Now tonight we're going to continue
in the book of Ezekiel chapter 7. If you'd like to turn in your
Bibles there. Ezekiel chapter 7. And we're talking about the subject
of repentance. Repentance. The title of the
message is repent. For the end has come. Ezekiel begins this segment of
his prophecy to the exiles in Babylon, the Jewish exiles in
Babylon. Verse one, moreover, the word
of the Lord came unto me saying, also thou son of man, thus saith
the Lord God unto the land of Israel an end, a final end. The end is come upon the four
corners of the land. That's speaking of the destruction
of Israel, specifically the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which
had not at this time been destroyed yet. And as I mentioned last
time, I mentioned several times as we go through the book of
Ezekiel, you understand now that Ezekiel was prophesying, preaching
against a multitude of false preachers, false prophets. who
were telling the people that everything was OK. We're going
back. Jerusalem's not going to be destroyed. The temple will
still be there. Everything's fine. Peace, peace.
And so Ezekiel, like all of God's preachers in each generation,
was in the minority. And his message was always looked
upon with ridicule. It was always looked upon, he's
so negative. He's so negative, they'd say. He didn't preach. the false gospel
of health, wealth and prosperity. But he preached the word of God
and he preached and exposed by his preaching the sinfulness
of the nation, the sinfulness of the people and how they deserved
God's wrath. And that's the way it is for
all of us. Whenever we talk about repentance, you know, I've heard
preachers say this and it's true that when a When God brings a
sinner to repentance, he brings that sinner to take sides with
God against himself. And what that means is this.
It means that we see that if God were ever to give us what
we deserve and what we've earned, it would be eternal death and
damnation. That's what that means. It doesn't
mean just being down on yourself. It's being poor in spirit. That's why I had Stan read the
Beatitudes. Blessed are they who are poor in spirit. We see
our poverty of spirit. That by nature we're spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. Ruined by the fall, our fallen
Adam. And that in that state of deadness,
we can do nothing, absolutely nothing to please God. And before
God brings us to repentance, we all think that we can make
it somehow, that we can contribute somehow, that we can recommend
ourselves unto God somehow, that we can at least impart, make
ourselves clean enough, good enough, righteous enough, holy
enough, if not totally by our works, but at least with a little
help. And that's what we think until
we're brought to repentance. Isn't that right? And so we have
to be brought to repentance. I wanted to make sure that we
understand this, that if sinners repent, it's because God has
brought them to repentance. No sinner will repent of his
own power, of his own free will. If you think you will, then you
have to proclaim that you're better than these people here.
What did God tell Ezekiel? They're an impudent people. They're
a hard edged people. They're hard set against truth,
against the glory of God. That's all of us by nature. None
good, none righteous, none that seeketh after God. So we must
all be brought to repentance. When Ezekiel speaks of the end
of all things here, that's the purpose. He's preaching to the
people. Some said there was probably
about 10,000 of these exiles by the river Kibar. That's where
Ezekiel's prophesying. And so he has an audience of
quite a few people. Very small number compared to
the whole population of the nation Israel at that time. But he does
have an audience. And the purpose of the revelation
of God of the end is not just to beat down upon the people,
But it's to call sinners to repentance. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, even this Jewish nation. And
he means to call them out. And they're called his remnant.
We read about that in chapter 6 in verse 8. Yet will I leave
a remnant, he says. And they're going to remember
the Lord. And they're going to remember and loathe their ways. They're going to take sides with
God against themselves. They're going to be brought there
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. And so that's the purpose. And it's the same purpose today.
When we stand to preach the gospel, we preach the wrath of God against
sin. It's not just to beat people
down. It's not just to be hell, fire, and brimstone preachers
or anything like that. It's to point sinners to the
only way of salvation, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
why we're here. You know, when Peter was talking
about it in 2 Peter, and he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to
write that second letter, that second epistle, in considering
the end of all things, the second coming of Christ, that's what
he said. He says, God is not willing that any of us should
perish, the us there being God's elect, but that all, all of his
people, all whom he chose before the foundation of the world,
all whom Christ redeemed by his blood, and worked out righteousness
for. All whom he calls into the kingdom
should come to repentance. That all should come to repentance.
And that's an amazing thing. This repentance is something. You know, we've talked about
this, how people argue, which comes first, faith or repentance?
They come together. You can't have one without the
other. Any faith, let's put it this way, any claim of faith
that is not accompanied By God, the gift of faith accompanied
by God-given repentance is false faith, sham faith. We're gonna read more about that
in chapter eight, where we talk about how the elders of Israel,
the overseers of the temple, the priest, how they tried to
intermingle false religion with the truth. And that's what people
do when they claim to believe the gospel, but they don't come
to repentance. They're trying to make their false idolatrous,
unbelieving ideas mingle with what they've learned. And they
don't repent. They don't come to repentance.
It's repentance that gets us into trouble. Because, you see,
if we could speak peace to everybody and say, well, now, you know,
what we believe is just a little higher knowledge than what everybody
else believes, you wouldn't make anybody mad by that. Just incorporate
it into your growth process. But no, when God brings a sinner
to repentance, He changes that sinner's heart. He changes his
mind. In other words, that which he
admired and that which he boasted in now becomes what the Apostle
Paul called it in Philippians 3, I count it all but dung. that
I may win Christ. Tell a fellow that his religion
is done and see how much he wants to embrace you. It just doesn't
happen, does it? In other words, Paul, he'd have
to go back to his Jewish brethren according to the flesh now, and
he'd have to say, what you're pleading before God as your hope
of salvation, I've repented of it. Now you wouldn't make anybody
mad. You say, well, now you're a drunk. I've repented of drunkenness.
I don't drink anymore. You wouldn't make anybody mad
there. Or I was a drug pusher, a drug addict, and I've repented
of that, you see. But my religion, my experiences,
my upbringing in a false gospel, tell them you've repented of
that. That's what, blessed are you when men persecute you and
say all manner of, you see, for righteousness. That's the issue.
This thing of repentance is so important. Well, Ezekiel sets
forth what I called six points of repentance in light of pending
judgment. And I've applied each one of
these as I went through them to us today because this is the
issue that faith brings us to, repentance. This change of heart. It's the power of God, not the
power of man. The power of the Holy Spirit
in Christ. And each one of these points of repentance can only
be seen that way as we look to the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Without Christ, without seeing
the glorious person and the finished work of Christ, you don't even
know what to repent of. Now that's right. That's why
Paul again in Philippians 3, he said, He said that, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. You see, it's only when he saw
Christ on the Damascus road that he was brought to repentance.
And it's only when I and you, when we see Christ in his glory,
the glory of his person, the glory of his finished work and
the preaching of the gospel and the power of the spirit that
we're brought to repentance. Because before that, we don't
even know what to repent of. All repentance we know before
then is legalism. Reformation, outward reformation,
turning over a new leaf, getting religious, walking the aisles,
getting baptized, that's our repentance up until that point.
But then when God the Holy Spirit shows us the holiness of God
and our own sinfulness and depravity and shows us how God by mercy
and grace saves His people through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
then we say, oh my soul, how could I have ever How could I
have ever thought or imagined that anything I am or anything
I do could recommend me unto God or save me or contribute
to my forgiveness or my salvation or my right? When I see Christ
on that cross, dying for my sins, establishing the only righteousness
which God can accept, the blood of the Lamb of God, how could
I have ever been so proud and arrogant and self-righteous as
to think that anything that comes from me in any way, shape, form
or fashion, religious or whatever, that it could recommend me unto
God or contribute to my salvation. What an awful thought. That's
where repentance comes to, you see. I did the first three last time,
but let me just state them for you. Point of repentance number
one is found in verse 3. He says, now is the end come
upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge
thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all
thine abominations. Now that's repeated, that kind
of language, there's five times in this passage. And that's point
of repentance number one. We, God, brings his people to
repent of our ways. Our way is a false way. The best
ways, the worst ways that man can come up with. Our way is
always the way of works religion. It's always man-centered. It's
always conditioned on man. It always exalts the flesh, that
which is highly esteemed among men, abomination to God. There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. What is your way of salvation? What is my way of salvation?
God says there's only one way. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. His way is the way of the cross. And it's not the
cross plus you. It's the cross alone. His way
is the way of righteousness. And it's not me and Jesus got
a good thing going here. It's not His righteousness plus
what I contribute. It's Him alone. Submit to Him. When we see that He is our righteousness
and in ourselves we have none. That's His way. His way is the
way of grace and mercy. Not giving me what I deserve.
You see what he says here? I'm going to judge them according
to thy ways. That's man getting what he deserves.
I don't want what I deserve. I used to think I did. How about
you? I was like that old fellow that
said, well, I know I'm not perfect, but I haven't done anything to
deserve hell. I used to think that way. I mean, what's so bad
about me? Well now I see. Now how do I
see that? Only in light of what it took
to satisfy the justice of God in the person and work of Christ.
When I see His glory. That's when I saw my poverty
of spirit. That's when God brought me to
mourn over my sin. To see that my ways were ways
that deserved and earned death and my ways were an abomination
to Him. That's point of repentance number
one. Point of repentance number two,
look down at verse ten. He says, Behold, the day, behold
it is come, the morning is gone forth, the rod hath blossomed,
pride hath budded. That's the blooming of pride.
Now what does the blooming of pride bring? What does it bring? You know when you see a flower
bloom, it brings beauty, doesn't it? When a flower blooms, it
brings beauty. What happens when pride blooms?
Does it bring beauty? No, it brings ugliness. It brings
depravity. It brings rottenness, wretchedness,
unrighteousness. And so point of repentance number
two is we must be brought to repentance of our pride. What
is our pride? What is our pride? Well, it's
all the things that we think, again, are good before God. All the things that we think
by nature recommend us. All the things we boast in and
glory in. You know, a person who's proud,
they do a lot of boasting. Religionists boast, I hear religionists
boast about their experiences, what they haven't done, what
they do, what they're trying to do, how much they've given,
how much they've gone to church, or how many people they've got
down the aisle. That's their pride, that's what
they glory in. But what does repentance bring us to? By faith
in Christ. It brings us to see, let he that
glorieth, glorieth in this. That he knows God. that he understands
God. Let him the glory of glory in
the Lord. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I can't glory in my goodness,
I have none. But you know what? By faith I
see this. By God-given faith I see this.
My goodness is Christ. Christ is my goodness and I glory
in him. I can't glory in my righteousness.
I have none of my own. But Christ is my righteousness
and I glory in Him. The forgiveness of my sins, what
do I glory in for that? Well, I was baptized when I was
14. Is that what you glory in? Or I've cried tears all night.
I cried for a year. Well, will all those tears wash
away your sins? Is that what you glory in? Is
that your pride? You see, God brings us to say
no. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. What makes me accepted before
God? Now this is the point, you all
need to hear this. This is being challenged today. What is it
that makes a sinner accepted before God? Let's say, you are
here tonight, and with every fiber of your being, your mind,
your heart, your affections, you are trying your best to worship
the Lord. And I know it's a struggle sometimes.
You're sitting there and a thought comes in, you hear something
outside, a truck goes by, and you think, who is that idiot
out there? You know, I know how it is. Something distracts us. And we're easily distracted,
aren't we? That's the flesh. But we're trying to worship the
Lord. Do you think God accepts it? How would you answer that? Don't answer it loud. Do you
think God accepts your worship right now, this moment? When
I can tell you something from the word of God, and I'm not
going to turn to all these scriptures, but the answer is that he does. God accepts it. But now here's
the question. Here's where this repentance
of pride comes from, comes into play. On what ground does God
accept your worship? On what ground? How would you
answer that? I said, no, not out loud. I would hope everybody could
answer it out loud in unison with one phrase. I'll tell you
exactly how God accepts my worship. The blood of Jesus Christ. And that's it. It's not because I have a new
heart. I do have a new heart. But that's
not why God accepts my worship. He accepts worship from that
heart founded upon, based upon, cleansed by the blood of Jesus
Christ. And you know what that... You
know, there are several ways of saying that from Scripture.
