With this confidence, let us draw to our Savior in prayer. How can this be, O God? Amazing love, grace unknown, that You should die for us. Lord, we pray this evening that You will be present among us, walking in our pews. We ask your presence, Lord, above all things. We ask your guidance as we open your word, Lord, that you will speak to us, that you will convict us, that you will draw us back to our fellowship with our heavenly husband, Jesus Christ. We, his bride. We, those for whom he died and gave his life. How can this be, Lord? We thank you, Lord, because we remember where we came from. Help us to remember a dungeon the cage, the darkness, before your light shone and the chains fell off, and we came out free to follow you. Be with us this evening, we ask, O Lord. Speak to us. We ask you this in the name of our precious Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. So our words tonight come from Ezekiel 16. Read this evening the whole passage. I will just read verse 6. And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, live. I said to you in your blood, live." Have you ever heard the words, dear diary, dear diary? Perhaps you've wrote a diary yourself, where you record memories. Well, in this chapter that was read for us this evening, chapter 16 of The prophet Ezekiel, we find a diary, a divine diary, written with the red letters of the gospel by the Almighty God. He writes this divine romance flowing through the pages of the Bible, pointing to us that we do not deserve anything. God is so kind to His poor bride that He takes us from a pool of blood, from being unworn, and makes us beautiful in His sight. But the danger, the danger for me and you every day is to forget, to forget where we came from, To forget these pages of the divine diary that we need to go back and look like those journals that you read in the past and realize the grace of God over your life and mine. That if it wasn't for His grace, none of His gifts, none of His riches will be ours. As we read in this chapter tonight, Ezekiel 16, we see a marriage analogy. The Lord is compared to a husband. And Israel, the church in the Old Testament, is compared to the bride. And this is an analogy that we find throughout the Old Testament. Some think that it's only in the Song of Solomon that we can find this, but we find it throughout Scripture, in particular among the prophets. Jeremiah, if you look at Jeremiah, for example, chapter 2 or chapter 3, it's full of this marriage analogy. Hosea. Hosea is that beautiful picture of Gomer, and Hosea has to marry Gomer. This analogy is now recorded us in the book of Ezekiel as a memorial of a marital misadventure between God and his bride due to the faithless apostasy of the people of God. Like an adulterous wife. The language of this chapter is so explicit. I mean, some of you have wondered, is this in the Bible? It's so explicit that Jewish people will forbid the reading of this chapter from their synagogue. The prostitution analogy, which later on Ezekiel picks us up in chapter 23. He does so to prove that the southern kingdom of Israel, remember, the northern kingdom had already gone to exile because of Assyria. And now Judah, Jerusalem, and the southern tribes of Israel were on the edge of exile. And what God is saying here is that Judah is no better than the northern tribes. Samaria, in having done idolatry, in having apostatized from the cult of God in the Temple, and likewise will be judged. And ultimately, God will remove all the beauty that is described in this chapter. The Temple of God in Jerusalem will be destroyed. The Kingdom of the South of Judah will end. Judgment is coming. And this chapter is a Divine Bridegroom's Diary, You can call it a divine diary to the cheating church. The bride's spiritual adultery, it is intended to remind the bride of Christ, the church, of where does she come from. In fact, verse 43 and throughout this chapter, we hear this word, you have not remembered your youth. The days of your youth. Consider. and come back to your heavenly husband in light of your future restoration, as we will see. And the biggest problem, again, remains self-sufficiency. And where does self-sufficiency lead you to? And therefore, that it is crucial, first of all, that the church, even today, looks, first of all, in verses 1-7, to her low beginning. as an aborted no one. Her low beginning as an aborted no one. Verses 1 through 7 of this chapter record for us the pagan past of the patriarchs, of Abraham in particular. Abraham was taken from the pagan territory. He had a pagan past. In order to make sense of the present circumstance of the people of God in Israel, and shed light, let's go to the origin and the birth of Israel. Israel had forgotten these origins. The church had lost her first love, as we saw this morning. And what the Lord is saying here is that Israel is no better than who? The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites. These are all pagan peoples that were found in the Promised Land before Israel came. And God wiped them out for their iniquity. Verse 44 says, "...like mother, like daughter." I mean, what an insult for an Israelite to be told I'm worshiping the living God? You're no better than a Philistine? Is that what