July 30, 2026 - Ezekiel 18-20

Ezekiel emphasizes the matter of personal responsibility:  Everyone is responsible for his or her own actions.  The wicked will die; the righteous will live.  Here’s a wonderful promise, though, even for the wicked:  “. . . when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life” (18:27).  The Lord calls out to Israel and pleads with her to turn and to live:  “Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live” (18:31.32).  How the Lord calls out to us and offers us life!  Over and over again, he does so. 

Sinners, turn: why will you die?

God, your Maker, asks you why;

God, who did your being give,

made you with Himself to live.

Sinners, turn: why will ye die?

God, your Savior, asks you why;

Will you not in Him believe?

He has died that you might live.

Sinners, turn: why will you die?

God, the Spirit, asks you why;

Often with you has He strove,

wooed you to embrace His love.

Will ye not His grace receive?

Will you still refuse to live?

O you dying sinners, why,

Why will you forever die?   --Charles Wesley (1742)