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[0:00] It is good to be back. We greet you in the name of Jesus this morning.! We greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. You know, if whatever you sow, the seed you plant, you expect that is what will grow and there will be a harvest.

[0:42] And it's the same with our lives. Whatever we sow is what we will reap. Amen.

[0:53] Amen. And this morning, I want to look at, there's a verse, well you can turn to Ezekiel 14, but there's a verse in 2 Corinthians 13, 5 that says, Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith.

[1:18] Prove your own selves. And this is what I want to look at this morning. The Lord laid this on my heart the other day.

[1:30] And, you know, I believe that the reason those words are in the Bible is because it is good for us that we, every so often we look at ourselves and we look at our life and we examine ourselves and we see where we are at and we see whether we are still continuing on or are we backsliding?

[2:00] Are we becoming lukewarm? You know, the Laodiceans there in Revelation, they, what did they say?

[2:13] They thought they had need of nothing. They were rich and increased with goods and all of that. And they thought they had need of nothing.

[2:26] But what did God say? He said, you are wretched and poor, miserable, blind. You're in need of all things. You need revival.

[2:38] You need the blood of Jesus. You need the Holy Ghost. You need salvation. You need salvation. But yet they thought they had need of nothing. So this morning, there's a couple areas I want to look at.

[2:53] The one is things that hinder us from hearing the word of God. In Ezekiel, he talks about the idols that these people had.

[3:10] And then also, when I look at faithfulness and being a servant.

[3:22] Ezekiel 14, we'll read the first five verses. Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me.

[3:33] 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.

[3:48] I, the Lord, will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols. And put the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face.

[4:08] 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.

[4:26] Now, I know we do not have idols in our day. We don't. Some places do. But we don't have idols like they did. But I believe there's many people in America that are worshiping idols.

[4:44] Now, let's just look at this for a little bit. So the elders of Israel, the leaders of Israel, they came to the prophet and they sat before him. And reading through Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah, you find this time after time that the elders would come to the prophet and they wanted to know what God was saying.

[5:09] Now, that's a good thing, is it not? But these men, I don't know if Ezekiel knew their lives, but God did.

[5:21] And so when they came, God revealed unto him what was going on. He said, these men have idols. They have idols set up in their heart.

[5:35] Why should I even answer them? They don't even have any right to come to you to ask of me unless they repent first.

[5:50] So what did God say? What was his answer to this dilemma? His answer was, I will answer them according to the multitude of his idols.

[6:08] And I believe that it is somewhat the same with us today. That when we come to God and we want direction in life and we come to him in prayer.

[6:22] But if we have things in our heart that we are not willing to lay down, we have things in our heart that stand between us and a holy God.

[6:32] And we will answer us according to those idols that we have, just like he did them. And we'll look at it later.

[6:43] But there's, in Thessalonians, in Thessalonians, there's some verses that I believe that would be a good New Testament parallel to what we're talking about here and looking at.

[7:01] So, the children of Israel, they were, they were serving Baal. They, they had gone after other gods and, and they had left the true God. Well, you know, we, we say they left the true God, but I believe they were, they were still trying to serve God, but they were also serving Baal.

[7:21] And that is the same thing we see in our days. People want to go to church and, and they want to, they want to be a Christian, but, but yet they have other things that they have, that they're, that they're serving first, that there has first place in their heart.

[7:44] You know, our God will be first. He will be first in your life or he won't be at all. And that's what he's, what we see here is these men, they were seeking the Lord.

[8:03] They were seeking God. But he said, you have idols in your heart and you are worshiping them. You are following them.

[8:15] I cannot, I cannot answer you. The way. Because of that, let's say that because I cannot answer you.

[8:28] The way I would want to, because of the idols in your heart. So he says, verse five, he says, verse four, he says, I, the Lord will answer him that cometh, I will answer him 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.

[9:00] In other words, whatever has first place in our heart, whatever we are going after, God is going to allow us to go.

[9:14] He might put stumbling blocks up for us, but if we insist in following after those things, things, he will allow us to go and we will reap for what we have sown.

[9:30] Well, we'll, so in verse four, in the Amplified, it says, the idols of self-will and unsubmissiveness.

[9:55] Unsubmissiveness, that's just a nicer way of saying rebellion, right? Self-will, selfishness, serving self.

[10:07] I want what I want. I will not submit to God because whatever. Self-will and unsubmissiveness.

[10:20] Self-will. I, do I think I always need my own way? Do I, you know, in first Peter five, five, it says, submit one to another.

[10:32] This is all to, and we might read this later, but submit one to another. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

[10:45] God resisted the elders of Israel because they had other gods. God's before him. Are we submitted to the will of God?

[10:58] You know, I, I read, right now I can't tell you who the writer was.

[11:13] The name doesn't come to me, but anyway, a man that was known for his prayer, prayer and, and, and the Lord answering prayer and providing his needs.

[11:27] And he said, 90% of the problem, 90% of the answer to your prayer comes when you submit to the will of God.

[11:42] The other 10% is easy. God can answer once we are submitted to his will. Are we submitted to the will of God?

[11:57] Jeremiah says, God knows the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it, but God will try it. God knows. God tries our heart and he knows our motives.

[12:12] He knows what is driving us. He knows what our motives are and why we do the things we do. Why we go the places we go.

[12:23] Why we listen to the things we listen to. He knows those things. Yes. Self-will deceives people to think that God overlooks.

[12:44] You know, Samson. We all know the story of Samson and believe it's there where it says that the spirit of God left him and he didn't know it.

[13:00] He didn't realize it. He didn't realize that the spirit of God had left him. How is it with us?

[13:12] I will continue on. Some of this will possibly circle back to. But let's turn to Matthew 25.

[13:26] Matthew 25. Here we have. Here we have. The parable of the talents. And there's a few things I want to see here.

[13:41] I don't think we'll read the whole. We could read most of this, but. It's quite a long. Quite a long story. So we will start in Matthew 25, verse 14.

[13:57] For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.

[14:10] And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey.

[14:23] So. He says the kingdom of heaven is like this. So Jesus was here. And he left. And he left. The work of the kingdom of God in the hands of men.

[14:37] In the hands of the church today. And he gives each one of us ability. He gives each one of us gifts of the spirit of God.

[14:52] The spirit, the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all. And it says here, he gives to everyone, everyone according to his several ability.

[15:06] These. What he did here. To one, five, to another two, and to another one. So these. Men went.

[15:18] The first two, they traded and they worked and they use this. They use their talents and they gained and they doubled. But the one, the one with the one, he went and he digged in the earth and he hid his Lord's money.

[15:37] After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And we'll skip on. You know, these men that were faithful, he says, thou has been faithful over a few things.

[15:55] I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. But now, let's start reading in verse 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee, that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed.

[16:19] And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast, that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant.

[16:35] Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers. Then in my coming, I should have received mine own with usury.

[16:50] Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath.

[17:06] And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, notice this man was a servant just as much as the other two were.

[17:28] God gave him a talent. God gave him his grace. God gave him, the master gave him a talent, just like, you know, just like the others.

[17:44] But it was only one. So, what did he think? I'm not important. Maybe. I don't know. But notice in verse 26, he says, he uses the word slothful.

[17:59] Slothful. What made this man slothful? Well, he just did nothing with the grace that God had given him.

[18:15] You know, there's a verse. Let me, let me just get that quick.

[18:25] It's in Luke. One verse here. It says, verse 2. And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

[18:48] But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.

[19:03] And to whom men have committed much, of him they shall ask the more. You know, this servant, here in Luke, he didn't prepare his heart to serve the master.

[19:22] And that is what this man here, the man that had one talent, he was a slothful servant that made him a wicked servant.

