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Pastor, God, you're strength of the Lord, and from the Lord's spirit, God, we love you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Ezekiel, chapter number 23, and we're just working our way through the book of Ezekiel on Wednesday nights, and this is a very graphic chapter, if you've noticed, and it's of course the Word of God, the words of the Lord are pure words, but God is very blunt in this chapter, and what we're going to do tonight, we're just going to walk through the chapter, so we're just going to read through it, and I'll explain a few things, we'll make application as we go along. Why don't you notice there in verse 1, Ezekiel chapter 23, and verse number 1, the Bible says, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. And this is really the theme of Ezekiel 23, it's the illustration that's being used of these two sisters, these two women that were the daughters of one mother. Now they are not literal sisters, you'll see here in a second that this is an allegory, it is a parable being used by Ezekiel, but he speaks of these women, notice verse 3, and they committed whoredoms in Egypt, they have committed whoredoms in their youth, there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. So I want you to notice that not only do we have these two sisters that are being introduced to us, but these two sisters, according to the Bible, are whores, it says that they committed whoredoms, and I realize that that word is offensive to some, but it's a Bible word, it's a biblical word, and here God says that they committed whoredoms in Egypt, and you know, we should not shy away from using biblical terminology, because what the world does today is it tries to get us to use terms that are softer than what the Bible uses, right? Instead of saying whore, they want us to say, oh well she's loose, but you know what, God wants us to use these graphic terms, because this is how God feels about their sin, he said they committed whoredoms in Egypt, they committed whoredoms in their youth, notice verse 4, and the names of them were Ahola, the elder, and Aholiba, her sister, and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters, thus were their names, and I want you to notice, here's the allegory, Samaria is Ahola, so here God tells us that they've got these two sisters, they're both whores, and they've been whores from a young age, from their youth, but then he tells us this is an allegory, this is simply to illustrate the history of the northern and the southern kingdom, in fact he says Ahola represents Samaria, which is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, and he says Aholiba represents Jerusalem, which is the capital of the southern kingdom of Israel, these two women are representatives of these two nations, notice verse, you're there in verse 4, we're going to go through the whole chapter, but skip down to verse 36 just real quickly, I want you to understand that he goes into this graphic detail about these two whore sisters, but they are an allegory of these two kingdoms, or these two nations. In verse 36, he goes into detail about the specific sins of these nations, notice what he says, in verse 36, the Lord said moreover unto me, son of man, wilt thou judge Ahola and Aholiba, yea, declare unto them their abominations, that they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and I want you to notice that the sins of these nations is not new, we've seen this in Ezekiel before, but he says in verse 1 there, with their idols, they have committed adultery, so of course we have the sin of idolatry, which he illustrates as a woman committing adultery on her husband, then he says this, and have also caused their sons, whom they bear unto me, to pass forth for them through the fire to devour them, so we're talking about child sacrifice, they're literally killing and burning their children alive to their idols, verse 38, moreover this they have done unto me, they have defiled my sanctuary, here's their third sin, in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbath, so they are committing adultery, which is idolatry against God, they are passing their children through the fire, they are defiling their sanctuaries, notice verse 39, and when they had slain their children to their idols, that's all one sin there, it's to the idols that they are killing their children for, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house, so they're not rejecting God, they're just committing, they're going to God's house to see God and spend time with God, but in the same day, earlier, they were with their idols, they were sacrificing their children, so we see the three major sins of Samaria and Jerusalem, idolatry, the shedding of innocent blood, and profaning, go back to verse number 5, notice what he says, he says, and Ahola, remember this is Samaria, this is the northern kingdom of Israel, played the harlot when she was mine, and she doted, the word there means to express excessive love, or fondness habitually, it says that she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians, her neighbors, so what God is telling us here, because he's going just kind of through the history of these nations using this illustration of these ladies, and he says that Ahola, who represents Samaria, she was committing adultery with the Assyrians, and if you remember, it was the northern kingdom of Israel that ended up being taken over and captured by the Assyrians, notice what it says in verse 6, it says, which were clothed with blue, now I want you to notice the emphasis here, the emphasis is that these women were impressed, this whore, this harlot, Ahola, she was impressed with his clothes, she looked at the Assyrians and what they noticed was that they're clothed with blue, then notice captains and rulers, so not only are they impressed with their clothes, but they are impressed with their status, all of them desirable young men, notice horsemen riding upon horses, they're not only impressed with their clothes, they're impressed with their status, they are impressed with their possessions, and what caught Ahola's attention was clothes, status, and possessions, and let me just say this, young single lady, make sure that you are not choosing, that you are not giving affection, that you are not being impressed with a member of the opposite sex based on his clothes and his job and his car, based on his clothes and his job and his possessions, it's good to make sure you marry someone with a good job, it's fine for them to have a vehicle, it's good for them to have nice clothes, but make sure that there's a little more to your relationship than just their clothes and their status and their possessions, you say, well, why does it matter, because this is how a whore thinks, and look, we need to teach our young ladies and our young men that it is the hidden man of the heart that they should be emphasizing, you say, should I be impressed with their car, you know what, make sure they've got a car, so you're not riding the bus with your car seat, okay, make sure they've got a car, but be more impressed with their Bible reading and their soul winning and their prayer time, it's okay if they've got a little beat up old Honda or Toyota, as long as they love God, don't be impressed with their clothes, you say, well, why should I not choose a man based on his clothes, based on his status, based on his possessions, here's why, because that's how a whore thinks, that's how a harlot thinks, that's where a whore puts her emphasis, and if you're a woman who that's how you choose, you might just be a whore, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but this is what the Bible says, we were seven, and she, referring to Samaria, committed her whoredoms with them, talking about the Assyrians, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all of whom she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself, so we see that Samaria committed whoredoms with Assyria, notice verse 8, neither left she her whoredoms, not neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt, I want you to notice here, and he makes his emphasis throughout the chapter, he says that they committed whoredoms with the Assyrians when they were full-grown women, but he says they've been committing whoredoms from their youth, he says for in her youth, she lay with her, excuse me, they lay with her, and they bruised the breast of her virginity, and poured their whoredoms upon her, he emphasizes the fact that, he says yes, Samaria is committing whoredoms now with Assyria, but since their inception, since a young age, the Samaritans have been committing whoredoms with the Egyptians, he talks about the sin of whoredom from their youth, notice verse number 19, it says yet she, talking about Aholiba, multiplied her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the day of her youth, notice the emphasis there on the sins of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land, for she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses, notice verse 21, thus thou callest to remembrance, notice the emphasis, the lewdness of thy youth in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth, and the emphasis here is that yes, they are whores, but they've been whores from their youth, and there's a lesson here that the sins of the youth are difficult to overcome, keep your place there in Ezekiel, that's obviously our text, but go to the book of Psalms, let me just show you a couple of references here, if you open up your Bible right in the center, Psalm 25, look at verse number 7, he talks about the sins of the youth, and the idea here is that we need to understand that the sins of the youth are difficult to overcome, in Psalms 25 and verse 7, notice what the Bible says, the Psalmist said this, remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgression according to the mercy, remember thou for my goodness sake, oh Lord, if you're there in Psalms, go to Ecclesiastes, just over proverbs into Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter number 11, Ecclesiastes chapter number 11 and verse 9, Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and verse 9 says this, rejoice, oh young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things, notice what he says, he's telling the young man, he says look, oh young man in thy youth, he says go ahead and enjoy your youth, let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in thy sight of thine eyes, he says go ahead and have fun, he's telling young people go ahead and do what you're going to do, but remember this, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment, notice verse 10, therefore remove sorrow from my heart and put away evil from my flesh, he's talking to young people, he says for childhood and youth are vanity, here's what he's saying, he's saying look, it's hard to overcome the sins of your youth, so you know what the best thing that a young person could do, is to just make sure that they don't have a lot of sins of their youth that they have to overcome as adults, instead of being an adult, who's struggling with pornography, it'd be better to be a young person who never got exposed to pornography, instead of being an adult who's struggling with alcohol, it better be a young person who's never tasted alcohol, instead of being an adult who's struggling with cigarettes, who's struggling with drugs, who's struggling with laziness, it'd be better just be a young person that was raised to do right and live right, and not have these baggage that they have to to deal with for the rest of their lives. Now look, if that's you and you say, well, I messed up as a young person, hey, you know what, God can help you, he can forgive you, you walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But you know what would be better? Is if you just never had a, you don't have a temptation for whatever, because you've never tasted it. You've never experienced it. You've never done it. And here the emphasis is on the sins of the youth. Why? The sins of the youth are difficult to overcome. You learn Ecclesiastes 11, look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12, look at verse one. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse one says, remember now thy creator, young people, in the days of thy youth. While the evil days come not, for the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Go back to Ezekiel 23, look at verse nine. Ezekiel 23 and verse nine. Notice what he says, he says, wherefore have delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians upon whom she doted. These discovered her nakedness, they took her sons and her daughters and slew her with the sword, and she became famous among women, for they had executed judgment upon her. Once you notice here that he's talking about the fact that the Assyrians, who she chose, she chose to give her attention and to commit spiritual adultery with the Assyrians, he says those Assyrians are then gonna turn around and capture you, they're going to turn around and put you into bondage. Notice verse number 22, same chapter. He says, therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will raise up, notice what he says, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, for whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side. Notice verse 24, and they shall come against thee, talking about her lovers, with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with the assembly of people, which shall set against thee bucklers and shield and helmet round about, and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments, and I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall, notice what he says, deal furiously with thee. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnants shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. Notice verse 29, he says, and they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare, and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lootless and thy whoredoms. And this is a principle that's found throughout the entire Bible. You read the Bible, you may not catch it if you're not paying attention for it, but throughout the Bible, there is this principle that whatever you choose, whatever sin you decide to leave God for, whatever sin you decide to commit adultery on God with, whatever sin you decide to make your priority, God says that same sin is gonna turn around and put you in bondage. And it's what we were just talking about with the youth. When you've got young people who say, well, I'm gonna rebel against my parents, and I'm gonna go to that party, and I'm gonna drink alcohol, fast forward 20 years later, that alcohol has you in bondage. Because sin has a enslaving effect. Keep your place there, and Ezekiel, go to Romans chapter six, let me show this to you out of the book of Romans, Romans chapter six. Someone said that sin will cost you more than you want it to pay and keep you longer than you want it to stay. The truth of the matter is that you can sit there and think, well, I'm just gonna have a good time, I'm just gonna control this situation, I'm just gonna go ahead and make this decision, I'm gonna go there, I'm gonna meet that person, I'm gonna look at that, or I'm gonna taste that, or I'm gonna experience that, and I'm gonna control it, but the truth of the matter is that sin, when you yield to sin, it will take control. The Assyrians that you doted over will deal with you hatefully. Romans chapter six, look at verse 16. Know ye not, notice what he said, Romans 6 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey? He says you yield yourself to them, but then you become their servant, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness, but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, being then made free from sin, hey, when you got saved, you were made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of the flesh, for as ye have yielded your members' servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members' servants to righteousness unto holiness. You say, what is he talking about? Here's what he's saying, you have the choice as a believer, you have the choice whether you want to yield yourself to sin or whether you want to yield yourself to righteousness. You were saved, when you were saved, you were saved from the consequence of sin, but you were also saved from the power of sin. Sin does not have to control you. Sin does not have to enslave you. It does not have to keep you in bondage, and if you are saved, then you've got the Holy Spirit of God inside of you, and you are living in bondage to sin. You are living in a voluntary bondage because God says that you can get victory in that life. That won't be easy. This is why we say it'd be better to just not experience the sins of the youth. It won't be easy, but you can live in victory. Go back to Ezekiel 23, look at verse number 11. Ezekiel 23 and verse 11. There's a lot in this chapter, so we have to try to get through all of it. Notice what he says in verse 11. He says, and when her, talking about Ahola, notice, and when her sister Aholibah saw this, now we're transitioning, because we've been talking about Ahola this whole time, right? She's been from the Egyptians, she's been committing adultery, and she's been a whore, and now she's doing it with the Assyrians, talking about the northern kingdom of Israel. But then God changes Ezekiel, changes his focus to the southern kingdom. He says, when her sister Aholibah saw this, notice, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she. The word inordinate there means not with proper or reasonable limits, immoderate, excessive. He says, and her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. So here, God is telling us, you'd think she'd look at, the southern kingdom would look at the northern kingdom, you'd think that Aholibah would look at Ahola and learn from her mistakes, but instead, she does more than her sister. She's more corrupt. Look at verse 12. She doted upon the Assyrians, her neighbors. Notice again, what is her focus on? Captains and rulers. She's focused on the status. Clothed most gorgeously. She's focused on their clothes. Horsemen riding upon horses. She's focused on their possessions, all of them desirable young men. Verse 13, then I saw that she was defiled and they took both. Talking about those two sisters. Says both sisters, they took both one way. Saying both Samaria and Judah decided to go down the same road. They decided to do the same thing. Notice, skip down to verse number 30. He's talking about the fact that one sister chose a certain road for her life, but then another sister looked at that sister and said, I'm gonna go down that same road. I'm gonna go down that same way. They took both one way. Look at verse 30. I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou hast polluted with their idols. Verse 31, thou hast walked in the way of thy sister. Says your sister made certain choices. She went down a certain road, and then you decided to walk down the way of thy sister. Therefore, will I give her cup into thine hand. Thus saith the Lord God, thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large. God says, you know what? If you wanna make the same choices that your sister made, that's all right. She's got a cup of judgment, and there's enough in that cup for you too. Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large. Thou shalt be laughed to scorn, and had in derision. It containeth much. God is saying, there's enough judgment for both of you, if you both wanna go down that same road. Look at verse 33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with a cup of astonishment and desolation, with a cup of thy sister's samaria. And it's interesting because here, God is saying, look, the older sister made a choice, and then the younger sister follows in the steps of the older sister. And what do we learn about here? We learn about the power of influence. Brother Joe preached a great sermon on Sunday night on the issue of influence. But here, you have a perfect example of one sister making bad decisions, making bad choices, going down the wrong road. And what does she do? She influences her sister to do the same thing. Look, negative people will often try to influence you in negative ways. This is why the Bible says a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lot. And we can learn from this passage that you need to, look, you need to learn to guard yourself against negative influence. Why? Because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lot. Because negative people will try to influence you in a negative way. You know, I've noticed in church, whenever people are getting backslidden, they try to get other people to get backslidden. I remember there used to be a family, they don't come to our church anymore, but there used to be this family who they decided that there was way too many events at church and there's too many things going on. And they told me and my wife, they said, we're gonna still come to the church services, but we're not gonna go to events anymore because we don't have enough family time or whatever. And honestly, that is your decision to make. We've got tons of events here. You don't have to go to any event you don't want to go to. That's between you and God, praise the Lord for it. No problem there. But then you know what they started doing? They started going around trying to get other people. Don't you think that maybe you shouldn't go to that event? Now, wait a minute. Why are you trying to influence someone? Well, if we're promoting a baby shower, if we're promoting a married couple sweetheart banquet, if we're promoting soul winning, if we're promoting a conference, why are you trying to influence people? But here's why. Because misery loves company. When people are backslidden and they don't want to be a part of this, and then they start telling people, maybe soul winning is too much. And it's like, no. Look, if you don't want to go soul winning, don't go soul winning. But don't try to get other people not to go soul winning. You don't want to show up to Sunday night church because you need your family time. That's fine, that's between you and God. But don't try to get other people not to show up to Sunday night church. And don't sit there and tell me, well, I need the family time. That might fly with a lot of people that didn't grow up in a Christian home, but that's not going to fly with me. Because you know, I grew up in a Christian home. And I know what it is to live in a home where there was a rule. We had a rule in our house. When the doors of the church are open, we will be there, period. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, soul winning, missions conference, whatever conference, whatever event, cleaning time, whatever it is, we had a rule in our house. If there's something going on in church, we're going to be there. And you know what? In my home, we were in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, growing up, we were out soul winning on Saturdays. We were at every event, everything the church did. We were at all of it. I still had a mom and dad that had family Bible time with us. I still had a mom and dad that I felt had too much time and they were up in my business. So don't tell me that it's too much. If you can't manage your time well enough, maybe you're spending too much time on Facebook. Maybe you're spending too much time watching your stinkin' hella-vision. Maybe you're spending too much time being lazy and doing some other thing. But don't sit there and tell me church keeps me too busy. I feel like, man, I wish church would have kept my parents busy. They're all trying to talk to me all the time and make sure that I'm doing well spiritually and trying to teach me the Bible. And going to church and playing baseball and going to our school activities and doing the interview. You know what? There's 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 168 hours in a week. If you want to get something done, you can get it done. Where there's a will, there's a way. But you know what I've noticed? People, they get backslidden, but then they want other people to get backslidden. I mean, isn't it true, misery loves company? Have you noticed there's some people that are just always negative? There's always something going on. Some people, I don't ask them, like, how you doing? I just wanna tell them, like, how about you tell me when you're doing fine? Because it's just like there's always some big trial, there's always some big problem, there's always something they're going through. But you know what they try to do? They try to get other people to be all down. You know what? You need to be careful. That was a great sermon by Brother Joe. You need to be careful to not allow people to influence you negatively. Because usually when people are trying to influence you, it's a negative thing. That's why the Bible says, a little leaven, leaven it the whole lump. You know what? You wanna get backslidden, hey, that's fine. And look, if you don't wanna go to an event, don't go to an event, it's fine. I don't think everybody needs to go to every event. I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You say, Pastor, you're fine if we don't show up to this or that. That is totally fine. But you know where you're gonna piss me off? When you're trying to discourage other people from going. Because some people, they like to go to events. They want to go to this. And the question I have is, why are you trying to fight against what we are pushing here? Obviously there's a problem here. Obviously there's an issue here. Look, Ahola, if you're gonna go and be a whore, go be a whore, but don't influence your sister to do it. We also learn in this passage here about setting a good example. All of the children in the auditorium, if you've got younger siblings, let me tell you something. You need to realize that you are responsible to set a good example for your siblings. God wants the older children to minister and love their siblings. And you know what the devil wants to do? The devil wants to destroy the olders. I believe that there is an agenda by the devil to destroy the eldest in every home. You say, why can't it, why, why? Because if God can get the oldest to just live for the devil, you know what often happens? Is that the siblings follow. We need to realize that we are, need to set an example. And you know what, let me say this. At our church, let me just say this. If you are a man, if you're a man in this church, I want you to look up at me right now. In this church, I need every man in this church to be the right example. This is something that really burdens me because in this church, I know you probably don't realize this or maybe don't even care. But in this church, my wife is basically a single mom in this church. Because of the fact that I'm up here preaching and leading the service 99% of the time, she's just this, I mean, she basically is like, comes to church with six children and she's kind of just on her own. She's a single mom because I'm up here. And what really burdens me is that I don't get, because I grew up sitting in church with my mom and dad. I remember being a kid, messing around in church and my dad, pay attention. Open the hymn book, sing, follow along in your Bible. Where's your, you know, it burdens me because I don't get to do that for my parents or for my children like my parents did for me. And what really burdens me is that the only example that my kids have is the men in this church and it's really starting to piss me off that a lot of times the example that the kids get in this church is a bunch of men messing around in church. Hey, when it's church time, men, open your Bible. Quit talking, quit messing around. Don't be out there on your phone. Don't be just coming in and out doing whatever. Sit with your wife. Sit, you know, if you're ushering and you're doing security, I get that, great. But you know what? Make sure if you're out there, you're not on your phone, you're not messing around. Make sure you're not going in the mother and the daddy baby room, falling asleep. Hey pastor, you need to go back to Houston, whatever. This is not the example for my children. This is not the example for your children. You know what, ladies in that mother baby room, you take care of your kids. You don't sit there and talk and play and pull out the Monopoly board and you're in there doing who knows what. You're in there to care for your kids and if you're not caring for your kids, you bring them out here. And you know what? You ought to be training them to be in church. That mother baby room is for mother babies, not mother and their 10 year old they never spanked. Not mother and their five year old they can't control. You need to be using that room as a room to train your children to sit in church. Why? Because every child needs to see a mom and dad sitting in church and if there's somebody coming here and their dad isn't here or their father isn't here, then they ought to be able to look at the men in this church and see men who love God. Who aren't just out there in the foyer talking for 20 minutes after the service has started. We're actually following along in their Bibles. We're actually engaged. We're actually saying amen. We're actually singing at the song service. This is the example you must set. Why? Because it is important to influence people properly. Say, Pastor, well, you know, I don't appreciate that. I'm on my phone. I got my Bible in my phone. You know what, whatever. You got your Bible on your phone. I wouldn't have my Bible on my phone just to have seen the appearance of evil. Just so nobody would think that I'm just, you know, messing around on the phone during church. But don't tell me you got your Bible on your phone and you're, ha ha ha. Ezekiel's not that funny. It's not a fill in the blanks. You don't get notes that you're filling into. All right? Make sure you're setting the right example. You say why? Because when we set the wrong example, the next generation will follow our steps. Look at verse 30. I will do these things unto thee because I was gone a whoring. Excuse me, look at verse 14. And that she increased her whoredoms for when she saw men portrayed upon the image. I want you to notice the emphasis here. Because remember, the Assyrians have came in and they've taken over the northern kingdom of Israel. Now we're talking about the southern kingdom of Israel. They're now doting upon the Assyrians as well. But if you remember your Bible history, the southern kingdom doesn't get taken over by the Assyrians. They get taken over by the Babylonians. Verse 14, and that she increased her whoredoms for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion. They haven't even seen the Babylonians yet. They've only seen their pictures. They've only seen their images on the wall of these Chaldeans. But notice what their emphasis is again. Verse 15, girded with girdles upon their loins. Exceeding and dyed attire upon their heads. All of them princes to look to. Again, the emphasis on their clothes. The emphasis on their stature, their status. After the manner of the Babylonian of Chaldea, the land of their nativity. And here we see, not only do we learn about the power of influence, but we learn about the power of the eye. Lamentations 351 says, mine eye affected mine heart. Go to Matthew chapter number six. Here he's talking about the fact that they saw. They were princes to look to. They saw men portrayed. Matthew chapter six, verse 22. The light of the body is what Jesus said. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. This is what the Bible is saying. What you allow into your eyes will influence the rest of your body. Will influence your soul and your mind. Will influence the way you look at life, the way you feel. It's all connected to your eyes. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man, and notice the context. Don't overlook the context. In verse 22 and 23, he just got done talking about the importance of the eye. What you allow into your eye will influence you. Then he says this, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and, stop, possessions, money, mammon. You know why you got a coveting problem? Because you've got a coveting eye. Maybe you should stop watching all the commercials. Maybe you should stop looking at all the pictures. Maybe you ought to just guard your eyes. You might be shocked, you say, I'm just not happy. I'm just not happy with what my husband has us driving to church in. I look at all the other wives and their cars. Well, maybe you should stop looking at their cars. I look at all the other wives and their dresses. Maybe you ought to stop looking at their dresses. I look at all the other people and they, maybe you ought to stop looking. Maybe you ought to guard your eyes. Because mine eye, effective. Mine heart, look at verse 16. And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them and sent messengers unto them in Chaldea. Notice the process of sin, here's the process of sin. She saw, remember in, you don't have to turn there, but in Joshua chapter seven, verse 21, remember the story of Achan? Think Brother Oliver just preached a sermon about this. Remember the process that Achan took? I'll just read this for you, Joshua 7, 21. This is what Achan said, when I saw among the spoils of goodly Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, he says, when I saw, then I coveted them and took them. That's the process of sin. You want to commit adultery? You start by looking, you start by lusting, the next step is lusting, then you're committing adultery. That's how it works. You say, well, what do I do? Just cut it off at the beginning and quit looking. Cut it off, that's why Jesus said, if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. I'm not telling you to literally pluck it out, it has nothing to do with end times, all right? But he's telling you, look, this is how it begins. If thine eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. You see about the power of the eye, the process of sin. Look at 17, Ezekiel 23, 17. Ezekiel 23, 17 says, the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love and they defiled her with their whoredoms and she was polluted with them and her mind was alienated from them. So she discovered her whoredoms and discovered her nakedness then my mind was alienated from her like as my mind was alienated from her sister. It's interesting because in verse 17 he says, her mind was alienated from them and then it says that my mind was alienated from her. Look at verse 28, for thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated. It's interesting what sin does to people. It gives them tunnel vision. All they can see, all they can see. I mean, you try to counsel with people and it's like, you know, don't get divorced, don't leave your husband, don't leave your wife, don't, you know, you can work this out and they just got this tunnel vision. I'll only be happy with the secretary at work. I'll only be happy with the guy I met at work and their mind gets alienated and some, you know, and honestly if you just, you know, sometimes I don't do this and sometimes I just wanna slap them. Wake up! That guy is as much of a loser as the one you're married to. All right, they're both lame and the one you're committing adultery with, that's even worse. You know, but people get this tunnel, look, just be careful about getting, when you get back to it and you get this tunnel vision where whatever you're dealing with, everything's at. Everything's terrible, everything's bad, nothing's good. No, you know, the Bible says all things work together for good. You know, just realize that your mind can get alienated and look, there's a principle we see here. God says their minds got alienated and then my mind got alienated, why? Because sin separates us from God. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that when we draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you. When you take a step towards God, he takes a step towards you. But the opposite is also true. When you step away from God, he steps away from you. So be careful about getting alienated. Be careful about getting tunnel vision. Look at verse 25. I will set my jealousy against thee and they shall deal furiously with thee. Notice the description here. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears. And he's saying they're gonna come and they're gonna cut your nose off. Envision somebody with no nose and thine ears. Envision someone with no ears. I mean, he's telling us this because he wants us to think about this. And thy remnants shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters with thy residue shall they devour by fire. They shall also, notice, strip off thy clothes and take away thy fair jewels. Look at verse 34. They shall even drink it and suck it out and thou shalt break the shirts thereof, notice, and pluck off thine own breast for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. Here he's talking about disfiguring this woman. This whore and this harlot, when they turn on her, they're gonna cut off her nose, they're gonna cut off her ears, they're gonna strip off her clothes, they're gonna take away her jewels, and it's gonna get so bad, she's gonna pull, and it says, and pluck off thine own breast. Disfiguring her. Mutilating her. Say, well, why is God telling us this? Well, look at verse 40. And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, and to whom a messenger was sent, lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash thyself. Notice, he's telling us, this is what they did, this is what the whores did. For whom thou didst wash thyself, painted's thy eyes, and deckest thyself with ornaments. He said, look, you got yourself all dolled up for this encounter. You washed yourself, and you decked yourself, you painted your eyes, and you got on your jewelry. Notice verse 41, and sat us upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil, and a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her, and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness. Notice, who put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. Look at verse 35. I'm sorry, yeah, we'll look at verse 35. We'll look at it in a second, but let me just make this comment. It's interesting here that the emphasis is that they got all nicely dressed, and got their makeup on, and got their bracelets on, and got their jewelry on to look nice for the Assyrians, and then God says, God says that they're gonna turn around, and they're gonna mutilate you, and the exact thing that you lifted your heart in, the exact thing that brought you up in pride, your beauty, you're so beautiful. Look at these Assyrians. Look at these princes with their horses. Look at these captains, the red and blue. God says, you're so beautiful, you attracted them. God says, by the time it's done, you're gonna be mutilated. Look, it's God, God will take whatever it is, whatever it is that you lift yourself in pride in, just mark it down, God will take it from you. If it's your beauty, then just get ready to get mutilated. That's what he's saying. If it's your money, get ready to get broke. Whatever it is, whatever it is, God puts a target on whatever it is that lifts up your heart in pride. And he's telling us here, he's telling us, by the time I'm done with you, Assyria, Jerusalem, Samaria, no one's gonna look at you and say you're beautiful. He said, I'm gonna mutilate you, and no one will desire you. And you know what, the nation of Israel, no one has desired it since this time. No country has looked at Israel after the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests and just said, man, look at the beauty there. Since the days of, and here's what he's saying, God is saying, I'm going to destroy you for your adultery. So it better be worth it, make it worth it. Look at verse 35. We'll finish right here. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast forgotten me and cast me behind thy back. Therefore, bear thou also thy lewdness and thy hoardings. You say, why is God so angry? Here's why God's angry. He's equating himself to a man that just walked in on his wife committing adultery. Says, that anger that you would feel as a man, he says, that's what I feel when you put up idols, when you spiritually commit adultery against me. So he says, ahola and aholiba. He says, these lewd women, calls them in verse 45. Look at verse 44. And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses and after the manner of women that shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is in their hand. This is the God that nobody wants to talk about. This is the side of God that nobody wants to hear about and listen about, but this is the God that you and I have to deal with, a jealous God, a holy God who must punish and correct sins. So you know what, it's best, it's best to just do right. It's best to just not look, not covet, not think, not decide to go down that road, to realize that there are consequences for sin and those consequences are not worth the judgment of God. It's by our faith and our word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you both for your word, thank you for the Bible. Lord, I thank you for these negative chapters. I realize that these are not the most popular, nice sermons we want to hear, but you put these descriptive, you put these blunt, you put these in some way gruesome chapters in the Bible for a reason. You're trying to display to us your anger and indignation towards sin. Lord, I pray you'd help us to take heed. Help us to not allow influence. Negative influence to affect us. Help us, Lord, if people do wrong, to not follow them. And Lord, help us always to set the right example. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Turn to Psalm 153.