And from the Holy Spirit, God, we love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Ezekiel chapter 14, and we're making our way through the Book
of Ezekiel on Wednesday nights.
There's a lot to go over in this chapter, there's a lot here, so I'm not going to give
too many introductory statements, we're just going to jump right into it, but if you look
at verse one there, the chapter begins by Ezekiel talking and teaching about this concept
of the idols of the heart.
Notice verse one, it says this, then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and
sat before me, that's not the first time that the elders of Israel had came and sat before
Ezekiel, and of course the leaders there coming to the prophet, in verse two it says, and
the word of the Lord came unto me saying, sent a man, notice what it says about these
elders who have came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord, it says, these men have set up
their idols in their heart.
He says, these men have set up their idols in their heart, notice verse four, he says,
therefore speak unto them and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, every man of the
house of Israel, notice what he says, that set up his idol in his heart.
Notice verse five, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they
are all estranged from me through their idols, notice verse seven, for every one of the house
of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourneth in Israel, which separated themselves from
me, notice what it says, and set up his idols in his heart.
In this chapter, we find an interesting application to idolatry, he talks about idols, not that
you set up physically in a grove, or physically on a hill, like what we normally read about
in the Old Testament, but these men are setting up idols in their hearts.
I'll keep your place there in Ezekiel 14, that's our text for tonight, but go to the
book of Colossians in the New Testament, Colossians chapter number three, now if you start at
Matthew, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, all right, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, go to Colossians three, and when you get to Colossians, put
a ribbon there, or a bookmark, because we're going to leave it and we're going to come
back to it, but I want you to understand something, usually when we think of idols, we think of
a physical object, a graven image, a statue that someone sets up somewhere, maybe someone
prays to it, or bows themselves down to it, and the Bible talks a lot about that type
of idolatry, and that type of idolatry is even relevant today.
We live in the United States of America, but if we lived in India, where Hinduism was the
predominant religion, then all of the teaching and preaching of idolatry would be something
that we would teach and preach about a lot, even if we lived in, like, the Philippines,
or in Mexico, where the prominent religion is Catholicism, and all of their idols and
all of their idolatry would be applicable today.
In the United States of America, though we do have Hindus and we do have Catholics and
we do have idols here, it is not a big thing, it's not a major thing in our society.
We live in a society that, as far as idolatry is concerned, there's not a lot of it.
When we're talking about the religious type of idolatry, where people have, like, religious
idols that they're bowing down to and praying to, but in the United States of America, this
idol of the heart would be the predominant type of idol that we have in our type of society,
because here's what you need to understand.
Idols are not always physical objects.
They can be intangible objects.
They can be things that we hold in our hearts, and let me give you an example of that.
In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5, notice what the Bible says.
Colossians 3, 5 says this,
Modify therefore your members, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence.
Notice the last part of the verse.
He says, and covetousness.
Now, what's covetousness?
Covetousness is the love of money.
It is a lust or a desire for possessions, for things.
And notice what he says about covetousness.
He says, which is idolatry.
So notice the Bible here tells us that a type of idolatry is when someone is covetous,
or when they love money, when they are motivated by the love of money, when they desire, when
their will is to be rich.
God says that is an idol.
Now, does that mean that somebody has a stack of money in a garden in their backyard, and
they go and, you know, light incense to the stack of money, and they bow themselves to
it?
That's not what that means, but here's what it means.
It means that that's what they have in their heart.
In fact, Jesus said about money, he said, where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also.
So here we see an example how someone could have an idol of money in their heart, because
idols are not always physical objects.
They can be something that's intangible, something that's in your heart, something that you put
there that you love, that you desire more than God.
Now, keep your place there in Colossians.
We're going to come back to it, but go back to Ezekiel 14.
So these idols of the heart, you know, how can you identify them?
Because here's what you need to understand.
An idol could be money, like we saw, covetousness, but it could be a relationship.
It could be a career.
It could be sports.
It could be anything that you have in your heart that takes you or draws you away from
God.
And this is what we see in this chapter, because an idol will draw you away from God.
It will separate you from God.
It will trip up your walk with God.
Notice Ezekiel 14 and verse 3, notice what he says, Son of man, these men have set up
their idols in their heart.
So what's the result, notice, and put a stumbling block of their iniquity before their face.
He says, when they set up the idol in their heart, that idol served as a stumbling block
to trip them up in their walk with God.
Notice verse 4, therefore speak unto them and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.
Every man of the house of Israel that seteth up his idol in his heart, notice, and putteth
the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, look at verse 5, that I may take
the house of Israel in their own heart, why, because they are all estranged from me through
their idols.
They have separated.
We are separated.
We are in separation, why, through their idols.
Notice verse 7, for every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourneth
in Israel, notice, which separated themself from me, and seteth up his idol in his heart,
and putteth the stumbling block of iniquity before his face.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, how can I know if I have an idol in my heart?
How can I know if I'm worshiping something, and that is idolatry, not a tangible, physical,
graven image, but something that's in my heart.
Well, here's how you identify an idol, and here's the best way, or the easiest way to
identify an idol.
Is there something in your mind, in your heart, in your life, that that thing, once it came
into your life, it took you away from God?
See, some people, they were all about God, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,
they were reading their Bible, they were praying, they were soul winning, and then they got
their dream job.
And now you don't see them at church anymore.
Now they're not reading the Bible anymore.
Now they're not praying.
And you say, well, is that an idol?
Here's what I'm telling you, some people definitely have made an idol out of their careers.
Some people have made an idol out of their girlfriend.
Some people have made an idol out of their boyfriend.
Some people have made an idol out of their husband, and an idol out of their wife, or
an idol out of even a child.
They've made an idol out of sports, and football, and baseball, and soccer.
Anything that draws you away from God, anything that stumbles you, or causes you to stumble
in your walk with God, is an idol.
And you say, but it's not a tangible, physical, graven image, but it's an idol in your heart.
And I would say that for us as Americans, this is probably the biggest problem with
idolatry that we have, is when we have these idols in our heart.
You don't have to turn there.
Go to Judges chapter 10, in the Old Testament you've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges.
Go to Judges, but I'll read for you out of Isaiah 29, Isaiah 29 says this, wherefore
the Lord said, for as much as these people, notice what he says, draw near to me with
their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from
me, and their fear toward me is taught by the priests of the men.
See, here's what God says.
God says, I don't care what you say.
You can talk a good talk.
You can draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips they do honor me, but how
is your heart?
How is the state of your heart toward God?
Is there anything between you and the Savior?
Is there anything that takes your attention, that takes your energy, that draws you away
from or trips you up in your walk with God?
You're there in Judges.
Go back to Ezekiel real quickly.
Keep your finger there in Judges, excuse me.
Go back to Ezekiel 14.
Let me show you another thing about these idols.
So we're talking about idols, intangible idols, idols of the heart.
What are they?
They can be sports.
They can be hobbies.
Anything that draws you away from God can be an idol.
Anything that you put before God, anything that you decide, I'm going to make this my
primary thing and not God, that is an idol if it draws you away from God.
And you say, what's the problem with that?
What's the issue with that?
Well, the major problem with that is this, that idols will keep God from answering you
when you need Him.
Notice what he says in Ezekiel 14, verse 3.
Look at the last part of verse 3.
Notice what he says about these men, because remember, these men have set up their idols
in their heart.
They came to the prophet to inquire of the Lord.
They want to know what God has to say.
And then notice the response at the end of verse 3.
He says, should I be inquired of at all by them?
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, if I was your God, then you would have the right to inquire of me.
But here's what he's saying.
Why are you coming to me when I'm not your God?
Why are you coming to me when I'm not your priority?
Why are you coming to me when your heart, when your love, when your affection, when
your time, your talent, your treasures, your energy are somewhere else?
Notice verse 14.
Therefore, speak unto them and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.
Every man of the house of Israel that seteth up his idols in his heart, and puteth a stumbling
block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, notice, he says, I
the Lord will answer him that cometh.
Now here's what he's saying.
He's saying, usually they come to the prophet, the prophet asks me, and then I tell the prophet,
the prophet tells them.
He says, but when these guys come, I'm going to bypass the prophet.
The answer's going to come directly from me.
He says, I the Lord will answer him that cometh.
You say, well, that's good.
He's going to answer us.
But here's how he's going to answer you, according to the multitude of his idols.
So he's going to answer you in relationship to your idols, in relationship to how many
idols you have.
You say, what's the problem?
Look at the last part of verse five.
They are all estranged from me through their idols.
Look at verse seven.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourneth in Israel, which
separateth himself from me.
Look at the last part of verse seven.
I the Lord will answer him by myself.
Verse eight, and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb,
and I will cut off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Now go to Judges chapter 10, Judges chapter 10, and look at verse 13.
Here's what he's saying.
When you make an idol in your heart, that idol stumbles you, it trips you up from God,
it estranges you from God, it separates you from God.
You say, well, what's the problem with that?
The problem with that is this, that when you need to inquire of God, remember Saul?
When he needed to inquire of God, when he needed to know, God, I'm in trouble, the Philistines
are here, I don't know what to do, he inquired of the Lord, and the Lord did not answer.
That's why he went to the witch at Endor, because he needed somebody to tell him something.
You say, well, why didn't God answer Saul?
Because Saul, a long time ago, had set up some idols in his heart, because Saul, a long
time ago, had rebelled against God, and estranged himself from God, and here's what God says.
God says, the idols, the idols that you set up in your heart, I'm not going to answer
you when you need me, and he says, you call unto your God.
Look at Judges 10, 13, Judges 10, 13, yet ye have forsaken me, notice God speaking to
the children of Israel, and served other gods, Judges 10, 13, he's saying, you've served
other idols, wherefore I will deliver you no more, because they're asking him to help
them, and they're asking him to deliver them, and he says, well, you have forsaken me, you're
serving other gods.
He says, I'm not going to deliver you anymore, verse 10, notice what he says, he says, God
says, go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of
your tribulation.
Here's what God is saying, when you're in trouble, when the Philistines come, when the
problems come, when the issues come, and you call out to God, God says, why don't you call
out to the alcohol that you made a priority before me?
Why don't you know, the NFL season started, and all of a sudden, you don't go to church
anymore because it's NFL season, here's what God's saying, at the emergency room, get down
on your knees, and put your hands like this, and start praying to the NFL, start praying
to your career, start praying to your job, start praying to whatever it is that you decided
to put before God, because here's what God says, your idols have estranged you from me,
and you say, well, I don't care, and God says, but you will care, when the trials come, when
the tribulations come.
See, all of a sudden, Saul got real religious when the Philistines showed up, but God was
not there.
God would not answer.
You say, well, what do I do with my idols?
Well, look at verse six.
Keep your place there in Judges, but go to Ezekiel.
You should have your place in Colossians and in Judges.
Go back to Ezekiel 14, look at verse six.
There's only one response for idolatry throughout the entire Bible that's consistent from the
Old Testament all the way to the New Testament.
There's one response to idolatry.
What is it?
Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn yourselves
from your idols.
Here's what God says.
God says, I'm not going to share you.
God says, there's only enough room in your life for one God.
You've got to decide.
It's either me or the idols of your heart.
He says, repent and turn yourself from your idols and turn away your face from all your
abominations.
Go back to Judges 10.
Notice how they responded exactly the same way.
Judges 10 and verse 15 says this, And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We
have sinned.
Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee, deliver us only, we pray thee this day.
Verse 16, And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord and his
soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Go to Colossians.
Go back to Colossians.
Get your place there.
And right after Colossians, you've got 1 Thessalonians.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and look at verse number 9.
Notice how it's consistent all throughout scripture.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9, the Bible says this, For they themselves show
of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to
serve the living and true God.
See, the response to idolatry is always the same all throughout the Bible.
Repent.
Turn from those gods.
And when it comes to salvation, you know, those Hindus in India who literally think
that statue represents a real God, they have to turn from their belief in that God.
They have to repent from their belief in that God and believe in the true and living God.
But even those of us that save people, we need to learn to identify idolatry.
Because we say, oh, well, we're Americans, we don't deal with idolatry.
I would submit to you that we probably deal with idolatry more than anybody in this world
as far as the things that we allow to come into our heart and take us away and draw us
away from God.
