Daily Dose of the Word of God - Ezekiel 36: 25-27

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey  0:10 

Good morning friends and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. It's Thursday, January 16, and this is Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor of the church. God is inviting us to get more of his word into our hearts and lives and invitation to eat his book. Today's reading takes us back to the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 36 verses, 25 through 27.

Gregg DeMey  0:41 

"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 instead a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

Gregg DeMey  1:03

God's Word through Ezekiel introduces three powerful images in this little passage: First, an unclean, dirty, impure body that is being cleansed by fresh, purifying, clean water. Time and time again in the Scriptures, God saves his people through the water. This is one of the reasons that we baptize in obedience to Jesus' directions in Matthew 28 - we need to be forgiven and washed clean by a power beyond our own. Second is the image of a cold, dead heart - a heart of stone, as Ezekiel puts it. Some of us can remember a time in our lives when our thoughts, desires and affections (before we knew Jesus) were dead and lifeless. We know the deadness apart from the one who gives life. But even for those of us who have known the Lord since childhood, we have at least had glimpses of stony seasons when we felt cold or lifeless. But here's the good news: God specializes in heart transplants. God's promise here is to give his people a new heart, no longer cold and stony, but a warm one made of flesh - tender, vulnerable and full of life. Third, and finally, Ezekiel draws our attention to God's Spirit. It is by God's Spirit that this heart renovation and water washing work can be accomplished. One of the chief works of God's Spirit is to give us the desire to live according to God's laws and decrees. Notice, it's not a blind rule following obedience to God's laws that the Lord is after - it's a spirit fueled gratitude that helps us to delight in the ways of the Lord. Sign me up!

Gregg DeMey  3:03  

Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for this ancient prophecy through your servant, Ezekiel. We thank you for your promise of clean water to wash away our sin and impurities. We thank you for your promise to replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. We thank you for your promise to put your spirit within us - to empower us to walk the way of Jesus. We welcome your work within us today. For Jesus' sake, amen.