Don’t Trust In Your Righteousness

I thought Ezekiel 18 messed with Eternal Security, but chapter 33 takes it a step farther (I found out chapter 3 does as well, I missed that before). We’ll run this by in the older and newer King James:

“Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.” Ezekiel 33:12-13 KJV

“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” Ezekiel 33:12-13 Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Let me put this very plainly and bluntly. When you get saved you are declared righteous, it’s wonderful, and you start a new life. However if you insist on sinning afterward it is your problem, not God’s. He says you shall surely die if you do that, it is not His problem to hold your salvation for you, it is not His problem if you refuse to follow Christ. It also does not mean that you were never righteous, for it is the righteous man who transgressed and died after being told he will live in this passage. All the fine sounding arguments of the Eternal Security teachers (and they are very fine I must say) make sure that you know that you will not die, that sin isn’t the issue it once was because your salvation is the big deal. The wages of sin remain death, like it or not.

Now chapter 3 has an interesting thing as well, so let’s take a look:

“17: Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18: When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19: Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20: Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21: Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 3:17-21 KJV

We sometimes think about the warning to the wicked in terms of what we are to do. We realize that if we don’t tell them that they are sinners and need to repent they will die and it will be our account that their blood is laid on. If they refuse to hear, they still die but it’s not on our account. But warning the righteous not to sin? Telling them they will surely die if they commit iniquity? No, it’s much easier to tell them they are eternally secure, or else heap condemnation on them that they were never righteous (although this warning was to come before they transgressed). There are two aspects to this warning given to Ezekiel, and we must warn the righteous to continue in their righteousness no matter what happens. Come tribulation, come famine, come persecution, come martyrdom, stand for Christ anyway.

See I have warned you today that you sin not for your soul’s sake, no matter how saved and secure you are today. If you do sin, repent as soon as you realize, and definitely do not premeditate sin. If you refuse to heed your blood is on your own head, and you will surely die. As usual it’s heavy, but we have got to wake up and realize that as much as God is on our team and loves us, it’s still our problem to cooperate.