Ezekiel | Week 7 | Bill Bush | Full Service

Pastor Bill Bush · Nov 7, 2022

Big Idea

Because God has already declared us righteous in Christ, our calling now is to start living out the holiness we've already been given, not to earn it.

God's rule for His house — now His people, not a building — is absolute holiness, and that could crush us except that in Christ we've already been declared holy. So the Christian life isn't earning that status but running the race of actually living it out: shedding what weighs us down, turning from sin, and enduring by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who endured the cross for the joy of having us.

Key points

1
1Ezekiel's temple vision reveals God's house rule: absolute holiness.
Pastor Bill walks through Ezekiel 43, where God's glory returns to the temple and declares that His throne room demands absolute holiness because it is His house and He rules it. He notes the temple is measured out as a sign of ownership, and everything in it points forward to the ultimate fulfillment the book of Revelation later draws on.
2
2We are now the temple, so that holiness standard now applies to us, not a building.
He explains that under the New Testament, believers who have put faith in Jesus have received the Holy Spirit and have become the temple, so the 'don't act like that in church' mindset misses the point — wherever a Christian goes, they are the temple.
3
3Holiness means being set apart in character, not just keeping a do's-and-don'ts list.
Pastor Bill defines the Hebrew word for holy as 'set apart' and contrasts an immature rule-keeping faith with real holiness, which is conforming to the character of God because we were made in His image and Christ died to reform that image in us.
4
4Because Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us, we already stand holy in God's eyes — sanctification is living that out.
He explains the seminary term 'imputed' — God took our sin and credited us with Christ's righteousness — so positionally we are already holy, even while we still wrestle with our old self. Sanctification, he says, is the ongoing process of setting out to live what has already been given, avoiding the two extremes of earning holiness by law-keeping or presuming grace excuses continued sin.
5
5Hebrews 12 calls believers to run the race by faith, following the example of the 'crowd of witnesses' including Ezekiel.
Drawing on the 'faith hall of fame' of Hebrews 11 and into Hebrews 12:1-4, he shows that Old Testament saints never fully saw the promise fulfilled but trusted anyway, and now they cheer believers on as they run their own race of faith.
6
6Running the race means running for the best (dropping what weighs you down, including unresolved hurt), running away from sin, and running with endurance.
He unpacks the three commands in Hebrews 12:1 with stories — his son stripping down to run freely at a wedding, the parable of the nail left in the sold house that ends up ruining it, and the danger of treating faith like a sprint instead of a marathon. He addresses church hurt directly, distinguishing forgiveness (which only takes one person) from reconciliation (which takes two).
7
7Endurance comes from keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who endured the cross because we were the joy set before Him.
He compares this to driving on a beautiful road trip versus looking around and drifting off course — we move toward whatever we fix our eyes on. He closes with the story of Otto von Habsburg's funeral, where all his titles were rejected at the church door and only 'a mortal, sinful man' was let in, to show that only our relationship with Jesus ultimately matters.

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is to start living what you've already been given rather than waiting to earn it.

Identify what's weighing you down
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you good-but-restricting things, or old hurts you're carrying like an anchor, that aren't sin but are slowing your race.
Forgive what's holding you back
If someone hurt you, including church hurt, choose to forgive even without reconciliation — forgiveness only takes one person and releases you, not them, from the anchor.
Find your nail and remove it
Name the one sin you've left unaddressed, confess it, and actually turn around rather than just feeling bad and continuing forward.
Do the things God's commanded, not just avoid the don'ts
Examine whether you're skipping giving, serving, or using your gifts, and recognize that neglecting these commands is sin too, not just breaking the 'don't' list.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus
Stay in the Word, in community, and in worship so your attention — and therefore your direction — stays on Christ and the love that sent Him to the cross for you.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“But what I do wanna look at is chapter 43, because there's a section where it first describes this temple as it's being measured out, and measured out means ownership”
From the transcript
“Here we go. After this, verse one of 43, this the man brought me back around to the East gateway. Suddenly, the glory of the Lord of the God of Israel appeared from the East”
From the transcript
“The New Testament says, be holy for I am holy. He says, the law of my temple is absolute holiness. We are the temple now”
From the transcript
“I wanna turn to the New Testament now, to the book of Hebrews. This is where I wanna spend the of time to kinda give us a simple path of of what scripture says is what does that even mean”
From the transcript
“Hebrews chapter 11 actually shows exactly what I was just saying, that the Old Testament faith was supposed to be one of faith too”
From the transcript
“And that's what then it goes into chapter 12, and I wanna read the first four verses because here's what it says first. It says, chapter 12 verse one says, therefore”
From the transcript
“therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, And that's what's so beautiful”
From the transcript
“as as as David wrote in the Psalms, examine my heart and show me the ways that are not in alignment with yours, God”
From the transcript
“Look at verse two again. We do this, this is how we do all this, by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

There is a moment in Ezekiel 43 that stops you in your tracks — the glory of God filling His temple, and then the declaration that this place is most holy. That wasn't just an architectural note. It was a house rule, the foundational one: where God dwells, holiness is the standard. Pastor Billy opened here for a reason. The rule hasn't changed. What has changed is the address. Because of Christ, you and I are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The same glory that filled that ancient structure has taken up residence in us. That changes everything about how we think about our everyday lives — not just Sunday mornings, not just quiet times, but the full sweep of who we are and how we live. It is worth pausing on that before rushing to the 'therefore.' God chose to dwell in you. He didn't have to. He wanted to. The holiness He calls you to isn't a cold, distant standard handed down from a demanding landlord. It flows from the reality that the God of all glory is already present and at home in you. That is the foundation the whole week builds on.

For reflection

What does it mean to you personally that God chose to make you His dwelling place — and does your daily life reflect that awareness?

Pray

Pray for a fresh sense of awe that God has chosen to dwell in you, and ask Him to make that reality feel as real on Monday as it does on Sunday.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message centers on a bold claim: that because Christ's righteousness has already been placed on every believer, holiness isn't something we earn — it's something we're invited to live into. Let's dig into what that actually looks like.

Discussion questions

1
In Ezekiel 43, God lays out absolute holiness as the foundational rule for His house — and Pastor Billy connected that to the fact that believers are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean for us, as people, to carry that kind of weight and calling?
2
Pastor Billy drew a distinction between holiness as a checklist and holiness as conforming to God's character — a surrender rather than a performance. How does that distinction change the way people might think about what it means to be 'holy'?
3
Hebrews 12:1 talks about stripping off every weight that slows us down, and Pastor Billy named three kinds: distractions, old wounds, and unaddressed sin. Why do you think the writer of Hebrews groups those so closely together — what do they have in common?
4
Pastor Billy described forgiveness not primarily as something that releases the offender, but as something that releases us. What does that reframe about how people tend to think about holding onto hurt?
5
In Hebrews 12:2, the writer says Jesus endured the cross 'for the joy set before Him' — and Pastor Billy said that joy was us, the people He was rescuing. How might that idea change the way we understand what fuels an endurance race of faith over the long haul?
6
Pastor Billy challenged us to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal our 'nail' — the one thing left unaddressed that makes everything else unlivable — and to respond with a full 180-degree turn. What would it look like, practically, for a community of people to support one another in that kind of honest, ongoing repentance without it becoming shame-based?

Pray together

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what each person is carrying — distraction, old hurt, or sin left unchallenged — and for the grace to fix our eyes on Jesus as the One who already ran this race on our behalf

Topics

Endurance in Faith Forgiveness Holiness Repentance Sanctification

Ezekiel | Week 7 | Bill Bush | Full Service

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together