The Danger of Dissatisfaction With One’s Lot in Life - Part
XII
Ezekiel
16:18-63; Proverbs 5:15-23; et. al.
August 18, 2024
During my time in trying to teach the Word of God, I
consider the lessons
that I have tried to teach as being inspired by God and
coming from Him.
That does not mean that everything I have taught or teach is
original with me, but
it means has been
brought before Him to get His consent and blessing.
Such is what follows:
I have been talking, this is the twelfth week, on things in
our lives
with which we are dissatisfied, which wrongfully, and often
from
Satan, himself, causes a rift between a man and his God.
This is a very grave and solemn lesson, for what should be a
very
Grave and solemn time in world history.
The comparison of the times before the Flood and
the times before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, before the
earth, this time, is destroyed by fire.
In my preparation last week, I got the following from gotquestions.org.
https://www.gotquestions.org/mystery-of-iniquity.html
The phrase the mystery of iniquity occurs in the KJV of II
Thessalonians 2:7,
“For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth
will let, until he be
taken out of the way.” Other translations render the
phrase as “the secret power of
lawlessness” (NIV) or “the mystery of
lawlessness”
(ESV and NASB). Before we attempt to interpret the meaning
of this phrase,
let’s look at the context of the passage in question:
“the secret power of
lawlessness” (NIV) or “the mystery of lawlessness”
(ESV and NASB).
The spirit of the anti-christ,
anti-christ; drugs, the various forms of
perverse sexuality, mystery of iniquity, the secret power of
lawlessness,
the
accompanies or is collaterally connected with something
else)
Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him,
we ask
you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by
the
teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth
or by
letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let
anyone
deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the
rebellion
occurs (WILL THIS
BE OF THE MAGNITUDE OF SATAN’S ATTEMPTED
OVERTHROW OF
GOD BEFORE THE CREATION OF MAN? - CY -
2024)
and
the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
He
will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped,
so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to
be
God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these
things?
And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be
revealed
at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already
at work; but the one who now holds it back will
continue to do so till He is
taken
out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the
Lord
Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the
splendor
of His coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with how Satan
works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs
and
wonders that serve THE
LIE (caps
mine - CY - 2024) and all the ways
that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They
perish because they
refused to
love the truth and so be saved. (Contrast
this with John 3:16 -
“For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.” CY - 2024)
For
this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe
THE LIE (ibid.)
and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth
but
have delighted in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:1–12, emphasis added).
_______________________________________________________-
If you are dissatisfied with God’s creation
here in this world, not
accepting who you are - (remember Father
Knows Best - in the early
days of television) - well God
is light years ahead of Robert Young in
knowing how to do what is best for mankind
- then what would your
reaction be, if on entering heaven, you
find the truth of Christ’s words
in Matthew 22:30 - “....they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are
as the angels of God in heaven.”
The biblical explanation of male/female for
me is best understood
from I Peter 3:7 “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them
according
to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as
unto the weaker vessel,
and as being heirs together of the of
the grace of life, that your prayers
be not hindered.” (I wonder how much damage has been done in society
because of lack of prayer over the issue, not only for the
cause of
egalitarianism but for the ruin of the soul of the individual involved.
CY - 2024)
9 Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of
God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind.
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the
11 And such were some of you: but
ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified,
but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the
Spirit of our God.
Revelation 22:10-15
10 And he saith unto
me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is at hand.
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still:
and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward
is with me, to give
every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they that do His commandments,
that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs (κύνες
- kunes - dogs
- used here metaphorically
of those
whose moral impurity will exclude them from the New Jerusalem)
and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God, in
the
image of God created He him; male and female created He
them.”
(Genesis
1:27)
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be
strong.”
(I
Corinthians 16:13)
ἀνδρίζεσθε - andrizesthe - to behave like a man
from ἀνδρίζω - andrizo - to make a man, to play a man = quit
you like men.
Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be
This is a Mark Batterson
book that offers encouragement and advice
for what it is and takes to be a man of God based on the word of God.
Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be tough[a]! Make
yourself strong!
Be you watching, be you standing-resolute in the trust,
be you
manning-up, be you enstaunced. (loyal and committed in attitude
The idea of a macho-man
who is in reality, spiritually impotent.
This seems to me to be
a paradox (a seemingly absurd or
self-contradictory
statement
or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to
be well founded or
true.) So strong physically, yet so weak
spiritually.
We have a body, a soul, and a spirit.
Jeremiah 5:3 “......they
have refused to return.”
“O Lord, are not thine
eyes upon the truth? Thou has stricken
them, but they
have not grieveed;
thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive
correction:
they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused
to
return.”
I want to read to you the introduction to Spurgeon’s sermon Decided Ungodliness
delivered August 20, 1882 (142 years ago - He being dead,
yet speaketh)
THERE is,
in the heart of every one of us, the primary evil of sin; we have
all
transgressed against the Lord. So far, so bad; but that natural sin of ours
may be greatly increased by a refusal to turn
from it. It is bad enough to
have
violated God’s righteous law, but to refuse to repent, and to
continue
presumptuously
in our iniquity, must greatly increase our guilt in the sight
of God. This guilt
may also be still further increased if we refuse to return
unto the
Lord when we are earnestly and affectionately invited to yield
submission
to Him. If gracious terms of peace are presented to us, and
matchless
promises of blessing are made to us on condition that we do
return,— and if we
are often warned, and often entreated, and often
threatened,
and yet we still refuse to return, then we continue to pile sin
upon sin, till we make our first transgression
to be incredibly great. (Some of
you are no
doubt financially savvy and understand what compound
interest *is in
money
(* Compound interest is interest
calculated on both the initial principal and all
of the
previously accumulated interest. Generating "interest on interest" is
known
as the
power of compound interest. Interest can be compounded on a variety of
frequencies,
such as daily, monthly, quarterly, or annually - Google), but are
unaware of
the compound interest of sin. CY -
2024) If I were now to preach to
men as
simply sinners, it would be a weighty message for me to have to tell them
that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;” but, alas! I
have to
preach to impenitent sinners, to those who, as our text puts it, “have refused
to return,” ay, and to some who have given that refusal with great
deliberation,
after
having been long entreated and persuaded. to turn from the error of
their ways. Some have been addressed in such tender, pleading language
as this,
“Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why
will ye die, O house of
or this: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be
found, call ye upon Him while He is
near: let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the Lord, and
He will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for He will abundantly
pardon.” If we have
heard such language as
that, and yet have persisted in refusing to
return, we have heaped guilt
upon guilt, and the wrath of God will be in
proportion to our sin.
The coming of Christ to a soul, to a community,
is a moral probation (subjection
of an
individual to a period of testing and trial to ascertain fitness, as for a job or
school) , involving the most serious
responsibility. TO REJECT
JESUS CHRIST AND THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is the
only UNFORGIVABLE SIN.
The first stages of Christian life in the individual and in the
historic Church
are marked by low ideas of the person and work of Christ, producing
estrangement from Him, fear, and weakness.
In Christ we are all the same — we are equal with one another.
A couple of months back, at a Bible Study,
our teacher, Bro. David Smith, mentioned
coincidently, about those with dissatisfaction in life,
always seeking for something,
but basically not knowing what they want, never finding it.
I add until fortunately, meeting Jesus
Christ.
Have I not mentioned U2 - I Still Haven’t
Found What I’m Looking?
In Psalm 16:8-11 is a remedy, as the Bible, in many other
passages offers:
8 I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my
right
hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also
shall rest in hope.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou
suffer
thine Holy One
to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of
joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore.
But there is another side: There is a clear explanation of the problem in v. 4.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another
God:
“The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth:
the wicked is snared in the work of his own
hands. Higgaion.*
Selah.**
The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations
that forget God. (Psalm 9:16-17)
* A technical term of musical direction - The word may
signify either a solemn,
deep-toned harp interlude or a solemn pause conducive to meditation.
