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Efficacious Grace – Ezekiel 36:22–32

It is always good to remember that salvation is all of grace and that the salvation of every genuine believer should be to the praise of the glory of that grace. There are any number of texts in the Scripture that highlight God’s grace to sinnersÐ both in the Old and New Testaments. Ezekiel 36 is one of those texts and brings us to the heart of Ezekiel’s sal- vation theology. This passage is a comprehensive enunciation of God’s plan of salvation, and very likely was the Scripture Christ had in mind when He spoke to Nicodemus about the new birth and was amazed when the teacher in Israel did not know these things (John 3). No one can come to this text without being confronted with man’s desperate need. Both Ezekiel and Christ make it clear that unless there is a radical transformation of heart there can be no spiritual life. That is an impossible demand if man is left to himself. But the beauty of the gospel is that God does not leave man to himself: He does for sinners what sinners cannot do for themselves. That the same truth is expressed in both Old and New Testaments teaches us that there is a grand unity in God’s dealing with men in salvation. It is an everlasting gospel.

The verses for our consideration draw attention to the source of salvation and to some essential components of sal- vation. The proposition of the passage is clear: God’s grace is successfully effective to save sinners. Ezekiel makes two principal points about this efficacious grace.

SALVATION IS ALL OF GRACE

God’s grace is a glorious truth, but one that is hard for
sinners to grasp. There is something about grace that is unattract-ive to natural man. It makes man terribly small
and makes God incomprehensibly big. Grace is contrary to all natural reasoning since it is freely given to those who do not deserve it indeed, to those who deserve damnation instead. Ezekiel addresses this by focusing first on the source rather than the recipients of grace.

The Lord’s Glory: The Goal of Grace

Salvation surely results in the sinner’s good, but salvation is ultimately about God’s glory. Throughout this passage, the Lord declares that His gracious work is not for their sakes (vv. 22, 32) but for the sake of His own holy name (vv. 22, 23). God’s name refers to the totality of His Person including all of His infinite perfections. Saving grace magnifies the Lord. He was going to act in such a way that even the heathen would “know that I am the LORD” (v. 23). Isaiah declares the same holy motive: “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it…I will not give my glory unto another” (Isa. 48:11). The salvation of sinners is a way by which God sanctifies (sets apart, makes distinct, exalts) His great name (v. 23). The prophet Micah also caught the truth of this with his question, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?” (Mic. 7:18). Similarly, in that Grand Canyon text in Ephesians 1, Paul repeats three times that salvation is all to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). Even though sinners are the beneficiaries of salvation grace, salvation is ultimately about God.

The Lord’s Work: The Means of Grace

God purposes grace, and God always accomplishes His purposes. Grace is not abstract theory; it is a reality that operates through divine initiative. Salvation is not some vague plan that is revealed just for human evaluation or consideration. Man is totally incapable of responding to the gospel message without first being enabled to do so. God makes the first move or there would be and could be no movement to Him. Ezekiel underscores this truth repeatedly in this passage with all the first-person verbs designating what the Lord does (vv. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30). God is the author and finisher of salvation. Salvation, indeed, is of the Lord. Therefore, the sinner’s positive response is the consequence of His gracious work. Reception of grace is evidence of grace. There is an old hymn that sums it nicely: “I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew it was the Lord who sought me, seeking Him.”

That salvation is all of grace has significant implications. First, sinners can never hope to earn salvation. To attempt to work for salvation or even to make a contribution is a denial of grace and an affront to divine glory. This rebukes all pride. Second, sinners need never despair of salvation. If salvation depended on self-merit or works, there would be constant torture in the soul. The nagging doubt as to whether enough had been done or if sufficient merit existed would rob the soul of the peace that the gospel affords. But grace shifts the ground of salvation away from self to God. Grace is greater than sin, and resting in what grace has done leads to the third implication. Sinners saved by grace have cause for joy. The application of grace never fails its purpose. Let us stand in wonder of God’s amazing and wonderful grace.

SALVIFIC GRACE IS EFFICACIOUS

The gospel of saving grace really and truly works. Grace does what is necessary to fit a sinner for heaven. Ezekiel summa- rizes the effectiveness of grace in three ways.

Grace Reconciles Exiled Sinners

Sin separates from God. The first Adam was expelled from Paradise because of his sin, and all the sons of Adam have been exiled and banished ever since. By nature, man is alien- ated from God. If reconciliation is possible, it is because God in Christ has removed the impediments to restored fellow- ship. Ezekiel uses the symbolism of ceremonial cleansing to describe this reconciliation (vv. 25, 29). To be ceremonially unclean was to be outside the sphere of fellowship, to be separated from God and all the spiritual benefits of life. But regardless of the nature of the uncleanness (leprosy, birth, contact with death, etc.), there was always an appropriate sacrifice to address the problem. Ezekiel utilizes the Levitical imagery to describe this work of grace.

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you” (v. 25). The sprinkling was a rite of purification to remove symbolically the impediments to fellowship. This sprinkling was typical (a picture prophecy) of Christ who is the cleansing fountain (see Isa. 52:13). It points directly to the application of the blood of Christ, the only means of cleansing the soul from the guilt and power of sin. Happily, what God cleanses is clean: “ye shall be clean” (v. 25) “I will save you from all your uncleanness” (v. 29). Reconciliation results in covenant fellowship: “ye shall be my people, and I will be your God” (v. 28).

Grace Regenerates Dead Sinners

In verse 26, the Lord gives a new heart (mind, will, affec- tions) and a new spirit (the impulses that drive and regulate desires, thoughts, and conduct). The old heart is a stone. It is lifeless, hard, and unfeeling. This is a vivid image of the helplessness and hopelessness of the human heart that is dead in sin. The heart, the most vital of organs, is petrified in utter death, incapable of responding to the good of the gospel. You would wait forever before you could find a spark of life in a stone, but here is the grace of the gospel: the Lord takes away the lifeless heart and gives a new one that is capable of new and spiritual impulses, feelings, and desires. A heart that now is capable of answering to God. This is the new birth. It is a change in the very nature of man’s being as spiritual life is implanted into that which had no life. Without this new heart that makes man a new creature, there is no hope. This is why Christ said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Without grace, the new birth is impossible.

Grace Empowers Saved Saints

“And I will put my spirit within you” (v. 27). By means of God’s indwelling Spirit, the renewed man enjoys God’s abiding presence. In true regeneration, God the Spirit enters the very soul, enabling fellowship and companionship (v. 28). This indwelling Spirit also provides enabling grace to do the things that please the Lord: walk in His statutes, keep His judgments, and obey Him. A changed life is evidence of grace. Grace never leaves a sinner where it finds him. God’s gracious salvation works not only to bring a sinner to spiritual life but to lead Him in the way of life. The inner change that occurs in regeneration leads to the life of sanctification. Being renewed in the whole man after God’s image enables the progressive dying to sin and living in righteousness.

God’s gracious salvation is complete, and Ezekiel’s brief synopsis of it is to the point and most instructive. We could almost paraphrase Christ’s question to Nicodemus in that night class in this way: “Art thou a master of Israel and you’ve never read Ezekiel 36?” But surely, as we meditate on this text let us echo Paul’s assessment of all we have in Christ by praising the glory of His grace.

Dr. Michael P. V. Barrett is Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.

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Conscience and the Puritans – Interview with Tim Challies

Tim Challies interviewed our editor over a period of eight weeks on the final eight chapters of A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, and placed these articles on the Challies blog. We are printing them in this periodical with his permission. All eight articles deal with how the Puritans brought theology into practice. This article deals with the conscience in Puritan thought.

1. In order to ensure we are all on the same page, can you define conscience? What exactly is it the Puritans were talking about when they discussed matters of conscience?

The conscience is an echo in the human mind of the verdict of the righteous Judge. William Perkins said that “conscience is a part of the understanding” that sets itself either for or against one’s actions.1 William Ames, a student of Perkins, wrote that conscience is “a man’s judgment of himself, according to the judgment of God of him.”2 Regardless of what we love with our affections or choose with our will, there is a part of our understanding that judges us and gives us a sense of moral approval or guilt according to our understanding of right and wrong. So when the Puritans considered cases of conscience, they were discussing questions about how to know what is pleasing to God in specific situations, and, more importantly, how to know that the divine Judge accepts you as righteous in His sight.

2. What would the Puritans identify as the function of conscience? Why do we need it and what does it do for us?

Conscience impresses a man’s mind with the moral authority of God, and as a result produces a sense of anxiety and misery, or peace and joy, that anticipates eternity. Ames said that conscience binds a man with such authority that no created thing can release him from it.3 Though our conscience may be misinformed, it still speaks with a divine authority that we can disobey but we find difficult to ignore. It reminds us that God sees all we do and is either delighted or angry with us, and pleased or displeased with our deeds.

Much Puritan literature aimed to direct people to find peace of conscience through the blood of Christ, and to walk in good conscience day by day. Richard Rogers said that the purpose of his Seven Treatises of spiritual guidance was to show a person how to live such that “he may find a very sweet and effectual [powerful] taste of eternal happiness, even here.”4 Richard Sibbes said that a good conscience is “a continual feast,” because knowing that God is pleased with us, has forgiven our sins, and delights in our obedience, enables us to suffer and even to die with comfort, freedom, and joy.5

3. What would the Puritans want us to know about the effect of the fall into sin on man’s conscience?

The fall of man brought us under the condemning wrath of God and the enslaving darkness of sin. The first disturbs and terrifies the conscience insofar as it senses the coming judgment; the latter disorders and confuses the conscience.

Perkins taught that though a “remnant of God’s image” persists in man’s mind through “certain notions concerning good and evil,” mankind has fallen into much ignorance of the truth and inability to understand spiritual realities (1 Cor. 2:14), futility in not distinguishing truth from falsehood (Eph. 4:7; Prov. 14:12), and natural tendency to follow evil and lies (Jer. 4:22). This distorts the conscience, though it still retains a degree of its power to rebuke and restrain sin (Rom. 2:15). Fallen conscience tends to excuse inward wickedness if it is covered in outward worship (Mark 10:19-20). It also tends to falsely accuse a person when he fails to follow the traditions and doctrines of mere men (Col. 2:21± 22). Sometimes conscience may accuse and terrify a person for his sins (Acts 24:26), and yet consciences may be seared to numbness by habits of sinning (Eph. 4:19; 1 Tim. 4:2).6

4. Where might the Puritans warn us about our use or misuse of conscience?

The Puritans warned against subjecting conscience to any ultimate authority besides the Bible. They particularly emphasized liberty of conscience in matters of religion.

The Westminster divines wrote, “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in any thing contrary to His Word; or beside it, in matters of faith and worship.”7 Similarly, the Particular Baptists wrote, “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.”8

The Puritans also warned against resisting one’s conscience when it speaks according to the Word. Ames taught the unconverted to seriously consider the law so that it would convict him of sin; show him he cannot save himself; and bring him to grief, fear, and confession of specific sins. He must also renounce his own righteousness and fix his mind upon the righteousness of Christ crucified as presented in the promises of the gospel.9

Christians too must not resist conscience. If a Christian finds his conscience accusing him, Ames counseled him to: first, feel the burden of sin (Matt. 11:28-29); second, detest all sin (Rom. 7:15); third, be careful not to fulfill his sinful lusts (Gal. 5:16); fourth, work to put those lusts to death (Rom. 8:13); fifth, to consider God’s promises, flee to Christ, and cling to Him more and more (Rom. 7:25; Phil. 3:9); and sixth, get rid of gross and heinous sins that shake their consciences and call into question their very salvation (Isa. 1:16-18).10

5. What can a Christian do to repair his conscience or to help his conscience overcome the effects of the fall?

The restoration of the conscience is part of the process of sanctification that begins with regeneration and does not end until we enter glory. It is a work of God’s grace that we must seek in prayer. The most significant means is to place ourselves under the sound and searching preaching of both the law and the gospel. As Sibbes said, the steps to a good conscience are, first, to be troubled by our sins; second, to find peace by trusting in Christ; and, third, to resolve to please God in all things. With these three elements active in our lives, we are positioned to grow more in a good conscience as we live by faith for God’s pleasure.11 The most important attitude is honesty and humility before God, for conscience always confronts us with the truth that God is Lord. For more details on restoring the conscience, see A Puritan Theology (pp. 919-25).

1. William Perkins, A Discovrse of Conscience: Wherein is Set Downe the
Nature, Properties, and Differences Thereof: As Also the Way to Get and Keepe Good Conscience (London: Iohn Legate, 1596), 1.
2. William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof (1639; facsimile repr., Norwood, N.J.: Walter Johnson, 1975), 1.1.
3. Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof, 1.3.4.
4. Richard Rogers, Seaven Treatises, 4th ed. corrected and enlarged (London: Felix Kyngston for Thomas Man, 1616), 1.
5. Richard Sibbes, Exposition of Second Corinthians Chapter 1, in The Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander B. Grosart (1862-1864; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1981), 3:223.
6. William Perkins, A Golden Chaine, or The Description of the Theologie,
Containing the Order of the Causes of Saluation and Damnation, According to Gods Word, 2nd ed. (London: Iohn Legate, 1597), 27-29.
7. Westminster Confession of Faith (20.2), in Westminster Confession
(Glasgow: Free Presbyterian Publications, 1994), 86.
8. Second London Confession (1.1), in A Confession of Faith, Put Forth by the Elders and Brethren of Many Congregations of Christians (Baptized upon Profession of Their Faith) in London and the Country (London: Benjamin Harris, 1677), 1.
9. Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof, 2.4, 6.
10. Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof, 2.19.
11. Richard Sibbes, The Demand of a Good Conscience, in Works, 7:484-85.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thanks to Rev. Paul Smalley for his research assistance on this article.