When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And His blood cleanses us from
all sin. He is my intercessor. He ever liveth to make intercession
for me. Why does He have to make intercession
continually? I'll tell you why, because of
us. We're sinners. And the merits of His blood has
eternal, everlasting, meritorious power to cleanse us continually. The picture of that in the Old
Testament was in the tabernacle at the altar of incense, which
had coals in it from off the altar of the brazen altar. And that smoke going up, and
it was a sweet smelling, that was the prayers of the saints,
the worship of the saints. The obedience of the saints.
And it was accepted as a sweet smelling savor unto God. Why?
Because of the sacrifice. Because of the burnt offering.
Because of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. Look at verses 12 and 13. Here's the point of repentance
number 3. And you know, somebody says, well, now we've got to
repent of sin. That's right. All sin, and sin comes in many
forms, to many degrees, many faces. Whatever form it is, we're
brought to repent us. Look here in verse 12. The time
has come, he says, the day draweth near. Let not the buyer rejoice,
nor the seller mourn. For wrath is upon the multitude
thereof. What he's talking about is things
are going to be so bad in Israel that buying and selling will
mean nothing. and there'll be no pleasure,
no gain from it at all. But look at verse 13, for the
seller shall not return to that which is sold. You're not going
to get it back, in other words. Although they were yet alive,
they'll be alive, but they won't have anything. For the vision
is touching the whole multitude thereof. This prophecy is for
everybody. There's no exceptions here. Which
shall not return, that is, not return to the land. They're going
to die in Babylon. Remember the false preacher was
saying you're going to return and everything's okay. He said,
oh no, no, no. And he says, neither shall any
strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. If you look in your
concordance, it may read something like this. Neither shall any
strengthen himself whose life is in his iniquity. And that's
a good translation of that. Now, where is your life? What
is he talking about? Claim of eternal life. You have
a claim of eternal life. Where is your claim of eternal
life? Is it in iniquity? Or is it in
righteousness? That's point of repentance number
three. We've got to be brought to repent
of our iniquity. Well, what is iniquity? Well,
you know it's sin. That's right. But what is it
specifically? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's anything that falls short of perfection. Anything that falls short of
perfect righteousness and hope. That's iniquity. Do you understand
that? Doesn't measure up. And what
he's talking about is a group of people here whose life is
bathed in filtered in based upon that which in God's sight is
iniquity. Remember old Job's friend, he
said, man drinks iniquity like water. It quenches his thirst. And remember brother Stan read
in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, what is it, verse
6 I think, he said, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after
what? righteousness, and what's going
to happen to it? They'll be filled. Now, what
are you hungry and thirsting after? Is it iniquity? Is it
something less than the shed blood and imputed righteousness
of Christ for salvation? And if it is, then I pray that
the Lord will bring you to repentance. Israel in Romans chapter 9, they
sought after righteousness. They were hungry and thirsty
for it. Their lives were wrapped up in it. They were surrounded
by it. But what kind of righteousness
were they looking for? The righteousness which comes
by works of the law. And what does God say about it?
It's iniquity. It doesn't measure up. It falls
short. Oh my soul. Where do you find
your salvation? Again, is it in your baptism?
That's iniquity. Is it in your works? That's iniquity. Is it in your religion? It's
iniquity. You see, the only way you're
gonna find righteousness, holiness, perfection, goodness, is in Christ. That right? That's where repentance
comes to. All right, look down at verse
Look at verses 16 now. This is where we left off. In
verses 16 through 19, the prophet's point here is that
there is no escape from judgment. Escape from judgment is impossible.
You are past the point of no return. My friend, we tell sinners
all the time, tell people all the time, tell ourselves as sinners
saved by grace, that God will not always strive with the wicked.
There will be a point. You know some people can come
to a point of no return here on this earth. Now we cannot
measure that. We cannot determine that. So
don't try. Don't look at anybody and say
well now they are past the point of repentance. We are not to
do that. Now God can do it. I will give
you an example of it is the Pharisees when He said leave them alone.
He said they blaspheme. And that's it, there's no hope
for him now. He speaks of those who apostatized
from the faith and call Christ a curse in Hebrews chapter 10
or chapter six, I think. But now God, we can't do that. We can't look at any individual
and say, now that person there is past the point of no return.
But Ezekiel tells these people about their judgment now, their
physical judgment, God's wrath against, You can't escape it
now. There's no hope for the nation.
That's what he's saying according to the terms of the Old Covenant.
Now there's still hope for sinners. You need Christ. You need Christ. Run to Christ. And from my point
of view, and it's a very limited point of view of a human being,
is that as long as a person has breath, if God brings them under
the preaching of the gospel, there's hope. I don't know if
God's going to bring you to repentance or not. But I know this, you're
where you need to be. You need to be under the preaching
of God's Word, don't you? That's where I need to be. So
there's no escape from this judgment. Well, we can tell sinners this.
Now, no matter what stage of life you're in, no matter what
your situation or circumstance, there's no escape for you or
for me without Christ. That's the message. Look at verse
16. He says, but they that escape
of them shall escape and shall be on the mountains like doves
of the valleys, all of them mourning every one for his iniquity. Now
what he's saying is they're gonna run to the mountains, but that's
not gonna help them. That iniquity is gonna catch
up with them. He says, all hands shall be feeble, all knees shall
be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves
with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them, and shame shall be
upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. That's
shaving their heads because of mourning like a funeral. Now
see, he's not describing, some of this language you might equate
with repentance, the sorrow, but that's not what he's describing
here. He's describing despair. And he says in verse 19, they
shall cast their silver in the streets. That won't mean anything
to them. Their gold shall be removed. He said their silver and their
gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath
of the Lord. One commentator did say, you
know, silver is the metal that symbolizes redemption and gold
is the metal that symbolizes deity. And what he's saying there
is they're going to show their real feelings for those issues
of salvation, redemptive work of Christ, the glory of God,
and it'll mean nothing to them. I don't know that you can equate
that with it, but it's worth mentioning. We do know this,
that any sinner who is not brought to repentance really counts the
blood of Christ as really nothing. And the glory of God is really
nothing. You see, false religion is all about man. It's all about
your felt needs. It's all about what satisfies
you, not what satisfies God. And look here, he says, their
silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the
day of wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their
souls, neither fill their bowels, because it is the stumbling block
of their iniquity. Here's point of repentance number
four. We must be brought by God to repent of our own fullness. Where do I get that? Well, it
says they shall not satisfy their souls. Now up to that point,
they were satisfied. I've had several people in times
when I got an opportunity to talk to them about the gospel,
who have pretty much just told me in no uncertain terms this
kind of language, I don't wanna hear anymore, I'm satisfied. Well, I can tell you right now,
here's the way I feel about that. I'm satisfied, but I wanna hear
more. How about you? And I don't mind our faith being
challenged, do you? If that makes you mad, you're
wrong. You're wrong, because that gives you an opportunity
of one of two things. If they challenge you on something
that you're ignorant of, it challenges you to go learn what that meaneth. You go learn it. And if they
challenge you on something that you are skillful in the word
of righteousness on, it gives you an opportunity to witness
to them. Don't ever get upset. You see,
yes, we're satisfied with Christ because in Him we have all fullness. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. But when God brings a sinner
to repentance, He brings that sinner to repent of his fullness.
What satisfies your soul? That's the issue. We talked about
it in the Beatitudes. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Now man has that hunger. Look
over at Ecclesiastes chapter 3. We've looked at this passage
before. But it's really significant here.
Ecclesiastes 3. There is a hunger in the very
soul of man that is essentially an empty space since the fall. Some say that's what it means
when it says that he lost the image of God when he fell. And
that could be. But it's a soul hunger that's
within every man by nature. Now listen to verse 10 of Ecclesiastes
3. He says, I have seen the travail,
that's the trouble, the inner trouble, which God hath given
to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made everything
beautiful in his time, also he hath set the world or eternity
in their hearts, so that no man can find out the work that God
maketh from the beginning to the end. Man's search for fulfillment. And where does he find fulfillment?
Well, there are those who actually find fulfillment in immorality
and rebellion, don't they? That's what they live their lives
for. They're just scoundrels. The jails are full of them and
probably ought to be even fuller. There are those who find their
satisfaction, fulfill their hunger with material wealth and possessions. You remember the thorny ground
here in Matthew 13? Claim to believe the gospel, but the but
the desire for riches took him away. There are those who find
their fulfillment in religion, false religion. But where do
you find your fulfillment? You see, when God brings a sinner
to repentance, there's only one thing and one thing alone that
will fill that hole, fill that hunger, satisfy that hunger and
that thirst, quench that thirst. And that's the preaching of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. The preaching of the glory of
God in the gospel of His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing
else will do. Nothing more, anything more will
make you sick. Anything less will leave you
empty. Christ and Him crucified. That's
when a sinner is brought to repent. Listen, when God brings you to
see your sin, you'll see that nothing can remedy that sin but
the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing. If you can find fulfillment,
satisfaction anywhere else, it's not the Holy Spirit that's leading
you. It's someone else leading you. You see that? That's the issue
of repentance. Look down at verse 20. From verses
20 to 22. The prophet's point is this,
their beauty is corruption given to strangers. The lesson for
us in these verses is this, there's no beauty for sinners without
Christ. Look at verse 20, he says, as for the beauty of his
ornament, he set it in his majesty, but they made the images of their
abominations and of their detestable things thereof, therefore have
I set it far from them. Some say that's talking about
the temple directly, and that was their beauty, the Shekinah
glory of God that resided in that temple, above the mercy
seat where atonement was made. Picture of Christ. He said, I'll
give it to the hands of strangers, foreigners, for a prey. Remember
how Nebuchadnezzar and his army came and destroyed the temple
and took the vessels away. To the wicked of the earth for
a spoil, and they shall pollute it. My face, that's God's glory,
will I turn also from them. The glory has departed. And they
shall pollute my secret place. That's the inner chamber, the
holiest of all. For the robbers shall enter into
it and defile. See, they couldn't do that unless
God let them. But God let him do it as a punishment to Israel. And here's the point of repentance
number five. When God brings us to repentance, we must be
brought to repent of our own beauty. What is our beauty? Well, you know what a person's
beauty is? It's what they want everybody
to see. I don't want you to see my ugliness. I don't. in any shape, form, or fashion,
whether it's outward, inward, attitude, character, I don't
want you to see my ugliness. We want to show off our beauty,
don't we? Well, what is our beauty? Well, you know what men's beauty
is. Religion, that's their beauty. Reformation, that's their beauty.
Determination. Man's supposed beauty is in his
own righteousness, his own works, but we have no beauty of our
own. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
do us good. We have none of our own. So where are we going to
find beauty? Well, the psalmist said in Psalm
27, our beauty is Christ. That's it. Wash clean from all
our sins. You want cleanliness, that's
beauty. Wash clean from all our sins. How? By the blood of Jesus
Christ. That robe of righteousness, that
ornate robe, wedding garment that he puts upon his bride,
his righteousness and peace, that's our beauty. We are in
Christ. We are going to be found in Him.
He is our beauty. And that is what happens when
God brings us to repentance. We have no beauty. We have no
dignity. I think about Oma Shane's poem
that turned into a song. One stanza says, when I stand
before the throne, dressed in beauty, not my own, When I see
thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe." You see,
the beauty of Israel was taken away when the Shekinah glory
of God left, departed. And they had no beauty. They
thought they did. They boasted in it. Their beauty
was their connection with Abraham. We be Abraham's seed. Isn't that
beautiful? We're circumcised. We're not
like those old ugly Uncircumcised Gentiles. We keep the law of
Moses. That's our duty. Ugly, ugly,
ugly. That's all it was. Only beauty
to be found in the grace of God. In the mercy of God in Christ.
And no beauty elsewhere. That's repentance. And then lastly,
in these last verses, the prophet begins to talk about a chain.
A chain to symbolize the impending slavery of Israel. He says in
verse 23, make a chain. Told Ezekiel, actually make a
chain. For the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is
full of violence. They deserve to be chained up.
Wherefore, I will bring the worst of the heathen. They shall possess
their houses. I will also make the pomp, that's
the pride of the strong to cease. Their holy places shall be defiled.
That's their idolatry. Destruction cometh, and they
shall seek peace, and there shall be none. Those prophets have
been crying peace, They're going to seek it, but they'll have
none. Mischief shall come upon mischief. Rumors shall be upon
rumors. See what that indicates? They're
trying to figure all this out. That's the way it is with man
by nature. He doesn't know Christ. He doesn't know the way of salvation.
And when destruction comes, well, they're going to be ashamed.
They're going to be confounded. They're going to try to figure
it out. There'll be stories, rumors flying around like crazy,
but no truth. Then shall they seek a vision
of the prophet. Where's Ezekiel? Where's Jeremiah?
But the law shall perish from the priests, the counsel from
the ancients, the king shall mourn, and the prince shall be
clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the
land shall be troubled. I will do unto them after their
way, and according to their deserts will I judge them, and they shall
know that I am the Lord." They'll know Him in His wrath. Now here's
point of repentance, number six. When God brings us to repentance,
he brings us to repent of our bondage. You say, repent of our bondage?
Oh, I do mean that. Why would anybody love bondage?
Well, here's the point. That's why he said, make a chain.
They're in bondage. And until this wrath come through,
Until the wrath of God came through for their sins, they were still
in bondage. What was the difference? They
loved it. Man is dead in sin. He is in bondage to sin, but
he does not know it. You remember when Christ told
the Pharisees, the truth shall make you free? And they asked
Him this. He said, well, why are you talking
to us? We have never been in bondage to anybody. We are free.
They weren't free, they were in bondage. And they loved their
bondage. They were ignorant of it. They
were dead to it. They thought it was freedom.
That's what man thinks by nature. You give him something to do
for salvation, he'll love it. That's bondage. Put shackles
of laws on him. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt. Do
this. Do that. Jump this high. Jump
that high. And you'll fill the building.
They'll love it. And they'll call it freedom.
But it's bondage. Man dead in sin loves his bondage. Paul told the Corinthians in
2 Corinthians 11, you suffer when a false prophet brings you
into bondage. You allow that to happen. You
know why? Because we still got that human nature, sin in us,
that loves that bondage. I hear people talking about struggling
over assurance of salvation. And the way they're trying to
find the assurance is experience-based religion that leads to bondage.
I'm looking in myself to try to find something that will give
me an assurance that I'm saved. Do you know that's bondage? Don't
look inside. Look to Christ. If the Son makes
you free, you'll be free what? Indeed. That's repentance. bondage
of legalism that deceives a person into thinking highly of himself
and his works, or gaining assurance of salvation based upon his supposed
inward righteousness. When God brings us to repentance,
we're humbled like that old publican. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I have nothing but Christ, and
he's all I need. We no longer think highly of
ourselves and our own righteousness, but we think highly of Christ
and his righteousness. Stop trying to figure it all
out. God's got it figured out for us. Look to Christ. He is our freedom. All right.