Ezekiel 18:32

I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.

The mercy of God

I. The benevolence of God’s own character. He who is love, and who delights therefore only in happiness, being at the same time a holy and just Governor, must no doubt punish sin, and punish it severely; but never can He punish for the sake merely of giving pain, nor can He ever find any pleasure in the death of him that dieth, viewed in itself and apart from the reasons why it takes place.

II. The arrangements He made with man in his original state of innocence. The native immortality of man’s first constitution, the high capacity of enjoyment with which he was endued, the inexhaustible sources of entertainment presented to him in a world every part of which was very good; and then the beautiful garden itself, still more rich and highly decorated than the smiling world around it, and placed under man’s care, that in keeping and dressing it he might be the more happy; these, and other such arrangements, surely indicated anything but a disposition to take pleasure in the death of him that dieth. Or, look at the subsequent arrangements made with Adam, and in him with ourselves, who shall say that the agreement was a hard one?

III. The utter detestation in which Jehovah holds sin, the cause of death. Properly, this is the one thing which He detests. Hence, it is described in His word as that abominable thing which He hates. And among the reasons why He so abhors sin, this is one of the first--that it is the enemy of all happiness, the source of all misery.

IV. The method of recovering us from sin which God has adopted. You here find Him doing everything to preserve men from death. But what is still more remarkable, after they had disregarded all these precautions of Divine love, and fallen by their iniquity, you next find Jehovah making arrangements for their recovery from death. And then such arrangements!

V. The various and suitable means employed to bring us to the acceptance of the Saviour thus provided for us. First of all, He puts the Gospel on record, by the instrumentality of men guided in doing so by His own Spirit. There we read of our degradation and ruin by sin, that we may know our disease; and of the eminent skill and qualifications of the Physician, that we may be induced to make application to Him for the remedy of His blood and grace. And then, lest all this should fail of taking our attention and impressing our conscience, we are warned, in the most impressive manner of our approaching destruction; and we are argued with--we are encouraged--we are invited--we are entreated--to flee for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us.

VI. The work of rendering all these means effectual He puts into the hands of His own Spirit. Jehovah knew too well the obstinacy of the hearts He would have to deal with, to hope for the repentance of a single sinner without providing in this way for the regeneration of his soul by a Divine operation. Such a change manifestly requires an exertion of Divine power as truly as resurrection or creation can do in their more common signification. Great, however, as this work is, its accomplishment is every way secured by the appointment of the Holy Ghost to the office. (P. Hannay.)

Divine sorrow over the impenitent

I. It is painful to see such noble affections misplaced. The spirit that is in man was created capable of loving its Creator, with all the subjects of His kingdom, His law, His Gospel, and His service. Now, can any suppose that the blessed God has pleasure in seeing such noble affections misplaced? Is it not more in accordance with all we know of the Father of the Spirits to infer that He would rather fill capacities like these with His own immensity? and that He would delight in making happy souls so originally great and holy?

II. Such great expectations disappointed. The sinner on whom we have fixed our eye was born, perhaps, a child of promise. Over his very cradle his parents planned his future course, and indulged the fondest hopes of his future distinction, usefulness, and piety. He was, it may be supposed, the child of many prayers and of high expectations. Oh, how dreadful to see such hopes withered, such reasonable expectations nipped and destroyed by the frost of the second death! How can there be in such an object anything that can fill the heart of God with pleasure? Were it the seat of malevolence instead of mercy, it could hardly fail to weep over such costly ruins.

III. The fact will more clearly appear, when we see in the lost sinner such useful talents wasted and ruined. The theme is painful--and let us touch it tenderly. Think, then, of some great man now in torment. While on earth he could exhibit amazing enterprise. He could count the stars and measure the diameter and distance of every planet. He could conceive noble schemes, and trace, by the force of his intellect, every project to its final close. But like the infidels, Hume, Voltaire, Bolingbroke, Hobbes, and many others, he hated the Son of God. Ah! if these men had been as good as they were great, how useful they might have been. But their gigantic minds were their bane and curse. The greatness that might have made them happy has made them miserable. What a loss to all heaven! If any government should be under the necessity of imprisoning for life its loftiest geniuses, would not the loss be an injury to the nation? Would it not be felt and deplored by every loyal subject and true patriot? How then can we for a moment suppose that the God of love and mercy can have any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? Inferences--

1. God will not consign any to perdition who do not oblige Him to do so. Judgment is His strange work.

2. We see hence why the blessed God bears so long with the disobedient and wicked. He abhors the work of destruction, and would not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

3. There must be something very odious in sin, since even the Father of mercies will not spare from death the guilty, though He is loath to destroy. (D. A. Clark.)

The death of sinners not pleasing to God

I. What is here to be understood by men’s dying. Scripture mentions three kinds of death: temporal death, spiritual death, and eternal death. Temporal death is the dissolution of the connection between the soul and body. Spiritual death is the total corruption or depravity of the heart. Eternal death is complete and endless misery in a future state. Temporal death is a common calamity, which none can escape. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Spiritual death is as universal as temporal. By nature all men are dead in trespasses and sins, and under the entire dominion of an evil heart. But eternal death is peculiar to the finally impenitent. Neither temporal nor spiritual death is an adequate punishment for sin; but eternal death, or everlasting misery, is a just and proper reward for final impenitence and unbelief. And this is what God threatens.

II. God is really unwilling that any of mankind should suffer eternal death. This appears--

1. From the plain and positive declarations concerning the final state of impenitent sinners, which are everywhere to be found in His word.

2. By the pure, disinterested, and universal benevolence of His nature.

III. God sincerely desires that all should be saved.

1. If God be unwilling that any should die, then He must desire that all may live. He cannot be altogether indifferent about the happiness or misery of His rational add immortal creatures.

2. That God desires that all may escape misery and enjoy happiness in a future state, clearly appears from His providing a Saviour for all.

3. It appears from the invitations which God makes to sinners in the Gospel, that He desires all should be saved. These invitations are universal, and extend to all sinners of every age, character, and condition, who are capable of understanding them.

4. It further appears that God sincerely desires the salvation of all men, from His commanding all to embrace the Gospel and live. He never commands anything but what is agreeable to Him in its own nature.

5. The patience and forbearance of God towards sinners is a very clear and convincing evidence that He greatly desires that they should be saved rather than destroyed.

Improvement--

1. If God be so far from being willing that any of mankind should be lost that He sincerely desires that all should be saved, then He always did and always will feel as much benevolence towards those who are lost as towards those who are saved.

2. If God is so far from being willing that any of mankind should be lost that He sincerely desires that all should be saved, then it is easy to see how His love of benevolence towards them should be entirely consistent with His hatred of them. The more holy He is, the more He must hate sin. The more benevolent He is, the more He must hate selfishness. The more He loves the happiness of sinners, the more He must hate them for destroying it. The more He loves the good of their fellow men, the more He must hate them for opposing it. And the more He loves His own great and amiable character, the more He must hate His malignant and mortal enemies.

3. If God’s benevolence to sinners is consistent with His hating them, then it is consistent with His punishing them forever.

4. If God is so far from being willing that any of mankind should be lost that He sincerely desires that all should be saved, then He will do as much to save all as He can do, consistently with His benevolence. And with respect to those whose future and eternal happiness the good of the universe does not require, but forbids, they themselves will be fully convinced that God did as much for them as He could consistently do, and that their own negligence and obstinacy were the only faulty causes of their own ruin. They will have to blame themselves, that when God put a price into their hands to get wisdom and obtain life, they had no heart to do it, but chose death rather than life.

5. If God acts from the same benevolent motives in loving and in punishing finally impenitent sinners, then saints will forever love and praise Him for all His conduct towards those guilty and miserable objects.

6. It appears from what has been said about God’s willingness and desire that sinners might be saved, that they are extremely unwilling to be saved. They had rather die than live; they choose eternal death rather than eternal life.

7. We learn the astonishing grace of God in making any sinners willing to be saved. Renewing grace is, in the strictest sense, special, irresistible grace. It demonstrates that God is infinitely more willing to save sinners than they are to be saved. It is subduing their unwillingness, and making them willing in the day of His power to be saved. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

What must and can persons do towards their own conversion

“Turn yourselves!” We may ask, Is this the Christian doctrine of conversion? are we not taught to depend on a converting grace? Is not our helplessness in default of grace a commonplace of theologians and preachers? Well, is not that truth indicated by the Psalmist’s language about “the law of the Lord,” or the Lord Himself as “restoring the soul,” or by Elijah’s prayer on Carmel, “Hear me, that this people may know that Thou hast turned their heart back again,” and yet more touchingly, perhaps, by the prayer which Jeremiah puts into Ephraim’s mouth, “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned”? When, in the light of such words, we read Ezekiel’s exhortation, we understand that when a penitent turns himself to God, he is in fact responding to a movement from God, and using a power which that movement has supplied. So it is that two elements concur in conversion: a Saul replies duteously to the remonstrance, “Why persecutest thou Me?” an Augustine, having “taken up and read” the Pauline summary of a Christian’s moral obligations, surrenders his will absolutely to the practical requirements of the creed which his mind had become ready to accept. We all of us may hear, if we do not wilfully shut our ears, the voice which would draw us to the Christ of apostles and all saints; if we listen, we shall receive strength to obey. (Canon Bright.).