Bible Study: September 18, 2024

Okay, well this evening we are gonna go through Ezekiel 18, which is an interesting chapter, a fairly easy chapter to look through, if you will, and to understand. But there are certain points we're gonna learn about as we go through.

God makes some pretty interesting points here in chapter 18. It's in response to His people pretty much asking the question or accusing him of not being fair.

And as you recall through from chapter 17 of the chapters before God has been pointing out the sins to Judah. Israel has already gone into captivity, and people don't want to listen to the things that God has to say. And eventually the time comes where they have to pay the price for refusing to listen to God, refusing to live life his way, and doing those things. So last week, if you'll recall, in chapter 17, we concluded the chapter in a very interesting way when God talked about the throne of Judah being moved from Jerusalem all the way over to modern-day Israel, which in this case would have been Great Britain.

We talked about the daughters of Zedekiah and how God worked all that out so that as Judah fell, then you see that the throne of Judah still exists, but is now situated in the land of Israel.

The low tree has become the high tree. And also, as you look at church history, you see that God moved the true church, Christians, out of Jerusalem at the time of persecution, moved them across the continent of Europe to where they finally settled in Ephraim, and then over to America where the center of the church is today, again, modern-day Israel. So God works these things out. The answers of what's going on are all in the Bible.

And in chapter 18, as we come out of that chapter, we have God answering a question based on a proverb that apparently that was going around in Judah at that time. So let's pick it up in chapter 18 in verse 1.

There it says, The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel again, saying, What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

So what that what that proverb means is, hey, our fathers sinned.

They ate the sour grapes. They were sinners.

But you are paying, you are having us pay for the sins of our fathers. We're suffering the punishment for what they did.

And God says, what do you mean when you're saying that? That is not at all. That is not at all what he's about.

And verse 3, he says, as I live, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.

So in this chapter, he's going to set the record straight.

But as Israel, you know, Israel, Judah, the people of God who, you know, would would say this, hey, we're getting punished because our fathers sinned. Or later on in the chapter, we'll see, well, God's just not fair.

God's just not fair that I'm getting punished this way.

He says he he he sets all that record straight and says things exactly the way we are.

It's interesting that this proverb and this concept shows up in other parts of the Bible as well.

So let's, you know, keep your finger there on Ezekiel 18. Let's go back a couple books to Jeremiah.

Again, you remember Jeremiah was the contemporary of Ezekiel. They were in two different lands. Jeremiah was still in Judah.

In Jerusalem, prophesying about the fall of that city, if people didn't, or that nation, if the people didn't turn back to God. While Ezekiel had been transported as part of the second exile from Jerusalem over to the river Kebar where he is. So always interesting.

They didn't have internet in those days. They didn't have telephones. They didn't have messages going back and forth.

But here God inspires Ezekiel with this proverb and in Jeremiah 31, we see Jeremiah referencing the same thing.

Jeremiah 31 and verse 29.

It says, in those days they shall say no more.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Exactly the same proverb. So the same thing was being said in Judah. That's being said over there in Ezekiel's area as well.

But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

So, in that verse in Jeremiah 31, we see the essence of what God is going to say in more colorful language in Ezekiel 18.

Several times in Ezekiel 18, he will say, the soul that sins, it shall die. Now, if you still have your place in Jeremiah 31, go to the very next book in Lamentations. And after Jerusalem fell, and the people realized God really did mean what he said, and they were going to fall, and they were going to fall to the Babylonians, and they were in, they were out of the city, and whatever they lamented what they had done. So what Lamentation is in Lamentations 5 verse 7, it says, our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.

See what the people are saying? Well, our fathers sinned. They're no longer there, but we're bearing their iniquities.

Servants rule over us. There's none to deliver us from their hand.

We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

So God is, God is, you know, kind of repeating here and showing what Israel or what Judah is saying, and he says, it's not true. Yes, the fathers sinned.

Yes, they did, but it wasn't just because of the fathers sin that the nation fell.

So let's go back with that in mind to Ezekiel 18.

And God is going to give three scenarios here in the first part of chapter 18, all of which are apropos to every single generation in the history of man. You have one generation, the parents, then the children, and the children can either go the way of God or not go the way of God, and God addresses all those situations. So let's look at verse 3 here. As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this, oh, we already read verse 3, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Verse 4, Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father, as well as the soul of the son is mine. What God is saying is, I created all of mankind. They were created for a purpose, and all these people I love, all the people that are born. Yes, he created Adam and Eve, but he also created the mechanism and the reproductive system in our bodies that more children could be born, and he told them be fruitful and multiply. All of humanity is his, Jesus Christ died for all of humanity. God loves all humanity. He doesn't want any of humanity to die, but they do need to follow God's way. Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father, as well as the soul of the son is mine, saying they are individuals. The soul that sins shall die.

And that's something that's repeated a few times in this chapter, the soul that sins shall die. Yeah, Fred, you got a comment?

