this evening to the book of Ezekiel. The book of Ezekiel in chapter 21. And we began to look at verses 18 through 27, several weeks ago, and the first thing that we had noted was this portion of scripture makes it plain, as Ezekiel does many times throughout the book of Ezekiel, that this is the word of the Lord. This is the word of God, the word of Jehovah that came to him. It wasn't his own words. It wasn't man's words as none of the book of Ezekiel or as any of man's words or any of the other 65 books of what we call the Bible. Not man's words. They're God's words. And therefore, it's not of any of man's interpretation. But it's the Holy Spirit that leads and guides and directs us. It's the Holy Spirit of God that gives us discernment of the Word of God. But he was told to draw a map. Draw a map with one leg coming out of some country and then branching off into two. And in verses 21 through 23, God gave the explanation. of that drawing, of that map. And it was the king of Babylon coming up out of Babylon, coming up out of the land of the Chaldees. And he was going to be faced with a decision to go one of two ways, either attack Jerusalem or attack Ammon. And Nebuchadnezzar being an idolatrous man, worshipping gods, small g, many gods, small g, was going to leave it up to his gods. But as we've seen, it is the hand of the God. It is the hand of Jehovah that leads and directs him to attack Jerusalem first. And when the attack and the siege is about to take place, it's imminent. The people are relying upon their false securities, their false ideas. You see, they believed in, even in their disobedience, even in their rebellion, even in their hard-heartedness, being turned away from God and going to other gods, being like Nebuchadnezzar, idolatrous. They believed that Jehovah would not allow them to be taken over and that they would continue in the land. But they were sadly mistaken. Jehovah makes it plain to Ezekiel, Ezekiel makes it plain to them. No. your sins do appear. And you're going to remember your sins, you're going to remember your rebellion, you're going to remember your disobedience. You're going to remember it as the judgment of God falls upon them. So tonight, And we had last week had looked at verse 24 some, but we have some more thoughts on concerning verse 24. And that is God gives reason, reason for executing his judgment against Jerusalem. And verse 24 says, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear, because I say that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand." Because the people were guilty of rebellion because the people were guilty of sin because the people were guilty of iniquity. Not just against the Lord, but against the king of Babylon as well. They were living sinful, sinful and wicked lives. Turn with me to the ninth chapter, the ninth chapter of the book of Ezekiel. And we're going back, oh, two or three years ago. The ninth chapter in verse nine, but you may remember this, what God said back in that ninth chapter. Then said he unto me, the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the land is full of blood. and the city full of perverseness. For they say, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. And the Lord seeth not. The Lord has left and he's not seeing what's going on. But the Lord says, the land is full of blood. What blood? shedding of the innocent blood of their children and offering them to idols, offering their children to idols. And we say, and as we said then, we say, how horrible, how awful, how could they do that? We could never do that. But yet. United States of America for over 50 years has been guilty of shedding the blood of innocent children under the legality of abortion. Our land is defiled just as theirs was defiled. It's polluted, polluted with blood. Not the blood of the innocent children, but the blood of those poor and oppressed people, those poor people that they oppressed. They wanted Their belongings, they wanted their possessions. And so the easiest way to get them was to kill them and take it to yourself. The land was defiled. All kinds of perverseness was going on. Don't be like them. Don't be like them. Turn with me to the book of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles in chapter 16. 2 Chronicles chapter 16. In verse 9, for the eye of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have wars. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole world. They said what? What did they say back there in Ezekiel 9, 9? The Lord has forsaken the earth. He doesn't see. The Lord has not forsaken his creation. He's not forsaken the heaven and the earth over which he rules his creation. He sees all. He knows all. Let us not be like them. Let us acknowledge and recognize. that there is nothing that befalls us and there is nothing that we do that he does not see. Concerning what befalls us, that's only allowed by his almighty hand. What we do Many times it's because our lust have drawn us away. We followed after our lust and committing sins and iniquities. Jeremiah chapter 30, Jeremiah chapter 30 and Verse 14, in that day, consider this. He says to the house of Judah, he says to the house of Israel, all thy lovers have forgotten thee. What's he talking about? Egypt and Assyria, those to whom the king Zedekiah was going to, was running to for favor because he was rebelling against the king of Babylon. And his heart was toward Egypt. His heart was towards Assyria, but Assyria was under the control. of the Babylonians. All thy lovers have forgotten thee. They said, how? I don't want anything to do with you. Why? They didn't want the judgment of King Nebuchadnezzar to fall on them. So, all your friends, all your supposed friends, all your lovers, supposed lovers, they're not going to stand with you in the day of your calamities. When evil falls, they're not going to stand with you. They're going to flee. They're going to run. They're going to forsake you. How many times have we, on a personal note, have we seen that happen over and over and over again? If we haven't experienced it in our own lives, we've seen it in the lives of men and women. Where the people that they thought were their closest friends were gone when the time of trouble came. There was no help to them whatsoever. They seek thee not. For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased." We've talked about that. several times in the study of the book of Ezekiel. God charges them with just laying one sin upon another, just increasing their