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 The sins of Ezekiel’s day sound very much like the sins of today.
Ezek. 22:9 There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst.
Ezek. 22:10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity.
Ezek. 22:11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.
Ezek. 22:12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
I believe the book of Ezekiel has several points for us as ministers of the Gospel.
Ezek. 2:5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.
It is important that we recognize our role. Whether people hear or refuse to hear is not within our power. We are only called to preach the Word of God.
Ezek. 3:15b …And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
Ezek. 3:16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me.
We need to realize that God’s timing is not our timing. God had called Ezekiel to be His prophet, yet Ezekiel “sat there overwhelmed” for seven days. Then the word of the Lord “came” to him. God did not give him the words to say until he was ready for it. Quite often in our zeal we are in a hurry to address things when we are not prepared. We need to be careful not to speak our own words, but to only speak what the Spirit tells us.
Ezek. 3:18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezek. 3:19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
We must preach the whole Word of God. If we do not, the blood of those whom we have not warned will be on our hands. Quite often we hear of “prosperity gospel” preachers who refuse to preach on sin. Not only are we condemning those people to Hell, we will be held accountable for it.
I pray that as we minister and prepare for full time ministry we will keep these precepts in mind.
I love the book of Jeremiah. Along with my life verses (Jeremiah 29:11-14a) there are many nuggets of truth.
Right from the beginning we see God making a case for the personhood of the unborn.
Jer. 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
We also see God complaining about the people’s apostasy and disbelief
Jer. 2:19 Your evil will chastise you,
and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake the LORD your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jer. 5:22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.
Do you not tremble before me?
I believe that this is much of today’s problem. “the fear of [God] is not in you.” How many people today say they believe in God when truly they do not? If you were brought before a ruler, a king, or a dictator, would you not be trembling for fear of your life? How many of us come before the Lord on Sunday mornings in our sin, with no fear whatsoever? You stand in judgement of the creator God of the entire universe, saying you believe but have no fear? I suspect disbelief.
For those that believe God has changed, He hasn’t. He still desires the same thing from us, as found in Jer. 29:11-14a
Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jer. 29:12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
Jer. 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jer. 29:14a I will be found by you, declares the LORD
Now many today believe that His grace means that sin should have no consequences. In Jeremiah 30:11 we see that this is not true.
Jer. 30:11 For I am with you to save you,
declares the LORD;
I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Hebrews 12:5-6 reiterates this for New Testament followers of Christ.
Heb. 12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
Heb. 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
I thank God for His mercy and salvation. As hard as it is sometimes, I thank Him for His discipline, because through it, we can “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [we] have been called.(Eph. 4:1)”
Friends, please beware of those espousing “a new kind of Christianity.”
As Samuel said in Ecclesiastes 1:9
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
We’ve heard these heresies before. They were wrong then, they are wrong now.
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
~ Matthew 7:15
For more information on what I’m referring to, read this:
http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/a-new-kind-of-christianity.php
or here:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2010/02/17/christianity-and-mclarenism-1/
In Christ,
Sean
Liberal Christianity… coming to a Southern Baptist Church near you…
via Vanishing Christianity — A Lesson from the Presbyterians.
 I was working with the youth and other members of a church in an old house. It was in pretty bad shape and I noticed a large crack in the ceiling.
The minister, was taking a break and I started a conversation with him. I said that I had been troubled lately, that the church seemed to be taking a sharp “left turn.” He was taken aback, but said, “Well that’s a part of our 5 year plan. They should have gone over that with you in the new member orientation class.” I said, “I must have missed that class.”
Then I looked up again at the crack and it had grown. The house appeared to be splitting. I felt a sense of anguish, knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop the divide. As I looked around, many people had left and only a remnant still worked on the house. I looked out a window and saw a man and his children in a BMW leaving. They all looked back in at me with a hateful look as if I had ruined their party…
Then, I awoke.
Prov. 30:7-9
“Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
How many of us are willing to pray this prayer as Agur, son of Jakeh prayed? Aren’t we much more likely to pray, “Father, please bless me and my family financially, so that I may ‘do your work’ or so that I may retire without worry.” ?
Continue reading Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches
Trevin Wax has started his second annual book giveaway. This year, he’s giving away a copy of his ten favorite books, plus an ESV Study Bible and his new book, Holy Subversion. All you have to do is subscribe to his Kingdom People Blog and send him an email letting him know you did so.
Good luck!
Trevin’s Top 10 Books of 2009
#1. SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1859-2009 – Greg Wills
#2. UNFASHIONABLE – Tullian Tchividjian
#3. DEEP CHURCH – Jim Belcher
#4. THE CASE FOR LIFE – Scott Klusendorf
#5. THE GOD WHO SMOKES – Timothy Stoner
#6. ADOPTED FOR LIFE -Russell Moore
#7. MANHUNT – James Swanson
#8. COUNTERFEIT GODS – Tim Keller
#9. WHY WE LOVE THE CHURCH – Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
#10. THE GOD I DON’T UNDERSTAND – Christopher Wright
Friday, November 20, 2009, over 150 orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders signed the Manhattan Declaration. An excerpt from it reads:
- “We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right – and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.”
- “We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral.”
- “. . . We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”
The three primary points of the declaration:
- the sanctity of human life
- the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
- the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Please consider clicking the link below and signing your commitment to these ideals. Please be aware that it commits signatories to civil disobedience under certain conditions.
“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”
Continue reading Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
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