Yeah, yes, Mr. Shavey, I do have a comment. I remember a while back, I talked about the fallen angels that they might die. So my question is, does this just apply to human beings, or wouldn't it apply to the fallen angels?

Because it says it there in Ezekiel 18 many times, and then in Romans 6, 23, it says, for the wages of sin is death. So could you just make a brief comment on that?

You know, in this verse, it's referring to humans. You know, soul is an afish. You go back to Genesis 1. That's the soul that God created and gave life at that time. Angels are a different set. God is talking about mankind in this chapter. And when he talks about souls in the Bible.

Tracy? Is my hand still up? I did, by accident. Okay, okay, okay. Well, good to have you with us tonight. Thank you. Is it still up? It's still up, yes. Let me see how it goes. I'll know. Okay, okay, very good. Okay, so let's go on in verse 5. Beginning in verse 5, he gives a scenario. I don't want you to pay attention of how much detail God gives. He could have simply said, if everyone who obeys my commands, everyone who obeys my commands and my statutes and my laws, you know, will live. But he goes through detail here, and there's a reason he goes through the detail to show what exactly he is looking to mankind to. He says, but if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, if he has not eaten on the mountains, and that's referring to going up to the place where idols, the Feast of Idols is being kept, if he hasn't eaten on the mountains, if he hasn't lifted up his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel, if he hasn't deviled his neighbor's wife, if he hasn't approached a woman during her impurity, if he hasn't oppressed anyone but has restored to the dead or his pledge, if he has robbed no one by violence but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing, if he hasn't exacted usury nor taken any increase but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true justice or true judgment between man and woman, if he's walked in my statutes and kept my judgments faithfully, he is just. He shall surely live, says the Lord God. Now look at the detail that God is showing there. He's certainly not listing every single statute, but he's talking about more than just rote obedience. He's talking about agape here. He's talking about the heart. He's talking about what comes naturally to the man who follows God. And so he gives all these examples or all these specifics from the Old Testament. And as you read through there, you probably have seen some that, you know, don't apply in the New Testament. But here he's talking about all those things because here's a man who faithfully walks with God. Here's a man or woman who knows the way of God, who knows the statue of God. Here's a man or woman who's led by God's Holy Spirit, who grows in these ways all the time. None of us are this way, you know, the day that we're baptized, but as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, as the Spirit is in us, and as we allow that Spirit, God's Spirit, to develop the fruits of agape, joy, peace, etc., etc., which takes self-control, the ninth of those listed fruits of the Spirit. This is what we become. This is what we become. This is what God wants us to be. So he lists all those things there. This is where he would look and say, this is a righteous man. This is a man who is faithful. This is a man who's doing it from his heart. It might remind you when you read that list of traits there or character traits of the people of what it says back in Psalm 15. So let's go back there for a moment, because God defines in a few places what the righteous man and woman are like. Of course, the Bible is all about that as he teaches us those things. But in Psalm 15, here's the Psalm that we can look at and measure ourselves up against the words that are here.

Lord, verse 1, who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness, who speaks the truth in his heart, who doesn't backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the eternal. He who swears to his own hurt and doesn't change. We talked about that part of verse 4 last week. That means when you make a commitment to God or an oath to someone, you keep it even if it isn't what you want to do later on. You remember last week, we talked in chapter 17 about the king Zedekiah and the oath that he made to Nebuchadnezzar. Then he broke it. He was a traitor. He went out and tried to make an alliance with Egypt behind Nebuchadnezzar's back. Remember several times, God said, you don't break an oath. If you take an oath in my name, you stick with it. This is what he's talking about here in verse 4. If you say it, then do it. He who swears to his own hurt and doesn't change. He who doesn't put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved. So it's keeping the commandments? Yes, but it's the heart that God's looking at. We can just do things, say things, but what does our heart lead us to?

As we go back to chapter 18, while we're in Psalms, let's look at Psalm 24.

Same thing is written there. Psalm 24. Yeah, Psalm 24, verse 3.

So, who may ascend into the hill of the eternal? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who hasn't lifted up his soul to an idol?

You see how some of the things that are listed here in the Psalms we're seeing in Ezekiel 18, who hasn't lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek God's face. So, as we look at chapter 18, and these, what, four through nine, five or six verses here, five through nine, this is what God is saying. If a man does this, God's going to look at him and say, he's a good man. He will live. He won't pay.

I mean, everyone sins. Everyone, we know that. Hebrews 9, 27 is crystal clear. It's pointed to all men to die once, but they won't. They will live, God says. He is just. He shall surely live.

But this is the Father he's talking about in these first few verses here, this first scenario that he lays out here. And then in the next four verses, one, two, three, four, yeah, he, beginning at verse 10, he talks about the child of the Father. So, you have a righteous Father, if you will. And then in verse 10, we have a son who is of a different ilk. Verse 10, if he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood, who does any of these things and does none of those duties, but has eaten on the mountains or defiled his neighbor's wife, you can see he's living his life not the same way the dad did.

He's living his wife completely differently in defiance of God. If he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored at the pledge, lifted his eyes to idols, or committed abomination, if he's exacted usury or taken increase, God asks the question. If he does these things, his dad, his father set the right example, his dad obeyed all those things, but if he's done all these things the opposite of the way that dad has and he hasn't followed as his example, shall he then live?

He shall not live, God says. If he's done any of these abominations, he shall surely die, and his blood shall be upon him. And blood shall be upon him. He did the act. The father set the right example, but the son or the daughter or the child here, everyone's accountable. Everyone's accountable for their own actions. You know, if we remember this, because God has earlier made this same type of statement back in Ezekiel 14, just a few chapters back, and if we look there, in verse 16 of Ezekiel 14, you'll remember that God's talking about these three righteous men, Noah, Job, and Daniel.

Even though these three men—let me see. Okay, let's pick it up in verse 14. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. Verse 16, even though these three men were in it, it is time of trouble, even though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. Only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate. So, again, God is making that same thing. You can't do for your children what they have to do themselves.

You know, it does say in Philippians 2, 12, I think it is, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Yes, we teach our children. Yes, we pray for our children. Yes, we want them to follow our examples. Yes, we would do anything to have them do that. But we can't live our lives and make their decisions for them when they become adults. So, God is saying, yes, you should teach them in the way they should go.

Yes, it's a principle that they won't forget it. They won't forget the way that they've been taught, but they may choose to ignore it. They may choose to go the way of the world. That's their decision, and they will pay whatever recompense for that.

So, God is saying that is a good illustration there in chapter 14 of Ezekiel, and he's coming back to the same thing here in Ezekiel 18. In answer to this question, our fathers have sinned, and we're paying the price. God is saying, well, no, you also were sinners.

Yes, they paid the prior. Yes, they sinned, and they're no more, but you sinned also. Now, let's look at Deuteronomy 24. I mentioned accountability. If they had known their Bible, they would have looked at Deuteronomy 24. As they're asking God these questions, they would know the answer.

In Deuteronomy 24, verse 16, it says, fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin. They should have known that. God isn't changing anything here. It's a matter of knowing the Bible, knowing the Word of God, and living by it, but God does remind us throughout the Bible of the principles, the ways of life, the way of life that he has called us to. So, we have it repeated in many places over and over again because God does provide that witness and warning to all of us as we read these books.

This is the way to live. This is the way to live. The very same thing that you and I will be doing in the millennium, where there's people who are learning God's ways and they are still overcoming the ways that they learned while in this world. We see something that they're doing or a way they're going, and we will be tapping them on their shoulders saying, no, no, no, this is the way.

Walk you in it. We'll be their conscience for a while as they learn the ways of God and learn, oh yes, I have to relearn life, just like you and I do. God's Holy Spirit helps us relearn and lead the way of life that we were living before, behind, and then adapt and choose to live the way of life and practice the way of life he has in the Bible.

So, we have two scenarios. Father is living a good example, life, doing all these things from the heart that God had said, son is not. Son was raised well, son made choices different than dad.

He's not going to be rewarded for his dad's, he's not going to get, or receive life because of what his dad did. It's every person worth his own salvation with fear and trembling. So, back in chapter 18, then, we have the third scenario that God gives here. And again, notice he gives the same details of what a person should do or shouldn't do in each one of these scenarios. So, he repeats it three times. When God says something once, we listen. Well, when we see it three times, it's like, well, here's something very important to God. This is the way he would like to see our lives led. So, verse 14, going back to dad, in verse 4 or verse 5, if however he begets his son, who sees all the sins which his father has done, well, this father didn't have any that God did, so a father who has sinned, if he begets the son who sees all the sins which his father has done and considers, but does not do likewise, kind of has his eye open and like, yeah, that isn't the way of God. I'm not going to live my life that way. And considers, but does not do likewise, who hasn't eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife, hasn't oppressed anyone, hasn't withheld the pledge, hasn't robbed by violence, has given his breads of the hungry, has covered the naked with clothing, might remind you of Matthew 25, when Jesus separates the lamb, the sheep from the goats, who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase, but has executed my judgments and walked in my statutes, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

The father, the daughter did sin, the son didn't. He considered the father's way and didn't make the same mistakes he did. Now, we have, you know, a few examples in the examples of the kings back in Kings and Chronicles who did just that. Some of the sons, some of the sons of the kings, of good kings, became wicked, wicked kings, became just the opposite of what their father. We could think of men like Hezekiah. Hezekiah had some problems at the end of his life, but he was a good king, but then his son was Manasseh, who was completely evil. And then we have a king who disappointed God in his later life. You remember back when we were going through the book of Isaiah, and we mentioned several times that there were four kings that Hezekiah, not Hezekiah, Isaiah, prophesied under. And the first one of those was Uzziah. Remember Uzziah? And he was a good king, but then later on in his life, he let what God had given him go to his head, and he began to think, this is all about me. I've done all these things. And he turned against God in his later life.

