Speaking God's Truth Series

Ezekiel 2 - Speaking God’s Truth - 2/25/18

Turn with me this morning to Ezekiel 2. It’s about 2/3rds of the way from the front of your bibles, Isaiah, J, L, E, Daniel. We began looking at this unique, crazy prophet last week. Crazy, not because he is out of his mind, but crazy because the things he says and does grab the attention of the people of Israel. He preaches to the people through “acted out” messages - he ties himself up, he lies on his side for over a year - he has odd cooking practices - he shaves his head - his wife dies but he doesn’t mourn - all kinds of crazy things that DEFINITELY would have gotten the attention of the Jews in exile. But he does all these things so that when the people looked at the crazy things Ezekiel was doing, they would perceive the message of God. In Ezekiel 24:24 God says, Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.’ So when the people looked at Ezekiel, they would know there was still a God in Israel.

Remember we looked at the setting of the book. Because of their sin, the Jews were exiled out of the nation of Judah and taken hundreds of miles away to be housed in the resettlement camps in Babylon. But even then, the people still had stubborn, rebellious hearts and were not ready to return to following the Lord.

Last week we saw that while the Jews had thought that God had forsaken them, and while the Babylonians thought that they had defeated the God of Israel, God shows Himself to Ezekiel as still on the throne, high and exalted, and in control of everything going on in Babylon where these exiles found themselves. And that is a reminder for us as well that even when we go through difficult circumstances, we need not doubt the ever-present help of the Lord. We remember that God is STILL on His throne, and in charge of the affairs of men.

God chooses Ezekiel to be His spokesman, and today as we look at chapters 2 & 3 we are going to learn some lessons from Ezekiel’s life that will help us faithfully discharge the calling that God has given us as well to share His message with others. Because every Christian here today has been given a high calling, a charge, a command, a mission, a duty - to share with those around us the message of the gospel. But as we look at Ezekiel’s life and ministry we will find a perspective that goes against what we typically think in regards to sharing the gospel. We often think the highest goal is to see as many people saved as possible. But that is NOT our goal. We’ll talk about that more as we get into these chapters. But as we begin, let’s start by asking God to open our eyes to see His truth and how it applies to our lives. Let’s pray together. PRAY

The first thing we will see here in chapter 2 is . . .

The Man - we see the preparation of Ezekiel to be God’s messenger. We ended chapter 1 seeing that God is present with His people. And Ezekiel is humbled before God. Look in 1:28 - This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the voice of one speaking. He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

So we see that God has a message TO Ezekiel, and God gives a message THROUGH Ezekiel. But it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to hear it and share it. And that truth is the same for us today. It doesn’t matter how slick your gospel presentation is - apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, it is useless! Some evangelists will get people to laugh and cry and rush down the aisle to pray a prayer - but a few hours later the emotions are gone, and everyone can see there is no difference in the life of that supposed “convert.”

You can memorize the Romans Road or the Four Spiritual Laws or any of a number of ways to get people “saved” - but they are all meaningless apart from the working of the Holy Spirit. Because lest we ever forget - WE can save NO ONE - only GOD can save a soul! Scripture is clear that the unsaved will not even understand the gospel apart from the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:4 - The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So don’t be surprised if the truths you understand so clearly don’t make sense to someone who is unsaved. 1 Corinthians 2:14 - The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.