Hearing the Word, facing the judgement
Text Ezekiel 14 Time 26 06 06 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
Ezekiel 14 contains two more prophecies. The first, in 1-11, is about hearing God’s Word. The second, in 12-23, is about facing God’s judgements. Though these prophecies were given in Babylon some two and a half thousand years ago now they continue to be full of interest and relevance for us living here in London in the year 2006. There’s something timeless about God’s Word and if we read it correctly we’ll see that it has an application to all sorts of different circumstances and situations. With the help of God’s Spirit let’s seek to learn from this passage today then.
1. Lessons to learn about hearing God’s Word
1. If you have you come to hear God’s Word, realise that it penetrates to the heart
1 Have you come to hear God’s Word?
We read in verse 1 that Some of the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel and sat down in front of him. Clearly they wanted to know what he had to say. He was a prophet sent by God and they were eager to know what God was going to say through his prophet.
Now why have you come here this morning? You may have come for various reasons but I trust that at least to some extent that you have come to hear the Word of God. I am not Ezekiel. I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet. However we have here the Word of God and my purpose this morning is to present it to you in as clear and as simple a way as I know how. As I speak I want to do so as one speaking the very words of God. As I minister to you I am seeking to do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. God has given us his Word – the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the one I want you to see this morning.
2 Do you realise that it penetrates to the heart?
So here are these men before Ezekiel waiting to hear God’s Word, and we read that (2) the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel. Now listen to what it said (3) Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. It wasn’t ‘What fine men we have here – elders of the people, men who are outwardly moral and good. God bless you.’ No this Word spoke about these men’s hearts and the idolatry that was lurking just below the surface. This is how God’s Word speaks when it is preached. It is not superficial but deals with our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. When you go to the doctor’s what do you expect from him? Do you expect him to speak politely and say ‘Hello, how are you? Hope things are okay’. No, you expect him to probe a bit. What is troubling you? Is there pain? You won’t be surprise if he asks you to let him examine you and see what is wrong? Now when we come to God’s Word we should expect something similar. Preaching is not designed to be superficial. ‘Well, none of us are perfect are we? We really must try harder to do our best.’ No, it probes. It looks into our hearts. It puts our thoughts and motives under the microscope. It examines us. What about idolatry? Is it lurking there in your heart? What have you been parading before your eyes this last week? The elders Ezekiel was preaching to probably weren’t like the idolaters back in Jerusalem but they were aware of the idolatry going on all around them in Babylon and they were attracted to it. These are powerful and successful people, perhaps if I worshipped idols I could know some of that too? Is that how you think? Oh, yes I know that you’re here now to hear the Word but what’s going on in your heart? Are you secretly wishing you were just like those all around you? Do you have the same desires as them – for money, for possessions, leisure and ease, worldly success? We must examine ourselves and confess what lurks deep down.
2. Do you have any right to hear God’s Word? What if God gives you what you want?
This raises two further questions
1 Do you have any right to hear God’s Word?
You see the logic here. These elders have come to Ezekiel ostensibly to hear God’s Word and yet God knows their hearts. They have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. And so God asks Should I let them enquire of me at all? Now let me put that question to you and to myself. Do you have any right to be here? Do I? Why should God hear your prayers or mine or speak to you or to me? Why should he let you come to know Jesus Christ? On the one hand, these men are coming to Ezekiel, God’s prophet, and wanting to hear him. However, what is in their hearts? They have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. Imagine a man coming home to his wife and telling her how much he loves her when all the time his heart is set on some other woman. It reminds us of that phrase in Isaiah 29:13 These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And what about us? We are here to hear the Word. That’s good. But what is going on in our hearts? Are we just hypocrites going through the motions? If that is our case what right have we to expect God to answer.
2 What if God gives you what you want?
So Ezekiel is told to tell these hypocrites This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling-block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. Imagine two boys playing together and they are both selfishly arguing over a toy. Then one of them goes to his father and says ‘Dad, make Johnny give me the toy’. Can you imagine the father saying something like ‘I’ll give you something in a minute, my boy’. Well, in a similar way God here says that those who have idols in their hearts who ask him for something will certainly get a response – but not the response they are expecting! The response is spelled out in verse 8 but for the moment let’s just say that the response is not what is expected and clearly it is not pleasant. What sort of response will you get from God do you think if you harbour idolatry within?
