Let us turn once again to the
Word of God and turn into that scripture that we were considering
this morning in the book of Ezekiel. The prophecy of Ezekiel in chapter
7 and verse 16. But they that escape of them
shall escape. and shall be on the mountains
like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning everyone for
his iniquity." He remarked this morning that the Prophet Ezekiel
was called to minister to those of the captivity, those that
were taken and removed into exile into Babylon. to languish there
for some 70 years, and we see that that was very much the sphere
of his ministry. The opening words of the book,
now it came to pass in the 30th year, in the 4th month, in the
5th day of the month, as I was among the captives, as the margin
says, among the captivity. by the river of Khabar, that
the heavens were opened and I saw the visions of God." And in that
first chapter we have a description of that, that he saw the great
whirlwind that comes and he sees the throne of God and wheels
within wheels and so forth, a strange sight, a remarkable vision that
was granted to the prophets. But his ministry, as I said,
is clearly to those who were in the captivity. In chapter
3 and verse 15, Then I came to them of the captivity at Tal
Abib, that dwelt by the river of Kabar, and I sat where they
sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And so, in the words of the text
that we considered this morning, we observe the significance of
that opening word, but. But they that escape of them. We saw how that previously we
read of God's terrible judgment that came upon the nation because
of their sin. the second verse, also thou son
of man, thou set the Lord God unto the land of Israel an end. The end is come upon the four
corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee,
and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according
to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abomination. And so such words follow in in
the chapter till we come to this 16th verse, which opens with
that word, but. There is a contrast. There are
those whom God will spare. He would spare a remnant there
in the captivity. And so we thought of that remnant
and how God would in time cause him to escape and bring them
again to Jerusalem, there would be a blessed restoration. Ezekiel is not the only prophet
that speaks of these things. We have that at the end of Isaiah
35, that great promise, the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away. And here we have them, and we
in particular this morning considered the figure that is employed to
describe this remnant, like doves, like doves of the valleys, all
of them mourning everyone for his iniquity. And I remarked
that this particular figure is often used in the Song of Solomon. The dove is used as a figure
of the child of God, of the church of God there in the Song of Solomon. The dove being a clean bird.
one of those that would be offered in sacrifice. We read of the
turtle dove. And so we considered other parts
of scripture where mention is made of this particular bird
and how it is used in reference to God's people. in the Song
of Solomon chapter 2 and verse 14, O my dove, it says thou art
in the clefts of the rock. This is one of those things that
we considered in particular, the dove in the clefts of the
rock. It's there that they find their
safety, rock of ages. Cleft for me, let me hide myself
in thee. All those words that we have
again in the book of the Prophet. Isaiah in chapter 26, Come my
people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.
Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed. There is a place of safety, that
salvation that God has provided for His children. They are to
hide themselves, and there they will find their security. Well, having said various things
with regards to this figure of the dove this morning, I want
us now really to look at what he said at the end of this 16th
verse where we read of the mourning, the mourning of doves. like doves
of the valleys, all of them mourning everyone for his iniquity. And to divide the subject matter
into two principal sections, two points, first of all, to
consider the conviction of sin, and then secondly, to consider
the believer's conflict with sin. First of all then, to think
of the words of the text in terms of that conviction that comes
into the soul of those who are the Lords, who he speaks of as
my dove, oh my dove. is an expression that is used
so many times in that song of Solomon. And here we see the
conviction of sin in terms of their humility like doves of
the valley. Doves of the valley, doves in
a low place reminds us of their meekness, their humility. The wise man in the book of Proverbs
declares on two occasions that before honour is humility, how
God must come and humble his children, how by our very fallen
nature we are those who are prone to pride. For it is pride, a
cursed pride, that spirit by God abhorred, do what we will,
it haunts us still. and keeps us from the Lord. We see it, do we not, in Genesis
chapter 3, in the fall of our first parents, when the serpent
comes to Eve and says, ye shall be as God. Our men want to be
as God. How they would that they could
live their lives independent of God. And how we see it all
around us. God is not in all their thoughts. How there is that need then that
God humble the proud sinner. When we see this of a truth in
the Gospel, in the parable that the Lord Jesus Christ tells concerning
those two men who go to the temple at the hour of prayer. One was
a Pharisee, so much respected amongst the Jews, Now the Jews
looked up to that sect of the Pharisees and their great zeal
for the Lord, for the Lord of God. And Christ says the other
man was a publican. He was in the employ of the Roman
Empire. He was a tax gatherer. Not only
would he gather those taxes that were demanded by Rome, but he
would also abuse his place and seek to feather his own nest. The publicans were greatly despised. And the Lord speaks of these
two men going to the Temple of God. And you're familiar with
the Scripture there in Luke 18. where Christ speaks of the publican,
standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast and cried, God be merciful to
me, a sinner. Oh, he feels himself to be so
utterly unworthy, he might be a publican, but what humility! He stands afar off, he fears
to come too near, and as he stands there as a poor penitent, it's
not only penitential faith that the man has, but also he has
penitential hands and he smites his breast, he has a penitential
heart, he would strike at his own heart, he feels the awfulness
of his sin before God, but then his prayer that comes from those
penitential lips He has nothing that he can say other than to
beg for mercy. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And you're probably aware that
in the original there, there is also the definite article.
It says literally, God be merciful to me, the sinner, the sinner. He fails himself to be the real
sinner, the greatest of sinners, like the apostle. when he, in
1st Timothy chapter 1, refers to himself as the chief of sinners. Here is the poor publican then. What humility! And yet, the Lord
draws a contrast. In contrast we see the pride
of the Pharisees. Those Pharisees much looked up
to or they were so self-righteous. They loved to pray standing on
the corner of the streets that men might see them, that men
might see that they were godly, they were given to long prayers,
they made a show of their religion. The Lord says there, oh that
man prayed thus with himself, maybe he prayed inwardly. But
when he prayed thus with himself, does it not indicate to us also
that his prayer went no further than himself? His prayer did
not enter into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth. He prayed
thus with himself, God I thank Thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I give
I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess, how he
speaks of himself, how he speaks of his own works, all this is
all his prayer, to tell the Lord how good he is. But what does
Christ say concerning these two men. He says of the publican
that this man this man went to his house justified rather than
the other. The man who comes in all humility
who comes only to beg mercy of the Lord. Lord Peter says be
clothed with humility for God resisteth the proud and giveth
grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God. Ought to be those who know what
it is and to be in that valley of humiliation. Dogs of the valleys, it says.
And who is the one that teaches us such humility? It is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He says, learn of me for I am
meek and lowly in heart. All we need to learn of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself, what it is to be favoured with that lowliness. We have it in Philippians, let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And what
is that mind of Christ? It's humility. He thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Took upon him the form of a servant
was made in the likeness of men. You militant, learn of me, says
the Lord Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah again reminds
us of those of whom the Lord takes account. Thus saith the
High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,
I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also, that is
of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble.
and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. God grant that
we might know then something of that humility, that lowliness,
as we come before the Lord God. It's part of the sinner's conviction
of his sin, is it not? And as the sinner is one who
is humble before his God, So here we see He is made to mourn. He feels sin to be such a grievous
thing. Doves of the valleys, all of
them mourning, every one for His iniquity. Again in Isaiah we read of these
who mourn sore like doves. They mourn sore like doves. by
doves and the word saw indicates it's a very great mourning it's
a very great mourning all God's children are mourning souls all
God's children are made by grace to repent of their sins and that
godly repentance involves a mourning over sin Remember how in the
Beatitudes the Lord Jesus pronounces them to be blessed souls. Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. What is it
that brings us to mourn? It's that realization of our
sinnership. We mourn over our sins. Now all
are sinners, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God without any exception. There is none good, no not one.
There is none righteous. All are sinners. But how few
have any real sense of it. How few feel that they are sinners. How the Lord has to teach us
what we are. And so there is, as we see in
scripture, that ministry, that ministry of the Lord of God,
how necessary it is. by the law is the knowledge of
sin that law is made for the sinner
to teach him his sinnership we know that what thing so ever
the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God there's the ministry to stop the mouths of men to bring them
in guilt, to convince them of their sins. It is such a ministry
of the Lord of God and God is sovereign of course. I'm not
for a moment saying that all who are saved must first of all
know a deep law work in their consciences. The Lord deals with
us in a variety of ways but we will all at some stage in our
Christian experience know something of what it is to be brought up
sharp before that Lord of God that brings conviction into the
soul of the sinner. But how true are the words that
we often sing in the hymn, Lord and terrors do but harden all
the while they work alone. Oh, it's not enough just to have
the Lord of God. Lord and terrors do but harden. all the while they work alone,
but a sense of blood's bored pardon soon dissolves the heart
of stone. There is a ministry of the gospel
and how we need that to see what sin is in the light of those
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ when that's one holy righteous
just separate from sinners, when that one was made to be sin for
his people, that they might be made the righteousness of God
in him. And all for the Lord to come
in the gospel and to lift up the light of his countenance
upon us. Remember how when Paul writes
to the Corinthians, he speaks of that light of the gospel.
and he refers to God's great work in creation when he spoke
forth the light, God said let there be light and there was
light. Paul says God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face
of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessing it is when
the Lord grants us that light, the light of the everlasting
gospel. When the Lord is pleased to turn
and to look upon us, and to lift up the light of His countenance
upon us. Remember what we're told concerning
the experience of Simon Peter. when he denied the Lord and he
denied Him three times and yet he had so proudly asserted that
he was willing to die with the Lord and Christ speaks to him
and tells him how Satan had desired to have Him to have all of them,
Satan had desired to to have you, that He might sift you as
wheat. The Lord speaking to Peter there
in Luke 22 uses the plural pronoun, you. That means all of the disciples,
Satan has desired to have you, that He might sift you as wheat.
But then the Lord says to Simon Peter, But I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not. and he uses the singular pronoun. Oh, the Lord, you see, is very
particular in the way in which he deals with his people. Even
when we come together like this in the act of corporate worship,
he is able to deal with us in that individual and that particular
and specific way. There's an address to all and
yet the Lord comes and deals with one. And so there we see
Peter and the Lord's praise for him. And the Lord does more than
pray for him. Because when Peter had denied
his Lord, what do we read? In Luke 22, 61, the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he said before the cock, Crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice. And Peter went out, it says,
and wept. bitter. Oh, that was mourning.
That was the conviction of sin. It came from the look of the
Lord. He went out and he wept, did Peter, bitter tears. Mourning
now over his sins, why he had denied the Lord. You think of
the Lord Jesus Christ, one of his disciples betrayed him, Judas
Iscariot. Another of his disciples denied
him, Simon Peter. All of his disciples forsook
him and fled. And yet, oh, the gracious ministry
of Christ, the tenderness of his heart, how he looks. He looks
upon Peter. And it's that look What does
he say in the prophecy that we read there in Zechariah 12? I
will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and supplication and they will look upon me whom
they have pierced and mourn for him as one mourneth for his only
son and be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. where there is a true repentance,
there must be that mourning, that mourning over our sins,
when we see them in the light of the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Just recently at home we were
reading there in the book of the Prophet Joel, in Joel chapter
2, and there in verses 12, and 13 and the chapter of course
is speaking very much of repentance in Joel chapter
2 and verses 12 and 13 therefore also now saith the
Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting
and with weeping and with mourning and rend your heart, and not
your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. For He is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repenteth him of the evil." What a call this is to true evangelical
repentance. The turning to God with the whole
of the heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. There is to be that mourning
then over our sins. Where there is that real conviction,
that realisation of what sin is, and to feel it, and to grieve
over it. When we see Him who is the only
Saviour of sinners and all that that great salvation cost Him,
even the shedding of His precious blood and the pouring out of
His soul unto death, even that cruel death of the cross, like
doves. This is the Church, I say, the
Church of the Living God, like doves of the valleys, all of
them mourning everyone for His iniquity. But there's another
experience of the children of God, besides that that is associated
with repentance, the conviction of their sin, there is also that
daily conflict with sin. And that daily conflict that
is involved in the life of faith, the life of trials and of troubles. And we have of course an Old
Testament example. of that in that King of whom
we read, that good and gracious King Ezekiel, in that portion
that we read in Isaiah, we read of him there in the middle
of the prophecy. It's interesting that in the
very midst of that prophetic book we have a particular historic
account of King Hezekiah. And we learn certain things that
are not spoken of with regards to him in the books of Kings
and of Chronicles. In chapters 36 and 37, those
chapters previous to where we read, we see how the Assyrians
came under their great leader, the Emperor Sennacherib, and
they quickly overthrow the northern kingdom of Israel the ten tribes
are scattered and then they move south throughout the kingdom
of Judah and all the walled cities are falling before the Assyrians
and they come to Jerusalem and they lay siege to the city of
Jerusalem the seat of government the place where the king Hezekiah
is. And there's the Assyrian general,
Rapshakei, and he comes and he begins to taunt those men who
are upon the walls of Jerusalem. And a message is sent. It's sent
to the king, to Hezekiah, and we're told there in chapter 37
of Isaiah's book just what happened. Verse 14, Hezekiah received the
letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went
up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the
Lord. And then we have his prayer.
But he takes this letter, godly man that he was, and he goes
to the house of prayer. and he spreads the letter before
the Lords as that Sennacherib is making these great
demands upon him and then in the next chapter, chapter 38
where we read we're suddenly told that the king is sick sick
on to death he's going to die And now, of course, when the
Prophet comes and conveys this awful message to him, what can he do? He's on the bed
of sickness. Isaiah, the Prophet came unto
him and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order,
for thou shalt die and not live. He's so sick. And the sickness
is unto death. He cannot rise from his bed,
he cannot, as he'd done previously, go to the house of the Lord.
But we read how he turned his face toward the wall and prayed
unto the Lord. I like to think that he turned
his face to the wall, that was the wall next to the temple of
the Lord. He looks, as it were, to that
temple of the Lord again. That temple which is a wonderful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now his prayer is heard,
his prayer is answered. And the prophet is sent back.
And he is to tell the king now that the Lord God has added some
15 years to his life. And then we read there his great
prayer of thanksgiving. What does he say? Verse 14 in
chapter 38 of Isaiah, like a crane or a swallow. So did I chatter,
I did mourn as a dove. Here we have it again, the mourning
of doves. Mine eyes fail with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake
for me. What shall I say? He hath both
spoken unto me, and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. So
wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. What do we have here? We have an example, you see,
of the conflicts that the child of God has to endure. All these things were written
for our learning, we're told, that we, through patience and
comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. And again, all these
things happened unto them for ensamples, and they're written
for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The ends of the world being this Gospel day. There in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 and again in Romans 15, the Apostle Paul is mindful
of those under the Gospel and he's telling us there how we
are to understand those things that are written in the Old Testament
Scriptures. They're in samples, our types. They're written for our learning.
As we read these things we should seek to draw some profitable
spiritual instruction from them. We should look to the Lord to
grant us some comfort from those things that are recorded with
regards to the lives of these godly people. And what do we
see in the case of King Hezekiah? We see that it is by all these
contrary things, all that came upon him, His kingdom falling
on every hand and now the capital Jerusalem besieged and the torchings
of the Assyrians and now struck down and sick and going to die
and yet he is brought to acknowledge in the midst of all his mournings
by these things men leave. In all these things is the life
of my Spirit." All that conflict that believers have, it's a constant
warfare. And yet, all the time it is the
good fight of faith. That's what Paul says to Timothy,
fight the good fight of faith. It's not just the fight of faith,
it's a good fight. that the believer is engaged
in wrestling not with flesh and blood but with principalities
and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and
spiritual wickedness in high places or what a calling is that
of the child of God the conflict with sin but not only do we have
the Old Testament we also have the New Testament And so besides
the Old Testament example that we might examine and seek to
draw some comfort from in the history recorded of King Hezekiah
and it is interesting to observe that there's a threefold record
There's a threefold record. There's not only those chapters
in Isaiah, there's also in 2 Kings chapters 18, 19, and 20, and
again in 2 Chronicles 29 to 32, details concerning the life of
that king. These things are written for
us. But not just the Old Testament I say. We also have the New Testament. And what do we find in the New
Testament? Well, we have a pattern. We have
a pattern. We have it in the Apostle Paul. As he says when writing to Timothy,
1 Timothy 1.16, he speaks of himself as a pattern, to them
which should hereafter believe. Or as the margin says, a type,
to them which should hereafter believe. We have a pattern in the Old
Testament, many patterns. We have a pattern in the New
Testament, many patterns are going, but one in particular,
the Apostle Paul. Now as I've said before, we're
not to therefore conclude that we all need to have the same
sort of experience, the same great depth of experience, we're
not going to have that, we're not called to be apostles, none
of us. None of us are called to be apostles,
there are no more any apostles. That office is one that is foundational
to the New Testament Church. It's built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. But there are those principles
that we can draw from the life of Paul. And remember how under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he's moved to write those
various epistles and so many of the New Testament epistles
are Pauline. He doesn't just speak of great
profound doctrinal truth, he does that. He certainly does
that time and again in the first part of his epistles and then
also in the latter part it comes to the practical. we find many
exhortations. He draws on what he has said
concerning the doctrine and shows how that the doctrine is to be
walked out in the lives of the children of God. But besides
the doctrine and the practice he also weaves into those epistles
something of his own experience. Those remarkable chapters that
we find where he is forced to speak of himself It's not that
he has a big ego and likes to speak of himself, but he is moved
and it's all under the sovereign hand of God, it's all inspired
by the Holy Spirit and it's written for us. Think of that great seventh
chapter in the Epistle to the Romans. Do we not see there something
of what the conflict with sin is? Why the Lord Jesus Christ
himself tells us that which is born of the flesh is flesh and
that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Flesh is flesh, Spirit is Spirit
and the Child of God is one born again. He has a new nature. He
is a new creation in Christ Jesus. But there is still that that
is born of the flesh. And how Paul is made to feel
something of that. Writing there in Romans 7, verse
18, he says, For I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do
not. and the evil that I would not
that I do. And then he's brought to cry
out in all the agony of his soul, oh wretched man that I am. You
shall deliver me from the body of this death. He feels that
the flesh is like a body, a dead body that he is having to take
about with him everywhere he goes. how it's a burden to him,
how it bears down upon him. Who shall deliver me, he says,
from the body of this death? And what does he say? I thank
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Oh, how he feels it, you see.
the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh and these contrary one to the other as he says to
the Galatians and you cannot do the thing that you would you
cannot do the thing that you would but let us not imagine
that Paul is some sort of schizophrenic here at the end of Romans 7 We
see that the real Paul is the new man of grace. He says there, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God. And see how emphatic it is, the
repetition. He doesn't say with the mind
I serve the law of God. No, he says I myself, this is
the real me. I'm a new creation in Christ
Jesus. That's the real man. The man
of grace. And yet, how he feels the burden
of his sin still. And that's what causes him to
mourn. He feels sin to be such a grievous
burden. And it makes him to mourn And
so there's not just that morning when there's the first conviction
of sin or any conviction of sin. There is in the child of God
a constant mourning over sins. And we see it, do we not? There
in that portion that we read at the end of Zechariah chapter
12. And there we see that God's children,
in a certain sense, are very singular. They're a singular
people. Isn't that brought out in those
verses? In that day there shall be a
great morning in Jerusalem as the morning of Hadadrimon in
the valley of Megiddon. It's a reference there to a specific
event when that good and gracious King Josiah was killed in battle
at Megiddo. He was engaged in warfare against
Pharaoh Necho and the and the Egyptians, and he was killed,
and there was a great mourning. In that day there shall be a
great mourning. What is the day that's being
spoken of? It's the day of grace, it's the gospel day that is being
spoken of, but there's going to be a great mourning as there
was in the valley of Megiddo. The
land shall mourn, says the Prophet. Every family apart The family
of the house of David apart, and their wives apart. The family
of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart. The family
of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart. The family
of Shimei apart, and their wives apart. All the families that
remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. See in a sense,
believers are so singular. are so singular they are different each one apart,
each one separate the psalmist says I watch and am as a sparrow
alone upon the house top when the believers are involved in
this fearful warfare, this terrible conflict with sin, with themselves
and that sin that is yet so bound up in their fallen nature and
they're so involved in this awful conflict with with self and with
Satan and with the world they feel themselves to be so different
and yet they're not as Peter says Beloved think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some
strange thing happened unto you you might feel that we're different
But we're not, it's the experience of the people of God. This conflict,
this constant mourning over our sins. We sang in the Metrical
Psalm, we have that verse there in Psalm 55, Oh that I had wings
like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. How often
the believer is made to feel like that, or just to fly away.
to be at rest like a dove. This figure is repeatedly used
in Scripture concerning God's people. They're like doves. They're
like doves. And here we see them in this
book of Ezekiel the prophet. He speaks of those of the captivity. That godly remnant, the true
spiritual Israel that would be preserved and would return and
come again to Zion but they that escape of them shall escape or
there's no question God is the one who knows the thoughts that
he thinks towards them thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
them an expected end even though they must languish there in the
captivity mourning they that escape of them shall escape and
shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys all of the morning everyone for his iniquity oh
God grant that we might know something of that mourning over
sins the conviction of sin, the conflict with sin and the blessedness
Oh, the Lord Himself has declared the word, blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. God grant that we might know
then those consolations of the gospel of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen.