 a righteous man that sins shall die. Repent and live. Ezekiel 3, 18 and 33. Brothers and sisters who know the Bible quite well and know how to disprove the false repent of your sins gospel from many other passages will still from time to time struggle with some let's say problematic passages such as Ezekiel 3, 18 and 33 other than quotes from Jesus such as sinners to repentance or the joy over one sinner that repents. These passages are considered to be one of the biggest blows to easy believism and strong proof texts that you have to repent of your sins to be saved and these passages are also used to suggest that you can lose your salvation because a righteous man can go back to the state of dying in his sins as it were and it uses terms like he must bear his iniquity. In my personal experience Ezekiel 18 is the chapter that is cited most often either by my adversaries or inquirers however chapter 18 should not be used alone it is repeating the same theme from chapter 3 and this same theme will be repeated again in chapter 33. We should consider all three chapters as complementing each other and being interpreted together. I will assume in this video therefore that each one sets the context of the other they should not be read in isolation. In chapter 3 from verse 16 God appoints Ezekiel to be a watchman and to give a warning to the house of Israel. It's important that we understand then who this is addressed to the house of Israel. It is not addressed to the pagans or the workers of iniquity or the Gentile nations. Ezekiel's warning is to God's chosen nation who are at least nominally God's chosen people. Because of this anything that these passages teachers cannot be applied to getting unsaved sinners saved and converting to Christianity so this cannot be applied to showing Muslims or atheists how to be saved for example. In a New Testament application this can only be applied to Christians people who are at least nominally God's people. And this was already confirmed in chapter 2 that the children of Israel rebelled against the Lord. In verses 18 and 19 of chapter 3 then Ezekiel is held directly accountable to warn the people that they would die in their iniquity or sin. If Ezekiel does not deliver this warning then blood shall be required at his hand. In verse 20 we then read When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before him he shall die. Because you have not given him warning he shall die in his sin and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered but his blood will I require at your hand. Then in verse 21 God re-emphasizes what he's already been saying here with the goal that the righteous man will stay righteous and not sin. Now assuming that you're familiar with this story you'll know that Ezekiel is struck dumb and unable to speak even though God is holding him accountable to speak because his blood will be required otherwise. So in chapter 3 God gave Ezekiel the initial message but it's not to be preached just yet. Obviously it will be preached later. In chapter 4 he will have to lie on his side for many days which will work out over a year and the iniquity of Israel is being built up over this time such that Ezekiel bears the iniquity of Israel. In the next few chapters there are various judgments pronounced against Israel such as famine pestilence and various other things and these things shall overcome the nation and Ezekiel has various other visions and so on and we find out in chapter 12 that the Babylonian army will capture Jerusalem and Ezekiel continues to rebuke Israel for its idolatry and its various abominations. When we get to chapter 18 we then essentially see a repeat of the same thing that we saw in chapter 3, this idea that the soul that sins it shall die unless the sinning soul turns from his sin. Between verses 5 to 20 we are told that he who lives righteously shall surely live if he has walked in God's statutes and kept his judgments in verse 9, has not looked upon idols or defiled his neighbour's wife in verse 6, has not oppressed any such as verses 7 and 16 etc etc. Within the same passage we also see that he shall bear his iniquity if he shall turn towards not behaving righteously. Even if a father has done all such iniquity the son may see this and spare himself if he behaves righteously. The opposite is also assumed to be true but the example is the father doing the iniquity and so then in verse 21 we see this same idea repeated from chapter 3 but if the wicked will turn from all of his sins he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions shall not be mentioned onto him in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. And in verse 23 it goes on to say have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die says the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live. In the remainder of the chapter we have a discourse on how the Israelites accuse God of being unequal when it is actually they themselves that are not equal. Then at the end of the chapter the message is repent or turn from sin in context and live. And in verse 24 we have this same idea again that a righteous man can turn from his righteousness and die in his sins and his righteousness shall not be remembered so once again very similar to chapter 3. So you can certainly see why people struggle with this passage and why somebody would even go to these passages to support this idea that you need to repent of sins for salvation. So there are a couple of things then that we need to understand from this passage. So we need to consider then is this about salvation and eternal life? How would one prove that it is or isn't about the question says what must I do to be saved? If it isn't about eternal life what is it about how does it apply? Does it have any parallels with the repentance required for salvation? Well there is something that Ezekiel said which at least superficially does look like it's about salvation because it uses this phrase he shall die in his sins. Or some verses say that he shall die in his iniquity. This is problematic for us of course because it's very similar to something that Jesus said to the Pharisees in John chapter 8. Jesus said in verse 21 of John chapter 8 that you shall seek me and die in your sins. Just a couple of verses later he essentially repeats this saying you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am he you shall die in your sins. So in John chapter 8 we see this phrase die in your sins and it goes with the territory of not believing that Jesus is he and if we read John's Gospel over and over again we see that believing on Christ is what one must do for everlasting life and the opposite of this is being condemned. Even though both Ezekiel chapters 3 and 18 and John chapter 8 use this phrase die in your sins or in his sins John 8 provides a detailed discourse that gives a contrast between those who believe and don't either they are from below or from above either they are the children of Abraham or children of God or of the devil either they are of God or they are not. Ezekiel does not really give this same contrast though but when we go to Ezekiel chapter 33 where we will see the same theme from chapters 3 and 18 repeated we will see what the consequences are of dying in sins. So in chapter 33 just like we see in chapter 3 Ezekiel is set as a watchman over the city and in verse 11 we have a sort of repetition of chapter 18 verse 23 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live. So turn you turn you from your evil ways for why will you die oh house of Israel. Carry on reading to verse 12 and yet again this same theme that if the righteous shall turn to wickedness he will die but if he turns from his wickedness he will live and again later in chapter 33 you'll see a lot of repetition from themes from chapter 18 that Israel says that the Lord's ways are not equal and yet it's they themselves that are not equal. So the question we must ask ourselves is then what happened to the righteous people that turned to wickedness and their righteousness was forgotten? How did they die? Did they lose their salvation and get cast into hellfire? Did they forfeit the righteousness of God? Well Ezekiel 33 tells us what happens to them and we can apply this to chapters 3 and 18 as well. In verse 21 a man escapes Jerusalem and he says that the city is smitten and it goes on to say later in the chapter in verse 27 that people will be killed in various ways some will fall by the sword some will be devoured by the beasts in the field others will die of pestilence and so on. So the context of the death by which a righteous man who turns to sin will die is that he will be killed in one of these ways. Ezekiel is warning them of the coming tribulation upon Israel which will be brought about in no small part by the Babylonians who will capture Jerusalem. So in John chapter 8 Jesus said you will die in your sins and the context was about everlasting life. In Ezekiel the only clear context about death is a physical condemnation or physical death not really eternal condemnation. This is very similar to what we saw in video 11 when we looked at Nineveh's repentance. Nineveh did turn from their wicked ways and as a result God did spare the city from an earthly destruction and this is kind of like an Old Testament carnal illustration of the New Testament spiritual repentance of turning from unbelief to belief that God will spare his everlasting punishment. But the turning from wicked ways is not in of itself how one actually goes about getting saved. Having said all of that many people will still suppose that we should apply it to eternal life anyway that although the immediate context of Ezekiel is an earthly death we should expand on the application to make it about everlasting punishment and the second death. Well let me address this in two ways. So the first thing that we know is that salvation is not by works Paul made that absolutely clear. Now you may remember in video number 14 when we looked at the issue of whether repentance is a work or not we saw how turning from sins cannot just mean to stop doing evil works because they try and use that to say that it's not really a work. It must actually involve doing good works as we saw in that video and we see the same thing again here in Ezekiel. So if we read the examples from Ezekiel chapter 18 about what a righteous man should look like yes we do see some examples of refraining from evil works