EZEKIEL 18 UNDERSTANDING MY PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 18 Understanding My Personal Responsibility

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. This morning as we look here at Ezekiel chapter 18...

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in bringing judgment upon those who deserve it. And it's a similar line of thought as we continue on in chapter 18 this morning, but really focusing on a different perspective as we consider these things. And that is, for us personally, our responsibility and our accountability to God. And God wants to set the record straight for the children of Israel and for you and I this morning.

That no matter what is going on around us, even if everybody is going in one direction and it is a direction that is against God, that what we, if we go along with that, we are held responsible and accountable that we cannot, you know, excuse ourselves and say, well, that's what everybody was doing. And so God will hold us accountable for that.

the things that we do. And we talked about last week how God deals with us corporately and deals with peoples as we gather together as nations or as communities or as churches or as families that we have these collective groups of people and God deals with the groups of people collectively as a whole, as a unit. That's part of the way that God works. At the same time, God never loses sight of you, the individual.

He never loses sight. He never escapes his notice. He's never, you know, missing someone. He has insight, each one of us individually. And so we may have been taught and trained to go one direction, but if that's contrary to the Lord, God says, you're responsible to make a decision whether to continue that or whether to turn and go a different direction.

Each and every one of us has a personal responsibility, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our trainings, regardless of what others around us are doing, others before us or others after us, regardless of what they do, each of us will stand before God individually. And so God's going to explain this and illustrate this in a few ways as we work our way through Ezekiel chapter 18 this morning and four points that we'll consider along the way. The first point is that we need to understand

The first thing to consider is in verses 1 through 4 here, the point is, I have nobody else to blame for my sin. I have nobody else to blame for my sin. And of course, this is a great disappointment for us because we really want to blame somebody else for our own sin, right? We really want that opportunity, but God here makes it clear that is not the case. In verse 1 and 2, it says, the word of the Lord came to me again saying,

What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge? Here as we begin chapter 18, we find out that God wants to address a proverb that is known amongst the people.

It's a common saying. We find it here in Ezekiel, but we also find it quoted by Jeremiah. And you might remember Jeremiah is located in Jerusalem. Ezekiel is located in Babylon with those who were taken captive out of Jerusalem. And so they're distanced, you know, by a thousand miles apart. And yet amongst both of these groups, there is this same common saying that

In Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 29, it records this saying also, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. You know what it's like to eat something sour?

You know, some people like that more than others. Some people, you know, really like to eat spicy things, right? And my wife and I discovered spicy Funyuns. Have you guys ever tried those? It's pretty good. But it's like I have to be in the right mood for it. I'm not one who just like, you know, I just like to make myself sweat just for the fun of it. Like it's good, but I have to be in the mood for it, right? But then also sometimes you're in the mood for something sour, right? And it makes your face pucker and you go...

You know, you get that feeling, right? And even probably describing this, I'm just going to take a guess, and she doesn't have to confirm, but my wife's probably salivating a little bit just thinking about the sourness. Oh, she just loves that, right? And so you get those sour things, and it's like, oh, it's good, right? But, you know, sour grapes, sour fruit, sour lemons perhaps, or limes, you know, maybe it's not what you always want, but it invokes that reaction within you, right? That response because it's so sour, right?

Well, this proverb that they were saying is talking about that response, but saying, look, we're experiencing the sour effect, but we didn't take a bite of the sour object, right? We didn't take a bite of the sour fruit. It was actually our parents, our fathers bit the sour fruit, and we are experiencing the sour response. Essentially, this proverb and what the people were saying is that

God is unjust in dealing with us

according to the deeds and the behavior of our parents. That we're experiencing the consequences of their sin. And we're receiving the penalty for what they did against God. And it's not fair, our circumstances. It's not fair, our situation. God is not dealing with us in a way that is fair because, well, our fathers ate the sour grapes and we have to suffer the consequences.

And that was the proverb that was going on. That was the idea that the people had in their minds. And it was really an accusation that God is unjust. He's not dealing with us right. We should not be treated this way. We do not deserve this. And God goes on to say in verse 3, as I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. God wants to correct this

bad thinking, this bad doctrine that they have in their mind. He goes on to say in verse 4, And as we consider these things, we need to make a distinction in our minds between the results of sin and judgment for sin. It's important to understand and remember that

The reason why sin is sin, God called it sin because it is destructive and damaging and it brings, well, the sour results, right? It has sour effects. And so God says, that's sin. Don't do that because that's not good for you and that will destroy you.

God did not, you know, just pick a list of arbitrary things and okay, well, let's call that sin. Let's call that sin. Let's call, oh, that's really fun. They shouldn't do that. Let's call that sin. You know, God took all of the things that are destructive and hurtful and harmful. And he says, that is sinful. Don't do that. And so as a result, the things that are sinful do result in destruction. They do result in hurt. They do result in devastation.

But that's different also than God's judgment for sin. And there's a distinction. We understand that. Listen, if you as a parent get into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and then you die and you

pass that debt on to your children, then you understand like the children are inheriting the debt of the parents in that way, right? And there's a very real outflow of consequences, outflow of the circumstances and results that came from the results, the decisions, the actions of the generation previous. But that's not the same thing as God dealing out judgment for sin. And that's what God wants to make clear here with his people and with us this morning.

Now the children of Israel were in a difficult spot and their circumstances were bleak and grim because of their rebellion against God for, well, the past several hundred years. And they are at the brink of extinction and Babylon is coming to conquer Jerusalem again and some are in captivity already. And the circumstances that they are in are very difficult. At the same time, God is saying, I am going to deal with each of you individually and

For your sin. Yes, you're in tough circumstances. You're in a difficult situation. And you're experiencing the results of, well, some of the decisions and actions that were made in the generation prior to yours. But behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the Father, as well as the soul of the Son. And the soul who sins shall die. God wants to make a clear understanding, a clear distinction. Correcting their bad thinking.

We do certainly experience consequences from the actions of previous generations, but we do not experience the judgment of God for their sin. We experience judgment for our own sin, but not for the sins of others. It's possible to be the victim of somebody else's behavior.

We do live in a world that has fallen and people do things that are wrong and harm is inflicted, crimes are committed, and we can be victims of somebody else's behavior. But you are never the victim of your own behavior. That is that you still have the option, you still have the opportunity, and how you respond in the midst of those circumstances, that's entirely on you.

We, of course, want to blame others. And we're not the first ones to desire this, right? It starts all the way back in the Garden of Eden. The very first committing of sin. And as God calls Adam and Eve to give account, Adam, what did you do? Well, the woman you gave me. It's not my fault. See, what happened was she...

you know, you made her really beautiful, Lord, and how can I resist that? She batted her eyes, she gave me the fruit, and I partook of the fruit. It's not my fault. It's her fault. I mean, maybe if you want to take it, it's even your fault, God, because you're the one who gave her to me, right? That anybody else's blame and responsibility but mine. And God looks at the woman and say, what did you do? And she said, well, the serpent deceived me, tricked me. It wasn't my fault. I was tricked into it, but it doesn't fly.

God holds Adam accountable for his choice. God holds Eve accountable for her choice. They could try to blame anybody else, but they're accountable and they're responsible and they actually have nobody else to blame. You and I, we're in the same boat. And sometimes we, like the children of Israel, we have this proverb in mind, like we're suffering from somebody else's sin.

And what we do is not our responsibility. It's, you know, the result of somebody else. We're blaming others. My parents taught me to have this attitude. And I know, I see, you know, it says it's a bad attitude and I shouldn't have this attitude. But, well, it's the attitude I was taught. And so I have this attitude. And God says, no, you can't blame your parents for that.

Well, this is what everybody's doing. And so I just, I thought that was right. I just went along. I was deceived. And God says, no, that doesn't excuse you. You can't blame everybody for deceiving you. Well, the circumstances, you know, I don't normally curse, but Rick cut me off on my way to church this morning and he caused me to curse. It's his fault. God says, no, that doesn't excuse you. You can't blame him. Circumstances don't force you to sin.

