Ezekiel chapter 16, we'll read
the first 14 verses. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, by birth and by nativities of the land
of Canaan, Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite.
And as for thy nativity and the day that thou was born, thy navel
was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee,
clean thee. Thou was not salted at all, nor
swaddled at all. No, I pity thee to do any of
these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. but thou
was cast into the open field to the loathing of thy person
in the day that thou was born. And when I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when
thou was in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
was in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou has increased in wax and
grate. And thou art come to excellent
ornaments, thy breasts are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas
thou was naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And
I spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness.
Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with
water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and
I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee with brooded work,
and shod thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about with
fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel in thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thou was decked
with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and
silk, embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness,
which I put upon thee, save the Lord God. Throughout the Old
Testament, we see picture after picture, example after example
of how God saves sinners. It begins from the very beginning
in Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter one declares
unto us through how God created the heaven and the earth, but
is also a picture of salvation. From the very beginning of God's
word to the very end. It's picture after picture, example
after example, what our brother just read this morning. It's
an example, a picture of salvation. And if we're gonna know these
things, if we're gonna understand it, God's gotta reveal it to
us. But it's story after story, it's example after example. Every
miracle that Christ performed on this earth is a picture of
salvation. The blind, the lame, the deaf. You know, it's, We have different
experiences in salvation, do we not? I mean, God reveals himself to
us the same way, but we're in different circumstances at times
and in situations. But it's the same salvation.
But we see these things and all of them apply to us because by
nature we're all, what, blind. By nature, we're all lame. So
each example and picture applies to us, but we see things in just
this glorious view and throughout the word of God. And we have
here this morning, it's a picture, it's an example of how God saves
sinners. And I love seeing these pictures.
I love seeing these examples, not with the eyes of the flesh,
but with my heart, in my spirit, God enlightening the eyes of
our understanding that we may see these things and know these
things. And so I pray this morning as we look at this passage that
God would be pleased to reveal unto us what he has done for
us and who and what we are, what he's made us by his grace and
by his power. Now it's common practice during
this time that if a baby was born and if that baby was an
unwanted baby, If that baby was born in some way deformed, or
maybe if they perceived that it was sick, sometimes even if
it was just if that baby was a girl, they would cast that
baby into an open field. They wouldn't do anything for
it. It was the tradition. It was the custom. They would
just cast the baby into the open field as soon as it was born.
And this is the backdrop. This is the canvas, so to speak. that God has given us to display
and to picture his salvation. This is the picture that God
gives us of mankind, to reveal unto us who and what we are,
and to reveal unto us what he has done for his people. He said,
this message is for Jerusalem. This message is for his people. And that's important to understand
as well too. The word of the Lord came unto
his prophet Ezekiel and he was commanded by God to cause Jerusalem
to know her abominations. Well, how is Jerusalem going
to know her abominations? He said, you say unto them. He
was like, you go and you tell them, you speak to them. What God did was he gave his
prophet or he sent his prophet to his people and gave them a
message. And that's what God does. We
talked about the calling of God. God sends a messenger with his
message to his people. This is how God saves sinners.
This is how God calls them. And part of the meaning of this
word, say, in our text here has a special application to the
message being delivered in the heart. And when the gospel goes
forth, when God reveals himself to a sinner, it's a work performed
in the heart. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has commanded where? In our hearts. The work
of salvation is a hard work. We know that the sower went out
to sow seed. We have this illustration in
the New Testament. The sower went out to sow seed,
and some of that seed fell upon the wayside. Some of that seed
fell upon the rocks. Some of it fell upon the thorns,
and we know the consequences of that. The evil one came and
snatched away the seed, the thorns choked it up, the cares of this
world, the rock, it had no ground, it had no root, but there was
good ground upon which that seed which the sower spread out fell.
