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Amen. Alright, well we're there in Ezekiel chapter 25, and on Wednesday nights we've been studying through the book of Ezekiel, of course, going chapter by chapter, taking one chapter a week. And we are officially over the halfway mark in Ezekiel. So we've got 48 chapters, and we are now in the 25th chapter, so that's good. I don't know if that's good, or what that is. Maybe that's encouraging, or maybe that's discouraging, like we're more than halfway there, or we're only halfway there, you know. I'm not sure how that goes, but anyway, in chapter 25 we actually begin a new section in the book of Ezekiel. As we've been going through Ezekiel, I've been kind of letting you know the different sections, where there's themes, and up to this point, Ezekiel has been primarily focused on Judea, and on the children of Israel, but between chapters 25 and 32, he turns his attention towards the nation surrounding the nation of Israel. So he is going to begin preaching judgment against the nation surrounding the nation of Israel, and in chapter 25 he actually talks about Ammon, and Moab, and Edom, and Philistia, or the Philistines. And in chapters 26 and 27 he deals with Tyre, in chapter 28 he deals with Zidon, and in chapters 29 through 32 he deals with Egypt. So this is a section where he's dealing with not Israel anymore, but the nation surrounding Israel, and as we go through this chapter, and as we go through and look at the judgments of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, you'll notice that there's a little bit of a theme, and I'll point that out to you, but I want you to notice, and if you're taking notes, and I encourage you to take notes, especially on Wednesday nights for Bible study, as we kind of outline these chapters to help you understand Ezekiel, the point, you know, if you've been with us through half of the book of Ezekiel, the point of these Wednesday night Bible studies is for you to take notes, is for you to outline the chapter, for you to be able to later on, when you're reading through the book of Ezekiel, you're not just coming into chapter 25 just not knowing what's going on, but you'll have some notes hopefully, maybe in the margin of your Bible, or if you have a notebook or something you keep, of course there's always the course of the week, on the back of there you've got a place for sermon notes, but I want you to notice we begin the chapter with the judgment of Ammon, and if you're taking notes, I'd like you to write this down, we see the judgment of Ammon, but if you want to write this in parentheses, or if you want to write kind of colon and write this to the side, with the judgment of Ammon we see the sin of rejoicing and the destruction of others, what's highlighted in this chapter is the fact that there is a sin and rejoicing in the destruction of other people, notice verse number one there, Ezekiel 25 and verse one, the Bible says this, the word of the Lord came again unto me saying, son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, so that's who's first up in this list of nations where he's going to judge, he says set thy face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them, notice verse three, and say unto the Ammonites, hear the word of the Lord God, thus saith the Lord God, notice what he says, he says because thou saidest aha against my sanctuary when it was profaned and against the land of Israel when it was desolate and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, he's saying look, I'm going to bring judgment on you because of the fact that when you saw the sanctuary being destroyed, when you saw the land being profaned, when you saw that I came against the land of Israel and I made it desolate and I went against the house of Judah and brought them in captivity, you rejoiced over it, you were happy to hear it, in fact look at verse number six, it says for thus saith the Lord God, because thou has clapped thine hands and stamped with thy feet and rejoiced in heart with all thy despites against the land of Israel and the idea there is kind of, I envision if you go to a ball game or something and people are clapping and they're happy and they're rooting this on, he's saying you watched the destruction of my people and you rejoiced over it, you rejoiced over their destruction and God is telling us here that it is actually a sin to rejoice over the destruction of others, it's a sin to take pleasure in the calamities of others, in the problems of others, even if you consider them your enemy and you say well why does it matter or why should I not rejoice, well here's the thing, if you rejoice over the destruction of your enemies, God might turn on you in fact this is exactly what happens, notice verse three again, it says in saying to the Ammonites, hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord God, because thou set us against my sanctuary when it was profaned and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity verse four, behold therefore, he says for that reason I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession and they shall set their palaces in thee and make their dwellings in thee, they shall eat thy fruit and they shall drink thy milk here's what God's saying, God's saying I was dealing with Judah but then I saw you clapping and