Mercy For the Miserable

Q: What does the Bible say about God's mercy for sinners?

The Bible illustrates God's mercy for sinners through parables, emphasizing His grace and love towards the guilty. Throughout the Scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament, we see God's mercy vividly portrayed through various parables and illustrations. Ezekiel 16 provides a compelling image of God’s dealings with Israel, portraying them as a polluted infant, helpless and abandoned. God’s love is unmistakably demonstrated when He sees this infant in its blood and says, ‘Live.’ This narrative doesn’t just apply to Israel but serves as a representation of how God deals with all sinners, extending His mercy and grace through Christ. Those who acknowledge their miserable state and sinfulness can grasp the depth of God’s mercy as He reaches out to save them, even when they are utterly undeserving.

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

God's grace is sufficient, as demonstrated through Scripture, where He acts first in love to save sinners. God’s grace is illustrated throughout the Bible as being limitless and sufficient for salvation. In a state of spiritual death, mankind is utterly helpless to save themselves. As stated in Ezekiel 16, God passed by the polluted infant and commanded it to live; this symbolizes His initiating love and mercy. The New Testament reinforces this with Paul’s declaration that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). This understanding of grace emphasizes that salvation is entirely based on God's initiative and not on any works or worthiness of our own, showcasing His incredible love for unworthy sinners.

Q: Why is understanding our sinfulness important for Christians?

Recognizing our sinfulness helps Christians appreciate God's mercy and grace in salvation. Understanding our sinfulness is paramount for Christians because it highlights the depth of God’s mercy and grace in our salvation. The sermon illustrates that like Israel, we are born into sin and are spiritually dead, described metaphorically as an abandoned infant. Recognizing this truth, as found in scriptures like Psalm 51:5 and Romans 3:23, allows us to appreciate the saving work of Christ more fully. When we see ourselves in light of God's holiness, we are compelled to grasp the gospel's good news—God’s love isn’t conditional on our righteousness but is given freely to those who recognize their need for Him. Embracing this truth fosters a humble heart and deepens our gratitude and worship toward our gracious Savior.

Q: How does God demonstrate His love according to the Bible?

God demonstrates His love by taking the initiative to save us despite our sinful condition. The Bible presents God’s love as proactive and unconditional. In Ezekiel 16, God describes His loving actions towards an unworthy and polluted infant. He didn’t wait for the infant to clean itself up but saw it in its wretched state and commanded it to live, illustrating His initiative in showing love and mercy. This theme continues in the New Testament, particularly in Romans 5:8, where it states that God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This narrative of love emphasizes that God's approach is not based on our merit but solely on His grace and desire to save the lost.

We're going to look at the book
of Ezekiel, chapter 16, verses 1 through 14. I'm speaking to
you on the subject, mercy for the miserable, or grace for the
guilty. Now, a lot of people don't understand
this, but the Old Testament is full of parables and illustrations
showing how God saves sinners. That's right, God's mercy for
the miserable. God's grace to the guilty through
his son Jesus Christ is the theme of the Old Testament. When our
Lord was preaching, when our Lord was here on this earth preaching,
he constantly referred to the Old Testament. He said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have eternal life. He said again, as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so
shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. And again
he said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the
days of the coming of the Son of Man. Christ constantly referred
back to the Old Testament, illustrating redemption, salvation, how God
saves sinners. Paul did the same thing. Paul
and Peter, James and John constantly referred to the Old Testament.
And if we were wise, If we were wise, we would become acquainted
with these types and pictures of our Lord in the Old Testament,
because He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, I'm
going to read a rather long passage of Scripture. I wish you'd take
your Bible and turn to Ezekiel 16, and let me read the first
six verses as I speak to you on the subject, Mercy for the
Miserable. Again the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
or her sins, and say, Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem, Your
birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan. Your father
was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite. And when you were
born, as for your nativity, in the day you were born, your navel
was not cut, neither were you washed in water, nor salted,
nor suppled, nor swaddled. None eye pitted thee to do any
of these things for thee. But thou was cast out in the
day thou was born, thou was cast out in the open field to the
loathing of thy person in the day thou wast born. And when
I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thy blood, I said
to thee, when thou wast polluted in thy blood, I said to thee,
Live." Now, my friends, we're not left to wonder about the
first application of this story. It was the custom among some
of the heathen nations back many centuries ago, it was the custom
to take unwanted children, unwanted newborn babes, infants, deformed
or unwanted, right after they were born, and just throw them
out in the field or out in the desert to be devoured by a wild
beast or eaten by birds. They didn't want these babies.
So just as soon as they were born, they were just cast out
into the field, and that's the picture here. The Lord said,
son of man, you speak this message to Jerusalem, to Israel. This is a picture of God's dealings
with Israel. This is the way God found them.
He describes it as like a baby, newborn baby, not washed and
not swaddled and not cleaned up, just his navel not even taken
care of, just thrown into the field and left there polluted
in its blood. And God said, when I passed by
you and saw you in that condition, it was the time of love. And
I loved you, and I said to you, live, when you were polluted
in your blood, to the loathing of your person, I said to you,
live. And he said, son of man, this is Jerusalem. Now this is
the way God found Israel. Abraham, did you know Abraham
and his father were idolaters when God called Abraham? And
almighty God gave them, he made them his own, he loved them,
he gave them his glory. He gave them the prophets, he
gave them the law, he gave them the kings, he gave them his son,
and their fame and their beauty, the fame of Israel and the beauty
of Israel, went to the uttermost parts of the world, and everybody
knew about their beauty and their glory, and he said, You were
beautiful in my comeliness, which I gave unto you. Now that's the
first application. But as in all Scripture, now
listen to this, as in all Scripture, God's dealings with national
Israel is a picture of God's dealings with spiritual Israel.
That's right. Anytime that you read some scripture
about God's dealings with national Israel, it's a picture of God
dealing with you and me, in mercy, in grace, how God saves sinners. Now, if we have eyes, we'll be
able to see that here. If we have ears, we'll be able
to hear it. If we have a heart to understand,
if the Holy Spirit enlightens our heart, we'll be able to see
the mysteries of God's grace and God's goodness to you and
to me in this scripture. As you go back through the Old
Testament, the rock that Moses smote, the scripture says in
the New Testament that rock was Christ. And that Passover lamb
that was slain and blood put on the door, that Passover lamb
is Christ. And this picture here is not
just, God didn't take all this space in his word just to tell
us about a parable about Israel and a count of his mercy to them.
This is applicable to you and to me. This is the way God found
us. Now let's go back and look. First of all, let's see our lost
condition in this parable, in this picture. The baby was born
wrong. That's where you have to stop.
yet started birth. The baby was born wrong. God said, you're born of the
land of Canaan. Where have you seen that Canaan
before? Cursed be Canaan. God put a curse upon Canaan.
And the scripture says that we were born under the curse of
the law. That's right. Turn to Psalm 51 and look at
verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me. When the baby is conceived, the
seed which is planted is a sinful seed that comes from a sinful
father, and that sinful nature is imparted at conception. That's
what scripture says. We were born wrong. Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
law to do them. Now listen to this. If I did not have sin when
I was an infant, I would have not had sickness, I would have
not had disease, And infants wouldn't die, because death comes
as a result of sin. And where there's no sin, there'd
be no death, there'd be no disease. We're born in sin. Listen to
Psalm 58, verse 3. Listen to it. The wicked are
strained from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. This evil nature is born in us,
because we're born of sinful parents. In Adam, we died. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. A fellow doesn't steal a watermelon
and become a sinner as a result. He stole that watermelon because
he is a sinner. The deed followed the thought.
The deed followed the plan. And sin starts within us, and
then it's demonstrated in outward acts. So the baby, the baby's
birth was all wrong, and our birth is wrong. We're born in
sin. We must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. That
which is born of flesh is flesh, and in the flesh dwelleth no
good thing, and in the flesh no man can please God, and flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So this baby
that was born and not cleaned up and cast out in the field
is a picture of us. We were born in sin. All right,
secondly, the infant was helpless. That's right, impotent, powerless,
helpless, without strength. Without help, without hope, not
even the clay on the potter's wheel is any more helpless than
that infant. He can't do one thing for himself. The scripture asks this question,
can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leper change his
spots? Neither can you do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. We are without strength. Spiritually,
we are impotent. And if anything is to be done
for us, It'll have to be done by someone else. We can't help
ourselves. If there's to be a resurrection
from the dead, it must come from God. If there's to be a miracle
performed, it must come from the hand of God, from first to
last. For like this infant, we cannot
lift ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. For
we're not only impotent, but we are not even aware of our
lost condition. Did you know that the sinners
of this world not only will not come to God, that they might
have life, but they're not aware of their need to come to God.
They're not aware of their lost condition. This baby lying there
in the field, it felt the pain, but didn't know where it was
coming from. This baby felt the pain and the discomfort, but
he had no idea, he had no intelligence, he had no knowledge of his condition,
and even so, men without God don't know they're without God.
They're helpless. All right, thirdly, this infant
was dirty. The scripture says, polluted.
The scripture says, loathsome, to the loathing of thy person.
Now this, I don't want to offend you, but this is our spiritual
condition, every one of us, every son of Adam, every daughter of
Adam. We have ashes for beauty. We have shame for glory. We have
rottenness for help. That's right. The Bible says
there's none good, no not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek it after God. They're all together
become unprofitable. There's none that do it good,
no not one. There's none righteous. That
our throat is an open sepulcher. The poison of snakes is under
our lips. We're like an open grave. Isaiah
said, from the sole of our feet to the top of our heads, we're
full of sin, iniquity, self, hatred for God. We are corrupt. This baby, imagine that picture,
not washed, not cleaned up, polluted in its blood, caked and dried
blood, lying out there in the field, been there for hours,
just polluted, loathsome. Well, that's the way we look.
Not in the sight of other men, but in the sight of holy God,
who has perfect holy eyes. And my friend, I'm not talking
about the harlot, or the drunkard, or the thief, or the prisoner,
or the murderer. I'm talking about all of us.
You and me, by nature. We're not here to compliment
one another, we're here to speak the truth, aren't we? And if
we're going to speak the truth, we've got to declare this, that
you may be moral, generous, honest, and you may be outwardly sober
compared with other men and other women, but before God's holiness,
before God Almighty's holy law, we have all sinned and come short
of his glory. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way, and we are polluted
in our sins, and we're as void of holiness as the most vile
creature that ever lived. So that's the description All
right, notice the second thing now. God's sovereign choice. Now watch this. He said, I passed
by you. I passed by you. The infant was not looking for
help. The infant did not know his condition. The infant was
not seeking help. God said, I passed by you. I like what the old hymn writer
says, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for Lord, that could not
be. For had not thou chosen me, thy glory, I would not see."
We didn't love God. Let's look at the Scripture,
and let's take it as God has written it. Herein is love, not
that we loved God, He loved us. I passed by you, and verse 8
says, it was a time of love. You didn't love me, I loved you.
I loved you. I passed by you polluted in your
blood. I came by. I came that way on
purpose. Even as the scripture says, Christ
must need go through Samaria. Other sheep I have, them also
I must bring. We didn't seek God. He sought
us. He came where we were. He didn't send a message to this
baby and say, now if you clean yourself up, if you get straightened
out and get up and walk and come to me, I'll receive you. No,
sir. He said, I came where you were, in the cesspool of iniquity. the dunghill of despair. I came
where you were. Now watch this. And I saw you
polluted in your blood. I saw you just like you were.
Your friends didn't know your condition. They can't see your
heart. Man looks on the outward countenance.
God looks on the heart. You didn't even know your true
condition, but I knew it. I passed by you, and I saw you
as you were, and I loved you notwithstanding all. God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ died for the ungodly.
When we were enemies, Christ died for us. My friends, there's
nothing in us to merit his love. There's nothing about us to merit
the grace of his Son. There's nothing in our future
that would merit the mercy of our God. We are all as an unclean
thing, Isaiah said. We all do fade as the leaf. And our iniquities have driven
us away, and our righteousnesses are filthy rags. Are you ever
amazed that God should love you? Are you ever amazed that God
should show mercy to you? John Newton once said, when I
get to heaven, three things are going to amaze me. Number one,
I'm going to be amazed when I see a lot of people there that I
never expected to see. And number two, I'm going to
miss a lot of people in heaven that I did expect to see. And
number three, the most amazing thing of all will be that I'll
be there. That will amaze me. That baby
out there in the field, born under a curse, born of heathen
parents, cast out into the field, impotent, without hope, without
strength. God said, I passed by. I passed
by. I came where you were. And I
loved you. It was a time of love. I loved
you. And I called you. And I made you my own. Not because
you were beautiful. You were polluted in your blood.
You were loathsome in your person. But I chose you. And God had
chosen the foolish and the base and the despised. I read a story
one time about a black boy who came out of the South after the
Civil War. He was twenty years of age. He
left the South right after the Civil War and went north. He'd
never seen the inside of a school room. Never in his life. The
only place he'd ever been was a cotton field. And he went north
to Philadelphia, I believe it was, and he got a job as a mortar
carrier. Twenty years old. Couldn't read
or write. Couldn't even write his name. And the Lord saved
him. God visited him in mercy. And
God revealed Christ to his heart. And that boy came to the knowledge
of Jesus Christ the Lord, came to faith. And he wanted to read
the Bible, so he started school. Started going to night school.
He worked for a stonemason during the day, carrying mortar, and
he'd go to school at night. And he learned to read. And he
became the janitor of a black church in the north. And he served
as the janitor of that church. You know, when I think of this,
I think of David, who said, I'd rather be the doorkeeper in the
house of God. than to dwell as the king in
the tents of the wicked. But this black boy served as
the janitor of this church until he was fifty years old. And then
when he was fifty years of age, they called him to be their pastor.
And he pastored that church for thirty-two years, until he was
eighty-two. He preached to the largest crowds
of any preacher in the United States. He preached to ten thousand
people every Lord's Day. He pastored the largest black
church in the United States, and he wrote some of our greatest
hymns, some of your favorites. He wrote, Nothing Between My
Soul and My Savior, So That His Blessed Face May Be Seen, Nothing
Preventing the Least of His Pleasure, Keep the Way Clear, Let Nothing
Between. He wrote that song, If the world
from you withhold of its silver and its gold, and you have to
get along with meager fare, Just remember in God's word how he
feeds a little bird, take your burden to the Lord and leave
it there. Aren't those beautiful words?
God chose this simple, uneducated, illiterate black boy and made
him a great preacher and a great hymn writer for his glory. And that's where he found all
his people. He found them on the junk heap. He found them in trespasses and sin. Now watch
this. And here's the command. I said
unto thee, I passed by, I sought you, I loved you, I called you,
I passed by when you were polluted in your blood, and I said live.
Oh, my friends, I can stand here and preach to you till we both
grow old and gray-headed, but unless God the Holy Ghost speaks
in power, nothing of any eternal value will be accomplished. If
my voice is the only voice you hear, nothing is going to be
accomplished for you. You're not going to see what
God's saying, you're not going to understand what the Holy Spirit's
teaching, you're not going to see your lost condition, you're
not going to see the glory and beauty of Christ, and you're
never coming to repentance and faith unless God speaks. God's
got to speak through His Word. He said, I passed by and I said,
live. It's much like when the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters." You know, in Genesis
1 you have the creation of the world. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth, and it says, "...and the earth became
without form and void." God didn't make it that way. God makes everything
perfect. But something happened. I believe
it was the fall of Lucifer, Satan. But between Genesis 1 and 2 there
is a space, there is a gap there. And in Genesis 1 it says, "...the
Spirit of God brewed it over the face of the water, over the
darkness." And he said, Let there be light. Let there be light. And there was light. And that's
what God does when he saves a sinner. His Holy Spirit comes over that
sinner, the darkness of that sinner. The darkness. Oh, men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
They will not come to the light. They hate the light. But over
their darkness, the Spirit of God comes and he says, let there
be light. Let there be light. Paul wrote
in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in these hearts to give us the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. That's a miracle.
And just like God walked by this baby, polluted in its blood,
cast out, unwanted, unpitted, and he said, live, live. That
baby lived. And even so, the Holy Spirit,
you know the angel came to Mary and said, you're going to have
a son. He said, well, I don't know a man. He said, but the
Holy Spirit is coming upon you, and the power of the highest
will overshadow you, and that which is born of you shall be
called the Son of God. And that's what happens when
God saves a sinner. He comes over the dead soul, and Almighty
God speaks, and life is born. We're born of God. As many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name, which were born. not
of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but born of God. And then one day our Lord stood
before the grave of Lazarus. He said, Roll away the stone.
And someone said, But Lord, he's been dead for several days, and
behold, he's stinking. And the Lord said, Roll away
the stone. And they rolled away the stone, and our Master spoke.
And he said, Lazarus, come forth. And I'll tell you, that man who
had been dead four days walked out of that grave with the grave
clothes still wrapped about him, and our Lord said, Loose him
and let him go. And that's what Paul's writing
about in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. You hath be quickened
who were dead, dead, in trespasses and sins. You hath be quickened.
So my friends, God says, I pass by you. You were lost from birth. Your impotent inability. was
so prevalent, nothing you could do for yourself without God,
without hope, without Christ at your wit's end. I saw you
in your blood, to the loathing of your person, and I said to
you when you were in your blood, and he repeats that two or three
times, live. God said live. God said let there
be light. God said live. Now, in closing,
I want you to look from verses 8 through verse 14, and let's
point out some things. God's gracious gifts. First of
all, he says this. He said, I washed you. I washed
you. Now, here's that baby lying there
in its loathsome, polluted condition, and God said, I came by and I
washed you. I didn't leave you that way.
I washed you. I cleaned you up. And I'll tell you, my friend,
the Scripture says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. God purifies his people. There's
a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
And sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I," listen, can you
say it, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Yes, I washed
you. Christ washes us, forgives us,
cleanses us, purifies us from all our sins. Isn't that good
news? That's why the gospel is called the gospel. But it's good
news that Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Now watch the next
thing. And he says, I anointed you. I anointed you with oil. Oil in the Scripture is the Holy
Spirit. God Almighty will have no unanointed
priest in his temple. All of the priests not only had
to be sprinkled with blood, but they had to be anointed with
oil, which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. And let me tell
you this. Everybody whom God saves has the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says, if any man
have not the Spirit of God, he's none of his. The Scripture says,
as many as are led by the Holy Spirit, they are the sons of
God. Led by the Spirit, and dwelt
with the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit. And what's the next
one? Now, verse 10. Not only did I wash you, cleanse
you, not only did I anoint you with oil, but I clothed God Almighty
took those old rags off and gave us a spotless robe, just like
he took the fig leaves off Adam and gave him a robe made of skin. He had to kill an animal to do
it, had to shed blood to do it. In order to robe you and to clothe
you and to cover your nakedness, God had to shed blood, the blood
of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I clothed you. And my friends,
with his spotless garments on, we are as holy as God's own son. Now watch this next line in verse
11. And he said, I decked you, or I adorned you. He said, I
put bracelets on your wrist. That's symbolic of we serve the
master. He said, I put a chain around
your neck. And in order to do that, our heads had to be bowed,
our necks had to be bent in contrition and submission and humility,
to bow before the Lord as he puts the chain about our neck.
And he said, put a jewel on your forehead, right here, in a prominent
place, like the Indian women wore jewels right here on their
forehead. That's a witness. We know Christ, we love him,
we confess him. And we don't make ourselves obnoxious
to people, but we want them to know that Christ is our King.
And then he says, I put a crown on your head. I crowned you. He hath made us priests and kings
to our King. And then in closing, he said,
you were perfect. You were perfect. Not in yourself. Not in your own goodness. Not
in your own beauty. You were perfect in my comeliness. in my company. We wear his robe,
we wear his crown, we wear his beauty, we're complete in him.
What a picture of salvation, mercy for the miserable. Now
these messages are on cassette tape. If you'd like to have them,
you write to me. The address will be given to
you. Until next week at the same time, Henry Mahan, bidding you
a pleasant good day.

Mercy For the Miserable

What does the Bible say about God's mercy for sinners?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

Why is understanding our sinfulness important for Christians?

How does God demonstrate His love according to the Bible?

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Mercy For the Miserable

What does the Bible say about God's mercy for sinners?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

Why is understanding our sinfulness important for Christians?

How does God demonstrate His love according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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