Sour Grapes No More: Personal Responsibility and a God Who Wants You to Live | Ezekiel 18–20

Word for Word: The Bible · Sep 10, 2026 · 19m

Episode Overview

Today we read Ezekiel chapters 18 through 20. The exiles had a saying: the parents eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. It was a way of saying their situation was inherited and therefore hopeless—nothing they did could matter. Ezekiel takes the proverb apart. Each person stands before God on their own account. The one who sins is the one who dies; the one who turns from wickedness lives. Whatever you inherited, your response is genuinely yours.

And God's posture in this is not reluctant. He says plainly that He takes no pleasure in the death of anyone…