Ezekial 18:30, 31 - Get a New Heart and Spirit for the Abundant Life.
Ezekial 18:30, 31 - Get a New Heart and Spirit for the Abundant
Life.
Ezekial 18:30, 31 (NIV) 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. 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?
Ezekial 18:30, 31 (CWR) Listen to me, O Israel. I will judge
everyone individually according to his deeds. You need to repent and
turn away from your wickedness. Your sin is your downfall. Don't
let it destroy you! Change your ways and come to me for a new heart
and a new spirit. Why should you die?
CONTEXT
Have you ever accused God of not being fair? The Jews were
doing that (vv. 25, 29-30) and quoting a familiar proverb to argue
their case (v. 2; Jer. 31:29-30). If the fathers did the sinning, why
should their children do the suffering? Is not God unjust when He
punishes the children for the fathers' sins?
But God does not do that, nor does He take pleasure in sending
judgment (vv. 23, 32). He would gladly forgive sinners if they would only
repent. God judges individuals--regardless of what their fathers have
done (vv. 4, 20). You cannot claim your father's righteousness, nor
can you be punished for your father's sin. You might be punished by
your father's sin, but that is another matter (Deut. 5:9).
The supreme need is for a "new heart and a new spirit" (v.
31), which can come only through faith in Christ. "Turn and live!" is
God's loving call to sinners today. It is a matter not of fairness but
of grace. [Chapter by Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe]
COMMENTARY APPLICATION
Ezekiel's solution to the problem of inherited guilt is for each
person to have a changed life. This is God's work in us and not
something we can do for ourselves. The Holy Spirit does it (Psalm
51:10-12). If we renounce our life's direction of sin and rebellion and
turn to God, he will give us a new direction, a new love, and a new
power to change. You can begin by faith, trusting in God's power to
change your heart and mind. Then determine to live each day with him in
control (Ephes. 4:22-24). [Life Application SB]
God does not command what cannot be done, but admonishes us to
do what is in our power, and to pray for what is not. [Matthew
Henry Commentary]
Sin has its seat in the mind. The soul must purpose the sinful
act before passion can dominate over reason. The root of sin, then,
is a bent of mind that causes man to choose the evil course. The
solution to the problem is to correct this basic disposition. This is
what repentance is intended to accomplish. A change must take place
in the thinking of the individual. Since God never coerces the
will, this act must be voluntary, but the Holy Spirit is given to aid
the soul. It is quite impossible for the individual of himself to
accomplish the transformation. But when he chooses to make the change and
in his great need cries out to God, the powers of the soul are
imbued with power from above and the propensity of the mind is
corrected.
True repentance, then, is a function of the mind. It includes
a thorough scrutinizing of the situation to discover what factors
led to the defection, and also a study as to how similar errors can
be avoided in the future. Repentance is the process whereby sin is
expelled from the life. Once repented of, it can be confessed, and it
will be forgiven. But confession without repentance is meaningless.
God cannot forgive sins that are still active in the heart. This is
the reason why the basic emphasis of the Scriptures is upon
repentance rather than confession... The reason many Christians fall so
repeatedly into the same error is that they have never truly permitted the
Holy Spirit to change their basic thinking with regard to that sin;
they have never taken their sins to heart, to discover how, by the
enabling grace of God, they might have complete victory over those sins.
[SDA Bible Commentary]
Here is where thousands fail; they do not believe that Jesus
pardons them personally, individually. They do not take God at His word.
It is the privilege of all who comply with the conditions to know
for themselves that pardon is freely extended for every sin. Put
away the suspicion that God's promises are not meant for you. They
are for every repentant transgressor. Strength and grace have been
provided through Christ to be brought by ministering angels to every
believing soul. None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity,
and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to
strip them of their garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put
upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live and not
die.
God does not deal with us as finite men deal with one another.
His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and tenderest compassion.
He says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "I
have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a
cloud, thy sins." Isaiah 55:7; 44:22.
"I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the
Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Ezekiel 18:32.
Satan is ready to steal away the blessed assurances of God. He desires
to take every glimmer of hope and every ray of light from the soul;
but you must not permit him to do this. Do not give ear to the
tempter, but say, "Jesus has died that I might live. He loves me, and
wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate heavenly
Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has
given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father, and
say, 'I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more
worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.'"
The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received: "When he
was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and
ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Luke 15:18-20.
But even this parable, tender and touching as it is, comes
short of expressing the infinite compassion of the heavenly Father.
The Lord declares by His prophet, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. "
Jeremiah 31:3. While the sinner is yet far from the Father's house,
wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father's heart is
yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to
God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating,
drawing the wanderer to his Father's heart of love. SC53-54
Death is the wages of sin, but God would rather we not pay it.
He has already covered the cost of our sin in the death of His Son;
we must simply accept His gift and come to Him on His terms. [Life
Principles SB By Charles Stanley]
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
Grace Notes:
http://www.e-gracenotes.org/index.php
A Better Way to Live:
http://www.itiswritten.com/betterway/
Excellent Spiritual Resource Site:
http://www.christianlifemediacenter.com/
More Spiritual Resources:
http://www.aBible.com
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
The FAST Program:
http://www.fast.st/fast/index.php
