From Nothing to Everything

Now, I want you to open your
Bibles with me to the book of Ezekiel. I'm going to bring a
message today from Ezekiel chapter 16, verses 1 through 14. Now, the title of the message
is, From Nothing to Everything. From Nothing to Everything. Now,
this is an interesting message. And I pray that you listen very
carefully to this message. Give it a lot of thought, consideration,
prayer. Take the Scripture down. Go back
and read it again later. But now, Ezekiel 16. You have it there? All right,
listen. Now the great, powerful, and glorious nation of Israel
rose to such splendor and beauty in the days of King David, and
his son Solomon. You've read about it. The queen
from the south came to visit during Solomon's reign and she
saw all of the riches and glory and splendor of the nation Israel
in the days of Solomon and she said the half has never been
told. But this nation at that time
the greatest nation on the face of the earth started with one
lone man, one individual, a man called Abram. God later changed
his name to Abraham, but a man called Abram. We'll call him
Abraham because that's the name all of you are familiar with.
But this glorious, splendid, great, and powerful nation, Israel,
in the days of Solomon, so great that this magnificent queen,
when she visited, she said, The half has never been told. But
it started with one man. Think of it. And that one man
was over 70 years of age when God called him out. He was the
first Israelite. No children. He had a beautiful,
charming wife whose name was Sarah, but she was well up in
years. And the scripture says, past
the age of bearing children. He had no heirs, no children. And God called this man out of
idolatry. That's right. He didn't know
God. He didn't know the true and living God. He was an idol
worshiper. He was a pagan. And God called him out. And that
was the beginning of this great nation of Israel. From his loins
through Isaac arose the great nation of Israel. At that time,
the greatest nation on the face of the earth. and all the other
nations of the world stood still and wondered and marveled at
how such a poor, humble, insignificant beginning, one man, one old man
and his wife, from that humble beginning could come such an
exceeding rich and powerful people. But I know the answer. Do you
know the answer? How can it be? I know how it
can be. It was by God's favor. It was
by God's power. It was by God's grace that Israel
was blessed and that Israel rose to such splendor. I'll read it
to you in Deuteronomy. You keep Ezekiel there, 16, but
listen to Deuteronomy 7. God speaking in Deuteronomy 7,
verse 6, He said to Israel, For thou art a holy people unto the
Lord thy God, The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special
people unto himself above all people that are on the face of
the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose
you because you were more in number than any other people. You were the fewest of all, one
man, Abraham. But because the Lord loved you
and because the Lord would keep his oath, which he sware by himself. And their glory was his glory.
Their beauty and their riches were because of his beauty and
his riches and his love for them and mercy and grace for them.
And this was often proved, not only by their blessings, but
it was proven when they departed from him and God lifted those
blessings. and took away those blessings.
And you could see that what Israel was, God made them. What Israel
became was by the grace and power of God. That's what my text is
all about. Now, let's turn to Ezekiel 16. The Word of the Lord came to
Ezekiel in Ezekiel 16. And the Lord told Ezekiel, He
said, Now you speak, you speak to this nation of Israel, these
people, My My chosen people. You speak to them about their
sins and about their departure from the Lord God, about their
bowing to and serving other gods. You speak to them now and I'll
tell you what to say. All right, Ezekiel 16 verse 1.
The word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel said, and God said
to me, Son of man, cause Israel to know her abominations. and
say to Israel, Thus saith the Lord thy God." Your birth and
your nativity is of the land of Canaan. I'm going to tell
you, God said, where you came from. You came from pagan idolatry. That's where you came from. You've
heard of Canaan. Cursed be Canaan. That's what
God said to Noah. Cursed be Canaan. And here He's
saying, you folks came out of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite. Your mother was a Hittite. And
in the day that you were born, in your beginning, your navel
was not cut, neither were you washed in water, you were not
salted nor swaddled at all, none I pitied thee to do any of these
things to you, but you were like a newborn infant, unwanted, cast
into the open field to the loathing of your person in the day that
you were born. That's your beginning. Do you see this situation? They
tell me that long, long ago, during some of these days in
these pagan nations, that if a woman was expecting a child,
it was an unwanted child, or when the child was born, if it
was deformed, or if it was even a girl sometimes, a female child,
they wouldn't even wash it or clean it. When the child was
born, they'd just take it and throw it out in the field and
let it lie out there till the beast ate it. Wouldn't last long. It'd die. What a terrible, terrible
picture. But God said, that's your beginning,
Israel. Your mother was a Hittite and
your father was an Amorite and your birth was of the land of
Canaan and none I pitied thee. And when you were born, you were
cast into the open field to the loathing of your person. in a
wretched, despicable situation. Deformed, unwanted, and polluted. Now watch verse 6. And when I
passed by you... Listen to this. God said to Israel,
I passed by you. I saw you. I saw you as you were. I saw you polluted in your blood. And I said to you, You didn't
call on me. You didn't love me. You didn't
seek me. You didn't pass by me. I passed
by you in your helplessness, in your inability. And I said
to you, live. Yay! He repeats it. He said,
I passed by you and saw you in your blood, polluted. And I said,
live. And I've caused you to multiply
as the bud of the field. There are many of you now. You
were one despicable, despised, unwanted, deformed infant, and
I made you live. And I've caused you to multiply
as the bud of the field, and you've increased, and you've
become great. And your breasts are fashioned,
and your hair is grown, and I've clothed you whereas you were
naked and bare. You see the difference? God said,
your beginning is that wretched, polluted, loathsome situation
of a despised, deserted infant. And I came by in the land of
Canaan, and I saw you in your blood, and I said, Liv, and I've
made you a living beauty. I've made you, you see, standing
here now, one of the most beautiful women in all the world. I've
made you what you are. Listen to verse 8. And I passed
by you, and I looked upon you in your blood, and behold, it
was the time of love. Who loved whom? Babies incapable
of loving, incapable of helping itself, incapable of even crying,
doesn't even know its condition. It'll lie where it is till it
rots. Never know the difference. But I loved you, God said. It
was a time of love. I loved you and I spread my skirt
over you and I covered your nakedness. Yea, I swear unto you and I entered
a covenant with you. I made a covenant with you. You
became mine. And I washed you, verse 9. And I clothed you, verse 10. And I put a crown on your head.
And he says, And your renown went forth among all the nations. That's what I've been talking
about. The days of David, the days of Solomon. And your renown
went forth among all nations for your beauty. And your beauty,
listen my friends, your beauty was perfect through my beauty
which I put upon you, saith the Lord God. From beginning to end, from Alpha
to Omega, all of the Lord. I brought you from nowhere to
where you are now. I brought you from nothing, nothing,
nothing, less than nothing to everything. But you know, my
friends, you say, Well, what's that got to do with me? That's
what I'm getting to. You see, our chief business as
preachers of the gospel is not with Israel, the nation, the
national people of the Old Testament. But our chief business as preachers
of the gospel is with ourselves and with the true kingdom of
God and with the true Israel of God. Because that nation under
Moses and David and Solomon, that nation Israel is but a type
and a picture of spiritual Israel. That's right. The nation Israel
delivered from Egypt by the blood is a picture of true Israel.
delivered from sin and the dunghill and the bondage and curse of
the law by the blood of Christ. Their tabernacle is a picture
of our tabernacle, who's Christ. He tabernacled among us. Their
priesthood is a picture of His priesthood, our great high priest. Their mercy seat, where God met
them and the atonement was made, is a picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our atonement. in our mercy seat. And the blood
of the Lamb, every Lamb that was slain and every drop of blood
that was shed throughout the whole Old Testament is a picture
of Him who died there on Calvary's cross, the Lamb of God who taketh
away the sin of the world, not just Israel's sins, but spiritual
Israel. You see, He's not a Jew which
is one outwardly, He's a Jew which is one inwardly. circumcision,
not of the flesh, it's of the heart. And we're children of
God by faith. And we're sons of Abraham by
faith. This promise was made to Abraham
and his seed, not seeds as of many, but seed as of one. And
that seed is Christ. We are Israel. Every believer
is Israel. So this scripture in Ezekiel
16, calls Israel to know her abominations, calls Israel to
know her condition, calls Israel to know who made the difference,
calls Israel to know what she is by my grace came from nothing
to everything, calls them to know it. That's, my friend, God's
command to me as His preacher to preach this to you. You see,
I see three things here. What we were is not just what
Israel was, it's what true Israel was. This is what we were. And
secondly, what God hath done. And thirdly, what we are now.
Would you look at it now? Let's go back and look at it
from this standpoint. Look at it not through the eyes
of Israel, but through our eyes, what we were. God said in the
day you were born. You were born of the land of
Canaan, curse, under the curse. You see, in the day of our birth,
we were shapen in iniquity, brought forth speaking lies. In sin,
my mother conceived me. We were helpless as this infant
when we were born. None I pitied thee. The law condemned
us. Holiness was offended by us.
Justice waited to slay us. to the loathing of our persons.
God said, from the sole of your feet to the top of your head,
there's nothing but open running sores that have not been bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. None righteous, none that doeth
good, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God.
Oh, we like sheep have gone astray in Adam, in Adam, without help,
without hope, without Christ, without God in this world. It's
an awful, awful sight. See that baby lying out there
in the field, unwanted, helpless, hopeless, hopeless. And that's what we are by nature.
That's how we come into this world. We don't come into this
world innocent and reach an age of accountability and suddenly
become sinners. We're born sinners. In Adam,
all die. By one man's disobedience, death
passed upon all men. In Adam, all die. By the sin
and transgression of Adam, death passed upon all men. We were
born that way. What did God do? Watch this.
I pass by you. Oh, one day David wrote this.
He said, Lord, I looked into the heavens, and when I consider
thy heavens, sun, the stars, the moon, the things you've made,
what is man but the heart and mind full of him? What is man
that art mindful of him? He came where we were. I passed
by you. I passed by you, and I saw you. I saw you. I saw you polluted
in your blood. I saw you just like God. The
hymn writer said, He saw me ruined in the fall, yet He loved me,
notwithstanding all. We didn't see Him, but He saw
us. We didn't love Him. He loved
us. We didn't want Him. He wanted
us. But God commended His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sin, hath quickened us together with Christ.
I pass by you. I pass by you. And I saw you. I saw you polluted in your blood.
You know, our Lord came into this world to save sinners. I
wish I could get that across to all the people to whom I preach.
Christ died for sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, for whom I'm the chief. I pass by you. And listen, and He said, I said
unto you, When I passed by you and saw you polluted in your
blood, I said, Do you live? Live. He commands the dead to
live. He quickens the dead. He awakens
the dead. He opens the graves. And when
He speaks, death gives way to life. Darkness gives way to light. Inability gives way to strength. And sickness gives way to health. Our Lord said one time, As the
father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to
have life in himself. And the son quickeneth whom he
will. The son quickeneth whom he will. And then he said in
verse 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. For as my Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. And I passed by you, and I said,
Live. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. I said, Live. And then he said
this, I spread my skirt over you, and I covered your nakedness. You know, Adam realized he was
naked, and he tried to cover his nakedness with fig leaves
and they dried up and they blew away. But Christ comes along
with his robe of spotless righteousness and with his spotless garments
on we're as holy as God's own Son and he covers our nakedness. I spread my skirt, my robe, my
righteousness over you and you became holy. And then he said,
I entered a covenant with you. Now listen, I entered a covenant
with you and you became mine. And when David came to his dying
hour, he rejoiced in that covenant. He said, Although it be not so
with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation
and all my desire. That covenant, you became mine. And Paul wrote about it in Hebrews
13, Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead,
That great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. God said, there you were, and
I passed by you. On purpose, by my divine will,
I came your way, and I saw you polluted in your blood, all your
sins, I saw you, and I loved you. It
was a time of love. And I said, do you live? And
you live. And I spread my skirt over you,
and I entered a covenant with you, and you became mine. And
then he said, I washed you. I washed you with water. It's
always washed with the blood. Listen, there's a two-fold cleansing. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. His precious blood cleanseth
us, justifies us, makes us accepted. But then He cleanses us with
the washing of regeneration, with the water of the Word. Sanctify
them through Thy Word. Thy Word is truth. So we're justified
and we're sanctified. Top Lady wrote about it in the
hymn, Rock of Ages. You sung it. Do you understand
what you're singing? Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure saved
from wrath. Make me pure. Justify me. Sanctify me. Give me a right
standing and a new heart. Make me a new creature and make
me love it. You see? Make me love it. reconciled
God to me and reconciled me to God. That's right, the double
cure. I washed you. I washed you. All right, read on. And I anointed
you with oil. The anointing of oil is the Holy
Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit.
It's the Holy Spirit that quickens us. It's the Holy Spirit who
regenerates us. It's the Holy Spirit who reveals
Christ to us. It's the Holy Spirit who begets
faith within us. It's the Holy Spirit who teaches
us. It's the Holy Spirit that comforts us. If any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. Believers don't
pray for the Holy Spirit. They pray for the filling of
the Spirit and the leadership of the Spirit and the blessings
of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit to teach them how to pray, but
they have the Spirit. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. as many as are led by the Holy
Spirit, the sons of God. I anointed you with oil." You
know, when the Old Testament priest stood before God, put
on his holy garments, they poured oil on his head, anointed him
with oil, the Spirit of God, Spirit of God. And then he said,
watch this, I clothed you, I clothed you, I did it. All of this, God
does, salvations of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord, 100%, not 98, 100%. All of God. I make all things new. And I
clothe you with broadered work. You know what the broadered work
was? It was those beautiful linen veils in the temple. And those
Jewish women sat for days and days and days and days and hand-embroidered
those veils. The purple, the red, the blue. And God says, I've clothed you
with that special needlework of glory, of the grace of God,
the graces of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, all those things
that are so beautiful. I shod you with badger skin. Badger skin was tough, lasting,
but soft. And that's, we walk through this
world and through many trials, and God enables us to bear these
trials, but he comforts us as we walk through these valley
of the shadow of death. I girded you with fine linen."
Who wore fine linen? The priest. And we're priests. We're priests of God. That's
right. Every believer is a priest. He
hath redeemed us by his blood and made us kings and priests
to God. I put broadered work on you.
I shod you with the soft yet tough badger-skin shoes. I put
white linen on you like the priest wears and I covered you with
silk. Who wears silk? the king, king priest. We as people. And I put a crown
on your head and you'll reign with Christ. I put a crown on
your head. Listen, and you're renowned. They're talking about you and
what I did for you and what I made of you and what I made you from.
and where I found you and what you are now, your renown went
forth among the nations for your beauty. And it was perfect, perfect,
perfect, because it's all Christ. And your perfection was my comeliness. Listen, buried in shadows of
the night, we lie till Christ restores the light. Our guilty
souls are drowned in tears. till His atoning blood appears,
and then we awake from deep distress and praise the Lord, our righteousness."
What were we? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Just a despicable, unwanted,
deformed infant cast into the field, born of pagan parents,
fallen parents. And God said, It was a time of
love. I loved you. And I said, live.
And I washed you. And I clothed you. And I put
a crown on your head. And I entered a covenant with
you. You became mine. Never to belong to anybody else. You're mine. I am my beloved's
and he's mine. And I put a crown on your head
and then you were perfect. Perfect. But your perfection
was through my comeliness, which I put upon you. He took me from
nothing and gave me everything. And someday I'm going to be perfectly
conformed, you are too, to the glorious image of Christ Jesus.
Praise God for His abundant mercy. Now if you want this tape, it's
got two messages on it. One, believing God, and this
one, from nothing to everything. write to me. I'll send it to
you. Two dollars. Till next week, God bless you.

From Nothing to Everything

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From Nothing to Everything

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