Clean Transcript

The Same Message

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• Ezekiel chapter 14. Ezekiel chapter 14. And we're going to read at least verses 1 through probably 9. Let's read 1 through 8. So the title of the message is "The Same Message." You will understand momentarily. So Ezekiel chapter 14, beginning there with verse 1: "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore, thus say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all

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• your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." So the title of the message is indeed "The Same Message." And let me just say this by way of introduction: Oftentimes we need to hear the same message over and over. Many times repetition is used in the Bible, and many times it takes repetition to work in our lives in order for the truth to sink in. It really and truly does not matter how intelligent one is or how studious one is when it comes to the Word of God, because unless the Holy Spirit of God opens your eyes, opens your understanding, you will never ever really perceive spiritual truth. Now, however, the truth is that repetition does indeed aid learning. In fact,

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• the Holy Spirit uses repetition. The Lord Jesus Christ used repetition. And usually speaking, the more you read, the more you study, the more you hear upon a subject, the greater your understanding will be, and the greater your ability will be to handle that subject. Usually most truth is mastered by repetition, and that is why we start our children off on phonics and the ABCs and we just repeat them over and over, the times table, because that is simply the way to learn. At times repetition may be exceedingly painful. Now let me explain what I mean by that. In my 58 years of teaching and preaching, I've taught everything from the fourth grade all the way through college. I remember the very first time I taught fourth graders.

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• I picked up our history book. It was a good history book, but it was only about an inch thick, maybe an inch and a half at the most. And I looked at that book and I said to myself, "Whoa, this book's not gonna last me two months. What am I gonna do for the rest of the year?" And I covered the first four chapters in one week. And then I gave a quiz and every one of my students failed. I had some very intelligent students in that class and I knew it was not their fault. It was my fault. So I didn't count the quiz and I had to go back to chapter 1 and very slowly, very painfully repeat those truths over and over and over. While it was good for them,

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• it was absolute torture for me. But that was the way it is. You just can't teach fourth graders the way that you teach college students or even teenagers. It was just that simple. So repetition, in that sense of the word, was painful for me. I want you to look at a passage very quickly. Hold Ezekiel 14, but look at Mark chapter 10, if you would please, and verse 1. Here's a very interesting verse. Mark chapter 10 and verse 1. Since we're talking about repetition right now, look at what the scripture says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark 10 and verse 1.

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• "And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coast of Judea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont"—or as he was accustomed—"he taught them again."

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• Now, I want you to note the word "again" occurs twice in this verse. In each instance, it is the Greek word "palin," which means a renewal or a repetition of an action. Thus there is the possibility that our Lord taught the same people again, and he may also have taught them the same truth again. The principle is very simple: we need to hear truth over and over. Years ago,

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• I heard about an elderly black preacher who was preaching on the 8th commandment, and he preached on the 8th commandment week after week after week. And finally some of the deacons came to him and asked him when he was going to preach on something else. And he answered, "When you start obeying what I'm already preaching on, until then I'm going to keep preaching it." Well, that's certainly true. Repetition is needed. That is so obvious.

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• Now, since you're in the book of Mark, I want you to look, if you would please, in Mark chapter 4, because here again is the same principle that I'm enunciating. So look in Mark chapter 4, beginning there with verse 23. Let me make a statement before I read it. Here it is: Unless we can apply the truth, we really do not possess the truth. Unless you can make application of truth, you really do not comprehend and understand truth. So look at what our Lord said in Mark 4 verse 23: "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." So we need hearing ears. And he said unto them, "Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." Now watch it. Truth mastered is truth applied. So the principle of Mark chapter 4 is very simple.

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• If you do not use the truth, you will lose the truth. If you do not use the truth, you will lose the truth. I've never in my entire life taken our car motor apart. Steve has, I'm sure. Steve can tell me how to do it. But that does not mean I have understanding enough to make application of it. And I usually tell people I'm pretty good at tearing things up. I'm just not too good at putting them back together. But the truth of the matter is, if I took 50 or 60 motors apart and put them back together, I'd become pretty adept at it because repetition aids learning. And the truth of the matter is, you have to use the truth over and over for it to become a part of me and for me to master it. So I've been asked many times by people,

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• "Why is it I cannot understand the Bible?" Well, there's a number of answers to that. Number one, if you're unsaved, you're not going to understand the Word of God anyhow. But number two, I would say this based upon Mark chapter 4: Unless you use the truth, you're going to not really have the truth. So here's the questions I normally ask people: Why in the world should God give you truth if you're not going to obey it? Why in the world should God give you more truth if you will not obey the truth that is already given you? In other words, if there is no application of truth in your life, in reality you do not possess it. Notice what he said in verse 25: "For he that hath, to him shall be given"—now watch—"and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." And another passage—this passage occurs in Luke 8 and several other passages in Matthew as well—but he said "that which he seemeth to have." In other words, if you cannot make application, you really do not have it.

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• You just seem to have it. So the truth of the matter is, if you don't use the truth, you're going to absolutely lose the truth. Now so many tend to think that the Old Testament is irrelevant. In fact, I had a brother this morning tell me about a conversation that he had with another man who'd been listening to some of my sermons, and he said, "Well, Brother Weaver preaches a lot from the Old Testament." My friend said, "Well, you know, the Old Testament is the Word of God as well." Well, the man said, "The Old Testament's been done away with." And Roy said, "No, sir. It has not been done away with. It is the Word of God." So you have to understand this: You have to understand that it's impossible for you to know the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. In fact, let me just put it to you like this. There is an old saying and it goes like this: that the new is in the old concealed, and the old is in the new revealed. In other words, everything in the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament truth is brought to full light in the New Testament. Now

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• it's impossible to understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. In fact, there are approximately 295 direct quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament. Some of them are pretty extensive, in the fact that it covers 352 verses in the New Testament. If you counted the allusions to the Old Testament, you would have as many as 4,000 references. And when you get to the book of Revelation, there's approximately 200 allusions to the Old Testament just in the book of Revelation alone.

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• So I usually tell people like this: The answer is very simple. We have one Bible, not two Bibles. And you're going to see that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. There are not two gods. There is only one God. Consequently, the burden of the Old Testament is on the unity of God. That is why Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 and 5, the scripture says it like this: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." So you have one Bible and you have one God. God is one. His Word is one. And when you despise one, you end up despising the other. Let me just remind you, you can find this truth first of all in John 5 verses 21 through 23, where our Lord said, "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." Wow. And the Bible says that the Father judgeth no

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• man. The next verse: "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Why? Here's why: "That all men may honor the Son, even as"—equally as—"they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father." So you have one God, and then you have his word is one, because in John 12 in verse 48, our Lord said it like this: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him in the last day: even the word which I have spoken." Now the reason I'm emphasizing this before I get to Ezekiel chapter 14 is because I want you to understand that many people, without even thinking about it, either embrace polytheism or atheism. Polytheism is a belief of many gods, and there are some people who will think that the God of the Old Testament is something that's mean, and the God of the New Testament is merciful. No, there are not two gods. There's only one God.

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• And the God of the Old Testament is indeed the God of the New Testament. So we have one God and we have one word. I'm going to tell you why I'm emphasizing this. In 2006 a man by the name of Richard Dawkins published a book entitled "The God Delusion," and he contended that a supernatural creator does not exist and that all religious faith is nothing more than a delusion. Here's an exact quote from Richard Dawkins. I will come back and point out several things, but listen to this quote. He said, "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." Really? Well, first of all, I want to point out that he said, and I quote, "the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction." So he says the Bible is fiction.

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• It's not even the Word of God to him. Secondly, I'm going to point out the fact that since Dawkins is an atheist, there's no way in the world that he can understand the Bible. There's no way that he can even sense God, because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2 in verse 14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So fallen man does not have the ability in and of himself to perceive, to understand the Word of God. And so in reality, when Dawkins is describing his view of God, in reality, he's describing himself in the pride and arrogancy of his depraved and fallen heart.

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• He is the one that is the maniac. That is for sure. God is immutable. God does not change. Hence there is the same message in the Old Testament as the same message in the New Testament. So since God is one, his message is one. And I want to point this out very clearly today. The interesting thing is, when you look at Ezekiel chapter 14, you're going to find the message that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament is the same message that he gives to the church in the New Testament. So first of all, I want you to look at the first five verses, because here is a command to remember. Watch this: "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?

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• Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are estranged from me through their idols." So here's what our Lord is doing. He's commanding them to remember their rebellion, their idolatry, their wickedness, their sin. They have despised him. They refused him. They disobeyed him. They've chosen idols over him. They are estranged from him. Now in their trouble and in their desperation,

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• they're coming to Ezekiel and asking for help. Remember now, Ezekiel was a priest turned prophet in Babylon. These people were in the first captivity. They're already in Babylon. So now they're coming to Ezekiel and wanting to know about God speaking to them. They're in trouble. They're in desperation. Now they wish to inquire of God, and God said, "Look, no, I'm not gonna be inquired of by you." David enunciated this principle very clearly in Psalm 66 in verse 18 when he said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." These people certainly had iniquity. They had their idols. They had their abominations. And God said, "I'm not going to be inquired of by you. I'm not going to do it." Now, it's not like these people have not been warned. They were warned. They were warned not only by God himself in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, they were also warned by the prophet Jeremiah. And Jeremiah preached to these people over and over and over, and they refused to listen. God sent messenger after messenger. Let me show you. Hold Ezekiel 14, but turn back

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• in your Bibles if you would to Jeremiah chapter 25, and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Let me show you this. Jeremiah 25 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Look at it. Jeremiah 25 verse 4: The Bible says, "And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." God said, "I sent my servants the prophets and warned you, but you would not listen. You would not hear." Look in Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 19. Jeremiah 29 verse 19: Again, God says it like this: "Because they have not hearkened to my word, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord." You wouldn't hear. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 33. Jeremiah 32 verse 33—in fact, let's read verse 32: "Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me

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• to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." Wow. Look, if you would, Jeremiah chapter 35 and verse 15. Jeremiah 35 verse 15: Here it is again: "I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend

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• your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me." One last passage: look in Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 4. Jeremiah 44 and verse 4: Again, God says, "Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate."

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• So here's my question: How many times must an individual be warned? How many times must the nation be warned? I mean, when you stop and think about this, God not only warned them himself in his law in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, now he sends all of these prophets and all of these messengers, and nobody listens to him. No one heeds. No one hears. So how many times should a man be warned? How many times should a nation be warned? And the truth of the matter is this: if that warning is coming from the one sovereign God of heaven and earth, one should be sufficient, because he possesses all authority and all power. I'm going to tell you something: I believe in my heart that one of the truths that is going to haunt the unsaved throughout eternity, and if they're able to speak, they're going to be saying something like this: "If only I... if only... if only... if only I had listened. If only I had listened." You stop and think how many times

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• people have heard the Word of God preached and still refuse to obey, refused to listen. Now God is calling them to remember their sins. Now I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2. He's not only calling them to remember their sins, but he's also calling them to remember from where they have fallen. Look at this: Jeremiah 2 verse 1: "Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase." So look what God is saying: "I remember what you were at one time. I remember how you loved me. I remember how you regarded me. I remember how you respected and honored me. I remember the kindness and the love that you've shown for me. I remember that. But now you've fallen into absolute idolatry." Look, if you would, in verse 27 of Jeremiah chapter 2. Watch this.

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• This is how stupidly insane these people became: "Saying to a stock"—a wooden idol—"Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will arise and say, Arise, and save us." Wow. Notice, if you would, God said, "They've turned their back unto me, and not their face." He said the same thing in Jeremiah 32 in verse 33: "And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face." So here's a question to ask: How is it that a people who profess to love God and serve him, who had his law and who experienced firsthand his miracles, his might—how could they turn their backs upon God? Well, if you could answer that, I can help you to understand.

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• Look what America has done. Look at the faith of our Founding Fathers. Look at our original charters and constitutions. Look at the courage those people had. Look at their convictions. Look at their character. And look where we are today. Everyone and everything is against God, against the Bible, against Christianity, against morality. No one has any character or convictions any longer. I'm just simply pointing out the fact we have done exactly that which ancient Israel has done. And God commands Israel in Ezekiel chapter 14 to remember—not only remember from where they fell, but what they fell into. So here's another question: Why does God command them to remember? Well, if you look back in Ezekiel chapter 14, here's why: because in verse 6 he commands them to repent. Look at it. He says, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all of your abominations." And do you understand that it is impossible to repent unless there's something specific that you are to turn from? So God is encouraging them to remember their sins so they can turn from those sins. It's impossible for you to return to a former estate if you do not know what that former estate really and truly was. So in verse 6 he's demanding

