From the view of the outside world, the defeat and exile of the Jewish race demonstrated the failure of their God. It exhibited to the Gentiles that the Jewish religion was without foundation. The Israelites were so discredited by their defeat that the surrounding nations said that it was foolish for them to continue to remain loyal to God. Today, the people of the world are judging Christian religion. Today, the Christian church has being tried in the court of public opinion and we have been pronounced useless and out of date.
The world views our ideas as old fashion, our services as boring, and our God as dead. The reason is the church has not solved the many problems that plague our society. Due to the facts we are presented with, we cannot deny the accusations. However, the answers to the world’s problems do not be found in theology, ideology, or denominational doctrine. Since the problem is the sins of the people of the world and of the church, the answer can only be found with God. Moreover, we must realize that His divine plan has not completely manifested itself. {Read Ezekiel 36: 16-23}
The sins of the people of the world and God’s own people are the reason we are plague with our current problems. Sin, in this day, has been greatly distorted and our hearts have been dulled to the sad effect of it. We still recognize the sins of stealing, killing, and slandering. However, according to the way that the world and some Christians think, it is acceptable to commit adultery, engage in homosexual relationships, or even practice idol worship. We say it is acceptable as long as we are not caught or no one is offended. However, when we sin, people do get hurt and all sin offends God.
Sin is the root cause of all of our problems that we face as a society. Sin not only causes problems for us, it also cause problems for God. God is holy and He will not tolerate sin. He considers it an act of rebellion and a declaration of war. It hurts God when we chose to sin the same as it hurts a parent when their child chooses to be disobedient. Just as a parent must disciple the disobedient child, God must discipline us for our sins. God cannot and will not condone or ignore our sins. His anger erupts against us when we sin and ignore the truth about Him. When the day comes for God to judge us for our sins, no excuses will be accepted.
Romans 1: 18-20 tells us God has revealed Himself plainly to all people through His creation. God has revealed to us what He is like; nevertheless, we chose to reject even this basic knowledge. God has given us an inner sense of His requirements, a sense of morals, still we chose not to live up to them. We know the truth. It has been put on the inside of us. It has been written down for us in a language we can understand. And we will bring down the wrath of God if we continue to ignore it. Realize, when we chose to ignore God and remain in our sins, it makes us unacceptable to God. Regardless of what we try to do to solve the world’s problems, not even God can solve them because of our sins.
God created us to be in control of this world. Because of our sins, we cannot be the type of people that He created us to be. But our sins do not stop God from being God. In spite of our sins, God is still in control. In spite of our sins, God still does not want us to perish in Hell’s flames. In spite of our sins, God will fulfill His promise to make Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky and as uncountable as the sands on the seashore. In spite of our sins, God still says that we can be saved. In Joel 2:32, He says, “And everyone that calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is the purpose of God. His purpose is to save us because to ourselves we are a lost cause. But first, we need to renounce our sins and ask Him to save us. {Read Ezekiel 36:24}
God’s plan for our salvation is foretold more than once in the Word of God. It is a detailed plan, but it is easy to understand. This simple plan starts with a necessary search and rescue mission. In verse 24, we are shown how God will conduct this mission. He says, ‘ I will take you out of the nations,’ and ‘I will gather you from all countries.’ God is searching for those He wants to bless. God is looking for those that want to be blessed. He is searching in the crack houses and whorehouse. God is searching every street, every corner, and every valley. No matter what condition He finds them in, he will rescue them. He will search them out and bring them back to their own land. He will search for us and bring us back to where we belong. God will bring us back to Himself. {Read Ezekiel 36:25}
After the search and rescue mission, God will cleanse them of their sins. There is a story of a young man that was given some land by his grandfather. At first, this piece of property looked as if it was worthless because of the vast forest and thick undergrowth. The young man complained about the land until someone informed his that he could make some money off the trees. The young man went to work cutting the trees and taking them to the sawmill. As he continued to cut, he came upon some large rocks. He picked up one of the rocks, looked at it, and saw something shining in the sunlight. Then, he started cleaning the dirt and mud off it. After a period of cleaning, the young man found the rock to be solid gold. {Read Ezekiel 36:25}
We, too, are found to be priceless treasures after God cleanses us of our sins. In the sinful conditions we are in, the world quickly judges us just another piece of worthless moving dirt. We are seen this way because the world cannot see through the muck and mire of our sins. They cannot see through the forest of hopelessness and despair. They cannot see past the thick undergrowth of our addictions and habits. But, our God can. He looks past our faults and He sees our needs.
Once He sees our sins, He uses what the world cannot understand and He cleanses us from all our sins and unrighteousness. The songwriter writes, “ What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. O’, how precious that flow that make me white as snow. No other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.” God cleanses us with this spiritual water, because physical water can never remove the sin. God cleanses us spiritually because physical cleaning is not enough. Physical cleaning takes care of only the outside, but God wants us clean on the inside where sin does the most harm. {Read Ezekiel 36:25-26}
God will cleanse us from all our impurities. He takes away the things that make us unholy and impure. He removes the demons, habits, and our wrong way of thinking. God will cleanse us from our idols. He takes away the things that cause us to do wrong. He will remove the false gods, the demons and sometimes-even people. God will cleanse us from everything that separates us from him and that causes us to fall into sin. After the cleansing, God transform us into what He would have us to be. Sin makes us miss the mark of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. Sin is our failure to be all that God would have us to be. Sin makes us be the men and women God created us to be. Sin makes our children not be the children we train them to be. Sin makes us miss the mark of God. {Read Ezekiel 36:27}
Nevertheless, when God find us in the wilderness of sin, He transforms us into new creations. God takes our uncaring heart and replaces it with a heart that cares. God takes our unloving heart and replaces it with a heart that cares. God removes our unbelieving heart and gives us a heart that believes. God empowers us to hit the mark. David wrote in Psalms 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart and renew in me the right spirit.” And then in Psalms 51:12 “restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.” Without the Spirit of God, we do not have the type of faith it takes to please Him. Without the Spirit of God, we cannot do the thing it takes to please Him. Without the Spirit of God, we will miss the mark and will lift up our eyes from Hell. {Read Ezekiel 36:28}
The next step in God’s plan of salvation is restoration. God has promised to restore us. No matter how impure our lives are because of sin, God offers us a fresh start. God will restore us as His people and save us from our sins. God will restore us from the disgrace of our sins. God will restore us, not by the things that we do, nor by the songs that we sing. God will store us by His grace. The songwriter writes, “ Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wrench like me.” This is what God will use to restore us. He will use nothing but the Grace of God. {Read Ezekiel 36: 29-37}
After the restoration, God will resettle us into the promises of His covenant. Because of our sins, we cannot lay claim to the promises God has given us in the New Covenant. But through the process of His divine plan of salvation, God will restore us to those promises. {Read Ezekiel 36:38}
The final process of His plan of salvation is recognition. This is not recognition for anything we have done. Even though God will make us new creations, this is not recognition for anything we have become. This is recognition of who God is. The Word of God says in verse 38, “Then, they will know that I am God.” The world, that once saw us as outcast, dirty, and diseased, will see us as new and changed creatures because of God’s work in us. Because of this glorious transformation, they will declare that truly He is God. Our testimony will be great, because God is great. The song we sing, will be, “What am mighty God we serve. Heaven and earth adore Him, the angel bow before Him. What a mighty God we serve.”
