And what I think I'll do is, Emile, can I call on you to read verses one through three for us? And then Paul, can I ask you to turn your Bible to Zechariah 5, verses one through four? And then Ken, can I have you look to Revelation 5? Well, let's start there, but Emile, if you'd read Ezekiel 3, verses one through three for us first. from their own book. Moreover, he said to me, son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll. And he said to me, son of man, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that I gave you. So I ate. And it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. Amen. As we looked at last time, we met. God calls Ezekiel into the ministry. He sends Ezekiel out in the ministry and he equips Ezekiel with the word of God. And he strengthens Ezekiel with the word of God and by his Holy Spirit. And here we see the actual communication of God's word. We're given this beautiful description, this beautiful imagery of a scroll. as an example, as a representation of God's word. And Ezekiel is told to eat it, partake of it, internalize it, be nourished by it, be strengthened by it. This is not an unusual description or a means for God to powerfully communicate to us the importance of his word and the importance of taking his word to heart and making his word a part of our lives and living it out in our lives. And we see this illustration throughout the scripture. That's why I asked Ken to open up to us to Zachariah, or did I ask you, Paul? I'm sorry, Paul, would you read for us Zachariah 5, verses one through four? Then I turned and raised my eyes and saw there a flying scroll. And he said to me, what do you see? So I answered, I see a flying scroll. Its length is 20 cubits and its width 10 cubits. Then he said to me, this is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth. Every thief shall be expelled according to this side of this scroll, and every perjurer shall be expelled according to that side of it. I will send out the curse, says the Lord of hosts. It shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It shall remain in the midst of his house and consume it with its timber and stones. Once again, we're seeing a glorious image of a scroll, a big, powerful scroll, 20 cubits high, all right? But we're giving these apocalyptic visions, so to speak. Once again, this is God speaking to an Old Testament prophet, Zechariah, and he's giving warning to the house of Israel. He's about to bring judgment upon them. But he's using this image of a scroll of God's word. And it's God's word is going to be communicating to the people of Israel and much as we'll see here in Ezekiel, God's judgment is coming. But we're given this big glorious picture, so to speak, of a scroll for us to really take, you need to take God's word serious. This is how big it is, this is how powerful it is. Take God's word seriously. And we're also gonna find this concept is also found in the New Testament as well. So Kenny, I think I had you read. Would you read then Revelation chapter five for us? The whole chapter or just? Yeah, the whole chapter, thank you. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose the seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll in his right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and you have redeemed us to God by your blood, and out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around a throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands and of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. and every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him who sits on the throne, and the lamb forever and ever. And then the four living creatures said, amen, and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever. Is there any parallels to Ezekiel? We see a Christ and Ezekiel, we see the Christophany of Christ, Christ sitting on his throne. We see Christ giving the word of God to Ezekiel. And here's the Apostle John being given a similar experience, seeing Christ on his throne, but not as a Christophany, not as some pre-incarnate Christ, but now the crucified and resurrected Christ, the eternal glorious Christ. Same Christ, same person, but now he's been fully revealed to us. And John is being brought up into heaven. He's being brought up into all eternity. Some people like to ask me the question, do you believe in time travel? I believe you can be taken out of time, because that's what exactly happened to the Apostle John here. He was taken up into heaven and given this eternal perspective of Christ and his full glory on his throne. And we see that Christ is giving his word to his people through his apostle John. Once again, the image of a scroll. This powerful image of God's word. The Lord Jesus Christ and his holy word go hand in hand with each other. You can't separate Christ from his word. It doesn't matter what's written about in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter what's written in the New Testament. It all speaks of him. It all speaks of his glory. It all speaks of his work to make us holy and righteous before God. All of God's word reveals Christ to us. God has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ. They go hand in hand with each other. Yes, they are two distinct entities. Christ is eternal and mighty God. The Bible, his holy word, is his utterance, his communication to us. But they're inseparable, because the scriptures help us understand who Christ is. And Christ tells us who he is through his scriptures. Yes, I see Angela had a question. I believe it's in Genesis. I'm really, forgive me, I'm really bad at quoting what's where, but it says in