September 1, 2002 Ezekiel 33:7-11
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.
10 “Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
A very popular movie series in the 1980’s was called “Back to the Future.” In it Marty McFly accidentally traveled back to his past. While he was there, he tried to make life a little better for his parents, so his life would be a little better. It made for an amusing and interesting story line - the idea that someone could go back in time and try to fix the past. That would be nice, wouldn’t it - to be able to go back and fix your past mistakes - so you could change your fate?
The fact is, however, that we can’t go back in time to change our fate. There’s nothing you can do about your past. Therefore, are we just doomed to a certain destiny because of mistakes from our past? Does that mean we should just throw our hands up and give up? Not at all. Today we’ll see how -
It’s Not Too Late For a Change of Fate
I. We have a commission from God that can effect the future
In our words for this morning we find a commission from God for Ezekiel in chapter 33. It reads:
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.
In the olden days every city would have a wall around it for protection from invading armies and the like. Often times, however, many people would live outside of the village. So they would set a watchman up on the wall with a trumpet, to warn at the approach of an enemy. If he failed to do this, the whole city could be taken over. At the very least the people who lived and worked outside of the gate would be killed. His was a most important job - a life and death situation. If he failed to do his job, he would be put to death as a punishment. God uses this as an illustration for what Ezekiel was supposed to do as the spiritual watchman of the Israelites.
Interestingly enough, the exact same words are found in chapter three of Ezekiel. Which makes us wonder - “Why the repetition?” In order to understand this, you have to understand the background of God’s commission to Ezekiel. You could split the book into two parts - one part is written BEFORE their Babylonian Captivity, and another portion is written AFTER the Captivity. This part is written AFTER the Captivity. Why did God repeat it? Imagine if you were Ezekiel - getting the original commission in chapter three.
Consider first the AUDIENCE and the MESSAGE that he had. Say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die. Ezekiel was not speaking to a congregation of believers who liked to hear what he had to say. He was not pronouncing to them that God was a God of love who forgave them. He was telling wicked people that they were going to DIE because of their sin. Wicked people don’t like to hear they are going to burn in hell. As a matter of fact they get pretty mad about it.
Consider second the RESPONSIBILITY he had. God told Ezekiel that if he failed to tell the wicked man that he was going to perish, that I will hold you accountable for his blood. In other words, God would blame EZEKIEL for the wicked man’s death if he didn’t warn him. God would send Ezekiel to hell for not warning the wicked man of his destiny. Why? Imagine for instance, that my son Logan were walking toward the Interstate, and someone came and told me, but I did nothing to stop him. I would and should be held accountable. When you’re talking about someone’s eternal existence, isn’t that all the more serious of a matter? Is this a responsibility you would want? God had to remind him of his duty again.
Ezekiel did his job the first time. He warned the Israelites throughout the first chapters of Ezekiel. But what happened? The people didn’t listen. They continued in their sin anyway, and ended up going into captivity, just as God predicted would happen. Now, if you were Ezekiel, what would you maybe reason to yourself? “This isn’t going to do any good. I was supposed to call the people to repentance, and they didn’t listen one lick. I might as well just go home.” But here in chapter 33, God again comes to him and gives him the exact SAME duty. What was God trying to tell him? “Don’t give up. It’s not too late to change their fate! Just keep doing what you are supposed to. Go and do the exact same thing - warn the wicked man to turn from his ways.”
About a year ago I came in contact with a young lady who decided to live with her boyfriend before marriage. She had expressed an interest in church, and had enough scriptural background to know that such behavior was not right. So I had two options. Either I could,
A.) Not say anything, and hope that through her continual coming to church she would eventually see the light and come around. Or,
B.) Tell her immediately that her behavior was immoral and not according to God’s good pleasure - that she needed to repent of her sin and live a new life.
This was a difficult thing. I knew that her behavior was wrong - even wicked - to live with and have sex with a man before marriage. I knew that God wanted me to tell her it was wrong - not just that - but that it was earning her hell. It was my responsibility as a pastor to tell her that. Yet I knew that she wouldn’t like to hear it. In the most gentle way I could, I informed her that her behavior was wrong. Even though I never even mentioned hell, I have not heard from her or seen her since.
The nay-sayers will say - “what good did that do? I could have told you that wouldn’t work.” Or they might have said, “you should have just let her keep coming and not say anything. Maybe she’d come to her senses if she kept hearing sermons and the like.” But what kind of an attitude is that? Isn’t that equal to saying to God, “your ways don’t work!” Doesn’t that reflect a lack of trust in God’s commands? If you are a parent, teacher, even a child - God will some day put you in a situation where you will see a loved one - who is supposed to be a brother or sister in Christ - do something that you know is wrong. What kind of a solution is it when parents don’t like their kids having sex, but give them advice and devices on how to do it “safely?” How does ignoring the situation or even condoning it do any good? Is that the way God wants us to deal with sin? God told Ezekiel and he tells us to Tell the wicked that they will die for their sin. He tells us to warn them of hell.
Why? The neat and amazing thing is that sometimes it works. And it doesn’t just keep a warm body in the pews, but it ignites a fire within their souls. When Peter told the Jews they had sinned, God crushed their hearts and filled them with the Gospel. Miracles do happen! This was not just some exercise to test Ezekiel’s faithfulness. God told him to do this to hopefully change their fate - to save the Israelites. Just because it doesn’t happen every time, neither means that God’s way is wrong nor that God’s way should be ignored. Even though it didn’t work for the Israelites the first time around, God told Ezekiel, “stick to plan A! Don’t give up! It’s not too late! You could still have a part in changing their fate!” God says the same thing to us. You may not have trusted in God’s ways. But Jesus died for your sin, and God wants to involve you in changing lives! As long as they are alive, it’s not too late for a change fate!
II. We’ve got a LORD who wants us
About five years ago there was a couple who was having marital problems and they wanted to work things out. The wife had had an affair and it was not going to be easy, but they both said they wanted it to work. So I told them, “you need to come to worship every Sunday and get back into the Word - first and foremost. They both agreed. But instead of heeding my advice, neither of them ended up attending, and they ended up getting a divorce. I was pretty miffed at the situation, because they didn’t listen to me. It doesn’t matter how much you know something will work or how much you tell some people, sometimes they just won’t listen. It makes us angry.
But let’s stop and consider the effect that it has on the one who didn’t listen. Ezekiel had warned the Israelites to repent, but they wouldn’t listen. How did this effect their attitudes? “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ It felt as if a huge weight were on their shoulders, and there was no way they could get out from under them. They thought that God was holding a grudge against them - that they were forever enslaved to suffer for sins in Babylon, because they should have run from them and listened to Ezekiel in the first place - but they didn’t.
Martin Luther once said, It is much more difficult to console an afflicted conscience than to wake the dead. He was comparing the difference between converting a heathen and a fallen saint. There is a difference, isn’t there? Have you ever decided to do something that you knew was wrong - in direct disobedience to what God and fellow Christians told you to do? How did you feel afterward? You feel like a traitor. You have a heavy amount of guilt. Why? Because you KNEW beforehand that it was wrong, but you did it anyway. You can’t help but feel angry at yourself and embarrassed over your behavior - like a complete failure. That’s what was happening to the Israelites. They thought, “we’ve already sinned and blown it. Now God will never accept us back. It’s all over.”
How did God respond? Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ If He wanted them to die in their sins, why was He sending them a prophet? He was cheering for them - wanted them to come back. Doesn’t the parable of the Prodigal Son give a great illustration of what Ezekiel was trying to get across to the Israelites? The son had gone off and squandered all of his inheritance and money on wild women and booze. When he finally does return with his tail between his legs, what does Jesus say the father did? While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15. Instead of crossing his arms and shaking his head, the father was eagerly waiting for his son to come home. He wasn’t holding any grudges. He had forgiven him. He couldn’t wait for him to return!
Isn’t that great for us to know? God clearly says in Romans 8:1 there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When we come to a realization and sorrow over our sinful behavior, God has no “I told you so’s.” He has already forgiven us through the blood of Christ shed on the cross over two thousand years ago. Even when Christians - who know better - slap God in the face and run away from Him - He still wants to help us and welcome us back. The last thing in the world he would want is for you to end up in hell. It doesn’t matter what kind of a sin has gotten a hold of you, it’s not too late to come back, as long as you’re still alive.
Isn’t it sad, then, to see so many former Christians get caught up in their sins and assume that there is no hope for them. Whether it’s the sin of homosexuality, alcoholism, adultery, hatred - whatever it may be - it often grabs control of the sinner - so much that they think they can never escape from it. In their despair, their bodies begin to waste away. They feel that God could never forgive them for what they have done - that they could never be free from their addictions. They, like Judas, just want to kill themselves because of their guilt. But God’s Word calls beyond the realms of human possibility! With the words “turn, turn,” the Holy Spirit is calling to you saying, “I want you back! Jesus died for you too, and I have forgiven your sins. I am able to crack the addictions. I can free you from your sins.” If you came here this morning under the control of sin, God’s message for you is clear - “it’s not too late for a change of fate! I want you BACK!”
In the movie “Back to the Future” Marty McFly found out that the more he got involved in his past, the more he messed up his future. Imagine if we could go back to our past and try and fix our past sins? The more we tried, the more messes we would make. Why? Because we are sinful at the very core. You can’t fix your past when your present is sinful.
That’s why God has a different solution. He already fixed your past when He sent Jesus Christ. Jesus changed you from being a damned sinner to a holy saint - all through his life and death. Instead of languishing in your past sins and continuing in them or even trying to fix them - God has a different solution for you now. He solves the problem with one simple word - turn! If you have failed to warn the wicked, turn! If you have been wicked, turn! In sorrow, turn your eyes to the LORD - come back tot he King you have offended. Stand before him, and tell him your sins. He won’t condemn you. He’ll simply say, “I forgive you. I didn’t want you to die! Welcome back.” In him you will find forgiveness. In Him you will find strength. It’s not too late for a change of fate. Amen.
