As long as the Lord teaches us,
we're not worthy of His love. We won't get over it, will we?
All right, open your Bibles again to Ezekiel chapter 16. You may
want to also locate chapter 1 of Ezekiel. Many people think that the book
of Ezekiel is a book of prophecy, telling us things to come. And
certainly there is some prophecy in the book of Ezekiel. As we've
been working our way through the scripture, book by book by
book, I think this will come as no surprise to you, that the
book of Ezekiel is written to show us Christ. Isn't that what
every book has been written? The message of each of these
different books of the Bible is to show us Christ. Now in
chapter 1 of Ezekiel, Ezekiel received a vision of God, verse
1. Now it came to pass in the 30th
year, in the fourth month, On the fifth day of the month, as
I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God. Now, Ezekiel says he
saw God. Now, who did Ezekiel see? Well,
he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he saw. Christ is
the only manifestation of God that we'll ever see. And when
you read through the book of Ezekiel, you often see similarities
to the book of Revelation. Well, you know why that is? You
know why there's so many similarities between those two books that
people think are prophetical? Well, it's because they're both
written about the same person. John and Ezekiel had a vision
of the same person. This is who they wrote about.
They wrote of Christ. And when Ezekiel saw Christ,
he learned several important things about God. He tells us
about that in his book. And I want to look at one of
those things this morning. One of the things Ezekiel learned
was a love of God for sinners that's found in our Lord Jesus
Christ. The title of the message is who
does God love? That's an important question. Who does God love? The world
tells us God loves everybody. Is that so? Or does God love
those who are in Christ? Does God love is elect. Does God love those He chose
to love or does He just love everybody indiscriminately? Well,
if you want to know who I love, ask me. I'll tell you. If you
want to know who God loves, look into His Word, because He tells
us in His Word who He loves. And Ezekiel chapter 16 is a great
illustration of this. Here's my first point. God loves
sinners. Verse one of Ezekiel 16. Again,
the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations. Now you'll, somebody will think,
Frank, you said God loves sinners. Well, everybody's a sinner. Are
they really? Ask them, ask them and see if
they fit God's description of a sinner. Scripture describes
a sinner. as those who had to know their
abominations. This message was given to Ezekiel
for this purpose, so God's people will know their abominations. Now, abomination is a strong
word. Preach the gospel, this message,
so God's people will know they're sinners. The first thing God
has to teach us is that we're sinners. We'll never cry for
mercy till God shows us we're sinners. We'll never seek a savior
till God shows us that we're a sinner. And he uses this word
abominations. The word means disgusting. It means something that's hated,
something that's abhorred. That's a sinner. Is that you? Is that you and your sin? Are
you disgusting in God's holy sight or are you disgusting in
your own sight? Abominations. And this word also
has to do with idolatry. Are you an idolater by nature?
And I told you this Wednesday night, most all of us would not
bow down to a statue. But by nature, we're idolaters.
It's the idol of self. That's all free will religion
is, is idolatry. They worship the idol of self. If you have to rely on you to
make a decision for Jesus, you're relying on self. If you have
to rely on you to live the Christian life, to do certain things, to
keep yourself sanctified, then you're trusting the idol of self,
it's self-righteousness. And nothing is more disgusting
to God than a sinner, a maggot, trusting in himself rather than
trusting in the Son of God. And if God loves you, he's taught
you you're an abomination. And He's taught you that so that
you'll trust in His Son. And I'll tell you why we're an
abomination. Because our conception is all wrong. Look at verse 3.
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, thy mother an Hittite. And I'll tell you the reason
we're an abomination. We come from cursed, sinful parents. That's who we come from. Your
father is an Amorite, your mother's a Hittite. The Amorites and the
Hittites, you know who they were? They're descendants of Ham, Noah's
son Ham, who Noah cursed. And all their descendants are
cursed. That's us. Our father Adam is cursed, cursed
by God for his sins. And we're just like him. We're
cursed too. We're just like our father Adam because we're born
from his seed, from his sinful seed. You and I are sinners because
that's our nature. We commit sins because we have
a sin nature. The very seed that conceived
us is sin. Sin's in it. From the moment
you're conceived, you're a sinner. And you can't bring a clean thing
out of an unclean. David said, I was shaped in iniquity.
