Let's take our Bibles and turn
back with me to the book of Ezekiel chapter 20 again. Obviously, men think that they
can approach God or be heard of the Lord on their own merit. And that's just not so. Those in the first part of this
chapter, chapter 20, was going to come and be heard that the Lord told Ezekiel. I'm
not going to hear them. Listen. one Mediator. There's one Mediator between
God and man, and it's the man, Christ Jesus. When we pray, Our prayers that are so stated,
so weakly, we know that. We don't know what to pray for.
I don't know what to ask. I try to pray for you. I don't
know what to ask. It's by a miracle of God's grace
that God gave me a heart to think upon your names and have a desire
to want to ask. But the Lord, the Scripture reveals,
takes the prayers of the saints, and in the incense of His merit,
presents them to the throne, and they're accepted in His merit. There's one advocate, Refuse
him. Refuse what he has to say concerning
himself, the Father, or us in our inability. When he said,
no man can come except it were given unto him of my Father.
Without me you can do nothing. Refuse him. Now when I say that,
this is what I mean. Because everybody and their brother
believes, well, I'm not refusing the Lord. I accepted Him. I gave Him my heart. He wanted
to save me. That's not what I mean. Refuse
Him who said, I lay down my life for the sheep.
Refuse Him who said, I don't pray for the world. I pray for
those that you've given me out of the world. You refuse Him.
That's the one I'm talking about. You refuse Him. And God's not
going to hear you. The Lord is going to hear His
Son. That's the only one He's going
to hear. He hears us for Christ's sake. He hears us in His merit. He hears us in the name of the
Lord Jesus. I want you to hold your place. Turn to Isaiah 1. Isaiah 1, 13-15. Isaiah 1, 13-15. Isaiah 1, 13-15.
Bring no more vain oblations. Let me tell you what a vain oblation
is. That's a spiritual, biblical
word that we just don't know what it means. I mean, it's biblical,
but what does it mean? When the Lord says, don't bring
that to me anymore. Bring no more vain oblations. Here's what it is. A vain oblation. Something depended upon for pardon
apart from the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what
I mean. I mean to trust anything, to
trust yourself, to trust your will, to trust your baptism,
to trust something that you can do, that's a vain, that's an
empty offering. A vain oblation. Something depended
on for pardon apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And man by
nature does that. He trusts in himself that he's
righteous. Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to
me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with its iniquity, even
the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me, I
am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood."
Now listen, men think that just anybody can just pray. And according
to the Scriptures, that's not right. I said before, Saul of
Tarsus was a Pharisee. And according to his declaration
of himself before the Lord saved him, he said concerning the law,
I was blameless. He said I could find no fault
in me. Well, maybe you couldn't. Oh, but he said those things
that were gained to me, He said, I consider loss done for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ, O that I might know Him. The Apostle Paul seeing that
wretchedness, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? But being found with the presence
of sin, and every believer does, That new man, that new heart,
is the heart by which a believer cries forth in thanksgiving unto
the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you for giving to me life eternal, life everlasting. I want us to pick up where we
left off, and I've entitled this message, Accepted in Christ.
Verses 9 to 12. The Lord is not going to fail
to manifest His mercy to His people. That's what He said. He told Israel, I chose, I chose. I raised my hand to reveal myself
unto my people, to the seed of Jacob. That's who I'm going to
show. He says in verse 9, this is where I left off, but I wrought
for my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen
among whom they were, and whose sight I made myself known unto
them in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. Wherefore
I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought
them into the wilderness, I gave them my statutes, I showed them
my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also, I gave them my
Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might
know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them." Now, the Lord,
according to His everlasting covenant of grace, has sworn
by Hisself, according to His name, raised His hand. going
to save my people. And I'm not going to allow the
enemy to triumph. The gates of hell are not going
to prevail against my people, against the church. Satan is
not going to have them. The Word of Jesus Christ, blood,
answers for every accusation of Satan, of my old conscience
that would condemn me, Satan is the great accuser of the brethren. And I'll be honest with you,
there's a lot to accuse us of. But the blood ever answers. The Lord Jesus Christ has put
away our debt to God's broken law. He said, I had raised my
hand I'm going to show you mercy, you rebelled, but I wrought a
work. I wrought a work. And so, according
and for my name's sake, I brought them out of the land of Egypt
and caused them to wander in the wilderness. That's what he
says in verse 11. He said, I gave my statutes,
I gave my law to you. I gave you my statutes and showed
them my judgment, which if a man do, he shall even live in them."
And then he says in verse 12, I gave them my Sabbaths. What
was the reason for the Sabbath? To reveal in type and picture
and shadow that we have a rest in the Lord Jesus Christ And
then he says, I gave not only my statutes and my Sabbaths,
he said, verse 13, but the house of Israel rebelled against me
in the wilderness, and they walked not in my statutes. They despised
my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
My Sabbaths, they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out
my fury upon them in the wilderness, To consume them, I was going
to do just exactly that. I'm going to deal with you. But the Lord, for His namesake,
is long-suffering. For those people within natural
Israel, they were all out there together. How many millions?
I don't know. I've heard all kinds of numbers.
How many came out of Egypt? I don't know. How many went into
the promised land? Those that the Lord allowed to. How many of them died in the
wilderness? Those that God killed, left to themselves. The Lord's
long-suffering. Listen to what He did. He said,
verse 13, you rebelled against Me? He said, I'm going to pour
out My fury upon you. How many times did the Lord say
to Moses, He said, get back, get away from them. I'm going
to kill them. I'm going to kill them. And Moses, as a type of
Christ, interceded. He said, God, Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. And what did
the Lord say He did in verse 14? But I wrought, for my name's
sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, and whose
sight I brought them out. He said the heathen's not going
to say. He brought them out, but he couldn't keep them. Killed
them all. They all died. Then, and for
the sake of time, I'll invite you to read it, but for the sake
of time, because actually where I'm going, I'm going to verse
40 to 44, is where I'm going. But verses 15 to 30, the Lord
relates, and again, I'll invite you to read it. Verses 15 to
35, the Lord relates not only their true rebellion
and what they were. And you go back and you know
this. It just seems as though you read the account of those
40 years in the desert. And what was it? It was their
rebellion and God's chastening hand upon them and God's mercy
to keep them. I could go back and I'd read
this, you know, we don't have anything to drink. Moses, you took us out of Egypt. We
had leeks and we had water. We don't have any water. And
the Lord told Moses, strike the rock. These snakes are biting us. We want some meat. This manna? We loathe this light bread. We'd like to have some meat.
I'd like to have some protein. Well, the Lord gave them some
meat. Go back and read the account
of how deep the quail were that flew and landed, how many miles
they went. They started stinking. It was
on and on and on. And the children, this is in
verses 15 to 32, I'm just summarizing it. And the kids, he said, there
were so many of them that lasted and did the same things that
the adults did. And the scripture sets forth
that God Almighty was long-suffering. I've wrought a work, I was long-suffering
for my name's sake. There was a remnant within that
group There was a Joshua. There was
a Caleb in there. And they're not going to perish.
They're going in. They're going to go in. There's
a picture in the midst of the tares. There's some wheat there. And God was long suffering, not
willing. and any of them should perish.
But to so many of them, I will look. Look at verse 25. He said, of all these things,
you know, look at verse 22, nevertheless I withdrew my hand and wrought
for my name's sake that it should not be polluted. Verse 23, I
lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness that I would scatter
them among the heathen and disperse them through the countries because
they had not executed my judgments but had despised my statutes.
polluted my Sabbaths, their eyes were after their father's idols."
Look at verse 25, this is what He did to those that He just
left to themselves. Wherefore, I gave them also statutes
that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.
Does that mean that God gave them some bad judgment? No, that's
not what He means at all. He left them to themselves. That's
what He did. He left them to themselves. I pray God Almighty have mercy.
I told you last week, I was just driving through town the other
day, and I was looking at all the different churches, and looking
at all these different names, and here's this, and this one
right here, and this one right here, and this one of the brethren,
this one of this church, and that church. And all of them
appear, they have a form of godliness about them. They talk about God,
they talk about this. But if Almighty God leaves a
man to himself to believe that, God's done that which is right.
He's done that which is just. If He leaves a man to himself
to do it, the Lord will not be blamed for that. Men do what
they want to do. Look at Jeremiah. Hold your place right there in
Ezekiel 21. Turn back to Jeremiah 5. Jeremiah 5, verse 30-31. A wonderful and horrible thing
is committed in the land. The prophets prophesied falsely.
This was then and this is now. The prophets prophesy falsely,
the priests bear rule by their means. My people love to have
it so. What will you do in the end thereof?" And that day when a man or woman
stands before God and calls upon their vain oblation, whatever
was in their heart, as the foundation of pardon before God. Whatever
they trusted in. And they'll find in that day
that God Almighty, who is just, will say to them, I never knew
you. Imagine the horror in realizing,
I've been wrong. I was wrong. And look at the Lord's chastening
hand toward His people, causing them to see the folly of their
ways. Look at verse 33. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand that
was stretched out armed with my fury poured out will I rule
over you. And I will bring you out from
the people I will gather you out of the countries wherein
you're scattered. With a mighty hand that was stretched
out, armed with fury poured out, I will bring you into the wilderness
of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face."
When he says plead with you, it doesn't mean God's going to
try to beg you. The word there means I'm going to inflict punishment. I'm going to cause you to see
yourself. I'm going to deal with you. Like as I pleaded with your
fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I
plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to
pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of covenant."
I can't go past this one. I'm going to have to stay here
just a second. I will cause you to pass under
the rod. In the Scriptures, there's three
Three things that the rod refers to. Number one, it refers to
the Father's punishment, to the chastening hand, the rod of chastisement. You know, if you be without chastisement,
you're not the Lord's. And He's talking to His elect
here. He's talking to the people that
He's lifted His hand to. I'm going to show mercy to you.
I will. And the one for whose sake, for
the honor of His name, He said, I've been long-suffering. You look at this world today.
Why do you think God would be pleased to be long-suffering
to such a rebellious world in which we live? This is horrible. Everything apart from the regenerating
grace of God is wickedness. It's awful. And it's lies and
deceit. There's nothing stable about
it. It's horrible. Why would God
be long-suffering? For the honor of His name and
the salvation of the Bride of Christ. He's going to show compassion
and long-suffering. He said, this is what I'm going
to do. I'm going to cause you to pass under the rod. That rod,
first of all, was that chastening rod of correction. I didn't worry. There was a little
kid who lived next door to us in Franklin, and I'm telling
you, I would have loved to have dealt with him. Believe me, so
many times I thought to myself, kid, you better be glad I'm not
your daddy. Because I'd light your life up. But if it was my kids, I'm going
to deal with you. Why? Because you're mine. And
I love you. And I'm going to deal with you.
I'm not going to let you act like this. He said, I'm going
to cause you to pass under the rod. Secondly, that rod was the
scepter of a king. That's what that rod refers to.
The scepter of royalty. The Lord said, I'm your God and
you're my people. I'm going to rule over you. Now
for those that he left to themselves, God can leave a man to himself
and be just in doing so. And thirdly, it was the rod of
a shepherd that would guide and direct, the shepherd's staff.
He would guide, you know, the Lord is my shepherd. His rod,
staff, comforts me, guides me, directs me. He said, I'm going
to cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into
the bond of the covenant, into the binding of the covenant.
Now when the Lord says, I'm going to bring you, I'm going to show
you something. I'm going to bring to your understanding. I'm going to teach you something.
about the bond of the covenant. Now, this bond of the covenant,
it's not that the Lord and we have entered into a covenant. David said, He made with me an
everlasting covenant. But let me tell you, sir, where
all the binding was, it was on God's part with God. God Almighty
has bound Himself. according to His will and purpose,
has bound Himself to show mercy. Why? Because He will. I will
have mercy. I will. And He said, I'm going
to bring you into a realization of this. Now you think about,
you that know Him, how the Lord has brought us into the bond,
into the binding that He's bound Himself to, to show mercy. I will have mercy. He bound Himself. His Word. He has exalted His Word above
all things. Heaven and earth. Password. Not
my Word. I will. It shall be done. I'm
going to bring you into the bond of the covenant. And he said,
I will purge, verse 38, out from among you the rebels and them
that transgress against me. No place that I could find in
Scripture where God Almighty ever referred to His people as
rebels. Now they were rebellious. They
were rebellious. But no place can I find where
God ever referred to His people as rebels. I'm going to purge
out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against
Me. I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourned. They shall not enter into the
land of Israel. You shall know that I am the
Lord." The Lord says, I'm going to remove the tares out from
among you. I'm going to separate the sheep
from the goats. I'm going to reveal Myself to
you." Verse 39, "...as for you, O house of Israel, thus saith
the Lord God..." Now He's talking about those rebels that He's
going to purge out. He said, I'm going to tell you,
you that claim to know Me, you that offer these vain oblations,
you that try to inquire of Me, You know, on the merit of your
own self-righteousness. He said, as for you, O house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, go ye, serve ye everyone
his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me.
But listen to this last phrase here in verse 39. But pollute
ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. Let me tell you what he just
said. Those that are left in their old wicked ways, those
who refuse to bow to Him as the sovereign God, the God that makes
distinction according to His will, has mercy and compassion
on whom He will. Here's what he says to them.
This is what you want. Go ye and serve ye every one
his idols. You won't hear my word. You won't
hear my voice. Go serve your impotent God. The
God that needs you to help Him save you, you serve Him. Go serve Him. That God who has
no hands, you say, but your hands. Has no eyes, no feet, no legs,
but yours. You serve Him, but pollute ye
my holy name no more with your gifts and your idols." This is
what he just said. Don't pretend to be worshiping
me and using my name as a cover for your idolatrous practice. It's an abomination to me. Don't
say that you belong to me. Because you don't. You know,
that's serious, isn't it? You that will not bow to God
Almighty as the sovereign God. Does it make a difference what
a man believes? Remember what Paul said in Galatians
1.9. If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
than that which we preached unto you, Let him be accursed. Here's what the Lord is saying.
You that will not hear me will not bow. And I realize this,
unless God gives a man a new heart, nobody will. But He said,
you that won't bow, you that's trying to take Scripture and
try to prove your free will, you that try to flip around these
Scriptures right here, unrest these Scriptures, you go worship
your God. Go worship your God, but don't
say you belong to me. It's an abomination for you to
say that you belong to me. He says in verse 40, for in mine
holy mountain, that's Mount Zion, that's the church, that's the
holy Jerusalem. In mine holy mountain, in the
mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall
all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me."
He said, I'll tell you where I'm going to be found to be served. In my church. A place where I've
raised up a people and gave them a pastor after my heart. I'm
going to teach them. Give them understanding taught
by the Spirit of God. There will I accept them. And
there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits of your oblations
with all your holy things. In the place that honors the
Lord, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
according to my character, according to the revelation of myself,
In that mountain, Revelation 14, when I looked and lo, a lamb
stood on the Mount Zion with Him, 140 and 4,000 having His
Father's name written in their foreheads. God had given them
a new heart, a new mind to know Christ. Verse 41, He said, I'll
accept you with your sweet savor. You know, you remember the burnt,
I've told you this before, the burnt offering? The burnt offering. It was said to be a sweet savor
offering. And the burnt offering was offered
on the brazen altar. And that sweet savor offering
was offered unto the Lord. And what the burnt offering was,
was an offering magnifying the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the burnt offering did. That's what it was. It was
a burnt offering. It was an offering that set forth
that Christ was obedient. The obedience of this is my beloved
Son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him. That sweet savor
that the Father smelled of the obedience of Christ. The one
who accomplished the will, finished the will of God to save a people,
that's a sweet savor. Now that sweet savor of His obedience,
how do we get that? We're robed in His righteousness. That's the sweet savor that the
Father smells of us. It's His righteousness. The Lord,
our righteousness. That's the sweet savor. It's
the righteousness of Christ. And He says, now I'm going to
accept you with your sweet savor. When did I ever do that? You
didn't apart from Him. He is our savor of life. when
I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries
wherein you've been scattered, and I will be set apart, known
to be the holy God, sanctified in you before the heathen." Christ
is going to be known by God's people to be their only righteousness. I will be sanctified in them
before the heathen." God's people are going to be known before
the heathen that God Almighty is their salvation and help and
stay. Listen to this, Psalm 126.2.
This is beautiful. He said, this is what it's going
to say. I read this passage of Scripture. I don't know when,
but I can tell you this. In the day of judgment, I can
certainly see this being said. This is what the heathens are
going to say. Psalm 126.2. They're going to
say, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord's done
great things for them. When they hear the Lord, the
judge, say, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of
iniquity, I never knew you." And they see the sheep, and they
hear the words of the Lord Jesus to the sheep, and He says, Enter
in, enter in that which has been prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world. You know what they're going to
say? The Lord has done great things for them while we're separated. Verse 42, and you shall know
that I am the Lord when I shall bring you into the land of Israel,
into the country for the which I lifted up my hand to give it
to your fathers. You're going to know then that
I've done what I've done, and you're going to know it by experience.
And we do know now. We know it. But we know it in
part. And we do see through a glass
darkly, but we do see. And I'm thankful that we can
see. And they're going to know, God's
people are going to know in that day, you are, Lord, the faithful
and true God. You're the one that has delivered
us from the bondage of our iniquity and rebellion against you. You
saved us, verse 43, and there shall ye remember your ways and
all your doings wherein you've been defiled, and you shall loathe
yourselves in your own sight. for all your evils that you have
committed. Doesn't God's people do that
right now? Don't they know? What believer is there that does
not admit, I know what I am by nature. I see in me, in my flesh,
there dwells no good thing. Lord, have mercy. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? The last verse, and you shall
know, that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for My
name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according
to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord."
You're going to know that the Lord has done all that He's done
for His people according to His good pleasure. That there wasn't
anything in them that merited or deserved His mercy. Mercy is for the undeserving. Mercy is for the undeserving. Wrath is what they deserve, but
mercy for the undeserving. You're going to know in that
day what I've done for you. If God Almighty had not left
us a small remnant, We'd all been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lord, we are what we are by your grace. Teach us that afresh for
Christ's sake.