Father, we thank you for your love for
us, that you've called us, Lord, to be
the bride of Christ, and that you have
decked us, Lord, with all kinds of beautiful
gifts as you, Lord, draw us unto yourself
and as you take away the ugliness of
our own flesh and you give to us,
Lord, your beauty.
Lord, crown our lives with your beauty, we
pray.
Mold and shape us, Lord, into your image,
until, Lord, your beauty is seen in us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
The 16th chapter of Ezekiel is a rather
long chapter, and so we will be taking
just two chapters tonight, Ezekiel 16 and 17.
Looking forward to the exposition that Pastor Skip
will bring to us.
He is just a wonderful expounder of God's
Word, and if you haven't been out yet
on Sunday night, you owe it to yourself
to come and to enjoy the teaching that
we have on Sunday night with Pastor Skip.
This morning I'd like to draw your attention
to the 16th chapter in verses 13 and
14, as God speaks of how he had
taken Israel and worked in her, and he
said, you were decked with gold and silver,
your raiment was of fine linen and silk
embroidered work, and you did eat fine flour
and honey and oil, and you were exceedingly
beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom,
and your renown went forth among the heathen
for your beauty, for it was perfect through
my comeliness which I have put upon thee,
saith the Lord God.
Here in Ezekiel chapter 16, the first part,
God is speaking in an allegory concerning Israel,
and he describes her like a newborn babe
that was just cast aside in the wilderness.
The cord was still attached.
It had not been washed or salted or
swaddled.
It was still covered with blood.
Someone had just left the baby there to
die.
God said, when I passed by thee, and
I saw you polluted in your own blood,
I said unto you, live, and when you
were polluted in your own blood, I said
unto you, live.
And then in that early part of the
chapter, it tells how that God watched over
this infant as it grew, until it became
very beautiful, and how that God gave to
Israel the land and many wonderful gifts, until
the beauty was so marvelous that the renown
or the fame spread throughout all the earth.
Then God took her as his bride, and
he tells us how he lavished his love
upon her, giving her many expensive gifts.
God speaks of how she had become famous
among the nations because of her beauty.
The Bible tells us that during the reign
of Solomon, that the fame of Solomon and
his kingdom spread throughout all the earth.
And when the queen of Sheba had heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name
of the Lord, she came to prove him
with hard questions.
She came to Jerusalem with a very great
entourage, with camels that bore spices, with much
gold and precious stones.
And when she was come to Solomon, she
communed with him all that was in her
heart.
And Solomon told her all of her questions.
There was not anything hid from the king,
which he did not tell her.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen
all of Solomon's wisdom, and the house, the
palace that he had built, the meat of
his table, and just an interesting sidelight here
in First Kings chapter four, it tells us
that the daily provision of meat for Solomon's
table was 10 prime beef, 30 beef of
commercial grade, plus 100 sheep, plus the fallow
deer, the heart, plus the many fowl.
One day, every day, she saw the meat
of his table, and she was overwhelmed.
The sitting of his servants, the attendance of
his servants, their apparel, his cupbearers, and the
way he ascended and went up to the
house of the Lord.
And there was no more spirit in her.
She said to the king, it was a
true report that I heard in my own
land of your acts and of your wisdom.
However, I did not believe the words until
I came.
And now my eyes have seen it and
behold, the half was not told me.
Your wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which
I heard.
Blessed be Jehovah your God, which delighted in
you to set you over the throne of
Israel, because Jehovah loved Israel forever.
Therefore, he made you king to do judgment
and justice.
And she gave the king 120 talents of
gold.
She gave spices, a very great store, precious
stones.
And there came no more such abundance of
spices as these, which the queen of Sheba
gave unto Solomon.
Your beauty, God said, will be known.
It will be renowned throughout the world, the
glory of the kingdom.
And so it was.
We were told in second Chronicles 26, concerning
the reign of Uzziah, the king, that the
Ammonites brought gifts to Uzziah and his name
spread abroad to the entering in of Egypt
for he strengthened himself exceedingly.
And he made in Jerusalem engines invented by
cunning men to be on the towers and
on the bulwarks to shoot arrows and great
stones with all.
And his name spread far abroad for he
was marvelously helped until he was strong.
Notice that the passages speak twice of his
name was spread far abroad.
The fame of what God had done for
Israel was known throughout the ancient world.
It was known the nation for its beauty
and for its prosperity.
You see, God wanted Israel to be a
showcase to the world.
He wanted the world to see how God
would bless any people, any nation who would
make Jehovah their God, who would keep his
laws and his commandments.
And he was really wanting to show off
his bride, all that he had done for
his willingness to do this for other nations
who would just submit to him.
For as the scripture said, righteousness exalts a
nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people.
It's God's desire for you.
He wants to do for you what he
has done for Israel.
He wants to make your life beautiful.
Isaiah prophesied concerning the Messiah.
He declared he would give them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for their morning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness, that they might be called the trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified.
God is able to take some of the
ugliest experiences in our lives and bring beauty
out of them.
I think of the story of Joseph in
the Bible, the ugliness of his brother's jealousy
and hatred of him.
We read how that they would make fun
of him.
It must have been tough having 10 older
brothers who all hated you.
And when they found him out in the
field, they said, let's kill him.
And so they threw him into a pit
and intended to leave him there and let
him starve to death.
But they saw a caravan going to Egypt
and they let on another idea.
Let's sell him.
We might as well get something for him.
So they pulled him out of the pit
and they sold him to these traders that
were heading towards Egypt.
And as he was going away, bound and
on his way to Egypt to be sold
as a slave, he was crying.
He couldn't believe that his brothers were doing
this.
He was pleading with them.
Don't do this to me.
And the ugliness of that scene being betrayed
by his own brothers.
They then took his coat, the coat that
his father had given him.
They killed one of the little lambs and
they sprinkled the blood on the coat.
And they took the coat back to his
father, Jacob.
And they said, we found this coat in
the wilderness.
Do you recognize it?
And Jacob said, it's the coat of Joseph,
my son.
And he assumed that he had been destroyed
by some wild beast.
And we see him mourning and grieving over
the loss of Joseph.
What an ugly picture, these boys and the
evil that they conjured up against their father
and their younger brother.
When Joseph came to Egypt and was sold
as a slave, he was sold to a
man by the name of Potiphar.
And Joseph proved to be so honorable, so
honest, that Potiphar put everything into Joseph's hand.
And Joseph had rule over the house.
Potiphar didn't know what he had in the
bank.
He allowed Joseph just to take care of
everything.
But then the ugliness, as Potiphar's wife became
infatuated with Joseph, tried to lure him into
her bedchamber.
And as he continually refused her advances, how
that one day she grabbed him by the
coat and was going to force her intentions
upon him.
But he freed himself, leaving his cloak in
her hand, went running out of the house.
And then she began to scream, rape, rape.
And said, this Hebrew attempted to rape me.
Joseph was placed there in prison in Egypt,
far away from home.
There on false charges.
No hope.
No one to speak up for him.
But again in prison, he showed himself honorable.
He became one of the chief trustees of
the prison.
The king's butler was put in prison.
And one night he had a dream.
And in the morning, as he was looking
very troubled, Joseph said, what's your problem?
He said, oh, I had this dream.
I don't know what it means.
And as he explained the dream to Joseph,
Joseph said, well, that's good.
It means that in three days, you're going
to be restored to your position as the
butler for the king.
And you'll be bringing his wine cup to
him again.
When the king restores you, would you mind
mentioning me and tell him of the dilemma
and the problem that I have?
I'm here on false charges.
And so the butler in three days was
released, went back to work for the pharaoh.
But he forgot Joseph.
And Joseph continued to languish there in the
prison in Egypt.
What a tragedy, what an ugly scene in
the life of Joseph.
But then the pharaoh had a dream.
And none of his counselors could interpret the
dream for him.
And then the butler said, oh, I remember
there's a guy in prison.
I promised I would talk to you for
him.
He can tell dreams.
The baker and I both had dreams and
he he told our dreams and it came
to pass just like he said, he can
interpret your dream for you.
And so Joseph was called to the pharaoh.
As the pharaoh explained the dream, Joseph said,
your dream is of the future.
God is showing you that there is going
to be seven years of abundance, bumper crops,
but they will be followed by seven years
of famine.
And the famine will be so bad it
will eat up all of the provisions, the
surplus of the seven years.
So he said, I recommend that you get
a person to oversee the building of barns
and granaries.
And during the seven years of plenty that
you'll gather the surplus and keep them in
these barns so that when the lean years
come, you will be able to supply the
people with grain.
The pharaoh said, there is none in the
kingdom who is wiser than you.
You were the one that was able to
tell me my dream.
And so he said, I make you second
in command over all of Egypt.
Everybody must do what you say to do
with the exception of me.
And he placed Joseph over the developing of
the barns and granaries to gather during the
seven prosperous years.
God was actually preparing for the survival of
Jacob and his family because they too would
suffer as a result of the seven years
of famine drought.
And so ultimately Joseph's brothers had to come
to Egypt to buy grain.
And ultimately there was that beautiful reunion of
Jacob and Joseph there in Egypt as Jacob
was able to see how God had prospered
and blessed his son, Joseph, making him second
over the land.
God took the ashes.
He made something beautiful out of it.
You say, well, couldn't God have done it
some other way?
Well, I suppose he could.
You say, then why didn't he do it?
I don't know why God does what he
does, but I do know that God can
bring beautiful beauty out of ashes, out of
bitter experiences, out of disappointing experiences.
I can remember years ago when we were
pastoring in a very small church that just
with all of our efforts, we couldn't seem
to make it grow and how I'd become
more or less burned out in the ministry.
We were struggling.
And one of the major market chains was
offering me the opportunity to go into market
management if I would forget the idea of
being a minister.
And I was just about ready to accept
the offer from the major market chain.
We did leave the ministry for a short
time, but then as we were waiting upon
the Lord, the Lord opened another church to
us.
And God used the breaking that I had
in that small little church to teach me
important lessons.
And as we went to this new church
and as God began to alter and change
my ministry into a teaching ministry, God began
to bless the church and it began to
grow.
And it was beautiful to see what God
was doing in the lives of the people
in that church.
And until this day, God continues to just
bring the beauty out of those ashes where
I was burned out as far as the
ministry was concerned.
I'd come to the end and just had
accepted the failure of ministry for my own
personal life, but oh, the beauty that God
has brought and continues to bring.
We used to sing, beautiful, beautiful.
Jesus is beautiful.
And Jesus makes beautiful the things of my
life, tenderly touching me, causing my eyes to
see.
For Jesus makes beautiful the things of my
life.
As I understand the scriptures, God has given
to us the Holy Spirit to work in
us that he might bring through us the
beauty of Jesus Christ.
Paul writing to the Corinthians said, and we
with unveiled faces, as we behold the glory
of the Lord, we're being changed from glory
to glory into the same image by his
spirit in us.
The spirit working in our lives today, rooting
out those things of self and bringing into
our lives the characteristics and the nature of
Jesus.
As the Lord said concerning Israel, for your
beauty, it was perfect through my beauty, which
I have put upon thee, saith the Lord.
He wants to put his beauty into your
life.
He wants you to be beautiful as he
is beautiful.
The Psalm that we read this morning was
actually a prophecy, a prophecy of the church
beginning with verse seven.
You love righteousness.
You hate wickedness.
Therefore, God, thy God has anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above your companions.
All of your garments smell of myrrh and
aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces
whereby they have made thee glad.
King's daughters were among the honorable women that
your right hand did stand the queen in
the gold of Ophir.
Harken, O daughter, and consider.
Incline your ear.
Forget also your own people in your father's
house, and so shall the king greatly desire
your beauty, for he is your Lord.
Worship him, and the daughter of Tyre shall
come with the gift.
Even the rich among the people shall entreat
your favor.
The king's daughter is all glorious within.
Her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the king in
raiment of needlework.
The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall
be brought unto thee.
And with gladness and rejoicing shall they be
brought, and they shall enter into the king's
palace.
And instead of thy fathers shall be thy
children, whom you may make princes in all
the earth."
We today are being prepared by the Spirit
to be the bride of Jesus Christ, clothing
us with the righteousness of Christ, bestowing upon
us the gifts of the Spirit, grooming us
to one day stand before our Lord, holy,
righteous, and complete in him.
One day soon, I expect to hear the
call, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, and Jesus will
come for his church, his bride.
In Revelation 19, John describes a beautiful scene
he sees in heaven.
He tells us that the twenty-four elders
and the four living creatures, they fell down
and worshipped God that sat on the throne.
And they were saying, Amen, hallelujah.
And the voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and you that fear him, both small and
great.
And I heard, as it were, the voice
of a great multitude, and as the voice
of many waters, as the voice of mighty
thunder, it was saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give
honor to him, for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and his wife has made
herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints.
And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are
they which are called to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
And he said unto me, These are the
true sayings of God.
You know, it is so marvelous, it is
just so wonderful, that as John describes it,
as he was watching the bride prepared for
the marriage, the Lord affirmed him after he
had made this revelation, These are the true
sayings of God.
Affirming, this is God's truth.
What?
That you have the privilege of being called
to be the bride of Christ.
That we, as the Church, are the bride
of Christ.
And one day the groom is coming to
get his bride.
And we read that the call went out,
Behold, the bridegroom cometh, and they that were
ready went in.
Blessed are they that are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
The Holy Spirit is working in my life,
in your life today, to make us beautiful,
so that he can one day present us
to the Son as the beautiful bride.
When the Holy Spirit is finished in my
life and in your life, we will be
like him.
David said, And I shall be satisfied when
I awake in your likeness.
And one day I'm going to awaken his
likeness.
As John said, Beloved, now are we the
sons of God.
It doesn't yet appear what we're going to
be, but we know that when he appears,
we will be like him, for we will
see him as he is.
That is the purpose of the work of
God in our lives today.
It isn't easy to give up the things
of the flesh.
We become quite attached to them.
And when the Lord takes these things from
us, sometimes it causes us to be a
little resentful.
We don't like it when the Lord convicts
us of those areas of the flesh that
are really ugly, and he wants to get
rid of them, that we might be formed
into the image of Jesus Christ.
But it is so important that we remain
yielded, surrendered, so that he can work in
us freely, not resist that which he is
seeking to do in our lives.
And some of the experiences that we have
are hard.
They're difficult.
I would shy from them.
I would run from them.
But yet they are all a part of
God's plan and purpose, molding you and shaping
you and bringing forth his beauty in you
and through you.
And so may the Lord continue his work
in each of our lives until it is
complete, until we are there formed into the
image of Jesus himself.
Father, we thank you for your love and
for the work of your spirit in our
lives today.
And Lord, we know that your thought and
intent for us is good, that you're working
out eternal purposes in our lives.
So Lord, mold us and shape us after
your will while we are waiting, Lord, yielded
and still.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Shall we stand?
The pastors are down here in the front
to minister to you today who desire that
work of God to be completed in your
life.
It may be that at the present time
you're going through a period of purging.
And it's not easy.
And you just can't see what God is
doing yet.
Even as Joseph went through those experiences where
he couldn't see what God was planning with
a purpose or plan of God.
But ultimately, when the story was complete, you
could see the whole purpose of God.
It was something that was beautiful and wonderful
and used by God for the preservation of
his people.
When the story is over, you look back
and you'll be thankful for all that God
did to rid you of the flesh life
that he might draw you into the walk
and the life of the spirit.
So don't resist God, but just yield yourself
till he has his perfect work and accomplishes
it in your life.
These men are down here to pray for
you today.
Maybe that your life as you look at
it right now looks like it is ashes.
I mean, everything is gone and it's just
nothing left but ashes.
But you know the beautiful thing about Jesus?
He came to give us beauty for our
ashes.
And he can bring beauty out of those
experiences that have devastated your life as you
just yield to him.
He's got a plan.
He's got a purpose for each of us.
It's important that we discover and yield to
that plan.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon
thee and be gracious unto thee and be
gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up the Lord lift up
his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.