While you're turning, let me
once again express joy and gladness and for being here this morning
with you and my appreciation to you for your prayers, for
your support. And it's amazing how you can
go to another place and find yourself in fellowship, true
fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ in the grace of God. And
I want to express that to you. We. I know. You know, a lot of times when
I speak about age at 13th Street, a lot of the. 80 year olds kind of laugh at
me because they look at me as being young. And. You know, in the past two or
three years, I've realized that, well, I am younger than them,
but I'm not young anymore. And it just seems like time flies
by so much. That hymn, Abide With Me, sort
of comes home to me in my heart, you know, O thou who changest
not, abide with me because change is all we see. The Lord teaches
us. every day about His sovereignty,
doesn't He? That He's in control. That He
doesn't step down off of His throne at any second. And that
He, by His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, continues to bless
us. And you know, I think one of
the things that really has come home to me as I age and as I
feel my age, Is that the term children of God is an appropriate
term for us? Children. And it tells me just
like when we deal with our children as they are children that we
know what's best for them. More than they do. They don't
think they do. They don't think that do they,
but we do. And so we make choices for them. Well, our Heavenly
Father does the same with us. He knows what we need. He knows
what's good for us, what's best for us, way more than what we
do. And I take some comfort in that
because I know that as long as he's on the throne, which is
forever and ever and ever, he will take care of us, won't he?
And if we don't, you know, I tell our folks all the time, you know,
it's one thing to say we believe God is sovereign. It's another
way to live like that, isn't it? And so we're so weak and
pitiful, but our Savior is the mighty King, the Lord of Lords. Now think about Ezekiel here,
the prophet Ezekiel. He's preaching here to a group
of about 10,000 refugees by the river Kibar in a foreign land
under the domination of a heathen, idolatrous king, having his homeland
conquered, being transported to this place, this awful place. You can read in that one psalm
where it talks about, by the rivers of Babylon, I sat down
and wept. And I believe that comes from
this era of time when the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem, they
were in captivity. And here's Ezekiel, who was a
priest, but never acted in the office of a priest, but he was
a prophet, the only prophet who never preached on his homeland
soil. It was Ezekiel, never preached
there. He was a contemporary with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was an older man back in Jerusalem. That's where he
was prophesied, but they were contemporaries. He was a contemporary
with Daniel, but Daniel was in the palace of the king. You know
the story of Daniel. Ezekiel was out with the common
people by the river prophesying the word of the Lord to them.
And he had just lost his dear, dear wife. The Lord took his
wife. The Lord told him. And the Lord
said, Ezekiel, when I take your wife, don't cry. Now, that doesn't
mean that he wasn't supposed to sorrow and grieve, but the
Lord was teaching the people a lesson in that episode. I won't go into all that, that's
another message. But here in this section of his prophecy,
he's talking about a great and glorious hope for Israel, a great
change that would come in the future. And it's hard to see hope, positive
things in the future when we're going through trials and tribulations,
isn't it? It's kind of like, you know,
an old man came to the end of his days and he was talking to
a young man about God. Neither one of them really knew
the true and living God. And the old man was frustrated
with life in general. He said, I've had some moments
of joy, but not many. Been a lot of sorrow, a lot of
heartache, a lot of pain. And he said, I've come to this
conclusion, young man, there's only two things that I know for
sure. He said, and that's this, there
is a God and I ain't Him. Well, that's true. But the true and living God,
to live life in the light of His glory and His Word in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, Doesn't that change everything
for us, for the true believer? Doesn't that give us a new outlook,
a new perspective? Here in Ezekiel chapter 36, he
talks about a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind. Well, what's new about me? This
body is dead because of sin, the process of dying. We see
it in our cells every day, don't we? The process of change. And yet, the Scripture says this
body is dead because of sin, but it also says the spirit is
life because of righteousness. How can that affect me? How can
that apply to me? I'm not a righteous person in
myself. I have no righteousness. The
Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one. Where can I find
righteousness? And the Bible's clear that the
only righteousness that exists in this universe for a sinner
like me is what I find complete and full in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And there's no other way. And
I'll tell you what, when it comes to me personally, I mess it up
every day. I mess up every day. My thoughts,
my actions, my decisions. And if it weren't for the fact
that God is in control, I'd set myself and a whole world in the
hell. I believe that. Even with my best, even on my
good days, even the best message I ever stood before a group and
preached cannot save me or make me holy. I think about those
false preachers in Matthew 7 who said, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Well, I hope this morning and trust this morning
that I'm going to be preaching in his name. Well, what's wrong
with that? Well, this is not my righteousness
before God. Christ is. You see the difference? What he accomplished, what he
did in his obedience unto death. Here in the book of Ezekiel,
here he is prophesying of this great and glorious hope. And
this change that's to come in the future. But it's all wrapped
up in another covenant, a different covenant than they knew. And
that's why I've entitled this the covenant of salvation. The
covenant of salvation, as I said, he's speaking to refugees from
the from Judah and Jerusalem. They've been carried away captive
from their homeland to Babylon, they're on the edge of of the
Syrian-Iraqi border. That's where they were. That's
on today's map. That's where it would be. About 10,000 of
his countrymen. And he speaks, Ezekiel speaks
in the beginning chapters of his prophecy of the destruction
of their homeland. You see, they had their hearts
set on things staying the same. They had their hearts set on
going home. They thought they were soon going
to be released, that God couldn't punish them forever. They were
Israel. They were Abraham's seed. They were circumcised. They kept
the law of Moses, which they didn't, but they claimed they
did. And so they're going to be released,
and they're going to go back to their homeland, and their
enemies are going to be defeated. And here's the problem. a majority
of false prophets who were feeding the fires of that false message.
In Jerusalem they were doing that. Jeremiah talked about them.
He said they cry peace when there's no peace. Ezekiel talked about
them. And here Ezekiel's message is
different. Here's what Ezekiel's telling
him. He says, hey look, there's no home to go back to. Babylon will utterly destroy
the city of Jerusalem, the holy city, and utterly destroy the
temple. The Israelites didn't think that
was possible. They didn't think that was possible.
It's not possible for that to happen. And not only did Ezekiel tell
him, you're not going home, but you're going to be joined by
even more of your countrymen. There's more captives coming,
more refugees coming here. And you're going to stay here
for 70 years. Jeremiah prophesied that 70 years
in captivity. But here in this section, it
actually begins back in chapter 33. He tells them of a brighter,
glorious future. A hope. And the first thing God
does when he begins to issue forth this message of hope is
he establishes Ezekiel as the watchman. Remember the watchman
on the wall? Who warns when danger is coming?
It says in chapter 33, verse 3, just let me read this for
you. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blows
the trumpet and he warns the people. Remember, he said if
the watchman sees danger coming and he doesn't warn the people,
their blood will be on his head. But he warns the people. Now,
that watchman on the wall. Is symbolic of all true preachers
of the gospel. Who tell the truth, who preach
the word, who preach Christ, who tell sinners That there is
absolutely no hope of salvation or blessing from God based on
your works and your efforts or your supposed self-proclaimed
goodness. It's all in Christ. It's all through Christ. The
true watchman doesn't lie. He doesn't fleece the sheep.
He feeds the sheep. And that's when he asked this
question, why will you die or house of Israel? I'm just telling
you the truth. People say, well, I want to hear
about the love of God, my friend. Any notion, now listen to me,
any notion. Of the love of God to sinners
apart from Christ. Is a lie. I was up in Huntington, West
Virginia. Several months ago and outside one of the big churches,
their so-called churches, there was the marquee. And it had on
its marquee, it says that God who hates. We don't worship him. And of course, you know what
verse came into my mind right away, Romans chapter 9. Jacob
have I love, but Esau have I hated. But you see, the problem is,
is man reasons from the ground up. It's like What he said when
he said, you think that I was altogether one such as yourself.
