Alright brethren, let's go back
there now to Ezekiel chapter 20. At the time this was written,
or the time this was taking place, the children of Israel had been
scattered by God into all the nations and they were under the
rule of Babylon at this time. So they're not in Israel, they're
scattered under the rule of Babylon. It says, verse 1, it came to
pass in the seventh year and the fifth month, the tenth day
of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to
inquire of the Lord and sat before me, sat before Ezekiel. Then
came the word of the Lord unto me, Ezekiel speaking God's word,
and it said, son of man, Speak unto the elders of Israel. These were the chiefs of the
tribes. Say unto them, thus saith the Lord God. Are ye come to
inquire of me? Now here's another question God
asks of a sinner. Are you come to inquire of me? God says, as I live, That means
he swears by himself. This is a covenant promise. As
I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. God will not be inquired of by
a sinner who has broken God's covenant of works. Anybody who's
broken God's covenant, broken his law, God will not be inquired
of by them. Now we all broke God's covenant
in Adam. And we all became guilty before
God. But the only way God's gonna
be inquired of is if we have kept covenant with God in perfect
righteousness and perfect holiness. How then are ruined sinners like
you and me ever gonna be able to approach the throne of God
and be accepted of God and inquire of God? How's that gonna come
to be? Well, first of all, it'll never
be by our works. It can never be by our works.
You know, God gave the law, Scripture says, Romans 5 says, He gave
the law that the offense might abound. The offense that we committed
in the garden, He gave the law to Israel to show us how offensive
we offended God in that one transgression in the garden. He gave it to
shut our mouth. He gave it to declare us guilty.
He gave it to give us a knowledge of sin. That's why He gave the
law. So here's these elders, they're sitting in front of God.
So what he tells Ezekiel to do, he says, verse four, wilt thou
judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? What's he saying? Cause them to know the abominations
of their fathers. So these elders are sitting here,
they're in Babylon, and God tells Ezekiel, now you tell them, begin
with their fathers, way back there in Egypt. and you declare
to them that their fathers and their father's children and their
father's children's children, even them, even themselves, have
never obeyed me. All they've ever done is broken
my covenant. And when we look at this, we see ourselves. We see what we did in Adam in
the garden, what we did in our flesh, and what we still do in
our flesh. Now watch this. Say unto them,
verse 5, thus saith the Lord God, the covenant God, in the
day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed
of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the
land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying,
I am the Lord your God. In the day that I lifted up my
hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into
a land that I had aspired for them, flowing with milk and honey,
which is the glory of all land. Then said I unto them, cast ye
away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves
with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Now when God repeats something
in a passage, that tells you this is what that passage is
about. God said I lifted up my hand to you. I lifted up my hand
to you. I lifted up my hand to you. I
lifted up my hand to you. What's he saying? I swear by
myself in covenant because I can swear by no greater. And God
said, he told them, here's the terms for you. Put away all your
idol gods. Don't look to the idols of Egypt.
Put those idols away. I'm the Lord your God. Worship
me and serve me alone. And they entered covenant with
God, saying they promised, they vowed to keep that covenant to
God. Verse eight, but they rebelled
against me and would not hearken unto me. They did not ever meant
cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they
forsake the idols of Egypt. Now that wasn't a surprise to
God. They'd already broken the covenant
in Adam just like we had. But God gave that law to show
them and us that we can't come to God by covenant of works.
Now look, Verse eight, then I said, I will pour out my fury upon
them to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land
of Egypt. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not
be polluted before the heathen. among whom they were, in whose
sight I made myself known unto them, and bringing them forth
out of the land of Egypt." God said, I didn't do this for their
sakes. They sinned. They deserved judgment
and death. God said, I did it for my name's
sake. I didn't destroy them. I spared them. I spared them. Just think why he spared them.
There's some true elect children that's gotta be born from them.
If he kills them, those elect won't be born. So for his namesake,
he spared them. Christ is coming through the
lineage of Judah, so he spared them for his namesake. He would
not allow his name to be polluted. Everything God does, he does
in covenant promise, and he does it for his namesake. Number one
reason. Now watch this. Next he shows
how they broke the law in the wilderness. That was in Egypt.
