The people of the land practiced oppression. They commit robbery. They wronged the poor.” That’s not right. You got to be supporting and encouraging the poor and the needy, “And they’ve oppressed the sojourner without justice.”

Then verse 30 is the big culminating verse. “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap,” is there anyone, anyone that could intercede with a heart after God? “that I should not destroy it. He says, “No, I found no one.” All right. These are the verses we want to look at and see how God would apply it to our lives.

I. Silver is Impure in its Natural State

I want to begin with this this understanding. He’s using an analogy of refining silver, but I want us to begin by this, that silver is impure in its natural state. The natural state of silver in the mountain, whatever, is very, very impure. Verse 18, “Son of man, the house of Israel, they’re like dross to me. Bronze, tin, iron, lead, they’re all dross of silver.” That’s why the refining process is so necessary. Do you know how much impurity is in silver ore? Of course, it depends. Some ore is more impure than others. Of course, that’s the picture of the analogy of the soul. We know that some souls are more impure than others, right, but I was doing some research.

There’s a mine in Nevada, it’s the Cortez-Rochester Mine, and they have to use one-and-a-half to three tons of waste ore in order to produce one troy ounce of silver. That’s amazing. One and a half, three tons of waste ore in order to get one, just one ounce of pure silver. Now, in other words, what comes out of the ground is mostly worthless. In its natural state, ore is very impure. Now, we get the point immediately. He’s talking about the condition of man. He’s talking about the condition of the soul. You and I were born in the condition of man in all its ugliness, right?

That’s the natural state. That’s the natural condition in which we were all born, and if something doesn’t happen, then we will die in the same condition in which we were born, in all of its ugliness. You can see it. You can see it in children. For example, you don’t have to teach a child to be selfish. They know that all by themselves. You don’t have to teach a child to lie. You don’t have to teach a child to throw a temper tantrum. They do that because it’s the nature in which they were born. It’s their natural condition. See, in other words, a person sins because they’re born a sinner. We should not be surprised. We should not be shocked. Of course not.

A sinner is born in that condition. A person does selfish and self-centered things because they were born selfish and self-centered. It’s like Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?” There it describes the condition of man, desperately sick. See, a sinner is by nature a sinner. A sinner does sinful things. We are not surprised. This is the nature of which they’re born. Everyone is born with that nature.

Every animal has a nature that is different from another. For example, a dog does dog things because that’s their nature. A cat does cat things, which is different than dog things, because a cat has a cat nature. For example, a dog thinks of you as a friend. A cat thinks of you as a servant. A dog likes to be on the bed with you because he likes being with you. A cat likes being on your bed because your cat likes your bed. They’re different. See, a cat does cat things. A dog is a dog, a cat is a cat, a horse is a horse, unless of course it’s a horse by the name of Mr. Ed.

If you don’t know what that joke’s about, look at someone who’s old and say, “What does that mean?” By the way, reminds me, I mentioned before, the state of Minnesota put together a commission. They had a problem with crime, and they wanted to know what makes a criminal a criminal. What is the nature of a criminal? They wanted to understand it, of course. They put together this big commission, and so I want to read to you their grand conclusion.

Again, this is the state of Minnesota, so you know it’s accurate, and this is what they wrote. Here’s the grand conclusion: “Every baby starts life as a little savage.” Great opening. “He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it, his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy. Deny him these wants and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless.

He is dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, and no skills. This means that all children, not just certain children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child will grow up to be a criminal, a thief, a killer, or a rapist.” That is describing the condition of man in which he was born. By the way, it is a very biblical truth. That is the condition of man, and something must happen. Something’s got to change.

Now, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that hearts can be changed, lives can be changed, lives can be transformed, hearts can be softened, hard hearts can be broken, stones can be moved, thistles can be uprooted, how? Because something happens. God moves, right? God opens eyes so that they see what they did not see before. God opens ears so that they hear what they did not hear before. They can understand what they did not understand before. God gives new desires to desire what they never desired before. God is changing lives, and He is still on the move, and there are many testimonies in this very room that God is transforming lives. Anybody want to add a yes and amen to their lives? Amen.

A. Heat separates the impurities

It’s like 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” God is doing a work. Something can happen. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have come, and these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ Jesus. Now, going back to the analogy, the picture of the refiner’s fire, we got to notice this, that heat separates the impurities. Got to have heat. Heat is necessary for the process. For without heat, the natural state remains. Nothing will be changed. Pressure, heat, trials, convictions, they reveal what’s hidden in the heart, and it comes to the surface so that it can be removed. God wants you to see it.

You look through the whole book of Ezekiel, and He does this many times. God wants you to see it, right? This is the work that God is doing with you. You and God. God says, “I will show this to you.” Maybe God is wrestling with you because you keep resisting Him, and you keep stubbornly holding onto your old ways. He wants you to see it. See it, the necessity of the refining fire.

I was thinking of illustrations. It’s the fire that transforms. For example, when Jesus told Peter that Peter would deny Him that very night three times. He said, “Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will yourself have denied Me three times.” Now, it’s one thing to say it. It’s another thing to go through the fire of it. See, when Jesus said that to Peter, “Peter, this very night, you will have denied Me three times,” Peter didn’t immediately break. “Oh, no,” and fall into despair and weeping. No. He had to go through the fire of it.

The night that Jesus was arrested and they brought Him to Caiaphas’ house for that false trial, Peter’s out there in the courtyard, and someone says to him, “Are you not one of His disciples?” He said, “No, I am not.” Then someone says, “Wait, you have a Galilean accent. You are one of His disciples.” “No, I tell you, I am not.” Then someone says, “Wait, I saw you in the garden. You are one of His disciples.” Then he says, “I tell you, I don’t know the man.” Then, to be more convincing, he does it with cussing. He’s a fisherman, so he understood cussing pretty well, and he’s like, “I tell you, I don’t know the man.” Blankity blank, blank, blank. Oh, that’s convincing.

It’s at that moment, Jesus looked at him. They met eyes. Again, you can say a lot with eyes. I think Jesus would have said, “Peter, did I not say? Did I not say?” Peter just broke and wept bitterly, deeply. He ran from the courtyard, broken. It wasn’t the words that Jesus said, “Tonight, you will betray me.” No, it was the heat of the fire that broke him.

Now, the story of Peter here will end quite beautifully. It will end in Galilee after the resurrection when Jesus restores Peter. “Peter, do you love me? Then feed my sheep.” He restores him in love. He restores him to purpose. It’s the heat, the pressure, the pain of going through the fire. God is wanting you to see that that which he’s doing is good.

This one, Psalm 139:23-24. David’s writing, “Search me, God, know my heart, test me, know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any hurtful way in me and lead me in the way that is everlasting.” God, you say you want me to see it, then show it to me. I say to you, God, search me, know me, test me, examine my heart, know my anxious thoughts, see if there’s any hurtful way in me, show me the way, the way that is everlasting. It’s like Proverbs 17:3, “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord is testing hearts.” Now, in the analogy, we need to see this also in the story.

B. Sometimes the heat is on simmer

Sometimes the heat is on simmer. Here’s what I mean. This besieging of Jerusalem went on for 18 long months. Sometimes God allows us to stay in the heat of the thing way longer than we want, way longer than we would like. Sometimes people get impatient with God, “Fine, I’ve learned my lesson, let’s get on with it. Enough already, God. I’ve learned it. I’ve learned my lesson.” Sometimes it goes on much longer than we would like, and God has a purpose.

Here’s an analogy of that. The Apostle Paul, he says that he had a thorn in the flesh, he described it a messenger of Satan to torment me. He said three times, I asked God, this went on for so long, I asked God three times to remove this thing from me, but God said no. Notice 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. “He said to me, no, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore,” Paul answered, “I would rather boast about my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell in me, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

He said God used it for a purpose. He said, “To keep me from exalting myself, because of the greatness of the revelations, because of the privilege of receiving so many amazing revelations, to keep me from exalting myself, God allowed this thorn in the flesh to remain.” Now when we hear the word “thorn”, we think a rosebush thorn or something like that. The original Greek, actually the word is like tent peg, an 18-inch peg used to hold up a tent in the wind in the desert. This is serious. Paul says this thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan to torment me this entire time, which I think is a surprise to many that God would use Satan for a purpose.

Which, by the way, reminds me of a funny story. This story takes place during the Great Depression. There were these two cabins that were some distance out of town, just on the other side of a gully. In one cabin was an old, grumpy, crotchety old man, an atheist. On the other part of the gully was an old woman, a devout Christian. Now, this was during the times of the Great Depression. Times were hard, money was scarce, difficult just to put food on the table. The woman would come out on her porch every morning, and she would call out to God out loud, “Oh, God of heaven, be my great provision, you know my need. God, I’m asking that you would provide and put food on my table today.”

Oh, the old man on the other side of the gully would hear that, and he would call out, “No one’s listening to you. That’s not going to do you any good.” She would just ignore him and just keep praying. Every morning she’d come out and call out to God out loud, “Oh, God of heaven, be my great provision.” He would mock her. One day, the old man came in with some money, $15. He went into town and bought two bags of groceries for himself and one bag of grocery for the woman. That night, after the woman went to bed, he snuck over and put a bag of groceries on her porch. The next morning, the woman woke up, and she came out onto her porch.

Sure enough, there’s a bag of groceries there. She cried out to God, “Oh, God of heaven, thank you. Thank you for providing for me these groceries today. Thank you for being my great provision.” Oh, the old man was waiting for her. He cried out to her and said, “That wasn’t God. That was me. I did that.” She looked over at him, and she didn’t miss a beat. She just kept right on praying. “Oh, God, thank you for being my great provision. Thank you for providing these groceries for me. Thank you for making the devil pay for them.” I love that story.

Paul says, “No, God allowed this.” There was a purpose. A messenger of Satan with a purpose to keep me from exalting myself. Oh, this is a very important thing. Preventing spiritual pride. Oh, pride has been the great undoing of so many people. A great obstacle to true spiritual maturity. I tell you, God will find a way to keep us humble, which reminds me of another funny story.

There was a young preacher who was invited to give a message on a special occasion, and God richly blessed it. It went well, and it had a great impact. Afterwards, driving the way home with his wife, apparently enjoying himself a little bit too much in his heart, he said, “I wonder how many great preachers there are in this city.” His wife said rather dryly, “Probably one less than you think.” God knows how to keep us humble. I still can’t believe Jordi would say that to me. Just joking, just joking.

C. Trust the heart of the One refining you

I want us to see this. Very important to see this. Trust the heart of the one refining you. I know God’s heart. If you’re going through the fire, you’re going through a refining. Trust his heart. He’s going to bring about something good. A skilled silversmith does not walk away and leave the metal to chance. No, he sits, he watches, he attends to it.

It’s like Matthew 3:3. He will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. He watches, he tends, he knows exactly how intense the fire needs to be, how long the silver must remain in the crucible, never applying more heat than necessary, never leaving the process until it’s finished. Sometimes people go through something difficult, some pressure, some pain and they accuse God in it. “God, you say you love me. Well, if you love me, then why am I going through this?”

They don’t understand. This is an important point. No, trust the heart of the one who is refining you. No, it’s because God loves that He intends to your way in which you’re living, to bring about a greater result, a greater awakening, and the transformation of something that needs to be transformed. Trust His heart. The one who is refining you knows that which is good and right. He is for you.

When I think of that, it reminds me of the process of wrestling with our kids when some of them would come to those difficult and sometimes painful teenage years when they’re trying to find their own way and struggling and sometimes resisting authority and resisting my guiding hand. Oh, how many times do we have conversations about this? I tell you, I would start those conversations with the question. I want you to look at me and tell me, am I for you, or am I against you? I am your father. Now, you tell me. I want you to say it out loud. Am I for you or am I against you?

Every time they would say, “Dad, I know that you’re for me.” Half the battle is won right there. Just to understand the heart of it. You say you love me. Then why am I going through this trouble? No, it’s because He loves you that He’s intending to your way. For example, Hebrews 12:5-6, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. For in those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.” Trust the heart of the one refining you.

II. God is Refining and the Results are Glorious

Now, back to the analogy, the picture of the refiner’s fire. Notice, God is refining, and the results are glorious. Now, first He makes the point of showing just how ugly their hearts had become. He wants them to see it. Now, you can see this in several places in Ezekiel. God wants them to see it in all of its ugliness so that they can see it the way God sees it. This is the process of the refining fire to open their eyes to see what they did not see before. If they could only see how detestable this thing is. If they can only see it the way God sees it, it would be the beginning of opening their heart.

God wants them to see it. It’s like what Jesus said in Luke 16:15. “That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” That is a great verse right there. That describes the point powerfully. Oh, that which the world thinks is so highly esteemed. No, God says that is the testimony. I want you to see it the way I see it. He shows it to him.

Notice, for example, in verses 24-29, he breaks it down to show them just how ugly this thing is. You got to see it. Notice the prophets, they devour lies. That’s not what prophets are supposed to be doing. The priests profane holy things. Make no distinction between the holy and the profane. Not the difference between unclean and clean. Even I am profaned among them by priests. This is not right.

Princes, the leaders, they seek dishonest gain. No, that’s not right. The prophets whitewashing over the whole mess, dividing lies, wronging the needy and the poor, and treating travelers badly. “Can you see it,” he says, “how ugly this thing is?” God wants them to see it and weep. You can just see how ugly it is. Then you can open your eyes. Then you can see why they needed the refiner’s fire, and then you could see that that which God is doing is good.

A. How valuable is the silver of glory

The very thing you think is against you, the pressure, the pain, the confrontation, the trouble, is the very thing that God is using to refine and purify and glorify into something far greater. It’s like, “If you could just see,” he says, “how valuable is the silver of glory?” He’s using an analogy. We understand that God is producing something glorious, something beautiful, something honorable. See the value of the silver, of the glory using His illustration? If you can see it, then you’d open your eyes to that, which He’s doing is good.

I tell you, there are many biblical examples. Jesus used a very similar analogy or picture when He spoke of the vine and the branches that must abide on the vine to produce much fruit. Then He spoke of the pruning process, and no one likes the pruning process. It hurts. The result, he says, is greater harvest. The fruit is of greater measure. See this. Greater purpose. Now, I know this is true. In fact, I saw it myself because we have some fruit trees that are alongside our driveway up by the road, and they’ve been there forever and a day and been neglected, and no one tends to them. Last fall, I decided there’s so much dead wood in there, and they’re hanging down, and I can’t mow around them.

I decided I’m going to go and I’m going to cut out all that dead stuff. I got my chainsaw. It was another excuse to use my chainsaw. [makes chainsaw sound] I love that chainsaw. It makes me feel so macho. I got my chainsaw, and I am just cutting all this dead stuff out. I am having way too much fun with it, and I thought, “Oh, that is way too much.” This year, this spring, this summer, you will not believe it. That thing is loaded with amazing, delicious yellow plums. I have never seen so many plums in my life. In fact, we get a family gathering we got going. Guess what I am breaking? A whole box of plums. You’re taking these things home with you, people, because there’s so many of them.

The pruning brought a greater harvest, like Hebrews 12. He disciplines us for our good that we might share in His holiness. That’s amazing. He’s bringing about something glorious that we can share in His holiness, but you got to go through the fire to do it. There’s James 1 I mentioned. “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.”

Well, it’s not joy to go through a trial, he says, “But knowing that the testing of your faith produces something glorious, endurance, a strong strength in the inner man.” Here’s another one. Romans 5:3-4. “And not only this, we also exult in our tribulations.” “Well, no one likes tribulations,” he says, “but no, you exult in it knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope.” Those are all glorious things.

Strength of the soul in the inner man. 1st Peter 1:6-7, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while you have been distressed by various trials.” No one wants to be distressed by various trials. He says, in it, you greatly rejoice, knowing that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That’s glorious. That which He’s doing is amazing.

2nd Timothy 2 is another one, verse 21. “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, like the worldly impurities, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.” That’s glorious, wonderful, desirable. Then do that, Lord. See the value of what He’s doing, the value in the soul. Then there is this. We’ll finish with this in verse 30, where he is looking for those who will stand. Notice, “I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap, interceding.”

B. God is looking for those who will stand

Is there anyone? Anyone? Is there one with a heart after God enough to care, to stand in the gap, to pray, to intercede? He said, “I found no one.” It is a picture. God is still searching today. The eyes of the Lord search to and fro throughout the whole earth in order to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose heart are completely His. God is searching. Is there anyone with a heart after God enough to intercede, to pray? He said He found no one. What’s interesting is the scripture says God Himself then will provide an intercessor, one to stand in the gap. It’s Jesus, the son of God. He becomes that intercessor.

Scripture says that our sins have created a great separation between us and God, but his son Jesus stands in the gap, interceding for us with groanings too deep for words. He is the advocate for sinners, understands interceding, reconciling sinners to himself. Then when Jesus reconciles sinners to himself, he does something. He transforms their heart. New heart and new spirit within them. That they would be given a ministry of reconciliation.

God is using people like you and me. Interceding, standing alongside of Jesus, praying, reconciling. Who are you interceding for? Like in your heart of hearts, name them by name. Who are you interceding for? Do you care enough about God? Care enough about them. Oh, there are so many people born in the condition of man, in all of its ugliness, that are so messed up. They need the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Does someone care enough? Invite them to church. Let them hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, at least. To intercede, to care. Name them by name. For he is still reconciling sinners. God is still on the move, and there are people in this very room. God is touching your heart, and he’s drawing you. He’s standing in the gap, and he’s inviting you to be reconciled to the living God. He’s made a way for sinners to be found. He’s made a way for sinners to have a relationship to God as their heavenly Father. He’s inviting you.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much. We trust your heart. We know how you move. God, if there’s a refining that needs to be done, do it. Search me, try me, know my heart. See if there be anything in my life that needs to be refined. I want you to lead me in the way that is everlasting. Do a great work transforming my soul into that which is glorious and good.

Church, is that your prayer? Would you pray that to the Lord by just lifting your hand to him and just making that prayer known to him? God, I’m asking, you see anything in my life? Search me, know me, try me. Is there anything that needs to be transformed? Do it. Do it, God. I want to be transformed. I want to be made new. I trust your heart. Do that in me, Lord, we pray, we ask in Jesus powerful name, and everyone say amen and amen.

The Name Above All Names
Ezekiel 20:39-44
July 19-20, 2026 

Let’s open our Bibles, if you would, to Ezekiel 20. Ezekiel 20, we’ll be in verse 39, and the title of our message, ‘The Name Above All Names.’ Let’s pray and then receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful because we know that you pour out your grace through your Word. You pour out your heart through your Word, and that you send it in power by your Holy Spirit to stir us up in our faith and to draw us to you in revival. God, meet us now in this place and pour out your Spirit of life upon us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said? Amen.

The great theme of Ezekiel 20 is that God does not treat Israel according to what they deserve, but according to His great name. This is a wonderful truth because it’s true for us today as well. Oh, are we so thankful that God does not treat us as we deserve, but that He treats us according to His great name. Amen. Let’s give a little praise. Amen. Amen. The backstory is that the elders of Israel come to Ezekiel. They’re there in Babylon. They’re in exile. They come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord, which is a common thing. They had something they wanted to ask of God, and so they come to the prophet to inquire of the Lord.

God’s response, however, no doubt, was unsettling. “You come to inquire of me? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.” “Will you judge them, O Son of Man? Make them know the abominations of their fathers.” He’s leading them somewhere, and somewhere glorious. Before this is done, He’s going to lead them to a glorious understanding. First, He reminds them of the tragic disobedience and rebellion in the long and troubled history of Israel.

Over and over, as He recounts the history of Israel, wave upon wave in their history, though they were hard-hearted and rebellious, He shows them that every point along the way, God had mercy. Not because they deserved it, far from it. God had mercy because of His great name. The name of the Lord has far greater significance than most people understand or appreciate. This is a chapter where the greatness of that name stands high and above throughout the history of Israel. There’s great depth contained in that name, and it will deepen your faith to understand what is contained in that name, which is above every other name.

“What’s in a name?” As the saying goes. That saying was made immortal by William Shakespeare, who, of course, wrote Romeo and Juliet. The story, of course, is that Romeo and Juliet fell madly in love at first sight. The problem was that they came from feuding enemy families. Romeo was a Montague, Juliet was a Capulet. Shakespeare means to convey the thought that the name of things is irrelevant. “What’s in a name?” Juliet says.

“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” What she means by this is, why do you have to be that name? Why do you have to be a Montague? It’s only because of that name I’m supposed to be your enemy. “O, your name.” She says, “O Romeo, doff thy name, Romeo, and for that name which is no part of thee, take all myself.”

I did not miss my calling as a Shakespearean actor, as you can tell. It’s an interesting thing. “What’s in a name?” Shakespeare says, “Nothing’s in a name.” God says, “Oh, you are quite wrong.” The name of the Lord contains the nature and character of God Himself. God’s glory is contained in His name. Remember when we described recently that when Moses said to God, “Show me your glory,” God said, “No man can see the fullness of my glory and live,” but that He would put him in the cleft of the rock and that His glory would pass by. He says, “I will make all my goodness pass by, and I will proclaim my name before you.” This is the revealing of glory.

It makes one wonder, what about your name? What’s contained in your name? It’s an interesting question. If people were to think of you, and let’s say that they were going to describe you with one word, when they think of your name, what’s the one word that they think? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they thought of your name and they recognized a quality of God’s heart upon you? Grace, mercy, kindness, because God’s name, we carry God’s name.

When you were born, you had no say in the matter of your name. Parents choose a name for their children for different reasons. Some are named after the father or a mother or a relative. In biblical times, parents would sometimes name a child for something they did. For example, when Jacob and Esau were born, Esau was born first, and he was covered in red hair. His parents said, “Oh, look at that. He’s covered in hair. Let’s call him Hairy,” which is true.

Then Jacob was born second. When he was born, he had the hold of his brother Esau’s heel. His parents said, “Oh, would you look at that? He is so cute. He has the hold of his brother’s heel. I know. Let’s call him Heelsnatcher.” The problem, of course, is that Heelsnatcher can also mean one who is conniving, one who trips up another by his manipulation. That’s exactly who Jacob became, such that God had to change his name.

It’s an interesting study through the Scriptures to see that the meaning of names and that those fulfilled the meaning of their name. It contains their character, their nature. In the name of Jesus, if you name the name of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you carry that name. May you be known by that name. God’s name is the glory and the honor and the power in the name of the Lord. It’s like Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and are saved. The name of the Lord has power, the name of the Lord.

In modern Israel today, Jews refer to God as Hashem. It means “the name”. When they think of God, when they refer to God, they refer to Him as “the name” because the Jews traditionally avoid saying His name, considering it too holy to be on human lips. Such that they call Him “the name”. Interestingly, Jesus gave a more intimate understanding of relationship to the Lord.

The disciples, they saw the relationship that Jesus had to God. They saw that He would regularly get alone and pray. They saw that relationship, and they saw His prayers. They said, “Teach us that. Teach us how to pray.” Jesus says, “When you pray, you say, ‘My Father.'” Much more intimate understanding. “My Father.” Abba, actually. It’s the most intimate way to refer to a papa. Abba. He says, when you pray, you say, “My Father–” Notice, “My Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

In Ezekiel 20, God uses the power of His name to reveal His heart toward them. There’s much for them to understand about that name. There’s much for us to understand because it’s an aspect of revival. Let’s read it. We’re in verse 39. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, we’ll cover the other verses around this at our Wednesday verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter study. We’ll begin in verse 39. “As for you, O House of Israel, thus says the Lord God.” Interesting what He says. “Go. Serve everyone his idols.” Really? We’ll get this. We’ll understand this.

I. Learning to Listen is Spiritual Maturity

“Go,” he says, “serve everyone his idols. Later on you will surely listen to me. My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols. For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord God, there the whole House of Israel, all of them will serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and I will seek your contributions and the choices of your gifts with all your holy things. For you will be a soothing aroma, and I shall accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered.

I will prove myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. You will know that I am the Lord when I bring you into that land of Israel, that land which I swore to give to your forefathers. There you will remember–” This is interesting. “In that day–” when there is this revival, when there is this restoring, “then you will remember your ways and your deeds with which you have defiled yourself?” In other words, you’re going to look back, and you’re going to see it different. “You will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you’ve done.”

A. Carry His name with honor

Now, this is good. We’ll get to this. “Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for my name’s sake and not according to the evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O House of Israel, declares the Lord God.” These are the verses that we want to look at. So much that God would reveal to us. I want to begin really with this understanding of verse 39, that learning to listen is spiritual maturity itself. As for you, He’s bringing them to the point. Then when there’s this revival, when there is this restoring, you will learn to listen to me.

Interestingly, notice how He begins. He says, “Go and serve everyone your idols.” That’s it. Really? God says, “Go, serve everyone his idols.” You know it’s never good when God gives someone over to their fleshly nature. It’s like in Romans 1. He gave them over to the lust of their flesh. It’s never good. When that happens, it’s for the purpose of getting a person to the end of it. In other words, persons got to come to the end of themselves. One way or another, they got to come to the end of this thing. What follows when God says, then, if you really want it that bad, then go and serve it. What follows is a harsh, harsh result. Sin becomes the taskmaster.

Instead of the Holy Spirit restraining and resisting, He removes that restraint, and what follows is a crash. The hardened heart hardens further. Then it’s for the purpose of that restoring, “For then you will come to that place where you will learn to listen to me.” Learning to listen is true spiritual maturity. I like to say it’s calculus for the soul. It’s the spiritual advancement of spiritual maturity. I used to teach a class every summer on parenting, and in that class I would say, a child does not come out of the womb with the ability to listen. Every parent knows this. No, listening must be learned, and it’s a very important life skill, by the way.

If a child cannot learn to listen, they will have trouble all their lives. It is a tremendously important understanding of life. I would say to the parents, let’s say of four and five-year-olds, I would say, “Does your child know calculus?” He’s four, he’s five. “No, of course they don’t know calculus.” I say, “Does that make you angry?” “No, of course not.” They’ve got to learn two plus two, and then they’ve got to move on to gradually harder things. That doesn’t make me angry. Then we say, “Then, why does it make you angry when they don’t listen?” It’s also mastery of the soul.

In fact, I said, “Let me give you an illustration. Parents, how many have mastered listening to God yourself? Raise your hand.” Nobody raises their hand. I’ve been doing that for years. I have yet to have anybody raise their hand. “I have mastered listening to God.” Because it’s such an important point, we emphasize, where does that come from? It is spiritual maturity itself, and it comes from giving weight to His Word. It comes from understanding that His Word has authority in your life, that God’s Word has weight and authority.

I was thinking of an illustration. It’s like teaching teenagers how to drive. Here’s what I mean. By the way, I have taught six teenagers how to drive. I have been in counseling ever since. Before we even start, I have a speech. It’s my standard speech. She, he, in the driver’s seat, I’m in the passenger’s seat. Before we even start the car, I say my speech. “I’m going to now give you the one rule that rules all other rules. This is the most important rule of all, it’s this. You must do exactly as I say when I say it. If you do not do exactly what I say when I say it, your driving career is over.”

Exactly right. Because if you don’t, this thing is going to end in a crash. This is the importance of listening. If you don’t listen to God, it’s going to crash your life. Put weight to His Word. You listen when you put weight to His Words. He says to them, in this is part of the revival. When I bring you to that place, when you put weight to His Word because the consequences of it are real, that’s what got them into this. You will learn to listen. It comes to that spiritual point of maturity. Then He says, and then you will carry His name with honor.

Notice verse 39. “In my holy name, you will profane no longer with these gifts to these idols.” They were a nation set apart from all nations. They carried His name. He says, “I put my name there. I put my name. Of all the cities of the world, I put my name in one city, the name Jerusalem. I put my name on that land, and I put my name on this people. You carry my name.” By the way, we carry His name, the name of the Lord Jesus we carry. He says to them, “When you offer offerings to Molech or Ashtarim or Baal, while carrying my name, you are profaning my name.” He wants them to understand the importance of honoring His name. Which is why when they came to the land, back to the land, they changed such that they called Him ‘the name’.

You are carrying that name. In fact, Exodus 20:7, part of the commandments, He says, “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.” Now, many people, when they hear that, they think God says, “Don’t use God’s name as a cuss word,” which is, of course, true, but it means much more than that. The understanding is actually deeper than that. In Hebrew, that phrase literally is translated, “Do not carry the name of the Lord in vain.” You carry the name of the Lord. Don’t carry it in vain. Don’t carry it in emptiness. You carry it with weight. Vain, vanity means empty. You carry that weight of glory. You carry it gloriously, that name. You carry that name.

The name of the Lord means something powerful. Do not act worldly when you’re carrying the name. We used to sing a song, “Your name is like honey on my lips.” That’s how you carry His name. You speak His name with honor. It’s the world that likes to defame His name. They use His name like a cuss word. You notice when they hit their thumb on the hammer, they don’t say, “Oh, Buddha.” No. They want to defame that name. They use the name like a curse word. “Oh, Jesus Christ.”

Those who bear that name carry His name with honor. “Your name is like honey on my lips.” When Moses stood before the burning bush there in the mountain and asked God, “What is your name?” He gave him His personal name. You have a name, a personal name. God has a personal name. His name is Yahweh, Jehovah. My name is Richard. His name is Jehovah. That’s His personal name. Names have meaning. It means ‘I am’. It means more. It means it’s a personal name. It means all that I am, I am to you. It means everything that is in my name, I want and mean for that to be unto you, because you are called by that glorious name.

When God says His name is holy, it means His name is set apart. The word holy in Hebrew means set apart. It’s high above all other names. I treat you according to that name. That name, which is high above all other names, I treat you by that name. All that I will be to you, if you could only understand the meaning of the name. Jesus, by the way, it says, is given a name that is above every other name. That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let’s give the Lord praise. Amen.

B. God restores to that which is high and holy

Many years ago we used to sing a song when I was a young man, maybe some of you remember it. Some of you saints will remember. “Jesus, your name is power.” It’s like Jesus, your name. Every line of the song. “Jesus, your name is might, and Jesus, your name will break every stronghold. Jesus, your name is life.” Every word speaks of the glory of the name. That’s what He wants them to understand.

Then in that name, He says, “I’m going to restore to that which is high and holy, not just save you out of the trouble. Yes. You need saving out of the trouble, and I’ll do that, but I’ll do more than that. Notice verse 40, “On my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, the whole House of Israel will serve me there in the land. God’s going to restore all that was lost, but He’s going to restore to the high and holy in the heart.” I’m going to rescue. I’m going to save. I’m going to get you out of this trouble, but I’m going to restore a spiritual awakening.

The problem was, what got them into this mess was there was no spiritual life. This is true today. There’s no spiritual life. It’ll lead you into tremendous destruction and trouble. When God restores, He intends to rebuild the soul with a spiritual awakening, that the soul would be filled by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. We need today to be filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Be ye filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Living God is that presence of God residing in glory upon the soul. That will keep you from falling into the pit again. For Israel, it was the promise of returning to the land.

Oh, they wanted to return to the land. God says, “I’ll return you to the land, but I’m also going to return you to me.” Reminds me of this when Moses came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand. I mentioned this recently. Remember the story? He was up in the mountain for 40 days. The people grew impatient because Moses had been gone quite some time. They said there, “Make us a god.” They took the golden rings and such and fashioned the calf. Then he says the people gave offerings to this golden calf thing, and then they rose up to play. It got out of hand. It became a party, they were dancing, and it got bad.

Moses, coming down from the mountain, Joshua is with him, and Joshua says, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” Moses says, “That is not the sound of triumph, and that is not the cry of defeat. That’s the sound of singing I hear. There is a party. That’s Led Zeppelin and Mick Jagger. That’s what I’m hearing.” Then, when he saw the people dancing before the golden calf, he became so angry he shattered the tablets at the foot of the mountain. Now, afterward, the Lord spoke to Moses and said, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people, and go to the land flowing with milk and honey. I will not go in your midst, lest I destroy them all along the way.”

All right. Exodus 33:15, Moses replied, “If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us from this place. We don’t want to go anywhere unless your presence goes with us.” Moses is saying, “I don’t want the land without you in it. I don’t want the milk. I don’t want the honey. I don’t want any of it unless you are in the presence of it. It’s your presence that I cherish above all else.” Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven, but you? Besides you, I desire nothing in this earth. There is nothing on this earth that compares with thee.” God is saying, “Oh, if you could only understand how precious, how valuable it is that I am with you.”

I say to you, it’s the greatest thing of the Bible from beginning to end, that God desires to be Emmanuel, God with us, and in beautiful fellowship together. In the garden, Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening. They had beautiful fellowship together, and then sin broke the fellowship. The story of God and man is the story of God redeeming man out of that sin and restoring that fellowship of being Emmanuel, God with us. If you could only understand that, it is the most precious aspect. God is with us. Oh, it’s help, it’s hope. “I’ll walk with you even when you struggle with yourself. I’ll walk with you on this journey. I’ll bring you to a point, an understanding of glory. I am with you. I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you.”

I was thinking of an illustration. It’s like this. When our daughter Nicole was killed, we adopted her daughter Avia. Avia was seven years old when we adopted her. I tell you, it was such a tragedy for a seven-year-old girl. You can imagine, she struggled with it so, so much. Shortly after she came to live with us, she came up to me at one point, and she said, “I don’t feel like I belong here. I feel like I’m supposed to be somewhere else.” Of course, she was longing for mom. She was longing for a home. We understood all of that.

Then she said, “I don’t feel like I belong here. I feel like I have to run away from home.” I said, “I understand, and it’s okay. You can run away from home, but it’s not safe out there. If you’re going to run away, then I should run away with you. We should do this together.” She said, “I’ll pack some things.” She went and got her school backpack, put some things in it, a blanket, and she went and got some stuff to eat, fruit snacks, candy. She came downstairs with her cute little helmet strapped under her chin, wearing her cute little pink coat, two bags, and says, “I’m ready, Grandpa.” I said, “I’ll take one bag.” She got on her scooter. I got on mine, and we left.

We ran away from home. We went a few blocks. It was dark out. It was cold. We stopped. She said, “Let’s have dinner.” I was thankful that she brought my dinner as well. We had a fruit snack together. Then she said, “Let’s find a place to sleep.” We should find a place that’s safe. I found an intersection with light and some grass. She pulled down her little blanket, laid it on the ground, and laid down. She said, “Do you want to lay down, Grandpa?” I said, “No, no, I’ll stand watch.” She laid there for a few minutes. Then she said, “Let’s go home, Grandpa. We can run away another day.”

I said, “Yes, that’s good. Anytime you want to run away, you let me know, and we’ll run away together because I never want you to be alone.” Something broke through that day, something of deeper understanding. He will never leave me. We’re going to walk this thing together. To me, this is God’s heart. If you can only understand this, “I will never leave you, I’ll never forsake you. Even if you’re struggling within yourself, I will walk with you until you come to the end of this thing. I’ll never leave you.”

II. You will Become a Soothing Aroma

Then He brings him to this, and then it will bring such a wonderful transformation that you will become a soothing aroma to the Lord. Oh, that’s different. Verse 42, a soothing aroma. “As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples where you’ve been scattered, and bring you into this land.” A soothing aroma is a beautiful picture, a reminder of the sacrificial smoke that would arise from the offerings to God in the temple. Oh, it smelled so good. It smelled so wonderful. It’s like when someone is barbecuing steak or something and everything, “Oh, it’s so good.” It’s a fragrance, aroma, like, “Oh, it’s so good.”

It’s like it represents how good and how pleasant it is when the heart is right with God and this beautiful fellowship together. This is different. A new heart. He says, “I’m going to give you a new heart and a new spirit that’s going to be distinctly different than that rebellious, hard-hearted, obstinate nature that you had when you left the city. You’re going to come back such that there’s a soothing aroma, something wonderful.”

The old nature is ugly. The old nature stinketh. The new nature is spiritual awakening and is sweet to God. It’s sweet, by the way, to those around you as well. It’s a beautiful aroma. The beautiful soul is sweet to the Lord, and to everyone around you. We love the worship song that we sing. The chorus goes, “Day and night, night and day, let incense rise.” He just repeats it over and over, “Day and night, night and day, let incense rise.” Incense is the wonderful fragrance of the prayers of the saints. That’s what it represents.

A. Be a sweet fragrance to God

Oh, it’s sweet fragrance to the Lord. How beautiful it is when there’s a restoring, when relationship is right. Oh, such a beautiful fragrance unto the Lord. That’s what he’s telling us. Be that sweet fragrance unto God. It represents the love, the worship, the prayers. Something’s right. Something’s beautiful now. It’s like Ephesians 5:1&2. “Walk in love.” God is love. When you walk with God, you are transformed by it such that you walk in that love. People can see it. It’s beautiful. It’s sweet. It’s a wonderful aroma. As Christ loved you, walk in that love.

He gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. What He did for us was a fragrant aroma to the Lord. Then Paul writes, and you are that fragrance of Christ, he writes to the Church of Corinth. “You are a sweet aroma.” When God is moving in your life, and people see it, wouldn’t it be wonderful if people can recognize God did that? Something’s different about you. This wonderful, this whatever is happening in your life is quite amazing, quite beautiful. I remember who you once were. You’re different.

It’s like Matthew 5:16. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works, your life now, and they glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Something’s different. I remember who you were. Something’s different. It’s like Acts 4:13. “Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed but began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”

B. God deals with us according to His name

Look at this. It’s a testimony itself if someone looks at your life and recognizes that you have been with Jesus. Then he says, in the grand finale of it, God deals with us according to His great name. What’s interesting, he actually builds up to it in a way that’s at first startling, but you see he’s doing something wonderful. He foretells that when they come to this time of awakening, transformation, that it will open their eyes. That a fog that once blinded their eyes will no longer be a veil over their heart, and they will see sin differently than they’ve ever seen it before.

He says, you’ll look back, and you’ll see it. It’s there in verse 43. There, when I do all this wonder, when I do this, transform and restore to that which is beautiful, there you will remember your ways and your deeds, how you defiled yourself. He says, and you’ll loathe yourselves in your own sight. Now, this is bringing them to someplace good. Now they see. They couldn’t see it before. That’s what sin does. Sin blinds the eyes. Sin is like a fog over the soul. You can’t see it. I tell you, people that are bound in sin, they cannot see it.

They’re quite blind. In this revival, in this restoring, in this transformation, in this spiritual awakening, eyes are opened, and you see sin like you’ve never seen it before. Now you see it in all its ugliness. Now you’re like, “I can’t believe I would do that. Oh, I’m so ashamed. I’m so ashamed of what I did,” because you see it now. You didn’t see it before. Now you do, and now you are ashamed. It’s a sorrow that’s good because it makes you appreciate God’s grace all the more.

It makes you appreciate that God deals with you not according to what you deserve, but God deals with us according to His great name, according to His mercy, according to His grace, according to His kindness. Now you see it in light of His glory, and you see your sin, and there it makes you appreciate God all the more. Then you will know that I am the Lord when you see that I deal with you according to my great name. That’s the beautiful grace. When you truly see what God has done, you want to honor that name because you see it. Your name is holy. Your name brings light. Jesus, your name above every other. Jesus, your name is life.

Let’s pray. Lord, we are so, so thankful for the greatness of that name that you did not treat us according to what we deserve, but you treat us according to your great name. It makes us want to honor you and to love you, for we see now what our old life was, and it makes us appreciate afresh and anew what you are doing in our lives. By your grace, by your kindness, be high and lifted up in this place because we’ve opened our eyes, and we love you for all that you’ve done.

Church, as we’re praying, how many would say to the Lord today, “I am so thankful that God does not treat me as I deserve to be treated, but rather He treats me according to that great name?” Would you just raise your hand as a way of saying, “God, I am so thankful that you treat me by that great name.” We give you honor and glory for it all. Be glorified in this place. Pour out your Holy Spirit of life, and be high and lifted up because you are worthy of it all. God, we want our prayers, our worship, our heart to be a sweet aroma to you. You are worthy of it all. We honor you now in Jesus’ name. Everyone said– Can you give God praise and glory and honor? Amen.

God Delights in This
Ezekiel 18:27-32
July 18-19, 2026

Welcome everyone joining us online. Hey, would you all take your Bibles and open to the book of Ezekiel 18? We’re actually going to begin in verse 1, and then we’ll jump to verse 27. The title of our message, God Delights in This. Of course, we’re going through the whole Bible. We covered the other verses around this at our midweek, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter service. Let’s pray and then receive from God’s Word together.

Lord, thank you for revealing your heart to us through your Word, and that you would draw us to a place of revival and to receive from your Holy Spirit. God, meet us here. Pour out your Spirit of life through your Word, we pray in Jesus’ powerful name. Everyone said, Amen.

