The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Israel The Rebellious Part 2

[0:00] As is indicated in the bulletin, last week, October 19, we briefly explored the indictments leveled at the nation of Israel by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

[0:15] It was noted that despite their idolatry and rebellion, they still maintain their special chosen status with God. The way back into his good graces lies with their repentance, and that too will be forthcoming.

[0:33] Today we shall see more of their dramatic description given by Ezekiel. Once again, obvious parallels will be noted between ancient Israel and modern America.

[0:46] This series, entitled The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem, is all tied together in its several parts.

[0:59] But before we go to the passage in Ezekiel that is found in your bulletin, I would ask you to turn, please, to Ephesians, New Testament passage that will specifically relate to what is taking place in the passage that we'll be reading from Ezekiel.

[1:23] Ephesians chapter 5. And if you will follow along with whatever translation you may be using, I would like to begin reading with verse 1.

[1:36] And before I start reading, just let me remind you that the Apostle Paul is penning this letter to a group of Christians who were former pagans.

[1:48] Gentiles. Gentiles. Gentiles. Gentiles. Not members of the commonwealth of Israel. Not Jews, although there probably were a few Jews in the congregation there at Ephesus. But by and large, these people had been won to faith in Jesus Christ by the Apostle Paul when he ministered there.

[2:06] And they had come out of paganism, heathenism, idolatry, whatever you want to call it. And he is writing back to inform them as to what their new status really is in Christ and to remind them about where they were previously.

[2:22] So, in chapter 5 of verse 1, he says, Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

[2:41] But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

[2:55] There must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse justing, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

[3:18] And here, we might well insert what Paul said when he wrote to the Corinthians, And such were some of you. This was your background. This was your picture. Same is true of the Ephesians.

[3:30] And he says, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

[3:44] Now, right here at the outset, I want to pose a proposition for you, and I want you to consider it during the length of the message. In Romans 1, Paul tells us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness, etc.

[4:05] And we wonder what description this wrath really is. What does it look like? And the text goes on in Romans 1, and we'll not take the time to go there, but you may recall from memory, that he talks about God giving them up and God giving them over to this wrath.

[4:29] And the idea is that God delivers people to their own devices. Because that is the wrath of God.

[4:45] This nation is right now living under it. We are experiencing the wrath of God in what is taking place in so many venues.

[4:58] We are experiencing the wrath of God because of the attack our culture is and has been taking. The wrath of God comes when God takes his hands off and says, All right, have it your way.

[5:18] And the floodgates open, and morally, you get what we've been getting. You get what we've got. The homosexual issue, the same-sex marriage and everything, is part of that wrath.

[5:38] And it will produce untold conflagration and confusion and discontent and everything that goes with it. This is all part of the price that is paid for this kind of behavior.

[5:50] And it appears to be across the board, not just the USA, but every nation that engages in this. I mean, righteousness, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach unto any man, unto any people.

[6:10] And Romans makes it quite clear that there are people who not only engage in these things, but there are those who take pride in the fact that they do, and there are those who egg them on, who encourage them.

[6:25] That's what we're dealing with right now. And what you need to understand is, it's to be expected. It ought not to shock us. This is man at his lowest hour.

[6:41] This is the way culture is going. And we will see repeated references to this that go all the way back to the book of Genesis that Ezekiel is talking about.

[6:52] But let's finish this in Ephesians first, if we may. Because of these things, what are these things in verse 6? These things are in verse 5.

[7:04] Immorality, impurity, idolatry, etc. These things result in the wrath of God coming upon the sons of disobedience.

[7:17] That is, the children, the offspring of disobedience. They are characterized as the children of disobedience. And this is a term that the scriptures often use when it wants to emphasize something.

[7:30] James and John were referred to as sons of thunder. Because they were a couple of no-nonsense brothers who wanted Jesus to zap those Samaritans because they weren't receiving the message.

[7:42] And get them, Lord! Bring the wrath of God down! Get a lightning bolt from heaven! And they were called sons of thunder. Barnabas is called son of consolation because he was an encourager.

[7:59] Judas was called a son of perdition. And here, this given generation that is steeped in immorality and everything that goes along with it is designated sons of disobedience.

[8:15] You just take disobedience in every regard and personify it and talk of disobedience as if it were a person.

