Before we dive into the very rich book of Ezekiel, I'd like to remind you that Jeremiah prophesied by the power of the Holy Spirit that many of the people in the nation of Israel, because of idolatry, would be taken into captivity in Babylon. You see, God is a very wise teacher. If you want Babylon in your life, confusion, that's what any idol worship will do for you, then he'll may put you in a place that you never thought you'd be. The people that you'll be around will be the people that you have been acting like. And so Jeremiah prophesied they would go into captivity for 70 years, the Babylonian captivity. But Jeremiah had a broken heart about it. He was broken and he wept. And the people that were left behind in Israel, the people who did not go into captivity, were very angry and they treated him with great disrespect and they would not receive him. Finally, Jeremiah, the lamenting prophet, ended up in Egypt and as far as we know, his own people became so angry with him that they stoned him to death. the broken hearted prophet. Now Ezekiel is a hard headed prophet. God would not let him be like Jeremiah. He's taken captive, goes into Babylon captivity. God has shown him a great vision. And the vision really has to do with the word wheel. And many people wonder, well, what does that symbolize? Well, the wheel symbolizes moving forward, not backing up. God said don't put it in reverse. And so the actual simple meaning is I want you to go forward in captivity. And so we come now to verse 28 of chapter one to begin tonight. Chapter one, verse 28. I recognize this is not soap and soup preaching. I had a woman when I first moved here many years ago, 45 years ago. She told me I was still teaching at the seminary And she said, tell those boys that are going to be preachers to not put out rabbit track soup, but put out following Jesus. And I told those young boys that I pray to God they listen. In verse 28, first chapter of Ezekiel, And as the appearance, and he's speaking back about the vision that God has just shown him, as the appearance of a bow that is in the clouds in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness around about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face and I heard a voice of one that spake. Now it's good to be humble. It's good to fall on your face before God, but you can't serve God on your face, on the ground. You gotta get up. So after he was struck down by the vision, that God showed him. God, and he fell on his face before Almighty God. And in chapter two, verse one, here's what God says to him. And I believe in the day we're living in that God does not want us on our face. He wants us on our feet. And here's what God said. to the prophet Ezekiel. And he said to me, son of man, son of Adam. That's what the Hebrew word here is, Adam. He said, man made from dust, I want to use you. Stand on your feet. Get off of your self laying on the floor with your face down in some kind of awe and humility and stand up on your feet. This is not a time when you're in captivity to be on your face. Stand up on your feet. And when you do, I'll speak to you. As long as you're down there on your face, I cannot get through to you. Stand up. It's time to have an army. And the thing of it was that Ezekiel, as far as we know, on those who were singing the sad songs by the river Tebar, Ezekiel was the only one who stood up. The rest of them, were angry with God because they believe they were God's earthly chosen people and they were, but they were living like pagans and God put them in captivity and they were more angry than ever. Tonight, if there's one iota of anger against God because of something that you're not able to control, get rid of it and stand up on your feet and become the part of the army of God. You may not have many with you, but you'll march and you will stand and you'll fight the good fight. And you know why it's worth it? God told the apostle Paul, you fought a good fight. You've kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness and not for you only, but all those who love my appearing. Verse two, he stands up and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Ruach in the Hebrew, and the Spirit entered into me, not while he was on his face on the ground, I had nothing, I had nobody. But when he stood on his feet and he began to be a part of the army of God, the Holy Spirit entered into him in a special way. And the Holy Spirit spoke to him and he set me on my feet. And I heard him that spake unto me. What did that voice say to him when he stood on his feet and he was full of the Holy Spirit? Verse three, and he said to me, son of man, I want you to know I recognize you're human. I recognize you're nothing but dust, but my spirit's in you. Now you're more than dust. You're not Adam anymore. You are a special man of God in captivity. And he said to me, son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, those who were in captivity in Babylon. Then they have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me. even to this very day, even by my putting them in captivity and chastisement, which is child training, I'm trying to teach them something. But this very day, they are still against me, God's earthly chosen people. And when you receive Jesus as your savior, you became a child of God. You became a child of the King. And although it seems like it would never happen, many of the people in the churches of the living God are like I'm going to read to you in the fourth verse. For they are impudent. They have a hard face. They come into your presence. They come in like a heathen. They come in like somebody that's evil instead of somebody that's been made whole and chosen by the grace of God. They're stiff-necked. That's who I'm gonna have you preach to, Ezekiel. I do send thee to them. I want you to go to this bunch of hard-headed, hard-hearted, stiff-necked people. I want you to preach to them. I do send you to them. And thou shalt say to them, here's what I want you to preach to them. Thus saith the Lord God, Adonai Yahweh. Saturday morning, I went by Walgreens as I usually do to pick up my paper. I went back to the car and here comes a very nice-looking, well-dressed young lady and she has a piece of paper in her hand. She said, I think you might want to read that. I said, you know what I want? I want Jesus. And then I, the Holy Spirit just, now this is a Jehovah's Witness, and I admire her for getting out and doing something. But I said these words to her, Baruch Hashem Adonai. She said, Adonai, she knew what the word was. You know, they study. They're not a bunch of dummies that sit around and suck their thumb. And then as she walked away, I said, Yahweh. She said, Jehovah. She knew the meaning, but I got to witness to her. She did not give me her piece of paper because I wasn't in any kind. She didn't want to waste it on me. Thus saith Adonai Yahweh. and they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. It doesn't matter, Ezekiel, I want you to preach to them whether they listen to you or not. Speak the words that I have put in your heart, for they are a rebellious house. Yet know, And this word no here comes from a very powerful Hebrew word, meaning I want you to know, I want you to be aware that you are being moved, wheels turning, like he saw in the vision. I want you to know by the power of the Holy Spirit, These people are in need of what I have to say as hard-headed and impudent as they are. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them. Fear can sometimes take the form of making you feel inadequate. and hard-headed, hard-hearted, rebellious believers in Almighty God. They claim to believe in God. They believe in one God. But those kind of people can make you feel very small and get on your feet and quit letting them make you afraid. Fear is not what God expects you to get from him. He expects you to be able to stand your ground for the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them. They want to make you feel like that you're a nobody because you're in the minority here in Babylon. not going to let the fact that we're a minority stop us from being a heavenly, godly, Jesus Holy Spirit filled majority. God and one is a majority. And don't you ever forget it. Don't let people get you discouraged. Don't be afraid of them. Neither be afraid of their words. They're going to say ugly things to you. Don't receive them. Let them bounce off of you. Don't let them inside of you. They're going to say ugly words to you. As a matter of fact, you're going to find out that my people in captivity, my earthly chosen people, are going to be like briars and thorns. They will be with you like these kind of things, things that make you itch, things that make you feel stabbed. Though briars and thorns be with thee, thou dost dwell among scorpions. They're worse. than briars and thorns, they're like scorpions. I remember my, we built the fires at the school where my father drove the bus and we were the janitors of the school. And they were having some kind of a meeting one night in the auditorium of the school building. And my dad was building a fire and he was using some, you know, when you burn coal, you have to have some wood that'll burn real fast so it'll catch the, because you can strike a match and put it to the coal and it won't even burn. So my dad was putting those little pieces of wood in before he built the fire with the coal, and there was a scorpion in those pieces of wood that he had, and it bit him, made him sick. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks. They're gonna look at you, and they're gonna try to look you down. Don't you let them do it. Ezekiel, you're my man. And tonight I'm speaking to God's men and God's women. Be not dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house, and thou shall speak my words unto them. Doesn't matter what they receive them or not, speak it and speak it clear. whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house. Now just a moment, we're talking about Israel. Did you know that here is God's earthly chosen people, giving them back their land, part of it anyway in 1948. And they are still rejecting as a nation, the Messiah. But thou son of man, hear, listen, but thou son of man, son of Adam, hear what I say to thee. Don't you listen to their words that cut you to pieces. Be thou not rebellious like that rebellious house. Don't you let them infect you and give you the disease of rebellion. Listen to my words. Don't listen to that bunch of rebellious people. Open your mouth now, Ezekiel, and eat what I give thee. Remember, Jesus said very clearly in the fourth chapter of Matthew, man shall not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That was one of Jesus' first messages in the fourth chapter of Matthew. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me. And I was given a roll of a book that was therein. And God spread this feast before me that was written within and without. You see, there's no place where God's word is not there. You can't get away from it. It's on the inside, it's on the outside, it's on every side. And there was written their own lamentations. It's sad, very sad that God's people sometimes can never really recognize that He loves them until He sends lamentation upon them. On this that you're going to eat, Ezekiel, will be written lamentations and mourning And whoa, in chapter three, moreover he said to me, son of man, eat, eat this word. Now what he's saying is, let the word come into you and like food. It comes into you, it goes down your esophagus, into your stomach, into your small intestine, your large intestine, and that that your body needs is absorbed into the blood. And nourishment distributed all over your body. He's saying you need to let the word get inside of you where it can touch every spot. And I even believe that the right kind of diet physically can be healing. I believe there's healing in things that God has allowed to grow out of the soil. I mentioned, I think it was last week or recently, about how that I want to, and I'm not a doctor, so I'm not prescribing for you, but I want some quinine in my blood constantly. And I told you that when they were building the Suez Canal, the English would always have the tonic water that had quinine in it. And when the mosquitoes bit the people who didn't drink the quinine water, they got malaria. But the English did not because the quinine in the blood prevented them from getting the malaria. So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll. He caused me to receive the word of God. And he said to me, son of man, Now, what does that mean? Jesus used that term about himself. It's real simple. You represent your fellow man. I am giving you a message. You're representing me, God said. You are the son of man. You represent those people in captivity. Cause the belly to eat and fill thy bowels. And the belly and bowels symbolically have to do with how you feel, your emotions. The best medicine you can get is to receive the word of God and let it fill you. and let it lead you and guide you. I give thee. When I did eat it, Ezekiel said, it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness. It was wonderful. It was tasty. I wanted more of it. And if you ever start receiving the word of God, You'll be hungry and you'll have an appetite for it. And you'll demand that wherever you go, that the word of God be preached and only the word of God. That's the blessing. And I'm not saying this in a boastful way, but when I can feel safe and secure after I've stood here and just taught you the Word of God, verse by verse, word by word. It's not me preaching, it's the Word of God. May it become so sweet that you'll want more and more of the Word. He said to me, son of man, Go get thee into the house of Israel. They were in captivity. And speak my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of strange speech. These people that you're speaking to do not speak the Chaldean. They speak Hebrew, the language, your nature, your first language. I want you to preach to them in their language, the language that I have sent from heaven, the Hebrew language. I have not sent you to people of a strange speech and a hard language, but I have sent you the house of Israel. Not to many people of strange speech and of a hard language, whose word thou that they cannot understand. Surely had I sent thee to them, that is the people of Babylon, the Babylonians who spoke Chaldean, if I'd sent you to them and you'd spoken Chaldean to them, they would have heard you. But I've sent you to my own people, I've sent you the heavenly language, the language of Hebrew, and they won't receive it. The Gentiles, and of course that was prophecy. And you and I tonight can understand the word of God. And we'll close with these verses. But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee, for they will not hearken to me. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-headed. Because I have made thy face strong against their face and thy forehead stronger than their forehead, I've made your head harder than theirs. Verse 9, as adamant And this word adamant, the word diamond in Hebrew comes from this word. The diamond is one of the hardest things it'll cut, things that nothing else will cut. He said, I am making you a diamond speech, man. The words you say will crush any rebellion. They will be crushed. as adamant, harder than flint. Have I made thy forehead, Ezekiel? Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And moreover, he said to me, son of man, representing me to humanity, All my words that I shall speak to thee, receive them first in your heart. You see, if I don't believe what I'm preaching to you, I have no right to speak them at all. I must believe with all my heart, with all my soul, and all my being. Me over he said to me, son of man, all my words shall I speak unto thee, receive them in thy heart and hear them with your ears. And tonight the Bible teaches we need faith. We need faith now more than any people who ever walked the face of this earth. But faith comes by hearing, the Word of God and let it get inside of you and become a part of you for the glory of God. Thank you, Jesus, as we stand and sing. Let's offer up 255 in times like these. In times like these, you need a Savior. In times like these, Be very sure, be very sure your anchor holds and grips a solid rock. Thank you for being a part of the called out body of Christ that is assembled here tonight. And may you receive a reward that is greater than anyone who has chosen not to be in this assembly, the word of God will carry you through.