Ezekiel

So our reading this morning is from ezekiel 16.

We're looking at verses 1 to 42 and then 59 to 63. The word of the lord came to me. Son of man confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, this is what the sovereign lord says to Jerusalem. Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the canaanites. Your father was an amorite and your mother a hittite.

On the day you were born, your cord was not cut. Nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No 1 looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do these things for you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field. For on the day you were born, you were despised.

Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood. And as you lay there in your blood, I said to you, live. I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew and you who were naked and bare.

Later, I passed by and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you declares the sovereign lord and you became mine. I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments.

I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck and I put a ring on your nose. Earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were a fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth.

Your food was fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen, and your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty. Because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect declares the sovereign lord. But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by, and your beauty became his.

You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen nor should they ever occur. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also, the food I provided for you, the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I gave you to eat.

You offered as a fragrant instance before them. This is what happens declared the sovereign lord. And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.

In all your detestable practices and your prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bear kicking about in your blood. Woe. Woe to you declares the sovereign lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself. And made a lofty shrine in every public square.

At the head of every street, you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty offering your body with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians your lustful neighbors and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity. So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory. I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughter of the Philistines, who was shocked by your lewd conduct. You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too because you were insatiable.

And even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this, you were not satisfied. How weak will you are declares the sovereign lord when you do all these things? Acting like a brazen prostitute. When you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty drawings in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute because you scorned payment.

Your adult you adulterous wife. You prefer strangers to your own husband. Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers. Bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. So in your prostitution, you are the opposite of others.

No 1 runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite. For you give payment and none is given to you. Therefore, you prostitute hear the word of the lord. This is what the sovereign lord says.

Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and because of all your detestable idols and because you gave them your children's blood. Therefore, I am going to gather all your lovers with whom you found pleasure. Those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood.

I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath. And the jealous anger. Then I will hand you over to your lovers and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare. They will bring a mob against you who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.

They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution and you will no longer pay your lovers. Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you. I will be calm and no longer angry. Reading from verse 59 now.

This is what the sovereign lord says. I will deal with you as you deserve because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of my youth. And I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger.

I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. So I will establish my covenant with you and you will know that I am the lord. Then when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation declares the sovereign lord. Thanks, Shalini. Well, how are we gonna cope with this?

That's a passage, isn't it? Everybody's been looking forward to this passage, I guess? Let's before we just get into it, just to mention the little booklet that you should have on your seats or around you. So, because we're doing, emotions, which is based on a film called Inside Out, at our holiday club, and looking at what the Bible says about emotions. We thought we would write, an adult booklet to go with it.

So for the parents, of those kids that are coming, but also for the area, where the hub is. So we've got, 3500 of these that will be being delivered around the area of the hub. On emotions. So this is an adult booklet, even though the pictures, you know, they're they're fantastic. So have a look at this.

You can pick up more if you want. Do take this with you. Do read it through. You can pick up more if you want to, be able to give them out. But remember that they're going out to, 3500 homes around, around, the where the hub is.

Let me pray. While we do pray for those booklets, please use them along with the holiday club, and the parents that will receive them as well. We pray that you'll use this to make people start to begin to think about the lord Jesus Christ. And to bring them to their senses that they may see that we need him in all of our life as well as our emotions. And so we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Now let me just show you something very simple. I hope I'm not, you know, speaking down to you, but, let me just show you this, before we start to look at that passage. So here's a yellow piece of paper, and here's a black piece of paper. And if I take a print stick, a glue, and I glue those bits together, which I'm not gonna do, because it's gonna be such a faff, and glue them together, we can see that if we glue them together, those 2 things, those 2 colors with the print stick and then rip them apart. We can see what happens.

You have yellow on the that is yellow, isn't it? I'm color blinds. Yeah. Yellow on black and black on yellow. You bring the 2 together.

You make them 1. And you rip them apart, and they don't come apart easily. Now the Bible has a very, very high view of ***, a very beautiful high view of ***. And the Bible says that 2 come together to make 1. And if you rip them apart, *** isn't just having a nice fling.

