Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. I'd like to look, we're going
to look, briefly comment on each verse
from verse 16 through verse 28. But there's one verse in particular
that I've drawn my subject from this morning, and it's verse
21. This is the word of the Lord, a word that just struck my heart. with thanksgiving. But I had
pity for mine holy name which the
house of Israel had profaned among the heathen whether they
went." I had pity. If we are going to see how does
God Almighty deal with His people, a people that He has everlastingly
loved in Christ, chosen from before the foundation of the
world. How does God deal with His people? The only way that
we're going to know is according to the Scriptures. That's what
you just said now. What does God have to say? Now the Scripture sets forth
that this is the Word of the Lord. Now listen, listen, verse
16 to 18. Moreover, the Word of the Lord
came unto me, says Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, When the house of
Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own
way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the
uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon
them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for
their idols wherewith they had polluted it." The nation of Israel
has always been a picture. of God's elect. Now there's a
nation over there, as we've said before. I'm not talking about
these people. Whenever the scripture speaks
of Israel in the scriptures, it's always concerning a spiritual
people. There's a people that is a representative
of God's elect. And the scripture says concerning
God's mercy and God's grace to his people. He talks about, first
of all, what they are by nature, my people. Then he says in verse
18, wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that
they had shed upon the land, for the idols wherewith they
had polluted it." The scripture sets forth that God's people
come forth from their mother's womb just like everybody else,
sinners against God. And what What was their way? Well, the scripture sets forth
that their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed
woman. Their walk, their conversation,
their thoughts was like a whorish woman prostituting herself for
gain. And what did he do to the nation
of Israel, of old? What did he do? Well, again,
verse 18, I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they
had shed upon the land, for their idols wherewith they polluted
it. And I scattered them among the heathen. They were dispersed
through the countries according to their way, according to their
doings. I judged them by His sovereign hand. Almighty God
who rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, what is He doing in this world? Whatever He wants
to. He rules. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. There's nothing going on
in this world that Almighty God is not moving upon, using, allowing. for His honor and for His glory
and for the good of His sheep. As I've said, whatever's going
on, whatever you read about in the newspaper, whatever's going
on in the government, whatever's going on overseas, whoever fires
a rocket at somebody else and somebody else is mad and they're
this, that and the other and there's an uprising over here
and they're sending bombers. Let me tell you who's ruling.
Almighty God rules. And why is He doing it? For His
glory and for the good of His people. He's got a people that
He's going to save. And He's working all these things
together for good to them that love God. To them who are the
called according to His purpose. And the scripture sets forth
in verse 20, and when they entered unto the heathen where he drove
them, God put them there. They profaned my
holy name when they said to them, and that is, when they were driven
into these places where the Lord put them, because of their rebellion,
the Lord put them. The nation of Israel of old,
which was a type of God's people. Whenever they were driven into
those places that the Lord put them, this is what they of the
land that were already there said concerning God's people. These are the people of the Lord.
and are gone forth out of His land. When they came into the
places of the heathen, the places where God put them because of
their rebellion, because they profaned the holy name of the
Lord, it caused it to be dishonored. They sinned against the God who
had shown them kindness. The heathen observing what misery
their sins had brought upon them said in a taunting, in a smearing
way, these are the people of the Lord. These people that say
they worship Jehovah. These people that's got the sacrifices,
the law, they're going out of His land. That is to say the
misery of the Jews in the opinion of the heathen was a reflection
upon God. Actually what they were saying
is this, if their God as they say is the true and faithful
God, the mighty one to save, he has a strange way of showing
it. Can he not put him in a better state than this? He must be weak
in his ability to maintain his people. These are Jehovah's,
they say Jehovah God, by the wicked and impure walk. The Jews
opened the mouths of the heathen to call the holiness and the
magnificence of Almighty God into question. But as horribly as the nation
of Israel had acted concerning their attitude toward the Lord
and their dishonor toward God Almighty, let me ask you this. Is there one of God's sheep,
God's elect, in this place or any other place
who are in themselves not just like this? Is there anybody that's
not like this? Is there anybody that claims
the name to believe the Lord Jesus Christ who has bowed to
Him who would not say, that's me right there. I have nothing
in myself in which to boast. We're all as an unclean thing.
Every believer says, oh wretched man that I am. Yes, I agree that was the original
state of every vessel of God's mercy. But I'm telling you there's
an old man that's in us right now. And every believer wars
against that old man. There's a new man and old man.
There's two men in every believer. One which we were born in Adam,
came forth from my mother's womb speaking lies, and there's a
new man there. We're going to look at him in
just a minute. But here's what we all did. All of us, I mean,
we don't have anything to be proud of. I mean, let's just
get off our high horse and just, you know, let's just be honest.
Let's just agree with God. This is the way all of us were
born. We all, just like everybody else,
walked according to the course of this world. according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." As I've said before,
God's elect have never been under the wrath of God, never. We were
not appointed to wrath. But that scripture is saying
we all had a wrathful attitude toward God. This was our attitude. I'm not going to have him rule
over me. Well, if you're one of the Lord's own, we'll see.
We'll see. We'll see. Because of sin, we
were like these scattered ones spoken of here in Ezekiel. And
Peter referred to the scattered, the scattered sheep of the Lord's
fold. Those that he had eternally chosen
to show mercy and compassion. Listen to what Peter says, 1
Peter 1, 1 and 2, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, Yes, scattered. Scattered but
beloved of God. Elect. Elect. Can you preach election? Or can
you preach, let me ask it this way, can you preach the gospel
without preaching election? You're right. No. No. No, you cannot preach the gospel
of God's grace without preaching election. This is the message
of the gospel. It is good news to a people that
Almighty God has chosen to show mercy. Moses asked the Lord to show
Him, Moses, God's glory. And here's God's glory. I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'm going to have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then, here's the conclusion. It is not of him that willeth. Everybody's telling people, But
you have a free will. Now listen to me. Let me just
try to say it in such a way that we'll all understand. That is
not true. That is not true. Show me in
the Bible where a man has a free will to reconcile himself back
to God. It's not there. It's not there. Don't try to look. Okay, go ahead. Try to look. Try to look. Man
does not have a free will. How do you know? God said He
doesn't. Who were saved, not of blood,
nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man. What
does that mean? I could will my children to be saved, but
unless God saves them, they're not going to be converted. And
not by my own free will. I don't have a free will. I've
said before, listen, man's dead, spiritually dead. The gospel is the good news to
a people of God's choosing. God's going to show mercy and
compassion. to the strangers scattered through
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Yes, this nation back in old
times of Israel, they were altogether guilty. All of them were guilty. All of Israel, all of the Hebrews
that came out of Egypt, they were all guilty in themselves.
But found within that nation of Israel, there was another
nation in that nation. A nation of God's mercy. A nation of God's elect. There
was a people found within them. And for that reason, The Lord
said in verse 21, but I had pity for mine holy name. I had pity which the house of
Israel, spiritual Israel, had profaned among the heathen whether
they went. What a word of mercy. I had pity. You know, the Lord has pity on
those that need pity. man or woman that the Lord's
been pleased to show pity to, they're guilty. They're guilty. We don't claim to not be guilty
because God has mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. The scripture
says, therefore, say unto the house of Israel, verse
22, Thus saith the Lord. I'm not gonna do this for your
sake. I'm not doing this for your sakes, O house of Israel,
but for mine holy name's sake. I'm doing this for myself. And my friends, if Almighty God
has been pleased to show anybody here, pity. It wasn't for your sake he did
it. He did it for his glory. I do this for my name's sake. If anybody in this room has had
mercy and compassion shown to them. If Almighty God has been
pleased to call you or me out of spiritual darkness, He said,
I didn't do this for your sake. Why? Because we didn't deserve
it. He said, I'm doing this for my
sake. When we pray, what do we say?
Lord, for Christ's sake, have mercy on me. For Christ's sake. No believer is going to say,
Lord, for my sake, have mercy. We wouldn't even consider uttering
such blasphemous words. The only way that we know what
the Lord has to say concerning pity is through preaching. Preaching
the truth as the Spirit of God blesses the gospel. And while
we preach this gospel to all men, I know what's going to happen. Just like there was a group of
people that came out of Egypt. And while they came out of Egypt,
there was a big group of people there. And they were all Hebrews,
they were all Israelites. But within that group, there
was a special group. A group of God's pity. and God's mercy and God's compassion. And he said, I'm going to have
mercy to you. I'm going to call you out. So we're careful to
remind men why the Lord does what he does. He does it for
his namesake. Why? Did he look down through
the ages of time and see that there was going to be some that
were going to do good? I've heard men describe election
like that. God looked down through the portals
of time, and he saw who would choose him, so he went ahead
and chose them. I said before, God did look down through the
portals of time. He's omniscient. He's God. And
what did he see? Just what he saw. There's none
good. There's none. There's none that
seek God. I sought the Lord, men say. Not
until Almighty God called you out of darkness, you did. Not
until He showed mercy to you and gave you a new heart you
didn't. How do you know? Because the scripture says, no
man seeketh after God. None. None. Say unto the house
of Israel, verse 22, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for
your sakes. You know what I say? O house
of Israel, you who are the recipients of God's mercy, you vessels of
His compassion and pity, Let me tell you something, God didn't
save any of us because of us. God had mercy upon us for his
namesake. Lord, book of Revelation 5 verse
9, you're worthy to take the book. You're worthy to take the book
because you have redeemed us. unto God. Out of every nation
and kindred and tribe and tongue, and you're worthy of all honor
and all glory and all praise. And we're not deserving in ourselves
of any of it. We are what we are by the grace
of God. You say to the house of Israel,
I do this for my name's sake. You preach to them and the Lord
said, I'll call them out. This is what I'm doing. I'm going
to tell you what God has to say and then I'm going to just let
the Lord do what He wants to do. Look at verse 23. I will sanctify
my name, my great name. which was profaned among the
heathen, which ye 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." The Lord's
great name is His holy name. And He said to sanctify His great
name when He clears or vindicates His name of all charges. They said, you mean to tell me
that these are the people that are suffering, that's been driven
out of their place and have been scattered throughout and living
here with us? You mean to tell me that that's
the way their God treats them? He did it for His namesake. All these charges of blasphemy
against God's character and God's will and God's goodness. And
I know, I know what, I know what the world, world of false religion,
I know what they say. Hey, listen, let me tell you
something. I've been standing right there
with them. I've told you the first time I ever heard the gospel
of God's grace, that Almighty God had a people. That he chose,
I said chose, what do you mean chose? That he elected? Elected. I said it's the most
ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. God wants to save
everybody. That's what I've heard. You listen
to me, if God Almighty wanted to save everybody, everybody's
gonna be saved. Because he's God. But I'm telling
you, though I or anybody else ever stood and blasphemously
had something to say against Him, the only reason that I would
know anything of God's mercy and grace is because God was
pleased to show mercy to this worm right here. That God Almighty
would be pleased to not let me die in my rebellion and sin against
Him. That He'd call me out of darkness
Give me life. He says, I'm going to sanctify,
verse 23, my great name, which was profaned among the heathen,
which ye profaned in the midst of them. The heathen is going
to know that I'm God. When I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes, Almighty God is going to have all charges
against him dropped. He may do it in the day of judgment.
He may do it before. He may do it in regenerating
grace and cause his people, but I can tell you this, he's going
to do it. Oh, how we ought to be on guard concerning our attitude,
our walk, concerning our tongue, concerning our conversation. May the Lord keep us. from giving
the world reason to blaspheme our Lord. These are the people
of God. No believer thinks his walk or
his works is the source of his salvation. But I tell you, no
believer considers his walk before God of obedience to be a light
thing. Ephesians 4, I'll just read this to you, just hold your
place right there. Ephesians chapter 4, here's what
we talk about concerning a walk, not for salvation, but as a result
of salvation. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1
to 3, therefore, I know I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. The Lord's name is said to be
sanctified, makes his name to appear glorious, that's what
I'm saying, in the sight of the heathen, and he does so not in
a way of judgment or wrath against his people for their rebellion
against him, and again, I'm telling you, If we all want to find a
reason for Almighty God to pour out wrath, we got it. We got
the reason because of what we are by nature. But His name is
sanctified not in that He poured out wrath upon us. The wrath
of God for God's elect was poured out on Christ. He was made sin
for us. God's people. God's elect. That's what the Lord said. I
brought that scripture out so many times. John 10, 15. I lay
down my life for the sheep. For the sheep. Who'd he die for?
He died for the sheep. Did he die for anybody else except
his elect? No. No. No. He paid the debt for his sheep.
And his name is said to be sanctified, not in judgment of his people,
but by showing pity, compassion. Who is a God like unto our God
that would take his son, send him according to an everlasting
covenant of grace, send him into this world to be the representative,
the redeemer, the substitute for His people. My name is going to be sanctified.
I'm going to show you pity. That's how I'm going to do it.
I'm going to show you compassion. And oh, how He's honored in the
saving of His people from their sins. Are we wrong? Yes, we're wrong. Do we deserve
judgment? Yes, we deserve judgment. But
the greatest exhibition of God's glory is found in mercy, compassion. The heathen, by the saving of
the Lord's people, is made to behold and acknowledge the God
of Israel is the only true and faithful God to his word. He alone is righteous. Behold him. sanctifies his holy
name. Now, here's how God sanctifies
his name. Here's how his name is separate. Sanctify. His name is separate. There is no god but our god.
His name is sanctified. How does he do it? Now, listen.
Here's how God sanctifies his name. Not by leaving His people to
themselves. If He left His people to themselves
to do whatever they wanted to do, let me tell you what would
happen. They'd go to hell. We'd all go to hell. If the Lord
didn't have a remnant, if there wasn't a remnant according to
the election of grace, we'd all be like Sodom and Gomorrah under
the judgment of God. But here is how God Almighty
has pity. And if God Almighty has pity
on you or me, this is how He does it. Verse 24, I will take
you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries
and I'll bring you to your own land. What does Almighty God do? in showing pity. First of all,
he gathers his people. Gathers them out. That's what
he said. I'm going to take you from among
the heathen. Now I'm just going to, I'm going
to tell you again what I've told you before. Just add a little personal word
of testimony. I was steeped in false religion. Now you listen to me. Somebody
might say, well, I, I, you know, you don't really know Marvin
what, what he's talking about. I know something about sitting
under religious, yes, I was religious. Preacher, a preacher, a preacher
of wickedness. Telling men lies on God. Telling men that Almighty God,
He loves everybody. He wants to save everybody. Christ
Jesus died for everybody. He's done everything that He
possibly can. And if you'll just let Him, It's
just blasphemous just to even recant, I mean to rehearse what
I'm saying. If you'll let him, if you'll
allow him to, the Lord wants to save you. If you'll just come to him. I heard Brother Henry Mahan said,
if that's the truth, then don't pray to God anymore. God's done
all He can do. Don't pray to Him. Pray to the
sinner. Pray to the sinner. Because that's
who they're saying it's left up to. Let me tell you something. If Almighty God has pity, He
said, I'm going to take you from among the heathen. And I'm going
to gather you out. I'm going to call you out. And
I'm going to bring you to your own land. Almighty God in sovereign
mercy and power, through the preaching of the gospel, this
message of God's sovereign grace, he gathers his people out. What
has He done, Ephesians 1, 9 and 10, having made known unto us
the mystery of His will? According to His good pleasure,
which He had purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in
Christ, who have always been in Christ, both which are in
heaven, which are on earth, even in Him. And why? Why will He
do this? Well, I'll tell you the short
answer. because he's pleased to. That's the answer. Why would
God Almighty do this for a rebel? Jeremiah 32 40 says, I will make
an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away
from them to do them good. I'm not going to forsake you.
I'm not gonna leave you. I'm gonna put my fear, my respect
in their hearts, and they will not depart from me. Then the
Lord reveals what he shall do for and to his own. Look at verse
25. Then I will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, from
all your idols. Will I cleanse you? I'm gonna sprinkle clean water
Now, that verse declares the undeniable truth of our cleansing
before God by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is that clean
water. A few minutes ago, we read this
verse of Scripture, but I want you to consider it again, that
of 1 Peter. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. He chose us. through sanctification
of the Spirit, One who regenerates us, bestowing all the blessings
of God's spiritual life upon us unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, in the Old Testament,
whenever the Lord was going to pass through Egypt, the last
of the plagues, Nine plagues had taken place and Pharaoh's
heart was hardened. The scripture says he hardened
his heart. The scripture says God hardened his heart. But the
last of the plagues, here's what's going to happen. The night before
the nation of Israel went out, the next morning they're leaving.
But that night before, God had told Moses, you tell the people,
take a lamb, kill it. They were going to take that
blood, Put that blood on the doorpost of your houses, and
I'm gonna pass through. And when I pass through, this
is what I'm gonna do. When I see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. And
all who believed God, they took a lamb. There's a glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's lamb. And they killed it. There's a picture of Almighty
God who was pleased to bruise him. You might say, well, the
Romans killed him. The Romans was the means, but
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. The Lord bruised him. Why? For his great namesake,
to show mercy. Well, how's he going to show
mercy? Well, I can tell you this, he's going to have to be just.
I'm a just God and a Savior. How is God going to show mercy
to me? He's going to have to deal with my sin. Christ was
made sin, made what I am. And God slew him under God's
wrath. They took that blood and they
put it on the door. Two side posts across the top. And God
said, I'm going to come through. Where I see the blood, I'm going
to pass over you. My friend, when Peter says, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to tell you something
that I really can't explain. But I believe it. I believe it.
The scripture sets forth that the blood of Christ has been
applied to God's people. The sprinkling of the blood. That precious water, the clean
water upon you. I'll sprinkle clean water. It's
the blood of Christ. That's that clean water. Those people in Egypt, they were
behind the door. Could they see the blood? No. Was the blood there? Yes. It
was on the door. They were inside. And God came
through. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. What about that blood that's
sprinkled, that's applied to God's people, God's elect? Can
you see it? Do you see it? Spirit of God
says it's there. Do you see it? No. I'll tell you what I see in me.
I see no good thing in me. That's what I see in me. You
want me to be honest? That's what I see in me. Do I
see anything in me that's worthy? No, I don't. But did Almighty
God say, I'm going to call you out of darkness, I'm going to
teach you, I'm going to in the blood of sprinkling upon you. But He said, when I see the blood, Lord, is that blood there for
me? If God's had mercy on me and
given me a heart to know Him and to put no confidence in my
flesh, no confidence in my work, and has applied the blood to
me when He sees it. He said, I'll pass over you. Look at verse 26. A new heart
also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you. I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I'm
going to give you a heart of flesh. with which we're born,
it's stony. That's what scripture says. It's
hard and rebellious and cold. There's no affection. You take
a stone and you pour water on it and you know what? It's still
just as hard as it was before. You can take it and put fire
in it, it's still hard. You can break it with a hammer
and every pebble of that rock is just as hard as the mass that
it was. It's all hard. But he said, take
away, but look, I will. I will. A new heart will I give
you. A new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. How much of that did I have to
do? How much of that was attributed to me? None of it. None of it. The Lord in covenant mercy and
regenerating grace says, I'm going to give you a new heart.
And with the impartation of that new heart, there's a love for
God that was never there before. A love for his word, a love for
his people. And that stony heart that reigned
one time, He's gone. Now there's a body of sin that
Paul the Apostle refers to that still remains. But I'm telling
you that old heart that reigned and ruled is gone. A new spirit, a new attitude,
a new will, a new judgment, one that exhibits itself by the fruit
of God's Spirit is there now. And in closing, consider The
Lord's pity. Look at verse 27. I will put
my spirit within you. And I'll cause you to walk in
my statutes. You're going to keep my judgments.
You're going to do them. Do you know what it is to keep
the judgments and the statutes of Almighty God? Now listen to
me. Here it is. What is it to keep the judgments
and the statutes and keep His commandments? Here it is. I believe
God. I believe God. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not yourself, not your work,
not your baptism, not your profession, not your praying through. He
that believeth on the Son. This is what he that believeth
on the Son believes. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord. I'm going to put my Spirit within
you. And you're going to walk, and you're going to believe,
and you're going to act. You're going to walk after me.
Verse 28, And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your
fathers, and you shall be my people. I'll be your God. You know, there's a kingdom. I'm going to say a little bit
more about this in the next... There's a kingdom that's in this
world. It's the Lord's kingdom. It's a kingdom over which he's
the king. It's a kingdom of his people. It's a church. It's a bride. That's his kingdom. He said,
I'm going to bring you to your own land. This is his land, of
which I'm convinced here's some of his people. People that God's
called out of darkness, and they're in the Lord's land, the Lord's
kingdom. And one day very soon, Almighty
God is gonna end all of this. It may be in the second coming,
it may be in death, but very soon, he's gonna take us to our
eternal land, the land of his presence, his visual presence
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that we're
ever gonna know about God's gonna be in Christ. We're gonna see
him. Now listen, we're gonna see him. We're gonna see him
as he is. The scripture says, be like him.
I'm just lost when I think of that. To see him as he is and
be like him, we're going to know him. And I tell you what we're
going to know in that day. We're going to know perfectly
salvation was of the Lord. I'm here by the grace of God. That's what we're going to know.
I pray God bless this message to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's take a
break.