Ezekiel

[0:00] With the Lord's help, I will direct your attention to the prophecy of Ezekiel, the third chapter and the twelfth verse. The prophecy of Ezekiel, the third chapter, verse twelve.

[0:17] Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.

[0:33] Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.

[0:47] One of the leading points in the prophecy of Ezekiel is the constant mention of the leading of the Spirit.

[1:05] We, therefore, may follow Ezekiel, feeling that not only is he a child of God, but also a prophet of the Lord.

[1:21] For we read that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I find it very refreshing to read in this book the constant reference to the Spirit.

[1:41] The Holy Spirit moving him, taking him, setting him down here, lifting him up and casting him into another place, and on every occasion there was a purpose in the place where the Spirit set him down or removed him to yet another place.

[2:09] Then the Spirit took me up. May we ask ourselves, then, as to what knowledge we have of the Spirit taking us to the Spirit taking us up.

[2:46] For the ministers of God, it is of immense importance. Because if the Spirit does not take them up, then their condition is a sad one, and their knot is a dreadful one.

[3:04] Because they must surely come under that condemning word, they went. But I did not send them.

[3:16] Now, for any minister of God to go about at his own charge, going where he thinks he will, and even claiming that he is moved by the Spirit is a dreadful thing indeed.

[3:35] You may ask, how shall we know when the Spirit takes us up? Well, there is an experience.

[3:47] There is a movement upon our spirits, whereby we are indeed taken up and moved from one place to another. Perhaps Ezekiel's case was exceptional in the detail of it, and yet not exceptional in the experience of it.

[4:14] In just glancing for a few moments at the general context, we find that the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel, and toward the end of the second chapter we read, And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was written, was therein.

[4:47] And he spread it before me, and it was written within and without, and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

[5:00] It is very clear that the teaching of the Spirit, in the case of Ezekiel, was that he had to know something about lamentation, and mourning, and woe within his own soul, as well as what he may see evidence of it outside of himself.

[5:25] The things of which we have been singing this evening will serve to enlighten us as to that which is written therein, within the heart, lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

[5:46] Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest. Eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

[6:03] There is therefore an internal experience, which has to be passed through, like and here, to eating, in the preparation of any prophet or minister of God.

[6:21] And then there was an instruction. He said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

[6:37] And subsequently, we find that the prophet came to the people.

[6:48] And he had to sit where they sat. Then I came to them of the captivity, and tell Abib, that dwelt by the river of Kiva, and I sat where they sat.

[7:08] And remained there astonished among them seven days. This emphasizes that which is written by the prophet.

[7:42] In the ecclesiastis, there is a time to be silent, and a time to speak. And the work of God will always be followed according to God's order.

[7:57] We find it in the prophet's experience here. He sat seven days and was astonished.

[8:08] And being astonished, there was nothing he could say. There was much he could see. There was much that he thought.

[8:19] But his mouth was closed. But his mouth was closed. And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.

[8:34] Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. And give them warning from me. It is needful that the ministers of God should sit where the people sit if they are to be watchmen.

[8:52] And to warn them against the intrusion of wolves or sheep that are in wolves' clothing and appear so different from what they really are.

[9:08] And to warn them against the dangers and intrusion of Satan. And also, to bring them down, as it were, to a right level.

[9:27] Whilst we read that the people are to remember those that have the rule over you, whose faith follow, remembering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and forever, today and forever, yet nevertheless, such must be, as it were, on the same level.

[9:58] We only stand in a pulpit of wood for the benefit of the people to hear. But in the experience, the servants of God and the people of God, they walk along the same level and they walk along, walk in the same path.

[10:22] It may be that sometimes God gives them great vigilance and their eyes are attuned by the Spirit of God to see danger.

[10:33] and also to see that which will be of comfort and strength to the saints of God. However, with those few words of a general introduction, we would look with the Lord's help to the words of our text.

[10:53] Then, the Spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing. This reminds us of the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came as it were, like a rushing wind.

[11:16] And much blessing was poured out, much application was made upon the hearts of the people. Undoubtedly, those apostles were led by the Spirit to that particular place where the Lord He Himself would come and show forth His glory.

[11:39] Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place. We should never diminish the importance of the presence of the Spirit.

[11:55] The Lord Jesus, in teaching the woman at the well, He said that they that worship God even the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

[12:10] How much this is lost sight of in the present day? How many people would begin to give the right answer if you ask them the purpose of their coming to the house of God?

[12:25] Whether it be on Lord's Day or whether it be in the week. And so, we may ask ourselves the question this evening as to why we have come to the house of God.

[12:37] The prime purpose of our coming to the house of God is that we may obtain grace to worship God. To worship God in the beauty of holiness.

[12:49] To fall before Him and Lord His loved name ascribing the glory to God and the Lamb. if we are led by the Spirit of God then we shall be brought into the house of God with that desire.

[13:08] An instance in the Scriptures to confirm this point is found in the Gospel according to Luke where we read of Simeon being led by the Spirit into the temple at the appropriate time when the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God was being brought into the temple to be circumcised according to the law on the eighth day.

[13:40] You have only to read that account to come to the conclusion that the whole desire of Simeon was to worship God.

[13:50] for He cries out in the emotion of His Spirit and says Lord now let's let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation and the glory of thy people Israel.

[14:09] And so He goes on with His grand declaration of truth and in it His whole soul is bent upon worshipping God.

[14:25] Now from this we are able to observe that when the Spirit of God takes a person up and brings them into the house of God their whole soul is moved to worship.

[14:45] Why do we come to the house of God? Do we come to worship? Some may say well I come that I may receive food for my soul.

[15:03] Well if God gives you food for your soul what will you do? But fall down and worship. surely if God blesses your soul there is one thing that will come from it and that is the Spirit of thankfulness and if the Spirit takes us up and brings us into the house of God and if we hear behind us the voice of a great rushing that is the outpouring of the Spirit in his effusion we shall certainly be moved in the worship of God because the glory of the Lord will be revealed blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.

[15:56] If we look at the account in the Acts of the Apostles there we read that upon the faithful preaching of Peter and the others wherein he indicts them with guilt in regard to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ they cried out men and brethren what shall we do?

[16:22] There was an acknowledgement of God's holiness and God's justice if God has convicted you of your sin and in the midst of the congregation you have cried out what shall we do?

[16:41] And if you have not cried out maybe the very thought has gone out from your heart to God what shall I do? There has been an acknowledgement that God is holy and furthermore he has a perfect right to do with me and mine whatsoever he will.

[17:03] when we worship God being led by the spirit to do so we shall be willing to agree with the words the lines and if my soul were sent to hell thy righteous lord approach it well that is an important point of experience very necessary that we should know something about it in order that we may justify God even in our condemnation even the wicked will have to justify God that he has done absolutely right in sending them to everlasting burnings now the mercy of God is revealed in this the wicked will have unrelieved guilt guilt will be upon their consciences throughout eternity and it will burn and burn and burn with a tremendous burning with the people of

[18:20] God they will feel the guilt maybe that guilt will be realized in a measure of burning upon their conscience but the time will come when they will know something are relieved from guilt and the relief from guilt is obtained by the power which is in the blood of Jesus Christ to take away sin and so you see those people they cried out on the day of Pentecost men and brethren what shall we do and in so saying they acknowledged that the Lord was indeed true and that he was holy and that he was just they saw the glory of the Lord in his justice blessed be the glory of the

[19:25] Lord from his place we should be concerned to have an experience that will include in it the working out of these words blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place because from his place must mean a place of holiness wherever the Lord comes it is a holy place you will remember that Moses when he looked up and he saw the bush that burned and yet was not consumed that the Lord called unto him out of the bush and he said put up thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and Moses fell on his face his faith saw the glory of the

[20:33] Lord realizing it was a holy place is it true but even in connection with this place of worship there have been times when some of you have felt it necessary necessary yea you hasted to put up your shoes from up your feet not literally but as the hymn puts it bow down sense and reason faith only reigns here and it is all because God has spoken into your soul and said the place whereon thou standest is holy ground it is a place where faith alone can as it were hold the sway now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto

[21:38] Peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do now that was not an idle question it was a question that came forth from the heart then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are of power off even as many as the Lord our God shall call now this is the point which should always be read in connection with this verse even as many as the Lord our God should call so if some should look at this part of the verse for the promises unto you and to your children this must also be applied even as many no more no less as the

[22:45] Lord our God should call and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this underworld generation now the spirit was present on that occasion and there were those that came to hear the apostles preach who undoubtedly would come under this description then the spirit took them up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that is a place that we may well regard the glory of the

[23:46] Lord to receive if we are to see the justice of God then it is to be seen in the face of Jesus Christ now the justice of God is demonstrated to us by the words of prophecy in the short prophecy of Zechariah where toward the end of that prophecy we read those solemn words concerning awake oh sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow says the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones we see here the justice of

[24:49] God being poured out upon our surety Jesus Christ that one that stands and receives the penalties the penalty due to the sins of the whole church of God have you ever seen it do you desire to see it do you feel the necessity of seeing it how different your profession will be when you have seen it then the spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place the glory of the justice of God as the sword of justice is raised up and thrust as it were into the heart of our mediator our high priest our sacrifice

[25:57] Jesus Christ will be a never to be forgotten reminder of the dreadfulness of the justice of God it will be a humbling consideration that in so doing we should hear words something like this and pass by me for the Lord Jesus Christ to accept willingly accept receive willingly receive the punishment due to your sins and mine in order that justice may be satisfied and the wrath of God appeased and then to hear your connection with it and pass by thee and so you go free the glory of the gospel is surely centred in this freedom freedom deliverance from from the power of sin deliverance from going down into the pit blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place but what else do we see in the face of

[27:39] Jesus Christ wherein the glory of the Lord was revealed mercy mercy through blood I make my plea oh God be merciful to me in the soul experience of these things we find there is a working of the spirit a teaching of the spirit which causes us to believe the doctrine and then seek to experience it we must know something of doctrine otherwise we know not what we are experiencing people talk about experience but if there is no doctrine well how can their experience be measured now then if you cry out unto God and in so doing worship him because you are fully persuaded that he is merciful and that he will hear your cry for mercy though your hope may not be very strong or your faith very great yet nevertheless

[28:59] I can but perish if I go I am resolved to try for if I stay away I know I must forever die blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place that by the teaching of the spirit of God by the revelation of doctrine the doctrine of God's mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation will bring us to enter upon an experience of it we cannot set much value upon any person's speakings who merely speak about wanting mercy and yet having no heart for it now it is doctrine that as we read in the word my doctrine shall fall of the dew and it is the doctrine which falls upon the spirit concerning the mercy of

[30:11] God that causes us to enter upon the beginning of the experience whereby we cry out mercy through blood I make my plea O God be merciful to me now then I'm sure some of you will know that experience and have used that petition sometimes and if you have been concerned relative to the connection of doctrine with experience maybe what has been said will be helpful to you in showing to you that the doctrine was there now it was to be worked out doctrine of itself is dry doctrine of itself is cold but doctrine in experience is warm and brings relief and is not abstract but is alive the letter killeth that the spirit maketh alive now what is wanted is the spirit of doctrine now the spirit of doctrine is in our hearts if we see and use the expression in this verse blessed be the glory of the

[31:36] Lord from his place where we see mercy flowing down from Calvary now repeat the words mercy through blood I make my plea oh god be merciful to me can you see that if you are to be saved this is the only way of salvation the mercy of god on whom will the lord have mercy they must certainly be led by the spirit of god because of the pride of men's hearts and the hardness of their hearts and the brazenness of their foreheads the last thing that they will implore is mercy if we know our hearts are right by nature

[32:39] I do not think it would be wrong to say that we would sooner go to hell and plead for mercy hoping that we might escape it by that which we could do ourselves so what a remarkable feature of god's favour when we have a heart which is broken and made contrite and made willing in the day of god's power to seek for mercy through the blood of jesus christ not only so but to look at these words even as we may approach and hope in god that we may obtain mercy and say blessed be the glory of the lord from his place now it is certainly another view of the glory of the lord that he will dispense mercy i will have mercy upon whom i will have mercy because none could rightly proclaim the glory of god we find in the third fourth chapter of exodus that the lord passed by before him that is moses and proclaimed the lord the lord proclaimed it not moses man in a way of speaking is incapable of proclaiming the glory of the lord the lord passed by before him and proclaimed the lord the lord god merciful and gracious and abundant in goodness and truth who could be who could indeed proclaim such glorious things by the lord himself how shall we get to know these things we may have heard them lisp from various pulpits over many years but if we are to enter into the spirit of our text it will be necessary then the spirit took me up and when the spirit takes us up then not only life is felt in the soul but life is felt in everything that we regard and when the spirit takes you up and causes you to hear the voice of the spirit the proclamation of the spirit setting before you the glory of the lord in these words the lord the lord god merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth that will surely have an effect upon your spirit and you will say blessed be the glory of the lord from his place now just look at one of these points one or two of these points that the lord himself brings forward by the teaching of the spirit then we have noticed something about god's mercy we also now will look at god's graciousness i believe it is in the same hymn that we have these words hear gracious god's god's sinners cry for i have nowhere else to fly my hope my only hopes in thee oh god be merciful to me now can you reflect upon a time maybe the present when you prayed unto god

[36:40] in terms similar to that to those hear gracious god a sinner's cry cry and if we are presenting a sinner's crime we must indeed seek unto a gracious god because we shall leave the god of all grace to reveal to us the greatness of his graciousness his graciousness will mean condescension oh what majestous condescension the eternal god displays claiming our supreme attention in his wondrous works and ways his own glory he reveals in gospel days how is this graciousness manifested to us how is this mercy manifested to us we take your attention to the evangelist reports which tell us of the lord's birth of his life and of his death of his resurrection ascension and of his intercession now in all these points all parts of his life and everything that goes on in between we see we see evidenced the mercy and graciousness of god so we're looking in this place in his place when you look at jesus christ is that what you see in him the almighty god manifesting his mercy the almighty god manifesting his graciousness now when you have been moved by the spirit of god to cry hear gracious god a sinner's cry to whom are you coming to a holy god intrinsically and absolutely holy who is a consuming fire or are you coming to god in christ surely you are coming to god in christ because in christ there is a coming together a reconciliation a way has been made a person has been appointed whereby the glory of god can be revealed and whereby the sinner will cry out blessed be the glory of god in his place but there where i can come boldly unto the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need we also notice the proclamation of the lord speaks to us of long suffering long suffering or suffering long now we have in the congregation this evening a varying length of years which we have lived some have lived comparatively few while others have lived very nearly their full span long suffering has gone

[40:40] to being patient to us with regard to all our manners when you consider the truth of the scripture my people have forgotten me days without number then have we not to consider the blessedness of the glory of God in him which speaks to us of his long suffering we so get upset that we have forgotten don't we and yet how often have we forgotten our God and our Father our Lord Jesus Christ pursued after certain projects without properly seeking unto him and this is to mention but one point which will serve to emphasize the exercise of God's long suffering have we thought about

[42:02] God's long suffering today we shall not think about God's long suffering apart from then the spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place whenever there is blessing there is worship there is spiritual worship bless bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits and those benefits the psalmist goes on to enumerate when he says who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfied thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles the

[43:16] Lord executed righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed he made known his ways unto Moses and his anger and acts unto the children of Israel so as you read down in Psalm 103 you see the glory of the Lord revealed and the establishment of this great truth the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all the psalmist concludes with these words bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord oh my soul his long suffering but then again we find that the Lord is abundant in goodness and truth the

[44:23] Lord said to Moses I will make all my goodness pass before thee now you know God is goodness personified whenever we think of goodness we must think of God because God is goodness in perfection God and when the Lord said to Moses I will make all my goodness pass before you he was virtually saying that all the glory of his nature was to pass before him whether the glory of his nature is revealed in the wonder of his love which is preeminent and from which every other thing flows or the wonder of his justice in dealing with his enemies but the glory of the

[45:28] Lord is seen from both views blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place now what shall we say about God's goodness let us bring it to our own cases was it not the goodness of God know ye oh the house of Israel not for your sake do I these things but for mine holy name sake that your name was written in heaven that you were chosen of God now I do not wish to present the case as though we could all take it for granted that because we are here we are all chosen of God I wish to present the matter to each of you individually that you may weigh the matter up and say yes or no that is so now are your names written in heaven perhaps you will say well how could

