Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 908. Bible Study: Job 20 (Friend's Advice, Warnings, Eternity, No Escape from God)
Transcript
- 0:00Job chapter 21st Let's pray. Dear Lord, please let the Holy
- 0:05Spirit give us wisdom, insight, discernment about what we are
- 0:09going to read and how it applies to our life.
- 0:11We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. So Zofar, now he speaks and
- 0:20let's see, just prior to this Job had.
- 0:23So we're still going in this back and forth arguing.
- 0:26And Zophar is similar to the others.
- 0:30He speaks some truth, but it's just not applicable.
- 0:35And I guess we can learn from that too, that sometimes we
- 0:39don't know everything and we need to be humble enough to say
- 0:42that, you know, maybe we are not accurately applying God's word
- 0:48and what he says because as we go through this, we will see
- 0:51that Zophar is speaking truth. But I don't know that he's
- 0:56having discernment and he may also be being influenced by
- 1:02Satan that we learned is coming against Job and his friends and
- 1:08his thoughts get influenced. So I'm going to read this
- 1:12chapter through first so you can just listen to it.
- 1:15And then I'm going to go back and bring up things that I
- 1:19noticed as I was going through it.
- 1:20And then I'm going to read the study Bibles, questions and
- 1:22answers. So we'll probably only do 1
- 1:24chapter today, so let's get started then.
- 1:27So far, the Namathite replied. My troubled thoughts prompt me
- 1:32to answer because I'm greatly disturbed.
- 1:35I hear a rebuke that dishonours me, and my understanding
- 1:39inspires me to reply. Surely, you know it has been
- 1:44from old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth, that the
- 1:48mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless last but
- 1:51a moment. Though the pride of the godless
- 1:55person reaches the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he
- 1:59will perish forever like his own dung.
- 2:02Those who have seen him will say, Where is he?
- 2:05Like a dream he flies away no more to be found banished like a
- 2:09vision of the night. The eye that saw him will not
- 2:12see him again. His place will look on him no
- 2:16more. His children must make amends to
- 2:19the poor. His own hands must give back his
- 2:22wealth. The youthful vigor that fills
- 2:25his bones will lie with him in the dust.
- 2:28Though evil is sweet in the mouth and he hides it under his
- 2:31tongue, Though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in
- 2:35his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach.
- 2:39It will become the venom of serpents within him.
- 2:43He will spit out the riches he swallowed.
- 2:45God will make him, will make his stomach vomit them up.
- 2:49He will suck the poison of serpents.
- 2:51The fangs of An adder will kill him.
- 2:54He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey
- 2:57and cream. What he what he toiled for, he
- 3:01must give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit
- 3:05from his trading, for he has oppressed the poor and left them
- 3:10destitute. He has seized houses he did not
- 3:13build. Surely he will have no respite,
- 3:17or no respite from his craving. He cannot save himself by his
- 3:23treasure. Nothing is left for him to
- 3:25devour. His prosperity will not endure.
- 3:28In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him.
- 3:32The full force of misery will come upon him.
- 3:35When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger
- 3:38against him and rain down his blows on him.
- 3:41Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze tipped arrow
- 3:45pierces him. He pulls it out of his back, the
- 3:49gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him.
- 3:54Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
- 3:58A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his
- 4:02tent. The heavens will expose his
- 4:05guilt. The earth will rise up against
- 4:07him. A flood will carry off his
- 4:10house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.
- 4:13Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed
- 4:19for them by God. So sounds like Zofar is accusing
- 4:24Job again and just saying, you know, you're trying to keep all
- 4:27your sins secret and this is coming on you and you're not
- 4:31going to succeed in this. He's saying those things to Job.
- 4:35But there's a lot of little details in here.
- 4:37So I'm going to go back to the beginning.
- 4:40And this is about discernment. So Zofar, he acknowledges where
- 4:46this is coming from. He says my troubled thoughts
- 4:50prompt me to answer because I'm greatly disturbed.
- 4:54So he's getting disturbing thoughts.
- 4:56But listen to the next verse three.
- 4:59I hear a rebuke that dishonours me.
- 5:03He's self focused. He's worried about how he looks.
- 5:06He's worried about what Job said and he's worried that, you know,
- 5:10you are dishonouring me. And it says, and my
- 5:13understanding inspires me to reply.
- 5:17So it's not necessarily that this is something evil that's
- 5:21speaking through him, but this is that sin that we all have,
- 5:25selfishness where we start looking at everything from a
- 5:30selfish point of view. Because it doesn't say that
- 5:32there was any spirit that was influencing him, but it's his
- 5:35own troubled thoughts. And we have to have discernment
- 5:39with our thoughts. Are these from God?
- 5:43Are these from the evil one, or are they from within us?
- 5:48And are they something that God would put there?
- 5:50Because we have this battle between our flesh and the Spirit
- 5:55of God. When the Spirit of God is in us
- 5:58that you know we are going to go back and forth like he as we've
- 6:02read through this. He knows a lot from Scripture
- 6:05like he's what he is speaking truth.
- 6:08It's just not necessarily applicable to Job.
- 6:11We know that because we read chapters one and two.
- 6:14He, no one knew it because it happened in the heavenly realms.
- 6:17And so no one here, they're just going through seeing with their
- 6:21own eyes and then thinking about, well, this is what it has
- 6:25to be because this is what I'm seeing.
- 6:27And we all have to be warned about that, that what we see
- 6:31with our eyes, especially today with AI and how good it is, it
- 6:35can lead people astray easily because you can, if it appeals
- 6:42to something that you personally think, but yet it's a lie, it
- 6:46can make you, it can influence you to believe something that is
- 6:49a lie, even if just because you're, you know, aligned with
- 6:53that. So I think we have to be really
- 6:55careful more so today because videos can look like reality.
- 7:00And we need to take. This brings to mind another bit
- 7:05of Scripture, how we need to take every thought captive.
- 7:09That's what Paul tells us in Second Corinthians 10/5.
- 7:14He says we demolish arguments and every pretense that sets
- 7:19itself up against the knowledge of God.
- 7:22And we take every, we take captive every thought and make
- 7:27it obedient to Christ. So everything that comes into
- 7:31our mind, we have to make it obedient to Christ.
- 7:35Is it within God's will? Is it what God would want?
- 7:39We have to pray to for discernment from God to reveal
- 7:43like, should we believe this? Is it true?
- 7:46Is it not we? We're in a time frame in life
- 7:51where we can't trust anything. We can't trust people because
- 7:57they're fallible, and even people with good intentions may
- 8:01not, you know, get it right. And so the only one that we can
- 8:05trust, we're at that point. Now.
- 8:07We have one person, actually, a Trinity that we can trust,
- 8:12Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that's it.
- 8:15We cannot trust anything else. And this is a time in our lives
- 8:20where we need to be closest to God because of the deception
- 8:26that is so easily done that we need to take everything that we
- 8:32question and pray about it and give it to God and and ask God
- 8:36to reveal to let us know what we're supposed to be doing and
- 8:41believing. But definitely not anybody.
- 8:45Even this goes for religious figures too, like our pastors,
- 8:49the church, the the Pope. We need to compare everything to
- 8:56God's word and also in prayer and make sure that it aligns
- 9:00that that's why we have to be in the word because we need to know
- 9:03what's in the word so that we can spot something that's a lie
- 9:07and we can know because they twist words that are in
- 9:10scripture and apply them inappropriately.