All right, Ezekiel 18, amazing chapter because it reveals God’s heart as He looks at a broken, messed up, and sinful world. Now, as we’ve been saying, God intends to transform the children of Israel there who have been taken captive, defeated, brought to Babylon where they are in exile. What we’ve been hearing and understanding is that when they left Jerusalem, they were stubborn, rebellious, hardhearted and worldly, but when they return, they’re going to have a new heart and a new spirit. How does that happen? We need to understand it because God is doing the same thing today.

God is going to use this tragedy. He’s going to use trouble, but we need more than just trouble. We need the Holy Spirit pressing upon the heart and speaking God’s Word to the soul. That’s what’s happening in Ezekiel 18. Another prophetic word where God is going to correct the course of how they think, and ours, and He’s going to correct the course of their soul. Spiritual transformation only comes from that which God does upon the soul. All right, so He begins by saying, what do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel? The proverb is this. The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge. As I live, declares the Lord God, you’re not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.

All right, what does this proverb mean? It was a cynical, very popular proverb that they were using during the time of the exiles. They were using this as a way of shifting the blame for their own tragedy, their own consequences onto the generations that came before them. Of course, the proverb is very understood by them. If you’ve ever eaten a truly sour, bitter grape, and you can do this today, because if you ever buy a bunch of grapes, typically there will be these little tiny, unripe ones. They’re like little green pebbles. When you bite into them, your lips pucker. Your mouth winces. Your teeth are set on edge. You should do it just for the biblical experience of the thing. Like, oh, let’s see what this proverb is all about.

Now, the idea, of course, is, hey, you ate the thing. You ate the little bitter grape. Your teeth are set on edge. Your lips are the ones that pucker. Because you did it, you suffer the consequences. In other words, it’s your fault. You picked that thing, you ate that thing, and you suffered because of it. All right, but here, as the saying goes, hey, it was the father who ate the grapes, but we’re the ones who pay the price for it. We’re the ones whose teeth are set on edge. We’re the ones who feel the sourness of the tragedy. We’re paying the price for our fathers’ iniquities.

Now, they weren’t just using the proverb to shift the blame onto their fathers’ generations. They were using the proverb as an excuse for why they were doing the same thing themselves. God says, you’re not going to use this proverb anymore. God has a better word, and that word reaches to our souls as well. He’s going to open our eyes to a deeper understanding, and He’s calling us to the same transformation of the soul. We need these insights for our lives as well. Let’s read it. We’re in Ezekiel 18. We’ll just read the first few verses, and then we’ll jump to verse 27.

Then, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge”‘ As I live, declares the Lord, you are not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.” Notice verse 4. “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine; and the soul who sins will die.”

I. Every Soul Matters to God

This is what this theme is about. God is calling these who have fallen into this place of wickedness and sinfulness. He’s going to give to them an understanding of His heart, and it’s actually quite glorious. Notice, for example, verse 27. “Again, When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he’s committed, and then practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered,” he thought, “and he turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, and he will surely live; he will not die. But the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.'” You’re taking away our excuse. You’re taking away our proverb. The way of the Lord is not right, Israel says.

God responds, really? Actually, I added that part. Really? Are my ways not right, O House of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? “‘Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel. Each according to his own conduct,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Repent and turn away from all your transgressions so that your iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why would you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord. ‘Therefore, repent and live.'”

A. Every soul was made in His image

He’s trying to give them an understanding of His desire for them. I want you to live. This is really a very, very important chapter of what He has for us to understand. Let’s go back over it and see how we could apply it. Starting with this. Every soul matters to God. Notice verse 4. “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son.” This is very important to understand. All souls are mine. Now, He means by this that every soul was given life by the breath of God, and every soul is going to return to one day stand and give an account of the life and the soul that God gave. I think everybody understands this. Everybody knows that one day they will give an account of their life because God gave you that soul.

All souls are mine, says the Lord. Now, when I think of this, I mentioned this a few Wednesdays ago, it reminds me of a time when we were in Russia on one of our mission trips. One of the first who came to faith, who responded to the gospel, was a young man named Sergei. Sergei was one of our interpreters. He was going around with us. He knew English quite well. We were going around to the various apartments and flats and inviting people to come to our gathering. We’re going to have a big outreach event. We’re inviting people, and he’s interpreting all day long. We got to the event, and he was in the front row.

He could sense where this message was going, and he could sense that I was leading up to an invitation to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted to be the first one. He’s on the edge of his chair, and he’s got his legs all ready to go, and he’s waiting for the moment so that he can be the first one. I see him right there. I actually slowed it down on purpose. If you want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, then step out of your seat and come forward. Boom, he was the first one there. By the way, he became the pastor of the church that we planted in that city. It’s an amazing story, right?

The story is not about him. It’s about his father. His father had come to these meetings and heard but never responded. Our time in the city was coming to an end. I invited his father for breakfast, and we sat there. I said to him, “You’ve come to these meetings, and you have not yet opened your heart. What is keeping you?” He says, “I have a question.” I go, “Oh, please.” He says, “My question is this. Why doesn’t God just leave us alone?” I said, “Okay, fair question. Let me answer by giving you a parable.”

I said, “Imagine that me, simple me, me, myself, and I create a computer, and I mean from scratch. I even melt some quartz and make silicon wafers. It’s my design upon it, and I write the software all from memory, and I design this whole thing according to my plan. Then finally the day comes when I boot it up, and when I boot it up, the first thing that appears on the screen is, “Why don’t you leave me alone?” I said, “What should be done with a computer like that?” He said, “It ought to be thrown under the train.” I go, “Exactly right. How much more are you than that?”

I said, “God made you in His image. God gave you the air that you breathe, the heart that beats in your chest. God gave that to you. The mind by which you question Him, God gave that to you. The soul that gives you life belongs to Him.” He says, “Keep speaking. I’m this close.” I said, “Next year when I return, I’m going to baptize you in the Amur River.” He’s saying, “All souls are mine.” All souls will give an answer. All souls will come and stand before the Almighty. He emphasizes, important, all souls have been made in the image of God. That’s why all souls matter to God. Every soul was made in His image.

In verse 4, when God declares, “Behold, all souls are mine,” He doesn’t mean this in the cold, legal sense of ownership, but rather it’s the language of affection. Like a father who sees his people and says, “I will be a father to you. You will be sons and daughters to me, and we’ll have glorious fellowship together.” God made the soul to be in relation to Him. You are unlike anything else in creation, you and I. His stars display His glory. The mountains declare His majesty. The ocean reveals His power. Only you and I were created in the image of God.

Now, when I think of that, I’m reminded when I was a young man, I was not into babies at all. If somebody said, “Oh, look at my baby. Isn’t it cute? Would you like to hold my baby?” “No, not really.” I was not into babies. That is, until I had one. That changed everything. I remember we went to the ultrasound, and I brought one of those hand recorders. This is before cell phones. I brought one of those hand recorders to record the sound of the heartbeat. If you’ve ever done an ultrasound, you know you can hear the sound. I’m recording this, and I was just so taken by it, so excited. I brought the thing to work, and I’m playing it for all my co-workers. “You’ve got to hear the sound of my baby.”

I’m just so in that when I held that baby in my arms, I looked at the baby, and I could see myself. This baby is in my image, and something happened in me. I knew at that moment I would give my life for this baby. I love this baby. I would give my life because it speaks to the value of life. What is the value of life? I can tell you what it is. It’s why murder is so wrong. At the end of the trial for our daughter’s murder, I was asked to speak to the jury before they decided on the sentence. I want to read this part of what I said to the jury.

“What is the value of life?” I said. One time when Nicole’s daughter, Avia, was maybe five or six years old, she asked me an unusual question. “Grandpa,” she said, “do you love me so much that you would die for me?” “Yes,” I answered. “I love you so much that I would die for you, but why do you ask this?” “Well,” she said, “my mom told me that she loved me so much that she would die for me, and I was surprised. She said that my dad loved me that much too, so I went and asked him, and he said the same thing, that he loved me so much that he would die for me. Now I’m asking everyone if they love me so much to die for me.”

I said to the jury, “I think you understand that kind of love.” Because you understand the value of life, it’s so precious, it means so much to you that you would die for those you love because of your heart, because of your love, it makes the life of others even more precious than your own. I tell you, I would have given my life that day. If I could have, I would have given my life that day to save Nicole.

What is the value of your life? God loves you. You were made in His image. When He sees you, He sees that you were made in His image. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die on the cross that you would have life, that anyone who would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal, everlasting life. That’s how much God loves you. Let’s give the Lord praise.

B. Your soul was made for the glory of God

That’s what this chapter is about. You were made in God’s image, and let me add this, that your soul was made for the glory of God. When God made Adam, He made Adam in His image and He made him in glory. God’s glory literally covered Adam. It’s like when Moses was on the mountain of Sinai receiving the word of God, the law of God. While he’s there in the mountain, he’s in God’s presence and the glory of God is so brilliant upon him that there was an actual radiance visible to Israel when he returned from the mountain. It’s like that. The glory covered him so that when Adam sinned, it was then that he became aware that he was naked and unashamed.

Up to this point, it was glory. Now that he’s sinned, now he knows he’s naked and ashamed. They sewed fig leaves together in a feeble attempt to cover their shame and their sin. God is saving sinners from their sin and from their shame ever since. He is restoring to them the glory of God that He intended to reside in the soul. The story of man is the story of the lost glory. It’s the tragedy of sin and separation from God. It’s the difference between life and death, separation and fellowship, nearness or wilderness, fullness or emptiness. The story of man is the story of the lost glory, but the story of God is the story of redemption.

How He then takes those who have been lost and seeks that they might be found and He pours into them the glory that was lost. He is restoring to them into their soul the glory that God desires for them. When Moses came down from the mountain, you know the story. I think the people that were sinning greatly, they had become impatient because he had been gone for so long that they said to his brother Aaron, make us a god that we could worship. He took the jewelry of gold and made a golden calf. The people bowed down and started to worship. Then they started to party and play. The thing got out of hand and it was just ugly.

Moses comes down from the mountain. He sees this whole thing unfolding. He’s angry. He throws down the tablets, you know the law. Then at some point, he’s interceding in behalf of this people. While he’s interceding, he asks for something personal, something from me. He says, show me your glory. Now, why would Moses ask for glory? Well, because he had been in the presence of God and seen the glory. He knew how beautiful it was on the soul, and he wanted more. God answered that no man can see the fullness of God’s glory and live, but that he would place Moses in the cleft of the rock, and His glory would pass by.

When the Lord’s glory passed in front of Moses, God proclaimed the character of God’s nature before him. This is Exodus 33:19. “I myself will make my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.” The glory is the goodness of God, and that, when that glory rests upon your soul, that goodness of glory transforms your soul from the shame and the darkness of sin into the very heart of God by that glory.

C. The weight of God’s glory

Now, I want us to understand something very, very important in this, and that is the weight of God’s glory. Now we’re going to get back to Ezekiel 18, but this is the backstory and very important as to what God intends to do in the soul. Verse 4, “All souls are mine.” God intends to save the soul from separation and emptiness and to fill the soul with glory and life. I want us to understand this about glory, God’s glory.

The Hebrew word translated for glory is the word kavod. Easy, you can remember that. Kavod, but at the root of the word is the idea of weight. Now, we commonly think of glory in terms of light, but the root word in Hebrew actually is that of weight, the weight of glory. Many often don’t think in these terms. Glory has weight. In the Old Testament, the value of something was often measured by its weight. A shekel is actually a measurement of weight.

It reminds me of a time later on in the history, there’s another king of Babylon. It’s not Nebuchadnezzar. Later, it’s Belshazzar. At one point, Belshazzar decides to have a party, and he’s going to mock the God of Israel. He says, bring out the goblets. We’re going to drink wine from the religious artifacts of the temple. Bring out the goblets. We’re going to have a party, and we’re going to drink from that which came from the temple of Israel.

They’re partying. They’re mocking God. They’re drinking. At that moment, a hand, just a hand appears and begins to write on the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” The party comes to a screeching halt. Nobody can be found who can interpret the meaning of these words. Someone finds Daniel. We’ll read about this when we get to the book. Daniel then comes, and of course, by the interpretation of the Holy Spirit given to him, he reads these words. He says, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” It means you have been weighed in the balance, and you have been found wanting. Behold, your kingdom will be separated from you. As we know, the kingdom fell shortly after this whole event happened.

Notice what he says. You have been weighed in the balance, and there’s nothing there. There is no weight. It’s empty. See, this is important. Paul, who was surely a scholar of Hebrew, wrote a very similar truth in 2 Corinthians 4:17. “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” There he understood and describes it as the eternal weight of glory. See, the opposite is what? Emptiness, vanity, meaninglessness. God’s glory is the weight, you might say, filling the soul with the inner strength, the substance, the significance, the meaning of it. This is what the soul longs for.

The soul is made to be filled with the glory of God. There is a longing, a searching for meaning, for purpose. People are looking to fill this in their souls. It longs for something greater than this earthly life. Without it, life is empty, meaningless, purposelessness, a waste. They’re searching for something greater, something of substance, something of weight, something of meaning, but they’re caught in the struggle of life, running endlessly on a hamster wheel, just struggling to pay the bills, frustrated. They long to pursue something greater, but have given up the dream that life can have meaning or purpose, or that they could find their soul’s desire.

It reminds me of a song that was written in the ’70s by a man named Jackson Browne. Some of you maybe remember the song called The Pretender. I want to read just some of the lyrics because he captures, for that generation, that same emptiness. Here are the words.

I’m gonna rent myself a house

In the shade of the freeway

Gonna pack my lunch in the morning

And go to work each day

And when the evening rolls around

I’ll go on home and lay my body down

And when the morning light comes streaming in

I’ll get up and do it again

Amen

I want to know what became of the changes

We waited for love to bring

Were they only the fitful dreams

Of some greater awakening?

I’ve been aware of time going by

They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye

And when the morning light comes streaming in

You’ll get up and do it again

Out into the cool of the evening

Strolls the pretender

Who knows that all his hopes and dreams

Begin and end there

Ah the laughter of the lovers

As they run through the night

Who tear at the world with all their might

While the ships bearing their dreams

Sail out of sight

Are you there?

Say a prayer for the pretender

Who started out so young and strong

Only to surrender

Oh, how it describes so many who are lost and are searching, but I’m here to tell you that God has so much more in mind for you than that. He is saying, oh, if you could only know. He says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has not understood that which God would do for those who love Him.” In other words, oh, you have no idea what God can do when He pours the glory, the weight of His presence into the very soul within you. God is doing a new work, and He is restoring all that sin and shame has cost you, and He’s bringing to you glory and life, and it is newness of life to anyone who believes. Amen? Let’s give the Lord praise and glory.

You know, Job was known for his suffering, but he ought to have been known for far more than that, for he understood these truths very well. It says, Job delighted in the Almighty. He treasured God’s Word more than his necessary food, and by the weight of glory, God was building in him the construct of integrity and wisdom and stature. The weight of God’s glory became the posts, the beams, the steel, the rocks, the strength of integrity, and the character of God within the soul. God built that by the weight of that glory because Job delighted in the Almighty. The result was something that everyone can see. They can see it.

Notice Job 29:7-11. He says, “When I went out to the gate of the city, when they took my seat in the square; young men saw me and hid themselves, old men rose and stood on their feet. Princes stopped talking, voice of nobles was hushed, and when the ear heard, it called me blessed.” Everyone could see that God had built this in his life. This is the value of the soul when God builds in you by the weight of His glory, the construct of integrity. He pours wisdom and stature. It becomes the posts, the beams, the steel, the rocks of the strength of God’s glory, strengthening because you have delighted in the Almighty.

II. God Delights When Sinners Live

This is what God is inviting sinners to understand today. It brings us back to Ezekiel 18 where He says in this chapter, and God delights when sinners live. Throughout the first half of chapter 18, He says, each person must give an account of their life. You cannot blame your father. You cannot blame your father’s father. You cannot use your father’s failure as an excuse for your own failure. No, each person will give an accounting of his life. He makes clear that His intent, His desire is for sinners to come home. The sinners would turn from their sinful ways and live. He says, God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked.

A. God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked

Notice verses 21 and 22. We didn’t read it, but we’ll read it now. “If a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes my statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he will live and not die. All of the transgressions which he had committed will not be remembered against him.” This is such a glorious thing. God will never hold it against you. God sets people free. He will never hold your past against you. He says, “Do I have pleasure in the death of the wicked? No,” He says, “rather that the wicked would turn from his ways and live.”

This is such an important verse because so many people have it wrong on this point. So many people are convinced that God is against them because of the sin, because of the mess they made of their lives and then God is just looking for ways to get even with them for how they’ve destroyed themselves with sin. No. He says, God takes no pleasure in such things. What delights God is when a sinner turns from his sinful ways and trusts God’s heart for them.

Notice Exodus 34:6-7, again about the glory. “The Lord passed in front of Moses and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth; who gives loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, however, visiting the iniquity of fathers and their children and the grandchildren to the third and the fourth generations.'” This is important as we can see the two together.

Some have taught that there are such things as generational curses because of the sins of the fathers. Well, I’m going to tell you. Firstly, God does not put a curse on anyone. Let’s start with that. Secondly, He says He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. In other words, literally, to take an accounting. Does this thing go on? Is it still continuing? He visits the iniquity, the mindset, the bending of the character into that which passes from generation to generation.

We know that’s true. I know it’s true. I have inherited my father’s tendencies. I know that it’s true, but I have come to an understanding, and I’m so glad that God has shown me that this thing can end with me. It can end with my generation. It can end right here and right now. God sets people free. I’m here to tell you that whatever you may have inherited from your father or from your mother, this thing can end right here and right now. It does not need to defend your life. God is setting people free, and He’ll set you free by the power and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s like 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I’ll forgive their sin, and I’ll heal their land.” Ezekiel explains. This is Ezekiel 18:14, 17. “Now behold, a son who has observed all his father’s sins which he committed, and observing, does not do likewise… He will not die for his father’s iniquity; he will surely live.” He makes it so clear, God’s heart, God’s desire. Each one will give an account of their own life. Each one will stand before the Lord. Therefore, it’s important for each one to hear God’s heart and God’s message.

B. God rejoices when one sinner repents

God is the one who is seeking sinners. God is the one who is searching them out. God is the one who is drawing them to an understanding of his heart. I will take all that sin has cost you, the suffering, the separation, the shame, and I’ll pour into you the glory of God that He intended for you to have. Then he makes it clear this. God rejoices when even one sinner repents. That’s the great theme of the chapter. Frankly, it’s the great theme of the Bible.

Jesus gave parable after parable to say the very thing. Notice in Luke 15:1-7, he writes, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Him.” Firstly, I love that sentence. What a picture is that? Tax collectors. Now, if you don’t remember, they were hated by Jews, despised by Jews, despicable. No Jew in their right mind would even consider eating a meal with a tax collector. How dare you collect taxes for Rome? It says, tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Him, enough to come and hear Him.

“The Pharisees,” seeing this, “began to grumble, saying, ‘Would you look at this? This man receives sinners, and He even eats with them.’ So He told them a parable, saying this, ‘What man among you, if he is a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep which was lost.”‘ He says, ‘I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.'”

That is beautiful. The heart of the Lord, God pursues, seeks after, and when a sinner opens their heart, that the Lord Jesus would come into that person’s life, that heavens rejoice, God delights when one sinner repents. The grand finale of chapter 18 is there in verse 31, where he says, “Cast away from you all your transgressions and make yourselves a new heart, a new spirit.” It means that you have a part in this. God makes all things new, yes, He does. God gives a new heart and a new spirit, this is true, but you have a part. Your part is the desire. Your part is the opening of your heart to receive it. He’s knocking on the door. He’s calling your name. Your part is to open the door. You have a part in this.

When I think about that, I’m reminded of the time when there was a blind man outside Jericho, and he was sitting by the road. He heard a commotion, and he says, what’s happening? Someone says, Jesus of Nazareth comes by. He cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. They rebuked him. Like, you be quiet. Who do you think you are? He called out all the louder, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. When he called him Son of David, he was calling him King and Messiah. The Messiah will be known as the Son of David when he comes.

Jesus heard that man calling, Jesus, Son of David. Jesus says, call that man to me. When he went to him and says, the Master calls for you, they brought him to the Lord and he stood before Him. I love this scene. I imagine Jesus looking at him with a smile on His face. Well done. In his blindness, the man could see far more than the Pharisees. He understood far more and he called Him Messiah. He knew when the Messiah comes that He would heal the blind. He stood before the Lord and Jesus said to him, what is it that you would have me do for you?

Someone might say, well, he’s blind. Doesn’t the Lord know? Yes, he knew, but there comes a time when you need to say it. What is it that you would have God do for you? What is it that you would ask God to do in your life? There comes a time to say it. He is showing you. Glory. I will do that which your mind has not yet even understood. Something so glorious. I will take the sinner who was lost and separated and empty and I will pour out my love, my glory. I will pour out upon him such great love that he will be transformed before me.

God will do all of this. All you need do is ask, seek, find, and He will pour it out abundantly. All you got to do is ask. Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for showing us the greatness of your glory, the wonder of your heart that pursues sinners like us to take us from the shame and the emptiness and the separation and drawing us to glory and the fullness of a soul made alive.

There comes a time that you need to say it. What is it that you would have God do for you? If you would say to the Lord today, God, do this glorious transforming work in my heart. Do this in me, God. I want that which you have poured out. God, pour it out on me. I ask that you would do this in my heart, in my life. Is that you, church? Would you say it to the Lord by just raising your hand as a way of just saying it and asking God, do this in me, God. Do this in me. Pour out the glory upon my soul. Do this in me, Lord. Do it in me.

Father, thank you for everyone whose desire is to ask, to seek, and to say, Lord, do it in me. Lord, we are so thankful for you. We honor you. We give you praise and glory for it all in Jesus’ name. Everyone said– Hey, let’s give the Lord praise and glory and honor. Can we do that? Amen. Amen.

You Were Made for This
Ezekiel 15:1-8
July 12-13, 2026

Welcome, everyone joining us online. We’re back in the book of Ezekiel. Would you all open your Bibles to Ezekiel 15:1, title of our message, “You Were Made For This.” God has very important word for us through these Scriptures today. Of course, we cover the other verses around this at our midweek, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter service. By the way, thank you for giving us a little time off. We had our grandson here visiting for a couple of weeks, so we got to spend time with him. Of course, our granddaughter is here from college, and she brought her boyfriend. We like him. He’s majoring in theology. Yes. Definitely wins point with Grandpa.

Anyway, great to see what God is doing in their lives. Thanks for the time off. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, thank you so much for sending your word to reveal to us your heart after us, to bless us, to show us the way of life. God, we open to receive from you today. Pour out your Spirit of life. Meet us in this place, we pray. In Jesus’ name, and everyone said, Amen.

As I mentioned, now Ezekiel is a prophet to Israel, but in Babylon, in exile, they have come through the tragedy, the fire of seeing their nation destroyed, losing everything they’ve ever held dear, marched 700 miles to a foreign land, far from the glory of the land of Israel. Yes, they’ve come through a fire, but what will come of it? How will they respond to it? That is the question. Will they become angry, bitter? Will they blame God for their troubles? Many do when they go through a fire, go through a trouble. It makes them think that God doesn’t love them. “If God loved me, then why would He allow me to go through these troubles at all?”

God means to use this trouble and this difficulty for a purpose. He intends to bring a work of transformation in them. That is the great theme of Ezekiel. He intends to put something into them and remove something out of them. That is what spiritual transformation is about. Put something into the soul, and also take something away, and remove that heart of stone that He speaks of. Notice, for example, in Ezekiel 11:19, we read it before. “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and I will take that heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a new heart.” That’s what God is doing in us today.

In fact, it’s one of the major themes of the book of Ezekiel. All right, here we are in chapter 15, “And the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel–” He gives this word through an illustration, an analogy, you might say, word picture that the people would surely understand. He will speak here using that word picture of one of the most important issues that they would face, and frankly, many people face. He’s going to answer one of the most important questions almost every person eventually asks. Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?

Some people spend years searching for an answer, but here’s what we need to see. You were made in the image of God, and the answer to that question comes from the heart of the one who made you in His image. Many people don’t look there to find an answer. They look for a successful career, or pursue wealth or adventure, or education, or fame. The person can obtain all of those things and still come right back to the same question. “Why am I here? Is this all there is? Is there something more? Was I made for something greater than simply existing, going through life, just surviving?”

In answering this question, He intends to restore this people to the purpose for why they exist. Something is deeply wrong here. Something is deeply wrong in their hearts. They loved the land, but they forgot the one who gave it. They were religious, but their hearts had become cold. They became meaningless sticks of withered vine wood. That’s what He’s going to show. Meaningless, empty. God uses, in chapter 15, a word picture of something so ordinary that everyone listening would immediately understand it. He speaks to a grapevine.

I. The Purpose of a Grapevine is to Produce Grapes

Now, first, the illustration might seem so simple. You wonder, why would God devote a prophetic message to a grapevine? That’s because most of us don’t think of vineyards the way the people of Israel did. Vineyards were everywhere in the world in those days. They knew exactly what a grapevine looked like. They knew how much work it was to cultivate one. They knew how valuable a vineyard could be at the time of harvest. They also knew– now, most of us rarely stop to consider, that a grapevine has almost no value apart from one thing, grapes. It’s wood, the wood of the grapevine is practically useless, which is the point He’s going to make.

A. Measure your value by your purpose

God uses the branch, the wood of the grapevine, to make His point. You measure your life against things that have no value. You have missed the purpose of your life entirely. See, this is a good question. How do you measure your life? How do you measure the purpose of your life? Many years ago, we used to use in our men’s ministry a book called The Measure of a Man. I love the title of it. How does a man measure his life? How do you measure the value of your life? People measure the value of their life by standards God never used, maybe by career or accomplishment or education, or possession. God measures according to the purpose for which they were made.

Ezekiel 15 is very short, only eight verses, but the message runs deep and touches the deepest aspects of the soul. Here we are to read it. We’re in Ezekiel chapter 15, we begin in verse 1. “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, how is the wood of the grapevine better than any wood of the branch which is among the trees of the forest? Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can men even take a peg from it on which to hang a vessel?” Like a kitchen vessel that people hang pots and the little pegs on the wall.

You can’t even bring that out of a wood from a grapevine if it’s been put into the fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends, and even the middle part has been charred. “Is it then useful for anything?” Now, he’s using an analogy, a word picture. They’ve come through fire. They’ve come through a difficult. They’re burnt. They have missed this point. Verse 5 continues, “Behold, while it was intact, it was not made into anything. How much less then when the fire has consumed it and charred it, can it still be made into anything? No. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, as the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest which I have given to fire for fuel, so I have given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I have set my face against them. Though they’ve come through the fire, yet the fire will consume them, and then they will know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them.”

He means to stir them up, to bring them to an understanding of their purpose, to bring them back, to transform them. Let’s look at these verses and apply them to our lives. Starting with this, the purpose of a grapevine is to produce grapes. I know, I’ve got a pension for the obvious. One of the things I appreciate about the way Jesus taught is how He would often take the obvious. He would take something that everyone had seen a thousand times and suddenly give eternal significance to it. A farmer sowing seed, a shepherd searching for a lost sheep, a woman kneading bread, or a fisherman casting a net.

These were ordinary scenes from everyday life. Yet once Jesus spoke of them, people can never see them the same way ever again. This is what God is doing here. Every one of these exiles had seen vineyards their entire lives. Many of them had worked vineyards when they were children. Now, I have never worked in a vineyard a day in my life, so I could not relate to the illustration. If He had used picking berries, now I could relate to that. How many people picked berries when they were younger? Kids today missing out on the opportunity for some work.

I remember when I was growing up, we picked berries. In fact, did you know that they used to let school out early? In case the berries arrived early, they would let school out early so all the kids can go out and pick berries. In 1974, I researched this, they passed child labor laws so that kids under 12 can’t work out in the fields anymore. I was 14 when they passed that law. When I was growing up, of course, many of you know my story, I grew up in poverty, so we picked berries all summer long.

I know. If you use this illustration, you know how your fingers get stains when you pick berries? Well, I picked berries all summer long. When I went back to school, everybody knew what I did in the summer. I was ashamed. What a picture. It’s a picture of stain. It’s a picture of shame. If you’d used that analogy, I would have got it. Here, He uses something they understand perfectly well. They knew the rhythm of pruning a vineyard in the winter. They knew about tending the vines in the spring, waiting for the harvest in the fall. Then, in an interesting turn, instead of speaking of grapes, He speaks of the twisted wood of the grapevine. The wood of the grapevine.

“What is the value of the wood of a grapevine?” He asks. Wood. The value of a grapevine is not in its wood. He’s exactly right. You have missed the point of the purpose of your life. See, here’s the thing. Measure your value by your purpose. They had missed this. They had lost sight. This was the issue. They wanted to be like the world. That’s why they pursued the gods of the world. They sought to measure their value by comparing themselves to the nations around them. “Why should they have the gods of the flesh and not us?” Notice verse 2. “Son of man, how is the wood of the grapevine better than any wood of a branch which comes from the trees of a forest?”

The wood from the branch of the tree of a forest got strength. Imagine all the purposeful things you can make from the trees of the forest. The oak, strength. You can make posts and beams and build something with that. With a fir tree, you can make the mast of a ship. With mahogany, you can make the hull of a ship. With oak, or rather with ash, you can make a spear. Israel was weak in comparison. What is the value of the wood when you compare it to the wood of the trees of the forest? No, Israel is weak in comparison. Notice verse 3. “Can wood be taken from him to make anything? Can you even make a peg from which to hang a kitchen vessel?” Can’t do anything. There’s no value in the wood.

Israel was weak. You’re comparing yourself to the wrong thing. The nations were greater. You can’t compare. Were they not at that very moment defeated by the greater power in Babylon? No, it wasn’t for lack of trying. They had been trying to be like the world for the last generation of years. What good are you coming at? They were comparing themselves to the world and come up short, come up wanting.

I wonder if some of us have quietly believed the lie for many years. How do you measure the value of your life? Perhaps you’ve looked at others who seem to have strength or accomplishment or significance or influence, and then you look at yourself, and you’re disappointed. You don’t measure up. Therefore, you don’t have value. Comparison is the root of discontent. Many assume that those who possess greater abilities must therefore have greater value. I’d say may God overturn this way of thinking. This is not the way of God, and that’s not what we see in the Scriptures.

Again and again, you see, He chooses the weak rather than the strong. He chooses the unlikely rather than the impressive. He chooses the shepherd rather than the king, or the fisherman rather than the scholar. Why? Because God’s kingdom does not advance through human strength. God’s kingdom advances through hearts that are transformed into the image of God’s heart in them. Notice these verses out of 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. I love these verses because it speaks to the value of people like us. He says this, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong, and the base things and the despised. God has chosen the things that are not that He might nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” That’s a great verse right there.

Some of the people who’ve influenced us most profoundly were not necessarily the most gifted. You think back, look back over the spiritual journey of your life. Who first taught you what genuine faith looked like? May have been a Sunday school teacher who never preached a sermon in her life. Or maybe a grandmother who quietly prayed in faithfulness, or a father who’s steadfast example, or a mother whose kindness changed your heart. Maybe they never wrote a book or had a large ministry, but somehow, through the ordinary living out of their faith, you saw Jesus. You look back, you realize what changed you wasn’t the brilliance of their personality. It was the beauty of Christ that had become visible in them, and it changed you.

B. Don’t be burnt and bitter

When I think about that, I think about my mother. Many of you know my story that my father was an alcoholic and cantankerous and angry, and difficult. Of course, he came to faith later in Christ. Those growing-up years, I think about my mom, who suffered under it all those years, growing up in poverty, enduring this, and yet with great faithfulness. In fact, whenever I would grumble about dad, she would say, “Do you respect your father?” There was that faithfulness. I tell you what, she became my hero. She made sure we got to church. She made sure we heard the word of God. She became my hero. I saw in her living faith. She lived it.

I tell you, what a blessing it was for me because when I became a pastor, it blessed her heart. Now, in fact, I remember many, many years ago when the church was young, we used to provide sermons on cassette tape. If you don’t know what a cassette is, ask someone who looks old. People could order a sermon on a form, and then we would mail it out. The church was small and young, and nobody ordered cassette tapes.

One day, I walked by the secretary’s desk, and there’s an order. Somebody ordered one of my sermons, and a cassette was sitting right there. I was so excited. I said, “Somebody ordered a sermon. Who was it?” She said, “Your mother.” “My mom.” I got to tell you, it blessed me so much. When she passed– she lived her life in poverty, obscurity. When she passed, this church was filled to the full of people honoring the legacy of a woman of faith like that. It blessed my heart. Afterwards, we were going through her chest of drawers, and we would find notebook upon notebook upon notebook of handwritten notes that she had written when she was listening to pastors on the radio.

Because she endured, she went through such trouble with such faith. She’s a hero. This is the point. Don’t be burnt and bitter. They’re going through the fire. Israel went through it. Burnt, he brings the point, but bitter? God asked a deep question. Notice verse 4, “If it’s been put into the fire for fuel, the fire has consumed both of the ends, even the middle has been charred. Was it useful for anything?” Before, when it was intact, it wasn’t made into anything. How much less when the fire has consumed it, is it made into anything?

Israel’s come through the fire. Burnt, both ends burnt, middle’s charred. It wasn’t a useful wooden thing. It wasn’t useful before it was burnt, and now it surely isn’t useful because here’s what God is saying to Israel, “You missed the entire point.” See, the tragedy in Ezekiel 15 is not that the wood was weak. It was always weak. No, the tragedy is that it had ceased producing the very thing for which it was planted. That’s what made it worthless. It wasn’t burnt in the fire because it was useless wood. It was burnt in the fire because it produced no grapes.

That was its purpose. This is what Jesus says. Interestingly, He brings up the exact same word picture in John 15. Notice verse 6. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he’s thrown away as a branch and dries up.” Means the branch of the wood of the grapevine. “They gather them and cast them into the fire, and they’re burnt.” Now they’ve been through the fire, will they then become bitter? How do you respond when troubles come? How do you respond to storms and difficulties? God can use trouble and tragedy to transform. There are deep lessons of faith that can come out of times of trouble, but not in the heart that’s burnt and bitter. It prevents that which God is doing.

It closes off that transformation of what God is doing in the midst of the trouble. Notice Hebrews 12:15. See to it that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, for by it many are defiled. They’re angry, they’re bitter, and it prevents that which God desires to do in it. Troubles and fire can either turn your heart away from God, like in those who become burnt and bitter, or it can turn your heart toward God. It has everything to do with your heart in seeing God’s desire to do something in it. Here’s what He’s trying to show them. The fruit here is the image of God’s heart.

II. The Fruit is the Image of God’s Heart

You were made in the image of God, and the fruit that God desires comes from the heart of the one who made you in His image. Some hear the word fruit, and they immediately think, “Oh, it refers to good works, the good things we do in this earthly life.” No, that’s not what He means here. Now, yes, God delights when we do good things, of course, but that’s not what God is drawing them to understand. You were made in the image of God, and the fruit that God desires comes from the heart of the one who made you in His image.

A. Abiding is the key to bearing fruit

In other words, it’s about the abiding in it. Abiding is the key to the point of the purpose. Abiding is the key to bearing fruit. That’s the theme that the Lord used in John 15, the very same word picture. Notice verses 4 to 5. He says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” There is this abiding, key to the understanding. “As the branch–,” He means here the wood of the grapevine, “cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. Apart from Me, separated from Me, you can do nothing.”

In other words, when you are abiding in Him, you are receiving. You’re being filled. He’s pouring into you. You need that life. You need that strength, that presence of God in your soul, abiding in you. Let me just add emphatically that it is a beautiful abiding. Notice John 15:9 & 11. You’ll see it here. Jesus says, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also love you. Abide therefore in My love.” This is the key to it. It’s a beautiful abiding. “Abide in My love.” Then He says, “And these things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.”

God is pouring into the heart that’s open. Doesn’t pour into the hard heart, the stony heart. It rolls right off. The heart that’s open, He pours into. Notice, for example, He says something similar in John 7:37-38. “Jesus stood and cried out saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink the fill of the river of God’s delight.'” What a beautiful picture from the Psalms. I like it. Then He adds, “And from his innermost being then will flow rivers of living water.” Notice that it flows also out of you. From your innermost being, He says, you drink your fill from the river of God’s delight. Then from your innermost being flows out of you rivers of living water. Notice the word ‘river’.

Not a little brook, not a trickle, not a creek, a river. In other words, not a little, a lot. It’s a beautiful picture that you drink your fill of the river of His delight. He says river. I’m sure you know that almost all of a grape is made of water. If that grape doesn’t receive water, it will remain just a little piece of sour, puckering, face-melting bitterness. If it was filled with water and it abides and ripens and fills, what a blessing it is. In other words, it’s a blessing to you to be filled with the river of God’s delight. To drink your fill, abiding in Him, means that you are drinking your fill of the river of His delight.

It’s not only a blessing to you, and it surely is, to be filled with it. Let my joy be in you, that your joy be made full. That’s a blessing to you. If you’ve got a fullness of joy, that’s a blessing. If the presence of God brings such a fullness of love, that’s a blessing. If your heart is full of joy and your heart is full of love, you are blessed. Do you have a heart like that? You go about your life filled with the love of God and the joy of the Lord, and the peace that passes understanding, you are blessed. It’s not just a blessing for you, it’s a blessing for everybody around you because it flows out of you.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if somebody could refer to you as the one who blessed their life? Abiding is the key to the fruit. The key is the word abiding. Abiding means you stay there and you continually receive. It’s the key to the maturing of the fruit. Young grapes have yet to produce the maturity of the fruit. It comes from the abiding. You mature as you abide in it. I was thinking of an illustration when our firstborn daughter, Nicole, was young, really, really small. Oh, we had such fun together, just dad and daughter hanging out together.

One of the things she loved when she was really small is that I could throw her up in the air, as far as I could throw her, and she would just squeal in delight. Like, “Do it again, Daddy, do it again.” I would just take her like this and just launch her with my legs, just launch her like this, and then just catch her and say, “Do it again, Daddy.” I’ll throw her up again. She got to the point where she didn’t want me to do that anymore. We matured into something else. We went camping, just the two of us. She loved to spend hours in the tent with the crayons.

We’re like, “Don’t you want to go?” “No, I’ll just stand here and color, Daddy.” She got to the point where she didn’t want to do that anymore. We moved on to riding bikes together. Always abiding, but always maturing. Always abiding, but always maturing. Then to the point that, in fact, the night before she was killed, she died on a Tuesday, the Monday night before we were at Starbucks, it was a hot August night, sat outside drinking something cold, talking about God, life, love, just abiding. It’s the key. To understand your purpose. You were made for this. In other words, he’s saying, don’t waste your life. Ezekiel 15 is describing a tragedy. They miss the point of their life. They miss the point of their existence entirely. You were made for this. A lighthouse is an architectural wonder, an amazement of construction and design. The purpose of a lighthouse is light. It’s what– produce light that comes from it. Its purpose is fulfilled when it lights the way to safe harbor for weary sailors trying to find their way home in a storm.

B. Don’t waste your life

A violin is a beautiful handiwork of craftsmanship, but its purpose is not you hang on a wall and be admired. No, its purpose is to fill the heart with the beauty of the notes that come from the master’s hand. What is your purpose? You were made to abide in the vine of the one who made you in His image. That’s why this passage is so searching. It gently asks every one of us the same question. If God were to examine the vineyard of your life today, what kind of fruit would He find? Not what accomplishments, not what titles, not what possessions. Fruit. What kind of fruit?

Is love evident in the way that you treat the people in your life? Is this peace becoming evident in the way you respond to uncertainty? Is this patience more visible as you go through the irritations of life? Is this kindness shaping your words? Is this faithfulness becoming the steadiness of how you walk? These are the questions that matter because these are the things that God is producing when you’re abiding. Fruit is the nature of God’s heart, and when you abide in His love, that’s when you’re transformed. That’s when the soul is changed because of what it receives. The fruit that God desires then will be seen.

It’s the purpose for which you were made. your very existence is connected to your heart, and that which God is pouring in to your soul. Let’s pray. Lord, we are so thankful for how beautiful is your heart after us to show us that when we abide there, and we see from the one who made us in His image, and the heart of your heart is poured into us, that we could drink from the river of your delights and that from us, from our innermost being, will flow rivers of living water.

Church, as we’re praying before the Lord, how many would say that to the Lord today? “Oh, fill me with the river of your delights. I want that your joy would be made full in my life. I want that your love would be seen in my heart. I want that rivers of living water from my innermost being would flow to those around me in my life. God, transform me. Transform me. Transform me. I want to abide. I want to abide in You. I want to abide in your love.”

Church, is that your desire? Would you just raise your hand to the Lord as a way of just saying that to God? “I want this in my heart. Lord, I want to abide in You.” God, thank you for everyone who is stirred, called, and desires more of God in their life. We praise You and honor You for it now. In Jesus’ name, and everyone said, Amen.

Laying Hold of Hearts
Ezekiel 14:1-8
June 20-21, 2026

Open your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel? Ezekiel 14, beginning of verse 1, and the title of our message, Laying Hold of Hearts. What God would have for us in His word is very important. Let’s pray and receive from God’s word together. Lord, we thank You and honor You as we open our hearts to receive. We pray that You would just pour out Your spirit of life. Use the word to bring us to revival, to understand that You are bringing about the transformation of the soul that changes us from within. God, move by Your Spirit upon us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said, Amen.

Ezekiel, as I mentioned, is a prophet to the exiles living there in Babylon. The backstory to this is very important. Why did this happen? Why such tragedy? Well, what had been happening is that the nation had been going farther and farther away from God. Of course, there were times of revival. There was Hezekiah’s revival. There was Josiah’s revival, really, which was one of the greatest revivals of all time. It was not enough to sustain it, for as soon as Hezekiah passed from the scene or Josiah died in battle, well, the country went right back to drifting farther and farther away from God.

Of course, why? Because they were drawn to the gods of the idols of the nations around them, because these idols appealed to their fleshly nature. That was the issue. Of course, anyone, I think, with spiritual understanding knows that a nation or a person that pursues the flesh, that moves in the flesh, will be weakened spiritually. It’s like a spiritual principle, like the plug pulled out of the bottom of the soul, and the soul just weakens, just drains of spiritual life.

Of course, the great news is that if you walk by the Spirit, you will not move in the desires of the flesh. It is possible. Do you believe it is possible that a person can be victorious today? The answer is, oh, yes. The Holy Spirit of the living God is so powerful that it can move upon the soul and that we can be victorious in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Is that not true? Can we give God praise? That’s right.

Of course, what had happened was He would send prophets one after the other to warn them that this thing is not going to end well. This thing is going to end badly. It’s going to bring national weakness, personal defeat. It’s going to end in tragedy. Even while He’s warning them of disaster, He’s also casting a vision of revival. Oh, what God would do if you would just come back to the Lord. He gives these great visions of glory and wonder that are so important.

Of course, they would not heed the warnings of the prophets. Just as they had prophesied, Babylon came, brought their massive army to bear and defeated Israel, besieged Jerusalem, took them captive where they would be in those 70 years. What’s interesting is that God also prophesied that something would happen to them there in the crucible of Babylon, in the midst of the trouble in which they are going through. God’s going to use this trouble, going to use the crucible of this difficulty to transform them.

Now, as I’ve been mentioning, you need more than trouble to transform someone. I’ve known a lot of people who’ve been through trouble, and it didn’t change them at all. No, you need more than that. You need the Spirit of the living God. You need the word of God revealing and moving, because there is a connection between the events of life and the Spirit’s condition. That’s why God calls Ezekiel. Right here in Babylon, they are oppressed, downtrodden, defeated, but He’s going to speak to them in order to lay hold of hearts. There is what God is going to do. Something’s going to happen there. God’s going to lay hold of their hearts.

Now, the story in Ezekiel 14 is this. The leaders of Israel, elders, came to Ezekiel, sat down before him. Now, this is what they would do when they wanted to inquire of the Lord. They would go to the prophet Ezekiel, sit before him, and bring whatever issue, whatever concern they had that they wanted God to answer. Before God speaks a word to answer whatever it was that concerned them, He’s going to put His finger right on the issue that is more important than all other issues. There’s a stumbling block there in the heart. Why should God answer them at all when there’s this offense sitting right in front of their faces?

Now, one of the greatest desires of every genuine believer in Jesus Christ is to know that God hears you when you call. This is very important to us. We need God’s wisdom. We’re going through some major crossroad in your life, so you pray. God, pour out your wisdom. You need to know that God hears you when you call. You need discernment. You’re about to major decision of your life. You need discernment. You pray. We need to know that God hears us when we pray.

We’re going through a trouble. We’re going through a hardship, and so we pray. Does God hear us when we call? If there’s anything standing in the way, how will God answer? These verses here in Ezekiel 14 are some of the most important issues of faith teaching us how to hear God and to inquire of Him with the right heart. God’s word is going to speak light and truth. He’s going to put His finger right on the center of the matter, and He’s going to do it in order to lay hold of hearts. It means that God is going to wind them to Himself. God is still laying hold of hearts today. It’s the key to revival. It’s the key to transforming the soul. It’s the key to having the faithfulness of life that God desires for each of us to have.

Let’s read it. We’re in Ezekiel 14. We’ll just cover a few of the verses, and of course, we’ll cover the other verses at our Wednesday verse-by-verse study. 14:1. Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me, and the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and then have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? Therefore, you speak to them and you tell them, you say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, if any man or any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and then puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity and then comes to the prophet to inquire of the Lord, I, the Lord, will be brought to give him an answer in this matter, but I’ll do it in view of the multitude of these idols.'”

I. God Answers First Things First

Notice verse 5. It’s the key to the whole thing. I’ll do it in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from me. The word estranged means too far. They’re distant. There’s something between them and God, and He’s going to put His finger right on that thing. Verse 6, therefore, you say to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God, repent and turn away from these things.”

Now, the word repent, some people don’t like the word. It’s a great word. It means if you’re going down the wrong road, turn that thing around and get going in the right direction. That’s a good thing. Turn this thing around and turn your faces away from these abominations. He means, of course, to turn your face toward the Lord.

For any one of the house of Israel or the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from me and then sets up these idols in his heart and then puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity and then comes to the prophet to inquire of me, I, the Lord, will be brought to answer him, and I’ll answer him in my own person.

This is really a very interesting story, and we want to look at these and see how God would apply it. Starting with this, God answers first things first. Before He gives an answer to whatever it was that was concerning them, He says, “Oh, there is a greater issue at hand. This thing that’s right in front of your face, we’re going to deal with this thing.”

Now, there’s a lot of applications today. There’s a lot of things that people have right in front of their face. You might say that God says, “We’re going to deal with this thing.” First thing, let’s take note that God sees what’s in their heart. That’s probably a good place to start. Ezekiel did not know, but God reveals it to him. Then he says, “And so should I be consulted by them at all?”

Now, notice those two things. Firstly, that everything is laid bare before the eyes of the Lord. Now, this is important to understand because many people live as if that were not true, but it is true. Notice, for example, Hebrews 4:13, “There is nothing hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Very beautifully and powerfully said.

Then there’s Psalm 1:39. Oh, we love this Psalm, but notice these words. “Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down. You know when I rise up. You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, Lord, you know it all.”

A. Is anyone worthy?

This is important. Not only should we know that everything is laid bare before the eyes of the Lord, but then notice those words. Should I be consulted by them at all? Let’s dive into those words because it’s very important. We want to know, but the question really resounds to this. Is anyone worthy? Can anyone come and inquire of the Lord? Is anyone worthy to stand? Is anyone worthy? See, that’s really the long question. Should I be consulted by these who have put this stumbling block right in front of their faces? Should I be inquired of them at all?

It’s a rhetorical question. He’s not expecting an answer because the answer is obvious. No. God is not obligated. Their iniquity stands between them and God. They have no right to inquire of God at all. Does anybody? That’s the question of the day. Does anybody? Doesn’t everyone have something standing in their life? Does anybody?

Well, notice a couple of verses that are important. Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness, the Lord will not hear.” There’s this. Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” Those are the Scriptures. Is anyone worthy? First, let me say the answer. No. No one is worthy. This is interesting. I’m going to build to a grand finale. Stay with me.

Notice in Revelation 5, what he gives us here is this amazing scene where John is brought by a vision into the throne room of God in heaven, and sitting on the great throne is the Almighty there. Notice how the story unfolds. Revelation 5. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and break the seals?” No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it.

One of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping. Behold, the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and to break its seals.” There is one who is worthy. Is anyone on earth able to break the seal? No. Is anyone righteous? No, not one. No one can stand before the throne on the merits of his own righteousness. Everyone has been disqualified from standing and inquiring of the Lord. No one is worthy. Then there’s this, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God has made a way for sinners to be worthy. God has made a way for sinners to be right with God. The one who was worthy to open the book in heaven was sent by God to give his life as a ransom for you and for me on this earth. When Jesus was crucified, he paid the debt of our sin. Of course, the consequence of sin is death. We deserved death, but He died in our place. Then, in a glorious exchange, gave us the very righteousness of God as a gift, so that you are worthy to stand before the throne of grace and such that you can stand with confidence that your sins are forgiven.

Like God declared it, you stand on this, because He says, you have every right to stand there because you have been adopted as a son or as a daughter. You have every right to stand before the throne of the living God and to inquire of Him. Your faith says, believe that if He declares it, it is, in fact, the standing by which you must have confidence.

You have every right now, only in great humility, because God has done that as a great gift, but take hold of that great truth with great confidence. You have every right to stand there because he has made a way for us who have been now adopted as sons and as daughters. Having paid the price– yes, sure, let’s give a little praise. Exactly right. Then, having accomplished that great work, He then moves upon your life so that you begin to live like that son, begin to live like that daughter. He’s called you to it. He’s made it possible. Now he wants you to live by it.

B. There’s a difference between a gnat and a camel

See, why was this iniquity in these elders so important? I like to say it this way, because there’s a difference between a gnat and a camel. He said, “Where are you going with that, Pastor?” Follow with me. What does it mean? It means that there are greater and lesser sins. This is important. Now, let’s not fall into the legalistic trap of debating and ranking sins and commandments like the Pharisees did to see which one is greater than another, but it is very important to understand that there are greater and lesser sins. Why? Greater sins have greater consequences and are more damaging to one’s life and to one’s soul. These are the matters of particular importance to the Lord.

Notice, for example, Jesus said the same. Matthew 23:23-24, Jesus said this, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. These are the leaders of Israel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier provisions of the law.” Ah, so there are weightier provisions. Exactly right. They would, let’s say, tithe mint, dill, or cumin. These are like spices, right? You grow them in your garden.

Many people in the older days would grow their own spices, and yet they wanted to make a point of showing how much righteousness they had. They would take their dill and dry it, and then they’d take the dill spice on the table and say, “God is going to have his 10%.” They’d take a little scraper, and they’d scrape off a little thing, and they’d put it in the bag, and they’d bring it to the temple, and the great display of their righteousness. Even the smallest, smallest thing, I tithe.

He says, “You do this, but you have neglected the weightier things of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness; but these things, these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” Then he says, “You blind guides, you strain out a gnat, and then you swallow a camel.” Now, that’s a picture for you.

What does that mean? Well, a gnat is unclean. A gnat, if you are not familiar, is like the smallest of the flies. Let’s say they’re drinking tea, and a gnat should land in their tea. They would make a big scene about, “Oh, far be it from me that I should swallow a gnat and make myself unclean,” and they would get a screen cloth and strain it out and make a big scene about how righteous they are now as they drink their tea. He says, “Oh, you strain out a gnat, then you go and swallow a camel.” Camel’s not clean either, in case you didn’t know. No eating camels. You’re swallowing that, but the weightier things, the bigger things.

Now, before we get into the bigger things, one might ask, “Well, what are the lesser things?” I’m glad you asked. They are sins, but notice James 4:17. Therefore, the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him, it is a sin. There. Just in knowing the right thing to do and not doing it. A typical example. You can see an old woman who needs help crossing the street, and then you don’t help her. That’s a sin. It could be as small as that.

Here’s another one. Romans 14:23, “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” That encompasses a lot. Did you do it by faith? It’s a sin. Here’s another one. Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Anything that falls short of the glory of God. I’m telling you that sin is a far broader thing than many people recognize. Is this not true?

He says, “If you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, or if you do anything that’s not from faith or anything that falls short of the glory of God, that’s sin.” True. There’s a great difference between swallowing a gnat and swallowing a camel. In other words, the weightier sins have weightier consequences and deeper poisoned upon the soul, and therefore, greatly concerning.

God concerns Himself with all matters, but greatly, He’s going to put His finger on first things first. Oh, he’s concerned about all, yes, but the weightier ones require a stronger hand. These elders of Israel had set up idols. Not only was it down in the square, it was in their heart. They put right in front of their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Oh, there’s much that could be said on that.

C. God intends to rescue and save

These things stand in the way of that which God desires to do. He says something’s going to happen there. A great transformation’s going to happen there, but we’re going to deal with this stumbling block that’s right before their faces because God intends to rescue and save. That’s what God is doing. That’s what God was doing then, and He’s still doing it today.

Notice this. Now, when they come, and they sit before Ezekiel to inquire the Lord that God doesn’t just kick them out of the house. God doesn’t just reject them outright. What He does do is this, He tells Ezekiel to say it to their face. He’s going to splash cold water right in their face. Sometimes that’s what people need, a splash of cold water to wake them up. It’s like heart paddles. That’s an even better one. Heart paddles that shock the heart back. I’m going to bring this thing back to life. Sometimes you need a shock.

Verse 4, “Therefore you say, ‘Any man, of the house of Israel, who sets up idols in his heart and puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire, I, the Lord, will be brought to give him an answer, but I’ll do it in my own person. I will do it in view of these things, this thing that’s standing in the way.'”

God is going to shock them into the reality of knowing that He sees into the deepest chambers of their hearts, and He’s doing it because He’s at a rescue mission to save them from this thing, and He’s going to inspire them to remove that which is keeping them far from God and keeping them estranged from the Lord. God rescues and saves. God rescues from that human condition of weakness, even weakness of faith.

For example, when I figured that, I’m reminded of the story when Jesus saved Peter from drowning. Maybe you remember the story of after the miracle of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 with the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him onto the other side, while He sent the crowds away. He went up on the mountain to pray and was there alone. That evening, the disciples rode all night because the wind was contrary and they were being battered by the waves. Then, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.

Then when the disciples saw Him, they were terrified. Jesus said, “Take courage in his eye, do not be afraid.” Then the story picks up in Matthew 14. Peter then said to him, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus said to him, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus. Seeing the wind, he became frightened and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of Peter and said to him, “Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Of course, then we say, “Well, if he had little faith, what did the other disciples have? They didn’t even get out of the boat.” He’s rescued. Even in the weakness of his faith, He rescues and saves.

Then there’s the story of David, who sinned greatly when he took Bathsheba while she was married to Uriah, then, when she was found to be with child, tried to cover his sin by recalling Uriah from battle. When Uriah wouldn’t sleep with Bathsheba, according to David’s scheme to hide the thing, he gave orders that the soldiers would withdraw from Uriah such so he would die in battle.

Oh, David thought that he had gotten away with it, but he didn’t. Everything is laid bare before the eyes of the Lord. David was in agony. This thing, the weight of this sin, shamed him, grieved him. He couldn’t sleep. He was in anguish, deeply troubled in his soul. Ah, this thing would not stop festering in his soul, and he was so grieved from it.

What you and I need to keep in our minds is that the consequences of sin will cost you dearly. Oh, what it does to the soul. The scripture says stolen water is sweet. Well, that is true. It’s also poison to the soul. I tell you, if I can write a book about every person who followed the way of sin and then it worked out great for them, every page would be blank because it doesn’t work out great. If I could write a book about all the deep consequences of sin, that book would be huge. There are many people in this room that could have their own testimony.

David’s sin, he tried to hide it. His soul was in terrible anguish. God is going to rescue David from his shame. He’s going to rescue David from this pit of anguish. He sends Nathan, the prophet, to confront this sin and to bring him into the light to save him from it. He’s got to have to come into the light. Nathan, the prophet, told him a story of a rich man and a poor man.

He said, “Now there was a rich man who had many flocks and herds, and there was also a poor man who had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he cherished and kept in his own home, raised it as if it was his own child. Now, one day, when a traveler came to visit the rich man, the rich man was unwilling to take from his own flock to prepare a meal for his visitor. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for that man who had come to visit him.”

Well, when David heard that story, he burned hot with anger. He said, “As the Lord lives, surely the man who’s done this thing deserves to die.” Nathan looked directly at him and said, “You are that man. You, sir, are that man.” David said, “I have sinned.” Now he’s coming into the light. Now he’s revealing it. “I have sinned greatly before the Lord.”

II. God Lays Hold of Hearts

God is rescuing him. God is saving him. It will end in forgiveness, yes, consequence, but He’s going to bring him out of this thing because cannot continue in this shame, this anguish. God is laying hold the hearts. That’s what he’s doing today. That’s what he’s doing here in Ezekiel. He does it for this one purpose. We’re going to lay hold of this thing, this thing that’s standing in the way, because this thing is bearing upon the soul, and it brings the tragedy and the consequence of the condition of the soul that’s estranged from God. See, the condition of your soul is of highest importance, for all else flows from it.

Notice Proverbs 4:23. He says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence.” Watch over your soul, the condition of your soul. Watch over your soul, highest importance, for from it flow the springs of life. You want life, then know that it springs forth out of the condition of your soul. This is so important. When we were raising our kids, they eventually all hit those teen years. There were times when they, let’s say, struggled against having a parent. They would sometimes take on an attitude.

No matter what issue it was that they thought was so important, I would say, before we look at anything else, we’re going to look at that attitude. Before we do anything else, we’re going to look at that heart because that’s more important than anything else, because God is going to use that to draw us to Himself. This is what God is doing. He’s going to lay hold of that thing that stands in the way. He’s going to bring it to the light so that we can see it as it is.

A. God is drawing us to Himself

Then we’re going to say, “I don’t want this thing in my life anymore. This thing is standing in the way of that which God would do. I don’t want this.” He’ll shock the heart if He has to because He does it for one purpose, in order to lay hold of the hearts of those whom He loves. See, if God can win your heart, you can be transformed. That’s the key to revival. That’s the key to spiritual awakening. If He can lay hold of your heart, He can win you over to Himself.

It’s very much like parenting. If a parent can lay hold of their child’s heart, then that child can truly hear what the parent is trying to teach them. Up to that point, anger and frustration stand in the way of hearing whatever it is that the parent is trying to teach them. I used to teach a class about parenting. One of the principles I would teach in that class is, never bring a lesson to a child when they are angry and upset. They will not hear a word you have to say.

Now, I also say, never correct your child when you are upset. That doesn’t work either. If a child is upset and angry, they will not hear a word you have to say. Win their heart first. Then, if you have won their heart, they will hear what you have to say. God lays hold of hearts, and He’ll do it by His love. We love Him because He first loved us. That’s right out of 1 John 4:19, because love is a transforming power. God’s purpose is to transform us from that condition in which we were born, that difficult, rebellious, difficult, stubborn heart, into that which is transformed by love. Love is a transforming power, and He will win you over by that love.

B. We love Him because He first loved us

When I think of an illustration, I think many of you know, of course, the story of we adopted two boys from Russia. The youngest one came from a home for emotionally troubled children. He came with a lot of baggage, a lot of anger, and a lot of hurt. He was there in our home maybe, I don’t know, three weeks or four weeks. I came to him one night. He’s in bed. I came to say good night, and give him a kiss, and pray with him.

I came, and I said, “Wait, did you brush your teeth?” He said, “No.” I said, “Well, in our house, everybody brushes their teeth before they go to bed. I’d like you to get up out of bed and go and brush your teeth.” He said, “No.” I said, “Let’s start over. In this relationship between you and me, who’s the boss here?” “Not you. You’re not my dad.” To which I said, “Well, that’s where you’re wrong.” I swooped him up in my arms, took him out of his room, of course, kicking and screaming, brought him out, brought him to my room, set him down on the floor, and I said, “You’re going to sit right there. You’re not going to go to bed. You’re not going to go anywhere until this thing is resolved.” He says, “This is not fair. You’re bigger than I am.” To which I said, “I think you’re starting to figure this thing out.”

Then he starts screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming. I’m lying on the bed pretending to be bored, pretending to read. Just watching him, though, out of the corner of my eye. He’s screaming and screaming. My wife comes in. She says, “He’s right by the window. The neighbors will hear, and they’ll call the police.” I said, “Well, then let him come. Then he’ll know the police are on my side. He needs to scream. It’s good for his lungs.” He’s screaming and screaming and screaming. That’s clearly not working.

He takes it up another notch. He flicks out his claws and starts to rake his face. That’s it. Went over to him, went behind him, pulled his arms behind, put my legs around him, lied down on the floor with him, “Now, you can scream.” Now he’s screaming more louder scream. He’s screaming with all he’s got. He’s screaming more. None of this. Since he screams, “You give me some screams.” He’s screaming and screaming and screaming.

That must have occurred to him. “Wait, he’s telling me what to do, and I’m doing it.” He calms down, relaxes. That’s my opportunity. My lips are right by his ear. I said, “Listen, I understand. Your father was killed. Your mother died. You were taken from your brother. I understand. It hurts. You’ve been through great things of trouble. I understand. I know it hurts. I am your father. We’re going to get through this thing. This thing that you did here doesn’t change a thing. We’re going to get through it. I’m not ever going to stop loving you. We’re going to get through this thing. We’re going to get through it together. I am your father, and you are my son. I will never stop loving you.”

He said, “Dad, I want to go to bed.” I said, “I’m sure you do. First, we need to settle this.” I let him go, turn him around. I said, “Now, look me in the eyes.” We’re just looking at each other. I said, “Now, in this relationship between you and me, who’s the boss?” He said, “You are, Dad.” Then he started crying, “I’m so sorry. I’ll never do it again.” I said, “You might, but it’s okay. You can cry anytime you want. I’ll hold you as many times as you need. We’re going to get through this thing. I am your father. You are my son. I will never stop loving you.”

When he was 21, he gave me a Father’s Day card. Then he wrote, “Thank you for never giving up on me.” I learned this from my Father, my Father in Heaven, who has never given up on me. No matter what I’ve done, He’s never quit. He’s never given up, and He never will. He’ll never give up on you either. He’s going to win you over. He is your father. He wants you to learn to live like a son, like a daughter. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to get through it together. God is saying, “I’ll never stop loving you. I want you to live like a son or like a daughter.”

Let’s pray. Lord, we are so thankful because You won us. You won our hearts. You’re a good, good Father. He’s never given up. Church, as we’re continuing to pray, how many would say to the Lord today, “You’ve won me. You have won my heart. I want to honor You. I want to love You. I want to learn to live like the son or the daughter that You have called me to be. You have won me over, Lord. Here I am. I want to honor You with how I live my life”?

Would you just say that to the Lord by raising your hand in expression of your love for Him for all that He’s done for you? God, You have won my heart. You are a good, good Father. Teach me to live like that son or that daughter You’ve called me to be. Oh, God, we honor You and thank You for it all, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said, “Can we give You our praise and glory and honor, amen?” Amen. Church, let’s stand to our feet.

A Heart that is New
Ezekiel 11:14-25
June 13-14, 2026

We are back, everyone. We are back. Let’s have a seat, if you would, and open your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel 11. If you need a Bible, there are some at the back of the sanctuary there at the usher’s tables. If you open the app and turn to the Bible tab, it’ll open right to Ezekiel 11. How cool is that? The title of our message is A Heart That Is New. What God has for us in His Word tonight is very, very important. Let’s pray and receive together.

Lord, we are thankful. We know that You send forth Your Word in power. God, just pour out Your Spirit of life. Use the Word to stir us up in our faith that we would honor You in the way that we live and that our souls would be revived because we’ve abided in the nearness of God through Your Word, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Everyone said, amen.

Ezekiel, as I mentioned, is a prophet to the exiles there in Babylon. He was called and sent by God to them to speak the Word of God, stir them up, challenge them, but also to open their heart to understand that God has a purpose in all of this trouble that they’re going through, this exile, the difficulty. The great theme of this major section of this book is that though they were obstinate, hard-hearted, rebellious, God had not given up on them. In fact, He had already prophetically declared that this whole thing is going to end in revival. God knew the end from the beginning. He had prophesied, yes, I know, I know they’re obstinate, hard-hearted, rebellious, but this thing is going to end in revival. Something is going to happen there.

Now, I’ve already mentioned, I’ll repeat it, that, hey, trouble and difficulty itself is not enough to bring the transformation of the heart and of life. No. There’s got to be more than that. There’s got to be more than trouble. I know a lot of people who went through trouble, and they weren’t changed at all. No. There must be a spiritual awakening in the midst of the trouble. A person must somehow connect the events that they’re going through to spiritual conditions. You’ve got to connect. In other words, there must be a spiritual connection to the events of life. That takes more than trouble. That takes the Spirit awakening hearts to the truth that God is doing something here.

Now, here we are in Chapter 11. He’s in the midst of this vision. It began in Chapter 8. Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11 are one vision. He was sitting in his house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before him, when the hand of God fell upon him and gave him this vision. In this vision, God took him to Jerusalem, it’s a vision, but He took him to Jerusalem to see the abominations and the offenses that were happening with those who remained back in Jerusalem.

At one point, Ezekiel, in that vision, was told to dig through a hole in the wall in the temple. When he entered through it, behold, what he saw was this. Every form of detestable thing with the idols of the House of Israel carved on the wall all around, and there were 70 elders standing there. God said to Ezekiel, Son of man, do you see this? Do you see what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images?’

Then they say, The Lord doesn’t see us. He doesn’t know. He’s revealing the secret darkness of these images. Oh, there’s a tremendous spiritual point to this. Then they say, God doesn’t know. God doesn’t see. Then the Lord showed him then that this was why the glory was leaving the temple. That was the whole point. Can the glory of God dwell in the midst of all this? It was time for the glory to depart. Enough is enough. That’s the point.

Then in Chapter 11, as the vision continues, here we are. God is revealing here an attitude that those who remained there in Jerusalem had against the exiles in Babylon. If you remember, I mentioned that Ezekiel had been taken and deported in the second wave. There was the first one, Daniel was taken, and the others. Ezekiel was taken in the third. Those who remained back spoke poorly of those who had been taken, captive. They entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted the events that were happening. They said of the exiles, Go, go, go. Go far from the Lord. This land has been given to us as a possession, and it’s been taken from you.

They missed the whole thing entirely. They had it all turned around, and they couldn’t have been more wrong. That which they assumed was for their good was about to be their great undoing, and that which they assumed was against the exiles was about to be their greatest blessing. This is a spiritual lesson of life. We need a greater perspective. We need to understand that God is doing something far greater and not to assume that we have it all figured out. There’s humorous stories and jokes that take those assumptions and show how wrong they can be.

Like the fellow who was telling his friend, “Have you heard about my latest misfortune?” His friend said, “No, what happened?” He said, “My uncle passed away. “He said, “Oh, that’s bad.” Then he said, “Oh, no, it turned out good. He left me a $50,000 inheritance.” “Oh, that’s good.” He said, “No, that turned out bad because an IRS agent came and took most of it in taxes.” “Oh, that was bad. “He said, “No, that was good. I had enough left that I could buy some land and dig a well.” “Oh, that’s good.” “No, that was bad. While I was digging, the walls caved in. I couldn’t get out.” “Oh, that’s bad.” “No, that was good because when the walls caved in, they revealed a vein of gold, and I started yelling about it, and a fellow heard me and threw down a rope to get me out.” “Oh, that was good.” “No, that was bad. The fellow who pulled me out was the IRS agent.” And on and on the story goes. It’s a bit like that here.

Those in Jerusalem could not have been more wrong. They thought, oh, it’s to our great advantage that they had Jerusalem all to themselves. They were the bad things Jeremiah had prophesied against, and they would eventually run to Egypt, never to be heard from again, but those who had been taken captive and exiled were those whom God would transform into the good figs, and He would bless them. Even though they’re going through the trouble, God’s going to bless them beyond their wildest imagination. There’s a spiritual principle at work here, and it’s seen in many places of Scripture, and it’s this.

That which is against you oftentimes is the very thing that God uses as the door of hope by which His favor is poured out on your life. This is a very interesting spiritual principle, and there are many examples of that. There’s David. You remember his story? He was anointed. He was a very young man, teenager, really, as the future king of Israel. He’s the one who defeated the Philistine giant, one victory after victory in battle.

Then, because of the anger and jealousy of Saul, who knew that God was taking the throne from him and giving it to David, pursued David to kill him, and this went on for 12 years. Talking about trouble, he said, “I’m one step away from death.” For 12 years this went on. The very things that David went through were the very things that God was using to prepare him to be the great king of Israel.

There’s Joseph. Joseph has got to be one of the great examples of this spiritual principle. He was given a vision that one day he would arise in stature such that his brothers even would bow down before him, but his brothers didn’t take kindly to that vision and betrayed Joseph by selling him into slavery, eventually into Egypt. Joseph went from tragedy to trouble, one upon another, yet it was those very tragedies, the very troubles that he went through, were the things that God used to fulfill that great vision and purpose in his life. Then, when the events turned in such a way that his brothers did come and bow down before him begging for forgiveness, Joseph answered, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

There’s a greater principle at work. See, that which the exiles thought was against them was the very thing that God would use to be for them. Now, Ezekiel here is called to speak to a difficult people, but along the way, God gives this vision to encourage them that they would know that God has much in store for them to give them a future and a hope so that they would hold on to that hope. God gives you promises so that you can hold on to them and then learn to yearn for God within their hearts. That’s the great thing, that God’s going to transform their cold, stony hearts, and there’s going to be a spiritual awakening that comes out of it.

All right, let’s read it. We’re in Hebrews 11, 11:14 is where we begin reading. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, the whole House of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, they said, go, go far from the Lord. The land has been given to us, not you. To us as a possession. Therefore, you say this, you say, Thus says the Lord God, though I have removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, you say, I am a sanctuary for them for a little while there in the countries where they had gone.

Then you say, Thus says the Lord God, I shall then gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I’m going to give you the land of Israel. It is for your possession. Then, when they come there, they will remove those detestable things and all the abominations from it. I will give them one heart, and I shall put a new spirit in them, and I will take their heart of stone out of their flesh, and I’ll give them a heart of flesh like it’s alive, so that they may then walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

This is the great formula of relationship that we’ve seen repeated over and over, God says, Then they will be my people, I will be their God. It’s a way of expressing beautiful fellowship. That’s what God wants, to be God with us in beautiful fellowship, walking together in this course of life. These are the verses that we want to look at together and apply to our lives. Starting with this.

I. God is Your Sanctuary

I love that promise there in verse 16, that God will be their sanctuary. It’s a beautiful picture. God is your sanctuary. You can imagine how the exiles there could have taken these insults so personally that you can imagine how they would have even second-guessed themselves. Is it true? Has God abandoned us? Are we just going to disappear here in this God-forsaken place? I think some people may be going through a Babylon season right now, going through troubles, difficulties, a season of it maybe, a chronic pain or a broken marriage or wayward children or financial troubles or just a long, long, dry spiritual desert. You feel far from God’s house, far from joy, far from the strong faith once you knew.

The Lord would speak a good word to anyone going through a Babylon-type of experience. I am your sanctuary. Run to me. Hide in me. I am enough. God’s calling people to understand what it means, I will be your sanctuary. For it says similarly in Proverbs 18:10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run. You’re going through a trouble, you’re going through a thing, you run. You don’t walk, you run. He will be your sanctuary. Far from the temple there, far from the land of promise, far from everything that felt safe to them, He says, I will be your sanctuary.

Those who remained in Jerusalem assumed that because those in Babylon were exiled, they were cut off from the presence of God and that God was against them. No, they could not have been more wrong. God has a better word and it’s a word that will encourage anyone who has a heart to hear. I will be your sanctuary. I will be the place where your soul finds rest and peace and is lifted and is built and is edified.

A. The sanctuary was meant to be personal

You notice that it’s not a place, it’s God himself. It’s very important. I am your sanctuary. Come to that which is of your soul. See, in other words, the sanctuary was meant to be personal. Something personal happens when God is your sanctuary. There in that place drawing near to Him, in that place, that’s where your soul is transformed. In other words, it’s not just a shelter from the storm. You don’t just run to God because you’re in trouble. No, something happens when you meet God there in that shelter, when you hear God speaking to your heart, because when you’re going through a Babylon type of experience, you need more than the trouble. You need a spiritual awakening.

Proverbs 46:1, God is our refuge. God is our strength, very present help in times of trouble. You run to the tower of the Lord, He will strengthen. In other words, Psalm 91. I love Psalm 91. He who abides in the shelter of the Most High. Don’t you love those words? They just give you such a vision of the Almighty and the nearness. He who dwells there in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. See, when He’s your refuge, when He’s your sanctuary, something happens there. In other words, you’re not just waiting for the storm to pass. You run to the sanctuary, the presence of God, and here’s what I want you to see. You get alone with God, and you work out what is troubling your soul. I’ve always been convinced, whenever I’ve been through a trouble, and I’ve been through many, many troubles, it’s times like those when you’re going through one of those troubles that you run to the nearness of God, and then you work this thing out.

If you could just dwell there and just pray this thing through and just work this thing out, you’re dwelling there in that place, and you’re bringing it all before the Lord. He’s your sanctuary, and you’re going to work this thing out, that He would speak to you, life, truth, to your soul, that He would strengthen and renew. Then He’ll direct your path and the steps and show you the way through this trouble. In other words, you’re not running from your troubles. You’re running to the sanctuary of the Lord. There is where you will be strengthened, there.

I mentioned David’s troubles before he was king. There was this one point when David and his men had been away from the village where they had been staying in order to face an enemy. When they returned, they found that the Amalekites, while they were gone, the Amalekites had come and raided their village, burned the village to the ground, taken the women and children hostage. It says this was one of the lowest points in David’s life.

1 Samuel 30:6 gives us an interesting insight. It says, Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. They blamed David for this, for all the people were embittered against David, each because of his sons and his daughters. Notice this, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. David went away. He drew away. He went into that place where he and God can work this thing out. He came back, and he just took leadership over the people. He said, Those who are too tired can stay behind. The rest of you, get on your horses. We’re going. They went and pursued, and a great victory in David’s leadership was seen in the understanding that it’s about the condition of his faith, his soul. He went into that place where his soul was strengthened. He worked this thing out, and then he came and brought a great victory.

B. God will restore and rebuild

Then we see this back in Ezekiel 11, that God will restore and God will rebuild. In other words, God doesn’t just comfort you. He’s going to do something. He’s going to restore. He’s going to rebuild there. Now, those who were back in Jerusalem thought they were the ones in the right. Didn’t the circumstances prove it? By the way, this is why you must be very, very careful to not presume based on the circumstances alone. Didn’t the circumstances prove it? They were the ones in Jerusalem. The exiles were in Babylon. Weren’t they the ones in the right?

God says a word to the people through the Prophet Ezekiel. Verse 17, Thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples, I’ll assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. Now, you know this is interesting because that promise started when he gave that word to Abraham back in Genesis 12, and he’s repeated it and repeated it. He says it again here, and that promise stands true even today. God promised them that land.

There’s great debate today about whose land is it? The Palestinians claim that it is their land, and so they chant. They have this saying that they chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” What they mean by that is from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestine will be free of Jews. They mean Holocaust. They mean disaster. They call Israel occupiers. If you ask them, what part of the land are they occupying? They say, all of it. They should not have one foot of it. They mean Holocaust when they say that. God says, no, this is my land, and I have declared that my land belongs to my people and that they will forever dwell in that land which I promised to give them. He said it then, He’ll say it now, and He means it forever. Amen. Can we give God praise on that? Amen.

C. The heart of the matter is the heart

This is what we see next in Ezekiel 11, that the heart of the matter is the heart. Notice what he says. It’s not about the land. It’s not just about the land. It’s about their heart in the land. Jeremiah, in chapter 29, when we were there, said a very similar word. Notice the way Jeremiah said it, Thus says the Lord. When 70 years, he told him the exact number of years, have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you, I’ll fulfill my good word to you. I will bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. We quote this all the time. Interesting to see it in its context.

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare, for good. Not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then, but notice this part. It’s not just about giving them the land. No. Then you will call upon Me. You will pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Then you will seek Me, and you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, and I’ll restore your fortunes. I’ll gather you from the nations when I say, declares the Lord.

See, the heart of the matter is the heart. God was doing a work there as their sanctuary. God was inviting them to meet God. That’s the only way the soul can be transformed. Got to have a meeting with God. You get into that sanctuary, and something happens there. There’s where it happens. There’s where the soul is moved. There’s where the soul is transformed. When their souls are restored and they behold the beauty of the Lord God in the sanctuary, then—this is very important—they will see detestable things as detestable.

Notice verse 18. Then when they come there, I’m going to give them the land of Israel. When they come there, they’re going to remove those detestable things and all the abominations from it, from the land.

This is so powerful, it speaks prophetically, that they will be transformed. Something is going to happen. The troubles that they’re going through is going to bring such an awakening spiritually that when they return, they’re going to find all those old detestable things, and they’re going to finally see them for what they are, and they’re going to get rid of them. This is a modern application to our lives. This is spiritual victory. When a person finally has enough, I’ve had enough, and then sees the whole thing as dishonorable, then a transformational work is done. They see it differently. Something has happened in the way they see, and it comes from a spiritual awakening. That’s where it came from.

Notice, back in Ezekiel 7, He’s accusing them. They transformed the beauty of His ornaments. They took the various gold and silver ornaments that had been reserved for God things, and then they made them, they turned them into images of their abominations, and their detestable things. Therefore, He says, I will make it an important thing to them. They’re going to say, I don’t want this. They’re going to see it as differently.

This is a point of victory. When you finally get sick of the thing, that is a point of victory right there. When God breaks something, and you see it differently, and you say, I’m sick of this thing. See, when I think of that, it reminds me of when Israel was in the desert. God had brought them out of Egypt. Of course, God had miraculously provided for them with manna. How do you feed two million-plus people in the desert? God provided manna for them every morning.

They could go out. They fell like dew. They could go and harvest enough for the day. It was sweet to the taste. He says it tasted like coriander seed with honey. It tasted like Krispy Kreme donuts. It was tasting good, healthy, and a miracle. It’s a miracle every day, but they began to complain. It says they became like a people who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. They began to grumble and complain about this manna. We want meat. I have this image that they’re all chanting, we want meat, we want meat. They’re all chanting together, we want meat. We’ve had enough of this manna. We want meat.

Then they said, oh, don’t you remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt? Don’t you remember the good old days in Egypt? Remember? The cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlics? Now our appetite is gone, gone, gone. There’s nothing to look at except this manna. We want meat. We want meat. Numbers 11 says, God spoke to them through Moses, you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, oh, that someone would give us meat to eat? For we were well off in Egypt, you said. Actually, the literal, we were better off in Egypt. Is that what you said? I heard you weeping. I heard what you said. They said, oh, we were better off in Egypt.

Therefore, the Lord is going to give you meat. You want meat? You’re going to have meat. Not just one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days. No, the whole month. You’re going to get so much meat until it comes out your nostrils and it becomes loathsome to you. As we know, he’s saying quail. How do you have quail coming out your nose? Answer, you eat it so greedily that you throw it up. You’re so engorged and you eat it so greedily that you throw it up and now it’s coming right out your nose. Aren’t you glad you already had dinner?

I’m going to make you sick of it. Now that is a really spiritual point. That’s a great point. I’m telling you right now, that is a victory point. When someone gets to the point, I am sick of it. This thing that keeps festering in my soul, I am sick of this thing. That is a great point. I’m telling you right there, that is spiritual victory. Because He says, notice what He says, and now I’m going to give them a new spirit. God gives a new spirit. This is like revival. This is like awakening.

II. God Gives a New Spirit Within

Verse 19, I give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. Notice how He starts, gives them one heart. It’s a work of God’s Spirit stirring. He means undivided. One heart means undivided. He means it like personal. That’s true corporately, too, but He means it to be personal. No divided affections, no divided hearts. Like Psalm 86, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart. This is a spiritual victory to have an undivided heart. Give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Ah, that’s a great– what a great victory, spiritually victory point right there. With my whole heart. No undivided.

One day, when a teacher of Israel asked Jesus, Teacher, of all the things that God said, what is the highest? What is the one thing that is greater than all things? They used to debate amongst themselves. There were hundreds of laws, as you can imagine, in the Word, and so the Jewish leaders would debate, well, which one is greater than that one? Then, well, what’s greater than that one? Then they would keep debating. They would debate and debate and debate. Well, which one’s above that one? What if they’re in conflict, which one’s going to be greater than that one? Finally, well, which one is the greatest of all of them?

They came to Jesus and asked Him, Teacher, what say you? What is the one thing that God says that’s above every other thing? Jesus says, the greatest, the highest, the foremost is this, love. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. An undivided heart. There’s peace there. There’s victory there. There’s honor there. There’s glory there. He means it personally, and it’s true corporately. Can you imagine a nation of people all abiding in that unity? Like Psalm 133:1, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. That will be true in heaven.

