Bible Study October 9, 2024

Tonight we're going to finish up chapter 20 of Ezekiel, which we started last week. I just want to rehearse a little bit about what we did in the first part of Ezekiel 20, because of all the chapters in Ezekiel, every single one of them we are learning has so much information for us, so many things that God is showing us what we need to be doing, how we need to be living our lives to please Him. In chapter 20, he talks about two primary things. Of course, we know that we are to keep all of God's statutes and laws. We are to love Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls and do the things that please Him. But in this chapter, in the first part, he talked a lot about Sabbath, keeping His Sabbath holy. And as he looks at that Sabbath day, I just want to go back to a few of the verses that we looked at last week to set the stage for what we're going to be talking about tonight and to remind us of how important that Sabbath is to God. In verse 12 of Ezekiel 20, he says, I gave them, I gave them my Sabbath to be a sign between them and me. That word gave indicates it's a gift from God. He intended it to be the most important and the most delightful day of our life, of our week. And in Isaiah 58, when he says, you should call my Sabbath a delight, it's because we live in His presence that day. That's His 24 hours that He's called out for us to be apart from the world, apart from the everyday cares and work of everyday living, so that we can dedicate that to Him, not having to worry about fitting our prayer in because there's 24 hours to pray to God. So we can pray with as long as we want. We have study time, we have the congregation time, the fellowship time, when we're buoyed and inspired by the people that have liked minds that we have fellowship with as we come before God and follow His commands. He gave them as a gift and He gave them as a sign between Him and His people. So He looks at how we keep that Sabbath day. Are we seeing it as a burden? Are we just wishing it was over? Are our minds on what we're going to do after the Sabbath? Or are we really enjoying and valuing the time that we have with God apart from the world, the world, everything that we do every other day? And same right there in verse 12 at the end of the verse, He says that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. He sets us apart. It sets us apart by the Sabbath day, and not just the weekly Sabbath day, but the holy day Sabbaths as well, the seven annual holy days that we keep that picture God's plan. And we're here right in the midst of the fall holy days, and I'm sure that's in all of our minds as we just went through the Feast of Trumpets. We look forward to Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day, and what that means in God's plan, not for just us, but for all of humanity.

Down in verse 13, He says, the house of Israel rebelled against me. He's talking about the house of Israel, but you know, we have to be cautious what Israel did back then. The house of Israel, which had gone into captivity—remember, by the time Ezekiel writes this, or God gives him these words to write—the house of Israel had already gone into captivity because they rebelled against God in the wilderness. They didn't walk into statutes. They despised His judgments. And He says this a few times in this chapter, which, if a man will do his commandments, he will live by them.

Because God gives us His commands, gives us those directives of life that we may live, and that life may be beneficial and productive and meaningful for us. Which if a man does, he shall live by them, and they greatly defiled my Sabbaths. And so, as a result, he poured out his fury on them. Throughout this chapter, He will use words like, they profaned His name by the way they behaved, by the way they kept His Sabbath. They defiled the Sabbath. And remember, we talked about it's the same Greek word that is translated profaned and other places defiled in this chapter, where God says, you are disgracing His name, or bringing His name down among the Gentiles, by the way, to handle the things that He gives us to do. Down to verse 15.

Verse 16, again he repeats, because they despised my judgments. They didn't walk in my statutes, but they profaned my Sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols. And tonight, we're going to be talking about idols. In the first part, God talks about Sabbaths, but in this last half of Ezekiel, He talks about idols. And here He ties the two together. They profaned His Sabbaths, because their heart went after their idols.

When we choose to do something different, and apart from what God has us do, He sees that. And we have to recognize that is us discrediting Him and choosing to obey our own will, our own desires, or whatever it is that would interfere with us keeping His Sabbaths, because we choose to do our will first rather than His. They profane my Sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols.

In verse 20, He says, hallow His Sabbaths. In Matthew 6, when we pray to God, we say, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. It's special. It's distinct. It's separate. It's holy. And God says, hallow my Sabbaths. That is holy time. You are on holy ground during that time. Hallow my Sabbaths, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. And then, lead me down into where we're going to start tonight in verse 27.

I just want to read verses 24 through 26. Again, He talks about idols as we move into this next section of Ezekiel, where He talks about how important it is for us to be recognizing and even examining ourselves to see, are there idols out there? What would we, what do we do? What do we defer to and look to first before God?

