Dont let sin be your ruin

God, as I come before your throne this morning,.

I come thankful, thankful this morning that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Thankful for the great hope that we have in you.

Thank you, God, for providing the atoning sacrifice for our sins. I thank you today, God. Your Spirit dwells within us, testifies to the fact that we are your children.

And God, I'm thankful today.

That your Spirit still deals with the hearts of men and drawing and calling men unto salvation. It is our prayer that through the reading and the preaching of your word today, God, that you would be magnified, that you would be glorified, God, that you would get all glory, honor, power, and praise.

That, God, you would draw sinners unto yourself, that you would call the lost unto salvation, that you would rejoice the hearts of your people, that you would teach us from your word. God, it's my prayer.

Teach us from your word. Help us to know what you say today in your word concerning sin and salvation. For it's in the name of Jesus I pray and for his sake, amen. Ezekiel chapter 18, the word of God says this,.

The word of the Lord came to me 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.

As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. The Lord said, Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die.

But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, if he has not eaten on the mountains nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity, if he has not oppressed anyone but has restored to the debtor 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his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing, if he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man, if he has walked in my statutes and kept my judgments faithfully, he is just.

He shall surely live, says the Lord God. 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, if he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored the pledge, lifted his eyes to the idols, or committed abomination, if he has exacted usury or taken increase, shall he then live?

He shall not live. If he has done any of these abominations, he shall surely die. His blood shall be upon him. If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done and considers but does not do likewise, who has not eaten on the mountains nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel nor defiled his neighbor's wife, if he has not oppressed anyone nor withheld a pledge nor robbed by violence but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing, who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase but has executed my judgments and walked in my statutes, the Lord said, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. Verse 19. Yet you say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?

Because the son has done what is lawful and right and has kept all my statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins 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. But 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.

None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Verse 23. The Lord said, Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live.

This is, we see what God, the mind of God here concerning this. It is not God's pleasure that any should die. He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he wants that they would turn and 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? 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.

Yet you say, the way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O Israel, is it not my way which is fair and your ways which are not fair? 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 that he dies.

Again,.

When a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Yet, the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, the Lord said, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord God.

Repent.

And turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore, turn and live. The theme from the text this morning is this. If you're taking notes, the theme is this.

Repent.

And turn from all your transgressions so that your iniquity will not be your ruin. We live in a time,.

We live,.

It's not just now,.

It's progressively becoming worse and worse, but we do live currently in a time where truth is not a certainty, where truth is malleable, where truth is moldable, where truth can be shaped into a subjective idea or a subjective circumstance based upon what's going on at any given time.

But the word of God is an unchanging truth.

And the word of God,.

What we learn from what we'll see in this passage and what we see how this passage is, the principle of sin is timeless and the principle of God's judgment is timeless and the principle of God's forgiveness is timeless.

We're going to see in this, we're going to see many things. First of all, know this, every man is responsible for his own sin. Every woman is responsible for her own sin. Every boy is responsible for his own sin.

Every girl is responsible for her own sin. What we're going to read about here today, what we just read to you, what we're going to go through, the same things are being repeated time and time and time again.

So the context here, what's going on here in this passage of scripture, the children of Israel.

Have been warned by the Lord.

That they are going to be given into captivity. They are going to be given into captivity because they are worshiping idols, because they are transgressing against the Holy God. But what the present generation wants to do is what the present generation does now, is everyone wants to blame somebody else.

Certainly it cannot be my fault that we're in the mess that we're in. So the Lord said there in verse 1, the Word says that the Word of the Lord came to Daniel saying this, what do you mean when you use this proverb, the proverb being the father have eaten sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge.

The Lord is calling them on the carpet about the excuse making that they are committing and what they're doing in their present circumstance. They are blaming their condition. They are blaming their captivity.

They are blaming the harsh conditions on what their fathers did.

When they continued in the same exact things.

That their fathers previously had the sins the fathers had previously committed. Now, does it make sense to you, Debbie, if I were to ask you something? Have you ever eaten a sour grape? Tim, have you ever eaten a sour grape?

