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Take your Bibles this evening
and turn with me to the book of Ezekiel chapter 21. Book of Ezekiel chapter 21. Of course, we have seen in this
chapter, it is put in plain terms for the elders and for the House
of Judah to understand. Remember, in the
last five verses, Chapter 20, the prophet Ezekiel was told
to prophesy. And the prophecy was concerning a
fire that would be started in the woods, in the south woods,
and it would spread to the north woods. And it ended up, the people said, we don't understand.
He's speaking in parable. And we don't understand. Well,
they didn't want to understand. And so in this chapter, the word
of the Lord comes to Ezekiel again, and he says, say to them
in these terms. And it was in plain terms for
them to understand. I'm against them. And my sword is coming out of
its sheath. and it is going to cut off the
righteous and the wicked out of the land. And then he was told to paint a portrait. He was to shake
and quiver and to beat his thighs shake his thighs, all sign of
the terror, the fright that would come upon the people of the land
when God's sword struck. And he goes on to tell Ezekiel,
did you tell him my sword is polished, it is sharpened, and it is ready to strike at
any moment. It's imminent. Verse 13, we looked at began to look at
last week, didn't finish our thoughts. It said, because it
is a trial, and what if the sword contempt
even the rod? It shall be no more, saith the
Lord. We were thinking about the fact
that God's sword is prepared to test his people, to try his people. Going back up to
verse three, two or three, the righteous and the wicked. It was to try, to prove, to test the people. Last week we dealt with this
idea and thought that the people of God, the righteous, it is a trial of their faith,
a proving of their faith. And not to look at every scripture,
but just a highlighted passage in 1 Peter chapter 1, and would like to read verses
6 and 7 again this evening. In 1 Peter 1 and verse 6 says,
wherein ye greatly rejoice. In what? In what do we gladly
rejoice? Do we greatly rejoice? In what? Well, in God's salvation, in
God's electing us, in God's choosing us. and the fact that God did
it all. And verse five, we are kept by
his power, not our own power, but by the power of God. And we greatly rejoice in this
because we have come to realize we are weak, we have no strength,
we have no ability of our own to do anything. apart from God. It is God that gives strength. It is God that gives power for
us to do anything, even in this physical life. It is God. And it is God that in salvation
has saved us. It is God in salvation that keeps
us saved. And so we're guaranteed a home
and glory with him for eternity, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness, through
manifold temptations, through manifold trials, for a season. What is this life? If you live
to be 100 years old, what is this life? It's but a vapor. Here today, gone tomorrow. It's
just a vapor. So for a season, in comparison
to eternity, which Brother Mike likes to sing
because Brother Ron liked to sing an amazing grace that, I
believe it's the last verse, unnumbered years. It can't be counted. Eternity
cannot be counted in years, in time. For there's no beginning to eternity
and there's no end to eternity. And we're going to be in eternity. So in comparison
to eternity, our life, even if it's 100 years old, is but for
a season. For a season, we endure these
trials. And remember to who Peter was
writing this. He was writing to those who were
scattered because of persecution. They'd left their homes and their
homeland because of persecution that had come upon them. Persecution
for the cause of Christ because they believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were suffering
sore trials, sore persecutions. And he reminds them that it's
just for a season, that the trial of your faith being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So the Lord
allows our faith to be tried, to be tested, to be proved. Of course, those that are of
true faith, they continue to trust in him. I heard a preacher say concerning
the thought of fear. Yes, fear's not gone. The fear of persecution's not
gone. But we trust the Lord in spite
of our fear. We trust him and continue to
trust him, our faith. is tried, as he put it, with
fire, as gold is tried in the fire, as silver is tried in the
fire in the book of Psalms in chapter 66, I believe it was,
in verse 10. What about the wicked? We said God's sword is prepared
to test his people. It is a trial, he said. It is
a trial of the righteous and the wicked. And the righteous are going to continue to trust
the Lord in the midst of their trials. But what about the wicked? Why are the wicked being tried? Why are the wicked being tested? Well, the wicked are being tested,
they're being tried to prove them, whether they will repent
or not. That's why God tries them, that's
why God tests them, to prove to them that even when these trials come
upon them, they still will not repent. and turn to him. I'd like for us to look at some
passages of scripture. Turning with me, first of all,
to the book of 1 Kings. The book of 1 Kings in chapter
8. When we begin our reading, it'll
be with verse 33, but just to give you the setting here, David had Solomon anointed and installed
as king, and then he died. He went away of all men. He passed
from in this physical life. And Solomon had become king. And God had appeared to him and asked him what he would like
for him to do. And Solomon said, I'd like wisdom. For who can govern this people,
this so great a people, unless they be wise? So we ask
God for wisdom. God said, I'll grant you that
wisdom. I'll grant you that request.
And because you've not asked for wealth and riches, I'll also
add them to you. But David had desired to build
a house, a permanent house for the Lord,
a permanent place for the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy
seat and the cherubim to dwell in. And God would not let David build
it. because he was a man of blood,
he was a man of war. But he told him that his son
Solomon, who would sit on the throne after him, would build
that house. But David was allowed to prepare
many of the materials and was given the plans for the building
of that house. And so Solomon begins with the
aid of Hiram, king of Syria, who loved David and was kind
of favorable to Solomon then as well for much of Solomon's
reign. Between the two, they built the
temple. Seven years was the temple in
its building. And now this eighth chapter,
they've come together and they've gathered the Ark of the Covenant
and the utensils, the furnishings that were in the tabernacle.
And they're ready to bring them into the house of the Lord, into
the temple. And they bring it in. And when the Ark of the Covenant
is seated in the holy place and taken in by God's prescribed
manners, it was bore on the priest's shoulders with poles staged through
the the rings in the Ark of the Covenant and it was bore on the
priest's shoulders and taken into the holy place and seated
there. Just a kind of glory of God came
down and filled the temple. so that the priest couldn't see
to minister in there and no one could enter in. God was descending
upon the holy place. God was putting his approval
upon the building of the temple and the completion of it. And Solomon, among offering sacrifices and
and everything in the people's offering of sacrifices, Solomon
lifts his voice and his hands to God in prayer. And he begins
to pray. And what we have here in verse
33 is part of that prayer. And notice his prayer here in
verse 33. When thy people Israel, besmitten down before the enemy
because they have sinned against thee and shall turn and shall
turn again to thee and confess thy name and praise and make
supplication unto thee in this house, then hear thou from heaven
and forgive their sins, the sins of thy people, Israel, and bring
them again unto the land was thou gavest unto their fathers. When they turn, when they are
smitten by their enemies and they turn and confess, turning
is repentance, they turn from their sin and confess their sin
to God. then God hear their prayer and
forgive their sins. But what if they don't turn and confess their sin? If they don't turn and confess
their sin, then God will not hear from heaven. As he says in one place, our sins have separated between
you and me and I'll not hear from heaven. The righteous, the righteous
will turn and they will confess. their sins, and God will hear
and he will forgive, 1 John 1, 8 and 9. But the wicked, the wicked will go on in their
wickedness. They will not turn. They will
not confess. Verse 35, When heaven is shut up, and there
is no rain, because they have sinned against thee, if they
pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their
sin when thou afflictest them. Then hear thou in heaven, and
forgive the sin of thy servant, and of thy people, Israel, that
thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk and
give rain upon the land which thou hast given to thy people
for an inheritance. And what if they don't repent? What if they don't turn? What
if they don't confess? Then God will not hear. Same as in the other scenario. Turn with me now to the Book
of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter
18 and verse 8. Here the Lord says, if that nation against whom I have pronounced,
well, let's go back to verse seven. I should have marked that
down. At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to
pull down and to destroy it. If that nation, against whom
I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that
I thought to do unto them. that wicked nation that God pronounces
judgment against, if they will turn, if they will repent, then he'll stay his hand, his
hand of judgment against them. We have one such illustration
in scripture, at least one. of an evil and wicked nation,
one whom God had pronounced judgment against. Turn with me to the
book of Jonah, the book of Jonah, chapter three. We know the story of Jonah, the
record of Jonah. How God told him to go to Nineveh, a great city, a large city. Amazed at some of those ancient
cities, how large they were. I'm not sure how large Nineveh
was at the time. I know back in Rome when they
began to grow and to conquer, Rome was a million people. We think we have big cities today?
Well Rome was big in ancient history. But Jonah chapter 3 and verse
4 and God delivers because Jonah repented, God delivers him out
of the fish's belly, and tells him,
now you go to Nineveh like I told you before, and you preach my
word. And Jonah began to enter into
the city, a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet 40 days
and Nineveh shall be overthrown. He's pronouncing the word of
the Lord, the word that God gave him and told him to deliver.
Judgment's coming. You're going to be overthrown.
Why did God send Jonah to Nineveh? to give those wicked people an
opportunity to repent again. To repent, to turn from their
evil and their wicked ways. And so Jonah goes in there, goes
a day's journey into the city, preaching 40 days. God's going to destroy this city. The people of Nineveh believed
God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest
of them even to the least of them. The great pompous people,
the people with great wealth, the aristocrats, the people that
are a proud people because of their wealth. Even those people,
even the poor peasants, all repented in Shackloff Mansion. For the
word came unto the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne
and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth
and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed
and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and
his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing,
let them not feed nor drink water. But let man and beast be covered
with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn
every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in
their hand. Who can tell if God will turn
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not? And God saw their works, that
they turn from their evil way, and God repented. of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. God saw that they turned. God
saw that they repented. He saw that they turned from
their evil way. They turned unto God. They cried
out unto God. And he stayed his hand of judgment. This is a case of
what was said back in Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 8. If that
nation will turn, will repent, then I will stay my hand of judgment. against them. Turn with me to the book of Ezekiel. The book of Ezekiel in chapter
33. Ezekiel 33 and verse 11. Why does God test? Why does He try the wicked so
that He might give them space again to repent, space to turn
from their evil, to turn to Him? Say unto them, Ezekiel 33, 11,
as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways. For why will ye die, O house
of Israel? Turn from your wickedness, turn
from your evil. He gives them space. God's long
suffering. Why today in 2024, October the
2nd, Why hasn't God destroyed this
earth? Why hasn't God destroyed the
wicked? Because he's long-suffering.
He's given them space to repent. Listen, when they stand before
him at the great white throne, judgment, they'll stand without
excuse. They were warned. And oh, yes, when that day of
great tribulation and trial comes upon the whole earth, known as the tribulation period,
oh, it's going to be a terrible time. It's going to be a fearful
time, and fear will be in the hearts of the wicked. But they
will not turn. They will not repent. Oh, they're evil. and of their
wickedness. Turn with me to the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation, chapter 3, verse 10. Revelation 3 and verse 10, the
Lord here is in chapters two and three is speaking to the
pastors, sending message to the pastors of the seven churches
of Asia, five of which is a message of
judgment. If they do not turn from their
evil and turn from where they have departed from the Lord,
he will remove their candlestick. Two of them had, he didn't have
anything bad to say about them. And this one in chapter three
and verse 10 is the church of Philadelphia. And notice what
he says to them in verse 10 of this third chapter, because thou
hast kept the word of my patience. You've been patient, patiently
waiting my coming, patiently waiting the day of the Lord.
You've kept my word of patience. You've been steadfast. You've
been faithful to me. You've not departed from me in
one thing. I also will keep thee. from the hour of temptation,
from the hour of trial, the trial that is to fall upon
the whole world, which shall come upon all the world. Listen, he's speaking about the
tribulation period, that hour of trial that is to fall upon
the whole world. Notice this. Which shall come upon all the
world to try them that dwell upon the earth. To try all those
that are dwelling upon the earth at the time. Those that believe,
those that are trusting in God at that time will be faithful
to him. They'll not be swayed or moved
by those trials. And they will die. Their blood will be shed. Many
of them will die. But many, the wicked, They will
go on in their wickedness. They will not turn. This is an
hour of great trial that is upon the earth, and they still will
not repent and turn to God. But though not be able to say,
God didn't give him a chance, that God wasn't long-suffering
with him, that God wasn't patient with him, for he bore long with
them in their evil and in their wickedness. And they delighted
in darkness because their deeds were evil. Turn with me to the book of Luke, one more passage,
then we'll have to close tonight. The book of Luke chapter 13. Jesus says here in these verses, don't think that any people is
greater sinners than anyone else and that because you're a lesser
sinner, you should be spared over another because you're all
sinners. He says this, I tell you nay. but except ye repent,
verse three of Luke chapter 13, I tell you nay, but except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those 18 upon whom the tower
of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners
above all men? that dwell in Jerusalem, I tell
you, nay, you're all sinners, except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish. The righteous have repented, and they continue when they sin,
They confess their sins to God, saying the same thing about their
sin that God does. They turn from their sin and
God forgives them. But the wicked, the wicked will
not repent. They go on in their evil and
in their wickedness.
God's Sword Prepared To Test His People #2
Series Ezekiel
To the wicked, it is a test whether they will repent or not.
| Sermon ID | 10324169404963 |
| Duration | 42:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Prayer Meeting |
| Bible Text | Ezekiel 21:13 |
| Language | English |
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