Turn & Live (Morning)
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel 18 as we continue our study through the prophet Ezekiel. The whole all of chapter 18 is there in your worship guide. Don't have a freak out moment. We're not reading all of that.
Joel Brooks:Just wanted it there for you to read or have as a resource. Do any of you grow up with the popcorn makers that they basically look like an iron wok. They heat it up. You just put the oil in it, the seed in it, heat it up, and then the popcorn would would pop in that. Any of you all out there have that?
Joel Brooks:That's what our elementary school had. We had popcorn Fridays, and it was it was the best. It's the only thing I remember about third grade is is that we would have popcorn then, and our teacher would get out one of those little, you know, popcorn woks, and we heat it up, but she wouldn't even put a cover over it. We would get in a circle around it, and as the popcorn popped, we just got to grab it, and we would just eat it. And it was so much fun.
Joel Brooks:And it was a popcorn Friday, and showed up, and that's all I can think about, all I'm excited about, and there's no popcorn maker. And our teacher said, we were no longer going to do that. And we asked why? She said, well, because last week, Chad Wasserman and Chad, I hope you are listening, and I hope you hear this. I still remember that Chad Wasserman threw a bean bag because, you know, bean bags were filled with popcorn seeds.
Joel Brooks:He threw it in to the to the to the popcorn maker because he just thought it'd be really funny, but it splashed hot oil on people, which the teacher probably should have thought about. Anyway, it was just a disaster. And so the teacher said, no more ever again are we gonna have popcorn Fridays. And I was so angry. It's the first time I can remember being punished or treated unfairly because of something someone else did.
Joel Brooks:And I was like, it's it's not fair. I didn't do that. Why should I be punished for his sins? That's exactly what Ezekiel's gonna be talking about in this chapter. He's gonna be going through that, talking about that feeling we have when we think we're being punished, yet we didn't do anything wrong.
Joel Brooks:Someone else is the one who committed the crime, so why am I paying the time for that? So Ezekiel chapter 18, we'll look at the first four verses. 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.
Joel Brooks: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. This is the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:You would pray with me. Father, we need life, and your life comes to us through your word, through your spirit. So would you breathe, breathe your life into us? I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. I bet every one of you in here will have heard the phrases I'm about to say. Better safe than sorry. Beggars can't be choosers.
Joel Brooks:Actions speak louder than words. Rome wasn't built in a day. Two wrongs don't make a right. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Don't judge a book by its cover.
Joel Brooks:I could go on. You recognize these these catchy little pithy statements because they've become well known proverbs in our culture. And the reason they become proverbs is because they're easy to remember, and they're usually true. We all know that you should not count your chickens before they hatch. We know that hunger really is the best seasoning.
Joel Brooks:These we cling to these proverbs. One of the proverbs that was circulating around in Ezekiel's day was this, the fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. This proverb is not only quoted here by Ezekiel, it's quoted by his contemporary Jeremiah as well, so we know it was widely circulated at this time. What does it mean? Well, it means that sometimes children are unjustly punished for the sins of their parents.
Joel Brooks:That although it was the father who ate the sour grapes, it was the children whose teeth were set on edge or whose teeth were irritated. If you have one of those new hip translations out there, it might read something like this, the fathers ate the sour grapes, but the children got the cavities. So so why exactly was this phrase being passed all around, the Israelites? Well, it's because, if you remember, the Israelites had just been conquered by a foreign power. They've just been forced by their by of their homes.
Joel Brooks:They're now living in exile in Babylon, and they're wondering, why did all of this happen to us? I mean, why? And more importantly, and then wondering, why did this happen to them? They're looking for someone to blame. Who is responsible for this condition that I'm in, for this suffering?
Joel Brooks:And their answer, which every generation has since passed down to the other, was this. It's my parents' fault. The the mess I'm in, it's it's all my parents' fault because I did nothing to deserve this. God is obviously punishing me for the sins of my parents. In Lamentations five, Jeremiah, he quotes the people saying it this way, our fathers sinned and they are no more, but we bear their iniquities.
Joel Brooks:Is that true? Is the proverb true? Or was God punishing the exiles for the sins of their fathers? It certainly felt true to them, otherwise, would have never become a proverb. And I would say it certainly feels true to us.