[8:27] Like you talk about wisdom as being if it were a person in the book of Proverbs and then the characteristics that come from it. So, the concept is that disobedience is as a person and these in this culture are children of that.

[8:45] It's a very graphic description. They are the personification of disobedience and their offspring. And when you, of course, talk about disobedience, you're talking about standards.

[8:58] You have to have a standard. You have to have a rule. You have to have a law before anybody can break it. Before someone can be disobedient, they have to know what obedience is. And that brings us to the subject of what laws, whose laws, what morality, your morality, my morality.

[9:15] And people don't understand and it's too bad that Christian people don't understand. You cannot have a political entity without having morality.

[9:28] All laws, all laws are based on someone's concept of right and wrong, of morality and immorality.

[9:40] And when people say things like, you shouldn't mix politics with religion, it is impossible to separate them. You understand that?

[9:51] They can't be separated. Because politics and the rule and the government of people is of necessity entrenched in someone's idea of morality, of what's right and what's wrong.

[10:06] We ought to stop talking about the confusion regarding this and accept it as a necessity. They go together like a hand in a glove. You cannot have a political entity without having some kind of morality.

[10:22] It might be bad morality, but at least it's morality. So, in verse 7, therefore do not be partakers with them, for, and here's why you shouldn't be, you were formerly, this is what you used to be, you were formerly darkness.

[10:45] And of course, he's talking about spiritual darkness. You were completely oblivious to anything of real spirituality. You were just steeped in your sin.

[10:57] In fact, it would be correct to save these people, not only did you not have a clue, you didn't even have a clue that you didn't have a clue. They were just really out of it.

[11:08] And that's where many people are today. They have no idea that they are clueless. Now, you are light in the Lord.

[11:21] Walk as children of light. What he's saying? Be what you are. This is what you used to be. You have no cause to fall back into that. You are a new creature in Christ.

[11:35] Be what you are. Be who you are. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.

[11:47] Pretty much the opposite of what's going on in the culture at large. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Well, who cares what's pleasing to the Lord? What I care about is what's pleasing to me.

[11:59] What do I want? That's what really matters, doesn't it? Do your own thing. And we've got a whole nation that is steeped in doing your own thing.

[12:12] Do you ever wonder about you tube? What's that saying? YouTube. It's saying it's about you. What's the other one?

[12:28] Me something? My something? Whatever it is? It's about me. This is where the whole culture is. And there's precious little concern given about what is pleasing to the Lord.

[12:40] Now, we want to expel him from everything we possibly can. Our schools, our coins, our oath of allegiance, and everything else.

[12:52] And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. Now, how do you do that?

[13:05] What does that mean, expose them? It means identify them. It means call them out. It means you preach against those things.

[13:20] it means you've got to take this concept that our culture calls political correctness and scrap it.

[13:33] Ignore it. If I weren't a preacher, a man of the cloth from whom people tend to expect better things, I would be tempted to purchase at my own expense a thousand t-shirts in big black letters emboldened on PC equals BS.

[14:01] You suppose that could ever catch on? I'd like to take them to Washington and distribute them there. Expose them. You call them out. You name them.

[14:12] And you know something? When you expose them, they are not going to take that lying down. They retaliate. There is an utterly vicious, vicious element among extreme liberalism today.

[14:32] They go for the jugular. They have no mercy. They have no compunction about lying, about anything, so long as it achieves their end.

[14:43] They can spread rumor or innuendo about someone. It doesn't even have to have an element of truth in it and they know it. All that matters is can they get somebody to believe it so that it will reflect their decision when they go to the voting booth.

[15:01] That isn't only underhanded. In fact, I don't even have a name for that. That is so un-American and dishonest and... But you see, once you scrap, once you scrap moral certainty, once you deny the existence of moral attributes, of moral qualities, of moral character, once you dismiss that and say there is no moral absolute, you've got nothing left with relativity, moral relativity and that means anything goes.

[15:41] You do whatever is required to win. All that matters is you obtain your goal and your objective. You crush the opponent. However you have to do it, if you have to do it by lying, by cheating, by stuffing the ballot box, makes no difference.

[15:56] All that matters is you get in power and stay in power. That's what matters and moral relativity is the order of the day. That's where we are. That's where the whole world is.

[16:14] Expose them for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. And I'm going to be speaking about some of those things this morning and it is disgraceful.

[16:28] It's disgraceful to even be speaking about them. But the Bible records them and I have no sympathy for the person who says, well now, you shouldn't talk about these things in mixed company because this could affect people's delicate sensitivities.

[16:46] Listen, if it's in the scriptures, I am not going to apologize for it. And if I am willing to bypass it because it's in the scriptures, then I owe my God an apology, not you.

[16:58] And we've got some pretty hairy stuff coming up in Ezekiel. We'll be there in a moment. Disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret, but all things become visible when they are exposed by the light.

[17:15] They are shown up to be what they are. For everything that becomes visible is light. And for this reason it says, Awake sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. That's nothing but an evangelistic invitation.

[17:28] It is an invitation to those who are dead in trespasses and sins to put their faith and trust in Christ, and when they do, he will shine upon them, and he will save them.

[17:39] So this is to be our response. This is what we are called upon to do, is to expose this. Now, my problem in trying to expose this is I end up just preaching to the choir.

[17:53] You people are pretty much in league with what we will be saying here, and those who aren't and haven't been, departed a long time ago, so that's another issue. But when you preach about these things, you call them out, you call them what they are, and that becomes the basis for delivering the gospel.

[18:15] Because we don't have anything to do by use of the gospel if it is not directed at sin, sin, because that's the only thing the gospel addresses.

[18:29] There's no point in preaching the gospel where there is no sin. And when people's sin is exposed, it is intended to bring them under guilt.

[18:42] You trying to lay a guilt trip on me? Well, I hope so. If God is laying the guilt trip on you, that's a wonderful thing. Be thankful for it. because it is seeking a desire to get out from under that guilt that people respond to the gospel.

[18:59] Because the gospel is the solution to human guilt. Therein lies forgiveness. So for preachers who say things like, I never preach about sin because people don't want to hear about that.

[19:16] Well, of course they don't, dummy. that's part of the problem. That's why we're supposed to preach about it. It's because people are wrong and they need to get right.

[19:27] That's the whole crux of the gospel. That's why we have a gospel. That's why we're commanded to preach the gospel. And when we tell people, hey, everything's cool, you are really nice people.

[19:39] And I'm sure God really appreciates it that you're on his side. You are on his side, aren't you? I mean, he is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just feel-good stuff. But it isn't honoring to the one who gave his life for us and provided us with a gospel to preach.

[20:00] The gospel is a solution. The gospel is a remedy. But you don't need a remedy or a solution if you don't have a problem or a sickness. The gospel has no function, no purpose.

[20:14] If you're okay and I'm okay, what's the point? And what else can you expect when we embrace this thing called religious pluralism? It doesn't make any difference what you believe or what you don't believe.

[20:28] All beliefs are on the same level and they are all equally valid. Doesn't that sound good? It sure does. But it's deadly and it's totally wrong. Well, let's get to that Ezekiel passage.

[20:43] Ezekiel chapter 16 and it is in your notes in your bulletin. I just had the text made up like this because there are different translations involved and we are going to zip through this very quickly.

[21:03] And what I want to show you is in connection with the nation of Israel, the utter undeservedness of the nation of Israel for the blessing of God and their ripeness for divine judgment.

[21:19] That's the message that Ezekiel is going to be delivering. The nation of Israel with its capital Jerusalem leading the way had provoked the Lord with their persistent idolatry and sexual perversions.

[21:35] yet, despite their moral and spiritual idolatry, God would remember his covenant and would lead them to repentance.

[21:47] All because God had previously established with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob an irrevocable covenant, an unconditional covenant, a covenant from which there is no repentance or changing of mind on God's part, covenant that is linked to the integrity of God himself.

[22:11] That remains in place even in the midst of their gross immorality and idolatry. And we can attribute that only to the fact that God is a God of grace.

[22:24] In addition to that, I'm not even going to try and point out that I think you can see as we go along the parallels between what Ezekiel is talking about and what is taking place today in the United States of America and in Denmark and in the Netherlands and in France and in Germany and all over the world.

[22:47] All of Western culture has bought into this thing and it is so deadly. then the word of the Lord came to me saying, and by the way, Ezekiel is about 25 years old.

[23:05] It's a pretty heavy trip for a 25-year-old when he delivered this message. The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, make known.

[23:19] You know what we might call that? Expose. Same thing Ephesians was talking about. Call them out. Name it.

