We Are All Responsible

The people of Israel had been saying that God was unfair and unjust in His dealings with them. They expected that God should save all of them because they were His chosen people.

Though they were God’s chosen people, they had sinned greatly against Him. But they really expected that in their time of trouble, He would overlook their sin and save them.

In their unwillingness to accept the responsibility for their own sins, the accused God of unfair treatment.

The thinking of the Israelite people lives on in the lives of people today. There are those who would tell us that we live in a Christian nation --- that we are favored by God.

He loves us so much, that He cannot do us any harm is the way they think. These folks are not willing to accept the responsibility for their own sins. They feel it is unfair of God to deal otherwise with us – than to save us.

Really, they are right about saying that God love us so much that He can do us no harm ---because it is not He who harms us ---but we who harm ourselves because of our sin.

“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?”’ Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.“Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die in it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them. Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.” Ezekiel 33:10-20

This text gives us several reasons why we must stop sinning and realize that God is fair and that it is we who must change, and not God who should change.

I.                It is God’s preference (vss 10-11)

¹⁰ “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

The Hebrew people were asking, “How can we live? God, if you are so cruel in your dealing with us and our sin, how can we survive?”

They realized they were sinful (as they said – “we are burdened with our sins”).

They realized that their lives were being wasted. They were extremely near a fall --- extremely near to captivity, and they were afraid.

And, in their fear ---- they questioned God.

Don’t we, today, sometimes do the same thing?

We come upon a crisis in our lives – we become afraid, and we cry out to God ---- “Where are you? Don’t you see what trouble I am in? Don’t you care? You are not looking out for me!”

God has an answer to the questions the Israelites asked, and he has an answer to the questions we ask.

II.              Good will not be remembered (vss 12-13).

¹² And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ ¹³ When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.

God’s Word says that when a good man sins, the good he did earlier is not remembered. It will not save him.

The Hebrew people were God’s chosen ones. They lived – for a while – close to God – they were faithful followers.

But --- they turned away.

God is now telling them that the days when they followed Him closely will not save them now, as they continue in sin.

Likewise, we cannot expect God to save us if we rely upon a period of time in the past when we were doing good but have now turned away from serving God.

He judges us, not by what we were, but by what we are now – today.

It is possible to live a good life for 50-60 years, or more, and at the end, turn away from God.

All the good done in those many years is completely wiped away --- not to be considered as good in the judgement – unless we have turned back to serving God as we did before.

Only the heart of today will be considered at the judgement.

And, of course, the penalty for not returning – the penalty for sin --- is eternal death.

III. Evil is forgiven and forgotten (verses 14-16)

¹⁴ But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, ¹⁵ if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

God says that He warns the evil man the he is going to die because of his sins.

But, if that one stops sinning and does what is right, he will not die.

God’s warning is not too severe as many believe it to be.

He gave the same warning to the Hebrew people long years before the Christian age.

He has sounded that warning to us as well here in the 21^st century.

We have heard it loud and clear through His Word.

Paul clearly states it in his message to the church in Rome – Romans 6:23 –  “the wages of sin is death” ---“if you commit evil, you will die because of it.”

But, just as God offered the Hebrew people an opportunity for life if they would stop sinning and follow the Law, He offers life to us through the blood of Jesus Christ, if we will turn from our sins and obey His commands.

He says that our evil will be forgotten – forgiven – just as good will be forgotten when a good man turns away from God.

Several years ago (April 12, 1978)  this news article appeared in the Evansville Courier:

“Three years ago, a television set, a clock, and an antique quilt were stolen from the home of Charles Noice.

On Sunday, Mr. Noice found, on his doorstep, a cardboard box containing the remnants of the quilt, washed so many times it was falling apart.

Attached to the box was a note in which the burglar said he sold the TV set to support his drug addiction – which he has since kicked.

The note stated further --- “I am now a Christian. I pray that the Lord will speak to your heart and you will forgive me.”

God will forgive the sins of sinful people. Then, He promises life.

As He says in verse 11 – He does not enjoy seeing a sinner die.

But He would rather see all men turn from their sins so they may live – eternally.

IV. God Is Fair (17-20)

¹⁷ “Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die in it. ¹⁹ But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

In this Scripture we find the people saying that God was not treating them fairly.

His response is that it is they who are not right.

They were seeing men of good character being punished – while others, known to be sinners, were left unpunished, and actually prospering.

This is one of the main reasons people today are confused about God and His dealings with people in general.

We can look in our own community and see people we know to be evil. Yet they are prospering.

Seemingly, they have all they need – and with no harassment or punishment from God.

We look at these people, and their lives, and say, “they are doing alright without God --- it surely is unfair that I have to be restrained in my life.”

For, on the other hand, we see others who are imitating the life of Christ  in their own lives – always doing good – but they lack all the material blessings of life.

Surely, God is unfair in his dealings with them, we say.

We must realize though, that God IS fair and just. He knows the time to deal with each one.

While the rain falls on the fields of the sinful farmer, at the same time it falls on the fields of the righteous farmer to make the crops grow.

At His proper time, God will deal individually with each life.

We are left with two choices:

1.    We can allow our good lives to become evil,

2.    We can allow our evil lives to become good.

The punishments and rewards for our choices are given in verses 18 and 19:

An evil life reaps death ----- A good life gains life.

The Hebrew people thought – in their human minds – that as God’s chosen people, they were granted a guarantee of security.

They believed they could not fall from their safe position.

God informs them now that they were wrong. They will be judged by what they do, not because of who they are.

When God judges us, He strips us of all titles, and all nationalities, and classes of people.

He only sees us as people  - we are either obedient or disobedient.

He does not judge us by who, or what we have been in the past --- but by who, or what we are today.

Past honorable deeds are forgotten when we have turned away from God.

Past evil deeds are forgotten when we return to service to Christ.

To put all this in a single statement – God calls us to stop sinning.

He wants us to realize that He is Just – He is Fair.

And it is in our weak eyes and minds that we sometimes see His dealing with certain people in way which seen unfair to us.

We are individually responsible for our own sins.

In His final judgment He will not judge a nation; He will not judge a congregation; He will not judge a family ---- He will judge individuals.

Look back at verse 20 in our text – “I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

God is not pleased when anyone dies in sin.

He would rather we turn from sin so that we can live.

His answer to our “How can we live?” is “Why do you want to die?”

He offers salvation to us through Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus we are brought out of danger, out of trouble, and allowed to have life – here and in eternity.