Break The Cycle

Break the Cycle

Ezekiel 18

Tonight, we are going to take a look at Ezekiel chapter 18.

• On Sunday mornings, our youth are in the middle of a series on the book of Ezekiel.
• So, I will speak this week and in a couple of weeks on two different sections of Ezekiel that we won’t have time to cover in our Sunday morning study.
• So, let me quickly give you a little catch-up on the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is a prophet during the second phase of the Babylonian exile.

• There are three phases to the exile. The first being when Babylon takes away key leaders and strong men of the southern nation of Judah. They experience Babylonian brainwashing. We read about this assimilation in the book of Daniel. Daniel and his companions are being challenged to conform to the ways of Babylonian culture. This is the Babylonian leadership’s way of attempting to destroy Jewish identity from within.
• The second phase of the exile is when a larger number of Jews in Judah are taken to Babylon and scattered throughout the ancient empire. This is where Ezekiel comes in.
• Ezekiel begins this book by describing how, in his 30th year of life, he is taken (along with 10,000 to 20,000 other Jews) away from Jerusalem and into exile.
• Ezekiel clarifies that he is 30 years old because he is a priest. However, even though he is a priest, he is not able to serve as a priest because he is taken away into exile.
• At the beginning of this book, Ezekiel is commissioned by God to prophecy a message to the nation of Judah/Israel that God is going to further judge them in the eventual third phase of the exile, when Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed.
• God tells Ezekiel that his message will not be received by the people in exile, but that he is to preach nonetheless.
• God instructs Ezekiel to do many wild things to publicly warn and condemn the nation of Israel. These living parables include him lying on his side for hundreds of days publicly, eating food that is cooked over cow dung, and building a model Jerusalem and destroying it in front of crowds of people.
• Ezekiel’s job was not easy as a prophet, but he stood in the gap and spoke truth even when it was hard to hear.

In the section we are going to look at tonight, Ezekiel takes on this role for a couple of chapters, acting as a lawyer. He is making a strong argument against the sins of the people. And specifically, he is going to be responding to a very common accusation made against God’s judgment.

The accusation: God is not fair to punish us because it was our parents and grandparents who sinned. God should not hold us responsible for the actions of our ancestors.

This is a sentiment that is not uncommon in our world today.

• Many people point to their upbringing as a source of pain and suffering.
• Many people claim that they were not set up for success due to the sins of their parents and grandparents.

It also leads to a question I have been asked before:

• Does God punish me for my parents’ or grandparents’ sins?
• Is there such a thing as a generation curse?
• Are the struggles that I am facing connected to some sort of family curse?

Ezekiel addresses these questions directly, and there is a clear answer.

Let’s go through it together, starting in Ezekiel 18:1

Ezekiel 18:1-4—Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat the sour grapes, But the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore. 4 Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.

1. All Souls Will Be Judged By God
   • The Lord speaks to Ezekiel regarding a common proverb that was being spoken amongst the exiled Jews in Babylon.
   • This proverb is saying that because the father sinned (ate sour grapes), their children receive the punishment (children’s teeth set on edge).
   • We might think of it like “Father like son.”
   • In our culture, we often say things like this when discussing our children’s negative behavior.
   • STORY: We are sometimes amazed at how much our children resemble us. We see something our children do, and we sometimes are even more annoyed by it because we think, “That is my son… my daughter.” Just the other day, one of our babysitters said, “Andrew, watching your three boys is like watching a little version of you.” I forgot to ask if that is good or bad.
   • I don’t think that the Lord wants us to deny the fact that our children are very much like us. It is the nature of nurturing that our children are going to be very much shaped by our attitudes and demeanors.
   • But that is not what Ezekiel is prophesying against here.
   • The heart of this proverb, being spoken by the people, is “God is punishing us (Judah) because of something we didn’t do but something our parents did.”
   • They are saying, “God is not being fair to us because it is not our fault that our parents were sinful and rebellious.”
   • We see in God’s heart in verse 4. He says, “All your souls are mine. The sons and the fathers. The soul that sins will die.”
   • God’s response to this proverb is, “Everyone answers to me for what they have done. You have a choice in this matter. Continue in sin and die. Break the cycle and live.”
   • Now, Ezekiel is going to dig into this more in the coming verses, but I think this cannot be understated.