you're saying to me? You're no better than a sodomite. I mean, who are the sodomites that God wiped them out? Actually, it says that you are even more corrupted than all of them put together. Actually, your sins, O Israel, make homosexual sodomites appear righteous, verse 51 says. The tragedy, remember, is that Israel knew God's will, and yet despised God's will. Sodom did not know half of the revelation that God had given to Israel. She should have known better. And this is an underlying call to look back where it all started. At the origin of Abraham himself, he was a pagan, a Chaldean. He was from Ur in today's Iraq. He was a man who worshipped gods, false gods. And there was nothing in Abraham and in Israel that could have made her worthy before God. So, like mother, like daughter. But what makes you better than unbelievers if you differ in nothing in your behavior? actually behaving even worse than them. Even in the New Testament we have a record of the church in Corinth. And Paul has to deal with these believers that were accepting things that even among pagans were considered shocking and they were not tolerated. A church in Corinth where it was full of professors but void of possessors of the grace and repentance and faith that they claimed to believe. Joining a church is no surety of joining Christ. Mixed with the world, having an appearance of godliness, but denying the substance thereof, while boasting of religion, Israel lacked the reality, and their works were just filthy rags before the Lord. And not only Israel was completely helpless. Go back where you began. Let's have a flashback, Israel. Back when I found you, Israel, know I had pity you, says the text. She was actually like an aborted child when God found her in her dark night of the soul. I remember reading the story in the Confession of Augustine. And he recalls his birth. And he's trying to emphasize how he was born in sin, and born in a fallen world, and from a family that was dysfunctional. And in all of this suffering, in all of this fall, in all this world full of wickedness, the light of God shone. And take, in the grace of God, it shone even in the darkness. Taking a man that was a wicked man, From the darkness, from the pit of hell, to His grace. And using the man. Completely rejected where you were when God found you. Completely abandoned to desperation. Abandoned at birth with no one to take care of you. Not only were you helpless, but it says in the text, abhorred. Unwanted. Unplanned. We hear these days with abortion clinics all over America and even Planned Parenthood. And Paul's terminology as he speaks of the grace received on the way to Damascus is no different. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 8 says this, And last of all, as one untimely born I like the Italian translation of this, as an aborted one. He appeared also to me. Jesus Christ appeared to Paul as he was an aborted, as he was a rejected, as he was a no one, born out of due time, abnormally born. He knows, Paul, and so should we. Remember how we were just an aborted worm? converted into life, to proclaim the faith that once Paul wanted to kill and quench? That's the power of the gospel. That's the power of amazing grace that saves a wretch like me and you. Do we believe these words? Do we remember, remember the pit of sin from which God saves us? Do we ponder at the wage of sin? and its companions, which led us to death and loneliness. The grace of God reached the most cruel man. The light of the world shone in the darkness of nights. The love of God flows in the most hateful, resistant enemy. When no one would or could, God can and is willing to save you and me. In a day and age like today, where fetus are treated like lifeless tissues. That's how they are treated in this country. God comes with a totally different perspective. And we see the second part of this verses all the way to 7, the sovereign deliverance. the sovereign deliverance of Exodus. After the patriarchs, we see now Exodus. It's not said clearly, but the history of Israel is throughout this chapter. And so it says, I passed by you. The same word here in Hebrew is actually pass over. And where did God pass over? When? But when in Egypt, babies were thrown from the edge of the hill, Jewish babies. And He passed over us. When do we see God doing this? But in Exodus. The clear episode that comes to mind. And it says He finds us shaking in the blood. Left for dead. Helpless. And pathetically unable to do anything. See, you're not able to save yourself. It's not about your free will. God comes and says, live! Come back to life! God had compassion on me and you when no one else had. He saved us out of sheer grace. Deuteronomy 7, verse 7, reminds us of this and the people of God. The Lord did not set His love on you, nor chose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of the people. is there was a little piece of nothing, of a little piece of land. And to them God says in Isaiah 41 verse 14, Fear not, you warm Jacob. You're warm, but fear not, because I have you. Because to this reality of who you were, I have now to bring this judgment upon you, so that even after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the book of Lamentation, we read in chapter 3 verse 19, Oh God, I remember my affliction and roaming the wormwood and the gall. This is where I come from. And yet out of that mess, that helpless, rejected nothingness, came out a beautiful flower. The embryo grew in a beautiful woman, we are told in this text. Mature, which flourished like a plant. Tall, completely developed, like kids coming to their age of puberty. And yet, if this was not enough, God washed her clean, clothed her nakedness, and God made her increased. It is indeed scary as we look at this first part of a text, to be exposed for us in front of a holy God. To see all of us, because we are sinners. And God provides a covering for all of our shame? Like a young abused woman? He makes her His own. He chose us. He predestined us. He adopts us into His family. He accepts us out of His sheer grace. And He makes us grow by His same grace and love. He restores us. He heals our broken hearts. But instead, that spirit had sinked in, in the people of God. trying to present themselves before God in the right way, as if it was something because of their honor and their pride. But here we see ourselves for who we really are. Depraved, dead in our sin, in our human, depraved nature. This is where we come from. And God's grace toward us and the danger Think of the danger of a nation to forget their history and then to repeat the same mistake. Think of a family if we forget our family roots and what takes place in our life. Well, how much more if we forget where we come from and our history and where did God took us from? Because that leads to danger as we see in our second point. Verses 8 to 34. From being an aborted no one, now we see her high advancement as a narcissist queen. High advancement as a narcissist queen. Verses 8 to 14 record for us from Exodus, the establishment in the land of Israel, the promised land and the kingdom of Israel. This is the history of how an orphan child became a queen. All because of God's providence. The church was at an age of love. The moment of infatuation. And her king did not wash her with his blood, but also, like if you think of the Old Testament, Boaz, he spreads his mantle over Ruth. That's how God cares over us. He spreads his garment over her. Here's the wedding feast of the Song of Songs, and a covenant was made, which is the covenant that God made with David in 2 Samuel 7. With him and his descendants, and the bride became mine, says the Lord, Yahweh's wife, washed from every wrinkle and spot. anointed, clothed, adorned with gold bracelets, rings, a crown, the best of food, covered with the best gifts. And now the bride looks so awesome. And this reminds us of Solomon. King Solomon is the mountain peak of the history of Israel, where he was able, with his wisdom, to attract kingdoms and the splendor of Israel through all nations. And you advanced to royalty, says the text. The fame of the nation of Israel went all across the globe. But remember, verse 14, The beauty Israel had was due to God having bestowed that beauty upon her. It was nothing intrinsic. The only intrinsic thing was the depraved wormwood in your blood. That's all you contribute to your salvation. Unhorrified nothing has made a splendor only by God's doing. how dangerous it is to become infatuated with our beauty. The problem is not the praise and delight that God finds in us, which is described here, or that a husband can find in his wife, but the problem is when self-sufficiency and pride slip in, in our life. When we think that we are entitled to something. I deserve this. Then all of our blessings that have been received from God through time lead us to a dangerous comfort zone. We forget. We depart from Him. Even if outwardly it doesn't look that we have departed, we have forgotten already. We forget where beauty comes from. We think that we did it. We're like Nebuchadnezzar, who stands outside of Babylon and looks at all of his kingdom and says, look what I have accomplished. I'm a great king. This is all that I did. No. God takes off that king and makes him eat like a cow to show him who is the source of that. And the tragedy from verse 15 on to 34, we see that After that great splendor of the kingdom of Solomon, the establishment in the promised land, what happened? The idolatrous downfall during the time of the prophets in the Old Testament. In fact, the prophets went, this queen became, says our text, a harlot. How does one repay, tell me, such love and care, and beautiful dressing, and beautiful crown, and beautiful... How should one repay, having been bestowed all things, to the benefactor, the only benefactor? By betraying Him? But you trusted in your beauty. You trusted in your beauty. Obadiah, another prophet in chapter 1, verses 3 and 4 says, I mean, did not Satan fell from the garden in the same trap as described even in Ezekiel chapter 28? It talks about this king, Tyre, which symbolizes Satan. In verse 3 of chapter 27, it says of Satan, You have said, I am perfect in beauty. You want to exalt yourself over above the position that I gave you. The beauty which the wife Eve in the Garden of Israel had received. The beauty that the Kingdom of Israel has received as a whole was for the purpose of honoring the husband and not for herself. And so it is between Christ and His church. To which that marriage is just a symbol of. He gives beauty to the church for His own glory. And the glory of His name. But the danger is when grace takes on merit. When thankfulness, we saw this morning, is taken over by entitlement. I deserve this. And what happens? This is right here. Whoring comes. prostitution, spiritual prostitution, under every green tree, with all sorts of iniquities. First of all, we see that there was pride. Pride in itself, again, is a satanic sin. But then also sexual immorality and prostitution. I mean, there was physical immorality going on among the Israelites. But then also, this adultery points to the idolatry. Idolatry of making anything and loving and putting anything above God. That's idolatry. It was done with statutes, but it was done also with idols of the heart, which Ezekiel warned the elders coming to him. We want to hear the Word of God. And he says, take off your idols of your heart. But then also, it points to the political alliance, politics that Israel was engaged with, with this nation and that nations, all the way to human sacrifices. And in all of this sin, Israel forgot God. And all the moral restraints came down. All the moral restraints in society. Because they exchanged the glory of God with idols. They took what was a gift. They took those same gifts that God has given to Israel out of sheer grace and used them for idolatry. It was a shameful instrument of spiritual prostitution. What was a gift from God, the precious symbol of grace, were perverted for adulterous practices. And how should a husband feel about this? Of course, she was provoked to jealousy, to say the least. Again, the issue is not just descending to the pit of sin, but the fact that she, again, did not remember the days of her youth, and what God has done in her helpless state, and who was she, and who was He that delivered her, and gave her all these blessings she now abused. She now entered in a curse from her husband. She was ashamed of doing all of this. And she did this in an open field, in the presence of everyone, every nation. Sins grew stronger and bolder. You see, that's usually what happens. God abandons entire nations. Romans 1 tells us, He abandons them to their wickedness because they exchanged this glory of God. God's gifts are not ours to be used indiscriminately. The greatest sin one can do is having ingratitude toward the giver of those gifts. Ingratitude toward the infinite salvation we received. And the root of this, again, is failing to remember who we are in relation to God. We spur His gifts and treat God as if He makes no difference in our daily life. We profess to believe in God, but we fail to obey His Word. And as a result of this obstinate sinning, this political alliance with Assyrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Syrians, all nations. But God, your husband, you don't turn to Him, you turn to man. And God has to do something. And so what does He do? Verses 28-29. He abandons her to those very nations. You want to go that way? You want to be under the yoke of man? Well, that's what's going to happen to you. Thieves and adulterous men came after her. They see and takes away her gifts. Perhaps she will repent. Perhaps she will come to her senses. No. She multiplies her whoring because of the depravity of her heart. It says in our text, how sick is your heart? which lead astray and results only in all sort of ruins. How foolish! This is not just spiritual adultery, but even giving your body for free. God is saying, at least a prostitute receives a payment, you give yourself for free. You just enjoy it. She didn't know any better. She paid to be used and abused by men. When she was the daughter of the living God, the owner of the entire earth, Do you see that nothing apart from God can satisfy us? I pray that you see that sin and idolatry will leave you destroyed and devastated. The more you put men, the more you put things, the more you put glories and honor of this earth upon that altar, and the more you will be consumed by them. The more you will become like them. To those who cast God beyond their back, who profess with their mouth allegiance to God, and God says, no. Woe to those who call evil good. Woe to those who defile themselves and others think that God does not see. Christ sees the depths of our weakness. He knows. He searched our hearts. He knows that there's only shame. We think of our past. And yet He is willing to receive us if we repent and turn from our sins. But if you persist in your stubborn, depraved heart, He will abandon to those desires. And I'm telling you, they may seem pleasant for a while, but it will lead to destruction. It will even blind people. God even blinds people from understanding the consequences of our actions. You don't want to be in that state of abandonment. You want to turn to God now. Otherwise, you will cast off all moral restraints. And it's not because of just your rebellion, because of God abandoned. God abandons, as I said, entire nations. I'm afraid that even this nation is on the verge of that. He first permits, then He prevents, Until finally judgment and fall comes. There's no other solution. In fact, that's exactly our third point in verses 35 to 59. Her tragic end as a divorced slave. Tragic end as a divorced slave. And what do we see after the prophets? Exile comes. Judgment through the exile. Israel now is taken off that land. The temple is destroyed. Now is the time of judgment. God names the sin of His bride. He doesn't hide them or downplay them. If I punished your sister, which is the northern kingdom of Samaria, for half the sin that you have committed, Judah, would you be spared a worse judgment? No. You will be punished. And despite this blatant sin, this kingdom of Israel in the south has still a sense of shame. She wants to, however, hang on the glories of the past kingdom and the temple. You see? Still hanging on that Christian form, but in the end, the heart has already departed. You were a worm, and a worm you shall return. your shame will be displaced. Like a fruitless vine, you're only good for the fire," says the Lord in chapter 15 and verse 6 of Ezekiel. God has to gather these lovers, these nations that Israel has played with, and they themselves will perform the judgment. God will use those wicked people you hang on, and He will use them to call you To beat, steal, kill. Houses will be burned. Temples will be destroyed. The kingdom will be taken away. And Babylon will come and rash over your streets. All these wicked lovers and idolaters. You must return to see where you come from. I must bring you, says the Lord, to your former state. Show you what you have forgotten. You see, you thought you could escape judgment, Judah, but you did far worse. And God is determined to judge even if Noah, Moses, Daniel, the most righteous people in the history of Israel, even if they come and appear among these people, they shall deceive themselves alone. All these other people will go to exile. And while the enemies and adulterous people around Israel expose her to destroy her and make a public spectacle seeking to kill and shame, God is doing something behind the scene. He's exposing this sin for her good. To satisfy his jealousy and wrath as a husband. who is jealous over his wife to let her bear the penalty of her lewdness and abomination, which cannot go unpunished. She broke the covenant of marriage, the covenant bond that was established in Mount Sinai. But now God breaks that bond and divorces her. He shuns her in exile. But why? So that He may redeem her. After that, he will be calm," it says in our text. No more be angry with her. Again, the issue, you did not remember where you come from. And through this exile of divorce, you should be ashamed of what you have caused. You see, the sin must be judged publicly so that it becomes an example for others, as a deterrent for others not to go after the same outcome. Know that God does not rest until He justly punish unfaithfulness. Because judgment begins with the house of God, brothers. But there's a hope at the end of all this exile. When the kingdom was gone, what do we see in verses 60 to 63? Yes, that's not over. Yes, there was this divorce, but now your new restoration as a forgiven one comes. And this we see, the new covenant. After the exile, God says, even in Jeremiah 31, I will make a new covenant. And eternal redemption comes. If this was it, then it was over. There's no hope. All of us. But for the sake of this covenant God made, even in her youth, taking Abraham before he was circumcised. At the beginning of the whole story of Israel, which is reported in this text, there is a new covenant. God promised Abraham all the nations. And now that covenant will come to place. Now, a new covenant is promised. And it's not just some renewal of a broken covenant. This is a new and everlasting covenant. Jeremiah 31 talks about it as an unbreakable covenant. Because it's based on better promises. Because if we were left to ourselves, and we were trying to go back to the old covenant, like the Jewish people, then there's no hope for us. Then we will be judged. But this covenant is different. It's an everlasting, a permanent, unbreakable, no condition. How is that possible? How is that possible that this covenant will last forever? How is it possible that now we get to partake to the eternal marriage of the Lamb that Revelation describes in heaven, that is awaiting us? How is that possible? Because God in verse 60 to 62 says, I atone for all that you have done. All of your sins will be atoned for. All your shame, all your guilt will be atoned for. All of it will be removed. And what is this pointing? But the marvel of the cross of Jesus Christ It is a better covenant because His mediator will not be Moses who himself failed to enter the promised land. He will not be David who sinned with Bathsheba. He will not be Adam who in the covenant of works failed miserably and put us in all this death. He will be a new Adam. He will be Jesus Christ. And He will be perfect because He is the Son of God. He is perfect. He is able to complete all the requirements of the covenant. And there has been no transgression in His mouth, in His action, no ideology, nothing. He is perfect and fit. He is both man and both God at the same time. And He fulfills all the requirements. And He atones for us at the cross. Oh, what marvelous provision at the cross, friends. for such a worm as I and you." Full atonement! Can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! This blood speaks better than all the bloods of the goats, and all the cows, and all the other sacrifices of bulls that were given at the temple. Because it's the blood of Christ. God offers, therefore, love and compassion, friends, to those who are facing the ruin of sin because of their wrong choices. And God says, turn to Him. I will make you a new heart. This new covenant will make you able to obey what these Jews in the old covenants were not. Were not, and failed one after the other. He gives us a new hope, a new life. He removes all the guilt of sin and heals us. He forgives us and saves us. And therefore, let humility and remembrance flow in you out of this redemption. That you will never forget what He has done. Those are the true fruits of repentance. How thankful should we be that He has done this and He has given this unconditional new covenant. It is a better covenant. It is a perfect covenant. Because a perfect is the one who mediates it. And so we are betrothed to Him in love. Marriage comes. The marriage of the Lamb. What would we do when we take the Lord's Supper, but await the moment that the Bridegroom comes and takes us with Him? Love. Love that expresses itself in obedience and thankfulness. How great a sin is ingratitude toward our Savior, having been treated so kindly. To turn back to the vomits of sin, don't do that because it costs the blood of the Savior. After that, any boast to be a children of Abraham or a follower of Christ, it is of less account if it is not married with your repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. because he paid the wrath of God. He went to exile. He exiled from the Father at the cross. So that me and you may not go to exile. And so God contends with His church even today, 2,000 years after. The same history of redemption. The same divine diary to the cheating church. Hosea chapter 2. Why don't you turn to there? Hosea chapter 2. It's minor prophets just before the New Testament. Another book where the illustration of marriage before the book of Joel and after Daniel. Hosea chapter 2 verse 2 and 3 says, speaking to the bride, Let her put away her adulteries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and expose her as in the days she was born." Enough of this proud national consciousness that we say, one nation under God, that we boast so much to have Christian roots. If we are actually abandoning God, God is calling this nation, God is calling every nation to turn to Him and realize that we have abandoned God, yes. That we deserve judgment, that we have not repented, we have failed to repent. We just remember the Twin Towers anniversary a few days ago. We change this promised land of North America into a polluted land with our sins, with our turning back from God. We're listening to false teachings and all sort of things and all sort of lawlessness. But God has the same message going out. Turn to your heavenly Husband, O Church. Turn to Him. Because in Christ, The Bridegroom has come. Renew your vow, like you renew your vow in a marriage. Do that before Him. Give your life to Him. Because there's nothing better than Him. Nothing can satisfy you but the Heavenly Husband. And so if this is not true for you, I ask you, I plead with you to join yourself with your Heavenly Husband. To go under His authority and His headship. And to prepare yourself for His coming. Jesus Christ may be coming. We do not know when. And we were not assured. It could be today, it could be tomorrow. And He is coming to look for a pure bride. A bride that is washing your clothes in preparation for that day. A bride that is not foolish and stays behind and forgets to buy the oil like those virgins that were foolish and Christ comes when they didn't expect. Don't do that. Prepare yourself. Prepare yourself to meet your God. Your husband, he's coming. Let us pray. Oh God, we praise You and bless You. Because through the whole history of Israel that just reported in one chapter of the Bible, from Abraham, from the patriarchs, to the promised land, to Solomon, to then the prophets, their fallen idolatry, and then the exile and the judgment. Oh, we thank You, Lord, that we are now in a better, better time. Because to us has been granted to have the fullness of Your revelation. To us has been granted to be partaker of the new covenant. When we all shall know You, when we all shall magnify You, when we all shall be filled with Your Holy Spirit, and have a new heart, being able to obey You. Oh God, thank You. And please, Wash our clothes. Help us to prepare. Sanctify us. Oh God, help us to put to death the old man and to renew this new man that is within us. So that the church may appear spotless and without wrinkle. Oh God, we pray the same for our families, for wives and children, and for Lord, even those who do not know You that may be sitting tonight here and this does not apply to them. And there's still a warm shaking in their blood. Oh, God, pass through our pew and call them to life so that they may live. They may live. And you may clothe us as you do. We praise you, Lord, for all that you have done and help us to remember your salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.