WHEN THE LORD PASSES BY

Ezekiel 16:6 (KJV)

6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

We find in our text Ezekiel as God's messenger to the Nation of Israel. And when you come to chapter 16 and you look from verse 1 down to verse 14 he is dealing with the birth of the nation of Israle.

He is dealing where God found them and where He brought them from.

And in verse 15 through 63 he deals with the backsliding of that same nation. He deals with how they went away from God and how they forgot God and how they turned to their idols.

But in verse 6 the people were in a mess when the Lord passes by and can I tell you things happen when the Lord passes by.

As you look at this there are great pictures of the grace of God to be found in the OT.

2 Sam. 9 Miphoboseth down in lodbar brought and put at the kings table.

In luke the prodigal son in the pig pen came to his senses and came back to Father's house. What grace was shown to this boy.

Or the man tha feel among thieves going from Jerusalem to Jericho and left half dead and the Samaratian poured oil in his wounds and bandaged him up what grace is seen in that act.

I. Reason/Operation of Grace:

But I want to go back and look at verse 3 and here is a reason for grace to operate and go into action:

Ezekiel 16:3 (KJV)

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

Ezekiel 16:4-5 (KJV)

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

This was the awful condition God found the nation Israel in but there is a more personal picture here also. It is also the awful condition God Found me in.

Ezekiel 16:4-5 (KJV)

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

Thy navel was not cut-Here you see this little baby its navel has not been cut. it is the picture of an aborted baby.

Mamma doesn't want it and daddy doesn't want it. Mamma says its looks like a Amorite and daddy says no it looks like an Hittite we don't want it. so they cast it out into that field and the cord is uncut.

Man I can remember when I was attached to this world I couldn't cut myself loose and tried many things but to no avail.

neither wast thou washed in water the baby is unclean. If you have ever seen a baby just born they are a mess. bloody and nasty until they are cleaned up.

So there lays that baby out in that field, unclean, unwanted, diseased, dying. O if we could remember how dirty we was when God found us:

nor swaddled at all. the baby was unclothed, no clothes on it. can you imagine the vultures flying above waiting to drop on that child. I believe this baby was dead.

Remember when we felt so naked...when the Holy Ghost would move and we would try and hid because we were ashamed and guilty. didn't want to be seen in the shape we were in.

5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

None eye pitied thee-nobody had oity on this little baby. It was unwanted, unclaimed, a baby no mother would wanted anything to do with it. Unclean, unclaimed, unwanted. Leave it alone its dead...leave them alone.

Many people wanted to leave me alone...he is a drunk, filthy, unclean, guilty, dead in my trespasses and sin.

There is the baby all alone, unclean, unwanted, unclaimed, laying out in the field of sin.

Jesus said the field was the world and that is where we were laying in the field of sin all alone.

to the lothing of thy person, that means undesirable. I am glad some of you never knew me before I got saved. I was undesirable.

There was something repulsive about this baby.

to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

But this baby couldn't help itself. It was out in the field unclothed, unwanted, unloved. there it is out in that field and could not get to God.

IT was helpless, hopeless and homeless. No one had pity on this baby. it was not looking for the Lord.

what a pitiful condition somebody ought to do something. But praise be to God who did do something.\

There was the reason or operation of Grace but now we have the

II. Resource/Origination of Grace:

Ezekiel 16:6 (KJV)

6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

There is the little baby all alone helpless, hopeless, homeless but God took notice of that baby.

I glad God took notice of me one day.

And when I - there is the pursuer, the one that took the initative and when I.

Pursue means to follow in order to overtake.

I am glad God came looking for me I could not get to Him. The clay does not go get the potter.

passed by-provision I am glad that Friday night He passed by Mike & Cheryl Moore. He don't have to save us. He don't have to come where we are at.

LK. 10 the priest said there is no hope

the levite said religion cant help you

but the samaratian came to where he was.

Thee-Pursued there is the one he is after.

If this ever dawns on us what He did for us we will forever be indebted.

the Potter looks for the clay, the shepherd looks for the sheep.

polluted-Place condition dirty, disgraced,

live-power of Grace polluted in thine own blood. Religion can't do this for you. This baby was a type of Israel.

III. The Response/Outcome of Grace

Ezekiel 16:8 (KJV)

8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

He told that baby to live and He wasn't about to leave it then.

I passed by-condensition

time of love-compassion

spread my skirt over thee-claiming

Ruth and Boaz...at his feet telling him that he was her kinsman and for him to spread his skirt over her.

I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness

He clothed this baby with the righteousness of the Lord.

I am telling you if you really understood where He found you and what He is trying to do with you in cleaning you from your filtiness we wouldn't fight against being clean