rejoicing over the judgment and he said now I'm going to turn on you, he said now I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, he says you're going to belong to them, they're going to set their palaces in thee, they're going to make their dwellings in thee, they're going to eat thy fruit and they shall drink thy milk notice verse five, he says and I will make Rabah, this is a chief city of the Ammonites, he said I will make Rabah a stable for camels and the Ammonites a crouching place for flocks and he shall know that I am the Lord see God does not take lightly this idea of rejoicing and rejoicing over the judgment and destruction of others, notice verse seven, he says behold therefore because remember in verse six, he said for thus saith the Lord God because I was clapped thine hands and stamped with thy feet and rejoiced in thy heart with all thy despot against the land of Israel verse seven, he says behold therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, I will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen and I will cut thee off from the people and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries, I will destroy thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord now keep your place there in Ezekiel 25 and let me show this principle to you in other scriptures, go to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 17 if you open your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms, right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs and here's what you need to understand, God is upset with the nation of Israel but then he gets upset at the Ammonites for rejoicing over their destruction and what God is teaching us is that God does not like it when we rejoice over the destruction of our enemies because the Ammonites and the nation of Israel considered themselves enemies and look, he's saying it doesn't matter if someone's your enemy, it doesn't matter if you don't like someone if you dislike someone, he's saying if God brings judgment upon that individual, the proper response is for us to just, either for our hearts to be broken for it or to just stay out of it to stay quiet, but God says when you sit there and you clap and you rejoice and you're happy that God is destroying someone else, God might turn his attention towards you Proverbs 17, you say well, is this just about Ammon and the nation of Israel? But notice, I want you to notice what the book of Proverbs teaches about this Proverbs 17 and verse 5, Proverbs 17 5 says this, who so mocketh the poor reproaches his maker, notice the last part of verse 5 and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. God says look, if you're glad when calamities happen, if you're glad when bad things happen to people if you're glad, you say well, they're my enemy. He says look, you know what, if you're happy and rejoicing when bad things happen to other people, he says you're not going to go unpunished for that and that's exactly what we see in Ezekiel 25. The Ammonites are rejoicing and happy and glad, they're clapping their hands and stopping their feet they're saying aha, you know, great, this is wonderful that God is judging the nation of Judah and then God turns his attention and says you know what, I'm gonna take the men of the east while they're already in the neighborhood I'm gonna take the men of the east and I'm gonna turn them against you. Why? Because he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. Go to Proverbs 24, notice verse number 17 Proverbs 24 verse 16, so here's the application for us, you know what, as Christians and as believers, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the God of the Bible when it comes to dealing with our enemies and people that we dislike, we need to be good sports you know, we should not rejoice and be happy and be glad when bad things happen to people that we don't like, Proverbs 24 and verse 17, notice what the Bible says Proverbs 24 17 says this, rejoice not, look, you say well I don't know that verse you showed us in Proverbs 17, I don't know, don't be glad at calamities, I don't know if that really applies well notice how clear Proverbs 24 17 is, rejoice not when thine enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he's thumbless God says don't even allow your heart to be glad, look, the guy you don't like at work and he didn't get that promotion, don't let your heart, well good, I'm glad he didn't get the promotion God says look, you ought not rejoice when your enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he's thumbless, you say why, verse 18 lest, the word lest means in case that or to avoid the risk of, he says lest the Lord see it and it displease him and he, talking about the Lord, turn away his wrath from him, talking about your enemy God says look, I might be destroying your enemy, I might be judging your enemy, I might be bringing judgment upon your enemy and then you take a situation that has nothing to do with you and because you and your heart allowed yourself to be glad, you and your heart rejoiced over the fall of your enemy, now God says you know what, now I'm not even mad at them anymore, I'm just going to turn my attention to you and what we learn is this from the judgment of Ammon is that there is a sin in rejoicing in the destruction of others, there is a sin and I'm going to make this, I want to make this point and I'll go ahead and state it now because I feel like whenever we talk about these things we have to make this clear, this is talking about your enemies, my enemies, people that you don't like, people that I don't like, people that don't like you and people that don't like me this is not a reference to the enemies of God, alright, we're not talking about the enemies of the Lord and I'll prove to you why that is because we just went through Proverbs, right Proverbs 24 17, rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, notice when thine enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he, thine enemy, stumbleth lest the Lord see it and it displease him and he turn away his wrath from him He says he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished, Proverbs 17 5 but go to Proverbs chapter 1, Proverbs chapter 1 and you might see something in Proverbs 1 that may seem like a contradiction but it's not a contradiction at all because you need to understand that there is a difference between how we deal with our enemies, how we deal with our people we don't like, people we dislike and how we deal with the enemies of God and how God deals with the enemies of God Look, reprobates are the enemies of God and I don't have time to reach through Romans 1 or explain that but those who reject the Lord, who reject God, who refuse to acknowledge God eventually when they reject them long enough God rejects them He gives them over to a reprobate mind and those are the enemies of the Lord and Proverbs chapter 1 we get a picture of the reprobate doctrine, it's interesting how you can find the reprobate doctrine all throughout scripture It's not just Romans 1, you know Romans 1 is just where the word reprobate is used but you can find the concept of a reprobate throughout scripture, notice Proverbs 1 24, notice what the Bible says, Proverbs chapter 1 verse 24 says this Now in Proverbs 1 we have wisdom being personified, alright so it's wisdom talking, it's just a poetic type of literature that's being written here Of course we know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but we have wisdom talking and here's what wisdom says It says because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have said at naught, the word naught means nothing, he's saying you have said at naught, you've looked at, he says you have said at naught all my counsel, he said you've looked at my counsel like it was nothing And would none of my reproof, he said I tried to reproof you and you wouldn't have any of it, you didn't want anything, so look these people had wisdom trying to reach out to them, wisdom called and they refused Wisdom stretched out her hand and they did not regard, she offered her counsel and they said it at naught, she offered a reproof and they would none of it, notice verse 26 I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me Look doesn't my will say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved? But here he says then they shall call upon me but I will not answer, they shall seek me early but they shall not find me You say what is that talking about? It's talking about a reprobate, it's talking about the fact and you say well don't they get a chance? Yeah they had their chance in verse 24 They refused, they did not regard, they rejected it, they rejected it, they rejected it and eventually God gives them over to a reprobate mind and you know what God says? You say how does he deal with judgment coming upon wicked reprobates? He says that he laughs at their calamity, he mocks when their fear coming Look those who hate the Lord should never be our friends, they should never be someone we feel sorry for, they should never be someone Look if they hate the Lord then they are the enemies of God then we should hate them, that's what the Bible says The Bible says that we should hate the enemies of God but you know what your enemy? The Bible says you should love your enemy Now you should not love those who hate the Lord but you know that we have to differentiate the fact that not everyone who dislikes you necessarily dislikes God They might just dislike you because you're a jerk, they might just dislike you because you say stupid things, they might just dislike you because your people skills are poor They might just dislike you because you're selfish, there's lots of people who might dislike you but they don't necessarily dislike God Well when bad things happen to those people you better not rejoice, you better not be happy in your heart, be glad in your heart Because God might just turn his attention off of them and turn his attention on you But when God brings judgment upon wicked reprobates, look if some sick disgusting pedophile has his head bashed in prison, praise the Lord Praise God, an enemy of God, you know what when they die and go to hell, rejoice over that I will laugh at their calamity, I will mock when their fear coming, if they're haters of God, if they've rejected God But just some guy you don't like at work, just some lady you don't like at church or whatever The Bible says when God judges your enemy, make sure that you don't allow your heart to rejoice because God says that that will not go unpunished Go to Romans chapter 12, keep your place there in Proverbs because we're going to come back to it Let me see if we're going to come back to it or not, actually I don't think we're coming back to Proverbs You can lose your place there if you need to, but go to Romans chapter 12 in the New Testament Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, you say well what's the big deal, why does God not allow us or God does not want us to mock or to be glad or to rejoice when our enemy falls When our enemy stumbles, well here's why, because God has told us exactly how we are to deal with our enemies Romans chapter 12 and verse 20, notice what the Bible says Therefore if thine enemy, again notice it's not God's enemy, it's thine enemy And remember the enemies of God, those who hate God, the Bible says do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee And do not I not grieve with those that rise up against thee, he said I hate them with a perfect hatred So we are to hate the enemies of the Lord, but your enemy, here's what the Bible says in Romans 12, 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt he calls a fire on his head Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good So look, when your enemy loses their job, you're not supposed to be glad that they lost their job, actually you're supposed to feed them If thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink Jesus taught this in the Gospels, the fact that we have to love our enemies and pray for them that despitefully use us So what we learn here, and look, you're not going to feed your enemy while you're rejoicing over the fact that they lost their job Or while you're rejoicing over the fact that they had some calamity happen in their life Or while you're rejoicing and glad, and look, this is what the Bible is teaching, as Christians we ought to be good sports, we ought not be spiteful We ought not be these negative, spiteful people, I'm glad that their marriage fell apart I'm glad that their kids went to prison, I'm glad that they lost their job, I'm glad that bad thing Look, if it's your enemy, you ought to love them, you ought to pray for them, you ought to try to help them You ought to learn to not be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good And just, you need to have discernment to understand the difference between an enemy of the Lord and a personal enemy So we have the judgment of Ammon, and we learn the sin of rejoicing in the destruction of others So you know what, and go back to Ezekiel 25, so here's the thing, when judgment comes upon people that are just normal people I don't have any reason to believe that they're wicked reprobates or whatever, I'm not going to rejoice over that My heart's going to break over them, I'm going to be concerned for their salvation When judgment comes upon wicked reprobates and we can see that they're reprobates based off what scripture says, then you know what, I'm not going to shed a tear It's going to be fine, and you say, well I don't understand how you can do that, because this is what the Bible teaches You know as Christians we need to just learn to grow up and to realize that God tells us exactly how we ought to think and feel about everything And you need to just understand that God's way is always right, you're wrong What Barney taught you and what Mr. Rogers taught you might have been wrong And God's right, and there is a time to love and there is a time to hate, that's what the Bible says Ezekiel 25, so we see the judgment of Ammon, what was it? The sin of rejoicing in the misery of others But then we see the judgment of Moab and Edom, so what's the judgment of Moab and Edom? The judgment of Moab and Edom, if you'd like to write this down, is the sin of taking revenge upon others Notice Ezekiel 25 and verse 8 Ezekiel 25 says this, thus saith the Lord God, because here's our next nation in line, Moab And here's our third nation in line, Seir, and Seir is the mount that is in Edom, so this is talking about the nation of Edom He says, do say behold the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen, therefore behold I will open the side of Moab And let me say this, Moab and Seir are looking at Judah and they're saying they're like unto all the heathen When they saw that they were getting chastised, then they were saying like, oh see they're not special, they're like all the other heathen And what happens is that God says in verse 9, therefore behold I will open the side of Moab, and he talks about the fact that he's going to judge them Couple things to just consider there, number one, just because you're a child of God doesn't make you immune from the judgment of God Now look, God's never going to send you to hell if you're saved, but that doesn't mean he's not going to take his spiritual belt off and spank you It doesn't mean that he's not going to chastise you and correct you on this earth So, you know, don't look at someone who's getting chastised and say, oh well they must have never been saved, they're just like the heathen No, actually you know what, the fact that they're getting chastised by God might be the best proof that they are saved Because their heavenly Father is treating them and disciplining them like a child But here they said they're like unto the heathen, they're like everyone else Then God says, therefore behold I will open the side of Moab from the cities, and from the cities which are unto this frontier The glory of