Ezekiel chapter 18. The title of the message is, Personal
Sin and Personal Salvation. Personal
sin and personal salvation. The Scripture says, "...and the
word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, What mean ye that
ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are
set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God,
you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel."
Behold, all souls are mine. As the soul of the Father, so
also the soul of the Son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. But if a man be just, and do
that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of
Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
hath come near the minstreless woman, and hath not oppressed
any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled
none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, hath
covered the naked with a garment, He that hath not given forth
upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn
his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between
man and man, hath walked in my statues, hath kept my judgments
to deal truly. He is just. He shall live, saith
the Lord God. personal sin and personal salvation. Now, in this opening verse, the
Lord, by the prophet Ezekiel, rebukes the Jews who were now
in captivity and in bondage to Babylon. They were in ruin. The nation was ruined. The temple was destroyed. Their houses burned Their women,
their children ravished, they're taken into captivity. They had all become slaves now.
All was lost. All was lost. Now God had revealed
to them the root of their division, of their sin, was based upon
the sin of their kings. Now, as a nation, you remember
that when Solomon, his heart was divided between his wives
and the Lord God. You remember he promised him
that the nation will be divided because of his sin. Because of
the sin of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided. You remember
that that man Jeroboam was raised up and he took half of the nation,
he took ten tribes of the north and he refused to, he made those
temples up there in the north and would not allow his people
to return and worship God where he had preserved or prescribed. And that was because of the sin
of Solomon. And now in Judah, it was the
great sin of Manasseh that eventually brought them to this place, to
Babylon. In Jeremiah 15, in verse 4, God
is very clear. He said, I will cause them to
be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh,
the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did. And Judah,
you remember, he offered up those children as burnt sacrifices
to those false gods. He was a wicked man, an evil
man, worshiping false gods. And so now the fulfillment of
this judgment had come to pass. They were in captivity. They
were ruined. Children of these wicked men
were now eating and reaping what their fathers had sown. And so
what did they say? They began to recite this proverb.
Look at it in verse 2. The fathers have eaten sour grapes
and the children's teeth are set on edge. You ever see...
It would be kind of funny if one man ate something sour and
another... and his son began to taste it. Began to eat... began to be bitter
to his tongue. And no doubt the nation of Israel,
as a nation, was being punished under the judgment of God for
the sin of their kings, as well as the sins of the people. The people. We know this sin
has consequences, doesn't it? It always does. And we have kings
and rulers. Surely their sin affects everyone
that they rule. There's no doubt about that.
And so it was with Israel. And so it has been with all nations.
And I want you to pay attention to this because it's happening
right now with us. This nation is under the judgment
of God. I don't care what men say. They
hate to hear that. I know they do. Oh no, America,
great, we're just, we're really, we're gonna, we're gonna persevere.
No, we won't. We'll be like every other kingdom
that ever lived. We're not super special. This
is going to happen because of the sin of this people. Because
of the sin of this nation. It is not the sin of this nation,
just as great as the sin of Manasseh. Men are offering children up
every day to the altar of abortion. They just offer them up for the
pleasure of the flesh. They do it daily. Millions upon
millions of them are being killed and slaughtered. We are now being
ruled by women and children. That's a sign of God's judgment. A sign of God's judgment. They
say it's prosperity. You know, that's progressive,
right? That women and foolish little
men are running the country. That's a sign of God's judgment. That's not progress. And listen, God will soon bring
this nation to ruin just like He has done every other nation
that has not turned to Him. And surely the sins of our fathers
have affected us. Our sins will surely affect our
children, isn't that right? If you commit sin, does it just,
is it isolated with you? No, it affects everyone around
us. It affects everyone around us.
But I want you to understand this. Whatever sins we have that
affect other people, these are outward. These are outward things. If a man and a woman are divorced,
it surely affects their children. That's just the way it is. It
does. You cannot tell me it doesn't.
It hurts, it's painful to everyone around them. Sin is always painful. It causes grief and sorrow. But listen, these things are
very small in comparison to inward sin. The outward circumstances
of sin are very almost insignificant compared to inward sin. Personal sin. Personal sin. Now these Jews were blaming their
fathers, not only for their outward circumstances, but because of
their own rebellion against God. These people rehearsed this proverb
for one reason, to clear themselves. That's all they want to do. They
wanted to take the blame and shift it to someone else. Well,
it's all our father's fault. It's all our father's fault. by this they were trying to charge
god with injustice you know what they're doing it's our father's
fault we're here why do you keep us here Look at verse 25. He says, "...yet you say, the
way of the Lord is not equal." In other words, they're saying,
you're not just for doing this. How can you put on us what our
fathers did? That's not right. That's not
right. Okay, but what about your sin? What about your sin? This sin of blame, of shifting
blame, is not new, is it? What did Adam do when he was
exposed? What is the first words out of
his mouth? Was it, Lord forgive me? Lord have mercy on me, I
have sinned against you. Is that the words out of his
mouth? No. The woman you gave me. It's your fault, she did
it, you did it, I'm blameless. That's what he said. What did
the woman say? It was the devil's fault. The
serpent, he beguiled me. Shifting blame has always been
around. Even here where the Jews blame
their fathers and know so now, it is the philosophy of this
generation to blame parents. Tell me it's not. It's all my
mom and daddy's fault. I'm a drunk because my daddy
was a drunk. I'm a drug addict because my
mom and daddy didn't treat me right, because I didn't get what
I wanted, because they didn't give me what I needed. It's their
fault I am what I am. I'm a whore because my daddy
didn't love me enough. This is serious. This is exactly
what is happening right now. This is this generation's philosophy. It's someone else's fault that
I am what I am. God says no. It's your fault for who you are.
You are who you are because of you. Sin is personal. Sin is personal. Now look what God says. He said
you're not going to say this to me anymore. He said, I'm going
to show you something so you cannot say this to me anymore.
I'm going to stop this right now. Here it is. Behold, all
souls are mine. The soul of the Father and also
the soul of the Son is mine. Is mine. Listen, God made you,
God gave you life, God gave you breath, and you belong to Him
whether you like it or not. You belong to God. He owns you.
Oh, that's a horrible thing to say in this generation. They
don't like slavery. I don't care. You are a slave
to God. You are. Now, man rebels against
his master. But God says, I own you. I own
your soul. The soul of the father and the
soul of the son belong to God. How twisted is it when he said,
I sold my soul to the devil. Did you hear that? It's not yours
to sell and the devil owns no souls. You got that? God says your soul and your soul
and your soul and this soul belongs to Him. What does that mean? He said, I'm going to judge it.
I'm the judge. Your soul belongs to Me, and
I'm going to judge it. And what's the result? The soul
that sinneth, it shall die without a doubt. The soul that sinneth
individually, personally, I will judge every soul individually,
father, son, daughter, and mother. I own it. I will judge it in
righteous judgment. And justice demands perfect righteousness. And any soul that sins, any soul
that sins, individually, personally, shall die. Now listen, if you're
a drunk, it's because you drink. Blame who you want to. It's your
sin. It's yours and yours alone. If
you commit adultery, you can't blame the whole anyone else but
yourself. You did the act. You did it! It's your sin. If you lie, if you steal, if
you commit murder, God says you will not be able to blame anyone
else but yourself and I will judge you for it. I'll judge
you for it. I will judge every action, every
thought, every word, every deed, every motive with pure, righteous,
holy justice. Why? You belong to me and I'll
judge you. That's what God says. You won't
be able to blame anyone. No one else but you. Now we know this is true. That
in Adam all died. Scripture is very plain about
that. He was a representative man of every one of us. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. For all have sinned." We all
died in Adam by nature. We are absolutely ruined, born
sinners. By the disobedience of one, listen,
many were made sinners. Therefore, we all by nature are
unable and unwilling to obey the law of God. By nature, we
are an enmity against God, and even when this blessed gospel
is preached of hope and joy and peace and forgiveness, we still
rebel. By nature, we still will not
come to Christ, because we cannot come. And yet, let me be clear,
as the Scriptures is, you may blame Adam for your nature, but
you can't blame him for your sin. You are what you are by nature
because Adam sinned. But your sin belongs to you. It's yours. How do you reconcile? I don't have to. I don't have
to. It's so. It's your sin. Therefore
God will judge you, father, son, daughter, and mother, according
to your own sin. The eyes of God will search you
completely, thoroughly, look inward and outward, in the body,
out of the body. He will look on your hearts,
your thoughts, your motives, your intent. Why? Because the
law of God is spiritual, not carnal. people mistake that that
is indeed that is a horrible mistake it is a damnable mistake
to think the law is just something you must obey outwardly it is
something you must obey continually inward and outward in thought,
in heart, in motive, in deed the Word of God is living and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing into
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow
Listen, "...and is the discerner, the judge of the thoughts and
intents of the heart." Our Lord made that very plain,
didn't He? "...If a man lusteth after a woman in his heart, he
hath committed adultery already with her." You see, sin is spiritual. And so then, today, let us be
honest. Seeing that God owns us, let
us lay out our souls now before His bar. We should lay out our souls,
and let us cease to blame others for our sin, but rather confess
our sins. Confess our sins. We should do this because it's
vital. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. But what of the just man? What
will God do with the just man? Now, a sinner he must punish.
