Open your Bibles with me back
to Ezekiel chapter 37. I'm basically going to deal with
the last few verses where we have such a glaring, open revelation of Jesus Christ in
a promise of the Messiah where he's identified once again as
he is so many times in the prophecies. as David the servant of God.
And of course there's in verse 24 if you want to look at that.
David my servant. That's not talking about King
David of old. King David of old was already
dead. His time on earth as the king
of Israel was passed. But this is speaking of David
as a type. David as a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. is speaking prophetically of
David. David's greater son, you might
say. That one who was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. He who is the branch,
as many of the prophets speak of him. He who is the root of
Jesse. The one who would spring forth
from that earthly line of Judah. The king, the scepter, that would
not depart from Judah until he comes, Shiloh comes. he's called
David my servant it says in verse 24 in David my servant shall
be king over them and they shall have one shepherd they shall
also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes to do them
the title this message is one king one shepherd one king one
shepherd now remember he'll recall as I mentioned before but just
to Keep you up to date. You recall how this chapter 37
began with the vision of the valley of dry bones. What a great
picture of salvation. That is what a great picture
of the depravity of man. That is the sinfulness of man.
We, as Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter two, who are dead by
nature in trespasses and sin, spiritual death. That's what
he's talking about. And how he asked the question,
or the Lord posed the question to Ezekiel, his prophet, can
these bones live? And the answer that was given
is just, to me, it's just the only good answer a sinner like
us can give to that question. Our first Reaction to that can
these bones live from our own human point of view would be
no These bones cannot live you can't you can't give life to
dead dry bones But that's not the right answer because this
is the work of God This is the truth of God. This is the power
of God. So when he asked the prophet
can these bones live? Here's the answer Oh Lord God,
you know thou knowest God knows God is able. I love those passages
of scripture that relay the assurance and security of a believer. Where
in Paul, for example, he said, I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And then in Hebrews chapter seven,
where he said, he is able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto the father by him. You see, what this tells, what
it told them back then and what it tells us today is that the
ability, uh, in this matter of salvation, in this matter of
obedience, in this matter of preservation is not ours, but
God's. It's the ability of Christ. And
so when we speak of assurance of salvation, we shouldn't have
any notion in our minds of our abilities. And that's the problem
when people talk about assurance. Somebody said, well, I wonder
if I'll persevere unto the end. Well, you will, if God preserves
you. You understand what I'm saying? Or I wonder if I'll keep
on keeping on or I'll keep on believing. Well, you will, if
God keeps you. That's what Christ said. You
see, it's not your ability or my ability. It's not your goodness
or my goodness. It's Christ. He is the whole
thing. in this matter of security. All
the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen. Not in
you, not in me, but in him. And that's what these shepherd
prophecies and king prophecies show us. So here we have the
valley of dry bones. And God said, you preach to them,
Ezekiel. And he said, I will cause breath
to enter into them and they'll live. And they did. And you know
the story. We read about that and we preached
on it. Regathering. Remember we talked about the
new birth here. How it was regathering of the
people of God based on redemption by the blood resulting in regeneration. That's the theme that runs all
the way through it. And then we had in beginning
here in verse 15 of Ezekiel 37, the object lesson that was set
forth in two sticks. where the prophet was commanded
of God to get these two sticks or these two rods and write upon
them the names of Judah and Ephraim. And then we talked about the
significance of Judah and Ephraim. Judah, then the stick of Ephraim. Judah has the preeminence. Well,
you know why Judah has the preeminence. That's the royal tribe. That's
the tribe of the king. That's the tribe of the shepherd
king, according to the flesh. That's the tribe through whom
Christ came. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. So he has the preeminence. And
the scripture teaches us that in so many ways. That Christ
alone has the preeminence in salvation. He has the preeminence
in the church. Colossians chapter one. He has
the preeminence in glory. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. His worthiness is our worthiness.
We have no worthiness of our own. But we have a worthiness,
what is that? It's Christ, the lamb that was
slain for us to put away our sins. So Judah has the preeminence.
But then he mentioned Joseph. Remember over here, look at verse
16 again of Ezekiel 37. Moreover, thou son of man, take
thee one stick and write upon it for Judah and for the children
of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write
upon it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. for all the house
of israel his companions joined them one to another into one
state they'll become one in my hand that shows uh... the birthright that was given
to joseph as carried on through the frame member not manassas
remember how we went back to genesis forty eight and how joseph
brought those two children to be blessed manassas the oldest
on uh... to be blessed by the right hand
of israel but and uh... Ephraim on to be blessed by the
left because Manasseh was ill and remember how Jacob crossed
his hand the sovereign purpose of God being worked out so it
was to Ephraim Joseph through Ephraim that the birthright would
come and what that shows the significance of that is how we
as the elect of God sinners saved by the grace of God received
the birthright of salvation through Judah, who has the preeminence.
And that's why they're put together there. It's Christ and his sheep. Christ the king and his subjects,
Christ the great shepherd, the good shepherd, and his sheep,
all one. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. Remember, the firstborn was to
be blessed. Remember how Reuben was the firstborn, but he lost
the birthright because of his sin? Remember later on when there's
another story about a birthright, Jacob and Esau, how Esau lost
the birthright. He had no heart for God and the
things of God and the gospel. So in other words, we receive,
we who are the true Israel of God, we receive the birthright
of salvation. And that's all the blessings
of salvation. Everything that salvation is that comes to us
comes through Christ who has the preeminence and we have the
birthright and The significance of Ephraim is to show how this
birthright according to the promise made to Abraham would go not
only to Jews Believing Jews, but also to God's elect out of
every nation Jew and Gentile remember how we read there in
Genesis 48 that out of Ephraim would come a multitude of nations
And that was based on a promise made to Abraham when he said
that many nations will be blessed through you. All nations will
be blessed through you. So you have there a union of
people under the headship of Christ. And we see here both
a royal line fulfilled by Christ, the line of Judah, Shiloh, and
a multitude of people fulfilled in the regathering, the redemption,
and the regeneration of God's elect Jew and Gentile spiritual
Israel. We're going to look here in just
a moment at the New Testament commentary on that again in Ephesians
2, which sets forth in the context of sovereign grace, the redemption,
the regeneration, the union of God's elect in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look over at verse 24. The
conclusion of this part of the prophecy is a gracious an important
vital emphasis on the fact that it is all in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. Here's
the emphasis. See, it doesn't come down to
its conclusion to depend on you or on me. And I think that's
where so many today go wrong in their view of what they call
the gospel. In other words, it's kind of
like summarized in the statements when When preachers say, now
Christ has done all he can do, now the rest is up to you. Well,
the prophecies won't bear that out. It's not Christ has done
all he can do, now the rest is up to you. If that's the case,
according to the scripture, we're all doomed. We're all doomed
if it's up to us. What he's showing here is all
of it's up to him. It's up to Christ, you see. And
as New Testament Christians, we have an inherited birthright
status through Jesus Christ as the firstborn son of God, who
has the preeminence. Then that birthright is that
which comes by redemption, and we receive it. It's applied to
us in the new birth. Remember the dry bones. Now, who can enter into the kingdom
of God as full citizens of that kingdom? Only those who are redeemed
by the blood and regenerated by the spirit. and that's christ
and his seed as god's only begotten son jesus christ received the
kingdom from his father he's lord of all he has the preeminence
and he shares that kingdom with his people in that inheritance
look at a verse twenty four david my servant shall be king over
them and they'll have one shepherd you know those too significations
of the messiah include every office, every power, every purpose
that is set upon his shoulders. He's prophet, he's priest, he's
king over his people. His kingdom over his people is
an earned right. Now understand that we know that
as God absolutely considered, which he is, God the Son, the
second person of the Trinity, he always had Sovereign rule
over this universe And he never gave that up That glory was hidden
for a while in the in the veil of sinless humanity And that's
what John speaks of in John chapter 1 But as God absolutely considered
he was always he always has been always will be sovereign ruler
of the universe and But his lordship here, his kingship here over
his people is in line with the fact that he is their shepherd.
He's the shepherd king. And what that means is this.
It means that his lordship over his people, his nation, his spiritual
people, his church is based upon his doing the work of the shepherd.
And what is the work of the shepherd? Well, we read about it in John
chapter 10. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. And what has he done by that?
Well, he redeemed us by his giving his life, by his death. That's
what his death was all about. He died as a substitute and a
surety of a people. Our sins were charged, accounted
to Him. Our debt was put upon His account,
and He came and lived and died on the cross to pay that debt
in full, and He purchased His people with His own blood. And therefore He earned the right
to rule over every one of them. He's exalted. You remember Peter
in Acts chapter 2 said that this person, this Jesus of Nazareth,
whom we had taken by wicked hands, crucified and slain, And of course,
all of that was according to the sovereign purpose of God.
You remember he said that God, the Father, had made him to be
both Lord and Christ. Well, that's his earned right.
He prayed it in his high priestly prayer in John 17. He said, Lord,
return the glory that I had with thee before the world was. And
that glory was based upon the fact that, remember he said,
I have finished the work which you gave me to do. All of that. And what's the result of his
lordship based upon his doing the work of redemption? His establishment
of righteousness. Why is righteousness so important
there? Because the scepter of the king of kings is a righteous
scepter. Now what that means is that his
rule as king was procured and obtained and brought in in a
right way, in a righteous way. It wasn't with any sin or with
any evil, with any selfishness. It was all in a righteous way.
Now, how did he do that? Well, he kept the law and fulfilled
it in his death. His righteousness is his obedience
unto death. He's a righteous sovereign. and
therefore he rules over a righteous people made righteous not by
our works but made righteous by his work he was made sin christ
who knew no sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of god what's the last two words of that verse in you see that
So what's the result of that? Look at it, verse 24. They shall
also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them.
They're going to believe the gospel. They're going to walk
in the light of his word. They're not going to be perfect
people. This doesn't mean that they're going to keep the law
perfectly. We don't. We're sinners saved by the grace
of God. We're going to walk in His judgments. And what is His
judgments? Well, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. That's
how God judges His people in Christ. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again. Who's seated at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make... That's an intercession
for us. That's God's judgment. How does God see His people?
As far as His law and justice are concerned, His judgments.
He sees us in Christ. And we sing it all the time,
don't we? Did you hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken
away. My sins are pardoned. I'm set
free. They're all taken away. Are they
really? Yes, they are. God does not hold
them against Him. In fact, the Bible puts it this
way in terms that Weakened gets down on our puny levels and He
says He won't remember them anymore. That means He won't raise up
the issue again. He won't keep bringing it up.
You know, a lot of times we do something wrong and we get mad
at each other and, oh, we'll get over it and we'll forgive
each other, but every now and then we kind of bring it back
up again. God doesn't do that. We're washed in the blood. The
soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb. That's what we say. What can
wash away my sins? Well, nothing but the blood of
Jesus. Now, will the blood of Jesus wash them away? You bet. That's what God says. They're
all taken away. God sees His people as perfect
in Christ. But don't claim any perfection
anywhere else. That's self-righteousness. That's
pride, you see. But it's not pride to claim perfection
in Christ. That's what the Bible calls glorying
in the cross, glorying in Him, glorying in Christ Jesus. They'll
walk in my judgment, they'll observe my statutes, his word.
I want to know God's word. That's what I want to know. I
want to know what God says, and I want to do what he says. And
look at verse 25, he says, they shall dwell in the land that
I've given them unto Jacob my servant. And wherein your fathers
have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their
children, their children's children forever. And my servant David
shall be their prince forever." Now whatever land he's talking
about, it's a land over which Christ rules and reigns. Not
just in his sovereign power, he rules the universe that way.
But as the mediator, as the shepherd king, as the Lord of his people. And whatever land he's talking
about, it's a land that is, as in Isaiah chapter 26, is a righteous
land or a righteous nation. And there's no land on this earth
that can be called a righteous nation. In God's sight. Now I know there's, there's countries
that are democracies and And for the most part, in general,
seek to do justice and judgment in a right way. But even that's
corrupt. You know that. Man corrupts.
A man corrupts everything he gets his hands on. Everything
that man builds is going to be torn down and corrupted. But
this is the church which Jesus Christ built. And the gates of
hell will not prevail against it. We won't go over there tonight,
but remember we went to Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 12 and Hebrews
13 to find out what is the land that God's people occupy, that
the fathers occupied. Abraham. Abraham didn't own a
piece of real estate. He didn't occupy a particular
land. He was a pilgrim. And he was looking for a land
that was beyond this earth. You remember? Well, that's talking
about salvation. It's talking about That citizenship
that we have in Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem. And then
look at verse 26. Moreover I will make a covenant
of peace with them. That's peace between God and
sinners. And how does that come? Through the cross. Colossians
chapter 1. Through the blood. And he says
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. Not like the old covenant
which they break. You remember? Jeremiah said that.
