Ezekiel 3- 17 “Son of
man I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a
word from my mouth you shall give them warning from me. 18 If 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, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity,
but his blood I will require by your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked and he
does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his
iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous
person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice and I lay a stumbling
block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die
for his sin, and the righteous deeds he has done will not be remembered, but
his blood I will require by your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous man not
to sin, and he does not sin, then he shall surely live, because he took
warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
As a
Christian the first time I read these verses just a couple of weeks ago I was
greatly troubled. It bothered me so much
that I am still losing sleep over it.
The reason that this passage bothers me so much and should bother you too,
my Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
should be quite clear but I will spell it out.
God has given us the charge of spreading the gospel all over the
world. As a matter of fact that is
exactly the last thing Jesus commanded us to do before his departure to heaven
(Matthew 28:18-20).
So
Jesus has commanded us to go spread the Gospel around the world and has
entrusted us with his Holy word as a means to do that. This was God giving us the warning to spread
among the wicked so that they might acknowledge their sins and turn from
them. Who is the wicked? Everyone is wicked. Romans 3:23- “for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God.” No one in the world can be considered righteous on his/her own merits because we have all
broken God’s law in some way.
What
does Ezekiel 3:17-21 have to do with this?
My friends, what God told Ezekiel is that if God told him to warn a
wicked man to turn from his sins or die and Ezekiel did not do it then when
that person reaped the fruit of his sin (as stated in Romans 6:23) then God
will hold Ezekiel accountable for that man’s death. It is the same with you and me,
if we know someone who is living in sin and we don’t try to reach them with the
Gospel of Christ even though we know we should.
When we stand before God on our Judgment Day,
then God is going to hold us responsible for that person’s fate.
Can you
imagine that? God is the Creator, Father, King, and Judge. His goodness is perfect in every way and
because of that He is going to sentence unrepentant sinners to Hell because that is what is
required. He is going to do that even
though He created those sinners in his image because he is a Just Judge who always does what is
right even though it might break His heart.
How would you like to stand before God and have Him question you as to why you didn’t do as He commanded you and share the Gospel with
one of His children therefore forcing God to sentence
His own creation to an eternity in Hell. Can you imagine the anger and the pain? It’s
making me sick just thinking about it.
We can
make up all sorts of excuses to put off sharing the Gospel with someone. “I’m scared of what they will think?” “I’m
too young.” “I haven’t been a believer long enough.” “I just don’t know enough
yet.” All of these excuses sound very good in our own ears. I am guilty of it too, especially that last
excuse. But after I finished reading the
book of Ezekiel I went on to read the book of Jeremiah and God had an answer
for me there in the first chapter.
Jeremiah 1: 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord LORD! Behold I do not
know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not
say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and
whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am
with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”
You
want that simplified? No excuses accepted.
God has given us the Bible as his Holy Word and with it we are supposed
to proclaim the Gospel to everyone.
Whether we are young or old, as long as we keep striving to further the Gospel, God will give us the words and wisdom to
use His Word to reach his lost, rebellious
children.
So here
I am writing this. If you are a
Christian reading this then I hope what God told Ezekiel and Jeremiah affects you like it did me and that it motivates
you to do what you can to spread the Gospel.
That is why am writing this. This
will be the first of hopefully many writings that are meant to strengthen and
encourage my Brothers and Sisters in Christ , and at the same time, teach those who do not know Christ more him so that they might understand the
extent of his sacrifice for them. For
the Gospel is good news indeed.
Romans
3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 and are
justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received
by faith. This was to show God’s
righteousness, because in his forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It
was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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