7. Ezekiel 18.1-32

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There has been much talk in the press these last two weeks - right, and very sadly, about abuse cases - even within the church. We now have an archbishop resigned and tragic stories emerging of victims who should have been protected but weren’t.

We’re not part of the church of England obviously, these events may seem distant from us, but we should not push them fro our minds. We must be constantly vigilant that our church is a place where safeguarding is done and done right. So that people in positions of trust and responsibility - including me - are always held to account.

If you’ve been a victim of injustice or abuse we want this church to be a safe place for you to be.

It’s worth me pointing out again - because we often have folks who are new with us - that our safeguarding team are as follows….

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Jean Marsland - Safeguarding Coordinator.

Lesley Morrison - Safeguarding depute (based in Elgin).

Fiona Harris - Safeguarding Depute (based in Burghead).

if you ever, have any concerns please don’t hesitate - speak straight away to these trusted individuals.

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Our passage today, however, deals with the opposite sort of situation. Sometimes people are genuinely victims of injustice… but today as we continue in Ezekiel we meet a people who believe they have been treated very injustly, very unfairly by GOD HIMSELF. They THINK they are victims. But they are not. They want to put God on trial, but by the end the tables are turned and they’re in the dock….and THEY are guilty… and yet (as we’ll see) their situation… and indeed OUR situation as guilty sinners before a Holy God is NOT hopeless.

Four headings you’ll see on your sheet, we must get going, here’s the first one…

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1. The Lord on Trial

Read from v1…

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Ezekiel 18:1–2 NIV

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “ ‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

Here is a little ditty…. a little proverb that the people are saying or singing in their exile in Babylon.

BREAK OFF TO CONTEXT

By the way, just remember where we are in the book of Ezekiel.

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God’s people have been repeatedly disobedient… generation after generation have ignored the Lord… and so the Lord - though long suffering and kind has acted in judgement.

The rival nation Babylon have risen up…. attacked Jerusalem… and taken off a first wave of exiles, 1000 miles from home. The prophet Ezekiel is one of them. And now they find themselves in despair, by the rivers of Babylon (as the Psalm puts it).

God has brought a surprising message through Ezekiel… the Lord’s glorious presence has departed the temple in Jerusalem because of all the idolatry of the people. But his presence has followed them into exile in Babylon.

And so Ezekiel has brought this this mix - on the one hand this book is full of dark messages of judgement… God is just and must punish sin.

on the other hand there are glimmers of hope… the Lord isn’t finished with his people yet.

From the sound of their little song however, it sounds like the people have had enough of God. They are accusing HIM of great injustice. It’s almost as if they want to put God in the dock… put the Lord on trial.

You can see the nature of their complaint… (again v2).

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Ezekiel 18:2 (NIV)

“ ‘The parents eat sour grapes,

and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

Do you see what they are claiming? Our parents have done wrong (they say)! And we are being punished for it. Our parents disobeyed the Lord, and their parents before them (perhaps)….. but now it’s US that have been sent into exile.

ITS NOT OUR FAULT… they say.

ITS NOT FAIR… they cry

GOD IS NOT JUST… they claim.

But is it true? The Lord tells them sharply to close their mouths… to stop this song… this little ditty has to be silenced. v3… SLIDE

Ezekiel 18:3 NIV

3 “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.

The whole purpose of this chapter is to help the people their CLOSE their mouths… and SHIFT their hearts. To stop seeing themselves as victims (they are not) and start seeing themselves as sinners in need of grace (which they ARE) - grace the Lord freely offers us.

But first they need to be shown why their little ditty is wrong… and how the Lord is just. The one who SINS is the one who will die, says the Lord.

Read on - God gives a worked example… a case study if you will…

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Ezekiel 18:5–9 NIV

5 “Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. 6 He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or have sexual relations with a woman during her period. 7 He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. 8 He does not lend to them at interest or take a profit from them. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between two parties. 9 He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Do you see this man’s behaviour is in three categories - we could call them PIETY, CHASTITY, CHARITY.

Firstly piety… Notice (v6) he doesn’t eat at the mountain shrines. This is nothing to do with taken a picnic into the hills. The mountain shrines were places of PAGAN worship… to eat at them was to join in with worshipping false Gods. This man doesn’t do that. He knows the Lord’s commandments - and how do the commandments begin?

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Exodus 20:3–4 NIV

3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Likewise - see that he is chaste outwith his marriage (v6)….

So piety (worshipping God alone).

Chastity… and charity. Hie does not oppress anyone (v7)… he returns what he took in pledge for a loan… he’s not a thief.. quite the opposite he tries to feed the hungry and clothe the naked… he’s not a loan shark (v8).

Piety, chastity, charity.

WILL SUCH A MAN FACE GOD’S JUDGEMENT? Answer, No.

But now imagine (the example goes on - this is v10-13)… now imagine that man has a son. Who (tragically) DOES NOT follow in his father’s footsteps. All the evil teh father avoids - teh son embraced…. all the good the father did, the son avoids.

WILL THE SON FACE GOD’S JUDGEMENT? Answer, yes. See verse 13…

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Ezekiel 18:13 (NIV)

13 …Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.

When he stands before the Lord, only death and judgement can follow.

But NOW… just in case the people who Judah haven’t understood the point, the Lord extends his worked example by another generation.

Now we imagine that this wicked son…. himself has a son (so we’re onto the third generation now). The whole thing gets rehearsed again, do you see? (from v14)

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Ezekiel 18:14–17 NIV

14 “But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things: 15 “He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife. 16 He does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. 17 He withholds his hand from mistreating the poor and takes no interest or profit from them. He keeps my laws and follows my decrees. He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live.

DO you see the point, says God? I AM ENTIRELY JUST (says the Lord). We will never be able to look on ANYTHING God does and say ‘oh well that wasn’t fair’.

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Now we’re driving together down the highway of Ezekiel 18 here - that’s our task today to travel through THIS chapter and hear what God is saying to us. But I want, for just a moment to pull off the main highway into a kind of side street… to deal with (what might APPEAR to be a contradiction in the Bible). It isn’t a contradiction, but we’ll need some careful thinking to see why.

ASIDE - dealing with a apparent contradiction?

The clear message of this chapter is there in v4 - THE ONE WHO SINS IS THE ONE WHO WILL DIE. That theme is clearly repeated throughout.

But look… I quoted from the 10 commandments earlier on. And the very sharp among you will notice I quoted Exodus 20 v5…. BUT I DIDN’T read on to verse 5. Had I don’e that you would have heard this…

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Exodus 20:4–5 NIV

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

So some will say AHA! there you have it, the Bible contradicts itself. Which is it?! (they will say) does God punish people for the sin of others - for the sin of their parents (for example) or not.

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Well the main answer to that question is NO. He does not, he is entirely just, as Ezekiel makes clear. We are not punished for the sins of our parent IN THE SENSE OF “oh your parent stole money, and now you will pay the direct consequences”.

However, there are other ways in which sin and its consequences spills down through the generations.

RIFF

The consequences of sin spill down.

The sin of Adam means we’re all guilty.

Anyway…. to pull back out of that particular layby and back onto the highway of Ezekiel 18…

If the people are facing God’s judgement in exile (which they are)…. and God only judges the guilty… (which he does) what conclusion can we draw?

Very simply (it’s not rocket science) These people are NOT exiled for the sin of their parents… they are guilty themselves. That’s our second point, it is much more brief.

The people tried top put god on trial accusing him of unfairness through the little ditty they like to sing. But now the tables are turned… that’s point 2.

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2. The People on Trial

Jump down a little now to verse 25 - we’ll come back to the central part of the chapter in just a moment.

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Ezekiel 18:25 NIV

25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

This is repeated almost verbatim in v29

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Ezekiel 18:29 NIV

29 Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

As the people have ceased to properly worship the Lord and instead turned to idols…. it’s THEY who have acted unjustly…

In just a couple of chapters time Ezekiel will point to this very behaviour saying… SLIDE

Ezekiel 22:6–7 NIV

6 “ ‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

In scripture these two things always go together… when we don’t acknowledge the Lord as we ought… we soon cease to live as we should.

