Here are a few big lessons I see in this chapter….

1) It’s a very serious thing to be a watchman for the people of God. And a watchman for the people of God is someone who speaks to them on behalf of God Himself. Particularly through preaching, but also through writing, everyone who speaks of the things of God are held responsible for exactly how they have done so. Do you speak in such a way that you make plain all that the people need to know? Do you proclaim the judgment of God and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ?

This chapter should make everyone shudder, even those who are diligent in their proclamation. But it should especially make the many preachers out there shudder who speak in generalities and barely even mention the judgment of God. Stories abound and many a man (or sadly, a woman) is afraid to say what he ought, b/c of the response of the people. In a very real sense, many a preacher will be held responsible for the blood of others, b/c they were not faithful to the Word of God. Yes, the Bible is full of difficult realities. But that is exactly why they must be proclaimed. And that is exactly why a weak, man-fearing man ought to stay far away from a pulpit. Of course, all of us are such men, but if we are not aware of such a thing and not actively pursuing the grace to overcome such a thing, we are bound to fall and be held responsible for the plight of many.

The man who rushes into a pulpit probably does not belong there; for he does not understand all that is at stake –for both himself and his hearers. If the call is not clear and the burden not great, do not go.

2) It’s a very serious thing to have exposure to a faithful watchman of God. Too often this is taken to be a very light matter. People sit under sound preaching, yet live no differently. They hear the call time and time again, yet they remain as they are. Indeed, they convince themselves that they are even doing all that the watchman calls them to. And they return time and time again, not knowing that they heap up condemnation upon themselves.

No one ought to run from sound preaching, for to do so is to run from the means by which God will save and transform you. And you will surely be held responsible for that. But at the same time, we must beware of the great responsibility that is ours when we hear a faithful proclamation of the Word of God from the watchman of God. The more we are exposed to, the more responsible we are to the Lord. Diligence is needed. We must take pains to not only hear the trumpet, but to in turn, leave where we are to do what we know we must. This is a matter of life a death. It’s a very big deal and one we ought to take very seriously.

When the watchman speaks, God speaks. Are we listening?

v. 11 Notice that the Lord does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but in their repentance, for it is through their repentance that His worth and beauty are clearly seen.

v. 30-33 Here we see the response of the people and why they were being judged. The people would come to hear Ezekiel, but had no intention of obeying his word. They listened to him as one who played beautiful music, but the key was their lack of humble response. They simply continued in their own way and were thus held responsible for their lack of response. Such a response is a clear indication of great hardness of heart.

Here we see the Lord decreeing judgment upon Egypt and pointing to His judgments upon other nations. Do we think that God only judged nations back then? We should not. For He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nations are held responsible for their national actions, the actions of their leaders even - particularly in a country like our own, where we have elected these men to represent us. We do not have divine interpretation of present events in the same way that Ezekiel did and proclaimed, however, all that Ezekiel proclaimed ought to shine light on how we view the world. The Bible is our grid through which we see current events. Are we aware then of the judgment of God?

v. 1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” This is nothing terribly surprising I suppose. Jesus set us free, so that we might walk in and enjoy freedom. The problem, however, is that we are so slow to embrace this reality. We are so slow to walk in freedom, to realize that we really are free, that we are not enslaved to our sinful nature and habits and religious routines. Instead, we are enslaved to Jesus Christ; and it is in this slavery that we find true freedom. But O let us realize that we are already free! Jesus has paid the price to set us free. So we are free indeed! Free to live and love with a sweet peace in believing that God is working for our good and His glory. Free from external regulations that are designed as a way to bring us to God. Yes, through Jesus, we are free. For if the Son has set us free, we are free indeed. O Lord, grant us the grace to live what we already are in Jesus.

v. 7 Our running well now does not guarantee our running well later. But running well now is all that we can concern ourselves with. And if we are faithful now and now and now….one down the line, they we will continue to run as we can and as we ought. The most important moment is now, for it is the only moment that we can really do anything about.

v. 13 The freedom we find in Christ Jesus is a freedom to serve, a freedom to seek the welfare of others, a freedom from our own selfish desires and wants, a freedom to actively long for and pursue the good of others and the glory of God.

v. 22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” I think it is wise for us to meditate and pray through this list daily until we embody these qualities as we can and as we ought.

v. 4 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” The fullness of time. The epoch. The precise, perfect moment. The climax of all of human history. Right then, Jesus shows up on the scene to walk in perfection, die in perfection and rise again so that He might make His people a picture of perfection. Think of all the things that were involved. Think of all of human history, all the various cultural considerations, and empire consideration and philosophical considerations and language considerations that were involved. At just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. At the perfect moment of human history, Jesus died and rose again on our behalf.

In all honesty, I look at human history from my limited vantage point and I see something of a mess. And I suppose that there is some validity in this, because sin messes things up. Our lives are a mess because our lives are fraught with sin and the battle against sin. This is messy stuff. Ultimately, however, things are not as messy as they seem. For we serve a God who rules over Heaven and Earth with perfect wisdom and foresight. He knows all that will one day come to pass and all that has already come to pass. And He doesn’t simply know about it, in the sense that He is a mere spectator. O no! Instead, He knows about it intimately, because He is intimately involved in every detail of creation, in order to maximize the display of His glory throughout human history and to bring His unstoppable purpose pass.

There are billions of things going on right now that would overwhelm if we received a glimpse into. We couldn’t take it. But God can take it. Sure, we think that because we have 24 hour news channels that few things are slipping past our view. But such a notion is nonsense. For our news channels are not able to track all the billion cause and effect relationships that are in the world right now. They are not able to track the prayers of the saints or the death of the saints and the impact those things have on the heart of a seemingly meaningless peasant in the midst of an Indian slum, or a cannibal in the jungles of Africa, or a militant Muslim on the plains of Sudan. Can we measure such thing? I think not. For we are not ever aware of such things. But God is. Yes, God is! He is aware. Indeed, He is more than aware. For He is actively working through all those things to bring His unstoppable purpose to pass through all things.

Yes, our God is the One who is working all things according to the counsel of His will. And all things means just that, all things. Wars and rumors of wars. Sufferings. Persecutions. The minor inconveniences of life. Corruption. Materialism. Islamic jihad. Death. Life. Philosophy. You name it. God is in control. He is bring His unstoppable purpose to pass.

In the fullness of time He sent forth His Son. David served the Lord faithfully in His generation. May the Lord grant us the grace to do the same now.

Now this is certainly a difficult chapter isn’t it? It begins by stating that the Lord was angry with the people of Israel and that as a result of that anger, he (God) incited David against them. David then orders a census to be taken. However, after it is taken, he is convicted for having done so and repents. Apparently, this was an act of pride of some sort. The Lord responds by offering David three different forms of discipline, of which David seems to choose without really choosing. The Lord then responds with a great pestilence in which 70,000 men are wiped out, not to mention women and children I suppose. David then petitions the Lord for relief and offers the sacrifices the Lord requires to abate His wrath.

Now what does one do with all of this? First, we accept it as a true, inspired account of how things actually took place. This must be first. For no matter how difficult this account is for us to deal with, we still must deal with it. Second, we take note of the fact that when the Lord deems it wise to bring discipline or judgment on a people, He will do what it takes to do so. And His doing so is good, b/c He has deemed it good. It is good because it is a manifestation and a means of pointing to His glory and power. Third, we take note of the fact that though the Scripture states that the Lord incited David against the people (with the census it seems), David was held fully responsible for his actions. And in this, there is no contradiction at all. Fourth, when the people of God are languishing under the discipline of God, intercessors are needed, intercessors who say, “Enough” and then cry out to God for relief and revival. We live in such a day. Fifth, the Lord’s wrath is real and it is not wrong to say that it must be satisfied or abated. Let us thank Him that Jesus has done precisely that. Too often Christians are afraid to speak of the wrath of God. But if we do not speak of the wrath of God, how then can we speak of Jesus, the One who bore than wrath on our behalf so that we might forever enjoy God’s favor? O yes, let us speak of wrath with a view towards being gripped by God’s great grace.

v. 8-39 Notice that David didn’t do it all himself. That should be obvious I suppose, but I think it is wise to state the obvious. God surrounded a mighty man with mighty men. These mighty men were, in a sense, looking for a mighty man to follow. And when they found him, they were willing to give their lives for him. If any venture is to be successful, whether a local church or even a business, there must be a leader among leaders, a mighty man among mighty men. One is not enough. That is for sure. But there must be one who leads all the mighty ones. There must be one whom the leaders are following. Sure, the leader himself must lead those around him in such a way that they help to make him all that he can be. They lead together, true enough. But there always must be a leader among leaders.

Also, there must be a leadership team that knows it respective roles. Often these roles will lead to different circles of influence. Around the leader, there might be another core group of leaders, a small group that leads the rest of the leaders so to speak. Many of the leaders around David were great, but we are told that they did not attain to the status of the three. Here we see David with his inner circle, just as we see Jesus with His. So you have an wider circle of leadership, an inner circle of leadership, and the leader among all the leaders himself. It won’t look the same in every context, but surely we would do well to imitate this model.

v. 37-38 Notice that their hearts (and by implication, our hearts to a certain degree) are contrasted with God’s heart. They were unfaithful, but God was faithful. They could not be trusted, but God could be trusted. They failed to persevere, but God did not. Let this be a great comfort to us in the midst of our struggles. He who began a good work in us, will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The Lord will sustain us through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The sovereign hand of God is upon us for good–and He will persevere in doing us good. His faithfulness will make us faithful until the end.

v. 38-40 The Lord’s patience does not mean that He neglected to discipline them. Instead, it means that He did not discipline them in His full anger. This aspect of our God and Father should be evident to our children in the way we lead them. They need to be disciplined for their disobedience, but while we discipline them, they ought to see a sweet compassion in us, a sweet patience and love that reflects the Father. Is this easy? No. It is impossible. But with the Lord, all things are possible. We are wise then to petition Him forcefully for such grace.

v. 42 Here then was/is the main problem: they did not remember. It sounds so simple, because it is. Our greatest need day after day is to remember what God has done for us in Jesus and to remember all that God did for us just yesterday. Indeed, we need to remember what God has done for the Israelites, just as they needed to remember it. We need to remember what God did for David and Isaiah and the disciples and the early church. Surely the best way to remember is to wake up and kneel over our Bibles pleading for the grace to see and believe.

v. 49 Notice the contrast. God withheld the full force of His anger from the Israelites, but He let it loose on the Egyptians. The Lord does what seems good to Him and what seems good to Him is good. The fact that He does not let loose the full force of His anger upon us all is a sheer act of grace. For we all deserve it one hundred times over.

v. 52 Few people seem to have a problem with the fact that God chose Israel out of all the nations to be His peculiar people. But when we speak of choosing a people from all the nations today, we are bound to run into some resistance. I trust that one reason why is because we don’t care much about those who lived three thousand years ago. And we do care about our unsaved neighbor or family member or friend. Our love for them is good, but we must make sure that it does not cloud our judgment. The God who chose the nation of Israel is the same God who chose a people from every tongue, tribe, language, and nation whom Jesus came to save. We are wise to humble ourselves under the Word of God in recognition that from beginning to end, God is a God who chooses whom He will save.

v. 70 Notice that the Lord blessed His people through a great leader. He continues to do the same today. We are wise to petition the Lord daily for leaders within the Church. O may He raise up men who are worth following, worth imitating, worth sitting under. It is not a coincidence that revival often comes through great leaders and their preaching and that revival often results in the same.

This Psalm’s emphasis on telling the next generation leads me to believe that a primary focus of the local church out to be equipping fathers to train their children. Yes, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, but especially fathers. As the Lord has called them to lead their homes, primary to this leadership of their children is training them in the ways of the Lord. And if they are to train their children, then the church must faithfully train them. Too often, fathers delegate responsibility for the training of their children to the local church. What is worse, however, is that the church often allows it–or it even may be said, encourages it to some degree. This should not be the case.

Leaders in the church, you have a great responsibility to train the children in your congregation. But if want to do so successfully, you had better diligently train your men. You can have all the greatest children’s programs in the world, but if you don’t train your men to lead their homes and to teach their children the ways of God, then you exercise much of your programs in vain.

Fathers, you are commanded to teach your children. Yes, you may feel inadequate to the task. And maybe you now are. Well, let me exhort you: you follow a big God who is able to make you more than adequate if you are willing to do what it takes to be faithful to Him. Are you not yet able to adequately train your children in the ways of God? Then get down to business and start pursuing. Repent for your neglect and get the help you need to learn and lead as you have been commanded to. Do what you must to do what you must. And understand that God will graciously reward your efforts.

v. 5-8 Notice that the progression flows through generations here. The Lord establishes a testimony in a certain generation. And that testimony is meant to be passed on through the years. The first generation tells then next, and the next the next….on down the line…so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Here then we see that one man can change thousands simply by faithfully investing into His home.

Do you want to change the world? Then get to know God, live it out yourself, and then faithfully invest into your children.

Finally, this psalm makes plain that if you want to train your children in the ways of God as you ought, you had better acquaint (yourself and) them well with all that He has already done. In the end, this means simply that you had better know your Bible well.

Here the Lord pronounces judgment on the Egyptians for their pride and their dishonest and crafty dealings with the people of Israel. What makes this particularly intriguing is the fact that God earlier (at least from our vantage point) decreed that Egypt would fail the people of Israel. This is normal enough. For if the Lord loves us as He did Egypt, He will make sure that our idols fail us so that we return to Him.

But here we see the Lord decree judgment on Israel’s idol (the thing in which they trusted), for their failure to treat the people of God as they ought to have done so. The things of God are by no means simple. Do we think that we can fully understand all His decrees? If we do, then we probably don’t know Him as we ought. If the Lord God can fit into our little box, He is certainly not big enough. We are wise to go to the Scriptures and deal with the hard texts….

In this instance, we can say that God can decree judgment on one people for their hoping in something other than Him. And then decree judgment on that ‘something’ for their failure to treat them as they ought (particularly when it is God’s chosen people). God can decree judgment on one people and bring that judgment upon them through another people. And then He can decree judgment on the people He used to judge the first people. That might be a mouthful, but I think it is clear enough.

In the end, this should make us marvel. Questions can be raised yes. And answers can be sought. But in the end, we must marvel at the greatness and glory of our just and all-knowing God.

v. 1-14 These are difficult verses. I concur with Matthew Henry’s concise commentary which reads,

Verses 1-9 Every affliction arises from sin, and should lead us to repent and humble ourselves before God; but some troubles especially show that they are sent to bring sin to remembrance. God’s judgments often look a great way back, which requires us to do so, when we are under his rebukes. It is not for us to object against the people’s smarting for the sin of their king; perhaps they helped him. Nor against this generation suffering for the sin of the last. God often visits the sins of the fathers upon the children, and he gives no account of any matters. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin; nor can we build hopes of escape upon the delay of judgments. If we cannot understand all the reasons of Providence in this matter, still we have no right to demand that God should acquaint us with those reasons. It must be right, because it is the will of God, and in the end it will be proved to be so. Money is no satisfaction for blood. It should seem, Saul’s posterity trod in his steps, for it is called a bloody house. It was the spirit of the family, therefore they are justly reckoned with for his sin, as well as for their own. The Gibeonites did not require this out of malice against Saul or his family. It was not to gratify any revenge, but for the public good. They were put to death at the beginning of harvest; they were thus sacrificed to turn away the wrath of Almighty God, who had withheld the harvest-mercies for some years past, and to obtain his favour in the present harvest. In vain do we expect mercy from God, unless we do justice upon our sins. Executions must not be thought cruel, which are for the public welfare.