Word for the Weekend - Ezekiel 33

Word for the Weekend - Ezekiel 33 Jacob Prasch [00:00:00] Blessings in Jesus, dear friends. Welcome to Word for the Weekend here on RTN Christian TV and radio, coming to you from Scotland to Britain to the world. RTN is Scotland's leading Christian internet tv platform and we have a range of speakers and a variety of features the usual social media we have podcasts we have christian radio wonderful bible expositors evangelists and some very edifying and lyrically scripturally based Christian worship music. [00:00:35] I hope you'll avail yourself of RTN as a resource for your edification and for evangelism. Tell your friends about us. We'd love to have you join us. Meanwhile, my name is James Jacob Prasch, and this week we'll be looking at the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33. Ezekiel chapter 33. I'm with a ministry called Moriel, which is affiliated with RTN. [00:01:05] You can get those details on moriel. org. Now RTN and Moriel have their own independent Service. We cannot be closed down by the powers that be in social media and so forth. They can close us down, but we're on our own. If you're able to watch RTN on RTN, please watch us on RTN. Alternatively, we have Rumble. [00:01:33] We don't need YouTube. We don't need the mainstream social media. Please watch us on our own server. or watch us on Rumble, and the same would apply, of course, to Moriel TV. We just don't need them. They're increasingly, increasingly hostile to Christian views, particularly morally conservative Christian views, and we have to operate outside of their control to the degree possible while we can in these times in which we live. [00:02:04] But the Lord is coming, and we are preparing the way for His return with His grace and help. So, let's continue. Look with me, please, if you will, to the book of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 33. [00:02:25] Now, let's just look at a few of the features of the book, or a few aspects of the book of Ezekiel by way of introduction. I know there may be some new believers who are not all that familiar with it. Ezekiel came when the Babylonian Captivity, predicted by Joel, predicted by Isaiah, predicted by Jeremiah, was already underway. [00:02:48] It was already underway. He was somewhat contemporary with the prophet Daniel, but the Babylonian captivity commenced in approximately 585 BC when the first temple was destroyed. And Ezekiel comes along. Now, by Ezekiel's day, the false prophets who Jeremiah railed against were all proven to be liars. [00:03:14] People like Cain and Iah, those who prophesied falsely in God's name, were proven to have lying spirits. Jeremiah and his associates. Such as Baruch who were persecuted were vindicated the events of history vindicated them. Their prophecies came true. King Menashe sought Isaiah and half my historical notation. [00:03:40] Um, yet Isaiah's prophecies, his warnings were all false. Coming, the true prophets prove true, the false prophets prove false. But by Ezekiel's day, the people had become so morally depraved and estranged from their God and from his word and from the Torah that it didn't matter. They still persisted in doing the same kinds of evil things. [00:04:06] even as the temple was being destroyed. We see this in Ezekiel chapters 8 and 9. Another feature of the book of Ezekiel that we need to note is he is unique in that he is literally called the Son of Man. The Son of Man. The Son of Man is the title of Jesus coming to earth. In eternity, Jesus is always the son of God, but when he comes to earth, he's only referred to as the son of man. [00:04:35] Ezekiel, in some way, prefigures Christ. He's a historical type of Christ from this aspect of being the son of man. Now, of course, in the book of Daniel, we see with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking in the oven, the fourth one who appeared with them was one like the son of man. I have no doubt that that was a Christophany, that that was actually Jesus in the Old Testament. [00:05:00] in the oven with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But uniquely, Ezekiel is called son of man, son of man as a figure. And Ezekiel was told something. He was told right from the onset of the ministry that most people will reject you. Most people will not accept what you say. Even though what you say will be factually undeniable, even though what you say cannot be refuted, they will still reject you and they will ignore what you say and oppose you for saying it. [00:05:37] Well, that's quite a mission. That's quite a mission. Who would want a job like that? We always say, you know, this is true of other prophets. Hosea, Amos, Amos said, I'm not the prophet or the son of a prophet. I'm a farmer. He didn't want the job. No person in their right mind would want the job of a prophet. [00:06:01] Nobody in their right mind would want that job. [00:06:08] God raised up prophets. When things had gone wrong, or were about to go wrong, or in serious danger of going wrong and becoming more wrong. He did not raise up prophetic voices in good times. He did not. Even in the New Testament, you see the prophecies of Agabus about what was going to happen to Paul in Jerusalem. [00:06:30] It is not a happy job. Nobody wants the job of a prophet. It is a burden and a calling that God gives to people, but nobody, nobody who understands what it is would want it. Whenever you see somebody wanting to be a prophet, P R O P H E T, it's because they're out to make a prophet, P R O F I T, usually. If somebody wants to be a prophet, they're either ignorant or they're out to make a prophet. [00:07:04] It is a thankless job. There is a reward in heaven, but don't expect much gratification or recognition or thanks in this life or in this fallen world, the times in which we live. Ezekiel prophesied during the rise of Babylon, the Babylonian Empire. The whole Babylon motif goes back to the Tower of Babel, of course, with Semiramis. [00:07:32] But this is beyond that. What happens with the Babylonian captivity? Takes place in the last days, the rise of Babylon is a picture of the rise of Babylon, the great, the rise of Babylon, the great. We see the rise of Babylon be great. Now a confederation of the world's false religious system acting in concert with its corrupt economic system and its corrupt political system. [00:08:04] Um, Rick Warren openly boasted of being a member of the American Council of Foreign Relations, trying to unite these three things, economics, politics, and religion. Um, this is the rise of Babylon. Um, a lot can be said about it. The Antichrist and false prophet will attempt and with some success bamboozle people into accepting a false peace in the Middle East that will, of course, break down. [00:08:33] But false religion will be a major component of how they deceive people. There'll be other things, there'll be a feigned Pretended care for the poor as the son of perdition, the way Judas did the Antichrist is the son of perdition. Judas didn't care about the poor. He simply used the plight of the poor for his own aggrandizement and he would pilfer the money. [00:08:56] Well, Antichrist will be like that, but he will convince people he cares about the poor and he will, he and the false prophet will do counterfeit signs and wonders. They may be supernatural events like Pharaoh's magicians, but they will be done with satanic power. These things are what's happening already with Babylon the Great and the rise of Babylon. [00:09:19] This is what is on the horizon. People who speak with a prophetic voice now, and I do not claim to be one of them, but those who speak with a prophetic voice now have right doctrine and they understand these things and they warn about what is coming. The people you see going around prophesying every five minutes, every 10 minutes, giving people words and all of this kind of nonsense. [00:09:45] This, of course, is not prophecy. It is clairvoyance. These people are, at best, ignorant babblers, but more commonly charlatans, religious con artists. Do not believe them. The prophets who prophesied did not get prophecies every 10 minutes. They only got a few prophecies in their lifetime, but when they got it, it was right and it proved to be true. [00:10:13] Most of what they did was just pointing people back to the Word of God and warning them. Remember, prophecy is not just foretelling. It may involve foretelling, but it is forth telling. And the gift of prophecy is to exhort the church in the New Testament in terms of biblical charismata. It's to exhort the church to get through difficult times. [00:10:42] These prophets, although they prophesied what people would just stereotypically refer to as doom and gloom, also had a message of hope for the faithful people of God, also conveyed a message of hope for the faithful people of God. That's the way it was with the rise of Babylon, and that's the way it is going to be, and already is. [00:11:05] With the coming rise of Babylon, the great. Nonetheless, that is merely by way of background. There's much more we could say about this subject and about Ezekiel. [00:11:22] Let's begin, please. Chapter 33. [00:11:32] Now, when God reiterates something, it's very important. Everything in Scripture is important, but the more times Scripture says it, the more important it is. Ezekiel gives the same message of chapter 33 in verse, in chapter 18, almost verse by verse. And portions almost verse by verse, he first gives the message in Chapter 18, and then he comes back and restates it elaborating on it further in Chapter 33, you see this with Jesus with the element discourse, you've got Matthew 24 and 25, you've got Mark 13, you've got Luke 21 and sections of Luke 11, and Luke 17, he keeps coming back and restating these things. [00:12:23] There are different versions of it put in the scripture. Well, Luke shows us that he stated it more than once, um, because it's in, it's in multiple chapters. We can consolidate it into a single passage or a single chapter, um, but what's in the Olivet Discourse is dispersed. There are things in Matthew 24 that are also in Matthew chapter 10 and so forth. [00:12:53] Jesus referred to these things multiple times. He is consistent with what the Hebrew prophets did, Ezekiel being a classical case in point. Let's begin in verse 1, the watchman's duty. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, if I bring a sword upon a land and the people of the land. [00:13:18] Take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and he blows on the trumpet that is a shofar, a ram's horn, and warns the people. Then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be upon his own head. [00:13:43] He heard the sound of the trumpet, but he did not take warning. His blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. God warns his people about what is coming, and how to prepare for it, he instructs them. But if the watchman sees the sword coming, in verse 6, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he's taken away in his iniquity. [00:14:19] But his blood I will require of the watchman's. [00:14:26] Now, as for you, son of man, I've appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. You will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning for me. Now notice when it speaks of watchman as a general term, it says, if the people select him, if the people select him, son of man, speak to the sons of your people. [00:14:52] Okay. And you take one and. of the land, and the people take one man from among them and make him their watchman. Only God can ordain a true prophet. Only God can ordain a true prophet. False prophets can be appointed by people. False prophets can be self appointed. False prophets can be anointed by demons. [00:15:21] Only God can anoint, appoint a true prophet. It goes on. As for you, son of man, I've appointed you. a watchman for the House of Israel, so you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning for me. Now here, the role of a prophet is not just, it is, Or includes forth telling, but a watchman is specifically foretelling what's coming. [00:15:55] Maybe one of the better examples of this, well certainly one of the better examples of this, is Habakkuk. Even the Jehovah's Witness cult knows that the Watchtower is a symbol of the Word of God to see what's coming in terms of prophecy. And Habakkuk said, I will take my stand upon the Watchtower and see what he will say to me. [00:16:19] A true prophet will be like Habakkuk. Peace. Watchtower will always be the Word of God. If somebody is not well grounded in Scripture, established firmly in correct doctrine, they cannot be a prophet. God will never make somebody a watchman, a prophet who alerts about what is coming. [00:16:44] And he goes on, When I say to the wicked, you give them a warning for me, O wicked man, you shall die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from your hand. Look at that, if you don't warn him to repent. But if you, on your part, warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity. [00:17:18] But you will have delivered your life. Now, as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have spoken, saying, Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them. How can we survive? Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. [00:17:48] Turn back, turn back from your evil ways. Why then will you die, O house of Israel? And you, O son of man, say to your fellow citizens, notice your fellow citizens. Yes, he's the watchman. That is his task. That is his function. But he's not set above the people. Uh, Habakkuk warns about the one who sets himself up above the people, the only one who's above the rest of us is Jesus. [00:18:19] Leadership ministry are always functional, not hierarchical, but let's look, say to your fellow citizens, the righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him and the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns. from his wickedness. [00:18:44] The idea of repentance in Hebrew, teshuvah, means to turn from sin back towards God. Repentance, as most of you know, is not being contrite or sorry or regretting. It will involve that, but that's not what it is. It is turning, turning back to God, turning away from the evil, a determination not to do it again. [00:19:08] We may drop our cross, but we pick it up and keep following. It is not simply a formal ritual where you go to confession and tell the priest until next week like the Catholics and go out and do the same same things again. It's not like that. Repentance means a determination to turn. The scriptures speak of those who try to make a ritual repentance. [00:19:35] It says though you scrub with much soap and lye, you're not going to be clean. It doesn't matter how many Hail Marys a Catholic says or whatever, it's not going to help them one single bit. The priest cannot absolve that sin. Only God can. And he will not do it unless there is a repentance, a genuine, heartfelt repentance. [00:19:56] spiritually empowered conviction to turn from sin and the power of the Holy Spirit. There must be that. If that doesn't happen, there's no repentance. Now look what it says. [00:20:13] Turn back. Turn away from your evil ways. Why will you die? You, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, the righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in that day of his transgression. And the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness. [00:20:32] Whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on that day when he commits sin. Notice that if you go into sin, all the good things you did don't matter. In God's economy, all the good things you did don't matter if you turn away from the Lord and go into sin. On the other hand, if you genuinely repent and turn to God and turn away from sin, all the bad things you did won't matter. [00:21:09] All the good things you did aren't going to matter if you turn away from the Lord and go into sin. And all the bad things you did aren't going to matter if you turn from sin and turn to the Lord. I know people who are Christians and things like this, and they wind up getting divorced and remarried for no scriptural reason. [00:21:29] They are living in sin. They're living in adultery in the eyes of God. The biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage are very, very narrow. Oh, we were incompatible, and I have a new wife, and I'm blessed. No, you're not. You're living in adultery. In the eyes of Christ, your children are born out of wedlock. [00:21:54] You've brought shame on your children. [00:22:00] God hates divorce. [00:22:07] I got a chest infection in Africa. I just got back from Africa. It doesn't matter how much good you would have done. It doesn't matter how much good I would have done. If I turn away from it and go into the world, go into unrepentant sin, [00:22:29] the good I did won't matter. Only the bad. On the other hand, if an unsaved person, or if a backslider, truly repents and turns from it, [00:22:47] all the bad they did won't matter. Incredible. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. It's not a credit card that you can just charge it to Christ. [00:23:04] Doesn't matter how much good we did, if we turn from him and go into a life of sin, unrepentant sin, the goodness of God. is not going to be there anymore. Only the badness. On the other hand, if somebody turns to Christ in genuine repentance, the badness isn't going to be there anymore. Only the goodness. [00:23:31] Only, the imputed righteousness of Christ and the good things He empowers us to do by His Spirit. Quite a deal. All the good won't matter, neither will all the bad matter. What matters is repentance. Well, let's look. [00:23:57] Verse 13, when I say to the righteous, he will surely live, and so he trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered. But in that same iniquity of which he has committed, he will die. Look at this. When I say to the righteous, so surely live and he trusts in his righteousness, that he commits iniquity. [00:24:21] Oh, I'm mostly good, I'm basically good, I may have a few faults, I have a few problems. The faults and problems are things that God wants to deal with, and he wants us to let him deal with them. I'm just going to trust in my good deeds. and the blood of Christ will cover the bad ones. That's true, if there's repentance. [00:24:49] What people thinking this way do is what was is done to this day in in Talmudic Judaism. They call, what Christians call, the old nature, the inclination to sin, the Yetzir Harrah. And the desire, the inclination to do good, hayetzir hatov, hayetzir harah, and hayetzir hatov. And they believe in the autumn holidays, Yom Kippur, there's a scale. [00:25:17] And if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you'll go to heaven. That is completely wrong. repentance. [00:25:33] The blood of Jesus will atone for the bad. The righteous deeds cannot save us. Our righteous deeds cannot save us. [00:25:49] People trust in their righteousness in verse 13. Trusting in your own righteousness is a formula for death. Trusting in our own righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ is a formula for death. It is also a stumbling block to the cross. We often said, and we're not the only ones or the first ones, the devil gets more people into hell with religion than he does all of the immorality, all of the substance abuse and all of the corruption put together. [00:26:24] Because it gives a false sense of righteousness. They trust in their righteous deeds. No, no, no, no. Your own righteous deeds are not going to save you. Only the blood of the Messiah will. You must repent. But in that same iniquity of which he has committed, he will die. Verse 14, But when I say to the wicked, you'll surely die, and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness. [00:26:55] If a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he's taken by robbery, in other words, makes amends for his past life, walks by the statues which ensure life, without committing iniquity, he'll surely live. He's not going to die. None of the sins that is. That he has committed will be remembered against it. [00:27:17] He has practiced justice and righteousness. He will surely live. What a great deal. If we truly repent and turn to Christ, truly nothing that we've done, no matter how bad is going to be ever remembered against us. It will never be remembered against us. We will surely live. [00:27:44] None of the sins he's committed will be remembered. Can you imagine, can you picture, can we picture, fathom, a God who is so infinitely powerful that he can actually cause himself to have a case of amnesia concerning our sin? That all the things we did that we should not have, all of us, He looks down and he sees the blood of his son. [00:28:13] He remembers that, but he can't remember our sin. He causes himself to forget it. That is incredible. God causes himself to forget our sin. Now we've explained this before. There's something called the conscience, matzpun in Hebrew. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin through the conscience. There are people who become so morally depraved, their conscience becomes seared, dysfunctional. [00:28:46] Much like a petrol gauge or a speedometer or a tachometer on a vehicle dashboard is broken. It doesn't work. Well, their conscience doesn't work. Evils become so normative to them, there's no conviction of sin for it. That is a depraved state. Such people are often, if not mostly, people who have a spirit of error. [00:29:09] It's just, there's nothing convictive. Conviction of se [00:29:16] clinctus, okay? This does happen. And this is what this verse has reference to, okay? It will not be remembered against him. He's practiced justice and righteousness, okay? Well, if that gauge is broken, you've got a serious situation. We are told in Romans 1, first of all, that people who remain engaged, indulged in perverted sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc., [00:29:54] God gives them over to it. Something that's contrary to natural reason, but they're given over to it. They just don't see it as wrong. They see it as normal. And if you disagree with them, they become a victim in their mind. That's because God's given them over. God has given the conscience is not functioning. [00:30:15] They have a dysfunctional conscience. The gauges on their dashboard are not working. They're on the highway to hell with no gauges. That's what it comes to. That is a horrible state, but the closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more morally depraved the world becomes, and that's what we're seeing now. [00:30:41] Just look at the corruption of the American government as one example. The FBI, the Federal Bureau of Intimidation, putting Christian parents on a terrorist watch list because they go to school board meetings. expressing their opposition to their children being indoctrinated into unnatural sexuality at a young age. [00:31:04] And they're put on a terrorist watch list by a corrupt, satanically controlled American government. [00:31:15] But the satanic control is not complete yet, and it will not just be America. All the governments of the world will be given into the hands of the Antichrist, ultimately. And religion will play a part in how he gets power. They will give a religious sanction to it. You have this already. Churches sanctioning things that the Word of God says are abominable. [00:31:38] Better a millstone tied around your neck than doing what you're doing to children, Jesus said. Well, that's how evil the government has become. It is no wonder that the New Testament urges, Paul says, first of all, I want not only prayers, but intoxicants in Greek, intercessions to be made on behalf of the government. [00:31:57] As much as I detest politicians, as much as I'm disgusted by such servants of the devil. I pray for them, because if they're not being influenced by our prayers, they're going to be influenced by the demonic, and they are being. The church is no longer salt and light. The church is compromising on these things. [00:32:20] What do you have? Watchmen who are not watchmen. This becomes very problematic. To be watching for events that are coming and warning the world, warning the church. But as we've looked at a number of times. The teaching of Rick Warren, a man who's on Satan's payroll, figuratively speaking. That man works for the devil. [00:32:46] Rick Warren works for Satan. Make no mistake about it. Jesus did not exhort. He directly commanded and reiterated the command that we be watchful. Watch for these things. Rick Warren says, avoid end time prophecy. It's a diversion. We don't want any watchmen on the walls. Rick Warren is from Satan. Tell him I said so. [00:33:12] I'll debate him in front of any camera, as long as it's live streamed. [00:33:18] Be watchful. Preach the gospel of the kingdom, that the Lord is coming. Now look at this. This is getting very serious in the time in which we live. In Ezekiel's time, it was the rise of Babylon. In our time, it is the rise of Babylon the Great, this fusion of the political, economic, and false religion. And that false religion will include apostate Christianity. [00:33:52] And apostate Christianity will not simply be the Church of Rome or cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons or Christadelphians. It will not simply be the Eastern Orthodox Communion or liberal Protestantism. It'll be much of backslidden so called evangelism. Just look at Hillsong. Just look at Elevation Church. [00:34:16] That is apostasy. There's no watchman. There's no watchman. There were watchmen. Not perfect, but faithful. I didn't know him well. I knew his son Gary rather well, but I didn't know him. David Wilkerson was a watchman. Certainly Dave Hunt, who I did know well, was a watchman. Going back to people like Charles Spurgeon and A. [00:34:45] W. Tozer. More recently, there were Watchmen. There were people saying, look, this is what is coming. Get ready now. Now, what was the emphasis? What was the first thing Watchmen told the people to do when trouble was coming? Repent, repent. They urged the people of God to repent. They called us to repentance. [00:35:15] There will be no real revival unless the church repents. And there'll be no survival for those Christians who do not repent. Trouble is coming. Persecution. Is coming. It is already arriving. I'm not an alarmist or a sensationalist or a conspiracy conspiracy theorist. When you've got Christian preachers being arrested on the streets of Britain, Canada, America, and Australia just for reading the Bible, while militant homosexuals are allowed to indoctrinate children publicly at taxpayers expense. [00:35:56] Well, radical Islam is openly tolerated, but Christians get locked up by corrupt police forces. That honest policeman, their hands are tied by a political system and can't do anything about it. A corrupt political justice system. It's all going in the power of Satan. Trouble is coming. You'll be hated by all for my namesake. [00:36:20] These are the realities. I don't speculate about dates. I simply know what is happening. You stand on the wall, you can see it. Anybody can see it. But let's look at this just a little bit more. [00:36:42] Verse 17. When your fellow citizens say, the way of the Lord is not right, when it is in their own way that's not right. No, God's way is right. It's our way that's not right. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die in it. But when a wicked man turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by that. [00:37:12] Yet you say the way of the Lord is not right, O house of Israel. I will judge each of you according to his ways. Way is not right. Now let's look at this if you don't warn the wicked. [00:37:33] This is a general truth. It is stated by Paul in the New Testament, and it is stated by Ezekiel elsewhere in the prequel to chapter 33. The prequel of chapter 33 is Ezekiel chapter 18. Let's look at it. [00:38:11] Let's begin in verse 14. Now, behold, he has a son who has observed all his father's sins which he committed, and observing does not do likewise. Now, in Ezekiel's day, you have to understand, this is speaking, or has particular reference, although it is a general common truth, it has a particular reference to what we read in the books of Kings and Chronicles. [00:38:34] There were some very bad, wicked kings. who had righteous sons, and there were some very good kings who had some very wicked sons. It is a general truth that applied to all of them and to all of us, but it had a specific meaning in its system, Nevin, for the time for which it is written. He who has a son who has observed his father's sins, which he committed in observing, does not do likewise. [00:39:03] He does not eat of the mountain shrines and engage in pagan worship. Transubstantiation is pagan worship. Or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife, marital infidelity. Or oppress anyone, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. But he gives bread to the hungry, and covers the naked with clothing. [00:39:26] That figuratively alludes to evangelism, the garments of salvation. Ki il b'shani b'g'dayesha ma'il tz'taka yatani. When somebody is saved, they're born again. Their nakedness, that is their unsaved state, is covered by the garments of salvation, the robes of righteousness, as you know. He keeps his hand from the poor, in verse 17, does not take interest or increase, but executes my ordinances. [00:39:53] And works in my statutes. He does not engage in user. He will not die for his father's iniquity. He will surely live as for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was not good among his people. Behold, he will die in his iniquity. You say, Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity? [00:40:17] After all, there are verses that say the sins of the fathers are passed on to the fifth and sixth generation. That is true, they are. But if the sons repent, that curse is broken. Repentance breaks that curse. Wickedness runs in family. It's generational, from father to son, it's genetic almost. It's certainly environmental. [00:40:43] But it can be broken by repentance. Many people think the Kennedy family in America, Joseph P. Kennedy was a corrupt man, a very corrupt man. He was a Hitler sympathizer. He was widely accused of being involved in bootlegging, drum running, organized crime and things like this to buy political power. And he was given to marital infidelity and a lot of other things. [00:41:10] This is not gossip, but look what's happened to his sons to the Kennedy family. Many people in America believe the Kennedy family are accursed because of the sins of their father. But you know what, even if that is true, if that is true, and it's horrible, you know, even the third generation are being cursed. [00:41:30] I mean, it's horrible JFK son and so on, even if that is true. It is true. If any member of that family truly repents and comes to faith in Jesus, it's not going to affect them. It's broken. Let's read. You say, why should the son not bear? Oh, that was their mentality. Kill the whole family. Blame the kid for what the old man did. [00:41:59] He must be just like his father. Apples do not fall far from the tree. Well, that may be the case, but not necessarily. When the son has practiced justice and righteousness, and observed all my statutes, done them, he'll surely live. The person whose sins will die, the son will not bear the punishment of the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity. [00:42:27] The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. It can be statistically demonstrated. That someone who comes from an alcoholic family with alcoholic parents has a higher risk, statistically, of becoming an alcoholic and doing to their family what was done to them and to their children what was done to them. [00:42:50] Most child abusers, child molesters, were molested as children, sometimes even by their own parents. This is particularly true in Roman Catholic culture, in Mormon culture, in Jehovah's Witness, in cults. Certainly true in much of Islam, and it happens in Orthodox, ultra Orthodox Jewish families. It happens in Pennsylvania Dutch Amish families. [00:43:19] The more cultic some religious belief system is, the more likely these kinds of things seem to take place. But let's look. [00:43:34] The son will not bear the punishment for his father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. Do not blame somebody for what their parents did unless they do the same thing. [00:43:55] And if somebody becomes a Christian, it wouldn't matter if their father was Jack the Ripper. [00:44:02] So let's look. [00:44:07] But if the wicked man turns, repents, makes teshuvah in verse 21, from all his sins which he has committed and observes, all my statutes and practices, justice and righteousness, he will surely live, not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will be remembered against him, because of his righteousness which he has practiced he will live. [00:44:33] All of what he did will not be remembered against him. Now, look at verse 23. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God? Rather, that he should turn from his ways and live. We'll come back to that verse in a moment. But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he does all according to the abominations that a wicked man does. [00:45:06] Will he live? All his righteous deeds which he's done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he's committed. For them, he will die. When a righteous man goes into iniquity, there's nobody worse than a backslider. They are mentally tortured if they were really saved to begin with. [00:45:34] You cannot meet Jesus Christ and be the same as most of you know. When somebody meets Jesus Christ, if they're truly born again, they're either going to become conspicuously better, or conspicuously worse. You cannot meet Christ and stay the same. Backsliders will become worse than they were before they were saved unless they repent. [00:46:02] They'll get more and more depraved. The righteous will become more and more righteous, ideally, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness. All his righteous deeds will not be remembered. Verse 25, once again, yet you say, the way of the Lord is not right. Hear now, O house of Israel. [00:46:28] Is my way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? When a man turns from his righteousness. Commits iniquity and dies because of it. [00:46:45] For his iniquity, which he has committed, he will die. Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, which he has committed and practices, justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from his transgressions, which he had committed, he shall surely live He shall not die. [00:47:10] But the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord's not right. Are my ways not right, O house of Israel? Is not your ways that are not right? It's your ways that are wrong. Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, according to his conduct, declares the Lord. Repent and turn away from your transgression, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. [00:47:37] Cast away from you all your transgressions which you've committed. And make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. This is talking about regeneration, second birth. For why will you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord. Therefore, repent and live. [00:47:59] Now here, death, of course, is talking about second death. God hates first death. He didn't want it. He did not want necros. He did not want biological death. That was a consequence of sin. God warned against it. He didn't want it, and it's going to be abolished. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. [00:48:19] God never wanted it. Jesus neutralized it. He rendered it. Inoperative Kaar Gao in Greek. In his resurrection, he rendered biological death inoperative. [00:48:33] In other words, it can happen, but it's not gonna matter. You can blow air into a beach ball, push it under the water in a swimming pool and, and put it under. But it's only going to pop out again because of buoyancy. The pool cannot contain it. Gravity is going to be superseded by buoyancy. Grace will overcome law. [00:49:04] It's there, but it can't do anything. A hearse waiting to take someone away who's dead. Well, for the believer, for the saved Christian, the hearse is there waiting for you, but there's no engine in it. It's not taking you anywhere. You belong to the Lord. The hearse is there. You can give up the ghost temporarily. [00:49:28] They can stick you in a hearse, but it isn't going anywhere. There's no engine in it. It is rendered catorgeo. Jesus Christ defeated death, defeated necros, and ultimately, he will abolish it, according to Hosea and Paul. O death, where is thy sting, grave, where is thy victory? God actually mocks it. He mocks the power of death. [00:49:52] Doesn't matter. Remember, for the saved Christian, your funeral is over. When we were baptized, we went under with Christ, we were buried with him, we came out resurrected as new creations. Our funeral is over. Our death is over. Christ died our death to give us his life. We were co buried with him. Our funeral is a past event. [00:50:14] Now, if you're somebody who's had infant baptism, please bury the corpse. Nobody would take a baby out of a crib or a pram and put it into a casket and bury it if it wasn't dead. Infant baptism, sprinkling infants is not baptism. We are immersed into his death. If you are born again, you need to be water baptized. [00:50:35] Bury the corpse. That is your funeral. Get your funeral over with. Then the rest won't apply to you. It shouldn't apply to any of us. Christ overcame it. [00:50:50] He rendered it cat. But this is another subject, which most of you are familiar. Let's look at this. If you are not born again, the Lord wants to give you a new heart and a new spirit. That's what he did for me. In my youth, I'd been a radical socialist, virtually a communist. I had been a cocaine addict, a drug addict, and a drug dealer. [00:51:17] I was not a nice person. I was a fornicator, I was somebody into substance abuse, I was self destructively deranged. But Jesus had mercy on me. If you think I'm bad now, thank God you didn't know me before Christ picked me up. I got saved on the street in New York City, at the end of the hippie era, in a revival among hippies. [00:51:40] That was me. He gave me a new heart, and he put a new spirit in me. If you're a backslider, you're heading for death, repent! It doesn't matter how much good you did when you still walk with the Lord. It's useless. You must repent. It doesn't matter how much bad you did. All the bad things you did while backslidden, the Lord will take away if you truly repent. [00:52:10] If you're somebody who does not have a new heart and a new spirit, it doesn't matter how bad you were. The Lord will not remember it against you. Jesus paid for it with his own life. He'll give you a new heart and a new spirit. What a fantastic deal. You have to be, as I always say, you must be out of your mind to turn down the gospel, God's offer. [00:52:39] But now, as for warning the wicked, Satan does not want the wicked warned. Look with me, please, to the Book of Acts, to St. Paul's farewell to the church and the eldership at Ephesus. Let's look at it. [00:53:01] Paul is speaking to them in Chapters 19 and Chapter 20 of the Book of Exodus, and he says Um, 20, I did not shrink from declaring to anything that was profitable to you and publicly teaching from house to house. Verse 26, I testify to you this day, I'm innocent of the blood of all men. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. [00:53:36] I know people who understand God has a pathetic purpose for Israel. But in the name of a perverted definition of love that is not scriptural, a love for the Jews that is not God's love, they don't want to offend Jews so they won't tell them that they have to believe in their own Messiah, Yeshua. Some of these organizations have actually signed agreements to bring the Jews back to Israel for the Great Tribulation and the time of Jacob's trouble. [00:54:04] We love you, Jew. Go to hell. That's not the love of God. Now, how you tell people that requires discretion of the Holy Spirit's. Guidance. I'm not saying you hit everybody over the head with the New Testament, but you must tell them. We have people who Satan raised up to prevent Roman Catholics from being saved. [00:54:27] The late Chuck Colson was another spokesman for the devil. Evangelicals and Catholics together. Catholics are Christians. That's what he said. No. Talk to somebody saved out of Catholicism. Does the blood of Christ cleanse of all sin, or do you atone in purgatory for your own? Which gospel do you believe? [00:54:51] To leave somebody to die in fear of death in purgatory when Jesus paid the price for their sin? If an angel of God comes with another gospel, they're anathema, they're a curse, Paul tells us in Galatians. It is a false gospel. You're not saved by wearing scapulas or sacraments. You're saved by being born again. [00:55:12] Chuck Colson was a religious liar. He worked for the enemy. I hope for his own sake he repented before he died, but I have no indication he did, but he spoke for Satan. Roman Catholics need the Gospel desperately. Now you have people compromising with Mormonism, calling Mormonism. This is absurd. It's insane. [00:55:38] Mormonism teaches that Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Satan. That's in the Book of Mormon. There is no way Roman Catholicism or Mormonism can be compatible with the Biblical Gospel. No way. Those who say it is. Or a cursed of God. Chuck Colson was a cursed of God. [00:56:05] That's not what I'm saying. Read Galatians for yourself. Another gospel. Are you saved by ex opere operato rituals called sacraments? Do you have to pay for your own sin in purgatory, or did Jesus take the price for your sin as he said? [00:56:23] You can't believe both. There's no synergism. The blood of Christ cleanses them