Can you imagine what heaven will be like when we’re all dwelling before the throne in unity? Ah, the worship that was resound. I think somehow we’re going to sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. We’re just going to worship in beauty. When I think about this, many, many years ago, we had gatherings at the, back in those days it was the Coliseum before the Rose Garden. That’s how far back it goes. The whole place was full of believers worshiping. There were many times where they would just turn the music off and let the voices just– I’m telling you, I don’t know what it was, 25,000 or something, and we’re just all there. It was just like, Holy, Holy, Holy, I exalt Thee. Everybody’s in unity. Everybody has a heart for the Lord. It was so beautiful. You’d just want to not leave that place. So beautiful.

A. God will give a new heart

I will give them one heart. He says, I’ll give them a new heart. I’ll take that heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Heart of stone is cold and dead. Stone has no pulse, no warmth, no life. That’s what He said. That’s what they had. Their hearts were like stone. Left to their own, without God doing something, they would have become dead. Their faith would have died. Hearts become hardened to the things of the Lord.

A heart of stone is unresponsive, stubborn, can’t be stirred. God can send some moving thing, not stirred at all. If you pour water over stone, the water runs right off. It’s unyielding, unchanged. It represents that hard condition, spiritual, that turns a cold shoulder to God and mocks messengers, ignores the Word until there’s no human remedy, but He says, I’m going to do divine surgery. I’m going to do divine surgery. I’m going to take that stony heart, and I’m going to put it away, and I’m going to give a heart of flesh that’s alive. See, God doesn’t say– see, you got to notice who’s doing the action there. God is doing the action.

God doesn’t say, go try harder, polish that hard stone in your heart, polish it yourself. You can’t make yourself holy by polishing that stony heart. You can’t transform your own nature by willpower. No, love is what stirs. Love is what stirs. We were made to love. There is a deep longing in the soul for love. The Holy Spirit stirs by love and stirs us to love. Like what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, he says, The love of Christ compels me. It moves me. I am compelled by the love of Christ. See, this is a very important word. The more that you love God, the more that it compels you, it moves you. You’re moved by it. The heart is what moves you.

B. The heart is what moves you

It then goes to verse 20. Then I’m going to do this spiritual surgery. I’m going to put a new heart so that it moves you. Then, then, then they will walk in my ways. They’ll walk in my statutes, my ordinances, and they’ll do them, and then they will be my people, I will be their God. See, the heart is what moves you to move. Jesus said, The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth out of it what is good. He says, For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. You’re moved by what fills you. See, if you fill your heart with glory, then the words that come forth will come from that glory. If you fill your heart with grace, then the words that come forth will be words of grace.

In Exodus 35, when they were preparing to build the tabernacle of God’s dwelling place among them, it says repeatedly, like four times in four verses, Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him, came. It said it four times, right after the other. Everyone whose heart stirred him, everyone whose spirit moved him, came. When the Spirit moves, it stirs you. You’re compelled. Fellas, I am compelled. It moves you because you want– see, it changes your heart’s desire. I want, I want, I want, I want to honor God. It means a lot to me. I want to honor God. I want more of God in my life. I’m stirred by it. I’m compelled by it. This is moving a soul from its cold condition to being alive. That’s what God’s doing. That’s what God is doing in us. That’s what God is stirring this church to do, to be moved.

I think of a song that Keith Green used to sing. Some of you remember I mentioned Keith Green back in the days of the Jesus Movement. He wrote a song and I captured it. The song was, My Eyes Are Dry. I remember when I would go through dry times, I would put that song in my A-track and just let those words resonate. It’s a song that describes the moving from the cold to the alive.

He says,

My eyes are dry

My faith is old

My heart is hard

My prayers are cold

And I know how I ought to be

Alive to You and dead to me

But what can be done

For an old heart like mine

Soften it up

With oil and wine

The oil is You, Your Spirit of love

Please wash me anew

With the wine of Your Blood.

The Effective Spiritual Life
Ezekiel 2:1 to 3:14
May 30-31, 2026

Ezekiel 2, and we’re going to do some verses in Chapter 3. As I mentioned, of course, before, we do the verse-by-verse study on Wednesdays. We’re a little bit ahead on Wednesdays. Actually, we’re in Chapter 8 already, but tonight we’re going to be in Chapter 2 and 3. The message is The Effective Spiritual Life. Very important what God has for us in these verses. Let’s pray and receive from God together.

Lord, thank You for Your word, and God, thank You for sending it by Your Spirit to bring revival, to stir our faith, to show us the way of blessing. God, we open our heart to receive. Pour out Your Spirit of life through Your Word, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone says, Amen.

As I mentioned, Ezekiel is a prophet to the Israelites in Babylon. He’s in exile with the Jews in Babylon. Now, before he’s sent to be the prophet, we looked at this last week, God gave him visions of glory. It was amazing. He gave Ezekiel a view into heaven itself, the glory of heaven. What an amazing way to start a ministry, right? Let him stand in awe of the glory and the majesty of the Almighty. Let him be amazed at the beauty of God’s holiness before he ever speaks a prophetic word. This is the way you start your ministry.

I. Love Casts Out Fear

Now, at the end of Chapter 1, Ezekiel said that when he saw the glory of the Lord, that he fell on his face. We can understand that. The radiance of the glory. I love this. It’s just such a beautiful picture, I love. The radiance of His glory emanating from the very presence of the Lord Almighty, who sits on the throne. He got a view into glory. What happens next is a very important key. Ezekiel, standing before the throne and filled with the Holy Spirit of the Almighty, filled with the Spirit, “Now you’re ready to be sent,” to fulfill the purpose for which God has called him.

Now, there are principles for the effective spiritual life. That’s the message, the effective spiritual life. God fills those whom He calls to accomplish a purpose that He has given for them to fulfill. If God has called you, He’s going to fill you by His Spirit for that purpose. This is very important. We want the effective spiritual– I want an effective spiritual life. How many people want an effective spiritual life? I want God to use me for His purpose and for His glory. Amen? That’s what I want. That’s what you want. There are principles for the effective spiritual life. Ezekiel is going to be called to speak the heart of God to these exiles who were difficult, obstinate, and rebellious.

Now, I mentioned before that Jeremiah said, those that went to exile, they’re the good figs. They weren’t good figs because they had good hearts. No, it was actually a prophetic word of what would become, what they would be transformed into. They had to go through trouble. This is oftentimes true today as well. It’s the trouble. It’s the difficulty. It’s the turmoil of what they got to go through to bring about transformation that would make them the good figs. They had to go through the hard thing.

I tell you this is a very important principle as well. Pain and trouble are not enough to bring true transformation of the soul. No, you need more than pain. You need more than trouble. No, you need the Spirit of the living God, and you need the Word of God. I have seen many people go through troubles, and it doesn’t change them at all. They don’t learn a thing. Those who go through it and connect the trouble to a spiritual condition are the ones that then have their hearts open that God is doing something here, that God is bringing something about in my soul through this. God is trying to show that there’s a spiritual connection to the trouble and that God would use it to bring a transformation.

You need more than trouble. You need spiritual revival, and that only happens in the soul. Ezekiel is called with that purpose. He’s going to speak a difficult word to a difficult people. He needs the effective spiritual life, and there are principles for us to take hold of in it. Let’s read it. Ezekiel 2. We’ll just read through the verses and then go through and see how God would apply them to our lives. Starting in verse 1.

Again, this is after the visions. Actually, it’s still happening. In the visions of glory, he fell on his face, and he heard a voice. “He said to me, ‘Son of Man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you.’ As He spoke to me-” notice this part here, “-the Spirit entered me and sat me on my feet.” It’s like the Spirit lifted him up on his feet. “Then I heard Him speaking to me. He said, ‘Son of Man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me. They’re not good things yet. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them, who are stubborn, obstinate children. You are to say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.'” That’s a great word to speak.

Now, as for them, whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious house, whether they listen or not, this much is for sure, they will know that a prophet has been among them. They will know that a man of God has spoken. “Now you, Son of Man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you–” In other words, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how difficult it becomes, even if you sit on scorpions, do not fear their words and do not be dismayed of their presence, for they are a rebellious house. “You will speak My words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” I’ve heard that theme now.

“Now you, Son of Man, listen to what I am speaking to you. You, do not be rebellious like that rebellious house.” Then He says, “Open your mouth and eat what I’m giving you.” This is very interesting here. “I looked. Behold, a hand was extended to me, and lo, a scroll was in the hand. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and the back. Written on it were lamentations, mourning, and woe.” Chapter 3, “Then He said to me, Son of Man, eat this scroll. Eat what you find. Eat the scroll. Go and then speak to the house of Israel after you’ve eaten the scroll of the Word of God.”

“I opened my mouth, and he fed it to me. He fed me the scroll. He said, ‘Son of Man, feed your stomach. It’s going to become part of your inner man. Feed your stomach. Fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.'” Oh, this is such a very important scene here. “I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.”

“Then He said, ‘Son of Man, now go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them, for you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language. No, you’re being sent to the house of Israel. You’re not being sent to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language whose words you cannot understand. No, I have sent you to them who ought to listen to you. Yet the house of Israel will not listen. They will not be listening to you since they’re not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. Something’s got to break.'”

This is the point. Something’s got to break. Notice this. This is very interesting. Verse 8, “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces. I made your forehead as hard as their foreheads, like emery, harder than flint I made your forehead. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.” There’s a theme here. “Moreover, He said to me, ‘Son of Man, take into your heart all My words which I shall speak to you, and you listen, and you listen closely. Then you go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and you speak to them. Whether they listen or not, you say, ‘Thus says the Lord God.'”

This is the grand finale of this whole scene, “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me saying, ‘Blessed be the glory of the Lord in this 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, and the Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went-” notice this part, “-embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was drawn upon me.”

What a great scene. What amazing words. Talk about effective spiritual life. What principles there are here for us, starting with this. Notice. I want you to maybe grasp it from this perspective, that love casts out fear. Notice how this whole scene begins. Chapter 1 ends with this prophet facedown on the ground, undone by the vision of the throne, the living creatures, the wheels, the radiant likeness of the glory of God. “Then He says, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet. I will speak to you.'” See, in other words, God doesn’t leave him trembling on the ground. He fills him with the Spirit and stands on his feet. Before God sends, He’s going to fill by His Holy Spirit.

By the way, the New Testament understanding is different than the Old. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would fill those for a particular purpose and for a particular calling. In the New Testament, if you have received, if you’ve opened your heart to receive the Lord Jesus into your life for the forgiveness of your sins and the promise of eternal life, then you’ve got to know that He fills you with the presence of the living God. His Holy Spirit fills you. I want you to know it’s the same Holy Spirit that filled Ezekiel. Wasn’t a different Holy Spirit. Same Holy Spirit. Now, filled Ezekiel. Fills you with His Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18, “Be ye filled by the Holy Spirit,” direction of the Lord. Like, “Be even filled,” like, “More, more, more.” Notice Luke 11:13, “If you then, being of the world, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Like, you can have more. He says, “Ask, seek, knock. To those who ask, they’ll find.” God will give you more when you ask. Now, in the same way, in other words, that Ezekiel was in awe of God’s glory, filled by His Spirit, God does a similar work. God wants you to stand in awe of His glory and be filled by the Spirit.

Would you notice, very important, who is the Spirit of love? This is a key to the effective spiritual life, this understanding right here. Romans 5:5 and other verses. There are many verses, but here’s two. Romans 5:5, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The love of God. I want you to understand the depth of the love of God here. It’s the key to the effective spiritual life. Notice Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit, the result of the Spirit, is love. Why? Because He’s the Spirit of love. God is love. When He fills you with His presence, it’s love and joy and peace.

See, when you stand in the presence of the Almighty, you are standing in the fullness of God’s love. God is love, 1 John 4:8. Ezekiel was given a front-row seat to the glory of perfect love, and perfect love casts out all fear. This is where he’s going. This is why he’s beginning here. Perfect love casts out all fear. This is 1 John 4:18.

Now, I was thinking of maybe a way to picture it in your mind. Imagine going to a worship concert. Have you ever been to a worship concert? At the Rose Garden a few months ago, Rowan, one of our worship leaders, invited us to a worship concert. Live, it’s just, oh, so beautiful. An amazing worship concert. Imagine going to a worship concert, and you’re in the front row, and you’re right in front of the speakers. You’re thinking, “Oh, that’s going to be loud,” but imagine it’s not music coming out. Imagine it’s glory, and it’s the fullness of God’s love. You’re in the front row, and you’re right in front of the speaker, and it’s glory coming out. Not music, it’s glory, and it’s God’s love. Taste of heaven right there.

Can you imagine what glory we’re going to have in heaven? Can you imagine the love that is going to pervade and just fill– We’re going to dwell in the fullness of love. We’re going to– oh, glory be what God has in store for us. This is how God prepares His servants. He begins with love. Before He gives the hard assignment, He’s going to overwhelm them with His glory, and with His goodness, and with His love. You’ve got to begin there. God so loved you that He gave His only Son. He did that because He loved you. He called you because He loves you. He saved you because He loves you. He adopted you as a son or a daughter because He loves you.

A. God has not given us a spirit of fear

I tell you, if people could only understand the depth of that, it would change them. It would truly change them. If people only knew how much God loves them, it would change them. Then notice where He’s going with this. He’s preparing them. Effective spiritual life begins there, but notice, God has not given us a spirit of fear. There’s a key to this. He’s commissioning Ezekiel. He’s going to have to address this fear that’s going to naturally arise in Ezekiel. Verses 6 and 7, “You, son of man, don’t be afraid. I’m sending you on a difficult mission. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let fear take over your heart. Though thorns and thistles are with you, though you sit on scorpions, do not be afraid.”

This is a common theme when God calls someone that He’s sending. “Joshua, take courage. Do not be afraid,” before He sent them, because fear is a natural condition. We were born in that condition, fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love–” notice that, firstly. “God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind.” Fear is a debilitating prison. How many people have been captured by fear? It locks them down. They can’t move. They’re afraid. It’s a prison they can’t get out of. Fear locks them in a prison. It has robbed people of fulfilling God’s calling, but God does not give a spirit of fear. If fear is a spirit, the fear didn’t come from God. No, God gives a spirit of love and power and a sound mind.

Now, the word fear here is not like fear of, say, fear of the narc or fear of heights or something like that. No, it’s fear of men. That’s a distinct fear, fear of other people. John 12 says, “Many of the rulers of Israel believed in Him, believed in Jesus, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men more than the approval of God.” 2 Corinthians 3:2. Notice the contrast. “Having, therefore, such a hope, we use great boldness to speak. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is boldness,” he’s saying.

Interestingly, the name Ezekiel actually means God will strengthen. Maybe you didn’t even know they were prophetically giving him a name. Then look at Chapter 3, verses 8 and 9. I find this interesting. “Behold, I made your face as hard as their faces. I made your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Harder than flint, I made your head, so don’t be afraid of them.” God did this. God made his forehead hard. We typically think of a hard head as negative. People say, “Don’t be so hardheaded.” It means don’t be so stubborn. “You’re so hardheaded.” It’s very negative.

Here, there’s strength in it. No, it’s a good thing here. See, it’s like rims, literally butt heads. You’re going to face some hardheaded people. You’re going to need a hard head yourself. You’re going to butt heads with them. In other words, don’t relent. Don’t give up. Take your stand and don’t compromise. There’s a boldness there.

When I think about great boldness, I was thinking of a time, a number of years ago, we had a leaders’ meeting at the church here. We gathered the leaders. Everyone introduced themselves and whatever ministry they did. We went down. “I’m John. I’m involved in men’s ministry, and I do this.” “My name’s Barry, and I’m involved with this, and that’s what I do.” We went down. The last one was Pastor Kaveh. Now, some of you know we have an Iranian fellowship that meets here in the afternoons, an Iranian fellowship. Many Muslims have come to faith, by the way, in Jesus Christ. That takes a certain boldness in that ministry. He’s the last one. I’ll never forget how he introduced himself.

He’s got, of course, that strong Iranian accent. “My name is Kaveh Kavehrad, bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and we’re all like, “Can we have a do-over?” It’s just like something, “My name is Kaveh Kavehrad, born servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, there’s some strength right there. See, the opposite of fear is boldness. Where does boldness come from like that? Spiritual. I’m talking about spiritual boldness. It comes from a confidence that God is with you, that God is for you, and that God works through you. Confidence in God gives you a boldness in the Spirit.

Psalm 71, verse 5, David, “You are my hope, oh Lord God, and you are my confidence since my youth.” Romans 8, “You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear. No, you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.'” Abba is the Hebrew expression for the most intimate way of calling your dad, intimate. A child would say “Abba.” They still do, by the way, in Israel. If you go there and you see a little child talking to their parents– to his dad, they’ll say “Abba.”

I want you to notice the point of this. If God is your Father, then He’s with you. If God is your Father, then His favor is upon you. See, it changes everything if God’s your Father. See, God didn’t give us a spirit of slavery leading to fear. No, a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, “Abba, Father,” for the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. What then shall we say to these things, these troubles of life, if God is for us, who can be against us? If God is your Father, it changes everything. This is where He starts. Then He says to him, “Don’t fear obstacles.”

B.    Don’t fear obstacles

God is honest here with Ezekiel. This is not going to be easy. They are hard people. They are obstinate people. They are hard-hearted people. They are hard-headed people. This is not going to be easy. He mentions thorns and thistles. Even if you sit on scorpions, thorns and thistles are powerful pictures of the obstacles of the world. In Genesis, after Adam’s sin, God told him that the ground would produce thorns and thistles. Genesis 3:18. They represent the curse, the resistance that sin brought to the world. Life’s going to be way harder now because of this sin. Thorns and thistles represent it.

Jesus picked up on this imagery in the parable He gave of the sower, saying that the Word of God being sown on hearts is like a farmer sowing seed on different types of ground. He mentioned different types of soils. Notice, the seed that fell amongst the thorns was choked out. The thorns representing the world, the worries of his life, the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires for other things, choked out the Word, produced no fruit. When Jesus was on the cross, they pressed a crown of thorns upon His head. Our Savior wore the curse so that we could be free from it.

Now, it’s important to note, we want an effective spiritual life, but God’s will is not easy, not supposed to be easy. If it were easy, you wouldn’t need God. When I was growing up, my pastor used to remind us that God’s will for our lives will often be a challenge much bigger than ourselves, precisely so, so that it will require God to do it. You want a vision that’s way bigger than you so that God’s got to do it. There’s no such thing as an obstacle-free path. There’s no such thing. If you ask God to strengthen your forehead like flint and fill your heart with love, thorns and thistles may be difficult, but they cannot stop you when God is with you, when He sent you for His purpose.

C. Don’t fear failure

Then I want you to notice this part, don’t fear obstacles, don’t fear failure, whether they listen to you or not, because they are difficult, rebellious people. They may not listen to you. Don’t fear failure. Now, this is a big one because many people do fear failure. It’s one of those big fears. It keeps people from moving. This word here is one of the most freeing truths in the whole passage, whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious house. One thing is for certain, they will know that a prophet of God spoke to them. See, God measures effectiveness by faithfulness. Let me say it again. God measures effectiveness by faithfulness.

Later in this chapter, He calls Ezekiel to be a watchman on the wall, a watchman on the wall, with position on the wall, so he can see out on the horizon. If there was an enemy or trouble coming, then his job was to sound the alarm and warn the people. You warn the people. Whether they listen or not, your job is to warn the people.

The fear of failure has paralyzed more believers than almost anything else. Don’t listen. “What if they reject? What if nothing happens? What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s not effective?” God simply asks that we be found faithful. It’s incumbent upon servants that they be found faithful. I was thinking of an illustration.

This might surprise you. Many years ago, I was invited to speak at a Muslim mosque. They invited me. I’m going. They wanted me to speak on the Trinity. Every time I brought up Jesus and the redemption on the cross, they started hissing and shouting and raising their voices. You want to talk about a hostile crowd? I’m so thankful for you. I haven’t had hissing and shouting since that day, praise God. I didn’t win any converts that day, but I was faithful to what God called me to do. For some reason, they invited me back.

There’s freedom in the effective spiritual life. You’re not responsible for the results. You’re responsible for the obedience. Take Noah. Noah, it says, was the preacher of righteousness to his generation. His generation lived a long time. He was the preacher of righteousness like for 120 years and had zero converts, except for his own family. How about that for effectiveness? Zero converts, yet he’s listed in Hebrews 11 as the hall of faith, the famous ones who moved by faith. Why is he listed there? He had zero converts because he was obedient by faith. Noah was obedient. He built the ark. He preached righteousness. Even if they didn’t listen, he preached righteousness, that the results belong to God. The same is true for you, for me.

That step of obedience in your marriage, that ministry you feel called to start even though it seems impossible, be faithful. Love casts out fear of failure. What has fear of failure kept you from attempting? Today’s the day to stand on your feet. God is not asking for perfect results. He’s asking for a willing heart. When you obey, people will know that a child of God was among them.

II. Feast on God’s Word

Next thing I want to show you in this chapter, feast on the Word of God. I realize I’ve got to move through a little faster. Feast on the Word of God. Notice Chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, and then also in Chapter 3, “You, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Open your mouth and eat what I’m giving to you.” “Look, behold, a hand was there. A scroll was in it. ‘Son of man, eat this scroll. Open your mouth. Eat what I’m giving to you.’ I opened my mouth. He fed me the scroll.” “‘Son of man, feed your stomach. Fill your body with the scroll which I’m giving to you.’ I ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth.”

This is so powerful about how God prepares the effective spiritual life. This is about the Word of God in the soul. Before He sends Ezekiel out, He makes this word become part of the inner man. Not just information. Don’t just repeat. “No, I want it as nourishment for your soul first, Ezekiel. It’s got to minister to you first.” Let the Word of God reside deeply upon you first. Before you speak a word, let this word reside upon you. Maybe we can say it this way. Choose your diet wisely. He begins with a warning. “Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth. Eat what I give you.”

A. Choose your diet wisely

There’s an old saying. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. You are what you eat. It’s true. Spiritually speaking, it’s absolutely true. What you take into your soul day after day will shape who you become. This is one of the most important principles you will ever find in the Word of God. This is so important to grasp. People want to change. People want to be transformed. They don’t recognize the significance of this right here. The people of Israel were taking into their souls, eating the lies of the world because they were consuming idols of the world, philosophies of the world, compromises, rebellious attitudes.

These inputs were affecting their soul, making them hard, stubborn, and malnourished. Their souls were dying because they were poisoning their souls by what they were taking in, by what they were eating, by what they were consuming. God is preparing Ezekiel for an effective spiritual life. What you take into your soul will determine the condition of your soul. It’s very important. One of the most important principles.

Several years ago, I was going through something I really needed God to answer. “God, I am going to pray. I’m going to fast. I don’t know how long this is going to take. I’m going to do a Daniel fast, which means I’m going to eat only the healthiest foods. While I’m fasting, I’m praying, no Snickers bars for me. I’m going to just eat healthy.” I actually started juicing during this time, vegetables and fruit juices. I tell you what, it felt good. You start feeling really good. Did you know, by the way– side note. Totally side note. Did you know that you can drink straight spinach juice, and it’s like drinking liquid energy? You could just like, “Woo.” Your eyes like, “Whoa.” Then you start singing. No, just kidding. I’m not going to do that. It’s actually true. I’m as amazed. I see him. I ordered a–

I have in my office freeze-dried spinach powder, which you can mix with water, and– woo. When the afternoon pickup, woo. Side note, let’s get back to the word. In other words, it wasn’t just physical, I’m praying too. What a difference. My heart is more sensitive to the Lord. Prayer is more focused. I found a direct connection. The same principle applies to your soul. When you fill your mind, your soul with the Word of God, the Word of God is alive. It’s active. It’s moved by the Spirit. When you fill your mind with, “Oh, what today? Social media drama,” negative news all the time, toxic things that poison, what do you expect?

Make taste for the moment, but it leaves you so weak. It leaves you so ineffective because you can’t have both. You can’t have both. You got to choose. You got to choose what you want to live. You got to choose a path. You got to choose. Can’t have both. Doesn’t work that way. Life does not work that way. It doesn’t work that way. You cannot put poison in your soul and then have a powerful soul. You can’t. You can’t drink poison and then be physically strong. You can’t. Doesn’t work that way. Contrast that with Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55, verse 2, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Why do you spend your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Delight yourself in abundance.” He’s talking spiritually here. Eat. Bring to your soul that which is good. Delight yourself in spiritual things, spiritual abundance. Delight is a great word. Love that word. God will send His word. Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be which goes forth from my mouth. I send it, and it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, without succeeding in the matter for which I send it.”

B. God’s Word is sweet to the soul

God’s Word is alive, active, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. God’s Word accomplishes its purpose. When you eat it, when you abide it in your soul, it does something. It strengthens you, changes you, it prepares you, because it’s alive. Then notice this, and God’s Word is sweet to the soul. It was sweet as honey to my mouth. Even though it says on it written front and back were lamentations, mourning, and woe, it was sweet because it was God’s Word. One of the great mysteries of the Christian life, God’s Word might be strong, might be confrontational, might be challenging, but it becomes sweet to the soul to the one who loves Him, because God sent it out of love to accomplish a purpose.

The Holy Spirit uses the Word that is hidden in the heart. “Your Word have I hidden in my heart,” David said. You can’t bring to remembrance what you never put in. “Well, what was that? Well, did I never studied it.” You can’t wield the sword that you never pick up. God can’t comfort you with promises that you’ve never hidden in your heart. This is why we emphasize reading through the Bible again and again here at Calvary. This is why we go through the whole Bible. It’s about filling your heart with truth so the Spirit has something to work with. You need something to work with when that moment comes when you need it.

Jeremiah 15, interestingly, very similar word. Jeremiah wrote, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart. For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of Hosts.” I love how Pastor Chuck Smith from Calvary Chapel used to teach this. He would often say that the secret to ministry wasn’t being the most gifted or the most educated. It was about being filled with the Word of God. The Word of God is alive. It’s active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Chapter 3, verse 10, “Son of man, take into your heart My words. Listen to them very closely.”

Pastor Chuck used to tell us at pastors’ conferences that two pastors, he would say, “To prepare a message from the Bible, don’t go to commentators. Don’t start there. Start with the Word and read it over and over and over and over and over. Whatever section you’re teaching from, read it over and over and over and over and over and over until it’s written on your heart. Don’t you dare teach that word until it’s written on your own heart. I found that to be so true. This is the fourth time we’ve gone through the entire Word of God. We started in Matthew, so we’re almost done with the fourth. To prepare a message, I will read it over and over and over.

C. Blessed be the glory of the Lord

We’ve done this four times. Can you imagine? I’m the one who’s blessed. I get blessed. I have to agree with Jeremiah. It has become the joy and the delight of my heart. I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before in the Word of God that are amazing, glorious things. This is the effective spiritual life. He’s speaking to you and to me. He will use the word. “Eat this scroll. It’s sweet. It’s sweet. It’s good. It’s good.”

Lastly, we’ll close with this. Blessed be the glory of the Lord. That’s how we’re going to end. Notice Chapter 3:12-14, “The Spirit, at the end of all this, lifted me up. I heard a great rumbling behind me, ‘Blessed be the glory of the Lord in this place.’ I heard the sound of the wings of the beings touching one another, the sound of wheels, a great rumbling. The Spirit lifted me up, took me away.” Notice, and I went, embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.”

Notice that part. Why did he go away embittered in rage? Because now he sees from God’s perspective how sin has destroyed his people. He can see it now, all that we’ve gone through. Why are we even in this place? Why are we even in Babylon? Why are we in Jerusalem? Now he sees it for what it is. Now he sees it in a rage, like this inner strength of, “Mmm.” Sees it now. It’s true for you and me as well in this sense. Now, this isn’t a righteous anger. This is not human weakness anger. People get angry, and it’s oftentimes a human weakness, like, “No, no, sorry. That’s not God. That’s you. That’s you and your weakness. That’s not God.” This is different. This is a righteous thing.

See, when God does a beautiful work on your soul, and you see the beauty of the Lord in all His majesty, it changes how you see sin. Now you see it in all of its ugliness. Most people can’t see how ugly it is. They can’t. They’re blinded. You see it. When you see the glory, when you see the beauty, how beautiful is the Lord, you see sin differently. You see that you don’t want it in your life. Like, “I don’t want that ugly thing, that ugliness. I don’t want that. Get that out of my life. I want the beauty of glory. That’s what I want.” A rage is like, “No, get that out of my life. I don’t want this. This thing is destroying me. This thing is going to stand in the way of what God wants to– I don’t want that. Get that out of my life.”

A rage. It’s a righteous rage. It’s good. It’s not human. It’s spiritual. It’s good. God’s doing something glorious when you see it that way. Oh, that’s revival. That’s revival. That’s what God wants to do in us. Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for showing us your way. God, we want the effective spiritual life. Fill us with your Spirit. Show us your glory. Show us how great is your love. Show it to us that we might stand in awe of your beauty and your majesty, and then be filled with your purpose. Send us to be effective in our calling and purpose. Church, how many would say to the Lord, “That’s my prayer right there. I want that for my life. Do that in me, God.” Would you raise your hand as a way of just expressing that to the Lord? “Do that in me, God. I want that. I want that. Do it in me.”

Lord, thank you for your filling. Thank you for your Spirit of love. Thank you for your glory. Thank you for your beauty. Thank you for your majesty. We give you praise and glory for it all in Jesus’ name. Everybody said– Let’s give the Lord praise and glory. Amen? Amen.

A View into Heaven’s Glory
Ezekiel 1:1-11
May 23-24, 2026

Ezekiel 1, beginning in verse 1, and the title of our message, A View into Heaven’s Glory. A View into Heaven’s Glory. By the way, thank you for letting us have a little time off for our anniversary. I said to my wife, “Would you do a little vacation?” and she said, “Our marriage is a vacation,” she said. Well, she didn’t exactly say it that way. I think what she actually said was, “When I married you, you were my last resort.” I’m pretty sure that’s– Okay, that’s just a joke. Actually, 42 years. We’re celebrating 42 years.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your Word and for sending it forth in power to reveal Your heart after us, to bless, to show us the way of life and great blessing. God, pour out Your Spirit through Your Word, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said amen. Ezekiel is a prophet to the exiles, there in Babylon. He was taken as an exile in the second wave. You might remember there were three waves that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem.

The first was when he took the elite, the skilled, some of the best and the brightest of the young men to serve in his administration. These were men such as Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Meshach, Shadrach, amongst others. This strategy was very effective. It helped make Babylon one of the greatest empires the world had ever seen. In the second wave, he took the king himself, the royal court, 7,000 elite soldiers, and several thousand craftsmen and artisans. Ezekiel was in that second wave.

In the third and final wave, he took the last of the kings in the light of David, Zedekiah, and all who remained in the city, left in Jerusalem, only a few of the poorest and the destitute, he left there in the land. Ezekiel is a book of transformation, revival, and prophecy. When you study prophecy of the latter days, you almost turn to Ezekiel all the time, that and Daniel and Revelation, which we will also, of course, study.

If you remember, Jeremiah declared that those who gave themselves up to exile were called the good figs. Those who remained or fled to Egypt were called the bad figs who would never be heard from again. Now, those in Babylon were not called good figs because they had good hearts. No, actually, they had obstinate and rebellious hearts, but they were called this because of what they

would become. God was prophesying a revival that would happen as they went through the fire and the tumult of the exile. They would be transformed into those good figs by a work of revival, and that’s what Ezekiel is called to do, to speak that word of revival and transformation to the exiles that would transform their hearts, and that they would seek God with all of their heart to be transformed by the moving of God upon their souls. In other words, they needed the prophet. They needed the word of God to make this revival happen.

In other words, God can use troubles and difficulties and tumult, and He does today, by the way. God is still doing a work of transforming and reviving, and He will use trouble and tumult and difficulty to do it, but it’s not only the trouble and the difficulty that brings that revival. No, it’s the work of God. You need the outpouring of the word. You need the outpouring of the Spirit, and that’s what we’re going to see when you look at the Book of Ezekiel, but it’s also a book of prophecy.

As I mentioned, later, we’re going to read that he’s going to prophesy about the regathering and the restoring of Israel in the latter days. We are actually seeing that aspect of the prophecy fulfilled before our eyes in the sense that May 14th, 1948, Israel became a nation again. We see, as you look at prophecy, that Israel will be the center of the unfolding of prophecy in the latter days, and Jerusalem will be the very center, and then Temple Mount will be the very epicenter of the unfolding events of the latter days prophecy.

He will also give a vision in this book about a valley of drying bones coming to life. It’s a famous vision of national resurrection. He’s also going to speak about a coalition of nations that come against Israel in a battle called the Battle of Gog and Magog, who will attack Israel while she is at peace. This will happen in the latter days. Whenever we study prophecy of the latter days, we study that. He speaks of a new temple that will be rebuilt in the latter days. In fact, in Israel today, they are preparing for the rebuilding of the temple in fulfillment of the Book of Ezekiel in the latter days.

He will speak of the return of God’s glory that will be greater in the latter days than it even was in the beginning. That is amazing. We’ll read it when we get there. He speaks of a river of life that flows out of Jerusalem, that flows into the desert, and wherever it flows, there is life. It’s a picture of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter days. All right, that is all the backstory. Now, Ezekiel 1 is where God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet to the exiles there living in Babylon, but before He sends him to deliver the message of God, Ezekiel is given a view into heaven itself.

Before He sends him as a prophet, He’s going to show him the glory and the throne room of God. He sees the glory that surrounds the throne, including, he says, four living creatures that abide there in the presence of God before the throne. We know them as angelic beings. He describes what he saw, and in so doing, he gives us a glimpse into heaven’s glory. Now, he’s limited by the fact that he’s got to describe a heavenly vision with earthly words.

Oh, if we could only see with our own eyes, oh, what glory it would be, and one day we will see with our own eyes, for this he’s describing is the hope of heaven. In a world of woe and such as we live, we need words of hope. Jesus describes that there will be troubles and greater trials that will come upon the world as we draw nearer to the latter days. I believe that we’re going through now that period Jesus described as the birth pangs leading up to the latter days.

Jesus said in Matthew 24, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes, but all these are merely the beginning of birth pangs, Jesus said. In other words, trouble and trials will increase with greater intensity as the end draws near. In another place, He says, “But take courage. I have overcome the world.” We know how this story ends. After all these things, there is the hope of heaven.

Paul, you want to talk about enduring trials and troubles, surely that would be Paul, but he endured these things because he had the hope of heaven. Notice Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The glory of that, he says, is far beyond comparison to anything that we experience in this world of woe.

When you’re enduring and suffering, you need something to hold onto that’s beyond. You need to hold onto such a hope that future glory is heaven itself. If you don’t have that hope, if you don’t have that assurance, let this be the day that you find it. God is pursuing you. God is knocking on the door of your heart. God wants to have a personal relationship to you, and God wants to show you the greatness of His glory.

You wonder, have you ever wondered, what is heaven like? Many would love a view into heaven. What is that future glory that God has in store for those who are believers in Jesus Christ? Is it a place where there’s beautiful golf courses, or maybe perfect fishing lakes, or perhaps a place where you can eat incredible, delectable, delightful food, and never gain any weight? That’d be awesome. No, he describes in Ezekiel 1 a heavenly vision where there is glory. He beholds the throne of God and all that surround him. Words are not adequate to describe. We’re brought with Ezekiel into this glimpse of heaven. He describes the glory.

This is an amazing scene that he describes. There’s a throne in heaven, one sitting on the throne, radiant in glory. There were four living creatures before the throne, angelic beings. We come to understand from the Book of Revelation that these four living angelic beings declare the glory of God and never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” There’s something majestic and glorious about this declaration that they say over and over and over, like, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

There is this amazing view he gives of the glory he describes. The glory. When you think about standing before the throne of the living God and the glory that he describes, the radiance of the eminence of God’s presence moving in glory. Can you imagine standing there in that place of glory, the fullness of glory? What would be in your heart? It’s an awesome, ominous thing that many have in their minds to stand before the throne of the living God.

God is love. Is that not true? God is love. When you stand there, and you abide in the glory, that which fills your soul is the glory of His holiness, and love will pervade your soul. Can you imagine the love that just fills the soul, the joy, the peace? This is the radiance of God’s glory that He moves. What is amazing is that He says that you can move in this glory even now.

Everyone who receives the Lord Jesus Christ, if you’ve opened your heart to receive the Lord, that He pours out the Holy Spirit, and He says the glory that abides in your soul is the glory that abided even greater that abided in Moses, it is the very glory that comes from the throne of God, and you can have that glory abiding in your soul even now. Yes, let’s give the Lord praise. Amen. [applause] Amen.

These four living creatures, in many ways, they are the ones nearest to the throne. You see in the image of the faces of these angelic beings, a picture which represents the glory, the nature, the character of God; there is the face of a lion, the face of an ox, the face of man, and the face of an eagle. Each of these describe the transforming power of God upon the soul. That which God desires to do is seen in the faces of these angelic beings.

You are transformed by the outpouring of glory into His image, and it is seen in the faces of these angelic beings in a glorious, beautiful description. Let’s read it. We’re in Ezekiel 1:1. That is the longest introduction in the history of sermons. Ezekiel 1, “Now it came about in the 30th year on the fifth day of the fourth month,” many believe this is his age. A priest must be 30 years old in order to minister, so he’s giving us, we believe, his age. It’s very exact.

He says, “While I was by the River Chebar amongst the exiles, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile,” how exact is that, “the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar, and there the hand of the Lord was upon him.”

He says, “I looked. Behold, a storm wind coming from the north.” He’s describing now that which is the throne in all its glory coming in this vision. He says, “A great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. Within it, there were these figures resembling four living beings.” We know they’re angelic beings.

“And this was their appearance: they had human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, and their feet were like calves’ hooves, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings and on their 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 when they moved, each went straight forward. As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces, and their wings were spread out above. Each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies.”

Would you move to verse 26? I want you to see this description here. We’d looked at the other verses on Wednesday, but notice verse 26, “Now above the expanse that was over their heads, there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up,” Isaiah says, high and lifted up, “was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upwards, something like glowing metal looked like fire all around within it.

“From the appearance of His loins and downward, I saw something like fire, and there was radiance around Him. Now, the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds of a rainy day, so was the appearance of this surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and then I heard a voice speaking to me.” I’ll tell you what, if you beheld that glory, you’d fall on your face too.

I. Have the Heart of a Lion

What a beautiful, amazing picture of the glory of the throne of God and these four living creatures that represent the nature, the character of God’s holiness, that which He does bring forth in the image of God sent forth to transform men in that image represented in these four faces. He wants to do this transforming work in your soul by that glory, starting with this image of the face of a lion. In other words, have the heart of a lion. Jesus is called the lion from the tribe of Judah, so what a powerful and appropriate picture is this, seen in the face of the lion.

The qualities are clear, right? Authority, power, strength, boldness, these majestic symbols represent that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He wants to transform you so that you have this heart. This is that which God does in the outpouring of His glory, transforms you into His image, into His nature, into His character, and is seen in the face of the lion. Authority. Authority requires a certain boldness, you might say.

A. Authority requires boldness

In Scripture, authority is sometimes represented by a key. The one who holds the key has authority to open the door. Notice Revelation 1:17-18, He says, “Do not be afraid. I am the first, I am the last, I am the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” Then would you notice this, “And I have the keys of death, and I have the keys of hell.” I tell you what, there’s something powerful about that. You read that, it’s like, “That’s my king right there.”

There’s something powerful. “I have the keys of death, and I have the keys of hell.” That is authority. Like when Jesus said to Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” That’s my king right there. That is authority right there. Can we give God the praise, right? Jesus said in Matthew 28, “All authority has been given unto Me.” There’s my king, all authority, in heaven and on earth. That’s all authority.

Then he says, “Therefore, I say to you, I say, Go. Go therefore. Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That is a great promise. “All authority has been given to me, and I am with you. Go. Go in that authority.” That’s what he’s saying.

After the resurrection, there’s this story that unfolds. A great revival broke out in Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders had Peter and the others arrested, but an angel opened the gates of the prison, and the disciples went right back out, teaching in the temple, so they arrested them again and brought them before a council, the Jewish council, but a certain Jewish leader named Gamaliel corrected them. Notice these words, because it speaks of it very powerfully.

Acts 5, “And if what these men are doing should be of men, it will be overthrown, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may be found fighting against God.” In other words, if they go by God, they’re going by the authority of God, and you will not stand against them. The authority of God goes with men, but notice this principle, because it’s a very important principle in Scripture: to have authority, you must be under authority.

Like, “Go in this, but know this principle.” You must be under authority. Now, to have the bearing of authority, the power of the inner man he’s speaking of, Jesus said in several places, “To him who overcomes,” right? To overcome means that you hold fast to what you have. It means to keep God’s Word with a strength in the inner man to the end. It’s like no compromise. There comes a time to stand. There comes a time to take that place of saying, “No compromise.”

