Let us turn once more to God's
Word and the chapter that we read, Ezekiel 21, and I'll read
the portion from verse 25 through 27. It's marked in our Bibles
as a very short paragraph. Ezekiel 21, reading verse 25
through 27. And thou, profane, wicked Prince
of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the Lord God, Remove
the die of them, and take off the crown. This shall not be
the same. Exalt him that is low, and abase
him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn
it, and it shall be no more until He come, whose right it is, and
I will give it Him. And I want in particular to center
your attention for a while on those words in the last verse
there, verse 27. God says, I will overturn, overturn,
overturn it and it shall be no more until he come whose right
it is and I will give it him. And the subject matter really
then that I want to try to address might be said to be the threefold
overthrow of the sinner. The threefold overthrow, overturn,
overturn, overturn it and it shall be no more the overthrow
of the sinner but before we come to that I want to say something
with regards to the passage historically clearly as we read through the
chapter you will have realized how the prophet is faithfully
pronouncing the terrible judgment of God that would come against
Israel, God's sword drawn against his ancient covenant people,
the destruction that would come upon Jerusalem and the ancient
kingdom, it's really the kingdom of Judah when Ezekiel is ministering
The northern kingdom of Israel that had rebelled and gone their
separate way with their capital at Samaria, that had gone. The
Assyrians had come and dispersed them, scattered. But still the
little kingdom of Judah in the south remains. How the Assyrians
were frustrated, we have the record of course. those things
that occurred during the days of that godly king Hezekiah. But now God's judgment is to
fall also upon Judah. And the kingdom will be brought
to a sad and a solemn end. Verse 26, I saith the Lord God,
remove the diadem, take off the crown, this shall not be the
same. And the reference here is to
the last of the kings of Judah, a man called Zedekiah. How God
addresses him in verse 25, thou profane, wicked prince of Israel,
whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. He was really a vassal king. We're told something about him
in the last chapter of the second book of Chronicles, Zedekiah. He was made king by Nebuchadnezzar,
and Nebuchadnezzar made him to swear. There in 2nd Chronicles
36 and verse 13, we're told how Nebuchadnezzar made him swear
by God that he would be a faithful servant to that great Babylonian
emperor and of course here in the passage that we read back
at verse 23 we read of them that have sworn oaths them that have sworn oaths And
surely here there is a reference to what this vassal king Zedekiah
had done. He had sworn an oath but he had
broken the oath. That was a terrible thing. He
had made an oath in the name of the Lord his God and he had
broken that oath. If we go back to chapter 17,
we see it there at verse 16 following. As I live, saith the Lord God,
surely in the place where the King dwelleth, that made him
king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he break,
even with him in the midst of Babylon, he shall die, neither
shall Pharaoh. He was looking to Pharaoh to destroy the Babylonians, neither
shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for
him in the war. by casting up mountains and building
forts to cut off many persons. Seeing he despised the oath by
breaking the covenant when lo he had given his hand, and hath
done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, as I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised,
and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense
upon his own head. This is the man that's being
spoken of then here in this portion from verse 25 through to 27. And we actually read of the terrible
judgment that came upon him in 2 Kings chapter 25. He sought to make an escape but he'd been
caught by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonians had taken him
and they'd killed his sons before his eyes and they gouged out
his own eyes and he was taken away into exile into Babylon
it's all recorded there then in the historic books in 2nd
Chronicles 36 and also in 2nd Kings chapter 25 Well, that's
the historical context, but there's also here a prophetic word, there's
a prophetic fulfillment, a spiritual fulfillment that we read of at
the end of verse 27. God says, I will overturn, overturn,
overturn it and it shall be no more until he come whose right
it is and I will give it him. There it is. That one who is
truly the King in Siloam, the Lord Jesus Christ himself who
comes of course of the line of David. There is a wonderful fulfillment
when we come to the New Testament Scriptures and remember the language
that Luke in his Gospel goes into some detail concerning all
that was associated with that miraculous birth a virgin with child, and the
words that we have recorded there in the opening chapter of Luke,
spoken by the angel to Mary. Verse 30, the angel said unto
her, fear not Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. The Lord God shall give
unto him that throne. And this is prophesied here in
the words of our text, until he come whose right it is. says
God and I will give it Him. And so it was. What does the
angel go on to say? The Holy Ghost shall come upon
this virgin, the power of the highest overshadow her and that
holy thing which shall be born of her shall be called the Son
of God. God's manifest in the flesh. The reason that prophetic
fulfillment in the fullness of the time. What I want to try
to speak of tonight is another spiritual application. I want
to think of it really as it were experimentally, how it comes
to us, how it must have its fulfillment in us if we have any real spiritual
interest in those things that are being recorded. Now remember,
Now Paul reminds us in the New Testament that whatever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. And we read
a chapter like this, and it's a solemn part of God's Word,
but how does it relate to us? Does it apply to us in any sense
at all? Is it just an interesting historic
account? that had it's fulfilment all
those many many centuries ago and even when we come to think
of the prophecy of Christ it's had it's fulfilment already but
how does it relate to us? Again Paul says to the Corinthians
that all these things happened unto them for times That's what he's saying there.