Man thinks God's love and God's hatred is like his own love and
his own hatred. I love and our hatred is selfish,
vengeful, but God's love honors him and glorifies him. God's
hatred is his justice, it's not God throwing a temper tantrum.
It's not God going off on a tangent. It's God's justice against sin. God must hate sin. Why? Because he's God. That's why. There's no love for
sinners outside of Christ. And all love for sinners in Christ
is the assurance of their salvation by Christ. But here, this prophet, Telling
the truth. I'm telling you, why will you
die? There's a way of salvation. There's a way of hope. There's
a way of glory. And where is it? It's not in
the covenant that God made with your fathers when He took them
by the hand and led them out of Egypt and brought them to
Sinai. It's not by the law. It's not
by your works. It's by His grace. You don't deserve it. I don't
deserve it. You don't earn it. I don't earn it. It's sovereign
grace. And Ezekiel goes on, he says,
there'll be a great change, beginning with the change of shepherds.
In chapter 34, he talks about the false shepherds, but he says
God is going to have true shepherds. And just like the watchman is
symbolic of the true preachers of the gospel, those true shepherds
are symbolic of true preachers of the gospel. Christ is the
one great shepherd, chief shepherd, good shepherd who gave his life
for the sheep. His preachers, his pastors, his
evangelists who preach the word, they're the under shepherds.
Christ owns the flock. His ministers are said as overseers
under him. to guide the flock. Now, this
promise of hope of the shepherds, for example, did have a fulfillment
in a limited, temporary way when Israel, after the 70 year captivity,
when they were brought back into the land of Palestine under a
man named Zerubbabel. You remember Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel
was from the house of Judah. He was set up as governor by
Cyrus, king of Persia. He wasn't a king because they
didn't have a king after that. The scepter didn't depart from
Judah. He kept Judah together. But they had no king after that.
But Zerubbabel brought him back in and that was a temporary limited
fulfillment. Also had under shepherds Ezra
and Nehemiah. the prophets of the return. And they would tell the truth,
but it didn't last. It didn't last at all. Now, it
was a foretaste of someone and something greater to come. Who? The one true shepherd of Israel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and the new covenant. And that
brings us to chapter 36 here. He speaks in terms of a covenant.
And you know what? It's a unilateral covenant. It's
a one way covenant. That's what that means. It's
not bilateral. In other words, it's not like
God says, I will, if you will. That's a bilateral covenant.
That's Sinai. I will, if you will. Now, you know what? A bilateral
covenant between God and sinners is a failure. Jeremiah spoke it. He said, which
my covenant they did what? Break. A unilateral covenant
is like this. God says, I will, you shall. I will, you shall. You see, under the law of Moses
at Sinai, God brought that physical nation together. And basically
he said this, if you will obey, then I will bless you. Did they obey? No. Now. If the covenant of salvation
is the same kind of covenant. If you will obey, I will bless
you. Then the hope of the future is
not wrapped up in the coming of Christ. The hope of the future
is in a better class of people to come later on. But we know
that's not true. Paul said it this way, Romans
chapter three and verse nine. He said, are we better than they? Are we who believe the gospel,
are we better than the Israelites who didn't believe? Remember
what he said? No, in no wise. That means no way. For the scripture
has concluded all under sin. And then he defines total depravity.
Three things. Number one, you don't have a
righteousness. I don't have a righteousness.
We fell in Adam. We fell into sin and death. And
we do not have righteousness. We're not born with it. We don't
have it. Number two, we can't work or
earn or establish a righteousness. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. Righteous in God's name. We don't
have one and we can't create one. The best people on earth
Falls short. All sin comes short of the glory
of God. Number three, we don't want righteousness God's way. That's total depravity. There's
none good. There's none to seek after God.
