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Chapter 24, and we've been going through the book of Ezekiel on Wednesday night, and we are almost halfway through the book. We're just a little bit shy of halfway, and there's 48 chapters in Ezekiel, and next week we'll cross the halfway mark of the book. If you could just turn me up just a little bit so I can hear myself, I'd appreciate it. This is an interesting chapter, and actually in this chapter Ezekiel's wife dies. I don't know if you caught that as we were reading through there, but his wife dies, and we're going to talk about that. This chapter has a similar theme to the rest of the book in regards to dealing with God's judgments. I hope you've been studying Ezekiel with us, and I hope you've been reading ahead. I remember when I was not a pastor, and I went to a church that had a Wednesday night Bible study, I'd often try to read the chapter ahead of time, and then see if I could figure out what the pastor was going to preach about, or what he was going to say or do. Sometimes it helps you learn a little bit more in regards to that. Once you notice verse number one, we're just going to walk through this chapter and learn some things as we go along. Like I said, this chapter has to do with the judgment of God, as most of Ezekiel has to do with. We begin by talking about the timing of God's judgment. It's interesting if you look at verse one, it says this. Again, we're given a very specific time. It says, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. Now, Ezekiel 24 has a little bit of a theme in regards to being a prophetic or prophecy in this chapter. We kind of begin with a little bit of prophecy, and we end the chapter with a little bit of prophecy. And here, we have the word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel on this very specific day, and God is telling him. If you notice verse two, he tells him to write thee the name of the day, even this same day. Now, you have to understand, Ezekiel is one of the captives that's already in Babylon. And we've talked about this as we've been going through the book of Ezekiel, but the Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of Israel happened in three different waves, and Ezekiel was already taken. He's already in Babylon, and each wave gets worse, and the last wave is going to be the final wave where they destroy the temple and where Jerusalem, nobody, where it's basically just done away with, and they're all in captivity for 70 years. And Ezekiel is just a captive in Babylon. And he gets up on this specific day, the ninth year, the tenth month, and the tenth day of the month, and God tells him, hey, today is the day that the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem, he says this same day. Now, here's the thing, the king Nebuchadnezzar on that day was basically going to begin his assault and begin his siege of Jerusalem. That news of that event would not have came to Ezekiel until weeks and months later, but yet God told him, hey, today begins. Everything you've been talking about for the last 23 chapters, the judgment of God and all those things, God tells Ezekiel, today we're going to begin that, write this day down, mark this day, because this day is going to go down in history of the nation of Israel as the day that Nebuchadnezzar brought himself against the nation of Israel. Now, here's what's interesting, this date is actually documented throughout scripture. Keep your place there in Ezekiel 24, we're going to come back to Ezekiel, of course, but go to the book of Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah chapter 52. Now, if you remember, Jeremiah is a contemporary of Ezekiel, and Jeremiah was actually in Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar came to take over. Notice what Jeremiah 52 and verse 4 says. Jeremiah 52 says this, It came to pass, this is Jeremiah's account, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month. Does that sound familiar? Which is just the exact date that we read in Ezekiel 24.1. That Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it round about. And again, Ezekiel writes this down on that same day, being all the way in Babylon, not being able to see what's going on or know what's going on, but he knows what's going on because God tells him. Go to Jeremiah 39, look at verse 1. Jeremiah 39 and verse number 1 says this, Jeremiah 39 1, it says, In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. So I want you to notice that two times in Jeremiah, this date is given as the date that Nebuchadnezzar came to destroy the city. You don't have to turn here, but in 2 Kings 25 and verse 1, we have the exact same date. If you want to jot that down, maybe as a cross reference on the side of your, on the margin of your Bible there. 2 Kings 25 1, I'll read it for you, says this, And it came to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his hosts, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. So you have it written down in 2 Kings, which is a historical book of the nation of Israel. You have it written down by Jeremiah, who was a contemporary living through that same time. You have it written down by Ezekiel. Ezekiel would not have known that or would not have known about it until someone would come and tell him, someone who escaped from Jerusalem to tell him. But yet God told him, hey, today is the day. And here's what you need to understand, if you want to make your way back to Ezekiel, is that Ezekiel has had this ministry where he's been preaching and he's been teaching. He's been doing all sorts of things to try to get the people's attention and to explain to them that the day of judgment is coming. And what's interesting is that he gets up one day and God says, hey Ezekiel, I know you've just been teaching in theory that my judgment is coming, but this whole time I've had a date, I've had a moment, I've known when it was going to happen, and it's going to happen today, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month. And what we see here is that God knows the exact day of coming judgment. See, sometimes, like Ezekiel, we might feel, and I would assume that Ezekiel felt this way, and sometimes you and I might feel like, you know what, the world is just getting away with sin, the world is just getting away with corruption, the world is just getting away with murder, as we'll see in Ezekiel 24, the world is just getting away with lewdness, with perversion, the world is getting away with all these things, and we keep talking about the judgment of God coming, the judgment of God coming, but here's what you need to know, and here's what you need to have a confidence in, that God knows when he will judge not only individuals, not only cities and nations, but even the entire world. You know, we don't know when the event of the end times are going to happen, we don't know when those things are going to happen, but you know that God has an exact day in regards to when those things will come to pass. Keep your place there in Ezekiel, go to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number 12. You've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Romans chapter 12. And here's what we can learn about the timing of God's judgment, is that you and I may not be able to know when it is that God is going to judge an individual or a city or a nation, but we can rest on the fact that God knows when he will judge. God has an exact day. And sometimes we look at individuals that we think, these are evil people, these are wicked people, and they're just getting away with it. You know, our world is not bringing justice upon them. But know this, that God knows when he's going to judge them. And God knows, and here's the thing, even if they're not judged on this earth, and we don't ever know really what people are going through, but even when they die and go to hell, we're talking about a wicked reprobate. You know, we're talking about someone that has hurt children, someone that has molested children, someone that has hurt individuals, that's raped women or whatever. You know, when you're talking about someone like that, you might think, well, when is the judgment coming? But you know that God knows when that wicked reprobate is going to die and go to hell? The Bible says, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this a judgment. God knows the exact day that his judgment is going to come upon that individual. And we can rest on the fact that God is the judge. God is the one. Are you there in Romans chapter 12 and verse 19? The Bible says this, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. You say, well, how can we live a life where we don't avenge ourselves, where we give place unto wrath, where we don't give ourselves over to wrath? How can we have that confidence? Here's why. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. And for 23 chapters, Ezekiel's been talking about their sin, talking about their wickedness, talking about God's judgment coming upon the people, but God always knew the exact day, the ninth year, the tenth month, the tenth day of the month. That day went down in infamy for the children of Israel the day that Nebuchadnezzar showed up at their doorstep and the judgment of God came upon the people. Go back to Ezekiel 24. We see in this chapter not only the timing of God's judgment, but we also see, and notice that it is a precise judgment. God knows, look, God knows what he's doing, God knows when he's going to do it, and we can just have confidence in the fact that we don't need to avenge ourselves, we can give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But in this chapter, not only do we see the timing of God's judgment, we also see the purpose of God's judgment. Notice verse number three. He says this, and utter a parable. If you remember Ezekiel is known through the book of Ezekiel for his parables. And here he's told to utter a parable unto the rebellious house and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it. So he begins to give this parable about a pot that he takes and he sets it on. The idea there is that he sets it for boiling, he puts water in it to begin to boil, to begin to cook. And it's interesting that he's using this parable, because if you remember Ezekiel 11, in fact, just real quickly, let's turn back to Ezekiel 11. There was actually a real famous parable, we spent a couple of weeks talking about it, when we're already going through the book of Ezekiel, and there was a famous parable that the people were saying, that they would say to each other, and God kind of took that parable from them and turned it around. Well, in Ezekiel 24, it's kind of a continuation of that. If you notice Ezekiel 11 and verse 2, the Bible says this, Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that have devised mischief, and given wicked counsel in this city, which say, so this is the wicked people of Jerusalem, this is what they were saying, it is not near, talking about the judgment of God, right? That's what they were saying, it's not near. But God knew when his judgment was coming, God knew it to the exact day. And they were saying, it is not near, let us build houses. Because Ezekiel and Jeremiah were saying, hey, don't build houses here, build houses in Babylon, because God's judgment is coming. And they were saying, no, no, no, it is not near, let us build houses. And this is what they were saying, this is the parable that they were saying. They were saying, this city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh. And if you remember, they were using this illustration and they were saying, you know, this city is like a pot, and we're like the meat inside of the pot. And they were saying, we're protected inside of this pot, this city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh. In Ezekiel 24, God's going to take that parable and turn it around on them. Notice, go back to Ezekiel 24, look at verse 4. In verse 3, he told them to set on a pot, set it on and also pour water in it. In verse 4, he says this, gather the pieces thereof into it. He says, I want you to gather the different things that are going to go into this pot, this soup that we're making. He says, even every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, fill it with the choice bones. I want you to notice that Ezekiel is told to put every good piece, all the things that you would like, the thigh, the shoulder. He says, look for the choice bones. He says, put good things into the pot. Notice verse 5, take the choice of the flock. He says, go look at the flock, pick out the best. When it says the choice there, he's saying, pick out the best, what people would want, what people would choose. He says, the choice of the flock and burn also the bones under it and make it boil well and let them see the bones of it therein. So he's saying, look, I want you to take the choice, I want you to take the best, I want you to take the thigh, I want you to take the shoulder, I want you to throw it in there with the bones. They're making a bone broth. He says, I want you to take the best, but then I also want you to take these bones that maybe someone wouldn't want because notice what he says there. He says, and burn also the bones under it and make it boil well and let them see the bones of it therein. Notice verse 6, wherefore, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein. Now, here's what he's saying, he said, you throw in the good stuff and then you also throw in a bunch of bad stuff, things that people wouldn't choose, just the bones and whatever. And the idea is, and we've already talked about this in Ezekiel, is that when the judgment of God comes, it comes upon the righteous and the wicked. And the blessing of God comes upon the righteous and the wicked. It's going to affect good people and bad people. But here he says in verse 6, and here's where we begin to talk about the purpose of God's judgment, and he's telling us, this is what I'm going to accomplish. He said, not only is there a specific timing to God's judgment, but there is a purpose to God's judgment. And here's what he says, verse 6, wherefore, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, and I want you to notice the emphasis is on the fact that it's bloody, because in this chapter it does talk about it being lewd, but the emphasis is on the fact that it is a violent place. He says, woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein. He says, inside of the pot you've got all this choice food, you've got all these great things, you've got bones, but you also have scum therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it, bring it out piece by piece, let no lot fall upon it. Now, when it says scum there, the definition of the word scum is this, a film or layer of foul matter that forms on the surface of a liquid. And the idea here is that when you get a pot, you fill it with water, and you put all this meat, you put bones, you put all this stuff in it, and you begin to boil it, he says, you're going to get this scum that's actually going to come out from the bones and come out from the meat and just kind of dirt and things that are not good. And the heat of the water is going to cause the scum to boil up and to come up to the top. And he says, you are a city that is like this boiling pot in Cauldron, but you haven't removed the scum. When the dirt and when the grease and when the things that maybe are not desirable, they kind of boil up, you've left them there, and when you've left them there, they've actually corrupted the metal of the pot. This is the idea of what Ezekiel is talking about. Notice verse 7. For the blood is in the midst of her. She is set upon the top of a rock. She poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust. And remember in verse 6, he's talking about the fact that it was a bloody city, and here we're told, this city, verse 7, he says, for, meaning because, her blood is in the midst of her. He's talking about the city that was a bloody city. There was so much violence. People had gotten so, it had become normal, they had become desensitized to the violence and to the blood that people would literally die or be killed or be murdered, and the blood would just be in the midst of the city, on the top of the rock. They would not even cover it with dust. It was just kind of this known thing. Nobody cared. And the idea here is, you know you crossed a line when you're no longer hiding your sin. At the very least, if you're going to live in sin, if you're just going to live in wickedness, at least don't flaunt it. But you know people crossed a line and they're backsliding? Because there's different levels to backsliding. People get backslid in their heart, they'll come to church, they'll come to a church like this, they're right with God, they love the Lord, they love everything, you know, they're involved. But then they start getting backslid, right, in their hearts. And then they start doing things that they wouldn't have done before when they were right with God, or they start saying things, they start watching things, they start going places, they start wearing things, but they'll kind of hide it, they'll just keep it. But you know you crossed a line when now you're dressed like a whore on Facebook and you don't even care, right? You just post the pictures on Facebook, you post the pictures of you and your husband drinking, you post the pictures. You know you crossed a line in your backslid and heart when you just, you're not covering the blood, where you're not even hiding the sin. I mean the city got so violent that nobody's even burying the bodies. They're just leaving it there for everyone to see. And God said, this is the idea, this is what he's saying, you're not removing the scum. He said, you're like a city, a pot, and you just have the scum and you're just fine with having a meal with all this scum on it, with all this dirt and grease and fat and everything. You know, you're supposed to take that off and then serve the meal. But he said, you guys just leave it there for everybody. Notice what we're saying. He said that it might cause fury to come up, to take vengeance. Here's what God's saying. You're open, just blatant, just showing off your sin is going to come up, is going to cause fury to come up and take vengeance. I have set her blood upon the top of the rock that it should not be covered. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city. I will even make, here's what God said, I will even make the pile, okay, he's talking about piling up wood to set this pot on fire. He says, I will make the pile for fire great. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh and spice it well and let the bones be burned. Now, here's what he says. He says, you want to just leave the scum, you want to allow it to even attach itself to the pot and to the metal to begin to corrupt it? He said, that's alright, because what I'm going to do when I bring my judgment, I'm going to, the purpose of the judgment is to purge you. Notice verse 11. He says, then set it empty upon the coal. Here's what God said, I'm going to take your pot, right, now the pot's the city. He said, I'm going to set your pot upon the coals thereof that the breast of it might be hot and may burn and that the filthiness of it may be molten. And you know, this is actually a way that you can clean metal and a way that is even used today to be able to clean pots and metal pots or whatever. And he's saying, what we're going to do, here's what we're going to do, we're going to purge the scum. We're going to heat up the fire and we're just going to lay the pot on it that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. Verse 12, she hath weared herself with lies and her great scum went not forth out of her. Her scum shall be in the fire. God is saying, here's what he's saying, when you live in open sin, you're not even ashamed, embarrassed. He said, it's like you're showing off your scum. And he said, when I watch that, it just makes me furious. And I will bring my judgment. And he said, I'm going to heat up that pot and I'm going to heat it up to try to purge the scum. He said, the scum has actually began to rust the metal. It's actually attached itself to the metal and I'm going to clean it up. I'm going to heat it up so that it will melt off, so that we can rinse it off, so that we can wipe it off, so that we can remove the great scum. Now here's what you need to understand. This is often how God likens purging of a nation, purging of an individual, purging of a church. And in fact, we see here in Ezekiel 24 that this can be done for a nation. Notice verse 13, in thy filthiness is lewdness. He said, you're just living in your own filth. He said, you're just living in your own violence, in your own lewdness. He said, when you are just allowing sin to run rampant, it's not shameful, it's not the same. People will say, well, there's been sodomites, you know, there's been sodomites since Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean, and before that. You know, what's the big deal? There is, and people say, well, there's sodomites everywhere. And that's true. Say, well, what's the big deal? You know, you guys want to fight the LGBTQ movement. Here's the problem. We understand that there's going to be sodomites and child molesters and rapists and unnatural and wicked people like that. Look, no matter how righteous of a nation you have, you're always going to have those people. But you know what? If we're going to have those people, let's have them hidden in the closet. Let's have them afraid and ashamed. Let's have them run around in the dark, at least. Let's have them be ashamed. There used to be a day in this country where if a girl got pregnant out of wedlock, it was a shameful thing. I'm not saying this was right, I'm just saying there was a day when her parents would send her off. Because it was so embarrassing. I'm not saying they should, I'm just telling you, it was so embarrassing. But you know what? Today, you're pregnant, not married, whatever. You're a homo, yep, you marched on Main Street. I mean, drugs, alcohol, and we're living in a society, and God says when you get to the place where you don't even hide your sin, where you just leave, where you just take the carcass of the child you just murdered in the womb and just throw it in the trash can, God says it makes me furious. And I'm going to purge the scum out. I'm going to purge the filth out. I'm going to purge, so we see how this can happen to a nation. But I want you to notice, this can also happen to a church. You're there in Ezekiel, but go with me to the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We see the same principle in church life, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, look at verse 1. You've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 says this, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication, as is not so much as named among the Gentiles. Now remember, the scum represents, in Ezekiel, represents open, shameless sin. Where just people are sinning and they're just not ashamed, they're not embarrassed, they're just... So what do we see here in 1 Corinthians 5? We see that it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. There is a couple in the church, they're not married, they're sleeping together, they're living together, they're not married, and everybody just acts like it's normal. Let me tell you this, this is 99% of churches in America today. I mean, the average church in the United States of America today, you're going to have people just living in fornication, and no one even bats an eye at it, most people don't even know what to say! Because no one's preaching it. Here he says, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication, as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be, notice, taken away from among you. Look, this is one of the passages that deals with what we call church discipline. And today people have this idea that church is just for everybody, and everybody can come to church, and everybody's welcome, and you know what, we want as many people to be welcomed as possible, please understand this, the Bible never teaches that church is just for everybody. Look, you know what, number one, church is for saved people. But there's even some saved people that aren't welcome. Because there's some things like, and