Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn them into Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36, I've
entitled this message, A Covenant for the Downcast. A Covenant
for the Downcast. Now, I want us to see, first
of all, as this chapter begins, I want us to notice the low estate
of Israel. I want us to see the low estate
that God has brought His people two and it says in verse one
it says also thou son of man prophesy to the mountains of
israel and say you mountains of israel hear the word of the
lord these are these are no doubt the preachers of israel those
who are to declare this word he prophesies to them and he
says this thus saith the lord god because the enemy has had
said against you Aha, even the ancient places are ours in possession. Therefore prophesy and say, Thus
saith the Lord God, because they have made you desolate, and swallowed
you up on every side, that you might be a possession unto the
residue of the heathen, and you are taken up with the lips of
talkers, and are an infirmary to an infirmary of the people. Now, I want you to see this lowest
state, this lowest state of Israel. They are brought down. Why are
they brought down to this low degree where the enemy of God,
the enemies of God say, aha, the enemies of God have now taken
them captive. Why is this happened to Israel? Well, to see this, you go back
to chapter 23. Look at chapter 23 and see the cause of Israel's
low estate. Look at verse 17. It says in
chapter 23 of verse 17, it says, the Babylonians came to her,
that is to Judah, into the bed of love, and they defiled her
with their hoard of it. And she was polluted with them,
and her mind was alienated from them. So she discovered her whoredoms
and discovered her nakedness. Then my mind, God speaking, my
mind was alienated from her. You see, Judah likens, God likens
Judah, his people, now that's important, this is his people
he's talking about. He likens Judah and their worship
of the heathen gods to adultery. to a woman of whoredom, she was
like a woman that had abandoned her loving and faithful husband
for wicked man. So what's the result? Her mind
was alienated from God. Because of her sin, her mind
was alienated from God. Now listen, they still went to
the temple. They still performed the sacrifices. They were doing all the outward
things of religion. But what was wrong was, in their
heart, in their mind, they had followed after the gods of Babylon. They had, in their heart, desired
the gods of other nations. They were outwardly faithful,
but inwardly they burned in lust for other gods. And when God
discovered their sin, listen to what He did. He said, My mind
was alienated from them. In other words, He removed His
presence from them. Now as a believer in Christ,
is there anything worse than the presence of God being removed? There's nothing worse to a believer
who is conscious of his of his sin and conscious of Christ and
his offering, there is nothing worse than God removing his presence. But look at verse 19 and see
what God's rebuke did. It didn't help. It hurt. It actually, their response was
they doubled down in their sin. Look at verse 9. Yet she multiplied
her whore. in calling to remembrance the
days of her youth wherein she had played the harlot in the
land of Egypt." She hardened her heart. She sinned against God. She went
away from God. She burned in her heart for other
gods. And God moved his presence from
her. And what did she do? She multiplied
them. She went further into sin. And now the rest of that chapter,
chapter 23, God then begins to tell Judah her chastisement. He said, I'm going to use those
lovers, those things that you longed for, those things that
you left me for, I'm going to use those things that you thought
were pleasurable, and I'm going to put them against you. He said,
I'm going to make them rise up. Look at that in verse 22. Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee,
from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against
thee on every side. And now God has brought this
to pass. God has brought this sorrow,
this grief that he swore to give them because of their rebellion,
because of their sin. God swears to take those things
they desire Put them in a cup of bitterness and sorrow and
make them drink them. Look at verse 32 of chapter 23.
He said, Thou saith the Lord God, thou shall drink of thy
sister's cup deep and large. Thou shall be laughed to scorn
and had in derision, and it containeth much. This cup of bitterness,
this cup of sorrow that Israel had drank, Judah, following after
Israel, will drink the same cup of scorn and derision. Thou shalt
be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with a cup of astonishment
and desolation, the cup of thy sister Samaria. Thou shalt drink
it and suck it out. In other words, there's not going
to be anything left. You're going to drink this cup
of sorrow and there's not going to be anything left in it. Thou shalt break the shreds thereof,
and pluck off thine own breast." You know what that means? She's
not going to be of any use. Now, a woman with her breasts,
they supply nourishment to the children. And what he's going
to do because of the sin is he's going to cut off their ability
to be a nurturing nation. They're not going to be useful
anymore. He said I've spoken and say it
the Lord therefore say it the Lord God because thou has forgotten
me now Here's the call listen. This is the call This is why
she went a-whoring after other gods. This is why she left God
she had forgotten me and Cast me behind thy back therefore
Bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredom And see now then the enemy of
God. The enemy of God and his people
were permitted of God to bring his people into captivity. They had forgotten God. And now
their sin is exposed. And go back to your text. Now
you see the low condition. You see the reason. They had
forgotten God. They had burned in their hearts
for other gods. And God had forsaken them. God
had abandoned them because of their sin. He had allowed their enemy to
come in. And look at verse 2. The enemy says, Aha! Even the
ancient high places are our possessions. So prophesy and say, Because
they have made you desolate, they have swallowed you up on
every side. that you might be a possession of the residue of
the heathen, and taken up with the lips of talkers, and are
an infirmary to the people. Now behold then this lowest state,
this backslidden Judah. God gave his people over to what
was in their hearts to do. And now the enemy of God has
taken possession of her. The enemy of God has swallowed
her up on every side. She is exposed. And they say,
what? Uh-huh. They laugh and they say, well,
look at God's people. Surely God has failed his promise. Surely now God has forsaken his
people. Aha, see that the promises of
God have failed and Judah has sinned too much. The sin is too
great for her to be recovered. And that's what it appears to
be. Judah had fallen so far from God that it appeared that all
hope was lost. Now, if you want to look at chapter
37, you can see that condition in that picture of the dry bones.
Remember the valley of dry bones he passed over, and they were
very dry. There was no hope for Israel.
There was no hope for Judah. It appeared as though God had
abandoned them and forsaken them to die. Now then, believer in Christ,
listen to this. Can you identify with Judah? Have you fallen? Have you ever
left off or forsaken your God? Have you left Him for the things
of the world? Now, this sin of forsaking God
is never beyond the sons of God. David forsook his God. We know that God's people are
capable of such evils. Has Satan been permitted to come
within the gates of your heart? Are you ensnared with sin and
overcome with shame? Has the enemy now whispered in
your ear, aha, there's no hope for you. I've swallowed you up. There's
no hope for you. You're desolate. You're cast
out. You're forsaken. Aha! No hope. No hope. Well, then I want to speak to
you because I do have a message of hope. I have a message of
hope for those who are downcast. Those who have fallen in sin,
I have a message of hope for you. Those of you that are swallowed
up, those of you who are desolate, those of you who are wasted,
I have a message of hope for you. Though you have forsaken
God, though you have left Him, if you are a believer in Christ,
you pay attention, He has not left you. He's not left you. Because you have fallen in your
lack of love for Him, I'll tell you this, He has never left off
loving you. He has never left off loving
you. I want you to hear the Word of God. That's what I want you
to hear. Thus saith the Lord. What good is it if you don't
have that? I can't tell you how many times it says, Thus saith
the Lord, in this text. Thus saith the Lord God. Thus
saith the Lord. So listen now to what God says,
what He reveals concerning the truth of this matter concerning
your heart. I want this to come to your heart.
Now look at verse 5, He says, Therefore, therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken
against the residue of the heathen, against all Idumea, which have
appointed my land into their possession." In other words,
the enemy, the enemy that said, aha, the enemy that now says,
we have them in possession, now we've got them, now we've ensnared
them, now we've allured them, they've come away by their own
lust into our captivity, and now we've got God's people. And
God says this to his enemies, I'm going to answer you by fire
and judgment, by my jealousy. I am against you. I am against
you. Prophesy concerning the land
of Israel and say unto the mountains and to the hills and the rivers
and to the valleys. Thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury. Because you have
borne the shame of the heathen. This sorrow and shame that God's
people feel, this triumph of the enemy over you, God says,
I did that. I did that. He said, in my jealousy. That
word jealousy, we have a different connotation of jealousy. It really
has to do with the zeal of God's love for His people. I, in jealousy, in love, in great affection for
my people, what I'm going to do is I'm going to destroy your
enemy. I'm going to destroy your enemy. Those that cause you grief, those
that allure you to sin, and the grief of forsaking me. Listen
to his promise to set you are cast down to the child of God
who is now ensnared. To those who have been ensnared,
he says this, you shall bear their shame. You're going to
be shamed. It's going to be shame. Is it not a shame when God's
people sin? It is. But listen to this. Those who
allured you are really going to bear the shame. I know this,
we feel shame. But God says this of your enemies,
they're going to be punished for their shame. They're going
to be punished for their shame. Those used of God to strip His people,
those used of God to tempt His people, those foes that were
allowed that allured His people. God swears that they're going
to bear the guilt and He will surely punish them. Verse 7,
Therefore saith the Lord, I have lifted up mine hand. Surely the
heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. But what
about the believer? Now I know what God's going to
do to our enemies, those that allure us, those that tempt us,
those that draw us in and ensnare us. God said, they're going to
bear the shame. I'm going to destroy them. But
what about the backslider? What about the believer who is
backslidden? What about Judah? Wasn't their sin just as vile
as the other? They may tempt us to sin, but
really, whose sin is it? It's ours. It's ours. You're not able to say, well,
the devil made me do it. No, you did it. You did it. When we sin, we do this knowingly. We do this willfully. Our sin
is no greater than their sin. But what's the difference? What
does God say to you who are backslidden, to you who are believers in Christ,
to His people? What does He say? Look at verse
8. He said, but you. There's a difference here. But
you, you who are my elect, my redeemed, those who are called
and chosen of me, though you have sinned, though you are afflicted
with sorrow and grief. Look at this. You shall shoot
forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people, saith
Israel, the people of Israel. For they are at hand to come. In other words, this message
that's going to go out from them is going to shoot out and it's
going to go out like a branch to the people of Israel. Why?
Because they're going to repent. That's His promise. They're going
to come. Just like those who were in captivity. He promised
they would return. Even so, this is a promise of
God to all that are His backsliding children. This message of hope
is going to be as a branch to them, as fruit to them, because
they're going to come. Now, why are they going to come?
Look at verse 9, 4. Behold, I am for you. I am for you. I will turn unto
you, and you shall be tilled and sown, and I will multiply
men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. And the
city shall be inhabited, and the way shall be built, and I
will multiply upon you men and beasts, and they shall increase
and bring fruit, and I will settle you after your old estates."
Now notice this. and will do better unto you than
at your beginning. And you shall know that I am
the Lord. Is that not the most gracious thing you'd ever heard?
Do you not see the iniquity, the vileness of Judah's sin? Do you not see the grief and
the sorrow and the captivity and how they were ensnared by
their own guilt and shame? How the enemy has allowed to
come in and God says this, listen, I'm for you. I'm against them,
but I'm for you. I'm for you. I'm going to turn
to you and I'm going to multiply you and I'm going to settle you. I'm going to establish you. In other words, the gospel, I'm
going to establish you on the rock of ages. That's what I'm
going to do. Christ. And then what am I going
to do? I'm going to do better for you. Is that not the most gracious
thing in the world? Is that what you would have expected? It's a message full of grace.
I'll tell you what, this is gracious to those who need grace. If you
are like Judah, this is the message you need to hear. I want to hear
a message of grace. I need a message of mercy. He said, I will destroy those
that you lusted after, but I will bless you. They shall die, but you shall
live. I'm against them, but I'm for
you. They will not repent, but I will
turn to you and you'll turn to me." Listen to the purpose of God
for the whole matter. Why did God allow them to sin? Isn't that a question? Could
God not have prevented Israel from sinning? Is it not possible
for God to stop them from going after these gods? It was well
within His power to do so. But I want you to understand
what God is doing. God is going to reveal more of
His grace by allowing this. Why did He allow their enemies
to ensnare them? Why did He allow their enemies
to mock them and mock the gospel? Why? Because He said this, I'm
going to do better for you. It's going to be better for you
than it was before. Before she sinned, it was good.
Wasn't the relationship between God and his people good? And
he said, but this is my purpose. When this is done, it's going
to be better for you. Isn't that what happened to Job?
The scripture says at the end of his trial, it says the latter
days of Job were better than the former. Don't you see why God allows
us in trials and difficulties? Because he said this, I desire
better things for you. Better things for you. I will do better unto you than
your beginnings. Whatever the end result of our
trials is this, we have this hope, it will always be better.
it'll always be better. When God's saints fall and He
restores them, are they not better than before they fell? Listen
to this. When you fall in sin and God
restores you, do you not appreciate His grace more? Do you not know
Him more? That's what he says at the end
of that verse there. He says, and you shall know that
I am Lord. Now, they knew he was the Lord
before. But they're going to know more, more of him. They are made to know more of
his love, more of his grace, more of his mercy, and it not
just be a doctrine that they know, but it's a doctrine experience
now. When God restores us, the doctrine
of grace becomes very experimental. It's the experience of grace
when we are restored. And what do we do? We know Him. Our faith grows. Our love grows. Our understanding grows. And
listen to what he says at the... Look at this in verse 15. I like
this. This is a better end. He says,
"...neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of
the heathen any more. Neither shalt thou bear reproach
of the people any more. Neither shalt thou cause the
nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God." What does He do?
He forgives us our sins. He cleansed Israel of earth's
transgression. She who played the harlot, she
who went and left God, forsook Him, threw His Word behind her
back, rebelled against Him more and more. And yet now God said
this, when I come to you, when I restore you, listen, I won't
even allow that to be mentioned anymore. Now I want you to see how could
God be so gracious. Have you ever asked that question,
how can God be so gracious? How could He forgive us? How
could He restore us? Seeing what we have done, seeing
the sin that we have committed, how could He restore us? I want us to see the cause of
His kindness, the reason for His restoring His fallen and
sinful saints. Listen, it is never found in
them. The cause for His restoration
is never found in them. Listen, if we waited for God
to find the cause in us, would we ever be restored? No. No, He couldn't restore us. I'm going to tell you the only
way God could do this is one way. A covenant. A covenant. If there's any hope for sinners,
if there's any salvation for the sons of Adam's fallen race,
it is because of a covenant of God's sovereign grace. It's the only way. It's the only
way. If any of his people have forsaken
God, here is the only reason he will restore them and not
destroy them. Here's the only reason He has
given us, and here's how a just God can restore us, forgive us,
and will do better unto us than before. It is because He has
made a covenant of grace to save us. In other words, listen, a
covenant is a contract, a pact, And it's a pact that God made
with Himself for us. It's a covenant of grace that
God made with Himself to save Israel, to save His people. Have you fallen forsaken God?
Have you been ensnared with no hope? Then listen, I want to
give you this tonight. I want to give you this. There
are five things about this covenant that we need to see that would
give hope to any backslidden believer, to any sinner at all,
any sinner in need of salvation. Listen, the only way is if God,
in a covenant of grace, saves you. Now, there are five things
I want us to see. First of all, I want to see a
need. If we never see our need of a covenant of grace, we'll
never find it. We'll never seek it. Second of
all, I want to see the cause of this covenant. And third,
the covenant itself. Fourth, the effect of the covenant.
And fifthly, the result. I hope I can get through this,
but I don't have much time, but we'll see how far we can get.
First of all, the need of this covenant. The need of this covenant
is found in verse 16. It begins there. It says, Wherefore
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when
the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own way, by their own doings, by their way was
before me as an uncleanness of a removed woman. You see, the
need of a covenant of grace is because man has sinned. Man has sinned. Just as we found
Israel ensnared, she had sinned. And God here says this. He says,
look, Israel, they dwelt in their own land. They defiled it by
their ways, by their works, by their doings, by their uncleanness. as a removed woman. That's a
woman that has in her menstruation, according to the law, she was
not allowed to be near her husband. She was not allowed to be intimate
with her husband or to worship God. And that's what we are by
nature. By nature we are sinners, removed
from God, unable to worship God, unable to come to God. No life
in ourself but death. We, by nature, are sinners, defiled,
separated from God. This is true at our birth, isn't
it? This is true of us at our birth.
Scripture says, Wherefore has by one man sin entered in the
world, and what? Death by sin. When Adam sinned,
he spiritually died, and that death has now passed upon all
men, for all have sinned. We have sinned. We are dead in
sins. So what do we need? We need life. We're sinners by nature. We need
righteousness. God is holy and just. Therefore,
He demands payment for sin. We need an atonement for sin. You and I are born dead in sins,
but not only are we born dead in sins, we ourselves are In
other words, you can't just blame Adam. We ourselves have defiled
ourselves. What he said, they defiled themselves. Our sins, we have defiled ourselves. If God will ever reveal to you this need of salvation, If
he ever reveals this need of salvation, he'll also reveal
this, that you cannot merit or provide it for yourselves. Look
what God did because of their sin. Verse 18. Wherefore, I poured
my fury upon them for the blood that they have shed upon the
land and for their idols, wherewith they have polluted it. I have
scattered them among the heathen. They are dispersed through the
countries according to their way and according to their doing.
I judged them. When they entered into the heathen,
Whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said
unto them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth
out of his land." You see, as a result of sin, God has sent
judgment upon us, scattered us among the heathen. Have you seen this about yourself,
that you need salvation? Salvation that you and I cannot
provide for ourselves. You see, I need salvation that
only God can provide. I need salvation that only God
can give. We all have sinned and are scattered. God scattered us in His fury
and we have profaned His name everywhere we have went. Is this
you? So I'll tell you this, if you're not a sinner, you don't
need a covenant of grace. You don't want a covenant of
grace. This surely not only applies
to those who are outside of Christ, but what about us who have believed
already? Does this not still apply to
us? Are we not still sinners in need of a covenant of grace?
I was reading this today, Spurgeon said this, he said, faith, repentance
like faith is constant and a necessary grace. We are constantly in need of
repentance and faith. We are constantly returning.
Why? Because we are sinners. We confess
we are sinners in need of a covenant of mercy. And so then if we have fallen,
you have fallen like Israel, listen, has God scattered you? Has God in His fury, because
you have shed blood, has He not dispersed you and despised you
and caused you to be scattered and cast down? Listen, this covenant is more,
I need this covenant more now than I ever needed before. I
know this, the more I grow in grace, the more I understand
how wicked and vile I am by nature. And so, I want you to know this,
those who are sinners need this covenant. It is necessary. I need salvation that only God
can provide. Now, what is the cause of this
covenant? Verse 21, we see the cause is
not you and it's not me. Look at this in verse 21, he
said, but I had pitied for my holy name, which the house of
Israel had provained among the heathen, whether they went. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God." Now
listen, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel. Isn't that what religion teaches?
That God does things because of you. God, you know, if you
do this, then God will do that. If you just do the best you can,
God's going to see what you're doing, and then He's going to
take pity on you, and then He's going to save you. No, that's
not what it says. He said if God's going to save you, He's
going to do it for His own sake. This whole covenant is based
on the glory of God. The glory of God. The cause of
this covenant is God's glory. The whole reason God saves sinners
is for His own glory. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. You
see the whole of this covenant there in Ephesians 1 is very
clearly stated. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Why did He do that? According as He had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is where that
covenant began. It began in eternity. God chose
us. And putting us in Christ, He
gave us all spiritual blessings in Christ. For what purpose? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. What's His motivation? In love,
having predestinated us under the adoption of children. Well,
how is He going to do that? By Jesus Christ to Himself. Now, why is He going to do all
this? According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise, the
glory of His grace. His grace, wherein, His grace,
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. What's the cause of
this? The glory of His grace. Any covenant
that does not give God all the glory is not the covenant of
this book. It is not the covenant of God.
It is not the salvation of God. The salvation of God renders
all glory to God. He chose us in Christ. It was
by Jesus Christ we were saved. It is by the Holy Spirit we are
called and kept, preserved unto the day of His coming. All the
glory belongs to God. If we are saved, there was nothing
in us that would ever move God to do this. Oh, that sinners
would cease then to look for any merit in themselves. Listen,
if you are a backslidden believer, If you are cast down and ensnared
by the enemy, you need to stop looking for reasons why God would
do anything for you. There is no reason in you why
God would do anything for you. The only hope for us is that
God would do it for His own glory. He said, I don't do this for
your sake. I do it for my sake. I do this for my name's sake. He says in verse 23 of our text,
he says, I was sure I will sanctify my great name, which would you
do? You profaned it among the heathen. And listen, the heathen shall
know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, listen, when I
shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. In other words, there's
a time that God's going to be glorified even among the heathen,
and that time is when He restores Israel. You take a sinner, and
he's ensnared, he's entrapped. You know when God's going to
glorify His name? When that sinner is delivered. When that sinner is delivered,
even the heathen are going to know God did it. Isn't that our
message? You that are saved, isn't that
your message? God did it. God did it. I was a sinner. I was ensnared. I was polluted. I was despised. I was hated. But God, but God, He saved me. Why? Because He would. Now then,
listen to this other covenant. Now I want you to see the covenant
now. Look at verse 24. This is the
covenant in action. This is the promise of the covenant.
He says, I will take you from among the heathen and gather
you out of all countries and will bring you to your own land.
Listen to this. First of all, he said, I'm going
to take you. This is an act of violence. This is an act of rescue,
an act of deliverance. I'm going to take you. Where
were you? You were ensnared. The enemy
had said, aha. But what did God do? He said,
I'm going to take you out of their clutches. When God saves
a man, it's an act of power, isn't it? Salvation is not a
mere decision to be made by man. It is an act of God. And what
does God promise to those who need this covenant? He said this,
I'm going to take you. I'm so glad. I'm so thankful
for his power. I could not take myself out of
sin. I could not take myself out of
guilt. I could not take myself out of
the clutches of the enemy. Why? I was by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. I hated God just like everyone
else. I could not come to Christ. I
would not come to Christ. Until when? Until He took me. Notice this he not only takes
us out. What does he help? What else he he said I will gather
you That's a gentle phrase, isn't it? One is an act of violence
of taking and the other is an act of drawing He said I'm not
gonna I'm gonna deliver you and listen I truly our deliverance
took place outside of us didn't it took place at the cross He
actually took us out of the clutches of our enemy when Christ died
for our sin. I When he accomplished our redemption,
he actually delivered us at that time. We didn't experience it
then, did we? No. There was a time he said,
I'm going to gather you. Why? He's the good shepherd.
And the good shepherd does what? He gathers his sheep. He calls
them by name. Have you been called? What does
he call you to? He calls you to faith, to believe
on Him. He calls you to love Him. Do
you love Him? Do you believe on Him? Why is
that? That's because you were taken
and you were gathered. This is the covenant of promise.
I will take you and then I will gather you. And listen to this
in verse 25. I'm not going to gather you.
What I'm going to do is this. I'm going to cleanse you. He
says in verse 25, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you
shall be. Clean. From all your filthy. From all your idols, will I cleanse
you. Now, how is He going to do that?
We know that is only by the blood of Jesus Christ. This was God
reconciling the world by Christ. God was in Christ. When Christ
came into the world, what was He doing? He was reconciling. He was taking. He was gathering
His people. He put them in Christ. And He
reconciled the world by Jesus Christ. And we read this, that God had
made him to be sin for us. How can God cleanse you of your
sin and still be a just God? That's because he didn't let
your sin go unpunished. He actually punished our sins. When Christ bore our sins in
his own body on the tree, the wrath of God fell on him. And so then because of his victory,
because of his success, God can swear, he says this, I will sprinkle
clean water upon you. I'm going to cleanse you from
all your filthiness, from all your idols, from all your uncleanness. Not only this, he promises this,
a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put
within you. This new heart, what is this?
This is the new nature. The new nature. You by nature
hated God. You by nature were dead in trespasses
and sin, but God has given you a new heart. And when I ask you questions
like I just asked you, do you believe in Christ? Do you trust
Christ with all your heart? Do you love him? Do you want
to serve him? You see, this comes only from
a new heart. The old heart can't do this.
The new heart can. The new heart does. But I like this. That's not all. He gives us a new spirit. Imagine
if God just gave you a new nature, but failed to put the Spirit
of God in you, do you suppose you'd keep yourself? Do you suppose
that nature would be enough to keep you? No. We need the Spirit of God to
sustain and renew that nature, don't we? Constantly renewing
our minds and hearts. The Spirit of God. He says, I'm
going to give you a new heart, but I'm also going to give you
the Spirit of God. I want to put that spirit of
my spirit. He said that in verse 27, I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes
and keep my judgments and listen to them. What are his statutes
and his judgments? They are faith and love. That
is the statutes and judgments of God that we keep. How do you
keep doing it? God, how do you keep on? Why
are you still believing? What is it, Scott? How is it? He said, I put my spirit in there.
That's the only reason you keep going. That's the only reason
we can keep moving and loving Him and serving Him. And listen,
when we fall, when we fall, how is it we're restored? It's the
same Holy Spirit that restores us and brings us to faith and
repentance again. This is the covenant of grace.
This is His promise. And listen, you shall dwell in
the land that I gave your fathers and you shall be my people and
I will be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness. He said, look, I'm going to give
you heaven. I'm going to give you the land
of your fathers. I'm going to give you the land of promise.
But while you're dwelling here on earth, does that mean you're
going to be free from sin? No. He even recognizes this in
the covenant and he says, I will save you from what? Your uncleanness. Wait a second. Didn't he say,
I cleansed you from all your filthiness? Yes. But listen,
you still have that old nature of sin and must constantly have
need of cleansing. He recognizes this. And so he
says this, even when you fall, I'm still going to save you. Even when you fail, I'm still
going to save you. Even when you backslide, I'm
still going to save you. I'm going to save you from all
your uncleanness. Listen, I will call the corn
and increase it, and lay no famine upon you. I will multiply the
fruit of the tree and increase the field, and you shall receive
no reproach of the famine among the heathen." What is he saying
about this? He says, look, I'm going to cause
you to grow. You're going to grow in faith.
You're going to grow in love. You're going to grow in joy. You're going to grow in peace
in every fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance,
faith. All of these fruits of the Spirit.
God says, I'm going to call it forth and it's going to grow.
And you who are cleansed of all your sin, you who have been taken,
you have been gathered, you have been brought in. God has promised
you to keep you. All right, who is so full that
they don't need to grow? Who? Is there anyone who has
enough faith? Do we have enough love? Sometimes
I say, I have enough patience, I don't need any more. But I
know what I'm saying is I don't want to hurt anymore. But I know
this, I do need more patience. I do need more love, joy. God says, I'm gonna call it forth
and it's gonna grow. And notice this, the effect of
this covenant. When God comes and gives you
this covenant, does this covenant in any way
cause you to be proud? Is there any room for pride in
this covenant? No, God said, when I make this
covenant effectual to you, look at this, then, what's going to
happen? What's going to happen, verse
31, then? What are you going to do? You're going to remember
your own evil ways and your doings that were not good. And you shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and
for your abominations. Is that not what it does? this
covenant of grace causes us to loathe ourselves? That's against
modern religion, isn't it? Modern religion wants to exalt
you. God says, when this covenant
comes, I'm going to abase you. And what are you going to remember?
Even though you've been cleansed of all your sin, what do you
remember? I remember my sins. alone myself. And he causes us to remember,
though it is not for your sakes I do this, saith the Lord, be
it known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God in the
day that I shall have cleansed you from your iniquities, I will
cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste places shall be
builded, the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas you lay desolate
in the sight of all that pass by." In other words, God says
this, you're going to loathe yourself, you're going to remember
your sin, but you're going to remember this, that I did this
for my sake. I did this for Christ's sake.
Why does Christ keep cleansing you? for his sake. God cleanses
you for Christ's sake. Why is this building, this wasted
habitation, this wasted man, this now building by God, why? For the glory of God. I did this. I built this. I made you. I saved
you. I keep you. And so what do we
do? We praise Him. We give all the
glory to Him. And they shall say, This land
that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden, and the waste
and desolate ruined cities have become fenced and inhabited."
Isn't this what we... We've become fenced. You realize
this, there is no accusation that can come over this fence. God has sent us in a refuge in
Christ. And though the storm beat against
the refuge, it will never come nigh thee. Why? He has built
a fence, a protective barrier, so that nothing could ever separate
you from your God. So consider this when we have
fallen. Consider this when we have backslidden, when we have
forsaken God, when we've abandoned Him, when we've been ensnared
by our enemies, to say, aha! It's too late for you! God says,
no. It's not too late for you. I
will destroy your enemies. I'm for you. Why is He for us? You sinned,
but God made a covenant. And God will keep His covenant.
What is that covenant? I'll take you, I'll gather you,
I'll cleanse you. I'll cause you to grow in grace.
You may remember your sin, but I know you'll know this. I did
it. I built you. I saved you. I keep you. I pray that God use this for
His own glory and the good of His people. Father, dismiss us
with Your blessings tonight. I just pray you take the word
and apply it as you please. Use it for the benefit of your
saints, if there are any who are fallen, that they might be
restored by the grace and power of the Father of thy Holy Spirit
through the blood and righteousness of Christ. I pray in Jesus' name.