You are still responsible and accountable. It's not somebody else eating those sour grapes that's causing you to reap what you're reaping. God says, every soul is mine. Every soul is mine. We belong to God. We are his. We're accountable to him. And the soul who sins shall die. So I have nobody else to blame for

Well, moving on to verses 5 through 20, here we get the second point this morning, and that is, I will receive the results of my own behavior. I will receive the results of my own behavior. Now, God's going to illustrate what he is saying with three scenarios, three generations of people,

to help us understand, to kind of go through, walk by, and can, you know, look at from different perspectives and understand what it is that God is talking about here. And so as we look at these three generations, I put faces to the generations just to kind of help you a little bit. And so here's three generations of women. Now, I'm not...

picking on women by putting them out there. I just thought it'd be nice to have somebody else. And that's the only three generation image I could find. So three generations that God illustrates. And so generation one, God talks about in verses five through nine. In verse five, it says, but if a just, if a man is just and does what is lawful and right,

Verse 1.

If he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase, but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man, verse 9, if he has walked in my statutes and kept my judgments faithfully, he is just. He shall surely live, says the Lord God. And so here God lays out an example scenario, a hypothetical situation which they would be able to relate to and understand. Here is...

the first generation. Now, as we look at these things, I'm going to call generation one, this is Grandma Gertrude. And she does what's right. And so God's conclusion is that she will have life. Now, he goes on and he lists a bunch of things. And we're not going to get into the details of the righteous behavior that he describes here.

You can spend some time considering those things, but it's not a formula. It's not, you know, here's the exact thing, do these things, and then you're righteous. It is an example, a sample of righteousness that is demonstrated by Grandma Gertrude. She does what's right. She knows the Lord. She walks with the Lord. And so her life is filled with righteousness. And so God determines she shall have life.

Regardless of what came before her or what comes after her, regardless of what the world around her is doing, as an individual, she has a responsibility to do right, and she does right. And so she's given life. But the second generation is different. In verses 10 through 13, God gives the second generation. Verse 10, it says, if he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood,

Verse 1.

So you have Grandma Gertrude. She does what's right. She will have life, but she has a child, Mom Velma. Now Velma does wrong. I tried to pick obscure names so I wouldn't be picking on any of you individually, right? She does wrong. And so God says she shall not have life. She shall die or he shall die. And notice at the end of verse 13, his blood shall be upon him. There's nobody else to blame.

There's nobody else to, you know, cause that. It's not my fault, right? But no, the death, the cause of death, the reason for this death is, well, it's self-inflicted. Because generation two, unrighteous, chooses to disobey. Now, generation two often wants to say, look, my parents were righteous. We talked about this a little bit last week, saying that God has no grandchildren, right? I should be covered under the righteousness of somebody else.

I should be covered under the righteousness of my parents or people around me? And God says, no. You as an individual, even if everybody else is righteous around you, that doesn't cover you. Even if righteous people around you wish and hope and dream and plead and pray that their righteousness would cover your wickedness, it does not. He shall surely die, God says. His blood shall be upon him.

But then he goes on to describe a third generation in verses 14 through 17. Here's what it says. If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done and considers but does not do likewise...

Verse 17. Verse 18.

So in this third generation, we have daughter Penelope here. Daughter Penelope does right. And so God says she will have life. And so you have a righteous generation who does right and God promises life. You have a wicked generation who does wickedly and God says you will die. It's on your own head. But then you have the third generation. And God says of the third generation, listen, this person shall not die for the iniquity of their parent.

This person shall not die for the iniquity of someone else. They've done righteous. And so, well, the promise is there's life. He shall surely live. And so these three generations illustrate for us, God says, if it's a grandparent that was righteous or a parent that was wicked or a child that is righteous, each one is dealt with individually. One is not receiving the judgment of another person.

And one is not receiving the life that another has earned. That there is, well, the responsibility for each one of us to make our decisions, to make our choices, and experience life or death on the basis of our own selves, our own decisions, our own choices, our own actions and behaviors. In verse 18 says,

He reiterates, he says,

So you have this righteous third generation. Now, that doesn't cover, that doesn't make up for, that doesn't protect the wicked second generation. Righteous children cannot atone for wicked parents, God says. That doesn't, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't cover the previous. Now, some of the people would object and say, well, the children should bear the guilt of the father. And we could wrestle with that a little bit. Who would say that? You know, it's interesting that

We can be really wishy-washy in applying these kinds of concepts. And we pick and choose when we want these things to be true and when we don't want them to be true. But sometimes you hurt me and I want you to suffer and it's not enough for just you to suffer. I want your kids to suffer because of how badly you hurt me. At the same time, I don't want to pay the price for my parents' sins, right? We are inconsistent. What God is saying here is I follow the same pattern. I deal with each one individually fairly, right?

And so whether it's previous or successive generations, whether it's people around you or I deal with you individually and each one individually. Again, verse 20, the soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. We are responsible sinners.

for our own behavior and we will receive the results of our own choices and decisions and actions now understand as we talk about these things we're not talking about doing good works to earn salvation and that can be a bit of a confusion and kind of a distraction really from the the passage as you go through these things righteousness is by faith it has always been by faith and it has never been by works

That is the whole point of the book of Romans, right? Sometimes we make a distinction in our head and, you know, the Old Testament, you know, they were righteous by keeping the law, by doing good works. But that is not true. That's a false distinction. That's a false understanding. It's not true. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Righteousness always came by believing God. It was always the product of righteousness.

relationship with God, faith in God. It was true of Abraham. It was true in Ezekiel's day. It's true of our day. That righteousness for us comes by faith in Jesus Christ. And we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Now, righteousness can also be understood though as the result. It's the overflow. That when we walk with God, when we believe God,

Well, it does produce righteous behavior in our lives. Our behavior flows out of where our hearts are with God. Our behavior is a reflection of our relationship to God. Walking with God produces right behavior and rebelling against God produces wrong behavior. And so we're not talking about trying to earn salvation or glory.

becoming righteous because of what we do. We're talking about righteous behavior because of our relationship with God. Our heart is reflected by our actions. Jesus put it this way in John chapter 14. Jesus tells them, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

Now, when Jesus says he will keep my word, he's not talking about you don't throw away the Bible and you keep it on a shelf of honor and keep it clean and you keep it. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about obeying and practicing. And a few verses earlier in John 14, he says it specifically, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And so he says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.

He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. And so Jesus explains our keeping of the words of Jesus, our righteous behavior is a direct relationship to whether or not we love Jesus. It's a direct result of our connection to the Lord. It's important to understand this because there are those who would say, I love Jesus, but I practice wicked behavior.

But you don't know my heart. I love Jesus. I really do. But I'm engaging in this sin. I'm doing this. I'm living this lifestyle. I'm doing this. I'm doing what I want. But I love Jesus. I love God. And you could say that all you want, just like you can blame people all you want. But when you stand before the Lord, none of those things will fly. None of those things are actually true. When you love Jesus, then you will be living, making decisions,

choosing to do actions, living out things that are pleasing to him because you love him. And if loving Jesus is not that important to you and what he desires and what he cares for and what's important to him is not that important to you, then your life is going to be filled with decisions and choices and behaviors that are not righteous, that are not good. I think I swallowed a bug.

There was a little gnat like flying around and then it disappeared. I don't know. Should I strain at the gnat and swallow the camel? I don't know. But Jesus is saying, look, if you love me, it's going to show in the way that you live. Not saying that we live perfectly, not saying that we don't have failures, but again, the love and the relationship with God that we have will be demonstrated by our lives. And so here God wants you to know the principle. I will receive the results of my own behavior.

And if I love Jesus, my life will be filled with righteousness and I will receive the results of that righteousness, the blessings of that righteousness. I will receive the results of knowing God and the blessings of being with him and being covered and clothed by him. But if I don't love Jesus, my life will demonstrate that and I will receive the results of not loving Jesus and of not walking in righteousness. And so here God lays out through these three generations of

clear illustration for us so that we would be able to understand that there's no getting around this. Again, we can't say it's somebody else's fault. They're eating sour grapes. It's not my fault. No, the decisions, the choices, the actions, and the behavior that are going on in your life are your own. And whatever it is that you're engaging in, well, God's promise is you reap what you sow. And so you will reap the results of

of the life that you live. Moving on to verses 21 through 29, we get point number three, though. And here God says, it's not the end. Point three is, I have real opportunities to change. This is really good news, especially if you're in the position of, well, wicked behavior and wicked practices. God wants you to know, look, you're not stuck in that place. You're not stuck in that condition of practicing wickedness and therefore reaping the death of

that comes from those practices. No, there is a real opportunity for you to change. At the same time, this is a great message of hope for the wicked. At the same time, God intends for it to be a message of warning for the righteous, that you would take heed and understand you have been righteous, you have been walking with God. That does not then mean that you should stop walking

or that you're okay in ceasing or turning or changing directions. Whether you're righteous or wicked, God gives you the very real opportunity to change. Now God's going to lay out two scenarios. Again, two hypothetical situations to help us think through these concepts. The first scenario he gives us is a wicked man who turns from his sins. Verse 21 through 23 says this,

Verse 23. So God says...

Here's this wicked person. They've been doing wickedly. They don't love God. They've wanted nothing to do with God. They've committed crimes. They've committed abominations. They've done great wickedness. But then they come to a place where they make a decision and they turn from their sins. And they begin from that point to keep my statutes. And they begin to do what's right. God says that person was wicked.

but turned and did what's right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. God says that person is not stuck forever in that wicked condition, but there is the opportunity to change. There is the opportunity and we could think, what about all the wickedness that was done before? In verse 22, he says, none of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him. Like this is huge, right? Amazing grace, great mercy.

He could have 99 years of wicked transgressions. But in that 99th year, he turns, he changes, he seeks after the things of the Lord and walks with God. God says none of those things. And we can be horrified by that, or we can be really blessed by that. Because, well, we are in the position of being wicked and needing to turn to righteousness, right? That describes every one of us before Christ, right?

And so there is this great opportunity, this great option to change. We're not stuck in the position of wickedness. God says, look, I don't have any pleasure in the death of the wicked. God really does love people. He really does love every person. He is just and holy and the wicked will die for their wickedness. But at the same time, God says, I don't take any pleasure in it. It doesn't bring me joy.

And so when the wicked turns from their wickedness and begins to walk in righteousness, God says that I can take pleasure and I will give that person life. We have a real opportunity to change. And we celebrate that. It gives us great hope and joy. But again, there's an inherent warning as well. As we go on to verse 24, we get the second scenario. And here God lays out for us a righteous man who changes. Verse 24 says...

But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed. Because of them, he shall die. God lays out this second scenario. It's a little bit more somber for us. Here's the righteous person.

99 years filled with righteousness. And then changes, makes a turn, and begins to do according to the abomination that the wicked man does. God says, shall he live? He says, no, he, well, he will die because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed. And because of the sin, because of that guilt, he shall, God anticipates some objection to this. Verse 25 says,

Yet you say the way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel. Is it not my way which is fair and your ways which are not fair? Again, we are inconsistent in applying these things. And in considering these things, we want everything to work out in our favor. And so we apply truths the way that we want according to what we want and the way it works out for us. In essence, we would prefer it

if we can have a righteous reward for wicked behavior, if we kind of boiled it down to the bottom line, we would prefer if we can live however we wanted to, if we could do anything that we want, if we could walk however we want, but receive the reward of the righteous. God says that's not the way that it works.

We still picture in our mind the idea of like, okay, good works, bad works, you know, you kind of weigh them on the scales and you want your good works to outweigh your bad works. And, you know, as long as your good works outweigh your bad works, you're safe. Now, if your good works don't outweigh your bad works, well, then you're in trouble. Now, if that was the way that God worked, we would all be in trouble. If that was the way that God worked, there would be no real opportunity to change because, oh, we are sinful.

to the uttermost. And we cannot, with as much effort as we try, we cannot make up for our sin. We cannot pile on enough good works on that side of the scale to try to compensate and account for the sin that we've committed. If that was the way that God worked, there would be no real opportunity for change. But there is a real opportunity for change. God says, no matter how much wickedness is piled onto that side of the scale, you can pile it up into the heavens and

But the mercy and grace of God extends beyond the heavens. And they're new every morning. And there is the opportunity for the wicked person to turn. And the amazing reality that God says, none of the wickedness. God will not bring it up again. The wicked turns. We're washed. We're cleansed. The sins are cast as far as the east is from the west. All those truths that we love, that we hold on to. Oh, amazing grace. Good things. Awesome.

And we should celebrate that. That is great. But also receive then the warning that is coupled with it. That is, if you are righteous and you are walking with God and you turn from God, you really do have the opportunity to change. It's a real choice. It's a real opportunity. And God honors the choice that you make.

Now, as we consider these things, of course, in our minds, we're starting to work through, okay, wait, what does this mean? And how does all this play out? And is this saying that a person can lose their salvation? That's a doctrinal debate that has been raging for several thousand years already. I'm not going to try to resolve that in the few minutes that we have left. Instead, I would encourage you, try not to frame it in those terms. Try not to get distracted by...

All of those are kind of loaded concepts, the eternal security and all of that. Try not to get sucked into that right now. But look at what the Lord is saying. He's saying, look, previous generations, next generations, they don't cover. You're not guilty for them. You're accountable for yourself. And then for your own self, listen, previous things or things that you hope to do in the future,

Those don't cover you or excuse you either. What you're accountable for right now is right now.

And you cannot look back at how good you've been over the past, you know, whatever years and say, but look how good I've been, so I'm safe now. You know, I haven't engaged in that sin for a long time, so I'm okay to just like, you know, enjoy it for a little bit. Or I've earned, you know, and I've worked really hard and I've been righteous and so, you know, I have some room to breathe here. I can, you know, engage in some sin. I can go this direction and I'm safe.

God is laying out the real opportunity for choice, which is a great blessing in that we can be forgiven of our previous sins. But it's also a warning that you have the opportunity to turn from God. You have the opportunity to turn and do wickedness. A lot of times we like to focus on the starting line. You know, the Christian life is referred to, illustrated as a race.

Sometimes we get focused on the starting line. We get focused on part of the course. And we can celebrate and rejoice how well we started and how well we ran that piece of the course. And we get so caught up and consumed by that, we forget that what's really important is the finish line. There's the saying, it's not how high you jump, it's how straight you walk when you hit the ground.

We can have an explosion of conversion, right? We can have awesome points of our history where we were knowing God and walking with God and faithful to God. And it's all wonderful things, wonderful segments of our race. But the whole race is important. It's not just one piece or how it began or one segment. But how are you going to cross the finish line? Where are you right now? Are you in the race? You have real opportunity to change. And you know, I mean, if you just think about a marathon, right?

Lots of people can start a marathon, any of us, without any training or preparation. We can just sign up, walk on the field and start. But if we don't finish, we don't finish. And we can never expect to be rewarded as one who finished if we don't finish. But a lot of times what happens is we think we've earned something great because we've gone a quarter of a marathon. We're like, we're set. And so let's stop off for some coffee or, you know, hop in over here. And we deviate from the course.

God allows U-turns. And we celebrate that in the turning from wickedness to turn to the Lord, but we also need to receive the warning that's coupled with that. God allows U-turns. Not that he wants you to U-turn, not that he rejoices in it, but he will honor your choice. You have a real opportunity to change. You know, there are some serious and clear warnings throughout the New Testament. And again, the doctrinal debate sometimes can be a distraction from, well, the realities that God declares.

Just to give one example, Galatians chapter 5, Paul says, the works of the flesh are evident in contrast with the fruit of the spirit, right? The result of righteous life, the result of walking with God and being filled with the spirit is these things. Now, here's the works of the flesh. And he goes on to list a bunch of things. Again, we're not going to get into the details there. But at the end of verse 21, he says, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who practice such things. Here's a warning. Don't practice those things, right?

There's a big difference in a person's life. Now, again, it's not about keep yourself from those things that you are righteous. No, it's keep yourself close to God in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the result will be an outflow of righteousness. And those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God because they are not walking with God. Those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God because they chose. Maybe they at one time chose

We're walking differently, but now they are walking this way. God is saying, those who practice these things, I honor their choice when they choose to go that way. I honor their choice when they turn towards me. I honor their choice when they turn away from me. Back here in Ezekiel 18, verse 27, it says, and when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.

Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? We can easily accuse God of being unfair because, well, all of my righteousness is forgotten if I turn and practice wickedness. That's not fair.

But I rejoice when all of my wickedness is forgotten when I turn and practice righteousness. Right? That's, I love that. That's awesome. And again, what I want is a righteous reward without the results or the requirement for righteous living. And God is saying, no, look, I'm fair. I deal with each one individually.

According to where you're at, again, you're experiencing circumstances, you're experiencing consequences of decisions that were made before you, and crimes have been committed against you, and yes, you have difficult circumstances, but how you handle those circumstances and your response, that's all on you, and that's what I deal with you according to. If you choose to walk in wickedness,

If you choose not to walk with God, if you choose not to seek the Lord, if you choose not to find out His will and His plan, if you choose not to, then you'll be dealt with accordingly. But that's not the end. You have opportunity to change. God invites you to come back.

And if you choose to seek after and pursue the Lord and find out his plan and his will and how he wants you to handle those situations and the attitude that he wants you to have and seek him for strength to deal with the situations at hand, then all your life is gonna be filled with the righteous behavior that results from knowing God. But then don't count yourself as safe and I don't need to live righteous or know God anymore because look at all the good that I've done and turn to wickedness. No, God says your opportunities are real.

And if you change, your change will be honored. He honors your choice. It's not a one-time choice, but it's an ongoing choice to choose to know God and walk with him. That's my personal responsibility. Now, finishing up in verses 30 through 32, we get point number four, and that is God wants me to choose life. The good news here at the end is that God's on your side.

He wants you to choose life. He wants what's best for you. In verse 30, it says, therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord. Therefore, turn and live. God says, look, here's how it is. I will judge you each according to his own ways. This is the way that God works. Again, this is my personal responsibility. God is going to judge me according to me.

He's the standard. The standard is righteousness. I will be evaluated by, well, how did I do with what the Lord gave me? How did I do with what the Lord had revealed to me? How did I do with the responsibilities? What did I choose? Did I choose to know God and walk with Him? Each one, no matter what your parents did, no matter what your children do, no matter what society around you does, no matter what everybody else does, each one is

Gets to choose, but also must choose and will be judged accordingly. And God says here, I'm weighing in on which choice I want you to make. Choose life. Repent. Turn. Don't let iniquity be your ruin. Cast away the transgressions. Get yourself a new heart and a new spirit. Where do you get those? You get those from relationship with God. It's a new covenant. And

By faith in Jesus Christ, we get to have a new heart. We get to have a new spirit. We get to have a new opportunity. Why should you die, O house of Israel? I don't have pleasure in that. I want you to choose life. God is with you. He is for you. He's calling out, choose life. Don't live in sin. Don't disengage from a relationship with God. Don't deviate from the path of righteousness. Do deviate from the path of wickedness.

But then once you do and you're on the path of righteousness, then stay there. Don't dabble with sin. Don't play with sin. Even as believers and those who have known the Lord, we can find ourselves beginning to blame others and excusing our sinful behavior. But it's covering up, it's masking the danger that we're in and the reality that is there. I need to understand my personal responsibility. I have nobody else to blame for my sin. I will receive the results of my own behavior.

I have real opportunities to change and God wants me to choose life. Let's pray. God, I pray for us as we consider these things and wrestle with these truths. Lord, as they bounce around in our heads and hearts, I pray that you would help us to have a real clarity from you. Lord, we easily deceive ourselves. Lord, we easily discourage ourselves and we often misunderstand where you're at.

thinking, Lord, that you're angry with us and you want us to fail or you want to destroy us. But Lord, you're there on the sidelines rooting for us and calling for us to choose life. I pray that you would help us to do that. Lord, not to rely upon past choices, past decisions, past behaviors, but Lord, help us right here, right now, in this moment, to seek you, to know you, to trust you. Help us, God, to live for you with all of our hearts.

And Lord, any area where we are allowing sin or dabbling in sin, any area of wickedness, help us to recognize that and turn from it. Lord, there is the real opportunity to change, to turn to you and receive a new heart and a new spirit. Would you change us? Would you transform us? Help us to walk with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.