the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's actually John 1, which runs parallel to Genesis 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Logos. Christ is referred to as the Word, the Logos, the ultimate truth, the ultimate definition of everything. Yes, so it's John 1, and yes, you're absolutely right on track that it goes parallel to Genesis 1. We're supposed to make that conclusion. We're supposed to say, yeah, when we read Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, we're to see, well, that also means Jesus Christ was the Logos, and he was the Word from the very beginning, and he spoke this world into existence. By God's Word, we are created. Same thing, so you weren't wrong by saying Genesis 1. It goes right hand in hand with John 1. John 1 and Genesis 1 go hand in hand with each other. They both tell us about how Christ and how Christ spoke this world into existence from the very beginning. Now that's a great illustration. Doesn't Jesus also say that he's the bread of life, right? He also said that in the Gospel of John. The bread, I just think it's interesting. Is the word, exactly. All these analogies, all these representations we see here are to constantly remind us of who God is and how we need Christ and how we need his word to nourish us and to strengthen us and to lead us. What I also want to point out here is this, once again, John, the apostle John, is being brought up into eternity, he's being brought up into glory, and he's being shown this word of God represented by this scroll, and this is gonna be the revelation now that Christ is gonna give to the early first century churches, those seven churches that you read about in John two and three. This is the word of God that he's about to reveal to these early first century Christians, for them to see all that God has been doing throughout all of redemptive history to save himself a people through the lamb. The book of Revelation, if you treat it like it's some da Vinci code to try to figure out when Jesus is gonna return, you missed the point of the book of Revelation. and you will constantly be frustrated by it. And you'll be constantly trying to figure out, well, when this happens, that should happen, this happens, that happens. No, the book of Revelation is meant for us to see the glory of God and how throughout, from all eternity and throughout all ages, he has been saving and sanctifying himself of people through his son, Jesus Christ, all to his glory. And he's revealing that to the early first century churches. And he's about to give them that full big picture, so to speak. This is how God throughout all of eternity, through all ages, has made his glory and his holiness and his righteousness known to sinful fallen man, and how he's been saving sinful fallen man through his son Jesus Christ. When you understand it in that greater overall context, when you see that it's really a complete history of God's working through his son, Jesus Christ, and not just something off in the future, believe it or not, the book of Revelation's a much easier read. It makes a lot more sense. But what's interesting here in Revelation five is, is that here are all the angels, here are all the elders, they're saying, hey, who's worthy to open up the word of God? Who's worthy to open up the scroll? There's no angel in heaven. There's no human on earth that is able or worthy to reveal God's word to us. Stop and think about that for a moment. Understand what's going on here. There is no creature worthy to open up God's word and speak to us. What did God say to Job's friends and to Job himself when he finally spoke? Who darkens my counsel? Who are these people to speak for me? No one, no one has the right, has the authority, has the means, has the qualifications, has the worthiness to speak God's Word. Why? First and foremost, even before you start talking about us being sinful and holy creatures who've rebelled against God, how dare we try to speak for God as sinful creatures, before you even get to that point, you're still just a creature anyway. Look at the angels. The angels aren't even worthy to speak the word of God. These angels that we read about here in Ezekiel and here in Revelation, these were godly, holy creatures who worshiped and served God. They didn't sin against God. They're not even worthy to speak the word of God. Why? They're creatures. Who is any creature to speak for God? I'm gonna speak to the husbands and wives here tonight. Do you like it when your spouse speaks for you? Oh, I know how my wife feels about that. I've gotten into more trouble that way. Who am I to speak for my wife? I get the shot, the ribs from my wife. No, that's not what I meant. That's what I'm saying. Oh, I'm sorry. Who are we to speak for anyone else? There is no one worthy to speak for God except God himself through his son, Jesus Christ. And these creatures and these elders, they're worshiping Christ because they're, oh, thank you for revealing to us God's word, God's truth. God, thank you for making your glory and your love known to us through your son, Jesus Christ. God, thank you for speaking to us. Thank you for leading us. Thank you for instructing us. Thank you for strengthening us. Thank you for encouraging us. Thank you for edifying us. Thank you for making yourself and your word and your truth known to us through your son, Jesus Christ. God, you could have just left us in our sin. You could have left us in our misery. You could have left us in the futility of our thinking. You could have left us in the depravity of our souls, in absolute misery, but God, you decided to speak to us, and you spoke to us through your Son, Jesus Christ, and he's the only one