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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z E K I E L.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XVIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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Perhaps, in reading some of the foregoing chapters, we may have been
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tempted to think ourselves not much concerned in them (though they also
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were written for our learning); but this chapter, at first view,
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appears highly and nearly to concern us all, very highly, very nearly;
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for, without particular reference to Judah and Jerusalem, it lays down
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the rule of judgment according to which God will deal with the children
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of men in determining them to their everlasting state, and it agrees
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with that very ancient rule laid down,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:7">Gen. iv. 7</A>,
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"If though doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" But, "if not, sin,"
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the punishment of sin,"lies at the door." Here is,
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I. The corrupt proverb used by the profane Jews, which gave occasion to
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the message here sent them, and made it necessary for the justifying of
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God in his dealings with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. The reply given to this proverb, in which God asserts in general
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his own sovereignty and justice,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:4">ver. 4</A>.
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Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:4,20">ver. 4, 20</A>.
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But say to the righteous, It shall be ill with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:4,20">ver. 4, 20</A>.
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But say to the righteous, It shall be well with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:5-9">ver. 5-9</A>.
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In particular, as to the case complained of, he assures us,
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1. That it shall be ill with a wicked man, though he had a good father,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:10-13">ver. 10-13</A>.
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2. That it shall be well with a good man, though he had a wicked father,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:14-18">ver. 14-18</A>.
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And therefore in this God is righteous,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:19,20">ver. 19, 20</A>.
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3. That it shall be well with penitents, though they began ever so ill,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:21-23,27,28">ver. 21-23 and 27, 28</A>.
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4. That it shall be ill with apostates, though they began ever so well,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:24,26">ver. 24, 26</A>.
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And the use of all this is,
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(1.) To justify God and clear the equity of all his proceedings,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:25,29">ver. 25, 29</A>.
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(2.) To engage and encourage us to repent of our sins and turn to God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:30-32">ver. 30-32</A>.
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And these are things which belong to our everlasting peace. O that we
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may understand and regard them before they be hidden from our eyes!</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Eze18_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze18_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Proverb of the Sour Grapes; Reply to the Sour Grapes; Divine Judgments Vindicated.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came unto me again, saying,
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2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of
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Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
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children's teeth are set on edge?
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3 <I>As</I> I live, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, ye shall not have <I>occasion</I>
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any more to use this proverb in Israel.
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4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so
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also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall
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die.
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5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
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6 <I>And</I> hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted
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up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath
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defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a
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menstruous woman,
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7 And hath not oppressed any, <I>but</I> hath restored to the debtor
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his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread
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to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
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8 He <I>that</I> hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken
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any increase, <I>that</I> hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath
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executed true judgment between man and man,
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9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to
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deal truly; he <I>is</I> just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord
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G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Evil manners, we say, beget good laws; and in like manner sometimes
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unjust reflections occasion just vindications; evil proverbs beget good
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prophecies. Here is,</P>
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<P>
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I. An evil proverb commonly used by the Jews in their captivity. We had
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one before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+12:22"><I>ch.</I> xii. 22</A>)
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and a reply to it; here we have another. <I>That</I> sets God's
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justice at defiance: "<I>The days are prolonged and every vision
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fails;</I> the threatenings are a jest." <I>This</I> charges him with
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injustice, as if the judgments executed were a wrong: "You use this
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proverb <I>concerning the land of Israel,</I> now that it is laid waste
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by the judgments of God, saying, <I>The fathers have eaten sour grapes
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and the children's teeth are set on edge;</I> we are punished for the
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sins of our ancestors, which is as great an absurdity in the divine
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regimen as if the children should have their teeth set on edge, or
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stupefied, by the fathers' eating sour grapes, whereas, in the order of
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natural causes, if men eat or drink any thing amiss, they only
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themselves shall suffer by it." Now,
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1. It must be owned that there was some occasion given for this
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proverb. God had often said that he would <I>visit the iniquity of the
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fathers upon the children,</I> especially the sin of idolatry,
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intending thereby to express the evil of sin, of that sin, his
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detestation of it, and just indignation against it, and the heavy
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punishments he would bring upon idolaters, that parents might be
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restrained from sin by their affection to their children and that
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children might not be drawn to sin by their reverence for their
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parents. He had likewise often declared by his prophets that in
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bringing the present ruin upon Judah and Jerusalem he had an eye to the
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sins of Manasseh and other preceding kings; for, looking upon the
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nation as a body politic, and punishing them with national judgments
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for national sins, and admitting the maxim in our law that <I>a
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corporation never dies,</I> reckoning with them now for the iniquities
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of former ages was but like making a man, <I>when he is old,</I> to
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<I>possess the iniquities of his youth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:26">Job xiii. 26</A>.
