MAKE A CHOICE; TO
LIVE OR DIE
Ezekiel 18:1-13,
31-32
MEDITATE ON GOD'S WORD
V:I. "The word
of the Lord came to me."
A. Any time you open
your Bible and start reading, the Word of the Lord is coming to
you.
1. The Word of God
is a living Word.
2. The Word speaks
to all people in all times.
3. The Word is
always relevant to your situation.
B. Jesus said heaven
and earth will pass away, but My Word is eternal.
1. The Word
contains directions and inspiration for our lives.
2. The Word is the
only source of truth.
V: 2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb
about the land of Israel
A. People say a lot
of things that are not true.
1. The general
meaning of this proverb was that the sons inherent the sins of the fathers.
2. In other words,
we are in the situation we are in because of what our fathers did.
3. This was just a
way of not taking responsibility of our actions.
B. Where we start in
life may be the result of what our parents did.
1. Your starting
circumstances does not determine your
end.
2. To many people
have started in poor circumstances and ended up being
rich in every
area of their lives.
3. Everybody is
responsible for the outcome of their lives.
V3 "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,
you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel ."
A. Every issue, whether true of false can be settled by
studying the Word of God.
1. God's commands
apply to us individually.
2. God gave the
Nation of Israel His law for worship and obedience to Him.
3. Individual
blessings are conditional on individual obedience,
4. Proverbs 3:5-6
states: " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your
own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your
paths
straight."
B. Every person will have to stand before Jesus and give
account for his deeds.
Romans 14:12
1. Every day we
have an opportunity to do good or to do evil.
2. The decisions
we make have consequences; good or bad.
V: 4 "For every living soul belongs to me, the father
as well as the son — both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who
will die."
A. God is the creator
of all things.
1. The Word of
God says of Jesus; Every thing that was made was made by Him and
nothing was
made with Him.
2. We are each
responsible for living according to God's commands.
B. The Lord, the sovereign creator made every thing and
everyone for His
purpose and according to His divine plan.
1. God gifted
every individual with a mind to know Him and to know right
from wrong. Hab 2:14
2. From the
beginning, God made Adam responsible for his environment.
3. Like Adam, God
gives each of us the ability to make decisions, right or wrong.
C. God hold each of us accountable for our decisions.
1. The text says
the soul that sins shall die.
2. In the New
Testament, God says, the wages of sin is death.
3. The sons are
not responsible for the fathers sins and the fathers are not
responsible
for son's sins.
4. God owns each
of us. He has not made any of us responsible for anyone's
sins.
In theses next few verses, from 5-13 gives us comparison
between the good man
the evil man. Verses 5-9 are the actions of those who have
life, and verses 10-13
are actions of those who will die. Those who live do the opposite of those who
die. We are taking
about the consequences of our actions ending in eternal life and eternal death.
THE LIVING
V:5 "Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is
just and right."
A. The first
characteristic of a living soul; one who has eternal life is
righteousness.
1. He lives and
acts according to God's Word.
2. He delight in
the law of the Lord.
B. The righteous man is just.
1. He seeks to do
the right thing.
2. His heart is
set on not mistreating anyone.
C. He is right or lawful.
1. He follows the
divine Laws of God.
2. He seeks to do
what is morally right.
V: 6 He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the
idols of the house of Israel .
He
does not
defile his neighbor's wife or lie with a woman during her period."
A. The one who has life does not worship idols.
1. He does not
participate in idol worship services.
2. He does not
see the Temple or anything as an object to be worshiped.
B. The one who has life does not commit adultery.
1. God hates
adultery. Lev 20:10
2. God meant for
the marriage bed to be undefiled.
3. In marriage,
the husband is to respect the menstruous
cycle of his wife.
1 Cor 7:4-5
RIGHTEOUS DEALING WITH NEIGHBORS
V: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."
A. The one who has
life does not act violently toward anyone.
That is peacefulness.
B. He returns that
which was taken in a pledge. That is
lawful
1. In Old
Testament times, if a man coat was take as a pledge, it was to be
returned at
sun down. Ex 22:26 -27.
C. The man who has life does not take what is not
his. That is righteousness
1.The man who has
life does no steal.
2. The man who
has life trust the Lord for his needs,
D. The man who has
life feeds and cloths the needy.
1. The man who
has life is compassionate.
2. The man who
has life is unselfish.
V:8 "He does not lend at usury or take excessive
interest. He withholds his hand from
doing wrong and
judges fairly between man and man."
A. The Jews were not
permitted to take interest from their fellow Jews. It was allowed
in moderation
with strangers. Ex 22:25 .
1. There are a
number of different ways of taking advantage of another person, and
high
interest rates is one of them.
2. The righteous
follows God's Law in all business dealings.
B. It is the
advantage of the righteous to have the power of the Holy Spirit to fight
the temptation of
doing something wrong.
1. It is power of
the Holy Spirit that keeps us mindful to be just in
all our
transactions with others.
2. We are
reminded to do unto others what we want done to us.
V:9 He follows my
decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will
surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord."
A. The just live by
faith and not by sight.
1. The just live
according to the Word of God.
2. The just give God credit for all his
accomplishments.
THE LIVING DEAD
Verses 10-13 is just the opposite of 5-9
10 "Suppose he
has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things 11 (though
the father has done none of them): "He eats at the mountain shrines. He
defiles his neighbor's wife. 12 He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits
robbery. He does not return what he took in pledge. He looks to the idols. He
does detestable things. 13 He lends at usury and takes excessive interest. Will
such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things,
he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.
1. This passage is a comparison between the living and the
dead
2. This passage is a comparison between light and darkness.
2. This is a passage is a comparison between righteousness and sinfulness.
3. This is a passage is a comparison between good and evil.
4. This is a passage is a comparison between the desire to
please God and the desire
to please self.
V:31. " Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have
committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel ?
"
A. The God we serve is a loving God.
1. He reminds us
of our sins.
2. He reminds us
of what it takes to please Him.
3. He gives us the
opportunity to change.
B. God made provisions for our change.
1. Christ Jesus is
the way to Change.
2. Any man in
Christ is a new creation.
3. Jesus said, I am
the way, the truth and the life.
4. In order to have
a new heart, you have to born in Jesus Christ.
C. God does not want any of His chosen to die.
1. Jesus said, I
came that might have life and have it abundantly.
2. No one come to
the Father but through Jesus Christ.
3. No man can come
to Jesus unless He is drawn by the Father. John 6:44
V:32 " For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent
and live!"
A. We have the Word
from the Lord, that He loves life and not death
1. Man is given
the ability to choose God or Satan.
2. Man is given
the opportunity to choose life or death.
B. The prerequisite
for life is repentance.
1. Repentance is
bound up in our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
2. The Israelites
had the Word of God.
3. They had a
choice to believe the Word of God or reject the Word of God.
4. Since the Word
is Jesus, they had the choice to believe Jesus or to reject Jesus.
5. They had the
choice to please God or to please themselves.
WHAT IS YOUR CHOICE?
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
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