Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 858. Bible Study: Ezekiel 33 (Is Israel STILL God's Chosen? Important! Timely!)

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858. Bible Study: Ezekiel 33 (Is Israel STILL God's Chosen? Important! Timely!) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 33 from the book of Ezekiel.
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  Dear Lord, please be with us, open our minds and our hearts to
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  your word and let your Holy Spirit work in us.
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  We ask this in Jesus name. So this renew, it's called
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  renewal of Ezekiel's call as a watchman.
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  And I am going to read through the Bible first and probably go
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  through the questions and answers in the study Bible.
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  There's not well, there's a few of them.
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  And then I am going to actually read from Amir Sarfati's book
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  because what he covered for this section of the book of Ezekiel
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  is so important. It's very, very applicable to to
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  today. And so I want to read it to you
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  and I also want to encourage you to pick up the book.
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  I give little excerpts from the book on this podcast as we're
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  doing it because I'm at the same time I'm reading the Bible, I'm
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  also reading his commentary. And if anything comes up that is
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  very significant that I, you know, my mind didn't go there.
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  I went to cover it on this podcast.
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  So this is the book I recommend. It's called Exploring Ezekiel.
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  You can get it on Amazon. I believe it's under $10 right
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  now. And it's written by Amir
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  Sarfati. His last name is spelled
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  TSARFATI. So with Doctor Rick Yon.
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  So I want to give credit to it to Amir and Doctor Rick Yon for
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  one the portion that I cover on that so and encourage you to buy
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  the book because it's it's really good.
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  Anyway, we'll get started now and read from the Study Bible.
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  The word of the Lord came to me. Son of Man, speak to your people
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  and say to them, when I bring the sword against the land, and
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  the people of the land choose one of their men and make them
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  their watchman, and he sees a sword coming against the land
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  and blows the trumpet to warn the people.
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  Want to pause right there because there's repetition in
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  the Bible and I've, I've looked this up before about when are
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  trumpets blown? And you go all the way back to
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  when the tribes were first set up and when they were in
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  camping. I guess it, it was on their
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  journey before they got to the promised land, but they had
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  specific setup where each tribe would be in a certain
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  geographical location. It was like the circular, it was
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  almost actually somebody pointed this out.
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  I remember now it, it made the shape of a cross.
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  Ironically, the way they had their tents set up and they had
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  different tribes in different locations.
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  So they had different trumpet sounds and one of them was to go
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  out from camp. Another trumpet call was to war.
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  And then outside of that, once Israel had kings, they blew a
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  trumpet when the king arrived. And I think all of these are
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  really significant. And then, of course, we see in
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  the very end of the age that during in the Book of
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  Revelation, it talks about the seven trumpets that sound.
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  And so I think if we pick up on the theme of the trumpets, the
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  trumpets are a warning. Sometimes they're a call to war.
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  And I believe that's, you know, when God's judgment comes at the
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  end of the age, those trumpets are blown as a warning sign.
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  So when people see these things that are prophesied in the Book
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  of Revelation, they will then know or relate to them and say
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  the Lord must be coming soon or judgement is here.
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  And and so I think it's important for us to know why
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  trumpets were sounded and also to pay attention when they are.
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  And this, you know, Ezekiel was given this task to warn Israel
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  to be the watchman. Like he's getting the download
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  from God about what's coming up. And his assignment from God is
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  to tell all the people of Israel, this is coming, this is
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  coming. And he keeps saying it over and
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  over and nobody wants to hear it.
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  I hear a lot of people, if you want to call the voice a
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  trumpet. I hear a lot of people online
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  saying the same thing today. And I know from what I've been
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  told that in the past there were theories about the Lord coming
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  soon. I think somebody referred to it
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  back in 88, which I never even heard of it before.
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  But back in 1988, somebody wrote a book that was called the 88
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  Reasons why Christ would Return or something like that.
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  And in in 1988, so thank God Christ didn't return because how
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  many people like I never heard about it until this year.
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  And so thank God for his mercy. And you know, people could be
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  just, I don't know, maybe there is there's, there's speculation
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  right now that we are experiencing A revival.
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  There's also speculation right now that God is separating the
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  wheat and the tares are the wheat and the weeds.
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  And that's happening because, you know, even within the
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  church, even within believers, there are, there's appears to be
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  a separation that's happening. And then on the the other good
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  side of it all is that there are new believers that are coming
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  that are Jesus is showing up to people in dreams like Muslims
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  are dreaming about Jesus. And sometimes whole families are
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  getting together. There's underground churches in
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  areas where the Bible you, you probably would be imprisoned or
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  killed if they knew you had it. And to think that someone in
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  another country, we, you know, thank God for our freedom right
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  now in the United States that we are free to study the Bible, to
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  go to church and other countries are not, it means life or death
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  to them. So it's, we're in a really
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  interesting time. And, and I kind of feel like I,
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  I, I'm feeling like Ezekiel where I feel like, I feel like
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  something's coming up. I really do.
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  And I really feel like God is warning people to prepare
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  spiritually, not to become a survivalist, you know, and, and
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  go crazy with it all, but spiritually get prepared because
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  I think we are coming into a time where we will be tested.
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  I don't know how long before this comes, but I have
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  speculation on that or I have ideas on that.
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  But opinions is all it is. We'll only know in hindsight
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  when it actually happens. OK, let's go back to the Bible.
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  So I need to reread that because I stopped in the middle of a
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  sentence. When I bring the sword against a
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  land and the people of the land chose one of their men or choose
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  one of their men to and make him their watchman, and he sees a
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  sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn
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  the people. Then if anyone hears the trumpet
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  but does not heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes
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  their life, their blood will be on their own head.
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  So this is giving Ezekiel a pretty serious assignment.
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  Like if he doesn't do it, he's going to suffer the
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  repercussions of that. So verse 5 says since they heard
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  the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their
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  blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning,
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  they would have saved themselves.
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  So that's something I think we need to think about too.
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  All these people that are saying, you know, prepare,
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  they're saying basically repent. That's the spiritual condition
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  that everybody is is suggesting very heavily repent because the
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  time is drawing close. So are we going to listen to
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  these people? You know, if you do it and he
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  doesn't return really soon, you haven't done anything bad.
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  You've done something good and you're ready for whenever it
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  happens. And then you can just rest in
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  that Once you know that you've you've repented and your
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  relationship with God is solid, you don't have anything to worry
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  about because God will do whatever needs to be done
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  according to his will. You don't have anything to worry
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  about. And you'll know that even if it
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  comes to death, you will be in his Kingdom in the future.
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  And so they're, you know, we are God created us to be eternal
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  beings. Are we going to be eternally
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  with him or eternally separated from him?
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  That's our decision. And that's where repentance
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  comes in. So going to verse 6.
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  But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow
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  the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes
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  someone's life, that person's life will be taken because of
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  their own sin. But I will hold the Watchmen
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  accountable for their blood. So people may be aggravated with
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  the people online who are saying this and, and are saying, oh,
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  we've been through this before. Now here, these crazy Christians
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  are saying these kinds of things, those evangelicals.
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  And, and so I know there's that attitude among people, but what
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  if they do, they are close to God and what if they are hearing
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  from God? And what if God is warning them?
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  And what if the time is going to come to a close when you've
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  either heeded the warning or you suffer the consequences?
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  Like, I think that's really serious.
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  History repeats itself. We see that when you study the
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  Bible, you see that over and over again.
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  There's the same pattern. There's the warning.
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  And God is so merciful and so slow in acting because he even
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  says he wants people to come to repentance.
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  He wants people to turn away from their sins and towards Him
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  and and people ignore it and we see in history that they do and
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  so we know in the future they will ignore it.
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  Even in the the Book of Revelation at the end of the
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  age, it talks about people ignoring it like they could have
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  been saved but they refused. So it's all about our decision
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  and what we do with what we know.
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  And if we listen to a warning by someone and if we listen to it
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  or not, like we're going to be held accountable for that.
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  And any person who believes that God is speaking to them and
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  telling them to warn others, they somewhat have an obligation
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  to that. Not somewhat, but if, if it is
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  God speaking to them, they need to do it.
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  And if they don't, it will be, they'll be held responsible for
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  it. So don't get annoyed with people
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  that say that. Maybe listen to them and and if
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  if you and God are not in a good relationship, it's time to get
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  right. It's never too late to get right
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  with God. And unless we get killed before
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  we make that decision and then it is too late.
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  So there's no do overs. OK, verse seven, Son of man, I
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  have made you a watchman for the people of Israel.
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  So hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
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  When I say to the wicked, You wicked person, you will surely
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  die and do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways.
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  That wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you
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  accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked
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  person to turn from their ways, and they do not do so, they will
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  die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.
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  Son of Man, say to the Israelites, this is what you are
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  saying. Our offenses and sins weigh us
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  down and we are wasting away because of them.
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  How then can we live? Say to them, as surely as I
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  live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will I take no pleasure
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  in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their
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  ways and live. So that's what we were just
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  saying. I this God takes no pleasure in
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  the death of people. He wants them to turn from their
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  ways and live says in Scripture turn, turn from your evil ways.
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  Why will you die, people of Israel.
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  So he's heavily saying repent. That means turn from your sins,
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  change your life with the help of the Holy Spirit.
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  Verse 12. Therefore, Son of Man, say to
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  your people, if someone who is righteous disobeys, that
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  person's former righteousness will count for nothing.
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  So when I read this, I think about backsliding.
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  I'll read it again. Therefore, son of Man, say to
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  your people, if someone who is righteous disobeys, that
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  person's former righteousness will count for nothing.
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  Then it continues. And if someone who is wicked
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  repents, that person's former wickedness will not bring
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  condemnation. So that is showing how merciful
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  God is. All we have to do is repent, but
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  it's a big deal to repent for people.
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  True repentance. It doesn't mean just confessing
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  your sin, but it means turning away from them, like not being
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  in agreement with God to not do what you did before becoming a
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  new creation. And you can overcome that by the
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  help of God, by the Holy Spirit. So when you truly mean it with
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  God and you say you want to repent, God will send Jesus will
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  give you the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will change your
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  life. We can't take credit for it.
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  It's the Holy Spirit that does it.
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  The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live,
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  even though they were formerly righteous.
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  Now this is when I read this, I mean, there's this long ongoing
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  debate of once saved, always saved.
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  And there will probably continue to be a debate and there's
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  Christians that believe both sides of it.
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  And, and I think it's also it comes to the way someone states
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  it, because I think that the ones who say what they, they say
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  that once you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will
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  never be taken away because of what Paul says.
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  That is an eternal deposit. And I agree that the Holy Spirit
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  is an eternal deposit with someone.
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  However, I struggle with the fact that Saul had the Holy
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  Spirit, but when he continued over and over to not listen to
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  God, God took his spirit from him and then an evil spirit went
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  to torment him. So, and and don't say that.
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  Well, the Holy Spirit just came when the apostles, you know that
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  they were there. I disagree with that.
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  The Holy Spirit has been present, you know, at the
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  creation and there were there were times when the tribes, the
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  Holy Spirit came on the tribes. And, and so I, I don't know if
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  that's doctrinally sound to say that the Holy Spirit didn't come
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  until the book of Acts. Now I know that Jesus had to
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  wait to be glorified to send the Holy Spirit.
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  And so I, I don't know for sure, but I definitely know that the
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  Bible talks about the Holy Spirit's power, the power of God
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  coming on people from the Old Testament.
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  So anyway, this and then the other thing that people say
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  about one says, they'll always say they were saying, well,
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  perhaps these like there are some people that just like turn
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  away. They say they're Christians and
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  then all of a sudden they reject everything.
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  And I think it's a lot of people are calling deconstructing
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  religion or something like that. And and so the theory of the
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  people who support once saved, always saved, simply say, well,
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  they were never saved, which that could be true too, because
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  I think sometimes people think that if they, if they believe
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  they are saved. And but Jesus says that we need
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  the Holy Spirit in John chapter 3 and that we must be born
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  again. So if a person believes but
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  they're not living it, then I don't really know if they are
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  saved. They may be deceived.
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  So I think there might be a lot of people in Christian churches
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  right now who do believe, but they've never had a changed life
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  and they think they're saved, but they haven't repented.
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  They haven't truly repented. I was one of them.
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  So I I'm just thankful that God gave me more time and I did
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  finally repent because it took a long time in my life.
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  But I don't know that I was saved before then.
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  I wasn't born again. And Jesus said no one can enter
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  the Kingdom of God unless they are born again in John chapter
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  3. And that's a new creation, a new
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  life. So if there has not been a new
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  life within someone and there are, you know, there's other
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  ways of seeing because I know there are also people who at a
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  young age received Christ and they but they've lived.
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  I mean, from what I, you know, maybe not perfect lives are not
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  maybe but not perfect lives, but they've been obedient to God and
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  followed God. And so maybe they were so young
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  there wasn't like this huge change in their life.
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  But it says anyone who's known God does not keep on sinning.
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  So those people who are young, who came to Christ young and
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  still follow the Lord and are obedient to him, then they, they
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  probably just like they have been changed, but it's just that
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  their change wasn't as drastic as people who get to be older
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  and then become born again where they had this worldly life prior
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  to. And then when the Holy Spirit
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  starts changing them, there is a noticeable difference and people
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  around you will notice a difference.
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  And you can see that some of the.
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  There's two things that to look for and it would be in Galatians
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  chapter 5 where it talks about the fruit of the Spirit.
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  This is how people live out their lives when they have the
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  Holy Spirit and it contrasts with the worldly ways of living.
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  And then there's also gifts of the Spirit.
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  And I have to keep forgetting where this is.
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  It's in Corinthians and I forgot if it's first or second
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  Corinthians and I forgot what chapter.
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  But you can search gifts of the Spirit in a digital Bible and
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  find out it. There's nine different gifts.
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  There's nine different fruits of the spirits, fruits, how we live
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  our lives. Gifts are supernatural abilities
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  that the Holy Spirit gives us and when we get back to people
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  say, well, all you have to do is believe.
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  The verse that comes to mind to address that one is that Satan
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  believes and shudders. I think that's in James.
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  You say that you believe even the demons believe and shudder.
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  So we know the demons aren't going to be in God's Kingdom.
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  So just believing is step one, but the repent of art is really,
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  really critical. And you can't, I don't think you
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  can receive the Holy Spirit until you've repented, truly
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  turned away from your sin and come into agreement with God
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  that you are willing to not sin anymore.
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  You're not going to hang on to something.
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  You're going to say, God, I give it to you, take it away from me
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  and I want your Holy Spirit. That's that's kind of the change
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  life. So going back to verse 13, if I
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  tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then
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  they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none
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  of the righteous things that the person has done will be
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  remembered. They will die for the evil they
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  have done. It's another point that we don't
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  do it by our own works. It's the Holy Spirit that does
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  the work within us. The Holy Spirit our our
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  righteous acts or are brought on by the Holy Spirit and we don't
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  earn salvation by being good. We repair our relationship with
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  God and we show God we love him because Jesus said if you love
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  me, obey my commands. So that's the way it we show God
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  that we love him. The only way that we are saved
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  is by what Jesus did on the cross.
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  His blood that was shed on the cross, his death, his
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  resurrection, the power, that's where he defeated death, the
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  power of death. And it's only, as Hebrew says,
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  only by the shedding of blood that atonement is made for sin.
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  And that's why Jesus is death on the cross, covers us and
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  prepares us or I guess gives us the opportunity to be in God's
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  Kingdom. But we have to respond to that.
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  How do we respond to that verse 14?
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  And if I say to a wicked person, you will surely die.
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  But then they turn away from their sin and they do what is
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  just and right. If they give back what they took
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  and pledge for alone, return what they have stolen, follow
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  the decrees that give life and do no evil, that person will
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  surely live. They will not die.
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  None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered
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  against them. I want to repeat that because a
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  lot of people will continue. Actually the enemy, I think puts
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  thoughts into our heads like you did this, you know, you are not
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  good. You are, you know, it just
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  brings to mind all these horrible things from the past.
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  And this is what we have to remember, what God said.
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  None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered
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  against them. They have done what is just and
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  right. They will surely live.
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  So we need to remember that. That's how God is.
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  Verse 17. Yet your people say the way of
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  the Lord is not just, but it is their way That is not just.
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  If a righteous person turns from their righteous and does evil,
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  they will die for it. God's repeating this.
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  And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and
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  does what is just and right, they will live by doing this.
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  Yet you Israelites say the way of the Lord is not just, but I
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  will judge each of you according to your own ways.
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  Then now we have a break in this chapter and it talks about the
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  in the 12th year of the exile and it gives another date
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  reference in the 12th year of our exile.
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  In the 10th month, on the 5th day, a man who escaped from
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  Jerusalem came to me and said, The city has fallen.
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  Now the evening before the man arrived, the hand of the Lord
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  was on me, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me
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  in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was
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  no longer silent. Now this is actually a
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  fulfillment of the prophecy because there were two different
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  times where God did this with well that it was mentioned about
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  Ezekiel in chapter 3. God said, I will make your
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  tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent
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  and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.
• 25:44
  But when I say, when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and
• 25:48
  you shall say to him, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
• 25:50
  Whoever will listen, let them listen.
• 25:53
  And whoever will refuse, let them refuse, for they are a
• 25:57
  rebellious people. So God sometimes controls the
• 26:01
  mouth of a person. He did this also to Zechariah,
• 26:06
  who was the husband of Elizabeth, who is the mother of
• 26:11
  John the Baptist. And when he he did, he wasn't
• 26:17
  able to speak until he named him John like God told him he would
• 26:23
  because they were going to name him, you know, traditionally, I
• 26:28
  guess after his father. But then God told him this is
• 26:30
  what his name is going to be. And when he wrote it down, then
• 26:33
  his mouth, you know, he was able to speak again.
• 26:37
  So getting to Ezekiel, the the actual prophecy that was
• 26:41
  fulfilled in this moment on the specific date earlier in chapter
• 26:47
  24. We're in chapter 33 right now.
• 26:49
  But in chapter 24, God said, and you son of man, on the day I
• 26:56
  take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight
• 27:00
  of their eyes, their hearts, desire, and their sons and
• 27:05
  daughters as well as well on the on that day, a fugitive will
• 27:11
  come to tell you the news. That's just what happened.
• 27:15
  It just said that a man who escaped from Jerusalem came to
• 27:18
  me and said the city has fallen. Then going back to chapter 24,
• 27:23
  it says at that time your mouth will be opened, you will speak
• 27:27
  with him and will no longer be silent.
• 27:31
  So you will be a sign to them and they will know that I am the
• 27:36
  Lord. So however, I don't know when
• 27:40
  Chapter 24, I would have to go back to that to see if there's a
• 27:44
  specific date given when this happened to him because I didn't
• 27:49
  look at how many, you know, how long was he silent?
• 27:53
  I'm going to flip back and see if it it gives us a a date or a
• 27:56
  time frame. OK.
• 27:58
  So it says in the beginning of Chapter 24 says in the ninth
• 28:04
  year, in the 10th month, on the 10th date.
• 28:06
  So this is in the ninth year. This is what he gave that
• 28:11
  information. And then here we're talking
• 28:15
  about the 12th year, so three years, three years later.
• 28:21
  Wow. OK, I'm going to write this down
• 28:23
  because that's kind of interesting.
• 28:25
  Gosh, these things about like 3 years are so significant.
• 28:30
  Three, 3 1/2 years, I mean in the book of Daniel and the end
• 28:34
  of time and just the three years is a lot repeated a lot in
• 28:40
  history of the Bible. So let's continue verse 23.
• 28:45
  We're almost finished with this chapter.
• 28:47
  Then the word of the Lord came to me, son of man.
• 28:49
  The people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying
• 28:53
  Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land.
• 28:58
  But we are many. Surely the land has been given
• 29:01
  to us as our possession. Therefore, say to them, this is
• 29:06
  what the sovereign Lord says, since you eat meat with blood
• 29:09
  still in it. That was against their Levitical
• 29:12
  laws. And look to your idols again.
• 29:15
  They were worshipping something other than God and shed blood.
• 29:20
  Should you then possess the land?
• 29:23
  You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of
• 29:29
  you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the
• 29:33
  land? This is also something that we
• 29:36
  can think about like he's talking to the Israelites about
• 29:38
  this. He's he's pointing outlook at
• 29:40
  all the stuff you do you guys think you get to go into the
• 29:42
  land. You haven't listened to anything
• 29:45
  I said and you think just because of who you are that
• 29:49
  you're going to get the land. And this is where Amir's book is
• 29:54
  very interesting because it talks about the 3 covenants.
• 29:58
  And this was a great reminder and very it's something that I
• 30:02
  think all of us will really appreciate when we start reading
• 30:06
  that verse 27 say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
• 30:10
  As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall
• 30:15
  by the sword. Those out in the country I will
• 30:18
  give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in
• 30:22
  strongholds and caves will die of a plague.
• 30:27
  I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength
• 30:31
  will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will become
• 30:35
  desolate so that no one will cross them.
• 30:39
  Then they will know that I am the Lord when I have made the
• 30:43
  land a desolate waste because of the because of all the
• 30:48
  detestable things they had done. As for you, son of man, your
• 30:52
  people are talking about you by the walls and the doors of the
• 30:56
  houses, saying to each other, come and hear the message that
• 30:59
  has come from the Lord. My people come to you, as they
• 31:04
  usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do
• 31:09
  not put them into practice. So he's saying they're all talk,
• 31:12
  not actions. They'll listen to you and but
• 31:16
  they're not going to do anything You're saying.
• 31:17
  They they are not doing anything that you say.
• 31:20
  They're just saying, oh, yeah, yeah, right.
• 31:21
  Right. And then they do nothing.
• 31:23
  We all know people like that, right?
• 31:26
  Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for
• 31:30
  unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing
• 31:35
  more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and
• 31:39
  plays an instrument well. For they hear your words, but
• 31:43
  they do not put them into practice.
• 31:46
  Now that's applicable to us too. Do we hear God's words and then
• 31:52
  do we put them into practice? It's just like anything else in
• 31:55
  life, when you get taught something, if you don't put it
• 31:58
  into practice just because you go to school, go to college, if
• 32:03
  you don't put what you learn into practice, it's not going to
• 32:07
  benefit you. Knowledge is not beneficial
• 32:11
  unless you use it and apply it. When all this comes true, and it
• 32:18
  surely will, then they will know that a prophet has been among
• 32:23
  them. That's the end of chapter 33.
• 32:25
  So that's again God saying this is all going to come through.
• 32:30
  Now I've also found it interesting again, like how
• 32:32
  history repeats itself and God was saying this, this did happen
• 32:36
  to Jerusalem and he said that they would in verses 27 through
• 32:41
  29, he was talking about how Israel was of the people of
• 32:45
  Israel would either fall by the sword, by wild animals and
• 32:50
  plague and history will repeat. And we find out in Revelation
• 32:56
  chapter 6 there this is repeated again.
• 33:00
  I'm going to read verse 8 only are verse 6-7 and eight when the
• 33:05
  lamb opened. The lamb is Jesus opened the 4th
• 33:08
  seal. I heard the voice of the fourth
• 33:11
  living creature say come. I looked and there before me was
• 33:15
  a pale horse. It's writer was named Death and
• 33:20
  Hades was following close behind him.
• 33:24
  Now, obviously Jesus has overcome death.
• 33:30
  Hades was the place that was called the pit, the bottomless
• 33:33
  pit, the abyss. So this is the place where
• 33:38
  people who rebelled against God were held.
• 33:40
  And also I believe this is like where some of the fallen angels
• 33:48
  were imprisoned. And that's, I forgot where that
• 33:53
  is in the Bible, but it does say that they were held in chains in
• 33:58
  prison for judgement. OK, so they were given a power.
• 34:03
  Here's the the part reflecting on Ezekiel.
• 34:07
  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by
• 34:14
  sword, famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.
• 34:18
  Same exact thing that God used against Israel.
• 34:22
  And this is going to come again. So there's like a repetition,
• 34:26
  history repeats when people don't learn.
• 34:29
  That's another reason why repentance is so important
• 34:32
  because because of what judgement will come.
• 34:38
  And this judgement that comes is God's way of getting people
• 34:43
  towards to, you know, repent. I look back on what happened
• 34:49
  with the with COVID and, and I that was a plague.
• 34:53
  That plague hit the whole world. Yeah, we can say, well, it came
• 34:58
  from a human that, you know, a lab leak or whatever.
• 35:03
  And yes, God can let people with evil intent go forward with
• 35:08
  their schemes to use it for God's purpose.
• 35:12
  So God allowed that to happen. And I think that was a warning
• 35:18
  to all of us because it certainly warned me because I
• 35:23
  just thought, wow, this is crazy.
• 35:24
  You know, you always hear about sicknesses, but do you ever hear
• 35:28
  about a sickness that over takes the whole world?
• 35:33
  And this was a global thing. And I was like, when has that
• 35:36
  ever happened? Well, it's never happened in my
• 35:38
  life. And so it, it made me wake up.
• 35:43
  I started actually, I mean, I had just read the Bible
• 35:46
  ironically in the fall. And then that spring is when
• 35:50
  COVID happened. And I thought this is weird.
• 35:52
  There's something not right about it.
• 35:55
  And so I started looking in the Bible and then I noticed that
• 35:58
  there was like pestilence and plague, which are exactly what
• 36:03
  that is or that was. And so that did get unleashed on
• 36:08
  the world. So in my mind, this is a
• 36:11
  warning, it's a wake up call. It's like judgement is coming.
• 36:16
  How many years that we have ahead of us before God does this
• 36:21
  final before his wrath comes? Quite honestly, you know, how
• 36:27
  many years do we have and and I think we're in this warning
• 36:31
  phase and we are seeing this revival the you know, these, you
• 36:34
  know, all different people are coming to Jesus and that's
• 36:37
  incredible. That's awesome.
• 36:38
  I hope that they get it's not like the seed that gets blown
• 36:42
  away by the enemy like it. It really gets anchored in
• 36:45
  people's lives and they truly remain close to Christ.
• 36:49
  We can only remain close to Christ by staying in the word
• 36:53
  and renewing every day. We need to renew the word of God
• 36:57
  and met it. You know, think about about
• 36:59
  what's in the Bible, think about what it talks about.
• 37:01
  Apply it to our life. We need this is like being in
• 37:05
  Christ, consuming his consuming the bread, the bread of life.
• 37:11
  Jesus would is the word. The word became flesh.
• 37:15
  I mean, that's in I John chapter 1 or Matthew.
• 37:18
  I can't remember which gospel it what it was, but it's the very
• 37:21
  first. I think it's in John, the very
• 37:25
  first chapter, it talks about the Word becoming flesh.
• 37:29
  The Word was with God, and then the Word is also what we read in
• 37:35
  Scripture. And this is Jesus.
• 37:37
  This is the communication to us. That's why this is the living
• 37:40
  Word of God coming to us through the Bible.
• 37:43
  This is how we stay in Christ by reading what it says and putting
• 37:48
  it into action. So now I'm going to go through
• 37:52
  the questions and answers that are on this chapter.
• 37:56
  So why? What did a watchman do?
• 37:59
  This was usually someone on a tower or a high point who was
• 38:03
  entrusted to watch for approaching messengers or
• 38:06
  enemies. God wanted to impress Ezekiel
• 38:08
  with the critical responsibility of being alert and warning
• 38:12
  people upcoming judgement. In a sense, Ezekiel was
• 38:16
  accountable for their fate. How was a negligent watchman
• 38:20
  held accountable? A watchman who fell asleep there
• 38:23
  boy, thereby allowing an enemy to invade the land, was
• 38:26
  executed. In the same way.
• 38:29
  Ezekiel was responsible to warn the people of coming judgement.
• 38:32
  If he failed to fulfill his duty, he would be held
• 38:35
  accountable for what happened to them.
• 38:38
  He himself would face a stricter judgement than the people he was
• 38:42
  supposed to warn because he knew the truth and failed to sound
• 38:46
  the alarm. Why isn't God pleased to see the
• 38:49
  wicked die? Sin and its consequences grieve
• 38:53
  God, who created the world in order to provide grace, not
• 38:58
  judgement. Why then doesn't He just let the
• 39:02
  wicked off the hook? Why do they have to die?
• 39:05
  Though God does not delight in destroying the wicked, He cannot
• 39:09
  allow sin to go unchecked. If he did, sin would eventually
• 39:15
  destroy all people and all creation.
• 39:18
  So for the one who persist in sin, punishment is the final
• 39:22
  result. But if someone abandons a life
• 39:26
  of sin, that person can escape punishment.
• 39:31
  When the righteous do wrong, do they lose their salvation?
• 39:34
  OK, this will address it. Let's see what it says.
• 39:37
  Christians disagree on this question or the answer, I guess.
• 39:41
  Some believe that once a person is chosen by God, he or she can
• 39:46
  never lose salvation. Others say that sin can cause a
• 39:50
  person to lose a relationship with God.
• 39:53
  The risk of the former view is a life of spiritual complacency.
• 39:57
  The risk of the latter view is a life of anxious insecurity.
• 40:02
  The middle view suggests that a person is secure as long as he
• 40:07
  or she she lives by faith, neither complacent nor anxious,
• 40:13
  but trusting in God's grace. So I the only thing I really do
• 40:19
  believe that if we deny the power of the Holy Spirit, the
• 40:23
  power of the Holy Spirit gives us to overcome sin.
• 40:27
  People testify to this. There are so many testimonies
• 40:32
  that I've heard that they never thought that they could ever
• 40:36
  overcome this, but God, but God, who did it, He's the one who
• 40:42
  does it. And a lot of times people are
• 40:45
  don't get that. And so they try to do it on
• 40:48
  their own and then they fail and they're like, oh, it's
• 40:50
  impossible. I can never overcome this.
• 40:52
  Well, if you know God, you can overcome it.
• 40:57
  And there were things that I didn't think I would overcome,
• 41:01
  but I overcame it. And the only way that was
• 41:03
  possible was by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 41:06
  And when you get into temptation to pause, that's the most
• 41:11
  critical thing, is to pause at that moment and pray.
• 41:15
  Say God, help me, you see me, you see what's going on, help me
• 41:18
  right now. I need you and God will respond.
• 41:23
  He's responded to me. I've actually prayed that prayer
• 41:25
  before and God responded and I am so thankful for him.
• 41:31
  So why and for how long had Ezekiel been silent?
• 41:37
  It is not entirely clear. It seems like from early on in
• 41:40
  this ministry, perhaps the sign of his calling, Ezekiel could
• 41:43
  not speak unless he gave a direct word from God.
• 41:46
  Around 588 BC, when Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem, God let
• 41:50
  Ezekiel know that he would once again be able to speak when a
• 41:53
  fugitive came to the Babel, to Babylon with the news of
• 41:57
  Jerusalem's fall. The news arrived about three
• 42:01
  years later in 580 five BC. So if I would have read that, I
• 42:05
  wouldn't have to go back and check the prior chapters.
• 42:10
  OK. After Jerusalem fell, did the
• 42:12
  people still think they owned the land?
• 42:15
  Even in the midst of destruction and horror, the poorest
• 42:18
  remaining Jews believed that the land was theirs.
• 42:22
  The Jews reasoned that as Abraham's descendants, they
• 42:25
  would continue to possess the land, that land God had given
• 42:30
  them. However, there was one
• 42:33
  difference. Abraham was accounted as
• 42:36
  righteous, they were not. And let's see, I guess I want to
• 42:43
  talk about that too, because in the very end of the age, there
• 42:49
  are 12,000 from each tribe that are sealed by God and they are
• 42:56
  spared this wrath of God. It's a very few number.
• 43:01
  Whether that is symbolic or literal, we'll only know in the
• 43:05
  end. There's opinions about that too.
• 43:07
  We don't know, but we'll find out someday.
• 43:11
  But it's a small number of people, if you think about it,
• 43:13
  when you compare it to the size of the population.
• 43:17
  So on there, yeah, there's the wrath of God's going to come.
• 43:21
  These are all the people who would not repent.
• 43:25
  Would not? I don't know.
• 43:26
  So there was, I think there was more that I wanted to say, but
• 43:31
  I've lost my thought on that. So why would people enjoy
• 43:35
  prophecy and not obey it? Probably because people were in
• 43:40
  denial, unable to admit that they had any problem with sin.
• 43:45
  Outwardly they looked good enough.
• 43:47
  They said all the right things. They probably enjoyed Ezekiel's
• 43:51
  messages because they thought his words were meant for others,
• 43:55
  those with problems. It was easier to listen to
• 43:59
  Ezekiel's words than it was to take them personally and obey
• 44:03
  them. And that's the end of the Bible,
• 44:06
  the study Bible commentary. Now I'm going to get into and
• 44:09
  actually just read from Amir's book because it's it's so good.
• 44:14
  And we will begin with, oh gosh, chapter 33.
• 44:26
  Let's see, I don't know where to start because he leads into it
• 44:29
  really well. OK, I'm going to, I'm just going
• 44:31
  to start a little bit after that chapter.
• 44:35
  But where I started to underline Jerusalem's demise, all come
• 44:41
  down comes down to the covenants, the deals that God
• 44:45
  made with his people. It is in these promises that the
• 44:50
  onus for Jerusalem's destruction is removed from God's seemingly
• 44:57
  vindictive shoulders and placed squarely on the willful
• 45:00
  rebellion of the people. So there's the the deals.
• 45:04
  It all comes down to the covenants, the deals God made
• 45:07
  with his people. And it's not God who's being
• 45:10
  vindictive, but it's the willful rebellion of the people
• 45:14
  continuing in his book. It is also there where we are
• 45:19
  blessedly reminded that what is taking place is not a full stop
• 45:24
  in the relationship between God and His chosen people, but just
• 45:28
  a significant bump in the road. In Ezekiel 30, chapters 33
• 45:33
  through 35, we enter a transition point in the
• 45:37
  prophet's book and in the history of Israel.
• 45:40
  The destruction of the past is wrapping up and the hope of the
• 45:44
  nation's future is about to be revealed.
• 45:47
  But before we go there, we should ground ourselves again.
• 45:51
  We need a reminder of the four covenants, 3 unconditional and
• 45:58
  one conditional. Now this is really, really,
• 46:02
  really important today. That's not written in his book,
• 46:05
  but I'm just saying this is really important today.
• 46:08
  There are these 4 covenants and this will answer or respond to a
• 46:14
  lot of what is going on in the world as they talk about Israel
• 46:22
  because we need to get back to God's Word.
• 46:25
  The Bible is the truth and we need to acknowledge what the
• 46:30
  Bible says and don't be parrots of the world and say things that
• 46:36
  we just hear and respond based on our feelings.
• 46:43
  But we need to say, look at what does God's word say?
• 46:47
  What is truth? We can have feelings.
• 46:50
  Our feelings are real, but feelings are different than
• 46:56
  truth. If we feel, if we want to say,
• 47:00
  well, I believe that the, I don't know that snow is green,
• 47:08
  but it's, you know, in reality it's white.
• 47:12
  Just because I feel that it's green doesn't make it green for
• 47:15
  everybody. I can feel that way, but that
• 47:18
  doesn't make it truth. That's a really bad example, but
• 47:21
  I couldn't think of one that was good.
• 47:22
  But just the way that we feel, it doesn't mean that just
• 47:27
  because we feel some way that it's truth.
• 47:29
  We could feel somebody wronged us.
• 47:33
  But maybe justice was being done and we did something really bad
• 47:37
  that we're not admitting. And so that was just a
• 47:40
  consequence of what we did. So our feelings don't always
• 47:44
  equate to truth. They are certainly real and
• 47:48
  authentic. But where we find truth is in
• 47:51
  the Word of God. So that's why this is really
• 47:54
  important. We do need a reminder of the
• 47:56
  four covenants, 3 unconditional and one conditional that provide
• 48:01
  the foundation. I'm back in the book that
• 48:03
  provide the foundation for the relationship between God and
• 48:06
  Israel. The Abrahamic covenant #1 God
• 48:12
  established an unconditional, there were no, you know,
• 48:16
  conditions on this, an unconditional promise with
• 48:20
  Abraham that launched the relationship between him and his
• 48:24
  people. Here's what it said.
• 48:26
  I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your
• 48:31
  name great, and you shall be a blessing.
• 48:35
  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse the curse
• 48:41
  him who curses you. And in you all the families of
• 48:47
  the earth shall be blessed. You can find this in Genesis
• 48:52
  chapter 12, verses 2 through 3. In this and several other
• 48:56
  iterations given throughout Abraham's lifetime, the Lord
• 48:59
  promised the patriarch people, land and blessings.
• 49:04
  Has he kept his promise? This is a mirror writing.
• 49:07
  I am living proof that Abraham's people still exist.
• 49:12
  The country in which I live is affirmation that the land still
• 49:17
  belongs to Abraham's descendants and and you can ask the
• 49:22
  Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and the Third Reich,
• 49:27
  among many others, whether God blesses those who bless Israel
• 49:31
  and curses those who curse Israel.
• 49:34
  Come to think of it, you can't ask them.
• 49:37
  They're all gone, but somehow Israel still survives.
• 49:42
  The destruction of Judah was a glitch in the relationship
• 49:45
  between God and Israel. True, it was a serious glitch,
• 49:50
  but it was not a deal breaker that some claim it is.
• 49:55
  The contract itself cannot be broken because there was no
• 49:59
  obedience clause included in Abraham's part of the covenant.
• 50:04
  God said I will and never integrated an addendum that
• 50:09
  began and I expect you to. Israel was God's chosen people,
• 50:14
  is God's chosen people, and always will be God's chosen
• 50:20
  people. The next covenant, the second
• 50:23
  covenant, is the Mosaic covenant.
• 50:27
  The second covenant came with Moses, and unlike any of the
• 50:32
  others, it was conditional. It is extremely important that
• 50:37
  we always keep this distinction in mind.
• 50:41
  There is nothing in this transaction made with Moses that
• 50:46
  will or can affect God's word to the patriarchs.
• 50:51
  With the other covenants, it was purely promises made, promises
• 50:56
  kept. That is the nature of our God.
• 51:00
  The Mosaic covenant, however, was based on quote.
• 51:04
  If you do this, then I will do that.
• 51:09
  To this covenant, God attached the promise of a wonderful
• 51:14
  blessing. But to receive it, the people of
• 51:17
  Israel would have to abide by a code of rules.
• 51:22
  If the nation chose not to follow those rules, a harsh set
• 51:26
  of consequences would result. Avoiding the choice wasn't an
• 51:30
  option. It was purely either or.
• 51:35
  But how is that fair Amir? God forced the covenant on the
• 51:38
  people and told them they had to, they had better obey him or
• 51:43
  else. If that was how the transaction
• 51:45
  went down then I might agree with you.
• 51:48
  But this covenant wasn't forced on anyone.
• 51:51
  It was offered. The people willfully accepted
• 51:55
  it. Then Moses took the book of the
• 52:00
  covenant and read in the hearing of the people, and they said,
• 52:05
  all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.
• 52:09
  And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and
• 52:13
  said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made
• 52:19
  with you according to all these words.
• 52:23
  And you can find that in Exodus chapter 24, verses 7 and 8,
• 52:28
  seven through 8, an amazing time of fellowship between God and
• 52:33
  man immediately followed this affirmation of the covenant
• 52:36
  during which Moses, which Moses, Aaron, 2 of Aaron's sons and 70
• 52:43
  elders of Israel, quote, saw the God of Israel verses 9 through
• 52:49
  10. So much hope, so much potential.
• 52:55
  Then came the golden calf, the grumbling and rebellion, the
• 52:58
  period of the judges, all the bad kings, and the immoral
• 53:03
  depths of idolatry. What began as an unparalleled
• 53:08
  moment during which 74 Hebrews witnessed the throne room of God
• 53:15
  all at one time deteriorated to the point of Babylon laying
• 53:20
  siege to Jerusalem. It was all because one party
• 53:24
  failed to remain true to this mutual promise.
• 53:30
  Israel abandoned the covenant, but God didn't.
• 53:34
  Therefore, the responsibility for Jerusalem's destruction and
• 53:38
  the killing of so many people lay solely in the nation's
• 53:43
  unfaithfulness, the Davidic covenant.
• 53:48
  There are still two more covenants.
• 53:49
  This is the third one, and both are unconditional and both are
• 53:54
  spectacular. The first was given to King
• 53:58
  David through the prophet Nathan.
• 54:01
  This is what was said. It was in Second Samuel Chapter
• 54:05
  7, verses 12 through 16. Here it goes.
• 54:08
  When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your Father's, I
• 54:11
  will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body,
• 54:16
  and I will establish His Kingdom.
• 54:19
  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the
• 54:23
  throne of His Kingdom forever. I will be his father, and He
• 54:28
  shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will
• 54:33
  chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the son of
• 54:37
  men. But my mercy shall not depart
• 54:42
  from him as I took from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
• 54:49
  And your house and your Kingdom shall be established forever
• 54:55
  before you. Your throne shall be established
• 54:59
  forever. Any sign of a quote If you do
• 55:04
  this, I will do that in a is OK. Any sign of an If you do this, I
• 55:09
  will do that. In this promise, Absolutely not.
• 55:13
  This is God saying I will and asking nothing in return.
• 55:18
  Why would the Lord make this eternal promise to a man whose
• 55:22
  flaws became so public and brought about such wide reaching
• 55:27
  consequences? Thousands died due to David's
• 55:31
  sins throughout his reign. God knew who David was inside.
• 55:36
  He knew that although he had his failings, the king was a man
• 55:42
  after his own heart. That was written in many times I
• 55:46
  think. But in first Samuel 13 verse 14
• 55:50
  you can find that and Acts chapter 13 verse 22.
• 55:54
  It was because of that deep dedication that God blessed
• 55:59
  David with this covenant despite his weakness.
• 56:03
  We must never lose sight of how perfect the mercy and
• 56:08
  forgiveness of our God is. You may have actions in your
• 56:11
  past that you have. OK, you may have actions in your
• 56:16
  past that have you wondering if God could ever forgive you and
• 56:21
  use you again. Or you may be in the midst of an
• 56:25
  ongoing sin right now, too caught up to stop and too
• 56:29
  embarrassed and ashamed to ask God to ask for help from God or
• 56:35
  a friend or pastor. Do not give up on yourself
• 56:39
  because God has not given up on you.
• 56:41
  Remember, in Jerusalem, the glory of the Lord was still at
• 56:46
  the temple up until the end. All it would have taken for the
• 56:50
  people of Jerusalem to save themselves and their city was to
• 56:55
  turn back, confess, and worship the Lord.
• 56:59
  He was right there waiting for them.
• 57:03
  The Holy Spirit, God's glory in every believer, is still with
• 57:09
  you too. Let today be the day you return
• 57:13
  to Him and start anew. Then go to a pastor or close
• 57:17
  friend and let them begin walking with you on your journey
• 57:20
  back to the Lord. The New Covenant.
• 57:24
  Some reading this book may be thinking, finally we're getting
• 57:27
  to the church, the recipients of the New Covenant.
• 57:31
  If that's you, I'm afraid I have some bad news.
• 57:35
  Every one of these 4 covenants are for Israel, the people of
• 57:41
  the covenant. OK, I know I've stirred up a
• 57:45
  hornet's nest by saying that the new covenant is for Israel, so
• 57:51
  let me quickly ask the Lord to come to my aid.
• 57:55
  So here's the quote from Scripture.
• 57:58
  Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make
• 58:03
  a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of
• 58:10
  Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
• 58:15
  fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them
• 58:18
  out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke,
• 58:23
  though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
• 58:28
  And that is found in Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through
• 58:33
  32. Those are God's words, not mine.
• 58:38
  The New Covenant is a Jewish covenant made with the House of
• 58:44
  Israel and the House of Judah. It's true that Jesus is the
• 58:49
  mediator of the New Covenant, at that.
• 58:52
  Many of the spiritual blessings of the covenant are received by
• 58:57
  the church, but its origins and foundation are with Israel.
• 59:03
  Undoubtedly, the Israelites failed badly, but man's failure
• 59:08
  in no way negates God's faithfulness.
• 59:12
  And here's another quote. This is the covenant that I will
• 59:16
  make with the House of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
• 59:21
  I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts,
• 59:27
  and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
• 59:32
  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his
• 59:38
  brother, saying, quote, Know the Lord, For they shall all know
• 59:43
  me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the
• 59:48
  Lord. For I will forgive their
• 59:52
  iniquity and their sin, and I will remember no more.
• 59:58
  Verses 33 through 34 from Jeremiah.
• 1:00:02
  So so many have tried to manipulate this into a church
• 1:00:07
  directed promise, but the Lord couldn't have been more clearer
• 1:00:10
  about who he was speaking to. It's quote with the House of
• 1:00:15
  Israel. If anyone is still doubting,
• 1:00:18
  they need only to keep reading because context is king.
• 1:00:24
  Here's another quote, verses 35 through 37.
• 1:00:27
  Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for the light for a
• 1:00:32
  light by day, the ordinance of the moon and the stars for a
• 1:00:36
  light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar.
• 1:00:41
  The Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from
• 1:00:46
  me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from
• 1:00:52
  being a nation before me forever.
• 1:00:55
  Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can be measured, and all
• 1:00:59
  the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will
• 1:01:03
  also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have
• 1:01:08
  done, says the Lord. There is no illusion in those
• 1:01:12
  words to the church or a future nation, spiritual or otherwise.
• 1:01:18
  God said that He would make a new covenant with Israel, His
• 1:01:25
  people. Anyone who thinks He was done
• 1:01:27
  with them for good needs to think again.
• 1:01:30
  When the sun stops shining and the moon and the stars
• 1:01:33
  disappear, and the waves break over the shores and flood the
• 1:01:37
  land, then you can consider that maybe God is done with Israel.
• 1:01:43
  Or when you have an accurate measurement of the universe down
• 1:01:47
  to the millimeter and have mapped out every aspect of inner
• 1:01:52
  earth, then God will consider casting aside His people.
• 1:01:57
  The unassailable faithfulness is true for anyone with whom God
• 1:02:03
  makes a commitment, and that should lift your spirits high if
• 1:02:08
  you are a believer in the Messiah.
• 1:02:11
  Once you belong to God, you will always belong to God because He
• 1:02:15
  cares for each one of His children with the same love and
• 1:02:20
  grace that He has for the nation of Israel.
• 1:02:24
  And that's the end of what Amir wrote.
• 1:02:26
  I do want to add a few things that you may or may not knew,
• 1:02:29
  but when I first read the Bible, I wasn't aware of this.
• 1:02:32
  First of all, if you haven't been following this podcast,
• 1:02:37
  after Solomon's reign, his descendants pretty much had an
• 1:02:41
  argument of who was going to be king.
• 1:02:43
  And there were two different camps that wanted to be the
• 1:02:46
  king. So they had parallel kingdoms
• 1:02:49
  and the northern tribe, it was the 10 tribes of Israel.
• 1:02:52
  They were called Israel. And then there was the southern
• 1:02:56
  tribe of two, which were Judah and Benjamin, and they were
• 1:03:00
  divided and they competed with each other.
• 1:03:03
  And Judah and Benjamin had, you know, they had Jerusalem and
• 1:03:09
  then the northern Kingdom of Israel.
• 1:03:15
  They kind of were very idolatrous and they had other
• 1:03:20
  temples and not temples, but they had other altars that they
• 1:03:24
  would, they would do their worship separate.
• 1:03:27
  They wouldn't go into Jerusalem. And the whole reason they
• 1:03:29
  wouldn't do that is because they didn't want to the people to all
• 1:03:33
  of a sudden then become more bonded with the people of
• 1:03:37
  Jerusalem and lose their power. It was a power struggle.
• 1:03:41
  Basically. It was it was who wanted to be
• 1:03:44
  king. And that's why they separated
• 1:03:47
  themselves. And look at the majority of them
• 1:03:49
  went to Israel. And then the 2 tribes were kind
• 1:03:52
  of stuck together in the southern tribe.
• 1:03:54
  And we know Jesus came from the tribe of Judah.
• 1:03:58
  So that's that's one aspect. There are there is other
• 1:04:02
  prophecy and I can't remember which prophet it was, but and we
• 1:04:06
  may get to it or maybe it was Isaiah.
• 1:04:09
  I can't remember now. But I do remember reading it
• 1:04:11
  where there was a stick that was broken and then there was going
• 1:04:14
  to be a union of Israel and Judah in the end, when
• 1:04:19
  essentially when Jesus returns, that was the prophecy.
• 1:04:22
  So they are broken. The one stick is broken into
• 1:04:25
  two, but when Jesus returns, they're going to be united back
• 1:04:29
  into one. And that's evident when you see
• 1:04:32
  all the different tribes that are represented at the end of
• 1:04:34
  the age, the 12,000 from each tribe.
• 1:04:37
  Note the tribe of Dan is missing.
• 1:04:40
  The tribe of Joseph is not there either, but his to his portion
• 1:04:44
  was actually divided between his son sons.
• 1:04:48
  I want to say that they are both in there, but I'll, I'll need to
• 1:04:51
  double check that again. I think when I looked at it
• 1:04:55
  recently that I noticed that Ephraim was not there, but I'm
• 1:04:59
  not sure. So anyway, look at the tribes
• 1:05:02
  and compare them, the 12,000 compared to the tribes, the
• 1:05:06
  original tribes of Judah, because it's not the original 12
• 1:05:10
  tribes of Judah that are sealed in the end, which is
• 1:05:12
  interesting. But then there is a land
• 1:05:15
  allotment that we'll get to later in Ezekiel where Dan
• 1:05:18
  actually has a land allotment. And I believe this is in a
• 1:05:22
  Millennium period. So I don't know if something
• 1:05:26
  happens. I, I'm not sure, but there's
• 1:05:29
  some things that I don't, I haven't studied well enough.
• 1:05:32
  So I don't really have an answer for those things that I found in
• 1:05:35
  Scripture. But let's see, there was, oh,
• 1:05:41
  the other thing that's really important about this, about, you
• 1:05:44
  know, the promise to Israel and then how that applies to
• 1:05:47
  believers today who are not Jewish people by descent in oh
• 1:05:54
  gosh, this is another thing that I don't know where it is in the
• 1:05:57
  Bible, but I know what it says paraphrased.
• 1:06:00
  And the best way to to find this is go to a digital copy of the
• 1:06:05
  Bible and search grafted in because that's what happened.
• 1:06:10
  So just like the stick that's broken and God's going to put
• 1:06:13
  that together. There are branches on the olive
• 1:06:18
  tree. Basically the olive tree is
• 1:06:20
  representative of of Israel and so there are branches that are
• 1:06:27
  broken off of it because of disobedience, but God can graft
• 1:06:30
  them back in. And then we who are believers,
• 1:06:34
  who are not Jewish people by by ancestry or DNA, we when we
• 1:06:40
  become believers, we are grafted in.
• 1:06:43
  So we do essentially become Israel.
• 1:06:47
  We don't replace Israel. Israel is still there because it
• 1:06:51
  says if God broke off those trees and he allowed others to
• 1:06:55
  be grafted in, how much? I guess how much better would it
• 1:06:59
  be to graft in an original branch from the tree?
• 1:07:02
  So not all is lost. The Gentiles and the Jews,
• 1:07:06
  everyone who becomes a believer, are grafted into the same tree,
• 1:07:10
  I believe. Well, the the tree is
• 1:07:12
  representative of Israel, but it's God, it's God's chosen.
• 1:07:16
  So then we become God's people by that being grafted in.
• 1:07:22
  So I think there a lot of times it's I've found that if we
• 1:07:27
  listen to a certain denomination, we may get a false
• 1:07:31
  interpretation, not intentionally maybe, but just
• 1:07:35
  what people have been taught and passed on generation after
• 1:07:38
  generation. And I think it is helpful to
• 1:07:41
  listen to a lot of different once you have the Bible read and
• 1:07:47
  you study it on your own and then just listen to what people
• 1:07:51
  say and then go back to what does Scripture say to check?
• 1:07:56
  Because I think the Holy Spirit actually, you know, when you
• 1:08:01
  hear something that another denomination says and you know,
• 1:08:07
  there's something in the Bible that says contrary to that or
• 1:08:10
  disputes that, I think that's the Holy Spirit bringing things
• 1:08:14
  to mind. Just saying remember this and
• 1:08:17
  then you can go back to your Bible and check it.
• 1:08:19
  But if you don't have the the Bible in your mind, you can
• 1:08:25
  easily believe any of these like doctrinal, any of these like
• 1:08:28
  religious sect, their beliefs, because they just pass it on.
• 1:08:33
  And if you get taught a certain way, you're going to believe the
• 1:08:37
  way you were taught. That's how I was.
• 1:08:39
  I was, I believed all the things I was taught as a child.
• 1:08:42
  But then when I actually read the Bible, I saw there's some
• 1:08:45
  conflicts here. Not everything that I was taught
• 1:08:49
  is reflected in the Bible. And so it's like I always say
• 1:08:55
  that the word of God is the most important not to listen to
• 1:08:59
  anyone else's opinions and sometimes even interpretations
• 1:09:02
  of it. So just go back to the word and
• 1:09:06
  if it's still unclear, pray about it, seek multiple sources
• 1:09:10
  and make sure that they're aligned with the Bible.
• 1:09:13
  Because there is, you know, there's that that enemy that
• 1:09:17
  wants to get us off the right path and, and fill our minds
• 1:09:21
  with lies. So it's easy to happen if we
• 1:09:26
  don't know what is in the word of God.
• 1:09:29
  It's easy to break a law if you never saw the law, right?
• 1:09:33
  So the same thing with God's Word.
• 1:09:35
  If you haven't read the word, how are you going to know if
• 1:09:37
  somebody's steering you down the wrong path?
• 1:09:40
  So anyway, that is going to wrap up this episode.
• 1:09:44
  But I thought it was really good really timing Amir's book
• 1:09:47
  referring to that. And, and I hope if you're not
• 1:09:51
  subscribed, you do subscribe if you want to stay in the word and
• 1:09:55
  refer this to others if you think they would benefit.
• 1:09:57
  Because I think there's a lot of people in the world right now
• 1:10:00
  who could benefit from going back to the Old Testament and
• 1:10:03
  looking at these covenants that Emir brought out, which was very
• 1:10:08
  beneficial in for me at least to see these and, and hear the
• 1:10:14
  Scripture, read the words of Scripture, read God's Word.
• 1:10:17
  So check it out for yourself too.
• 1:10:20
  Double check it. And that concludes today.