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Jesus, there, there they come, the Lord. If they lead through the temple, Holy, preaching the Word, Loring holds of the poor and lowly, Serving the Lord. Good Prince of Jesus, And make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus, Wherever they go. Then at last, when on high, He sees us on our journey done. We will rest where the steps of Jesus stand, In that His throne. Good Prince of Jesus, And make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus, Wherever they go. Please bless the service, and have your blessing upon us, And fill us with your spirit as we sing praises to you. And please fill our pastor with your spirit as he preaches to us. Help us to be edified by the preaching and learn from you. And please let everything that's said and done tonight bring all the glory to your son Jesus Christ, For it's in His name we pray. Amen. Amen. Our word of hymn number 179. 179, such love, number 179, That God should love a sinner such as I, number 179. On this first verse together. That God should love a sinner such as I, To change my sorrow into bliss, For rest in me and let her bring me none. How wonderful is love like this, Such love, such wonders, Such love, such wonders, Love that God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this, That Christ should join so freely in this kingdom, Although in man's midst and of Calvary, Did ever human love run the whole thing, And loved her well there had to be, Such love, such wonders, Such love, such wonders, Love that God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this, That for a will full of death such as I, May the Father plan the Savior, plan and die, And shed for a worthless slave to find, Who on earth and on earth raised him high, Such love, such wonders, Such love, such wonders, Love that God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this, And now he takes me to his art of song, He asks me not to fill a servant's place, The far off country, Wondering's all are done, Wide open are his arms of praise, Such love, such wonders, Such love, such wonders, Love that God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this, 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 times. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we're in Ezekiel chapter 14. We've got the so many times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. And then this Saturday, don't forget, is the church picnic. So it's just a few days away, and it's going to be at noon, and it's on the southwest corner of College and Curry. So it's part of Papago Park, but Papago Park is huge, so be sure that you go to that address, 1000 North College Avenue. We're gonna be on that southwest corner. Of Curry and College. We're providing burgers, hot dogs, beverages, and if you bring a side dish or a dessert to share, that'd be great, but don't worry about bringing anything. It's all provided, and so we're gonna have a good time with that. And so I hope you'll all be there. And then below that is the list of people that are going on the zip line activity this Friday. On the back, of course, congratulations to, I just saw him. There he is, all right. Congratulations to the Avgulas on their marriage. And then we've got the small town soul winning trip starting up again on Saturday, November 27th. And those locations are listed there at the bottom. And so as always, you can get the schedule and sign up for those over here to my right. So that's about it for announcements. Also don't forget about the missions trip that's coming up in January in the Virgin Islands. And so that's gonna be, I believe, the week of the 16th to the 22nd. Am I right? Somebody tell me if I'm right. All right. Can I get a witness? So don't forget about that. And so there's an informational video that you guys put up, right? Daniel Rider and Raymond Cooper put up an informational video where they talk about that trip. And so check that out, or you can see one of us for details about that. All right, with that, let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. So going back to Monday, anything to report from Monday? Okay. Is that a, okay. I wasn't sure if it was just waving at me or what. All right. And then what about Tuesday? Okay, got it, got it, got it. Okay. Got it. And then what about, is that from Tuesday? Okay. And then what about today? Anything from today? All right, very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. Right in the front of your hymnals, you should find the insert of the song on the Sea of Galilee. If you don't have it, you can raise your hand and you'll get one on the Sea of Galilee. ["The Master of the Seas"] ["The Master of the Seas"] ["The Master of the Seas"] ["The Master of the Seas"] ["The Master of the Seas"] Amen. Good singing. Your hymnals now please turn to hymn number 307. 307, Jesus calls us. Number 307. Jesus calls us. Number 307. Let's sing it on this first verse together. ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] ["Jesus calls us"] Alright, this time we'll go ahead and pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter number 14. Ezekiel 14, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Hester as he reads. Ezekiel 14, beginning in verse number 1. Ezekiel 14, the Bible reads. Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me. The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? 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 put at the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which seperateth himself from me, and seteth up his idols in his heart, and put at the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself. And I will set my face against that man, and I will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity, the punishment of the prophet shall be even as a punishment of him that seeketh unto him. That the house of Israel may go no more astray for me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions, but they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and I will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts, these three men, though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon the land, and say, Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off man and beast from it, though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence unto that land, and pour out my fury upon it and blood, to cut off from it man and beast, 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. For thus saith the Lord God, How much more, when I send my four sword judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut it off from man and beast, yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth both sons and daughters, behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings, and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it, and they shall comfort you when ye shall see their ways and their doings, and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God. Father in heaven, I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches your word with the fullness and the power of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Man, Ezekiel chapter number 14 is very consistent with a lot of the themes that we've seen in the book of Ezekiel so far. It starts out in verse number 1, Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me, and the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and he begins to talk about how bad these guys are. Well, this should probably sound a little familiar to you because a couple months ago when we were back in chapters like 8, 9, and 10 of Ezekiel, we have a very similar scenario where we have the elders of Judah coming to him in chapter 8, verse 1, for example, and they're coming to get advice from the man of God. They want to hear what the Lord has shown to Ezekiel or told to Ezekiel, and then instead God gives them a vision about how bad these guys are, and he's just showing them how rotten they are and how wicked they are, and so we're seeing the same thing once again in chapter 14. Again, Ezekiel needs to hear from God just how bad the political leaders are because he doesn't quite get it, so the Lord has to keep showing him these people are way worse than you think, and they might seem like they want to hear the word of God because they're showing up and asking you what is the word of the Lord, but don't fall for these guys' act of pretending to be believers and pretending to be righteous because they are rotten, wicked people, and so this is a theme of the book of Ezekiel, just how bad the political leadership is, and we can relate to this. Amen? In the United States of America, our leaders are also super wicked, and a lot of people don't get it. They don't realize it, and it's sort of like cockroaches. If you see one cockroach, it doesn't mean that you have one cockroach in your house. If you see one cockroach in your house, it means that your house is totally infested with cockroaches because for every one that you see, there are a lot more that you don't see, and the wickedness that we see in our government is just the tip of the iceberg of what's really going on behind closed doors, and that's what God's trying to show Ezekiel, that there is spiritual wickedness at high places, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and so he says that these men that are claiming to worship the Lord God, they have set up their idols in their heart, verse 3, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. So what this is referring to, the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face, is the literal physical idol that is actually in front of them. They're actually literally bowing down to idols, and again, we saw that back in chapter 8 and chapter 9. It's not just that these people have idolatry in their heart alone because yes, they've set up the idols in their heart, but then they also have the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face that they're looking at, physical objects. What does the word idol mean? It literally means an image. It's some kind of a graven image or molten image, and they are worshiping false gods in the form of these idols, and I believe that the reason why he explains it this way, where he talks about them setting up the idols in their heart and having it before their face, is because of the fact that God actually cares about what's in our heart. It's not just that God wants us to go through the motions of serving Him, and as long as we go to church and put money in the offering plate and go through the motions of keeping the commandments and the teachings of the Bible, that that's enough. No, because what's the number one commandment in the Bible is to love God. So it actually matters where our heart is as well, because the number one commandment has nothing to do with our actions. It's thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now, to us as Christians, we just take that for granted. Like, well, duh, obviously we have to love God. Of course it's important for us to love the Lord. What we have to understand is that all these ancient pagan religions that are competing with the Lord back then, the Canaanites and their religions, the Philistines, and all of these pagan-type polytheistic religions, they don't really talk about how you have to love God. It's just you just have to do stuff. You have to worship. You have to do sacrifices. You go through certain rituals. If you study, for example, ancient Greek religion and all their gods and goddesses and temples and everything, it doesn't really matter what you believe or where your heart is. It's just, did you do what you were supposed to do? Did you pay homage to this God and that God? But you know, the God of the Bible is different. The God of the Bible actually desires a relationship with man, and he wants our heart to be right, not just for our actions to be right. And obviously, having the right heart, good actions will flow from that. But God really cares about our love in our heart toward him. And so God is offended. The reason I'm bringing that up is because God is offended not just that these people are going through rituals to false gods and idols, which is a sin in and of itself, but God is also offended that their heart has gone after these other gods because God desires our heart. He desires us to love him. These people don't love the Lord. They love these other gods. They have these idols set up in their heart. And so that's the bigger problem is where their heart is, that they actually love these false gods instead of loving the Lord their God. And so it says that these guys have set up the idols in their heart, and at the end of verse 3, it says, Should I be inquired of at all by them? Like, do I really owe these people anything? Am I really going to answer these people or help them or do anything for them when their heart is not with me? Their heart is with these other gods that they're into. Should I actually answer them? Therefore, speak unto them and say unto them, verse 4, Thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel that seteth up his idols in his heart and put at the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols. So he's going to give them a bad answer basically. Yeah, they can come and inquire of the Lord, but they're going to get a bad answer. They're not going to get anything helpful. They're not going to get anything that they want to hear. It's going to be a bad answer because of the multitude of their idols. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they're all estranged from me through their idols. God desires closeness with man. He wants to have a relationship with human beings. He created us for his pleasure. We get estranged from God through our sins or through worshipping false gods, and so that fellowship is broken. Look at verse number 6. Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent and turn yourselves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself, and I will set my face against that man, and I will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Making somebody a sign or a proverb means that people will use it as a cautionary tale. Like, don't be like so-and-so. Remember how that guy ended up. That's what it means to be a proverb. I'll cut him off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Now, verse 9 is a really interesting verse. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people, Israel. And then I think it's important that we read verse 10 to help us understand verse 9. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him. The reason I point that out is because verse 10 makes it clear that we're not talking about a good prophet. We're not talking about a righteous prophet of the Lord, a guy like Ezekiel or something. We're talking about a false prophet. We're talking about a bad guy who's going to be punished by God for his wickedness. So, in verse 9, though, it says, if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. Now, that verse might be surprising to a lot of people because they'd say, wait a minute, you know, is God in the business of deceiving people? You know, God is the truth, right? Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And so God is the true God. His word is truth. His word is pure. It's perfect. So we don't think of God as being one who deceives people or that he would be a deceiver. We think of the devil as the great deceiver who deceives the whole world. But we would not think of God in that way. But here's what we have to understand is that although God is loving and righteous and one who speaks truth and his word is truth and he is the truth, yet, according to scripture here, there are people who God will deceive. And this is not the only scripture that would indicate this because in the New Testament we have an example of this in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Because in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says that they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. 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 and unrighteousness. So people who don't love the truth, people who receive not the love of the truth, people who wanted lies, they wanted things other than the word of God, they did not choose the fear of the Lord, they did not choose the word of God, they didn't receive the love of the truth that they might be saved, God, the Bible says, will send them strong delusion. Now isn't that similar to what the Bible says here about God deceiving a false prophet? So he's sending them a delusion. Because what is a delusion? A delusion is something that people think is real but it isn't real. A delusion is something that is like a false reality. And so if God sends someone a delusion so that they would believe a lie, that's very similar to deceiving that person. And so I don't think that there's anything really special or unique here because it's really just like what we see in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And then there's another place, of course, when Ahab is gonna go to battle and, you know, his house of Ahab, they've got all of their sort of like court prophets, like the prophets that are on the government payroll, like the FEMA pastors or whatever. And so he's got all of his like government approved preachers and hundreds of them and they're all telling him, oh yeah, God's gonna bless you, go to battle, it's gonna be great. And they're all just with one voice telling him to go to battle. And then Jehoshaphat's a little bit skeptical about these guys. He can kind of tell that these guys aren't really the right kind of prophets. And he said, well, isn't there another prophet of the Lord besides these guys that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And he says, well, you know, there's one other prophet of the Lord, but I hate him. I hate him because he always prophesies evil concerning me and never good. So then Jehoshaphat says, let not the king say so. He's saying, don't be like that, you know, let's hear this guy. So they go grab Micaiah the son of Imlah and the guard who's bringing him in says, hey, let me just help you out and tell you what all the other prophets are saying. Why don't you be a good little boy and say the same thing that everybody else is saying? And he says, well, I'm, you know, I'm going to say whatever the Lord tells me to say. And so he shows up and at first he kind of messes with the king of Israel a little bit because he asked him, like, you know, shall I go up to Ramoth Gilead and fight and whatever? And he says, you know, go up because God has delivered it into your hand. But he doesn't, he doesn't give the thus saith the Lord. And maybe his tone of voice kind of shows that he's kind of mocking or making fun because then the king gets angry and says like, how many times must I adjure you that you only tell me the truth in the name of the Lord? You know, then he said, and of course I'm paraphrasing these verses, but I'm pretty accurate. And then he basically says, well, you know, actually I had a vision of all Israel, all scattered like sheep having no shepherd because they don't have a king anymore. You know, basically because you're dead. And then he's just like, I knew it. Like, see what I mean? This guy always prophesies doom and gloom about me. And then, but then the really interesting part starts after he talks about the sheep having no shepherd. Then he says, here's what I saw in a vision. And he talks about basically the Lord asking the question, you know, who's going to convince Ahab to go fall and to go do this military campaign that's going to fail. And then, you know, different ideas are put forth. And then a certain spirit says, well, I'll do it. I'll go be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And then the Lord says, well, yep, go ahead and do it. You will go do that and you will prevail. That's going to work. Go be a lying spirit in the mouth of those prophets. And so, you know, I believe that when the Lord basically will sometimes allow these kind of demons or devils to do the dirty work. You know, he's not actually doing any lying because God cannot lie. God cannot lie. The Bible says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. OK. God can't lie. Also, the Bible says, you know, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, you know, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 20. So multiple places in the scripture tell us God doesn't lie. God only tells the truth. God is the truth. But he allows the devil and his minions to exist. And what is the purpose of the devil and his minions? To deceive. I mean, that's what the devil does. He deceives the whole world. Now, if God wanted to, God could just put the devil in hell right now. Right now, he can just snap his fingers. Isn't it obvious that God has the power to do that? It's not like God and the devil are locked in some kind of a struggle and they're kind of just, you know, it's kind of a close match. And, you know, we know God wins in the end, but just barely. It's not like that. The devil is a created being that is far inferior to God. And God has him on a leash, as it were. He's only allowed to do what God allows him to do. So we have to ask the question, why would God allow the devil to exist? And the most powerful example of this is the fact that in the end times, God is going to lock the devil in hell for a thousand years and lock him up and he's shut up in hell. But then he lets him out after a thousand years. So if anyone doubts what I'm preaching tonight, stop and think about that for a minute. The devil's all locked up tight. He specifically opens up hell and lets the devil out on purpose. Why would God do such a thing? Well, the Bible tells us in Revelation 20, he lets him out of the bottomless pit so that he can do what? To go out and deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Why? Because God wants the devil to deceive the nations to attack so that he can destroy them. So here's the bottom line. You know, we've got Revelation 20, where God is specifically opening up hell just to let the devil out to do some deceiving because God doesn't actually lie. But he allows the devil to exist. And the devil is a big liar. So if there's any lying that kind of needs to happen, it's the devil that does it. OK, so that's Revelation 20. And then we've got Second Thessalonians Chapter two, where God sends them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but have pleasure and unrighteousness. What's the context of that? It's end times. So you've got the dragon, the beast, the false prophet. Remember the three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet, and they go out and deceive. OK, this is why the devil exists. Then we've got Micaiah, the son of Imlah, saying that the Lord in heaven basically approved a plan for this spirit to go be a lying spirit in the mouth of these false prophets. And then we've got this verse right in front of our noses right now that says, and if the prophet be deceived when he had spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. So I think that's a lot of evidence. What do you think? There's a lot of scriptures, a lot of evidence that would help us understand this. So here's the bottom line. Now that we've talked about all that. Being deceived is a punishment. In Revelation 20, it's a punishment. In Second Thessalonians Chapter two, it's a punishment. In the book of the kings with Micaiah, the son of Imlah, it's a punishment. It's always a punishment to be deceived. So God is not in the business of deceiving good people or allowing these unclean spirits to deceive good people or whatever. You know, God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He's not willing that any should perish, right? He would that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He is constantly talking about the earth being filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, right? God wants everybody to know the truth and he wants the light of the gospel to shine in every dark corner of this earth. But being deceived is a punishment from God. Okay, so don't get uncomfortable about God deceiving this prophet because that jerk deserved to be deceived. He's already a wicked person who received not the love of the truth. He's chosen lies. He's chosen falsehood. So God sends him more delusion on top of his delusion. It's sort of like Pharaoh. You know, Pharaoh is the one who hardened his heart the first time around. It wasn't God that hardened his heart. First it was Pharaoh that hardened his heart. Then later, what does it say? God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But whose fault is that? You know, Pharaoh had already hardened it, but God hardens it more just so he can really punish him even worse and really run Egypt into the ground and destroy it to punish them for enslaving the children of Israel for hundreds of years. So they needed to go through some things as a punishment. So being deceived, having strong delusions is a punishment from God for the wicked. Okay. You know, Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist, he said something along the lines of, Well, you know, if God exists, he's a very deceptive God, you know, because he made it seem like he isn't there or, you know, he made it seem like it all just came from nothing or he made it seem like everything evolved and whatever. You know, so if he's real, he's a real deceptive God. And here's the thing. Even though obviously Richard Dawkins is a complete idiot, there's some truth in what he's saying because God does send a strong delusion on people who hate him. And he deceives false prophets. If the prophet be deceived, when he spoke of the thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. So God does send strong delusions to the likes of Richard Dawkins. So if Richard Dawkins someday is like, God, it's not fair. You know, you're throwing me to hell because, you know, you deceived me. You know, God could just be like, yep. Yeah, because you're wicked, because you hated me, because you received not the love of the truth that you might be saved. I died for you. You know, I provided every opportunity for you to be saved. Hey, God so loved the world, including Richard Dawkins. Okay, but Richard Dawkins decided to hate the Lord and become a reprobate, right? And when you're a reprobate, what does that even mean? It means you're given over to the reprobate mind. The reprobate what? The reprobate mind. Okay. And of course, Richard Dawkins has exhibited so many signs of being reprobate because not only does he clearly hate the Lord, but he's even said that pedophilia is fine. You know, which goes right along with that Romans 1 description of the kind of just vain imaginations and vile affections and strange things that will happen to the person's mind who rejects the Lord. Okay. So he didn't want to retain God and his knowledge. God gave him over to a reprobate mind. God has sent him delusions so that he'll believe a lie. And he thinks he's very smart, and his followers think he's very smart, and they all worship at his feet as, oh, he's so wonderful. He's such a genius. He's so brilliant. But he's actually an idiot. He's a fool. The fool had said in his heart, there is no God. It's not intelligent or scientific to believe that living things came from non-living material because that's never been observed. Spontaneous generation doesn't exist. It's not a thing. Only life begets life. That's a fact. And people can talk about all they want, about all the theories. But you can't even call them theories. There is no theory on the origin of life. They're only just wild-eyed hypotheses. And I don't even know. There's not even a clear hypothesis on where life came from, let alone a theory. So it's just all it is. You want to know the evidence that these biologists like Richard Dawkins have that life came from non-life? Well, here we are. That's pretty much their only evidence because there's never in the history of mankind or science or anything documented where anything living has come from something non-living. It doesn't exist. It's never happened. So living things beget other living things. You cannot get life from non-life. So you could buy any biology textbook you want. And you know what it's going to tell you? Life can't come from non-life. That's what it's going to say. But then in the next breath, it'll say like, but you know, it must have at some point because here we are. So I guess at some point in the past, it must have. And maybe it was like this. Maybe it was like that. They have no clue because it didn't happen. Because God created life and then life begets life and here we are. So that's not really a strong piece of evidence to say, well, life came from non-life because here we are. Because there's another explanation for how life could get here called in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. God is life and he begat life. So life has never come from non-life because God has always existed and he's the source of all life. Okay. But see, I'm making way too much sense right now and everything that I'm saying is actually confirmed by all science. And any scientist with two brain cells to rub together would tell you that there's never been an instance of life coming from non-life. Any real biologist, even Richard Dawkins, would have to admit that. It's never been observed. Oh, one time we made this protein or something. But you didn't make anything that lived. You didn't even come close to making a living cell because it's so incredibly complicated it can't come into existence on its own. It's irreducible complexity. But I digress. So the Lord deceives false prophets. Have you ever noticed that some of these false prophets just say the craziest, wildest things and you're just like, what is wrong with them? And then they make an idiot of themselves in front of the whole world? You ever wonder like how they could be so stupid? Part of it is that God is basically sending them a strong delusion as a punishment. So have you noticed that some of these some of these phonies that have hung around with us in the past and tried to ride our coattails and hitch onto our wagon and then they turn out to be these false teachers? And then just the crazy things they start teaching, the wild things they start teaching, where they end up just alienating any normal person that ever followed them. And you're just thinking, how could they be so stupid? But I'll tell you how. It's because if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. It's a punishment from God when they teach these crazy doctrines and just wild things. Why? Because the Bible says, now as Janus and Jamborees withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, but their folly shall be manifest unto all men. It says, but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. So God will eventually manifest the folly of the false prophets by causing them to to make bizarre or strange or stupid or demonstrably false pronouncements. OK, so that's what we see going on in verse nine. Very interesting verse. So in verse 11, it says, you know, verse 10, he talks about he's going to punish the prophet. And here's another great point from verse 10. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him. So there's a punishment for being a false prophet, but you know what else is a punishable offense? Following false prophets, listening to false prophets is a sin, following false prophets, supporting false prophets. You're guilty, too. And he says you both get punished together. The prophet and the one who follows him, they both get a punishment from God. And in fact, in this case, they're going to get the same punishment. It sounds like in verse 10, verse 11, 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, sayeth the Lord God. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, son of man. When the land sent it against me by transgressing or by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it and will cut off man and beast from it. So he's explaining how he punishes a wicked nation. One of the ways that he does that is he brings famine. So he says, listen, son of man, if there's a grievous sin in a land, one of the ways I'll punish is I'll send a famine. I'll break the staff of bread and I'll cause food to become scarce. Verse 14, though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, sayeth the Lord God. That's kind of an interesting list, isn't it? Noah, Daniel, and Job. These are three very different people that don't really have much in common at all. That's what's interesting about this choice. And I think that maybe that's the point, is just picking a really diverse list. Just the most random guys that are just the most different from one another. Noah, Daniel, and Job. I mean, talk about just a powerhouse of getting favor with God. I mean, Noah is the only righteous man on the whole earth. You know, there's something to be said for that. Everybody else is messing things up and you're the one guy who's doing it right. Nobody around you is doing right but you're doing right. The other interesting thing about Noah is that Noah not only was delivered but also his wife and his children were delivered. And they were not delivered because of their own righteousness because we know what kind of guy Ham was. Ham got grandfathered in under Noah because Noah was the righteous one. We know what Ham was into. And look at verse 22. It says, yet behold, or I'm sorry, let's back up to verse 20. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it as I lived, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. Now, did Noah deliver son or daughter? Yeah, because Noah's wife, Noah's three sons, and their wives all got delivered riding on Noah's coattails. Okay. So that's the interesting thing about Noah. Now, the interesting thing about Daniel is that Daniel is a contemporary of Ezekiel. Which is interesting because keep in mind, Daniel is a prophet who is preaching and prophesying during the Babylonian captivity. Well, so is Ezekiel. That's why the, you know, the next book in the way we have our Old Testament in order here, the next book after Ezekiel is Daniel. Because of the fact that chronologically these two go together. And, you know, Daniel's ministry even lasts later than Ezekiel's ministry, but they're still contemporary for many decades. And so it's interesting that he brings up Daniel because Daniel is a current person or somebody who's very recently been known as a great man of God or serving God in the very recent past. And then Job, of course, how does he play into this? Again, he's the most righteous man in the whole earth. So Noah is the most righteous man on the whole earth in his generation. Job, at the time that he lived, the Bible says there was none like him in all the earth that feared God and eschewed evil. So again, greatest man on earth. And then Daniel is even a contemporary example of a very righteous man. And, you know, Daniel's one of those guys where it's hard to find anything wrong with him because usually Bible characters, the Bible is really transparent about their faults. So you can find stuff wrong with a lot of Bible characters. Whereas Noah, Daniel, and Job are some of the guys that it's harder to find something wrong with them. You know, we all know about Noah's, you know, drunken bender after the whole getting off the ark and everything. But still, you know, he's a very righteous man. Daniel, you could hardly find anything even wrong with him. Job, same thing. I mean, incredibly righteous men. Because when I looked at this list, the first thing I thought of is what about Abraham or Moses I thought of? Because I thought, you know, Abraham and Moses are guys who are really known for intercessory prayer. Because remember, Abraham intercedes for Lot and gets Lot dragged out of Sodom and saves Lot's life through intercessory prayer. And then Moses is up on Mount Sinai and God's talking about, hey, I think I'm just going to wipe out the nation of Israel and just make a nation of you, Moses, nuts to these people. And then Moses intercedes and then God repents of his anger toward the children of Israel. He repents of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So you could think of examples like Abraham and Moses. But again, Abraham and Moses are guys who also we know a lot about their faults or it goes into more sins that they had. Whereas Noah, Daniel, and Job are just really righteous guys. And of course, Noah delivers his entire family so they get in on his coattails. Daniel is, you know, surrounded by his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And then Job, of course, prays for his three friends in Chapter 42. The Bible says the Lord turned again the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. And he says to the three friends, have Job pray for you because I'll listen to Job. So you better get Job to pray for you because you guys are a bunch of bozos. And in Job Chapter 42, that's a paraphrase. So what he's saying is that these guys that typically, you know, you'd think Noah would be able to at least intercede and at least save his own family like he did the first time around. Daniel, Job. He's saying, look, I'm so mad. And these people have sinned so grievously that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in this land right now, praying for me to turn away my wrath, I would not turn away my wrath and I wouldn't even spare their own families. I would only spare them personally and I would destroy everybody else. That's a pretty strong statement. You know, I mean, you wonder, you know, does God feel that way about America, you know, or is he eventually going to someday feel that way about America? Even if he doesn't feel that way now, maybe decades from now, if it would get so bad where he could just say, you know, I'm wiping this place out. Here's the good news, though. As long as you're Noah, Daniel, or Job, you're okay. Because even though Noah, Daniel, and Job can't stop him from wiping out the nation because he's saying it's gone so far, even if these three great men of God were to intercede, I wouldn't listen to them. I would not listen to their prayers. I would not answer that prayer. But he still says I'd save them, though. So the good news is if you're the righteous person, you're always going to be able to get out of there alive. So that's good news, right? Well, you know, it's not necessarily good news for the people around you who are unrighteous. So, you know, now I would want my wife and children to be spared, but I just hope that my wife and children would have their own righteousness, right? And then we could all be spared because we're all a bunch of Daniel's, Noah's, Job's, right? That's the way to do it. But that's a pretty serious pronouncement. So we should, we need to strive to be Noah and Daniel and Job ourselves. And not necessarily rely on the fact that mom and dad are a Daniel or that our brother and sister are a Daniel. Sometimes that works out. Sometimes intercessory prayer works out. And we should always try that. But in some situations, it gets so bad that God says, you know what? I'm not really sparing anybody except the most righteous people. Beware. For thus saith the Lord God, verse 21, how much more when I send my four sword judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the pestilence to cut off from it man to beast. He's saying how much more because Noah's not here because Daniel's not here and because Job is not here. Because where's Daniel? Daniel's in Babylon, right? So Daniel's not there to intercede for these people. He's got his own problems over in Babylon. So how much worse is it going to be when you don't have these guys praying for you? He's saying, man, wouldn't it be great if you had Noah, Daniel and Job praying for you? You'd still be sunk. You'd still be wiped out. It wouldn't even help. But how much worse is it going to be when these guys aren't here and they're not praying for you? So he's just really emphasizing the fact that at this point their destruction is inevitable. And that their wickedness is so great they cannot avoid it. And this is a big theme in Jeremiah and Ezekiel both. Just the inevitability of God's punishment on a nation that has gotten so wicked that it's coming. And that's why Jeremiah's constantly saying just go to Babylon. Just turn yourself in to the Babylonians. And when you get to Babylon, get comfortable. Because you're going to be there for 70 years. Don't listen to these false prophets that tell you it's a short captivity and we're going to be back in two years. No, no, no, no. It's going to be 70 years. That is your entire life. So build a house. Plant a vineyard. Buy green bananas. Because you're going to be there for a long time. Get comfortable. Relax. Settle in. So there's an inevitability there about God's judgment in Jeremiah. And the same thing in Ezekiel here is that when things get to a certain point, you just can't turn it around anymore. You know, we should always try to turn things around, but it gets to a point where you can't turn it around anymore. But even if things get to the point where you can't turn it around anymore, you can always save the individual. You can always take care of yourself, but you can also save the individual souls. So no matter how unrighteous America gets, we're always going to be able to win individuals to Christ. Now, I have not made my ministry about, you know, what can I do as a pastor to, you know, turn Tempe to God or we're going to turn Phoenix to God. The mission of our church has never been we're going to turn Phoenix into a godly place. You know, and there are some pastors who would make statements like that and say, like, we are going to turn the state of Arizona back to God. We are going to make Phoenix, Arizona a Christian godly place. Tempe is going to become a godly, righteous place. ASU is going to become a Bible college, okay, by the time we're done with it. I mean, does anybody really believe that? Of course not. That's not our mission, okay. Our mission is to save the individual, to preach the gospel and get one person saved and also to take people that are saved and disciple them and help them grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I am not under any illusion that Arizona or Phoenix or even Tempe, they're never going to become godly places. They're never going to become just, you know, the Baptist strongholds of the King James Bible and soul winning. It's just not going to happen. Now, why is that? Because broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Okay. So that's why I'm not into politics and trying to, you know, politically turn things around and, you know, we've got to just change our country that way. It's just not going to happen. I don't know about you, but I like to be a part of something that's a winner, not something that's a loser. You know, it'd be pretty depressing if my goal was to turn Tempe into a godly place because it's a fool's errand because it's impossible. It's never going to happen. It cannot happen. And so why would I spend my life trying to do something that's impossible, you know, or oh, I'm going to spend my life trying to get some godly man elected president. Good luck with that. Because no godly man is ever going to be elected president of the United States ever again. It will never happen ever again. You know, maybe there have been some godly presidents in the past, some men who are truly saved and love the Lord. I don't I don't know. You know, I wasn't there. But I'll tell you right now, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but there will never be a godly president of the United States of America ever again. OK, it's just not going to happen. You know, I can see the way the world is. I can read my Bible about what's coming in the future for this world, including, of course, the most powerful nation in this world, America. And it's not going to happen. So so and I'm not saying that to depress you because, you know, I'm not a depressed person. I'm a happy person. I'm happy every single day. I'm rejoicing in the Lord every day with joy unspeakable and full of glory every day. OK, I mean, my cup runneth over. OK, I am always rejoicing. I don't care because this world's not my home. You know, my conversations in heaven, you know, I'm looking for the Lord Jesus Christ and him to rule and reign on this earth. So I'm not really worried about what direction this world takes, because I know that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And I know that all things work together for good to them that love God and that God has allowed me and you also to be born into this generation. Right. We're alive in 2021. God has us here for a reason. And we are to shine the light in the darkness and we are behind enemy lines, as it were. And we're to be in this world, but not of this world. And we are missionaries in this world and we are pilgrims and strangers passing through. And so, you know, I'm not going to spend my life worrying about politics because it's a loser. I want to be a winner. Soul winning is a winner. See, if I dedicate my life, man, I'm going to get a bunch of people saved. I can do that. I can win at that. I can succeed at that. Right. If I say, you know what, I'm going to pastor a church by the grace of God and I'm going to preach and teach the whole Bible and I'm going to preach it unfiltered, raw, unadulterated truth. I can do that. I can win at that. I can succeed at that. But it's like, well, we're going to turn the Republican Party back to God. Yeah. Good luck with that. Have fun with that because you're going to fail. So don't waste your life on things that where you can't win. And here's the way I see it, too, is that, you know, winning people to Christ is something that only a saved person can do. Only a saved person can get people saved because everything brings forth after its own kind. And so, you know, in order for us to bring forth fruit in the form of, you know, reproducing spiritual children, winning souls to Christ, you know, we've got to be saved to do that. So here we are. We're saved. We're willing to do it. We're able to do it. We have the wherewithal to do it. So let's go do it. You know, I also believe that it takes a saved person to faithfully preach and expound the word of God, rightly, because he's going to need the Holy Spirit in order to rightly divide the word of truth and to discern and to communicate God's word to where people will understand it and grasp it and learn and grow. So the point is, these are the things that we should focus on, right? Preaching the gospel to get people saved, also discipling people, teaching them all things that Christ has commanded us. This is what we should focus on because this is something that only we can do. Will the Catholics do it? Can the Catholics do it? Can the Roman Catholics evangelize? Can they faithfully exposit God's word? Can the Mormons do that? Can the Lutherans faithfully expound God's word and get up and preach doctrinally sound sermons and go out and knock doors and preach the gospel? They don't believe in eternal security. You know, they believe that they're saved because they got baptized as a baby. They've got all kinds of goofed up things in their gospel and in their doctrine. You know, so look, the Muslims can't do it. You know, the atheists can't do it. The agnostics can't do it. The Mormons can't do it. The Catholics can't do it. The Hindus can't do it. The Methodists can't do it. They believe you can lose your salvation. The Charismaniacs can't do it. They believe in a workspace salvation, losing your salvation. We can go down the list of all of these people who can't do the work of winning souls and teaching the Bible. Right? Okay, but let me ask you this. Can the Roman Catholic be some conservative Republican and be some conservative somewhere in government somewhere? Can he do it? Yeah, he can do it, right? Can the Mormon go be some conservative Congressman and do some political thing that we like? Hey, you know, politicians can do stuff that we like or do things that preserve our freedom or do things that are conservative or maybe, you know, bringing some morality back to our country or maybe standing for some things that we agree with without being saved. You know, there could be some conservative Republican politician who's a Hindu. Right? I mean, it could happen. I think there's a couple like that, in fact. You know, why don't we let the Mormons and the Catholics and the Methodists and the Presbyterians and the Hindus and the Pentecostals and everybody else, why don't we let them go be the conservative Republican whatever and put out their videos about that and evangelize the gospel of conservatism and the gospel of freedom and liberty and whatever, right? And why don't we stick to the thing that only we can do? Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't touch on politics. I touch on politics. You know, free Kyle Rittenhouse, amen? But anyway, you know, I'll touch on politics or, you know, maybe get involved in a little thing here or there or whatever. But you know what? That's not the focus of my life because I want to focus my life on the one thing that only I can do and that only you can do. And I don't mean just only me personally, but as a soul-winning Christian, you know, only we can do this. Now look, obviously there are a lot of saved people out there, but most of them aren't willing to do it. Most saved people aren't willing to knock a door and tell someone about Jesus. It's just not for them. So if you're one of the people who's able to do that and you're willing to do it, do it! No, no, I think I could just be greatly used doing politics. Let some Hindu do that. Let some conservative whatever, some conservative Catholic or conservative Methodist or conservative Presbyterian, let them go run for office or whatever. I want to do the thing that only we can do. See what I'm saying? It says in verse 22, I'll just quickly wrap up with the chapter. Yet behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth unto you and ye shall see their way and their doings and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it and they shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings. And ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I've done and it saith the Lord. And of course that last statement about I didn't do it without cause, that's another major theme in Ezekiel that we've seen over and over again. They did this to themselves. It's their fault. I had a reason for destroying them and whatever. But let me just tie together this last point here is that he says here's the hope, the message of hope, because it's a very negative chapter. And then he's like, okay, I'll give you two little happy verses at the end here. So we get the positive message at the very end, right? The message of hope. But what is the message of hope? The message of hope is there shall be a remnant. And here's what I'm saying, folks, is that no matter how bad America gets filled with transvestites and people who hate the Lord and whatever, there will be a remnant. So here's what I'm interested in. I'm interested in pulling people out of the fire and basically being a part of that remnant and helping create that remnant by winning individuals to Christ. We're helping to establish that remnant and then I want to take that remnant and disciple that remnant and help that remnant to be right with God and to follow the Lord and to love the Lord and to do His will. So that's the hope for America. The hope for America is not 2024, you know, Trump 2.0. Come on. And by the way, Trump can't win souls because he's not saved. Trump is not a godly man. He's not going to teach us how to follow the Lord. He's not going to expound the Word of God to us when it comes to righteous living. He's not the hope for America. And, you know, he probably doesn't even have a chance in 2024 anyway. You know, just realistically, it's just the whole thing is so rigged and he's been so blasted and hated in the media and everything like that. So I'm sure they'll probably pull out some other Republican in 2024. And I don't know who they're going to pull out, but I already know that he's not going to be the hope for America. I don't even know who it is and I'm already saying I don't care and I'm not voting for him. You know. I'm already predicting that. Okay. I'm not for whoever it is. I don't care. I'll be out soul winning. I'll be teaching the Bible. I'll be preaching the Word of God. Focus on the remnant, my friend. That's the hope for America. The remnant. Not because we're going to make America godly, but because we're going to reach individuals. And here's the thing. If we reach a godly remnant, God will spare that remnant, including us. And God will often even lengthen the tranquility of the whole nation because there's a small minority that's a righteous remnant. Because think about Sodom and Gomorrah. Hey, if there's 50, if there's 45, there's 40. How many people do you think were in Sodom and Gomorrah? 75 people? No. Obviously, Sodom and Gomorrah is hundreds and hundreds of people, probably thousands and thousands of people. Five cities of the plain. We're talking thousands and thousands of people. And he says, okay, if there's 50, I won't destroy it. So, you know, we can lengthen the tranquility of the whole nation by reaching the remnant. But you're never going to turn it into a godly paradise. You know, you're never going to turn it into just like Baptist City, USA. You know, the town formerly known as Tempe, now known as Baptist City, Arizona. It's not happening. But who cares, right? This is who we are. This is why God has us on this earth. Let's fulfill the mission. You know, I love winning people to Christ and I love teaching the Bible and so let's just do it. And it's nice to do something that only we can do. And let other people deal with whatever else. Let all the Jews and Hindus and Buddhists who are conservative, let them, you know, fight that political battle for us. And if God sees us soul winning, he'll reward us with good laws and everything. You know, I've lived here in Arizona for 16 years and the laws have gotten better and better since I've lived here. It's been great. You know, and I'm thankful for that. And I think that part of the reason why the laws have gotten better is because of this church. Hundreds of people in this church knocking the doors of thousands of people every week. We're knocking the doors of thousands of people every week. And so, what are the laws like in Arizona? Special kickbacks, tax breaks for landlords who rent to churches in Arizona. That's new since we've been here. That's a blessing. Because we're a church who rents property. And so that directly helps us. And it's a blessing to our landlord for renting unto us. Okay. You know, the gun laws have gotten better since I've lived here. Constitutional carry. I mean, concealed carry, open carry. It's like carry however you want. That was passed since we've been here. You know, so that kind of stuff's a blessing because the laws could be a lot worse, man. Other parts of the country. And you know, our governor, you know, he's been pretty helpful throughout this whole coronavirus thing. Because he gave us a lot of freedom to make our own choices. And really stood up for us. Whereas other parts of the country are more locked down. And think about Australia right now. Where they're having like barely any COVID cases. And they're just like curfew. Can't cross state lines. All this crazy stuff. They barely even have any COVID. And they're just totally locked down. But you know what that is? It's a punishment on Australia. Because Australia is a super wicked country. So let's just focus on just being righteous. Winning people to Christ. Teaching the Bible. And just let everything else just kind of take care of itself. And let other people worry about it. And the Lord will raise up other people to worry about it. If we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. Which is the stuff that only we can do. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this chapter. And thank you for the book of Ezekiel in general. It's so relevant as we study it, Lord. And I pray that you would just help us all to be righteous servants of yours. And that we would not hide the gospel under a bushel. But that we put it on a candlestick. And witness unto people in our personal lives. And also that we would get out and evangelize with the church as well. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. If you need the words, number 467, the B-I-B-L-E. Number 467, we'll sing it twice. The B-I-B-L-E. The B-I-B-L-E. The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God. The B-I-B-L-E. The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God. The B-I-B-L-E. Goodbye.