Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Please be turned with me to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. And God evidently wants to tell us about his love twice this morning. I've entitled this message, The Time of Love. Ezekiel 16, verses one through eight. Give everybody a minute to find it.

Ezekiel 16, verse 1. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, call Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say thus, saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.

We read here of one that does not have a very esteemed background, you might say. They were brought forth from a soothsayer. The word Amorite means a sayer. The one that brought them forth, their father, is one who through his actions plunged the whole human race into a place where they thought they could be like God. They were brought forth from one who thought they had the ability to say or decide what their future would be. But also their mother was a Hittite. That word means terror. So we came from one who was murderous and evil and knows nothing but terror. Our parents, from what they did, plunged us into a state where we, by nature, think we can choose our own way and we will attempt to murder God if we have to in order to get what we want.

I know most of this world would not say that they do not, they won't say they hate God. I would not have said that either. There are thousands of people who hate God and they will say, no, I love God and serve him. But God says we hate him by nature. So who are we to believe? Who are we going to believe? I am a created being. We are all created beings, created by a sovereign God. So what do I know? If I think I'm worth anything that would be a benefit to an almighty, sovereign, holy, just, and so on God, then you have a picture of me right here in this passage. By nature, I do think this way. And whether or not anyone else thinks they do or not, they are this way. Because God tells us we are.

But God be thanked. There are some who are brought forth from this union of this Amorite and Hittite that he has done something for. This is what this passage is talking about. It's not talking about the world. It's talking about a specific people and here said to be Jerusalem. Jerusalem and then we have a specific individual who has been thrown out into the field. I want to talk about Jesus Christ and what he has done for his church and for the members of that church.

So we see here we have an infant. One, when they were born, were born dead. Because it says, I saw you polluted in thy own blood. And he also said to live, so they had to be dead. Here is one who is dead and still tied to their parents because their navel have not been cut. Something needs to change to cut us away from our lineage by nature.

But it goes on. Nothing was done to caress and take care of us. Why is this? No one can. We are born dead because we come forth from our own kind, and our own kind are dead to God. None eye pitied thee. Why? Because our parents, even as it is with us by nature, love death. So why would anyone do anything? We by nature love darkness rather than light. We love death rather than life. We need someone to change that. There's only one that did that. Jesus Christ the Lord.

This he did and he did this for those who were born this way. So if you think in some way you were born with a heart toward God, then you are deceived and either you are not included in this love story or you have not been revealed yet who it is that loved you. Because the first thing Jesus Christ did was to cause us to live. What does it say? I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live.

This Jesus Christ did judicially on that tree for his church, his people, his called out ones. And that's what I want to talk about first. The one spoken of here, and they are spoken of as Jerusalem here, as I said, this is talking about His church. Jesus Christ did this for His church, for all those whom He chose out of the world.

What did He do? What does it say here in verse 7 and 8? I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field. And thou hast increased, and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.

Jesus Christ in what he did closed us with his righteousness, that righteousness that even exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, that righteousness which is without the law. His righteousness is a God righteousness because Jesus Christ is God. But every member of his church is decked with his clothing, and that by his doing. We could not do this ourselves. We were laying dead in a field in our own blood. In fact, Jesus Christ did this before any of us here were even born into this world.

But we were in the mind and purpose of God, which is all that is needed to keep us unto this time. But it says, here he caused us to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great. Not in anything that we have done, but we are great because of him.

What do we read in Revelation, Revelation 7, 9? After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the land, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. This vast number that no one can number. They are so many, and they have been clothed Not with any clothing they had because they were lying in a field in their own blood, naked. They had no clothing of their own. They had no money to buy any clothing. They had nothing and could do nothing for themselves. And no one else could do anything for them, nor wanted to do anything for them. Except one. That one is Jesus Christ the Lord. He clothed us in His righteousness.

Now, I keep saying that His righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, and it is a righteousness without the law. Why would I say that? First of all, that is what Scripture says. But here is the reason. Jesus Christ kept the law. Jesus Christ is God. He could do no other but to keep the law every jot and tittle. Keeping that law is conformity to that law. I mean, it's what the law demands. But Jesus Christ did something more than what the law could do. Jesus Christ gave life to sons. That law cannot give life. We know it, Galatians 3, 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

Why could the law not give life? Why cannot the law produce life? The law is wholly just and good. Why can it not give life? Life is righteousness because we read it right there in Galatians. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily, righteousness should have been by the law. The reason that the law could not be given that would produce life, or that is righteousness, is because we were born dead and polluted in our own blood, naked and destitute. We could not and cannot keep God's law in order to get life because we are dead to God. The only thing the law can do is to prove that we are guilty. It cannot give life, it is clear from scripture. But Jesus Christ could and can because he is life itself. He is that light that came into the world, and the world loved darkness rather than light.

This is all of us by nature. We hated God as we were born into this world. Scripture says that we come forth speaking lies, and that's lies on God. I know the world cannot see this. I could not see that until that time, that time spoken of here as the time of love. So now let's look at this as it concerns each and every one of his people and what he has done to them and all of that because of what he has done for them. There came a time when Jesus Christ visited me and he saw me polluted in my blood and he said, Paul, live. Do you think I then lived? When God says something, it is done. all of His people He comes to in this way. He sends His Spirit to us, breathing into us life from the dead.

But let me back up just a little bit. I said before that Christ did for His people, at least for us here, He did what He did for us, and that is He was our substitute to give us life from the dead. And that was before we were ever even born. But there comes a time, and it is a time spoken of here as the time of love. But there comes that time when a dead, bloody, naked sinner before God is given life from Jesus Christ so that they might know him who is life. They come to see what he has done for them and to them. It is as the hymn says, amazing grace that we just sung.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.

Did I see of my own doing? Was I found of my own doing? Or did someone else do this for me? Some have done this on their own. Ask them and they'll tell you this. They will say things like, I picked myself up by my own boob straps. Those are still laying in the field dead, bloody, and naked.

But then there are others, these wretches. And they only know themselves to be wretches because of what he does to them. Otherwise, they would never know.

What can a dead man do? Can a dead man believe God? Can a dead man believe his gospel? No. He must come to us in that time of love and say to us, live. Then us having life, we can then see, hear, and believe his gospel. I know some do not believe this, but it's what scripture says.

Very familiar, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren and beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. So we have right here so much of what God says and what God says is true.

But first of all, thanks ought to be given to God. because God has done it all. What has he done? He chose us to salvation. Now this salvation that it's talking about here is a salvation where we come to know about it. But this salvation is only possible because of what he did on that tree and taking the sinner's place and saving them.

But God has chosen us to salvation. This salvation includes all of what he is going to say next. He says, sanctification of the spirit. That's one thing. There are two things mentioned here and the order does matter. Because dead men can do nothing. He comes to us, he sends his spirit to us and he says, live. And by his spirit breathing life into us, we do just as he has commanded. we live.

The sanctification of the Spirit is that setting us apart, and this setting us apart is for one purpose, which is the next thing mentioned, belief of the truth. Because the Spirit of God has sanctified us, we can then believe the truth. What is that truth? That Jesus Christ has saved us to the uttermost. He has saved us as far as He can. He has saved us to the extent that we will never ever see death again.

Two things must and will happen for all those to whom Christ died on that tree. Life from Jesus Christ must come first and then you will believe the gospel when you hear it. If life does not come first, you will never believe his gospel because you cannot.

In the beginning, God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. Man and Adam lost that life because Adam willingly ate of the fruit. That's all it took, a fruit. There are men and women today who do not think they hate God. But they cannot see that just denying who he is and what he has actually done is hating God.

All it took was for Adam to eat a fruit that God told him not to eat of, but God knowing he would eat of that fruit because he told Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He did and Eve did, and we are born forth from that union. We come forth speaking lies against God because God says so.

But back to my point. Why do men think that somehow God has now placed in the hands of men the ability to breathe life into a dead soul? What does Christ tell us in John 17, one through three? These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he, that is Jesus Christ, should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

This is saying what we read in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Christ gives life and the evidence of life being given is believing the record God gave of his son. That's what John 17 is saying right there. The scripture confirms this with another witness. Hebrews 11 one says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We believe by faith and faith is the evidence that we have eternal life given by Jesus Christ himself.

Here's how a lot of people seem to read 2 Thessalonians 2 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit by belief of the truth. That's not what it says, though. That's not how it was God breathed. The word and is actually in that verse, and it is a conjunction which ties two distinct things together. You will not have one without the other. But one happens before the other, but you will not have one without the other one.

I'm afraid there are too many preachers today who think they have something to do with a man or a woman getting life or even believing the truth. But it's just not true. John 1, 12 and 13, we read, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Man has no part in giving another man spiritual life from the dead, and he has no part in causing a man or a woman to believe God.

The Spirit sanctifies. When the Spirit does this, then what then does that one who has been sanctified possess? Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Faith comes in or into an individual who has been given life because it is the fruit of the Spirit which has given that one life.

Then when God sends a preacher to preach his gospel, that is they preach the faith of Jesus Christ, it is mixed with that faith in them that hear it. And what happens is they believe. Everything God requires, God provides. He never places it in man's hand to get anything done. It is by his spirit that we believe God.

I know there are some who will not believe it. So be it. I've just given you what God says in his word. I cannot make men and women believe it. Why does God have some of his people believe something and then others he does not give it to them to believe this something? I don't have the answer. and I will not be able to give the answer. The only thing I can say is this, though. It pleased God to do it that way.

I have not arrived. I do not know it all. I pray God show me in his word where I am wrong, no matter what it is. But if I look in the scripture and see what God says about something, I have to bow down to what God says. I don't care what man says. I don't care how many men say it. God is wise and he knows what he's doing. God is the first cause of everything. That is what we read in our text. Anything of any lasting value has to be done by God himself. So what has he done? We have already went over it. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, thou becamest mine.

There was a time when Jesus Christ did one thing, and this one thing was done for each and every individual that God the Father gave the Son before the foundation of the world. What did he do? He was crucified, and that by wicked hands. The sins of his people were on him, and he gave up the ghost. He willingly died. But He then arose, just as Job was saying earlier. Being the righteousness of God without the law, He spread His skirt over us so that now we are under Him, if you will. When God looks at us, He is looking at His Son because we are covered by His skirt. His robe of righteousness has been placed on us, has been given to us. He gives us his gospel, washing us throughly, and by the oil of his spirit we are anointed by him. It is because of everything that he has done for us that we are the way we are.

Read verse 14 of Ezekiel 16, verse 14. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. He says it was perfect through my comeliness, which I put upon thee. Had he not done so, we would still be laying there in our own blood, naked before a thrice holy God.

I was gonna have you turn with me to Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 5, but Joe's already read all that, so I won't turn there. This is what we're talking about in Ezekiel, aren't we, Joe? Those who were his, those who were born into this world just like everybody else. At one time, we were just like them. But there is one who made a difference. And there is a difference between us and them. There is a difference.