Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36. And we'll
title this message, The Immutable Covenant. The Unchangeable Covenant. And I even had one that says,
The Comforting Covenant. The Comforting Covenant. And
we're going to begin our reading in verse 21. Verse 21. The Scripture
says, I had pity for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither
they went, therefore saying to the house of Israel, Thus saith
the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, house of Israel, but
for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen,
whither you went. And I will sanctify my great
name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned
in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you before their eyes. And here's the covenant. He says,
For I will take you. This is how they're going to
be sanctified in the eyes of all those around them. He said,
I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of
all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from
all your filthiness, from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh. And I will put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep
my judgments and do them. And 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, and I will call for the corn and will increase
it and lay no famine upon you. I will multiply the fruit of
the tree and of the increase of the field, and you shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall you remember
your evil ways and your doings that were not good. you shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and
for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and be confounded
for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God,
in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will cause you to dwell in the cities and the waste shall
be built." Comforting covenant, an immutable, unchangeable covenant. Here in this text of Scripture,
we have a very plain, a very clear and clear language of Holy
Scripture, the eternal, everlasting, immutable covenant of God's free
and sovereign grace for all His elect people. This covenant of
grace is for all the people who are in Christ Jesus. And it is
my purpose tonight, as I preach this gospel to you, as I preach
this covenant and expound this glorious covenant, that God would
comfort you. It is my intent, my hope, that
God would comfort you by this. That you would have divine comfort.
Now, that no matter your circumstances, No matter where you are, no matter
your sin, no matter your difficulty, if you are a believer in Christ,
this immutable covenant is here written with indelible ink. It is immutable, unchangeable,
so that you and I might find rest, we might find hope, we
might find peace, even when all around us is spinning, when all
around us is trouble. we might find a rock that we
can rest in, a shade that we can lay our head and find protection,
a refuge. Now, I want to start this out
by showing you a historical view, the historical view and condition
of Israel at this time. Here, the people of Israel were
in captivity in Babylon, and God reveals that their captivity
was a result of their sin. But God in grace reveals in His
sovereign purpose a deliverance. He promises them deliverance,
that He would bring them into their own land and He would destroy
the Babylonians. And He does this, He brings this
word of comfort to them by way of covenant, a covenant, a promise,
which He did. He did fulfill that promise to
national Israel. They were delivered from the
Babylonian captivity. They were brought back to their
land even as God purposed before. He said 70 years are determined.
And guess how long it took? It took 70 years. And God had
brought them out right on time as He promised. And He restored
their worship. He restored the temple of God.
Now, the fulfillment of this historical covenant to national
Israel, what does that do for us? What does that have to do
with us? Well, it only has to do with
us in this point that it is a type and a picture of true spiritual
Israel. This historical bondage, this
historical deliverance, this historical restoration of worship
is a picture of true spiritual Israel, the elect of God. And God here reveals why he would
do it. Look at verse 21, he tells us
why. He said, I had pity on my holy name, which the house of
Israel profaned among the heathen, whether they went. He said in
verse 22, I don't do this for your sakes, I do this for my
sake. God tells him, I'm doing this
for my own sake. Why did God deliver national
Israel? He made a covenant with them. Why did He make a covenant
with them and not with anybody else? He said, I'm doing this
for my own sake. And what was His purpose in delivering
national Israel? Because remember, Christ was
promised to come from that nation. Christ, the fulfillment of a
greater covenant, was at stake. Not just the covenant of national
Israel, but a greater and more glorious covenant. Therefore,
Israel is only a type and a picture of the true Israel of God. Now
you can see this in Scripture. You can see this in Scripture.
In Romans chapter 9. If you go over there, the Apostle
Paul explains this very clearly. In Romans chapter 9. And look at verse 6. Romans chapter
9 and verse 6. Paul says this, ìNot as though
the word of God had taken none effect.î For they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel." Paul said, look, I know this,
that national Israel was given all the covenant promises, the
adoption, the glory, the law, the prophets, yet we know this,
not all Israel believed. Isn't that right? Not all that
nation were saved. And Paul asked this question
in the previous verses. He said, does that make this
the Word of God of none effect? He said, God forbid you should
say that. Why? For this purpose, not all they
that are of the national Israel are of the true Israel of God. Neither because they see that
Abraham are they all children. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ
told those Pharisees which were descendants of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He said this, you are of your
father the devil. But notice this, he said, But
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, he's explaining it, that they which are the children
of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of promise
are counted for the seed. You remember that the line was
to be Abraham, Isaac, and then Isaac, you notice this, he had
two sons. And Paul is going to go on here
to explain this. He's going to say, look, well,
Esau and Jacob both came from Abraham. And we know this, that
God loved Jacob and hated Esau. Though Esau was a child of Abraham,
he was lost. But we know this, that Jacob
was saved because of what? The eternal election of grace,
because of the grace of God. That is, the elect of the Father,
those chosen before the foundation of the world, those eternally
loved of the Father. These are the Israel of God. not that national Israel. They
were only a type and a picture. And so as we read of these people,
these national Israel, they are only a picture of the true Israel
of God, the true elect of God. And so it is to these tonight
that I'm preaching. I am preaching to the true Israel
of God, to the elect of God, to those who are called of God
the Holy Spirit, those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ,
and those who believe on Christ. You are the Israel of God, and
I want you to take comfort in this covenant is yours. This
is God's covenant to you. This immutable, unchangeable,
eternal covenant is our covenant. It is given to us by God. And so, Since this is written
to us, this covenant of grace and salvation is written in our
text, I want you to see first of all the condition of true
Israel. The true Israel of God, their
condition is reflected or given to us by the type set before
us. Go back to your text. Look at
this. Look at the condition of national
Israel, and then you'll be able to see the condition of spiritual
Israel. Look at verse 17, Son of man,
when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before
me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. This is stating a truth
here. We all, by nature, have been
delivered into captivity and bondage to sin. Just as God delivered
Israel into the bondage of Babylon, even so have we been enslaved
to sin. Enslaved to sin, our nature. Behold how God then meets His
people. He always meets us in this condition. If He is ever going to give this
covenant, if this covenant is yours, if God has given this
covenant a promise, an eternal life to you, He will always meet
you in the same place He met Israel, in bondage, in sin, in
uncleanness. This is where God always meets
men. And that's true. He has to meet
us where we are. He has to meet us. He does not wait for us. Isn't that something? He doesn't
wait for us to come to Him. He comes to us. We see that pictured in our father
Adam, don't we? When Adam sinned against God,
we know this, he spiritually died. He spiritually died, and
we can see the result of that spiritual death by him running
and hiding from the only one who could save him. He sinned
against God and then he ran and hid from God. He then tried to
cover his sin with the works of his hands. This is what we
do by nature because we are in bondage to sin. We run and hide
and try to cover our sin. And why do we do this? Even because
we cannot come to Him. You know, if you laid a corpse
out here in front of us, would you ever expect the corpse to
get up and come to you? No matter how much you loved
it, no matter how much you loved that dead person, you cannot
bring them back. You cannot raise them from the
dead. They cannot do anything for themselves. That's how we are by nature.
And if God is going to save you, that's where He's going to meet
you. He's going to meet you in your dead condition. And God
says, This is the reason for your dead condition, verse 18,
Wherefore I poured out My fury on them, for the blood that they
had shed upon the land, and their idols wherewith they had polluted
it. I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed
through the countries according to their way, and according to
their doing. Listen, I judged them. Isn't this what He did to Adam?
judged Him immediately when He sinned. Judgment fell, and not
only fell on Him, but fell on His whole race, on us. Judgment fell, and we died spiritually. �Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned.� All have sinned in Adam, we all
sinned. And the result of this is what?
The result of this is not what you would expect. If we all have
sinned, do you not think we should plead for mercy? But yet what
did Israel do? Instead of pleading for mercy,
they went further in verse 22. God tells them, He said, You
profaned My name. Instead of pursuing Me for mercy,
you furthered your condition of sin. You profaned My holy
name. Now because we were spiritually
judged in Adam, God scattered us. God separated us from himself. We were separated from God and
by nature we, like Israel, profaned his name. But as God met Adam,
so God meets all his people. I'm thankful for that grace that
God came walking to him in the cool of the day. You know, why
would it say that? It's just a beautiful picture,
isn't it, of God's kindness to meet Him where He is. And God
here with Israel, though they had profaned His name, though
they had mocked Him, though they had shed blood in His land, though
He had judged them, though He had condemned them, yet God says,
I will meet them and give them a covenant of mercy. He meets
with sinners. But when He meets with sinners,
how do you know you've been met? That's a good question. If God's
going to meet you in your dead condition, how do you know that
you will be met? I'm going to read what it says
in Isaiah chapter 2. I like this description here. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 17. When God meets you, this is going
to be your experience. And the loftiness of man shall
be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." When God meets
you, He is going to expose your sin and lay you in the dust. If there's ever going to be mercy,
He must first expose your sin. He exposes our guilt and lays
us low. How? By the display of His holiness. By the manifestation of His holiness. Over in Isaiah chapter 64 and
verse 1 through 6, it says this, O that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth,
the fire causeth the water to boil, to make thy name known
to thy adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence,
when thou didst terrible things, which we look not for, thou camest
down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since
the beginning of the world, man hath not heard nor perceived
by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee,
what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest
him, rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy
way. Behold, thou art wroth, But we
have sinned. In those is continuance, and
we shall be saved. But we are as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We do fade as
the leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us
away." You know, see, when God comes, everything melts. All
of your hopes, all of your dreams of self-righteousness, all of
your works, they melt before Him in His presence. We become
bowed down and we, terrible things come in. The judgment of God
is exposed. Look, we weren't looking for
this either. And He said, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor
entered into the heart of man the things that God prepared for
them. We weren't looking for this when God found us. But when
He found us, He exposed this, that we were an unclean thing.
And all our righteousness is a filthy rag. He exposed the
mortality of this life, the futility of this life, the vanity of this
life. We are all as a leaf that is
faded and driven by the wind. What good is a leaf driven by
the wind? A dead leaf? Do you suppose it could put itself
back on the tree and give itself life? No, that's what we were. We were carried away from life
by our iniquities. When God ever meets you, I hope
that God would. I hope God meets every one of
us. And if He ever meets you, you'll
understand this about yourself. That by the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified in its sight, And it's here God
always meets with the sinner, that He will reveal His salvation, which is a salvation not by works. If God's ever going to show you
this, He's going to show you salvation is not by works, or
by the will of man, or the merit of man, or the religion of man,
or by man's covenant with God. That's what false religion teaches,
that you need to make a covenant with God. You need to start doing
this and stop doing that. No, that's not what God says. God says no matter what you do,
you cannot earn this salvation. This salvation is only by grace
through faith in Christ alone. It's by a covenant. A covenant. God is showing Israel in our
text. Go back to your text. He's saying,
look, you profaned my name. You're in captivity. I pass judgment
on you. But, here's hope. Here's hope. That's what it says in verse
21. That word conjunction is what? But. Even though you've
done this, and I've judged you for this, and you're guilty of
this, but, listen to this, I had pity. I had pity. even though you were captive
in sin, even though you could not deliver yourself, I had pity. But notice the cause of this.
The cause of His pity upon us is not our pathetic self. When
you see a man on the side of the road and he's all dressed
in rags and he's begging for change, we may think, well, I
am going to have pity. Now, why would you have pity?
You have pity because of his rags. You have pity because of
his condition. God says, look, I'm not even
having pity because of your wretched condition. I'm going to have
pity for one reason. Listen, what it says, for my
holy name. For my, right off the bat, God
tells us the reason of this covenant, these promises he's about to
give, which is surely opposed to any works religion of man.
It is a covenant of grace. He says, I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this for me. I do this
not, verse 22, I do this not for your sakes, O house of Israel,
but for my holy name's sake, which you profaned. I do it not
because you deserve it, not because you're worthy of it. I do this
for my own name's sake. I do this out of free grace,
and nothing of this covenant depends on you. You realize you
can't be pathetic enough to deserve this? You can't be sinful enough. It takes a sinner to... God only saves sinners, is that
right? But you say, well, I know He's
not going to save me until I really feel I'm a sinner. No, you can't
be sinful enough just like you can't be holy enough. Because
this thing is not about you, it's about God. It's about God
doing this for His own namesake. Listen, sinner, if God would
ever show you grace, He's going to show you that all of this
is for His own glory, everything He does. All that God made is
by Him and for Him, especially salvation. It's for His glory. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1. Paul said this in verse 4, we
know this really well. He's 3, verse 3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. This is the
covenant promise, all spiritual blessing, everything God's got,
he says I'm going to give it to you who are I put in Christ
Jesus, according. as He had chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. The Father in this covenant
named some people. These people were chosen people. They were chosen and gave to
Christ. They were put in Christ. And
He chose them when? Before the foundation of the
world. Before there was sin, they were chosen. See, that's
why I say you can't be sinful enough. It was way before sin
that these people were chosen. So it's not about your works
and it's not about your sin. Who is it about? It's about God's
glory. He's going to show us this. He purposed, before there
was sin, He purposed that we should be made holy. And this
same covenant of grace in our text is the same reason He gives
here in Ephesians. Look at this, "...according as
He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,"
listen, for this purpose, "...that you should be made holy and without
blame before Him." Here's His cause, His motivation, "...in
love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,"
here's how, "...by Jesus Christ." Listen, "...to Himself," now
according to what? good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace. And in verse 11, just
in case you didn't get that, in verse 11 of Ephesians, and
12, he says that we should be to the praise of the glory of
his grace who first trusted in Christ. Verse 18, all those whose
eyes had been opened, he said that we should know the riches
of his glory. Oh, how vain man is! Would to
God you would cease to think so highly of yourself that this
thing is about you. We do, don't we? Even the elect,
we still think sometimes this is about us. It's about Him. It's all about His glory. And
we should bow down before God alone who purposed in grace,
in a covenant of grace to save us. who alone purposed, planned,
and executes the salvation through Christ. And now God, the Holy
Spirit, is sent forth into the world to save these chosen people. And that's what he says. Go back
to your text. This is what he said he will do to those he had
pity on for his own glory. Look at this. In verse 23, at
the bottom part, he says, The heathen shall know that I am
the Lord when I shall be sanctified. Listen. in you. I will be sanctified
in you. God purposed to sanctify Israel. Where? In them. He sanctified
Himself in them. He set Himself apart in them
so then that the heathen and all the world should know the
glory of His grace. Look, I am an object lesson to
everyone. of the glory of God to save such
a worthless sinner as myself. It only gives glory to God. There is no glory found in me. How does he do it? How does he
sanctify himself in his people? Well, He tells us in this covenant,
look at this in verse 24, I will take you from among the heathen
and gather you out of all countries. In Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse
14, He says this same type of thing. He says, I will take one
from a city and two from a family. Here He says, I will take you
from among the heathen and gather you from all countries. In other
words, He sanctifies His people in this covenant promise of effectual
calling. effectual calling. Everyone he
purposed to save in eternity for his own glory, he promises
this, I will take you and gather you. I like this word take. It
is the same word used for fetch when he's talking about David
getting Mephibosheth. In 2 Samuel 9, verse 5, it said,
David sent and fetched him. You get the picture. Mephibosheth
was lame on his feet. He couldn't run from David or
he couldn't come to David. Now listen to this, he didn't
want to go to David because it was certain death. Being a son
of Jonathan, son of Saul was certain death. And yet David
had a covenant he made with his father. And he sent and fetched
him. He grabbed him. He took him. And this is the covenant promise
that God says, I will come and take you unto myself. I will
grab you. I will fetch you in mercy. And he fetches all his elect
sons who by nature are unwilling and unable to come to Christ.
Jesus said, no man can come to me except what? Except the Father
take you. Except the Father gather you
and bring you. You cannot come to me. But God
in His purpose of eternal covenant fetches His people. And all His
elect people by sovereign power of the Holy Spirit, they will
come. This is the will of Him that
sent me. That of all He hath given me, I should lose nothing
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of Him that sent me. that every one that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, shall have everlasting life." This
is His will. None of them shall be lost. All of them shall come.
Why? Because God promised to Christ. He promised to Christ, in that
day thy people shall be willing. When? In the day of thy power.
In the day of thy power. Not of their own free will, But
in the day of His power, we were made willing. Why? He fetched
us. This is His promise. He fetches His people. In the
day of regeneration and the new birth, we are fetched and we
are brought from the power of darkness. We are translated into
the kingdom of His dear Son. Not only does He fetch us, listen,
He gathers us. What a comforting thing that
is, like a shepherd gathers his sheep. It's not only that He
picked us up and took us, He gathered us with love. He drew
us with the bands of love and mercy. He gathered His people. How did He gather us? Simply
through the preaching of the gospel. This is how He gathers. He takes us by the power of the
Holy Spirit, but He gathers us by the preaching of the gospel.
We know this, that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. You that are saved, is this not
what happened to you? Isn't this part of the covenant
promise you've experienced? He took you. He brought you from
death to life, from unbelief to faith. And how did he do that? He gathered you by the preaching
of Jesus Christ to himself and drew you to himself. I have loved
you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. I have drawn thee. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word. This is why God calls men
to preach his word, to preach Christ, even because this is
the means the Holy Spirit has chosen to gather his people.
My sheep shall hear my voice. and they shall follow me." Any
question about that? When I gather people, there's
a question, you may come and you may not. I invite you someplace,
I command you to come someplace. You know, that don't mean anything.
There's no power behind my command. But when He commands a man to
live, that man lives. Why? It's His covenant. It's
His promise. It's an immutable covenant. It
doesn't change. And when God says it, He'll do
it. And that's what He did for us. He gathered us. He called
us to Himself. And in verse 25, listen to what
else He does. He said this, I not only gather you, I not only take
you, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness, from
all your idols will I cleanse you. This is a perfect cleansing. A perfect cleansing. He doesn't say I'm going to cleanse
part of you. I'm going to cleanse all of you. Not just with any
water, but with pure water. What is this but the blood of
Jesus Christ? Isn't that what He says in Hebrews?
He hath purged us from all our sins. Purged us, washed us completely. Listen, if God is just, how can
then He show mercy to the guilty? You ever ask that? That's important.
Men should ask that question. Anybody that's ever preached
should be asking their congregation that question. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? It's a vital... How can God have
any integrity at all and still accept you and me into His presence? How could He gather me? How could
He take me and me be unclean? He couldn't. He couldn't. Except what? He cleansed me.
except his justice be satisfied. The only answer then to that
question is simply substitution. Substitution. This is the whole answer to this
covenant, is the whole substance of this covenant. God not only
purposed to save us, but he also decreed and predestined the means
of our salvation. Remember what it was in Ephesians
chapter 1? by Jesus Christ. How is He going to make you holy
and without blame before Him? In love, predestined as to the
adoption of children, how could He adopt us? One way, by Jesus
Christ. By Jesus Christ. This is the
eternal covenant of the Father's love that chose the elect and
purposed their salvation. purpose to gather them to display
his glory and grace he said I will that my elect be holy by my son
and behold Christ was made then an eternal covenant to be our
surety, our federal head, and our high priest, and our sacrifice. He's made everything, isn't He?
He's the tabernacle, He's the altar, He's the high priest,
He's the sacrifice, He's the garments, He's the robe, He's
the tent, He's everything. In our salvation, Christ is everything. Why? In a covenant between God
and His Son, God purposed that Christ should be everything.
Everything. Eternal covenant of grace, Christ
therefore then came into the world as our representative,
as our high priest, as our sacrifice in order to do what? To make
us, to make us righteous, to make us holy, to make us acceptable
before God. Isn't that what he said in 1
Corinthians 1.30? He said, But of God, God hath
made him to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, everything to
us. In His covenant of grace, Christ,
in perfect love and grace, willingly, with all His heart, said to the
Father, I will be surety for them. I will be surety. And Hebrews tells us He's the
surety of a better covenant, of this eternal covenant. Therefore,
the Father who first trusted in Christ, all salvation of His
elect, the Father trusted Christ. with all the salvation of His
elect. You see who had faith? God had faith in His Son. God
trusted His Son. God trusted everything to the
Son. Jesus, knowing in John 13, verse
3, said Jesus knew all things were given into His hands. What
was He talking about? All his people, all judgment,
all power, all authority was given into the hands of Christ
and God trusted him with the souls of his people, with the
salvation of his people. Even so, Christ came into the
world as a man to do the will of Father. He said, lo, in the
volume of the book it is written of me to what? Do thy will, O
God. By the which will? What? We are
sanctified. We are made holy through the
offering of the body of Christ. What? Once for all. Once for
all. So when Jesus, when God says
there's a coming, I will cleanse you from all your unrighteousness,
from all your filthiness, from all your idols. What does that
mean? It means, I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness, from all your idols, from all your
sin. How? By the blood of Jesus Christ
alone. Now sinner, behold how God, who
is just, can justify the ungodly. How righteousness and truth can
meet together and mercy and peace can kiss each other. It's only
in the washing of Jesus Christ of our sins by His perfect offering. Paul said, "...he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Look and see, as God has redeemed
all His elect, and even as He gathers us together in Christ
as our Head, and as Christ honored the Law of God, and by His faith
and obedience, He did all for His elect. He created a perfect
salvation. Perfect salvation for His elect.
And as Jesus suffered on that cross, being made sin for us
who knew no sin, for what purpose? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Believer in Christ, when were
you redeemed? When were you redeemed? You were
redeemed by the purpose of God in eternity. Christ was as a
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. But it was not
until He actually was crucified that our sins were literally
removed forever, literally paid for. It was at the cross. He made peace where? At His cross,
by the blood of His cross. It's at Calvary. And yet God's
will and purpose is that you should not only cleanse you,
but that you should experience it. This cleansing took place
a long time ago. But not only God says, I will
cleanse you in the past, this is talking about a present cleansing. A present cleansing. He said
that you should experience this cleansing. Experience this cleansing. Therefore, He called and fetched
and gathered you so that you should be cleansed. Look at verse
26, how does one experience this cleansing? Verse 26, a new heart
also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you and I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause
you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and
do them. Man was made by God, body, soul,
and spirit, but when man died, he had a body, he had a soul,
but his spirit was dead. Dead. And when God gathers His people
and cleanses them experimentally, this is how He does it. He gives
them a new nature. He gives them a new nature. He
doesn't fix up the old one. This is what religion teaches,
is that God saves you and that you're responsible to start fixing
things up. You're responsible to make it
the rest of the way by helping God. Cleanse up, reform your
life, do this, do that. No. God gives me a whole brand
new nature that is totally cleansed. John says, Whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. How do you reconcile that? You
and I sin every day. Yet God says, Whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. The only way that's reconciled
is this, that He gives us a nature that does not sin. He gives us
a new heart, a new nature. A new spirit will I put within
you. This is what happens at the new birth. For by grace you
are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are His workmanship, created, you got that word, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. Behold a new heart, The new heart
is a product of the perfect work of Jesus Christ and the application
of the Spirit of God. That's what God predestines for
it to be conformed to His image, right? Well, that's His image! The new nature is His image!
And it's by this new heart, sinners then come by faith to Christ.
That's the only way you can come, is if you have a new nature.
Faith in Christ is the evidence and the proof of new heart. Faith
not in itself, not in ourselves, faith not in our works, not in
our works plus Christ, and not even faith in our faith. God
gives you a new heart. Listen, it's going to be faith
in one thing and one person only, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Faith looks only to Him. Matter of fact, our faith looks
to His faith. This is very clear in Scripture. And I'm going to read some verses
of Scripture for you because I don't have the time for you
to turn, but I'm going to just go through them real quickly.
Romans 3 and verse 22, it says, Even the righteousness of God,
which is by what? The faith of Jesus Christ. So
our righteousness is by what? The faith of Jesus Christ. In
Galatians chapter 2, in verse 16, It says this, knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Now why are we justified? We
are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. We are given life
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Paul says in that same chapter
in verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live what? By the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 3 and verse
22 says this, But the scripture hath concluded all under sin,
that the promise by faith of Christ might be given to them
that believe. You see, this covenant is given
to us by the faith of Jesus Christ. This promise of covenant mercies
are by the faith of Jesus Christ. And over in Ephesians chapter
3 and verse 12, by the faith of Christ we have access to God.
Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 12 says this, In whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. In Philippians
chapter 3, verse 9 it says this Paul says
and being found in him not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ
the righteousness which is of God by faith you see by faith
we receive this but it's by his faith we obtain this we obtained
this is he obtained this by his faith and even our patience You
want patience? You know where that comes from?
It comes by His faith. Listen to what it says in Revelation
chapter 14 and verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is by His faith that we have
patience waiting for Him. Believer, this is the purpose
of God, that all our righteousness, All our justification, all our
acceptance with God, and all our endurance in this life is
by the faith of Jesus Christ. This is what the new nature,
the new heart believes. This is what we trust in. And God promises then to remove
the stony heart. Look at that. Go back to your
text. He says, I will take away that stony heart. out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh. This doesn't mean he takes
away the old nature. That's not what it means. Because
we know this by our experience that the old nature still exists
and we still struggle within ourselves because of this old
nature that remains. And therefore it's a warfare,
constant warfare within ourselves, constantly opposing ourselves.
But what does it mean by this stony heart taken away? It's
no longer in charge. How do you know that? Listen,
can you believe? Do you believe? If you believe, that just proves
that the old man's been put down. Because before he ruled supreme.
And you could not believe. But now you can. Because he has
been put down. He has been put down. Not eradicated,
but put down. Put it down. And look at this,
in verse 27, not only that, He said, I'll put My Spirit within
you, so you'll keep My judgments and statutes. What is this? The
Holy Spirit He puts within every believer. You that believe, I
want you to know that God is always present with you. God's
always present with you. He never leaves you. If any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Is that clear? So when does He leave you? The moment He leaves you, you're
none of His. That's not part of the covenant,
is it? No. If He's gathered me, if He's
cleansed me, if He's given me a new nature, a new heart by
which I may believe on Him, He has put His Spirit in here. So
what? Look at your text. I will put my spirit in you and
what cause you to walk in my statues and keep my judgments
and do them." What is that? Faith and love and hope. Those
are the graces He causes us to walk in every single day of our
life. He causes you. He causes you to walk in them. Not you. You can't stir yourself
up to these things. Religion does that. Trying to
stir you up. Trying to get you all excited
so you can believe. No, the Spirit of God does that in you. Causes
these things. And not only keep them, but do
them. And look at this. He not only
promises that, but he promises this. He promises to give us the kingdom.
Look at this, in verse 28, ìAnd you shall dwell in the land I
gave your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your
God.î He promises us the kingdom. He said, ìFear not, it is your
fatherís good pleasure to give you the kingdom.î You know that God does not grudgingly
give this kingdom to you. We believe when we sin, this
is how we feel, as though God is having to do this unwillingly. God made a promise and He can't
go back on it and He's upset about it. No. Jesus said, it's
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Why would
it not be? If he cleansed you from all your sin, then what
is stopping him from giving you the kingdom? If he's given you
the righteousness of Christ and justified you, what should stop
him from giving you the kingdom? I will give you the land I promised
your father. Behold, there's a day coming
when that's going to be manifest. Everyone's going to be gathered
before him. The sheep and the goats will be separated. The
tares and the wheat will be separated. And those on his right hand,
his sheep, he said, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of
the world. According to this covenant I
made with my Father, this kingdom was yours in eternity, and now
come and get it. Come and get it. It's yours.
I freely give it to you. Why? You're righteous. And the
righteous say, when were we righteous? When were we righteous? No, you're
righteous because I'm righteous. Because in this covenant, I was
your surety. And notice this. He said this.
This is another thing. Verse 29. In this covenant of
grace, he says this, I will save you from all your uncleanness.
Now, wait a second. Before, he's already said he's
cleansed us from all our uncleanness. Now, what does this mean? This
is a present. This is constantly happening
right now, believer, according to this covenant of grace. He
has saved us. He shall save us. But I want
you to know this. He is even now saving us. I've cleansed you from all your
sin, but yet I will save you presently, constantly, perpetually
save you, pardon you, forgive you of all your sins. Isn't that
a good covenant? It is to a sinner. Does any of this sound shaky
to you? Did any of this sound questionable? Did God leave any of this to
chance? These are very emphatic words,
aren't they? You won't find a contract like
this anywhere in the world. Not among men. Always escape
clauses, right? You get a contract, there's an
escape clause somewhere. There's no escape clause here.
God doesn't want one. He's perfect. He said, I will save you. This
is not about your feelings, friends. Because this salvation does nothing
to do with you. It depends on nothing from you. God says, I will save you. Is
any part of this about your feelings? God say, I will save you if you
feel like you're saved. I will save you if you will just
do the best you can. No, I will save you. I will save
you constantly, perpetually, from all your uncleanness. And notice this is part of the
covenant as well. I will multiply the fruit of
the tree and increase the field, and you shall receive no more
reproach of the heathen, the famine among the heathen." In
other words, you will grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus
Christ. All the fruit of the Spirit he promises, and look,
he promises, will grow. Now, how does this grow? Through much tribulation. Much
trials. So what does He promise in the
covenant? In this world you shall have tribulation. But, listen,
no matter what you experience, be of good cheer, overcome the
world. And what's the effect of this? When this covenant reaches
the object of His love, when He gathers us, when He cleanses
us, when He makes us effectual, when He whispers such sweet things
into the sinners here, and the sinner by grace and faith receives
it, what does He do? Verse 31. This is part of the
covenant. Read it. Then shall you remember
your evil ways and your doings that were not good, and you shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight. You got that? In whose
sight is this loathing? Is it in God's sight or yours? It says, in your own sight. Isn't
that how you look at yourself? Believer, is that not how you
see yourself? Well, guess what? That's part
of the covenant. God promises that's what's going to happen.
You're not going to be proud. You're not going to be boastful.
What are you going to do? You're going to loathe yourselves. Loathe
yourselves. And then in the end, He says
this, Not for your sake do I this, said the Lord God. Be it known
unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God in that
day, I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities. I will
cause you to dwell in the cities that have been wasted, and they
shall be builded." This is the application of it. Friends, when
He comes, He builds up that waste city in that new nature and He
gives it to you. And I tell you, we loathe ourselves. We do in
our own sight. But this is your comfort, friends.
Here it is. This covenant's an eternal covenant.
It's immutable. It can't be changed. It won't
be changed. God says you are in bondage.
But for my glory, I'll save you. Therefore, I will take you, I
will gather you, I will cleanse you, I will give you a new heart,
I will put My Spirit within you, you will walk in My ways, you
will keep My commandments, you will believe on My Son, and when
you do that, I will increase everything, I will give you the
kingdom, I will increase your faith, increase your graces,
but you will loathe yourself in that day, in that day. Our circumstances change. One
minute we're on top, the next minute we're on the bottom. One
minute we're doing good, the next minute we're in trouble.
What does that have to do with the covenant? What does that have to do with
His promises? Tell me. Which one of these covenant promises
shall fail because you failed? You see, all this was already
purposed before you ever sinned. How then can your sin affect
it? It was already taken into account. It was already cleansed. And so right now, you can hold
on to this. It is still being cleansed. And God cannot demand twice payment
of the sinner, can He? Once at my surety's hand and
then again at mine. He can't do it. Why? It's His
covenant. It's His promise. I pray that God will give you
such faith to believe and cling to it. Run to Him. Believe on
Him. When you believe, listen, this
is just as much your covenant as it is mine. This belongs to
me just as much as it belongs to you. And it's just as sure
for you as it is for me. I pray God gives you some comfort
in that.