I was conceived in sin. because that's the only seed
my father can produce, sinful seed. Now, the Jews would say,
hold on a minute. These Jews are in Jerusalem.
That's who this message is to. They said, wait a minute, wait
a minute, wait a minute. We're not Amorites and Hittites. We
descended from Abraham. Well, that's true. They did descend
from Abraham. But where was Abraham when God
found him? When God found him, he was Abram, an idolater. And all those Jews descended
from that idolater. Some of us could say, I descended
from believing parents. That's true, you did. But where
were they when God found them? They were in the idolatry of
self. That's where we came from, unbelief in self. And we're an
abomination because our Conception is all wrong, and we're an abomination
because our birth is all wrong. Look at verse four. And as for
thy nativity, in the day that thou was born, thy navel was
not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou
was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee
to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee,
but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou was born. Now the Canaanites,
the Amorites and the Hittites, they had an awful, horrible custom
that if a baby was born and she was a girl baby, maybe they already
had a girl, they didn't want very many girls, they'd cast
that baby out in the field to die. If the baby was born with
a birth defect, the baby was unwanted and they'd cast it out
in the field to die. They wouldn't wash it first.
They wouldn't cut its navel or take care of any of those things.
They wouldn't supple the baby, clean it or anything. They wouldn't
swallow it to make it feel comfortable. They just threw that baby as
it was out into the open field to die. They cast that baby out
in the field to die because the way that baby looked made them
hate the baby. Now that's horrible as well.
horrible thought to think that someone would look at that newborn
baby and think it's useless and ugly and throw it away. But my
friend, that's what we are by nature. Ugly by nature. What we are by nature is what
God hates. We're sin, we're defiled and
ugly by nature. God says in verse six that when
I pass by you, you're polluted in sin. You're polluted in what
God loathes. That baby's us. That's what we
deserve. We're of no use to God. Just cast us out in the open
field, cast us into hell and be done with it. There is another
way this baby is us. This baby out in the field, It's
helpless. I mean, what's more helpless
than a newborn baby? That baby can't do anything for
itself, can it? That's us by nature. We're helpless. It'd have been foolish for us
to walk out in that field and say, now baby, clean yourself
up and I'll love you. Baby, heal yourself of your birth
defect and I'll take you into my house. Baby, if you'll just
take the first step toward me, I'll meet you the rest of the
way. I'll love you and I'll give you life. Come on, baby. You're
wasting your time. A baby can't do anything for
itself. She's helpless. And that's you
and I by nature. We're spiritually helpless. We can't cleanse ourselves from
our sin and come to God and make him accept us or love us. We
can't heal ourselves of all of our sin sicknesses and make God
accept us because now that we've healed ourselves, we're useful
to God. No. We can't take the first step
toward God and then he'll meet us the rest of the way. If I
can take the first step, I can take the rest of them. We're
helpless. We're dead in sin, incapable
of doing anything. We're helpless. Most of the writers
say this baby was already dead, out in the field, dead. It can't
even cry. It can't even draw attention
to itself. That's how helpless you and I are before God. We
can't come to God. We can't choose God. We can't
decide to love God. We can't earn any favor from
God. All we can earn from God is his
wrath. We're totally dependent on God. Now we can hear, we can
hear with these ears, but we can't understand in the heart.
We can see, you've got vision, you're old enough to read. You
can read the words on the page, but we can't perceive them. We
can't see Christ there unless God gives us life. People talk
about praying to angels. Why? Angel can't help you. Don't
go to the law, the law can't help you. Don't go to religion,
religion can't help you. Don't look to your parents, your
parents can't help you. They're the one who put you in
this mess in the first place. You got your father's sympathy.
Our only hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. And if God loves you,
he's taught you, you're a sinner. You're disgusting, you're helpless
and you're hopeless. If God loves you, he's taught
you that you're totally ruined by sin. You can't be fixed up. You can't be reclaimed. You're
totally dependent on somebody else to save you. Second, who
does God love? God comes to everyone he loves. Look at verse six. And when I
passed by thee, I saw you as you were. I saw you polluted
in thine own blood. I said, when thou hast in thy
blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
hast in thy blood, live. Now there that baby lay. She's
dead. She's disgusting. She's laying
there in her blood, in her afterbirth. She's just waiting to be eaten
by the animals and eaten by the insects. But before those animals
got there to devour that body, before the insects got there
and started to devour that body, The Lord passed by. What luck,
the Lord passed by in time. No, not luck. Oh, what love. The Savior passed by. The Lord
passes by sinners who are disgusting and helpless. The Lord Jesus
must needs go through Samaria. So he can pass by a woman. who's
guilty, drawing water, and reveal himself to her. The Lord's got
to go through Jericho. He's going to pass by a publican
up a tree named Zacchaeus, and he's going to pass by a blind
beggar named Barimaeus. The Lord's going to pass by the
side of the lake, right where they have the docks, so he can
pass by some fishing boats and call Peter and Andrew to be fishers
of men. The Lord passed by. We didn't
seek God, did he? No, he sought us. We didn't find
God. He found us. We didn't choose
God. God chose us. We didn't love
God. God loved us and he came where
we were to give us life. And if the Lord loves you, he's
going to pass by. Now it won't be in bodily form.
He'll pass by you in the preaching of the gospel. And I tell you,
when you know it's the Lord passing by, you'll quit hearing the preacher
with these ears, and you'll start hearing God speak to the heart.
When that happens, the Lord's passed by. He passes by everybody
that he loves. He's not gonna leave you in your
sin. He's not gonna leave you in your unbelief. He'll pass
by. And when the Lord passes by, something wonderful always
happens. There's life in the new birth.
See what he said in verse 6, when I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood? I said unto thee, when thou wast
in my blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in my blood, live. Now the Lord's command to this
dead baby was live. And you'll say, that's an impossible
command. That baby can't live. The baby's
dead. If the baby could make itself
live, it wouldn't have died in the first place, would it? Well,
you know, the foolishness or the wisdom of a command depends
entirely on who's given the commandment. Tuesday, I went to the funeral
of Brother Maurice Montgomery. I stood and looked at the casket.
There's the body of our brother. Now, if I stood there and told
that body, Maurice, live! But foolishness, I'd have been
laughed out of the place. But if God comes to the dead,
And God says, live, they're going to live. Lazarus, oh Lord, don't
roll away the stone. He'd been dead four days. He
stinks. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. The wisdom of the commandment
just depends on who's given it. Now by nature, you and I are
dead in sins and God comes in the preaching of the gospel,
and he tells the dead to live. And then he gives them spiritual
life in the new birth. Our Lord said, you must be born
again. Can't do anything for yourself. So God the Holy Spirit
comes and gives life in the new birth. We're blind. We can't see. You know, the commandment
of the gospel is look and live, but I can't see. So God says,
see my son. And then he gives eyes of faith
that do look and live. We're deaf. We cannot hear. We can't hear Christ speak. So
God says, hear my son. And he gives ears of faith that
hear Christ and follow him. We cannot come to Christ that
we might have life. We're unable, we don't have the
ability. So God says, come to my son. And then he draws us
to his son. And he brings us, he comes where
we are and he gives salvation to his people. You see, with
the command, with the command from God, comes the power to
do what we cannot do by nature, live. And if God loves you, He'll
give you life in the new birth. He'll make you be born again.
Well, how do I know if I've been born again? You know, people
love to talk about what is it to be born again? To be born
again, is that knowledge? Is it some understanding? You
know, is it two opposite natures in one body? That doesn't make
sense to the natural man. I tell you, when you'll quit
arguing about two opposite natures in one body, you know when you'll
quit arguing that? When God gives you life. When
God gives you a new nature. When you have in you two natures
warring one against the other, you're born again. You'll quit arguing about that
because God gives life and a new birth to everybody that he loves.
Fourth, who does God love? God covers everyone he loves
in the righteousness of Christ. Look at verse eight. 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. Now, by nature, this is what
we need. We're naked before God. But how do we get that way? How
do we get naked before God? Well, it all goes back to our
birth. Everything started with our birth and our conception.
It's all wrong. We've been wrong from the beginning.
It goes back to our father, Adam. Remember Adam and Eve, they were
in the Garden of Eden and they were naked, but they weren't
ashamed. It was just natural to them.
There's no shame in anything God made. But when Adam disobeyed
God and he ate that fruit, God commanded him not to eat. Suddenly,
Adam was naked. and he was ashamed. Now his body
was naked, but his real shame before God wasn't his body. His
real shame before God was he stood before God suddenly without
any righteousness, naked of righteousness. Adam made some fig leaves to
try to cover his nakedness, but it didn't take away his shame,
did it? Because his real shame wasn't his naked body. His real
shame is he was stripped of innocence before God, and he was so ashamed. And you and I are born that way,
naked of innocence, naked of righteousness before God. But
if God loves you, he's gonna come and clothe your nakedness.
He's gonna cover you with the righteousness of Christ. Now
when I say cover, I mean, make you clean, make you righteous.
Your brother Scott used to say that Scott Richardson said the
righteousness of Christ is not pasted on. You know, it's not
just covering up our sin and shame is still there. No, when
God covers you, when God makes you righteous, he makes you righteous. He doesn't just cover you. He
makes you righteous. He gives you a nature that's
like the nature of his son. Well, how do I know if God's
done that for me? How do I know if God's covered
me with the righteousness of Christ? I can tell you. God's made you righteous when
you quit trusting in your own righteousnesses. God's made you
righteous when you quit thinking your righteousness is keeping
some laws or living the Christian life. When you quit all that
and you trust Christ completely, God's covered you in the righteousness
of his son. Fifth, who does God love? God
has a covenant with everybody he loves. God's love is a covenant
love. Look here at the end of verse
eight. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with
thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Now God loves
his people because God's always loved his people. He got a covenant
love with his people. When I say God's always loved
His people? I don't mean that God started
loving us when we made a decision or made a profession. No, God's
loved us eternally. He didn't start loving us when
we said the sinner's prayer. God didn't start loving His people
when we were baptized. God didn't love us when we started
tithing and reading our Bible. God's always loved His people. What did God say? I've loved
thee with an everlasting Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. God loves his people in covenant
love, in a covenant of grace, in a promise made to his people
in his son. Now, God's love is not unconditional. I got your attention. God's love
is not unconditional. Now, God's love is unconditional
to you and me. What that means is there's no
conditions that we have to meet in order to make God love us.
But God's love is still not unconditional. God's love is conditioned upon.
God's love is based upon, dependent upon Christ keeping God's love
for us. God's love is dependent upon
Christ shedding His blood to pay for the sin of His people
and making us righteous in Him so God can accept us. See, God's
love is conditioned on Christ fulfilling His end of the covenant.
God chose a people to save. The Son said, I'll save them.
Well, God's love is conditioned on Christ fulfilling that covenant.
Putting away the sin of His people, making them righteous in Him.
And if God loves you, He's taught you that you're loved in Christ. That you're, God loves you based
entirely upon the person and work of Christ, not on anything
that you've done. And you know what that makes
you do? You rest in Christ. Because He's done everything
God requires. He did fulfill the covenant. God's love is a
covenant love. I can show you that from this
chapter. In the rest of this chapter, this girl, God made
her beautiful. Oh, her beauty was perfect. And
she began to trust in her own beauty. She did everything Everything
she thought, everything she said, it's just all wrong. Did she lose her salvation? Did
the Lord quit loving her? No. Look at the end of the chapter,
verse 60. She'd done everything wrong.
After the Lord blessed her so richly, she did everything wrong.
And the Lord says in verse 60, nevertheless, I'll remember my
covenant with thee. in the days of thy youth, and
I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. And look
at verse 62. And I will establish my covenant
with thee, and thou shalt know I am the Lord. Lord's going to
bring his people, he'll bring them back around. His love is
a covenant love. You didn't do anything to make
God start loving you, he did that of his own free will. God's
on one free will, He chose to love you. You didn't do anything
to make Him start loving you and you can't do anything to
make Him stop. His love is a covenant love. Sixth, if God loves you,
He's gonna wash you from all of your sin. Verse nine, then
washed I thee with water, yea, I throughly washed away thy blood
from thee. Christ died on the cross as a
sacrifice for sin. And as he hung there on the cross,
he bled out. All the blood from his body came
out of his body. He shed that blood as payment
for the sin of his people. And God washes everybody he loves
in that blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. And when a sinner's washed in
the blood of Christ, their sin's gone. their sins paid for, blotted
out under the blood of Christ. But Ezekiel here is talking about
washing in water, not washing in blood, but washing in water.
Now, what does that have to do with the blood of Christ? Well,
you remember when Christ died, he shed his blood, didn't he?
But he shed something else too. Water. Remember when the soldier
pierced his side with that spear and out came blood and water?
Blood and water. Christ is the double cure, blood
to justify, blood to cleanse us from our sin and water to
sanctify, water to give a new holy life and the new birth.
The death of Christ takes care of our sin and our sins. He's the double cure. The blood
of Christ removes our sins and the water that flowed from his
side. takes care of our sin, our sin nature, and gives us
a new nature and a new birth. And if God loves you, you're
washed from all sin. I want to show you that in John
chapter 13. And this is an important point because I hear washed from
all sin. And I just will tell you, I don't
feel all that clean, all that sinless, you know. Is there hope
for somebody like me? John 13, verse 3. And Jesus, knowing that the father
had given all things into his hands and that he was come from
God and went to God, he rises from supper and laid aside his
garments and took a towel and girded himself. After he pours
water into a basin, he began to wash the disciples feet and
to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. Now you can just
imagine the scene, the master taking off his garment and wrapping
himself in a towel in the form. This is a service. This is a
job of the lowest server going around, washing the disciples'
feet. You can just, the savior, the master humiliating himself
this way. Verse six, then cometh he to
Simon Peter. Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost
thou wash my feet? And Peter's really saying, Lord,
you're not going to wash my feet. I will not see my master humiliated
this way. Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Let me
make this clear. Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
See Peter's obedience here. Lord, not my feet only, but my
hands and my head. Wash me all over. And Jesus saith
unto him, He that is washed, he is not saved to wash his feet,
but he is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all,
for he knew who should betray him. Therefore he said, You are
not all clean. Now what our Lord is teaching
us here is the believer is washed clean. You are washed clean in
the blood and the water that flow from his side. And that
blood and water hasn't been shed yet. Peter didn't understand
yet, but he will understand in a little while. The believer's
clean. You don't need to be washed again.
But our feet need to be washed, don't they? That part that comes
in contact with the world, that gets dirty and dusty and hot,
it needs to be washed. Our feet need to be refreshed.
Well, how are your feet washed? How are your feet refreshed?
Through the preaching of the Word. Through the preaching of
the water of the Word. Nothing refreshes me more. than
the word of God. If the word of God refreshes
you, God loves you because he's given you a nature that loves
his word, that can receive his word. God washes from their sin
everyone that he loves. Seventh, God gives his Holy Spirit
to everyone he loves. Look here at the end of verse
nine of Ezekiel 16. And I anointed thee with oil,
Now, oil all throughout Scripture represents God's Spirit, the
Holy Spirit. Look at 1 Corinthians 3. The
Spirit of God dwells in every believer. Dwells in the heart
of every believer. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. He dwells in you. 1 Corinthians
6 verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with
the price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost because He dwells in. indwelling Spirit in every
believer. And it's the indwelling Spirit
that reveals Christ to us. Christ said the Spirit will come,
the Comforter will come. He'll reveal the things of mine
to you. It's the Spirit that teaches
us to pray. He maketh intercessions with
groanings that cannot be uttered. It's the Spirit that teaches
us to walk in godliness, that we're not our own, we're bought
with the price. And if you have not the Spirit, you're none of
His. because He gives His Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, to everyone that He loves. And then last,
God gives ornaments of grace to everyone He loves. Verse 10,
our text, Ezekiel 16. I clothe thee also with broidered
work. Now, what's this broidered work?
Well, it's the embroidered hangings that hung in the temple. Remember
those in the temple, in the tabernacle, the white linen and all the different
colors that were in it? They were all pictures of Christ
That broidered work is in every believer, hanging in the heart
of every believer because Christ is in the heart. That's those
broidered work pictures of Christ. He's given us his son. He said,
I clothed you with broidered work and I shod you with badger
skin. Now you remember again from the
temple, the tabernacle, that badger skin is a picture of the
humanity of Christ. But badger skin, I also learned
this about badger skin, it's very soft. Comfortable and it's
very durable. And God said, I've shod you with
it. I've put it on and made you shoes out of this badger skin.
The humanity of Christ. This is the believer's walk in
Christ. These shoes will last you. However
long your journey is, Christ will last you. That's what he's
saying here. And then he says, I girded thee about with fine
linen. Now you remember the high priest, he had a girdle, a belt
that was made out of fine linen. This is a picture of Christ,
our high priest. He represents us to God. He's
the one who offers the sacrifice and he strengthens us. The girl
talks about strength. Our strength and our high priest
is Christ, our savior. And he said, I covered you with
silk. Silk is what kings wore. Now
these not only are very rich clothes, but this word silk,
it also means a very vibrant, different colors. That's all
the richness of Christ our King, all the riches of his love and
grace for his people. Verse 11, he says, I deck thee
also with ornaments. I put bracelets upon my hands. I've given you hands, beautiful
hands for service to God's people that serve out of love. He said,
I put a chain on my neck. I put a necklace around your
neck, a necklace that has many different links in it, a golden
necklace with all the different links. The length of God's love
for his people. The length of the chain or the
joint of God's grace and mercy to his people. The length of
God's forgiveness in Christ. The length of peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's a beautiful chain around
the necklace, around the neck of God's people. In verse 12,
he said, I put a jewel in your forehead. Right there in your
forehead. You've seen the Indian ladies do that. I don't know
how they do that, put a jewel in their forehead. I wouldn't
recommend that, but what this is a picture of is it's the open
confession. I mean, when you see a woman,
that's the first thing you see, right? There's a jewel in her
forehead. This is the open confession that a believer makes publicly. I belong to Christ. I'm his. And he says, he goes on and he
says, I put ear rings in your ears. He's given us ears that
hear the voice of Christ, given us ears that hear the gospel
and ears that won't hear anything else. And he says, and I put
a beautiful crown upon thy head. Now this is not giving us crowns
and rewards, that's foolishness. What this is is a picture of
is Christ our King. He's our King and he's made his
people kings and priests unto our God. Verse 13, he says, thou
was decked with gold and silver. Thy raiment was of fine linen
and silk embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil, and thou was exceeding beautiful, and didst prosper
into a kingdom. Ye ate all the best food. Ye
had Christ, the bread of life. Ye lived in the kingdom that
prospered, the kingdom of God's grace. in the best clothes. You've got the best of everything. That's the very righteousness
of Christ our Savior. You've got the nature of Christ. Frank, that's a bold statement.
So I've got the nature of Christ. How can you make that statement?
If someone's been made a partaker of the divine nature, look at
verse 14. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty. For it was perfect through my
comeliness, which I have put on thee, saith the Lord God."
The believer, the one who God loves, is made perfect in Christ. The only way that's possible
is that we're in Christ. We'll never be perfect in ourselves,
it's in Christ. The believer, the one who God
loves, is made perfectly beautiful. Abominations was a word he used
first, wasn't it? Someone as abominable as me is
made perfectly beautiful? Yes, sir. In Christ, in his beauty. Now, our Lord said, now this
isn't for your glory. It's for mine. Don't forget that.
He said, this is not what you did for yourself. You become
beautiful so you start trusting yourself. No, it's what I put
on you. See, this is what God does for
everybody he loves. What love? What love? The love of God for sinners. Oh, may God make his love known
to his people. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
word. We thank you for your promise of love to your people. It's
such a blessed, precious promise to us. We know that we're unlovable
in ourselves. We're so unworthy. Oh, we're
so abominable. The abominations of our sin,
of our nature, of who we are. But how we thank you for the
love of God for your people, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Father, we're thankful. Thankful for what you've done
for us. Thankful for what you've done in us. Thankful for what
you've made us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Father, we pray
you bless your word as it's been preached. Bless it to the glory
of the Savior. Cause us not to look at the benefits
of the Savior, but to the Savior himself. Cause us to look to
him, trust in him, and rest in him. Cause us to see his glory
through the preaching of your word this morning. It's in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks. Amen.