WEBVTT 00:00.800 --> 00:06.700 Peace be to you and Grace from Him, who freed us from our sins, who 00:06.700 --> 00:10.800 loved us all and shed his blood, that we might saved 00:10.800 --> 00:13.400 be our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13.700 --> 00:14.300 Amen. 00:20.800 --> 00:25.600 Ezekiel was ministering to a people whose nation and culture were 00:25.600 --> 00:27.400 simply falling apart. 00:28.100 --> 00:33.100 The Babylonians had already taken away a first group of exiles, and 00:33.100 --> 00:37.000 these people were far gone. Those who remained wandered among 00:37.000 --> 00:42.100 themselves were these who are exiled really Servants of God? 00:43.600 --> 00:45.600 Is God really caring for them 00:45.600 --> 00:50.300 or have they left the Lord? And they took a false sense of security of 00:50.300 --> 00:57.000 being in Jerusalem, even though it was plundered and being taken over by 00:57.000 --> 00:58.300 the Babylonians. 00:59.600 --> 01:02.600 And so Ezekiel is given an oracle from God in 01:02.700 --> 01:06.700 the versus preceding our text. He tells them they're not going to be 01:06.700 --> 01:09.100 safe within the city itself. 01:09.500 --> 01:13.400 He says you have feared the Sword and I will bring the sword upon you 01:13.900 --> 01:17.900 and I will bring you out of the midst of it and give you into the 01:17.900 --> 01:24.400 hands of foreigners and execute judgments upon you. You shall fall by 01:24.400 --> 01:25.300 the sword. 01:26.300 --> 01:32.300 I will judge you at the border of Israel and you shall know that I am 01:32.300 --> 01:34.100 the Lord, your God. 01:36.000 --> 01:40.000 What was the sin to cause such a great catastrophe? 01:41.500 --> 01:47.700 They had not walked in the Lord's statutes nor obeyed his laws but 01:47.700 --> 01:52.100 they acted in accordance with the customs and practices of the Pagan 01:52.100 --> 01:53.700 Nations around them. 01:55.200 --> 02:00.200 When one of the remaining leaders dies while Ezekiel is prophesying, 02:00.900 --> 02:06.200 the prophet falls face down on the ground with a loud lament. Ah Lord 02:06.200 --> 02:11.600 God will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel? 02:13.900 --> 02:17.400 His despair is real and so is his fear. 02:18.600 --> 02:21.900 And the Lord gives to him a new oracle. 02:22.400 --> 02:27.800 The text we have before us this morning. The Lord had not abandoned 02:27.800 --> 02:34.500 them whether they were at Exile or still in Jerusalem, he remained a 02:34.500 --> 02:36.800 sanctuary for them. 02:38.500 --> 02:43.300 In essence, his presence was not limited to the sacked, and plundered 02:43.300 --> 02:45.400 temple, they had in the city. 02:46.800 --> 02:52.800 But the Lord was with those who were nearby and far away, all who 02:52.800 --> 02:57.400 called upon his name. Indeed in the New Testament 02:57.400 --> 02:59.800 Jesus carries this even further. 03:00.300 --> 03:04.300 He says, wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am, in 03:04.300 --> 03:07.900 the midst of them, there is the church. 03:08.900 --> 03:14.700 God had not forsaken his people but as he promised to Ezekiel 03:14.700 --> 03:21.400 He says to us in our day. I will gather you from the peoples and 03:21.400 --> 03:25.500 assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered. 03:26.700 --> 03:33.100 Indeed, the Exiles from Jerusalem would be returned in part about 70 03:33.100 --> 03:34.300 years later. 03:35.200 --> 03:39.700 It was a time of cleansing for the nation and for the land of Judah 03:39.700 --> 03:44.000 and Israel, which have been corrupted by their transgressions. 03:45.000 --> 03:51.200 And above all, there would be a resurrection for the death of Exile. 03:52.000 --> 03:57.600 God was going to do a miracle and bring new life to his people. 03:58.500 --> 04:03.200 He says and I will give them one heart and a new spirit 04:03.200 --> 04:04.900 I will put within them. 04:05.300 --> 04:10.100 I will remove the heart of stone from the flesh and give them a heart 04:10.100 --> 04:14.700 of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules 04:15.000 --> 04:16.100 and obey them. 04:17.200 --> 04:22.300 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 04:24.400 --> 04:32.000 This is the gospel for Ezekiel in its full sweetness. For God, is doing 04:32.000 --> 04:33.000 a new thing 04:33.000 --> 04:37.500 among the people though it terry, it will not be delayed. 04:38.100 --> 04:41.200 It will come to pass. For 04:41.200 --> 04:47.000 you see God, He continues to work among sinners, even sinners 04:47.000 --> 04:50.600 as vile as the people of Judah, in their wickedness. 04:52.500 --> 04:54.000 He will be among them. 04:55.300 --> 04:57.500 He will bring back a remnant. 04:58.500 --> 05:02.900 For it is the Lord who kills and makes alive. 05:03.900 --> 05:07.600 He does heart surgery on everyone, he brings to Faith. 05:08.100 --> 05:14.900 He removes the stony heart hearts of humanity and he replaces it with 05:14.900 --> 05:18.400 the living beating fleshly one. 05:20.000 --> 05:25.100 It is the Lord who causes you to be born from above into a new hope 05:25.100 --> 05:29.600 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And into an 05:29.600 --> 05:31.900 inheritance reserved in heaven 05:31.900 --> 05:37.900 for you who now by God's power are protected for a Salvation, ready to 05:37.900 --> 05:40.600 be revealed in the last day. 05:43.000 --> 05:49.600 The Lord creates Faith where and when He wills in those who hear the 05:49.600 --> 05:50.400 gospel. 05:51.600 --> 05:57.600 And thus, it is a triune God, the giver of life in Eden. The giver 05:57.600 --> 05:59.800 of new life in Jesus Christ 06:00.100 --> 06:05.200 by the power of the Holy Spirit. And he would begin this work 06:05.400 --> 06:09.800 even among the Exiles from Babylon into Babylon, he would bring them 06:09.800 --> 06:11.200 home to Jerusalem, 06:12.000 --> 06:13.300 to the holy city. 06:14.500 --> 06:17.000 To await the coming of the Savior. 06:18.700 --> 06:19.900 Well, what about us? 06:20.900 --> 06:23.900 What can we take away from this text? 06:24.700 --> 06:27.200 We live in a time of confusion as well. 06:28.100 --> 06:33.200 It seems that the enemies of the Triune God are on the ascendancy and 06:33.200 --> 06:39.900 gaining power and attempting to put restrictions upon Christians and 06:39.900 --> 06:42.700 the Church here in the United States. 06:43.800 --> 06:46.300 We don't know what the days ahead will be like. 06:47.900 --> 06:53.000 As a student, you might be wondering, what will the world be like to, 06:53.000 --> 06:57.200 which I am called to be a pastor as early as next spring for some of 06:57.200 --> 07:00.000 you three years hence for others. 07:01.700 --> 07:03.600 What kind of world will we have? 07:04.400 --> 07:07.300 Will we be able to call upon the name of the Lord and gather 07:07.300 --> 07:10.400 together in his name freely and without restriction? 07:12.200 --> 07:15.600 What will the world be like for your children 07:16.800 --> 07:18.800 and eventually your grandchildren? 07:20.400 --> 07:23.600 Will you be ministering in days, like Ezekiel? 07:24.600 --> 07:28.800 When the collapse is going on all around you. Or you may be 07:28.800 --> 07:32.900 ministering an entirely different unforeseen eventuality. 07:34.400 --> 07:41.000 God knows and even now he who has begun a good work within you of 07:41.000 --> 07:46.700 giving you a new heart and a new spirit will bring that to completion 07:46.700 --> 07:48.400 of the day of Christ Jesus. 07:49.200 --> 07:51.400 Whatever God calls you to do. 07:51.900 --> 07:57.900 He will equip you and guide you and gift you to be a faithful servant 07:58.400 --> 08:03.600 to your people at the place and time where he calls you to minister. 08:05.200 --> 08:08.700 There's also another takeaway from our text and indeed, as we come to 08:08.700 --> 08:14.300 the end of the Christian church year, there will be a day of reckoning 08:14.300 --> 08:15.100 ahead. 08:16.900 --> 08:20.300 People do not want to believe that in our world today. They do not 08:20.300 --> 08:25.500 want to told me told they are accountable. We can deny it all we want 08:26.200 --> 08:31.900 but it won't change what the Lord has declared. There will be Judgment 08:31.900 --> 08:34.299 of creation on the last day. 08:35.400 --> 08:39.799 But it may also break into our time and in our history and to our 08:39.799 --> 08:47.300 nation, as it did, for the people of Judah, in the 586, BC. It may be 08:47.300 --> 08:48.700 coming to our nation 08:49.800 --> 08:51.600 in the not too distant future. 08:53.000 --> 08:59.800 Judgment will be announced who has to fear the Judgment Ezekiel tells. 09:00.800 --> 09:04.400 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and 09:04.400 --> 09:09.100 their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, 09:09.700 --> 09:12.100 declares the Lord, our God. 09:14.200 --> 09:21.300 For you who are baptized into Christ who call upon his name, take 09:21.300 --> 09:27.200 heart for, you have died, and your true life is now hidden with God in 09:27.200 --> 09:28.000 Christ. 09:28.800 --> 09:33.600 You have passed from judgment into life. And Christ 09:33.600 --> 09:39.300 the King is going to return, he will bring with him, his church, the 09:39.300 --> 09:43.500 Saints, his people, you and me, and all 09:43.700 --> 09:48.700 all believers in Christ. He will bring us not to the Earthly Jerusalem 09:48.700 --> 09:51.300 and the Earthly Kingdom of be, now. 09:51.300 --> 09:57.700 But to a new Heaven and a new Earth, the New Jerusalem coming 09:57.700 --> 10:00.300 down out of Heaven, from God. 10:01.700 --> 10:05.200 And there together with us, will it 10:05.200 --> 10:10.400 be people who came out of the Exile in Babylon. Believers of all times 10:10.400 --> 10:11.700 and of all places. 10:13.000 --> 10:15.700 And we will have one heart among us. 10:16.900 --> 10:18.600 God will be our God 10:19.600 --> 10:25.900 and we are his people. By his grace and his mercy. 10:27.400 --> 10:27.800 Amen. 10:31.300 --> 10:32.300 We sing the hymn.