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These verses were used by the Roman Catholic Church against Luther, Calvin, and the other Reformers. The Catholics said that man has the power within himself to cooperate with God and help bring about his own salvation. They used these verses to prove their point.

This passage was also used by Charles G. Finney to refute the old Baptist and Protestant doctrine that salvation is by God's grace and not by man's decisions. Finney's most famous sermon was based on these verses. It was called, "Sinners Bound to Change Their Own Hearts." Finney said that the old Baptist and Protestant view of man's depravity and salvation by grace alone was false. Finney said, "To speak of the inability of sinners on account of a fallen nature slanders God, so charging Him with infinite tyranny in commanding men to do that which they have no power to do" (C. G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, 1910 edition, p. 323). 

Finney was actually returning to Roman Catholicism's doctrine of salvation when he made these statements. But Finney was wrong and the old Baptists and Protestants were right. And I say that God has a perfect right to give commandments that man, in his fallen state, cannot obey. 

You see, Ezekiel 18:30-31 is law. It is not gospel, but law. That is the way Luther and Calvin understood it, and I for one agree with the Reformers and not with the Catholics or Finney! Ezekiel 18:30-31 thunders the law of Mount Sinai. And it ought to terrify any unsaved person to the very roots of his being! Try, if you will, to obey these verses. Try to "turn yourselves from all your transgressions." Go on, try to do it. Try to "cast away from you all your transgressions." Go on, try to do it. Finney says you can. The Catholics say you can. See if they are right. Try to "make you a new heart and a new spirit." If you think Finney and the Catholics are right, then try to do it! You can't do it! You will stumble and fall. The "decisionists" will tell you to get up and "rededicate" yourself. Ha! How is this different from a Catholic going over and over to confession? How is rededicating yourself over and over different from that? It is no different at all. It is the religion of Cain - the religion of self-salvation. And it's a "damned" lie! Decisionists consider conversion as a very small thing, followed by a life full of a series of apostasies and rededications, back and forth, just like Roman Catholicism. There is no victory in it, no steady life of Christian obedience after conversion. It is Catholic garbage! It's a "damned" lie! 

Ezekiel 18:30-31 is pure law. You ought to do it. You should do it. But you cannot do it! No one can be saved by obeying the law! If you could be saved by obedience to these commandments then there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to die on the Cross to save you. Notice that there is no mention of Christ in these verses, not even a prophecy or a type. No Christ. No Blood. No grace. Only pure law. 

Now, why did God give the law? Finney's influence has become so great, and decisionism so powerful in our day, that men have forgotten why God gave the law. Please turn to Romans 3:20. Let us stand and read that verse aloud.

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

No flesh can be justified by the law. No one can be saved by trying to obey God's commandments. Then why did God give those commandments? To show you that you are a totally depraved sinner, that's why!

"For by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

I care not if all the world goes after Finney and the great whore that sitteth upon seven mountains (Revelation 17:9). I care not if all mankind goes after the decisionism of Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, or anyone else from Finney's den of obsequious scalliwags. I, for my part, will stand with Luther, and Calvin, and Whitefield, and Wesley, and Edwards, and Spurgeon, and Paul!

"By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

"Well," you say, "if I can't cast away all my transgressions, how can I be saved? If I can't make myself a new heart, what hope do I have?" I know not what others may say, but

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' Blood and righteousness, 
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. 
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. 
All other ground is sinking sand. 
      ("The Solid Rock" by Edward Mote, 1797-1874).
 

Sing that chorus with me. 

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, 
All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

Now drop down to Romans 3:23-25.  Read it aloud, ending with the word “blood” in verse 25.  

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…” (Romans 3:23-25).

 You may be seated. 

There you have it, clear and plain.  You are not saved by self-effort.  You are not saved by keeping the law.  You are not saved by making “you a new heart and a new spirit.”  No!  No!  Away with Rome, and Finney, and Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, and decisionism!  Away with man-made religion!  We are 

“…justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.”  

That’s the way to be justified – and that’s the only way!  “All other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.” 

The prophet Ezekiel himself knew this.  God showed it to him.  Ezekiel himself understood that Rome and Finney and the decisionists were wrong.  The prophet would have recognized that Finney’s sermon “Sinners Bound to Change Their Own Hearts” was false.  How do I know that?  Because that’s what Ezekiel said.  Turn to Ezekiel 36:26-27.  Let us stand and read these two verses aloud.  Before we read, notice that this is God speaking.  Ezekiel records what God said.  Now read what God said. 

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

You may be seated.  God does for the sinner what he cannot do for himself.  That’s salvation by grace!   

“Make you a new heart.”   That’s law.  “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”  You can’t be justified by keeping the law.  “A new heart…will I give you.”  That’s grace.  “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  Friend, things that are different are not the same!  Ezekiel 18:30-31 is law.  Ezekiel 36:26-27 is grace.  Things that are different are not the same!  You cannot be saved by keeping the law.  You must be saved by grace through Christ Jesus!  That’s why

“Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3). 

“All other ground is sinking sand.  All other ground is sinking sand.”  Lay yourself flat upon Christ.  Be justified “through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).  “All other ground is sinking sand.  All other ground is sinking sand.”

(END OF SERMON)
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