These days, its like a war in Korea or the United States, or the election. In fact, Korea and the United States went through a Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday during the worst battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, crying out for Gods mercy and repentance for our sins. There was also the SATs last week, and while passing is great, the greatest value is salvation. Turn to God in any situation and you will be saved. Today, Im going to unpack my Ezekiel 6 minute testimony from the 1027 prayer meeting a bit more, and consider how to turn from sin.
First, we need to stop blaming others.
The text begins in verse 1, 'The word came to me and said,' and having the word come to you is 'the best secret to turning from sin and living.' Then in verse 2, 'It was the father who ate the sour grapes, but it was the sons teeth,' and the people blame the sin of their ancestors for Israels idolatry that led to their captivity in Babylon. The people thought their ancestors were the only ones responsible for their suffering, but blaming others leads to blaming God. Suffering is an event that God has given us to turn to. We are souls who sin against God (v. 4). Sin is like being off the bulls-eye, and we cant hit the bulls-eye in our own strength, so suffering comes to make us look at our sin.
For my husband, his father was an idol. He was a very righteous man, so he was interested in honor rather than indecency, and he said his purpose was to live a worthy life. He was a sincere gynecologist on the outside, but he didnt allow me any freedom. On the outside, he was good, but on the inside, he was legalistic, had no control over his anger, blamed me for everything, misunderstood me, nagged me beyond belief, and always blamed me for everything. But I pretended not to be like that on the outside, but on the inside, I blamed my husband, I blamed my in-laws, I blamed my parents for forcing me into this marriage, and I concluded, 'Im powerless, lets divorce, lets die!' Blaming at the end of everything becomes a fight, and I want to cut it all off.
Second, we should know that God is just.
God is pleased to see us, the wicked, turn around and live. That is through knowing and believing in Jesus Christ, the supreme righteousness. Jesus knew that God is perfectly just, so he voluntarily took our cross and forgave everyone, even those who tried to kill him. But we cry out, 'Im right!Im the only one who is fair!'Everywhere we go these days, everybody is saying theyre right, and its called human rights, and the whole country is a war zone, and God is explaining over and over again, despite Israels deep-seated sin of crying out that its not fair. Even though we keep blaming others and blaming God, God doesnt give up on us and loves us to the end.
Third, we need to see it as my fault.
God tells us, 'Please dont blame God for being unfair, but know that God is fair,' and 'Turn from your sin of blaming others and complaining and live!Do not die, but live!' He urges us.To turn is to renew the heart and spirit, which is to remove the hard heart and have a soft heart (Ezek. 36:26), so to remove the hard heart that blames parents, blames others, and blames God is to replace it with a hard heart that blames me. This is not to blame myself because I am the cause of my suffering, but to see the sinfulness hidden in me through my suffering and confess, 'You are more right than I am!' This is the new heart, the new spirit, the Holy Spirit, and when I receive the Holy Spirit, I blame myself and see it as my problem.
I was driven to the ends of the earth because of my husband, which led to the renewal of my mind and spirit and the repentance of the Holy Spirit that I was to blame. Without addressing the issue of sin, we cannot turn around and live. Within a day, my husband developed symptoms of a ruptured hepatic artery, which is a sign of late-stage liver cancer. I rushed to the hospital and told my husband that unless he repented, believed in Jesus, and went to heaven, I could not live with our children. At his request, I called a pastor, who asked me, 'You are standing at the gates of heaven tonight, how will you enter?' My husband replied, 'In Jesus name,' confessing his sin of performing abortions, which he had done without remorse as a doctor, as the normality of evil at the time, and following the pastor in a prayer of acceptance. It was the moment my husband was saved.The cross is wisdom and the timing is right. Afterward, my husband told me to go home, hang up the dried chilies, and pay the staff.I obeyed, and when I came back, he praised me three times, saying, 'Good job, the big things are done in small ways.' I went to work that morning with a bowl of rice, and I really dont have much of a life. My husband left, and I told God that I obeyed Him in my student days, my daughter-in-law days, and my wifes days, and I said, 'Why is He being so hard on me, that Hes not fair?' But God said, through todays Ezekiel passage, which was the cutie text at the time, 'It was righteous for your husband to accept Jesus, and it was fair for Him to take him to heaven.' I testify with tears like this.The reason I testify with tears like this is because in my heart, I always think, My husband went instead of me, I live life as a bonus, so I live this day like its my last, so my salvation testimony was also used in the 1027 Unity Service.
If you want to turn around and live, you should not blame others, but know that God is fair and take responsibility for yourself. I believe that God will help us when we receive the Lord with a heart that loves God and want to turn and live by ourselves. I also pray that the work of salvation, which is restored and revived by the Word, will continue until the last day, in the name of the Lord.
