Let's go in our song books to number 127 this morning, number 127.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, number 127.
And we'll start together on that first verse, let's sing it out, hymn number 127.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word.
Just to rest upon his promise, just to know the saint, the Lord.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more.
Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust in cleansing blood.
Just in simple faith to plunge me, need the healing, cleansing blood.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more.
Yes, it's sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease.
Just from Jesus, simply taking life and rest and joy and peace.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more.
I'm so glad I learned to trust him, precious Jesus, Savior friend.
And I know that thou art with me, will be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more.
Amen. Good singing. I've asked for the adjacent Furby to open stuff in prayer.
Father, we thank you for the opportunity to come and hear your holy and precious word.
We ask that you bless the music that is pleasing to your ears.
And in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Up to hymn number 197. Number 197, Singing I Go, number 197, The Trusting Heart to Jesus Clings, number 197.
Let's sing it out on this first verse together.
The trusting heart to Jesus clings, nor any ill forebodes.
The blood at the cross of Calvary sings, praise God, for lives it blows.
Singing I Go, along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I Go, along life's road, for Jesus has lived in my load.
The passing days bring many cares, fear not I hear him say.
And when my fears are turned to prayers, the burden slips away.
Singing I Go, along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I Go, along life's road, for Jesus has lived in my load.
He tells me of my Father's love, and never slumbering I.
My everlasting King, I love, will all my needs supply.
Singing I Go, along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I Go, along life's road, for Jesus has lived in my load.
When to the throne of praise I plead, I find the promise true.
The mighty arms upholding me will bear my burdens too.
Singing I Go, along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord.
Singing I Go, along life's road, for Jesus has lived in my load.
Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, 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 10.30 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week will be in Ezekiel 29.
Now I was supposed to do Ezekiel 28 on Wednesday night.
Of course I wasn't here because I hurt my back.
A lot of people wondered, how did I hurt my back?
And that's a really good question because it's like most of the time when you hurt your back you just have no idea.
I got up in the morning and within just like two minutes of getting up I was just in my bedroom and just all of a sudden it was like boing.
And so it's one of those things that just happens to me like every several years.
It's probably happened to me three or four times and then after a few days back to normal.
But on that day itself it happened to me on Wednesday morning and I literally could not even walk.
So I was just flat out on my back until like halfway through Thursday.
But now I'm walking around. I'm doing way better.
It's just one of those little things that are unexplained.
So thank you for those who prayed for me but I'm back at it.
So I'm going to do my Ezekiel 28 sermon actually this morning because it's a really interesting chapter.
It's a cool chapter. It's good to do it on a Sunday morning anyway.
It's probably one of the most interesting chapters in the whole book of Ezekiel.
So for some of you Sunday morning glories you never come on Wednesday night you can get a Wednesday night experience this morning.
So we will do Ezekiel 29 on this Wednesday.
And then below that we've got the soul winning times listed there, salvations and baptisms.
And then across the page congratulations to the Martin family on the birth of baby Sebastian Hosea.
Born Wednesday February 23rd 8 pounds 2 ounces measuring 20 inches.
And then congratulations to the Cooper family on the birth of baby Sarah Rose.
That's Thursday February 24th at 2 0 4 p.m. 8 pounds 1 ounce 20 and a half inches.
So be sure to congratulate both of them.
We have the music night coming up on March 3rd at 7 o'clock.
See brother Daniel Hernandez for details and you can sign up for that.
Also there's a home school field trip coming up this Thursday March 3rd at 12 noon.
Be sure you get there by 11 45 a.m. because if you're not there on time you will not be allowed to be part of the group.
And read up on all those rules pay attention to all that.
And then the FWBC movie night is this Friday down in Tucson that is.
So they're watching the film Being Baptist down in Tucson.
If you want to go down be sure to sign up if you want to go to that.
And then join us next Sunday for the donuts and coffee before the service at 10 a.m.
Mexico Monday is not this Monday but next Monday.
And then we've got the soul winning marathons also that we're doing across the country just trying to get some locals and some new places out soul winning.
And so there's going to be one in San Diego California March 12th.
So if anybody out there is watching the live stream and you want info be sure to email the church.
And if you know anybody in the San Diego area please let them know about that on March 12th.
And then we've got the big Virgin Islands mission strip coming up in May and that's about it for announcements.
Let's go and sing our next song. Come lead us.
All right.
Two hundred and ninety four.
Two hundred and ninety four stepping in the light.
Number two hundred and ninety four will begin on that first verse trying to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Number two hundred and ninety four.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Trying to follow our Savior and King.
Shaving our lives by His blessed example.
That be how happy the songs that we bring.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Let impasse apply.
Pressing more closely to Him who is leading.
When we are tempted to turn from the way.
Trusting the arm that is strong to defend us.
That be how happy our praise is in shame.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Let impasse apply.
Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance.
The steps of faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Looking to Him for the grace freely promised.
That be how happy our journey of love.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Let impasse apply.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Upward still upward we'll follow our guide.
When we shall see Him looking in His beauty.
Happy how happy our place at His side.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Let impasse apply.
Amen, let's go up to Him, number 356.
I must tell Jesus, number 356.
Let's sing it on that first verse together.
We'll hear about these words as we sing number 356.
I must tell Jesus all of my trials.
I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress He kindly will help me.
He ever loves and cares for His own.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles.
He is our kind, compassionate friend.
If I but ask Him, He will deliver.
Make up my troubles, quickly and then.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior.
One who can help my burdens to bear.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
He all my cares and sorrows will share.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Oh, how the world, two people of mercy.
Oh, how my heart is tempted to sin.
I must tell Jesus, and He will help me.
Oh, for the world, the victory to win.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Let's see if I can do that chorus acapella.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
All right, this time we'll quickly pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 28.
Ezekiel chapter number 28, as we always do.
