Ezekiel 18:30 - Homiletics.

The alternatives of judgment.

I. THE JUDGMENT .

1 . It is to be by God. "I will judge you." The all-searching and almighty Lord will be the Judge. None can elude his inquiry; none can resist his sentence.

2 . It is a matter of the future. Therefore we cannot wisely make light of it by comparison with present experience. The future will be different from the present in this respect. Now is the time of probation; evil has therefore a liberty which will not continue. There will be a change of dispensations, that of judgment superseding the dispensation of grace.

3 . It will certainly come. It is not conditional on possible circumstances. There is nothing hypothetical in the prophet's words. God does not say, " If I judge," but "I will judge you."

4 . It will come home to God ' s own people. God will judge the "house of Israel." Israel delighted in the prospect of the day of the Lord, when her oppressors, the neighbouring heathen nations, should be judged. But she herself will also be judged. God will judge Christendom; he will judge his Church. The Master calls his own servants to account ( Matthew 25:14 ).

5 . It will be individual. God will not judge the house of Israel as a whole, but "every one of you." Each will be judged separately. None will be overlooked.

6 . It will be according to the conduct of life. "According to his ways."

II. THE ALTERNATIVES .

1 . Amendment. This involves two changes, an internal and an external.

2 . Ruin. Ezekiel urges his readers to repent with the mingled warning and encouragement. "So iniquity shall not be your ruin."