EZEKIEL 22: 30,31

"GOD WANTS YOU"

Intro: Old recruiting signs, "Uncle Sam wants you."  God is always seeking
       to recruit for His service. God is plenteous in mercy - slow to
       judgment. The last thing God wants to do is judgment. Yet because
       He is righteous, He must judge. When everything else fails,
       judgment must come. Right up to the moment the axe falls, God is
       crying, "Turn ye, turn ye, for why..."

I. JUDAH'S DEPLORABLE STATE.
        A. Nation thoroughly corrupted.
                1. Government leaders corrupt.
                        a. Filled with greed, self interest - accepting
                           bribes.
                        b. Dishonest, corrupt!
                2. The priesthood had failed.
                        a. God's representatives.
                        b. They became materialists.
                        c. They denied the supremacy of the spiritual.
                        d. They sought to interpret the Word of God rather
                           than believe.
                3. The prophets were liars.
                        a. They were saying,  "peace, peace," - when God
                           was bringing war.
                        b. They were predicting victory - when God had
                           determined defeat.
                        c. They were crying prosperity - when God was
                           about to take away their possessions.
                4. The people had become irrecoverably corrupt.
                        a. When the foundations are destroyed, who can
                           stand?
                        b. Lack of true spiritual guidance led to carnal
                          cesspool.
                                1. Pornography, adultery, fornication,
                                   incest.
                        c. With the false prophets holding out false
                           hopes, no need to repent.

II. GOD'S SEARCH FOR A MAN.
        A. God is so merciful - even now He would forgive them, if they
           would only repent.
        B. God sought for a man to stand in the gap.
                1. A great breach had come in their relationship with God.
                2. The hedge of His divine protection was gone.
                3. God was looking for intercessors.
        C. "But I found none."
                1. Everyone had his own excuse.
                        a. I'm building a house.
                        b. I'm planting a field.
                        c. I'm developing financial security.
                        d. These things will all soon be destroyed.
                2. Carnal man is absorbed in what to eat, drink, wear.
                        a. But seek ye first, the kingdom of God...

III. "I FOUND NONE, THEREFORE I POURED OUT MY WRATH UPON THEM."
        A. They gave Him no alternative.
                1. He had called - they would not answer.
                2. He had warned - they ignored it.
                3. He pleaded - they mocked Him.
                4. He stretched out His arms - they walked away.
                5. Being righteous He must act, He has left no excuse.
                6. He had desperately sought for a man.
        B. History, they say, repeats itself.
                1. Principles are the same.
                        a. "Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is..."
                        b. Seek God and you will be blessed - forsake God
                           and you will be destroyed.
                2. Times may change - principles don't.
                        a. Man is the same. He is a sinner and lost
                           without God.
        C. Looking at our nation today.
                1. Moral cesspool.
                2. Corrupted leaders.
                3. Corrupted prophets.
                4. Hedge of defense broken down - great gap.
                5. God is seeking men and women.