FBC Morning Light (8/24/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith.

This weekend we're looking at Ezekiel chapters 20

through 23.

And so this entire passage talks about the

Lord and how he brought Israel out from

bondage in Egypt and brought them to the promised land and yet

they persistently rebelled.

First the northern tribe rebelled and then the southern tribe rebelled

and how they longed to follow after the gods

of the Assyrians for the northern tribe and how they longed to follow after the

gods of the Babylonians for the southern tribe of Judah and how they were

both judged by the Lord raising up those

nations to overtake them.

And in the midst of all of this, there's a promise that the Lord makes.

And starting in verse 33 of chapter 20, the Lord says,.

As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, with an

outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you.

I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the

countries where you are scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured

out.

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples.

And there I will plead my case with you face to face, just as I pleaded my case with your fathers in

the wilderness.

So I will plead my case with you, says the Lord God.

I will make you pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

I will purge the rebels from among you and those who transgress against

me.

I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel.

Then you will know that I am the Lord.

So the Lord is here talking about what, first of all, he will do.

This isn't about a people on their own becoming faithful to the

Lord.

This is the Lord working in them, changing them from the inside out, using the

trials and the tribulations of being in the wilderness to refine them, to

make them his people.

And down in verse 43 of chapter 20, it says,.

And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled,

talking about all the different ways in which they had gone after the gods of

other countries in idolatrous worship.

And it says, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight

because of all the evils that you have committed.

I heard a fairly well -known preacher the other day say

that this experience is an experience that all

true believers have.

Now, this is his words in that regard, but he would say

that all true believers experience this aspect,

that there are things in their life that they look back upon, that they

loathe about themselves.

And they can be somewhat minor things.

I think of myself as a very young child.

I grew up in a situation where I was the youngest of eight kids, and then my mother remarried, and I

was the youngest of all the step -siblings as well.

And so it was pretty good entertainment for them to get me to

do some really not -so -smart things.

When I was about five or six years old, there was a store that had

opened in a mall near where we lived, and they gave out free samples of

sunflower seeds.

And I really liked the salted sunflower seeds as a small child.

And I remember we went back there, and they told me that the sunflower

seeds were always free samples.

And so I would sneak back into the aisle where the sunflower seeds were, and I

would just open up the bucket of sunflower seeds and start scooping them into my mouth using the

spoon that was there for other people to put into bags and stuff.

And I guess looking at it as just a little kid, it was kind of

a funny thing.

But realizing now all the I mean, just kind of getting my saliva

all over everybody's sunflower seeds that went to that store, it's kind of disgusting.

And in that part of me, I look back on it and go, I was just

yes, I was deceived, but yes, I wanted those sunflower seeds.

I really enjoyed the taste of them, and I didn't really care if it was wrong, right?

Now, that completely pales in comparison to the evil

that was talked about with the nation of Israel here.

And it made me think of Zechariah 12, a very famous verse, when it

talks about that they shall look upon me whom

they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as

one mourns for his only son.

Oh, there will come a time.

There will come a time when this verse is reality.

And for you and I, as we look back at our former selves,

it is a natural response now, being a new creation, to look back

and see what we once were, the selfishness with which we lived, the

idols that we used to worship, and to say, it was my sin that

caused the Son of Glory to be pierced on

my behalf.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for what you gave to us in the gift of your

Son, who came forth and willingly paid our penalty on the cross.

May we loathe our former selves and long to

worship you in every aspect of our life, with our words, our

thoughts, and our actions.

It's in your Son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.