Because He sees it in a certain way, as we'll see here in Ezekiel 20, the latter part. So in verse 24, it says, because they hadn't executed my judgments, but they had despised my statutes, profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols. Therefore, I gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live. So He said, they kept saying they wanted to live by another way of life.

They wanted to make their own decisions on how to live. They didn't want what God had said to do. So it wasn't that He was giving up on them, because God never gives up. We're going to see on Israel, on His people that He calls, that He calls His people.

So He said, fine, you want to live by those ways? Live by those ways. You can't live by those ways. Life only comes from God and through living His way of life. So He says in verse 26, and I pronounce them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire, that I may make them desolate, and that they might know that I am the Lord. He let them do what they wanted to do, but over and over again in Ezekiel and other places in the Bible, we see where God says that they might know that I am the Lord.

They will know, and later on in this chapter we'll see, that Israel will know that God is God, and He is in control, and He is the only God. Sometimes people have to go through some devastating consequences in order to come to the place where they're humble and they're yielded to God, and they can look at things clearly and follow Him and follow Him implicitly. So we come to verse 26, and then when you see verse 27, there's that word, therefore.

Therefore. So we're moving into a new section where God is going to talk about other things, and while He doesn't use the word idol, i-d-o-l, in every verse of this section, you can see what He's talking about by the way He describes what Israel is doing and how they are defiling His name, and as He says in verse 27 here, how they're being unfaithful to Him. So verse 27, He says, therefore, Son of man, speak to the house of Israel.

Again, remember, Israel's gone. Today we know who Israel is, so this is a time for us to be looking at ourselves and not just looking back at what Israel did, but learning the lesson from them and paying these words to have meaning for us. Therefore, Son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, in this too your fathers have blasphemed me by being unfaithful to me.

And I want to just pause there a while because you know that word blaspheme, it's a pretty powerful word. I mean, to blaspheme God is a serious thing. Jesus Christ says anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit, that sin won't be forgiven Him. So when we see the word blaspheme, we should pay attention to what it means. And it doesn't mean that we're out and out, just like maybe screaming at God, calling Him every name, discrediting Him, and whatever.

Because here God says, your fathers blasphemed me. How? By being unfaithful to me. By being unfaithful to me. And He uses that phrase, and He talks about this in a serious manner as we lead into the section where He begins to talk about the idols and what they did when God brought them into the promised land. It's a very serious thing that He's talking about here. And we should remember that people might blaspheme God through words. And we read of the false prophet and the beast in Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 where it says they blaspheme God.

And we know they blaspheme God with their words, but also their actions. And you and I can blaspheme God by the actions and how we take the way of life that He's given us and how we live it. So keep that in mind. Your fathers have blasphemed me by being unfaithful to me. And then in verse 28, He begins to talk about what they did. When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised my hand in an oath, again, oaths are very important to God.

A few times in this section, He's going to talk about, I gave them an oath that I would bring them into the land. And you remember back a couple Bible studies ago where we talked about the latter kings of Judah. And Zedekiah had made an oath with the king of Babylon at that time. And he did not keep that oath. He went behind and broke that oath by going to the king of Egypt. And God really chided. And Zedekiah really paid a price for breaking that oath. God doesn't break His oaths. He said I would give this land to Israel.

He did give it to Israel. They forfeited their right in that land by the way that they blasphemed Him by not being faithful to Him. But the oath still stands. And we'll see at the end of this chapter, as we have seen in Isaiah when we went through that, God will bring Israel back to that promised land. He made an oath that they would be there, and one day they will be back there again.

So He says, when I brought them into the land, verse 28, which I had raised my hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked me with their offerings. There they also sent up their sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings. What He's talking about here is when they went into that land and they looked at all the places that the people before them had worshipped on all the high hills and all the all the wonderful thick trees, they began to worship there too. Their eyes looked at that and thought, well, this is a good place. We'll worship God here. We'll offer our sacrifices here. We'll do those things here. And that is not at all what God had commanded. When He brought them into the Promised Land, He said there was one place that offerings need to be to be given, not on all the high hills like the pagans of the land, not under all the thick trees like the pagans did, but in one place that He consecrated. I'll give you one example where it says that back in 1 Kings 3, and then I'll give you another one. You can look up yourself later. But in 1 Kings 3, 1 Kings 3 and verse 4.

No, but in 1 Kings 3, verse 4. We get into verse 3, talking about Solomon here, right?