We'll read the whole chapter, so follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads.
Ezekiel 28, starting in verse number 1.
Ezekiel chapter 28, the Bible reads,
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus,
Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said,
I am a god, and sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas,
yet thou art a man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel.
There is no secret that they can hide from thee.
With thy wisdom and with thine understanding, thou hast gotten thee riches
and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures.
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches,
and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God.
Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations,
and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom,
and they shall defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee,
I am God, but thou shalt be a man and not God in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers,
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him,
Thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God.
Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.
The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so.
Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned.
Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God,
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.
I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities.
By the iniquity of thy traffic, therefore, will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee.
It shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee.
Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Zion, and prophesy against it, and say,
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Zion, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee.
And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
For I will send into her pestilence and blood into her streets, and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side,
and they shall know that I am the Lord.
And there shall be no more pricking briar under the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all them,
all that are round about them, that despise them, and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
Thus saith the Lord God, When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered,
and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards.
Yea, they shall dwell with confidence when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about,
and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.
Father in heaven, thank you for this church. I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson with the fullness and the power of the Holy Ghost as he preaches your word,
and help us, your children, learn new truths from your word, Father. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen. Ezekiel chapter 28. If you remember, this is the final chapter in a trilogy of chapters about Tyre,
which is this little city state that's up north of Israel along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
There are great seafaring people, historically known as the Phoenicians.
A lot of times you'll hear them mention in the same breath Tyre and Sidon, and later in this chapter you saw that Sidon was also mentioned.
But in chapters 26 and 27, God was pronouncing judgment upon the land of Tyre,
and the context is that the Babylonians have come in and destroyed Judah and Jerusalem,
and then Tyre wanted to seize that opportunity to kick Judah while they were down,
and so God is going to punish them and so forth.
But in chapter 28, there's a focus on the king of Tyre, the actual leader of the city of Tyre,
and it starts out in verse number one there. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus.
Now, the first thing I want to point out is that when it says prince of Tyrus,
when we hear the word prince sometimes, we just think immediately that it's like the firstborn son of the king or the heir to the throne.
But throughout the Bible, the word prince is often referring to the top guy himself.
The king himself is called the prince in the Bible because the word literally just means first, number one guy.
OK, and so the prince of Tyrus is referring to the leader of Tyrus, and it says,
Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up and thou has said, I am a god,
I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.
Now, one of the things that we've seen over the last few weeks, too, with Tyrus is that there's a lot of parallel between Tyrus and Babylon.
Remember that a lot of the things that we saw over the last few chapters almost were verbatim things that we see in Revelation 18 about Babylon.
And so we're going to see that theme continued here, where basically, just as with the king of Babylon being worshipped as a god or thinking that he's God,
the king of Tyre feels the same way. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar had a great image made to himself and they're all bowing down to that image?
It's the same mentality as when we see King Darius in Daniel chapter six, where nobody's allowed to pray to any god for 30 days.
They can only pray to Darius. It's that same idea here where you have a worldly ruler who thinks that he's God and is exalted himself as God in his heart.
He believes that he's God. And today, this phenomenon still exists where people look to government as God or they will idolize certain leaders and have a personality cult around those leaders and deify them and treat them like they're a god.
And in fact, for many people who don't believe in the word of God, they don't believe the Bible, they don't believe in Jesus, for them, government is like God unto them.
They literally decide what's right and wrong simply based upon what is legal. If it's legal, it's right. If it's illegal, it's wrong.
So basically, the government has become their god to decide morality for them. Whereas, obviously, God wants us to obey the government as long as it doesn't conflict with his word,
but at the end of the day, God's law is supreme and we ought to obey God rather than men. And just because something's legal does not mean that it is okay for us to do.
For example, just recently, marijuana has become legal. Does that mean that we Christians are now allowed to just go out and smoke pot because it's legal? Absolutely not.
God has called us to be sober and obviously the Bible doesn't mention marijuana by name, but God doesn't have to sit here and put a catalog of every single drug in the Bible and say,
oh, and by the way, don't snort cocaine and don't shoot up heroin and don't smoke crack, you know, and don't abuse pain pills. I mean, he's not just going to list everything.
He uses alcohol as the example. He's telling you, don't look on the wine when it's red, when it moves itself right, when it gives its color in the cup.
He tells you not to be drunken. He tells you to be sober. Obviously, if God doesn't want you drinking, he also doesn't want you smoking pot. He also doesn't want you snorting coke.
But obviously, people who want to justify their sin are just going to say, well, you know, it's just not mentioned in the Bible. You know, God's given us every green herb, man.
But hold on a second. To you it shall be for food. The green herb shall be for meat unto you. He didn't say light it on fire and suck the smoke of the green herb into your lungs.
Okay. So, you know, but again, people who want to justify their sin are always going to find a way to twist scripture in order to make it say what they want.
But those of us who are actually honest with the Word of God, we know God wants us to be sober and that means no drinking and no drugs at all.
And I don't care if the government now says that marijuana is legal. It doesn't make it right. It's still a sin. The government can make abortion legal.
It's still murder. The government can make adultery legal. It's still wicked. The government can make homosexuality legal. It's still an abomination.
And so we don't let the government decide what is right and wrong because the government isn't God.
The reason that we obey the government is simply to go along to get along.
Because God wants us as much as lieth in us as much as is possible to dwell peaceably with all men.
That's what God commands us to do. Dwell peaceably. Live a quiet and peaceable life.
You know, Jesus philosophized with Peter about how they shouldn't really have to pay taxes.
But he said, nevertheless, lest we offend them, go pay it.
You know, I'm paraphrasing. But he basically says, just pay it not to offend them because it's not worth fighting that battle.
And so in general, the Bible says that we are supposed to obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.
Not because we worship government or even love our government or that we even agree with what they're saying.
It's just for the Lord's sake just to live peaceably. You just not offend them. Just go along with it.
