As we look at the last portion
of Ezekiel chapter 16, there's some very fascinating things
that are brought forth here. And I've entitled the message
one word from verse 60. That's the word nevertheless.
Nevertheless. And I'll show you why I entitled
it that in just a moment. But consider what had gone on
before. God has pronounced His judgment against Jerusalem for
her sins. And it even revealed that the
sins of Jerusalem, that's the holy city, the city of God, the
place where the temple of God resided, the place where you
could find the highest revelation and manifestation of the glory
of God to be found on earth, in that temple and the holiest
of all. He revealed something that's awesome, and that is that
the sins of Jerusalem, which is in essence the sin of the
whole southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah, was much, much greater
than the sins of Samaria, That's the northern kingdom, which had
already been destroyed for her idolatry. And you know, most
people, when they hear the term Samaria, they might think of
Samaritans in the New Testament, but they don't really think of
something that bad when you think of Samaria. It may be an ancient
civilization. But then he said that their sins,
Jerusalem's sins, were much, much greater than the sins of
Sodom. And when you hear that name,
Sodom, it all kinds of debauchery and perversion comes about in
your mind, doesn't it? That's what he brought about
in beginning at verse 44 when he talked about the lewdness
and the abominations of Jerusalem. He says, look at verse 44, behold,
everyone that use of Proverbs shall use this proverb against
these saying, as is the mother, so is her daughter. In other
words, they're going to make fun of you with quaint sayings
that simply say like, like mother, like daughter. Verse 45, Thou
art thy mother's daughter that loatheth her husband and her
children. That's an indication or a way of stating Israel's
spiritual adultery from God who had, in essence, in a ceremonial
way, had married himself to that nation under the old covenant.
He says, which loathed their husband and their children. Your
mother was an Hittite. Your father was an Amorite. You
can't imagine what kind of an insult that would be to a Jew.
My father, you know, remember Paul, one of the things that
he boasted of before his conversion as Saul of Tarsus, remember he
said, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. I'm a full-blooded, full-fledged
Hebrew, a son of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. And here
God says to Judah, your mother was a Hittite. And your father
was an Amorite. And what he's saying is that
as far as your birth and your nativity is, we read in the first
part of this chapter, you're no better than the heathen. No
better. And of course, we can apply that
to us because that's the way we're born into this world, even
God's elect. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. We're born without any inclination
or desire for God. I always think of three things
when I think about our birth in Adam. And that's number one,
that we don't have righteousness. We're not born into it. We're
not born with it. Number two, we can't work out
one, even at our best. It doesn't matter how hard we
try from our youth up. By deeds of law shall no one
be justified, declared righteous in God's sight. We can't work
it out by our best efforts, by our best intentions. And then
number three, which really shows our spiritual death by nature,
is that none of us by nature want righteousness God's way. We want it our way. And you can
see that all through the scripture. And that's the way it was with
Israel, with Judah. They sought after righteousness,
but as it were, by the works of the law. That's the way Paul
described it in Romans 9. That's kind of like a summation
to the whole problem. Now, there were all kinds of
problems here. There were sins of immorality and insincerity
and all of that going on. It was a hodgepodge of sin, just
like our country today, just like our world today. You've
got some of the most perverse activity going on in our nation
today that you could ever observe. But you have some of the highest
religious efforts of men trying to establish a righteousness
before God. And they all fall under the category
of either, what he says here in verse 43, lewdness or abomination. He says it again in verse 58.
thou hast borne thy lewdness, that would describe the debauchery,
the immorality, and then thine abominations, that describes
their religious sins, their idolatry, their compromise of the gospel,
which they didn't believe. And then he says in verse 46,
and thine elder sister is Samaria, She and her daughters that dwell
at thy left hand, remember I told you as the temple faced east,
look to the north, there was Samaria. And he says, and thy
younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom and
her daughters, that's to the right, to the south. So in essence,
he's saying you're no better than them. In fact, you're worse
than them, he says. Verse 47, yet hast thou not walked
after their ways, nor done after their abominations. Now you may
not have committed the same exact sins as men point out sins that
Sodom and Samaria had committed. But he says in verse 47, as if
that were a very little thing, thou was corrupt more than they
in all thy ways. And that shows that the greatest
sin that a sinner can commit is sin against the light, which
in essence is unbelief. And as I told you Sunday night,
the worst place you can be is sitting right here tonight and
not believe it, not be affected by it in a positive way. So here he compares them, but
then, and here Samaria is identified as Jerusalem's elder sister.
