Ezekiel 36:24-32

Good evening. In the Old Testament this evening.! The book of Ezekiel.! It's the prophecy of the valley of the dry bones.

Then you have chapters 38 and 39. Which are the prophecy of Gog and Magog. And those seem to be the only three chapters in the entire book of Ezekiel.

There's a whole lot of other stuff in this book. And again, we'll be in chapter 36 this evening. One of those chapters that for some reason a lot of the church world doesn't think exists.

But anyway, the book of Ezekiel. Written by Ezekiel. Ezekiel is actually one of the Babylonian exiles. And he's writing to a very broken Israel.

Namely the Judean exiles that were taken into captivity. The deportations actually began in 605 or so B.C.

And there was another deportation around 593 B.C. And then there was another one in 586 B.C. Which is when Jerusalem was actually seized.

And the temple was destroyed. And all kinds of other things. But Ezekiel would have arrived in that second wave of deportations within the captivity.

But again, he wrote to Israel though. A very broken, shattered nation that had been sent into exile. And I didn't say sent into exile.

They were sent by God. Because of their covenantal adultery. They had committed adultery on God. And God had told them this is what's going to happen if you do this.

They did it. And they went into exile because of it. So throughout the book of Ezekiel. You find a lot of rebuke from God towards the Israelites.

You find a lot of judgment from God toward the Israelites. And you also see a lot of pleading from God for the Israelites to repent of their sin.

And return back to Him. There's also a lot of promises from God as far as what God is going to do with these exiles.

With the nation Israel. And that's actually what we're going to read about tonight. Is some of those promises. So all that being said in Ezekiel 36.

Beginning at verse 24. It says, For I will take you from among the heathen. And gather you out of all countries.

And will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. And you shall be clean. From all your filthiness. And from all your idols.

Will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you. And a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh.

And I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. And cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall keep my judgments and do them.

And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be my people. And I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness.

And I will call for the corn. And will increase it. And lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree. And the increase of the field. That you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

Then shall you 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.

Not for your sakes do I this. Saith the Lord God. Be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways. O house of Israel. Back to verse 24.

For I will take you from among the heathen. And gather you out of all countries. And I will bring you into your own land.

I want you to notice first of all. Here in this verse. And actually on into the next verse. Verse 25. This is all initiated by God.

None of it is initiated by Israel. Israel is not seeking God. Israel is not looking for God. God is the one who put all this into motion.

God says for I will take you. God says I will take you. And gather you. And I will bring you. He says I will take you from among the heathen.

I will gather you out of all countries. And will bring you into your own land. Then on down into verse 25. He says then will I sprinkle clean water upon you.

And you shall be clean from all your filthiness. And from all your idols. Will I cleanse you. This is all of God. The process is of God. The seeking is of God.

This wasn't Israel climbing their way back up to God. After they had sunk down into a sinkhole. After they had sunk down into their sin. Nothing along those lines folks. This is God seeking what rightfully belongs to Him.

This is God seeking the people that He had made covenant with. All the way back into Genesis. These are the people that had turned against God. They had gone after other idols.

They had gone after other gods. They had gone into the nations that God told them to avoid. They had taken on other religions. They had completely forsaken Almighty God.

Yet God in His mercy. And God in His love. And God in His compassion. And God in His covenant promise. Seeks after these people.

He seeks them out. And He says, I will do these things. I will cleanse you. I will seek you out. I will bring you into the land. I will clean you from your filthiness.

I will clean you from your uncleanness. And I will make you right. And it is no different with salvation right now. In 2026. It takes Almighty God to seek out the sinner.

There is no sinner man or sinner woman out there right now. That truly seeks after God. It takes God to seek them out. By way of the Holy Spirit.

It takes God to show them. What kind of faith they are in. It takes God to show them. Their need for salvation. And it takes God to save their souls. And to impart that salvation unto them.

Man is not in the equation. Period. Period. It takes God to do every bit of it. It takes God to do it here. We see some beautiful examples of this over in the New Testament.

In Luke 15. You read about a man. God says, what man of you. Or Jesus says, what man of you. What man of you having a hundred sheep. And one of them gets lost.

