Bibles to Zechariah, prophecy of Zechariah and chapter number five, a passage we read earlier from the Old Testament, Zechariah and chapter number five. This evening in our message, we're going to be looking at all of this chapter, chapter number five, under the following heading, No Encouragement in Sin. No Encouragement in Sin. We return to our series on the book of Zechariah. One of the most wonderful things about the book of Zechariah may come across very strange to us, many visions, even parts that may be challenging to interpret at times, but it is certainly a book that is filled with much encouragement, especially in a day of small things. And certainly we live in such a day ourselves, a day when there is a decline in the church and indeed the churches across England and other parts of evangelicalism in general. Churches in the past that once preached the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, such gospel would no longer be welcome among them anymore. And it can be very discouraging and disheartening for we who believe in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when we see such things. But would you believe me if I said this, In Zechariah's day, things were, at least on the surface, far more bleak. I say on the surface because God's promises never change. And we are to walk by faith and not by sight. What was happening in the days of Zechariah? Well, they just returned from captivity not long after Cyrus the Great, that Persian leader, as used as an instrument of God to send the people back to their land. Before that, they endured 70 years of exile. Why? Because of the sin and rebellion of Judah, the southern kingdom. And now they've returned from slavery and captivity. And we would think, everything's wonderful. Okay, there's no longer having to deal with the Babylonians anymore, the Persians seem a little bit nicer, and now they're sent back, and everything is wonderful, and it all ended happy ever after. Is that how it ended? No. Much difficulty. Not many of them returned, especially in the early days. The temple's not built. At that time, there's just a foundation, and the work stops because discouragement enters in. There's opposition and difficulty seen in the book of Ezra. And God, mercifully, what does he do when the work does stop and discouragement sets in? Well, Haggai and Zechariah, these two prophets, these two preachers, are sent to stir up the work. The work would continue once more. And Zechariah is given these visions to encourage, to bless, to strengthen. Now, as we read earlier, you might wonder, where's the encouragement in this chapter? You may ask that question. But there is encouragement for those who love righteousness and hate iniquity. You see, there's a danger with all the encouragement that we've had so far in this book that if we don't have a corrective or a warning or a balance, you could say, Because if you keep hearing, everything's okay, everything's gonna be wonderful, everything's gonna be fine, and there needs to be a warning, doesn't there, for those who remain in unrepentant, persistent sin, who wallow in their sin, who stay in their sin, who love their sin, and abuse the promises of God, abuse the grace of God, And there's been many of such abuses for thousands of years. People can think, well, no matter how I live or what I do, no matter how much my life is a contradiction of my profession of faith in Jesus Christ, God is always with me. Or as long as I do the outward acts of religion and worship, and it doesn't matter how, contradictory my own private life is. I can't remember the man who said this, might have been a Puritan, but who we are in private is who we actually are. What nobody else can see except the Lord. You see, head, heart, and hands all matter. If our lives are a complete contradiction and our worship may tick the boxes, but God hates it. Zachariah 5 contains two visions, but it's very much a corrective to anybody who may be in danger of abusing or distorting what has been said previously. It's completely consistent with what's been said previously. It's different to Zechariah chapter 4, which looked at the golden lampstand, which foresaw this future success and that this oil would continue to flow into the lampstand. The light would not go out. We think of oil, and there was the burning of oil, and there's that light that continues to shine in the midst of the people of God. But for those who wish among them, among the Jewish nation, to remain in unrepented sin and think, oh, everything's wonderful, everything's okay, and to stay in their sin, this is a warning. There's no encouragement in sin. There's no happy ending for sin. There's no positive future for sin. And what about your background? Actually, it's far worse for the person who sat under the gospel, who's remained in sin. because your judgment will be far worse. Our first point that we're going to look at as we look at this passage is number one, sin revealed. Sin revealed, our first point of three. Verse number one, then I looked, then I turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold, a flying roll or a flying scroll. Again, we said, In this chapter, there are really two visions. The second vision really begins from verse five onwards, and this first vision in the first four verses. But before we get