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Man, Ezekiel chapter number six, the Bible reads in verse number one. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. So why would God's anger or wrath be directed toward the mountains, or the hills, or these geographic features of the landscape? Well, the reason why is that God hates these high places, not because there's anything wrong with just the geographic feature of a mountain or a hill, but because these places are used to worship false gods. So all throughout the Old Testament, you'll find pagan people, polytheistic people, worshiping their false gods in the high places. And so the Lord doesn't even want you to worship him in the high places, because he doesn't want to be associated with the worship of these false gods that takes place in the high places. Or it would take place in sacred groves. And so the pagans, they think that this tree is sacred, or this forest is sacred. This particular valley, or glen, or ravine is sacred. This is the sacred river. I mean, we think of the Hindus, they've certainly got a sacred river in the Ganges. And we could go down the list, and really, for the closest modern day analog of this type of paganism and polytheism, Hinduism is probably one of the closest things that we could look to to understand what an idolatrous, polytheistic civilization looks like. But here's what you have to understand about these high places, or going up in the mountains to worship God, is that the gods of the heathen are very different than the God of the Bible. And let me just explain to you some of the differences, okay? And of course, in Deuteronomy chapter 32, it says, our rock is not as their rock, but it says, even they themselves being witnesses. So even if you ask them what their god is like, they will tell you. It's not like we're just saying, well, our god's different, our god's special, only our god is like this. No, no, they'll even tell you the same thing, is what Deuteronomy 32 says. Let me explain to you what I mean by that. You see, in the polytheism that was around the land of Canaan at this time, or the type of polytheistic religion you'll find amongst the ancient Greeks, or ancient Egyptians, or ancient Sumerians, or whatever, you'll find that the gods that they worshipped, first of all, they did not believe that they created the heaven and the earth. The Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. But the gods of the ancient Greeks, the gods of the ancient Canaanites, the gods of Mesopotamia, these were created beings. They were born according to their own belief. You can ask them, and they would tell you, oh, you know, this is how this god originated, or this is where this god came from, or this god was born at this time, or he came into existence in this way. So their gods are not eternally existing. Also their gods are not all-knowing. Their gods have limited knowledge. Their gods are not all-powerful. They have limits to their power. Whereas the god of the Bible is the creator of the universe, he is all-powerful, he's all-knowing, and also he's omnipresent, right? So God is everywhere. Whereas the pagan gods, they're not considered to be everywhere. They're up in heaven. So if we get up on a mountain, we're a little bit closer to them. And that is literally the logic, and it seems crazy to us, or it seems stupid to us, because we've been raised Christians our whole lives, or even if you weren't raised as a Christian, you're still raised in a culture that is heavily influenced by Christianity. So it would seem stupid to you to think, well, if I get on a mountain, I'm a little bit higher. If I get on a hilltop, I'm a little bit closer to the gods, because they're in heaven, so I can get a little closer. Hey, let's build a tower that it may reach unto heaven. It's the same exact mentality. Now we know this is absurd, because God is all-powerful, he's all-knowing, he's omnipresent. I don't care if you're at the bottom of Death Valley, God is going to hear your prayer just as easily there as he would hear it at the top of Mount Everest, because he's God. But what you have to understand is that these so-called gods, they really aren't even worthy to be called gods. And we know what they really are, they're demons. That is what they are. And the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians that the things that the Gentiles offer in sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice to devils. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. So according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the false gods of the Greeks, specifically since he's writing to the Corinthians, same thing for these Near Eastern gods. It's a lot of the same gods, a lot of the same mythology that just kind of transfers from one culture to another. And a lot of these same gods are the ones that the Greeks and Corinth would have been worshipping. He's saying they're worshipping demons. Which makes sense when you think about how evil these false gods are. If you actually read the mythology of ancient Greece or the Near East, these gods, they're not good. They're not benevolent. They don't love us. They're actually often very malevolent. One of the things that Zeus is famous for is basically just raping women and just constantly just doing all these hurtful things. And the gods in mythology are always causing war and causing people to hurt each other. If someone's succeeding and doing well, they often get envious and just want to just hurt them just to take them down a notch. I mean, they're very evil, very immature, just not loving, not gracious, not kind, not the creator, not omnipresent, not omnipotent. So it's like, in what way are they god? They're not. They're demons. They're devils. The false gods that they worship are evil, malevolent spirits. They're fallen angels. They're demons. And if you stop and think about it, doesn't the devil desire to be worshipped as god? I mean, in Isaiah chapter 14, he said, I'll be like the most high. What does he say to Jesus Christ? All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. So Satan desires worship. It makes sense that his minions would also desire worship. And so these false gods are worshipped in these different places. And if you actually get down to brass tacks, they're just demons is what they are. They're not even worthy to be compared with the god of the Bible. Even they themselves being witnesses, if you ask these pagans back in Ezekiel's day or amongst the ancient Greeks at Corinth, if you ask them, the gods that you worship, are they omnipresent? Are they omnipotent? Are they? And they say no. Did they create the universe? No. OK. So that's a big difference. So these atheists will come along and say like, well, what's the difference between Christianity and all these other religions? I mean, you're atheistic about Zeus and Apollo. What's the difference with the god of the Bible? There's a massive difference. The Bible says all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. OK. That's the difference right there. This is why Elijah, when he faces off with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, makes fun of them and says, well, maybe your god's asleep. Maybe he's on a journey. Maybe he's gone because these gods have geographic locations and they take trips and they leave and come back. And then remember when the Israelites win a battle against the Syrians? And then they say, well, their god is a god of mountains. So we've got to fight them in the valley because they're worshiping a mountain god. Jehovah is a mountain god. Let's go to the valley because our god excels in valleys. But of course, God's the god of the valleys too because God is the god of the whole earth. And so this is a huge difference between the idols of the heathen and the god of the Bible. They're not the same. So he says in verse 3, say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills and to the rivers and the valleys. Behold, I even I will bring a sword upon you and I will destroy your high places. And your altars shall be desolate and your images shall be broken. And I will cast down your slain men before your idols. So God's angry about the high places. We could go to many other scriptures in the Bible where he doesn't even want them worshiping him in the high places. Don't worship me in a grove. Don't worship me in the high places, he says. Because he doesn't want the worship of the true God to resemble the worship of a false god. Okay, so he says, don't call me Baal, he says. Don't worship me in the high places. Don't plant a grove or anything else. And you know these rivers and things, it's all these sacred places and that is not a biblical concept. Now the other thing he's angry about is idolatry in general and another word that comes up a lot is the word images, right? He says, your altars shall be desolate and your images shall be broken and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. Now the English word idol etymologically comes from word for seeing because it literally just means an image is what the English word idol means, an image. Like a graven image or a molten image that people would worship as their god. So we pray to the Lord and we bow our heads and close our eyes, we're not looking at any picture or image, right? That's why we close our eyes when we pray because there's nothing to see. And we pray to the Lord, okay, and God is not represented by an image. Of course Acts chapter 17, right, the apostle Paul's on Mars Hill and he says, you know, we ought not to think that the Godhead can be represented as an image made by gold or silver or precious stone. You know, the creator of the universe, the transcendent God who dwells outside of space and time that created everything, we ought not think that he can just be made into a gold or silver or stone image. Now if you would go to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Here's a key passage on this, Deuteronomy chapter 4, because we're talking about idolatry. So we talked about the difference between the real God and the pagan gods. They do a high place because they're trying to get closer to their god that's not everywhere. He's in a certain place so we want to get close to him. And they would often make pilgrimages to certain geographies because they have to go to that god's house. That's why when the temple is built in the Old Testament, King Solomon makes a big deal at the dedication of the temple saying, God doesn't live here. You know, we ought not to think that the God that created heaven and earth lives in houses made with hands. This is just a place to burn sacrifice unto him. This is just a place to pray and worship him. But he does not live here because the whole earth can't contain God. The whole universe can't contain God. Even the heaven of heavens can't contain God. And so King Solomon preaches that at the dedication of the temple to make sure people don't think, oh, you know, if I want to go talk to Jehovah, I have to go to that temple. No, because you can talk to him anywhere because he lives everywhere. And then specifically, again, he's mad about idolatry. He's angry about the high places. He's angry about idolatry. So go to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and look at verse number 15. It says, take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves. For you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. He's saying you did not see an image. You heard a voice, but you didn't see anything. You only heard a spoken word. Lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. He's saying, look, do not make an image of the Lord because you didn't see an image. You were very close to the Lord. I mean, the Lord showed up in a flame of fire at Mount Sinai. And of course, Moses saw even just the hinder parts of God, and then Moses' face shone and he had to wear a veil over it. I mean, that's a pretty close encounter, but even at that encounter you saw no manner of similitude, so don't make an image because you didn't see an image, because there is no image. There's no image, it's a voice, it's sound. And what is the meaning there is that the emphasis on the Word of God. How do we know God? Through his Word, through what he said, through the voice of God, not the image of God. So the way that we get to know God is through his Word, not through a picture or an image or anything like that. Now, here's the thing about this, okay, there are people out there today that believe that this has somehow changed in the New Testament, because everybody throughout Christianity would pretty much acknowledge the fact that God is a spirit, that no man hath seen God at any time, that even at this encounter at Mount Sinai they saw no manner of similitude, they only heard a voice. And so Christianity in general, no matter what the denomination, you know, pretty much understands that, the fact that God is transcendent, God the Father, right? But of course Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. So Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and he obviously did have an appearance, I mean he dwelt among us. We beheld his glory as of the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and Jesus Christ was physically on this earth, and in fact Jesus Christ even said, you know, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I dwell in the Father, the Father dwells in me, because Jesus Christ, he is not God the Father, because there's the Trinity, there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus is the Son, but the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1 that Jesus is the express image of God's person, okay? So God the Father, we can't see him. No man has ever seen him. But Jesus Christ is the express image of God the Father, and so therefore when we look at Jesus, obviously we're looking at God in that sense, okay? So they basically, because of, you know, thinking this through, they have this logic that says, well now that we've seen Jesus, we can make an image of Jesus, and we can bow down before that image of Jesus, or