Don't Stay in the Pit (Part 3)

You Went Back into the Pit (Ezekiel 16:15-34).

Digression is a foolish plight, but it is a common one. There is no greater act for one to commit than to fall back into the pit from whence he came. Israel went back into the pit; there was nothing good that came out of that. Their sins included:   

• Pride (Ezekiel 16:15; cf. Matthew 3:9).

• Fornication (Ezekiel 16:15, 16, 17, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32).

• Idolatry (Ezekiel 16:17, 24).

• Child sacrifices (Ezekiel 16:20-21).

Falling away is unburying a dead man, eating out of the trash, or using an old, dirty rag. It is unlike the first time you were in the pit as now you know better. Willful ignorance and rebellion[1] are highly offensive to God (Hosea 4:6). When you choose to go to the pit you shake your fist at God’s face and place yourself on a deified platform. Going back to the pit is the most foolish thing you can do. Why?

                You take God’s blessings and turn them into curses (Ezekiel 16:15-21). Falling away shows how little one cares for the blessings of God; he treats them as if they were nothing! The cross, the Son, and Heaven are all thrown int the mud and stamped upon—a grievous sin indeed (Hebrews 6:6; 10:29).

                You can’t find satisfaction (Ezekiel 16:28-29). Israel would not stay in one place; they moved from nation to nation, like a woman who moved from lover to lover. Sin brings little satisfaction (Hebrews 11:25). It demands more sin to fulfill desire, only to then need more and more. It can never bring one to contentment. Sin always disappoints, discourages, devoids, and devalues. What man do you know that is truly happy in his sin? Truly fulfillment comes by coming out of the pit (1 John 5:3).   

                You become worse than sinners (Ezekiel 16:27-34). Erring saints are "worse" than satanic sinners. Both are lost, both are doomed, but saints know better. Israel committed sins that sinners wouldn’t even think of committing (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:9; 1 Corinthians 5:1-2). To obey God and willingly turn your back on him is like a woman marrying her love, only to stab him in the back with her adulterous fornication. Maybe Hell will be hotter for the rebellious children of God who laughed in His face and broke their marriage covenant (2 Peter 2:20-22).

Israel willingly forgot about the pit they crept back into (Ezekiel 16:22). Don’t forget about your past, so you don’t go back into the pit in the future.

Endnotes

[1]The word “rebellious” occurs 17 times in Ezekiel.