Ezekiel 30:4-6 - Homiletics

Associated calamities.

I. TROUBLE SPREADS .

1. In the individual . The first mischief in Egypt comes from the sword of the invader; but this is quickly followed by other ills. After Nebuchadnezzar's invasion the "abundance" is taken away, and the "foundations" are broken down.

2. Among communities of men . Cush follows the fate of Egypt, and other nations also fall under the wide sweep of judgment. We are members one of another, and when one member suffers all the members suffer. No people can afford to ignore the ruin of their neighbors. Selfish indifference is ultimately punished by a man's being compelled to share the sad consequences of the troubles of those whom he has neglected.

II. ASSOCIATION IN SIN WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ASSOCIATION IN PUNISHMENT . Cash was joined to Egypt in wickedness; she will be joined to the greater nation in suffering. He who walks in the way of sinners will come to the end of sinners. There is no assurance against the fatal consequences of wickedness that can be effected by means of association. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished" ( Proverbs 11:21 ).

III. THERE IS NO PROTECTION IN OBSCURITY . Poor Cush and Phut and Lud are obscure, unimportant, and remote. Yet they share the fate of better-known Egypt-No one can hide his sin under the cloak of his own insignificance. No ferret is so keen as a man's own sin when the time comes for it to find him out.

IV. ALLIANCE WITH GREAT SINNERS WILL NOT AFFORD ANY PROTECTION . These other nations were joined to great Egypt. But this alliance did not save then. On the contrary, the grandeur of Egypt attracted Nebuchadnezzar to their neighborhood. Had there been no rich and famous Egypt, he would not have troubled himself to attack Cush and Phut and Lud. We gain nothing by the power or prestige of influential connections when we are called to judgment for our sins.

V. THEY ARE GUILTY OF SIN WHO AID AND ABET IT . These neighboring nations uphold Egypt. They will share her fate. From Migdol on the Delta to the granite-quarries of Syene far away to the south on the borders of the Soudan—five hundred miles—the ruin of great Egypt will extend; it will also spread to the people who support her policy and contribute to her prosperity. He who makes others to sin is himself the greatest of sinners. Fagin the trainer of child-thieves is himself a monstrous thief, though he never steals a handkerchief with his own fingers. People who encourage opium-eating, drunkenness, or profligacy, by supporting the causes of those evils, are guilty of them. The mercenaries of Egypt share the fate of their wealthy mistress. There are too many mercenaries of sin in the present day. For the sake of gain men will carry on a business which they know is directly ministering to the ruin of their fellow-creatures. They attempt to defend themselves with the excuse that they do not force those whom they supply with the means of self-destruction to avail themselves of it. This is true; but, on the other hand, they tempt the miserable victims by affording facility for fatal indulgence. That is the sin of Satan.