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The Sermon for September 27th, 2026, the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Psalm 25:1-14; Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; St. Matthew 21:28-32
The Text: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
INTRODUCTION
On the Style Channel’s Clean House (aired from 2003-2011), experts sweep into a cluttered home with the purpose of leaving it more comfortable, attractive, and livable. The experts face the challenge of clothes strewn across the floor, bulging cabinets, closets filled from top to bottom, cluttered countertops, and overflowing kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and living rooms – not a clean room in the house!
The experts’ first step is to take an inventory of all the stuff. Then, decisions are made about what to sell at a yard sale and what to keep. The homeowners try to hold on to favorite clothes from years gone by, childhood keepsakes, and space-taking trivia, but then they yield. They have a yard sale, and the money they earn helps with the makeover. Then the family leaves, and the work begins.
Rooms are cleaned out, redone for more efficiency and attractiveness, and repainted. Curtains are hung, cabinets set in, and walls decorated. When the family returns, nervous anticipation quickly yields to excitement and laughter. “Thank you! Thank you!” the family says amid smiles and tears.
In the spiritual realm, the Holy Spirit requires our cooperation to rid our lives of all that is sinful and unnecessary, all that hampers our growth in God’s kingdom. The great makeover in our lives is done by the Holy Spirit, working with our willingness, and working at times in ways we do not see. He is the One who cleans house and transforms our lives into an astonishingly successful makeover![1]
Our First Lesson today amounts to God’s call to his people for a spiritual makeover.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIN
Our First Lesson today sets before us an individual’s responsibility for his own sin, as spoken by God through his prophet Ezekiel. God’s message begins with the question put to Israel, “What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?” (Ezekiel 18:2). This proverb expresses the misconception that used to be current in Ezekiel’s time (593 – 570 B.C.), when he prophesied among the Israelites who had been deported to Babylon. The proverb suggests that God punishes later generations for the sins of former generations. In Exodus 20:5, where God warns that he will visit the iniquities of those that hate him up to the fourth generation, he is referring to the pervasive influence of rebellion and sin on successive generations of those who persistently disobey his commandments. In this passage in Ezekiel, the idea of subsequent generations or even previous generations being condemned for the sins of a particular generation, is shown to misrepresent God’s will entirely. In verse three, God declares that there is no reason to use this proverb any more in Israel.
All souls belong ultimately to God, whether father or son, mother or daughter, and the soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). In other words, no one can claim he is dying because of the sins of his father or mother. He is responsible for his own sin. In the Pentateuch, there had always been a doctrine of individual responsibility for one’s sins, and the system of animal sacrifice had been instituted so that every individual might receive atonement and forgiveness of his sins. Since Israel and Judah had both rebelled against God and committed idolatry and broken all of God’s laws, they were deported, the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. and the southern kingdom in 597 and 587 B.C. In Ezekiel’s time, after the deportation to Babylon, the doctrine of individual responsibility for sin was re-emphasized. The idea that the people were being punished for the sins of their fathers might have led to fatalism, the belief that there was no escape from their fate, and no hope for the future, even if they turned away from sin to live a righteous life. For others, the proverb could simply justify continuing to live a sinful life. By clearly stating the principle that the soul that sins shall die, God makes it clear that every individual that lives a persistently sinful life will die and must bear the spiritual consequence of spiritual death because of sin. St. James expressed the connection between sin and death like this.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
(James 1:14-15, KJV)
The death referred to both by Ezekiel and St. James is spiritual death, whereby the wrath of God remains on a person, as St. John warned in John 3:36:
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 3:36, KJV)
For a person to be redeemed from the wrath of God abiding on him, he must both repent of his sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 16:30-31). Then a person must continue following Jesus Christ as Lord.
THE JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
In Ezekiel 18:25-32, God points out that, despite Israel’s complain that God’s ways are unjust (“unequal”), he treats everyone justly and righteously, whereas their ways are unjust and sinful. To show this truth, God puts before them two situations: in the first, the righteous man turns away from righteousness and starts living a sinful life, and dies still living sinfully, he will surely die spiritually on account of the sins that he has committed (v.26). In the second, a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right. This man will save his soul and live and not die (vv.27-28). In other words, a past life of righteousness cannot save one if one continues in sin, but a past life of sinfulness God does not remember in the case of a man who turns away from it to live in obedience to God. In this way, God shows his righteousness.
THE PROSPECT OF GOD’S FUTURE JUDGMENT AND THE CALL TO REPENTANCE
Instead of more national exiles and disasters being prophesied for the nation of Israel, there comes God’s warning to every individual that he will judge everyone, and he calls everyone to repent, so that iniquity may not be the cause of their destruction (Ezekiel 18:30). God’s people are called to cast away their sins and receive a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31), according to God’s promise in Ezekiel 36:
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
(Ezekiel 36:25-27, KJV)
These promises are not only for Jews who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but for all people that come to Christ. When we cast away our sin and the evil in our lives by having nothing more to do with it, and we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are washed, not only by the water of Baptism, but also by the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and a new spirit to love God wholeheartedly, love our neighbors, love our fellow Christians, and live as faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but he rather wants them all to turn from their sin and have eternal life.
CONCLUSION
What are we to do, then? Repent daily of our sins, continue believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and live in obedience to God, growing in the righteousness of Christ, until we are fully conformed to his image.
[1]p. 404, Craig Brian Larson & Phyllis Ten Elshof (General Editors): 1001 Illustrations that Connect. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, Christianity Today International, 2008.