I m ften annyed by the way the wrld prtrays devut Christians in the mvies The cl Christians are thse wh dn t take their religin t seriusly They re vaguely religius, keeping their beliefs t themselves They celebrate tlerance in the spirit f lve They even embrace ther religins and even enjy a little sin nce in a while That s the cl Christian Then there are the evil, wacky Christians in the mvies We re the nes wh actually believe the Bible We dare t live accrding t what it says We talk pening abut the need t be frgiven f sin and the reality f hell And we insist that unless yu are brn again by faith in Jesus Christ, yu cannt see heaven Thse are the bad Christians, accrding t the mvies Of curse, we knw what s really ging n here This is a spiritual battle, where the enemy is seeking t silence the Gspel and neutralize the witness f true believers The wrld hypcritically calls fr tlerance but will nly tlerate Christians wh hide their Christianity They demnize Christians wh actually live ut their faith, because ur witness prmpts cnvictin and fear f judgment S they try t pressure us int silence And yet, ungdly peple ften find cmfrt in an assciatin with the gdly as an insurance plicy against bad things happening 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
2! f! 12 We re like a lucky charm fr them when things g really wrng in their life They may ask us t say a prayer fr them Or they desire ur friendship r cunsel because they feel we re clser t Gd and we can prvide them sme prtectin It s superstitin brn ut f an ignrance f Wh Gd is and Hw we find a relatinship with Him This miscnceptin is nt new it s always existed amng the ungdly and unbelieving f the wrld And we ll see it at wrk amng Israel tday in chapter 14 as well Last week we studied the furth excuse f Israel, the excuse that Israel s leaders were persnally respnsible fr the natin s idlatry The peple said they need nt fear the wrd f the prphet since Gd s judgment wuld fall nly their leaders They thught they wuld be spared since they were merely fllwing the example f the elders S they ignred the prphet s warning and went n sinning The Lrd s declared their excuse t be invalid by calling all Israel t repent persnally r else face judgment Gd said His mercy was available equally t all wh repented But likewise, His judgment wuld fall upn all wh failed t repent f idlatry That furth excuse expsed a bias within the peple f Israel, a false understanding f hw Gd perates They assumed that the behavir f ne persn culd be the basis fr Gd s relatinship t an entire grup f peple Just as they thught the Lrd wuld let judgment fr their bad behavir fall n a leader In the same way, they assumed that the gd behavir f ne persn in the grup wuld be cause fr Gd t verlk the sin f the grup 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
3! f! 12 These are excuses fr sin, and the Lrd is setting them straight Last week He crrected their miscnceptin cncerning leaders And in the secnd half f the chapter He explains that anther s righteusness will d us n gd Ezek. 14:12 Then the wrd f the Lrd came t me saying, Ezek. 14:13 Sn f man, if a cuntry sins against Me by cmmitting unfaithfulness, and I stretch ut My hand against it, destry its supply f bread, send famine against it and cut ff frm it bth man and beast, Ezek. 14:14 even thugh these three men, Nah, Daniel and Jb were in its midst, by their wn righteusness they culd nly deliver themselves, declares the Lrd Gd. Ezek. 14:15 If I were t cause wild beasts t pass thrugh the land and they deppulated it, and it became deslate s that n ne wuld pass thrugh it because f the beasts, Ezek. 14:16 thugh these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lrd Gd, they culd nt deliver either their sns r their daughters. They alne wuld be delivered, but the cuntry wuld be deslate. Ezek. 14:17 Or if I shuld bring a swrd n that cuntry and say, Let the swrd pass thrugh the cuntry and cut ff man and beast frm it, Ezek. 14:18 even thugh these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lrd Gd, they culd nt deliver either their sns r their daughters, but they alne wuld be delivered. Ezek. 14:19 Or if I shuld send a plague against that cuntry and pur ut My wrath in bld n it t cut ff man and beast frm it, Ezek. 14:20 even thugh Nah, Daniel and Jb were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lrd Gd, they culd nt deliver either their sn r their daughter. They wuld deliver nly themselves by their righteusness. Ezek. 14:21 Fr thus says the Lrd Gd, Hw much mre when I send My fur severe judgments against Jerusalem: swrd, famine, wild beasts and plague t cut ff man and beast frm it! The Lrd says if a cuntry (namely, Israel) sins against Him in unfaithfulness t the cvenant, then He will stretch ut His hand against them In respnse, He will bring varius calamities against the land and the peple The calamities include fur categries f disaster First, in v.13 the Lrd describes a famine s great it cuts ff man and beast 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
4! f! 12 In v.15 he describes attacks by wild animals that run peple ut f the land Thse tw wuld seem t g tgether, fr as famine increases we wuld expect wild animals t attack humans fr fd Then in v.17 the Lrd warns f war devastating the cuntry And finally, in v.19 the Lrd warns f a plague s great it leaves n ne alive These fur disasters are uniquely specific, and they draw ur attentin back t a certain chapter f the Law fund in Leviticus In ther wrds, these warnings are nt new infrmatin fr the peple f Israel The Lrd prmised these utcmes in the cvenant f the Law as penalty fr disbedience and unfaithfulness Specifically, in Leviticus 26 the Lrd prmised: Lev. 26:14 But if yu d nt bey Me and d nt carry ut all these cmmandments, Lev. 26:15 if, instead, yu reject My statutes, and if yur sul abhrs My rdinances s as nt t carry ut all My cmmandments, and s break My cvenant, Lev. 26:16 I, in turn, will d this t yu: I will appint ver yu a sudden terrr, cnsumptin and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the sul t pine away; als, yu will sw yur seed uselessly, fr yur enemies will eat it up. Lev. 26:21 If then, yu act with hstility against Me and are unwilling t bey Me, I will increase the plague n yu seven times accrding t yur sins. Lev. 26:22 I will let lse amng yu the beasts f the field, which will bereave yu f yur children and destry yur cattle and reduce yur number s that yur rads lie deserted. Lev. 26:25 I will als bring upn yu a swrd which will execute vengeance fr the cvenant; and when yu gather tgether int yur cities, I will send pestilence amng yu, s that yu shall be delivered int enemy hands. Lev. 26:26 When I break yur staff f bread, ten wmen will bake yur bread in ne ven, and they will bring back yur bread in ratined amunts, s that yu will eat and nt be satisfied. In Lev 26 we find all fur types f calamities mentined here in Ezekiel These curses were part f what Gd prmised t Israel in the Law as repercussins fr breaking His cvenant 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
5! f! 12 And Lrd reminds Israel f these judgment t make clear that He s simply acting in keeping with His wrd He s remaining faithful t His cvenant even as Israel did nt Because He s a cvenant-keeping Gd Remember, the Old Cvenant was a natinal cvenant that bligated all the peple f Israel t a single respnse frm Gd If the entire natin beyed the cvenant, then they all received the prmises But if the entire natin wasn t faithful t the cvenant, the entire natin wuld see these curses S Gd is nly ding what He prmised t d But then the Lrd mves t making His pint cncerning assciated righteusness He says in v.14 that even if three especially gdly men were living amng them, nevertheless His judgments wuld still cme against Israel The three men were Nah, Daniel and Jb The Lrd is speaking entirely hypthetically, because these three men didn t live at the same time in histry Nah lived thusands f years earlier, Jb lived hundreds f years earlier and Daniel was still alive By the way, Ezekiel s mentin f Daniel refutes thse wh say Daniel s bk was written lng after the events he predicted Gd chse these three men frm histry t emphasize the pint that ne man s righteusness has n bearing n anther s fate Fr example, Nah was a righteus man, but his righteusness culdn t save the wrld when the fld came Daniel was a righteus man, but his righteusness culdn t save his natin when Babyln came And Jb was a righteus man, but his righteusness culdn t save his wn family when the enemy came 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
6! f! 12 An upright man culdn t save the wrld nr a natin nr even a family Their righteusness nly served t save themselves The rest suffered the penalty they deserved Few principles f scripture culd be mre imprtant than this: we are each accuntable t Gd fr urself N matter hw gd smene is, that persn will nt be cause fr Gd t verlk anther s sin Yu may have an especially gdly mther r father Or yu may be married t an especially gdly spuse Or yu may best friends t Billy Graham r yu might shine the ppe s shes r mw the pastr s lawn But nne f that cunts fr anything when yu stand befre Gd fr yur judgment There is nly relatinship we can have that will pay dividends fr us at ur judgement That s ur relatinship with Gd thrugh Jesus Christ Jesus is the ne true righteus man, the ne man wh never sinned And because He was perfect, He pleased Gd the Father N ther human being can make that claim Therefre, if we hpe t be saved frm the judgment we deserve fr ur sin, we need t receive credit fr Christ s perfectin in place f ur sin Placing faith in Jesus Christ results in Gd crediting us with Christ s righteusness And Gd cunts Christ s death as the payment ur sin required That s the nly assciatin that pays us dividends in Heaven That s what made Nah, Daniel and Jb righteus in the first place They were righteus by faith, credited with the righteusness f Christ, and their faith saved them 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