3. Understand God’s motive in acting in such a way and realise that God’s Word calls on us to repent
1 Do you understand God’s motives in acting in such a way?
Why such a response? The answer is simple really. Verse 5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols. God is here seeking to win the people back. You sometimes see posters on the trees around here ‘Cat lost’ with a picture, etc. Sometimes you see a lot of them and (if you’re not a cat lover) you wonder why they’ve gone to all that trouble. Well, they want their cat back! God wants us back, that’s why he speaks as he does. That’s the purpose of what is being said this morning. If there is any declension at all, this message is designed to win you back to the Lord. Come back. Let’s not pretend all is okay if it isn’t, let’s be open about it and confess it.
2 Are you listening to God calling on you to repent?
As ever, this is the call, the call to turn from sin and to turn back to God. Verse 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! God is our Creator. He is the true God. He is the one we must worship. But again and again the temptation is there to set up idols in our hearts. We must turn from all these idols and worship only the one and only God, the true God who rules over all. Turn to him – to the Father and to Jesus Christ buy the work of the Spirit. Repentance is never easy. It is against all our instincts. I think I’ve spoken to you before of how in the car I hate turning round and going back the same way if I’ve made a wrong turning. I’m learning though that although retracing your steps is tedious it’s the best way – the only way usually. Repentance is like that – "There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin", an open door you can go through. "At Calvary’s cross is where you begin (where Jesus died to save sinners) when you come as a sinner to Jesus."
4. Hear this warning from God’s Word against heart idolatry and beware of false prophets
1 Are you guarding against heart idolatry?
We get something further in 7, 8 When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling-block before his face and then goes to a prophet to enquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself. I will set my face against that man and make him an example and a byword. I will cut him off from my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD. To be cut off is probably to die. It is to come under the curse of the covenant breaker. God will vindicate himself and the idolater will die. This is one reason why we must guard against idolatry.
2 Do you realise what will happen if you listen to false prophets?
Sometimes things are a little more complex. 9, 10 And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the LORD have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. They will bear their guilt - the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. The elders have come to a prophet who will tell them the truth. There were other prophets too, false prophets. What if they went to them? Or to a true prophet who was tempted to say something less provocative? The answer is clear. God is still at work. He is never the author of sin but he is using even this to bring about his purpose, which in this case is the death of both the idolater and the false prophet.
And so I say to you it is no good you saying ‘Well, I don’t have to come here and listen to this every week – all about sin and judgement all the time. I can go to other places where they will make me feel much better and not keep going on about the idolatry in my heart.’ Or sometimes I think to myself ‘Well, let’s ease up a bit this week and try and talk less about sin and judgement’. And I certainly don’t want to speak about them more than I need to. But what will become of us all, both you and me, if we go down that route? And what will happen to the places that claim to be speaking the Word of God but don’t really probe and say ‘What’s lurking in your heart? Is there a secret love for what the world loves?’. God’s Word leaves us in no doubt They will bear their guilt - the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. And so I am determined to keep on preaching like this – painful as it is. Will you determine to keep listening and to try and bring others under the same preaching? How we need something that will go more than skin deep, that will probe us and speak to our consciences and wake us up to reality! Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! What ever it is that lies in your heart, forsake it, run from it. Get rid of pride and anger and lust and complacency. Cry out to God to wash you clean from your sins in the precious blood of Jesus! Cry out now before it is too late.
5. Hear the call in God’s Word to covenant faithfulness
Again it is very negative, I know, but look where he ends up in verse 11 Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves any more with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD. It is the covenant again. This is what being a Christian is all about – to belong to God’s chosen people and to have God as your God. Is that you? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ? Is he your God, your Saviour? Is he your one true hope? Are you bound to him by unbreakable bonds? Then praise the Lord and press on in him!
2. Lessons to learn about facing God’s judgement
12-23 is familiar territory and I don’t want to spend too much time on it. The structure is quite simple really. Four dreadful calamities are envisaged first of all - sword and famine and wild beasts and plague. We are asked to imagine each of these coming in turn. Then the observation is made in each case that (eg 14) even if these three men - Noah, Daniel and Job - were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD. Then in verse 21 we have the climactic For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments - sword and famine and wild beasts and plague - to kill its men and their animals! There is a strong warning of coming judgement here.
And then as we have had before the chapter ends on an encouraging note of optimism – 22, 23 Yet there will be some survivors - sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem - every disaster I have brought upon it. You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD.
So three brief points to close then.
1. Consider the sorts of judgements God sends on people
Here we have four examples
1 God stretches out his hand against a country to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals.
2 Or he sends wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no-one can pass through it because of the beasts.
3 (17) Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, Let the sword pass throughout the land, and I kill its men and their animals
4. (19) Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals.
