Sermon #1502 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: I Was Spared!
Text: Ezekiel 9:7
Subject: The Wonder of Grace as I Have Experienced It
Date: Sunday
Morning—
Tape # X-6a
Introduction:
The month of June is for me
a distinct time of reflection upon the wonders God’s providence and grace as I
have experienced them. Most of the very important events in my life have come
to pass in the month of June.
·
I was born 52 years ago last Monday.—A Nobody Born to Nobodies, Who
were the Descendents of Nobodies!
·
35 years ago this month, the Lord God was pleased to stop me in my mad
rush to hell. He revealed his Son in me and saved me by his marvelous free
grace. I was baptized the next week, confessing my faith in Christ.
·
Two weeks later, I met my wife. We began dating. Two years later, we
were married—in June (June 1).
·
Six years later for most of the month of June I was in a hospital in
·
In June of 1980
·
Then, four years ago, on June 2 the Lord gave us our first grand
child—Audrey Grace.
Needless to say, I’ve had a
lot to think about, so much for which to give thanks to God, as I indulged
myself in a little reminiscence these past few weeks. No man alive has greater
reason than I for humility before God and praise and thanks giving to him. No
man deserves less and has received greater, super-abounding mercy than the one
talking to you. Surely, goodness and mercy have followed (pursued) me all the
days of my life!
I cannot begin to put in
order the thoughts that have been going through my heart and mind these past
few weeks. But I have put some of them down in order and want to share them
with you this morning.
As
I reflected upon my experience of God’s grace, reading the Scriptures and the
experiences of others recorded in the Book of God, I could not help observing
the fact that the experience of grace is always pretty much the same. Without
question, it varies in many ways with us all. But the essential experience is
much the same in all who are born of God.
1. First, I
have spent a good bit of time thinking about eternity.
Eternity!—Eternity!—Eternity!—O my soul, where will you spend eternity?—How
will you spend eternity?
(Psalms 90:8-12) The Prayer of Moses the
Man of God "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins
in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away
in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of
our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they
be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it
is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine
anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy
wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom."
2. Second, I have
given much thought to the fact that there are some people in this world
who shall be spared at last. There are some who shall be saved from
eternal damnation.
(Malachi
3:17) The Lord God has written a book of remembrance called, “The Book of
Life,” in which he declares—"And they shall be mine, saith the
LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as
a man spareth his own son that serveth him."
·
A Loved People!
·
A
·
A Redeemed People!
·
So Precious that God Owns them as the Crown
Jewels of His Crown of Glory!
·
A People Who Shall be Spared!
3. Then, third, and I
have really thought a lot about this—If I have read this Book right, and I know
I have, those who are spared, those who are saved by God’s free and
sovereign grace in Christ in any generation are but few.
(Matthew
7:13-14) "Enter ye in at the strait
gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it."
·
Few in the World
·
Few in the Church
·
Noah’s Day
·
Abraham’s Day
·
Moses Day
·
Our Lord’s Day!
·
The Apostles’ Day
·
Our Day
4. Then, fourth, I
began reading Ezekiel’s prophecy one day last week. When I got to chapter nine
and read verse eight, I was utterly overwhelmed by this statement of his
experience. By the time I got to this verse, I had already begun reading
Ezekiel’s words as though they were my own.
(Ezekiel
9:8) "And it came to pass, while
they were slaying them, and I was left (spared), that I fell upon my face, and
cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all
the residue of
I
was spared!—That is what I want to talk to
you about this morning. Grace is never glorious in the eyes of a poor sinner
until it is experienced. But once experienced, there is nothing so glorious as grace—free, sovereign, saving grace!
I. Let me begin by telling
you this—I was spared because God
has spared me, because the Almighty said before the world was,
“See, yonder, that poor wretch to born down in Southeastern North Carolina,
that child going forth as a stubborn rebel from his mother’s womb, that
worthless, useless, nothing—He’s precious to Me! He shall be mine in that day
when I make up my jewels. I will spare him!”—Oh, how he has spared me!
I have been spared the wrath
of God, spared death and hell, spared the eternal torments of the damned
because God would not leave me to myself, because God Almighty sovereignly
stepped into my life and snatched me from the jaws of hell by his omnipotent
mercy!
Watch these two blessed,
glorious words of grace—“But God”
A. When there was no hope
for any of our hopeless race, I was spared by blood atonement when the Lord God stepped in at
(Romans
5:6-8) "For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
B. Though I lived as a rebel
running from God, as Jacob ran from Esau, hiding in a far away, as Jacob did in
Laban’s house, I was spared from
hurt by God’s prevenient grace (Gen. 31:7).
(Genesis
31:5-7) "And said unto them, I see
your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the
God of my father hath been with me. 6 And ye know that with all my power
I have served your father. 7 And your father hath deceived me, and
changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me."
(1
Samuel 23:14) "And David abode in
the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of
Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his
hand."
(Romans
6:16-18) "Know ye not, that to whom
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But
God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
C. Though I was dead in
trespasses and in sins, I was spared when God stepped into my life is regeneration (Eph. 2:4).
(Ephesians
2:1-5) "And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: 2 Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved!)"
D. The Lord God not only
spared me from wrath and death and hell so fully deserved, he spared this
sinner, who had all his life been the instrument of evil, to be an instrument
of good to the souls of men.—Spared
To Preach The Gospel (! Cor. 1:26-31; Eph. 3:8).
(1
Corinthians 1:26-31) "For ye see
your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things
of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and
things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no
flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: 31 That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
(Ephesians
3:8) "Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;"
E. I must tell you this,
too,--The Lord God has for these past 35 years spared me from myself by his unfailing, immutable grace and faithful
mercy (Ps. 73:22-26).
(Psalms
73:22-26) "So foolish was I,
and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 23 Nevertheless I am
continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24 Thou
shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in
heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart
faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for
ever."
II. Now, let’s look for a
few minutes at the context in which our text is found. When Ezekiel declared
with amazement “and I was left (spared),” a part of his amazement was
the fact that he found grace in
the midst of terrible judgment.
I have been talking about my
experience of grace. Let’s look at Ezekiel’s. His experience is my own. I hope
you can enter into it as well. He saw six men sent of God with slaughter
weapons in their hands, men sent from God to execute judgment upon the nation
of
(Ezekiel
9:8) "And it came to pass, while
they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried,
and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the
residue of
Really, the story begins
back in chapter 1.
A. God’s Word came
expressly to Ezekiel and the hand of the Lord was upon him.
(Ezekiel
1:3) "The word of the LORD came
expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the
Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon
him."
B. When the Word of God came
to him expressly, he saw the unveiling, the revelation of the glory of
God, symbolized by the fire over the mercy-seat.
(Ezekiel
1:4) "And I looked, and, behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself,
and a brightness was about it, and out of the
midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire."
C. God’s Word, the
revelation of his glory came to Ezekiel by the mouth of living creatures,
cherubs, the angels of God.
(Ezekiel
1:5) "Also out of the midst thereof
came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their
appearance; they had the likeness of a man."
If all this sounds familiar
to you, it should. This is exactly the same thing the Apostle John saw and
recorded in Revelation 4 and 5.
These
living creatures represent Gospel preachers. We know that because he heard the
voice of the Almighty through their lips in verse 24 and because they are
described as the men by whom God works in Ezekiel chapter 10. If God ever
speaks to us, if God ever reveals himself to us in this world, in any way, if
God ever teaches us anything it will be by the mouth of one of these living
creatures. God always sends his word to men by men (
· These men are directed, moved,
and work by the Spirit of God.
· They are as burning coals of
fire.—“He maketh his ministers a flame of fire!”
D. When Ezekiel saw the
glory of God upon the mercy-seat (in the face of Christ—in his Sacrifice) he
saw that the God of Glory is a God of absolute, unalterable purpose.
vv. 15-25—The Wheels of Divine
v. 26—A Throne—A Man Sitting
on the Throne!
v. 28—The Bow of God’s
Covenant
“This was the appearance
of the likeness of the
glory of the Lord! And when I saw
it, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that spake
” (v. 28). He was utterly
withered before the glory of God and fell as one dead!
E. Look at chapter 2. Here
the prophet seems to be describing his own experience of grace.
1. He was raised as it
were from the dead.
(Ezekiel
2:1-2) "And he said unto me, Son of
man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. 2 And the spirit
entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard
him that spake unto me."
2.
Then, the Lord God made him a prophet and sent him to a rebellious people
(vv. 3-10).
a. He saw a hand
(v. 9), the same hand John saw (Rev. 5), the hand of the Lamb of God, the Man
sitting on the throne.
·
A Hand to Help Him!
·
A Hand to Guide Him!
·
A Hand to Protect Him!
·
An Omnipotent Hand!
·
A Pierced Hand!
b. He saw a Book (v.
10), the same one John saw, the Book of
God’s eternal purpose!
3. But God is not done
teaching him yet. Look at chapter 3. God required him to eat the Book (vv.
1-3). God demands reconciliation, he demands that we bow to his purpose. But we
never will. So he did not just tell Ezekiel to eat the book—He made him eat it
(v. 2). And when he had eaten it, it was as sweet as honey (v. 3).—Here’s a
prophet!—O God, make me such a man!
·
v. 8—He is a man made strong by God.
·
v. 10—He is a man who receives all God’s Word into his heart.
·
v. 12—He is a man moved, motivated by and consumed with the glory of
God.
·
vv. 14-15—He is a man with a burdened, broken heart.
(Ezekiel
3:14-15) "So the spirit lifted me
up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but
the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to them of the
captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the
·
v. 16—He is a man God has made to be a watchman over the souls of men.
·
Vv. 22-27—He is a man shut up to the will and glory of the Lord his
God.
F. In chapter 4 the
Lord God gave Ezekiel his message.
He
sent his prophet to the nation to warn them of wrath and impending judgment.
But, in the midst of the warning, he gave a picture of hope.—Ezekiel was
required to lay on his side, first on his left for 390 days and then on his
right for 40 days. Each of the 390 days represent the 390 years of Israel’s
open rebellion and turning to idolatry in setting up the calves at Dan and
Bethel. The 40 days on his right side represent the 40 years of idolatry under
Manasseh’s wicked, idolatrous reign in
But watch this (v.
4)—Ezekiel was required to lay on his side as one man
bearing the sins of many, and bearing them to the full extent of their just
punishment!
(2
Corinthians 5:21) "For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him."
In chapters 4, 5 and 6, he
declares this—God will punish sin. Sin must be punished, either in you, or in a
Substitute, in a suitable man whom God himself shall send.
When we get to the 8th
verse of chapter six, the Lord, in wrath remembers mercy and promises that some
shall indeed escape his wrath through the sacrifice of that Substitute.
·
V. 8—A remnant shall escape.
·
V. 9—They shall remember me.
·
V. 9—They shall acknowledge their sin.
·
V. 9—They shall loathe themselves.
·
V. 10—“They shall know that I am the Lord!”
H.
In chapters 7 and 8, the Lord God showed his prophet the end of the
matter—The judgment that
must come.
That
which is here spoken to
(Ezekiel
7:1-3) "Moreover the word of the
LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord
GOD unto the
Now, let me tell you some
things about God’s judgment.
1. The judgment of God
is always just.
God swore to pour out his
wrath upon this people because they went awhoring after other gods—worshipped
Tammuz and the sun in the house of God!
(Ezekiel
8:17-18) "Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light
thing to the house of
You
won’t go to hell for what Adam did in the garden. You will go to hell because
you have earned the everlasting wrath of God by your own treasonous rebellion
against the King of Glory! Eternal damnation, the judgment of God is that which
men and women have willfully brought upon themselves.—This
will be the very hell of hell. You will know that you fully deserve all that
you suffer. You will never be reconciled to it. But you will know that you
deserve it.
2. Judgment is
preceded by a great separation of grace (vv. 3-6).
A man clothed with white
Lenin (Christ), with an inkhorn in his hand was sent to put a mark upon the
foreheads of God’s chosen remnant.—Hurt not the earth until the 144,000 have
been sealed in their foreheads (Rev. 7; 2 Pet. 3:9).
·
Noah must be in the ark before the rain falls.
·
·
God’s elect must be called before judgment falls upon the earth.
3.
Judgment will begin at the house of God.—“Begin at my
sanctuary” (9:6).—“Judgment must begin at the house of God!”
4. Judgment shall be
executed by the hands of the Mediator so obstinately despised (vv.
4-7).
(Ezekiel
10:4-7) "Then the glory of the LORD
went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and
the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness
of the LORD'S glory. 5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even
to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh. 6
And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with
linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims;
then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7 And one cherub
stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between
the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him
that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out."
Up to this point Christ is
seen upon the mercy-seat. He is the mercy-seat. But now, he is taken up from
between the cherubs. In that great and terrible day, when God no longer deals
with sinners in mercy, there will be no mercy!—Hope is gone forever.—“The
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son!”—Then
shall men cry, “Hide us from the face of the Lamb!”
III. When the city was
utterly destroyed, when judgment was over, in Ezekiel’s vision, he cried, “I
was left!”—Now, look at the
response of that one who has been spared to the goodness and grace of God
(9:8-10).
(Ezekiel
9:8) "And it came to pass, while
they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried,
and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the
residue of
A.
He fell on his face in astonished humiliation and gratitude.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see!
B.
He made intercession for others, that God might yet have mercy upon those
around him.
C.
Once all God’s chosen remnant has been saved and every rebel has been
cast into hell, the Man in the white Lenin garment shall have finished all his
mediatoral work.
(Ezekiel
9:10) "And as for me also, mine eye
shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their
way upon their head."
(1
Corinthians 15:24-28) "Then cometh
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he
hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him,
it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put
all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
Application:--Will you be spared?