My sight, angels be standing, bring them above,
And hold the mercy, best words of love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Where there's salvation, all is at rest,
Flying my Savior and happy and blessed,
Watching Him making the beat of love,
Filled with His goodness, my Savior's love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my story,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my story,
On this first verse together.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there's a cross for everyone,
And there's a cross for me.
The cross that brings the cross out there,
Till death shall set me free.
And then, O Lord, I'm bound to err,
For there's a ground for me.
Aboard the crystal plain and earth,
Let Jesus pierce in thee.
Join all our paths, my golden crown,
And his ear may repeat.
O precious, lost, so glorious crown,
O resurrection day!
The angels from the stars have died,
And bear my soul away.
Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
No, the bullet, then slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we're in Ezekiel chapter 21.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below,
as well as salvations and baptisms.
Cross the page, Happy New Year.
All of the birthdays and wedding anniversaries for January are listed there.
On the back we've got the field trip for the Rooster Cogburns Ostrich Farm.
That is this Friday, just two days away,
and so be sure to read those rules there and follow that.
Keep praying for the ladies in our church that are expecting
that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Also, a lot of people in our church are sick right now
just because there's just a lot of sickness going around,
even just nationwide,
and so just be praying for everyone
that everyone will be back in good health and with us soon.
And then other things that are coming up
are the music emphasis night tomorrow night,
small town soul winning trip this Saturday in Globe.
Be sure to sign up if you're planning on going.
If you show up at the last minute, that's okay too,
but if you're planning on going, please sign up
just so that we can plan on vehicles and stuff like that,
food and things of that nature.
But we're going to be finishing Globe this Saturday
and then starting on Claypool, which is just right next to Globe,
and so be sure to sign up if you're interested in that.
And then the mission strip to San Croix
is going to be this, just like the 16th of this month,
so it's like a week and a half away.
I know a bunch of people here are going,
some other people from other churches are coming as well,
and so if you have any questions about that
or any last minute ideas about that,
talk to Brother Raymond Cooper.
He's the guy who's going to be spearheading that trip.
Also, Daniel Rider is another one that you can talk to.
They're both working together as a team
to make this Virgin Island trip happen,
and so it's very exciting.
I think there are going to be a lot of people saved on this trip,
so be praying for everybody that all doors will be open,
that they have safe travels,
and that they would just have great success
and get a lot of people saved.
So I'm really excited to hear the results from that one.
And that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the sole winning
from the past few days.
So it looks like you had seven saved down in Mexico
on the Mexico Monday trip, so praise the Lord for that.
And then anything else from Monday
outside of the Mexico Monday trip?
All right, we got one.
Anything else? Gotcha.
Okay, anything else from Monday?
And then what about Tuesday?
Anything from Tuesday?
Okay, two for Tuesday.
And then anything else from Tuesday?
What about today, Wednesday?
I thought I heard five for the van.
Was that correct?
Is that what we did?
All right, very good.
Five in the van.
Anything outside of the van today for sole winning?
Any other sole winning from today?
All right, keep up the great work on sole winning.
So with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Excuse me?
Oh, thank you.
Totally forgot.
All right, so we've got these posters.
This poster was actually made,
I want to say, about eight years ago.
There's a really good graphic designer in our church,
Richard Miller, that put this together.
And so we got these charts printed out.
And they're in the back.
So go ahead and grab one of these if you'd like one.
But it's a Bible prophecy chart about Daniel 70th week.
It's got all the vials and the trumpets and the seals.
And down at the bottom it has all the Bible references
and things like that.
So we got a big stack of them back there, hundreds of them.
So go ahead and grab one.
But we're also opening this up to people
who are just watching online.
So if you're at home watching online,
just email the church with your mailing address
if you're anywhere in the US or Canada.
And we will send you one of these absolutely free.
We just want to get this information out to people.
It's a good study tool.
So anyway, Daniel 70th week chart, it's in the back.
Or else if you're at home, email us your mailing address.
We'll get you one.
And that is it for announcements.
All right, come lead us.
Or you should find an insert in the front of your hymnals
with the song Seek Ye First.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand.
And we'll sing it on that verse, Seek Ye First,
the kingdom of God.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Allelu, alleluia,
ask and it shall be given unto you.
Seek and ye shall find,
knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Allelu, alleluia,
thanks shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that most seeks from the mouth of God.
Allelu, alleluia.
Amen in your hymnals now.
Please go to hymn number 112.
Be still my soul, number 112.
Let's sing it.
It's a really good hymn, number 112,
on this first verse together.
Be still my soul,
the Lord is on my side.
Bear patiently the cross of green,
or pale,
into thy God,
to order and collide.
In every change,
he may for well remain.
Be still my soul,
life as thy heavenly friend.
Good for he waits,
means to a joyful end.
Be still my soul,
thy God the Father take,
to guide the future,
as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy God,
bear this land on its way.
All thou this spirit,
shall be bright at last.
Be still my soul,
the winds and winds of the world,
his voice to prove,
and while he dwells below.
Be still my soul,
in our airspace beyond,
when we shall be,
forever with the Lord.
When gifts of wine,
and grief and fear are naught,
for God,
was purest joy restored.
Be still my soul,
when shaken tears are passed,
all safe and blessed,
we shall be at last.
Thank you for singing tonight.
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around,
and as the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles
to Ezekiel chapter 21.
Ezekiel chapter 21, as we always do,
we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads.
Ezekiel chapter 21, beginning in verse number 1.
Ezekiel 21, the Bible reads,
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem,
and drop thy word toward the holy places,
and prophesy against the land of Israel,
and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath,
and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked,
therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath
against all flesh from the south to the north,
that all flesh may know that I, the Lord,
have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath.
It shall not return any more.
Sigh, therefore, thou son of man,
with the breaking of thy loins and with bitterness,
sigh before their eyes,
and it shall be when they say unto thee,
Wherefore sighest thou?
That thou shalt answer for the tidings,
because it cometh, and every heart shall melt,
and all hands shall be feeble,
and every spirit shall faint,
and all knees shall be weak as water.
Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass,
saith the Lord God.
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord,
Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened and also furbished.
It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter.
It is furbished that it may glitter.
Should we then make mirth?
It contentment the rod of my son as every tree,
and he hath given it to be furbished that it may be handled.
This sword is sharpened, and it is furbished,
to give it into the hand of the slayer.