But many people, though, today, they don't have that biblical view that says, well, God is supreme and we just respect government for the Lord's sake.
Instead, they have this view where because they don't have a God, because they're atheist or agnostic or whatever,
the government, like, fills that role in their life and the government is like a God unto them where it's like a religion.
The religion of patriotism, the religion of Americanism, our Lord and Savior, Uncle Sam, and the United States of America,
and, you know, I guess communion is a piece of apple pie or whatever, and July 4th is like, you know, their Christmas or whatever.
There are people who worship government and specific leaders throughout history have been declared to be God.
You know, after Caesar Augustus died, he was declared that he was God and all these different examples throughout history.
And so the king of Tyre, he thinks he's God and God's telling him, you know what, you're going to be brought down low and humiliated.
Are you still going to think you're God then?
So he says in verse number three,
Now, I tend to think that this verse is sarcastic.
Whether it's sarcastic or not isn't really the point, because even if it's not sarcastic and he is a really smart guy, maybe he is smarter than Daniel,
that's not really the point, but I tend to think that this is sarcastic.
Oh, yeah, you're so smart, you're smarter than Daniel.
One interesting thing about this is that Daniel's still alive when this is being written, so Daniel seems to have been a legend in his own time.
And he's pretty well known to be in the book of Ezekiel, who is a contemporary.
This would be late in Daniel's career that this particular chapter is written, but Daniel would most likely still be alive.
It says in verse four,
So let's say he is the smartest guy, okay?
So he says,
So he says, yep, you're really smart.
And because of the fact that you're so smart, you've made a lot of money.
And because of that, now you're filled with pride.
Now, we need to be careful of this, too, because I'm all for being smart.
The Bible is really clear that getting knowledge is something that we as Christians should all be focused on.
We should all be pursuing knowledge and wisdom and understanding.
It's fools who despise wisdom and instruction.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning.
So God wants us to learn and gain knowledge, but what we need to understand is the danger of getting a lot of knowledge is that knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth, okay?
So knowledge puffs up, charity edifies.
Now, here's how I like to think about this.
If you think about, let's say, a bathtub, right?
And you've got the bathtub, and water's coming into the bathtub because you've got the faucet turned on.
And then let's say you unplug the drain.
Now you have water leaving the bathtub, and you have water coming into the bathtub at the same time, right?
So if there's more water coming in than leaving, the level slowly rises, right?
And if there's more leaving than what's coming in, the level will eventually go down until there's nothing there, and water's just flowing directly down the drain.
Does everybody see what I'm saying?
So you have like an input and an output that are happening.
Well, now think about it this way with knowledge.
Knowledge is coming in, right?
Knowledge is coming into us.
We're the bathtub, and knowledge is flowing in, okay?
We need to have an output for that knowledge that's coming in called charity, okay?
Called charity.
Otherwise, we're going to flood the bathroom.
We're going to flood the upstairs bathroom, and then downstairs is going to be dripping from the drywall.
We're going to do all this water damage.
We're going to get mold.
We're going to create something ugly and a mess from something that should have been good, you know?
And so charity edifies.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies.
You see, some people, they have this attitude that says, well, knowledge puffeth up, so we better just stay dumb, amen?
And believe me, that mentality is out there, and yes, is out there even among independent fundamental Baptists.
There is a faction among independent fundamental Baptists that literally glorify being ignorant, glorify being simple.
They preach against people for learning too much or getting too smart, which is absurd.
The answer is not to learn less, get less knowledge, stay dumb, my friends.
That's not the answer.
The answer is that charity has to increase along with knowledge.
As knowledge increases, charity increases.
As more water flows in, we've got to have more water flowing out so that we can maintain equilibrium, okay?
So we want more knowledge.
The more knowledge the better, the more charity the better.
And we want to max out on both, not say, well, you know, I don't want to have a lot of charity, so I can just stay dumb and non-charitable, and then I'm good to go.
Then I won't get too prideful.
I can be humble.
You know, it's easy to be humble when you're a complete idiot.
Actually, no, because I've noticed that idiots are usually some of the most prideful people because they think they're so smart.
But I digress.
The point is that when we are gaining a lot of learning and knowledge and wisdom, that's a good thing.
Don't slow down on that.
But we need to also increase charity, okay?
How do we increase charity?
Well, what does charity mean?
Charity is love, okay?
So if we love and care about other people, if we actually esteem others better than ourselves, if we're compassionate and kind, then we're not going to go around being an arrogant jerk because we know so much.
You can be really knowledgeable, and you can still condescend to men of low estate instead of minding high things.
You can be really smart and knowledgeable but still be able to explain things really simply without acting like people are dumb or something, but treating people with love and kindness.
I mean, think about how many times we explain things to our one-year-old or our two-year-old or our three-year-old.
You know, you explain things to a five-year-old or a seven-year-old, and you don't act like they're an idiot.
They're just five.
They're just seven.
Well, here's the thing.
You know, sometimes you can explain things to adults that aren't that smart, and you can still be kind to them and loving to them as you would be with your own child or something.
So you can still be loving and kind, and that tempers your knowledge so that you're not this arrogant jerk, okay?
Also, when we think of the word charity, we typically think of the actions that are sparked by charity.
You know, charity creates certain actions in us where we would basically do good things for other people.
You know, the Bible says, let's not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
So when we have love, that love should translate into deeds or actions.
And so here's the thing.
You know, if I'm gaining a lot of knowledge, I need to be actually using that knowledge to serve the Lord in a loving way.
So that means I could be going out and preaching the gospel to the lost, loving the lost, preaching the gospel unto them,
and that can keep me humble and keep me from getting too prideful because I'm dealing with the common man instead of getting all puffed up and high and mighty and arrogant.
And I'm telling you, there are pastors and preachers out there who, they have no patience for the simple man.
They have no patience to go soul winning.
They have no patience to knock doors in a poor area or on an Indian reservation or in a, you know, a rough part of town or something.
They don't have any desire to do that because all they want to do is just be all puffed up with their puffed up buddies.
And they all want to just be super arrogant and high and mighty.
You know, we need to make sure that as we gain learning, we still are down to earth and loving and kind and not prideful.
Because let me tell you something.
Pride is one of the worst sins that can infect you.
And in fact, whenever we see discussions about Satan, which is what this chapter is about, we're going to get into Satan in a moment, that is.
Isn't it interesting how Satan's big sin is always identified as pride?
That's always the big thing.
What led to his downfall is pride.
And he's a king over all the children of pride.
And so do not let pride get into your heart.
Why would people be proud?
Oh, because they're so smart.
But not only that, people could get prideful because they make so much money.
And these two things can go hand in hand because you get smart and then your wisdom gives you the ability to gain wealth.
And that's what happened to the king of Tyre.
By his great wisdom, he increased riches and now his heart's lifted up because of his riches.
So now he looks down on people that are poor.
He looks down on people that work a lower level job, as society would consider that, or blue collar or whatever.
You know, the Bible says that if we have respect of persons in this area of wealth and we look at the rich as better than the poor,
he said that we do evil, according to the book of James, and we're convinced of the law as transgressors.
If we have respect of persons, if we treat people better because they're dressed nicely or because they're well-heeled,
and then we treat people poorly because they're poor, well then that's wickedness on our part.
God is angered by that.
We should treat people the same and respect and love people who are of more modest means.
You know, there are some people out there who are not very intellectual and they don't make a lot of money at their job.
They have a really simple basic job, but you know what?
They're good, nice people and we ought to love them and respect them and not look down on them.
And we should never judge people by how much money they make.
That's a wicked way to classify people.
It just isn't right.
Now look, you say, well I think it's a good way to classify people.
Okay, well you and Satan agree on that.
You and Satan believe that the ultimate goal of life is money.
Satan loves that philosophy.
I mean, and we're going to see that in this chapter, but that's what Satan's all about.
You know, all about you doing well for yourself, treating yourself, making as much money for yourself as you can.
The love of money, don't miss it, the love of money is the root of all evil.
That's a quote from the Bible in case you weren't sure.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Don't ever forget that statement because you need to realize that when you're making a lot of money, you're in danger of falling into that trap.
Now look, I'm for you being smart and I'm for you making a lot of money.
You know, I'm not for that becoming your whole life, but hey, you're running a business, your business is thriving.
Hey, whatsoever thy hand finds it to do, do it with thy might.
Work hard.
God doesn't want us to be slothful in business.
He wants us to be fervent in spirit.
He wants us to work hard.
Great, make money, but don't love money.
Do not become someone who loves money or worships money or where money becomes more important than the things of God or where money becomes more important than your fellow man.
The guy you look down on because he is not as smart or doesn't make as much money.
So this wicked man has gotten all puffed up because he's so smart and he's got so much money.
The Bible says in verse 6, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God, behold, therefore, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations.
And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
You know, no matter how smart you are, no matter how much money you have, God can bring you down any time he wants to.
And, you know, I always think about this physically.
I remember thinking about this all the time when I was a kid.
When I was a kid, I used to get these really bad, like, gas pains or cramps or something.
I'd just get these really bad pains in my abdomen that I couldn't really explain.
And I remember just being in the fetal position on the ground, just in so much pain and agony.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Who's had that experience where you just get these debilitating?
Yeah, and thankfully it doesn't happen to me as an adult.
I just have other problems, you know.
But anyway, but when I was a kid, this would happen to me.
And I remember just being a child thinking to myself, wow, God can just do this to me any time he wants to.
Like, God holds my breath in his hand.
God controls my faith.
God can just reach out and just go, boop.
And I can just be like, ah, I can just be writhing on the ground.
And it doesn't matter how much money I have, I'm going to be writhing in pain.
It doesn't matter how smart I am, I'm going to be writhing in pain.
Hey, there's nothing that you can do to ensure that physically you don't break down.
You say, well, I eat all the right food.
I'm super healthy.
Folks, I know people who are super healthy.
They exercise.
They did all the right things.
And then something just went like boing in their head.
And then it's like they had some kind of an aneurysm or a stroke.
I don't remember exactly what it was.
But they said like, oh, this is you were born with this ticking time bomb in your head.
And there's nothing you could have done to prevent it.
It's genetic.
It's congenital.
This was going to happen to you no matter what.
And it was just like a time bomb.
Just whenever it can just go click.
I don't care what you do.
I don't care how safe you are out on the road.
God can bring the drunk driver to just plow you down any time he wants to.
God and you say, well, I don't know if God's going to use the drunk to do it.
Well, God uses Babylonians.
God used all kinds of wicked people doing wicked things to punish his people.
And so what I'm saying is you can never do anything to be out of the hand of God.
And so you better not get all puffed up and prideful.
And, you know, I'm glad I learned that as a little kid.
You know, I didn't like being on the floor in pain as a kid.
But, you know, I wouldn't take away one second of it because I was thinking to myself, you know,
maybe it was being on the ground writhing in agony as a kid that taught me, hey, don't get puffed up, buddy,
because God can take you down whenever he wants to.
And that lesson is priceless.
I'm glad I learned that as a kid.
And, you know, even just this week on Wednesday morning when I woke up, I woke up and everything was going to be great.
It was going to be a great day.
I was ready to go.
And it was like, you know, five thirty in the morning.
I was getting up, ready to go about my business.
And guess what?
Just within two minutes of being up, just boing, I was just on the ground in agony, in pain.
Because I threw out my back for no apparent reason.
And and you know what?
I was flat on my back for a couple of days.
And it's just like, why?
Because God can just do it.
