And we'll be looking at verse
21 through verse 33 this morning, the Lord willing. The title of
the message is, The Glorious Covenant of Grace. The Glorious
Covenant of Grace. Here we have in Ezekiel chapter
36, in very clear and plain language of Holy Scripture, the eternal,
everlasting, immutable, unchangeable covenant of God's sovereign free
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is without a doubt
a clear gospel covenant of grace. Now, in context for this, I want
you to understand. In this first portion of Scripture,
the people of Israel, the people of Israel were in captivity to
Babylon. And they were in captivity because
of their rebellion, because of their uncleanness. As a matter
of fact, God says that in verse 17. He tells Ezekiel, 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 an
uncleanness of a removed woman, an adulterous woman. And we know
this is speaking about spiritual fornication, spiritual uncleanness. Not that they weren't religious
people. Israel was a religious people, but they were worshipping
false gods. And that in the sight of God
is spiritual adultery. And this is why they were captive
in Babylon. And God reveals that their captivity
is a result of their sin. But in His divine will and purpose,
He purposed to deliver them. And that's what this covenant
reveals in verses 21 with that word, but. Even though you've
sinned, even though you've rebelled, but I have a covenant. I have
a covenant that I made not with you, but with me. For my name's
sake, he says, I'm going to do this. I'm going to deliver Israel
out of Babylonian captivity, not for them. I'm going to do
this for me, for my sake. He revealed that he would do
it, but not for their sakes. Verse 22, he says, but I pity
my own name. I'm sorry, verse 22. Therefore
say to the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord, I don't do this
for you. I do this for mine holy name's sake. Verse 32 repeats
himself, not for your sake do I this, but for my own name's
sake. Now why would he deliver Israel,
the nation of Israel, from Babylonian captivity? Even because he because
Jesus Christ should come from that line. That's why. He said,
I'm doing this because Christ, I promised, I swore that Christ
should come from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I swore by a
covenant oath that Christ should come by this line. That's why
I'm delivering you, not because of you. I'm delivering you because
I want my son to come, I purpose my son to come into this world
through that line. And so he promises to deliver
them. But this covenant, this covenant
that I just described to you, there's more to it than just
a covenant with the nation of Israel. There's more to it. The
Holy Spirit intended much more to it because Israel is only
a type and a picture of the elect of God. They're only a type and
a picture. If you go to Romans chapter 9,
hold on, I want you to see that every time Israel, so when you
go into the Old Testament Scripture and you see Israel and all their
sin and all their uncleanness and all their vileness or even
their joy or whatever they're experiencing in Israel, know
this, they are a type of the church. They're you and me. This
is the purpose that they serve. Go to Romans 9 and see that. Romans 9, Paul says he's an Israelite. And verse 4, he said to the Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and listen, the
covenants, and the giving of the law and the service of God,
and listen, the promises. Whose are the fathers, and of
who concerning the flesh Christ came? Didn't I just say that?
That's why they were preserved, because Christ should come from
them. Who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. Not as though
the word of God had taken none effect. Listen, all Israel, Israel
was the covenant chosen people, but was all Israel saved? No. No. So does that make the covenant
promises of God of none effect? God says, I swear I'll save Israel. Well, if He meant national Israel
only, then surely His covenant would be disannulled because
He didn't save all of Israel. What does He mean? He said, no,
God forbid that that should be the case. Not as though the word
of God had taken on effect. Why? For they are not all Israel
which are of Israel. Neither because of the seed of
Abraham are they children. You remember Abraham had how
many sons? He had two sons. But not all Abraham's seed was
chosen, was it? Ishmael was cast out. Isaac was
chosen. Wait a second, in Isaac shall
all thy seed be called. Okay, Isaac had two sons. One
of them was loved, and one loved of God, the other was hated.
You not see that? That not all those that are of
the physical seed are Israel, are true Israelites. But who
are? The elect. That's who are true
Israel. The elect of God, those chosen
of God are true Israel. Those elect of the Father, those
chosen before the foundation of the world, those eternally
loved of the Father, this is Israel, to whom pertains spiritual
adoption, predestination unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ, and the covenant. To whom does the covenant belong?
The covenant promises of God, it belongs to His elect people. That's who it belongs to. Belongs
to them. And so when you read Israel in
the Old Testament, you should recognize He's talking about
God's chosen people, His elect, not that Jewish heritage, not
that Jewish nation. He's talking about His elect.
And these alone, these alone, these elect spiritual Israel,
then is this covenant of grace and salvation written in our
text for you." Aren't you glad for that? That this is not just
concerning national Israel. Otherwise, what would the Old
Testament be about? I mean, the history of Israel
really wouldn't concern us, would it? We're Gentiles. But it's
not talking about national. He is talking about spiritual
Israel. These are the covenant promises
that belong to us. And we all have been delivered,
just like Israel was delivered into bondage to Babylon. Listen, you and I were delivered
into the bondage of sin and death. We were delivered into the bondage
of iniquity. And verse 17 applies to us. You say this to them, O son of
man, When Israel dwelt in their own
land, they defiled it by their own ways and by their own doings. Behold how God always meets men
right where they are. I'm glad for that, aren't you?
Very thankful God meets men right where they are. In the very teeth
of their sin and iniquity, in the midst of their depravity
and deadness of spirit, God meets sinners. That's where He meets
you. If He's ever going to save you, He will meet you in the
very teeth of your sin. He won't wait till you get better.
He won't wait till you exercise your free will. God will meet
you If you are part of this covenant, He will meet you in your sin. He'll meet you right where you
are. That's where He met Israel, right where they were in captivity.
He met them. And He met them with His Word. You remember when
Adam sinned and died spiritually? What did he do? He ran from God.
He hid from God. He tried to cover his sin with
fig leaves. And that's exactly what every
man by nature does. When I talk about your sin and
you're lost, the first thing you want to do is find something
to justify your sin. Well, I do this because of my
parents. Well, I do this because I got a bad situation, preacher.
You don't understand my situation. I do understand your situation.
You're a vile, rotten, no-good sinner. You know how I know that? Because that's what I am. That's
what God says we are. By nature, that's what we are.
And you know that's where God meets sinners? He meets them
right there. He ain't ever waiting for you to come to Him. If He
did, you'd never come at all. If He waited for you, you'd never
come at all. If He waited for me, I'd never come at all. But
He meets us right in the teeth of our sin. And when Adam ran
from God, hid from God, who sought who? God sought Adam. and found Adam
in his depravity. And that's where he'll find sinners.
If he's ever going to save you, he'll find you right there. He'll
find you right there. He won't wait for you to come
out to him. He'll find you. And as God poured out his fury
upon national Israel, he said this in verse 19, I scattered
them among the heathen. I judged them. Isn't that what
He did to us in Adam? He scattered us. He judged us. And we were all found guilty
before God. When Adam sinned, the whole race
fell into depravity and sin. No one escapes. No one escapes. I just brought the little baby
in here. Cute little baby. Wonderful little baby. She did
not escape depravity. Did not escape it. She inherited
it from her father, and he inherited it from his father, all the way
back. She didn't escape it. Neither
did any of us escape it. Because we are spiritually judged
like Adam, we are scattered, separated from God, And we by
nature and practice like Israel profaned his name, blasphemed
his name. I grew up in church. I grew up
religious. I grew up under the sound of
the gospel. Heard it most all my life. Self-righteous
little boy. I tell you this, I was estranged
from God. Worse than anyone else who never
heard his name Because I heard it and I still look to myself
My children have been raised under this gospel if you're lost
because you look to yourself You still look to yourself. You
won't look to him But if God's ever gonna save
you he's gonna meet you right there right there And it's always
here God exposes the sin and guilt of His elect people. God always meets His people here
in the lowness of their depravity. Over in, you don't have to turn
here, I'm just going to read it to you. Isaiah chapter 2 and
verse 17. It says, and the loftiness of man shall
be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." When God comes
to a depraved sinner, I'll tell you this, He will bend you down
and He will exalt His Son. That's what He'll do. He'll make
you nothing. He'll make Christ everything,
everything. Why? Because he's the center
of this covenant. You wanna know upon whom this
covenant hinges? Upon whose work this covenant
of grace is made? It's made in Jesus Christ. He is the center and substance
of every line of the covenant of grace. He's everything. And
if God ever saves you, He'll show you that. And He'll bow
you down. All your righteousnesses will
become as filthy rags. You shall see that you are fading
like a leaf, and your iniquities have carried you away, and all
hope of pleasing God will be lost. That's what God does first
when He comes to a sinner. And it's here God always meets
with sinners to reveal His salvation. To reveal His salvation, He doesn't
bring a sinner down to the earth and then tell him what to do. Okay, now that you're made low,
let me tell you what to do. No, He doesn't. Doesn't tell
you what to do. Doesn't give you a list of laws.
You can't obey Him anyway, if He did. He's already given you
the law, and that law is what made you to bow. That law has
broken you. So He doesn't give you anything
to do. All He does is display His gospel. He reveals to you that He made
a covenant. What is a covenant? Isn't a covenant
a pact, an agreement between two parties? If you buy a house,
you sign a peace paper, you make a covenant. But listen, God didn't make a
covenant with you, He made a covenant for you. He made the covenant
with Himself. That's who God made this covenant
with. He made it with Himself. Isn't that what he reveals to
Israel, first of all? That's the first thing he says to them.
Look at that, verse 22, verse 21. But, now I purpose to deliver
you, and I'm gonna show you this. I'm gonna show you, Israel, you
who sin, you who are bowed down, you who are low. I'm gonna show
you, I'm gonna deliver you. But I want you to understand
this first. I'm not doing it for your sakes. I'm not doing
it for your sakes. He says, but I had pity. I had pity because of your tears. I had pity because of your works.
I had pity because you felt low. I had pity. No, he said, I had
pity on my own name. You defiled my name and I had
pity on my name because you defiled it. I had pity on my name. Therefore, you house of Israel,
you elect children, know this. Thus saith the Lord, I do this
not for your sakes, but for my holy name's sake. In other words,
God says, I'm doing this for my own glory. For my own glory. Why does God save any of Adam's
race? He does it for his own glory.
For himself. He did it for himself. The reason of the covenant promises
that he is about to give is for his own sake, which surely is
opposed to any work or merit or religion of man, but is a
covenant of free, sovereign grace. That's what he wants you to know
first. If I ever save you, it'll be by grace. If I ever have mercy
on a sinner, it'll be by grace. I did this for me. Matter of fact, God made all
things for himself, didn't he? It's what he says in Colossians. He said, you know, all things
are made by him and what? For him. For him. Especially
salvation. Because salvation has to do with
the glory of God. The glory of God. You know why,
Adam, that piece of fruit, you know why that brought man down
to hell? Because it robbed God of his
glory. That's what it did. Adam said,
you will not be God, I will. And he ate. Robbed God of his glory. And
so God says, I made this covenant for my glory. For my glory. Go to Ephesians 1. We went there
earlier today, but I want you to see this, that the whole covenant
is dependent on, it rests on God's glory. It's for God's glory.
Romans, Ephesians chapter 1. Okay, here's the same covenant. The same covenant I'm about to
explain to you or expound to you is written here in Ephesians
1. Bless me, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Where? In Christ. You see, He put every one of
His elect in Christ. Made Him to be their representative
even before Adam. Now, He said, according as He
had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. He chose
us to what? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. By Jesus Christ, to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will. Listen. Listen to
the reason for all of this. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. That's why He did it. Then it
talks about the redemption of Christ. It talks about the coming
of the Spirit and giving us life. And in verse 12, it says that
we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace who first
trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God did. With this covenant, this promise
of deliverance of the elect, God said to Christ, I'm trusting
you with everything. With the praise of the glory
of my grace and with the salvation of my people. These are tied
together. And he said, you'll do it. And
Jesus said, yes, I will. Yes, I will do it. Most gladly,
Father, will I do it. O vain man, cease to think so
highly of yourself, and bow down to God alone, who has purposed
to save His people, who alone predestinated, planned, and executed
the salvation of His elect by Jesus Christ. And now God, by
His Holy Spirit, is sent into the world to quicken those to
quicken those elect for His glory. And God purposed to do this.
Go back to your text. I want you to see the covenant
now. He says, it's not for your sakes I do this, it's My sake.
Now then in verse 23, He said, I will sanctify My great name,
which you profaned among the heathen, whether you went, in
the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I the Lord, I am the Lord, saith the Lord God. When shall the
heathen know this? When I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes. What is this? Salvation. Are we who are saved not witnesses
of God? I'm a witness that God saves
sinners by grace. I am a living, breathing testimony
to it. I'm sanctified before everyone's
eyes. So are you. That's what God says I'll do.
I'll sanctify My name by saving the worst among you. Isn't that
great? That's just glorious. I will
sanctify you. You who know God by Jesus Christ,
is this not the truth of God's Word and the experience of grace
in our heart? Even the effectual calling The
effectual calling. When God called you, was there
any hope of you resisting? Not on your life. God says, I
will sanctify my name. I will. How does he do that? Look at verse 24. This is how he's going to do
it. He said, I will take you. I will take you from where? Among the heathen and gather you out of all countries
and bring you to your own land. I will take you. Isn't that what
he said in Jeremiah chapter 3? He said, I will take one from
a city and two from a family and bring them to Zion. That sound questionable? Anything
questionable about that? Is there anything in that contingent
upon the people? No, I'll take you. I will take
you. I will get you. That's what God
says. Matter of fact, it's the same
word used in 2 Samuel 9 and verse 5 when he said, David sent and,
listen, fetched Mephibosheth. Same word. God says, I will fetch
you. I will take you from among the
heathen. Even so, God will fetch all of
His elect sons who by nature are not willing or able to come
to Christ. Jesus said, no man can come unto
Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him. We by nature
won't come to Christ. We can't come to Christ. And
so how is it that a man can come to Christ except God fetch him? The only hope for you is God
fetch you. That's it. So he has you in the dust. What
is he doing? He's telling you, you can't do anything about this.
You have no power to do anything. If I save you, I will do it myself. That's what God says. I'll do
it myself. I'll fetch you. He'll fetch His
elect people by sovereign power of His Holy Spirit. In Psalm
110, in verse 3, He's talking about the King, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He said, Thy people shall be willing. When? Not by nature. Not by works, not by merit, not
by religion. When are they willing? In the
day of thy power. In the beauty of holiness from
the womb of the morning when He creates that new nature in
you. I will gather you, He says. I will bring you to your own
land. How does He gather us? How does He take us? Is it not
through the preaching of this gospel? That's exactly how He
does it. God purposed that by the foolishness
of preaching to save His people. That belief, it's the means that
God has chosen. Faith cometh how? By hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And this is why God calls men
to preach his word, to preach Jesus Christ and his covenant
of grace. Even because the Holy Spirit
will use it to gather his sheep. Remember Jesus said this, my
sheep hear my voice. You know, I do not blame any
law sinner for despising my voice. I don't. You know what? I don't like listening to me
on the radio or the internet. I don't. To me, my voice is contemptible. So I understand. But if you ever
hear his voice, how will you hear his voice? Through mine.
Through mine. I'll preach it to you and He'll
speak to your heart through the message. That's how He does it.
This is His covenant. It's His message. It's His means.
It's all His. And then what does He do when
He calls us? He says, I will sprinkle you with clean water
and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, from all the
idols. I will, I cleanse you. Now, how can God cleanse a filthy
sinner and still be just? How is that possible? A man guilty
of murder and the judge just walked up and says, oh, I pity
you, you can go home. Is that justice? That man should
be disbarred and he should be kicked out and he should be put
in prison himself. He is unjust to do that. He cannot
do it and be a just judge. And God himself cannot cannot
show mercy at the expense of His justice. So how is it that
He may sprinkle you with clean water and cleanse you? How is it? I tell you how. By the blood of Jesus Christ
alone. That's how. The answer to this question,
how can God be just and justify the ungodly, is the sum and substance
of the whole covenant. You learn this, you learn the
whole covenant. You learn the whole thing. That God not only purposed to
save his people, but also predestinated the means. Isn't that what we
just read in Ephesians? That they should be made holy,
how? By Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. I see in the eternal covenant
that the Father loved and chose and elect people and scattered
them just to gather them. Didn't you see that? He scattered
us just to gather us. Why? So that He should display
His glory of His grace. Why did Adam sin? People have
trouble with that. Why did God allow Adam to sin?
I'll tell you why. So he could display the glory
of his grace. Had Adam not sinned, we would have somewhat to glory.
Right? Look at me. Look God, I didn't
eat. Aren't you proud of me? God says
no, you won't get any glory in this. What I'm going to do is
I'm going to allow sin to come into this world so I can show
you my glory. I show you my grace. Only thing
he did was to show his grace. He did all of this, all of this
for his self. Did you not see that? Shakespeare rightly said, the
world is a stage. And you know what the play is?
The act of God's sovereign redemptive mercy. That's what it is. And you know what? It's just
playing out right now. Everything is determined by God
and it's just playing out right now. He's showing His grace. To who? His elect. And eventually
He'll show it to everybody. Even to those in hell. He'll
show that everything redounds to the glory of God. in Jesus
Christ. And so Jesus Christ came into
the world to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification,
and our redemption. And in this covenant of grace,
Christ, in perfect love and grace for the elect, willingly, with
all of His heart, said to the Father, Father, I swear, I swear
that I will bring every one of Your elect, and if I don't, let
me bear the blame. That's what a surety is. In Hebrews,
it's said that Jesus is the surety of a better covenant. What's a surety? It's a guarantee. Guarantee. And Jesus said, for
those elect you give me, I should lose how many? How many? How many will he lose? How many
will go to hell for whom Christ died? Not one. Not one. shall go to hell for whom Christ
died. Everyone for whom Christ died, he will come, he will gather,
he will sprinkle you with clean water, and he will save them.
Not one will be lost, not one. This is the covenant of grace.
All that the Father giveth me might come to me if they just
will. They shall come to me. And you
know what he's gonna do when you come? He's gonna love you. He will reach out his arms to
you. He will gather you into his breast. And you will never
go free from his love. Ever. Why? You're clean. You're
clean. That's why. How can he embrace
me? You're clean. I've cleansed you. by my blood. I've already paid for your sin.
How shall I not bring you to myself? What's going to keep
me from bringing my life to myself? I've already cleansed you. I've
saved you. I've redeemed you. And I sure
as heck will call you. And not one will be missing.
And look what he does for us in verse 26. He says, I will
give you a new heart I will give you a new heart 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 keep my judgments and listen, do them. What is
this? This is the work of grace in
the soul of man. You realize that not the spirit
of man. When Adam sinned, when Adam was
created, he was a tripartite being. He was body, soul, and
spirit. But when he died, he died how? Spiritually. So he is body and soul. Your body is this thing. I was
trying to explain this to Andrew. I pinched him. He said, that's
your body. But your soul is who you are. That's who you are,
your soul. But your spirit is dead. And this is the covenant promise
to the elect. I will give you a new heart or
a new spirit. I will create in you a new heart
that wasn't there before. That's what it is, it's a miracle.
You see, so faith is not an exercise of the will, it's an act of the
new nature. that God gives, a new heart.
He breaks the stony heart. Now He doesn't take away the
old man, does He? That's not what He's talking
about. He says, I will take away that old nature that's bent to
sinning and I will put that down and I will put my new heart in
you. That old spirit is gone. There's a new one. Now you have
the old nature still, don't you? You still have it. Who's not fighting even as you
sit and listen? Who's not? Who's not fighting
the flesh? Hmm? It's a spiritual thing we're
doing here. You're fighting. You struggle.
That's the old man warring against the new man. And then he says this, I will
put my spirit in you, not only give you a new heart, new spirit.
He said, I'll give you my own. Oh, my, how amazing is that? The Spirit of God himself in
this covenant agreed to dwell in your body. Dwell in your body. And what does this give us? It
gives us faith. Faith. Faith. is a miracle of grace. If you have it, it's not common. It's supernatural. And what is your faith in? Is it in your works? In your
merit? Do you have faith in your faith? A lot of people have faith in
their faith. That's natural faith. Any man could have that. But
see, my faith is in Christ's faith. His faith to God and faithfulness
to God obtained all my salvation. Therefore, I am justified by
faith in Him. in Him. I have several scriptures to
reference here to you, but these are all, if you go through the
scriptures, I want you to do this. Look up this phrase, the
faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ. Scripture says, even now the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Unto all and upon all them that
believe. You now see the two? His faith
and your faith. His faith obtained righteousness. Your faith is in His faith. My faith is in His faith. And
by His faith, I obtained righteousness. By His faith, I have obtained
life. By His faith, I obtained all
the covenant promises of God. By His faith. Therefore, believer,
we have faith in his faith. And notice this, and you shall
dwell in the land that I gave your fathers. One day there's coming a separation. There's coming a time where God's
going to divide all men in two parties. Tares, weeds, and wheat. Sheep and goats. lost and those who are written
in this eternal covenant. God will separate all men. And he will say to everyone who
is written in this covenant, you shall inherit the land. You
shall inherit eternal life. Isn't that what Jesus said? He
said, I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hands. He says in this covenant, I will give you the
land. It is my good pleasure to give you heaven. It's my good
pleasure. to give you the kingdom. That's
what he says to all the sheep, to all those that he gives a
new heart, all those he cleanses, all those he does this for. And look at verse 31. Now then, what
will be the experience of everyone who's in this covenant? Now,
I want you to understand that God, again, has done everything,
even including your experience of this. He didn't even leave
your feelings about this to chance. He even told you how you'll feel
about it. Look at that. This is part of the covenant.
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings
that was not good and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight
for your iniquities and your abominations. He said, I'm gonna
make you righteous, I'm gonna cleanse you of all your sins,
I'm gonna give you a new nature, I'm gonna give you a new heart,
but I know this, you're not going to feel like it. You're going to loathe your own
self. Now, is that not against every
modern religion of works? It's against it. No, no, surely
God, you mean, you mean exalt yourself. No, you'll loathe yourself. And if you exalt yourself, you
don't know anything about this covenant. You don't know anything. You will loathe yourselves. I
like this. In your own sight. Not in his sight. but in your
own sight. Do you not see now the conflict,
the war that rages in your own chest, as you know your sins,
you know your iniquities, and yet you hear of this covenant?
How do I know I'm righteous before God? I don't see it! You won't. It's by faith, isn't it? Faith. Not faith in our faith, faith
in the covenant. Faith in the covenant one, Jesus
Christ. Faith in Him. And just in case you forgot,
God says, remember, I don't do this for your sakes. I tell you, sometimes we get
proud, don't we? And the worst kind of pride is pride of grace.
It's the worst kind. May God give us such grace to see the covenant of his free
and sovereign grace in and by and through Jesus Christ alone. By him, we have a new heart.
By him, we have cleansing. and we loathe ourselves. May God even by this mercy give
us eyes to see it, hearts to receive it. Let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer.