(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. And then it's like, everyone's there. I'm not sure. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. And then it's like, everyone's there. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. 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I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. I'm going to go on another tour and I never see a night that looks like I'm here. Good Christian, then rejoice. On this first verse. Christ is born today. Christ is born today. Good Christian, then rejoice. With heart and soul and voice. Now ye hear of endless bliss. Joy, joy. Jesus Christ was born for this. He has opened and is born. And then is blessed forevermore. Christ was born for this. Christ was born for this. He has opened and is born. And then is blessed forevermore. Christ was born for this. Christ was born for this. Good Christian, then rejoice. With heart and soul and voice. Now ye need not fear the grave. Peace, peace. Jesus Christ was born for this. He has opened and is born. And then is blessed forevermore. Christ was born for this. Christ was born for this. Jesus Christ was born to save. All to one and all to all. To gain his everlasting all. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save. The God of grace, my Savior died Two ransomed sinners crucified. His loving arms, still open wide. All glory be to Jesus! A victor's crown, my Savior won, His work of love and mercy done, The Father's high ascended Son, All glory be to Jesus! Fall along silently with Brother Hester as he reads Ezekiel chapter 19 starting in verse number one. Ezekiel chapter 19 the Bible reads Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, And say, What is thy mother? A lioness. She lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions, And she brought up one of her whelps. It became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey. It devoured men. The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost, Then she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, He became a young lion and learned to catch the prey and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces and he laid waste their cities, And the land was desolate and the fullness thereof by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces And spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit. And they put him inward in chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into holds that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the waters. She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bear rule, And her stature was exalted among the thick branches. And she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury. She was cast down to the ground. And the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and withered. The fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire has gone out of a rod of her branches which hath devoured her fruit So that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation. Dear Father in Heaven, please fill the Passover spirit and give us all ears to hear and receive wisdom from the servant this night. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Men, before I get into chapter 19, I'm going to talk a little bit more about chapter 18. Chapter 19 is pretty short. I didn't really get to finish chapter 18 last week, because it's a longer chapter and there's a lot of really good stuff in here. So I want to talk a little bit more about chapter 18 and then we'll close on chapter 19. So the main thing about chapter 18, and this is reiterated a little bit into chapter 19, is the idea of personal responsibility, right? People being responsible for the judgment that comes upon them. It's not that the sons are going to be punished for the parents or that the parents are going to be punished for the children, but that every man bears his own iniquity. And if you remember, we talked a little bit about the fact that the children of Israel had this proverb, you know, the fathers have eaten the sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. So they're claiming, well, we're being punished because of stuff that our parents did. And God's explaining to them, no, you did this to yourself. And the idea that he's explaining is the fact that sometimes in the Old Testament there's a delayed punishment. And I just want to quickly explain this again one more time because I want to make it a little clearer maybe than I did last week. Sometimes there's a delayed punishment where someone commits some abomination or the nation commits some sin and God decides to wait and punish the nation later, okay? Like for example, you know, Manasseh shed a whole bunch of innocent blood in Jerusalem, but then Josiah comes along. He's a godly king and he does right in the sight of the Lord. And so God says that he's going to basically wait and not punish the sins of Manasseh until after Josiah because Josiah is a godly king, the nation's experiencing revival. If the people are worshipping the Lord and doing what they're supposed to be doing, then why would God bring judgment? And so he says, I'm going to hold off on that. But all that innocent blood that Manasseh shed can't go unpunished. And so the wrath on that sin is coming, but it's a delayed punishment. Okay, so now we get to the time of Ezekiel when the nation of Israel is actually experiencing that punishment. And some of the punishment that they're receiving is due to stuff that Manasseh did. Okay, because that innocent blood that Manasseh shed had to be punished. So then this question comes up, you know, do the sons get punished for the sins of the fathers? Do the fathers get punished for the sins of the sons? And the answer is, no, a righteous man will not be punished for the sins of his ungodly father. Or, you know, a righteous father is not going to be punished for the sins of their ungodly son. That's what the Bible is real clear. We went over that a lot last week, all those verses that explain that. But what you have to understand, though, is that, yes, they are being punished for the sins of Manasseh because they are also wicked. So here's the way this works, in case I didn't make this perfectly clear last week. If you're wicked, then you're going to be