Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Apr 28, 2010: Ezekiel 3 Ezekiel Called To Be A Watchman
Transcript
- Well this evening as we continue in the book of Ezekiel we're looking at chapter 3 and we'll be finishing up chapter 3 looking at Ezekiel and his call to be a watchman. Well Last week we started the book of Ezekiel, we looked at chapters 1, 2 and the first part of 3 and we saw Ezekiel's commissioning. There in chapter 1 we saw his incredible vision of God which was hard to understand, difficult really to describe and we understood that Ezekiel was seeing something supernatural and was trying to use our limited language to describe to us what he was seeing As he had this vision of the glory of the Lord. And so it was an incredible scene there in chapter 1. And then from there God takes him in this scene. He takes him aside and he says, Ezekiel, I'm going to send you to be my messenger. And he gives him strict instructions that he is to go and to... And so God commissions him into the service as a prophet. He is to be God's prophet there to the captives, those who are in captivity. They're from the captives. Judah, they're from the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, but they were captured, they were taken captive by Babylon, and there was more captivity to come, as there was several waves of people that were taken into Babylon. The final wave was yet to happen, that was going to happen in a few years after Ezekiel starts his ministry, and so God is in there to minister to those who are there, who are They're hoping for salvation. The people who are taken captive are still hearing false prophets who are telling them that they're going to be set free and that Jerusalem is going to be restored and that this work is going to be accomplished. But they were false prophets. In fact, what God said was they were going to be in Babylon for 70 years. And so God uses Ezekiel to speak his word, to correct the false prophets, and to speak the truth to this people that is in captivity. And so we continue it now in chapter 3. We pick it up in verse 12. And this is still God commissioning Ezekiel. He's still caught up in this vision and God has been speaking to him. And in verse 12 it says this, Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice, "'Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place.'" I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then I came to the captives at Tel Aviv, who dwelt by the river Chabar. And I sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days." Here is Ezekiel. He's caught up in this vision. God has revealed to him his glory. He's called him to be his prophet. And he's in this incredible scene. And it tells us that as he goes back now to the river Chabar, he doesn't even know what to do. He's there in silence for seven days. Notice in verse 12 that the Spirit lifts him up. The Holy Spirit is a big part of Ezekiel's calling, his commissioning, and his ministry. And as I declared last week, I see so many similarities and parallels between Ezekiel's calling and our own. As we are called to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit plays an incredibly important role in our ministry. In that we are called to reach the world, but we're called to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember as Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples in Matthew 28. that he tells them, that's your commission, that's your job, but wait, don't do it yet. Wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and that would happen at the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And so Ezekiel here is filled with the Spirit. The Spirit lifts him up and is equipping him, enabling him to receive this message from God and then to go out and to perform the task that God is giving to him. And so in this scene, he hears this thunderous voice. It says, blessed is the glory of the Lord from his place. And so he's had this vision of the glory of the Lord with, you remember, the four angels or the four cherubim, The four wheels that are connected to the cherubim, the expanse or the firmament above them, and then the throne and the person on the throne above them. It was this scene of the glory of the Lord. It was this incredible vision that he has. And so this thunderous voice cries out, "'Blessed is the glory of the Lord from his place.'" He says he also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures. There was four living creatures. We talked about them last week. These cherubim, they're seen and they're pictured throughout the scriptures around the throne room of God. And so he hears their wings as they're flying. He hears the wheels beside them. Again, referring back to chapter 1 and the vision that he had of the glory of the Lord. Again, Again in verse 14 we see the Spirit lifted me up. And so the Spirit is lifting him up. The Spirit is empowering him, enabling him And taking him to the place that God wants him to be. And so he says, I went in bitterness and the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. And so there's this heaviness upon Ezekiel at this time. As he's being called, as he's being commissioned by God, there's a heaviness upon him. There's a difficulty. He understands that what God is calling him to is not a light and fluffy ministry similar to the prophet Jeremiah who had a very difficult ministry. Ezekiel is going to have a really tough ministry. It's going to be tough because the people are rebellious and we'll see that as we continue on throughout the chapter this evening. Ezekiel's job was to minister to a people who had rebelled against God to the point that They were taken captive by Babylon as