Going Vertical - Put No Idols Before God
Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 03 January 2010 09:00
Sermon Notes
“The study of God is the most important study a mind can be engaged in.” – J.I. Packer
Ezekiel 14:1-11
Idolaters Condemned
(1) Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. (2) Then the word of the LORD came to me: (3) “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? (4) Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘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. (5) I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’
(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!
(7) “‘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 inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself. (8) 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.
(9)“‘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. (10) They will bear their guilt—the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. (11) Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ “
When an idolater comes to a prophet, God Himself will answer
God’s Answer: He will ...
- Oppose the idolater
- Make an example of her
- Cut her off from His people
If the prophet tries to answer the idolater, God will consider the prophet as bad as the idolater
God wants to recapture our hearts
What is idolatry?
We have not to picture these elders to ourselves as given up to gross idolatry. The phrase here means to allow anything to come into the mind, to permit it to rise up in the heart, to be mentally busy therewith. “To set one’s face” is also to be understood, in a spiritual sense, as relating to a thing which a man will not put out of his mind.
– C.F. Kyle
Sometimes God will answer a petition so that we more fully understand its consequences in our own lives.
What are we to do?... Repent
Turn from our idols and renounce them.