Sovereign Grace Church

…we have now received the atonement

(ROMANS 5:11)

I remember, that after my poor heart had wandered from the sweet enjoyment of the Lord, and I had got entangled with some flesh pleasing idols, the LORD brought me feelingly into chapter 16 of Ezekiel, for that chapter contains a solemn figure of the wandering, backsliding heart of a child of God: Almost every sentence of it cut me up, and I said to myself, This is my case. In a spiritual sense, I am this file fornicator, I have acted this base part; whatever becomes of these base characters in the end, I must go with them. But I think I shall never forget the conclusion, for a blessed one it is: “And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the LORD GOD” (EZEKIEL 16:62,63). This, this is matchless grace. Here the LORD shames us out of our sins, and kisses us into obedience.