They're all gone out of the way. We don't have it, we can't work
it, and we don't want it God's way. We want it our way. Cain's way. The way of the flesh,
religion. You give people something to
do that they think will make them righteousness, you know
what they'll do? A lot of them will do it. Does it work? No. That's total depravity. So the gospel covenant is not
God saying, I will bless you if you will obey. No. Here it is. Now look at Ezekiel
36. Here's the language of the covenant.
First of all, verse 21, here's the basis, the reason for that
covenant of salvation. Now look at verse 21. God says,
but I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had
profaned among the heathen wherever they went. Therefore, say unto
the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for
your sakes. It's not for your sake, it's
not by your works, it's not for your goodness, it's not I will,
if you will, it's not for your sake, O house of Israel, but
for mine holy namesake. Which you have profaned among
the heathen, whether you went and I will sanctify, set apart
My great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you
have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know
that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you before their eyes." What's the reason? What's the motive?
What's the foundation of it? The foundation of it is the glory
of God. The foundation is God's honor. God's reputation, not yours,
not mine. We have none. We're sinners. We're born in sin, born dead
in trespasses and sins, and we go about through our lives until
God brings his spirit to break us, profaning his holy name. But God's reputation is on the
line here. His name here is not just some
word that we speak as if it's magic. It's not just looking
up in the air and saying, praise the Lord. His name is His glory,
His honor, His reputation. His name is that which identifies
and distinguishes Him as the one true living God. And there is no other. His name is His holiness. God
is holy. His name is His righteousness. He's a righteous judge. He must
judge according to truth. He cannot lie. His faithfulness,
His truthfulness, His sovereignty. When sinners deny God's sovereignty,
they're denying His name. His name is who He is. His name is His glory. Yes, His name is mercy. Yes,
his name is love. His name is compassion, grace. He's the God of all grace, but
not at the expense of his name. Not at the expense or in denial
of his justice. That's why the grand issue of
the gospel, the covenant of salvation, lies in that question. How can
God be just and justify sinners? How can he save a sinner like
me and still be God? You see, the moment a preacher
says that God forgives sin, he's got a problem. How can he forgive
sin and still honor his name? How can that be? Man does not
have the answer to that. Religion does not have the answer
to that. Only God can reveal that. God's going to honor himself.
And if whatever salvation you and I claim does not honor his
name, I'm going to tell you something. It is no salvation at all. That's the truth. Well, look at verse 24. Now,
here's the terms of the covenant. The terms of the covenants, we've
seen the basis of it. The source of it, it's the glory
of God, His name. Well, here's the terms of it.
He says in verse 24, I will take you from among the heathen and
gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your
own land. Now, there's a regathering. All right. You see the regathering.
God regathering His people. Now, the ultimate, again, there
is a temporal, temporary, physical fulfillment of that when he brought
Israel as a nation back into their land from Babylon, but
that didn't last. The ultimate eternal fulfillment
of that is in the salvation of his elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile. You say, well,
it says here he's going to bring them into their own land. Well,
what is the land of God's people? What is Israel's land? Well,
we won't turn there because I don't have time. But you read Hebrews
11. What land was Abraham seeking? Read Hebrews 12. What Jerusalem
are we citizens of? Heavenly Jerusalem. You see what I'm saying? That's
Israel's land. What does the term Israel mean? You know, literally
the term Israel, the name Israel means those who prevail with
God. That's what it means. Well, who
prevails with God? I'll tell you who prevails with
God. Those who come to him as sinners seeking mercy, pleading
Christ. Now, what he's talking about
here is a regathering of his people, not as rebels in a piece
of real estate in the Mideast. He's talking about a regathering
of his people under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's a regathering. Now,
how do you know he's talking about that? All right, look at
verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you
shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your
idols will I cleanse you. This regathering is based upon
redemption. The clean water there that washes
a sinner clean, what is that? Well, what is the only thing
in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that will wash a sinner
clean from all his sin? We sing about it, don't we? What
can wash away my sin? What do we say? Nothing but the
blood of Jesus. That's what that clean water
is there. It's the blood of Christ. Now, his sprinkling that blood
has to do with the sprinkling of the conscience, the sprinkling
of the heart in regeneration. But the blood has to be shed. Christ had to die on the cross
to put away my sins. So this regathering is based
on what? Redemption by the blood. We who
fail, ruined in Adam, have to be redeemed, bought back from
sin by the blood. The price has to be paid. Justice
has to be satisfied. That's what the Bible calls propitiation. Satisfaction to God's justice
for my sins. Somebody had to do it. Somebody
who God appointed somebody who's able to do so and somebody who's
willing to do so. There's only one person who fits
all three qualifications and that's God the Son incarnate.
