@ReadingSpurgeon: Ezekiel 34:26 – The Church of Christ (NPSP1S28)

Though C. H. Spurgeon in his sermon on Ezekiel 34:26 – “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing” – comments on the need to think more about the  restoration of the Jews, because “when the Jews are restored, then the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in,” his focus is on applying this text to the church of Jesus Christ.

He has two things he wants us to find in the verse:

I. Christ’s Church is to be a blessing

“I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing.”

When God saves people, “He does it not only for their own sake, that they may be saved, but for the world’s sake.” Salvation is not to be a selfish thing.  We are to be a blessing to others.

No church can be a blessing to others, unless God has first blessed them.  We need God’s help.

It is not just that the church is to be a blessing, but every member is to be too.  “You have something to do.  And oh! may God show  you what it is and then make you do it, by the wondrous compulsion of His providence and His grace.”

We are to be a blessing to the places around us, our neighbourhood including churches nearby. “I cannot but rejoice in the prosperity of many churches around us.”

II. Christ’s Church is to be blessed

God has shown us mercy.  The grace we have receive is a gift of God and cannot be created by man.  It is needed grace.

It is plenteous grace: “Plenteous grace to keep us humble, plenteous grace to make us prayerful, plenteous grace to make us holy, plenteous grace to make us zealous, plenteous grace to make us truthful, plenteous grace to preserve us through this life and at last, to land us in heaven.”

It is seasonable grace: “There are fruits, you  know, that are best in their season and they are not good at any other time.  And there are graces that are good in their season, but we do not always require them.”

It is varied grace:“If He gives comforting grace, He also gives converting grace. If He makes the trumpet blow for the bankrupt sinner, He will also make it sound a shout of joy for the sinner that is pardoned and forgiven. He will send “showers of blessing.”

So, “ought we not to ask God to continue to make us a blessing?”