Let's open our Bibles to Ezekiel
16. Now tonight, our text will begin
at verse 15, but just to bring you up to date here, this portion
of the prophecy of Ezekiel to the exiles in Babylon, it began
in the first 14 verses with a description of Israel as the Lord's bride. Beginning in her infancy, the
cast out infant, in her sin, her birth, her nativity was in
sin. Considering how the Lord describes
her here, we can go back all the way to Abraham, when God
found Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees in idolatry. And then how they
went down into Egypt, all of this is symbolic language as
you read through the first 14 verses. And it talks about her
bondage, her captivity, her depravity, her sin. And how the Lord delivered
her out of Egypt, brought her out, established her as a nation
at Mount Sinai, put her under that covenant. You see her Her
marriage to the Lord was a ceremonial marriage. It was a temporal,
temporary thing under the old covenant. Now that's not to say
that we cannot make application to ourselves out of these verses
because certainly we can see spiritual applications to our
beginnings. We're born, we ruined in Adam,
fell in Adam. born dead in trespasses and sins. Just like this cast out infant
with no hope of salvation or life in ourselves. And that's our state by nature,
isn't it? By nature, children of wrath
even as others. So we certainly do see a spiritual
application to ourselves there. And then in verse 6, the Lord
begins to speak of His sovereign mercy and goodness. He says,
when I passed by and saw thee polluted in thine own blood,
I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. And that's
what took place when God brought them out of Egypt, brought Israel
as a nation out of Egypt and established them as a nation
at Sinai. And there was life in that nation
in that aspect, ceremonially, temporally, physically. And we
can certainly again make an application to ourselves because having been
born dead in trespasses and sins, there was a time when God passed
by and saw us lying polluted in our blood, in our deadness,
in our ignorance, in our darkness and deception. By the power of
the Holy Spirit is sent forth from Christ who is our life.
He said, live, live. And we lived under the preaching
of the gospel. And then he shows us how he spread
his skirt over them. That's a marriage proposal. That's
an act of marriage. Remember how I referred to the
book of Ruth when Ruth told Boaz, spread your skirt over me. And
that's that marriage union. And that's what the Lord did
with His people. We're married to Christ. We're not married
to the law. We're not married to each other.
We're not married to the pastor. You're married to Christ. The
church is the bride of Christ. And he has all the responsibility
of our eternal well-being in his sovereign, powerful, merciful
hands. And aren't you glad it's that
way? I am. And then he describes all the broidered work. That's
language of the priesthood, which means access to God. This bride
has free access to God. Israel had access to God. at
the tabernacle or the temple through the high priest with
the blood of the lamb. And that was her access. We today,
in the new covenant, we have free, eternal, unhindered, bold,
spiritual access to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. Every
one of us. We're made priests unto God.
And that means we have an unhindered communion with God Not based
on anything in us or by us or through us, but based solely
upon the obedience unto death, the merits of the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And you know what's so great
about that, glorious about that, is it never changes. You know,
if it were based on our goodness, which we have done, but for the
sake of our, if it were based on our goodness, you know it
would change. There'd be times when we didn't have access and
times when we did. But it's certainly not. It's
based upon his good. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Then he describes the ornaments
of marriage. A lot of this language in the
first 14 verses is very similar to the ornaments that Isaac had
his servant take to Rebekah with the proposal of marriage. This
is the bride. and then he says in verse fourteen
look at it and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty there was a beauty there now as that applies to the nation
israel again and i keep emphasizing that because it sets up what
we're going to read tonight their beauty was a temporal beauty
uh... you know when you look at the
tabernacle outwardly it had no beauty the beauty of it was the
glory of god in the holy of holies And not everyone could see that.
That's the way it is with Christ. He has no form nor comeliness
on the outward appearance that would draw men to Him. And remember
what John said when he was speaking of the incarnation of Christ
in John chapter 1. He said that the Word was made
flesh, dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory. as of the only begotten of the
Son of God. We see, if we know Christ, if we're sinners saved
by grace, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And you've never seen Him physically. You've never even seen a drawing
of Him. You might think you have, but
you haven't. Because there is no picture or drawing or painting
of Him. That's just the imagination of
some artist. If you want to see the glory
of Christ, you see it in the Word by the power of the Holy
Spirit. so there was a beauty in israel but look at it he says
in verse fourteen for it was perfect now that word perfect
means complete there was a complete manifestation of the glory of
god within that nation as it pertain to the holy of holies
the tabernacle the priesthood and it was perfect through my
comeliness through the lord's comeliness the lord's beauty
they had no beauty of their own but it was the Lord's beauty
that shone through them and he said which I had put upon thee
saith the Lord now certainly there's an application there
to our beauty in Christ based on his righteousness imputed
his blood that washes us clean and that applies there but then
we begin in verse fifteen listen to how it begins he says but
thou didst trust in thine own beauty Now what he begins to describe
here is Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, which I believe is
emblematic of the whole nation, because it was the capital, it's
where the temple was. He begins to describe here, in
the rest of this chapter, Israel as an unfaithful wife. An unfaithful
wife. And this applies to the nation
Israel, what we're going to read, especially in verses 15 through
43. It applies specifically to Israel
as a nation under the old covenant. Doesn't really apply to the church
today. And I know people, now, that's
not to say that we're not still sinners and great sinners, we
are. but all when i read through this
all explain to you what i mean as we look at this i've entitled
this message uh... with a phrase from verse thirty
or verse thirty how weak is not hard how weak the sinful heart
how weak now we certainly know something about that in ourselves
don't we how weak pitiful And even wretched we are. Paul described
himself as an old, wretched man. But let me show you what I'm
talking about here. In verses 15 through 43, it describes
the nation Israel under the old covenant, under a conditional
covenant. What we have here is another
glaring testimony that if salvation is conditioned on sinners, it's
a failure. But we have some hope expressed
at the end of this chapter because God says, even though Israel
was an unfaithful bride, an unfaithful wife, God is going to have a
wife. God is going to have a bride.
God is going to have a people who will cling to Christ and
never let go. He says, he talks about a broken
covenant in this chapter. But let's look at it, let's read
verse 15, but thou distrust in thine own beauty and plagues
the harlot because of thine renown. In other words, instead of being
humbled by their renown, their fame, and you remember this can,
as you look through this, you can look at Israel's history
and see the fame of Israel under King David and under King Solomon
and how all nations marveled at them. The Queen of Sheba coming
to Solomon to hear His wisdom and to see the glory of that
kingdom. Well, instead of humbling you, He says, it made you proud. And you trusted in your own beauty.
Instead of thanking God. Now, that's talking about Israel. That's not to say that we still
don't have that problem in us. We certainly do. The flesh. We
still have to fight pride, don't we? Okay? So understand that
when I say this applies specifically to them, I'm not denying our
sinnerhood in any shape, form, or fashion. We still have a warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. I talked about that this morning.
We have to fight pride and unbelief. But he says, you played the harlot
because of thy renown and poured out thy fornications on everyone
that passed by, his it was. In other words, that spiritual
fornication. of idolatry. That's what he's
talking about. You are an idolater. Do we have
to fight idolatry? Yes. Paul warned the believers
against covetousness which is idolatry. We as sinners saved
by grace always have to fight a wicked spirit that would set
other things in our lives ahead of and before Christ. That's
a fight. Verse 16. And of thy garments
thou didst take, and dixt thy high places with diverse colors,
and plaged the harlot. Thereupon the like thing shall
not come, neither shall it be so." In other words, there never
has been anything like this to the degree that it had gotten
to. The high places are places of idolatry. That's what Israel
did. Jeremiah talked about those high
places. Anytime you see in the Old Testament high places, or
groves, or trees, that's talking about idolatry. That's where
they went and set up their idols. Verse 17, thou hast also taken
thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given
thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom
with them. Even the things that God had
given them, the gold and the silver, some people say this
is a direct reference to the vessels of the tabernacle, the
temple. They'd taken them and used them for idolatry. You remember
we read about that. How in Jeremiah, how you come
into the entrance of the temple. And Ezekiel said it too. And
there were idols set up there. Verse 18, thou and tookest thy
broidered garments, covered them, and thou hast set mine oil, mine
incense before them. Again, idolatry. My meat, also
which I gave thee, fine flour and oil. Remember he'd said all
these things over in the first 14 verses. That he blessed them
with. The fine flour, that's a symbol
of Christ as the bread of life. The oil, the symbol of joy, and
the power of the spirit, and the honey, the sweetness of the
God, all those are emblems. But he says, you've taken those
things wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before
them for a sweet savor, and thus it was, saith the Lord. In other
words, you set it before your idols. You offer these things
to your idols. Verse 20. Moreover, thou hast
taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me,
and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is
this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain
my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through
the fire for them?" Most agree that that's talking about the
time that in the northern kingdom, And even somewhat in the southern
kingdom when they offered their children on the arms of that
idol Moloch. How awful. You see we just, for
some reason, even though the word of God tells us these things,
we just can't imagine somebody going that far. You know the
history of mankind is an awful history of man's inhumanity to
man. of depravity, sickens, sickening
things. And he says in verse 22, And
in all thine abominations, in thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered
the days of thy youth when thou wast naked, and bare, and was
polluted in thy blood. You haven't kept in memory where
you were brought from. When you were that cast out infant.
When you were lying there with the umbilical cord uncut. Dying. Nobody had pity on you. Polluted
in your blood. You forgot about that. How God,
in His sovereign goodness, not because you deserved it or you
earned it, not because there was anything desirable in you,
how God brought you out of that, raised you up, nourished you,
gave you life, gave you the ornaments and the garments of His goodness. You know, it's always, you know,
if you want to remember something, you know, you know how I feel
about people, you know, when they talk about their salvation.
And they want to go back to some event in their life when they
did this or did that. Walked an aisle, did that. I
don't care for that. You know, and I know people get
on to me and they say, well that was just a life changing experience.
My friend, let me tell you something. And that's okay. If it was real,
if it was under the gospel. It was under the gospel. But
go back a little further in your memory and remember the pit,
as Isaiah said in Isaiah 51 verse 1, from which we were digged.
Because that will give you a real, a better appreciation of the
mercy and grace of God in salvation. And I can remember sitting back
there around close to where Paul is sitting and just shooting
daggers. in the brother Mahan for what
he was preaching. And he had the words of life. He had the
words that the Holy Spirit uses to say live. He had the words
that honor Christ and glorify Him and I hated every minute
of it. That was spiritual deadness. But he says, you've forgotten
that. Here you were naked and bare.
I was naked and bare. Now I have a robe of righteousness,
a royal robe. I was polluted in my blood, my
sin, and now I'm washed in the blood. I'm not saying that's
when all that happened. I was washed in the blood before
the foundation of the world. But I didn't know about it, didn't
appreciate it, didn't want it until God said live. So that's
what happened to them. Look at verse 23, it came to
pass after all thy wickedness, woe, woe unto thee, saith the
Lord God. That pronouncement of woe, the
woe, that's the displeasure of God. Verse 24, that thou hast
also built unto thee an imminent place. If you've got a concordance,
if you've got that, look and see what it says there. says
brothel house doesn't it now he's not talking about spiritual
or physical whoredom there he's talking about their false religion
he calls it a brothel house men and women selling their soul
selling them out to a false god spiritual whoredom And he says,
you've made thee in high place in every street. Verse 25, thou
hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast
made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every
one that passed by, and multiplied thy hoard. Sounds like today,
a church on every street corner, but not much gospel. Everywhere you go. I used to know a fella who didn't
preach the gospel who told my mother one time he said he was
called to start churches and i thought good not in their method if there's no gospel there that's
what it is in god's side of brothel house you say will preach beyond
that's that what god did right here that's the imminent place
verse twenty six that has also committed fornication with the
egyptians you remember when they were being attacked by the Assyrians
and then later on even by the Babylonians they went to Egypt
to find help. He's going to talk about that
in the next chapter. They didn't trust in the Lord. They trusted
in Egypt again. Thy neighbors great of flesh,
that is in the eyes of men physically great, and hast increased thy
hoardings to provoke me to anger. Behold therefore I have stretched
out my hand over thee and have diminished thine ordinary food
and delivered thee under the will of them that hate thee.
The daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd
ways. Even the Philistines are ashamed of your lewd ways. Thou
hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast
insatiable, fleshly appetites that cannot be satisfied. More,
more, more. You see, that's why the Bible
is really emphasizes the fact that in Christ we find completeness. We find satisfaction. Christ
satisfied the law. We find rest, fullness, wholeness. In the flesh, it's insatiable. You know, you think about people
who are trying to establish their own righteousness. The moment
they think they've got it, you watch, it doesn't last long.
It doesn't last long. They have to start again, don't
they? Yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldst
not be satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied
thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, that's Babylon,
and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart. That's the unregenerate heart. How weak is thine heart, saith
the Lord, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an
imperious, whorish woman. How weak, how sinful, how depraved,
how deceptive. Jeremiah spoke of it in Jeremiah
17. The heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? That's why we
pray, Lord give me a new heart. Give us a new heart. Even David
as a believer said, Lord renew a right spirit within me. You
see, sin is a heart matter. All of the trappings of idolatry
began in the heart. The mind, the affections, and
the wills. Not what goes into the mouth that defiles, it's
what comes out of the heart. Paul said, I wouldn't have known
sin until I knew that the law was spiritual and reaches to
the heart. Jeremiah or Ezekiel over in Ezekiel 36, you don't
have to turn there. This is why in salvation, here's
what God says in Ezekiel 36, 26, A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. That's salvation
there. That's the spiritual aspect of
salvation. We need a heart broken and contrite
over sin. Pour in spirit. We need a heart
for Christ. Longing for Christ. A heart of
faith. A heart of repentance. All of
that. And so, he says in verse 31. In that thou buildest thine
imminent place. That's that brothel now. In the
head of every way. In other words, you want it to
be seen. You're not trying to hide this
thing. You have no shame. And make us thine high place
in every street and has not been as in harlot. in that thou scornest
hire, but as a wife that commiteth adultery. In other words, you're
not just, you're like a Hosea's gomer. You're not just out there
as a single woman selling yourself. You've got a husband. That's
what he's saying here. And you're out here in whoredom. You're a wife that committeth
adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband, verse
32. They give gifts to all whores. And I think that's said because
just like, you remember Gomer, when she would, you remember
Hosea, when Gomer was getting older and less desirable to the
whoremongers. And she was going to starve to
death. And you remember that Hosea,
he would bring food and baskets to her house and leave them at
her door. And she would open her door and she'd look at that.
And the first thing, here's what she'd say, oh, aren't my lovers
good to me? She would attribute those things
to her lovers. And she didn't know all the time
that the only one who did love her, her husband, was bringing
those things to her. Now isn't that the way with us?
For years, I've been so blessed of God in so many ways, but for
years I didn't attribute it to Christ and the grace of God.
I attribute it to things I did, things I tried to do. Especially
my church going and my rededications and all of that. But all of that,
that's the picture that he's drawing here. But verse 34, And
the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms,
whereas none follow thee to commit whoredoms, and in that thou givest
a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art
contrary. What he's saying there is you're
worse off than even those who are not with husbands who are
going out sinning. It's bad. I mean, it's all sin. And then in verse 35 he begins
to describe God's judgment against her. Now this is why, right here
is why I tell you that this applies to Israel as an unfaithful wife. It's because of the judgment
of God. Look at it in verse 35. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, because
thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered
through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols
of thine abominations, and by the blood of thy children which
thou didst give unto them. Now that's all the sins they
commit. Behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers with whom
thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved,
with all them that thou hast hated. I will even gather them
round about against thee." And listen what he says he'll do.
He said, I will discover thy nakedness unto them that they
may see all thy nakedness. You're going to be exposed for
what you are. Now my friend, you don't apply
that to a believer. And I'll tell you why. Because
when God exposes us for what we are, how will we be found? We'll be found dressed. in the
righteous robe of Christ. That's judgment for a believer.
We were judged at the cross. I'll give you an example of those
who were exposed this way. Matthew 7, 21-23. Haven't we
preached in your name? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Haven't we cast out demons? Christ exposed them for what
they were. Depart from me, ye that work
in me. I never knew you. Now what you have here is the
nation Israel, sinners, under a conditional covenant. And they
failed. But we as believers in Christ,
we're not under a conditional covenant, that is conditioned
on us. All our salvation is conditioned on Christ and He fulfilled those
conditions. But look on verse 38, he said,
I will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood
are judged, and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. That's
wrath. We're not under the wrath of
God. What we say this morning, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. He said, I'll judge thee. Well,
we've already been judged. I just said that at the cross.
My sins were put away. They were charged to Christ.
They can't be charged to me. Look at verse 39. I will also
give thee into their hand. They shall throw down thine imminent
place and shall break down thy high places. They shall strip
thee also of thy clothes and shall take thy fair jewels and
leave thee naked and bare. Now I'll tell you one way this
can apply to believers. This is what we were before we
were regenerated. And God exposed us and drove
us to Christ, didn't he? But you see, God's not going
to take away the robe that we wear now. It's by his grace given
to us, put upon us. He's not going to take away the
jewels of wedlock that he's given us in Christ. They're gifts of
his grace. And listen, he doesn't take them
back. He doesn't take them back. Verse
40, they shall also bring up a company against thee, and they
shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with
their swords. That is all that they made alliances with. They're
gonna turn on them. Verse 41, they shall burn thine
horses with fire, execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many
women, and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot,
and thou also shalt give no hire anymore. So will I make my fury
toward thee to rest, and my jealousy, that's his glory, remember, shall
depart from thee And I will be quiet and will be no more angry."
Now, in other words, God's going to be finished with them. And
the glory will depart from them. Will the glory ever depart from
His people, spiritual people, His church? No. He said, I'll never forsake you.
I'll never leave you. Why? Because we're better than
this bunch? No. Because of the grace of God
in Christ. Has nothing to do, if God left
us under a conditional covenant of works, this is us right here. But look at verse 43. He says,
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
fretted me in all these things, behold, therefore, I will reckon
pence thy way upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and thou
shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abomination."
I'm going to give you what you deserve. That's what he's saying.
Now, can that be said of the people of God in Christ, that
God's going to give us what we deserve? Absolutely not. Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
And again, it has nothing to do With our goodness or our power,
we have none. It's all in Christ. In Christ,
we're in the ark. And you know what? We'll be in
that ark forever. Forever and ever and ever. We're under the
blood. Whose blood? Christ's blood.
And we'll be under His blood forever and ever and ever. We're
under God's grace and we'll be under His grace forever and ever. That's the case. You see, Israel
had committed a great sin. Well, we have too. In fact, beginning
in verse 44 there, he exposes the greatest of all sins. You
know what it is? I want to ask you, what's the
greatest of all sins? You might say it different ways,
but basically the same thing. Some say unbelief. Well, that's
the mother of all sins. But it's really sin against the
light, which is unbelief. Look at it, verse 44. Behold,
everyone that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against
these saints, as is the mother, so is her daughter. Now, to use
a proverb here means to make fun of somebody. And what he's
talking about is, it's kind of like, we'll use a phrase today,
like, well, the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
That's the same kind of thing it said here. This is what the
heathen nations will say in a proverb of Israel, verse 45, thou art
thy mother's daughter that loatheth her husband and her children
and thou art the sister of thy sisters which loath their husbands
and their children. Your mother was an Hittite and
your father was an Amorite. Remember he said that in her
nativity, in her birth. We don't have anything to be
proud of in our natural birth. All the flesh can produce is
flesh. Now, notice here, and I'm not gonna go through this
whole chapter now, I got one more message I wanna preach on
this, but I want you to notice something here, and you can think
about it for a few days. Listen to what he says here.
He says, thine elder sister is Samaria. That was the idolatrous
northern kingdom. Samaria was the capital. The
10 tribes that were already destroyed and scattered by the Assyrian
Empire. She and her daughters that dwell
at thy left hand, And thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right
hand is Sodom and her daughter Sodom." You are kin to Sodom
and Samaria. So sit there and say, we be Abraham's
seed does you no good as far as a relationship with God. Now
you already said, I am going to expose your nakedness. I am
going to expose your shame, your guilt, all of that. But here
you are going to be ridiculed in this. And what he's saying
is that trusting to your own beauty and your own goodness
and your own works, you have not risen above your raising.
Because man cannot. Born in sin and without the grace
and power of God in Christ, that's where we'll stay. Condemned. Just like Sodom, just like Samaria.
No better. You're no better than Samaria
and Sodom. No better than Sodom? Verse 47,
look, yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after
their abominations, but as if that were a very little thing,
thou wast corrupted, look at it, more than they in all their
ways. You'd think when he started out
that verses, well, you haven't walked in their ways. Oh, well,
we're getting all flat. No, no, you've done worse. Have they done worse? We remember
when Christ spoke to the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida. Woe unto
thee, if the miracles and the works had been done in Sodom
that had been done in you, they would have repented in sackcloth
and ashes long ago. Sin against the light. You know what this teaches us?
I want to tell you the worst place you can be on earth. sitting
right here under the preaching of the gospel left unaffected
without faith. The worst place on earth you
can be. Now you'd think somebody would say, well the worst place
you can be is in Las Vegas at the gambling tables or at the
shows or whatever or in the drug bins or the whore houses or something. Well those are bad places and
you ought not be there. But the worst place on earth
that a sinner can be is right here where you're at tonight
listening to the grace of God in Christ being preached and
walk away unaffected. Without faith. That's worse than
being in Sodom. Chew on that one a little while.
I have and I still will. It's amazing. So he says, you've
done worse. Verse 48, 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. Behold, this was the
iniquity of thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, abundance
of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she
strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Do you see that? Do you notice You'd think that
if he was going to list the sins of Sodom, you know what you'd
think would be number one, homosexuality. And that's a terrible perversion,
terrible sin. And just like all sin, it deserves
damnation. That's why we as sinners need
Christ. But he doesn't even mention that.
He says pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness, was
in her and her daughter. And you know what he's talking
about? He's talking about prosperity and self-satisfaction. That brings
boredom to people where they've got so much time on their hands
they have to think of new ways to satisfy themselves and they
forget the poor and the needy. Leads to homosexuality sometimes. But he doesn't even mention that.
He says in verse 50, they were haughty and committed abomination
before me, therefore I took them away as I saw good. 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. And thou
also, which thou hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame
for thy sins. Thou hast committed more abominable
than they, they are more righteous than thou. Do you hear that?
Yea, be thou confounded also and bear thy shame in that thou
hast justified thy sisters. What he's saying there is this,
in comparison to Sodom and Samaria, they're more righteous than you. Now, he's not saying that Sodom
and Samaria were righteous. Not saying that at all. Though
neither of them were righteous in the sight of God, compared
to them you're worse. That's what he's saying. Comparatively,
one was more righteous than another having committed lighter sins
maybe, lesser abominations. Well, there's nothing worse than
sin against the light. I know that's so. Now, in verse 53, he's going
to be talking about restoration, and it'll really amaze you. It amazed me. And that's what
I'm going to take up with the third message. But skip down
to verse 59, and I want to show you something in conclusion.
For thus saith the Lord God, I will even deal with thee as
thou hast done, which has despised the old in breaking the cup now
that proves right there who he's talking he's talking about israel
as a nation under the old cover they broke it under the new covenant in christ would it be possible for us to
break the covenant well if it were conditioned on us it would
not only be possible it'd be a sure thing we would break it
just like it but it's not Do you realize, understand now that
saved by the grace of God in Christ that you exist eternally
under a covenant that cannot be broken. It cannot be broken. It's a marriage covenant that
cannot be broken because it's all conditioned on our husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something about
him, he doesn't break covenants. We do, but he doesn't. And that's
our hope. All right, let's sing My Savior. Hymn number 226, let's sing a
couple of verses, My Savior.