[23:31] Preach against them. Make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite.

[23:49] Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Well, now in actuality, that was not true at all. But I can assure you, Ezekiel isn't being dishonest.

[24:01] What he is doing is using very colorful language that these people in Jerusalem full well understood. They got the impact of it, you can be sure. What do you mean when you call a man like we used to in the military all the time, use this like, You son of a bitch.

[24:19] What are you saying? You're saying, You are the offspring of a female dog. That is not a compliment. Now, we all know men use this kind of language in locker rooms and they call each other these names just like blacks call each other nigger and they can get away with it, of course, but we can't.

[24:42] And it's all understood that there's nothing vicious or malicious in it. It's just just guys way of talking. You know, this is barracks language. I lived with it and used it for three years B.C.

[24:54] and when he says to them, your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

[25:09] These people constituted some of the most immoral and gross people who ever lived on planet earth. And Ezekiel is telling these Jews, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, this is their parentage.

[25:24] Well, in reality, it wasn't. But your behavior is, your behavior makes you just as if you were an offspring of them and you're doing exactly what your parents did.

[25:39] And that was pretty bad. As for your birth, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing, you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in claws.

[25:52] Again, we've got a little bit of a cultural gap to bridge here because this doesn't mean a thing to us. But back in this day, in this culture, when a newborn baby exited the womb, the baby was cleansed, the umbilical cord was cut, and then the attendant would take salt and rub it all over the exterior of that little newborn flesh.

[26:20] Can you imagine how that must have stung? I'll bet that little baby just squalled its lungs out, which, by the way, would be pretty good for it because the lungs need a good workout at birth like that.

[26:32] And the salt served as a disinfectant. I'm sure it was probably pretty painful for that newborn flesh, but after a while, it would get over it, and then they would take that baby and wrap it, bind it tightly, in a band of cloth, might be 20 feet long, and they wrap it around and wrap it around almost like a mummy.

[26:54] This is what Mary did to Jesus. This is what swaddling clothes were. Swaddling clothes. And the idea was, you rub salt all over this baby, it meant that the baby was having the beginning of life of purity and cleanliness, and that that was the way his whole life would be lived.

[27:18] A clean, moral life. And it was illustrated with the rubbing of the salt all over the body. And he is saying, Ezekiel is saying, God is saying through Ezekiel that when you were born, Jerusalem, the corporate people, you weren't even rubbed with salt.

[27:39] You weren't cleansed from the beginning. You were filthy from the start. Neither were you swaddled. And the swaddling in their mind indicated that the baby would grow to maturity to be straight and true, rather than crooked and perverse.

[27:59] Now, we all know today that neither of those things guarantee anything. But that was part of their tradition and the way they looked at it. And they could readily identify with what Ezekiel was saying.

[28:11] They were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. No, I looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

[28:26] When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, live! Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, live!

[28:36] I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall, and reached the age for fine ornaments.

[28:46] Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and barren. Now, I want you to understand what's taking place here, what Ezekiel is saying. He is characterizing the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, the very heartthrob of Israel, as if Jerusalem were a woman.

[29:09] Personification, he is portraying the city as an individual woman. He's using this as a metaphor, and he's going to go on and describe what kind of woman this is, and that's the kind of city this is.

[29:23] Get the point? Verse 8, Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love.

[29:35] That means sufficient maturity had been reached, the hormones were being released in the flower of femininity, and she was ready for love.

[29:48] And who will her lover be? Let's look at that. I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness.

[30:01] Who's the lover? lover. God is the lover. He is taking this pathetic individual unto himself, and he is spreading his skirts over her.

[30:17] He is claiming her as a bride. God is to have to you. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became mine, declares the Lord God.

[30:36] Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth, and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet, and I wrapped you with fine linen, and covered you with silk.

[30:56] I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace around your neck. This is a lover giving to his beloved everything and anything that she could imagine.

[31:10] He is doling out all of these fineries and luxuries upon her. I also put a ring in your nostril.

[31:21] Well, I don't know that I would recommend that, but earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus, you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.

[31:39] You ate fine flour, honey, and oil, so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. This is living like a queen.

[31:51] Then, your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the Lord.

[32:05] But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passerby who might be willing.

[32:18] Now, this is spiritual idolatry and spiritual adultery, both. Do you see the point?