an instrument of judgment. God sends Babylon to capture, to conquer, and to bring these people as captives to Babylon. It's a result of their rebellion against God that they are here. And here in their rebellion, in the judgment that they're facing for their rebellion, they're not repentant. They're not... saying, oh, wow, we just realized how rebellious we've been. You know, sometimes that happens as we begin to experience the consequences for sin or for rebellion. You know, we begin to wake up and realize, oh, yeah, I need to get my life right. But these people were not like that. This is not what was happening with the Jewish people. They were insisting in their rebellion. They were continuing in rebellion against God. And so Ezekiel's ministry was going to be a tough one. He was going to be sharing a message that was not popular. A message that could get him killed if he's not protected by the Lord. Earlier on in the commissioning, God tells them, I'm going to give you a very hard head, Ezekiel. They're hard headed, but I'm going to make your head harder so that you're more stubborn than they are and you're going to be persistent and continue to deliver the message that I've given to you. And so the Spirit lifts him up and is taking him to the river Chabar. And there he's under heavy burden. He feels the heaviness of this call that God has given to him. And sometimes when God asks us to do things, he tells us ahead of time, he makes it pretty clear, hey, this is not going to be, you know, a walk in the park. This is going to be tough. And so you need to be prepared. But we can trust and know that God will be with us and prepares us for those times. But it is going to be tough. And so there he is by the river Chabar. And it says that he sat there and remained there astonished among them seven days. And so he's there for seven days, just sitting there. That gives you kind of a picture, an understanding of the heaviness that's upon Ezekiel as he understands the call that God has given to him. He just sits there for seven days. I kind of picture like Job, who when he had all of those calamities happen to him at the same time, His friends came to him who weren't good friends. They weren't good counselors. But they came to him and they found him there just kind of sitting in the middle of the field. And he just sat there for seven days. He didn't say nothing. He just sat there in one place for seven days. That's what's happening to Ezekiel. And that's the type of spirit that is upon Ezekiel at the moment. That he's just astonished. He's overwhelmed. It's a heavy call that God has given to him. And so he's soaking it in, he's adjusting, he's getting his thinking straight, and he's just spending time with the Lord there for seven days by the river Chabar. Verse 16, Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me. God now speaks to him after seven days of sitting there, seven days of nothing happening. God speaks to Ezekiel. The word of the Lord came to him. And what does God say? God tells Ezekiel, Ezekiel, I have made you a watchman. I've made you someone who is responsible to deliver my message. A watchman in those days, I think we don't have a difficult time understanding their role. In those days, the cities, you know, they didn't have ADT alarm systems, they didn't have motion sensors, they didn't have anything like that. What they had was a wall around the city for protection to keep... enemies from coming in and then at night they would have watchmen upon the walls and their job was to stand on the wall and to keep watch. And if anybody was coming that was not supposed to come, then the watchmen had the responsibility to warn the people that there is an enemy coming or that there was an army coming or there was some type of situation that needed attention. And so the watchman throughout the night would be responsible for the warnings given to the people. And so what God is calling Ezekiel to do is to be like this watchman, to be the one that is aware and alert about what is going on and then to give the warnings that are necessary to the people. And And so God calls Ezekiel to be a watchman. We'll come across this again. God speaks to him more about it in Ezekiel chapter 33. And so if you want a little bit more insight on the role of a watchman, you can read through Ezekiel chapter 33. But again, I see the parallel between Ezekiel and our own selves in the ministry that God has given to us in that we are called watchmen. As watchmen to our world and to our generations. In Mark chapter 16 verse 15, it's that parallel passage of Matthew 28 where Jesus is giving the disciples the great commission. Jesus says in Mark 16 verse 15, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Jesus handed over the responsibility to you and I for the world hearing the gospel. He gave us the responsibility for the world knowing the truth about what Christ has done for us in dying upon the cross for our sin. God gave the responsibility to His followers that it's our job, it's our role to pass on the gospel message. Now, we're not going to get into all of the details here, but even though Jesus was giving that message to the disciples there as he was about to ascend to the Father, the application of that commission is not just limited to those disciples. nor just the disciples that followed after them for a little bit of time after Jesus was ascended. This was a commission that is given to every disciple, every follower of Jesus Christ has the responsibility to reach out with the gospel message, to preach the gospel to every creature. You and I have this commission similar to Ezekiel, that we have a message from God that we are charged with, that we are responsible to deliver. God wants to speak to the world around us. He's already given us the message in the gospel and he's called us to be watchmen. for our generation, for our world, for our families, for our co-workers, that we would deliver the message that God gives to us. Paul deals with this a little bit in Romans chapter 10, verses 13 through 15. He says in Romans 10, 13, he says, "...whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." That's a wonderful promise. Anybody who calls out to Jesus will be saved. Anybody who comes to Jesus will be saved. But he goes on to ask some questions. He says, how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? So how should they call on Jesus if they've not believed on Jesus? And then he asks the next question, "And how shall they believe in Him of whom they've not heard?" So if they don't believe on Him, of course they can't call out to Him, but if they've never heard of Him, how could they believe on Him? If they've never heard the message? He goes on to ask, "And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" Paul goes through these questions. How can someone believe if they've not heard? How can they hear if nobody is preaching? And how can they preach if they are not sent? You and I have this responsibility. We are sent by God to the world around us. He has given us the commission to preach the gospel that people might hear, that people might believe, that they might call on the Lord and be saved. And so God tells Ezekiel, son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel. So hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me. Notice the message that Ezekiel has that he's responsible to share is the message that's from God. He says, Ezekiel, number one, you need to hear from me. And then number two, then you need to give the warning in my name. Warnings are not based upon our own thoughts or opinions or what we think is right or important. Warnings are based upon the message that God has given to us. The message of the gospel, the message of the word of God, the commands, the instruction that we have in the word of God. Those are the things that we are to share and that we are responsible to share with the world around us. Starting with the gospel, but it's not limited to that as we look at the whole counsel of the word of God. Well, God continues to add on to this commission of Ezekiel to be a watchman in verse 18 and 19. He goes on to say this, He says, Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. We get a little bit more of a sense here at the kind of responsibility that God is giving to Ezekiel. He gives a scenario. What would happen should God say to a wicked person, you shall surely die? Well, Ezekiel, being given this message, is responsible then to deliver this message to that wicked person that God is speaking to. And so Ezekiel would have to go and say, God says, you will surely die. But he goes on, and God gives the possible scenarios here for this situation. He says, if you don't go and speak to this person as I've instructed you, This person will still die because of their wickedness. They will die in their iniquity. But he says, Ezekiel, I will require their blood at your hand. You're going to be responsible for their blood. They're still going to die for their sin, but I'm also going to hold you responsible, Ezekiel, because I gave you a message to deliver to them and you did not do it. He goes on to say, If I give you a message to a wicked person and you go and deliver that message and they refuse to repent, well, they will still die for their iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul because you were responsible to deliver the message. And since you did deliver the message, your responsibility is taken care of and you have delivered your soul by being the watchman that I've called you to be. And so the wicked person, they will die for wickedness. Whether there's a warning or not, sin will bring death. It will bring destruction. And that's still true. Whether we warn the people around us or not, sin will bring destruction and devastation. It will destroy people's lives. But God has also given us a message to deliver. And so we have a responsibility to deliver the message of the gospel. to preach the gospel to every creature. God tells Ezekiel, his blood I will require at your hand if you don't deliver the message that I'm giving to you. He's attaching Ezekiel's reward. He's attaching Ezekiel's blessings. He's attaching Ezekiel's life to his fulfillment and obedience to God's commission to him as a watchman. And so if he delivers the message, whether the wicked person repents or not, he's delivered his soul. But if he fails to deliver the message, well, he will be responsible and accountable for that wicked person who died because he did not warn them as God called them to. Again, for us as believers, we need to understand that our reward is The reward that we're looking forward to as we enter into eternity with God. Our reward is in proportion to our faithfulness. To the faithfulness, or to our faithfulness, to what God has called us to. What has God called you to? What has God given you responsibility for? You will be held accountable for what you did with what God gave to you. And so, for one example, He's given us the Gospel message. And we are accountable for what we do with that message. He's given to us time. And so we will be accountable for what we do with God's time that he's given to us. He's given to us resources. And we will be accountable for what we do with those resources that God has given to us. We are responsible and accountable to God. We will stand before Him one day and our reward will be in proportion to our faithfulness. It's not in proportion to our wealth. It's not in proportion to how much we did. It's in proportion to how faithful we were with what God has called us to. We see this illustrated by Jesus in giving the parable of the talents. You know, the one servant was given ten talents, the other was given five, and then the final one was given one. The guy with ten talents, he was faithful and he did what his master entrusted him to do. The other guy with five talents, he also was faithful. And they were rewarded in proportion to their faithfulness, not necessarily in proportion to what they started off with. They were rewarded for how they fulfilled the task that was given to them. The final guy with only one talent, he was not rewarded because he didn't put his to work at all. Remember, he just buried it and said, oh, you know, I was afraid of you and so I didn't do nothing with the talents that you gave to me. That's similar to what we have as our call and our commission as watchmen for our generation and for our families and for our co-workers that our reward will be in proportion to our faithfulness to deliver God's word to the people around us. And there's a lot of wickedness going on. There's a lot of rebellion against God. Now, God has not made it our responsibility to convert people, but to deliver the message. Whether they receive it and act upon it or not, that's between them and God. But our responsibility is to deliver the message to those that God puts upon our hearts, to those that God has sent us to, to those that God is using us to reach out to. Continues on in verse 20, it says, Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. Also, you will have delivered your soul. And so God first gives the example of a wicked person that God wants to speak to. Then now in verse 20 and 21, he gives the example of a righteous person, someone who is right with God that God wants to speak to. And so God tells Ezekiel, okay, in this case, Ezekiel, if there's a righteous guy, but he turns away from his righteousness and he starts to live in sin, he starts to practice sin, he commits iniquity, God says, I'm going to lay a stumbling block in front of him. I'm going to make it hard for him to sin. But if he persists, if he continues on in sin, he will die iniquity. for his rebellion against me. The wages of sin is death, the Bible tells us. And so, if the righteous person turns and now commits sin and lives in iniquity, well, this person is going to die. But Ezekiel, if you don't deliver the message that I've given to you for this righteous man, well, then you also will be responsible for his death. He says, I will require his blood at your hand. I'm going to require it of you. You're going to be affected by this, Ezekiel. If you don't deliver the message that I give you to this righteous person who is righteous or was righteous but now is turned away and is committing sin, living in sin, practicing sin, well, he says, then you will be responsible. They will die for their sin, but because you did not deliver the message that I gave to you, I'm going to require his blood at your hand." Now again, he gives the other side. So if there is a righteous person who's committing sin, and you do warn that person, and you do deliver the message that I give you to that person, if he turns, if he repents, if he receives the message that you give him, then he will live. He'll be saved. He won't die because of that iniquity. But he also says, but you also, Ezekiel, you will have delivered your soul. And so God has given Ezekiel a ministry that, well, his own life, his own person is bound up in his faithfulness to the call that God has given to him. And again, I see the parallels here where God has given us the responsibility to make disciples. to preach the gospel, to share the truth with the world around us. And He's called us to be the light of the world. He's called us to bring forth His message. And whether it be to the person that needs to get saved, or whether it be to someone within the body of Christ that needs to be encouraged or corrected, we are responsible and our reward will be in proportion to our faithfulness to do what God has called us to do. And so whether we're warning the wicked or warning the righteous, whether we're encouraging and lifting up and building up as God has called us to, or whether we're standing fast and correcting and standing for the truth, we are responsible and accountable for how faithful we are to what God has called us to. Consider what the Apostle Paul said in Acts chapter 20. In fact, let's just turn there really quickly and then we'll come back to Ezekiel. Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul is making his way to Jerusalem. And as he's going to Jerusalem, he makes a stop and he wants to meet with the leaders of the church of Ephesus. He had spent some time there. He loved them and he wanted a final chance, a final opportunity to encourage the leadership there of the church of Ephesus. And so he lands a little bit far away from Ephesus and he calls the leaders to himself and he has this little meeting with them and he shares with them a lot of things that are important and powerful. We're just going to focus on a particular part of what he shared with them. But he's sharing it with them saying with certainty... I'm not going to get to see you guys again. I know what God has told me. I'm going to go to Jerusalem. Things are going to get tough there. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I'm not going to get to see you guys again. And so these are kind of his final words to these leaders. And he says in verse 26 of Acts chapter 20, Paul says, Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Verse 28. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Paul says, hey guys, I'm testifying to you. It's my testimony, it's my witness that I am innocent of the blood of all men. As opposed to what God was telling Ezekiel, Ezekiel, if you are not faithful to deliver the message that I've given to you, their blood I will require at your hand. Paul is able to say, I'm innocent of the blood of all men. How is he innocent? Well, because what he is declaring is that he has been faithful to deliver the message that God has given to him. He has been faithful to do and fulfill the calling that God had called him to. And so he goes on to say, "...have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." I've told you everything there is to know about God. I've given to you the entire message. I've given to you all of the things that God has declared and that God has said. I've given to you the whole truth about God. I've declared to you the whole counsel of God. And so Paul was able to rest. He was able to say, I'm innocent of the blood. I'm a watchman, Paul would say. But I'm innocent. I've delivered my soul using what God told Ezekiel. Because he was faithful to deliver the message. He says, I haven't shunned to declare to you. I haven't held back. I haven't deflected. I haven't shared other things instead. No, no, I've been careful to declare to you and to deliver to you the whole counsel of God. The entire message of God. The whole truth about what God has said. And so then he passes the responsibility on to them. He says, therefore, take heed to yourselves. Paul tells them, I've given you everything. I've declared everything to you. Now it's your responsibility. You take care of yourself. You take heed to yourself. You pay attention to where you are in your spiritual state, to your walk with God. You take heed, not only to yourselves, he says, but to all the flock that God has made you overseers of. Now he's speaking to those who are leaders within the church of Ephesus. But as I've often shared as we talk about the subject of leadership, I believe every Christian is called to be responsible for some sheep. Because God has called us to make disciples. And so there's people that you are responsible for. God has made you overseers. And you might not be the only authority or the only overseer in their life. There's a lot of overlap between people. authorities and and stuff within the church but if you're a parent there's a easy automatic responsibility that is given to you God has entrusted you with your children and you are responsible to declare to them the whole council you are responsible to be faithful to God's call in your life towards your children you have the responsibility Now, you can't drop your kids off at church and say, it's the church's responsibility to declare to them the whole counsel. It's your responsibility. Once you've declared to them the whole counsel, once you've shared God's message with them and been faithful to the message that God has given to you, then like Paul, you can pass it on and you can say, okay, now you take heed to yourselves. But we are responsible for those that God has entrusted us to. And so it might be your children that God has entrusted to you. It might be some co-workers that God has... placed around you that, well, He's called you to be a light in their life and to teach them how to walk with God. And so you have a responsibility to do that. It's not just an optional thing. That's the point I'm trying to make here. It's not, you know, just that, well, you know, if you feel like it, if you get around to it, if you got time, if you build up enough courage, you know, then go ahead and do those things. No, we have... a responsibility and we are personally affected by our faithfulness to this call that God has given to us. I want to be in a position like the Apostle Paul where as I'm heading on the last leg of my race that I can say I've not shunned to declare the whole council. I've been faithful to deliver the message and the messages that God has given to me. And I've ministered the way that God has called me to minister. I think that's where you want to be as well. We need to be able to say that we're innocent of the blood of all men because we've been faithful to the call that God has given to us. We've been called to be watchmen, to look out for, to pay attention to the things that are going on around us and to deliver the messages that God gives to us. Let's go back to Ezekiel chapter 3 as we continue on here in the passage. Verse 22 and 23, it says, Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and he said to me, Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you. So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chabar, and I fell on my face. Here in verse 22 and 23, now God calls Ezekiel aside. I call it Ezekiel's retreat. You know, we're going on a retreat, guys, in the month of June. Getting away to spend time with God. Some of you are getting away to go fishing. That's fine too, as long as you spend time with God. And Ezekiel here is called away. I want to encourage you. There are those times that God calls us to get away. He says, Ezekiel... arise and go out into the plain and there I shall talk to you. That God has sometimes for us those seasons or those times where he wants us to get away from where we are, to get away from our normal environment, to get out of our routine, to go off into the plain and there God will speak to us. And whether that be personally, individually, on your own, or perhaps as a family, something that God calls you to, or perhaps for you to participate in a group event like a retreat that we go on, I encourage you, as God tells you, arise and go, that you would do so because it's there that God wants to speak to you. And so God tells Ezekiel, yes, of course, God could speak to him there, but he says, listen, I want your undivided attention. So leave here, go out into the plain, and there I'm going to talk with you. And so Ezekiel goes, it says in verse 23, and he sees the glory of the Lord again. He calls us back to chapter 1, that vision there of the glory of the Lord. He's caught up into this vision again. He sees the glory of the Lord. It's this incredible scene once again, and it says that he fell on his face. He bowed down in worship. There was this awesome experience that he has there. connecting with God as he goes on this retreat, as he steps aside in response to God and meets with God because God says, come aside, come aside to this plane. I want to speak to you. If God calls you away, again, whether it be personally or as a family or as a group with the body as we get away, if God calls you away, respond. Because God wants to reveal Himself to you. And He wants to speak to you. What goes on in verse 24 and says, Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet and spoke with me and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house. And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them for they are a rebellious house. And so here God is finishing up this calling, this commissioning of Ezekiel. And so he sees the glory of the Lord. He falls down on his face and then the Spirit enters him and sets him on his feet. We see this repeatedly in these first couple of chapters that it's the Spirit who stands him up, who picks him up, who sets him on his feet. As the Spirit comes into him, he stands up and God speaks to him and gives him the message. We cannot hear from God. Remember the first responsibility that Ezekiel was given as a watchman? To hear from the Lord. We cannot hear from the Lord unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to be filled with the Spirit. That we have a living and vibrant connection with our God. That He is free to speak to us. That we may in turn deliver the messages that He gives us. to the world around us and so we can't just say well you know god i would have done something for you but i just never heard you tell me to do anything i never heard your voice you never spoke to me we are responsible to hear from god and to hear from god we must be filled with the spirit and to be filled with the spirit we just need to ask jesus told us in luke chapter 11 and And so the Holy Spirit fills Ezekiel and stands up and God begins to speak to him. And he tells him something a little bit strange. We'll see these types of things all throughout the book of Ezekiel. where God uses Ezekiel himself as a sign and as a message to the nation. And so God tells Ezekiel, what I want you to do is you're going to lock yourself in your house and you're going to stay in your house. You're not going to be about normal business like other people do. You're just going to stay at home. Now, that's quite a command for someone who is responsible to deliver the message that God has given, right? So, you know, it's like Jesus saying, go out into all the world and make disciples. Oh, but don't go yet. Stay in Jerusalem. It's similar. God tells Ezekiel, here's what I want you to do, Ezekiel. Go home. Shut the door. Stay inside. Don't leave. How am I going to reach the world? How am I going to? Well, God is explaining to him, well, you will go out when I tell you to. But you need to know, and the people need to know, that when you leave that door, it's not just because you got to go to the market, but it's because you have a message from the Lord. And then to add on to that, God says, I'm going to make you mute. I'm going to make it so that you are unable to speak. So you are not going to have normal conversations like everybody else. But Ezekiel, when I give you the message, when I give you a word, well then I'm going to open your mouth and you're going to be able to speak. So the words that you say will only be the things that I've told you to say. You won't be involved in other conversation. And so God is using Ezekiel, the person, as a sign to the nation around them and to the captives around him that when he leaves, they'll pay attention. That when he speaks, they'll listen. That he only speaks the things that God has said. I think this would be a wonderful thing if God were to do this, don't you think? Have you ever gotten in trouble for something you said? Wouldn't it be nice if you could only speak if it was something that was from God? Thus saith the Lord. That would be nice. That would be wonderful. And yet that's in many ways what God has called us to do. He's called us to bring forth His message to the world around us. Not our own thoughts, not our own opinions, not our own ideas, not what we think, not what we've seen, not what we've experienced, not what Aunt Susie told us is supposed to happen. God has called us to bring forth His message, His truth. You know, as we're dealing with complicated social issues and complicated family things and situations, we need to be careful. to deliver not our own thoughts and ideas, but to deliver what God has said and to share forth what God has spoken. He goes on to tell them, to tell Ezekiel in verse 27, When I speak with you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God, He who hears, let him hear. And he who refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. This is where Ezekiel's responsibility ends. When he delivers the message, His responsibility is done. The response of the people is not Ezekiel's responsibility. If they hear, they hear. That's wonderful. If they refuse, they refuse. That's not Ezekiel's responsibility. His responsibility is to deliver the message, to only speak what God says and when God says it. And notice who he's dealing with. He says, "...for they are a rebellious house." He said that also in verse 26, for they are a rebellious house. I think this is good insight. If you're dealing with rebellious people, you're dealing with someone who's rebellious, you've got some rebellion in your house, don't waste time with other words. Only speak to them the word of God. And if they hear, they hear. If they don't listen to God, they're not going to listen to you no matter how many words you use. So only speak the word of God. If they hear, then they hear. If they refuse, then they refuse. We are responsible to deliver the message of God, to deliver those things that God has laid upon our hearts, to deliver the word of God to those that God has entrusted us to. And our reward will be in proportion to our faithfulness. And so we, like Ezekiel, are watchmen. And we need to hear from the Lord. and then deliver His Word to the people around us. The worship team is going to come up and lead us in worship. And as they do, again, I want to encourage you and exhort you. In order to hear from the Lord, we must be filled with the Spirit. We need the filling of the Spirit in our lives. In order for us to hear the message that God wants to give to us. We see it here in Ezekiel 1, 2 and 3 that it all begins with Ezekiel being filled with the Spirit. And the Spirit enters into him and then he's able to hear. The Spirit enters into him and then he's able to stand up. The Spirit enters into him and then he is able to receive the message that God has given to him. God desires for every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But He calls us to ask. Sometimes we miss out on what God has for us because we don't ask. Remember James said, you have not because you ask not. Jesus told us in Luke chapter 11 that we're to ask the Father and He will give us the Holy Spirit. He compares the Heavenly Father to an earthly father. An earthly father gives their children good gifts. They don't give them scorpions and things that will harm them. And so he says, how much more will our Heavenly Father give to those who ask the Holy Spirit? And so as they lead us in worship, I want to encourage you to ask God to fill you with His Spirit. Not only that, but I want to encourage you to do what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1. He tells us there to pursue love and to desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. And then later on in the chapter again, he says, desire earnestly that you may prophesy. You and I are to desire a similar ministry of Ezekiel. Prophecy is not only speaking the future. That sometimes is part of what prophecy is about. But prophecy is really speaking forth God's message. speaking forth from God. That's what prophecy is. And so as we worship together, as you ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, I want to ask you to desire that you would prophesy, to desire that God would give you a message to deliver. And it might be a person that you're to deliver it to, it might be to us corporately that you're to deliver it to, but desire earnestly. We're commanded to desire, to ask God earnestly, to use us in this capacity. And so pray, ask God, but also understand your reward will be based upon your faithfulness. And so many times we get so nervous, don't we? Because we're so prideful and we're so uncertain. Ah, is this really of God? Am I supposed to share this out loud or with that person? Ask, pursue this gift, but then also be faithful as God speaks to you. Be faithful to deliver that message. And I want to encourage you for Wednesday nights in general, this evening but also future Wednesdays, you know, as we have the opportunity to minister to one another. The messages that the prophets were given often were given well in advance of the time that they delivered them. Sometimes we think of the gifts of the Spirit and we think that it has to be spontaneous for it to be a work of the Spirit. But I would encourage you to be pursuing the gift of prophecy and asking God to give you a message to share with someone else all throughout the week that He would have you share, perhaps on a Wednesday evening or another time. Perhaps it's with a co-worker. Perhaps it's with a family member. But to be desiring and asking God to speak to us and to give us those words that He wants us to share. And then come on Wednesday nights as we have the opportunity to minister to one another and be prepared to share what God has already given to you. Be ready. Be prayed up. Because you're responsible to hear from God. And if you sit through service on a Wednesday evening and say, well, I guess, you know, I wasn't supposed to minister to anybody. I didn't hear from the Lord. But really, God wanted to speak to you yesterday. But, you know, you kind of skipped your devotions. You didn't really spend time with Him. You're responsible to hear from God, to spend time with Him. I'm responsible to walk with God, to have that relationship with Him, to hear from Him, and then to do the things that He lays upon my heart, to do those things that He calls me to. So let's take this time as we worship the Lord together to ask God to fill us with His Spirit, to ask Him to give us a message, to entrust us with His Word, that we might have the opportunity to join Him in the work that He wants to accomplish, to deliver the message, to share what He's put upon our heart. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.