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And there is no unrighteousness with God in doing so. But,
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2. They intended it as a reflection upon God, and an impeachment of his
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equity in his proceedings against them. Thus far that is right which is
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implied in this proverbial saying, That those who are guilty of wilful
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sin <I>eat sour grapes;</I> they do that which they will feel from,
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sooner or later. The grapes may look well enough in the temptation, but
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they will be bitter as bitterness itself in the reflection. They will
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set the sinner's teeth on edge. When conscience is awake, and sets the
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sin in order before them, it will spoil the relish of their comforts as
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when the teeth are set on edge. But they suggest it as unreasonable
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that the children should smart for the fathers' folly and feel the pain
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of that which they never tasted the pleasure of, and that God was
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unrighteous in thus taking vengeance and could not justify it. See how
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wicked the reflection is, how daring the impudence; yet see how witty
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it is, and how sly the comparison. Many that are impious in their jeers
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are ingenious in their jests; and thus the malice of hell against God
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and religion is insinuated and propagated. It is here put into a
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proverb, and that proverb used, commonly used; they had it up ever and
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anon. And, though it had plainly a blasphemous meaning, yet they
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sheltered themselves under the similitude from the imputation of
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downright blasphemy. Now by this it appears that they were unhumbled
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under the rod, for, instead of condemning themselves and justifying
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God, they condemned him and justified themselves; but <I>woe to him
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that</I> thus <I>strives with his Maker.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. A just reproof of, and reply to, this proverb: <I>What mean you</I>
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by using it? That is the reproof. "Do you intend hereby to try it out
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with God? Or can you think any other than that you will hereby provoke
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him to be <I>angry with you will he has consumed you?</I> Is this the
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way to reconcile yourselves to him and make your peace with him?" The
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reply follows, in which God tells them,</P>
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<P>
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1. That the use of the proverb should be taken away. This is said, it
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is sworn
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>You shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb;</I> or (as
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it may be read), <I>You shall not have the use of this parable.</I> The
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taking away of this parable is made the matter of a promise,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:29">Jer. xxxi. 29</A>.
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Here it is made the matter of a threatening. There it intimates that
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God will return to them in ways of mercy; here it intimates that God
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would proceed against them in ways of judgment. He will so punish them
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for this impudent saying that they shall not dare to use it any more;
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as in another case,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+23:34,36">Jer. xxiii. 34, 36</A>.
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God will find out effectual ways to silence those cavillers. Or God
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will so manifest both to themselves and others that they have
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wickedness of their own enough to bring all these desolating judgments
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upon them that they shall no longer for shame lay it upon the sins of
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their fathers that they were thus dealt with: "Your own consciences
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shall tell you, and all your neighbours shall confirm it, that you
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yourselves have eaten the same sour grapes that your fathers ate before
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you, or else your teeth would not have been set on edge."</P>
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<P>
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2. That really the saying itself was unjust and a causeless reflection
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upon God's government. For,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) God does not punish the children for the fathers' sins unless they
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tread in their fathers' steps and <I>fill up the measure of their
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iniquity</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:32">Matt. xxiii. 32</A>),
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and then they have no reason to complain, for, whatever they suffer, it
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is less than their own sin has deserved. And, when God speaks of
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<I>visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,</I> that is
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so far from putting any hardship upon the children, to whom he only
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renders <I>according to their works,</I> that it accounts for God's
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patience with the parents, whom he therefore does not punish
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immediately, because he <I>lays up their iniquity for their
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children,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:19">Job xxi. 19</A>.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) It is only in temporal calamities that children (and sometimes
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innocent ones) fare the worse for their parents' wickedness, and God
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can alter the property of those calamities, and make them work for good
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to those that are visited with them; but as to spiritual and eternal
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misery (and that is the death here spoken of) the children shall by no
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means smart for the parents' sins. This is here shown at large; and it
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is a wonderful piece of condescension that the great God is pleased to
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reason the case with such wicked and unreasonable men, that he did not
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immediately strike them dumb or dead, but vouchsafed to state the
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matter before them, that he may be clear when he is judged. Now, in his
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reply,</P>
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<P>
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[1.] He asserts and maintains his own absolute and incontestable
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sovereignty: <I>Behold, all souls are mine,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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God here claims a property in all the souls of the children of men, one
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as well as another. <I>First,</I> Souls are his. He that is the Maker
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of <I>all things</I> is in a particular manner the <I>Father of
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spirits,</I> for his image is stamped on the souls of men; it was so in
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their creation; it is so in their renovation. He <I>forms the spirit of
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man within him,</I> and is therefore called <I>the God of the spirits
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of all flesh,</I> of embodied spirits. <I>Secondly,</I> All souls are
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his, all created by him and for him, and accountable to him. <I>As the
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soul of the father, so the soul of the son, is mine.</I> Our earthly
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parents are only the <I>fathers of our flesh;</I> our souls are not
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theirs; God challenges them. Now hence it follows, for the clearing of
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this matter,
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1. That God may certainly do what he pleases both with fathers and
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children, and none may say unto him, <I>What doest thou?</I> He that
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gave us our being does us no wrong if he takes it away again, much less
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when he only takes away some of the supports and comforts of it; it is
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as absurd to quarrel with him as for <I>the thing formed to say to him
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that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?</I>
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2. That God as certainly bears a good-will both to father and son, and
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will put no hardship upon either. We are sure that God hates nothing
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that he has made, and therefore (speaking of the adult, who are capable
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of acting for themselves) he has such a kindness for all souls that
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none die but through their own default. <I>All souls are his,</I> and
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therefore he is not partial in his judgment of them. Let us subscribe
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to his interest in us and dominion over us. He says, <I>All souls are
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mine;</I> let us answer, "Lord, my soul is thine; I devote it to thee
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to be employed for thee and made happy in thee." It is with good reason
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that God says, "<I>My son, give me thy heart,</I> for it is my own," to
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which we must yield, "<I>Father, take my heart,</I> it is thy own."</P>
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<P>
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[2.] Though God might justify himself by insisting upon his
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sovereignty, yet he waives that, and lays down the equitable and
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unexceptionable rule of judgment by which he will proceed as to
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particular persons; and it is this:--<I>First,</I> The sinner that
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persists in sin shall certainly die, his iniquity shall be his ruin:
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<I>The soul that sins shall die,</I> shall die as a soul can die, shall
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be excluded from the favour of God, which is the life and bliss of the
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soul, and shall lie for ever under his wrath, which is its death and
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misery. Sin is the act of the <I>soul,</I> the body being only the
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<I>instrument of unrighteousness;</I> it is called the <I>sin of the
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soul,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:7">Mic. vi. 7</A>.
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And therefore the punishment of sin is the <I>tribulation and the
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anguish of the soul,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+2:9">Rom. ii. 9</A>.
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<I>Secondly,</I> The righteous man that perseveres in his righteousness
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shall certainly live. <I>If a man be just,</I> have a good principle, a
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good spirit and disposition, and, as an evidence of that, <I>do
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judgment and justice</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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<I>he shall surely live, saith the Lord God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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He that makes conscience of conforming in every thing to the will of
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God, that makes it his business to serve God and his aim to glorify
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God, shall without fail be happy here and for ever in the love and
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|
favour of God; and, wherein he comes short of his duty, it shall be
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forgiven him, through a Mediator. Now here is part of the character of
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this just man.
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1. He is careful to keep himself clean from the pollutions of sin, and
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at a distance from all the appearances of evil.
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(1.) From sins against the second commandment. In the matters of God's
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worship he is jealous, for he knows God is so. He has not only not
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sacrificed in the high places to the images there set up, but he has
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|
not so much as <I>eaten upon the mountains,</I> that is, not had any
|
|
communion with idolaters by <I>eating things sacrificed to idols,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:20">1 Cor. x. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
He would not only not kneel with them at their altars, but not sit with
|
|
them at their tables in their high places. He detests not only the
|
|
idols of the heathen but <I>the idols of the house of Israel,</I> which
|
|
were not only allowed of, but generally applauded and adored, by those
|
|
that were accounted the professing people of God. He has not only not
|
|
worshipped those idols, but he has not so much as <I>lifted up his
|
|
eyes</I> to them; he has not given them a favourable look, has had no
|
|
regard at all to them, neither desired their favour nor dreaded their
|
|
frowns. He has observed so many bewitched by them that he has not dared
|
|
so much as to look at them, lest he should be taken in the snare. The
|
|
eyes of idolaters are said to <I>go a whoring,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:9">Ezek. vi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:19">Deut. iv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) From sins against the seventh commandment. He is careful to
|
|
possess his vessel in <I>sanctification and honour,</I> and not <I>in
|
|
the lusts of uncleanness;</I> and therefore he has not dared to
|
|
<I>defile his neighbour's wife,</I> nor said or done any thing which
|
|
had the least tendency to corrupt or debauch her, no, nor will he make
|
|
any undue approaches to his own wife when she is <I>put apart for her
|
|
uncleanness,</I> for it was forbidden by the law,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+18:19,20:18">Lev. xviii. 19; xx. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, It is an essential branch of wisdom and justice to keep the
|
|
appetites of the body always in subjection to reason and virtue.
|
|
|
|
(3.) From sins against the eighth commandment. He is a <I>just man,</I>
|
|
who has not, by fraud and under colour of law and right, <I>oppressed
|
|
any,</I> and who has not with force and arms <I>spoiled any by
|
|
violence,</I> not spoiled them of their goods or estates, much less of
|
|
their liberties and lives,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Oppression and violence were the sins of the old world, that brought
|
|
the deluge, and are sins of which still God is and will be the avenger.
|
|
Nay, he is one that has not lent his money <I>upon usury,</I> nor
|
|
<I>taken increase</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
though, being done by contract, it may seem free from injustice
|
|
(<I>Volenti non fit injuria--What is done to a person with his own
|
|
consent is no injury to him</I>), yet, as far as it is forbidden by the
|
|
law, he dares not do it. A moderate usury they were allowed to receive
|
|
from strangers, but not from their brethren. A just man will not take
|
|
advantage of his neighbour's necessity to make a prey of him, nor
|
|
indulge himself in ease and idleness to live upon the sweat and toil of
|
|
others, and therefore will not take increase from those who cannot make
|
|
increase of what he lends them, nor be rigorous in exacting what was
|
|
agreed for from those who by the act of God are disabled to pay it; but
|
|
he is willing to share in loss as well as profit. <I>Qui sentit
|
|
commodum, sentire debet et onus--He who enjoys the benefit should bear
|
|
the burden.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. He makes conscience of doing the duties of his place. He has
|
|
<I>restored the pledge</I> to the poor debtor, according to the law.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+22:26">Exod. xxii. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
"<I>If thou take thy neighbour's raiment</I> for a pledge, the raiment
|
|
that is for necessary use, thou shalt <I>deliver it</I> to him again,
|
|
that he may sleep in his own bedclothes." Nay, he has not only restored
|
|
to the poor that which was their own, but has <I>given his bread to the
|
|
hungry.</I> Observe, It is called <I>his bread,</I> because it is
|
|
honestly come by; that which is given to some is not unjustly taken
|
|
from others; for God has said, <I>I hate robbery for
|
|
burnt-offerings.</I> Worldly men insist upon it that their bread is
|
|
<I>their own,</I> as Nabal, who therefore would not give of it to David
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+25:11">1 Sam. xxv. 11</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet let them know that it is not so their own but that they are bound
|
|
to do good to others with it. Clothes are necessary as well as food,
|
|
and therefore this just man is so charitable as <I>to cover the
|
|