confused or maybe lose ourselves and we think, what's a roll? Well, this is like an ancient book. The books of old did not look like our Bibles. They were rolled up. And when they were closed, there was maybe a seal placed on top of them. And if you wanted to read the contents, you had to unroll them to see what they said. Otherwise, they'd be closed and could not be read at all to show its contents to the people. So it's a flying roll. This is a very unusual image, isn't it? You've probably never seen an ancient scroll or flying roll flying to the air, have you? And when I heard of this and I was studying through this, it made me think of, you see those airplanes flying over with a banner at the background. And you can, lots of people are able to read it. And so it's a message that is for many people, and it's a message that needs to get out. The message of the Bible of salvation cannot be sealed up and locked away. It must go forth, it must travel. This is kind of the idea of the flying roll. And it must, and it's a powerful message. It's a living message. It cannot be closed off from the world because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's needy sinners everywhere. There is an illness out there that is killing people 100% of the time. And we have a cure. There's an illness out there that brings death to every single person affected by it, and every single person is affected by it. That diagnosis is sin, rebellion against God, and it brings death. But there's a cure. Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Master, our King is the cure. And it's not just a temporary cure. Sometimes you may have a headache, take a tablet, and a couple of hours later, maybe that headache's back again. But with Christ, it's forever and ever. No eternal death hanging over us. But this role cannot be concealed. Not only does it need to be shared with the world out there, but it also needs to be shared, sometimes we're very good at one thing or the other. We can be very good at sharing the truth with the world out there and not so good in our own homes. And some of us are very good in the homes and are not so good with the world out there. We're prone, all of us, to extremes. It doesn't matter who we are. If we turn to Psalm 78 in verse four, Psalm 78 and verse 4. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. Verse 6, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children. Let the truth, not this revelation that shows us that we're all sinners in need of God's grace, let it not be sealed in our own homes. Let it not be sealed just to remain in our private study. The truth needs to be on display in our own homes. that we teach the next generation. Verse 2 of our text, and he said unto me, what seest thou and answered, I see a flying roll. The length thereof is 20 cubits and the breadth thereof 10 cubits. This is very visible. It's very easy to see. It's very swift, the Word of God is powerful, and we're to tremble before it. But here we have a very large flying roll. How large? Now, many of us don't understand what 20 cubits means or 10 cubits, but it's about 30 feet by 15 feet. Or, if you're better with meters, 9 1⁄4 meters by 4 1⁄2 meters. It's big. It's big. Very big. Declared, made known, very easy to read, very easy to see. It's also the challenge, mainly with people in my own profession, of making the truth simple and even easy to understand. It's a challenge sometimes. One of the problems us preachers have, we can often make something that is quite simple sound more complex than it actually is. The truth is very simple. What's it revealing? Here it's declaring, verse three, then it said unto me, this is the curse that goeth forth over the whole earth. For everyone that stealeth shall be cut off on this side according to it. And everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. The curse. We are sinners. We have broken God's law. And there's two examples given. Everyone that stealeth and everyone that sweareth falsely. two of the ten commandments. But they're not the only commandments that are broken, of course. But the Bible and creation, and creation, reveal the fact of our sin. Now, the Bible tells us we're sinners. But so does creation. You say, how do we see that? Well, we know from creation that God is good. He's a God of order, a God of beauty, a God of strength. And we know, because the law of God's been written in our hearts, even though we suppress, we withhold that truth and unrighteousness. We fight against that truth. We've been created in the image of God. We have a conscience. That's why in every country of the world, there's usually a revulsion of murder. Why is that? Well, we see we've been created in the image of God. Human life is more value than, say, animal life. Friends, we have all fought against that light of nature that shows that God is good, He's just, He's holy, God is loving, that God is worthy of all the praise and all the honor and all the glory, ever blessed. But when we see that revelation that declares a sin, that every single person who has sinned has this curse, death, There's a curse for lawbreakers. It doesn't matter your background. Actually, one of the things this vision points out is whether you're Jew or Gentile, they would kind of get into this danger. And as time went on, it got worse and worse. We're the chosen people. And Persians, they're the pagans. And they're the ones who are in trouble. We're good. No, they're not. all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. Romans chapter 5 and verse number 12. It says this, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for all have sinned. There is no one that is not under this curse. It has been revealed, it has been told to us. So there's a responsibility to tell others if something's gonna harm someone. If somebody came and visited the Bible Center, maybe there was something dangerous in there, be careful of that, don't touch that, or we may tell them about that out of love and care for them. But people who will die without Jesus Christ will spend an eternity in hell. When we see this revelation that the curse go forth over the whole earth, not just part of the earth, not just the earth outside of the Jewish nation, the whole earth. It affected both Jew and Gentile. You see, they can think on the judgment of God, especially when you see all the encouragements that have come up to this point, that it's just the Gentiles that will face the wrath of God. No, it is every single unbeliever. Whether you're inside the professing church or outside the professing church, every unbeliever will face the wrath of God. In England, it seems we've become more and more pagan. openly hostile, not even hiding it anymore. We see recent attempts to stop street preaching in different parts of the country and various other things. And it's been replaced with kind of a creed of, we're going to be nice. We're going to be nice to everybody. Don't tell anybody their sin. Don't tell them they're sinners. That would be unfriendly, and it wouldn't be very nice to their self-esteem or their mental health or anything else like that. We've replaced the gospel with a pseudo-Christianity. that they can next to tell people, we love them, this is why we tell them this, you're a sinner. It's a lot easier to tell people things they want to hear. Oh, you're fantastic. Oh, do you know how amazing you are? That's tempting for us to do in our flesh. But to tell them, I'm a bad person, you're a bad person, we're all bad. And we need God's forgiveness. And the revelation of God has told us this. This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth. There's no part of the whole earth that escapes this. There's no certain class of people that somehow have escaped the effect of original sin and rebellion against God. Genesis chapter 8 and verse 21. Genesis chapter 8. and verse number 21. I have noticed in certain books, I don't know how widespread this is, but there's this idea that, well, things were pretty bad before the flood, and after the flood, we became much better. God poured out his wrath, and no, friends, If you look at verse 21 here of Genesis chapter 8, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore everything living as I have done. And why would this not happen? Why is there not another flood coming? Because of God's grace and his mercy, and because he promised not to do so. And it also says in this verse, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. People don't, oh, he was great up until this point, and when he was great, he was 15, and then he became, no. All of us are wicked in our hearts. Now, of course, you show love towards your children. You embrace, you love your children. But you also realize what lies in our hearts is foolishness, sin, rebellion, hostility naturally toward God. That's why we correct them. If you leave a child to their own devices to do whatever they like, whenever they like, however they like, as I heard one preacher years ago say this, where will they be in years to come? Most likely in prison. Because you give a man over to his lusts, he thinks the world owes him something, and he's a covetous person. But we're all like that, but for the grace of God. but for the grace of God. Now in verse number three, it names two different commandments. Thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain. You have the second table of the law and the first table of the law. But I want us to turn to James chapter two and verse 10. James chapter two and verse number 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Now, of course, there's nobody who's, well, you know, I have a perfect record except for this one time. That doesn't affect anybody. If you could take our sins that we have done individually, and it was a grain of sand, and you placed it, you would have the largest beach. We have sinned many times, and our sins are against an infinitely holy God, an infinitely righteous God, an infinitely pure God. But because one sin condemns us, we've broken all of the law, both first and second table of the law. So from this, I don't want us to take away, well, as long as I don't steal, and as long as I don't swear, No, this is lawbreakers. This curse is saying, have you sinned? This is the question for you here this evening. Have you sinned? Do you see yourself as a sinner? Oh, not that bad. No. Friends, even once, and this is not something that applies to any of us. I'm sure I can presume that many of us here have sinned far more than once. We are sinners by nature. Sinning comes as naturally to us as breathing. Why will we turn away from that? By grace. Not by nature, but