[19:34] He didn't prepare his heart to follow after God. He didn't prepare his heart to be fruitful in the kingdom of God. But he was busy with other things.

[19:46] He was busy with his, whatever it was, was it his work or his farm or fishing or sports today or hunting, whatever it might be, he was busy with other things.

[20:01] And he neglected what God had given him. Jesus said he was a slothful and a wicked servant. He did not prepare his heart to be fruitful in the kingdom of God.

[20:20] He was busy doing his own thing. Now let's continue on here.

[20:35] Verse 31, Matthew 25, verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.

[20:49] And before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

[21:00] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

[21:19] For I was a hungry and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in. Naked and ye clothed me.

[21:29] I was sick and ye visited me. I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungry and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink?

[21:43] When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee?

[21:56] And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

[22:09] Now notice, here he's talking about the sheep, the righteous ones. And he says, I was hungry and you gave me meat.

[22:20] I was thirsty, you gave me drink. You met my need. I was a stranger, you took me in. And they say, Well, when? We never saw you in need or hungry or thirsty.

[22:36] But he says, Remember this. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

[22:47] Remember this. Remember this this morning. This, this is one of the most important phrases that we will be reading today.

[22:59] Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these, Inasmuch as ye have done it to your brother or sister in the church, Inasmuch as ye have done it to your neighbor, Inasmuch as ye have done it to whoever in need, you have done it unto him.

[23:19] Yes. Let's continue reading here. Verse 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me.

[23:33] Ye cursed into everlasting fire, Prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was a hungry and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, ye gave me no drink.

[23:45] I was a stranger and ye took me not in. Naked and ye clothed me not. Sick and in prison and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him saying, Lord, When saw we the unhungered, Or a thirst, Or a stranger, Or naked, Or sick, Or in prison, And did not minister unto thee?

[24:11] Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not To one of the least of these, Ye did it not to me.

[24:22] And these shall go away Into everlasting punishment, But the righteous into life eternal. Now notice, He says here, When we started reading here, In verse 32, That the shepherd divides The sheep from the goats, The sheep on the right, The goats on the left.

[24:41] And we might, You know, To start with, We might think that, Well, That's the Christian and the unbeliever. But I find here, That these people are professing Christians.

[24:54] The people that are called goats Are professing Christians, Because they knew, They knew the Bible, They knew the commandments of God. Remember, There's also, Jesus said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, Shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, But he that doeth the will of the Father, Those will enter in.

[25:18] And so here we have these people, They lived a religious life, But they lived for self. They had idols in their heart, That idol of self, That pride of self.

[25:31] But they went to church. They went to church. They were called Christians. They could talk about God, If it need be.

[25:43] But they were living for self. They didn't have time for their neighbors. They didn't have time for the people in church. They didn't treat them. They didn't treat them with care and compassion.

[25:59] They didn't meet their needs. They overlooked the needs around about them.

[26:12] They were busy. They were busy going about their work. They were busy going about their play. They were busy going hunting. They were busy with sports. They were busy fishing.

[26:23] They were, They went here. They went there. They were, They were busy. They didn't have time. What is it that keeps us from doing the will of God?

[26:43] The way we treat the least of these is how we treat Christ. That is what I want to, What I see here today in this portion, Is the way that I treat all of you.

[26:58] That is how I treat Christ. He is watching. He's watching our life. He's watching how we, How we interact.

[27:08] He's watching how we treat one another. He's watching. He's watching. Do we, Do we love one another? We'll be looking at some of that. Do we love one another?

[27:19] Do we respect one another? Can we, Can we, Allow others' opinions?

[27:31] Or do we always have to have our own way? The way we treat the least is how we treat Christ.

[27:48] Yes. Yes. In John 15, 12 and 13.

[28:06] This is my commandment, That ye love one another, As I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, Than a man lay down his life, For his friends.

[28:17] You know, And I don't think that necessarily means that, That I die for you. But what that means is, I'm willing to sacrifice for you.

