Introduction
I’m happy to be with you once again.
On exceptional grounds, I want for the next 3 weeks to have a pause in our series of studies on the heroes of the faith. You know it’s almost Christmas, and so we will have the occasion to hear Farid and listen to a sermon more appropriate for the occasion.
For this day, I have chosen to develop my preaching on Ezekiel 18:29-32
I have titled my sermon: “Am I guilty of some wrong?”
Before reading this passage, let’s put things in their context.
When these words see come into being, we are in 592 BCE. The majority of Jews have been in captivity for a bit of time.
At this moment, God decides to send them prophets to put them back on the right path. He is going to send three:
The Jews to whom Ezekiel addresses himself are therefore in a bad situation. And just like anyone in such conditions, they are mad about what they have to suffer.
We can hear their bitterness, the negativity emanating from their hearts when they speak with one another through clenched teeth.
Nothing is ok anymore, and they know that it is God who is at the root of their problems. They know that it’s God who has taken back his benefits and sent his curses.
But, to their eyes there is something else greatly responsible for their situation. Look in verse 2.
The captives had created a proverb to explain their frustration. They said one to another: “the fathers ate unripe grapes and the children’s teeth were set on edge!” in other words: “Our parents made mistakes and we, the poor innocent ones, we suffer from it!”
So they were saying that their problems were due to the wrongs of their parents.
They blamed all their daily problems on their ancestors.
And it’s not only those on the side of the river Kebar who were saying this. The proverb was so widespread that Jeremiah in fact mentions it in his corner. See Jer. 31:29
To believe this proverb, God was basically unjust. He punished innocents, the children for the wrongs of their parents. The causes of the problem didn’t come from them but from their parents.
I. We are all sinners
Before going further today, let me try to show you where I see an application for we who live in the 21st century.
Do you have problems at work? Do you have problems with your finances?
Why? I ask you why these things happen to you?
If so why?
I’m not trying to say here that the problems are always our fault. But we are so quick to blame others when nothing goes well. Just like the Israelites, we have this tendency to throw the stone back at others. When I act poorly, there is always a good excuse.
It’s because someone pushed me to the edge
It’s because my spouse didn’t want or doesn’t want… or it’s because my professor did this, because my friend said that…
To listen to us, when we commit a sin it’s hardly ever our fault. We don’t deserve the judgment that God would like to make us carry.
This attitude goes back to the beginning of time. We already see it with Adam and Eve when God comes to confront them for having lived in sin. But there is a principle that we cannot let ourselves forget, look at verse 20.
In other words, each person responds to God for his own errors. Each person if he is punished by God has his portion of guilt.
One must stop deceiving oneself.
Psychologists who really help people absolutely need to change their discourse. Searching for the causes of every problem in the parents has to stop. Yes, dad didn’t always act as he should’ve. But you today are a man or a woman capable of making your own independent choices. So whose fault is it if you don’t act correctly?
God calls each man, each woman to assume responsibility for what he his, to assume responsibility for his choices and his behavior. He invites each man to realize what Paul says in Romans 3:23
And since today we are in sin, he invites us to repent.
II. That each one repent
Look in Acts 17: 30, 31
The call of God to repentance is serious. Luc 13:3 says that if we don’t repent, there cannot be pardon for us.
But to talk about repentance, we must first talk about taking responsibility. Do you take responsibility for being a sinner?
Because he who doesn’t accept responsibility doesn’t repent and he who doesn’t repent doesn’t live, at least not really.
If you accept responsibility, you must repent.
I want to give you three reasons for which we should repent:
I will be judged for my actions, for my words, for my thoughts. There won’t be any others responsible but myself for my decisions. There will be one only who can be judged guilty of what I’ve become, that’s me.
This principle is particularly true for Christians who have been liberated from their past. Peter says this in his first epistle, ch.1:17-18 « … »
Each man in Christ is then a new creature. 2 Cor. 5:17 « … » The Holy Spirit then breaks the links of sin from our bodies.
A man will not necessarily become what his father was. It’s not his genetic heritage that determines his destiny, his responses. He has the choice.
Ezekiel says it thus in ch. 18:14-18 « … » I can therefore choose how I react when I suffer.
Listen to me well today; sin ruins our existences. There is no exception.
Sexual relations outside of the context of marriage often entail genital maladies, they crush couples, they push people to see themselves as toys and result most often in a loss of self-esteem.
The consummation of drugs entails apathy, financial problems, a loss of intellectual capacities, and degradation of health.
Anger, jealousy, hate … entail the dissolution of friendships, violence, problems of tension and so much more.
Oh the pain, the sufferings and the destruction that these things cause!
Many don’t understand that God restricts us from certain things, not to make our lives complicated or annoy us, but to protect us, to permit us to live better.
When he says through his word: « Don’t do this or that!», it’s because he wants us to have a life blooming and abundant. It’s to keep us from ending up in the ditches and sewers. Analyze each of the things restricted in the Bible and you will see.
But that’s not all. God doesn’t content himself in his love to tell us what one must not do. He tells us also what one must do. He gives us in the pages of the book of life a list of all that can give us joy and well-being.
Sometimes we forget. The Bible isn’t only a book to stop us from doing things; it’s also a book to give us instructions in order to navigate in the right way, to go in the right direction.
Analyze, what is there wrong in the instructions it suggests? « Love your neighbor, forgive everyone, be patient with others, stay pure, stay faithful… » What family would be ruined by these things?
I tell you, the law of the Lord is remarkable. David says it thus in Ps. 119:129 « … » the word of God is a lamp for our feet. (Ps. 119:105)
In his perfect law, God calls us to repentance for all our bad attitudes.
III. And then he invites us to get rid of our faults.
I love how it is said in Ezekiel 18, verse 31. Look…
Do you feel the force of the words God uses? « Fling far away from you all the transgressions! »
Like an insect one brushes off of ones t-shirt, one must toss far away the sin that is present in our life.
There is a feeling of urgency present in these words. He says throw away sin for why would you die?
In other words, sin leads you to death. And it’s now that you must rid yourselves of it and find life, not tomorrow.
It’s the idea of someone who played in the barbecue in his garden and who took out a burning piece of charcoal in the palm of his hand.
The longer one squeezes the fingers around it, the more it will wreak havoc. The more it will hurt. One must throw it away as quick as possible.
One mustn’t say: « One day, I’ll do it! In a few months, in a few weeks, I’ll try! » Right away you must do it. Right away one must rid oneself of ones transgressions, « I won’t live one more week, one more day, and one more hour with my faults. »
Understand the urgency of the text. It’s now that this should be done.
It is interesting to see how many times this word, “now” appeared in the Scriptures.
Hebrews 13:15 says: « … »
2 Cor. 6:2 says « … »
Acts 22:16 says « … » In refusing baptism, if you haven’t already accepted it; it’s the liberation, the healing of God that you refuse. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Luke 7:30 « … »
God had a plan for all the Jews, but they didn’t see the need or urgency to respond to it. Thus they annulled the plan of God, the desire of God for their lives. Today do you annul the plan of God for your life in refusing the waters of baptism? In John 3:3-6 Jesus says a man cannot live unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
I return then to Ezekiel where God says « why would you die? »
God pushes us, but he doesn’t force us. It’s our choice. He won’t twist your arm to direct you to the right side. He won’t violate your freedom of conscience. But he puts us on guard against spiritual death, eternal separation from his presence.
In verse 32 it adds: « … »
Conclusion:
So if we accept his message, with all our heart, God will provide us with life. He promises in the Word, that he’ll provide us with help by the Spirit. We will receive from him the strength to overcome all tests (whatever our bad habits or negative situations of life).
We will have his assistance to master what we do not think ourselves able to master.
I finish then with a passage in Rev. 3:20 where Jesus says: « … »
No, he doesn’t stand at the door of our heart saying “if you don’t open, I’m going to blow louder and louder, until it falls down”. But he stands there and says: “I knock, if you open, I will come to your house and together we will live feasting because I will bring joy to your house.”
Today, through all these verses, God calls me, he calls us no longer to blame others, to accept responsibility for our faults and repent. He wants to give us a new heart and mind, but the question is: “will we let him?” Are we ready to do what it takes?
I’ll let you reflect upon it and finish with a song of invitation…