Would you turn back to Ezekiel
chapter 36. When I read this chapter, it
filled me with joy and the thought occurred to me,
this is my gospel. This is the only gospel that
will save me. where God says, I will do this. 32 times in this passage of scripture,
we read of the I wills and the I shalls of God. He talks about
what he will do. And all of my salvation is in
what he says he will do. That's all of it. all of it. You know, the leper understood
that. The leper said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You know, that's a prayer that
I pray so very often, Lord, if you will, it's up to your will.
I don't have any control in this. If you will, you can make me
clean. Now, beginning in verse 16, we read about these people that
the Lord is going to save, that he's going to do something for.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man,
when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own way. and by their doings, their way
was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. The woman who was on her menstrual
cycle was not allowed to participate in worship. Wherefore, I poured
my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land
and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered
them among the heathen and they were dispersed through the countries
according to their way and according to their doings, I judged them.
And when they entered under the heathen, whether they went, they
profaned my holy name. When they said to them, these
are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land. Now, what about these people
I just read about? One thing I can say about these people
is they're no good. Look at the words used to describe
them. defiled, the uncleanness of a removed woman. And Andy,
what you brought out a couple of weeks ago about our righteousness
being as minstrels rags, not just to talk about the grotesqueness
of it, but that's the body casting out that which has no life. We were all as a removed woman,
polluted, profaned, Look in verse 25, then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you and you should be clean from all your filthiness
and from your idols will I cleanse you. He says in verse 26, a new
heart also will I give you and new spirit will I put within
you and I will take away the stony heart. Cold, hard, lifeless, senseless,
and not easily softened. You know, he says to these people
at the end in verse 31, then shall you remember, and this
is a promise of the covenant. Understand this, this is a promise
of the covenant. This is just as much of an I
will as I'll give them a clean heart. Then you shall remember
your own evil ways and your doings, which were not good and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities. and
for your abominations." Now what a description of these people.
Does anyone think, I hear this, but I can't honestly say, if
I was honest, I can't honestly say I feel myself to be that
bad. Now if that's your response and
only God knows where it is, and this is between you and God and
me and God, If that's our response, it's because we have a stony
heart. That's the only reason you'd
respond that way. You are that bad. And any crime that you've
not committed is simply because his restraining power has prevented
it. You believe that? You know, I
think of what God said to Abimelech when he said, in the innocency
of my heart, I kept away from Sarah. God said, I withheld thee
from sinning against me. Therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her. Anything that we haven't done,
it's only because God has withheld us from doing it. Now, not one
reason can be found in a person like this. for God to do anything
for them. If you examine the people that
are described in this passage of scripture, but thank God,
he doesn't need to find a reason in them because he finds the
reason in his own glorious character. Aren't you thankful for that?
What if the Lord had to find a reason in you as to why he'd
save you? Some good thing in you. There
wouldn't be one, would there? Thank God, he says, for his name's
sake, look in verse 21 of this chapter. After he had described them,
he says, but, but God, that's grace, isn't
it? But God, but in spite of all of this, but I had pity for
mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among
the heathen, whether they went Therefore saying to the house
of Israel, thus sayeth the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes. Oh, house of Israel. I'm not
doing this in response to you because you've asked me to, because
you're sorry, because you promised to never do it again, because
you're going to straighten up because you're going to do something
for me. I do not this for your sake. So house of Israel, but
for mine, holy namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen,
whether you went. These are the people of the Lord,
look how they conduct themselves. And I will sanctify, I will sanctify
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you
have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know
that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified,
regarded as holy in you. As bad as these people are, God
says, I'm going to be sanctified. I'm going to be regarded as holy,
seen as holy in you before their eyes. Turn over to Psalm 106. I've read this many times over
the years, but it's something that's always been very precious
to me. Psalm 106. The psalmist says, we have sinned
with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Now that's confession, isn't
it? When's the last time we confessed
our sin before the Lord just like that? and meant it. Not just saying, father, forgive
us because we know it's what we're supposed to say, but we
confess our sin before him. He says, our fathers understood
not thy wonders in Egypt. And, but the only thing you can
say about them was they were spiritually stupid people. They
didn't understand his wonders in Egypt. They didn't understand
what he was doing. He says, the fathers remembered
not the multitude of thy mercies. They were ungrateful people.
They didn't remember his mercies, but they provoked him at the
sea, even at the red sea with their unbelief and their murmuring.
Nevertheless, now salvation is found in that word right there. Nevertheless. He saved them for
His name's sake, that He might make His mighty
power known. He says in verse 24, for I will. Ezekiel 36, for I will take you
from among the heathen. I love the I-wills of God, don't
you? He says, I will do this and you
shall do that. You know, free will, you can't
believe in free will and free grace at the same time. If you
believe in free will, there's no such thing as free grace.
Grace is not free to operate. It's dependent upon what man
lets it do. That kind of grace won't do me
any good. I love the I-wills of God. I want him to say this regarding
me. I want to be just like that leper. I want to come into his
presence. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And I
want to hear him say, I will. Be thou clean. Now the only hope that I have
of being clean, and I mean clean before God, is if he says, be
thou clean. 32 times in this passage of scripture,
God tells us what he will and shall do and what we consequently
will and shall do. He says, I will take you from
among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and
will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you. And he doesn't say, I'll do this
if you let me. He doesn't say, I'll do this if you ask me to.
He says, this is what I'm going to do. Now that's where I find
my hope in what he says he's going to do. He says, then will
I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all
your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. Now this cleansing that the Lord's
talking about. If he makes us clean, what that
means is I'm clean. I've been talking about all this
horrible stuff that's described in verses 16 through 20 about
filthiness and pollution and idolatry. And it almost makes
you feel bad even using words like that. And then to think
that you're like that, that that's really a description of you.
That's what God says, whether we see it or not, it's what God
says. But God says, I'll make you clean. And if he made me clean, I'm
clean. And that's what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually
does. Wherefore, by one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, while I've
been taught everybody that sees themselves, listen to this, everybody
that sees themselves described by this passage of scripture,
you're clean. You're clean in God's sight. You really are clean. The blood
of Christ has cleansed away your sin. I can say that to every
sinner. If you're a sinner, Christ died for you. When we were yet
without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, who is it that he died for?
Those without strength and those who are the ungodly. He said,
I will cleanse you and I will sprinkle you from all your filthiness
and from your idols. Will I cleanse you? The work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in redemption. I will cleanse you. Now verse 26, I love this. This is another one of the promises
of the gospel. He says, a new heart also will
I give you. Now this new heart comes from
this cleansing. The reason I'm cleansed is because
he said, I'll sprinkle clean water upon you and you should
be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Will
I cleanse you? I love that word all, don't you?
All. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son cleanses us from all sin. And because of his cleansing,
because of the power of his precious blood, a new heart I'll give
you because there's no sin left and I'm clean. I'm right now
clean. You don't take faith to believe
that. Doesn't it? Because you don't see it by sight, but I'm
clean. This is the gospel. He said,
I'll make you clean. I'm clean. Because of that, he
says in verse 26, a new heart also will I give you and a new
spirit will I put within you and I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I'll give you an heart of flesh. Now this is a reference to the
work of the spirit of God, a new heart. Now this is in answer
to where the Lord said in Revelation 21 5, and I love this promise.
He said, I will make all things new. Now this new heart that
he gives, understand this, this is not him taking your old heart
and changing it and improving it and making it better. Your
old heart is beyond repair, isn't it? You know that about yourself,
but he says, I'll give you a new heart. A heart that was not there
before. I will give you a new heart. Now, if all God did was give
me a new start, I know what would happen. I couldn't stand up for
one second. If all I had was a new start
and a clean slate, but he doesn't say that he gives a new heart. that was not there before, a
heart that will persevere, a heart that will continue in the faith,
a heart that actually does love Jesus Christ, a heart really
that doesn't sin. It doesn't sin. This is that
new nature, that sinneth not, that which is born of God, something
that God birthed into you, it can't sin, it's born of God.
Now I still have the old nature, I realize that, the sin's always
there, but I've got a new heart and a new spirit. And this is
his promise, a new spirit also will I give you. Now, why is this necessary? A new heart. It is necessary. And like I said, this is my gospel.
This is what's gospel to me. This is what good news to me.
If you told me that somehow I need to make things, you know, if
he gave me grace to all of a sudden just become better and I feel
myself getting better and better, that wouldn't be good news to
me because it's not true to my experience as far as the way
I feel. But when I hear of a new heart and a new nature, his spirit
put within me where he does it, he says, I will give this new
heart. Now, why is this necessary? Well, first of all, it's necessary
because my heart's no good, my natural heart. It's no good.
It's necessary because the natural man is described to be dead in
trespasses and sins, and only God can give life to the dead. That's what I need. I need him
to give me life. How dependent is on a dead man for God to give
him life? That's how dependent I am on
the Lord. I can't do anything. A dead man can't do anything.
He's dependent upon the Lord. Scripture says the carnal mind,
the best this natural flesh can produce is enmity against God. And it needs to be replaced.
We need a new heart. We need a new spirit. Even to
hear the gospel. I think about this, you know,
the me, I'm thankful for the means, the preaching of the gospel
prayer. I'm thankful for the word of
God. We can read the word of God, but what are these things
without a new heart? You and I can't hear the gospel without
a new heart. We can't read the scripture to any prophet without
a new heart. We can't pray to the Lord without a new heart.
We need a new heart. We need his spirit to be put
within us. The only way God can be worshiped
is in the spirit. I need the Holy Spirit to enable
me to worship God because I cannot worship him without that. But
what a promise. A new heart also will I give
you and a new spirit. Verse 26, I will put within you
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And
I'll give you a heart of flesh, a heart that's alive, a heart
that's alive. Verse 27, I believe this is the verse that
caught my attention the most. And I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep
my judgments and do them. Now I like that word cause. Don't
you? You know what I say to that? Lord, cause me. to walk in your
statutes, cause me to believe your gospel, cause me to repent
of my sin, cause me to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to take
up my cross daily, deny self and follow him, cause me to.
Lord, cause that, Lord, turn us again. Cause thy face to shine
and we shall be saved. Cause me to, I love that. Somebody
says, well, that's, you're putting all the burden on him. Exactly,
exactly. That's where I want it to be.
I don't want any of the burden on myself. I want him to cause
me to do his will. I don't know how many times I've
heard people say, well, if I bleed like you all, you all make robots
out of people. Is that a bad thing? It's not true for one
thing, but I, I tell you what, I'd like to be his spiritual
robot programmed to do his will, wouldn't you? I mean, I'm all
for it. Somebody says, you make robots
out of people. Well, not really, but yeah, really. Yeah, we do.
It's both. I like it that way. You know,
the Lord said, no man can come to me, except the Father which
has sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. My gospel is a gospel that causes
me to do. And I know that I will not be
saved unless he causes me to be saved. I will not live unless
he causes me to live. I will not believe unless he
causes me to believe. I will not love the Lord Jesus
Christ. unless he causes me to love the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so my prayer is, Lord, cause
me to, you said this, I didn't say this, this is the language
of scripture. Lord, you said you'll cause me to, Lord, cause
me to, cause me to come to Christ, draw us and we'll run after thee. Verse 28, and you shall dwell You shall dwell in the land that
I gave to your fathers. You'll dwell in Christ. You'll
dwell in the place. You'll abide in Christ. You shall.
The reason you shall is because I said you will. You know, I
love that scripture. Abide in him. And to abide in
him means you stay right, the only place I want to be found,
in him is a place. The only place I want to be found
is in him. And when you were singing that song, all that I
have is Jesus. I was thinking, that's all I
have and that's all I want. And that's all I need. And that's
the only place I want to be. All that I have, all that I want,
all that I need is Jesus. What was that one line? My sins
there are many, my virtues are none. I trust only to the crucified
son. I'd simply want to be found in
the Lord Jesus Christ, abiding in him. And look what it says
in verse 27 or verse 28. And you should dwell in the land
that I give to your fathers. And then we have these two covenant
promises. You shall be my people and I
will be your God. You shall be my people. Now what's that mean? That means
if God's for you, who can be against you? It means God's for
you. It means you belong to God. That
means He takes great interest in you. And He has the power
to make sure His great interest comes to pass. He's going to
make you just like His Son. That's what it means to be His
people. Pretend like you've never heard
this scripture before. We quote it all the time, but pretend like you've
never heard it before and you're hearing it for the first time.
If God be for us, Who could be against us? That's
what it is to be his people. It's to have God for you. Now
here's the other covenant promise. He says, you shall be my people. That's having God for you. And
he says, I will be your God. Now what's that mean? That means
my shepherd is the Lord. God, the Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Lord's my shepherd. And because the Lord's my shepherd,
I shall not want. I won't lack anything because
my shepherd is the Lord. Don't you love these things God
says he's going to do? I will. I will be your God. You shall be my people. He says
in verse 29, I will also save you from all your uncleannesses. Well, what came to my mind is,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. And this is exactly what I need. Oh, I need to be safe from my
sins. I need to be safe from the condemnation
of sin. Because if you didn't save me
from the condemnation of sin, I'll go to hell. I'll be punished.
I need to be safe from the power of sin because sin has dominion
over me. If I'm not safe from the power
of it, I need to be enabled to believe, to repent, to love.
I need to be safe from the presence of sin because it would be hell
if I had to spend eternity being a sinner. I need to be just like
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he promises, I will save
you from all your uncleannesses. You're going to be completely
delivered from sin. And he talks about the fruit
growing. We all want to grow. He says,
and I will call for the corn in verse 29 and will increase
it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit
of the tree and the increase of the field that you shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. You're going to
grow. You're going to be fed. You can count on that. And look
at this, this verse 31, this is so important because this
is just as much a part of the covenant promises as a new heart
I'll give you. And I'll cleanse you from all
your filthiness. So when he says in verse 31, then shall you remember
your own evil ways. and your doings that were not
good and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Now this is not talking about
wallowing in something like this, but it is talking about wallowing
in something like this. Somebody says, quit wallowing
in your sin. Well, okay. Um, Even when I do this, I know
I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. And I rejoice in the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I am my beloved and he is
mine. And at the very same time, I
loathe myself for my own iniquities and for my own abominations.
And this is beloved. A person doing this has one place
to look. Christ. He doesn't have anywhere
else to look. That's a good thing, isn't it?
That's a good thing. And this is a part of the covenant.
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Verse
32, not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known
unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel." Now, this is a good thing. Aren't
you thankful he said, I'm not doing this for your sake? Because
what if he said, I have to have some reason you to do it? Aren't
you thankful for Ephesians 4.32? Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another. Even as God for Christ's sake
had forgiven you. Do you know the Lord doesn't
have to find any other reason, but for Christ's sake. That ought
to give everybody in here, hope, joy for Christ's sake. That's all the reason he needs
for Christ's sake. Verse 33. Thus saith the Lord God, in the
day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities.
Isn't that wonderful? I will also cause you to dwell
in the cities and the way shall be built. And the desolate land
should be tilled. Whereas it lay desolate in the
sight of all that passed by, not going to be desolate anymore.
And they shall say this land that was desolate. is become
like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined
cities have become fenced, protected, and inhabited. There's life there.
Then the heathen that are left round about, you shall know that
I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
I will do it. Now there's the promise of the
gospel. I've spoken it. I will do it. I love the I wills
of God. Now somebody could be thinking, well, what am I supposed to do
then? If it's just what God does, am
I supposed to just fold my hands and wait and see if he does anything
for me? Is that where you're leaving
me? I mean, you're putting everything out of my hands. And it's all
in God's hands. What am I supposed to do? Just
sit here and wait. Well, let's go on reading verse
37. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it
for them. You're going to ask me for every
one of these things. And if you don't ask, you won't
have, you will ask him for every one of these things. You'll ask
him to cleanse. You will ask him to Lord, give
me a new heart. Lord, put your spirit within
me and cause me to walk in your statutes. Lord, be my God before
me. Be my shepherd. Let me be your
child. Save me from my uncleanness.
Cause me to loathe myself and my own iniquities. Build me up
and cause me to grow. You see, all that God gives us.
Now understand this, this is so important. All that God gives
us, we're gonna ask him for. And if I don't ask for it, I
will not have it. Hear this promise from the Lord.
Ask. and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. For everyone that asketh receiveth. And he that seeketh findeth and
to him that knocketh it shall be open. Now I want you to think
of the imagery here. You ask for that which you don't
have. You seek for that which you don't know where it's at.
You knock because it feels like a door is closed. That's what
you're doing. You're asking for what you don't
have. You're seeking what you haven't found and you're knocking
against a door that has been closed. Ask. Seek, knock, and
then we're given the promise. Everyone that asks, receives. Now somebody says, I've asked
the Lord for things he hadn't given to me. You expect me to believe
God or you? You didn't ask, you bargained. You tried to strike a deal. You
tried to enter in the realm of works. If I do this, you'll do
that. Will you give me this if I do that? That's not the way
you come into God's presence. Ask. Ask for mercy. Ask for grace. Ask for a new heart. There's
never been anybody in the history of the universe who asked God
for mercy that he turned down. I will yet for this be inquired
of, of the house of Israel to do it for them." Now you young
people, ask the Lord to save you. Ask the Lord to have mercy
on you. Ask the Lord to draw you to Christ. Ask the Lord to make you clean.
Not only you young people, you old people do the same thing.
Ask the Lord. I remember hearing Henry Mahan
one time say, he was talking to somebody and the man was moaning
over himself and how he wasn't saved. And he said, let me ask
you something. He said, have you ever asked the Lord to save
you? He said, well, I don't know. Ask and you shall receive. Let's pray.