Sour Grapes

Sour Grapes

Link to sermon on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvMtwyhrJ3o

>Ezekiel 18:1-4<

(Then another message came to me from the LORD: “Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.)

Illustration: The Cubs and Red Sox fans have blamed curses for the many years of their World Series drought.

It seems people will blame anyone and anything for their suffering & losses instead of taking responsibility for themselves, but in all reality, there are no excuses for bad behavior – Sin is an individual choice.

It is true that children can suffer from the sins of their parents, but the choices one makes is his own.

The children of Israel made excuses and were saying they were born into it and there’s nothing they can do, but the truth is, they sinned on their own...They couldn’t lay blame on anyone else but themselves.

Israel complained to God for their suffering and made excuses for their suffering, but yet, they continued to live according to their own desires and forgot God’s command of righteous living.

They constantly looked for someone else to blame for their own sin and used the same old excuse, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.”

What they were saying was: “Our parents are the ones who sinned, but we’re the ones being punished.”

This was their way of blaming the punishment of their sinful actions on the actions of their parents.

The Lord wanted no more of it...He let them know through the prophet Ezekiel that were being judged based on their own actions.

>Verse 4<

(For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.)

There's no doubt that in this world, our lives can be affected by forces beyond our control.

We experience storms in our lives, some we bring on ourselves and some just happen by circumstance.

But no matter what happens, we must remain faithful to God’s word and use the gifts we’re given to serve Him.

Life is very much like a game in sports: The officials make the calls and we must abide by them. We have no control over the way the official calls the game. Sometimes the calls go our way and sometimes they don’t. We just have to focus on the way we play the game. All we can do is control our actions in the game of life.

We’re responsible only for our own actions and not for those of anyone else.

>verse 20<

(The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.)

We can lay the blame wherever we want, but God spoke plainly telling us the one who sin is the one who dies.

There no more excuses – We have no one else to blame for our punishment for sin, but ourselves.

The outcome of one’s eternal life is not determined by DNA – The sins of our parents can’t condemn us.

And in the same way, the faith of our parents can’t save either – It’s up to us to believe.

Where you spend eternity depends on the choices you make.

And there’s more – When you repent and live in obedience, God will rid you of your past.

>Verses 21-22<

(But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.)

To sin or not to sin is a choice we make.

We have the freedom to choose what we do or don’t do.

We are free to turn away from evil and live in righteousness or to turn from God and live in sin.

It’s our choice and we will face the consequences of our own actions.

It would be great if we could blame on someone for our sins, but we can’t.

We live or die based upon what we do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God gives us the promise of life if we make the choice to follow Him.