We turn in God's inspired and authoritative word this morning to Ezekiel chapter 16. The prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 16. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomination, 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, thy mother in Hittite, and as for thy nativity, In the day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day thou wast born. And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water. Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful. and thou didst prosper it to a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty and plaits the harlot. because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by, his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with diverse colors, and playedst the harlot thereupon. The like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, and tookest thy broidered garments, and coverest them. And thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them, my meat also, which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey, wherewith I fed thee. thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savor. And thus it was, saith the Lord God. Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter? that thou hast slain my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them and in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth when thou wast naked and bare and wast polluted in thy blood. Now we're going to stop there The following, most of the rest of the chapter is the word of God's judgment upon his wayward people, but we turn to verse 60 and finish reading the chapter there. Nevertheless, after all these judgments, after all your waywardness, nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed. when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger, and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant, and I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God. I call your attention this morning to the passage which we read, but particularly verses five and six of Ezekiel 16. None I pity thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet Ezekiel was called to serve the Lord during the time of the reign of Jehoiachin and therefore during that terrible time when Judah was being taken captive by Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. And this prophecy pertains to us because that captivity in Babylon is a type of the captivity of the church by the anti-Christian world power at the end of the ages. You will remember that Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were among the first group taken captive to Babylon. And because we believe in the sovereignty of God and that nothing happens by chance, we must understand that also Judah's captivity came about by the sovereign hand and government of God and served his purpose. In the chapter before us this morning, Ezekiel is sent by the King of Kings, Jehovah of Hosts, with a specific commission. Son of man caused Jerusalem to know her abominations. That captivity was in fact the outpouring of God's wrath upon a people that had forsaken Him. A giving them over to the consequences of their own sins. Ezekiel is sent to prophesy of all the abominations that brought about this captivity. So terrible was their sin, Ezekiel had to tell them that their abominations were worse than those of Sodom. There's a sin. more abominable in God's eyes than the homosexuality seen in Sodom, the fruit of Sodom's pride and idleness. That which corrupted the kingdom of Judah even more than Sodom was their rejection of the word of the Lord. and the rejection of God's covenant fellowship for the fellowship of the world. Not only did they reject God's Word with application to them, but they prostituted themselves to idols and established their own self-pleasing worship. And so Ezekiel was to spell out their abominations, and he does so in this chapter. But he sent especially for the sake of God's own who are yet scattered throughout the kingdom. Ezekiel must issue a serious call to repentance to the elect remnant. He prophesies of the restoration of the church, a restoration that will see its final realization in the heavenly kingdom to which we look forward. And so he concludes also this chapter with that beautiful promise to all who repent and believe, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. The text I set before you this morning is a powerful picture of God's great love for his church. and for every one of us who are members of his church by a true and living faith in Jesus Christ. It indicates why God maintains his covenant even when his people have wandered far from him and why he restores his own in the way of repentance. It's because he loved us when there was nothing to love. It's because he gave us life when death embraced us. He who has so loved his chosen people will have no one snatch them out of his hand. There are also many significant points of application to us in the passage that we consider this morning, so I call your attention to verses 5 and 6 of Ezekiel 16 under the theme, A Deserted Infant Given Life. We notice, first of all, the deserted infant, secondly, the life-giving word, and finally, the necessary gratitude. For our instruction, the Lord sets before us a horrible picture. That of a deserted infant daughter. Let me read again the verses 4 and 5. And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born. What a tragic beginning. And don't forget who's described here. This is Jerusalem, the church. Oh, she claimed Abraham for her father. Abraham, the one who is called the friend of God. And that was indeed her natural lineage, but in fact the prophet is sent to them to tell her that she was so degenerate that she had demonstrated that her true spiritual lineage was of Canaan, that cursed son of Ham. And more particularly, her father was an Amorite and her mother an Hittite. No worse description could have been given her. The Amorites were so notorious for their iniquities that Ahab, one of the most wicked kings there ever was, was compared to them. And Manasseh, the king of Judah, in that great wickedness into which he led God's people prior to his miraculous conversion by the wonder of God's grace, is said to have done wickedly above all that the Amorites did which were before him. 2 Kings 21 verse 11. And of the Hittites, we only have to look to Esau to figure out who they were. because he took to himself two wives from among the Hittites, which were a continual grief to Isaac and Rebekah. So wicked were the Hittites