- 9:14So we need to really know what's in the word.
- 9:16And if we hear something and it kind of like makes us question
- 9:20it, go to the word, find it in the word of God, and then pray
- 9:25about it too, so that you know, and just pause, like don't
- 9:29immediately respond to things because sometimes it takes a few
- 9:33minutes to to get an answer from God and also to find it in
- 9:38Scripture. But we can see right here that
- 9:40he's just personally getting offended.
- 9:43And so he wants to I want to speak up because I'm offended
- 9:46now and I want to tell you what I know.
- 9:49So again, there's pride coming out and that happens a lot in
- 9:51arguments with of people. Our pride comes out and, and
- 9:55it's just something that I think, I think that's what Paul
- 9:59was dealing with. I studied about his thorn in his
- 10:02side that wouldn't go away and he prayed to God to take it
- 10:05away. But it was, I think it was, it
- 10:08might have been some tormenting spirit.
- 10:09I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was something that
- 10:12God did not release from him. And I think it was to keep him
- 10:17from becoming prideful to because of everything that Paul
- 10:21knew, the experience that Paul had, he needed something to keep
- 10:25him humbled. And, and, and pride is something
- 10:29that God hates. It's one of the seven things
- 10:31that God hates. So it's something that we really
- 10:34need to look at ourselves and make sure that we don't let
- 10:38pride enter into it does enter, but we need to recognize it when
- 10:44it does and squash it, crucify it like God.
- 10:47That's what Jesus says to take up your own crush.
- 10:50So when we see it coming out, we need to just squash it and say
- 10:53Nope, that's not going to, you know, maybe apologize if that's
- 10:57necessary, whatever. Anyway, the other thing is when
- 11:00we are speaking about something that we don't know and we're not
- 11:05speaking in in love. Like these are Job's friends.
- 11:08They are becoming accusational. They started out visiting him
- 11:12because they wanted to empathize with him and they wanted to give
- 11:15him sympathy and they they actually wanted their desire.
- 11:19It shows in the earlier chapters that their desire was actually
- 11:21to support him, but then they get wrapped up in their own
- 11:25stuff and they don't. They aren't supportive.
- 11:27They're not helping Job at all. He's frustrated with his friends
- 11:30on top of his own suffering. But one of the things that
- 11:34Scripture reminds us is that when we speak to someone that it
- 11:38really needs to be in love. And we may start out with that
- 11:42intent, but then when we get offended because of something
- 11:45somebody says, then we can turn away from that loving intention
- 11:51that we had and then just get wrapped up into like an argument
- 11:55or something that is not fruitful.
- 11:58So Paul talks about this in First Corinthians chapter 13
- 12:01verse 1. He says if I speak in tongues of
- 12:05men or angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding
- 12:12gong or a clanging symbol. So nobody, I would like to hear
- 12:18a resounding gong or clanging cymbal over and over and over
- 12:24again incessantly. You know, it might sound pretty
- 12:27cool to have it like hit one time, but if you just had it
- 12:31repeated, repeated, repeated and you can't get it turned off,
- 12:34it's not going to be so wonderful.
- 12:36So that's what it's saying. Like, you know, if if God's
- 12:38given the gift of in this example, the gift of tongues of
- 12:42men or angels, but there's no love in it, like the ability to
- 12:46speak from the heavenly realms and be able to communicate in
- 12:50that way, but there's not love there.
- 12:52It's only like a clanging symbol.
- 12:55So like our words can be like a clanging symbol to somebody if
- 12:59we don't have love behind it. And I think that's what it's,
- 13:05that's what it appears that effect that Job's friends are
- 13:10having on him there. Their words are like a clanging
- 13:13symbol to Job. And that's what Paul reminds us.
- 13:16Because they're not doing it in love.
- 13:18They started it out that way, but it didn't end up that way.
- 13:22So then as you go through on verse 6, it talks about the
- 13:26pride of the godless person reaches the heavens.
- 13:29You know, God recognizes all this and his his head touches
- 13:32the clouds. He will perish forever like his
- 13:34own dung. Those who have seen him will
- 13:36say, where is he? God is he hates pride.
- 13:40And so that's another reason why we need to get it out of our
- 13:43life. We all have it at some point.
- 13:46We all want to be right. We, it doesn't, it doesn't feel
- 13:51good when you really strongly believe something and then
- 13:55you're proven wrong. It's just like it's something
- 13:58that's kind of hard for people to take sometimes it is, it
- 14:01depends what the issue is, whatever it is.
- 14:05I mean, some things can be like, Oh yeah, I was wrong about that,
- 14:07no big deal. But there's other things that
- 14:09are like ingrained really deeply in our beliefs.
- 14:12And then when we hear something that really disputes that, it
- 14:17can be hard to accept. And, and it's something,
- 14:21especially if it relates to our own identity, if it, if it
- 14:25impacts that because it hurts. So, but pride is something that
- 14:28we have to deal with and, and know that God, it's one of the
- 14:32seven things that God hates. I remember the first time and I
- 14:35always forget where it is, but there are 7 things that God
- 14:39hates and you can probably search God hates because I was
- 14:43like, well, God hates. Does that really in the Bible?
- 14:45And yes, it is. There's seven things, but it's
- 14:47evil things. It's things that God, you know,
- 14:50has no use for. Pride is one of them.
- 14:55So then the the eye that OK talks about his children must
- 15:02make amends to the poor. His own hands must give back his
- 15:05wealth. The youthful vigor that fills
- 15:08his bones will lie with him in the dust.
- 15:11I mean, there's this is about the evil person that you know
- 15:16goes away and his children. You don't have to make amends
- 15:20and his wealth may be given back.
- 15:22Now, this is something that I don't really fully comprehend in
- 15:26the Bible. The study Bible explains
- 15:29something a little bit better. Who makes the wicked pay
- 15:32restitution? Zofar seems to have been
- 15:35appealing to a principle of judgement that the wicked must
- 15:39restore what rightfully belongs to their victims.
- 15:43So, you know, when we come to repentance, I mean, God does, if
- 15:50you go back into Leviticus, if somebody has done something
- 15:53wrong on certain things, there is a repayment or a restitution,
- 15:58like you have to make it right with somebody plus 10% or
- 16:01something. It's in Leviticus and I haven't
- 16:03studied that so detailed, but those were the laws that God
- 16:07gave. So God wants us to make it right
- 16:10with other people. And, and if it involves
- 16:13something that we can do that, you know, we give back whatever
- 16:17it was that we took, if it's possible and maybe a little, you
- 16:20know, and then a little bit more on top of that.
- 16:22Like to make it right, you have to do a little bit more than
- 16:25what the person actually lost. And that's a good principle in
- 16:28business too, is you could do exactly what they lost.
- 16:32But to give back a little bit more, that would be really
- 16:36living like God tells us we should live.
- 16:41You know, if we did something wrong, if it was our fault, then
- 16:44we need to give back plus a little extra to make it right
- 16:49with somebody. And then you'll restore
- 16:52friendship perhaps, or a customer or somebody that it'll
- 16:56be, it'll be something that somebody will remember because
- 17:00most of the world doesn't operate that way.
- 17:03Then this next part about that and Zofar talks about about
- 17:08evil. I'm just going to read this
- 17:10about because it's very interesting though evil is sweet
- 17:15in the mouth and he hides it under his tongue.
- 17:18Like I think he's actually accusing Job of hiding something
- 17:22under his tongue, but he is speaking truth.
- 17:24It's just not applicable to Job. It's as though evil is sweet in
- 17:28his mouth. So evil does come to us, kind of
- 17:34like appealing, and he hides it under his tongue.
- 17:38If we know it's evil, we're going to hide it.
- 17:40Though he cannot bear to let it go.
- 17:43It's just like anything sinful, like you just want to hang on to
- 17:46it and you let it linger in his mouth.
- 17:50So holding on to sin, this is also accusational.
- 17:53Yet his food will turn sour in his stomach.
- 17:56It will become the venom of serpents within him.
- 18:00He will spit out the riches he swallowed.
- 18:02God will make his stomach vomit them up.
- 18:05He will suck the poison of serpents.
- 18:07The Fang of Natter will kill him eventually.
- 18:10You know, even though it starts out sweet, this is the way the
- 18:13enemy works in temptations. It starts out sweet, it starts
- 18:18out appealing. It's going to turn to something
- 18:21like vomit. And eventually, if you don't get
- 18:24it out of you, it'll end up killing you, consuming you.
- 18:29And that's what the enemy does. He seeks to steal, kill and
- 18:32destroy. And so this is a very poetic way
- 18:36of saying that about how evil is sweet when you taste it and then
- 18:42you can't let it go. But it turns sour eventually,
- 18:47and it becomes the venom of serpents within a person and
- 18:54eventually God. The person will spit out the
- 18:58riches he swallowed so it could lead to prosperity.
- 19:01But God will make his stomach vomit them up.
- 19:03You won't keep it. If you're evil in how you get
- 19:06it, you're not going to keep it Eventually, Who knows?
- 19:09In this lifetime, our judgement time, God will make his stomach
- 19:14vomit them up. He will suck the poison of
- 19:16serpents. So I guess if you linger and you
- 19:18don't vomit it up, you will suck the poison of serpents.
- 19:23The fangs of an adder will kill him.
- 19:26Then it says he will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing
- 19:30with honey and cream. Now this is how God described
- 19:34the land of Israel, the land flowing with milk and honey and
- 19:38not cream and honey. But this is honey and cream.
- 19:40But it's kind of like eternity, like you're not going to have
- 19:43eternity. And what he toiled for, he must
- 19:46give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit
- 19:49from his trading, for he's oppressed the poor and left them
- 19:52destitute. He has seized houses he did not
- 19:54build. So if there is like injustice,
- 19:56justice or a way of going about getting rich that takes
- 20:01advantage of other people and it's not going to profit
- 20:06someone, maybe on this earth they'll make a lot of money, but
- 20:10eventually it's going to either have to be.
- 20:15Given up or it will destroy a person if it's done in justly.
- 20:19Now God isn't against people making money at all.
- 20:23He isn't. He blesses people.
- 20:25I mean he blessed Solomon with riches because Solomon didn't
- 20:28even ask for it. But because of Solomon asking
- 20:31for wisdom, God gave him even more.
- 20:34So there isn't. It's not about, it's about, it's
- 20:36not about money. It's about how what we do to get
- 20:40money. Like are we doing things in a
- 20:42righteous way? Are we doing things in a godly
- 20:44way? Or are we taking advantage of
- 20:47people so that we can succeed, so that we can do better?
- 20:51Is it selfish what we're doing or is it giving of ourselves?
- 20:57Are we doing the right things and God is blessing?
- 21:00We just have to look at our financial positions and, and,
- 21:03and look honestly at ourselves. Like is this something that God
- 21:07is blessing us with because of the way we are stewarding God's
- 21:12earth? Or is it something that we are
- 21:16very selfish about, we're about, and we're taking advantage
- 21:19because of our knowledge of our skill or whatever it is that
- 21:22we're taking advantage of other people.
- 21:24Because whatever we reap, we will sow just like this.
- 21:28This poetically is saying you take evil in, you don't want to
- 21:31let it go. Maybe it's giving you a lot of
- 21:34things, but if it was done in a wrongful way, in an in just way,
- 21:39eventually it's either going to kill you or you're going to have
- 21:42to get rid of it. And so this is this is kind of
- 21:47like that parable. I didn't even this just came to
- 21:49mind as I'm talking about the parable of this man who comes to
- 21:55Jesus and he talks about almost braggingly about how good he is
- 21:59and how he's done everything. And, you know, he's just, you
- 22:03know, telling Jesus about like, I'm, I've done all this.
- 22:07What else do I need to do to follow you?
- 22:09You know, this is I, I'm kind of in his words, he's kind of
- 22:12perfect. He's doing all the right things.
- 22:15And then Jesus says, well, like, you know, let go of all your
- 22:17money and then follow me. And the rich man couldn't handle
- 22:22that. He was like, no, that's a little
- 22:25bit too much. You know, like I I'll do all
- 22:27these righteous things, but no, I'm not going to get let go of
- 22:30my money. And that was that was hit a
- 22:33stronghold on him. He was putting his money higher
- 22:37than God. And that's something that we all
- 22:39have to look at like where is God in our list of priorities?
- 22:44And so anyway, this this poetic part about the eating something
- 22:52that turned sour, it reminded me of the the scroll that's talked
- 22:59about in the book of Ezekiel and also the Book of Revelation.
- 23:04So in Ezekiel chapter 3 is where it's talked about verses one
- 23:09through 3. And he said to me, this is God
- 23:13talking to Ezekiel, son of man, eat what is before you eat this
- 23:18scroll. Then go and speak to the people
- 23:22of Israel. When I was studying this before,
- 23:26I realized that Ezekiel was called to speak to the people of
- 23:30Israel. But John, who wrote the Book of
- 23:33Revelation, was called to speak to all nations.
- 23:37So first this warning came to Israel, but then later John gets
- 23:42the same warning but he's told to go to all nations.
- 23:46So I'm going to continue reading in Ezekiel 3.
- 23:50So son of man, eat what is before you eat the scroll.
- 23:53Then go and speak to the people of Israel.
- 23:57So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.
- 24:00Then he said to me, Son of man, eat the scroll I am giving you
- 24:05and fill your stomach with it. So I ate it, and it tasted as
- 24:09sweet as honey in my mouth. Then he said to me, Son of man,
- 24:14now go to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.
- 24:20You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and
- 24:23strange language, but to the people of Israel.
- 24:30There was something so he gave me and it tasted as sweet as
- 24:34honey in my mouth. I thought I didn't know it if it
- 24:40came about the sour part I I'm just going to go ahead and read
- 24:46this chapter because I thought it it said that it turned sour.
- 24:49But this is we'll read a little bit more because I didn't pre
- 24:53read chapter 3. So let me just start from the
- 24:57beginning. And he said to me, son of man,
- 24:59eat what is before you eat the scroll.
- 25:01Then go and speak to the people of Israel.
- 25:02So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.
- 25:05Then he said to me, son of man, eat the scroll I'm giving you
- 25:08and fill your stomach with it. So I ate it and it tasted as
- 25:11sweet as honey in my mouth. Then he said to me, son of man,
- 25:14now go to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.
- 25:17You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and
- 25:21strange language, but to the people of Israel.
- 25:24Not too many people's of obscure speech and strange language
- 25:28whose words you cannot understand.
- 25:30Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened
- 25:34to you. But the people of Israel are not
- 25:37willing to listen to you, because they are not willing to
- 25:40listen to me. For all the Israelites are
- 25:43hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as
- 25:48unyielding and hardened as they are, I will make your forehead
- 25:53like the hardest stone, harder than Flint.
- 25:56Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they
- 25:59are a rebellious people. And he said to me, Son of man,
- 26:02listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to
- 26:06you. Now go to your people in exile
- 26:10and speak to them. Say to them, This is what the
- 26:13Sovereign Lord says, whether they listen or fail to listen.
- 26:17Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud
- 26:20rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place
- 26:25where I was standing. It was the sound of the wings of
- 26:28the living creatures brushing against each other, and the
- 26:31sound of the wheels besides them, a loud rumbling sound.
- 26:35Then the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in
- 26:39bitterness and in the anger of my spirit with the strong hand
- 26:43of the Lord. So it did turn bitter, the words
- 26:47with the Lord that came to him, because he had to speak to the
- 26:49Exiles. So here is where the bitterness
- 26:52that first tastes sweet as honey, but then it was
- 26:56bitterness. And in the anger of my spirit,
- 26:59which is interesting, I came to the Exiles who lived at Tel Aviv
- 27:03near the Khabar River. And there where they were
- 27:06living, I sat among them for seven days, deeply distressed.
- 27:12That's interesting too, because this is what Job's friends did
- 27:17with him. They sat with him for seven
- 27:19days, and Ezekiel now is sitting there for seven days, deeply
- 27:23distressed. Then you think about the the
- 27:26week of Daniel, the seven years of tribulation, the deep
- 27:31distress. At the end of the seven days,
- 27:35the word of the Lord came to me. So talking about getting a word
- 27:39from God. So he's sitting there for seven
- 27:41days and he's waiting on God. 17 Son of Man, I have made you a
- 27:47watchman for the people of Israel.
- 27:49So hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
- 27:53So Ezekiel was tagged as You're the watchman for Israel, you
- 27:58have to speak to Israel. When I say to a wicked person,
- 28:03you will surely die and you do not warn them or speak out to
- 28:07dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their
- 28:11life. That wicked person will die for
- 28:14their sin, but I will hold you accountable for their blood.
- 28:17This is a pretty strong thing that God is giving to Ezekiel.
- 28:22He is telling them if you don't warn somebody and they die, I'm
- 28:26going to hold you accountable. How would you like that charge?
- 28:30But if you do not warn the wicked?
- 28:32But if you do, sorry. But if you do warn the wicked
- 28:36person, and they do not turn from their wickedness or from
- 28:40their evil ways, they will die for their sin, but you will have
- 28:45saved yourself. So if Ezekiel is obedient to
- 28:48God, he doesn't have to worry about it.
- 28:51If he warns the wicked person, but they still do the same
- 28:55thing. Ezekiel's hands are clean.
- 28:58He has not done anything wrong. He's been obedient to God.
- 29:03It continues in verse 20. Again, when a righteous person
- 29:06turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a
- 29:10stumbling block before them, they will die.
- 29:14Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin.
- 29:19The righteous things that a person did will not be
- 29:22remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.
- 29:26I you know this is a pretty strong warning here.
- 29:29So a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does
- 29:32evil. That means that righteousness
- 29:36cannot have eagle evil come back up.
- 29:39It needs to be removed from people and because it tells us
- 29:44here that if you are righteous and then you do evil and here
- 29:51he, they are not getting given a warning and Ezekiel's going to
- 29:55be held accountable. I mean, this is like the fear of
- 29:57the Lord. Can you imagine God, you know,
- 30:00personally telling you this, that hey, if you don't warn
- 30:05these people because this message is not something that
- 30:06people want to hear, but God saying, if you don't do it,
- 30:10you're going to be held accountable.
- 30:11So that's going to that's the fear of God right there in
- 30:14Ezekiel. It's like, I better do what God
- 30:16said because he's serious about this.
- 30:20But if you do what God said and he tells you to warn them and
- 30:24you warn them and they still do their things, then then you're
- 30:26not accountable for that. So that's what he was
- 30:29experiencing from him and his conversation, conversation with
- 30:35God. But if you do warn the righteous
- 30:38person not to sin and they do not sin, they will sure they
- 30:43will surely live because they took the warning and you will
- 30:47have saved yourself. So if Ezekiel's obedient and he
- 30:52warns A righteous person, hey, don't sin, you can't sin right
- 30:54now. Do not sin, you know, ever, you
- 30:57know, keep it out of your life. They will live.
- 31:01So I think we can learn something from this as you can't
- 31:03keep on going sinning. Hebrews, I think it's 1026 says
- 31:07like something about if a person keeps on sinning and and is
- 31:10unrepentant, there is nothing but the fear of the judgement of
- 31:14God that they should be looking for and they're also considered
- 31:17enemies of God. You might want to read I think
- 31:19it's Hebrews 10/26. It's something about you can
- 31:21search keep on sinning because this is a thing that concerns me
- 31:26about some of the churches that hyper emphasize grace and say
- 31:32well grace covers everything. I don't know that it covers
- 31:35unrepentant sin. That's if you have the Holy
- 31:38Spirit, you that's going to be in opposition to sinning.
- 31:45And and so not that people will be perfect with the Holy Spirit,
- 31:49they're still going to mess up. But as soon as you, the Holy
- 31:52Spirit will convict us, believe me, the Holy Spirit convicts you
- 31:55as soon as something comes out of your mouth that is not what
- 31:57God would want you to say, you're going to feel that guilt.
- 32:01You're going to feel that, oh gosh, I should not have said
- 32:03that. And that's the moment that you
- 32:05say, God help me, I'm sorry, you know, don't let me do that again
- 32:08and maybe even apologize to the person.
- 32:11But anyway, going back to Ezekiel, he says the hand, verse
- 32:1522, the hand of the Lord was on me.
- 32:16And he said to me, get up and go to the plane and there I will
- 32:20speak to you. So I got up and went to the
- 32:22plane and the glory of the Lord was standing there like the
- 32:24glory I had seen, but by the Kibar river and I fell face
- 32:28down. Then the Spirit came into me and
- 32:31raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said, Go shut
- 32:36yourself inside your house, and you, son of man, they will tie
- 32:41with ropes. You will be bound so that you
- 32:43cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to
- 32:48the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to
- 32:52rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.
- 32:57But when I say to you, but when I speak to you, I will open your
- 33:00mouth and you shall say to them, This is what the Sovereign Lord
- 33:06says. Whoever will listen, let them
- 33:08listen. And whoever will refuse, let
- 33:11them refuse, for they are a rebellious people.
- 33:16This is the reality of God. There's, you know, there's some
- 33:20people who are so hardened against and so determined to
- 33:23say, nobody's going to change me.
- 33:25Nobody's going to make me change.
- 33:26I'm not going to do what you say.
- 33:29If God wants me to do that, I don't care.
- 33:31I just want to do what I want to do.
- 33:33Now, some people will take that to their grave and other people
- 33:38will wake up and respond. And there's both kinds of
- 33:44people. And here God is saying to
- 33:47Ezekiel, I'm going to really control your mouth.
- 33:50So you don't, you know, like if this is somebody who's extremely
- 33:53rebellious, I'm just not going to, you're not going to rebuke
- 33:57them. But eventually when they come
- 33:59against you and they tie you up and they do these things to you,
- 34:02then when I open your mouth, you're going to speak against
- 34:05them. And and whoever you know, just
- 34:10let it be whatever it is, but be obedient to God.
- 34:13I think that's the message we can get from God.
