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A brief bit of encouragement for the journey from God’s Word. Today’s Scripture reading: Ezekiel 35-37
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Music: “Awaken the Dawn” by Stanton Lanier https://www.stantonlanier.com CCLI #1760549
Well a good Friday morning to you.
We are wrapping up the first week of September and looking forward to the weekend as we gather
with God's people on Sunday.
Hope you're gonna get to church Sunday and learn something from His Word.
Our Sunday school time, Sunday morning at 930, I'm going through a series in the Upper Room and then we also have
another adult class for young adults and they're focusing
on the times in which we live and that we are here for such a
time as this and helping our young couples, young adults to have a
Christian worldview and helping them as parents and so forth to approach their
parenting with that kind of a view.
So we're doing that Sunday morning and Sunday night we're looking at a video series called
Christ Our Treasure and it's been a very helpful and challenging series.
Anyway, gather together with God's people Sunday, it'll be a blessing to you.
Well today in our Bible reading we're in Ezekiel again, chapters 35 to 37.
Chapter 37 of course is that wonderful account of the vision of the dry
bones, the Valley of Dry Bones, and I commend that to you if you haven't read it yet.
But I want to focus on chapter 36, in chapter 36, where the Lord
is promising to restore His people and to bring new life to
His people.
Chapter 37 is going to be a vision of His doing that, but chapter 36, He explains
why He's going to do that, and it's not for the sake of
the people.
He says this in verse 32 of chapter 36, He says, this is
not for your sake that I do this.
Well what is He going to do?
What's He going to do?
Well, He's going to, He's going to act because He's concerned about, God is
concerned about, if you will, the way His name has been profaned by those who profess to be His
people.
He says in verse 21, I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever
they went.
Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your
sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake which you have profaned among the
nations wherever you went.
He says, the Lord says, I will sanctify my great name, and the nation shall know that I am
the Lord, in verse 23.
And that idea of the nations knowing that He is the Lord is repeated a couple of
different times in this particular passage.
So down in verse 36, He says, the nations shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places,
planted what was desolate.
I have spoken it, and I will do it.
And then He says the same thing regarding His people in verse 38.
He says, like a flock offered His holy sacrifices, like the flock of Jerusalem on its feast days,
so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men.
Then shall they know that I am the Lord.
And I don't want us to miss the message here, because we see a repetition of the idea in
the book, in the New Testament, in the book of Ephesians chapter 1.
And that is this, the Lord, well, and back in Ezekiel 36,
listen to what the Lord says He's going to do for His people.
He says, I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all the countries, bring you into your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all of your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the heart of stone out of you, out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do
them.
Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers.
You shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Now when you read that in light of being a New Testament believer, you find a
whole bunch of parallels, don't you?
A whole bunch of parallels.
A new heart, new spirit, a heart of flesh, the Holy Spirit dwelling within you,
the Spirit of God guiding you into the statutes and judgments of the Lord to do
them, the Lord's promise that we will be His people, He shall be our God.
Yes, there's all kinds of New Testament parallels.
Well here's another one.
Just as God did not do all of that, did not promise all of that
simply or merely for the sake of the people, but for His name's
sake, God didn't save you primarily
for your benefit, for your sake.
I said primarily.
Oh yes, you definitely benefit from being saved, absolutely you do, but that's not the
primary thing.
The primary thing is quite different, and it's expressed for us in Ephesians chapter 1, and it parallels
perfectly with what God said regarding Israel in Ezekiel chapter 36.
What do we read in Ephesians 1?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Well it's all about us then, isn't it?
Oh, is it?
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
Sounds like it sounds like this is all about us, this is all for us, it's all for us, right?
No, no.
Because the next verse says, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
which He had, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
And then later on in verse 11, it says, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance.
We've obtained an inheritance, like the Lord promised the land.
Okay, we've obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all
things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be able to
boast and say, look, this is all about us, look at what, look at who we are, aren't we so great, aren't we, isn't
our name so wonderful?
No, absolutely not.
That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His
glory, of His glory.
God has graciously saved you for His great name's
sake.
Yes, you are absolutely the beneficiary of that grace, and it is wonderful, it is amazing,
it is bountiful, it is abundant.
But it's not all about you, it's about Him.
He has done this for His great name's sake.
So you be sure, whenever you speak of your testimony of salvation,
you be sure to emphasize the fact that this isn't about me, this
isn't what I have done, this isn't who I am, this is about God and what He and
His grace has done in me and to my benefit, to the
praise of His glory, the praise of the glory of His grace.
Our Father and our God, I pray, help us to be, help us to be so humble
and grateful that we would never, never, ever
take upon ourselves any sense of pride for what you have done in saving us, but always be careful
to praise and glorify your great name, for this, this is the end to which you've saved
us.
We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.
All right, well again, have a wonderful weekend, I trust the Lord will bless you in it as you glorify Him
in your worship together on the Lord's Day, and serve Him through the weekend.
God bless.