This evening, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 14. Ezekiel faced many issues that we face today in our nation. At the time that Ezekiel was living, Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was still on the throne, and the people did not want to really look to the Lord, but yet they wanted God’s help, but they didn’t really want to worship the Lord.
We’re going to see that this evening. And what God desires is a pure heart, and God desires us to worship Him, and God desires that we place nothing else before Him. The Jewish people that were in Babylon at the time that Ezekiel was there had come from Jerusalem when the temple was still standing.
They had seen the temple worshipped, they had been instructed in the things of God’s word, and yet we see they’d embraced false gods. This evening it’s a sobering message that we look at, as a people who should have known the truth and yet had rejected the truth, but yet still claimed to be seeking the truth. So let’s take a look at Ezekiel chapter 14.
Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 5 that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: 8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; 11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.
12 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, 13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: 14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.
15 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: 16 though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: 20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 21 For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. 23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.
Let’s just bow in prayer. Lord, I pray that you just help us to be sober. Help us to realize that when you bring judgment, there’s a reason, a purpose, and there’s a reality to it. And Lord, help people to realize that they can’t play with you. Lord, help us to be sobered in the day in which we live, lest we experience what Jerusalem and Israel were facing because of their wicked hearts and idolatry that they served. Lord, speak to us through your word this evening. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As you look at the text this evening, one of the amazing things you see is these people, I don’t know who they were trying to deceive, whether they were trying to deceive themselves or deceive Ezekiel, but they came to Ezekiel and sat before him.
It says, the elders of Israel. Now, the elders of Israel should have been the ones that were the leaders, the ones that were the older of Israel, the ones that should have known the truth, the ones that should have been walking with the Lord. Yet God says, even though they came to Ezekiel to seek counsel from him, they really didn’t want to listen.
This seems to be a tendency not only with the nation of Israel, but even with us in the day in which we live. People today oftentimes want to come to the Lord and want His blessing. They want His deliverance. They want His help, but they don’t want to change their lives. And that’s exactly what these men were like. The Lord says that He’s not going to do anything for them because of their idolatrous hearts and the fact that they placed stumbling blocks before their face.
Now, I was wondering, what in the world does it mean to place stumbling blocks before their face? Well, they knew what was right and wrong, and yet they continued to do what was wrong. And it became that which caused them to stumble and fall further from the Lord. And not only that, they maintained an idolatrous worship in their hearts where they really sought to worship other things than God.
And it resulted in bringing God’s judgment upon them. The Lord said, there’s going to be four ways in which I’m going to bring my judgment. I’m going to bring the sword. I’m going to bring pestilence. I’m going to… He says here in the verse, I’m going to bring the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and pestilence to cut off out from the land. And it’s interesting in the last days the same types of things will be brought upon the world to try and turn people from their wickedness and sin to God, but they will be so enamored and so enthralled and so engaged in their sin that they won’t look to the Lord.
We’re seeing a lot of interesting things happen around the world even today. As you look at what’s happening and what’s happening at Davos, I mentioned a little bit about it a couple Sundays ago when it was just wrapping up and the things that President Trump, who says, I want to bring America to be great again and yet he’s doing everything, it seems like, in his power to set the kingdom up for the Antichrist and not the Lord. And he really doesn’t want to turn from the wicked things of the world, but really he wants to embrace that which the world would want to do in rebellion against God.
We know that the Bible tells us in the last days that there’s going to be a one world government and he seems to be doing everything in his power to establish the groundwork for that government. And he doesn’t even see the idols that are in his own heart, nor does he see the stumbling blocks that are before him that are causing him not to do what he says he’s going to do. On the one hand, he says that he wants to bring that which is righteous back to America again and then he does everything in the decisions he makes to go the opposite direction.
That’s exactly what these men were doing. They said they wanted righteousness, they said they wanted to hear the word of the prophet, they said they wanted to hear the word of the Lord, yet they really didn’t want to. And God says because of that, He’s going to bring His judgment upon them.
And it says, it’s interesting in verse 4, He says, In other words, you’re not going to get a free ride simply because you come to a prophet or someone that you think is a person of God and walking in righteousness when you’re unwilling to get rid of the idols of your own heart and remove the stumbling blocks that are causing you to fall away from God that are laying evidence evidently right before your face and causing you to stumble and fall.
It’s interesting that as you look at what’s happening in our country, some of the things that have happened in the last year, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and yet before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, he was sending strange and mixed messages to the people of America. He was embracing Roman Catholicism, which is idolatry, he was saying that Mormonism was equal to Christianity, when it’s a different gospel and a different Jesus in a different way.
And he was doing things that were very confusing and at the same time having tremendous influence as young people were coming to him trying to hear answers. And a lot of young men wanted to hear answers and how they could become, have meaning in their life and have a godly character. And yet there was this mixed and destructive message that was coming out.
We’re seeing much of the same thing continuing to happen as you look at what’s happening with our president and with others in positions of leadership. And you question, what is going on? Well, it’s exactly what was going on here and God hates it. God says, I’m not going to let you come and hear my word, but you’re going to see my judgment.
And this is something that should make America very sobered. It says, why? That the house of Israel in their heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols, therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn yourselves from your idols and from your faces and from all your abominations. God tells them the answer.
The answer is repentance. The answer is to turn from those things and embrace God and God alone. Now people would say, yeah, but it’s important that you try and make deals and you try and cut deals and for the safety of our nation.
But nobody calls for repentance of the people and nobody calls them to turn to the Lord and trust in God that He is the one that can deliver us. It’s interesting that for years you had a strong Christian influence in our land and the church was strong. They preached the gospel.
They called people to repentance. They talked about the fact that if you didn’t know Jesus, you’d go to hell. The fact that God wanted no man to end up in hell, but He desired that all should be saved.
And they called them to turn to Christ, the only means of salvation. Today that message is rarely heard in the church. And instead it’s a message of really complacency and compromise that’s replaced the true gospel and people are saying that we just need to get along to get along and don’t rock the boat and don’t talk to people and say that they’re sinning and they’re on their way to hell.
You don’t want to cause them to feel bad and that’s coming from Christians. And so people aren’t doing what God says needs to be done. He’s telling the nation of Israel the only hope for them is that they repent and turn back to Him.
Yet we see that the leadership of that nation worshipping idols and placing stumbling blocks before their faces and yet they thought that they were religious and they thought that they could come and get answers from Ezekiel even though they desired not to really walk with God. We cannot get answers from the Lord unless we seek to walk with Him and unless we seek to turn to Him and unless we repent from the wickedness of our ways. Go on and it says For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel and I want you to see something there.
There’s an interesting statement. The house of Israel and the stranger that sojourneth in Israel. Israel had impacted people who were not Israelites.
They had impacted them so that they were doing the same things that the Israelites were doing. It says Which separated himself from me setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me I the Lord will answer him by myself and the answer is going to be judgment. But I think it’s interesting there were those that weren’t Israelites that desired to know and that’s what the Israelites taught them how to sin.
They taught them how to be divorced from God not be drawn closer to God. Yet that’s the whole purpose of the nation of Israel and why God had established it is that they could be alike to the world which was in the midst of darkness and that when the strangers came in amongst them they would reveal to them the reality of the true and the living God and the reality of the God that could meet their needs and fulfill their desires in the sense of delivering them from wickedness and sin. Now, four times I think it was Ezekiel mentions or the Lord mentions rather three men.
He mentions Daniel. He mentions Job. and he mentions Noah. Noah, Daniel and Job and he says if Noah, Daniel and Job were amongst these people and they prayed for these people there would be no deliverance for these people because their hearts were so wicked. the only ones that would be delivered were those that had a pure heart which would be Daniel, Job and Noah. He said that if they come and would ask them to pray. Pray for our daughters and our sons that they might be delivered they wouldn’t be delivered because the influence was so strong of wickedness that they weren’t delivered.
It’s interesting we were listening a little bit before we came to church to a man who was talking about what it was like during the days of Lot and how the days of Lot are like they are today. If you look at it says that Lot Peter tells us was a righteous man who was vexed continually by sin around him. Yet Lot did not have the ability to even save all of his own family. It says that he had sons-in-law which means he had married daughters. Yet the only two people that came out with Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah were his two unmarried daughters. His wife turned back and looked at Sodom and Gomorrah.
The indication is what people say well why did God judge her. She died immediately and be turned into a pillar of salt like the scriptures say why? Because she wasn’t to look back she wasn’t to long for the things of Sodom. She wasn’t even to long for her own children that were still in Sodom because they were so wicked that God had to destroy them because of their wickedness and the judgment that fell on them.
We need to understand today that we live in a world which is a lot like Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s what Jesus said would be in the last days said it would be like Sodom and Gomorrah. It would be like the days of Noah. There would be real wickedness you can see in the days of Sodom as this man said that we were listening to he said if you read the text and look at it closely it says the men and the young men came out to want to have relations with the angels, in other words, there was X going on in Sodom. That’s one of the things that’s evident in our culture today. Not only that in the days of Noah, we may get into this more when we get into Daniel but the thing is if you look at what happened in the days of Noah.
They were trying to change men from what God had created them to be. They said that angels came down and cohabitated with the women and there were nephilim that were the product of that cohabitation, in other words, their genetic makeup was being transformed and Satan was behind it. Today you’re seeing the same thing you have transhumanists that want to change the genetic makeup of people they want to make people so they’re not people. They say they’ll be super people, but they’re not going to be humans.
The thing is it’s becoming more and more evident with all that’s happening with the computers and AI and it’s all around us and yet you don’t see the Christians standing up and saying something’s wrong here. We need to repent and turn to Jesus.
That’s exactly where Israel was. They weren’t in they had their idols and they had their stumbling blocks. They wouldn’t give them up. Even though they said well we want to hear a word from a prophet God said I’m not going to give you a word from a prophet the word that’s going to come is coming from my lips and it’s judgment. It doesn’t matter if you even had as he says Noah, Daniel and Job here to pray for you three righteous men who stood in the midst of their wicked cultures. Stood for truth and uplifted the Lord before all those around them and were unabashedly not ashamed of God but rather exalted the Lord in the midst of the wickedness around them.
Yet he says if they come and would pray their prayers wouldn’t help because your wickedness is so great and the main thing is you are unwilling to repent. So the call today amongst the church and amongst the people of America is we need to repent. A lot of people are looking for deliverance and through military might, through politicians, through the economy, being well. But I want you to know that God can cause all of it to be gone in a moment. We need to repent so we can have a relationship with him and look to him.
God also brings hope in the midst of his judgment once again. If you look at the end of this chapter of Ezekiel it says in verse 22
yet behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth both sons and daughters behold they shall come forth unto you and ye shall see their way and their doings and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem
So he is saying even though all of these people are being judged and none of them appear to be wanting to repent there is a remnant who will follow me. God has always had his remnant remember with Elijah.
Elijah became extremely despondent when Jezebel was trying to kill him. He went and he called to the Lord and he said I am the only one left that is standing for you. The Lord said no I’ve got thousands that are standing for me that you don’t know about.
The thing is God has always had a remnant that sometimes the remnant isn’t very big. At the time of Noah the remnant was Noah, his wife, his three sons and the three daughter in laws that was the remnant but they were a righteous remnant. We see that the time of Abraham. Abraham and his father’s house his father was an idol worshipper his brothers were idol worshippers and yet Abraham was called out of that.
The remnant that was called out of the midst of the idol worship to worship the true and living God. And to have this intimate relationship with him where he would be promised that the Lord would bless the whole world through him, the messianic line would come through Abraham because of Abraham’s trust and faith in God. Even though it seemed like he and his immediate family were the only ones left that wanted to worship and serve God.
So the hope is for us if we’re faithful to God he’s faithful to us if we seek to repent and embrace the Lord we are part of the remnant. The remnant will bring a blessing even to those that are under judgment as they see that God is merciful and if they turn to him they can experience his mercy as well and so the hope that we have is that God’s grace and mercy will show through us in the face of judgment.
That may be coming upon our nation because of the wickedness that is here. Just as it came upon the nation of Israel because they would not give up their idols nor would they give up the things that were stumbling blocks that they put before their faces.
Let’s just close in prayer. Father, I pray that you’d help us to understand this Lord and help us to look at this sobering chapter. A chapter where you’ve said that judgment is coming upon those and it’s not enough to merely speak that you want to talk to a prophet but you have to repent and turn from your idols and wickedness and give up your stumbling blocks that cause you to fall. Lord, help us to walk with you in righteousness purity and truth in the power of your son Jesus. This we ask in Jesus name Amen