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• repentance: turning from their idols, turning from their abominations. Now most modern-day Christians would kind of smile and say, "Well, you know, we don't have idols. I mean, we're not bowing down to a stock or to a stone. We're not kissing the toe—we're kissing the finger of an idol. We're modern. We don't do things like that." Really? Well, let me show you something. Look, if you would please, back in verse 3. Watch this. Look in verse 3: "Son of man, these men have set up their idols"—where? Where did they set them up? "In their heart." "And put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face." Now skip down to verse 5: "That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart; because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel,

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• Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols." Where were those idols? In their heart. So the idols were not external and physical; they were internal and spiritual. Now you're going to say, "I don't have an idol." Do you understand that an idol can be anything that comes between you and your God? An idol can be a husband. It can be a wife. It can be a child.

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• It can be children. It could be money. It could be a job. It could be pride. It could be your own will, because you want your will more than the will of God. It could be your own way, because you want your own way. Let me show you something. I want you to hold Ezekiel 14, but turn in your Bibles if you would to the book of Colossians chapter 3. Here we go. Look in Colossians chapter 3—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians—Colossians 3, and look if you would please at verse 5. Colossians 3 and verse 5. Look at this. God says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." The word "mortify" means to make dead or to count dead. "So mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.

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• Here's what he talks about: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." And covetousness, which is idolatry. Actually, all of these things are idolatry, but all of them fall under the head of covetousness. For instance, if I desire another man's wife, I'm not only an adulterer, I am an idolater. Because covetousness is idolatry. I'm placing myself above "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." I'm placing myself above "Thou shalt not commit adultery." I'm placing myself above "Thou shalt not covet." So I'm actually committing idolatry in the sense that I'm dethroning God and enthroning myself. If I desire another man's money, I'm not only a thief, I am an idolater, because I'm despising "Thou shalt not steal." If, for instance, I am addicted to porn, I'm not only a fornicator, I'm an idolater. How can that be? Well, let's see.

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• Pornography comes from two Greek words: "pornos," which is fornicator, and "grapho," the verb "I write." Pornography just means fornication writing or fornication pictures. It's that which is written, pictured, or drawn that is unbiblical, contrary to God and His law, and consequently, it is covetousness and it is idolatry. It is fornication. It is idolatry. In fact, the truth of the matter is, it does not even have to be written. It does not even have to be pictured.

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• You remember what our Lord said in Matthew chapter 5 verses 27 and 28? He said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." There was no picture. It was already in his mind, in his heart. There was no writing, but God said it was already adultery. So the truth of the matter is our idols are in our hearts and in our minds. Our idols may be secret to our spouses, to our family, to our friends, but they're not secret to God. But our idols are idols of our heart. They're known to God.

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• He commands us, just like he did Israel—I'm going to show you—he commands us to remember. He commands us to repent. And there must be a repentance and there must be a remembrance, or else... What is the "or else"? Look back at Ezekiel chapter 14. If there is no remembrance, if there is no repentance, there will be a removal. Look, if you would, beginning at verse 7. Look what he said: "For every one of the house of Israel, or the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols

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• in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: And now watch what God says: "And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord."

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• So thirdly, if there is no remembrance, if there is no repentance, there is removal. There is removal.

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• Now look what God said: "I will set my face against that man." Have you ever stopped to think about what that means? "I'll set my face against that man." I don't know if any of you ever watched any of the UFC or any of these boxing matches or even wrestling matches, as fake as it is, but I mean usually these two men come out, they're gonna fight, and they're supposed to touch gloves or whatever, and they're standing there scowling at each other, making faces, you know, they're trying to face their opponent down. They're trying to put fear into him. It's what it amounts to. And God said, "Listen to this: I set my face against that man." How would you like to be faced down by God?

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• Not only that, look what else he said in verse 8: "And I will make him a sign and a proverb." That is, he's going to judge you so strenuously that you'll become a sign and you'll become a proverb. How would you like to be remembered like Pharaoh? How would you like to be remembered like Haman? How would you like to be remembered like Alexander the coppersmith? God said, "I'm gonna set my face against that man. I'll make him a sign and a proverb." Watch the next: "And I will cut him off from the midst of my people." I will cut him off. How would you like to be cut down by the mighty, miraculous judgments of God?

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• I want you to listen to what Matthew Henry said on this passage. Listen. He's talking about these men who come to inquire of God with their idols in their hearts. He said this: "He shall have his answer, not by the words of the prophet, but by the judgments of God. And I will set my face against that man, which denotes great displeasure against him, and a fixed resolution to ruin him. God can outface the most impenitent sinner. The hypocrite thought to save his credit, nay, and to gain applause, but on the contrary, God will make him a sign and a proverb, will inflict such judgments upon him as shall make him remarkable and contemptible in the eyes of all about him.

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• His misery shall be made use of to express the greatest misery, and when the worst of sinners are said to have their portion appointed them with the hypocrites, God will make him an example. His judgments upon him shall be for a warning to others to take heed of mocking God. For thus shall it be done to the man that separates himself from God and yet pretends to inquire concerning him. The hypocrite thought to pass for one of God's people, and to crowd into heaven among them. But God will cut him off from the midst of his people, will discover him, and pluck him out from the thickest of them. And by this, says God, you shall know that I am the Lord. By the discovery of hypocrites, it appears that God is omniscient. Ministers know not how people stand affected when they come to hear the word, but God does. And by the punishment of hypocrites, it appears that he is a jealous God and one that cannot and will not be imposed upon." And that is true. That is true. No one is going to face down

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• God. No one is going to deceive him. No one is going to trick him. No one is going to slip by him.

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• Now, I want to show you this. In Ezekiel 14, God commands them to remember. He commands them to repent. And he says, if you do not, I will remove you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 2, and I want us to read the first five verses, because I want you to see the same message in the New Testament that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament. Let's begin reading there with verse 1. Revelation 2.

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• "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." Now if you want to know what the seven stars are and the seven golden candlesticks, look back to Revelation 1 in verse 20: "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels"—or the messengers—"of the seven churches"—that is, the pastors—"and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." So the stars are the pastors or the messengers, and the candlesticks are the churches. Now, so he's writing this to the church of Ephesus. He says in verse 2, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." Which has been what you and I would call good works.

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• However, look at verse 4: "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen." Did you hear that? "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." So the very same message that God gave to Israel and Judah in Ezekiel 14 is exactly the same message that he gives to the church in Revelation 2 verses 1 through 5. As individuals and church members and as churches, we must remember from whence we are fallen. We have left, and yes, even lost our first love of the Lord, as Israel did.

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• We have turned to the idols of our own hearts in our own covetousness. Our labor, our patience, our works cannot and do not replace our love and the relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must remember our first espousals. We must remember the joy, the happiness, the love, and the thankfulness that we had when we first turned to the Lord. We may still labor for Him, but we've lost our first love. We've lost the joy. We've lost the happiness. We've lost what we possessed initially. That's why he calls upon us to remember, and then he tells us to repent. We have to turn back to him in fullness of faith, in fullness of love and joy and service. We have to become again happy and sacrificial, loving in obedience and thankful in service. We must remember and we must repent. If there is no remembrance and if there is no repentance, he said in verse 5, watch: "Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick"—that is, your church—"out of his place.

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• That could be individually, except thou repent." It is people who make up the church, and God said, "I'll just remove your ministry and I'll remove you as individuals if you do not repent." Now I want you to turn back in your Bibles if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 4. 1 Samuel chapter 4. I hope you remember Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni and Phinehas were wicked, wicked boys, and although they were priests, they were exceedingly wicked. And God told Eli that he's going to destroy both Hophni and Phinehas in one day because of their sins. There was a war with the Philistines,

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• and Israel was not having the success that they desired, and so they sent for the ark and they said, "Bring us the ark, that it may save us"—not God, but the ark. And they put their faith in the symbol instead of the God of the symbol. And of course, there was a great battle. The ark was taken. Israel was defeated. One fled from the army. Old Eli was sitting down; he was old, blind, and heavy, and he heard the commotion and asked what it was. And he was told that Israel had been defeated and the ark had been stolen or taken. And about that time Eli fell backwards and broke his neck. And then of course Phinehas had a wife, and she was pregnant. And now she's heard that the ark has been taken, her father-in-law is dead,

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• her husband is dead. Look at it: 1 Samuel chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. Look at it. "And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken." Ichabod: the glory has departed. Do you realize that is exactly what God has done to most churches?

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• They continue to exist, but the word of God is written over the door. You stop and think about the Church of Jesus Christ today. Most of us have been removed. We've been removed from the sphere of influence. We've been removed from the sphere of impact. We've been removed from the sphere of importance. At the founding of this country, nothing was done without the pastors being inquired of and the Word of God being inquired of concerning the issues of the day, whether they were political, whether they were economic, it did not matter. Today there is no impact from the church on government, on politics, on economics, on anything. The church still exists, but we're on life support. Therefore, he calls upon us to remember, repent, or else we will be removed. So let me make just a couple of applications today. The first one is this: We are sinners, and by nature we're sinners, and by nature we love our sins. We may be Christians, but we are still sinners. And by nature we want that which we want. We want our desires.

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• We want our lusts. We want our wills. We want our way. And yet we are commanded to remember and repent. It's very easy for you and I to lose our first love. It's very easy for you and I to lose our respect and our regard for the Word of God in the sense that we refuse to obey it when it gets in our way, when it steps in front of us and says, "Don't do this," and we say, "But I want this." And we just tend to go around the Word of God that's blocking the road and do what we're doing. And we lose.

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• We end up being removed. I could sit here today and tell you pastor after pastor, as well as husband and wife after husband and wife, who've lost their ministries, who've lost their homes, who've lost their families because of fornication, because of adultery. It's just that simple. I mean, we've lost our first love. It's what it amounts to. And we lost our infatuation with the Lord. We've lost the respect and honor of our Lord. So he calls upon us to remember. I tell people, if you came to our house and went in our bedroom, you'll see a picture of Alice and I. It's an old picture. Since we've been married over 60 years, neither one of us can remember whether we were just courting or whether we were engaged at that time. I don't remember. But I do know this: I can look at that picture and I can see myself with a 28-inch waist and wearing a size 14 shirt and a full head of black hair, and I can see Alice weighed about 90 pounds and a little tweed skirt. I mean, and

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• I can look at that picture and I think, "Man, that calls back memories." I can tell you it calls back memories. How she used to chase me... I think... What are you laughing about? But yeah, it calls back all kinds of memories. And you know, we laugh at that. But you don't know how many times I've looked at that picture and I said to myself, "I remember. I remember. I remember." You know something? That's exactly what God calls us to: to remember what we had in Him when we were first converted. How we loved Him.

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• How we could not get enough of Him. We couldn't get enough of the Word of God. We couldn't get enough of preaching and teaching. We just wanted everything that we could get from Him. So He calls upon us to remember and repent.

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• Now here's the second one. It does not take serious sins like adultery or fornication or theft or murder to cause us to be set aside. It can be something as simple as complacency, as a desire for comfort. We don't like to be disturbed. We don't like to be upset. We don't like to be excited. You know what the Bible says in Amos 6 in verse 1? "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." It's kind of like the bride in the Song of Solomon. She says, basically, "I've put off my shoes. How can I put them back on? I've put off my dress. How can I put it back on? I'm already in bed.

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• It's too much trouble for me to get up and go answer the door. I've done all this," and, you know, we get comfortable. We like what we like. I didn't finish that verse. Amos 6 in verse 1: He says, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!" Now, notice, if you would, "the mountain of Samaria." Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom. So here it goes: "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion," that trust in government. You know, that's exactly where we are today. We have allowed the government to take over and to steal God's honor and God's glory in so many areas.

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• We gave it to them. We no longer want to take care of our own elderly parents. We want the government to do it. We don't want to take care of our sick family. We want the government to do it. We don't want to help those of our family members who have fallen on hard times. We want the government to do it. "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion," that are unconcerned about the truths of God, the justice of God, the judgments of God, the mercy of God, and trust in the mountain of Samaria.

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• The average Christian today really knows nothing about trusting the Lord. That may be one reason as to why we're facing such hard times. And probably we'll be facing much harder times, so we can learn once again to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not to our own understanding, and in all our ways to acknowledge him. But he calls upon us to remember and to repent,

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• or else he'll remove us. We have one God. We have one law. We have one Bible. It's the same message from Genesis to Revelation: Remember. And repent. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would indeed help us to remember. Help us to repent. Help us, Father, to turn from our covetous hearts unto Thee, to trust in Thee. And Lord, call us back to our first love. And may, Father, You hold first place in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:27:40Z