I want you to turn to Ezekiel chapter 16. I call this message
the 15 eyes of God. as in the letter and not in the
body part. The 15 eyes of God. I'm absolutely convinced and
sure that salvation by grace allows no boasting in those that
are saved. There's something wrong when
there is allowed under the banner of grace a little
boasting in the center. Paul says, for by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. When he writes to the church
at Rome, and he tells us that God has sent forth His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins, he says, where is boasting then? Where is any ground for anyone
to boast? And then he says, it is excluded. excluded. And when John speaks about those
who are described as having received Christ, he says the reason that they
received him though others rejected him was that they were born not
of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God. And then he says again in Romans,
Paul does, he says, so then, it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. He reminds us of that one who's
given to us as an example of believers. He says, if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory or to boast,
but not before God. Not before God. That is, man
cannot boast in any way, at any time, in his person, that is
who he is, or in his work, what he does, in what he abstains
from doing, and certainly not even his will. And some do not like to hear
how the scripture set forth the total inability of man to save
himself. But we know from the scriptures
if we preach the gospel, we are to show men and women their condition,
their sin, this inability and helplessness to save themselves
and to warn them of being such as Nebuchadnezzar was at the
first. He's a good picture of how we
all are by nature and how false religion fortifies us even more
in that way It says that he spoke one day looking out over the
kingdom of Babylon. And he said, is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the king by the
might of my power and for the honor of my That's the way men and women
are in the matter of saving themselves. It is always I, me, I, me, I,
me. But if you look down here in
Ezekiel 16, look at what God says. Now, this is the word that
came to the prophet. Again, the word of the Lord came
unto me saying. He could surely have said, God
said to me. But he always speaks, as do the
prophets, always identifying with the word. and says, Son
of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Don't brag on her. These being
the people of God, He said don't brag on them. Don't uphold them
in their sin. Don't paint a rosy picture of
them. but as they stand before me,
cause them to know their abomination." My friend, the scripture says
this, that which is highly esteemed of men, that is an abomination
in the sight of God. And so he stands out in this
place, as he does also in another place, where we find another
picture. And he stands out there before
a valley of dry bones, of lifeless, dead bones. And he's asked this
question. God says, son of man, can these
bones live? And Ezekiel replies, Lord, thou
knowest. As if to say, if it's up to me,
they can't. And if it's up to them, they
can't. But if it's up to you, they may
and might and might in your amazing grace. And then he goes on here,
Ezekiel does in our text, and he gives us a very graphic description
of a lost sinner. That is you and me and every
other one in our natural state. Everyone as God sees us in ourselves,
whether we see that or not. Listen to this very vivid description. He says, and say, thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan, that is alienated from God. That's where
you are in Adam. That's where you are in your
natural birth. thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother an Hittite, both of whom were alien Gentile peoples. And he says, as for thy nativity,
in the day thou was born, thy navel was not cut, Neither wast
thou washed in water to subtle 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, for thou was cast
out in an open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou was born." This is a picture of an aborted
and abandoned This is one who is helpless in
themselves, and every other one being just like them in the same
condition, they are unable to help them. And he says, and there
is none like them to have compassion. That's the way we are, and that's
the picture that God gives of us. This is a picture of being
born spiritually dead in trespasses and sin, alienated from God,
depraved in every part, filthy in every faculty and way, helpless
and hopeless, and this is the condition that grace needs. And is there any wonder that
we call it sovereign grace? Would any grace suffice in a
situation like this other than omnipotent, almighty grace? But thank God that's what the
grace of God in Christ is. And this is a picture of every
sinner. Not just of the worst of them.
But this is a picture of every sinner that God saves by His
grace. And this is the reason why that
only God himself can be exalted and praised in this matter of
salvation. And if we have a salvation in
which we are left to boast in the least part and steal from
the boast of God, then we're not saved at all. We don't know
anything about what it means to be rescued. We don't know
what it means to be delivered by the divine hand of power. We don't know what it is to have
been lost. There's one thing I know, and
that is if you've never been lost, then you've never been
saved. And so what follows here on the
heels of this description of what we are as sinners, there
are 15 eyes of God. They don't have anything to do
with a sinner who's in this awful condition. saying anything like,
I made my decision, or I accepted Jesus, or I was baptized, or
I joined the church, or I quit my drinking, or I had an experience. Salvation has to do with the
eyes of God. Now notice what he says in verse
6. He says, and when I pass by thee, God says, I pass by you. Lifeless individuals do not pass
by God. They don't do anything but remain
dead. He says, I pass by. That means that God himself is
the initiator. When is it that God passed by
us? Well, he passed by us before
the world was. That is in His purpose and in
His grace and in what He Himself calls the everlasting covenant. in a demonstration of everlasting
love, which finds no reason for it in those that are loved. He chose us, and He chose us
in Christ. He blessed us, the scripture
says, with all spiritual blessings, and He predestinated all things
concerning us in Christ before the world ever was. before Adam ever was. Before we were ever born sons
and daughters of Adam. Before we ever had an inkling
of anything that has to do with the Almighty God. Before we ever
heard the Word of God. He said, I pass by you. I pass by you. He not only
passed by us as far as before the world began, but He passed
by us in that great incarnation when He as the living God, the
Son, was made flesh and dwelt among us and came into this world
and walked among us. He certainly passed by us whenever
on that cross. He hangs there and dies in the
room and place of sinners. Sheds his blood, pours out that
blood, and lays down his life in the salvation of his people. And he passes by us, when he
passes by us with his spirit and with his gospel, he will
not leave his people alone. He will not. He passed by old
blind Bartimaeus going out of Jericho, cursed city as it was. He passed by Zacchaeus who'd
hid himself in the top of that tree. He passed by that woman
at the well because it said he had need go through Samaria. He passed by that man at the
pool of Bethesda. He passed by that man Matthew
who sat at the sea of custom. And he will pass by and come
to and reveal Himself to every one of His sheep. He will not
leave them to themselves. He will pass by them and bring
them unto Himself and to the knowledge of the truth. And they'll know it in their
experience when He passes by them with the gospel. when He passes by them with that
Word that He brings to them and they hear it as good news that's
sent from God. He passes by them and they are
never the same when He passes by them. They're never left the
same. They're never left in that state
and condition. He, by His grace, brings them
to the knowledge of salvation. And then look at what he says
in verse six again. He said, and when I passed by
you, I saw you. I saw you polluted in your own
blood. I said unto you, I passed by
you, I saw you polluting your blood. I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. It says, He saw us. And I can tell you this. We'll
never see ourselves. of this. It doesn't matter what
bad thing happens to us. It doesn't matter what we lose. It doesn't matter what gracious
gifts he gives. Otherwise, we will never see
ourselves as he sees us until he reveals ourselves to us. He says, I saw you polluted in
your own blood. He sees us in our sin. He sees us in our rebellion,
in our corruption, in our iniquity, and worst of all, in the filthy
rags of our self-righteousness. but have we seen it yet? I know this, I know we'll never
see ourselves for what we really are apart from God-given things. If I asked you how you see me,
you're such liars by nature, just like I am, that you would
describe me in a way that was so wonderful, probably, that
my mother would be crying. But that's not really what we
are. You're not what your husband says you are, or your wife, or
your children, or your mom, or your daddy, your best friend,
or a lying preacher. You are what God says you are. He said, I saw you polluted in
your own blood. That is, in every effort you've
made to stay alive, as your very lifeblood has flowed out of you
in every effort, struggling like any dying creature, I saw you. What do you see yourself as? I'll tell you, we're nothing
but the vilest, the most And I never try to spend very
much time with so much description as to how we are, because the
truth of the matter is, how I could ever describe us, myself at the
top of the list, the worst I could describe myself as being, I am
far worse in myself before the Christ Holy God. I hear people say sometimes,
well, if I know myself, you don't. That's the scary part, you don't.
