Let's turn together to Ezekiel
chapter 20, verse 37. Everywhere across this country
today, sinners will be told by lying preachers And I mean deliberately
lying, deceitful preachers in Baptist churches. If you will, God will. The book says if God will, you
will. All the difference in the world. If you are God's, If God Almighty, before the world
began, set His heart upon you and loved you with an everlasting
love, if you're God's, if the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed you
with His precious blood, if you're God's, He's going to get you. He may drag you through hell
before He does, but He's going to get you. He's going to get
you. He's going to cause you to hear
His Word in the power of His Spirit. He's going to stick the
finger of omnipotence in your heart and make you willing in
the day of His power to come to Christ. And you'll be tickled
to death, He did, if you're His. He has wondrous ways of working.
Often, I started to say most of the time, but at least often,
he works in exactly the way we don't expect him to. Some years
ago, I'd gone down to Australia, been preaching all across the
area of the country and New South Wales. Several meetings arranged,
planned months, months, months in advance. going to preach various
places, preach to different people. I was preaching in a little chapel
in Newcastle, where Brother Don McMurray is pastor. And the building's
real small, about half the size of the auditorium here. Real
crowded. Folks were pushed in there together. It was hot. So opened the windows
and opened the doors. Folks sitting out in the lobby
of that little chapel. And there's a fellow taking his
evening jog, visiting down there. He was running by the street.
I saw him run by, just a little bit. I saw him walk back up. And he walked right in, sat down
on the doorsteps right outside the door. He said, as I went
by, ran by there, I heard you say something. I knew it had
to be so. And I'd been searching, searching,
searching, couldn't find anybody to tell me the truth. And you
spoke of God's almighty grace. And God was pleased to speak
to him. George Whitefield was preaching one time in England.
And some rebel rousing young boys walked down the street one
night late while he was preaching. And they decided they'd go in
and poke fun at him. And three or four of them walked
in the door. And God got hold of the ringleader as he walked
in the door. He heard God speak. at the appointed time of love,
He'll get you. He'll get you. I promise you. Look here in Ezekiel 20 and verse
37. God says, I will call you. That's the title of my message.
I will call you. I can't tell you how it thrills
my heart to hear God Almighty, the God of all grace, the God
who delighteth in mercy, declare, I will. You see, when God says,
I will, that means it's a done deal. It done. When God says, I will, nothing
can hinder Him. You shall. God never says, I
might, and maybe you shall. He never says, I will if you
will. Not God. Not God. Me, not God. You, not God. God Almighty is
indeed Almighty. And when God Almighty speaks,
it's a matter of absolute certainty. When He says, I will. You shall. That's a matter of certainty
because the cause is all together in Him. Look at the next word.
I will cause you. If we are the willing recipients
of His grace, if today you are willing to worship at His footstool,
If today you are willing to have His grace through the merits
of a substitute, the reason is altogether in Him. It is because
He has made us willing in the day of His power. If we come
to Christ, trusting Christ alone as our Savior and Lord, it's
because He chose us and caused us to approach unto Him. If we
love Him, it's because He loved us with an everlasting love because
He first loved us. If we live, it's because He gave
us life. If we are redeemed, justified,
sanctified, saved, it's because God Almighty has Himself alone
redeemed us, justified us, sanctified us, and saved us. Now hear me. God help you to hear me. If you
are yet without Christ, The only hope of your soul, the
only hope of your soul is that God won't let you have your way. That's it. The only hope for
your immortal soul is that God won't leave you to yourself.
Because if God just lets you have your way, if God just lets
you do things the way you want to do them, if God leaves you
to your will, You're going to hell. That's just as sure as
the fact that you're sitting here hearing my voice. But God
says here in Ezekiel 20, verse 37, concerning somebody, maybe he's talking to you. I will cause you to pass under
the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. This was God's word by his prophet
Ezekiel to Israel. He speaks to the Israelites here
when he had scattered them into every country among the Babylonians
and they had forgotten who they were. They had forgotten God,
and they plunged themselves into gross idolatry, being scattered
among the heathen because of their ungodliness in their rebellion,
being scattered in his wrath, living among pagans and idolaters. The Jews followed the counsel
of Balaam. They lived very pragmatically.
They decided that the wise and prudent course of action would
be as much as possible to pare off the rough edges of their
religion, to pare off the rough edges of their doctrine, those
things that made them stand out as different from the other folks,
and to do as much as they could to melt into the pagan society
in which they lived. And so they mixed the worship
of God with the worship of idols. and they became just like the
heathen around them, all the while pretending to worship God.
The Lord God would not tolerate such compromise. He would not
tolerate idolatry, not then, not now. Neither would his purpose
of grace be thwarted. He would not forsake his people
whom he foreknew. He would not abandon his chosen.
Therefore, God graciously stepped in. He intervened. And this is
what he says. That which cometh into your mind
shall not be at all. that you say we will be as the
heathen, as the families of the countries to serve wood and stone. God says, oh, no, not with my
people. It is as though he had said,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. I chose you to be my people. I redeemed you with the blood
of my darling son. I won't lose you. I'll not let
you go. Whether they delighted in it
or not, he would not let them go. And so he pronounced this
solemn oath. He takes a very oath to his own
name. And he says, as I live, saith
the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm
and with fury poured out will I rule over thee. They shall
no more become Babylonians than he would allow his people to
become Egyptians when he put them in the land of Egypt. You
see, at the appointed time of love, and for God's elect, there is
an appointed time of love. An appointed time when He will
come and make Himself known to you. An appointed time when He
will spread His skirt of righteousness over you and call you by His
Spirit and say, live, and bathe you in the blood of His darling
Son, experimentally giving you life and faith in Christ. At
the appointed time of love, all who were sanctified by God the
Father and were preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
called by the irresistible, almighty, saving power and omnipotent grace
of God the Holy Spirit. All who are the objects of covenant
grace shall be made to experience the blessedness of covenant grace. You see, Christ's sheep shall
never perish. Never. Never. Goats they will
never become. His chosen shall never be made
reprobate. Run fast as you may with all
the hardness of heart you can muster. Run fast as you may to
hell. The hardness of your heart, the
obstinance of your will, the corruption of your life, and
the powers of hell all combined will not prevent God's purpose
of grace or even slow it down, but rather will be in His hands
the very instruments by which He works grace in you. If you're His, He will make you willing in the
day of His power. He will bring you under the rod. And He will bring you into the
bond of the covenant. Now, here in Ezekiel 20, He tells
us exactly how He does it and why. Let's look at the chapter
together. And I want to show you three
things in this section of Ezekiel 20. Three things. First, the
covenant of grace. Second, the method of grace.
And then finally, the object of grace. This passage talks
first about the covenant of grace. In verse 37, the Lord God describes
his saving operations of grace as bringing sinners chosen and
redeemed by him into the bond of the covenant. Now, I realize
that we don't know much about these things in our society.
I hope you know a little something about them. But God always deals
with men in a covenant relationship. And He only has two covenants
by which He deals with men. God always deals with all of
us, either as we stand as fallen, lost, ruined, doomed, damned,
helpless sinners, cursed under the wrath of God because of the
first man Adam. For he deals with us as we stand,
redeemed, justified, blessed forever. in a second covenant,
a new covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace because of
the obedience of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the last Adam,
our covenant head and representative. Now I realize that Lots of folks
don't like that. I don't like that. You talk about
us being represented in Adam. You talk about us sinning in
Adam. You talk about us dying in Adam.
The Scripture says, 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. I don't like that. Well, I'll
tell you what. I do. I do. I like it that way. We're not
going to improve on God's wisdom. But we're not going to prove
on God's way of doing things. God fixed it so that the whole
human race was represented by one man before him under a covenant
of works in which God said, do this and live. Now Adam didn't
continue long in that covenant. I have no idea how long, but
soon Adam plunged his race into ruin. He plunged his race into
death because he plunged his race into sin. And we were all
made to be sinners because of our father Adam's transgression.
And we have gone forth from the womb, every one of us, speaking
lies from that day to this. So that the wicked are estranged
from the womb. And we have all our lives, all
of us, and we do continually to this day by nature break every
commandment of God, every ordinance of God, every law of God, every
principle God has established in our hearts by nature. We despise
it and break it. That's the way men live. Because
we're the sons of Adam. And I liked it that way, because
you see, if there had never been a fall, if Adam had not fallen
in the garden, there could be no peace, no security, no consolation,
no comfort for anyone in the world, because there would always
be the possibility. There'd always be the possibility. Had there never been a fall,
had we not fallen by the disobedience of one representative man, then
we must all be saved individually, and therefore must all be damned
forever. Because like the angels who despised
God and left their first estate, had no mercy for them, we would
all be without hope as we sinned against Him. There'd be no hope,
but oh, blessed be God, since we fell by what somebody else
did. There's hope we might live by what somebody else has done.
Since we were ruined by one name, we might be saved by another.
Since we were lost by one, we might be retrieved by another.
You see, Adam's fall was typical of and made the way for Christ's
obedience and for our salvation by Him. Hold your hands here
and turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Let's see what the book says.
It doesn't matter what Don Fortner says or what anybody else says,
what does the book say? What does the book say? Romans
5, verse 18. Therefore, therefore, as by the
offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
all who were represented by that one man, justice condemned them. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, another represented man. The free gift came upon all men,
all who were represented by that one man, Christ Jesus, unto justification
of life. Now watch this. For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, where
sin abounded, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign, watch it now, through righteousness,
through the righteousness of God, through God's holy character,
through the righteousness of God revealed, brought in, and
established by Jesus Christ's obedience through His righteousness. might grace reign unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. And listen to the holy logic
of God the Holy Spirit. This is good logic. This is the
reasoning of a man writing by the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians
15, 21. For since by man came death,
Since that's the way we got in this mess, thy man came also,
the resurrection of the dead. See what I told you? Since this
is how we got lost, this is how God saves. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now obviously,
the words all used here refer to two different groups of people.
The word all refers to all who are in Adam, and the word all
refers to all who are in Christ. All men were represented by the
first man, Adam, and God's elect were represented by the second
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. As all who were in him, Adam,
died, all who are in Christ are made alive. Read on. Verse 45. And so it is written, the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. And the last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. How be it? That was not first,
which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward
that which is spiritual. The first man, Adam, is of the
earth, earthy. That's what the word Adam means,
red earth. The second man, this man, he's more than a man. He's
not of the earth. He said, I'm not of this world.
The second man is the Lord from heaven. Now watch verse 48. As
is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as
is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. Verse
49, as we have borne the image of the earthy, Oh my God, how long must I bear
this image? I'm just like my daddy. I'm just
like him. You too. Adam breathes in these lungs. Adam walks in this body. Adam
acts with these hands. Adam thinks with his mind. And
I hate him. I hate him. But blessed be God, as I had
borne the image of the earth there. What's this? We shall
also bear the image of the heaven. And that's the hope of the resurrection.
Look in Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. since Christ has obeyed the law
of God for us. Since the Lord Jesus Christ came
here to live in somebody's room, in somebody's stand, since he
assumed our nature and came here to take upon himself somebody's
sins, since he came here to live and die as somebody's representative,
since Jesus Christ has with his own blood put away the sins of
his people by the sacrifice of himself, having fully satisfied
the holy wrath and justice of God, having brought in everlasting
righteousness by his obedience, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. This is the covenant David was
talking about back in 2 Samuel. Back in 2 Samuel. Chapter 23,
when he lay on his deathbed. He did what I expect everybody
does who dies with the brain still intact. He got to looking back over his
house. Man, what a mess it was. You think you got trouble with
your kids? What a mess. His wife despised him. His sons
despised him. His whole family despised him.
As far as I can tell, it wasn't but one child in the whole household
who loved David and loved his God. And only one of his wives,
and she was once the wife of Uriah, David looked over his
house and he said, although my house be not so with God. He said, buddy, things sure hadn't
turned out the way I planned them. This wasn't what I intended.
Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. I try my best to be orderly.
I get things number one, two, three. in all things. Now my best order, most of the
time you could just throw it up in the air, whichever way
it comes down, that's better than the way I arranged it. Not God's. This covenant's ordered in all
things and sure, as sure as God's throne. Ordered in all things
and sure. Watch it now. For this is all my salvation. And He sticks to it, so this
is all I want. This is all my desire. That's the covenant. In our text here, back here in
Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 37, the Lord God says, I will bring
you into the bond of the covenant. I'm going to bring you out of
the bondage of the law. I'm going to bring you out of
the bondage of curse and condemnation. I'm going to bring you out of
the bondage of misery. And I'm going to bring you into
a blessed bondage. We speak of the bonds of holy
matrimony. Oh, I'm married to that lovely
blonde-haired lady downstairs, and I'm in bondage to her. I'm
in bondage to her. Yes, sir. My life's wrapped up
in bondage to her. That's just the way I want it.
That's just the way I want it. She's in bondage to me, but it's
good. It's bondage of liberty. Love,
peace, bondage. He said, I'll bring you into
the bond of the covenant. In other words, I will bind you
to me as I had bound myself to you with cords that can't be
broken. I'll bring you to me and bring
you into this bond of the covenant. A bond fixed by my immutable
faithfulness. A bond by my blood that cannot
be broken. A bond sealed by my Spirit that
cannot be nullified. A bond that brings your heart
to be bound to me as my heart is bound to you. What on earth will bind a sinner's
heart to God? No. Read the history of Israel.
Law? No. Read the history of the religious
world around you. Terror? No. No. No. I'll tell you what you do. Read
history. Bob sitting here, he's quite
a historian. You read history. Anywhere in
the world, at any time in human history, recorded on any page,
where men and women are convinced that their works have something
to do with their salvation. Now read it. Just read it. wherever
Romanism rules, wherever Islam rules, wherever Judaism rules. Read it. Just read history. Wherever men have the vain notion
that somehow they, by their obedience to God, can cause God to look
on them with favor and rain down His mercy and grace on them,
and that God's going to send them to hell if they can't measure
up. Wherever you find that kind of mentality, Dominant in the
conscience of men, you find gross immorality, barbarism, cruelty,
just like in the United States of America in the year 2003.
2002, excuse me, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just like it
is here. Just like it is here. But you know, I had felt that
way one time. He's talking about these Russellites,
Jehovah's Witnesses. They give two years of their lives, and
they go do this, that, and the other. Mormons give two years
of their lives to be missionaries, to go pass out their trash. And
he said, well, if I thought my salvation depended on my works,
I'd be that devoted. Oh, you would. I'm afraid you don't know anything
about God's grace. Oh, when grace comes in a sinner's heart, God
brings you to be bound to Him because you want to be. If law can get you to do what
grace doesn't get you to do, you don't know anything about
either. It's exactly right. God's purpose in everything He
does. I ain't sure I have to leave
this, much less you. I can't preach it to you, make
you understand it like I want to. God's purpose in everything
he does, I just saw my daughter turn her head, just even that,
even that. God's purpose in everything that
is, has been, or shall hereafter be. is to bring chosen sinners,
the objects of His love, into the bond of His covenant. That's
His purpose. We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, then He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among men and brethren.
The purpose of God in predestination. is to bring His people into the
bond of the covenant in everlasting glory. The purpose of God in
providence. I mean everything. Everything! Everything! The purpose of God
in everything done in heaven, done in earth, and done in hell.
The purpose of God in every thought and act of every human being. The purpose of God. is to bring
his people into the bond of the covenant. And bring them in,
he shall. Now, look back here at Ezekiel
20. Let me show you the method. Here's the method of God's grace.
This chapter speaks clearly, instructively, about the believer's
experience of grace. the method by which God brings
his own into the bond of the covenant. First, in verse 31, in the last
line, he says, I will not be inquired of by you. Here is a people bent upon idolatry
forever, a people to whom God has given
his word and his ordinances, a people who said, no, I ain't
going to take that. Everybody in the world frown
on me if I worship God the way he says. We live here among these
Babylonian pagans, and I'll not just deny God. I'll not just
say I don't believe in God. I'll not just say I despise the
Christ of God. No, no, no, no, no. I can't do
that. I can't do that. What I'll do
is I will become like these pagans, these heathen, and I'll pretend
to worship God. Look at verse 32. That which
cometh into your mind, That which you determined with all your
heart to do, that which you planned and schemed. Man, I had some
plans. That which you determined and
planned to do shall not be, look at it, at
all. You say, we will be as the heathen. We'll be like everybody else,
as the families of the countries, to go down and worship wood and
rocks. How's God going to prevent that?
He said right there in verse 31, I will not be inquired of
by you. Every man by nature. Everyone
of you sitting here, I don't have any question, this is true
of every human being sitting here by nature, presumes that
God is at his beck and call. I can turn to God any time I
want to. I can repeat whenever I want to. God will always accept
me. God's bending over backwards
trying to get me to pretty please come to Him, and I know, I know
I can come to Him whenever I want to. I've got to just make up
my mind. Oh, but when God comes to save, He'll make the heavens
like brass before you. And you'll try to call on Him
and you can't. And you'll try to pray and you
can't. And you'll try to repent and you can't. And you'll try
to turn to Him and you can't. And you'll know in your soul
you can't. And you'll cry, My God, My God, will You altogether
forget to be gracious. Israel, down in Egypt, and God wouldn't hear them. God
wouldn't hear them. Oh, He heard them, but He didn't
let them know He heard them. Ralph Barney was preaching a
meeting one time. Ralph wasn't near as nice and sweet as I am.
Some gal called him up at a hotel, found out where he was staying,
called him up about 9 or 10 o'clock at night after he'd done got
his pajamas on. And she said, Brother Barnett, my son's in
hell. Can you come help him? He said, leave him there. He
raised enough of it to be good for him. Be good for him. And the best thing on this earth
preachers can do when God puts his finger in a man's heart is
step out of the way. Just step out of the way. We've
got to do something. That's how we get in the mess
we get in. Just step out of the way. Now, look at this. The second thing. Once the Lord
has shut you up, made you to understand that you are as a
prisoner under the sentence of death before Him, He graciously
stretches out His mighty arm of omnipotence and separates
the precious from the vile. Look at verse 33. As I live,
saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched
out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you. I
will bring you out from the people. I'll gather you out of the countries
wherein you were scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched
out arm, and with fury poured out. I'll say to the North, give
up. To the South, keep not back. I'll say to the East and West,
bring my people from afar and together. with a stretched out
arm of omnipotence, with a mighty hand of free grace. Doesn't sound to me like God's
sitting around begging you to pretty please let him do something,
does it? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? God does the work with fury poured out. I'll stretch
out my arm and lay my hand on you, and I'll make you to understand
that justice was satisfied by my Son. And I'll do this with
the claims of a sovereign God to rule over you." Now, this is where the rubber
hits the road. And this is the problem with all men by nature. Everybody wants to stay out of
hell if they can. Everybody. Everybody. They, one of you here wants to
go to hell, are willing to go if God will just leave you alone.
You'll be delighted to have a little fire escape so that you can get
out of hell if you can. But that's not the issue. When
God comes to save, he comes to rule over you. He comes as king. He comes to
take over, to make you willing in the day of His power to bow
to the dominion of His darling Son. And you know what He'll
do? He'll fix it so that you're willing. You'll be tickled to death. He's
in charge. Here's the third thing. I'll
bring you into the wilderness of the people. The Lord God graciously brings
His own to be alone with Himself in the wilderness. But look at
this. This is not like the wilderness
of sin, where there were no inhabitants. But this is the wilderness of
the people. I may be talking directly to
some of you. You've chosen rebellion, but
if God's chosen you, He's going to deal with you with a strong
hand and a stretched out arm. He's going to make you to know
His hatred of sin and His fury against the evil that's in you.
His love will show itself against you in wrath because of sin.
You'll be made to see that God is angry with the wicked every
day. He'll make you to taste the bitterness of sin and the
fury of His wrath. The sentence of hell ringing
in your ears. You'll cry, if he turn not, he
will went his sword, he's bent his bow and made his arrows ready.
They stick deep in my soul. The Israelites were perfectly
happy to live in Egypt for 400 years. They were perfectly happy to
be bondmen to Pharaoh for 400 years. And they would never have
come out if God hadn't made the bondage bitter, Rex. Moses could have performed all
the miracles in the world. They would have never come out
if God hadn't made the bondage bitter. God brings His elect into the
wilderness of the people. What a terrifying wilderness
it is. I remember sitting where you sit. I'd go to bed at night, scared
to death of going to hell. When I was growing up, I wouldn't
let a human being on this earth, including mama and daddy, for
as long back as I can remember, I mean, when I was a little boy,
I wouldn't let anybody know I was scared of anything. I don't care
if my knees turned to rubber, my belly about to turn inside
out, nobody would read fear in these eyes. But when God stuck
His finger in my soul, I was terrified. Terrified. And I'd try to I'd have a bargain
with God. I'd make promises. And they wouldn't
last till morning. And I'd toss and turn, make promises
the next night, get up and cuss my next breath. Cuss his name. Terrified, but full of rebellion. Terrified, but hard as stone. Terrified. And I'd go to church.
I'd try to pray. Couldn't pray. God would not
hear a word I said. I'd try to read in His Word.
This book that's so blessed now was an empty wilderness, and
the only thing I could find there was thorns and briars to torment
my soul. I'd go listen to the gospel preached,
and it was a wilderness. Others would hear and be comforted,
hear and be converted. I'd go home in worse shape than
I was when I came. When God brings you into the
wilderness, He brings you there to strip
away your pride and self-righteousness, to lay you low in the dust before
His feet and make you know your utter condemnation, worthlessness,
and helplessness. He doesn't afflict willingly
to tread you under His feet forever. Oh no, when God strips, it's
that He might close. When God brings you down, it
is that He might bring you up. I'll bring you into the wilderness.
Now look at this next thing, verse 35. There will I plead with you face
to face. Verse 36, like I pleaded with
your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will
I plead with you, saith the Lord. I want to come talk directly
to you. There comes a time, Mark, when
God causes a chosen sinner to hear His Word through the lips
of an empty pipe like this one in such a way that the preacher's
just talking to nobody but you. And you know it's not the preacher
talking, it's God. I plead with you face to face.