Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34. The name of the message is, I
will, saith the Lord. I will, saith the Lord. Ezekiel
34 will be our starting point for today's message. God's grace
is truly amazing grace, isn't it? It truly is. To think that
God, by His grace and His mercy, saves those who are by nature's
rebels. saves those who are by nature
shaking their fist at Him. That's amazing grace, isn't it?
Would you do that for your enemy or would I do that for my enemy?
Well, we already know the answer, don't we? My goodness. But God
does that. We're so full of pride. We're
so full of self-righteousness in our natural state. And we
still struggle with those things even after we're saved. We still
struggle with those things. And yet He has mercy on us. That's
amazing. And to see in Scripture that
the love of God was manifested towards His people, who He chose
in eternity, and that His everlasting love has been set upon us all
the way from eternity, we can't really grasp that truth, can
we? We hear it and we by faith believe it, but it's almost beyond
comprehension to think that God loved us from everlasting And
that by His mercy and His grace, He chose us in Christ, all according
to His mercy? And then that He sent His Son? That His Son was manifested to
take away our sins? He sent His Son to die for those
who were enemies in their minds, shaking their fists? Would we
give up a child for someone who was doing that? We know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. We know that He's
the Word of God from eternity. We know He's called the Son of
God. And we know that He came to this
earth willingly. That He was manifested, as we
looked at last week, to take away our sins. But can we really
grasp that? That the sinless One came here
to take away our sins. He came here to take away our
sins. It's utterly amazing. It's amazing
love, isn't it? It's love that knows no measure
upon this earth. So the love that we have for
our family members, for our spouses, for people who we love, is nothing
compared to this amazing love that God has for His people.
It doesn't even scratch the surface. And to read in Scripture that
when the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on Calvary's cross,
that He came to satisfy the law of God in our place. He came
that justice must be satisfied for we who are sinners. He came
that that wrath that was due us would fall upon Him. He came
for that. Because that's what it means
to save us from our sins. I ask you, is this not amazing? Is it not incredible that the
Lord Jesus Christ did this? That God sent His Son to die
for us? And then to consider that God
the Father by the power and might of the Holy Spirit of God has
regenerated us. We who were dead, graveyard dead. He's made us alive in Christ
by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit. And then
He's given us faith. We had no faith before. And He's
given us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul
says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Do you believe? May God give
you faith to believe. to believe on Him. And it's amazing
that Christ has obtained eternal redemption for us. He's obtained
it. He already has obtained it. We're
just receivers of the mercy and grace of God. And then we are
amazed that He gave us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and to trust in His finished work. Because men and women by
nature are wired for works. We are wired to do something.
I'll tell you what you give somebody something to do and you tell
them you know we would never say this But we see examples
of it all over Preachers false preachers tell people what to
do to gain merit and salvation with God and they do it people
fall over themselves to do those things You tell them that salvation
is by grace alone, plus nothing. That it's a complete, perfect
work. It's absolutely done. And they
look at you like, I don't have to do nothing? That's right.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And
even that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is by God-given
faith. So who gets glory then? Our God
gets it all, doesn't he? He gets it all. And then to have
Christ revealed to us. It's amazing to have Christ revealed
to us in the Scriptures. Revealed that He's risen for
our justification. That He died in our room and place. That right
now He's interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.
This is amazing. To have it revealed to us that
we fell in Adam. We didn't even think we were sinners before
we were saved. But yet we fell in Adam. We were sinners to the
core. From the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We
didn't even know it. But now to have that revealed to us.
That's what makes us in awe that God saved us. Now, all of us
have at one point in our lives said, I'll do something for someone,
haven't we? Said, I'll do that. I will. I'll do that. All of
us at some time or another have said that. If we had the ability
and the strength and the time and the opportunity and the desire,
well, we did it. If we didn't have any of those
things, we ended up not doing it. Today, I'd like us to look
at certain points of Scripture in the book of Ezekiel. We're
going to be in the book of Ezekiel today. Where our great God, Elohim,
the strong and mighty one, our great God, the self-existent
one, tells us in this wonderful book of Ezekiel, just in the
few chapters that we're going to look at, what He will do for
His people. What He will do for us. Now we
lack the ability to save ourselves, don't we? We lack the ability
and the power to make ourselves fit to be in presence of God.
We lack that ability and we lack that power. But that which is
impossible for man, is possible for God. Never forget that. Never
forget that. Let's read the first portion
I'd like us to look at in Ezekiel chapter 34 and take note of the
I wills as we go through these verses. Take note of the word
I will or the I wills of God. And this is absolutely wonderful.
The one who's saying this is the sovereign, majestic God of
the universe. He has power. He has the will. He has the ability. And we'll
see He has the desire. to do these things. Praise be
to God, He does. It's absolutely wonderful. Ezekiel
chapter 34 verse 11, For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I,
even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. Look at this. What a promise. This is a promise
from God. I will. Look at that. I will
both search my sheep and seek them out. Notice who's seeking
who here. Where are the sheep? Well, they're
off yonder wandering around. One's over here, and one's over
here, and one's over there, and one's over there. Who's seeking
who? Well, the Great Shepherd of our
souls, it says here, seeks out His sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Shepherd, the Great Shepherd of His people. And He seeks out
His lost sheep. And what do we say? Praise His
mighty name that He does. Because we certainly didn't seek
Him out, did we? But it says here, For thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep
and seek them out. And see the word Lord there in
our text? It's Adonai in the Hebrew. It's a masculine noun
used exclusively of God. It literally means my Lord. It's
often used in the place of a divine name, Yahweh or Jehovah, which
was held by later Jews to be too holy even to utter. This
name points to the supreme power of our great God. That's what
it does. It points to the supreme power, the supreme authority
of our great God. He's all supreme in power and
authority. He answers to no one. No one.
What do you think it means when foolish men and women say, well,
I don't believe in God? Doesn't even affect them. He's
all supreme. You think he's up there wringing
his hands going, oh, that person said they don't believe With
someone who's in absolute power and absolute authority, would
that make them wring their hands? Do you see how foolish religion
is today? They have a God who has no power
unless you let Him. This is the God of the Bible.
This is the God who saved me. Is it so for you? If it is, rejoice. This is the true God. This is
the true living God. He has all authority and all
supremacy. And none can say to Him, what
are you doing, Lord? It doesn't even affect Him. Well
on, O sinner! Weigh along. I heard a long time
ago about a story a Puritan said that the great white judgment
throne, this sinner, comes to stand before God. And he's rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ. And condemnation of God comes
down upon him. And as he's being dragged away,
he's saying, Lord, but Lord, please, please! And a voice thunders
from the throne. Weigh along, O sinner. Weigh along. He's being dragged
over to the pit and tossed over the edge. Lord, please, wail
on, O sinner. Wail on. God is no one to be
trifled with. Praise God He's had mercy on
we who are His people. Oh, what mercy we've received,
beloved. What mercy, what grace God has shown us. He did not
leave us where we were. He sought us out. He searched
us out, beloved. The One who has all authority,
all power, searched us out and sought us out. So this name of
God reinforces God's matchlessness. There's no one like Him. No one. And the name of God in our text
is Jehovah, the self-existent One. Means He who is or is present. He who will be who He will be. Or He who causes to be all that
is. He's the Supreme One. So this
is the God of the Bible. Not the God of people's imaginations. And aren't you thankful, as I
am, as a believer, that He's revealed Himself to us? That
He is pleased to show us mercy and grace? As I said, it's amazing. When did He show us that mercy
and grace in Christ? Way back in eternity. Oh, we're just mercy
beggars, aren't we? Look at verse 12. The Supreme
Sovereign One in verse 11 speaking, and He says, I will both search
my sheep and seek them out. And then He proclaims in verse
12, As the shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he
is among the sheep that are scattered, so will I Seek out my sheep. Look at that. There's no doubt.
He will seek His sheep. Remember, you've heard me say
many times, He will get every one of His sheep that He paid
for at Calvary's Cross. There won't be one missing. And
there won't be one lost. Not one. We're secure in the
Great Shepherd. Oh, but my sinfulness, Brother
Wayne. Oh, my sinfulness too. Saved
by the grace of God in Christ. That's mercy, isn't it? That's
mercy. Look at this. So I will seek
out my sheep, and look at this, and will deliver them. Hallelujah. We'll deliver them that are scattered. So will I seek out my sheep and
will deliver them out of the places where they are, where
they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. The Lord
Jesus Christ, do you know, beloved, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
concerned about every one of his sheep? Bring it home. Each
believer, we can say, the Lord's concerned about me. That's amazing. The God who's all-powerful, who's
supreme over everything, is concerned about me? Well, I'm one of his
sheep. Are you? Then the Scripture says, as the
shepherd seeking out his flock in the day, and he is among the
sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep. Look
at the wills here. I will. And will deliver them
out of all places. There's no doubt where they have
been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. He's concerned
about every single one of his sheep. They're his flock, beloved.
He purchased them with his own blood. He gave his life for them.
He loves them with an everlasting love. And it says he delivers
his saints. Oh, have we not, who are the
born-again, blood-washed saints of God, tasted of this great
deliverance spoken of here? Have we not tasted of it? We
who are His people. We've tasted it, haven't we?
We've tasted this deliverance. And it's a sure deliverance,
beloved. It's not dependent upon us. We're lost, wandered around. And He comes and gets us. The
security in this verse is all based upon the shepherd seeking
the sheep. Oh, this is great deliverance,
isn't it? What's he delivered us from? Our natural state. We
were graveyard dead, spiritually. He's delivered us from that state.
He's made us alive. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He's made us alive, beloved. Says, so will I seek
my sheep and deliver them. Delivered us out of that dead
spiritual state we were in. Made alive in Christ. It's wonderful. What else has he delivered us
from? Well, he delivered us from all our sins, didn't he? And
there's not one left behind, washed clean in the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it says. Verse 11, Behold, I, even I will. God says, I will. You can count
on that. We may say, I'll do that or I
will do that. And we never get to it. But God's
not like that, beloved. He's talking about a sheep here.
Our great God has delivered us from all our sins. He's delivered
us from His law, hasn't He too? He's delivered us from His justice.
He's delivered us from His wrath. We've been delivered from the
wrath of God, because that which was due us fell upon the Savior. Remember that picture they give
us in the Scriptures about a great rock in the middle of the desert?
And the sun is just burning on the traveler. Weary. He's getting
weary. And he sees a rock. He takes
shelter under this great rock. Remember the Roman soldiers?
They used to have long, tall shields, right? And they'd stand
behind those shields and the blows, the wrath from the enemy
would hit that shield and they'd be safe behind that shield. Christ
is our shield. He's our rock. He's amazing. And we've been delivered from
God's law, wrath, injustice, all because of the perfect, complete,
sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that alone.
Nothing else. Next, let us read verses 13-16
of Ezekiel 34. And take note as we read these
wonderful verses. Again, the I-wills of God. Verse
13, And I will bring them out from the people, Well, we're
called an ekklesia, which means a called out assembly. We're
called out from amongst the world, beloved. We're called out people,
sanctified in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And I will bring them out
from the people and gather them from the countries. What we saw
in the reading, Brother Brian read that God's people are from
every tongue, kindred, tribe, and nation, didn't we? See how
that ties right in, beloved? Oh, look at that. from the countries
and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the
mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places
of the country. I ask you, who made you to differ?
After reading that verse, who made you to differ? Who made
I to differ from anyone else in this world as a saved, born-again,
blood-washed saint to God who is an I will of God? It was the
I will of God that made us to differ, beloved. That's the only
thing that made us to differ. God willed it. And it was all
according to His divine, sovereign will. That's amazing, isn't it?
It's truly amazing. Look at verse 14 and 15. I will
feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be. And there shall they live in
a good fold, and in a fat pasture, and the pasture shall they feed
upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. Look at those words. Those are I wills of God. Now
he's talking about national Israel there, but we know that this
is applied to we who are the people of God, don't we? This
is applied to the people of God. We hunger and thirst for the
things of Christ now, right? He feeds us. He feeds us. We feast on the Word of God.
We now lie down, don't we? In rest. In who? In the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's caused us to rest. I had
no rest in religion. Did you have rest before the
Lord saved you? Oh, we didn't, did we? No. No
rest at all. But now, Now we have rest. And that only comes from the
Lord, beloved. We see it right here. I will feed my flock and
I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. This is God's
doing. He's the one who does this. You
see how grace is even more amazing? It's incredible. Again, we hunger
and thirst for the things of Christ. We feast on the Word
of God. We lie down, ceasing from our labor, ceasing trying
to justify ourselves before God, knowing now that we are only
justified in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. So we just
cease from our labors, don't we? We lie down and rest. And
who are we resting in? Christ. Amen. Christ and Christ
alone. That's who we're resting in.
Oh, the matchless grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's absolutely
on display in these verses, isn't it? God's grace is on display
in these verses here before us. His mercy. He seeks out His lost
sheep. He takes care of His lost sheep.
He feeds us. He provides for us. He makes
us to rest. And we know He's going to take
us home one day, isn't He? To be with Him forever. Remember
the Good Samaritan? That's a picture of Christ. The
priest passed by, which represents the law. The other guy passed
by too, right? Here comes this Good Samaritan.
He binds up that wounded man. He puts oil upon him. takes him
to the end. He pays for everything. That's
what Christ did for us, beloved. We were the guy on the ground,
lying there half dead. Physically alive and spiritually
dead. And we're alive now in Christ. It's amazing. Look at
verse 16. It continues this. Look at this.
I will seek that which was lost. Well, who was lost? People say,
well, I found Jesus. I didn't know He was lost. He
wasn't lost. No. He found us, didn't He? It says here, I will seek that
which was lost and bring Him again. We fell in Adam, beloved. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. We were lost. And He came and found us. Like
that. And bring again that which was
driven away. Adam was driven away from the
Garden of Eden, wasn't he? And we were in Adam. That which
was driven away. And we'll bind up that which
was broken. There's the picture of the Good
Samaritan. That picture's Christ. Christ is the Good Samaritan.
And we'll strengthen that which was sick. Oh, we were sick. We
were sin sick, weren't we? But look at this. But I will
destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment.
Now there's a warning right there. So we see a warning for the wicked
at the end of this text here. He seeks out his people, but
there's a warning here at the end of this verse. And notice
the certainty of this judgment, which will fall upon those who
are outside of Christ. Look at it. Just as much as there
is certainty that the Lord seeks us out, look at the certainty
of this judgment. But I will destroy the fat and
the strong. I will feed them with judgment.
Oh my. Now let's turn to Ezekiel chapter
35. Ezekiel 35, verses 1 and 2. Moreover, the word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against
Mount Sihar, and prophesy against it. and say unto it, Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and
I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make
thee most desolate. Or that means a waste. Now, we
see here, the I will of God is now turned against the enemies
of God, and turned against the enemies of His people. Remember
that the enemies of God are our enemies, and our enemies are
the enemies of God. See Mount Seir there, where it
says Mount Seir? John Gale brings forth that this
is speaking of the people of Esau's heritage, Jacob's brother. And the reason for judgment falling
upon them was their hatred of Jacob. Beloved, this can be applied
to all the enemies of God, Esau being put at the head of them,
all the seed of haters of God's people. And the reason Esau hated
Jacob was because of the covenant blessings that Jacob had received
from God. And this stirred up a deadly
indignation, just a deadly resentment and hatred towards his brother.
Remember the words and turn if you would put keep your finger
there though in Ezekiel 35 because we're gonna be going right back
there But turn to John chapter 15 and look at these words of
the master and then put your finger in Galatians chapter 4
these two passages are important to what we just saw there and
Mount Sinai represents Esau we will see the parallel over here
John chapter 15 verses 17 to 19 the master tells these words
to his disciples and These things, verse 17, these things I command
you that you love one another. So God's people are to love one
another. If the world hates you, look at this, you know that it
hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, look at this, But I have chosen you. Who did the choosing? Oh, look at that. See, people
always say, well, choose Jesus, choose Jesus. Well, we do when
we're made willing, right? But the only reason we do flee
to Christ is because He's chosen us. He's chosen us. Chosen you. Where? Out of the world. Therefore,
the world hateth you. Ever wonder why there's enmity
with people who sometimes hate you for no reason at all? Well,
it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now turn to Galatians
chapter 4. Do you know that there can be
no agreement between the seed of the woman and the seed of
the serpent? There can be no agreement between the two seeds. look at this Galatians chapter
4 verses 29 to 30 is clearly brought forth here Galatians
4 29 to 30 but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted
him Esau that's speaking Esau persecuting Jacob that was born
after the Spirit even so it is now see there's no change there's
no difference in the world The people of the flesh, born of
the flesh, will always persecute those who are born of the Spirit.
The Lord has told us in John 15, marvel not that the world
hates you. Don't be surprised. It's because
of this right here. Even so it is now. Nevertheless,
what sayeth the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. Grace and works will never mix. Will never mix. Either it's all
grace or it's works which leads to condemnation. They can't mix.
We're either saved by grace plus nothing or we're not saved at
all. And they will not mix. I'll tell you, we know that by
practice, don't we? By telling people that salvation
is by grace alone plus nothing. And the heat you get from religious
people is absolutely incredible. I believe religious people are
worse than just unsaved people. I was both. So I speak from experience. When I wasn't saved and when
I was just lost, I didn't care about my sin. But when I became
religious, man, everybody was wrong but me. But did I ever
find something out? And so did you if you're a believer,
right? We found out we're nothing. We found out he must increase
and I must decrease. I mean, I must go into the dust.
And by God's grace, that's where He puts us. That's where He puts
us. Okay, so with that in mind, let's go back to Ezekiel 35.
And we'll read a long portion here. Verses 3 to 15. Where we will see the certainty
of God's judgment against the wicked. I'm telling you, God's
nothing to be trifled with. Judgment will fall as sure as
the sun sets and the sun rises every day. Judgment will one
day fall upon the wicked. And the only reason it doesn't
fall upon us is because it fell upon Christ in our place. Again,
we're just mercy beggars. Thanking the Lord God that He
had mercy upon us. So let's read this. Look at these
I wills too. Ezekiel 35, verse 3. And say
unto it, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O Mount Seir, I
am against thee. God's against the wicked, beloved.
He's against it. That's what it says. And I will
stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee desolate. I will lay thy cities waste,
and thou shalt be desolate. And thou shalt know that I am
the Lord, because thou hast had a perpetual hatred. and has shed
the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword
in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity
had an end. Therefore, as I live, and he's
ever living, right? He's everlasting. He says, as
I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and
blood shall pursue thee, saith thou hast not hated blood, even
blood shall pursue thee. Thus will I, look at these imperatives,
thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate and will cut off from
it him that passes out and him that returneth. And I will fill
his mountains with his slain men in thy hills and in thy valleys
and in all the rivers shall they fall that are slain with the
sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations and thy cities shall
not return. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, because thou hast said, These two nations and these two
countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, whereas the
Lord was there. Therefore, as I live, saith the
Lord." Again, he's everlasting. He doesn't ever die. "'Saith
the Lord, I will do according to thine anger and according
to thine envy, which thou hast used out of thy hatred against
them. I will make myself known unto
them. when I have judged thee, and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blossomings, which thou
hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid
desolate, they are given to us to consume. Thus with your mouth
you have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words
against me. I have heard them. Thus saith the Lord God. When
the whole earth rejoices, I will make thee desolate. As Thou didst
rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because
it was desolate, so will I do unto Thee. Thou shalt be desolate,
O Mount Seir, and all in the Moor, even all of it. and they
shall know that I am the Lord." My goodness. So we have looked
at in the scripture in the past that all who are outside of Christ
shall perish. They will have the wrath of God
fall upon them. They will be made desolate. But
we who are the people of God shall not come into condemnation
because we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. All who were
in the ark were safe, right? But all who were outside the
ark, what happened to them? They all perished. Every one
of them. Flee to Christ. He's the sinner's
only hope. He's the ark of safety for His
people. He's the ark of safety for sinners.
Flee to Him. Trust in Him. He's the only safety
for sinners such as you and I. Now let's turn to Ezekiel chapter
36. So we've seen that the shepherd
seeks out his sheep and then we've seen the I wills of God
turned against the enemies of his people. But we can't leave
it there, can we? Look at this. in Ezekiel chapter
36. We'll look at verse 22 and a
few other verses after that. And we'll see, as we have seen
in chapter 34, that salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord.
Remember who's speaking here. This is the God of all the universe. This is the supreme one. This
is the all-powerful one. And he says in verse 22 of Ezekiel
chapter 36, Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith
the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel,
but for my holy name's sake. Oh my goodness. Which ye have
profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. So again we see in verse
22, Adonai Jehovah used again to bring forth the Supreme One,
the All-Powerful One, is the One who is speaking here. The
One who is saying I will in these verses. It is the same One that
said I will in chapter 34 and the same One that said I will
in chapter 35. And now here he is in chapter 36 saying, I will
again. And notice that he tells them
that what he does is not for their sakes but for his glory.
God will not share his glory with anyone. Now we are the recipients
of this mercy and grace, aren't we? But he does this. He saves
us to bring glory to himself. It's amazing. And who do we glorify?
We glorify God, don't we? Look what he's done. It's amazing.
It's absolutely incredible. So this is the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords speaking here. Note in the next verse,
it's God that sanctifies His name, and it's God who sanctifies
His people, which means makes it holy. He makes His name holy,
because He is holy, and He makes His people holy, and we know
that He makes us holy in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Look at verse 23. Again, look
at the certainty in these verses. There's a certainty in these
words. Verse 23, And I will sanctify my great name, which was profound
among the heathen, which ye 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
wonderful words here. What wonderful words here before
we who are the heathen in these verses. Because we're Gentiles,
beloved. We're Gentiles. And look what
mercy He shows upon us. And it all comes by Him revealing
Himself to us. revealing to us all that He's
done for us. It's absolutely amazing. And
again, notice the names of our Lord. The first one is Jehovah
in this verse. I am the Lord, saith the Lord
God. And then it's Adonai Jehovah.
We cannot mistake who's speaking in these verses, can we? We cannot
mistake who's speaking in these verses. It's God speaking. And
He's proclaiming what He will do. He's proclaiming the things
that He will do for us. He says, I will do this. Do you
see how we're just recipients of grace? How we're recipients
of mercy? Because it's Him doing it all.
Can we sanctify ourselves? No. Do we by nature praise God? No, we don't by nature in our
dead state praise God at all. But we do in our regenerated
state, don't we? Well, we sure do. And we see
in the next verse that He will take His people from the heathens.
Well, beloved, again, we're Gentiles. He took us from amongst the people,
didn't he? Look at this, Ezekiel 36, verse 24. And look at this,
there's no doubt, it's not, well, I'll take you if you make a decision
for me, or I'll take you if you walk this aisle. You see the
foolishness of those things? No, look at the certainty in
these words, beloved. And this is the Almighty God
saying these words. The one true living God. He says,
For I will take you. Put your name in there. I'll
take you, Aaron. Take you, Tom. Take you, Brian.
Look at that. For I will take you. From where?
From among the heathen. When you abandon trespasses and
sins. That's what He says. And He's
done that, hasn't He? Praise His mighty name, He's
done that. And gather you out of all countries. It will bring
you into your own land. What's the land that He brings
us into? Well, Canaan land, the land of rest, beloved. The land
of rest in Christ. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. Green pastures of His Word, beloved.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
we're on a journey, aren't we, to Canaan land. We're in Egypt
right now. We're wandering through the desert,
beloved. One day, when we breathe our last breath, we're going
to step into Canaan land. And who will we see there? The
Lord Jesus Christ, face to face. Note next here, in these next
verses, verses 25 to 27, we see the conversion of a sinner saved
by grace in the Old Testament. And it's the same for the New
Testament. The Old Testament believers are saved the same
way the New Testament believers are saved. There's no difference.
Salvation is of the Lord, right? Period. Right? It's all of the
Lord. The Old Testament saints were
looking to Christ, and we look back to what Christ has done.
They were looking for the Messiah to come. And we know Abraham
had the same faith we have. Look at this. And how this brings
forth our Lord's words, ye must be born again. Ezekiel 36, verses
25 to 27. Then will I, he's doing all the
work, isn't he? Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be what? Clean. If God declares us clean,
we're clean, beloved. God's told us He's forgiven us
for all our sins. What's that mean? It means He's
forgiven us for all our sins. Isn't that wonderful? Even though
we remember them, even though we still mourn over our sin,
He's forgiven us for all of them. He's made us clean. We're still
sinners in this world and in this body, but one day we're
going to be absolutely sinless. Look at this. And ye shall be
clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. And a new spirit will I put within
you. There it is. And I will take away the stony
heart of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of
flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. And cause you to
walk in my statutes. Why? Because normally we wouldn't
walk in the statutes of the Lord, would we? No. We'd be off wandering
in a field. Remember, He sought us out. He
brings us into His land. Oh my! And now He'll give us
a heart of flesh and He'll put His Spirit within us and cause
you to walk in my statutes and you should keep my judgments
and do them. The matchless grace of God is on display in what
we've looked at here. It's incredible. He takes we
who are His people who are polluted by sin in our natural state,
we who had manufactured idols of who God was in our hearts
and our minds in our natural state, and He cleanses us from
all our sins. And even though we're sinners
here on this earth right now, He doesn't count our sin against
us because Christ paid for it all. And we don't take that lightly,
do we? We don't go out the door and
do whatever we want because of that. No, we don't. Because we
love the Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him. He's everything
to us. Oh, my. And how has He cleansed
us from all our sins? How has He made us clean from
the filthiness of our sins and from our idol worship of either
self or other things? By the precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how He's made us clean.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. There's no other
way for a sinner to be saved but in and by and through the
Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone. So what precious promises we
have looked at today. Here in chapter 34 and 36 and
oh the warning for the wicked that we've looked at in chapter
35. We are truly blessed to are the people of God. And these
verses here in 25 to 27 of Ezekiel chapter 36 are full of grace
and mercy. Absolutely full of grace and
mercy. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you. This is our God speaking. And
ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your
idols will I cleanse you. That's His grace. That's pure
grace. Here's some more. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.
And I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and will
give you a heart of flesh. Press down, overflowing. But
it continues. And I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you should keep
my judgments and do them. Overflowing grace and mercy.
It's wonderful, isn't it? And these are promises, beloved.
These are promises. promises that God makes to his
people all because of a covenant called the everlasting covenant.
Turn if you would to Jeremiah chapter 32. Why has he done all
this? What's the cause of him doing
all this? What's the cause for this grace
and mercy that you and I as believers have received in Christ Jesus
our Lord? What's the cause of it? Jeremiah
chapter 32 verse 40. Again, look at the I wills. And
I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Did we ask for this
covenant to be made with us? Did we seek out that this covenant
would be made with us? Absolutely not. We weren't even
aware of it, were we? Were you aware of this everlasting
covenant before the Lord saved you? I wouldn't either. I had
no idea about this. But look at what it says. And
I will make an everlasting covenant to them that I will not turn
away from them. So before I was even born, God
had said, I won't turn away from you, Wayne. Oh, my goodness.
Put your name in there if you're a believer. My goodness, this
is incredible grace. This is incredible mercy. When
you're going through a trial, keep these words. I'll not turn
away from you. I won't leave you there. I will
not turn away from them to do them good. We can't even measure
the good, the mercy that God is showing us in Christ, can
we? We can't even measure it. But I will put my fear in their
hearts. That's not a slavish fear. That's a fear in awe and
wonder of who God is. And look at this. Oh, what a
promise here. Look it. I will put my fear in
their hearts. And look what's connected to that. I will. That
they shall not depart from me. What a promise. God tells His
people. right there in that verse, that
I will not let you depart from Me. Isn't that amazing? This
is amazing grace. Rejoice, you who are the people
of God. Let these verses that we looked at today just warm
your souls this week. And again, I'm going to read
that again. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
He made it before we were even born, that I will not turn away
from them. God will never turn away from
His people. To do them good. All things work together for
our good. Right? Scripture says, and what? For
His glory. So He always has our good in
His mind. But I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall
not depart from Me. And we know from studying Scriptures
that the only reason we don't depart from God is because He
keeps us. Oh, what a gracious God we have. This grace is amazing,
isn't it? It's amazing grace.