All right, brethren, Ezekiel
chapter 18. Now God asked this question. He asked the sinner this question.
Verse one, the word of the Lord came up to me again saying, what
mean ye that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel
saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's
teeth are set on edge? What they were saying was they
were accusing God of unrighteousness. They were saying that God was
punishing them for their father's sins. That was the accusation. God had sent them some trials,
they were suffering, and they were saying the reason is because
God's punishing us for our father's sin. Verse 25, God said, yet
you say the way of the Lord's not equal. Here now, O house
of Israel, is not my way equal or not your ways unequal? Scripture tells us there is a
way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. My question is, is not God's
way equal and our ways unequal? God's way is equal. It means it's righteous. God's
way is righteous. He saves sinners by making our
sins to be non-existent and robing us in the righteousness of his
son. It's our ways that are unrighteous
and unequal. I want to look first of all at
the offense these folks were guilty of. then at God's sovereign
justice, then at God's just mercy, and then hear God give the application. First of all, the offense. What
am I guilty of if I say God is making me suffer for the sins
of others? What am I guilty of? If a trial
comes my way and I say well this is happening to me because of
what they did. What am I guilty of? They were
saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's
teeth are set on the edge. Now by this they were doing three
very wicked things. Very wicked things. If we accuse
someone else or blame someone else for the suffering God has
sent in our lives, we do these three very wicked things. One,
they were accusing their fathers of sin. If we blame others, judging
another as guilty of sin, we are absolute, total hypocrites
because we do the same thing. We're guilty of the same thing.
Number two, by accusing their fathers, they were justifying
themselves. They were saying it's not for
our sin that we're suffering this, it's their sin. They were
justifying themselves. Self-righteous pride is the core
problem when we accuse others of sins in an attempt to justify
ourselves. That's always the case. And three,
worst of all, they accused God of injustice. They blamed others,
and if we blame others when we suffer in a trial, that God sent
directly to you personally. If I suffer, God sent it to me
personally. If you suffer, God sent it to
you personally, if you're his child. And if you say that God
sent that to you because of someone else's sin, you're accusing God of doing
something that's unjust, of correcting you. It would be like a child
being corrected because he's done something wrong, and the
child speaking back to his father saying, you're only doing this
to me because my brother sinned. This is not right, you're doing
this to me when it's my brother who did the sinning. That's what
they were saying. Accusing God of being unjust. Turn over to Romans chapter 1. Paul gives this list of horribly
evil sins. He says here in verse 29, being
filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, we looked at that, last time in Ezekiel
17, Covenant Breaker. Without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful, unforgiving, who knowing the judgment of God,
knowing that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same things, but have pleasure in others that
do them. Now, get what he says next. Romans
2.1. Therefore, thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, wherein you accuse another, you condemn yourself. For thou
that judgest, doest the same thing. Next time we get ready
to judge another, whosoever you are, Whenever you get ready to
judge another, take your long list of things that you're going
to accuse them of, and stand in front of the mirror, and read
off that list of things, and then confess to God that person
in the mirror is guilty of every one of them. If we condemn somebody else,
judge somebody else, and accuse somebody else of sin, you can
rest assured you have committed the exact same sins. Exactly. Whosoever you are, God says,
you condemn yourself because we're guilty of every single
sin we judge in others. That's true of me and that's
true of you. It's an indication when we do that, now we wouldn't
stand up and say this to anybody. We wouldn't want anybody knowing
this about us. But it's a sure indication that
we're overcome by our sin nature. It means we've ceased seeing
what wicked, base, vile sinners that we ourselves are. We're being self-righteous, proud,
self-justifying, and it comes from our dead sin nature. If
you're a believer, you have a new man and an old man. That's not
coming from the new man. Brother Scott just read what
comes from the new man. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
Love and mercy and forgiveness. Long-suffering. That accusing
Spirit. That's our dead sin nature. And
that's the Spirit of the devil. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
3. As soon as Adam sinned and he
fell into sin, that's exactly what Adam did. The first words
out of his mouth after he fell in sin. Genesis 3 verse 12. God found him and he said, who
told you you were naked, Adam? Have you eaten of the trees of
the garden, of the tree that I told you not to eat? And listen
to what he answered. And the man said, the woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, She gave me of the tree and I did
eat. What did he do? He blamed Eve and he blamed God
for giving Eve to him. That's the first thing man did
after he fell in sin. That's the spirit of the devil.
You know what the devil is? He's an accuser of the brethren. That's not of the new man. That's
of the old man. We who believe, we hate to hear
it when you declare the truth to a sinner, and that God's glory
is he can choose whom he will and pass by whom he will. And
you hate to hear it when they say, that's not fair. Paul knew
that's what they would say. The Spirit of God moved Paul
to say, as it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God being unfair to choose
some and pass by others? God forbid, for He said, I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. As much as we hate that, we do the exact same thing when some trouble comes on us
from God's hand and we say, it's their fault that I'm bearing
this. We're saying God's unfair, He's unrighteous. Exact same
thing. When unregenerate sinners hear
that God's sovereign to do with his own whatever he will, and
that we're not saved by our will, we're saved by God's will, they
say, well then, if he finds fault with anybody, he's not right.
He's unrighteous. Spirit of God move Paul to say,
thou will say then unto me, why does he yet find fault? For who
hath resisted his will? If none can resist his will,
men say, and were saved by God's will, then God's not right to
judge anybody of sin. And God answers, Nay, but, O
man, who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? We saw in
chapter 17, if God sends a trial to me personally, If I'm a child
of God, it's not because of somebody else's sin. It's to correct me
of my sin. So if you suffer a trial as a
child of God, remember it's because God loves his children. He only
chastens those he loves. So it's because of you to correct
you that God did it, not somebody else. But if I shift the blame,
if I put the blame on another, then not only am I not benefiting
from the correction, I'm justifying myself, I'm charging
others with sin, and worst of all, I'm accusing God of doing
something that's unrighteous. I'm blasphemously accusing God
of injustice. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever, I know we have, we've all done this. The reason our
country's in the shape it's in is because of, turn that finger around. It's us, it's not them, it's
us. Let us judge our own selves. Each of us, individually, judge
our own selves. Examine our own selves and humbly
confess our own sins to God. And glorify God for making us
benefit from His faithful correction. That's what to do when you suffer
a trial. Examine yourself. Confess your
own sin to God and thank God for faithfully correcting you.
Now secondly, God declares here He's sovereign and He's just. He's sovereign and He's just
in His dealings with His people. Look at verse 3. As I live, saith
the Lord God, you shall not have occasion anymore to use this
proverb in Israel. Behold. Now when God says behold,
He means get this. All souls are mine. As the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. God created all souls. Every one of us is the creation
of God. God owns you, you're his. Whether
you're a child of God, a believer, or you're a rebel against God,
you're still his. And he can do with his own whatever
he will. He can do with his own. Now,
we all fell into sin in Adam. And God was under no obligation
whatsoever to save anybody. He's God. He's not obligated
to do anything that he don't want to do. And yet God in mercy,
in eternity before we ever fail, chose he was gonna save some
people, a multitude no man can number. Will a little wicked,
base, vile, fickle, fumbling, foolish fool say to God, he's
not right to do so? Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own, God said? Is your eye evil because
I'm good? God didn't have to choose to
save anybody, but he did. And not only choose, not just
a few, a multitude that no man can number. And we're gonna accuse
God of being unrighteous because he saved some and not others?
We don't do that to the president. When they were just about to
leave their last term, they always pardon some prisoners. We don't
accuse Him of an injustice because He pardoned some and He didn't
pardon all of them. He can do what He wants to. He didn't have
to pardon any of them. Truth is, God's holy and just. In all His dealings with us,
God only does what's right. His judgment's right. His judgment's
just. Now here's what He says. The
soul, the individual sinner that sins, it shall die. If you perish, it'll be for your
own sin, not for anybody else's. You will not be condemned because
of your father's sins, only your own. The soul that sinneth, it
shall die. Now, brethren, don't be confused
here. I don't want you to be confused.
God's not talking about federal headship here. That's not even
the subject here. What God is talking about here
is He's showing that He's sovereign and just. That's the subject. He's showing here that when He
judges an individual, it's for that individual's own doing and
nobody else's. The children of Israel are under
a covenant of works. They're under the Old Testament
law. So God uses the law to give them, now listen, a hypothetical
illustration. That's what this is. God's not
even hinting, he's not even suggesting here that there's any sinner
on the top side of this earth that can keep his holy law. That's
not what he's doing. When God says if a man did this,
he's just and he's right and I'll save him, it don't mean
anybody can do that. God's just saying if that ever
happened, I would do that. So you understand that this is
an illustration. There's none righteous, no not
one. None. We've all come short of
the glory of God, and that's sin, and that's true of all of
us. You know, I hear these reformers,
I read some reformers' writings, and they have some really good
writings, but then they'll say something like, you know, well,
we're still under the law, because even though we can't keep it,
we try to keep it, and that's, God accepts that. No, God will not accept you giving
it your best shot. You either keep it or you don't
keep it. That's it. With God, there's
no obedience that's not full obedience. You gotta keep it fully to keep
it. And if you've sinned in thought,
you haven't kept it. Whosoever should keep the whole
law, yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. By this illustration now, God's
declaring that if a man could keep the law, then he's just,
and God will deal with him individually, justly. But for the man who breaks
God's law, God will deal with him individually, justly. That's what he's saying. The
soul that sinneth The individual who does the sinning is the individual
who's going to die under condemnation. And remember this, when he says,
the soul that sinneth it shall die, he doesn't mean that when
you leave this world, your soul is going to be annihilated and
that's the end of it. No, he's saying you will die
that living death in hell forever that never ends. That's what
he's talking about. So now let's look at this hypothetical
illustration using a father, his son, and his son's son. God's
showing here that he's just in all his dealing. First, the father. The father kept the whole law.
He said, verse 9, he's walked in my statutes. He's kept my
judgment to deal truly. He's just. He shall surely live,
saith the Lord God. If you can do that, God says
you'll live. And then the father has a son,
and the son breaks the law. Verse 13, shall he then live? He shall not live. He hath done
all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood
shall be upon him. He's the only one responsible
for his condemnation. All right, then the son's son
keeps the law. Verse 17, he shall not die for
the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his
father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence,
did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall
die in his iniquity. Yet say ye, why? Doth not the
son bear the iniquity of the father? God says, no. When the Son hath done that which
is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, hath done
them, and done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. The Son shall not bear the iniquity
of the Father, neither shall the Father bear the iniquity
of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Now
be sure to get this. I'm going to talk about this
in New Testament terms, in New Covenant, with New Covenant eyes.
The only way any sinner can be just with God is through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way. That's the
only way. Christ alone fulfilled the law. That's why God sent his son.
If any sinner could keep the law, then he wouldn't have sent
his son. Christ came to do what his people
could not do. He clearly said in his Sermon
on the Mount, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill
it. It's got to be fulfilled, it
must be fulfilled. There can't be one T not crossed
and one I not dotted because God's holy and just. That's why
he sent his son. Verse seven, it's Christ who
restored his people who were debtors. He went to the cross
and he paid all the debt we owe to divine justice by laying down
his life and suffering in place of his people. Christ, verse
7, hath dealt his bread to his hungry people and he's the bread
from heaven. He's the life. When the Spirit
of God regenerates us in a sinner's given life inwardly, Christ is
that life. He's the one formed in us. He
is our eternal life. Christ, verse 7, He covered His
naked people with the garment of His righteousness. Perfect
righteousness. He covered us so that we're righteous
in Him. Verse 8 and 9. He's the only
just man who withdrew his hand from iniquity, hath executed
true judgment between man and man, hath walked in God's statues,
and hath kept God's judgments to deal truly. He is just. He shall surely live, saith the
Lord God. And that's why when Christ finished
the work on Calvary, God raised him from the dead and he sat
down at God's right hand because he's just. The only reason he
died is because he was made sin for us. That's the only reason,
to make us the righteousness of God in him. He himself had
not sinned. He himself knew no sin. He couldn't
have died unless he was made sin for his people. But because
he is just, and because that work was obedience to God, justifying
his people, God raised him from the grave and set him in his
own right hand. And every elect child of God was in Christ and
did what Christ did when he did it. And when He arose, when He
died, our old man of sin died in Him. And when He arose and
sat down at the right hand of the Father, we arose and sat
down at the right hand of the Father in Him. And right now
He's calling out His people, and He's bringing you to faith
in Him, and the righteousness of the righteous. You who believe,
your righteousness is the Lord our righteousness. He is our
righteousness. Now turn to John 3, because this
is the case. That means that if you speak
about what our Lord spoke about here in our text, you're gonna
have to say this. The righteousness of the righteous,
for which God declares an individual sinner to be just, is the Lord
our righteousness through faith in Him, because He's the one
that kept the law. So if you want to be declared
by God to be somebody that kept the full, total righteousness
of the law, it's only going to be through faith in Christ. And
at the same time, here's the New Covenant, other side of that,
the wickedness of the wicked for which God condemns the individual
sinner is rejecting Christ. If you reject Christ, then You've
broken the whole law of God and you will be left in your sins
condemned for what you yourself have done. Now let me show you
that. This is the Lord Jesus telling
us that. John 3.18. He says, He that believeth on... He's talking about himself. He
that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth
not is condemned already. Why? because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. Now that, you read that statement,
that says this is why he's going to be condemned, right here.
Here it is. that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that does evil hateth
the light, neither cometh to the light. He's talking about
Christ. He doesn't come to Christ, lest his deeds should be reproved.
And if he dies in that state, the reason that individual sinner
will perish and be condemned is because he would not believe
on Christ. He's left in his sin as a lawbreaker. What about the one who does believe
on Christ? Look at verse 21. But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God. That God did everything involved
in saving him and making him righteous. That's what he's gonna
confess. That's why he comes to Christ. John 16, if you want
to look there, verse 9, our Lord said, when the Comforter comes,
when the Spirit of God comes, what's He going to convince you
of? How's He going to convince His people of sin? Look here,
verse 9, of sin, He'll convince you of sin, because they believe
not on Me. That's what He's going to, that's
how every, Until we see our sin in light of Christ, we haven't
seen our sin. We only see our sin when we see
how Christ bore our sin and put it away. And then you'll see,
I haven't even believed on Him. That's my sin. God's come into
the world and I haven't believed on Him. And then look, of righteousness,
why? Because I go to the Father. He
can convince you Christ is the only righteousness You have. And he's gonna convince you of
judgment because the prince of the world's judge. He's gonna
convince you judgment was settled at Calvary. You see what I'm
saying? So in God's illustration, go
to Galatians 3. In God's illustration, he's not
saying anybody can keep the law. That's not what he's saying.
He was a hypothetical illustration. Listen here, Galatians 3.21. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. If there had been
a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the scripture, saying the
law, hath concluded it all under sin. That the promise, God's
covenant promise, is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That means it's
by Christ's faithfulness in keeping the law for us. That it might
be given, his righteousness given to them that believe on him. So, When we talk about this man
who kept the law, that's only the man that believed on Christ.
And he will be, the righteousness of Christ will be on that individual
man because he believed on Christ, personally. But the one who doesn't
believe on Christ, he's going to perish because he didn't believe
on Christ. His daddy's not going to save
him because his dad believed, nor is his daddy's sin going
to be laid to his charge. He's going to perish because
of his own sin. Because God's just. Now, secondly, let's see
God's mercy. Since Christ bore away the sin
of His people, since He took that sin away, God is just to
send the Holy Spirit, regenerate us, and grant us repentance,
cause us to turn and believe on Christ. And when we believe
on Christ, God's just to be merciful to us and forgive us our sins,
because He's dealt with our sins in Christ. Look at verse 21.
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed
and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall surely live. He shall not die. All his transgressions
that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him
in his righteousness that he hath done. He shall live. Now
that's a hypothetical. You can't do that by keeping
the law. every sinner, every sinner wicked
in himself, every sinner guilty of the whole law of God. When
God gives you repentance and you turn from your sins, especially
those wherein you say you're righteous, all your religious
works, all your religious deeds, everything, God says it's all
stinking, filthy rags, every bit of it. You have to turn from
all your sin Come to Christ empty handed. In my hand no price I
bring. Simply to Christ I cling. Come
to Him. And when you do, God's just to
show you mercy. And He will. And not only that,
God declares, because Christ has kept all the law, because
He's done that which is lawful and right, and because He is
our scapegoat. That means the scapegoat, they
put the sins of the people ceremonially in picture and type. They put
the sins of the people in the scapegoat. A fit man took him
away into a land not inhabited and let him go. And for a year,
those sins were never brought up by God. Christ is the real
thing. Christ took the sins of his people
and he died. He went to the land not inhabited.
He laid down his life and because he put away the sins of his people,
God says that sinner, that individual sinner that comes to Christ and
casts his care on Christ, God will be just to show him mercy
and not only that, God will be just to never ever bring up his
sins again. As Brother Don said, that will
put a hallelujah in your heart if you ever get a hold of it.
He won't bring them up to you ever, ever again. As far as the
east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions
from us. He said, I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not
remember thy sins. He said, in the day Christ lays
down His life, He says, the sins of My people will be sought for
and they will not be found. Because I pardoned them, I reserve. And when God pardons, it means
He has put the sin away, He's justly dealt with His law, He's
satisfied His justice, and the sins are gone. They're non-existent. When God doesn't impute sin to
us, brethren, it's because before God, we don't have any sins to
impute. That's how real Christ died for his people. And that's
how real his people died in Christ. Now listen to what he says here.
Sinner, and I want you to get there. I want everybody here
who doesn't believe on Christ, I want you to hear this. If you
don't get another thing from this message, you hear this right
here. You are the only one keeping you from believing on Christ. You can't blame your mama. You
can't blame your daddy. You can't blame God. You can't
blame God's sovereignty. You can't blame God's election.
No, no. If you don't come to Christ,
it's nobody's fault but yours. You're doing exactly what you
want to do. Now that's just so. That's just so. Verse 23. Have
I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the
Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live? But God's also just. and that
the one who falsely professes to believe Christ, he claimed
he believed Christ and then one day he falls away and he no longer
assembles with God's people, he no longer has any delight
for the word preached, he just falls away. He proves he was
never called by God in the first place. Because God's people,
when he calls you, you don't fall away, he keeps you. But
that man proves he didn't believe God in the first place, and look
what God says, verse 24. When the righteous turneth away
from his righteousness, when he turns from Christ and commits
iniquity and does according to all the abominations that the
wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he
hath done shall not be mentioned. The righteousness of Christ that
he claimed to be his will not be mentioned for that man. He
left, he turned from Christ. in his trespass that he hath
trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them he shall
die. Now hear this application from
God. Here it is, verse 25. Yet you say the way of the Lord's
not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel,
is not my way equal, or not your ways unequal? Brethren, whose
ways are unequal? Ours are. We're the sinner. We
can't blame, we ought not ever blame another sinner for their
sin in an attempt to justify ourselves. And certainly not
blame God and say we're suffering because of somebody else's sin. When a righteous man, one who
professes to believe Christ is always righteous, when he turns
away from Christ, his righteousness When he turns from Christ, who's
his righteousness, and commits iniquity and dies in him, it's
for his iniquity that he hath done that he shall die. Verse
27, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that
he hath committed and believes on Christ, and he does that which
is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because
he considereth and turneth from all his transgressions that he
committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. You see that? When an individual believes on
Christ, God says, and it is what you're doing when you come to
Christ. Now God works in you in spirit so that you don't,
you hate your sin, and he turns you from your sin, and he'll
make you put away acts of sin. But God says it's this real,
when you come to Christ, you've forsaken all your sin. Before
God, you've left every bit of it. And in Christ, you're perfectly
righteous. Perfectly righteous. That sinner's
gonna live. Personally. Now look here. When
the wicked, verse 27, turns away from his wickedness. Did I just
read that? I think I did. Verse 29. Yet
saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord's not equal.
O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways
unequal? I want you to consider God's
way real quick. As badly as we've offended God,
if a sinner comes to Christ for mercy, he receives us in mercy
and he forgives us all our trespasses for Christ's sake. And here's
our way. Even a believer will do this.
We accuse others to justify ourselves. We blame others for the trial
God's laid on us. We accuse God of unrighteously
sending a trial on us. And you and I who believe, even
after being forgiven all our trespasses in Christ, if somebody
offends us and they come and ask mercy and forgiveness, we
will not give them mercy and we will not forgive them unless
God constrains us in our heart to do it. That's our way. And God will judge us justly.
Look at verse 30. Therefore I will judge you, O
house of Israel, everyone according to his ways. He's saying personally. Say it to the Lord God. Repent
and turn yourselves from all your transgressions. Don't be
worried about your son, your daughter, your niece, your nephew,
your grandchild. You need to worry about your
sins. Turn from your sins. so iniquity should not be your
ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions,
whereby you've transgressed, make you a new heart and a new
spirit, for why will you die, O house of Israel? I have no
pleasure in the death of a man that he doth, saith the Lord
God, wherefore turn yourselves and live ye. Now you know God's going to have
to be the one to give a new heart and a new spirit. But you know
Peter said when you believe on Christ you purified your hearts
through faith. And that's what God's saying.
What He's saying is there's a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. It's Christ. And nobody's keeping
you from coming to Him but you. Well God's sovereign. I'm going
to wait. If He chose me, He'll bring me.
Well that's true. but that ain't gonna justify
you for not coming. You can't blame God for not coming
to Christ. You can't blame somebody else.
One of these days, You're young and strong and healthy and thank
you God for your whole lifetime. One of these days, you're gonna
be a few short breaths from meeting the God I'm talking about. It's
gonna get real serious then. If you wait till then, more than
likely, you won't ever repent. Don't wait till then. Come to
him now. Believe on him now. He says,
I have no pleasure in seeing you die. You're a wicked sinner. You're not gonna bring any satisfaction
to God. If you die and go to hell and
suffer for all eternity, you're not gonna satisfy God. What satisfies God? His son satisfied
God. And he takes pleasure in those
that give his son all the glory by coming to him and putting
all their care into his hand. That's what pleases God. But God's saying to you, nobody's
keeping you from this fountain. It's open. So come to Him. Come to Him. I'm not denying
the fact God's got to draw His people and God's got to save
His people. I'm doing to you what God told
Ezekiel to do in the valley of dry bones. He said, tell these
bones to live. I'm telling you to do something
you can't do unless God makes you do it. But it's up to you
personally. If God draws you, you know what
you're going to do? You are going to actually believe
on Christ. You are actually going to deny
yourself. It's going to be by God's grace,
but you're going to do it. If you pick that book up and
you start actually reading that book, looking for Christ, God's
not going to pick it up for you. You're going to have to pick
it up. And you're going to read it. And then you're going to
find out God gives the glory for making you pick it up. But
you're going to pick it up. And the man that's sitting back
blaming daddy and mama and God and his dog and his cat and the
gopher and everybody else that he ain't believed on Christ is
just a wicked sinner trying to justify himself in self-righteousness,
hating God and accusing God of something that ain't true. And
you'll die. You'll die in that sin. Come
to Christ now and believe on him. And you know what I'm praying? I pray that as I preach that,
God does what He did in that Valley of Dry Bones, sends His
Spirit forth and creates life in you and makes it so that you
can't do anything but what God commands. Because then you'll believe on
Him. And you know what? You personally will have the
righteousness of Christ and God will remember your sins no more
personally. And it'll be between you and
God. And that's just. That's God's justice. That's
God's mercy. I pray God will bless you. Amen.