Although God’s purposes for Israel are slightly different from those of
the
church, there is also a lot of overlap; both Israel and the church are to
glorify God, both are made up of people.
PROP: What is it that makes sincere believers in the Lord Jesus Christ
special? Many things.
TS------------>But today, we are going to focus in on three distinctives
of
those who know God.
I. We Are Set Apart: God’s Seal (chp.9)
READ1-11 (whole chapter)
1. The word "saint" means His called out ones, His holy ones...
-----this is the most common term in the NT for Christians, "the saints"
2. In Ezekiel, the seal is placed on the foreheads of those who would
avoid physical death during the seige of Jerusalem...
3. In Exodus, households were "sealed" from the destroying angel...
----but salvation has always been a matter of God covenanting with the
individual...
4. The New Testament picks up on this theme of the seal...
(1) 2 Cor. 1:22
(2) Eph. 1:13
(3) During part of the Tribulation, believers will be sealed: Rev.
7:3, 9:4
5. The opposite "sealing" refers to those who take the mark of the
beast...
One distinctive of those who know God is that they are set apart, sealed.
Ezekiel mentions another distinctive.
II. We Have A New Heart: Regeneration (11:18-21)
1. Regeneration=born again
(1) Jesus compared the new birth to wind: it sneaks up on us
mysteriously, sometimes unexpectedly...(John 3:1-17)
(2) Regeneration= brining us to spiritual life and is a sovereign act
of God...
(3) When we are saved, at an instant we are born again so that we
become spiritually alive and can then embrace the Gospel...
(4) We are born dead in our trespasses & sins; only God can bring
us to life...
2. We we accept Christ, we receive a new nature which is predisposed to
follow God.....(2 natures)....
---some Solidly Chrsitian people cannot pinpoint the time of their
conversion...that’s okay....we’re saved by grace through faith, and if our
faith is in Christ, it doesn’t really matter how or when it got
there....what
matters is that it IS there!
3. When Nicodemus questioned Jesus at night, Jesus expected
Nicodemus to already understand the New Birith...why? It is all over
Ezekiel, that’s why!
Application: One way you know you are really saved is that you have a
desire for more of God; you are predisposed to seek Him; you’ve been
born again....Your sins trouble you....you yearn for me down deep...
III. We Have Individual Responsibility Before God: Accountability (18)
1. This chapter does not deal with matters of eternal life, but rather
living
through the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar...
2. Several key verses:
(1) 18:20, 21, 23, 24, 29-32
3. Principles:
(1) God is angry at sin and punishes it....
(2) God responds to human repentance...
(3) "Holiness" cannot be stored up....
(4) We can ruin at the end all that our lives have built...
(5) We are responsible for our own behavior...
(6) We do not have to repeat the sins of our fathers...
(7) Personal righteousness is not a matter of balancing the history of our
bad works with our good, but rather our current state before God...
(8) God’s nature demands He punish sin, but He does not enjoy doing so
(32); he prefers our repentance to His wrath...
