Thank you, brother. Thank you
for praying for me, praying for us. Ezekiel. Turn to the book
of Ezekiel. We're right before Daniel. It's
a large book. We're not going to go through
all of it. When the Lord preached from Ezekiel, and He did, where
did He preach from? Well, someone years ago made
a list of the Old Testament books with a type of Christ in each
one. I'm not sure who did that, whether
that was my pastor or who. But the type that was used for
Ezekiel or taken from Ezekiel is the glory of the Lord. Look at chapter 1 of Ezekiel,
chapter 1, verse 26. Christ is the glory of the Lord,
verse 26. Ezekiel saw this vision of God,
the likeness of a throne. He said the firmament over their
heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire
stone upon the likeness of the throne, the likeness as the appearance
of a man above it. Now, so he saw a throne, a stone,
and a man. Who's that? That's Christ. Read on. I saw the color of amber,
the appearance of fire around about the throne, the appearance
of his loins, and upward and downward. I saw, as it were,
the appearance of fire and had brightness round about. Read
on. As the appearance of a bow, a
rain, Bo is in the cloud today of rain, the appearance of brightness
round about. This sounds like John's description
of Christ in Revelation 1, doesn't it? The appearance of the likeness
of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw, I fell on my
face and I heard a voice. This is the same one that John
saw in Revelation. It's speaking of the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's spoken of in chapter 3 also. Moses, the first five books,
Moses in Exodus 33 said, Lord, show me thy glory. Remember that? Show me your glory. And the Lord answered him and
said, I will make all my goodness pass before you." All the goodness
of God is in Jesus Christ. He said, I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And I'll show mercy on whom I
will show mercy. Jesus Christ is the grace of
God and the mercy of God. It's all in Him. He went on to
say, there's a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock."
That rock is Christ. He said, it'll come to pass,
my glory passeth by, I'll put you in a cliff of the rock. That's all Christ did. And he
proclaimed his name, the name of the Lord, the Lord God, merciful,
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. Christ
said, I am the truth, keeping mercy for thousands. So Jesus
Christ is the glory of God. We've seen the glory of God in
the face, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's Moses. Ezekiel is the same thing. He saw the glory
of the Lord. Isaiah chapter 6, you remember? Isaiah saw the
Lord high and lifted up. No man seen God the Father. God
is spirit. Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He said the whole earth is full
of His glory. And then John later writes his
gospel, God's gospel. John 1, he said we beheld His
glory as of the only begotten of the And Peter said, we were
there, we were on the mountain, when he received from God the
Father honor and glory. So Jesus Christ is the glory
of the Lord. Ezekiel saw him and fell on his
face. Daniel saw him and he fell on
his face. John saw him and he fell on his
face. So the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. I say this a lot because the
Christ of Scriptures must be declared as He is. And this Jesus
that everyone's claiming to believe and all these fellows are preaching
is another Jesus because no one fears Him. No one fears Him. The fear of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the very beginning of saving wisdom. Everyone who finally
sees the true Christ description, the Lord Jesus Christ, falls
on their face. Okay? The glory of the Lord.
And for everyone who falls on their face, like John, the Lord
Jesus Christ says, fear not. Get up. So the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, great is the mystery
of God. 1 Timothy 3.16, God was manifest in the flesh. And remember
our Lord prayed in his prayer in John 17, Father I will that
they be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. And the place where He is, is
called glory. Because He is heaven. He is the
glory of the Lord. Glory means praise. Glory means
honor. Glory means beauty. Glory means
magnificence. What is the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What is His glory? Well, number
one is the glory of His person. He's glorious. Who is this that
comes from Bosworth, red in his apparel? Glorious. High that
speak and righteous. Glorious in his apparel. He's
glorious in his being. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
eternal God. He didn't begin when He came
here to this earth. No, He's the eternal God. He
was with the Father from the beginning and He has no beginning.
or end of days. He's eternal. He's being His
glory. He is sovereign. The Lord Jesus
Christ is sovereign. He's sovereign over all. That's
what He said to the Father, You've given me power over all flesh. He said to His disciple, He's
given me authority over all flesh. He's sovereign. He's glorious
in His... He doesn't change. Big word,
immutable. Just so you know, that was big
words. That means he doesn't change.
And that's so wonderful for us sinners and everything around
us is so changing. We are up and down. He doesn't
change. When he says something, he doesn't
change. When he does something, he doesn't change. He doesn't change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. That means you can Trust Him
completely. He's not going to change. He's not going to change His
Word. If He's promised you something, it's yours. Glorious in His person. He's omnipresent. Another big
word. It means He's everywhere. Everywhere. There's no place where He is
not. Now, explain that. Someone take my place, because
I can't. How can he be everywhere at the
same time? Well, I don't know, but he is.
He told his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. And
the scripture says he sits at the right hand of the majesty
on high, sits on the circling earth. Yet he said, I am with
you always. I'll never leave you, he said.
I don't understand. I don't either, but I believe.
He's everywhere. He's omniscient. Another big
one. Means he knows everything. Knows
everything, omnipotent, all-powerful. He's three and yet one. He's
glorious in His person, so glorious that we cannot understand Him. He cannot be declared. He's glorious
in his attributes, glorious in his character, that means his
character, his attributes, he's holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
all, he's holy. What does that mean? Well, basically
it means he's everything we are not. He's just. Just God. He's right. Righteous. In all
His ways, a just God. Shall not the judge either do
right? Yes, he does. Aren't you glad
that He's just? There is no justice in this world.
You cannot find it. Just means fair. There's nothing
fair. And that's good, really, because it makes us turn to Him
who is the just one. He's wise. People in this world
are fools. The smartest, so-called wisest
people in this world are fools. Why? Because they say there's
no God. And they say, Jesus is just a man. What a fool. That's foolish. He's God. He's wise, all wise. You can
trust Him. He's good. He's good. I mean, He really is. Everything
about Him is good. He's a good God and a good man. He's love. I mean, He's love. Real love. Love doesn't fail.
Love doesn't quit. Love doesn't leave. Love saves. Love keeps. Love provides. He is love. You understand? If He loves you, you're loved
forever. And there's nothing you can do
about it. Aren't you glad? If He loves
you, you're loved, no matter what you may think about yourself. Man. He's merciful. That means kind. It means He doesn't give people,
doesn't give everybody what they deserve. He hath not dealt with
us for our sins. Why? Because He took them. Boy, isn't that merciful? He's
gracious. Giveth and giveth and giveth. And there's nothing we have that
He didn't give us. And then He doesn't upbraid when
you blow it off. I lost everything you gave me
yesterday. Oh, you need more? I do. Here you go. Compassion. Touched. Tender. We could go on for six days.
Seven days. Because we're talking about His
glorious person. Then there's the glory of His
Word. The glory of His person. The glory of His Word. The Word
of creation. The Word of His power. And God... What other creature? He's not
a creature. What creature can say something
that's done? Create. Nobody's ever created
anything by just saying something. And God said, let there be light. There was light. God said, let
there be a firmament. There was a firmament. God said,
let there be And it was. What power. What glory. Creating. Upholding all things
by His Word. Upholding all things by His Word. Things move and have their being
and do this and do that because God says so. Stop. Start. Cease. Begin. He just speaks. It's done. He spoke, and it was
done. Psalm 33 now. He commanded. He stood fast. Aren't you glad, John, He gave
commandment to save me, save you? Aren't you glad? Because
when He speaks, it's done. Almighty love, arrest that man. He's running. Grab him. Let me hold him. Aren't you glad? He speaks. And
it's done. Creating, upholding all things
by His power. You know, His Word is His power. Word is His glory, the glory
of His Word. And all who say, God's trying
to tell me something. They don't know God. The son didn't say, well, God's
trying to tell me something. In Him, He lived and moved and
had His being assigned. It existed because God said,
shine. His Word spoken, that's His Word
of creation. And I remind you, John 1 says
that Christ, all the things were created by Him, our Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, so he's not this Jesus
that everybody says he's trying and wanting to, and if only you'll
let him. There's nothing in the universe,
so the creatures say to him, that formed him, you can't do
that. Clay, he's the potter with the
clay. Clay has no say. You remember
one time I brought a ball of clay up on the pulpit? Remember
that? I made it. I took wet dirt and
wet it and put it in. It was inanimate. It's just a
ball of clay, and I stuck it right there. Now, do something.
Come on now, clay. I want to make you something. Please let me. Clay has no say. It's dead. He said, we're going to Howard.
I'm sorry. Lazarus come forward. That's
the only way Clay's going to live. The only way Clay's going
to be anything. He makes one vessel of the same
lump, of the same lump, all dead sinners, he makes one vessel
and honor. Why? For his glory. Oh, His glory. I know that I'm dishonored. That's
our Lord. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the glory of His Word, the Word spoken, the Word written, the
Word spoken. Psalm 19, there are two books.
It talks about the Book of Creation and then the Law of the Lord.
The Law of the Lord. I've got to go on. You're in Ezekiel. that the glory of God's word,
oh my, the glory of God's word, the glory of his book, the Bible. I kind of hesitate to call it
that because everybody talks about the Bible, the Bible, the
Bible. You know what my Bible said, well your Bible, Bible,
Bible. The word means book. The book is person. The book was made flesh. The
Bible was made flesh, he said. Here's the glory of it. It's
not just the book. It's the Word of the living God,
and that Word was made flesh and lived among us. The living.
He's the living Bible. It's not just the book, he said.
The Bible is a person. It's a living Word. It's called
the living Word of God. Why? Because God is the voice
of God. Psalm 29 is going to go there.
The voice of the Lord makes the cedars, breaks the cedars in
the hardest heart and makes the hens to calve and creates life
and destroys and creates and everything by the Word of the
Lord. It's the voice of God, the living
Word, because our Lord is the living Lord. It's His voice,
and He speaks creation. Things are created. Life is given. Same way, spiritually speaking. God uses this Word, which many
people read, and it's just words on paper. But now, if God, through
the Spirit of God, speaks, It's not just words, it's His voice. He said, My sheep hear My voice. And you know what they do? They
live. They follow Him. A new heart,
a new mind, a new life wasn't there before. By reading the
Bible? No. Now God's speaking to you
through the Word of God. And that Word preached. But,
see, it's His living Word because it's His voice. And nothing lives
until He says so. And it gives sight. When our
Lord was on this earth, and I can't wait to look at this, maybe Wednesday
night. Some men were sent to take Him, to apprehend Him and
bring Him to the authorities. And he was preaching. And they
couldn't touch him. They sat down. He was preaching
and these fellows were sent, paid, to get him, grab hold of
him, take him to authority. And they came in and he was speaking. And they dropped. Like you tell
a dog, sit. And they sat down, and they listened.
And then they went back. And they said, Why didn't you
take him? And every man spake like this
man. We may look at that Wednesday. You want to? The eyes have it. And every man
spake like this man. By his word. He was a blind man. Blind all his
life. There's no cure for blindness,
is there? The Lord Jesus Christ said, see. And he saw. Deafness. Mine's getting worse. Maybe as
bad as my dad's someday. Or my mom's. He got to where he couldn't hear
anything. And that's a handicap just as much as blindness. You
know that? How would you like to not be
able to hear anything? Not be able to hear preaching? Not be able to hear your beloved's
voice? How would you like? There's a
man deaf from birth. In Mark 8, Mark 7. They took
him out of the crowd and put his fingers in his ears. Hear. And he heard. What did he hear?
The beloved's voice. Christ's voice. Oh my. He spoke and it was done. The
woman guilty all her life. Sent her all her life. She could
not clean up her act. She could not do good if she
tried. She could not get out of the
pit of sin, of lust. She couldn't do it. She's guilty. And they caught her in the very
act of adultery again. And they brought her to Christ. And she's laying at His feet.
And He says, Forgiven. Justify. Get up. Go and sin no more. No condemnation? No condemnation.
And that's my third point. I'm only on my first. The glory
of His Word. My, my. Ezekiel... Let me go on. Ezekiel 33, go
over there, Ezekiel 33. See, our Lord, Ezekiel was sent
to Israel. This whole book of Ezekiel was
to Israel, you know that? God's people. And he was sent
to them to preach, right? That's what Ezekiel was, a prophet. Prophets preach the Word. The
Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying, speak to them. Speak to Israel. Speak to them.
Our Lord was sent by the Father to this earth. This is the glory
of His work. Okay? The first thing He did
was He came as a preacher. Ezekiel 33, look at this, in
verse 30. Son of Man. Now, He's called
the Son of Man ninety-four times. and Ezekiel. Is that important? Another 50 sometimes in the Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. What's that man? You know, I'm
the son of a man, aren't I? If there's a son of a man, he
wouldn't be alive. There's sons everywhere of men,
right? Why is he called the son of man? That's what Christ called himself.
Ezekiel is a type of him. Why is that? Because he's not
born of Adam. He's not Adam's seed. It's a
woman's seed, born of a virgin. Well, you can't conceive a child
without a man's seed. It's impossible. Well, that holy
thing in her was the Son of God, he said. And yet, he didn't take
on himself the nature of angels or some kind. He took upon him
the seed of Abraham. This is what he's saying. Great
as the mystery of God was, God was manifest in His blood. In
the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, Son of God, made
of a woman. And they thought he was the son
of Joseph, a man. No, no, he's not the son of Joseph.
Well, the son of David. Well, yes, but no. Because David
called him Lord. Well, whose son is he? He called himself the son of
man because he took flesh. He had to. He had to. He had to take flesh and live
among us in the form of a man in the likeness of sinful flesh,
without sin. See, if he was born of man, he'd
be a sinner like you and me. And that means he can't save
anybody. He can't save himself. And he became a man, you see,
and he called himself the son of man because he's identified
with us. And he's touched with the feeling
of our firmness. He became, he submitted to being
the son of a sinful man. Think about that. Joseph, his
father, good man, just man. Scripture says so. He's a sinner.
And he was wrong a lot of the time. And I'm sure he was unfair
to his son, Jesus. I'm sure he was. I'm sure he
was this and that. I'm sure Joseph, his father,
got irritated and took it out on his son. Anybody? Anybody
guilty of... Scripture says, provoke not your
children to wrath. Have you ever done that? Patrick, think about this. His
son never did anything wrong, ever. Never said anything wrong. Served Him 100% submissive in
obedience to His Father. Can you imagine? We can't imagine
that. Well, He won't. But His Father
was a sinner. He was so subject to sinful man,
aren't we? We're in submission to sinful
man. We're subject to sinners. Our Lord became subject. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things he suffered. Touched to the feeling
of our infirmities. tempted in all points like we
are. See what a blessing that is that he's called the son of
man. You don't understand how I feel.
Oh, yes, I do. Our children say that. They see
us, you know, adults, our teenagers, and they say to us, you don't
understand what I'm going through. You know, we're so severe. You
just don't understand me. Nobody understands me. Are you serious? You don't think
that I was a teenager? You don't think I thought every
single thing that went through your head? You don't think mom
and dad's not fair to me? You don't think I wanted to head
out and hit it? I did. You don't think I regretted
it later, huh? Our Lord was touched with feeling
of affirmation. You're talking about a good son. You're talking about a good father.
Merciful, gracious. He knows us. He knows our prayer. He never forgets our prayer. He became a man, son of man.
I tell you, Ezekiel 33. So he was sent as a son of man
to preach. In chapter 14, he preached repentance. That was the first thing our
Lord said. He spoke the Word of God. His sin is the Word of
God. Verse 30, he's the prophet of God. Verse 30, Son of man,
children of thy people are talking against thee by the wall, the
doors, the house. Speak one to another, every one
to his brother. Come, I pray you, hear what is the Word of
the Lord, and cometh forth from the Lord. Everywhere we read
in John's Gospel, they were murmuring, they were talking, there was
a division because everybody was talking about him. Have you
heard that young rabbi from Nazareth? Have you heard him preach? Come
on, let's go, let's go hear him preach. Ezekiel, verse 32, 31. They come unto thee as a people
cometh. They sit before thee as a people.
They hear thy words, but they will not do them. In their mouth they show much
love. But their heart goeth ever constant. He'd been saying that
all along. I know you. He said to the Pharisee,
I know you. You come to me. He said, you
will not come unto me till you have life. He said, I know you. He said, you
have not the love of God in you. I know you. If you were Abraham's
children, you'd love me. Abraham wrote of me, spoke of
me, saw my death. He went on and on to say that.
Verse 32, Lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song, as one
with a pleasant voice. He came to Nazareth, they said
that, didn't they? Gracious words poured from his
lips, they said. I said, Joseph's son, listen
to him speak. They hear thy words, but they
don't do them. Read on, verse 33. And this is interesting.
Christ lived 33 years. This is Ezekiel 33, 33. When this comes to pass, and
lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath
been among them. That prophet. And he, that prophet
said, to me, to him, give all the prophets witness. This is
speaking of Jesus Christ. He was sent to earth. Why was
he sent? To seek and to save the lost.
Look at the next chapter. Seeking to save the lost. He
said, I've come to seek and save that which was lost. He said,
what man among you having a sheep and he doesn't leave the
ninety and nine and go up to the one in the wilderness? Look
at verse 11. Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I, even I, will search my sheep and seek them out, as a shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the days among the sheep that are
scattered. He said, I will seek out my sheep
and what? From Ezekiel 34 on and on and
on, he keeps saying, I will, I will, I will, and you shall. See, this is the difference between
the God of the Scripture, the God of the Bible, and the Jesus
Christ, who is Lord, not wanting to be. He is Lord, the Lord our
salvation, the Lord our shepherd. He said, I will seek my sheep,
and what? I will find them. And I will
deliver them. I've got the shepherds. Wherever
they are, he said, all the places scattered in the cloudy and dark
day, and I will bring them out from the people. Bring them to their lair and
feed them. Why? Because he's the Lord, our
shepherd. And Ezekiel went on. What a chapter. Give me another hour. In verse
23, he says, I'll set up one shepherd over them. He shall
feed them, my servant David. Well, David's been dead for years. David's been dead for years.
Who's he talking about? The one who's never died. Alive
forevermore. He shall feed them. He shall
be their shepherd. The Lord will be their God. Why? Because I, the Lord, have spoken
it. Because I said so. Right back to His Word. So He's
the Lord, our Shepherd sent to this earth. This is the glory
of His work, the glory of His salvation, the glory of His redemption.
Can I show you one more in Ezekiel? Anybody? Anybody? Alright, the
eyes have it. Chapter 16. Can you look at Ezekiel and not
look at Chapter 16? He's the Lord of life. He said,
I'm the great shepherd. I'll seek my sheep. I'll find
them. Well, they're dead sheep. They're not just black sheep.
They're dead. He said, I've come that they might have life. Sister
over there, mouth those words, that you might have life. See, this is why He came. This
is the glory of His being, the glory of His Word, the glory
of His work. Ezekiel 16, verse 1, The Word
of the Lord came unto me again. The Word of the Lord came to
me saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Isn't that why He came, brother?
Didn't He come? He came right into Jerusalem
and went right to the temple and said, The abomination of
desolation is here. I'm going to clean this out like
a fuller's fire, a fuller's sofa, or a refiner's fire. I'm going
to clean the house." He did. He said of Jerusalem, verse 3,
Thus saith the Lord God of Jerusalem, your birth, your nativity, the
land of Canaan, stranger, your father of Amorite, your mother
of Hittite, as for thy nativity, the day you were born, your navel
was not cut, still tied to all of this, neither was thou washed in water, to supple thee, not salted. I want you to remember every
word I'm reading to you now. Water and salt, you don't have
it. Swaddled, you're not covered.
You're naked, you're filthy, you're wretched, you smell bad,
you're tied to this earth dirty. Isn't that why Christ came? You know who Christ came for?
You say, that's not me. Then He didn't come for you. Cast out an open field, verse
5, to the loathing of thy person. What do you think about yourself?
It's going to go on in Ezekiel to say, when I do all this for
you, you're going to loathe your person. You're going to hate
yourself. When the love of God comes, you
hate yourself. Verse 6, when I passed by... He didn't have to, did he? He did. The Lord Jesus Christ
passed by where you lay, and I saw thee. Who saw who? polluted,
corrupt, in thine own blood. The pollution is running through
your bloodstream. I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood,
live. And you lived. And they went
on to wash and cover and deck Raise her up. And she became
beautiful. You know why? He said through
my comeliness. You became beautiful what I did
for you. Isn't that glory? Or what? You
see, he was stripped. She was naked. Our Lord was stripped
on Calvary. And took His glorious garment
and put it on her nakedness. And she was washed, we were washed
in His very own blood. Ain't that something? Okay.