LA CHUTE DU JUSTE ET SES CONSEQUENCES

THE DRIFTING AWAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

THE DRIFTING AWAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES Download

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3^RD 2024

SERMON BY PASTOR MARC SIMEON

THE DRIFTING AWAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

LES CONSÉQUENCES DE LA CHUTE DU JUSTE

EZEKIEL 33 : 11-20

Eze 33:11 Dis-leur: je suis vivant! dit le Seigneur, l’Éternel, ce que je désire, ce n’est pas que le méchant meure, c’est qu’il change de conduite et qu’il vive. Revenez, revenez de votre mauvaise voie; et pourquoi mourriez-vous, maison d’Israël?

12 Et toi, fils de l’homme, dis aux enfants de ton peuple: La justice du juste ne le sauvera pas au jour de sa transgression; et le méchant ne tombera pas par sa méchanceté le jour où il s’en détournera, de même que le juste ne pourra pas vivre par sa justice au jour de sa transgression.

13 Lorsque je dis au juste qu’il vivra, -s’il se confie dans sa justice et commet l’iniquité, toute sa justice sera oubliée, et il mourra à cause de l’iniquité qu’il a commise.

14 Lorsque je dis au méchant: Tu mourras! -s’il revient de son péché et pratique la droiture et la justice,

15 s’il rend le gage, s’il restitue ce qu’il a ravi, s’il suit les préceptes qui donnent la vie, sans commettre l’iniquité, il vivra, il ne mourra pas.

16 Tous les péchés qu’il a commis seront oubliés; s’il pratique la droiture et la justice, il vivra.

17 Les enfants de ton peuple disent: La voie du Seigneur n’est pas droite. C’est leur voie qui n’est pas droite.

18 Si le juste se détourne de sa justice et commet l’iniquité, il mourra à cause de cela.

19 Si le méchant revient de sa méchanceté et pratique la droiture et la justice, il vivra à cause de cela.

20 Vous dites: La voie du Seigneur n’est pas droite. Je vous jugerai chacun selon ses voies, maison d’Israël!

INTRODUCTION

I was perplexed all this week after I listened to a hell testimony on YouTube.
This man who is supposedly a pastor had an out of the body experience after he passed out and found himself in hell.
He said that he spotted 3 of his favorite preachers in hell, all of whom are people he idolized and patterned his ministry after.
What stroked me the most is the fact that I knew one of them for the last two years before he passed away.
I work as a seminary intern under his leadership.
I still have a number a number cassette tapes of his messages.
Many blasted the testimony to be false in defense of these men of God.
Others like me took it with a grain of salt, not believing, not dismissing.
This one of the tree preachers that I knew had donated a great deal of money and much more to the seminary I was attending.
He was one of the top expository preachers in the last century.
His church had an attendance that exceeded 30000 members when I was there.
He had a worldwide ministry, and was among the princes of preachers.
There were no personal moral failures of his part that I was aware of.
I noticed that the people around him dangerously idolized him for his influence and his giftedness.
A sense of spiritual pride and aristocracy was very evident in a great number of the parishioners of his church.
Combating racism might not have one of his top priorities although the church had several outreach ministries in the inner city.
There is no flawless church that I know of, including this one.
To me that was the most functional church that I have ever seen.
Why would such a pillar of the Christian faith be spotted in hell instead of heaven?
I just wanted to dismiss the testimony but it kept on lingering in my mind.
I also prayed about it, asking God how could this be true?.
According to the testimony, the sin that got him to hell was that much of what he was doing was in aim to seek man’s approval.
He supposedly kept pushing himself all the more in order to draw praises from people.
Myself, ss a preacher that has a small worldwide platform via internet, I can understand how a fellow preacher can fall in that snare of seeking popularity.
The two other preachers that this man mentioned in his vision had also greatly impacted Christendom in the recent past.
They were all in hell according to the vision for almost the same reasons.
I was perplexed while asking myself, why would God give such a vision to anybody if not to cast confusion and disturbance in the church.
Then I began to be reminiscent on how alarmed I’ve been recently over the fall of a great many preachers who were in the forefront in furthering the gospel and are now dismissed from their posts.
No one outside of their close circles would ever insinuate any spiritual flaws in them by the fervor they display in heralding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If this testimony is true, these ones that are still alive are the lucky ones because they still have a chance to make it right with God before they die.
They can now focus on the spiritual state of their souls, instead of spending all of their time ushering others to heaven at the expense of their salvation.
With no effort on my part, I got locked up in Ezekiel chapter 33 all week long.
I must have read this chapter a dozen of times just this week alone.
I knew that the message for today would have to reflect this passage.

THE JOB OF THE WATCHMAN

Ezekiel 33:1-9

Eze 33:1 ¶ La parole de l’Éternel me fut adressée, en ces mots:

2 Fils de l’homme, parle aux enfants de ton peuple, et dis-leur: Lorsque je fais venir l’épée sur un pays, et que le peuple du pays prend dans son sein un homme et l’établit comme sentinelle, –

3 si cet homme voit venir l’épée sur le pays, sonne de la trompette, et avertit le peuple;

4 et si celui qui entend le son de la trompette ne se laisse pas avertir, et que l’épée vienne le surprendre, son sang sera sur sa tête.

5 Il a entendu le son de la trompette, et il ne s’est pas laissé avertir, son sang sera sur lui; s’il se laisse avertir, il sauvera son âme.

