Well, good evening. It occurs to me that in Psalm, in our hymn 72, verse 4 says, he crowns thy life with love when ransomed from the grave. He that redeemed my soul from hell hath sovereign power to save. That pretty much sums up my whole sermon. So, just kidding. I'm going to share a little more than that. This evening, if you would, turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 36. We're going to read a rather lengthy section of scripture, verses 16 through 38. As you're turning there, I'll share with you that This message was born out of a study, and that study came out of a study of John chapter 3. And so, Lord willing, next week we'll look at John chapter 3 together. I came here as that's where my study notes sent me, and the more that I looked at Ezekiel 36, the more I realized it really was foundational to getting a grasp of what Jesus was actually talking about in His conversation with Nicodemus. And so tonight it is my goal to take a look at this section of scripture and see what it actually says about being born of the water and of the spirit. Although we're not gonna get into that in great detail, the main emphasis is more about the rebirth. So if you'll follow along with me, I will read this section of scripture. beginning at verse 16, Ezekiel 36. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their way before me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. Therefore, I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. Also, I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds, I judged them. When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, because it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord, yet they have come out of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers so that you will be my people and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring famine on you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, that you may not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places to be rebuilt. And the desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passed by. and they will say, This desolate land has become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it. Thus says the Lord God, this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them. I will increase their men like a flock, like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feast. So will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, then they will know that I am the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Lord God, we see tonight that your word is amazing and consistent, that hymn writers across the ages would take your word and they would turn it into song, they would create lyrics that point our hearts and our minds toward you, that your gospel message would be preached in a morning service by one man, And that same message would be repeated again later because of the continuity of your scripture, not because of the consistency of men. And so we praise you for this. We thank you for your word. We thank you that we can trust it because it is your word. Lord, tonight I am keenly aware that I am not able to bring a message that points to you adequately or could even stir a soul to believe and look to you for salvation. Lord, only your Holy Spirit can do that. And so we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would come tonight and make your word real to us. Open our eyes, open our ears to your truth and your truth alone. May we be pleasing to you. We ask your blessings on the rest of our time together this evening. In Jesus' name, amen. So it was my intention to step through, for the most part, verse or verses by verses, and just take a look at what this section of Scripture tells us. And so that brings us then to the beginning, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, and me of course is Ezekiel. In verse 17, we see that God paints a picture. He uses an illustration. It's a very vivid illustration in verse 17. God says that the actions of Israel while they were in captivity were like the physical uncleanness of a woman during her feminine cycle. This This picture that he paints is clearly of uncleanness. In Leviticus 15, 19, there's an explanation of how that's supposed to be dealt with. You can study that on your own. The main point that I want to make out of this, make of this tonight, comes from this. Consider that humanity was created by God. God created them both male and female. In creating them male and female, He provides for procreation. This procreation glorifies God in its created design. There is life brought forth from the womb, and this is a beautiful picture of God's perfect design. Now, the opposite of that life and beauty is experienced during the feminine cycle, when the life-sustaining nutrition that has been stored up so that life may be sustained is shed. So, if life is provided through the bearing of children, then the shedding of life must be a continual reminder of death. And so the picture that God is painting here is that His people have died. They have turned in filth and uncleanness away from Him. They have profaned His holy name. And that brings us quickly to our very first application from this scripture. We, just like Israel, are repulsive and unclean because we reject the life that God has established for us. We are born in sin, and we prefer it that way. We naturally turn to our own devices. And just like Israel in this passage, we tarnish God's holy name while we are in captivity. First, we see this establishment of the rejection of God in the original sin explained in Genesis. And as our pastor Timothy has been going through and laboring in Genesis, we see that God has provided a law and that man is tempted that man is tempted to break that law, and then he breaks the law, and so he has separated himself from God. So humanity is separated from God in that, but second, we see if we honestly evaluate our own lives, we see that we are rejecting God continually all day long. There are thoughts that we should not think. There are words that we should not say. There are places that we should not go. We are a sinful people. And we seem to prefer it that way. We prefer our sin over the holiness of God. If we consider how this looks to those who are not called of God, it's no wonder that they would call us hypocrites. We claim the holiness of God, but we do not resemble or reflect it. Just like Israel in this passage, we tarnish the holy name of God. So there are consequences. Let's look at verses 18 through 20. Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land because they had defiled it with their idols. Also I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds, I judged them. When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. Because it was said of them, these are the people of the Lord, yet they have come out of His land. Therefore, because of the sinfulness of Israel, God poured out wrath on them for their sin and for their idols, and He scattered them among the nations. He separated them from Himself and from others. It almost sounds like time out for a toddler. There are consequences for disobedience. But like an unruly four-year-old, we act up even when we are under punishment. In verse 20, those under punishment refuse to submit, and so they profane the name of God. This brings us to verse 21. And I believe that verse 21 is probably the central underlying concept for this text. If all of these words that I'm sharing with you now were leading up to one central idea, it would be found in verse 21. And so, I might even go so far as to say perhaps all other texts in the Bible should be viewed, interpreted, and understood through verse 21. So what does verse 21 say? But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. God had concern for his holy name. God is holy. But what is holiness? We often try to equate God and His character to things that we can understand. But I have to warn you and warn myself that we cannot do that without defiling God some way. We cannot bring Him down into something that we can understand or easily put in our pockets so that we can digest Him or control Him or keep Him in our own mortal and finite thoughts. So, I'd like you to turn with me, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 40. And we're gonna start at verse 12, Isaiah chapter 40, verse 12. And I'm gonna skip around in here a little bit, kind of work our way through here, and let's see what God says about himself. God is gonna tell us who he is. He's gonna reveal himself to us. And so let's take a look and see what he says. Isaiah chapter 40 beginning at 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens by the span and calculated the dust of the earth by measure and weighed the mountains in a balance? and the hills in a pair of scales. Who has directed, who's given counsel, who's told the Spirit of the Lord what to do? Or who, or as his counselor has informed him, verse 14, with whom did he consult? and who gave him understanding, and who taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and informed him of the way of understanding, behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Let's skip down to verse 18. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare Him? And then it goes on to talk about building idols. How do men construct idols? Well, they try to find a skilled craftsman who can make it look really nice. Prop it up so that it won't totter or fall over. All these efforts to worship this man-made thing. All the time defiling the name of God. Verse 21, do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers? Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in? He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them and they wither. And the storm carries them away like stubble." And this whole section of scripture to me seems to culminate in verse 25, and that's why it is your sermon, that is why it is your quote in your bulletin tonight. Verse 25 says, "'To whom then will you liken me that I should be his equal?' says the Holy One." To whom will you liken God? There is none. There is none to whom we can liken God. So if we think about what this is saying, we get a higher picture of God, that God is exalted and set apart. He is holy. We are not holy. We are separated from Him. We are so far separated from Him that we can't see Him from our depraved state. So here's a really bad example. I live about two miles south of Boone's Mill, so that's like five miles from here, something like that. So it's about a 15-minute drive. If we needed to, we could walk from here to our house. It would take us probably about an hour and a half, but we could do it. But we can't see my house from here, right? That's not far at all, but we can't see that. That is not a significant enough description for me to explain the distance between God and His fallen creation. The chasm between His holiness and our depravity is further than trying to walk from Trinity Reformed Baptist Church to Pluto. It cannot be done. It's impossible. Our efforts cannot bring us to God. It's our efforts that have separated us from Him. We, just like Israel, we have profaned the name of the holy and perfect God. So as we continue on, we see God's response to our actions. In verses 22 and 23, God promises to vindicate His holy name, and He tells us how He will do that in verses 24 through 32. So let's look at 24 through 32. Back in Ezekiel 36. 24. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers, so that you will be my people and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness. and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you, and I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, that you may not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight." for your iniquities and your abominations. I am not doing this for your own sake, declares the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. God promises to vindicate his holy name. And how does God vindicate his holy name? God vindicates his holy name by saving sinners. God vindicates His holy name by saving the very people who defiled His name. God doesn't mount up for war, wipe out all of His enemies instantaneously. Instead, He vindicates His name by saving them. So let's just look at what we've read. Verse 24, I'm gonna go through these really quick. Verse 24, this is how He saves sinners. How does God save sinners? Verse 24, He gathers us from the nations. Verse 25, He sprinkles clean water on us and makes us clean from our filthiness and idols. Verse 26, He gives us a new heart and gives us a new spirit. He removes our cold, unfeeling, unmoving heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that beats and can be molded. Verse 27. He puts His Spirit in us and causes us to walk in His regulations and laws, 28. He gives us the land, He will make us His people, He will be our God. And in 29, He will not say, He will, I'm sorry. 29, He will save us from all our uncleanness, He will call for abundant grain, and He will not send famine. in six verses, verses 24 through 29, 15 promises of what God will do. 15 promises. This is how God, our God, this is how He vindicates Himself. He saves sinners. But we're not done yet. Let's look at verse 31. God will pour out all of this blessing on a people, His people, those whom He has called out of darkness, and the people whom He has called will have a natural response in the new nature God has established. In verse 31 it says, God says, then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight. for your iniquities and your abominations. When we are truly saved, when God has done this amazing work of salvation in our hearts, when he has changed us from being dead and lifeless to being a new creation, there are some signs that go along with that. There are some changes that go along with that. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 through 19 tells us Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So we're no longer the same. When God works this salvation, when God vindicates his name, we are no longer the same. And this change in our thought processes, this change is in our demeanor, this change in our priorities and wants and desires, this change brings about repentance. Look at verse 31 again. It says, then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Verse 31 shows true repentance. When God removes the heart of cold, dead stone, which has no life, and he replaces it with life and breathes into us his own spirit, our eyes are opened. And we see, for the first time, our need for him. Our repulsiveness comes to light, and we loathe ourselves. This morning, Timothy called that owning our sin. To me, I couldn't help but think of it as admitting that we had allowed our sin to own us. But this brings us to our third point. True repentance is a gift of God. This scripture outlines a biblical truth that men have argued over since the beginning of organized religion. And because it's a religious argument, it gets a Latin term, ordo salutis, which simply means the order of salvation, or the order of events in which a person receives salvation. Though there are different views on how this happens, and it is not my purpose to define and compare dogmatics, God Himself, through the prophet Ezekiel, seems to have explained how true salvation comes about. First, in verses 16 through 23, God, out of concern for His holy name, establishes for Himself a rebellious people. Second, in verses 24 through 30, God gathers them together and washes them clean, takes away their sin and idols, and gives them His own spirit so that they will walk in His ways and keep His statutes. Third, God allows them, and these are verses 31 through 32, God allows them to remember their evil ways and deeds which were not good or righteous or holy, and He allows them to loathe themselves because of sins and iniquities and abominations. All the things that we have done to offend God and profane His holy name will be brought to mind. And we will loathe ourselves. Our third point of application can be put this way. Do you loathe yourself because of sin? Is your heart broken before God because of how you have profaned His holy name? When God gives the gift of salvation, there is a change, but it is not one that we can create. To further consider this, I want to provide another earthly example. Now, earthly examples are never complete. They always have faults. There's no perfect illustration, especially for what God is doing. But this is the best illustration I've ever contemplated, and so I will do my best to convey it to you. So imagine with me, if you will, that in a place several thousand miles away, There is a woman who finds out that she is pregnant. She finds out that she is pregnant. She knows that she is not able to provide for this child the way that she would like, but she's not willing to murder her child. So she determines to carry this child to full term, with the plan to place him up for adoption. Throughout the pregnancy, she's made aware of further complications. The child has a major heart defect, which will require surgery, if not surgeries. And there are other complications. There's a strong possibility that he will have lifelong obstacles that will require direct and special attention. all of which she does not have the ability to provide. When the child is born, his mother gives him a name. He's evaluated by doctors and confirmed that this heart condition must be corrected. Now, from the same beginning, Thousands of miles away, there is a couple who have learned of this little boy. And even before he is born, while he is still in his mother's womb, they begin to know him. They begin to desire him. They begin to pray for him. They begin to love him. They know that he may have special needs. They know that He will require special attention, but they love Him, and they are willing to do whatever is necessary to care for Him, to give Him what He needs. So, at great price, They seek out the one whom they have loved and they find him, they adopt him as their own, they fix his heart issue, they dedicate themselves to him, they give him a new name, and they take him out of the land where he was born. Adoption. Isn't this a beautiful picture of what God, through his son Jesus Christ, has done for us? So what did that baby boy do to deserve this treatment? And many of you know who this baby boy is, because I'm pretty transparent, right? You know who I'm talking about. If you don't, I'll tell you later. But what did that baby boy, as wonderful as I think he is, what did he ever do to deserve this type of treatment? He didn't deserve that. Hasn't God sought us this way? Hasn't He adopted us as His own? Hasn't He fixed our heart issue? Hasn't He dedicated Himself to us? Hasn't He given us a new name, His name? Hasn't He taken us out of the land of slavery? This is how God vindicates His holy name. But why? Why does He vindicate His name this way? Let's look at verse 32. I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. God is not saving us for our sake, but for the sake of His holy name. And this idea seems harsh, It seems very harsh to us in a land that preaches how man is central to God's plan and that God's love for us is what has compelled Him to send Jesus to die for us. But this section of scripture tells us that God's holiness is why He saves sinners. This section of scripture tells us why He could ever love a sinful man. There is nothing in us that warrants the love of God. We reject him in all of our ways. We are not lovely or lovable to God. We are cold. We are dead with hearts of stone. And he tells us in verse 32 that we should be ashamed and we should be confounded in our ways. He tells us This tells us that God does not have the exalted view of us. And it tells us that his view is correct. We are corrupt. We are broken. We are filthy. We are unclean, like the refuse of a woman's feminine cycle. We reek of death. But God is holy and set apart, unlike any other who is like the Lord. But the Lord's salvation doesn't stop here. It goes on in verses 33 through 38. God begins again to tell us what He will do, future tense, when Christ comes. So we need to remember that this was written prophetically about what would happen when the Messiah comes. So let's look at 33 through 38. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places to be rebuilt. and the desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. And they will say, and they will say, this desolate land has become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it. Thus says the Lord God, this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them. I will increase their men like a flock, like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts. So will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. then they will know that I am the Lord." I believe that this is a two-fold prophecy. First, I believe that this prophecy tells us of all that Christ will do in the spiritual realm. So when Christ came, He established the kingdom of God here on earth in the hearts of men. And I believe that this is explaining what will take place in the new hearts of flesh among the called of God. Our previous verses showed us that God would take His people from among the nations and establish them in their own land, the land which the Lord has given. I believe that this era is here. and it's now functioning among the people of God. I'm not saying that all the scripture has been fulfilled, but that the spiritual kingdom of God is among us now, even as Christ sits at the right hand of God, interceding and orchestrating His church. This is evidenced in verse 35. And they will say, and they is the nations, they will say, this desolate land has become like the Garden of Eden. And they will say, has to be speaking of the nations from which God has removed His people. And because they are able to view the established people in the presence of God in the Garden of Eden, they must be alive and close enough to observe those whom God has saved. Likewise, verse 36 states that the nations that are left round about you will know that God has done this work. So what is the Garden of Eden? Wasn't the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve had communion with God? Weren't they in right relationship there? Doesn't that sound like how God vindicates His holy name? He saves sinners? He establishes a right relationship with people? With the rebellious people who turn their back on Him? But He promises to establish these people so that the nations round about will acknowledge that God has done this work. verses 37 and 38, promises to increase the believers on the earth like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts. I believe this concept holds two purposes. The first is that we are to be living sacrifices as outlined in Romans chapter 12. And the second is presented in Revelation 6, 9 through 11. those who will physically die for their faith in Christ. God prepares cities full of people who do not value their own life over obedience to Christ. And just as Timothy read earlier this evening about Daniel and prayed that we might be people like Daniel who would not value our own lives over the truth that God has instilled in us. The second fold portion of this prophecy, I believe, is that there is a future promise that God will gather all of His people together for eternity. Those whom He has saved out of many nations will be gathered. They'll be gathered together in a land that He will provide and the new heaven and the new earth which He will make new for us to dwell with Him and in with Him for all of eternity. Revelation 21 and 22 outline that. But all of this rests on the word and the promises of God. God has promised to do many things in the lives of people, common, sinful people just like you and me. So let's call on Him today. Let's beg Him for this rejuvenating work to be done in our lives because salvation is of the Lord. It is His working. So let's pray together. Our God, we acknowledge that apart from You, the Father, vindicating us, vindicating His own name, there is no hope for our salvation. And Lord, the fact that you. Would not save us for our own benefit, but for the benefit of your holy name. Shows us how grand. How marvelous, how exalted? You are. How lowly? How insignificant we are? We find our value not in what we do, Lord, but in the fact that you have created us. And we do not find our value in our works, but instead we find our value in your redeeming power, because you have established the value by which we must be saved. You put the price on our hearts. And that price was your own son. Lord, we acknowledge to you that we are sinful. That we desire our own ways. We ask, Lord, that. In your mercy. You would be pleased to vindicate your holy name by saving us. Would you be pleased to call us for your people? We acknowledge we need salvation and only you can provide it. We would ask that you would reveal to our hearts our own sinfulness, our own uncleanness, that you would allow us, Lord, to loathe ourselves for our sins. Lord, we long for the day when all sin and death will have passed away, when you will have made all things new and right. And we ask, Lord, we beg, God, that your Holy Spirit would move in us, that you would be pleased to reveal our own nature to us, that you would be pleased to reveal our need for you to our hearts, and that you would be pleased to allow us to call on you, the vindicating God, for salvation. I ask that for these people here tonight. I ask that for myself. that you would continue to make our need more and more plain. God, we ask that you be glorified in us, that the nations round about us would recognize that you have done this work, that only you can provide this salvation for men. And we ask God that as you have provided this reconciliation to our hearts, that you will help us go forward with this ministry of reconciliation. That you would allow us to carry your holy name into the darkness and that you would be pleased to light the lives of unbelievers around us. May you receive all glory and all honor for it is all due to your name. And for your glory, we pray for the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom we rest and whom we trust for this salvation. Amen.