Will you open your Bibles again
to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. Let me read the first few verses.
Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, or her sins, And say, thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, a
heathen. Thy mother was a Hittite, a heathen. As for thy nativity, the day
of thy birth, thy navel was not cut, neither was thy washed in
water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all, none I pitted thee to do any of these things
to thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out
into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, I
saw thee trodden underfoot I saw thee polluted in thine own blood,
and I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood in this helpless,
hopeless condition, I said unto thee, Live. Yea, I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live." Now these verses serve
a fourfold purpose. The first one is perfectly clear.
A person does not have to be a minister preparing a message
to see the first purpose of these verses. It's given right here
in verse 2. The Lord said to the prophet,
son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her sins. That's the first
purpose for this writing in the book of Ezekiel, to cause Jerusalem
to know her sins. There's no hope for the person
who does not know his sins. There's no hope for the person
who does not acknowledge his sins. I want to read a poem that
I put in the bulletin this morning. Some of you may have already
read it. But I want to read it again. This poem was written
by a man, 54 years of age, who is serving a sentence in the
Lucasville Correctional Institute in Lucasville, Ohio. We met when
I was there a few weeks ago. We've been corresponding. He
sent me this poem with a letter. I want to read the poem and then
just a part of the letter. Now what I'm saying is this.
There's no hope for the person who does not recognize his sin. It doesn't matter whether he's
in the penitentiary or whether he's in the pulpit. It doesn't matter whether the
person is an executive or whether he's a ditch digger. It doesn't
matter whether the person is a school teacher. or whether
the person is a lumber man. Everyone has sinned and come
short of the glory of God. We all have sinned. We've gone
everyone his own way. We have rejected the way of God. We have walked in darkness and
rebellion, evil and sin. And there's no hope of salvation
for the person who does not acknowledge just exactly what Jim acknowledges
in this poem. The title of it is, I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. I'm sick and tired, he says,
of working for the devil, but I'm weak and I cannot bear his
awful load. So give a hand to a friendless
man who needs you and guide me to that straight and narrow road. Will you take me by the hand
and lead me, brother? For I'm a sinner and I need your
help today. Show me how to change and ask
forgiveness of the wrongs that I've done along life's way. I'll
do my best to follow in your footsteps. Take me where you
will, and I shall stay. Please help me find the path
to our Lord Jesus, and I promise that I'll never go astray. I've
never had a friend who really cared for me, but I've heard
of Jesus all along the way. So I hope the time has come for
me to find Him, and He lets me work for Him both night and day. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner, O
dear brother, and I beg of you to hear my humble call. Just
walk with me and tell me of His Kingdom, and let me understand
the glory of it all. In the letter that this man wrote
to me, he said this, Brother Henry, my father was buried in
Arlington, Ohio six months ago. They let me go to his funeral.
As I stood there in front of his casket in handcuffs and chains,
oh, what a heavy heart this old convict had. I looked down at
my father and I promised that I would do better for the remainder
of my life. And when we meet again, he'll
be proud of me as his son. I've got a long way to go. But
Brother Henry, I've got such a bad temper and I'm trying to
learn to control myself. I wrote my feelings in that poem,
I'm a sinner. That was Jim and his true heart
feelings within him. I know if I ever want anything
more than a present self, I'm going to have to clean myself
up within. And Brother Henry, I'm working
on that, so thank you for being as you have with me. I've always
been a tough guy, but God has a way with tough guys, even myself. And things are happening to me
on the inside of my heart. I'm a long ways from being a
Christian, but I'm trying. This man has discovered the first
thing that a man must discover in order to be saved, and that
is that he's a sinner. That he's a sinner. And there
must be a work on the inside. That's where God does his work.
He convicts of sin. He convicts of rebellion. He
convicts of our transgressions and iniquities. And there's no
hope for anyone who does not know his sin. He that hideth
his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
his sins shall find mercy. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth's not in us. But if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. So the first reason for this
writing in Ezekiel 16 is to cause us to know our sins. And then the second lesson found
in this portion of Scripture is the grace and mercy of God,
the grace of God. Now, my friends, where there's
real guilt, there's real grace. I have hope that this man will
come to know Christ in a real, personal, intimate, saving way. I have hope that this man will
be brought to a living, vital union with Christ because he
is a sinner. And Christ said he came to seek
and to save the lost. Christ died for sinners. Now,
there are some even here in this congregation for whom I have
no hope because they're not sinners. They've never been brought low.
They've never been stripped. They've never been whittled down.
They've never had their foundation swept out from under them. They
have never been brought by the Holy Spirit to cry, oh brother,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. That's not in their
vocabulary. That's not in their language.
They can't say that. They're good people, fine people,
outstanding people, good citizens. But God doesn't save good citizens.
He saves lost people. And I have hope for this man
because he's lost. I have hope for every lost person.
I have hope for every sinner. But you say every man's a sinner.
No, they're not. Ask them. Where you find real
guilt, you find real grace. Where there is confessed sin,
there is a sufficient Savior. God is plenteous in mercy. God does not deal in debts. God
deals in mercy. God is plenteous in mercy. God
is a present help in time of trouble. But who's in trouble?
This man's in trouble, and he knows he's in trouble. And God
is a very present help in time of trouble. When they're crowned
to the Lord in their trouble, he delivers them out of their
distress. God delights to show mercy. Where there's real guilt, there's
real grace. And then the third lesson I learned
from this scripture is this, the effectual work of God. Preacher,
what do you mean by the effectual work of God? Well, I mean just
this. I mean that when God saves a
sinner, not when the pastor does it, not when the evangelist tells
you you're saved, not when the Sunday school teacher says, isn't
it about time you joined the church, not when your mother
and father says, son or daughter, haven't you thought of religious
matters and don't you wish to be confirmed or catechized or
join the church? I mean when God saves a sinner. When God lifts the beggar from
the dunghill and makes him a prince and a king, when God reaches
down in the darkness of our dungeon and captivity and sets free the
captive and gives sight to the blind and healing to the lame
and strength to the poor, when God does that, He makes all things
new. He gives a new heart, He gives
a new nature, He gives a new understanding. He said, Preacher,
why don't you write to that man there and tell him just to believe
on Jesus simply because I don't want to save him. I want God
to save him. I want God to save him. Preachers
have been in the saving business too long. It's time that they
resigned and let God do his office work. God does the saving. And when God saves a sinner,
He gives him a new heart, He gives him a new understanding.
Salvation is not just believing some facts about Jesus. Salvation
is receiving Christ to be your Lord and your Master and your
King. Salvation is a new creation in
Christ Jesus. The battle's not over, but the
sinner has something to fight with now. He has the Lord. Greater is He that's in you than
he that's in the world. And then the fourth lesson that
I learned from this text is the rich inheritance of grace. I
want you to turn with me. Hold your hand there in the sixteenth
chapter of Ezekiel, but turn with me to the book of I Peter,
chapter 1. I Peter, chapter 1. There is
a rich inheritance of grace. It says here in I Peter, chapter
1, verse 3, "'Blessed be the God and Father, of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. He hath begotten us to an inheritance,
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven. for you. Someday the poverty
of this world will be ended. Someday the tears and the darkness
of this world shall be over. Someday the disappointments and
sorrows of life will be over. And then we're going to enter
by God's grace into an inheritance that's indescribable, and that's
undefiled, and that's incorruptible. and that fadeth not away. Isaac
Watts wrote about it when he said, when I can read my title
clear to mansions in the skies, I'll bid farewell to every fear
and wipe my weeping eyes. Let cares like a wild deluge
come and storms of sorrow fall. May I but safely reach my home,
my God, my heaven, my all. And there shall I bathe my weary
soul in seas of heavenly rest, and not a wave of trouble will
roll across my peaceful breast." The rich inheritance of God's
grace. Now let me give you this story.
In Ezekiel 16, God says, cause Jerusalem to know her sins. Let
Jerusalem see the sovereign mercy of God, the hand of God upon
the undeserving. Let Jerusalem see what God does,
his effectual work, his invincible work, his conquering work. Let Jerusalem see the inheritance
which God has given to her freely by his grace. Well, a baby girl,
a little baby girl, was born to heathen parents. They didn't
want her. She was not washed after she
was born, her navel was not cut nor tied. Immediately after birth
she was just taken by cruel and wicked hands and cast out into
an open field, right out into the dirt, into the grass, and
left there, left to the burning sun, left to the wild beast,
helpless, unwanted, bloody, dying, she lay there in that open field.
God says, I came by and I saw you in your helpless condition,
in your helpless, unwanted state, in your inability, and it was
the time of love. I looked on you, you didn't look
on me. I loved you, you didn't love
me. You didn't love me. And I said
to you, live, and you lived. And he said, you have grown and
you have developed into a very beautiful woman. And I clothed
you and I put a crown on your head and I put earrings in your
ears and bracelets on your hand. And your beauty, because of my
beauty, was perfect. Now let's see four or five things
here. First of all, Thy birth was all wrong. That's what God
says about this baby. Your mother was a heathen, your
father was a heathen, you were unwanted, you were cast out into
the field. In verse 3 and 4 it says that. Your birth was all wrong. Well,
that's the way we start out. Our birth is all wrong. Why are
we like we are? Why do we think like we think?
Why do we sin? Why do we commit transgressions
against God? Why do we imagine vain things? Why do we commit iniquities? We're born that way. We're born
sinners. We sin because we're sinners
by birth. We sin because our nature is
evil. Our nature is corrupt. Now that's
so. There's no need to deny it. The
seed of sin is planted in the conception of a child. Job said,
you can't bring a clean thing out of an unclean. And since
Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, death and sin and darkness and
hate and lust and evil and covetousness and jealousy and envy has been
planted in the conception of every child. Now read, if you
will, Psalms 51. In Psalms 51, verse 5. Now when a little baby is first
born, it looks so loving, so cuddly, so beautiful. It looks
so pure. But the seed of sin is there,
not the seed of holiness, not the seed of righteousness, but
the seed of sin. And that child will grow up and
that sin will be expressed. That sin will come out. That
sin will vent itself. It will express itself because
it's there already. You don't have to teach that
child to lie. Lying's already been planted
in his birth from his lying father, from his lying father from the
first one back in the Garden of Eden. You don't have to teach
that child to hate. It'll know how to hate. It's
born with the seed of hatred already within. My friends, listen
to me. Our environment has not made
us evil. We have made our environment
evil. Our environment hasn't made us
bad. We've made it bad. All the pollution in this world
is caused by man. Man's not been polluted by the
world. The world's been polluted by
man. The evil and the sin and the corruptions on the inside,
that's what David says in Psalm 51, Behold, I was shapen I was
formed in the womb in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me."
He's not saying that the act of giving birth to children is
a sin. He's saying that the seed that
was planted there by his father from which the child was made
was a sinful seed. Just like you cannot get fresh
water from a polluted fountain, you cannot get a pure child from
an impure father. The reason the Lord Jesus Christ
was without sin was because he was born of a virgin. If he had
had an earthly father, he would have been a sinner just like
me. He would have had the same doubts and fears and lust and
hatreds and malice and selfishness. He'd have had that same ego that
you and I are born with if he'd have had an earthly father. But
he was born of the Holy Ghost. Mary said, how can I have a child? I know not of man. And the Holy
Spirit said, or the angel said, that holy thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God, for the Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of God shall overshadow
thee. And Christ was born of a virgin,
consequently he had no evil nature. He had a pure, holy nature. He had the nature of God. But
every person born into this world as an infant of days is evil. Now turn to Psalms 58. You can't
deny that. You're nothing but a fool to
deny that. That's what the Scripture says,
and that's what experience teaches you. Experience. Why is it that
godly parents have such rebellious children? They didn't teach them
to be rebels. They were born rebels. They were
born resisting authority. They were born hating instruction. They were born wanting to go
their own way and have their own way and do their own thing.
They're born that way. In Psalm 58, verse 3, the wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. Christ said, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. Now, you can get angry with me
if you want to. You know that just won't make
a whole lot of difference, because I'm going to preach what God
Almighty writes in His Word. But for your own sake, I'm telling
you to recognize what is true. We've got to know what we are.
and our birth is all wrong. That's where it all started.
Turn to Romans chapter 5, verse 12. This is the thing we've got
to admit, first of all. Not only that we have S-I-N-S,
but we have S-I-N. We have committed S-I-N-S sins,
and the reason is because inside us is the seed of S-I-N sin. A man's not a thief because he
steals. He steals because he's a thief
already in his heart. It never would have been done
had he not already imagined it in his heart. And in Romans chapter 5, verse
12, listen to the scripture, "...wherefore by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men." We're born with death in us. If that little child of
yours is so holy and pure and without sin, then how come little
babies die? Death was brought about because
of sin. If that baby were without sin,
Don, that baby wouldn't die. It couldn't die. Because sin
brought death, Sin brought condemnation. Sin brought disease. That baby
wouldn't have any disease if it didn't have sin. There was
no disease in the Garden of Eden until Adam brought sin. There
was no death in the Garden of Eden until Adam's sin. And I
guarantee you, if babies are born without sin, they never
would get sick, and they never would have pain, and they never
would die. That's right, your birth was
wrong. Your father was a heathen and your mother was a heathen
and you were born in sin. Now the second thing I see in
verse 5, our inability, it says, nobody pitied thee. To do any
of these things for thee, to have compassion upon thee, you
were cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person
in the day that thou was born. No one would help to bathe thee.
And the baby couldn't help himself. The baby was weak and helpless
and without hope. And that's the place that you
and I must come before God to realize that we're weak and without
hope and without help and without God. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah
13, 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leper change
his spots? And neither can you do good that
are accustomed or born doing evil. That baby couldn't change
his condition. That baby was hopeless and helpless
as far as he personally, she personally was concerned. Nothing
she could do for herself. Turn to the book of Job, chapter
15. I want you to listen to this.
In Job, chapter 15, verse 14, listen to this. What is man? What is man that he should be
cleaned? I can't clean up the hearts of
sinners. I can't do it. I'm helpless to
do it. Sinners cannot clean their own
hearts. They're helpless. What is man that he should be
cleaned, Job 15, 14, or he that's born of a woman, that he should
be righteous? Why, behold, God puts no trust
in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in God's sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like he drinks water." Now, my friend, if even the heavens
aren't clean in God's sight, what do you think your heart
looks like to God? What do you think your imaginations?
What do you think your nature? What are you going to do about
it, preacher? I can't do anything about it. I like the opening
line of Jim's poem there, I'm sick and tired of working for
the devil. Well, I am too. But I'm weak and I cannot break
his awful law. You've got to realize your helplessness. Don't give me only a set of rules
to follow. I'll fail. Somewhere along the
line I'm going to break your rules, and then I'm a goner. Don't give me only a doctrine
to believe. Somewhere along the line I'm
going to doubt because I'm full of unbelief. Don't give me only
a decision to make because I'm too good at breaking resolutions. Something must be done within
me. I need a regenerating work of God, just like that baby needs
not something for the baby to do. The modern evangelist would
come by and say, baby, you're in bad shape. He sure is, she
sure is. Well, baby, down the road here
is a Savior. Now, if you'll take the first
step, he'll meet you. If you'll arise and go to Jesus,
then Jesus will make you whole. But you've got to make a decision.
You've got to decide. See, Jesus can't do anything
for you until you decide to do something for Him. I know you're
in bad shape, baby, but Jesus, see, He doesn't want to violate
your will. He doesn't want to do that now,
so it's up to you. You've got to make the decision.
You've got to rise and walk. And the baby just lies there,
squalling in its blood. It doesn't even hear the evangelist.
It doesn't see the evangelist. It's polluted, dead, corrupt
in its blood. It just lies there. But I'm telling
you this. Something's got to be done supernaturally. Something's got to be done miraculously. I need a regenerating work of
God in my heart to cause me to love his law. to cause me to
rejoice in his Son. I need divine understanding so
that I can believe in his Son. I need the presence of God to
cause me to love what I hate and to hate what I love." Now
that's salvation. And that's something that baby
can't do for himself. And that's something you, my
sinner friend, wherever you are today, listening to this message. That's something you can't do
for yourself. That's something God has to do.
That's the reason the thief on the cross, in his helplessness,
he couldn't walk to Christ. He couldn't wash. He cried out,
Lord, just remember me. That's what the publican cried
in his helplessness, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. And
that's all that baby could do, was cry. That's all. And now, what's the next verse?
Scripture says, "...and when I passed by thee." Oh, what a
glorious day when the Lord of glory passes by. When he is not
pleased to leave us in our filth, when he is not pleased to leave
us in our pollution, trotting underfoot, when he is not pleased
to leave us in our rebellion, he passed by! And he met the
woman at the well, and he made her whole. He didn't have to
pass that way, but he did. But he did. He didn't have to
bring you here this morning to hear the gospel, but he did.
You could be where the rest of your old cronies are. Jesus Christ
the Lord passed by, and he met blind Bartimaeus, and he made
him whole. He passed by and he met Zacchaeus,
and he gave him life. He passed by and he met the thief
on the cross, and he said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And here he passed by this helpless,
hopeless creature. He said, I passed by you. You
didn't pass by me. I passed by you, and I stopped,
and I said, Live. I said, Live. It was a time of
love. You didn't love me. You didn't
know I was there. But I loved you. And I said, live. Oh God,
right now, speak to dead Lazarus in the darkness of his tomb.
Oh God, by the power of thy Spirit, thou art able to do it. Speak
to the dead heart of some sinner and say in thy miraculous power,
live! Live! Begat life where there's no life.
Begat love where there's hate. Begat light where there's darkness.
God says, live! It may be that right now He's
passing by you. You're being confronted with
the Lord of glory today, right now, in this message. Will you
cry out, Lord, I'm a sinner? Be merciful to me. He doesn't
owe you anything. But it may be that He'll give
you life. It may be. It may be. And then I want you
to see in closing the work of redeeming love. He says here
in verse 8, I passed by you and it was a time of love and I spread
my skirt over you, verse 8, and I covered your nakedness. I covered
your nakedness. The robe of my holy spotless
righteousness has covered every blot Every stain, every infirmity. But brother man, I've been such
an awful sinner. Like Jim said here in his letter,
I've got such an awful temper. I've got such a terrible temper.
I've sinned against God. I've sinned against God. I've
broken the laws of men. I'm in prison now for my transgressions. I say unto you that Jesus Christ,
robe of righteousness, is able to cover every stain. every past
infirmity, every present affliction, and every future rebellion. Christ says, I've covered your
nakedness totally. The holy, sovereign, all-seeing
eye of God, even God Himself is not able to see a stain or
flaw in my character through the righteousness of Christ. That's so. That's so. I covered your nakedness. And
when He covers your nakedness, He covers it completely. Even
the holy, all-seeing eye of God the Father cannot see in me right
now one flaw when I'm covered in the righteousness of his divine
Son." That's so. Now, if I stand alone, I'm as
rotten as the devil himself, but in Christ I'm holy and without
blame. Then he says, I entered a covenant
with you, I spread my skirt over your coverage, your nakedness,
And I swear unto thee, and I entered a covenant with you, and you
became mine. He said, My sheep hear my voice,
I know them, and they follow me. This is my Father's will,
that all which ye have given me I should lose nothing, but
raise it up at the last day. I entered a covenant with you,
and I swear by myself, because I can swear by no greater, the
gifts and calling of God are without change. Therefore you
sons of Jacob are not consumed." Verse 9, "...and then I washed
you." Oh, see how that baby must have been a terrible sight. Must
have been a terrible sight, lying there in dried blood, lying there
with the dirt and sand in its mouth and eyes and ears and matted
hair. Lying there, his little navel
not cut nor tied, just cast out there, rolled out there in the
field right after the baby girl was born, and God said, I washed
you. You didn't wash yourself, I washed
you. I washed you with my blood, the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us, purifieth
us from every stain. I tell you, when mama picks up
that baby and washes that baby, she does a good job, but when
God washes one of his, there's a spot left on him. And it doesn't
need to be washed again. Christ said to his disciples
as he washed their feet, I've washed you, Peter said, wash
me all over. He said you don't need to be
washed again all over, I've washed you. And when I wash you, you're
clean, every wet clean, when I wash you." Well, he said, I
washed you. And then read on. Then he said,
I clothed you. I clothed you. But first of all,
I anointed you with oil. That's the Holy Spirit. God took
the baby, and God washed away the stain, and washed away the
filth, and washed away the dirt, and washed away the grime. And
then he took that sweet, soothing oil of God. Now, you talk about
that Johnson baby oil, it's pretty good stuff. But when God Almighty
anoints a baby oil, he doesn't need to be anointed again. God
anoints him with the oil of the Holy Spirit. If any man have
not the Holy Spirit, he's none of His. He's none of his. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God are the sons of God, and he anoints them with oil. Read
on. And I clothed you, I decked you out with the fruits of grace,
I dressed you up, I put broadered work on you, and I shod you with
badger skin, and I girded you with fine linen, and I covered
you with silk, and I adorned you with ornaments, and I put
bracelets on your hand, and a chain around your neck, and a jewel
on your forehead, and an earrings in your ear. Boy, wasn't she
something. She was adorned with the decorations
of God's mercy. And that's what God does for
His people. He decks them out with the fruits
of grace. Look at Yonah. Yonah becomes
the queen's daughter. How do you know the queen's daughter?
Ain't nobody dressed like that but the queen's daughter. That's
the queen's daughter. The queen and the king. She's
a princess. You can tell by the way she's
dressed. She's got a crown on her head and the prettiest diamond
earrings and bracelets and a chain about her neck. That's the way
God dresses up his people. He dresses them up with love
and joy and peace and patience and temperance and meekness and
longsuffering. And somebody looks at them and
somebody listens to them and says, that's the Son of the King!
He acts like a son of the king, he dressed like a son of the
king, he looks like a son of the king, he talks like a son
of the king. God's dressed him up. And then
he said in verse 14, And your renown went forth among the heathen
for your beauty, for it was perfect. But it was perfect through my
comeliness, my beauty, my glory, my honor. I don't, I'm a, I'm
not very pretty in myself, but I'll tell you in Christ, I have
a perfect beauty, perfect comeliness. He came down here and gave me
a righteousness that covers all my guilt. He went to the cross
and died for my sin and the blood that flowed from the veins of
Christ on Calvary washed away all my filth. and I'm growing
in grace, and the beauty of the Lord is upon me." Our Father,
bless the Word, make it effectual and effective, and use it for
Thy praise in this hour, in every heart, for Christ's sake. Amen.