Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke, the book of Luke chapter two,
Luke chapter two. I'd like to read. two verses,
29 and 30, and then take what happened coming up to those two
verses and just consider what the Spirit of God has to say
on how is a sinner really saved? Luke 2, 29, 30, and then he took
up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. Now, what led up
to that statement there was recorded Starting in verse 25, the scripture
says, and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him. up in his arms and blessed God
and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according
to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou
has prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten
the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. Now, the scripture
In verse 25, it starts and it says, and behold. Now, here's
what the Spirit of God is saying. You take note. You take note
what's about to be said. There was a man, the scripture
says, and as far as we know, no title is actually given to
this man. He wasn't said to be a priest.
No place could I find where this man was mentioned anywhere else
in the scriptures except right here. One time. A man named Simeon. But this is what the Spirit of
God was pleased to reveal about this man. Not only do we know
that his name was Simeon, But there was something about the
man's character that the Holy Ghost was pleased to reveal to
us. Now, we do well to consider what
God's Spirit has to say concerning the attributes of this man and
realize that these are the attributes of every person that has been
chosen, called, regenerated by God's Spirit. Number one, it
says in verse 25 that this man Simeon, he was a just man. Now that word just right there,
it means actually a man that is upright and honest in his
dealings with man but also that word just right there is uh... the word that where we get justified
a word that declares a man to be free from guilt therefore
free from the penalty of the law because of sin by the grace
of God we're justified freely by the grace of God justified
by the blood of Christ which is the merit of our justification. God declares His people and has
eternally declared His people to be just. No debt, no guilt,
no penalty. Eternally justified. I had someone
that got in contact with me and this was an issue. They were
having a problem with or someone they talked to had a problem
with eternal justification. And I told him, I said, well,
let me just ask you one question. And then you just kind of think
on it. You tell me what you think. When
we say that God's people have eternally been justified, that
means no charge, no charge, no guilt, no penalty due. I said,
how does God's people see, how does God see his people in Christ
right now, right now? Regenerated by the grace of,
how does he see them? Justified or unjustified? Well,
obviously justified, that's okay. Now, God, who never changes,
there's no shadow of turning with him. No deviation, none. At what point were they not justified
then? And he said, okay, I see your
point. I said, okay. God doesn't, he's always viewed
his people in Christ. He's everlastingly loved them
in Christ. They were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world. In Christ, there is no condemnation
now. to them that be in Christ Jesus.
And you know how long that word now has been? It's always been. Whenever 5,000 years ago, that
word now meant now, right now. So this man was a just man. And the scripture says also he
was devout. He was a man that because of
the grace of God, he was a devoted man. He was devout. He was devoted
to the worship, devoted to the desire of the will and the glory
of God. He longed after walking after
the Lord. He was a sinner. that was saved
by the grace of God, but this man was one being devout. It meant he was cautious and
careful in his walk. You know, we want to be that
way. I don't want to give someone,
you know, being, especially being a preacher. Bob Coffey told me
one time, he said, Marvin, you're in a fishbowl. You're just in
a fishbowl, that's the way you are. All preachers are. You know, we're sinners saved
by the grace of God, but people are going to hold you to a higher
standard. And I understand that. I mean, I'd do the same thing.
I'd look at Brother Scott and Brother Henry and Brother Maurice
Montgomery, and I did. I mean, I looked at these men
with respect, and you never wanted them to do anything wrong or
disappoint you. They were sinners. But that's the way it is. They
were cautious, cautious. I want to be careful. I don't
want to give somebody the wrong impression. And so they're sinners
by the grace of God, a just man, he was devout. And the scripture
says, and he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was waiting for the Messiah.
He knew that the Lord was coming. He knew that Christ was coming. The comfort or the comforter.
He was waiting for the consolation of the Lord, and the scripture
says, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And that's more, it
means more there than the common, when I say common, I just mean
it's particular to everybody, every believer, that they have
been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and dwelt by the Holy
Spirit as the earnest of their salvation. But this was more.