he listed in 1 Corinthians 5, fornication, drunkenness, there's certain sins where God says, when you're just living in open sin, you're not even ashamed of it, you're not even embarrassed. God says, that needs to be taken away from among you. That scum needs to be removed. Look at verse 5, he says, you're just living with them, and loving on them, and thinking it's all fine, here's what you should be doing, verse 5, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And don't let that word saved there confuse you, a lot of times people get confused because the word saved is used a lot in scripture, not just about salvation, like going to heaven when you die, but it's used in a lot of different contexts. And obviously, at this point, we're talking to the church in Corinth, we're talking to people that are already saved. Spiritually, this is talking about being able to save, being able to redeem, being able to not destroy or cast away his life. Remember, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, he said, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. He's saying, look, I'm saved, but I could throw away my life, I could cast away my life, I could ruin my life. And here he's saying, this young man is ruining his life, we want to give him unto Satan, we'd rather Satan destroy his flesh, that his spiritual life might be saved. Here's what he's saying, your spiritual side is more important than your physical side. Paul says, I'd rather God destroy his flesh, I'd rather God take away his finances, I'd rather God take away his house, I'd rather God take away his car, I'd rather God do whatever he needs to do physically to get a hold of him to save him spiritually. Notice verse 6, your glorying is not good. He said, you're just letting this fornication into your church and you think it's fine and you think it's great, you think it's dandy, or we're reaching out to people. He says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump? Look, when you start, and look, and here it's applied to fornication, but you can apply that to any sin. When there is sin, whatever sin, big sin, small sins, really bad things, things that aren't that big of a deal, what I've learned as a pastor is when you allow certain things to come into church, and you don't check them, and you don't stop them, and you don't just come down hard on them, you know what happens? They always get worse, they don't get better. Because certain little things will develop within churches, little habits, little cultures, ways of doing things, and sometimes I think to myself, man, that's not what I want, that's not what I like, that's not what the Bible says, that's not what we should be doing, but you know, I don't want to hurt people's feelings, I don't want to always be telling, I know I get paid to tell people no, but I'm not always wanting to tell people no, I'm not always wanting to rebuke people, so I think to myself, man, I'll just let it go, it'll be a little phase, and it'll go away, and it'll be fine. But you know what happens? That almost never happens. And not only does it not go away, it gets worse, and it gets worse, and then somebody else starts doing it, then somebody else starts doing it, then somebody else, then I have to get up here and rebuke it and correct it and get all mad and angry about it, and then people are like, you're so mean. I think to myself, why didn't you just not do that? Why didn't you just not bring in that sin? Why didn't you not just not bring in that attitude? Why didn't you not just not bring in that culture? But here's the point, a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. Everything's in the constant state of decay, and we have to be correcting and helping things, and here's what he's saying, he's saying when you allow sin into church, you're going to affect the whole church. Notice verse 7, he says, purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ is our Passover, Christ, our Passover, excuse me, is sacrificed for us. Here's what he's saying, we need to purge out the old leaven. Look, there are some people, there are some things, we hate to see them go. We don't want anybody ever to go, but there are some individuals in churches that are bad, and they might be bad like they're evil, false prophet reprobates, or they might be bad like they're just a bad influence, and they got to go. And God will sometimes purge, he'll purge a nation, but he'll purge a church. You know, honestly, back in 2016 when we had that major protest and the news media was going crazy and all those things, you know, we had a lot of heat on our church. That was a very stressful, heatful time. But you know, as a result of that, we got rid of a lot of scum. We got rid of a lot of bad influence. We got rid of a lot of people, honestly, there's some people that left, I'd go through that like five times if it meant leaving them away. Because there's people that are bad people, that are bad influences, that bring in wrong mindsets, that bring in wrong ideas, and then they try to spread that scum around. You know that, oh, maybe you don't have to go back to Sunday night church, don't you need some family time? No, that's scum. Get that out of here. If you want to live backslidden, hide your sin. But if you want to tell the whole world, hey, I'm backslidden, I'm not going soul-winding anymore, I'm backslidden, I'm not going to Sunday night church anymore, hey, hide that scum or we're going to get rid of it. If you want to live in sin, live in sin. But when you put the blood upon the rocks, it makes God furious. And God says, look, I'll purge a nation, I'll purge a church, but you know what, God will also purge individuals. Go to John 15. You're there in 1 Corinthians, just head back, go past Romans, Acts, into John. John chapter 15. Look, let me just let you in on a little secret. You want to keep Pastor Jimenez from just getting all up in your face? When you get backslidden, keep it to yourself. When you start getting backslidden, just don't tell people. Don't sit there and tell people, don't sit there and flaunt it, don't sit there, and if you're going to leave, then just leave. Just go. But people want to just try to drag other people down with them. People want to try to get other people to just enter into their sin. Why? Because the little leaven leaveneth all up. I remember one time we had to kick somebody out. There was an individual that we had an issue with them about fornication, and I'd gone to them, and they'd gotten it right, and they'd repented or whatever it got right, and we moved on. And then like a year later, they move in with their boyfriend or whatever. They move in with the person they're not married to. And I would have never known. I mean, it's not like I'm following people. I've got better things to do than follow you around and figure out what you're into. But this lady, she goes around and starts telling all the people in church, oh yeah, I moved in with so-and-so. Yeah, I moved in with so-and-so. I know we're not married, but I think to myself, well, now we're going to throw you out. I mean, here's the thing. And then, of course, they go around and tell everybody how mean I am, how unloving our church is. I think to myself, man, I wouldn't even know. Why in the world are you telling the whole world? And I'm not saying you should do it. I'm just saying you're the one that told us. You scum. You're not even ashamed. You're not even embarrassed. You've got to be ashamed of yourself after coming to a church like this for a year or however long, hearing this type of preaching. And then you're just going to walk in and be like, yeah, we just moved in anyway. Well, get out. We're going to purge out the leaven. Because the little leaven, leaveneth the whole... People say, well, I don't think you should say that. This is what the Bible says. The Bible says, you know what we should be praying? You know that individual? They went to some IFB church down the street, and they were just accepted. Oh, you're living in fornication. No problem. Come on in. You know what? Well, you're supposed to be praying that the devil destroys their flesh. That's what the Bible says. And people don't like that. But you know what? People don't like the Bible. That's the problem. They don't read the Bible. They don't know the Bible. They don't understand the Bible. They've made a god out of their own imagination. They're a god they worship. It's really just Santa Claus who gives you gifts when you're good and gives you gifts when you're bad and doesn't really care. But that's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible will purge nations that allow their scum to come up and be seen. The God of the Bible will purge churches to try to remove the scum and try to remove the bad influences. The God of the Bible will purge individuals. Are you there in John 15? Look at verse 1. John chapter 15 and verse 1. And it's not always a negative thing. Sometimes it's a good... It's not always just God's judgment. Sometimes it's not God's judgment at all. I'll give you an example of that. But look at John 15 and verse 1. I am the true vine. This is Jesus speaking. And my father is a husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit is taken away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. See, Jesus and God, they're in the fruit-bearing business. When a branch brings forth fruit, you say, what do they do with that branch? They purge it, that it might bring forth more fruit. And when a branch is not bearing fruit, he says he takes it away. Now look, this is not talking about losing your salvation. People love to go to this chapter to try to prove that you can lose your salvation. It's funny to me how whenever someone wants to preach a heresy, they always want to go to a parable to prove it. There's like a hundred clear statements in the book of John that salvation is eternal life. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. That's a clear statement from Jesus Christ. We're like, no, no, look at this parable. So this is not talking about somebody losing their salvation who's saved. Obviously, if I was clear about that, look at verse 3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Here he's talking about, look, he's saying, I want you clean. Why? Because when you're clean, you'll bear more fruit. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except that abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. Here's what he's saying. You cannot get anybody saved. You cannot produce fruit. You cannot get people saved. You cannot help people grow and be discipled. You cannot do that in and of yourself. You have to abide in the vine. You have to be connected to Christ. You say, well, how do I do that? You do that by abiding in this book right here. You say, why is there no power in these churches? They've got auditoriums filled with people, but you know what? Their auditoriums are filled with people that are not saved and that are worldly. They've got their rock concert filled with people the same way that the world has their rock concert filled with people. It's just people like good shows. Only spiritual people want to show up to a church where they're going to be told what the Bible says and some guy screaming and yelling about fornication. But you say, well, why don't they have any power? Here's why they don't have any power, because they're not connected to the Word. Because they're not abiding in Christ. Abide in me and I in you. Verse 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except that abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. Verse 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him. The same bringeth forth much fruit, and without me ye can do nothing. And the idea, look, he says, I'm going to purge you. I'm going to purge you to make you better. Job 23, you don't have to turn there, but in verse 10. Remember Job? Now, Job wasn't being judged by God. The Bible is very clear about that. But he was going through a heated time, a trial, troublesome time in his life. Here's what he said in Job 23, 10. He said, the Bible says this, but he knoweth, this is Job speaking, but he knoweth the way that I take. Because he's