Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 36 – September 1990

 

God's Spirit For God's Name

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Bajema on Ezekiel 36:22-32

Reading: John 3:1-8

Singing: 190, 211, 247, 396

 

Our first Scripture reading presented us with that well-known story of Nicodemus coming and speaking to Jesus.

There, in the dark of the night, so as not to arouse suspicion, this learned man of Israel came to the carpenter from Nazareth, curious to know more.

The Jews, and especially the spiritual leaders, could see that Jesus was different.

This was no ordinary popular hero, attracting a following.

What Jesus spoke was the truth.

It wasn't something to please the crowds.

And that truth hurt.

That's why the hatred against Him was so great.

But there were those, like Nicodemus, who were convicted by that truth.

They wanted to know more.

So it is, that, without anyone else knowing, Nicodemus comes to Jesus.

And in addressing Jesus, he acknowledges respect for Him.

As he says: Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.
                        For no one could perform the miraculous you are doing
                        if God were not with him.

What Jesus says in reply seems very strange.

For, He tells Nicodemus: I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus certainly would have been surprised by this statement.

What was Jesus trying to say?

No wonder he responds: How can a man be born when he is old?  Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!

Nicodemus was no spring chicken!

Since he was one of the learned spiritual leaders of Israel he had spent many years.  studying.

And yet he's told that he must be born again!

In considering this, and looking at what follows in John 3, we see clearly that it's not of ourselves that we become born again.

We can't be made right with God through our own effort.

Rather, it takes a miracle of God to do this!

The setting for our text is very similar.

The people of Judah are in exile.

They're under judgement for all their sins.

These sins Ezekiel had already clearly pointed out earlier in his prophecy.

God's special people, bound together with Him in the covenant, had turned away from Him.

And despite the many prophets sent by God to warn them, they hadn't changed their ways.

Ezekiel was the latest in the line of these prophets.

And God, in commissioning him for his task, had told him: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt to this very day.
The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn.
Say to them, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says...!”

And this is exactly what Ezekiel did.

Like the prophets before him he urged the people to turn from their evil ways – to return to the LORD their God.

Often he preached to them: Repent!
Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!

But had the people listened?  Certainly not!

In the stubborn sinfulness of their hearts they ignored and despised the Lord's message.

And so they were severely punished.

Jerusalem was razed, levelled to the ground!

Many of the Israelites were killed while others were taken away into captivity.

The wrath of God was great.

Taken away from their beloved homeland!

As Psalm 137 puts it:
            By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
            when we remembered Zion.
            There on the poplars we hung our harps,
            for there our captors asked us for songs,
            our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
            they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

This is why we read in the verses before our text: I dispersed them among the nations and they were scattered throughout the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions.

But because they were known as the LORD's people they also gave Him some bad press.

That is, the other nations assumed that it was because of the weakness, or inadequacy of their God, that they had to leave the Promised Land.

Naturally the LORD had concern for His holy Name, which was being profaned in this way among the nations.

You see, to profane the LORD's Name meant that He wasn't being treated the way He deserved to be.

This was certainly a situation that needed to be changed!

And so it is that we come to the words of our text.

Our text, following on from this situation of the LORD's Name being profaned, tells us of three things.

In the first place that Name which has been profaned will be shown to be great.

Secondly, we'll see how this greatness will be shown through God creating in His people a new heart and a new spirit, and by placing them in a land that's richly blessed.

And in the third place, this new phase of greatness will make the Lord's people remember, with loathing, their past sinfulness.

Firstly, then, that Name which had been profaned will be shown to be great.

This point comes to us from the verses 22 and 23.

And in considering these verses the first statement to hit us is that it isn't for Israel's sake that there will be restoration.

There was nothing in Israel's whole history that even barely supported its asking for special consideration.

Already back in Deuteronomy the people were told: it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff- necked people.

No!

It's not because of those sinful people that the covenant God will work a complete restoration.

In this sense is it any different today?

Can we ever claim in ourselves any special treatment?

Of course not!

Why, then, will there be restoration?

How come that this rightful situation of punishment is going to be turned around?

It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.

For the sake of His holy Name...!

In Proverbs it says: A good name is more desirable than great riches;
                                    to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

How much more, then, should not the good name of God, the Almighty Creator and Sustainer, be held high.

It is no wonder that the first commandment says:

You shall have no other gods before me.

When we speak here of God's Name we're not referring to just a word – you know, that thing made up with a certain number of letters.

Rather, God's Name represents who He is.

So when God's Name is brought down among the nations, God Himself is brought low.

Other gods are given a higher glory.

That's not on! says God.

He desires to confront the whole world with His great might and power.

Verse 23 describes God's plan in this way:
I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them.  Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I will show myself holy through you before their eyes.

God's people – yes, the Old Testament Church, has brought God down.

Their sinfulness reflected badly upon their being chosen by His grace.

And so they are punished, as God had said they would be.

But that punishment reflects badly upon their God.

He isn't brought the glory He should rightfully have.

Thus, in order for Him to receive glory he will again show Himself to be holy, through His people.

That's why we move, in the second place, to God's greatness being shown through the renewing of His people.

What an amazing pointing to Pentecost!

Yet, at the same time, also, an amazing revelation of the meaning of Pentecost.

Somehow we've fallen into the belief that Pentecost is God graciously equipping His people to witness to Him in this world.

This is certainly true... as far as it goes.

But there's more to Pentecost than just a simple equipping.

God's very Name is at stake.

You are to bear witness to that Name!

That's why at the time of your conversion you received the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps this puzzles you.

You think, and quite rightly, that the Spirit in us is a pointer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's Christ's Spirit, we say, that's assuring us of our salvation and equipping us for our part in His Body.

This in itself is true.

But let's consider the Body as a whole.

The Body is the Body of Christ.

It seeks to reflect upon its Head, who is Jesu Christ Himself.

And so it does everything possible to bring to Him the glory, the praise, and the honour.

Isn't this glorifying God?

For sure it is!

Isn't Christ the physical manifestation of God's Name?

As John puts it: No one has seen God, but God the only Son has made him known.

The whole purpose of being empowered with the Holy Spirit is to recognise this.

The LORD says in our text:
            I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean;
            I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
            I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
            I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Notice how everything is being made new!

What had previously been a hindrance to God being given all the glory, is now taken away.

And though this naturally affects the individual, yet a nation is being addressed.

God deals with us a people – His covenant people.

That's why we can see again how this is a pointing to Pentecost.

You see, there had been times before when God's Spirit had been actively at work in the Old Testament Church.

But now God is saying: No more shadows!
            No more these minor reflections upon my glory:
            I'm going to move in a mighty and decisive way!

In fact, this movement of the Spirit will be so major that the whole world will feel its vibrations.

This would be the time in which, as Jesus says in Acts 1, the church would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon it.

This would be the time when Christians would become Christ's witnesses, testifying to Christ's doing and dying, whether in Jerusalem, or Judea, or Samaria, or to the ends of the earth!

But now there comes a difficult part for us to understand.

As we read of the LORD speaking to those exiles in Babylon:
            You will live in the land I gave your forefathers;
            you will be my people, and I will be your God.
            I will save you from all your uncleanness.
            I will call for the grain and make it plentiful
            and will not bring famine upon you.
            I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field,
            so that you will no longer suffer disgrace
                        among the nations because of famine

These exiles were never brought back to this exact situation.

Later, there was a return to the Promised Land.

Yet, you could never say that everything was a bed of roses for these returned exiles.

They had to work hard.

There were many disasters both natural and man-made.

And continuing through the New Testament we'd have to say that the church has never been blessed completely in this way.

The question then arises:
            Was Ezekiel wrong here?
            Is this only a piece of wishful thinking?

There is a key, though, to unlock this puzzle.

This key we find at the beginning of verse 29.

As we read there:
            I will save you from all uncleanness.

Look at yourselves, brothers and sisters.

Can we honestly say that there's been a total purification so that in everything we do and say, there's no sin?

Oh yes, in regards to our state before God, because of Christ's work, we're pure.

But living still in this sinful world means that we're often stained by sin.

So this fulfilment can only really take place upon the new heaven and the new earth.

Yet the signs are showing that we're moving quickly to that time and place.

The many rich blessings we have now already are indications of a time when everything will be a blessing.

Ever since the coming of Christ there has been a count-down to His return.

And even our very selves show this coming glory.

No longer do we need to be regulated by outside things, such as the Israelites needed.

No need now for a temple; the strict following of fasts; celebrating feast days; or the meticulous following of the law.

Now we're enabled to respond much more freely and joyfully.

Yet, our limitations still show us what's to come.

And we can look forward to what is to come with a real eagerness!

In this present phase of the Lord's goodness, though, we remember how bad we once were.

And yes, how bad we still continue to be.

We're taken back here, to our first point.

There we saw how it wasn't for Israel's sake that the people would be blessed.

Rather, it was for the Lord's own sake.

Verse 32 reaffirms this thought:
I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Don't ever think there's an ounce of goodness in you, brother or sister!

Forget ever having any kind of natural, inherited right to these marvellous blessings!

Every tiny bit is all of grace.

Despite everything, God chooses to glorify His Holy Name through a sinful and completely unworthy people.

Pentecost confirms that pattern already seen in the Old Testament.

At Pentecost those cowardly, ambitious, pride-filled disciples become equipped with God's Spirit to glorify His Name.

And today this same thing continues on.

Men and women, young adults, teenagers... all are being used by God for His glory.

We have to come in humility, each day again, seeking God's pardoning grace and His strength for what lies ahead.

Our reaction to the Gospel must be the same as that crowd on the first Pentecost Day.

After they had heard Peter's Pentecost sermon, they were cut to the heart!

And so they said to Peter and the other apostles: Brothers, what shall we do?

To which Peter replied:
            Repent and be baptised, every one of you,
            in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
            so that your sins may be forgiven.]
            And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Is this all for the benefit of a mutual back-slapping club?

Can "praise the Lord" become as meaningless as "gidday"?

Let's hope not!

Instead, let's praise Him truthfully with our renewed hearts and bodies.

And may it soon be, that all this world will say:
            ...the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
            his faithfulness continues through all generations.

AMEN