that when the charge was given Israel to destroy their enemies in Deuteronomy 20 verse 17, the Hittites were named first. So even though this infant came from godly parents, Abraham and Sarah, she had shown that her true spiritual lineage was one of the fallen human race. But it isn't only her natural spiritual lineage that's devastating. From the moment of birth, this child is brought to ruin. This was an infant thrown away, simply discarded, cast into the open field like an aborted infant is thrown into the trash. And there she lies before our eyes in this passage, covered with blood, exposed to the wild beasts, famished, perishing. sends chills down our spine. This was a child viewed as so despicable, she wasn't even worth the life-giving attention she required. It's absolutely shocking, isn't it? Some of you undoubtedly have spent days in the hospital, looking over your child. This is incomprehensible isn't it? Absolutely shocking. In some parts of the world, among the heathen, it has long been a common practice that if there was anything found to be wrong with a newborn child, that child would either be thrown into the river or placed in an open field. In our country, so sophisticated have we become in our executions that such murderous acts are performed in the so-called sanctity of an abortion clinic. This child looked upon as useless, even burdensome, was cast out. But let's look more carefully at the pathetic picture set before us here. While it is possible to bring in the history of the Old Testament church as this picture reveals its dire straits, what I would emphasize this morning is the fact that what is true of the church of old is also true of each one of us as individuals. Notice, first of all, we have here an infant. She comes into the world a dependent creature, not having tasted joy, but knowing sorrow immediately. And we can talk about our beautiful babies, but a baby's not beautiful at birth. It's delivered covered with blood and slime, filthy. And the text, you see, speaks of this child, polluted in thine own blood. And the fact that it hasn't been washed in water presupposes filth, doesn't it? We don't come into this world any longer as did Adam and Eve, whom God created beautiful without condemnation, without defilement. We are born defiled in sin. And so it is with us and with our children, conceived and born in sin, subject to all miseries, yea, to condemnation itself. We are born from parents who bear the guilt of Adam and the pollution of sin. That natural life already has death in it. The wages of sin. Let proud man kick against this doctrine as he might. The Bible tells us, we are shapen in iniquity, dead in trespasses and sins. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, said Jesus. so I simply tell you what God has revealed himself concerning us and concerning every person you came into this world with sin having seized you already in the womb and if you want to speak about the doctrinal term for this infirmity we speak of original sin and total depravity Which isn't found in the deeds of men, because this child had done nothing at this time. That depravity is found in the very nature of the person. Of every person. There are many humbling realities that we have to learn how to face in this life. I don't know of one that's more humbling than this truth. No wonder it's the main focus of attack by those who hate the gospel. It's one thing to talk about sin when we look at the world's infamous dictators, or those hardened criminals that fill our prisons. This text calls us to face the fact of our own defilement. In the second place, notice the helplessness of this child. She's only an infant. What can an infant do to help herself? She depends entirely upon adults to care for her. She can't think for herself. She can't speak a word for herself. She can't do anything to her own advantage. And although there undoubtedly is some consciousness of her misery, she can't describe that, which makes her miserable. Nor can she understand the remedy. She's not sensible to the dangers that surround her. And even if she were able to open her eyes and look around, she couldn't make a petition for help should she see someone, observe someone within hearing distance. But I say again, that description is of our human nature. The natural man, says the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, is unable to know the things of the Spirit of God. It takes the mind of Christ to know such things. And that's only received by the grace of God, which gives us a new birth, a birth from above. When the Bible describes us as dead in trespasses and sins, Death excludes any ability to help ourselves. If there be life, the grave must be opened. The divine hand must break the seal and open the casket and make the corpse come alive. And so here with this deserted infant, she lay there helpless. Unable to save herself, embraced by the certainty of death. And may God the Holy Spirit give us to see ourselves as this helpless infant. Because I say again, this is God's Word to us. There's yet a third thing to notice about this pathetic picture. this child is loathsome and without friends or loved ones notice none I pity thee to do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon thee none I not one mind you this child lay there in that open field a newborn left where the heat of the day can kill, left where one can die of exposure by night, where she lay exposed to all kinds of destroyers. Little do any of us know how exposed we are to things that would destroy our souls. and God knows our guilt. He also knows our pollution and what mischief attracts us and what follies tempt us. Death pursues you. Hell opens its jaws awaiting the helpless sinner. And there is none to help. The inescapable demands of the law thunder at us as we stand by nature apart from Christ. Divine justice bears its sword. Holiness is incensed. And what friends are there to deliver you? What a tragic mistake. some make when they associate with those walking the pathway to hell and call them friend. They are no friends who would destroy your soul. And for this infant, there were none to deliver her. either. She was found loathsome by all who knew of her. She cannot rescue herself. She has no loved ones to rescue her. What a pathetic picture this is. I say again, it's the picture of the church, but of you and me and of our children. The text isn't merely describing those who were ensnared in what today we might speak of as gross public sin. This wasn't addressed only to those who were openly participating in the idolatry of the nation, living as adulterers and fornicators, drunkards, and the like. This was addressed to all Judah. The church and its address was preserved for you and for me. Humbling, isn't it? Maybe you even find it irritating. But I must tell you the truth. Your friends and your relatives might tell you that you have good traits, you're pleasant to be around. You might be known as a fine person, a good person even. This text tells us that by nature we are as polluted and defiled and unloved and helpless as this discarded infant. In fact, so black is the fountain of sin in our hearts that it's only God's providence and the laws of society that keep it in check. And if this judgment seems too terrible for you, you must know the reason for it. It's because God searches the heart and nothing escapes Him. But then the text reveals an absolutely amazing thing. As unlovely as the deserted infant was, as hopeless and desperate as was her situation, there is one who casts his eyes upon her and speaks to her a life-giving word. The Lord Jehovah says in the words of verse 6, And when I passed thee by, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Now notice again, God speaks here as a man. God is unchangeable, and everywhere present, he doesn't move from place to place. But in harmony with the picture set before us in this passage, he speaks of himself as a man who's passing down the pathway and who spots this unsightly and abandoned infant lying in the field, lying in her own blood. And when he speaks of himself as passing by, he speaks particularly as the moment that he is pleased to call from death to life. That passing by might seem casual, as if it just happened. And the spotting of this infant is incidental. It certainly was not so with God. For known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. The Bible throughout confirms what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. And so it is with those elect yet to be called out of darkness into God's marvelous light. But the text emphasizes the moment of His call. There's only one who could save this deserted infant. There's only one who can save us because there's only one who can give life by speaking a single syllable. The command issued forth here is a divine command and powerfully accomplishes God's sovereign purpose. It's the word that we read about in Psalm 33, the word of Him who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast, when darkness covered the face of the earth, the divine word went forth and said, let there be light. And there was light. God speaks and it is done. His isn't a word that goes forth begging for help. It isn't a Word that goes forth and waits to see if it might move someone to do something. He looks, and there lies this infant, covered in blood, embraced by death itself. And he stops and pronounces the Word. Live! And the Word gives life. When the Lord speaks, even by what the Bible refers to as the foolishness of preaching, that word is no foolishness to you who believe, because you know it as the power of God unto salvation. Now let's consider for a moment that life-giving word. In the first place, That word calls to life, which is fellowship with God. We speak of God's covenant life. And you've seen from scripture that the covenant is the relationship of fellowship and love that has existed eternally within the being of the triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living this beautiful, eternal life of perfect fellowship and love. But you've also seen how God, in His sovereign mercy, has determined to take a people into the fellowship of His own love and life. That's what we have in the words of this text. and that's confirmed in verse 8 when the Lord identifies this giving of life as the time when I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee and thou becamest mine God looked upon this infant and spread his love over her taking her into his own family It's an amazing thing. And don't overlook the fact that this also confirms the truth established in the rest of Scripture, namely, that the covenant is divinely established and is an unconditional covenant. God did not say, I will establish my covenant with you If you crawl out of that open field and come to the pathway here and embrace my feet, that child was incapable of doing anything. And God did not come to you and to me and say, I will take you into my covenant life if only you straighten your life out and accept me as your Savior. What can the dead sinner do? But when He speaks His Word to us, when He says live, then He takes us into His own covenant life and we do repent and believe and live. That's the power of that life-giving Word. And the reality of this picture is what has added us to God's family and also gathers our elect children. So that word calls to life, which is fellowship with God. In the second place, that life-giving word has a judicial or legal basis. Because God speaks that powerful and irresistible word as He looks upon us in His Son. If we look at the picture of the text again, We might say that this man who finds this baby and will take it as his own will find her a costly proposition. You, our parents, realize it's costly to have children. But for God, it costs him His own dear Son, His only begotten Son. God gave His own Son to redeem this deserted child. The death of Christ, even by promise from this Old Testament perspective, is the legal basis for this life-giving Word that takes us into fellowship with the Holy One. The blood of Christ is what cleanses us from that bloody pollution that covers us by nature. Thirdly, this life-giving Word is an irresistible Word. When God says to the sinner, live, all the devils in hell cannot hold that sinner in death. Our canons of Dort, in emphasizing the wonder of that irresistible grace of God in His life-giving Word, speaks of this divine work in the third and fourth heads of doctrine, article 12, as a supernatural work, most powerful and at the same time most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable beyond expression. not inferior in efficacy to creation or the resurrection from the dead, as the scripture inspired by the author of this work declares. So that all in whose heart God works in this marvelous manner are certainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated and do actually believe. So it isn't merely that God speaks and attempts by persuasion to get man to respond, but by His Word He actually gives life. And with that life, works both the will to believe and the act of believing also as the canon say in that same section in article 14 so when when he says to you live though you have been the most damnable sinner and though you might have committed the most abominable sin You now come to life as a saint in Christ Jesus. And while occasionally that happens in a dramatic way, such as with the Apostle Paul or with King Manasseh, more often it occurs beneath our consciousness. as the infant in this picture who is called to life and then has to grow up in the consciousness of that life and has to be taught from what she's been delivered. God gives this life-giving Word today also through the preaching of the Gospel. When the Gospel is faithfully preached, attended by the power of the Holy Spirit, then I can say unto you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you believe. And I say live, or rather the Lord Jehovah says through the preaching, live, and you live. One more thing about this life-giving word. The life that God gives is eternal. It's everlasting life. It stands to reason when this life is seen as fellowship with the living God who is eternal, then to be held in His embrace and to partake of His loving fellowship is also to have eternal life. it's life that never dies oh when you read on in this chapter you see how this infant for a time departs from God's fellowship and in the text you must remember this infant is not the individual believer first of all but Jerusalem The Old Testament manifestation of the Church, the Church Institute. And I say again, I've been focusing on the individual application this morning, but Jerusalem walks in the most horrible sins. And Jerusalem does so because organically considered, She's made up of elect and reprobate seed, and those reprobate have a negative influence in the church in this world. And add to that the fact that even the elect remnant live with an earthly and sinful nature. And you find Jerusalem bearing the wrath of God for her abominations. but you go to the end of the chapter as we did and you find that for all the while God is dealing with Jerusalem with his chastening hand he has his eye upon the elect remnant he chastens in order to restore nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. He whose name is Jehovah is faithful to his covenant. The life that he gives, he also preserves, though through many trials. Now what should move God to issue this call? Bear in mind who He is. If we are to examine the picture in that awareness, we find that the man in this text is passing through his own kingdom. He's in fact the sovereign of the kingdom. There is none over Him. He passes through arrayed in glory that belongs to Him and Him alone. He has 10,000 times 10,000 angels at His command. What need has He of this discarded infant? What need has He of us or our children? Can we add anything to His glory? His joy is infinitely complete within Himself. The Bible tells us that He is all in all and fills all things. He has no need for anyone else. Is there something then about this child that delights him? Look again at the lineage of this deserted infant. There's nothing there to draw God's attention, nor is there in your lineage or mine, beloved. It isn't our family tree that cries out to God, Lord, here am I, look at me. all spring from the common race of man. Whether white, European, American of European heritage, African American, East Asian, all are dead in trespasses and sins. The fact that God is pleased to save in the line of continued generations doesn't mean that he delights in us because of our father or mother. Look how many branches have been cut off in their generations. And how many new branches he has grafted into the tree which is his church. When we face the question, why should God spare this outcast infant and say unto her, live? The only answer is that amazing gospel truth of free grace. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion, He said to Moses as repeated by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9, he has chosen a people in Christ out of his own sovereign good pleasure and in mercy speaks to them with the word of his power, live. He magnifies his grace in us and in our children. And you and I who hear His Word, exalt Him this morning. You who are dead, now live and are alive forevermore. You who are filthy, covered in your own blood, and notice the double emphasis there in verse 6. are now clothed with the white robes of Christ's righteousness and filled with the spirit of the exalted Savior. When we see this glorious truth, then our lives must be filled with gratitude, beloved. Gratitude necessarily follows the embrace of the truth of free grace. God's sovereign grace. Because the life that God has given us is the life of His dear Son. This isn't a life of legalistic do's and don'ts. You're no longer under the law but under grace. But it is a life of love for God's law. A delight to walk in His precepts. The Holy One delights in holiness. And because He's now our sovereign friend, indeed our Father, which is in heaven, we delight in holiness. God expects that His church lives as the Bride of Christ. So He has formed us. He will not tolerate that we go after other lovers, that we commit spiritual adultery. He chastens those who are His, that they might be kept in the bonds of His love. He's faithful to His covenant. Live, therefore. Live knowing that the only thing that separates us from all unrighteousness is the sovereign mercy and particular grace of the God who has loved us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Gracious Father, we thank Thee for the wonder of Thy grace in looking upon us in our miserable state and condition, looking upon us in love unfathomable, and seeing us in Christ thy Son, and calling us and giving us life everlasting. Father, give us grace to live in that knowledge and in gratitude to thee for Jesus' sake, amen. Psalter number 376. We sing the stanzas one and six Notice stanza six, God remembered all our woe, rescued us from every foe, food to all he doth he supply, praise the Lord enthroned on high for his mercy doth endure. Ever faithful, ever sure, stanzas one and six, 376. I'm sorry. ♪ A rememberer of our home ♪ ♪ Blessing us from every foe ♪ ♪ First for all the peace of mind ♪ ♪ Praise Lord and throne of life ♪ ♪ For His mercy nothing true ♪ For he alone has worked this love, And he's in glory left and still. And blessed be his glorious fame, Long as the ages shall endure. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. you you