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Book: Ezekiel
 Print ( PC Only )
Ezekiel 6:9 God's Broken Heart
Intro. There used to be a song that became quite popular whose lyrics
went, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be
loved in return." One of the saddest things you can ever
experience is to love and not be loved in return. God loves
you, and he desires to be loved in return.
I. God speaks of being broken with the whorish heart of the people of
Israel.
A. In the beginning God created man that He might have someone
to love and to love Him.
1. God was looking for love.
2. For love to be truly meaningful, there has to be
freedom of choice.
a. A robot may be created that can do many
functions in place of a human being, but a
robot can never be created that can offer
meaningful love.
b. Why? Because a robot cannot be created that
can make a choice, it can only operate within
the programmed parameters.
B. Man used his capacity of choice in a destructive way. He choose
to follow his own lust, rather than the will of God.
1. This brought alienation from God a broken relationship.
2. Man had a love that was greater than his love for God.
3. This turning from God brought pain, suffering and
death.
C. God still loved mankind and sought to restore man to a loving
relationship with Himself. He looked for a man who would live
in simple trust and faith in Him, that through His descendants
He might bring the Messiah into the world.
1. God found such a man, his name was Abraham, and God
promised him that he would make of him a great nation,
and through his descendant, all of the world would be
blessed.
2. Thus God began to create from his descendants the
nation that would be called Israel, which means
governed by God.
3. God was seeking first of all a nation that would
follow His commandments, through which He could
demonstrate to the world how blessed a nation and
people could be if they would only choose to walk in
a loving fellowship with God.
D. God loved the nation of Israel.
1. He had manifested His love for them in many ways.
2. He brought them out of the intolerable of
Egypt.
3. He gave to them His rules for a happy prosperous life.
4. He gave them a fertile land with great potential.
5. He made them strong and delivered them from their
enemies.
E. He had chosen this nation for the purpose of bringing the
Messiah into the world.
1. Some of the people began to rebel in their hearts
against the Lord.
2. They began to love the god's of the heathen.
a. The first two commandments that God had given
to them were, "Thou shalt love the Lord your
God with all of your heart." and "Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me."
b. But some of the people had become obsessed
with the desire for pleasure, and had begun
to worship the god of pleasure who in those
days was called Molech.
c. Still others became obsessed with sex, and had
begun to worship the goddess of sex, who was
known as Ashtoreth.
d. Still others became obsessed with the desire
for power, and they began to worship the god
Mammon.
3. God knew that to give your life to these other gods
meant , suffering, and moral weakness that
would lead to captivity.
a. He sent His prophets to warn them.
b. They had ample proof through their history of
how when they served the Lord, they were
blessed, but when they turned from the Lord,
they experienced .
c. One of the prophets said to their king, "The
Lord is with you if you will be with Him, and
if you seek Him, He will be found by you, but
if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." The
historian recorded concerning that King, "And
as long as he served the Lord, God made his
ways to prosper."
4. As a nation they had finally turned away from the ways
of the Lord completely and were now in captivity in
Babylon. You would think that they would have learned
their lesson, but even here, God is speaking to them
through the prophet Ezekiel of how He was broken over
their whorish heart. They were still resisting the love
that God was offering to them, if they would only be
faithful in their love to Him.
5. How would you like it if the one you loved, and had
committed yourself to, was always having affairs with
someone else?
6. So was the case with the people that God loved and had
committed Himself to. They were in love with other
gods. They liked God, but they loved and were truly
devoted to the other gods.
a. I wonder if that is not also the case with some
of you.
b. If questioned by a pollster you would be among
the 87% in America who say that they consider
themselves to be Christians, but what could you
show to prove that you truly loved Jesus?
c. If we would have followed you this past week
24 hours a day, how much time would we have
observed your giving yourself in showing your
love for Him?
d. How would that time compare with say the time
you spent in front of the T.V. being
entertained, as you worshipped Molech?
e. The scripture speaks of a people who feared
the Lord, but worshipped other gods.
f. Would you say that that was an apt description
of you? You respect the Lord, but you are
really serving other interests.
F. Surely as a nation, you could no longer consider us a Christian
nation as we were once known to be.
1. Though our coins still bear the inscription, "In God
we trust" We are spending our money for all kinds of
ungodly purposes.
2. In our public schools they can have instruction in
witchcraft and Satanism, they can observe the satanic
holiday of Halloween, have their parties, and dress
like goblins and witches. But Christmas carols are
outlawed at Christmas time.
3. I wonder if God is not possibly saying to us, "I am
broken with your whorish heart."?
II. Why is God so concerned?
A. He still loves us more than we could ever know. Paul said that
the love of God passes human comprehension.
1. He knows that these other gods are unfaithful lovers.
2. They will desert you when times get tough.
3. They will let you down when you are in a crisis.
4. When facing life or death situations they will forsake
you and can be no help or condolence to you.
5. He knows that these other gods in your life are going
to destroy you, for you are actually worshipping Satan
in disguise.
6. The Bible says that they that worship idols, which were
in reality idols that were erected to pleasure, and sex
and power, were worshipping demons.
7. That explains why these other things get such
powerful hold on a persons life.
a. People get addicted to sex.
b. They get addicted to the pleasurable experience
of taking drugs.
c. People get addicted to pornography.
d. We speak of a man as a workaholic. Addicted to
gaining more possessions.
8. They are actually under a demonic hold.
B. Satan is not interested in respecting your choice, he cares
nothing about love, but is determined to force you to serve
him.
1. We thus see him gaining a stronghold of peoples lives.
2. There are some of you here today whose lives are under
the stronghold of Satan.
3. You find yourself bound by habits that you cannot
break, even though you can see their damaging effect,
and you have tried and failed.
C. Only the power of God is stronger that the power of Satan,
only God can set you free from the power of Satan, but God is
interested in love, thus your choice, and will not force
Himself upon you but allows you to make the choice.
1. Satan is doing everything within his power to keep you
from making that choice.
2. Some of you at this minute are going through a violent
battle within as you are again facing this choice.
3. The prophet cried, "Choose you this day whom you will
serve." That is what you must do. Will you serve God or
Satan disguised in your own passions.
D. God's heart is broken for you. He knows that the day will come
when you will loathe yourself for your folly, is choosing to
serve God, when you finally begin to reap the consequences of a
life given over to sin.
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