In our recent studies we have looked at the ruined condition of the natural man. Sin has so affected man in every area of his mind, body and soul that he is totally depraved. We searched the scriptures and clearly showed this to be true. We saw how that because his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) that his affections are desperately wicked. If his affections are desperately wicked then it can only follow that his will is desperately wicked and he cannot and will not choose to seek God. This principle is clear in scripture.
Isaiah 64:6-7
6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and has consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Psalm 14:2-3
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Since man cannot and will not seek God in his natural state (Psalm 10:4), how can he then be reconciled to God? There has to be a propitiation…an atoning sacrifice…a substitutionary sacrifice. We find this sacrifice in Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Romans 3:24-25
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
It’s time to think… If man, in his natural condition, is desperately wicked and his affections and will are desperately wicked and he will not seek God…
Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
… then how can any one of us repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Man can only be justified or be declared to be right with God (he can only be saved) by His grace which is His divine influence on the heart and the reflection of it in the life.
The word of God is plain in Jonah 2:9…Salvation is of the Lord and only of the Lord. It is not of the Lord and man working together to accomplish a common goal. Man has no part or say in his new birth, just as he had no part or say in his natural birth.
Deuteronomy 32:39-40
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
It is God who makes the spiritually dead natural man alive. It is God who quickens, or makes alive, his dead soul and draws him or causes him to come to God.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;)
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
If our salvation was based on a decision we made to come to Christ, then we would have somewhat to boast of. It was God’s divine influence on our desperately wicked heart and Him doing for us something we could not do…drawing us to Himself.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Psalm 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,
Christ quickens the soul that is dead in sins and trespasses. He then draws that soul to Himself, at which point that person is willing to come to Christ.
This truth is beautifully shown to us in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 36. In this chapter we see the power of the Sovereign God revealed in the salvation of man. In studying this chapter, the first thing we have to realize is the context. The context of this chapter is that God is speaking to the nation of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. Chapter 36 is for Israel. It is a prophecy of what will take place at some point in the future. Right now Israel has a veil over their eyes and they do not see that Jesus Christ is the Messiah they have been looking for.
In Romans chapter 11, Paul the Apostle is clear that when the fullness of the Gentiles is complete, God will return to Israel, remove the veil from their eyes and will carry out what is prophesied in Ezekiel 36. Just as the Gentiles are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, so too will the Jews be saved. Ezekiel 36 not only explains what will take place with the nation of Israel, but it also shows us the principle of salvation. Notice that it is God who does it all.
In the first 23 verses God is telling Israel what He is going to do to those nations who have persecuted them. In these verses we see a type or picture of those who are not drawn to God; those who are left in their sins. They are the ones who persecute the church, the bride of Christ. Beginning in verse 24 we see redemption and salvation from God’s point of view.
Ezekiel 36:24-32
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
In context God is speaking to Israel and He began bringing it to pass in 1948. Though this is speaking of Israel, there is a principle application that can be made today. In this we see God will gather His chosen (the elect) people out from among the heathen (the non-elect). He calls us out from this world. In John 17, the prayer our Lord prayed before going to the garden of Gethsemane, Christ prays (John 17:6) for the men which were given to him out of the world.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Look at the power and sovereignty of our God. HE WILL sprinkle clean water on us…that is a picture of the Holy Spirit. He will clean us from our filthiness…our wretched sinfulness. HE WILL cleanse us. Notice there are no conditions like, if we come to Him, if we ask Him to, if we invite Him into our hearts, or if we do anything. Notice it says, He will!
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
He says HE WILL give His elect a new heart and a new spirit. HE WILL do it! HE WILL take away the stony, unregenerate, deceitful and desperately wicked heart from us and HE WILL give us a new heart of flesh…the new man as Paul puts it. If God does not do this, it will not be done. We cannot change our nature, nor can we change our heart. God does it all!
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
God says, I WILL put My Spirit within you. After He has quickened our dead spirits by the power of the Holy Spirit, He gives us a new heart and a new spirit. Then He places the Holy Spirit within us. HE CAUSES us to walk in his ways…(Philippians 1:6 tells us, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.)
Does that mean we never sin again? No! Though we have a new nature ( a new heart and spirit) we still live in these bodies of flesh that were conceived in sin. These fleshly bodies are sinful and prone to sin. Yet, those who are Christ’s will follow Him. They will bear the fruit of a Christian.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
We will be His people…HE WILL be our God! Don’t you see? God didn’t make a way salvation and leave it up to men to choose whether or not they wanted it. Of His elect, chosen before the foundation of the world, He says they will be His people and HE WILL be their God. He can say that because He is sovereign.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
He continually is cleansing us. As we sin, Holy Spirit conviction comes, we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). As He, which began the work of salvation in us, continually works in our lives shaping us into the image of His dear Son, He increases our repentance and faith. We continue to grow spiritually.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Thou we may slip and fall, He does not leave us there to suffer reproach. We continue to grow in repentance and faith. He says HE WILL do this.
31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
When we realize that our salvation has nothing to do with us or any decision we made. When we see that it is only because of God, we are humbled and we see ourselves as we are…wretched, miserable, blind. That is why Job said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). That is why when Isaiah saw the vision of Jesus Christ in all His glory, he cried out “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).
The problem with many Christians today is they do not recognize that they are wretched, miserable and blind. They think there is something good in them because they chose to give their heart to Christ. They think they are out working mighty works for God, yet it’s mostly done in the flesh. Their pride is puffed up and they think they are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that they art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17).
Now God makes a statement that to me is most interesting. Have you ever thought about why God would save a wretched, sinful person like yourself? Was it because He looked down through time and saw that you would choose to give your heart to Him? Was it because He saw you would one day be an awesome Christian that would be beneficial to the promotion of His kingdom? Was it for your own sake that He saved you…because He felt sorry for you?
32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the LORD GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
It wasn’t for our sakes that God saved us! Then why did He do it? Had we covered the first half of the chapter in detail, we would have seen why He saved us first. He starts off by telling us why, then He tells us how. Back up to verses 18 through 23.
Ezekiel 36:17-23
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, wither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth our of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, wither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Every single thing God does, including the salvation of men, is for His names’ sake. Israel, God’s chosen nation, had profaned His name in the land He gave them. They rebelled against Him. He scattered them out among the other nations to judge them. While there, they continued to rebel and profane His holy name. It wasn’t for their sake He is going to redeem them. It is for His name’s sake.
God created a perfect world and a perfect man and woman. Adam and Eve (being the only humans to have a free will) chose to rebel against God’s authority and in doing so profaned His holy name among God’s creation. Sinful men daily profane the holy name of God. Why didn’t He just destroy us all? Why did He leave Noah and His family alive on the ark? Why didn’t He destroy all mankind? He should have. We all deserve His wrath. Yet, for reasons known only to Him, He has chosen to extend His mercy and grace to some of Adam’s fallen race. In doing so, God has revealed some of His attributes such as His mercy and grace. Why does God choose to save some and not all? That is a good question and one that only God can answer.
The truth is that God is sovereign in every aspect of His creation. He is sovereign in creation and in salvation. Man has no part. That will not go over well with some, but it is the truth nonetheless. In the prophecy given to Ezekiel for the nation of Israel, God has revealed not only what He is doing with Israel, but He reveals to us how He saves individuals.
Why do some Christians struggle so much with the sovereignty of God?!
"So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." (Romans 9:16)
Salvation is of the LORD!
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