Let me ask you, when you ate the sour grape and you gritted your teeth, did you taste the sourness of the grape?

No. Why?

Because it was in her mouth, not yours, right? It was her experience at the time. And so the Lord is letting Israel know that saying that because what their fathers had done, that they are where they are, was just an excuse.

It was an excuse that has not a leg to stand on. It's easy for us to say we're in the situation that we are nowadays because this happened in the past. But friend, what happened in the past.

Is sin still yet in the past. It's sin in the present. And in the present day,.

We should still rightly stand against sin. And so the Lord said, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. And the Lord begins to explain to the children of Israel, to Judah here, behold, all souls are mine.

The soul of the father, as well as the soul of the son, is mine and the soul who sins, it shall die. Personal responsibility is what every single human being has for our sin. Now, here's the thing. As we go through this, I want you to know that you'll notice some things.

You'll notice the first person, a man, the Lord describes a man who is just. And what the just man does. And then he talks about the son of that just man doing just the opposite of what the just man did.

And then in the next passage of Scripture, he speaks of the son, or basically the grandson of him who sees all that his father had done and considers and he does not do like his father previously had done.

It's important that we understand that the principle of sin is very real.

And very alive in our lives.

There's not a one of us who does not struggle with sin. The Scripture does not teach sinless perfection. It does teach progressive sanctification.

That in this life,.

That the flesh will battle against the spirit on a daily basis in the heart and in the mind of the redeemed child of God. It is a reality. So the Lord lists out here what the just man does. Now, again, it's important as we're reading this, understanding the context.

This is while the children of Israel are under the old covenant. Law keeping was required and faith in God, in faith looking forward to the promise of the Messiah was the hope of those who were under the law at this period of time.

So what they had was the hope of the coming Messiah and they had God's law revealed to them and they were to in obedience live according to the law. Here's the thing though, remember this, that no man can fully keep the law of God.

That was the point. God wants man to understand that man cannot be perfect in and of himself. A man is not justified by the works of the law but we are justified by the work of Jesus Christ. And here at the end, we're going to go over to Romans and we're going to see this come full circle here.

So in that first section, verses 5 through 9, we see what the just man does. In verse 10 through 13, we see the son of that just man again, how he disobeys God and how just as the person who obeyed the law is as accountable and responsible for sin as the person who disobeyed the law of God.

That last section, verse 14 through 17, or 14 through 18, we see this brought full circle here and we see in verse 18, it says,. As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence and did what is not good amongst his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.

And the Lord turns and he says,. Yet you say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? Because the son has done what is lawful and right and has kept all my statutes and observed them. He shall surely live.

The soul who sins shall die. It is individual, personal accountability that every single one of us have before a holy God. Another note you might want to take down is this, is that God is holy. And he will by no means let sin slide in any shape, form, or fashion.

No matter how culturally popular it may be for sins to be slid under the rug or sins to be glanced over or sin to be made less than the sin that it is, sin is sin. It is that for which Jesus Christ died and shed his blood.

So God is holy. Sin is a reality in the life of every human being and sin is a reality in the life of every human being. As we learned in Sunday school this morning, Rob talked to us a little bit about Adam and Eve and their sin.

Right? Adam and Eve and their sin.

Here's the thing.

When God made Adam and Eve,.

He put them under that first covenant, the covenant of works, which was simply this, obey me and you will live. All they had to do was what? Obey God. They could do pretty much what we have from the scripture.

The only thing that God prohibited was for them to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. They had one thing and yet they disobeyed God in that and the Bible says when they sinned, when they disobeyed God, and this goes back to excuse making, it's nothing new that children of Israel were blaming their fathers for their condition.

God said you ought not to do that.

Adam and Eve,.

If you go back to Genesis, take time to read through that and you'll find the very exact same thing happened. Adam tried to blame God for him being disobedient to God.

He said, but Lord,.

The woman that you gave me.

Gave me this thing that will not stand before the Lord. No excuse will stand before the Lord. Husbands, do not blame your wives. Wives, do not blame your children. Children, do not blame your parents.

It is the curse of sin being worked out in our lives. And outside of Jesus Christ, there is no escaping the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death. The soul who sins shall die. So the Lord went on.

