CHANGING COURSE (PART 3)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.”

Ezekiel 18:24

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today concludes our three part series on changing course in regard to the way we live in God’s sight. And while our first two devotions were centered on turning from sin and moving in a positive direction, we will see in this message that there’s a danger in going the wrong way too. Look again at these words as we continue to study from Ezekiel 18:

“But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.”  Ezekiel 18:24

In the first devotion in this series, we found God focusing on the son of a parent who had lived sinfully. That son chose to not repeat the mistakes of his father, opting for living right and just instead of wickedly, and he was rewarded with life, not death, as a result.

The second devotion saw God showing us that He rewards those who were living in sinfulness but decided to change course, turn away from wickedness, and live righteously in obedience to God’s will and way. God would not hold their past sins against them but rather bless them with His favor, honoring their recommitment to Him and His desires.

Note today that the tone changes toward the negative. There is not a good news outcome in this last scenario. Rather, it’s sad news as someone who had been going in the right direction, a righteous person living in righteousness, changes course and goes the wrong way. They choose to do the “same detestable things” that a “wicked person does”, living in a way that is unfaithful to God. As a result, God responded in the following fashion:

1. He refused to remember the righteous things the person had done.

Think about that for a moment.

The person who had been living in righteousness surely had a resume of good things they had done in the name of the Lord. They had submitted to His will, way, and word which would have only led them to do things that were pleasing in God’s sight. They had made a difference through Him but none of that mattered after they turned away from God toward sin and wickedness. The Lord promised He would remember none of the right things the person had done.

2. He declared the once righteous person guilty of unfaithfulness.

Surely there could be a long list of indictments the Lord could have documented against the person who had turned from righteousness toward wickedness but that wasn’t necessary because any detailed breakdown of individual transgressions would have carried once central theme: they occurred because the person had become unfaithful and disobedient toward God.

3. He promised the death penalty for the person’s unfaithfulness.

How serious was this negative changing of course from righteousness to sinfulness?

It was a life to death decision for God simply delivers the following chilling verdict:

“Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.”

That’s quite a fall from grace, wouldn’t you agree? But we should all get the message here:

God hates sin. He despises it. It was because of man’s sin that He offered up His only Son to die because it was the only way He could bring salvation to His beloved children, the children He did not wish to perish (John 3:16).

We’re not to look at sin with some cavalier attitude. We’re to look at it like it is deadly to us and thus we shouldn’t want any part of it.

If we would simply take this approach, then I don’t believe we’ll ever need to worry about changing course in any way because we would always allow the Lord to chart our course, a course that always results in righteousness, a course that always leads to true life, life that is right and just, now and forever.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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