And that good ground received the seed and the seed took root
and it produced fruit. That good ground is the heart
which God has prepared to receive his seed which he has sown in
our hearts and causes to grow fruit. And so this word, like
I said, say there, there is that special application where it's
applied to the heart. And that's what I hope the Lord
does this morning, applies his word to our hearts. And he does so by the preaching
of the gospel. How are they gonna call on him
in whom they have not believed and how they believe in him in
whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a
preacher? If we're gonna call out to God for mercy and salvation,
God's gotta send a messenger to us to reveal unto us our need
for salvation. It calls us to call. Well, how's
he gonna do that? He's gonna send a preacher and
give him a message. How shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. And we know that faith cometh
by hearing and hearing how? By the word of God. Paul said,
for this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when
you receive the word of God which you heard of us, you receive
the word which you heard of us. God sent us to you to preach
the gospel and you received it. And you received it not as a
word of men. This isn't a man message. God uses men. But Paul just said,
I'm just a vessel. That's all I am. I'm a vessel.
You received it as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. He said, you go and tell Jerusalem.
You cause her to know what? Her abominations. You cause her
to know who and what she is and what I've done for her. Now I want us to first consider
the position and condition of God's people. As I just said,
the Lord told Ezekiel, cause her to know her abominations.
The gospel begins with a declaration of what we are by nature and
that we are by nature an abomination to God. We must be told and God
must reveal to us who and what we are by nature. The gospel
reveals to us our situation. The gospel reveals unto us our
position and the gospel reveals unto us our condition. Because
by nature, we don't know these things. By nature, we don't know
who we are or what we are. We do not understand it because
by nature, we're just filled with pride and self-righteousness.
But our view of ourselves is wrong. Our view of ourselves
is off. But the gospel reveals these
things to us. And the Lord told Ezekiel, he
said, say to Jerusalem that her birth and nativities of the land
of Canaan, that her father was an Amorite and her mother was
a Hittite. And Canaan was a cursed land. The Amorites and the Hittites
were wicked, sinful, evil, idolatrous people. And this is our condition
and our nature in this world. This world is a cursed world. We're born cursed people by cursed
parents into a cursed world. world. This is what this pictures
in Ezekiel chapter 16. This is where she was, the condition
that she was in. That open field is a cursed world. Her condition is a cursed condition. Paul said, wherefore is by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men for all have sinned. Paul said in Psalm chapter
51, behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. When Adam disobeyed God, he plunged
all of humanity into sin and death. Adam was our representative
in the garden. And as a consequence, this whole
entire world is a cursed world. The people born into this world
are a cursed people. And when this infant was born,
she wasn't washed. She wasn't salted. She wasn't
swaddled. Nothing was done for her. She
was born, and then immediately upon birth, simply cast into
an open field to die. A barbaric custom and truth of
the matter, man has not changed. Nothing was done for her. No
eye pitied her. No one had compassion on her.
No one loved her. And here we see our position.
Upon birth, she was cast in the open field, absolutely, completely
helpless. And this is what we are by nature
and how we are born into this world. We are absolutely, completely
helpless. We are born into this world in
total depravity, completely incapable of doing anything for ourself.
What could this baby do? This baby could do nothing. And
in reality, the only thing that this baby could do, if she was
indeed able to, was just to cry out, that was it. That was all
that she was capable of doing, was just crying out. No one loved
her, no one washed her. They just cast her into this
open field. She's completely ruined. She's
polluted. And that's what we are by nature. I know so many times, you know,
I had a friend of mine, she used to do it all the time. She would,
you know, describe babies as being these little angels, these
little angels. I love, and I have no other way
to describe it, but the laugh of a baby is one of the most
beautiful things, isn't it? It is. The innocency in a sense,
right? Because in a sense they are,
We're born into this world born in sin. And we have to know that,
we have to understand what we are. We're ruined. And we're given
a description of ourselves in Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah writes,
the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem. Again, this is concerning Jerusalem,
okay? Where does this message go into
in Ezekiel chapter 16? It's going to Jerusalem. So the
Lord's speaking here to Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham
and Ahaz. The Lord says, hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I've nourished
and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me.
We come out of the womb, going what? Going astray, speaking
lies, rebelling against God. The ox knoweth his owner, the
ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my
people do not consider, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters, they've
forsaken the Lord. They provoked the Holy One of
Israel unto anger. They've gone away backwards.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You're just gonna revolt more
and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart faint. The natural mind is enmity against
God. The heart is wicked. It's evil,
the Lord said. Who can know it? And what proceeds
out of the heart of man? All evil. He describes it to
us, but it's all evil. There's no soundness in you,
but it's just wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've
not been clothed up, neither bound up, neither nullified with
ointment. And that's where she is here,
isn't it? This is us by nature. From the
top of our head to the bottom of our feet, it's just wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. I know we look good to ourselves.
and we can look good to others. But when you start getting down
to the spiritual things, what we are on the inside, the heart,
the mind, by nature, we are ruined. By nature, we are this infant. This is what we are by nature. I want us to see this morning
what God did for her. Again, this is a picture of salvation. What has God done for his people?
Those who are redeemed, those who are recalled, what has God
done for them? We read that he passed by us. and looked upon us and said to
live. You know, if you, later on today,
if you look back at that, notice how many times the word I is
used. I passed by you. I looked on
you. I said, I did, I did, I did. We did not seek him. He sought
us. How could this child seek him?
We didn't seek him, he sought us. He said, I'm coming to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. We read in, I believe it's in
Ezekiel as well. He said, I am he who both searches
out and seeks my sheep and I'm gonna find them wherever they
are in this world, lost and gone astray, scattered about. He saw us. We didn't see him. He saw us. That man at the pool
of Bethesda, the Lord saw him. The Lord went to him. That man
couldn't do anything. He said, I have no man to take
me down to the water. But the Lord saw him, a certain
man, as he's described in that text, a certain man, a chosen
man, an elected man. And he spoke to us saying, live. And then he washed us, anointed
us with oil, clothed us, shod us, girded us, decked us, in
the scripture of the old passage says, made us perfect through
his comeliness. Our beauty is his beauty. And we're beautiful because we're
in him. He came to where we were and
did absolutely everything for us. And I want us to see that
this morning. And the work of salvation is
described as the time of love. When he passed by her, the prophet
writes, behold, thy time was the time of love. There is a
time appointed by God when he crosses our path. Nothing in
salvation is left to chance or circumstance. It is appointed
and brought to pass by God Almighty. And this is not the time when
God began to love her. Or as we describe it, we describe
it so many times as when we fell in love. When we fell in love. This was not, God did not begin
to love her at this point. God came to her because he did
love her. God has loved us with an everlasting
love, with an eternal love. But this is described as a time
of love, why? Because it's when she began to
know the love of Christ for her, that's why. She began to know,
to understand the love of Christ for her. Her, who know I pitied,
who was an unwanted baby cast into an open field who nobody
loved. She knew nothing about love until
Christ came and said unto her, now your time is a time of love.
I'm gonna make you mine. And he said, live. And he did
everything for her. That's why this time is described
as a time of love. You know, I actually thought
about this this morning, you know, within this congregation,
there are many people in this congregation Many people in this
congregation who grew up in a gospel church under a gospel pastor, me being one of them, many people
grew up hearing nothing else but the gospel for most of their
life. And I heard the gospel. For all
of my life, I heard the gospel preached Sunday after Sunday,
CJ's wall, the gospel, Sunday after Sunday, heard it, heard
it, heard it. And many times the message was concerning what?
The love of Christ. But I never knew the love of
Christ until God, until that time of love when God revealed
unto me by his mercy, by his grace, for some reason, he loved
me. That's where my time of love was. But he had loved me with
an everlasting love. But I didn't know it until the
time of love, until he revealed unto me his love for me. And
then I saw, I saw what Calvary was about. I began to see why he hung on
that cross. That's how we know the love of
God. That Christ died for us. Salvation is a work of love.
Look at Ephesians chapter two real quick. Ephesians chapter
two. I want to see a couple passages, let me draw us to this. Ephesians 2 verse 1, and you
hath he quickened, hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses
and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air
and 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. This is what we are by nature,
the children of wrath, even as others. We're all born into this
world in the same condition, in the same position. But God, but God, who makes the
difference? God makes the difference. I passed
by thee, I looked upon thee, I said live. We talked this morning
about the call of God, it's of God, of him are you in Christ
Jesus who is made unto us. Who is rich in mercy, why? For
his great love wherewith he loved us. Why has God saved us? Why has God called us? Why did
God send his son into this world? Why did Christ suffer and die
on the cross? Because of his great love with
where he loved us, even when we were dead in sin. There wasn't anything beautiful
about us. There wasn't anything about us.
We were dead in sin. hath he quickened us together
with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places, that in the ages to come he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Salvation is a work of love. He said, thy time was a time
of love. Paul said in Romans, when we
were yet without strength, that's what this baby was, without strength,
without power, without any ability to do anything. And that's what
we are by nature. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't come to save the righteous.
That's not who He came to call. He came to call, to save, to
rescue, to redeem sinners. He loved her, chose her. He said, you became mine. I made
you mine, mine. That's who Christ came to save. That's what Christ has done.
He said, Father, I pray those whom
you have given me be with me where I am. You're mine. There's this helpless, hopeless,
polluted baby. He said your time was a time
of love. And you just, you think about it for just a moment. He
goes to where she is. washes her, picks her up, cleans
her, clothes her. I mean, if you see the picture,
I mean, you can picture just that love, just holding that
baby, embracing that baby, letting her know that she's loved. And we see these things, don't
we? Humanity is so corrupt. We're
just so corrupt by nature. The things that we do, it's just
indescribable. It really is. It's really indescribable. We can't understand it until
God gives us an understanding. The way that people treat people
in this world, I wouldn't even treat my dog like that. That's
just the truth. I wouldn't even treat my dog
like that. My dog gets up in my bed and I love on her at times. He said, you became mine. That's
what I want. I want to be his. I want to be
his. He chose us, came to us where
we were and had mercy on us. The work of salvation is a work
of love. There's nothing in us to cause
God to love us. What about that baby could cause
the Lord to love her? What about her? There's nothing
beautiful about us, nothing worthy or deserving about us. For reasons known to God, he
set his affection on a chosen people and determined to save
them because he loved them. We read in Deuteronomy, thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, special. Above
all people that are on the face of the earth, The Lord did not
set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people.
But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the
oath which he has sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And I love how
God describes things at times. I love it. Well, I love it all
the time, but I love how God describes things. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any other people. Why did God love us? Because the Lord loved
you. That's why. The simplicity of
the answer, because he loved you. Why does God love his people? Because he loves them. And you
know, You know, and Chris has even
talked about it before. There are volumes and volumes and volumes
of books that are written trying to explain and describe the love
of God and why He loves His people. But I love the simplicity of
this answer right here, it's because He loved you. For some
reason only known to God, God loved His people. And I think sometimes instead
of trying to figure everything out. I just want to rest in that.
I just want to enjoy that. I want to bask in his love for
me. And the simplicity of that answer,
what it does is it just causes you to bow and cry out for mercy. It just causes you to come to
him like that leper and said, Lord, I know you're able, are
you willing? I know God is love, does he love
me? Does he love me? Because if he
loves me, I got nothing to worry about. That's what I wanna know, does
he love me? Has he chosen me? He loved her and he entered into
a covenant with her. He said, behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger
and my fury and in great wrath, and I will bring them again into
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God. We have seen this
throughout several passages of the Old Testament. Paul writes
about it in the New Testament, and I'll tell you this, we see
it fulfilled in the book of Revelation. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. And I will give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, a covenant that has no beginning and no
end. It's an everlasting covenant
that I will not turn away from them to do them good. but I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. Everything we see here is the
work of salvation. He said, I will rejoice over
them. We read in the Hebrews for the joy, for the joy, for
the joy Christ endured the cross. That's love right there. That's
love. And I will plant them in this
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my soul. He came
to where she was, made her his, entered into a
covenant with her, a covenant of salvation, and he made her
perfect. He made her perfect. In reading
Ephesians, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave himself for it. And that's how he made
her perfect. He gave himself for her. Why? That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot. There's no wrinkles
or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish. And that's what he did for that
baby. washed her, covered her nakedness,
covered her with his skirt, decked her, adorned her, and made her
beautiful in his beauty, in his comeliness. We're perfect in
Christ alone, in Christ alone. Isaiah said, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord and my soul shall be joyful in my God for he has
clothed me with the garment of salvation. The Lord said, we don't put patches
on an old garment, no. I gotta get a new garment. When
the prodigal son returned, what did the father do? He put a new
garment on. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness. covered in Christ. Come now,
let us reason. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. How is that gonna happen? How
is that gonna happen? He's gotta wash us with pure
water. It's somewhere in Job, one of
the men in Job said, if I could just wash myself with snow water. David said, wash me and I'll
be clean. Purge me with hyssop. But he's covered me with a robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. He did everything for her. Look at Luke chapter 10 real
quick. Luke chapter 10, verse 30. And
Jesus answering said, a certain man, again, a certain man. Just like when he went to the
pool of Bethesda and had mercy on that man, that man's described
as a certain man. God has a people in this world
and this message is for his people. And there's a certain man, a
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves.
which stripped him of his raiment, wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead. And by chance there came down
a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by
on the other side. The priest saw him, he crossed
over the side of the road, and went off. And likewise, a Levite,
when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed
by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, And notice these words here, came where he was. What did Christ do for that infant? Came where she was. Same message from beginning to
end, just picture after picture after picture, same message of
what Christ has done for his people. Came where he was and
saw him. And what'd he do? He said, thy
time is the time of love. He had compassion. And went to him, and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast, and brought him to an end, and took care of him. Same message. And on the morrow, when he departed,
he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto
him, take care of him. Whatever thou spendest more,
when I come again, I will pay thee. What price did Christ pay for
us? What price did Christ pay to
accomplish our redemption? The law condemned us. In order for us to be redeemed
and justified, God's justice had to be satisfied. God will
by no means clear the guilty. Every sin will receive his just
recompense and reward. But in order for us to be with
him, in order for us to be his bride, the price had to be paid
to redeem us. And in order for him to do that,
he had to suffer the just for the unjust. He had to be made
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And that price that was paid was his life. That price that
was paid was his precious blood, which he shed on the cross at
Calvary. That's when we really begin to
enter into the love of God for his people. That he loved her so much, he was willing to die for her. And understand that that death
was a wrath of God. It was the punishment of God. The work of salvation, it is
indeed the definition, it is the description, it is the perfect
example and picture of God's love. And the cost, the cost was the precious blood
of the Son of God. Now I want us to see what she
is now and where she will be. In Christ Jesus, we're new creatures.
We see here Christ made her a new creature with a new heart and
a new mind, which after God is created in righteousness and
holiness. Paul said, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new. Now, in this world, we still
have this flesh. In this world, we still have
this body of death that we deal with, that we battle with. Paul said, we know that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This flesh is just made with hands, but we are a soul, we
are a spirit. This body is just this flesh,
it's just this temporary thing. But we are a spirit. For in this
we groan, the children of God in this flesh groan. earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
And we do, we desire to be with Him. We desire to truly be like
Him. We desire not to have to battle
this flesh anymore. I don't wanna battle this flesh.
I don't wanna live in this flesh anymore. I'm ready to go home
and be with Him. I wanna be just like Him. I wanna
truly worship Him. I wanna see Him and love Him.
If so, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that
are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, and this flesh
is a burden, this sin is a burden. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life,
and that's what we desire. That's the mark that we press
towards. And we know and are sure that
Christ who found us and saved us will protect us and preserve
us until the day that he gathers all his elect together in the
kingdom and it's prepared for them. And they shall be perfect
and spend eternity with him. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. I go and prepare a place for
you. And where he went to prepare that place was the cross. He
went to the cross to prepare a place for me, for his people,
that where he is, there I shall be also. And he said, I will
come again and I'll receive you unto myself. Why? Because you're
mine. Because I've loved you with an
everlasting love and I'm gonna spend eternity with you. And He that called us, He that
did all these things for us, He that saved us, He's gonna
come again. And even though in this world, we
walk through this world, our conduct is in this world, we
do business in this world, we battle the flesh in this world,
one day this corruption is gonna put on incorruption and this
mortality, immortality and death will be swallowed up. And He
will come again and He will bring us into His kingdom. And I know that until that day,
all of those who are His shall be preserved, they shall be kept.
He prayed for them, take them not out of the world, but keep
them. Now unto Him that is able, and
He is able, He's able to what? To keep you from falling. Like
Daniel in the lion's den, He is able to keep us from all of
our enemies. In the valley of the shadow of
death, He is able to keep us. Through this dark world that
we wander through, He is able to keep us and He shall keep
us. He shall keep us. And He's gonna present us faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And one day
this corruption shall put on incorruption. Look at Revelation
chapter 7. I'll close with just a couple
passages here. Revelation chapter 7. Look at verse 9. And after this, I beheld and
lo a great multitude into which no man could number. No man could
number, but God Almighty knows the number. Of all nations and
kindred and people and tongues stood before the throne before
the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. White robes, pure. and cried with a loud voice saying,
salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the
land. And all the angels stood round about the throne and about
the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on
their faces and worshiped God saying, amen. Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
unto our God forever and ever, amen. And one of the elders answered
saying unto me, which are these? What are these arrayed in white
robes? And where did they come from? Once came they, and I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. These are they which
came out of an open field. These are they which were polluted,
unwanted, unloved, just cast out into an open field to die.
That's who these are. That's who these are. And they've washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. I will
be their God, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell
with them." Fulfillment of the promise. They shall hunger no more. She just kind of thought for
a thought. What's the first thing you do
for a baby when it's born? You feed it. We're not gonna hunger anymore,
we're not gonna thirst anymore. The sun's not gonna light upon
them any heat. Why? For the lamb, which is in
the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them
into living fountains of waters. And God's gonna wipe away all
tears from their eyes. Look at Revelation chapter 21. Read Revelation 21 verse one. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away
and there was no more sea. The Lord spoke to Ezekiel, and
he said to Ezekiel, he said, you go speak to Jerusalem. You go speak to my people. You
go speak to Jerusalem. And you caused Jerusalem to know
her abominations. In the message of Ezekiel, Ezekiel
went to Jerusalem and he spoke the message. He spoke our text. He said, you're of the land of
Canaan. Your mother was an Amorite, your father a Hittite. He said, when you were born, no
one pitied you, no one had compassion on you, no one wanted you, no
one loved you. Your parents cast you out into
an open field. to the loathing of your person,
polluted, but the Lord passed by you, and the Lord had compassion on
you, and the Lord did everything for
you, made you his, made you perfect, loved you, redeemed you, went
to the cross, suffered and died in your place for your sin. And now John in spirit sees the
holy city, New Jerusalem. This is where she is right now.
Coming down from God, It's all of him, isn't it? Everything. It's all of him. She's coming
down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned
for her husband. He said, you're mine, you're
mine. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
And once again, the fulfillment of the promise, he will dwell
with them and they shall be his people. And God himself shall
be with them and be their God. He says, you're mine and you're
gonna spend all eternity with me. You know, in our Lord's Prayer
in John chapter 17, those whom thou has given me be with me
where I am. And he talks about it, the language
there says that the love of God for his son, we're going to be able to enter
into that love because we are in Christ. We're gonna know,
and I don't know how to describe that or explain it, but we are
going to know that love. That's the love with which God
has for his people. And one day we're gonna know
that, truly, truly know it. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, no more sorrow,
no more crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain. Why? The former things are passed
away. Said thy Tom was a Tom of love.
I thank God for the pictures that
he gives us. I thank God for his word. I thank God for his love. It's only by the preaching of
the gospel that we're able to enter into these truths. I pray God will cause us to enter
in this morning by his grace.