It was just because I guess God just really wanted Raymond to preach on Wednesday night.
We needed to hear that sermon about the Virgin Islands.
And so God's like, oh, I think Raymond Cooper's going to preach.
And he's just like, oh, Pastor Harrison, you're going out of commission for a couple of days.
You're going to catch up on some Bible reading and, you know, you need to get humble.
And so there you go, buddy.
Folks, I don't I don't know why it happened.
I don't know why the things in life happened.
But, you know, I'm going to choose to interpret them in a way that's edifying to me.
So so when something like this happens, I just interpret it as all right.
You know, we needed that sermon on Wednesday night.
All right.
You know, reminder, stay humble.
Right.
Don't give God can take you out at any moment.
God can take you out of commission.
And, you know, it's humbling to be out of commission.
It's humbling to have to rely on your wife and children to bring you everything.
It's humbling when it's a struggle to even get dressed.
It's a struggle to even use the bathroom.
It's a struggle to even just take care of physical needs, even just sneezing is painful.
I mean, that's it's humbling.
You know, you don't feel so high and mighty like that.
And this is a lesson that we all need to learn.
And hopefully God doesn't have to hurt you or hurt me to teach us that lesson.
You know, we need to learn that lesson.
Amen.
That God controls our fate.
He controls our destiny.
And so he's telling them, like, oh, you think you're God, huh?
Well, I'm going to take you down, buddy.
Behold, therefore, I'll bring strangers upon thee, foreigners upon thee.
They're going to destroy you.
Verse eight, they shall bring thee down to the pit.
And that's hell, by the way.
And thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
All the people that you've been killing with your navy and, you know, you're such a powerful sea power.
And, you know, all those people that have died at the hand of the sailors from Tyre, you know, you're going to be like one of those guys.
What goes around comes around, buddy.
Verse nine, wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I'm God?
Hmm.
Is that what you're going to tell him?
You're going to tell him that you're God?
No, because you're nothing.
That's what God's telling him.
But thou shalt be a man and no God in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, for I have spoken it, sayeth the Lord God.
So the first ten verses of this chapter are pretty straightforward.
The king of Tyre thinks he's God and God's taking him down a notch and telling him, nope, you're going to get wiped out.
God doesn't get destroyed.
God doesn't get humbled and humiliated.
When you get humiliated, you're going to realize you're not God.
But in verse 11, he says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus.
Now, again, we don't want to be tempted to think that, oh, you know, we were talking about the son in verses one through 10, and now we're talking about the actual king.
Because remember, if we study the Bible, we'll find that the word prince is typically referring to the king himself.
It is often referring to the head guy himself.
When we hear this prophecy about the king of Tyrus, what we need to understand is that we are no longer talking about the human king of Tyrus or the human prince of Tyrus, but rather now we are talking about Satan.
Satan is presented here as the actual king of Tyrus.
Now you say, well, what leads you to that conclusion?
Well, as we read this, I think you'll see why this is referring to Satan and not to a human being.
Look at the Bible says in verse 12, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, Thou sealest up the some.
Think of when you see the word some there, you know, don't have a flashback to math class, but instead think about like the summit of a mountain, right?
The summit is the peak or the pinnacle or the top, the consummation.
And so he's saying basically you have reached the top, the pinnacle, the consummation, and he says full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Now here's why I don't think we're talking about a human being.
It says thou has been in Eden, the garden of God.
Now I don't think anybody's going to make the case that the king of Tyre was actually in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
That doesn't make any sense, does it?
But it does make sense to understand that that same mentality, that same spirit that was in the serpent in the garden of Eden is the same spirit or mentality that the physical literal king of Tyrus has.
So Satan in the garden of Eden is a picture or an analogy for the king of Tyrus because they both what?
They both want to be God.
They're both lifted up because of their beauty and because of their wisdom.
Thou has been in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone was thy covering.
Sardius, Topaz, and the diamond, the barrel, and the onyx, and the jasper, and the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.
And notice this.
The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created.
These are musical instruments.
This is obviously not literal.
This is obviously not literal tabrets and piping, but rather Satan is a musical being, meaning that basically through his voice he can utter such beautiful sound that it's like the kind of sound that would come out of like a pipe organ or something, right?
So a beautiful music can flow from his mouth.
You know, and we can all do the same thing.
We can all make music.
We can all use the pipe of our windpipe, and we can use our vocal chords, and we can produce musical sounds.
You know, it's pretty amazing the type of music that people are able to beatbox, you know, and they're able to basically just hum and make sounds, and they can simulate orchestras and organs.
You know, some people are really good at it.
But even those who are not good at it, we can still basically imitate a lot of musical instruments, right?
Satan is obviously just at another level with this, where he sings, and not only does he have wisdom, not only is he outwardly physically beautiful to the sight, but he also has beauty to the eardrums.
He can produce beautiful music from his pipes and his tabrets.
Here's another indication that we're not talking about a human being.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth.
Cherubs are not human.
Cherubs are referred to as living creatures.
Cherubs are referred to as beasts.
Cherubs are not human in their body composition.
They have body parts that are different than what humans have.
And so this is talking about the anointed cherub that was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and so obviously we're talking about Satan.
Okay.
And I've set thee so that was upon the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence.
Now first of all, verse 15, I want to point out that the devil was created perfect, and then subsequently iniquity was found in him.
God is not the author of the things that are associated with Satan, the wickedness that is associated with Satan.
Satan is a being that apparently had free will.
So he's perfect in the day he's created.
He chose to be lifted up in his heart.
And just as in Romans 1, when people are given over to a reprobate mind, they defile themselves through the lust of their own hearts.
God is not the author of the perversions that the Romans 1 reprobate engages in.
He dreams up those things on his own through the lust of his own heart.
God talks about in the book of Jeremiah when they did human sacrifices, he says, I did not command that and that thing didn't even enter into my mind, God said.
God is not the one who dreams up filthy and perverted things.
That is what the devil does.
That is what human beings do.
But the Lord himself is pure.
God is light and him is no darkness at all.
But he creates beings with free will, including Satan, including humans.
Satan dreams up wickedness.
Humans dream up wickedness.
But God is not directly the author of these things.
God does not have some sick perverted mind dreaming up all the weird things that are going on in the world right now.
Humans dream those up and Satan dream those up.
And that's an important thing to understand.
Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created.
So there's a time when Satan is created and he's perfect in his ways, basically in the way that he acts, until iniquity was found in him.
Until a day when he crosses over and commits iniquity.
And so we need to put the blame where it belongs there.
Now of course the Lord allows the devil to exist and the devil ultimately carries out his purposes.
And he could get rid of the devil whenever he wants, but he chooses to allow the devil to exist because the devil ultimately fulfills his will.
But there's a distinction there that the actual wickedness is coming from the heart of Satan, not God.
And he chose to go down that path.
And the Bible says in verse 6, by the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned.
Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Now the only phrase here that kind of makes it seem like we're not talking about the devil, because everything's about the devil.
I mean he's in the Garden of Eden, he's a cherub, he's created perfectly.
Human beings, you know, aren't necessarily created perfect in all their ways, but yet the devil was.
Before he was the devil, you know, back when he's just Lucifer.
But the only phrase here that makes it feel like we're not necessarily talking about Satan is when it says,
by the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned.
You know, you look at that statement and you're like, well, how does that apply to the devil?
Well, a couple things here.
First of all, even if every sentence isn't applying to the devil, remember that we're talking about the devil as a picture of the king of Tyre.
So sometimes there can be a little back and forth in the metaphor, okay?
But also, you know, the devil is all about merchandise because the devil loves people to seek after material things with their life.
And remember what we said, the love of money is the root of all evil.
And the pride that was found in the literal human king of Tyre was due to the fact of all his merchandise and all the money that he's making.
And so to say the multitude of thy merchandise, you know, I believe the devil does have merchandise as well.
And so they filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned.
You know, violence entered his heart because of covetousness, which has to do with the love of money and merchandise.
So, you know, that phrase is a little bit obscure, but whether it's referring to the devil or the king of Tyre, you get the gist of the chapter anyway.
But he goes right back to referring to the cherub, I'll cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, okay?
And I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
So this is referring to Satan falling from heaven or Satan being cast out of heaven.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, verse 17.
Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.
I'll cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee.
For thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic.
Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, and it shall devour thee.
And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, and the sight of all them that behold thee.
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee.
Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
And then, boom, we switch gears and now we're talking about Zion.
So we talked about Tyre in chapter 26, Tyre in chapter 27.
Chapter 28, we focus in on one person. Notice all the thes and the thous.
You know, the thee and thou in the Bible is singular.
Ye and you and your is plural.
So we're talking about singular, the leader of Tyre, the prince of Tyre, the king of Tyre.
He's being compared to Satan because they both want to be God.
They're both proud, prideful.
They both have been lifted up because of their outward beauty, their wisdom, and their riches.
And that is what has created the pride in them.
And they're both going to face the same fate.
They're both going to be destroyed. So these two are given side by side.
Now why is this important?
Why does this matter?
Why spend time talking about Ezekiel 28 referring to Satan and make a big deal about the fact that this is referring to Satan?
Because some people would maybe argue with this and say, oh, you know, this has nothing to do with Satan.
I think that's ridiculous in light of what we just read because the cherub, the Garden of Eden, it's as plain as the nose on your face.
But if you would flip over to Isaiah 14 because Isaiah 14 is one that a lot of people will dispute being about Satan.
But once you understand that Ezekiel 28 is for sure about Satan, then it's pretty easy to see that Isaiah 14 is about Satan as well.
And I'll tell you one place where this comes into play is why it's so important that we read the King James Bible
because the modern versions have corrupted this passage in Isaiah 14 in a very strange way and turned it into something blasphemous.
So I've done a whole sermon on this. I can't re-preach that whole sermon right now.
But if you look up my sermon called Jesus is the Morning Star.
It's preached sometime over the last few years. I went into great detail about this.
Jesus is the Morning Star because what we see in Isaiah 14, 12 is the only mention in our English Bible of the term Lucifer.
The word Lucifer occurs one time in the King James Bible and it's in Isaiah 14, 12.
In fact, we, when we made our film New World Order Bible Versions, you know, we walked up and down the street with a microphone just to ask people who's Lucifer?
And every single person said that's the devil, that's Satan. Everybody knew that.
Where did they get that? Where did Americans get the idea that Lucifer is Satan? How do they all know that?
It's from this verse. This verse, you say, well, they heard it in a pop culture reference.
But the pop culture reference was derived from this verse.
The term Lucifer enters the English language through this verse, Isaiah 14, 12.
It says, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?
Now look, we as King James Bible believing Christians, we read this and we know immediately, oh, we're talking about Satan, it's Lucifer.
Virtually all the modern versions take Lucifer out of this verse and instead say, how you've fallen from heaven, O morning star.
Well, the problem with that is that the Bible calls Jesus the morning star repeatedly in the New Testament.
So in the New Testament, repeatedly, you have the morning star being Jesus and then all of a sudden you've got these Bible translations that are basically saying that it's the morning star being cast out of heaven because he wants to be God.
Now, Jesus claimed to be God.
In fact, when the Jews are arresting Jesus and accusing him and when they're picking up stones to stone him, they say, you know, you've made yourself equal with God because he thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Jesus is equal with God.
So because he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, oh, whoops, the NIV screwed that one up too, doesn't say that in the NIV.
It says, well, you know, he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, which sounds like, you know, he can't quite grasp equality with God.
Whereas the Bible says he thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
He's not stealing anything by being equal with God because it's rightfully his.
