A Proverb Gone Wrong

WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:09.830 Ezekiel eighteen, they pick up this book again after a little way, little 2 00:00:09.869 --> 00:00:20.030 time away from it. It begins with a proverb, a proverb about things 3 00:00:20.109 --> 00:00:26.219 being passed on to children from one generation to another. It's a proverb that 4 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:32.380 is being applied wrongly, and the Lord is going to correct that. So 5 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:36.409 let's give our attention to God's word. Now, is ekiel chapter eighteen. 6 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:43.649 The word of the Lord came to me. What do you mean by repeating 7 00:00:43.729 --> 00:00:49.210 this proverb concerning the land of Israel? The fathers have eaten sour grapes and 8 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:54.240 the children's teeth are set on edge. As I live, declares the Lord 9 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:59.000 God. This proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, 10 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.880 all souls are mine. The soul of the father, as well as 11 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.670 the soul of the Sun, is mine. The soul who sins shall die. 12 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:14.230 If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, if 13 00:01:14.310 --> 00:01:18.579 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his head to the idols 14 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:22.819 of the House of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or rep or 15 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:26.420 approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity does not oppress anyone, but 16 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:32.099 it restores to the debt or his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his 17 00:01:32.219 --> 00:01:36.609 bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend 18 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:42.170 at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true 19 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:46.810 justice between man and man, walks in my statutes and keeps my rules. 20 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:52.439 By acting faithfully. He is righteous. He shall surely live, declares the 21 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:56.920 Lord God. If he fathers a son who is violent, a shudder of 22 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.790 blood, who does any of these things, though he himself did none of 23 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:06.670 these things, who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, 24 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:10.750 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, 25 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:16.099 lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends an interest and 26 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:22.419 takes profit? Shall He then live? He shall not live. He has 27 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:28.020 done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood shall be upon 28 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:32.569 himself. Now suppose this man father's a son who sees all the sins that 29 00:02:32.729 --> 00:02:38.689 his father has done. He sees and does not do likewise. He does 30 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:42.289 not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the 31 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:46.879 House of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, does not oppress anyone, 32 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:50.719 exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the 33 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:54.520 hungry and covers the naked with a garment, with holds his hand from iniquity, 34 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:59.750 takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules and walks in my statutes. 35 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:05.150 He shall not die for his father's iniquity. He shall surely live. 36 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:09.389 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did 37 00:03:09.669 --> 00:03:15.099 what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die from his 38 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:21.780 iniquity. Yet you say, why should not the son suffer for the iniquity 39 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:25.180 of the Father? When the son has done what is just and right and 40 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:30.289 has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The 41 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:36.250 soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of 42 00:03:36.289 --> 00:03:38.889 the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The 43 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:45.319 righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall 44 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:50.199 be upon himself. But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins 45 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.080 that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and 46 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:59.069 right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the 47 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:03.509 transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him. For the righteousness that 48 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:09.229 he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death 49 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:13.620 of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should 50 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:18.259 turn from his way and live. But when a righteous person turns away from 51 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:24.569 his righteousness and does injustice and does the same bombinations that the wicked person does, 52 00:04:25.129 --> 00:04:29.129 shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall 53 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:32.529 be remembered, for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he 54 00:04:32.569 --> 00:04:39.680 has committed. For them, he shall die. Yet you say the way 55 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.199 of the Lord is not just. Here now, O House of Israel, 56 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.240 is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 57 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:51.870 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he 58 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:56.870 shall die for it. For the injustice that he has done, he shall 59 00:04:56.949 --> 00:05:00.189 die again. When a wicked person turns a away from the wickedness he has 60 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:03.589 committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life, 61 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:09.860 because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he committed. He 62 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:14.420 shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says 63 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:17.379 the way of the Lord is not just. Oh House of Israel, are 64 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:23.370 my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 65 00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:29.449 Therefore, I will judge you, Oh House of Israel. Every one according 66 00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:32.410 to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your 67 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:39.480 transgrestions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions 68 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:44.199 that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. 69 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:47.839 Why will you die, O House of Israel, for I have no pleasure 70 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:54.709 in the death of anyone declares the Lord God. So turn and live. 71 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:10.500 Sinds a reading of God's word, may He bless it to us. Want 72 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:15.980 to begin by turning to proverbs twenty six nine, and just read this proverb 73 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:19.449 to you. It's a reminder that proverbs are great as long as they are 74 00:06:19.490 --> 00:06:34.600 applied well. Proverbs Twenty six nine says that'salms. There we go. Some 75 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:40.160 of you have already beaten all right, trouber's twenty six nine, like a 76 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:44.199 thorn that goes into the hand of a Drunkard, is a proverb in the 77 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:49.069 mouth of fools. Right, a thorn that goes into the hand of a 78 00:06:49.069 --> 00:06:54.750 drunkard is like a proverb in the mouth of fools. It doesn't do them 79 00:06:55.149 --> 00:07:00.990 any good. It's perhaps even irritating in a way, and it's a mark 80 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:05.339 of their own foolishness. I'm to have a proverb doesn't really do you any 81 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:11.339 good if you are not wise to deal with it, and something like that 82 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:14.699 is going on here. There is, of course, a truth in the 83 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:17.290 proverb that we find in Ezekiel, which is the US. I'll read it 84 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:23.370 in verse two. The fathers have eaten sour grape and the children's teeth are 85 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:28.610 set on edge. Right, dad chumps into something sour and then the children 86 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:32.920 go. There's this this thing that passes from the father to the children. 87 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:39.279 Is the the idea of the proverb. There's something that passes from one generation 88 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:43.519 to the next, and of course we know that's true in all kinds of 89 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:48.189 ways. Biologically it's true. Habits, patterns, areas in which we live 90 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:54.870 all kinds of things, some good, some bad, some neutral. These 91 00:07:54.949 --> 00:08:01.579 are this is something we know to be true. But the people of Israel 92 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:05.019 are applying this in a very bad way, and the way they're applying it 93 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:11.139 is this they are remember is equel is speaking to those who are exiled in 94 00:08:11.019 --> 00:08:16.730 Babylon and he speaks to them and they have this view in their mindset that 95 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:22.529 we are here, we are suffering, our teeth are set on edge because 96 00:08:22.529 --> 00:08:26.720 of what the previous generation did right. They are there in this sort of 97 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:30.560 like, well, what can we do about it? Sort of attitude. 98 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:33.519 This we are faded to be here, this is just, I guess what 99 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:39.639 is. It is what it is and it's and it's all their fall now. 100 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:43.750 This is what they say, but we get a sense that it's a 101 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:46.669 little bit deeper than this. It's not just a throwing up their hands in 102 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.509 the air, it's not just a giving up or a blaming of the past. 103 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:54.830 There's also a blaming of God. There isn't there, and we hear 104 00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:58.700 particularly in the Lord's questions. Are My ways not just? He says it 105 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:03.700 twice and and it comes out in other ways throughout this passage, ways in 106 00:09:03.779 --> 00:09:11.649 which you get the sense very clearly that they are upset, they are feeling 107 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:16.490 that this is not fair, that what has come before is what is affecting 108 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:20.450 them now and that this is not right, that God is not good, 109 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:22.929 that God is not fair. What have we done? Why are we in 110 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:28.840 trouble for what is going on here? Well, in this passage and these 111 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.600 accusations in the midst of their suffering, that God is not fair, that 112 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:37.240 God is not good, God takes his children, through his prophet, and 113 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:41.710 he sits them down and he says, let's talk about this proverb that I 114 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:43.789 hear you saying all the time. We find it, by the way, 115 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:48.789 in other places and other forms are not always in a form of a proverb, 116 00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:52.940 but this idea. In other places, throughout the prophets, the people 117 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:58.539 of Israel were complaining and God says, let's talk about this. He says, 118 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.820 as I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more 119 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:07.649 be used by you in Israel. What God is going to show us in 120 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:13.330 this passage is his goodness and his fairness, and in due time, in 121 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:16.809 the Scriptures and through the prophets, he will also show us His grace that 122 00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:24.720 comes to us in Jesus. Let's begin with the basic point that God makes 123 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:33.679 here in Ezek late teen, and that's that a man suffers for his own 124 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:39.070 sins and is rewarded for his own righteousness. He is fair in this way 125 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:48.070 and he illustrates this by telling us three stories. You could think of them 126 00:10:48.110 --> 00:10:52.580 as kind of a genealogy. You could imagine a three people in your head, 127 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.899 a grant, a grandfather, a son and a grandson, and he 128 00:10:56.980 --> 00:11:01.659 talks about each of these individuals, what they do, their relationship to God 129 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:07.649 and their relationship to one another. He begins with the first man in verse 130 00:11:07.809 --> 00:11:13.009 five. Will call him the grandfather. He says, if a man is 131 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:16.490 righteous and does what is Justin Right, if he does not eat upon the 132 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:20.039 mountains or lift is up to the idols of the House of Israel, and 133 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.519 he goes on. They're describing all kinds of things that this man does. 134 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:30.679 Let's consider them. At first it is summarized as one who does what is 135 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:35.190 just and right. Then he gives some specifications. He does not eat upon 136 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:41.350 the mountains. This is not a prohibition against eating upon mountains. This is 137 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:45.870 a and is is a note about idolatry, places that were often called the 138 00:11:45.909 --> 00:11:50.179 high places. A lot of times Israel would look to the hills for their 139 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:54.059 help. But where does their help really come from? Say The psalms from 140 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.820 the Lord, the God Almighty. But Israel would not look to him. 141 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:01.929 Often they would look up to the mountains, but this man, he does 142 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:05.210 not do that. He does not take his sacrifices up to the mountaintops and 143 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:09.929 sacrifice to the gods. He doesn't do that. Also, in his relationship 144 00:12:09.929 --> 00:12:13.889 with others, he does well. He does not defile his neighbor's wife or 145 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:18.600 approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity. This is one of the 146 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.840 purity laws that is mentioned in Leviticus eighteen. He is concerned, in other 147 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:35.389 words, both about his his the way he treats his neighbor, but he's 148 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:43.509 also concerned about ritual cleanliness. He's also concerned that even in areas of impurity 149 00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:46.820 and temple and cleanliness, that he remains pure. This is his desire to 150 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:50.740 be in the presence of the Lord, and so he does not defile his 151 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:56.059 neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstruation, according to the 152 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.690 impurity laws in the viticus eighteen. He goes on in verse seven. He 153 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:07.769 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debt or his pledge. This 154 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:11.169 is a reminder that sometimes when people would go into debt, they would give 155 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:15.759 some sort of article, a cloak or something else. As I say, 156 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:18.320 I'll pay you back. Right, and then when you get paid back, 157 00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:22.480 you're supposed to give back that item, give back of the pledge, and 158 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.230 there was even requirements to give this back quickly. Right, if you were 159 00:13:26.309 --> 00:13:31.389 very poor and you just gave away your cloak and now it's night time in 160 00:13:31.429 --> 00:13:35.549 your cold, it's the right thing to do to give that pledge back to 161 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:39.549 this person, perhaps even if they're in debt to still so that they might 162 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:46.139 not be cold for the night. This kind of sense of honor and justice, 163 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:50.940 of love for neighbor is continues on. He says he commits no robbery. 164 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:56.009 Not only does he not oppress those whom he perhaps might be able to, 165 00:13:56.409 --> 00:14:01.169 he doesn't rob them either either. Ezekiel goes on. Not only does 166 00:14:01.210 --> 00:14:05.250 he not rob but he is generous, the opposite. He gives his bread 167 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:11.440 to the hungry, he covers the naked with a garment. In financial matters, 168 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.679 he is right and upright as well. He does not lend it interest 169 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:18.639 or take any profit on this is. These are this is not an argument 170 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:26.110 against profit, but excessive, excessive profit. We might call it predatory lending. 171 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:33.549 Today, he goes on and says he withholds his hand from his injustice. 172 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:39.299 He executes True Justice. US between man and man, and this relationship 173 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:41.379 with men there's always tied up with our relationship with the Lord. And so 174 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:45.980 he says in verse nine, he walks in my statutes, he keeps my 175 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:50.740 rules by acting faithfully. He is righteous. This descriptions. We read it. 176 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:54.490 I don't know if you felt this as well, but when you read 177 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:58.450 a description of this kind of hero, this moral hero, there's something that's 178 00:14:58.450 --> 00:15:03.009 satisfying about it in a way like yeah, that's a good person. I 179 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:07.279 want to be with that person, I want to be near that person, 180 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.320 I want to be that person. When we hear these stories and biographies of 181 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:16.320 Heroes, of the saints or whomever, this kind of these high levels of 182 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:22.950 morality, they're inspiring in a similar way. But the flip side of this, 183 00:15:24.149 --> 00:15:28.909 when we hear the villain described at this man's son in verses ten through 184 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:33.990 thirteen, rightly creates an us a kind of like this person is terrible, 185 00:15:35.710 --> 00:15:39.980 this is awful. The flip side of that we have is this person, 186 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:45.259 this sun, who is violent, a shatter of blood, does the opposite 187 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:48.580 of all of these things that we just went he eats upon the mountains, 188 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:52.610 he defiles his neighbor's wife, he oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery 189 00:15:54.049 --> 00:15:58.529 and so on and so forth. In the same way that we esteem and 190 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:04.559 we honor and love the one, we hate and despise the other. We 191 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:08.360 fear the person who would do these things to us, where we would want 192 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:15.000 to draw nearer to the person who does well and his righteous that natural reaction 193 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:19.070 within us, that conscience of our speaking, that echoing with the good and 194 00:16:19.389 --> 00:16:25.110 hating the evil. That's a that's a good thing. And the Lord at 195 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:30.470 the but what is the Lord's point about these two as he describes each with 196 00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:33.460 the one? With the first one, the grandfather were calling him. He 197 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:38.139 is righteous and he shall surely live. He's done well and he will live 198 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:45.059 well. But the son does not automatically get to live well off of the 199 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:51.610 father's righteousness. The son is responsible for his own deeds, and so if 200 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:55.090 he is violent, a shudder of blood, a robber and so on and 201 00:16:55.169 --> 00:17:00.289 so forth, shall he live? Verse Thirteen says, and then answers he 202 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:07.359 shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. 203 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.920 His blood shall be upon himself. It's not dad's fault or the grandfather, 204 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:18.230 it's it's a son here, and then he gives a third a third 205 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:22.670 son here in verse fourteen. Now suppose this man, the son, now 206 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:26.509 fathers a son. So this is the grandson. Now who sees all the 207 00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:30.819 sins of his father. The question, based on the proverb, is based 208 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:36.539 on the violence and terrible nature of this man. Will the sun now inherit 209 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:41.859 this man's death and this man's sins? So here's the answer. Suppose a 210 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:45.329 man father's a son who sees all the sins that his father has done. 211 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:51.410 He sees and does not do likewise. He does not eat upon the mountains 212 00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:55.009 are, lift up his eyes to the idols, etc. Another ones. 213 00:17:55.049 --> 00:18:00.799 He does what GRANDPA did. It lives in that way. And what is 214 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.359 the answer? Well, we read in verse eighteen or verse just at the 215 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:10.000 enniverse. Seventeen, he shall surely live. As for his father, because 216 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.069 he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what is not good among his 217 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:21.069 people. Behold, he shall die for iniquity. And so the basic principle 218 00:18:21.230 --> 00:18:26.660 is really plain. Man Lives and dies in the basis of his own actions, 219 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:33.980 and this is illustrated by these three different generations. A perfect answer to 220 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:41.329 this proverb that has been wrongly applied. The point in all of this is 221 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:48.170 that God is good and fair. He is holding people responsible for their own 222 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:55.329 sins. He is rewarding them for their own righteousness. But we have to 223 00:18:55.369 --> 00:18:59.160 keep one thing in mind, is just little bit of a Sidebar, but 224 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:04.039 a very important one, that when we're thinking about these individual people, we 225 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:12.069 are ultimately thinking about a corporate person. In other words, these three people 226 00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:18.029 are standing in for Israel as a man, Israel as a body. Remember, 227 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.190 it's the corporate body that is making this complaint. It's not just one 228 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:29.180 guy saying I'm suffering from my father's deeds, it's a generation of people, 229 00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:34.539 a whole corporate body, saying we together are suffering because of the one who 230 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:41.569 came before us. So Israel, under the Covenant with God, has failed. 231 00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:45.609 There have been people, is equels a great example, who have not 232 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:49.650 failed, who have done well, who have lived rightly, but nevertheless is 233 00:19:49.730 --> 00:19:55.880 in exile. Why? Because God is dealing with his people here as a 234 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:00.480 corporate body. They together have failed to uphold the covenant, they have failed 235 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.559 to keep it. And according to the Covenant, if you do not do 236 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:10.430 the things according to the law, you will die, you'll be exiled, 237 00:20:10.470 --> 00:20:12.230 you'll be cast out, you will be cast away from God's presence, and 238 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:17.789 that is exactly what has happened here. Israel, as a body, as 239 00:20:17.829 --> 00:20:26.220 a people, as a corporate nation, is suffering a an exile. They're 240 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:30.420 suffering in a way from the presence of God. They're suffering in their bodies 241 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:36.569 and in other ways as well. But they're asking, as a body, 242 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:41.609 why are we suffering? This is our father's fault, and God says here, 243 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:45.210 well, it it is based on each person, or we can say 244 00:20:45.329 --> 00:20:51.839 generations, their own sins, and that leads us to a question. Then, 245 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:56.559 these are one of two things. That's true. Either one Israel is 246 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:00.960 right and God is not fair, or to Israel needs to take a harder 247 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:04.950 look, and maybe they're not as free of guilt as they say they are. 248 00:21:06.829 --> 00:21:10.910 And that is in fact what's going on here. They're complaining and they're 249 00:21:10.950 --> 00:21:14.069 saying, why are you so hard on us? And the answer is because 250 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:19.140 you're doing the things your father did. The answer is because you are sinful. 251 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:22.980 And what we will fear as we go on into Ezekiel Twenty and, 252 00:21:23.059 --> 00:21:27.259 as we've heard in other places, in the founding of Jerusalem, and is 253 00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:32.859 we'll see even in places like Stephens speech and acts, that almost the whole 254 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:38.289 history of Israel's this history of failure. Sure, there were bright spots and 255 00:21:38.450 --> 00:21:42.809 great and holy people. We have a chapter of them in Hebrews, twelve 256 00:21:44.809 --> 00:21:49.200 great things to remember and be inspired by. But on the whole, Israel 257 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.519 failed. She failed to keep the cove that she failed to do the things 258 00:21:53.880 --> 00:21:59.880 that she was called to do. The prophets like Ezekiel came over and over 259 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.910 and over again and she continued to disobey. There was always blame shifting and 260 00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:10.349 pointing at other directions and pointing at God, as they do here, saying 261 00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:15.299 that God is not just, that God is not fair. What God calls 262 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:19.700 them to do here, and has proven in other parts of Ezekiel and will 263 00:22:19.819 --> 00:22:26.140 prove later, is that they're not sinless, that they're here because of their 264 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:30.210 own actions, because of their own impenitence, because of their own lack of 265 00:22:30.970 --> 00:22:38.089 repentance. We know God's desire to save repent and people. We see it 266 00:22:38.210 --> 00:22:42.849 in all kinds of examples throughout throughout the Bible. One of the great ones 267 00:22:42.930 --> 00:22:49.400 is when Jonah goes to preach to Nineveh, like barely gets the sermon out 268 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.559 of his mouth, it seems, and everyone's like, yeah, you're right, 269 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.920 we're really sorry, and let's praise the God and let's give ourselves over 270 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.549 to him and ask that God might save us. They humbly say that the 271 00:23:00.589 --> 00:23:10.150 king might save us from destruction. And God does a repentance in these foreign 272 00:23:10.309 --> 00:23:19.019 people that should call to Israel's heart a sense of a sorrow to observe their 273 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:25.779 own hardness of heart. God calls people to repentance all the time and he 274 00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:30.210 is so ready to forgive. The problem with Israel is that they don't want 275 00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:36.650 it. They don't want to turn from their unrighteousness. They need a new 276 00:23:36.769 --> 00:23:41.210 spirit, they need a new heart, but to keep going after the old 277 00:23:41.289 --> 00:23:48.680 ways, going after the old man, the old heart. So this is 278 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.000 God. One of the aspects of God's grace in this chapter that he takes 279 00:23:55.160 --> 00:24:03.390 this whiny, fatalistic, maybe even treacherous, complaint against their great king and 280 00:24:03.549 --> 00:24:07.589 he turns it into a wakeup call. He says, I've been hearing this 281 00:24:07.829 --> 00:24:15.099 talk, I've been hearing this proverb enough. I am fair, I am 282 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:18.539 just, and if you are suffering in this way, you need to take 283 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:34.009 a good, hard look at yourselves Israel in their failed righteousness project. It's 284 00:24:34.009 --> 00:24:36.849 a bad way to put it, but if you know what I mean, 285 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:45.359 they were doomed from the very beginning. God even anticipates this in Deuteronomy itself. 286 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:48.279 At the end of Deuteronomy it says, and when you have failed to 287 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:52.869 do all of these things. And then he tells them what he will do 288 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:56.910 for them, how he will call them to himself, how he will give 289 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:00.309 them a new prophet greater than Moses, how he will restore to them. 290 00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:07.019 They need a new heart. And what we learn in is Ekiel, here 291 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:11.299 in eighteen and throughout the Old Testament, really the whole Bible, is that 292 00:25:11.460 --> 00:25:18.700 that heart of repentance, that heart of righteousness, does not come by the 293 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:22.849 power of the law. Just doesn't. The law is good, the laws 294 00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:26.690 holy. When we hear we're like, yeah, I want to be like 295 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:30.609 that. Yeah, that's the kind of person I want by my right hand. 296 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:32.849 It's the kind of person I want to walk with, I want to 297 00:25:32.890 --> 00:25:36.599 be with. It's the kind of person that God has called us to be. 298 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:41.000 And yet, as good as it is, it is incapable of producing 299 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:48.880 in us the righteousness that we need. Something needs to happen. A miracle 300 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:55.109 needs to happen to give us a new heart, a new spirit. What 301 00:25:55.309 --> 00:26:00.150 we need is someone to come and be this corporate man for us, to 302 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:04.339 come and be the Israel that Israel is failing to be, and to do 303 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:11.299 it perfectly for all of us. Ian Do good, a commentator whom I've 304 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:15.859 really enjoyed reading and have been blessed by in studying and preaching through, is 305 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:21.210 Ezekiel. He points out, and I think, based on some other folks 306 00:26:21.329 --> 00:26:29.369 work, that this this pattern of these three generations is is probably not an 307 00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:37.079 accidental three, but refers to the last three kings that that existed and ruled 308 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:42.079 over Israel before she was cast into exile. It follows the pattern of the 309 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:47.430 kings and it's right in the middle of these two chapters on either side of 310 00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:52.029 it that is focused on the royal line. If all of that's right, 311 00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:56.630 and I think that it is, it helps to sharpen the point even more 312 00:26:56.589 --> 00:27:03.579 of our need. Ezekiel eighteen is pointing us to our need of someone to 313 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:08.579 come, of a king to come who leads us in this righteousness, who 314 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:15.730 allows us to stand in him. And of course this is what Jesus does 315 00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:19.930 for us. This is what God gives to us. We come to an 316 00:27:21.009 --> 00:27:26.529 end in ourselves and we say, I can't be righteous. I hear the 317 00:27:26.609 --> 00:27:29.569 law, I know the law, I say yes, sir, to the 318 00:27:29.609 --> 00:27:34.519 law and then I disobey the law. I need something, I need to 319 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:41.720 be saved, even from myself, and that's what God provides for us. 320 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:49.069 He gives to us his own son to be righteous, to do and fulfill 321 00:27:49.150 --> 00:27:55.990 the righteous requirements of the law, for us to be the true Israel, 322 00:27:56.109 --> 00:28:00.579 to be that second atom, fulfilling the Law on our behalf. And he 323 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:07.220 does that. When we read passages like this or Psalm fifteen, which is 324 00:28:07.299 --> 00:28:11.099 similar in some ways, ask this question, who shall stand on God's Holy 325 00:28:11.140 --> 00:28:14.410 Hill? The one who is righteous, the one who does what is right? 326 00:28:15.329 --> 00:28:18.569 When we think of Jesus, we can say there's the man, that's 327 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:23.329 the one who answers the question. And because I am in him, not 328 00:28:23.650 --> 00:28:27.640 through the requirement, the righteous requirement of the law, but through faith, 329 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:34.680 receiving that which God gives to me, I too stand in Zion. I 330 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:44.470 too am pure, I too can rest forever on God's Holy Hill. Jesus 331 00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:48.430 comes and gives us the righteousness that we need. He does more than that. 332 00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:55.230 He takes on the penalty that we deserve. Jesus comes and he says 333 00:28:55.859 --> 00:28:57.980 for the one who has done all of those wicked things, he says, 334 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:02.299 I will pay the penalty for it, and that we see that God is 335 00:29:02.420 --> 00:29:07.420 both just and the justifier of men. God doesn't sweep our sins under the 336 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:11.809 rug. He doesn't say well, you not so bad. He looks at 337 00:29:11.890 --> 00:29:15.329 them, he looks at us and he says, yes, you are sinful, 338 00:29:17.049 --> 00:29:19.369 and so I will place the burden of your sin, the wages of 339 00:29:19.490 --> 00:29:25.160 those sin, on my son on the cross. He will die for you, 340 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:29.440 he will pay the penalty for your sins and he will give you his 341 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:36.759 own righteousness. That's why we call it amazing grace. That's why we talk 342 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.670 about how wonderful it is, how good it is to know that we will 343 00:29:41.829 --> 00:29:48.150 not die because of our sins, but not because God is injust because he 344 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:55.339 is just, but also because he's gracious, and he has given that justice 345 00:29:55.940 --> 00:30:03.900 through his own son's death on the cross. So when we hear Ezekul eighteen 346 00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:10.250 and we hear the the whining and the complaining and all of this nonsense that 347 00:30:10.369 --> 00:30:12.769 goes on not only in their hearts, but in our hearts as well when 348 00:30:12.809 --> 00:30:21.880 we relate ourselves to the law. Let's just stop, stop and thank God 349 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:26.640 for his law, thank God for his goodness, thank God for his Justice 350 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:32.839 and thank God for Christ so that we might not be condemned by it but 351 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:37.150 have everlasting life. Let's pray our heavenly