Ezekiel 18 is one of those passages that I use often to address a very contemporary question “can I lose my salvation?”
Let me quickly recap what I read here in Ezekiel 18…read along with me and see it you agree:
5-9 The righteous person will live. The righteous person is described as someone who follows God’s laws. As for “they will live”, the Lord is talking about punishment for sin, and the punishment for sin is hell; which is also known as the “second death”, Therefore, “they will live” should mean to us that “they” will be ushered into heaven, where they will never die.
10-13 The righteous man has a son who grows up to be wicked. Because he is wicked, he will die. Wickedness is identified as disobeying God, and a few of those traits are listed here. The “new news” here is that you can’t count on your Dad’s righteousness to help you. Every person must stand alone before God. (Jesus will of course stand with those who serve Him).
14-18 Okay, now on to the third generation. The grandson sees that his dad was evil, and changes his life to be righteous. Because he decides on righteousness, he will live just like his grandpa. Not BECAUSE of his grandpa, but like him. In the same way that his father couldn’t count on Dad’s righteousness to save him, he doesn’t have to worry about his Dad’s wickedness being held against him.
Up to this point there isn’t anything that we haven’t heard before. We understand this pretty clearly, right? Keep reading, because now we are going to split a life in half. Half the life was righteous, half was evil….now what will the Lord do? Up until now we had only considered people who were either righteous or evil…
In verses 21-22 we hear the Lord declare forgiveness is possible. If a wicked person changes their ways, then they will be forgiven and considered righteous. And we already know that righteous people go to heaven. Again, this isn’t a new thought for most of us, we know that if you confess your sins and turn your life over to God He will forgive you and consider you righteous. That’s what being a Christian is all about.
Verse 24 finishes the thought: If a righteous person decides not to follow God, then what happens? They become wicked, or they are considered wicked, and they must pay for their sins with their life. Even if you began your life as a righteous person and were righteous until you were 50…if you spend the last 15 years doing evil things, you will be considered wicked, and you won’t go to heaven.
Sometimes people ask me if I believe in “eternal security” which is the belief that once you have accepted Christ as your Savior you cannot ever be sent to hell. I tell them “no”, because of this text. As I understand it, God will never “lose his grasp” on me. But I always retain the freedom to walk away from the relationship if I want to. Maybe that’s why the devil tempts Christians…because he can still capture us in hell if we will volunteer to follow him. However, satan can never “pry us away” from God, and God will never allow us to fall away against our will. So when John 6:37-40 quotes Jesus as saying “I will not cast them out” and “I will not lose them” I completely agree. God’s decision is to keep us forever. HE will not lose us or cast us out. John 6 is about what GOD is doing. What I do, on the other hand can also affect my destiny. I can choose to stay or go, and that’s what Ezekiel 18 is saying.
Another verse often used is John 10:27-28 where it says “I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand”. Again, this is absolutely true! Once we accept Christ, if we choose to stay with him, then no one…not even the devil himself can pry us away…we are safe in the Lord. Praise the Lord! However, this verse cannot clash with Ezekiel 18…or God would be conflicted, and that never happens. So, look carefully at John 10. Is it saying that once God holds you in His hand you can be wicked and still go to heaven? No. You can always choose to leave God’s hand, but you cannot be taken from it. You never lose your right and privilege to choose. Think about it for a minute. Isn’t that exactly what the whole nation of Israel has done? They were righteous and then became wicked, and then became righteous again? God is trying to demonstrate to us that “the person who sins is the person who will die”.
So, what have I said here? Let me sum it all up: It is vitally important to your eternal future to be righteous at the time of your death. If you aren’t t then you will be called to pay for your sins. Since none of us knows the day of our death, we should become righteous immediately and stay that way. Anything else is playing “Russian Roulette” with your eternal spirit. We shouldn’t live in fear that we can lose our salvation, because as long as we trust in Jesus, He will never let go of us. We may get weak and lose our grasp, but He will never lose His.
We can chose to walk away from God, which is entirely different from “losing our grasp”. It involves a conscious decision to do what our own spirit wants to do instead of what God wants us to do. “A man cannot serve two masters” right? That’s what we are learning here. You can be either righteous or wicked, and your choice will determine your future.
Choose wisely.
Faithfully,
PR