All that happens under them four types, it's written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world have come. It's for us. How does
it relate and apply to us? Well, as we look at the words
of the text, I want to deal really with two basic points. I want
us to consider what he said here with regards to the sinner, and
then what he said with regards to the Saviour. the sinner and
the saviour. Here we learn surely what salvation
is, what salvation involves. The nothingness of man and yet
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man in the dust as it were. and the Lord Jesus, that One
who is rightly exalted, the Prince and the Saviour. But first of
all to say something with regards to the sinner. Surely that is
the first part of the verse, I will overturn, overturn, overturn
it. In order for the sinner to be
saved, the sinner must be totally overturned. He must be completely
overthrown. nor can he expect to be perfectly
saved till he finds himself utterly lost. It's those who are lost who need
to be found. It's those who are dead in trespasses
and sins who need to be brought to life. And how God deals with the sinner,
bringing that sinner to the end of himself. The words of the
prayer of Moses, the man of God, there in Psalm 90, Thou turnest
man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. God
brings a man to that, to the end of himself, to destruction. How the man has to be shot into
that. Before faith came, we're kept under the law, shot in.
To the faith that should after would be revealed. What a terrible
place to be shut in, hopeless, helpless, we can do nothing.
From whence can that person obtain faith? Does hearing of duty faith
help him in any sense? He can't believe, he would believe.
He shut up until God is pleased to reveal the faith to him, faith
of the operation of God, faith which is the gift of God. more
there must be this overturning of self, and it's threefold.
There's a threefold overturning of the sinner. Think of the language
that we have there in the second chapter of John, first epistle
of John, chapter 2. Remember what we're told there
concerning the world, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world, all that is in the world, the lust of
the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life he's
not of the father but he's of the world and the world passes
away in the lost era the world has to be overturned and the
world in us has to be overturned and it's threefold there's polluted
self, isn't there? the lust of the flesh, isn't
that polluted self? we have those words in the book
of Job who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one
and what are we? by nature we're all descended
from Adam and Eve we're all born dead in trespasses and in sins
how can he be clean that he's born of a woman is a question
that's also put in that 14th chapter of the book of Job it's
an impossibility and David knew it David was so
aware of it behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my
mother conceive me there was nothing sinful in his conception
of course God intended that men should be born that the earth should
be filled. But men are born into this world
with sinful natures. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, says the Lord Jesus. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. You must be born again. There's
no hope for us. For the nature, it's so polluted. we are an unclean thing, our
righteousness is our filthy rags our iniquities like the wind
they carry us away or there is nothing very sacred or holy about
man he was made in the image created after the likeness of
God but no more or thou profane wicked prince of Israel whose
day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. We must be brought
to that, the end, the end of ourselves, the overthrow of profane
self. And it's the language, isn't
it? Time and again of the Apostle
Paul, what a gospel it is that that man preaching. We're in Romans earlier today
and It's a great book, isn't it? We said how it's full of
tremendous doctrine. It's a gospel book. It's full
of gospel doctrine. And there in that opening chapter,
how Paul is defining the gospel in terms of the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in terms of the great doctrine of
justification by faith. And yet, he no sooner defines
the gospel than he immediately goes on to speak of the horrors
of man's state as a sinner. Those early chapters of Romans,
when we read through them, the things that he speaks of concerning
the natural state of man, the sin that's in all of our hearts,
we are profane and wicked sinners. The carnal mind, the natural
mind, it's enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. And I was struck recently, I
think I've mentioned it previously, but John Murray, Professor John
Murray, what he says of the essence of sin, how that in that we see
man against God. Man really a contradiction of
God. That's man's condition, he's
alienated. he's an enemy and that profound wicked prince he
thinks himself a prince or the temptation you shall be as God
he thinks he's a God but he's a wicked prince and his life
full of profanities but then also there's not only the lust of the flesh, there's
also the lust of the eyes. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes. And you think about that with
regards to the fall of our first parents. When the woman falls
in with the temptation, her eyes are opened. And she sees the
sea, and what sort of a tree is it? It's pleasant to the eyes. That's what it says. All this
tree, you see, which God has forbidden, it's pleasant to the
eyes. A tree to be desired to make
one wise. Here is man's pride. And that
pride as well as that profanity must be altogether overthrown. And though it clings and cleaves
to us, it's part of our very nature. Pride, accursed pride,
that spirit by God abhorred, do what we will, it haunts us
still. It keeps us from the Lord. It
keeps us from the Lord. Oh, it does. It's an awful thing,
the pride of man. Against its influence, pride
mingles with the prayer, against it, preach. He prompts the speech,
be silent still. It's there, says Joseph Hart.
Oh, that man must have known something of it. He was a very
gifted man, of course. He was a classicist. He taught
classics. Highly educated. And now he had
to be humbled. Proud man must be made low. And it's in us all. I do really
reckon that it's there when the man is first awakened. We see
it, do we not, in the language of those who heard the preaching
of the apostles. Be it Peter on the day of Pentecost. What an auspicious day that was.
What a sermon that was. How the Holy Spirit was there.
There was such an anointing of the Spirit upon Peter. What boldness! No wonder thousands are awakened. So striking, isn't it, when we
read the opening chapters of the Acts, 120 disciples upon
the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ. There
in chapter 1. 120 disciples. Oh, many times
there were multitudes, they would have made him king. But the Lord's
ministry is such a sifting, searching ministry, 120. And the day of
Pentecost fully comes. The fulfilment of what Pentecost
is all about. And the Spirit falls upon those
apostles, and Peter preaches. What is it? 4,000 are converted. But what do they say when first
awakened? What shall we do? What shall
we do? Surely there's something to do.
What shall we do to be saved? And it's the same when Paul and
Silas are there preaching to the Philippian jailer in chapter
16 of Acts. What must I do? See how men By
nature they are wedded to this idea of a covenant of work. Surely there's something to do.
Well, there's duty of faith, there's duty of repentance. That's
how they speak, isn't it? We have to learn that there is
nothing to be done. It's done. Salvation is of the
Lord. And though the Lord must abase
us and bring us down, and we have to learn what the Lord is,
it's a spiritual law. All Saul of Tarsus, the self-righteous
Pharisee, he thought he knew the law. Touching the righteousness of
the law, blameless. And he was doubtless an upright
Pharisee. A man much respected because
he sought to live his life in accordance to the law of God.
How those Pharisees, you see, they fenced the law. They had
such a regard for it that they had all their traditions surrounding
it to ensure that it was properly respected. And of course what
they're doing really with their traditions, they're denying the
law. No, the Lord exposes the folly
of the Pharisees. No, the Lord himself is the one
who comes and declares the true spirituality of the Lord. Unrighteous
anger is murder. The wanton look or wanton thought
is adultery. That's what the law says. Paul
had to learn that the law is spiritual. He says it is as much
doesn't he says it himself there in Romans 7 the law is spiritual
but I am carnal soul under sin well the law is that that finds
us out every mouth is stopped that's the ministry of the law
that's the point the purpose of the law whatsoever things
the law said it said to them were under the law that every
mouth may be stopped the proud sinner His mouth stops. What does it say here? Obey Him
that is high. O the sinner must be humble to
the dust. He must learn the folly of his
sin. Ye shall be as gods. And he reaches after that. And
he falls. And he falls into the awful depths
of sin. And his heart is full of pride. Who is to be overthrown then?
Well, not just that sinner in all the pollution
of his sins, but that same sinner in all his self-righteous pride. And then also the third, it's
threefold overturning here, isn't it? Overturn, overturn, overturn
it. There's also presumptuous self. The lost of the eyes in the pride
of life, it says. The pride of life. Our men, you
see, they don't want to wait upon God. They're not content
to call, to cry. to seek, to strive. They don't
want that. They want to hurry things along.
And that's why they want to fall in with the teaching of duty
of faith, duty of repentance, these things that we can do.
Christ says quite plainly, no man can come to me except the
Father which hath sent me draw him. it is written in the prophets
they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that has
heard and learned of the father cometh unto me the Lord has to
teach us and the Lord teaches his people in his own way it's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth it's of God
that showeth mercy The sinner must be born again, born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man. You see, nothing of man, but man is such a presumptuous
creature. And he has to be brought low.
There's a verse, you know, similar to what we have before us tonight. Here we read, I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it. In Jeremiah 22 and verse 29 it
says, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. God
addresses us when we're right down there. Worms of the dust. He brings the man to an end of
himself. That's what the Lord God is doing.
Though that is such a vital part of salvation, Who were the ones
that Christ came to call? Not the righteous, but sinners. All are sinners in God's sight. There are but few so in their
own. But when the Lord teaches us, and He makes us see that there's
a great need, and there's a great need of a Saviour, and so we
have it in the text. It's not just overturn, overturn,
overturn it. until it is no more, but until
He come, whose right it is, and I will give it Him. And so we
see, don't we, here in the second place, the wonder of that salvation
that is the gracious work of God, that salvation that is altogether
of the Lord. In a sense, we see all the fullness
of God here, all the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Trinity,
the sovereignty of the Father, how sovereign He is in election. What does He say concerning the
salvation? that He has committed into the
hands of His Son. I will give it Him. I will give it Him. And what
has He done? He has committed to Him a particular
people. Eternally these people have been
chosen but they are chosen in Him. They are chosen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is the language that we
have there in Ephesians chapter 1, isn't it? And verse 4, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. It's the sovereignty of the Father.
They are chosen, yes, but they are predestinated in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is God's first elect. He says, Behold mine elect. Christ is God's first elect.
All the election of grace are chosen in the Lord Jesus and
He knew it. Behold I am the children which
God hath given them. Those words in Isaiah 8 and verse
18, they're spoken, aren't they, in regard to the ministry of
the prophet Isaiah. He goes to the prophet Esh, he
conceives, The Son is born and the Son is part and parcel of
the Prophet's message. You know the passage there in
Isaiah 8. And Isaiah says, Behold I am
the children which God hath given me. But those words have a far
deeper meaning than Isaiah ever realized. Because Paul makes
it plain as to just whom those words really apply to. It's the
Lord Jesus. He quotes those words there in
Hebrews 2.13 there's words spoken by the Lord Jesus, Behold I and
the children which God hath given me all until he come whose right
it is and I will give it him he has the crown, he is that
one who where's the crown? he is that one who is mighty
to say able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. But then, surely, if we see something
of the Father in election here, we also see the blessed work
of the Son in redemption. Until He come, it says, whose
right it is. It is his right to save. And
why is it his right to save? Well, he has a right to save,
as we've just said, because of the Father's donation. The Father
has given him a people to save. But he doesn't only have a right
to save them by the donation of the Father, He also has a
right to save them because he has paid the redemption price.
He has purchased them. He has paid that ransom for them.
All that was demanded of the Holy Lord of God. When He came,
He came to identify with His people. He is made of a woman,
He is a real man. But he's also made under the
law, he's going to stand in their law place. And so he does throughout
his life, he honors, he magnifies that law of God. He fulfills
all righteousness, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens. And then the amazing thing is
that this man who is the only truly righteous man that ever
lived. Adam was righteous of course.
Eve righteous when first created, pristine from the hand of the
Great Creator. But Adam and Eve sinned but Christ
never sinned. Christ never sins. He could never die. There's no
cause of death in Him. And yet He dies. Why? Because he will pay that ransom
price for his people. What does Peter say? You were
not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from
your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. Oh, he has a right to these people.
He has purchased them by giving Himself, even to that debt of
the cross, until He comes, whose right it is, right by donation
from the Father, right also because He has paid the price that the
Holy Lord of God demanded. He has died. And the soul that
sinneth it must die, and though He is the sinless one, He has
taken all that sin to Himself. and in exchange He has given
all those people that were given to Him His righteousness. What
an exchange! What a Saviour is this whose
right it is and I will give it Him. And so thirdly here surely
we have to recognize there must be a ministry by the Holy Spirit
also. are those that were donated to
Christ and redeemed by Christ. How are they brought to experience
and to enjoy this great salvation? Well, they must be born again. All by nature they are dead in
trespasses and sins. They are the children of Adam.
And Christ says, verily, verily, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. How can we see these things?
How can we understand these great spiritual truths? Unless God
himself give us eyes to behold. And ears to hear such a message
as this. And that gracious work of the
Spirit in regeneration. You know, in that third chapter
of John, we have those words, don't we? A man can receive nothing
except it be given him from heaven. Oh, it's given from heaven. It's
the gift of God. And those who are in Christ,
you see, they have a right by the Spirit's gracious work. They come to saving faith, they
have a right. to this glorious salvation. The
sinner is nothing and the Savior is everything.
That's what we have to come to. And so we must describe all the
honor, all the glory to His name. Salvation is truly of the Lord
and when the Lord brings us to that What do we feel? Well, we're not worthy of the
least of these favors. And all this truth, what truth
it is that God shows to the sinner, when we see this, the simplicity
of salvation, it's the end of self. Overturn, overturn it. And it's a full and a free salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ, until He comes. whose right it is,
says God, and I will give it him. And what does Christ say?
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and neither
cometh to me I shall in no wise cast out. O God, then be pleased
to bless his word to us that we might see that all that we
could ever wish in the way of salvation is found only there
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord
bless His word to us. Amen.