In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: Ezekiel chapter 16. Now, I know some of you have looked ahead and read ahead, because many of you do that, and you know that there's 63 verses in chapter 16. It's the longest chapter in the book of Ezekiel. And, you know, we're not going to take the whole thing tonight. I'm not even going to say that we're going to do the whole chapter, but I would like to get through verse 43 if I can. So, I don't know if I can, but I know that's a big chunk.

But this is an interesting chapter, to say the least, and so let's pray and I'll give you kind of the run up to it and then we'll get as far through it as we can get tonight. And again, you know, the Lord keeps trying to remind me that this is not a sprint, this is a marathon, and you need to pace yourself. But this chapter is probably one of the most, well, you know, when I sit alone and I read it and I've been reading ahead, you know, I was telling Pastor Joe the other day, yesterday because I had to stop at noon, go get some parts and fix the Evap cooler for the front part of the the, it's not really an Evap cooler, it's a special cooling system for the front part of the sanctuary because the door is open and shut.

That, you know, when I just sat alone with these verses like this, you know, there's a there's a brokenness. As I was up in the mountains this week and just because I'm so far ahead that I'm having to revisit these verses because I never get as far as I think I'm going to get. And so I'm re-studying every week, verses that I've studied for. So, I'm about three weeks into this chapter and we're just not getting to it. Should have gotten to it three weeks ago. But there's something about this chapter that moves me. There's something about this chapter when God exposes his heart, and He tells us that when we're unfaithful, when we get caught up in the things of this world, when we allow idols to come into our hearts, when He's not our master passion, when He doesn't sit alone as the supreme ruler of our lives, when we allow rival thrones to come in, we're going to see tonight that it just breaks His heart. And He's going to use imagery tonight that is very tough. In fact, Spurgeon said this about this chapter. He said, "A very extraordinary chapter this 16th chapter of Ezekiel is. A minister could scarcely read it in public, because when you understand what's being said and how He's addressing it, you know, it's it's it's hard to say the things and we're going to kind of skip over some of that terminology and I I don't want to distract from the message because some of the things that He says are pretty hard to take in."

He said, "A minister can scarcely read it in public. He certainly would not like to explain some of the metaphors to a general audience, because some of the metaphors are pungent and they're pointed." And they're graphic. In fact, many of the rabbis of old would not allow this to be read, studied or taught in the synagogue. In fact, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus said in the Mishna, "This chapter was not to be read nor translated in public, because of the metaphors that God uses to describe His heart, His feelings and what our sin looks like to Him." And so let's pray and we'll just get as far as we can this evening and we'll find a stopping place if I don't get as far as I want to get, we'll find a stopping place. But this is a hard chapter not to take as a whole because you want to get to the end, because I I assure you at the end there's a promise. At the end, there is a promise that one day God will restore Israel, that He and they will honor the covenant relationship they've entered into and that she will stop being, as it were, an unfaithful wife. Now, we're the bride of Christ. Israel is the wife of God and He'll use that kind of terms. And so, but we can apply this to our own lives. We can apply it to the church today because we're the bride of Christ. We don't want to be unfaithful, do we?

And I I will I will tell you, you will have victory over sin in your life when you understand how it breaks the heart of God. You see, sin doesn't look to be so pleasant and so attractive when you understand what it does to the heart of your father. That it breaks His heart. And when you understand how He views it, it's a lot harder to swallow than we then when we buy into the current philosophy in the church today that we're saved by grace, God loves us, we love Him, and so we can live any way we want. Let me ask you this, what husband will put up with that philosophy from his wife? Hey, we're married. I love you, you love me, so I can live any way I want. And so, don't get caught up in the metaphors and in the graphic statements that God is going to make, but He's trying to communicate and it's His Word, He's trying to communicate that when the church or Israel, His people, when they go off into sin and serve other idols, that He sees it as a whorish thing and it breaks His heart.

Father, we thank You tonight for Your Word that is before us. And we thank You that in the book of Ezekiel like no other book, and again, I've taught through the Bible many times, but the book of Ezekiel stands alone as it were, and that it is in this particular book, it's as You are speaking to this prophet, as this prophet is recording Your words and revealing them to Your people, in this particular book, You, as it were, become very vulnerable, very transparent and and You You share with Your creation. And this is the thing that blows my mind, that we have the ability to hurt You, to wound You, to break Your heart as it were. And so, Father, help us to see that and help it to break our heart that we'd ever break Yours. You know, we just sang that song as we close out our worship set this this evening, teach me to hate those things that You hate. And Lord, I would add to that, teach us to love the things that You love. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Chapter 16, verse one. And again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, "Son of man, cause Jerusalem." Now, when when you see this phraseology, you understand that what God is saying to Ezekiel is Jerusalem, as it were, is the heart of the nation of Israel. It's the place that is my city. It bears my name. It's the place where I set up my tabernacle, my temple. It's the place where the ark of the covenant rests. It's the place where the glory of God is. And that's why, you know, the eyes of the Lord are upon Jerusalem continually, and that's why we're to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And so Jerusalem in metaphorically speaking would represent the very heart of God's people. It's the place they came to for the feasts and the festivals to worship the Lord at least seven times a year. It's the place where God places His name. And so, when He's saying to Ezekiel, "I want you to prophesy and this is what I want you to say concerning Jerusalem."