worthy to speak on your behalf. We need to take Revelation 5 very seriously in terms of any of our understanding of any scripture. It is God's grace, it is God's goodness that he even speaks to us. And who are we to think that we know better than God, or that we can define God in our own wisdom, in our own thinking? How many times have we heard those chilling words, oh, well, my God would never do this, and my God would, excuse me. What about the God of the Bible? Who has God said he is? Oh, I think God is, you know, He's a loving God. You know, He's just, unless you're really bad, you know, God is, He's gonna love and forgive you as long as you tried. Where are you finding that in the scripture? Well, no, this is what I think about God. Yeah, exactly, and who are you to speak for God? Even the most Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, Regenerated, renewed, born again Christian has to be very careful handling the word of God and needs to know and understand this is his word and he speaks for himself. And we're not even worthy to communicate it. And that's why it's so incredible that God in his glory, God in his goodness, God in his grace, allows any of us to communicate his word. This was God being gracious and glorious to Ezekiel. This is God being glorious and gracious to us as people to speak to us through another human, through Ezekiel. But Ezekiel had to know, wait a minute, if I'm going to speak, if I'm going to say something to the people of Israel, he needed to know what I, the only thing I should be speaking is what God has said to me. And he better get the glory. Because I'm only speaking the word by God's choosing. by God's good pleasure and will. I'm not worthy to speak on God's behalf, but God is still working in me and through me and equipping me to speak on his behalf. So I better be very careful about communicating God's word here. Same thing with the Apostle John. Same thing with Zachariah. Same thing with Isaiah. Isaiah knew that. We saw that in Isaiah 6. He says to God, I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm not worthy to speak your word. And it's only after God is merciful to him and purges and cleanses him. He says, I'm going to send you out. And Isaiah says, yes, send me out. But Isaiah was fully aware of he's only speaking the word of God on God's behalf because God had so authorized him. and God had so blessed him. And that Isaiah is strictly speaking on the behalf of God. When Jesus sent out the apostles, he said, you teach them everything I commanded. Not what you think, what I've commanded, what I've taught you. Go out and make disciples by my authority, by my power, not because of who you are and because you think, oh, you know better than everyone else. No, this is my word. I'm the only one really authorized and powerful enough to speak God's word, because I'm God. You're not God, but I am sending you out as my spokespeople. I am sending you out as my ambassadors. I am sending you out as my messengers. but you're doing it by my power and authority, by my good pleasure and will, and it better be my word that you're communicating, nothing of yourself. That's what's going on with Ezekiel here. Yeah, Ken, I see you're heading up there. It just kind of hit me how amazing it is to, I guess as humans it's very easy to try to think about it wrongly and separate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but how God, almost everything he does is Trinitarian, in everything he does. The Father, and then you have Jesus exegeting the Father and making him known through his word, speaking the word and being the word of God. Yet you still can't, as humans, understand that without the Spirit working through you. And leading us to all truth. All three of them together working in concert in everything they do, and it just hit me how... Exactly. And they are working in us and through us by his word. His Word, His Word is truth. He is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. This is why we always have to be very careful today when people say, oh, I had a vision, I had this, I had that, I had this experience or that experience. Maybe you did, but where does it stand up to the Word of God? Is what you think you've experienced in your life or what you thought God was saying to you was his will for your life? Some calling you had, some experience you had? You say, oh, God told me to do this. Is it in accordance to God's word? Is that really the prompting and the working and the leading of the Holy Spirit? Because if it really is the prompting and the working and the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is gonna be in full conformity with the word of God. not something you think or feel or experience. So be careful about that. I'm not saying God won't providentially speak to our hearts and prompt us to worship him and serve him. I fully believe that God has put on Paul's heart tomorrow to go and see Laurie Grill tomorrow. But look what he's doing. He's saying, God, you give me the words, you give me the wisdom to know how to encourage her tomorrow. Give that to Pastor Doug and I. But that's perfectly consistent with God's Word, because God's Word tells us to go to those who are sick and in need and pray with them and minister to them and encourage them and edify them from the Word of God. That's what Paul and Pastor Doug are doing tomorrow with the Lord. By the way, I'm sorry for putting you on the spot here, Paul, but it's a perfect illustration. That's clearly a prompting of the Holy Spirit working in them, but it's consistent with the teaching of God's word, what Christ has commanded, what Christ has spoken, what Christ has told us to do. Be very careful about saying, oh, well, you know, Jesus would have me divorce my wife and go become, you know, run for president. Where's that coming from? How's that consistent with the word? No, the Bible says, no, you love your wife, you care for your wife. You provide for your wife. You don't leave your wife to go pursue some new career. Your main priority is to take care of your wife and you provide for her, and you provide for her by the means that God has you do. That's clearly not in keeping with scripture. Yet, if I heard some people, even in the ministry, say things very close to that, and it's very frightening. People who claim they have some vision from God, or some revelation from God, but has nothing to do with the Word of God, and actually violates the Word of God. So yeah, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, as Ken has pointed out to us, they are always working in perfect harmony with each other. They are always giving glory to each other. They are always revealing God's truth to us. And we learn of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit from His word. And the word speaks of Him. And so we shouldn't be shocked here, so to speak, or surprised here, that when God is calling Ezekiel into ministry and saying, I want you to go out and tell my word to the people, that he's also displaying the great glory and power and presence of who he is. All of his power, his power over all of creation. Now in one sense, we could sit here and say, oh, that's God, he's God, wow, look how powerful he is. But do we take that to heart? Because if God is so powerful over everything, We better listen to him then. If he is from all eternity, if he's over all things, if he's controlling all things, as I said, when we looked at the illustration of these wheels, these images of the wheels, is to show us how God has everything working in perfect order. And God is working everything in perfect order throughout all the earth. Everything in the heaven and the earth is under his control and is all working in perfect harmony with each other. So if God is this all-powerful God who's working through all these things and working through all these things perfectly, how didn't you better listen to him and take him at his word and think that he knows better than you? That he understands and he has a reason for people being laid off from their jobs, people dying of cancer. Loved ones falling away from him? Don't you think we better trust him and go to his word and go to him and say, as we were praying here tonight, God, you give us the wisdom, give us the understanding of your word, how to address all these circumstances and things in our lives. They're all in your sovereign control and will. You know better than I do. So it's not just God saying to him, look, I'm more powerful than you guys. No, it's also God saying, you better listen to me, and you better, you trust me, you can trust me. You can take me at my word. When I display my glory to you and show how I do all things well, and I do everything for a purpose, and everything I do is good, you can take me at my word, and you should trust my word. It's more than just God saying, I'm more powerful than you. It's God also saying, because I'm more powerful than you, you need to listen to me and you need to trust me. And that's what he's trying to convey to Ezekiel. That's what Christ is trying to convey to John here. Look at these early first century churches that are about to go through this great tribulation. If you were standing in John's place, you might be saying, well, God, hey, we just got these churches going. Now you're gonna bring us through a tribulation? God, what's going on here? Look how we strive to even get these churches started and now you're gonna bring these churches through a tribulation? What are you doing here, God? There's Christ saying to John, I know better. This is what I've been doing throughout all eternity to save and sanctify myself and people through me. So John, listen. Churches, listen. I'm above and beyond all these things. Take me at my word. Trust me. Because I am above all things. I am over all things. I am working in through all things. And I'm making that all known to you in my word. And you can trust in my word. But we also see here this illustration of God then giving this scroll to Ezekiel and telling him to eat it. We see here in verse three, he said to me, this is what Emile read before, he said to me, son of man, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that I gave you. So I ate and it was in my mouth like honey and sweetness. Once again, this is not an uncommon description of how we should take God's word in. Once again, we were there in Revelation, let's flip back to Revelation again, and let's go to Revelation 10. We've seen that God is about to reveal his word, his revelation through John. Jesus Christ is opening up the scroll, showing us all of redemptive history. how God is making his glory known to us and how he's made his glory known to us through his son, Jesus Christ. He's showing us how sinful we are as a people and how we need Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. And those who do not know Christ are gonna be facing God's judgment. This is what God has been doing throughout all redemptive history, both under the old covenant and the new covenant. Jesus is about to open up this word and show this grand scheme of things to the Apostle John. And then at the conclusion of the opening of the scroll and opening up the different seals of the scroll and showing all these aspects of how God has been working throughout all redemptive history through his son, Jesus Christ, he now comes to the Apostle John here in chapter 10. And let's read that. In fact, can we maybe hand over, Lisa, could you read that? I think you're next in line there. Can I pose on you to read through chapter 10 for us? And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders othered their voices. And when the seven thunders had othered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, sail up those things which the seven thunders othered, and write them not. and the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his head to heaven and swear by him that live forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things which are therein that there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as he had declared to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said, go and take the little book which is open in the hands of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and he said unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto me, take it and eat it up, and that shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth, sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Amen. Once again, I had Lisa read the full context there. I mean, clearly there's the parallel, both Ezekiel and John were asked to eat God's word, take it in, okay? And we see clearly that, once again, this is so they could then communicate God's word. So we see this illustration here, both in Ezekiel and Revelation. But once again, this is to reiterate to us, emphasize to us, that this is what the world is facing. Either people come to be saved through Jesus Christ and be redeemed to God and reconciled to God through him and know his glory and share eternity with him, or they are facing his judgment and his wrath. Ezekiel in this particular point in history is being sent specifically to the people of Israel, but to warn them to say, you need to repent. You need to call upon the Lord. You need to be faithful to God. Just like the Apostle John is being called to the first churches and saying, hey, you guys need to repent. You need to be walking with the Lord. Because God is bringing his judgment upon this world. Very strong parallels. The only difference is, is that once again, Ezekiel is experiencing the Christophany of Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, before Christ came into this world, became a man, was crucified and raised up. And John is dealing now with Christ after he has come into this world, he has been crucified, he has been raised up. But all the more, more reason why we should be listening to God. Because now he has made himself known to us through his son, Jesus Christ. He has raised his son, Jesus Christ, up from the dead. That's what Paul said to the Greek philosophers and leaders there on Mars Hill. Hey, you guys are without excuse now. Because now God has revealed himself through his son, Jesus Christ, who he's raised from the dead. And now you need to believe. But this glory of God is being presented to these men, being called out by God. They are both being pointed to and explained to. This is how God has been faithful to his people, and why his people should worship him, and how loving and gracious and long-suffering and merciful he's been to his people, and why they should repent and believe. And it is also God revealing, hey, these other sinful people, they need to repent and believe too, because they are facing my judgment. Ezekiel and John are both given these powerful images and these powerful commandments and are being stressed the importance of God's word and taking God's word into their lives because this is serious business. God's people need to return to the Lord and follow after the Lord. Sinful man needs to be called to faith and repentance and call upon the Lord as well. Because God's judgment is coming. and you either know God through his son, Jesus Christ, and you're trusting in his mercy, or you're facing his eternal judgment for all time. Nobody can stand before God and say, I don't know, nobody told me, I didn't get the email. No, God has made his glory known very powerfully. The people of Israel couldn't say to God, oh, we don't know, no. He spoke to you through the prophet Ezekiel. And God is impressing this point on Ezekiel and saying, Ezekiel, this is who I am. This is what I've been doing. Now you go and communicate this to the people of Israel. Same thing with the early believers in the first century through the apostle John. God had spoken to them through his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had sent the apostles, including the apostle John, to go out and make his glory known. You guys are without excuse. Isn't it a shame that God has to keep reminding us? But isn't it also wonderful and gracious and loving of him that he keeps reminding us? But let's not take that for granted. And I love this illustration. Eat God's word. As Angela was saying before, it's referred to as the bread of life. It's meant to nourish us. It's meant to strengthen us. It's meant to give us understanding of who God is and all that he has done for us, especially through his son, Jesus Christ. We need continual reminder of that. When we're up at four o'clock in the morning and think about, oh, I got this problem at work today. We need that, yeah, when you get the phone call from your sister-in-law saying she needs extensive surgery. It's in those times we need to be reminded who God is and all he's done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ. This is why we need to be in God's Word. This is why we need to be literally digesting it and taking it in and making it a part of our lives and living in accordance to it so that we do trust it, so that we do grow in our faith, so that we do faithfully serve God, so that we do stay on the straight and narrow, as they say, and continue to walk with Him and continue to worship Him and serve Him. We need to know who God is. and how he's revealed himself in his word. When I heard him say this, I know and I truly believe it was his intent to be humble. And in one sense, I know what he means when he said this. But Billy Graham said one time, he said, you know, I'm just a simple evangelist. I'm not a theologian. I've just been called to preach the word of God. Like I said, I understand the sentiment. We should be humble about preaching God's word. We shouldn't pretend that we think we have all the answers. Paul and I were having this discussion, was it a couple of Saturdays ago? He gave me a lift home. Oh, I think that's when it was. What's God still doing with Israel? I don't know. I believe he's still working through them though. but I don't have all the answers for how it all works out in the end. I don't know the time of Christ's return, but I know he's returning. So yes, it's foolish of me to think I have all the answers to explain everything that God's doing. We should be humble. But that does not negate my responsibility to know all that I can know about God and be a theologian and know everything that I can know about him as revealed clearly in his word and take it to heart. and to understand this is the reason, the motivation for me worshiping and serving the Lord because of who He is and all that He's done for me through His Son, Jesus Christ. We should all be theologians. We should all be humble. We should never think we have all the answers. But if we're truly going to communicate God's word to others and encourage others and bless others and disciple them, We better make sure we have a good grasp of who God is, and be constantly reminded about who God is, and who his son Jesus Christ is, and how his Holy Spirit works, and take that to heart. So we need to feed on the word of God. We wouldn't think twice about having three meals a day. I don't know if I have the time to do my Bible study this morning, I'm late for work. Oh, I gotta get William to a CYO basketball game. I just don't have time to do devotion. Are we serious? Man doesn't live by bread alone. Man lives by the very word of God. That's your nourishment. How dare we not read God's Word at least three times a day? And once again, please understand, I'm not trying to get into some legalistic regimen for you to go through. Don't go to Pastor Mark and say, oh, Pastor Dave said we're not Christians if we're not reading the Bible three times a day. No, I'm not saying that. I'm not creating some legalistic point of view here of some practice for the sake of a practice. I'm just trying to stress the importance of God's word and how whenever we have the opportunity, we should be hungering and thirsting for God's word and God's truth and making it a part of our lives and living it out so that we can make God known. We can make his word known so that we can go out and speak to people based on his authorization and his power and his leading in our lives. So yeah, when we first read this description, it sounds, like I said, kind of weird. Eating paper? Who wants to eat paper? My dog used to eat paper. My dog used to eat grass. All sorts of weird things. I know that's supposed to be signs of different things. You know, oh, have to eat something like paper. But no, what's being stressed here is we're giving sort of this weird illustration, so to speak, or it seems kind of out of whack. We're being told this for us to take seriously just how we should be looking at God's word, that we need to see God's word as spiritual food. And if we're gonna effectively worship and serve God and make God known, we need to know all that we can know about him from his word. Before we press on any further, any questions or comments about that? Okay, let's press on then. Let me flip back in my Bible back to Ezekiel three. And let's see, let's go down to verse nine. Let's see, are we up to Ken? Ken, could you read for us now from verses four through nine of Ezekiel three? Thank you, brother. Then he said to me, son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel. Not too many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you because they will not listen to me. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are rebellious house. Thank you, brother. And once again, we touched upon this last week in chapter two. Once again, is God reiterating himself? Yes. But he's reemphasizing, so we really take to heart who the sinful world is. Now yes, specifically speaking here, and we need to take this as much to heart as well, as we said, God is primarily speaking to his people in their day, in their time. And Ezekiel is speaking specifically here to the house of Israel, and there's certain significance to that. But it is telling though, I think of all human creation, of all human ages, our biggest problem with God is, is we are hearted, Stubborn, impudent, insolent, stiff-necked, sinful people. What's that? All of the above. All of the above, yeah, exactly. I mean, look at the words he says. But to the house of Israel, they will not listen to you because they will not listen to me. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Stubborn, close-minded, They don't want to hear about me. I was actually once called by a judge. He says, you're an impudent young man. Because I defied him in court. I questioned his authority over me. And in all honesty, I was being impudent. My bureau chief had to have me apologize. That's not a nice thing to say about someone. I didn't like being called impudent, even though I was impudent. Who did I think I was? The Apostle Paul referred to himself that way. I'm the chief amongst all sinners. I'm an impudent, idolatrous man. I think I know better. I think I am who I am. I do what's wise in my own eyes, and I'm hard-hearted. I don't want to hear from anyone else. I think I know better than God, and I don't want to hear from God. I'm very grateful that we have two pastors that they don't get up every Sunday morning and preach to us and just call us all out. Say, you guys are so impudent. You guys are so idolatrous. You're so hard-hearted and stiff-necked. They're very gracious to us and patient with us. But when we know who we are, and how we live our lives, would we be able to be really, truly angry at Pastor Mark or Doug if they did get up in the pulpit one Sunday morning and just say, you people are impudent and hard-hearted and stubborn and stiff-necked and sinful and wicked and idolatrous. It's God's truth. That's who we are. How did Paul describe us in Romans 3? There's none of us who are righteous. We're quick to shed blood. This is a basic certain truth. But why is God telling it like it is here? Because he does love them. And he wants them to repent. He wants them to turn away from their impudence, from their hard-heartedness. He wants them to worship. Why is he sending them Ezekiel? He's giving them every chance to repent and call upon his name and to follow after him. God is speaking the truth in love. He's telling it like it is, but he's doing it because he loves them. And sometimes we do need to be spoken to so sharply. I'm reading this and I'm saying, I can't argue with God. That just proves God's point. If I start arguing with God about being impudent and being hard-hearted, it's only proving how impudent and hard-hearted I really am. And as Ken was telling us before, it's only by His Holy Spirit that he leads me into that truth and he convicts me of being impudent and hard-hearted and stubborn and stiff-necked and sinful. It's only by God speaking to me by his Holy Spirit and bringing me to a place of conviction, I sit there and say, I can't argue with God about that. That's what's going on here. Angela, I saw you had a hand up. Yeah, you have a comment or a question about that? I couldn't help but notice before when Revelation 10 was being read, particularly in verse 9, when he says to take the book and eat it. And he said, take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. I could be totally wrong, but I, you know, have you ever heard the phrase, the bitter pill to swallow? You know, like referring about like kind of truth, like being told something about yourself. And I feel like that's what it's saying. Like it's sweet because it's true. True right exactly because when you speak it to somebody else it does good but to actually Take it in and digest it and bitters Yeah, it's interesting Right, yeah and You know, it's not an easy thing, and it's part of our walk. We have to look at our sin and how gross we are, truly, as in and of ourselves, we have nothing. So I just think, you said before that the phraseology, and it's kind of odd, I think it's perfect. Exactly. It is perfect, yeah. No, what I'm saying, it's odd to our ears, but it's perfect in what God is saying. It's what we perfectly need. Yeah, exactly. And I think, although what you said about our pastors is true, they are merciful, you know, I feel convicted when I'm talking about the Sermons here, and we should embrace it. Exactly. Because God is speaking to us. And that's it. See, I didn't mean to make a Sally, Pastor Mark, and Doug pull any punches. They don't. I mean, but they do it in a very loving way. But they do point out our sin. But then they're pointing us to Christ. And they're actually pretty candid about their lives. They'll even say, hey, this is the lesson I'm learning. Because yeah, but we do have to be confronted with our sin. You can't be cleansed, you can't be saved, you can't be sanctified if you're not confronted with your sin. If the doctor does tell you, yeah, you got cancer and you may not make it to the end of the year, You're gonna say well, that's fine doc. Don't worry about it. You know No, you're gonna say well, what can I do? What treatments can I get? You know, what surgery can I have? What tests can be run? What diet should I take? What can I do here? And someone's if a doctor sells his house it we want the doctor to tell us Oh, here's the reality and this is how it can be treated If you go to your doctor's office and he says, oh you're fine. And meanwhile, you're stage four cancer No, you don't want a doctor like that That's not helping you. And is there anything more deadly than sin? You can't compare cancer to sin. Sin is the number one killer in the world, not cancer. So people need to be confronted about their sin. And he's telling us too, in terms of who we are, in terms of our human nature, We don't want to hear from God. These are very choice words by God here to say that they're impotent and that they're hard-hearted. That's showing that, number one, they think they know better than God, impotent. They're hard-hearted. They don't want to hear. This is who we are in our nature. This is why it is so gracious and merciful and loving of God that He did send His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. That He did have His Son, Jesus Christ, obey the law for us. That He did have His Son, Jesus Christ, pay for our sins for us. That He did raise His Son, Jesus Christ, up for us. So we could see how loving He is. and then how loving He is to give us this Holy Spirit to give us faith in who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done for us and use that to soften our hardened hearts and to change our hearts so that we will listen to Him and we will take His word to heart. And once again, we see that this is all the work of God. This is God revealing this to Ezekiel. This is God putting this on, and he's not pulling any punches with Ezekiel. He's not giving him any sort of false promises here. He's telling them, in fact, you're gonna go, they're not gonna listen to you. Don't take it personal, Ezekiel, because guess what? They're not listening to me either, but I'm still sending you. Do we understand, as harsh as God's words are here about the people of Israel, do we not see his grace and his mercy in that, though, and his love in that? Because even though they haven't been listening to him, he's still giving them every chance to believe. He's still giving them every chance to repent. He's still giving them every chance to turn their lives around. And we're gonna get into this next week, because I'm just seeing how the time is running here. We're gonna see that Ezekiel needs God's strength to speak this word. This is not something that sounds encouraging to go into the ministry. When I was asked, oh, why do you feel called to be in the ministry? I didn't answer, oh, because I don't think anyone's ever gonna listen to me. I gave the usual pastor answer, oh, I care about people being saved. After 40 years of ministry, I'm learning it's about the glory of God and making his word known. regardless of how people respond to it. And it's hard work. I haven't seen hundreds and thousands of people come forward, say the believer's prayer for my ministry. But I know this is what God wants me to do. This is what God wants all of us to do, to glorify his name, make his word known, regardless of who people are. We don't know, ultimately, everyone who God is gonna save and who isn't gonna be saved. We don't know that. And we shouldn't be presumptuous about that. I mean, we can be pretty confident about those who we've seen who have professed faith in Christ, and we've seen them walk with Christ their whole life. I'm pretty confident I'm going to see my mom and dad with the Lord one day. I'm confident of that. I don't mean to imply that, oh, we have no idea who's going to be in heaven. But I guess what I'm really more saying is I should never give up on someone, no matter how hard-hearted and impudent they may be. Because I don't know what God's gonna do in that person's life. I may only be planting a seed. I may only be watering a seed. It's God who gives the increase. But regardless of whether the people I've preached to or taught or discipled in my 40 years in ministry, regardless if any of those people actually do come to know the Lord, it doesn't matter. because God is still glorified and God needs to be glorified. God needs to be made known. It is God's desire and it's God's will that everybody has the opportunity to hear his word and come to him. That's showing how gracious and glorious he is. The fact that he even still talks to people, to people who he knows are going to reject him, is showing how good and glorious and loving God is. We are without excuse. God has made his glory known to us. If we reject it, it's our fault and solely on us. And we need to take that to heart. When we serve the Lord in ministry, when we go out and share his gospel, when we go out and share his word, when we tell everyone the reason for the hope that we have in his son Jesus Christ, whether they be a believer or not be a believer, we're glorifying God and we're serving God. We're trusting in him. We're trusting in His power and His purposes. We're trusting in His glory. That's why God had to show Ezekiel himself in this powerful, glorious display of fiery whirlwinds and four powerful creatures and a Christophany of Christ on the throne. For us, remember, He's God and He's glorious. And even if sinful man rejects that, it doesn't change who God is. He's still that glorious, powerful God. His son, Jesus Christ, still sits on that throne. And you need to worship and serve him, irregardless of sinful man, and whether they hear the word of God or don't hear the word of God. We're gonna talk about Ezekiel's response to this next week. But let's take it to heart, what we've heard tonight. There's a lot there. And I'm glad we took the time to look at all that. It's very tempting just to read through the whole chapter, but all these things are here for our understanding and for us to really take to heart who he is. And yes, it seems like we're sitting here saying, well, God keeps repeating himself. But you know what? I need to hear it over and over again. And the more and more I hear it, the more and more I realize how much I have to worship him and serve him. So thank God he spoke to us through Ezekiel. Thank God he spoke to us through his son, Jesus Christ. Thank God he spoke to us through the Apostle Paul. Thank God he spoke to us through the Apostle John. Thank God he speaks to us through Pastor Mark and Pastor Doug. Thank God he speaks to me through my wife, Jill. Everyone's constantly reminding me who God is and all he's done through his son, Jesus Christ. I need to hear it. I thank God for all you guys constantly pointing me to Christ. I need to hear it. And so does the world out there. Whether they accept it or not is another issue, but they need to hear it. And God will be glorified no matter what. And we're gonna just talk about what God does in Ezekiel and how Ezekiel responds. We'll look at that more next week. Any other thoughts or comments before we close out tonight? If not, Paul, can I call on you to close us in prayer?