Sermon Tone Analysis

New Year’s Resolution: Draw closer to God than every before!

How? Read Bible more, pray more, go to church more, all good ideas.

Any motion toward God must first begin with repentance.

We don’t like to talk about repentance much let alone put it into action.

This same problem was facing the Jews in Ezekiel’s day.

They first of all doubted God’s justice and secondly make every excuse they could think of so that they wouldn’t have to turn to God in repentance.

Ezekiel wanted the Jewish exiles in Babylon to understand that God would justly hold them accountable for their own sin if they did not turn to God in repentance.

Friends, we must understand and believe that God’s judgement is always justly measured out to each individual person.

How do we know that God’s judgment is always justly measured out to each individual person?

Ezekiel gives us two arguments for the just judgement of God.

God’s judgments are always just because:

Argument #1: Each individual is held accountable for their own sins (vv.

1-20)

Proverb: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

Explanation: Growing up as a child we have numerous sour things to eat in my backyard—rhubarb, crab apples, gooseberries, and red grapes.

Red grapes were the kind with seeds in them, you could pick and eat them while they were still green and they were extremely sour.

Imagine that sharp feeling in the back of your cheeks, imagine how your face twists when you eat something sour!

Now imagine, if one of your family members took a cluster of those green sour grapes and popped several in their mouth at the same time, but instead of their face twisting from the sourness of the bite—instead you felt the full force of the sour grapes in your mouth!

The point was that the exiles of Ezekiel's day were claiming that they were suffering, not for their own sins, but for the sins of their ancestors.

Ezekiel was taken captive in 597 BC with a large group of Jews.

He ministered as a captive in Babylon.

Apparently the captives in exile in Babylon thought that their captivity was not their fault.

They concluded that they were having to suffer for the sins of their ancestors and that this was an injustice brought upon them by God.

God was using the ministry of Ezekiel to combat this heretical thinking.

Issue: Hebrew word “soul.”

This verse is used by JW’s as a proof text for soul destruction.

Soul’s die, they do not suffer eternal punishment in the lake of fire (so they claim).

But, the Hebrew word for “soul” carries the idea of “life” or “person” and should not be confused with the concept of “soul” as the spiritual and eternal part of a person.

This thinking would have been foreign to the Hebrew mind-set.

To the Hebrew each person was regarded as a “life” or a “soul.”

So the idea is, “the person who sins shall die.”

Important Principle: v. 4-

Ezekiel 18:4 (HCSB)

4 Look, every life belongs to Me.

The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me.

The person who sins is the one who will die.

Important theological principle: Every life BELONGS to God!

This is consistently taught in the Scriptures.

Colossians 1:16 (ESV)

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Romans 11:36 (ESV)

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Amen.

1 Corinthians 8:6 (ESV)

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

All things were created by God.

All things were created and continue to exist through Him, and therefore all things are FOR HIM.

We were created and we continue to exist for God, for the glory of God.

Therefore, God can rightly claim:

Ezekiel 18:4 (HCSB)

4 Look, every life belongs to Me.

The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me.

The person who sins is the one who will die.

Because God created you, your life belongs to God.

Because all life belongs to God, God has the right and the authority to hold his creation accountable to HIS OWN standard of righteousness.

When you stand before your creator one day He will utilize his own standard of justice, not yours!

And what is God’s standard of just judgment?

Ezekiel 18:4 (ESV)

4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

The person who sins is the one who will die.

Or, all people are personally responsible to God for their own sins.

You will not face God’s judgment for the sins of your ancestors.

You will face God’s judgment for your own personal sins.

Important clarification: God is not addressing a means of salvation in this context.

God is not dealing with salvation or the permanence of salvation in this context.

He is dealing with the idea of judgment.

And the setting for God’s judgement is in relation to the Mosaic covenant.

Mosaic Covenant: If you obey the covenant God will bless you and you will live.

If you disobey the covenant then God will curse you and you will die.

This is not in relation to salvation, but in relation to the blessings or curses of the covenant.

We are talking about God’s earthly judgement in this context.

Each person will be held accountable for the guilt of their own sin.

Issue: What about?

Individually each person is responsible for his or her own guilt of sin.

But we must always be aware that the consequences of sin will affect others who may be innocent of the guilt for that particular sin.

God is wise enough, powerful enough, sovereign enough to take care of complicated situations like these where you might be effected because of the consequences of the sin of others.

Even though you might feel sin’s consequences from others, God is still firm in His justice that you are responsible for the guilt of your sin alone.

Now that Ezekiel has stated the first argument for the just judgement of God, that is- the person who sins is the one who will die.

Or, all people are personally responsible to God for their own sins.

With that thesis stated Ezekiel now presents three examples of this in real life in vv.

5-20.

Example #1: A righteous man (vv.

5-9)

Ezekiel then presents five principles that characterize the life of this kind of person.

These principles are then repeated in various forms for the rest of the three examples.

Principle 1: He deeds are characterized by justice and righteousness

Principle 2: He worships Yahweh alone

Ezekiel 18:6 (ESV)

6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,

Principle 3: He carefully guards and maintains marital fidelity and moral purity

Principle 4: He is a good neighbor.

He treats others with kindness, generosity, and justice.

This kind of person does not steal, nor does he wrong or take advantage of the needy.

He gives food and clothing to the poor and promotes ethical behavior in others.

Principle 5: This principle summarizes the others—the righteous person faithfully respects and obeys the statues and rules of God.

All people are personally responsible to God for their own sins.

So if a person lives righteously— he shall surely live.

God is a just God and exercises just judgement.

If a Jew in Ezekiel’s day lived righteously and followed the Mosaic covenant, God’s promise is that they would live.

They would not face God’s judgement because of their own guilt.

They would instead receive God’s blessing—they would live.

Example #2: A wicked son (vv.