punished for your own sins, and you might also get punished for Manasseh's sins, too, because God's just basically bringing it all upon you. Think about what Jesus said to the Pharisees and the Jews that rejected the Gospel. He said to them that upon this generation is going to come the blood of all the prophets that have been slain, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias. It's all going to be required of this generation. So if you think about it, the Jews, they end up getting just slaughtered in 70 AD and then really slaughtered in 135 AD. And, you know, God said that they're basically just reaping years and even centuries, even millennia of disobedience is being required of that first century generation of Jews. Is that fair for God to punish them for the blood of Abel? Is it fair for God to punish them for the blood of Zacharias, who died before they were born? Yes, it is, because they crucified Jesus, so they're proving that that's how they are. They kill Stephen. They kill Jesus. They kill James, the brother of John. They wanted to kill Peter, and so because of that, they deserve this wrath upon them. And so they get the wrath for what they've done, and they also get all this wrath for other stuff that just needed to be paid for. They get sacrificed. Does everybody see how that works? So basically, will you suffer for the sins of your parents? Yes, if you do the same kind of stuff, if you follow in their footsteps, you'll suffer for your own sins and their sins. But if your parents are wicked and you're godly, you will not be punished for the wickedness of your parents. If you're wicked and you have a wicked son, you'll get punished for both. Okay, but if you are a righteous person and have a wicked son, God will not punish you for the wickedness of your son. That's what the Bible is saying here. So yes, you will sometimes be punished for what other people do, but only if you're wicked, so you kind of have it coming to you anyway. So I hope that that makes sense. That's what this chapter is dealing with. But let's jump in and get to some stuff that we didn't have a chance to get to last week. It says in verse number 19, Yet ye say, Why? doth not the Son bear the iniquity of the Father? When the Son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father, neither shall the Father bear the iniquity of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. What are we saying? Personal responsibility. Everybody bears their own burden, as it says in Galatians. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Now some people, again, will take this out of context and try to apply this to salvation. Here's the problem with applying this to salvation. It says right here, keep all my statutes. Turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes. Let me ask you something. Is there anybody who actually has turned from all of their sins and keeps all of God's commandments now and just lives a sinless life? Folks, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. This is not talking about personal salvation. This is not saying in the sight of God you're sinless and you're keeping all the commandments now. That's impossible. What this is saying is that in the sight of society, you're not breaking the law. You're no longer a criminal anymore and you're living right in society's eyes. And so what this is saying is that basically people should forgive the repentant. So if somebody was a wicked person in the past and then they get right with God, we shouldn't bring up their sinful past. We shouldn't rub their nose in that. We should now just be happy that they're living right. Give them a fresh start. Let them live it down and don't bring those things up. Whereas if a righteous person switches from being a good guy to just living a life of crime or being unrighteousness. And let's say that he commits a sin worthy of death because this chapter talked about things like adultery and murder and things that would be punished by death. He still gets put to death. I mean stop and think about it. What if I committed murder and then I went to court and just showed the judge all the good things that I've done? Is that going to work? Absolutely not. That's what this chapter is teaching. The chapter is teaching that all of your good deeds cannot make up for the fact that you commit a crime worthy of death. You have to be put to death for the crime that you committed. And so this is not about going to heaven. It's not about eternal life. This chapter doesn't say anything about eternal life or being saved from hell or anything like that. It's talking about the fact that in this life, if you keep God's commandments, you live in them. And if you commit all these adultery and murder and do these things, you will die. That's what the Bible is saying. And it says if the guy does what was lawful and right in verse 21, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he had committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. In his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Now, let's get into the new material now. Verse 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord, and not that he should return from his ways and live? God is saying here that he would always prefer for people to get right. If it's possible, if there's any way for them to get right, he prefers that. God does not just take pleasure in damning people or destroying people. He would rather that they turn and live. That's what the Bible is saying. Now, again, this goes for salvation too. The Bible says that God will, will meaning wants or it's his will, he will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Jesus Christ died for everybody. He, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man. He died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And so Jesus died for everybody and the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God wants all men to be saved. Okay? There is nobody that God just created from the beginning of the world and just specifically created this person just to go to hell for all eternity and he just made them and just designed them to just be damned. That is a lie. That is not what the Bible teaches. Jesus died for everybody. God so loved the world. What is the world? That's