Ezekiel 18:31

Ezekiel 18:31

I. The nature of our ruin. The death of the body is not meant here. That is inevitable. Natural death will be only the beginning of that most awful death to which our text alludes. (1) This death is not the extinction of existence, thought, feeling, conscience. (2) It is the death of pleasure, hope, and love. (3) It involves exclusion from heaven, from the society of the really great and good, from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

II. The author of our ruin. Does it proceed primarily and effectually from God's will, or from man's will? The latter, beyond all doubt. The sinner destroys himself. The fact of the sinner's self-destruction is apparent from: (1) the character of the Gospel; (2) the character of man; (3) the character of his future condition.

III. The reason of our ruin. It does not at all depend upon our will whether we shall die in this world. But most of you in reply to this question of the text Why will ye die? would have to say: "Because we love the pleasures of the world more than the joys of eternal life; because we desire the approbation of man more than the inheritance of heaven; because we are addicted to the ways of sin, are not disposed to break off our evil habits; because we have been living in impenitence and unbelief, and have no mind to change our course." The guilt, folly, shame, and ignominy of suicide belong to you.

J. Stoughton, Penny Pulpit, No. 1714.

References: Ezekiel 18:31 . J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part ii., p. 197; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vi., p. 171.Ezekiel 18:32 . Christian Chronicle, May 3rd, 1883.