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

Man, it is great to be here tonight. I enjoyed the food and fellowship before the service. I had Pastor Johnson teach me how to prepare the North Carolina-style sandwich with the pork, the coleslaw, the vinegar, and it was excellent. It was very good, I enjoyed it. And I appreciate his concern about my trials and tribulations in my personal life. What he was referring to is the fact that our house had a water leak in the roof and it ended up causing a bunch of damage and mold, but thankfully, that's all actually over. That actually just ended like a week ago, so all the repairs have been made. We're back in our house and there's no place like home, so it's great to be home after four months of wandering the wilderness. But honestly, there's no love offering necessary because we've already paid for everything and it's all done, so I'd rather see you just contribute here to Temple Baptist, amen? So Ezekiel chapter eight, the title of my sermon tonight is, and I hope this sermon doesn't get you down, but the title of my sermon is Things Are Worse Than You Think. Amen. Things are worse than you think. And that's what Ezekiel is actually being taught in this chapter is that things were a lot worse than he thought. At this point, Ezekiel is questioning some of the things that God is doing. He doesn't understand why God is so upset and why he's pouring out so much wrath and why the punishments are so severe. And so God in this passage literally grabs Ezekiel by the hair on his head and picks him up and shows him how bad things really are, shows him all the abominations. And we're gonna get into that in a moment, but just by way of introduction, let me read 1 John 5.19. You don't have to turn there, but it says, and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. You know, when God looks at this world, he sees a lot of wickedness. I mean, there are the saved Christians that are of God, but when God looks at the heathen, when he looks at the rest of the world, he sees wickedness. Now we in America, we're a little bit sheltered from some of the wickedness of the rest of the world. We look around in America and we see a lot of sinful and wrong things, but when you actually travel to other parts of the world, you will see that there are even worse things going on over there. The morality is even worse if you go to places like Europe and travel around other parts of the world that are even less Christian than we are. You know, if you're to go to the United Kingdom, for example, I've never been there. I'm not allowed to go there, but did you know that less than 6% of people attend church in England right now? Less than 6%. I mean, there are probably more people in England going to a mosque than going to church, and that's the way Europe has become. We could go through all the European countries and talk about that, but the Bible tells us in Psalm 7420, have respect unto the covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. So there's a lot of wicked things that are going on in this world, and the Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. So a lot of sin in this world and the sin that we see on the outside, even here in America, because obviously most of my preaching is gonna be about the United States of America. That's where we live. That's where God has put us, and that's what we focus on, but what we see in America today, the sin and iniquity, it's only the tip of the iceberg, and I think a great illustration for this is if you see a cockroach in your house, I've got news for you. You don't have one cockroach in your house. If you see one cockroach, that means that your house is filled with cockroaches, because if you actually see one in the daylight, they don't travel in a pack of one, okay? And that's the way sin is. We see a little bit of the sin with our eyes, but it's actually worse than we think. There's a lot more wickedness in this world. Go to Revelation chapter nine, and I'm still in the introduction, then we're gonna jump into Ezekiel eight, but think about this for a moment. If people are generally good, which is what the world will often tell us, if most people are good people, and the world is a wonderful place, and human nature is so good, and there are so many wonderful, nice people out there, just a few bad people, but in general, humans are good, people are good, then let me ask you this. Why is God gonna burn it all down someday? And let's look at Revelation nine, where God is burning it all down, and let's see what he has to say in verse 18. It says in Revelation nine, 18, "'By these three was the third part of men killed.'" So this is a period when one third of people are being killed on this planet, right? And this is after the rapture has taken place. This is God pouring out his wrath on this earth. Okay, the Christians have been removed, but of the people that are left at this point, it says one third of the men are killed, right? What were they killed by? "'The fire,'" in verse 18, "'and by the smoke and by the brimstone "'which issued out of their mouths,'" look at verse 20, "'and the rest of the men "'which were not killed by these plagues, "'yet repented not of the works of their hands, "'that they should not worship devils "'and idols of gold and silver and brass "'and stone and of wood, "'which neither can see nor hear nor walk, "'neither repented they of their murders, "'nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, "'nor of their theft.'" So what we see here is that God sends this great punishment and wrath and wipes out one third of the people. And then the two thirds that are left are still committing idolatry, they're still doing sorcery, they're still stealing and murdering and fornicating. Let me tell you something, this world is a wicked place. It's a very sinful place. Now go to Ezekiel chapter eight, the title of the sermon is, that things are worse than you think. Things are worse than you think. There's a lot of good facade out there that makes our country look like people are good and moral and godly and right. But let me tell you something, there are some bad things that go on behind closed doors. The Bible says, "'Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, "'for it is a shame even to speak of those things, "'which are done of them in secret.'" There's a lot of sin and wickedness that goes on in secret. Don't be naive about the world that we live in, the whole world life and wickedness is what the Bible says. Look at Ezekiel chapter eight verse three. And he put forth the form of a hand, and notice this, and took me by a lock of my head. So the locks have to do with the hair on your head. This is like a clump or a portion of his hair. So this form of a hand basically grabs part of the hair on Ezekiel's head and the spirit, it says, lifted me up between the earth and the heaven. Now, how would you like God to send this spiritual hand and grab you by your hair and pick you up and lift you up like this and hold you up between heaven and earth? This is pretty intense, right? Look what it says in verse number three. The spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. So God is a jealous God, the Bible says. He doesn't want you worshiping someone else. He doesn't want to share his glory with another. And in the city that's called by his name, Jerusalem, where he was supposed to be honored, they had this image set up, this idolatry, this statue, and it was this image that was provoking God to jealousy. And God is showing this to Ezekiel and saying, look at this, I want you to see how bad these people are, what they've done to my city and my house. Look if you would at verse four. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw on the plane. Then said he unto me, son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north and behold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. He said further more unto me, son of man, seest thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary, like they want to kick me out of my own house. It's my sanctuary, they're sending me away by putting this idol there. And he says, in verse number six, but turn thee yet again at the end there, and thou shalt see greater abominations. What's he say, oh, it's worse than you think. I mean, you see this big idol and they're worshiping this idol, they're driving me out of my own house. Oh no, it's worse than you think. He says in verse seven, he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, son of man, dig now in the wall, and when I had digged in the wall, behold the door. So it's like he's escaping from prison here, right? He's digging in the wall and he finds a doorway, and he said unto me, verse nine, go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of God, or I'm sorry, all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall roundabout, and there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord has forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. What's he showing him? The leadership of the nation, the ancients of the people. So in our day, you could liken this to a couple different things. You could say that he's showing him well-known preachers, or famous preachers, famous leaders, Christian leaders, or you could say that he's showing him political leaders, or whatever, but these are both, these ancients of the people of Israel are functioning as both. They both have a political role, and they also have a spiritual leadership role, but these are the leaders of their nation, and they're in a secret place. They're in a literal, dark, smoke-filled room. I mean, there's a cloud of incense going up, and what are they doing? They're worshiping the devil, because the Bible teaches that when you worship idols, you're worshiping the devil. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the things that the Gentiles offer and sacrifice unto idols, they offer to devils, the Bible says. And so let me tell you something. Our leadership today in America is doing the same thing. There's nothing new under the sun. They go to these Bohemian Grove-type places. They literally bow down to a giant owl statue, and I know that's hard to believe, except it's real, okay? They literally are demonic. These guys, when they go into their secret societies, whether it's Freemasonry, where they sit there and do all these mock death and resurrection and occultic rituals, or whether it's the Skull and Bone Society at Yale University, all these groups of people, and you say, well, I just can't believe that, because they seem so nice. Ezekiel didn't believe it either, so join the club. I mean, Ezekiel had to be taken and shown because he wouldn't have believed it unless he saw it. God had to pick him up by his hair and show him and say, look what they're doing! Why? Because he wanted Ezekiel to know that things were worse than he thought. The leadership was worse than he thought. The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. There's wickedness that goes on behind closed doors. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Leadership that is super wicked, bowing down to idols, worshiping the devil. They've literally sold their soul, and they get together and do this stuff in the dark, because they're wicked, it's secret. But he says, oh, there's worse. Look at verse 13, turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Verse 14, then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammas. This is a false god that they're weeping for. And it says in verse 15, then said he unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and 20 men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and they worshiped the sun toward the east. And they're not worshiping the sun, S-O-N, right? They're worshiping the sun, S-U-N. They're looking up toward the host of heaven, they're worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, instead of worshiping the creator, they're worshiping the creation. And so they're worshiping the sun here, and it says in verse 17, then he said unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they have committed the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger. And lo, they put the branch to their nose, and look at verse 18, this is the key. Therefore, because of everything I've shown you, Ezekiel, therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. He's trying to justify himself to Ezekiel and saying, look, this is why I'm gonna punish. This is why I'm gonna pour out my wrath. This is why I'm gonna burn it all down, because it's worse than you think. There are horrible sins going on. There's wickedness that's abounding. My house is being defiled and desecrated, and so I have every right to do this. That's basically what he's communicating to Ezekiel here. Now in chapter nine, if you wanna flip over, he begins to punish them for their wickedness. He starts to bring down the wrath, and in chapter nine we can see Ezekiel's reaction to this. Even after he was shown all these things, look at verse number seven. And he said unto them, defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain, go ye forth. And they went forth and slew in the city, and it came to pass while they were slaying them and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried and said, oh Lord God, wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in the pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? Then said he unto me, the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness, for they say, the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not. And as for me also, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. So we see here Ezekiel, he doesn't understand why God has to be so harsh, and we often feel the same way. We look at some of the punishments of God, we look at the wrath of God, we look at bad things that happen, and sometimes we say, ah, Lord God, aren't you being a little harsh? We might read the book of Revelation, seems a little bit harsh, and boy, folks, that's all coming in the future. Book of Revelation is coming in the future, hasn't happened yet, and it's gonna be the worst wrath that this world has ever seen. People like to talk about how the Old Testament gods are God of wrath, and then the New Testament gods, sweetness of light, well, you must not have made it to Revelation, because you'll see the most serious wrath on this earth that has ever been is coming in Revelation, New Testament. In fact, it's as New Testament as you can get. It's as far to the right in the Bible as you can get without looking at maps and encyclopedias in the back of your Bible. So he says here, look, I'm not gonna have pity, and I'm trying to show you, Ezekiel, how bad this is. Therefore, I'm not gonna spare, I'm not gonna have pity. I will recompense their way upon their head. Go to chapter 11, chapter number 11. Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up, because God just keeps trying to show Ezekiel how bad it is, because Ezekiel keeps on saying, God, why, why do you have to do this? Okay, I'll show you more then, I'll show you more stuff. Look at chapter 11, verse one. Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward, and behold, at the door of the gate, five and 20 men, among whom I saw Jazaniah, the son of Azor, and Peletiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. Then said he unto me, son of man, these are the men that devise mischief and give wicked counsel in this city, which say, it is not near, let us build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh. Therefore, prophesy against them. Prophesy, oh son of man, he's saying, you need to preach against these guys. He's showing him the wickedness of the false prophets and the false teachers and the wicked leaders, and he's showing him, he's saying, prophesy against these people. So Ezekiel preaches against these people. Look at verse 13, and it came to pass when I prophesied that Peletiah, the son of Benaiah, died. So think about this. I mean, Ezekiel gets up and starts ripping face and he's preaching hard, and he starts preaching against the false prophets. He's right there in their presence. These false prophets are there. The phony leadership's there, and he's calling them out by name, and he starts ripping on this one particular guy, Peletiah, and while he's preaching, the guy just falls over dead. Can you imagine that? I mean, he's ripping on this guy, and the guy's just like, he just slumps over dead. And Ezekiel still sympathizes. Instead of saying like, yeah, see, you're next, buddy. Yeah, you see that? He actually said, he fell down on his face and cried with a loud voice and said, oh, Lord God, wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Now look, I'm not faulting Ezekiel here for being a human being, for having a normal human emotion, human empathy, and you'll see a lot of people in the Bible have the same reaction like this. Think about Moses, you know, the children of Israel sin. Moses is constantly interceding for them, going to bat for them, trying to get God not to wipe them out, not to destroy them, because of the fact that these guys are nice guys. They love people, they have empathy for people, and God chooses to use a lot of nice guys and loving people, right? And that's a good attribute to love people and care about people, but there comes a point, though, where God's right and man's wrong, and where you can be nice and love people and we should love people, but there comes a point where we need to realize that when God's justice comes down like a hammer, we need to say, even so, amen. Let the will of the Lord be done. God's wrath is justified, and while the thought of the events of Revelation taking place is horrifying to us about just millions and millions of people being wiped out by these plagues, you have to understand that God makes it crystal clear in Revelation why he's doing it, and he's perfectly justified in doing it. Why? Because the people are worse than you think, because this world is worse than you think, because our nation is worse than you think, because the leadership is worse than you think, and that little cockroach that you see, that's just one cockroach. This whole place is infected with cockroaches. I'm talking about the United States of America, the government, the churches. Look, it's infested today, and what we see openly is just a tiny little slice of what's actually going on. Now, if you would go to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, we need to understand where God is coming from. We need to understand God's point of view. You say, why even preach a sermon like this? Why explain to us that it's worse than we think? Because I don't want you to be naive. We don't want to go through life unprepared, totally naive, thinking that this whole world is just sunshine and rainbows and unicorns. We need to understand that our adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and the Bible tells us that we need to be sober and we need to be vigilant. Boy, we need to sober up. We need to get vigilant. We need to pay attention. We need to watch out. We need to be on guard and realize that there are wicked people out there to devour us. It's not just Satan who has transformed into an angel of light, but his ministers are transformed into the ministers of light, and we need to put on the whole armor of God so that we can withstand the wiles of the devil. Folks, I have been through some hard things over the last few months, and I'm not just talking about my roof leaking, okay? Look, the devil has had me on blast. The devil has had my friends on blast. I mean, there are some hard things that I've gone through, and I'm sure you've gone through hard things. I'm sure Pastor Johnson's been through hard things. You know what? You get betrayed by people that you love, and you find out horrific things about people that you love, and you realize that there were people that you thought were good people, and there's all this rottenness underneath, and it's so disillusioning. It's so disenchanting, but wait a minute. Not if you see it coming. You see, it's easy to become offended or disillusioned or disenchanted if you don't expect it, but that's why Jesus said, these things, have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended, and he said, look, they're gonna cast some of you into prison. You're gonna go through trials. You're gonna go through tribulations. He warned us, in the world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. So God's telling us, look, there shall be false prophets among you, he said in 2 Peter 2. He didn't say there might be. He said there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false prophets among you. Look, the Apostle Paul told the elders from Ephesus and the areas there in Asia Minor, he told them, he said, after my departing, I know that grievous wolves are gonna come in, not sparing the flock. So just remember how I warned you day and night with tears. The false teachers are coming, the infiltrators are coming, wicked people are coming. Boy, Proverbs warns us about these people who they don't go to bed at night unless they've caused someone to fall. They live to destroy. They live to commit sin. They live to do wickedness, and the reason for a sermon like this is to warn you that things are worse than you think. Not so you could be depressed. Hey, be of good cheer. I'm in a great mood tonight. You know what? Because Christ has overcome the world. Because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, but I'm not gonna sit here and just put my head in the sand and say, oh, it's just not going on. The sin isn't there. The wickedness isn't there. Nothing to see here, folks, just move on. No, folks, I wanna know the world that I'm living in. I wanna understand that human nature is not good, but that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And if the apostle Paul said that in me, that is in my flesh, well, it's no good thing, you think the apostle Paul was the only person like that? Folks, that's human nature. We are sinners by nature. We are, as the sons of Adam, death has passed upon all men and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. They're all together gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Hey, the only thing that's good about us is that which Christ has regenerated and made us a new creature. But when it comes to our flesh, boy, we are prone to wander, as the song we just sang, Come Thou Foul, right? Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Look, people that aren't saved, people that don't even believe in Jesus, folks, there's a lot of sin, a lot of wickedness. And then you take it a step further from just unsaved people, and you get to the people that actually have rejected Christ ultimately and finally, and have become what the Bible calls a reprobate, where they are just done. I mean, they have just hardened their heart and they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. Right, because your average unsaved person doesn't hate God. The vast majority of unsaved people don't hate God, but they have a lot of sin in their life, right? Because we're all sinners. We're all sinful in our flesh. But let me tell you something, the reprobates are worse than you think. Okay, now, Romans chapter one is the reprobate chapter. And of course, Hollywood and Madison Avenue and the TV is gonna try to rehabilitate the Romans one crowd and try to make it out that they're good people, nice people, wonderful people. But let me tell you something, they're worse than you think. Things are worse than you think. The cockroach that you see is not the only cockroach that's there. Let me show you a whole colony of cockroaches that abound amongst the reprobates. Look if you would at Romans chapter one, verse 26. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was made. Look, men with men is what we're talking about in this passage. We all know what that is. It's the sodomites, it's the homos of this world, that the world is cramming down our throat and trying to entertain you with on the television, entertain you in the books and in the movies and trying to cram this death style down your throat trying to get you to see, oh it's good, it's normal, it's wonderful, they're just like you and me, nope. They're even worse than you think. Don't let Hollywood rehabilitate these people unto you. What does the Bible say about these men with men? Women who burn in their lusts toward one another. Men with men, what does it say about them? It says in verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. And then there's a semicolon. This sentence is not over, folks. Being filled. Now is this a new sentence, new thought? No, that's not a complete thought, folks. We are continuing the thought. We are explaining to you what these people are like and it says being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Now let me ask them, is that the way Hollywood portrays the men with men? No, typically, they're gonna be probably the people on this TV show or the movie that have the most character. I mean, I don't know, but they're probably the hero, would be my guess, that they probably put these people forth as being nice people, wonderful people. They're probably the protagonist or the hero of whatever story that they're in. Why? Because the devil wants you to think that these are good people, but really, they're people who hate the Lord and the Bible tells us what they are. So that little fruit loop at your job, that little Twinkie that you work with, little Mr. Twinkletoes or whatever, the filthy sodomite at your workplace, you say, oh, he's a pretty nice guy. Well, here's what he is. He's filled with all unrighteousness. Right. You know what he is? He's filled with fornication, wickedness, and covetousness, and you know, oh, he's so friendly and nice and good. No, actually, he's malicious. The Bible says he is full of maliciousness. Well, that just isn't true. Well, you know what, who are we gonna believe, the Bible or you? Because the Bible says that the sodomites are full of maliciousness. And boy, were they malicious back in Sodom and Gomorrah. They had no good intention. They said unto Lot, we're gonna do worse unto you than what we were going to do unto them. They're saying we're gonna do evil and then we're gonna do worse. They're full of maliciousness. Verse number, where am I? 29, full of envy. Murder! They're murderers. Say, well, that's a little extreme. No, they're murderers. They're violent individuals. They're murderers. They're full of debate, deceit. That's why you get tricked by them. That's why you think that they're good sometimes or you get sucked into the TV programming and videos. He said they are deceitful. They're gonna trick you. They're out to fool you, right? And oh, they're not so bad. Well, you know, if God were to take you by the hair and show you what's really going on, but you know what, God would never do that because it's a shame to even speak of the things that are done of them in secret. So he wouldn't even wanna show you. I mean, he grabbed Ezekiel. He showed him a lot of idolatry, false religion, wickedness. He took Ezekiel to the Bohemian grove and showed them bowing down to a giant owl. But he's not even gonna begin to show what these filthy dreamers are like because it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret. And the Bible says that they are full of debate, deceit, malignity, malignity. When we think of the word malignity, we typically would think of cancer. In our modern vernacular, we would say, is the cancer benign or is it a malignant tumor, right? The opposite of malignant would be benign. So these people are like a canker. They are like, and the Bible is the word canker, just soften up that cuh into a c, cancer, right? Their word will eat us at the canker. It's like a cancer. Why is it called cancer? Because it spreads. The reason it's called cancer is because you don't just get lung cancer and you just have lung problems. The reason that it kills you is because it spreads. You know, you get cancer in one part of your body and it spreads and destroys your whole body. These people are malignant. They are a cancer. They are whisperers. They are backbiters. They will stab you in the back. They are haters of God, despiteful. Despiteful's another way of saying that they're hateful. They're proud. Boy, isn't that their motto? Gay pride. They are boasters. They are inventors of evil things. They are disobedient to parents. You say, well, what's the big deal about that? Well, I don't know, it must be a big deal if it's on this list. Must make God pretty bad. Say, well, disobeying your parents, that's not that bad. Oh, really? Keep your finger in Romans and go to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. Keep your finger there in Romans chapter one and flip back to the last chapter of the Old Testament. Now, wouldn't you say that the last chapter of the Old Testament's in a significant spot? I mean, to me, the first chapter's in a prominent spot. The last chapter's in a prominent spot. You know, Matthew chapter one's a prominent chapter. Revelation 22, I mean, that's a prominent chapter because a lot of people might not ever read Ezekiel chapter eight in their whole life. But we tend to check the beginning, check the end. Let's say we got a book and we don't really want to read the whole book, might look at the beginning, look at the end, get the highlights. Well, I would say Malachi chapter four is a pretty prominent chapter, especially because it paves the way for Jesus. So it's a wonderful ending to the Old Testament, setting up John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. Look at verse five of Malachi chapter four. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now, this is a prophecy that was fulfilled by John the Baptist, because remember, the disciples brought this up to Jesus and said, well, why do the scribes say that Elias must first come? And he told them, well, Elijah must truly first come and restore all things, but I say unto you that Elijah, or Elias, is come already. And then they understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. So isn't it interesting how the Old Testament ends with a prophecy of John the Baptist? Makes sense, because then you flip the page and boom, pretty soon John the Baptist comes on the scene, preparing the way of the Lord. But how did John the Baptist prepare the way of the Lord? Make his paths straight, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. What does it say in verse six that the ministry of John the Baptist is gonna do? He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Boy, is that something that God cares about? How we treat our parents? How we respect and obey our parents? If he's gonna close the Old Testament by saying, look, before I send the Messiah, before I send Christ, I'm gonna send Elijah the prophet first. And you know what he's gonna do? He's gonna turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, the hearts of the fathers to the children, or else, lest I'm gonna come and smite the earth with a curse. So the fact that these reprobates are disobedient to their parents is a serious matter, folks. The Bible said in Matthew 15, out of the mouth of Jesus Christ, it said, whoso curseth his father or his mother, let him die the death. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 15. So it's a horrible thing to smite your parents. It's a horrible thing to curse your parents, to hate your parents, to dishonor your parents. The Bible teaches honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with thee, and thy days may be long on the earth, but you know these bunch of reprobates of Romans chapter one, they don't respect their parents, they don't love their parents, they hate their parents, and they're disobedient to their parents, and you know what, they wanna teach all of us to be disobedient to our parents, and to despise our parents. They wanna teach children to rebel against their parents. That's what they're gonna teach you through the movies and through the industries that they control. Romans chapter one, they're disobedient to parents, they're without understanding, they're covenant breakers, they'll make an agreement and break it, they're without natural affection, they're implacable, means whatever you give them, they'll never be satisfied. That's what implacable means. So you give them a finger, they take the whole hand. You give them an inch, they take a mile. And they're unmerciful. They're out to hurt you, and they will show no mercy. That's what the Bible says. Now look, if you went by what Hollywood taught you, would you have a correct view of these people? No, they're worse than you think. It's worse than you think. And this is what God's trying to show Ezekiel, that things are worse than he thought. And we need to look at the Bible today and see, okay, what I see on the outside is an illusion, it's deceptive, it's deceit, and I need to go to the Word of God and figure out what these wicked people are like so I can avoid them, I can be aware of them, I can be on my guard and not let them influence me to do these things. Now, is there a sin that is not on this list? I mean, good night. He starts out by saying all unrighteousness. He could have just stopped there, being filled with all unrighteousness, but if he said that, we'd kind of just read over it. And we would just say, oh yeah, well, the Bible says that these men with men, these reprobates, they're full of all unrighteousness, whatever that means. God takes the time to break that down for us and say, let me tell you the kind of stuff that they're into. Let me tell you what they're full of. And I mean, doesn't this pretty much cover all the bases? I mean, if we're just stop and think about the 10 Commandments and just stop and think about not having any other gods before him, well, these people are haters of God. Not making a graven image. Well, these people worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. They made the image of God like to a four-footed beast or a creeping thing. Check. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I mean, these people hate God. Go down the list, folks. You think these people are honoring their father and mother? And obviously, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, we know that Jesus Christ is our rest. We who have believed in Christ have entered into rest. These people hate Jesus Christ. They don't even want to retain them in their knowledge. They don't honor their father and mother. Bearing false witness, of course they are, because they are covenant breakers, they're whisperers, they're back biters, of course they're gonna bear false witness against you. Covetous, that's on the list. Murder, check. Adultery, check. I mean, go down, stealing, check. I mean, these people, you name it, they do it. They are rotten people. And what does the Bible say in verse 32? Who knowing the judgment of God, these people know what God thinks about all this stuff and they do it anyway. They know the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. And you know, we should not take pleasure in those who commit these sins. And we should not take pleasure in and rejoice in and have our heroes be the sodomites of Hollywood and the sodomites of the music industry. You know, when there's an actor and a musician and a celebrity that's a sodomite, how dare you delight in that person? How dare you take pleasure in that person? How dare you have a poster of that person or think that they're a wonderful person or you're gonna go out and vote for that person or you're gonna, you know, promote that person or anything. Folks, it's a sin to even take pleasure in these people. You know, we need to understand that people who do these kinds of things that are enemies of God, we're not to enjoy them and take pleasure in them and delight in them. The Bible says they not only do these things, but they have pleasure in them that do them. And then in chapter two, he said, therefore, art thou inexcusable, O man, whosoever art thou art the judges, for whereth thou judgeth in another, thou condemnest thyself. He said, thou the judges do us the same things. You know, when you're taking pleasure in these people and then when you do a lot of the activities that they do, you're like unto them. Folks, I don't wanna have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. I wanna reprove them. What does it mean to have fellowship? Well, we had fellowship before church tonight, right? You know what fellowship means? It means that we have something in common. That's what it means, fellowship. You see, Pastor Johnson is my fellow pastor. I'm a pastor, he's a pastor. So he's my fellow pastor. I'm a Christian, he's a Christian. He's my fellow Christian. I'm a Baptist, he's a Baptist. He's my fellow Baptist. I'm an American, he's an American. He's my fellow American. That's what the word fellow means, right? So what's fellowship? It's basically the state of having something in common. So having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness is where we basically get in there and we copy them, we're like them, we hang out with them, we delight in them, we take pleasure in them and we blend in with them and we're just like them and we have great fellowship. What does the Bible say? What fellowship has light with darkness? Come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing. So the opposite of fellowship is coming out from among them and being separate. See, if you were here for fellowship tonight, you weren't out somewhere else separate. You were here, you were fellowshipping, right? You're here, you were part of the group, you're part of the congregation, you're part of the church, right? You're part of the assembly and when we say, hey, we're gonna get together early for fellowship, you know what that means? We get together and we eat together and we talk together but what is it that has brought us together? Is the fact that we all love Christ. We all love the Word of God. We all believe in salvation by faith. You see what I'm saying? And that's what brings us together. We didn't get together because we're all, you know, big country music fans or we're all big North Carolina barbecue fans, although that's true as well that we do all love North Carolina barbecue. You know, what is it that brought us together? Is this just like a Star Trek convention or something? No, what brought us together here, what is it that makes us have fellowship? I mean, I look around the room and I see different people from different walks of life, different parts of the state, maybe even other states, different people from various nationalities, different economic backgrounds, different educational backgrounds, all ages are represented from the little tiny children all the way up to older people what is it that brings us together? Christ, the Word of God, salvation, our love for the Lord. Right? So this is our crowd. You know, this is, we get in a group like this, doesn't it feel good to get around some people that believe like we believe where we have that same spirit and we don't even know each other. We get here and it's like we just met, but it's just like boom, camaraderie. You've met two minutes ago, five minutes ago, but man, we are on the same page, okay? That's what it means to have fellowship. So look, do we want to just show up at a rock concert and just fellowship, man? I mean, these people are just like me. I fit in here. No, because if we go to a rock concert, if we go to the rave, if we go to the bar, if we go to the nightclub, you know what? We should be like a fish out of water. If we go to the casino, we should be a fish out of water. Amen? That's not where we belong. We don't go to those places and if we went there, we should stand out like a sore thumb and not fit in and feel awkward and feel like this is not my crowd. But then we walk into a Baptist church and it's like, I'm home. Now look, obviously we go out in the world and God doesn't want to take us out of the world. He said he wants us to be in the world, but not of the world. He wants to keep us in the world, but he wants to keep us from the evil. So of course we're going to go to work and we're going to become all things to all men that by all means we might save some and we want to fit in with people from a cultural standpoint. You know, we're going to speak English and dress normal and live our lives and fit in in that sense. But you know, when it comes to the world's sinful activities and the things that they delight in, you know, that's where we have to draw distinction and say, hey, I'm not going to go party with you guys. I'm not going to the nightclub. I'm not going to the bar. We're not going to that movie. We're not going to that casino. We're not going to that rock concert. You know, that's not my scene. All right. But when you come to a place like this, boom, you're home. That's how we ought to be as Christians, right? A peculiar people where our crowd are the people of God. That's where we fit in. That's what we delight in. That's what we take pleasure in. So our heroes are people like Pastor Johnson, not Magic Johnson. I'd rather you have a poster of Pastor Johnson than a poster of AIDS filled Magic Johnson in your bedroom. You want to put up a poster of somebody? You know, I'd rather glory in somebody who loves the Lord than to take pleasure in an ungodly person. Those idols of this world that they glory in. Go to Revelation chapter two. What's the title of the sermon tonight? Things are worse than you think, folks. This is a warning sermon just warning you about the fact that there's a lot of sin out there in this world. There are a lot of bad people out there in this world. There are a lot of predators out there. You got to watch your children. You got to watch yourself. You got to protect your family. Look, obviously we live in this world. I'm not telling you to withdraw from society, but I'm telling you to be sober and to be vigilant and to realize that your adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The TV is a trap. Radio is a trap. There are all kinds of traps on YouTube, traps on the internet that are out to get you and you need to watch where you're going. You need to walk by the light of God's word. Let it be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path to keep you away from the evil woman that flattered with her lips, to keep you away from the false religion, to keep you away from the deceivers and the liars and the scammers, the predators, the sodomites, the weirdos, the people who are trying to get you to fall. You want to be protected from these people, right? I mean, what does the Lord's prayer say? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. God, we're surrounded by evil. Deliver us from it. Don't lead us into that temptation, Lord. Help us to be protected from these things. And you know, the first step is to know that it's out there. And to realize it's worse than you think. And not to have a naive view that the world's such a good place and human nature's good. Is that what the Bible says? Because the Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one. Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? Is that true or not? I mean, that's what's out there, folks. And don't be deceived by that big smile. Eat drinks, says he. His heart's not with you. Be careful, folks. There are people out there, there are wicked people. There's a lot of sin out there. It wants to entice you, entice your children. We just need to be aware of these things so that we can be careful and not get sucked in by Hollywood. And this leads me to my final and most important point, because the title of the sermon is Things Are Worse Than You Think, and I've talked a lot about how our society's worse than you think, our world is worse than you think, our leaders are worse than you think. We don't see everything that goes on, but there are a lot of dark things that go on, a lot of wicked things that go on. And if you say, well, this sermon's kind of a revelation to me because I was totally unaware that things are this bad. Well, praise the Lord that you've been so sheltered. Thank God that your parents have brought you up in a godly home, a Christian home. Thank God you've just been going to church and living a godly life and a clean life, but let me tell you something. Just believe the Bible when it tells you that there's worse stuff out there, horrible things out there that you don't want to touch, diseases that you don't want to get, people that you don't want to get around, violence that you don't want to see or experience. Folks, just believe, you don't have to experience it. And so the final point, the key point is that sin is worse than you think. Sin's worse than you think. You know, you see people engaging in sin and you might think, ah, it's not that bad, it's not a big deal, I can play with it, I can flirt with it, I can fool around with it and I'm not going to get burned, but the Bible says, you know, can you take hot coals into your bosom and not be burned? Because that's what you're doing when you start fooling around with these kind of wicked sins like adultery, fornication, whatever the sin. Now look at Revelation 2, this is a great passage beginning in verse number 20. It says in Revelation 2, 20, notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. This is kind of hard to believe, but it's in the word of God and we know it's true. And the whole point of this sermon is that things like this are hard to believe, but we need to believe them, amen, because the Bible says them. It's kind of hard to believe that in a Bible-believing church, in a church that is sanctioned by the Lord Jesus Christ, in a church that Jesus Christ has his candlestick there burning bright, I mean, this is a church that's preaching the correct gospel, that there would be a woman who's there teaching, but she's actually there under cover and you know what her real intent was? To teach them to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. I mean, this woman is there as a seductress in the church. She has entered the church not because she loves the Lord, not because she wants to be a blessing, not because she loves the preaching of God's word. No, she has entered the church to teach lies and to seduce men to commit fornication with her. Wicked. It's kind of hard to believe that something like that would happen, but let me tell you something. If it happened then, it'll happen again. Why, there's nothing new under the sun. And if it was going on back then, I guarantee you it goes on now that there are literal predators in the church, that there are people that would come into a church and they're a Jezebel, is what they are. And what does it say here? In verse 21, I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. So here again, we see God justifying himself, trying to explain to man all the time why he does the things he does. Just like he spent chapters explaining to Ezekiel, look, here's why I'm bringing judgment. It's worse than you think. Look what they're doing. He's saying, look, not only is this woman doing these horrible things, but I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she didn't repent. God's a long-suffering God. God gives people chances. God's a merciful God, but she repented not. Verse 22, behold, I will cast her into a bed and then they commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reigns and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. He's saying, I'm using this as an example. I'm gonna make an example out of her and then all the churches are gonna know this is how I operate. But here's the key verse, verse 24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden, but that which you have already, hold fast till I come. And what I wanna focus in there in verse 24 is that the people who don't have this doctrine, the good people, right? He's saying, you know, the good people. The ones in Thyatira that don't have this doctrine, you know what? They don't know the depths of Satan. You see that? He says as many of you as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak. Those of us who don't have that doctrine, who aren't Jezebel types and wicked types, we don't know the depths of Satan. And let me tell you something, I don't wanna know the depths of Satan. You don't wanna know the depths of Satan. You don't need to go out and experience the depths of Satan, search for the depths of Satan, find the depths of Satan, you know what you need to do? You need to just trust God that it's worse than you think. Just trust God and say, well, if it was worse than Ezekiel thought, it's probably worse than I think. You know, and the temptation is there when you grow up in a Christian home and you don't know the depths of Satan. You grow up in a wholesome Christian atmosphere and you're walking down the street and you walk by the nightclub and you hear the buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh. See a little smoke kind of coming out from under the door, a little bit of light flashing, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh. You know, and you're kind of, you know, you see that and you hear all the ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. You know, you hear the laughing and talking and you know, it's easy as a Christian to think, yeah, I wonder what it's like. You know, just to go in there and just party and you know, what's it like to be out? Let me tell you something. The other side of that door, there's nothing worth having on the other side of that door. You know what's on the other side of that door? Vanity, emptiness. You know, it's like a bull fighter. You know, he's got that red cloth and the bull, you know, just, there's nothing on the other side of that cloth, folks. Actually, there is something on the other side of that cloth and you know what it is? It's a sword. It's a sword that's ready to slay that bull and let me tell you something, there is nothing worth having on the other side of that door, there is nothing in the casino that's gonna bring you happiness, nothing in the dance club, nothing in the bar, nothing that the world has to offer is gonna bring you happiness, it's a lie. And you know what, the Bible says, even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. You know, people, ah ha ha, they go home and they cry. They go home and they vomit up their party food and drink. They wake up the next morning with a headache. They wake up feeling rotten. They wake up feeling filthy. They wake up hating themselves, disgusted with themselves, crying and weeping and wishing that they had some meaning in their life and here we are sitting in the house of the Lord in God's house. We've got a purpose in our life. We've got a reason to be here. We've got something to be excited and shout about and rejoice and you know what, when we laugh tonight and we have a good time and we sit around and eat our barbecue and smile and laugh and have fun, you know what, we go to bed and there's no regret. And we wake up the next morning and we feel good and we're glad that we came to church. We're glad that we read our Bibles. We're glad that we fellowship with God's people. We don't have regret but you know what, Christian young people, they don't know that from experience. I'll bet you there are people in this room that know what I'm saying from experience. They've been on the other side of that door. They've been out there and saw what the world had to offer and they could tell you it's not worth it. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm not there, I'm here. They've been there and they chose to be here. Don't be a fool, young Christian. Don't be a fool, young teenage girl. Don't be a fool, young teenage boy and think to yourself, oh, there's something out there that's worth it. Nope, everybody can tell you it's not. Okay, but don't trust them, trust God. God said it's vanity. God said there's nothing there worth having. It's Christ that brings us joy unspeakable and full of glory. Sin's worse than you think. It's more nasty than you think. It's more vile than you think. It's filthier than you think. It'll cause more damage to your life than you think. You don't even understand the damage that it's gonna cause, young person. You don't even understand the bad things that are gonna happen, bad things that you've never even thought of and then when they happen, you're gonna be like, wow, I never even thought that this would even be a possibility. I didn't even know that these evil consequences existed. Hey, don't learn the hard way. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not under your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths and he's gonna direct you away from the strange woman, away from the wickedness, away from the party life, away from the gambling, the drugs, the prostitution, the wickedness, the party life, which is a life that's a downward spiral that will destroy your flesh and your soul and your spirit and turn you into a shell of a person, like an empty, vain shell. Folks, it's worse than you think. You say, whoa, this is really a downer. No, it's not a downer at all because I'd rather be warned. And you know what, it makes me feel good to know that I'm not gonna walk into the trap. It makes me feel good to know that I'm not gonna step on that landmine. I've got the map that shows me where all the landmines are located. I feel pretty good. You know, if somebody hands me a chart that shows me, hey, you gotta walk across that minefield, here's the chart where all the landmines are. Oh, this is too negative. What do you, all these, why don't you show me where the flowers are? You didn't even point out the little beautiful stream there and the flowers and the, hey, look, I wanna enjoy the flowers and the stream and the mountain as much as the next guy. But you know what, please do not neglect to give me the chart that shows me where the landmines are. And you know what hard preaching is? You know what negative preaching is? It's a map to show you where all the landmines are. And this world's a minefield. Life is a minefield. Your youth is a minefield. Hey, this is the chart. It will show you where the landmines are. We don't wanna see you get blown apart. This is a helpful sermon. This is a helpful truth. You say it's too negative, but you know what? Go watch cartoons and go fill your mind with Joel Osteen's preaching then, but he's not gonna tell you where the landmines are. I'm gonna tell you where they are. I'm gonna tell you where the traps are. I'm gonna tell you where the pitfalls are. That's my job. That's his job. We're the watchmen on the wall to warn you of the danger. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord, Ezekiel chapter eight, and for the things that you showed Ezekiel. They were things that he did not want to see, but they were things that he needed to see. And Lord, thank you for your patience with Ezekiel as you showed him and your patience with us. As you show us, Lord, it's hard for us to understand because we haven't known the depths of Satan. We don't wanna know the depths of Satan, Lord. Help us to trust you when you tell us how bad things really are, and help us to stay in the light. Help us to walk in the light and have fellowship one with another because we're walking in the light. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.