His son Jotham is a picture of what we have just read there, verses 14 to 18.

Let's go back to 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles 27. And we see this Jotham. Jotham. And he did see the sin of the Father. So in chapter 27 of 2 Chronicles, verse 1, it says, Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. Verse 2, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. According to all that his father Uzziah had done, remember he did do. He was a good king until the end.

I'm looking at my Bible right now, 2 Chronicles 26, verse 15. It says, he did well till he became strong. But when he was strong in his heart, he was lifted up to his destruction. That's the Father. So Jotham did what was right. According to all that his father Uzziah had done, notice this, though, although he didn't enter the temple of the Lord, which was against the principles for a king to do that. He saw what his father had done, considered what he had done, saw what it did to him to sin against God, and he chose not to do it. Verse 6, then, Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. He established his ways before God. He looked at what his father had done, did what was right, didn't follow the paths of everything he did. He made a conscious decision not to go down that road. You probably, most people on tonight have children. And I know, as we've looked at our children, they all make mistakes. They all have different personalities. And as I, in our two older kids, our six or seven years, that set older than the second set that we had a little later in life and everything. And as I would watch some of the mistakes that the older kids made, it was kind of heartening as we would watch the younger kids because they would size up. They would size up like when they went to college.

This one made a mistake. This one didn't handle things right. And they didn't, certainly the younger two didn't do everything right, but they saw the problems and they considered the ways. And they didn't make many of the same mistakes the older two did, who were wandering into situations that were new to them. This is the same type thing that God is talking about here. A son who considers the way, learns the way of God, and then does what is right. So God says, this one will not die for the iniquity of his father. He's not going to pay the price for what his father did. He will be. God will judge him based on what he did. He shall surely live.

So Ezekiel 18 and verse 18, Ezekiel 18 and verse 18, asked for his father because he cruelly oppressed Rob's brother by violence and did what is not good among his people.

Behold, he shall die for his iniquity. So what God is saying, everyone is accountable for their own actions. And he is just. And he will judge us according to what we have done, how we have lived our lives. So going on then, verse 19, it says, yet you say. So God explains all this, and then he goes, but here you are saying it. You say, well, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? Well, God answers, because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes and observed them. He shall surely live. And then he repeats, the soul who sins shall die. The soul that sins shall die. Death is the penalty for sin.

Of course, we know that repentance in God, you know, God grants forgiveness. Jesus Christ paid for those sins when we genuinely and sincerely repent before God. The soul who sinned shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. It's there in the Old Testament, but it's also repeated in the New Testament. So let's see, because Paul addresses this as well in the book of Romans. Romans 2. And we will.

Let's pick it up in verse 2. Romans 2 verse 2.

We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man? You who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? God is watching what's going on. He knows what is happening, that you'll that you continue in this way. You're not going to escape the judgment of God. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? That's what God is looking for in all of us.

He wants us to come to the recognition of what we do and to repent. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you're treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Verse 6. Who will render to each one according to his deeds? Who will render to each one according to his deeds? Son will pay for his.

Son will be judged by God for what his actions and behavior and lack was, just like the Father will, independently. Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor, and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking and don't obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, they will have indignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil of the Jew and also of the Greek. So, same concept there, same concept throughout the Bible that God is talking about here. Hey, Bill, you got a comment?

Did Eli?

Eli? Eli Hoppe the Infiniest fame? Well, I mean, his sons were bad, and he died, but that was because of the ark, and he was just disappointed, or what?

Yeah, well, remember God said that Eli didn't rear his sons in the way he should. He honored his sons more than God. He allowed the sons to continue to work in the temple, and he should have put them out and said, no, you're not obeying God, you no longer do this. So, God said, you honored your sons more than me. So, he was punished because of his lack of making them be obedient.

Correct, correct, and allowing them to serve in the temple when they were disobeying or disregarding the rules that God had set up. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Okay. Chapter 19. Oh, chapter 18. Okay, so.

Mr. Shady, let's take Tracy Evans also has her. Oh, hi, Tracy.

Hello, Mr. Shady. What about Solomon? Was he considered a bad king, a good king?

Solomon? Yeah. Well, I mean, he started off very good, right? I mean, when he became king, remember, he basically told God, just give me your spirit. Just let me judge these people the way that you want me to. He was very humble, very dependent on God. But, God gave him riches and wisdom.