Sodom identified as her younger sister. And there's that facing,
there's that connection you see. And that's not anything new.
You know, over in chapter one of Isaiah, for example, you don't
have to turn there, but you know, when he talks about the remnant,
he says in verse nine of chapter one of the book of Isaiah, except
the Lord of hosts hath left unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
And what he's saying there, unless there was a remnant of God's
people that God, by his power and grace saved, by His grace,
a very small remnant, the whole nation would have been destroyed
and obliterated at that time, just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Then he goes on to verse 10, and here's how he addresses them.
Here's how the prophet Isaiah addressed them. Hear the word
of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of God,
you people of Gomorrah. So that's a comparison. And you
see that comparison in the New Testament over in the book of
Revelation chapter 11. That chapter talks about the
two witnesses. And what that is, is that's a
symbol of the ministry of the gospel in that day. And it says
how the two witnesses were killed and left dead in the street of
Jerusalem. And here's the way he describes
it, this way the Holy Spirit inspired John to describe it
in Revelation 11 verse 8. It says, their dead bodies, that's
the two witnesses of God, two witnesses of Christ, shall lie
in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. So he says, spiritually
speaking, Jerusalem is worse than Sodom. Worse than Egypt. They had the
gospel, and they didn't believe it. They had the glory of God,
and they didn't esteem it. They had the word of God, and
they didn't love it. Like those who are deceived in
the last days, they receive not the love of the truth. You see,
this thing is all about the gospel, isn't it? The gospel of Christ. The preaching of Christ and Him
crucified. And so the point is made, sin
greater than Sodom. Look back there at verse 47,
or verse 48, he says in chapter 16, he says, as I live saith
the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done she nor her daughter
as thou hast done thou and thy daughters. Verse 51, neither
hath Samaria committed half of thy sins, but thou hast multiplied
thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy
sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done." All sin
deserves death. The scripture teaches that. There's
no sin that can pass by God without judgment. But my friend, the
greater condemnation is given to those who sin, who ought to
know better. Sin against the light. That's
something. And you remember in verse 52,
that's where he says, they're more righteous than you. Now
there's none righteous, no not one, but in the eyes of men,
when you compare them to Jerusalem, they're more righteous. Now beginning
at verse 53, he starts speaking of restoration. Look at it again,
verse 53. When I shall bring again their
captivity. Now that's a term that means
when I bring them back out of captivity. When I restore them,
that's what he's talking about. And who's he talking about bringing
back out of captivity? The captivity of Sodom and her
daughters. Sodom? Did Sodom deserve to be
restored? Well, no. No. And then he says
in the captivity of Samaria, I'm going to bring them back
out of captivity, her daughters. And he says, when I bring them
out of captivity, when I restore them, then will I bring again
the captivity of thy captives. That's Judah and Jerusalem in
the midst of them. In other words, Judah is going
to be restored when Sodom and Samaria is going to be restored.
Now, isn't that strange? Now, Judah didn't deserve God's
mercy and restoration any more than Sodom. That's one point
that's being made here. The Israelites would have said,
well, we're not as bad as those folks. Just like I've always
told you about the fellow down south who told me, he said, well,
I know I'm not perfect, but I've never done anything to deserve
hell. And I told him, I said, well, you don't know the scriptures
and you don't know yourself. Some say that this is a statement,
this passage in verse 53. Now there's some commentators
who say this is a statement that is intended to show something
that will never happen. In other words, it's kind of
like we make the statement when hell freezes over. I'll do that
when hell freezes over. Well, that's never gonna happen.
So we're making that point. Well, that's never going to happen.
And some say that's what God is saying here. When I restore
Sodom, which is never going to happen, when I restore Samaria,
which is never going to happen, then I'll restore Judah and Jerusalem,
and that's never going to happen. Now, it is true that the nation
Israel would never be restored to its former glory under David
and Solomon as to its physical grandeur. Even 70 years in captivity when
they came back under Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and Ezra, they were
restored and there was some grandeur but it wasn't anything like what
it was under David and Solomon. Can you remember when we studied
the minor prophets of the restoration, how the elderly ones who had
gone into captivity and come back, when they were building
the temple, the elderly ones got discouraged and began to
weep because the new temple wasn't anything like Solomon's temple. And then they began to drop the
ball. So that's true. But I don't believe this is talking
about an impossibility at all. And the reason I don't believe
that is because how this chapter ends in verses 60 through 63,
which brings forth a message of hope and restoration, of future
restoration, which will not take place under the old covenant
made with them in Sinai. That covenant that was broken.
Remember in verse 59, he says the oath in breaking the covenant,
but it's going to be brought about under a new covenant. And
I believe what he's talking about here is the calling of God's
elect, both Jew and Gentile, under the headship of Christ.
This, my friend, is talking about salvation by God's free and sovereign
grace for his elect people. Look at it. Verse 54 again. He said that thou mayest bear
thine own shame and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast
done and that thou art a comfort unto them. In other words, the
sin of Judah made the people of Sodom and Samaria feel comfortable
about themselves. It's kind of like a person who
said, well, they look at somebody who's messing up and they say,
well, if you're a Christian, I must be okay. You've heard
that, haven't you? Or heard people say that about
others or whatever. Well, if he's a Christian, then
I'm okay. Well, see, with your lifestyle or whatever you're
doing, you're giving them comfort. That's what Judah was doing.
And he says in verse 55, When thy sister Sodom and her daughter
shall return to their former estate. Now, what was their former
estate? What's he talking about? Well,
he's certainly not talking about returning Sodom to the days when
Lot was living there. God's not going to return them
to that. That was a time of debauchery and perversion. And he says,
in Samaria, and her daughter shall return to their former
estate. Well, their former estate up until the time that they were
destroyed was total idolatry. God's not going to return them
to that state. And then he says, then thou and
thy daughter shall return to your former estate. Now, he's
not talking about a state of spiritual adultery, the unfaithful
wife. But he says in verse 56, for
thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy
pride. You know what the day of their pride is, or their prides,
plural? Or as one, you might have in
your concordance, the day of your excellencies. That's in
the time of their prosperity. In the days of Solomon, in the
days of David, think about that, and other kings of Judah when
they were at their height. What he's saying here is your
prosperity didn't make you humble. It didn't make you an able witness
of the goodness and the power of God. It made you proud. Well, we see that in this country,
don't we? Prosperity, affluence. It hasn't humbled people and
it doesn't. It takes the Spirit of Christ to humble a sinner. It caused them to lift themselves
above themselves, to think more highly of themselves than they
were. And they neglected observing the judgments of God on others
when Sodom was destroyed, when Samaria was destroyed. They didn't
take the warning. Remember Christ dealt with that
in Luke 13 when he talked about the disasters and the Mass murder
that had come upon those in Galilee and he said suppose ye they were
greater sinners than everybody else They just got what they
deserve And he said no he said except you repent you shall likewise
perish But it comes down to this look
at verse 59 Now he says in verse 58 you have borne thy lewdness
and thine abomination saith the Lord For thus saith the Lord
God, I will even deal with thee as thou hast done. And remember
I told you last time that that proves he's not dealing with
believers here. Because I can tell you something
about every true believer. God is not going to deal with
us as we have done. If he does, we're all doomed.
The psalmist said that, Psalm 130 verse 3, Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? We read in another
Psalm that he has not dealt with us after our sins. And I always
point out on that Psalm, it doesn't say he has not dealt with our
sins. It says he hath not dealt with us after our sins. He dealt
with Christ for our sins. Yes, we're sinners. The fact that he's not talking
about believers here doesn't deny the fact that we're still
sinners saved by grace and that if God were to ever judge us,
At any time, based upon even our best efforts to obey Him,
we would be doomed forever, damned forever. But He says, I'll deal
with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath.
And that oath, we're going to read more about that in chapter
17 and chapter 18. But it's the oath. The oath is
the promise. of prosperity, of protection,
and possession, according to the terms of the old covenant,
conditioned on the nation, conditioned on the people. You remember when
Moses read the law prior to them going into the promised land,
he said, this is life and death, which do you choose? And remember
when Joshua got over there, he made them restate their promise
to obey God. We will obey God. That was an
oath. God had sworn an oath to them.
And they had to swear an oath to God. It was all conditioned
on them. And what did they do? They broke
the oath. How did they break the oath? They despised the oath,
it says, in breaking the covenant. Breaking the covenant. Again, another testimony from
God of how salvation And the blessings of salvation are ever
conditioned on sinners like us, then we cannot be under that
blessing. We'll break it. That's why Jeremiah
spoke that prophecy of the new covenant, which is a covenant
that cannot be broken by us. It was all conditioned on Christ.
So that we know that we have to be under an unconditional
covenant as far as our The state is concerned. One condition on
a person who is able to meet all these conditions and never
break them. A covenant of grace in Christ. All the promises of
God are in Him. Yea, and in Him, what? Amen.
Aren't you glad that none of them are conditioned on us? And
so in these last three verses, he begins to speak of the restoration
of Israel and he begins it with this word, nevertheless. I may
have already mentioned this, but that nevertheless there is
the equivalent of what we read in Ephesians chapter two and
verse four, but God. Remember how the first three
verses of Ephesians start talks about our sin and our depravity.
And then it starts in verse four to say, but God who is rich in
mercy for his great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin. He hath quickened us together
with Christ by grace Yourself. That's what this nevertheless
means. But God. Here He's saying to
them, He's saying, you didn't deserve Israel. You didn't earn
it no more than Sodom and Samaria. In fact, you're worse than them.
And you're going through punishment for it. The nation will perish,
I'll keep you together because of one thing, nevertheless. This is a nevertheless of grace. This is a nevertheless of God's
sovereign intervention into the lives of his people. And here's
what he says, he says, nevertheless I will remember my covenant with
thee in the days of thy youth. That's the old covenant at Sinai,
the days of the nation's youth. Now how is God going to remember
that covenant? Well, we know that He certainly
remembers that covenant because He remembers their sins as a
nation unto their condemnation. Why was that covenant given?
It was given to show them their sin. Romans chapter 5 and verse
20, Galatians chapter 3, I think it's verse 17 or 18. It talks
about how the law was given to expose the transgression, to
expose our state. It's like a medical machine that
exposes the disease and the deadliness of it. And that's what the law
that was given in their youth on Mount Sinai was given to do,
to show them their sins. And he says, I will remember
my covenant with thee in the days. I'll remember your sins.
You see, that's why we under the new covenant have the comfort
and assurance of grace where God says, I will remember their
sin no more. He said, I'll remember. What
does that mean? That means God won't charge us with sin. God
won't hold it against. David said in Psalm 32, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. God doesn't hold,
it's not on our record. Our record is wiped clean, how? By the blood of Christ and really
that's the essence of what he's talking about even in remembering
the old covenant because look what he says, and I will establish
unto thee an everlasting covenant. So then how does he really remember
his covenant? Mainly, this reference is to
his remembrance of his promise that was given to Abraham 400
years before the law to do what? To send Christ, his son. the Lord Jesus Christ into the
world as God promised, as God swore. And what does it say about
Christ? Like, for example, in Galatians
chapter 4, He was made of a woman, made what? Under the law. You see, in sending Christ, God
didn't forget His law. The law had to be kept. Law had
to be honored. Justice had to be satisfied.
Christ, Romans 10, verse 4, is the end, the fulfillment, the
establishment of the law for everyone that believes. This
new covenant here, this everlasting covenant, is the everlasting
covenant of grace. In other words, what he's telling
them is, look, you've broken the covenant. You're sinners.
There's no salvation in the law. I'll remember that covenant I
made at Sinai in the days of thy youth. How am I going to
remember it? I'm going to send Christ to establish the law for
my people. For my people. And look at what
he says. Now, who does this include? This everlasting covenant of
grace. Remember, Christ's blood is called
the blood of the everlasting covenant. His blood is the ratification
of the covenant. His blood is the fulfillment
of the covenant. His blood is the righteousness
of the covenant. His blood is the assurance of
the covenant. His blood is the payment of the
debt. His blood is the glory of God. Because by His blood,
God is enabled to be both a just God and a Savior in saving His
people. But who is included in this? Now is He talking about
every individual that made up the physical seed of Abraham?
And the answer is no. Who's he talking about? Well
look at verse 61. He says, Then thou shalt remember
thy ways and be ashamed. Thou shalt remember thy ways
and be ashamed. Now when's that going to happen?
Now look at this. When thou shalt receive thy sisters. Now who's
her sisters? Sodom and Samaria. The elder
and the younger. Thine elder and thy younger.
And I will give them unto thee for daughters. In other words,
they'll no longer be your sisters, they'll be your daughters. What
does that mean? Hold on there. But not by thy
covenant. Well, what's he talking about?
Well, first of all, he's talking about repentance. Repentance. You're going to remember your
ways and you're going to be ashamed. That's what is it? That's repentance.
You're going to remember your sins. Listen, you're going to
repent of your sins. Of your sin. Not only what you
do, but what you are. And you're going to even repent
of your righteousnesses. Look at it in Philippians chapter
3 sometime and read it. You're going to repent from dead
works which you were once proud of. And you're now going to be
ashamed of him. Now what is it that brings a
sinner to repentance like that? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's not just simply a technicolor view of his sinfulness and depravity. That's included. But what really
brings a sinner to that kind of shame and repentance is a
saving view of Christ Jesus. The righteousness that God had
to have in order to save a sinner like me. What did it take? Going
to church won't do it. Being baptized won't do it. Trying
to be good won't do it. It took the blood of the Son
of God to wash away my sins. And when I see the blood, when
God sees the blood, He passes over me. When I see the blood,
I become ashamed of even my best. And I see all my righteousnesses
are filthy rags. I see that there's absolutely
no way that God could receive, save, bless, and commune with
a sinner like me in any way, shape, form, or fashion or degree
except through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's repentance. And he says you're going to do
that when you receive your sisters and I'll give them unto thee
for daughters, but not by thy covenant." What's he talking
about? Well, he's talking about God's
elect among the Gentiles. God has some elect people among
the Gentiles. Sodom and even Samaria is with
them. God has an elect people chosen
before the foundation of the world out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. And you want to know something?
According to the terms of a conditional covenant, conditional assent,
we're just all one big depraved family. Sisters in crime. Brothers in crime. But He said,
you're going to receive them, and they're going to be given
to you for daughters. What does that mean? Well, you know how
in the new covenant, It is said that it was given to the Jew
first and then to the Greek, to the Gentiles. So that the
Jews were first called and the Gentiles came in and they were
given into the church and raised up and nurtured by God's elect
among the Jews. Who was the first ones that went
out and preached the gospel to the Gentiles? We can talk about
Paul. We can talk about Peter. They
were all Jews. They're going to be brought in
and raised up into the fold and received and nursed up in the
church. The Jew first and the Greek also. But he says, but not by thy covenant,
not according to the terms of Sinai, not according to the law. What covenant? the everlasting
covenant. This is a union of elect people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation under the
headship of Christ who redeemed them. That's what he's talking
about. And then look at verse 62. He
says, and I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord. You see, it's going to be by
virtue of a covenant of grace made with Christ and His spiritual
seed. Conditioned on Christ. Confirmed
of God in Christ. Ordered in all things and sure,
David said. Whose promises are yea and amen
in Christ and by Christ and the blessings of it are called the
sure mercies of David. That's not talking about King
David a thousand years before Christ. It's talking about Christ,
the greater David. A covenant that can never be
broken, a covenant that can never be made void, a covenant that
can never be removed, a covenant that will continue forever throughout
eternity. And this is how you'll know who
God is. You'll know Him savingly by His
grace through Christ. You know, a lot of times when
God brings His wrath down upon they, He says, you're going to
know I'm the Lord. What that means is you're going to know
Him in wrath. You're going to know that God is God and God means
what He says. But this knowing God here, you'll
know that I'm the Lord. That's like a marriage covenant
again. You're going to know God savingly
through Christ. They shall all know Me from the
least of them to the greatest. We're going to know Him as Abba
Father. That's a blessing. We're going
to know Him as a just God and a Savior. We're going to know
Him as our Redeemer. And then look at verse 63. That
thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy
mouth any more because of thy shame. The more souls are led
into the covenant of grace, and the more we know of God in Christ,
and of Him as our covenant God and Father, The more we will
remember our evil ways with shame and repentance unto God, the
more we'll be made aware of what we really are by nature. And
you know what? That's a big part of growth and
grace, isn't it? As you grow in grace and knowledge,
do you see yourself within yourself as getting holier and more righteous
and better and better? You don't do, do you? And he says, you'll never open
your mouth, he says. because of thy shame. You won't
open your mouth in trying to justify ourselves in our sin,
in trying to blame God for our sin or against His gospel, in
opposition to God. We'll take sides with God against
ourselves, against the world. And when's that going to happen?
Look at, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done,
saith the Lord God. When we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the propitiation for our sins. When does a sinner truly and
rightfully see God pacified, that's peace, pacified towards
him? When he sees Christ crucified
and risen. When he sees the redemptive work
and glory of Christ. When he sees the righteousness
of God who satisfied our sins on the cross by his blood. Peace
is made between God and sinners by the cross. Now everything
here that's predicted by Ezekiel is fulfilled in Revelation 21
through Christ. Because, you know, the old Jerusalem,
that's the unfaithful bride. Revelation 21, you can read that
on your own. I'm not going to read it tonight.
But Revelation 21 speaks of the new Jerusalem as a faithful bride. How is all that fulfilled? Well,
it's not fulfilled in the establishment of an earthly nation. It's not
fulfilled in the bringing up of a better class of people.
There's no such thing in God's Word. It's brought in and established
and confirmed by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to do His
great work. Nevertheless, okay. Let's sing a couple of verses
of hymn number 332.