https://esv.literalword.com/?q=eze+36%3B+James+2
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 4 October 2023:
Ezekiel 36:13, 14 – Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God.
Ungodly nations are particularly hard on children. The nation of Israel during the time of Ezekiel had developed an international reputation as being a dangerous place to live because of the sinfulness of the people. Remember that one of the primary reasons God judged Israel was because they sacrificed their infants to Baal. This is what is being referred to in vs 18 – “I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it.” Today, the sacrifice of children to idolatry is performed in a more sophisticated way, and we call it abortion. About 60 million babies have been aborted in America since Roe vs Wade – that is the equivalent of 10 Holocausts. God will hold the nation accountable for that.
Ezekiel 36:20, 21 – But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, “These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.” But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
God is ashamed of people who claim to represent Him when they are not holy and obedient.
Ezekiel 36:22-23 – Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
God’s intent is to spread the reputation of His name throughout the earth. When God works in our lives, it is ultimately not about us but rather about Him. We are on earth to accomplish His purposes, not ours. If His purposes require our demise, then praise God who has given us this incredibly honorable responsibility.
God will glorify Himself through your life either in a positive way or a negative way, either through blessings or through discipline, depending on whether or not you choose to obey Him and display His character to the world rightly. God the Father cannot tolerate children that dishonor the family name.
Ezekiel 36:25-32 – I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules…. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses…. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways….
We cannot purify ourselves; God must purify us. We cannot fix our hearts; God must give us a new heart. We cannot follow God’s command or obey Him unless His Holy Spirit is within us. You must be born again by salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
Only God can cleanse you, fix your heart, and give you the strength to obey Him day by day. You cannot achieve holiness through willpower.
Man cannot fix the condition of his heart. Modern-day gurus have nothing to offer you. Our only hope is salvation through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus we receive a new heart, and a new spirit, not band aids on our old broken, corrupted heart. Then we will see clearly the foolishness and sinfulness of our old self and our new heart will desire, out of love, honor, and reverence to obey God’s commands, placing no confidence in self or the ways of the world. Only through the power and grace of God is there any hope for genuine change.
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.” The Holy Spirit drives you to humility, continual repentance, and the acknowledgment that is not for you but rather for the glory of God. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin, you will be truly repentant. When you are truly repentant, you will not want to sin any longer.
Ezekiel 36:26 – I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Comments from Henry T. Blackaby – “From our hearts comes our response to God. Apart from the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are extremely deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). David prayed that God would cleanse him from the ravages of his sin and purify his heart (Ps. 51:10). God’s greatest desire is that His people love Him with all their hearts (Deut. 6:5). Jesus said we are blessed if our hearts are pure (Matt. 5:8). Sin hardens the heart (Matt. 13:4, 19). The more sin we allow to pass over our hearts and through our lives, the more resistant we become to a word from God. The sin of unforgiveness stiffens our hearts. We cannot continue to resist the prompting of the Holy Spirit without becoming hardened against Him. Exposing ourselves to evil and ungodly influences desensitizes us to God and His word. Over time, our hearts become like stone, unreceptive to a fresh word from God. We become anesthetized to sin. Has your heart grown hard toward God? Do you feel as though nothing could soften it? God has a solution. He will separate you from the influences that are destroying you (Ezek. 36:24). He will cleanse you from all filthiness and remove everything that has taken His place in your affections (Ezek. 36:25). He will remove your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, tender toward Him and His word. If your love for God is not what it should be, ask Him to renew your heart and restore your devotion to Him.”
James 2:1 — My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Partiality is a sin because it involves viewing others from your selfish perspective rather than from God’s perspective. It is the first form of judging others wrongly.
James 2:10 – For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
Only by seeing lawlessness from God’s perspective can we get a true sense of how terrible sin is before a Holy God. Only by understanding how guilty we are and how hopeless our condition as sinners do we truly appreciate the Cross of Christ and the mercy that we have received. Only then are we inspired by grateful love to truly obey from the heart and to show grace and mercy to other hopeless sinners.
James 2:12, 13 — So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Many ‘Christians’ act like grace is freedom from the consequences of sin rather than acting like grace is the freedom not to sin. It is a much graver thing to be judged under the law of liberty rather than to be judged under the written law. What is left to be said of the person who accepts the sacrifice of the Son of God for their sins and then turns around and sins unremorsefully? The unsaved cannot help but sin and haven’t the power of the Spirit and of love, but the saved who live by faith also live by love which by default hates the sin that God hates. No one should be more horrified by sin than the Christian.
James 2:13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
God will treat you the way you treat others. Do you rely on mercy from God for your transgressions while demanding justice be imposed on those who have offended you?
James 2:19, 20 — You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Many who claim to be Christian don’t even have a demon-level of faith — they don’t even shudder. Believing in Jesus isn’t the same as having a saving faith in Jesus, humbly trusting, following, and loving Jesus. The Great Commission does not call us to go into the world and make “believers;” it calls us to make “disciples,” disciplined, followers of Christ who are motivated by love to obey Him – “Go therefore and make disciples… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Obedience is not the path to salvation but rather the evidence of salvation. “Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.” (Proverbs 20:11) “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3, 4)
– Psalm 96:9 — Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
– Psalm 99:1 — The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
– Luke 6:46 — Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
– Matthew 7:21 — “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
– 1 John 2:6 — …whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
– 1 John 3:24 — Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
– 2 John 1:9 — Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
– 1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
James 2:26 – Faith apart from works is dead.
True faith is revealed by its fruit. We are saved by faith, not by works; but a faith without works is no faith at all. We are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone. “Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 4 October 2023: Today, pray for a perspective of the Gospel which will compel you in love and appreciation to obey God with joy, cleansing yourself from defilement and laying aside the weight of sin which has being weighing you down — “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1, 2)
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 