sins. We do that when we sin and we don't repent of our sin. We don't confess it before the Lord and seek to flee from it. We just add one sin to another. and another and another and another. And that's what they were guilty of. And they had been doing this and guilty of this for many years. Also, the reason for God's judgment upon Jerusalem This coming upon Jerusalem was because of their wicked princes. The wicked princes, or specifically prince. What princes? Jehoiakim? Jehoiachin? Now Zedekiah and his sons, and this is specifically who he's talking about in our text. Zedekiah. Zedekiah was king. Zedekiah was the last king. He was the last of the seed of David to sit on the throne. As we shall see, I think next week, He's the last to sit on the throne of the seat of David until the coming Messiah. Until the coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes and sits upon the throne. Back to our text in Ezekiel chapter 21. Verse 25, and now a wicked, profane prince, now profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, his day hath come, the Lord says, when iniquity shall have an end. I'm going to put an end to your iniquities. The day has come. The day has come for Zedekiah to be judged. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles. Chapter 36. The last chapter. of 2 Chronicles chapter 36 and verse 13. Talking about Zedekiah, and he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar. who had made him swear by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. You see, Nebuchadnezzar made him swear, swear to his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and to be in partner with Nebuchadnezzar, made him swear by God, his God, the God of Israel, the God of Judah. And therefore when He lifted up his heart in rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. God charged him with being in rebellion against him. He not only broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, but he broke his covenant that he made before God. God wasn't pleased with him. God was going to bring judgment upon him. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah in chapter 24, in verse 8. Jeremiah 24, 8. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, What are the evil figs? Well, the likeness is that you got a basket of figs, and the figs aren't good. They're not sweet, they're sour, they're bitter, or they're rotten. They're no good. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil Surely, thus saith the Lord, so will I give Zedekiah, he's that evil fig which cannot be eaten, the king of Judah, and his princess, his sons, and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in This land, not just the king and his sons, but the rest of Jerusalem. They're all as evil figs, rotten figs, which cannot be eaten. And them that dwell in the land of Egypt. Oh, so it's not just those dwelling in Jerusalem, but also those that have fled to Egypt for refuge from the king of Babylon, from the judgment of the Lord. Turn with me, same book, chapter 52. Chapter 52 and verse 2. If you have any questions, verse 1 defines it as Zedekiah that's being spoken of here. Jeremiah 52 and verse 2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Just as his brother Jehoiakim had done, his brothers before him had done, he did likewise. Evil and wicked. Turn with me to Psalms chapter 7. Psalms chapter 7. Look with me at verse 9. Psalm 7, 9. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end in our text. God's saying, it's come. The day has come. I'm going to put an end to it. I'm going to put an end to this wickedness. But establish the just, for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns. When we get in the next chapter, chapter 22, I've been working in chapter 22 just to work ahead, and when we get in chapter 22, we're gonna see that God said and told Ezekiel, I searched for a man to make up the hedge and to stand in the gap. I searched for a righteous man. who would stand up before the people and would point them to repent of their sin, of their iniquity, and trust in the Lord. He says, I found none. I found none. How sad. I say that because of the last part of verse nine of Psalm 7. Food for thought. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10. Remember, Isaiah was just a little bit before Jeremiah, but ended up being a contemporary with Jeremiah. And he gave forth prophecy. Most of his prophecy was against Judah, but he did have some prophecy against Israel. But notice in Isaiah chapter 10 and verse 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation? What will you do when the day comes? What will you do when the day of the Lord comes? When he comes to visit this earth with judgment and the people on it? What will you do? in the day of visitation. Of course, the words of Isaiah here have reference to the house of Judah and to God's coming judgment upon the house of Judah. But it's also a verse that is applicable to all of God's people in every age. What will you do when the Lord comes? Comes to visit this earth, and in the desolation which shall come from far." The destruction that shall come from far, he says. Well, how far? Well, what about coming from heaven? Read Revelation chapter 19. The Lord of hosts, the King of kings, comes on a white horse in judgment and out of his mouth goes a flame of fire as a sharp sword. cutting the people asunder. Another chapter in Revelation talks about the blood that'll run through that valley for 600 miles up to the horse's bridle with the people of the earth. that Jesus Christ, the Prince of Princes, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings has been slain. To whom will you flee for help? Will you flee to your friends? Will you flee to your lovers? To whom shall you flee for help? And where Relieve your glory, your glory. You see, you and I as people of God, we recognize and acknowledge that we have no glory. Our glory is to be the glory of God. We ought to seek to bring him honor and glory, bring glory to his name. He is the one that's worthy, and how do we do that? We do that by obeying His Word, obeying what we have here in these 66 books that we call the Bible. We must be obedient to the Word of the Lord. Otherwise, What will you do in the day of visitation? To whom will you flee? Just as he said to his people, the Jews. Just as he said to his people, the Israelites. To whom? What will you do in the day of visitation? To whom will you flee? Well, I guess we need to quit there tonight. I thought we'd get to verse 26.