God appointed him in the everlasting covenant of grace before the
foundation of the world. That's why he talks about the
names of his elect written in the Lamb's book of life before
the foundation of the world. That's why he talks about 2 Timothy
chapter 1, of a salvation that was given us in Christ Jesus,
when? Before the world began. Christ is the surety of the covenant. The terms of this covenant are
not conditioned on you. And don't you thank God for that?
Not conditioned on me. They're conditioned on Christ.
And when He came into this world and became incarnate, walked
this earth as God-man under the law, He was made under the law.
Isn't that right? That means all the law was upon
His shoulder. Remember the Bible in Isaiah
9, verse 6 says, The government shall be upon His shoulder. That's
the government of the covenant. That's the government of grace.
It's all on Him. That's why it cannot fail. Because
it's all on Him. If it's on you or me, it'll fail.
Somebody said, well, if it's on us, it might fail. Oh, no,
it will fail. It has failed if it's on us.
Somebody says, well, not me. Well, you're the exception. You're
better than me. Oh, my friend. It's all on Christ. All the promises of God in him
are yea, and in him, amen. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And the sins of his people
were charged, accounted, imputed to him. The debt was laid upon
him. And he said, put it on my account.
And he came and he paid the account. He paid it off. Jesus paid it
off. So it's regathering based on
redemption. And it results in regeneration. The new birth. Look at it. I
will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from
all your filthiness, from all your idols. Will I cleanse you?
Look at it. Verse 26. A new heart also will I give
you. That's the heart that is cleansed
by the blood of Christ. When the Holy Spirit brings us
under conviction shows us our sin, our depravity, our deservedness
of hell and brings us to Christ for all salvation, for all forgiveness,
for all righteousness, for all eternal life and glory. That's
the new heart. It includes the mind. The affections,
the will, the inner man, everything that we are, this is a new heart
created in us by the Holy Spirit, the conscience. Remember, he
talks about the heart cleansed, the conscience cleansed by the
blood of Christ. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. A new spirit. New life. We're raised from the dead, that's
what that means. We're born dead in trespasses
of sin, but the Holy Spirit comes forth from Christ on the basis
of righteousness established by him on the cross. Remember,
this body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of what? Righteousness. Where was righteousness
established? By Christ on the cross. And he
comes forth from Christ. And he imparts spiritual life
and knowledge. Puts a new spirit, new knowledge.
We know things we didn't know before. No, we don't know everything.
But we know Christ. This is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. We know the way now. We were lost. You know what it
is? One of our dear older members, Brother Earl Henderson, he's
homebound now. But he told me one time, I was
talking to him on the phone, Earl's about 92 years old, and
he said, he said, you know what it is to be saved, don't you?
And I said, what is it, Earl? And he said, it's to know the
way. If you don't know the way, what are you? You're lost. He
said, you know, Christ, he is the way, the truth, the life. We've got a new spirit, that
means a new motive. Now we're bond slaves of Christ,
we serve him not to see what we can earn from him. That's
legalism. That's a mercenary. That's a
hireling. But we serve him out of love.
The love of Christ constrains us. We serve him out of the motive
of grace and gratitude. Thank you, Lord. You see, thanking
the Lord is not just looking up into the sky or looking down
in prayer and saying, thank you. We can do that. But thanking
him is living a life unto his glory. He said, verse 26, I'll take
away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of
flesh. That means one that's meek. One that's obedient, one
that is submissive. God's way is the best way, the
only way. Remember, Paul spoke of those
who would not submit to Christ and his righteousness in Romans
10. God, the Holy Spirit, he brings us to submit. Oh, Lord,
your way is the only way, the right way, the good way, Christ,
Christ, Christ. He said in verse 27, I'll put
my spear within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and
shall keep you shall keep my judgments and do that. That's
what we need. I need God to cause me to walk
in his statutes, his way. That's right, because you see,
I'm in a struggle, I'm in a warfare up here. And it's every day. It's called
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Unless God causes
me to do it, I won't do it. If God were to lift his hand
of restraint or his hand of power from any of us, then what would
we do? We'd leave him just like that.
In verse 28, you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your
fathers and you shall keep and shall be my people and I'll be
your God. Two things there. The land he gave to his fathers.
What land did he give to Abraham? Isaac and Jacob What land were
they looking for again go to Hebrews 11 Hebrews 12 1 verse
in Hebrews 13 We're looking for a city, but not one here on this
earth And he says you shall be my people and I'll be your God
that's covenant, you know what that language is that's a marriage
covenant You know, Jeremiah said that God united himself to the
nation Israel under that conditional covenant. They disobeyed and
then God issued them a bill of divorcement. But under this covenant of salvation,
God joined himself in marriage to his people. And there'll never
be. A bill of divorcement. Because we're married to Christ.
And he paid all that we owe and gave us all that we need. We're
wrapped in his robe of righteousness. And it cannot be tainted, it
cannot wear out, it cannot be taken away. And he says in verse 29, I'll
save you from all your uncleanness, I'll call for the corn, I will
increase it and lay no famine upon you, multiply the fruit
of the tree. Christ said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches, you'll bring forth fruit unto God. Increase of the
field, you'll receive no more reproach for famine from among
the heathen. They'll attack, they'll deride,
they'll accuse, but it will not be successful. Who shall anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn it? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
it's risen again. See, it's all on Christ. Then
shall you remember your own evil ways. Here's repentance. and
your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations, and
not for your sakes do I this say of the Lord, be it known
unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of
Israel. Let me give you one more thing for our club. Now, all
of this covenant of salvation is on Christ, and he fulfilled
all its conditions, its requirements, its stipulations. God says, I
will, you shall. I will, you shall. I will, you
shall. All right. Now, the natural man
will take passages like this and they'll say something like
this. Well, if that's the case, then it doesn't matter what I
do. God's sovereign. I will, you
shall. If I'm one of his elect or if
I'm one of his sheep, it doesn't matter if I go hear the gospel
or not. I can do anything I want to do.
God's going to get it done. Let me show you something else.
Look down at verse 36. Now listen to this very carefully.
Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that
I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that which was
desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it,
I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it
for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock." Now, what's he saying? He said, I will, you
shall. I will, you shall. I will do
it. I have purposed it. It's going
to happen. But you're going to ask for it. You're going to seek it. You
know why? Because God said it. God's going to bring His people
under the preaching of the gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
under that gospel, he sends his spirit in power to convict us
and cause us to seek him and beg for mercy, beg for salvation. God be merciful to me, the sinner. You know, the construction of
that by the publican was not a demand. It's a man beggar,
a mercy beggar. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's where you're going to
inquire for. You're going to seek the Lord. That's right. So what do you do? I'll tell
you what you do. Seek the Lord. Call upon Him. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God has never turned
away any sinner who comes begging for mercy according to his name
in Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this covenant of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring
us to see the glory that you have revealed in his face through
what he accomplished on Calvary as the God-man in our stead as
our substitute and surety. bringing forth a righteousness
that answers the demands of your justice and enables you to be
just and justifier. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen.