SERIES: “EXCERPTS FROM EZEKIEL”
TEXT: EZEKIEL 12, 13, & 14
TITLE: “COMFORTABLE CHRISTIANS”
INTRODUCTION: A. Many of you have probably heard the old story about an ancient village where all
the people who lived there were blind. One day, while walking down the road, six
men from that village came upon a man riding an elephant. The six men, who had
heard about elephants but had never been close to one, asked the rider to allow them to
touch the great beast. They wanted to go back to their hometown and tell the other
villagers what an elephant looked like.
The rider agreed and led each of the six men to a different part of the elephant. All
six blind men touched and stroked the elephant until they were certain they knew what
the animal looked like. They walked back to their village and couldn’t wait to tell
everybody about their experience. When they arrived, the villagers gathered around to
hear about the elephant
The first man, who had felt the animal’s side, said, “An elephant is like a great
thick wall.”
The second man called that statement nonsense. He had felt the elephant’s tusk
and told everyone, “He is rather short, round, and smooth, but somewhat sharp. An
elephant is not like a wall. He’s more like a spear.”
The third man had touched one of the elephant’s ears. He said, “Oh, it’s not like
that at all. An elephant is like a giant leaf made of thick wool carpet. It moves when
you touch it.”
The fourth man had touched the elephant’s trunk. He said, “I disagree. I can tell
you that an elephant is most certainly like a giant snake.”
The fifth man shouted that the first four had no idea what they were talking about.
He had touched one of the elephant’s legs so he said, “An elephant is round and thick;
like a tree.”
The sixth thought the other five had lost their minds. He’d been allowed to sit on
the elephant’s back. He said, “Now see here…an elephant is clearly like a gigantic
moving mountain.”
1. The story usually concludes like this: To this day, the men continue to argue, and
no one in the village has any idea what an elephant looks like.
2. The men in that story thought that they had it all figured out
--Sadly, while all of them were partially right, they were still all wrong!
B. The people of Israel were a lot like these blind men
1. They saw everything according to their sinfulness and rebelliousness
2. They’d turned away from the true picture and reinvented everything according to
their own warped standards
3. Let’s have a quick review of the events in the book of Ezekiel so far:
a. 10,000 Jews were captured by the Babylonians and carried into captivity 1,000
miles away
b. Ezekiel was one of the captives and was God’s prophet in Babylon
c. At approximately the same time, Jeremiah was God’s prophet in Jerusalem
d. The city of Jerusalem was virtually unharmed by King Nebuchadnezzer of
Babylon and he had installed a man named Zedekiah as a “puppet king in
Jerusalem
e. Optimism was running high that Jerusalem and Judah would soon be delivered
and restored to its former glory.
f. False prophets were responsible for this optimism
1). The people didn’t like the message of God as delivered by Jeremiah and
Ezekiel so they looked for people who would say what they wanted to hear
2). The people lived fast and loose and refused the call of God’s voice to
repentance and restoration
3). They believed that everything was going to be OK just like it was
--They didn’t believe that God would personally call them to task for what
they were doing
C. Our churches are full of people like that today
1. They see everything through the lenses of their sinfulness and rebelliousness
2. They’ve turned away from God’s true picture of things and have reinvented
everything according to their own warped standards.
3. They’re primarily concerned with feeling comfortable instead of being faithful in
following Jesus Christ.
a. They’re living fast and loose and are refusing to hear God’s voice calling them
to repentance and then restoration
b. They don’t believe that God will personally hold them accountable for what
they are doing.
D. The problem is that they have accepted falsehoods as opposed to accepting the truth
1. False prophets were declaring a message contrary to God’s message
a. They didn’t want to change their behavior so they changed the message
b. In order to understand God’s truth, you have to be obedient to God’s will
2. Leaders who falsely claimed to care about the needs of the people only cared
about their own interests
--Again, unwillingness to change their behavior made them put forth a false front
3. The people accepted and even embraced the falsehoods
a. They wanted to believe everything was going to be okay just the way it was
b. For the third instance, there is unwillingness to change behavior which
produced the acceptance of false beliefs
4. The prophet Samuel warned a disobedient King Saul in 1 Sam. 15:23 – “For
rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
5. Title: “Comfortable Christians”
a. First of all, there’s no such thing
b. But because some don’t want to change their behavior, they ignore the truth and
practice falsehoods
c. Let’s look at some of these falsehoods
I. WE’VE GOT PLENTY OF TIME – Chapter 12
--God assigns Ezekiel the task of presenting two dramas in a one-man play format that reminds the Jews that
His promise of punishment and destruction would happen
A. First drama – 12:1-16
1. Pack a bag like leaving for exile
a. Place it some distance from your house
b. It was a sign that the leaders of Israel were planning on abandoning the people and fleeing for their
own lives
2. Dig a hole in the wall of his house
--representing that Nebuchadnezzar would break down the walls of Jerusalem
3. Ezekiel was then to recover the bag, go back through the hole in the wall to the inside and then leave
again through the hole
a. Only a portion of Jews in exile
b. Warning that all would either be exiled to Babylon or scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire
B. Second drama – 12:17-28
1. Ezekiel should eat his bread and water shaking and trembling
2. Signified that food and drink would be difficult to find
3. And that the people would be seized with great fear
--Every meal had the chance of being their last
C. The problem was that the false prophets were declaring two completely different scenarios:
1. First was that everything was fine back in Jerusalem
a. paraphrase of vs. 27 – “The days drag on and every vision comes to nothing and is not fulfilled.”
b. God gave a new proverb to share with the people in 12:23 – “The days are near when every vision
will be fulfilled.”
2. Second was that yes, the things Ezekiel were prophesying would come true but not in their lifetime
D. The lie is that we have plenty of time to continue to live the way we’re living
1. 2 Pet. 3:3-4 – “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and
following their own evil desires. 4They will say, ‘Where is this ’coming’ he promised? Ever since our
fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’”
2. 2 Pet. 3:8-10 – “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand
years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the
elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
3. I believe the saddest words at that time will be: “I thought I had more time.”
II. WE CAN PLAY WITH THE TRUTH – Chapter 13
A. The problem was the false teachings of the false prophets
1. They were easy to believe because they were easy to follow
2. Jesus warned that the way for Christians was not broad and easy but narrow and difficult
B. These false prophets are compared to several things
1. Wild animals that live as scavengers in the deserted ruins of the land
2. Workmen who built something that would never last
--They had whitewashed a weak wall to make it look sturdy
C. A true prophet tells people what they need to hear.
--A false prophet only tells them what they want to hear
1. 2 Tim. 4:1-4 – “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead,
and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared
in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful
instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit
their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
2. They give testimony that is supposed to be from God but God has not spoken to them nor called them
3. Even if the message be true to God’s Word, there are people who will take the truth and twist it until
it makes them feel comfortable
D. Roy Clements, Faithful Living in a Faithless World:
-- Have you ever seen a pet rock? I met one some years ago. An American student in Cambridge
was not allowed to keep a dog or cat in college, so he kept a smoothly polished rock instead. It sat
on his bedside table where he could stoke it, especially when he felt lonely and far from home. He
said it gave him a secure feeling.
Have you ever seen a pet Bible? People do keep Bibles as pets, and they usually sit on their
bedside tables too. Every night they fondle its pages, reading a favorite verse or two to comfort and
relax them before they go to sleep. By this means, they think they are maintaining a relationship
with God. Unfortunately, for all the practical difference it make to their lives, they might just as wll
stroke a rock as the leather of their Bible.
The Jews, at the time of the exile, tended to treat their Bible in that way. That was one of the
reasons the judgment of God was coming upon them so inexorably. Yet they were unaware of it.
They wanted the comfort and security of the prophetic word without having to face up to its
disquieting challenge to their lifestyle. So they found way of controlling that word, muzzling its
bark, domesticating it.
E. Jesus said that the devil was liar and the father of all lies
--If we practice falsehood, we serve the devil not Christ
III. WE CAN PLACE WITH THE TEAM
A. We tend to treat our faith as if the coach of the team or some of the team is doing well, we’re all doing
well
--The Jews in captivity felt that way
1. Daniel was doing a good job with his faith in captivity
2. They thought they could follow on his coat tails
B. For those who did recognize that they would be held accountable for their lack of practicing their faith,
they tried to shift the blame to their leaders
1. They’re not doing their jobs so it’s okay if we don’t do ours
2. They said, “If we only had leaders like Job and Noah.”
3. Three men mentioned as leaders in this chapter were admirable men
--they’re all described in the Bible as being righteous men and faithful men
C. We can’t depend on someone else to pull us through
1. We’re accountable for our own sin and rebellion
2. In Jesus’ day, the Jews thought that because they had Abraham as their father and Moses as their
lawgiver, they were fine
3. The Jewish people, their leaders, and their false prophets all professed to part of the people of God
but by their actions and attitudes proved otherwise
4. Plenty of people come to church believing that as long as their in the right place that practices the
right beliefs that everything going to be fine for them
D. God makes a very interesting yet stinging comment concerning the people of Judah in captivity:
1. He said that to these people Ezekiel was more like religious entertainment than someone who
spoke the true word of God
2. Ezek. 33:30-32 – God says – “As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about
you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ’Come and hear the message
that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to
listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express
devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than
one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your
words but do not put them into practice.”
3. Plenty of so-called Christians treat Sunday morning as religious entertainment for their benefit as
opposed to the biblical teaching that the purpose of gathering together is the encouragement of
one another to serve the Lord in every day things
E. God warns that judgement would come. Four judgments described:
1. Famine – 14:12-14
2. Wild beasts in the land – 14:15-16
3. The sword – 14:17-18
--war
4. Disease – 14:19-20
--usually accompanies the other three
5. God ends this section with stern warnings that the judgements would happen in His time and His
pace but that they would happen
CONCLUSION: A. There was a newspaper story some years ago about 28-year-old Mark Carver, who at
the time was employed as a doctor and as assistant medical director at a major hospital
The problem, it seems, was that Mark had never gone to medical school or even college
for that matter.
He allegedly forged documents to get the job as a doctor, and knew enough medical
jargon to fool everyone into thinking he was the real thing. He was sentenced to seven
years in prison where he got to act like a prisoner. Probably a situation for which he
was much better suited.
B. A true prophet does two things:
1. He points out sin (even hidden sin)
2. He calls sinners to repentance
3. Warren Wiersbe: “It’s the condition of the person’s heart that determines the
response to the Lord’s test…”
C. What are you trying to hide today?
--Can you honestly line up with God’s Word in your relationship with Him?