[28:31] I'm willing to lay down my will to, Accept yours. You know, In things that don't matter, In things that are not, You know, You know what I mean?

[28:46] In the scriptures, They stand, And we cannot compromise. But in, In the body, We need to be subject one to another.

[28:59] We need to submit one to another. We need to, Allow others, To voice their opinion. And we don't know, You know, Do we, Do we always have to have our way?

[29:15] Do we always have to, See things go the way I want it? Are we, So here, In John 15, 13, Greater love has no man than this, That a man lay down his life for his friends.

[29:36] Are we willing to lay down our life, For our brothers and sisters? Are we willing to sacrifice, To help others, To help our neighbor, To help those in need?

[29:53] Remember, The way we treat the least, Is how we treat Christ. Do we have respect of persons? Do we ignore certain people?

[30:05] Do we have respect of persons? The Bible talks against that, And we might, We might come across that verse here in a little bit. Putting others first.

[30:21] Or must I have the preeminence? Must I always have my way? How do we lay down our life? By sacrificing, By giving up my rights, By giving up my desires, My comfort, My schedule, You know, My will.

[30:44] Sacrificing my own desires. In 3rd John, Verse 9, It says, The atrophies, Who loveth to have the preeminence among them.

[31:00] Here was a man who was, Who was full of himself. Here's a man that thought, He's better than others. And he always had to have his way. Even to the extent that, You know, If you read that, You'll find out that, He didn't want to accept John, And some others.

[31:18] Because he was in charge. We ought to lay down our life for the brethren.

[31:33] Our usefulness in the kingdom of God depends on this. Our usefulness in the kingdom of God depends on us.

[31:49] Laying down our life, A living sacrifice. Yes, And it's very practical this morning. How do we give ourselves a living sacrifice?

[32:04] By serving our fellow man, I believe is one of the greatest ways, That we, Give ourselves a living sacrifice.

[32:17] In 1st John, Let's turn to 1st John chapter 3. We'll start here in verse 14.

[32:28] We know that we have passed from death unto life, Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

[32:41] Now we would all say we love our brethren. But words are cheap. Let's continue on. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.

[32:55] And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, Because he laid down his life for us, And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

[33:11] It doesn't get much plainer than that, Does it? How do we lay down our life for the brethren?

[33:28] Is it not, Is it not, To be a servant? Is it not, Is it not, To meet their need? To help them, In their struggles, To help them, In their time of need.

[33:46] To help them, When they're in a hard place. To help them when, You know, Whatever, Situation comes their way.

[33:57] Verse 17, But whoso hath this world's good, And seeth his brother have need, And shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, How dwelleth the love of God in him?

[34:17] My little children, Let us not love in word, Neither in tongue, But in deed, And in truth. Let us not love, Let us not love in word, But in deed, And in truth.

[34:38] You know, Words are cheap. It's easy to say a lot of words. It's easy to say, All those nice sounding things. But it's a different story.

[34:51] It's a different story, When it comes down to, Actually going, And laying down, My, Life for my brother.

[35:03] You know, The thing of time, I believe is one of the, One of the biggest, That we're faced with, Is time.

[35:15] Anything you will do, For your brother, Anything you will do, For your neighbor, It's going to cost time. It might cost more time, Than money. And so many times, We think we don't have time.

[35:34] He says, Whoso hath this world's good, And seeth his brother have need, And shutteth up his bowels, Of compassion from him, How dwelleth the love of God in him.

[35:50] You know, That verse, That verse, Goes a long way. I remember one time, When it, It struck me, There was a man in need, There was a family in need, And yes, The Lord talked to me, Through that verse.

[36:19] You know, Like James says, We can say, Oh, Be warmed and filled, But unless we, Put some action to our words, It's to no avail.

[36:34] You know, Sometimes God, Wants to use us, To answer prayer. Yes. Putting others first.

[36:50] Are we willing, To sacrifice our time? Are we willing to give up, Our rights?

[37:05] The things that we, Think, We have a right to. Our desires, Our comfort, Our schedule.

[37:18] Can we sacrifice it, For our brother? We ought to lay down, Our lives for the brethren.

[37:29] If we live selfishly, How dwelleth the love of God, In us? How do we give ourselves, A living sacrifice?

[37:42] I believe it is, By serving our fellow man. Not in, Not in word, But in deed, And in truth. James, There's a verse that says, Have not the faith, Of our Lord Jesus, With respect of persons.

[38:06] You know, Do we say, So and so, He, Yeah, He doesn't deserve. But, You know, And James, Let's just read those couple verses.

[38:31] James 2 verse 1, My brethren, Have not the faith, Of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Lord of glory, With respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly, A man with a gold ring, In goodly apparel, And there come in also, A poor man, In vile raiment, And ye have respect to him, That weareth the gay clothing, And say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, And say to the poor, Stand thou there, Or sit here under my footstool.

[39:01] Are ye not then partial in yourselves, And are become judges, Of evil thoughts. He condemns, Partiality.

[39:14] He condemns, Being a respecter of persons. In 1 Peter chapter 5, I believe I quoted this, A time or two already, But let's read it.

[39:30] Verse 5, Likewise ye younger, Submit yourselves unto the elder, Yea, All of you be subject one to another, And be clothed with humility, For God resistes the proud, And giveth grace to the humble.

[39:48] Humble yourselves, Therefore under the mighty hand of God, That he may exalt you in due time, Casting all your care upon him, For he careth for you.

[40:04] Humble yourself, Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. God gives grace to the humble.

[40:15] He gives grace to those who walk in humility. He gives grace to those who submit one to another. But those that are proud and haughty, And we heard this last Sunday, God resists the proud.

[40:39] You know, If we refuse to bow, If we keep these idols in our heart, And mostly I would say, The idol of self, And selfishness, And the pride of life, And all of those things, We keep those, We will find ourselves among the goats someday.

[41:07] Amen. Humble yourselves, Therefore under the mighty hand of God, That he may exalt you in due time.

[41:26] You know, Once God decides to exalt us, Then it's legitimate. But if we try to do it of our own self, We will fall flat.

[41:38] Casting all your care upon him, For he careth for you. It matters to him about you.

[41:49] That's what he's saying here. Your life matters to the Lord Jesus. Yes, it does. And we can cast our care upon him, And he will care for us.

[42:02] Amen. In 2 Thessalonians, Verse that I had referred to earlier.

[42:20] In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, He's talking here, About a people, That are perishing.

[42:33] He says, In verse 10, With all deceivableness of unrighteousness, In them that perish.

[42:48] So we're talking about a people, That are perishing. And why are they perishing? Because, They receive not the love of the truth, That they might be saved.

[43:02] You know, today, We are hearing truth. Do we receive that truth? You know, Sometimes, The truth is not convenient. Sometimes, The truth exposes something, That's wrong in my life.

[43:20] And I make a choice. Will I accept that truth, And allow God to cleanse me, And make it right? Or will I reject that truth?

[43:30] And will I go on in my own way? You know, That is what the elders of Israel were doing. I believe they knew the truth.

[43:44] They had heard it many times. And here they came again to the prophet, And they wanted to hear truth. They wanted to hear the word of the Lord.

[44:00] But in their heart, They really did not. You know, Isaiah said, The people told him, They said, Prophesy unto us smooth things.

[44:13] Prophesy deceits. Don't, Don't, Don't prophesy the hard things. Don't prophesy that, That God will require us to repent.

[44:25] Don't prophesy that, That we're going to be destroyed, If we do not turn to God. Prophesy to us smooth things. You know, There's a, There's a, There's a verse, In the New Testament, That says, They will not endure sound doctrine.

[44:42] But they will heap to themselves, Teachers having itching ears. You know, You know, The, The human, Humanity is the same today, As it was back in Ezekiel's day, In Isaiah's day, In Jeremiah's day.

[45:01] Humanity does not like to hear the truth. They do not like to hear the things, That are inconvenient to their self-life. Well, Let's see what God says here.

[45:22] These people that are perishing, They're perishing because, They did not receive the love of the truth, That they might be saved.

[45:33] Let us take a lesson. The only way that we're going to be saved, Is if we embrace the truth. That's the only way we will make it.

[45:44] It's the only way we will make it through. But these people, They did not embrace the truth. They did not love the truth. And therefore accepted.

[45:55] Why? Because the truth, When it came to them, It told them they needed to repent. It told them that they were, They were in need of all things.

[46:06] They thought they had need of nothing, Like the Laodiceans. And because they reject the truth, It says, For this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, That they should believe a lie.

[46:23] That they all might be damned, Who believe not the truth, But had pleasure in unrighteousness. Unrighteousness. You know, You know, This, This, This is what God will do.

[46:36] You know, We saw in Ezekiel, How God, Said he will answer those men, According to the idols in their heart. And here we have, In the New Testament, God, Says he will answer people, According to the idols in their heart.

[46:52] If they have idols in their heart, That they will not hear the truth. He will send them a strong delusion, That they will believe a lie.

[47:05] And what will they believe? What is the lie they believe? I believe what it is, Is that they will believe, That they are okay. They will believe, That they are a Christian.

[47:16] They will believe, That they are in right standing with God. But they are deceived. Corinthians tells us, That the God of this world, Is blind at the, The minds of them, That believe not.

[47:33] And so when we reject truth, There comes a darkness, There comes a blindness. Yes. So we must walk in the light.

[47:45] We must walk in the light, As 1 John 1 says, I don't think we'll get there today, But, You can read that later.

[47:58] Verse 12 again, That they all might be damned, Who believed not the truth, But had pleasure in unrighteousness. Pleasure in unrighteousness.

[48:10] How is it, How is it, How is it, With us? Now let's, You know, We talked about time, And I want to look at, I, You know, It's amazing, There's so many, Parallels, Old Testament, And New Testament, And in Malachi, In Malachi, Chapter 1, We have this account, We have this account, And, For my name shall be great, Among the heathen, Saith the Lord of hosts, That verse, For from the rising of the sun, Even to the going down of the same, My name shall be great, Among the Gentiles, And in every place, Incense shall be offered unto my name,

[49:13] And a pure offering. Now, Yes, Chapter 1, Verse 12, But ye have profaned it, In that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted, And the fruit thereof, Even his meat, Is contemptible.

[49:29] Ye said also, Notice this, Behold, What a weariness is it? And ye have snuffed at it, Saith the Lord of hosts, And ye brought that which was torn, And the lame, And the sick, Thus ye brought an offering, Should I accept this of your hand, Saith the Lord, But cursed be the deceiver, Which hath in his flock a male, And voweth and sacrifices unto the Lord, A corrupt thing, For I am a great king, Saith the Lord of hosts, And my name is dreadful among the heathen.

[50:10] Now let's go back, Let's look here, Verse 13, Ye also said, Behold, What a weariness. You know, Do we get weary of doing well?

[50:24] Do we get weary of doing the work of God? Do we get weary of this walk with our Lord, And living a life of holiness, And usefulness in the kingdom of God?

[50:41] Remember, He expects us to be faithful, Just like those men that receive those talents, He expects us to be faithful, With what he has entrusted to us.

[50:57] But he says, But you, You say, What a weariness, Is it? And you've scorned it, And mocked that, This way of holiness, You've, You've, You've mocked that our God, This great God, Who, Who, Will be worshipped, All over the world, The Lord of hosts, He is great among the heathen, But you've mocked at him, You've scorned him, And what did you do?

[51:32] You brought that which was torn, And you brought the lame, And the sick, Thus he brought an offering, But not the best.

