(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Right, we're there in Ezekiel chapter 16, and of course on Wednesday nights we've been working our way through the book of Ezekiel, and in this chapter God basically uses a parable. If you remember last week we started a series of parables. In chapter 15 there was a parable of the vine tree, and in this chapter there is a parable of a whore, is basically what the chapter's about, and you might think that word's an offensive word, but that's a biblical word. That's the word found all throughout this passage, and we should not allow the world to tell us what is proper and what is not. The words of the Lord are pure words, that's what the Bible says, and God always calls sin by his name. He doesn't call this woman here a loose woman, he calls her a whore, he calls her a harlot, but it is a parable. This woman is being used to describe the relationship that God has with the children of Israel, now you may have noticed that it's a pretty long chapter, 63 verses in this chapter, and usually when I preach through books of the Bible I will look for themes and I will cut where the theme cuts and we'll go back and finish that chapter later, but with books like Ezekiel, Leviticus, Isaiah, I have a rule where we just hit one chapter a week, so we're gonna cover this whole chapter tonight, but don't worry, it doesn't mean we're gonna be here until midnight, okay? I'm not gonna be like Paul and keep you here until midnight, I'm gonna preach so somebody falls over dead, all right? Like the Apostle Paul, but no, what I'm gonna do tonight is I'm basically just gonna give you an overview of this chapter, I'm gonna give you an outline for the chapter, the chapter is divided into five sections, and honestly, I could preach a five-part series out of this one chapter, because there's so much in here, but we're just gonna go through it as quickly as we can, I'll give you the outline, we'll go through it and maybe make application as we go along. But notice verse one there, Ezekiel 16 verse one says, again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem, and that's who we're speaking to, we're speaking to the city of Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is basically being used here to represent the entire, at times, the entire nation of Israel and at other times, the southern kingdom of Judah, but he says, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomination, so here, the preacher is supposed to make sure the people know their abomination, verse three, and say, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem. Now he begins, he basically goes through a history of the nation of Israel ending with Jerusalem or Judah and their captivity, but he says, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite, and it's interesting because today you have the Jews and you have a lot of Christians who will act like the Jews are these special people and they're not like any other people on the earth, they're not like any other humans on the earth, but here's what people don't realize, it's not like Abraham was beamed down from heaven, you know, back in Genesis 12 to bring forth the nation of Israel and the people that would eventually be called Judah and the Jews and all of that, these people had descendants, and we're not gonna take the time to go through it cause we don't have time, we have 63 verses to go through tonight, but if you go back to Genesis 12, you'll find that Abraham came out of the Ur of the Chaldees, alright, they had descendants when they went into Canaan land, that's why he says there, your father was an Amorite, your mother was a Hittite, it's not like these people just appeared on planet earth and they had no connection to anyone else, the only person who appeared on planet earth and had no connection to the sinful race of Adam was the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's the only one that came here and came from heaven, he's the only one that came here and did not have sinful blood, but the Jews are like anyone else, that's why the Bible says neither is there Greek nor Jew, we are all the same, we're all from the same blood, and here God is using this illustration, he's saying when you were born, your birth and your nativity was of the land of Canaan, my father was an Amorite and my mother a Hittite, now I want you to notice, I told you there's five sections, the first section, if you want to write some notes down and maybe outline this, the first section of this chapter deals with how God treated the people or the nation of Israel, it covers verses 1-13, we have the first section where God talks about how he dealt with them and how he treated them, and there's basically three things that we see in this section, the first is we see God's protection, and we see a picture of adoption, notice verse 4, he says this, and as for thy nativity, referring to thy birth, in the day thou was born, notice what he says, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all, here's what he's saying, he's saying when you were born as a nation, and he's using a person to represent the nation of Israel, but he says when you were born, no one cared for you, he says no one cut your umbilical cord, no one washed you, no one swaddled you, no one took care of you, notice verse 5, none eye pitted thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out, he said you were thrown out in the open field to the loathing, the word loathing means the strong disgust or dislike of thy person in the day that thou was born. And we know that the nation of Israel started of course with Abraham and Isaac and then you had Jacob and the 12 sons of Israel and 12 tribes, which became the 12 tribes, but they really became a nation when they were in Egypt under bondage, and this is what God is referring to, he's saying when you became a nation, it wasn't a group of people that became a tribe and became a city and became a great empire, a great nation, he said when you became a nation, you became a nation when you were in bondage, when you were a slave, none eye pitted thee, no one had compassion on you, he said this is your inception, this is the birth of your nation and your nativity, look at verse 6, he says and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou was in thy blood, live, yea I said unto thee when thou was in thy blood, live, and what God is explaining to them is that the only reason that you were a nation, he said you were like a baby that had been thrown in the field, no one had cared for it, no one even wanted it, he said when I came by, I am the one that protected you, I am the one that gave you life, he's telling the nation that the only reason you are a nation is because of me, is because of God, he said no one cared for you, and then he explains to them that it is God's care and it is only God's care that allowed them to grow into the nation they were, look at verse 7, he said I have caused thee to multiply as the blood of the field and thou has increased and waxed and grayed, now remember he's going to give us an illustration of a woman who ends up being a whore or a harlot but we're now looking at this woman from a child as a baby, he says nobody loved you, nobody cared for you, he said I'm the one that helped you, he said and thou art come to excellent ornaments, he says thy breasts are fashioned and thine hair is grown, referring to the fact that she's now growing up and he's saying as a nation when you grew, you grew because I protected you, you grew because I cared for you, you grew because I'm the one that helped you, he said whereas thou was naked and bare, he said that's where you were when you started before me, so we see God's protection in this section but we also see God's promise, notice verse 8, he says now when I pass by thee, alright so we're switching illustrations here, we're going from an illustration of adoption which is also used in scripture about New Testament believers and now we're going to go into an illustration of marriage which is also used in the New Testament about New Testament believers, he says and when I passed by thee, I looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee, basically what he's saying is this, eventually you grew and when you grew, he says we fell in love, thy time was the time of love, he said we fell in love, we had a romance and then he says this and I spread my skirt over thee, now I want you to notice that phrase, that phrase I spread my skirt over thee is used in scripture to signify marriage, he's basically saying I married you, we had a time of love and I married you, notice what he says and covered thy nakedness, yea I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, that's what marriage is, is you enter into a covenant, saith the Lord God and thou became as mine, he said I spread my skirt over thee and that is a reference to getting married and I don't have time to develop all of that but if you go back and look at all the passages in Leviticus where it talks about someone going into somebody else's wife, he says that he uncovered their nakedness, you say well how did he uncover their nakedness when he committed adultery with their wife but because God uses this terminology, when someone gets married he says that he spread my skirt over thee and let me just give you this, if you want to just write this down, we've got a lot of verses to get through so we won't go there but in Ruth chapter 3 and verse 9, if you remember the story of Ruth, remember when Ruth was told by Naomi to go and find Boaz when he was threshing the harvest and she went and found him while he was sleeping and she laid down next to him, I'll just read this for you, Ruth chapter 3 and verse 9, the Bible says this, and he said, who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid and Ruth said to Boaz, spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid for thou art a near kinsman. Today you've got the liberal Christians who try to act like they have some sort of fornicating relationship but what they don't understand is that phrase when she said therefore, when she said spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, what she was basically saying was will you marry me? That's what that phrase means, that's why in Ezekiel 16 18, God says, I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness, yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God and thou became his mine. It's a reference to marriage so we see the promise, we see God's protection of the nation of Israel and then we see that God entered into a promise and of course, if you know the history of the nation of Israel, not only did God bring them out of Egypt but then with Mount Sinai, they entered into a covenant with God and that was pictured as a marriage, they had a covenant together with the Lord. Thirdly in the section you see God's provision, notice verse 9, he says this, then I wash thee with water, yea, I thoroughly wash away thy blood from thee and I anoint thee with oil. I clothe thee also with broidered work and shod thee, the word shod means to put shoes on you, he says look, I bought you clothes, I bought you shoes, he said I shod thee with badger skin and I girded thee about with fine linen and I covered thee with silk, I decked thee also with ornaments, he said I gave you jewelry and I put bracelets upon thine hand and a chain on thy neck, that's why it's always a little interesting, sometimes people take the standards of separation and I believe we ought to be separated Christians but I do believe that sometimes people take it a little too far when they say, well women shouldn't wear any jewelry at all, well God says here that he bought jewelry for his wife, so guys, you know, take a note of that and maybe you can buy some jewelry for your wives every once in a while. Look at verse 13, thus was thou decked with gold and silver and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and broidered work, thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil and thou was exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom and of course, let me just make this clear, the Bible says that you ought to dress modestly so obviously you shouldn't go too far with anything but here we see God's provision for the nation of Israel, so in part one we see how God treated the people and what we see is that he provided for them, he protected them and he made a promise, he entered into a covenant with them. In verse 14 we begin the second section of this chapter and it is how the people treated God. So we first saw how God treated the people, now we're going to see how the people treated God. For those of you taking notes, this section goes from verses 14 to verse 35 and there are several things we see, in fact there are six things we see that God outlines for us in regards to how the people responded to God's blessing because God said, I protected you, I made a promise, I entered into a covenant with you, I provided for you and then this is how you responded to me. First of all, they got lifted up with pride and turned away from God, does that surprise us? Isn't that kind of the theme of the Bible? Is it God blesses people and then they get lifted up with pride. God blesses people and then they get lifted up with pride. God blesses people and they get lifted up with pride. So then what does God have to do? He has to bring them down, he has to remove his blessings so that they will humble themselves. Look, this is a story that's basically found about mankind throughout the entire Bible. So let me just help you out a little bit. When God blesses you, check your pride, just be careful about starting to think that you're so great and you're so mighty and you must be so smart. Look, if you have anything to brag about, it's the Lord Jesus Christ and it's because of God. He says they lifted themselves up with pride, look at verse 14, he says, and thy renown went forth among the heathen. He said the heathen began to learn about you as a nation and of course this would be probably around the time of David and Solomon when they were the kings of the nation of Israel. He says thy renown went forth among the heathens for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee. I want you to notice that because he's going to begin to emphasize something here and he's saying you got lifted up with pride and you turned away from me because of your pride but anything you had to be proud about was something I gave you. He says which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord, notice verse 15, but thou didst trust in thine own beauty and platest the harlot because of thy renown and pours out thy fornication on every one that pass by, his it was. Notice verse 16, he says, and of thy garments. I want you to understand, okay, because here's what he's saying, he's saying you got lifted up with pride because of your renown, because of your beauty, because of your prosperity, because of your success. God really begins to emphasize this over the next four or five verses. He says you took what I gave you, God is saying to the nation of Israel, you took what I gave you and used that for your idolatry. He says, look at verse 16, he says, and of thy garments, remember, I'm the one that gave you the garments, I'm the one that provided for you, I'm the one that gave you the clothing, he said, and of thy garments thou didst take and decketh thy high places with diverse colors. He said you took the garments that I gave you and then you used those to decorate the areas of idolatry and platest the harlot thereupon. The light things shall not come, neither shall it be so, notice verse 17, thou has also taken the fair jewels, notice what he says, don't miss this, thou has taken the fair jewels of, you ought to underline this in your Bible or circulate it, he says, of my gold and of my silver which I had given thee. Here's what he's saying, he's saying I prospered you, I blessed you, I helped you, and then you took my gold and my silver and my raiment and my garments and my clothing and my blessings and you used that to worship another God and made us to thyself images of men and didst commit whoredoms with them and tookest thy broidered garments and covered them and thou has set, notice, mine oil and mine incense before them. God says I blessed you with oil and I blessed you with incense and then you took what I gave you and you took that and offered it to idols. Notice verse 19, my meat also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou has even set it before them for a sweet savour and thus it was, saith the Lord God. Not only did they take what God had given them and use that for their idolatry but then they also sacrificed their children to idols, look at verse 20, moreover thou has taken thy sons and thy daughters and don't miss this, whom thou has borne unto me. He said we were married, you were my wife, he said these were my children, he said you took my children and you sacrificed them, he says and these has thou sacrificed unto them to be devout, is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, he said is this something small that we're talking about, verse 21, that thou has slain my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them and of course we know that in these ancient times they would literally sacrifice children to cause idols but let me tell you something, America is not any less heathen than the people that Ezekiel was dealing with today because you know today in the United States of America, today 3,000 children were sacrificed to idols today, you say well how's that, through abortion, you say well what idols were they sacrificed, to the idol of convenience, to the idol of a career, oh I got pregnant so I have to kill my child so I can continue my career, okay so to the idol of your career you sacrificed a human being, to the idol of your convenience you sacrificed a human being because you weren't ready to support that child or take on that responsibility of that child but you were ready to go and play the part of a whore, play the part of a harlot, play the part of a whore monger, so look all of these passages they're applicable today, remember what we learned recently, an idol is not just a graven image, there are idols of the heart and today many children are being sacrificed to the idols of the heart, notice what he says in verse 22, he says they fail to remember what God had done for them, verse 22 and in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, notice what he says, thou has not remembered the days of thy youth, he said I wish you would remember when you were cast out, notice when thou was naked and bare and was polluted in thy blood, he said do you remember how I found you, do you remember that no one cared for you, that no one helped you, in fact just real quickly skip over to verse 43, we're going to come right back, but look at verse 43, he says because thou has not remembered the days of thy youth, it's good for us, on Sunday night I preached a sermon about strolling down memory lane, it's good for us from time to time to remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, to remember where it was that God found you, to remember where it was that God took you from, to remember that whatever blessings you have, you have them because of God, in fact just go there real quickly, go to James, keep your place in Ezekiel, go to James, we've seen these verses before but let's look at them together, James chapter number 1, if you start at the end of the Bible, book of Revelation you have Jude, 3rd, 2nd and 1st John, 2nd and 1st Peter, James, James chapter 1, James chapter 1 and verse 17, James 1.17 notice what the Bible says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from the North Pole and cometh down from Santa Claus, is that what it says? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights, make sure you teach your kids during the Christmas season where the gifts come from, they come from above, they come down from the father of lights with whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning, we have to remember, keep your place there in James, we're going to come right back to it, go back to Ezekiel 16, but we have to remember that every blessing you have, it is God who giveth you the power to get well because here's what happens, we start making a little money, we start living in a nice house and driving a nice vehicle and wearing nice clothes and all of a sudden we start thinking that maybe this is because of me, maybe I'm so successful because I'm so smart, because I'm so talented and we forget that it is the blessing of God, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights, period. Look, if you live in a nice house, it's because God put you there, if you drove a nice vehicle, I'm not against you, if you drove a nice vehicle, I hope you drove a nice vehicle to this church building, but if you drove a nice vehicle to this church building, it's because God gave it to you, God gave you everything you have and when we fail to remember that, we will get filled with pride. Notice what they do, keep your place there in James, they're going to come right back to it, Ezekiel 16 verse 23, notice the fifth thing they did, they committed adultery on God and it came to pass after all thy wickedness, woe, woe unto thee, saith the Lord God, verse 24, that thou has also built unto thee an imminent place and has made thee in high place in every street and has built thy high places at every head of the way and has made thy beauty to be abhorred and has opened thy feet to every one that passeth by and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou has also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, great of flesh, and has increased thy whoredoms to provoke me to anger, behold, therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee and I have diminished thine ordinary food and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee and daughters of the Philistines which are ashamed of thy lewd ways. Notice verse 28, thou has played the whore also with the Assyrians because that was unsaidable, yea, thou has played the harlot with them and yet couldest not be satisfied, thou has moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea and yet thou was not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious, notice, whorish woman. He describes the children of Israel to a whore, to a harlot, to a woman who basically laid down with everyone and anyone that would give her attention. Go to James chapter 4. I want you to notice how God uses the same terminology for us as New Testament believers. Here's what he said. He said, I married you and then you go and you commit adultery with the gods of the Egyptians and with the gods of the Babylonians and with the gods of the Canaanites. And he said, you were a whore. You were a harlot who laid down with every other god that you weren't married to. But notice, I want you to notice James chapter 4 verse 4, the same terminology is used for New Testament believers. He says this, ye adulterers and adulteresses. This is spiritual adultery. Of course, real physical adultery is bad as well. He says, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be friend of the world is the enemy of God. Listen to me, you've got to decide. You cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. You cannot be in relationship with the world and in relationship with God. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. He says if you are a friend of the world, then you are at enmity, you are at opposition with God. He says if you are a friend of the world, then you are the enemy of God. And he says, look, I purchased you, I married you, you're my bride, he says, and if you go to the world, you're an adulterer and you are an adulterer-ress. Go back to Ezekiel 16, and look, let me just tell you right now, Ezekiel 16 gets pretty specific and pretty harsh here at times, but this is the word of God. We're not going to try to clean up God's word. The Bible, the words of the Lord are pure words, and all of the Bible, the entire counsel of God should be preached. But it's interesting, this is how to show you how God hates worldliness and his people. And the children of Israel were worshiping idols, but the New Testament believers, the idols they're worshiping are the idols of the world, are the things that the world has to offer. And what God says to not be conformed to the things of this world, he says to not love this world, notice what he says in verse 31, Ezekiel 16, 31. And that thou buildest thine imminent places in the head of every way, and makest thine high places in every street, and has been as an harlot, okay, the word harlot means a prostitute, but here's what he's saying. He's saying you're worse than a prostitute. Now here's why, notice what he says. Excuse me, I read that wrong, he says, and has not been, and has not been as an harlot. He said you have not been like a prostitute in that thou scornest higher. He says you scorn higher, you mark at higher, here's what he's saying, he's saying at least a prostitute gets paid. He says at least a harlot gets hired. He said has not been as an harlot in that thou scornest higher, notice what he says in verse 32, but as a wife that comitteth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband. Notice what he says. You say pastor man, I think you're being a little too specific, this is the word of God, verse 33, verse 33, they give gifts to all whores, but thou giveth thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hires them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms. And the contrary is in thee, he said you can't even do sin right, he said you're doing it all wrong. He says a whore gets paid, a prostitute gets paid, a harlot gets paid, he said you're worse than a whore, you're worse than a harlot. He said to commit whoredoms, and in that thou giveth a reward, he said you give the reward, you pay, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary, wherefore o harlot hear the word of the Lord. And in this second section of this chapter we see how the people treated God. They got lifted up with pride. They took the blessings that God gave them and used those to commit adultery on the God that they had entered into a covenant relationship with, the God that they had entered into a marriage with. And in verse 36 we begin the third section of this chapter. And this section, if you want to write it down, goes from verse 36 to verse 43. And it basically covers what God will do to the people as a result of their response to his goodness. He said I protected you, I made a promise to you, I provided for you, and then you got lifted up with pride. You committed adultery with the other gods of the world and you took my blessings that I gave you and used those to hire, do you understand why God's so mad about this? He says you, at least a whore gets paid. You took my gold and my garments and my oil and you gave it to them. And then he says in section three here, he says, let me tell you what I'm going to do to you. Number one, he's going to pour out his judgment on them. And there's a very interesting, and we've seen this through the book of Ezekiel before We've seen it in other books as well. But there's an interesting concept that's highlighted here and I want to kind of slow down and make sure you understand this. In verse 36 and verse 37 he says this, thus saith the Lord God, because thy filthiness was poured out and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers and with all the idols of thy abominations and by the blood of thy children which thou has given unto them, verse 37, he says, because you did all these things, your whoredoms with your lovers, your idols with your abominations, the blood of thy children, he said, because you did that, verse 37, behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou has taken pleasure and all them that thou has loved and with all them that thou has hated. He said there's some of them that you love, like the Egyptians, they're constantly going down to Egypt for help. They're trying to get the Egyptian pharaoh to provide for them or to give them security. And then the ones that you hate, the Babylonians who are threatening you, he said, I'm going to take all of them, the ones that you love and the ones that you hated. Notice what he says, and I will even gather them around about against thee and will discover thy nakedness unto them that they may see all thy nakedness. Here's what he's saying. He's saying God is going to turn those who you turn to instead of God against you. He said everyone you turn to away from God, he said, I'm going to take those people that you turn to and I'm going to turn those people against you. And then he says this in verses 38 through 41, he says, I'm going to use the people you turn to to destroy you, verse 38, and I will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged and I will give thee blood. Notice what he says, in fury and in jealousy, and I will also give thee into their hand and they shall throw down thine imminent places and shall break down thy high places. They shall strip thee also of thy clothes and shall take thy fair jewels and leave thee naked and buried. He's saying all these other nations that you are worshiping their gods, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Canaanites, he said, I'm going to have them turn against you and they're going to destroy you. Verse 41, and they shall burn thine house with fire and execute judgment upon thee in the sight of many women and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot and I also shall give no higher anymore. And we've focused on this before, but I want to make sure you understand this. And you young people, you should listen to what I'm about to say right now because there's this concept found throughout the entire Bible, we've seen it several times in Ezekiel, we saw it in Isaiah, we've seen it in different places, but there's this concept that you find in scripture, which is this, that God will take whatever idol you chose, whatever idol you decided that this is the idol that's going to draw me away from God, the idol that you're going to turn to, to draw you away from God. God said, I'm going to take the idol you turn to and I'm going to turn that idol against you and it's going to destroy you. Listen, when you allow alcohol to turn you away from God and you make that alcohol your idol, here's what God says, I'm going to make that alcohol destroy you. When you allow pornography to turn you away from God, God says, I'm going to take that idol and cause that idol to destroy you. When you allow drugs to turn you away from God, God says, I'm going to take those drugs and have those drugs destroy you. When you allow a career to take you away from God, because you're going to make more money and you're going to be more successful, God says, just wait, that career is going to turn around and throw you and burn you and destroy your life. God says, whatever idol you decide you want to put in my place, I'm going to take that idol and I'll beat you with it. It's interesting. So look, you say, Pastor Jimenez, why don't you make a God out of your children, an idol out of your children? Why don't you decide to skip out on Sunday night church so you can have family time with your children? You know why I don't do that? I love my children too much. I need to keep my kids in the proper place because I don't want God putting a target on them when I make an idol out of them. Why don't you make an idol out of your marriage? I love my wife too much. It's funny to me that people are like, well, I can't serve God because of my wife, and then they've got the worst marriages. It's like, don't you see that God is taking your idol and beating you with it? People, they want to go chase a career, and then they're the ones that are just struggling financially. I just want to tell them, don't you see that God is just taking your idol and beating you down with it? Because God will take your idol. Whatever idol you decide to turn to, drugs, alcohol, women, wine, children, family, careers, whatever it is, sport, whatever you decide to allow you to turn you away from God. God said, I'm going to take that. I'm going to take that idol. He said, just mark it down. Whatever it is, I'm going to take that. I'm going to beat you with that. He said, and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shall give no higher any more. He said, well, what happens after that? Well, then he says, then I'll be satisfied, verse 42. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet and will be no more angry, because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted. The word fret means to worry or annoy. He said, hast fretted me in all these things. Behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thine head. You reap what you sow, saith the Lord God, and thou shalt not commit thy lewdness above all thine abominations. Now in verse 44, we begin section four of this chapter. And if you want to write this down, it goes from verses 44 to verse 52. And in this section, if you remember, section one was how God treated the people, and section two was how the people treated God, and section three was what God's going to do about it. Section four is this, what other people will say about the people of God. When all of this happens, God says, let me tell you what other people are going to say about you. They're going to say several things. Number one, they're going to say this, you are similar to the people you came from. You are similar to the people that surround you. Because remember, the biggest sin of the Jewish people or the Israelite nation was their pride. They thought they were better than everyone else. They thought they were beamed down from heaven, and they were not like the rest of the people around them. And God says, actually, you're just like the people around you. And what people will say about you is that you are similar to the people you came from and the people that surround you. Look at verse 44. He says, behold, everyone that uses the proverb shall use this proverb against thee. He said, there's a proverb, there's a saying that people say, and they're going to say it about you. What are they going to say? Here's what they're going to say. As is the mother, so is her daughter. Thou art thy mother's daughter that loateth her husband and her children. And thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loateth their husband and their children. Your mother was in Hittite, and your father was in Amorite. Here's what he's saying. The nations that you came from, the Hittites and the Amorites, they committed adultery, too. They loathed their husbands, and they loathed their children. You thought you were better than them, but actually, you're very similar to them. Look at verse 46. And thine elder sister is Samaria. She and her daughters that dwelleth at thy left hand, and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. And this is not the primary application, but let me just go ahead and give you this application. This proverb, he says, as is the mother, so is her daughter. Mom, please listen to me very carefully. If you are loud and obnoxious and bitter and angry and upset at home, just realize this, you will raise a little girl that'll be just like that with her husband. Dad, if you're just non-caring, never around, don't love your wife, don't spend time with your wife, don't spend time with your kids, just realize this, you're going to raise boys that are going to be like that with their wives. It always repeats itself. As is the mother, so is her daughter. And can God come in and break that lineage of sin? Of course God can do that, but most often than not, if Dad was a drinker, so will be the children. If Dad smoked, if Mom smoked, the kids will smoke. If Dad was a soul winner, the kids will be soul winners. If Dad was faithful to church, the kids will be faithful to church. If Mom read her Bible and prayed, the kids will read their Bibles and pray. Realize that you are producing what you're doing and showing your kids in your life right now. If you're a gossip, your kids are going to be gossips. Some of you ought to give full disclosures to your future children-in-law. Honestly, I remember when I was getting married, one thing that my dad told me when I was dating my wife, he said, see how she treats her parents. My dad said, you need to see how she treats her dad, because that's how she's going to treat you, son. And you say, why do you marry your wife? Because she was respectful to her dad, she was dismissive to her dad, she honored her parents and they didn't even deserve it and she honored her. But here's the point, when you see the way that the family life is, of course God can overcome that and people can get saved and come out of that, but you should not be, look, you should not be hoping that God overcomes your sin for your children. Just set the right example, because as is the mother, so is the daughter. Listen, Mom, if you don't want your kids to grow up to be a whore and a whoremonger, then don't dress like a whore. If you don't want your kids to be a drunkard, then quit drinking. If you don't want your kids to be living a lifestyle that you're living, then you need to just realize that as is the mother, so is her daughter. And as is the father, so is his son. And you find that throughout the entire Bible. That principle is seen throughout scripture. But here's what's interesting. Not only does God tell the children of Israel, because remember, they're lifted up with pride. Not only do they tell them that you're similar to the people that you came out of and you're similar to the people that surround you, he takes it a step further and he says, actually, you're worse. He says, you're worse than the people that you came from and the people that surround you. Look at verse 47. Yet, has thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations, but as that were a very little thing. He said, their abominations and their ways, he said, you acted like that was a very little thing. He says, that was corrupted. Don't miss this. That was corrupted more than me in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom, remember Sodom, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters as thou has done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. So God's about to tell us the iniquity of Sodom. And I don't have time to go into this, but obviously Sodom goes through an entire timeframe in the Bible. The first time we see Sodom in the Bible, they're not good, but they're not as bad as when God destroyed them. You need to understand that. Obviously they got worse as time went on to the point where God destroyed them. But here's what God says led to the destruction of Sodom. He says, here was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. And I don't have time to develop this, it's going to be its own sermon all on its own. But ask yourself this question, as we read this list, ask yourself, is Sodom similar to the United States of America? Because he says, verse 49, behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. So he says, here's the sins of Sodom. Number one, pride. Number two, fullness of bread. You know why people don't turn to God in America? They're too full. Fullness of bread. You know why Elijah, what would Elijah pray for, a famine? He said fullness of bread. And number three, abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. That's why you have people watching their stupid football games and baseball games and on video games and on this and on that. Why? Because the abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Number four, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And number five, they were haughty. And number six, committed abominations before me. That's your sodomy and all of that. Therefore, I took them away as I saw good. He said, that's what they did. Verse 51, neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins. He said, look, Samaria is the northern nation of Israel. They've already been destroyed. They've already gone into captivity and he says, they did not commit half of thy sins. But that was multiplied by abominations. Don't miss this. More than they. And has justified thy sister in all thine abominations which thou has done. Verse 52, thou also which has judged thy sister bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou has committed more abominable than they. They are more righteous than thou. He says, Samaria and Sodom are more righteous than thou. Yea, be thou confounded also and bear thy shame in that thou has justified thy sister. I need to finish this up, but let me give you the fifth section of this chapter. The first section was how God treated the people, the second, how the people treated God, the third, what God is going to do to the people, the fourth, what other people will say about God's people once judgment comes, and then number five is this, a promise of renewal for the people. Now the dispensationalists and the Zionists, they love this. But let me just explain to you that this is not talking about the nation that is out there in Israel today. The nation that was formed in Israel in the 1940s after World War II, that was not the will of God, that was the will of the UN. And you say, well, and the dispensationalists are like, well, look at all these promises of renewal and the covenant, okay? Let's look at it. Verse 53, when I shall bring again their captivity, now who's he talking about? He's saying, you are worse than Sodom, you are worse than Samaria, you are worse than all those people. He says, when I shall bring again their captivity, you say, who's captivity? The captivity of Sodom and her daughters and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters. He says, when I bring Sodom and Samaria back, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them. For thou mayest bear thine own shame and mayest be confounded in all that thou has done and that thou art a comfort unto them, verse 55, when thy sisters Sodom and her daughter shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. Let me ask you a question. Has Sodom been returned to her former estate? No. Well, then the nation of Israel over there right now is not God's nation. You say, well, I don't understand what, I thought Sodom was bad. Sodom is bad. Sodom was destroyed. But remember, Sodom wasn't always bad. There were people in Sodom before it was destroyed that were saved. Obviously by the time a lot was there and God had to destroy it, we know that there was not enough righteous people there to preserve it. But before that, if you remember, Jesus said, and I don't have time to go to the passages, but Jesus said that in the day of judgment, the men of Sodom are going to stand up and condemn Capernaum and all those other, they're going to say, if the works that had been done in Capernaum had been done in Sodom, he said, they're going to stand up and judge you. And here's what, and I don't have time to develop this, I'll just explain to you quickly, but basically here's what God is talking about. He's talking about the fact that he's going to restore the nation of Israel, say, Pastor, are you becoming a Zionist? He's going to restore the nation of Israel during the millennial reign. And during the millennial reign, there's going to be people in the land that was inhabited by Sodom, and there's going to be people in the land that was inhabited by Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel, and he says, when I restore them, then I'll restore you. Not 1940-something, but when I restore them in the millennial reign. Verse 57, before thy awakeness was discovered, at the time of thy reproach, the daughters of Syria and all that were round about her, the daughters of Philistines, which despise thee round about, thou has borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord. Verse 59, for thus saith the Lord, I will even deal with thee as thou hast done. See, I'm talking about right now. I'm going to deal with you right now, like what you've done in the time of Ezekiel, which has despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Verse 60, nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee, this is later, in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. When thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sister, thine elders, and thy young girl, then I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not for my covenant. Verse 62, and I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, that thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth anymore, because of thy shame. When I am pacified, means to appease, toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God. Let me just give you one reference and we'll be done. Go to Matthew 19. You say, what? They're going to be restored. Yeah. The promise is to a millennial reign nation of Israel, not the one today. The one today is anti-Christ, they reject Christ. How do we know that? Well, we know it because Sodom is mentioned there and is not the one that was destroyed. It's going to be a millennial reign Sodom, apparently, is what the Bible is talking about here. Let me just show you the fact that Jesus spoke of a millennial reign nation of Israel. Matthew 19, verse 28. Notice what the Bible says, and Jesus said unto them, talking to his disciples, verily, I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the generation when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, so he said, you followed me now, but in the generation when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, he said, in the coming kingdom, he says, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus told his 12 disciples that during his reign, his millennial reign, they were going to sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, so there is coming a nation of Israel for the millennial reign. And here's what's interesting, one of the disciples he's looking at and telling this to is Simon the Canaanite, a Gentile. So it's going to be a Gentile sitting on one of the thrones of the 12 tribes of Israel. You say, how can that be? Well, it is because there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Let's bow our head and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible, thank you for these scriptures and these stories, and even though we had to go fast through this.