Turn to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. I'm not going to stand back there
at the door and shake your hand tonight. You're welcome. Because I know you don't want
that. I thought of several different
titles for this message. Is there any hope for this child?
Is there any hope for a sinner like me? Thy time is a time of love."
What a beautiful, beautiful chapter that is. The first fourteen verses,
and the last two or three. After that fourteenth verse,
you'll see Israel sins again. But we'll look at that in a minute.
We have before us a vivid description of all men and women by nature,
including God's elect, and the amazing grace of God in saving
sinners like you and me. Verse 1 through 5 describes everyone
by nature. You know, the Word of God is
very, very plain. We beat around the bush. Sometimes,
out at the shop, a guy wants to talk to me about something. And they'll go around. I say,
just tell me what's on your mind. They just beat around the bush.
The Word of God never does that. It tells it like it is. It says
in verse one, And the word of the Lord came unto me. Ezekiel received his message
from the Lord. I pray. I do pray. Every time I am to come here
and preach, that the Lord would impress upon my heart the message,
What would you have me to give the people tonight? And he says
here that the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. This is not
Ezekiel's opinion of Jerusalem, but this is the testimony of
God concerning Jerusalem. The Bible gives an accurate description
of man, doesn't it? Men say there are some bad people. The Bible says they're all bad. The Word of God says none good,
no, not one. And he says, son of man, call
Jerusalem to know her abomination. A very important part of preaching
is making known man's sin, making known his wretchedness, making
known his iniquity. There's no hope for any sinner
who will not own his or her sins. No hope. There's no hope for
those who are not sinners. Christ died for sinners. It says
in Proverbs 28, 13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but
whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. There
is hope for the lost, for Christ came to seek and to save the
lost. That's who he came to save. Now,
here's the message he gives to Ezekiel to give to Jerusalem. 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, and
thy mother an Hittite." Heathens, that's why he's saying heathens.
You started out wrong. You started out in the hole.
That's exactly it. You started out in the hole.
It says in Psalm 58.3, the wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray as soon as they be born. Speaky lies. Romans 5.12. Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now, someone's going to say,
I thought, I thought that they were descendants of Abraham. I thought they were descendants
of Abraham. He said, your mother, your father were Amorites and
Hittites. I want you to listen to this very carefully. I want
you to go and turn and read this. Look in verse 16. Let me see where I want to start
reading. Look in verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members
of Christ to make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is
joined to a harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one
flesh. Now turn to Romans, chapter 6. In Romans, chapter 6, look in verse 16. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, His servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness."
They had become so much like the heathens. They had partook
of their rituals, their religion, they had become so much, their
idolatry, they had become so much like the heathens, God says,
they're your parents. They are your parents. Our Lord
said to those Pharisees one time, they said this, they said, we
are Abraham's seed, didn't they? He said, no, you're not. You're
of your father, the devil. You're of your father, the devil.
It says in another place, not all Israel are Israel. God is
only the father of those in Christ. There was a remnant, there was
a remnant in Israel that were his, that believed the gospel,
that believed God. But for the vast majority of
them, they're just like those heathens. He said, you become
just like them, they're your parents. Just because one is
born to godly parents doesn't make them godly. Doesn't make
them godly. That has to come from above.
That's being born of God. Until that happens, no one can
claim to be His. No one. It doesn't matter if you're a
direct descendant of Abraham. He said, you're mother and your
father's Amorite and Hittites. You're just like them. That's
who you belong to. Now, as for thy nativity, in
the day thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee, Now was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. What a mess! This child was a
mess. It's as if, when I read this,
it's as if they jumped back in horror at the sight of this baby
when it was born. And it was so grotesque that
they didn't want anything to do with it. that they took it,
and this is what they used to do way back then with the heathens. They would take a child that
had deformities, and they would take it out and cast it into
a field and leave it and get rid of it. And that's what God's
comparing them to. Left alone, no one wanted you,
no one loved you, no one desired you. How bad must one be? How bad must one look that even as an infant they cast
you out? That even as an infant you can't
even draw their mercy at all? He said, no, I pitied thee. Not
one person pitied you. Not one. That's bad, isn't it? That's bad. But Israel was in
the land of Egypt, and this has reference to that. They were
hated. They were despised. Pharaoh had
them to kill the firstborn. He had the midwives to throw
out those firstborns. He had them to kill them, throw
them out like dishwater. No one, no I pity thee. None. any of these things unto thee,
to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out into the
open field and left alone to the loathing, loathing of thy
person in the day that thou wast born." They couldn't find compassion
enough in Egypt to help any of them. He says you're cast out into
the open field where there's no protection, exposed to the
wild beast, exposed to the elements. This is a good description of
us. This is a good description of us by nature. This is how
God sees human nature. It is grotesque. You go back and look at Adam,
if we could, you look at Adam as God made him in the garden
and see us now and what we are by nature and sin. There wouldn't
be any resemblance, would there? There wouldn't be any resemblance. Cast him out to the loathing
of thy person. I thought, you know, that would,
I can't even imagine, I really, I can't imagine, I tried to imagine
this, but I tried to imagine a newborn, when it's born, to be so messed
up, to be so ugly, and so grotesque, that no one would have mercy
on it, and they'd take that child and throw it out in the open
field to die. God said, that's you. He sent a Jerusalem. He sent
His people. That's you. That's us by nature. That's what we are by nature.
And we have to tell that. We're not up here trying to gain
fame. We're up here telling the truth.
Telling the truth on God. Telling the truth on Christ.
Telling the truth on us, ourselves. Cast out. God said to Israel
and Isaiah, he said, you're like a running sore in my sight. That's gross. Like a running
sore in my sight. I know we like to think of ourselves
as unique, intelligent, but that's not the
truth. That is not the truth. We are
sin from head to toe, inside and out. And God said, that's
how you are. He just described us. But I thank God for verse six. Oh, I thank Him for verse six,
because He says in that verse three, or verse two, you make
Jerusalem no more abomination. You tell her this is what she's
like. You say to her that your birth, your nativity, Is there
the land of Cain, your father and mother, they're just heathens? And as for thy nativity and the
day thou was born, your navel was not cut, you're still attached
to that mess. Neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee. No one wanted anything to do
with you. You was not salted at all or
swaddled at all. No eye pitied thee to do any
of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. Christ looked on that crowd that
followed Him, and He fed them. When He fed the five thousand,
do you know what it says? He said, I have compassion on
them. He's had compassion on us too,
hasn't He? That thou was cast out in the
open field to the loathing of thy person, and in the day that
thou was born. I mean, this happened from birth. Born in sin, shaped in iniquity."
He said, this is where you were from birth, from your very get-go. But then verse 6 comes along.
You see, you can't get good news until you hear the bad news.
You really can't. Good news doesn't mean anything
until you hear the bad news. Until you realize, until you
really realize who you are, what you are, where you are, and then
you hear the good news. And it becomes good news, gospel. And when I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, at your worst, at your ugliest, at your
most deformed state, I said, Live, yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. I didn't ask you if you
wanted to live. I didn't ask you why you were
laying in the field. I didn't ask you why they threw you out.
He knows. He said, I said live. Live. Here comes the good news, when
I pass by thee. I'm glad it does not read, when
I pass thee by. Oh, pass me not, O gentle Savior. When I pass by thee, I think
of the woman at the well. He said, I must needs go through
Samaria. Why's that? There is a baby girl
lying in the field, polluted with her blood that no one wants.
She's had five husbands, and the guy she's with now is not
her husband. But I want her. That baby's mine. That baby lying in that field
in Samaria is mine. And I'm going to get her. There's a woman with the issue
of blood. that no one can help, but I can. There's blind Bartimaeus sitting
by the road begging, and everyone keeps passing him by. No one
wants anything to do with that beggar. You don't want anything
to do with a beggar. And if you see a beggar, now most of us,
all of us, is going to have a little twin. You're like, which way,
how can I get, how can I go around this guy? not our Lord. He was looking
for him. There's a beggar lying in the
field up there, polluted in his own blood. He's mine, and I'm
going to get him. He's mine. There's a lame man
sitting by the pool at Bethesda that no one takes notice of.
And the Lord walks up to him, and he asks if he'd be healed. And he said, I have no man to
help me. Here he is lying, polluted in his own blood, polluted in
his own sin, his own wretchedness, his own crippledness, and there's
nothing he can do. But our Lord can. Our Lord purposely walked up
to that lame man, and he said, Stand up. Stand up. The time is love. That time is
love. Stand up. And you know what's
amazing? To show you how dead we are by
nature. Our Lord, this man's been there
for a long time. Lame, trying to crawl down to
that pool of water when it was stirred once a year, so often
by an angel, what it says. And he says somebody else would
jump in. Somebody had less problems. Somebody had less problems than
him would outrun him. And he couldn't get down there. And the Lord said to him, you
rise up, take up your bed and walk. And you don't read of one
sick person, one crippled folk. And he said, many were there.
Many were there. You don't hear one of them say, Lord, would
you heal me too? Lord, would you save me too? You would think
if you were sitting there and you're crippled and you're sick,
Now when he held that one, you'd say, what about me? That's how dead we are. They
couldn't get your eyes off the water. They couldn't get your
eyes off that pool down there and look at the one who can see. There's a leper we heard about
last Wednesday night that no one wants to get close to. But there's one. There is one
that is passing by whose name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he can save you. He can make
you whole. What can he do for such a deplorable,
depraved person like me? What can he do? He can command
life. He can command forgiveness. He
said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. And those Pharisees said,
that's blasphemy. What do you say that for? And
he said, which is easier to say? Well, he said this. He said,
rise up, take your bed, rise up and walk. He said that on
Sabbath day. And they jumped all over him.
The Pharisees jumped all over him. And he said to them, which is
easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or take thy bed, rise up,
and walk? Well, you know what? They're
both easy to say. Both are easy. Both are easy to say. Here's the key. Is he able to
do it? Is he able to forgive me of my
sins? Is he able to command forgiveness?
as well as life, pardon and justification as well as healing. He can make me live, He can clothe
me, and He can make me whole. He can do it. He can do it. It says in John 5.26, Whereas
the father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to
have life in himself. He can command life. He has life
in himself, and he can give life. I want you to notice here how
he repeats himself. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. Yes, yes. You heard me. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, when you were at your worst, when you were at
your ugliest, when you were the most deformed, I said live. Romans 5, 6-8. For when we were yet without
strength, when was that? When we were born. The day we
were born. In due time, at the appointed
time, Christ died for the ungodly. Is there anyone in here that's
ungodly? Christ died for you. Don't call me ungodly. I don't
have any good news for you either. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us that while we were yet sinners,
lying in the field polluted in our own blood, Christ died for
us. We, like that baby, are at the
mercy of God, and I cannot think of a better place to be than
at the mercy of God. He said, No, I pitied thee, but
he did. He did. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen
great and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned,
and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare." This
is how I found you, but this is not the way you are now. I found you naked and bare and
polluted in your blood, but now you're covered in your righteousness.
You're a holy people. You're a holy nation. Only God can take an old body
and make somebody out of it. Only God can make us to truly
prosper. Only God can do that. Only He
can cover our soul nakedness. Now, a man can sew together some
threads and charge you a pretty penny for it and clothe these
old bodies, but only God can clothe the soul. Only he can
make us righteous in his sight. Only he can do it. Now we're given why he said
live. Why did he say live to this baby,
this grotesque being that was cast out into the field, polluted
in its own blood? What a sight! What a sight! Here's why he said it. Here's
why he saved any of us and says it to us. Thy time was a time
of love. How precious is that? Absolutely nothing is said about
this baby doing anything. I'd like to know what a baby
can do. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That baby was so messed up, it
couldn't even attract anyone's love. It didn't attract God's love
by its appearance. That's not what attracted his
love. You know, my appearance and who
and what I am did not attract God's love. God loved because
he loved. He loved me because he loved
me, because he would love me. I'm in an area I can't even explain.
I dive into water I can't even swim in. God's love to his people is only
found in himself, who he is. God is love. He loved that baby
because of who he is. He loves sinners because of who
He is. Now, when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
O the compassion of our Lord, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee. You know what that has to do
with right here, that covenant? A marriage contract. Here's this
baby, polluted in his blood, and he said, I've entered into
a marriage contract. I'm a spouse. You're mine. He espoused us before
the world began. We were his before the world
began. He knew his bride before the
world began. I didn't know mine until I was
20 years old. And then I had to wait and see
if she was going to say yes. She might have said no. He's not
going to say nothing. He's not going to say nothing. I spread my skirt over thee,
cover thy nakedness. I cannot think of a more humiliating
situation than to be stripped naked publicly. Our Lord was on the cross. He said, I covered yours. He was exposed. Ours was covered. And I swear unto thee, I entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. You're mine. You're mine. No one else wanted you. No one
else would adopt you. No one else would have you. But
I will, you're mine." He not only loved this child,
but he did something about it. He did something about his condition.
He said, I spread my skirt over them. One other time that happened.
You remember when Ruth lay at the feet of Boaz? He said, I
spread his skirt over her. He said, I spread my skirt over
thee, and entered into a covenant of marriage
contract. You're mine, you're mine. And
it gets better. It just keeps getting better.
Then washed I thee with water. Yeah, throughly, not just thoroughly. Throughly, that means inside
and out. That means inside and our conduct outside. He said,
I've washed you throughly. I've cleaned you. I've throughly
washed away thy blood from thee. I anointed thee with oil. I anointed
thee with the Holy Spirit, sealed you with the Holy Spirit
of God, washed you from your pollution,
made you holy. and gave you my spirit, put my
spirit within you. And then clothed thee, I'll close
here. I'll give you a break from my
misery. I clothed thee also with broided work, shod thee with
badger skin. I girded thee about with fine
linen." Oh, she's a fine looking lady now, isn't she? Fine looking
lady. I decked thee also with ornaments,
and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck,
and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head, a crown of life." That baby was left for dead. Dead. Well, we're not reading about
somebody dead here, are we? We are reading about someone who
has just grown up and become so beautiful. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and boarded
work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, exceeding,
exceeding beautiful. and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty,
for it was perfect through my comeliness, perfect through my
majesty, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord God." When I read
this, verse 10 down through here, he says, I closed his board at
work and all this that he talks about, I thought this must be
one thing here, the fruit of the Why are you so kind to me? Why do you love me? Because of His Word. Because of Him. Your character,
your kindness, your love. You wasn't like that. No, you'd
have laid out there in that field of blues in your own blood. But,
my, look what He's made you. The Son of God. And you'll notice one thing here.
Let me go over here. Look at verse 15. But thou didst
trust in thine own beauty, and ye played the harlot, and because
of thine renown ye poured out thy fornication on every one
that passed by. And you read that whole chapter
there until you get back to verse 60. I mean, it's bad. It goes back to verse 60. Nevertheless,
I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth
when I found you out there in a field." God is a covenant-keeping
God. He said, I remember the covenant,
the marriage contract I made with you. When I found you out
there in that field, put it in your own blood. And I'll establish
unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy
ways, and you'll be ashamed. That's true repentance. When thou shalt receive thy sisters,
and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy
covenant. I will establish my covenant
with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, that thou
mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any
more because of thy shame." Do you not know what you are
by nature? How many times have I sinned against the Lord this
day? And yet, he's merciful. Here I stand. You're not going to open your
mouth any more because of thy shame when I have pacified toward thee
for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God. He said,
I made a covenant. But I thought of this, and I'll
close. He did all this to every one of his people. were
described here by nature. That's us by nature. And he did
all this knowing that this baby, this sinner, would grow up and
still sin against him again. Yet, it didn't change his love.
It didn't change his mercy. It didn't change his grace. He
foresaw it all. And yet, he said, You're mine. He will not cast his elect off. They are his by election, his
by purchase, his by love, his by covenant. I will not let you
go. Thy time is the time of love. You're mine. You're mine.