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. He kind of fell prey to this, too. He was just wherever they were. And you remember, I think it's around Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 8 in that area, God through Moses told them, when you go into the Promised Land and you see these things, I want you to tear down all those altars, all those high places. Get rid of them. Don't worship God in that way. Worship Him in the way He said, and that's one place. Well, Solomon did. Solomon loved, in this early stage of his life, he loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

Well, maybe that's not exactly the verse I wanted. Let me look back at the other one.

First, let's look at 1 Samuel 12.

They weren't supposed to be wherever God said to worship. So let me see here.

1 Samuel. Did I even write that one down?

Nope, didn't write that one down. Let me look to see if I can find 1 Samuel 12 real quick.

Now, I won't take the time. What I will do, God said, alter in my places, don't alter in these high places. And there are places in the Bible, I thought 1 Kings 3 was one of them, apparently not, though. One place. But here, if we go back to Ezekiel 20, we see God saying you're worshiping in all these places that the people that you displaced were. And he says he's not at all pleased with that. So he says in verse 29, So I said to them, What is this high place to which you go? I'm back in Ezekiel 20. What is this high place to which you go? So its name is called Bama to this day. Bama meaning high place.

Therefore, verse 30, Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers and committing harlotry according to their abominations? You're doing the same things they did. You're doing the same things that caused them to be taken out of their land, to be led into captivity, to be conquered by the Assyrians. You're doing, you're making the same mistakes. You're thinking that you can honor me the way that the people of these other lands, these use the word Gentile, Gentile lands do. And he says, Don't do it that way. We're very familiar with Deuteronomy 12 verses 29 to 32, where he says, Don't look and see how they worship their gods. Just do what I say. Do it how I say it, when I say it, and where I say it. Just do it my way. He's not pleased when we use the religious practices or the religious traditions of other churches and try to bring him into our worship. And part of this here, what happened, is something that we can be aware of. God in here is saying, you know, they made those, they looked at those things around them, and they looked at those high hills, and they were tempting. They were very beautiful places. Yes, this would be a wonderful place to do sacrifices and offerings. These trees are wonderful things to be looking at, and a wonderful place to do that. And God equates that to, since they decided to do it there, in deference, not in deference, but in opposition to what he had said, that that was an idol. They had put those, they were going and worshiping an idol, doing it their way, what they wanted to do, rather than what God wanted to do. And so, while those places were tempting, and they were attractive, and they looked like they were wonderful places, and how could God be how could God be offended if we would offer and sacrifice there? We have to realize, yes, he is.

Our calling, and the Holy Spirit he gives us, he instructs us, do it the way he said. As I often say, as you look through Deuteronomy and the other parts of the Bible, do it carefully, do it willingly, do it diligently, and do it exactly the way God said. That's what our calling is to be.

And look at the things around, and be tempted by them. It's very interesting, you know, the temptation that can come our way when we look at the things in the world around us. And I'm not going to come up with any examples right now, but there can be literally anything that we look at that can be tempting. And we should remember that in the New Testament, when you have the word temptation, when you have the word temptation, it's the same Greek word that's used temptation in some places, and translated trial in other places. In the Old King James, usually it's temptations everywhere, but as the New King James translators and others have understood how that word is used, it's the same word. Temptation is what Satan uses us to lure us to sin. We look, we look at something, we want something, we want it so badly that we're tempted, and we let it conceive in our minds, and then we turn against God. But trials, the same word, we might look at something and say, no, that is not what God said to do. No, I can't do it that way. No, I can't succumb to that same thought I've always had, or that same proclivity I've always had. This is a trial, and I need to turn to God and ask Him to strengthen me, and to do it His way, and to build the character in me that I need in order to resist sin. I wrote down a few verses here. Let's look at James 1 while we're talking about temptation. Just since this is what Israel succumbed to, and all is too often idols, idols are things that tempt us. We look at them, we may begin to put our trust in them, as in we can put our trust in government, we can put our trust in our wealth, we can try to put our trust in whatever it might be, that we put our trust in that can lure us away from what our loyalty and commitment to God is. In James 1 and verse 12, it talks about temptation.