make an idol of Jesus, or a graven image or a molten image of Jesus, or icons of Jesus that are two-dimensional or whatever, and you know, we can pray to that and bow down to that and focus on that while we worship the Lord. Here are some problems with that logic, okay? Number one, what about all the Old Testament guys who saw Jesus? Because we've got Jacob, who wrestled with a man, and of course it's revealed that that man is God, and he even calls the name of the place Peniel, and he says, I've seen the face of God, and my life was preserved. I saw God face to face, because he saw Jesus, saw the Son of God at Peniel, okay? Obviously Joshua is confronted with the captain of the Lord's host. That is certainly another Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And we could go through several examples of Old Testament appearances of Jesus. You know, Daniel chapter 3, who was that fourth man in the fire? The form of the fourth is like the Son of God, Daniel 3.25. And so Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fiery furnace and saw the Son of God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were up close and personal with the Son of God. You've got Abraham in the heat of the day, Genesis chapter 18. The Lord appears unto him in the heat of the day, in Genesis 18, and eats and drinks with him. Now, is that God the Father? Absolutely not, because no man has seen God at any time. Now these oneness bozos would say like, well, you know, the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. It doesn't say God the Father. Yeah, actually it does, because it says no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So if you actually read the whole sentence, it's clear that it's God the Father that no man has seen at any time, and that we have seen the Son. John 1.18, it's very clear. And so, have people seen the Son of God? Yes, even in the Old Testament, though, Jesus shows up, because if we have a human being walking up to Abraham in Genesis 18, and that human being is Jehovah, it's not God the Father, it's not the Holy Spirit, it's an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. And so you've got Daniel 3.25, you've got the captain of the Lord's host, you've got Jacob wrestling in Genesis 32, Peniel, I've seen the face of God, I've seen God face to face. We've got Joshua with the captain of the Lord's host. So we've got lots of for sure examples, and then there are lots of other that we could debate. But there's four examples that are for sure, Old Testament appearances of Jesus. So why not make an image of that? I mean, why not make an image back then? Hey, you didn't see any image in Mount Sinai. Oh, but excuse me, Joshua's about to see an image. He's about to see a dude, Melchizedek, you know, you could argue whether that's an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. That's debatable, but with Jacob it's for sure, with Joshua it's for sure, with Abraham it's for sure, so, you know, why not make an image back then? I'll tell you why, because you're not supposed to make an image of God, that's why, period. And so even a bodily appearance of the Lord, Jesus Christ, on this earth, you don't make an image of that either, because God's telling them not to make an image even after some of those appearances have already happened. Not like, well, you know, there's that picture that Jacob drew, there's that image that Abraham has, no, you don't make an image to God. Another problem with this is that we have no image or picture from the time of Jesus Christ. Now, stop and think about it. If we were supposed to worship at an image of Jesus, if there was supposed to be a picture or a statue or some kind of an image of Jesus, then wouldn't the New Testament mention that? We got this great big New Testament, 260 chapters, telling us all about how the local church is supposed to operate. Why are there no instructions on kissing the icons when we walk in? You know, why is he telling the church at Corinth or the churches of Galatia or the church at Ephesus? Why is he not mentioning anything about their icons or their idols or their images or their statues? Why is there no mention, no instruction, and why do these images not exist? The oldest icon that the Greek Orthodox would hold up as, you know, this is the oldest picture of Jesus and this goes way back to about 500 years after Christ. I mean, imagine me drawing a picture of some historical figure from the 1500s that I've never seen. Real accurate, huh? It's going to be real accurate if I just draw a picture 500 years later. Folks, if I'm drawing the picture 500 years later, it might as well be 5,000 years later because it's been many generations and we do not know what Jesus physically looked like. Now, stop and think about it. Was Jesus pretty popular in his lifetime? Oh, yeah. I mean, the fame of him is going to foreign countries. Even Greeks are showing up and saying, sirs, we would see Jesus. I mean, you've got people coming from Syria, Decapolis, right? The whole region, people are thronging him. He's preaching to thousands and thousands of people, right? Remember the feeding of the 5,000? Not including women and children? That means that many people came to hear him preach. So Jesus is extremely well known, extremely popular. So why didn't anybody draw a picture of him? Or why didn't anybody say that? Well, you know what? I'll bet you people did draw a picture. I'm sure they did. I'm certain that people drew a picture. But God in his wisdom and God in his providence allowed nothing to survive. You know what did survive? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. I mean, look, all these writings have survived and made it down to us. In the present day, they've been preserved by God so that 2,000 years later, we have the entire New Testament in all of its glory. But isn't it interesting that these pictures and images from that time period did not survive? And by the time you get to the earliest picture, it's 500 years later and there's no way that that's what Jesus looked like. It's a weird picture. But even so, it's 500 years later. It's not authoritative in any way. It's not like this is from an eyewitness or something. No. There are no drawings or pictures or statues of Jesus from that time because you know what the disciples of Christ were not doing is bowing down to a bunch of pictures and images because that's idolatry. So they weren't doing that. And I'm sure that the bozos who did do it, God made sure that their stuff didn't survive so that we wouldn't be fixating on the appearance of Jesus. You know, I'm glad we don't have a picture of Jesus because if we did, everybody would be worshiping it and bowing down to it and making idol out of it. I mean, any time there's something like that, people just have a tendency to want to be carnal and worship the physical object or the image instead of worshiping the God of the Bible. You know, and that's a term we use a lot. We talk about the God of the Bible. Why? Because that's how we identify him. Not like, well, that God over there, see the picture? The God who looks like X, Y, and Z. No, there's no appearance. It's just the God of the word, the God of the Bible. So there aren't any pictures of Jesus. Idolatry was not okay in the Old Testament. It's not okay in the New Testament. There's no New Testament scripture you could point to where God says, well, now that Jesus has walked amongst us, we can have idols of him. We can have drawings of him and bow down to them and pray to them and have a statue to genuflect before. No. So go if you would to Ezekiel chapter six. The scripture is clear. What does the New Testament say? What about when the New Testament just says these words? Flee idolatry. How about that? Flee idolatry. Or how about this? Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. How about that? So if idols were only, and what does the word idol mean again? Image. Just like when he says, I'm going to destroy your images. It's the same thing. So why did he say, hey, stay away from these images. Keep yourselves from idols. Flee idolatry. In fact, if anybody in the church is an idolater, throw them out of the church. First Corinthians five. As if they're a fornicator. I mean, think about it. God hates idolatry so much, he puts it up there with a major sin like drunkenness or fornication. I mean, you can understand why God doesn't want Christians in the church to be drunks. You can understand why he doesn't want them to commit fornication. And you would say these are major grievous sins. What about idolatry? Well, that's just because they're worshiping other gods. That's not what it says. It just says to flee idolatry, don't do idols, don't do idolatry. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image is what the Bible teaches. And in the New Testament, he doesn't roll that back or change that or say, well, now it's okay. Now that we've seen Jesus, well, go to town. Start carving those statues. Start making those images. We need to base what we believe on what the Bible says. There's nothing positive about graven images in the New Testament. We don't need these images. So back to Ezekiel chapter six, he says, I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. And just one more thing about the idols. You know what? He said, you didn't see a manner of similitude when you were in Mount Sinai, so don't make an image. He proves that he's not just against them making images of false gods. He doesn't want an image made of him either, period. So verse six, in all your dwelling places, the city shall be laid waste and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate and your idols may be broken and cease and your images may be cut down and your works may be abolished and the slain shall fall in the midst of you and you shall know that I am the Lord. But will I leave a remnant that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations when you shall be scattered through the countries and they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whether they shall be carried captives because I am broken with their whorish heart, which had departed from me and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols and they shall load themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. Now here's what's interesting, is that the Jews constantly struggle with idolatry in the Old Testament, don't they? As far as they're constantly making images, whether they're making images of Jehovah or images of false gods, idolatry is something that they're constantly struggling with because you see it when they come out of the wilderness and Aaron makes the golden calf. And then of course we've got Jeroboam the son of Nebat has got, you know, his images that he made for Bethel and Dan. And throughout the whole history of the kings and the chronicles, prophets are rebuking them for their idols, Isaiah's rebuking the idols, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, it's just a constant battle and a struggle where the children of Israel keep getting mixed up in idolatry and their eyes just want to go whoring after these idols, they just have to see something, they just want to look at something. But he predicts here, he prophesies that the people who survive the Babylonian captivity and return, he says they are going to repent of their idolatries, is basically what he's saying here. They're going to feel bad about it, they're going to loathe themselves for the evils which they've committed and all their abominations. And what's interesting is that when the children of Israel come back from the Babylonian captivity, they have been cured of their idolatry. Because after that, you hear about them committing other sins, but you don't hear about them doing idolatry. And isn't it interesting that when Jesus Christ is dealing with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he's rebuking them for a lot of things, isn't he? And they've pretty much screwed up Old Testament religion as much as you possibly could, it seems like, right? I mean, they've got everything so wrong and the Sadducees are saying there's no resurrection and there's no such thing as angels, there's no afterlife. And then you've got the Pharisees that have just twisted God's laws and turned it into something that it isn't. But isn't it interesting that Jesus is rebuking them for so many things? But what do you not see as a big problem for the Jews? You don't see them having idols. And this is one of many scriptures where God basically says that this is one thing that he's going to purge them of. So remember in the last chapter, Ezekiel had to give himself the haircut and weigh out the hair and he tucks just a few into his belt and then a third of them go into the fire, a third of them he smites with the sword, and then a third of them he scatters into the wind but then chases after them and swings the sword at them in the wind. So the majority is perishing and only a small remnant is going to survive. And it's interesting that that remnant is not going to be an idolatrous remnant. It's going to be a remnant that does not worship idols. And even hundreds of years later, they're still not going to be worshiping idols. Even to this day, they don't worship idols. Now they've got other serious problems. And people will try to say that they were, oh, the wailing wall or something. But the wailing wall is not an image of a false god or even an image of the true god. It's not an image at all. It's not a great, you know, it's dumb, but it's not an image. You know, excuse me? Yeah, but the thing on the forehead is not an image either. The thing they put on their forehead is a box. That's not an image. I mean, if that's an image, then this is an image. And this is, if geometric shapes are images, then, you know, all of our homes are just dens of idolatry. If every circle and square and cube and rectangle, an image is an image of something, right? He said images of animals are images of humans, right? Any animal that creeps on the earth or bird that flies in the air or fish that swims in the sea or whatever, okay? That's an