[32:32] Playing the harlot on every passerby who might be willing. And she wasn't particular. What this is saying is, Israel had this insatiable appetite for idolatry and was always embracing the idols and the gods of their neighbors around them.

[32:55] And, in fact, that's the thing for which they will be carried into captivity later. This is not a pretty picture. You took some of your clothes made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen.

[33:19] These high places sometimes are referred to as the groves, and they were places of high elevation located up on a high hill and they were rampant because this is the kind of thing that always goes with idolatry.

[33:41] It always comes down to sexuality and sexual issues, which, by the way, are incorporated in homosexuality and lesbianism. That's all part of the package.

[33:52] It's very predictable. You also took your beautiful jewels made of my gold and my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them.

[34:08] Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them and offered my oil and my incense before them. Also, my bread. See who the benefactor is here?

[34:18] All the way. The benefactor is Jehovah. The recipient is Israel, Judah, Jerusalem. My bread, which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma.

[34:37] So it happened, declares the Lord. Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had born to me, and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured.

[34:52] Were your harlotries so small a matter? This is child sacrifice, and it was practiced on a regular basis by the people in Moab, which is where Ruth came from.

[35:04] The Moabites sacrificed their children to the god Chemosh. It was a regular ritual, and they would be accompanied with frenzic dancing and placing of the children in the lap of this Buddha-like statue of the Moabites.

[35:22] And the children of Israel had bought into this. The expression that is used many times in the Old Testament is and you made your children pass through the fire.

[35:37] You slaughtered my children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. And by the way, you realize the principal difference between these children and abortion?

[35:53] Is these ancient pagans, pagan-like behavior, waited until after the children were born before they sacrificed them. All abortion does is it sacrifices the children before they're born.

[36:07] That's the only difference. and nine times out of ten or maybe ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the child is sacrificed for the convenience and desire of the mother or the mother's boyfriend or the mother's husband.

[36:23] Because all your abominations and harlotries, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood back before the time I called you and made you my own.

[36:37] And it came about after all your wickedness. Woe, woe to you, declares the Lord God, that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.

[36:52] You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable. And you spread your legs to every passerby to multiply your harlotry.

[37:07] You'd take on all comers. You'd spread your legs for anybody and anybody. You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make me angry.

[37:23] Behold, now I have stretched out my hand against you and diminished your rations, and I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd contact.

[37:36] Listen, if you can carry on in such a way as to make Philistines ashamed of you, that's a new limit.

[37:50] I mean, the Philistines were professionals at lewdness and immorality and every kind of illicit sexuality that you can imagine, and these were topping them.

[38:03] you played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied. You played the harlot with them and were still not satisfied. They're like spiritual nymphomania, cannot be sexually satisfied.

[38:20] You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this, you were not satisfied. How languishing is your heart, declares the Lord God, while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot.

[38:34] This is a harlot who says, yes, I'm a harlot, I'm a whore, and proud of it. That's as in your face as you can get. You built your shrine at the beginning of every street, made your high place in every square in disdaining money.

[38:53] You are not like a harlot. You adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband. And God is saying, I'm your husband. And I took you to be my wife.

[39:05] And this is what you've turned out to be. Men give gifts to all harlots. Men pay for the harlot's favor.

[39:18] But you, you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries. Thus, you are different from those women in your harlotries in that no one plays the harlot as you do because you give money and no money is given you.

[39:38] Thus, you are different. Is there such a thing as perverted prostitution? Is there such a thing as a prostitute that's perverted?

[39:50] Which means you don't pay her, she pays you. Now, that's a new stretch, isn't it? Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.

[40:03] Thus says the Lord God, because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols.

[40:16] Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness.

[40:33] And I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged. And I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. I will also give you into the hands of your lovers and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places.

[40:49] They'll turn on you, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels and will leave you naked and bare. And they will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

[41:01] This, by the way, is the wrath of God visiting them. They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women.

[41:14] Then, now look at this, I will stop you from playing the harlot and you will also no longer pay your lovers.

[41:25] So, I will calm my fury against you and my jealousy will depart from you and God says, I will be pacified and angry no more.

[41:47] Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged me by all these things. Behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head.

[41:59] That's leaving people to their own devices, declares the Lord, so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations. Behold, everyone who quotes Proverbs will quote this proverb concerning you saying, like mother, like daughter.

[42:15] You are the daughter of your mother who loathes her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters who loathes their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

[42:29] Now your older sister is Samaria who lives north of you with her daughters and your younger sister who lives south of you is Sodom with her daughters.

[42:46] You knew with all this going on it was only a question of time until Sodom got involved. Verse 47, Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations, but as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they.

[43:05] You actually outdid the Sodomites. Wow. As I say, declares the Lord, Sodom your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.

[43:20] Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.

[43:31] Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me. Therefore I removed them when I saw them. Now I want you to come down and look at verse 52.

[43:45] Well, no point in skipping now. Verse 51, Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they.

[43:57] Thus you have made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you have committed. You people there in Jerusalem, you made the people up north look good compared to you.

[44:10] You made them look good. And you've got to remember, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. What's in Jerusalem? The temple, the priesthood, the prophet's office.

[44:26] All of this was located in Jerusalem, the center of all Israeli government and activity. Jerusalem. How much of a stretch is it to say, like Jerusalem, like Washington, like Jerusalem, like Rome, like Jerusalem, like Paris, like Jerusalem, like London.

[44:53] They're all of the same ilk. This is what our culture has come to. in verse 53, nevertheless, nevertheless, nevertheless, nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, captivity of Samaria and her daughters, along with their own captivity, in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them.

[45:33] This is one of the big problems that we have in our country today, and that is an inability to feel shame and embarrassment. This has afflicted Washington, D.C., big time.

[45:48] The capacity for shame and embarrassment seems to have gone. They just don't seem to be capable of being ashamed. And when people have no shame and can't be embarrassed, you have no leverage.

[46:03] And when you stop and think about it, the very basis for the removal and the absence of shame is relativity, moral relativity. Shame and guilt comes only with the knowledge and understanding that you have violated a standard.

[46:22] But when you set the standards, you haven't violated anything. when you are the determiner of what's right and wrong, and you haven't violated those standards, what do you have to be ashamed of?

[46:37] Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That's what moral relativism does. It removes the possibility of shame. Only when you have fixed absolutes and a clear line of demarcation that when you cross it, you've done wrong and you know you've done wrong, that's when shame and embarrassment sets in.

[46:55] that's when it's supposed to. And that's a good thing. But there's no basis for shame or embarrassment because the standards have been moved. They've been moved to where I want them to be.

[47:16] Well, my time is gone and I have to wrap this up. And I want to close if you can believe it on a positive note.

[47:31] Look at verse 60. Well, look at verse 59. 58 is good too.

[47:43] You have borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations, the Lord declares. For thus says the Lord God, I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

[48:02] Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

[48:16] Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger, and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.

[48:31] Thus, I will establish, well, the covenant is already established. God is saying he will remember it, he will confirm the covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation when I have forgiven you for all that you have done, the Lord God declares.

[49:01] This is assuming repentance. Repentance is forthcoming because the punishment has served its purpose. Punishment is designed to produce repentance.

[49:16] Punishment is pain, and repentance is changing your position, changing your mind, and that is what God is going to do with Israel.

[49:27] And you know, bottom line for all of this, is God finished with Israel? Not nearly. Do you know what this sounds like? This sounds like to me like a husband who is so madly in love with his wife, he will not cast her off no matter what she does.

[49:51] He is really stricken for her. Do you realize God is lovesick over Israel? That's what this is saying. He's going to bring them back.

[50:05] He's going to chasten them. He's going to spank them. He's going to punish them. But it's for their own good. And the reason he's doing that is because he is madly in love with Israel.

[50:20] And when you really love somebody, you will correct them. You will chasten them. You will discipline them. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

[50:32] And if you endure not chastening whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. God loves Israel and his love for them is never diminished.

[50:43] They cannot sin their way out of God's ultimate favor. He will bring them back. On the reverse side, we'll not take time for the references there, but I want you to note what virtually all of them have in common, and that is they all make reference to Sodom.

[51:04] They all make reference to Sodom. Sodom and Sodomites activities and the replication of what went on in Sodom. And God holds it up as an abomination.

[51:17] It was then, and it still is today. And it doesn't make any difference how many federal judges or how many legislatures say that sodomy is legal or that same-sex marriage is legal and should be performed.

[51:33] It doesn't make any difference how many say God has already taken this position. And when it comes to this same-sex marriage thing, listen, gender identity is inseparably connected with personhood.

[51:48] And both male and female were established by the deity in the beginning. And God blessed them, and he said that they were to multiply and fill the earth.

[52:00] And the only way they could multiply is sexually. And the only way that can happen is with a male and a female. And anything contrary to that is contrary to the divine program.

[52:12] That's what we're dealing with today. And the same-sex marriage thing is nothing more than reaching the bottom of the barrel of immorality. Oh, I know the mantra is, you should be able to marry whomever you love.

[52:27] And more often than not, it's a lust thing rather than it is a love thing. This is what is taking our country over. And it is going to be destructive to the whole human fabric of the nation, and of every nation that engages in it.

[52:42] And we are well on the way. And you know something? People don't want to hear this. There are multitudes of people in this country who may very well try to shut me up, and other preachers like me, because they say, you're being judgmental.

[53:01] We are not being judgmental. We are saying, God has already judged this, and we're just telling you what he says. So take it up with him.

[53:11] All I'm doing is repeating what he said. This is not my position. I would not, I don't have shoulders broad enough to take upon me the responsibility of telling people who they should or should not marry.

[53:25] I couldn't accept the responsibility like that. And God knows that. So he's taken that responsibility away from me, and he's put it in his word, and he says, here it is, Marv, you preach this.

[53:36] This is what I want people to know. And he does that for faithful pastors all over the country. And people don't like it. They don't like someone pointing out their sin.

[53:48] You can start back with Elijah and Elijah. How popular were these guys? The general public hated them. And the general public hated hated virtually all of the prophets that came out that exposed their sin.

[54:03] Jeremiah, they did terrible things to. And Ezekiel, all of these men are going to pay a price for delivering these messages. And the only reason, the only rationale you have for delivering these messages is completely contrary to what the recipients of the message think.

[54:20] They think, you hate them. You're a gay basher. You hate gays. You hate, you're homophobic. You're, you know. And it would be a whole lot easier to just keep your mouth shut.

[54:33] And I would if I didn't care. But when you care and you love somebody like you're supposed to love them, you've got to speak out.

[54:46] You've got to say something. Even though you know multitudes are not going to appreciate it. They will revalue. They will ridicule you. They will set you up. They will try to frame you.

[54:57] They will try to destroy you. They will ruin your character if they can. They will make all kinds of accusations. They'll start nasty rumors about you. Who knows? God only knows what they could put on the internet about you.

[55:09] And they'll do it without any compunction at all. Because they're not violating any standards. They have their own standards. And they haven't violated them. And that's where we are.

[55:19] Yeah, that's where we are. You see why I say nothing, nothing will suffice but a real, genuine, heaven sent, revival.

[55:52] That's the only thing that's going to save this nation. We've been on a slippery slope for decades. And we're getting closer to the bottom of the slide right now.

[56:07] I don't enjoy saying these things. I love this country. I am so enormously indebted to this country for all it has done and given me and my loved ones.

[56:19] And I'd gladly do anything to try to preserve it. This is what we're up against. This is where we are. And by the way, the very absolute least you can do is vote.

[56:42] Go to the polls and vote. Vote your values. Would you stand with me, please?

[56:54] Father, as heavy as the message is, we can only imagine the heart of Ezekiel as he had to face people to whom he preached and had to hear their jaunts and their jives and their taunts and their threats and their ridicule and everything that went with it.

[57:24] men like Ezekiel had to pay a terrible price. But the propagation of truth and the ability to proclaim it is well worth any price that we could pay.

[57:42] And we'd gladly offer ourselves for whatever you deem wise and fitting. As a congregation and as individuals, we want to be people who are committed to the principles that you've set forth in your word, committed to truth, the propagation of it, the freedom of it, and all that goes with it.

[58:10] We just don't see any way short of this that this culture can be salvaged. God's and should you be pleased to use any of us or all of us in any way, shape, or form to help to make some small contribution to turning things around if it isn't already too late.

[58:30] We just want to be at your disposal for whatever. Thank you again for the glorious message of the gospel of grace that forgives us of our sin, that sets our feet on the solid rock, and makes heaven our destiny.

[58:46] We are so grateful for it that we want everybody to share it, even if they don't want to hear it. We want to proclaim it. Thank you for the privilege in Christ's name.

[58:57] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.