Excessive Sin Given Excessive Forgiveness

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Ezekiel 16:23-25, 42-43, 48-52, 62-63 NLT

“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.

“Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore. But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters. Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins,  so I wiped her out, as you have seen. “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you. Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.

And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

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Having grown up hearing people preach and teach the Bible and continuing to hear it for the better part of these past 47 years I have heard of Sodom. Who hasn't? Famous for their sin and maybe even more famous for their destruction by fire and brimstone rained down from heaven because of their terrible evil.

If a person wants to say that someone or some place is really perverted and evil then they compare them to Sodom!

Ezekiel puts things in perspective. First, the really detestable thing about Sodom contrary to common misconception isn't apparently their lewd sexual practices particularly homosexual gang rape of strangers. But rather Sodom is rebuked by God in Ezekiel for their economic unfairness! The people of Sodom apparently fostered an economic apathy towards the poor and this was the pinnacle of their sinful practice. Before you point that finger look in the mirror!

But secondly it turns out according to God we have the wrong iconic sinners! If you want to feel smug and point the finger at the real detestable sinners you'd have to point at God's people. Apparently, the all time evil lewd crude dudes were the Jews! Nobody was as evil , sexually promiscuous, or economically unfair than God's chosen people. 

The Sun finds a way through!

And God isn't messing around either he has judgements planned for them that are far worse than Sodom experienced. And it is a bit embarrassing when you think the Israelites themselves used to always point the finger at bad old Sodom or the dolt Samaria only to look in the mirror and see they were the really bad guys! Remember Abraham pleaded with God to save Sodom if only a handful of people were not completely against God. But it turns out no one was good so they all had to die a terrible death as did their children, babies  animals, and culture. If Abraham could not save Sodom, he will not be able to save the worst sinners of all time, Israel.

But hold on! What is God ending this passage with now? He has exposed his people as completely off the chart sinners of a magnitude unheard of and then he says the whole lot will be restored. Sodom, Samaria, and the all time gross sad filthy disgusting people of God too will be forgiven!

Watch out who you think you are better than!

Watch out who God can forgive and restore!

Does God rescue the rebellious?

Psalms 106:7-8 NLT

Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord ’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. Even so, he saved them— to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power.

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Do you think God will only help you if your good enough? Think again. God's own people were very bad. It's often the way out of it. God did amazing miracles and they were not impressed. The Son forgot his kindness to them. They rebel!
Even so, he saved them.

If you take the time to read the whole chapter posted in below you'll get an even clearer idea of their unworthy belligerent state.  Still God is good to them.

Can you accept the fact that God is good. You don't have to earn your keep. You can't somehow be worthy. It is not about cleaning up your own act so he'll help you.
God helps because of who he is. His character is what matters, not yours.
He is kind.
If you read the rest of the chapter you'll see that God's people really go of the deep end and even sacrifice their own children. They don't care at all about God. It gets very very nasty. But read how God ultimately responds:

" Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love. He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness. Save us, O Lord our God!"

Please don't think you can bargain with God. Please don't think you can somehow earn his favour with your good works.

See that God is good. See his kindness and love. Yes, he is not pleased with our rebellion and may let us suffer in the results of our evil choices, but he does good to us and blesses us because of his character not ours.

Don't insult God by thinking you can earn his help.

Rather, praise his goodness. And accept his help, so willingly offered to the rebellious evil people he gave kindness to.

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Psalms 106:2-48 NLT

Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord ? Who can ever praise him enough? There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right. Remember me, Lord , when you show favor to your people; come near and rescue me. Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of your people; let me praise you with those who are your heritage. Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord ’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. Even so, he saved them— to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power. He commanded the Red Sea to dry up. He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert. So he rescued them from their enemies and redeemed them from their foes. Then the water returned and covered their enemies; not one of them survived. Then his people believed his promises. Then they sang his praise. Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel! In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland. So he gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it. The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord ’s holy priest. Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels. Fire fell upon their followers; a flame consumed the wicked. The people made a calf at Mount Sinai ; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt— such wonderful things in the land of Ham, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea. So he declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them. The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them. Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord . Therefore, he solemnly swore that he would kill them in the wilderness, that he would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands. Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor; they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead! They angered the Lord with all these things, so a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped. So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time. At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord , causing Moses serious trouble. They made Moses angry, and he spoke foolishly. Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the Lord had commanded them. Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder. They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord ’s sight. That is why the Lord ’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own special possession. He handed them over to pagan nations, and they were ruled by those who hated them. Their enemies crushed them and brought them under their cruel power. Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin. Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love. He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness. Save us, O Lord our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you. Praise the Lord , the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord !