Preached September 27, 2009
from
Ezekiel 14:1-11
Theme: Professing Christians who have hidden sin in their hearts estrange themselves from God..
I ask you to turn in your Bible this morning to the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. While some people may feel that some portions of the Old Testament prophets are difficult to understand, I don’t believe they could say that about what we find in the first eleven verses of chapter 14. It’s a passage that’s stunningly clear.
As you turn there, let me tell you a little about Ezekiel himself. He was a priest of the people of Israel. And it happened that he served as a priest during the time of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. In the fifth year of their captivity—in Ezekiel’s thirtieth year—the word of the Lord began to come to him; and he began to receive messages that he was to then pass on to his fellow exiles.
Whenever I read the book of Ezekiel, I’m always moved by the things God called him to tell his people—and the very hard ways that He called him to do so. Sometimes, God didn’t just call him to speak a message; but to also ‘act it out’ in front of them. Often, God made Ezekiel a ‘living illustration’ of his own prophetic messages. Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry was a very difficult one—with a very difficult word for God’s people during a very difficult time.
This morning’s passage describes a difficult message that God gave to the elders of Israel through His prophet Ezekiel. When I read it recently, I was deeply affected by it; and I have felt very sure that it’s a message God is calling me to share with you this morning.
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The first thing I ask you to notice about this difficult message from Ezekiel is . . .
1. THE CIRCUMSTANCE (v. 1-3).
Ezekiel was among his captive people—far away from his homeland, in the land of the Chaldeans. It’s hard to imagine what that must have been like for him. He was a priest; and it was his birthright—as a descendant of Aaron, and as a son of the tribe of Levi—to serve the people of God in God’s holy temple. But because of the rebelliousness and sinful idolatry of the people he was called to serve, he—along with them—was thrust out of his homeland. And so, there he sat in exile, along with his captive kinsmen.
My heart always goes out to Ezekiel. I believe he knew the promises of God—that this time of captivity was only temporary; and that, after seventy-years, his people would be restored to their homeland. But he also must have known that this promised return would not happen in his lifetime. He must have known that he would have to spend the rest of his natural life in exile with a sinful and rebellious people. Ezekiel’s life is a tragic reminder that the sin of rebellion against God is never ‘harmless’. It brings its devastating effects on innocent people. That’s one reason why God hates it so!
With that in mind, look at how this passage begins. Ezekiel writes;
Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me (v. 1).
Apparently, in the course of time—sometime during his ministry, when it was clearly evident that he was a prophet of God—it happened that some of the leaders of the people of Israel came to him. Some commentators say that these leaders were a part of the community of Israel then living in Babylon. Others suggest that they constituted a delegation of leaders who had been part of the remnant behind in Jerusalem. But in any case, they were elders—older, respected rulers—of the people; and they came with the specific purpose of sitting before Ezekiel and inquiring from him of the Lord.
What an encouragement that must have been to Ezekiel—at least initially! Perhaps he thought that some of the prophetic messages he had been preaching to them had finally gotten through! Perhaps their hearts were, at long last, becoming broken by it all! Perhaps they were beginning to see how rebellious they had been, and were wanting to know what God wanted them to do! I can tell you personally, as a preacher myself, that it’s always a thrill to see people coming to hear a word from God. And it’s especially exciting when some of those who come are people who had, previously, been going down the wrong path.
But sometimes, what the preacher sees isn’t what really is. And what a heartbreak the next words from God must have been to poor Ezekiel! He writes;
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?” (vv. 2-3).
They came with an outward show of wanting to hear a word from God. But in reality, their act of coming was not pure and sincere. They may have recognized how dire their circumstances were. They may have wanted to hear what God had to say about their future. But they also intended, deep in their hearts, to hold on to the very sins that had made such a word from God necessary in the first place.
What a sad, sad revelation from God this must have been to the prophet!
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As I read this passage earlier this week, it deeply affected me. First, it reminded me that the God before whom we come to worship—and perhaps even come outwardly before Him in order to seek guidance for life—is a God who thoroughly knows our hearts. And sometimes, what’s truly in our hearts is not what we display outwardly in our act of coming to Him.
Now; these were elders of Israel—leaders of the people. And I believe that Ezekiel would have been filled with hope when he first saw them coming to him. But God, who sees the hearts of all men, knew that they had come to His prophet with hidden sin. They had kept hold of the idols and false gods of the people around them for which God had sent them into exile in the first place—even setting-up those idols in their hearts as objects of worship. And what’s more, they had even deliberately placed before themselves wicked things—abominations in the sight of God—that caused them to stumble into iniquity. It may be that they had come to God in an outward manner; but inwardly, they hadn’t really turned from their sins at all.
We sometimes call these things “hidden sins”. But we call them that simply because they can be hidden from the sight of men. They aren’t hidden from the sight of God at all. As the Bible tells us, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
And the second thing these opening words tell us is that when we come to inquire of God with a divided heart like that, He will not answer us as we might hope. “Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?”, God asks. He is a holy God; and He is greatly displeased when people come to Him with such a pretense of outward openness toward Him, but who are inwardly harboring sin against Him. As He says in Isaiah 59:1-2; “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
And as I read these words earlier this week, the horrible thought came to me of how many professing Christians there may be who come to a church on Sunday morning; but with whom God is greatly displeased because they dared to come into His house to worship Him and pray to Him with the kind of divided heart that these elders possessed!
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Now; I suspect that the elders of Israel who had come to God’s prophet with these things in their hearts had fully expected to receive a message from God simply because they came. After all, the chapter just prior to this one—chapter 13—details the ways that the false prophets where deceiving the people. These false prophets where lying to the people about their condition before God. They were ‘seeing’ false visions for them; and were telling the people that they would return to their homeland soon; and were saying that “peace” was in store for them. And perhaps these elders were expecting to hear the same sort of thing through Ezekiel. Perhaps they were hoping that God would simply add His word to the words that they had already heard from the false prophets.
And, as a matter of fact, God does give them an answer to their inquiry. But it’s not the message they were expecting. Let’s go on, then, to look at . . .
2. THE ANSWER (vv. 4-8).
God tells Ezekiel,
“Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols'” (vv. 4-5).
Note first of all who this answer relates to. God speaks this answer with respect to “everyone of the house of Israel”. It doesn’t matter that they were from among His chosen people. It doesn’t matter that they were among those with whom He had entered into a covenant. No people on this earth were more privileged than the people of Israel; and yet, God speaks these hard words to “everyone” from among them. You and I should never think we are exempt from such an answer from God simply because we profess Jesus as our Savior, or attend a church, or grew up in a Christian home.
And second, note the principle that God is stating in these words. It has to do with the way by which He may choose to operate toward those who come to Him. Sometimes, when religiously privileged people come to inquire of Him—while still holding on to sin in their hearts the whole time long—God doesn’t speak to them at all. They get the silent-treatment from a holy God. “If I regard iniquity in my heart,” the Bible tells us, “The Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). But sometimes He does answer. And when He does, it’s not about whatever it is they may wish to hear from Him. Rather, it’s according to the sin that separates them from Him. He’s not interested in talking to them about the thing that concerns them, but rather about the sin in them that offends Him.
The elders had some things they wanted to hear from Him. But think about what it was He wanted to talk to them about. For one thing, they had set up their idols in their hearts. I believe we can take this literally—that they truly fell in love with the false gods of the nations around them; and that they actually wanted to make offerings to them. But I believe we can also take it figuratively: that they didn’t believe the one true God was enough for them; that they had placed their trust in other things than in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and that they had sought their ultimate happiness in something other than in the one true God who alone could meet all their needs. Anything that we depend on apart from God, or in violation of His word, is an idol. Any time we say, “God cannot or will not meet this need in my life. I must trust in this other thing, or person, or philosophy, or situation instead;” then we’ve just set up an idol in place of the one true God. And when we come to Him having done that, He wants to have a talk with us about it!
They had also put before themselves that which caused them to stumble into iniquity. Our Lord Jesus has told us, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30). God’s people are to shun—with the utmost sense of horror—those things which cause them to sin! But that’s not what these elders were doing. In fact, they were deliberately setting before themselves the things that led them into iniquity! And if we are doing that, and dare to come to talk to God, we’re going to find that God is going to talk to us about that first!
Third, notice the condition that these things put the people into with respect to God; it “estranged” them from Him. That word comes from the idea of making one’s self a “stranger” to God; and God tells the sinful people of Israel that they are “estranged” from Him by their idols. They may have wanted God to go along them and stay with them while they embraced the things that offend Him; but He will never do that! He is a holy God, and cannot look upon sin. If we embrace sin, we choose to be estranged from Him.
But finally, notice why God answers the people according to their sins. He says that it’s “that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart”. “These people draw near to Me with their mouth,” God says, “and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8; see also Isaiah 29:13). And God is not satisfied with merely an outward expression from us. He wants our hearts! If we embrace sin, He does not have our hearts. And that’s why He answers us according to our sins when we come to Him.
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And as a part of God’s answer to them through Ezekiel, He also tells them what they are to do. He goes on and says;
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations”‘” (v. 6).
He says three things. First, they are to “repent”. That’s a word in the original language that means “to return” or “to turn back”. God wanted them to know that, if they felt distance from Him, it was they who had estranged themselves from Him by the sinful things they chose to embrace; and He calls to them to “return” and to “turn back” to Him.
Second, He tells them to “turn away from your idols”. That would be as if He were telling them that in turning back to Him, they must—at the same time—’turn away from’ and ‘renounce’ the things that they had been trusting and loving instead of Him. “Renounce your false trusts!” He would be telling them. “Place your trust back in Me! Bow to Me alone! Obey My word! Restore Me to My rightful place in your heart and life.”
And finally, He tells them to “turn your faces away from all your abominations”. When you have your face “to” something, you’re giving your attention to it, and allowing your senses to take it all in. And He’s saying, “Stop looking at sin and gazing at it; and stop smelling it with pleasure, and tasting it, and listening to it, and watching it, and reading it! Stop giving your senses over to that which is an abomination to Me! Stop this business of yours of willingly taking-in sinful data into your mind and thoughts and affections! Stop taking pleasure in that which offends Me! Stop being entertained by that which opposes Me! Stop taking delight in that which separates you from Me!”
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And in giving this answer to the elders of Israel, God also issued a warning. It’s not just a warning for the elders, and it’s not just a warning for the people of Israel. It’s also a warning that applies to “the stranger who dwells” among them—those who attach themselves to the God of Israel. That, of course, would include you and me. God says;
“‘For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the LORD will answer him by Myself'” (v. 7).
That is to say, He won’t simply answer through an intermediary, but will answer them directly. And His answer will be one of action! He says,
“‘I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD'” (v. 8).
God deals with sin seriously when its in the hearts of His people! His own name is upon them; and He will defend His name! They will know what the Bible means when it says that “the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).
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Now; I suspect that the elders of Israel were stunned by this answer, don’t you? These men—with hidden sin in their hearts—were wanting to sit before Ezekiel and inquire about something from God that would have flattered and encouraged them. They probably even thought they might even get a few ‘religious points’ just for the fact that they came to the prophet of God and asked anything at all. They certainly had no idea that this was the answer they were going to get from Him!
And based on what God says next, I believe they were tempted to go elsewhere and “prophet-serf”. After all, there were lots of other prophets; and perhaps these elders thought that those other prophets had a right to be consulted too. “That’s your narrow opinion, Ezekiel,” they might have said. “But there are other prophets who aren’t as intolerant as you are. There are other prophets who aren’t so harsh and judgmental. There are other prophets—the majority of them, in fact—who tell us that God is not angry with us, and that there’s no problem with the way we live, and that God wants us to be happy.” That, as I said earlier, is what the previous chapter is all about.
And so, the sovereign God then lets them know how it may be that He would set His face against them, and make them a sign and a proverb, and cut them off from His people. This leads us to . . .
3. THE METHOD (vv. 9-10).
God goes on to speak through Ezekiel concerning these other ‘prophets’; and He says,
“’And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the LORD have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired . . .'”
It’s as if God is saying, “You have already given-in to the temptation to look to prophets who will tell you what you want to hear. But know this; it is in my sovereign power to induce those prophet to speak the lies to you that you want to hear—and they will lead you to destruction! I will judge those prophets for speaking lies; but I will also judge you for listening to the lies they speak!”
I believe a good explanation of what this means is found in 1 Kings 22. That chapter tells the story of a true prophet of God named Micaiah—a prophet that the evil King Ahab of Israel had called to speak a word from the Lord. Many false prophets were also called before King Ahab; and they were speaking the things that Ahab wanted to hear. They were telling him that God was with him and that he would be successful in the war he was about to wage. The king didn’t much care for Micaiah, though; because, as he said, “he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (1 Kings 2:8).
So, Micaiah came before the king when he was called; and this is the word that he spoke to Ahab from the Lord:
“Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ The LORD said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you” (1 Kings 22:19-23).
That seems like a hard pill to swallow, doesn’t it?—that God will send lying prophets to disobedient people to tell them what they want to hear, and thus to lead them to destruction? But God’s ways are far deeper than we can understand. Here, in these words that He speaks through Ezekiel, He lets us know that if we want to set up idols in our hearts, and want to keep on gazing at the things that make us stumble into sin—and if we don’t want to hear His call to us to repent; and if we then come to inquire of Him with those kinds of things in our hearts; then, as a judgment, He will let us hear the lies we want to hear. He will permit the devil to raise up lying “prophets” for us who will tell us that our sins aren’t so bad, or that we’re really on very peaceful terms with God, or that He doesn’t care about how we live so long as we say we love Him, or that His word isn’t as binding on us as some say it is, or that His ways aren’t the only options available to us.
And when that happens, both false prophet and phony seeker are judged together! As Jesus has warned us, such false teachers “are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matthew 15:14).
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Now; these words are harsh. But why is God willing to do this? What is He after in it all? This, finally, leads us to . . .
4. THE GOAL (v. 11).
He allows the blind followers to be led by blind leaders, and permits them both to fall into the ditch; and He causes them to both be destroyed together—as He says in verse 11—
“‘that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God,” says the Lord GOD.’”
In the end, His purposes toward His disobedient people are redemptive in nature. He allows us to be burned by our own foolishness so that we will learn to turn away from the sin that harms and destroys us, and robs us of the joy He wants us to experience in Him alone. That is by the way, what happened to the remnant of the Jewish people who came back from exile at the end of their seventy-year captivity in Babylon. They had many problems—but idolatry was no longer one of them! They never turned to idols again!
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Dear professing Christian; do you have hidden sin in your heart? And have you even dared to come to the house of God today in such a condition—so as to hear a word from Him; and yet, the whole while, keeping your heart divided toward Him as you hear it?
Well; I hope that—by God’s grace—you have heard a word from Him today! I believe He would want you to know that He is fully aware of your true inner condition. And He would want you to understand that you have estranged yourself from Him by keeping hold of that hidden sin in your heart.
After today, you may hear other “prophets” who will tell you that these words are too harsh to have come from God. They’ll say that they were meant for the people of another era—but not for you. They’ll tell you that, because you’re under grace, it doesn’t matter anymore how you live. But those will be blind guides; and God will be testing you through them to see if—after you have heard His word—you truly love Him with your whole heart.
Because He wants His estranged ones to come back to Him, I believe He would tell you—in the words of verse 6—”Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.”
Stop being a stranger to God today.