image because it looks like a fish or a cow or a human or whatever mix of those things. But what that box is that God talks about taking the word of God and, you know, binding it to your hands and binding it to your forehead and writing it upon the door of your house, and the Jews are just so obtuse that they think that when, that God actually meant like put the word of God in a box and strap it to your forehead because they're taking everything so literally. And when God says to write God's word on the doorpost of your house on the walls, what they do is they put it on microfilm and then put it in a tiny little container and put it on the outside of their door. And you know, when you're going soul winning, you'll see those little diagonal canisters, those have the word of God inside them hidden, buried. It's stupid. The whole point of writing it on the doorpost was so you could read it. What God actually had in mind was that you'd walk up to your doorpost and it would say something like, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's what Christians do. You know why? Because Christians actually understand the Bible. Christians are actually indwelled by the Holy Spirit and we actually know what the Bible means. So we know that what God wants is he wants us to put up in our house, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and write that on the wall. Who's got that on the wall in your house? Something like that. Some kind of a scripture. I mean virtually everyone. If not, it's time for you to hit the antique store or something or hit the, hit the swap meet and spend a couple bucks, you know, and, and, and basically, you know, put the word of God. I mean, we look, what's this right here? What's this right here? What's so cool about this? You can actually read it, you know, and why do we have that verse there? You know, because this is a verse that we want to think about. We want to remember it, want to live by it. You know, we got the verse on the window in the bathrooms. We've got Psalms and, and, and the word of God up in the bathrooms. Most of us have that in our home. You know, you could, you could just print something on the printer and just put it up with a thumbtack Bible verse of the week or Bible verse of the month. Put it on a whiteboard or whatever in your home. And so that's what God intended. You know, when God's saying, you know, have it in your, uh, as a front lid of your forehead and have it, what he's saying is like, carry it with you in your hand and like put it in your brain. He's not saying like strap a box to your forehead and you know, you got it on your forehead. It makes no sense. But it's not idolatry though, because it's not an image, it's not an, it's a cube. There's no image there. That thing on the door, that's not an idol either. That's not an image either. Now here's the thing you could, in a metaphorical sense, you could treat anything like an idol because the Bible says covetousness is idolatry. So I could, I could worship money, right? I could bow down and worship money, but, but you know, I don't think that anybody really like puts out money and goes like, oh, money, please make me rich today. I don't think they do that. I think when we say that people worship money, we're speaking figuratively. Like that's where they're devoting their energy. They're devoting their time and energy that, okay, so that's like a metaphorical sense. Now, now here's the thing. A person could look at the sunrise and the sun's coming up. They could bow down and start worshiping the sun, couldn't they? They could bow down and worship the moon or they could bow down and worship a river and say, oh, it's the river God. They could worship a tree and say, oh, this tree, you know, oh, tree God. They could do all that. Okay. But it's not a graven image. It's not a molten image. It could be a metaphorical idolatry. You know, even the Muslims, uh, they abhor graven images as well. And so you could say, well, they bow down to the cube. But again, it's a cube. It's got a chunk of a meteorite in it and it's a cube. It's a rock. It's stupid to worship it. It's stupid to bow down before it. None of it makes any sense, but it's not the type of idolatry that we're talking about a literal making of images. Does everybody see the difference? And so yes, the Jews are screwed up, you know, six different ways to Sunday when Jesus shows up. But notice what he's not rebuking them for. Notice he doesn't go in the temple and start destroying all the images. You know, he's dumping out the money. He's fixing other problems, but he's not because God is predicting that they are going to repent. And there are other, I'm not just using this isolated verse, other scriptures also give us predictions that the children of Israel will repent of their idolatry in captivity. And they do, and they come back free of this idolatrous practice of worshiping images. So he says that they'll loathe themselves and they're going to feel bad about it, all the evils they've committed. And they shall know that I am the Lord, verse 10, and that I've not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand and stamp with thy foot and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. And this is where we derive beating the pulpit as Baptist preachers and kicking the pulpit. So underline that verse. That's important. You know, the Bible says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, stomp with your foot, stamp with your hand. And this is something that the Bible carries over into the New Testament because Jesus Christ is frequently described as lifting up his voice and crying out when he preaches, yelling when he preaches. And so it says in verse number 12, he that is far off shall die of the pestilence, he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish my fury upon them. Fury is what? Anger, rage. I mean, you think about somebody being furious. So these sins anger God. And you know, it's a really kind of strange phrase, but in verse number nine, and when I say strange, I mean it's something that you don't see a lot in scripture, you know, it's kind of unique, is he says, I'm broken. I mean, imagine God saying that in verse number nine, he said, they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations, whether they shall be carried captive, because I am broken with their whorish heart. I mean, he's saying, you know, I mean, this is emotional for him. I mean, we think of having a broken heart. And that seems to be what he's saying here. You know, so we have just extreme sadness in verse nine where he says, I'm broken. Like I would be broken if my wife was out committing adultery or something, you know, that would break my, or if my daughter was out playing the whore, right? We'd be broken hearted about that. And so God says, I'm broken with their whorish heart. And then he says that he's furious. So he's sad and he's angry. There's a lot of emotion here that God doesn't like these things. And so we need to take this prohibition on idolatry very seriously. And it's so stupid how these denominations like the Roman Catholics and many of the Protestants or Orthodox think it's okay to practice idolatry in the New Testament. It's bizarre. And it angers the Lord. He's not pleased with it. And by the way, you start actually looking at some of the ancient images of these Greek false gods or Mesopotamian false gods. And, you know, a lot of them are going to remind you a lot of Catholic images because a lot of these Catholic images are just the same type of images that they had of false gods. Now it's just a saint or it's a Bible character or it's Jesus, you know, it's Mary or whatever. Instead of being some Mesopotamian fertility goddess or something, now it's Mary. But it's the same junk, same idolatry, the worshipping devils. And so we don't want to bow down to these statues of false gods and then claim that it's Jesus. It's not Jesus. It's not Mary. It's not Saint so-and-so. And we shouldn't be worshipping saints anyway because there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. We don't need all these other mediators. You know, we pray to the Father in Jesus' name. That's all we need. We don't need to do it in Mary's name. We don't need to do it in Saint so-and-so's name. And so he says, then shall you know that I'm the Lord. Verse number 13. Then shall you know that I'm the Lord when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars upon every high hill and all the tops of the mountains and under every green tree and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savor to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon them and make the land desolate. Yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath in all their habitations and they shall know that I am the Lord. Now, why does he keep saying, then you'll know or, you know, you'll know that I'm the Lord is what he's saying is that these predictions are being made because Ezekiel, the prophet, is saying, here's what the Lord says is going to happen. And he's saying, when it happens, then you'll know that I'm the Lord. You'll know that I've spoken. You'll know that Ezekiel has told you the truth because what does the Bible tell us in Deuteronomy? If the prophet tells you something and claims that it came from God and it doesn't come to pass, then don't listen to that prophet. He's a false prophet. He's bogus. And so, you know, the test is whether God's word comes true. OK, that's how this worked in the Old Testament with prophecy. Now, you know, things things for us are a little different in the New Testament simply because of the fact that we have the written word of God. So we're not really relying upon oral prophets to give us the word of God orally because we have the whole book right here. And so in the Old Testament, God at sundry times and divers man are spake in time passed by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken unto us by his son. We've got the written word. So we're not relying upon just prophets to give it to us orally because we've got it written down, which is better because we have so much more. We can refer to it whenever we want. It's easier. But the principle still stands that if the Bible said things that weren't true, then the Bible wouldn't be true. You know, if the Bible predicted things and they didn't happen, then that would make the Bible false, wouldn't it? Now, things don't always necessarily happen the way that we think that they're going to happen, but the Bible comes true in our lives. Now, when we think of the Bible coming true, a lot of people, they think of more like these exotic predictions, like, you know, what does the Bible say is going to happen with coronavirus or, you know, what does the Bible say is going to happen with Russia in the end times or China or, you know, they want to like predict world events or something. Now, obviously, the Bible does make some predictions about world events. It doesn't go into detail, though, doesn't get specific, but, you know, it talks about there's going to be a one world government and a one world currency and a one world religion, and we do see those things happening and coming to pass. You know, the Bible says evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, and we see that happening. And so obviously, yeah, it can predict big events like that. But, you know, I think what a lot of people fail to see is that the Bible actually makes predictions about our lives every day. Every day, things that the Bible says are being fulfilled around us. And I'm not talking about, you know, turn on the news and see what's going on over in Jerusalem. That's not what I'm talking about. Here's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that the Bible is constantly telling you advice on how to live your life and how things are going to turn out if you follow his advice and how things are going to turn out if you don't follow his advice. So, you know, for example, if we read the Book of Proverbs, there are all these proverbs telling us what's going to happen to you if you're smart, if you study the Word of God, if you gain understanding and wisdom and knowledge, what's going to happen regarding borrowing money, what's going to happen if you work hard, what's going to happen if you're lazy, you know, what's going to happen with your children. You know, there's all these predictions that are being made telling you if you do this, this will happen. OK, and if you think about it, those things are constantly coming true. You know, righteous people are constantly being blessed for following the Lord. Wicked people are constantly being punished and cut down. Christians are constantly being chastised. I mean, here's a here's a you know, you want to hear a biblical prediction. Oh, what's going on in the Middle East? You know, what's a biblical prediction? How about how about the biblical prediction whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son and he receiveth? You know, and then you see Christians getting backslidden and getting away from God and then facing chastisement. And then you see good men and women of God being blessed and thriving and bringing forth fruit. You know, what about the prediction? He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed should doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with them. You know, there are all these predictions in the Bible talking about how God's going to bless you. You're going to have joy. You're going to have peace. You know, what about the prediction that says be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know, we we can experience that. If we follow those instructions, if we do what God says, we will experience those blessings. If we do wrong, we will experience the cursing, you know, and just obviously this is very personal to each of us, but I think back over my 40 years of life and I look back over my life and anything that happened long enough ago, I can pretty much point to exactly what was going on with that event and why it had to happen and understand it from a biblical perspective. I'll put