Well, God has been pleased to
give us another new year and to me that means that God still
has a work for us to do. That means that God still has
sheep that he's going to bring into his fold. I'm convinced
that when the last saint is called by the gospel. God's going to
wrap this thing up. It's going to be over with. And
he may call one of us home today. And I'm not much on titles for
messages, but I suppose that if I was going to title this,
I would say, God give me a new heart for the new year. And if
you'll turn with me to the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament,
it's right after Lamentations. Jeremiah, Lamentations, and then
I believe Ezekiel chapter 36. And just hold it there for a
moment. Let me say that my greatest desire
for you who are yet without Christ. For this new year is that God
would take, gather, and bring you to Christ, and give you a
new heart. To those whom He calls us to
repent, worship at His feet, seeking for forgiveness, This
is exactly what God promises. Now, if you'll look at, first
of all, look at verse 22 of Ezekiel 36 with me. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do this I do not this, I don't do this
for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake,
which you've profaned among the heathen, whither you went." Now
listen, this is a familiar ring of the bell that you're going
to hear right now, but there is absolutely nothing in us,
you or I, that would cause God to be kind, gracious, or even
mindful of us. Nothing in any of us. We're nothing
but sin. There's absolutely nothing that
causes us to merit even a look from God Almighty. much less
salvation by his son. The love, grace, mercy, long-suffering,
salvation of God are for one reason and one reason only, and
God says, for my own sake. You know what that means? That
means God gets all the glory. He gets all the honor, all the
praise. God saves sinners for his own
namesake. And friends, it's for Christ's
sake. God loves Christ and He only
loves us in Him. You see, in Christ, mercy and
grace are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other only in Christ. Every blessing that we receive
of God, whether it's temporal or eternal, whether it's physical
or spiritual, is not on the account of anything deserving or worthy
in us. We all deserve death. We all
deserve condemnation. We all deserve God's wrath. And
to say that we're worthy or worth anything gives some credit to us in the
salvation of our souls, does it not? If we say one good thing
or that God's salvation is based upon one thing that we've done,
it's to say that we are deserving in somehow or some shape and
form. True unworthiness. true unworthiness. And the fact
that we deserve nothing of the grace of God is what truly makes
our salvation sovereign grace. Can we see that? God didn't have
to save us. Not obligated. If He passed us
all by and sent us all to hell, He'd still be holy, just, and
righteous. That's right. To those who say
that doesn't sound fair, you better get ready to deal with
an unfair God. It pleased God to save sinners. Our God's in the heavens, and
He's done what? Whatsoever He's pleased. So if He saved sinners,
it must have pleased Him to do so. In these next few verses, we
have some precious promises. And they're from God, by God,
to His people. And in the context of these verses,
God is speaking to and of the nation of Israel. But never ever
forget that Israel in the Scriptures represents God's chosen people
in the Scriptures throughout. Their rebellion is a picture
of our rebellion towards God. His grace and mercy towards Israel
is a picture of His grace and mercy towards us in Christ. So
though these words are addressed to the house of Israel, they're
for God's people. See, not all that are Israel
of Israel are Israel. All those that truly trust Christ
and Him alone are the true Israel of God. and you remember these wondrous
things that god gives his people and you remember what i said
in the beginning there for his holy namesake there for christ's
sake and these amazing wondrous miraculous things of sovereign
grace that god promises us in christ is exactly they're in
christ no other way you can't You can't achieve them. You can't
work for them. You do not deserve them. They're
tokens of God's grace in what Christ done for us. Now, the
first thing we see in verse 24, I want you to notice three words
in this passage in the beginning. It's God takes, God gathers,
and God brings. He says, For I will take you
from among the heathen. and gather you out of all countries,
and will bring you into your own land." Now, there are two
other words that I'd have you notice here. And they're used
in all of the following promises of this text. And they're certain
and for sure because of these two words, these promises are,
I will. I will. all the inhabitants of
the earth are nothing reputed as nothing and god do it according
to his will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the
earth and none none can stay his hand are saying to him what
do you do what do you say god says i will i will and when god
almighty says i will friends he will you can count on it He will. But there's none that
can stay His hand. There's none that can say, what
are you doing? When God says in verse 24 that He'll take you
from the heathen, He will. When He says that He'll gather
His people out of all countries, He will. And when God says that He'll
bring His elect into a new land which belongs to them, He shall.
That's just that simple. There's no guessing. There's
no wondering. There's no pondering. I wonder
if he said I will. And any God that can say I will
and cannot is no God at all. When he says he will, he will
every time. Oh, the saving, sovereign, omnipotent
grace of God almighty. He fetches the beggar from the
dunghill. He fetches the poor out of the
dust. And you know what He does with
them? He sets them among princes. That's exactly what He does.
And I don't find anywhere in that verse of 1 Samuel 2, verse
8, where anything or any of those things are dependent upon the
sinner. God does it. I will. I will. And they shall. The second thing
I'd have you notice is only Christ can cleanse you from your sin.
Only one way. Only one way. Look at verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean. There again we see those definite
words of God Almighty. Then will I or then I will sprinkle
and what? Ye shall be clean. That's a sovereign
God. You shall be clean from all your
filthiness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you. Now this
promise of God deals with sin and it deals with sin because
sin broke the first covenant and ruined us all. That's exactly
what Adam did as our federal head. Sin must be removed before
there can be a covenant relationship with God, before it can be reestablished
and reconciliation can be made with God Almighty. You see, sin
to the awakened sinner, one whom God has opened his eyes, it's
his burden. It's his misery. It's a horror
to him. It's a nightmare that haunts
him day and night, and he can never escape from it. The believer
hates the sin within him. Does he continue to sin? Unfortunately,
yes. Sin is what we are. It's not
what we do. One day, God's going to give
me, as we discussed in Sunday school, a sinless, glorified
body. And I'll be like Him. I can't
even imagine now. I've never had a pure thought.
Never done a good deed. One day. One day. You see, like the psalmist David,
the chosen sinner, cries, my sin's ever before me. And it
is. It's ever before me, even when
sin is forgiven. And it is in Christ. The believer
has no sin. But where sin is forgiven, the
memory of it haunts a man all the days of his life. But God says, then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. I believe this text most definitely
implies that God does not wait until sinners are clean before
He bestows His love and His grace upon them. Doesn't He? He doesn't wait until they have
saved themselves. and then come to them with some
kind of insignificant salvation, and that's what it would be.
No, sir. God does not make promises
of purification, sanctification to sinners upon the condition
that they clean themselves. He comes to them according to
the riches of His grace, even when they're dead. and trespasses
and sins. And He finds in all their defiled
depravity, all their robust rebellion and iniquity. That's where He
finds them, in that. And He deals with them just as
they are, just as I am. O Lamb of God, come save me. Lord Jesus saved sinners. May
we never forget that. He saved sinners. I'm so glad
that He saved sinners. If it said He saves good folks,
I have no chance of salvation because sin is what I am. God's love comes to worthless
yet chosen sinners who have no degree of merit in themselves. Why, he stoops to the ruin of
the fall and lifts us up from the dunghill. I don't need to
tell you what a dunghill is, do I? I'll tell you it stinks. And that's where you and I are
without Christ, were without Christ. And these are simple
words. The gospel is not a hard thing, and yet it's impossible unless
God shows it to you. Preaching the gospel ought to
be done in a way that it could be understood by the youngest
child that has any kind of Vocabulary at all and our Lord and our God
and scriptures doesn't use big long complicated words These
are simple words. I Will sprinkle or then will
I Sprinkle clean water upon you And ye shall be clean Now, the problem is, do we believe
it? Do we believe it? I know we can
understand those words. Those aren't big, hard words.
Do we believe it? I'll tell you this much. If you're
a child of God, you don't need to look for anything good in
yourselves when you come to God, because you won't find anything. you are to come just as you are.
Regardless of how filthy, how enslaved you've been by your
idols, regardless of how much your own heart condemns you,
you are to come to Christ on the merit of His doing. We come to Him with sovereign
grace. Now we use that term very frequently, and we're to approach
Him as sinners, That means without any other qualification. That's
what sovereign grace is. God determined to save you who
deserve nothing but death. God determined it. It begins
with God and God alone. It's done by God. It's accomplished
by God. What must I do? Nothing. You
can't do anything. Bow. Believe. And if God shows
you your sin, truly shows you your sin, you will. You will. Oh, the simple words here. One
day, by God's grace, I heard them. Sometimes you don't act like
a man that's heard them, but I did. He said, I'll sprinkle
clean water upon you. And he did. And I was clean. We come to Christ for this cleansing. And this salvation begins with
us while we're yet in our sins. He doesn't wait until He spies
out some good in us while He'd never see it. He doesn't wait until He sees
some sound health in the patient, we're covered with leprosy. Eat
up with it, the leprosy of sin. Christ came when we were completely
covered with leprosy from head to foot. There's not one sound
cell in our bodies. When the great physician comes
and makes the leprous one clean, eat up. And isn't that speech plain enough? God makes the promises of his
covenant to those who are unclean, unfit for fellowship with him. He speaks of their filthiness
here. And he says, and you shall be
clean. All their filthiness. Friends,
we're not just got a little dirt on us. that god picks us up and
brushes us off and says okay now you're clean again no no
no you shall be clean clean from
all your idols and we've got a bunch of them They must be put out of the way.
He says, I'll sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall
be clean. He doesn't say you're clean and therefore you may come
to me. Is that what this says? It says I'll come to you and make
you clean. That's the order of salvation,
isn't it? I believe that's right. I believe
that's the order of salvation. I did the sinning. God did the
saving. Salvation is of the Lord, not me and then the Lord. It's not something I start and
the Lord finishes it and completes it. Salvation begins with God's
choosing. That's why I don't believe you
can preach Christ and the salvation of sinners without preaching
God's election. It began with God before the
foundation of the world. He chose some folks and he sent
Christ to save them. How can a man say, I made a decision,
I decided to follow Jesus? The only decision made was made
before this world was ever hung on its axis. for it ever floated
perfectly in space. While he, in his appointed time
of love, he, in his providence, crossed my path with the preaching
of the gospel. I wasn't seeking God. I wasn't
going from church to church trying to hear something. God put me
there on purpose and called me by His grace. I didn't have a
thing to do with it. I can remember most of my life
just couldn't wait till church was over. And I'm not going to
fault myself because nobody told me anything worth hearing. God called me by His grace. He
revealed Christ to me and in me by the power of His own sacrificial
work. I saw that I could do nothing,
but Christ did for me what I couldn't do for myself. Oh, can you see
it, dear sinner? Can you look there on Calvary
and see God in the flesh dying for your sin? If you can, God's
shown you something. And it's by His grace. He protects me. He keeps me.
He causes me to endure. If God saved me, I'm not going
anywhere. And it's because of him, not
me. What the hymn writer wrote, I'm prone to wonder, Lord, I
feel I'm prone to leave the God I love. If God doesn't keep me
in his hand, I'm gone. And yet, no man can pluck me
from his hand. Now, there may be one here this
morning who says within themselves, well, Brother David, I understand
what you're saying and I'm not fit to be here. I'm not fit to
even hear these words. I'm not fit to even lift my eyes
to where His honor dwells. You know what I'd say to you?
Then you're not far from the Kingdom of God. You're not far. You see, that's where God finds
you. That's where God brings you. Right there, and it's right
there in that sad condition and state that the covenant of grace
comes. Our Redeemer comes to us in our
very worst state. So if you've seen, if you've
gotten as one old preacher used to say, a whiff of yourself,
you're in a good place. Oh, you say in my heart, I hear
the words ring loud. Well, an old publican once was
given the same words. And he was in the same condition
as you are, if you feel this way. And he also, he stood afar
off. He said, I'm not worthy. I'm
unfit. And it says he wouldn't even
so much lift his eyes to heaven. Can you see him there at the
back of the church, back of the synagogue, the temple, whatever
you want to call it? And there he stands, off away
from everyone, his head's down, he's just, oh, beating on his
chest. And he says these words, This
is his prayer. This is his desire. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Friends, if God's brought you
to that point, that's a good place to be. Good place to be. He says, I'll sprinkle clean
water on you. Third thing, and I'll try to
be brief, God gives us a new heart and He puts a new spirit
in His people. And it's for Christ's sake. It's because God gave that sinner
to Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ came, condescended,
became flesh without sin, And he not only died for sinners,
friend, he lived for sinners. I think we overlook that too
often. He lived perfectly in my stead. He never once got mad about anything,
unless it was righteous indignation, like in the temple when the money
changers and all. He never had a bad thought, and
I've never had a good one. when he was tempted of Satan
in the wilderness. He, standing as a man in my and
your place, said, it is written. He could have done anything that
he was tempted to do, but he didn't because you and I couldn't.
Can we see that? When he stood before Pilate,
and Pilate said, don't you know that I've got the power? Do you
hear what they're saying against you? And he said, he spoke not
a word. He answered not a word. And when
he did speak, he said, you say that I am. You know why? Gary
Borders was standing before Pilate. David Edmondson, Tyler Richards,
James Richards. All those that are in Christ,
whom Christ died for, he was standing in their place. And
we were guilty. We deserved the death and the
condemnation. And I'll never forget that Christ
not only died for us, but he lived for us. And he laid down
his life. Man. He laid it down. Didn't nobody take it. It was
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. In other
words, God did it. You want to talk about sovereign
grace, you talk about that. God nailed him to that cross. It was by the wicked hearts of
men, but it was by the determined counsel of God Almighty. Well,
I'm getting off my notes. Verse 26, a new heart. That's what I need. If I'm ever to be reconciled
to God, I need a new heart. And notice the words, 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 out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh. Now I want you to consider just
for a moment this with me. I got to thinking about this
in the light of this text, and I thought about those fallen
angels that Jude speaks of in verse 16 of the one chapter that
he wrote, which says, And the angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved an everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. God
didn't have any mercy upon those angels that left their first
estate, none. He created them pure and holy
and yet they willfully rebelled. And they followed Satan, Lucifer,
whatever you want to call him, the star of the morning, who
said, I'm going to ascend above the throne of God. I'm going
to dethrone God. I'm going to be my own God. And
they followed him in willful rejection. And friends, that's
exactly what Adam did. That's exactly what Adam did. Adam said, I'm going to be my
own God. God, without a single promise
of mercy, bound those angels fast into everlasting chains
to abide in eternal torment. I bring this up only because
that same Almighty God who destroyed the The rebel stoops from his
highest throne in glory, and he speaks here to chosen, depraved
sinners. And you know what he says, Marcella? He says, we'll give you a new
heart. We'll give you a new heart. As I said, Adam is our representative
and federal head. He fell and rebelled against
God just as the angels. He turned his back on God and
he spit in God's face. Eve was deceived. Adam sinned
with his eyes wide open. And fallen man has gone astray
from God's ways ever since. And yet God says, not for thy
sake do I do this, but for my own name's sake. For my son,
for my son's sake, behold, I'll undo the mischief, the sin that
man did at his own hand. I'll take away that heart which
has rebelled since the day it began to beat in the mother's
womb. I'll take it away. I'll undo
it. And God having made man once perfect and holy, Adam's rebellion
unmade what God had made. Here's the gospel now. Let me
leave this with you. This is the gospel. The merciful
God of the universe says to those He chose before the foundation
of the world, I'm going to make you over again. I'm going to
make you new again. I'm going to give you a new heart.
I'm going to put a new spirit within you. And you're going
to be perfect. You're going to be perfect. And
I'm going to do this for the sake of my glorious Son who loved
you and gave Himself for you. I'm going to take away that stony
heart and I'm going to give you a heart that beats after God. I'm going to give you a new spirit
and I'm going to put that spirit into you. Is it not a wonder
of divine sovereignty and of infinite grace that God would
do so? Those mighty angels would be
cast into the fire forever and yet God had made a covenant with
man to renew him and restore him. What a marvelous gospel. What a marvelous God. What a
great and marvelous Savior. Now notice this, our text doesn't
say God does not promise to, He doesn't promise to improve
us. to improve our nature. It doesn't
say that He'll mend our broken hearts, though He does. It says
He gives us a new one. He gives us new hearts. He gives
us right spirits. You see, we're too far gone to
be mended. We're too far gone. It's not
like a house that just needs a little repair. It's not a house
with just a few little problems here and there. My oldest son
and I decided one time we were going to flip houses. Let me
tell you, we got flipped. Boy, the more you dug into that
house, the more you found wrong with it. And that's the way it
is with us. We're not missing just a few
shingles. The whole roof is falling in.
We don't just have a little drywall cracked or a little tile needs
to be replaced. We're eating up. With the worms
and the termites and the bugs, we're just corrupt. We're rotten
throughout. The very foundation is given
in. It's been eaten by the worm. The roof, from the top of the
roof to the lowest foundation, no soundness at all in it. It's
all rotten, ready to fall. And God does not determine to
mend. or reconstruct the walls, not
even repaint the door. He doesn't desire to spruce it
up so that it passes inspection, for see, he himself is the strict
code enforcer. And it's got to appease him.
And he says, it's got to be perfect. God determines that that old
house be entirely swept away. Tear it down. Tear it down. And He does. Did He not tear
you down? Do you remember? Our house too far gone to be
mended. From the sole of the foot, even
unto the head, there's no soundness. The wounds, bruises, putrefying
sores, they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. That's the picture of our house.
You see, to give a man a new heart and a new spirit, that's
God's work. Only God can do that. It's the
kind of heart operation that can only be done by the great
physician. Now you consider this with me
and I'm done. salvation from beginning to end. We who know Christ have seen
the truth, especially when we come here to this particular
part of salvation, and that's the making of a new heart. That's God's work. How can a man give himself a
new heart? Really, seriously. Now, men today are able to do amazing things. Well,
they can even do heart transplants. Sometimes they're successful,
sometimes they're not. But men do replace other men's
hearts. Well, 50 years ago, it was unheard
of. But have you ever heard of a
heart surgeon who transplanted his own heart? You see what I'm getting at?
It's way beyond the power of man to replace his own heart. And it's the same spiritually,
friends. To make the matter more difficult
than that is the fact, how can a dead man replace his own heart? It can't be done. It's impossible. With man, it's impossible, but
with God, what? All things are possible. And
it's ridiculous to think that it's possible, isn't it? Me operate
on myself and, you know, put in a new heart and even more
so to think that a dead man can do it. But let me tell you something,
and I say this in sincere sadness, that is exactly what many preachers
preach every time they stand to speak. Even now, as we meet
together, a preacher's telling somebody that you can do something
to be saved. That you can replace your own
heart. You can make yourself better. You can go right, turn
right and go straight. You can clean up the outside
and somehow or another make the inside new. You can't do it. It's utterly impossible with
man, but not with God. And those who are yet without
Christ, they need a heart transplant. And only God can give it. Only
Christ, the great physician, can accomplish it. The question
is, to those of you that are yet without Christ, do you desire
a new heart? Do you want one? You know what,
if you do, you know what Matthew 7 says, verses 7 and 8, it says,
and it shall be given. You seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened." Do you desire a new heart? It's
God's good pleasure to give you one. You say, well, I thought
you believed in sovereign grace. I do. You wouldn't have the desire
if God didn't give it. May God help us to seek Him for
all things. And may God be pleased to bring
other sheep into the fold.