March 20 2022
Lent 3 March 20 2022
Old Testament: Ezekiel 33:7-20 “No pleasure in the death of the wicked”
Psalm: Psalm 38 “I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin”
Epistle: 1st Corinthians 10:1-13 (14) “These things are written for our instruction”
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 “Unless you repent … you will perish”
Sermon Text: Ezekiel 33:7-20
Sermon Title: “Why Will You Die”?
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“My beloved; Flee from idolatry”. (1st Corinthians 10:14) This is what the Apostle Paul warns us about this morning (in the Epistle reading) using the people of Israel’s experience in the wilderness as a warning. “With most of the people, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were”. (1st Corinthians 10:6-7a) “We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did … nor grumble as some of them did … Let anyone who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall”. (1st Corinthians 10:9-10a-12)
Paul lists three different sins of the Israelites as examples of idolatry; sexual immorality, putting God to the test, and grumbling/complaining. Elsewhere, Paul also calls coveting, idolatry. (Colossians 3:5) But these are just a few of the many ways in which we break the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods”. (Exodus 20:3) As Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, “anything on which your heart relies and depends … that is your god”. (L. C. 1st Commandment, p. 386, par. 3)
Luther goes on to list some of the more common forms of idolatry; including money and possessions, great learning, wisdom, power, prestige, family, honor, and pleasure. (L. C. 1st Commandment, p. 387, par. 10) We also tend to make idols of what we see as our own “goodness” or “good works”. Again, anything on which our heart relies and depends … that is our god. In recent years, especially the last two, many have made an idol out of health and medicine, science, and safety; forgetting that none of these are ever (perfect) or guaranteed. (and sometimes slandering or censoring those with different opinions) Forgetting also, that we are all going to die of something.
Because of the fall of Adam and Eve we are born in sin. Because of sin in the world, because of sin in us, physical death is a certainty (Unless Christ returns first) and we do not know when or where or how it will occur. Therefore, the most important thing for each of us is to be reconciled to God so that we are prepared to die in the faith. (By the way) That is the (primary) job of the pastor/preacher; to prepare people to die believing in Christ through the preaching of the Gospel.
So, the Lord God speaks (the Gospel) through the prophet Ezekiel this morning. He speaks of a watchmen; a soldier, who is to be alert to and to warn the city; sounding the trumpet, if the enemy is attacking them. If the watchman fails in his job and the people are not warned, the watchman who failed will be held accountable.
So, the Lord said to Ezekiel, “son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel”. (Ezekiel 33:7a) The warning comes from the Lord Himself (and His Word) but to the prophet He declared “Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give warning from Me” (Ezekiel 33:7b) “unless you repent, you will likewise perish”. (Luke 13:5b) So, the preacher/watchmen is to warn the people of God of the dangers of false teaching and unbelief; or refusing to repent of their sins. He is to do this whether the people listen or refuse to listen; for that is his calling from God.
“If I say to the wicked one … you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn … that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul”. (Ezekiel 33:8-9) Ezekiel is here talking about dying eternally, being separated from God; which is not God’s desire for any person; He does not “wish any to perish (eternally) but all to reach repentance”. (2nd Peter 3:9b)
“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”. (Hebrews 4:7, Psalm 95:7b-8a) Today, God not only calls each of us to repent of our sins and receive His forgiveness won for us by His death on the cross; He calls us to warn others of the eternal danger they are in and to announce the Lord’s forgiveness to all who repent.
According to the Small Catechism, “Repentant believers are those who are sorry for their sins and believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior”. Thus, repentance involves both contrition and faith. (Purpose of excommunication, # 283) (Who must not be given the sacrament, # 305) “Repent therefore and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out”. (Acts 3:19)
The people of Israel seem to have come to recognize the consequences of their sins. Therefore, the Lord addresses the prophet Ezekiel saying, “You, son of man, say to the house of Israel; thus you have said; Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?; say to them, As I live declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his ways and live; Turn back , turn back from your evil ways; Why will you die O house of Israel”. (Ezekiel 33:10-11)
The Lord God, thru Ezekiel, shows the difference between a heart that is penitent and one that is not. “You, son of man, say to your people; The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins”. (Ezekiel 33:12) We know from this passage that it is possible for lifelong sinners and unbelievers to be converted, but sadly, also for lifelong believers/Christians to fall away from faith through deliberate, unrepentant sin.
Therefore, we are not to keep sinning in order that grace may abound, but as the Apostle Paul declared, “let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin, as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life … for sin will not have dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace”. (Romans 6:12-14)
The Lord continues to speak through Ezekiel; if the righteous “trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, but in the injustice that he has done, he shall die … if the wicked turns from his sin … none of the sins he has committed shall be remembered against him … he shall surely live”. (Ezekiel 33:13-14, 16)
This is why we continue to proclaim God’s Word; that the righteous would constantly be strengthened in their faith in Christ through the “preaching of Jesus Christ” (Romans 16:25b); through the means of grace; the Word of God and the sacraments; and that the wicked would be converted by such preaching, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, people object to the ways of God, both in that he forgives even the worst of sinners who repent and also that He rejects not only the openly evil, but also the outwardly righteous who lack true faith in Christ, who trust in themselves or some other idol. “Yet your people say, the way of the Lord is not just; when it is their own way that is not just … O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to their ways”. (Ezekiel 33:17, 20)
But the people still protest that “the way of the Lord is not just”. (Ezekiel 33:17b) Can you imagine the arrogance involved in unrepentant sinners telling God that He is not fair. The truth is that God always acts according to His perfect nature; it is the people, we ourselves even, who are fickle (inconsistent), who frequently reject God’s Word and ways.
The good news for repentant sinners, as we heard earlier, is that even though “our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them, even though we cannot in any way save ourselves; the Lord declares, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his ways and live”. (Ezekiel 33:10b-11a) Turn (back) to Christ Jesus our Lord; who came into this world, “not to be served, but to serve and give His life” (Matthew 20:28) for the salvation of the world.
God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life and died as the perfect sacrifice, atoning for all of our sins. As Paul describes it, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself; not counting their trespasses against them”. (2nd Corinthians 5:19a) We receive these gifts of God in the means of grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word and the Sacrament; that we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness”. (Small Catechism, 2nd Article)
“Now, to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to keep you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy; to the only God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; be glory, majesty, dominion and authority; before all time, now and forever. Amen”. (Jude v 24-25)
The peace of God, …