Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth understandeth and knoweth
me. For I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I such a simple and such a sinful
people. And we ask this morning that
you would help us, that you would, in this hour particularly, be
mindful of us. To make us to know that you are
working all things after the counsel of your wise, gracious,
merciful, all-encompassing will. And enable us to pray the wisest
prayer, the greatest prayer that a sinner can pray, Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that you in the midst
of the years would revive us and refresh us. That you would
call out those people for whom the Lord shed his precious blood. for those that He redeemed by
that blood. And we pray that You would make
them manifest by Your Spirit revealing the truth in their
hearts and minds, and calling them out of this darkness into
Your marvelous light. We thank You for all things that
you and your grace have given us. We thank you especially for
that salvation which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. The salvation
of the soul and salvation from sin. We pray that you would help
us to know the wonder of it. to give us thankful hearts for
it above all things. And we pray in this day and hour
that you would reach forth your arm with power and deliver and
make thyself known in this world. We pray for these, Father, that
we have mentioned. A long list, it seems, of those
who are sick and weak and frail, and yet the list is far longer
than that of those that you know are upon our hearts, those that
you know we're concerned about their souls, those you know we
know something of their sickness, and their trial and their trouble,
even our own Lord that we bring before you this day. We come
before you as the one who is mighty to save and deliver and
heal. And we praise your precious name,
God over all. The one who says, I'm the Lord
alone. And we praise you not only for
what you do, but for who you are in the greatness of your
holiness and might and righteousness. All these things, Lord, that
we read about that you delight in. The things that separate
you from every false god. And we pray that you might give
us your truth, that you would open our hearts to your word. Give to us and cause us to understand
the things concerning you and your salvation. And Lord, we
pray that you would receive our thanks for all that you've blessed
us to have of life food and shelter and all things, we know that
you're the giver of every good and perfect gift. And we thank
you this morning. We pray for your spirit. We pray
for you to come to our aid as we seek to proclaim the unsearchable
riches that are in Christ Jesus. And we thank You and we ask it
and we pray in His name. Amen. The hymnals once again. Hymn number
342. When this passing world is done. Brother Tim, if you'll wait on
the congregation. When does that sweet word come? When I have sung a divine song? When I stand with Christ to die? Will He know that I still believe? When I stand before Thee, Dressed
in beauty not my own, When I see Thee as Thou art, Love me with
unseeing heart, Then, Lord, shall I know In a hymn the Savior sang, By
the ceiling sanctified. But when Pilate's hour is nigh,
Jesus comes and calls his mind. Blessed Jesus, give me joy! How has thy birth to be here? How has Lady Water's voice Seen
as hope's glorious voice? Then, Lord, shall I truly know
Until then, how much a a a a a so so I love you. I love you. I love you. so so so so so Janice didn't tell you, but if
she were to sing this morning, she'd have to sing bass. I want you to turn with me this
morning to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 16. And I want to begin by asking
you a question. What is the most important thing
in this world? Now think about it. What is the
most important thing in this world? Well, it's not your happiness. A lot of people think that's the
most important thing in this world is for them to be happy. And it's not your health. It's not your family. So that's most important to me. Well, it's not the most important
thing in this world. Some think it's their pleasure. They think it's most important
that they have fun. None of these things. And I'll add to that, it's not
even you. Me. The most important thing in this
world is the glory of God. Mark it down. It is the glory of God. He tells us that all this creation was not only created by Him, but it was created for Him. And that's why God saves all
that He saves. Saves His people by grace. Grace. Because you see, salvation by
grace allows no glorying by those that are saved. Paul writes in Ephesians, he
says this, for by grace are ye saved through faith and even
that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God It is not
of works, lest any man should boast glory. He wrote to the Romans. He said,
where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay. but by the law of faith. It is of faith that it might
be of grace. He says in John 1, that those
that receive Christ, they are not born of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. He tells us again in Romans 19,
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is of the Lord, and
salvation is by grace. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory. But not before God. Not before God. We cannot glory in a decision
that we made. We cannot glory in things we've
abstained from doing. We can't glory in that which
we have joined. We can't glory in any act or
ritual. We can't glory in baptism. We can't glory in giving. I read something this morning
where someone had written that God will do marvelous things
for you if you let Him. You see, man cannot boast in
any way. Can't glory in His person. Can't glory in any work that
has not been defiled by sin. Can't glory in His will. Man
boasts his free will. Well, if your will is so free,
just will yourself to lose 30 pounds by next week. If it were free, you could do
that. But if we preach the gospel, we are to show men their condition. They say of gospel preachers,
they don't have anything good to say about me. That sounds like a king of old,
Mekhi was sent to him, or he called for Mekhi, but he said,
I'd really rather not call for him. He never has anything good
to say about me. Well, God never has anything
good to say about a sinner in themselves. He can't glory. And he has to
be told his condition. He has to be told his sin. He has to be told his inability
and his helplessness to save himself. In Daniel 4 verse 30 we read of
Nebuchadnezzar. He's like every sinner by nature. It says the king spake and said,
is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of
the kingdom by the might of my power and the honor of my majesty? No. And God showed him it was. It's
God who raises up kings and brings down kings and raises up politicians
and brings down politicians. Look at our text. Ezekiel says in chapter 16 verse
1 again, The word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomination." Cause Jerusalem. You see, Jerusalem
is the church is the people of God. God's elect. And they are
the only ones that will be enabled of God to see their real condition. To behold spiritually their abominations. That's the way it was with Isaiah.
He said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high
and holy up, holy and lifted up. Well, what happened? He said,
I said, woe is me. Job said, I've heard by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye sees, and I abhor myself and repent
in dust and ashes. God causes His people to see
in some measure their sins, their inability, their lostness, their
helplessness. And then God gives a graphic
description of a lost sinner. Of every one of us by nature. Listen to what He said. And say,
thus saith the Lord unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan. In other words, you were just
an outcast in every way. Thy father was an Amorite and
thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the
day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut. Neither wast thou
washed in water, to supple thee thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all, None I pitied thee to do any of these unto
thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou wast cast out
into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou wast born." The picture there is of an aborted
baby. an unwanted birth with all its
associated uncleanness, being cast out, not being salted or
cared for, not being swaddled in any way. This graphic description
of a sinner that's born dead in trespasses and sins. who comes forth from his mother's
womb speaking lies. That's what the Bible says. Alienated from God. Fallen in
Adam. with that old Adamic nature. Doesn't have to be taught to
sin. Doesn't have to be taught to
lie. Doesn't have to be taught to be jealous. Doesn't have to
be taught to do any sin. He's a sinner by birth. He's depraved and filthy in every
way. He's helpless and he's hopeless. That's the picture of us. Unable
to save ourselves. Unable to do anything that God
will receive. Unable to please God in any way. But that's the condition that
grace meets. That's the exact condition that
grace meets. And if you notice in the verses
following, They declare what God has done. They glorify God in His grace
and in His mercy. And His grace glorifies only
Him. Only God. And that's why only He can glory
in salvation. As a matter of fact, in the following
verses, I think it's about 15 times, God sets himself forward
exclusively as the one who acts and does here. There are 15 You and I only know about me,
us. But when it comes to salvation,
just like creation, we have no hand in it and God alone can
glory because He is the Savior. Notice what it says in verse
6. Here you lay dead in trespasses
and sin. Here you lay filthy and defiled
in all natural associations. Here you are corrupt in nature,
deceitful of heart, at your best state altogether vanity. Here you are in deadness, unable
to do anything to move a muscle to save yourself. And God says,
I pass by. You weren't looking for me. You
didn't know anything about me. You didn't have any hope. There
wasn't any man that could rescue you because they were all in
the same state. But here's what happened. I passed
by. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast
polluted in thine own blood, God passed by us. He's the initiator
in all things, especially in salvation. When did He pass by us? God's people were seen, were
known, were loved of Him before the world began. He passed by us in an everlasting
covenant. He passed by us in this fallen
human race and chose us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He passed
by us and He predestinated all things concerning us. He passed
by and He blessed us. And He passed by us in the cross.
He looked upon us in the cross of Christ. And He passes by us
with the gospel. He passes by us with the Spirit. In all, He's the initiator and
He's the doer. That's the picture of Scripture. He passed by Blind Bartimaeus. He passed by Zacchaeus, came
where he was. He passed by the woman at the
well. He said, I must need to go through
Samaria. He passed by the man at the pool
of Bethesda. He passed by Matthew at the seat
of custody. God's always looking upon his
people. God's always doing for His people. From old eternity that we cannot
even fathom, but that the Bible tells us it took place. From
all that time, we're saved because God testified. Is that your case? In the same spiritual state? You see, Saul of Tarsus thought
he knew God. Thought he was serving God. But
it's when God passed by him on that road to Damascus, he found
out who God is, and God in mercy singled him out and initiated
this salvation. He passed by his people with
the good news of the gospel. They oftentimes have books, they
have experiences, they have decisions and revival meetings, they have
all kinds of rituals and things that they've partaken of in religion
in this world. And they're just as lost as they
can be until that day that God passes by them with the truth. With the truth. You see, some people don't realize
it, but the gospel is good news. And I want to ask them, I want
to say to them, has this Gospel ever been news to you? Good news to you? Glad tidings
to you? Paul says, in whom you trusted,
you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ after that you heard the Word
of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Not the gospel of
how to be saved. Not the gospel of what must I
do to be saved. But he says, after you heard
the word of truth. What's the word of truth? The
gospel of your salvation. The good news that God has saved
you totally and completely by His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. I passed by him. I'm sure thankful he passed by
me. I was in a pool pit, but he passed
by me. He sent somebody into my life,
uninvited and solely unwanted and unneeded in my own but he
passed by me in my life with some good news. Caused me to see my abominations and brought to me the truth as
it is in Christ Jesus. But it was intended. The time The place, the hour,
the messenger, all of these things by divine providence God was
pointing me and pushing me and bringing me all the time to this
place where I would meet Him in the truth and hear about His grace. He says, I saw you. You know, when you see yourself,
you don't see yourself. You see the complete and abridged
version. When you ask your mama, or your
wife, or your husband, or your daddy, or your friend, what kind
of person am I? They don't see you. Because God looks on the heart. He knows what we are. The sooner
that you and I can realize and be convinced in our hearts that
we are not what we think we are or not what men say we are. We
are what God says that we are. He said, I saw thee as you were
polluted in your own blood, in your own sins. I saw you when
you were in your rebellion, and your corruption, and your iniquity,
and your filthy rags of self-righteousness. And when God saves us by grace,
He enables us to see us, ourselves, as He sees us. I wonder if we've ever seen ourselves
as God sees us. As the holy God sees us. Well, verse 6, it says, I
see it. I see it. Why would the Lord
speak to such as this? Why would the Lord speak in any
way to those who are dead and cannot hear? It's not because He expects them
to be able to, but because He enables them to. You see, the power is in His
command. The power is in His will. He
says, come, and though they can't come, they do come. He says,
believe, though they can't believe, have not faith, they do believe
because He gives them faith. The enablement to do all these
things commanded of Scripture, they do because of the gift of
God. God spoke to them. He didn't walk on the other side
like those priests did the Samaritans. He came to where they are. He
spoke to them. He spoke in grace and mercy and
glory. And we can't see and we can't
speak, but He can. You go all through the New Testament
and the Old Testament too. And you find the example of how,
in physical health or death, certain individuals were commanded
to do something which would utterly sound foolish. A paralytic man told to rise
up, take his bed, and walk? A dead man such as Lazarus being
told, Lazarus, come forth? But everywhere Christ commanded
this thing, He commanded them with the ability, and flowing
from Him was not only the grace, but the power to do it, and by
His Spirit. What does He say? Live. I saw thee when thou wast in
thy blood. Live, yea, I said unto thee when
thou wast in thy blood. Live. You say, preacher, if sinners
are in the condition you say they're in, what's the use in
telling them to do these things? Because God enables His people
to do them. He said, I say unto you, live. I say unto you, live. By His Spirit, through the Gospel,
He says to His people, live. As He said, let there be light. There was no light. He spoke it into existence. And Paul says, for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Isn't it just darkness? Ignorance? Ignorance of God. Ignorance of
His salvation. Ignorance of His grace. But He's
commanded the light to shine out of darkness the light of
His truth. James said, of His own will begot
He us with the word of truth. Not free will, but life. You see, He gives life that is
evidenced in faith. That was the order that Christ
spoke of. He said, He that liveth and believeth
on me, he'll never perish. He has eternal life. His believing is the evidence
that God has given him life. Hold your place and turn with
me to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Now here in this text, Paul has
been preaching. Preaching to Jew and Gentile
alike. There has been scoffing. There
has been rejection. has been the common reception
for the gospel. The men in Paul's day didn't
receive the gospel any better than they do in our day. But look at verse 48. And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. and glorified the word of the
Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Did you get that order? It was
not and does not say that as many as believed were ordained
to eternal life. It says, as many as were ordained,
who ordained them to eternal life? God in His grace and mercy. He ordained or purposed that
they have eternal life in Christ and therefore He enabled them
to believe. God's ordination, God's will,
God's purpose. And then verse 7, He says, I
have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and
thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent
ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. I've caused you to multiply,
to receive life. Life, grace, mercy, forgiveness,
redemption, justification, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and every grace summed up in this all spiritual blessing. God doesn't take away from His
people. He blesses His people. He gives
His people every blessing in Christ. All spiritual blessings. All things freely given in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I called you to multiply. You've
come to excellent ornaments. Then in verse 80 it says, Now
when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
the time of love. I passed, I looked, I loved. You see, God in His mercy and
grace has many times of love to His people. He loves them
with an everlasting love. They are chosen in love. He loved us and gave Himself
for us. They are loved sovereignly and
substitutionally and surely and unchangeably. God loves me. He's always loved
me. That just boggles my mind. But
He's the Lord. He changes not. If He's loved me, then He loves
me. But in most cases in the Scripture,
it speaks of His love to His people. In the past tense, He
loved us. He loved us. He loved us. And gave Himself for us. And then he says, and I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. What does that
mean? Well, in the Old Testament, such
as with Ruth and Boaz, that's a sign of betrothal, engagement. You remember when Boaz was sleeping
on the thresh the threshing floor, and Naomi told Ruth what to do,
to go and to sign up to Him and to pull His garment over her? He espoused us to Christ. He gave us to Christ to be His
bride. He did so in eternal affection,
in eternal wisdom. I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and thou becamest mine. You became mine. I promised you. I made all those covenant arrangements. I entered into it in faithfulness. I made all the promises to be
yea and amen in Christ. I confirmed it by an oath. I
swear unto thee. It's called the promise of life.
The promise of an eternal inheritance. And this is God who did this.
He said, I did that. You didn't come to me with an
agreement. I did this. I'm the one pledged. I'm the
one that guaranteed. I'm the one that acted as the
surety. God became His mind. That's why Christ says, My sheep.
They're My sheep. That's why it says you're not
your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore,
glorify God. That's why it says He shall save
His people from their sins. He is by right. He is by choice. He is by redemption. He is by
birth. He is by faith. That's why the rod can say in
the Song of Solomon, I am my Beloved's. I am my Beloved's. I'm His. And He is mine. He is mine. Then in verse 9 He says, Then
washed I thee with water. Yea, I thoroughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with oil." I washed away
your sins. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sins. He washes us from that blood
association with Adam. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission or no forgiveness of sin. He said, I washed you. Religion says, clean yourself
up. He says, I wash you. I wash you. Verse 9, He
says, I anoint you. That's His Spirit. He gave us
His Spirit. That oil of gladness. That unction
and anointing that teaches us the things of Christ. Shows us
and reveals to us the things of Christ. Verse 10, I clothe thee also
with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skins, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk." He covers us with a robe of His
righteousness. He clothes us with the garment
of salvation. The saints of God are said to
be clothed in white linen, the very holiness and purity of Christ. Everything provided by God just
like the prodigal. Bring the best robe. Provided like the wedding garment
was to those who were invited to the wedding. Just like the
coats of skins that were slain for Adam and Eve through the
death of an innocent victim. God's the one who clothes us. He clothes us with the whole
armor of God. Clothes us with the breastplate
of righteousness, with the girdle of truth, with the shoes of the
gospel of peace, with the shield of faith, with the helmet of
salvation, and with the sword of His Spirit, which is the Word
of God. Verse 11, And I deck thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. And thou wast
decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen
and silk and embroidered wool, and thou didst seek fine flour
and honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom. In other words, what this symbolizes
is that the sinner saved by God's grace in Christ is lacking nothing. Just like the Lord is my shepherd,
what's the next thing? I shall not want. That doesn't
mean that in this world, in the flesh you won't want. But as
far as before God, you will be lacking nothing. I decked him. I made you a royal
priest. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty. The most beautiful woman in this
world is the bride of Christ. The church
which is His body. You're renowned. You became famous
for what? Your beauty. Here He's brought
you by grace from this dead, aborted infant laying out in
the field, shameless, filthy, defiled. He's brought you by
His grace and His power and His doing to be known as the most beautiful. He's described in the Psalms
of Solomon as this, the fairest among women. Fair as the moon. He said, there is no spot in
you, thou art all fair. I digged you. Now look at that next thing in
verse 14. And it was perfect. People are always saying, well,
I'm not perfect. They say that to justify their
sin and their sorryness. Well, you better be. When you
stand before God, you better be perfect. He's perfect. He requires perfection. But in
grace, He gives it to His people. You're perfect, He says. Oh,
not in your ways, but in Christ. For it was perfect through my
command. Not through your comings, but through my comings. You see,
John tells us that though we're not yet what we will be, but
we are as He is, so are we in this world. We're in union with Christ. One
with Him. They too shall be one and accepted into the love. He said it was perfect. Your
beauty was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon
thee, saith the Lord God. God did it all. His righteousness. He imputes
to us. He puts on us like He clothed
Adam and Eve in the garden with those tunics of skins. He does it and it says, say the
Lord. I did all these things. so that there is no room of glory
in any measure on the part of us. The glory of God in salvation,
as in all things, must be the Lord's alone. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Isaiah said in chapter 45, in
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall grow. Now I want to ask you, is this your story? Is this your condition? Is this your psyche? Who are you in glory? Something
you did? Maybe your glory is in something
you haven't done or haven't been. We are what God says we are by
nature. But it's a wonderful thing when
He enables us to believe what He says we are. The psalmist said, My soul shall
make a boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. In God we boast all the day long
and praise thy name forever. And that's why the most important
thing we do in this world is worship God. Because worship is ascribing
glory to God. It's the most important thing
we do Because His glory is the most important thing that there
is. He that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. God says, I. I. I. I did it. I loved you. I saved you. I brought you. I kept you. I
clothed you. I washed you. And you know that's why people
by nature don't want to hear the gospel. Because in the gospel we are
told about what God has done. instead of what we can do and
ought to do. Father, we thank you in Christ's
name for this blessed truth. And we ascribe to you in all things, but especially
in salvation, all the glory. For we pray Thank you. Worship you and all in thy name. Amen.