Because by declaring himself to be the son of God, the Jews said, well, you made yourself equal with God.
You got it right, Jews.
Jesus Christ is co-equal with God.
That's part of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Jesus is not less God than the Father.
The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and they're all three equally divine.
Now they're not the same.
The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, but they're both God.
God consists of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
That's the Trinity.
And so, you know, when you're going to sit there and swap out Morningstar for Lucifer in this famous verse, that creates a blasphemous statement where it seems as if Jesus is being cast out.
Of heaven.
And again, you know, I did a whole sermon on this, and even in that sermon I didn't really go into all the detail.
I really need to make one of those, like, whiteboard videos where I go into, like, all the details for the people who really want to geek out on this and really understand this.
But let me tell you something.
If you're reading this in Hebrew, you're not going to find the word morning, and you're not going to find the word star in this verse.
So it's not like that's what it's, well, you know, they went back to the Hebrew, and that's what it says.
It's not what it says in Hebrew.
It's a unique, special word, and that unique, when I say special, I mean it's a word that's used one time, and so it gets translated into English as a word that's used one time.
Isn't it funny how that works?
But by, by interpreting it as, well, it's Morningstar here, they're creating this problem, and again, I'm not going to re-preach that sermon.
You can go back and listen to it, but it's called Jesus is the Morningstar to get the details on that.
But, you know, or you can do, like, the Latin Vulgate, where the Latin Vulgate says Lucifer here, and then the Latin Vulgate also says Lucifer about Jesus.
It calls Jesus Lucifer in the New Testament.
That's not cool either.
Calling Jesus Lucifer is not cool either.
So, because you just don't want to have the same term for Jesus and the Isaiah 14-12 guy.
Let's use two different terms, folks.
Let's keep these distinct, okay?
And by the way, while I'm on the subject, some people will say, oh, the King James, you know, they didn't translate from the Hebrew, they translated from the Vulgate.
That's why it says Lucifer.
No, Bozo, the Vulgate translated the Hebrew word as Lucifer, and the King James translated the same Hebrew word as Lucifer.
Because English and Latin are very similar language.
In fact, 40% of our vocabulary or so comes from Latin.
So, if 40% of our vocabulary comes from Latin, do you think that every once in a while, the Vulgate and the King James are going to translate a Hebrew word the same way when 40% of our vocabulary?
But then Bozo's coming along and be like, oh, the King James keeps translating the Vulgate.
They got that from the Vulgate.
No, the Vulgate and the King James both got it from the same place, the Hebrew.
Because guess what, if you picked up, if I pulled out a classical Latin text for you, and if you didn't know any Latin at all, you knew zero Latin, and I, who here knows zero Latin?
Who here is like, I don't speak Latin?
Okay, yeah, it's virtually everyone.
So, if I were to hand you some classic Latin text, and I just gave you a colored pencil, and say, you know what, circle every word that you think you know what it means on this page, you'd be circling a lot of stuff.
Because you'd be seeing stuff, you'd be like, oh, that looks like an English word, that looks like an English word.
You'd circle a ton of words, because guess what, 40% of our vocabulary comes from Latin.
Now, obviously, it's the 60% that's going to trip you up, you know, and you would, you know, you wouldn't be able to, you would understand nothing of that page, because in order to understand a text, you need to know about 94% of the words on the page.
In order to fill in the rest from context, you need to know 94%.
You know, you knowing, you circling 10% of the words on the page or 20% isn't going to get you anywhere, so sorry, you can't read Latin, okay?
But, my point is, that doesn't mean, oh, look, the KJV keeps borrowing from the Latin. No, they're just related languages.
That's like saying, oh, man, you know, the Portuguese Bible really plagiarized the Spanish. It's like, folks, it's a very similar language.
I'm getting off topic here. I'm geeking out on languages, I'm sorry.
But the point is that it's Lucifer being referred to in Isaiah 14. Let's read this passage and tell me if Satan fits the bill here based on what we read in Ezekiel 28.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations?
For thou hast set in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
I will become Mormon, or sorry, I will be like the most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.
Again, Satan being cast out of heaven because he's lifted up with pride and wants to be God.
It's almost identical to what we saw in Ezekiel 28 where we had more information about him being an Eden, being a cherub, not being human, and all these things that made it clear we're talking about Satan.
So you've got to compare scripture with scripture. So if you actually know Ezekiel 28 and you know Isaiah 14, this becomes a no-brainer.
But the modern version crowds, when you point out to them, hey, why does Isaiah 14, 12 have the morning star getting cast out of heaven instead of Lucifer?
The modern version crowd will typically respond and say, oh, this verse isn't even about Satan.
It's not even about, well, either way, I don't want the morning star getting thrown out of heaven for any reason, no matter who he is.
But typically the modern version crowd, 99% of the time, because I've been having this discussion with people since I was a teenager, my friend, because this King James issue, you know, has been on my radar since I was a teenager.
I've been, I've had this discussion. I've argued Isaiah 14, 12 more times than I can count.
And the position of the modern version crowd is that Isaiah 14, 12 is not about Satan. That's typically what they'll say.
They'll say it's not the devil, it's not Satan. They'll say it's just the King of Babylon. It's just the King of Babylon.
Well, okay, then I guess by that logic Ezekiel 28 is just the King of Tyre. Oh, and by the way, in the Garden of Eden, it's just a snake, okay?
And by the way, talk to Jewish people. Let's go ask a rabbi. You know what a rabbi will tell you? That's not Satan in the Garden of Eden. It's just a snake.
That's what the Jews believe. The Jews will tell you, oh, Satan was invented later by Christians or later Judaism or something.
The typical rabbi would tell you it's just a snake. It's just the King of Babylon. It's just the King of Tyre.
And I guess Isaac, you know, being tied up and that doesn't symbolize anything, folks.
Isaac, or excuse me, Isaac being sacrificed by Abram, nothing to see there, folks, okay? It's just Isaac, okay?
And by the way, Jonah and the belly of the whale, it's just about Jonah.
In chapter 2 of Jonah, when he talks about going to hell for, you know, and being in the bottoms of the mountains and the earth with their bars being about him eternally, it's just Jonah, okay?
Oh, and by the way, Psalm 22, that's just David.
My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? That's just David.
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell? Psalm 16, that's just David, okay?
Folks, that's a stupid way to read the Bible. You know what you're doing? You're de-spiritualizing the Bible.
You're de-spiritualizing, you know why? Because you savor not the things that be of God but those that be of men, that's why.
So you want to de-spiritualize the Bible and take away all the connections to the New Testament.
Oh, and by the way, you know, whenever it says hell in the Old Testament, that's not really hell. It's just Sheol and it's just the grave and it's just death.
Folks, where are we going to end with that mentality? If that's the way you're going to look at the Bible, you know, then pretty soon, you know, every mention of Satan is not really Satan.
Every mention of hell is not really hell. Every foreshadowing of Christ isn't really Christ.
Oh, and what are you going to tell me next? I know what you're going to tell me next.
You're going to tell me that in Daniel 3.25, it wasn't the Son of God in the fiery furnace. Is that what you're going to tell me? It was just a son of the gods, like the NIV says?
That was not Jesus in the fiery furnace. It was just a son of the gods.
Is that what you're going to tell me next while you're de-spiritualizing the Bible?
Folks, this is a foolish way to interpret the Bible. The correct way to understand the Bible is to understand that there are multiple layers of meaning.
There's a carnal layer and there's a spiritual layer. And we've entered the spiritual layer when we start talking about a covering cherub, when we start talking about the Garden of Eden, when we start talking about being thrown out of heaven, we're talking about a spiritual component where Satan is thrown out of heaven.
Now these things all picture earthly things. Of course Isaiah 14 is picturing the king of Babylon because guess what the king of Babylon thought? That he was God.
Guess what the king of Tyre thought? That he was God. Now remember, over the last few Wednesday nights, those of you that were there, you remember that we talked about the fact that some of the passages rebuking Babylon match up verbatim with the passages rebuking Tyre.
Because Tyre is just like Babylon. And so the king of Tyre represents Satan, the king of Babylon represents Satan. It's the same analogy.
And so in chapter 13 of Isaiah, we have the destruction of Babylon being foretold, the day of the Lord, and so forth. And then in chapter 14 we talk about the leadership.
Just like in Ezekiel we had 26 and 27 about the place and then 28 about the leader. It's the same pattern. These are parallel passages in that sense.
And so we see that Satan is being cast down from heaven because he wants to be like God. That's exactly what the Mormon church teaches, that they can become like God, that they'll become as God, that they'll become their own God.
And by the way, this is what the devil said in the Garden of Eden. The serpent, the snake, the devil, he said, you shall be as gods.
Now notice he didn't say you're going to replace God necessarily. Because some people say, well, Satan wanted to replace God. You know, is that really what it says though? Does it really say he wants to replace God or does it say he wants to be like God? Like the Mosiah?
Because the Mormon's like, well, we're not trying to replace God. We're going to do it on our own planet. We're going to be our own god of our own planet.
But hold on a second. If you want to be as the Most High, you're going to be the Most High of your own planet, you are literally the most satanic religion on the planet.
You are, look, Latter-day Saints, Mormon church, you are more satanic than Anton LaVey. You are more satanic than the Satan church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they offer literal human sacrifice. You're more satanic. You are literally the most satanic thing I could find on this planet.
Like if I actually look at the Bible, and I read up on Satan, and if I read Genesis 3, and then I read Isaiah 14, and then I read Ezekiel 28, I walk away saying, the most satanic. You know, if we were to plug this into like a computer and look for like the best match, it's like, it's like scanning all the religions of the world, looking for a match, like a DNA match between Satan and a religion.
It's just like, and it's like Latter-day Saints, 99.87% match.
So you see why Ezekiel 28 is so important? Because Ezekiel 28, I don't even want to say that it shows us that Isaiah 14 is about the devil, because I think we would have known Isaiah 14 was about the devil anyway, even without Ezekiel 28.
But I think a better way of saying it is that Ezekiel 28 proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Isaiah 14 is about Satan.
Ezekiel 28 removes the doubt, or reinforces the fact that Isaiah 14 is about Satan. And you know what, that reinforces the fact why you should be reading an English King James Bible.
Reason number 738, why you should be reading a King James Bible and not be a part of the version of the month club.
These modern versions that are coming out, they're twisting scripture in so many ways, and look, this shows the satanic force behind it, I believe.
To translate in this way, Morningstar instead of Lucifer. I don't want anything to do with it.
Well, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great passage, Lord, in Ezekiel chapter 28, and I pray that we would all stay with the King James, and not only use the King James, but actually know why, know why we need to abhor these modern versions, and Lord, why we are King James only, and not open to using these other versions in English, Lord.
And, uh, Father, please help none of us to go down this dark path that Satan went down, that the King of Babylon went down, the King of Tyre went down, where we get puffed up because of our knowledge, or our riches, or our business.
Lord, help us to stay humble all the time, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, take your hymnals and go to hymn number 472.
Hymn number 472, this is my Father's world, number 472.
Let's sing it out on that first verse together, hymn number 472.
This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me frees the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world, I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, it's then the wonders run.
This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the living light, declare their makers raise.
This is my Father's world, he shines in all that's fair, in the rustling grass I hear him pass, he speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father's world, oh let me ne'er forget, that though the rock seems oh so strong, God is a ruler yet.
This is my Father's world, the battle is not done, Jesus soon dine, shall be satisfied, and earth and heaven be won.
Amen, good singing this morning, yours missed.
Thank you for watching!