James 1 verse 12 says, "...blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him." That's agape him, which the Lord has promised to those who agape him. Remember, agape is a choice. We choose to do God. It's not what we naturally want, but we choose to sacrifice self and do the things that God wants us to do. Verse 13, "...let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted by God." Satan tempts us, but God will give us trials to strengthen us. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. We have to recognize when that's happening. We have to catch self and deny self and say, no, I won't do that anymore. It's not what God wants. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. So God will send trials, but those trials are there to strengthen us. So we need to be aware of those things and say, no, no, I can't do that. It takes the self-control. It takes the character and strength that God's Spirit gives us to say no to self. But the more we say no to self and learn to reject old thoughts, old feelings, the things that might lure us away from God, whether it be certain entertainments or whatever it might be that would lure us away from God, that we say, no, that's not our way of life anymore. That does not lead to life. Following God is what leads to life. I'm going to give you a couple scriptures where you see that word, the same Hebrew or same Greek word back in Hebrews or in the book of James, so one book back in Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3. And I can see I didn't do a good job. I did some of these by memory. So let's forget Hebrews 3, because that's not what I'm looking for. Let's look at Acts 20. Hopefully I turned here and wrote down the right verse. I'm going to have to start double-checking my verses and not doing things just by writing them down. Yeah, Acts 20. Paul, speaking here, let's read it in verse 18 to get the context. Acts 20 verse 18. When they had come to him, he said to them, You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I also lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. Now, if you look at the old King James, that's translated temptations. But in the new King James, it's trials. God gave him trials. Remember that, I think even James says, through trials, we develop patience. Paul says, Count it all joy when you enter into various trials, because it's God giving you an opportunity to build the character that he wants to build in us.

So, when we have these things in our life, Satan would look at them as temptations. Can I lure them into sin? Can I affect the lust of the flesh, the lust of the mind, the pride of life to lure them into sin? God looks at them as, here's an opportunity to reject us ourselves, reject the world, and choose him. Israel, if we go back to Ezekiel 20 here, if we go back to Ezekiel 20, you can also mark down 1 Peter 1.6. I hope that's a good verse that also talks about trials versus temptations. If we go back to Ezekiel 20, Israel was warned many times. When you go there, don't worship them in the way that the people of the land worship God. Don't do it. Yet, what they went in here, we see in verses 28 to 30, they just went ahead and did exactly what God told them not to do. In verse 30, let me read it again. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Are you defiling? Remember these words, defiling and profaning. We're going to come back to them in a little bit. Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers and committing harlotry according to their abominations? There's that word harlotry. Again, a few Bible studies back. Remember, we were in a very graphic section of Ezekiel where God was talking about Israel being literally a harlot. He had married her. He had given her everything. He had taken her from a child who had nothing. He clothed her. He fed her. He gave her education. He brought her up so that she was a beautiful woman. And then she played the harlot with everyone around her. Remember God, to use the modern evacueres, she cheated on God. So, that's the type of thing that would happen to us. We would say, what a disgusting person that is who could betray God or their husband in that way. And that's exactly what Israel did to God.

Same thing that we can do if we don't pay attention to what God has done and given us and show him the love and the respect and the commitment to live his way, recognizing the far greater thing than anything physical that he's given us, the future he's given us if we will just follow him.

So, he's saying, again bringing that to the mind of the here in Ezekiel, they committed harlotry according to their abominations the way they treated God. Verse 31, for when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day, you defile yourselves. Well, the ultimate there for ancient Israel was that they would let their children pass through the fire to Molech and Chemosh and these other gods, that they worship them so much they were willing to sacrifice their children and honor them. And God found that literally abhorrent. But can we do the same thing? Can we do the same thing that we would let all idol you know lure us into thinking everything is okay and God is okay with that? And so many people have been defiled in that way thinking, well I do everything else that God says. Is he really going to hold me accountable for this one little thing that I do? Yes, he will, because our our calling is to become perfect, to become holy as he is perfect, to purify ourselves through the course of our lives as John says in 1 John 3 verse 3. So we have this calling and we know what our our calling is and with God's Holy Spirit and the tools he gives us to become like him. Not just people with most of our faults gone, but through the course of our lives as God reveals those to us getting rid of all of our faults and sins. And here they committed the ultimate. They so respected the idols of the land that they would even sacrifice their children to them. So God says, you know, you defile yourself with your idols even to this day. So he says, shall I be inquired by you, a house of Israel?

I mean, look what you've done to me. So you want to come to me and ask me for favors? You wanted to ask me for help? You want, and while you're doing all these things, should I listen to you? Have you listened to me, he might say? Might be the same thing if, you know, if we help someone or if we have a child who we help over and over and over and over again and they keep defying and defying or whatever it is. Put an example that fits something that you can relate to in your mind. After a while, you say, I'm not going to listen to you anymore. You never do a thing I say. Why would I give you anymore? You have defied every time you haven't listened. It's the same thing that God is saying to his people there. I'm not going to be acquired by you. You don't do anything I say. When we take the name of God, we are to live by his way. That's why when we pray at the end of the prayer, whatever you pray in my name, Jesus says, I will give you. But in my name, when we say it means you are living in his name. You are living that way, not just repeating words, but that you are consciously and with God's Spirit becoming who he wants us to become so that his name is glorified by who we are and not downtrodden by the way we live our lives in contrast to what we say that we believe. Verse 32, What you have in your mind shall never be, this is an interesting verse here, too, what you have in your mind, Israel, shall never be when you say, we will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries serving wood and stone. He said, this is what you show you want. You want to be like all these other nations. You want to just to do things the way the world does. You want to be like the world, God says. You don't want to be like me. I called you out of the world, not to bring the world into the church, not to bring the world into your life, but to call you out of the life to do the things the way God said, not to bring customs from other churches, customs from things that are apart from what God said, and bring those in. But God's saying, you're selling me. We want to be like the Gentiles. We want to live this way.

But there's a difference between Israel, the house of Israel, and you and me. God, they were His.

God had called them out of Egypt. He had brought them out of Egypt. They were His people. He made an oath to them, and they made an oath to God. And He says, you will never, you will never be like the Gentiles. That will never be for you. Your life can't be that way. You made an oath, and God made an oath, and we are His special people. And He expects what He expects out of us, that we said that we would give Him, just as Israel said back in Exodus 19 and 20, whatever you say, we will do. You and I said the same thing. Now, we need to live up to that oath, because God says it won't be for you like the Gentiles. You are a special people. I made a commitment to you. You made a commitment to me. And your life won't be that way, serving wood and idle and stone and living the way of the world. Verse 33, as I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you.

And anger is God. It angers God when we stray from Him, and don't do the things that He wants us to do.

We need to do the things that He says to do. And He says, if you don't, there will be consequences to pay. Israel suffered those consequences. They were defeated by Assyria. They were carried out of their land. They lived under the cruel rule of the Assyrians. And once Babylon conquered Assyria, they were scattered into lands, never to return to the land that God gave them. They won't return until the time that Jesus Christ returns to earth, and God gives that land back to them.

So He says, He has some pretty strong words there, that's not your life anymore. You don't have that choice. You made a choice to follow Me, and I chose you. And so you will never be that way.

Verse 34, I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.

So these are very helpful verses, right? Because, or hopeful verses, because here God has taken them out of their land. He's put them into captivity. The same thing that is going to happen to modern day Israel, because they have turned from God after God has blessed them. And He knows who His people are. Again, I often remind us that, and myself, God says He created Israel. He created Israel. And you remember as we went through those sections in Israel, it was by miracle births, the miracle birth of Isaac, the miracle birth of Esau and Jacob, Jacob, the second board of the twins there, the miracle birth of Joseph. And how God created Israel out of these children of promise. They are His people, the physical people. And you and I today, when God calls us out of the world, we are His spiritual people, the Church of God who follows Him, whose spirit He gives us His spirit. And we follow Him and live the way of life that He wants us to, just like He gave His principles to ancient Israel. But they never followed Him. They never became who He wanted them to become. Today we have His Holy Spirit, the tools that we can become who God wants us to become.

So in verse 33, we see God says, you're never going to be that way. You're not going to live in the land and do things that way. You will lose the land. You will lose your homes if you follow the ways of the Gentiles and go into captivity. But in verse 34, He starts talking about the future. But in verse 34, He starts talking about the future. But I will bring you back. I still remember the oath that I gave you. There still is that land.

I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered. And remember, just as a reminder, ancient Israel never came back to the Promised Land.

Judah, a portion of Judah did after they were conquered by the Babylonians, and 70 years later God opened the door for them to go back. But Israel never did. They are still scattered around the world. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. He will do it with power. He will do it with might. He will do it, and people will know He is God. He says, and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead my case with you face to face. I'll bring you out, but we're going to have a talk. We're going to have a talk, and you're going to see exactly what you did. You're going to know exactly how I feel, and you're going to know exactly how you broke an oath and what you did to me, God says. I will plead my case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded my case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead my case with you, says the Lord God. So that's kind of a daunting thing to think that God says, I'm going to have it out with you. You are going to talk about it. You are going to be faced with what you did. Verse 37 says, I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. Now, when God says he's going to have Israel pass under the rod, that's an interesting phrase to use. We have to go back to Leviticus 27 in order to see what that phrase pass under the rod means. It refers to something that we've talked about when we were in Isaiah. Now we've talked about it since we've been in the book of Ezekiel 2. Leviticus 27, verse 32, it says here, it says, He shall not inquire whether it's good or bad, nor shall he exchange it. And if he exchanges it at all, then both it, nor the one exchanged for it, shall be holy. It shall not be reared.

So, as God talks about a tenth, and as the sheep would pass under the rod, the shepherd would count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. This one belongs to God. Whether it's healthy or whether it's not healthy, this one belongs to God. No exchange, nothing. One tenth, eleven, twelve, thirteen. Every tenth one belongs to God. So when it passes under the rod, He's talking about there's a tenth. There's a tenth one that belongs to Him.

So when we look back at chapter at Ezekiel 20 and verse 37, when we read about passing under the rod, we know God is talking about a tithe, talking about ten percent, one out of ten. I will make you pass under the rod. There is a consequence for the actions that we take. We've read about how Israel is captive. We've read about how God says, I will never allow Israel to be completely destroyed. Some people that He does say, as we read through Isaiah in the middle chapters there, and when those burdens or curses on these nations were, He would completely destroy them.

But not Israel. He said that there would always be a remnant of Israel. So if we go back to Isaiah 6, we see the same concept of the ten percent there again when He's talking about Israel. They will die. Many will die as a result of the consequence, but Israel itself will never die out. And always remember that God has a plan of salvation. So if someone dies, there is the second resurrection. There's the first resurrection for the first fruits of the people who God calls, who respond to His call, who live by His spirit, led by His spirit, who become the people He wants us to become in character and the way we live our lives. And then over all the rest of humanity, there's a second resurrection. So always there's the opportunity of life that God wants to give to every mankind's salvation. So verse 11 of Isaiah 6, you'll remember this. He says, this is when God is calling Isaiah to service. And Isaiah, as he's in the presence of God, he's in awe. And once his sin cleanses, God does cleanse it, and God gives them the commission to preach these words. And in verse 11, Isaiah says, Lord, how long? And God answered, until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. That hasn't happened yet. So these words are still alive, still for us today. Until the cities are laid waste without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, and the land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet, but yet a tenth will be in it. Those who pass under the rod, a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming as a terra benthree or as an oak. So the Holy Siege will be its stump. It says there the last part of that. So there will be that remnant that goes back, that goes back to the promised land.

I will pass back in Ezekiel 20. Make sure I'm not missing some verses I wanted to turn to here.

Yeah, verse back to Ezekiel 20. I will make you pass under the rod.

That's part of the punishment for disobeying God. There will be death. Death comes upon it. Death comes from when you live by a law other than the law of life. There is a law that leads to life. There is a law that leads to death. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. God made an oath to us. We made an oath to him, and he still sees that as binding. I will purge. Notice that word purge. I will purge the rebels from among you.

There will be some who still want to defy God, who want to live their own way, who will not yield to him, who will not submit to him. God says I will purge them. I will purge them from among you. Purging is quite a thing. We are told that we are to purify ourselves.

God gives us his way of life. He gives us his Holy Spirit. We know what the Bible says. The more we read it, the more we understand how we are to be living. Purify yourselves. Anyone who has this hope that says in 1 John 3.3, purifies himself. Can't do it without God's help. Can't do it without his word. Can't do it without the knowledge of God. Can't know without his Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us and convicting us of what we're supposed to do. But God says there's not going to be. There's not going to be in my land people who defy me. There's not going to be idolaters. There's not going to be fornicators. There's not going to be people who openly commit harlotry against me. People who blaspheme against me by their actions or their attitudes is simply not going to happen. There will be the people that don't make it. We keep our finger there in Ezekiel 20. Let's go back to Revelation 21. You know, when we see the ultimate Jesus Christ is returned to earth. He has set up his kingdom. People will be taught his way of life. Just like you and I are being taught that way now, they will live by every word in the Bible and be taught to live by every word of the Bible. But God talks about who will be in his kingdom. In Revelation 21, verse 27, he says, But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles.

We've seen that word defile many times out of the way of the last couple weeks. There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination. We've seen that show up a lot in Ezekiel 20 or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So as God purges, if there's those who are defiled, still working abominations or liars, he says they won't enter in the same thing that he says there in Ezekiel 20. In Revelation 22, next chapter over in verse 15, well, let's read verse 14. 22, 14 in Revelation, Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into that city.

But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters.

The very thing that we're talking about in Ezekiel 20, the last part of it, anyone who has an idol, not just the ones things that are made of wooden stone, but anything that we would put that we would choose to obey or choose to trust in more than God. And that's something that we all have to just kind of think of and ask God, are there idols in my life that I need to be getting rid of so that the longer I walk with you, the more I trust in you. Outside are all these and whoever loves and practices a lie. Yeah, Xavier. Hi, Brian, Shaby. In the same book, I'm going back to the verse that you read earlier to help us deal with Isaiah 6 verse 11. In the same book that we are now, maybe this verse correlates. It's Revelation 16 verse 19, where it says, the great city was divided in three parts and all the cities of the nations fell.

And all the cities of the nations fell, yes. Yeah, because back in Isaiah 6-11.

Oh, yes, that's right. All the cities are laid waste. Exactly. Yes, it's the time of the end. Very good. Okay, so we see what God is talking about. When he's talking about it here in Ezekiel 20, we see it. It isn't just in one place of the Bible. God says it in very many places. So we're in verse 38. He'll purge. I will purge the rebels from among you and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the country where they dwell.

I'll bring them out, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. They shall not enter the land of Israel. I'll bring them out of the captivity they were in, but they're not going to enter into that land. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Then you'll know that I'm God.

You know, God, so many times he will talk about his name will be honored. His name will be hallowed among Israel and among the Gentiles. He does what he says. If he were to allow Israel or if he were to allow us to continue in a life that is not lived in the way that he wants, it would defile his name. He would look like a very weak God. Okay, well, they don't want to do it that way, so I'm going to kind of continue endlessly to extend mercy. He is a merciful God. He is a patient God. We don't get what we deserve because he loves us and doesn't want any of us to perish, and he continues to work with us. But there will come a time, but his name will be honored. And so when he says, then you will know that I am the Lord, it's my way stands. It's my way that will be lived, God says. And so these people who say they were part of you Israel, but they were rebels, I'll bring them out, but they will not enter the land. In my land will be people who respect Agape and worship God in the way that he wants to be worshipped. Verse 39, as for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, go serve every one of you his idols, and hereafter, if you will not obey me, but you continue to profane my holy name, no more with your gifts. Let me read that again. As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, go serve every one of you his idols, and hereafter, if you will not obey me, semicolon, but profane my holy name, no more with your gifts and your early idols. If you choose to live that way, choose it, but don't profane my name while you're honoring your idols and doing all these other things and just bring gifts to me in an outright show of lip service to me. Go and do it. If you choose to live that way, do that, but don't profane my name by bringing your gifts and your idols when you really are serving other gods.

God holds us to account, and when he talks about in the New Testament about examining ourselves, what are we doing? How is God looking at our lives? Are we really yielding ourselves to him and doing the things that he said and coming out of the world in the way that he said to? Verse 40, For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel. This is talking about all the house of Israel, not just the ten tribes of Israel, but including Judah. In those days, there, says the Lord, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land shall serve me. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the first fruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. So this is a future thing. Now, when God says, For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel will serve me. Early on, in the book of Isaiah, we read in Isaiah too something that you'll be hearing when you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, surely here in the next week and a half or so, you'll be hearing, Let us go up to the house, let us go up to the house of the mountain of the Lord. Let's go up to the house of the Lord. Let's go to His mountain, right? We all go to His mountain. That's where the law comes forth out of Jerusalem. The law comes forth out of His mountain. There we will go. He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. We'll sing the song. You'll hear those verses. So God is talking about that time, on His holy mountain, when Jesus Christ is here, when the Israel is brought back into their promised land, when He has purged, and there are people that are there that live His way of life and have demonstrated in their lives, they're committed to Him and committed to the change that He wants to bring into us, and the change in the transformation from carnal human being to person with godly character that has developed that in the course of His life. They'll be there. On my holy mountain, all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. God says, There I will accept them, and there that I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices.

Now, this is future, and it might make us think, because later on, as we get to the end of the book of Ezekiel, we're going to read about the millennial temple that will be standing there. And in that, when we read those descriptions, and there's some beautiful, beautiful words that are there as you talk about the waters that flow from under the temple and how they bring life to everywhere they go. But there's also a lot of detailed instructions of what that temple will be like, the offerings that will be entered there, the things, the sacrifices that will be there. And it's different than the sacrifices that you read back in Ezekiel 34 and in Solomon's time. So we know there's something going on at that time, and there's a reason that God has those sacrifices and those offerings going on. Here, I think in verse 40, He kind of indicates that, right? In the future, all of the people shall serve Me. I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the first fruits of your sacrifices together with all your holy things.

God says of the people that will be worshiping Him that time, following His will explicitly. Those of us who are there, who have lived our lives, been working under Jesus Christ to teach people God's way, to teach them, you know, no, that isn't the attitude you should display. No, that's not the way you handle that situation. This is the way. Walk in it. This is the way to life. This is the way life has to be lived here. He goes, I will accept you, in verse 41, I'll accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles. They will see the way you live your life. They will see how you do. They'll see the joy that's in your being. They'll see the way that your life is, how you are blessed. They will say, look, how much you've known you had the opportunity to know this all in your physical life, and we're learning from you now. It kind of reminds us of Zechariah 8, where it talks about, in those days, there will be 10 people hugged on the sleeve of the Jewish man and say, teach us that way. Teach us that way of how God is. Teach us we want to know His way. So far different than the world is today. So far different than even the world around us when we see anti-Semitism, which is also anti-God and an anti-Christ mentality developing in the world and in this nation. In that day, they will be seeking God. They'll be seeking Him. I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles. They will see that the promise I made you, everything I said, look who you've become, and look what I've done for you. And the Gentiles will learn we can trust in the God of Israel. We can trust in Him and Him alone. All their gods, all the things they worshiped, all the things that they idolized in their lifetimes fell apart. When Jesus Christ came, comes to earth, all those idols and every single thing that they counted on and worshiped and held up as the epitome will be completely dashed. There will be no one but Jesus Christ that they can look to. Then you shall know, verse 42, that I am the Lord. When I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised my hand in an oath to give to your fathers, the oath will be kept. I will bring you back, and that's the country that you will live. The promised land that I promised to your fathers then, I will give to you at that time. And there you will remember. Ah, there's a time of repentance and out of repentance and coming to detest yourself for the way we've lived against God. There is joy. There is joy and there is life that comes out of that sorrow. And this is what God is talking about here in verse 43. There you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed.

You know, when we recognize that time, when we recognize it in ourselves, and when we see people that consistently, and as we look at the world around us, and we see people just moving further and further and further away from God, and sometimes it just boggles our mind that anyone can think of the way of life or what the direction of the world is going in.

You know, how can anyone think that's good? You and I have a discernment that comes from God's Holy Spirit. But when they see what the end results of their ways are, the way they want things, and the direction they're going in, you've got to let them go that way. You've got to let them have what they want. And when they see the destruction that they bring about and realize God was always with us, why did we turn against Him? When they see the errors and the consequences of their way of life, they will loathe themselves in your own sight. And when that happens, when repentance occurs, people can turn to God. Then, verse 44, then you shall know that I am the Lord.

And He means that from a heart. God is the only God. He is the only God we need. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for my name's sake. This is what I said I would do. This is what I said. This is how you live. And this is the way to life when I have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord. We're going to stop there at verse 44, because really, verses 45 to 40 39, they really changed subject here totally. And even some of the commentaries say that that should have originally been part of chapter 21. But I think we're going to stop there at verse 44. And I think that is a fitting place as we look forward to the day of atonement that talks about the time when people will be standing before Christ. They will be face to face with the consequences of their ways. Jesus Christ will have a return to earth. They will look at themselves and realize everything they counted on is gone. The only thing left standing is Jesus Christ. And they will be decimated, and they will be humble people, and they won't know what's going on. But as they work with Jesus Christ and learn to love him and trust him and understand what the plan of God is, and you and I will be part of that teaching process that goes on, you know, that repentance, that humility that they have, that you and I experience in our life that causes us and makes us choose to turn to God and continue to turn to God, that will bring joy and peace when people embrace God's way of life. And they will know, they will know as you and I know, that he is God and we follow him. So as we look to the day of atonement, we look to the Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus Christ is on earth, and that way will be being taught. And the world, as we know it today, with all of its faults and misery and suffering, will be behind us. And all ahead of us is just the joy and the peace that will come from living God's way of life, the very way of life we should have right now. I think verse 44 is a very good place for us to end and look forward to that time and truly pray to God, thy kingdom come. So let me let us let us close there for verse 44, and I will open it up to any questions, comments, or anything else that it wants to talk about. So