1. Every person will answer for their own soul one day.

• 2 Corinthians 5:10—” For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
• When this passage states that all souls belong to the Lord, it does not imply that all souls are saved, justified, and purified; rather, it makes clear that God, the Creator of all, has authority over all that He has created.
• This should influence our perspective on life. You are not your own.
• This puts in perspective that all of us answer to God. At the end of all things, we will stand before God alone.
• For the Jewish people, their collective identity had blinded them to their God allocated individual responsibility.

Now let’s read in verse 4. Ezekiel is now going to paint a picture of a family lineage in a sort of parable example for us.

• This gives us insight into the way God sees the situation. Let’s pay close attention to God’s intention for us.

Ezekiel 18:5-9— “But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness, 6 and 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 approach a woman during her menstrual period— 7 if a man does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, 8 if he does not lend money on interest or take increase, if he keeps his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between man and man, 9 if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully—he is righteous and will surely live,” declares the Lord God.

So our first person in the story. We are going to call him the grandfather.

• Ezekiel describes a man who keeps God’s commands.
• He abstains from what is impure and unrighteous.
• He is a prized example of one who is faithful to God.
• His promise is that he will live.

Ezekiel 18:10-13— “Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother 11 (though he himself did not do any of these things), that is, he even eats at the mountain shrines, and defiles his neighbor’s wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but lifts up his eyes to the idols and commits abomination, 13 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.

The second person strays from the path. We will call him the father.

• Ezekiel is a man who does the very opposite of what his father did.
• He is rebellious, adulterous, and violent. He is wicked.
• His promise: He will be put to death and his blood will be on his head.

14 “Now behold, he has a son who has observed all his father’s sins which he committed, and observing does not do likewise. 15 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, 16 or oppress anyone, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery, but he gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, 17 he keeps his hand from the poor, does not take interest or increase, but executes My ordinances, and walks in My statutes; he will not die for his father’s iniquity, he will surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was not good among his people, behold, he will die for his iniquity.

The third person returns to righteous form. We will call him the son.

• He refuses to be like his father.
• He returns to the path of his grandfather.
• Verse 17 makes clear something that cannot be missed
• “He will not die for his father’s iniquity, he will surely live.”

There are some clear things that we can take away from this.

1. You are not made right before God by your ancestors’
   • Salvation is not inherited.
   • Many people live with a false sense of security about their own eternal destination due to the faith of their family.
   • This was something John the Baptist spoke about in preparing the people of Israel for Jesus’ arrival.
   • Luke 3:8—” Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
   • What Ezekiel makes clear here is that the father in the story is not saved from the punishment of his unrighteousness just because the grandfather is righteous.
   • We are each responsible for our relationship with the Lord.
   • I know for some of you this isn’t encouraging. Maybe you have a family member who you know is not walking with the Lord. You would like it if your faith were enough on their behalf. But this is not true.
   • This principle goes deeper than ancestry.
   • I believe many people attend church, maybe even for their entire lives. Maybe they serve and help out in some ministry of the church. But while they may be attending services their whole life… they are not truly born again.
   • CALVARY DISTINCTIVES: This is why Pastor Rich and the elders of our church decided that we would not have membership at Calvary. Why? Because you could have your Calvary Chapel Church Members card as a welcome member of a church building, but not be a welcomed member of the kingdom of heaven.
   • Don’t fall into a false sense of security. Saying you’re a Christian because you attend church is like sitting in a garage and saying you’re a car. There is something wrong with the thought process, and there has to be an intentional change of heart!
   • CHRISTIAN KIDS– I love getting to do youth ministry. Some of the kids in our youth group have parents who follow Jesus while other don’t. One of the things I get to see happen in the life of a young person is the baby steps of owning one’s faith. I love it when a student who has grown up in church, heard the Bible stories since they were young, one day at a camp/retreat/youth service says, “I think I finally get it.” Like a light bulb goes on in their ,soul and what they have probably heard from their Christian parents 1000 times suddenly is like brand new information to them because they are having a moment of really deciding for themselves.
   • Ezekiel is giving an invitation tonight out of the norms, traditions, and passive religion into revival and rebirth as a child of God.

2. You are responsible to people but not for people.

• If you are a parent in this room… You have a God given responsibility to raise your children to know the Lord.
• Deutonomy 6:4-9— “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
• If you are a follower of Jesus, you will follow the Shema prayer given here. This is the responsibility of every parent. To raise your child to know the Lord.
• Not the youth pastor, not the children’s ministry volunteer, not their teacher, child-care provider, not their grandparents… it is your responsibility for your children. (All these things are good, but this is not something you punt downfield, but are active in the middle of)
• I remember hearing a message a while back from Pastor Rich where he mentioned indoctrinating your kids. I will never forget how he said, “People have a negative view of indoctrination. They think it is brainwashing. No, it is biblical. If you don’t indoctrinate your child… don’t worry the world is really good at doing it for you.”
• So I say this clearly to make a point about the importance of raising your children and grandchildren to know the Lord.
• HOWEVER… You are responsible for raising your child to know Jesus… you are not responsible for them to make the decision.
• Here is what I mean: Don’t think that it is your fault if your child chooses Jesus or denies Jesus because it is their choice alone.
• I love how Ezekiel creates this example of a grandfather whose son becomes the polar opposite of him. Does Ezekiel say that this is the grandfather’s fault… That he wasn’t good enough. That he didn’t raise his son well enough. Therefore, the father in Ezekiel 18 is condemned because of the grandfather’s failure.
• “If perfect parenting could produce perfect children, Jesus would have never had to come.”— Paul Tripp.
• This principle goes beyond parenting. With all of the people that God has placed in our lives. We are responsible to them. To share the gospel, to love, to be generous, and to shine bright for Christ.
• But be careful, brothers and sisters, not to grow a Savior complex in serving. To overextend yourselves and, in turn, send the message to those you love so furiously that what they really need is you.
• We would never say that what they need is us, but we often live with shame, guilt, and pressure, thinking that the reason someone is far from God is because we are not enough for them.

3. You will not be held responsible or cursed for your ancestors’ sins

• Now, if you are a student of the Bible, then you might say. Isn’t there a passage that contradicts what Ezekiel is laying out here?
• No, there isn’t. There is a commonly misinterpreted passage that people use to say, “Because of my family failures, I am doomed to the struggle…. Or I am experiencing a hardship because my parents/grandparents sinned.”
• Exodus 20:5—“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.”
• If you have heard this misquoted, then you know that typically the last five words are left out. It says “of those who hate Me.”
• So if your ancestors hated God, you hate God. Then Ezekiel made it pretty clear. You will experience the condemnation of your sins on judgment.

4. Your family’s failures are not an excuse for your own.

• Reminds me of the story of Gideon. God in Judges calls Gideon to go forward and battle the Midianites.
• His response:
• Judges 6:15—” He said to Him, ‘O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.’”
• Gideon basically says, “I am the small nobody in a family of nobodies who belong to the smallest tribe of nobodies in all of Israel.
• What is the Lord’s response to Gideon?
• Judges 6:16— The Lordanswered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
• God is in the business of using nobodies. If you submit and trust your life unto the Lord, there is nothing that God can’t do in and through your life. He has great purposes for those who will trust Him.
• Family hurts run deep. I understand and can strongly empathize with any person who feels broken about their family situation.
• And we all live in the real world. We know that things are not black and white, this side of eternity. There are many wicked people who live their lives of luxury and die after a life of comfort and prosperity. Some righteous people suffer and live lives of poverty and sorrow.
• Ezekiel’s viewpoint here creates for us this false idea that if we just do what is right, everything will be fine.

Ezekiel 18:30-32— “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. 31 Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live.”

5. We break the cycle by receiving a new heart and a new identity.

• Ezekiel instructs Israel to do something that they are unable to do on their own; they need a complete heart transformation.
• This points forward to what only Jesus was able to accomplish.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
• Ezekiel prophesied about the work of Christ in chapter 36.
• Ezekiel 36:26—I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
• The hope for all of us today is that, regardless of our family history, Jesus has made a way for us to be adopted into His family.
• What an encouragement that we are truly his and that when we repent of sin, he makes a way not only for us to be adopted but for all of the cycles of sin to be broken.
• I pray that you receive this invitation.
• If your faith has grown cold or has truly been superficial. Choose today to make it personal. Choose today to make your faith not about your last name but instead the name of Jesus.
• If you have felt trapped in your own family circumstances. Know that all that matters is that Jesus is offering you freedom and healing today by His death and resurrection.