A Watchman Warns
Ezekiel 3:17-21 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchmanfor the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.” Note: The word ”his” is not in the Hebrew here.. It is saying when a ‘righteous man turns from doing righteousness and practices evil, his past goodness will be forgotten. He will be as lost as the unrighteous.
We are called to WARN the Sinner and the Saint. The sinner, we warn to turn from his evil way and the saint, we warn not to turn back to evil, otherwise, ” he shall die (Die spiritually) in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered”. A Watchman warns of coming Destruction! He loves his people and does not want them to be destroyed.
This same Warning is repeated again in Ezekiel 18:21-28 and in Ezekiel 33:7-20
Ezekiel 18:21-28
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
24 “But when a righteous man turns away from - righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? 26 When a righteous man turns away from - righteousness, commits (Practices) iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. 27 Again, when a wickedman turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. 28 Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
Notice again, this is talking about Spiritual death. This man will be in Hell if he dies in this rebellious state. It matters what state you are in when you die. Either in love with God or against God. It doesn’t matter what you “Professed” years before, but where you are the day you die.
The False Gospel does not warn those who are in rebellion to God to turn from their sin. It wants to make them comfortable in their sin. (Those who are in Rebellion are both those who professed to know God and have turned away from Him, and those who don’t know Him at all. Knowing God is having RELATIONSHIP with Him.)
If we are not HAVING RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM NOW, we do not have Eternal Life. John 17:3 Those who are not having relationship with the Lord now– “You will surely die.”
Abide with Him and you have Eternal Life. If you do not Abide you will SURELY DIE.
A person that knows God, is not sinless, but he is walking with God and allowing the Holy Spirit to Convict him and he repents daily as the Spirit directs him to. He wants (Hungers and Thirsts for) Righteousness in his own life because he know that it pleases God.
False Shepherds do not like to give warnings– More on that tomorrow.
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