If we truly love Jesus, that must spill over into caring about and seeking justice for people… and particularly about those who are vulnerable - on the margins. The refugee, the orphan, the widow.

In theri pride these people want to put God on trial… God’s not just they say. Nothing could be further from the truth, it’s they who end up in the dock… and there’s only one possible verdict - guilty as charged.

And, as God has made abundantly clear - the one who sins is the one who will die. So the key question now is - is there any hope? Is there any way to escape the judgement that is due?

As one commentator aptly puts it…

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But if that point is accepted, then the possibility of despair becomes real. If God is indeed judging this generation for its sin, what is the point of even trying to please him? If they are condemned sinners, what room is there for hope? Since their death sentence is decreed, ought they not simply to eat, drink, and try to be merry in the time that remains to them? I. DUGUID

Wonderfully this chapter is not over yet, here’s the third thing to see…

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3. The Call to Repent

Read from v21… SLIDE

Ezekiel 18:21 NIV

21 “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die.

The Lord expands on the point…. v30 SLIDE

Ezekiel 18:30–32 NIV

30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Do you see God’s heart of love and mercy? “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone” he says.

So what’s the call? The clear message to all who KNOW they are sinners…. is repent.

Which means to turn, to turn back. To change your mind and heart. To turn from sin and turn to the Lord… seeking in him forgiveness, new life, and power to change.

This passage does not teach salvation by WORKS. It’s all about God’s unmerited grace - why should he forgive our past wrongs? only because of his grace and kindness.

However this is not cheap grace. It’s clear that repentance is not merely ‘saying sorry’ but a heart commitment to change. But where there is real repentance, there is real grace…

v22…

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Ezekiel 18:22–23 NIV

22 None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

We, of course, know better than Ezekiel how such grace on God’s part is possible. The lesson of the exile is surely that, in his justice, God ultimately cannot and will not sweep sin under the carpet - there must be justice. And yet in his love he does not desire the death of anyone…. in his mercy he takes no pleasure in the death of anyone.

And so, in history there is just one exception to the rule.

We’ve seen the rule right? - the one who SINS is the one who dies.

In every case BAR ONE that is true. At calvary…. at the cross the one with NO SIN was the one who died.

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2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

At the cross Jesus has paid for the sins of his people. And so now the call to us is to REPENT. To turn from sin…. to turn to Jesus Christ… and to receive from him - not cheap grace…. not ‘a quick sorry and it’ll all be ok’… but deep repentance, full forgiveness, and - in the power of his Spirit - real and lasting change.

The call is to repent…. have you done that?

But there is also one more ‘call’ one more key message in this chapter. Finally, that’s point 4…. SLIDE

4. The Call to Persevere

Many here HAVE come to Jesus is repentance, of course. The final call is to STICK WITH HIM. To persevere in a life following him - a life of continual repentance and faith and change.

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Ezekiel 18:24 NIV

24 “But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.

That is a hard verse to hear. What is it saying?

There are echoes here of the parable of the sower, that Jesus tells. Remember there were those soils where the seed is sown and things begin to sprout… it looks like there is spiritual life, for a time at least. But eventually worldliness takes over… and the growth that appeared to spring up dies away.

Here is a warning to persevere with Jesus - in a life of continual repentance and faith and obedience and change.

If there’s no salvation apart from the grace of Jesus - then we need to STICK with Jesus.

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We all know folk who haven’t, don’t we? That’s a painful thought…. I think of those who I knew in younger days - from church, from youth group, from camps… who appeared to respond to Jesus…. but now appear to have wandered away.

We don’t lose hope for those people of course - we remember that the Lord takes no delight in their death and judgement… and that there is still time and hope. We long, we pray, and we must work and act that they might hear this call to repentance and faith… and we watch our selves, in need as we are of God’s ongoing grace, and change in our lives.

Let’s pray.