All of these are spoken about in the Book of Moses as possible judgements from God – man-made and natural disasters from God. They are his judgements. We also may know his judgements – there may be sickness, or poverty. You may be affected by a natural disaster or war may come. Be warned. God can destroy this nation in a moment and any individual too. He has the resources. A tiny virus can lay a strong man on his back in no time.
2. Consider how difficult it is to escape from such judgements
In each case Ezekiel talks about Noah, Daniel and Job. Noah, of course, is the man we are all descended from and who was spared when God sent the great judgement of the flood. Job, who also lived before Abraham, suffered terrible judgements from God as you know but again God spared him and brought him through. Daniel is possibly not Ezekiel’s contemporary (he would have been about 25 at the time) but another character who lived before Abraham who was a man of faith but is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. The point about these men is that though they were men of faith they could only do so much. Noah preached and prayed for 120 years but no-one was converted. That whole generation (all except his own family) perished in the flood. Job’s prayers couldn’t save his sons and daughters. It’s like Abraham praying for Sodom. He argued very powerfully with God but Sodom was not spared – only Lot and his daughters. The people in Jerusalem thought they would be okay but they weren’t. It’s no good us thinking then ‘It will all be okay. I’ll pray.’ Or ‘Someone else will pray for me.’ No, only God’s mercy can save.
3. Take comfort in the fact that when God sends such judgements he also preserves a remnant
Here is the final word of comfort. We’ve seen it already in Ezekiel and here it is again. The idea of the remnant comes up in many places in the Old Testament. What is a remnant? The end of the roll, what’s left over. It is not inferior in quality just a little small. Do you know that trick question about the plane that crashes on the border of Canada and the US – where did they bury the survivors? You don’t bury survivors! Here we read (22) Yet there will be some survivors - sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. As there were from the flood and Sodom. God has his remnant – the faithful who keep looking to him, his little flock, those who have come through the narrow gate on to the narrow way. The existence of a remnant is a testimony to the ungodly. When they see our conduct and our actions they have to acknowledge the Lord. Are you one of the few? If you are not, are you aware of the few? Listen to them. Repent. Turn from sin before it is too late. Turn to Christ and find safety in him.
Ezekiel 14 contains two more prophecies. The first, in 1-11, is about hearing God’s Word. The second, in 12-23, is about facing God’s judgements. Though these prophecies were given in Babylon some two and a half thousand years ago now they continue to be full of interest and relevance for us living here in London in the year 2006. There’s something timeless about God’s Word and if we read it correctly we’ll see that it has an application to all sorts of different circumstances and situations. With the help of God’s Spirit let’s seek to learn from this passage today then.
1. Lessons to learn about hearing God’s Word
1. If you have you come to hear God’s Word, realise that it penetrates to the heart
1 Have you come to hear God’s Word?
We read in verse 1 that Some of the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel and sat down in front of him. Clearly they wanted to know what he had to say. He was a prophet sent by God and they were eager to know what God was going to say through his prophet.
Now why have you come here this morning? You may have come for various reasons but I trust that at least to some extent that you have come to hear the Word of God. I am not Ezekiel. I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet. However we have here the Word of God and my purpose this morning is to present it to you in as clear and as simple a way as I know how. As I speak I want to do so as one speaking the very words of God. As I minister to you I am seeking to do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. God has given us his Word – the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the one I want you to see this morning.
2 Do you realise that it penetrates to the heart?
So here are these men before Ezekiel waiting to hear God’s Word, and we read that (2) the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel. Now listen to what it said (3) Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. It wasn’t ‘What fine men we have here – elders of the people, men who are outwardly moral and good. God bless you.’ No this Word spoke about these men’s hearts and the idolatry that was lurking just below the surface. This is how God’s Word speaks when it is preached. It is not superficial but deals with our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. When you go to the doctor’s what do you expect from him? Do you expect him to speak politely and say ‘Hello, how are you? Hope things are okay’. No, you expect him to probe a bit. What is troubling you? Is there pain? You won’t be surprise if he asks you to let him examine you and see what is wrong? Now when we come to God’s Word we should expect something similar. Preaching is not designed to be superficial. ‘Well, none of us are perfect are we? We really must try harder to do our best.’ No, it probes. It looks into our hearts. It puts our thoughts and motives under the microscope. It examines us. What about idolatry? Is it lurking there in your heart? What have you been parading before your eyes this last week? The elders Ezekiel was preaching to probably weren’t like the idolaters back in Jerusalem but they were aware of the idolatry going on all around them in Babylon and they were attracted to it. These are powerful and successful people, perhaps if I worshipped idols I could know some of that too? Is that how you think? Oh, yes I know that you’re here now to hear the Word but what’s going on in your heart? Are you secretly wishing you were just like those all around you? Do you have the same desires as them – for money, for possessions, leisure and ease, worldly success? We must examine ourselves and confess what lurks deep down.
2. Do you have any right to hear God’s Word? What if God gives you what you want?
This raises two further questions
1 Do you have any right to hear God’s Word?
You see the logic here. These elders have come to Ezekiel ostensibly to hear God’s Word and yet God knows their hearts. They have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. And so God asks Should I let them enquire of me at all? Now let me put that question to you and to myself. Do you have any right to be here? Do I? Why should God hear your prayers or mine or speak to you or to me? Why should he let you come to know Jesus Christ? On the one hand, these men are coming to Ezekiel, God’s prophet, and wanting to hear him. However, what is in their hearts? They have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling-blocks before their faces. Imagine a man coming home to his wife and telling her how much he loves her when all the time his heart is set on some other woman. It reminds us of that phrase in Isaiah 29:13 These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And what about us? We are here to hear the Word. That’s good. But what is going on in our hearts? Are we just hypocrites going through the motions? If that is our case what right have we to expect God to answer.
2 What if God gives you what you want?
So Ezekiel is told to tell these hypocrites This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling-block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. Imagine two boys playing together and they are both selfishly arguing over a toy. Then one of them goes to his father and says ‘Dad, make Johnny give me the toy’. Can you imagine the father saying something like ‘I’ll give you something in a minute, my boy’. Well, in a similar way God here says that those who have idols in their hearts who ask him for something will certainly get a response – but not the response they are expecting! The response is spelled out in verse 8 but for the moment let’s just say that the response is not what is expected and clearly it is not pleasant. What sort of response will you get from God do you think if you harbour idolatry within?
3. Understand God’s motive in acting in such a way and realise that God’s Word calls on us to repent
1 Do you understand God’s motives in acting in such a way?
Why such a response? The answer is simple really. Verse 5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols. God is here seeking to win the people back. You sometimes see posters on the trees around here ‘Cat lost’ with a picture, etc. Sometimes you see a lot of them and (if you’re not a cat lover) you wonder why they’ve gone to all that trouble. Well, they want their cat back! God wants us back, that’s why he speaks as he does. That’s the purpose of what is being said this morning. If there is any declension at all, this message is designed to win you back to the Lord. Come back. Let’s not pretend all is okay if it isn’t, let’s be open about it and confess it.
2 Are you listening to God calling on you to repent?
As ever, this is the call, the call to turn from sin and to turn back to God. Verse 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! God is our Creator. He is the true God. He is the one we must worship. But again and again the temptation is there to set up idols in our hearts. We must turn from all these idols and worship only the one and only God, the true God who rules over all. Turn to him – to the Father and to Jesus Christ buy the work of the Spirit. Repentance is never easy. It is against all our instincts. I think I’ve spoken to you before of how in the car I hate turning round and going back the same way if I’ve made a wrong turning. I’m learning though that although retracing your steps is tedious it’s the best way – the only way usually. Repentance is like that – "There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin", an open door you can go through. "At Calvary’s cross is where you begin (where Jesus died to save sinners) when you come as a sinner to Jesus."
4. Hear this warning from God’s Word against heart idolatry and beware of false prophets
1 Are you guarding against heart idolatry?
We get something further in 7, 8 When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling-block before his face and then goes to a prophet to enquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself. I will set my face against that man and make him an example and a byword. I will cut him off from my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD. To be cut off is probably to die. It is to come under the curse of the covenant breaker. God will vindicate himself and the idolater will die. This is one reason why we must guard against idolatry.
2 Do you realise what will happen if you listen to false prophets?
Sometimes things are a little more complex. 9, 10 And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the LORD have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. They will bear their guilt - the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. The elders have come to a prophet who will tell them the truth. There were other prophets too, false prophets. What if they went to them? Or to a true prophet who was tempted to say something less provocative? The answer is clear. God is still at work. He is never the author of sin but he is using even this to bring about his purpose, which in this case is the death of both the idolater and the false prophet.
And so I say to you it is no good you saying ‘Well, I don’t have to come here and listen to this every week – all about sin and judgement all the time. I can go to other places where they will make me feel much better and not keep going on about the idolatry in my heart.’ Or sometimes I think to myself ‘Well, let’s ease up a bit this week and try and talk less about sin and judgement’. And I certainly don’t want to speak about them more than I need to. But what will become of us all, both you and me, if we go down that route? And what will happen to the places that claim to be speaking the Word of God but don’t really probe and say ‘What’s lurking in your heart? Is there a secret love for what the world loves?’. God’s Word leaves us in no doubt They will bear their guilt - the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. And so I am determined to keep on preaching like this – painful as it is. Will you determine to keep listening and to try and bring others under the same preaching? How we need something that will go more than skin deep, that will probe us and speak to our consciences and wake us up to reality! Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! What ever it is that lies in your heart, forsake it, run from it. Get rid of pride and anger and lust and complacency. Cry out to God to wash you clean from your sins in the precious blood of Jesus! Cry out now before it is too late.
5. Hear the call in God’s Word to covenant faithfulness
Again it is very negative, I know, but look where he ends up in verse 11 Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves any more with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD. It is the covenant again. This is what being a Christian is all about – to belong to God’s chosen people and to have God as your God. Is that you? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ? Is he your God, your Saviour? Is he your one true hope? Are you bound to him by unbreakable bonds? Then praise the Lord and press on in him!
2. Lessons to learn about facing God’s judgement
12-23 is familiar territory and I don’t want to spend too much time on it. The structure is quite simple really. Four dreadful calamities are envisaged first of all - sword and famine and wild beasts and plague. We are asked to imagine each of these coming in turn. Then the observation is made in each case that (eg 14) even if these three men - Noah, Daniel and Job - were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD. Then in verse 21 we have the climactic For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments - sword and famine and wild beasts and plague - to kill its men and their animals! There is a strong warning of coming judgement here.
And then as we have had before the chapter ends on an encouraging note of optimism – 22, 23 Yet there will be some survivors - sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem - every disaster I have brought upon it. You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD.
So three brief points to close then.
1. Consider the sorts of judgements God sends on people
Here we have four examples
1 God stretches out his hand against a country to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals.
2 Or he sends wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no-one can pass through it because of the beasts.
3 (17) Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, Let the sword pass throughout the land, and I kill its men and their animals
4. (19) Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals.
All of these are spoken about in the Book of Moses as possible judgements from God – man-made and natural disasters from God. They are his judgements. We also may know his judgements – there may be sickness, or poverty. You may be affected by a natural disaster or war may come. Be warned. God can destroy this nation in a moment and any individual too. He has the resources. A tiny virus can lay a strong man on his back in no time.
2. Consider how difficult it is to escape from such judgements
In each case Ezekiel talks about Noah, Daniel and Job. Noah, of course, is the man we are all descended from and who was spared when God sent the great judgement of the flood. Job, who also lived before Abraham, suffered terrible judgements from God as you know but again God spared him and brought him through. Daniel is possibly not Ezekiel’s contemporary (he would have been about 25 at the time) but another character who lived before Abraham who was a man of faith but is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. The point about these men is that though they were men of faith they could only do so much. Noah preached and prayed for 120 years but no-one was converted. That whole generation (all except his own family) perished in the flood. Job’s prayers couldn’t save his sons and daughters. It’s like Abraham praying for Sodom. He argued very powerfully with God but Sodom was not spared – only Lot and his daughters. The people in Jerusalem thought they would be okay but they weren’t. It’s no good us thinking then ‘It will all be okay. I’ll pray.’ Or ‘Someone else will pray for me.’ No, only God’s mercy can save.
3. Take comfort in the fact that when God sends such judgements he also preserves a remnant
Here is the final word of comfort. We’ve seen it already in Ezekiel and here it is again. The idea of the remnant comes up in many places in the Old Testament. What is a remnant? The end of the roll, what’s left over. It is not inferior in quality just a little small. Do you know that trick question about the plane that crashes on the border of Canada and the US – where did they bury the survivors? You don’t bury survivors! Here we read (22) Yet there will be some survivors - sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. As there were from the flood and Sodom. God has his remnant – the faithful who keep looking to him, his little flock, those who have come through the narrow gate on to the narrow way. The existence of a remnant is a testimony to the ungodly. When they see our conduct and our actions they have to acknowledge the Lord. Are you one of the few? If you are not, are you aware of the few? Listen to them. Repent. Turn from sin before it is too late. Turn to Christ and find safety in him.
