The Lord's Faithless Bride

 

 

 

Ezekiel 16:15-30

 

November 28, 2023

The Lord's Faithless Bride

“But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.  You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.  You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.  And you took your embroidered garments to cover them and set my oil and my incense before them.  Also, my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so, it was, declares the Lord God.  And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?  And in all your abominations and your whorings, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

 

You and I must understand​ that God is speaking to a people who were chosen from among all the nations of the world.  We who are in Christ call the Jewish people His Chosen people, and that is what they are.  But like many who are followers of Jesus, they forget to give God the praise and be thankful for His blessing and provision.  Yes, often the Church, like the Jewish people, begins to act as if it were the provider and looks to many things, all self-driven, and forgets to give praise to the Father in heaven.  

 

And you may be saying that we would never sacrifice our children, but so many do by seeking wealth over being there for their children.  Many parents do not want to do the hard job of being parents, so they allow their children to make decisions that they are not qualified or mature enough to make.  Yes, Children are still being sacrificed in 2023.  And 6 million to Planned Parenthood, which sells the parts.  Neither you nor I has to judge such evil, they will have a day before God to give an account for such evil.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

If you got what you deserved?

 

 

If you got what you deserved?

 

April 23, 2011- updated 10-26-2025

 

After hearing Pastor Robert Parrish use this quote in today's sermon, I had to add it to this paper.  “The only person who is not worthy of God’s Love is the one who believes they are Worthy of it.”

 

What would your life be like if you got what you deserved?  We have all heard someone say, I deserve better than that; It may have been when your children forgot to call on your birthday, or your husband forgot a special day, and the list keeps going. We are a culture of people with many “I deserve.”  Many of us never give much thought to the giving of mercy because we have not experienced the need for mercy in life.  And yet if, for some reason, we needed mercy, we would deserve it, or would we?

 

Shall we address the first statement: “What would your life be like if you got what you deserved?”  We are told by many in our government that a person deserves to own a home to live in, no matter if they can pay for it or not, or what about cell phones, yes, our government will give you one because they believe you deserve one, if you enter the country illegally, and the list goes on.  Many teenagers believe they deserve better parents, and if you look at how our culture exchanges mates in marriage, over 50 percent must believe they deserve someone better than the one they entered into a covenant with before God and man.

 

Where did we get all these rights, and a better question is, who has the power to take them away? And if you lost all your rights, would you desire mercy or judgment?  Jan and I went to church on Saturday, and that is not normal. We were celebrating Easter, and on Easter, many of us reflect on the act of love that God showered down on mankind, by taking our place, making our payment, and canceling our debt.  Has that act become an (I deserve) or have you pondered the action of love and rejected it because it is so far beyond what anyone like you would do for people who rejected them?  It may come to you as a surprise, but I totally understand your thinking. It is very logical, you or I, or anyone else who has lived and is not totally insane would not allow their only son to die for people who were their enemies.  But then none listed above are God, and this may come as a shock, He is not like us, His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than ours, His love has no bounds.

 

As I ponder a love without bounds, my thoughts go to Paul’s account of boundless love in Romans 5:6-10, “While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly.  Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable, and generous benefactor, someone might even dare to die.  But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.  Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more certain is it that we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [resurrection] life.”  (Amplified Bible)

 

Many years have passed since I’ve wanted what I deserve. I want mercy, not justice, and as a person on whom God has lavished His love, His grace, and His mercy, I must take to heart what James 2:13 speaks.  “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.”  That is precisely what our Father in heaven did: His mercy triumphed over judgment.

 

From our Back Porch, 

 

Bob Rice

The Lord's Faithless Bride

 

Ezekiel 16: 1-14

 

November 27, 2023

 

The Lord's Faithless Bride

Again, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.   And as for your birth, on the day you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.   No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

 

“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’  I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.

 

 “When I passed by you again and saw you behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.  Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.  I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.   And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck.  And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus, you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey, and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.  And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

 

I read this early this morning as I woke Jan and before our dear friends, John and Brenda, had gotten up and came into the family room.  When Jan came in, I read those first fourteen verses to her.  Jan and I discussed how, compared from heaven's view, the way God found us.  We were without Life, we were wandering around in our sin, and we needed to be made whole.  That was from heaven's view, but it was not our view; we were full of self, had plans to get our needs met outside of Christ, and were both religious in many areas of our lives.  We saw ourselves with great value and had a plan to have a good life on Planet Earth.  

 

As I read these verses, I realize that, like the Jewish people, we, the Church, have bought into not giving thanks to the one who took pity on us.  We were of no value to God in the condition He found us, but He chose us to be His.  

Here is the problem, you and I have a real enemy, he is a liar and deceiver, and is very good at what he does.  From a young age, he talked with us and planted seeds of relying on ourselves, on education, and on learning to get our needs met.  Sounds like a good plan, but it's going to backfire on us.  

That plan is designed to make us not need God, to reject His love, to not desire His voice, and if listened to, will keep us separated from the Love of God.  Maybe once more a second read of verses 1-14 is required in a quiet room where you allow the Spirit of God to be heard.  Once again, I gave thanks to my Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, God's only Son, who loved me enough to take God’s full wrath by dying for my sins on the cross.   Now that is Love.  I now have Christ as my life, His blood redeemed me, and many years ago, after reading Romans 10:9-10, ^“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.”  It became apparent that I had nothing of value to offer, and I agreed with God that I needed life in the full that He wanted to give to anyone who came to that conclusion.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

 Ezekiel 15:1-8

 

November 26, 2023

 

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest?  Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it?  Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything?  Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it, and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!  Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them.  And I will make the land desolate because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

 

We serve or don’t serve an unchangeable God who keeps His promises.  

Deuteronomy 8:7-8

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

 

That was great, and yet they desired to chase after the little gods of the nations around them, and now God is fulfilling a promise He made if they did so.

Jeremiah 2:21

“Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed.  How then have you turned yourself before Me into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

 

Has the Church, not a denomination or building, but the body of Christ, followed after the World, have its actions often had the flavor of the World?  It is an attitude that Jesus is not enough to attract the youth and young couples.  Maybe it is time for a wake-up call from Jesus.

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already, you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  (John 15:1-10) 

 

Six times in these verses, Jesus is telling each of us who is in Christ what must happen to be His disciple.  I have often not been, and I found it has required me to once more examine myself, 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  Have you asked God if my wood, or life, ​is like the wood God is talking to Ezekiel about in Chapter 15: 1-8?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

                                                          Ezekiel 14​: 12-23

 

November 25, 2023

 

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

 

“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

 

“Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

 

“Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

 

“For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!  But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.  They will console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

 

These three men who obey God, did what He told them and went through trials and abuse by those who lived around them.  God has said they would live but not their children.  If Jerusalem would not be spared, why would God spare the USA?  His Church would be spared, but many of those who go by the title of Christian would not be, including sons and daughters.

 

For many years God has sent us men who have warned our Nation to repent and turn back to God, is it too late to wake up, bow down to a Holy God, and ask for forgiveness?  I believe the hour is late, but the answer is a big NO, as long as it is called today, the Holy Spirit is drawing men, women, boys, and girls to our Lord.  So today you still have this moment to repent and ask Jesus to come into your life.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

 

Ezekiel 14:1-11

 

November 24, 2023

 

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.  And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore, speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.

“Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.  For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I, the Lord, will answer him myself.  And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.  And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.  And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

 

How does one guard against taking idols into their heart?  And what are some of the idols Christians often take into their hearts?  Most dangerous and destructive: could it be religion?  Not the Worship of God, but the holding of rules and traditions of religion, not the seeking of God.  Your ability to perform without depending on Christ.  Sports, of all kinds, knowing more about them and spending time studying and doing and watching them than seeking fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  The government is putting trust in a party for your identity, not Christ.  Chasing after wealth, and not the promises of God.  Acquiring stuff you value and seek more than sharing the Truth of what God has done for you.  And another is putting self before, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.

 

How do we guard against letting these idols into our hearts?  For me, it has been a battle to seek God and not my desires, to seek fellowship with our Lord, to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in the ways of holiness, mercy, love, and goodness.  To not just read the Word of God but to apply its teaching to my life.  To assemble with other believers, and to have a mentor relationship with a brother who loves me enough to tell me I’m falling short in my actions and words.

 

I have a dear friend named Paul who is all about relationships, and his heart is to seek first the kingdom of God. Does he ever fall short? Sure, and so do we all? When we put any relationship above our Lord, we have placed an idol in our lives. Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”   Your Father in heaven knows your needs and loves you, so seek Him first and allow Him to provide what will be of value to your life.

 

From one mess to another, seek, obey, and live the abundant life the Lord has promised.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Watchour for false Teachers , Preachers, and Preast

 

Ezekiel 13: 8-16,

 

November 18, 2023

 

Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God.  My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.  Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out.  And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.  And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.  Thus, will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

 

Pease where there is no Pease. It reminds me of those who are telling us to buy gold, for in gold we will find security.  Jesus tells us in John 16:33, ^“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  How many false prophets are telling you that if you do this, are that, and it usefully enhances their wealth, it will bring you a life of contentment?  Folks, Jesus is the Truth, and you can trust His words.  Jesus tells us in John 10:9-14, ^“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,”

 

How long have you been at the wrong door, because you have been listening to the wrong voice, telling you their whitewash was what was needed to find peace for your soul?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice