and complete dependence upon
the Lord for all needed help this morning. I wish to direct
your very prayerful attention to the chapter that was read
in your hearing. The 34th chapter of Ezekiel. And our text is found in the
first clause of verse 29. but so as we may ascertain the
meaning I shall read from verse 28 and to the end. And they shall
no more be a prey to the heathen neither shall the beast of the
land devour them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make
them afraid and I will raise up for them a plant of renown,
and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither
bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know
that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, even
the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye my
flock, the flock of my pasture, Amen. And am your God, saith
the Lord God. And I will raise up for them
a plant of renown, Today, as most of you are aware,
there is a great noise going on at South Sea Common. And we
live in the age of so-called celebrities. Most of which, we would observe,
don't have any talent. But, nevertheless, they are celebrated. They are thought to be something but we don't want to be harsh
or hypercritical in these things but we would observe that is
it not the spirit of the age to be self indulgent to indulge others and to not
look at anything within its true context and within its real standing
in the light of time and in the light of eternity. Dear soul, we have the very answer
to every problem within our text. And I will raise up for them
a plant of renown. And I say this unapologetically.
This text before us speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. What He has done and what He
will do in the souls of His elect. And that's it. You see, what we have before
us here in this prophecy of Ezekiel is a glorious declaration of
the Lord Jesus Christ and pertaining to just one of the aspects of
his name and of his character. Now, before we venture into our
text we must by necessity always consider the context. Again, we reiterate and stand
by that which we have said here before that within every sermon
that within every handling, faithful handling of the Word of God there
is an expository and an experiential application of the Word. Anything lacking in either sense
is deficient. So firstly, let us consider what
we are dealing with. Well, the name Ezekiel is a glorious
name. It means, he who Jehovah strengthens. And his name, of course, being
connected with his ministry. Ezekiel was a man who ministered
the Word at one of the most difficult times of Israel, during the period
of the exile. And what do we find? What do we find? This man's ministry
was quite remarkable. We read in the opening chapters that this man's preaching, which
commenced around 600 years before the Lord Jesus came to this earth,
wasn't particularly well received at all. Indeed, he was saying things that were
perhaps not wanted that others did not want to hear. And thus,
faithful ministry has always been that way. There's those
things said, but which were not received. However, let us not
despair. Let us not despair. Very often
with a faithful ministry, although there may be little or no followers
of the truth, there is over time under the influence and under
the working of the Holy Ghost that drawing, that unity, that
coming together and thus As the chapters move on, and we think
particularly of Ezekiel, there are a few examples, but chapter
20 and verse 1, "...it came to pass in the seventh year, and
in the fifth month, and in the tenth month, that certain of
the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before
me. Then came the word of the Lord
unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel,
and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God and we could go
on but you know there were those
that noticed this man speaks the truth this
man is speaking of that which has some substance and we would endeavor even though
there may be those, and there are those who come into our services
from time to time and don't receive what we say or don't agree with
what we say. I hope that none would say, no
matter who stands here in this pulpit, that it wasn't of any
substance. This was faithful ministry and
there were those of whom came to hear it. They were a remnant,
however. they were a remnant. And thus,
in every day, in every generation, the vast majority of professors
preferred either not to hear what the Prophet said, but more
seriously, they were those in positions of authority who abused
their positions. And thus, Ezekiel writes very
firmly against such prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel. Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed
the flocks. Now even in that short statement
we have much ecclesiastical truth. Notice here references given
to feeding the flocks. And throughout the Old Testament
and confirmed in the New, if you wish to read John 10 and
other parts of the Acts of the Apostles, we notice that ministry, faithful
ministry, is primarily feeding the flock of God. They continued
steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine, in the breaking of bread, and
in prayers. We were speaking of this in the vestry just before
we came out. The idea of preaching is not
to, as some men think today, get them in, pack them in, at
any cost. Dear soul, we want people to
come through the doors. We're not unwelcoming, I trust,
and we're not indifferent. But it's the glory of God that
we seek. It's the glory of God that Ezekiel
sought. But not the false shepherds. Why? Because they were desirous to
feed themselves. To indulge themselves at the
expense of everybody else. and they've got nothing to say
they've got nothing to say we don't perhaps see it here we're
in a different situation but if you go to the United States
of America you will very much find the culture of the megachurch
the megachurch well would that feed your soul? could
you sit under that? I hope not, and I trust not. And we find that they're very
much the same. There are those that speak and
indulge themselves. They become a varying type of
what we see on South Sea Commons. They're celebrities of some description
or another. That's not what we see in the
New Testament. They're very disciples themselves.
What were They were ordinary men. The Lord had used them. We might
say innocuous people, those of whom were not known, really,
at all. But the Lord favoured their ministries.
He favoured their ministries. But they didn't have the preeminence,
did they? They never had the preeminence.
And when one sought to worship ship John, he was quickly dispelled
of such I am but a man he said these shepherds were false shepherds
and they scattered the flock they didn't feed the flock they
scattered the flock and that is the consequence that is the
consequence of preaching that doesn't feed the soul So, what do we find? They found
solace in the ministry of Ezekiel. But, isn't it a glorious truth
that Ezekiel did not promote himself, did he? What does he
say in verse 23? I will set up one shepherd over
them. That is again the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. The Lord Jesus is the head of
the church, not the monarch. The Lord Jesus is the head of
the church, not the Pope. The Lord Jesus is the head of
the church. and is taken out of the world. Not, as Mr. Philpott
said, when he resigned from the Church of England, he said, it's
not part and parcel of the establishment, it's taken out of it. And thus,
dear soul, you and I stand here as gospel standard strict Baptists,
unashamedly non-conformists. Non-conformists. And we might be despised, and
we might be thought of as many bad things, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. If the Lord stands with us, it
doesn't matter what men may do or say about us. Because the Lord will raise up
for them. a plant of renown. Notice here
the doctrine of free, sovereign, discriminating, and distinguishing
grace within our text. I will raise up for them. We must always consider particularly
when dealing with the great promises of the gospel, to whom these
promises are due. We don't see a scintilla of general
redemption here. Not a hint of it. This is all
for, exclusively for, the Lord's people. the Lord's people, to you who
believe He is precious, and to none of us, and to none of us. And that is why, what do we read? That great glorious encouragement
in the Gospel. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is the Christ. That's known and felt and needed
in the soul. It doesn't say that one must
have the experience of the Apostle Paul. It does not say that one
must have such a lightning bolt from heaven
as it were down the Damascus road. It doesn't say that. so
see the believers that Jesus is the Christ were to speak comfortably
to Jerusalem and encourage the weakest saint in respect of the
matters of faith so we see a great change in this
chapter from verse 11 onwards. And we see either, I will or
I shall, no less than 21 times from verse 11 to the end. Notice here, the Lord is doing
it. From first unto the last The
Lord is doing it. This is free grace in the book
of Ezekiel. You see, do we not believe in
the unity of the one book? I will raise up for them a plant
of renown. This can mean no other than Jesus
Christ. Even John Nelson Darby, although
he butchers the book, throughout his commentary, in making this
about a literal Israel, even he has to confess that this means
Christ. And do we not take this promise
as a spiritual promise? Because the Bible is a spiritual
book, and is for spiritual people, and none else. And none else. you can read the bare letter
of the word but when the Holy Ghost comes
and reveals unto us, if the Lord will, we'll speak some more of
that this evening when the Holy Ghost comes He
opens our eyes to see the great truth of Scripture and here Ezekiel large prophecy. A prophecy of
48 chapters. And we have to say it's much
neglected, is it not? And just making an observation. It was interesting that the pulpit
Bible, which has the Cambridge references, which the majority
of Bibles do, when we were reading of that which of the shepherd
says that they were without a shepherd. And thus, there is the practice
of the under-shepherd, the first faithful doctrine of the under-shepherd. Now, we can preach these things
freely here. We've been favoured throughout
the history of Portsmouth Chapel with having the principle of
the pastor. But it has to be said friends,
the majority of places that I preach in, there is virtually no inclination
at all. I grew up under such a system
and it was celebrated. And what was the consequence?
We majored in John 6, Romans 8 and the Psalms. Yes, the doctrines
of grace were faithfully preached. We cannot undermine the good
things that were said. We were firm in being high in
doctrine and so on, and being strict Baptists, but very rarely
would we hear a sermon from such a book. And notice here there is the
one shepherd, and thus the under-shepherd is in the singular. There's only one shepherd. You
don't have five or six of them. What I'm saying to you is the
practice of the plurality of elders as people. talk of it
is not found in the New Testament. We read of the bishops and the
deacons at Philippi. So we agree and we practice that
there is one pastor and the plurality of deacons. The elders is the
collective term for all the officers together. If you read Charles
Breed's book, you will see a very lengthy exposition of such a
practice that has always been the strict Baptist way in which
we hold to. One undershepard, one undershepard. And thus friends, what do we
see here? A forerunning of the New Testament
Church And here, I will raise up for
them a plant of renown. Where is the center? Where is
the very peace? That which we look for,
the center of the peace. The Lord says, I will make with
them a covenant of peace. Now, we abuse the scripture very
badly if we think this is talking about natural Israel. This is
not a promise for natural Israel. Now, there might be some in the
congregation that will object and say, but in the 1940s The
re-establishment of Israel means that there is a promise to them.
What we see there is a political state for political purposes. You can fence off part of South
Sea and it's no more called Israel than it to be found in the Middle
East. Israel is a spiritual place for spiritual people in respect
of the text which we read here. There's no peace in a place,
physical place. The peace is found in Jesus Christ. And thus, is that not to whom
and where we look? I will raise up a plant of renown
and you see friends, those to whom Ezekiel was preaching, They
weren't looking for a promise to any ethnicity. Indeed, the Lord will bring the
countries, He will take them together, He will call the people
that were not a people. They were looking unto the one
person. And is that not what salvation
is? I will raise up for them a plant
of renown. Now, do we not also see in here
some wonderful characteristics of his sacred humanity? Notice this, a plant of renown,
a plant does not come into fruition immediately. It grows. And thus we read of
the, not very largely, but very briefly, of the early life of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was flesh after our flesh.
He was born a boy, born of the Virgin. But He was flesh of our flesh
he grew up in the same way physically that
any boy today or in any generation gone has grown up the plant comes
into fruition and thus we see he was indeed
a plant of renowned. Some plants, and I'm no expert
in these things, some of you here are very knowledgeable in
these things, I know that. I'm not, but I know this. Some plants, they're poorly rooted,
and they grow, and they soon droop,
and they soon die. this was one that was planted
and raised in covenant bond and in covenant union with the Trinity. There was that time when the
Lord Jesus came into this world born of a woman and born of a
virgin and we're not too far From that time of year, we would
estimate from the biblical accounts that we have, it must have been
no later than late September when the Lord Jesus came into
this world. And thus, we would acknowledge
that it is therefore another reason for it to be a mockery
to be the 25th of December. It's just a nonsense. Here we
see a plant of renown. He was born of a woman and under the law. But this plant was unlike any
other plant. We read of the branch elsewhere,
do we not? And very similar titles that
the Lord Jesus is given in the great tree of salvation. But this was a plant of renown. Now that word renown in the English
language is a word that has not changed. There are those words,
of course, with over a period of time that we have in the authorised
version that we must understand in the sense that they were written.
But this is a word that has not changed. What is it to be of
renown? Well, it's to be of some importance
and distinction. Indeed, this was a plant unlike
any other. Therefore, you and I, do we not see the plant of renown? Surely there must be something
different that is seen of and in Christ than anything else than anything else is this not the experiential
application? what think ye of Christ? what do we know here about the
covenant of peace that is promised? it's found in the plant of renown
and what do we read? He shall be no more consumed
with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen
any more. Thus shall they know that I, the Lord, their God,
am with them. Every one of the Lord's people
is brought into an experimental acquaintance with the Lord Jesus. it is impossible, note this,
impossible to be found in heaven without being born again which
is why the dispensational view of this chapter is a mockery
because you've got to be spiritual and there's no peace outside
of Jesus Christ notice this here, this plant
of renown are we not drawn to the plant
of renown? and is this not the unique the
glorious unique a fact about Christianity which
is completely different to any other that the Lord draws his
people to himself a living miracle of grace. They shall know that I the Lord
their God am with them. And that they, even the house
of Israel, are my people. That's not an ethnicity. That
is speaking of the Child of God in every age, in every generation,
in all places, his elect scattered throughout the world. What do
we read? He will raise up a plant of renown
and thus every man will put down his sword and his pruning hook
one against another. Though there may be many barriers,
culturally and even linguistically, because they're drawn to the
plant of renown. Indeed, there's no person like
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not to know
things. Now, we would qualify that We're
to study to show ourselves approved unto God. We're to have the Berean
spirit and search the scriptures. I wish there was more of the
Berean spirit amongst our people. It's sadly lacking. But salvation is not to know
facts. We can all know facts. We can
all know things. Salvation is to know a person. and thus when we read the Holy
Scriptures do we read with spiritual eyes or do we read with carnal eyes? Are we reading simply historical
truths, historical facts, good things? Good things to read? Or are we looking to see that
one message made known and made precious to us the plant of renown and thus within the plant there are those
boughs, there are those cedars, are there not? there is the fruit
that is made known a beautiful plant will produce
those leaves, will produce those elements which from it will glorify
or frame, if you like, the beauty of the very center. And is that not the fruits of
the gospel, the fruits of salvation? the Lord's people are those precious seeds, aren't
they? that are sent forth they don't
glorify themselves but they draw attention to the
very center and thus we read that when the world and the enemies
of the gospel despise you. Very often it's not you that
they despise, it's the Christ in you, it's the living soul,
that drawing unto Christ, that loving of Christ, that unity. What does that him say they see
the change and they hate it and thus the plant of renown is a plant of renown of importance
of distinction to the Lord's people and thus they will continually
seek after Him. Because we have by necessity
that need to be fed and do we not have that need to be fed
continually? You and I cannot live on a meal
that we have consumed several years ago. We can't even live on a meal well
that we've consumed but yesterday that Jesus Christ to feed on him is to feed on
him continually that's why he is the meat which does not perish because there's a continual looking
unto him. Salvation is not a once in a
lifetime experience we have been saved we are being saved and
we will be saved and is there not that continual
exercise within our souls do we not feel it if there is
but a distance what is the cause of this great distance it is
sin isn't it Because sin is ever-present with us, like whilst we're in
this time state. We may not live as we did, but
we're not what we would be. And that is keenly felt. And thus, time and time and time
and time again, we must be drawn back to the plant of renown,
to feed to feed upon the Lord Jesus and
his precious promises. Ezekiel knew it, didn't he? He
knew it. Though some 600 years before
the Lord would come, he knew where his hope lied. Now you
and I have the great scriptures of truth. We have a greater light
in that sense than Ezekiel had. We have the full canon of Holy
Scripture. But even yet, is there not that
great hope set before us? And again, it's a neglected truth. Do we not look to that great
day? For everything is passing. This performance that's going
on on South Sea Common today, it'll soon be over. It'll soon
be over, and it will leave the people as they found them. but
here is a glorious difference here is a glorious difference
the gospel never leaves people as it finds them never because
it changes our souls and it brings satisfaction it brings that peace
and the seal by the Holy Ghost of that covenant of peace but we don't find it anywhere
outside the plant of Rene. We come back to this great truth.
The promises of the Gospel are for those who need them. Therefore
for me to stand before you here at the conclusion of the service
and offer you Christ is of no consequence at all and is very
dangerous because it may deceive you into thinking you have power
and you don't. But, if under the Holy Ghost
we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, if we feel
ourselves to be in need of the plant of renown, is there not
indeed a feast of fat things? There is a table filled, spread
with glorious food spiritual food of which no soul will ever
hunger because Christ is always enough. Where is heaven on earth? It can only be where Jesus is
and I will raise up for them a plant of renown. Amen.