How much thought have you put into your situation?
** A transliterated Hebrew expression found frequently
in the Psalms and also
appearing in Habakkuk chapter 3. Selah indicates a pause in the text.
Selah is a synonym of Hebrew words that mean “forever.”
eternal
implications??
CY (Wow!)
The Scripture reveals that “Blessed
is the nation whose God is
the Lord.”
(Psalm 33:12) At first I put happy in my browser,
the word being hid in my heart, but not knowing where to
find it. -
Bro. Christian always said that “blessed” - means happy.
Oh the blessings of the man, the family, the city, the
country side,
the nation - that has realized the truth of vs. 5-7 of Psalm
16
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
thou
maintainest my
lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I
have a
goodly heritage.
“Thus
saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy
youth,
the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest
after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was
not sown. Israel was holiness unto the
LORD, and
the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall
offend;
evil shall come upon
them, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah
2:2-3)
7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins* also
instruct me in the night seasons.
νεφρός - nephros - kidney
νεφροί
* mind, heart, kidneys - metamorphically of the will and the affections which
were regarded as having their seat in the
“kidneys.”
instruct -
they-CHASTEN/CORRECT/TRAIN - discipline/teach/educate
Job 19:25-27
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh
shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Revelation
2:20-23
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because
thou
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess, to
teach and to seduce my
servants to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed unto
idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she
repented
not. (Do you think that God
would give that wicked woman, Jezebel space
to repent and not you!!???
How much space have you used up or abused? -
CY - 2024)
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit
adultery
with her into great tribulation, except they repent of
their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the
churches shall
know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will
give unto every one of you
according to your works.
There seems to be something in the word bed - do you
remember last
week me mentioning “nor abusers of themselves with mankind
ἀρσενοκοῖται - arsenokoitai - malebedders; from αρσενος - apsoenos -
male and κοιτην - koitaen - bed. It has
a sexual connotation, but with
whom the male is bedding is not specified.
Thinking about sexual matters now is a good place to go back
to
Ezekiel 16 where I began and left off on May 26, ten weeks
ago, at v.18.
Ezekiel
16
This still
from the NIV
The use of Ezekiel 16 from the NIV
to get ideas across of what I am trying to
illustrate today. The first seventeen verses I discussed on an
earlier occasion
and if interested, see May 26,
2024 lesson.
18 And you took your embroidered
clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil
and incense before them.
19 Also the food I provided for you—the
flour, olive oil and honey I gave you
to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what
happened,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
20 “‘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?
21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed
them to the idols.
22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not
remember
the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking
about in
your blood.
23 “‘Woe! Woe to you,
declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other
wickedness,
24 You built a mound for yourself
and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
25 At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded
your beauty,
spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed
by.
26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your
neighbors with
large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing
promiscuity.
For modesty’s sake, I will substitute
“sexual prowess” for the term used. What
was really said can be found in the NIV’s rendition of Ezekiel 16:26 - CY - 2024)
27 So I stretched out my
hand against you and reduced your territory;
I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines,
who were shocked by your lewd conduct.
28 You engaged in prostitution
with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable;
and even after that, you still were not satisfied. (I am going to take the liberty
to add, what I perceive as a bedfellow of
insatiability, incorrigiblity. Often a person
who is insatiable, ends up incorrigible.
Insatiable = unquenchable,
unappeasable, uncontrollable, voracious, prodigious (huge).
unsatiable
- impossible to satisfy; incapable of being satisfied
Incorrigible = incapable
of being corrected, amended, or reformed, not manageable :
Incorrigibility = bad
and impossible to change or improve
Elementary
school - heard of Reform School
High School -
heard of marijuana in locker at a high school in the county -
I knew the person
accused -
Rarity
of this in my upbringing.
29 Then you increased your
promiscuity to include
but even with this you were not satisfied. (Somewhere along the line in my
life
I ran across the idea that “Man wants what he can’t get but if he ever gets it,
that is not what he wanted after all! - a non -sexual reference but holds
true in
physical
escapades also - I cite the teaching of Proverbs 5:15-23 * below -CY - 2024)
Proverbs 15
*15 Drink waters out of thine
own cistern, and running waters out of thine own
well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and
rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine
own, and not strangers’ with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice
with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant
roe; let her breasts
satisfy thee at all times; and be thou
ravished always with her love.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished
with a strange woman, and
embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes
of the LORD, and He
pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked
himself, and he shall be
holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his
folly he
shall go astray. (Proverbs 5:15-23)
Also:
“Marriage
is honorable in all and the bed undefiled;
but whoremongers
and
adulterers, God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:5)
While I am at it - “....whosoever committeth adultery with a woman lacketh
understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth
his own soul.
A wound and
dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall
not be wiped away.” (Proverbs 6:32-33)
Compare the case of the woman taken in
adultery (John 8:3-11)
The words of Jesus are: “....all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men......neither in this world , neither in the world to come.”
(Matthew 12:31-32)
30 “‘I am filled with fury against you, declares the
Sovereign Lord, when you do
all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!
31 When you built your mounds at every
street corner and made your lofty
shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because
you
scorned payment.
32 “You adulterous wife! You prefer
strangers to your own husband!
33 All prostitutes receive
gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing
them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
34 So in your prostitution you are
the opposite of others; no one runs after you
for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and
none is
given to you.
35 “‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord!
36 This is what the
Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your
lust
and exposed your naked body in your
promiscuity with your lovers, and
because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your
children’s blood,
37 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
you stark naked.
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.
39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of 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 stark naked.
40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to
pieces with their swords.
41They 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.
42Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn
away
from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged
me with
all these things, I will surely bring
down on your head what you have done,
declares the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness to all your other
detestable practices?
44 “‘Everyone
who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you:
“Like mother, like daughter.”
45 You are a true daughter of your
mother, who despised her husband and her
children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their
husbands
and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an
Amorite.
46 Your older sister was
daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with
her
daughters, was
47 You not only followed their ways
and copied their detestable practices,
but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.
48 As surely as I live, declares
the Sovereign Lord, your sister
her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
49 “‘Now this was the sin of your
sister
arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not
help the poor and needy.
50They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away
with them as you have seen. (Although not
here, sixty-tw0 [62] times in
Ezekiel, it is said, “and they shall know that I am the Lord” I would say
that this
statement is its equivalent, stated in
other words - see
# 223.
Ezekiel – Study of God’s Use of the
Word Know
51
Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You
have done more
detestable things than they, and have made
your sisters seem righteous
by all these things you have done.
52 Bear your disgrace (KJV - Bear thine own shame) Take it like a man
for you have furnished some justification
for your sisters. Because your
sins were more vile than theirs, they
appear more righteous than you.
So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your
53 However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her
daughters and of
Samaria and her daughters, and your
fortunes along with them,
54 So that you
may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in
55
And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and
Samaria with her daughters,
will return to what they were before; and
you and your daughters will return to
56 You would not
even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride,
57 Before your
wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by
the daughters of Edom and all her
neighbors and the daughters of the
Philistines —all those around you who despise you.
58 You will bear
the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable
59 “‘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.
60
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with
you in the days of your
youth, and I will establish an
everlasting covenant with you.
61 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.
62 So I will establish my covenant with you, and
you will know that I am the Lord.
63 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.’”
24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the
flattery of the tongue
25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither
let her take thee
26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought
to a piece of
bread:
and the adultress will hunt for the precious life.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes
not be burned?
28Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be
burned?
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife;
whosoever toucheth her
30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to
satisfy his soul when he is
31But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he
shall give all the
32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman
lacketh
understanding:
he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33 A wound and dishonor shall he get; and his
reproach shall not be
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he
will not spare in the
35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he
rest content, though
I
am satisfied, I am satisfied,
Is
my Savior satisfied with me?
Can
He always count on me? [Refrain]