Ezekiel

So is ethel 13, and we're reading the whole chapter.

The word of the lord came to me son of man prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and so say to those who prophesy from their own hearts hear the word of the lord. Thus says the lord god, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. Your prophets have been like Jackals among ruins o Israel. You have not gone up into the breaches or built up a wall for the house of Israel but it might stand in battle in the day of the lord. They have seen false visions and lying divinations.

They say declares the lord when the lord has not sent them and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination whenever you have said declares the lord, although I have not spoken. Thus says the lord god, because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you declares the lord god. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people.

Nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel nor shall they enter the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the lord god. Precisely because they have misled my people saying peace when there is no peace. And because when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash. Say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall. There will be a deluge of rain and you, oh, great hailstones will fall and a stormy wind breakout.

And when the wind the wall falls, will it not be said to you? Where is the coating with which you smeared it? Therefore, thus says the Lord God. I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath. There shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.

When the wall collapses, will people not ask you where is the whitewash you covered it with? Therefore, this is what the lord, sovereign lord says. In my wrath, I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger, hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash, and we'll level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it.

And you will know that I am the lord. So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, the wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it. Those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace declares the sovereign lord. Now son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination, prophesy against them and say, this is what the sovereign lord says.

Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people, but preserve your own? You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died. And have spared those who should not live.

Therefore, this is what the sovereign lord says. I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds, and I will tear them from your arms. I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the lord.

Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I have brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives. Therefore, you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands, and then you will know that I am the lord. Thanks, Paul. Well, if you wanna keep that chapter that chapter open, let me just pray first.

My name is Pete Woodcock. I'm 1 of the pastors of the church, and so if you are visiting them, great to see you. If you're online, and you're new to us and really good to see you, but let me pray. Father, thank you for this amazing book that many of us have been in all week. And, there's some very strong stuff, strong meat, and we pray that you would help us by your spirit to digest that.

And that we would live in the light of it for your glory in Jesus' name, amen. Now imagine that you're looking on at a group of 25 people They're sitting around a large roundtable, and every 1 of those 25 is calling themselves a faithful. They're a faithful. They're a faithful to Christ. And yet you know that amongst those 25, there are fake followers of Christ.

There are traitors. They're claiming to be faithful, but they're traitors. How are you gonna tell the difference? Are you gonna work out? Who's a faithful?

Who's a traitor? And just to sort of up the stakes a bit, make it even more important. Every 1 of those people around the table are claiming to be leaders of god. They're claiming to know god. They're claiming to speak on behalf of god.

They're claiming to say what god wants how god wants you to behave and to live. How are you gonna discern? How are you gonna discern between a faithful and a traitor? How are you gonna spot a traitor? Well, today, we're asking that question, and we're trying to seek the answer from ezekiel.

How do you spot a false teacher. How do you spot a false prophet? How are you gonna know? Now if you lived in ezekiel's day, how how are you gonna know? Now we know because we're reading this, but If you lived in his day, how do you know who is a traitor?

Who's a faithful? Go back to chapter 11 and verses 1 to 3. It may come up on the screen. Chapter 11, it says then the spirit lifted me, The me there is ezekiel. Now ezekiel, as we've seen, is living in Babylon by the rivers of Babylon, but in the spirit, he's been taken to Jerusalem.

And we saw last week that he was taken to see what was going on in the temple in Jerusalem. He's been taken by the hare. In other words, this is, you know, you you can't ignore this. And in the spirit, he's there in Jerusalem, and then he's seen what's going on in in, in the temple, the wicked detestable, disgusting things that are going on in the name of god. And then he sees a vision of god again, like he saw in the in chapter 1, of the glory of god going onto the throne of god and leaving the temple.

And now he's taken to see these people in chapter 11 verse 1. Then the spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the lord that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were 25 men. And I saw among them, Jasania, son of Azar. He's a different Jasania than the 1 earlier on, and, Pela Taya, son of Benahaya, leaders of the people.

The Lord said to me, son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in the city. They say, Havenar houses been recently rebuilt. This city is a pot and we're the meat in it. So he's taken to see 25 men gathering around the East gate of the temple, and ezekiel is being given the job of a seer. He can see what's going on, and he can hear what's being said and clearly these men are traitors.

But you're looking on and who you're gonna believe. Because they're gonna say we're hundred percent faithful. And I think yourself, because that's the scene's the way you have to introduce things. I think yourself ezekiel is a traitor. I think you're the traitor.

So how are we gonna know? Now before we answer that question, why does it matter? And that's my first point. Does it really matter? Who's a traitor and who's a faithful?

Does it really matter. And if it does matter, why does it matter? If everyone's sincere, if everyone's sort of, you know, they feel right they're genuinely faithful, If everyone's trying to help people, does it really matter? Doesn't it sort of boil down to this is my truth? Tell me yours.

Is is is isn't that isn't that what we like today? I mean, we don't really like people saying that truth is like an arrow. It's straight and narrow. You know, could we be a bit broader with our ideas of truth? Especially when it comes to spiritual things, or god?

I mean, who knows anyway? How can we be certain? So what does it really matter? Does it matter? Well, certainly, there's massive, massive difference between what Ezekiel is saying and what these other leaders, these other so called prophets are saying.

Ezekiel, as I've already said, had this vision of god. And it filled his mind and his heart and his soul, and the whole world. He saw who god was, but god is not some small, tammable thing that we make up. But god is not a distant god who doesn't care about the world or doesn't care about how we live. This is Yahweh, the god of the Bible, the covenant god, The god committed to love, the god committed to to truth.

This isn't a god that's waiting around to be asked to intervene in this world. This is a god who's in the here and now. He's in the past. He's in the future. This is the eternal god that's present in his judgments in this world.

Ezekiel saw this vision of god in chapter 1 when he started. And several times through the chapters. And again, in chapter 10, the vision of the lord, the glorious 1, he saw. A god, jealous for truth, jealous for faithfulness committed to truth, committed to faithfulness, a god who's fiercely opposed to traitors, fiercely opposed to liars, because he sees the damage it does to him and to the liars themselves and the people who are being lied to. A god outstanding in forbearance and patience a god, long suffering in his desire for rebels and sinners and unfaithful people to come and know his mercy, to come and be forgiven, to come back to him.

But fiercely angry with those who turn his love into other things, fiercely angry at those who scorn faithfulness. And who embrace the traitors. And ezekiel is saying prophesying that god is angry at Judah, and that's why the exile happened. People were taken from Judah by nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. It's because god was angry.

It's because god saw the detestable things that we were looking at last week in the in the temple that god used Babylon to come and smite Judah and bring people into exile. And he's saying, you who are left in Judah who think you're okay. No. You're not okay. You who are left in Judah and think you could make an alliance with the Egyptians and their gods and that will protect you from another ransacking, raid from, Babylon.

You are wrong. You're gonna be sacked. The temple is gonna be destroyed. Yahway sees the detestable things, and he's sickened. He's deeply grieved by lies and error and untruth, and he's rightly angry.

And now he's even left the house. Yahweh is not in the temple anymore. Just look back at chapter 10 and verses 18 and 19 and then on to 11 1. So 10, 18 and 19. Again, ezekiel has seen this glorious vision of the lord, and he sees him departing, look, verse 18, then the glory of the lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

While I watched the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the East gate of the lord's house, and the glory of the lord of Israel was above them. Now I have no time to go into the wheels. We've done that. You can go back and listen to the the sermon.

But it's the throne of god. This portable throne of god, if you like. It's all picture language. And god's glory is now on that throne, and he's coming out. He's leaving the temple.

And then look at verse 1 of 11 again. Then the spirit lifted me up, brought me to the gate of the house of the lord that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were 25 men. All meeting together, 25 men, the leaders, and they hadn't noticed the glory of god was on his way out. They hadn't noticed the very gate god is leaving him.

Their meeting under. They are so unattuned to god these men who are claiming to be leaders, so unattuned to god. They didn't realize that god is leaving. They think god doesn't notice their wickedness as he's leaving. They don't know he's hovering above them, and there they are planning their wickedness.

They're so unattuned. They think they can say to god, we're a hundred percent faithful. We're a hundred percent faithful. When they're doing wicked things. These 25 leaders, you see, have a very different view of god than ezekiel.

God isn't really god. Not really. They saw Yahweh as 1 of many gods. They were very happy to have Yahweh, the god of the Bible, and lots of other gods. They were very happy to sleep around.

They were very happy. We'll see you next week. They were very happy to be influenced and even dictated to by the other gods above yahweh. They didn't see yahweh as a jealous god. Such a negative view of god, jealous, what a horrible word that is.

We don't like the word jealous. Why should god be jealous? Who does he think he is? God? There he is.

That's crude, isn't it? And they didn't even know that he'd left the temple. In fact, they thought because they were left behind in Judah, in Jerusalem, that they were probably the real faithful ones, and they're persuading themselves that they really are the faithful ones. They have a very different god. And they don't think that they're living in the city of destruction.

This is the city of destruction. Look at what's going on, and they give this illustration of a cooking pot. Now it's a very odd illustration. We'll see that EZiko twists it round a little later on. But the idea is you've got this sort of pot that's surrounding the meat in the middle, and they're the choice meat.

And what they're saying is it's like we're, you know, we're we're alright. We're safe. We're actually safe in this pot. We've got a walls around us, like a walled city, and, no one's gonna come and attack us. And and and our leader, the puppet leader that nebuchadnezzar has left there, said Echeidah, he's gonna, you know, ask, Egypt and their gods to help.

And so we're safe in the pot, if you like. You know, no no 1 can steal us. That's what they feel like. And not only are we safe in the pot, and, you know, Babylon won't get us. We're we're okay.

We're gonna be safe. We can rebuild and We got a bright future. Look at verse 3 of chapter 11. They say, Haven't our houses been recently rebuilt? We're rebuilding.

We're gonna rebuilding project going on. And the city is a pot and we're the meat in it. We're safe. We've got a future. Later on, ezekiel uses the pot illustration and say you are the meat in the pot, and you're gonna be boiled to the bone.

In fact, ezekiel is so upset about their complacency that in chapter 12, which we haven't read, he talks about Zedekiah, basically. Trying to get get away. And Zedekiah is taken and blinded, and he acts this out. This is what's gonna happen, and it is what happens to Zedekiah. He was grabbed by, the Babylonians.

His sons were killed in front of him, and his eyes were pulled out, and he went into exile. And and Ezekiel in chapter 12 is acting this out and saying, this is the horror. Did you understand the horror that's gonna happen to you? You feel safe in the pot, but you're gonna be coming out of the pot into the fire. You're coming out of the frying pan and you're gonna burn.

And then at the end of of, chapter 12, he acts out trembling. He's trembling as he eats, and he's got to shake as he eats because he's in fear of the destruction that is coming. But the other prophets are saying, we're rebuilding. Everything's good. We're doing well.

Look, we're rich. We're safe in the pot. So do you see what's going on here? Back to the round table with the 25 men? Let's hear them arguing.

You're looking on who's a faithful, who's a traitor? Ezekiel. You're the traitor? We're a hundred percent faithful. You're the traitor.

We're optimistic. We've got plans. We're believing god. He's gonna do us good. Your portraying god is so negative.

It's so horrible. You must be the traitor. Ezekiel. Things are going well for us. We have a building project.

We're safe in the cooking pot. Body's not against us. They even have a proverb. At the end of chapter 12, the proverb that they have against ezekiel is the days go by and every vision comes to nothing. Ezekiel, you keep telling us about these visions and this depressing future that we're going to be destroyed, ezekiel.

They they come to nothing. You must be the traitor. Look, he's the traitor. He keeps saying this. Nothing happens.

Zekul comes back, and he says, you're the traitors. You're the enemies of yahweh. Look at your evil plotting. Look at your self interest. Look at your hearts far away from yahweh.

You don't even know he's left the temple. See, it matters. This is my first point. It matters. It matters because there are 2 different gods here, and they're saying very different things.

This isn't a game This isn't a game that you might win some money at the end of or not. This is life of death, says ezekiel. If you believe in the traitor's god, yeah, well, you'll probably be alright. You carry on your life just doing what the world says, and you'll be okay. But if you remember that their traitors and traitors lie, you need to be careful.

The faithful god, if he's true, you're in deep trouble. We need help. So it does matter. That's the first point. Here's the second point then.

How to trot to spot a traitor? And we're going to chapter 13. How to spot a traitor? And we're looking at chapter 13. And there's a whole load of things that, ezekiel brings up in how to spot a traitor.

If you wanna spot a traitor, this is it. False profits speak out of their own imagination, their dreamers. Look at chapter 13 1 and 2. The word of the lord came to me, son of man prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are now prophesying, saying to those say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination, who prophesy out of their own imagination, hear the word of the lord. How do you know a traitor.

They're dreamers. They're dreamers. They prophesy out of their own imagination. They don't preach the word of god. They prophesy out of their own imagination and say, that's the word of god.

Is amazing. See, Christian teachers and Christian preachers, we can be as original as anything in our presentation. I think I think you'll say that Ezekiel is certainly original in his presentation. He uses all manner of things to present his truth, the truth of god. He's not original.

There's nothing original about ezekiel. I mean, it's funny, isn't it? When you read ezekiel and then you go and read the last book of the Bible, revelation, you'll see that. Wow. And and then when you read ezekiel and you read Jesus, you think, wow, it's all plagiarizing.

They're all saying the same thing. They just use each other's words. It's amazing because a Christian teacher doesn't choose what to believe. We may be different in our styles of presentation. But we say what god says.

We just plagiarize. We don't, you know, we don't make it up. The word heresy is derived from a Greek word, which means choice Isn't that amazing? A heretic is someone who chooses what they're going to believe. Now a lot of people say, well, what's wrong with that?

Oh, come on. You know, can't we choose our own religion? Can't we have our own opinions about god? No. You can't.

No. No. You can't. Not if you're gonna believe the god of the Bible. It's a nonsense to say you can have your own opinions.

You shouldn't have your own opinions about anything. Really, to be honest with you, unless you're god, unless the god of the Bible isn't god, and you are, we submit to god as he reveals himself. We submit to revelation, not speculation or imagination. That's all preaches are to do. They reveal what god has revealed already in his word.

These are dreamers. These make things up. Then look at verse 3 again because he adds foolishness to their imagination. This is what the sovereign lord says at chapter 13. This is what the sovereign lord says, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.

Now the word foolish is a strong word, and it means they not only lack wisdom, but they lack morality. They have a lacking in the in their behavior. And they don't fear god. They, only fear themselves. They are arrogant.

They are open mouthed, and they have a too wide amount. There's no grace there. There's no humility there. That's the fool. There's no listing there.

They're just saying what comes into their mind. And the congregation of those people, they never hear the word of god. They only actually hear what you could get from Google or ChatGPT, whatever it's called. GPT. Yes.

You got it right. Or some AI machine that's gonna write it for them or the newspapers or social media, genuine profits speak in line with the revelation of god. Traders speak their own foolish imagination, and there's nothing bigger than themselves. Look at verse 3 again. This is what the sovereign lord says woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.

All they ever do is talk about themselves, or they talk about how good you are, or they talk about the potential in you. There's nothing bigger than this world than themselves. Their god is so small. It's as big as them, and that's it. They're dreamers.

But in order to dream, you have to still be asleep. And that's where they are. Dreamers, dreaming about themselves, follow your dreams, they'll say to you because they're following their dreams. Listen to your inner voice. Be true to yourself.

There's nothing bigger than yourself. So that's how to spot a traitor. Secondly, false prophets are about self gain. They're takers. Their dreamers, and their takers.

Look at verse 4 of chapter 13. Your prophets, Israel, are like Jackals, among ruins. Now Jackals are like sort of foxes, their scavengers. They're, you know, looking around. I mean, they particularly sort of haunt, you know, ruined places.

And, they're just after their own, satisfaction and finding their own food. They don't care about anybody else. And they quite like a situation where things have gone wrong because they can scavenge better that way. And that's what Jackals are. And your prophets are like Jackals.

Look at verse 5. You have not gone, you have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel. So that it will stand firm in the day of battle on the day of the lord. So they don't what what it's saying is there's holes in the wall and even within their own theory that they're safe in the cooking pot. They don't do anything They don't stand firm.

If a man falls, they don't replace that that person. They're all about themselves. They're Jackals. They just take. They're never defending the spiritual uh-uh, defenses of of of other people.

They're all about themselves. They're never going in in the breach of the walls, filling the gap. That's the picture there. They're just about themselves. Look at verse 19.

You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread, bread, by lying to my people who listen to lies. You have killed those that you should not who should not have died. And you spared those who should not have lived. You're all about yourself and anyone opposing you, you'll kill. And those that don't oppose you, you're welcome, but you're a scraps of food.

You'll sell your soul for money. Your takers, you're a religious guru. That's that's what's going on, and they pop their heads up when there's difficulties. In the new testament, Peter writes In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and the destruction has not been sleeping.

With eyes full of adultery. They never stop sitting. They seduce the unstable. They are experts in greed and a cursed brood. That's what they are.

They're takers. Experts in greed. The rich seduce the poor, and the older seduced by the young. They're dreamers. They're takers.

Thirdly, here's how to spot a traitor, false prophets ensnare and trap people. They're trappers. Look at verse 6 of chapter 13. Their visions are false and their divinette divinations are lie. Even though the lord has not sent them, they say the lord declares and expect him to fulfill their words.

Go down to verse 17 to 20. Now son of man, set your face against the daughters, of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination, prophesy against them and say, this is what the sovereign lord says, woe to the women who's so magic charms on all their wrists. And make vials of various links. Or you gotta have this 1 if you're this age. If you're this sort of person, you gotta have that length, for their heads in order to ensnare people.

You ensnare the lives of my people. But preserve your own. And then in verse 20, you talked about ensnaring them like birds in a trap. That's what magical stuff does. It costs a lot of money.

You ensnare people to do this course. And you gotta wear this gown. You gotta wear it this way. And you gotta make sure that, every stop of the way, you've gotta ask for the guidance, and, you get hooked on these magical things in the superstitious ways. Spiritual advisors and gurus have guides or every move.

Instant in a piece, and every step has to be approved, dreamers, takers, trappers. Fourthly, Still with me? No. You are. How to spot a traitor?

Fourthly, force profits whitewash over cracks, they're painters. They're painters, painters and decorators. Yeah. Look at verse 10. Because they lead my people astray same peace when there is no peace, and because when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewashed.

And then it goes on and talks about how that will fall. The message of these prophets, it's all nice and whitewashed. Yeah? But it's a flimsy wall. There's cracks in the wall.

They never fill the cracks in. They just whitewash it. Thin layer just to get rid of those cracks. Nice whitewash on the walls. It's classic fall to profit.

Peace. Peace. You're a piece. You're alright. Don't worry about the cracks.

Don't worry about the frauds. Don't worry that the war was gonna fall down. Peace, whitewashed peace. When there actually isn't any peace, you're in great danger. There's cracks in your life.

What is spoken by genuine prophets never paper the cracks? Genuine prophets will talk about the decay and the disease and the judgment, false prophets. It's a quick splash of whitewash. You'll be alright. You can have this too.

You can look nice and fresh, but when the storms come, flimsy war will fall, and the stupidity is exposed. Now 1 of the ways profits whitewash is just to echo what's being said of the world. Francis Schaeffer, who was a great preacher and prophet. He prophesied quite a lot of things, actually, back in the last century, the end of the last century, Francis Schaeffer, who was a philosopher as well, he called false prophets an echo of the world. Love that.