naked</I> also <I>with a garment,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
The coats which Dorcas had made for the poor were produced as witnesses
|
|
of her charity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:39">Acts ix. 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
This just man has <I>withdrawn his hands from iniquity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
If at any time he has been drawn in through inadvertency to that which
|
|
afterwards has appeared to him to be a wrong thing, he does not persist
|
|
in it because he has begun it, but <I>withdraws his hand</I> from that
|
|
which he now perceives to be <I>iniquity;</I> for he <I>executes true
|
|
judgment between man and man,</I> according as his opportunity is of
|
|
doing it (as a judge, as a witness, as a juryman, as a referee), and in
|
|
all commerce is concerned that justice be done, that no man be wronged,
|
|
that he who is wronged be righted, and that every man have his own, and
|
|
is ready to interpose himself, and do any good office, in order
|
|
hereunto. This is his character towards his neighbours; yet it will not
|
|
suffice that he be just and true to his brother, to complete his
|
|
character he must be so to his God likewise
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He has walked in my statutes,</I> those which relate to the duties
|
|
of his immediate worship; <I>he has kept</I> those and all his other
|
|
<I>judgments,</I> has had respect to them all, has made it his constant
|
|
care and endeavour to conform and come up to them all, to deal truly,
|
|
that so he may approve himself faithful to his covenant with God, and,
|
|
having joined himself to God, he does not treacherously <I>depart from
|
|
him,</I> nor <I>dissemble with him.</I> This is a just man, and
|
|
<I>living he shall live;</I> he shall certainly live, shall have life
|
|
and shall have it more abundantly, shall live truly, live comfortably,
|
|
live eternally. <I>Keep the commandments,</I> and thou shalt <I>enter
|
|
into life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+19:17">Matt. xix. 17</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Ways of God Justified; God's Vindication of Himself.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 If he beget a son <I>that is</I> a robber, a shedder of blood,
|
|
and <I>that</I> doeth the like to <I>any</I> one of these <I>things,</I>
|
|
11 And that doeth not any of those <I>duties,</I> but even hath
|
|
eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,
|
|
12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence,
|
|
hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the
|
|
idols, hath committed abomination,
|
|
13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall
|
|
he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these
|
|
abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
|
|
14 Now, lo, <I>if</I> he beget a son, that seeth all his father's
|
|
sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such
|
|
like,
|
|
15 <I>That</I> hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath
|
|
lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not
|
|
defiled his neighbour's wife,
|
|
16 Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge,
|
|
neither hath spoiled by violence, <I>but</I> hath given his bread to
|
|
the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,
|
|
17 <I>That</I> hath taken off his hand from the poor, <I>that</I> hath
|
|
not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath
|
|
walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his
|
|
father, he shall surely live.
|
|
18 <I>As for</I> his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled
|
|
his brother by violence, and did <I>that</I> which <I>is</I> not good among
|
|
his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
|
|
19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the
|
|
father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right,
|
|
<I>and</I> hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall
|
|
surely live.
|
|
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear
|
|
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the
|
|
iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be
|
|
upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
God, by the prophet, having laid down the general rule of judgment,
|
|
that he will render eternal life to those that <I>patiently continue in
|
|
well-doing,</I> but indignation and wrath to those that do not <I>obey
|
|
the truth,</I> but <I>obey unrighteousness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+2:7,8">Rom. ii. 7, 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
comes, in these verses, to show that men's parentage and relation shall
|
|
not alter the case either one way or other.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He applied it largely and particularly both ways. As it was in the
|
|
royal line of the kings of Judah, so it often happens in private
|
|
families, that godly parents have wicked children and wicked parents
|
|
have godly children. Now here he shows,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That a wicked man shall certainly perish in his iniquity, though he
|
|
be the son of a pious father. If that righteous man before described
|
|
<I>beget a son</I> whose character is the reverse of his father's, his
|
|
condition will certainly be so too.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is supposed as no uncommon case, but a very melancholy one,
|
|
that the child of a very godly father, notwithstanding all the
|
|
instructions given him, the good education he has had and the needful
|
|
rebukes that have been given him, and the restraints he has been laid
|
|
under, after all the pains taken with him and prayers put up for him,
|
|
may yet prove notoriously wicked and vile, the grief of his father, the
|
|
shame of his family, and the curse and plague of his generation. He is
|
|
here supposed to allow himself in all those enormities which his good
|
|
father dreaded and carefully avoided, and to shake off all those good
|
|
duties which his father made conscience of and took satisfaction in; he
|
|
undoes all that his father did, and goes counter to his example in
|
|
every thing. He is here described to be a highwayman--<I>a robber and a
|
|
shedder of blood.</I> He is an idolater: <I>He has eaten upon the
|
|
mountains</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>)
|
|
|
|
and has <I>lifted up his eyes to the idols,</I> which his good father
|
|
never did, and has come at length not only to feast with the idolaters,
|
|
but to sacrifice with them, which is here called <I>committing
|
|
abomination,</I> for the way of sin is down-hill. He is an adulterer,
|
|
has <I>defiled his neighbour's wife.</I> He is an oppressor even of
|
|
<I>the poor and needy;</I> he robs the spital, and squeezes those who,
|
|
he knows, cannot defend themselves, and takes a pride and pleasure in
|
|
trampling upon the weak and impoverishing those that are poor already.
