We must take responsibility and repent from these things, so that we can enter life instead of death, light instead of darkness, increase instead of decrease. See this is something that is different. Ezekiel's different than any other writer, and you can see that all through his life. He did crazy things, like lay naked on his front lawn for 140 days - 70 on one side, 70 on the other, so his tan was even - unbelievable the bravery. One time God told Ezekiel to make food with poop; and he said: well if God said it, let's do it. So Ezekiel's better than all of us, because if I came in here today and said: I've had a word from the Lord, and we've got a project, and the ushers are handing out buckets... like it just isn't going to happen right? Ezekiel's different than a lot of other people. What we tend to think is, and I say amen to this in some cases, we tend to think: if I could just get spiritually-healed, then my behaviour will line up; and there are a lot of cases that that applies.
If I could just get spiritually healed, then my behaviour will line up, and come into the light. In other words, I need to get spiritually healed first, and then my behaviour will come around. Ezekiel - and yes, amen, there are a lot of good applicable things on that - but Ezekiel has an entirely different take on it. Ezekiel says: if you rid yourself, and by faith trust that God's ways are the best way to live; that the reinforcement found in that behaviour is going to give you a new heart and a new spirit anyway.
In other words, to other writers it was: get a new heart and a new spirit, and then your behaviour will line up. Fine, you can make a good case for that, and sometimes that's very applicable - but Ezekiel brings hope for those of us who might be struggling in that other area. He says: oh, you want to get healed? Here's what you do: by faith, step out and choose to live in the light. Choose God's ways. Choose by faith to let your behaviour line up, and when you by faith let your behaviour line up with God's ways, God is faithful to give you a new heart and a new spirit.
So to Ezekiel it's not: get healed, and then your behaviour lines up; it's actually: by faith living God's ways, and taking responsibility for your own actions, that there's something that's healing inside that action itself. I love the heart of God here.
Remember that the setting is exile. These people would have been marched from Jerusalem to Babylon. Anybody under the age of 25 would have been castrated, because you don't want people reproducing too much. You don't want slaves reproducing too much. Their king's eyes would have been pulled out, and their temples would have been destroyed - these people were in pain.
Some pain that you go through, you just can't get healed from. Now I want you to hear me, what I say about this. Some life situations are so horrible - get healed from that, really? Some betrayal is so disorientating, healed? Come on. Some abuse is so bad, healed? Some financial situations are so - healed? Don't think so, and that's what Ezekiel comes about, that gives so much hope. Ezekiel is saying: God doesn't want to heal your heart; God wants to give you a new one.
In other words, He doesn't want to patch something that's broken, and put it back together. He's just going to take the whole thing out, because some things - can we be honest - just need to be thrown out and rebuilt altogether. He says: if you want your life rebuilt, here's what you do: by faith, take responsibility, and choose to live God's ways; and when you choose to live God's ways, then light, life and increase gets released over you. And when that gets released over you, the reinforcement of the behaviour itself will give you a new heart and a new spirit, for God is faithful to do that.