it this way. There's very little in my life that I'm confused about. I don't look back over my life at things that happened in my teens, in my 20s, in my 30s. It's like that doesn't make any sense. I don't know why things are happening like this. It's just things didn't happen the way they were supposed to happen. You know, God, I mean you said it was going to happen this way. It happened some other way. You know, I look back over my life and I'm just thinking, oh well this happened because of this, this happened because of this, and it's it's like, I guess I could just point to hundreds of things in my personal life that I feel like were fulfillments of scripture. Hundreds of things where it's like, okay, I did this and then here was the result. I did, I followed God's word here. I obeyed God here and then boom, here's the blessing. Here's how it went well, here are the good things that happened. Or oh, I made a mistake here because I didn't follow God's word. Here's the bad result. That didn't work out. I didn't follow God's word. This was the repercussion I faced and I'm thinking back to good things. I'm thinking back to bad things and it just it worked out the way God said it would work out. Now, now here's the thing. In the short run, it doesn't always look that way or feel that way. But you put a little distance behind you and it, trust me, it works out the way God said it was going to work out. And you know, obviously I'm not a perfect person. I'm a sinner just like all the rest of you and you know, uh, there's none righteous, no, not one. But I will say this, you know, in general, I have followed the Lord with my life. In general, I have followed Christ. I have loved God's word. I've kept his commandments. I've been faithful to church. I've been out so inconsistently and I have to say that I have been immensely blessed. You know, I just look at my life and I just think like, wow, God has blessed me above measure. Like I, I do not look at my life right now and look at my history over the last 20-some years of being really serious about serving God since I was about 17 or so when I really got serious about serving God. I don't look over that 23 years and think to myself like, you know, I really did a lot. Where's the blessings? I look at it and I think like, wow, like the blessings exceeded my expectations. You know, God has blessed me above what I've done or what I've deserved or what I've accomplished. God's blessings have exceeded my expectations. So I don't, I'm not looking for a refund. You know, I, I, I'm not looking back and regretting decisions that I've made for the Lord because they've resulted in great blessings. Now you might, you might look at my life from the outside and think like, well, I don't think you've been that blessed or, you know, maybe you do think I've been very blessed or maybe you don't. But that's not the point. Because a lot of God's blessings are spiritual blessings that are experienced by me or you respectively, right? How do you measure the joy that I have in my heart? How do you measure the peace that I have in my heart, the love that I have in my heart? And you know what? I know what's in my heart and I know that God has blessed me and, and you know, I'm very thankful. And I don't regret anything I've ever done for the Lord because every sacrifice I've made for the Lord, He's repaid me so much more. And God's not a respecter person. He'll do the same thing for you. So I guarantee you that God's predictions will come true. What He has predicted in His word and you go, whoa, but what's going to happen with the Middle East? Who cares? I really couldn't care less. You know, I could just go the rest of my life without ever hearing any news from Israel again and just be perfectly fine. I wouldn't be like biting my fingernails about what's going on over there because I don't really care. You know, and you know what, because you know where God is? In my heart. In your heart. You know where God is? Right here. In His word. You know where God is? Well, wherever two or three of us are gathered together, that's where God is. Right? I've got Jesus in my heart. I've got the word of God. I've got the Holy Spirit. I don't need to make a pilgrimage to another part of the world to get a little closer to God. Some high place. Okay. The predictions that God has made in His word. Quit focusing on geopolitical predictions. Focus on the predictions in the book of Proverbs. Why don't you work on those predictions and work on that Bible prophecy? You want to hear a prophecy sermon? Here's a prophecy sermon. You follow God, you're going to be blessed. You get backslidden, God's going to give you a spanking, and it's going to hurt worse than anything your parents ever gave you. I know because I've experienced it. And I've lived it, and I know that serving God for me has paid off in spiritual blessings, and I have joy and peace and love in my heart. And I, you know, I have a lot of physical blessings I could point to as well. Point to my family. I could just point to just the fact that I have everything I need. I've always been able to to pay my bills and take care of my family. And the church has been blessed. I mean, the church has always been able to pay its bills, and the church has grown and thrived and reached people and seen great things happen. You know, um, you're going to have to step out in faith, though, to experience it on your own. And it's not going to happen in a week. You don't serve God for one week and be like, okay, God, I went to all three services. I did soul winning. I read my Bible every day for seven days straight. I'm ready now for this prediction. You know, it could be, it could be years. That's why, you know, I don't say that I understand everything that's happened in the last 12 months. There are things that have happened, you know, recently that I would say like, man, why is this happening? But I guarantee you five years from now, I'll be like, okay, I see why all that had to happen now. I see why that happened. Yep, I get that now. It all makes sense in the end. And God has made some serious predictions about our lives that we could see fulfilled all around us every day. That if we're honest and just, God will bless our lives, and we will succeed. And look, there are plenty of examples of train wrecks and screwed up lives out there, right? I mean, aren't there people out there screwing up their lives and living a train wreck of a life? These people are not following the Lord and his commandments. Sorry, but it's true because guess what? If you're following the Lord and you're following his commandments, yeah, bad things are going to happen. Yeah, you're going to go through trials and tribulations. You're going to struggle like everybody does, but you know what? Your life is not just going to crash and burn. Your life will not be a train wreck. I can tell you right now that if I ever crash and burn, it's going to be because I got away from the Lord or I got backslidden or I disobeyed God and did something stupid. Because God will not allow your life to be a train wreck if you are following him. I'm not saying you're not going to have illness. I'm not saying you're not going to have financial problems. I'm not saying you're not going to have relation problems, relationship problems, but the Bible says, Mark the perfect man says the end of that man is peace. Consider Job the end of the Lord. Consider the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. It will end well for me and it will end well for you if we keep serving God, period. And whatever, whatever bumps along the way, whatever trials and tribulations, you know what? Those things are good for us and in the end we're going to be glad for every single one of them and say, I understand why that had to happen and that was so important in my life and I'm glad it happened just the way it did and I wouldn't change it at all. Okay, it's all going to make sense. But you know what? Some people's lives are a train wreck and they don't, they don't want to admit that they're screwing up their own life because they're not obeying the Lord. You know, the Bible says that, you know, and I might be quoting this wrong, but in Proverbs says something about along the lines of, you know, that man perverts his way and then he frets against the Lord. Who knows the verse I'm talking about? Does anybody have it memorized? Can you quote it? Okay. Does anybody know that verse? Come on smartphones people, let's go. You should already be there. Can you read it out loud? The foolishness of man perverted this way and his heart fretted against the Lord. Well, I don't understand. I mean, I, you know, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing and you know, God's just not coming through for me and my life's just a mess and I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. But you know, when you dig a little deeper with people that come to you like that, they're not doing everything they're supposed to be doing. And look, I'm not up here claiming to be perfect. I'm not up here to say, oh, I'm so much better than other people. I'm not saying that because you know what? I've done stupid things and and you know, screwed up things in my life too and and and suffered the consequences of my own mistakes, too. I mean, I'm not saying that I'm free. I'm saying when you have people whose lives are a mess, it's because they are not being faithful to the Lord or they have not been faithful to the Lord in the past or whatever. Okay. And again, I'm not talking about problems and trials and tribulations that pass. I'm talking about people whose life is just a train wreck, crash and burn, screwed up. And you know what? But I will tell you this. There are a lot of people in this room right now that are serving God right now. I mean, they're here at church on Wednesday night. It's not even the Sunday morning service. I mean, you're here Wednesday night, middle of the week, down here Wednesday night. And you know what? There are a lot of people that would testify right now, and we're not going to do this, of course, but they would testify right now that, you know what? There was a time when my life was a train wreck, when I was not following the Lord and my life was a mess and I was not following the Lord. And you know what they're doing right now? They're following the Lord and now their life is in order. I mean, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but I guarantee you there'd be a lot of people that would say, yeah, there was a time when my life was a mess and it was screwed up because I wasn't following the Lord. Now I'm following the Lord and you know what? I'm not saying my life's perfect. I'm not saying I don't have any problems, but you know what? I'm on the right track. I'm on the right path. I'm blessed. Things are going to be good. So, you know, kind of a hard truth tonight, maybe, but it is the truth that God's word will come true. And when you see people who are just a complete wreck of their life, just a wreck and, and two years from now, they're still a wreck and five years from now, it's right. And everything's a mess and everything's falling apart all the time. You know, they need to get right with God. This is what needs to happen because people that are right with God, they get blessed by God. And again, I'm not preaching a health and wealth gospel, but I'm teaching that God will, yeah, he'll put you through stuff, but you'll be able to handle it and you'll have peace and you'll have joy and you'll be blessed even through the fire, even through the fiery furnace. Okay. And so young people, why preach this? Because you know what? Young people need to know that if you obey the Lord, you're going to live a good life. You are going to live a good life following the Lord. You know, I followed the Lord and the Lord has blessed me with a good life. I'm real happy with the way my life has turned out. And if you want to be 40 years old and happy with the way that your life has turned out up to that point, you know what? You're going to need to follow the Lord. And if you want to go out and spend your twenties sowing your wild oats instead, well then you might be reaping that into your thirties and into your forties because that's predicted in the Bible too. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. So if you are one of the teenagers who's decides, you know what? I'm going to be a virgin when I get married. I'm going to stay in church. I'm going to read my Bible when I'm young. I'm going to go soul winning. I'm not going to go through a rebellious stage where I blow off church and go out and party and drink and whatever. You know what? I guarantee you God's going to bless you for making that decision, for staying with the Lord. In your teenage years and in your twenties, that's going to pay dividends in your thirties and forties. And God will give you the desires of your heart. If you decide, Hey, I got to live a little, you know, see what's out there. Okay. Have fun getting your butt whipped by God in your thirties. It's true because that's what the Bible said would happen. And you know what? When these things come to pass that I'm telling you right now, then you'll know that the Lord told you the truth. But you know what? It's a lot better to learn from other people's experience and to learn from then to have to do it yourself and make every mistake yourself. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and Lord help us never to think of you lower than we ought to think. Lord, you are the most high God, creator of heaven and earth. Help us always to remember how high and lifted up you are that we would never drag you down to the level of a pagan God or an image or whatever. And Lord help us to follow your word and to understand that if we obey you, we're going to be blessed and that if we don't obey you, our life's going to be a mess. And Lord, we believe that. And so, Lord, please just help us to follow your word to the best of our abilities so that we can inherit blessings and not cursing. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.