He let that go to his heart. He disregarded. You know, we could turn to Deuteronomy 17, but do you remember in Deuteronomy 17, God says, actually, that's a chapter we read this week, right? 1670. Yeah, some chapters of the Deuteronomy program, reading program from yesterday, where God said the king, he should read the words of God every day and judge by it. He shouldn't multiply for himself horses from Egypt. He shouldn't multiply himself wives. But what did Solomon do? He did all those things against what God had said. So, at the end, you know, no one knows, you know, I think everyone hopes, as everyone hopes for everyone, that Solomon did genuinely repent before God. But we don't know. Okay. Yeah, he did turn against God and did not live his life in accordance with God's will. He let the riches and the ways of the world take that away from himself. Right. Okay. Okay, if we go back to Ezekiel 18, and we were in verse 20, so we'll look at a again. You can see how God, he keeps repeating this so that Israel will know. I guess so we will know as well. Verse 21, if a wicked man turns from all his sins, which he has committed, keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. What God is saying, okay, you could live your life miserably, you know, but when we realize, in our case, when God opens our eyes and we see we have lived our lives apart from God, and we turn to him, we repent and turn to him with our hearts, minds, and souls, God says, I'm going to wipe away all those sins. I'm not going to remember those sins anymore, but you need to continue to live that way of life the rest of time. So you won't be, God, there's still consequences for the sins that we committed early, but he doesn't hold us, he doesn't hold that over our heads. If we turn to him and does what's lawful and right, he will live. He will not die. None of the, verse 22, none of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. That's who God is. You know, 2 Peter, you know, I'm turning to 2 Peter, 2 Peter 3 9.

Let's make sure I've got the right scripture here in mind.

Yeah, 2 Peter 3 9 says, God is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Here's Peter, kind of saying in his epistle here, the same thing God is saying here in Ezekiel, you know, in verse 23, do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Is that what God is looking for? Is he a God? Like some people want to make him out to be that he's a rough God, he's a harsh God, and what he's just looking to put people to death? No, God says that's not him at all, and it's not him. You and I know that from knowing him. Does he have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? No, and that God's will is that he should turn from his ways and live. Exactly what Peter said, exactly what you and I have experienced, that God does give grace. He does watch over us. He does provide what it is, and he does want us and all of mankind to have eternal life, but we have to do things his way, understanding that when Christ returns to earth and for all eternity in the kingdom, things will be done God's way, and it is the way to all peace, love, and everything that creates the joy in life that we have. Verse 24, but when a righteous man—here's the opposite thing now, so sinner can turn to God, he will live, he will live. Verse 24, but when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? God says, shall he live? Well, he's asking the question there.

All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed. Because of them, he shall die.

You know, Christ said in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, he said, he who endures to the end, endures to the end, shall be saved. That is, no matter what age in life you turn to God, that you continue the rest of your life living your life in accordance with his will and with his way being directed by him to the very end until death or until the time of Jesus Christ returns, whichever comes first in our lives, endure to the end. Because if we turn back, no matter if we've been in church 50 or 60 years, if we turn back to iniquity after all that, then what does God say in verse 24? So shall that soul live? No. At the end of his life, he was not in concert with God. Second Peter, 2 Peter 2, verse 20.

Peter, again, speaks of this. He says, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that would be you and me, right? God opened our minds. We repent, baptized, hands laid on us, receive Holy Spirit, turn to God, begin living his way of life. If after we've escaped the pollutions of the world through Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in the world and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning. It would have been better for them to not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them.

Because for them, there is a fearful time ahead. Think in Hebrews. Think in Hebrews.

Hebrews 10. Let me look at Hebrews 10. I think it says the same thing in Hebrews 10. Oh yeah, Hebrews 10.26.

It says there, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

You know, we may be tempted to sin or turn back to God, or we may be in the kind of a you know, Satan has us in a state of despondency, and we wonder what's the use, what's the hope, what's the real going on. Sometimes we should always turn to God's word for encouragement, you know, and look at where the hope is. But even looking at some of these things and looking what God says, when we get ourselves in those attitudes where we might consider something like that, trample the Son of God underfoot. Would we do that? But when we turn against God, that's what he sees that we're doing. Just trampling Christ who is our Savior, who gave himself so that we would have, or could have eternal life if we repent. Hounted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified? A common thing, just like dirt, just like dirt that we walk on every day. We would never do that. Or insulted the Spirit of grace. We would never insult God. And sometimes we have to just look at our actions and think, what am I doing? Pull myself up by the bootstraps, get over whatever it is, and ask God to restore His Spirit to us. And turn to some scriptures that we all have, that we can turn to that can uplift us and bring us out of the whatever spirit or doldrums that we might be in to reignite that zeal that God wants us to have for His way of life. Well, anyway, that is what if we go back to Ezekiel 18, go back to Ezekiel 18, what God is talking about. Continue to the end. That's what He wants. He wants to give everyone eternal life. He wants, but repentance is the doorway to eternal life and continuing repentance and living God's way of life. Yeah, Bill.

Well, I'm confused about something a little bit. You know, the scripture that you read said that the king shouldn't increase their horses or their wives. Does that have to do with attitude? Because David, it seemed like all of them had lots of horses and wives and all that. Yeah, but Solomon, I don't know what David had exactly. He did have wives, but you do remember that once he married Bathsheba and what he recognized is sin. I mean, he did turn his heart to God at that point and became a man after God's own heart. He repented, and then it was Bathsheba for the rest of his life. We don't read of David having that, you know, that avarice, that greed for everything. Solomon did. It talked about how many wives. I mean, it's legendary how many wives and concubines he had. He just simply went out and married everyone, everyone, right? That they ever met, it sounds like. So he completely defied God, and he did make alliances with all the nations around him.

And he used those wives for that. So no, he did something completely different. David didn't do that. David always looked to God. Solomon was looking to make alliances with all the world around him and lived his life that way. What about the part it said not to increase their horses? Does that have to do with war or what? That would be trusting. Oh, I've got more horses than this nation over here. Today we might say, oh, we got more nuclear weapons than, you know, this nation over here. So we're stronger than them. It's the same concept. Horses there was a means of battle and security for them, just like nuclear weapons would be for us today.

Okay. 18. Chapter 18.

25. Okay, so we've gone through these things. Wicked man turns to God. God says he will live if he lives his life. Righteous man turns away from God. God says he will die. Verse 25. Yet you say, the way of the Lord isn't fair. Well, it seems pretty fair, right? Everything we've read looks fair. But people will say, well, that's not fair. Hire now, O house of Israel. Is it not my way, which is fair, and your ways, which are not fair, God says. When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done dies. That he dies. So God is saying, wasn't that fair? Isn't that fair? I judged him for what he did, not for what someone else did, or not what he used to do. When he, you know, through his life, he lived in sin. Again, verse 27, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed and does what's lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Why? Because he considers, you know, I think it's in Haggai, isn't it in Haggai 1 or Haggai 2, that God says, consider your ways. Consider your ways, right? Because he considers, thinks, stops and thinks about it. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. So God says, makes perfect sense, makes perfect logic. This is the way that he operates, and so seems perfectly fair. Can't fault any of what God is saying there. But then he talks about Israel. Yet the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord isn't fair. Oh, house of Israel! Aren't my ways, is it not my ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? Yeah, the guy would say, look at what you're asking. Therefore I will judge you, oh house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord God. And then the hallmark verse you know here in this chapter, I guess, and certainly in the New Testament as well, repent.

Repent and turn from all your transgressions. The simple thing is, if you want life, if you want the blessings that God gives, if you want salvation, and I'm putting that word want in there because all those things are a gift of God. We don't earn them by our things, but we turn our heart to God and he gives them. He freely offers, but if we love him and have faith and believe in him, we live the way of life that he wants. Repent and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Don't let it destroy your life. Don't let it take away from you all the gifts that God wants to give you. Turn to him. Simply yield to him. Cast away, verse 31. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

That's something that the Old Testament people couldn't do. It wasn't for them at that time. God didn't give the spirit to them at that time. He's given us the opportunity to have a new heart and a new spirit. That's something for us. But see what God is saying. They can't do it. You can't live by God's way of life without God's Holy Spirit. So he says, get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Just a minute, Xavier. We can go forward to Ezekiel 36.

God makes this point again in Ezekiel 36 and verse 24. He's talking about as he brings the nations back to their homeland from Israel as we talked about during the book of Isaiah. Verse 25 says, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone, that hardened heart that refuses to follow God. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk into my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.

The same spirit the guy gives you and me today, he will put in them, and as he will give us a new heart through, that spirit that he puts in us, them as well. Yeah, Xavier. Hi, Brother Chibi. I don't know, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Oh, good, good, okay.

Two points. One is the difference with how when God granted Daniel repentance and his prayer in chapter 9 of Daniel, where he says, we have sinned, we have rebuilt. He shows his contrite-ness in comparison to maybe the people here that God is referring to. And what was it? Second Corinthians chapter 5, we have a summary where Paul is talking to the Corinthians, and he says, if Christ died for all, so that we should all live no longer for ourselves, but to him who died for us and was raised again. And then he ends in verse 21. He says, for God did make Christ, who knew no sin, sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. And he admonishes us in verse 20, to be reconciled to God. That's the purpose. Yep, very good. So we have that opportunity today they didn't have, but God is, yeah. So when Ezekiel wrote this, again, remember Israel's in captivity. We know what he's talking about here today, and for us and this generation, there, in this time, that God is called, but for all of mankind, right? All of mankind when Christ returns, who's alive at that time, and anything. So in verse 31 then, he says, I'm going to give you, or get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. It's available to us today. We could be sold, get ourselves a new heart and a new spirit, right? Use what God has given us. And then he has that, for why would you die? Why would you die, though house of Israel? What is the choice that you would make? Why would you die? Turn to God. Humble yourselves before him, and yield yourselves to him, and live. I'm going to look something. I've got a note. Okay, Ezekiel 11, you know, going back a few chapters. Again, you can see these things in the prophecy. Here we are in chapter 18.

We were in chapter 36, but back in chapter 11 of Ezekiel, we have God talking about this again in verse 19. Again, he's talking about when he gathers the people back from the place that they've been scattered and brings them back to their land. In verse 19 of chapter 11 of Ezekiel, he says, Then, then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.

Give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them. They shall be my people, and I will be their God. So you see this consistency and this repetition that God has. We live in the time of the opportunity of a new heart and a new spirit, coupled with, why would you die a house of Israel? So finishing up chapter 18 here, verse 32, says, For I have no pleasure, and the death of one who dies, says the Lord God.

Therefore turn and live. Therefore turn and live. And I already quoted 2 Peter 3.9, where God says, I'm not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that's what God's will is. But he will do. We have to make that commitment. We have to make that covenant with him, and we have to continue it throughout the rest of our lives. Yeah, Bill?

Yes, sir. Thank you. You're reminding me of the famous verse we read many times in Romans 8 and verse 7 about how the carnal mind is set against God. It seems like, in spite of everything and pleading of God to man, they will find a way and determination to just fight against him no matter what. And it just seems like that's the way of us. And I find myself being that way at times. And I find myself with this mind that wants to go contrary, underneath, down inside.

And I go back in my repentance area and go to God, Father, what is in me? And that carnal mind is just dynamic. And how does it really get overcome? And we in the church have a God's Holy Spirit, and we're trying to overcome. And here you have people here that didn't have the God's Holy Spirit, so how could they? But inevitably, isn't that the great hope of the kingdom of God, and the great white throne judgment, and all the time in the future, when the adversary is removed, which David Tomit will picture, and then they'll have a fighting chance, if you will.

There's a light shining in my eyes here. Sorry. No, you're exactly right. That is the hope of the future. That is, that Israel couldn't. That's the great lesson of the Old Testament. They couldn't obey God. So, yeah. Yeah, and I'm gonna try for a few minutes to go into chapter 19. Chapter 19 is very, very, very, a very, very detailed prophecy. I want to try to get through it, but I'm going to refer you to the UCG Bible commentary in it as well.

But before we get into it, any other comments, questions, or anything on chapter 18? Okay, let's look at chapter 19 for a moment. It's a continuation, really, of the will of chapter 18, and in it, God is repeating, if you will, what is going to happen to the nation of Judah, right? The last several verses there, verses 10 to 14, have to do with the fall of Judah. But the first several verses here are quite a detail, quite a detail of those last kings of Judah.

You'll remember last week, we talked about Jehoiakim, and then his son Jehoi-e-kin, and then his son Zedekiah, and how, how at the end, of the lineage of the kings of Judah, they were moved from Babylon, and then to Egypt, and then the Pharaoh appointed a king of Egypt, and Zedekiah was there, and the oath that he broke. So chapter 19, the verse, verse 9 verses of that is talking about that. So let me, let me, let me just go through a few verses here, a few verses here, but then I'm going to refer you to the UCG Bible commentary.

You know where to find that, bible.ucg.org. Go to Ezekiel, you'll see the books listed there, chapter 19, and there is a very, very, very detailed with all sorts of verses that tie all these things back to where the kings and chronicles, this stuff is, this stuff is there. We can do it together, you'll get much more out of it if you do it on your own, but let me just summarize what is here. In verse, verse 1 of 19, it says, Moreover, take a lamentation for the princes of Israel.

Okay, here is lamentation. This is something now they've lost, they've lost their land. verses 10 through 14, talk about the fall of Judah. Lamentation, this is what they've done, and say, What is your mother? She's a lioness. She laid down among the lions.

Now, you know, God does refer to the two houses, Israel and Judah, as a lion, right? And I'm going to give you some scriptures here. Numbers 23, verses 23 and 24, we'll call Israel, the House of Israel, the northern ten tribes, a lion. And in Genesis 49, verses 8 and 10, that's the prophecy of Jacob when he is blessed the sons of his sons, and says, This is what will follow you in the latter days in Genesis, verses 8 to 10 of Genesis 49, he says, Judah is a lion, a whelp. Okay, so we have both all of Israel referred to as a lion.

Who is your mother? Or what is your mother? A lioness. She laid down among the lions. So this is, and this is royalty, right? Among the lions, she nourished her cubs. She brought up her sons. She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion, a prince. And there was something that he would do.

This is speaking of Jehoi. Oh, this is Jehoi Heaz. I didn't mention his name. You'll find him in 2 Kings 23, verses 31 to 33, that correlates to this verse here. He became a young lion. He learned to catch prey. He devoured men. The nations heard of him, and he was trapped in their pitot, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. This is the king. I think we read about him last week in the verses that I talked about, who was brought to Egypt. So Jehoi Heaz, I think his name was also Jehoi Akin, is what it says in those verses. He's brought to the land of Egypt, correlates to that account back in 2 Kings 33, 23, I'm sorry, 23, verses 31 to 33.

So we have one, one of the sons, one of the sons of this mother. Because you'll remember at the end, you have Jehoi Akin, Jehoi Akin, and Zebekiah, all kind of brothers who adhere to that throne as the kings are taken one by one out of the land and brothers ascend to the throne. Verse 5, when she saw that, she waited, that her hope was lost. She took another one of her sons and made him a young lion. This is Jehoi Akin, verse 34. He roved among the lions, and he became a young lion, a young king who was out among the nations there.

He learned to catch prey. He devoured men. He knew their desolate places and laid waste their cities. The land was filled. The land with its fullness was desolated.

Babylon took it. Babylon conquered him. So he did all these things. He was out and about, doing the things the kings do, conquered by Babylon. The land with its fullness was desolated by the noise of his roaring. Babylon desolated it. Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side and spread the internet over him. He was trapped in their pit. They put him in a cage with chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. So this is Zebekiah, right? This is Zebekiah now who is there. Do you remember? He defied the oath that he committed to God. He was taken to Babylon.

All his sons were killed before his eyes. His eyes were put out and he died in Babylon. They put him in a cage with chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him in nets that his voice should no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel. Never went back to his land again. So we have these accounts that we talked about last week in chapter 17. These three kings at the end of the light of the kings of Judah that were in Judah, all the kings, all the sons died there. And remember it was the daughters, Jeremiah. The daughters of Zebekiah were taken with him as they left Jerusalem and then ended up in the British Isles. So all these sons are gone. And then in verse 10 we have the fall of Judah. Your mother, your mother Judah, was like a vine in your blood line. I think it says that she was the blood. That was the she was the mother of those those kids that were there. That was where the sons planted by the waters fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. She had strong branches or septors, septors of rulers. She bore kings just like God promised in Genesis 49 that Judah would the scepter would not pass from Judah. And it still hasn't passed from Judah. The throne moved from Judah to Great Britain, modern Israel, but the throne, but the line, the scepter never departed from Judah. Throne is still of Judah and that blood line.

That's the same one of the mothers speaking here. She had strong branches for septors of rulers. She towered in stature above the thick branches and was seen in her height amid the dense foliage.

Royalty. Remember the heights of the trees that we talked about last week, the high branches that were there, but she was plucked up in fury. Jerusalem, Judah, she was cast down to the ground.

And the east wind, the east wind dried her fruit. Now you'll remember back last week, Ezekiel 17 and verse 10 talks about this east wind that was sweeping in.

God is talking about this. He says, Behold, the tree is planted. Will it thrive? Will it not? This is verse 10 of chapter 17. Will it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It's the destruction that comes from Babylon, the same east wind is referenced here in chapter 19, verse 12. She was cast down to the ground, completely captured, and the east wind dried her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered. The fire consumed them, and now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. Fire has come out from a rod of her branches and devoured her fruit. You know, the commentaries say that that fire has come out from a rod of her branches refers to Zedekiah again, the real wrath of God, because Zedekiah broke that oath, again stressing how important it is to God. When we say, when we swear an oath by his name, that we follow through with it at all costs. Fire has come out from a rod of her branches and devoured her fruits so that she has no strong branch, a scepter for ruling. All the sons were killed. Just the tender ones, as we read last week in chapter 17, just the tender ones survived and they were moved out of that land. This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation. So if you want to look at the detail, like I said, the UCG commentary has a ton of detail. You can go back and look at Kings and Chronicles and compare all those things to it. What God has inspired Ezekiel to write here is exactly what is recorded in the books of the Kings. So let's stop there for tonight. And then next Wednesday we'll pick it up in chapter 20. So questions, comments, Bill. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your sermon last Sabbath and I think that it should be played to all the congregations.

Actually it is. Steve Meyer sent it out this week so it is going to be played in all congregations in the one of the next two weeks. So you will hear it again. Perfect! Thank you! Thanks, Steve!

Okay, anything else? Anyone?

Okay. I'm gonna put my hand up just to show you. Oh, hey, yeah, Mr. Wirt. Hey, your grandson is doing very well here at ABC, by the way. He looks very happy. So I think he misses Australia, but he's feeling well. So, yeah. Well, that's great to hear. He's a very fine young man. I had a chance to go snow skiing with him before he left for Cincinnati, so that was just great fun together with he and his brother and his parents. He has a wonderful Bible study again. Thank you so much. And here in Australia, we're looking forward to listening to your sermon, This Coming Sabbath. So that'll be wonderful to have as well. And thank you for the explanation of Ezekiel 18. It just reminded me that, you know, there's such an emphasis in that Revelation, sorry, Ezekiel 18, of the choice we have between God's way of life, which really leads to eternal life and the way of Satan and this world and our human nature, as was mentioned, which really leads to the way of death and ultimately eternal death, if we seek that, if we make a practice of sin. But I was reminded of Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19, where God really underpinned that in one single verse, didn't he, where he said, I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, that I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both you