Turn & Live (Afternoon)
Download MP3Our scripture reading this afternoon comes from Ezekiel chapter 18. You can find this in your worship guide. The word of the Lord came to me. What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel? The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.
Ben Sciacca:As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die. If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry, and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully, he is righteous.
Ben Sciacca:He shall surely live, declares the Lord God. If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things, though he himself did none of these things, who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest, and takes profit. Shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations.
Ben Sciacca:He shall surely die. His blood shall be upon himself. Now, suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done. He sees and does not do likewise. He does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules and walks in my statutes.
Ben Sciacca:He shall not die for his father's iniquity. He shall surely live. As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. Yet you say, why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father? When the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.
Ben Sciacca:The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.
Ben Sciacca:None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him for the righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Lord God. And not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live?
Ben Sciacca:None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered. For the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. Yet you say, the way of the Lord is not just. Hear now, oh house of Israel, is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
Ben Sciacca:When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. For the injustice that he has done, he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.
Ben Sciacca:Yet the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
Ben Sciacca:Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, o house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God. So turn and live. This is the word of the Lord.
Ben Sciacca:Amen.
Connor Coskery:Let's pray together. Lord, I thank you for this evening, for gathering us together. Lord, I praise you for the opportunity to celebrate baptisms, for new life, Lord. Lord, you've gathered us here to pay attention to your word. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes, open our hearts, open our ears to hear your promises from your word.
Connor Coskery:Lord, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be pleasing in your sight. For you Lord are our rock and our redeemer. Pray this in the name of the father, son and holy spirit. Amen. If I were to ask you what's wrong with the world, how would you respond to that?
Connor Coskery:In the early nineteen hundreds, a magazine, a newspaper in in London decided to pose this question to the public. And writers were able to to submit their responses. And you can imagine, from the myriad of responses that they got, you had everything from war, disease, politicians, education, whatever it might be. But there was one response that stood out. What's wrong with the world?
Connor Coskery:What might be the cause of all the trouble? Catholic thinker GK Chesterton responded simply, Dear sirs, I am. Sincerely yours. Little mic drop. In other words, what he's saying, the root cause of all the world's troubles is me.
Connor Coskery:We are the problem, not they, we. In our passage tonight, the theme of responsibility is at the front. Last week in Ezekiel 16, Joel preached on God's firm rebuke of his people. Instead of honoring the Lord, the Lord who had covenanted himself to them, they despised him. They had run after other gods.
Connor Coskery:And now in Ezekiel 18, we see that the emotional state of the exiles is fragile. Not only are they dishonoring the Lord with the way that they're living, but a proverb has begun circulating around the community. And this proverb is accusing God of being unjust and saying that their suffering in exile isn't deserved. And so the Lord confronts them once again, and he challenges them to life instead of continuing on this path that will only lead to death. As I studied these verses, I was struck by how it resonates with the season of Lent.
Connor Coskery:In many ways, Ezekiel 18 is a quintessential Lenten text. Just a week and a half ago, many of us gathered here for a service marking the transition from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent. Where over the next forty days, we take time to examine our hearts, to root out those weeds of sin, and to turn to the lord. And during the service, Jeff charged us to remember how the Lenten season teaches us that left to ourselves, we are indeed helpless. But because of god's grace and mercy, we are not hopeless.
Connor Coskery:You see, there there are times when the prophets speak in symbolic language that's really hard to interpret but there are times when they speak quite clearly and I believe Ezekiel 18 is one of those occasions where the Lord has spoken clearly with a charge that transcends time. Left in your sin, you are helpless. You are destined for death. But God has no pleasure in the death of anyone. We are not hopeless.
Connor Coskery:So repent, return to the Lord. Here's how I want us to study this passage tonight. As you work your way through these verses, it actually gives us a picture of what an active life of repentance looks like. And while the Christian life is a life of repentance, all of life is repentance. The end goal of repentance is life in communion with the lord.
Connor Coskery:So, three points are going to guide us and each of them serves to answer this question. How do I experience this life that the lord is calling me to? And the three points are, first, we take responsibility for our sins. Second is we turn from our sins. And third is we return to the lord.
Connor Coskery:We take responsibility, we turn, and we return. Those are our three points. So, first, to experience life in the lord, we must take responsibility for our sins. Look with me at verses one through four. The word of the lord came to me What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel?
Connor Coskery:The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. As I live, declares the lord god, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die.
Connor Coskery:So after years of in exile, Ezekiel tells us that the community began repeating a proverb. Fathers have eaten sour grapes and now the children's teeth are set on edge. The images of teeth rotting after eating really acidic fruit. Another way you can interpret interpret this in the Hebrew is that the children have eaten unripe fruit and now their teeth are blunted. Which means imagine like biting into one of those unripe peaches over and over and over again.
Connor Coskery:Your teeth are going to dull out. The message behind this proverb is that the children are suffering because of decisions made by their parents. In this case, the Israelites are in exile because their ancestors disobedience, not their own. And to be fair, they aren't entirely wrong. Ezekiel's been pretty clear throughout his ministry up until this point that consistent consistent, deliberate disobedience is the reason for their exile.
Connor Coskery:In all likelihood, the popularity of this proverb arose from citing the 10 commandments. In Exodus chapter 20 verse five, god after commanding the people not to bow downs to other gods says, for I, the lord, your god, am a jealous god. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. But this is a helpful lesson for why we shouldn't isolate verses and take them out of context. Because if you read the very next verse, in verse six, God says, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Connor Coskery:The issue here isn't God being unjust. The problem is the children are imitating their parents. When God covenanted Himself to them, He demanded that they live as a set apart people. As a holy God, they were called to be a holy people. And God warned them that if they turned the other way and they lived in deliberate disobedience, there would be dire consequences, namely exile from the promised land.
Connor Coskery:This generation is in exile because of years and years and years of disobedience to God's covenant. Instead of learning what not to do from their parents, they've chosen to walk in their footsteps. But the Lord being long suffering and patient, deeply concerned about them becoming a holy nation, he wants them to experience life, not death. Exile was meant to wake them up. It was meant to provoke them, to turn from their sin, to return to the lord in obedience.
Connor Coskery:As a pastor, I had the privilege of doing premarital counseling and and one of my first sessions that I'll do with that when I sit down with a couple is we talk about our stories. You know, our family of origin story, what are those high points, those good things, those key moments, also those key moments that are really hard. And we start there because our past impacts how we live today. For example, if you grew up in a family that's super close and does everything together, that's going to shape the way that you imagine, the way that you dream about your own family. Or perhaps you are a child of divorce.
Connor Coskery:You might carry a bit of skepticism about long term relationships. You carry the wounds from a broken relationship. Whether your home was peaceful or chaotic, all of us receive burdens from our parents. But while I make a point to say that your story matters, I want to overemphasize that your story doesn't define you. Whatever pain you have passed down or inherited doesn't necessarily determine your future.
Connor Coskery:I know there are some who inherit unshakable burdens. But many of us have the choice each day to repeat the brokenness of our past or to go the other way. It's good and it's right. It's it's good and right to lament, to grieve, and to sorrow over our past, the choices that we made, and even how they flex into the present today. But in the case of Israel, that's not what's happening.
Connor Coskery:By spreading this proverb, they aren't lamenting, they're deflecting. And they're pointing the finger back at God saying, I don't deserve this. This isn't fair. And the Lord responds to them. He says, I'm gonna have none of it.
Connor Coskery:He's the creator, the sustainer of everyone and everything. All souls are his. And each person is responsible for choosing life through obedience or death through disobedience. And in the middle middle part of this this passage, Ezekiel explains this dynamic further with three case studies. In verses five through nine, they describe a faithful man who experiences life because of his obedience.
Connor Coskery:And then in verses 10 through 13, this faithful man has a son who instead of imitating his faithful father chooses a life of violence. But the father isn't punished because of his son's disobedience. The son bears the consequences of his own choices. And then they and then he takes it to a third generation. The third example in verses 14 to 20, we see that the violent son has a son.
Connor Coskery:And again, he doesn't inherit the righteousness from his grandfather who was a faithful man nor is he condemned because his dad disobeyed. Instead, he chooses to obey and walk in obedience to the lord and he experiences life. Ezekiel's doing this to dismantle the message behind this proverb. It's repetitive for a reason. It's meant to to convey that this proverb has no place, That our decisions today matter.
Connor Coskery:That we can't even rely on that past obedience hanging on. It's like, I was really good back then. Our decisions today, our choices today matter. God's people aren't merely inheriting consequences. Instead, they chose to follow their ancestors' disobedience.
Connor Coskery:Now it's up to them if they want to experience life or keep down the path that leads to death. Often when we read the Old Testament, we can give the Israelites a hard time, but there's nothing new here. We all attempt to wriggle free from personal responsibility from our actions. Accountability is painful. So, we we're really good at deflecting.
Connor Coskery:We inherited this trait from Adam and Eve. The original blame shifters, right? Who who quickly pointed the finger when they were confronted by god after eating the forbidden fruit. As our society increasingly prizes the individual, it's only becoming more natural to shift blame and to refuse acknowledging when we're wrong. After all, who can argue with you when it's your truth?
Connor Coskery:Which is why we need this challenge from Ezekiel. Just like the exiles needed to take personal responsibility, we need to hear and to respond to this same challenge. Let me ask you, what sin in your life are you justifying away instead of taking responsibility? What sin are you continuing to nurture instead of putting it to death and turning the other way? Where when you sin, you say, it's not hurting anyone.
Connor Coskery:It's not that bad. Everyone else is doing it. They made me do it. If it wasn't for blank, fill in that blank, then I wouldn't have done it. Whatever sin you are harboring, thinking that it isn't a problem, hear Ezekiel's warning, the soul who sins shall die.
Connor Coskery:All sin leads to death. It will never satisfy you. It's like drinking salt water. It might gratify in the moment, but it will eventually kill you. And Satan wants nothing more than to keep our eyes focused on something outside of ourselves, whatever that may be, instead of taking an honest assessment of what's going on inside of our hearts.
Connor Coskery:Because it's only when we examine our hearts and root out the weeds of sin that we can truly experience life. Which leads us to our next point. To experience life, we must turn from our sins. Look with me at verses 21 through 24. Verse 21 says, but if a wicked man turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live.
Connor Coskery:He shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him. The righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? What we see here is that God meets our sin with his mercy.
Connor Coskery:He takes no pleasure in the death of anyone but desires all to turn from their sin and live. God meets our sin with his mercy. In our here in our reformed ish circles, we we talk a lot about grace. But I'm afraid we don't talk enough about god's mercy. You see, grace is when god gives us what we don't deserve.
Connor Coskery:Whereas god's mercy is when he withholds from us what we do deserve. And as we continue our journey through the prophets, I want you to keep an eye out for God's mercy because it's all over the place and it's everywhere here in Ezekiel 18. God would have been totally just to condemn Israel. Following Adam and Eve's disobedience, man is born into sin. This means that we all have a sin nature.
Connor Coskery:We don't wake up one day and choose to sin. It's our default setting. And Paul tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god. That we're dead in our trespasses and sins and that the just penalty for sin is death. The Lord's judgment would be totally just after one sin.
Connor Coskery:Which is why verse 22 is so incredibly comforting. Instead of forsaking his people, God promises that if you turn from your sin look at verse 22. It says, none of the transgressions committed shall be remembered. None of them. God in his mercy, he takes no pleasure in the death of anyone.
Connor Coskery:Second Peter, he would later he would tell us that the Lord is patient towards you wishing that none of you, that anyone should perish, but that all should reach repentance. When we think about God's mercy, this doesn't mean that we can do whatever we want and that God will turn a blind eye. God's mercy isn't something we should presume or take for granted. His mercy should provoke us to repent, to turn around, to change your mind. For those of you gathered tonight, for those of you who are here who are still unsure about Jesus, I want you to hear Ezekiel's plea, repent.
Connor Coskery:Stop trusting in yourself. Trust in the Lord who freely offers you forgiveness and life. Wherever you are, leave your sin behind and live for what God loves more than what the world offers. God makes clear that the soul who sins shall die, which means death in this life, which means that whatever you are pursuing is never going to lead to life, is never going to satisfy. And it also means death in the next life, where you are eternally separated from the Lord, from the God of the universe.
Connor Coskery:Repent. Stop trusting in yourself. For those who are followers of Jesus, repentance isn't just a one time thing. It's not something you do and then get baptized. We need regular rhythms to examine our hearts, to confess our sins.
Connor Coskery:James promises that when we confess our sins to one another, when we pray for one another, we actually experience healing. We're healed. For example, in I'm the youth pastor. In a youth group, we take one Sunday, the second Sunday of every month and we for a dedicated time of confession called walking in the light time. It's a simple rhythm where we gather in small groups and we unpack the junk in our heart, we pray for one another, and we receive the assurance that we have in Jesus.
Connor Coskery:The scriptures tell us that when sin is brought into the light, it dies. And this let me say this, this simple rhythm that I do with teenagers has strengthened my faith. As I watch guys and girls gather together, confess their sins, pray for one another and find freedom in Jesus. What might it look like for you to gather a couple of friends or just one friend and to dedicate a regular time to come together and to confess sin. Not just say what's hard, not just confess burdens, but confess sin in our hearts, to lay it out there and let it die by the grace and mercy of Jesus.
Connor Coskery:I believe that this is vital to experience life in the Lord. This is why we do gospel confession in home groups. Because we believe that we need regular spaces where we get honest with ourselves and honest with the lord. Can I encourage you? Don't skip these nights.
Connor Coskery:Don't see these nights as a night off. Don't see these nights as a time for extended life updates. Lay your hearts before your brothers and sisters. Pray for each other and encourage one another the forgiveness and assurance that you have in Jesus. If we're going to turn from sin, we need each other.
Connor Coskery:We cannot do this alone. We need one another to call us out when we're slipping back into those patterns of self justification, of blame shifting. And we need one another to motivate us to a life of obedience, reminding us that it is only in God's presence where there is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Proverbs 2eight 13 assures us, it said, whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, But the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Whoever conceals will not prosper.
Connor Coskery:In other words, it will lead to death. But the one who confesses and renounces finds mercy. Let us take responsibility and turn from our sin. And when we turn, finally, we return to the Lord who is both the source and giver of life. Look at verse 31 with me.
Connor Coskery:Verse 31 says, cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O Israel O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God. So turn and live. We're sinners born from sinners.
Connor Coskery:Judgment is deserved. Mercy is not. It should astonish us that the one we have rebelled against is the one who is begging us to repent. In response to Israel's rebellion and accusations, God offers grace and life instead of death. And according to Ezekiel, life looks like walking in obedience to the Lord with a new heart and a new spirit.
Connor Coskery:There's a way to read Ezekiel 18 and perhaps you've even felt this way as we read it and to conclude that you need to get to work. That there's work to do when you leave these doors. That what you do is what ultimately earns God's favor. But then the Lord says that the only way you can do any of this is if he does what is impossible for you to do. To remove your heart of stone and to replace it with a heart of flesh.
Connor Coskery:For Israel, this promise of a new spirit and a new heart, it was ultimately a promise of restoration. Ezekiel's gonna talk a lot about this. It was an assurance that this discipline, this exile, it won't last forever. One day, God's people will dwell in the promised land, and they shall be his people, and they will be their God. This was a promise prophesied for God's people in exile and is the promise finally fulfilled for us in Jesus, where we are simultaneously we're given and filled with the Holy Spirit and receive new hearts that see and sorrow sin and that desire to turn and return to life in the Lord.
Connor Coskery:God cares about your righteousness today. He cares about your righteousness today, not living in the past, but our lives today. And if we're ever going to live righteous lives, we need a new heart. We need a new spirit. And the good news of the gospel is that God cared so much about your righteousness today that he provided it for you.
Connor Coskery:This is why Paul pleads with us in second Corinthians. On behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. In other words, repent, turn around, change your mind. Because in our repentance, we are given Christ's righteousness. He says, be wrecked on behalf of Christ.
Connor Coskery:Be reconciled to god for our sake. He made him to be sin, who knew no sin so that in him, we might become the righteousness of god. When you turn from sin and return to the Lord, he secures your righteousness, your rightness in the eyes of God. He he secures it completely. And from that moment on, the only place that He remembers your sins, the only place is at the foot of the cross.
Connor Coskery:And at the cross, at the foot of the cross, that's where Jesus took your guilt, your shame, your wickedness, your self justifying, your blame shifting, He took it all upon Hisself and then He exchanged for it abundant life. Ezekiel's plea to Israel is a plea for you and me today. Turn and live. And it's the the same plea that you heard at that Ash Wednesday service if you were here, or when you walked up to the front and you received ashes, you heard, Repent and believe the gospel. The great reformer Martin Luther, he famously said, The entire life of a believer should be repentance.
Connor Coskery:All of life is repentance because it's only through this turning and returning that we can experience life and communion with god. Communion with the Lord is the goal today and forever. That's where life is found. The shalom, the peace that our hearts long for is the day when generation past and present will all be gathered together and there will be no more exile. There will be no more pain.
Connor Coskery:There will be no more sin. There will be no more death and there will finally and fully never be the need for repentance. Instead, we will be with our God and with the lamb surrounding his throne in worship. On that day, God's people will finally be in God's place, under God's rule, experiencing the abundant life with the Lord forever. Friends, left in our sin, we are helpless.
Connor Coskery:But God, being rich in mercy, has rescued us and made us alive together in Christ. We are full of hope. Therefore, let us vow, let us commit this evening to be a community who chooses honesty instead of blame shifting. Knowing that our sin was judged on the cross and God meets us with his mercy. Let us be a community who examines our hearts to root out sin and to turn from it believing that we are washed and clean, fully forgiven in Christ.
Connor Coskery:And let us be a community who returns to the Lord. Trusting that walking in obedience to him is where abundant life is found. Church, repent, believe the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, may we never lose sight of the exceeding wickedness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, and the exceeding wonder of grace and mercy.
Connor Coskery:Help us Lord to live lives in obedience to you, to honor you with everything that we have. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen. I
