Social Justice and the Gospel, Part 3

let's turn back to Ezekiel chapter 18 for the next in our series on social justice and the gospel while you're looking up that chapter I just mentioned to you two things if you haven't checked the grace to you website you should a gty dot org because there is a series of five articles five blog articles on social justice and the gospel we've completed that series as of friday that's available to you there also is a statement called the statement on social justice you can google that and find it and it is a doctrinal statement that delineate scleral the biblical perspective on these particular issues i think you'll find both the statement on social justice and the articles on the grace to you website very helpful to you we will continue in our look at chapter 18 i thought for a while i might be able to get through this time but we'll have to save the finish for the next time but i want to remind you of what we've learned from this chapter you heard it read in its entirety earlier so you know the flow and the significance of it but i would remind you that my concern about the issue of social justice and the gospel as i've been saying for the last couple of weeks as the event Jellicle church is putting itself in a very difficult situation to preach the gospel by affirming the social and sort of political and ideological perspective of the social justice movement because the social justice movement is based on the fact that there are in the world victims victims victims of other people's choices victims of other people's sins victims of other people's transgressions those people may be in a family those people may be in current society those people may have lived 100 200 years ago they may have lived 30 40 50 years ago but that that we're all victims of things that other people have done this is a basic human delusion that man is good that I'm basically good and if there's any bad in me it's because of what somebody did to me this victim mentality is literally taken over our entire society and it's sad to see the Evangelical Church accepting the fact that all these victims seem to deserve legitimate consideration for their victimhood the bible does not define us as victims it defines us as perpetrators of crimes against God as criminals as culprits as blasphemers as haters of God as enemies of God we have basically amassed a lifetime of sin and transgression iniquity against God for which judgment has been pronounced on us that judgment is physical death spiritual death and eternal death which is conscious punishment in Hell outside the presence of God forever this has always been throughout all of redemptive history and church history the message of gospel preachers that people are not victims they are sinful now remember that the dominant human sin is pride the dominant human sin is pride love of self self-preservation self protection so man spends a lot of his energy convincing himself that he is good and if something's wrong in his life somebody else did something that caused it not him but when you come to the Word of God the Bible describes all of us as human beings in this world all of us being sinners in language that is anything but good we're evil there's no good in us we have no capacity for good even the good that we think we're doing is filthy rags John Bunyan once said the best prayer I ever prayed had enough sin in it to drown the world mankind that minimizes the doctrine of sin the doctrine of total depravity and when man does that he then cuts himself off from understanding how desperately he needs the good news of the gospel that is why faithful preachers always preach on sin and death and judgment the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment we are called to warn sinners of coming judgment and everlasting hell and we learned in Ezekiel already and echoed by Jeremiah that if we don't do that the blood of the sinners who are judged is on our hands when God speaks of the condition of humanity he uses terms like death and darkness and blindness and hardness and bondage and slavery and incurable sickness and alienation and ignorant and condemnation and judgment but the world of sinners does not want to hear that language that is why that has largely disappeared from the evangelical world which is so busy trying to make the world like them that they have stripped out all that offends so we saw last week man as a sinner has a default position his default position when confronted with his sin has always been to blame someone else the first sinner was Eve she blamed the snake the next sinner was Adam he blamed not just a woman but God who created her this is the default position of all sinners they find someone else to blame and ultimately they blame God God made the world the way it is God made me the way I am God put me where I've been God subjected me to this course of history that now has turned me into a victim and as long as sinners think they are good people who have been victimized there's no interest in the gospel particularly if they have been victimized by God why would they run to God to be delivered from their sin when he's the one that made them victims to start with if Christians preach there's only one true and living God and God is absolutely sovereign and God is the author of history and God determines everything and every life and every event is within the framework of his sovereign purpose then I am what I am where I am in the midst of the circumstances I'm in because of God it's his fault so you not only blame the sinners around you you'd not only blame the sinners in your house or those who gave you birth you not only blame the sinners of past generations but ultimately you blame the larger context which is who you are where you are when you are in the world and that's when you start blaming God that's not new it was Eva sensually blaming God for the snake he created him it was Adam essentially blaming God for the woman he created her this is what sinners do so at the very outset of gospel preaching what you want to do is deliver sinners from the delusion that they are victims of the sins of anyone else they are on the way to being victims of their own sin and their own sin only and when the church embraces this victim hood and validates it it is cutting people off from the pathway to the gospel the current social justice frenzy has become a new way that sinners can blame somebody else past generations present powers people they know people they don't know everybody is a victim the status then lets them shift blame hate other individuals resent other individuals other groups other generations to feel like they're they're victims of certain racial attitudes attitudes toward gender attitudes toward sexual preference attitudes toward economic status toward culture plethora of other victim categories and nearly everyone now is searching for some kind of victimhood psychologists would tell them that they probably were victimized as child's children but they can't remember it so they would go into a repressed memory just for the sole purpose of uncovering some supposed victimhood so they can have some place to belong in this completely victimized culture if you're not a victim of anything you have no moral authority and nothing to say get out of the conversation everybody needs to have had at least a microaggression you've got to have some category of victimhood to divest yourself of the responsibility for the fact that your life is what it is because of your own sin all this blame shifting and unwillingness to face sin and rebellion and rejection of God's Word and God himself and the gospel keeps people from coming to salvation now we can't allow this to happen the evangelistic church is so caught up in a firming everyone's victimhood that they are cutting off the opportunity to bring them to the gospel the sinner must be confronted with his own and her own desperate condition before God and it's all on every individual now that is the message of Ezekiel 18 individual responsibility that is his point verse 4 we saw the soul who sins will die verse 20 the person who sins will die that's the theme here people are sinful they die in their own sins that is a truism that cannot be denied because everybody dies there's the proof everybody dies the wages of sin is death everybody dies therefore everybody's a sinner and everybody as a sinner is in rebellion against God and under divine judgment headed for eternal hell unless they believe the gospel unless they repent and their life is marked by righteousness now that is what Ezekiel wants us to understand he's a judgment preacher he refuses to allow people to see themselves as victims Ezekiel is a prophet he's over in Babylon he's preaching to Jewish exiles who have been taken there as essentially captive slaves and what happened was in 605 the Babylonians came and began to conquer the land of Israel what was remaining was still the southern part of Israel the area of Judah and the Babylonians came in 605 took some people away a first deportation they came back in 597 took more Jews ten tens of thousands of Jews back into captivity Ezekiel was with that group in 597 and still there will be another deportation in 586 BC and at that time Jerusalem will be destroyed and so will the temple that hasn't happened so Ezekiel is in that second deportation he's over in Babylon he's preaching to the Exile they're warning them that more judgment is to come and that it's coming not only on the land of Judah not only on Jerusalem not only on the temple but it's going to come on the lives of all who do not do righteousness who do not live righteously and Ezekiel is preaching repentance and calling people to turn from their sin this sermon in chapter 18 is a remarkable remarkable gospel sermon gospel means good news but in order to get to the good news you have to accept the bad news and this is the bad news at least at the beginning and the good news comes toward the end now we said it's divided into three sections section number one the sinners delusion and God's reality the sinners delusion and God's reality what is the sinners delusion you remember it don't you the word of the Lord came to me saying what do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying the father's eat the sour grape for the children's teeth are set on edge that's the sinners delusion we're suffering but our fathers sinned that same expression exactly that same proverb as I call the last time a meme that same statement was addressed by Jeremiah who was preaching back in the land of Israel so Jeremiah prophet at the same time he's back in Israel he's saying you're saying the same thing we're suffering for the sins of a prior generation that is what the Exile is were saying we don't deserve this we're good people the Lord is punishing us for something that our ancestors did God's reality speaks then to the sinners delusion verse 3 as I live declares the Lord God you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore stop saying that it is not true behold verse 4 every soul is mine the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is my the soul who sins will die no one is the victim of another person sin everyone has an individual account with me and the soul who sins will die your spiritual death your physical death and your eternal death are related to your own sin I told you last week about proverbs 19 3 which says the foolishness of man ruins his way and his heart rages against God man ruins his own life and blames God yes it is true our conditions the conditions in which we live in the world are affected by other people we're all in the sinful condition because of Adam's sin but there have been past generations who have messed up this world significantly and we've inherited the world that they gave us and there is a worldly culture existing now that is corrupting this world at a rapid speed that's almost breathtaking and yes they they caused levels of corruption that we have to face and we have to endure it is true that corruption is passed down to us from past generations and and spread among us by present generations but no individual person will ever be judged on the sin of someone else well whatever the culture you live in whatever it's corruptions you will be judged for your own sin and your own sin alone God says no more tolerance for you saying we are suffering because somebody else sinned God doesn't operate that way you're suffering because of your own sin in a sense he's saying you're no better than your ancestors so having made the statement of his reality as against the backdrop of their delusion we come to point to in verses 5 to 20 and we started it last time we'll go through it quickly this morning this is God's reality Illustrated we saw God's reality stated here's God's reality Illustrated we saw the sinners delusion stated and here's the sinners delusion defended so God says let me help you to understand this I'm going to give you a series of illustrations really a three-part illustration the point is this the soldier sins who died the nephesh the person who has committed the sin dies for his own sin God judges every person individually and here's his illustration and there's first of all a grandfather then a father and then a son so it goes through three generations of sinners and we're gonna learn what passes from one generation to the next does sin pass from one generation to the next our children held responsible for their parents sin does righteousness pass from one generation to the next our sinners benefited by the righteousness of their ancestors that is what we're going to see in this text now I want to give you an insight as we start it's all about the works that people do this is all about the works that they do and we're going to see them all laid out certain behaviors God judges on behavior now let me say this so you understand it we're not saved by works we're saved by faith we're saved by grace we will be judged by our works because our works are the manifest evidence of our nature we are not saved by works we will be judged by our works that is why you see in Romans chapter to this very same kind of judgment verse 5 of Romans 2 talks about the righteous judgment of God righteous judgment of God says in verse 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds he will render to each person according to his deeds to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality he gives them eternal life to those awfully ambitious do not obey the truth obey unrighteousness he gives them wrath and indignation judgment is based on works the unbelievers will be judged on their works God is keeping a record of every work every deed every thought every every action of every unbeliever and in the end when they come before the great white throne to be judged they will be judged on the record of their deeds the same is true of believers in the day that we see God we will be judged by our works our works are the manifestation of the transformation of God in our lives righteous people do righteous things unrighteous people do unrighteous things and therefore the behaviors give evidence of the nature so judgment is always on the basis of works that's why God keeps a record of those works now let's meet the righteous grandfather in verse 5 a man is righteous okay he's righteous how did he become righteous we know the answer to that abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness when you believed God and now of course with the gospel and Christ having come when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ God grants you righteousness his righteousness is imputed to you Paul says that's that's why I don't have a righteousness of my own but the righteousness of God imputed to me through faith in Christ this is the great gift that God gives a believer he grants him his own righteousness covers him with his own righteousness so here's a man who is righteous as a result of being righteous by faith he practices justice and righteousness those two are together nine times in this text they go together his life is marked by justice and righteousness justice meaning he does right with regard to everyone else righteousness means he does right in his own life and here are the illustrations he doesn't eat at the mountain shrines this is a this is a hypothetical grandfather he doesn't eat at the mountain shrine doesn't lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel defile his neighbor's wife that's idolatry and then adultery he doesn't do that doesn't approach a woman during her menstrual period that was forbidden for the sake of keeping her from unnecessary diseases in ancient times if a man does not oppress anyone restores to the dead or his pledge when you loaned money to someone you took some Goods as a pledge clothing tools whatever it was you gave it back when he paid you back he doesn't keep his pledge doesn't commit robbery gives bread to the hungry covers the naked with clothing if he doesn't lend money on interest or take increase you couldn't lend to another Jew with interests you had to loan in the money without interest and increase means usury exorbitant high interest if he keeps his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between man and man if he walks in my statutes and my ordinances so as to deal faithfully that is with integrity he is righteous there it is again verse 5 a man is righteous verse 9 he is righteous stated again how do we know he's righteous because of this kind of life that man will surely live declares the Lord God he'll never know divine punishment you'll never know spiritual death and eternal death now notice there are all kinds of things that manifest the righteous life and they are practical things he doesn't worship idols he doesn't commit adultery he's taking very good care of those in his charge particularly his wife he doesn't oppress anybody he gives back what he owes he doesn't commit robbery he feeds the hungry he covers the naked he loans money without interest he keeps his hand from iniquity he executes true justice between men and men divine justice he operates according to God's laws this is not some kind of socialistic ideology he operates according to God some laws and they're laid out explicitly in Leviticus you can see them some of these laws with related related to man to man even in the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus he executes true justice in general verse nine he walks in my statutes my ordinances he lives with integrity he is righteous he will live there's the first point that that the Lord wants Ezekiel to make if this man's gonna live because he's righteous and it shows up in his life but what about the next man verse 10 this is the father from the grandfather to the father then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother though he himself did not do any of these things the the grandfather didn't do any of these things but he has a violent son who murders people and does all the rest of those things that his father didn't do he eats at the mountain shrines verse 11 he defiles his neighbor's wife he oppresses the poor and needy commits robbery doesn't restore a pledge but lifts up his eyes to the idols and commits abomination he lends money on interest and takes increase will he live he will not live he has committed all these abominations he will surely be put to death his blood will be on his own head what is the point the point is simply this having a righteous father did nothing for him righteousness does not cross generational lines having a righteous father does nothing for the Sun when the son lives a violent murderous adulteress oppressive corrupt selfish life his blood will be on his own head now I want to remind you who are parents if you have warned your children like a watchman giving him the gospel told him about judgment confronted the sin and you've done your duty or perhaps to a spouse or perhaps to family member or a friend you have committed the gospel to them you have warned them as we saw earlier in Ezekiel you have to be a faithful watchman and warned of judgment or the judgment falls on them and their bloods on your hands if you haven't warned them but even as a parent if you have done that and your son rejects the gospel and does all of these things that are the very opposite of what you did there's no blood on your hands his blood is on his own head he is held responsible for what he has done or she as the matter may be the righteousness of parents is not passed to the next generation not through any kind of right or Sacrament or baptism or anything the righteousness of one generation is not passed to the next that next generation is judged by its own life and works having a godly father doesn't protect the credit doesn't pass down he will die because he has committed all these abominations he will surely be put to death his blood will be on his own head he will die in judgment fully guilty fully responsible now what if that person has a son verse 14 now behold he has a son who has observed all his father sins which he committed and observing does not do likewise he follows the pattern of his grandfather not his father he does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel or defile his neighbor's wife or oppress anyone or retain a pledge or commit robbery but he gives bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing he keeps his hand from the poor that is he doesn't abuse the poor and defenseless does not take interest or increase but executes my ordinances the Word of God and walks in my statutes he will not die for his father's iniquity he will surely live theirs the main point here no person is being punished for somebody else's sins not a prior generation not even your own family your own father's sins he will not die for his father's iniquity he will surely live as I said no one is a victim of anybody else's sins we all stand responsible for our own sins we stand responsible for God and the only criteria by which we will be judged eternally is the record of our own behavior God would not punish a son for the sins of his father and God would not withhold punishment from a son for the righteousness of his father so here is God's truth stated in verses 1 to 4 and then God's truth Illustrated how did the sinners respond well they defended their delusion verse 19 yet you say now I'm gonna go back to what I said at the beginning this is the default position of sinners they don't give up this territory very easily these are exile who know the law of God who have been preached to regularly by this prophet Ezekiel they know the Old Testament they know what it says and yet they cling to their own sense of innocence and so this is a remarkable response yet you say in spite of what I have told you in spite of what God has said you say why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity in spite of what I've said in spite of that truth you're still clinging to the idea that the son is bearing the father's punishment and you actually say why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity why do they say that seems like a strange thing to say I'll take criticizing God for doing that and then why are they are they justifying it and saying why should it not be that way answers very simple this is fatalistic cynical sarcasm directed at God well what other explanation is there we don't deserve it they fight to hold on to that delusion we don't deserve it so this is how it is why should it not be this way we're trapped in this fatalism we're trapped in this fate that you God have placed on us you have predetermined our destiny and there's there's no way out tell us can we explain our sufferings they will not let go of the idea they're victims so it has to be that they cynically sarcastically say well this is on you god this is on you this is you you did it you made the world this way their predicament is proof they are good people being mistreated by history and who's in charge of history God they yield to their hopeless fate and they decide that this is God's fault and they're gonna they're gonna keep saying it they become more bold if you look at verse 25 we'll see this next time yet you say the same introduction as we saw in verse 19 yet you say the way of the Lord is not right then verse 29 the house of Israel says the way of the Lord is not right now get the picture here they are blaspheming God God you're not righteous you're not just we don't deserve this they cling tightly to their innocence there's no other explanation in the universe for the situation that we're in except you did this to us they would eagerly declare the Lord God unholy unrighteous unjust before they would admit their own wretched wickedness you see how strong the sinners resistance is strong strong resistance the sinner will shake his fist in the face of God before he'll yield up these delusion of his own goodness now here again were brought to understand the basic starting point of the gospel all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is what it's death stop blaming the world stop blaming who you are where you are the circumstances you're in and thereby blaming God and if you are being told that there's only one true God and it's the sovereign God of Scripture then it's the sovereign God of scripture who got you into this mess and you're going to shake your fist in his face and deny your culpability he's certainly not going to be the one you go to for salvation you're not going to see him as a God of love and mercy and grace and tenderness and compassion in fact you're actually going to think that he gets some pleasure out of this now that would that would be consistent that hey you must like doing this God because this is how you operate in the world that's why God later in the chapter makes very clear wonderful statement I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked verse 23 verse 32 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked it's not what pleases me it's not what pleases me and then God responds by reiterating the truth verse 19 middle of the verse when the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all my statutes and done them he shall surely live the person who dies verse 20 is the person who sins the son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity nor will the father bear the punishment for the sons iniquity the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself you must stop playing the victim you are the criminal you are the rebel you're facing judgment for your own sins there's a third section I'll just introduce it to you briefly and then we'll look at it next time it starts there in verse 21 we saw God's truth stated first point God's truth Illustrated second point here is God's truth offered here's the invitation it's full of pleading full of pleading notice just glancing down how many question marks there are here as God questions the direction that sinners go so God's truth was stated Illustrated and now offered and we saw the sinners delusion declared then we saw the sinners delusion defended and here we see the sinners delusion retained verses 20 to 29 are just amazing because they show how even when God lays out his truth again sinners cling tightly to their transgressions just the first three verses starting in verse 21 if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all my statutes and practices justice and righteousness he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him because of his righteousness which he has practiced he will live do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked declares the Lord God rather than that he would turn from his ways and live God is pleading here this is God's truth offered to them if you turn from your sins and turn to observe my statutes and practice justice and righteousness you will live and not die and all all the transgression of one who turns all which he has committed will not be remembered against him because of his righteousness which he has practiced he will live that's what pleases me that's the good news the good news is that when you turn from your sin and you follow the path of righteousness and obedience your sins are completely forgiven and they will never be remembered against him you heard Psalm 103 earlier bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits we can never forget his benefits because he can never remember our sins that's the gospel and now we know what Ezekiel didn't know that all of this is possible because Jesus Christ has born in his body our sins on the cross taking the wrath of God on behalf of all who believe your sins can be forgiven if you come to Christ because he paid for them on the cross that's the gospel doesn't help sinners to coddle their sense of self protection their sense of being victimized by someone else God is pleading now with Ezekiel's generation and every other generation including ours forget what you don't like about the world you live in you might not be fully satisfied with who you are what you are where you are when you are but that isn't the issue the issue has turned from your sins and obey the Word of God and you will live and never die and he will never remember your sins again they will all be forgiven and you will live forever that's what pleases God the church is in the process sad to say of moving rapidly away from that message the message of sin and death and judgment and hell to agreeing with the world the people are just victims of somebody else's iniquity and as long as we keep affirming that we push them away from the gospel you say oh yeah but people who are into social justice today they're not against the gospel they will be they will be because they've already decided they're going to give the world what the world wants to hear they're not going to be satisfied with this they're gonna want to hear even less and that means the gospel will disappear the good news is your sinner on your way to hell but you don't have to go there turn repent come to God through Christ he will make you righteous he will enable you to live a righteous life you will be the possessor of eternal life when you face him in judgment he will grant to you the fullness of joy in his presence forever more and you will really live forever more to come but that's for next time lord thank you again this morning for such a blessed time of fellowship and worship thank you for the encouragement of time in prayer as well as music fellowship all that's going on here even this morning we're deeply grateful that you loved us and sent your son to be the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but the sins of the whole world thank you for providing a sacrifice that could satisfy your just requirement one who could take our punishment so you would be free to forgive us Lord may there be many this day who recognize that they are the criminal they need to repent turn seek your righteousness seek as he says later in the chapter a new heart and a new spirit which only you can give and cry out to you for forgiveness and salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ that's our prayer do that work in hearts we pray in the Savior's name amen [Music]

Channel: Grace to You

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ

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Length: 44min 52sec (2692 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 19 2018