What man of you having a hundred sheep. And one of them goes astray. Wouldn't leave the ninety and nine. In the wilderness. To go out yonder. And to seek after that one.

That has lost one man of you. And he says, and when he is found. You put him up on your shoulders. And you rejoice that you have found that lamb. Folks, it is no different. That sheep.

In that parable that Jesus Christ speaks. In Luke chapter 15. He did not organize his own rescue mission. He did not seek after the shepherd. He didn't go after the shepherd.

He just kept wandering further. And further. And further. But praise be unto God. The shepherd goes after that one sheep. The shepherd finds him. Hoists him up upon his shoulders.

And he rejoices. Hallelujah. The very next parable that Jesus speaks. In the same book and chapter. Luke chapter 15. There is a woman. She had ten pieces of silver.

And she lost one of them. What does the Bible say she did? She didn't forget about it. She didn't say, it is alright. I still got nine. It says that she lit a candle. She swept the house.

And she looked. And she searched until she found that one lost piece of silver. And when she found it. She called her neighbors. She called her friends. She said, I found the piece that I lost.

Hey folks. It is no different. That silver could not find itself. That silver had no means to find itself. It took someone else to step into the picture. And find it. It is no different with me.

It is no different from you. It is no different from anyone else in the world. It takes God to seek us out. It takes God to find us. It takes God to put us on the right path.

Hallelujah. And I'm glad that He does. I'm glad that He does. That's exactly what He is doing with Israel here. Exactly what He is doing. I will cause you to come into the land that I promised your fathers.

I will do this thing. Again, verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. And you shall be clean. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you.

And you shall be clean. In other words, until I do this, you will not be clean. And this goes back over into the Pentateuch.

The books of Moses. Namely, Numbers 19. Where the ashes of the red heifer were mixed with water. And that was called the water of separation. And God here is saying.

God here is saying. That I will sprinkle clean water upon you. And you shall be clean. God says, if I do this, there is no way you cannot be clean. If I sprinkle clean water upon you.

If I am the one that washes you. If I am the one that makes you whole. There is nothing that can be done about it. If I hurt me means. There is nothing that can erase it. There is nothing that you or anyone else can do.

About this thing that I do with you. Hallelujah. He says, when I clean. You shall be clean. There is no ifs, ands, or buts in that. There is no hesitation in it.

There is no question mark in this. He says that I will sprinkle clean water upon you. And you shall be clean. From all of your filthiness. And from your idols. Will I cleanse you.

Folks, he went from verse 24. At the very end of verse 24 he says, And will bring you into your land. He has gone from location.

From location. I will bring you into your land. To purification. Folks, the problem is not where Israel was. They weren't where they were supposed to be.

They weren't where God told them that they would be. But that was their own fault. But folks, the problem was not where they were. The problem is what they were. They were unclean.

And they were defiled. They were defiled by the world. They were defiled by their own sin. They were defiled by the fake gods. And the false gods. They were defiled by the idols. And God says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you.

And you shall be clean. I will clean you from your filthiness. I will clean you from your idolatry. I will do this thing. And you will be clean. Hallelujah.

And He does the same thing for us. The folks that's not with clean water that He does. We are washed clean. And we are preserved by the blood of Jesus Christ. By none other than the blood of Jesus Christ.

There is no earthly means. There is no earthly water that is powerful enough to cleanse us from our sin. That's why I can't stand baptismal regeneration. I hate that doctrine.

I hate that kind of theology. Because it literally waters down the blood of Jesus Christ. It is saying that the blood of Jesus Christ is insufficient. That there must be something else.

There must be something else that I must do. I must go down in the water. I must be baptized. That is contrary to what the Bible teaches. It is by the blood of Jesus Christ.

It is by His grace. And it is only by these things. We are saved by grace through faith. Not of our own works. Lest any man should boast.

Hallelujah. Is rise. Praise be unto God. From your idols I will cleanse you. Verse 26. A new heart also will I give you. And a new spirit will I put within you.

And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you an heart of flesh. Folks. This is going deeper than the cleansing. He just brought up cleansing in the first two voices.

He says I will take you from among the heathens. I will gather you from the countries. I will bring you in your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you. I will cleanse you. But sometimes folks.

Sometimes you think about a doormat. You can only clean them things so many times. And then you got to toss it up and get another one. You think about a shower curtain. You can only clean those so many times.

You can only get the mildew off so much. Before you got to replace it. Folks. I ain't saying that when God cleanses. That there's still some residue left. That's not what I'm saying. But God goes deeper than just the cleansing.

With the water that He is talking about here. He is going into replacement. He is replacing a heart that is resistant to the truth. He is replacing a heart that doesn't want to hear the truth.

That doesn't want to hear the Word of God. He is replacing a heart that is after the world. The most vivid picture we have of this in Scripture. Is in the book of Exodus with Pharaoh.

Folks. It didn't matter how many times Moses showed up. How many times Moses uttered the words. To let my people go. That God said to let my people go. It didn't matter what judgments were passed.

What miracles were performed in front of him. The Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. The Bible says that God hardened his heart as well. Either way. He had a hard heart.

The miracles didn't move him. The judgments didn't move him. And there is a world out there right now. That needs a heart change. There is a world out there right now.

That looks at me. Looks at me and how I used to be. Looks at me and what I once was. And then they see what I am now. Through the grace of Jesus Christ. Not of my own works.

Not of anything that I have done. They see what I am now. And it still does not move him. That is a miracle within itself. When God takes an unregenerate, rebellious heart.

A rebellious soul. And He forms it into the image of His own Son. He saves that soul. Redeems it out of hell. Brings it in to His own family.

That is a miracle. And the world sees miracle after miracle after miracle. Children see parents saved. Parents see children saved.

Aunts and uncles see nephews and nieces saved. And many of them are lost. That witness these things. And it does not move their heart. But God can move that heart.

And for God to move that heart. Is a miracle. For Him to even desire to do so. Is a miracle. He says, a new heart also will I give you.

It is a gift from God. I will give you, folks. This is not just reforming your behavior. This is not just turning over a new leaf.

This is not just taking a new path. This is complete and total transformation that God accomplishes. You take Saul of Tarsus, for instance.

On the road to Damascus. A man that persecuted the church. A man that breathed threatenings toward the church. What did it take? It took God Almighty.

It took Jesus Christ stopping that man in His tracks. Stopping Him. Conversating with Him. To change Him. And to transform Him. And a man that hated the church of the living God.

A man that hated the church of Jesus Christ. Turned out to be a vessel of grace unto all of those that heard His voice. Hallelujah. And God does the same thing with sinners right now.

He changes their heart. He takes out that stony heart. That heart that's hard. That heart that's impenetrable. That heart that no one and nothing can get to except for Almighty God.

You can't do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. It takes God to do it. And He takes that stony heart out. And He puts in a heart of flesh. He puts in a heart that's soft.

And He puts in a heart that is responsive. He puts in a heart that He can shape. And that He can mold. He puts in a heart that He can use. In other words, a stony heart.

Folks, it's dead. It is dead. It is cold. And God takes something that is dead and cold. And puts life into it. Just like He does for a lost soul.

When He saves any lost soul on the planet. He takes a soul that is dead. And there are trespasses and sin. And He puts life into that soul. And they go on for the Lord.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He took out my stony heart. And He put in a heart of flesh. And when that happens, folks. I ain't been the same since. Nor will I be. Nor will I be.

God completely transforms us. Verse 27. And I will put My Spirit within you. And cause you to walk in My statutes. And you shall keep My judgments.

And do them. Cause you to walk in My statutes. Again, folks. This is God. This is God. You cannot walk in the statutes of God.

You cannot keep the judgments of God. You cannot do the commandments of God on your own. There is a world full of moral people out there right now. That do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

I will give that much. There is a world of people out there that are lost. That can't stand lying. That can't stand stealing. They've never murdered. They've never committed adultery. They've never done many of the things that we find in Scripture.

But they still don't have Christ. That does not make them whole. Read this verse again. Verse 27. I will put My Spirit within you. Within you, folks.

In the Old Testament. The Spirit of God. Yes, it was there. Yes, He was active. Yes, He went here and there. He went to different people.

Went to different places. He done all of these things. Yes. But the indwelling of the Spirit of God had not taken place just yet. God says, there is coming a time.

There is coming a time when I will put My Spirit within you. And when I put My Spirit within you, you shall keep My judgments.

You shall do them. You shall do My commandments. You shall walk in My statutes. You shall do all of these things. But folks, it is impossible to do these things outside of Almighty God.

Again, we can go through life and not commit certain sins. That doesn't save us though. That doesn't save us. But folks, it gives us boldness to do this.

What God is saying here gives us boldness to walk in His statutes. It gives us boldness to keep His commands. It gives us boldness to do His commands.

It gives us boldness to do all. You take Peter. Take Peter over in the book of Acts, for instance. In fact, right here, he's talking about a time when he would put his Spirit within his people.

Inside of his people. Hey, the outpouring of the Spirit happened in Acts 2. And Peter, a man that had denied Christ three times. He had denied Christ to a little servant girl.

The same Peter was bold enough to stand up and preach Jesus Christ and His Gospel to thousands of people. Hallelujah. And it was only because the Spirit had been poured out and was indwelling at that point that Peter was able to do so.

You say, I can't go out and just talk to people about Jesus. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Read the verse again. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.

And ye shall keep my judgments and do them. Ye shall do these things. Hey, it's said in the Old Testament and it's reiterated in the New Testament.

That God's people shall not be ashamed of Him. Shall not. Not may not. Not not not. They shall not. They shall not be ashamed.

Yes, you can talk to people. Yes, you can tell people about Jesus. I praise God. I praise God for the people He sent my way to tell me about the Gospel. I praise God for the people He sent my way to tell me about Christ.

To tell me about goodness. To tell me about mercy. To tell me about salvation. Because if God had not sent my way to tell you about the Bible. Because if God had not sent those people my way. Those people that were keeping His commandments.

Those people that were following the Great Commission. Those people that were keeping His judgments and His statutes and doing them. If God had not sent them my way. Where would I be now?

I'm not saying those people saved me. I'm saved by grace alone. Through faith alone. In Christ alone. For the Scripture alone. To the glory of God alone. That's why I'm saved.

Not those people. But God sent people my way. And I praise God for that. And I praise God for their boldness. And I praise God for them. Keeping the statutes.

And the judgments. And keeping the commands. Of Almighty God. And God helped me to do the same. God helped me to not be embarrassed. To bring up Jesus Christ.

While I'm standing in line at Food City. God helped me to be brave. And to have boldness. To hand somebody a gospel tract. That I think just isn't going to take it.

God helped me to knock on doors. When I don't think anybody is going to answer. Or when they might answer. They might do so in hostility. God give me boldness to do these things.

God give you boldness to do these things. Verse 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave you your fathers. And ye shall be my people. And I will be your God.

This is the core of the entire passage. This is the core. This is actually the heart of everything that God is doing. Not the first half of this verse.

But the second part of the verse. It says, and ye shall be my people. And I will be your God. He says, ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers.

Now folks, this is a Jewish man that is writing prophecy to a Jewish people. And I understand that. I get that. It was relevant to them. But folks, it is relevant to us as the New Testament church as well.

That we will dwell in a land that God has promised to everyone that repents of their sin. And believes on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are going to a land.

We are going to a city that has been promised by Almighty God. That we are to dwell with Him forever. And He will be our God. And we shall be His people.

Hallelujah. This looks beyond. This looks beyond the immediacy. The immediate context. It looks forward into the future. Where we will be with God.

And He will be our God. And we will be His people. We are going to a land. Where John the Revelator in Revelation 21-22. He said, and I saw no temple therein.

For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. There is no need for geography in that city that we are going to. There is no need for a temple in that city that we are going to.

Because everywhere that we go, God's presence will be right there with us. We will be able to worship Him no matter where in that city we are. Because God will be there. He is the temple of it.

He is the light of it. He is the founder of it. He is the promiser of it to all who believe. Hallelujah. God says, you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your Father.

And ye shall be My people. That's the core of everything God is doing. He is restoring. He is restoring people to Himself.

And He is bringing people in to Himself. Not just restoring the Jewish people here. But bringing others in as well. You take Ruth, for example. You take Ruth, a Moabite woman.

A woman that was outside of the covenant. A woman that didn't know anything about the covenant. Didn't know anything about the laws of Almighty God. She was a Moabitess. And God brought her in.

And she is in the very lineage of Jesus Christ Himself. God brought a Gentile into that. Before that. My goodness. Before that. You take Rahab, for instance.

You take Rahab over in Joshua 2. Starting around verse 9 or so. After the spies have come in. She's hit them up on a rooftop. They come looking for the spies. She sent them out another way.

She come up to the spies on the rooftop. She said, we've heard what God has done for you. We have heard what God has done. We heard that He parted the Red Sea for Israel. We know what you've done with the kings of the Emirates.

On the other side of Jordan. We know that God has given you this land. Hallelujah. God has brought other people in. God saved Rahab. Rahab.

What does Scripture call her? Rahab the harlot. Not only was she a Gentile. Not only was she from Jericho. Someone outside of the covenant. But she was a harlot.

God saved her soul. God redeemed her. He is bringing people in. And that is the whole point of everything God is doing. Not that God is trying to do.

God tries to do nothing. God accomplishes everything that He sets out to do. There is no trying with Him. God has set out to bring a people unto Him.

It is God's desire to have a people that call Him God. And that He calls His own people. His own period. Hallelujah. And I'm glad I'm in that number.

I'm glad I'm in that number. Verse 29. I will also save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the corn. And will increase it.

And lay no famine upon you. Folks, God here says, I will also save you from all your uncleanness. He done brought that up once. A few verses before this.

We read about it. He said He was going to sprinkle clean water upon them. And that would wash them. That would clean them. But here He says, I will save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the corn.

And will increase it. And lay no famine upon you. Folks, this tells me that the salvation of Almighty God is not just spiritual. But it is also providential.

The salvation of God completely goes around. The 360. He leaves nothing out. If God has saved you, God will also sustain you.

God is absolutely sovereign in everything. You take the Lord's Prayer for instance. When Jesus is teaching the disciples how to pray over in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6 when He gets to that line that every one of us in here had prayed at some point.

Give us this day our daily bread. Folks, we are recognizing the fact in that one statement that Almighty God has all the provision. Almighty God has all the sustenance.

And if we want to be sustained, if we want to be provided for, we must depend on God to do it. Amen. Give us this day our daily bread.

God, You've got it. Give it to Me. But not only the physical bread. Folks, over in John chapter 6, Jesus talks about the bread.

The bread from heaven. But He also refers to Himself as the bread of life. He does not just give physical bread. He gives spiritual bread as well. He will give us what we need in our spiritual walks with Him to sustain us along the way.

He will put His Spirit in us. We just read that a couple of verses ago. And if He puts His Spirit in us, it empowers us to do what God would have us to do.

God provides for us all around. But so often, so often, we only focus on the physical. We only focus on the physical, not the spiritual.

God provides for us in that realm as well. He is the ultimate provider. I will also save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you.

God says, I will sustain you and I will not starve you. I will not starve you. I will lay no famine upon you. Verse 30, And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, and ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

God says, I'm going to make the increase so obvious. And I'm going to make it so much that the nations, speaking to Israel here, that the nations around you, they will no longer reproach you.

You will no longer be a byword to them. They will recognize that your God has provided for you. And folks, it is the same way with us as Christians.

When the world sees, when the world sees what God has done in our lives, as far as salvation is concerned, as far as provision is concerned, when the world sees that, it is impossible to deny that it came by supernatural means.

They can deny it all if they want to, just like I used to. They can deny it, but somewhere down deep in their heart, somewhere in the back of their mind, they know that it was something other than coincidence. They know that it was something other than happenstance.

They know that there was an outside force of some kind working in this life of this individual, working in the life of a family, working in the life of someone.

They know that. God says, I will make this increase so substantial, so substantial that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

What was exactly a reproach of famine? Folks, famine was a sign of judgment from God. It's exactly what it was. Again, we can go back to Ruth.

Ruth, or Naomi, and Elimelech. Why did they leave Bethlehem? Bethlehem means house of bread. Why would they have left a place that means house of bread? Because there was a famine.

Where did they go? They went to an outside country. They went to Moab. Why? Because there was food there and there was none in Bethlehem. But folks, that shows the need.

God, just a little while later, you read where Naomi heard, there was bread at home. There was bread at home. There was bread in Bethel. There was bread in Bethlehem.

And that's when she starts making her way back. And that's when Ruth and Orpah, they start to go with her. She tells them to go back. Orpah goes her way. But the Bible says, Ruth claimed to her.

Praise God, we could continue with that. Ruth claimed to her. And what did she say? Ruth said, whether you go, I will goest. Whether you lodge, I will lodgeest.

Your people shall be my people. What did we read just a few verses ago? Your people shall be my people. And your God, my God. And where thou diest, I will die also.

Your people shall be my people. And your God, my God. Naomi was being a lost of some kind. It may have been dim. It may have been a flicker. It may have just barely been able to have been seen.

But there was a woman named Ruth that seen that light. There was a woman named Ruth that had been empowered by God to be a testimony of His goodness. To be a testimony of His goodness.

But a reproach of famine. You read Deuteronomy 28 sometime, your own time. There's 68 verses in that chapter.

68 verses. The first 14 verses of Deuteronomy chapter 28 are all about you do these things, Israel, and you will be blessed.

The remaining verses from verse 15 through verse 68 are all about the curses if they don't do what God said.

14 verses talking about blessing. All the rest of them talking about cursing. And many of the curses had to do with famine, had to do with drought, and had to do with reproach from outside nations.

And God here is saying, 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.

They will not be able to look at you anymore. Folks, that is what prompted God to tell them this through the man Ezekiel here. You read in the preceding verses in this same chapter, the outside nations were pretty much rendering God powerless because Israel was in exile.

Israel was being spiritually starved and it appeared that there was no help coming from them. So the outside nations were reproaching them.

They had become a reproach to everyone. And God says, I'm going to increase the corn, the bread, the provision, the sustenance, so much. So much that the world will not be able to deny what I have done for you.

And God increases yours and my provision so much. I'm not talking about He gives you a 10,000 square foot house. I'm not talking about you've got Jaguars and Mercedes parked in your driveway.

I'm not talking about four or five yachts. And I'm not talking about any of those things. But God provides salvation. And God provides a way of salvation in Jesus Christ.

God provides a way to walk with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. When the world sees that, they cannot deny where it came from.

The question is, are you showing the world? Are you showing the world? Or are you cowering? Verse 31, Then shall you remember your own evil ways.

My goodness. What a line. It begins with then. What have we been talking about here? From verse 24 on, what have we been talking about?

We've been talking about how God is going to bless the Israelites. How He's going to bring them into the land that was promised to their fathers. How He will cleanse them. How He will put the Spirit of God within them.

How He will increase their corn. Then He says, then, in the middle of this blessing, you will look back on how you were.

how you were. How you were. Past tense. Remember, everything that we read up here, I shall. I shall.

I will do this thing. God had not done it just yet. But when I do, and the nations can no longer reproach you, and the world cannot deny that it came from me, when I do, you think back on what you were.

You think back on who you were. You think back on your idolatry. You think back on your idolatry. You think back on your lying, and your thieving, and your murders, and everything else.

And you remember where I brought you from. I'm not telling you to wallow in your past sin. I preached here not too awful long ago. Not to beat yourself up.

Not to tear yourself to pieces about sin that God forgave decades ago. Or that He forgave last year for that matter. Or weeks ago. Whatever the case of it is.

Don't live in that. Don't you forget it though. Don't you forget who you were. And don't go to God begging that He forgives you again. Folks, when we are saved, when we are regenerated, when we are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that our iniquities are remembered no more.

They are cast into the sea. They are thrown as far as the east is from the west. Hallelujah! God does not remember those. God does not remember that.

But He commands here. He commands the Jews. Then shall you remember your own evil ways. Remember how you were.

Why is He telling them this? So that they don't boast. So that they have no room. God is stripping away every bit of ground that they thought that they might be able to stand on.

To say, Look what I have done. Look how I earned favor with God. Look how I impressed God. God wants them to remember how they were.

And remember that He is the one that sought them out. That He is the one that brought them into the land. That He is the one that made the promise to Abram way back in the book of Genesis.

He is the one that made the covenant. He is the one that put the gears in motion. He is the one that started it all. You go back to Genesis 12 and read it again in Genesis 15 and read it again in Genesis 17.

God has given that covenant to Abraham. You read in Exodus 6 where God has been speaking to Moses saying, Go into Egypt.

Go into Egypt. Get My people. You tell Pharaoh to let My people go. You go. You go and I will be with you. What does Moses do? He tries his best to get out of it. Lord, I stutter.

I don't talk plain. This and that. God says, That's fine. I'll send Aaron with you. But you're still going. Folks, God does not want you to forget where you came from.

But again, don't wallow in that sin. Don't drown yourself in it. But you remember, you were nothing more than a depraved, wretched sinner that was rebellious against God and God came to where you were.

Hey folks, He stepped into the middle of exile right here in this Scripture that we are talking about now. He stepped into the middle of exile with you because you were outside of the family of God.

You were outside of the covenant of God. You were outside of the grace of God. But He brought every bit of that to you. Hallelujah. And He done it all through Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus Christ. And no other name. Verse 32, Not for your sakes do I this. Stern words. It's not for you that I do this.

And let me tell you now, dear Christian, God didn't save you for you. He didn't save you for your benefit. He didn't save you because you deserved it.

Folks, man's worthiness is not what brings the grace of God. And I thank God that that's the way that it is. That it is not my worthiness.

Otherwise, I would still be lost. Your worthiness, your works, your merit, your deeds, anything that you do does not merit the grace of God.

You think about Luke chapter 18 when the publican and the Pharisee were standing there in the temple and the Pharisee says, Lord, I thank Thee that I'm not like other men, especially this publican over here.

What did the publican do? He said that he wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes toward the heaven. But he smote his breath. And he said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. He understood where he was.

He understood that he was undeserving of the grace of God. But he threw himself on the mercy of God. And Jesus said Himself that that man, the publican, went home justified.

I don't read anything about the Pharisee being justified. He was standing there in pride. Not for your sakes do I this. God saves us for His own glory.

And that is the sole purpose of redeeming us. It's to bring a people unto God for His glory. To reconcile fallen man back to Him for His glory.

Are you glorifying God with your life? Are you glorifying God with your speech? Do you glorify God with your actions? Because that's why He saved you. He saved you for His glory.

And that is the sole reason that we are redeemed. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God. Be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways.

Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Folks, you and I, even now, as born-again Christians, we should be ashamed and confounded for our own ways.

But not for the ways of God. God has given in these verses that we covered here in verses 24-32, God has given His way.

He has shown His way. And His way is by Him. And it is for Him. It is His way or no way as far as salvation is concerned.

You will never, ever, ever, ever work your way into heaven. You will never, ever, ever beg your way into heaven. It will take God taking the stony heart out of your flesh and placing in its place a heart of flesh.

It will take God to do that. The Bible speaks about the circumcision of the heart. Man is incapable of doing that on his own. It takes God to do that. It takes God to replace your stony heart with a heart of flesh.

It took God in Acts chapter 16 to open up Lydia's heart. Praise God. That's a whole other sermon in itself. I don't even know where that came from.

Lydia was the first European convert. Read Acts chapter 16 sometime. As far as the scriptural account goes. But it took God to open her heart.

She was incapable of opening it on her own. You were incapable of doing so. You are saved because God acted. You are saved because God done the very things that we found in verse 24 and 25 with you.

Yes, this was to Israel. It was to a bunch of Jewish people. But folks, it fast forwards to the New Testament salvation that we find in Jesus Christ.

When the Bible says here, for I will take you from among the heathen, gather you out of all countries, bring you into your own land, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and will I cleanse you.

God done the exact same things for you and I. And the same God, the same God that told the Jews that He would do this for them, is the same God that saves by the way of Jesus Christ now.

The question is, do you still have a stony heart? If so, run to Jesus. If so, run to the cross. If so, run to the One that says, I will cleanse you.

I will make you whole. I will make you pure. I will make you righteous. I will make you holy in the eyes of Almighty God. Because it is only through Christ that we can stand before God.

God bless you all. That's this evening's message. I appreciate y'all's attention.