He Drank My Cup

Ezekiel 33:12-13

1/8 of a teaspoon of arsenic is all it takes to kill a human. If I mix that in a glass of water would you drink it? I mean think about it, the glass is mostly good water. Sure, there is a little bit of poison in it, but it is mostly water. H2O, that stuff you need to survive. It is what 60 percent of you body is made of. So, why would you not drink a glass of mostly good water? The answer to that is because it has been totally ruined by the poison. That is what the text today is about.

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Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. 13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Ezekiel 33:12-13

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So, we have two comparisons here. First, there is the man who is mostly good, but he chooses to sin. Ezekiel wrote that his righteousness would "NOT deliver him in the day of his transgression". Why? Because his righteousness is like that glass of water in the opening paragraph. It was good water but he put poison in the water. That ruined it. He can continue to add more poison but the water will never be pure again.

The other comparison, there is a wicked man. He has a glass of arsenic with a little bit of water in it. However, Ezekiel wrote, "As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness". The word translated "turneth" means to repent. When he repents of his wickedness, he will not fall or be condemned by his wickedness.

What is Ezekiel talking about? The first person is relying on his good life to get him to Heaven. The problem is, we all sin. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). So, that "good person" is like that glass of water that has a little bit of arsenic in it; he is ruined. He is toxic because of his sin and will be cast into Hell.

On the other hand, the wicked person who repents of his sin is like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus gives them a well of water springing up in them so that they thirst no more (John 4:14). In other words, he got new water. It was clean water because it was water from Jesus. Yes, his glass was REALLY polluted, but Jesus gave him completely new water that was not polluted.

What's the difference in these two people? The first person was trying to get to heaven on his own. When he stood before God, all he had was his polluted glass of water to try to get into Heaven with. God did not want that water; it was bad. The second person relied on Jesus to get him into Heaven. He presented God with that pure water that came from God's own Son. Because it was pure and refreshing, he will get into Heaven; in spite of all the sins he has committed.

That is what Ezekiel wanted the people to understand. If they tried to do it own their own the would fall. If they repented and trusted God, He would forgive their sins and they would not be condemned. This is true for us as well. I am so thankful that I accepted Jesus as the payment for my sins many years ago. What about you? The Bible says, "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).

Father, thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for my sins. Thank you for the well of water springing up within me so that I never thirst spiritually again. Thank you that Jesus gave me his cup and He drank my cup. I pray that others would take his cup and give Him their cup as well.