as in the case of verse 6 but carry on to verse 7 and we see that a righteous man actually has to do actions. He actually has to do works like restoring his pledges and giving bread to the hungry and covering the naked. He can't just mind his own business and turn from his wickedness that's not going to cut it. So Ezekiel just further demonstrates what we have previously said in the series that turning from sins must include doing good works it doesn't just mean to stop doing evil works. Therefore to use Ezekiel 3 or 18 or 33 to define repentance for salvation means that you have to preach a works salvation. So that's the first thing but the second thing will just completely demolish the idea of trying to use Ezekiel and these passages to define repentance for salvation. In fact the Bible contains built-in warnings specifically against this. Remember when we read chapter 18 verse 24 it said that when the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity all his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered. Whose righteousness? His own righteousness. It's parallel verse in chapter 33 verse 13 says something interesting. Look at this if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity all his righteousness shall not be remembered. It's no accident that God is giving us this specific detail in Ezekiel. After all when we compare it to the New Testament and the righteousness required for salvation Paul warned us about the kinds of people who would use these passages in Ezekiel. Paul said to the Romans in chapter 10 verse 2 for they the Israelites being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves onto the righteousness of God. Paul also said a similar thing to the Philippines but speaking about himself rather than the Israelites saying that his goal was not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith. Ezekiel quite clearly explained that when you behave righteously that's your righteousness and the righteous man that turns to iniquity he trusts in his own righteousness. Paul clearly explained that righteousness for salvation is not establishing your own righteousness but rather by faith the righteousness of God is imputed onto you and sin will not be imputed onto you. This is why prior to chapter 10 Paul already told the Romans by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men onto justification of life and by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. So viewers you have been warned anybody who would use Ezekiel 3 or 18 or 33 to define repentance for salvation is going about trying to establish their own righteousness. They have not submitted to the righteousness of God to which they are ignorant. And although this is outside of the main subject of this video really this also as a side note quells the doctrine of hyper dispensationalism that Old Testament saints or Jews were saved by works whereas we are saved by faith without works in the New Testament because the Old Testament and the New Testament are both consistent. The Old Testament defines turning from wickedness as your own righteousness and the New Testament once against having your own righteousness to boast for salvation. Turning from sin in the Old Testament could definitely be seen as a picture of New Testament repentance just as the Israelites could have been spared from their earthly destruction had they repented of their iniquity. The unsaved today could be spared their eternal destruction if they repent of rejecting the Christ or repent of trusting in their works or their idols. But the turning from sins is not in of itself the repentance that leads to salvation and this is a very similar idea to how Old Testament sacrifices are a shadow of Christ the final sacrifice and he has to be sacrificed for our salvation. But the Old Testament sacrifices themselves could not bring about salvation or the figure of sins. They were just a shadow of the heavenly thing. And it should be noted that although the Israelites had many warnings other than just Ezekiel 3, 18 and 33 they were told many times to turn from their wicked ways and they consistently failed to do it. The nation of Israel fell into sin many many times starting with the Exodus all the way until the exile and even after that during Ezra's and Nehemiah's reforms. Therefore, passages such as these in Ezekiel should not be taken as salvific instructions. They should rather be used to show us just how much we fall short of the standard that is required to obtain eternal life and to point us to Christ as our high priest, saviour and mediator. Turning from your sins is your righteousness. And there's nothing wrong with having your own righteousness in so far as it's good to obey the commandments and it's good to turn from wickedness and it's good to obey the moral statutes as long as you understand the application of doing so. Salvation, the justification onto life, cannot be attained by your righteousness. It can only be attained by having the righteousness of God imputed onto you and by God not imputing your sins against you for all the reasons that Paul frequently explains. This is no nonsense Christianity reminding you that nowhere in the Bible does it say repent of your sins to be saved.