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Sunday, November 17th, 2024
the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33

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Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 36

EzekielEzk 35 EzekielEzk EzekielEzk 37

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Verses 1-38

PURIFIED OR PETRIFIED? (Ch.36)
1. These prophecies were not fulfilled in 586bc when they returned from Babylon.
2. Israel’s glorious conversion & repopulation of the land.
  1. But 1^st they needed to be regenerated in a spiritual sense.
3. (9) I am for you – If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom.8:31)
4. I will turn to you – Not away from you.
5. You will be tilled & sown – dug up & planted. (The land, our lives [No, not the blade!])
6. (17) This defiling was like a menstrual discharge that rendered a woman ceremonially unclean and defiled everything she touched.
  1. We are impure & need to be purified.
7. REGATHER! (22-24)
8. He will regather his people from among the nations. He will bring them back to honor his name.
9. REGENERATE! (25-27)
10. He will regenerate his people, giving them new hearts. Their filth will be washed away.
  1. Remember heart is not the physical organ; but the moral character of the person; the inner person; the seat of the will, emotions, & conscience.
11. It’s not hard to love God with all your heart…it’s impossible! (i.e. w/your own heart)
  1. A new heart is needed.
  2. “You must be born again” is essential to a new life!
  3. You can’t fulfill Deut.6:5 on your own “You shall love the Lord your God…” [But w/a new heart you can now fulfill the most basic commandment]
  4. Or even our church Motto: To live the Great Commandment; To fulfill the Great Commission. [Explain commandment]
  5. Only petrified Christians have stony hearts. [oxymoron]
12. Stone heart vs. flesh heart = hard vs. soft!
  1. The Hard Heart asks: Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord? What has He done for me?
  2. The Soft Heart says: Lord, you know I love you; help me to love You more.
    1. It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing.
    2. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord.
13. What’s 1^st needed is a Heart Transplant (26); then a Heart Transformed (27).
  1. With a Heart Transplant - You will now have a new ability to “love, obey, & serve Him”.
  2. And have a new desire & new motivation.
  3. With a Heart Transformed – (i.e. with God’s Spirit indwelling you) you’ll be motivated to obey His decrees & laws.
14. Read - 2 Cor.3:1-3
15. Paul sees a need to give one of these commendations in Rom.16:1,2 “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea...”
16. Yet Paul here says he needs no letter of commendation…because “the Corinthian believers” were his commendation!
  1. The change in their character & life is the only commendation that he needs.
17. Not w/ink – years before Plato had said “the good teacher does not write his message in ink that will fade; he writes it upon men.”
  1. Job said, “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!” 19:23,24
18. This is what Jesus had done. He wrote His message upon the Corinthians hearts…through his servant Paul. - Not w/“Fading Ink” but w/His “Permanent Marker Spirit”; not on tablets of stone(as they were 1^st written) but on the tablet of their hearts.
  1. The Law was external - You could hold the tablets of stones in your hands your whole life & it could never change your life.
  2. The NT ministry is internal – The Spirit of God living inside & empowering you.
19. We ought to be Christians in large type!
20. The Law only “reveals” sin; it cannot do anything about it!
21. “all men” - Christianity is essentially a lay movement.
22. Every believer is an open letter for Jesus.
23. Every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity.
  1. We judge a store by the quality of goods it sells; We judge a craftsman on his quality of work; We judge a Church by the kind of Christians it produces; & therefore the world judges Christ by His Followers!
  2. Dick Sheppard said, “The greatest handicap the church has is the unsatisfactory lives of professing Christians.”
  3. When we step out into our world everyday we are “open letters”, “advertisements” for Christ & His church. We are “Sandwich boards for the Savior”!
  4. You are writing a Gospel, a chapter every day, By the deeds that you do & the words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithful or true. Just what is the gospel according to you?
24. The Spirit wants to write a fresh version of His Word on your heart…will you let Him?
25. Q: What are your thoughts when I say, “you may be the only letter from Christ that some people ever read?
26. True religion then begins w/the heart. You can enlighten someone’s understanding, but if their heart’s wrong, it only enables them to sin w/greater weight of responsibility resting on him.
  1. He knows good to be good, but he prefers evil.
  2. He sees the light but prefers darkness.
  3. He turns from the truth because his heart is alienated from God.
27. RESTORE! (28-38)
28. He will restore his people, allowing them to rebuild their cities and harvest their crops. They will be his people, and he will be their God.
29. What’s on the inside?
30. External Religion says "be clean physically and morally".
  Internal Redemption says, "Be born again and made into a new creature!"
31. External Religion says "A clean exterior makes a clean interior."
  Internal Redemption says "when the inside gets clean, it will clean up the outside."
32. External Religion says "You must develop some rules to govern your behavior."
  Internal Redemption says "I love God, therefore I will live right!"
33. External Religion says "Be faithful to your church, its practices and its teaching and you will be clean."
  Internal Redemption says "Be cleansed by Jesus and you will be faithful to your church, its practices and its teachings."
34. External Religion is a man made system of ritual, ceremony, law and work. Internal Redemption is a work of God in the heart that produces a new creature!

