Sermon Wednesday March 8, 2023
Ezekiel 18:25–26 25“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die.
The world thinks that Christians are a bunch of hypocritical do-gooders who are self-righteous and want to condemn everyone to hell and damnation if they do not believe as they do. If what I say is true we most definitely have given the world the wrong impression of true Christianity. We as Christians are not the judge and jury. If we are then we need to proceed immediately to the prisons and insane asylums and asked to be locked up.
This is the view some people have of God’s justice that God wants to condemn all people if they do not believe. What the world wants is to either get its way or make up what it wants and fool itself into thinking it has succeeded. I’m sorry but I don’t think the world is more powerful than God who created all things including the creation of what is right.
One thing science has gotten correct is that for every action there is a reaction. If we do bad then bad will happen and if we do good then good will happen, or do bad and good will happen sometimes, and do good and bad will happen sometimes. For every action there will not always be an equal or opposite reaction. I know it’s getting to deep.
Ezekiel 18:27–28 27Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
We all fall short, and we all fall to the world, and we all need to repent. We look at repentance as a law that we should be forced into obeying. So, let’s ask the questions. Where does our repentance come from? Well, where does goodness come from? They both come from God through His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works with us and through God’s word to help us to be compelled to repent of our sins.
Can you and should you boast that you have repented or that you have done good? Rather we boast in our God for we now know that He leads us to repentance. You ask how does God lead us to repentance? Do you not fear God, do you not love God and therefore fear God? We need not repent out of the law but out of our love and fear of God and the knowledge of God’s love for us.
We who believe in Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection do not fear death. This is good but let us not be complacent with our fear and love of our God who creates and who is also capable of destroying. Not that our God wants to destroy us, but that He wants all evil and sin to be destroyed so He can save us for that better life.
Though we know the gospel, our love for God does not save us but that we fear, and love God leads us to love and obedience through the fear that we might lose His love. Not that God will stop loving us, but that we might stop or not start to love God. Not to make repentance a law but rather a labor of love towards our God who loves us and therefore sent His only Son to be punished and die for our sins.
Ezekiel 18:29 29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
The world spends all of its energy towards condemning anyone and everyone for any excuse it can come up with. The worlds justice is to gratify its own sinful desires and then the world turns and claims that is what Christ believers are doing. We have a God who wants to save us. Listen to God’s own words spoken through the prophet Ezekiel…
(Ezekiel 18:32 32For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so, turn, and live.”)
God’s justice is to forgive, the worlds justice is to condemn. So, who’s justice is unjust? We really need to let the world know what the gospel of Jesus Christ is really all about! IT IS ABOUT GRACE, MERCY, FORGIVENESS, and LIFE ETERNAL!!!
Acts 17:30–31 30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The death of Christ is keeping us from receiving what we deserve, that is death and damnation. The resurrection of Christ is to show us what we will receive. Grace, mercy, forgiveness, life everlasting. What we receive is life, and not just life, but life as it was meant to be in the BEGINNING. Eternal living with our Lord under His righteousness, and in His light. This is forever and ever. Amen.
Written by Pastor Curtis May