Joel Brooks:Imagine this scenario. Imagine that you you grew up in a household in which your parents were angry all the time. Angry with one another. They seem to always be screaming, yelling at one another. Their marriage eventually ends in divorce.
Joel Brooks:Some of you don't have to imagine that. It's actually the household that you grew up in. Now imagine that you get married, and you find yourself always angry. You're angry at your spouse, you're screaming and yelling, and of course, that makes your spouse scream and yell back at you. As a result, your marriage has become intolerable.
Joel Brooks:It's an absolute train wreck. Who's responsible? Who's responsible for the mess there? Well, it's mom and dad, of course. That's who's responsible.
Joel Brooks:I mean, if your mom and dad had set a better example for you, well, that would have you would have never had this type of marriage. If they had even just once modeled for you a healthy way to deal with anger or conflict, you would have known exactly what to do in this situation, and you wouldn't have chosen to to scream or to yell this way, and your life wouldn't be a living hell like it is right now. Right? Let me give you another scenario. The generation before you went off and fought in an unjust war lasted for years, and it didn't just cost many lives, it also tanked the economy.
Joel Brooks:And now, despite all of your hard work, you're realizing you will never earn enough money to escape your parents' basement. You'll never be able to buy a home of your own. You are forever doomed to live in your parents' basement, and and you have become angry, just so angry when you think about this, you're now antisocial. You spend most of your time in writing vitriol comments on Facebook, and this is what your life has become. Who is to blame for your misery?
Joel Brooks:Well, the generation before you, of course. Right? Or perhaps it's the political party that you didn't vote for. That that's the one that led the nation into such a downward spiral through all of its warmongering or greed. Right?
Joel Brooks:Now picture Ezekiel, twenty five year old Ezekiel being carried off into exile, ripped from his home, now living in a pagan land, he had to at least have to have this this thought, why is this happening to me? I mean, what did I do to deserve this? This is so unfair. Well, what does God say about this? Look at verse three and four.
Joel Brooks:As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine. The souls of the father as well as the souls soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die. Here, God tells Israel that they need to quit saying this proverb because it's bogus.
Joel Brooks:It's completely false, so it should never be uttered again. Then he reminds people that every soul, every soul out there is his, which means that it's not just the previous generation that must someday give an account of their lives to him. This current generation also must give an account of their lives to their creator as well. God owns every soul. Every soul will someday stand before him and must give an account.
Joel Brooks:And the Lord says this, in that day, the soul who sins shall die. In other words, suffering and death only come to those who sin, so we could quit blaming others for all the bad things that happens in our life. We have to quit saying that we didn't deserve this. Trust me, the last thing you ever want to tell God is would you please give me what I deserve? It's the last thing.
Joel Brooks:I mean, if God were to just peel back your heart a little bit and let you see just how dark and rebellious our heart really is, never would you say in that moment, please give me what I deserve. No. Blaming others for our suffering and for our sin is something that has been going on since, the dawn of time. When God confronted Adam after he had sinned, what was Adam's very first word? It's the woman.
Joel Brooks:The woman. The woman that you gave me, her fault. So God goes and he confronts the woman, he confronts Eve. What's the very first word out of her mouth? It's the serpent.
Joel Brooks:The serpent that you put in the garden. I don't know why he did that, but you did it, and the serpent. I mean, humans have been passing the buck ever since the first page of Genesis. Hear me, our initial instinct whenever we sin or whenever something goes wrong in our life is never to take personal responsibility, but always to try to find someone to blame. That is our first instinct.
Joel Brooks:Who can I blame for this wrong in my life? That's why we say things like, I mean, yeah, I said some bad things to you, but you know what? You started it. Yeah, I got angry, but you're the one who made me angry. I'm unhappy, but you're the reason for my unhappiness.
Joel Brooks:It's it's your fault. My favorite example of someone not taking any responsibility for their sinful action is actually in the book of Exodus when Aaron made the golden calf. Do you remember that story? It would be comical if it wasn't so sad. Like Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, and of course, everybody's worshiping this golden calf that Aaron had made.
Joel Brooks:And so he goes and he confronts Aaron. He's like, what did he do? First response, well, these evil people all around me, they're the ones who made me do it. It's their fault. And then when he sees that Moses is not buying that excuse, he switches tactics, and it's much worse.
Joel Brooks:He's like, I mean, really, I didn't do anything. I just took their jewelry, threw it in the fire, out came a calf. I mean, that's the best excuse he could come up with. It just it just came out. It'd be like walking in the kitchen and you finding your toddler, you know, with chocolate icing all over their face.
Joel Brooks:What happened? Don't know. Just walked in the kitchen. Man, yeah, it just happened. Or maybe this would be a better illustration.
Joel Brooks:This would be like saying the only reason that you are so obsessed or equally depressed with the way that you look is because of social media. How it shoves unrealistic beauty standards down your throat. I mean, you didn't want to be that way. You just opened up the app, and out came this idol of beauty, demanding its sacrifice. Here's the truth that you need to write down.
Joel Brooks:Absolutely no one can make you sin. No one. Ezekiel hammers this point home in this chapter. I mean, if I just repeated that point over and over and over, I would be doing Ezekiel justice. No one can ever make you sin.
Joel Brooks:Your parents cannot make you sin. Your culture cannot make you sin. Your boss cannot make you sin. Your friends cannot make you sin. Your circumstances cannot make you sin.
Joel Brooks:And so it's time to quit the blame game. We've got to take ownership of our own stuff, the own our own sin in our life. Everyone has to quit making excuses and accept responsibility. And I realize this because because I'm just like you, that you're thinking, yeah, I hear you say that, but but if you only knew these certain things going on in my life, you wouldn't say that. Some of you are thinking, yeah, but if you actually knew my wife, you wouldn't say that nobody forces you to sin.
Joel Brooks:I mean, she knows exactly how to push all my buttons. If that's you, what you need to do in this moment is draw a circle around yourself, and say that all of your problems are within that circle. That's where you need to focus your energy. All of those problems are right and there. No one else makes you sin.
Joel Brooks:Also, no one else can take away your joy, and that's the good news. Have you ever been sitting in traffic and you see different people? Like, there's a car maybe on the right, a car on your left, and the car on your left, a person is in there just like honking the horn like crazy, smashing the steering wheel, screaming, yelling, doing some one finger sign language. Like just, I mean, they're just so angry and bitter. And then you look at the person on the other side, and they are praising Jesus.
Joel Brooks:They're not in a rush going, they're just that is just cranked up their tunes. You know, you actually kind of wish they'd opened their eyes a little, but they they are like hands up, and they're they're just singing away. Same situation, same circumstance, two completely different hearts. One is letting the circumstances define them, lead them into sin by their own choice, and the the other, well, they're trusting in the Lord, and they're being filled with joy. Your circumstances don't lead you into sin.
Joel Brooks:Your circumstances cannot take away your joy. Draw a circle around yourself. That's if anything's wrong, it's within that circle. Now Ezekiel, he he goes on to give an illustration that stretches three generations. He's going to tell us about a righteous man, who then has a unrighteous son, who then goes on to have a son who becomes righteous.
Joel Brooks:So it's going to stretch three generations. Now, rather than me reading you about each one of these generations, because Ezekiel's very verbose and he's redundant, I mean, he pounds these things in, I'm just gonna read you the description of the first man who is righteous. And so look at verse five. 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 the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry, and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend an 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. He shall surely live, declares the Lord God.
Joel Brooks:Here Ezekiel describes a righteous man. And for him, a a righteous man does four main things. It's not what he says, it's what he does. He keeps the faith. He's not sexually immoral.
Joel Brooks:He's generous with the poor, and he is just. Interestingly, most people or or most political parties will fixate on one or two of those things. I've never seen group or a party fix on all of them. So you might have some that focus on sexual immorality, another that focus on helping the poor. Ezekiel here says that righteous man does all of these things.
Joel Brooks:And he says that the person who does those things will live. And he and he's talking about a person's soul here. His soul will live. And this means not only is this person going to go to heaven, it means that this person now in this life will truly live. He'll become alive, so much so that when he looks at his old life, he's like, I was dead in that life, but now God has truly made me live.
Joel Brooks:He's given me an abundant life, an abundant joy. This person has a son. And if we were to read on, Ezekiel would tell us that this son does the exact opposite of everything his righteous father does. So he's unrighteous. And Ezekiel says that this son shall surely die, and his blood shall be upon himself.
Joel Brooks:That person has a son who looks at his dad and says, I don't wanna I don't wanna live that type of wicked life. And so he lives a righteous life instead. And Ezekiel tells us that that man will not die for his father's sins, but will instead live. He will not die for his father's sins, but will instead live. So in other words, one does not inherit their parents' sins, nor do they inherit their parents' righteousness.
Joel Brooks:Each person is judged by what he or she does. So if you're knee deep in sin and you've made a train wreck of your life, it's on you. You you can't blame mommy or daddy for that. It doesn't matter how bad of a dad you had. I hear people all the time say that they inherited certain sins.
Joel Brooks:May may, you know, you've heard the phrase generational sins. You could try to find that in scripture. You do have sins past a generation, but then it adds Deuteronomy to those who hate me. It's those who make their own choices in this. But people talk all the time about how, you know, they've certain sins.
Joel Brooks:You don't inherit sins. You might inherit some some bad circumstance. You might inherit some bad genes. But sin is on you. Your dad might have been so bad that he essentially tossed you a live hand grenade.
Joel Brooks:And you feel like, I mean, really, how could my life have possibly turned out? I mean, it was obviously just gonna blow up and make a mess. I had no choice. And Ezekiel says, you did have a choice. You didn't have to just stare at the grenade and blame your dad for it being there.
Joel Brooks:You could have thrown away the grenade. He literally says in verse 31, cast away your sin. Cast it away. You don't have to just sit there and look at it and blame others for it. You can choose to have a better life.
Joel Brooks:His point is this, you do not have to follow in the same destructive patterns as your parents. You can have a much better life. This is really good news for us. These people, they thought surely they would be judged for what their parents said. Surely, however their parents lived, that was gonna train wreck their life, and Ezekiel's liberating them from this.
Joel Brooks:It's like, no. You can be freed from those destructive patterns. Your parents, the way they live might be part of your story, but they do not define you, who you are. And you know what? You have a much better father who does define your story.
Joel Brooks:So you are not bound to repeat the sins of your parents or the sins of the previous generations. You can actually choose life. That's where Ezekiel's going. That's how he's gonna end is with that plea for life. But before we get there, I do wanna just say this one thing, to those parents who are here, who maybe have had some kids grow up to make some really poor decisions, And I've not chosen not just chosen to live in a simple lifestyle, maybe they've chosen to abandon the faith completely.
Joel Brooks:Some of you who are in that situation, you've likely beaten yourself up thinking about maybe all the things that you've done wrong, trying to figure out what you did to cause this. I've met with a number of you, and you and you were just wracked with guilt, wondering where did I go wrong? How how did I cause my son or my daughter to live this way? If that's you, hear this truth. You were by no means a perfect parent.
Joel Brooks:You did things both right, and you did things both wrong. And your children have experienced consequences because of your actions. But let me be clear, you did not cause them to sin. You didn't do it. They are responsible for their own actions.
Joel Brooks:That is a guilt you do not have to carry. So your posture needs to be to pray, to wait, to hope for that prodigal child to return. Now, that Ezekiel has been hammering this home for a while now, hammering home that you alone are responsible for your actions, you are not doomed to repeat your parents' sins, He knows that it's likely you have a couple of questions. Questions like this. Well, forget about me inheriting my parents sins, know, or whatever.
Joel Brooks:What about my own past? It's my sense. I mean, if you knew the things I did in the past, you would never say that I could become righteous. This is what Ezekiel has to say to you. Verse 21.
Joel Brooks: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. 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?
Joel Brooks:Declares the Lord God. And not rather that he should turn from his way and live. Ezekiel says, your sinful past will not count against you if you turn to him. The question is, are you turning to him? Have you repented of those sins and are trying to live for God now, trying to live a righteous life now?
Joel Brooks:He's saying your present righteousness is all that matters. The opposite of this is also true. Just as your past sins do not withhold a righteous life from you now, your past righteousness does not matter if you are currently living in sin. He says that in verse 24. But now when a righteous person, if he turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live?
Joel Brooks: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. Ezekiel tells us that past righteousness never covers over present sin. It does not matter how amazing your faith was in the past. Doesn't matter how many good things you did.
Joel Brooks:The only question that matters is, what are you doing now? Are you trusting God now? I've shared this from the pulpit several times, but I feel like a lot of Christians have what I call Uncle Rico syndrome. You all know that from Napoleon Dynamite, Uncle Rico, always trying to relive his glory days out there. And I find Christians all the time are doing that.
Joel Brooks:They're reliving their glory days. They're talking about how, you know, they were that one time they were so generous with their money. They helped people out. They didn't tell other people they did it. You know, it was it was just between, you know, them and God, but they're somehow they're still telling you.
Joel Brooks:They'll tell you about how, you know, at one point they thought they were going to be on the mission field, never quite made it there, but you know, they wanted that. That's where their heart was. Tell about the time they shared their faith, and God used that, and they're always telling about these past spiritual experiences. But they're in the past, and they weren't ever meant to be trophies that you just bring out and you get to show everybody. Those past spiritual successes, they were meant to be stepping stones, leading you to an ever deeper and growing faith.
Joel Brooks:The question is, where are you now? As you sit in this pew now, where are you now? If you are currently living in sin, if you are no longer placing your hope and your trust in God, that past righteousness will not save you. Ezekiel sums up everything by pleading with the people to repent so that they might live. Look at verse 30.
Joel Brooks:Therefore, I will judge you, oh house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourself 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.
Joel Brooks:So turn and live. Those last words are really the focus of the entire chapter. Turn and live. It's it's just reinforcing what he had already said earlier in chapter 16, which we looked at last week. Remember when when God said he found us wallowing in our own sin, wallowing in our own blood, and he spoke to us at that moment, he said, I said to you in your blood, live.
Joel Brooks:I said to you in your blood, live. And we came to life, and he has never stopped speaking those words, Live to us. You don't have to return to sin. Live. So so that's the invitation here.
Joel Brooks:Life is being offered. That's the same plea. He's saying there's no reason to die. I don't delight in anyone's death. Turn to me and live.
Joel Brooks:And those words turn to me and live are just another way of saying this, repent and believe the gospel. Turn and live. Repent and believe the gospel. We turn away from our sins, and we turn to a new life in Christ. We look at all those lists of a righteous person.
Joel Brooks:We're like, I mean, I can't do it. I can't do it. Well, thank goodness someone did it for you. And Jesus did those things for you. I mean, Jesus is the only person who can actually transfer his righteousness to you.
Joel Brooks:Your parents cannot give you their righteousness. Your friends can't give you their righteousness. Your pastor can't give you his righteousness as if it would count for much. But Jesus offers you all of his righteousness. Ezekiel said, give yourself a new heart.
Joel Brooks:Give yourself a new spirit. You can't do that. He'll tell you how it happens in Ezekiel thirty six teaser. But here's the thing. Whatever God commands of you, he then gives.
Joel Brooks:And when he commands that you have a new heart and he has a new spirit, no. They were like, I can't do it on my own. Would you give it to me? He says, yes. Saint Augustine said it this way, Lord, command what you will, but give what you command.
Joel Brooks:So God is freely offering you a new heart and a new spirit here. You know, when we look to the cross, we see the only truly innocent person who was ever punished. Jesus is the one person who didn't deserve to suffer, yet he suffered for our sins. He never sinned, yet he took upon Himself all of our sins. He took upon Himself death that we might live.
Joel Brooks:He's the one who gives you a new heart and spirit. Turn to Him for life. Pray with me. Jesus, I pray that in this moment you would do what none of us can do, and that is change our hearts. Give us a new spirit.
Joel Brooks:I pray that you would give us a a heart of repentance. That right now you would recall all the sins that we are clinging to, and we would just see them for what they are, death. And we would turn from those, and we would embrace a new life anew. Jesus, through your spirit, would you make that happen? And we pray this in your name.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
