The holiness and love of God meet in His gracious work of restoration

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Sunday,
February 28, 2010

The holiness and love of God meet in His gracious work of restoration

God’s plan throughout all the ages is that He might be glorified by the grace that He dispenses to undeserving creatures.

“Superabundant Grace” by Kenneth Wuest

the lost sheep, LUK 15:4-7,
the lost coin, LUK 15:8-10,
the lost sons, LUK 15:11-32.

Why does He recklessly go out and risk it all to rescue this one lost sheep?

Joh 18:9
to fulfill the word which He spoke, " Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one."

Jesus wants the Pharisees and scribes to know the kind of shepherd He and His Father are.

He has a party to celebrate His joy at preserving His integrity!

This is exactly what the Pharisees and the scribes should have learned from David, Psa 23:3, Psa 25:7-11.

Psa 23:3
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

This is exactly what the Pharisees and scribes should have realized from Isaiah,
Isa 37:35, 43:25, 48:8-11.

Isa 43:25
"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

The Pharisees and scribes were blind to Ezekiel, Eze 20:9, 20:21-22, 20:25-26, 20:35-44, 36:22-38.

Ezekiel combines (1) the fact of the Lord acting for His name’s sake with (2) the imagery of the shepherd and the sheep.
And the whole context is (3) the rebellious history of Israel and its leaders.

The Lord is doing all the work here in Ezekiel 36!

There is not one word here about anything that the Jewish people do.