Will you Stand in the Gap? March 1, 2020 -24 Grace Church Introduction: There is nothing ______in these chapters. There are new analogies, new demonstrations of truth, there are new indictments of the nation of , but the message is the same: Judgment is ______. Judgment is ______. A nation that was supposed to be a witness, but it had become a warning. These texts demonstrate the need to ask the question in any Bible study “What did this mean to the people who heard or read it the ______” Only then do you have a substantial basis for answering “What does it mean for me ______?

These chapters require us to ask a few questions. • How are we to ______in light of God’s coming judgment? • How do we live in light of God coming judgment over all the earth? (Revelation 20) • How do we live in light of God’s coming judgment of a ______? (1 Corinthians 3:10-15) • What is God looking for when he proclaims and plans judgment? We know He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (ch. 18) We know his patience is for the purposes of repentance (2 Peter 3:9)

• Overview of chi 21-24 • Chapter 21- The Song of the sword: God will use to destroy . Ezekiel is told to sharpen, polish and brandish a sword to demonstrate the coming judgment on Judah. Judgment is so sure that God will use ______of to send Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:18–23) • Chapter 22- an indictment of Jerusalem. Ezekiel is called to bring judgment to Jerusalem. In two lists he details the complete ______of sin from top to bottom of Israel society. The first (vs 6-12) Verses 6–12 give the first catalogue of Jerusalem’s crimes, showing how she has offended against God’s law. The charges are directed against the “princes of Israel,” a phrase normally understood as designating the former kings of Judah. The second (:23–29) The sins listed here are not a random collection of charges, but specifically an accusation of having violated the laws of the Pentateuch, especially those of the so-called “Holiness Code” of Leviticus 18–20. • Chapter 23- Parable of Two Adulterous Sisters, Oholah ( Northern Tribes of Israel) Oholiab (Jerusalem, southern tribe of Judah) In shocking, explicit language bordering on the pornographic (see vs 20) Ezekiel repeats the message of chs. 16 & 20 Israel has had a longstanding history of despising and rebellion against the God who has loved them. A warning(:39)? Why such shocking language? It is a last ditch attempt to get Israel to feel the ______of their sin. To wake up and see that this is about to happen. in Ezekiel 23 the harnesses all of the emotional impact of a graphic portrayal of sexual perversion to drive home the point that Jerusalem’s coming destruction is both the deserved and the inevitable consequence of her past actions. One of the lessons of chapter 23 is we sin because ______. • Chapter 24(a)- Parable of the cooking pot. Israel has become a cooking pot that ______be cleaned. Israel thought they were too righteous to be conquered (choice pieces), The place they thought would be safe (Jerusalem) had become their judgment. For twenty-three chapters now, Ezekiel has been proclaiming the wrath to come on Jerusalem. n which the king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem (24:2) • Chapter 24 (b)- Death of Ezekiel’s wife as a sign to Jerusalem. Ezekiel is told to grieve quietly, not publicly. Outwardly, he is to behave as if nothing has happened. Ezekiel is a sign that what you love will be taken away and you will not play the hypocrite and mourn, • Something to remember as you read all of these chapters and more. While Ezekiel is writing about Jerusalem it is the ______who are hearing it.

Key thought: God is looking for a person to ______- the gap between God’s anger and its objects. Are you that person? Why you should stand in the gap?

1 “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

I. Because of God is looking for ______to join Him. “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:5–9) A. stood in the gap for Sodom. (Genesis 18:22–32) “Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”” (Genesis 18:32) B. Elijah stood in the gap for the 7000 righteous still remaining in Israel. 1Kings 19:18 II. Because we get to see ______in action. “And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.” (Exodus 32:9–14) A. What will the Egyptians say? It matter because if they had a wrong view of Yahweh they would never turn to Him. God has plans for the Egyptians B. What about your promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Ultimately our salvation depends on our faith in God’s promises. C. God listened. “Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.” (Psalm 106:23) III. Because intercessory prayer requires intercessory ______. (JD Greerar). A sad verse: “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:58) This verse implies that God was willing to do miracles but no one believed his was willing to do so. A. Intercessory faith is demonstrated in Moses intercession for Israel. He did not want to see God bring judgment on his people and believed in the promise of God. B. Intercessory prayer means believing in the willingness of God to save on behalf of someone else. C. Could the lack of seeing God work in situations be the result of our unbelief instead of God’s willingness. Find a promise to claim on behalf of another. D. The fact that there was no one willing says how dire the situation was in Israel.“I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.” (Isaiah 63:5)

IV. Because God reveals Himself in ______. No human could relate to Paul’s words more than Elijah, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8) A. God loves to use the weak. 1 Corinthians 1:18-26 B. God will make us weak to use us. “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply” A. W. Tozer

Conclusion: Because We can stand in the gap because ______has stood in the gap. Christ stand between God’s wrath and its objects.“And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:7–8)

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