Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? (Ezekiel 14:1 to 3)
When the Lord sends His chosen believers into the churches to bring His words of warning to them, there will be some who will appear to be very devout in following Him. The things they’ll say and do will stand out from many around them, and they’ll have gained a reputation for being pillars in their churches. God, however, knows what we don’t. You see, far from being the solid pillars that so many believe them to be, they’re actually hollow within a facade of strength. Actually, He tells us that they really aren’t completely hollow. Instead, deep down in their hearts, they’ve set up their idols; and their idols are numerous.
So, for that reason, He has somewhat against them. Inwardly they’re putting people or things ahead of Him; but then they project a false air of spirituality publicly by claiming to be seeking Him. Though they’ll do this when we go with words of warning, the Lord will publicly declare their hypocrisy and manifest what they’ll be seeking to keep hidden.
For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. (Mark 4:22)
The word that we’ll be bringing to them will be “repent”; and that will catch a great number of them by surprise. They’ll be under the impression that they’ll have already repented and will have been adopted into the family of the Lord. There’s definitely truth to that. But, if you noticed, the first words of John the Baptist and of Jesus to the Jews were “repent”; and the word to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation was, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent” (Revelation 2:5). In other words, those who will be positive that they’ll be followers of the Lord will be told to repent. Thus, in response to their statements of faithfulness and devotion to Him, we’ll publicly declare what is truly in their hearts and manifest the idols and the abominations that they’ll have been secretly holding.
There’s something that we need to understand here. You see, there have been far too many in the churches who have been called prophets; when, in reality, the Lord never called them. The tragedy is that there are multitudes who have been deceived by them. That, however, doesn’t absolve the recipients of any responsibility. As a matter of fact, there’s as much, if not more, because it falls to every person to discern between the true and the false. This discernment is extremely vital in these days, simply because the enemy is ramping up his assaults and his deceptions.
As I was looking at this, what came to mind is how AI has become such a major factor today. Artificial intelligence can be beneficial, but it’s capable of being used to deceive multitudes, and we’re responsible to be aware of it and to be vigilant. Even more, the Lord requires us to be aware of the wiles of the enemy and to be vigilant against his deception. We need to understand the import of this, and of succumbing to the lies of those who are false prophets. Consider the following portion of Scripture.
And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. (1 Kings 22:19 to 22)
Can you see just how touchy prophecy can be? One of the ministries that the Lord has given has been that of the prophet, and there are also times when anyone can prophesy. At the same time, we have to be very careful when prophecies come forth, because, unless we have the ability to discern through the Spirit of God, we could fall at Ramoth-gilead. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there are far too many believers who are chasing the supernatural and the extraordinary. They’re constantly on the lookout for any gathering which professes to be a prophetic healing service, or a gathering of the top apostles and prophets in the church, or a number of other similar claims. And as I’ve also said, using Mark 16:17 and 18 as so many in churches do, then Billy Graham really wasn’t as successful as it appears. Yet there are so many who eagerly accept personal prophecies without really questioning the Lord. Remember: Ahab most likely received personal prophecies that ultimately contributed to his demise. I’m not coming against the ministry of the prophet; but I AM saying to be extremely careful.
The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 14:12 to 14)
There’s something that the Lord is telling us here which is vital to our walk with Him; and it’s found in Noah, Daniel and Job. The way this portion of Scripture is worded, we can see that there’s a commonality among the three of them. As I thought about it, what came to me is that they all were faithful through times of testing and trials. Noah preached righteousness all the years while he was building the ark. Most likely he was speaking about the impending deluge, by which I’m pretty sure he endured ridicule and persecution, since rain was unknown at that time. We also know that Daniel faced death for his unwavering faith toward God; and Job went through some unimaginable testing at the hands of Satan because of his faithfulness.
Consequently, the Lord is putting the choice before us: idolatry or faithfulness; and there’s no middle ground. That may sound rather extreme, but Jesus told us: “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30). You see, far too many believers can’t seem to accept the fact that we’re either with the Lord or we’re against Him; and it doesn’t matter whether or not we’ve accepted Him as our Savior. Remember what James wrote?
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:14 and 15)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s not too difficult to understand sin and obedience. It’s true that we were all born in sin, and there’s nothing that we can do about our sin nature on our own, other than to turn to Jesus, and to allow Him to cleanse us and to cover it with His blood. However, once we’ve made that decision, then He expects us to walk sinlessly. Now, most Christians have been taught that something like that is impossible due to the fact that we’re still human. But Jesus took upon Himself humanity and willingly laid His divinity aside so that He could do all that He had to do by depending strictly upon the Holy Spirit. By doing so, He was demonstrating that it was possible for us to walk as He did in OUR humanity.
Yet, to claim that we can walk sinlessly is a bit much, isn’t it?
Is it?
God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide is and to teach us; and therefore He requires obedience from us. With that being said, the Holy Spirit dwells within us along with our spirit. Therefore, we have a choice in everything that we do, say and think. If we follow our spirit, then we walk in disobedience; but if we follow the Holy Spirit, then we walk in obedience. Another way to put it is: if we follow our spirit, we sin, whereas if we follow the Holy Spirit, we’re not sinning. The bottom line, then, is very simple: we have the choice to walk in sin, or to walk sinlessly. Thus, the more we obey the Holy Spirit, the more we’re walking a sinless life. After all, though we have a sin nature dwelling within us, submitting to that nature is a choice that we make daily. We have the propensity to sin, but not the guarantee.
The Lord, then, is presenting us with a choice.
We can either bow to the numerous idols of our fallen nature and endure the judgments that will come as a result.
Or we can submit to the Lord and be accounted righteous in His eyes, whereby we’ll be delivered from the judgments to come.