The Age of Disgrace

Hosea 4:6 (HCSB)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

This charge is directed to the priests, to the spiritual leaders of Israel. They do not love truth, therefore they do not know the truth. Because they cannot teach what they don’t have the people are devoid of truth. The consequence is that the whole population is “doomed”!

Hosea 4:14 (HCSB)

People without discernment are doomed.

I cannot read this without feeling a burden for America, for my nation today. I believe there is a famine for the Word of God in our land. Those who are to be leaders in holiness have an insatiable appetite for sin. We read routinely of preachers falling into disgrace because of sin. Only now it is no longer considered disgraceful. To the contrary, they say that their experiences have equipped them to be better communicators of grace.

Where was the power of grace to keep them from sin? They didn’t want that!

Our desperate need today is for holy men of God to faithfully fulfill their ministry to proclaim the truth! Without these men—and the people who will listen to them—we will continue to be a people without discernment. Has anyone noticed we seem to be in a flat spin and picking up speed?

Father, forgive us. There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in this land. Cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery are rampant. One act of bloodshed follows another. The land mourns! Unaware of it our people are languishing. You lay blame at the preachers and spiritual leaders of our nation. We have turned our honor to disgrace. We feed on the sin of Your people. We are under your judgment. Please forgive us. Please heal us. Please turn us around! Please give us credible preachers, men of integrity, who preach the truth and back it up with holy living!

Hope from Hosea

Hosea 1:2–3 (HCSB)

When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife

and ‹have› children of promiscuity,

for the whole land has been promiscuous

by abandoning the LORD.

So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Imagine the Lord telling you to marry someone who you knew would be unfaithful to you! The Lord chose Israel knowing they would be unfaithful to Him. And the Lord chose us—and who of us have not been unfaithful to Him? We have been unfaithful by putting other things in the place of God in our hearts.

Hosea 2:14–15 (HCSB)

Therefore, I am going to persuade her,

lead her to the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her vineyards back to her

and make the Valley of Achor

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as ‹she did›

in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

Look at that—the “Valley of Trouble (Achor)” became a “gateway of hope.” How many times, when we have wandered from the Lord, has He sent a season of trouble to turn our hearts back to Him? Our adversity has truly become our best friend.

Now listen to the words of the Father:

Hosea 2:19–20 (HCSB)

I will take you to be My wife forever.

I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,

justice, love, and compassion.

I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,

and you will know the LORD.

Are we not grate for the unfailing love of God? Our relationship with Him does not depend upon our faithfulness to Him but upon His faithfulness to us!

Dear Father,

I am sorry that I have sinned. I have been rebellious and disobedient. I confess the sin of my people, of my nation. We have acted wickedly. We have turned away from You. We have pursued other gods. We have been rebellious. We are a perverse people. We call evil “good” and good “evil.”

Dear Father, in wrath please remember mercy! You are Righteous in all Your ways—in all Your actions. No one can lay blame at Your doorstep. We have always done wrong. It is us! We have turned away. We have been unfaithful. But You are Compassionate, full of Mercy, and infinite in Grace. Remember us. Have mercy on us. Be compassionate to us.

Father, please forgive us. Please restore Your good hand upon us. Make Your Name renowned again in this nation. For the sake of Your Great Name please restore us to holiness. Make us good once again. Stop our hypocrisy. We say we are better than to torture our enemies yet we slaughter our babies! We are an international disgrace. Please forgive us and restore us to Yourself. Send Your Holy Spirit to wash over us like a flood. Please revive us again.

In Jesus’ Name

Daniel 6:23 (HCSB)

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was taken out of the den, uninjured, for he trusted in his God.

All of us find ourselves in the lions’ den sometime. It may be in your marriage. It may be at work. It may be in your family. You did right but you were misunderstood. Maybe your faith in God was used against you. You wouldn’t cut corners because you committed to do your work according Christian principles. Now you find yourself in the den of lions… or critics. You questions are: “What will I do and what will happen to me?”

The answers are: “Trust in God and you will not be harmed.” Keep trusting in your God. Keep your eyes focused on Him. Keep talking to Him. Keep relying on Him for strength and wisdom. He will bring you out. You will not be injured, but you will be better. Give Him praise for that!

Remember: keep trusting in God.

I’ve been away for a while. Some of you know that my sister, Emalee, went home to be with the Lord last week. Her funeral was Thursday in Mobile. I know I will see her again one day.

Daniel 6:10 (HCSB)

When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

There was a conspiracy against Daniel. Daniel’s enemies plotted to use his devotion to God against him. The important part of this verse is the last phrase: “…just as he had done before.” Daniel did not change a thing. There was no need for Daniel to “get his house in order.” His house was already in order.

Would that be true of us? If we learned of a conspiracy against our lives, what would we do? I guess the first question would be this: “Could they use our devotion to God against us?” Does that kind of devotion even exist? Remember this: our relationship to God is the most important relationship in our lives. That is priority #1.

If there were such a conspiracy, would we change anything? Daniel is a great example of integrity. Integrity is one of those words difficult to define. Try this on for size: Integrity means “Nothing to change; nothing to hide.”

The Purpose of the Priest

Ezekiel 44:23

They must teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and explain to them the difference between the clean and the unclean.

Here is the purpose of the priest: to teach the difference between that which is holy and that which is unholy.

Today we see preachers acting worldly. I’m sure this has always been the case, it just seems it was gotten worse. Preachers are having extramarital affairs (with women and men!), divorcing, addicted to pornography, materialistic, and much more. What distresses me is this: having involved themselves in the worst they contend that they are still qualified to minister. In fact—this trend alarms me—they claim they are even more qualified to minister because they have experienced grace in greater measure. I doubt that! Listen, the abuse of grace is an indication a person has never experienced grace.

We must first teach people the difference between the holy and the unholy by how we live.

When choosing a minister the first thing one should look for is what they preach. Do they preach the Word? The second thing one should look at is how they live. Do they live a holy live? Are they keeping themselves uncontaminated by the world? This is a tall order today; but this is the purpose of the priest.

The Law of the Temple

Ezekiel 43:12

This is the law of the temple: all its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be especially holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.

Where is the temple of God today?

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

We are the temple of God!

What is the “law of the temple”? It is holiness!

Our bodies are to be “holy to the LORD.”

People say, “I’m not under law; I’m under grace.” God has given us grace so we can obey this law!

So keep the temple clean and holy.

The Last Years

Ezekiel 38:7–8 (HCSB)

“Be prepared and get yourself ready, you and all your company who have been mobilized around you; you will be their guard. After a long time you will be summoned. In the last years you will enter a land that has been restored from war and regathered from many peoples to the mountains of Israel, which had long been a ruin. They were brought out from the peoples, and all of them ‹now› live securely.”

I am not a Hal Lindsey fan. Don’t know why… just not. But something I was reading this morning makes me wonder….

Ezekiel 38 and 39 describes a decisive battle that will take place in the land of Israel in the “last years” (38:8) [also “last days” (38:16)]. Who is this invader? Gog. Who is “Gog”? a descendent of Noah:

Genesis 10:1–2 (HCSB)

These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the deluge.

Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Is it possible that Gog could be Russia? Consider this: there are 30 million Muslims in Russia. There are 2 ½ million Muslims in Moscow, more than any other European city. Islam is dramatically increasing in Russia—as it is all across Europe. Experts predict that by 2050 Muslims will account for more than half of Russia’s population. According to Paul Goble, of the University of Tartu: “Russia is going through a religious transformation that will be of greater consequence for the international community than the collapse of the Soviet Union” (San Francisco Chronicle, November 19, 2006). We all know how the Muslims feel about Israel.

Does this mean that Russia is Gog? Pinpoint accuracy may not be possible. But this much we know, God says the invaders will come from the “remotest parts of the north” (38:15 and 39:2). Look at a map: Russia and the former Soviet block is "a way up there" north of Israel.

What could be the reason for such an invasion? Two things: religion and oil. No one talks about oil in Israel, but there is speculation (and I think it is more than speculation) they sit directly above the richest oil deposits in the world. Russia is not green. Tyrannies care nothing about the environment. They need oil to survive. Remember, it was Japan’s dependence on oil that motivated their invasions and the start of World War II. The only way Russia can ever regain superpower status is to find massive deposits of oil. Israel has it, and there would be no love lost between Muslim controlled Russia and Israel. By the way, by 2015 Muslims will make up the majority of Russia’s military. What’s today’s date?

All this will happen in the last years. We’re there. I’d make two appeals to you. First, if we are living in the last years we need to stop focusing on the future and focus on the now. Pursuing earthly prizes are futile if we won’t be here long enough to use them.

Second, I am convinced the Gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth before the end will come. If the end is near then we need a sense of urgency greater than anything in the history of Christianity. We must—simply must—begin to make every effort to preach the Gospel to every creature—now!

Ezekiel 33:32 (HCSB)

Yes, to them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them.

By all outward appearances Ezekiel was a resounding success. He was packing them in. In day devoid of entertainment, Ezekiel was the best show in town. But—alas! —a true prophet’s worst nightmare. He was drawing the crowds, but not having any conversions. His heart was broken! The desire of the genuine prophet is to see people repent and turn to God. When this is not happening he is miserable… and he cries out to God.

But the response of the people is not in the power of the prophet. He does not control what people do with the message. His responsibility is just to deliver it faithfully and fully. In the eyes of God he has been successful. When the day of judgment comes he will be vindicated.

Ezekiel 33:7 –Ezekiel 33:9 (HCSB)

“As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. If I say to the wicked: Wicked one, you will surely die, but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.”

This is a word for me. I am the watchman God has appointed. God speaks to me and my duty is to proclaim that message. If I do not then blood will be on my hands. If I do then I have rescued my own life.

I must preach the message God gives to me. Shepherds, by virtue of our authority, are the objects of criticism. This goes with the territory. There are four areas of a preacher’s life that are most open to criticism: his preaching, his leadership, his shepherding, and his life. One those areas most criticized, perhaps because it is the most public and consistently on display, is his preaching. This I have learned: not everyone is going to like my preaching. It’s like Golden Locks and the Three Bears—for a third it is too hot, for a third it is too cold, and for a third it is just right. You cannot please everyone. I hear someone say, “The Apostle Paul said he was ‘all things to all men.’” He did it to “save some”—today some would say he was “too evangelistic!” A point we forget: they chopped his head off! Obviously he didn’t please somebody.

This truth is applicable to every one of us. God gives us a message and we have a responsibility to share that message. That message is the Gospel. If we fail to share that message God will hold us accountable. Many, am afraid, will stand before God with blood on their hands.

Let it not be true of you and me. Let us be faithful in sharing the Gospel today with a boldness motivated by love.

Ezekiel 32:24 (HCSB)

Elam is there

with all her hordes around her grave.

All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—

they who went down to the underworld uncircumcised,

who ‹once› spread their terror

in the land of the living.

They bear their disgrace

with those who descend to the Pit.

The language of the prophet suggests that death is not the end. Those who go “down to the underworld uncircumcised” are those who do not know God. Here he is referring to Egypt and Assyria and all those nations who persecuted Israel. Their day of judgment is coming. They will fall by the sword. In other words, they will meet the same end they inflicted upon others.

But death is not the end. The grave is not man’s final resting place. Those who spend their lives rebelling against God, and then die in their rebellion, go down to “the Pit.” In hell they “bear their disgrace.” They continue to exist after death in a state of disgrace.

Disgrace is an emotional term. The Hebrew term comes from a root word meaning “shame.” I have done things that made my face turn red—I felt humiliated. I wanted to run away and hide. I was willing to do anything to make that feeling go away. Eventually it did—eventually I “lived it down.”

But imagine a place where you can never live down the shame. Instead, you sink down into the shame and you never “live it down.” You wear humiliation forever. Can you imagine such a place?

There is such a place. It is called hell. It is a place, not only of physical anguish, but also of emotional disgrace. There is only one way to escape this place—our shame can be covered under the blood of Jesus. There is a place where our sins are washed away. “There is a fountain, filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

Our disgrace meets God’s amazing grace—and grace always wins!

Ezekiel 28:17 (HCSB)

Your heart became proud because of your beauty;

For the sake of your splendor

you corrupted your wisdom.

So I threw you down to the earth;

I made a spectacle of you before kings.

This is a prophecy against the king of Tyre, but it is more so a description of the fall of Lucifer. He was the “seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,” an “anointed guardian cherub.” He became full of pride in his station and his beauty. He said in his heart “I am a god, and I sit on the throne of the gods.” He became full of wickedness.

God expelled him in disgrace. He was cast down to the earth. Here on this globe he has remained for the last six thousand years. But the day is coming when he will be chained and cast into the pit of hell. Until then he seems to have the run of the place. But we have the power through the Holy Spirit to resist him and thwart his efforts.

Resist him, steadfast in the faith. Rebuke him, in the name of Jesus, and he will flee from you. Don’t become his patsy. Be his worst nightmare!

Beginning in Ezekiel 25 the Lord begins to announce judgments upon the nations. These are the nations that stood by and cheered as Jerusalem was destroyed and the Hebrews went into exile. God declares they are coming down.

Is there any application of this to our day? I think there may be a few.

First, those nations that criticize and condemn Israel are standing on shaky ground. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of God, and He will exact judgment.

Second, I believe there is a metaphorical application. God has one church. This church is called by many different names throughout the world. When one group condemns another group, or smiles at their misfortune, God in heaven takes notice. He is paying attention. When one church suffers within a community, and another church seeks to take advantage of the situation God is grieved. We must never smile at or seek to exploit the hardships of another congregation. Those churches are our sisters. There are genuine Christians within that church who are hurting. Our reaction is not to point a finger and say, “They had it coming.” Never! Our reaction is to pray, extend a hand of help, and love them. We may not agree on every point of doctrine—and this side of heaven we never will. But many times it is not a doctrinal point that is at issue, but a methodological one. Let us not become ornery over incidentals. We are a family. The world should see us love and behave like one.