God told him, he said, it's not going to be like that old covenant,
that law covenant, which they break. This is an everlasting
covenant with them. And look, he said, I will place
them, I will multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the
midst of them forevermore. Now, what is the sanctuary of
God? Well, the sanctuary is the presence
of God. The sanctuary is the glory of
God. Look at verse 27. My tabernacle
also shall be with them. What is a tabernacle? It's a
dwelling place. Remember John 1.14? He said,
the word was made flesh and did what? Dwelt among them. That
word dwelt is tabernacled. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the presence of God in the midst of his people.
Notice he said there in verse 26, he said, I will set my sanctuary
in the midst of them forevermore. What did Christ say to his disciples?
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in
the midst of them, the heart of them. My tabernacle shall
also be with them. Yea, I will be their God and
they shall be my people. There's the marriage covenant.
There's the marriage union. Who are we married to? We're
married to Christ. Know what the scripture says
in Romans 7 and other places? The wedding The marriage of the
lamb and his bride in Revelation. All of that. We're married to
Christ. He's the husband. The church is his bride. And
this is an unbreakable union. That's what that union of the
two sticks represented, you say. Two together in Christ, in his
hand. Remember he said that? He said,
they shall be one in my hand, in God's hand. Verse 28, he says,
the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when
my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever. What is
the sanctuary, the tabernacle of God? Well, it's Christ and
his people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
tabernacle, the sanctuary of God. Now, in light of all this
that we see in these verses, It's really, it's sort of a warning
to us today. You know, he mentions that birthright.
We're warned not to imitate Esau, who despised his birthright,
and in essence, don't imitate Reuben, who lost the birthright,
spurned it. In Hebrews, it says, therefore,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. In other words,
our focus today is to remain not on ourselves. And listen
to me very carefully. Our focus today is not to be
on the Jews as a nation or Palestine or an earthly temple. But our
focus today and every day is to be solely upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. That's it. the appointed heir
of all things, the salvation of his people, Jew and Gentile. And we through his grace and
by faith in him are counted as joint heirs." Now look back at
Ephesians 2 and I'll conclude with this. Remember I said this is a parallel
passage to Ezekiel 37. But he starts off, you know,
Ephesians 1 talks about the source and originator of salvation.
God Almighty, before the foundation of the world, chose His people
in Christ, gave them to Christ. Showing forth His purpose, the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, wherein He made us accepted in the beloved. Accepted in Christ. And all of His sovereign mercy
and majesty coming forth. And the necessity of that shows
forth in chapter two. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We walked according to the course of this world, all
of this, but we were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Did
you ever notice in verse four of chapter two, God who's rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins. And he says here, hath quickened us together with
Christ. That's not talking about the
new birth. You know what that's talking about? That's talking
about our redemption in Christ. How do you know it's not talking
about the new birth? Well, we weren't quickened. We
weren't born again together. Some of you all were born again
before I was. Some of you have been born again
after I was. That's an application of the
Holy Spirit in time, isn't it? But in what sense were we quickened
together? When Christ died, we all died.
We who are in him, his people, his elect, his sheep. When Christ
was buried, we were all buried. When Christ rose, quickened,
we all arose in him as our representative. So there's that redemption. But
then it comes in regeneration where he brings us to faith in
Christ. Verse eight, by grace are you
saved through faith, that not of yourselves, the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast where his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them and therefore were brought together
in Christ that at that time wherefore remember that being you being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh you had no part in the
nation Israel Gentiles you were called uncircumcision that was
the outward physical sign of the covenant with Abraham And
he says, you were called uncircumcision by that which is the circumcision.
Now circumcision there is the ethnic national Jew. Uncircumcision
there is the ethnic national Gentile. And there was a division. And he makes it clear. He's talking
about circumcision in the flesh made by hands. He's talking about
physical circumcision there. And he says in verse 12, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel. It was through the nation Israel,
through the prophecies, through the scriptures, through the types
and the pictures, that Christ was actually preached. Think
about it. They had the prophets. Moses
was a prophet. Christ said, Moses wrote of me. All right? Now, there were false
prophets in the Gentile world at that time, but they didn't
preach Christ. And then we can talk about the other prophets.
They had the law, the Ten Commandments, which was given to expose their
sin, and the ceremonial law, which was given to show them
that the only way of salvation was coming through a blood-shedding
death of a substitute appointed by God. All of that was pictures
of Christ. You know that, the priest, the
high priest, the mercy seat, all of that. It all pictured
Christ. And if you weren't in the Commonwealth
of Israel, you didn't know that. So most of the Gentile world
perished. Now, there were a few exceptions.
We can talk about those exceptions. We can talk about Ruth. You can
talk about people like that. But there were a few, but not
many. He says, you were strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. But verse 13 says, But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now you
are made nigh. That is you are brought near. Now that is a term
that means accepted with God and accepted into God's nation. That is what it means. You are
brought near. You are not an alien anymore. You are not a
foreigner or a stranger. You are not an outsider. You
are an insider. And he talks about it later on.
He talks about citizens. Well, citizens have rights with
other citizens. You're a full-fledged citizen.
You're brought near. Now, how are you brought near?
Well, you made a decision when you were 12 years old, and you
walked and gave your heart to Jesus. No, that's not what it
says. How are you made near? Well, you got baptized. No. How are you made nigh? By the
blood of Christ. That's how you're made nigh.
That's how you're settled into the kingdom, that's how you're
brought into the kingdom. And he says in verse 14, for
he is our peace, who hath made both one. United to him, we're
united to one another, and hath broken down the middle wall partition
between us. You know, that's a reference
to that temple of Herod that existed in that day because there
was a partition that separated the court of the Jews, the inner
court, and the court of the Gentiles. Well, that distinction is gone.
That's what he means by that. And how did he do it? Verse 15,
having abolished in his flesh, the enmity. Now that speaks of
the death of Christ. His flesh, his sinless flesh
is his body. Remember he said, this is my
body, which is broken for you. And he says, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances, that's the old covenant. He abolished
it. And why? To make in himself,
in him, of two, one new man, Christ the head, we're the body,
so making peace that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body, half by his cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And
he came and preached to you which were far off and to them which
were nigh, preached to both Jew and Gentile. And for through
him, we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. And that
spirit is the one who brings us to Christ. So you're therefore
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints. You're a saint, sanctified, sinner
saved by grace. Household of God, you're in the
family of God. You're not, there's not this,
this, here's a group and they're in, they're the inner circle,
and there's another group, they're saved, but they're an outer circle.
No, you're a fellow citizen. That's equal. Equally saved. equally forgiven, equally righteous,
equally justified, equally secure, equally blessed, equally bound
for heaven's glory. All based on what? One king,
one shepherd. And what he accomplished on Calvary.
And therefore you're built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets. This is what the apostles preached, this is what
the prophets preached, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. In other words, he's the one who holds it all
together and by which all things are measured. You want to know
about the measure of your salvation? I even heard people say this
years ago. They talk about, well, how saved am I? And I laugh, but it's really
not funny. It's kind of sad. How saved am
I? How secure am I? How blessed
am I? Well, what's the measure of that?
How well you're doing today? Well, if that is, we're all in
trouble, including this fellow up here, because we've had some
bad days, haven't we? In fact, there is a sense in
which we can say every day was a bad day, because every day
is a day of sin for us. But you want to know the measure
of that? The true measure of that for a believer? Jesus Christ
himself, the chief cornerstone. How's his day? How has he done? What has he accomplished? You
say, how well did he do or is he doing? Well, it's perfection.
It's righteousness. It's forgiveness. Complete. Measure
it by your savior. If you are your savior, then
you don't have much hope. You don't have any hope. But
if Christ is your Savior, if you stand before God washed in
His blood and clothed in His righteousness, then your security
and salvation and blessedness and glory is measureless. He's
infinite. And so he says in verse 21, in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord. Now what's the temple there?
It's the true Israel, it's the church of the living God. And
in whom also you are also built together for inhabitation of
God through the Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
6.16, you can mark this one down. He talked about how we are the
temple of God. I believe he was quoting from
Ezekiel 37 there, verses 26 and 27. Showing that that's what
Ezekiel was talking about. and hopefully the spirit will
ram that home in our hearts and our minds.