Listen to what He says, "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. I want you to communicate in a way, and I'm going to tell you how to do that, I want you to communicate to the heart of my people what their abominations look like to me. The effect they have on me." We saw in earlier chapters that the effect was that the kabod of God, the anointing of God, the Shekinah glory of God had to leave above the, you know, the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, it went to the doorway and then left and went up into the mountains. And some of the prophets of old and some of the rabbis have said that that glory of God, the Shekinah, they could see it up in the mountains for a few years before the judgment came. They knew that the glory of God had to leave and yet God says to Ezekiel, "My glory had to leave my tabernacle, my temple. It had to leave my city and it had to go stand off because of the sin of my people." I can't even abide in my own city because as Habakkuk says, "His eyes are too pure to look upon sin."

And so now the cry of God Almighty to Ezekiel, this prophet is to communicate to the heart of my people, Jerusalem, what their abominations look like. And I pray before we're done with this chapter, and we'll take it maybe at least two parts, maybe three, that as we look at this that God will speak to our hearts. How many want to see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days, revival? How many want to see people flocking to the Lord and getting saved? Well, you know what it starts with? It starts with personal revival. It starts with God's people seeking His face and not His hands. We see it in 2nd Chronicles chapter 7, verse 14, "If my people," it's conditional. "If my people would humble themselves and pray," you see, prayer is always the mechanism that God uses in God's people's lives to bring the things that God wants to bring. "If my people would humble themselves and pray, seek my face, not my hands." I get so tired of hearing prayers, "Lord, give me, give me, give me, bless me, bless me, bless me, fix this, do that." Instead of just saying, "Lord, I'm just here because I love You. I I'm here to seek Your face. I I'm here to pitch woo," as it were. Some of you don't know what pitch woo means, do you? I I'm here to look into Your eyes as You look into mine. There's a song that Keith Green sings that every time I hear it, the song title is "Born Again", it just brings tears to my eyes because the moment I got saved, that's all I wanted to do.

There there is a phrase in that particular song, and we're going to learn it here. We're going to learn it here. It says, "I want to spend my life watching You watching me." You see, we're called to seek His face, because if you seek His face, then everything that you have need of will be given to you. "Seek you first the kingdom and everything else will be added to you." Listen, all of the things that we need will be added as a secondary thing, but the primary thing is that we seek His face. "If my people, called by my name, would humble themselves and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, examine yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to examine you, to see if there's any idols in your heart, if there's any wicked way, if there's any things that is in your mind and in your heart that shouldn't be there." Listen, the devil tries to put those things in us, but we need to have the Holy Spirit flush those things out as it were, wash us and purify us and cleanse us. To help us to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. To have no rival throne in our heart, no ambition other than Him. In fact, you know, I was up in the mountains and I'm doing my devotions and I was in the Gospel of Luke and I came to the 14th chapter. And again, I'm reminded in the 14th chapter that there Jesus says as, you know, Luke is recording, at least as he's recording as others have told him what Jesus said. He wasn't there personally, but he said, "Unless you hate your father and your mother, your brother, your sister, your children and even your own life, you cannot be my disciple." Well, what's he saying? Because we know we're not supposed to hate. What he's saying is, if your love for me doesn't look like in comparison to your love for everyone else, that it's as though you hate everyone else and you love me, then you can't be my disciple. We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our mind, soul and strength. No rival throne, no idols. Do we not struggle with those things? Do we not have to often come before our Father and say, "Father, forgive me."

"Create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. Wash me and cleanse me in Your blood. Forgive me, Lord, I'm battling these things. These are not the things I want in my life. I detest these things. I battle with them because there is this traitor in me called the flesh and, you know, the Apostle Paul told us in Galatians that the spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, they are contrary. We're going to be in a battle until Jesus takes us out of here and gives us a new body that won't be tempted with sin. But holiness is much more of an attitude than it is an action. What is your thought toward sin? What is your thought toward transgression and iniquity? Do you hate it? Do you hate it with a passion? Do you love Jesus more than you love anything else? Is He your master passion?" See, this is what God is trying to communicate to Ezekiel, and He's telling Ezekiel, "I want you to cause. I want you to cause. I want you to be diligent as the prophet I've called you to be. I want you to cause Jerusalem to understand, to know what her abominations look like," as it were, "to me. And say, 'Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem.'" "I want you to say this, Ezekiel. And listen listen to the description here." And a couple of verses we're going to read, they'll give more clarity to it, but as we go through the rest of verse three, on to four and five and six and seven. When you get to eight, something different happens.

But it's hard to read these things and not just be broken. Up in the mountains, I'm, you know, tears are coming down and I'm trying to wipe my Bible because the red runs. The black doesn't so much, but the red runs on my underlining of the Bible and the yellow from the highlighting because I know what I was like when Jesus found me. And I know what He was like when He found you, what you were like when He found you. You didn't find Him. This whole seeker sense of stuff that's been taught, this water down half truth gospel that's going on in the church today, it ought to stop, because not a one of us has ever sought Him. We're not seeker sensitive. Nobody walks in this church seeking the Lord. They're here because the Holy Spirit has drawn them, because God's the seeker. We're the finder. And we need to take a good hard look tonight of what we looked like to Him when He found us. And here's what He says, starting in verse three, "Thus saith the Lord to Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother was a Hittite." He said, "Listen, your very origin is that you were a pagan."

Now, it's interesting, He mentions father and mother, because in most cultures, the father could be just a loon. In fact, in our culture, it's interesting that in the homes where the father is missing, 97% of people imprisoned today for violent crimes came from those homes where the father was missing and the mother tried to do her best. It's kind of like when we see young Timothy being picked up there in Lystra, his father was a Greek and somehow he's off the off the, you know, reservation, he's either gone or he's dead and the grandmother and the mother raised Timothy in the Word. But here God is saying that both parents are pagan. Both of them are corrupt to the core. When you were conceived, when you were brought forth, you were brought forth and conceived by two pagans that brought you into a pagan as it were lifestyle. Now, now listen to what He says in Psalms 51, verse 5. This is David speaking. Just in case you think that because you were born into a Christian home, there was some kind of, you know, that that salvation kind of transferred down to you, like you inherited it. Listen, God has no grandchildren. You're a child or you're not. Now, there is a special covering that happens, Paul tells us as he writes to the church in Corinth that if if a person is born into a Christian home, of course, the mom and the dad because they're practicing Christianity, they love the Lord, you know, they're able to lead that child, but at some point that child has to acknowledge the God of their parents.

But David says this, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." David said from the very conception, "I came into this world with a fallen nature, I was conceived in sin, I was born in transgression. We come into this world broken, we come into this world fallen. In fact, we come into this world actually so detestable to the Lord that He has to do something to us and for us. We have to receive it to make us acceptable to Him." You you remember when the nation of Israel that He loved dearly, who He tucked away for 400 years in Egypt while He was preparing the land of Canaan for them, and finally God waits to that moment when He sends Moses and and Aaron and they deliver them and they come out and the army falls behind them and He drowns them in the in the Red Sea as He parts the sea and He brings them to Mount Sinai where they see the smoke and the fire coming from the top of the mountain. God was waiting for that moment to bring His people close to Him, that He might lead them and guide them into the promised land. And from that mountain, they literally heard God speak. Have you ever been curious when you read that section there? Have you ever been curious about what God's voice must have sounded like? They were talking like thunder and lightning and many waters. They heard Him speak the Ten Commandments. But God said to Moses, "Put a fence around the bottom of this mountain that no one comes too close to me. These are my people, lest my holiness breaks out and consumes them." And God was always planning that moment when His son would come, the Lamb of God who doesn't just cover sin, but takes away the sin of the world so we now can have intimacy with the Father. The veil was rent. The most holy of holies was exposed and we were given an invitation. Can you imagine that we, conceived in sin and born in transgression, having been washed in the blood of Jesus, having been born again by the Spirit of God, having been so cleansed and so made holy, that we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, that we now can go right into the very holy of holies and receive help and mercy in a time of need? And then He tells us that He will never reject us. In fact, He invites us to come when we have failed, in a time of need to receive help and mercy.

But it's important that we see how He found us because David, King David said, "We were conceived in sin, we were born in transgression." In fact, in a few moments, as we read through this section, I want to remind you of what Joshua said. As Joshua was signing off in that wonderful book in the Old Testament, part of the law in chapter 24, the last chapter, when he comes to verse two and three, Joshua says this, "And Joshua said unto the people, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.'" They were idol-worshiping pagans. The father of Abraham, Abraham himself, Abram, before he became Abraham. And isn't it interesting that God changes his name? He adds the H to the name, both to Abraham and to Sarah. And the H in the Hebrew is the what they call the ruach. It's the sound of breath, it's putting life. It's no longer Abram, it's Abraham. It's the sound of breath. God put life into Abraham, and He did the same for Sarah. But when God called Abram, before He made him Abraham, he was an idol-worshiping pagan. His father was an idol-worshiping pagan. In fact, many scholars believe that Terah was a maker of idols. And Joshua is reminding him as they're about to go into the promised land, "Listen, we are a blessed people. We are a chosen people. We are a set apart people. We are a called out people. We are a great nation that had its birth in paganism." And God called Abraham out of that Ur of the Chaldees, when he was an idol-worshiping pagan, to come and serve the true and living God. And we're about to cross over into the promises of God.

"Even," and then he says, "And then He took your father, Abraham, the father of faith, from the other side of the flood, and He led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him the promise, Isaac." God did that. And so, even Joshua, as he's about to go into the promised land, reminds him. And in Deuteronomy 7, verses 7 and 8, listen to this, "The Lord did not set His love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt." Not because you were better, not because you were greater, not because you were more in number, not because there was anything special about you. And what we need to understand, the first thing we need to understand, there's nothing special about us. We are broken and undone. To us belongs, as Ezekiel would say, shame of face. To you belong glory. You're a holy God. We are a mess. We are broken, we are undone. And He's going to tell us in a few moments, as we read through these verses, what we actually looked like to Him when He found us. And He didn't call us because we're anything special. He didn't save us because we're anything special. He didn't forgive us because we're anything special. He didn't promise us all of these promises that are ours because we're anything special. He didn't do it because there was anything special about us, He did it because there was something very special about Him, because He's a God of love and a God of mercy and a God of grace. In fact, in the Old Testament it says that if He wasn't a God of mercy, we'd have been consumed. And that's why worship is so important as we approach on our best day, on our best day.

We are so in need of His grace. God help us that we never become religious and judgmental. That's why we have a sign over the door before you come in the sanctuary, "Pharisee Free Zone." God gave that to me one morning when I woke up. "Pharisee Free Zone." No legalistic, critical or self-righteous spirit allowed, because when we come in here, we have to come in realizing that we're a product of His grace, of His mercy, of His love, of His compassion. He saw us as we're going to see in a few moments, as a mess and He cleaned us up. He washed us. He gave us an inheritance. He set us up on a rock. Everything He has done. To God be the glory. Listen, to God be the glory. We're going to sing that when we get to heaven, to God be the glory. Great things He has done. Not to God be the glory to us. We're going to be broken. That's how we're going to keep throwing our crowns at His feet and somehow they keep come back on our heads. Religious people think they're something when they are nothing. Saved people realize they're nothing and God makes them something. Amen. Don't ever become religious. Jesus didn't have a lot to say about religious people, but He had a lot to say, didn't have a lot of good to say about religious people, but He had a lot of good things to say about those who just came broken. We're going to try to get through some of the more verses. Would you stop slowing me down? I'm trying to get through these verses.

So watch what He says here. Verse 4, "And as for thy nativity," that's your birth, "When you were born, in the day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut." You see, part of the process was, and how many have been in a room where the doctor says, "You want to cut the cord?" And and I I did it once, I can never do it again. I can still feel to this day the texture of it as you're holding those scissors. It's just something you once is enough. Because I I have a real weak stomach. But what He's saying is, they didn't separate you. They didn't detach you from the placenta because when the placenta came out, it came out as dead flesh and you were still attached to something that was dead. They didn't cut the navel. When you were born, nobody cut your navel. "Neither was thou washed in water and cleansed thereby." Nobody washed you. You know, if you've been in the birthing room, those babies come out, they're covered in blood. And and, you know, and I had to tell the nurse, "Listen, I had read somewhere, Dr. James Dobson had said that the baby bonds with the mother when it's in the womb because they hear her voice all the time. But the first 30 minutes when the baby comes out of the womb, it bonds with the father's voice." And I had to wrestle our babies out of the hands of the nurse. I said, "Just wrap them up in a blanket and hand them to me. I don't care what they look like, I want them to hear my voice." And I would tell them how much I loved them and how thankful I was that God gave them to me to be my child and me to be their father and that I was going to do my best to protect them. And and, you know, Carol's over there getting, you know, just trying to recover from being drugged through a knothole backwards, and I got to walk around with the baby. And just tell them how much I loved them. He he said, "There was nobody there for you when you were born. Nobody to wash you, to cleanse you. Thou was not salted at all." They used to rub down the baby with salt. Salt was had an antiseptic effect. It had a cleansing effect. It had a purifying effect. And in those days they would rub them down with salt. Nobody's there to to rub you down with salt when you were born. "Nor swaddled you at all." Not wrap you up to make you feel comfortable in swaddling. "No eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out into the open field." Isn't this interesting that Ezekiel writes about this baby's being set up aside, not loved, not appreciated, not wanted? Nobody there to care for them or love them. Nobody to cleanse them or wash them. Nobody to whisper into their ears while they hold them in their arms, "I love you." The the bill before Congress is to do just this. Unwanted babies that are born that aren't aborted before that are going to be set aside for a number of days while the mother decides whether she wants to keep the baby or not. I'm going to tell you, this breaks the heart of this is the imagery He uses in the scripture for something unwanted that breaks His heart.

He said, "They set you in open field, loathing of thy person." They loathed you. They they hated you. They didn't want you. "You were rejected of men in the day that thou was born." So, He's saying, you you're like a baby that was unwanted. You're like a baby that was still attached to the filth of this life when you were born. Nobody cut your navel. Nobody cleansed you with salt. Nobody washed the bloodiness off of you. In fact, it's interesting in the Hebrew, when He sees them, He's going to talk about this, it's as though that you you were floundering in your own blood. You were unloved, you were rejected. You were outside of the covenants and promises of God. You were in this world with no hope. This is how Christ finds us. "And when I passed by," verse 6, "And when I passed by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood." The idea is, "You are floundering and flopping in your own blood. I said unto thee, even when thou was in thy blood, when you were dying, 'Live.'" Hard for me to read this because I know the condition I was in on the night that Jesus found me. Floundering in my own blood, dying, hopeless, rejected of men. Had ruined every relationship in my life, and crying out, "If there's a God in heaven." I I know I'm not an atheist because I don't know everything that can be known. You know, I still had an intellect. I had a high IQ. I could reason through things, but I I reasoned through the fact, I'm not an atheist. I'm not an atheist because I would have to know everything to conclude there is no God, and I don't know everything. This is the conversation I'm having, sitting in that in the car. But I might be an agnostic. I just don't know if You really are. But if You are, then I need to know. I need to know because if this all there is and there's no God and there's no eternal life. You know, my mom and dad sent me to Sunday school, Assembly of God church. The bus came by the house and I had to go every Sunday so they could have peace from me. I know why they were sending me. I tormented the kids on that bus. The bus driver, I found out later, was the guy that took me to the Bible study where I received Christ, Ron Powers. God, do you think God didn't have His fingerprint on me? Floundering in my own blood, dying. Crying out, "Is there a God in heaven?" And there was a divine appointment. I was to be in that parking lot when He passed by. And through a series of events, I'm going to tell you, the hand of God moved that night. Through a series of events, I find myself in a Bible study, going there stoned, because I wasn't in the pain. I wanted to end my life painlessly. Went by a soft friend. Stopped to say goodbye. Ron Powers was witnessing to Joe Krook. Next thing I know, I'm in a 64 Riviera. Riviera. On my way to a Bible study. I'll never forget the car, it was so cool. He said, "Park your car up here at this parking lot up in the mountains and we'll take you on in." Way up in the mountains, Barry Creek. Way up out of Oroville. And Jesus saved me. And I never felt more love, or hope, or peace. I I just it was like somebody finally turned the light on. He says, "Listen, and when I passed by thee and I saw thee polluted, flopping in your own blood. I said to you, while you were dying, 'Live.'"

"Yea, I said unto thee, when you were in your own blood, when you were dying, you were bleeding out, 'Live!'" You know, that's what it says in Romans, let me quote it, I got tears in my eyes, I'm going to have to read it. Romans, "For the wages of sin is death." We were dying. "But the gift of God," not something we earned, "but the gift of God is what?" Not just life, eternal life. He said, "When I saw you, when I met you in that condition, what I said to you was, 'Live! Live!'" And we opened our hearts, every one of us sitting here tonight, and we allowed the Spirit of God, the spirit that brings life, to come into us and we lived. And real life, the gift of eternal life, came into us. Verse 7 says, "I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and waxed great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments." Now, He's talking about maturing here. He took us as babes, and listen, when we come to Christ, when I first got saved, I went around and told all my friends, I didn't know anything. You know, I went to church the next Sunday and I I learned a few verses, but I didn't know anything, but I knew I was saved. I knew that I was dying and now I'm alive. I knew that I was in darkness and I'm in light. I knew that. I knew that I was in hopelessness and now I had hope. I knew that I was in torment and now I have peace. I knew that. I experienced salvation. I went home to visit my parents who lived quite a ways away and, you know, whenever you wherever your parents live, you don't knock on the door, you just open and walk in, that's home. And I walked in and my I said to my parents, "I'm saved!" Tears running down my face, "I'm saved!" And I remember my dad looking at my mom saying, "What kind of trip is he on now?" I said, "No, no, no, no, no, I'm saved. Did you not understand? I told you I'm saved." They had no idea what I was saying. I couldn't explain it. All I knew was that Jesus saved me. And I said, "Listen, I'm going to learn about this so that I can explain it, but I'm going to tell you, you got to experience it." And, "I'll be back." See, Arnold Schwarzenegger thought he, no, he didn't. That was me, "I'll be back." And I kept working on my parents, my dad for 17 years. My dad was a good man, grew up in a Christian home. I come to find out later, was told when he was a Malvern, Arkansas as a kid at Assembly of God church there that if he didn't accept Jesus that day, that moment, that God would not have anything to do with him the rest of his life. He believed that.

17 years later, sitting at the kitchen table, sharing with my dad the gospel again for I don't know how many times. He looked at me, and he said, "Why would God choose you and not choose me?" I said, "Who told you God didn't choose you?" Then he told me the story. He said, "It's too late for me." I said, "It is not too late for you." "Oh yeah, it's too late for me." I said, "I can prove to you, it's not too late for you." He said, "How?" I said, "The thief on the cross. It wasn't too late for him." I never saw my dad cry till that day. Wept like a baby praying the sinner's prayer. I never met a man that wanted to grow so bad. I I kept giving him books. I would go down there and we would talk for hours. And and there would be stacks of books. He would just burn through them. And and he wanted to know everything. And I got to pastor my dad for the last six years of his life. When he passed by and he saw me, when he passed by and he saw my dad. My dad made me promise, "Don't give up on your mom." She wasn't saved when my dad went to be with the Lord. It was a little while after that I got to lead my mom to the Lord, pray with her to receive Jesus. When he passed by and he saw us in our condition. He said to us, "Live." "Live!" And we opened our hearts and accepted him. And then these are the things he did. He said, "I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field." "I'm blessing you now." See, before He couldn't bless us. Now He is blessing us. "And thou hast increased and waxed great, and thou art become excellent, an excellent ornament. Thy breasts are fashioned." Now, He's talking about a young girl because we're the bride of Christ. Israel was the wife of God. He's watching this mature, this thing mature. And like I said, when I first got saved, I didn't know anything. I had to grow in grace, grow in faith, grow in knowledge, but I knew I was saved. So, He's there helping. He said, "The breasts are being formed, they're fashioned and you're growing."

I can remember my oldest sister screaming at my mom, "What's going on?" You know, I I had an older sister and a younger sister. I'm the only boy in the house, and I had to deal with my dad worked out of town, he was an engineer, so I had there was three ladies in the house and and me. And I knew when they got weird every month, it was time to exit stage left, because it got weird, and it got it was really interesting. God was gracious, man. I look back and see because they all got weird at the same time. So, it wasn't like, you know, you had to go through periods during the month. Periods during the month where things got strange in the house, because I did a lot of camping in the backyard, and I had a tree fort that I could get away. I don't know why I even said it. But yeah, my sisters growing up, so things are starting to to fashion. That's the Bible's word here. "And thy hair is grown whereas thou art naked and bare." The idea here, and this is why Spurgeon says it shouldn't be studied, rabbis won't read it. It's talking about the hair that develops when you mature through puberty. He said, "You're growing up, you're becoming a mature young lady." And He says, "Now I pass by and look upon thee. Behold the time was the time of love." Now, we're ready to go into a deeper walk. You know, isn't it interesting, when you first get saved, you just know you're saved, but you're not mature yet. But as you grow in grace and you grow in knowledge, you mature where there's there's the idea here, listen carefully, so you don't get lost in in the metaphors. The idea is you're maturing and growing into a relationship that has more intimacy involved. There's more intimacy. You see, for the first six months, I knew I was saved, and I knew there was a God, a transcendent God that loved me, that rescued me. I knew that I was born again by the Spirit. But the more I learned about Him, the more I matured in my walk and in my faith, the more in love, the more in love I became. And that intimacy has grown to the point now, 42 years, or 46 years later, having been born of the Spirit, other the only other than my wife, there's no one I spend more time with than the Lord. And I thank God for a wife that allows me to do that because I'm just so grateful. I got to go tell them. I'm still marveling 46 years later that when He passed by me, He took note of me, that He saw me drowning in my own sin, flopping in my own wounds, dying, and He said, "Live! Live!" And He has blessed me. I I can't even believe to this day that I get the privilege of teaching His Word. In 25 different countries, they tune into Hasir to this little church. 19 satellite churches, we plan on churches around the world. And in the United States, and I marvel, "Lord, do you would use someone like me?" See, I I know the pit You rescued me from, and I know that I'm not nothing, and I'm worthy of nothing. But Your mercy.

He said, "When I now you've come to the age where we can go deeper, there can be more intimacy." And watch what He says, "And I spread my skirt over thee." You remember we went through the book of Ruth and Ruth went into Boaz and Boaz spread the skirt. That's that's like saying, "Okay, I will take you to be my bride." So, it's not just knowing about the Lord, not just being born again by the Spirit, but we we move deeper. And listen, Christian, your walk with Him should grow deeper and deeper and deeper. More intimate, more personal, more real, more alive. There should be nothing about your life that the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't know about because you've spent time pouring your heart out as it were upon the altar. It has to grow deeper, because something that stops growing dies. This is the thing that I've known about my Christian experience. This is what the thing I know about the ministry God's given me, it has to grow. It can never stop growing because the moment it stops growing, it starts dying. The the branches have to keep putting out more branches. There has to be more fruit. The Father will continue to prune. And listen, some of my branches over the years got mired. The some of the things I've learned about the Lord, some of the greatest things, can I say this this this evening, some of the greatest things I've learned about the Lord, and maybe you could say amen to that. I've learned in my time of failure when there's parts my my branches that have got mired in the mud, and Jesus picked it up and washed them off and put them on a rock or put them on a cross is what He's talking about there in John 15. I learned about His grace. I learned about His faithfulness. I learned about His compassion. I learned that His that when I'm unfaithful, He remain I've learned so much about the character of God, more in my failures than I have ever in my successes. Going through the valley of the shadow of death, how many have ever been through that valley as a believer? And the only thing you know is that you know that God loves you and that He's able, more than able to get you through this. How many of have ever been reduced down to nothing but faith and you just know that you know that God is faithful. He said, "When I found you, that's how you were. And then I put my skirt over you." "Yea, I swore unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee," saith the Lord God, "And thou, listen carefully, and thou becamest mine."

We are the bride of Christ. We belong to Jesus. We've entered into a covenant relationship with Him. We've gone through a marriage ceremony as it were. We're engaged now, but the engagement is binding. One day we'll be at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And you had to go through in those days a divorce to be broken from the betrothal, the engagement. You are engaged to Jesus Christ. He is your bride, your bridegroom. You are His bride. You belong to Him. You don't belong to this world. You don't belong to the ideologies and philosophies of this world. You don't belong to the idols of this world. You and I belong to Jesus Christ. Amen. And we became His. Then He says in verse 9, "Then washed I thee with water. Yea, thoroughly I washed away the blood." Now, He's going back to that moment He met us. "I thoroughly washed away the blood from thee and I anointed thee with oil." Not only did I wash away the bloodiness of your sin, "I anointed you with oil." Listen to what it says in in Titus chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done." That's not because He stopped and took a look at us because He didn't pass by and say, "Oh man, now that's a beautiful child. Look at that child, well behaved. Cleaned its own self up. Look at that. Washed its own self, salted its own self, cut its own cord. Man, what a child." No, He didn't. He He He walked by and saw us a mess. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy." Oh, saints, "According to His mercy, He saved us." And when He saved us, listen what He did, "By the washing and the regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." This is what He's talking about over here. "By the washing, the regenerating, taking something that is dying and regenerating it, making it alive and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." This is what He did for us when He found us. And we became His. Then He washed us with the water. "Yea, I thoroughly washed away the blood from thee and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with embroidered works." In those days, that was that was the most, listen, that was expensive. That was expensive. I ran into some people that go to our church, come on Sunday mornings, they'll come on Wednesday nights. Today I had to go down to BNC on the way to church and get some light bulbs. I forgot to buy light bulbs for our house and Carol said, "Did you get those light bulbs, sweetie?" this morning. And I said, "I'm on it." I forgot. But I'll get them on the way. And I have them in the car. We'll put them in tonight when I get home. And so, I ran into people and I'm wearing a tie dye. A tie dye shirt. And they said, "You weren't lying when you talked about when you run into us out in public, you you you know, but I wore tie dye a lot, but my grandmother, how many remember those old work shirts that were kind of like a like a light jean material?" And my grandmother would embroider them for me, around the pockets, around the sleeves. Do a little swirly work here back in the hippie days. I long sleeve, loved it. Do a little work on the back. You know, I kept taking the old shirt back and she'd do a little more. Listen, that's expensive work. And she goes, "Listen, I gave you embroidered clothes." "I shod your feet with badger skin." This is like Italian leather. This is not the cheap imitation stuff. You know, some of our shoes are nagahide. I've never seen a naga. Has anybody ever seen a picture of a naga? But a lot of us have shoes that are made out of this hide called naga, nagahide. Not nagahide. This is like your badger skins. "And I girt thee about with fine linen and I covered you with silk. I bedecked you with ornaments and put bracelets upon your hands and chains around your neck," speaking of gold. "I put a jewel on thy forehead and earrings in thy ears, a beautiful crown upon your head." This is how God views us when we're saved. I I took you from from floundering in your own blood, dying, rejected, alone, and I washed you and I cleansed you. I made you my own. I clothed you, I bedecked you. I poured all of these blessings out upon you.

Verse 13 says, "Thus was thou decked with gold and silver. Thy remnant was fine linen, silk, embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and honey." I gave you the best of food. "And oil, and thou was exceedingly beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom." God wants to bless His people. You know, I I just can't wait for the day. I'm longing for that moment when we get so right with the Lord. The elders and I are praying on Tuesday morning. A group of us praying on Thursday, just praying before the services that one day we will walk in here and there won't be a person in this place whose heart's not totally given to the Lord, and God will show up in such a way where Gary will be healed. Because God wants to do that. DeNette will be stripped of cancer. Jerry, whatever's going on in her that cancer will be gone. God wants to bless His people. This is His heart. They didn't earn any of this. We haven't earned any of this. It's gifts that God gives to those that are His. "Thou becamest mine. I did this because I love you." Now listen carefully, verse 14 and 15 are amazing. "And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty." You know, Bathsheba traveled a long distance to meet Solomon, the wisdom of Solomon, the kingdom that he ruled over. When God's people are being God's people, you won't have to beg people and use Madison Avenue techniques to get them in the building. They'll travel great distances to see and to meet and to experience the God of heaven. I pray someday that this church becomes that kind of church we saw in the first century, that when people came in and encountered them and and they and they left, they said, "Truly of a truth, God is in that place." Because we bring Him here. Now, now watch this. This is this this this made me tear up this last week. In fact, I had to stop reading for a moment. Verse 14, "And thou and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty." I'm going to tell you, we're not going to get through this chapter. But I want to tell you that the thing that attracts the world is not being like the world. See, the church has lost their mind to think that what we have to turn our churches into is theater or nightclubs, that what we have to do is appeal to the emotional senses, that we have to make it attractive, we have to make it aesthetic, we we have to make the music emotional because we're trying to appeal to the hearts and emotions and the minds of people because we make it all about people. Listen, that's for me, I want nothing to do with that because I'll tell you what's attractive to me. Jesus. Jesus. I'm going to tell you, the worship team can get up here with kazoos and start humming Amazing Grace and tears will form in my eyes and I'll worship because I know the pit He dug me from, because worship is about Him. The attractive thing is Jesus. When the church gets a hold of Jesus and Jesus gets a hold of the church. Watch what it says here. It says, "And the renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty." They took note of the church because it was in right relationship with the Lord. It went out. They wanted what Listen, the world is just looking for the church to get real because they're looking for something real. Don't think that they're not tired of the fake and phony out there. To to try to get through the day, to keep it together, to pop another pill, to drink another brew, to to do something to just to get through another day. They're looking for something. Listen, they're looking for what we have, or what we proclaim to have. Jesus. The Holy Spirit. Peace with the one who made us. Harmony. He said, "Listen, when I did all of this for you, when I found you and I rescued you and I put all these blessings upon you, the world took note of it." The heathen took note of the renown of your beauty. "For it was perfect." Now watch this, "Through my beauty which I have put upon thee," saith the Lord. It's the beauty I put on you. It's perfect. And the world longs for that. I know I did before I was saved. And so, the first 14 verses, God is telling Ezekiel, "I want you to make the heart of Israel, Jerusalem, understand their abominations. First of all, I need you to make them to understand what they looked like to me when I found them, when I passed by. That there was nothing attractive about them, but yet I showed mercy on them. And I said to them when they were dying, 'Live.' And when they lived, look what I did. I caused them to grow and to multiply. I blessed them. I bedecked them. I poured all of these things upon them. In fact, I made them the envy of the heathens, the envy of the world. But," man, there always has to be that, doesn't there? I wish the Bible didn't have those. I wish I didn't have those in my life. How many of have had the butts in your life, whenever, you know, God is blessing, "But you!" Man, we're capable of messing things up, aren't we? But, now let me get it just, can I get should I stop there? Kind of a nice place to stop for tonight because we're seeing what God's done for us. And let's just let's just deal with the butt next week. Let's just do that next week. Let's let's leave off with us a mess, God finding us and washing us and cleansing us and pouring His love out upon us and all of these blessings on us, and He made us the envy of the world. When the church is right, listen guys, listen gang, when the church is right, when the church is right with their God, they are the envy of the world. And and we don't get right to be the envy of the world because we could care less. We could care less what anybody else thinks about us as long as Jesus thinks we're worth dying for. Amen. As long as Jesus thinks I'm okay, I'm okay. You know, people can get mad at me, people can get upset with me. People can condemn me. People can gossip about me. You know, I just wish people would pray behind my back instead of talk behind my back, but people can do that. But they can do whatever they want to do. And I was telling my wife the other day, and I'm going to close with this. I have a sense, in fact, I was sharing it with Jason earlier this evening. I have a sense that everything I've gone through, all the knowledge I've accumulated from God's Word, the wisdom, the understanding of the work of the Spirit, every failure, every success, my whole life, the all of it was lived for this next few moments. I have a sense that everything that I've learned, everything I've gone through, is for the next few moments until Jesus comes for the church. I feel a sense of destiny. I feel like Esther for such a time as this. I think God wants to use us to reach a world that knows nothing about Him before He comes. And it has to begin with personal revival. You know, I I I was just telling my wife, I think it was last Sunday or this Sunday on the way home, I just told her that I just I just want to finish well. And anything that would distract me from finishing well. I thank God for a wife that runs right alongside of me. She has the same heart, same mind. That we just want to finish well. We want to be well pleasing to the Father. We want to be in the center of His will. We we think some things are coming and and listen, I feel like Ezekiel, that God stood me up and I have the message, and I think I have a message that I can defend. And so, we should be the envy of the world, because when the world sees us in right relationship with God, they should see something that is precious, that is loved, that is washed, that is bedecked, that has peace and joy, serenity and comfort, that walks in a confidence and in a power, that has a hope that they know nothing of, that lives in a light that they know nothing of, that has a life that they should envy. And when they envy it, we can say, "The only reason we have this life is Jesus." Amen. But, we can mess up the best of things as human beings. Amen. There's the butt. We'll get that next week. But I want to get to the end because there's also, "And I am faithful," saith the Lord. Even though you try to mess it up, I will still fix it. The faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God to His promises cannot be measured. The faithfulness of God. Amen. I am a product of His faithfulness, not my own. Can you say amen, church? Amen. When you when you mess up and there's the butt in your life, I told you it's going to be one of those nights. There's always the butt God, who is rich in His mercy, who in His loved you, even when you were dead and dying. Amen. There could be the butt that we bring in and mess things up, but there's always the butt God. Amen. The God factor. We'll get that next week. Let's get the worship team.