Weekly Reflection 6/19/25

“So turn and live.”

“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” Ezekiel‬ 18‬:32‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

This verse is implying that there is a path that leads to death and a path that leads to life. Sin is the path of death and obedience through Jesus Christ is the path of life. ‬ Whenever we violate, transgress, rebel against the standard of God, God says that’s sin. Sin, in the Bible, violating God’s revealed righteous standard results in death. (Ezekiel 18 – “the soul who sins will die.” Romans 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death.” James‬ 1‬:15‬ – “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ In the Bible, death means separation, a separation occurs. ‬‬‬‬‬‬

Death is the idea of separation from what was supposed to be.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Fellowship with God is lost when sin is introduced. God must separate from sin. You remember when God told Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis‬ 2‬:16‬-17‬ ESV)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ They ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge, but they didn’t physically die that day, but death definitely happened that day, because the Bible says that God removed them from the garden and from intimate fellowship with Him. There was a spiritual death. There was a relational death. Then there is the worst death of all, eternal death. We call it hell. Eternal death is where a person is separated from fellowship with God forever. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Life is the coming together of things that should not be separate. It is the relationship with God; it is our spirit having fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is not a place it’s an experience. Life is experiencing God and God’s reality in harmony with you. 

“So turn and live.” What is the turning? It is repentance. Repentance is necessary because of the existence of sin. Repentance is the word for turning death into life. Repentance is an internal resolve and determination to turn from your sin and back to life. Sin creates a broken relationship, and repentance is God’s way of bringing back together the separation with Him.

The ingredients of biblical repentance:

There must be an awareness that things are not as they should be.

• You need to be aware that you’re traveling in a direction opposite of where you want to go.
• You must be aware that separation has happened with what was supposed to be.

There must be godly grief or regret over what you have done.

• “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” 2 Corinthians‬ 7‬:10‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Godly grief is, “I’ve hurt God.” The transgression, the rebellion, has hurt the heart of God. There is a recognition that separation has occurred between you and God and this breaks your heart. Now, you may have hurt your family or friends, you may have hurt yourself, but the One that your sin has offended the most is God. 

Worldly grief is you got caught. It is when you feel sorry for something you did because it starts to backfire on you and leads to humiliation or punishment.

Godly grief, or godly regret, is the uncomfortable feeling of guilt when the Word of God shows you that what you’ve done is sin and it has brought reproach on God’s name.

Repentance requires confession.

•  “And if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 ESV

The Greek word “confess” means “to say the same thing.” Say the same thing as who? Confession means saying the same thing as God, agreeing with God. Agree about what? We agree with God about what He says about us. We agree with God about what He says about Himself. We agree with God about what sin is.

What does God say about sin? Sin is rebellion against God; it is falling short of His divine standard. Sin results in death, a separation of what was supposed to be.

What does God say about us? He says we are created in His image, created for a relationship with Him. That we have all sinned, that in our natural state we are enemies of God. Even as followers of Jesus we still sin, and that sin still separates us from the relationship with God that is supposed to be.

What does God say about Himself? He is the God who is holy, He is the God who is righteous, the God who can by no means let the guilty go unpunished. But also the God who is a saving God, the God who is a merciful God, the God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, to live in our place, to die taking the punishment for our sins on Himself, who rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven.

And so, the confession of sins is agreeing we have sinned, we have fallen short of God’s glory, we agree with God that that is an actual fact what we have done. We confess that we have sinned against Him in thought, in word, in deed, and we make that plain. We confess or agree that the only way for the separation that has happened to be restored is by the blood of Jesus Christ, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Repentance involves a changing of mind and direction.

Our minds must be changed; we agree with God and determine change needs to happen. This must lead to a change of direction, going the other way. You were disobeying, separation was happening, now you want to obey, and for the relationship to be restored. 

How do you know that you really have changed your mind that you have changed direction? Fruit. “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew‬ 3‬:8‬ ESV)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ What is the fruit? “…that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” (Acts‬ 26‬:20‬b ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬) In other words, you are doing something that demonstrates you want a reversal. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Repentance involves obedience.

• “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” Ezekiel‬ 18‬:21‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

It is more than just turning from your sin. It is also a turning and doing what is just and right. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans‬ 13‬:12‬-14‬ ESV)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Make no provision for the flesh: The flesh will be as active as we allow it to be. We have a work to do in walking properly, as in the day, it isn’t as if Jesus does it for us as we sit back; instead, He does it through us as we willingly and actively partner with Him.‬‬‬‬ The armor of light is related to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When we put on Christ, we put on all the armor of God and are equipped to both defend and attack. Putting on Christ means more than putting on the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is letting Jesus Christ Himself is the armor that you wear.‬‬‬‬

Return to Me

• He uses the word over and over in Scripture “return,” “return.”
• “Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah‬ 1‬:3‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation‬ 3‬:19‬-20‬ ESV‬‬