Turn to Ezekiel chapter 11 again. I will not read all 21 verses
again. Returning to Ezekiel chapter
11. Now let me recap. What I spoke about last week
is this. Error, God Almighty always exposes error. especially
amongst his people. To illustrate that, you remember
the Philistines took the ark. They won it in battle because
of Israel's unbelief and failure toward God. And they took the
ark. Now God killed a man in Israel just for reaching up to
stay the ark when that ark all looked like it was ready to fall
off this cart. God killed that man. The Philistines had it in
their country for a long time. Now some bad things happened.
But God never brought all great things upon the Philistines.
They had a few physical problems. Maladies that God gave them.
And I won't go into that. They're a little odd. Error is never just another way
of seeing things. error That is things that are
not true about God and about man as saith the Lord from this
book and Nowhere else my opinion is Your opinion does not matter. The opinion of the masses out
here does not matter. Error is never just another way
of seeing things. Error is an abomination to God. And error is damning to the souls
of men. Never fall into this fatalistic
trap. Since there is an elect, then
it don't matter about what's said and what's believed. Don't
ever fall into that trap. It's not. Error is not just another
way of... Well, we don't agree. Well, if
I'm right and you don't agree with me, then that means you're
wrong. Now, we may both be wrong. But I will tell you what, the
gospel I preach from this book is not wrong. That is not pride on my part.
That's the boldness God Almighty give me as a pastor and teacher. I know what the gospel is. But let me tell you this, error
will never win the day over God's purpose God's promise of grace
in Christ never As I said before we are not the poor little church
that is under attack poor us We are to go and stand and if
they kill us our God's sovereign purpose still marches forth They've
tried to silence us for about 2,000 years now, in particular
concerning the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It hadn't worked.
It hadn't worked. Though they may silence me today,
it will not cease. God will always have a witness
upon the face of this earth. Error is always exposed, but
grace reigns. Paul wrote it in Romans 5, verses
19 and 21, but specifically these words. Where sin abounded. What? Grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace. What? Reign. Grace is not what
I believe. It's who God is. Grace is not
a mere doctrine that I hold to. I hear people where I work all
the time, well, I don't believe in that kind of grace, this kind
of grace. You know, there's always some pejorative with it. Well,
I believe in the God of all grace. Amen. Man's fall in Adam, like
Israel's captivity, as we see here in the book of Ezekiel.
Man's fall in Adam, like Israel's captivity under a heathen king,
was God's pronounced judgment. God meant for this to happen.
The basic purpose was for what reason? That God might get himself
glory in delivering those people out of that heathen bondage.
That's what it was all about. It was God's pronounced judgment
and deliverance comes. whether it was for Israel of
old under this heathen domination in Babylon under these heathen
kings, or whether it's our corruption and our bondage under the Adamic
fall and the curse. Deliverance comes and it comes
only when God is pleased to visit in grace, mercy, and compassion.
Salvation is up to God, not up to men. So here's the subject for this
morning. God's grace always reigns. Now let's read it. Chapter 11,
mainly verses 13 through 21. And it came to pass when I prophesied
that Pelotai, the son of Benai, remember who he was? He was one
of the men that spread lies in Jerusalem. When I prophesied,
he died. Isn't that what it says? The
man fell down dead. God killed him. Now this is God. This is God. Then fell I down
upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah, Lord
God, wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Are
you going to wipe out that last little remaining group that's
left there? That's what he's asking about. Again the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, thy brethren, even
thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of
Israel holy, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem
have said, Get you far from the Lord. Unto us is this land given
in possession." Notice how they're speaking out both sides of their
mouth. Get away from the Lord, but the Lord gave us this land.
That's what so-called Christianity always does. They tell a lie,
and you're just right, you're right, they have just enough
truth to make it sound like they're preaching from the Bible. I preach,
I hear, I preach from the Bible. So did Satan. So did Satan. He quoted scripture. Therefore say thus saith the
Lord God although I've cast them far off among the heathen and
although I've scattered them among the countries yet will
I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall
come Therefore say thus saith the Lord God I will even gather
you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where
you've been scattered and I will give you the land of Israel they
shall come hither And they shall take away all the detestable
things thereof, and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will
give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you,
and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will
give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes,
and notice the order of that. There is no walking in God's
statutes till God does something for you inwardly first. But they
may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them.
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But
as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable
things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon
their own heads, saith the Lord God." There are five things I
want to give you from this last few verses here, at least of
my text from Ezekiel chapter 11. And remember, God's grace always
rains It always rains number one Deliverance is only for the
captives Go back and read 16 instead verse 16 deliverance
is only for the captives Now everybody's lost until God saves
them But the sad thing is the masses don't understand. They're
lost I Was a preacher I was in religion. I preached revival meetings before
God ever saved me, Joe. Was lost as lost could be lost,
but didn't even know it. That's how lost I was. You see,
usually when you're really lost, you have no idea you're even
lost. Deliverance is only for the captives.
And this is the very truth that our Lord expressed. He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous. Now, is there anybody really
righteous? No. But millions think they are. Millions even thank
God. Lord, I thank You that I'm not
like other men. I'm not like that guy Walter
Pelton. I'm not like that guy Joe Galussi. Or like those people
over there at Sovereign Grace Chapel. Our Lord expressed it
this way. I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Number two. The deliverance of
our text is not the judicial aspect of deliverance, but the
experiential aspect of deliverance. Let me try to show you this from
the truth of the New Testament. There is judicial deliverance.
Go back and read Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1, 2, and 3. It says
that before Christ sat down at the right hand of God the Father,
And He did that when He ascended back into glory. Remember, the
disciples sat there and watched Him be received out of their
sight in a cloud. The Bible tells us, He went up
then back and sat down at the right hand of God the Father.
Well, Hebrews 1, 1-3 says, before He even did that, He purged our
sins. When were my sins dealt with?
If they were dealt with. When were your sins dealt with?
If your sins were dealt with. They were dealt with when Christ
died on that tree. When were they purged? They were
purged not when you believe, not when you repent. They were
purged when He died on that tree. Then He went up to glory and
sat down. That's judicial salvation. That's
deliverance judicially. But there is an experienced deliverance
as well. And Paul writes about that in
1 Timothy chapter 1, specifically verses 8-16. But he says this,
this is a faithful saint and worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. He said, I used to be like this.
I'm not that way anymore. You know what he says? I'm not
like that. I'm actually an example of all
those who should after me believe. Believe. This is what we're talking
about here in Ezekiel chapter 11. Not the judicial aspect,
but the experiential aspect. But let me say, the experiential,
what we experience in time by work of God's grace flows from
the judicial act of Christ at Calvary. That was essential to
our salvation. Because everything experienced,
if it wasn't for that, what Christ did at Calvary, our sins would
still stand out, crying before God that we be condemned of God.
Sin had to be dealt with. And it was dealt with back then.
In Christ. Then God deals with us. And only
then does God deal with us in mercy and compassion in what
we experience in what men call conversion. So that's number
two. Deliverance is only for captives.
If you're not a sinner, God never says anything about salvation
to you. That's just it. If you're here and you think
I'm a pretty good person, God will accept what I do and what
I think, that I have no message for you but other than this,
you're under the judgment of God. And you don't even know
it. But if you're here and you're a sinner, You're corrupt. You see yourself in bondage under
a heathen king. You see yourself being a slave
to sin and self and the devil. I got a message for you. There's
hope in Jesus Christ. There's hope in Jesus Christ.
But this deliverance is and must be experienced. It will be experienced
and it must be experienced. Deliverance, they had to come
out of. That bondage. Did they not? They had to come
out of that bondage. That's number two. Here's number
three. Error. This is my main point for right
now. Error dies only when truth is proclaimed. When did Pelotiah
die? And it came to pass when I prophesied,
Pelotiah fell down dead. Now listen to me. Be careful about this fatalistic
idea that quotes partial verses or even whole verses out of context. We should never ever take the
truth for granted. Read what Paul said in Galatians
chapter 2, but specifically verse 5. He said some people came down
from Jerusalem, and when he meant down, It was two things. One,
they condescended down. They thought they were up here
and they were going to come down and tell these people what it
was really all about. And physically, they were on Jerusalem on the
high ground. They came down. You know what they were doing?
They said, well yeah, you need Jesus, but you need circumcision
too. They were mixing law and grace is what they were trying
to do. But never take truth for granted, because Paul says, I
don't care who they were. I didn't withstand them, no,
not for even an hour. That the truth of God might continue
with you. Well, God will do it by the Spirit,
not by power, not by might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.
Well, you're playing games. That's right, you're playing
games. Because God Almighty has ordained instrumentality, to
use in this word, and if you look down on the instrumentality,
you're not looking down on men, if they're the instruments, you're
looking down on God. Go back and read Zechariah chapter
4, where it's said, not by might, not by power, but by thy spirit,
saith the Lord. Go back and read that. The Spirit
of God don't just make things happen. Well, there's error in
the church. Everybody just sit back and be
patient. Eventually the Spirit of God will deal with it. Let
me tell you something. You come into this assembly,
small we might be, weak we might be, but you come into this assembly
and you try to bring error into this assembly, you will have
a war on your hands. That's exactly right. You'll
have a war on your hands. And that's not a matter of pride.
I know that God sent me just like Moses knew God sent him
when he walked into that throne room and said to Pharaoh, let
my people go. And I'm saying as a pastor God
Almighty sent and put in this place, don't put your hands on
God's people to bring them into bondage. Christ has delivered
them. Preach Christ to them and let
them alone. That's what it's all about. Never
take the truth for granted. Paul says some men, they subvert
whole houses. Whose mouth must be, what? Stopped. Make them shut up. Let me tell
you something, you preach the truth hard enough, bold enough,
strong enough, sure enough, you know what? They're going to leave.
They'll ski-daddle right on out of town. That's why we're so
small. We've had more leave than we
have that's here right now. You know why? Because we ain't
playing games here. We may be nothing in the scheme
of this world. Don't you think that those, that
army that followed Pharaoh out of Egypt, although there were
millions, some people say maybe 3 million, but they were 3 million
slaves, David. Slaves! Who are they? Who are
they? They're God's people. You touch
one of God's people you're touching the apple of God's eye You touch God's gospel you're
touching the apple of God's eye You touch God's Son Jesus Christ. You're touching the apple of
God's eye are not we in him So if they touch us who are they
touching him if they touch him? He's he not I am God manifest
in the flesh if they touch him who are they touching they're
touching God Almighty Yahweh Jehovah God Almighty Never take
truth for granted Go back and read what Zachar what the what?
What Zachariah prophesied her concerning Zerubbabel? He said
what he said say grace grace grace into it and with this seven
Faceted candlestick not well this time seven a Golden candlestick
with a reservoir of oil it had what two olive trees one on the
one on the right hand one on the left hand Witnesses it says
witnesses it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching who
does that I? fallen sinners God's gonna send
a fallen sinner who's been saved by God's grace to tell another
fallen sinner that Jesus Christ is salvation That's the way God's
ordained to work this thing And you despise that you despise
God Well, I know we love to quote
what what are who is so and so but me and by whom you believe
that's right You don't give credit to the man But don't you dare
mock God's ordained way. When those people came against
Moses in that wilderness, do you remember what happened every
time they did? What happened every time they came against
Moses? What happened to them? Thousands of them would die.
Would they not? Why? Because it wasn't an attack
on Moses. It's an attack on God. That's why I have the boldness
I have when I stand here before you and preach. Because I am
nothing. And I have a wife that will testify
to you that I am nothing. But I also testify to this as
she would well testify, our God is everything. Let us not preach when you preach.
Very well did it. Let's not preach partial quotes
or partial truth. Our word. I know you're one of
the elect, Paul said. Why? Because our word came not,
our gospel came not to you in word only. But let me tell you
something, it did come to you in word though. Now it has to
be in more than word only, but it will come in word. You don't
just have a, you don't have a, people think they got to have
them apostolic powers. You talked about Joe. They think,
I lay down in bed one night, I had this vision, this dream,
they wake up and they know God. It don't happen like that. God
will send you a corrupt person who's just as sinful as you are
to tell you about Jesus Christ, and He will bow you down under
that truth at the feet of Jesus Christ Himself. Why? Well, that's the way God's ordained
it. Error dies only when truth is proclaimed. Only when truth... When I prophesied
Pelleti, Now notice only Pelletiah died. Remember there was another
one. We will never stamp out error. And it's not a matter of half
and half. It's a matter of this. You preach the truth, God will
stamp out the error he's pleased to stamp out. Is that not the
point there? That's the point there. God will
cause even the wrath of man to praise Him. The rest of wrath,
He'll do what? What's He going to do with it?
He'll restrain it. He'll restrain it. Here's number four. Reigning
grace is the experience of hope. And I want to read these to you
again. Verses 14 through 20. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren,
the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel holy, are
they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you
far from the Lord. Unto us is this land given in
possession. Now that's the rebellion they
were under. That's what was going on. Therefore say, I'm going
to just wipe you all out. Is that what he says? He could
have. Could he not? He could have,
and rightfully so. You remember there was a time,
you remember when Moses first brought the Ten Commandments
down off the mount? You remember that account? And what did he
hear? Joshua said, I hear the sound of war in the camp. Moses
said, Joshua, Joshua, that ain't the sound of war. That's the
sound of singing I hear. And when he finally came into
eyesight, what did they see? Thousands of the Israelites naked,
dancing around a golden calf. And what did Moses do? He had
them two tables of stone, and he crashed them down at his feet.
And what did God tell Moses to tell the Levites to do? Take
your sword, Girded on and start through the camp and anybody
that's unrepentant. That's the whole context wipe
them out Isn't that what it says? Now you take the sword and guess
what the sword of God's Word. It'll start wiping out the unrepentant. They'll start leaving We don't
have to physically slay anybody Mason. Just preach the word take
that sword Start preaching that word preach the truth of God.
What's going to happen? They'll leave They'll die. They'll ski death alone out of
here. Oh, but look. Therefore say, thus saith the
Lord God, I will even gather you from... Please say the I. I. Good look. I. I. Read it. I. I. I. I will. It ain't our will that matters.
It's His will that matters. Maybe I keep saying it because
maybe somebody just ain't got it yet. I mean, if even the Lord
of Glory, God manifest in the flesh, in obedience to the Father
would say, not my will, but Thy will be done, why would I be
wanting to look to my will? Huh? His will, even as a man,
was perfect, in perfect accord. He said, I do always those things
that please the Father. Yet even he cried out, Joe, not
my will, but your will be done. Why would I look to something
men call free will in me? That is so asinine. No, it's
worse. It's so rebellious and unbelieving. God's will. And if God damns
me, He's done right. You understand that? If He sends
me to hell, He will have done right. He will still be God. And there won't be one skin cell
that He would have lost, Joe. So much as if He was a man. He
is a man. He is a man! Jesus of Nazareth. Reigning grace. Look at it. God
Himself is the hope. You see it? Although I have cast
them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered
them among the countries, yet will I be to them." You see,
most people think, and we're even prone to do that, well,
God gave me salvation. And that's true. I'm not trying
to discredit that. But remember, He is our salvation. He is our sanctuary, even when
we're still in bondage. Do you see that? Yet will I be
to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall
come. Oh, what a glory! I like when,
was it Simeon? Picked up that, what was it,
eight-day-old baby? Called Jesus, remember? His parents. They brought
him to the temple to be circumcised on eight days old. And Simeon
took him up in his arms and said, God, I can, you can kill me now.
Basically said you kill me now my eyes have seen thy salvation
God is our salvation Everybody's looking for God to be their salvation
to give or rather to give them salvation. That's the problem
They don't want God himself to be their salvation They don't
really like who God is they just want God to keep them out of
hell I I don't like that kind of God. Well, the God of this book, the
sovereign, absolute, holy, just, righteous God is the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. God Himself is our hope. God
Himself gathers and assembles, verse 17. And let me tell you
something, He calls out, out of bondage, and He assembles
His people together. And let me tell you, even before
you actually can assemble, you'll want to assemble. Won't you,
Paula? If you're really one of God's,
you'll want to assemble. I'm tired. We play this game
on people who've made professions. They don't care about being here,
but, oh, I believe they're one of God's. Based on what? Something
they tell you privately, but they don't want to express it
publicly with the rest of us? Really? You're not going to convince
me of that. You're not going to convince
me of that. You may convince yourself. You may make yourself
feel better. But you're not going to convince
me of that. Because if you convince me of that, I'll start preaching
that junk. And we'll all be gradually going where? To where it don't
really matter, does it? I will gather you out. I'll assemble
you. He does the same thing in the New Testament. Paul was saved to do what? Right
after God had saved him? Join himself to the disciples. The salvation you got, different
than the kind Paul got? No. No. Number three, verse 18, God grants
repentance. God grants what? Wait a minute,
it's repentance! Wait a minute, okay, so let's see, I still live
like I basically live, I just think a little different about
God now. I go to church as much now as
I did when I was lost. Really? Do you come to worship? There's the thing. Oh, everybody,
people talk about I go to church. No, I'm asking you, do you come
to worship? That's what repentance does for you. Look at it, verse
18. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away the
detestable things thereof, and all the abominations from thence.
God will not be worshipped in half or in part. He says, it's
what Paul says, that you turned to God, and that's first. But what? From idols. And we
are constantly turning from our idols. But why? Because we turn
to God. And you see the thing about we
need to be faithful and honest with men and women. I don't care
if it's someone you love with all your heart. Tell them you're
not where the book says God's people are. rather than trying
to placate them and pat them on the back and give them an
attaboy or that's okay, maybe you're alright. Is that what
we read here? Where was their deliverance?
Out of Babylon and back into the land. Right? That's real deliverance. Now
God will be a little sanctuary to you even when you're under
that bondage. But what's God going to do? He's
going to call you out of the house. That's a part of the deliverance,
David. You can't pick and choose what part you want of it. And
God always gathers His people in repentance. Look, verse 19,
God gives spiritual ability. Go back and read it sometime.
I will put a new heart in you. Spiritual ability. Not just doing
it. You've got to have the power
to do it first. Right? And I will give them one heart
and will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony
heart out of your flesh and give you a heart in the flesh. Why?
That you may want. Most people want to try to walk
with the old heart And that is what Isaiah calls even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight You see the best week we can
offer to God if it's through what we are by nature It's filthy
rags filthy rags number five verse 20 God has ordained our
walk and That they may walk in my statues. Do you see it? That
they may walk in my statues. I love Him today because He first
loved me from eternity. I love Him today because He loved
me and sent His Son to be made like me and to die in my place. I love Him because He first loved
me. Here's my last point so Joe can lead us in the table. I'll
wind this down. There's one last verse. But, as for them whose heart
walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations,
well, don't worry about it. If they're one of the elect,
it'll just be all right. You know there's people that actually
believe that? There are people who've actually told other people
who have been to this assembly that. Now, you know what? In word, that's right. In attitude,
it's dead wrong. If you're one of the elect, you
will be alright. You know why? Not because he's going to leave
you down there in Babylon in captivity, but because he's going
to call you out. That's why you're going to be
alright. He's going to call you out of that. He's going to assemble
you back with God's people where you belong. And you'll rejoice
in it. Here's my last, number five,
my last one concerning verse 21. Beware of presumption. Right? Beware of presumption. Where
grace reigns, repentance always follows. That's just a fact. Where grace reigns. Now if grace
is just something you've got in your head, you know, if it's
just something you've got academically, if it's just the doctrines you've
learned, if you've come to learn the five points of Calvinism,
whoo! How great you are! No, that's
not what it's about. Where grace reigns repentance
always follows you bow down to Christ? That's where it begins
Paul said our message is this we preach repentance toward God
and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ Both are there or there
is no grace there now you hear what I'm saying. Oh, I believe
all this though I'm at if you've repented toward God So I've repented
toward God, but I don't know about all that stuff. I don't
know about all that Jesus stuff. What He really did and who He
really did it for. He only did it for certain people. I don't
know about all that. No. Repentance toward God and
faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so that Jeremiah put
it this way in Jeremiah chapter 31. Turn back just a couple books
back. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31.
And I'll end with this. Listen to how Jeremiah put it.
Jeremiah 31 verse 18, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Do you remember Ephraim? A rebellious
child. A rebellious tribe. Wasn't it? You know, as the old saying goes,
the apple don't fall too far from the tree. It can't. It can't. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised. Now that's just the way it is.
God don't try to chastise anybody. If he chastises you, bless God,
you're going to be chastised. He's not depending on you for
it. Now look though, look, and I was chastised as a boy unaccustomed
to the yoke. Have you ever been there? Have
you ever seen, let me give you another illustration. Have you
ever seen somebody try to break a horse that's never been ridden
before? How it bucks, kicks, huh? Sometimes even after you
think, after they've been trained a little bit, they can buck and
kick on you. This is what we're kind of talking about here. As
a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke, but look, turn thou me,
and I shall be turned. Do you see it? In other words,
if God does it for you, it'll happen. It'll happen. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I
was turned, I repented. There it is. There it is, isn't
it? Now somebody said, well, why
doesn't that happen to everybody? Because God ain't purposed to
do it to everybody. He's purposed to do it for His elect. And for
His elect, He shall. For His elect, He is. For His
elect, He will. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed. Note the order. If you've ever been ashamed of
yourself, it's because God Almighty already did a work in you. Yeah,
he already done a working. I was ashamed. Yeah, even confounded
because it did bear the reproach of my youth You know what that's
not a happy experience But it leads to a joyous experience
Because then you're a prime subject to bow to the feet of Christ.
You know that when God brings you to that place right there
You can't but look up Joe Okay, and this is all about being brought
down low My question to you, my question for me is this, have
I ever been brought there? Because Christ is way above me.
If you're going to see Christ, you always got to look how? Up. The only people that's going
to see Christ are only people who can look up. Who's the only
people who can look up? The ones God's put their face
right down in the dirt. That's the way God saves sinners.
You know what? That's the only way God saves
sinners.