Go back to, yeah, keep your place there in 1 Thessalonians, but go back to Ezekiel.
So in the first part of this chapter, he talks about these idols of the heart.
Then in verse 9, he kind of transitions and he begins to talk about these false prophets.
Notice what he says about the false prophets, verse 9.
He says, and if the prophet be deceived, here's what he's going to talk about for a couple
of verses here.
He's talking about the fact that the prophets are deceived and they are destroyed by God.
And here, it's kind of an interesting concept.
Because he says, and if the prophet be deceived, if the prophet is tricked or lied to when
he has spoken a thing, notice what the Bible says, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.
He says, if the false prophet is deceived, God says he's deceived because I deceived
him.
And this, again, highlights a teaching that's found in the Word of God that today is ignored
by and large by Christianity today.
This side of God that people don't know about or when they know about him, they don't want
to acknowledge it.
But let's look at it just real quickly.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 22.
Now, if you kept your place in Judges, you're just going to go past Ruth, 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel,
into 1 Kings.
And I want to show you this.
Here, God says, if the prophet be deceived, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.
And today, people say, well, God would never deceive someone.
Why would God deceive someone?
But anyone that would ask that question, all they're revealing is that they've never read
the Bible.
Because the God of the Bible sometimes deceives, you say, why does he do that?
1 Kings 22.
Let's look at it.
1 Kings 22.
Look at verse 20.
1 Kings 22 and verse 20 says this, and the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab?
Now look, Ahab is living wrong, doing wrong, killing the prophets of God, worshiping Satan,
literally Beelzebub.
And Ahab, in the context here, is getting ready to go into battle.
God's going to kill Ahab in this battle.
And the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?
And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner, understand, we're getting
a glimpse into the throne room of God.
God is speaking in heaven, and he's asking, who's going to go and persuade Ahab that he
may fall, that he may die?
Who's going to trick Ahab into going into the wrong battle, a battle that he's going
to lose, so that he will die?
This is what the Bible says, look at verse 21.
And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade
him.
Please understand, these are not demons we're talking about, this is the throne room of
God, the spirits of God, the angels of God.
And this spirit says, I will persuade him, verse 22.
And the Lord said unto him, wherewith?
And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And he said, thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also, go forth and do so, verse 23.
Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy
prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
You say, what is that?
I don't understand that.
Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
If you kept your place in 1 Thessalonians in the New Testament, just one book over,
2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
Here's what you need to understand.
We're talking about the concept of a reprobate.
These false prophets are false prophet reprobates.
They have rejected the truth, they have rejected God, they've rejected the truth of God, they've
chosen to go down the road.
And this is, again, something that people don't want to talk about, they don't want
to study it out in scripture, but it comes up in scripture a lot, this idea that these
people rejected God.
So when they rejected God, God eventually rejected them, and he gave them over to a
reprobate mind.
So you say, well, when God is deceiving someone, when God is deceiving a false prophet, why
would he do that to a false prophet?
Here's why he'd do that to a false prophet, because that prophet is already a reprobate.
They've already rejected the truth, they've already crossed the line.
They're already twice dead, they're going to die and go to hell, and nothing can stop
that.
They've crossed a line with God.
And from there on, God says, they don't need the truth, they've rejected the truth.
They want to be lied to, they want to embrace lies, I'll lie to them, I'll allow lying to
deceive them.
I won't give them truth.
Jesus said it this way, he said, I won't even preach to the Pharisees, he said, I won't
even preach to the Pharisees, lest they be converted.
God says, I don't even want them to have the opportunity to hear the truth.
You say, but is he keeping it from people who want the truth?
No, he's keeping it from people who've already rejected the truth.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look at verse 9.
2 Thessalonians 2, 9.
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, notice,
and lying wonders.
Let's talk about the anti-Christ and the false prophet in the end times.
Now remember, here's what we're talking about.
Remember what happens in the end times.
The anti-Christ, the false prophet sets up the abomination of desolation.
People worship the abomination of desolation.
They receive the mark of the beast, either in their right hand or in their forehead.
And look, all of those people, the Bible's extremely clear, you can study this out on
your own, I don't have time to develop it now, but all those people who receive the
mark of the beast are reprobates.
Whatever they did, whatever that meant for them to worship that idol of the anti-Christ,
that crossed a line with God.
And those people cannot be saved, those people will not be saved, they immediately become
a reprobate.
I know the dispensationalists teach that, well, you know, you can cut your hand off
and be saved, or you can cut your head off and be saved.
I'm not sure how you cut your head off and then you call upon Jesus to save you.
Not really sure how that works, but that's what they teach.
That's the kind of education you get at Bible college, I guess.
But 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, look at verse 10.
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they, notice,
receive not the love of the truth.
So it's not that these people didn't have the opportunity, they had the opportunity,
they chose to receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
They chose to reject the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And verse 11, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth.
That is what the Bible says.
God says He's going to send them a strong delusion, you say, why would God do that?
That they might be damned.
That they might die and go to hell.
You say, why?
Because there is a God who practices the doctrine of becoming a reprobate where somebody can
cross a line and He rejects them.
And He condemns them.
And today, you know, people want to say, oh, God is all love.
You know what, God is all love, and God is love, but He's also judgment, He's also holiness,
He's also righteousness, and you can cross a line with God, and these people did it.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Does that remind you of Romans 1, had pleasure in them?
Talking about those that had pleasure in those that did the unnatural sins.
Go back to Ezekiel, Ezekiel 14.
So what happens to these prophets that He deceives?
Remember this, anyone who God deceives, they're already rejected.
They're not talking about people that are, this is not the God of Calvinists, who people
want to be saved, and He's like, no, you're going to die and go to hell.
The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
The Bible says, whosoever will may come.
The Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So people want to be saved, they can be saved, but people who rejected God and rejected God
and rejected God and they crossed a line with God, God will send a lying spirit.
God will send a strong delusion.
God will keep them in the dark.
You say, did God choose that for them?
No, they chose that themselves.
And what's their end?
Ezekiel 14, verse 9.
And if the people be deceived when they have spoken a thing, and by the way, notice this,
not only are the prophets deceived, but the people are deceived.
Not only is, in the end times, not only is the false prophet deceived, but all those
people who receive the mark of the beast, they get deceived.
And if the people be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that
prophet, I will stretch out my hand upon him, notice, and will destroy him in the midst
of my people Israel, and they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity, the punishment
of the prophets shall be, even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him, that the house
of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted anymore with all their transgressions,
but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.
So here's what we learned.
When it comes to these false prophets, not only does God deceive them, but God destroys
them.
And those two things go hand in hand.
God does not deceive those who are not already set for destruction, for perdition.
So he deceives them, and then he destroys them.
Look at verse 12.
In verse 12, we transition again into something a little different.
He begins to talk about the judgment.
It goes with the destroying of the false prophets, but now he goes into the judgment, what he
refers to as the fourfold judgment of God.
And we're just going to run through this real quickly, because I want to get to the end
of the chapter before we run out of time.
He talks about the different judgments, and he gives you four types of judgments that
God brings upon the land.
The first one is famine.
Look at verse 12.
And the Lord came again to me, saying, verse 13, son of man, when the land sinneth against
me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it.
Notice what he says.
And I will break the staff of the bread thereof.
He said, I'm going to break your ability to have bread, and will send famine upon it,
and will cut off man and beast from it.
Those these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it.
They should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.
We're going to come back to verse 14 here in a minute.
But I want you to notice, he says, if I'm going to judge a land, he said, one way that
I'll judge a land is through famine.
And he said, I will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine.
Another way, in verse 15, is through wild animals.
Look at verse 15.
If I cause a noisome beast to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be
desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beast.
Another way, look at verse 17, is through war or warfare.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, sword, go through the land, so that I
cut off man and beast from it.
If you study that out in the scripture, if you look up whatever, a reference to a sword
going through a land is a reference to an army or a military going through a land.
There's another way that he brings his judgment is through pestilence.
Look at verse 19.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, a pestilence is a deadly epidemic disease,
and pour out my fury upon it in blood to cut off from it a man and beast.
Here's verse 21.
For thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sore judgment upon Jerusalem,
the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the pestilence, to cut off from it man
and beast.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, if I was going to judge a land, I would choose from one of these four options.
And there are other options in other scriptures that God does to judge places.
But he said, if I was going to judge this land, I would choose a famine.
I could choose wild animals.
I could choose war or pestilence.
But God says, the nation of Israel has crossed such a line with God that God says, I'm going
to send all four.
He said, when I send my four sore judgment upon Jerusalem.
He said, I'm going to send it.
Usually I'd send one.
He said, I'm going to send all four of these at the same time to bring my judgment upon
this nation.
Now you say, well, why is that?
And here's why that is.
Because the nation of Israel had gotten that bad.
And that's highlighted for us in verse 14.
And notice kind of the fourth transition in this chapter where he begins to talk about
these three righteous men.
Notice what he says.
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job.
I mean, these are some of the greatest men that we learn about in scripture.
He says, though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it.
Talk about in the city, in the land.
He said, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord
God.
Here's what God is saying.
If Noah was in the land, if Daniel was in the land, if Job was in the land, he said
their righteousness would not be enough to deliver the land.
He said they would deliver just their own souls by their own righteousness.
Now why is God saying that?
Why is that an interesting point, or why is that a point that even needs to be made?
And here's why that's a point.
Go to Genesis 18, and we're gonna run a few verses.
We got enough time, so let's try to do it quickly.
Genesis 18, I've taught this concept before, but let me go through it again.
Here's what you need to understand.
When it comes to the judgment of God, oftentimes in scripture, the number of the righteous
people in a city or in a land can withhold the judgment of God upon a certain location,
a certain city or a certain nation.
The amount of people that are saved and walking with God, righteous people that are in that
land, can withhold the judgment of God.
Even saved people that aren't walking with God can be used to withhold the judgment of
God.
Let me give you an example of that, Genesis 18.
Now in Genesis 19, we have the famous story of Sodom and Gomorrah, right?
When God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, and he destroys the cities and the surrounding
cities.
But before God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, he has an interesting conversation with Abraham,
Genesis 18, verse 23.
Notice what the Bible says.
And Abraham, this is after Abraham found out that God was gonna destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,
drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Abraham says, look God, I know that Sodom and Gomorrah is a wicked place, but there
are some righteous people there.
Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Verse 24, paired venture there be 50 righteous within the city.
Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for 50 righteous that are therein?
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and
that the righteous should be as the wicked.
That be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right.
Now, I don't know why Abraham's talking to God like this.
He must have had a really good relationship with God.
The Bible says that Abraham spoke to God like a friend, and that's great.
I don't know that I would have the guts to speak like this.
But Abraham is telling God, and he's saying, is this right, God, for you to destroy the
righteous people with the wicked?
And I want you to notice the difference between Abraham and Jonah.
Remember, we studied Jonah for over the last six weeks on Sunday morning.
Remember Jonah?
Jonah's like setting up his booth, putting up his little lawn chair, getting a bag of
popcorn, just waiting to see the city get destroyed.
Even when God says, I don't want to destroy it, he said, I'm going to just sit there anyway
and hope God destroys it.
And here you can see kind of the difference in that, because today, you know what I see
with a lot of Christians?
They're kind of rooting for the destruction, the judgment of God.
But you know what?
My attitude is, I want to take the position of Abraham and say, hey, if we can spare it
for a little while longer, let's do it.
If we can get some righteous people in the city and spare it and get more people saved,
let's try it.
Verse 26, and the Lord said, if I find in Sodom, think about this, this is Sodom and
Gomorrah, one of the worst cities the world has ever known.
And God says, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the
place for their sake.
God said if there was 50 righteous people, I would spare the entire perverseness of Sodom
and Gomorrah.
Obviously, those people are going to die and go to hell, but he would not have destroyed
them.
Well, Abraham knows there's not 50 righteous people there.
Verse 18, he says, peradventure there are like five of the 50 righteous.
Will thou destroy all the city for lack of five?
And of course, God says, if I find there 40 and five, I will not destroy it.
In verse 29, he says, peradventure there shall be 40 found there, and he said, I will
not do it for 40 sakes.
In verse 30, he said, peradventure there shall 30 be found there, and he said, I will not
do it if I find 30 there.
And in verse 31, he says, peradventure there shall be 20 found there, and he said, I will
not destroy it for 20 sakes.
In verse 32, he says, peradventure 10 shall be found there, and he said, I will not destroy
it for 10 sakes.
I want you to notice, conversation's over, verse 33, and the Lord went his way as soon
as he had left communion with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place.
God did not allow Abraham to go below 10, because 10 was the threshold, 10 was the limit.
God says, there has to be at least 10 righteous people there for me to spare it.
If there's not 10, then I won't spare it, and you know the story.
There wasn't 10.
Lot was the worst soul winner the world has ever known.
He didn't even get his own family saved.
And because of that, it was easier for God to send in angels to bring Lot out than to
spare the city.
But here's what I want you to understand.
In the Bible, we have this concept that the amount of righteous people in a city could
spare, or a land, or a nation, or whatever, could spare that nation.
You're there in Genesis, go to Numbers.
Let me just show you this real quickly.
Numbers, you got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Numbers chapter 18.
I want you to notice this phrase that's used in Numbers 18, 19.
It says this, all the Hebrew offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel
offer unto the Lord have I given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee by a
statute forever.
So forever meaning, this is going to go, I'm going to preserve this.
Notice what he says, it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord unto thee and to thy
seed with me.
Here God uses this concept, he says a covenant of salt, and he says when I make a covenant
of salt with you, then that means that I'm going to preserve you.
He says it will be a covenant of salt forever before the Lord.
You say, well why does he say that?
Here's why he says that, because salt was used in that time to preserve things.
It was before refrigeration, and they would use salt to preserve me, and salt was equated
with the idea of preserving something, and God says I'm going to make a covenant of salt
with you, I'm going to make a covenant of salt that's going to preserve what we just
talked about forever.
Go to 2 Chronicles 13, you're there in 1 Kings, pass 2 Kings, pass 1 Chronicles into 2 Chronicles,
2 Chronicles 13, I want you to notice that he also makes this covenant of salt with people,
2 Chronicles 13, 5.
He says, are ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel
to David forever, remember he took it from Saul, but he gave it to David.
Now when he gave it to David, notice what it says, even to him and to his sons by a
covenant of salt, what does that mean?
When God made a covenant of salt with David, here's what God said, God said to David, I'm
never going to take the kingdom from you David, I took it from Saul, but I won't take it from
you.
I did not make a covenant of salt with David, with Saul, excuse me, but I did make a covenant
of salt with David.
Here's what that means.
You read 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, you've got the northern kings of Israel, they're
doing things they shouldn't be doing, they're worshiping God, they shouldn't be worshiping.
God is removing one dynasty and bringing another one.
God is using, just this morning I was reading about Jehu coming in and killing the son of
Ahab and removing that dynasty and setting him up a new dynasty, but you never see that
with the southern kingdom, the sons of David.
The Bible even goes on to tell us when the sons of David did wickedly and perversely
that God did not remove them because of the covenant he made with David.
Because when God makes a covenant of salt, it is a covenant of preservation.
God told David, the kingdom is going to be yours forever.
And even in the millennial reign, the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, will sit
on the throne of David for a thousand years.
You say, why?
Because God preserved it through a covenant of salt.
And here's what's interesting about that.
Matthew 5, 13, you don't have to go there, in fact, you go to Revelation chapter 6, Matthew
5, 13, Jesus said this, ye are the salt of the earth.
He says you are, he says ye are the salt of the earth.
And here's what I believe.
I believe that the amount of salt in any given location will determine the amount of preservation
that location receives.
Sodom could have been preserved if there would have been 50, 40, 30, 20, 10.
He says, salt.
He says ye are the salt of the earth.
Here's what I believe.
I believe that you and I, as Christians living the righteous life, that we can preserve,
that we can withhold, that we can withstand the judgment of God.
Let me give you, I teach this stuff sometimes and people are like, I don't know anything
about that.
Let me give you, and there's other examples.
I'm not going to take the time.
I preached sermons on this before.
I'm not going to take the time to show you all of the passages, but let me just show
you one more.
Revelation chapter 6, look at verse 9.
Remember the last final wrath of God coming down upon the world at the end times?
What triggers that?
Revelation chapter 6, look at verse 9.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were
slain for the word of God.
This is what we call the great tribulation.
This is when the antichrist is killed.
When the antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation, people take the mark of the
beast.
They become reprobates.
Believers, the elect are not deceived.
They don't take the mark of the beast.
Many of them get killed.
This is probably mostly pre-tribbers because they're going to be taken by surprise.
But it says, you know, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, oh Lord, holy
and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.
So these people that just got killed on earth are now in heaven and they're asking God,
how long, oh Lord, how long, oh Lord, holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth.
Verse 11, white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that
they should rest, notice what he says, that they should rest yet for a little season.
It's an interesting answer there he gives them.
Until their fellow servants also and their brethren, he's saying, until your friends,
your buddies down there, the other Christians down there, until their fellow servants also
and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Here's what they ask.
They say, God, when are you going to bring your judgment and your wrath upon the world?
And God says, there's still a little too much salt down there.
He says, let them kill off a few more because there's a covenant of salt.
Here's what I believe, I believe that there's enough Christians on earth right now to withhold
and withstand the major wrath of God upon the entire world.
But when the anti-Christ starts killing all of the Christians, eventually it's going to
like sodom.
It's going to go from 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 to 20 to 10 to 9 and God's going to be like,
it's go time.
Send the angels, get them out, we're going to bring the judgment of God.
Why?
Because there's a covenant of salt.
Here's what I believe.
I believe that we as believers, say why go soul winning?
Maybe to preserve the nation we live in.
Maybe because we need as much salt as we can get.
But here's what's interesting.
Go back to Ezekiel 14, we'll finish up.
This is why God makes this point about Noah, Daniel, and Job.
Here's why.
Because normally the amount of righteous people in any nation will preserve that nation.
But Israel, because remember he usually would just send the famine or the sword or the pestilence
or the wild beast, but he says, they're so bad I'm going to send all four.
He's like, they've crossed the line, they've gotten so bad.
And here's what God is saying.
God is saying, I don't care if you had Noah, Daniel, and Job down there, they should not
deliver but their own souls.
So here's what we can learn.
Usually the covenant of salt will protect a nation, protect the land, protect the city.
But a land or a city or a nation or a group of people can cross a line where even if you
had the most righteous man there, it wouldn't be enough.
But notice what it says though.
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their
own souls.
So their righteousness would deliver them by their righteousness, saith the Lord.
He says, even if they were there, they wouldn't deliver you.
Here's what's interesting.
Ten righteous people would have been enough to deliver the entire cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah, but Noah, Daniel, and Job would not be enough to deliver Israel during the
time of Ezekiel's prophecy.
Look at verse 16.
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither
son nor daughter.
They only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
Look at verse 18.
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither
son nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
Look at verse 20.
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver
neither son nor daughter.
They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
They wouldn't even deliver their own children.
What can we learn from that?
Here's what we can learn.
No such thing as communal righteousness.
Well, I'm going to get to heaven because my husband's so good.
No.
Well, my mom, she was real righteous.
Well, you better make sure you're saved.
Better make sure that you've settled that with God because there's no such thing as
communal righteousness.
God says, they wouldn't even deliver their own son nor daughter.
He said, it would just deliver them.
So we learn of these three righteous men.
Maybe even, I don't know, I don't know how you make it to this list.
And here's what's interesting too, and I don't have time to develop this, I've already ran
out of time, but Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel.
Daniel was living during the time of Ezekiel and he makes it on this list.
It's pretty awesome to be, I mean, I don't know about you, but if I was Noah, Daniel,
and Job, I'd be like, hey, when I get to heaven, I'd be like, hey, do you ever read
Ezekiel 14?
Most people are going to be like, no.
Well, you should have because it names me there, Noah, Daniel, and Job.
But here's what we learned.
We need to get people saved and we need to live righteous lives and not root for the
judgment of God, but try to do everything we can to spare, to spare the next generation,
to keep the hand of God as long as we can till, of course, the end times and those things
begin to happen.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible.