“Temporary Delight” –FBC Morning Light (11/10/2023)

Well, good Friday morning to you. Coming up on another weekend, which means another Lord's Day, I hope you're planning to gather with God's people this Sunday and study the Word together, listen to the preaching of the Word for your own self, for your own edification and growth in the Lord, and especially to worship the Lord.

Worship Him through song, worship Him through prayer, worship Him through your response to His Word. So look forward to the Lord's Day, and I trust the Lord will give you a good one as you gather with God's people.

Ezekiel 25–26 and the Lord’s Judgment on the Nations

Well, today we're reading in Ezekiel chapters 25 and 26 and 1 Peter 3. I want to zero in on the Lord's handling of some nations in chapter 25 in just a minute, and before I do, I want to share with you a report that I received from a man in Israel.

He's been a pastor. He actually started a church there in Israel. He was also here in the States for a while. He's back in Israel right now. He went to Israel just after this war broke out, the terrorist attacks in Israel.

He went back there to help as much as he could. He sent this report, and I can only say this is what he sent. He didn't give any documentation saying where he heard this, how he got this information. I'll just pass it along to you.

It sounds pretty consistent with what we have seen in terms of the behavior and the barbarism of those Hamas terrorists. This is what he said. He said following is a conversation intercepted between a Hamas militant and his parents.

The terrorist told his Gazan parents. He went on to make a video call so his dad could see the massacre committed by his son, a member of Hamas' Nukhba forces. May God protect you, my son, his father said, weeping for joy.

His mother said, I wish I was there with you, as her son is heard shouting directions at fellow terrorists. Kill, kill, kill them. This man goes on to say Hamas promised every militant who brings in a hostage $10 ,000 in cash and an apartment.

God’s Response to Rejoicing Over Israel’s Desolation

Why do I read that? Because of what happened in Ezekiel chapter 25, and what the Lord says in response. Israel has suffered under God's judgment. They have forsaken the Lord, they've gone after idols, and have turned away from the Lord, and as a result, the Lord has brought judgment upon the nation of Israel.

This is in the Old Testament, this is in Ezekiel. They have suffered greatly because of that idolatry. That's one thing. But what the Lord's dealing with here in chapter 25 is the response of the other surrounding nations to Israel's harm.

And listen to some of these things. The Lord says in verse 3, say to the Ammonites, hear the word of the Lord God, thus says the Lord God, because you said, aha, against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the east.

And in verse 6, he says, because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel, indeed, therefore, I will stretch out my hand against you.

And then in verse 8, thus says the Lord God, because Moab and Seir say, look, the house of Judah is like all the nations, therefore, behold, I will clear the territory of Moab of cities. And in verse 12, thus says the Lord, because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and is greatly offended by avenging itself on them, therefore, thus says the Lord, I will stretch out my hand against Edom.

And in verse 15, thus says the Lord God, because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart to destroy because of the old hatred, does this sound familiar? Therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines and will cut off the Herethites.

And in verses 2 and following in chapter 26, son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, aha, she is broken who was the gateway of the peoples, now she is turned over to me, I shall be filled, she is laid waste.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against you, O Tyre. Now what's the point? The point that I want us to get is that those who despise God's people may rejoice at their apparent demise, but God will deal with them for their hatred and their hostility.

He will bring them to their utter end as well. So I don't know what's going to happen as the outcome of this current war that Israel is finding themselves in. I don't know the outcome of it, I'm not going to try to play a prophet, and I'm not going to pretend that the Israelis are the pristine people of God, as they should be.

They ought to be adherents to the Lord Jesus Christ, he is their Messiah. They've spurned him, they've turned their back on him. I don't know what all God is going to do with this war, but here's what I do know.

I do know that those sentiments expressed by this Hamas militant in hatred and animosity toward Israel, toward Jews, just because they're Jews, is not something that God is going to let go. And then I think we can bring this into a New Testament context as well.

There are those in our culture and in the world who absolutely hate Christians. You've read of it, you've seen the legal assaults on bakers, photographers, creative people who have been solicited to use their trade to promote same-sex marriage, or even transgenderism, and they've refused to do it, and they're gone after.

They're legally assaulted in that. And when the Christians lose in such cases, the pagans laud, they applaud it, they rejoice over the apparent demise. The Lord's going to have his day with those who would laugh and scorn the Christian as.

Well.

Their day will come. For our part, as God's people, we don't fret and we don't fuss and fume over the apparent demise. God brings chastening upon us, we have to take that chastening and experience the discipline of a loving Heavenly Father.

But we don't look at that as the end of all things. We look at his grace and his purposes for his people in the long run, and we trust him for those things. So when you see all this hostility and hatred toward the people of God, don't be overly anxious about it, don't be wringing your hands over it.

Let's trust ourselves and trust the outcome of all this into the hands of the one who does all things well. Our Father and our God, we pray today, and think especially of this war going on in Israel, the mounting casualties.

We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray not for a kind of peace that is going to allow murderous, terrorizing hatred to go unchecked, not at all. We pray for its demise, we pray for its destruction.

And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray that that peace would come as multitudes turn to you in faith, we pray. Lord, we commit all this to you, and we ask it all in Jesus' name, amen. All right, again, have a great weekend, and rejoice together with God's people on the Lord's Day.

Good day.