6 Si la sentinelle voit venir l’épée, et ne sonne pas de la trompette; si le peuple n’est pas averti, et que l’épée vienne enlever à quelqu’un la vie, celui-ci périra à cause de son iniquité, mais je redemanderai son sang à la sentinelle.

7 Et toi, fils de l’homme, je t’ai établi comme sentinelle sur la maison d’Israël. Tu dois écouter la parole qui sort de ma bouche, et les avertir de ma part.

8 Quand je dis au méchant: Méchant, tu mourras! si tu ne parles pas pour détourner le méchant de sa voie, ce méchant mourra dans son iniquité, et je te redemanderai son sang.

9 Mais si tu avertis le méchant pour le détourner de sa voie, et qu’il ne s’en détourne pas, il mourra dans son iniquité, et toi tu sauveras ton âme.

Anyone who exercises spiritual authority over others is considered a watchman for God.
The pastor is a watchman in a church setting.
The preacher is God’s mouthpiece in his generation.
He is supposed to preach God’s world with no alterations.
He cannot be more loyal to his denomination than to God.
He cannot be more loyal to Calvin or Arminius than to the Holy Spirit.
He cannot be more loyal to his country than to God.
He cannot strive to maintain political correctness at the expense of the Word of God.
He cannot be more loyal to his audience than to God.
He must pronounce judgment when God decrees judgment.
If he fails to communicate God’s message, the fate of those lost souls under his surveillance will be on his account.
In verse 11, God makes it clear that He only wants the wicked to change his ways and begins to practice righteousness.

Eze 33:11 Dis-leur: je suis vivant! dit le Seigneur, l’Éternel, ce que je désire, ce n’est pas que le méchant meure, c’est qu’il change de conduite et qu’il vive. Revenez, revenez de votre mauvaise voie; et pourquoi mourriez-vous, maison d’Israël? (LSV)

11 “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (NKJV)

From verse 12-20 is where it gets a little uncomfortable for me.

THE FALL OF THE RIGHTEOUS ANF THE REPENTANCE OF THE WICKED

Eze 33:12 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ (NKJV)

THE FALSE ASSUMPTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS

13 “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. (NKJV)

13 Lorsque je dis au juste qu’il vivra, -s’il se confie dans sa justice et commet l’iniquité, toute sa justice sera oubliée, et il mourra à cause de l’iniquité qu’il a commise. (LSV)

Good deed is not like money in the bank reserved for the days of iniquity.
Example of the guy who wanted to justify himself after getting involved in a preventable accident.
He accident report reads as follow: “I was driving my car for 40 years when I accidently fall asleep behind the wheel and hit the telephone poll.”
One is declared righteous because of the righteous deeds he is producing in present continuing tense.
A righteous person cannot take a short break to venture in iniquity.
If you never stole anything in your entire life, on the day you say, “Let me try to rob this bank and see what happens.” Whether or not you get caught, you are now a grand thief.
If you never committed adultery on your spouse, on the day you get off guard and say “I will do it this one time only.”
From that day on, you become an adulterer.
It is only the now that defines your state of being before God.
That’s why God offers forgiveness of sin for those who seek for it.

THE TRANFORMATIVE POWER OF TRUE REPENTANCE (14-15)

14 “Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, (NKJV)

14 Lorsque je dis au méchant: Tu mourras! -s’il revient de son péché et pratique la droiture et la justice, (LSV)

15 “if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. (NKJV)

15 s’il rend le gage, s’il restitue ce qu’il a ravi, s’il suit les préceptes qui donnent la vie, sans commettre l’iniquité, il vivra, il ne mourra pas. (LSV)

16 “None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live. (NKJV)

16 Tous les péchés qu’il a commis seront oubliés; s’il pratique la droiture et la justice, il vivra. (LSV)

THE FAIRNESS OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD

17 “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! (NKJV)

17 Les enfants de ton peuple disent: La voie du Seigneur n’est pas droite. C’est leur voie qui n’est pas droite. (LSV)

18 “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. (NKJV)

18 Si le juste se détourne de sa justice et commet l’iniquité, il mourra à cause de cela. (LSV)

19 “But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. (NKJV)

19 Si le méchant revient de sa méchanceté et pratique la droiture et la justice, il vivra à cause de cela. (LSV)

20 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.” (NKJV)

20 Vous dites: La voie du Seigneur n’est pas droite. Je vous jugerai chacun selon ses voies, maison d’Israël! (LSV)

CONCLUSION

A righteous person must remain steadfast in the path of righteousness to be rewarded by God.
All the deeds of righteousness of he who backslides will be wasted.
All the deeds of iniquity of he who repents and practices righteousness will be forgiven.
Many of the last will become first and many of the first will become last.
One is made right before God not just by what he believes and confesses, but by what he practices.
The drifting away of the righteous is possible.

1Co 10:12 Ainsi donc, que celui qui croit être debout prenne garde de tomber! (LSV)

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (NKJV)

One’s relationship with God must be authentic and up to date at all times.
Past postures with God are to no avail for those who fail to maintain their stands in righteousness.
Repentance is always welcome by God.

1Co 15:1 ¶ Je vous rappelle, frères, l’Évangile que je vous ai annoncé, que vous avez reçu, dans lequel vous avez persévéré,

2 et par lequel vous êtes sauvés, si vous le retenez tel que je vous l’ai annoncé; autrement, vous auriez cru en vain

Re 22:11 “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” (NKJV)

11 Que celui qui est injuste soit encore injuste, que celui qui est souillé se souille encore; et que le juste pratique encore la justice, et que celui qui est saint se sanctifie encore. (LSV)

AMEN!

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