Ezekiel 36:24-28
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
This is my favorite worship service of the entire year. I love it because it's got all the bells and whistles—except for actual bells or whistles. There's singing, chanting, and the smell of heaven all around us. It's a wonderful service.
As I was listening and reading through today's readings, I noticed a theme running through all of them: waiting on God's salvation. In each story and reading, we hear about a God who does the work for us:
God creates the heavens and the earth without any help from human beings, and simply hands them over to us.
Moses and the people of Israel—who had no weapons or training, who were ex-slaves on the run—faced the world's best military. They complained, "Moses, we could have died back there without going on a big walk." But Moses replied, "You don't have to do anything. God Himself will fight for you."
We have many stories where God is the one who does the work. Think about Ezekiel: a valley filled with dry bones. Bones can't do anything; they're just stuck there. What does God do? He breathes His Spirit into them, and they come alive, just as He promises we too will.
And it ends with perhaps the greatest "God will save" moment of the Old Testament: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. They heated that furnace so hot that the men throwing them in died, yet the three who went in didn't even smell like smoke. They declared, "Our God can deliver us, O King. Even if He doesn't, we still won't serve your false god."
That's what this night is all about: trusting and waiting on God to do the saving.
Tonight, I'm going to talk about Ezekiel chapter 36, where the prophet gives a promise. He promises to take our heart of stone and give us a transplant for a heart of flesh. This promise includes:
Sprinkling clean water to cleanse us
Removing our idols
Giving us a new spirit
Enabling us to walk in His just decrees
Much of the Old Testament tells of people turning away from the salvation God offered. We have story after story of God rescuing His people, but we often skip over the parts where they said, "No thanks. I would rather try something else. I would rather chase after powerless gods. I would rather depend on my own strength, wisdom, or knowledge."
So God sent prophets to say, "I'm the one who saves, not these false gods—they can't do anything." Yet the people rejected the prophets. Finally, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ. And the people with hearts of stone killed even Him.
Perhaps the greatest story of trust—of simply waiting on God to save—is Jesus on the cross saying, "It is finished." The Son of God simply said, "I trust my Father to raise me from the dead." He had so much trust that He allowed Himself to die and be placed in a tomb for a whole day. Jesus, who created the heavens and earth, lay dead in the tomb, simply trusting that His Father would raise Him.
On Sunday morning, as the women who didn't remember Jesus's words went to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and nobody inside. Jesus had risen. Jesus has that heart of flesh that trusts in God's promises.
Even as believers who trust in a Savior who lived and died for us, sometimes we also go our own way. We turn to things we think will make us feel better or provide for us. We may not build altars with animal sacrifices anymore, but we offer sacrifices to our work, planning, and efforts, thinking, "I'm a little more trustworthy than God. I can take care of myself."
But none of those idols—those things we worship—can support our hopes and dreams or protect us when we need someone. All the stories we've read tonight simply say: only God can save.
This trust is what God gives you through His Son, Jesus Christ. Baptism is how that heart of flesh is given to you. When we die with Christ and rise with Him, His heart is delivered to us through this mystical union. We receive His trust, His peace, His hope—which is great, because if I relied on my own faith in God, I certainly wouldn't have enough. It's reassuring that Jesus can do the trusting for me.
This message helps us remember: no matter how anxious we are or what we worry about, Christ is with us, giving us a heart that trusts the promises of God. Through Him, we can cling to hope, no matter how anxious we feel, as we remember: God is the only one who saves.
In His name, amen.
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