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Verses 1-38

PURIFIED OR PETRIFIED? (Ch.36)
1. These prophecies were not fulfilled in 586bc when they returned from Babylon.
2. Israel’s glorious conversion & repopulation of the land.
  1. But 1^st they needed to be regenerated in a spiritual sense.
3. (9) I am for you – If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom.8:31)
4. I will turn to you – Not away from you.
5. You will be tilled & sown – dug up & planted. (The land, our lives [No, not the blade!])
6. (17) This defiling was like a menstrual discharge that rendered a woman ceremonially unclean and defiled everything she touched.
  1. We are impure & need to be purified.
7. REGATHER! (22-24)
8. He will regather his people from among the nations. He will bring them back to honor his name.
9. REGENERATE! (25-27)
10. He will regenerate his people, giving them new hearts. Their filth will be washed away.
  1. Remember heart is not the physical organ; but the moral character of the person; the inner person; the seat of the will, emotions, & conscience.
11. It’s not hard to love God with all your heart…it’s impossible! (i.e. w/your own heart)
  1. A new heart is needed.
  2. “You must be born again” is essential to a new life!
  3. You can’t fulfill Deut.6:5 on your own “You shall love the Lord your God…” [But w/a new heart you can now fulfill the most basic commandment]
  4. Or even our church Motto: To live the Great Commandment; To fulfill the Great Commission. [Explain commandment]
  5. Only petrified Christians have stony hearts. [oxymoron]
12. Stone heart vs. flesh heart = hard vs. soft!
  1. The Hard Heart asks: Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord? What has He done for me?
  2. The Soft Heart says: Lord, you know I love you; help me to love You more.
    1. It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing.
    2. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord.
13. What’s 1^st needed is a Heart Transplant (26); then a Heart Transformed (27).
  1. With a Heart Transplant - You will now have a new ability to “love, obey, & serve Him”.
  2. And have a new desire & new motivation.
  3. With a Heart Transformed – (i.e. with God’s Spirit indwelling you) you’ll be motivated to obey His decrees & laws.
14. Read - 2 Cor.3:1-3
15. Paul sees a need to give one of these commendations in Rom.16:1,2 “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea...”
16. Yet Paul here says he needs no letter of commendation…because “the Corinthian believers” were his commendation!
  1. The change in their character & life is the only commendation that he needs.
17. Not w/ink – years before Plato had said “the good teacher does not write his message in ink that will fade; he writes it upon men.”
  1. Job said, “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!” 19:23,24
18. This is what Jesus had done. He wrote His message upon the Corinthians hearts…through his servant Paul. - Not w/“Fading Ink” but w/His “Permanent Marker Spirit”; not on tablets of stone(as they were 1^st written) but on the tablet of their hearts.
  1. The Law was external - You could hold the tablets of stones in your hands your whole life & it could never change your life.
  2. The NT ministry is internal – The Spirit of God living inside & empowering you.
19. We ought to be Christians in large type!
20. The Law only “reveals” sin; it cannot do anything about it!
21. “all men” - Christianity is essentially a lay movement.
22. Every believer is an open letter for Jesus.
23. Every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity.
  1. We judge a store by the quality of goods it sells; We judge a craftsman on his quality of work; We judge a Church by the kind of Christians it produces; & therefore the world judges Christ by His Followers!
  2. Dick Sheppard said, “The greatest handicap the church has is the unsatisfactory lives of professing Christians.”
  3. When we step out into our world everyday we are “open letters”, “advertisements” for Christ & His church. We are “Sandwich boards for the Savior”!
  4. You are writing a Gospel, a chapter every day, By the deeds that you do & the words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithful or true. Just what is the gospel according to you?
24. The Spirit wants to write a fresh version of His Word on your heart…will you let Him?
25. Q: What are your thoughts when I say, “you may be the only letter from Christ that some people ever read?
26. True religion then begins w/the heart. You can enlighten someone’s understanding, but if their heart’s wrong, it only enables them to sin w/greater weight of responsibility resting on him.
  1. He knows good to be good, but he prefers evil.
  2. He sees the light but prefers darkness.
  3. He turns from the truth because his heart is alienated from God.
27. RESTORE! (28-38)
28. He will restore his people, allowing them to rebuild their cities and harvest their crops. They will be his people, and he will be their God.
29. What’s on the inside?
30. External Religion says "be clean physically and morally".
  Internal Redemption says, "Be born again and made into a new creature!"
31. External Religion says "A clean exterior makes a clean interior."
  Internal Redemption says "when the inside gets clean, it will clean up the outside."
32. External Religion says "You must develop some rules to govern your behavior."
  Internal Redemption says "I love God, therefore I will live right!"
33. External Religion says "Be faithful to your church, its practices and its teaching and you will be clean."
  Internal Redemption says "Be cleansed by Jesus and you will be faithful to your church, its practices and its teachings."
34. External Religion is a man made system of ritual, ceremony, law and work. Internal Redemption is a work of God in the heart that produces a new creature!

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EzekielEzk 35 EzekielEzk EzekielEzk 37

Copyright Statement
These files are the property of Brian Bell.
Text Courtesy of Calvary Chapel of Murrieta. Used by Permission.

Bibliographical Information
Bell, Brian. "Commentary on Ezekiel 36". "Bell's Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cbb/ezekiel-36.html. 2017.

Bible CommentariesEzekiel 36

Bell's Commentary on the BibleBell's Commentary

Verses 1-38

Verses 1-38

Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 36