Ezekiel 12-13

Introduction

Lesson 12 tonight. Since this is my first time teaching this quarter full class, we do need to set the table. You need to understand a little something about me and how I look at the Bible, and it will make it a lot clearer. My presentation of Ezekiel chapter 12 and subsequent chapters. I think I have uh a listing of the classes. I don’t know if you can see this, but the way it’s set up, I’m the yellow person, so I’m going to be teaching later on in almost every class, later on the last half of the class. Brother goes to Houston, then he goes to Houston again, then he goes to Houston again, and then he goes to Virginia, and then he goes to Louisville. So I’m teaching the latter half of the class.

But he is in Edgewood tonight, and that’s we’ve this is as we have planned. My name is Angelo Cusimano. Cusimano is very Italian. It means by the hand, okay? Tailored. I don’t know. That’s all the Italian I know. That’s all of that. We are uh in Ezekiel chapter 12. We have come through. Brother Stout, you taught Jeremiah last quarter. Uh only a few classes. But I mean, you a lot of people have had the class in Jeremiah. We had the class in Daniel over in high school, and now we’re studying Ezekiel. It’s uh they flow together. Um just moving across the board. I put these two words up here, coincidence and fair. There’s no such thing as coincidence and fair in the Bible. There’s nothing coincidental about what God does.

Nowhere in the Bible. There’s no fair in the Bible either. Fair got nailed to the cross at Calvary, and there is no fair. You can’t say I’ve been treated unfairly. Okay. When in Luke chapter 17, the poor man that raided at the rich man’s gate, when he got to heaven, he didn’t say, God, I wasn’t treated fairly down there. Okay? We all got nailed to the cross, so these two words don’t exist. And they don’t exist in my lexicon, and I don’t use them. So I put them on the board so that I can cross them out. When you do business in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, you can despair when you start to look around the world and see what’s going on, especially in our own nation.

1. There Are a Lot of Righteous People

You think about Jeremiah chapter 5. It starts off roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. Seek in rope and squares and see. If you find one man that swears righteously, I’ll forgive the city. That’s exactly what it says. In Genesis chapter 18, how many people would it take to save Sodom and Gomorrah? Ten. We’re down to one in Jeremiah. One person swears righteously, I’ll save the city. Now that puts a question in my mind. Did the city have to be destroyed? And we’re going to talk about that later on. But initially, this is a strong concentration of righteous people here tonight. But you know, tomorrow when I go to work, I’m going to be one person in a building of 250, only righteous person there.

I may go to a mall where there’s thousands of people and be the only righteous person there. You start to despair when you start to watch the news and start to look around and say, what is this all about? And I’ll tell you right now. If you heard Brother Creel’s lesson on Psalm chapter 22 or Psalm chapter 10 the week before, people of all generations start to look around and start to say, did not Elijah say, hey, listen, I’m the only righteous person. What did God tell him? Three thousand. Seven thousand about Needabal. Now I would have had to report, retort to God and say, Well, hold on, Father, 7,000 out of millions. What is it? Because there is a strong center of righteousness right here, but I’ll tell you right now.

Especially when you’re studying Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and it’s all doom and gloom, so to speak. So I have a little exercise I have created. I need to be reinforced. I need not to despair, and you’re going to help me not to despair. You, we’re going to have a little exercise where we go around the room, everybody is going to mention one righteous person that they know of that lived from the time of Jeremiah. Hope you spell that right. Through the 70 years. Because I’m going to show you, we’re going to see by calling the names, the roll call, that even though the Lord says it’s a rebellious house. And you can’t find one righteous person in Jerusalem, there are a lot of righteous people. We just need to call their names out.

We need to think about them in that fashion. And I’ll tell you how this little exercise goes. When it’s your turn, we’re going to start with you, Sister Deborah. If you know somebody, you tell me their name. If you don’t know somebody, you point to somebody else in the classroom. They have to answer for you. Oh, you point to somebody. Point to him. He’s caused me trouble already. Okay. So let’s start. Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, they’re taken. Name a person. You. Troublemaker. I can’t say Jeremiah. No.

Let’s go. Two minutes. We’ve got two minutes to name all these names. You. Daniel. Daniel. No, Daniel, Jeremiah’s either thing. Daniel, that. Yeah. Oh, let me let me catch his name right quick. He uh he was taken captive in uh 597, and he went to Susa with Shadrach. Esther. Oh. Mordecai. Mordecai’s a good one. I gave you that second one, Esther. Okay. Let’s put Mordecai down there. These people, these people have to live 70 through the Jeremiah and 70 years. Everybody ought to be able to name somebody. See, and you need to get to it. Who? Next person. Yes, you. Abendical with the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. Okay, you say you got three. Okay. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedigo. Let’s get him on there. Okay, those three are.

One of those was Daniel, though. No. No, no. Next. Point, sister.

Gold star there. Next. Brother Catherine, come on. Haggy. Hagiah, yeah. Okay. Next. Yes. Ezra. Ezra. Very good. Put him right here. Sister? Um, the sons of Rechabah, the Rechabites. Jeremiah chapter 35, the Rechcubites, sons of Jonadab, man, they were good. God called them out, and he said, those are good guys. Guess what? We’ll put them down. Yes. Would you repeat your late-dent question on that? I want a righteous person, a name of a righteous person living between the time of Jeremiah and the 70 years.

Oh no, no. I want righteous people. Righteous people. Okay, the Rechubites. Ooh, gold star for her. Okay. Rechubites. Very Jeremiah chapter 25. Baruch, scribe of Jeremiah. Come on in, sister. Baruch. A few more here. Isaiah? Not Isaiah. Jeremiah 70 years. Brothers. What’s that? You mentioned Obadiah. Nobody’s mentioned Obadiah. Nobody’s mentioned an O name. Obadiah. Very good. Next, sister. I’ll pass by. Okay, sister. Ah, Ruth. Come on. Man, everybody goes somebody. Malachi? Malachi’s too late. He’s past the 70 years. Next.

No. Too early.

Hezekiah’s king. Before. Next. Josiah.

Yeah, yeah, we’ll get Josiah. Josiah is a, I like Josiah. He’s the best thing in the Bible. Isaiah. That was Josiah was in Isaiah. Yeah, but he’s also in Jeremiah. Okay, but enough. But Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Ganaliah. Habakkuk. Zephaniah. Some of the best people in the Bible have lived in this time. So even though the Lord says it’s a rebellious house and you’re going to be punished, there are a lot of very, very righteous people living in this time. And I need to not despair, and you need not despair either, even though the books, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, are tend to be a little doom and gloomish. What I did with the high school students last quarter, because I wouldn’t ever bring anything up negative about period of time or weakness or anything like that in front of a young person, is I talked about the strength of the church.

The church is very strong in this day and time. And what I mean by that, Brother Smith, you’re from Alabama, right? How many churches of Christ in Alabama? Well, I don’t know what you can count that. 9,865 churches of Christ in the state of Alabama. There’s only one. Well, yeah, there’s one church. 9,865 local congregations. You and him can sit together and form over here. I’ll have y’all. I’m gonna locate all the troublemakers, put it right over here. That’s what the Lord did. 9,865 congregations in the state of Alabama. Now I didn’t tell him the other fact. There’s 5 million people living in Alabama. So the church represents less than 1% of the population. You go to Tennessee, there’s 212,000 members of the Church of Christ in Tennessee.

2. No Coincidence: Water, Fertile Land, Protection

Okay? Again, less than 1% of the population. Most percentage of Christians living in any one area happens to be in Dallas, Texas. 36,000 Christians live in the city of Dallas in 69 churches. So there’s strength in the church. But when you look at the overall picture, there’s 26 million people living in Texas, folks. We don’t even represent one percent of the population. So you can despair on one side, or you know, the glass is half empty or half full. We got a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of opportunity out there, there’s a lot of opportunity here, and God sees it. I’m going to change venue real quick. I want to talk about. God threw these people on the river Chi Bar. I’m from Clarksville, Tennessee.

In Clarksville, Tennessee, you spell Chi Bar, C H E B A R. You spell Key Bar, K-E-Y-B-A-R. There’s a lot of Christians in Tennessee and we’re right, and the rest of y’all can say it the way you want to, but that’s the way that is. He threw them on the river Chi Bar. 10,000 of these people, right? To scratch out a living for 70 years. We’re gonna talk geography for a little bit here. I want to talk geography. Because there’s no coincidence.

Where was this place? Where was Chi Bar? I mean, what it was a river or a canal. What was the name of the place? Telebee. Telephone? Tell a what? Telebee. Tell a bee. What does that mean?

Sad, sad.

Oh, who said that? Raise your hand. There you go. What did she say? She said, Tell a bee, sheaves of corn, rows of corn, fields of corn. Big time fertile area. It’s coincidental. A lot of water, 10,000 Jews, and a very fertile area, right? Now, when I say something like that and you don’t know for a fact, somebody says, Angelo, how do you know that? What is it? No coincidence. No coincidence, but you go ahead and say, Angelo, how do you know that? How do you know that? Ah. Right now, as we sit right here, there are four million acres of wheat under production at Tel Aviv. If you get a loaf of bread in the Middle East, the wheat was grown at Tel Aviv. So the Lord just coincidentally threw these people to a place where it’s incredibly fertile.

There’s a huge amount of water. And what else? What else do we need to live? What else do we need to live there? What will we need to live as a people? Oh, we need some protection. Who’s their protection? Somebody who say God. The Caldean army was their protection. Nebuchadnezzar. Most feared army on the face of the planet. Was anybody gonna bother these people? No. Nobody’s gonna bother these people. It’s coincidental, didn’t they? So they got a lot of water, they got a lot of fertile land, they got a huge amount of protection. They built roads, schools, and synagogues. How do you know that? How do you know that?

Okay, see now this is what you’re up against in the last half of the class. How do I know that? The ruins are still there. They’re all still there. The synagogues and the schools doubled for each other. And everything is still there. Did these people prosper? Sounds sure. Yes. Incredibly. Now, what Bible verse, it’s an indirect kind of Bible verse, but what Bible verse would I go to say that these 10,000 people prospered mightily? As far as increased in number. I don’t know about oh, increasing in number, I don’t know. It’s an indirect verse. Somebody already talked about it. In Esther, who tried to kill the Jews? Haman tried to kill the Jews. He got the king to sign an edict saying, we’ll kill all the Jews on a certain day.

Mordecai found out, told Esther, they got Haman hung. Okay. King couldn’t countermand that edict. He had to write another edict saying that the Jews could protect themselves on that specific day. He ordered the Jews to protect themselves. Do you remember how many of the enemies they killed on that day? 75,000. It’s a lot more than 10,000 Jews that got sent to Chibar. Okay. And of course, in Ezra, more returned than the scripture says were taken captive. Absolutely. These people, you know, this is kind of reminiscent of the Lord taking the people out of the land of Egypt. He fed them with manna and quail. He gave them water at Horab and Katahnea in every place they wanted. He protected them for 40 years. Their souls, their shoes didn’t wear out, nor did their clothes.

These people have it as good as in the Garden of Eden, practically. I mean, this is this is absolutely wonderful. And what we find out here is these people don’t know it. They want to go back to Jerusalem. They think the people in Jerusalem are the lucky people. And yet they have all of this.

Very, very interesting.

3. God Gives an Outline in Habakkuk and Zephaniah

You’re a teacher. When you teach a subject, do you give an outline? Depends on what we’re talking about. Okay, but I mean in a course that you’re teaching a class in the. Syllabus or outline. Do you think God gives an outline to the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel? Did God give us an outline? Well, sure he did. God had already given the outline, and this is supporting about the outline. Ah, well, he did give a command, but there is an outline to it too. I would submit to you that if you look at the books of Habakkuk and Zephaniah, two, three little chapter books, it takes about ten minutes to read, you would have an outline of everything. Let’s take a look. Let’s turn to Habakkuk chapter one.

It’s a little book in the back of your Bible, kind of in the middle of the Old Testament. Middle back. I will read. I will read Habakkuk’s opening statement. And then, Brother Style, if you will read verse 5 through verse 11, God’s statement. We’re going to let you be God. Chapter 1. Five through seven. Yes, sir, but I want to read first. I’m going to read the first four verses. And remember, think about Brother Creel’s lesson in Psalm chapter 22. Think about Psalm chapter 10 that we studied. And this kind of idea. Habakkuk is a prophet. He’s living in this time. And he calls to the Lord. And he says, and I’m starting in verse 2. How long, O Lord, will I call for help? And thou will not hear.

I cry out to thee, violence, yet thou dost not save. Why dost thou make me see iniquity? And cause me to look on wickedness. Yes, destruction and violence are before me. Strife exists. Contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored. And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, justice comes out perverted. That’s what Habakkuk sees. Okay? He’s looking into the nation and seeing it. Now, is Habakkuk living in Jerusalem? No, there’s not one righteous person in Jerusalem. Read the answer, please. Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, the fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to cease dwelling places which are not theirs.

They are dreaded and feared. Their justice and authority originate with themselves. Oh, continue. Please tell verse 11. Oh, Tula, I thought you said so. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. The horsemen come galloping. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping down to the bar. All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings, and rulers are laughing or rulers are laughing better at them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture. They will sweep through like the wind and pass on, but they will be held guilty. They whose strength is their God. Amen.

No. No. Name some cities. Doug, we were talking about one while ago. What was it? Damascus? No. Damascus was to be destroyed. Yeah, but not in not in Judea. We’re talking about Judea right now. Ezekiel. Ezekiel, Judea is what I’m talking about. Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, but you need to know as you get into the geography that these Chaldeans came, about 600,000 of them. And they took all the fortified cities: Lakish, Hebron, Elam, uh, Anatoth. There’s a whole bunch of Judean cities that were taken. Okay. How did they take these cities? It said right here. They heap up rubble. If we go outside and I took a stone and threw it up against the wall, you’d say, hmm, I gotta get to the roof that way.

But if 600,000 of us threw a stone up against the wall, guess what? We could walk right up to the river. And that’s how they did it too. These people came with huge numbers. They were the most fierce army on the face of the planet. These people had just recently destroyed Nineveh on the Euphrates River on the Tigris River. And now they’re moving into Judea. They’re going to work God’s plan here. All these other righteous people, a lot of them that we mentioned were living in some of these other places. Some would be born during the captivity, but if you turn one or two pages over to Zephaniah chapter 1, verses 12.

4. No Coincidence in Discipline

And it will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good or evil. Moreover, their wealth will become plunder, their houses will become desolate. Yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them. They’ll plant vineyards and not drink the wine. The Lord has had enough of reform people, people that would swear by the temple, but then swear by Milcom and Baal and all these idolatrous situations. And what we’re going to see here is that the Lord is going to do exactly what I saw a woman do the other week in the auditorium. She took the little man out and she applied the hand of discipline on his behind out here in the foyer.

I was sitting in the foyer because I was getting ready to go to work. Now, she didn’t do that because she didn’t love him. She didn’t do that because she was trying to interrupt the service and not let him learn. Why did she do that? She wanted him to hear, understand the situation, come back into the service and do what? Learn to be a Christian, right? There’s no coincidence in discipline. There was no unfairness in that act. Okay. There are so many physical examples we could see of what the Lord is doing here and how important it is to what? When I talked to you originally, I said God is working. What is he doing? Well, there’s two things. He’s keeping the promise of Abraham, and what else?

He’s preparing for the coming of the Lord. It all has to be done. Saying that, one other point that I want to make before I get to uh Ezekiel chapter 12. What are the tribes that are represented here now? What are the tribes that are going to be represented in, let’s say the New Testament? Because they’re going to be saved here. I want to make sure that we understand this very carefully. What tribes of Judah are going to be represented? Or tribes of Israel? He said Judah, Judah, yes, very good. Okay, so the Judeans are going to be represented. Who else is going to be represented? Benjamin. Benjamin, tribe of Benjamin, who? Saul of Tarsus, great. Yeah, Saul of Tarsus, Benjamin king. Who else? And what’s left of Simeon.

Son of Simeon, the Levites. The Levites are going to be left, because we see them in Nehemiah. Okay. Who else? The tribe of the family of Aaron. And those are the only ones we know. But it’s good for us to know these things because as we’re talking about it in conversation, you have to be very conversationally sure about what we’re talking about here. So we’re going to have several of the tribes represented. God is going to punish these people, but for a purpose. He’s got a work going on. But just like the Exodus, he’s, and just like that lady that took that little boy out, there’s with purpose. He’s we came to church to learn, but we’re going to discipline while you’re here. Or while you’re going through this process.

He disciplined them in the book of Exodus. He’s disciplining them now. These 10,000 are going to multiply in a very wonderful place. God’s going to watch over them. He’s not going to let Satan work through Haman to destroy them all. That’s not coincidental. Book of Esther is a wonderful book. Take you about 15 minutes to read it. You can’t find the word God or Satan in the book of Esther. It’s the only book in the Bible where neither of them are mentioned. But you can see their hand. You can certainly see their work. And that’s incredibly important in this kind of discussion here. You have to be able to see it. We should not despair. It’s incredibly important. Let’s turn to Ezekiel chapter 12. Any questions?

Any questions? Yes. Any questions? I didn’t hear which one. Ezekiel chapter 12. Ezekiel 12. 12. That’s our lesson tonight. Any questions? Any thoughts? I’ll slow down. Ezekiel chapter 12.

We’re not going to get too far in this chapter.

5. Does the City Have to Be Destroyed?

Well, hold on a second. Let’s ask that let’s go back to that question I asked. Does the city have to be destroyed? City of Jerusalem. I know it is destroyed. I know it is destroyed. Jeremiah chapter 39. Yes, it has to be destroyed. Has to be destroyed. Has to be. Judas Iscariot had to betray the Lord. Had to. Couldn’t be somebody else. Oh, now they’re starting to grind down. You’re starting to think, oh man, though. Hold on a second. Yes, sir. They were overconfident. Okay. And they thought peace was going to come to them just because they had the temple there with them. Okay. But when there is no temple, you have to rely directly on God. And what he says and what he tells you to do rather than, and it’s up to you to decide to follow God, whether there’s a temple there, whether there’s a church there, whether there’s anything there.

I agree. But now listen to the question. Does the city have to be destroyed? Think about God, the most merciful being in the universe, full of grace. How many times will he forgive us? A thousand times a thousand times. Okay. I know it is destroyed. It has still has to be destroyed. It has to be destroyed. Okay. Here’s where I’m coming from at any rate. When we read uh the prophets, the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Okay. And now Ezekiel. We find that God’s message had been preached fervently by these men. Okay. And it had not been accepted. And God said, this is what is going to happen. God had to be true to that promise. And you know, that’s the that’s the crux of the matter. That’s very, very important.

With all God, God told Peter with all things with men, things are not possible, but with God, all things are possible. Listen to these two verses, and you tell me what you think. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Lord. Rather that they should turn from his ways and live. Now that’s in the book of Ezekiel. For I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Anyone who dies declares the Lord. Therefore, repent and live. Now that, remember, we’ve already introduced Jeremiah chapter 5, where he said, You find one righteous person, I’ll forgive the city. Now, how would that have worked? Somebody said the atheist says, Oh, yeah, but God knew there was no righteous people in the city.

So that was just a false statement. No, that’s not false. Think about this. Jeremiah chapter 38. This is the 11th hour, the 59th minute, the 59th second of the 59th minute of the 11th hour. The Chaldeans, there’s 600,000 of them outside Jerusalem. Every fortified city has been destroyed in Judea. Zedekiah comes to Jeremiah and says, What does the Lord say? Now, this is the 59th hour, folks. This is it. You know, we’re done here. All the prophecies getting ready to come true, right? I mean, everything’s getting ready to get done. Now, I have to question you on the mercy of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, Jeremiah speaking of Israel. If you will indeed go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live.

The city will not be burnt with fire, and your household will survive. What did he have to do to save the entire city? Show faith. He was unwilling to show faith. Think about it. The 11th hour, the 59th minute, 59th second. You say, well, how would he have answered all the other prophecy that we’ve read so far? I don’t know. I’m not God. I just know that God, all things are possible. In your life, and in the city’s life. Everybody had an opportunity. All Zedekiah had to do to stop. Now let me just tell you something about Zedekiah. He went and asked Jeremiah this question. But you know what he was doing behind his back? That’s plan A. Plan B is he had the horses being lined up at the garden gate over here with the soldiers on them.

What did we read about the Chaldeans being swift as wolves and coming from afar? He was never gonna get away. But he had plan A, let’s ask what the Lord says. Now I’ll tell you right now, this comes down to today. Be still and know that I’m God. Plan A, ask what ask Jeremiah what the Lord says. Plan B, let’s get the horses ready. Which plan did he go with? He went with B. And ended up. The city got burned. He was blinded, his sons were all put to death, the royalty was all put to death, and the walls were knocked down, and the temple was knocked down, and it all didn’t have to happen. All he had to do was show faith. It doesn’t have to happen in your life, it doesn’t have to happen in our life, it doesn’t happen to happen in the country, and it most assuredly didn’t have to happen here.

6. Eyes to See but Do Not See

You say, but how would it have? I don’t know. I’m just telling you what he said to Jeremiah. What he said to Zedekiah. You go out and show faith. It’s by faith. Nobody comes to God but by faith. That’s how it happens. I can’t reconcile it any other way. Now we go to Ezekiel chapter 12 because it’s going to get hotter. It’s going to get warm now. Ezekiel chapter 12. The word of the Lord came to me saying, we’ve heard this many, many times.

Who have eyes to see but do not see, who have ears to hear and do not hear. For they are rebellious house. Where have we read that in the Bible? It is a kill several times.

But where else? Isaiah. Isaiah, yes. Where else? Isaiah chapter 6, verse 10. Yes, sir. Where it’s quoted in the New Testament. Matthew chapter 13 and Mark chapter 8. And where else? Jesus said it. Revelations? White rock, meme. You get over here in a quarter. No, not in Revelation. Paul said it in Acts chapter 28. Okay. It’s very simple. So it said everywhere, just about by everybody. A lot of times. What does it mean? What does it mean? If you’re not obedient, then you are rebellious. If you’re not obedient, you’re rebellious. That’s correct. They’re not listening to what’s good for them. Okay. Not listening to what’s good for them. In John chapter 9, the Lord was face up with the Pharisees. And he told them at the end of that chapter, he said, Listen, you say you see, your sin is still with you.

Why did he say that? That’s another way of saying it. If you’d have said you’re blind, you’re alright. But you say you see, so your sins are still with you. Seeing is a type of hearing. It’s a type of hearing. And Luke chapter 10. Man went down from Jerusalem and was beaten by robbers. Priest came by on the right hand side. Didn’t see, didn’t hear him? He saw it, he heard. Didn’t see, didn’t hear? Short time later, Levi came by. Didn’t see, didn’t hear him. And then it says a Samaritan came by. And he saw the man and had compassion. He saw and he heard. I’ll tell you right now, brothers, sisters. What do you see? What do you hear? God said, Lay a treasure in heaven, or moth and rust do not corrupt, and thieves don’t break in and steal.

What do you see? What do you hear? You see in your fellow man? Are you seeing the situation they’re in? See, we have a name. Somebody might say, Yes, we’re called Christian. Yes, that’s true. We’re also called servants. In Genesis chapter 14, when Abraham came back from the slaughter of the five kings, Melchizedek came out and said, Blessed be Abraham, servant of the most high God. That’s us. We’re servants. Matthew chapter 25, we’re servants. How are we serving God? Well, you serve God by serving your fellow man. What are you doing for your fellow man? What am I doing? Remember, this verse is not about Ezekiel. It’s not about these people at the time. It’s about you and it’s about me. It’s about judgment day. It’s about the Bible.

And it’s about God. You’re gonna stand in front of God on the judgment day. And there’s gonna be the Bible and you and God. And he’s gonna ask you, do you have eyes to see, but you didn’t see? Do you have ears to hear, but you didn’t hear? In Matthew chapter 25, when he served separates the right and the left. Remember, that’s such a that’s such an ephemeral chapter. Chapter 25 is just about Christians. It’s not about anything else. Folks, they were servants. They’re servants all the way through Matthew chapter 25. And in the judgment day, remember, he wasn’t judging the ungodly, the liars, the false doctrine people. He was judging the servants. The servants were the ones being judged. The parted right and left. And what do you say?

To the ones on the right. Oh, you are the ones that brought water, brought clothing, brought food, visited the sick, did this, did that. They said, when did we see that, Lord? Oh, when you did it to the least of my brethren. And the ones on the left. What do you say? Well, hey, you didn’t do it. When did we see it? Well, when you didn’t do it to the least of my brethren. They have eyes to see, but they do not see. They have ears to hear, but they do not hear. This is not about Judea, the letter. The Bible is about you and me and judgment day and God. And if you don’t take anything away from any verse in the Bible. Remember, all this is.

There’s a judgment day coming, and this is just a book of precepts, so that when you stand before the Lord by yourself, you’re going to be judged accordingly. Jesus Christ said, I came out to judge the world. My word will judge you. Hosea is a neat verse, chapter 8. It says, Though I write them 10,000 precepts, they counter the strange thing. It’s just a book of precepts. You know, you can go to heaven and not know how to say Chabar or Kibar or Tel Abib or know anything. You know, I tell the young people all the time, I say, hey, you know, there’s no Paul, there’s no Abraham, there’s no Corinthians, there’s no Ethiopian eunuch, there’s none of these people. There’s you, there’s God, and there’s the Word.

That’s all there is. The rest of it is so much semantics. Can you go to heaven not knowing where Mesopotamia is? Absolutely. Can you go to heaven without knowing why God did what you did? No, you can’t. Why is the question? Why? What are the precepts? How do they meet? What do they mean to me? They have ears to hear, but they cannot hear. They have eyes to see, but they cannot see. You need to be seeing and hearing. We need not offend these Judeans. We need to look at our own lives. This message is to us, it’s not to anybody else. Now, the geography and the history of it, it’s interesting. But I’ll tell you right now, I can go out and find a Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Catholic that knows the Bible better than me.

Find them. What don’t they know? Well, if they don’t know the precepts, that’s what’s going to get you into heaven’s gate. The obedience of the precepts, not do you know where this thing is or how to spell it, or what date it was, or anything like that. Some of these things are fine to order in your mind. But I’ll tell you right now, it’s the precepts. I didn’t get much fast fat, did I? Let’s read a little bit more so I can tell Brother Harkwriter, I made an attempt to get to through Jeremiah chapter 12. Any questions? Oh, just a million, but I mean statement, thoughts. Anyway, please. It’s precepts, brother. That’s all it is. It’s what the purpose of the Bible is. Get us to heaven.

When you get there, say hey yeah. Enter in. Good and faithful. Sorry.

How do you know that? Because I have that in a Bible. In any verse chapter you want. I like that though. You’re coming around.

Verse 15, I’ll skip a little bit. You know, it’s interesting. He shows them a picture of exile here. He’s talking to exiles. These people have already gone into exile. They carried their own baggage. He has to confer on them the information that he’s talking about the city of Jerusalem, the prince of Jerusalem is Zedekiah. He’s talking about the Judean. You know, like I said, these people believe that the people in Jerusalem are the lucky ones. And we’re the miserable cast offs. Wrong. Okay. They’re just wrong. And so he gets down to verse 13, verse 15, excuse me. So they will know that I am the Lord when I scatter them among the nations and spread them amongst the countries. But I will spare a few of them from the sword, the famine, the pestilence, that they may tell of their abominations among the nations where they go, and they may know that I am the Lord.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, eat your bread with trembling. What is God trying to accomplish here with these people? He wants them to know who the authority is. I am the Lord. This is an incredible book, and this in the fact of the matter that, and Brother Harkwriter’s approached this before. The Book of Mormon starts out with Lehi sailing away from Israel at this time to go to America. The Phoenicians had the ability to sail. That’s not a question. But God had every hair numbered here. Every head, every hair. Everybody had a place that they were going to be. The sword, pestilence, famine, and no captivity. And nobody was getting away. And this part of the Bible, Jeremiah and Ezekiel specifically, speaks against the Book of Mormon.

Please go ahead and read the rest of the chapter so that we can tell Brother Harkwriter you did read it.

Don’t tell him I got bogged down on verse 2. You verse 2, brethren.