It's not just a wham bam, thank you, ma'am, for the night. It rips the soul apart. Now if that's true that we become 1 flesh in the *** act, then we ought to really feel the shock when we hear about Bonnie Blue, who in, January this year, did an incredible act. Bonnie Blue is a female 26 year old British **** star. She had ****** *********** in January this year, with 1057 men in a 12 hour period.

Shocking, isn't it? If it's true, you come together and you pull apart. That's something shocking about that, isn't it? And what about the 1057 men? What do you think of them?

And what about her mother who was involved in organizing the event? What do you think of her? It's a shocking way of using your body. Now I know there'll be some that will say it's her body. She can do what she likes with it.

She's made a pile of money out of it, but still, isn't that shocking? 1057 men in a 12 hour period. It's extraordinary and shocking. Or what about the the recent case of Giselle Pelico? Do you remember that case?

She's the French woman, lived with her husband, Dominic Pelico, in, a a village in Southeast and France. Her husband, Dominic, Perril, pepe, peleco, drugged her, and raped her while she was unconscious. But not only did he do that. He brought in at least 83 other men from the village to **** her. She was raped at least 92 times over a period of 9 years unaware as she was so drugged up.

What do you think about that abuse? It's extraordinary, isn't it? Shocking. A shocking betrayal of someone she thought was faithful. Her husband, a shocking use of the body, a shocking use of someone else's body.

In my ministry, I've met 2 couples, believe it or not, who, 1 of the, the spouses committed adultery on their honeymoon, 2 couples, 1 I knew very well. Just imagine that. Can you? All are planning for the big day of the wedding, and then it finally arrives. The hair, the makeup, the dress, the suits, the best men all sorted out, the brisemase, the flowers, the special music to walk into, the special music to walk out out to.

Will you have this man? Will you have this woman to be your lawfully wedded husband, wife, to live together after god's ordinance in the holy, a state of matrimony Will you love, will you comfort, will you honor, forsaking all others? Keep yourself only for him, only for her as long as you both shall live. I do. I will.

The photos, the smiles, the celebrations, the speeches, the exciting joy of the events, the sending off of their honeymoon, the excitement of first love, and then 1 of them committed adultery on the honeymoon. Shocking, isn't it? It's extraordinary, isn't it? If you've ever talked to anyone whose partner has committed adultery, I can tell you it's miserable. It's a miserable business.

It's not something you look forward to. There is nothing like marital unfaithfulness to rouse the emotions. Sometimes those emotions are angry, and and the, 1 that's been betrayed is shouting and angry, and why did you do it? And then sometimes they're just numb. Just don't understand what's happened.

They're crushed. When, we've promised ourselves to someone and invested our emotions in that person, it's desperately painful when you feel rejected and betrayed. In almost every language, in fact, every language I know of, the word adultery is a shame word. Even in our country. It's hardly a positive word, is it?

It's said that the higher the life form the more pain that life form, can feel, and that seems obvious to me. So the bird feels more pain than the worm, and the cat feels more pain than the bird, and humans feel more pain than, the cat. What about god? Do we miss him? Surely god will feel the intensity of pain more.

Human human beings, you know, we're we're we're so much more limited than god. We're we're we're finite creatures. We're bound to time and we're bound to space and our sensory experiences. But god isn't God's feelings are eternal and boundless and all encompassing. God's, as the creator, is intimately more connected with creation than than we humans are.

So if we feel shock about the things I've just mentioned, if we feel shock about them, of people we don't even know, How do you think God feels? Does anyone ever ask him? How do you think God feels when he made a beautiful 26 year old? How do you think God feels when she uses it for 1057 men. How do you think God feels about those men?

How do you think God feels about Dominic Pelico? Underneath all the misuse of ***, and money and power. There's this sinful rebellion heart that we have towards god. Sin is not just breaking god's laws. It is breaking god's laws and how stupid is that.

But sin is a direct offense against god himself. He's sickened by it. It's a rejection of who he is. It's a rejection of what we were designed for. Now in order to get something of what god feels and what he feels like about these things we've just said, we're given these chapters in the book of ezekiel.

That's why I think Ezekiel is an amazing book. Ezekiel chapter 16, and we'll have a little tiny peek into Ezekiel chapter 23. They're shocking, shocking chapters. And in these chapters, God chooses to reveal himself as a vulnerable lover, as a jilted lover. He speaks vividly about how he feels treated in these chapters.

By us? Now this chapter, chapter 16 that we read part of it, it's, you know, you probably felt this. It's it's the longest single prophecy in the Bible. There are there are prophets whole books that are shorter than than this 1 chapter. It's the longest chapter in ezekiel, and it's the longest oracle in the Bible.

And how does god choose to reveal himself in the longest prophecy in the Bible. God is the husband, and he's saying to his wife, you've betrayed me in the most awful ways. Just as Jazelle Pelleco had to hear what her husband had done when she was drugged and unconscious. Just as she had to hear the testimonies of 50 of the 83 men that raped her. Just as she had to hear that.

God is saying I want you to understand how I feel. About your abuses, oh, Jerusalem to me. He's not an aloof judge in the sky. He's a husband that's been jilted. Look at verses 1 and 2.

Of chapter 16. The word of the lord came to me. Son of man confront Jerusalem with her detestable, her detestable practices. This is meant to shock. And I hope it does.

Here's my first point then. God is a jealous god. God is a jealous god. Look at verse 38. And verse 30 30 42.

Verse 38, I will sentence you. He's talking to his wife. I will sentence you to punishment to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood. I will bring you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger, then verse 42. Then my wrath against you will subside.

And my jealous anger will turn away from you, and I will be calm and no longer angry. So he's showing us that he's a jealous god. He has jealous anger. Now it's not uncontrolled it needs to be appeased and it will subside. So it's not uncontrolled, but he does have jealous anger.

In the exodus 34, god says his name is jealous. He says my name is jealous. I'm a jealous god. In the second of the great 10 commandments. God says, I, your god, am a jealous god.

He's a jealous god. Now we can think of jealousy. That's, you know, trouble is we can think of it as a vice as a sort of sin, because we often confuse it with covetousness. So to desire somebody else's, you know, stuff is wrong. It's to envy to covered.

That's that is definitely sin, god, doesn't want us to do that. And then jealous is often seen as that sort of big green eyed monster that sweeps over us, and we're just out of control as we try to control other people. But that's not the jealousy of god. Of course not. That's human false jealousy.

God's jealousy is not envy, and he's not spiteful, and he's not just to control the situation. God's jealousy reveals his love. He's a jealous god because he's a god of love. Love and jealousy go together. If I didn't care if someone takes my wife and mistreats her, If I didn't care about that, I wouldn't love her, I'd be indifferent.

I don't care. Doesn't matter. God is a jealous god. He's not a force in the air. He's not an impersonal force that doesn't care when his creation does things that they weren't created for.

The very definition of god is that there's nothing better than him. Nothing greater, nothing more wonderful. He's simply the best. So for people to glorify anything else over him or to to leave him for anything else, is not only wrong. It's it's horrifically stupid.

He's jealous about his name and his people. So look at verses 1 and 2 again of chapter 16. The word of the lord came to me, son of man confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices. They're detestable. I'm jealous when I see my people doing what they're doing.

Now the ****** imagery used here is describing Jerusalem's sin back back then. And as I say, it's very graphic as we've already seen. It's intentionally offensive. We're meant to be offended by it. And sometimes we just need to be shocked We have to be shocked because we're just carrying on as if it's all alright.

And god's saying it isn't. So that's my first point. God is a jealous god. Here's my second point. The story itself then.

Let's get into chapter 16. The metaphor, the allegory, whatever you wanna call it. Here's the story. Now the story goes through the history of Jerusalem, but That stands not just for Jerusalem, but the whole nation of Israel. So we have her birth, the birth of a nation.

We have, courtship. We have the marriage to yahweh, to god, We have her then prostitution, and we have a judgment, and we have a rest re restoration. So that's the all overview of what's gonna happen to these people, Jerusalem, Israel. And of course, that in itself, Jerusalem is an illustration that can apply to all of us as humans as individuals. So this passage isn't just about some historic country, but it applies to us.

