Mark chapter number 11. I got Mark, we need to pick it up in verse number 15. I got some practical things to say about this passage in just a minute, and I have to be honest with you, It's one of these things to where it's just come so far, there just ain't no hope of ever getting it back. But I'm gonna say them anyway. But this is the second cleansing of the temple when Jesus comes into Jerusalem. You remember he came, his triumphal entry, what they generally call Palm Sunday, is what we looked at in the last couple of weeks. And he's come in there and left that evening, come back in the morning, I remember we talked about it Wednesday night, how he went in the temple that evening after riding in on the donkey, after all the worship and praise they gave him. And it says he observed all that was going on in Jerusalem and in the temple. And I can just imagine in my mind, he's checking things out. And I believe that's what sparked, I mean, he went out to the Bethany, I think, and spent the night. Maybe at somebody's house or whatever. And then comes back in the morning, and first thing he runs up on is a fig tree. And with what he observed down there at the temple, that sparked him. He's looking for fruit. And he curses the fig tree. And we try to talk Wednesday night and emphasize how that's what God wants. He wanted that from Israel. And now he wants that from the church. And it aggravated him so bad, he cursed that fig tree. I think that's what brought that about. And we're gonna have some more, if we get that far, we're gonna talk some more about that this morning. And then he comes in the next morning and goes to the temple and just cleans it out. Look at it in verse number 15. They come to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple, began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he talked, saying unto them, is it not written, so this is somewhere in the Old Testament, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. Now folks, there's two cleansings. He did this early in his ministry. We're late in his ministry here in Mark 11. Look over at John chapter number two. And like I said Wednesday night, I hope to get a replay of this in heaven. I hope the Lord's got some kind of a system set up so a lot of these things that happen that we're reading about, we can go back and look at. I wanna see Jesus running people out of the temple with a scourge of small cords. You say, well, I don't know. There's a lot of things I like to see like that. Look at John 2, 13. And the Jews, this is the first time he did it. And the Jews, Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now keep in mind, This is the yearly Passover. And people coming from all around, so you can imagine, it's a big deal. And the temple's packed out and people just everywhere. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And so they've set up shop there to sell people and exchange money for their sacrifices for the Passover. And when he had made a scourge, I mean, it's more convenient, right? I mean, don't tote that lamb all the way from your home down there to the temple. Just, you know, just come on down here and we'll have one. You can just buy it and make it simple for you. And when he had made a scourge of small cores, sacrifice is just basically gone. I mean, who wants to sacrifice anything for the sake of Jesus Christ anymore? That's what this is about. they made it convenient. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple. And the sheep, do you understand that took some time? You remember how he says in the book of Mark, he went down there and observed all that. I mean, he just walking around, looking at all that, just taking it all in. And I can just imagine just me reading between the lines, him going down there and sleeping on that and laying there thinking about what he observed down there in the temple and just getting good and mad about it. And that's the way this is. He goes in there and watches them and observes what they're doing and sees those money changers and seeing them taking advantage of people and just that kind of stuff going on down there in the temple, a place that he thinks ought to be reverenced and kind of a little bit holy and set apart for God. And he's just standing over there, braiding up this cord, and observing that thing, and just getting madder and madder. And he drives them out with his cord, said, well, he's hitting the animals. That's why I want to see a replay. I think he's hitting men. I said, no, not Jesus. You don't read your Bible. Folks, Jesus is not like Hollywood portrays him, okay? Nobody wants to think about Jesus going into the local temple there, you know, and making a whip and running people out. You see what that thing says? He turned the tables over. I mean, what if I jumped down right now and just grabbed this remembrance table and just flipped it over and started knocking chairs over? He said he turned over, throwed out their seats. And when he had made a scourge of small cores, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep. See? He drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables. poured out their money, just took their money, dumped it out on the ground, and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, it was somewhere in the Bible, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, quote in Psalm 69. Now, all that stuff is a picture, of, if you turn into Malachi, all that stuff is a picture of God Almighty one day is going to clean up this dirty world. Look at it in Malachi 3. Malachi 3.1. Behold, I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before me. Talking about Elijah, talking about the second advent. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly, look at this, come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? Why? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap. Now, you understand a refiner's fire, that's a fire to purify gold, to purify silver, and that kind of stuff. And you understand that he destroyed this world one time with a flood, with water. Next time he's going to destroy it and cleanse it with fire, right? And that's what he's talking about. And look at that fuller soap. You ever heard of that? I mean there's a brand out on the market used to be called that. What's that for? That's for cleaning something up with. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. As refiner and purifier, I mean you purify silver by heating it up. And he shall purify the sons of Levi. Now you can see I mean, that's second advent stuff prophesied about how he's gonna clean this thing up one of these days. But you can see because of that reference up there in verse number one about how he said he's gonna come to his temple, it's prophetic of what he's doing here in Mark 11, in John 2. He went in there and purified the sons of Levi. That's those priests, you understand? sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." You see that? He wants the thing to be right. When they go in there and offer the sacrifice, it matters how and what condition their heart is in when they do it. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. Now turn to Psalm 69 and read the passage that he's referring to where he said, it is written, the zeal of thine house have eaten me up. The disciples remember that passage. And he's quoting Psalm 69, nine. for the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. There it is. And the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. You see how that goes? I mean, these people are reproaching God and it's fallen on me. The me there is the Lord, the Jesus Christ. Now, practically speaking, The lowly Jesus gets angry, okay? And this is one of the places in your Bible where it shows his righteous indignation, if you want to call it that. He gets upset with these people and gets angry with them. rightfully so because of their attitude in the house of God, in the temple. So much so that he casts men out, overthrows the table, pours out the money and the chairs, turns them over and drives the people and the animal out of the temple and tells them, I mean in his zeal he does that. He was, you understand he's stirred up, he's motivated to do that after observing these things. He don't like their attitude. in the atmosphere that he observed in the temple. Now, a couple of things, practically. Do you realize how brainwashed the population of this world is now when it comes to God and Jesus Christ? We spend more time with what comes across the TV and our own thoughts and ideas about who God is. You remember what he said? And I've preached on it before. One of the things that aggravates God is there's no knowledge of God in the land. I mean, people don't really know what he's like. And I didn't turn my phone off. And this idea that Jesus is just walking around, you know, Yes, he's meek and lowly, but that's not his only attributes. You understand? He's in here in anger. By the way, that's one of the ways you know that these new Bibles are not right, because they changed that verse over there. Where is that, Matthew somewhere? About being angry with your brother without a cause, being in danger of the judgment, and they leave out without a cause, and you've got places in your Bible where he does get angry. You understand? Because of the way people perceive Jesus Christ, this sweet, lowly Jesus, and they don't ever look at the other side of him, we'll call it the wrath of the Lamb, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb, they don't want to look at that part. It's all positive, no negative, see? If Jesus Christ showed up in the average church, the people would not tolerate him. See? Again, practically speaking, the church building, you understand this is not the house of God. You understand? But this is a building set aside for God's people to come in and gather, right? And this is not the temple. I mean, that's a Jewish thing. You understand all that, but let's not miss the practical application here. Do you remember a time, I do, when I was a boy, When even the unsaved people came to church, do you remember a time when, I mean, the church that I was raised in, it was considered to be a house of prayer. I remember them talking about it, the older people in the church. The doors were never locked. And the preacher would encourage people, if you want to stop by during the week and come in there and pray, the doors are always open. And there was no, nobody was worried about vandalism. Nobody was worried about them stealing stuff. Even among the people that were not saved, there was a certain amount of respect and honor for the things of God. Now folks, it's not that way now. It's not. I mean, we lock the doors when we leave. We lock the doors when we're in here. There is no, honor toward the things of God anymore. They're just not. That's what Jesus is getting aggravated about here. See? You want to do those things, do them out there. There's a certain level of cleanliness and sanctity and set aside for the things that he considers to be holy. That's what that word holy means. In other words, How the outside world perceives the church, the things that go on in here and this church building, I mean, it matters to God how they perceive it. And I've had people tell me, when they look at the church, they just see another business. That's not the right perception. See? So we ought to go to some length to keep people from saying, Think about how they're doing things down there. I mean, it's operated just like a business. Well, at some level, there's some truth to that, but that's not how it should be, you understand, perceived by the unsaved world out there. It's not a house of merchandise. I mean, and let's just face it, at some level, there needs to be a certain level of separation Do you realize in that passage there, he would not suffer people to carry a vessel through the temple? There was just a different attitude and a different atmosphere, if you will, around the things of God that he wanted it to be, and how people perceive it. He says, it's going to be said of all nations, this is house of prayer. Not just Israel. He wanted it to be perceived to everybody out there, see? This is God's house, and this is how things are done there, and it's holy, it's separated, it's set apart. It's a house of prayer, it's a house of worship, that kind of stuff. Now think, in that light, see, that's the kind of stuff. It aggravated Jesus when it wasn't that way, see? So much so, he just run them all out. Now think about that in light of the average local church today. You know what comes to my mind first of all? A place of entertainment. What comes next? Good coffee. Folks, there's nothing that I get more pleasure out of than a good cup of coffee. But that's not what church is about, you understand? That's why we don't have a Starbucks when you come in the door out there. And we got people now, that is their ministry. Yes, I'm in charge of the coffee ministry, you know, down at our church, you know. They want to know, yeah, yeah. And people, all I'm saying is, is what do you think God thinks about that in light of this passage? I'm trying to apply it practically, you understand? And hope to get you to understand why we need draw the line in the sand, say, hey, we stop right there. And we do some weird things around here, and this is why. The reason why we don't take up an offering, we just got this box down here, is because so many people have told me when I was witnessing to them that thing about the business and, I mean, Now when you go out and witness, I know Brother Ronnie does, it's even on the gospel track he wrote, we don't even take up an offering at our church. People think, we've had people come to the church say, what's wrong with them people? We do take up an offering, but we're just not gonna make that an emphasis. You understand? Because how they perceive it out there matters. That's what's going on here in the passage, see? We're trying to maintain a certain, I hate to say it like this, image, reputation, whatever, of just holding the line of just being an old-fashioned Baptist church, the old way of doing things, instead of the new way of doing things. Let's just face it, that's why we started the church. People came to me, they didn't like the new way of doing things. How about us having an old-fashioned Baptist church? where the emphasis is on teaching and preaching the Word of God, not rock bands, you know, not coffee shops, not praise and worship teams, dancing girls, you know, fog machines. You say, well, you know, that's what attracts the people in. Jesus throwed them out in the passage. You understand? should have a testimony, a house of prayer in the passage, a house of worship, a place where God's people gather. I mean, holy, you understand, in the sense of the biblical definition of holy, set apart from the worldly stuff, set apart from the profane stuff. Turn to Isaiah 56. And we've just come so far now. I'm reading a book now that's written back in the 1840s and 50s. Taylor is that guy's name. And it caught my attention because he was a street preacher. And he went out during the gold rush days in California and preached on the street and preached in bars, stuff like that, wherever he could assemble people. according to what he's writing in the book, it was, in 1850s, it's pretty rowdy in California. Gambling and call girls, you know, old west style stuff, you know. And he would go in there and start preaching and they would be, you know, gambling and a bunch of men cursing mocking and carrying on. And I was reading about where, you know, one time they just had two men to get out there and get out in a fight just to distract people. And one time they got two dogs out there and got the dogs fighting to distract. But anything but have reverence for the preaching of the word of God, see. And that guy would just stand up. I remember one case. he just started singing real, real loud and sang a hymn. And he talked about how the atmosphere changed when he did that. And when he got finished singing, he says, now, men, gentlemen, we are Americans. And an American gentleman, we must have reverence for the preaching of the words of God and would appeal to their manhood and their Americanism, you know, to, hey, okay, you know, we're a bunch of cussing, fornicating gamblers, but when the preaching of the word of God comes on, it's just right for a man to, and they would all quieten down. Don't try that now. But they did, this is 1850s, they all quietened down, and he would preach, he'd preach to them, you know, and give an invitation and all that. And it was a time when people, even unsaved people, they perceived the things of God, you understand, separate and holy, and actually honored it and reverenced it. I know from personal experience, see, it's not that a way now. I mean, Thousands of people would gather around and stop what they were doing, stop their sinning, you know, and would listen to the preaching. Even if they're not even interested in it, they'd quieten down and have a little bit of respect for it, you know what I mean? I've seen that a time or two this year. It really blessed my heart. I was preaching in Atlanta. An older gentleman, my wife, told me on the way home, she saw a young man do it too, which really impressed me. But an older gentleman, 70-ish, When he came by, and you've got to understand where I'm preaching there, they can't hear the preaching until they get up real close, and it's just a crowd of people. And when he heard the preaching, he reached up and took his hat off. You say, that ain't nothing. That's big. You understand? See, that's the old way. It meant a lot to me that he had enough respect, whether he's saved or lost, didn't even matter. He respected the preaching of the words of God enough that he says he pulled his hat off, see. You in Isaiah 56, look at verse number seven. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. See, that's what he wants. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. That's what he's talking about in Mark and in John. He wants it to be called a house of prayer of all people. And what he's interested in is the people's attitude and the atmosphere, if you will, practically speaking, in the church. You understand? This is a place, this is a time of gathering around the things of God. I'm not telling you nothing profane can ever be spoken in here. But let's just face it, this is not the reason why we come together is not to talk about Alabama and Georgia football. Nothing wrong or sinful about that. You understand? But this is the attitude and the atmosphere in what the church building, we're gathering to get something from the word of God and it matters to him, see, how that's perceived. And if we just come in here talking about what we did last week at work and who won the football game and the big buck we killed, you understand? There's a time and place for that. But he said, I want to be joyful in my house of prayer and make it that way. He's concerned about the atmosphere and the attitude when the people gather together in the temple, see. And it's the same thing now with the church. Turn to Jeremiah 7. There is, see again, it's gone so far. It's just almost hopeless, but there is a certain amount of cleanliness expects out of His people when you assemble together to worship Him. Look at Jeremiah 7 and 1, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand in the gate of the Lord's house. Again, you understand this is not the Lord's house. The house of God is the temple. saying, stand in the gate at the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings. Now you get the picture. I'm just trying to pull practical stuff out for us here today, you understand? They're gathering together to worship the Lord. Isn't that what we're doing here today? I mean, that's one of the reasons why we're here, right? I mean, I understand it's a time of feeding the words of God and teaching and preaching and that kind of stuff. It's even for fellowship, one with another. And I see the need for that. But one of the reasons we gather together, you know what they call these things? the worship place. And there certainly should be some kind of an attitude of worship toward and thanksgiving and gratitude for what Jesus Christ has done for us and what God has done for us, you understand? So the gathering together for that purpose, and he says in verse number three, amend your ways and your doings. I mean, straighten up and quit your sinning. and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment," he's going to give you a whole list of examples. If you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods till you're hurt. So the way you live during the week matters when you come in here to worship, is what he's saying. Then will I cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever." You say, that's a Jewish thing. He didn't give us no land. He's talking about it's a Jewish thing. I'm just trying to get a practical application for you and me here today. Will you steal, look at all these sins, murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense under Baal and walk after other gods whom you know not and come and stand before me in this house? I mean, you go out and just willfully sin all week long, don't live like a Christian all week long, and then come in here before God, which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations. Now, you know this preacher believes in and even preaches about liberty. You can do what you want, man. Really. You've actually been called unto liberty. But he didn't give you that liberty to go out and just sin. You understand? And in the name of grace, you know, nowadays, it's just, well, God, Jesus don't mind. You know, he saved us and set us free from our sins. And he don't mind if I drink. He don't mind if I party. He don't mind if I fornicate. He don't mind. He accepts us just like we are. There is some truth to that, but people are way out of balance. And you know how I stand on it. It won't affect your salvation one way or the other. See? But what are you going to do with the passage? He wants you to quit that stuff before you come in and worship him. He's a little bit aggravated about it. and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations. I mean, the reason why Jesus saved us and gave us this liberty is so we can just go out and sin because it won't affect us no more. Well, it won't affect your soul. It'll certainly affect your fellowship. It will certainly affect your worship and how God receives it. It will certainly affect your rewards in eternity and your inheritance, you understand? It might even kill you. In this house, which is called by my name, excuse me, it's a question, is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? In your eyes, how you perceive it? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. He said back over in that passage in Mark and in John, you made this thing a den of thieves. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not. Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto this place, which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim." Now, folks, we know from history what happened. There ain't no temple over there right now. About 70 A.D., God raised up Titus, he came in there with his army, and there wasn't one stone left upon another. He's gonna fix it all one day, but you see what he did? Because they wouldn't straighten up. He mentioned Shiloh there twice, if you think back, I think that's down there where Eli, remember Samuel, went down there and Eli had those two sons, what was it, Hophni and Phineas or something like that. They were stealing from the people when they brought their sacrifices. They made it to where people despised to come to church. They made it where people despised to come down there and do their sacrifices like God had commanded them to do. Can you see that's where we are in the church now? I mean, I showed you the passage that Paul wrote Wednesday night to where, okay, God wanted this fruit from Israel, and he didn't get it, so he raised up the church. Now, what's he want from the church? Fruit. And when Israel got where they wasn't producing no fruit, he wiped it out. He cursed the fig tree. Paul writes in Romans, if he didn't spare the natural branches, take he lest he spare not thee. Talking about you and me. And we know, because we got a Bible that's coming today, he's going to cut this thing off. I mean, we're winding down. We're not producing the fruit that pleases him anymore. attitude and the atmosphere about the church is not being portrayed like he wants to be portrayed. People got away from that. Come on, don't some of you remember when the church building was kind of counted as a holy thing of God? I do. I know it's just brick and mortar. See? But it should have a certain attitude or an atmosphere that it puts off where people has, well, that's God's house. That's where God's people meet. People don't want to mess with it. But people now just walk in the back door and shoot them all. Look at an Ezekiel 22. This is the problem. Ezekiel 22, 26. Her priest hath violated my law. and have profaned mine holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane. That's the problem. You think of profane like profanity. See? Cuss words or whatever. But profane is anything that's carnal. Anything that's worldly. And at some level, let's just face it, there you sit in the flesh. You understand? We eat here. We eat food here on Wednesday night. You know what that is? Carnal. There is a certain level of carnality and profaneness. But he says they didn't put any difference between the profane and the holy, but holy as in the sense of sacred, set apart for God. That's a good definition. And everybody should know that this is something that's, this is God's stuff, and this is set apart, holy. And he says that even the priest didn't make any distinction between the holy stuff versus the propane stuff. Now, where we live now is the worldly stuff and the holy stuff is all joined together, and you can't tell them apart. Therefore, the unsaved world, when they look at it, well, that's just like Sears and Roebuck. It's just like any other business, you see, because there's no distinction of separation there. And hey, come on. The average megachurch, I've been to them. Not a whole lot of difference between that and the rock concerts I used to go to. With the possible exception, you usually can't smell weed burning. I mean, a rock concert, a joint might come, be passed down your aisle, you know. And if you want to hit, you can get some weed, you know. But I've read you, listen, I have read you stuff to where there's churches that do that now. The Cannabis Church, that's a growing thing now. I mean, you know, smoke a little weed, get you closer to God, put you in the spirit. That's what the pastor said. I know that's extreme, but let's just talk about just around here, there's not a separation between the holy and the profane. Y'all wonder why I draw lines. I mean, I guess one of the things people have disagreed with me about is I don't want anybody singing off of a CD. I say, well, that's a little odd. That's just where I draw the line. You've got to draw the line somewhere and stand there. If you don't, I listen to older and wiser preachers and they say it always starts with the music. See, that's why I draw the line right there and say, okay, we don't want any canned music because it's kind of hard to control. And you know, if you're not careful, next thing you know, you're just easing across the line a little bit. Next thing you know, you'll go a little bit further. Next thing you know, you'll, you know, we'll really be dancing in here. And then, you know, stepped over into the profane and mixed it with the holy. So you got to draw the line, you understand? Let's think about these holidays. There's a Christmas tree in my house, okay? There's not one in here. So that's kind of hypocritical. No, we're just trying to show a separation between the holy and profane. And y'all know what I think about all that stuff. I've taught it before. Say, well, I just don't see anything wrong with the kids going around to the church and hunting a few Easter eggs. That's probably true. Probably wouldn't be a thing wrong with it, except you're mixing the holy with the profane. You understand? This is supposed to be a place that's set apart. We don't do a lot of the things. I mean, we're not going to set up a big screen in here and watch the Georgia-Alabama game. We're not going to set up a big screen and have Super Bowl Sunday. Why? Because, in my opinion, that's too far. You say, well, there wouldn't be anything sinful about that. And think of the people you could draw in. You could order in hot wings, and, man, we could just have a fellowship, and then you could preach the gospel to them, and a lot of them would get saved. Yes, probably true. But what did it say to the people out there? Say, you brought something profane, not necessarily sinful, but profane, carnal, worldly, and mixed it with the things of God. So you're not gonna build a very big church if all you do down there is teach and preach the Bible. That's right. But we're not trying to build a big church. We're trying to please God. You see? He got mad and run him out of the temple. Amen? Where was I at? Ezekiel 22? Well, why ain't Ezekiel turned to Ezekiel 36 and we're gonna have to quit? I'm sorry, we didn't get very far in Mark today. But I hope you'll understand, that's why around here we kind of hold the line on some things. If it seems a little bit extreme, we're just trying to be real careful not to get mixed up with profanity, because it's a big deal to God. What would you rather have? The Spirit of God in here pleased with what's going on? See? And his blessings? Or the Spirit of God grieved and quenched? You know that passage he just mentioned there about Shiloh? Do you know what happened in that thing? He says, just like I did in Shiloh, you need to go down to Shiloh and look what I did. That's what he said. In fact, if my memory serves me correct, what happened was they went out to battle, Them two boys of Eli, the priest's sons, got killed. Eli fell off his chair and broke his neck. They took the Ark of the Covenant and run away. Then one of them kids' wife had a baby, and they named it Ichabod. Right? The glory hath departed. We don't want Ichabod wrote on the side of the building out there. Right? When I come down here and pray, I say, please, Lord, Be pleased to come and dwell in this place. We need God. We don't need to be popular with the world. We need God, right? So we gotta do things His way. Ezekiel 36, 19. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way and according to their doings, I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, where they went, They profaned my holy name. Do you see that what you just read? It matters how the heathen, it mattered how the heathen, do you understand you are an ambassador for Jesus Christ? You are a representative for God, and when the world looks at you, that's all the God they're gonna see? And it said right there in verse number 20, they profaned his holy name before the unsaved people, the heathen. When they said to them, these are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land. But I have pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen, where they went. Says it again, they profaned his name among the heathen. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God. I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sakes, which ye have profaned among the heathen where you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. He says, I'm not doing this because of you. I'm doing this for my name's sake that you messed up. Them people don't know I'm the Lord, and it's your fault. That's what he's saying. He said, I ought to destroy you, but for my own name's sake, he's going to restore Israel one of these days. So everybody's going to know he's the Lord. See? We're supposed to be representing him right now, see? And when people look at us, they're supposed to be able to see the Lord and His ways and His doings in us. And when they don't perceive us properly, He holds us accountable. You understand? So there is a certain, I think Paul said it like this, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Live like a Christian. Find out what one's supposed to be like and live like that. And I hate to tell you, you will be an oddball. That's just part of it. And in a lot of cases, you won't be accepted by the people. But God will accept you. See? That's what he wants. Now, what you need to take away from the Sunday school lesson today is this stuff really, really matters to God. Jesus got so mad about it when he seen that the attitude wasn't right and what they were doing and how the temple of God in that day was being portrayed to the rest of the world out there. I mean, it just looks like a den of thieves to everybody. He went and drove them all out, got mad about it. And we got to be careful around here. We make sure we're putting out the right fragrance. You understand? Make sure the people out there know, oh, those are godly people. Those are God's people. You understand? And that's the place where you can go to find God. Amen. Let's take a break. We'll have another service in just a few minutes.