Sheldonville Baptist Church
February 21, 2021 - Faithfulness
      • Bible Trivia
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      • Hebrews 9–13NKJV

      • Psalm 95:1–7NKJV

  • Oh Great Is Our God
  • You Are My All In All
  • Get The New Look From The Bible
  • Great Is Thy Faithfulness
  • Shout To The Lord
  • I Shall Not Be Moved

  • Memory Verse

    Ezekiel 18:32 NKJV
    32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
    In Ezekiel’s day, there was a proverb that was commonly used that represented an Inaccurate Narrative that had emerged in their culture.
    Ezekiel 18:2 NKJV
    2 “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
    Rather than recognizing that children are affected by their parents’ life choices , The Israelites had come to believe that children are controlled by their parents’ life choices. Their belief had even gone to the place where they believed that God would punish children for their parents’ life choices.
    Ezekiel 18:3 NKJV
    3 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.
    God insisted they drop the proverb and the thinking that motivated it. Why?
    Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV
    4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
    He gave more detail in verses 5-18. But then He addressed two specific questions that He anticipated they would ask. The first of these two questions, along with His answers, begins in verse 19.

    Reality Redefined

    Ezekiel 18:19–20 NKJV
    19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
    The Israelites had redefined their theology by their experience.
    They observed that children suffer consequences from their parents’ life choices. They decided that must be God’s doing and how He wanted it to be. They had thought this for long enough that God’s thoughts on the matter were foreign to them.
    God’s though? Every person stands before me as an individual.

    Repentance Recommended

    Ezekiel 18:21–23 NKJV
    21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
    I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone say something to the effect of “I’m so bad, even God could not forgive me.” That is simply not true.
    This gets back to why we were created: to be in fellowship with God. He gets nothing out of judging us; it’s not what He wants. When we repent, He is only too anxious to forgive and restore.

    Righteousness Remembered

    Ezekiel 18:24 NKJV
    24 “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
    There is potential for abuse to this: if we can just repent, can’t we do anything we want? The answer is NO!!! If we turn away and embrace sin, any goodness that we had done is soon forgotten, even by God.

    What does this mean relative to salvation?

    Saved people sin. But saved people do not leave their faith and return to their sin.
    When you become a believer you move into a new house. You may visit your old house from time to time, but you still live in your new house. The problem is for those who seem to move into a new house but then move back to the old house and live there.
    For true believers, you reach a place where there is just no place to quit to.

    This means everything for sanctification

    Because we are believers, we should strive to live right. Living right respects God’s grace rather than presumes upon it. The Apostle Paul had to wrestle with the same question:
    Romans 6:1–2 NKJV
    1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

    Round and Round we Go

    What about the person who was unrighteous, repented, then "fell away” again? Can they repent again and become righteous again? Yes. Fortunately for us God know we tend to be a bit ridiculous.
    Bottom Line: God wants us to repent because He wants us to be in relationship with Him.
    2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
    9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
    ​

      • Ezekiel 18:32NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:2NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:3NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:4NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:19–20NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:21–23NKJV

      • Ezekiel 18:24NKJV

      • Romans 6:1–2NKJV

      • 2 Peter 3:9NKJV

      • Hebrews 9–13NKJV

Sheldonville Baptist Church
information@sheldonvillebaptist.org
(508) 384-2397
http://sheldonvillebaptist.org
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