talking about all these bad things that have happened to him, and he says, God knows where I am. God knows what I'm doing. God knows what's happening to me. He says, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. He said the trials and the purging, they make us better. They make us stronger. They make us be able to produce more fruit. Go back to Ezekiel. So we see the timing of God's judgment. And the timing of God's judgment is this. The lesson from that is this, that though we do not know the exact time when God might bring his judgment upon an individual or a nation or the entire world, we can be confident in the fact that he will do it. Because God is no respecter of persons. If God judged Israel, he's going to judge everyone else who's shedding innocent blood. But we also see the purpose of God's judgment. What's the purpose? The purpose is to remove the skull. The purpose is to purge out the old leaven. Thirdly, we see the certainty of God's judgment. Notice verse 14. Verse 14, Ezekiel 24 says this, I the Lord have spoken it. Notice what he says. It shall come to pass, and I will do it. It will not go back. Neither will I spare. Neither will I repent. According to thy ways, or according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God. Remember, he's telling Ezekiel this because Ezekiel is in Babylon. Ezekiel's in Mesopotamia. And he wakes up one day and the Spirit of the Lord says, hey, all the way back in Jerusalem, all the way back in Judea. Today, Nebuchadnezzar is showing up to bring judgment upon Jerusalem. And Ezekiel's like, well, okay. And God is telling him, hey, it shall come to pass. I'm telling you, Ezekiel, neither will I spare, neither will I repent. And look, there is a certainty to God's judgment. God's judgment is coming. You may not know, I may not know when it's coming, but we can know that it is coming. The Bible tells us that in the end times, people will scoff and say, where is the coming of the Lord, the mock at it. But we know that the judgment of God is coming. Why don't you notice, fourthly tonight, we see the cruelty of God's judgment. And maybe that's the wrong word, the mercilessness of God's judgment. But it's an interesting little thing that happens in this chapter, and we'll talk about it and make the application. But notice verse 15, it says, also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, It's all in the same day, right? Ezekiel gets up, God tells him, hey, today's the day, today begins the judgment, Nebuchadnezzar's going to show up. And then he says, also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, said, a man behold. This is what God told Ezekiel. I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes. That's an interesting way to describe, because he's talking about his wife. He said, I'm going to take away from you the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. So how do we know how Ezekiel's wife died? And the truth is we don't know how people die. But it's interesting to me that today people die suddenly of a stroke. And here we're told that he's going to take the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shalt thou mourn. Here's what's interesting. And he hasn't been told it's his wife yet. God is telling Ezekiel, I'm going to take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shalt thy tears run down. He says, I'm not allowing you, Ezekiel, to mourn. I'm not allowing you to weep. I'm not allowing you to have tears that will run down. Verse 17, he says, forbear to cry. He said, you have to not allow yourself to cry. He says, make no mourning for the dead. At this point Ezekiel knows, okay, someone's going to die. Bind the tire of thine head upon thee and put on thy shoes upon thy feet. He says, cover not thy lips. People often when they're weeping and crying, maybe uncontrollably they just heard it, someone they love, they'll cover their mouth as they're trying to hold back the tears. But God says, you're not going to do that. Cover not thy lips and eat not the bread of men. So I spake unto the people in the morning, because he was told to wake up. God tells Ezekiel, wake up, go preach the sermon. The sermon is this, today's the day. The judgment of God is coming. And then God tells Ezekiel, and know this Ezekiel, that while you're going through your day, I'm going to take away the desire of thine eyes. Someone's going to die, you're not going to be allowed to mourn. Verse 18, so I spake unto the people in the morning. Notice Ezekiel goes and he does what he was told. He preaches the sermon, and then he says this, and at even my wife died. And I did in the morning as I was commanded. He didn't weep, he didn't cry, he didn't mourn. Now this seems mercilessness, it seems cruel. But God has a reason for this, and it's interesting because when we're studying the book of Leviticus, you remember Leviticus, remember that Aaron was not allowed to weep over the death of his sons. Now his sons died because of their wickedness. Ezekiel's wife, we're not told that she did anything wrong, but he's not allowed to mourn her. Notice verse 19, and the people said unto me, this man's wife just died. He doesn't mourn her, gets up, puts his shoes on, puts his hat on, goes to work, does what he does every day. And the people said unto me, will thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest? They said, what are you doing Ezekiel? Why are you doing this? Verse 20, then I answered them, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength. I want you to notice these words, the desire of your eyes. See, Ezekiel loved his wife, and in verse 16 we're told that she was the desire of his eyes. And by the way, that's how it ought to be. Your wife, man, ought to be the desire of your eyes, okay? Not some woman on a website. And God is looking at his wife saying, she's the desire of your eyes, but he said, the correlation here is the same way that you love your wife, the children of Israel, they love their sanctuary, they love their temple. It is the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth, and your, notice what he says, your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. Because they're coming to him and they're saying, Ezekiel, your wife died, and you're not mourning, you're not weeping, you're not crying, you're not allowing yourself to do what normal people will do during these times. And they're saying, what's up? Remember, Ezekiel's done these kind of lessons before. He's done these object lessons a lot. And they're saying, what is it? Will thou not tell us what these things are to us? He's saying, tell us what's going on. And he says, here's what's going on, God told me. And the same way that the desire of mine eyes was taken, the desire of your eyes is going to be taken, your sanctuary is going to be taken, and when they come, when the Babylonians come, and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. He said, my wife died, but you know what, your sons and your daughters are going to die too. Verse 22, and ye shall do as I have done. Ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. And your tires shall be upon your head, and your shoes upon your feet. Ye shall not mourn, nor weep. Here's what he's saying. When they come and they take Babylon, they're going to kill your sons, they're going to kill your daughters. And whoever's left over, they're going to wish that they could host a funeral. They're going to wish that they could have a time. He says, you're not going to eat bread. You know, oftentimes when someone dies, family or friends will come over to the house and they'll bring a meal, they'll have a meal together as they try to comfort that individual. He says, you're not going to be allowed to do these things. You're going to have to put your shoes on, you're going to have to put your hat on, you're going to have to get your clothes ready because they're going to march you out of Israel into Babylon. You will not be allowed to mourn. He said, and that is the object lesson. My wife died and I was not allowed to mourn. You think it's odd, but he says, when your kids die, when your sons and your daughters die, verse 22, and ye shall do as I have done. He says, ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men, and your tires shall be upon your head, and your shoes upon your feet. Ye shall not mourn, nor weep, but ye shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn one toward another. And there is a little bit of the judgment of God being told here because here's what he's saying. The other people that were dying, right, because that's how it started. He's talking about the fact that the blood was upon the rocks, that they did not even have the decency to put dirt upon the blood, that they would just allow dead bodies to fall on the street and nobody cared. And God says, you know what, when your daughter dies and when your son dies, you're going to wish you could have buried them, but nobody will care. You will not be allowed to mourn them. You will not be allowed to bury them. You will not be allowed. God says, this is my judgment, and listen to me, the Bible says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And God says, my judgment will come full circle. Innocent lives were taken and you didn't care. And your children will be taken and no one will care. And you will not be allowed to weep. Verse 24, thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign, according to all that he hath done shall ye do. And when this cometh, he says, when this happens, ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Also thou son of man, remember I told you there's a little bit of a hint of prophecy here. We see that there at the end of verse 24. We'll see it again a little bit here in a second. We're almost done. Look at verse 25, also thou son of man shall it not be in the day when I take from their strength the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons, and their daughters. Why don't you notice the last two verses there of the chapter, we see this idea of prophecy. Let's just do it quickly. Verse 26, he says that he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee to cause thee to hear it with thine ears. Remember, Ezekiel's in Babylon and he doesn't know. He's telling them all these things, but he doesn't know. He knows his wife died, but he doesn't really know what's going on in Jerusalem. But God tells him in verse 26 that there's someone who's going to escape in that day and shall come unto thee to cause thee to hear it with thine ears. He said someone's going to escape from Judah when Nebuchadnezzar shows up and they're going to come and they're going to tell you, Ezekiel, that all of this has come to pass. Now I want you to notice if you flip, because we're there in Ezekiel 24, if you flip over to Ezekiel 33 and verse 21, this prophecy comes to pass. Because God tells Ezekiel that someone's going to come to tell you, to show you that these things have actually happened. In Ezekiel 33 and verse 21, the Bible says this, and it came to pass in the 12th year of our captivity. In the 10th month, the fifth day of the month, don't miss this, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, the city is smitten. Look, everything God says will come to pass, will come to pass. God says, look, someone's coming to tell you, and then, you know, chapter 33, someone shows up, says, hey, I was there. I was there. Remember, I was there on the day that Nebuchadnezzar showed up, and I escaped, and now I'm here to tell you that the city is smitten. Go back to Ezekiel 24, look at verse 27. In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak and be no more dumb, and thou shalt be a sign unto them, and they shall know that I am the Lord. That's why I had to have a word of prayer. How many, Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Think of this chapter, this intriguing, a little bit of an odd chapter, but Lord, I pray that you'd help us to learn the lessons from this chapter. Lord, help us to learn the fact that you want us to live righteous and godly lives. You want to purge the scum out of our lives, the sin out of our lives. You want to purge the scum. You want to purge the leaven out of our church.