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Love Series

LOVE OF GOD # 9

Love of God in the Prophets

Fred Coulter – December 6, 1995

Greetings everyone. This is going to be another one of our sermons on the series of Love, so we’re going to entitle this “The Love of God in the Prophets.” But before we get there we have to preface some things that we find as recorded in the law because everything that is done in the prophets then is prefaced by what God gave in the law.

Let’s turn to Deuteronomy 6:5 and let’s see what God desired and has always desired, and what God wants: “…And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This is what God has always wanted. This is what God really started to do with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And then we come down to the time of Jesus, and one of the things that He said was this exact quote right here of loving God in this way. And this is what God has desired, and this is what God wants us to do. This is what God wanted Israel to do. Now notice verse 6: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart…” (Deut. 6:5-6, KJV). And that’s what God wants with the New Testament too. He wants all of these words to be in our heart.

Now let’s go to Deuteronomy 5 for just a minute so we can see exactly right in the giving of the law, verse 7: “Thou shalt have none other gods before Me.” That’s the first commandment and let’s understand something that is absolutely true today: When you change the nature and understanding of God and accept a teaching and doctrine contrary to the teachings in the Bible, you have the wrong god. That’s why if you have the wrong god then everything else from there is askew or wrong, or as we have learned once you change the nature of God you change all the doctrines. And that’s what we have seen.

Now the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me…” Now in the Old Testament and in the Prophets we are going to see that there is love and hate. And those things are important that we understand. Now if you don’t love God you hate God. Now I’m sure there are degrees in-between, but we don’t want to be on the middle road. We want to be on the road which is loving God the way that God has said, with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and being. Now notice verse 10: “…And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.” (Deut. 5:7-10, KJV).

Now we’re going to see that this is also New Testament doctrine. Do we not cover in … here let’s just turn there. I John 5 we find that New Testament doctrine is based upon these very words of love that God gave clear back contained in the law. So when we discuss things with people, or you hear people say, “It is either love or law.” No, it is both. You cannot have law without love, and you cannot have love without law. They both go together – hand in glove.

I John 5:2, it says: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments.” Now you compare that with Deuteronomy 5:10: “…shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.” Are those not identically the same? Now we can also see with this another principle that is true: Jesus Christ the same (what is it?) yesterday, today, and forever. So the Lord God Who became Jesus Christ in the New Testament was the one Who spoke the 10 Commandments here as recorded in Deuteronomy 5, and He’s the one that says, “…shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”

Now let’s finish up here in I John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous [burdensome].” (I John 5:2-3, KJV). And so this is profound. All the way through the Scriptures we find that God is the same. Now however, under the covenant with Israel they did not have the Holy Spirit given to them so they were not able to enter into the complete personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and fellowship with them as we are able to do today, because that is a spiritual relationship.

Now let’s come back to Deuteronomy and let’s come to Chapter 7 and let’s begin here in verse 6, and let’s see some promises that God gave, because everything in the Prophets is based upon the law and the covenants. Now we covered part of this in the “Love of God in the Law and Psalms.” Verse 6: “For thou art an holy people…” Now when I read this I want you to think of the New Testament implications in this, because all the way through this study of the love of God in the prophets we are going to see the projection forward to the New Testament time and time, and time, and time again.

“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee [same thing in the New Testament – we must be chosen] to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love upon you…” Now we’re going to see that Israel time and time again rejected that love. We will see that God pleaded with them; we will see that God desired to love them; and we will see that God desired to be loved by them.

“The LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Now based upon these foregoing statements we just read, He says: “[Now] know and understand therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him…” Now this is exactly the same principle that Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” That’s what Jesus said. So we have it right here. “Know … therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations…” I wonder how many blessings that we are recipients of because of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and those faithful ones listed in the Old Testament? Just makes you wonder.

Now then He gives a warning that He repays … here we have again love on the one hand, hate on the other hand. Verse 10: “…And repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them…” God works exactly the same way today. “…He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face.” (Deut. 7:6-10, KJV). So we see in the Old Testament and we see in the law (as we are going to see also in the prophets), this love and hate kind of thing that goes on. We’re also going to see another kind of love that is more prevalent in the Prophets because the prophets were sent when the people sinned. The prophets were sent to warn the people that they were leaving God; that they were not loving God; and because of that then God would have to repay them to their face.

Now here in Proverbs 3 is some very important instruction for us, plus it also tells us more about the kind of love that the Prophets are talking about. Let’s begin in verse 1: “My son, forget not my law…” Now I want you to think in terms of New Testament doctrine also, because these things he says, “My son, forget not My law.” Are we not the sons and daughters of God? Are we not going to be born into the Kingdom of God when Christ returns? Yes, we are. “…Forget not My law; but let thine heart keep My commandments…” Now I want you to think as we are going through here about this connection with what we just read in Deuteronomy, and this connection with what we also read in I John and understand that here again we have God Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

“…For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart…” Isn’t that something – bind them about your neck and write them about the tablet of your heart? Make it a part of your living being, the way that you live. That’s why throughout the Bible God’s way is called “the way of the Lord” because it is a way to live; it is a way to think; it is a way to love; it is a way to guide our steps day by day by day. So that’s what we are to do with it.

Now notice verse 4. Here’s a promise: “…So shalt thou find favour [grace]…” So here again we have grace, we have law, we have commandments, we have heart. “So shalt thou find favour [grace] and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart…” And we’re going to see that that’s what Israel did not do, and that’s why the prophets had to come. “…And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Now there’s a tremendous promise. And I never will forget a wonderful sermonette given by Mr. Crane. He was an Englishman. And I remember years ago, no one had ever asked him to speak but he knew his Bible, and when I visited him I thought he was outstanding. So I asked him if he would give a sermonette, and he did. And the sermonette was just what I gave you right here. Wonderful. And he said, “At age 82 I’ve learned that this is the most important thing in life, right here.” So brethren, can we also learn that as well? This is the most important thing in life right here, because this is the foundational building block of building love.

Now then here’s a warning. Notice all the way through that there are warnings. Verse 7: “Be not wise in thine own eyes…” And it’s absolutely true: We have nothing that we didn’t receive, so we don’t need to be all lifted up and conceited about how good we are, or what we are, or how great we are, how much we know, or anything like this because there is the Scripture which says even though we know certain things we don’t know things yet as we ought to know them. So it is with the Word of God, so it is with the love of God. “…Fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” And that means right down into your innermost beings, because if you have never realized it … I’m sure most of us do today, but the life is in the blood and the blood is manufactured in the morrow of the bones. So this is getting right down into the very depths of your being, if we could put it that way. “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”

Now verse 11, here is part of the love of God, which is more prevalent in the Prophets than in any other place in the Bible, but this is also part of the love of God. And we need to understand that maybe that’s what God is doing this very day. Maybe we need to understand that in the churches of God, God is exercising this love to get our attention so that we can truly come to God and then have a full-fledged relationship with Him in the way that He wants us to by loving Him with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our being. “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of His correction…”, because there’s going to be correction. “…For whom the LORD loveth He [is correcting] correcteth…” Now we also find this quote in Hebrews 12, and we’re also given some instruction there that we are to let the correction have its perfect work; we are to lift up the hands that hang down; we are to look to God and be encouraged and not turn our backs and be bitter and end up as Esau who found no space of repentance because he did not accept that love of God. And as we will see a little later, we will see that Esau ended up being the recipient of God’s hatred.

Now notice: “…For whom the LORD [is loving] loveth He [is correcting] correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he [is delighting] delighteth” (Prov. 3:1-12, KJV). And that is to make us more like Him; that is to bring us into more conformity (especially New Testament Christians) with His Spirit so that we can grow in grace and knowledge, that we can understand more about God.

Alright let’s continue on. Let’s go to the book of Deuteronomy here for just a minute, back to Deuteronomy 18, because here’s an important prophecy. And we will see that almost all of the prophets key in on the law and the things that we just read. Now here’s a promise given, verse 15: “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto Me; unto Him ye shall hearken…” That’s a prophecy of Jesus Christ.

Notice verse 18. He repeats it again but adds something else to it: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth…” Now what we are going to see is this: All the words that the prophets have given; all the words that are recorded in all the prophets are the words which come from God. So they also fulfill this: They came and they spoke the words of the Lord. All the way through the book of Ezekiel “the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, saying, ‘Son of man, say unto the children of Israel…,’ ” over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.

“…And will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.” So He’s going to speak unto them all that He commanded. What did Jesus say? Jesus said, “I speak nothing of Myself, I do nothing of My own. But what I hear the Father say, that’s what I speak; what I see the Father do, that’s what I do.”

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:15, 18-19, KJV).

Now let’s go to the book of Psalms because we need to also build as we are coming into this “The Love of God in the Prophets,” let’s go to Psalm 103 and let’s see something that’s very important concerning the love of God, and the way that God is, and the way that God wanted to treat Israel. Here, beginning in verse 1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me…” We’re going to see one of the reasons why, even in the prophets, David is mentioned over and over again is because of this very attitude: that David was truly loving God with all his heart and mind and soul and being. Yes, he had his faults and mistakes, and yes he had his sins, and yes they were forgiven, but this was the attitude that he had.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies…” And this is what God has always wanted to do with Israel. But Israel would not, therefore God had to bring about the other warnings that He gave.

Now let’s just look at just a few more verses here, verse 8: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” No, God does not do that. And as we will see, one of the most profound messages that we will find in the book of Ezekiel is to turn to God, return to God, return to God, all the way through.

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” Well not only that but just think about how His mercy is toward you when you love Him. And we’re going to see there are really very few people in the whole history of the world that have truly loved God. Now I want you to think on that, and I want you to let that sink in, and I want you to understand what a great and a profound opportunity that we have that we can do that, brethren, with the Spirit of God. And then we can do those things that are pleasing to Him, just like it says there in Proverbs 3.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep His covenant [because He said those who love Him and keep His covenant He would be with], and to those that remember His commandments to do them” (Psalm 103:1-4, 8-18, KJV). Tremendous blessing.

Now let’s go to Psalm 107, just a couple of pages over and then we will get into the prophets. Verse 41: “Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction, and maketh Him families like a flock.” Now that’s a prophecy of us. “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD” (Psalm 107:41-43, KJV). And that’s what we want to do, brethren, is to understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. To know His love, to know Him. Part of that is understanding how God operated in the Old Testament and showed His love.

Now let’s go to the book of Malachi. And as you know that’s the first book in the Old Testament going backwards from Matthew. That’s how I remember it. Let’s begin right in the first chapter because here’s a profound section of Scripture. And one of the reasons that God hated Esau was because he sold his birthright and turned his back on the commandments of God and he refused to repent. Now that’s what God hates so He makes this statement, verse 1: “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?” Most people don’t understand that even in the world they’re still operating because of the love of God. Remember, Jesus Christ is the author of physical life and spiritual life, so all of those people in the world who are enjoying all of these blessings that they have, it’s because of the love of God.

But they do the same thing that Israel has done. “Now, where has God loved us?” So God says: “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished…” So he turned around, didn’t accept the correction of God. He turned around and rebelled against God; he turned around to go take again that which God had taken from him and he was going to recapture that which he sold. “…But we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but [God says] I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.” Now we don’t want to be on that side of the fence, brethren.

“And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a master, where is My fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy name?” Now we find the same thing today: there are many ministers and teachers out there who despise the name of God. They don’t want to teach what is right, they don’t want to teach what the Word of God has, they don’t want to teach what God is saying. No, they want to teach their thing in the name of God, and they turn around and they say this: “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar…” Now the Word of God is the bread of life, is it not? So if they offer polluted bread upon His altar, spiritually speaking, what are they doing? They’re offering their own ideas, and their own philosophies, and their own ways, and their own thoughts all the way through.

“…And ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.” Now are we all not called to the table of the Lord? Yes, we are – the wedding supper of the Lamb, correct? Yes. They’re saying, “Well, God doesn’t mean this, and God doesn’t mean that, and God doesn’t mean the other thing.”

“And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?” That’s the same as offering the Word of God and not having a clue as to what it’s all about. “…And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will He regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.” The whole sum of the chapter here is that they have profaned God’s way by saying, “Yea, God has not said,” when God has said.

Now he says in the middle part of verse 10: “I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.” No, and we’re finding that too much in the church of God with the ministers and the brethren, that God is not having pleasure in them. And as I wrote in a recent letter, could this be the year of visitation for the churches of God? I mean we need to think upon that.

Verse 12: “But ye have profaned it [that is the way of God and the table of God], in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible. [Then he says, “Oh my, it’s going to be bad.] Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it!” They’re wearied with God’s way. “Oh we need to get rid of these burdensome sacrifices. It’s way too much for us. Now we are a New Testament church,” is the way that they would put 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.” Now think of this spiritually. This is what Israel did. This is why they had to be corrected so severely, because they were doing this at the temple; they were doing this with the priesthood; they were doing this with the offerings of God and the worship of God through the Old Covenant, and He says, “Will this be accepted?” No, He says verse 14: “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing…” In other words they are there and they know they are doing wrong, and they know better. And God says: “…cursed be the deceiver…for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen” (Mal. 1:1-10, 12-14, KJV).

Now then He says Chapter 2, verse 1: “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.” Then He goes on showing, because they have been partial in the law, that He’s going to spread the dung upon their faces, even their solemn feasts. So God had some pretty strong and stout words to say because they didn’t love God.

Now let’s come back to the book of Ezekiel. We’re going to see some very important things here in the book of Ezekiel, and this is something that is absolutely true today, and this is part of the love of God which is the correction of God. And so if we can do as the apostle Paul said, if we can take all these things that happened to them in the Old Testament as examples for us that we don’t do the same thing. You see, the grace of God does not give us license to go sin. No, Paul says we establish law; we establish love because of the grace of God.

So God gave this warning. Now here was Ezekiel, he had to go and preach a very dire and terrible warning message. And I tell you, if there’s one man I would not want to be, and if there’s one ministry I would not want to have that would be the ministry of Ezekiel. You read it. He had the toughest row to hoe of any of the prophets of God. And here’s what God said, Ezekiel 3:17: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” As I said, all the way through all the prophets gave the Word of God, they spoke the Word of God.

“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” So that lays the responsibility upon the prophet. This also lays the responsibility upon any of the teachers of God today. “Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness…,” which is part of the love of God. God wants them to experience this love. God wants them to receive this correction that He can give His tender mercies and lovingkindness to them. “…And he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezek. 3:17-21, KJV). Now this is true in everything throughout the Scriptures, brethren. So this is something most important that we need to realize and understand.

Let’s come to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16 has to do with God’s love for Israel; has to do with God calling Israel; He rehearses all the history of calling her out of Egypt; rehearses all of the history of the good things that He did for her. You know, God also shows His love by His creation. God also shows His love by the good things that He gives to people. That’s why He wants them to love Him in return. But too many people don’t love God, they don’t care for God. They want all these things in their covetousness, just like Esau, but they don’t want to give themselves to God. So God gave that history and then we come down here to verse 8: “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread My skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest Mine.” In other words this was the marriage ceremony of the covenant with Israel that He made with them in the book of Exodus Chapters 20 through 24.

“Then washed I thee with water…” Now I want you to think about how God has done this with us. Are we not washed with water? Yes, we are – baptism. “…Yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.” That’s how God treated Israel – gave her the best of everything that there was. And God was with them.

“Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty…,” looked to her own self, looked to her own devices, looked just the same thing as Satan did. A take off of Snow White and the seven dwarfs, “Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all.” And Israel said, “Why, I am.”

“But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was” (verse 15). “And furthermore,” He says, “you were worse than whores. You paid your lovers.” Now is that not what we are doing today? You wait and see. The latest fornication is Bosnia, and we are going to pay through the nose.

Then God said that He had to judge her. God said He had to just completely waste her because she did all these horrible and miserable things.

Now let’s come over here to verse 43: “Because thou hast not remembered [now, we need to remember] the days of thy youth, but hast fretted Me in all these things…,” because you see, just like in a marriage when a marriage goes sour then the one who is the victim of it (in this case being God) is fettered with all of those problems and difficulties and has to live with the emptiness and the loneliness and the anger. But you see God has the power to correct. Didn’t remember those things. “…Behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.” And that’s exactly what the United States has become – just as old mother Israel. “Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.” In other words He’s talking to Judah now, “You’re even more corrupt than Israel.”

“As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezek. 16:8-15, 43-49, KJV). But then He goes on to say, “Now you, Judah, have done worse.” And as we know from the New Testament they entered into league and alliance with Satan the devil and made Satan their god and rejected God.

Now let’s go to Ezekiel 33. In spite of all of this the love of God still is pleading with the children of Israel. God in His mercy, God in His love, God in His graciousness still understands this. Now He gave the warning; repeated the warning that He gave in Chapter 3 that we read in the first part of Ezekiel 33. Then He says in verse 11: “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD…” And this is based upon the very existence of God. God wants you to know because of His very existence, living eternally, as He lives, He says: “…I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked…” No, God has no pleasure at all in it. Sometimes they must die. But He still has no pleasure in it. “…But that the wicked turn from his way and live…” And this is the whole pleading of the Prophets. If you could say there’s anything in all of the Prophets which expressed the love and grace of God, this is it right here in Ezekiel – “that you would turn and live.”

“…Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” God wanted them to accept His correction. God wanted them to receive it. God wanted them to understand that He loved them. God wanted them to know that He wanted them to come back to Him. Just like He said, “Those that love Me and keep My commandments, I will honor unto a thousand generations.”

Now, verse 30. Now they’re kind of a religious people. They’re doing their way. “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words…” And I would say this is a perfect description of almost nearly all Sunday services that you would have anywhere. Perfect description of many Sabbath services that you would have in many places. They come and sit before God, because are we not coming to God? Are we not coming and saying, “God, we’re asking You to bless this meeting. God, we’re asking You to be here in presence”? Yes. So they come and sit before you as My people and they hear your words and they will not do them. “…For with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” So their love is feigned. Their love is not real. Oh yes, they have sweet words. They have nice sayings, but they go after their covetousness.