The title of our message today
is, An Ugly Nativity Scene. An Ugly Nativity Scene. In verse 3 we've read, Thy birth
and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Again in verse 4,
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born. and the picture given is not
a beautiful one, but rather it's an ugly nativity scene. In verse 6, it turns to a story
of grace where God, as only He can and will, shows mercy. The setting of this is in Babylon,
and Ezekiel, God's prophet, is among the captives carried away
into Babylon. You know that story of that 70
year captivity. Ezekiel is in that. So being
a faithful prophet of God does not exempt him from being among
the ranks of the captives. So much for works religion. No
man can do enough to earn one single favor from God. No man
can do enough to avoid trouble, opposition, sorrow, and heartache
in this world. And the Lord speaks to his prophet
with a message to be delivered. He sent message after message.
And this chapter begins with the word again, which calls attention
to God's patience and long suffering with Judah. They are being preserved
only because the Lord Jesus Christ is in the loins of Judah. That's
the only reason. The Lord says to Ezekiel, remind
them again. Call Jerusalem to know, to consider
her abominations. Now remember, Ezekiel is in Babylon. He's not at Jerusalem. But here
he says, calls Jerusalem to know her abominations. Some have said
that the message was to be delivered back to Jerusalem. But I believe
rather God is addressing his elect here in Babylon as Jerusalem,
the city where God put his name. He is addressing those whose
hearts are truly toward God, the elect. He is addressing a
believing remnant in Judah and calls them Jerusalem. So he says,
calls Jerusalem to know her abominations. So by divine inspiration, Ezekiel
begins in verse three to describe the beginning or the origin of
this people as a nation. And our purpose this morning
is to see In this description, our own condition as individuals
before the Lord in His grace came to our rescue. So we don't
look for anybody else in this. We look for ourselves in this.
Look what he says here in verse 3. 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." Way back before the time of the calling
of Abraham, he was among this outfit. The Amorites and the
Hittites, if you'll study the Old Testament history and follow
them through there, you'll find they were two of the wickedest
ungodliest, cruelest of all people on earth. And here the Lord says,
they were your mammy and pappy. That's where you come from. There wasn't much to you from
the beginning. Now remember, we're looking for
us here. By nature, you were as sorry
as they are. And in our case this morning,
this is not a charge against our immediate parents, but it's
against all our parents, all the way back to Adam, where he
spoke for us in disobedience to God and rebellion against
God. And so in this very ugly nativity scene, he says, in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut." Now, of course,
the umbilical cord was not cut. Of course, this is like a parable
he's giving. It's not literal. The infant,
we read, is cast out into an open field, alive, and the mother
is not there. So if it's a real picture, the
cord must have been cut, but the reference is to the ties
of nature. The Amorite and the Hittite is
still in you. The navel was not cut. Your blood
is their blood. Your mind and your heart is their
filthy mind and wicked heart by nature. The people knew that,
but they needed reminding. We know that about ourselves,
but we need reminding. We're no better by nature than
those we look down on the most. You say, well, why couldn't you
just say nice things to us when you preach? Well, first of all,
I'd run out of material pretty quickly. I mean, I know that. We have a good God. And we have
a precious Christ to preach. But there's not much about us
that's worthy of mention, unless we lie and speak of what
we wish we were, rather than what we are. We're like this people, Amorite
and Hittite, with the navel not cut. We're still pretty much
tied to Adam. He presents a nativity scene,
most ugly to look at. A newborn, just a few hours in
this world. The text says, in the day thou
was born, unwanted, unloved by parents, by relatives or anybody
else. It says this infant was not gently
laid, but was cast out like a piece of trash, alive into the open
field and left to die in just a short time. To die either from
the elements, the cold, the lack of attention, or else to be killed
and devoured by wild animals. It's an ugly scene. No one had cared enough to wash
the blood from the little body with water. And it was customary after the
washing to rub the body with salt for its purifying and drying
qualities. and then wrapped the infant in
swaddling cloth. None of that was done, it says
here. Thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. Totally ignored and unloved. Verse 5 said, None, I pitied
thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion on thee,
unwanted by anyone you were cast in the open field. It's an ugly
scene to the loathing of thy person. It was a sickening sight in the
day that thou was born. Ezekiel is telling this people
of the very impossibility of their survival and existence
as a nation at all. No nation had ever sprung from
such a helpless and hopeless beginning and survived. There was no hope for you. You
were the infant cast out uncared for and dying in the
open field. But the Lord says here in verse
6, And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I say unto thee, When thou
wast in thy blood, live. The Lord is saying, your survival
was not my doing, or not your doing, it was mine. And the Lord
would say that to each of us this morning. We can go back
to our childhood, to the time we were infants. Consider parents, grandparents,
relatives, neighbors, friends, whoever, whatever. It is the arrangement of God.
Your survival was His doing, not yours. My survival was His
doing, not mine. And this is the picture, not
only of Judah, but of every individual child of God. So we want to consider
it in that light for just a few minutes this morning. Physically
speaking, most of us here, I say most, maybe not all, but most
of us here, physically speaking, were never neglected, unloved,
or uncared for in our infancy. Most of us, I'm sure, had gifts
provided before we were even born, little outfits, sleepers,
and blankets, and diapers, and powders, and lotion. It all made
for a beautiful nativity. But because of the sinful nature
of Adam born in us, because of the blood that flowed in our
veins, a nature that is opposed to God and in rebellion against
God, the spiritual nativity scene is not so beautiful. It is very
ugly. So we'll just consider four things
about this. Number one, deserted, deserted. The spiritual picture would be
not just deserted by immediate parents, but by original parents. Adam and Eve, in the transgression
of God's commandment, deserted all his posterity. And by his sin, Not only he,
but we all were cast out of the garden. We were all cast out
into the open field to die from the very day of our birth. There
was absolutely no chance of our survival. Born in sin, born loving
sin, by nature committing sin, live gloating in sin with pride and rebellion against
God all our days, only to perish in our sin and plunge into hell. There was no hope for us spiritually
from our parents. We were cast out, deserted, deserted. Not only deserted, but secondly,
depraved. Spiritually speaking, we could
not and cannot help ourselves. Salvation is of the Lord. We can't say that enough. Now,
the religious world today does not believe that. They are very
active in trying to talk others into becoming Christians. They
talk like it's just about as simple as changing clothes. Just
make that decision. Let Jesus in. But that's not
it. That's not it. Except you be
born again, he said. Something you have nothing to
do with. You cannot see the kingdom of
God. You cannot birth yourself. You're
as helpless as that infant cast out to die. It can't get up. It can't clean itself up. It
can't wash itself. It can't clothe itself. It can't
feed itself. It can't warm itself. That infant
is sure to perish if left to itself. And so it is with every
child of Adam this morning. Because of nature, people cannot,
do not desire, and will not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. deserted
in Adam, depraved in ourselves, and number three, despised. Verse
five said, none I pitted thee. You know, and I know this morning
by nature, no man cares that he's going to hell. He sure don't
care that you're going. The very sight of us, unwashed,
unclothed, like this infant was despicable. It was a sickening
sight, a very ugly nativity scene. Thou was cast out in the open
field to the loathing of thy person. Everybody looked and
shook their head. If I were going to help anyone,
I'd pick somebody in better shape than you. There's no hope for
you. Oh, the truth is, to look at
this ugly scene spiritually, we're but looking in the mirror.
I'm the deserted one. I'm the depraved one. I'm the
despised one. with an ugly heart, every bit
as despicable and disgusting as this ugly nativity scene despised. And number four, and this is
the blessed part, deliverance, deliverance. Verse six, God says,
and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. Notice in this verse, the emphasis,
the Spirit of God places on blood three times. When I pass by thee,
and saw thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. It was the polluted blood,
the sinful blood of Adam, which God found us. Being the children
of Adam, it is said here to be our own blood. God said, when I pass by thee,
I really like that statement. When I passed by thee, he didn't
have to. There was certainly nothing in
you that made him do it. But he delights in passing by,
finding sinners. He passed by Jericho and found
Zacchaeus. He passed by blind Bartimaeus
and gave him sight. He passed by the tax station
and called Matthew the tax collector. When I passed by thee, he didn't have to pass by where
you were. He could have left you in your sin. He could have
left you in that godless mess that you loved and would have
perished in. Just remember back where you
were, what you were, how you lived, and just confess that
you had absolutely nothing to do with changing it. You didn't
want to change it. By nature, men are determined
to go to hell. It's God's doing. And God could
have left you there. But he says, when I passed by
thee, when I passed by thee, not accidentally, not coincidentally,
but deliberately, deliberately, God says it was my purpose. I
made it my business to come. to where you were. And I saw
thee. He could have looked the other
way, like everybody else. But no, he says, I passed by
thee, and I saw thee. And then he says, I spake a word
to thee. I spake a word. We look at people,
hopeless cases, we call them. but not really any more hopeless
than any of the rest of us. And we just shake our head and
say it's no use. They'll never change. Why waste
my breath? May I say God does not waste
his breath. He speaks a word and it's an
effectual word. His word will and always does
accomplish that purpose. where to he sent it. His is an effectual word, and
the word here in verse 6 is live. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thy own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. That's a word of life from life
himself. live. He passes by the dying infant
who can do nothing but die. It's certain to happen in just
a few hours or even minutes. Dying! And God passes by and
speaks a word most contradictory to nature. A word most defying
to natural processes. A word that only God could and
would speak. He says, live. Don't die. Live. All you can do is die, but don't
die. Live. Then he repeats it. Yay. Yes. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. It's miraculous. And so it is
with each of us. God says, when you were cast
out, I took you in. When you were unwashed, I washed
you. When you were unclothed, I clothed
you. When you were unloved, I loved you. When you were unwanted,
I wanted you. When you were uncared for, I
cared for you. When you were one of the many,
many dying infants, the child of no one, I claimed you as mine. And it goes from an ugly nativity
scene to a beautiful family scene. When you were certain to die,
I made you certain to live. I became a father to you. I became
a mother to you. I became a friend to you. I became
a brother to you. I loved you not because you were
lovely, but because that's what a father does, loves his child. I loved you, not because you
were precious in yourself, but because as a mother, you're precious
to me. You're mine. I'll care for you."
So this people in Ezekiel's time and thereafter, you know the
history, they continued in their rebellions against God. A remnant
of them returned from Babylon, a remnant of them was preserved
until the due time for God to bring His Son into the world
through them. That was the very purpose of
their existence. And that being accomplished,
after Christ had came, Leo died, rose again, and ascended. That
being accomplished, in 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed. The
temple was destroyed, that nation dissolved, and never heard of
since. Yes, I know about 1948. I know
about that. But I also know about Romans
2, 28 and 29. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. God's Israel is his people
today, the church. Paul said in Ephesians 2, he
hath made of twain, that is of the two, one body made up of
believing Jew and Gentile. in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know
about John chapter 8. Jesus said to that crowd, if
they was boasting about being Abraham's youngins, and Jesus
said, if you was Abraham's children, you'd believe me like he did. You're not Abraham's children,
but I will tell you whose children you are, and he told them. I know about Galatians 3, 7.
Know you therefore that they which are of faith The same are
the children of Abraham. See, that old nation ceased to
be when God's purpose was fulfilled. Their purpose was to bring Christ
into the world. But then they'd never acknowledge
Him. They'd never bow to Him. I want to bow to Him, don't you?
I want to worship Him while I'm here. I want to identify with
his church and his people in this world. So many we know have
walked away, lost interest, and have determined to live out their
days among the heathen, like the heathen. They've chose to
live like and die like the heathen. And my constant prayer is this
morning, oh God, don't let me go that way. I'm confessing to
you, I'm not above it. And I'm telling you, you're not
above it. Turn your back on God. But my prayer is remind me, oh
Lord, remind me often as this infant, who I was and what I
was, dying, helpless, hopeless, cast out into the field to perish.
But you loved me. You passed by. You picked me
up. You cleaned me up. You dressed
me up. And I want to praise you for
it forever." An ugly nativity scene turned
beautiful. But God, that's the answer. That's
always the answer. But God, you can tell me all
about your problems, troubles today and what all you're facing. And I can tell you mine and we'd
probably be successful in taking each other pretty low. But the
answer is for you and for me, but God, in the middle of it
all, But God, bless His holy name, He loves, passes by, picks
up, cleans up, and cares for His people. And He'll do it from
now on. Oh, what in the world are we
going to do? This country is getting in such an awful shape.
She's been in an awful shape a long time before you got here. Say, but it's getting worse.
Yeah, but it's not getting too bad for God. He's still God. He is still God. Thank you. Let's
stand together.