How we treat god. And particularly, you can apply it to Christians this passage because the same stuff about adultery and marriage and stuff is taken over into the new testament and applies to Christians. And we can apply it to the church corporately. Us individual as Christians, us as a church, Cornerstone church, individuals in just in the world, Jerusalem. It's a big picture.

So it's gonna speak to you, I hope. I hope it speaks to you. So let's go through this then. First of all, part 1 of this metaphor, this story, I've called it adoptive love, and it's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful.

We're meant to see the beauty of it. It brings life. You get that in verses 1 to 14. Beautiful, rescuing, adopting love. Look at verse 4.

On the day you were born, your cord was not cut nor were you washed with water, to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloth? No 1 looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things, for you, rather you were thrown out into the open field for the day you were born, you were despised. You're an abortion. You're an abortion when I first met you. You've been aborted.

And and and and actually, Israel, don't start thinking that you've come from some great heritage. Your mothers are hittite. You your dads are amorite or whichever way round it is, you're just you're just like every other human being. There's no great heritage you can go back to and say, aren't we something better than other peoples? No.

No. No. No. You were an abortion when I met you. You were thrown out in the field.

You're an unwanted child. No 1 washed you. No 1 cared for you. You were left in the cold at night and the heat of day in the day. While beasts looking for food were hunting around, You were vulnerable, uncared for, unclothed, unsalted.

That's a sort of, like, antiseptic. You were cleaned up, and, you know, what they did in those days. You were despised, thrown out. You were slaves in Egypt. Then verse 6 and 7, then I passed by.

And I saw you kicking about in your blood. And as you lay there in your blood, I said, live. And I made you grow like a plant to the field. And you grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, and yet you were stark native.

God comes along. He says, there you were an abortion, and I said, let her live. And I gave you everything to live. And I made you into a young woman and you started to grow and thrive. You were ready for marriage.

Look at verse 8. Later, I passed by, and when I looked at you, I saw that you were old enough for love. I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. That's a a ma that's a marriage thing going on there in ancient Israel. I gave you my solemn oath, here we are, and entered into a covenant with you declares a sovereign lord, and you became mine.

But we we were married. We were we married. I gave you everything. Then look at verse 9. I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you.

I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals. Of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry and black bracelet, and so it goes on earrings and so forth. And then you go down, I gave you the finest of food, honey, and olive oil, and the finest of flour, and you became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.

I gave you everything you didn't have at the beginning when I met you as an aborted child. I washed you cared for you. I gave you the best of foods. I gifted you with jewelry. Every part of your body, I put gold on you.

Fine linens. Beautiful. You were wealthy. You could trade as a nation with other nations with all that olive oil and honey that you've got. Expensive things.

I gave to you. And you're beautiful. You're a queen. You're so gorgeous. All the stuff I'm giving you.

Look what you've become. Verse 14. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty because the splendor I'd given you made you, made your beauty perfect, declares the sovereign lord. Now historically, this is true with Jerusalem, with Israel. They were tiny little nation, a small nation, but they were incredibly wealthy.

And at the days of King Solomon, they were the envy of all the earth. People would come to hear King Solomon's wisdom and see his riches. They have the envy of the earth. Now remember, this is a parable. This is an allegory.

This is a metaphor. Of god's love for his people and see how he loves them and gives them everything they need. But it's also an enduring picture of god's love for humanity, how he's loved humanity. And given us personalities and a universe and a, an earth to inhabit and raw materials to use so we could flourish as people. But it's mostly true of the Christian.

God takes people. And he makes them live as he sends his spirit into our hearts and he causes them to flourish. Beautiful thing, isn't that? I mean, you often see it when when a couple get married, you suddenly say, god, look at him. You'd never believe it.

He's flourishing. Because the commitment of her to him he just flourishes, or she's just look at her. She's flourishing because of his commitment to her. That's what marriage does, doesn't it? That's what committed relationships do.

They make you flourish. Good relationships. I know there are terrible ones, but I'm talking about good. They make you flourish. And that's the picture of god on his people.

He wants us to flourish. Part 1. Beautiful, isn't it? Beautiful? Part 2 then.

I've called self love, and I've deliberately used a strong word here. Self love brings betrayal and makes us hoarse. You get that in verse 15 to 29. Look at verse 15. But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute.

You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by, and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments who gave him the who gave her the garments. You took some of your garments and made gaudy high places where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty. You also took fine jewelry.

I gave you the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them, and so it goes on. All the gifts I've given you to beautify you, you've used to attract other lovers. And and you did they didn't even woo you. You wooed them. You went out of your way to use the gifts I give you to woo other lovers.

You went out of your way To try to say I've made it on my own, I'm independent of god. I don't need god, and you turn away. From the god that gave you everything. Just think of Dominic Pelaco. It it's extraordinary.

Isn't it? How he used his wife's gift to him? On the day they were married, she gave herself bodily to him, to be a gift of love, to him. And he takes that gift. And in his filthy lust and abuse, until we make money out of his wife, he uses the gift freely given to him for his lust and abuse.

That's terrible, isn't it? Now in the Bible translation that we read, the word prostitute, I think, is used 13 times in in that passage. And it's describing Jerusalem. You prostitute. You've prostitied to yourself.

But just look at verse 15, it doesn't really make sense. But you trusted in your beauty, so she's beautiful, and you used your fame, so she's famous, to become what? A prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by, and your beauty became his. So you have great beauty.

You have great fame. And what do you do with great fame and great beauty? You become a prostitute? Doesn't make sense, does it? It's madness.

It's not the obvious career choice, is it? Of someone who's got all that money and fame. Yeah? Look at verse 33 and 34 of the chapter. All prosi that's right.

Chapter 16, all prostitutes receive gifts, but you receive gifts But you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. So in your prostitution, you are the opposite of others. No 1 runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite. You give payment, and none is given to you.

It's amazing. Now the Hebrew word for prostitute there's 2 words in this passage for prostitute, and they're much stronger than prostitute. The reason we've used prostitute is because we're scared of the power and the strength of words that god uses, which is a sad that we're more prudish than god. The words the 2 words are Tasnoth, Taznoth. Remember that?

Tasnoth, it means boredom. It means harlotry. It means unfaithfulness. It means ****** immorality. It means a total betrayal.

It means infidelity. It's a hard word. ****** immorality. ****** perversion. You *****.

You unfaithful. That's what it means. You're a *****. And Zana, which means fornication, unfaithful. You play the harlot.

They're very strong words. And those words are better than prostitrade which I'll explain in a minute. 1 writer says this about the words here. Ezekiel betrays Israel literally as a nymphomaniac. In other words, you totally intersects constantly.

Whose promiscuous lust has caused her to reverse the usual order involved in prostitution. She is hired rather than been hired by her clients. So the picture you've got here, and I want you to get this picture, is of a billionaire, a queen, a beauty, a famous person that has absolutely everything that she wants, but in seeking some kind of elicit ****** desire, she becomes a curb crawler. Or you can have it as a bloke. A billionaire bloke that has everything, and he has all the women, and the women are around him.

He doesn't have to pay anything because he's a billionaire. Everybody wants to **** up to him, but you find him down with the prostitutes on the curb curb crawling. Or you know and I won't mention his name, just, you know, and I'm politeness. You know the very famous singer in our country. Pop star, millionaire, very famous, who goes to a public toilet in America to have *** with whoever's there.

That's the picture. That's a that's a that's a Tasnoth. That's a Tasnoth. That's a Zannah. And that's how god sees Jerusalem.

You're a Tasnoth. You're a Zanna. You're someone that I gave everything to, and you give it away to some ***** in a public toilet. And it begins with pride. Look at verse 15.

But you trusted your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You trusted your beauty. Who gave you your beauty? I gave you everything, says god. I gave you a beauty, and now you're trusting it.

And of course, once you've got pride, you're saying I don't need god. I made my own life. I got this myself. I'm beautiful because I'm beautiful. Once you get rid of god, you'll turn to any god to try and get your independence from the real god.

Whether it's fame or money or pleasure or career or leisure or comfort, or a dream family, or travel, or education, or success, or a bucket list. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but when you replace them, for god. They trap you. They will strip you naked. They take from you.

You become a tasnoth. So verse 16, the nineteenth, she's selling her beauty. Not having a relationship with god. Look at verses 20. Let me just sort of rub this in, 20 and 21.

And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food idles. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed their idols. This is what we do, isn't it? If you go to verse 44, we won't be able to deal with those verses.

It talks about like mother, like daughter, like father, like son. In other words, your children, because you've gone away from the living god, and you've sacrificed all the gifts god's given you to other gods, your children just follow likewise. You convince them that money, the career, the education, the sports, that fitness is more important than god. Of course, we can do football training on Sunday. We'll miss Sunday school and soul.

And you've, you know, of course, it's okay. And you train. You and you kill them, says, god. You kill my you kill for our children. For your example, you've given up on god.

Why should they follow god? And then it gets worse. Look at verse 23 to 28. I won't be able to read it all, but this is a tazanov. This is a a Zana.

It's always progressive, never satisfied. Always hankering after more and more, and it goes luder and luder. Look at it. Whoa. Whoa to you declares the sovereign lord in addition.

To all your other wickedness. You build a mound for yourself and make a lofty shrine in every public square at every street corner. You build your lofty shrines and degrade your beauty, spreading your legs. Opening up your legs to anyone that will come in. Doing a bonnie bell, a bonnie blue, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to everyone who passes by, you engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors, with large ********, and arouse my anger with increasing promiscuity.

It's growing. It's insatiable. It's, Taznooth. It's Zana. It's progressive.

It's never satisfied. Always wants more. It's always going more. Shameful language. You go to chapter 23 and verse 20.

And this is 1 of the most shocking sentences in the entire Bible, but I'm gonna read it because the whole point is to shock us, but listen to it. There, she lusted after her lovers whose ******** were like those of donkeys and whose a mission was like that of horses. You, dirty people. You, tasnuff. Once you reject god and you pursue the other gods, you're never satisfied, always going for more.

That's part 2. What do you think to that? What about part 3 then? The jilted lover verse 30. The jilted lover.

Look. I am filled with fury against you, says god, declares the sovereign lord, when you do these things acting like a brazen, tasnoth. I'm filled with fury. And why shouldn't he be? I'm a jealous god.

Who do you think I am? Look at verse 32, you adulterous wife. You prefer strangers. To your own husband, Taznooth. Zana.

But it's here. We get a hint of change. The beginning of change because god so loves even his adulterous wife, he's going to address the adultery. You see that? He could have said stuff you and burn you, but he addresses it.

He doesn't pretend it hasn't happened. That's a disaster. He can't live like that. He doesn't whitewash it like some preaches did that we were seeing last week over the cracks. He pronounced his judgment on it.

He pronounced his judgment on it. It's very interesting. I think very often, when you get adulterous, things happening, you know, with couples, often, it seems not always, but often, the wife if a husband's committed adultery, the wife is very forgiving. Very often. The wife will say, okay.

I have you back. But what I've noticed is if it's not dealt with, If it's okay, it's fine. I'll have you back. If there isn't judgment on the adultery, he'll do it again. He'll do it again.

Some of you know, in in your own family. I can't use it as an illustration. You know. You know men that have done this because it's never had the judgment on what he's done wrong. Now god so loves he judges.

So look at verse 38. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood. I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Now, of course, that's what happened historically with Israel, and they were destroyed and impoverished. So you've got the jilted lover, and he's going to judge the adulterous wife.

But here's my fourth point. Please tune in redeeming lover. Race. There's grace after judgment. That's the amazing thing about god.

There's grace after judgment. In fact, that's the whole book of ezekiel. Those of us that read it. Remember? Judgment, judgment until chapter 33, then grace.

There's grace always after judgment. Here's a classic yahweh. This is classic god of the Bible. This is utterly classic yahweh. Look at verse 59, and then look at verse 60.

Just look at it. This is what the sovereign lord says. I will deal with you as you deserve. Because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant covenant. He's gonna deal.

He's not papering up the cracks here. I want you to get this. There's gotta be judgment on this evil and wickedness Look at first 60, though. See the next word. What's the next word?

What is it? Yet. There's massive hope in that word. Isn't there? I'm gonna deal with you.

I'm gonna punish you. As you deserve. Yet. What? Yet.

Yet. I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish and everlasting covenant with you. You've broken the covenant, but I'm gonna make another covenant. I'm gonna be committed to you again in love and marriage. Classic yahweh.

Classic Bible, judgment, the reality of what we're like shows us what we're like, shames us, doesn't whitewash the cracks, shows the cracks, shows the horror of a Taznooth. And then yet brace. He's always doing that. Listen to a new testament passage. Just listen to this.

This is Paul in ephesians 2. Just listen. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. You were like that. All of us also lived among them 1 day gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and its thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature, deserving wrath. But yet, but because of his great love for us, How can he love people like that? Because of his great love for us, how? God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even though we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved, and god raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

Classic god. Classic your whole way. Consistent with the whole of ezekiel, judgment, grace. You are adulterous people. You have hurt me more than you could ever know.

Taznooth. Taznooth. Yet. I'm gonna bring you back to me. I love you.

How? First 36 63. Sorry. First 63. Then look at the word, then when I make atonement at 1 moment, When I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again.

Open your mouth because your of your humiliation declares the lord. Do you see that atonement? I've brought you to your senses. You are more of a sinner than you could ever imagine. You have done harm to me, god, more than you can ever imagine.

You have mistreated your body. You have mistreated the gifts I've given you more than you can ever imagine, but I can atone. I can atone. I can atone. I can make you abortion live.

I can even make you Bonnie Blue. My wife. This is good news. This is good news. And so the profit shocks us, embarrasses us, shows us that god isn't some detached force up in the sky that or a policeman that just meters out the law, no, no, no.

He's passionate. We've misused the gifts and the body body that god has given us. Haven't you done that? Have you haven't you done that? Aren't you a Tazanoth?

And all of this should humble us and shame us. So that we come to the place of atonement, and that's the cross, isn't it? God so loved the world. The 10 that's new. God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

For god demonstrated his love to us in this while we were yet, has nooth. He sent his son. It's extraordinary. This is extraordinary. Brothers and sisters.

This is extraordinary. And how does god see us now? When he looks at us, how does he see Pete Woodcock, this Tannuz? How does he see him? He seems to be Christ, the perfect son of god, covered by the blood of Christ, atoned for, made right, What does god look at when he sees me now?

A Taznooth? No. No. He sees a child of god, humbled in his sin, ashamedly, but came nevertheless to the place of atonement and pleaded for mercy, and now the father sees a son, and now the father sees a pure bride, and now the father is looking forward to Jesus bringing his bride, his forgiven people. And I hope Bonnie Bell is there or whatever her name is.

I hope she's there. I hope she's 1 of the elects that comes in and is presented to the father as the bride of Christ. Spot this your. The blood of Christ cleanses us for all sin. And when the father sees us, he sees the lord Jesus.

Now thank him for that. Revel in his love, revel in his forgiveness, revel in his cleansing, revel in his justice and his mercy, how did he do it through the blood of Christ, praised his name, listened to him, delight in him, for he delights in you, become 1 with him, give your life to him, use your gifts for his glory. Go for him, but you've never gone for him before, and praise his holy name for his love for us. Let's bow our heads and pray. Bing us enough to be honest with us about our sin.

And for loving us enough to disturb us with these images and with these pictures and with the truth that they convey to us. And we are sorry for the way that we have treated you given all that you have done for us. And yet we thank you for that remarkable mercy that you were not willing to treat us as our sins deserve, but that you sent the lord Jesus who knew no sin. And yet on the cross, he became sin for us. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.

We thank you for the lord Jesus, our faithful 1 who was loyal to the covenant. Who never prostituted himself in any way, but was, true and full of sincere worship and love for you. And yet on that cross became everything that we've had described to us today. Not for his own sin but ours. So that by faith alone, we can receive all the blessings and the cleansing that we've had preached to us this morning.

We thank you for Christ. Our only hope. In his name. Oh, man.