That was before they even came out of Egypt. They already broke
his law. Now watch this. Verse 10. Wherefore
I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, brought
them into the wilderness, and I gave them my statutes and showed
them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
That doesn't mean we could keep the law or they could keep the
law. That's just a statement of fact. If a man did keep the
law, he would live in it. There's only one man that did.
That's Christ. He's the only one. Now watch.
Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between
me and them that they might know that I'm the Lord that sanctified
them. The Sabbath days typified Christ
who is the believer's Sabbath. That was the day that God provided
everything for them. They didn't have to do anything.
And that was the sign to them, the evident token to them, that
God had sanctified them. They rested in that day and He
provided all. You know what the evident token
is for you, sinner, that God has really sanctified you? You
rest in Christ our Sabbath from all your works, trusting Christ
to provide everything for you. That's the sign of sanctification.
Men think it's going to the law and doing all these works in
the law. That's not it. The token of sanctification is
you rest in Christ. Verse 13, but the house of Israel
rebelled against me in the wilderness. They walked not in my statues,
and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even
live in them. And my Sabbaths they greatly
polluted. Then I said I would pour out my fury upon them in
the wilderness to consume them. but I wrought for my namesake,
that it should not be polluted before the heathen in whose sight
I brought them out. You see, we're looking at covenant
here, and we're looking at the reason God keeps his covenant.
Everything he does, I lift up my hand in covenant promise,
and I fulfill that promise for my namesake. Now watch this. Verse 15, yet also I lifted up
my hand unto them in the wilderness, Again, he swears by himself in
covenant, but now look what he promises this time, that I would
not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing
with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, because
they despised my judgments and walked not in my statutes, but
polluted my Sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols. God, in a covenant of works,
God promises you keep my law and I'll deliver you. But God
also promises you break my law and you die. They broke it. We broke it in Adam and we died
in Adam. And God's faithful to fulfill
his covenant promise whether it's in condemnation or salvation. He's faithful. He does it for
his name's sake. He cannot lie. Now watch verse
17. Nevertheless, mine eye spared
them from destroying them. Neither did I make an end of
them in the wilderness. He let them wander for 40 years
till all the people that came out of Egypt died. And then he
saved, the only two he saved that came out of Egypt was Joshua
and Caleb. And those that were 20 years
and under, the children. Now watch, but I said to their
children in the wilderness, before he ever brought them into the
Canaan, he said, walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers.
Neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their
idols. I am the Lord your God. Walk
in my statutes, keep my judgments, and do them. Hallow my Sabbaths,
and they shall be a sign between me and you that you may know
that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding, the children
rebelled against me. They walked not in my statues,
neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he
shall even live in them. They polluted my Sabbaths. Then
I said I would pour out my fury upon them to accomplish my anger
against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless, I withdrew my hand
and wrought for my namesake, that it should not be polluted
in the sight of the heathen in whose sight I brought them out.
I lifted up my hand unto them also in the wilderness, that
I would scatter them among the heathen. and dispersed them through
the countries, because they had not executed my judgments, but
had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and
their eyes were after their fathers." Get what he just said there.
He said, before I delivered them into Canaan, while as yet they
were in the wilderness, I promised them that when they broke my
laws in Canaan, I was gonna scatter them. See, this wasn't a surprise
to God. In the garden, God didn't say,
if you eat of that tree, Adam. He said, in the day you do. you
shall surely die. He knew it. He knew what they
were going to do. He told them beforehand, you're going to break
my judgments and I'm going to scatter you. Now watch this word,
verse 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes
that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live.
And I polluted them in their own gifts. and that they cause
to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I
might make them desolate to the end, that they might know that
I am the Lord." The Lord said He did that. What does He mean? What did He do? What did He do
to give them bad laws and bad statutes? He left them to their
heart. to follow after the idols of
the world. He just left them to themselves.
And the result was they destroyed themselves. It's called turning
you over to a reprobate mind. That's all he had to do, leave
them alone. Leave them alone. Look, therefore, son of man,
speak to the house of Israel, say unto them, thus saith the
Lord God, yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me and that they've
committed a trespass against me. For when I had brought them
into the land, for the which I lifted up my hand to give it
to them, then they saw every high hill and all the thick trees,
and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented
the provocation of their offering, and there also they made their
sweet savor and poured out their drink offerings. They didn't
worship over the mercy seat in the tabernacle where God said,
I'll meet with you. It's like saying they didn't worship in
Christ. They went to these high hills that were shady and looked
good to them and said, that's where we're going to worship.
and we're gonna worship with our sacrifices, our way, and we're
gonna come to God our way. God said, what is the high place
whereunto you go? The name thereof's called Bama
unto this day. It means a worthless nothing. That's what you're worshiping,
he said. Wherefore, say unto the house of Israel, thus saith
the Lord God. Are you polluted after the manner
of your fathers? Now he's talking to these men
in front of him now. He gave them this whole illustration
from their fathers, their father's children, their father's children's
children. Now he says to them, are you
polluted after the manner of your fathers? Can you answer
that, Senator? Are you polluted after the manner
of your fathers? I am. I am. You are too. Look, commit
ye whoredom after their abominations? In our cells, in our flat, yes.
For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass
through the fire, you pollute yourselves with all your idols,
even unto this day. And shall I be inquired of by
you, O house of Israel? There's our question. Shall I
be inquired of by you? As I live, saith the Lord God,
I will not be inquired of by you. Each of us broke God's covenant
in the garden in Adam. So these are our transgressions
we've just looked at right here. These are our offenses. We worshiped
idols. We worshiped ourselves. We worshiped with our hands.
We went after our sins. We sinned against God in everything.
No matter what God did in lifting his hand, he fulfilled all his
covenant promises. We have never fulfilled anything
toward God. So left to ourselves, God will
not and he cannot receive us. He won't be inquired of by us.
He's in the holiest of holies. We can't come unto his holy place
and be received by him. So then, how can ruined sinners
be accepted of God and inquire of God? The only way a sinner
can come to God is through the everlasting covenant of grace
which Christ fulfilled for his people. That's the only way. That's the only way. But we're
sinners. How are we going to be brought into that covenant?
How are we going to be brought to come that way in a covenant
that's already been fulfilled? Coming, believing God and believing
Christ that He's already done all the works and the law's fulfilled.
How are we going to be made to come that way? We're rebels. We just saw what we are. This
is what I want to show you. First of all, God irresistibly
sanctifies His elect out from the world. He brings you out
from the world. He sanctifies you. That's what
He was picturing with that Sabbath day. He's saying if you will
rest in this day, it's a sign that I've brought you out. I've
separated you. If you can rest in Christ, it's
a sign God sanctified you out of this world. Now let's see
it, verse 32. That which cometh into your mind
shall not be at all. That you say, we will be as the
heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and
stone. We were just like them, brethren. They got into Babylon,
and instead of worshiping God as God demanded to be worshiped,
they said, let's don't be offensive. Let's adapt, I like that religion,
let's adapt some of that and I like this one, let's take some
of that and then let's mix in some of God's worship and we'll
just get along with everybody. Brethren, left to ourselves,
we cannot, we will not bow to God's word. We cannot and we
will not. Listen to this. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man,
what you are right now, if you're sitting here without Christ,
and what all of us wear in our sin, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. For they're foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually
discerned. They're when our will demolished. That means you can't come to
God just when you want to. because you don't want to. Isn't
that right? But God sovereignly chose a people in Christ, and
when it's time, He entered covenant with the Father and the Son.
They entered covenant together. God says, verse 33, as I live,
saith the Lord God. As I live, I'm the covenant God
and as I live, I'm sworn by myself, I can swear by no greater. Surely
with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured
out will I rule over you. And I will bring you out from
the people. And I will gather you out of
the countries wherein you're scattered with a mighty hand
and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured out. God
has an elect people in this world that he's chosen. And when the
time comes, God comes to those people and he's going to draw
them out from this world. Why? He predestinated. He determined their destiny beforehand
that they would be conformed to the image of Christ. And he's
going to draw them out of this world. And he's going to call
them and separate them. Listen to Romans 8, 28. We know
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Here's what worked
together for our good right here. Whom he did foreknow, he did
also predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his son, that
his son might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. He said, I'm doing this with
a mighty hand. I'm not gonna fail to do this. What do we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God chose you, you're going
to say, well, I'm just going to mingle in with the world and
just be an idolater and be content to get all I can, can all I get,
and sit on my can. And God said, no, you're not.
You're mine. I'm bringing you out. He does it with a mighty hand,
with a stretched out arm, sovereignly. He does it, he pours his fury
out, he poured his fury out on Christ and our place, and he
pours his fury out on our enemies, and he succeeds in bringing out
his people. He said, I will, I will, I will,
I will bring you out from the people. That's what sanctification
is. It's not to be joined in with
all the multitude going about trying to do all your many wonderful
works and calling it holiness and saying you're getting progressively
better and better and better and better and talking about
look how I've been sanctified. Everybody does that. Every idolater
does. It's to be brought out from that
trash and be sanctified to see Christ as all your holiness.
That's how he does. Now secondly, our great shepherd
brings each of his sheep under the rod of the gospel and thereby
brings us into the bond of the everlasting covenant of grace. He doesn't just bring you out
and just leave you out. He brings you out and he brings
you in. And he'll bring you out from the world and bring you
in under the gospel, the rod of the gospel. And there our
great shepherd's gonna number his sheep and separate them from
the goats. and bring you into the bond of
the covenant. Look at verse 35. And I will bring you into the
wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face
to face. God said through Isaiah, come,
let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be white as wood if you obey my gospel. I'm gonna plead
with them there. This is not a pleading like somebody
getting on their knees and begging and pleading. No, no, no. This
is him affectionately making you understand and bow. Now watch
this, like I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of
the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, said to the Lord God,
look, and I will cause you to pass under the rod. and I will
bring you into the bond of the covenant, and I will purge out
from among you the rebels and them that transgress against
me. I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn,
and they shall not enter into the land of Israel, the rebels.
You shall know I am the Lord. Go with me to John 10. A shepherd,
he talks about this rod, A shepherd would use his staff and he would
separate his sheep from other sheep and he would count his
sheep with that rod. That's the picture here. Christ
is our shepherd, he separates out his sheep from the goats,
and he numbers his sheep with his staff. This gospel is that
staff. Listen, Psalm 110.2, the Lord
shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, out of heaven's
Zion, the rod of your strength, and rule thou in the midst of
thine enemies, and what will be the result? Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. It's this gospel rod by
which he makes us willing in our hearts. I read an article
this morning by Pastor Jack Shanks, and he'd been with the Lord since
about 2004 or five, something like that, talking about this
gospel rod being used to separate out God's people. Brother Shanks
said, I don't want to be just a, what'd he call it, a nice
old preacher. He said, I don't want to be just
a nice old preacher. He's speaking of this gospel.
He says, my intention is to separate men. And that is the intention. That's what this rod's for, is
to separate God's sheep from the goats. Now Christ is the
shepherd of His sheep, and He's going to use the rod of this
gospel, and He's going to separate His people. He's going to make
you hear Him and come out. Look here at John 10, verse 1.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same's
a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and he leads them out. And when he puts forth his own
sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they
know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but they'll flee from him, for they know not the voice
of stranger. That's a simple illustration.
A shepherd knows his sheep, and his sheep knows the shepherd.
And when he separates them out, they follow him. They don't follow
a stranger, they follow him. We'll look down at verse 14. Christ said, I am the good shepherd,
and I know my sheep, and I am none of mine. As the Father knows
me, even so I know the Father, and I laid down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this Jewish fold, them also must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
He said, I'm standing here in Israel, I got some sheep here
in Israel, but I also got some sheep in the Gentile world, and
I'm gonna bring them all together, and there's just gonna be one
fold, one shepherd. Look at verse 24. Then came the
Jews round about him and said, How long do you make us doubt?
If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them,
I told you, you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep. He said, I'm not trying to call
you. I'm not trying to separate you
out. If I was, you'd hear me, but you're not my sheep. That's
why I've left you to yourself, and you don't believe me. Look,
my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. When
he gives you spiritual life through this gospel, makes you hear his
voice, he knows you. He regenerates you through the
spirit. He makes you hear this gospel and He reveals in our
hearts that Christ has fulfilled all the terms of the covenant
for me. That's what this gospel is teaching
you. There's a covenant. God's only
going to save by covenant. He lifts His hand and He's going
to save by covenant promise. But we saw we can't leave any
of the terms of that covenant in your or my hands because we
won't keep it. But Christ has come and He's kept all the terms
of the covenant for His people. Seventy weeks are determined
upon Thy people, upon Thy holy city to finish the transgression. That's what Christ promised to
do for the Father and He did it. To make an end of sins, that's
what He did for His people. To make reconciliation for iniquity,
He reconciled us into friendship with God. To bring in everlasting
righteousness, He made His people perfectly righteous. To seal
up the vision of prophecy, He fulfilled all the law and the
prophets. And to anoint the most holy.
He anointed the holiest of holies and He's anointing His most holy
people. He established us. He seals us
by the Spirit. He makes this word in our hearts
to be known and He seals it up so that we cannot ever break
this covenant. He makes you to rest entirely
in Christ alone because you know that all the promises of God
are fulfilled by Him. Listen to this, all the promises
of God in Christ are yes and amen unto the glory of God. Listen, He which establishes
thus, He that sets us firm on Christ with you in Christ and
hath anointed us is God. Christ came to anoint the most
holy. That one who anoints us with the oil of the Spirit and
establishes us in the gospel is God. Christ is God. And he's also sealed us and given
us the earnest, the guarantee that we're going to see heaven
by giving us the Spirit in our heart. This is what He's doing
through this rod of the gospel. And when He's done this, made
you see, He's fulfilled all the works. He's done it all. And
He makes you truly see Him and know Him. For the first time,
verse 38 of our text says, you shall know that I am the Lord. When He just gave them a law
and left them to themselves, He kept saying, I did this that
you'd know I'm the Lord. They never knew Him. They never
owned him to be their Lord. But he said, but when I do this
work, verse 38, then you shall know I am the Lord. And when
he does this, you know it. And here's what you say. You
say with David, although my house be not so with God. Although
my house is a wreck and my family is a wreck and all my kids are
murderers and adulterers and thieves and robbers and I got
wives that are idolaters and all that, Davis said although
my house be not so with God. He's made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things insure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he makes it not occur. Though he's
taken me out of this world, this is all my hope. He said, I'll
bring you into the bond of the covenant. This is an unbreakable
bond. It's an everlasting covenant.
And thirdly, when he's done this, Then we worship God our Father,
we worship His Son Christ Jesus, seated in His heavenly mountain. In other words, for the first
time we worship Him in spirit and in truth. For the first time. Look at verse 40, Ezekiel 20,
40. For 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. Turn to Hebrews 12. Now, I know
people are gonna hear that. You're gonna have friends, probably,
that's gonna hear that, and they're gonna argue with you, and they're
gonna say, well, he's talking about that mountain in Israel. He's
gonna bring all the Jews back there and establish a millennial
kingdom, and it's all gonna happen right there in the earth. You'll
believe that until God does His work in your heart. And He'll teach you when He does
His work. Watch this. He takes you from Mount Sinai,
from earthly Mount Sinai. He takes you from the letter
of the law. He takes you from your carnal
works. He takes you from looking for a carnal kingdom. Look, you're
not, verse 18, you're not come to the mouth that might be touched.
You're not come to a carnal mountain. that burn with fire, nor do the
blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of the trumpet,
and the voice of words, which voice they heard entreated that
the words should not be spoken to them anymore. They couldn't
endure that which was commanded, and in so much as a beast touched
a mountain, it would be stoned or thrust through with a dart,
and so terrible was the sight, Moses said, I even exceedingly
fear and quake. You've not come to Mount Sinai.
You cannot come to an earthly mountain. This is not an earthly
gospel. These are not earthly works.
It's not an earthly worship. It's not a carnal, temporal worship
at all. Where does he bring you to? Verse
22, you come to Mount Zion. to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written
in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just
men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that
of Abel. When are men and women gonna
stop looking to an earthly mountain, to an earthly people, Israel,
and treat them like their lucky rabbit's foot. When are they
going to stop looking to the letter of the law? When are they
going to stop looking to their carnal works that they've done
that they can see and touch and feel? And when are they going
to start worshiping God in spirit and in truth? when God has brought
them into the bond of the covenant and made them see this thing's
spiritual. It ain't temporal. It ain't carnal. It ain't earthy. It's otherworldly. It's holy. It's spiritual. Remember
the woman at the well? She knew it all. How many people
you talk to like this? She's talking to wisdom himself,
telling him everything she knows. And she said, our fathers worshiped
in this mountain. You say that in Jerusalem's a
place for men ought to worship. That means Christ was telling
her about heavenly Jerusalem. She didn't understand what he
said because she thought he was talking about a mountain in Jerusalem.
Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour comes when you will
neither worship in this mountain nor at Jerusalem. The hour comes
and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Until
you have the spirit of God and you see these things spiritually,
you can't enter into this. All you can read the scripture
saying is an earthly mountain, an earthly people, an earthly
kingdom, earthly promises, earthly, earthy, earthy, earthy. God's
got to make you see this is spiritual. All that earthly stuff, picture
the spiritual. And the spiritual is better.
It's the new covenant, everlasting covenant. Now remember our question,
shall I be inquired of by you, God said. When God makes us approach
Him through faith in Christ, then yes, God will accept us. He will be inquired of by us,
He'll accept our worship, He'll accept us, He'll accept our service,
everything in the savor of Christ the Lord. Look here in our text,
verse 40. There will I accept them. He said, I'm going to bring them
into this heavenly mountain, this heavenly Jerusalem. I'm
going to bring them to my Son and there will I accept them
and there will I require your offerings and the first fruits
of your oblations with all your holy things. I will accept you
with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather
you out of the countries wherein you have been scattered." Somebody's
gonna say, well now, if that's true that he had to fulfill this
physically, temporally, carnally, as well as spiritually for him
to be true. Well let's just see, did he?
On the day of Pentecost, there's 3,000 Jews that he brought to
that very mountain. So he fulfilled the physical
part of it. And he had brought them out of all countries. and
he gave them a new heart and they worshiped God in spirit
so he fulfilled the spiritual part too. And for the first time
they found they were accepted of God. They could come to God
on his holy throne and be received and accepted and pray to God
and inquire of God. Why? to the praise of the glory
of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. That's how He accepts us in Christ.
Christ loved us and gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. God said, I'm going to accept
your sweet savor. We come in the savor of Christ.
And all our sacrifices and offerings are acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. So not only are we accepted now,
here's something else that's new. For the first time God sanctified
in our hearts and we give Him all the glory. Look at verse
41. And I will be sanctified in you
before the heathen and you shall know that I am the Lord. In our
hearts, what is it when God sanctified in your heart? In your heart
you see God set apart higher than any vain God you've ever
heard of, and you see Him as the true and living God, and
you really do worship Him. You know Him now, and you give
Him all the glory. And that's what God makes us
do through the gospel we preach, and in our lives in this world,
He makes us for this heathen world, give Him all the glory
for all our salvation. Look at this. Something else
is new. We also stop glorying in ourselves.
Now, We know we're nothing but sinners and we have no confidence
in our works. Look at verse 43. And there shall
you remember your ways and all your doings wherein you've been
defiled and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight
for all the evils that you've committed. Now we see we broke
God's law in Adam, we broke God's law ourselves, and right now
as believers we can say honestly, in our flesh dwells no good thing. We loathe ourselves, our sinful
selves. We don't want to come to God
in the works of the law because Christ is all. As many as are
under the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that are written
in the book of the law to do them. But bless God, Christ has
redeemed us from that curse. And we loathe ourselves now in
glory in Him. And look at this, we praise God's
name because he has not dealt with us according to our sin. Verse 44, you shall know that
I am the Lord when I have wrought with you for my name's sake,
for my glory, not according to your wicked ways, not according
to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel, sayeth the Lord
God. That's where I told you Thursday
night, that's why I got hung up on Psalm 103. I wanted to
preach from this, but I kept going back to Psalm 103. He's
not dealt with us after our sins. He's not rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heavens high above
the earth, so his mercy is great toward them that fear him. Brethren,
the bond of this covenant. Now, let me give you some good
news to go home with. The bond of this covenant. I'm
bringing you to the bond of this covenant. How binding is this
covenant? There's not a covenant you and
I will enter into in this world that we can have a guarantee
will not be broken. Not a one. You might say, that
won't ever happen to me. Don't say never. There ain't
a covenant you enter into, there ain't a covenant Val Center makes
that can't be broken in this life. But this one we're talking
about right here, can't be broke. It can't be broke. The bond is
the Father's immutable purpose. He's God that cannot lie. He's
God that does not change. The bond is the Son's effectual
blood. He's justified all His people
from our sins and the glory of God demands that justice won't
be poured out on us a second time. The Spirit's unbreakable
seal. When He seals you, you're preserved. Just like a jar preserved. When
He seals you, you're preserved. And He's not going to let you
come unpreserved. And here's the thing that keeps
you and me, this is the only thing that keeps you and me looking
only to Him. The love of Christ shed abroad
in our heart. That is stronger than any law. When the Spirit says charity
never fails, The love of God shed abroad in a believer's heart
never fails to make that believer keep believing Christ and keep
loving his brethren until final glory. It never fails to do it. Because the strength's not our
love, the strength's his love that's shed in our heart. And
it never makes you stop loving him. You know what that makes
me want to sing? Oh to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let that grace now like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to thee. That's the covenant. That's the
everlasting covenant. God will be inquired of by you
if you come in that covenant. Amen. We'll have a word of prayer and
then we'll sing our closing hymn. Father, we thank you for this
word. Lord, that you ordered everything and made it sure in
your Son, even before the world was made. The truth that you
didn't leave a thing in our hands. The truth that you call us out
and make us see this and know it and bring us into this bond
of this covenant. Lord, this bond is so much stronger
than law. This bond binds us to you. This
makes us love you. It makes us want to live for
you. It makes us want to do all for you. Lord, we are sinners
and we sin and we forget these things so easily and we get in
our flesh so easily and we sin and we don't want to sin. Lord,
we ask you forgive us of it and we ask you to cleanse us of it.
Turn us from it and bring us to you and make us walk in the
spirit. Make us constantly remember what
you've done for us so that we honor you in our life. Lord,
we know it doesn't contribute a thing to our salvation. We
know it's not going to be what's going to keep us in your acceptance. We just want to do it. And we
ask you, Lord, keep us looking to you and keep the fire of your
love burning in our hearts so that we fervently live for you. And don't let us look at one
another when they fail and accuse each other and judge each other.
That's ourselves falling into the same iniquity. Lord, keep
us from that. Keep us dealing mercifully with
our brethren as you've dealt with us. Keep us remembering
that covenant, that that brother's in that covenant. And keep us
dealing with each other as sinners saved by grace. Help us love
each other. Help us be merciful to each other.
Help us forgive each other, even as you've done to us. Lord, be
with your people here. We pray you bring one of your
lost sheep into this bond today. Make them here. If there be any
straying away that become proud and ambitious, Lord, we pray
that you put forth that rod and bring them back into the folding. Bring them down and keep them
at your feet and make them rejoice with us. Forgive us our sins,
Lord. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen.