Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S38 || Sunday Sitters, Monday Quitters: The Ancient Problem of Modern Faith || Ezekiel 33:23-33 || Session 38
God's frustration echoes across millennia in the ending verses of Ezekiel chapter 33: "They come to you as people come and hear your words, but they do not do them." This ancient complaint strikes at the heart of modern faith—our tendency to consume spiritual content without allowing it to transform our daily lives.
The Jewish exiles in Babylon had just received confirmation that Jerusalem had fallen, exactly as Ezekiel prophesied. Vindicated as a true prophet, Ezekiel suddenly found himself popular among the people who gathered eagerly to hear his messages. Yet God reveals their fatal flaw: they treated divine revelation like entertainment—"like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice"—appreciated in the moment but forgotten when life's real decisions came calling.
This disconnect between hearing and doing remains our greatest spiritual challenge today. We attend services, listen to sermons, participate in Bible studies, yet when facing workplace dilemmas, relationship conflicts, or financial pressures, we often default to worldly wisdom rather than trusting God's guidance. The Israelites claimed Abraham's promise while ignoring God's commands; similarly, we claim Christian identity while compartmentalizing our faith.
The chapter ending reveals a crucial theological distinction: God's unconditional promises (like the land covenant) stand firm, but experiencing their blessings requires faithful obedience. For Christians today, this mirrors our salvation security through Christ while reminding us that the quality of our spiritual journey depends significantly on our willingness to trust and obey God daily.
Are you sitting before God's Word as an appreciative audience member or as a committed disciple? The difference isn't found in church attendance but in Monday through Saturday decisions that reveal whether we're merely fans of spiritual content or genuine followers transformed by divine truth. Listen again to Ezekiel's ancient warning—it might be the most relevant message you'll hear today.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
What happens when people want to hear the Word of God? They come to hear the Word of God, but then they don't put it into practice on a daily basis in their lives. That was a problem way back in Ezekiel's day and it's a problem in our day as well. Hi, I'm Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We are Reasoning Through the Bible, and in the book of Ezekiel we have some of the same issues that we see today in our churches.
Speaker 1:So if you have your copy of the Word of God, open it to Ezekiel, chapter 33, and there we're going to find that the people of Israel have been removed to Babylon as part of a captivity. That is punishment from God for disobedience. And the prophet Ezekiel has been raised up by God to give messages to these people and the surrounding nations, and he predicted that Jerusalem would fall. This was in the face of false prophets that predicted otherwise, and in Ezekiel, chapter 33, the people had just heard news from Jerusalem that the city had indeed fallen. Ezekiel was proved correct and the other prophets were proved false. So we now have confirmation that Ezekiel's prophecy was indeed true. We're going to pick up there and as we're going to see the people of Israel, the Jewish people. They are not out of the woods yet as far as God's word of condemnation. Steve, can you start in verse 23 and read down to verse 29?
Speaker 2:Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying Son of man, they who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land. So to us, who are many, the land has been given as a possession. Therefore, say to them thus says the Lord God you eat meat with the blood in it. Lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the land? Thus you shall say to them.
Speaker 2:Thus says the Lord God, as I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence. I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her power will cease and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.
Speaker 1:In this section, especially starting in verse 24, the people of Israel thought that since Abraham inherited the land, he was just one person, one man. There was only one of him. He had the land. There's a great many of us, so we should have the land also. Just following that, verse 25 and 26, god gives reasons why they did not possess the land. So, steve, what reasons does God give on why they did not possess the land? So, steve, what reasons does God give on why they did not possess the land?
Speaker 2:He gave several examples of them breaking the commandments. He says you eat meat with blood in it. Well, that was one of the commandments of the law that they were not to do, that they weren't to eat from animals that were strangled, that still contain the blood. He says you lift up your eyes to the idols. As we've seen all throughout this whole book of Ezekiel, that was a major thing that they were doing was they were continuing to go after idols, and even God put it to the point of accusing them of being like harlots, that they were prostituting themselves out, going after these idols. He says you commit abominations and they defile the neighbor's wife. That's one of the Ten Commandments you shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
Speaker 2:So he had some other things that were all dealing with the law, the statutes and the ordinances and, as we've mentioned before, Glenn, living in the land was a conditional item that was prescribed back in Deuteronomy. If you follow my ordinances and statutes, then you will live long in the land, you will prosper, but if you don't, then you'll be cursed and you won't live in the land. So they're not doing what they're supposed to do. Therefore, they're being evicted from the land.