7! f! 12 In v.20 the Lrd says these three men were delivered by their wn righteusness, which refers t their saving faith in Gd s prmises And that salvatin wasn t transferrable Ntice the Lrd repeats this cnclusin three times in the passage I read In v.14, v.16 and v.20 the Lrd says these men culdn t even same their wn sns and daughters Nah, Daniel and Jb needed a Savir t Every persn is equally guilty f sin befre the Lrd In fact, if these three men HAD been living in the city, it wuld have nly made the judgment that much mre apprpriate In v.21 the Lrd says hw much mre when He sends His fur judgments against the city He s saying that if Nah, Daniel and Jb were living in the midst f the city, He wuld be preserved them frm judgment because f their righteusness But then after preserving them and remving them frm harm s way, hw much mre wuld the remainder f the city deserve what was cming? S rather than saving the city, these men wuld nly serve t cnvict the city all the mre, since they shuld have seen their gd examples and fllwed after them T qute Jesus in Luke 18:19, there is n ne gd but Gd alne Therefre, nne f us have any spare righteusness t ffer anther We all btain righteusness by ur faith, and that righteusness is nt ur wn, it s Christ s righteusness given t us S we dn t have anything t give t anyne else Yet amng the unbelieving in the wrld, peple still assume Gd wrks this way The wrld likes t think they may earn Gd s apprval ne way r anther 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
8! f! 12 And cnveniently, the wrld thinks the standard fr heaven is lw enugh that they can meet the requirements with just a little effrt S when they cme acrss smene wh is especially devted t serving Gd, the wrld assumes that persn has an excess f heavenly credit They are ding way mre than what s required t get int heaven, s they can affrd t share that wealth with ther peple S by assciating with that persn, they re getting a heavenly insurance plicy That thinking lies at the heart f the Cathlic teaching n saints They teach that certain peple lived such a cmmendable life that they merited excess favr with Gd And s their excess merit they can be shared with thers S when things begin t g wrng fr a Cathlic, they turn t these spiritual all-stars seeking cmfrt and prtectin They pray t their favrite saint expecting a heavenly transfer f favr And this superstitin is als evident in persnal relatinships Have yu nticed hw unreligius peple will smetimes seek ut a cmmitted Christian t ask fr prayer in times f desperatin? Or maybe they jke abut yu putting in a gd wrd fr them with the Man upstairs Yu find this happening especially in families where there s a lne Christian in the grup I see this happening in my wn family every year abut this time, as Thanksgiving and Christmas rll arund The family I came frm is nt religius at all and s we never bther with saying a prayer befre a meal Except when I m at the table and it s a hliday 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
9! f! 12 There s that awkward pause befre everyne eats as they all lk at me helplessly expecting me t pray s they can eat Because Gd hears my prayers since I m s spiritual That s the same kind f thinking we re talking abut here Thugh Israel was unwilling t bey Gd, they expected the Lrd t be merciful t them because a few Jews amng them were bedient Like their reasning fr their furth excuse, they assumed histry supprted their assumptin Last week I mentined that the histry f Babyln s attacks n the city f Jerusalem may have given the peple reasn t think that their leaders alne wuld be judged But as I said, they had selective memry, because they verlked that many Jews besides the leaders were caught up in the destructin And perhaps the peple have again drawn the wrng cnclusin frm their histry Perhaps they remembered the accunt f Abraham saving Lt frm Sdm s destructin In that accunt, Abraham asked Gd t spare the city if ten righteus peple culd be fund That stry seemed t suggest that Gd saves cities if there are any righteus living in them If that s what they thught, then they cnveniently verlked the utcme fr the city f Sdm in that stry While the Lrd fulfilled His prmise t Abraham cncerning Fr and his family, in the end the city f Sdm was destryed and all the ungdly with it Only thse wh were willing t bey the vice f the Lrd spken thrugh His messengers, the angels, escaped the judgment S thugh a righteus man lived in the city, in the end the city still received judgment In Jerusalem s case, the city wuld be judged and nthing was ging t stp it 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
10! f! 12 The die was cast, because the peple had vilated the cvenant But even still, we ve been watching the Lrd giving warning after warning He s tld the peple time and again thrugh Ezekiel that this judgment was cming And He s tld them hw t survive the attack by repenting If they did as He asked, they wuld survive and be given safety in exile In that way the Lrd culd bth be faithful t His prmises in the cvenant t judge Israel s unfaithfulness and yet He can als merciful t His peple Despite His patience and mercy, the peple cntinue t make excuses fr why they shuld ignre Ezekiel s warnings Remember this pattern when yu reflect n what the Lrd is preparing t d in Jerusalem The Lrd has been merciful and patient with His peple, and yet He is als faithful t His wrd That s what a gd father des He keeps His wrd while lking fr every pprtunity t shw mercy and grace When my kids used t get int truble and we had t discipline them, smetimes they wuld expect us t verlk their mistake They wanted t avid punishment, f curse, but as parents we had t balance maintaining respect fr ur authrity S I wuld tell my kids, Yu did the wrng thing, and nw I have t d the right thing in discipling yu. Yu can t expect me t d the wrng thing als. Nevertheless, we lked fr every way we culd t shw mercy and restraint in that discipline, depending n the degree f repentance the child demnstrated Mre repentance, mre mercy Less repentance, less mercy 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
11! f 12! But in all cases, we had t keep ur wrd t bring sme kind f cnsequences, therwise ur wrd quickly meant nthing That s hw yu shuld see the Lrd respnding here t His cvenant peple In fact, ntice hw the chapter ends Ezek. 14:22 Yet, behld, survivrs will be left in it wh will be brught ut, bth sns and daughters. Behld, they are ging t cme frth t yu and yu will see their cnduct and actins; then yu will be cmfrted fr the calamity which I have brught against Jerusalem fr everything which I have brught upn it. Ezek. 14:23 Then they will cmfrt yu when yu see their cnduct and actins, fr yu will knw that I have nt dne in vain whatever I did t it, declares the Lrd Gd. In spite f everything the city has dne in wrshipping idls and setting up abminatins and failing t repent, still the Lrd will preserve survivrs In fact, the Lrd says that the city wuld see the cnduct f these peple and that wuld bring them cmfrt in the calamity The Hebrew wrd translated cnduct and actins literally means evil actins S the Lrd is saying that the exiles will see the kind f peple wh will jin them frm Israel Evil peple will be preserved thrugh the judgment And as these evil peple cme t Babyln in captivity t jin the rest f the exiles, they will testify t what they did And they will explain hw the Lrd preserved them nnetheless And then the peple f Israel will take sme cmfrt in see the big picture They will understand why the Lrd brught everything that He did against the city and the peple And they will appreciate the Lrd s mercy and kindness and restraint in the face f His righteus judgment Mrever, the Lrd says in v.23 that they will find cmfrt in seeing that His judgment wasn t in vain 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
12! f! 12 The Lrd is alluding t the change f heart He knws this judgment will bring t His peple The exiles will cease their rebellin in idlatry They will acknwledge their wicked past And they will cmmit themselves t remaining faithful t the cvenant in the future Earlier the Lrd said that nt even Nah, Daniel and Jb culd save their sns and daughters frm the cming judgment But nw in v.22 Gd says He wuld save bth sns and daughters By His mercy He wuld preserve a remnant within Israel What Nah, Daniel and Jb culdn t nt d, Gd did Righteusness culdn t spare the guilty But a righteus Gd culd, but respnding t their repentance with grace This is ur relatinship t befre cming t faith in Jesus, we were n better than Israel was We engaged in different sin, but it made us just as unhly and just as deserving f judgment We t may have thught that we wuld escape judgment by ur wn righteusness Or perhaps that f ur parents r spuse But they culdn t save us and we culdn t even save urselves But Gd can save us The Lrd is prepared t save thse wh thrw themselves n His mercy, wh acknwledge their sin And wh accept the free gift f salvatin in Jesus Christ are receiving the righteusness that can t be fund any ther way And in the end, that persn will be saved frm judgment 2017 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.