It meant the Holy Ghost was upon him in an exceptional way as
in a spirit of prophecy. It was revealed to this man by
the Spirit of God that he was not going to die before he had
actually seen the Messiah with his natural eyes. He was going
to see. The Lord had revealed to him,
you're not going to die. It's an amazing thing. passage
of scripture right there in verse 26, it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see. That word see right
there means experience. Death before he had seen, that
is visually, the Lord's Christ. So there's a word see right there
and it has two different meanings. He's not gonna experience death
until he's actually visibly seen the Christ. Now the reason I'm
saying that, and remember what I'm saying right here, Lord willing,
I'm gonna preach out of Genesis chapter three on the fall. I started that last Wednesday.
And Lord willing, I'll try to do it this next midweek service. And there was something that
happened to Eve And it was talking about before she took the fruit,
it says she saw that the fruit, that the tree was good for food.
She looked at it and she saw that it was good for food. And
that word saw in that Genesis chapter three has an amazing
meaning to it. So I'll just leave you right
there. I'll tell you like I tell Glenda,
you're gonna have to come to the services to hear or listen
to them online. Remember what I'm saying right
here. It said that the Spirit of God had revealed to him that
he would not see death, he wouldn't experience it until he had visibly
seen the Lord. So that time had come. It said that
in verse 26, it was revealed that he would not, by the Holy
Ghost, he would not have seen death before he had seen the
Lord's, and he came He came into the temple by the Spirit and
the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the
custom of the law. Now, according to the law and
according to the time of the Spirit of God, the Messiah to
be brought into the temple, the Holy Spirit powerfully, effectually
moved upon Simeon to come at the same Now, that passage of
scripture right there is saying this. The Lord had revealed something
to him. You're not gonna die until you actually behold the
Comforter, the Christ himself, the promised Messiah. The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. That's what the scripture
says. We walk by faith. We walk being led by God's spirit
and almighty God who has determined all things is going to order
and direct the steps, not of his people, everybody, everybody
in this world, but he orders everything and it was appointed
that these two, the Christ and Simeon, are gonna meet. The Lord
promised him, you're gonna see him. And so here he moved on
and I just, I got to reading that again and I thought, here's
what probably this man experienced. He's gonna go to the temple.
Well, he could have, I mean, how many, 24 hours in a day. When could he have gone? Well,
he could have gone whenever, whenever he went. But in his
heart, he wanted to go at that particular time. I want to go,
this is what I want to do. This is what I think, I want
to go right now. Well, who directed his steps
to do that? The Spirit of God did. Now, we
don't walk by feelings. I've heard people say that. I
agree with you. But we're not void of them either. There is a divine leadership.
His Spirit bears witness with our spirit. And there's a direction. There's a, I mean, we're sensitive,
sensitive creatures. And so the spirit of God took
and moved upon that man to come to the temple. And verse 27,
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for
him after the custom of the law, the spirit of God said that He
knew. He saw that child and knew by
the revelation of the Spirit of God. That's the Christ. And
the scripture says in verse 28, He took him up in His arms and
He blessed God and He said, Now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I've seen, Lord, your salvation. This is God's salvation. He moved,
the Spirit of God moved Simeon to be there and to say something
that teaches us some marvelous of things. This man, under the
spirit of prophecy, the spirit of God was upon him. God has
a witness in this world. It had been hundreds of years,
400 years, since the Lord had sent a prophet to Israel. At the end of Malachi, 400 years,
there was no prophecy, silence. people who had heard what the
prophets had said. They waited. They knew that the
Messiah is going to come. So we're taught from Simeon's
mouth, God's faithful. The Lord is faithful to His Word. God has a people. And I'll tell you this, another
thing He said in here, He said in verse 29, He said, Lord, now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Death is something that we don't
know anything about until we experience it, and then it's
over. But here, the Spirit of God moved
that man to say something about the settledness of a believer's
heart. I'm sure that all of us here
have experienced something of seeing something of dying grace
in the life of a believer. And it is truly a marvelous thing. I mean, it just surpasses the
understanding. There's a sense in which there's
an anxiousness about death. I know Brother Scott told me
the first time when I heard a doctor say something to me concerning
a serious illness for me. And Brother Scott said this,
he said, the worst part of it is when you first hear it. And
after that, he said, it's not a big deal. And I'll tell you
what, if that wasn't the case, it's just amazing to watch and
behold the settledness of a believer. If the Lord pleased to take them
out of this world. The Lord has told me, He said,
you'll never die. I give you eternal life. You're
not going to die. Now this body is going to pass off. But He
said, you ain't going to die. Death is a transfer from here
to there. And Lord, let thy servant depart
in peace. Mine eyes has seen thy salvation. I've seen your salvation. Jonah
2.9 said salvation is of the Lord. That's God's salvation. Now let us just behold something. I want us to look at something
again, and I'm not gonna tell you anything this morning that
you've not heard before. Aren't you glad? I'm not gonna
tell you anything new. to tell you exactly what we've
looked at, and I want us to go back and go down, let's get back
to the fundamentals of salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
because right here, what I wanna deal with this morning for a
few minutes, herein is where we differ. What's the difference? What y'all believe, what they
believe, and this and believe, here's the difference, salvation,
The scripture says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
Salvation is according to the everlasting covenant. Now, you know what that means?