When I think about that, I think many years ago, before modern MP3 players that we have today, before you go back in time, before cassettes, before 8-track players. If you don’t know what this is, ask somebody who looks old. [laughter] Even before that, you had LP albums, Long Play albums, and these had album covers. They’re about this big. With all of that size, many would put these beautiful images or whatever on their album covers.

One of them that really stood out to me was an album cover by a Christian artist named Keith Green. He was part of the Jesus Movement. He put out an album called No Compromise. Got to love the name. The image he put on the front just speaks to it so powerfully well. Here you can see clearly that it’s the image of Nebuchadnezzar. He’s high and lifted up on the throne, carried on the shoulders of men, right? All of these are bowing down except for one.

The meekness and the strength resides there in that posture of saying, “No. No, I will not bow. I will not bend. No. No compromise.” You can almost see the one next to him trying to pull him down. “What are you thinking?” You can’t see his face, but you can imagine it. A meek gentleness of strength residing in the inner man. Such authority that bears upon his soul comes from being under the authority to understand that He’s king and He’s Lord and that He rules and reigns over all the nations of the world.

To come under it well is a key to understand the heart and principles of the Lord. He is the lion. All authority has been given unto Him. You must come under that authority well. There’s a beautiful picture of this in Matthew 8. Love this story. It’s one of my favorite stories out of Matthew. It goes this way. When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion, that is, a Roman officer in the army of Rome, a centurion came to him, begging him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come, and I’ll heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. You only need to say the word, and my servant will be healed.” He understood the authority that resided in just the spoken word of authority of this Jesus of Nazareth. He understood what no one in Israel did, apparently, by what Jesus said. He understood that abiding in this Jesus was the authority of God Himself because He was under the authority of God His Father. All authority of His Father resided in Him, and therefore all He needed to do was speak the word.

He says, “For I too am a man under authority. I know authority. I know how authority is. I, too, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I say to this one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. To another I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” In other words, “All you got to do is speak the word. You have the authority of God, your Father.” When Jesus heard this, He was amazed, and He said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”

B.    To have authority, be under authority

A wonderful understanding is this. To abide under the authority means you recognize that He is the King and the Lord and that He is the captain of your soul, so that when he speaks a word, it has authority to speak into your heart so that when His word speaks, you say, “That word has authority. I will abide in your word, for you are my King, and you are my Lord.” This is abiding under the authority of the Lord well. Those who abide under the authority well are those who then bear the authority of God in their lives. It’s a very important principle.

He then will become the strong man in your life. You can speak on that at great length. Romans 8:31 speaks to it. How or what can we say to these things if God be for us, who can be against us? That is the declaration. Amen? Amen. Yes, let’s give the Lord praise. Exactly right. [applause] Amen. Then you see in the next face, the face of the ox is the heart of the beast of burden to serve, right? Serve with the heart of an ox. It is the nature and character of the Lord.

Jesus came to carry our burdens. Isaiah 53, “Surely our griefs and sorrows He Himself carried.” He carried our sins. He took our sins upon himself and carried the greatest burden of our soul is that, which condemned our souls. He carried it Himself. This quality of the Lord, He says, “I want this to be seen in you, be transformed by the glory of God’s heart and character, that you would then have this heart.”

Jesus said, “He who desires to be first, let him be the last. He who desires to be the greatest, let him be the servant of all. For in the same way, the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” That is the heart of the Lord seen in the outpouring of His glory that will transform any who stand before the glory. You open your heart to receive glory. You will be transformed into this. It’s the heart of the Lord.

II. Serve with the Heart of an Ox

Be steadfast. That’s one of the qualities of it. Be steady and faithful in your calling or purpose. God calls you with a purpose. God sends you out with a purpose. Be steady and faithful in it. That’s the wonderful quality of an ox, you apply that to your faith. Like Galatians 6:9, “Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap if you do not grow weary.” A farmer in those days, if he had something difficult to plow, you need an ox. You got big rocks, you need an ox for that. You got hard ground, you need an ox for that. Powerful, sure-footed, steady. It’s a beautiful picture of that heart of the Lord in it, transforming us by it.

An interesting factoid about an ox many don’t know is that an ox is actually highly trainable. A farmer can direct an ox with a simple word of direction. He can speak a word, and the ox will go to the right. He can speak a word, the ox will go to the left. Now, that is a beautiful picture of obedience as the heart of the servant to send with a steady faithfulness in the purpose for which God sent it.

A. Be steady and faithful

1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Now, one of the qualities of that heart, of the beast of burden, the qualities of an ox, is that he does his work without complaining, in contrast to a donkey, who will work, but there’ll be a lot of drama, that attitude he’s speaking of, but the ox is steady and faithful. No attitude, no drama, just a steady fulfilling of God’s purpose.

B. Do the difficult things

There you see it in this quality. Do the difficult things. Carry the burdens that are difficult. In every house, in every ministry, there are jobs no one wants to do, but those with servant hearts are willing to do the difficult things that other people are unwilling to do. That’s how you know they have the heart of a servant in it. Don’t be afraid to do the difficult things. I was thinking of an illustration. After we were married, my wife was pregnant with our first child.

I got to tell you, when we found out that she was pregnant and going to have a baby, I was so excited, like, “I’m all in, right? I’m going to be the coach. I’m going to go to all the classes. Not only am I going to be the coach, I’m going to step it up; I’m going to be a cheerleader.” I even got my cheers down, right? “Push him out, push him out, way out.” [laughter] She didn’t seem to appreciate that. All right, so we had the baby. We bring the baby home.

We’re saying, “I’m going to get up at night. I’m in, I’m in. I’m going to do the tough things. I’m going to change the poopy diapers. I’m in.” That is until, for whatever reason, she decided to go to cloth diapers. Do you know that you have to rinse cloth diapers? [laughter] There is a line, and we just hit it. Then she says, “You’ve been so helpful. You’ve done so many wonderful, helpful things, but you’ve never rinsed out the diapers.”

I thought, “All right. All right, I’m in. I’m going to do this thing.” [laughs] I literally got a clothespin and put it on my nose as I rinsed out those diapers, and I’ve been in counseling ever since. [laughter] I’m going to do the hard thing. I tell you, we are drawing near the latter days, and difficult times will come. Those who have a heart of the servant will be very needed in those days. 2 Timothy 3, realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy. In other words, chaos will reign in the unfolding of these difficult days.

Those who have a heart of a servant to serve the Lord in it will stand in great contrast to the world. How do you know if you have a heart of a servant? Well, perhaps two things: one, by how you react when people treat you like one, and two, if you find true pleasure in the serving. That’s the heart of those who carry the heart of the Lord in the burdens. Then lastly, the face of man and the face of the eagle. God desires both humility and greatness.

III.       God Desires both Humility and Greatness

These living creatures, these angelic beings, are those which are closest to the presence of God. In the vision that John gives us in the Book of Revelation, we know that, also, there are 24 elders around the throne, sitting on thrones themselves, and crowns are upon their heads, but they fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they cast their crowns before the Almighty. In other words, there’s greatness, there’s power, there’s authority in each of them, but there’s also great humility. It’s a quality of the heart of the Lord, and it’s seen in the face, the image of the man here, and the angelic beings. The face of man is humility.

1. The face of man is humility

Jesus referred to Himself as Son of man more than any other way that He spoke of Himself, more than 80 times. Ezekiel is called the son of man, and that brings you to the question: Is humility an aspect of God? Is God humble? Is that an aspect of His character? Well, I bring to you Philippians 2:7-8. He, Jesus, “Emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man,” thus, the image of a man here is very important, he says, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The humility of what He became is amazing.

I also give you this verse in 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul describes that we who are believers in Jesus Christ have been sent as ambassadors to represent the heart of God to an unbelieving world with the heart to reconcile sinners to Himself. Take this message. 2 Corinthians 5 then says, we are therefore ambassadors for Christ. We therefore entreat you. The word “entreating” means to ask in all humility. Then he says, “Therefore, we beg you in the name of Jesus to be reconciled to God.” That is an amazing verse.

This is God speaking through these ambassadors sent to reconcile sinners? Yes. What is their message? “We are entreating you, and therefore, we beg you in the name of Jesus Christ, we beg you to be reconciled to God.” Don’t let the enemy win. Don’t let your soul be destroyed. God loves you, man. He says, “I therefore beg you in the name of Jesus Christ, I beg you to be reconciled to God.” That is powerful. You see the heart of the Lord, the love that He has for sinners.

“I’m begging you. Don’t let the enemy win. Don’t let your life be destroyed. I’ve made a way for sinners to be reconciled to the living God.” What a beautiful picture is this? God gives glory and honor to those who understand the heart of humility. Matthew 23, the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself, whoever puffs himself up, shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. Beautiful picture of those who understand the heart of the Lord, in that which God does by His glory is seen in that which He pours out in humility.

B. The eagle is the majesty of God

Then lastly, the eagle. The eagle is the majesty of God. Oh, what a beautiful– He is the Son of God portrayed here in this beautiful, majestic image of the eagle. You know Psalm 91 speaks to it so well. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Ah, the drawing near to the glory. Then he goes, “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge, for His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark.”

Ah, the majesty of His glory pictured here. You open your heart before the throne of God, and He will fill you with His majesty. Ah, beautiful. The eagle soaring high, lifted by the wind. The Holy Spirit literally means “wind,” by the words in Greek, the power of God, and we are in God’s majesty when we walk by and live by the Holy Spirit of the living God. “I will pour out my glory. I will pour out my presence upon your soul, and the majesty of on high will abide within and strengthen your soul because you have abided in the glory of His majesty.” Amen. You give a little praise. Exactly right.

It’s like Isaiah 40:31. Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. He’s going to do a work in the inner man by the majesty of the outpouring of His glory, and they will therefore mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. Oh, the majesty of His glory. Stand before the throne. Open your heart, and He’ll fill you with majesty. All that He is, He says, “I will be unto you.”

In the outpouring of His glory, in the outpouring of His majesty, He will transform your heart and transform your soul. How beautiful, how beautiful it is to dwell in the glory, in the majesty of the Almighty. Open your heart. Open your heart. Desire more of God. Open your heart. He’ll pour out His majesty and His glory. Let’s pray. Lord, we love You, honor You, and thank You for what a beautiful picture is this, that You have invited us to dwell in the majesty, in the nearness of glory.

How beautiful is that? Church, as we’re praying, how many would say to the Lord, “God, I want You to fill my soul with Your majesty. I want my soul to be filled with Your glory. I open my heart to receive. You are love. You are joy. You are peace. You are majesty. You are glory. Fill me. Fill my heart”? Is that your desire? Would you say that to the Lord by just raising your hand and saying, “God, I open my heart to You. Fill me with Your majesty and Your glory”?

Do that upon my soul, God, we pray. God, we love You and honor You for what You’re doing in us today. In Jesus’ name, and everyone said– Can we give the Lord praise and glory and honor? Amen? Amen.

 

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness
Lamentations 3:17-33
May 9-10, 2026

Beginning in verse 17, title of our message, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Lamentations is a very short book. In fact, last week was our first message, and today is our last. It’s just a very short book. Let’s pray. Lord, thank you for your Word. We know that you send it to show us your heart, to reveal to us the way of life and blessing and honor to your name. We ask God that you’ll pour out your spirit through your Word, that you will meet us here by pouring out your spirit of life. In Jesus’ name, and everyone say, Amen.

Many believe Jeremiah wrote this book. It’s a book of lament, which is why it’s called Lamentations. Lamenting the destruction of Israel by the Babylonians. It’s a book of tears and sorrow written as poetry in acrostic form, meaning that there are 22 verses in chapters 1 and 2, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3, there are 66, three verses per letter of the alphabet. It is written that way. Why? So that you can more easily memorize the book. Now, why is that important? Because they wanted to be sure that these tragedies would never be repeated. Learn the lessons so that it never happens again. That’s a great reason, of course. There are great lessons for us in this book.

It’s not just a historical book. It’s very much for us today, particularly in this chapter. It’s a very deep chapter, Love, chapter 3, particularly. Spiritual and nature, touching the deepest matters of life. In many ways, the capstone chapter is because it goes from the lowest point of despair to the highest mountain of hope, and the journey from one to the other is filled with very important, deep life lessons. I tell you, it’s for us today because if you’ve ever gone through something, or maybe you’re going through something now, you need these principles for the victory to show you the way through a dark tragedy, a difficulty.

There are tremendously important principles that God would give to us to bring hope, to strengthen us going through it. Now, Jeremiah begins this chapter by poetically writing as if he himself personifies the grief of all Israel. Notice how he writes, “I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of his wrath. He’s driven me and made me walk in darkness and not light.” Then for the next 18 verses, he just wave after wave of grief, verse after verse, wave after wave, and that’s the way of grief. If you’ve ever gone through a tragedy yourself, a dark night of the soul, perhaps you’ve lost a loved one, you know this is the way of grief.

It washes over you, comes in waves. Of course, it gets better in time. Still, after several years, waves of grief come over me, thinking about our daughter who was killed. Someone once asked me, “When do you get over it?” My response was, “Well, who says I want to?” She is always in my heart, and she always will be until we meet again in the presence of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Can we give God praise for that? Then, after describing waves of grief, he brings it to really the lowest point, which is verses 17 to 18, and that’s where we pick up our story because there is the turning point from that lowest point to the highest mountain of hope.

Let’s read it. We begin in verse 17, where he says, “My soul has been rejected from peace. I have forgotten happiness, so I say my strength is perished, and so is my hope for the Lord. Remember my affliction, my wandering, the wormwood, the bitterness.’ Then he says, ‘Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.” What does he remember? Verse 21 is the beginning of the turn. Now we begin to climb. Now we begin to see hope. Now he begins to show us light. He says, “For this I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope that the Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease.

I. Recall This to Your Mind – and Find Hope

For His compassions, they fail not. They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. For the Lord is my portion,’ says my soul. Therefore, I have hope in Him for the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. It’s good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.” We’ll see this. It’s interesting. “Let him sit alone and be silent since he has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there’s hope. Let him give his cheek to the smiters filled with reproach. For the Lord will not reject forever. If He’s caused grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.”

I tell you, if you’ve ever been through or going through something now, there are very important principles, starting with this. Recall this to your mind, and then find hope. Noticed how he describes, firstly, the darkest part of the grief in verse 17. “My soul has been rejected from peace. I have forgotten happiness.” Now, I know you’ve experienced this. You’re going through something, it is anguish. You’re lying in bed. You’re just tossing this thing over and over, you can’t stop thinking about it, and it just brings anguish and anxiety. There’s no peace. Then he says, “It’s been so long since I’ve known happiness. I’ve forgotten what that’s like.”

Verse 18 is the real low point. He says, “So I say, my strength has perished, so has my hope. All hope is lost. Peace is gone. Happiness is gone. I have no strength. I have no hope. I am undone.” Then, just at the lowest point, just when the night seems the darkest, something stirs in his mind. “This I remember.” This is the key. Very important, if you’re going through this, to remember. “May your soul remember.” Notice he says, “Surely my soul remembers something is stirring. A truth is breaking through.”

A. May your soul remember

Now, verse 21, “For in this I recall to my mind.” Now, this is the breakthrough. See, the mind is where so many people are defeated. It’s how they are considering it, how they’re perceiving it, how they see the thing. The mind is where people are defeated, and the mind is where victory can break through. See, in other words, it’s not only about what happens. There’s a lot of things that happen. There are tragedies. There’s difficulties. There’s challenges. It’s not just what happens, it’s how you see it. It’s how you interpret it. It’s how you process through it in your mind that either will bring defeat or victory.

It’s about how you interpret the events, the tragedies, and the difficulties. There are many biblical examples. For example, there’s Asaph in Psalm 73. From his view, the way he saw it, it troubled him. He says that he saw the prosperity of the wicked. He says, “I was envious of the arrogant, and it bothered me.” This is how he saw it. It’s not right. This is not right. They don’t seem to be troubled like other men. They’re not plagued. They can openly defy. He said, “When I considered this, it was troublesome in my sight.” Then he says, “Until I came into the sanctuary of my God, and then I saw, then I perceived their end. Then I saw it from God’s perspective, God’s view.”

Now, one day they’re going to come to an end. One day, they’re going to have to stand and give an account of their lives. Then he says, “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. Whom have I in heaven but you? The Lord is my strength, and the Lord is my portion. This, he says, “He is my glory.” It’s a wonderful thing. He shifted completely because he saw it differently. How do you see the thing? How do you perceive the thing? It will defeat you or give you victory if you can see it from the perspective of the Lord. For example, there’s Joseph in the Book of Genesis. He’s a young man, and God gives him this vision of grandeur that one day he’s going to arise in a great position of authority, and even his brothers would bow down to him. Wow, what a wonderful vision, he couldn’t wait to share with his brothers. They were not so excited to hear this vision, and so they decided to do something about this dreamer. One day, they had an opportunity. They seized him, threw him into a pit, and then some Midian traders who were coming by, so they sold him as a slave. Brought to Egypt, then purchased by this man Potiphar to be a slave in his house. He was an officer of Pharaoh.

Then it went from bad to worse. Then at one point, Potiphar’s wife betrays him, and then the result of that, he’s thrown into prison. Now, can you imagine what if Joseph perceived it from the view of anger and bitterness? What if he would have looked at all this and would have said, God, what is this? You give me a vision, and then what? Trouble upon trouble upon trouble? God, this isn’t right. It’s not fair, and I’m not going to follow you anymore. No. He saw it from the view of God. How you see the thing matters immensely.

How you perceive it, how you understand it. In fact, later on, of course, as we know the story, God used these very tragedies to bring about that vision, that greater purpose of his life. Later on, he, in fact, becomes one of the great ones, only Pharaoh is above him. The brothers do come to Egypt, of course, to find help from the famine. They don’t recognize him at first, but they bow down to him. Then he reveals himself. Then he says the words that give the right understanding of perspective. “Look, you meant it for evil. That’s how you saw it. You meant it for evil, God meant it for good.” God meant it for good. The way that you see the thing matters immensely.

Notice, for example, in verse 39, where he gives this perspective. Notice, he says, “Why should any living mortal or any man offer a complaint in view of his sin?” If we were honest about our sins, we would have nothing to complain about. What’s interesting is that the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ gives a wonderful perspective on that. If we could see our sin from God’s view, we would understand what a glorious good news is this gospel, for God offers to take your sin and remove it from the pages of your heart and write it on the cross of Calvary, so that Jesus pays for your sin and pays for them in full, so that your sins can be forgiven and you can be reconciled to God. I’ll tell you what, that gives a completely different view of the thing.

B. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses never cease

From that perspective of grace, it causes your heart to be humbled, and it causes you to be very, very thankful to God for what He’s done for you with Jesus Christ. Amen. Let’s give the Lord praise right. Notice then, he says, “For this I recall to my mind. This is the key to the breakthrough.” What is it? He recalls that the Lord’s lovingkindnesses never cease. Kindness, God’s kindness, expression of his faithful love never ceases, never fails, and it never will. This he remembers. It calls to his mind. In spite of our ugly sin, in spite of our wayward hearts, his love never fails, it never has, and it never will.

See, when you remember a truth, you take hold of that truth, then it becomes yours, like I believe. Then you take hold of this truth, and you know that God is speaking a better word to your soul. God is speaking a word. Now you take hold of that word. Now that word abides upon your soul. Now it’s breaking forth. Now it’s bringing light. Now it’s bringing forth hope. Therefore, verse 21, that’s why I have hope. See, this is why I mentioned this Wednesday, but it’s important. This is why it’s so important that you and God have a history together.

See, when God has walked with you through the perils and difficulties and valleys and challenges of life, when you’ve walked together and you’ve seen God move in the troubles, you’ve seen God move in the difficulties, and He’s proven Himself to you over and over and over, then when you enter into another dark time or another valley or another tragedy, that you can then recall it to your mind. I know my God, and I know how He moves. He’s done it before, and he’ll do it again. See, this is very important. You and God have a history together.

I tell you, I’m getting old enough. I’ve walked many years on this earth, and I have seen God do it over and over and over. I can give you story after story after story. God has done it. God has saved. God has brought forth favor. God has done it over and over and over. I know he’s done it before, and every time I enter a new challenge, I say, I know He’ll do it again, and he’ll do it for you. Do you believe this? Can we give God praise for this? Right? “This I recall to my mind, verse 22 and 23, that his compassion, God’s heart of compassion, never fails. That his mercies are new every morning.”

C. His mercies are new every morning

Every morning, he’s breaking through the darkness. A light is breaking through in his soul. He remembers the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. You can begin again. God does not hold a grudge. He offers forgiveness and hope, and grace. You can begin again. Dawn is breaking upon the soul. This is such a wonderful truth that one of the greatest hymns of the church is based on Lamentations 3. Many of you will recognize one of the greatest hymns, I think, ever written for the church out of Lamentations 3. You’ll recognize it, I think.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with thee.

Thou changest not,

I’m not going to sing the whole thing for you.

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness,

Great is thy faithfulness,

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

Oh, it’s beautiful. You want to just declare it. You want to just sing it from your soul. Remember, never forget, call it to your mind. All that I have needed, thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. It’s beautiful. It’s like, I recall this through my mind. When you’re going through it, recall it to your mind. Remind your soul. It’s a very important principle of even speaking to one’s own soul. Do you speak to yourself? Do you know that it’s a sign of intelligence to talk to yourself? I know. I looked this up on the internet, and it’s true.

You see examples of it. David, for example, would speak to his own soul. Why so downcast, O my soul? Why so downhearted within me? Trust in God, man. He’s speaking to his own soul. When you’re going through it, there’s anxiety in it that you can speak to it. This I recall to my mind, the compassions of the Lord do not fail. His loving-kindness never ceases. His mercies are new every morning. That hope, see there’s something beautiful about mercies new every morning. There’s something beautiful about that morning. There’s a bigger picture. This hope is not for this life only. This hope is eternal. When this life is over, there will be that bright, early, that morning that begins eternity after the darkness of this world has faded from sight. Oh, what a glorious morning. I was thinking of a story I read. Dr. Criswell, who was a pastor of a church in Dallas, wrote of a time that he was on a flight and happened to sit next to a well-known theologian. They were going to the same conference. He struck up a conversation, only to discover that the man had recently lost his son to death. He describes what happened.

He says, “My boy came home from school with a fever. At first, we thought it was one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. Doctors said that they could not save the boy, that he would die. We set up a vigil next to his bed. He said, The day came, it was the middle of the day. The little boy, whose strength was going from him and vision and brain were getting clouded, said, the middle of the day. He said, “Daddy, it’s getting dark, isn’t it?” He said to his son, “Yes, son, it’s getting dark, very dark.” He said, “Daddy, it’s time for me to go to sleep, isn’t it?” He said, “Yes, son, it’s time to go to sleep.”

He said he had a way of folding his hands under his head. He turned his head to the side, rested them on his hands. He said, “Goodnight, Daddy. I’ll see you in the morning.” He closed his eyes, stepped into heaven. The professor just looked out the window for a long time, finally turned back, and he said with tears, “I can hardly wait till the morning.” There’s something beautiful about the understanding of that bright morning. This dark world is going to fade from sight, and that glorious morning when we see him face to face and we hear those words, “Well done, well lived, my good and faithful son, enter into the joy of your master.” Amen. Amen.

II. The Lord is Your Portion

Then he gives us this pillar. Notice this next great pillar of faith in verse 24. “For the Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope.” There it is again. This is why I have hope. What does he mean when he says the Lord is my portion? Well, when Israel entered the land that God promised them, they apportioned, divided the land by tribe. The larger ones got larger amounts, et cetera. The priests did not receive a portion or an inheritance. God says, “No, for the Levites, I will be your portion. I will be your inheritance. I submit to you that the Levites got the better part.”

If that is their inheritance, they have the privilege and the honor of having this great treasure that God himself would be their portion, their inheritance. It’s like what Asaph wrote in Psalm 73. “Whom have I in heaven but you?” Then he says, “Besides you, I desire nothing on this earth. You can take everything else away, but if I have God as my portion, I have everything my soul desires. He is the greatest treasure of my heart. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart. God is my portion forever.” That great treasure is God himself, and that great treasure is greater than any darkness, greater than any tragedy of life.

I was thinking of, for example, many of you know the story of Fanny Crosby, and that she was blind. Interestingly, she was not born blind. She was born with perfect sight. Something happened when she was very young, and an inflammation on her eyes, but the doctors wrongly applied a mustard poultice, and it burned her eyes, blinded her. She was blind the rest of her life. She wrote later, she says, “It seemed intended by the providence of God that I should be blind all my life, but I thank God for it. If perfect earthly sight was offered to me tomorrow, I would not accept it because something happened in her heart and in her soul. Her soul understood what many people do not understand.

In fact, she would go on to write more than 8,000 hymns and poems, some of the most powerful in the church. In her blindness, she experienced the presence of God in a beautiful and powerful way. She is the one who wrote, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Watching and waiting, looking above, which is a great line. She’s blind. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story. What is your story?

A. Wait for the Lord for He is good

She says, “The story of my life is that God has done such a work that Jesus is mine, a foretaste of glory divine. He is my portion. God is the strength of my heart. This is my story, and this is my song. This is when my soul sings.” God has given me a song to sing. God has given me a story to tell. How about you? Notice then what comes next in verse 25. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. Notice, wait for the Lord, for He is good. What are you waiting for? You’re waiting for God to move. You’re waiting for God to answer the cry of your heart.

You’re going through something, and you pray. You cry out to God in it, and you’re waiting for God to do something, to bring an answer, to bring His favor, to open a door, do something. You’re waiting for God to move. Now, this is a great theme. We’ve seen it throughout our study of the Scriptures, waiting. Waiting, but waiting, it means to wait patiently, eagerly, but patiently. Psalm 130:5-6, “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word I do hope, for my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman waits for the morning.” What a picture is that? You can imagine the watchman. He’s got the night watch, the most difficult watch, the darkest of the night.

Oh, how he waits and longs for the light of the morning to come. It’s like that. Oh, I’m waiting and waiting. With eagerness, I’m waiting. God, I know that you’ve done it before, and I know you’ll do it again, but I wait, and I wait for the Lord patiently. Psalm 27, “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.” Yes, wait for the Lord. Don’t be impatient. If you look to God to be your help in time of trouble, then wait for it. Do not move until you have waited for the Lord and He shows you the way. Wait, don’t move. Notice this in verse 25, seek the Lord while you wait.

B. Seek the Lord while you wait

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. See, in other words, you’re not just waiting in idleness. No, while you’re waiting, you’re seeking Him in the waiting. This is a very, very important principle of life. I cannot emphasize it enough. You’re waiting, you’re waiting, you’re praying, you want God to move, but while you’re waiting, you seek Him in the waiting. For there, something’s happening in the waiting. You are renewing your heart. You’re renewing your soul. You’re drawing nearer and nearer. While you’re waiting, you’re abiding in the glory. You’re abiding in the nearness of God.

This is what it means to seek the Lord. Something happens when you’re seeking the Lord. When you’re abiding in the nearness of God, something happens in your soul. While you’re waiting, God is building something. God is renewing something. God is showing you something. God is preparing you for something. If you seek the Lord in the waiting, it will keep you in peace. Oh, how easy it is to have anxiety, but it will keep you in peace if you wait and seek the Lord in the waiting. Isaiah 26:3-4. Notice the steadfast of mind. Here it is again. The steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace because He trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord we have an everlasting rock. This is what you then recall to your mind. You speak these words to your heart. You begin to speak words of hope and strength and peace. Begins to hold firm and guard your heart and your mind. It’s like Philippians 4:7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, with thanksgiving, bring this request to the Lord, and then the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension.” People will look at you and say, this peace that you have is amazing. This peace is right. “Is beyond comprehension, and it will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.”

Notice what he means in the next few verses, starting in verse 26. “It’s good to wait silently for the salvation of the Lord. You’re waiting. It’s good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him.” Now, I love verse 27 because it speaks a great truth, a very deep truth. If a person can learn this when they are young, they will have a tremendous understanding of life. It’s this, learn to endure well. Waiting with hope, knowing, recalling to your mind that His mercies are new every morning, that His compassions never fail. Learn to endure well.

Wait. Don’t be impatient. Don’t get agitated in your heart. Don’t complain. Don’t get angry. Don’t let your heart become bitter because it’s taking longer than you thought that it should. In other words, wait with a good heart. Wait. Endure well, waiting and seeking and recalling to your mind these great truths. As I was preparing this message, I felt like God wanted me to say to anyone who’s going through perhaps a troubled marriage, don’t give up. Learn to be patient. Endure well while you wait for God to move, but seek God in the waiting. If you seek God in the waiting, something’s going to happen in your heart and in your soul.

I tell you what, if God moves on your soul, God’s got something to work with. God can do great things. I’ve seen Him do it in many, many marriages. I’ve seen Him do it in many, many lives. He’s done it before, and He will do it again. Seek the Lord, do not give up. Weeping may last for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. If there’s grief, He says, “Ah, He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. Wait for His mercies are new every morning.” Then the grand conclusion in verses 40 and 41. “Let us examine our hearts, probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. We lift up our hearts. We lift up our hands toward God of Heaven.”

That’s an expression of revival. That’s an expression of returning to the Lord. It’s like Lamentations 5:21, the great capstone of it all, “Restore us to you, O Lord, to you, and then we will be restored. Renew our days as of old.” This is revival. You lift up your heart, you lift up your hands, and you return. There is where hope is found. There is where life is found. God will renew, God will rebuild, God will restore. This is what God does. He’s done it before, and He will do it again. Lord, we love you and thank you for wonderful truths such as these.

God, I want to pray for anyone here today going through it, that you would show them great truths that they could recall to their mind and therefore have hope. Church, as we’re praying, if that’s you, you’re going through something today, would you say to the Lord, I will wait. I believe that you will move. You’ve done it before, and I know you’ll do it again. I will wait, but while I wait, I seek more of you. I want more of you. Restore my soul first. Do a work on my soul. God, I seek you for this thing, whatever this thing is. I trust it to you. I will wait. I will wait for you to move, but I will seek you while I wait so that you will do a great work on my soul. Rebuild, restore, renew, and do this in me.

Is that your heart? Would you just raise your hand to the Lord as an expression of that prayer? God, I will wait, and while I wait, I will seek your face. I will believe that your mercies are new every morning. You have done it before, and I know you’ll do it again. Lord, thank you for everyone who’s lifted their hands to say, God, we believe. We will seek your face. We will return to you with all our hearts, and we will remember such great truths as these. The Lord’s loving kindness never fails. His mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy Faithfulness. We give you glory and honor for it all in Jesus’ name. Everyone say, “Amen, and amen.” Let’s give the Lord praise.

God Restores the Soul
Lamentations 1:10-20
May 2-3, 2026

Open your Bibles to Lamentations if you would. Lamentations, if you don’t know where that is, go to Jeremiah, turn right. It’s a very small book. The title of our message is God Restores the Soul. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful for your Word. We know that you show us the way of life. Show us the way of blessing and honor to your name. We open our heart and just say, God, pour out your Spirit of life and meet us here in this place. We ask in Jesus’ powerful name.

Most Bible scholars believe that it was Jeremiah who wrote Lamentations. It doesn’t say that in the book, but he was known as the Weeping Prophet. This certainly is a book of weeping and tears. It is a lament, which is why it’s called Lamentations. It is a sorrowful response to the destruction of Israel at the hands of the Babylonians. Interestingly, whenever we go to Israel, we go outside of Jerusalem. There is a garden. There’s a tomb. At the end of the garden, there is a viewpoint, an overlook. There, you can see this cliff.

In the cliff face, the way the rocks are formed in such that when the sun comes over around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, it casts a shadow upon that cliff. What it reveals is the image of a skull, which is why it’s called Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, also known as Calvary. At the base of this mountain or hill is a grotto, a cave, and it’s called Jeremiah’s Grotto. Many believe that this is the place there where Jeremiah would have written the scroll of weeping.

How fitting that the very place that the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel would give his life as a ransom for these people and for the sins of the world would be the very place where Jeremiah would not only weep for the destruction of Israel but write words that would encourage and speak of the restoring of the soul. Now, it’s a very short book. It’s only five chapters, each chapter written in an acrostic form. What does that mean? It means, notice, for example, that Chapter 1 has 22 verses. Chapter 2 has 22 verses.

It means that every verse starts with the next corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters. All five books are the same in that way, except for Chapter 3, which has 66 verses, three verses per letter. Now, you might say, “Why would he write using this form of writing?” Answer, so that all those who follow after could more easily memorize the book. It is a memorizing tool. You might say, “Why would anyone want to memorize something so sad?” That’s a very good question.

The answer is, so that anyone who reads these words takes them to heart, which is what you do when you memorize, that they would learn the lessons contained in it. There are very important spiritual life lessons in the book. These things were written that we would learn from their example. In fact, that’s exactly what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, where he says it this way, “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all drank from the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from the spiritual rock which followed them,” interesting, “and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not well pleased.”

Now, these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as also they crave. These things are written that we would understand the spiritual lessons and learn from them for our lives. Jeremiah here recounts what led to this unmitigated disaster. He writes it as a lament with great sadness that he looks back and thinks the place where God’s glory was so magnificent, and indeed, the temple was like a wonder of the world in those days. Words cannot describe the splendor, the glory of what Jerusalem contained, and now it’s all in ruins.

What led to that unmitigated disaster is a spiritual life lesson because the same spiritual battle, and really, I want you to see that it has been a spiritual battle behind what happened to Israel in those days, and that there is a spiritual battle that is happening today in which we live. There is a tremendous spiritual battle that’s happening in the world, and it’s a battle for souls, and it’s very, very much alive today that we must take note for our lives. Amen? That which brought disaster on Israel can bring disaster on anyone who does not heed the life lessons from the book.

Now, having said that, in the recounting of the downfall of Israel, at the same time, he holds out hope. God is the great restorer. He is the one restoring. We already read in Jeremiah, he prophesied, Israel will be restored. It’s also important to take hold of and see that it’s applied to our lives today. God is restoring souls today. That’s the point. That’s why he wanted them to memorize these verses. There are deep spiritual lessons in store for us in these chapters. For it’s in these chapters we read that God’s mercies are new every morning.

It’s in the book. That great is Thy faithfulness. It’s in the book. God’s mercies, I tell you, anyone who’s ever messed up their lives should take great hope in that great truth that God’s mercies are new every morning, that God will never give up, and that His heart is to restore. He is the great restorer. All right. We’re going to be in Lamentations 1. We’re going to do something just a little bit different. Many of you know by now that we typically do this on Wednesday. We are reading through the same chapters, verse by verse by verse.

We might do one, two, three, four chapters, however many we do. Then we take a section from it and then dive deeply into those verses over the weekend services. Here’s what I want to do, something a little different. I want to lift from this chapter certain verses that bring out this great theme that God is the restorer. Notice, for example, beginning in verse 10, God restores what the enemy has stolen. Verse 10, “The adversary,” the enemy, “stretched out his hand over all her precious things.” In other words, to steal, to take.

I. God Restores What the Enemy has Stolen

The enemy came even into the very sanctuary of their God and took the precious holy things that were meant for worship. It was a great, great tragedy: stolen. The very things of God, the enemy, the adversary, stole them. Notice, “As she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, the ones whom you commanded that they should not enter into your congregation.” He’s speaking here about the great tragedy of what was stolen, but it’s also implicated in the spiritual sins. There is a spiritual battle, and the enemy is a thief.

Notice, for example, what Jesus said in John 10:10. “The thief,” the adversary, your enemy, “comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come that you would have life and life to the full.” In other words, the enemy is a thief. He means to steal and rob and, of course, kill and to destroy. The scheme of the enemy is to steal the precious things of God from your life. If he can rob you of the treasures of God’s glory, God’s joy, God’s peace from you, then you will become lost and lonely. Then he offers that which will poison the soul.

A. Sin is costly

The life lessons are very, very much for us to take hold of today. Starting with this, notice in verse 11 that sin is costly. It says in verse 11, “All her people grown seeking bread,” just bread. “They have given their precious things for food.” At first, their precious things were stolen, but then they came to the point when they had to give up the rest of their precious things just to have bread. Now, sin is costly. One of the reasons that sin is so costly is because sin distorts the mind. It clouds the judgment.

The wisdom which ought to guide your decisions is clouded by this sin that is distorting the mind, distorting the soul. The lack of wisdom and the cloud that comes because of this poor judgment affects every area of life, even financial decisions clouded by that sin. Now, no doubt you’ve heard the expression, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” That’s not in the Bible, but it is an expression that speaks of the value of wisdom, and that the one who is foolish makes foolish financial decisions.

The cloud of sin affects the judgment and the wisdom, and every aspect of life is impacted by it. Perhaps you’ve heard this expression also, “Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.” Now, if the enemy has robbed you of any good thing, it’s important to hear a great truth. God speaks a better word. He is the great restorer. Notice Joel 2:25, “I will make up to you for the years that the locusts have eaten. You will have plenty to eat. You will be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord, your God.”

There are many people who can relate to the loss from all that the locusts have eaten. Marriages, how many marriages are on the rocks? How many are hurting because of this very thing? Families in despair, troubles at work, financial devastation. Yet the word for Israel was that God is the great restorer, the one who can restore. In other words, you can rebuild your life, but this time rebuild it on a rock, build it on the foundation, build it on the rock, and that rock is Jesus Christ. God is the great restorer.

Build it right this time on the rock of Jesus Christ. Lamentations 5:21 is like the capstone of this book. Notice the theme of it, “Restore us to you, O Lord, and that we may be restored. Renew our days as of old.” Notice, it’s to you that we’re restored, not just the things, it’s you. Restore us to you, O Lord. See, God builds, God edifies, God strengthens. If the enemy has stolen precious things from your life, your marriage, your children, your joy, or your purity, hear this today: God is the great restorer. He does not leave you in ashes. He rebuilds, He redeems, He restores what the enemy has stolen, for that is who He is, and that is what God does, and He’s still doing it today. Amen. Can we give God praise and glory for that?

B. Sin is heavy

Not only is sin costly, notice verse 14, sin is heavy. “The yoke of my transgressions is bound or tied up. By His hand they are knitted together, and they have come upon my neck.” Now, that’s an image that we can get, we can understand. It’s a heavy weight weighted upon the shoulders. Israel felt the full weight of their sin. Yes, it was costly, but it was a heavy burden laid upon their shoulders. Here’s where many can add their own testimony. I tell you, if you’ve ever gone after the world and made a mess of your life, you can add your own testimony.

You know it is a heavy, heavy weight. It is a burden upon your life and upon your soul. Now, that would be a tragedy if that were the end of the story, but that is not the end of the story. God speaks a better word. God sent His Son to take the weight of that sin, of that burden upon Himself. Probably the capstone verse of that has to be Matthew 11:28-30, where the Lord said, “Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

A great theme of the heart of the Lord, rest. “Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle and humble and hard, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” See, Jesus carries your burden. He took the weight of your sin, paid for them in full when he died on the cross in your place. Now, this is so important to understand because people still today feel that they must somehow punish themselves for their sin, for their mistakes.

This is a very common way that people think that somehow they must punish themselves, and they often do it quite harshly. I was thinking of an illustration. There was a movie in the ’80s called The Mission that powerfully captured the wrongful way that people think of their burdens. The movie took place in South America, and it was about a slave trader by the name of Rodrigo Mendoza, who was cold-hearted. Now, I suppose you gotta be pretty cold-hearted to be a slave trader.

One day, he finds his brother in bed with his fiancée and flies into a rage and kills his brother, but it causes him to fall into a great despair. This that he has done, it’s just a grief and a weight. He’s carrying, he carry this weight of this grief of what he did. He goes to the Jesuit priest, Father Gabriel, who tells him that he must do penance. Now, penance is the punishing of oneself to pay for the wrong that you did. His penance, says the priest, was to fill a net with his armor and his weapons, tie them to himself with a rope, and then drag them up the mighty Iguazu Falls, which is tremendously difficult, great falls.

This is what he does. He gets in there, he puts his armor, his weapons in the net, ties them about his waist, and begins the arduous, difficult, exhausting climb. One step after the other, rock upon rock, the Jewish brothers are with him to make sure he, with all effort, gets there. By sheer effort, he’s getting slowly, slowly. Finally, exhaustion just takes hold of him, and he just collapses in sheer exhaustion. That’s when one of the Jesuit brothers, who can’t take it anymore, can’t watch this anymore, takes a knife and cuts the rope, and the whole thing comes crashing down to the bottom.

That ought to have been the highlight right there of the movie. The orchestra should have been swelling in grandeur. They should have let me direct this movie. I would have made it way better, because that should have been the highlight right there. Because if that would have been the grand moment, he cut the rope, the whole thing came crashing down. Free, cut free, that should be the grand finale. No, what happened was, he looked at the Jesuit brother with anger, climbed all the way down, tied the rope again, and started over again.

Sometimes people do this today. They don’t understand the mercy of God. Sometimes, when somebody does something really stupid, I know you’re not supposed to say that, but you can understand. Like, how many people have done something really stupid? Don’t raise your hand. I know, I don’t need you to raise, because I know everybody gets it. If you do something really stupid, you feel shame. You feel terrible for what you did. People start to punish themselves, oftentimes, very harshly.

In so doing, they’re missing out on the heart of God. They’re missing out on the mercy of God. Because here is the glorious good news: if you run to the mercy of the Lord, if you run to the tower of the Lord, he will take the burden of that shame, he will take the weight of that sin, and he will carry the weight of it on Himself. He will carry that and take your place. I give to you Isaiah 53, perhaps one of the greatest chapters in the Old Testament that points so clearly to Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53 says it in this way, “Surely our griefs he himself bore, our sorrows he carried. He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.”

Those are some glorious verses that speak to what Jesus did for us when he carried the burden of our shame and the weight of our sin upon himself. That is the glorious good news. You can bring your burden to Jesus. He will carry what you cannot carry, and He will exchange the heavy yoke of your sin for the easy yoke of grace. That is the good news that God gives to the world today.

C. Sin weakens

Then we see this also in verse 14, the second part. Not only is sin costly, not only is sin heavy, but sin weakens. Notice, He has made my strength to fail. The Lord has given me into the hands of those against whom I am not able to stand. Sin weakens. Israel felt it. Their wayward hearts made the nation weak, something we ought to take very careful note of ourselves today. It’s not only true nationally, it’s true personally. Sin weakens. It drains your spiritual vitality.

Maybe a way to see it is this: it’s like pulling the plug out from the bottom, and the spiritual life just drains from your soul. That’s the picture we can get. Sin, it just drains your spiritual vitality, just draining right from you. That’s what sin does. It weakens the soul, but then God speaks a better word. God is the great restorer. With God restores, He strengthens. He strengthens the soul within. He strengthens the inner man. Spiritual strength increases as you draw nearer and nearer to the Lord, and He fills you with spiritual life.

You’re not being drained. Sin drains you, but the Spirit fills you. Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit of the living God. He pours out life. He pours glory. He adds and adds and adds, and you increase and increase and increase. God wants you to increase in strength so that you can have victory over that which comes against you. Is it possible to be victorious today? Absolutely, it’s possible by the strengthening of the soul in the inner man.

Now, perhaps one of the best expressions of this David wrote in 2 Samuel 22. If anyone understood how to take faith and put it into real life, it surely was David when he wrote this, for example, “It is by my God that I can run upon a troop, by my God, I can leap over a wall. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and sets me on high feet, like hinds’ feet, and sets me on high places. He trains my hands for war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your help makes me great.”

Many people would look at David and say, “Oh, the great one, David the great captain.” David would say, “Oh, no, it is God’s strength. God is the strength of my life. God has been my confidence since my youth. He is God’s help makes me great.” Physical strength is one thing, definitely helpful, but spiritual strength is even greater. The strength that abides in the inner man then comes forth in what you speak and how you live and what you do. The mouth speaks from that which fills the heart, the Lord Jesus says.

Whatever fills you are added unto, from that is how you live and how you speak and how you move. One of the great examples of that would be David himself. Later on in his history, his own son, Amsalem, conspired against him. The conspiracy was great that Absalom had an army with him and was intent on bringing that army to bear against Jerusalem, David’s precious city. David, wanting to spare his city from the theater of war, fled the city with his special forces and a few along with him.

As David is leaving the city, there is a man walking along on the other side of the gully, taking pace with David, throwing rocks at David and hurling insults and cusses. “Get out, you bloodthirsty, you deserve everything you’ve got.” He’s got a grudge; he’s been carrying a grudge. He’s just hurling rocks and insults and cusses at David. David’s general next to him said, “Shall I dispatch him?” David says, “No, let him curse. Perhaps God will hear. Let him curse. Let it go.” Then later, the story unfolds that the issue with Absalom is settled.

Absalom dies, as you know the story. Then David, who had gone to the other side of the Jordan, is now coming back to be restored to his rightful place as king. As he’s coming back over the Jordan, that man, the same man, Shimei, comes out to meet David, falls down before him and says to him, “I was wrong, sir. I was wrong, please. Please forgive. I was wrong.” David’s general next to him said, “Shall I dispatch him?” David responded, “There’s been enough dying today. Go in peace, my friend. Go in peace.”

Speaking out of a character, that spiritual strength, I tell you, is greater even than physical strength. God will give you the strength when you need it. I think of the example of Corrie Ten Boom. Many of you know her story. At one point, she asked her father if she would have strength to face the trouble if they were arrested. As you know, they were helping Jews to escape Nazis. Her father responded, when you need the strength, God will give it to you. God will meet you in that moment and give you strength when you need it.

I think of Psalm 73:26. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and God is my portion forever.” That is the great theme, actually, of Lamentations. God is the strength of my heart. Then notice this: how in verse 18, he sets down an anchor right in the middle of the chapter. The Lord is righteous. It is a wonderful declaration right in the middle of the chapter. The Lord is righteous. I am the one who rebelled against His command. Now this is a foundation of faith.

II. The Lord is Righteous

The Lord moves according to His righteousness, according to His character of holiness. Stand on that truth. You can depend on that truth. You can believe in that truth. It is to be applied to your life. In other words, everything God does, even His discipline, flows from His righteous, loving nature. Because He is righteous and all that He does is righteous, He desires to do a deep work of righteousness in your soul and mine. This is the great restoring. God will build something glorious and beautiful by His righteousness.

A. Holiness is beautiful on the soul

In other words, holiness is beautiful on the soul. Notice verse 16, for these things I weep. My eye overflows with water because the comforter who restores my soul seems far from me. He knows that it is God who is the restorer, the comforter. It seems far, but He knows the promises are there. Jerusalem is weeping because she has lost the beauty of her holiness. The enemy has prevailed, and the city is empty and desolate. It’s a picture of the souls of those who are now empty because of that.

Jeremiah declares boldly, the Lord is righteous in all that He does. God is righteous. It’s as though you’re saying, “You were right, God. You were right.” He then does this building work of restoring. By His righteousness, He does a righteous work upon the soul. Holiness is beautiful upon the soul. This is a transforming power, not just a theological truth. He is transforming us by this great truth. I tell you, many do not grasp the depth of this great truth. Dive deep into this with me, and it will transform who you understand yourself to be.

When God calls people to be righteous from holiness, He’s calling them to live according to that which fills their soul. Notice, for example, 1st Peter 1. He writes it in the New Testament similarly. “Do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in ignorance, but be like the Holy One who called you. Be holy yourselves in your behavior, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.” When God calls you to be holy, He’s calling you to something beautiful.

Holiness is beautiful. This is what many people do not understand. Holiness is beautiful upon the soul. Now, what is holiness? I used to teach a class sometime ago called What a Christian Believes. Part of that class was on the nature of God. What is God’s nature? As part of that, of course, we would say God is holy. I would ask, so what is holiness? Can you define holiness? Invariably, they would define holiness by comparing it to sin.

I would say we ought to be able to define holiness outside of comparing it to sin, because holiness has been around a lot longer than sin. How do we define it? What is holiness? Answer: Holiness is all that God’s nature and character is also. Every aspect of God’s nature is an aspect of His holiness. I submit that everything God is is beautiful on the soul. For example, God is love. This is who He is. This is an aspect of God’s nature.

God is love, but it’s an aspect of His holiness so that when He moves according to His love, He’s moving according to His holiness. Then, when He pours that in you, He gives that bearing to you. He pours His spirit, and the very presence of the living God is love, so that you then move according to God’s holiness by that same love. God is love. God is patient. Oh, we are so thankful for the patience of God. It is an aspect of His holiness.

He gives that unto you so that when it abides on your soul, then you are transformed by it so that you then move in a new holy patience. It’s beautiful. God is gracious. We’re very, very thankful for the grace of God on our lives. He gives that to you so that you abide in that same aspect of holiness, and that when you give grace, it’s an aspect of holiness. God’s holiness moving upon you, that you then move upon others with. God is forgiving. Oh, how thankful we are that God forgives.

Not only that you would be forgiven, but that the abiding of God’s presence is such that you move in it yourself, you become forgiving. It is an aspect of God’s holiness at work in you that you become forgiving, also because it is God at work. The more God fills your soul, the more your soul is made beautiful by that glory. Holiness and that which is beautiful is something you receive. He pours it in. As He fills the inner man, He is increasing by His glory and by His presence.

B. God overturns the heart

Therefore, the righteousness of God comes forth out of all those who are being restored. Then we see this also notice in verse 20, an important part of God’s restoring is verse 20. God overturns then the heart. What needs to be overturned, He will overturn it. Notice verse 20. “See, Lord, I am in distress. My spirit is greatly troubled. My heart is overturned within me.” This is a good thing. The Hebrew word overturned literally means turned over. It’s a good thing.

The heart is convicted and grieved and turned upside down. Now, whenever I think about this, I think of that day that Jesus came into Jerusalem, on that day we call the triumphant entry. He entered the temple, and there He saw money changers and those selling doves. These were taking advantage of the people who had come to worship, and they’re standing in the way. These money changers, these selling doves are taking advantage, and they’re standing in the way of those who want to honor God.

Jesus sees this, and He’s filled with a righteous indignation. He takes hold of these tables, and he overturns them. He just throws them, and doves are flying, money is flying. “Get out,” He says. “This is my father’s house. It is to be called a house of prayer, and you are making it a den of robbers.” See, in other words, if there’s anything standing in the way of God’s glory, if there’s anything that needs to be overturned, God in His great love is going to overturn it.

It’s good. It’s wonderful because it’s part of the restoring. If it’s in the way, if it’s standing in the way of what God would do in the great restoring, then the heart of revival says, “Do it, turn it over, God. If there’s something in my life that needs to be overturned, overturn it.” Interestingly, the next verse says, “Then the blind and the lame came to Him, and He healed them.” That’s so beautiful. He’ll overturn what needs to be overturned, and He’ll heal what needs to be healed.

He’ll do what needs to be done to restore because that is the heart of God. If the enemy has stolen, the enemy has deceived, the enemy has destroyed, then the great restorer comes and will rebuild, renew, revive, strengthen the soul of the inner man so that if there’s anything standing in the way, the heart of revival says, “Get rid of it. I want nothing to stand in the way of what God is doing in my life.” God, if there’s something needs to be healed, heal it. Restore, renew, rebuild, revive. Do it, God, do it in us today.

Amen. Let’s pray. Lord, we are so, so thankful. Your heart is revealed so beautifully in these words that you restore what the enemy has stolen, what is broken, the weight of sin is carried, the righteousness of God poured out. Lord, do it, do it in us today. Church, how many would say that to the Lord? If there’s anything standing in the way of what you would do in my life, God, overturn what needs to be overturned, heal what needs to be healed, and restore my soul to you.

Would you just raise your hand if that’s your prayer, your desire? You’d ask God to do this in you. Would you just raise your hand as an expression of it? God, do this in me, restore, fill, rebuild. Pour out your spirit of life. I want the revival that comes by the infilling of the Holy Spirit in my life. God, we love you and honor you and thank you. In Jesus’ name, and everyone say, amen. Let’s give the Lord praise and glory, amen.

 

Turn Your Heart Toward Home
Jeremiah 50:1-10
April 25-26, 2026 

Open your Bibles to the Book of Jeremiah 50, beginning at verse 1. This is our last of the Jeremiah messages. The title of our message is Turn Your Heart Toward Home. In many ways, it’s the grand finale. We, of course, have been in Jeremiah for a while. At our Wednesday service, we go through verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Then at the weekend services, we dive into some section from it in a deeper way. We’re just going through the entire Bible this way. We’ll just continue right on through. When we’re done, we’ll do it again. This is our fourth time through the entire Word of God.

Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful that You send Your Word to reveal Your heart, to bless our lives, to show us the way of greatest blessing and life. Meet us here by Your Holy Spirit. Pour out Your Spirit of life through Your Word, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said amen.

All right, this last message was written by Jeremiah to the exiles that were in Babylon in those days. Now at this point in the story, all of the warnings that Jeremiah had been given have all come to pass. Before the destruction of Israel, before Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah had been calling the people back to revival, back to himself. They had gone away from the Lord and gone after the gods of the world that were so appealing to their fleshly nature.

God had warned them over and over through the prophet that this would end in disaster for them nationally. It would end in disaster for them personally. We know that’s true. Anybody who’s ever done the world thing will tell you it will end terribly in disaster. Over and over, he warned them about the disaster that would come, and that’s exactly what happened. At this point, the city of Jerusalem is destroyed. The temple where the glory of God dwelled has been burnt to the ground. The majority of the people had been marched off in chains to Babylon where they would be in exile there for 70 years.

Now, what’s interesting is that these last chapters of Jeremiah were written originally as a separate scroll, they were attached later, but he wrote these chapters in a separate scroll, gave them to a man named Seraiah who was the quartermaster, and said, “Take these with you to Babylon when you’re in exile. Then at some point, gather the people of Israel together and read them the words of this scroll, words from God Himself.”

These were words sent to encourage the exiles. God wanted them to know how this story ends. Are we ever going to come home? How does this story end? It’s a prophetic word describing the downfall of Babylon itself. You can just imagine how encouraging these words would be to hear that the empire that destroyed everything you ever held dear would one day itself be destroyed.

The words here in these chapters were also a call to revival. There in Babylon, God had declared that these who were exiled would be the ones in whom revival would come. This is important to understand. Going through the crucible of trouble, going through the difficulty, all that they lost, all that they suffered, all the tragedy which befell them, all of this, God is going to use to bring about something happening of revival. Something’s going to happen to them there. Going through the trouble, going through the tragedy, something’s going to happen.

We know this is true today. If you’ve ever been through a trouble, a tragedy, a difficulty, God can often use this to draw you back to Himself. Now, yes, they were exiled to Babylon because they had turned their back on God. Yes, they went out weeping because of their wayward hearts, but they’re going to come back transformed. Something’s going to happen to them there. God is not finished with them yet. Something of transformation and revival. It’s a word for us today, for God is still wanting to bring about a great revival in people today.

Notice Jeremiah 24 where he said it prophetically before. He said, “I will set my eyes on them for good. I will bring them again to this land. I will build them up, not overthrow them. I’ll plant them and not pluck them up, for I would give them a heart to know me, for I am the Lord. They will be my people. I will be their God, and they will return to me with their whole heart.” These exiles lost everything that was dear to them. They lost their land, their homes, their livelihood. Many of them lost family, every visible symbol of God’s presence in the temple. It was their response to the tragedy, their response to what they endured that would transform them. That is how revival comes. It’s your response through the trouble that you’re going through. Revival comes when we return to God with all our heart. No half measures, no divided affections. He calls these the good figs, the first ripe fruit symbolizing the sweet outcome of a life in revival, prosperity of the soul, even in the storms and the troubles of life. Prosperity of your soul. It’s all about your soul, the condition of the inner man within you. How is your soul today?

These chapters were read to the exiles there. Over and over, he describes in prophetic detail that Babylon the great would itself fall and be destroyed because Babylon had contended against God, and had contended against God’s people, so God’s going to contend against them, and God’s going to prevail. You can imagine how encouraging these words would be. God wanted them to know the end of the story so that they could hold on to hope.

I tell you, God tells us the end of the story, by the way. We know how this story ends, and He tells us in advance how this story ends so that we can hold onto hope. At the end of the age, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will set foot on the Mount of Olives. He will enter Jerusalem. He will rule and reign the nations of the world. There will be a great victory. Our God, our Savior, is King of Kings, and He will reign in that glorious day. Oh, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen? Amen.

He wanted them to know how this story ends so that they held onto hope, but also so that they would not lose themselves there in Babylon. I didn’t send you there to become Babylonians. Never forget who you are, He means to say, very much like what the Lord said. Be in the world, but not of the world. Don’t lose yourself there. It’s a vital tension. They were called to settle in Babylon, but don’t become Babylonians.

In the scripture, Babylon represents something. In all of the scriptures, there are two cities mentioned more than any other cities. Of course, Jerusalem, you could guess that one. Babylon is the second most mentioned city in the Bible, and it represents the system of the world. In Revelation 18, which we’ll see, he describes Babylon the Great in the latter days. Now, perhaps it’s an actual city, but it represents also the system of everything opposed to God, pride, idolatry, self, self-sufficiency, self-effort. It’s that which is opposed to God. God told them to live there, to build there, even prosper there. Don’t lose yourself there. Hold on to who you are. Never forget who you are. You are set apart, He says. In other words, I have a plan for you. I have a plan for you. He says, I know the plan that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare, for good, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. God declares the same. God has a plan for you. Come out of her. Don’t lose yourself there. God’s got a great plan for your life.

Here we are in Chapter 50. We’ll read it, starting in verse 1. The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet. Here it is. “Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim that left upper standard. Don’t conceal it. Let’s say Babylon has been captured. Bel has been put to shame.” Bel is one of the great gods of Babylon. “Marduk,” also one of the great ones, “shattered, her images put to shame, her idols shattered, for the nation has come up against her out of the North.” He later says, “Medes and Persians,” names them, “It will make her land an object of horror. There will be no inhabitant in it, both man and beast, vanished off, wandered off, gone away.”

Then he turns to the Jews, his people, and he says, starting in verse four, “In those days, and at that time, declares the Lord, the Sons of Israel will come, both they and the Sons of Judah as well. They will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord, their God, that they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion,” the hill on which sits Jerusalem. “Then turning their face in its direction, they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. For My People have become lost sheep. Shepherds led them astray, made them turn aside on the mountains, gone along from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. All who came upon them have devoured them.

Their adversaries have said, “Look, we’re not guilty. It is much– they’re the ones who sinned against the Lord, who is the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord, the hope of the Fathers. It wasn’t us. They did it.” He says in verse eight, “Come away from them. Wander away from the midst of Babylon. Go forth from the land of the Chaldeans. Be like the male goats at the head of the flock.” In other words, “Lead on. Turn your heart toward home and lead on.” These are the verses that we want to take hold of and see how God would apply understanding that Babylon represents something even today.

I. Babylon is not Enough for the Soul

In a similar way, in Revelation, he says to the people of the latter days, “Come out of Babylon, the world and all that it represents. Don’t lose yourself there,” because Babylon, he’s saying, is not enough for the soul’s deepest desire. You will not find your purpose in there, in Babylon. Babylon has been put to shame. Marduk has been shattered. Her image is put to shame. These two great Gods represented, of course, all that was occultic. It was meaningless and void. Those who pursue them will be like them. They, too, will be brought to shame. Oh, what a tragedy of shame that many people endure. I represent so much of the world of worldliness. Don’t lose yourself there, for Babylon is empty of meaning.

A. Babylon is empty of meaning

The soul searches. Today, even the soul searches for meaning, purpose, to be filled, longing for a deeper place of meaning. In those days, Babylon was, at that time, the largest city in the world. The power center of the Babylonian Empire. It was opulent. It was beautiful. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were world-famous, considered like one of the Seven Wonders of the World, amazing, opulence, beauty. Oh, wealth. The name “Babylon” in Greek means the gateway of the gods. It was occultic in nature. In Hebrew, it means confusion, which is perhaps a good name for it. It was a center of occultic religion in those days.

Interestingly, there is a direct connection from the occultic practices of ancient Babylon and the prophecies of the latter days. What it means is that it describes in the book of Revelation that the antichrist, the beast described there in the book of Revelation, it says, “Let him who has understanding, discern the number of his name.” He means by that that by using a system, which is called gematria, meaning that if you take a letter and it is assigned a value numerically that you can then add up the value of the number of a name. Discern and understand that you will know Him and discern him by the value of adding the numbers of his name. We already know what it is, 666.

What’s interesting is that that number 666 is the direct correlation to the occultic practices of ancient Babylon, of which we are now reading in Jeremiah. The high priest of Babylon, the occultic high priest, would wear an amulet on his breast. It would be a square containing 36 numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, et cetera, 1 through 36. These numbers represented the gods of the constellations, the gods of Babylon. There were 36 constellations of the sky. They assigned to them a name of one of the gods and a number from 1 to 36 so that they then arranged these 36 numbers in such a way on this magic square that every row added together, each row equaled 111. There were six of these rows. The total, then, was 666.

What’s interesting is that if you added the columns, each of them also equaled 111. Being six columns equaled also 666. Interestingly, even the diagonals equaled 111. Therefore, the number 666 was designated to be the one, the god who was all over all the other gods. Therefore, the Antichrist, the beast of the latter days, takes upon himself this great number, designating him as the one who is above all the other ones. The mockery of that is, of course, a blasphemy against the Lord. He will be defeated in the latter days, when the Lord Jesus Christ defeats him in those glorious days. Amen? Amen.

It represents something even today. Babylon, it says, “God is against all that Babylon represents” because it stands in opposition to God. It’s empty and meaningless and destroys the lives of all who pursue her. When you’re in Babylon, it’s easy to lose yourself in Babylon. It’s easy to lose your way in Babylon. What’s not to like? Oh, everything that one might desire could be found in Babylon. There were theaters, there were restaurants, there were gardens. You could buy a house along the river in Babylon. There was a Starbucks on every corner in Babylon. Of course, in those days, they served Turkish coffee.

Have you ever had Turkish coffee? You’ve got to go to Israel with me. We will serve you. Oh, my goodness. What they do is this, they take coffee, grind it into a fine powder, and put it into the cup. Then they just pour water right over the grounds, turning into a nice thick mud. Then you just let it settle a bit, and then you just sip off of the mud. Oh, it will give you a nice Mediterranean buzz. I’m telling you. What? Oh, they serve Turkish coffee in Babylon. The food in the shops, you could buy the world’s finest Persian rugs in Babylon. Everything a person could desire could be found in Babylon, or was there?

B. God stirs the heart of those who desire more

In all its opulence of wealth, it wasn’t enough. God reminds them in Jeremiah 50, “Oh, there is so much more for the soul’s desire is not found in Babylon.” God stirs the heart of those who desire more. It’s not enough. There are those in their heart who know today that all that the world has to offer, it’s not enough. There’s something more. There are deeper places for the soul’s desire. There is more meaning and purpose than can be found in Babylon.

Psalm 63, “Oh God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly, for My soul thirsts.” You know this is true. The soul longs. The soul searches. The soul is thirsty. It thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise you, and I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in your name, for in you my soul is satisfied as like with marrow and fatness.”

What a beautiful picture. It’s all about the soul. The most important part of who you are is the soul within you, the inner man. How is your soul? People spend so much time on the outward. How much time do we spend in front of the mirror or the hours we spend in the gym? The inner man is the most important aspect of who you are. These old bodies, we’re leaving these old things behind, but your soul is eternal.

I say it from this way. The pleasant things of the world are certainly pleasant. I agree. I agree. The pleasant things of the world are certainly pleasant. I understand. Lattes, caramel macchiatos, red Robin, ice cream, air conditioning, watching football while eating Doritos, and kettle corn microwave popcorn. The pleasant things of the world are so pleasant. Yes, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough for me. I want more than that. Anybody want to agree? It’s not enough for me. I seek for deeper places.

When Moses had brought the people out of Egypt, they came to Mount Sinai, and Moses was on the mountain those 40 days receiving the law. While he was there on the mountain, the people grew impatient, and they began to sin terribly. Moses came down. You remember the story. Saul of this became angry. Then at one point, he is interceding for Israel, praying, interceding. While he’s praying, while he’s interceding, he says, “Something for me. While I’m asking, something for me.”

I always like to ask, what is it that you would ask if you could ask God for something for you personally? What is the highest ask, the greatest thing that you would ask God for personally, for just you? What is it you want God to do for you? Moses says, “Show me your glory.” Now we say, why would he ask for that? He already has seen more glory than any living person, but that’s why. Because he has seen so much of the glory, he knew how beautiful it was. Show me your glory. I want more. In those days, the glory was in the temple. God wanted the Jews there in exile to long for Jerusalem, to long for the place where the glory of God dwelt, to seek God’s promises more than Babylonian treasures.

When I was younger, I read a book by Calvin Miller. He wrote a trilogy. The third one in it, it’s called The Finale. There’s a quote that I love. It goes like this. “The world is poor because all her treasure maps are of the earth, but her fortune is buried in heaven.” How beautifully described. How right it is.

Notice, for example, Psalm 137:1-5. They write it this way, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and we wept when we remember Zion, the hill on which sits Jerusalem. Upon the willows in the midst of it, we hung up our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs. Our tormentors demanded mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’ How can we sing? How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? Oh, if I forget you, Jerusalem, may my hand forget her skill. Long for the place where the glory dwells, for the soul longs for something deeper. There’s nothing in Babylon that will satisfy the deepest longing of the soul.”

It’s very much like an expression the Jews used for thousands of years after they were defeated by Rome and they were dispersed amongst the nations. They didn’t know, would they ever come back? Would they ever have their homeland again? An expression came about where, let’s say, a Jew would meet another Jew, and after they finished their discussion, instead of just saying, “See you later,” they would say, “Next time in Jerusalem,” holding onto this hope. Maybe one day, one day we’ll do it again, but we’ll do it in Jerusalem. Hold on to hope, man. Hold on to hope. That was the whole idea of the expression.

Today they have their homeland, but still there’s something missing, and that which is missing is their Messiah. They are still waiting and searching and looking for their Messiah. Now, we know who their Messiah is. He presented Himself to them, but they rejected Him. He will come again in the latter days, and He will present Himself to them again. It says, they will recognize Him, for they will look upon the one whom they have pierced. When they see Him, they will mourn as one mourns for an only child. Why will they mourn? Because they’ll recognize it was Him all those years before, and we missed it.

It says, He will pour out on them the spirit of grace and the spirit of supplication, and the same blood that covers our sins will cover theirs, and all Israel will be saved in the latter days. God is never going to give up on His people, Israel. Amen? Can we give a praise for that. Amen. We who are believers in Christ have found our hope, found our Messiah, and still we long for more. Here’s what I mean. God increases our capacity, the capacity of our soul to long for more, more glory, more of God’s peace, more of God’s joy. In other words, God is found in the seeking.

II. God is Found in the Seeking

Notice verse 4. In those days, at that time, declares the Lord, the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah, and they will go along, weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God that they seek. God wanted them to seek, to desire more, to long with great longing for the beauty of the glory of God in the presence there in Zion. Now it says, they go along weeping. Now this is a– you might call it a holy weeping. They’re weeping because it’s finally over.

They’ve waited a long time for this. Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Holy tears, beautiful soul, deep weeping of a people who finally left the emptiness of Babylon, and they have turned their heart toward home. He’s painting a picture of revival, turning genuinely away from that which was so empty and shameful, and I’ve turned my heart toward the glory.

There’s a beautiful picture I can see and imagine of the life that was crashed and then turned around and found its soul revived. There is this beautiful point. It’s described in the story, for example, of the prodigal son, where this young man asked for his inheritance early. He received a great sum of money. He went into the city and he spent it all on wild living, parties, women, you name it. It lasted a long time. He had a lot of money, but he spent it all, and then couldn’t find a job because a famine had hit the land. Then, he finally found a job, but it was the worst possible job for a Jew, feeding pigs, swine.

Oh, but it gets worse because he then gets to the point where he’s jealous because the pigs have food and he does not. He has come to the end. He’s come to the very bottom. He’s come to the very end of himself. It says, at that point, it says, he came to his senses. That is a glorious point right there. If you’ve ever crashed your life, you get to the point where you finally come to the end of yourself and something happens where you come to your senses and your eyes open. At that moment, he says, “My father’s servants are treated better than this. I’m going to go to my father, and I’m going to say, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I’m not worthy to be a son. I just need a job.”

He heads for home. He’s a long way off. The father sees him down the road, runs to meet his son, falls upon him, kisses him, and the son has his speech all ready to go. “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven, against you. I’m not worthy to be your son. I’m not coming home to be your son. I just need a job.” There, the glorious story, the father says, “This son of mine was lost and has been found. This son of mine who was dead, is now alive. Kill the fatted calf. We’re going to celebrate. Bring a robe and put it on my son. Bring a ring and put it on my son’s finger. Bring sandals for his feet, for this son of mine was dead and is now alive.”

There is a point where you turn your life around and you go home, but it’s a holy weeping. It’s a glorious moment when you turn your life around. May anyone who needs to hear these words take hold of them and turn that life around. Amen. Let’s give the Lord praise. Amen.

It says, “And they will go along seeking the Lord.” Now I can imagine somebody might say, “Well, wait. I thought God was the one who seeks after us. I heard you say it, Pastor. You said, ‘God is the one who pursues. He stands at the door, and he knocks. Anyone who hears his voice would open the door. He would come into them. I thought you said God is the one who pursues, and now yet you say that God wants us to seek Him,” to which I say you are correct. God is the one who seeks. He sent His Son to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus said the same. I love this. I tell you, it’s such a very important understanding. Jesus says, “My Father sent me to seek and to save that which was lost.” What a beautiful thought is that God is seeking sinners. That’s who He’s seeking, that which was lost. God seeks sinners? God is searching for sinners? See, this is important because so many people– I repeat this because it’s so important to understand rightly– so many people have this wrong. They believe that God rejects sinners, that God is against them, that God is offended by sin, therefore He’s offended by sinners and He pushes them away. He’s offended by them.

That’s not what Jesus said. Jesus said, “‘My Father sent me to go and find sinners, seek after them, and when you find them, bring them home.'” Yes, God is the one who seeks. God is the one who says, “‘I stand at the door and I knock.'” He’s pursuing. Yes, He is. “‘If anyone hears my voice,’ which is to say He’s calling your name, “‘If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and I will sup with him and he with me.'” In other words, we’re going to have glorious fellowship together.

A. Seek Him and then join yourself to Him

Here’s my point. Yes, God is the one who seeks first, but once you have been found, once you open that door of your heart, once you’ve been reconciled to God, then seek Him. Seek for more of Him. Desire more of God. Seek deeper places. Seek deeper relationship. Long for more of God’s glory. Go farther in, deeper into your walk with Him. This is how He says it, “Seek Him and then join yourself to Him.”

Notice verse 5. “‘They will ask for the way to Zion. Then turning their faces in that direction, they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.'” What a beautiful picture. I tell you, this is a deep verse. You could write books on this verse. “They will come that they may be knitted together.” That’s what it means, joined together. He’s speaking here of an everlasting covenant.

Now, He’s referring to the new covenant He mentioned earlier in the book, Jeremiah 31. He says, “‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.” “I will put My law within them. I will write it on their hearts.” It will be on the soul, a new covenant upon the soul. “I will be their God. They will be My people. They shall not teach again each man his neighbor, each man his brother and say, ‘Know the Lord,’ They’ll all know Me.” There’s a knowing, an intimacy of knowing in this. Declares the Lord, “I’ll forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.”

Now, I’m here to tell you that if you have opened your heart, if He knocked on the door of your heart, called out your name and you opened the door of your heart, He has forgiven your sin. This is a covenant of the forgiveness of sin on the blood of Jesus Christ. The sin that you have committed has been paid for by the blood that Jesus shed. When He shed that blood, He then took that blood and applied it to your life so that your sins have been paid, and paid for in full. If you have received Jesus Christ, you are right now abiding under that same new covenant. Jesus says, “This cup is the cup of the new covenant initiated in My blood.”

He says in Jeremiah 50:20, “‘In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel.'” They will not find it. “‘Search will be made for the sins of Judah.'” They will not be found. “‘I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. They will come that they could then join themselves to the Lord.'” What a beautiful thought. Knitted together with the Lord? Wait, sinners? Knitted together with the holy righteous God? Amazing thought. Deep understanding. It is so. Christ in us is the hope of glory. We are in Christ. We are knitted together. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are knitted together such that we have found our place of peace.

Notice verse 6, “My people are lost sheep. They have forgotten their resting place.” Ah, the searching of the soul finds its answer in the presence of the glory of the Almighty God. Ah, peace. God desires that your soul would find its place of rest there in the beauty of the nearness of God. What a beautiful thought. The searching is over. There is a peace that resides deeply upon the soul, a joy indescribable, a peace that passes understanding. I know where my home is. I have found my resting place, a place of peace. Yes, let’s give the Lord praise.

Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “‘The eternal God is a dwelling place.'” Beautiful. “‘The eternal God dwell there. Peace is found there. Let your soul resound there, for underneath are the everlasting arms.” I was describing Moses. In Exodus 33, Israel there was at Mount Sinai. After all of this, it says that Moses set up a tent. He called it the tent of meeting, placed it outside the camp, and said, “Anyone who wants to meet God can go there to the tent of meeting and meet with God anytime you want.” No law, no requirement. You don’t have to. You don’t have to go. If you don’t want to go, don’t go. You can stay home. If you want to go, it’s there. There’s a tent of meeting outside the camp. You can go anytime you want. Would you go?

It says that whenever Moses would go, that as he left the camp, the people would stand on their feet and watch. For when Moses entered the tent of meeting, glory would descend, and it says that God would meet with Moses and would speak to Moses like a man speaks to his friend.” Isn’t that a beautiful picture? What fellowship, what– joined together in such a beautiful way, God speaks like a man speaks to a friend.

Jesus says, “I call you friend. You can meet with God anytime you want. Today the way has been opened. Anyone who wants to meet God can meet God. You can come in this place. We will worship, and the Spirit of the living God will meet you here in this place. The Word of God will be proclaimed and you can meet God in the proclaiming of His Word. You can meet God in your morning devotions. You can meet God driving down the road with your worship turned up loud. That’s the best way to do it.

Yesterday, it was such a beautiful day. I was driving around. I had some errands. I was running. I just turned on the worship and turned it up loud. I’m just singing. Who cares how loud I sing or how bad I sing? I’m just worshiping. It was funny. I stopped at the store, and I went in and got a few things. When I came out the store, I forgot that I had the music turned up so loud. I turned it up. Whoa. People looking at me like, “Oh, he’s a little weird.”

You can meet God anytime you want. For in there, something happens in the soul. When you meet God, something happens in the soul. Some people, the only meeting with God they ever have is their “come to Jesus” meeting. Well, great. You need a “come to Jesus” meeting, but if that’s the only meeting you’re ever going to have, it’s not enough. Seek deeper places. Seek for more of God’s glory.

B. Lead the way

Then, we’ll close with this. He says in verse 8, lead the way, man. Lead the way. Verse 8, “Wander away from the midst of Babylon. Go forth from the land of the Chaldeans. Be like male goats at the head of the flock.” What does that mean? Lead on. They’re the ones leading in the front. Let’s go. Encourage those around you. Let’s go. In other words, you’re going to lead, you’re going to follow. Which way will it be? You’re going to lead, you’re going to follow. Settle this between you and God. Don’t depend on anyone else. It’s between you and God. No one else. You and God, personal. Settle this matter. I know in whom I have believed. There is such a surety of that declaration, I know in whom I have believed. I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that great day.”

Verse 5, I love verse 5. “They will ask for the way to Zion, and they will turn their faces in this direction.” We’re going home. I know where home is. I’m going home. The cross before me, the world behind me, there is no turning back. Settle this matter with God. It’s all about your soul. Seek deeper places, the place where peace resides, where your soul is satisfied. I know where home is. I have set my course. I have turned my heart toward home, and there is no turning back. The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You so much, so much, for such a beautiful understanding. That You’re the one who seeks first. You’re the one who knocks, calling out our name. “If anyone were to hear My voice, open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me.” We’ll have glorious fellowship together. Then, having opened the door of your heart, He says– now there’s more glory. There are deeper places. The way has been made open before you. Meet with God anytime you want. Set your heart. Set your course. Settle this matter with God today.

As we’re praying, how many will say to the Lord, “I have turned my heart toward home. I have fixed my course. I know where my home is, and I’m on my journey home.” There is no turning back, no turning back. Is that you? Would you just declare that to the Lord by raising your hand as a way of just declaring it, just saying it to the Lord, “God, this matter is settled with me. I have fixed my heart. I have turned my heart toward home, and there is no turning back.” Oh, God, I seek deeper places. Let my soul reside in the deepest places of glory. We love You and honor You for it now. In Jesus’ powerful name and everyone said, Amen. Let’s give the Lord praise and glory and honor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abiding in God’s Will
Jeremiah 42:1-22
April 18-19, 2026

Let’s take our Bibles and open to the book of Jeremiah. We are going to get back to Jeremiah 42:1, and the title of our message, Abiding in God’s Will. Very important, what he has for us. Very, very important. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful because we know that You show us the way of life, the way of blessing. In Your Word, You show that to us. We open our heart and just pray that You would pour out Your Spirit of life through Your Word. Meet us here by Your Holy Spirit. Show us the way of blessing in life. We pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said amen.

Meanwhile, back in Jeremiah, it seemed like it’s been a while, we picked the story up where we left off. As I’ve been speaking, Jeremiah, of course, has been calling the people to revival because they had turned their back on God, pursued the gods of the world, and he warned them over and over, this thing is going to end in disaster nationally and personally. Now it’s happened. This is now exactly what happened.

Jerusalem, the city of David, the place where God chose to put His name there, it was in ruins. The temple burnt, the dwelling place of God’s glory destroyed, the majority of Judah marched off in chains to Babylon to be in exile those 70 years. Jeremiah 42 is about the remnant that remained, a small traumatized remnant that remained in the land. We don’t know how many there were, very few, a few hundred, a few thousand, we don’t know.

They were the ones that had hid out in caves and desert places, and now they’re coming together to consolidate whatever they got, strengthen whatever remains. The backstory here is very important. The backstory is that just days before the events of chapter 42, that they had a newly appointed governor. This was a Judean by the name of Gedaliah that Nebuchadnezzar himself appointed to be the governor, you might say, of that area.

He was assassinated by a man named Ishmael who was a descendant of David. Now we can surmise what perhaps motivated him. He was a distant relative of David. Perhaps he thought that he had a stronger claim to leadership than Gedaliah, but we know that it was also a conspiracy. Ishmael was backed by a foreign enemy. The king of Ammon, on the other side of the Jordan, had conspired with Ishmael to assassinate this governor to hinder any possible arising of strength.

Now with their leader killed, fear, now as you can imagine, spreading like wildfire through this remnant that remained, they were terrified that when this news reached Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon that he would send his army right back with overwhelming force and destroy them all. Now there is this detail of the backstory that we must not miss. They have come to a crux point, a decision point. What shall we do now?

This is important because many people come to a place in their lives when they’ve got to decide, what am I going to do now? They needed to formulate a plan. Many people have to formulate a plan. What am I going to do next? If they remain there in that area, they were afraid Nebuchadnezzar would retaliate. After all, he was the one who had appointed Gedaliah, and not only did Ishmael kill Gedaliah, but also the few Babylonian soldiers that were there to protect him. They died also, so they knew that the Babylonian king would not take kindly to all this.

If they stay, they were fearing danger. Legitimate fear. It’s legitimate. It’s legitimate. What do you do? Do we stay, or do we flee? Do we go to Egypt? Maybe we can go to Egypt, and then we would be safe, or so they thought. This is important. When you come to a decision point in your life, how do you decide? One of the ways that you decide is by predicting the outcome. Wisdom is necessary to predict the outcome. If I do this, then it could lead to that outcome. If I do this, it could lead to this outcome.

To be able to predict that is a deep aspect of wisdom, but they must seek the Lord. This is the good part of the story. Now, they have to decide. What’s interesting, and the backstory, the verses before this in the last chapter, chapter 41:17, tells us that they had gathered together at this place called Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem. It says, “In order to proceed to Egypt.” Okay. All right, they have made up their mind. They have made the decision that they think the better course is to get out of the danger and go to Egypt.

They had made their mind, but they came to Jeremiah and said, “Jeremiah, pray for us. Pray to the Lord your God that the Lord may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” This is good. Factor God into the equation. Factor God into the decision. This is good. Now, on the surface, it sounded so sincere. It was the right thing to say. The truth was more sobering. They were not genuinely seeking God. They wanted God to bless the plan they already made.

Now, here’s where people can relate to this. They wanted divine approval on their decision they already made. This is not how you factor God into the equation. Now, this is one of the most common and dangerous spiritual traps for people to fall into as believers. Today, the Holy Spirit will use this chapter to speak to every one of us about decision-making and abiding in the will of God, and abiding in the will of God.

Here is the message God wants us to see from this chapter, that abiding in God’s will is the only safe place. The only place of true blessing. The only place of genuine peace and fulfillment, even if His will seems unpleasant or difficult or completely opposite of what you may want. This chapter is not just about history. It’s a mirror to our own hearts because so many people come to a crux point and got to decide, what am I going to do?

How many times have we come to a crisis point and said, “Lord, show me Your will,” while secretly hoping that He would simply confirm the direction we had already chosen? How many have often promised, “I will obey You, Lord, no matter what,” only to pull that promise back the moment God’s answer required real sacrifice or real effort or real discomfort? The verses in this chapter are comforting, but also challenging, but also insightful for wisdom.

We need to know how to decide. How many decisions are you going to make in life? The crux points, the hinge points on which your whole life will turn, you must decide well. This is a great chapter. It calls us to a life of trusting obedience. We’re going to see that God’s will– Isn’t that a burden? No, God’s will is the pathway of greatest blessing, deepest peace, the most abundant life that you could ever know. It’s right there in God’s will.

The key is to abide in God’s will. For even if God says no, even if He says stay, even if His direction seems unpleasant, abiding in His will is the place of greatest blessing. Because where God is, there is life. Where God directs, there is hope. Where God leads, there is mercy. All right, I want to read chapter 42. It’s a fascinating story, and then we’ll look at how God would apply it to our lives. Chapter 42:1.

“Then all the commanders of the forces, Johanan, son of Kareah, Jezaniah, son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, small and great, approached and said to Jeremiah the prophet, please let our petition come before you, pray for us to the Lord your God, that is, for all this remnant, because we who are left are just a few, a few out of many, as your own eyes now see, pray that the Lord your God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.

So Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words, and it will come about that the whole message which the Lord will answer, I will tell it to you. I will not keep back one word. So they said to Jeremiah,” now I want you to hear these words because they are really good. This is really good. If this chapter ended differently, this is a chapter you would put on your wall as a highlight of what is right, how to say the right thing.

Verse 5, they say, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. Whether that message is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you in order that it may go well with us. When we listen to the voice of the Lord our God. So it came about that at the end of 10 days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces that were there, all the people, small and great, and he said, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him.” This is what he says. Verse 10, “If you will indeed stay in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I shall relent concerning the calamity I have inflicted on you.” This will end. “Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing. Do not be afraid, for I am with you to save you, deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your own soil.”

That is a great answer. What a promise of God. But yes, we have to say the rest of it. “But if you are going to say, we will not stay in this land so as to not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, if you say, no, we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or hunger of bread, we are going to stay there. In that case, then listen to the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, If you truly set your mind to enter Egypt, to go and reside there, it will come about that that sword which you are so afraid of will overtake you there. It will find you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine about which you are so anxious, it will follow you closely after you there in Egypt. You are going to die there. All the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword, by famine, or by pestilence.

They will have no survivors or refugees from the calamity which I’m going to bring on them. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as my anger and wrath poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go there to Egypt. You will become a curse, an object of horror, an implication, a reproach, and you will see this place no more. The Lord spoke to you, O remnant of Judah, saying, do not go to Egypt.” You should clearly understand that today. “I have testified this against you, for you have only deceived yourselves.”

He could see it. He knew what they were thinking. “You have only deceived yourselves, for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God say, pray for us. Pray to the Lord our God. Then you said, whatever the Lord our God says, tell us, and we will do it. You said that. So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you. Therefore, you should now clearly understand that you will die by the sword, by famine, by pestilence, in that place where you are going to go to reside.”

I. Seek God’s Will with an Open Heart

All right. What a very important chapter. I tell you, there’s a lot for us to be taking hold of and applying, starting with this. Seek God’s will. It’s right. Seek God’s will, but when you seek God’s will, do it with an open heart. Now, they started out so well. They asked Jeremiah to pray for them. Right. Great. They had already made a plan. Now, I want to point out that starting out by making a plan is not necessarily wrong. That in itself is not wrong. Okay, they came up with a plan. Then they asked God to show us the way. Now, this is all okay. It’s all right.

How many can relate to this? How many have said to the Lord, essentially, this is what I think is best, but I want to hear from you, Lord. Don’t go with my plan, Lord. If you get a better plan, I want your plan rather than my plan. Now, see, there’s nothing wrong with having a plan, but the key is when you go to the Lord and say, if you get a better one, I want yours. This is important. For example, David. Remember King David? David wanted to build the Temple. He had it in his heart, “I got a plan.”

David wanted to build something glorious for the Lord, a great temple, glorious he wanted to build. He went to the Lord to ask. When you go to the Lord, you ask with an open heart. In other words, surrender your plan and then wait. Surrender your plan and wait. There’s nothing wrong with saying it. I tell you, I prayed it myself. I prayed, “Lord, this is what I think is best. This is what I think is best. You show me what you say.” You surrender your plan and then wait.

A. Surrender your plan… and wait

Notice that all the people came, both small and great, and they said to Jeremiah, pray and ask God. Leaders, common people alike, gathered together in what appears to be a moment of shared humility. It’s all right. Most of this chapter is so good. They recognized that they were over their heads. They were in danger, so they came to the prophet to ask. If there is genuine seeking of God’s will, desperate dependence, that is the soil in which God’s direction will come. The key is to surrender your plan.

It’s like this, “Father, not my will, but Your will be done.” Does that sound familiar? Yes, that’s exactly what the Lord Jesus said. This comes out of Matthew 26:36-39, the night in which Jesus was betrayed. It says, “Jesus came with them,” the disciples, “To Gethsemane, on the other side there of the Kidron,” just there across Jerusalem. “And he said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. He began to be grieved and distressed.

He said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here, keep watch with me. He went a little beyond them, fell on his face, and he prayed this prayer. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” Very interesting prayer. “Lord, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will, but Your will be done.” What a beautiful expression of obedience, complete obedience. You may have a deep request. Lord, this is what I’m asking.

That’s perfectly fine. Lord, this is what I’m asking. If there’s any way, then let this or that be done, but I surrender my plan to You. This is the key to the whole thing right here. I surrender my plan to You. If You have a better plan, I want Your plan. Anybody want to agree with this? It’s very important in deciding. Jeremiah 42, the people came to Jeremiah. Yes, they already had a plan. They’re asking from the Lord a word. That’s not the issue. The issue is whether they will truly be willing to abide by God’s will when they hear it.

How do you know if you’ve truly surrendered your plan? It’s if you can say what they said and mean it. Notice verse 5, they said, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send us to you.” this is the right answer. “We will do whatever God says we will do.” This is the right answer. The Lord Himself said in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, if you do not do what I say?” This is the understanding of deep lordship, that His word is authority and wisdom itself.

B. Whether pleasant or unpleasant

Notice then in the next verse they say, “Whether pleasant or unpleasant.” This is so right. Verse 6, “Whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you in order that it may go well with us when we do listen to the voice of the Lord.” I tell you, this is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible in regards to abiding in God’s will. I don’t know if you can find a better verse in abiding in God’s will.

Abiding in God’s will means to stay there under the cover of God’s will even if it be unpleasant or difficult. Meaning, say they want God’s will until it costs them something, until it’s difficult, until it means saying no to something that they really wanted. Nobody likes to hear no. Try saying no to your kids. They don’t like no. Hear that verse again because I tell you it captures one of the greatest truths of obedience to God.

“We will hear, we will listen, we will abide whether it be pleasant or unpleasant. We will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we’re sending you,” notice, “In order that it may go well with us when we listen.” That’s so right. “It will go well with us when we listen.” This is wisdom itself. God knows the path of greatest blessing. Don’t miss out on that blessing by insisting on your own way, your own path, charting your own course.

As the famous American philosopher Frank Sinatra once said, “I did it my way.” Well, he’s saying it really, “I did it my way. I charted my course each and every by way. At the end of it all, I did it my way.” He’s very proud of this, of course. Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. We need to see beyond our own limited vision. There is a way. Seems right. This is why when you pray, you say, “God, this seems right to me. I think this is the right. I’m asking for your wisdom. Don’t let me do this if you’ve got a better plan.”

C. When God says ‘no’ – He has something better

In other words, when God says no, he’s got something better. This is one of the lessons of life. Life lesson. When God says no, he’s got something better in mind. Now, they formulated the plan. We know already they were afraid that Nebuchadnezzar would send his army, retaliate, even though it wasn’t their fault, by the way. They weren’t the ones that attacked the Babylonian soldiers. They didn’t do that. They were innocent in this thing, but their fear was real, and fear determined the path.

Now, we understand fear. Hey, we were born in the condition of man. That’s the condition in which we were born, and that is the nature of fear. We get it, but fear and fear alone should not determine the course. If fear and fear is the only thing that’s driving you, then you’re not making a decision by God’s wisdom. 2nd Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear.” No, God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of sound mind.” Fear should not motivate the thing, but power and love and a sound mind.

Interestingly, God spoke to their fear. God addressed their fear. Verse 11, “Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you are now fearing. Do not be afraid of him, for I am with you to save, I am with you to deliver you from his hand.” That is factoring God into the equation. God’s plan is better, and if they would listen to His voice, it would go well. God’s saying no to their plan because He’s got a better plan. It’s faith itself to believe that if God says no, He has a better plan.

I tell you, I have seen this in my life many, many times. I give you some of my favorite illustrations. For example, when I was in my 20s, I was part owner of a restaurant, and God opened a door for me to be a youth leader in a church. Ministry was my heart. When God opened a door for me to be a youth leader, I was excited, even though it meant living on far, far less. I can tell you what I made, $1,250 a month. That and love will get you your life.

I had wanted to be a pastor since I was 11. God opened the door. I was excited. I kept my partnership in the restaurant. Now that comes into play in the story. After a time, I realized that if I was going to be a senior pastor, which was what my real heart was, that I would need a good Bible education. I needed to go to a Bible college, but how to pay for it was the question. I came up with a plan, and my plan was this.

Again, I still owned part of the restaurant, and they were negotiating to add a restaurant, that we would have another restaurant. It was a really good deal. I thought, “Oh, I know what I’ll do. We’ll make this deal and get another restaurant. I’ll sell my partnership, take the profits, pay my way through Bible college. God, I am so clever. If you could just bless my plan.” As you can imagine, God said no.

How it came about was this. I remember it so clearly. I was at this marriage conference. It was a Friday night. My partner, he was the one negotiating. He had become a believer. He came late to the conference. He said, “Can I talk to you privately?” He pulled me aside. He said, “I’ve got to tell you, I killed the deal today.” “You did? Why?” He said, “I just don’t think these people are ethical, and I don’t want to be in business with people that I don’t think are ethical. I killed the deal, and I knew as a believer you would agree with that, so I didn’t call you. Deal’s done. Over.”

I felt like a punch in the gut. That was my plan. That was Friday night. Saturday, I’m just praying. All day, this was my all-day prayer, “Lord, what am I going to do? I can’t borrow this money. As a pastor, I can never afford to pay it back. What am I going to do?” That was my Saturday prayer. “Lord, I need a miracle. I need a miracle, and so that I know that it’s a miracle, and anyone who ever hears the story knows it’s a miracle, I’m not going to tell anyone I need this money.

I just need a miracle. If you want me to go to be a pastor, then I’m asking for a miracle.” That was Saturday. Sunday morning, I wake up. I am excited to get to church. I walk in the doors of the church. I’m 10 steps in, when a fellow steps in front of me, goes like this, “Stop. I’ve got to tell you, God put it on my heart this week that I’m supposed to pay your way to Bible college.” I thought, “Lord, your way is way better than mine.”

He meant every word. He said, “Just let my wife, as my financial secretary, you let her know what the bill is each semester, and we’ll pay it.” He got me all the way through bachelor’s. I said, “I’m going to go on to get my masters. You’ve done so well. Thank you. You blessed me so wonderfully. I release you. God’s going to do another miracle.” He came back and said, “I never said bachelors, I said education. You’ll greet your doctor if you want to. I’ll pay for all of it.” That man was obedient to the Lord, and God’s plan was way better than mine. God said no, and God had a better plan. Amen. God will do it for you.

II. Abiding in God’s Will Requires Faith

Here’s what I want us to see in Jeremiah 42. God’s will, abiding in God’s will, requires faith. It requires faith. It requires faith to believe that God’s way is better than your way, and faith to believe that if you listen to the voice of the Lord, that it will go well for you. That God knows the way of greatest blessing. That requires faith. “I am with you,” God says in verse 11. “I am with you. I’m with you to save. I’m with you to deliver.”

Now, I’ve been recently emphasizing the importance of wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to see, to predict the outcomes. Foolishness, of course, is the opposite. Foolishness cannot see consequences and doesn’t care about consequences. Those who want wisdom understand the essence of seeing, to see and predict outcomes. Here the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and tells them specifically the outcome of listening to the Lord by abiding in God’s will.

Verse 10, “If you will stay in this land, I will build you up.” This is the outcome. “I will plant you. I will show you compassion. I will restore you to your own soil.” Here’s the key, wait patiently for the Lord. Verse 7, “It came about after 10 days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.” 10 days. Now, 10 days does not seem like a long time until you’re right in the middle of something. Until you’re right in the middle of a crisis, then it seems like a long time. 10 days.

A. Wait …patiently …for the Lord

Now, God often, we see in Scripture, often makes us wait. It’s the principle of the Lord that we should wait, for God accomplishes much in the waiting. Lamentations 3, we’ll get there soon, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Now, maybe you’re in a waiting season right now. The attitude of the heart is very important. If you’re in a waiting place, don’t despise the waiting.

Some of the greatest Christian growth in Christian life happens in the waiting. God’s not late. God is not silent. He’s doing a deep work while you wait. We live in a culture, of course, that values immediacy. We want answers now. We want everything now. We want everything instant. We want resolution now. God often works differently. He often calls us to wait because something happens in the waiting.

Now, while you’re waiting, it’s important to recognize waiting is not passive. It’s not inactivity. No, something is happening while you’re waiting. You’re praying. You’re trusting. It’s an active posture of trust. It’s a willingness to remain where God placed. While you wait, while you seek His face, the Lord is good to those who wait. Waiting has a way of revealing the inner workings of the heart. It exposes whether we are truly trusting or whether we’re looking for just a quick solution. Waiting strips away the aspect of self, self-reliance, self-dependence.

It’s often in the waiting that God does His deepest work spiritually. Isaiah 40 is one of those wonderful verses that speak to it, “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not faint.” Notice, they will gain. While you are waiting, you are gaining new strength. Something is happening spiritually. It says, they will rise up with wings like eagles. Isaiah here uses the picture of an eagle in flight to speak to those who wait. Mount up with wings of eagles.

If you’ve ever seen an eagle soaring in heights, you know that they’re just effortlessly gliding on the currents that lift them. Rising not by self-effort. In contrast to, if you’ve ever seen an albatross trying to get off the water, [onomatopoeia] beating the thing trying to get off the slightest bit of water. Meanwhile, the eagle’s up there in the heights sailing. It’s not about self and all that self-effort. It’s about waiting for God to move.

Psalm 46:10, “Cease all this striving.” This is a good word. Cease all this striving. Striving means self. Self-effort, self-reliance, self-dependence. All this self. Stop. Cease all this striving and know that I am God. That’s faith. “Know this. I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth,” versus my self-dependence. No, I want God’s way. I tell you what, God’s strength is far greater than any self-reliance strength that I might come up with. God’s way is a better way.

It’s vanity, he says, emptiness itself. “They’re driven by their fears.” It’s times like that when faith arises and you say, “I know my God.” When you’re in the midst of it, this is such an important thing. When you’re in the midst of it, to be able to say, “I know my God. I know how my God moves. God is my refuge. God is my strength. I will not allow my heart to be troubled within me, for I know my God and my trust is in Him. I know how my God moves.” Cease all this striving.

Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.” Yes, wait. Then lastly, I’m going to close with this, don’t go back to Egypt. There’s the grand conclusion. No, don’t go back to Egypt. “If you say,” this is verse 13, 14, “If you say, we are not going to listen to the voice of the Lord. You say, no, we will not listen. We will go to the land of Egypt. Then hear this. Then hear this.” See, God tells them the outcome.

B. Don’t go back to Egypt

This very thing, this very thing that is driving you to disregard the voice of the Lord is the very thing that you’re walking right into. Egypt throughout Scripture represents the world, represents false security, the place where people turn when they’re not willing to trust God fully. One of the most subtle dangers in the Christian life is the temptation to go back to Egypt. It begins with looking back. You remember the past. It seemed easier, more comfortable. Your memories are selective. You remember only part. You forget the hardship.

The children of Israel did this in the wilderness after they had been set free from the oppression and slavery of Egypt. There they went into the desert, where God did a miracle every morning by providing manna for them. It felt like dew. They would go out in the morning, harvest the day’s provision of sustenance in this manna. It was sweet. It tasted good, but they got tired of it and began to complain and grumble. They started looking back to Egypt.

“Oh, we remember. Oh, the good old days. Remember the good old days in Egypt? Huh. The leeks, the onions, the garlic, the fish. Don’t you remember the good old days in Egypt? Remember when we were slaves and oppressed?” Sometimes Christians do this, and it reminds them of the good old days. It never even reminds you of the pain and the emptiness, the despair. Abiding in God’s will is not always easy, but it’s always good.

It’s a place of greatest blessing, deepest peace, truest safety. Today the Lord is asking, will you abide in my will, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, easy or difficult? Will you trust that I know the path of greatest blessing better than your path? Some of you have been asking God for direction while secretly hoping that He’ll just bless the plan you already made. Today is the day to lay that down, to surrender your plan, and to say, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Others already know what God said, but fear is tempting you to run to Egypt.

The voice of the Lord says, “Stay. Stay with me. I am with you. I’m with you to save. I’m with you to deliver. I have something better for you. Don’t run. Don’t run. Don’t go back to Egypt. Stay. I have glorious things.” No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has understood what God has in store for those who love Him. Stay and abide in God’s will, and He will bless you. It is the path of greatest blessing.

Let’s pray. Lord, we are so thankful for showing us such deep and wonderful insights into the ways of God, into the heart of God. It meets us right where we are. So many people are making decisions of life. Church, as we’re praying, perhaps you are making a decision. You’re at a crux point, and you’ve got to decide what you’re going to do. Would you say to the Lord today, not my will, your will be done, and I will abide in it. For I know that your way and your will is the path of greatest blessing, of peace, of a sure foundation. I want your will in my life.

Is that you? Would you raise your hand as a way of just expressing that to God, a prayer to the Lord? I want your will. I will abide in your will and your way. I trust you, God. I trust you. It is the way of greatest blessing. Father, thank you for everyone who has raised their hand as a show of obedience, saying, I want your way. God, pour out your Spirit upon us now. Meet us here and truly pour your life that our souls would be revived. As we wait, we gain new strength to rise up with wings like eagles and run and not get tired and walk and not faint. Do that in us, we pray. We ask in Jesus’ name, and everyone said.

The Triumphant King
John 18:1-40
March 28-29, 2026

Would you all open your Bibles to the Book of John? We’ll be in John 18, beginning in verse 1, the title of our message, The Triumphant King, as we’re celebrating the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, thank you for sending your Word to reveal your heart to us, your desire to bless our lives. We open our heart to receive and pray that, Lord, you would pour out your Spirit of life through your Word. Meet us here today in Jesus’ powerful name. Everyone said, Amen.

The triumphant entry of the Lord as He came into Jerusalem, riding on the fold of a donkey, and the crowds, or great crowds surrounding Him, shouting, “Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” These were the words from the Psalm of the Messiah. Everyone knew that when you shout these words, you are welcoming in the Messiah and King. There were great crowds there in Jerusalem because these were the high holy days in Israel. That week began on Sunday.

The first month of the Jewish calendar is the month of Nisan. On the 10th day of that month, the day that we call Palm Sunday, is the day that they call Lamb Selection Day. That’s the day that they would select a lamb, an unblemished lamb, to prepare for the Passover that would be coming later that week. The day that Jesus came into Jerusalem, riding on the fold of a donkey, the day that we call Palm Sunday, was Lamb Selection Day. God was sending His Son and declaring, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the Lamb that I have chosen, that He will redeem sinners and reconcile them to the living God through His Son, Jesus Christ.” Amen. It’s glorious to know. Let’s give the Lord praise. God’s doing a great work in that.

God has been leading up to this day, this day of Jesus, from the beginning. Jesus has an appointment with history. He came to fulfill the very purpose of God, to seek and to save that which was lost. He’s been healing. He’s been teaching. He’s been preparing the disciples, saying that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and that He would be crucified. He told them the manner of His death, but that He would be raised up from the dead on the third day. Jesus had an appointment with history. His entry into Jerusalem were ordained, established by God before the foundations of the world.

From the earliest chapters of Genesis, God has been pointing to Jesus all through, showing that He would be the one who would shed His blood on the cross of Calvary as a covering for our sins as well. All throughout the Old Testament, I love going through the Old Testament and seeing all the ways that it points to Jesus over and over, chapter by chapter, prophecy by prophecy. It’s all there to read and understand. For example, in Isaiah 61, the words that Jesus quoted from the prophet as He began His ministry, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. The Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to prisoners, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Then, of course, Isaiah 53, one of the most powerful prophetic chapters in the entire Old Testament, Isaiah 53:5, is such a key verse, “He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” God has been declaring it from the very beginning, but the Jews missed it. They didn’t recognize the signs of the times that were right before their eyes, thus fulfilling another Scripture that said that the stone which the builders rejected, meaning that the Messiah and King would come, but they would not recognize. They would even reject Him.

The stone which the builders rejected would become the chief cornerstone. On that stone, on that rock, He would build His church. On that rock, He would build the purpose of which He sent His Son to seek and to save that which was lost. They would not receive their King. Though He lived among them, the signs of the times were right before their eyes. The blind received sight, the deaf could hear, the lame could walk. He even raised Lazarus from the dead. These were the signs of the times right before their eyes, but they missed it because their hearts were hard and their eyes were blind.

Here’s where it must be seen as being personal. You don’t miss it. Don’t you miss the signs of the time? Each one must decide then, how will you respond to the one whom He sent to seek and to save you? The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah, but Daniel the prophet gave the exact number of years from a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince. Exact. No one can fulfill that prophecy except the one who already fulfilled it. For Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the exact day predicted and prophesied by Daniel the prophet. In other words, the purposes of God will be accomplished. Jesus entered Jerusalem the exact day appointed by God. Nothing could stop Him, and nothing could hinder Him.

Today, the Eastern Gate there in Jerusalem has been sealed up. When you go to Israel with us, we always take you to the Mount of Olives. You can see Jerusalem there. We always point out that the Eastern Gate, also called the Mercy Gate or the Golden Gate, has been sealed up. Why? The Muslims sealed it up many years ago, knowing and understanding that the prophecy of Scripture is that when the Messiah comes, He will enter in through the Eastern Gate. Thinking that they would thwart the will of God, they sealed it up. They even put a cemetery in front of it, thinking that no man of God would come through the place of the dead.

The Scripture says that when Jesus the Messiah comes at the end of the age and sets foot on the Mount of Olives, that the mountain will split wide open before Him. He will enter into Jerusalem to rule and reign the nations of the world, to which we say, “Oh Lord Jesus, come quickly, because this is a messed-up world.” Can we give God praise?

In other words, nothing can stop Him, and nothing can hinder Him. Jesus has an appointment with history. I also submit to you that everyone will have an appointment with Him. Everyone’s going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting. Sometimes we use that expression, “So-and-so, they need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting.” I’m here to tell you that everyone is going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting. The question is when. You can have a come-to-Jesus meeting today and get your heart and your soul right with God today, or you can have a come-to-Jesus meeting at the end of the age when everyone will stand and give an account of their lives.

Scripture says every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee, every tongue is going to confess. Everyone is going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting. I submit to you that it’s much better to have a come-to-Jesus meeting now, now that you can be reconciled to the living God because of what Jesus did for you. You can enjoy the blessing and honor of a relationship to the living God. I tell you, this is a messed-up world. This world needs hope right now.

It’s times like these– Look at what’s happening in the world today. It’s times like these makes you think about what really matters. Makes you step back and consider the condition of your soul. There is an aspect of the human nature that’s searching and longing, and looking to fill that which is empty inside. Longing, longing, searching, “Where is that which would fill my soul?” You know what’s interesting is that the Lord sent His Son to seek out you. He’s the one actually knocking.

The Scripture says, “I stand at the door, and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with me.” In other words, we’re going to have glorious fellowship together. We must step back and understand, He’s the one doing the seeking. He’s the one doing the knocking. He’s calling out your name. He desires glorious fellowship with you. Everyone’s going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting. I want you to have that opportunity to get your heart and your soul right with God. It’s a beautiful story that we’re going to see in John 18 of encounters with Jesus.

After the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, He entered into the temple. There He saw the money changers and those selling doves and taking advantage of those who had come to worship. He overthrew the tables and money flying and doves flying. He chased them out. “Get out. This is my Father’s house. This is to be a house of prayer, and you’re making it a den of robbers.” Then He taught them. He healed them in the temple. Then later that week, when He had that last supper with His disciples, He says that afterward He crossed over into the Kidron Valley.

I. The Flesh is Weak

There in the Garden of Gethsemane, the story unfolds that we’re going to read here in John 18. That is such an important story because here we see why it’s so important that we need a Savior. Why we need a come-to-Jesus meeting. Why? Because we see the failure of the human condition in living color in the story. Firstly, there’s Peter. Oh, Peter. We can relate to Peter. We can see ourselves in Peter. He’s hotheaded, he’s overconfident, and he’s weak in the flesh, just like us. Oh, we’re just like him. We can relate. This encounter with Jesus is going to change him forever.

There’s Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Oh, he came to Jesus all right, but he brought Roman soldiers and officers to arrest Him. “The one I kiss is the one whom you seek.” Then there’s Pontius Pilate in the story, the Roman governor, an unwilling participant in the story, but he plays a very important role, and also a very important matter that we need to see ourselves in as well, for he must answer the question, what will you do with Jesus? That question still rings true today. What will you do with my son? What will you do with Jesus?

Let’s read the story of it. We’re in John 18, and we’ll begin reading in verse 1. “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron.” When you’re in Jerusalem with us, we’ll do this, you’re there in Jerusalem, you go east, right away, you go right down into the very short valley of Kidron. On the other side is the Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and we always go there. What a powerful moment to just consider, stand there when all these events unfolded, and consider the powerful things that happened in our behalf there in that garden.

He says He was there with His disciples, verse 2, “Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew of that place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort, officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing of the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ He said to them, ‘I am He.'” I love this part of the story, “I am He.”

Judas also, who was betraying Him, was there standing with them. Now, when Jesus therefore said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. This is a powerful scene. You might know that the name of God in Hebrew is translated, “I am.” Here, He says, “I am He.” They drew back and fell to the ground. What a powerful scene. Then He says, “Whom do you seek?” Again, He says it. They answer, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Verse 8, “Jesus said, I told you that I am He. If, therefore, you seek me, let these go their way,” meaning the disciples, “that the word might be fulfilled which He spoke, of those whom thou hast given me, I lost not one.”

“Simon Peter, therefore–” Okay, here we go. “Simon Peter, therefore, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear.” How exact is that? Not his left ear, his right ear, and we know his name, the slave’s name is Malchus. “Jesus therefore said to Peter, put the sword back into its sheath, Peter, for the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? The Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus, bound Him, led Him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.”

Now this is the Caiaphas– Do you remember? The Caiaphas, who was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people? He had no idea the power of that word that he spoke, that it would become prophetic. “Now Simon Peter was following Jesus, so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.”

Now, when you go to Israel with us, we go here to this very place. Amazing to stand there, considering these events took place here. Amazing. Now, verse 17, “A slave girl, therefore, who kept the door, said to Peter, ‘You’re not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.'” Denied the Lord. “Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves by the fire, and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself with their fire. Now the high priest therefore questioned Jesus about His disciples and about His teaching.

Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues or in the temple where all the Jews come together, and I spoke nothing in secret. Why then do you question me, question those who heard what I spoke to them? Behold, they know what I said.’ When He had said this, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow.” He struck him. “‘Is that the way you answer a high priest?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, then bear witness of the wrong, but if I speak rightly, why do you strike me?’ Annas, therefore, sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said, therefore, to him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it a second time, ‘I am not.’ Then one of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, ‘Wait. Did I not see you in the garden with Him?’ Peter denied it. ‘I tell you, I don’t know the man.’ Immediately, a rooster crowed.”

A. Live by the sword, die by the sword

Now this is a very important scene. We’re going to look at some other verses, yes, but I want us to understand here, this story is so important because it reveals why we need to come to Jesus, why we need a Savior, because the flesh is so weak. In that garden that night, Jesus, after He had returned from praying, found the disciples asleep and said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Oh, that is so true. That night, Peter was completely overtaken by his flesh. His hot-headed anger was about to get him into some real trouble. Had to be rescued by the Lord. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

He’s trying to help understand– We can say it this way. Live by the flesh, die by the flesh. Oh, that flesh is so weak. The condition of man, why we need a Savior, why we need to come to Jesus. That hot head of his is going to get him into some real trouble. He drew out a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, cut off his right ear. We know his name, Malchus. I think it’s fair to say that Peter, being a fisherman, was not skilled with the sword. He was not aiming for the man’s right ear. He’s not Zorro. He’s a fisherman who’s wielding the sword clumsily. I submit, he’s trying to take the man’s head off.

He’s wielding the sword, so Malchus ducks and cuts off his right ear. Jesus– The hot head, he just lost it. He just lost it to the flesh. His hot anger lost it. He’s just wielding the sword and then cuts off the man’s ear, so that Jesus then steps in to rescue him. Jesus– what an amazing scene. He goes over, picks up this ear. I like to think He probably shook it off. Then He puts it back on the man’s head. You would think that the whole crowd would like, “Let’s take this thing over here.” He puts it back on the man’s head, heals him. Jesus saves him. Jesus rescues him because his hot head got him into a lot of trouble.

B. The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

I tell you, many people do this. Something happens, some crisis thing happens, and they lose it. They just lose it. Their flesh just takes over, and they get angry, and they just lose it. Oh, the flesh. Weak. Got many people into a lot of trouble. People do this all the time, and they make enemies of people that are not your enemies. Your wife is not your enemy. Your husband, your children, your boss, they’re not your enemies. When you react this way in the flesh, you give your enemy a foothold in your life. Ephesians 4, “Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give the devil an opportunity.” Oh, how weak is the flesh.

II. God’s Love Never Fails

Then we need to see this in the story. Jesus told them in advance. He said, “You will all fall away on account of me.” Peter objected, “Not me, not me. I look at these others that you selected, and I can understand why you would say that about them. Not me. I would never deny you.” Jesus said, “Peter, this very night before the rooster has crowed, you will have denied me three times.” What was Peter saying? “My love for you is greater than any of them. I love you more. I would never fail you. I would never deny you.” He does. He failed. He does fail miserably.

A. Don’t follow at a distance

This is part of the story. We fail. God’s love never fails. Even while Peter is failing, Jesus is paying the price for that failure. Jesus is paying the price to redeem him from that failure. Then we read this story and understand tremendously important truths to apply. For example, verse 15, don’t follow at a distance. Oh, Peter’s following, but at a distance. He doesn’t want anyone to know who he is. He’s a follower of Jesus, but distant. Many people find themselves in the same place. Oh, they’re followers of Jesus, but they don’t want anyone to know. They don’t want to stand out. I call it the miserable middle.

They’re following Jesus, but at a distance. They’re miserable because they’re right in the middle. They have too much of the Lord to enjoy the world, and they have too much of the world to enjoy the Lord. It’ll make you fail. Being too far from the Lord is what gets people in trouble. It’s been true from the very beginning. Then it’s the nearness of God that is our strength. It’s the nearness of God that is our good. That’s the place we need to stand in. That’s Psalm 73:28. “As for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works.”

“I’m not ashamed. I want to tell everyone the glorious things you’ve done for me.” It’s the nearness of God that is my good. I’ve made the Lord God my refuge. I want to tell of all your works. Then there’s 2 Timothy 1:12. What a great verse is this. “I’m not ashamed, for I know in whom I have believed.” I am persuaded. I am convinced. This thing is settled with me. I believe that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day. I tell you, I found it’s much easier just to declare who you are.

I remember when I was back in the workaday world, and I was going to Bible college, and I was still working in the restaurant business. We had started the church, but it was small. I still had a job in the restaurant. I got this new position at this restaurant. It was a high-class. I remember day one, I get there early, and the manager says, “Your trainer’s not here yet, so just stand in your section and wait. He’ll show up soon.” I’m over there waiting. Pretty soon, the fellow comes up and introduces himself. Then he says, “I’m a homosexual. Did you notice that?” I said, “Well, I picked that up.”

Then, about that time, another fellow comes up and starts talking about the party that he was at the night before in all the lurid details. I said, “I’ll just be over here.” I went a little distance away and just waited. Then, a little bit later, in the back, someone’s talking about some drug deal that was going on. This is day one. This is the way the night went. At the end of the night, they’re all standing around in a circle doing their tips. Someone says, “Hey, Rich, you’ve heard about us. Tell us about you. What do you do for your day job?” I said, “I’m the pastor of a church.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the sound of mouths dropping open, but that’s what happened next. Someone then said, “Oh, what you heard from us.” Then the stiff arm, the cold treatment, the rebuff. I went home that night thinking, “God, how did I get myself into this?” Ever had that corrective word of the Spirit just speaking to your heart? Like, “You go back there, and you’re going to serve these people, you’re going to respect these people, and you’re going to share Jesus with these people.”

I went back, and they were cold and stiff-armed, but I just served them and respected them. Little by little by little, they warmed up to me. Before I was done, I was able to share Jesus Christ with all of them. An interesting thing happened. One time, I was invited to speak. It was a real special thing that I’m invited to speak anywhere. I thought, “Hey, this is something special. Y’all ought to come hear me speak.” They go, “Us? You want us to come to church?” “Yes, you don’t have to sit in the front. You can sit in the back.” I said, “I’ll even introduce you.”

B. Don’t be warmed by the world’s fire

They said, “Really? You want to introduce us? How would you introduce us?” I said, “I’ll say to everybody, ‘Hey, everyone, I want you to meet my sinner friends sitting in the back.'” They all laughed, of course. They didn’t all come, but a few of them came. Here’s my point. Don’t warm yourself by the world’s fire. You invite them to come to your fire. You invite them to come and have the fire of the Holy Spirit get hold of them. That’s when God will move in power. Don’t warm yourself by their fire is a very important principle.

Here, Peter, falling at a distance in the courtyard, warming himself, making himself comfortable by their fire. Mark and Luke say that he sat down with them. While he’s making himself comfortable around this fire, he’s accused of being a follower of Jesus the Galilean. He’s in their midst. He’s in a party, you could say, warming himself. He becomes like them, which is the danger of warming yourself by their fire. You will become like them. Someone says, “Are you not one of His disciples?” “I am not.” He denies it.

Then someone says again, “Are you not one of His disciples?” “I tell you, I am not.” Then someone says, “Wait, I saw you. Didn’t I see you in the garden?” Now he’s vehement. “I tell you, I do not know the man.” Another gospel says that this third time, he says it with cussing to be all the more convincing. Now he’s a fisherman, so he knows quite a bit about cussing. “Didn’t I see you? Weren’t you there in the garden with him?” “I tell you, blankety, no, I don’t even know the man.”

At that moment, Jesus looked over at him. They met eyes. You can say a lot with eyes. What do you think Jesus would have said to him when He looked at him? I think Jesus would have looked with compassion, sadness, sorrow. I think He would have looked at him, and with His eyes, He would have said, “Peter, did I not say? Did I not say, Peter?” Scripture says that Peter then went out and wept bitterly, deep, deep, bitter weeping, so ashamed of himself, so ashamed of what he did. Have you ever done something that made you so ashamed that it hurt? Shame is a terrible condition.

Done something so shameful that you just hurt, weeping, weeping, bitterly. Now we know, of course, the story that it will come a time after the resurrection when Peter will have an encounter with the Lord. He will restore him. “Do you love me, Peter?” He will restore him. This is something beautiful to know. God takes the ashamed one, broken one, messed-up one. He’ll renew. He’ll rebuild. He will restore. He does not throw people away. He will not throw you away either. He will rebuild. He will restore. He will renew, and He’ll give you glorious purpose. He will not throw you away. That’s something that we know is glorious about the Lord.

III.  Everyone Sits in the Seat of Pilate

Before we close, we must look at Pilate in the story. He’s very important, of course, in the story, but I want us to understand how we connect, in the sense that everyone must sit in the seat of Pilate. In other words, everyone must answer the same question as Pilate. “What will you do with my Son? What will you do with Jesus?” Now, Pontius Pilate had never met Jesus before this moment, though likely he had heard of Him. By this time, Jesus had already developed a reputation of confronting the Jewish leaders. Probably pleased Pontius Pilate, because he did not like the Jews.

He had a reputation of being harsh, and now he’s in a predicament. What will he do with Jesus? At first, he tries to get out of it. Take Him yourself. Judge Him by your own law. They say, “We do not have the authority to bring death to this man.” Pilate then questions Him. Pick it up with me in verse 33. “Pilate therefore entered again into the praetorium, summoned Jesus, and said, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Look, your own nation and your chief priests delivered you up to me. Tell me, what have you done?’

Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews, but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘So you are a king.’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this, I have been born. For this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.’ Pilate answered, ‘Ha. What is truth?’ When he had said this, he went out to the Jews and said, ‘I find no guilt in this man.'”

A. Everyone must choose, “What will you do with Jesus”?

Pilate is in a predicament. He knows He’s innocent. “I find no guilt in Him.” He knows the Jews are just jealous of Him. Interestingly, his wife sent a message to him, and in that message she said, “Have nothing to do with this righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” He’s pressured by the Jews to crucify. They’re pressuring him. The Jews knew that Pilate had a dangerous secret. They had leverage over him, and it has to do with the intrigue of what was happening in Rome. The intrigue was this. Tiberius Caesar was getting old and wanted to retire, so he appointed a regent to oversee, govern, rule over the Empire of Rome while he enjoyed retirement on the island of Capri, just off the coast.

That man, that regent that he appointed, was named Sejanus. Sejanus became the most powerful man in Rome next to Tiberius himself, but Sejanus was ambitious. He didn’t want to just be the regent. He wanted to be the next Caesar, so he hatched a plot to assassinate Tiberius. Then, when the plot became known, Sejanus was arrested and executed. Tiberius then issued orders to search out and find everyone associated with Sejanus. “I want to know–” The order was, “I want to know who is a friend of Sejanus and who is a friend of Caesar.” It just so happens that Pilate was appointed to his position by none other than the same Sejanus, and the Jews knew it. He had a dangerous secret.

John 19:12, Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out and said, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. You are no Amicus Caesaris.” It became a well-known phrase. Many people can relate to Pilate here in the story. In their heart, they know Jesus is the righteous one. They know, but they’re afraid of what others might think, and they’re pressured by that wanting the approval of others. John 12, an example, many even of the rulers believed in Him, but they were not confessing Him for fear that He would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

B.  Truth is a person

“Pilate therefore said, ‘So you are a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this, I have been born. For this, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.'” Are you of the truth? What does it mean, everyone who is of the truth? It means that they are honest seekers. They want the truth. When they hear the truth, it resonates in their soul. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit. They hear the truth, and it resonates as truth. They take hold of it, and thus their hearts are opened.

He came to bear witness to the truth. The sinners can be reconciled to the living God. God has made a way that He sent His Son to seek and to save that which was lost, that sinners can have their sins forgiven, paid in full by that which Jesus did when He shed His blood on the cross. He paid the penalty of your sin, and He paid it in full, so that anyone on whom that blood is applied has their sins forgiven entirely. He’ll give you the righteousness of God as a gift. He’ll give you eternal life. You will have glorious fellowship and the promise of eternal life.

Come to Jesus. He is the one inviting. He is the one pursuing. Can you hear His voice? “Behold, I stand at the door, and I knock. If anyone hears my voice, he’ll open the door. I will come in, sup with him, and he with me. We’ll have glorious fellowship together.” Can you hear His voice? He is inviting you. Come to Jesus. A glorious encounter that will change your life forever.

Let’s pray. Lord, how glorious it is to know of your heart that you are the one pursuing us. It’s amazing that you are the one inviting people like us, weak in the flesh, filled with shame, that you would pursue us, knock on the door of our hearts, call our name, invite us to glorious fellowship. It’s amazing. Church, as we’re praying, as we’re continuing to pray, if that is you, if you would say to the Lord today, “I want to come to Jesus, I want my come-to-Jesus meeting, I want to get right with God. I want God to come into my life because my soul resonates with the truth. I know who Jesus is. I just need to open my heart.”

Is that you? Would you open your heart? He’s inviting you. He’s knocking. He’s calling your name. If that is you, would you raise your hand that I could just pray with you and agree with you in the name of the Lord? God bless you. God bless you. Anyone else? God bless you and you in the front there. In the very back and the side. Oh, way over there in the side, I see you too. God bless you. Anyone else? I see you right back here in the middle. Come towards the back. I see you there. Anyone else? I see you right there. Yes, I see you too. God bless you. Anyone else?

I want to pray for everyone who just raised their hand to say, “I’m opening my heart. I hear you calling my name. You’ve reconciled me. I want to ask God for that promise of eternal life and for the forgiveness of sin. I want my soul right with God. We are so blessed by how you move by your Spirit upon us.” Church, let’s give Him praise. In Jesus’ name, we say an amen and amen. Let’s give Him praise. Can we do that? Amen. Amen.

Extravagant Love
John 12:1-11
March 21-22, 2026

Joining us online. Hope you’re all doing well. It’s spring. I’m feeling springy. It’s great to see you all. Hey, would you all open your Bibles to John 12:1? As we’re heading into the resurrection, we’re going to look at this wonderful story. The title of our message is Extravagant Love. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful. We know that you send your word after us to show us the way of glory and of life. We open our hearts to receive from you now and pray that you would pour out your Spirit through your word. God, meet us here by your Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Everyone said amen.

All right. The events of John 12 take place just before the triumphant entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and the last supper that He had with his disciples there the night before He was betrayed and then arrested, and then later would be crucified. The backstory of this chapter is one of the most amazing stories in the New Testament, and it’s this. Jesus was friends with Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. At one point, Lazarus became deathly ill. Mary and Martha sent an urgent message to the Lord that Lazarus, the friend whom Jesus loved, had become deathly sick.

Jesus stayed two more days in that place, and when He finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days. Bethany, by the way, is just east of Jerusalem, just on the other side of the Mount of Olives, is very, very near. When Jesus arrives in Bethany, it was Martha that met him first, shortly followed by Mary, and both of them said to the Lord, “If you had been here, our brother would not have died.” Now, I don’t believe that they said this as a way of accusing, but rather as the cry of their heart, “Oh, if you had been here, our brother would not have died.”

Jesus then responded, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha gave a theological answer. She said, “I know, I know, I know that He will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” What we’ve come to understand in the story is that the death of Lazarus becomes an opportunity for God to reveal his power over death and the hope of eternal life. Jesus responded, “I am the resurrection, I am the life, and he who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Do you believe this? Jesus was strengthening faith by revealing the power of God over death and the hope of the resurrection.

For in just a matter of days, Jesus himself would be crucified, laid in a tomb very similar to that of Lazarus. He’s strengthening faith so that when they see Jesus raised from the dead, they can take hold of it and believe. In fact, the significance of that must not be misunderstood. Paul wrote in Romans 10, he said, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

All right, now here, as we come to John 12, Lazarus has now been raised from the dead. After being in the grave four days, he’s here now in the story, sitting at the table with Jesus, having supper. Mary is there, Martha is there, the disciples are all there. Then at some point in the meal, Mary took costly perfume made of pure spikenard and anointed his feet, wiped his feet with her hair. This is a beautiful story of amazing love. This is about extravagant love. The greatest and highest desire that God has for us is that we would love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, our mind, and our strength.

The reason to love becomes evident in the story. Let’s read it. We’re in John 12. We begin reading in verse 1. “Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” They made a supper for him there, and Martha was serving. Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. “Mary, then, took, therefore, a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard or spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” As you can imagine, filled with the fragrance of this perfume.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, “Why? Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor?” By the way, a denarii is the value of about one full day’s wage. Can you imagine 300 days’ wage for one bottle of perfume? Now, verse 6, he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and he had the money box, and he used to pilfer what was put into it. He was a treasurer, in other words, and he would help himself to the monies that were in the funds.

Jesus, therefore, said, “Let her alone. It is in order that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor, you have always with you, but you do not always have me. Now, a great multitude, therefore, of the Jews learned that He was there, and they came, but not only for Jesus’s sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.” Everybody wanted to see. That’s the one that Jesus raised from the dead. He was in the grave four days. He was in the grave so long that he stinketh, and Jesus raised him from the dead. We want to see this one, and they came in great multitude to see him.

I. Love God Extravagantly

Then verse 10 says, “But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also.” They had already plotted to take Jesus’s life, but now, because of this, they desired to take Lazarus also. “Because, verse 11, on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.” What a beautiful, amazing story that must be seen as being personal and applied to our lives. In other words, love God extravagantly. That is what God is calling us as well. Imagine I capture this scene for a moment. It’s so beautiful. Lazarus is seated at the table after being raised from the dead, and it says, “And Martha was serving.”

See, I think that it makes special mention of the fact that Martha is serving because there’s some history here with Martha and her serving. Many of you know the story that there was another time when Jesus was waiting for a meal to be prepared. Mary was sitting at his feet listening to his words. Martha became irritated because Mary wasn’t helping. She came up to Jesus. Now, notice how she says it. She comes up to Jesus and says, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Tell her to help me.” Now, I don’t know if she said it that bossy, but I think she was bossy.

Jesus corrected her and said, “Martha, Martha.” Now, when Jesus says your name twice, you’re pretty much in trouble. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things. Only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Now, here in John 12, Martha is again serving, and we get the sense that she’s serving with a good heart. Now, Mary then came to Jesus with this jar of extremely expensive perfume. Later, we read, of course, it’s worth 300 denarii. That would be approximate to the wage of an entire year’s labor. Maybe today $50, $60,000 perhaps, maybe more. Now, in case you are wondering, yes, there is perfume that expensive today. For example, there is the Clive Christian’s Imperial Majesty perfume for 215,000 per bottle. Then there’s the Opera Prima Bvlgari for 235,000. Then there’s the Shumukh by Nabeel for 1.29 million. Of course, there is Le Monde Sur Mesure by Morreale Paris, 1.5 million.

Now, I myself prefer something simple, less expensive, but ruggedly outdoorsy. Something like Chanel No. 5. The certain smell of a webbed horse just manly there. Anyway, back to our story. We know then that after Mary anointed defeat, Judas objected. Why was this perfume not sold, and the money given to the poor? Now he tells us, no, he wasn’t concerned about the poor, he was a thief. Speaks to the motive. Ah, the motive. Why do people do what they do? The essence of the question why do people say what they say? Jesus said that the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.

We know now what filled his heart. What was his motive? We also know Mary’s motive, love. Oh, the extravagance of her love. Why? Because of what God had done for her. This is such an important understanding. You love God because of His love for you. Scripture says we love God because He loved us first in Jesus Christ. He loved us extravagantly in Jesus name. The other gospels tell us that Jesus told them in advance that the Son of Man must be handed over to His enemies, delivered up for crucifixion. He said this more than once. He said this on three separate occasions.

A. Love Him because of His love for you

Now, the disciples did not want to hear this. It seems clear that they didn’t fully grasp what He was saying. Mary had learned to listen to His words. More than that, I’m convinced that she heard His heart when He said, ” The Son of Man must be handed over to His enemies and be crucified.” She heard the words, took it to heart, and so she said, “Okay. Then, if you are to be crucified, then I will anoint you now for your burial.” Why did Mary love so extravagantly? She knew how much that Jesus had loved her. Jesus had raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. Something far beyond her expectation. Exceedingly, abundantly beyond her expectation, which is a great truth for us today.

I tell you, if we could only comprehend, if we could only understand fully the extravagance of God’s love toward us, it would radically change who we are. It would radically change how we live. Oh, people, I tell you, this is such an important, great truth. If we could only understand it, comprehend it, I tell you, it would radically change your soul. Paul wrote this in Ephesians 3:18-19, he says, “I pray like this is my prayer for you, that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height, the depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses understanding that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

Can you imagine your soul being filled up to all of the fullness of God? I tell you what, you want to live, let your soul be filled to all of the fullness of God. You will understand life and the depth of it, because it comes from that great truth. Oh, if you could only comprehend it, He said, the greatness of God’s love and to be filled up with the fullness of God, that, my friends, is living. Amen. Can we give God praise and glory?

There is another time, another story, when Jesus was anointed with tears and with perfume. We then have an insight into the depth of why we love. Notice, you can turn there with me if you would like. It’s in Luke 7:36. The story unfolds. Now, one of the Pharisees was requesting Jesus to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. Now, behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner.

Now, you got to say it maybe a little different. “There was a woman in the city, and she was a sinner. When she learned that He was reclining at the table at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume. Standing behind him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet, and anointing them with the perfume.” Now, when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He wouldn’t know who and what sort of person this woman is, who is touching Him, and that she is a sinner.”

Jesus answered and said, “Simon, I have something to say to you. ‘Say it, teacher.’ A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii.” Now we already know that is a huge sum of money. Another owed 50. Now, when they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Now, which of them, therefore, would love him the more? Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” Jesus said, ” You have judged correctly.” Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet.”

This was a common courtesy of the day. “She has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, common courtesy of the day, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, a common courtesy of the day. She anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason, I say to you that her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little.” Then he said to the woman, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Those who were reclining at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” He said to the woman, “Woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” What a beautiful story. When you read that story, you can easily put yourself right in the story. When you begin to understand how much God has done for you, how much God has forgiven. I tell you what, I can look at my life, and I am very, very thankful. Oh, how thankful I am for how much God has loved me, how much God has forgiven me, how much grace He has poured out all my life. I am very, very thankful. Anybody want to join me in this? Amen. Yes, let’s give the Lord praise. 

B. Love first; serve second

Then you see this in the story, love first, serve second. It comes out of love. The highest, the greatest. Judas, he’s indignant. The perfume could have been sold, money given to the poor. Jesus corrects him, “Let her alone. She has done this to prepare me for the day of my burial.” The poor you will always have, but you will not always have me. Now, Jesus is not saying there is anything wrong with helping the poor. No, we know God’s heart. It’s so important to have a heart of generosity and compassion for those less privileged. We understand that. Mary understood the importance of loving God first and loving God extravagantly, and then out of the abundance of that heart comes a heart to serve. Mary understood it. Martha surely now understands it. Mary had learned the importance of sitting at Jesus’ feet, and that, Jesus said, was the better part. When you think about how to live your life effective, people want to live their life to be effective, to accomplish much, and you would think it would be to the one who strives more, applies themselves more to it, the one who works the hardest at it. No.

Scripture helps us to understand. No, you love God first. You believe God first. It comes out of that which God is doing in your life. You want to be effective? Start with this greater understanding. For example, Psalm 127. We love these verses. Let these be like life verses for you. Psalm 127, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” If God isn’t in it, it’s in vain. “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” If God isn’t in it is in vain. Then He says, it’s vain for you. Empty. It’s vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for it is He who gives to His beloved even while he sleeps.

What a glorious understanding. You want to be effective? It comes out of that faith, that love, that relationship to the Lord. Here’s another illustration. When Israel was coming out of Egypt, God saved them out of the oppression and slavery, brought them into the desert. At one point, they encountered an enemy that unjustly attacked them, the Amalekites. Joshua is there in the battle. He’s directing the armies of Israel to take on this great battle, but Moses is on the mountain with his hands lifted in prayer. It says that as Moses lifted his hands in prayer, Joshua prevailed in the battle, but as his arms began to grow tired and weakened and began to be lowered, it turned the other way and they went against Joshua.

Aaron and who, who were alongside lifted his arms back up. As he lifted his arms in praise and in prayer, then Joshua prevailed in the battle. Of course, the point and the message is that if God isn’t in it will not be a victory. It comes from that first relationship. Love God first. Love God. Believe God. In fact, James 5 is a great verse. The effect of the fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Do you believe in the significance and the power of prayer? He tells us here a great word. The effect of fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.

Then there’s Isaiah 40. “It is he who gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases his power. For those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired, and they will walk and not faint.” What great promises are those? John 12, going back now to this chapter. Notice this picture of the fragrance filling the room, a picture of Mary’s heart. There’s a connection that is very important to see from a personal perspective. In other words, be a sweet aroma to God. She pours the alabaster jar of perfume. The room is filled with the fragrance. What a beautiful picture of Mary’s heart.

II. Be a Sweet Aroma to God

In the Scriptures, there is a similar word that connects that to the heart, the soul. Notice, he says, “We are a fragrance of Christ to God who manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” Beautiful. Understanding that the soul within, that there’s the aroma of Christ, the sweet aroma. Wouldn’t that be amazing that people can just smell, you might say, the aroma of Christ? That’s glorious. Of course, the opposite is not so good. If they smell like, I don’t know, something, there’s something, I don’t know, something doesn’t smell right.

It reminds me of many years ago, we used to live in Aloha. At one point, I came home, and I thought, this house doesn’t smell right. I said to Jordi, my wife, “Do you smell something?” Now, when you’re in it, you get used to it, you don’t want to smell it. She said, “Well, I don’t think so. I don’t know, maybe. I don’t know.” The next day I come home, to me it was a little stronger. I said, “No, there’s something. I smell something, I’m pretty sure.” They said, “Do you smell it?” I said, “I don’t know, maybe.” The next day I came home, it was like, “Oh, I’m pretty sure I smell something.”

Well, we were having guests coming over for dinner. I thought, we can’t have guests coming over with the house smelling like this. I had to know for sure. I thought, I’m going to call our neighbors, the Huggins, they go to our church now. I called them. I said, “Hey, Dean, can I borrow your nose? I need you to come over to my house because you have a fresh sense of smell. I want you to come over to my house. I want you to just smell my house and tell me if it doesn’t smell right.” He goes, “Well, sure. What are neighbors for?” He came and walked in the front door. Just a few steps in, he goes, “Oh, yes, something died.” Oh, no. What possibly could it be?

Then I just thought, I know it has to be this. Some possum decided to leave this mortal earth by crawling underneath my house and giving up his life, and leaving his carcass there under my house. I had to put on my hazmat suit, go into the house, and the closer I got, the more it smelled like death. I know. It was bad. I know. The smell of death, most unpleasant. You smell like that which you are near. You take on the smells of that which you are near. If you go outside and then come in, you will smell like outside. Outside has a smell. If you mow the lawn, you’ll come in smelling like you mowed the lawn.

I remember when I was in the restaurant business, every day I’d come home, I’d smell like the restaurant. You smell like that which you are near. There’s, of course, a tremendous, important spiritual application. The aroma of your character comes from the inner man, that which transforms death into life, that which is transforming that which is ugly and smelly to that which is beautiful. The transforming work of God is such that He transforms the soul such that people can see it. There’s the aroma of it. They can see that you’ve been changed.

A. Don’t waste your life

They can see the effect that God has had, this grace that you have, this peace that you have, this residing joy, this kindness in you. It’s beautiful. It’s wonderful. It is that which God does upon the soul. When you open the door of your heart, you are letting, you are inviting Christ into the most personal part of who you are, the soul within. There is the aroma, the fragrance of the beautiful soul that God does upon it. Then we read this, we understand this, when we look at John 12, don’t waste your life. In another gospel, we know that when Judas objected, he said, “Why this waste?” No. Of course, we understand his true motive. It wasn’t because he was concerned about the poor. He wanted an opportunity to pilfer from it. “Why this waste?” Judas confronted. It wasn’t a waste. It was extravagant love. I’ll tell you what was a waste, Judas. That was a waste. Judas had seen with his own eyes. Can you imagine all that Judas saw? With his own eyes, he was there when Jesus calmed the wind and the waves at the word of His command. He was there when Jesus healed 10 lepers at one time. He was there when He cast out demons by the word of His power. He was there when He healed blind Bartimaeus. He was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Yet, after all that God has shown him, his singular priority was himself. What a waste.

Oh, how many people have been caught in that, that their singular priority is themselves. Ah, that is the condition in which man is born. The singular priority of self will poison the soul. Philippians 2:3-4, do nothing from selfishness. Ah, this is the condition in which man is born. Selfish. Do nothing from selfishness, but regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not mainly look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

He goes on to say, “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross, such that God highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every other name, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Yes, let’s get the little praise exactly right.

He says this for a very good reason. To focus on oneself, to make singular priority on self, is to poison the soul. If a person spent their life pursuing wealth or status and then achieved it, and then spent the rest of their life singularly prioritizing self and indulging their own desires, would we not say, what a waste? What a waste. To whom much is given, much is expected. Judas’s life takes a tragic turn. He will betray Jesus to the Jewish leaders for money. We know how much. Thirty pieces of silver for money. What a waste. In the 60s, during the drug culture of the day, when a person would get high, they would say he was wasted. Oh, so-and-so got wasted last time.

That generation was rebelling against the culture of the day. They didn’t want to waste their lives on materialism or corporate cronyism or government corruption. To get wasted and to waste your life is no answer either. There were others in the 60s, hippies of that generation, who sat at Jesus’ feet, heard His words, listened to His heart, fell in love with Him, began to take hold of a glorious purpose. Begin to teach others in such that tens of thousands have been transformed because of those from that generation who did not waste their lives, but used their lives for God’s glorious purpose.

B. Have no regrets

You want to do something with your life, live it with God’s glorious purpose. Don’t waste your life. In other words, have no regrets. Several days later, Mary would be there seeing Jesus on the cross, seeing His words fulfilled. Son of Man would be given over to His enemies and be crucified. She saw Him there hanging on the cross. I cement that when she saw Him there that day, that she had no regrets over loving Him extravagantly. I’m so glad I anointed Him when I could. In fact, Jesus says, we read it in Matthew, He says, “Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her.”

What are memorials for? They are for remembering a life well lived, a life well spent. God gave you your life to spend it well. You see Mary’s extravagant love. I’m so thankful I loved so extravagantly, never regretted. May you come to the end and know that you spent your life well, that you loved God extravagantly, that your life was a memorial and a testament of His love for you. A life well lived, a life well spent. How will you spend it? How will you live it? May you long to hear those words, “Well done, well lived. My good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.”

You know, when I think about this, I think about this man, William Borden, who was heir to the Borden family fortune, born wealthy. In 1904, he graduated from high school and his parents, for his graduation gift, gave him a trip around the world. As the young man traveled Asia and Middle East, and Europe, he saw people hurting everywhere he went. Something stirred in his heart for these hurting people. He wrote home that he wanted to give his life or to be a missionary. One friend expressed disbelief. “You would throw your life away as a missionary?”

In response, Borden took out his Bible and turned to the back of it. He wrote two words, “No reserves.” In other words, “I’m holding nothing back. I give it my all.” He went on to go to Yale. His classmates saw in him that he wrote something unusual, a full surrender to Christ, a man of spiritual strength, a settled purpose in his life. When he graduated then from college university, he received several high-paying job offers, which he turned down. Opened his Bible again and wrote two more words, “No retreats.” In other words, “No turning back. I have decided.”

His missionary call narrowed to the Muslim Gansu people of China, so once he fixed his eyes on that goal, he never wavered. Others said of him, there was a true strength in him, always felt that he was the stuff martyrs are made of, heroic missionaries of our modern time. Because his work was to be with Muslims, he stopped first in Egypt to study Arabic. While there, he contracted meningitis, and within months, 25-year-old Borden would be dead. A wave of sorrow went around the world. Was his life a waste? Not in God’s eyes, not in God’s view. Ah, a life well lived.

In fact, before his death, he wrote two more words in his Bible, “No regrets. No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.” You will never regret loving God extravagantly and living your life well to His glory. Let’s pray. Lord, we are truly so thankful for this beautiful story that helps us to understand that all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ has won our hearts. You’ve won us, Lord, in such that we want to live for Your glory. We want to know what it means to love God extravagantly, to live well. We want to hear those words. Well done. Well lived. You loved God extravagantly. You served Him to His glory. Well done. Church, how many would pray that as we’re praying together? How many would just make that declaration to the Lord, “God, I want to love You extravagantly. I want to live to Your glory. I want to spend my life well.” Is that You? Would you raise your hand unto the Lord just to declare it? Just to say to the Lord, I want to live my life well. Lord, I want to love you with all my heart. I want to love you extravagantly. God, we are so, so thankful for all that you’ve done in us. We give you glory and praise and honor in Jesus’ name. Everyone said, give God all–

A Heart after God
Acts 10:1-23
February 28-March 1, 2026 

Welcome everyone joining us online. Hey, would you all open your Bibles today to the Book of Acts? We’re going to be in Acts 10. Take a little break from the Book of Jeremiah, letting that guy on Wednesday catch up to us. He is so slow, one can’t believe it. The title of our message is A Heart After God. Very important what God has for us in His Word. Let’s pray and receive from God’s Word together. Lord, we are so thankful. We know that You used the Word to draw us to Yourself, to pour out the Spirit of life. Through Your Word, we pray that You would meet us here by Your Holy Spirit. God, we open our heart to receive from You today.

A heart after God. A sincere, authentic faith. That is what God is desiring, to see and do, a heart after God. How important is it? The Scripture says that God sees not as man sees. Man, look at the outward appearance. God sees the heart. In fact, that is where life is transformed. Jesus said that the mouth speaks and the life is lived from that which fills the heart. This is such an important aspect to our relationship to the living God. Proverbs 4:23 says, Guard your heart with all diligence. Watch over your heart, for from it flow the streams of life.

In John 4, when Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman there at the well, the Samaritan woman, Jesus said, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give will never thirst, and the water that I give will spring up in him as a well of life, springing up to eternal life. The life is lived from that which fills the heart. God is transforming lives by transforming that heart. The church here in the book of Acts, born early in this book, the great revival broke out there in Jerusalem, but then a great persecution arose against the church. It was dispersed throughout Judea, Samaria, and outer regions. They were dispersed, and they brought the gospel with them and brought it to the Jews.

This is primarily how the church was born, out of the Jews. In Chapter 10, God is about to do something shocking, at least it was shocking to them, in that now the gospel must be broken out to the Gentiles. Peter was, no doubt, very proud of his Jewishness, and for good reason. God chose Israel as His chosen people. They are the ones who received the promises of God. They knew that the whole world would be blessed from the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah that would come, but they considered Gentiles, they rejected Gentiles, considered them unclean. They made it rules and traditions that were not biblical. They would not eat with Gentiles. They would not even eat food that was prepared by a Gentile. They would not invite them into their house, and they would not even sit at a table with them.

In Matthew 28, Jesus told the disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, but He didn’t mean just to take the gospel to the Jews that might happen to live at the end of the earth. He meant it for all people. God’s heart is for all people. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Someone once famously said, the ground at the foot of the cross is level. God’s heart is for all people.

Acts 10 is about two men. One is Cornelius, and the other is Peter. Cornelius is an officer in the army of Rome. He’s Gentile. He’s a Roman officer, however, of the Italian cohort. Interestingly, he’s an amazing man with a great heart. He seeks after God. He came to Israel, heard about this God of the Jews, and something happened to him, and he took hold of God for himself. He then gave to the Jewish poor generously, praised God continuously. He loves the light. God’s going to give him more light. He’s hungry for truth. God’s going to give him more truth. He longs to be closer to God, and he’s about to receive the Holy Spirit in an amazing way, which is an interesting principle. To everyone who has, more will be given, and we’ll have an abundance. This was true for Cornelius.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is about to be offered to the Gentile world, and it’s all going to begin with this amazing man, Cornelius. The story is also about Peter and what God must do to change his heart. He thought of the Gentiles in the same way. Things need to change. His heart needs to be transformed in order for God’s glorious purpose to be revealed. This thing is standing in the way of that which God desires to do. Now interestingly, God was preparing Peter for this. As Peter was traveling through these parts, he was called upon to heal two Gentile people.

One of them was this man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed for eight years. Peter came to him and says, “Arise and make your bed.” What powerful words. “Arise, make your bed.” They were powerful words because I have said those same words to my kids for many years, and they never did them.

All right, that was a bad joke. All right, let’s go with it. Acts 10. Let’s read the story of it beginning in verse 1. Now there was a certain man at Caesarea. Go to Israel with us. We go to these places. Caesarea is on the coast there in northern Israel. Of Caesarea, his name was Cornelius, a centurion Roman officer of what was called the Italian cohort. He was a devout man, one who feared God, the God of the Jews, he and all his household. He gave many alms to the Jewish people, prayed to God continually.

Now about the ninth hour of the day, that would be three in the afternoon, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come into him. He said, “Cornelius.” fixing his gaze upon him. Being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa. Send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter. He is staying with a certain tanner named Simon whose house is by the sea.” By the way, Joppa is about 35 miles or so south of Caesarea on the coast also. When we go to Israel, we go to Simon the tanner’s house. It’s quite amazing.

Now, when the angel, verse 7, who was speaking to him had departed, Cornelius summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were in constant attendance upon him. After he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. Now on the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up to the house stop about the sixth hour to pray, about noon. He became hungry and was desiring to eat. While they were making preparations, he fell into a trance. He beheld the sky opened up and a certain object, like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground. There in it were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air.

A voice came to him, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter said, “No, by no means, Lord. I have never eaten anything unholy or unclean.” Obviously, there were unclean animals in this. Then a voice came again a second time to him saying, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” This happened three times. Then immediately the object was taken up into the sky. Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what this vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate. Calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. Now, while Peter was reflecting on this vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, these three men are looking for you. Arise, go downstairs, and accompany them without misgivings, for I myself have sent them.” Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason you have come?” They said, “Now, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear a message from you.”

And so Peter invited them in, Gentiles though they be, and gave them lodging in the house, and they spent the night. Now, on the next day, he arose and he went with them. As we know the rest of the story, he goes to Cornelius’s house. The Holy Spirit falls on this place, and revival breaks out. He shares the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to break through to the Gentiles. It’s an amazing story, and a lot for us in the story to understand. Starting with this, when it comes to the heart within, the soul within, that is important for us to understand, that you have a say in the matter. The kind of heart that you have, you have a say. You can choose who you will become.

I. Choose Who You Will Be

I was thinking of an illustration many years ago. Our granddaughter, many of you know we adopted our granddaughter when she was younger. One day she did something that was less than obedient. I asked her what was happening. She said, “That was my naughty self.” I said, “But you get to choose what self you will be.” That was cute. You have a choice to choose what self you will be. There are different conditions of the heart. We are free to choose who we will be. Jesus, interestingly, gave a parable that the heart is like different types of soil, and the Word of God is sewn like seed upon that soil, different types.

There’s hard hearts. We certainly know that’s true. Hard hearts that cannot receive the Word of God at all. Others are like soil that has rocks, so that the soil is thin, and then it receives the Word, but it doesn’t make any depth of root. Then when the heat of the sun comes, they’re easily offended, He says, and they wither. Others have soil with thistles and thorns and weeds, and it chokes out anything good. Anything of the Word of God, it chokes it out, and it produces nothing. Other soil, He says, they hold fast to the Word of God, and they are the ones that produce 30, 60, 100-fold.

A. A good heart seeks after God

One of the lessons, of course, in the story is that God is working to change the heart. Hearts can be changed. Hearts can be transformed. That is what God is doing now. If a heart is hard, it needs to be broken because it needs to be changed. If a heart is hurting, God’s going to be healing. If a heart is good, God’s going to move to bring something of depth. Cornelius is a man that has a heart that’s good, but it needs to be changed yet. He’s hungry. He seeks after God. God’s about to give him, however, the greatest news that the world could ever hear, that God has made a way for sinners to be reconciled to the living God. He’s hungry for more, and God is going to give that desire.

The soul is searching. The soul is desiring. We know this is true. The soul is longing. Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” One of the things that comes out of the story is that a good heart is seen in this, that a good heart seeks after God. Now, as a typical Roman, he would have been familiar with all of the Roman gods that were a very important part of the Roman culture, Jupiter, Venus, Apollo, and many more. When he came to Israel, he discovered the God of Israel, and it resonated, his spirit, it resonated in his spirit.

It reminds me of that Scripture that the spirit bears witness to our spirit. The spirit within hears this about God, and the spirit testifies to our spirit. Something stirs within. He discovered the God of Israel and became devout. He gave generously. He had a consistent faithful prayer life, and he revered God. He says he feared God. It means he revered. It’s a very important word. It means to put God in the place of highest honor in your life. It’s very important to understand that this is what God desires. Notice Deuteronomy 10:12, “What does the Lord your God require from you?’ This is a great verse. What is it that God desires? What is it that God is seeking that you would have in your life?”

He says this, “That you would fear the Lord your God, revere Him in highest place, that you would walk in His ways, that you would love Him, and that you would serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” That is a great verse. That helps us to see God’s desire for our lives. Cornelius understood what many people have yet to understand, that your relationship to God should have a direct impact on how you live your life. He was well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews. He treated them well. He was very generous in giving of alms to the people that were poor.

He prayed. He gave. No doubt, a heart that’s good is generous. That’s true. I’m convinced that he was generous because he was rich toward God. I love that perspective, being rich toward God. When I think about that, I think about a story I read a number of years ago, and I want to read to you some of it here now. The story is called The Rich Family in Church, written by this lady named Eddie Ogan. She said this, “I’ll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14. My little sister Ocy was 12. My older sister, Darlene, was 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. Our father had died five years before, leaving a mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.

By 1946, my older sisters were married and gone. My brothers had left home. Then, a month before Easter, the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken up to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and to give sacrificially. When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. That would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for this offering. Then we thought, if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible, didn’t listen to the radio, we could save money on that month’s electric bill.

Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible. Both of us babysat for everyone we could, and for 15 cents, we could buy cotton loops to make pot holders to sell for $1. We made $20 on pot holders. Now that month was one of the best months of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night, we’d sit in the dark, talk about how that poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. Now there were about 80 people in our church, so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would be surely 20 times that much.

After all, every Sunday that month, the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering. The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store, got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all of our change. We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never seen so much money before in our lives. That night we were so excited we couldn’t hardly sleep. We didn’t care that we didn’t have new clothes for Easter. We had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get to church.

On Sunday morning, rain was pouring, and we didn’t own an umbrella, and the church was a mile from home, but it didn’t seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill her holes. The cardboard came apart and her feet got wet, but we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about how the Smith girls had on their old dresses, and I looked at them in their new clothes, but I felt rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting in the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill. Each of us kids put in a $20 bill. As we walked home from church, we sang all the way home. At lunch, Mom surprised us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs and fried potatoes for lunch. Later that afternoon, the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was. She didn’t say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money.

There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 bill, and 17 $1 bills. Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn’t talk, just sat, stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn’t have our mom. We had a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and to see who got the spoon or the fork that night. We had two knives that we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn’t have a lot of things that other people had, and they never thought we were poor.

But that Easter, I found out that we were. The pastor had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn’t like being poor. I looked at my dress, my worn-out shoes, and I felt so ashamed. I didn’t even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor. Then I thought about school. I was in ninth grade at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew we were poor. I decided I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade, which was all the law required.

We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark. We went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally, on Saturday, Mom asked what we wanted to do with the money. We didn’t know. What did poor people do with money? We never knew we were poor. We didn’t want to go to church, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn’t talk on the way. Mom started to sing, but no one joined in. She only sang one verse. At church that Sunday, there was a guest speaker, a missionary from Africa. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs.

He said, $100 would put a roof on a church. The pastor said, “Can’t we all sacrifice and help these poor people?” We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into the purse, pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy and Ocy put it in the offering. When the offering was counted, the pastor announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn’t expected such a large offering from such a small church. He said, “You must have some rich people in this church.”

Suddenly it struck us. We had given $87 of that “little over $100.” We were that rich family in the church. Hadn’t the missionary said so? From that day on, I’ve never been poor a day in my life. I’ve always remembered how rich I am in Jesus.” That is a great story. Amen.

B. We all need Jesus

Back in Acts 10, the story is this, that we all need Jesus. He’s a good man. He’s generous, but it’s not enough. We all need Jesus. The angel of God appears to convey us with this message to send some men to Joppa, ask for this man named Simon Peter, who will tell them what he must do. Here’s an interesting question. Why didn’t the angel just explain the whole thing? Because that’s not their mission. It’s our mission.

2 Corinthians 5:20, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us. Therefore, we beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. This is what God is doing today. He is reconciling sinners to himself, and he’s using us to be the ambassadors that bring that gospel of reconciliation to the world. Amen. Now, there’s no question that Cornelius was a good man. If anyone could be considered qualified to enter heaven on merits, it would be Cornelius. He needed Jesus because it’s on the basis of faith in His name that we receive the forgiveness of sin. Without our sins forgiven, we cannot be reconciled to God no matter how good a person may be.

Romans 3 says, there is none not righteous. No, not even one. All have sinned in falling short of the glory of God. No matter what good things they may have done, they’re not right with God until their sins are forgiven, and their sins are forgiven because the blood of Jesus Christ has washed their sins away. Only then can they be made right with God. Interestingly, I read a story about this guy who was golfing, and he happened to see that Bob Hope was on the golf course, so he thought that he would come up to him and share the gospel. As he came up to him and started to speak, Bob Hope cut him off and said, ”Look, when you’ve given as much money to charity as I have, then I’ll listen to you.”

He presumed that he was right with God because he had given something to charity. Now, Bob Hope was very funny, but Bob Hope was no Cornelius. Here’s a great verse, Deuteronomy 10:17. This is one of those verses that just stand above so many other verses. Notice, ”For the Lord your God is the God of Gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor does He take a bribe.” That’s a mic drop verse right there.

II. Let God’s Word Instruct Your Heart

Meanwhile, back in Acts 10, back at the tanner’s house is Peter. Something’s going to have to change in Peter. This thing, this attitude, toward others, is standing in the way of that which God desires to do. It starts with this, ”Let God’s word instruct.” Something’s going to have to change here, ”Let God’s word instruct.” Peter’s in Joppa, a small port town. It’s near the airport if you ever go to Israel. He’s up in the house stop at noon, falls into this trance of vision. If the gospel is going to break forth this thing that stands in the way, God must remove it.

A. Be teachable

But first it starts with the attitude of being teachable. This is very true today. Peter’s vision, something like a sheet is lowered down, all kinds of creatures that were unclean according to the Jewish law. Then a voice comes, ”Arise, Peter, kill and eat.” He says, ”No.” Like, emphatically, ”By no means.” Now, many pastors and Bible teachers give Peter a really hard time here because he says, ”No. I’ve never eaten anything unholy.” He’s like, ”No.” Now interestingly, of course, in Leviticus 11, the Jews were given clear instructions in regards to what is clean or unclean that they could eat. Now many people know, of course, that Jews do not eat ham or bacon. Other things are less obvious.

For example, Jews are not allowed to eat owls, particularly spotted owls. If you’re from Oregon, you get that joke. Vultures. No, they cannot. Skunks, bats. Not that anyone would want to eat these, but no, cannot eat them. These things were detestable. Just the sight of them were detestable to Peter. He recoiled even seeing such things. They were detestable to him. Today, it’d be like a healthy vegetarian being told to eat a burrito from Taco Bell. It’s like, ”No.” It’s like, ”No.” Why did this happen? Why was it necessary that this thing happen three times?

I think of two possibilities. One, Peter may have thought this was a test. That this was a test of his heart to hear, to obey. Interestingly, there was an example of this very thing in Jeremiah 35. We’re about to get to that chapter at our Wednesday study. In chapter 35, God used the resolute spirit of a people called the Rechabites to teach Israel a lesson. Now, the Rechabites weren’t Jews. They lived some distance away, but they came to Jerusalem seeking protection because the Babylonian army was bearing down on the region, as we know the story.

They come into the city, and God instructs Jeremiah to use the Rechabites as an object lesson for Israel. He tells Jeremiah to bring the Rechabite people into the House of the Lord and to set before them pitchers of wine with cups and then say to them, “Drink.” This was an object lesson. He brings the Rechabite people into the House of the Lord, sets before them pitchers of wine with cups, and he says to them, “Drink.” They respond, “No, we cannot drink.” They resolutely refuse. No, they’re not even Jews. “No.” There comes the lesson, Jeremiah 35. God says, “Will you not receive instruction by listening to my words?” declares the Lord.

The words of Jehonadab by which he instructed his sons not to drink wine are observed, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not listened to me. Perhaps Peter thought this was like that, a test. Perhaps he thought that he was passing the test, but he said no. When he was told three times, that changed everything. In the Middle Eastern culture, it’s still true today that there is a custom that if something is said three times, then it’s meant sincerely. Persians today call this taarof.

For example, a Middle Eastern host is obliged to offer anything the guest might want, and then the guest is equally obliged to refuse it. By politeness, this is a custom. When something is said three times, that changes the matter. Now it’s meant. Now it’s sincere. We have something like that today. If you’ve ever been to lunch with somebody, and then the check comes, and then you say, “Oh, let me get that.” Then the person says, “Oh, no, let me get that.” Then you say, “Oh, no, let me get that.” At some point, you realize, “Oh, he means it.” Then you say, “Oh, thank you very much.” It’s like that.

In Eastern cultures, it’s three. It’s exact. It must be three times for it to be considered like you mean this sincerely. Now there’s been some interesting stories of this backfiring when a Persian meets an American. As you know, Americans are famous for saying what they mean the first time. A Persian invited an American to his house. While they’re having a meal or whatever, the American says to the Persian, “What a beautiful Persian rug.” Persian rugs are famous around the world. They’re handmade. Some of them are worth like $40,000, $50,000. They’re amazing.

The American says, “Oh, what a beautiful Persian rug.” The Persian, out of taarof, says, “Oh, you like it? Please have it.” The American says, “Really? That’s amazing. Thank you so much,” and rolls it up and puts it in his car. Then the Persian’s got to go call an American friend, “Help me out of this. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t say it three times.” By the way, speaking of Persians, we need to pray for what’s happening in the Middle East today. Pray for the peace of Israel, peace for Jerusalem, but peace in the Middle East. This may end up bringing greater peace, but now we ask God to end this and bring peace and security to the Middle East. Amen.

When I think of what I think of this, I’m reminded of a number of years ago, there were two Persians that came into church. Two Persian men came into church. Went up the stairs and asked to speak with the pastor. I came out, and one of them in particular wanted to speak. I sat down with him, and I said, “How can I help you?” He said, “I’m here from Iran on a work visa. And I asked my friend to find a church, and he brought me here because I have heard about a God who hates. All my life, I’ve heard about a God who hates. Tell me about a God who loves.” Then I got to share the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with him.

I didn’t lead him to faith in Christ. Because I wanted him to come to faith in his own mother tongue, in Farsi. I have a friend. He’s an Iranian pastor. Many of you know we have an Iranian church as part of our ministry here. They meet on Sunday afternoons. I called my friend, Pastor Kaveh. Pastor Kaveh met with him and shared the gospel with him in Farsi. He received the Lord Jesus Christ in his mother tongue, and he got baptized right here. Isn’t that a glorious story?

Amazing. In fact, we have seen many come to faith in Jesus Christ. We have seen many come to faith and baptized right here. Did you know where in the world that there is a revival happening today? It’s in Iran. God is appearing to them in their dreams. Jesus is appearing to them in their dreams, and they are receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s amazing. God is on the move. God is transforming lives. God is still doing that today amazingly. Can we give God praise and glory? Amen. Amen.

B. Don’t call unclean what God calls clean

Then comes a lesson. Don’t call unclean what God calls clean. People do this today. This is not about food. This is about people. People reject other people just because of who they are or whatever background, ethnically, or whatever they may be or whatever station of life they may be. They reject them. Peter immediately applies this lesson, welcomes them in the house, gives them lodging for the night. Do not call unclean what I have called clean. By the way, you can also reverse that. Don’t call clean what I’ve called unclean. There are many things in the world, God says, are detestable in my sight, yet are highly desired by the people of the world.

Secondly, then we see this in the story, that this is Peter. Peter is the one who failed the Lord. Three times he denied that he even knew the Lord. Failed miserably, yet he’s the one that God is using for a glorious purpose. This is what God does. He takes the broken, the messed up, the failures. He reconciles them to himself. Then out of that reconciliation, he does something glorious. He puts glorious purpose into their lives. This is what God is doing now. God is still calling sinners, failures, rejects, nobodies, making them sons and daughters of the Almighty God and then giving to them glorious purpose.

Lord, I pray that you would do that very thing in us. Thank you, God, that you don’t reject us for our failures, our sins, our brokenness, whatever ethnic or station of life you don’t reject. But you invite us to draw near to be reconciled by forgiving our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, the blood that was shed is applied to our lives, that the sins that we all have, have been forgiven and forgiven in full. Then being reconciled to God, you give us glorious purpose.

You use the filled, reject broken people and give them glorious purpose. Church, as we’re praying, how many would say to the Lord today, then do that in me? Lord, I want your glorious purpose. I want to move by your glorious purpose. I want to ask God that you would do this in me. Is that you, Church? Would you raise your hand? As a way of saying that to the Lord today, I’m asking God that you would do this in me. I want your glorious purpose. I want to move in it. God, thank you for reconciling failures, sinners, broken ones, and building something glorious. Oh, God, how we love you and honor you and thank you for all that you’re doing in us now. In Jesus’ powerful name, and everyone said? Amen.