the country, Beth-jeshemosh, Baal-meon, and Kirathayim, notice verse 10 Unto the men of the east, remember you mentioned that for Moab, with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations I will execute judgment upon Moab, and they shall know that I am the Lord Thus saith the Lord God, because that Edom, because remember he's talking about Moab and Edom, he's saying I'm going to bring judgment You say why is he doing that, why is he bringing judgment, here's why Because that Edom had dealt against the house of Judah, notice, I want you to notice these words By taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended and, notice these words, revenged himself upon them So Moab saw the destruction of God and they rejoiced, right, they were spiteful, they just were glad to see it happen And then God said you know what, I'm going to punish you now But Moab and Edom, they took it a step further, they saw the judgment of God coming upon Judah and they took it as an opportunity to get their revenge They saw that Judah was down, so they proceeded to kick them while they were down They took vengeance, they couldn't have taken vengeance before, but now that Babylon, the big bully, was in town Now they took their opportunity and the Bible says there, they shall know that I am the Lord, excuse me, verse 12 Thus saith the Lord God, because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended and revenged himself upon them Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from it And I will make it desolate from Teman, and they of Dedan shall fought by the sword, and I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel Don't miss that, God says you know what, you took vengeance on my people while they were down, but one day they're going to come back and I'm going to use them to take vengeance on you And they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury, and they shall know my vengeance Thus saith the Lord God, and here's what God is saying, he's saying when you take revenge upon others, then God will take revenge upon you I'm not sure if you kept your place in Romans, I meant to ask you to keep your place in Romans, but can you get back to Romans chapter 12? So we see first of all the sin of rejoicing and the misery of others, but we see secondly the sin of taking revenge upon others Look, the Bible teaches that we are not looking for opportunities to just get revenge on people and to just have vengeance on people And obviously if they've broken the law and the law can be used against them, then great, praise the Lord, the Bible teaches that, but you're not to take the law into your own hands And I don't have time to develop this, but that's actually what Jesus was teaching in the Gospels when he talked about you have heard that it had been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you and he's telling them not to do Here's the problem, people say see you're not supposed to do an eye for an eye, the problem with that is that the Old Testament law taught an eye for an eye What Jesus was saying is that the law teaches an eye for an eye, but you're not supposed to just yourself then be the judge and the jury and the executioner and take it upon yourself to do that Saying allow the law to have its process, allow the law to do what it's supposed to do, but as a personal individual you're not supposed to just want to take revenge upon others and looking for opportunities to take vengeance upon those that have hurt you Notice what the Bible says, recompense to no man evil for evil, provide things honest on the side for all men Here's what the Bible says, you're not supposed to, well they hurt me so I'm gonna hurt them, he says recompense to no man evil for evil Verse 18, if it be possible as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men Verse 19, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, why? For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, save the Lord He says look, you don't have to take vengeance upon yourself, if you believe that there is a God in heaven, he will take vengeance If you've been done wrong, if someone has hurt you, if someone has done something wrong to you and you, the Bible says that you're not supposed to take it upon yourself to just look for opportunities Now that they're suffering, I'm gonna kick them while they're down, in fact God says, you know what, you need to give place unto wrath You need to take wrath and put it somewhere, why? Because vengeance is mine, I will repay, save the Lord And you just have to believe that God in his power is going to make all things right And you know what, you may not ever even know when that individual gets what's coming to them, but God says I will repay I will take care of it, he says recompense to no man evil for evil, go to 1 Peter chapter 3 If you start at the end of the book of Revelation towards the end of the New Testament and you head back, you'll go back from Revelation, Jude, 3 John, 2 Peter And you know what, in every area of life, you need to learn to live your life with this principle, recompense to no man evil for evil Because people live their lives this way, where it's like somebody says something wrong to me, so then I have to say something wrong to them And then they say something back, and so then I have to do it, then they did this, and they just live their lives like that And there's just this negative, spiteful, depressing life, where it's like they're just gonna make sure that, they always get the last word They're gonna make sure that the record's always set straight, they're gonna make sure, that's a sad way to live your life And you know, honestly, as a pastor, I mean I have people attack me online, and people are always getting mad at me like, well why don't you fight them It's like, you know what, I've got better things to do, than to just live my life just trying to correct every, well they said this and that wasn't really accurate And they said this about me and that wasn't right, you know if you live your life that way, you're gonna live a miserable life You know, a better way to live your life is just to say, if I've been done wrong, God will deal with it And when I suffer wrongly, I'm the most like Christ that I'll ever be When I allow myself to suffer wrongly, and here's the truth of the matter, you know what, we deserve to die and go to hell You say, well people do you wrong, you know what, when I consider the fact that I'm not gonna spend eternity in hell, I can just live with it I can live with the fact that God says vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord And if you just live your life, look, people live their lives like this, at work, in their marriages, with their children, with their parents Just this constant going back and forth, going back and forth Look, when Jesus said turn the other cheek, you know what that means, is that at some point someone's gotta say like, we're done I'm not getting revenge, I'm not continuing this, we're just gonna finish it here, we're just gonna let God deal with it Vengeance is mine, I will repay Are they on 1 Peter 3, look at verse 9 Not rendering evil for evil And look, I'm just showing you a couple passages, we go to Proverbs and see the same thing, we go to all sorts of different places He says not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, or Facebook post for Facebook post, or YouTube video for YouTube video, whatever Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, he says but contra wise, he says actually to the contrary, blessing He says when they do evil to you, when they rail at you, just bless them That's what he says He says love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you Look, this is New Testament Christianity And this is where the rubber actually meets the road, people like to think like, oh I love New Testament Christianity because I dress right, and I'm all for dressing right And I preach on dressing right, and I think you ought to dress right, and I think your music ought to be right, I think your standards ought to be right But if you base your godliness and Christianity off of what you don't watch on TV, or what you don't wear, or what you don't allow your kids to wear, or where you don't allow your kids to go That's fine, but you know what, that's basics, that's Christianity 101 You want to get to advanced Christianity? Here's advanced Christianity not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contra wise, blessing When someone hurts you, when they lie about you, when they humiliate you, when they try to make you look bad, you don't sit there and just fight back You actually just say, you know what, God will deal with it Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord Well what do you do? Well you do the contrary, you bless them Knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing Look, don't miss that, are you looking at it in verse 9? Here's what God says There is a special blessing, there is a special blessing for those who do not render evil for evil There is a special blessing for those who do not get involved in these little tit for tat fights And I'm going to make sure that the story's told right, and I'm going to make sure that everybody knows my side God says there is a special blessing knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing As a pastor sometimes I have people trying to pull me into fights and I just kind of ignore it or whatever And you know what's funny? At the end of the day, we end up looking better We end up looking more mature, we end up being blessed Because God says look, there is a blessing in not allowing yourself to be pulled into this idea that I have to make everything right That I have to take every opportunity to seek revenge That I'm not going to let him, or I'm not going to let her, or I'm not going to let them There is a blessing, wouldn't you say that Joseph was blessed? But you know, Joseph did not seek vengeance In fact, when he had the opportunity, and you know what he said to them? He said, you know what, God's going to deal with it He said, am I in the place of God? Is that what Joseph said? When he had the opportunity to have vengeance on his brothers, he said, am I in the place of God? He said he meant it for evil, but God meant it for good And there was a blessing for those who seek to refuse revenge Notice verse 11, 1 Peter 3.11 Let him eschew evil and do good He's avoiding evil and he wants to do good Let him seek peace and ensue it The word ensue means to make it happen He's going to seek peace, but he's going to make peace happen He's going to seek peace, but he's just going to make the peace Didn't Jesus say, blessed are the peacemakers? For they shall inherit the kingdom of God So we see the judgment of Ammon, and it's the sin of rejoicing and the mystery of others We see the judgment of Moab and Edom, it's the sin of taking revenge upon others Keep your place there in 1 Peter, we're going to come back towards that part of scripture But go back to Ezekiel 25 Let me give you the third one We see the judgment of the Philistines What's the judgment of the Philistines? We saw the sin of rejoicing and the mystery of others We saw the sin of taking revenge upon others Here's point number 3, the judgment of the Philistines This is the sin of having resentful feelings against others And this is bitterness Notice verse 15 Thus saith the Lord God, because the Philistines So here's our fourth nation Have dealt by revenge, right? And that's what the previous nations dealt with, Moab and Edom I want you to notice what God says about the Philistines And have taken vengeance So they did the same thing, they took vengeance, they took revenge But I want you to notice what he says about the Philistines With a despiteful heart To destroy it for, I want you to notice these words For the old hatred He says the Philistines, it wasn't just that they were enemies It wasn't just that they had ill feelings They had a despiteful heart They had old hatred Here's what that means They were carrying around some hatred for a long time He calls it old hatred They've been carrying this with them for a while This bitterness, this resentfulness, this hatred towards the nation of Israel Notice verse 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines And I will cut off the charitims and destroy the remnant of the sea coast And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebuke And they shall know that I am the Lord when I shall lay my vengeance upon them Why was God mad at them? Because of the fact that they had a despiteful heart Because of the fact that they had old hatred What was it? They were resentful and they were bitter If you kept your place in 1 Peter, go to the book of Hebrews If you go from 1 Peter you've got James and then Hebrews Hebrews chapter 12 We're going to look at two passages and we'll finish up Hebrews chapter 12 He's saying, look, there's a sin in being bitter There's a sin in being bitter And these things go together Because why do people get bitter? They get bitter because there's some sort of injustice done to them Whether it's legitimate or not Whether it's a legitimate injustice I was innocent and they hurt me Or it might even just be a perceived injustice Where maybe if you heard the other side of the story you'd get a better understanding But where someone feels like they've been done wrong But because they don't have the authority Or they don't have the law on their side Or they don't have the ability to be able to get revenge What happens? They just get angry And angry And angry And they just fixate on it And they just think about it And they just allow it to consume it And they carry this despiteful heart They carry this old hatred And look, I'm not minimizing the fact that there's been some people that have been hurt They've been taken advantage of They've been violated And it wasn't their fault And they were innocent They didn't ask for it But the problem with bitterness Someone said that bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other guy will fall over dead The problem with bitterness is that bitterness will only hurt you Are you there in Hebrews 12? Look at verse 15 Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15 says this looking diligently Lest any man fail of the grace of God Lest any Notice this wording Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble him Is that what it says? Trouble her Is that what it says? Trouble your wife Trouble your husband Trouble your mom Trouble your dad Trouble your stepdad Trouble your stepmom Trouble that pastor that hurt you What does it say? It says less any root of bitterness springing up trouble you Why? Because bitterness will only trouble you It will only hurt you See, I'm bitter You're only hurting yourself And thereby many be defiled See, bitterness hurts you and those around you But never the person you're bitter towards Go to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 If you remember where Romans was or if you had your place in Romans there You got I, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians Ephesians chapter 4 See, here's what you need to understand about bitterness Is that the idea of letting bitterness go Does not mean that you let go of the fact that there should be justice But sometimes, like Joseph You have to realize that I'm 17 years old I've been sold into slavery I'm here at Potiphar's house I've got no way, I've got nothing to do I've got no authority, no access, no ability To make things right So what do you do? Well, notice Joseph is a great case study for this Because what is it that Joseph did in his life? There's two things One, he kept busy If you study the life of Joseph Everywhere he goes, he's working Everywhere he goes, he's serving Everywhere he goes, he's helping He doesn't lay in bed depressed, angry, upset If you knew my story If you knew what happened to me And look, some people live their lives that way And look, you might get up here If you got up here and I gave you the mic And you told us your story We probably would agree with you We'd probably empathize with you We'd probably say, yeah, that really Man, that stinks, that's terrible I can't believe he did that I can't believe she did that I can't believe they said that I can't believe It may be legit But bitterness is only hurting you Say, but if it's a legit wrong How do I deal with it? You get busy serving others And you trust that God will deal with it Because vengeance is mine Sayeth the Lord, I will repay And remember Joseph He said, am I in the place of God? See, Joseph just realized that God will deal with it God will care for it God will take care of it And there's no point of being fixated on it Ephesians chapter 4, look at verse 31 Ephesians 4, 31 says this Let all bitterness Let all bitterness Now this is just one thing in a list of things here But I want you to notice bitterness is mentioned Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor And evil speaking be put away Those words there, put away The same words are translated throughout our King James Bible As to take away, to remove He says, be put away from you with all malice Here's what he's saying Let all bitterness be taken away Be removed, be put away from you And as a pastor, I've actually learned My wife and I have had to learn to just deal with bitterness Because as a pastor, I've found that sometimes You give your time to people You give your energy to people You give your love to people You give them, you know, you try to help people Just to have them turn around and stab you in the back And you say, pastor, you know Is there a potential there for you to become bitter? There is a huge potential there for people to In fact, you know, honestly I would say most pastors and pastors' wives in America Are bitter people A lot of pastors and pastors' wives Are just bitter And you can't blame them You hear their stories and you're like, yeah, I get it Say, so what do you do with it? Here's what you do Literally, it's not that hard I'm helping you out You stop thinking about it You just stop thinking about it You just don't sit there and fixate on I can't believe that guy And I can't believe she And they lied and they You just, you know what? You just tell yourself God will deal with it And you just move on and you stop thinking about it And you know what? You just let God deal with them And you let God And if you've got authority If you've got ability If there's something you can do To bring justice and do it But if you're in a place where I've just been hurt And there's nothing I can do Then you know what? You just stop fixating on it Like Joseph, you get to work And you let God deal with it Let all bitterness be put away from you With all malice You say, why? Because the root of bitterness will only trouble you It'll only hurt you It'll only affect you So we see in this chapter The judgment of amen The sin of rejoicing And the misery of others Look, you've got enemies People you don't like Things don't go their way Don't get glad in your heart Don't allow yourself to rejoice Why? Because God might turn his attention on you Now we're not talking about the enemies of the Lord We're talking about your enemies and my enemies We saw the judgment of Moab and Edom The sin of taking revenge upon others And again, an eye for an eye And a tooth for a tooth is legit If you can do it legitimately Through the right processes Through the right authority structures Then do it But you ought not be taking vengeance upon yourself God says, my dearly beloved Avenge not yourselves And then we see the judgment of the Philistines The sin of being resentful and bitter And having old hatred And carrying that around Because here's the thing You're only going to hurt yourself And at the end of the day Joseph was on top And his brothers were at the bottom And God dealt with it And it happened While Joseph led a happy And productive And fulfilled And fruitful life Why? Because he did not allow bitterness To take root in his heart Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word Thank you for this chapter These stories and these applications That you teach us Lord I pray that you'd help us Lord, I realize that People have been hurt There have been some messed up situations There have been some situations Where a husband or a wife Or a friend They were loyal They were kind And then they got hurt And it wasn't their fault Lord, I pray you'd help them to understand The wisdom of not allowing bitterness To take root in their heart The wisdom of not taking revenge On ourselves The wisdom of not rejoicing In the calamity of others Lord, that doesn't take away the fact That vengeance is yours And you will repay And Lord, help us to just have faith and believe That you will make all things right You will make all things equal You are the judge of this earth And you will judge and judge us And Lord, I pray you'd help us When we do turn the other cheek When we are hurt When we are lied about When we decide to just Not render evil for evil Lord, help us to experience the blessing That comes with that The maturity and the spiritual gifts that come with that Father, we love you Thank you for this passage Thank you for these chapters Thank you for the book of Ezekiel That is still relevant and applicable today In the matchless name of Christ, we pray Amen