Cry and howl, son of man,
for it shall be upon my people.
It shall be upon all the princes of Israel.
Terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people.
Smite, therefore, upon thy thigh,
because it is a trial.
And what if the sword content even the rod?
It shall be no more, saith the Lord God.
Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy,
and smite thine hands together,
and let the sword be doubled the third time,
the sword of the slain.
It is the sword of the great men that are slain,
which entereth into their privy chambers.
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates,
that their heart may faint and their ruins be multiplied.
Ah, it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
Go thee one way or other,
either on the right hand or on the left,
whithersoever thy face has set.
I will also smite thine hands together,
and I will cause my fury to rest.
I, the Lord, have set it.
The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways,
that the sword of the king of Babylon may come.
Both twain shall come forth out of one land,
and choose thou a place,
choose it at the head of the way to the city.
Appoint a way, that the sword may come
to Rabath of the Ammonites,
and to Judah and Jerusalem the defensed.
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way,
at the head of the two ways,
He made his arrows bright,
he consulted with images,
he looked in the liver.
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem,
to appoint captains,
to open the mouth and the slaughter,
to lift up the voice with shouting,
to appoint battering rams against the gates,
to cast a mount and to build a fort.
And it shall be unto them as a false divination,
in their sight,
to them that have sworn oaths,
but he will call to remembrance the iniquity,
that they may be taken.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God,
because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered,
in that your transgressions are discovered,
so that in all your doings your sins do appear,
because I say that ye are come to remembrance,
ye shall be taken with the hand.
And now, profane wicked prince of Israel,
whose day is come,
when iniquity shall have an end,
thus saith the Lord God,
remove the diadem,
and take off the crown.
This shall not be the same.
Exalt him that is low,
and abase him that is high.
I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it,
and it shall be no more,
until he come whose right it is,
and I will give it him.
And now, son of man, prophesy and say,
Thus saith the Lord God,
concerning the Ammonites,
and concerning their reproach.
Even say thou, the sword,
the sword is drawn,
for the slaughter it is furbished,
to consume because of the glittering.
While as they see vanity unto thee,
while as they divine a lie unto thee,
to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain,
of the wicked,
whose day is come,
when their iniquity shall have an end,
shall I cause it to return into his sheath?
I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created,
in the land of thy nativity,
and I will pour out mine indignation upon thee.
I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath,
and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men,
and skillful to destroy.
Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire.
Thy blood shall be in the midst of the land.
Thou shalt be no more remembered,
for I the Lord have spoken it.
Brother Fidel, will you pray?
Father God, we want to give you thanks for tonight.
We want to ask you if you could take care of our fellow church members
and our family members that are ill today.
Tonight, Lord, bring them back to working spirits, Lord.
Please bless Pastor Anderson.
Bless this sermon, Lord, and let it edify us tonight.
Let it pertain to our lives as well.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Ezekiel chapter number 21.
The Bible reads,
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem,
and drop thy word toward the holy places,
and prophesy against the land of Israel.
Now, imagine that.
Preach against the land of Israel.
Now, this type of preaching would be anathema today
in most independent Baptist churches, sadly,
because they would get upset if you said anything against Israel.
And they would say, you know,
we have to always support Israel and praise Israel and things like that.
But even in the Old Testament,
when Israel was actually the chosen people of God,
God is still telling the prophets to preach against Israel.
But not only that, look what he says next.
And say to the land of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord, behold, I am against thee.
So God is saying to the land of Israel, I'm against you.
So you say, hey, we always need to be pro-Israel.
He's got to be for Israel.
God's not even pro-Israel in this chapter.
He says, I'm against you, okay?
Now, it's true that in the Old Testament,
the children of Israel were God's chosen people.
They were chosen to be a light to the Gentiles.
They were chosen to be the nation that would bring forth the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they were chosen also to be the ones to receive the oracles of God,
to receive the Bible.
They were the custodians of the Bible, right?
They received the law by the disposition of angels.
They got Moses.
They got the prophets.
They got the Psalms.
And they had all of the Word of God delivered to them.
It was their job to copy it, to preach it, to keep it, and so forth.
But it doesn't mean that they can just get away with whatever they want
without God turning against them and being at enmity with them.
And so here we see God being against Israel.
Now, of course, in the New Testament,
the most important thing in anyone's life spiritually,
in any individual's life spiritually,
or in a nation is what do they do with the Lord Jesus Christ?
I mean, that's the number one thing.
And in many ways, it's almost like the only thing.
I mean, you know, because if you get that wrong,
nothing matters beyond that.
Okay.
And so if the nation of Israel today rejects the Lord Jesus Christ,
make no mistake about it, they are rejected by God
because they have rejected the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father,
no man comes to the Father but by Jesus.
And that includes Israeli soldiers who are praying to God.
They're not, their prayer is hitting the ceiling
and it's not going any further than that
because they're not praying in the name of Jesus.
You know, when I pray, at the end of my prayer,
I say in Jesus' name, Amen.
You know, just to make sure that we know
that I'm going to the Father through the Son.
I'm going through the proper channels.
Okay.
And so the preaching here is by Ezekiel
and it's supposed to be against Israel because God says,
I'm against Israel.
I'm against you.
Because of their idolatry, their wickedness,
their worshiping other gods and so forth.
Now, obviously, God loved the nation of Israel for the Father's sake.
He loved Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and so he chose Israel.
He loved the nation of Israel.
And even today, God loves the lost.
You know, whether they be in Israel or Jordan or Lebanon
or United States or Mexico, right, God so loved the world.
And so God cares about lost people
and, you know, he wants all men to be saved
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
But just because God loves someone and wants them to be saved
does not make them his people
and it does not make them under his blessing
because the Bible says that he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And that's just the reality of the situation
with the apostate nation of Israel which is a fraud.
And in this chapter, I'm going to kind of jump forward in the chapter
just because while I'm on this topic
because if you jump forward to verse 25, look what it says.
And thou profane wicked prince of Israel
whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end.
Those are pretty strong words that God is telling Ezekiel to preach this.
So Ezekiel is being told, preach a hard sermon here
and preach against the king of Israel
because the prince of Israel here is referring to the man who's acting as king at this time.
And he says, this profane wicked prince of Israel, preach against this guy.
Thus saith the Lord God, verse 26,
remove the diadem and take off the crown.
This shall not be the same.
Exalt him that is low and abase him that is high.
I will overturn, overturn, overturn it
and it shall be no more until he come who's right it is
and I will give it to him.
Now, if you remember a few chapters back,
there was a passage in Ezekiel that talked about the fact
that Zedekiah was not supposed to be a big shot,
if you remember this from a few weeks ago.
He had sworn an oath to the king of Babylon
and he was supposed to be subservient to the king of Babylon.
He was supposed to be obedient to him.
He wasn't going to have a great powerful kingdom
because God's judgment was on the nation of Israel
and he ended up breaking his oath to the king of Babylon
and thus incurring the wrath of God
because even though the king of Babylon
was not necessarily a good person,
when you swear an oath in the name of the Lord,
you better keep your oath
and so God took it personally
when Zedekiah broke his oath to the king of Babylon
because he swore in the name of the Lord
and then broke his word.
And so if you remember a few chapters back,
Ezekiel was just really being told by God
to really rip into Zedekiah for breaking that oath
and how bad that was and how wicked Zedekiah was
and there was that parable
about how he wasn't supposed to be a big shot
but then he wanted to just have more power
than what Babylon was giving him
so he started going behind the king of Babylon
back to Egypt, thus breaking his oath, et cetera.
Hopefully you remember a little bit of that
but if not, don't worry too much about it.
The point is that Zedekiah is not a legitimate person
that God wants to be ruling the nation of Israel
as a great king.
He's a person that has become illegitimate
because his power was granted unto him
by the king of Babylon, he broke his word,
he broke his oath and so God's upset with him.
And so he's saying, take the crown off your head,
you're illegitimate, you're bogus
and then he says, it shall be no more
until he come who's right it is
and I will give it to him, okay?
And what's going on here is that
Zedekiah is one who wants to seize power for himself
and be a big shot but that's not God's will.
God's will is that he be abased and brought low
but when the captivity is over,
when the punishment is over
and the 70 year Babylonian captivity is complete,
God is going to raise up a son of David
to sit upon that throne
and he says, I'm gonna overturn it.
So he's gonna overthrow basically
the government of Israel,
he's gonna overthrow the monarchy,
overthrow the king of Israel
until he come who's right it is.
So there's gonna be a period where there's
not actually a functioning monarchy
in the kingdom of Judah
but then God's gonna raise up a man named Zerubbabel
who is the son of David
and God's going to establish him as the king
in the land of Israel
and he's the one who has the right to rule
because God's the one who's going to anoint him as king.
Now the word Christ means anointed, okay?
The word Messiah means anointed.
These three words all mean the same thing.
Anointed is English, Messiah is Hebrew,
Christ is Greek
but these are all the same thing.
That's why the Bible would say in Psalm chapter 2
when you're reading it
that the kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed
but then when this is quoted in the book of Acts
it says that the kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his Christ.
So you notice how Christ and anointed
are used interchangeably in that verse, okay?
So you ever wonder what Christ means?
That's what it means.
What does Messiah mean?
That's what it means.
The literal meaning of the word Christ is anointed, okay?
Jesus Christ is the Messiah, right?
He's anointed.
He's the Christ, the anointed one.
So what does it mean to be the anointed one?
Well one of the things that's prophesied in the Old Testament
is that there's going to be a son of David
that will rule over Israel,
that will sit on the throne of his father David
and he will rule over the kingdom of Israel
and it's going to be an everlasting kingdom
that would never end, okay?
And so Jesus Christ fulfilled that
when he came to this earth
because Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning in our hearts
and he rules and reigns in heaven and so forth.
Now he's not literally reigning yet
but in the future Christ will return at his second coming
and he will literally sit upon a throne in Jerusalem
and he will literally reign
and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
The book of Daniel prophesied this.
You know the book of Daniel talked about those four kingdoms
that were going to come, right?
Babylon, Persia, the Greeks and then the Romans
and then during that fourth kingdom of the Romans
is when he would set up an everlasting kingdom
that would never end.
Guess what?
That happened because during the Roman Empire
Jesus Christ came, okay?
Now the Jews, they think the Messiah is still coming.
That's absurd because the book of Daniel gave a timeline
for when the Messiah would come
and it's during that fourth kingdom which is over
because the Roman Empire ended a long time ago, okay?
Now there's also some end times application.
There's going to be another world dominating empire
in the end times or sometimes called the New World Order
but basically a one world government.
Eventually the Antichrist is going to rule all nations
and so forth and then during that empire
the second coming of Christ will come.
So the first coming of Christ interrupted the Roman Empire.
Second coming is going to interrupt this end times
New World Order globalist type of a system.
And so what we see here is that when God looks at this
kingdom of Israel as it stands at the time
Ezekiel 21 is written, he doesn't recognize it.
He says you're not legitimate, you're not a legitimate king
and so I'm going to overturn this until he come
who's right it is and I will give it to him, okay?
And of course that's Zerubbabel, that's the immediate application.
But you know, let's also apply this to the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
Because whenever we look at these prophecies about the coming of Zerubbabel
we need to also realize that they are symbolic of the coming of Jesus Christ, okay?
Yes, Zerubbabel has some importance but is he really that important of a guy?
I mean I guarantee you there are probably a lot of Christians
who have never even heard the name Zerubbabel
unless they read the Bible cover to cover.
There are not necessarily a lot of sermons being preached that would use that name.
It's not a popular baby name.
It's just not a super major Bible character, is it?
But do the prophecies about Zerubbabel matter?
The reason why they matter besides just, you know, the historical,
okay, yeah, the Davidic monarchy was reestablished, yada, yada, yada.
You know, why does that matter to us?
You know, what really matters to us though is that Zerubbabel was anointed as the king.
He's anointed the son of David to reign, okay,
but he is not really the anointed that we're talking about.
What we're really talking about is Jesus, okay?
And so just as Zedekiah is illegitimate in the sight of God,
just as God looks down and says, I'm against you, Israel.
My face is against you, Israel.
And you know what?
The prince of Israel is a person who's what?
Profane and wicked according to verse 25.
God looks down today at the so-called nation of Israel
and it's the same exact thing where he would look at the prime minister
or the president of Israel and say, you know, you're wicked, you're profane,
you're a Christ-rejecting false teacher, you're a nation that rejects God,
you're a nation that is, you know, falling after an anti-Christ religion
because the Bible says if you don't believe that Jesus is the Christ,
you're anti-Christ.
Whoever denies the father and the son is anti-Christ and that's, of course, Israel.
And so God is going to overturn it.
And he's not just going to overturn it, he's going to overturn, overturn, overturn it.
Now why is that repeated three times?
When things are repeated in the Bible in prophecy,
it has to do with the certainty that that event is going to take place
because remember in Daniel, things in the dreams are doubled
or also in Genesis with Joseph and things happen twice, you know.
You've got the cattle and you've got the corn stalks.
Everything's doubled.
Everything happens twice and the reason that the Bible gives for that is it says,
the reason it's doubled is because it's certain to happen
because of the certainty that it's going to happen.
And so when he says I will overturn, overturn, overturn it,
he's basically saying there's no way that this is not going to happen.
This isn't just a possible, hey, if you guys don't straighten up, I'm going to overturn it.
Like, yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown,
but then they repent and he backs off.
You know, when things are repeated like this, it's set in stone that it's going to happen.
And so God looks down in Ezekiel 21 at an illegitimate Israel
that he's already marked for destruction,
but they're trying to hang on and still exist and still move forward
instead of submitting to the king of Babylon like God told them to do through Jeremiah and through Ezekiel.
He looks down at this illegitimate Israel and says, I'm going to overturn it
and it shall be no more until he come who's right it is.
This is the same thing that's going to happen in the end times.
Okay, God is going to overturn the illegitimate state of Israel.
Jerusalem shall be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles for 42 months.
Right? Starting at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week,
Jerusalem is going to be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles.
He's going to basically overturn the autonomy of the so-called state of Israel
until he come who's right it is.
But it's not as irreparable, it's Jesus Christ's second coming.
Jesus Christ will then have a legitimate government from Jerusalem
ruling over not only Israel but also over the entire world.
And so I hope that that helps you understand that.
So whenever you're studying about the fact that there's going to be a son of David
that's going to sit on the throne and Zerubbabel is going to be there,
realize that the more important prophecy is of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
You see, this line, this lineage has to continue not just so that the nation of Judah can continue
but really so that Jesus can be born from this line of kings, okay?
And then he's the one whose kingdom will never end, okay?
And again, if you're coming at this from a Jewish perspective,
you're going to have to basically turn all this on its head
because, you know, the Messiah who has the everlasting kingdom needed to come during the Roman Empire
and that ship has already sailed.
And the Messiah comes before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Well, that was Jesus.
So if you missed it, well, you're going to hell.
Okay, so let's back up in Ezekiel chapter 21 and he says in verse 3,
And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath,
and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
Seeing that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked,
therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north.
Now notice again the repetition.
Twice in a row he says, I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
So again, this is a for sure.
And he says, his sword is not going back in his sheath, that all flesh, verse 5, may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath,
and it shall not return any more.
Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
So why would God destroy the righteous and the wicked?
Why would he cut off from it the righteous and the wicked?
God has promised to make a complete end of the nation of Judah.
Okay?
So when he says I'm going to cut off from it the righteous and the wicked, he's saying this nation is going to be wiped out.
No one's going to be left.
Even good people are going to leave.
And look, Jeremiah was a righteous man, right?
He's preaching and standing up for what's right.
But you know what? Even he ends up leaving Jerusalem.
Even he ends up leaving the nation.
Everybody basically stops being part of this nation.
Like this nation stops functioning.
Okay?
And this is what he says earlier where he says I'm going to overturn it until he come whose right it is.
There's no monarchy. There's no nation.
Everybody gets cut off.
The whole nation gets destroyed.
And of course, with another future fulfillment of this, when Jesus Christ came and the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior,
in 70 AD, of course, the Romans destroyed the temple, burned Jerusalem, and the Jews were scattered into all nations.
But then, a little bit later in 135 AD, there were Jews that revolted again.
And at that point, literally, every single Jew was removed from Jerusalem in 135 AD.
And the Romans made it illegal for any Jew to set foot in Jerusalem.
They can't even visit except one day a year on the 9th of Av.
They're allowed to come one day a year and cry about it.
And then they have to leave.
That's it.
But the rest of the year, they can't be there.
So I mean, when God says he's going to do something, you know, he fulfills his word.
And sometimes the first fulfillment isn't quite as literal, but then there will be a later fulfillment that's super literal.
And so you have this really literal fulfillment where he says, I'm going to scatter you into all nations.
And 135 AD, everybody's gone.
Not a single Jew left in Jerusalem.
They were truly scattered and destroyed.
So when we see here that he says, well, I'm going to cut off from the righteous and the wicked, he's saying everybody is getting scattered.
It's not just going to be a portion of people that suffer.
Everybody's going to suffer.
Now, you say, well, that doesn't seem quite fair.
You know, why would good people suffer?
Why would righteous people suffer?
But the reality is that if a nation is wicked in the sight of God, everybody's going to suffer.
I mean, stop and think about it.
What if I lived in a family where my dad is a drunkard and my mom's out committing adultery or something?
I mean, can you imagine the repercussions that that would have on my life?
Think about it.
Now, thankfully, I grew up in a Christian home and my parents were taking me to church and I was learning the word of God and so forth.
But you know what?
Some people do grow up in a home where their dads are drunk and, you know, mom's out doing whatever.
She's out at bars and who knows what.
Don't you think that that's going to negatively impact the children in the family?
And you say, well, it's not their fault.
Yeah, but are they suffering?
The truth of the matter is that we suffer because of the actions of the people around us.
And we can also receive blessings because of the actions of the people around us.
Stop and think about the United States of America.
We've been a nation that's been greatly blessed by God.
But isn't it interesting that we've also been the nation that had the most people reading their Bibles, you know, over the past few hundred years, right?
The most missionaries have come out of the United States.
Name a country that has sent out more missionaries actually preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Name a country where people are reading the Bible more and preaching more.
Name a country with more Baptists in it.
Go ahead, I'll wait, right?
Because there isn't one.
So therefore, America has been greatly blessed by God because of that.
Now I guarantee you that even a lot of bad people in America have enjoyed living in America.
But are they the source of the blessings?
No. Bad people have reaped the benefits of the good people.
You know, you got good Christian people praying, reading their Bible, going to church, supporting missions.
And then the whole nation gets blessed, including the bad people.
Everybody gets blessed.
Because, I mean, think about it.
If Arizona is blessed, everybody in Arizona benefits.
If Arizona is cursed by God, everybody in Arizona suffers.
Right? Because, think about it.
Jeremiah is a godly, righteous man.
God's not punishing Jeremiah because Jeremiah didn't do anything wrong.
But did Jeremiah suffer as a result of the, you know, the sins of his nation?
Absolutely. Because, you know, he ends up having to leave town as well.
Because everybody gets scattered, including himself.
You know, he had to spend time in prison.
He spent time in the bottom of a literal outhouse, sinking in waste.
You know, sinking in the mire.
Down in a damp dungeon where he said, if I go back there, I'm probably going to die.
The conditions were so bad.
Okay. If Arizona is blessed by God, we're all going to benefit from that.
And if Arizona is cursed by God, we're all going to suffer to some extent.
Now, sure, God can protect his people and work things out.
And he took care of Jeremiah and protected him.
But it doesn't mean we're not going to be impacted by bad choices.
I mean, think about it.
If you're, let's say you're totally right with God, but your spouse,
let's say your spouse gets backslidden and starts getting into sin.
You think that's going to negatively affect you?
Or negatively affect the family?
Negatively affect the children? Of course.
See, no man lives unto himself.
No man dies unto himself.
We all affect the people around us.
I mean, think about Achan.
One guy, Achan, commits a sin in the book of Joshua.
Did it just affect Achan only?
Did God only punish Achan?
No, God ended up getting angry with the nation of Israel in general
about the Achan situation.
And that's why Achan was called the troubler of Israel.
The troubler of Israel.
And God ended up causing Israel to lose a battle where a bunch of people died
trying to attack Ai because of the sin of Achan.
You know, if we had a whole bunch of wicked sin going on in our church,
you know, that could just cause God to just look disfavorably upon our church as a whole.
And then, you know, that's bad for everybody.
That's bad for all of us.
That's why we need to make sure that we don't have just gross sin going on in the local church.
That's why God said, you know, you've got to put away fornication and drunkenness
and these major sins that are contagious.
Get that stuff out because, you know, we don't want Achan to sin
and then God to be angry with the whole congregation
or God to do something that would affect everybody.
Okay.
So, in America today, we have some people that are just doing horrible things,
disgusting things, wicked things, and they're bringing down the wrath of God on our whole nation.
And a lot of people could look at it and say like,
well, you know, what does it affect you if someone, you know, has an abortion?
Or what does it affect you?
Why do you care?
Isn't that her body, her choice?
Why does it affect you what the Sodomites are doing, you know, in the privacy of their own whatever?
Why does that affect you?
Let me tell you why it affects me.
Because the whole land will vomit at that sin, the Bible says.
You know, the whole land is defiled.
When you have a land filled with Sodomites, you know, that defiles the land.
The Bible says the earth itself will vomit because of that sin, because of that filth.
And, you know, when you have all of this wickedness going on in a society,
it could cause God to just be angry at the United States in general
and just bring judgment on the United States in general.
And none of us wants that.
You know, we want to have peace.
The Bible says that we should pray for all that are in authority over us
so that we can live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.
You know what I want to do?
I want to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
You know, I want to serve God for the rest of my life.
I don't want any warfare to happen in the United States.
I mean, who wants war to be happening in the United States?
I don't want any war to be going on in the United States.
I want it to just be peace.
From sea to shining sea, I want there to be peace.
Who wants to live in a battle zone?
You want to raise your family in a war zone?
No way.
There are wars going on all the time somewhere.
You know, somewhere in Africa or Asia right now.
People are killing each other in wars.
And you know what?
I'm glad that it's not happening in Arizona or California or Massachusetts
or anywhere else in between.
You know, I'm glad that we have peace.
Well, you know what?
I want to always have peace.
I don't want bombs to be falling out of the sky.
Even if they're not hitting me,
I still don't want bombs to be falling out of the sky in my country.
So I want there to be peace and I want to live a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty.
I want to raise my kids and go soul winning
and be able to just preach the Word of God.
And you know, we're more interested in taking missions trips
and getting people saved than in, you know,
just trying to just stay out of prison
or dodge bullets and dodge bombs that are falling out of the sky, right?
We want to just have a quiet and peaceable life
so we can work for God and serve God and live blessed, peaceful lives.
You know, when God blessed a nation, he gives them peace and safety
and he gives them, you know, the ability to serve God without fear
and to just be able to just...
And we have that right now and we're thankful for it.
We ought to thank God every day for the peace and prosperity
that we're enjoying right now.
But you know, these bunch of perverts and sodomites
and baby killers, they are ruining it for us
because they're going to bring judgment and wrath upon our nation.
So obviously, we're not here to fight a physical battle.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world
and against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And the Bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
They're not physical. They're not fleshly weapons.
It's not a sword or a gun.
The weapons of our warfare are spiritual
and those weapons are for casting down imaginations,
bringing every thought into subjection to Christ, right?
Tearing down imaginations, casting down strongholds.
We are in a battle for the mind, okay?
Because that's where the battle is fought, in the mind.
So what are we doing?
You know, we're out there to preach the Word of God,
to preach the truth so that A, people can be saved,
and B, so they can be baptized,
and C, so that we can teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded.
Isn't that the Great Commission?
The three part, get them saved, get them baptized,
and teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded.
Well, listen, if we get a whole bunch of people saved,
and we get a whole bunch of people baptized,
and we teach a whole bunch of people to observe all things that Christ commanded,
that's going to bring the blessing of God upon our nation, okay?
Now, if we just do that locally here,
that's going to bring the blessing of God upon our local area.
You know, think about how God said that I'll spare Sodom and Gomorrah
if there are ten righteous people there.
Now, there weren't ten righteous people, so he didn't spare it.
But you see how God could be ready with his sword drawn
and ready to destroy America or some portion thereof,
but that if God looks down and sees a bunch of saved Christians,
he sees a bunch of people that are praying and raising their families
and going to church and a bunch of souls are being saved,
you know, wouldn't you think that he would look at that and say,
okay, you know what, I'm going to hold off on that
because look at all this great work for Christ that's being done in Arizona.
I'm going to bless Arizona so that this great work can continue
and to reward my children in Arizona that are doing a good job of evangelizing
and they love me and they're following my word
and they care what I say and they fear me and so forth.
So, you know, everyone affects everyone else.
We're all connected.
If I live for God, I am a blessing to Tempe
and the state of Arizona and the United States because I'm living for God.
And so are you.
We're a blessing.
And, you know, people might think that we're like a scourge on Arizona.
Oh, man, Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Or, you know, let's talk about our friend, Pastor Bruce Mejia.
You know, they, I mean, they really thought he was a scourge on El Monte,
you know, and they said, we got to get Pastor Mejia out of El Monte.
We've got, you know, we need to talk to the city to get the city to kick him out.
First of all, do you want to live in a country where the city government
just kicks out people they don't like?
How does that work?
You want to give the government the power to just,
I don't like what you're saying, you know, kick you out.
No, it's freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly.
But they thought that, you know, Pastor Mejia and First Works Baptist Church
was some kind of a scourge upon El Monte, California.
But I'll guarantee you right now that when they drove Pastor Mejia
and First Works Baptist Church out of El Monte, you know,
I believe that they brought a curse upon themselves.
And that actually they're missing out on blessings upon El Monte
from having a godly church there and people there praying and soul winning
and honoring the Lord.
You know, but when you get rid of that element
and then you basically strengthen the hands of the pervert element,
you know, you're just bringing down the wrath of God upon El Monte, California.
Okay.
And, you know, the Bible says that God's servants often have wandered
in deserts and in mountains and they're wearing sheepskins and goatskins
and the Bible says of whom the world was not worthy.
You know, of whom the world's not worthy, okay.
The world may look at God's people as being an annoyance, pain in the neck,
you know, a hate group or whatever.
But in reality we are bringing the blessing of God upon our area
because every soul that we win to Christ is just a blessing upon our area,
that God's going to look down and just it's like think about this.
You know those satellite images of the earth at night
and you have little lights lit up and like North Korea has very few lights
and South Korea is like all lit up, for example.
But, you know, think about this.
God looks down from heaven and if each light is a saved person
and he looks down and Arizona is just like boo, boo, boo, you know,
you know, Mexico Monday is just like boo, boo, boo, you know,
a little bit of lights up there in northern Mexico and Arizona,
little lights are coming.
You know, when God looks down and sees that,
that's bringing a blessing upon Arizona, okay.
So the answer is not for us to try to fight the government
or, you know, blow up abortion clinics or something like that.
You know, we're going to accomplish the most by doing it the way that God said,
dealing with the mind, casting down imaginations,
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.
We need to tear down those strongholds of, you know, wrong gospels
or just wickedness, everything that's contrary to the Bible.
You know, when we go out and win somebody to Christ, you know, we're winning.
And when we preach sermons about other subjects, you know,
if I get up on Sunday morning and just preach about how we shouldn't be stealing
and people hear that sermon and they say, you know what, I'm not going to steal.
I'm going to be honest.
I'm not going to commit murder.
I'm not going to be a drunk.
They hear the sermon against fornication and they say, you know what,
I'm not going to be a fornicator.
You know, we're making our part of the world a little bit more righteous
and that brings the blessing of God, okay.
And so you have to understand that we affect other people, other people affect us.
So if some transvestite's walking down the street, what is any of your business?
Well, because you know what, I'm a preacher and it's my job to rebuke that wickedness
for the health of my whole area that God has placed me here.
You know, whether it be my city, my state, my county, my nation,
it's my job to call that out for all of our benefits.
For your children and mine to still have an America and still have an Arizona
and still have a place where they can live quiet and peaceable lives and serve God.
So therefore, we need to understand that God's judgment when it comes upon a nation,
everybody in that nation ends up suffering in one way or another, the righteous and the wicked.
Now we know all things work together for good to those that love God.
So even if God pulls his sword out of his sheath and cuts off from the land righteous and wicked,
we know that the righteous can still be blessed ultimately.
Because think about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Did they get affected by this?
Because when God pulled out his sword against the nation of Israel and cut off from it the righteous and the wicked,
who were some of the righteous?
Daniel was righteous, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
But you know what, they still got cut off, no pun intended, because they became eunuchs.
Now look, I guarantee you that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn't say,
I want to be a eunuch when I grow up.
You know, that's not what, you know, kids might want to be a firefighter or an astronaut or whatever,
but nobody says I want to be a eunuch when I grow up, okay?
And the thing is, that's them suffering as a result of a heathen army coming in,
kidnapping children and literally mutilating their bodies.
That's not cool. I don't want to be kidnapped. I don't want my children to be kidnapped.
I don't want my body to be mutilated. I don't want my children's bodies to be mutilated.
But in the end, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ended up living great lives, being greatly blessed by God,
even though it didn't seem like it at the time when they were getting mutilated.
Even though it didn't seem like it at the time when they were being abducted from their family and taken to a foreign country
and where they don't even speak the language, okay?
Where they had to be taught the tongue of the Chaldeans because, you know, that's not where they were from.
And so, you know, ultimately all things work together for good to them that love God.
So we understand that in the end the righteous individual is going to be preserved.
He's going to be blessed by God. We're in a Goshen, as it were.
But we also need to understand the principle that my good deeds affect everyone around me
and my bad deeds affect everyone around me because we all affect each other.
God deals with us on an individual basis, but when he just brings judgment on a nation, obviously we're all going to suffer.
And, you know, if we're standing close to somebody who gets smoked, you know, we might get some of the shrapnel on us as well, okay?
So we need to understand that our nation as a whole, it's in our best interest to make it more righteous
or to stand up for what's right or pray for God to raise up great soul-winning churches so that his wrath could be abated or at least postponed, okay?
So he said, I got to hurry because I spent a lot of time on that point, but he'll cut off the righteous and the wicked.
And he says, sigh therefore, son of man. So that's why Ezekiel is told to sigh, you know, which is basically a sound of just sadness, mourning, right?
Oh man, groaning. And he's supposed to sigh in the sight of all Israel and then they're supposed to ask him, you know, well, why are you sighing?
And he says, you know, it's because of this vision.
So it says in verse eight, I got to hurry, I just want to crank through a few other things before we're done.
Son of man, prophesy, verse nine, and say, thus saith the Lord, a sword, a sword is sharpened and also furbished.
It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter. It is furbished that it may glitter.
Should we then make mirth? Like, whoa, we shouldn't be happy about this because there's a slaughter coming.
It contempteth the rod of my son as every tree.
OK, I want to take time to explain some of this difficult language here as we're going down through this and then I'll be done for the night.
So it says here it contempteth. Now, this is not condemneth with a D.
This is contempt. OK, this is a word that we don't use anymore in 2022.
But we do use a noun derived from this contempt. Right.
We all know what contempt means. Contempt is when I don't have proper respect for something.
I don't have respect for something. I have contempt. If I treat someone with contempt, it means I don't respect them.
It means that they are low in my estimation. I don't give them any special treatment at all.
I treat them with total contempt. So that's what this is. It contempts.
So what contempt? The sword. And let's just instead of saying contempt, we can just say has contempt.
Right. Just to kind of bring it into our modern vernacular.
It has contempt for the rod of my son as every tree.
Now, again, going back a couple chapters, the rod represented the king or the leadership.
OK. And the trees were that illustration that God used where basically a rod was taken from the tree or a branch was taken from the tree and fashioned into a rod.
The scepter, the tree represents the nation, the rod represents the kingship or the monarchy or the leader.
So basically the sword is going to come through and it's going to contempt the rod.
Meaning the fact that it's not going to have any respect or it's not going to discriminate.
Because remember the sword is going to cut off righteous, wicked and it's going to cut off the leadership and it's not going to have any respect for the leadership.
Now it says the rod of my son as every tree. That's kind of a strange thing there, right?
My son? Well, but you have to remember that God sometimes calls Israel his son.
Because remember it said Israel is my firstborn and out of Egypt have I called my son?
Out of Egypt have I called my son is referring to Israel.
OK. So the rod of my son here is the rod of Israel.
OK. Next verse, verse 11, it says he had given it to be furbished that he may be handled.
The sword is sharpened, is furbished to give it to the hand of the slayer.
Cry and howl, son of man.
So he's told to sigh. Now he's being told to cry and howl.
Again, these are like lamentation noises.
Like, think about if someone died, the noise that their loved one would make right when they found out.
You know, I remember one time I was in South Chicago and there were a lot of murders there.
When I was there, it was about 600 a year, which is an incredible amount.
But did you know that last year it actually was more like, I want to say 799 or something.
Don't quote me on that exact number, but it was close to 800.
That's like more than two a day. OK.
And so, you know, a lot of them are taking place in the ghettos of South Chicago.
I was there every weekend soul winning.
And so, you know, sometimes you'd hear gunshots.
Well, one time I was there and somebody got shot just a couple streets over from where I was.
We were soul winning.
And I walked around the corner on soul winning.
And this lady was just like, like she was just screaming and crying because she just found out that her loved one had been shot.
I don't know if it was her son or husband or brother or friend or who knows.
But I mean, this woman was just crying and wailing.
And and so God is basically using that language when he says cry and howl.
He's talking about just that extreme wailing and weeping of someone who just lost someone.
Cry and howl, son of man, for it shall be upon my people.
So again, notice my son is now my people.
Again, because we're talking about Israel.
Cry and howl, son of man, for it shall be upon my people.
It shall be upon all the princes of Israel.
That's the rod of my son.
Terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people.
Smite therefore upon my thigh because it is a trial.
And what if the sword contempt even the rod?
And again, that's talking about the slaying sword that's coming through which is Babylon and the armies of Babylon.
They're going to have contempt for even the rod, even the nobility, even the leadership, even the prince, even the king of his people who are also called his son.
What if the sword contempt even the rod?
It shall be no more, said the Lord.
What shall be no more?
The rod shall be no more because there's going to be no king sitting on that throne for a temporary period until Zerubbabel is reinstated.
After the captivity.
Verse 14, therefore that son of man prophesy and smite thy hands together and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain.
It is the sword of the great men that are slain.
Again, this is the rod, the leaders, which enter into their privy chambers.
I've set the point of the sword against all their gates that their heart may be faint and their ruins be multiplied.
Ah, it is made bright.
It is wrapped up for the slaughter.
Go thee one way or another, either on the right hand or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
I will also smite my hands together and I will cause my fury to rest.
I, the Lord, have said it.
All right, one last thing we need to go over quickly.
Verse 19, also thou son of man, appoint thee two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come.
Both twain shall come forth out of one land and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
Appoint a way that the sword may come to Raboth of the Ammonites and to Judah in Jerusalem the defensid.
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, verse 21, at the head of the two ways to use divination.
He made his arrows bright, watch this, he consulted with images.
He looked in the liver.
Now what does this mean?
Consulted with images means he's talking to his idols.
He's talking to his false gods.
Looking in the liver, this is not a godly way to figure out what is the right thing to do, okay?
But this is called divination, okay?
Divination can be done in various ways.
It could be a little magic eight ball from Walmart.
You know, you ask it a question, flip it over and it's like, ask again later.
Or yes, no, or whatever.
You know, that's divination.
A Ouija board, you know, your hand goes to the yes or the no or whatever.
What are some other forms of divination besides Ouija boards and magic eight balls?
Tarot cards.
Tarot cards, yeah, tarot card reading, palm reading, those are great examples, yeah.
So these type of divinations work supposedly by looking at the lines on my hand, something can be said about the future.
Well, you know, a lot of pagan polytheistic religions have done things where they sacrifice an animal under their idol
and then they look at the entrails of that animal and there's an expert that's brought in who's an expert at reading entrails
and he looks at them and there have been even found ancient artifacts of diagrams, you know, from either ancient Greece or the Near East
where there's a diagram that says here's what you're looking for in the liver or here's what you're looking for in the intestines, you know,
and depending on where different dark patches are, that's going to tell you future things.
Okay, obviously this is not of God.
Now let me just, because we're short on time, just flip to Deuteronomy 13 because I just want to make this one last point.
But while you're turning to Deuteronomy 13, I'm going to read for you from Deuteronomy 18, okay.
And in Deuteronomy 18, the Bible prohibits the use of this type of divination.
It's obviously ungodly.
It says in verse 10 of chapter 18,
There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,
or that useeth divination, or an observer of times, that's like a horoscope or things like that, astrology, things like that,
or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consultor with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer,
for all that do these are an abomination of the Lord.
Right, so the Bible is saying do not use these types of heathen divination.
Looking into the liver and all that falls under that, okay.
But with your finger there in Deuteronomy 13, let me just read for you quickly one thing from Ezekiel 21.
So the king of Babylon, remember he stood at this parting of the ways and he looked into the liver.
The king of Babylon consults with his idols and he looks into the liver.
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem to appoint captains to open the mouth, in the slaughter, and yada yada yada.
But then it says this,
And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight to them that have sworn false oaths, or to them that have sworn oaths.
We know that they're false oaths, but I accidentally added that word.
They've sworn oaths. Who swore oaths that he didn't keep?
Zedekiah and the leaders of Israel, they swore oaths, didn't they, to the king of Babylon.
And they didn't keep them, and that's a big thing that Ezekiel's been hammering on, okay.
Well, the king of Babylon, he looks in the liver and it tells him,
Yeah, buddy, go to Jerusalem, wipe it out, it's going to be great.
But that divination is unto the leadership of Israel that swore oaths, Zedekiah and so forth.
It's unto them as a false divination.
So unto Zedekiah and them, they look at that and say, that's a false divination, because they're overconfident.
They think we're not going to be wiped out.
We're going to be okay.
We're leaning on Egypt. We're going to be okay. We can get through this. We can survive.
Does everybody understand?
So the king of Babylon uses this occult, satanic divination, and it tells him, go against Jerusalem, you're going to defeat them.
And that divination, the results of that divination, is seen as a lying divination, a false divination, to the ones who swore oaths.
It shall be as a false divination in their sight to them that swore oaths.
Now, this is a little odd, isn't it, because you say, well, isn't it false? I mean, you're looking in a liver, for crying out loud.
But here's the thing. Even though we're not supposed to be looking in the liver, even though we're not supposed to be using the Ouija board,
even though we're not supposed to be getting a tarot card reading or whatever, it doesn't mean that the answer that comes from one of these isn't necessarily right.
Even a broken clock is right two times per day.
Now, let me ask you this. Is it a sin to go to a witch or to seek after one that has a familiar spirit to communicate with the dead?
The Bible clearly says that's a sin. Who did that in the Bible? Who is a godly man, but he did that? King Saul.
Did he get the right answer? Did he get the truth or did he get a lie? He got the truth.
Now, does that make it right that he did that? No. God punished him, among other things, for seeking after that woman that had a familiar spirit.
He died because he sought after that woman that had a familiar spirit. It doesn't mean that what she said wasn't true, though.
You know, it's a sin to use these dark arts, but it doesn't mean that something true could never come from them.
It could come from them. That doesn't make it right to use it.
Now, first of all, with this looking in the liver thing, you know, it's kind of a 50-50 deal, anyway, because he stood where a road went two directions, and the divination on the right was for Jerusalem, and yeah, that's what he's going to do.
So, not really that impressive, anyway, that he got that right.
But look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 1.
If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams that giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.
So stop right there. Okay, here's a guy who's preaching, you should go after false gods.
And then he makes a prediction or does a sign or a wonder, and whatever he predicts happens.
So, let me ask you, is it possible for a false prophet to make a prediction that actually happens?
Does that just guarantee that he's right?
Now, the Bible says that in the end times, the Antichrist is going to do all kinds of lying signs and wonders. Okay?
But it says in verse 3, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
you shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave on him, and that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death.
So even though the guy's right, put him to death anyway. Why? Because he's telling you to worship other gods, and that's never right.
So he can predict something that happens. Hey, he's still a false prophet because he's telling you to turn away from the Lord your God.
Does everybody see that? So here's the thing with the divination that the king of Babylon does. Okay?
Was he wrong to do it? Of course. He's worshiping idols, he's worshiping Satan, he's doing this demonic practice of divination, but yet he gets the right answer.
Probably because God has already decided that Jerusalem's going down, so God could just make the liver turn out that way.
Just like God allowed a miracle to take place where the witch at Endor actually brings up Samuel, which was not the ordinary.
She freaked out. She was kind of shocked, like, whoa, this isn't supposed to really be working, you know, or whatever.
You know, she's used to talking to demons or who knows what she's used to doing, but basically now all of a sudden she's talking, you know, Samuel is there.
And she was kind of surprised too. But the point is that even though the king of Babylon's divination was correct, that doesn't make divination right.
And why should you not hearken unto that guy in Deuteronomy 13? Well, because he's telling you to worship other gods and you know that the Bible's true and the Bible says, you know, worship the Lord thy God only.
Okay. What's the divination that the king of Babylon found saying? It's basically saying the king of Babylon's going to destroy Jerusalem.
Now, didn't God's word say the same thing? Because isn't that what Jeremiah said? And isn't that what Ezekiel said?
These are righteous men of God. They've been saying all along the Babylonians are going to destroy Jerusalem.
Then some lying liver tells you that. That doesn't change the fact that what Jeremiah said was the word of God.
So look, if the Ouija board told somebody something that's consistent with the word of God, it doesn't suddenly become not true because the Ouija board said it.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Look, if some false religion comes along and preaches something that's true, it's not like, oh, well, we can't believe that anymore because now the Mormons are saying it.
Oh, we can't believe that because the Catholics are saying it. Oh, well, we can't believe that because the Jehovah's Witnesses are saying it.
Look, what does the word of God say? Even false prophets, even false teachers are going to mix in truth with the lie.
And so a divination, even though divination is not of God, it could still predict something that actually happens.
That doesn't mean that we should see after those things because they're of the devil and it could even be God intervening and even, you know, tweaking that animal's liver for his purposes.
But it doesn't make it right for us to start looking into livers. OK, and I know you're not going to look into livers, but, you know, you might drive by that sign that says psychic reader, palm reading, tarot card.
Hey, let's do this for fun. Hey, it's wickedness. Stay away from it. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord. There's so much great stuff in this chapter.
And I pray that tonight's sermon would help people have a greater understanding of some of the things in this chapter that were a little more difficult, a little bit hard to read or hard to understand, Lord.
And I pray that all of us would take the message to heart tonight that everything we do affects other people and it affects the people around us.
And that if we turn the people around us to righteousness, the more people we get saved, the more people we teach to live right.
We're actually bringing blessings upon the whole family, the whole street, the whole neighborhood, the whole town, the whole country.
Because the more righteous people there are, it's just more salt and light to help preserve our quiet and peaceable lives, Lord.
So help us to be soul winners and get people saved and preach righteousness. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Take your psalm books, please, and go to hymn number 55. Hymn number 55, when the role is called up yonder, number 55.
Let's sing it out on this first verse together, when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, number 55.
Sing it out.
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks, he'll turn the wine in there.
When the saint of earth shall gather on her, on the other shore, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
On that brightest cloud this morning, when the dead in fire shall rise, and the glory of his resurrection share.
When the chosen one shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Let us labor for the master from the dawn to setting sun, let us love them all his wonders, love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Amen. Great singing tonight. You are dismissed.
Thank you.