And we must believe what God says that we are. And here is
that all-inclusive statement of Scripture. Back by this description
we find here, he says you're dead in trespasses and sins. You've come short of the glory
of God. But then and again in verse 6
he says this, I said, I said unto you, not after you got better,
not after you did some preparation, not after you You somehow stopped
doing some things that you were doing, but I said unto you, while
you were still in your blood, yet I said unto you, when you
were still in your blood, live. I want you to just stop and think
about something here. If it were possible for any other
being angel, devil, whatever they are, to walk by one in such
a condition as this, in that death, that spiritual death which
it pictured, what good would it do for them to have come to
you, or what good would it have done for them to speak to you? Not one bit. When our father Adam fell in
the garden, when he went in his rebellion against God, his willful
rebellion against the command of God, when he rebelled against
God and plunged our race into that depth of sin and wickedness
before God, when he'd done what he'd done, and went out and hid
himself in the trees in the garden, hid himself in the blessings
of God, from God, and then tried to cover himself of his nakedness
with those fig leaves of his own handiwork. You know what had to happen for
him and our whole race to just perish entirely? Nothing. Nothing. And here it says that Adam heard
the voice, the voice of the living God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. And when he heard that voice
of God, he was at the first care of God. That's the way men and women
are, when God begins to speak to them in His Word, when He
begins to talk about these realities of how they are spiritually,
when He begins to speak to them. And it's no longer the voice
of a man, but it's the voice of God. But it is in truth the
very grace of God that he would come to such as we are, rebels,
dead spiritually in this state, come to us and speak to us. Because his voice is life. His voice is life. He said the words, their spirit
and their life. Every other thing that every
other sinner speaks to you or to me is nothing but death. But when God speaks, it's life. That is God acting. God opened
His mouth as it was. He came, passed by, saw in that
condition sinners like us, and he spoke. He said something. He spoke with that voice that
wakes the dead, such as Lazarus when he stood before his tomb
and he said, Lazarus, come forth. He couldn't do anything, could
he? He was dead. Lazarus couldn't come out of
that tomb, but he did. Because the power was not in
the one that it was commanded to. The power was in the one
that spoke the command. He said to him, leave. People say, well, why? If you
think man's in such a condition as that, why would you even preach
the gospel, do some of the things you do. But it's not because
I've got hope in sinners. It's because I have hope in the power
of grace. He came where this aborted infant
was and he said, leave. And we can't see and we can't
speak, but he can. And so he interrupts us. And
he might have mercy on us. He said, live, rise, come forth,
take up. Because he speaks in tongues. He said, let there be light. For as it says, actually, light
be. And there was light. And in that same manner, Paul
said, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I'll tell you,
when we are made alive, we can't see anything but Christ. He is a glorious person. and
that glorious work that he accomplished so successfully. It's not free
will, it's not all these man-made plans and decisions and such
as that. If we have life and that life
is begat in us by the Spirit of God, that light is demonstrated
in faith. He said, everyone that liveth
and believeth. I've been reading some this week
about a controversy that took place in
New England in the early days of this country amongst some
of the Puritans. And all the Puritans have a lot
of good things to say. And I have an ancestor among
those. Came from England. Virtually got ran out of England.
Name was Thomas Shepard. Helped found Cambridge and Harvard. So, you know, that's my little
claim to fame. And so I'm kind of reading and studying up a
little bit about him and the controversy of which he's a part
of. And I may have been on the other
side. Why? Because one of the things was,
what is the evidence of those that are saved? Most of those Puritans, they
wanted to offer as the evidence of those that are saved these
moral works and outward manifestations and stuff like that. But the problem is, You can find
those things in the totally unregenerate. You can find zeal, more zeal
than most believers I know have. Sincerity, sacrifice, morality. What is the evidence of life? Faith. He that liveth and believeth. The witness in us, John says,
is the witness of the Spirit of God that we believe. He said, I came to where you
are and I said, leave. Then verse 7, I got to hurry.
He said, I cause 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 caused you to maul the blind. Here is a picture of this aborted
infant that has not risen to any stage of life. And here she is, the Lord's Church,
though in this condition. And He said, I called you to
multiply, to receive life. and light, and grace, and mercy,
and forgiveness, and redemption, and justification, and wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and every grace I caused you
to have all spiritual blessings. That's why there's not going
to be any degrees of reward in heaven. Because we're all saved and kept
by the righteousness of one outside of ourselves. That's what grace
is. It's not God giving us what we
deserve, it's God giving us what we don't deserve, but giving
it to us in Christ. All things freely given. All
things in Christ. And then verse 8 he says, And
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
the time of love. The time of love. I started to call this the times
of love. You know, he says, the psalmist
does, my times are in thy hands. What times is he talking about?
I know he's talking about all these times in our lives, but
most especially the times of God's grace to us. the times of love, that everlasting
love, when he chose us in love, when he loved us and gave himself
for us, when he did so as the sovereign, did so as our substitute,
and did so so surely that it's unchangeable. I loved you. I spread my skirt over you. What
in the world was that? So if you just go back and read
the Book of Ruth, and see old Ruth as she lays down at the
foot of Boaz, and she seeks to pull the skirt of Boaz's garment
over her as a covering, which was a sign of his That's right. He says, I spread my Spirit over
you. I identified with you. I claimed you for my own. I chose
you for my bride. I demonstrated all these signs
of love. And he says, and I swear unto
thee, God promised His people something. As a matter of fact, all of salvation
by grace is called the promise. And all the promises that make
up this promise, this pledge of God, this oath of His covenant,
He says that they're yes. and amen in Christ. Do you believe that? For all the
promises of God are yea and amen in Christ. What does that mean? It means
that the fulfillment of that, the grounds of those promises,
every one of them depends on the Lord Jesus Christ If there is yes in Him, the unchangeable
One, not the least of them can be nay in me. They never depended on Him. He said, I swear unto thee, Hebrews
6 says He confirmed all these promises with an oath. He could
not swear by greater. He swore by Himself. That is
His honor, His glory, all depends on His making good on those promises. And He said, You became mine. You
became mine. Did you know that in more than
one way, God's elect are His? They're His because He created
them. They're His because He chose
them. But they're His because He redeemed
them. I knew a man once in Kentucky. And when he was a young boy,
his dad kind of abandoned him. And he was raised by his uncle,
who at a later time actually adopted him. I won't tell you what his name
was, but just use the name Jones. He said, I'm a Jones by birth,
and I'm a Jones by adoption. He redeemed us. We are his by
creation, but we are his by redemption. When we had fallen in Adam and
there were found on the slave market of sin, he bought us back
with a price, the price of his blood. and thou becamest mine. He calls them my sheep. He came
to save his people. Then he says in verse 9, I washed
you. I washed you. I washed away your blood with
my blood. And the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth all his people from all sin. He said, I washed you. By himself purged our sins. And
then he says in verse 9 also, he says, and I anointed thee. I anointed thee. That has to
do with his spirit. His people are said to be anointed
with the oil of gladness. They're given an unction that
they might know Him. They're anointed with that anointing
wherein by His Spirit He teaches and reveals to them the things
of Christ. And in verse 10 He says, I clothe
you. I clothe you also with broidered
work and shoved thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about
with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk." He puts on his people that righteousness that the skins
that were made for tunics for Adam and Eve represents the righteousness
of Christ, described as the robe of righteousness. Like that old prodigal son. He
got it. He got that robe. Put on him
that best robe. Put on him that best ring. Everything is provided by God
like that prodigal son. Provided like that wedding garment
was. Provided like those skins were
through that death of an innocent victim. I clothe you. I clothe you. He clothes us with that whole
armor of God. He clothes us with that breastplate
of righteousness. He clothes us with that girdle
of truth. He clothes us with those shoes
of the gospel of peace. That badger skin was tough, hot. Those shoes of those Israelites,
they didn't wear out, nor will these shoes that are the gift
of God. He clothes us with the shield
of faith, and with the helmet of salvation, and with the sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And then in verse 11,
He says, That's kind of a word not in use too much anymore,
but when I was growing up, it was. You'd say, boy, she's decked
out, isn't she? That's the picture here. Here
is the Lord's church brought from this awful state of sin
and death, made a lie, taken to himself. rejoiced in by him,
and not only clothed and shod and covered, but decked out. I decked 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. Thus wast thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and
broidered worth. Thou didst eat fine flour, and
honey, and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom. That sounds like the garments
of a rich person. He gives to his people the riches
of his birth. We're climbing around here on
this earth for a few trinkets. We'd like to have a gold chain
or a diamond ring or something like that. He gives to his people
an eternal inheritance. He gives to his people garments
of righteousness, which are garments of loyalty. He makes us a kingdom
of priests. He makes us, as old Jacob, to
be Israel, or a prince with God. Calls us his children, describes
us as his beloved, gives to them a royal priesthood, They go forth
in his sight and to each other, renowned in beauty. Renowned in beauty. Described as fairest among women. Described as fair as the loon, said by Christ Well, I'm struggling along. I desire to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Christ. But I'm as righteous as I'll
ever be. Because I've been made the righteousness
of God in Christ. He's clothed us with that robe
of righteousness which He has wrought out. And if you look
here in verse 14 it says, And thy renown went forth among the
heathen for thy beauty. For it was perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Good to God we can deliver it. It was perfect. You can't add to perfection. It was perfect through Not perfect in what we are in
ourselves, but never will be. We're not making any progress
in that sense. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born or brought
forth by the Spirit, which is Christ, God imputes to His people. Lays on them. Wraps them up in
it. Charges to their account. Use
whatever scriptural picture or expression you want. The righteousness
of God in Christ. He says, which I had put upon
thee. He said, the Lord, wasn't your decision that put
it on you? Wasn't an act of your will that put it on you? He said, you were perfect through
my comeliness, which I had put on you. This is what He says. This is
how He says He saves His people. And this is why He gets all the
glory. The One who does it all is the
One who gets all the glory. All the glory. Paul says, but of Him are you
in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He made Christ to be all these
things to his people that according as it is written, be that glory. Let him glory in the Lord. Isaiah says in the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and shall grow in the Lord. Jeremiah, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his
might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which
exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Is that your condition? Is this your salvation? Your
saving? Your boast? My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. And be humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. I love to hear the Lord's people
boast in the Lord. That's a delight. But the worst
thing I hate is to hear a sinner boast in himself. If that's awful to me, it must
be awful to God. In God we will boast all the
day long and praise thy name forever. How long shall they utter and
speak hard things, and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? Salvation by grace in Christ demonstrated It means 15 miles. Our Lord, we ask this day that
we might be enabled to look to Christ, to plead His blood and
righteousness as the whole of all our hope
to stand before You accepted. May we attribute every part of
salvation to you. May we know the truth of what
it is to be saved by grace. And may we give you all the glory
and be found among those that you save. To the praise of the
glory. of your grace. Lord, if we've been saved in
such a way, brought from such a state, blessed with such blessings,
how could we not in this life seek to live for your glory? Adorn the gospel and doctrine
of this salvation in Christ in all things, and seek to praise
you, follow you, obey you in all things. We pray that you would bless
us in the coming week, gather us once again at the next appointed
time, give us understanding and faith Watch over us and protect
us, keep us, and cause us to glory in you. For we ask it in Christ. Amen.