We'll go back to Ezekiel 36 now,
which Brother Patrick read. Thank you, Patrick. Actually,
we'll look at chapter 33 first. Ezekiel. There's a glaring difference
between the God being preached today, believed by most. Glaring difference between that
God, small g, and the living, true God. God of the Bible. Glaring difference in what most
people believe about God, about salvation, about man. Glaring
difference in what they believe and what the Bible says. Glaring
difference. The world and religion believes
man has a free will. That's what they do. When the truth is, and what the
Bible says, is that God alone has free will, doing as he will. He worketh all things at the
counsel of his will. That's a fact. The world and
religion believes that man lets God do things. Our understanding by nature is
so backward. God is the one that lets man
do things. God directs, God allows, God
lets, God permits. No one can do anything unless
God allows it. Man believes that he must accept
God. This truth says that God must
accept us. God's not up for acceptance or
rejection. He's already been rejected by
all. And no one will receive Him. Not accept Him. Receive
Him unless God makes them do that. Man believes that we must
make... Religious man believes we make
Jesus Lord. Let's make Him, let Him be Lord
of your life. Scripture says God made him Lord
before the world began. He's your Lord. He's everyone's
Lord whether they believe it or not. Every knee will bow someday
and every tongue confess that he's what? The Lord. Man, the world, religion believes
that if man will, if only man will, then God shall do this. When the opposite is true, And
what we'll see here, what you read with me, God said, I will,
and therefore they shall. They got the cart before the
horse, don't they? They got man being God and God being man. The truth is plain in the Bible.
We love that verse in Proverbs 8, don't we? Verse 9. It's all
plain to him that understands it. Meaning, if you understand,
you understand. How do you understand? John said,
He came and gave us an understanding. And we don't have it until He
does. The truth is playing on God's Word. You see, the truth
gives God all the glory. That's why He created everything,
for His glory. or His pleasure. Not man. He didn't do it for man's sake.
And we'll see this about salvation. He said, I'm not doing this for
your sake, for my glory. So the truth gives God all the
glory. It's His will. It's His power. Now that's the
truth, okay? It's also true that unless man
repents, God won't forgive him. And unless man calls on the name
of the Lord, he won't be saved. He won't be saved. Unless we come
to God, come to Christ, we won't be saved. There's no contradiction in it. confusing to the average person.
It sounds contradictory. That's why I met his grandmother
when she was raised in Methodism and Methodist religion, and they
don't know anything. Go ahead and tell your Methodist
friends I said that. Tell them to come here. But she was raised
in her 70s, and she heard my father preach, and all she could
say, he contradicts himself all the time. He says, come. He says, you can't. Well, I didn't say it. My dad
didn't say it. God said it. And like Brother
Scott said, we're not confusing you. You're born confused. But when you're born again, confusion
is over. You know God is God. And all who are saved by God,
No, God did it. All of it. All of it. Repentance? The goodness of God
let you repent. Faith? Get inside to believe. God decided that long before. Don't you love this chapter?
We're going to get into it in just a minute. Aren't you glad God said, I will
and you shall? Aren't you glad? That makes me
so happy. That gives me hope for me. That
gives me hope for my unsaved granddaughters, your unsaved
children. Our hope is in God. If our hope
is in man, we're hopeless. If we'll hope that they'll finally
see the light, it's hopeless. They're in darkness. All who are saved know God did
it. All who are saved know that Jesus
Christ did it, did it all. All who are saved know that God
chose them. They know that. They didn't choose
them. They know that. All who are saved know that God
kept them, keeps them. They can't keep them. They know
that. There's not one exception to this rule. All who are saved
give God all the glory for their salvation. All of it. An old fellow one time, he said,
I had a part in salvation. He said, God did the saving,
I did the sinning. That was my part. I did the sinning. He did the saving. Man will not, man cannot repent,
call, believe, come unless God wills it. No one knows that more than I
do, a preacher. I know this is his power. I know
this gospel is his power. And I preach, and preach, and
preach, and preach, and preach. I talk. I talk to people. And
I can't do anything. I can't convince anybody of anything. I can shout. I can holler. I
can preach a message and think, boy, you're all going to be saved
now. And what happens, they all fall asleep. I know that. But God. And I've seen it. I've seen it. I know it. But
God will not save anyone who does not repent, call, believe,
and come. Otherwise, there would be no
need for God to warn anybody Would it? God warns us. The first thing, chapter 33,
in Ezekiel 33, look at this. And it started back in chapter
3. At the very beginning of Ezekiel, started with Ezekiel, he said,
Son of man, you go warn the people for me. If you don't warn them,
of what? God's angry. God of the Bible. He's angry with the wicked every
day. He's going to destroy. The whole
book of Ezekiel, the whole Bible. God said, I'm going to destroy
it, man. But people don't believe that. And preachers don't preach
that. God's preachers didn't. Because
it's the fear of the Lord that's beginning with it. And He told
Ezekiel, you go, take my word and you warn them. If you don't
warn them, their blood is on your hands. That's what He said. In the beginning and now here
in the end. Look at Ezekiel 33 verse 7. Verse 7. Thou, O son of man,
I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them. When I say
unto the wicked. Who's that? Everybody. A wicked
man? Thou shalt surely die if thou
dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man
shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your
hand." That's serious. Paul said in his last message
to the Ephesians, he said, I cease not to warn you day and night
with tears for three years. Repentance toward God, he said.
I preach repentance toward God. in faith with our Lord Jesus
Christ. And I do too. Alright, now go to chapter 36. So it begins with a warning,
doesn't it? A warning. But here's the thing. They're not going to repent.
They're not going to come. They're just not. They're dead. What follows chapter 36? Anybody
know? Chapter 37, it's the valley of
dry bones. Can these bones live? Preach,
Ezekiel. But, but, preach. So, they can't, they won't, but
they should. So here's the reason, here's
why salvation is of the Lord. And in chapter 34, I love, don't
you love chapter 34? He says, I will search my sheep
and seek them out. That's Christ. Came into this
world to save his people from their sin. They're dead. They
can't save themselves. Time comes, they might have life.
They're dead. They can't keep it. He said, I'll bring them
out. I'll gather them. I'll feed them.
I'll be their Lord and their Savior. Well, here in chapter
36, chapter 36, Look at verse 9. Now he's talking to Israel. He's
talking to his people, his chosen people. The whole book is to
Israel. God's elect. Nobody will deny that, that God
chose Israel, at least it's in the Bible. Well, God chose, He's
not Israel or of Israel. They are not a Jew which He went
out with. Salvation is inward. It's God's
choice of the people to save them. Not a national people,
but a spiritual people. You know that. Alright, now this
is spoken to His people. Look at verse 9. Verse 9 of chapter
36. Behold, I am for you. That's Brother Edmondson. I love
quoting that. He says, God's out to do you
good. Who? You know, I see these 18 wheelers,
these trucks on the back of their trailer. Brother Joseph, you've
seen them in the truck stop. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Romans 8.31. That's not to everybody,
is it? Is that to everybody? Well, it's
true. If God be for us, nothing and
no one can be against us. Who shall lay anything the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemns? Christ died. For who? His people. He shall save His
people, His elect people, from His hand. That's a fact. That's
a fact. God has an elect. Well, so if
I'm one of the elect, what will be will be. Hold on now. Let's go ahead and prepare the
end from the beginning. Look at verse 37. Look at verse
37 of Ezekiel. He said, Thus saith the Lord
God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. They're going to ask me. If they don't ask me, I'm not
going to do it. If they don't call, I'm not going to answer. If they don't come, they won't
be saved. If they don't repent, they're not going to be saved.
No, it's not I'm elected. What will be will be. God said,
no, they're going to ask me. Say, I don't understand. I do.
Do you? I do. This is proof. Here's the point. If we're saved, God's going to
get all the glory for it. If we're damned, we get all the
blame. It's our fault. It's our fault. You're not going to
lay the blame on God? Well, I wasn't one of the elect,
so I'm not. You rejected God. You didn't call God. You didn't
repent. You didn't care anything about
God. You never gave God a thought. It's your fault. It's your fault.
If you get the glory, you're going to say, it's His glory. But He says to His people, I'm
for you. I'm for you. He said, I'm out to do you good.
Now look down at verse 21. Let's go through these verses.
You just have to read them. Anybody in here can preach from
this. Now he said in verse 21, I had pity for my holy name,
which the house of Israel profaned among the heathen, whither they
went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, my people, thus
saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of
Israel, but for my holy name's sake, that you profane among
the heathen, whither you went, where you lived, what you were
doing all along. You were just like them, no different,
but God. That's Ephesians 2. He said, I have pity for my holy
name sake. House of Israel profane among
the heathen. Profanity. Everybody's mouth
full of profanity. Blaspheming God. Profane means irreverent. No reverence for
God or anything that's holy and right and just and true. None.
Zero. Like Esau. profane. God was his belly. He didn't
care about God, never gave him a dollar. He'd rather have something
to eat. That was me. That was me. See, God doesn't save people
because they deserve a chance to be saved, because they're
basically good people. That's what all false Preachers
are saying that everybody's basically good, and they're just in bad
circumstances. No. There's none good. Not one. That's it. God looked
down to see if there were any that didn't understand, any that
didn't seek God. He said, none. He said, they're
all together, put them all together, filthy, worthless. That's what this means. And I
was right in the middle of it. He said, I'm for you. I chose
you. All right? He said, but you profaned
my name. You know, I made a profession
of faith when I was 12 years old. I got under some kind of conviction.
And there were other young people, too, at the time, under some
kind of conviction. And I made a profession. I went
running down the aisle, weeping. and was baptized. I remember when it happened.
I remember my dad sat down beside me and a girl, Susan Thompson,
sat beside me. We were both crying. And I remember
my dad asking me, and I really couldn't tell him what was going
on. I was just under some kind of
conviction. But he didn't laugh. He didn't
laugh. I didn't know God. And I was baptized. And it didn't
last. So I went out into the world
as a prodigal son. Now, I made a profession of faith. I plainly believed God. My father
was a preacher. I'm Henry Mahan's son. Everybody
in town knew this is Henry Mahan's boy, the preacher's kid. You
know what they say about preacher's kids. And we used to laugh about it.
It's not funny at all. I was profaning God's name. Bringing great reproach upon
my God, my Father, my name. It's not funny a bit. And the
whole world mocking and laughing and scoffing at God because of
me. and when He really did a real
work in me. Brother Wesley, I went out to all my friends to try
to undo what I did. To try to tell them I was wrong. I blasphemed God. Now I know
Him. I remember when He was working
on me. I had a friend come over to spend the night with me. I
was living alone. in a cabin in the woods, and this friend
came over to spend the night with me. He kept taking God's
name in vain. I said, don't do that. The longest time he didn't
bother me. And when God started working
on me, I started coming to hear the gospel. And this fella kept taking God's
name. I said, don't do that. Do you
know what he did? He did it twelve times in a row. I just got there. It wasn't a
week later, I had nothing more to do with Him. Ever again. What's happening? The name of
God means something to me. The fear of the Lord is coming
over me. There was a time it did not bother
me. And then it now did. He said, you profaned my name.
And look at verse 23. He said, I'm going to be sanctified
in you before their eyes. They're going to hear of me through
you. Whereas before you profaned me
and you blasphemed me, you're going to tell them now, I once
was blind and now I see. I'm nothing but an old sinner
saved by grace. I walked according to the course
of this world. You're going to go out and tell others what God,
what wonderful things God has done for you. That's what's going
to happen. Verse 24, He said, I will take
you from among the heathen and gather you out of all country
and bring you into your land. I will take you. I take that
one. This is salvation. I take this
one. I take that one. I take that
one. You know, when God does that, you know what you'll say?
I take this one. Like marriage. Long before God
betrothed you to himself in Christ. He said, I take that one. That
woman is going to be my bride. But Lord, she's a harlot. They
all are. But I take that one. And she's
going after these lovers, and she's going after this and that,
and her life is the world and the people of the world, but
I'm going to become her life. She's going to see that I did
all this for her when she was against me. And she's going to
find out that I'm for her. And I'm going to bring her to
me. I'm going to betroth her to me
in loving kindness. I've got to pay a price for her.
I've got to do something in her. And she's going to love me above
and beyond anybody else. He's got to do it. She's coming
to me. He said in Hosea, I'm going to
lure her into the wilderness. I'm going to speak comfortably
to her. I ought to just say, I'm casting you out. But I'm
going to lure her and say, I'm for you. You're mine. Me? Yeah, you. Look down in verse 21, he said,
well, verse 21 and 2, he said, you were against me, but I'm
for you. So I'm going to take you, gather you out of the country,
bring you into your own land. What land? The Kingdom of God. The Church of God. Like Ruth. Your people. Your God. My God. My people. This is my family right here.
Is this your family? Is this where you'd like to be?
God's house? Is this the house you want to
dwell in? God's house and this one until
you go to God's house. All the days of your life, behold
the beauty of the Lord and inquire, do you? This is my land. I live in the land of Goshen.
Right now we're all in the land of Goshen. Right now. And you
walk out the door and it's Egypt in it. Slime pits and muck in
the mire. But you come in here, It's a
land that floweth with what? Milk, honey, water out of the
rock, lamb, and the fat thereof. So He says, I'm going to gather
you, verse 25, I will sprinkle clean, notice this, I will, I
will, I will, then will I, I will sprinkle clean water upon you
and you shall be clean. What's that? That's the blood
of Jesus Christ. What came out of Christ's side
when he was crucified? Blood and water. Justification
and sanctification. Blood for cleansing us from sin. Water of his word to wash us.
I'm going to wash you. Sprinkle clean water on you and
you will be clean. What can wash away our sins? That's exactly right. And you
shall be clean. That's what Christ said. Now
you're clean. How? How? I don't know. Because I
said so. Through the word. Through the
blood. You know that. And he says, from all your filthiness,
from all your idols, will I cleanse you. Brother Steven and I talked
about this the other day. We were talking about the things
we used to be so taken up with. And we're both cars. We like
cars. We've liked cars since we were boys. And now we see
all these shiny, beautiful, classic cars go by. That's pretty. It's just a car. You remember,
Steve, when you got 55 hit? It to him is a 64 Impala. Whoa,
man. If I could just have one of those,
my life's complete. Well, I had a 55. You had a 64. It's just a car. It's just a
hunk of metal. Ain't nothing to it. And everything
in this world, Margaret, you know Margaret was a gearhead,
don't you? Everybody, you know, he's a gearhead. Grease monkey. Yeah, that's Margaret. But these
things, What doesn't mean anything? What means something to you?
What means more to you than anything on the top side of this earth?
Jesus Christ. This gospel. Who can do that
but God? Turn away your eyes from beholding
vanity. Idols. A new heart, verse 26,
will I give you. A new heart will I give you.
A new spirit, he said, a new man I'll put within you. I'm
going to take away the stony heart and give you a heart of
flesh, a tender heart, a receptive heart, a stony heart. There was a time when my father
would, it's just so, he was one of,
if not the greatest preacher in the 20th century. And I heard
all those messages. I did. I heard people are listening
to it now. I was there. I was right. And there's a difference. I was
there. I heard Barnard. I heard Griswold.
I heard all these preachers. The greatest messages in modern
times, OK? No effect on me whatsoever. might as well have been preaching
to them. But God, one day, what happened? I turned over a new leaf. I decided
I didn't do anything. One day, in the fullness of time,
God said, like He did in the beginning of the world, Let there
be light in that dark sinner's heart and mind. Give him a new
heart. Take away that stony heart that
the Word of God is just bouncing off of. It cannot penetrate.
Take it out. Give him a new one. And the only
good heart, a new heart, is a broken heart. A contrite heart. A heart broken over sin. He's sorry. And we'll give you a new heart. In verse 27, I'll put My Spirit,
that's the Holy Spirit, within you. What's He going to do? He's
going to cause you to do something. You will not do it if He doesn't
cause you. He'll cause you to walk in My statue. Walk in faith. Walk with God. You never did
before. You'll keep my judgments. You'll
lay hold of eternal life. You'll lay hold of the Word of
God as your words of life. And you'll do it in Christ and
yes, like Christ. And verse 28, And you shall dwell
in the land I gave to your fathers. Yes. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
Aaron, Hur, Joshua, David, Solomon, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, God's people. God's people. We believe this God, Jacob, we're
all sons of Jacob. Just like Jacob, we believe that
this God is God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob chose a people because He did. Gave them to Jesus Christ,
our Joshua. Saved by Him. The Holy Spirit
sent My people. And He says in verse 28, You
shall be My people and I will be your God. I will be your God. This God is My God. Who is your
God? The God of the Bible. That's
it. The God of Jacob. The God of
Jacob. Jesus Christ is My God. Not Mohammed, not Confucius,
not Buddha. Man is not my God. God is my
God. Christ is my God. How about you? Verse 29, I'll save you from
all your uncleannesses. Sin shall not have iniquity over
you. That makes me happy. If left to myself, I'm a goner. He says, verse 29, I'll call
for the corn, I'll increase it, that's bread, I'll lay no famine
upon you while the world is eating husks of religion. You're going
to eat the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll multiply
the fruit of the tree, that's Christ, and that's the fruit
of the Spirit in you. And you'll receive no more reproach
of famine among the heathen. Verse 31, you'll remember, look
at this, you'll remember your own evil ways. This is what you're going to
think about yourself. This is what you're going to remember
about yourself, about salvation. What you're going to remember
is you were nothing but evil, and your doings were not good.
And you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight. You're going
to hate yourself for your iniquities, for your abomination. Only God
can make a human being hate themselves. In the last days, the first thing
it says, it will be lovers of self. Everybody loves themselves. But when God does a work in a
sinner's heart, they begin to hate themselves. Hate themselves. He said, you'll loathe yourself.
Hate yourself. And then He said in verse 32,
He says it again. Not for your sakes do I this.
Not because of anything in you. Not because of anything you have
done. or even will do it, saith the
Lord. Be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your
own ways, O house of Israel. All right, now keep reading.
Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed
you from all your iniquity, I'll cause you to dwell in the city.
The waste shall be billed. Man is wasted away, desolate,
without God, without hope, without Christ. is a new kingdom created
in Christ Jesus by God, a new race of people just like Jesus
Christ. Oh, I want to be in that kingdom,
don't you? Verse 34, the desolate land shall
be tilled and lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by.
No, they'll say this land was desolate. It's like the Garden
of Eden. God's made a new garden and it's fenced. Fenced. Hedged about. Salvation will
God appoint for walls and board. And inhabited. Holy habitation. Verse 36. Then the heathen that
are left around about you shall know that I the Lord, I did this. They are going to know that I
did this. The plant that was desolate, because I the Lord
have spoken it, I will do it. So God says all the way through
here, I will. I will. I will. I will. He doesn't ask anybody to do
anything. Not once. He doesn't say, I will
if you will. No, no. He says, I will. I will. It's a fact. It's going
to happen. It has happened. And in verse 37, I close. He
said, thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. They're going
to ask me. They're going to call. They're
going to repent. They're going to come. They're
going to be sorry. And they're going to ask me for
mercy. They're going to ask me for forgiveness. They're going
to pray. They're going to pray. They're going to call. They're
going to come. They're going to believe. They're
going to confess Christ in believer's baptism. They're not going to
be ashamed. Ashamed of themselves. They're
ashamed they waited so long not to. And they're going to confess
it. There's no contradiction there.
Well, who, why did they do this? Because God said they shall. That's just it. Okay. John, you come.