- 34:15And Ezekiel's interaction is that if God tells you something,
- 34:19be obedient to God. So Ezekiel got this sweet as
- 34:26honey scroll that he had to take from God and it was a warning to
- 34:31to the people of Israel. And so now the other example is
- 34:37where John gets the same thing. So Ezekiel had it a long time
- 34:41ago. It's, you know, he's the Old
- 34:43Testament prophet. So the BC it was in the BC time
- 34:46frame then John who wrote the Book of Revelation in around 90
- 34:50AD and I guess it was maybe 60, I don't remember exactly when
- 34:54John was on the island of Patmos when he received this vision,
- 34:57but the same thing happens to John, but he gets a little bit
- 35:01different instruction. So it so here's what John says
- 35:09in verse 8 of Revelation chapter 10.
- 35:13Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once
- 35:17more. Go take the scroll that lies
- 35:21open in the hand of the Angel who is standing on the sea and
- 35:25on the land. So I went to the Angel and asked
- 35:29him to give me the little scroll.
- 35:32He said to me, take it and eat it, it will turn your stomach
- 35:37sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.
- 35:42I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it.
- 35:46It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten
- 35:51it my stomach turned sour. Then I was told you must
- 35:55prophecy again to many people, nations, language, languages and
- 36:01kings. So John has there's like a the
- 36:06NIV version is a little bit more confusing here because it says
- 36:09then I was told you must prophecy again about many
- 36:13peoples, nations, languages and kings.
- 36:15So his was a much broader message.
- 36:20If if we look at the reference on blue letter Bible, it shows
- 36:24you the English NASB and the the translation from that one says
- 36:29and they said to me, you must prophecy again concerning many
- 36:36peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
- 36:40So first the message went to Israel.
- 36:44Now this, this message is really to everybody, everybody, you
- 36:49know, it just many people, nations, tongues like languages
- 36:55and kings. It's it's a much, much broader
- 36:59audience that John has that he's talking to, but he's getting the
- 37:03same message. It's going to come sweet as
- 37:05honey, but it's going to turn sour in your stomach.
- 37:09So when we go back to the Book of Job, I'm going to read that
- 37:13again to tie it all back together.
- 37:16Though the evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his
- 37:20tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in
- 37:22his mouth. Yet his food will turn sour in
- 37:25his stomach. If you're eating evil, if you're
- 37:29consuming evil, if you're letting evil into your life,
- 37:32it's going to turn your stomach sour.
- 37:34Judgement is kind of like that too.
- 37:36And you know, these words of warning and judgement that's
- 37:40going to turn sour in your stomach, that the judgement, the
- 37:44actual reaping and sowing aspect of it will make, I mean, turn
- 37:51sour, something that you're not going to want even though you've
- 37:54eaten it. And then going back to the book
- 38:00of Job chapter 20, it says he cannot.
- 38:04In verse chapter 20, verse 20, the last part of it says he
- 38:09cannot save himself by his treasure.
- 38:12Money is not going to help us in the end.
- 38:16We're not going to have enough money.
- 38:18Like, a lot of people are building these bunkers because
- 38:22of what's going on in the world, and they're thinking that, oh, I
- 38:25can go under Earth and be safe there.
- 38:29In fact, a lot of Israel's enemies right now have done
- 38:32that. They've spent years building
- 38:34these underground systems where they could move around and they
- 38:39could transport weapons and they could come up and destroy people
- 38:44in different places, but it was all hidden underground.
- 38:47And that's all being exposed during this war.
- 38:50All of these massive amounts of tunnel systems that are all over
- 38:53the place that the evil ones are using to do their evil.
- 38:59But all that money that went into those systems, it's showing
- 39:06right now that that stuff is failing because a lot of the
- 39:10leaders of terror are being destroyed, even though they had
- 39:15those underground systems that they spent probably billions of
- 39:19dollars on creating those little tunnels throughout.
- 39:23And we we also hear that there is well further on it talks
- 39:31about in verse 22. It says when he has filled his
- 39:36belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down
- 39:42blows on him. So when the fullness has reached
- 39:47and that made me think about the fullness of the of the Gentiles.
- 39:52And that's in Romans Chapter 11, verse 25, what Paul says says,
- 39:57For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of
- 40:01this mystery. Lest you should be wise in your
- 40:05own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel
- 40:12until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
- 40:17So the non Israel people until the fullness, until they have
- 40:21reached their their peak, Israel is still blind.
- 40:28Partially, partially, they're blind to allow for the Gentiles,
- 40:33all other nations, to reach our fullness, our capacity.
- 40:38That's going to bring on God's judgement.
- 40:41So God's letting everybody kind of go and do what they want to
- 40:45do. He, he lets us have free will.
- 40:47He's letting us all do this. But there's going to be a point
- 40:51in time when God decides, OK, it's judgement time.
- 40:56That's the day of the Lord, the wrath of God.
- 40:59And when God decides there's enough, that's when he's going
- 41:03to decide that. That's when he's going to take
- 41:06action. And so in the book of Job, we
- 41:08see when he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning
- 41:12anger against him and rain down his blows on him.
- 41:16There's see, there's no escaping.
- 41:19There's no escaping God. David had that.
- 41:22He said that in many Psalms. He's like, if I go here, if I go
- 41:25there, I can't escape you. Jonah tried to escape God when
- 41:30God told him to go to Nineveh, which is modern day Iraq.
- 41:33And he said, go there and, you know, because he wanted people
- 41:37to be saved and give the message to them.
- 41:39And Jonah was like, no, they're evil people.
- 41:41I don't want to go there. And so Jonah tried to escape God
- 41:45and he got on a ship and then God sent a storm.
- 41:48He allowed the storm to affect him.
- 41:50And then everybody was on the ship.
- 41:53I guess they were a little bit more spiritual than we are
- 41:55today. They're like, who did something
- 41:57wrong? You know, why are the gods, you
- 41:59know, angry with us? And so Jonah, you know, self
- 42:02reflected and said, hey, it's me.
- 42:04And so they threw him overboard. And then this whale eats him.
- 42:08And you know, what's so weird is everybody like all my life, I
- 42:10thought, OK, that's just a made-up story.
- 42:12But then there was this kayaker. I think he was in an Argentina
- 42:16or something. You can probably search this on
- 42:17YouTube. And this guy was kayaking in a
- 42:20whale literally ate him. So it's those kinds of things
- 42:24where you then see like God's word is true, it may sound
- 42:28outlandish to us, but then we see something in our real life.
- 42:32And this guy lived to tell it and it some of it, he was with
- 42:36somebody else who I think caught some of it on video and he's
- 42:41been interviewed. So if you look on YouTube and
- 42:43search the kayaker that was swallowed by the whale, you'll
- 42:46be able to find it, which it's, it's not just a fable, it really
- 42:49happened. So anyway, if we're, if God
- 42:54tells us to do something, he means that if we are probably, I
- 43:00would say if we are surrendered to God, if we are saying, OK,
- 43:03I'm going to be obedient. If we've made that pledge to
- 43:05God, he expects us to be obedient.
- 43:08And if we are not obedient, then there are consequences.
- 43:12I mean, there's consequences to disobedience and rebellion
- 43:15anyway for people who even don't follow God.
- 43:17But sometimes theirs is delayed because God is merciful and He's
- 43:21compassionate, and he wants everyone to come to repentance
- 43:25and to ask for forgiveness. So God delays his wrath with us
- 43:29and thank God for His mercy. So it's open to all people
- 43:33until, you know, until their day of death, their day of departure
- 43:38from this earthly life. That's, that's the end of it.
- 43:41And we don't know if something sudden is going to come on.
- 43:44So we can't say, oh, you know, I'm younger.
- 43:47So I'm just going to wait until I get old before I deal with
- 43:49that. You don't know that you're going
- 43:51to make it to being old so anyway, but but God has a
- 43:57purpose in this. So he's waiting for the fullness
- 44:00of the Gentiles. He's waiting for all those, you
- 44:03know, the non Israelite people I guess for them to reach their
- 44:07culmination and then when they reach their culmination of their
- 44:11sin, then justice is going to come vengeance from God.
- 44:16It's going to come. And it says like though he flees
- 44:19from an iron weapon, a bronze tipped arrow pierces him like
- 44:23you're just not going to escape God.
- 44:25He pulls it out of his back. The gleaming point out of his
- 44:28liver terrors will come over him.
- 44:30Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures like there is just
- 44:35no escape. That brought up something else
- 44:39that it made me think about the words you can search this in the
- 44:45Bible fall on us and all of these are related.
- 44:48I didn't even realize they were but Hosea 10 verse 8, Luke 23
- 44:54verse 30 and Revelation 616. They are all connected.
- 44:59They are referencing the same scripture Hosea 10/11.
- 45:03So here's what Hosea 10108. I think I said 11 Hosea 10/8.
- 45:10Here's what it says. The high places of wickedness
- 45:13will be destroyed. It is the sin of Israel.
- 45:20Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars.
- 45:25Then they will say to the mountains cover us, and to the
- 45:29hills fall on us. So there's going to be a time of
- 45:35high places of wickedness that will be destroyed.
- 45:41Let's see, this Hebrew was Avon. It was a reference to Beth Avon,
- 45:46a derogatory name for Bethel. So it's high places of
- 45:51wickedness will be destroyed. And that is the sin of Israel.
- 45:56It's the idolatry is ultimately that's like there's one God and
- 46:03we should worship one God. And when we worship other things
- 46:07besides God, that's idolatry. And there's also spiritual
- 46:11idolatry. There's also physical idolatry.
- 46:15So it's one thing we need to rid ourselves of because when the
- 46:20day of the Lord comes, people will be saying cover us, fall on
- 46:25us. Luke 23, this is Jesus being
- 46:30referenced. So I'll start with verse 28.
- 46:35Jesus turned to them and said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not
- 46:39weep for me. This is as he's going to the
- 46:41cross. In fact, I'll just read from
- 46:44Luke 20, three verse 26. As the soldiers led him away,
- 46:49they seized Simon from Serene who was on his way from the
- 46:53country and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind
- 46:57Jesus. So this is Jesus on the way to
- 47:00be crucified and he wasn't able to carry his cross anymore
- 47:04because all the scourging that happened to him.
- 47:05So they had this other man carry his cross so that a large number
- 47:09of people followed him, including women, and mourned and
- 47:12wailed for him. Jesus turned to them and said,
- 47:17Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me.
- 47:21Weep for yourselves and for your children.
- 47:25Isn't that interesting? As Jesus is going to the cross,
- 47:28he's telling them, He's warning them.
- 47:31Weep for yourselves and for your children.
- 47:35Don't weep for me. And Jesus knew that even though
- 47:41he was enduring the pain and suffering, that he was going to
- 47:45put an end to death and he was going to conquer as a result of
- 47:51his death. But daughters of Jerusalem,
- 47:55there's still something that's coming because they did not
- 47:57recognize the Messiah and they were hardened hearts.
- 48:02And and this is going to come on the Gentiles too.
- 48:05It's not just Israel, but Israel is.
- 48:09You know, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me.
- 48:11Weep for yourselves and for your children.
- 48:14For the time will come when you will say, blessed are the
- 48:19childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that
- 48:24never nursed. So then they will say to the
- 48:29mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us.
- 48:34Now since this is the same verse of Hosea that's referenced
- 48:37multiple times, then the last time that we see it in the Bible
- 48:41is in Revelation chapter 6 verse 16.
- 48:45And this is when the 6th seal opens.
- 48:51I watched as he opened the 6th seal.
- 48:54Jesus is the Lamb. The Lamb opens the 6th seal.
- 48:58The Lamb allows. Jesus allows this to happen.
- 49:01There was a great earthquake, the sun turned black like
- 49:06sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and
- 49:11the stars in the sky fell to the earth as figs drop from a fig
- 49:18tree when shaken by a strong wind.
- 49:21The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and
- 49:26every mountain and island was removed from his place.
- 49:29Didn't Hosea also say that he was going to and the, you know,
- 49:34destroy the high places of wickedness?
- 49:38It's kind of like the mountains. I think those are symbolic.
- 49:42Mountains are these wicked, wicked, powerful things that
- 49:51have come on the earth. Then the kings of the earth, the
- 49:55Princess, the general, the rich, see the riches, the rich are
- 50:00included here too. The mighty and everyone else,
- 50:06both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the
- 50:14mountains. They called to the mountains,
- 50:17and the rocks fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who
- 50:23sits on the throne, God the Father, and from the wrath of
- 50:29the Lamb, the wrath of Jesus. For the great day of their wrath
- 50:35has come, and who can withstand it?
- 50:39So this is, you know, seems very similar to what Job's friends
- 50:46talking about. He's like, there's no escape.
- 50:48You know, when, when God, when judgement comes, there's no
- 50:51escape. Now God can do it in phases.
- 50:54You know, there are things that happen in this, you know, this
- 50:57lifetime. But there is going to be an
- 50:59ultimate day of God's wrath when Jesus returns.
- 51:04And it's waiting for the fullness of the Gentiles, the
- 51:07fullest of the non Jewish people, to reach its
- 51:10culmination. But it says like terrors will
- 51:15come over him, total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
- 51:18I'm going back to the book of Job.
- 51:20Now here's where it also gets interesting.
- 51:22It says a fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is
- 51:27left in his tent. The heavens will expose his
- 51:32guilt, the earth will rise up against him, a flood will carry
- 51:38off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.
- 51:43So all these things such as the fate God allots the wicked, the
- 51:48heritage appointed for them by God.
- 51:51So if you're wicked, this is what is going to happen.
- 51:55There's going to be a fire. The heavens will expose the
- 51:59guilt, the earth will rise up is at the earthquake.
- 52:03A flood will carry off his house.
- 52:05Sometimes the floods are armies are people.
- 52:09And it says on the day of God's wrath, the day of God's wrath is
- 52:15a future date. It's not.
- 52:18It hasn't happened yet. So it's almost like back in BC
- 52:21when Job's friends were talking about they knew of this.
- 52:25So then I think this fire unfanned will consume him.
- 52:30There's, if you look up the lake of burning sulfur, you will get,
- 52:35you'll find this in the NIV version in Revelation chapters
- 52:391920 and 21. But if you just look up lake of
- 52:44burning sulfur, because that's where this, this is what is the
- 52:49outcome of what's going to happen for the wicked?
- 52:51So I'm going to read 3 verses from the Book of Revelation and
- 52:56then I'll go through the study guides.
- 52:59Question is answers. There's only a couple questions
- 53:01and answers and then we'll wrap it up.
- 53:04But here's what the burning, the lake of the fiery lake of
- 53:07burning sulfur, Revelation 1920. But the beast was captured.
- 53:12Now the beast is symbolic. It has it is a combination of a
- 53:16lot of people that are in power at the time and with it, the
- 53:20false prophet. There's somebody who's going to
- 53:23be speaking like he's Jesus, but he's going to be evil.
- 53:30So there's the false prophet, and then there's these beasts of
- 53:33nations. It's a nation.
- 53:35It's a grouping of nations. I think there are seven of them.
- 53:37There were 10, but one replaced 3, so then there became 7.
- 53:43That's when you get into the Book of Revelation.
- 53:45So the beast is essentially in the very end, it's made-up of
- 53:49seven nations along with this Antichrist person, which is also
- 53:55called the 8th king that joins them.
- 53:59So with it, the false prophet who had performed the signs on
- 54:03its behalf. So there's going to be this
- 54:05false prophet who's allied with these seven nations who are
- 54:10going to be captured. And the false prophet is going
- 54:14to have these supernatural abilities to perform signs on
- 54:17this behalf. With these signs, he had deluded
- 54:20those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its
- 54:24image. So there's going to be some mark
- 54:27that comes about that people will be required to take.
- 54:31It's going to be a mark of the, some kind of mark.
- 54:34And it says like on your forehead or on your hand.
- 54:36We don't know what it is. It's just talked about a mark
- 54:39that is on your body. And it, it the, the false
- 54:44prophet is the one who makes everybody take it.
- 54:47And he does it on behalf of the beast, these seven nations.
- 54:51So and he's going to make people do this and he's going to make
- 54:55people worship this image, whatever it is.
- 54:58Says the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of
- 55:04burning sulfur. So the beast represents 7
- 55:06different nations, but it's it's a singular beast.
- 55:08They're all like it says they're all of one mind apparently.
- 55:12I think Satan also gives it power and authority that he has.
- 55:16So they all become of one mind, very similar but contrary to us
- 55:22who are believers where Jesus prayed for us, that we become
- 55:26one with him and the Father and become one in spirit.
- 55:29So believers are one with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- 55:34and that's what Jesus asked the Father to make them one as we
- 55:37are 1. So we have the same if we are
- 55:40living by the Spirit, we live similar to what Jesus said like
- 55:45I only do what I see the Father doing.
- 55:48So we will start doing what we know God.
- 55:51If we're led by the Holy Spirit, we will start doing what the
- 55:55will of God essentially. But On the contrary, the beast
- 55:59is doing the same thing but with Satan.
- 56:03So it's the ultimate battle between good and evil, between
- 56:10evil nations and God. And in Revelation 1920, it says
- 56:15the beast was captured. So we know the outcome.
- 56:18We know which side we need to be on God's side.
- 56:21Okay. Revelation 20, verse 10.
- 56:23And the devil who deceived them. So the devil's separate, but he
- 56:28gives this power to the beast. He was thrown into the lake of
- 56:32burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been
- 56:36thrown. They will be tormented day and
- 56:38night forever and ever. So this torment, I mean, hell is
- 56:43not like, just like lights out. It's dark.
- 56:45Oh, well, I didn't get to go into this Kingdom of God.
- 56:49No, it's this burnt lake of burning sulfur is a place of
- 56:54torment, day, day and night, forever and ever.
- 56:59That's eternal torment, eternal torment.
- 57:03And that's where the devil's going to go.
- 57:04Now, the devil goes there after the 1000 years, after Jesus has
- 57:09reigned on earth for 1000 years. So the devil is still kind of
- 57:13free. He's chained up.
- 57:14He's actually bound for 1000 years while Christ reigns on
- 57:19earth from Jerusalem. So there's going to be this time
- 57:23where Satan's not going to have his access to people like he
- 57:28did. But then at the end of the
- 57:29thousand years, he's let loose and he does get a bunch of
- 57:33people to go against God, but they're just wiped out right
- 57:36away. So the Bible tells us.
- 57:37So that's why, you know, we are probably blessed to be, it says
- 57:41like blessed are those who read the words of the Book of
- 57:44Revelation. And so if anybody tells you
- 57:47don't read the Book of Revelation, they're keeping
- 57:50blessings from you because anybody who reads the Book of
- 57:53Revelation will be blessed. And, and probably because it
- 57:55gives you, it gives you clues about what you need to avoid and
- 58:02about, you know, making it through this, this time of
- 58:06tribulation, because there are people who believe in Jesus who
- 58:09are going through this tribulation.
- 58:11I, I don't really know. I, I've been studying this for
- 58:15probably 6 years now. And I, I do know that those who
- 58:20have, who are, have the Holy Spirit that they will not be
- 58:25subject to God's wrath. But I also think that just like
- 58:29Jesus told the parable of the 10 virgins and five had oil and
- 58:32five didn't, they were partially there, or maybe they were baby
- 58:36Christians, but they didn't quite have the Holy Spirit.
- 58:40They weren't living by God. They were, you know, deceived by
- 58:43other people and thinking that they didn't really have to do
- 58:45anything. And and so those people will
- 58:50probably have to go through the tribulation because God does
- 58:54test all his people. Everyone that receives the Holy
- 58:59Spirit is tested. Even Jesus got immediately
- 59:02tested after he after the Holy Spirit came on him.
- 59:06Now he was one in spirit with God.
- 59:08And I don't quite understand that.
- 59:09But at his baptism, I think it was more symbolic for the other
- 59:13people around because he told John who was baptizing that when
- 59:18the spirit descends on the man, this is the one you know, he's
- 59:22the the promised 1 something to that effect.
- 59:25And so then John recognized and I knew that, yeah, Jesus is the
- 59:27one because there was the voice of the Father that happened.
- 59:30Jesus was present getting baptized, and the Holy Spirit
- 59:33descended like a dove on him, is what it said.
- 59:37Then immediately after that, the Spirit LED Jesus into the
- 59:40wilderness to be tempted. So Jesus even went through it
- 59:46and he was, he knew scripture and he was able to respond to
- 59:50Satan every time. Like Satan was kind of saying,
- 59:53hey, I'll give you all this Kingdom if you just bow down and
- 59:56worship me and Jesus like, no, I'm not going to only worship
- 1:00:00God. I will not worship you.
- 1:00:01Satan was effective enough in the heavenly realms where it
- 1:00:07says in the Book of Revelation that he took a third of the
- 1:00:10angels with them. It says that the dragon who is
- 1:00:14defined as Satan symbolically in the Book of Revelation, his tale
- 1:00:17sweeps 1/3 of the angels. So there were a third of the
- 1:00:20angels that got deceived by Satan.
- 1:00:23And if he can deceive supernatural beings, don't you
- 1:00:25think it's probably easier to to deceive human beings?
- 1:00:29But that's why this word of the Lord is so important that we
- 1:00:32know what's in it. So we're not deceived, hopefully
- 1:00:36through prayer in connection with God, He will not let us be
- 1:00:38deceived and we stay in communication with Him and stay
- 1:00:41connected to Him. So then there's one more verse
- 1:00:45in Revelation 21, verse 8, and this one will hit.
- 1:00:50But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
- 1:00:55murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts,
- 1:01:03the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the
- 1:01:10fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
- 1:01:17So this is the end, the ultimate judgment by God.
- 1:01:25And if people are not repentant and if they hang on to this
- 1:01:32stuff, listen to everything that's listed here about who is
- 1:01:36going to be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
- 1:01:40This is the second death. If, if this describes if you're,
- 1:01:45if you're a coward, you know, that probably comes up when
- 1:01:50Jesus, you know, in our faith again about Jesus, like if we
- 1:01:54are ever called to denounce our faith against Jesus, don't be a
- 1:01:58coward because if you believe, you won't be The Holy Spirit is
- 1:02:03what gives us a power and courage.
- 1:02:06So if you have the Holy Spirit, you're not going to be a coward.
- 1:02:10You may lose your life not denying Jesus, but if you truly
- 1:02:15believe, it's no big deal because you're going to be with
- 1:02:17God. If you don't believe, then
- 1:02:22you're an unbeliever. And the unbelieving are also
- 1:02:25ones who suffer this fate, the vile, you know, that's kind of
- 1:02:29explanatory, that you know who the vile are, the murderers.
- 1:02:33Now, The thing is that even the murderers, if someone repents
- 1:02:38and turns to God, changes their life, receives the Holy Spirit,
- 1:02:43they don't have to suffer this. In fact, Paul was essentially A
- 1:02:46murderer. He was persecuting the
- 1:02:49Christians. He was, it sounds like when you
- 1:02:53read Scripture in detail that he was present when Stephen was
- 1:02:57being stoned to death and he allowed it to happen.
- 1:03:01And Jesus said to Paul when he met him on the road to from
- 1:03:04Damascus, he said, you know, Saul was his name at the time.
- 1:03:08Like, why are you persecuting me?
- 1:03:10I am Jesus, the one you persecute.
- 1:03:13Now Paul's life changed and he lost his vision for a period of
- 1:03:17time, and then he was Jesus told him what to do and he was
- 1:03:20obedient to Jesus. And then his vision was restored
- 1:03:25and then he wrote a good chunk of the New Testament.
- 1:03:28So Paul was essentially our Saul was essentially the murderer
- 1:03:32before Jesus, you know, intercepted him.
- 1:03:36And then his response to Jesus was obedience and and
- 1:03:44repentance. I mean, he wrote, he writes so
- 1:03:46much about what we study in the Bible.
- 1:03:50But if he didn't change like that, he would have been in
- 1:03:53there too. But you know, God wants to see
- 1:03:55everyone come to repentance. Then here's a big one, the
- 1:03:59sexually immoral. You might just want to like
- 1:04:02ponder that for a bit. Like what?
- 1:04:04Who are sexually immoral people? What does sexually immoral
- 1:04:08encompass? And I think that's a pretty
- 1:04:11broad net that may encompass most of the people on the earth.
- 1:04:17And this is something very serious that God has in his word
- 1:04:22that we need to come to grip with.
- 1:04:24And the way our world is isn't supportive of this.
- 1:04:30It, it speaks totally different to this and and doesn't make
- 1:04:35this a big deal. But if it tells us in Revelation
- 1:04:3921, verse 8 that anybody who continues to practice in this,
- 1:04:44the location of their eternity is going to be the fiery lake of
- 1:04:48burning sulfur. And we know from Revelation 1920
- 1:04:52or actually Revelation 20 verse 10, this is somewhere that has
- 1:04:57torment day and night forever and ever.
- 1:05:04And then it says those who practice magic arts, like
- 1:05:07probably all the things that God forbid, divination, astrology,
- 1:05:13all of these things that invoke something spiritual but not good
- 1:05:18spiritual things to just get rid of occult type practices, all
- 1:05:24those things, the idolaters. I mean, this probably
- 1:05:27encompasses most of the people on the earth, whether we have a
- 1:05:33another fake God that we worship our false God or we've been led
- 1:05:38to believe some religion that doesn't elevate Jesus Christ as
- 1:05:43the Son of God and that he died and resurrected.
- 1:05:46Where anybody who doesn't, you know, agree to that or believe
- 1:05:52that is an idolater. They have some other entity that
- 1:05:57they're worshipping. And and then we can also be an
- 1:06:01idolater with things that we have.
- 1:06:03Where is God in, in our priority rank?
- 1:06:06If we have to rank what is our most important in our life?
- 1:06:09Where does God fit? If we have something above God,
- 1:06:12that whatever is listed above, God is an idol.
- 1:06:17And if we make our plans around God, we have to really seriously
- 1:06:23look at are we are we idolatrous in that decision?
- 1:06:29I think these are things that we need to come to grips with with
- 1:06:31ourself. And it's between US and God.
- 1:06:33We don't have to talk to anybody else about it.
- 1:06:35It's this is, this is personal. And then liars.
- 1:06:39I mean, God hates liars. I think that might, I'm not sure
- 1:06:43if that's one of the seven. I think it is one of the seven
- 1:06:46things that God hates is lying. So again, be honest about
- 1:06:50things. And that includes being honest
- 1:06:52with ourselves about, you know, do these, do these qualities
- 1:06:58describe us? And if they do, now is the time
- 1:07:01to ask God for forgiveness and ask God for the Holy Spirit to
- 1:07:07change us. Don't try to do it on your own
- 1:07:09because it's pretty impossible or pretty difficult.
- 1:07:12It'll still be difficult even with the Holy Spirit because
- 1:07:15we're fighting against our natural desires for sin.
- 1:07:18And but it's not. It becomes easier and easier the
- 1:07:22more you submit to God and to the Holy Spirit and respond to
- 1:07:27him. And often he does give
- 1:07:30blessings. So there's always rewards.
- 1:07:32God's just such a good Father that he does reward quite a bit.
- 1:07:36So anyway, I'm going to wrap that up now and I think there
- 1:07:41are just a couple more study Bible questions and answers.
- 1:07:45So who who thinks the joy of the godless is but a moment?
- 1:07:50Zophar and other biblical writers like James in one in
- 1:07:54chapter 1 verse 11 thought so. The joy of the wicked, though
- 1:07:57certainly doesn't seem brief to godly people who are suffering.
- 1:08:01Fortunately, Scripture always points us to a larger time frame
- 1:08:06when the Lord are with the Lord. A day is like 1000 years and
- 1:08:121000 years are like a day. Second Peter chapter 3 verse 8
- 1:08:17and then Psalm 90 verses 3 through 12.
- 1:08:21So what seems long to us is nothing in comparison to
- 1:08:26eternity. And then how could rivers flow
- 1:08:31with honey and cream? This is a figurative expression
- 1:08:35to picture the good life in Psalm 36, eight.
- 1:08:38It represents the wicked's overwhelming abundance of good
- 1:08:40things to eat and drink. Canaan was said to be the land
- 1:08:43of land flowing with milk and honey in Exodus 13.
- 1:08:47Five. When does God settle his
- 1:08:49accounts with the Wickeds? Zofar probably saw that God
- 1:08:52settling his accounts with Job in the fertile terrible things
- 1:08:56he had suffered. In some instances, not Jobs.
- 1:08:59God judges wicked in this life. They reap what they sow
- 1:09:04Galatians 67. However, ultimate judgement
- 1:09:09according to the New Testament comes after death.
- 1:09:12When one's eternal destiny is settled, Matthew 25 verse 46,
- 1:09:17then the scales of justice will be finally balanced and that's
- 1:09:22the end of the study. Bibles very much longer podcast
- 1:09:24than I intended, but hopefully it was beneficial.
- 1:09:28If you got something from this or you think somebody else can
- 1:09:30benefit, please send this to somebody because I think there's
- 1:09:34God speaks to us through his Word.
- 1:09:36And if you're not subscribed, please do so and I hope you have
- 1:09:40a blessed day.