King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Friday, September 03, 2021
Chapters: Ezekiel 23-24
Message: Even The Saved Repent
Hello My Friend,
Well, it has been yet another morning of distractions, I knew God must have had a good message for me. At least, I woke up at my normal time, even though I did not sleep very well, which was part of the reason why I got do easily distracted. On top of that, my diet has been mainly take out so, that too is a factor. When I am tired, my mind tends to wander, I jump from one task to another, and before I know it, an hour has passed, then I am pressed for time, and sadly, it is often my time with God that gets rushed. As I was reading the chapters for today, this passage came to mind, which reminded me that even the saved need repentance, [Revelation 3:18-20 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.]
You know, some of us, when we do something wrong, we learn from our lesson, do not do it again, then we teach others why we are not to be doing it. Nevertheless, there are so many people, Christians included, who never learn from their lesson, and keep doing the same thing over and over again. They are quite stubborn, willful, and tend to be pretty defensive and offended by everyone. They are also the ones who are quick to judge us, yet accuse us of judging them, even though we are not. They are a reminder of what Jesus said in defense of His little ones, [Luke 17:1-3 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.]
God’s mercy and grace are absolutely endless for His faithful. Even though we have no guarantee for tomorrow, we can make plans while in the will of God and shall live an amazingly blessed life. Way too any Christians live in sin, never paying mind to the suffering they face as a result, yet are quick to get on the defense when their sin is exposed. The horrible judgment that Israel faced was not the result of a few backsliders, it was the result of multitudes of Jews for decades worshiping false gods, following other religions, and their immoral living. At one time, Israel was one nation, but after Solomon died, it split into two, known as Judah and Samaria. As we continue our reading of Ezekiel, we learn that God saw the split nation as two sisters, Aholah, meaning, her tabernacle, represented as Samaria (Israel) and Aholibah, meaning, my tabernacle, represented as Jerusalem (Judah), and He is not pleased with either one.
[Ezekiel 23:2,4–5,7,9 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, 7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. 9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.]
[Wherefore I have delivered her] God is incredibly merciful and longsuffering in that we can mess up a thousand times a day, but as long as we are repentant, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and even forget that it ever happened. If we continue though in our sin, or even worse, deny that we have sinned, God will turn the thing that we desired into something that despises us. And this was the world that He is talking about right here, it is even worse for the ones who follow God and refuse to admit their sin and repent. And God goes on to address Aholibah, who had become more corrupt than her sister.
[Ezekiel 23:11,13,31-35 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. 13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, 31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. 33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. 34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.]
[Because thou hast forgotten me,] This is why unrepentant Christians face so much chastening, and why Jesus says, [Revelation 2:2,4 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.] We all mess up, even the most faithful and obedient Christian messes up, but at least, we learn our lesson. Amazingly, when we do, God will actually make a purpose out of that mess. Remember, David when he sinned with Bathsheba? They lost that baby because of the way David handled the situation, but he repented, and she did too, because later on she would give birth to Solomon. Now, God is not only angry at the congregation that will not repent, He is also angry at the churches themselves, who defile them with their abominations. As God continues to address His anger toward Judah, He goes on to address what the priests are allowing in the sanctuary.
[Ezekiel 23:38-39,41,45,48-49 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.]
[that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.] This is why God actually allows us to take a fall sometimes, it teaches us to repent , then teach the younger generation not to make the mistakes we made. Parents who learn their lesson when they were younger are more likely to teach their children in the way they should go, but those who never learn their lesson will teach their children the same ungodly things they did, and often becoming worse, and even less faithful to God, [2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.]
While God can and really does intervene in our lives, He allows the suffering in order to purify our heart, to remove that desire to walk in the flesh. As God continues, He literally describes sin as scum, and to give us a picture of what He does to remove that scum He has Ezekiel boil some meat in a pot over a hot fire.
[Ezekiel 24:2-6,13 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. 3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. 6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. 13 In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.]
[bring it out piece by piece;] Did you ever boil a pot of meat on the stove? If you have, then you have seen the nasty scum of dried up blood rising to the top of the pot as the meat cooks. This is what Jesus does to the saved soul as He removes the sin piece by piece. Remember, once we receive Christ as our Saviour, our soul is clean, it has no scum as it is washed by the blood of Christ. On the other hand, our flesh needs to be cleansed daily or else it actually does get scummy and quite disgusting as the sweat and dirt of the day clings to our body more and more until we clean ourselves. Jesus is the only one who can cleanse our spiritual body, and even our mental and fleshly body, [1 John 1:7-10 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.]
And there is the key right there, walking in the Light of Christ. The worldly Christian seeks nothing, but what they can get out of their salvation, but does nothing for Christ. They face sorrow after sorrow, yet refuse to repent and to the point where God has had enough and ignores their cries. Sometimes as Christians, we are going to be led by God to actually ignore the ones we love for a while. And to illustrate this, He sends Ezekiel to the people as his wife was dying. Ezekiel could not even mourn for his wife.
[Ezekiel 24:16-18,24-25,27 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. 18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 25 Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters, 27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.]
[yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep,] What God was saying here is that judgment comes to everyone, those who refuse to repent and turn to Him, will die in their sin. There is nothing that we can do about it, we cannot mourn, weep, or keep grieving their loss because life is here and we have to deal with now. We have people right in front of us who need Jesus, and we need to tell them about Him before it is too late, [1 Thessalonians 4:14-15 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Ezekiel 24:27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.]
Today’s Prayer: God, We love You because You first loved us. You love us so much that You gave Your one and only Son to take the punishment we deserve for our sins so that we would not have to. Thank You for salvation by grace. Lord, as our relationship with You grows, give us Your love, mercy, grace, and strength to remain faithful to you no matter who or what tries to get in between us. Even we who are saved, need repentance. Search our heart, see if there is any wicked way in us, and if there is, lead us to repent. Let us not become so proud that we become forgetful of all that You have done for us. Let us never forget just how much You love us, and use us to be a Godly testimony to teach others Your will. In ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
Copyright © 2021 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.