Marked Men #3 — Gareth Evans

Book of Ezekiel, Book of Ezekiel chapter 10. Let me remind you the last couple of weeks I've been speaking about marked men, marked men and women. I took you first into the book of Revelation, we looked at the church of Philadelphia in the letters there in chapter 3.

And we saw men there that were marked, people there that were marked by God with his name, with his city, the destination, and with a new character, the name of Jesus. Such people being marked were to be delivered from the tribulation which is to come upon the whole earth.

Last week I took you into Ezekiel chapter 8 and we looked there in the vision of Ezekiel, where he saw as the avengers were sent out by God to destroy all of Jerusalem, beginning at the temple, there were people to be marked.

And the characteristic of these people were that they were intercessors. They were people who groaned and sighed for the state of their nation and their church. For my final one today I want to continue in the book of Ezekiel, but looking into chapter 10.

The Glory of God in Ezekiel's Vision

And I'm going to read with you, I trust you have your Bibles with you, if you do not. Chapter 10 verse 1. I like those words because Ezekiel both here and earlier where he is at the side of the river and he sees a vision, he finds it very difficult to describe, it's beyond description.

Let me remind you of the cherubim were the angels. They will now stand at the threshold of the temple in Ezekiel's vision. The glory of God has appeared above them. And the man with the linen cloth, do you remember, garment and the purse is there, who went about marking these people who were to be delivered.

So this is the context still. And the house was filled with a cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. At first sight this looks to be a wonderful vision, but the reality is that it's not so wonderful in that the cherubim were the very throne room of God in the inner sanctuary where God's glory dwelt.

But now we see them outside the sanctuary. This is not as thrilling as it sounds. The glory is there, but it's not in the right place. It's on the outside of the temple. He continues, verse 6. The cherubim appear to have the form of a human hand under their wings.

So let me try to make this picture clear. We have the cherubim, the angels. And as Ezekiel described earlier when he sees this vision, he sees them with wheels and there are eyes within wheels. It's a very difficult thing to describe.

But all this is like a great chariot above which sits God or something of glory of God. And from that glory God has spoken to Ezekiel in vision, to the man clothed in linen and said, go in and take the coals of the glory of God that shine there.

So the man goes in and an angel takes the coals and gives them to the man. That is the picture we have. Let me paraphrase on quickly to the end of the chapter. There was one, and he goes on to try to describe these angels.

And when they went this way and wheels back and forth, trying to describe them, it was very much like he had seen before by the river Sheba, verse 15. And the angels, when they went up, the wheels rotated itself.

He just described it. Verse 18. Then the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the house. It was in the interior of the house of the Holy of Holies. It has now come to the doorway of the house.

It stood above the cherubim, the glory of the Lord. That indescribable glory. The cherubim lifted up the wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight as they went forth with the wheels beside them.

And they stood now at the door of the east gate of the house. They are not inside where God's presence was. They are now at the door. And he describes them. Verse 11. Chapter 11. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to Gizco.

I am just paraphrasing this quickly. And I saw again the great evils that the men do. Coming down through there. You come down to God's judgment being upon the people. And finally comes to verse 17. And Lord, even when there is judgment, there is always a promise.

And he brings a wonderful promise of the last days. But I will gather you, though I will destroy you now. I will gather you from all people. Assembling from the countries where you have been scattered.

I will give you the land of Israel. When they come there, I will remove from them all detestable things and abominations. I will give them one heart. Put a new spirit within them. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh.

And give them a new heart of flesh. That they may walk in my statues and keep my ordinances and obey them. And they shall be my people. And I will be their God. A wonderful promise. Chapter 11. But I saw those hearts go out of detestable things.

They shall be judged. Verse 22. Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels between them. And the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the mountain, from the midst of the city.

And stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. The glory of God has gone from his house. That is a part of the judgment of God. I ask myself, has the glory of God gone from his house today?

I believe it has. I believe we do not see very much evidence in the house of God. I'm talking generally about the church of the presence of God in glory. That awesome glory that causes man to fall in reverent awe before him.

We see very little of that in the church today. It is an awful judgment upon the church when the glory of God has gone. You've heard the story, I'm sure, of the Chinese Christian who came out to the west, came out to America.

On returning home to his home people, his home church in China. He was asked what it was like to be in the churches of North America. And he said, I'm amazed how much they can do without the spirit of God.

Terrible indictment upon the church. But let me come back to my main thought of this evening. About this man clothed in linen with the inkwell by his side. Who was instructed by God to take the coals from between the cherubim.

From where the glory of God is. He's to take these coals and he's to scatter them upon the earth. I went into several commentaries and concordances. Trying to understand what other people thought these coals might be.

And I really didn't get much input from those commentaries. Most people seem to think that this was an added judgment upon the earth. God is judging the people of this vision. He sends the six avengers to slay them all.

And then he sends fires to destroy. That is the picture most people give. But I have a problem with that. Because this man clothed in linen is not a messenger of God's wrath. He is a messenger of God's mercy and grace.

He is the one who brought a mark upon the people. To deliver them from the judgment that was to come upon the whole city and the church. That was my message last week. It is the same man who is now asked to take the coals from between the altar.

From where the glory of God is. Between the cherubim. And to scatter that upon the city. We have nothing in the scripture that tells us the result of the scattering. But as I read that, I was reminded so clearly of the vision that Isaiah, that other great prophet had.

Isaiah's Vision and the Coal of Purification

And so I want to tie in with my message here in Ezekiel this morning. That portion from Isaiah chapter 6. And I would like you to turn to that with me please. In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne.

High and lifted up, his train filled the temple. Where is the glory of God now? It has been removed, it seems to me, from much of his church. But praise God it is still in the heavens in the presence of God the Father.

And there is where the glory of Christ is and the glory of God now. He talks about the angels there. They cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. As we sang earlier today. The foundations of the threshold shook that the voice of him were called.

The house was filled with smoke. And I said, woe is me, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. A people among whom the glory of God is not evident.

Then flew on the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal. Which he took from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, your sin forgiven.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And I said, here am I, send me. And then he said, go and say. In the scriptures I see two roles for fire. There is the fire that consumes.

The word of God says that God, our God, is a consuming fire. A fire that consumes all sin and all dross. A fire before whom we dare not stand if it were not for the blood of the cross. One of my favorite hymns is a verse that says this.

Eternal light, we might say eternal fire. Eternal light, eternal light. How pure this soul must be. If standing before thy search in sight, it shrinks not. Though with calm delight can live and look on thee.

Oh awesome consuming fire, how dare I stand before you. If it weren't for the fact that I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The only garment that cannot be singed and burnt by the consuming fire of God.

It is very true that the fire of God, God is a consuming fire. But, however, there is also a fire in the scripture that does not burn. It is a fire that purifies. Moses saw such a fire. At his calling, at the age of 80, as he's walking there in the wilderness, he sees the bush.

There's a fire in the bush. But the striking thing was not that there was a bush on fire because that was a fairly common sight in the heat of that desert. But that this bush was not being consumed. The fire was burning, but it was not being consumed.

And that's what caused Moses to stop and to approach. And a voice comes from the fire and says, Moses, take the shoes off your feet for the ground on which you stand is holy ground. And there was Moses' call, ministry of delivering the people of Israel from Egypt.

A fire that did not consume. It's the same fire that followed them as they came out of Egypt. That pillar of fire that led them by night and by day. It was a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.

It was the cloud that stood before, between them and the pursuing Egyptians as they came to the Red Sea. There is a fire that represents God's presence that is not a consuming fire. The Hebrew children experienced that fire in the furnace.

When Nebuchadnezzar had cast them into the furnace, we read that they turned up the heat so that those who stoked the fire were even burned. But the three who walked in the midst of that fire were not consumed.

And in the midst of the fire as they looked, they saw a fourth that looked like unto the Son of God in the midst of the fire. A fire that does not consume. It's the same fire that the disciples experienced on the day of Pentecost.

As they waited, they tarried there in that room and tongues of fire came down upon them. But they were not consumed by the fire. There is a fire that consumes. God is a consuming fire. His wrath will consume.

And one day, believe me, and I really believe this, there will be a day when this world will be consumed in the wrath of God's fire. And sin and all that is evil in this world will be finally destroyed.

But there is a fire that does not consume. And I believe that this man in the linen cloth, this man who ministers grace by putting a mark upon those people who are intercessors during the time of trial and tribulation and death upon the earth, is also the man who pours out the non-consuming fire.

It is the fire like Isaiah, the fire, the cold that touches the lips. And if my first mark in Revelation could be titled the mark of the name, if my second mark last week could be called the mark of the intercessor, I call this the mark of anointing.

The Mark of Anointing for Gospel Ministry

You see, Isaiah could have said to God, I will go, I will speak for you, and he could have spoken in all his wisdom, all his revelation, all his own knowledge, but unless he had the anointing of God upon his lips, his speaking would have been of no avail.

Where are the men and women of God today who speak with anointed lips? Where are the men and women to God now pulpits who preach and teach with lips that have felt the touch of the burning coal? It is my sad conviction, I travel quite a bit, it is my sad conviction as I listen to so many people speaking, speaking from a heart that loves Jesus but with little evidence of anointing.

We are into a time in the church today where serendipity preaching is the satisfaction of most people in the pews. Don't preach and sin, it offends people. Don't talk about damnation, do not talk about hellfire because it offends people.

I am sorry brothers and sisters, the word of God calls me to preach on the word of God. And sometimes that is offensive to people. Praise God, I also believe in a righteousness that Christ imparts, and a glorious hope and inheritance that is ours in this life.

The message I have to proclaim is not a negative message, it is a glorious positive message, and I want to proclaim it with anointing. Because if I do not teach with anointing, you will leave here this morning and say, oh that was nice, that was good, but I have done nothing that will impact eternity.

Anne and I had the privilege some years ago of being in New Zealand, and it was a Saturday evening, we were driving along, we see a little sign on the side of the road that says, Elim Church meets here on Sunday morning.

Now Elim was the denomination that we belonged to when we lived in Wales. And so we thought it would be nice to go along to an Elim church Sunday morning in New Zealand. We found the church, it was in a school room.

And as we arrived, the 30 or so people that made up the congregation, including children, were moving away the desks and cleaning the blackboards and pulling out the chairs. The young man came up to us as we came in and he welcomed us, and he said, thank you, it is nice to see you here this morning, welcome to our church, where are you from?

We told him, and then he said, I am sorry the pass is away today, so you are going to have to put up with me preaching today. Well that did not bother me, I have worked a lot with young people, I have seen a lot of young people with a passion for Jesus, and I am just interested to hear this man.

He spoke from Philippians 1 .6, He who began a good work in you is able to bring it to completion. And he stood there and spoke to us. When he finished, after maybe 40 minutes, 35 minutes, I turned to Anne and I said, what do you think of that?

And she said to me, the most anointed preaching I have heard in 20 years. I hope she is wrong, because she has heard me preach a few times. But that was the comment, and my heart agreed with her, because this young man did not speak just to our heads.

His message was of such that it went through our heads into our spirits. And we went out of there having been fed in our spirits. We had been impacted with an eternal message. This man could not do this, but he had lips that had been touched by the colds from off the altar.

Elisha's Desire for a Double Anointing

I am reminded of the prophet Elisha. He followed the prophet Elijah for many years as his servant. And when Elijah was about to go, Elijah knew that God was calling him. So he crossed the Jordan and he said to young Elisha, you stay here.

And Elisha said, no, wherever you go, I am going to go. And that happened three times as Elijah was ready to go. And finally Elijah says to him, what is it you want? And the cry of the young man was, I want double your anointing.

I want a double anointing. Whatever God has done in you, I want God to do double in me. And the old man said, if you see me when I go, then God will give this to you. And we read the story how the chariot came down and Elijah was taken.

And the young man Elisha saw his master go up in the chariot. And as he watched, fluttering down towards him was the mantle of the old prophet, the garment, the robe. The young Elijah picks up the robe and he begins his journey back to where all the young prophets and the school of prophets were gathered.

And he comes again to the Jordan. He doesn't know how to get across the Jordan, but he remembered when he came across, Elijah hit the Jordan with his robe and the waters had parted. So the young priest, the young Elisha says, where is the God of Elijah?

And he smites the water and the waters part and he goes across. He is beginning to experience the anointing that he seeks. My cry today is not, where is the God of Elijah? I know where he is. He's seated high on a throne, high and lifted up.

I cry out, where are the Elijahs of God? Where are the Elijahs of God today who minister in anointing? This man with a linen cloth, he scatters the coals and he places them down upon, I believe, those people who have been marked with the anointing, with the call of intercession, and he gives them anointing.

I'm going to teach over the next few weeks a little bit more about anointing, about those people who minister not in their own strength, the strength of their academic abilities, the strength of their own knowledge, they may be very genuine, very sincere in whatever work they are doing for the Lord, and they try to do the best of their abilities, yet there is something missing, that anointing of God upon them.

I want to teach about that over the next coming weeks. Men and women have learned to operate in the dynamics of the Spirit of God instead of in their own wisdom, in their own strength. We have had the blessing of being in many places where we've seen God anoint people.

I look at this man, Isaiah. The coals are brought from the altar to touch his lips. Then he says, I will go for you, O Lord. And then God says, go and say. You're not to say in the wisdom of your own understanding, Isaiah, you're going to say because you've now been touched with the coals of the altar.

Stories of Anointing and Transformation

I remember Anne Jones. Anne walked out with the tide in our city when I was in university in Swansea. She wanted to commit suicide. And as some students did, she walked out of the tide to drown herself.

But on the beach there in Swansea, she saw a tract on the ground. She picked it up. One of those wonderful miracles that God spoke to her through this tract. The next day she's in our church in Swansea where I was a university student.

She gave her life to Christ. Anne Jones was one of those loners, a plain girl, struggling with friendships she didn't have many, struggling with her own identity. And she'd now come to Christ. It was a new experience.

She knew little about it. But a few weeks later, she said to our pastor, will you allow me to recite a poem in church on Sunday? I don't know if you've ever had people recite poems in church. It's not one of those normal things that happens.

But the pastor in wisdom said, yes, of course. It's a Sunday evening. Our church had morning and evening services. And she stood up on a Sunday evening. And she started to recite a poem without any notes.

And you could watch as people around the 200 or so in the congregation, their mouths started to go. As Anne Jones spoke with anointing. I like poetry. I can recite poetry. I've never been able to say poetry like Anne Jones.

Reminded of a Shakespearean actor who stood up in a garden party. True story. And he gave some quotations from Shakespeare. And the people at the garden party celebrated this. Thought it was wonderful.

And he ended by doing the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. A Shakespearean actor. When he finished, everybody just applauded. This was wonderful. And an old man got up and walked to the microphone and said, The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. Recited exactly the same poem. When he finished, there was not a hand clap. There was nobody applauding. But there were many people there with tears in their eyes. A Shakespearean actor went to him and said, I have spoken at many places and I can move people and they applaud, but I've never been able to move people like you did just now.

What's your secret? The old man said, well, he said, you know the Psalm. I know the shepherd. May I paraphrase that and say, you know the words. But this man knows the anointing. Anointing is that which a man or woman does in their own strength, with their own ability, but that God puts his sovereign touch upon and does something that impacts eternity.

That young man in New Zealand spoke to us words. You and I can say exactly the same words, but we may not have the same impact because he spoke words with anointing that reached beyond the mind, beyond the soul, into the spirit of the hearer.

I have the privilege in Victoria of having a number of young people, university students, who come to my home and I am allowed to mentor them and I have a great privilege. And my prayer, I'll tell you my private prayer, I ask God that he will make me a fire for eternity.

That's my prayer. What I mean by that expression, a fire for eternity, I want God to use me to light a fire, to fan the flame in some of these young people, a flame that would impact eternity. That's what anointing does.

I can't impact eternity with my words, with my scholarship, with my personality or anything else, but the spirit of God can take my personality, take my words, take all the giftings I have as I lay them at his feet and he can put his anointing upon them.

I told some of you the story of Yorrie Richards. Yorrie Richards was a man who could not speak properly, stammered very, very badly. Yorrie came to the Lord from a criminal background, a very close friend of mine.

I shouldn't have said that quite then because that implies it is my criminal background too. But Yorrie wanted to go back to his hometown to give his testament. We tried to dissuade him because in the natural law there was absolutely no way he could do so.

The first night was a disaster. I've told some of you the story, I know. But he went back the second week in great fear and he started to apologise for last week. He said, I so much want to tell you what Jesus did in my life because he stammered.

Then he began to speak and we listened in absolute amazement as he spoke for 20 minutes, 15 minutes to him with absolutely no stammer at all. Yorrie had never gone, could not even say a single sentence without a stammer.

Yorrie spoke for 15 minutes. Then he broke down and cried because he like we knew that God had anointed his lips. Yorrie Richards today is my age in Britain. He is one of the most anointed preachers you will ever hear.

You cannot listen to him without being thrilled of what God speaks to him. He's been offered pastorates in Toronto, in Canada and he's turned them down. He just lives humbly in Nottingham, England but a young man with anointing.

Anointing in Evangelism and Lay Ministry

I know Tony Lima who is now going to be the Lord at the age of 38. I watched this little Brazilian boy meet all the pastors of his city in Brazil and call them together and said it was on his heart to hold an evangelistic crusade.

We gathered together in Fort Elizabeth, Brazil. My wife and I were there and 300 or so pastors and missionary organizations came together under this young man, this young layman as he called them together.

A year later Ann and I went to Fort Elizabeth and my privilege was to oversee the young people planning this crusade. At the end of the crusade in a football stadium I asked our leader what was the number of inquirers cards that had been put in.

This was his reply. Gareth, we stopped counting at 45 ,000. A young man with God's anointing. I have been with young men who can go out and meet a complete stranger and in five minutes lead them to Christ.

Oh man, I wish I had that anointing on me. Anointing. Where are the anointed people of God today? Where are the people so hungry for God and so saddened by the situation in their city, in their church, in their country who are so hungry for God that like Isaiah they will cry out, Oh Lord send me and they were willing to bear the pain of burnt lips.

I long to be such a person. I pray that my time here in some way God will anoint my teaching among you and bring things for his glory. There is not just anointing upon preaching or teaching. There is anointing upon those who have a burden for youth work.

There is anointing upon those who have a burden for prayer. There is anointing upon those who have a burden for seniors. There is anointing upon those who have a burden for sick. The anointing of God is simply his sovereign touch upon the ministry a man or woman reaches out to.

But why should he put his anointing on those who are not functioning where he wants them to function. If God calls me to be a preacher and I think I'd rather be an evangelist. Why should God put his anointing on that?

God is looking for men and women who will say to him, Lord Jeremiah send me. I remember Harty Wallens came to the Lord. I can tell you so many stories. I will not do that. I'll just tell you maybe one or two more.

Harty Wallens and the Anointing of Prayer

Harty Wallens was in a street fight and he knocked a man down Harty was about 19 I guess at the time and blood gushed down the road from this man's head. He cracked his head. Harty ran home thinking he had killed this man.

That night there was a violent lightning storm. Harty lay in bed and his drunken father was downstairs. His mother had died years before. Harty is full of fear that he has committed a murder that the police will come for him.

Then this lightning storm and he had been to Sunday school once in his entire life. And that day in Sunday school he had heard that Jesus was coming again. So to add to his guilt about this fight, he suddenly got great fear that Jesus was about to come and he was guilty.

Next day he got up and he went down the road to the first church which happened to be our church. And in that Sunday morning service he gave his life to Christ. Harty was not an educated man. And so he started every day to look around for a church.

He came to our church the next day. Monday found the doors were closed. So he went up the street found another church he went in. There was a women's meeting there. So Harty sat at the back in a women's meeting.

Harty didn't know the practice of church that we only meet once a Sunday. We keep the building empty the rest of the week. So he was looking for places. Then he came to a prayer meeting. And I well remember the prayer meeting.

So Harty Wallens was present. In those days some people remember them. You know you'd have a prayer meeting and only about six people would turn up anyway. And who can blame the rest of them for not coming because they were so dry most of them.

I think sometimes even God himself didn't come to some of the prayer meetings I went to. And we excuse ourselves by saying where two or three are gathered together in my name. Oh come on. And some of us stand up and pray.

O thou that dwellest above the heavens we thank thee. The usual King James language that we have to have in prayer. And the rest of us would nod silently either in agreement or in sleep. Then it'd be a long pause and somebody else would pray.

I'm being a bit facetious of course. Then Harty Wallens would pray. And you could almost hear the rustle of God's garment as he rose. Oh Harty! Yes my son! Because when Harty Wallens prayed heaven opened.

Have you ever been in prayer meetings like that where some people seem to have that anointing that they get us right into the throne room of God? Harty Wallens never went to seminary. A very simple man.

But when Harty Wallens prays, believe me God listens. Denzel you've been a Christian as long as I have. Have you ever been in prayer meetings like that? Very seldom, but we have been haven't we? I've met men and women who it's an absolute thrill to be in their presence when they pray because they open heaven.

I've been in the presence of young people who when they reach out in evangelism I stand back in awe as I see people come to Christ. I've been in the presence of a young man in New Zealand. I've been in the presence of others who when they preach my heart is throbbing with excitement.

Major Alistair Smith and the Power of Anointed Preaching

My last story. I was doing my university degree exams which is a very busy week naturally. So I saw Anne as we were engaged we were caught in planning to meet her next week but she saw me during the week and said you must come on Thursday to hear this man.

The man was in the town preaching. His name was Major Alistair Smith. I'd never heard the name before. So on the Thursday I went to this church. A couple of hundred people listening to Major Alistair Smith.

Glanced at his watch. He had been preaching for one hour fifteen minutes. He glanced at his watch. Oh my goodness! He said is that the time? I'm so sorry. He said I didn't realise it was so late. He said look I'm sorry I'll have to finish right now.

And he sat back. The MC remained seated. He didn't get up. He didn't know what to do. There was silence among the two or three hundred people there. A man stood up. Finally he said Major Smith sir you can't leave us here.

You must go on sir. So Major Smith got back up and went to the pulpit again. He said I need about twenty more minutes to finish what I want to say. He said I know many of you have to catch buses to go home.

But I want you to know he said if you need to leave that's alright. You will not disturb me. Please feel free to leave. Now in Swansea in Wales at that time often times the last bus would be half past nine at night.

And he knew people needed to catch that last bus home. He went on for another twenty minutes or more. Not one single person left that church. Many many people knew they were missing their bus to go home.

They were prepared to walk seven or eight miles home. They were hoping to get a lift. But nobody left that church. We did not sit in comfortable seats like this. We sat in a hard wooden pew. What was Major Smith's secret?

Was it that he had a spellbound? No it was not at all. The secret was that he was preaching with the anointing of God. When you hear the anointing of God brothers and sisters believe me there is no sweeter place to be than in the presence of the Lord.

A Church Marked by God's Anointing

And my prayer for this church as you are seeking a new pastor is that you will find a man who operates in the anointing of God. And that he will find a people who also operate in the anointing of God in the ministries of this church.

For as God brings judgment upon Canada and I believe Canada surely is not a place where there will be judgment. As God brings judgment upon North America he is looking for men and women that he can mark with his name.

That he can mark as intercessors. That he can mark with burnt lips. The fire of the altar. I pray that I might be such through the rest of my days. I pray that you might be a church that experiences that here.

May God send such anointing upon us. For the glory of his name. Amen.

Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit go with us now and until Jesus comes. Amen.