Ezekiel (Sections 94-96)
Section 94
"I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at
your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am the Lord."—Ezekiel 36:11 When other nations fall they rise no more, but to the covenanted people a future still remains.
Even the land given by covenant has an entailed blessing on it, for these words are to the "mountains of Israel." To hypocrites and formalists an end cometh; but true children of God rise again after decays and declensions. As saith the prophet, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me": Micah 7:8. A greater blessing than that which they have lost may yet be granted to restored wanderers. The text contains a great promise. Oh, that we may enjoy it!
I. What was there so good in our beginnings? As Israel's land in the beginning flowed with milk and honey, so our first estate had a singular richness about it. Oftentimes, in looking back, we sing,— Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus, and his Word?
1. We enjoyed a vivid sense of free and full forgiveness.
2. We had a delicious proof of the joy of true religion.
3. We gained repeated victories over sinful inclinations, and outward temptations; and this made us jubilant in Christ.
4. We felt great delight in prayer, the Word, communion, etc.
5. We abounded in zeal and service, and the joy of the Lord was our strength.
6. We were in our first love, and everything was lively, intense, hopeful, wonderful, to our humble, happy mind. We were simple-hearted and confiding, had not yet found out the imperfections of our brethren, and were too humble to look for them. We have not gained much by losing that confidence if in its room we have received suspicion.
We read of "the first ways of David": 2 Chronicles 17:3. We are bidden to do our "first works": Revelation 2:5.
II. Can we enjoy something better than our beginnings?
Assuredly we shall, if the Lord will fulfil this promise; and that he is sure to do if we walk more closely with him.
1. Our faith will be stronger, more steadfast, and intelligent.
2. Our knowledge will be fuller and deeper.
3. Our love will be more constant, practical, enduring.
4. Our prayer will be more prevalent.
5. Our usefulness will be more extended, more abiding.
6. Our whole being will be more mature.
We are to shine more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18.
Growth in grace brings with it many good things.
III. How can we secure this betterness?
There must be a resettlement according to our old estates in our own souls, and then there will be a renewed settlement by the act of God.
1. We must return to our first simple faith in Jesus.
2. We must quit the sins which alienated us from God.
3. We must be more thorough, and earnest.
4. We must seek after closer fellowship with Christ.
5. We must more resolutely strive to advance in divine things.
Admire the liberality of our God! He promises to do better unto us than at our beginnings. What more can he do?
See the constancy of his love—how he maintains ancient settlements, and restores old estates! Covenant heritages are entailed upon their holders by the unchanging grace of God.
Mark with what tenderness he woos us to return to his fellowship: he draws, he allures, he wins by greatness of love!
Let us, in the power of his Holy Spirit, return to him!
Doors of Hope
God's dealings with his people are best at last; they may have much kindness and mercy in the morning, but they shall have more in the evening. "1 will settle you after your old estates," etc. The Jews had the best wine at last; they had milk and honey before, but the feast of tat things full of marrow, and of wines on the lees well-refined, were at the latter end of their day given in; they had Christ and the Gospel at last. Abraham had much of the world at first, and his Isaac afterward. "God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning." Simeon in his latter days saw Christ, and had him in his arms.—Wm. Greenhill. No instance of backsliding can be more aggravated than that of the apostle Peter, and yet no recovery was more signal. While that stands upon record, no traitor to his Lord and Master is justified in saying, "The door of hope is closed against my return." The Scriptures contain several instances in which the lamentable and disgraceful lapses of God's people are shown to be followed by their recovery and restoration. Frequently such characters, after they have been corrected and chastened of the Lord, have risen to stations of great eminence in his church. David in the Old Testament, and Peter in the New, while both illustrating the shame and sorrow of a backsliding state, stand forth as monuments of that sovereign grace which can forgive the penitent wanderer, and once more infuse into his heart "the peace that passeth all understanding."—Leifchild.
Fractures well-cured make us more strong.—Herbert. The joy of conversation is great—
Earth has a joy unknown to heaven, The new-born peace of sins forgiven!
Tears of such pure and deep delight, Ye angels! never dimmed your sight. But there are wondrous joys as yet unknown to the inexperienced soul, and concerning which the most advanced believer has to sing—
I have a heritage of joy That yet I must not see: The hand that bled to make it mine, Is keeping it for me.
Those that will not return to the duties they have neglected, cannot expect to return to the comforts they have lost.—G. S. Bowes.
He is a skillful physician indeed who, finding a man sorely afflicted, not only succeeds in restoring him to health, but actually causes him to be better than he was before, dealing with his medicine, not only with the disease which caused pain, but with some other which lay deeper, but had scarcely been perceived by the patient. Such is the medicine of mercy. Thus graciously doth God deal with repenting sinners. He must be worse than a brute beast who would turn this into an argument for sinning. A true child of God feels the water standing in his eyes when he thinks of such superabounding love.
Section 95
"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, "Then shall ye
remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations."—Ezekiel 36:30-31 The day of manifested mercy is to be the day of hearty repentance. "Then." When God loads you with benefits you shall loathe yourselves. The Lord speaks as one who is supreme in the region of free agency, and able to work his will with human minds: "Then shall ye," etc. His processes of grace are such as, in the nature of things, lead up to the end which he proposes.
He declares that he will conquer by love,—love so wonderful that the objects of it must of necessity yield to its power, and change their minds and their conduct.
Repentance is wrought in the heart by a sense of love divine. This sets repentance in its true light, and helps us to meet a great many mistakes which have darkened this subject. Many are kept from Christ and hope by misapprehensions of this matter. They have—
I. Mistaken ideas of what repentance is.
They confound it with—
1. Morbid self-accusation, which is the fruit of dyspepsia, or melancholy, or insanity. This is an infirmity of mind, and not a grace of the Spirit. A physician may here do more than a divine.
2. Unbelief, despondency, despair: which are not even a help to repentance, but tend rather to harden the heart.
3. Dread of hell, and sense of wrath: which might occur even to devils, and yet would not cause them to repent. A measure of this may go with repentance, but it is no part of it.
4. Satanic temptations. These are by no means like to repentance, which is the fruit of the Spirit.
5. A complete knowledge of the guilt of sin; which even advanced saints have not yet obtained.
6. Entire abstinence from all sin,—a consummation devoutly to be wished, but by no means included in repentance.
It is a hatred of evil A sense of shame wrought by a sense of divine love A longing to avoid win II. Mistaken ideas of the place which repentance occupies.
1. It is looked upon by some as a procuring cause of grace, as if repentance merited remission; a grave error.
2. It is wrongly viewed by others as a preparation for grace; a human goodness laying the foundation for mercy, a meeting of God half-way; this is a deadly error.
3. It is treated as a sort of qualification for believing, and even as the ground for believing: all which is legality, and contrary to pure gospel truth.
4. Others treat it as the argument for peace of mind. They have repented so much, and it must be all right. This is to build our confidence upon a false foundation.
Repentance attends faith, and is a precious gift of the Spirit of God.
III. Mistaken ideas of the way in which it is produced in the heart.
It is not produced by a distinct and immediate attempt to repent. Nor by strong excitement at revival meetings. Nor by meditating upon sin, and death, and hell, etc. But the God of all grace produces it—
1. By his free grace, which by its action renews the heart (verse 26).
2. By bringing his great mercy to our mind.
3. By making us receive new mercy (verses 28-30).
4. By revealing himself and his methods of grace (verse 32). Every gospel truth urges repentance upon the regenerate.
Election, redemption, justification, adoption, eternal love, etc., are all arguments for loathing every evil way.
Every gospel privilege makes us loathe sin: prayer, praise, the reading of Scripture, the fellowship of saints, the table of the Lord, etc.
Every gospel hope purifies us from sin, whether it be a hope for more grace in this world, or for glory in the next.
Oh, that we might feel the touch of love, and weep ourselves away for having grieved our Lord! This would work in us a revenge against all our sins, and lead us to entire consecration to our holy Lord.
Rectifications
There are no arguments like those that are drawn from the consideration of the great and glorious things Christ hath done for you; and if such will not take with you, and win upon you, I do not think the throwing of hell-fire in your faces will ever do it.—Thomas Brooks. The Roman Catholic definition of penitence is not a bad one, though they draw bad conclusions from it—"Confessio oris, contritio cordis, satisfactio vitæ"—that is, for true repentance there should be confession with the mouth, grieving in the heart, and amendment made for our faults as far as possible in our life.—Richard Glover.
Repentance,—the tear dropped from the eye of faith.
God's loving-kindnesses and mercies do work more with sinners than his judgments do. All the time the Jews were in Babylon, their hearts were never so affected for their sins as after God brought them out, settled them in Canaan, and showed much love unto them; then they should remember their evil ways, before they minded them not; then they should loathe themselves. Mercies in Zion are more efficacious with sinners than judgments in Babylon; God's favor melts hard hearts sooner than the fire of his indignation; his kindness is very penetrative, it gets into the hearts of sinners sooner than his threats and frowns; it is like a small soaking rain, which goes to the roots of things, whereas a dashing rain runs away, and does little good. It was David's kindness that braek the heart of Saul, 1 Samuel 24; and it is God's kindness which breaks the hearts of sinners. The milk and honey of the gospel affect the hearts of sinners more than the gall and wormwood of the law; Christ on Mount Zion brings more to repentance than Moses on Mount Sinai.—William Greenhill.
Cowper, the poet, in his own memoirs of his early life, describes the time when he reflected on the necessity of repentance. "I knew that many persons had spoken of shedding tears for sin; but when I asked myself whether the time would ever come when I should weep for mine, it seemed to me that a stone might sooner do it. Not knowing that Christ was exalted to give repentance, I despaired of ever attaining it." A friend came to his bed-side, and declared to him the gospel. He insisted on the all-atoning efficacy of the blood of Jesus, and his righteousness for our justification. "Then," says Cowper, "while I heard this part of his discourse, and the Scriptures on which he founded it, my heart began to burn within me; my soul was pierced with a sense of my bitter ingratitude to so merciful a Saviour; and these tears, which 1 thought impossible, burst forth freely."
"Some people," says Philip Henry, "do not wish to hear much of repentance, but I think it so necessary that, if I should die in the pulpit, I wish to die preaching repentance; and if out of the pulpit, practicing it."
Section 96
"But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof
shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt."—Ezekiel 47:11 The prophet saw in vision the flow of the life-giving river, and marked its wonderful and beneficial effects.
Let the chapter be read, and a brief abstract of it be given. The prophet also observed that here and there the river carried no blessing: there were marshes which remained as barren as ever.
I. There are some men whom the gospel does not bless.
1. It stagnates in them: they hear in vain; learn but do not practice; feel but do not decide, resolve but do not perform.
2. It mingles with their corruptions, as clear water with the mire of the marshes. They see with blinded eye, understand in a carnal manner, and receive truth but not in the power of it.
3. It becomes food for their sins, even as rank sour grass is produced by the stagnant waters of "miry places." Their unbelief makes mysteries into apologies for infidelity. Their enmity is stirred by the sovereignty of grace. Their impenitence takes liberties from grace, and makes excuses out of divine mercy. Their carnal security feeds on the fact of having heard the gospel.
4. It makes them worse and worse. The more rain, the more mire. The more grace misused, the more wicked the heart. The more unsanctified knowledge, the greater the capacity for evil. The more false profession, the more treachery.
II. Some of these we have known.
These marshes are at no great distance. They constitute an eye-sore, and a heart-sore, near at hand.
1. The talkative man, who lives in sin: flooded with knowledge, but destitute of love: fluent expression but no experience.
2. Those critics who note only the faults of Christians, and are quick to dwell on them; but are false themselves.
3. Those who receive orthodox truth, and yet love the world.
4. Those who feel impressed and moved, but never obey the Word. They delight to hear the gospel, and only the gospel, and yet they have no spiritual life.
5. Those who are mere officials, and attend to religion in a mechanical manner. Judas is both treasurer and traitor, apostle and apostate. His descendants are among us.
III. Such persons are in a terrible plight. Their condition is more than commonly dreadful.
1. Because they are not aware of it: they think it is well with them.
2. Because the ordinary means of blessing men have failed in their case. That which is a river of life to others is not so to them.
3. In some instances the very best means have failed. A special river of gracious opportunity has flowed down to them, but its streams have visited them in vain.
4. No known means now remain: "What shall I do unto thee?" What more can be hoped for from the economy of mercy?
5. Their ruin appears certain: they will be given over; left to themselves to be barren marshes.
6. Their ruin is as terrible as it is sure: much like that of the cities of the plain—given to salt; only their doom will be less tolerable than that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
IV. From these we may learn—
1. A lesson of warning, lest we ourselves be visibly visited by grace-streams, and yet never profit thereby.
2. A lesson of arousing, lest we rest in ordinances, which in themselves are not necessarily a saving blessing.
3. A lesson of gratitude: if we are indeed healed by the life-river, let us bless the effectual grace of the Lord our God.
4. A lesson of quickening to ministers and other workers, that they may look well to the results of their labor, and not be making marshes where they wish to create fields rich with harvest.
Apropos No persons appear less likely to be saved than your religious unbelievers. They wear an armor of proof. You cannot tell them anything new and striking, their heads are helmeted with religious knowledge; you cannot touch their hearts, for they wear the breast-plate of gospel-hardening. They bow assent to every truth, and yet believe nothing; they attend to every religious observance, and yet have no religion. No other suit of plate armor is one half so effective for warding off the strokes of truth as that which is forged in the arsenals of religion. I have more hope of an avowed infidel than of a gospel-proof hearer. —C. H. S.
Either the waters came not to these marshes or if they did, they refused them, and so were given to salt, made like Sodom, barren and accursed. Some places have not the waters of the sanctuary, the doctrine of the gospel, and they are barren, and perish for want of the same, as Tyre and Sidon. Other places have them, and because they are impenitent, and will not receive the truth with the love of it, because they will not drink in these waters, therefore they are given to salt, they are barren, and must perish. So it was with Capernaum and Jerusalem (Matthew 11:23; Matthew 23:37-38); and so is it with many places in this nation, I fear.—William Greenhill.
Certain persons are to be met with, at revival services, who are the first to enter the enquiry-room, but when full enquiry is made about their history it will be found that they are old practitioners, and have undergone conversion of a sort many times before. These are the plague and disgrace of a religious awakening. Easily affected, their piety itself is an affectation: they are not exactly hypocrites, but yet there is so little depth in them that they are next to it. We heard of one who had been healed of lameness, so he said, but within a few days he took to his crutches again, and thereby cast grave doubt upon the professed healer. Even thus do these wretched converts raise a cry against admirable movements. They are a sort of people whom even the gospel does not bless,—marshes which even the river of life does not fertilize. Who is the most miserable man on earth, and whither shall we go to seek him? Not to the tavern; not to the theatre; not even to the brothel; but to the church! That man, who has sat, Sabbath after Sabbath, under the awakening and affecting calls of the gospel, and has hardened his heart against these calls, he is the man whose condition is the most desperate of all others. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell."—Richard Cecil. The Latins used to say, "The corruption of what is best is the worst of all things." Of all compounds of human weakness and depravity, the most repulsive is a bonfire of religious cant, which is all feeling and no principle, all talk and no character, all prayer and no life, all Sunday and no week-day. "Ye whited sepulchres!" "Ye generation of vipers!" The holiest of men join the indignant outcry of the world against such nauseating hypocrisy. That is a wise and always timely petition of the Church of England: "From the deceits of the world, from the crafts of the devil good Lord, deliver us!"—Austin Phelps.