Ezekiel 18:30-32 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, said the Lord GOD. Repent… I. GOD WILL JUDGE US, EVERYONE ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS: not according to our plan of our ways, but according to His. All men will hereafter be judged according to the dispensation they have been under. Those who are under the law will be judged by the law; sin in them will be the transgression of their law. Those who are without the law — that is, without a written law — will be judged without a written law — by the law of nature written upon their hearts. But those who have been under the Gospel will be judged by the Gospel. II. IF UNDER THIS DISPENSATION WE ARE FOUND IMPENITENT SINNERS WE SHALL BE RUINED. Ah! it is a touching thing to witness what we call ruin, even in this life; to see wringing of hands, and wringing of hearts, and hopeless grief; but ruin for eternity is infinitely worse than this; for the grave will soon end earthly sorrows, but the resurrection from the grave is only the beginning of eternal ruin. III. IF WE ARE FOUND REPENTANT WE SHALL NOT BE RUINED. Repentance has a different character according to the different conditions of men; but it always implies a change of mind, issuing in change of conduct, which change of conduct must needs have respect to the dispensations of religion under which God has brought men. If the Jewish nation, in a matter that threatened national ruin, repented and turned to God, according to their law, they obtained deliverance from that ruin that otherwise was coming upon them. If Christians under the Gospel turn to the provisions under that Gospel, they turn to Christ, and they obtain eternal life through Him. Conviction of sin, and misery on account of sin, is not repentance. (T. Snow.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. |
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