Speaker 2:Their comment is basically, they're saying you promised all this land to Abraham and then Isaac and Jacob. Well, we're the descendants of Abraham that you promised it to. Therefore, we have a right to the land. But God is being clear here that while he has given them the land, he also has the right to evict them and take them into exile because they're not doing his ordinances and statutes, they're not obeying him and they're actually doing the opposite. They were to be ambassadors to the other nations as a representation of who God Yahweh was, and they were becoming just one of the other nations themselves. So it's very clear that God is saying just because you are a descendant of Abraham and I gave the land to Abraham doesn't mean that you automatically get to stay in the land. You're being evicted because of your actions and disobedience.
Speaker 1:What's interesting in the book of Ezekiel is this isn't the only place here in chapter 33 where God condemns them. If you've been with us, you've seen that at least two dozen chapters God, over and over, gave very strong language saying here's why I'm sending in judgment. And he sent Babylon in to kill large numbers of people and scatter some and take some captive. So no surprise that through disobedience, god sends in judgment. What is interesting is that in spite of all of this, as we're going to see in upcoming chapters God is going to extensively and clearly bring Israel back to the land, in spite of their disobedience. In chapter 36, he makes it abundantly clear and we've already seen even in our studies up to now, there's been at least two occasions in the book where God says I'm going to bring you back to the land. Yet here in this section we just read, he lists off these disobediences on why they were taken to Babylon. The original land promise, if you've been with us, was given all the way back in Genesis. It was repeated over and over again. It was an unconditional promise that God says I will give you this land, they will inherit the land. But as you well pointed out, steve, staying there was conditioned on obedience of the law. It was still theirs to possess. But if they were disobedient, god would judge them and one of the judgments is take you to the woodshed in Babylon. He will bring them back. Why Not because of their obedience or they were faithful, because they disobeyed and were unfaithful. He's going to say very clearly in chapter 36, I'm doing this because of my name. So he's doing it because of his promise that he did.
Speaker 1:The land promise in the Abrahamic covenant was not dependent on Israel's obedience. The blessings in the Mosaic covenant were dependent on Israel's obedience and he makes that abundantly clear in the book of Deuteronomy. Let's carry this down to our day. Steve, to what degree should we in the church age be concerned about obeying and disobeying God's commands? We are told that our salvation is secure. He makes that abundantly clear. Really similar to how the land promise was secure. But yet we cannot get away with disobedience, any more than ancient Israel could get away with disobedience. The New Testament says these things happened to Israel as examples to us. How can we take this as an example of how we should live in a daily basis in the church age, on one hand, knowing our salvation is secure but, on the other hand, knowing that there's consequences for disobeying an all-powerful, all-knowing God.
Speaker 2:As part of our salvation. Today we have received the Holy Spirit and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have the law that's written on our heart. We are to follow the law of Christ as it has been put by Paul and others from the New Testament. So we have this internal spirit of God that helps to guide us and to convict us to stay on the right track. Now we know that we're connected to this world and the world keeps pulling us back. We have this fleshly body that we're continually fighting. Paul said I do the things that I don't want to do and I don't do the things I do want to do. It's a perfect picture of fighting against the world with this fleshly body. But we're also told that we're going to be judged at the bema seat of Christ based upon everything that we have done. Well, what is that for? It's not for salvation, it's for our rewards. So we're going to have and face consequences based upon the deeds and the life that we live here, and it shouldn't be overthought. It just simply means be more Christ-like. As Paul says, put on the new man every day, put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the world, the flesh and the devil that we have to confront through these bodies that we still have. Here. There's a parallel in that we are promised eternal salvation through faith in God, by the grace of God. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, but then our life? We should then become more of a process of sanctification, meaning becoming separated from this world through the acts of becoming more Christlike world, through the acts of becoming more Christ-like, learning the Word of God, learning the characteristics of God, learning of what he wants us to do, and through the Old Testament sections like this, as you just pointed out, israel was promised the land, but in order to live in it in a peaceful and a profitable way, they were to obey God's statutes, and if they didn't, they'd be taken out. He even mentions that as he went through these listing here, that you have done these abominations. Should you then possess the land? He throws it right back to them because it's well known to them that in order to live in the land, they needed to obey the statutes. So a parallel for us.
Speaker 2:Our salvation is secured, that's not in question. That in order to live in the land, they needed to obey the statutes. So a parallel for us, our salvation is secured. That's not in question. We have a promise from God that that's going to happen, based upon our belief and faith and his grace.
Speaker 2:But the benefits we get of living here in the world afterward are going to be conditional as to how we follow God, and our rewards that we're going to have in our afterlife and in the millennial reign are going to be based upon what we do here. So again, I don't want to say that we should become legalistic as to the things that we do, but we should be conscious of the things that we should do and learn more about God, learn more about his word, stay with him, stay with other fellow Christians, communicate with them, fellowship with them and live our Christian life here, telling others about how their life can be changed as well by coming to belief and faith in Jesus Christ, and our life here in the world, I think, will be better and we'll have a general good life here on earth until we pass on to the other side and we get our glorified body.
Speaker 1:What I find interesting in this passage that we just read verse 24,. These Jewish people were claiming to be descended from Abraham. Therefore they should have inherited blessings. Well, several hundred years later, in the first century, when Jesus came, the Jewish leaders were still doing that. In the Gospels they were saying Abraham is our father. So they were claiming the descendancy from Abraham to be. Just because of the ethnic descendancy, it would be blessing.
Speaker 1:But both here in Ezekiel and in the Gospels it really comes down to do you truly trust God? Just because you're an ethnic descendant of Abraham doesn't mean that you can get away with sin and unbelief, and that's always been the case and still today. We can't fall into the same trap Just because we say well, we're Christians in the church, therefore I can go live however I want and get away with it. My friend, I can tell you from experience God will deal with sin. He dealt with it in my life and he'll deal with it in your life. You can't claim the blood of Christ and then go live like the devil without consequences. The people in Ezekiel's day didn't get away with it. The people in the first century, when Christ came, didn't get away with it, and we won't get away with it either.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 26. One of the things that God listed as a problem was relying on the sword. God had intended Israel to depend on him for military protection All the way back to Joshua's day. He was trying to tell them depend on me and I will protect you. Don't try to depend on your own strength. Depend on God as military protection, not on their own sword.
Speaker 1:God had commanded them not to multiply horses, which were war animals. That was part of the Mosaic law. So Israel was to depend on God and they weren't. They were depending on their own strength and their own military might. Remember, god dropped the walls of Jericho without any military action. He would have protected Israel if they had the faith. Then look down at verse 27. God says that since you depended on your sword for national protection, you're going to die by the sword. Once again, god says he's going to destroy the disobedient people and make the land desolate. This was literally fulfilled and, Steve, this is just one more fulfilled prophecy, and these chapters are just so rich and so applicable to our lives today.
Speaker 2:A parallel to what you were just saying, glenn, is that God wanted the people to depend on him Harkens back to the time of the judges. If you follow the story and the narrative of the nation of Israel as they come out of the Egyptian slavery and in the book of Exodus, they disobey and they wander and then you come into the book of Joshua, where they go into the land and then from Joshua you have the book of Judges. During that time, god is with them. Whenever they become oppressed by outside forces, god is faithful to send them a judge whenever they cry out for deliverance. Then, at the end of Judges and the beginning of 1 and 2 Samuel, the people say we want a king. That's a point of time where they are basically saying we don't want to depend on you anymore, yahweh. We want somebody here on earth that we can see every day and lead us every day. We want a king, just like all the other nations. And when Samuel tried to talk people out of it, god assured Samuel that look, I understand why they want a king. And he told Samuel to tell them you're going to have a king, but he's not going to be who you think he is. He's going to lead you astray, but I'm going to go ahead and give you a king.
Speaker 2:Then we have that whole history of the kings, where they did just that they led the people astray, which got them into this mess, primarily as to where they are now. In fact, they ended up with a divided kingdom. The northern one was Israel, the southern one was Judah. So this is a culmination of the relationship of the nation of Israel and God. Them wanting to be pulled back to the world, leave God and leave God out of their life and have him guide them and have him protect them. This is where they have come to now, to a point of exile. It's very clear that the land is God's to give and to take away.
Speaker 2:He's going to show them over and over again throughout Ezekiel. He also says tell the people, ezekiel, that this is going to happen and when it happens, then they will know that I am Yahweh. That is a recurring theme throughout Ezekiel as well. So all of this activity that's going on is to drive their desire into them that I am your God, you are my people, and it's to show them through their own actions that they have gone astray and that they need the Lord, god, in order to guide them, and that they should want that relationship with him in order to guide them. It's the same thing with us, as we're trying to make a parallel from our current Christian lives. We should want to follow Christ and become more like him, because it will make our life better here on earth.
Speaker 1:In this next section, we're going to see something that is very applicable today. In fact, it happens probably every week in our churches. I'm starting reading in Ezekiel 33 30 says this. But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying come now and hear what the message is which comes from the Lord. They come to you as people, come and sit before you as my people and hear your words, but they do not do them. For they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth and their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear your words, but they do not practice them. So when it comes to pass, as surely it will, then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst. Steve, at the end of verse 30, what were the people doing with Ezekiel's messages?
Speaker 2:They're coming to listen to Ezekiel because at the beginning of this chapter they had the refugees that came and said Jerusalem had fallen. This is a confirmation that everything that Ezekiel had done up till now of the model city, the siege, the digging out through the wall and being blindfolded to depict what was going to happen to the king Zedekiah, all of those things in the earlier chapters that Ezekiel acted out to the people they now remember all of that and they know that Ezekiel is speaking the truth and is speaking as a true prophet of God. So now here, in verse 30, it says that they're coming to listen to him to see what he has to say, which in essence, really means they're coming to listen to see what God has to say.
Speaker 1:It's very clearly. It says in two verses, verse 30 and 31,. They came to listen to God's word. The problem comes in. What problem does he mention in the middle of verse 31? They're coming to listen, but what?
Speaker 2:It says here that they hear the words, but they're not really understanding them or actually acting them out or following through with what they're hearing.
Speaker 1:That's exactly it. That's the complaint here that God is giving through the prophet Ezekiel. He's saying they're coming to you, Ezekiel, and hearing my words, but they're not putting them into practice, and he gives the illustration here in verse 32. How does he describe it, Steve?
Speaker 2:What he's depicting here. He compares it to a song. Whenever people hear both the words and the melody of the song itself the musical part they have a tendency to remember the notes and be able to come along with the musical part, but they forget what the words are to the song and that's what he is comparing it to here. They're not listening really to the words and they're not remembering the words, which is really the important part to show them how to live their lives and what God is conveying to them. It's not the musical notes that God is conveying to them, it's the words of the song. And he's saying you're not remembering the words.
Speaker 1:In those days they didn't have recorded music. All you had was live music. So when somebody would play a beautiful song, it's very nice while you're hearing it, but it's just gone. Once the person stops playing the instrument, stops singing the song, it's just gone. Once the person stops playing the instrument, stops singing the song, it's just gone. It's only a memory. That's the illustration that God is using here. He says you love to come and hear the words, but you're not actually putting it into practice. You're not changing your life. You're not putting it into shoe leather. This is very relevant today.
Speaker 1:I've heard pastors complain about their congregations that love to come, hear the messages. They come to church regularly but if you look at over time their lives, they're not changing their lives. They're not putting God's Word into practice. They're not trusting God to handle all of their personal issues around finances, love and sex and ethics and all these things. We tend to like to hear God's Word until we get into a real-world situation and then we fall back on human wisdom. We don't trust God and actually change our actions. That's what God is complaining about. God's not complaining that we come to church. He's not complaining that we hear nice messages or worship in nice worship songs. What he's saying is are you putting this into practice? Are you changing your behavior? Are you living a life that learns from God's commands and does them in the sense of trusting God to come through, or are you worried about what is going to happen to your worldly reputation or your finances or things like that? That's what he's complaining about, steve. Is this relevant to?
Speaker 2:us today. Through all of the centuries and all of the millennia, all the way back to Adam and Eve, the one constant is we have the five senses. We were human beings and were connected to this world by our flesh, so we're no different from the people then as we are today. We're a little bit more knowledgeable, we understand how things operate and the biology of the world around us and our own human bodies, and we can do much greater things as far as travel and other things like that. But when it comes down to it, we're still human beings, just like they were, that were drawn back to the worldly things that are presented to us through our connection of our fleshly bodies.
Speaker 1:And I would agree, all of us need to really take God's Word seriously and trust Him. He's gotten us to this point in life. Therefore, we can trust His Word to get us through, instead of depending on human wisdom and human ways of doing things, just like the ancient Israelites did. Those things will end in a bad way. We can trust God and trust him with our finances. We can trust him with our love relationships. We can trust him with how to run our churches and how to run our lives. And, steve, that's just so relevant today. Well, we'll stop here today because of time. Next time we're going to start chapter 34, and we're going to see a couple of things. We'll see where Jesus possibly got the illustration of the shepherd, and we're also going to see very painful things that some of our church leaders today are not going to want to hear. So be back with us next time as we continue to reason through the book of Ezekiel.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