An echo of the world. In other words, they just follow the world but slightly fainter. Slightly worse than the world, really? Why would you follow these? You might as well follow the world, but they're echoes of the world.

And and that's what they are. Their their goal is popularity, not integrity, their their goal is is to baptize what's being on in the world, sort of back ties it into god's faith or Christian faith or something. You hear that all over the place. And and and they change from age to age, the echo of the world. It depends if it's a permissive age, then the preachers will say, you know, it's a situational ethic.

It depends who you love. If you love someone, then do what you like. It's permissive. That's how they echo the world. If it's an authoritarian age, they'd be like the pharisees.

You must follow the rules. Follow the details. If it's a conservative age, well, follow the status quo. If it's a, revolutionary age, then we need to smack everything up. Yeah?

If it's, a rationalistic age, then we've gotta be the intelligent ones. If it's a mystical age, we need to follow the gurus. They just follow They just baptize whatever the world's saying. Paul says to Timothy, in the new testament, a young preacher, For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths, cliches, memes that have little pictures of dogs and cats on them. To make us feel nice, whitewash. Jesus says woe to you teachers of the law and pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs. Which look beautiful on the outside, but inside you're full of dead man's bones.

Do you ever wonder what god requires? I think he's just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires, dreamers, takers, trappers, painters. 2 more. It'll be quick. Fake hearted.

They're fakers at heart. Go to chapter 14. Just quickly look at that. Some of the elders of Israel came to me, that's ezekiel and sat down in front of me, then the word of the lord came to me, son of man, these men, have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces, should I let them inquire of me at all? Now what's going on here is that you've got these evil men that haven't changed in their heart, but they're coming to ezekiel.

And so outwardly, they look like they're really interested in what god has to say, but inwardly, their hearts are astray. They're fakers. They know Ezekiel has some power, and they know that he's a prophet. And so they sort of like to hear him. Jesus says, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me.

They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. Fakers. And lastly, mockers. The mockers of god's word.

You see that at the end of chapter 12, where they mock him, and they make this proverb up of him. And if you go through ezekiel, they see they they mock him in all kinds of ways. This mad man having all these visions. So how do you spot a traitor? Their dreamers, their takers, their trappers, their painters, their fakers, their mockers.

That's how you spot a traitor. So now let me finish. Who are you gonna listen to? Who are you listening to? Jesus says, don't be gullible in this world.

Jesus says, watch out. That no 1 deceives you. Don't be gullible. Don't be deceived. Don't believe everyone.

For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah, and will deceive many. There's deceivers out there, and many will be deceived to be deceived. Don't be gullible. Paul says, the apostle Paul says to the elders, in ephesus when he meets up with them. Be where there'll be raving and ravaging wolves that will come from amongst you that will eat you, eat you, destroy you.

Be where? Be where. Don't be gullible. Don't be gullible in this age of deep fake, where you can take someone. Even a famous person, a mate and say things they never said.

Deep fake. Many will be deep fakers, and they're even used the words of Jesus out of context. Behere? The devil comes as an angel of light. Don't be gullible.

Don't be gullible. And it's not just in the religious world. Who do you listen to? Who are you listening to? Who do you immediately turn to in a crisis?

That's an interesting 1, isn't it? Dreamers? Takers, trappers, painters, fakers, mockers. Who do you turn to? Imagine If your doctor was called Doctor Dreamer.

Make you think of it, wouldn't it? Or Professor taker? Or profit taker. That's a better 1, isn't it? Doctor dreamer.

I think I'll go to profit taker for some advice or guru Trapper. Or the Reverend whitewash or father faker or madam mocha. They're all out there. Some of them are in here. Who did it go to?

Who did you turn to immediately? Paul says this. Rejoice in the lord always. I say again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The lord is near do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to god and the peace of god, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. When you are anxious, where do you turn? What's your immediate turn? Pills?

