October 23rd, 20111

PENTECOST 19
October 23/24, 2011
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

“REPENT AND LIVE!”
1. Repentance is necessary.
2. Repentance is possible.
3. Repentance is living!

Ezekiel 18: 1-4, 25-32 (NIV 1984) “The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. 25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? 26 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. 27 But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. 28 Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust? 30 “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”

Can you empathize a little bit with the House of Israel? At the time this word of God was written, the people the prophet Ezekiel was serving were living far from their homeland. They were in Babylon, modern day Iraq. What were they doing there? How did they get there? Their parents, their fathers, had sinned. Despite all of God’s warnings through other prophets they had chased after the idols, the fake gods of the people around them. Why? Worshipping them was more fun. They had drinking parties and orgies in their church services. To chasten them God let the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and carry the people into exiles. So the parents had worshipped idols and now the children were living in exile. Does that help you understand the proverb the people were quoting about the land of Israel? “‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? Normally if someone eats something that tastes bad, like sour grapes, they experience the bad taste in their mouths. But the Israelite people felt like their parents had done wrong and they were paying for it. And you know, you know what comes next. That’s right, the age old complaint, “That’s not fair.” Children you can empathize for every time the teacher has given a classroom punishment. Maybe the talking got to be too much and it was the last straw and everyone stays in for recess and you feel if not say, “That’s not fair.” Or maybe adults you live in a city that foolishly combined the sanitation and stormwater sewer lines and now you have to pay for new laterals from your house and you surely think and feel “That’s not fair.”
And so we can empathize with the Israelites stuck in Babylon seemingly for the sins of the parents. But now listen, listen to God’s response. “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. 25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?” And again a little later, “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.” The first thing we can learn from this word of God, brothers and sisters, is that repentance is necessary for everyone. The people of Israel felt God was being unfair. They felt they were being punished for their parents’ idolatry. But they ignored their own sins. It’s just like it is in class, kids, when the classroom punishment happens and you think it’s unfair because you weren’t talking—that time. What about all the other times you were and there was no punishment? God points out that all people are accountable to Him. And sin deserves punishment. The soul that sins is the one that should die. And remember the death of sin is separation from God. And so repentance is necessary. The house of Israel in Babylon needed to repent for their sins against God and so do we. If anyone claims to be without sin he deceives himself and the truth is not in him. You know your hearts. You know your lives. You know what you are hiding that you don’t want anyone to know about. God knows it too. “That’s not fair,” needs to be replaced with “I have sinned.” Repentance is necessary.
Thankfully repentance is possible. “If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. 27 But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. 28 Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.” Like the parable Jesus told of the two sons the Lord presents two people who changed. One is someone who turns away from righteousness to wickedness and dies in rejection and so dies forever in Hell. Another lived a life of wickedness but later repents, turns from that wickedness and lives, lives into eternity. The point is the same. We have a God who looks at the heart. He does not judge people by their past but by their present. He does not judge them by their parents but by themselves. He gives to every sinner a hope and a future and says as long as you have the breath of life on this earth repentance is possible. God can say that because He did everything to make repentance possible. He promised and sent Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life ready to be credited to all who believe. He suffered and paid for all sins so forgiveness is granted through faith. Repentance is a possible.
It’s there for everyone. It’s there for you and me and how happy we can be because repentance is living. It is real life. “Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” Here we get a look at the heart of our Savior God. He wants the best for all people. Enforcing the consequences of sin on people was never God’s first choice. It’s not what He wants. That’s why His first choice was to punish Jesus. And now repentance is real living while we wait to go to heaven. God knows that each one of us finds it easier to get upset about other people’s sins than our own. He knows that’s a trick of the Devil to distract us and keep us miserably mired in a life of resentment and bitterness toward God and others because “That’s not fair!” He also knows that sin is like illegal drugs. It promises happiness but does not deliver. Instead it likes to hide in your body, making you crave more and more until just like a drug junkie isn’t herself anymore, doesn’t realize how ugly she’s become and has alienated those who love her most, the unrepentant sinner is dragged down further and further into uglier and uglier sins and pushes away the One who loves them most, the Father in heaven. That’s no life.
There is a better way! Repentance. Real living. What is this repentance? It’s taking ownership for your own sins. Being bothered more about your own sinful nature and sins than those of others. I have done it. It’s being repulsed and ashamed of those sins, regretting how dirty they have made you. It’s turning to Jesus for forgiveness and away from those sins we’ve confessed. The result is real living. God promises to give a new heart and a new spirit. Think of it. How would you like to live with no past? Now you can’t do that with people. They remember. But God doesn’t. Because Jesus paid for those sins God forgets! That’s what His forgiveness is like. He remembers your sins no more. There is no adultery there to regret. No lies to haunt you. Know stealing to be uncovered. Instead a new heart and a new spirit. A fresh start every day.
Repentance is living. Perhaps that is why Martin Luther in the first of the 95 Theses he posted on the church door wrote, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent!” He willed the entire life of a believer to be one of repentance. See repentance is not something you do in order to become a believer as too many Christians have been misled into believing these days. Nor is it a one time action over a certain sin. Rather repentance is a way of living every day for those who already believe. It’s necessary because daily we fall into sin. It’s possible because God is a God of mercy and Jesus has already been punished. It’s real living. For only when we are peace with God, in unity with Him, without our sins standing in the way, only then does life make sense and have peace and joy regardless of outward circumstances. Now God brought you here today. There was something He wanted you to hear. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent!” He willed the entire life of a believer to be one of repentance. If that doesn’t describe the state of your heart today, listen to God who says, “Repent and Live!” Amen.