Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire
Ezekiel 11:1-5
Last week we picked up the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel again and continued reading one of the visions that he recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit some 600 years before Christ.
In that vision we saw the presence of God move into Jerusalem to oversee His judgment on that city.
Last week we saw the Coals of Fire that represented His holiness and its effects on a city.
These Coals of Fire were scattered around the city to represent the purging work of God's Holiness and the judgment that the actions of the inhabitants had warranted.
Now we will finish the vision as Ezekiel has recorded it for us here in Chapter 11.
READ TEXT
PRAY
There are some peculiar turns of phrase in this chapter that catch our eyes.
One in particular that caught my attention is the clause, "this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh."
After some diligent study on this wording I chose the title for this morning's sermon, "Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire."
The passage begins with a scene at the east gate of the temple that hearkens back to the earlier part of the vision from Ezekiel 8:16 wherein Ezekiel saw 25 men with their backs turned toward the temple.
They were worshipping the Sun.
This was evidence of their incremental compromises in worship that ends with some people practicing witchcraft instead of worshipping God alone.
Verse 1 of our text reveals that among these men were the leaders of society.
Princes of the people he calls them.
They had found the wisdom of the world to be more attractive and mysterious than the wisdom of God.
While they worshipped celestial bodies, and directed their lives and their counsel by the stars, the God that had given them their authority and positions of leadership looked on with displeasure.
Now this same God points out in Verse 2 to Ezekiel that these leaders are giving wicked counsel to the city.
Verse 3 reveal the particular counsel that these men were giving, and that wicked counsel has three parts:
1.) "It is not near;" They had heard the prophecies and warnings that God would destroy Jerusalem for its wickedness, but they would comfort the people with these false words.
The lie of the Devil has not changed much throughout time.
Satan has always tried to cast doubt on the full veracity of God's predictions.
"Ye shall not surely die," he told Eve.
Know this, that when God makes a prediction of coming judgment it is to be taken seriously and acted upon with expediency or you will suffer the consequences.
Even today there are naysayers about the great rapture of the saints, in which Jesus will return and catch up those who have trusted in Him as their Saviour.
The Apostle Peter predicted the same:
2Peter 3:3 ¶ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
You may notice that Peter comments that the same attitude prevailed in Noah's time but judgment came and the procrastinators were caught unawares.
Now we have seen from Verse 3 the first item of wicked counsel.
Let us not listen to the lie that God will put up with our wickedness a moment longer.
We must realize that He is a Holy God and demands that we act upon His commands immediately.
Now we can se the next wicked advice that the leaders in Jerusalem were purveying.
2.) "Let us build houses:" Now, of course there is nothing inherently wrong with building houses or repairing them, but the timing of their diversion is the primary lesson here.
It was a time to repent.
It was a time to worship.
It was a time to build the walls of the city.
It was a time to pray.
It was not a time to be concentrating on self and personal belongings.
These men were distracting from God's call by encouraging people to think of themselves.
It is an old politician's trick to point out the importance of the individual with the ulterior motive of distracting from the real crisis.
The crisis in Jerusalem was not that the people didn't have houses.
As a matter of fact, with the many who had been taken from the city, there was most likely a housing glut, but the leaders still encouraged the people to focus on themselves and their own well being.
The crisis in Jerusalem went unheeded.
That crisis was a moral one.
While the politicians spewed off their normal promises of housing and encouraged the people to focus on their own wants and needs, people of Israel were dying in foreign lands because they had been ripped from their homes and hustled away to be slaves of the Babylonians.
So it is today that politicians are still trying to keep the focus on the personal welfare of the individual while innocent children are never given the chance to breath, and the real dangers of our society are ignored.
Like God's words against Jerusalem in verse 6, we have multiplied the slain in our streets while ignoring the real crises of our society.
The third bit of counsel that the politicians of Jerusalem are giving closes out verse 3.
3.) "this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh." It is and odd saying but not too difficult to understand.
Remember, from an historical perspective, Israel had been under siege by the enemy for some time.
The Chaldeans had been marauding through the countryside, kidnapping and looting.
Jerusalem had held out, however.
It was a well fortified city with its own source of water and could seemingly be defended forever, or so thought the people of the city.
But they couldn't see the forest for the trees.
They considered the victims of the Chaldeans to be those that God had judged, while they, they had Jerusalem.
They were safe because of their proximity to the temple.
They had their traditions, and those would protect them against the righteous anger of God.
The city of Jerusalem was to them like a great iron caldron, and they figured themselves to be the savory stew inside which God enjoyed so much He would never let them be exposed to the fires outside of the pot.
It is a strange thing to feel safe in a caldron.
It makes me think of a cartoon I read as a child in which an unsuspecting missionary is carried on the shoulders of a group of natives into their camp.
He feels quite honored by this and even more so when the set him into a great warm bath over a fire.
Of course, he has been kidnapped by cannibals, but ignorance is bliss.
The counsel that the Jerusalem politicians gave the people is that, "We are safe."
God would never let harm come to the great city of Jerusalem.
If you are stuck in the same false assurance this morning I beg you to repent.
Your proximity to the church and your presence among God's people is no safety.
When God is ready to judge us He will do so with no regard to our location.
In verse 4 Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the men in his vision, which, in his vision he does.
God's particular claim in verse 5 is frightening if you have sins of the mind.
God says, "for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them."
In Verse 6 God points out that they have ignored the real crisis while concentrating on themselves.
In my opinion, it is not actual bodies in the streets of Jerusalem that Ezekiel is here revealing in his vision so filled with symbolic pictures, but the hidden casualties, the many who had been taken away.
They were the great casualties, but in Verse 7 we see that they were the ones under God's protection.
They would be the ones protected under God's promises to Jerusalem.
Although they were scattered around the empire of Babylon, they were protected by God's promise to Israel.
They had repented and God would honor their repentance.
As for the people that were physically still in Jerusalem, they would suffer the sword as shown in verse 8-11 and they would be taken out of their comfortable place and God would execute His judgment on them as they fled the very borders of their country.
The great purpose of God's impending judgment is revealed in verse 12.
It is that God be revealed for Who He is.
The people of Jerusalem had been no better than the heathen they mocked.
In Verse 13 we see that as Ezekiel prophesies in his vision, in his vision Pelatiah, a leader among the people is stricken dead.
This shocks Ezekiel the prophet, who exclaims, "Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"
Now we get to an encouraging part of the chapter:
God points out in verses 14, 15 that those who were mocked by the "holier-than-thou" Jerusalemites were the ones that would eventually inherit the land.
By their repentance they had procured the favour of God, and He was intent on blessing them.
They had been cast off from Jerusalem and Israel and were now in a foreign land enslaved by the Chaldeans, but hey were not out of God's care.
As Verse 16 implies, when we come to our senses in a place far from where we should be, God is ready to provide sanctuary where we are.
Of course much has been lost and the scars of our sin we will carry with us for some time, but God still loves us and looks to bless the repentant.
In Verse 17 Ezekiel is told to prophesy yet again, but this time to the people who have been cast off and repented.
God promises to gather them back and give them back their first estate.
The real intentions of the people are revealed in Verse 18 as Ezekiel predicts that they would come back with the clear purpose of ridding the city of Jerusalem of its idols and abominable things.
Then that great prophesy continues in verses 19-20 with a promise of a new heart, for it is not of our own volition that we worship Him in truth and holiness, but out of a heart that He has given us when we repent.
Then we are able to walk according to his rules and keep his laws.
Then we will be His people and He will be our God.
Verse 21 reminds us of those who did not respond to the pleading of God.
From a faithful study of Scripture we understand that this is not because God did not give them the same opportunities but because when God brought them to the same place of opportunity the rejected God's order.
They will suffer the consequences of their choices.
Finally the great vision comes to a close with one more scene.
Remember Ezekiel is one of the captives, and had been transported in the vision to see Jerusalem and its condition.
In Verses 22, 23 the great Chariot-Throne lifts off from the city gate and sets on the mountain of Olives, one more incremental step of departure from Jerusalem.
Then God takes Ezekiel the prophet back to Chaldea where Ezekiel brought the good news to them there.
I bring that same powerful message to you:
Have you been far from God?
Have you been judged for your sin?
Are you now feeling isolated from His protection?
Know this: God is ready to receive you back.
All He has ever wanted is repentance.
If you are here this morning and have never accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, let me be the one to tell you that God is ready to accept you today.
Won't you join us and repent of your sins and receive His salvation today?
Ezekiel 11:1-5
Last week we picked up the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel again and continued reading one of the visions that he recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit some 600 years before Christ.
In that vision we saw the presence of God move into Jerusalem to oversee His judgment on that city.
Last week we saw the Coals of Fire that represented His holiness and its effects on a city.
These Coals of Fire were scattered around the city to represent the purging work of God's Holiness and the judgment that the actions of the inhabitants had warranted.
Now we will finish the vision as Ezekiel has recorded it for us here in Chapter 11.
READ TEXT
PRAY
There are some peculiar turns of phrase in this chapter that catch our eyes.
One in particular that caught my attention is the clause, "this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh."
After some diligent study on this wording I chose the title for this morning's sermon, "Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire."
The passage begins with a scene at the east gate of the temple that hearkens back to the earlier part of the vision from Ezekiel 8:16 wherein Ezekiel saw 25 men with their backs turned toward the temple.
They were worshipping the Sun.
This was evidence of their incremental compromises in worship that ends with some people practicing witchcraft instead of worshipping God alone.
Verse 1 of our text reveals that among these men were the leaders of society.
Princes of the people he calls them.
They had found the wisdom of the world to be more attractive and mysterious than the wisdom of God.
While they worshipped celestial bodies, and directed their lives and their counsel by the stars, the God that had given them their authority and positions of leadership looked on with displeasure.
Now this same God points out in Verse 2 to Ezekiel that these leaders are giving wicked counsel to the city.
Verse 3 reveal the particular counsel that these men were giving, and that wicked counsel has three parts:
1.) "It is not near;" They had heard the prophecies and warnings that God would destroy Jerusalem for its wickedness, but they would comfort the people with these false words.
The lie of the Devil has not changed much throughout time.
Satan has always tried to cast doubt on the full veracity of God's predictions.
"Ye shall not surely die," he told Eve.
Know this, that when God makes a prediction of coming judgment it is to be taken seriously and acted upon with expediency or you will suffer the consequences.
Even today there are naysayers about the great rapture of the saints, in which Jesus will return and catch up those who have trusted in Him as their Saviour.
The Apostle Peter predicted the same:
2Peter 3:3 ¶ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
You may notice that Peter comments that the same attitude prevailed in Noah's time but judgment came and the procrastinators were caught unawares.
Now we have seen from Verse 3 the first item of wicked counsel.
Let us not listen to the lie that God will put up with our wickedness a moment longer.
We must realize that He is a Holy God and demands that we act upon His commands immediately.
Now we can se the next wicked advice that the leaders in Jerusalem were purveying.
2.) "Let us build houses:" Now, of course there is nothing inherently wrong with building houses or repairing them, but the timing of their diversion is the primary lesson here.
It was a time to repent.
It was a time to worship.
It was a time to build the walls of the city.
It was a time to pray.
It was not a time to be concentrating on self and personal belongings.
These men were distracting from God's call by encouraging people to think of themselves.
It is an old politician's trick to point out the importance of the individual with the ulterior motive of distracting from the real crisis.
The crisis in Jerusalem was not that the people didn't have houses.
As a matter of fact, with the many who had been taken from the city, there was most likely a housing glut, but the leaders still encouraged the people to focus on themselves and their own well being.
The crisis in Jerusalem went unheeded.
That crisis was a moral one.
While the politicians spewed off their normal promises of housing and encouraged the people to focus on their own wants and needs, people of Israel were dying in foreign lands because they had been ripped from their homes and hustled away to be slaves of the Babylonians.
So it is today that politicians are still trying to keep the focus on the personal welfare of the individual while innocent children are never given the chance to breath, and the real dangers of our society are ignored.
Like God's words against Jerusalem in verse 6, we have multiplied the slain in our streets while ignoring the real crises of our society.
The third bit of counsel that the politicians of Jerusalem are giving closes out verse 3.
3.) "this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh." It is and odd saying but not too difficult to understand.
Remember, from an historical perspective, Israel had been under siege by the enemy for some time.
The Chaldeans had been marauding through the countryside, kidnapping and looting.
Jerusalem had held out, however.
It was a well fortified city with its own source of water and could seemingly be defended forever, or so thought the people of the city.
But they couldn't see the forest for the trees.
They considered the victims of the Chaldeans to be those that God had judged, while they, they had Jerusalem.
They were safe because of their proximity to the temple.
They had their traditions, and those would protect them against the righteous anger of God.
The city of Jerusalem was to them like a great iron caldron, and they figured themselves to be the savory stew inside which God enjoyed so much He would never let them be exposed to the fires outside of the pot.
It is a strange thing to feel safe in a caldron.
It makes me think of a cartoon I read as a child in which an unsuspecting missionary is carried on the shoulders of a group of natives into their camp.
He feels quite honored by this and even more so when the set him into a great warm bath over a fire.
Of course, he has been kidnapped by cannibals, but ignorance is bliss.
The counsel that the Jerusalem politicians gave the people is that, "We are safe."
God would never let harm come to the great city of Jerusalem.
If you are stuck in the same false assurance this morning I beg you to repent.
Your proximity to the church and your presence among God's people is no safety.
When God is ready to judge us He will do so with no regard to our location.
In verse 4 Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the men in his vision, which, in his vision he does.
God's particular claim in verse 5 is frightening if you have sins of the mind.
God says, "for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them."
In Verse 6 God points out that they have ignored the real crisis while concentrating on themselves.
In my opinion, it is not actual bodies in the streets of Jerusalem that Ezekiel is here revealing in his vision so filled with symbolic pictures, but the hidden casualties, the many who had been taken away.
They were the great casualties, but in Verse 7 we see that they were the ones under God's protection.
They would be the ones protected under God's promises to Jerusalem.
Although they were scattered around the empire of Babylon, they were protected by God's promise to Israel.
They had repented and God would honor their repentance.
As for the people that were physically still in Jerusalem, they would suffer the sword as shown in verse 8-11 and they would be taken out of their comfortable place and God would execute His judgment on them as they fled the very borders of their country.
The great purpose of God's impending judgment is revealed in verse 12.
It is that God be revealed for Who He is.
The people of Jerusalem had been no better than the heathen they mocked.
In Verse 13 we see that as Ezekiel prophesies in his vision, in his vision Pelatiah, a leader among the people is stricken dead.
This shocks Ezekiel the prophet, who exclaims, "Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"
Now we get to an encouraging part of the chapter:
God points out in verses 14, 15 that those who were mocked by the "holier-than-thou" Jerusalemites were the ones that would eventually inherit the land.
By their repentance they had procured the favour of God, and He was intent on blessing them.
They had been cast off from Jerusalem and Israel and were now in a foreign land enslaved by the Chaldeans, but hey were not out of God's care.
As Verse 16 implies, when we come to our senses in a place far from where we should be, God is ready to provide sanctuary where we are.
Of course much has been lost and the scars of our sin we will carry with us for some time, but God still loves us and looks to bless the repentant.
In Verse 17 Ezekiel is told to prophesy yet again, but this time to the people who have been cast off and repented.
God promises to gather them back and give them back their first estate.
The real intentions of the people are revealed in Verse 18 as Ezekiel predicts that they would come back with the clear purpose of ridding the city of Jerusalem of its idols and abominable things.
Then that great prophesy continues in verses 19-20 with a promise of a new heart, for it is not of our own volition that we worship Him in truth and holiness, but out of a heart that He has given us when we repent.
Then we are able to walk according to his rules and keep his laws.
Then we will be His people and He will be our God.
Verse 21 reminds us of those who did not respond to the pleading of God.
From a faithful study of Scripture we understand that this is not because God did not give them the same opportunities but because when God brought them to the same place of opportunity the rejected God's order.
They will suffer the consequences of their choices.
Finally the great vision comes to a close with one more scene.
Remember Ezekiel is one of the captives, and had been transported in the vision to see Jerusalem and its condition.
In Verses 22, 23 the great Chariot-Throne lifts off from the city gate and sets on the mountain of Olives, one more incremental step of departure from Jerusalem.
Then God takes Ezekiel the prophet back to Chaldea where Ezekiel brought the good news to them there.
I bring that same powerful message to you:
Have you been far from God?
Have you been judged for your sin?
Are you now feeling isolated from His protection?
Know this: God is ready to receive you back.
All He has ever wanted is repentance.
If you are here this morning and have never accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, let me be the one to tell you that God is ready to accept you today.
Won't you join us and repent of your sins and receive His salvation today?
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