[46:42] I possibly know my name is written in heaven I sometimes told a little story in this connection of a soldier that was pensioned and he said that he had never seen his name at the records office in the books but he did know he was there because he received his allowance regularly is your name written in heaven has God given you grace sufficient for every day well he can't give you grace sufficient for every day he can't fulfill that promise my grace is sufficient for thee unless thy name is written in heaven now you know your name is in heaven if

[47:53] God has fulfilled his promise in other word faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it well now has God called you has he been faithful to you it's all because your names are written in heaven otherwise you could never receive the goodness of God if your names were not written in heaven blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place now you see the goodness of God comes to us through the precious person of our Lord Jesus Christ are our prayers presented through that precious name which is above every name do we get answers to our prayers now we haven't got to say well

[48:59] I don't know I have reason to thank God at the evening time that God has answered my prayers of the morning now I refer to things purely temporal shall I say making that point what do we pray for at the beginning of the day we pray for God's provision we pray for his preservation we pray for his mercy we pray that we might favor be favored to realize his presence and shall we come to the end of the day and say well our prayers haven't been answered if our prayers haven't been answered then surely we must have perished and faith will believe that God has heard and answered if unbelief should come in and say well it would have happened anyway begone unbelief because that is the wickedness of Satan trying to distract you from an honesty before God it's good to honor

[50:15] God let us put it like this if God hasn't answered your prayers then let us honor him in confessing that he has because he has bountifully caused his goodness to pass before us and if we should have felt sometimes the sweet love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts then what reason we have to bear witness and be a witness for the goodness of God passing before us not only has the goodness of his nature gone before us but the goodness of his nature has been felt in us the glory of God is further felt and realized in the revelation of divine truth the law came by

[51:16] Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place the Lord Jesus himself declares I am the way the truth and the life in these days when truth is fallen in the streets and equity cannot enter what a mercy if you know the truth and how do we know the truth well the scripture says ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free may you know the truth when by the spirit coming upon you and taking the things of Jesus revealing them unto you and applying them to your soul you feel that you're a free man and a free woman some may be able to say a free child because the Lord has told me

[52:29] I put away thy sins I've cast all thy sins into the depths of the sea and will remember them no more forever and you're free you will know you're free because you will feel that you're free when that those sweet words will apply to your soul certainly you will you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free now regarding the words here blessing be the glory of the Lord from his place oh we shall cry out blessings blessings on the lamb blessings on his holy name the glory of the Lord from his place from Christ through him and in him and by him and to him all varying prepositions but all pointing unto him see

[53:39] Jesus looking upon us into our hearts I cannot explain it to you but when you know and have the experience you'll know that I'm speaking true when the Lord speaks into your heart and whispers peace and you're saying now this is a true peace it's a true peace because I feel that there's nothing between me and God peace by his cross as Jesus made when I see the blood I will pass over you true peace peace this is a great blessing if you have a moment's peace you've got an evidence that you're not numbered among the wicked now I support that from the scripture that there is no peace mark the word no no peace saith my soul to the wicked so one moment's peace will deliver you from being amongst the wicked a peace which cometh from God a peace which passeth all understanding a peace which fills your soul with the blessing of the most high

[55:12] God a peace which lays you in the dust and says who am I and what is my father's house that I should be thus blessed who am I that the Lord should have passed my people so much better than myself and should have come to me and blessed me with this wonderful peace made by his cross truth revealed blessing enjoyed oh the peace of God which passeth all understanding peace peace dire And on each occasion, he introduced himself with a salutation,

[56:16] Peace be unto you. The very first words he said, he had by his death and by his resurrection assured peace.

[56:31] And therefore he could come into the congregation and could say, Peace be unto you. May we not say this evening, Peace be unto you through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[56:45] Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place where peace is revealed to us in the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[56:58] Peace is revealed in the reconciliation felt in the soul for we were one time aliens but are now reconciled unto God through his Son Jesus Christ.

[57:14] The Lord be gracious unto us and pardon all that has been amiss, command his blessing, even life forevermore.

[57:24] The Lordaboth von Zouarettis It is a great nas grandma and praise is ayou that souls are not seated there. The world toute Nazareth the name the number of the Lord will be heard even when he called his son the nature of the Lord to clear the flag.

[57:38] Just how old he wants his son and again all he has just completely facilitating and嚨聾 the people has a clear even