by grace. Can you hide? this curse. It's been revealed you cannot. Verse 4, I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. And what's interesting I find about this picture is, where do we often feel safest? In our homes. Our homes. Is there anywhere for the thief or him that swears falsely, breaking of the third commandment and also the first table of the law, is there anywhere that we can feel safe, that we can hide away from the wrath of God? Not at all. That curse shall enter in. Now, Proverbs chapter 23, Proverbs. Chapter 23, and verses four and five. It says this, labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. Let them fly away as an eagle toward heaven. For the thief, these riches that he has, they won't protect him. They won't keep him safe. The one who's made false promises in the name of Almighty God, it will not protect him. The curse will enter into his house. Now, in the New Testament, we see someone who was a thief. His name was Zacchaeus. And he was a publican or a tax collector. But he's a positive example. Why? Though he squeezed money out of people, the Romans allowed it. we're fully behind it. What did he do when he repented? Well, look at this. Luke chapter 19 and verses 8 and 9. Luke chapter 19 and verses 8 and 9. We have seen the example of the wrath and that curse entering into the house of the thief and him who swear it falsely. But for Zacchaeus, it's the opposite. He has repented, verse 8, and we see the evidence of his repentance. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my goods I have given to the poor. I have taken anything from any man by false accusation. I restore it, him fourfold. When we read the New Testament, often we forget how much the Jewish society despised the publicans. They were, you would say, publicans, and they would say sinners. These were the lowest of the low in their eyes. It's why that parable of the publican, he cannot come unto the presence of God. He beats his breast and he's ashamed even to come forth. Because why, what they would do, they would basically steal from their fellow brothers and sisters. Kinsmen. Verse nine, and Jesus said unto him, now this is the evidence that he's repented because he's given back much of what, and he's restored. And Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house. for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. Do you see that? Salvation has come to his house. Where there's wrath was upon, there's hope in Jesus Christ. Our second point of three is this, sin reproved. Sin reproved. Verses five and six. Let me ask the question, how sinful is sin? How serious is sin? Then the angel that talked with me went forth and said unto me, lift up now thine eyes and see what is this that goeth forth? And I said, what is it? And he said, this is an ephah that goeth forth. He said, moreover, this is the resemblance through all the earth. We need to understand the seriousness of sin in order that we would shun it and flee from it. Now here we have a word that may not be very familiar to you, an ephah, verse number six, ephah. And this is a very large measure. It's almost like about 22 liters, seven gallons, sometimes wine would be put into there by about that measure. And it was, an ephah was typically used as well for buying and selling in commerce. a very large measure. And then it says in verse six, at the end of verse six, their resemblance or their eye, literally in the Hebrew, through all the earth. This is their resemblance through all the earth. This is sin is seen in all the earth. This is a waste or a great volume. See, there's a warning here. Of this great volume, this great weight of an ephah. See, there's no escape for any Jew or Gentile. Now, what does this vision mean? Depending on the quantity of something in an ephah, how many ephahs are worth, that will tell you the value of something. And if you think of the value and the weight of sin, there's the corresponding weight of wrath of Almighty God, there's a certain value. So if it is wine or corn or whatever else has been placed in there, that is a certain value, the wrath of God. All the sin that we have done, it has either been paid for at the cross of Christ or will be paid by us for all eternity. It's all eternity because we cannot. Now, on the whole idea of an ifa, yes, it has been used in commerce, but some people think, well, is it just speaking about worldliness? Now, worldliness and consumerism and materialism, whatever you want to call it, the Jews were certainly guilty of that. You can see that in Haggai chapter one. In Haggai chapter one, you can see some mentions towards this. It says in verse 5 of Haggai chapter 1 and following, Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Ye have so much and bring in little. Ye eat, and ye have not enough. Ye drink, and are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. And then there's also the verse 4, which says, that they dwelt in sealed houses, and sealed houses, panelled, finished houses, but the house of God lied in waste. Does it sound very familiar to today? I wonder to anybody. Our houses have never probably looked any better than they do in our modern day. Most of them look like castles. The house of God is largely in ruins. Obviously not complete ruins because of the grace and the power of God, but worldliness. Now, I don't think you can just limit it to worldliness, but that was certainly part of their sin. But this vision is very much pointing toward the value, the seriousness of sin, the great volume of sin. There's a large price to be paid for sin. And this is why at the end of verse six, their resemblance or the eye through all the earth, there's no escape for this, And how does God see our sin, this great ephah of sin that we have? Any of us. He hates it, doesn't he? What happens when we stay in our sin and we roll around in the mud? You think of pigs. Pigs love to run or to roll around in muck. But does the Christian? The Christian can fall down and have brief moments where you could say his garments are soiled. You know, you get ready for the Lord's day or you get ready for a marriage or a wedding and perhaps you're eating food and you drop it on part of your clothes and all of a sudden you're just trying to desperately get it out. You don't want it on you. You're not like, oh yes, another stain. And the Christian is like that. He wants to be rid of it. He sees it and it causes shame. Why? Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12 and verse 14. It's not that we won't fall into sin, we do. We've many blemishes, we've many things, but we don't remain it, we don't wallow it. And this is what is being described here in verse seven of our text. And verse 8, and behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead, and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, this is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. This woman, she's in the midst of the ephah, she seems quite comfortable, doesn't she? This is wickedness. She stays there. And not only that, there's a lid put on the door. She's trapped by it. Now, what could this woman be? Well, the woman is a picture of the Jewish nation. It's often a picture used throughout the Bible of the Jewish nation. Rather than forsaking it, rather than fleeing from it, she remains in there. She's quite comfortable with it. You see, friends, it's not that we don't say, we do, but when we do spot it and see it, we forsake it and flee from it. In Ezekiel 33 in verse 11. Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse number 11. Say unto them, 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 from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? And if Israel remains where she is, trapped by her sin, this great weight of sin, she will die. This is a great corrective, isn't it, to the great encouragement that was seen in chapter 4, chapter 3, chapter 4, and on. There's more encouragement, wonderful encouragement in the future in Zechariah 6 and other chapters as well. But it's a warning we need to hear. Sin traps us. It promises much liberty. But when we love to be in our sin, we're surrounded by sin, and we're comfortable in sin, we are trapped in sin. And it brings a great weight of guilt, doesn't it? There's no joy. In this chapter, there's no encouragement for the person. And if the nation of Israel says that she'll remain in sin, there's no encouragement for her whatsoever. Our third and final point, sin removed. So sin revealed, sin reproved, sin removed. Number three, verse nine. Then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings. For they had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the ephod between the earth and the heavenly. Before we see one woman, now we see two women, and it seems like one of these women is certainly the Jewish nation. Here she seems to, she's in the midst that this is a woman, verse seven, that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. We know that we sit where we're comfortable, don't we? If we're not comfortable, we don't remain sitting for very long. But she sits in the midst of this ephah, this great volume of sin. She keeps wallowing in sin and she needs warning and reproof. But there's also another woman with her that is caught away by this great wind. There's a kind of a picture here, for they had wings like the wings of a stork and they're caught up by this wind. And is there a nation that was all so sinful that God used to carry them away once more in the future. Is there a nation, because the Jews, the Jewish nation did not listen, they remained hard-hearted, the Messiah came, and then another nation come along with them, also sinful as well, to be used to bring judgment to them, the Roman Empire. In 70 AD came the army of the Roman Empire and sacked and destroyed Jerusalem. In 70 AD, Jerusalem fell, driven from the land. What's very interesting as well, this word here, wind. In Hebrew, wind can be, this Hebrew word, ruach, can be translated wind or spirit. Depends on the context of what it's talking about. But we think of the spirit of God. driving them powerfully away from the land of milk and honey because they've been driven away from his presence. Sin is forced away from the presence of God because why? Because God loves holiness and hates iniquity. See, the land was there to reassure them of the Lord's blessed presence, but there's no encouragement in sin. And another sinful woman is with her, carried away. Verse 10 says, then said I to the angel that talked with me, whither do these bear the ephah? So where does this ephah, this great volume, this great weight? Verse 11 tells us, and he said unto me, to build a house in the land of Shinar. And it shall be established and set there upon her base. Now, we may not think as believers in Jesus Christ that there's any encouragement here for us, but there is. What does God do with sin and sinners? Drives them away. So how is that encouraging? He loves holiness. He does what is right. He does what is true. But if we're in Jesus Christ, will he drive us away? If we're in Jesus Christ, we're accepted in the beloved. And we go to a place, when we die, we go to a place where there's no sin or the trace of sin or the temptation of sin. We go to a place God's special blessed presence dwells and that is the enjoyment of heaven. Now it says in our text to build a house in the land of Shinar. What does Shinar mean? It's really referring to Babylon. We see it referred to with the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11 and verse 2. Genesis chapter 11. Verse number two and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plane in the land of Shinar and They dwelt there and there we see in the first nine verses of Genesis chapter 11 the Tower of Babel There's basically they come together They build this tower and they say well I were going to join together so they were not scattered everywhere, and then they ended up being scattered everywhere because they sought to rebel against the Lord. Therefore, verse nine, the name of it called Babel, literally confusion, because the Lord did there confound the language. But it also points towards Babylon or Chaldea. What happened to Babylon? What's Babylon in the Bible synonymous with? Even in history. Where's Babylon today, the literal Babylon? Dust and ashes, a warning for all who will follow after mystery Babylon. The continuation of our era in our modern day seen in the Roman Catholic Church, but those will continue on in our era. It's a warning, Babylon destroyed. Where is Babylon today? Babylon was once a very strong and powerful empire, the most powerful empire upon the face of the earth. And these two women are carried away by this great wind by the spirit of God to build a house in the land of Shinar and it should be established. And what's interesting at the end of verse 11, and set there upon her own base, her own base, her own foundation. Isn't that interesting? It's why it fails. If we build upon our own foundation, that house will fall. Return to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, verses 24 to 27. Matthew chapter 7. Verses 24. 227, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house, and it fell. And great was the fall of others." The Roman Empire, in many ways, it does, in many ways, continue on in that Antichrist, son of perdition, the Pope of Rome. But where is it? It's very weakened, isn't it? heart of iron and heart of clay. To build a house in the land of Shinar should be established and there upon her own base. It won't last. And what's wonderfully encouraging about that is God loves holiness. And if you love holiness, that's encouraging. Because you're going to a place where holiness is preserved and perfect. and delightful. As we conclude, there is much. If you read through this book, it's a challenging book. There are a lot of symbols in here. There's interpretative. Sometimes you'll read commentaries, and you may struggle with a few of the things here and there. But you will take away one thing from this book if you spend time studying it. It's full of encouragement. But friends, we also need warning. There's the people who should have encouragement. Do you hate your sin? Do you feel horrible when you fall into sin? It's not a question of do you live perfectly, you don't, none of you do. And if you think I live perfectly, you don't know the gospel at all. There is much encouragement for the believer in Jesus Christ who doesn't wallow and stay in their sin, but flees from it, can't sit there, is never satisfied because of their sin, satisfied in Christ. And the satisfaction increases the more you come to know him. But there's no encouragement whatsoever. This chapter is, it shuts the door to anyone who would seek I can stay in my sin and as long as I'm part of the visible church, as long as I go to church and do the outward things, as long as I tick the boxes and everybody thinks I'm a good person and all these things, then I'm okay. There's no encouragement for that person. And if that is you, there's no encouragement for you. But friends, there is hope. Even if you are one of those, even if you've been living in a way like that, there is hope if you will repent. Why will you stay in that which does not satisfy? Why will you stay in that which will condemn your soul? Why will you stay in that which will be facing with the full force of the value of the wrath of that ephah? You can't escape it. covers the whole earth. And no matter your background, we will all die one day. And we will all stand before God. And the question is, when we stand naked in our own works, our own filthy rags, our own attempts to cover up our own false, or will we be clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. If you have the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, you have every reason to be encouraged here this evening. But if you stay in your sin, you have no reason to be encouraged, no reason at all. Amen.