The doctor? I'm not saying you shouldn't go to the doctor, but if it's Doctor. Dreamer, I wouldn't wanna go to. If it's profit taker, I wouldn't wanna go to. If it's guru Trapper, if it's the Reverend whitewash, if it's father faker or madam mocha, why'd you turn?

Why don't we first turn to the lord, or do we believe in the Egyptian gods better than the lord? Where do we go to? Who do we turn to? Who do we listen to? Who do we go to?

The word of god? Or the word of others. First. Jesus says, don't be gullible. Secondly, Jesus doesn't whitewash.

I love ezekiel, and I love Jesus because they're not the reverend whitewash. Jesus says, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. We've seen that in ezekiel. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people 1 from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goat. He would put the sheep on his right and the goat on his left.

Jesus isn't a whitewashing. Jesus says that more important than building your buildings in this world is where you're going to be a hundred years from now? Heaven or hell? Are you a sheep or a goat? Are you listening to the shepherd Jesus or your rebellious goat that will go your own way.

Who are you listening to? He doesn't whitewash this. 1 day you will die. 1 day you will come into a building like this or maybe a more religious 1, and someone like me will stand up and say, dearly beloved. We've gathered here in remembrance of, and your name will be mentioned.

Where will you be, Jesus is saying? He doesn't whitewash this. Where he be? Are you listening to the right god? Do you know the mercy of yahwe?

Have you confessed your sins or are you just whitewashing your life with religion or some good works or think you're okay? Jesus doesn't whitewash. Who are you following? You're following your dreams? Who are you believing for in your future after death?

Yourself? You're a dreamer. In order to dream, you still gotta be asleep when you gotta wake up. Thirdly, Jesus is not a taker. He's a giver.

He's so different from the prophets, isn't he? So many of the prophets of today. He's not a taker. He's a giver. What I love about ezekiel is that he takes on Jesus so much.

He shows us Jesus. Ezekiel is so concerned for the people, unlike the false prophets, he shakes when he sees where they're going. Jesus says when he looks out at the people, I longed to gather you. I longed to gather you. Like a hen gathers her chicks, but you wouldn't have it.

Jesus cries over the people. And so does ezekiel? Why? Because he believes what he's saying is true, and he never just takes. He gives.

Ezekiel gave himself, gave himself in his prophecy. Jesus gives his life on a cross. He's a giver. Listen to him. Why did he go there?

And that leads me to my last point. Repent and believe. Repent now. Stop listening to your the world. Stop listening to your gurus.

Stop listening to yourself. Listen to Jesus. Listen to yahweh. Allow him. To forgive you your sins, bring you into the family of god, for his mercy wants to do that.

He wants mercy on you. Why would you go to false prophets? So who are you following? Traders or the faithful lord Jesus Christ? Let's bow our heads and pray.

Father, we have seen this morning. Clearly and powerfully from your word. That this world is not full of truth tellers. That there are, people in this world who lie about you and distort the message of the lord Jesus Christ and who promise that in the end take and offer health for in the end destroy. And we need to confess and say sorry because very often in our hearts, we are drawn towards messages which minimize you and which inflate our own egos.

And we don't naturally like to be confronted with the godness of god and the greatness and the justice and the power and the majesty of truth. We'd want to hide from that by nature and pursue other ideas which make out that our problem is not so bad or that our condition is not so bad or messages that tell us we can fix things ourselves. We we are we are drawn towards these things, and we're sorry. And we pray that you would help us to be a people who listen to the truth and love the truth of your word. We do pray for all of us in this church who teach in any capacity at all that you would help us not to try to be original or to create new messages.

But to faithfully herald the message that has been entrusted to us. And we pray for all of us and that you would give us ears to hear that our ears would love truth and seek truth and search for truth in a world of lies. So please guard us and protect us in all of these things and keep our eyes on Jesus as well. Who is the truth and the way in the life who gives and does not take and blesses and saves, help us to keep listening to him we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.