Ezekiel chapter 16. I want to
read the passage of Scripture that you're likely to be somewhat
familiar with and I'll depart from the usual manner of preaching
this morning expounding upon a passage of Scripture. I want
to speak to you on a specific subject that will in chapter 16 of Ezekiel
will be introduced and to our minds, and I want you to start
thinking about this from verse one. It says,
again, the word of the Lord came unto me, that is, to Ezekiel,
saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and
say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem. God would have
us to know our condition, wouldn't he? Tell them their abomination. and describe them this way. Thy
birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan, a godless
land. It's not just that you do bad
things. Your birth. You was born evil, David said,
and sin did my mother conceive me. Your birth and your nativity
is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and
thy mother an Hittite, people cursed by God. And as for thy
nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not
cut, neither wast thou washed in water, to suckle thee. Thou
wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee
to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon
thee." He begins to describe them as a baby, a little baby
that's in terrible condition. In verse 5, "'None eye pitied
thee, To do any of these things unto thee to have compassion
on thee, but on the contrary, thou wast cast out in the open
field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast
born. And when I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, and that's our condition,
we're polluted in our blood, aren't we? In our blood. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. And 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, loathsome, and vile,
and wretched, and dead. But now beautiful, excellent, adorned,
and alive. Why? I have caused thee, verse
7, I have caused thee to come to this. Thy breast are fashioned,
thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when
I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. And I spread my skirt over you,
It covered your nakedness. Yea, I swore unto you and entered
into a covenant with you. Sayeth the Lord God, and thou
becamest mine. We know from the word of God
that those who are his have always been his. But there was a day
also when you became his. I don't even know what that day
is. Do you? Can you point back to a day?
Does it make any difference what day it was? I know this. What
King Solomon said in his song, my beloved's mine and I'm his.
I'm his. Now last Sunday I spoke to you
from the book of Isaiah chapter 55 on the subject of sinners
coming to Christ. You recall the text there, ho,
everyone that thirsteth. Come, come ye to the waters."
And we talked about how God Almighty addressed those words to the
sinner, and the word come, the command to come, was put forth. Come ye to the waters. Christ
said, I'm the water of life. He said, come unto me if you're
thirsty, when he stood on this earth. So we preached on coming
to Christ. The title of my message this
morning is Christ Coming to Sinners. The message of the Scriptures
to sinners, clearly, is come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone
that's thirsty. Are you laboring or heavy laden?
Christ said, come unto me. Come unto me. All you that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Christ is the answer
to every problem you have. Every problem. Physical, earthly,
and spiritual. your sin problem. You need to,
you must, and we impress upon sinners the necessity and the
urgency of coming to Christ. I've said to you many times,
more than you need your next breath, you need Christ. Whether
you ever breathe again or not is really not that important.
You need Christ more than you need that breath. If you have
Him, you don't need that breath anymore. You don't need it. If he gives it, great. I'll breathe
it in. If he doesn't, that'd be fine,
too. But without Christ, you have nothing but the damnation
and wrath of God. Worse than you need your next
meal. You say, well, I've got to go to work in the morning.
You may or may not go to work in the morning, but you've got
to have Christ. Come to Christ. That's the message of Scripture.
Close with Christ do eternal business with the Son of God.
He says come let us reason together What about Lord you sins your
sins are scarlet? But they'd be white as snow If
you come come to Christ come to Christ Got to do business
with the Son of God the scriptures are also clear about something
else the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 6 verse 65 No man can
come unto me. Did he say that or not? No man
can come unto me. Let me illustrate this. The Lord
Jesus Christ stands outside of the grave of his friend Lazarus. Now everybody knows that a dead
man can't come out of the grave. He can't do it. And yet the Lord
Jesus Christ says, Lazarus, come. come forth. That's the gospel
call. You're dead in trespasses and
sin, and you can't come to Christ. And yet he bids you come. Well,
what's the answer then? That seems to be a contradiction.
Is salvation by you coming to Christ or by Christ coming to
you? The answer is yes. But we know what happens first,
don't we? A dead man's not coming to the Lord Jesus Christ till
Christ gives him life. That little baby laying out in
the field, dead as a hammer, in its blood, polluted in its
blood, and Christ... How do you know it was dead?
Because of what God said to him. You don't have to say, live,
to somebody that's already alive. Lay in there dead. And he said,
the time was the time of love. And I said, until you live. Only
God can say that with any meaning, because He's the giver of life,
physical and spiritual. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, No man can come unto me except... The believers in Christ
are the divine exceptions, except the Father which sent me, drawing,
drawing. And we see in the case of Saul
of Tarsus that the Lord Jesus Christ came and openly displayed
his distinguishing grace upon a man that wasn't seeking him.
The Lord Jesus singled him out and came where he was and saved
that man. He singled him out. It's distinguishing
grace. And so salvation is by Christ coming to you. And
then you come to Christ. Turn to John chapter 9. We see
that here in John chapter 9. And verse 1. In John chapter 9, it says, As
Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind. Do you see the
paradox there? He saw a man that couldn't see. That's what he did for me. He
looked on me. Salvation wasn't by me looking
on him, although I did. But he had to look on me that
was blind and open my eyes. And his disciples, he saw a man
which was blind from his birth. His disciples said, Master, who
did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus
answered, Neither hath this man sin or his parents, but that
the works of God should be manifest in him. What works of God? The
work of salvation, the work of his glory in saving sinners. They're going to be manifest
in this. He said, I must work the works of him that sent me
while it's day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the
world. And when he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made
clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with
the clay. Never are we told that this blind
man saw Christ. That would be ridiculous. Never
did he cry out or seek him. The Lord Jesus Christ went over
to him and spat on the ground and made clay and put it on his
eyes and spoke to him and said, You go wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation sin. And he went his way therefore
and washed and came seeing. Is that what happened to you?
The Lord saw a blind man and had mercy on him. And because
he did, I can see. I can see the glory of Christ.
I can see the truth of his gospel. I can see the very glory of God
in the face of the Savior because he opened my eyes. Turn to Luke
chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 and verse 30. Jesus answering said a certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho from the city of peace
to a place of curse. God cursed the city of Jericho.
And he fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment and
wounded him and departed leaving him half dead. And by chance
there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him
he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite when he
was at the place came and looked on him. And passed by on the
other side, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he
was, and saw him. And he had compassion on him,
and he went to him. You see, he did. He saw him. He had compassion on him. He
went to him. He came where he was. He bound
up his wounds. He poured in oil and wine. He
set him on his own beast. He brought him to an end, and
he took care of him. Is that your testimony? John chapter 11. Turn there with
me, please. John chapter 11. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
Martha, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe this? That's a
good question, isn't it? You see, faith is not believing
in God. Faith is believing God. Believing
the record concerning his son. John said, this is the record
that God has given us eternal life, and this life's in his
son. Do you believe that? Do you believe
the record that God has given concerning his son? She saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
son of God. Which should come into the world.
I believe you're the one that God has prophesied of through
his prophets and pictured in the types and ceremonies and
in the law all through his word. I believe you're that one. And
when she had so said she went her way and called Mary her sister
secretly saying this. The master is come. He's calling
for you. As soon as she heard that, as
soon as Mary heard that the Master was calling for her, what did
she do? She arose quickly and came to Him. That's salvation
right there. Martha came to Mary with a message,
didn't she? This language here describes
our experience when we, for the first time, actually hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. When we actually hear with ears
of faith the message of the Savior, we hear the gospel of redeeming
grace. Somebody gives us a message,
and the message is this. What was the message last week?
The Master has come, and He's calling for you. Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, let Him come. He's calling for you. The Master
came to this earth to redeem sinners like us. That's why He
came here now. He didn't come here to be a good
example for people or to teach people how to live. 1 Timothy
1.15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He didn't
come here to make your life better, to make things easier for you.
He came to save sinners. He came to save His people. And
Paul said, I'm the biggest one. I'm the chief. He came to save
me." The Master comes to us in the preaching of the gospel.
His message of love and grace to sinners is proclaimed, and
we hear of His coming. We hear of His coming to shed
His blood. We hear of His coming to live
in perfect righteousness and holiness before God on behalf
of a people. We hear of His grace in saving
His people from their sins. And then the master one day comes
in effectual grace. Effectual. What does that word
mean? I don't want to use words that
you can't understand. I'm not speaking in Latin or
some foreign language up here. Effectual just means it gets
the job done. His blood got the job done. What
did he shed it for? To save sinners, to wash sins
away. It got the job done. We have
obtained eternal redemption In Christ, once for all, our brother
read. He has cleansed us from our sin
once for all. He has sacrificed himself for
sins, for my sins, for the sins of his people. And whoever he
shed that blood for, their sins are gone, whoever they are. Now
he comes to us in effectual grace through the preaching of the
truth, and he speaks to the heart of his sheep. And when he comes,
he does what Martha said to Mary there, he's calling for you.
He said, my sheep hear my voice, I call them by name. And they
hear my voice and they come. They're just, that's so simple.
He calls in grace to the sinner. He calls you to come to him and
reason with him with regard to the cleansing of your sin. Though
your sins be as scarlet They shall be as white as snow, though
they be red like crimson, they'll be like wool." That's what his
blood does. Come, let us reason. He calls
you to repent of your wicked ways and thoughts. And my thoughts
are not your thoughts, he said. He calls you to faith in himself.
He calls you like he called to Thomas. You remember doubting
Thomas? And he says, Thomas, reach hither
your finger, and behold my hands. and reach hither thy hand and
thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing."
Has he called you that way? Come here, Thomas. See my hands
and my side? Be not faithless. That's what
the Master does. He calls for us, and when the
Master calls for us, He comes to us and calls for us. We'll
do what Mary did. Every time when she heard that
she arose quickly, she came to Him. Isn't that right? So is
salvation Him coming to you or you coming to Him? Yeah, it is.
That's right. He comes to me and calls and
has mercy on me. Gives me life. Raises me from
the dead. Heals me of that incurable disease
of sin. And says, come to me. And I do.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. They follow me. So we often exhort sinners, follow
Christ. And indeed, God's sheep do follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. But wonder of wonders, the wonder
of God's grace in Christ. Have you ever seen the Lord Jesus
Christ following a sinner? We say sinners follow Christ.
Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. In verse 18, a man came to the Lord Jesus
Christ and said, Have mercy, my daughter is grievously sick. Verse 18 says, While he yet spake
these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and
worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but you come
and you lay your hand on her and she'll live. He knew who
that was, didn't he? This is the one that can give
life. He can give it or withhold it at his sovereign pleasure.
But Lord, if you will, if you'll come and lay your hand on her,
she'll live. And Jesus arose and followed
him. Followed him. Why? To have mercy
on him. To do what he asked. To have
mercy on that man by raising his daughter from the dead. The
Lord Jesus Christ followed that sinner. He'd been following me
since I was born. Did you know that? What did David
say in Psalm 23? Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Why? Because he followed me. That word means pursue. The goodness
and mercy of God in Christ has been pursuing me since the day
I was born. And he doesn't pursue all your
life because he has trouble catching you. No, no. No, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
more anxious to save you than you are to be saved. Did you
know that? If you're His. If you're His sheep. You can't
get away from His mercy even though, even if you could. And if you would, you could.
If you could get away from it, you would. I mean, by nature. We're self-destructive, aren't
we? We're running from God. We're not looking for Him. The
idea that we found Him, I found it, they say, you know. I don't
know what it is. You didn't find anything until
He found you. No, He secretly and graciously
follows us with His presence of favor and love. He provides
for us like Gomer provided for Hosea. when she didn't even know
it was him. He's secretly guiding us and
he goads us like he did Saul. Before Saul ever met the Master,
when Christ came to him, he said, is it hard for you to kick against
the goads? The Lord Jesus Christ had been
guiding him and leading him and bringing him to the place of
repentance and faith in him already before he ever even spoke to
him in a voice that he could hear. And He does that when it's
necessary. He goads us and brings us to
that appointment, to that place and time wherein He would reveal
to us the glorious truth that He's been pursuing us all along.
He's been watching. He's been watching over us. As
we might go into our children's bedroom, I go sometimes when
they're sleeping at night and just go look at them. You ever
do that? I just want to see if they're alright. Just kind of
watch over them. You know, everything's good.
They're sleeping peacefully. The Lord's been watching you
like that if you're His sheep. Before I formed you in the belly,
He said to Jeremiah, I knew you. I knew you. And we thought we were doing
well on our own, but now we see that everything that we've ever
had, all that we have, all of the preserving grace that we've
experienced in our lives, we were invincible in God's purpose.
Not by our own strength, but because God would not allow any
real harm to come to me before that time of love. God's not
going to let me go. He's going to pursue me. The
time of love there in Ezekiel 16, it doesn't mean that he begins
to love us then. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. But there comes a time when his
great, eternal, infinite love is revealed to us. That's the
time of love in my experience. I see the love of God in Christ,
and I know what love is now. I know what it is. When Adam
and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden and found themselves
in a state of fear and foolishness and shame, who came to whom then? In Genesis chapter 3, verse 7,
turn there with me. Let's take the time to see this
through the Scripture this morning. The grace, the pursuing grace
of God in Christ coming where the sinner is. Verse seven, the
eyes of them both were opened to Adam and Eve. They knew that
they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and they
made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. Was Adam looking for God? Or
did God find Adam? Adam was hiding from God, and
so were you. So was Saul. So was everybody that he ever
found, hiding from God Almighty. But nevertheless, the Lord God
called unto Adam and said, Adam, where are you? Where are you?
And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was scared.
I was afraid. I sinned against you. And you
told me I was going to die. You coming to kill me? You think
he was thinking that? God said, in the day you eat
thereof, you're dead. You're dead. But he didn't come
to kill him, did he? He came to show him that by the
death of another, an innocent victim, Adam could live. Adam
could have favor and fellowship with God. Oh, my goodness. He said, I was afraid because
I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you you
were naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree wherever I commanded
thee? that thou shouldest not eat." What's he doing there?
He's reasoning with Adam and Eve. Come, let us reason together. Who told you you were naked,
Adam? Who told you? Have you eaten
of that tree I told you not to eat? You see? Reasoning with
him about what? His sin and how his sin could
be put away. He goes on to tell him of the
woman's seed that's going to crush the serpent's head. That
serpent that beguiled you and deceived you. And you listen,
too. The Son of God is going to come
and crush his head. And he told him of that one that's
coming, the promise of the Redeemer. So God comes in reasons with
Adam. He did that for me. He did that
in grace. And he asked questions that caused
Adam to think about what had happened. Adam didn't strap that
fig leaf on and then go on a search for God. Sinners today who don't
know the Savior in exactly the same condition as Adam was then.
They're afraid of God, they're hiding from God, and they're
utter fools before God, thinking that they can hide behind a tree
from God Almighty, thinking they can hide behind something that
they did, a man-made apron of some kind to cover their guilt.
Fools before God and guilty, guilty. That's why we're hiding
from Him. We're guilty and we know it. And we're in the same condition.
And who's going to come to whom? Are you going to look for God
by nature? How are sinners going to learn
better than to fashion for themselves a covering for their shame? How
are sinners going to hear about the one who will crush the head
of the enemy that tempted them to sin against God? How are sinners
going to know, like Abel did, that God can still be approached
and worshipped, though we're banished from his presence and
favor, from his garden? that he can still be worshipped
and approached, and sinners can be accepted in the blood of a
God-ordained sin offering. How's Abel going to know that?
Sinners are being bidden to call upon the name of the Lord. That's
right. And you will call upon his name. But before you call
on his name, he's going to call your name. Adam, where are you? Where are you? Let's reason together
about this. Instead of me throwing you in
hell where you belong. You ready to reason with God?
Who can picture dead sinners better than a dead sinner? Lazarus. That's what he was. He was a
dead sinner. And the Lord Jesus Christ came to his grave and said, take the stone away.
Lazarus, come forth. Take the stone. Christ has got
to come to your grave, your grave of sin and rebellion against
Him. You're dead in trespasses and sins. And there's a stone
laying on that grave. There's an obstacle between you
and Him who is life. Christ said, take that stone
away. What is it? Your sins have separated between
you and your God. And He removes the obstacle by
His sin atoning blood and his spotless righteousness before
God on behalf of his people, take the stone away." He says
that with authority, doesn't he? Any obstacle between me and
the sinner, get rid of it. Take it away. But Jesus speaks,
and the stone is rolled away, and he says what? Live. Come forth. Rise up and walk. Has the Lord of glory ever visited
you in your grave of sin and unbelief? Look at Thomas again
in John chapter 20. Turn over there. John chapter
20. Verse 24. Thomas, one of the
twelve, called Didymus, was not with the disciples when Jesus
came. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, We have seen the Lord. He said unto them, See
if this is you and your rebellion, except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the
nails, and thrust my hand into his side. Unless I can figure
it out with this flesh, unless I can perceive with my senses
something that impresses me, I will not believe. I know some that are saying that
right now. I will not believe." And after eight days again, his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. And then came Jesus. Who came to who? Then came the
Lord Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said,
Peace be unto you. And then he looked at Thomas.
And he said to Thomas now, he said to the one that said, I
will not believe. Thomas, reach hither thy finger
and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and
thrust it into my side, and be not faithless. We're saying,
I will not believe. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
saying, be not faithless. You know who it was that said
that? The one that said, let there be light, and there was
light. If he ever says to you, be not
faithless, what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell
you what's going to happen. Thomas answered and said unto
him, my Lord and my God. That's what's going to happen. Jesus saying unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Turn to John 9. We're
almost through, but I want you to see this now. Not just see
it, but I want you to praise the Savior for coming where you
were and lifting you off the dunghill and setting you among
princes. John chapter 9, verse 34. They answered and said unto him,
Thou wast altogether born in sin. This is the Pharisees now.
The Lord Jesus had opened this man's eyes, as we saw at the
beginning of the chapter there. And they said, You were altogether
born in sins, and do you teach us? You see what they're saying,
in effect, is we weren't born in sin, and you were. You can't
teach us anything. I know some folks like that,
too. You can't teach them anything. You going to teach me? Yeah.
God's going to, if you'll listen. If not, then he won't. He won't. He'll make you listen if he's
going to teach you something. Do you teach us? And they cast him out. They cast
him out. They excommunicated him. That's
what that means. They felt like they had the authority
to say who's in the church and who's not in the church. You're
not one of us. Get on out of here. But look what happened. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out. And when he had found him, who
found who? Who saw who in the beginning
of this chapter? And who found who here? The Lord Jesus Christ
heard that he was cast out of what they were calling the church.
And when he had found him, he asked him the one question that
matters in this world. Do you believe on the Son of
God? And he answered and said, Who
is he, Lord? If you don't know, that's a good
question, isn't it? You better find out who he is.
That's what this man wanted to do. He didn't know who he was,
but he was interested, wasn't he? Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus said, Thou hast both
seen him. Just a little while ago, he didn't see anything,
did he? Until the Lord came and opened his eyes, and he said,
Now you're looking at the Son of God. And it is he that talketh
with thee, he said, Lord, I believe, I believe. And he worshipped
him. You will come to Christ if you're
his. The call goes forth, O everyone
that thirsteth, come, and you're coming, if he commands you to. If he that said, Let there be
light, and there was light, speaks to your heart, you're coming
to him. He said, Your people shall be willing in the day of
your power. Psalm 10 3. You'll come to Christ when he's
come to you and revealed himself to you. Scripture says, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. John stood...turn here. I know
this is going to be a little bit long this morning with what
we're going to do. Turn to John chapter 1. I want
you to see this now. This is how the Lord Jesus Christ
comes to a sinner. And you're coming to Him. You
will come to Him. If you're going to have life
now, you're going to have to come to Christ. John 1.35, it says,
again, the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples,
and looking upon Jesus as He walked, John the Baptist said,
Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard Him
speak, and they followed Jesus. And then Jesus turned and saw
them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they
said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master,
where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and
see. And they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him
that day, for it was about the tenth hour. And one of the two
which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and saith unto him, We found the Messiah. which is being
interpreted the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus
beheld him, and he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a
stone. And the day following, Jesus
would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith
unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip findeth Nathanael.
and saith unto him, We found him, of whom Moses in the Law
and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
We found the Messiah. We found the Christ. We found
God's remedy for sin. We found the Lamb. And Nathanael
said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
And Philip said, You come and see. That's the only way you
can answer that question, isn't it? Just come see for yourself. And Jesus saw Nathanael coming
to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite. Now, I want you
to notice the language here. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him. Come to Christ. Christ said, there's old Nathanael
there. He's coming to me. And he said to him, Behold an
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. He spoke as though
he knew him already. Imagine that. And Nathanael picked
up on that. He said, whence knowest thou
me? We've never met before. Jesus answered, oh yes we have.
Jesus answered and sent him to him before that Philip called
thee, when I was under the fig tree I saw you. You see what
that's saying there? Nathanael came to Christ and
found out that Christ had already been to see Nathanael. That's
what I found out when I came to Christ. And he'd already come
to me. He saw me sitting there in complacency
under my fig tree. And he came where I was and saw
me. And Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, you're the Son of God. You're the King of Israel. And I came to Christ one day.
And I found out he already knew me. He already knew me. When
you come to the Lord Jesus, you'll find, as Nathanael did, that
he already knows you. Before Nathanael even knew there
was a Jesus of Nazareth, a Redeemer, he had come to him and looked
upon him and had compassion on him. Believer, before you were
ever born, God purposed and covenanted with the Father and the Spirit,
the Lord Jesus did, to redeem you. And the book says he sealed
that covenant with his own blood. His blood is called the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Is that what he said there in
Ezekiel? I made a covenant with you. And that covenant is sealed
with his own blood. He came where you were and revealed
the Father to you, unto whomsoever he will reveal him. Is that you? In mercy and love, through the
preaching of the gospel. And when he came to you, to dwell
in you, he came to stay. He said, I'm not leaving. I'll
never leave you. No forsaken. If you're here this
morning and you don't know him, I preach to you this morning.
Come to Christ. Believe on Christ. Rest in Christ. Trust him. And I pray with all
of my heart at the same time. That the blessed Lord Jesus would
go to you. Come where you are. Laying in
a ditch, bloody and dead. pour in the oil of His grace
and the wine of His precious blood to take care of you and
say unto you, live, live. Why is it important for us to
see this? Three words. Grace. If God is
waiting on you to do something, then salvation is by you doing
something and not grace. The grace of God is this, what
our brother read this morning, of one lump making a vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor. If he made you unto honor, he
had his grace upon you. Grace. That's what grace is.
It's free and sovereign. And the second word is this,
glory. God's glory is displayed in his sovereignty over all,
and in his sovereignty in saving sinners. Not in providing a possible
salvation. If he provides a possible salvation
and then stands by and watches some kind of a crapshoot take
place, that's not glorifying to him. Where is the wisdom in
dying for sinners that are already in hell? What kind of love is
it? That allows an all-powerful God
that can do anything he pleases to die for a sinner and yet let
that sinner perish forever. What kind of love is that? So
you see, the very glory of God is at stake in this. That's why
we insist upon it and rejoice in it. And then the third word
is gratitude. When you pray to God, do you
thank Him for giving you a free will? Or do you thank Him for
saving you? That's the difference. Gratitude. The sheep God's elect, those
to whom the Lord Jesus Christ came in sovereign mercy, will
praise His wondrous name forever for distinguishing love and mercy,
for doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, and for
coming where we were and calling us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. Amen. Let's bow in prayer.