Turn back in our Bibles to the
book of Ezekiel, chapter 36. It is my prayer this evening
that we all leave this place filled with the fullness of Christ
Jesus. The title of this message is
Salvation Full and Free. I've often said that everything
that is necessary for a sinner to know concerning salvation
is revealed just as clearly in the Old Testament as it is in
the New Testament. For that is the gospel of our
sovereign Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, wherein he and his glorious
person is revealed as God and man, the God-man mediator, and
his finished work is proclaimed. as he died for our sins, and
satisfied law and justice, and brought forth everlasting righteousness,
whereby God could be just and justifier." And I think that's
proven in the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job. Most
commentators will tell you, most biblical scholars will tell you
that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, and I believe they're
right. And that was one of the major questions that came through
the book of Job. How can a man be just with God?
Now throughout biblical history, redemptive history, there was
the proclamation and the promise of the coming of the Messiah.
God would send the Messiah into the world to make that so, to
accomplish his purpose. And here he uses the nation Israel
as a type and a picture of the salvation of his people. Here
in Ezekiel chapter 36, I want you to begin, look at verse 16.
We start off here with a picture of the fall of man in Adam. He
says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The
word of the Lord came unto his prophet. God gave the word to
his preacher, Ezekiel. And he said, Son of man, when
the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before
me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. How awful! You think about how God looks
upon our sinfulness and he says in verse 18, Wherefore, for this
reason I poured out my fury, God's wrath, the soul that sinneth
must die. God must punish sin. And he said,
I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed
upon the land. Now that, you know, you look
at that and you think, well, they must have been a bunch of
murderers. Well, there was murder in the land. But this also includes
the blood of their offerings, which were offered upon the altars
of idols, and which was offered upon altars without knowing from
the heart the reason that these things were offered. They were
offered in pride. Isaiah spoke of it in his prophecy. And he says, and for their idols
wherewith they had polluted it. They polluted the land, the land
of promise. The promised land of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, they had polluted the land with idols. Jeremiah,
you know this, when they were dwelling in their own land here,
it really refers back to the time of the prophet Jeremiah.
He was the last prophet of Israel, Judah, the southern kingdom,
before they went into captivity, the Babylonian captivity. And
Jeremiah continually preached to the people to repent. He continually
warned them against setting up idols. He called them the prophets
of the groves. They'd go up on these beautiful
groves and they would set up their altars. And they would
pray unto a God that could not save. And Jeremiah continued. You know, Jeremiah is called
the weeping prophet. He continually cried for the
sins of the people and his own sins too. And it was he who was
the major prophet of Israel when King Nebuchadnezzar came down
and destroyed Jerusalem. and took the people into captivity.
And there were three waves of Nebuchadnezzar's armies that
came at three different times. Jeremiah was sent to Egypt. But
God, in their captivity, He took them away and He spread them
out throughout the Babylonian Empire. Spread the people out.
It looked like they weren't together as a nation. They were in captivity
and it looked like all hope of the nation Israel was lost. There
was no nation. But God, in that captivity, raised
up two prophets. The first one was this man, Ezekiel.
He was a prophet during the Babylonian captivity. The second one was
later on, a younger man, younger than Ezekiel at this time, named
Daniel. And that was later on. And you see, when the prophet
of Israel, during the first part of their exile in Babylon, he
continually warned the people, even in their captivity, about
their sins and their idolatry. And God here is casting judgment
upon them, but he tells them that the judgment won't last
forever. One day he's going to restore them to the land of promise.
And that was fulfilled later on through Ezra and Nehemiah.
And they came back and rebuilt the temple. And that's the history
of it. But everything seems to be lost
here. He says in verse 19, look at this, he said, I scattered
them among the heathen. And they were dispersed through
the countries according to their way and according to their doings,
I judged them. Now that's God's judgment upon
our sin because we want our way and it's according to our doings.
You see, we want salvation by our doings, our way. And God
said, that's the reason I'm judging Israel. It's the reason I'm judging
them. And he says in verse 20, when
they entered unto the heathen, wherever they went, They profaned
my holy name." They didn't honor God. They didn't worship God. And when they said to them, these
are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land. Now that's a great picture of
the fall of man and Adam. When he says there, when Israel
dwelt in their own land, when Adam was set in that garden,
dwelling in his own land. God put him there. God gave him
dominion over the whole earth. He said, Adam, you dress it and
you keep it. And he says, you do my will. He said, you could
eat of every tree of the garden except this one, the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. And he said, you're to honor
me, you're to worship me and serve me as the sovereign God
of this world. And Adam defiled the name of
God by his own ways and his own doing. He rebelled against God
and brought the whole human race under the penalty of sin. And
here's a great picture of that. And then we were scattered. Man
was cast forth from the Garden of Eden and scattered throughout
the land. And wherever we went, in our sin and our corruption
and our pollution, what did we do? We dishonored God in everything. Even in our religion, we dishonored
God, didn't we? That's us by nature. That's man
before salvation, before the new birth. We didn't know God.
We didn't want God. Our wills were captive to our
sinful nature, and we could not and would not come to God and
honor Him. We profaned His name wherever
we went. But look here, and I want you
to see this. He says in verse 21, he says,
but I had pity. God had pity. Now, when most
people hear that phrase, God had pity, they think of this. They think, well, God just feels
sorry for us. But that's not the case at all.
Now, from here on, he's going to show you the fullness and
the freeness of the salvation that God provides by his grace. And that's what this chapter
is about. Now, the first application of this is to national Israel
in captivity. God's going to bring them out.
He's going to bring them back together. He's going to bring
them back to the promised land, and he's going to give them a
heart to rebuild the temple and reestablish the worship of God.
in their own land. But the ultimate fulfillment
of this is in the salvation, the eternal salvation of God's
elect, spiritual Israel in Christ. And here in this passage he tells
us of the reality of the fullness and the freeness of the salvation
that God provides his people, his elect, his redeemed ones.
And here's the first thing he shows us about this great salvation.
I will give you six things about this salvation, the fullness
of it, the freeness of it. First of all, he shows us that
salvation is of the Lord and salvation is for the glory of
the Lord. Now, look at it again. Verse
21, he said, I had pity for what? For mine holy name. God's pity, if you will. was toward himself. And you think
about that. Now, that doesn't mean God was
feeling sorry for himself. It means God took notice of his
glory. He must be glorified. When God
purposed and planned the salvation of his people in eternity past,
what was the reason for it? Did he look down through a telescope
of time and foresee what you would do for him in order to
make his decision? Well, obviously not, because
the cause of salvation could not be conditioned on the sinner.
Look here. He says, But I had pity for mine
holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the
heathen. Wherever they went, wherever
they went, that means if they were in church, they were profaning
the name of God, bringing dishonor to the name of God. Outside their
worship service, outside their religious activities, they were
bringing bring a dishonor to the name of God. So why did God
have compassion? Why did God purpose to save anybody? He says it in these words, for
mine holy name. God has purpose to glorify himself. God must glorify himself, for
he is God. He must work and act in strict
communion with himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Showing
himself in his glory and all that he accomplishes for his
holy name. His glory. He says, sanctify
my name. Sanctify it. You profaned it. He said, all the day long I've
stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsame people. God doesn't save sinners who
deserve to be saved. He's glorified in the salvation
of sinners. Rebels. And he purposed to save
sinners for his own glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see
election. We talk about election. Election
is a God honoring biblical truth. But election is not just simply
God choosing a people. Election is God choosing a people
in Christ and giving them to Christ and making him responsible
for their whole salvation, conditioning all of salvation on Christ. We
were chosen in him, the scripture says. Not just chosen, but chosen
in him. For God chose sinners to be saved,
and God must be just when he saves. He cannot save even one
sinner apart from his law being satisfied and his justice being
satisfied. He can't do it. Why? Because
he had pity for his holy name. He's holy. He's just. Yes, he's
merciful. Yes, he's gracious. Yes, he's
compassionate. But he must be just when he shows
those attributes in action in the salvation of sinners. So
that's the first thing we learn about salvation in the Bible.
It's for the glory of God. God must be glorified. Somebody
said one time a preacher got up in a revival meeting and he
said, I don't care how I do it. I want to get everyone in here
saved. Now you think about that. Well,
now, listen. I want to see everybody saved.
I'll be honest with you. I can't save you. I can't get
you saved. I want to see everybody saved.
But I better care how it's done. And I mean that. It better be
to the praise of the glory of God's grace or it's not going
to be salvation. You see, it's a noble thing to
love your neighbor to the point that you desire and pray for
their salvation. But here's the first issue of
salvation. God must be glorified. He must be honored. He cannot
deny his holiness in order to save me or you or anybody else.
He cannot deny his justice. He must be glorified. And so
he says, I had pity for mine holy name. Salvations of the
Lord. Now, here's the second thing we see about salvation. And let me just read a few more
verses. He says in verse 22, Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, I do not
this for your sakes. Now you see it? O house of Israel,
it is not for your sake, but for mine holy name's sake, which
you profaned among the heathen, wherever you went. And I will
sanctify my great name, set it apart, honor it, reveal it. His name is his character, who
he is, what he does. which was profaned among the
heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them. And the
heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God,
when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." What
I believe he's talking about there is even those who reject
Christ, they will see at judgment the vindication of God and the
salvation of his people as he reveals them forth to the whole
universe. He puts them on display as his trophies of grace for
his holy name. Now, here's the second thing.
Salvation is separation from the world. That's what salvation
is. Look at verse 24. He says, For
I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of
all countries. Now, the nation Israel, the people
were scattered throughout all the Babylonian empire. But we
can see a picture here of God's elect out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue and nation scattered all over this earth throughout time.
But God has a people, and he says, I'm going to take you from
among the heathen, I'm going to gather you out of all countries,
and I'll bring you into your own land. I'll bring you into
your own land. Now, when, now I want to ask
you, ask this question, when did God take us from among the
heathen? When did he do that? Well, first
of all, he did that in electing grace when he chose us. when
he pointed us out, marked us out, the scripture says, for
salvation. Why did he choose you and not
another? For so, Lord, it seemed good
in thy sight, for his holy name's sake. That's it. Wasn't anything
in you, wasn't anything in me. As I said before, he didn't look
down through the telescope of time and foresee what you'd do.
If he did, we'd all be goners. Now, that's the truth, isn't
it? What were we doing? What were
we doing throughout this history? We were profaning the Lord's
name wherever we went. So if God did look down through
a telescope of time, what would he see? A bunch of profanity. That's all he would see, isn't
that right? But he chose us out of the heathen. Why did he do that? I don't know.
He did it for his holy namesake. That's the only reason Scripture
gives us, for his glory. Chosen in Christ, given to him. And notice, as I said, it was
from among the heathen. You know what that means? It
means we were one of the heathen. We were just like them. We were
no different from the heathen. What is a heathen? You know,
if you've got kids that run wild, somebody will look at them and
say, little heathen or something. What is a heathen? It's an unbeliever. A heathen is one who has no thoughts
towards the true and living God. He just lives his life in his
own way by his own doings. What did he say about Israel
here? Why did he bring his wrath down upon them? Because they
went their own way, not God's way. They won salvation by their
own doings, not by God's doings. So he takes us from among the
heathen. That means we were one of them.
He chose us by his free and sovereign mercy. I'll tell you what, there's
nothing in salvation except mercy and grace. for us. We studied
this morning. We're not wage earners. We're
not deserving people. We're the most undeserving in
the world. And yet God chose us from among
the heathen, electing grace. So that's when we were separated.
And then secondly, we were separated from the world in redeeming grace. When God sent forth His Son to
touch this world, the Word made flesh and dwelt among us, and
walked as our substitute and our surety, our representative
and our redeemer, and he kept the law perfectly, not for himself
but for us. And he went to the cross of Calvary,
not for himself but for us. And he paid our debt in full,
and drank damnation dry, and satisfied the justice of God
for us." That's when we were separated from the world. Look
over here in John chapter 10. This is the message of the Good
Shepherd. Christ said, I'm the Good Shepherd.
Look at John 10 and verse 11. You see, when Christ came, he
didn't come just as a private person to be an example and a
martyr. Listen, he was not a martyr.
He was a redeemer, and he was a kinsman-redeemer. He came in
our name and in our nature without sin, and yet he became sin by
imputation. He was made sin, the Scripture
says, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him by imputation. And he says it here in verse
11, I am the good shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He's not a martyr. He's a Redeemer. And then look down at verse 14.
I'm the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
When our Lord walked this earth as our substitute, and I'll tell
you what, now this is mind-boggling, but it helps me to understand
the fullness of this salvation. If you know Him, you who are
sitting here tonight, if you know Him, We know that's by the
power of God's sovereign grace that He revealed Himself to you.
But if you know Him, I want you to think about it. Two thousand
years ago, when He walked down that road in Judea, in Galilee,
and when He walked up that hill to the cross, He knew your name. He knew your name. And He didn't
forget it. Throughout all that He went through,
He didn't slip up. Sometimes I get, you know, We
all do this, you know, we all joke about how we're getting
old and we forget each other's name. And I think Ronnie was
talking about somebody who got a phone call one time and the
guy asked, who's speaking? And he said, well, let me think
a while. You know, we sometimes forget our own name, but he never
forgot our names. Our names were written on his
heart and he knew us, knew us personally, even before we were
born, he knew us. He said, I give my life for the
sheep. And he said, I know my sheep. That's not just some general
mass or club of people. He knew us. He knew my name. He knew your name. He said he
said he did. He said, I know my sheep. Are
you one of his sheep? Well, he knew you. And your name
was on his heart, and he was doing all this because he loved
you. That's right. And he said, I'm not of mine,
he says in verse 15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father, and I laid down my life for the sheep." For the sheep. Oh my, so another sheep have
I. I have which are not of this fold. He had Jewish sheep and
he had Gentile sheep. Let people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. And he says this, look here,
he says, them also I must bring. Why must he bring them? Because
the Father chose them. The Son agreed to redeem them,
and he loved us with an everlasting life. If you love somebody, you
must take care of them. You must engage all your faculties
and all your energies and all your power and all your wisdom
to ensure their well-being. Well, what's that say about the
Good Shepherd? That's when he separated us,
you see. We're separated from the world in Christ. And he said
there will be one fold and one shepherd. And therefore doth
my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again." Oh, we were separated in election. We were separated
in redeeming grace. And then look back at John 6.
Thirdly, we're separated in regenerating grace. Look here. Now, he'd already said, I know
my sheep, and they are known of mine. Now, he knew us long
before we knew him. He knew us in the covenant of
grace in eternity. He knew us when he walked these
roads in Judea and Galilee and up that hill to Calvary. He knew
us. He knows us right now. He knows
his sheep that haven't even been born yet into this world. The woman who's going to have
a child, if that child is one of his sheep, You may not know
the name. You don't know whether it's going
to be a boy or girl yet. You may not have picked out a name
yet, but you know what? He's already picked out a name
for that child. It's one of his sheep. Because
he said, Hester, he said, I know him. Know him by name. He said
that in another place. So he said, and am known of mine.
He's going to reveal himself to his sheep, and we're separated
in regenerating grace. You see, in Adam we fell. Born
spiritually dead, condemned in sin. All we are is flesh. But God, in regenerating grace,
sends His Spirit to give us life, spiritual life, which we did
not have before, and to give us a heart. We're going to see
that in just a second in Ezekiel. He says in verse 37, look here
in John 6, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. They're going to come to me.
And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." You come
to him, you won't be cast out, you won't be turned away. Look
over at verse 44. He says, No man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me to draw him. Why? Because
the natural man, he's dead in sins, he's spiritually dead,
he's got a hard, stony heart, and he will not bow to the claims
of Christ. The natural man will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. He cannot know them, their foolishness
unto him. He will not receive the things
that are freely given. If you know Christ and love Him
and trust Him, you have been resurrected from the dead spiritually. Isn't that right? That's what
the Scripture says. Read it in Ephesians chapter
1. The same power that raised our Lord from the dead in His
resurrection raised you from the dead in regeneration. Born
again, you must be born again. And he says that no man's going
to come to him of his own free will. No man's going to come
to him except the father which has sent me drawn and I'll raise
him up at the last day. But look at verse 45. It's written
in the prophets and written in the Old Testament and they shall
be all taught of God. God's going to teach us. Every
man, therefore, that hath heard. Now, if you hear, it's because
you've been given ears to hear. And every man that hath learned
of the Father, how God can be just and justify the ungodly
through the blood and righteousness of Christ, everyone who knows
him as the Father cometh unto him." Now go back to Ezekiel
chapter 36. That's what he's talking about. He said, I'll take you from among
the heathens, gather you out of all countries, and bring you
into your own land. Now that's God's purpose of grace. But now, how does he accomplish
that? Well, here's the third thing. Now, this is full salvation. Reaches back to eternity past.
And here he says it in verse 25. He says, Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. Think
about it. He chooses us and then he sends
Christ to shed his blood on the cross of Calvary to cleanse us
from all sin. That's what this verse 25 is
speaking of. This is how he accomplishes what
he said in verse 24. Christ, this is justification
before God in Christ. What is it that cleanses us?
It's the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin, the
scripture says. This sprinkling of clean water
is a type of the blood of the Lamb. And speaking of the finished
work of Christ who took our sins upon Himself and went to Calvary
and paid our debt and brought forth a righteousness that enables
God to be just and justify, we are made clean in Him. And because of the finished work
of Christ, the Bible says we have confidence to enter the
holy place, the holiest of all, the very presence of God by the
blood of Jesus. And it says in there in Hebrews
chapter 10 that it's a new and living way which Christ by Himself
consecrated. He inaugurated it. He made it
clear and complete through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.
And therefore, we come before God clean, clean. Right now, now, this isn't future. If you know Christ, if He died
for you on the cross, and washed you in his blood and imputed
his righteousness, you can, right now, as a sinner in yourself,
come to God in the holy place through Christ." Now, that's
so. Justified before God. And that's the ground of our
salvation. That right there, I'll tell you
what, we cannot preach that enough. Now, that's so. But look here. Now, it doesn't stop there. Here's
the fourth thing. salvation, the fullness of salvation. God chose us. God purposed to
separate us from the heathen, and God justifies us in His Son. But then salvation is a new birth
by the Spirit. Look here. As a result of what
Christ has accomplished for us 2,000 years ago on Calvary, He
sends His Spirit in the new birth to give us life. And He says,
a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you. Most commentators say that the
new heart and the new spirit are the same thing. But he gives
us a heart to love Christ, a heart to believe in him. He gives us
faith. Faith is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith is not of yourself. It's the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. He raises us from
the dead spiritually, as I said. He says, I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you in heart
of flesh that stony heart. That's in us by nature that we
got from Adam, that hard heart. When it hears the gospel, you
see, when you hear the gospel, well, that hard heart just, it
just, that gospel just bounces off of it. You won't hear it.
Our Lord spoke of the Pharisees that way when he was preaching
in parables. And the disciples asked him in
Matthew chapter 13, they said, why do you speak in parables?
Why are you talking like that? And he said, well, because they
had, what he's saying, they've rejected the Pharisees and the
religious. They rejected the clear preaching of the gospel.
They wouldn't hear it. They wouldn't hear it. So he
said, I preach to them in parables, lest they, lest hearing they
might hear. This is God's judgment against
their rejection of the gospel. But he looked at the disciples
and he said, but blessed are your ears for they hear. Blessed
are your eyes for they see. You see, that old stony heart
was taken away and it was replaced with a fleshy heart. That flesh there is not sin.
That flesh means pliable. It's responsive to the gospel
of God's grace. It's responsive to the preaching
of Christ. It's the heart like the good
ground here. The seed which was sown on the
good ground, the seed was the gospel. And the Holy Spirit had
prepared that heart to receive the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ. And when that gospel of peace,
that gospel of reconciliation came to them and they saw God
reconciled unto them based on the righteousness of Christ,
then they were reconciled to God. They bowed to him. They
saw themselves as sinners. This is a heart that is broken
over sin. This new heart. This new heart
is one that causes us to see our utter wretchedness and depravity
and that we are by nature nothing and can do nothing in order to
attain or maintain salvation. It's a heart that causes us to
fall at the feet of Christ and beg for mercy. That's what he's
talking about here. He said, I'll give you a new
heart. And it's the work of the Holy Spirit in us. You know,
the Bible. tells us that all three persons
in the Godhead are involved in our salvation. And we see that
right here, don't we? We see the work of the Father.
He's the cause and the origin of our salvation. We see the
work of the Son in verse 25, His blood. His blood and righteousness
is the only ground of our salvation. And then we see the work of the
Spirit, which is the fruit of salvation. We've been saved,
the book of Titus says. according to his mercy by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." We've been
renewed. We've been reborn if we know Christ. And he's poured
out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being
justified by his grace we might be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. You know, this is the sovereign
work of God. He said it's not of the will of man, nor the will
of flesh, nor of blood, but it's of God. The Bible calls it The
love of God shed abroad in our hearts. It's not our love to
him. It's his love shed abroad in
our hearts that draws out from this new heart our love to him,
though imperfect as it is. It's called circumcision of the
heart, the cutting away the filth of the flesh. How do we know
we've been circumcised in heart and ears? We love the gospel.
We love Christ. We trust in him. We rest in him.
It's called the law written on our hearts. How can the law that
curses us by nature and based upon our best works be written
on our hearts. How can we have any love for
the law of God? I'll tell you how. By faith we
establish the law. That's what the scripture says
in Romans 3. What does that mean? That means I see the law not
condemning me, but I see the law fulfilled in my substitute. That law has nothing against
me now. The law cannot condemn me now.
Christ fulfilled it and he's my redeemer. He goes on, look here at verse
20, 27. He said, I'll put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep
my judgments and do them. Now, what does that mean? How can I know? And I know myself and you know
yourself as part of this new heart and new spirit, you're
honest before God and with yourself. But he says here, he said, I'm
going to cause you to walk in my statutes and to keep my judgments. Now, I know in this life we will
never rise above being sinners saved by the grace of God. We
will never rise above that. We are not, listen to me and
hear what I'm saying. We are not on this earth, in
this life, growing into perfection. Now, I hope we're growing in
grace and in knowledge of Christ. But we will not attain perfection
in ourselves until we shed this flesh and go to be with Christ. Now, do you hear me? That's it. You say, well, preacher, how
can you see yourself as holy and unblameable and unrepentant
in Christ? Only in him, as I look to him,
that's my comfort, that's my hope, that's my peace, that's
my rest, that's my joy. I rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. How do you know the work of how
you know the Holy Spirit's done a wonderful work of grace in
your heart? Because I look to Christ. for all my wisdom, all
my righteousness, all my holiness, and all my redemption. I desire to be holy as he is,
but I have another desire. It's called the flesh. And it's
fussing and it's fighting every second of my life. Can you think
about that now? Can you say at one second of
your life that you're not having to fight that warfare of the
flesh and the spirit? Well, I'm catching the flesh
asleep today, so I'm feeling holy or something like that,
you know. Just doesn't happen, does it? Just doesn't happen. I mean, it's a warfare so that
we cannot do what we want to do. Am I right? We cannot be
perfect in ourselves because the flesh won't let us. We've
got that sin in us. And somebody say, well, The spirit
within us overcomes the flesh. Well, it does to a degree. And I don't know how to explain
all this, but now listen to me. As long as that flesh keeps you
from doing what you want to do, it seems pretty powerful to me. So where's our hope? Where's
our peace? Look to Him. How do we run the
race? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and what? finisher, completer of our faith. Oh, to be like Him. We sing that
song. Some people want to sing, Oh,
I'm already like Him. No. Oh, to be like Him. Blessed Redeemer. So when I read
this, it says, He calls you to walk in my statutes and keep
my judgment. What's he talking about? Is he
saying that believers who've been given a new heart and new
spirit, that they keep the law and cannot sin? Turn to 1 John
chapter 3. Let me show you this. Now, this is a passage that's
difficult, to say the least. And it has been abused. Look at verse 9. He says, Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. It means the person born
of God doth not commit sin. If you read that at face value,
what does it do to you? You say, well, I must not be
born of God. Well, look at it now. He says, for his seed remaineth
in him. Now, what is that seed? I believe
that's the word of God implanted in the heart by the Holy Spirit
in the new birth. Whenever our Lord taught the
disciples and used the term seed, what was he using it for to symbolize? The seed and the sower were begotten
again, not by corruptible things, but by incorruptible, the precious
blood of Christ. And then he goes on to talk about
that incorruptible seed, the word of the Lord. It's the word
of God that abides in our hearts, that new heart by the Holy Spirit. And he says, his seed remaineth
in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, how am
I to understand that? Use the three rules of scriptural
interpretation. Now, you want to write these
down if you haven't heard them before, all right? Here's the three rules
of scriptural interpretation. Number one, context. Number two,
context. Number three, context. Now, there's
the three rules of scriptural interpretation. You say, why
three? Well, everybody likes three, you know. One doesn't
seem to get the job done for me, for most of us. But that's
it. Look at the context, and I want
you, I'm not going to go through this whole passage, but look
back up at verse 5. Here's your key. It says, And
you know that He, now the He there is Christ. That's speaking
of Christ. He was manifested. He was revealed. He was sent to this earth to
do what? To take away our sins. He took them away in his own
body on the tree. We still have to deal with the
presence of the flesh, but it's going to be destroyed. One day
we'll be like him, but he's already taken away the guilt and the
defilement of our sins so that we cannot be condemned. We cannot
send that sin unto death. of apostasy, and we cannot sin
so as to be condemned, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect?" Huh? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. He was
manifested to take away our sins, and look at this last line, and
in Him is no sin. Now, it's true that in Christ
personally there's no sin, but that's not what this verse is
teaching. Other verses teach that. This verse is teaching
that as he took away our sins, as our substitute, as our sin
offering, as our sin bearer, as I am considered in him, no
sin. And that's what verse 9 needs
to be interpreted in light of. If I've been born of God, I do
not commit sin as I'm considered in Christ. That's what that means.
I cannot be condemned. I'm a sinner. He'd already said
that back over in 1 John 1. He said, if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That's
what we are in ourselves. But what am I in him? What am
I in Christ? I'm holy, the scripture says.
I'm unblameable. What does that mean? It means
you can't blame me for anything in him. You can blame me for
a bunch in me. But in him, I'm unblameable.
and unreprovable. You know what that means? That
means you don't need any correction in him. No improvements. I look at myself and I see room
for a lot of improvement. But in Christ, no improvement. You know why? Because you can't
improve on perfection. You can't improve on completeness.
Doesn't the scripture say in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and ye are what? Complete in him. What
does that mean? It means I'm complete in Him.
And you can't add anything to Him. And that's what that passage
means. Now go back to Ezekiel 36. What
does that mean? If I walk in His statutes, if
I keep His judgments, that means I live by faith in Christ. That's
what that means. You've been given a new heart,
a new spirit. You find your completeness in
Christ, you live by him, you live upon him. As he said in
John 15, he said, I abide in you and you in me. He's the vine
where the branches, we live out of him for he is our life. And we see our perfection right
now today in him. Haven't we quoted 1 John 4, what
is it, verse 17? A lot of times, you know what
that verse says? As he is, so are we in this world. Do we believe that? That's what
1 John 3 means. We cannot sin as we're considered
in him because he was manifested to take away our sins. Well,
let me hurry. Now go back to Ezekiel 36. What
is it to walk in his statues and keep his judgments? It doesn't
mean that we begin now to keep the law perfectly or that we're
headed towards that in ourselves. It simply means to believe in
Christ, rest in him and walk by faith in him. That's what
it means. Well, here's the fifth thing.
Salvation is to dwell securely in God's grace. Look at verse
28 of Ezekiel 36, and he says, And you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people and
I will be your God. To be saved is to be secure. That dwelling there, that's a
permanent dwelling place. That's not just a stopover. That's
not a temporary deal. Christ's blood and righteousness
ensures our eternal salvation and our entitlement to eternal
life. We cannot lose it. We're dwelling
in him. And we can't lose it. This is
not, I told the men this morning, we looked at that word in a new
test. It's not a motel room. This is a home. Christ spoke
of it in John chapter eight. He said, if the son shall make
you free, You shall be free, what? Indeed. That means permanently. That means really free. You can't
lose it. Listen, anybody preaches a salvation that you can lose.
Let me tell you something. They're not preaching salvation.
That's not salvation. You haven't been saved if you
can lose it. And it's not just once saved, always saved, although
that's true. But it's a dwelling. We dwell
in him and we can no more lose salvation than our Lord could
be cast off the throne of his glory. Can't do it. Can't do
it. And that's what God's saying
here. You'll be my people and I'll be your God. That's permanent.
He won't disown you. He said, all that come to me,
I shall in no wise cast them out. That's permanent. That's what salvation is. Security
in Christ, a permanent, eternal position in the household and
family of our Father, dwelling in Him. And then look at the
last one. Salvation is to have the provision
of all that God requires and all we need. Look at verse 29.
He says, I'll save you from all your uncleannesses. Now, that's
our sins in ourselves. Even as born-again believers,
even as regenerate persons, we're still sinners in ourselves, but
our sins can't condemn us. He said, I'll save you from all
your uncleanness. 1 John 1, we're sinners. We know it. We see it. But he
says, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth you from all sin. That's how great his blood is.
And he said, I'll call for the corn and we'll increase it and
lay no famine upon you. That's the fruitfulness of salvation.
We read about that this morning in John 15. He's the vine. We're
the branches. And if we're branches in him,
drawing life from him, we'll bear fruit. And those who don't
bear fruit are just, they're just in name only. And there'll
be no famine, no spiritual famine. There'll be no spiritual famine
because you see, Christ is our salvation. And if we have him,
we have it all. For he is all, all that God requires
and all that we need. More than we need. Scripture
says, not only will there be no famine, it'll be like Joseph
in Egypt. The coffers will be full. And
there'll be more than we need. And he says in verse 30, I will
multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field
that you shall receive no more reproach from a famine among
the heathen. Now, let me close with this,
that's salvation to the uttermost. Look at verse 31, he says, then. Shall you remember your own evil
ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations?" When
you see the fullness and the freeness of salvation that God
provides by his grace in Christ, that's when you'll come to repentance.
That's what that's talking about. Then you'll loathe your own ways. When you see what God has done
in Christ, Paul said that in Philippians chapter 3, he said,
that which I thought was gained, now it's lost for the excellency,
because of the excellency of the knowledge of God in Christ. When I saw Christ, then I saw
that my ways and my works, when I saw his blood, oh, I used to
think I was really suffering, but evil. When I saw his righteousness,
boy, I really thought I had one going, working on it hard. But now I see it's filthy rags.
Then you loathe your ways, your iniquities. And God says, he
closes it in verse 32. Not for your sakes do I this,
said the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded
for your own ways, O house of Israel. He did it for his own
glory in Christ.