A Sincere Gospel Appeal (Ez. 33:11)

Driving home: If I can cease to be God, this word will cease to be a trustworthy word. God himself is so concerned that his people receive this word in its absolute truthfulness that as it were he puts himself out on a limb.

God is saying that the only way His word can fail is if He, the living God, ceases to live, thereby staking His very being on the truthfulness of His word.

He is saying that the only way this word I am about to speak can fail is if I, the living God, cease to live. God is saying, if I can be ungodly. If I, the living God, cease to live. If I, the living God, cease to live.

4:29 - 4:50 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If I can cease to be God, this word will cease to be a trustworthy word. God himself is so concerned that his people receive this word in its absolute truthfulness that as it were he puts himself out on a limb.

God puts Himself 'out on a limb,' saying if He can be cut off, then people have warrant to cut themselves off from His word, emphasizing the unthinkable nature of God ceasing to be God.

If I, the living God, cease to live. If I, the living God, can die and cease to be, then what I am saying will cease to be worthy of your trust. If I can cease to be God, this word will cease to be a trustworthy word. God himself is so concerned that his people receive this word in its absolute truthfulness that as it were he puts himself out on a limb.

4:50 - 5:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin emphasizes the absolute truthfulness of God's word, particularly the phrase 'As I live, says the Lord God,' explaining that God stakes His very existence on the truth of…

Ezekiel quotes the 'buzz words' of Israel, like 'Our transgressions and our sins are upon us... How then can we live?', to show their cynical disposition and unbelief despite God's previous words.

Notice the cynical disposition of those to whom those words had previously come. In verse 10 of Ezekiel 33. The very preceding verse. Notice as Ezekiel quotes what was one of the buzz words in Israel.

7:29 - 7:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive God's word as an absolute truth, especially those who have heard the gospel repeatedly throughout their lives.

Martin describes how many in the audience have heard the gospel repeatedly from childhood, through parents dealing with sin biblically and setting forth the way of life in family worship.

And again. And again. From Mommy sitting you on her knee. Or Daddy gathering the family together for family worship.

10:43 - 10:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive God's word as an absolute truth, especially those who have heard the gospel repeatedly throughout their lives.

He extends the example of gospel privileges to the church setting, where many have been reared hearing Christ preached week after week in Sunday school and worship services.

a righteous God, but He is a God who delights to show mercy. And the way of life has been set before you. For many of you, it has been set before you times without number. In the church to which mom and dad have taken you, in the Sunday school class, Sunday morning, Sunday night, you've not been reared in a framework where mom and dad were just doing their religious thing in a horrible context where there was no touching, and no Bible, and no preaching of the Bible, and no earnest seeking to get the Bible into your mind and into your heart.

12:21 - 12:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive God's word as an absolute truth, especially those who have heard the gospel repeatedly throughout their lives.

Martin contrasts the privileged audience with those who live and die never once hearing the name of Jesus or the gospel, highlighting the magnitude of the audience's opportunity.

And yet you sit tonight, still in death, still in the way of death, and it would be perfectly just and right for God to take all of those privileges away that you would never again, until you went to judgment, hear anything of Christ. There are some who live, born and live out their three store and ten, and never once, never once, at mama's knee, in daddy's circle of the family worship, in a Sunday school class, in a place set apart for worship, at a conference like this, never once hear the name of Jesus, let alone hear anything about who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done, and what Jesus says...

13:19 - 14:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He illustrates God's heart through Jesus' weeping over Jerusalem, demonstrating Christ's sorrow over impending judgment despite its certainty. Martin then appeals to the…

Jesus' convulsive weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 19, knowing its impending judgment, illustrates God's heart having no pleasure in the death of the wicked, even when judgment is righteous and certain.

When God says to the prophet Ezekiel, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live, should we not expect that the heart of God would be perfectly mirrored in the incarnate God, the Lord Jesus? And it is. You remember the passage that Pastor Hendricks read tonight? I had not consulted with him.

25:31 - 25:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the posture of the publican, saying, 'O God, be merciful, be propitious to me, the sinner,' believing God's promise of life for those who turn.

The publican's cry, 'O God, be merciful, be propitious to me, the sinner,' is presented as the desired disposition of heart for those seeking God's mercy, leading to justification.

but that he turn from his wicked way and live. Nothing will make the heart of God more glad than to behold in some of you sitting in this place tonight the disposition and the cry of the publican who takes his place in the presence of God and says, O God, be merciful, be propitious to me, the sinner. That's all I own myself to be. And I've come to believe that you're the God who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but who's promised that if the wicked turns he will live. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Jesus said this man went down to his house justified, all of his sins pardon...

29:21 - 30:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the posture of the blind beggar or the thief on the cross, crying out for mercy.

The blind beggar's cry, 'Son of David, have mercy upon me,' and the thief on the cross's plea, 'Lord, remember me,' are given as examples of humble, desperate appeals for Christ's mercy.

Take that posture. Take the posture of that blind beggar that we contemplated the other night. Son of David, have mercy upon me. Take the posture of the thief upon the cross.

30:44 - 30:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He highlights the urgency of God's command through its repetition, 'Turn ye, turn ye,' contrasting human stubbornness with God's majestic mercy and patience. Martin stresses that…

The analogy of parents repeating commands to their children ('How many times do I have to tell you?') is used to highlight God's accommodation to stubborn sinners by repeating His command to turn.

If the living God says once, turn, that should be enough. Kids, how many times have your parents said to you, I want to use the terminology, how many times do I have to tell you? I should only have, I have to tell you once. Some of you have parents say, if I have to tell you twice, that's once too many.

41:33 - 41:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Hear and obey God's gracious command to turn now, before the inescapable command to judgment.

The image of seraphim, cherubim, and innumerable angels straining at the slightest intimation of God's command and springing to do His will is used to contrast with human disobedience and God's patience.

Turn ye. There is an urgency expressed in God's repetition through the voice of the prophet. I can't fathom why God, the living God, before whom all of the entourage of heaven, seraphim and cherubim and innumerable angels as it were, strain at the slightest intimation of his command, and they spring to do his will. And here we are, little worms of the dust, creatures that have to be sustained by stuff that's grown in the ground.

43:07 - 43:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Through the analogy of a man dying of thirst refusing water at an oasis, Martin vividly portrays the irrationality of rejecting God's offer of life. He presses the question, 'Why…

A man lost in a desert, dying of thirst, who comes upon an oasis but refuses to drink, illustrates the perplexity and irrationality of sinners who refuse the water of life offered in the gospel.

Imagine yourself in some place in the world where there are real vast stretches of the kind of deserts that when people get lost in them, they're never found.

49:12 - 49:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He concludes with a powerful exhortation, quoting a hymn that calls sinners to come to Jesus, who stands ready to save. Martin urges listeners to venture wholly on Christ…

Martin quotes the hymn 'Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched' as a closing exhortation, summarizing the gospel appeal to venture wholly on Christ for salvation.

And I pray God you will receive it as my closing exhortation to you. Come ye sinners poor and wretched. Weak and wounded by the fall. Jesus ready stands to save you.

59:46 - 60:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Venture on Christ, venture wholly, letting no other trust intrude, for none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.

Rabbi Duncan's statement, 'There is nothing between me and hell but Christ Jesus. I need nothing more. Nothing less will do,' is quoted to emphasize the sole sufficiency of Christ for salvation.

None but Jesus. None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good. Rabbi Duncan said, There is nothing between me and hell but Christ Jesus. I need nothing more.

61:26 - 61:48 Read in full sermon