|
|
He <I>takes away</I> from those to whom he should <I>give.</I> He has
|
|
<I>spoiled by violence</I> and open force; he has <I>given forth upon
|
|
usury,</I> and so spoiled by contract; and he <I>has not restored the
|
|
pledge,</I> but unjustly detained it even when the debt was paid. Let
|
|
those good parents that have wicked children not look upon their case
|
|
as singular; it is a case put here; and by it we see that grace does
|
|
not run in the blood, nor always attend the means of grace. The race is
|
|
not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, for then the
|
|
children that are well taught would do well, but God will let us know
|
|
that his grace is his own and his Spirit a free-agent, and that though
|
|
we are tied to give our children a good education he is not tied to
|
|
bless it. In this, as much as any thing, appears the power of original
|
|
sin and the necessity of special grace.
|
|
|
|
(2.) We are here assured that this wicked man shall perish for ever in
|
|
his iniquity, notwithstanding his being the son of a good father. He
|
|
may perhaps prosper awhile in the world, for the sake of the piety of
|
|
his ancestors, but, having <I>committed all these abominations,</I> and
|
|
never repented of them, <I>he shall not live,</I> he shall not be happy
|
|
in the favour of God; though he may escape the sword of men, he shall
|
|
not escape the curse of God. <I>He shall surely die;</I> he shall be
|
|
for ever miserable; <I>his blood shall be upon him.</I> He may thank
|
|
himself; he is his own destroyed. And his relation to a good father
|
|
will be so far from standing him in stead that it will aggravate his
|
|
sin and his condemnation. It made his sin the more heinous, nay, it
|
|
made him really the more vile and profligate, and, consequently, will
|
|
make his misery hereafter the more intolerable.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That a righteous man shall be certainly happy, though he be the son
|
|
of a wicked father. Though the father did eat the sour grapes, if the
|
|
children do not meddle with them, they shall fare never the worse for
|
|
that. Here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is supposed (and, blessed be God, it is sometimes a case in
|
|
fact) that the son of an ungodly father may be godly, that, observing
|
|
how fatal his father's errors were, he may be so wise as to <I>take
|
|
warning,</I> and not tread in his father's tests,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Ordinarily, children partake of the parents' temper and are drawn in to
|
|
imitate their example; but here the son, instead of <I>seeing his
|
|
father's sins,</I> and, as is usual, doing the like, sees them and
|
|
dreads doing the like. <I>Men</I> indeed do not <I>gather grapes of
|
|
thorns,</I> but God sometimes does, takes a branch from a wild olive
|
|
and grafts it into a good one. Wicked Ahaz begets a good Hezekiah, who
|
|
<I>sees all his father's sins which he has done,</I> and though he will
|
|
not, like Ham, proclaim his father's shame, or make the worst of it,
|
|
yet he loathes it, and blushes at it, and thinks the worse of sin
|
|
because it was the reproach and ruin of his own father. <I>He considers
|
|
and does not such like;</I> he considers how ill it became his father
|
|
to do such things, what an offence it was to God and all good men, what
|
|
a wound and dishonour he got by it, and what calamities he brought into
|
|
his family, and therefore he <I>does not such like.</I> Note, If we did
|
|
but duly <I>consider the ways</I> of wicked men, we should all dread
|
|
being associates with them and followers of them. The particulars are
|
|
here again enumerated almost in the same words with that character
|
|
given of the just man
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), to show how good men <I>walk in the same spirit and in the same
|
|
steps.</I> This just man here, when he took care to avoid his father's
|
|
sins, took care to imitate his grandfather's virtues; and, if we look
|
|
back, we shall find some examples for our imitation, as well as others
|
|
for our admonition. This just man can not only say, as the Pharisee,
|
|
<I>I am no adulterer, no extortioner,</I> no oppressor, no usurer, no
|
|
idolater; but he has <I>given his bread to the hungry</I> and
|
|
<I>covered the naked.</I> He has <I>taken off his hand from the
|
|
poor;</I> where he found his father had put hardships upon poor
|
|
servants, tenants, neighbours, he eased their burden. He did not say,
|
|
"What my father has done I will abide by, and if it was a fault it was
|
|
his and not mine;" as Rehoboam, who contemned the taxes his father had
|
|
imposed. No; he <I>takes his hand off from the poor,</I> and restores
|
|
them to their rights and liberties again,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:15-17"><I>v.</I> 15-17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus he has <I>executed God's judgments</I> and <I>walked in his
|
|
statutes,</I> not only done his duty for once, but one on in a course
|
|
and way of obedience.
|
|
|
|
(2.) We are assured that the graceless father alone shall die in his
|
|
iniquity, but his gracious son shall fare never the worse for it. As
|
|
for his father
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
because he was a cruel oppressor, and <I>did hurt,</I> nay, because,
|
|
though he had wealth and power, he did not with them do good among his
|
|
people, lo, <I>even he,</I> great as he is, <I>shall die in his
|
|
iniquity,</I> and be undone for ever; but he that kept his integrity
|
|
<I>shall surely live,</I> shall be easy and happy, and he shall <I>not
|
|
die for the iniquity of his father.</I> Perhaps his father's wickedness
|
|
has lessened his estate and weakened his interest, but it shall be no
|
|
prejudice at all to his acceptance with God and his eternal
|
|
welfare.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He appeals to themselves then whether they did not wrong God with
|
|
their proverb. "Thus plain the case is, and <I>yet you say, Does not
|
|
the son bear the iniquity of the father?</I> No, he does not; he shall
|
|
not if he will himself <I>do that which is lawful and right,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
But this people that bore the iniquity of their fathers had not done
|
|
that which is lawful and right, and therefore justly suffered for their
|
|
own sin and had no reason to complain of God's proceedings against them
|
|
as at all unjust, though they had reason to complain of the bad example
|
|
their fathers had left them as very unkind. <I>Our fathers have sinned
|
|
and are not, and we have borne their iniquity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+5:7">Lam. v. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is true that there is a curse entailed upon wicked families, but it
|
|
is as true that the entail may be cut off by repentance and
|
|
reformation; let the impenitent and unreformed therefore thank
|
|
themselves if they fall under it. The settled rule of judgment is
|
|
therefore repeated
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The soul that sins shall die,</I> and not another for it. What
|
|
direction God has given to earthly judges
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+24:16">Deut. xxiv. 16</A>)
|
|
|
|
he will himself pursue: <I>The son shall not die,</I> not die
|
|
eternally, <I>for the iniquity of the father,</I> if he do not tread in
|
|
the steps of it, nor the father <I>for the iniquity of the son,</I> if
|
|
he endeavour to do his duty for the preventing of it. In <I>the day of
|
|
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,</I> which is now
|
|
clouded and eclipsed, <I>the righteousness of the righteous shall</I>
|
|
appear before all the world to be <I>upon him,</I> to his everlasting
|
|
comfort and honour, upon him as a robe, upon his as a crown; and <I>the
|
|
wickedness of the wicked</I> shall be <I>upon him,</I> to his
|
|
everlasting confusion, upon him as a chain, upon him as a load, as a
|
|
mountain of lead to sink him to the bottomless pit.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_29"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Encouragement to Repentance.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath
|
|
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful
|
|
and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
|
|
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall
|
|
not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done
|
|
he shall live.
|
|
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
|
|
the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>: <I>and</I> not that he should return from his ways, and
|
|
live?
|
|
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness,
|
|
and committeth iniquity, <I>and</I> doeth according to all the
|
|
abominations that the wicked <I>man</I> doeth, shall he live? All his
|
|
righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his
|
|
trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath
|
|
sinned, in them shall he die.
|
|
25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O
|
|
house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
|
|
26 When a righteous <I>man</I> turneth away from his righteousness,
|
|
and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that
|
|
he hath done shall he die.
|
|
27 Again, when the wicked <I>man</I> turneth away from his
|
|
wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful
|
|
and right, he shall save his soul alive.
|
|
28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his
|
|
transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he
|
|
shall not die.
|
|
29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not
|
|
equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your
|
|
ways unequal?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here another rule of judgment which God will go by in dealing
|
|
with us, by which is further demonstrated the equity of his government.
|
|
The former showed that God will reward or punish according to the
|
|
change made in the family or succession, for the better or for the
|
|
worse; here he shows that he will reward or punish according to the
|
|
change made in the person himself, whether for the better or the worse.
|
|
While we are in this world we are in a state of probation; the time of
|
|
trial lasts as long as the time of life, and according as we are found
|
|
at last it will be with us to eternity. Now see here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The case fairly stated, much as it had been before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+3:18"><I>ch.</I> iii. 18</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), and here it is laid down once
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:21-24"><I>v.</I> 21-24</A>)
|
|
|
|
and again
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:26-28"><I>v.</I> 26-28</A>),
|
|
|
|
because it is a matter of vast importance, a matter of life and death,
|
|
of life and death eternal. Here we have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A fair invitation given to wicked people, to turn from their
|
|
wickedness. Assurance is here given us that, <I>if the wicked will
|
|
turn,</I> he shall <I>surely live,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:21,27"><I>v.</I> 21, 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) What is required to denominate a man a true convert, how he must
|
|
be qualified that he may be entitled to this act of indemnity.
|
|
|
|
[1.] The first step towards conversion is consideration
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Because he considers and turns.</I> The reason why sinners go on in
|
|
their evil ways is because they do not consider what will be <I>in the
|
|
end thereof;</I> but if the prodigal once <I>come to himself,</I> if he
|
|
sit down and consider a little how bad his state is and how easily it
|
|
may be bettered, he will soon <I>return to his father</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:17">Luke xv. 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the adulteress <I>to her first husband</I> when she considers that
|
|
<I>then it was better with her than now,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:7">Hos. ii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] This consideration must produce an aversion to sin. When he
|
|
considers he must turn <I>away from his wickedness,</I> which denotes a
|
|
change in the disposition of the heart; he must turn from <I>his sins
|
|
and his transgression,</I> which denotes a change in the life; he must
|
|
break off from all his evil courses, and, wherein he has done iniquity,
|
|
must resolve to do so no more, and this from a principle of hatred to
|
|
sin. <I>What have I to do any more with idols?</I>
|
|
|
|
[3.] This aversion to sin must be universal; he must turn from
|
|
<I>all</I> his sins and <I>all</I> his transgressions, with out a
|
|
reserve for any Delilah, any house of Rimmon. We do not rightly turn
|
|
from sin unless we truly hate it, and we do not truly hate sin, as sin,
|
|
if we do not hate all sin.
|
|
|
|
[4.] This must be accompanied with a conversion to God and duty; he
|
|
must <I>keep all God's statutes</I> (for the obedience, if it be
|
|
sincere, will be universal) and must <I>do that which is lawful and
|
|
right,</I> that which agrees with the word and will of God, which he
|
|
must take for his rule, and not the will of the flesh and the way of
|
|
the world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) What is promised to those that do thus turn from sin to God.
|
|
|
|
[1.] They shall <I>save their souls alive,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
They shall <I>surely live, they shall not die,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:21,28"><I>v.</I> 21 and again <I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Whereas it was said, <I>The soul that sins it shall die,</I> yet let
|
|
not those that have sinned despair but that the threatened death may be
|
|
prevented if they will but turn and repent in time. When David
|
|
penitently acknowledges, <I>I have sinned,</I> he is immediately
|
|
assured of his pardon: "<I>The Lord has taken away thy sin, thou shalt
|
|
not die</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+12:13">2 Sam. xii. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
thou shalt not die eternally." He shall <I>surely live;</I> he shall be
|
|
restored to the favour of God, which is the life of the soul, and shall
|
|
not lie under <I>his wrath,</I> which is as <I>messengers of death</I>
|
|
to the soul.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The sins they have repented of and forsaken shall not rise up in
|
|
judgment against them, nor shall they be so much as upbraided with
|
|
them: <I>All his transgressions that he has committed,</I> though
|
|
numerous, though heinous, though very provoking to God, and redounding
|
|
very much to his dishonour, yet <I>they shall not be mentioned unto
|
|
him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
not mentioned against them; not only they shall not be imputed to him
|
|
to ruin him, but in the great day they shall not be remembered against
|
|
him to grieve or shame him; they shall be covered, shall be sought for
|
|
and not found. This intimates the fulness of pardoning mercy; when sin
|
|
is forgiven it is <I>blotted out,</I> it is <I>remembered no more.</I>
|
|
|
|
[3.] In <I>their righteousness they shall live;</I> not for their
|
|
righteousness, as if that were the purchase of their pardon and bliss
|
|
and an atonement for their sins, but in their righteousness, which
|
|
qualifies them for all the blessings purchased by the Mediator, and is
|
|
itself one of those blessings.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) What encouragement a repenting returning sinner has to hope for
|
|
pardon and life according to this promise. He is conscious to himself
|
|
that his obedience for the future can never be a valuable compensation
|
|
for his former disobedience; but he has this to support himself with,
|
|
that God's nature, property, and delight, is to have mercy and to
|
|
forgive, for he has said
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?</I> No, by
|
|
no means; you never had any cause given you to think so." It is true
|
|
God has determined to punish sinners; his justice calls for their
|
|
punishment, and, pursuant to that, impenitent sinners will lie for ever
|
|
under his wrath and curse; that is the will of his decree, his
|
|
consequent will, but it is not his antecedent will, the will of his
|
|
delight. Though the righteousness of his government requires that
|
|
sinners die, yet the goodness of his nature objects against it. <I>How
|
|
shall I give thee up, Ephraim?</I> It is spoken here comparatively; he
|
|
has not pleasure in the ruin of sinners, for he would rather they
|
|
should <I>turn from their ways and live;</I> he is better pleased when
|
|
his mercy is glorified in their salvation than when his justice is
|
|
glorified in their damnation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. A fair warning given to righteous people not to turn from their
|
|
righteousness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:24-26"><I>v.</I> 24-26</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The character of an apostate, that <I>turns away from his
|
|
righteousness.</I> He never was in sincerity a righteous man (as
|
|
appears by that of the apostle,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+2:19">1 John ii. 19</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>If they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with
|
|
us</I>), but he passed for a righteous man. He had the denomination and
|
|
all the external marks of a righteous man; he thought himself one, and
|
|
others thought him one. But he throws of his profession, leaves his
|
|
first love, disowns and forsakes the truth and ways of God, and so
|
|
<I>turns away from his righteousness</I> as one sick of it, and now
|
|
shows, what he always had, a secret aversion to it; and, having
|
|
<I>turned away from his righteousness,</I> he <I>commits iniquity,</I>
|
|
grows loose, and profane, and sensual, intemperate, unjust, and, in
|
|
short, <I>does according to all the abominations that the wicked man
|
|
does;</I> for, when the unclean spirit recovers his possession of the
|
|
heart, he <I>brings with him seven other spirits more wicked than
|
|
himself and they enter in and dwell there,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+11:26">Luke xi. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The doom of an apostate: <I>Shall he live</I> because he was once
|
|
a <I>righteous man?</I> No; <I>factum non dicitur quod non
|
|
perseverat--that which does not abide is not said to be done. In his
|
|
trespass</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>)
|
|
|
|
and for his iniquity (that is the meritorious cause of his ruin),
|
|
<I>for the iniquity that he has done, he shall die,</I> shall die
|
|
eternally,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.</I> But
|
|
will not his former professions and performances stand him in some
|
|
stead--will they not avail at least to mitigate his punishment? No:
|
|
<I>All his righteousness that he has done,</I> though ever so much
|
|
applauded by men, <I>shall not be mentioned</I> so as to be either a
|
|
credit or a comfort to him; the righteousness of an apostate is
|
|
forgotten, as the wickedness of a penitent is. Under the law, if a
|
|
Nazarite was polluted he lost all the foregoing days of his separation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+6:12">Num. vi. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
so those that have <I>begun in the spirit and end in the flesh</I> may
|
|
reckon all their past services and sufferings <I>in vain</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:3,4">Gal. iii. 3, 4</A>);
|
|
|
|
unless we persevere we <I>lose what we have gained,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Jo+1:8">2 John 8</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. An appeal to the consciences even of the house of Israel, though
|
|
very corrupt, concerning God's equity in all these proceedings; for he
|
|
will be justified, as well as sinners judged, out of their own mouths.
|
|
|
|
1. The charge they drew up against God is blasphemous,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:25,29"><I>v.</I> 25, 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
The <I>house of Israel</I> has the impudence to say, <I>The way of the
|
|
Lord is not equal,</I> than which nothing could be more absurd as well
|
|
as impious. <I>He that formed the eye, shall he not see?</I> Can his
|
|
ways be unequal whose will is the eternal rule of good and evil, right
|
|
and wrong? <I>Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?</I> No
|
|
doubt he shall; he cannot do otherwise.
|
|
|
|
2. God's reasonings with them are very gracious and condescending, for
|
|
even these blasphemers God would rather have convinced and saved than
|
|
condemned. One would have expected that God would immediately vindicate
|
|
the honour of his justice by making those that impeached it eternal
|
|
monuments of it. Must those be suffered to draw another breath that
|
|
have once breathed out such wickedness as this? Shall that tongue ever
|
|
speak again any where but in hell that has once said, <I>The ways of
|
|
the Lord are not equal?</I> Yes, because this is the day of God's
|
|
patience, he vouchsafes to argue with them; and he requires them to
|
|
own, for it is so plain that they cannot deny,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The equity of his ways: <I>Are not my ways equal?</I> No doubt
|
|
they are. He never lays upon man more than is right. In the present
|
|
punishments of sinners and the afflictions of his own people, yea, and
|
|
in the eternal damnation of the impenitent, <I>the ways of the Lord are
|
|
equal.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The iniquity of their ways: "<I>Are not your ways unequal?</I> It
|
|
is plain that they are, and the troubles you are in you have brought
|
|
upon your own heads. God does you no wrong, but you have wronged
|
|
yourselves." <I>The foolishness of man perverts his way,</I> makes that
|
|
unequal, and then <I>his heart frets against the Lord,</I> as if his
|
|
ways were unequal,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+19:3">Prov. xix. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
In all our disputes with God, and in all his controversies with us, it
|
|
will be found that his ways are equal, but ours are unequal, that he is
|
|
in the right and we are in the wrong.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze18_32"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Warning against Apostasy.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one
|
|
according to his ways, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>. Repent, and turn
|
|
<I>yourselves</I> from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not
|
|
be your ruin.
|
|
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have
|
|
transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why
|
|
will ye die, O house of Israel?
|
|
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith
|
|
the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>: wherefore turn <I>yourselves,</I> and live ye.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the conclusion and application of this whole matter. After
|
|
a fair trial at the bar of right reason the verdict is brought in on
|
|
God's side; it appears that <I>his ways are equal.</I> Judgment
|
|
therefore is next to be given; and one would think it should be a
|
|
judgment of condemnation, nothing short of <I>Go, you cursed, into
|
|
everlasting fire.</I> But, behold, a miracle of mercy; the day of grace
|
|
and divine patience is yet lengthened out; and therefore, though God
|
|
will at last judge <I>every one according to his ways,</I> yet he waits
|
|
to be gracious, and closes all with a call to repentance and a promise
|
|
of pardon upon repentance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Here are four necessary duties that we are called to, all amounting
|
|
to the same:--
|
|
|
|
1. We must repent; we must change our mind and change our ways; we must
|
|
be sorry for what we have done amiss and ashamed of it, and go as far
|
|
as we can towards the undoing of it again.
|
|
|
|
2. We must <I>turn ourselves from all our transgressions,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:30,32"><I>v.</I> 30 and again <I>v.</I> 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Turn yourselves,</I> face about; turn from sin, nay, turn against it
|
|
as the enemy you loathe, turn to God as the friend you love.
|
|
|
|
3. We must <I>cast away from us all our transgressions;</I> we must
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abandon and forsake them with a resolution never to return to them
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again, give sin a bill of divorce, break all the leagues we have made
|
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with it, throw it overboard, as the mariners did Jonah (for it has
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raised the storm), cast it out of the soul, and crucify it as a
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malefactor.
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4. We must <I>make us a new heart and a new spirit.</I> This was the
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matter of a promise,
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+11:19"><I>ch.</I> xi. 19</A>.
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Here it is the matter of a precept. We must do our endeavour, and then
|
|
God will not be wanting to us to give us his grace. St. Austin well
|
|
explains this precept. <I>Deus non jubet impossibilia, sed jubendo
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monet et facere quod possis et petere quod non possis--God does not
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|
enjoin impossibilities, but by his commands admonishes us to do what is
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in our power and to pray for what is not.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. Here are four good arguments used to enforce these calls to
|
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repentance:--
|
|
|
|
1. It is the only way, and it is a sure way, to prevent the ruin which
|
|
our sins have a direct tendency to: <I>So iniquity shall not be your
|
|
ruin,</I> which implies that, if we do not repent, iniquity will be our
|
|
ruin, here and for ever, but that, if we do, we are safe, we are
|
|
snatched as brands out of the burning.
|
|
|
|
2. If we repent not, we certainly perish, and our blood will be upon
|
|
our own heads. <I>Why will you die, O house of Israel?</I> What an
|
|
absurd thing it is for you to choose death and damnation rather than
|
|
life and salvation. Note, The reason why sinners die is because they
|
|
<I>will die;</I> they will go down the way that leads to death, and not
|
|
come up to the terms on which life is offered. Herein sinners,
|
|
especially sinners of the house of Israel, are most unreasonable and
|
|
act most unaccountably.
|
|
|
|
3. The God of heaven has no delight in our ruin, but desires our
|
|
welfare
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>):
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|
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|
<I>I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies,</I> which implies
|
|
that he has pleasure in the recovery of those that repent; and this is
|
|
both an engagement and an encouragement to us to repent.
|
|
|
|
4. We are made for ever if we repent: <I>Turn yourselves, and live.</I>
|
|
He that says to us, <I>Repent,</I> thereby says to us, <I>Live,</I>
|
|
yea, he says to us, <I>Live;</I> so that life and death are here set
|
|
before us.</P>
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