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

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] And number 110. Let's blend our voices together. Phase 1, number 110. phase 1, number 110. All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask inside? Can I now withstand her mercy? Look, dear one, present my guide. Every peace and highness comfort, hear my faith in heaven dwell. For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus, to involve me as well. For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus, to involve me as well. All the way my Savior leads me, Jesus, what have I to ask inside? Give me praise for every trial, give me praise, oh, give me praise. Though my fear is actually faltered, and my soul unrested here, rushing from the rock before me, oh, what spring of joy I see. Rushing from the rock before me, oh, what spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me, oh, what fullness of his love, perfect rest to be is promised in my Father's house of God. And my spirit, loving Lord, leads us by two rounds a day. This my song through endless ages, Jesus, lead me all the way. This my song through endless ages, Jesus, lead me all the way. It begins, I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small. Hymn number three. Sing it on this first verse, hymn number three. I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small. Thou who keep his watch and pray, might indeed thine all in all. Jesus, bid it all, all to him I owe. Sin that let the prison sting, he washed it like a stone. For now indeed I find, my power and mine alone, and change the life response, and delve the heart of stone. Jesus, bid it all, all to him I owe. Sin that let the prison sting, he washed it like a stone. For now indeed I find, whereby thine grace to claim, I'll wash my garments white, with the blood of Calvary's lamb. Jesus, bid it all, all to him I owe. Sin that let the prison sting, he washed it like a stone. And led me for the throne, I stand in him complete. Jesus, guide my soul to save, my list shall still repeat. Jesus, bid it all, all to him I owe. Sin that let the prison sting, he washed it like a stone. Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. Tonight we're in Ezekiel chapter 5. We've got the soul winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page are some pictures from the ladies retreat. Thank you to everyone involved. And if you have any cool pictures that you want to share, send those over to us via the church Facebook group ideally. And then this Thursday, so tomorrow as it were, is the monthly music emphasis night. And that's at 7 o'clock. And sign up if you're planning to attend. There's a sign up sheet over there. Lots of sign up sheets over there for lots of things. Please join us next Sunday, that's this coming Sunday, September 5th at 10 a.m. for the donuts and coffee before the service in honor of those celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries in September. And then some other upcoming events are listed there below. Remember for the small town soul winning trips, that information is over here. The clipboard's over there to sign up. And you can always see brother Raymond Cooper for more details about that. Or you can ask any of us. And so that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. Going back to Monday, anything from Monday. Okay, okay, okay. All right, how about Tuesday? Anything else from Tuesday? And then what about today, Wednesday? Gotcha, anything else from today? All right, I see you there. Okay, keep up the great work. What's that? What's the count for the van? Do we know? Is that from the van? Okay, cool. All right. Okay, perfect. All right, anything else for soul winning numbers? All right, keep up the great work on soul winning. Boy, the censorship on YouTube is just so unbelievable because you remember I kind of went off during the announcement and just made some comments. You know, I didn't express anything very radical. I was just giving my opinion and I certainly wasn't spreading disinfo about vaccines. I just gave my opinion. Everything I said was just fact or my opinion. And it's just every time anybody uploads that, it just gets deleted from YouTube. So it's on bandpreaching.com is where you can see those comments if you missed that. But the point is you can even get up and just give a really moderate view. But if you express any disagreement with whatever the narrative is that they're pushing, then they just shut you down. And it's really nothing new to us because we've been censored on YouTube for many, many years now. But now all of a sudden everybody else is starting to hit them too. If you're just anybody who's halfway normal saying anything halfway biblical, you're getting censored now. It's like welcome to my world. Because I've been doing this for years dealing with these bozos. But just stop and think about it. I never supported Trump. I'm not a fan of Trump. But just stop and think about for a moment the fact that he was the elected representative of the American people. For better or for worse, that's who the American people voted for and elected as their representative. And then you have these big companies like Twitter and YouTube and Facebook that basically while he was still president just shut off his microphone and basically just shut down his account, silenced him. So you have these unelected tech companies that are monopolies and then you've got the elected representative of the people even if he is a sleazebag. That's not the point. The point is at least people voted for him and then you've got these tech companies that are more powerful than he is and they're not elected. So it's a very strange time that we're living in where everything's being so censored and freedom of speech is going out the window. But thank God that at least I have the legal right to get up here and preach the word of God and the last 15, 16 years I've been speaking whatever God has led me to speak and whatever I see in the word of God and I've preached the word of God and it's totally legal for now. Thank God. Sometimes you just have to be there though I guess because getting this stuff out on the internet is getting harder and harder. And so, what's that? Yeah, exactly. And even if it were illegal I would still do it but then I'd have to be dragged away and that'd be no fun being dragged away in handcuffs. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I don't want anybody to misunderstand me. If it stopped being legal it would not change my preaching at all because if I'm going to stand up here and call myself a pastor, if I'm going to stand up here and represent the word of God to you three times a week it's not an option for me to censor any part of it. So if I get up and I feel like well there's this part of the word of God that I can't preach then at that point I just need to stop being a pastor if I'm not willing to face the consequences of preaching the entire book. And that's what I firmly believe and so you're right. There is absolutely no law that could ever be passed that would silence this but I'm just being thankful for the fact that I can do it without having to worry about that. You know, it makes it nice. Obviously that could change at any moment. It can change at any time. And when you have so many preachers that are not preaching on unpopular subjects or taking the sodomites to task or hitting hard on these taboo subjects you know, when it's only one or two people then yeah, then they will take away our rights to do that. Not that it's gonna change anything that I do because you know, I'm not willing to die on every hill. Like I was saying on Sunday I'm not willing to die on the coronavirus hill but I am willing to die on the hill of what this book says. And when it comes to what it says about the sodomites I'm willing to die on that hill. I'm willing to die for the clear teachings of God's word on any subject. And I must either preach the entire Bible or step down. And you know, we have too many preachers out there that think that they can have the position of being a pastor without preaching the entire Bible. And it's a fraud is what it is. Because they're taking the paycheck for the job and then they're not really doing the job. Because part of the job involves putting yourself out there because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, your paycheck as a pastor is like a hazard pay because you're basically getting out there and rebuking this world and preaching hard on sin. These guys, it's like they want to have the position of being a pastor but they don't want to take any chances or put themselves out there, put themselves in danger or open themselves up to persecution. But that's the job. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution for so did they to the prophets which are before you. So that's life. But anyway, that just kind of blew my mind that I could get up and just make such moderate comments. And you know, I was just giving my opinion. It's like you're just not even allowed to give your opinion because it wasn't any kind of hate speech or anything. But you just can't even give your opinion anymore unless it's what YouTube thinks your opinion should be. It's unbelievable. And they do have a monopoly because you know, these big companies, anybody tries to compete with them and they shut them down. A bunch of social media companies started out at the beginning of the year and tried to kind of take some of the market share from things like Facebook and Twitter and things and then you know, Facebook and them and Amazon and then work to shut them down and you know, get rid of their servers and stuff. Does anybody remember that? Yeah, it's pretty wild. But you know what? God's word is always going to find a way to get out. As long as there are people willing to get up and preach the Bible and people who are willing to listen to God's word being preached, you know, God's work is going to go forward no matter what. No matter what they think that they're going to stop us from doing, it's not going to stop us from doing anything. All right, let's go ahead and sing our next song. All right, Psalm 150, you should find the answer there in your hymnal if you don't have one. He's turning our Bible to Psalm 150. Psalm 150, praise be to the Lord. He asks, praise Him up for years to this excellent weakness. Praise Him with a sound of the jumping. Praise Him with a soul free and long. Praise Him with a temple at last. Praise Him with strength and strength and glory. Praise Him upon the ocean. Praise Him upon the ice. Something simple, let everything that I've found praise the Lord, praise He the Lord. Amen. Good singing in your hymnals now. Please turn to hymn number 219. My burdens rolled away, hymn number 219. I remember when my burdens rolled away, hymn number 219, on this first verse together. I remember when my burdens rolled away. I had carried them for hymn time and day. But as I saw the blessed Lord and I took Him at His word, then I saw my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. I remember when my burdens rolled away. But as I saw the blessed Lord and I took Him at His word, then I saw my burdens rolled away. I remember when my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. I remember when my burdens rolled away. But as I saw the blessed Lord and I took Him at His word, then I saw my burdens rolled away. Then I knew that my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. There's a song within my heart I can play. I am living for my King, and with joy I shall sing. I will live for my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. Rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burdens rolled away. All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around. Also, one other quick announcement. This Thursday evening, again, the soul winning is canceled for Thursday evening. So tomorrow evening, soul winning is canceled. And again, there is the option to ride down to Tucson. There's going to be a crew leaving here at 3.30 to go down to Tucson, just like last week, and do soul winning and church and dinner down there. So we'll drive you down there, give you dinner, take your soul winning, take you to church. So that's available at 3.30. But the normal Thursday night soul winning here tomorrow night is not happening. All right, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 5. And Brother Hesse will lead us as we read that. You can follow along silently as Brother Hesse reads. Ezekiel chapter 5, beginning verse number 1. And thou son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard. Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled, and shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife, and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then taketh them again, and cast them in the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire, for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her, and she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her. For they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. Therefore, the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers, and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee. Neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with the famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw it a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted. And they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal when I have accomplished my fury in them. Moreover, I will make thee waste and reproach among the nations that are round about thee in the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you, and I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread, so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee, and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it. Dear Father in Heaven, please fill a path through your spirit and please give us ears to hear to receive wisdom from the sermon tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Ezekiel chapter 5, Ezekiel is continuing to preach about the destruction and the doom that the children of Israel are going to continue to face because of their wickedness. Remember in the intro to the book in chapters 1, 2, and 3 where God is commissioning Ezekiel, one of the things that he kept emphasizing to Ezekiel is just how rebellious and wicked and stiff-necked the house of Israel were, and that when he preached to them, initially they're not going to listen, they're not going to get right with God. Of course, eventually many of them will and come back 70 years later, but at this time they're still continuing in their sin, and they're continuing to face the consequences of their sin. So in chapter 4, Ezekiel was doing these kind of radical illustrations where first of all he builds the model city and lays siege against it, and sets up the iron wall, and then he lays on his side, and he has to eat the defiled contaminated bread that's baked with cow's dung. It was initially going to be human dung, and then God mercifully allows him to switch that to cow dung. And so he eats this defiled bread, but he has to lay on his side for over a year, and he's on rations of this defiled bread plus water, and he can only eat and drink a certain prescribed amount, and God's just trying to show them in a very vivid way the bad things that are coming for them, and just how bad it's going to be as a result of their sins. And then in chapter 5, here's another kind of shocking illustration that he does, where he has to shave off all his hair, and shave off his beard, and some of you are thinking, like, what's the big deal? That's just another day at the office for me. But remember, in this culture, their beard was pretty important to them. Remember when the messengers from David got part of their beard shaved off? He told them, don't even come home until your beards be grown. So they didn't want to come all shaved and whatever. So here's what Ezekiel does in verse 1 of chapter 5. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cast it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard. Then take thee, balance this to weigh, and divide the hair. Okay, so he's supposed to shave all the hair off his head, and then shave off his beard, and gather up all that hair, and get some scales, and weigh it, and measure it out so that he can divide it into three equal parts. He's doing this publicly. It'd be like if I came to church and did this, right? You know, and people are here for the sermon, and I'm like, okay everybody, I've got this illustration. You know, I start shaving off my hair and weighing it out and everything. So he does this publicly. And then it says in verse 2, thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. Now remember, the days of the siege are basically his model city where he's laying on his side and doing all that. So once he's done all that, you know, you can imagine that he's going to have a lot of hair and a lot of beard, because he hasn't done anything with it during that time is the implication here. And so he cuts off all that hair and beard, divides it into three parts, and then he burns one third of it in the midst of the city. So he sets a fire in that model city and burns one third of the hair. And then it says, and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife. So the third, the other third part, he's just like stabbing it and slicing at it. And then it says, and the third part thou shalt scatter in the wind and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou should also take thereof a few in number and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. And you know, that verse kind of cracks me up because in verse three it almost sounds like, hey, you know, a few people are going to make it. He takes it, you know, just a few kind of tucks them away. Like, all right, you know, a few people are going to make. He's like, nope, just kidding. Throw them in the fire. So we see here just it's looking really bad for the house of Israel. It's going to be one of these three ways that you go. You either die in the city of the famine and the pestilence and the things that happen there, or you're killed by the sword or you're scattered into all nations with God persecuting you. Because remember, he says he's going to bring a sword after the ones that are scattered into all nations. So let's keep reading here as this is interpreted by God here in verse five. It says, thus saith the Lord God, this is Jerusalem. I've said it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. And she had changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations. So more than the Gentiles is what that means, because the word nations and Gentiles, it's the same thing. He's saying they have twisted God's word. They've changed God's judgments into wickedness more than the nations, more than the Gentiles, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her. For they have refused my judgments and my statutes. They've not walked in them. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you. And this is not talking about them multiplying as in having kids. The implied object there is they multiplied their iniquities. They multiplied sins. They multiplied abominations more than the nations that are round about you and have not walked in my statutes. Neither have kept my judgments. Neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against thee and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. So a few things I want to point out here is that people who've once had the word of God, they've once had the truth, and then they rebel against it and turn against it, become worse than people who've never had the truth, never been around Christianity, never been exposed to the word of God. They actually end up being worse. And this is a common theme in a lot of prophetic books of the Old Testament that Israel and Judah have gotten worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. They're worse than these other heathen nations. And even Jesus Christ continues this theme when he says, you know, woe unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. You know, and he says, if it would have been done in Tyre and Zion, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. So the children of Israel in apostasy are worse than the heathen who've just never actually been with the Lord as their God. And this is still true today. If you look at some of the celebrities today that are some of just the most vile reprobates and worst people, you'll often see something in their biography that they grew up in a Christian home or that they're the child of a pastor or something. Like I was thinking of a few examples. I think that the lead singer from Nine Inch Nails was like that, which is just a super wicked, blasphemous group that was pretty popular when I was a teenager. And I'm pretty sure that the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails was like growing up in a Christian home, maybe the son of a pastor or something. And I think that that other female reprobate, Katy Perry, is the same way. And you say, they grew up in a Christian home. But that's part of why they're some of the worst people is because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. And of course, you know, I'm quoting Romans Chapter 1. And in Romans Chapter 1, the people who become the most vile reprobates are the ones who they knew God, but they glorified him not as God. And that knowing God, that's not salvation. That's saying that they knew him like if I said, I know Daniel. You know, it's basically they're acquainted with him. They're exposed to him. They're familiar with him. They know the Word of God. And look, I grew up mainly going to Christian school. I spent several years in public school, but I spent most of my school career in Christian school. And let me tell you something. The bad kids at Christian school are really bad. The bad kids at Christian school were worse than the bad kids in public school. And the bad thing about Christian school was that it was a small group. It was a smaller crowd. And there would just be a few bad apples in there. And let me tell you something. They were reprobates. They were haters of God. They were horrible people. And they would end up being a corrupting influence that would corrupt a lot of people or sometimes almost everyone. And so it was very bad when you'd have kids in Christian school that were not saved and that even hated the Lord. Because if you think about it, in Christian school, you're hearing the Word of God every day. You're hearing the Gospel over and over and over again. So if you're one who rejects the Gospel and hates the Lord and then you're constantly hearing about it, it's almost like fast-tracking you toward being a worse reprobate. Because you just keep hearing the Word of God and just keep getting more hardened to it and more hardened. And so there were some really wicked people in Christian school when I was growing up. And, you know, I actually ironically had a more wholesome experience in public school than I did in Christian school. A lot of people are surprised when I say that. And a lot of people, I tell them that and they don't believe me. And they think, like, no, no, we're still going to put our kids in Christian school. You know, I don't recommend it at all. And, you know, we recommend homeschooling. We homeschool our children. That's what we think is the best case. But if I had to choose, and again, maybe, I don't know. A lot of people tell me I'm wrong because now it's 2021 and public school has gotten that much weirder. But, you know, based on my experiences like 20 years ago, if I had to choose between public school and Christian school, I would say that Christian school was worse as far as the influences on my life. And so, you know, I don't know if that still holds today, but I think it probably does. Okay. Because Christian school is just a bad idea. That's what I believe. And you can agree with me on that or disagree with me on that. But I believe that the best case scenario is that you teach your children and that you have the wife stay at home and homeschool the children and teach them. I believe that's ideal. And I believe that the Christian school is misguided for a lot of reasons. But anyway, that's not what the sermon is about tonight. I'm just telling you that people who've been exposed to the gospel and they've been around church and they've heard the word of God and end up rebelling against it become worse than the people who were never there. Because if you read this verse carefully, he actually says that. Look at verse 6. And she had changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations. And that right there makes me think of Romans 1. Changing my judgments into wickedness. Because Romans 1 says that they changed the truth of God into a lie. They changed the truth of God into a lie. Not just coming up with their own lie, but changing God's truth into lie. They have changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations and my statutes more than the countries that are around about her. For they have refused my judgments and my statutes and they've not walked in them. See, some people might have just never heard God's statutes and judgments. But these people refuse them. Now, there's a difference between just not doing it and refusing to do it. Maybe you're just not doing it because you haven't really heard much about it. But if you're refusing to do it, that's when you're hearing exactly what God wants you to do and you just say, No, I'm not going to do it. And you're just willfully sinning after having received knowledge of the truth. And so it says in verse number 8, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against thee. And here's what we need to understand. God is not just always pro-Israel no matter what. That's what we're taught today as Evangelical Christians. We're taught that God's just always pro-Israel. And we've got to be pro-Israel because that's what God is. And we've got to be on the Lord's side, so we've got to be with Israel. But God specifically says here and in many other places, I'm against Israel. I'm totally against you. I, even I, am against you, saith the Lord. Why? Because they have twisted God's word. They've twisted his judgments and commandments. Well, guess what? Today's Judaism has done the exact same thing. They're not faithfully executing God's laws or God's word or following the God of the Bible. They've rejected the Messiah. They've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. And if you don't believe on the Son, the wrath of God abides on you. And it doesn't matter what country you live in. It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is. If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God's wrath is abiding on you. If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. Well, you know, except the Jews, you know. That's what the Bible says. Now, obviously, we love the unsaved. We want to get them saved. We love the Jews. We want to get them saved. We don't hate Jews, as we're often accused of. That's a total lie. We, you know, we want to see as many Jews get saved as possible. We recognize the fact that they're one of the most unreceptive groups and very few of them get saved. So we're not going to target our evangelism to them because we're not going to target our evangelism to any unreceptive group. We're going to target our evangelism toward the people who have an ear to hear so that they can hear and be saved. We go to the people that are the most receptive, but we go to everybody. And so I've witnessed to hundreds of Jews, and I've even had a couple of them get saved, although it's rare. And so we want them saved. We don't hate them. We love them. And they are under the curse of God, just like every other unsaved person. They don't get a pass. In fact, not only do they not get a pass, I think that, in fact, God is more angry at them. Why? Because they have the Word of God. I mean, the Old Testament is God's Word, and the Old Testament is capable of pointing one to Christ. I mean, the Bible says if you believed Moses, you'd believe me, for he wrote of me. And so who do you think God has more wrath for? Do you think God has more wrath for the unsaved Hindu who's, you know, chanting a bunch of stuff in a language he doesn't understand and hearing a bunch of fairy tales and wild stories about all of these superhero-like, action-figure-like so-called gods? You know, or the Buddhist who's, you know, he's got his little statue and putting food in front of it, and the food just kind of dries and decays, and nobody ever eats it. But they keep putting the food there for their little idol, right? Or, you know, you've got these other people who are just maybe just growing up agnostic or atheist. Okay, but here's the thing. The Jew, on the other hand, is hearing the Word of God in his life, because he's getting the Old Testament taught to him. Christians, even if they're not saved, even if they don't believe in Christ, people who grow up in a Christian culture or a Christian nation or a Christian family, they're hearing the Word of God. People like that are going to be held more accountable because to whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And the Bible talks about how the servant who knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes. But the servant who did not know his Lord's will and didn't do it, he will be beaten with few stripes. They both get beaten, but who's going to get more stripes? The Hindu, the Buddhist, or the Jew? Obviously the Jew, because he and them were committed the oracles of God. And to this day, they have the true Word of God. The Masoretic, which just means traditional Hebrew text, of the Old Testament is the perfect Word of God. That's what they have access to. That's what they claim as their authoritative text. The Masoretic Hebrew text from which our King James Bible is translated, that's the Word of God. It's not a false Bible, it's a correct Bible. Now they have other stuff that they've added, but their basic text is the Word of God. And yet they don't believe in it because if they did believe in it, they would be a Christian. And I'm saying that in the authority of Jesus because Jesus said, if you believe Moses, you would have believed in me. Well, they believe in Moses, but they don't believe in Jesus. Okay, so Jesus was wrong then. Is that what you're saying? Because I'm going to trust what Jesus said. Jesus said, if you believe Moses, you will eventually believe in me. Because, think about it, Jesus said, everyone that asketh receive it. Everyone that seeketh find it, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Is there anybody on this earth who is truly seeking the Lord with a sincere heart that's not going to find him? No way. If anybody is really looking for the truth, they will find the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. They will end up at, you know, the truth movement or truthers, if they really are a truther, if they're not just using that as a slogan, they must eventually come to the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. Because that's where the truth leads you if you follow the truth, you end up at a person, Jesus. And so they did more wickedness because they knew the truth, they knew God, but then they glorified him not as God, they were not thankful, they changed the truth of God into a lie. I mean, this is a great parallel passage with Romans chapter one in that regard. And therefore, they became worse than the heathen, they became worse than the nations. And it says in verse number eight, I'm against thee, I will execute judgments in the midst of thee on the side of the nations, and I will do in thee that which I have not done. Here's what he's saying, I've punished you before, but nothing like what I'm going to do. This is going to be a whole new level of punishment that you have never experienced. I will not do any more of the like because of all thine abominations. He's saying, look, this is unique. I mean, I've never done it before, I'm not going to do it again. You're getting a special punishment that's going to be really bad. How bad is it going to be? How bad could it get? Well, verse 10 says this, therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Let me start by saying this, this is not figuratively speaking, this is literal. Okay, and this is actually a common theme in the Bible that comes up a lot more than maybe you would think. But if you would turn to the book of Leviticus, we'll come right back to Ezekiel, but go to Leviticus chapter number 26. It was probably one time I was walking around in my neighborhood and I saw this kind of goth looking chick with like, you know, she's wearing like all black and black hair, black fingernails and weird piercings and stuff. And she was wearing a sweatshirt that on the back of it quoted part of this scripture that I'm about to show you in Leviticus chapter 26. And it was like a blasphemous sweater, it was meant to be blasphemous because it was some kind of a satanic company. Because I saw the sweater and I went home and I actually Googled the brand name of the sweater to see like, what's going on with the sweater? And I looked it up and it was, they had a lot of just kind of evil, atheistic, satanic, kind of anti-God stuff. But let's look at the scripture and I'll tell you the part about the sweater. But it says in verse 27, and if you will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me, this is Leviticus 26 verse 28, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury. Fury is another word for anger, wrath. And he's basically saying, I'm going to be against you. Just like he said in Ezekiel 5, I'm going to be contrary to you. Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury and I even I, again notice the similarity with Ezekiel 5, I even I, he said the exact same thing, will chastise you seven times for your sins and you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat. Now that's all that the sweater said. The sweater was just verse 29 out of context. It just said, you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat. Leviticus 26, 29. That was it, just out of context. And what I believe that this foolish misguided woman was trying to say with this sweater or this company that sold it to her, what they're trying to say is like, oh, look how, look how bad the Bible is. You know, the Bible is, is saying this horrible thing, you know, telling you to do this or talking about this unsavory thing. But the reality is here that God is just describing what people will do when he brings his full punishment upon them and puts them in a bad situation. He's stating a fact about what's going to happen. He's not saying, hey, this is a good thing to do. Hey, this is what you're going to. He's saying, look, if you don't listen to me, if you just disregard my word and even after I'm chasing you and punishing you, you just don't get it and you don't listen. Things are going to keep getting worse and worse until eventually it gets so bad that you will eat your sons and your daughters. Now why would anyone do such a thing? Because people, when they get so hungry that they're starving for weeks and weeks, they start doing crazy things. And let me tell you something. This is not unrealistic. This is not just poetic or, or exaggerating or anything. I mean, this is literally what God is saying is going to happen. And it happens many times throughout the Old Testament. And even in modern history, we can look at examples of where this has taken place because it's, it's something that people end up doing in that situation. Especially really wicked ungodly people would actually murder their children or use them for food in that way. So, you know, we don't have time to go there, but stay there in Leviticus. But in 2 Kings chapter 6, there's the story where the two women make the agreement, you know, today we're going to boil my son and eat him and tomorrow we're going to boil your son and whatever. And they go to the king because, or she, the one goes to the king saying that the other woman didn't keep her end of the bargain and we need to eat her son too. And I mean, you read this kind of stuff, it's horrific. But that's a true story. And that's what people do in that situation. And he says, you'll eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters, shayit, and I will destroy your high places, verse 30, and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols. Don't miss this. And my soul shall abhor you. What does abhor mean? Hate. He's saying, man, I am going to hate you. You say, well, God is a loving God. Amen. But you know what? God does not just continue to love everyone forever. You know, in the book of Hosea, he makes a statement, I will love them no more. And God is an extremely loving God. God is love. But let's not forget, holy is the Lord. God is love. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But hold on a second. Do we believe in hell or not? We all believe in hell because God tells us over and over again about the unsaved having their fate in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And God talks a lot about hell. Jesus talks a lot about hell in the New Testament. And let me tell you something. Hell is not a love place. You don't send someone that you love to hell. Now, when I say that, some people are like, oh, I don't know if that's right. Use a little common sense for a second. I mean, you know, but we've had so much stupid doctrine for so long that just says all sins equal. God loves everybody no matter what. He even loves the people in hell. That's not what the Bible teaches. Okay. God will eventually get to a point with people where he rejects them, where his soul abhors them. And it's not like this is an isolated verse. You know, the Bible says in Psalm 11, the Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hated. You know, Psalm 5, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity. The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. And so, you know, again, I could point to 19 or 20 clear scriptures about God hating people. You know, here he says he'll abhor them. And to think, you have to be a little bit crazy to think that God loves people as he's casting them into hell. Because that's not a loving act to cast someone into a burning hell. Okay. Now, did God so love the world? Absolutely. God has loved every single person. You know, Jesus loves the little children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they're precious in his sight. That song is true. God has loved everybody. God loved the whole world. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for every single person who has ever lived. And he loved them and died for them. But what happens when a person gets to where they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ for the last time? Eventually, his love is removed. And they are the object of his wrath and fury and abhorrence. And eventually, they go to hell. And hell is not a place of the love of God. It's a place of the wrath of God. A place where people are experiencing God's wrath. And you'll notice that when we get to the book of Revelation, there's not any kind of a sadness or weeping on the part of God or the angels about people that are being destroyed. Rather, they're saying, praise God. You know, because that's the way things eventually end up. God is just. And you know, you may have a hard time wrapping your mind around that. But we need to just let the Bible be the boss here and tell us, okay? Not Hallmark or what you learned in church growing up or something. You know, if you study the Word of God, yes, God is extremely loving, merciful, gracious, long suffering. But there's a limit to what God will put up with. And eventually, when people are doomed, they're doomed. And he says, my soul shall abhor you. Now, if he's threatening to drive people to such extremity that they will eat their sons and their daughters, we need to realize who you're dealing with with the Lord here. Because a lot of people, they have a view of the Lord that he's like Santa Claus or, you know, he kind of knows if you've been naughty or nice, but he's going to give you a present anyway. But this is not the Lord of the Bible. The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God's wrath is unparalleled. Yet his love is unparalleled, but so is his wrath. And we don't want to just paint a one-sided image of God. Now, we want to stay on God's good side. But we want to understand that there's another side that we don't want to mess with. That we don't ever want to be on the receiving end of. And so he says, my soul shall abhor you. Well, you know, that's not really what that means. Any other verses that you want to twist? Because the Bible says his soul is going to abhor you. Either that's true or not. And it's not an isolated verse because I could show you 20 just like it. And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation. And will not smell the saviour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen and will draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Does this sound familiar? I mean, this is exactly what Ezekiel 5 is saying. So Ezekiel's not really even preaching anything new in Ezekiel 5. They already knew that this was going to happen or they should have known that this was going to happen. Ezekiel is basically preaching Leviticus 26 unto them. God is leading Ezekiel to remind them of these things and to bring this to their remembrance. They should have already known it. They already had this in their Bible in Leviticus chapter 26. Now, what we need to understand is the difference between God's chastening and chastisement. And God's just utter total destruction. Okay? You know, God will chasten and chastise to try to get people's attention and get them to turn back to him. But then there comes a point where it's too late for that and he is just saying, My soul abhors you and I'm just going to wipe you out. And, you know, obviously these people have pushed it to that point in Ezekiel chapter 5. Which is why he says they're not going to listen. They're stiff necked, they're rebellious, they're not going to listen. And so it is what it is. All right, let's go back to Ezekiel chapter 5 then with that in mind. We could go to lots of other scriptures. While you're turning back to Ezekiel 5, I'll read you a few things from Lamentations. Lamentations 2.18, Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night, give thyself no rest. Let not the apple of thine eyes cease. Arise, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches, Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street. Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit and children of a span long? Now a span is the distance from the end of your thumb to the end of your pinky. Are women going to eat their fruit and children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? And on and on it goes. Again in chapter 4 of Lamentations, it talks about the same thing. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden, that means boiled, their own children. They were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. You say, Pastor Anderson, I wish you wouldn't even bring this up in church because it's such an unpleasant and unsavory subject. Don't you know there are children here? How can you read these passages from the Word of God? But let me explain something to you. We need to hear these horrific passages from the Word of God because otherwise if we don't hear this stuff and if we don't take warning and if we don't understand how high the stakes are and if we don't understand whom we're dealing with, then we might actually have to face these things in reality. I'd much rather read about them in the Bible than to experience them. I mean, think about it. You know, America says, oh, don't show me that part of the Bible. Don't preach on that on Sunday morning. Don't give me that on my Christian radio broadcast. Don't put that on the Christian TV. Don't put that on YouTube. But then, you know what America's going to do? They're going to have to live it. I'd rather just read about it as unpleasant it is than to actually experience that kind of starvation and hunger and have these horrific things going on around me. And of course, some of the same people that would criticize you for reading these violent things from the Bible probably have all kinds of violent TV shows and movies and video games playing in their home and they don't bat an eye at that violence, but they can't handle the Bible describing something. It's not like it has any pictures or anything. Folks, I don't like this stuff. I don't like to think about this or dwell on this, but you know what? I'd rather stop and have this sobering thought than to actually experience it because I'm an idiot that's going to go out and break all the rules and end up being on the receiving end of God's wrath. Think about that. You'd much rather hear about it than experience it. And so it says in verse 10, therefore the father shall eat the sons in the midst of thee and the sons shall eat their fathers and I will execute judgments in thee and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Now this is not saying, and again, I hate to do this, but I've got to preach what the Bible says. This is my job to preach the Bible. If we study the Bible on this, they're not waiting until these people are dead anyway and say, oh, okay, they've died. Now let's partake of this. No, no, no, read the story in 2 Kings chapter 6, right? I mean, they're ending a life in order to use it as a source of food. They're committing murder. This is murder first. Now stop and think about this. If the fathers are doing this to the sons and the sons are doing this to the fathers, this seems to me like not only just the wickedness of murder, but also a breakdown of any kind of loving relationship in the family. Because this is without natural affection. I mean, this is just bizarre to do this to someone that you should love, whether it's a parent or a child. And you know, when you think about what Jesus said in the New Testament, it's very similar when he says that the children shall rise up against their parents to cause them to be put to death. Why would they do such a thing? In 2 Kings chapter he says, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And so what we see in a wicked society that rejects the Lord, rejects God's word, God punishes them, but also they have a breakdown in these family relationships where they don't love their children, they don't love their parents. And you know, today we're already seeing the effects of this in our society. We're living in a society where children do not honor and respect and love their parents like they should. Children that are downright hateful toward their parents or parents that have no natural love and affection for their children, don't care about their kids at all. This is the effect of sin. This is where you go when you go down that dark path of rejecting God's word, you end up being hateful toward your own children or your own parents. And so that's part of what's going on here. And he says, I'll execute judgments in thee and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Notice the whole remnant, meaning everybody. They're getting completely messed up as a nation. It says in verse 11, Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, surely because thou has defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations, therefore I also diminish thee, neither shall mine eyes spare, neither will I have any pity. So again, this is another place where people would misunderstand the word of God and say, God always loves everybody until the bitter end. Or that every time God destroys someone, God's sad about it. Or that the people that are burning in hell, God's really sad about that and he's gonna stay sad about that and a thousand years from now, he's still gonna be sad about that. Is that really what the Bible says? Because the Bible talks about God getting to a point with people where not only does he judge them severely, but his soul abhors them and his eye does not pity them. What does it mean for your eye to spare or to have pity? It means to feel bad for them. God, when he ultimately executes judgment, when it's all said and done, he knows that what he's done is right and he does not feel bad about it. He's not just gonna be like, oh man, I had to do that, you know, like thousands of years from now. Now obviously, we have to balance this out with other teachings that we're gonna get to later in the book of Ezekiel, where God says, you know, hey, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness. What we have to understand there is that God is not saying that there's no rejoicing when the wicked ultimately get what they deserve. What he's saying is that he would prefer for them to get right with God. He would always prefer for someone to get saved or prefer for them to do right or, you know, whatever the situation. You know, the Bible says God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So that's what that verse is actually saying. He says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. People will quote this out of context and just say, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, period. That's not what it says. It says he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he turned from his wickedness. That is a comparative statement there because we do have other scriptures of God actually laughing at people's calamity, mocking when their fear cometh. You know, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. You know, how do you square that with your overly simplistic view that God just is sad every time and just loving people while they're burning in hell and he's just crying about it. He's not. It's that simple. Okay, do we weep over sinners? Yes, we do. Does God weep over sinners? Yes, Jesus wept. Amen. Does God pity people? Yes. Does he spare people? Yes. Does he have compassion? Yes. Is there sadness and sorrow when people make the wrong choice? Yes, but not forever. It gets to a point where God is done with somebody and he does not love them. He does not pity them. He does not spare them. His soul abhors them and he destroys them and in fact, if they then called out for help, he'll just laugh at them and make fun of them. Then shall they call and I'll refuse. I'll mock when your fear cometh, he said in Proverbs chapter one. And isn't it interesting that when I speak about this subject, I can actually quote from all parts of the Bible. I could teach this from Leviticus. I could teach this from Proverbs. I could teach this from Psalms. I could teach this from the book of Revelation. I could teach this from the major prophets. I could teach this from the minor prophets like Hosea. You name a section of scripture and I can teach this because it's not an isolated thing. And so look, I'm all for emphasizing the love of God and God's mercy and his compassion, but we need to also realize that this other side of God exists, understanding that he also will turn away from those who utterly reject him and then they will face a whole other side of God, his wrath. He said, I will not have any pity. Let that sink in. What is pity? What does it mean to have pity? I mean, don't just read over this. Stop and think about the words on the page that we're reading. What does pity mean? What does it mean if I have pity on someone? It means I what? I feel bad for them. Isn't that what it means? I pity you means I pity the fool. You know, I feel bad for you, okay? If I feel bad for you, I pity you. God says, I'm not going to feel bad for you. I don't pity you. Look, buckle up, folks, because Ezekiel is going to get way gnarlier and God's going to talk about not pitying people a lot more and Ezekiel is going to be crying and begging God to have mercy on people and God just tells him, no, I'm not going to. I'm just going to keep pouring out my wrath because these people deserve it. So look, the love of God constrains us to go out there and reach people with the gospel before it's too late for them because eventually it will be too late, not because they necessarily are going to become a reprobate, but because if they die without Jesus Christ, it's over for them at that point. So we've got to reach people while we can. The love of Christ constrains us to get to people and reach them with the gospel before it's eternally too late. The Bible says in verse 12, a third part of these shall die with the pestilence. What is pestilence? Disease, right? Illness. And with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee. Famine is starvation, right? They don't have any food. A third part shall fall by the sword round about thee. So basically people are either going to die of disease or starving or with the sword and then I will scatter a third part into all the winds and I will draw out a sword after them and from there children eventually will come the righteous remnant that will come back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished and my fury and I will cause my fury to rest upon them but I'll be really sad about it. Is that what it says? Thus shall mine anger be accomplished and I will cause my fury to rest upon them and I will be comforted. God said I'll be comforted after I kill one third of them with famine and pestilence and then I kill one third of them with the sword and then I scatter the other third into all nations then I will feel better because right now I'm pretty mad. That's what he's saying. I'll be comforted. Again, not an isolated scripture. You can see the same thing in Isaiah chapter 1 where the Lord talks about being eased of his adversaries and it says they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal when I have accomplished my fury in them. Moreover I will make thee waste and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee in the sight of all that pass by. Now a reproach is something that people would look at as a bad example and a reproach is like a shameful thing. Like oh man you don't want to end up like them. God's saying you're going to be the ultimate example of what it's like when people disobey the Lord. And you know that's being fulfilled right now because here we are in church talking about them as a bad example of how you can push it too far with God. So it shall be a reproach, right? We just talked about that. And a taunt. What is a taunt? Nah nah nah nah nah. Taunting someone is when you're trying to get a rise out of them, right? So you kind of say things to provoke them. Say things to make them mad. So basically it would be a taunt to call someone a Jew basically. Right? You know it would be like an offensive thing. Like being compared negatively to them. You know. He said it would be a taunt. An instruction. An instruction like kids don't be like them. Don't be like those people. That's the instruction. And an astonishment. Where people are just blown away, right? They're just astonished. They're just perplexed. Like wow. God actually punished people this severely? I didn't even know that God would hurt people that bad. I can't even believe what God's capable of in his wrath. It would be an astonishment under the nations that are round about thee when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it. And again, what's the thing that's emphasized over and over again in the book of Ezekiel? This stuff is coming directly from God. This is God speaking directly to Ezekiel. So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, an instruction. Jump down to verse 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine which shall be for their destruction and which I will send to destroy you and I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread. So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts and they shall bereave thee and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it. That's a pretty rough chapter. I mean Ezekiel's a rough book is what we're going to find. And what you're going to find also is that these three great big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, man, they go on like this for pages and pages and pages and pages. And you know what? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. We need the book of Ezekiel in our lives. Don't tell me it's outdated. Don't tell me it's not relevant because if you read the book of Revelation, you'll find out how relevant it is pretty fast. That God has not somehow softened up in his old age because God has no age. God does not mature over time or relax over time because God dwells outside of time. God doesn't even experience time. God's timeline is that a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. It's nothing to him. The passing of, he didn't change that much in the last six days. You know what I mean? He's the same, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so the same God of Ezekiel chapter 5 is the same God of John chapter 3. That says that God so loved the world, but the same chapter that says God so loved the world also says at the end of the chapter, it says, He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What does that mean, the wrath of God abideth on him? Well, you want to learn about God's wrath? Let's go back to Ezekiel. We can read about it for pages and pages and pages and pages. Now, thankfully, we're saved because we believe on Jesus. If we have believed on the name of the Son of God, we're saved, we're secure. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. God will never hate us. Anyone in this room who is saved, God will never hate you. God will never stop loving you. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, because we are God's children. And he'll never leave us or forsake us. But can the same thing be said for those out there that have not received Christ? They're always in danger of this. That's why they need to be saved before it's too late, because they are in danger of getting on the wrong side of God's wrath. We are saved, so we will never be abhorred by God. He'll never just laugh at us as he destroys us. But we can still, as saved Christians, find ourselves at enmity with God. If we begin to live a life of sin and not following God and let's say we just quit church and just go out and start living a worldly, sinful life. You know what? God will chastise us and chasten us. He's not going to withdraw his loving kindness from us, but he will punish us and he will punish us sometimes severely. If we do something big, we're going to get a big punishment. And so understand that God is a serious God, not just all fun and games. And so as Christians, even as saved Christians, even though we know we'll never face hell, even though we know that we'll never lose our salvation, even though we know that God will always love us, he will bring severe chastisements upon us if we commit major sins. And that's up to and including physical death. And it would not be the, you know, I do believe that there are saved, born again Christians who starve to death or have gone through other very serious punishments from God. Even up to and including that. But the Bible says I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. And so, you know, if we trust in the Lord and live for God and follow his word and follow his commandments, you know what? We're going to be blessed. But if we as saved Christians decide to just live like the world and be a sinful person, you know, we're going to partake of a lot of the punishments that the world partakes of. We're going to partake of those in this life. You know, I was just, I was just witnessing to somebody a couple days ago and, you know, this subject came up of the fact that anybody who saved, anybody who is saved will be punished and chastised for their sins that they commit on this earth. Because the Bible says whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Okay, so, you know, if and I was trying to explain to this person that if you're unsaved, you can sometimes get away with stuff. You can see horrible people like think about some of the worst people in history who lived to be old and died in peace. How about Joseph Stalin? I mean, you want to talk about a psychopathic evil mass murderer. And yet Joseph Stalin lived to be an old man and died of natural causes. But he is roasting in hell. And, you know, he's got to be roasting in the lowest hell. But he didn't get it on this earth. That's because he's not saved. Okay, so nobody, nobody, you know, when it comes to big sins, nobody ultimately gets away with them. Somebody goes out and murders someone or commits adultery or, you know, you don't get away with those things. If you're unsaved, you might get away with it in this life. Who cares? You're spending eternity in hell. What does it matter some little punishment you get in this earth? But for us who are saved, nothing can happen to us after we die. Because after we die, we go to heaven. It's all blessing at that point. There's nothing negative. It all has to happen here. And it will happen here. And so, you know, I hope that you young people understand the fact that if you grew up in Faithful Word Baptist Church and heard all this Bible preaching and you know all the rules and you understand what God expects of you and you understand who God is and what he's like, I hope you understand that if you just decide to blow off the things of God and go out there and live a sinful life, you better understand something. You will reap the whirlwind. Okay? You will be punished beyond anything you can imagine in this earth. Now, thankfully, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're still going to go to heaven. That's the good news. But the bad news is God has ways of hurting you now. Okay? And so don't be stupid enough to just think, oh, I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm just going to go do whatever. First of all, even without God intervening, the world lives a stupid life anyway. And they're depressed anyway because the way they live their life is stupid. It doesn't make sense. But if you go out there and do it, knowing what you've learned here from the Word of God, God is going to make sure that you fail and make sure that you go through suffering and pain that you can't even imagine. And I tell you that because I love you and I want you to be blessed. I want you to live the happy life that I've lived, you know, and I'm not perfect. I haven't lived a perfect life and I've been chastened in chastise like every other Christian because he chastens every son and we receive it. But you know what? I've been blessed by God. I can I can thankfully look back over my life and, you know, and say Jesus led me all the way. And I've been blessed and I'm thankful. And I've had so much joy overflowing at times in my life. And I want you to have the same thing. You know, I want you to be happy, too. And I want God to bless you, too. And and he will because I'm nothing special. You know, it's just it's the same for everybody. You know, you stay in church, keep winning souls, you keep reading your Bible, you keep praying. God's going to bless you and you're going to live a happy life. Not saying you're not going to go through stuff. I've gone through stuff, but it's going to be a happy life. Other people out there are making shipwreck of their life. Don't be one of them. Let's borrow words of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for these rough chapters in Ezekiel. Lord, I know we've got a lot more coming in the book of Ezekiel. Lord, thank you. Thank you that we can read about these these rough things rather than experiencing them. Lord, the churches today, they don't they don't want to read about this stuff, but then they end up causing their people to actually have to do these things in real life. Lord, help us to be smart enough to learn from the bad example of others and help us, as you said, to take it as instruction. What happened to the disobedient Jews help us to take that instruction so that we don't go down that same dark path. And in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's take our song books, please. Turn to hymn number 301. Hymn number 301, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Hymn number 301. That calls me from a world of care. Hymn number 301. Let's sing it on this verse together. Hymn number 301. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care. And with me at my father's throne, make all my hopes and wishes known. In seasons of distress and pain, my soul has often found relief. And on this stage, the dead will stare. My love returns sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. Thy wings shall find the dish at hand. To him who's truth and faithfulness, and his awaiting soul to bless. And since he lives, we seek his face, believe his word and trust his grace. I'll cast on him my every care. And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. May I thy consolation share. Till from mountains thus lofty hide, I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll draw up and rise. To seize the everlasting Christ, and shout while passing through the air. Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. .