[51:45] You know, God demanded the best, When they brought an offering to him in the Old Testament, It was to be a spotless offering, A spotless lamb, Or whatever the offering was, It was spotless, And if, If it was sick, Or, Or blemished, It, It could not be used.

[52:09] But he says, These people, They mocked at God, And they brought the lame, The sick, They brought something, That didn't cost them anything, Isn't it the same way in our day?

[52:28] You know, It's, We, We, We can serve God, As long as it doesn't cost anything, I can serve God, As long as it doesn't cost, My time, As long as it doesn't cost, My money, Unless, You know, I can serve God, Unless it starts costing something, So I'll give him, I'll give him the lame, I'll give him the sick, Verse 14, But cursed be the deceiver, Which hath in his flock a male, And boweth, And sacrifices unto the Lord, A corrupt thing, For I am a great king, Saith the Lord of hosts, And my name is dreadful among the heathen, We serve a great king, We serve an awesome God, And he is worthy of our best, He is worthy of our all,

[53:31] Let's not just give him a few minutes at the end of the day, Let's not just give him a little here and there, Let's not just give him, You know, Whatever's extra of our life, But let's give him our best, Let's give him our best, And I think, A big thing is time, I, You know, A lot of times it's easier, To just, Give a hundred dollar bill, Than it is to give by time, Right?

[54:11] Now in Ezekiel 22, Here we have these people, And there, The nation of Israel, Is in terrible shape, And in verse 30, God says, And I sought for a man among them, That should make up the hedge, And stand in the gap before me for the land, That I should not destroy it, But I found none, How terrible, Therefore have I poured out, Mine indignation upon them, I have consumed them, With the fire of my wrath, Their own way have I recompensed, Upon their heads, Sayeth the Lord of, Sayeth the Lord God, Today, When God is looking for a man,

[55:13] Will he find you? I believe there were men there, Just like today, You know, Where were the elders, That came to Ezekiel?

[55:30] Well, They probably didn't have time, They had their idols, Set up in their heart, Their self life, The other things they were doing, Their prestige, Their place on the council, And when God came looking for a man, To intercede, And to stand in the gap, There was no one, There was no one, You know, If we, Will be that man, It will cost us, It will cost us our life, It will cost us our time, It will cost us, I don't know, Whatever he asks of us, It must be there for him, We must be willing, To endure, We must be willing,

[56:31] To go through the things, That we, That we despise, Things that we do not like, Things that are not comfortable, Loss of sleep, You know, Jesus, Spend all nights in prayer, But we're just like the disciples, He came back to them, And they were sleeping, Might our testimony be, Like the apostle Paul, In Acts 27, 23, There they were, On that ship, In the midst of the storm, They were out there, And Paul said, The God, Who I serve, The God, Whose I am,

[57:32] And whom I serve, We want to serve God, But do we belong to him, Or are we holding back, Are we holding back, Do we have things in our heart, That, That, Hinder, What God would do, In us, And through us, Or can he use us, How many times, Well, I mean, Yeah, I know he has a need, But he's not, We wouldn't say it, But he's not worthy, We serve a great king, We cannot, Be casual, In our faith, Do we lay down, Our life for others, Are we living for self, The way we treat, The least of these,

[58:33] Is the way we are treating Christ, Do we love the truth, If we are not willing, To sacrifice for others, We are deceiving ourselves, Jesus said in Mark 10, 44, Whoever will be chiefest, Let him shall be the servant of all, For even, Mark 10, 45, For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, But to minister, And to give his life, A ransom for many, Pride will keep us, From living this life, Are we walking in the light, We will reap what we sow,

[59:36] We had that lesson this morning, You know, Whatever seeds you sow, That's what will grow, That's what will bring a harvest, You can't, You can't plant selfishness, And reap life, God will allow us, To reap the consequences, Of the idols in our hearts, Not yielding to the spirit, Will bring blindness, How are we today, How is it, Let a man examine himself, And see whether he be in the faith,

[60:39]  Let's do that today,