everybody in the whole world. That's all the people in the world. Say, well, it's just those that believe. Since when are the people that believe called the world? Since when are Christians called the world? Folks, the Christians are never called the world. The saved are never called the world. God so loved the world. That's everybody. Everybody. Every single person. Even the person who is burning in hell right now, in the past, God loved that person and that person could have been saved. You know, they died without Christ. Their fate is sealed. The wrath of God is on them. It's too late for them. People that are in hell right now, it's too late for them. But God loved them and they had a chance to be saved and they had that opportunity and every single person who has ever lived has had that opportunity. If anybody goes to hell, it's their own fault because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So that goes for salvation. Jesus died for everybody. He wants everybody to be saved. And obviously, can people get to a point where it's too late? Absolutely. God said of certain people, I will love them no more. But in order to love someone no more, you know what that means? It means you used to love them because God so loved the world. Okay. So yeah, it gets too late for people. If they die without Christ and go to hell, it's too late. Some people, it could even be too late while they're still alive if they become reprobate, if they blaspheme the Holy Ghost or tampered with God's word or did these things where they just rejected God and didn't even want to retain God in their knowledge. Yeah, it can get too late for them. But everybody had the chance. Everybody was loved by God and given that, offered that gift of salvation, but they have to receive it. God says, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live. Now where some people could get confused is that this statement seems to contradict some things that we see in the Bible and other places. Because there are some times where it does seem like God enjoys destroying the wicked or that he's glorified by people being damned and going to hell and so forth. So how do we reconcile this? On the one hand, we've got this statement. And then we've got other statements like, for example, the sons of Eli. The Bible says that the sons of Eli were men of Belial. These guys are reprobates. They were sons of Belial, sons of the devil, wicked people. And when Eli preaches to his sons that they need to repent, it says they did not hearken unto Eli the father because the Lord would slay them. They didn't listen because God wanted to destroy them. Or, for example, you have Pharaoh. Where Pharaoh, the Bible says God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the people go. And you say, well, you know, how is that compatible with this? Here's why it's compatible. Because what the Bible is saying here, it's not saying that God is never going to receive any glory by someone's destruction because we know God is glorified by the destruction of the wicked. Okay. It's not that God's never going to rejoice at anyone's downfall because there are some places where he rejoices at some downfalls. And it's not saying that God's not ever going to harden someone's heart or blind their eyes or give them over to a reprobate mind because we know that he does that. But what the Bible is saying is that God would always prefer for people to be saved and to change their ways and to do what's right. God always wants people to make the right choice, whether it's about salvation or even after they're saved. Those of us who are Christians, he wants us to make the right choices in our lives and to live godly lives. He'd much rather that we obey than that we have to be chastised and so forth. But, but that's not to say that people can't cross a line with God where it becomes too late for them. And then at that point it's just like burn, baby, burn. At that point it's just too late at that point. So in Revelation there's all kinds of praising the Lord about people being destroyed and, you know, praising God for giving people blood to drink and saying, you know, Hallelujah, her smoke rose up forever and ever. You know, thank you for judging the great whore. And they're just praising God at all the carnage. I mean, even as people are being destroyed on this earth and yet people are praising God and rejoicing in it. You know, the Bible says in Psalm 58, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. I mean, how is that compatible with this verse? I'll tell you how it's compatible. What the verse here in Ezekiel is saying and a lot of other verses like it in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel is that God wants everyone to be saved. He's not glad when people make the wrong choice. He's not glad if somebody chooses not to be saved. He wants everyone to be saved. And when it comes to Christians, he's glad when we make the right choices. He's upset when we make the wrong choices. He wants people to do right. But that doesn't mean that once somebody has already made their choice and has already sealed their faith that he's not glorified or that there's no rejoicing in their ultimate downfall. So I hope you understand the distinction there because that's a difference. You know, this is not saying God never takes any pleasure in the death of a wicked person. That's not what this is. What it's saying in context is that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and not that he should return from his ways and live. You have to get the rest of that context. Like, he doesn't rejoice in it at the expense of them getting it right. He'd much rather that they get it right. He'd rather that they got saved. But if they're not going to get saved, then you know what? He will pour out his wrath on them. He will be glorified. And the Bible talks about God laughing at people as they're destroyed and so forth. So the thing about the Bible is you don't want to be one of these people that just picks all the parts of the Bible that you like and ignores the parts that you don't like. You know, because there could be some people that would just pick all the parts of the Bible that they like where God says he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and then just completely ignore Psalm 58, completely ignore the book of Revelation where he's just wiping people out and everybody's cheering and praising God at the carnage. You know, just completely ignore the part where the Bible says that God wanted to destroy Eli's sons. You can't ignore that stuff, okay? You don't want to be one who just picks the part you like. But then other people will do the opposite. And they'll pick the part that they like. They like the part about God rejoicing at the destruction of the wicked. They like the part about Pharaoh's heart being hardened. They like the part where God wanted to destroy Eli's sons. And they'll ignore this verse. We don't want to make that mistake either and then be Calvinist. And then just think that, yeah, God just, man, he just creates billions of people and just damns them for fun. Folks, wrong. God says, have I any pleasure, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live? He'd rather that people didn't need the judgment. Now, when they need the judgment, he'll dole it out with alacrity. But he'd rather that they didn't even need the judgment in the first place. That's how we reconcile these. And, you know, that's what we have to do with the Bible. When the Bible seems to be saying two conflicting things, you know what we need to do? We need to reconcile both and say, you know what, I believe both. Let's embrace both. Let's make both part of our doctrine and not just say, well, I'm going to take all the negative stuff. And get rid of this positive stuff. And then be Calvinist and just think God just delights in destroying the majority of mankind and roasting them in hell for all eternity. That's a wrong interpretation. Or making the other mistake and taking all the sweetness and light and ignoring the negative stuff and then just coming off with this Santa Claus type God that is not actually up there destroying people with a vengeance and basically not feeling bad about it in the end. I don't think God for all eternity is going to be like, oh man, you know. He's just like, everything he did is right. Everybody, all the angels and us and everybody, we're all going to be praising him and we're going to love the way it all went down when all is said and done someday. Okay. Even though it hurts now to see people going the wrong direction. So again, that's the context of the verse. You don't want to cut off the statement mid-sentence. It's have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die. That's not all it is. It continues and not that he should return from his ways and live. That's what he would prefer. But in the end, he's going to enjoy both. But he does prefer always for people to be saved and to do right and everything else. Verse 24, but when the righteous turned away from his righteousness and committed iniquity and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done should not be mentioned. In his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. And again, that's what I said earlier. You're not going to go to court and talk about all the good things you've done. You know, you're going to die for being a murderer or whatever. Yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal. Here now, O house of Israel, is not my way equal and are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committed iniquity and dieth in them for his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die? Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. And again, the soul there is not talking about like body, soul, spirit. Soul means the self or the person in the Old Testament repeatedly. We talked about that last week. Because he considerth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed. He shall surely live. He shall not die. Yet, saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? Basically, that means fair, unfair. They're saying God's not fair and God's saying, well, no, I'm fair and you're not fair. Because ultimately, who's the standard of what's fair? Us or God? If God says it's fair, it's fair. So if you see something that you don't think is fair in God's laws, you're wrong and you need to conform to what God's law is teaching. Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways. Notice again the emphasis on personal responsibility. Everyone is going to get judged according to his own ways, according to this. Sayeth the Lord God, repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you transgress and make you a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house? Why do you want to die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that died, saith the Lord God, wherefore turn yourselves and live ye. He's saying, look, I don't want to have to do this to you, but you're doing it to yourself. This is the message that God hammers all throughout the book of Ezekiel. I keep repeating it week after week because Ezekiel keeps repeating it. You did this to yourself and so I don't want to destroy Israel, but I have to and it's your fault. Now, part of the reason why he brings this up saying, well, if people live a wicked life and then they turn and start living right, then we should forget about their past wickedness and not mention it to them and allow them to live and be blessed by God. And then he says, because, you know, I don't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his ways and live, is because here's the thing, if you're never going to let people live down their wicked past, they kind of have no incentive to get right. You know what I mean? So if you have, let's say you have people in your life that have done horrible things. Maybe they've done horrible things to you or maybe they've just done horrible things in general that you're just kind of disgusted by or whatever. And you look at that and you basically say, you know, well, I am never going to forgive you or I'm never going to let you live this down. You're never going to hear the end of this. You're closing the door on that person to actually make things right and come back. And you don't want to do that. You want the door to be open for people to get right because there are people who live a very wicked life and eventually clean up their lives and get right with God and serve God and are greatly used by God. And I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but I guarantee you there are people in this auditorium right now that have lived a very sinful life in the past and now they're living for God. Now they're winning souls. And you know what? We're glad that they're here. We don't want to close the door to people who have lived a wicked life and now they want to get right. Now, a lot of people have this double standard where, well, everything you did before you're saved, we'll let all that go. But if you lived a wicked life after you're saved, you never live it down. Folks, that's garbage because salvation is not the issue here. This is not a chapter about going to heaven versus going to hell. This is not a chapter about salvation. And let me tell you something. Amongst the unsaved, there are people who live a pretty decent life and people who live a pretty rotten life. And amongst the saved, there are people who live a pretty decent life and people who live a rotten life. Because that's not what determines whether or not you're saved. There are saved people who are backslidden and living a rotten life and there are unsaved people who are living clean, you know, upstanding, law-abiding lives. Okay. And so it's not about salvation. You know, to sit there and say, well, you know, that guy did that stuff before he was saved so therefore he gets it passed. Hold on a second. Are you saying that unsaved people don't know right from wrong? I mean, that's ridiculous. Let me ask you this. Do unsaved people out there know that murder is wrong? Do unsaved people know that stealing is wrong? Do unsaved people know that adultery is wrong? Absolutely. Do unsaved people out there know that when you get married, it's till death do us part? Do they know that? Or is that only fundamental Baptist weddings that say that? No, my friend. That's what weddings out there are saying. Even if they're an atheist, they claim that they're making a commitment for life. Okay. People know right from wrong whether they're saved or unsaved. Okay. These things are innate to us as human beings. We have the law of God written on our hearts and even the Gentiles who have not God do by nature the things contained in the law even though they don't have the law. They do by nature the things contained in the law because we are human. We're made in the image of God and we know right from wrong. You know, we all bit from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we know the difference between right and wrong even before we're saved. So therefore, the guy who committed a bunch of sins before he was saved, you say, well, let's give him a pass. Well, hold on a second. He knew what he was doing. He knew stealing was wrong. He knew murder was wrong. He knew drunkenness was wrong. He knew adultery was wrong because he has the law of God written in his heart. But then we take the saved guy and say, oh, well, that was after he was saved so he's never going to live that down. It's like, well, wait a minute. Why is it any different? Why is it? Well, unto much is given, much shall be required. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Great. So you want to hold Christians to a higher standard? Amen. But you know what? Are we going to hold the world to no standard? I mean, you could say, yeah, okay, it's definitely worse to do these things as a saved Christian, but you know what? You're both guilty. You're both bad. And hold the Christians to a higher standard, yes, but not hold the worldly people to zero standard and Christians to a high standard. And Christians can never live anything down. And unsaved people live everything down. That is dumb and wrong and unbiblical. Okay. Because here's the truth of the matter. Not only do I want to give the guy a pass for the stuff he did before he was saved, I want to give people a pass for stuff they did after they were saved too. Because, you know, I've heard people even say, well, what you did before you're saved is under the blood. Well, guess what? What I did after I was saved is under the blood too. If you're saved, your sin's under the blood. So here's the thing. You know what? If somebody committed a crime 20 years ago and they were saved, but they've repented and they've confessed and forsaken that and they're living right now, if they were saved when they did it, I forgive them and I'm not going to bring it up to them. If they were unsaved when they did it, I forgive them, I'm not going to bring it up to them. It doesn't matter if they were saved when they did it, forgive it, don't bring it up because they've repented, they've confessed and forsaken that sin. It doesn't need to be brought up. It doesn't matter whether they were saved or unsaved. Period. Now, here's the thing. There are certain things that permanently disqualify you from being a pastor or a deacon. So here's how you solve that. You just don't be a pastor or a deacon if you've done those things. I'm not saying to rub anybody's nose in anything. You know? And look, the Bible says that to be a pastor or a deacon, you have to be the husband of one wife. And that's not one wife at a time. Okay? It's one wife. Period. And so people who've been divorced and are remarried are disqualified from being a pastor or a deacon. Period. They're disqualified. They're permanently disqualified. Okay? Now, here's the thing about that. It doesn't mean that they should be treated poorly or their nose rubbed in that, but if they try to be a pastor, then yes, somebody should bring that up and throw it in their face. Because they're the one disobeying God's Word, disrespecting the qualifications given in Scripture, and what are they doing? They're trying to aggrandize themselves. And you know what? If you exalt yourself, you get a base. If you humble yourself, you'll be exalted. Anybody who knows that they're disqualified because they've been divorced and then they just want to be, they're just dying to be a pastor anyway, you know what? That is an issue where it has to be brought up because it's the qualification. You know, you have to be blameless. You have to be the husband of one wife. You have to have ruled your own house well. Now, look, I'm not going to go to divorce people and say, you know, hey, let me just talk about your divorce and talk about, you know, mistakes you made in the past and let me just talk about how you didn't rule your house well. That would be ungodly of me to bring up people's past like that and just throw it in their face. But if somebody comes and says, well, I'm going to be a pastor, it's like, well, hold on a second. You didn't rule your house well. You're not going to be a pastor. That's not me bringing that up. That's them bringing it up because they're trying to usurp a position that God has set his off limits under them. Does everybody understand that? That's the difference. But here's what people will say. Well, yeah, but he was divorced before he was saved. But guess what? It doesn't matter. That means nothing to me because when you were unsaved, you still knew that marriage was for life. You still knew that adultery was wrong. You still made a vow and you broke it. And you know what? I forgive you. God forgives you. We all forgive you. But you're not going to be a pastor. You're not going to be a deacon. Period. Okay. Now, here's the thing. You know, well, but it's before he was saved. You're going to hold him accountable for you. Folks, I don't want to hold people accountable for stuff they did before they were saved and I don't want to hold people accountable for stuff they did after they were saved because anybody who confesses and forsakes their sins finds mercy and we forgive and forget and move on. What I'm against is a double standard that says we don't forgive Christians. We only forgive unsafe people. Folks, we need to forgive Christians also because Christians are capable of sin. I mean, think about a guy. Think about it. Here's an example. How about Pastor Dave Burzins? You know, Pastor Dave Burzins got saved but he didn't get baptized until almost a decade later. So he got saved. Nine years went by before he got baptized, joined the church and started living for God and growing in his Christian faith. He just never got discipled. And you know what? I guarantee you there's a ton of people that we knock their door, we win in the Christ and they never end up coming to church, they never end up getting baptized, they never end up getting discipled. They're still saved. So here's the thing. You know, what about a guy like that? He gets saved and then nine years go by, then he gets baptized, then he joins the church, then he, you know, here's the thing. That nine years of his life, how different do you think that that was from nine years, excuse me, of an unsafe person's life? If he's not going to church, if he's not even getting baptized, if he's not even, you know, growing in the Lord, reading his Bible, doing all these things, obviously he's not going to grow. So you know what that means? It means he's going to be walking in the flesh. And you know what that means? He's going to be like he was before he was saved. Then when he gets in church and starts feeding the Spirit, reading his Bible, and here's the thing, you know, when Pastor Dave Berzins came to our church and got baptized and started growing in the Lord, man, he changed right away. It was like just, you know, he grew fast. I mean, he was reading his Bible, he's out soul winning, cleaned up his life right away. I mean, he was just a great convert, except he was converted nine years earlier, but he wasn't feeding the Spirit. He's feeding the flesh. And so obviously, if you're feeding the flesh, you're going to walk in the flesh, you're going to do the will of the flesh. And so the difference between an unsafe person and a safe person who's walking in the flesh, you want to know the differences? There isn't one, as far as the way they act. Because guess what? Your flesh doesn't change. You know, God doesn't change your flesh when you get saved. Have you ever noticed that when you get someone saved, no physical change happens? It's not like, well, I know they got saved. I saw the change. I saw their body change. I saw their flesh change. You know, their blemishes just disappeared before my eyes. And they just became perfect and faultless physically. That's absurd, isn't it? Your flesh is the same flesh from before you were saved. The only way you're going to live a good Christian life is to walk in the Spirit. It's the only way. Mortify the flesh, deny the flesh, kill the flesh, die daily, and put on the new man, because the old Stephen Anderson is exactly the same as the Stephen Anderson before I got saved. And insert your name here. Your old man, your flesh, your sinful nature is the same as before you were saved. Let's say you got saved two years ago. The you from three years ago is still here with us tonight. They're not gone. But there's also a new you, a new man, a new creature in Christ, and if you want to be different than you were three years ago, you got to put on the new man. Okay, so sitting there and saying, well, you know, these unsaved people, they get a pass for their sinful past, but people who got saved as a kid and then got backslid, you know, they don't get a pass. Hey, listen, we are to forgive everyone who gets right with God. And in fact, this particular case in Ezekiel 18 is about people who did grow up in a godly home, because remember, it's talking about a righteous man who begets a wicked son. And then if he turns and gets it right, he's received again. Does everybody see how that works? Alright, so let's move on to chapter 19 quickly in the little tiny remaining time I have. But it says in verse one, Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say, What is thy mother, a lioness? She lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. Now, the mother here, the lioness, is talking about the nation of Judah itself. And often nations will take on a female pronoun or cities, places are often considered female, you know, think of Mother Russia or something like that. And so, you know, your mother is a lioness. This is the nation of Judah. She lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions, and she brought up one of her whelps. It became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey it devoured men. Now, again, a lion is a king of the jungle, right? So lions are often a picture of being a ruler or a king. So the nation is the mother lioness, and the whelp that becomes a young lion is referring to the king of Judah. One of the youths that's born of Judah becomes a king, becomes a young lion, and when she saw the prey, it devoured men. The nations also heard of him, he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains on the land of Egypt. This is referring to Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, okay? So Jehoahaz is the king of Judah, and he was brought in chains to Egypt, he went into bondage into Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men, and he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities, and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him, he was taken in their pit, and they put him in a ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into holds that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. So we saw that the first lion's whelp became a young lion, and went into bondage into Egypt, Jehoahaz. Then we have the second one that gets taken into bondage into Babylon, Jehoiakim. And then basically it says in verse 10, thy mother is like a vine in thy blood. So it started out talking about this illustration about the mother lioness, nation of Judah, and the king that was taken into captive into Egypt, the king that was taken into captive into Babylon, those are the young lions that came up, the young rulers or kings of Judah. Now we're switching illustrations, and saying thy mother, so going back to the lioness, but now we're using a new parable, thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the waters. She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. So Judah in the past, mother Judah, right, sweet mother Russia, so mother Judah was in the past like a vine planted by the waters, fruitful, full of branches by means of many waters. This is the days of Josiah, when the nation is thriving and being blessed by God. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. So in Judah's history when they were right with God, they had some strong scepters, strong leaders, like men like David and Solomon, and then of course you have guys like Hezekiah and Josiah, and you know these are strong leaders. They had a strong rod, meaning that they had a lot of power, and God was blessing the nation, the nation's thriving, and so forth. And it says in verse 12, but she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit, her strong rods were broken and withered, and fire consumed them. And again, this goes back to the parable in chapter 17, which referred to Judah in the same way as being dried up, withered by the east wind. And now she's planted, verse 13, in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty ground, and fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which had devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be accepted to rule. This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation. And here's the key point I want to make, and I'll be done. What's the chapter about? Look at this last verse, it sums it all up. Fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which had devoured her fruit. So why was she destroyed? She did it to herself, right? It's fire that came out of her own branches that destroyed her fruit and devoured her, so that she has no strong rod to be accepted to rule. Because remember, the final king Zedekiah, remember this from chapter 17? He's not a strong king. He tried to be a big shot, and Nebuchadnezzar had to destroy him because he broke his vow. He's supposed to be the puppet of Babylon. He's a weak leader. He's not a strong rod, not a strong scepter, he's a weak leader, puppet of Babylon. But that's what he's supposed to be, because that's how he came to power, by promising that he's going to be a good boy to the king of Babylon. And he broke his word, and God destroyed him. But we see that why are they in this situation where they have this weak leader, where the nation is plucked up and destroyed? When the key is that they did it to themselves, the fire came out of their own branches and destroyed them. So that's what chapter 19 is all about. And it ties in perfectly with chapter 18. Because both chapter 18 and chapter 19 say this. You know, if you do what's right, you're going to be blessed and you're going to be okay. Now look, I'm not saying nothing bad is going to happen in your life. Bad stuff happened in Job's life, but how did Job end up? Did he end up okay? You will be okay in the end if you do what's right. All things work together for good to them that love God. If you do right, you'll be blessed. I don't care how bad your parents were or anybody else, you could be surrounded by wicked people. There could be wickedness in your past, all around you, in your nation, in your city. If you do what's right, you will be blessed by God. Period. And if you do wickedly, you will be punished. And you can't ride on your parents' coattails. So let's say your parents are godly Christians in this church and then you go out and live a wicked life. You're getting punished. And when you get punished, know that you did it to yourself if you turned away from the Lord. You say, well, how do I know if I'm being punished and chastened or if I'm just being like tested and tried? Here's how you know. If you're living right, if you're doing right in general, nobody's perfect, but if you're in general serving the Lord and doing right and bad things happen, that's trials and tribulations and testings. If you know that you're living in sin and you're backslidden and you have wickedness in your heart and then bad things happen, then that's a chastening from God. That's how you tell. What was the deal with Job? Job's three friends are saying, well, you must be living in sin because this bad thing happened to you. And it's like, well, no, I didn't do anything. Job knew that he was living a good life. And again, not sinless, but Job knew. And you know if you're serving the Lord in general or not. That's how you can tell the difference. Now, what's funny is that something bad will happen to a wicked nation like the United States, because, you know, the United States is really going down a dark path right now in a lot of ways. If something horrible happens to the United States in 2022, I'm going to get up behind this pulpit. You know what I'm going to say? This is a judgment of God on America. I don't even know what it is yet, but when it happens, that's what I'm going to say. And you know what? Anytime something bad happens, like a natural disaster, to an ungodly nation, I'm just like, judgment of God. Judgment of God. I don't even have to think about it. But here's what's funny is that when I've said that, some people have said something along the lines of, well, oh, you're like Job's three friends. Can I tell you the difference? America is not Job. That's the difference. You see, if I sat there and said, well, America must be doing something wrong because this natural disaster happened. Then I'd be like Job's three friends. But if I can literally just look at America's sins and just be like, you know, like, abortion, sodomy, transvestite story hour at the library. And I'm basically just like, oh, well, you know, you're like Job's three sins. What America even do? It's like, you know, where do we start? That's the difference. Job's three friends aren't like, well, Job, you're shacked up with your girlfriend and you're snorting cocaine, Job. That's why this happened. Because they didn't have anything they could point to. Well, maybe if you hadn't aborted so many kids, Job. You know, maybe if you didn't dress in drag, Job, this wouldn't happen. They couldn't say anything like that because there was no sin they could point to in his life. Does everybody see the difference? So, no, you're not Job's three friends if a wicked nation has a catastrophe happen and you say, hey, guys, we need to repent as a nation. This is the judgment of God. And, you know, as preachers, we should be calling people to repentance. You know, when 9-11 happened, pastors all over America were calling America to repentance and saying, you know, America has sinned against God and that's why this is happening. I say amen to that. You know, I'll say amen to all of it. If the judgment of God comes on a nation that's going down a dark path, it's a warning from God. It's a chastisement from God. It's a punishment from God. But here's the thing. You know, let's say a Bible-believing church, let's say, you know, a soul-winning Baptist church or something. Let's say they have, you know, a fire burns it down or the building caves in or something bad happens. I'm not going to be like, oh, they must have been doing something wrong. Must have been a bad church, judgment of God. Then I'd be like Job's three friends at that point. Does everybody see the difference? But let's say it was the Mormon church. Let's say the Latter-day Saints church. Let's say a tornado came through and just ripped up the Latter-day Saints church. Yeah, exactly. You know, I'm not going to shed a tear about that. I'd love to see that Moroni statue taken down a notch, that golden idol on top of their building. But do you see the difference there? Okay, so here's the thing. You know, we need to examine ourselves. And when bad things happen in our lives, we need to ask ourselves, you know, is this a punishment where I did this to myself? Or is this just trials and tribulations that we all go through in life? And we never want to judge other people. And when we see something bad to happen to someone else, we never want to say it's a punishment. You know, unless there's a clear, open sin that they're committing or something, then it could be apparent or obvious. But to sit there and say, you know, like, like, like, for example, you know, our former president, this is before our time, but Andrew Jackson. Okay, so, you know, going back a little ways, you know, Andrew Jackson was married to a woman who was married to two dudes at the same time. Okay, so, you know, Andrew Jackson's wife, when he married her, was still married to the last guy, and she was literally married to two dudes at the same time. And it was a huge scandal because this is before Bill Clinton. Okay, so, I mean, back then, I mean, this was really scandalous. Like, and, and, and people were really upset about Andrew Jackson, you know, getting elected because they said, we don't want this woman to be the first lady. She's ungodly, whatever. And here's the thing. So Andrew Jackson got elected, and then she just unexpectedly died before he got inaugurated. And basically, what preachers said in the 1800s was, God killed her so that she would not be the first lady of America because she's too wicked. That's the kind of stuff that they said back then, you know. And you know what? I think that's probably true. I mean, obviously, I can't say that for a fact, but, you know, if some preacher got up at the time and said, hey, this is wicked, and look what happened. Look, is God blessing this? This abomination here that's happening here with these wicked people, you know, God's punishing it right now before our eyes. You can't get mad at that preacher for condemning open sin and saying that that's the judgment of God. But the difference is when something happens and there's no open defiance against God and you're just speculating or something. I mean, that's wrong. Does everybody see the difference there? We're responsible for our own actions. We will live or die based on what we do, not based on what someone else does. We've got to take personal responsibility for our own situation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and I pray that you would please just help everyone who's here to understand the book of Ezekiel. It's a difficult book, but, Lord, help us to get as much truth from it as we can and to have the right understanding, Lord. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's take our song books, please, and let's go to hymn number 425. Number 425, no room in the inn. It begins, no beautiful chamber, no soft cradle bed, number 425. There is heaven, no praises of gladness, no father's sin, no glory but sadness, no truth but fear. No world, no world for Jesus, no gift will come free. No place in the heart, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the heart, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the heart, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul, no place in the soul. No sin can treasure, no kingdom for sin, no new weakness, pleasure, no room in the air, no room, no room for Jesus, for giving, welcome, free. Yes, you should hear at heaven's gate, there is no room for me. .