God has made a promise. That's what it means. There's
a covenant, humanly speaking, it's a contract. This one is a covenant according
to the promise of God, according to the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, according to God's will and purpose as a covenant. Now
hold your place there, turn to Ephesians chapter one, and I
want us to just read. I was thinking about, I was listening
to a message Brother Henry was preaching years ago, and he was
gonna read, and there was some people that was taking issue
on election, and he started reading, and somebody stopped him. I listened
to him telling the story, and they stopped him right in the
middle of what he was reading, and they said, we know what you're
saying. We know what you're saying. You're trying to set forth this
thing of election. That's what you're trying to
do. And Henry said, no, I'm just reading Ephesians chapter 1.
That's what I'm doing. I'm just reading it. I just want
to read it. I just want to read starting
in verse 3, and I want to read through verse 12. I just want
to read it. Now listen, this covenant, God's
salvation, it set forth the triunity of God. Now this is what God
has to say, the one God, three persons, this is what the Spirit
of God has moved upon Paul to write concerning salvation. How is a sinner truly saved? How? Well here's how. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He, now I'm gonna make some emphasis here on this. The scripture sets
forth that election is totally in the hands of the Father. Now
that's what it says. according as He has chosen us
in Him, that is in Christ, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before the Father in love,
having predestinated us. Now who predestinated us? The Father did. That's what the
scripture says. This is how God has been pleased
to save sinners. The Father is credited. is set forth as being the author
of, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
the Father's will, to the praise of the glory of the Father's
grace, wherein the Father hath made us accepted in the Beloved,
in Christ, in whom we have redemption through the Son's blood, His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace, wherein the Father, He hath abounded toward us in all
wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us, that is the Father,
has made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure, which He, the Father, hath purposed in Himself.
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He, the Father,
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven, which are on earth, even in Him, in whom we have
obtained an inheritance. In Christ, the Father has ordained
and declared that we're going to have an inheritance being
predestinated to the purpose of Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the
praise of his glory, who first, that is the Father, trusted in
Christ. So here's what the scripture
says. When it comes to salvation, the author of a sinner's salvation
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. that we were chosen by the Father
and in virtue of us being in Christ, we have absolute assurance
of salvation. God the Father put us there. Next, the merit of a sinner's
salvation is to be in the person of the Lord Jesus, the one in
whom the Father was well pleased, in whom the bride has been eternally
found, and the surety, the Lord Jesus, the surety of his people,
the federal head, the savior, the great high priest. He alone
is the wisdom, the righteousness, the sanctification, the setting
apart, the making holy, and the redemption of his people. He has Always, forever, before
he was made flesh, he has forever stood as the savior of the elect. Luke, I'll just read this to
you. I mean, Proverbs 8.22, this is what he said. Proverbs 8.22,
we've read this often. He says, the Lord, the capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Jehovah, possessed me in the
beginning of His way, before His works of old, before there
was any creation, nothing. There was a Savior. And all of the merit of our salvation
is totally found in Him. He was ordained. to be the Redeemer,
the Savior, the propitiation. There again, what does that word
mean? The satisfier of the demands of God for justice and righteousness
of His people. He is the propitiation. He is
it. It's all found in Him as far
as our merit. He was set up, He said in Proverbs
8, 22, He was anointed from all, everything, everlasting,
from the beginning or ever the earth was. Christ, in absolute
obedience to the will of the Father being made flesh, came
into this world that he should establish righteousness. And having done so with his righteous
obedience, charged to the sheep, the Spirit of God moved upon
the apostle Paul to say this. Now here again, how does God
save a sinner? The father must have chosen. The son must have established
his righteousness. The son must have paid the debt
of all that the father had given the son. That's what the Lord
said. He said, I laid down my life for these sheep, John 10,
15. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. Who did he die for? He died for
his people. That's what he said. This is
how God saved the sinner. The father chooses him. And the
son alone is set forth as the one that has procured it. Procured,
that's salvation. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians
2.16. Knowing that a man is not justified. That is, that he is
not declared or judged or pronounced to be righteous and accepted.
Man is not justified by the works of the law. What does that mean?
A man is not justified by something that he does. That's what it
means. knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Galatians 2.16. He is justified by the faith
of Christ. Now, all of the Bibles, all these
Bibles that are written, the King James is the one that makes
that clear. All others say man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. That's not what it says. There's
a big difference between faith in Christ and the faith of Christ.
One of them has to do with what I do. One of them has to do what
he did. A man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. You mean to tell me that Jesus
Christ walked by faith? I absolutely mean to tell you
that. He walked by faith. And the father said of him, this
is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. A man's
not justified by the works of the law, by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. You know what that means? That
means yes, we have believed in him. That we might be justified
by the faith of Christ. This is what a believer believes.
I believe that his faithfulness, his faith, His obedience before
God, that faithfulness right there is what God charges to
me and accepts me in the beloved. That's what I believe. I don't
believe it was by my faithfulness, but by His. And that by the works
of the law, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. So the imputation of the righteousness
of Christ, that is the righteousness of the saints. You and I put
no confidence whatsoever in our flesh. Well, I've been faithful.
Well, I guess, comparatively speaking, like I said before,
one worm to another worm. But I'm talking about before
God. We did not please God in ourselves. We needed righteousness.
But also, not only did we need righteousness, I need my sin
paid for. God's just. And the scripture
says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, that the Father, He hath made
Him, the Son, the Father made Him sin for us. Now, I've said this so many times. Somebody said, can you explain
that to me? No, I can't explain it to you.
But I can tell you what the scripture says happened What is sin? Well, sin is transgression of
the law. That means sin is anything that
is below God's ability, God's faithfulness, God's work, God's,
you know. Sin is to come short of, to fall
short, to miss the mark. What's demanded? Absolute holiness. and the Father made Him sin. The Father made Him sin. The
righteousness of God for us. Our sin, our nature is what God
made Him. God made Him sin. He bore in
His own body that which we His people are by nature and the
shedding of His blood He destroyed the power of death by dying. He died, and Paul said, when
he died, I died. When he was crucified, I was
crucified. When he was buried, I was buried
in him, because I was in him, I was in him. When he rose, I
rose. He destroyed the power of Satan
and the grave over us, and now the Scripture says we're more
than conquerors. In him who loved us and gave himself for us. We've obeyed God in Him and God
accepted it. That's grace, that's amazing
grace. He is the God-man suffered and
died that we might not suffer and died. And the assurance that
we have concerning being found in Christ is this. This is the
only assurance we got. If you want to know, how can
I know? Is there a sign? Is there a mark? Is there something? The Father chose, the Son redeemed,
and what's the mark? Here it is. He that believeth
on the Son have everlasting life. The key to that is the word believe.
I told you before, it means more than just acknowledge that he
is so. Demons know he's so. The word
believeth is to give oneself to, to cast oneself upon, to
come to for life. He that believeth on the Son
hath. Do we believe in order to be
saved, or do we believe because God saved us and gave us life?
We believe because God gave us life first. You don't believe
when you're dead. God gives life, then you believe.
I heard Brother Henry say, what came first, life or belief? He said you can't separate them.
He said one is necessary for the other, He said it's almost like an instantaneous
thing, but one of them is the cause of belief. Life is the
cause of belief. And thirdly, the Father chose,
the Son redeemed. And thirdly, salvation is known
to the vessels of God's mercy by the quickening grace of God's
Spirit. And the Lord told Nicodemus this. Now who calls out of darkness? The Spirit of God does. The spirit
of the Lord Jesus Christ calls out of darkness. Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see,
perceive the kingdom of God. Well, I think this is a good
question. How is a man born again? How is a man born again? You
know, except a man be born again, there's a book written years
ago, How to be Born Again. Don't read it. Take your Bible
and listen to what scriptures have to say. Is a man born again by certain
acts that he does? That's what free will religion
says. Exercise your free will, walk
down an aisle, be baptized or some other work. Listen to what
the scripture has to say. John 1 10 to 13, he was in the
world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. He came unto His own, that is,
the Jews, and His own received Him not, by and large, as the
Messiah. But as many as received Him. Now there's a word that the world's
religion likes to jump on. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior. What does the Scripture have
to say concerning the understanding of that word. But as many as
received Him. Well, if we'll just continue. I'll tell you what, hold your
place and turn to Luke, John, John 1. Turn to John 1, I want
you to look at what I'm saying. John chapter 1, I'm reading verses 11, 12, 13. John 1.11, He came unto His own,
His own received Him not, but as many as received Him. Now,
it says, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Now,
when it says received Him, it obviously means by faith. They
believed on Him. They received Him. They believed
Him. But what it's saying is, but as many as received Him,
something had happened to them in order for them to believe,
to receive Him. To them gave He power to become. It wasn't that they received
Him and then the Lord gave Him power. That would be salvation
by works and I know it and you know it. That's not what it's
saying. As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God and then the Spirit of God defines what it
means to receive Him. to them that believe on his name. That's what it means. What do
you mean to receive it? Well, it's to believe on the
name, to believe on the character, believe what God has to say concerning
salvation by the grace of God and not by the works of man.
And then the scripture finishes up in verse 13. And it talks
about the evidence, what they do believe. Now what do they
believe? As many as received Him, to them gave He power. God had done something for them.
As many as believe on His name. And then the Spirit of God in
absolute wisdom tells us exactly concerning those that believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which were born. Now
you've got to be born again. How are they born again? Well,
number one, not of blood. They didn't inherit salvation
from others that were naturally born in Adam like they were. Not of blood. It's not by inheritance. Nor of the will of the flesh.
What does that mean? There's nothing in the old nature
of fallen man that will, will or can lead or direct a center
to spiritual regeneration. There's just nothing there. There's
nothing there. People say exercise your free
will. The scripture says there's not a free will in man. He's
dead. He's dead. That's made up. They
made that up. It's a lie. It's just not true. Man doesn't have a free will
toward God. I mean, I've heard people say,
well, man's a free moral agent. OK. Let me tell you, I've told
you this before. I'll tell you again anyway. What
that means is this. A man can be in a little bitty
cell in jail and he's free to go around anywhere he wants to
inside that cell. He can go anywhere he wants to.
He's a free moral agent. He can go anywhere, but he's
still in the cell. He's still captive. He's free. I can go from this corner to
this corner. I can go six feet this way. or four feet this way
or whatever it is. I can do anything I want to do.
I can lay down if I want to, stand up if I want to. That's
good, but you're still in the cell. A man is not born by the
will of the flesh. It says, or of the will of man. Again, I've told you this, I've
got people in my family. I pray God have mercy on them.
I want them to be saved. I do, I want the Lord to save
them. Don't you want God to save your kids and your grandkids?
I've got people in my immediate family. I pray God be pleased
to say, but you know what? I can do all I can and try to
persuade all I can and read all the scriptures I can. And unless
the spirit of God blesses it and gives them life, they're
gonna die. They're gonna die in their sins. They're not born
by blood or will of the flesh. They're not born by the will
of man, but of God. They're born of God. So Paul
declared Romans 9.16, he continued on that thought right there,
and he said, so then it is not of him that willeth. People say,
well, you know, my will. No, it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. That is with works and just,
you know. But of God that showeth mercy. And the Lord in showing
mercy unto His own, He calls them out of the darkness of sin
and unbelief, and the Lord said, you know, in John chapter 3,
turn over to John chapter 3 and verse 8, the Lord continuing
speaking to Nicodemus, the scripture says, The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit. Glendon and I was sitting out
on the front porch here the other day, and the wind was blowing,
and Do you realize how foolish it would be to try to decide
where did that wind come from? Where did that wind originate?
And where is it going? I don't know. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, whether it's
gentle or roaring or something. You hear the sound, but you can't
tell where it came from. You can't tell where it's going.
So is everyone born of the Spirit. Where was the Spirit of God?
Where did He come from when He crossed my path? I don't know. Where is He going after He spoke
to me and called me unto Christ? Where did He go? I don't know.
I don't know. All I know is that the Spirit
of God is the one that God Almighty has set forth that actually regenerates. God chose Him and Christ redeemed
Him in the Spirit of God. In closing, I'm going to tell
you how the Scripture says, this is what the Scripture says concerning
how God crosses the path by His Spirit. The Spirit of God, who
knows where the sheep are, searches them out from wherever they are
in this world. In Ezekiel 36.24 it says, For
I will take you from among the heathen. and gather you out of
all countries and will bring you into your own land. Now,
you know what? All of the members of the house
of spiritual Israel are going to be gathered unto the Lord. That's what Ephesians chapter
1 verse 10 says. He's going to gather them all
in one. Now where are they? They're everywhere. They're everywhere. I don't know where they are.
So what do we do? I'm going to preach to them.
I'm going to preach to everybody. I'm gonna preach to everybody.
That's what, go into all the world and preach the gospel to
everybody. But this is what the Spirit of
God says is gonna happen. He said, Ezekiel 36, 24, I will
take you from among the heathen. Verse 25, I will sprinkle clean
water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness
and from all your idols will I cleanse you. They're going
to hear that they have been washed and gloriously cleansed. from
their spiritual filthiness by the blood of Christ. This is
what's going to happen. They're going to hear the truth of how God
cleansed them. Not by their works, not by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has set forth, He said,
I'm going to take that old heart, that old carnal heart out of
you, that heart of enmity, Carnality, and he said, a new heart, verse
26, 27 of Ezekiel 36, a new heart also will I give you. A new spirit
will I put in you, and I'll take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, I'll give you a heart of flesh, I'll put my spirit
within you, and I'm going to cause you to walk in my statutes,
and you shall keep my commandments, and you're going to do them.
And then he said, this is going to be the effect of it. Verse
31 is that they're not only going to remember where they came from,
but they're going to loathe the presence of sin that are still
in them. He said, verse 31, Ezekiel 36,
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Aren't
you glad that God doesn't charge us with them? But now this is
what he said, this is what he's gonna do. And then he's gonna
say in verse 32, and he said, I'm gonna do this, not for your
sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be
ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
He said, I'm gonna do this for you. And he said, I'm gonna do
it, not for your sake, but for mine. This is how God saves a
sinner. So for his own sake, For His
own name's sake, it says there's not going to be found any merit
in the objects of His grace. Now how does God save a sinner?
Lord, let Thy servant now depart in
peace. Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. It's the Lord's. The Father chose
who He's gonna save. The Son redeemed every one of
them and established righteousness for every one of them. Charges it to them. And the Spirit of God is gonna
call every one of them out of darkness. He's gonna put a new
heart in them. Gonna take that old heart of
rebellion that dominated them. Sin's not gonna have dominion
over you. He removes that. Somebody said, well, explain
all of that. I can't. I can't. I cannot. All I can do is I can tell you
that God's done something for us that we can't perceive the
depth. And he said, I'm gonna keep you.
I'm gonna keep you until the day of salvation. You're not
gonna keep yourself. That is how God saves a sinner.
And it's all to the glory of his name. He said, I didn't do
this for your namesake. He said, I did it for mine. I'm
so thankful that God would honor himself in saving a wretch like
me. I pray, is this the God of your
salvation? If it is, I'm going to tell you
something. You've got some hope. God's done something for you. And he's
done it for his namesake and for our eternal good. Okay.