A sinner he must kill. But what of a just man? Well,
a just man must live. And in verses 5 through 9, God
displays who a just man is. If you want to live, then you
must be a just man, a holy man. And God lays it out. Look at
this in verse 5. He says, "...but a just man."
If a man be just and do that which is lawful and right, And
he hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes
to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled
his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to the minstreless
woman, hath not oppressed any, but hath restored the debtor
his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread
to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with the garment. He
hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand
from iniquity that hath executed true judgment between man and
man hath walked in my statutes and kept my judgments to deal
truly he is just and he shall surely live now first thing about
a just man is this he worships God alone that's what that phrase
up here at the top hath not eaten upon the mountains neither hath
lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel he worships
God alone They set those idols up on the mountains. They used
to have feasts on top of the mountains with these idols. And
that's what he's talking about. He does not worship a false god. He worships God alone. Which is the first commandment,
isn't it? That's right, I know that God's before me. That law
you summed up rightly. that he must love the Lord his
God with all of his heart, with all of his soul, with all of
his mind, and with all of his being. That's the first great
commandment, isn't it? And so the just man is one who
loves God continually, perpetually, never worships a false god, ever.
And see, this man set his love above his lusts. He said he doesn't
follow after his neighbor's wife. He doesn't come near the mistress
woman. What is that? He said, He loves
God above his own passions. And not only does that, he follows
the second part, which is having to deal with his neighbor. Listen,
he hath not oppressed any. He restores a debtor his pledge. He spoils none by violence. He
gives bread to the hungry, covers the naked. He giveth forth not
to usury. He doesn't commit his hand to
iniquity. He executes judgment between man and man perfectly.
This man is, a just man is full of compassion, loves his neighbor
as himself. And so he sums it up in verse
9, whom the just man he walks in my statutes and keeps my judgments
to deal truly. He is just and he shall surely
live. You remember the psalmist in
Psalm chapter 24, he asked the same question about approaching
God. He says in verse 3, who shall
ascend unto the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? Here it is, the just man. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn
deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. Alright, who's
the just man? Now the just man shall live.
Okay, who is he? Is he among us? Who among us
could raise their hand? Could say, that's me! None. If you are honest, you must confess you and I are
not just. This book speaks of only one
just man. That is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is the only one who is just. Since we have all been born in
sin, by nature of our Father, and none of us have escaped,
we could not claim to be just. All have sinned, all have sinned,
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. But Christ, Jesus, is the holy
and sinless Son of the Father, one with the Father in spirit
and equal in righteousness. Why do you think he was born
of the seed of the woman? To escape the corruption that
is the seed of the man. In Adam's seed. We inherited
our nature. But you see, He inherited His
nature from God, because He is God. And therefore, He was born
of the seed of the woman, without sin. And He did no sin. He alone loved God with all of
His heart, soul, and mind, and His neighbor as Himself. He alone,
the only man, ever the walk the face of this earth that did that.
The only just man is Jesus Christ. I often think about John chapter
6 when he fed those people who he knew were not his own. He fed them. He had compassion on them. Truly, You have to be, then, as good
as Christ to live. You have to be as good as Christ
to live. But we must confess there's none
righteous, no, not one. So how, then, may a sinner be
righteous? You can't blame anyone else for
your sin. Your sin is yours. So how, then, could you, being
a sinner deserving death, be made just and receive life? That's the question. Since every
soul belongs to God and must be judged, seeing its soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die, how can we be made just and live? Look at verse 20. God here repeats what He just
told you. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither the father bear the iniquity
of the son. That's what those other verses in between this
is showing. He's showing that by son and father that they're
not bearing each other's sins. The righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Oh, here. Here's hope. Here's hope. But if the wicked will turn from
all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and
do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live and not
die. All his transgressions that he
hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him in his
righteousness that he hath done." He shall live. He shall live. Now look now and see that none
but Jesus Christ is the righteous man. We are sinners worthy of death,
yet God has made a way. Only one way by which sinners
could be made righteous, and that is by the death and obedience
of the just man. That he should be a substitute. Friends, that's a good word for
the gospel, is substitute. that the just man should substitute
himself for the wicked. You see, Christ came not to condemn
us. Isn't that what He said? I came
not to condemn the world. Why? It's already condemned.
He had no need to condemn you. You were already guilty. He came
not to condemn the world, but what? To save it. The just man
came to save the world by his obedience. The law and the conscience
condemns man already, but Jesus Christ came to save the lost
and ruin sinner. As by one man many became sinners,
even so by the righteousness of one shall many be made righteous. The obedience of one. Therefore,
Hear the statutes of the Lord to do them. What are these statutes?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the statute of God. This
is how the law is fulfilled. Through Christ. Through Christ. He alone has
fulfilled the law. Isn't that what Paul says? For
Christ is the end of the law. For what? Righteousness. To who? Everyone that believeth. Everyone
that believeth. So what? Are you wicked? Have
you heard what God said about your sin you have committed?
Then hear what He says in Hope. Turn you from all your sins which
you have committed. Turn you from your weakness. Turn from your sin. What is your
sin? What is your sin? I'll sum it up this way. All you are and all you do is
your sin. You must turn from all you are
and all you do. Because everything you do is
full of sin. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth that every imagination of the thought,
before it became a thought, it was sin. Before it popped into
your head, it was already sin. Before you put your hand to the
work, it was already full of sin. You have to turn from that. How many times you hear this?
Are you a believer? Are you a Christian? Well, I'm
trying. Nope. You need to stop trying. You
need to turn from that. You need to turn from trying to be a Christian.
Because that's not anything but sin. And so then we must turn from
every overt, open wickedness and even from what we call righteousness. Which is nothing more than filthy
rags. And then what God says, He says, all your righteousnesses
are as menstrual cloths. Filthy rags. Turn from that to
what? To Jesus Christ. To Him. Turn by faith to Him
alone who is the righteousness of God to everyone that believeth. To everyone that believeth. See
then that the fulfillment of the just man spiritually as it
is mentioned in our text. Look back over there at the just
man. I want you to see how this is Christ fulfilling for us what
we could not do. Look at this. First of all, His
love for God. His love for God. Who else could love God with
all of his heart, soul, and mind but God? Are not the angels even
folly in His sight? And yet here, only God could
love God with the love that God deserved. Thus Christ came down to do that,
to fulfill the law. And look at this, when He hath
done this, what is He doing? Verse 7, He hath not oppressed
any. Isn't that how He came? Meek
and lowly in heart. Not come to condemn, but to save.
And how does he do it? Listen, he hath restored to the
debtor his pledge. By nature, by the law of God,
we were a debtor to the law. A debtor because of our sins.
Sold under sin. Chained to the law and justice
of God. By the just condemnation of God.
But Jesus has come and paid the debt. The debt of our sin has been
paid. The righteousness that we could
not perform, He performed it. He spoiled none by violence. Oh, how He hath spoiled His enemies,
not by violence, but by His submission and death. By His death. He has spoiled our enemies. and hath given bread to the hungry. Isn't that what he said? Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but with the meat that endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man, which meat the Son of Man shall give
unto you, which is his flesh and his blood. He is the bread
of life. And he'd done this for the righteousness
and atonement of his people. And so then look now, sinner,
and behold his sacrifice. Turn from your sacrifices and
look to his. Stop trusting in your offerings
and look to his. You're wicked. You have committed
sin. You deserve death, but I'm telling
you of one that's already died. for sin. The just for the unjust. In strict justice, God made Him
to be sin for us who only knew righteousness and then executed
true judgment between man and man. Isn't that what He did?
He executed judgment by His one offering for our sins. Isn't that what it said? The
soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. Did He not surely die? And so all then who eat of Him
by faith..." What does He do? Look at that next thing. He says,
"...He covered the naked with a garment." Isn't that His righteousness? He covers us with His righteousness.
We were naked. We had committed sin. What does
He do? He takes His just righteousness
and He clothes us in it. He wraps us in His righteousness.
So then when God sees us, what does He see? He sees a just man.
He sees a holy man, a righteous man. Look back over there in
verse 22 and all his transgressions to everyone that comes to Christ
to everyone that believes in Christ This is what the owner of our
souls and the judge of our soul says all his Transgression that
he hath committed now. He's not pretending you didn't
commit it Now right. This is not a pretend thing.
He knows you've committed it. You did commit it you confess
to it and They shall not be mentioned. You know why? They're not there. They're gone. Christ bore them away. You remember the scapegoat? All
of the sins were confessed on the scapegoat, and He bore it
away, never to be seen again. Never to be mentioned. Do you
realize that God will never condemn us for sin? If we have turned
to Christ, never will He condemn you because He's already condemned
it in His Son. He's already justly punished
it in His Son. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die, and it has died. In Christ, He died bearing our
sin. And now we have His righteousness. And look at that, He said this,
"...in His righteousness that He hath done, He shall live."
Romans 8, "...there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus." who walked not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. For, this is it, for the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of
sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Listen, for
this purpose, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. All who are in Christ are made
the righteousness of God in him. What does Jeremiah call him in
Jeremiah 23? The Lord our righteousness. That's what Christ is called.
The Lord our righteousness. And He is. He's righteous. He's
the just man. But what does He call us in Jeremiah
chapter 33? He said, and in that day she
shall be called. The church, His people, shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. I like that hymn, poem. With thy holy garments on, I
am as holy as God's Son. What mercy! For us who should have died, yet in mercy we have turned to
God and found righteousness. and so now god speaks to you
who have not turned look at verse twenty three look at it very
carefully god says have I any pleasure
at all that the wicked should die and not that he should return
from his ways and live The Word of God is clear that
the death of the wicked is God's strange work. But mercy is His
delight. Now this we know is not absolute
because it is really the fulfillment of God's will. He hath blinded
the minds of them that believe not. He blinds the minds of those
that are not His. And they shall perish. What does
this mean, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked? What
it means is this, there's no satisfaction. Why do you think hell is eternal? Because God will never be pleased
with their death. Think I, that I have any pleasure
in their death? No! They can never pay, they
can never burn enough, they can never die enough to save themselves. What He has pleasure in is this,
if one turn and believe. on Christ. Why? Because all of
his pleasure is in Christ. All of his joy is in Christ.
I like this. This is my beloved Son. In whom? Not with whom. In whom? I am
well pleased. Therefore, everyone in his Son
is pleasing to God. Because he has satisfied God's
justice. He has put away sin. Now let me ask you this, is it
not just right that the wicked deserve eternal damnation? That's just right. That's just. Is it not also right that the
righteous deserve to live? Yes. That's right. Then how could men say God's
judgments are unright? How could they blame someone
else for their sins? They won't, and they can't. They can try, but they can't. But seeing God has sent Christ,
there is life to all who believe on Him and repent. Look at verse
30. Therefore I will judge you, O
house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God.
Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions
whereby you have transgressed, and make you a new heart and
a new spirit. And why will you die, O house
of Israel? for I have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth. Sayeth the Lord. Wherefore, turn
yourselves and live you. Live. I'm going to ask you, if God's going to judge you and
you know it, you can't blame anyone but yourself, and yet
God has given Christ so you might be saved. Why will you die? Why will you die? And if you die, who will you blame? You will only have yourself to
blame. Can you not see the compassion
in the voice of God? Why will you die? Turn and live. Rest in the Son of God and live. And I'm so thankful that just
as surely as the wicked shall perish, those in Christ shall
live. What is the song we just sang?
More happy but not more secure are the glorified saints in heaven. Why? Because of His promise,
the just shall live. Why? Because of the just one,
Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer. Let's go to God in prayer.