all. What a fantastic deal. And to pervert it with religion and religious lies? Those who do this are accursed of God. That's what God says, not me. Paul says, I did not shrink from declaring to you. I testify, I'm innocent of the blood of all men. [00:56:54] Remember, every unsaved person is on their way to hell. Unsaved people are on their way to hell. They need the gospel. Now, this does not mean we can run around and scream from the streets all the time. Some people are called to be street preachers. We are not all evangelists. We do not all fish with a net, but we all fish with a pole. [00:57:16] Everybody can witness to somebody one on one. Everybody can give out a track or knock on a door or invite people to an evangelistic service at a church. Everybody can give their testimony if they're born again. Everybody! No, we do not all fish with myths. Some are evangelists, some are not. But we all fish with poles. [00:57:37] One at a time. You are my evangelist, says the Lord. You're working with an unsaved person, 20, 30, 40 years next to them at the same office or the same factory, and you never seek to give them the gospel? Now, of course, if they reject it and mock it, that's something else. Cast not your pearls before swine, Jesus said. [00:57:57] You can only pray for such people. But not to make an effort to share the gospel with people that are around us. God will require their blood from our hands. That day will be a day when people will say, You knew this, but you never told me. Why didn't you tell me? You knew I was heading here. You had the message to keep me from coming here, and you did not tell me. [00:58:28] God will require their blood from our hands, unless we repent and do it. But we're talking mainly about Watchmen. Now let's go back to this again. Ezekiel Chapter 33. Once more, very briefly, [00:58:58] verse 11, as I live and the Lord lives declares the Lord, I take no pleasure and the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked would turn from his way and live in the prequel chapter back to Ezekiel 18. Let us look at it. Verse 20. Three, do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, rather that he should turn from his ways and live. [00:59:34] God is not a Calvinist. Now we have to draw a distinction between moderate Calvinists and extreme ones. Moderate Calvinists like Charles Spurgeon said, Lord, save thy elect and please, please elect some more. Functionally, that's not a problem with a moderate Calvinist. Remember, moderate Calvinists like William Carey, who wanted missions, were opposed by the more extreme Calvinists in the Baptist Convention. [01:00:08] I do, and we must, draw a distinction between moderate Calvinists, who may be misguided, who may not agree with me or you or whatever, but they're not this idea that God created some people to go to hell and others to go to heaven. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. rather that he would turn from it and live. [01:00:35] Chapter 33, it is the same thing. I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he would turn from it and live. Look with me, please, to 1 Timothy in the New Testament. My apologies, as this. 1 Timothy 2, verse 3. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Again, a Christological statement, it points to the deity of Christ. [01:01:07] He's the Savior and he's God, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I got into a debate with James White on the internet, the Calvinist. Now, James White is a reasonably intelligent person in that. He wrote a decent book on King James only ism. I'm not saying he's a, he's by no means an unlearned man, but he is a pseudo academic charlatan. [01:01:38] He claims to have two PhDs, neither which are real, neither which are earned their honorary or something. They're not accredited anyway. And I could tell by the way he was arguing, his Greek was not up to a doctoral level. He did not have doctoral level Greek. And you wouldn't believe the somersaults he had to do with this text. [01:01:58] Desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge. He just couldn't deal with the issue. He had a skirt all around it. He had to become insulting, but he wouldn't deal with the issue, because he couldn't. All men. What Calvinists usually do is they turn a theological... argument into a philosophical argument. [01:02:20] Well, God is omniscient, all powerful, and if he desired all men to be saved, everybody would be born again. [01:02:32] Notice they go from being theological to philosophical, based on the vain philosophies of the world. As we've said multiple times, Calvinism is, for one thing, 16th century. humanist philosophy pretending to be first century Judeo Christian theology. Calvinism is not first century Judeo Christian theology. [01:03:05] It is 16th century humanist philosophy pretending to be something it is not. [01:03:15] The idea that a god of love creates people to go to Now, this, of course, is simply not true. Jesus told us hell was made for Satan and his angels, not for people. God became a man in the person of Christ and was nailed to a cross in our place so we wouldn't have to go there. It was not made for people. [01:03:42] The idea that God pre elects people. Now he foreknows. But election is not of an individual, it is of a corporate group. I'm not elect, you are not elect, we are elect. The body of Christ is elect. Every Jew is not elect, but Israel is elect. It's an elect nation. Whenever the scripture speaks of election, it's plural, not singular. [01:04:08] They take something that applies to a plural entity and misapply it to the individual. Now this is another subject in itself. We have plenty of tapes explaining it. I'm only dealing with it relative to Ezekiel 33 and Ezekiel 18. It is not something that God wants. Okay. Um, not something that God wants. [01:04:34] God in Titus chapter two, verses 10 and 11. Not pilfering, but showing all good faith, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, again Christological, pointing to the deity of Christ in every aspect. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. To all men! Does that mean everybody's saved? [01:05:05] No. But everyone can be saved. God wants them to be saved. God does not reject people. People reject God. 2 Peter 3, verse 9, The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, that's even towards us, the church, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. [01:05:41] All hell was made for Satan and his angels. It was not made for people. A god of love does not create people to go to hell. He's a god of salvation. We deal with the problems of Calvinism on several of our teachings and I have a book called The Dilemma of Laodicea, in which it is addressed. I'd also point people to the book by my friend, who is now with the Lord, Dave Hunt. [01:06:16] Lot Love is this. Do not believe Reformed theology. Do not believe Calvinism. It is false. It is philosophy. It is not theology. And it is spiritually Islamic. In Islam, it is called Inja Allah. Everything that happens is Allah's perfect will. So if somebody goes to hell in Calvinism, well, that is God's perfect will. [01:06:44] What Calvin did in Geneva with his religious morals police, he burned people. He burned over 250 people. Approximately in Geneva. He burned people alive in the name of Jesus Christ. Some of them, like Severitas, were heretical, but what right do you have to burn somebody in the name of Jesus Christ? Well, the same as what the, I've been to Saudi Arabia, the Mutawa, the religious police, [01:07:16] the mullahs of Iran admire John Calvin. They should. He's the same as they were. Now, I don't want to get into this now. I don't know if Calvin was ever a saved Christian or not. He doesn't have a testimony of regeneration, personally. I don't know if he was ever a believer or not, but I know what Calvinism is not scriptural. [01:07:39] God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. [01:07:45] Finally, there are another, there is another category of watchmen who are not watchmen. That is, in addition to those who do not warn, [01:08:00] there are people, and a lot of them are women, most of them are women, not all, but most, and I'm not saying this misogynically, they have nothing to do all day, but sit at the internet. and witch hunt. Now, if there's a false gospel being presented, [01:08:25] if it's the word faith money preachers or something like this, that's not witch hunting. It's a false gospel being brought right into your home through the idiot box. Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland, whatever it is, Joyce Meyer, that's not witch hunting. You're repelling an invasion. by standing up to those people. [01:08:46] We're not talking about that kind of discernment ministry, that kind of being a watchman. There are people who just witch hunt. They look for faults or problems in other people. They even attack other discernment oriented ministries. There's nothing better to do. And they think this is their ministry. [01:09:05] There's no evangelism, no discipleship, no missions, no concern for the persecuted church, none of that. They just sit on the internet and gossip. back and forth, bringing spurious charges against other Christians. These are watchmen who are not watchmen. It's gossips. A couple of them died recently. It's just malicious gossips. [01:09:31] Witch hunters. We're not called to witch hunt. The scriptures say repel the onslaught at the gate. You don't have to hunt for deception. It's coming through the gate. And so it goes. Watchmen. There are watchmen, and there are watchmen who are not watchmen. There are prophets. And there are false prophets. [01:10:02] There are those who warn the wicked and those who don't. Once more, if you're listening to me and you're not a saved Christian, if you've never turned from your sin and asked Jesus to forgive you, He's not going to turn you away. You're listening to me or someone like me for a reason. He's not going to turn you away. [01:10:28] You ask him to forgive you and to give you a new life and a new heart. And promised to follow him on the basis of Scripture, and he will. He will lead you into fellowship with other Christians, you will get baptized and begin your new life. It doesn't matter how bad you are, it doesn't matter what you did, it doesn't matter. [01:10:50] There was a king of Baxin Judah who murdered more Jewish children than Adolf Hitler. His name was King Manasseh. Manasseh is in English, I think. But he repented, and God forgave him. If God can forgive him, he can forgive you, or me, or any of us. He's not going to turn you away if you repent and come to faith in Jesus. [01:11:16] Otherwise, every wrong thing you ever did is going to be presented. in eternally condemning evidence against you. Make teshuvah, repent, turn to God, ask Jesus to forgive you and come into your life, and he will do so. He's not turning you away. He's never turned anybody away, and he's not going to turn you away. [01:11:44] God does not want you to spend forever and ever. And the place created for Satan and his angels. [01:11:55] On the other hand, suppose you are somebody who knew the truth. Maybe you grew up in a Christian family and came to faith as a kid, but then went off to university and began living immorally, getting into the drug culture, recreational use of intoxicating substances like I did, or living immorally with your girlfriend or your boyfriend like I did. [01:12:16] Stop wasting your youth. Stop wasting what's left of your life. It doesn't matter how righteous your parents were. Their righteousness can't save you. It doesn't matter how much good you did when you went to Sunday school when you were a kid. That just does not matter. It equals nothing. [01:12:41] But if you turn to Christ and ask Him to forgive you, it means everything. It doesn't matter how long you've been away from the Lord or how far you've wandered. If you come back to Him now while you have a chance, then you may not have another chance. He will take you back. He has never turned anybody away, and He's not turning you away. [01:13:10] Well, remember, every unsaved person is on their way to the Lake of Fire, and apart from the grace of God, we would be going there with them. We need to pray. We need to seek opportunities to present the gospel however the Lord leads us wherever we can. God will show you that these people are perishing without the message of the gospel. [01:13:43] And God has made us custodians of that gospel. The true gospel that Jesus took our sin to give us his righteousness and died our death to give us his life He paid for what we did. He conquered death and he's coming again to establish his kingdom We need to repent and put our faith in him. That is the message [01:14:13] Maybe we're not all watchmen, but we're all called to be watchful. I'm not all evangelists But we are all witnesses, Ezekiel chapter 33, Ezekiel chapter 18. He's wanting none to perish, but all to reach repentance. Finally, the watchman of Ezekiel's day saw visibly a constellation of political events in the world of the rise and fall of nations. [01:15:00] We are seeing that now. [01:15:05] The decline of China. We've seen the economic decline of Japan. Now the United States is walking on thin ice. The decline of Russia, the decline of the EU, the decline of empires. Now we know out of this calamity people will ultimately turn to Antichrist in some way. He may be alive. Sometimes I'd be surprised if he weren't. [01:15:32] I don't know. But I do know he's coming. And I do know what's happening. And I do know just as Babylon rose in the days of Ezekiel, Babylon the Great is rising today. These things we know. And as then, the Lord will have. Watchmen on the walls, but we are all called to be watchful. You are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord. [01:16:03] Thank you so much for listening. Once again, my name is James J. Prasch for More Real Ministries, coming to you here on RTN Christian Radio, from Scotland to Britain to the world. Have a wonderful weekend. Be blessed.