I have been reading Ezekial 36 ever since I heard a sermon based on it. The sermon was about how it takes faith to please God and that receiving life from Jesus only comes by faith and not our own actions. The pastor focused on verses 26-30 which are very encouraging because God tells us He will put His Spirit in us and give us hearts of flesh and blood. Yes and amen, but as I reread the whole chapter something else stuck out to me; before and after God tells His chosen people that He will deliver them for their evil ways He says, "I am not doing this for your sake, but for My Holy name." As a church I see us moving in greater intimacy with Jesus I sense it's of great importance that we don't lose our fear of the Lord. Intimacy with Christ means embracing everything He says and grace isn't given to us so we can become lax but it empowers us to face the truth that God reveals to us. God does love us unconditionally, we are His bride but it's not because of us at all, He is doing this for Himself first.


If He were to do it just for us than He would be lowering Himself. Jesus came to do the will of the Father and it was the will of the Father to give up His son for us to reveal His great mercy. Exodus 33:19 says that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy because He is good. Taking up more of our bridal identity in Christ also means understanding our fallen nature and embracing the work of the cross in our lives. The Lord says in Ezekial 36:32 to "be disgraced for your conduct." I'm not saying to look inward here and dwell on our sins, I'm saying we have to let the Holy Spirit show us the things not of God in ourselves and constantly be reminded that we are not good apart from God. We have to be broken of our own notions of holiness and continuously strive to keep our eyes on Jesus. Not to try and do things to justify ourselves before God because that is really just pride. The bible says that it's only by the cross so that no man should glory, when we set up hoops to jump through it's because we want to be acceptable to ourselves, we want something to take pride in. Jesus said "if you being evil..." Jesus didn't say to take up our cross sometimes, He said take up our cross daily and deny ourselves (Luke 9:23). That means constantly surrendering our own ideas even when they mask themselves as holy. None are good except the Father and we're told to be perfect as our Father in heaven and Romans 14 says that "anything not of faith is sin." A life that is fully entrusted to Jesus is a perfect life a life that has undergone complete death from the old, Adamic nature.


1 Peter 4:12 says "it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And 'If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?'" I am praying that we will not be offended as the sin in our lives comes under judgment. There is no condemnation because we have been saved but we aren't without sin and God doesn't tolerate sin, He hates it and He is jealous. Don't let condemnation and shame have a foothold anywhere in your life when you are disciplined. Shame and condemnation stand in opposition to faith in the cross, embrace Jesus as we see He loves being intimate with us. The sin in us is under judgment but if we continue to take up our cross and work out our salvation by walking in faith (which inspires acts of obedience) than we will persevere. We've got an enemy and the Word says to be sober and to add self control and discipline to our faith because he is going to try everything to twist the movements of the church to get us to focus on anything (no matter how good) but Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Amen.