He said this, 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.

But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, he keeps all my statutes and he does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.

And the Lord said, do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live. 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.

So the Lord is fair, balanced in his judgment in all things. And if we go down to 25, the Lord confronts Israel's statements. Israel begins to say, well the Lord is not being fair to us. That is a statement, that is a thought that likely runs through the minds, has run through the minds of many of us.

It's run through my mind at one point in time in life. I believe if you were honest, you might say that you thought the same exact things. The Lord addressed this. He said, you say the Lord is not fair, but hear now O Israel, is it not my way which is fair and your ways which are not fair.

Fairness, righteousness, judgment, equity, these are all things.

That are in the limelight today.

And let me say this church, it's important for you to be informed about things that are going on.

In the world.

It's important for you to understand and to know the ideologies that are being, trying to be pushed into the church of the living God that are nothing but worldly philosophies.

Messed with Jesus,.

With Jesus like it's written on a sharpie and taped on top of it like that makes it Christian.

Friends, ideologies of the world are ideologies of the world.

And they do not belong being taught by the church of Jesus Christ.

Sin is sin.

It always has been sin. It's been clearly defined as sin and the church's responsibility is to stand against sin. When a righteous man turns from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies in it, it's because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.

Again, verse 27, when a wicked man turns from his wickedness which he's committed and does what's lawful and right, he preserves him alive. That's speaking about forgiveness because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he has committed.

He shall surely live. He shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? Therefore, the Lord speaks, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways.

Now here's where we're going to get into the application and the importance of the theme, repent and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. I logically.

And you logically.

Might wonder why in the world that any preacher would get up and preach what may seem like a dead message.

To you today.

But it don't bother me a bit because I know and I understand that we're sinners and we need the grace of God. Why would any preacher get up and preach such a popular message about sin? We want to hear something good, preacher, so we can go out and rejoice.

There's no better news than you can hear.

And there's no better truth than you can know.

That you be warned that your sin.

Is to turn to Jesus Christ. People under the Old Testament law, they didn't have the fulfillment of the atoning sacrifice of Christ already to look at like we do today. All they had was the judgment of God facing them and a choice to be made.

The Lord gave it simple and straight and he said, repent and turn from your transgressions so that your iniquity will not be your ruin.

Sin will kill you.

Sin will destroy you. Sin will affect every single, it does affect every single part of our lives.

Sin is why.

We couldn't hardly crawl out of bed this morning.

I'm getting old.

Sin's taking its toll. Sin is why the one-year-old child, when he don't get his way,.

It is sin.

In every one of us.

Sin will ruin us.

Unless we have.

A remedy.

Unless we have the forgiveness.

Of sins. So the Lord is gracious and the Lord is merciful and the Lord speaks to Israel here and he says repent. That means turn away from. It's not just to change your mind. It's not something that just happens in your mind.

It's not just something that happens in your heart. Your heart and your mind,.

Your mind's in your head,.

Your heart's in your body and if your body don't follow along,.

Then it's not biblical repentance.

Are you repenting.

Of your sins? Have you turned from your sins and trusted in the living God?

Repent.

And turn from all your transgressions so that your iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you.

We have not only the rebuke, not only the correction, not only the instruction,.

The exhortation. We have clear guidance on the steps we need to take when sin is overtaking us. Cast away from you all transgressions which you have committed and the Lord said this, get yourselves a new heart.

Old timers always get up.

And they'll preach.

And I want to, I hope I can, I'm still classified as one of them. Men.

Where I'll say you need to get your heart right.

With God. You need to turn.

From your iniquity,.

Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed.

And get yourself a new heart and a new spirit.

Here's the thing.

You are not able.

To go to Reformation Church, come back here behind the pulpit and see if we got a selection of new hearts, one that you may like or one that may fit you. We don't have spirits underneath the pulpit.

You can't get it.

If you go to Walmart.

You can't get it.

If you go to any other church down the road. The thing about this is what God is commanding is only what God can do.

Only God can give the sinner a new heart. Only God can put his spirit within man. And so what God commands, God provides for and how has God provided for this command that he has given.

To give us the ability.

To have a new heart, to have a new spirit within us. What he has done is this. He sent his only begotten son to die for our sins and that whoever believes in him would have eternal life.

And not perish.

That perish and that word, the word ruin there and perish mean the same thing. It means to be utterly destroyed. So he has done that. So cast away from you all the transgressions which you've committed.

Get yourself a new heart.

And a new spirit.

For why should you die O house of Israel?

Why are you living like a pig in the mire?

It is because you have not been saved.

By the grace of God and you must be born again.

Elsewise you will live forever ruined and in hell you will lift up your eyes. Why should you die O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies says the Lord God. There are many who think that reformed theology teaches that God does not care, that God is not concerned about the affairs of men and that God is this hard hearted mean kid that sits on a hill like burning ants with a magnifying glass.

That is not who God is. God is loving. God is merciful. God is compassionate. God is just. God is righteous. God is holy.

He is omnipotent. He is omniscient. He is all of those things that we talk about in those psalms.

But He is the judge of all men. If you would turn over to the New Testament.

To the book of Romans and we'll close by reading in the book of Romans this morning.

Romans chapter 6 or actually let's begin in chapter 5. Romans chapter 5.

In the book of Daniel.

There in the Old Testament.

Under the Old Covenant law keeping was required.

To be considered right looking forward by faith in Jesus Christ.

By the way,.

Old Testament saints are saved the same way that New Testament saints are saved today by faith for the just shall live by faith. Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

And not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Verse 6. For when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us his own love.

God's love is his own love. It is not a love like you and I know. We will never be able to fairly and equitably distribute our love or our judgment to those in the world but God because he is God is able to do that.

He demonstrated his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Sin is a reality. Sin is the responsibility of the individual and the weight of sin being born.

Is on the individual.

Much more than Paul said to the Roman church much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life.

The soul that sins shall die. Under the Old Testament it was the soul who lived uprightly in and of themselves and still knowing they would come up short. So who is our justification? Our justification is Jesus Christ.

Goes on to say this. Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

That's a big statement there. For until the law sin was in the world. Many people will say today well if I'd have known what the speed limit was I wouldn't have exceeded the speed limit.

Going down the road.

Just because you didn't pay attention to the sign.

The sign was still there.

The reality was still there. And from the time of Adam and Eve's transgressions.

And sin in the garden until the time God gave the law unto Moses on Mount Sinai.

There was no written law but the law of sin was in the world. And from the time of Adam.

Until time ends every single human being.

Born into this world is born into sin. Nevertheless, verse 14 death reigned from Adam to Moses. See even though there wasn't a written law death still reigned even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam.

That's what I was saying. Because of Adam's sin in theology there's a term called federal headship because of Adam's sin all of us are born sinners. Even those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam who is a type of him who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died much more the grace of God and the gift of grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

Therefore as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men resulting in the justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so also by the one man's obedience speaking of Jesus many will be made righteous.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound so that sin might be known and clearly defined but where sin abounded grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So what shall we say then? Chapter 6. Paul says here what shall we say then? And this is very important and I know this is a lot of reading that we're doing this morning but it's so important in continuing here because we don't want to leave off because many will say well if I am steeped in sin if I am so depraved then certainly there's no hope for me friends I want you to know today as long as there is breath in your body.

There is hope for you.

What shall we say then concerning sin? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul was kind of anticipating their questions and he said certainly not. Or the King James says God forbid how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Or do you not know.

That as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we should walk in the newness of life.

For if we had been united together and this is an important if right here if we had been united together in the likeness of his death certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

This is total depravity. Before you're saved.

You are a slave of sin.

That's what the scriptures teach. That's a biblical doctrine. For he who has died has been freed from sin. There's that imagery again of freedom from slavery. Now if we died with Christ we believe that we shall also.

Live with him.

Knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion.

Over him.

For the death that he died he died unto sin.

Once for all.

But the life that he lives he lives to God. Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Verse 12. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace. What then shall we sin? Because we're not under the law but under grace? Certainly not. God forbid do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey you are that one slaves.

Whom you obey.

Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.