Opening illustration: Americans are getting warned to death. Manufacturers are growing increasingly wary of being sued when their products are misused, so they are attaching warning labels to hundreds of items. For example, a Batman outfit bears this caveat: “Parents, please exercise caution—For Play only. Mask and cape are not protective; cape does not enable user to fly.”
So many warnings appear on items sold in our stores, say the experts, that they’ve lost their effectiveness.
While these kinds of warnings may fall on deaf ears, the Bible points out the importance of heeding God’s warnings. Ezekiel’s words in chapter 3 make it clear that a warning is vital not only for the person receiving it but also for the person giving it (vs. 16-21). God’s words must be taken seriously. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit,” we are told (Ephesians 4:30). “Abstain from every form of evil,” we are reminded (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Jesus warned against adultery and lust (Matthew 5:27-28) and against judging others self-righteously (Matthew 7:1-5).
The Lord who made us knows how we should live. He longs to protect us from danger. Let’s make sure we take all of His warnings seriously. (Illustration by Dave Branon, Our Daily Bread)
Let us turn to Ezekiel 3 and check out the warnings given to the watchman Ezekiel so that he would listen and act upon them for saving not only their lives but his too from utter destruction.
Introduction: The prophet Ezekiel lived in a dark time. Imagine! In the space of less than 20 years, three loads of Israelites were dragged from the Promised Land. Three loads! Into exile. They had to live in Babylon. That center of the kingdom of the world. Away from Jerusalem, away from the temple, away from God Himself, it seemed. There they were God's people, children of Abraham - in a foreign land, a strange country. Even the king himself, Jehoiachin, was in exile. Ezekiel too - he was supposed to be a priest, serving at the temple in Jerusalem, but there he was in Babylon too, far from Jerusalem, far from the temple. But it gets worse still. Those Babylonians weren't satisfied with just ravaging the land. Would they dare to touch God's temple, His dwelling place in Jerusalem? Yes they would. And they did. There it went, into pieces, into rubble, into a smoking pile of ruins.
Ezekiel was indeed a good watchman. But the message he had to bring wasn't exactly a popular one. He had to bring God's Word to a people who didn't want to hear it. In fact we live in similar times. As the watchman, he had to announce God's Word of condemnation because of their sins: Chapter 5:6 "And she has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations and against my statutes more than the countries round about her, by rejecting my ordinances and not walking in my statutes." As watchman, he had to announce God's Word of judgment because of their sins: Chapter 5:9-11 "And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and sons shall eat their fathers....." cannibalism in Jerusalem. Then v. 11 "therefore I will cut you down; my eye will not spare, and I will have no pity." Not a pleasant message to bring. But as faithful watchman, Ezekiel faithfully proclaimed it, He watched and He warned. He brought God's Word to His people as a true prophet.
Who are we responsible to warn?
1. Warning the Ungodly (vs. 16-19)
But then we must remind ourselves of what the task of the watchman is. It is simply this: to bring God's Word. That's what sermons are all about: what does God reveal to us in Scripture. That's why we come to church: to hear what God has to say to us in His Word. And for me, then, that remains a task. Today the Lord has allowed me to become a minister. Or, as I perhaps should say: A minister of the Word. As an ordinary human being, a son of man, yes, an ordinary person with sins, with weaknesses no less, I am allowed to bring God's Word. Indeed, I must. For that task that lies ahead, brothers and sisters, is to bring God's Word. Not my own opinions or ideas. But God's Word. And then I need not think: What shall I say? What do the people want to hear? What will go down best? But just this: watching and warning. Hearing and bringing God's Word to His people. The message I bring, brothers and sisters, must not be my own. It must not be original. It must be rooted solidly in Scripture; it must confront you with what God Himself says. Says the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20 "So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us." That's the task of the watchman: "Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me."
Result: The watchman Ezekiel and the watchmen of the new covenant must bring that same message. They are after all, watchmen of the covenant. And so they must bring God's Word, His covenant promises and threats, His covenant demands and obligations. Ezekiel must say to the wicked, to those who do not serve the Lord and do not live a life of thankful obedience: you will die. Yes, even the righteous, those who have seemed to live an upright life, when they stumble and fall, when they become unrepentant in sin, must hear that same judgment, you will die. Both sinners and saints must be confronted with the obligations of the covenant: If you do not believe God's Word, if you do not truly turn from sin in a life of thankfulness: you will die. A message of death? No - a message of life! For this message, remember, is given in order to save the life of the sinner! When the watchman blows the trumpet, it is not so that the people might know that they are about to die, but that they might live! That they might wake up and flee the wrath of God that is to come! That they might have life! Yes, brothers and sisters, even when the preaching hurts. Even when the blast of the trumpet makes you uncomfortable, when the Word of God shines the spotlight on ugly sins and sores, when it diagnoses the sickness of death, do not close your ears to it, but hear in that trumpet the sound of life, knowing that obedience to the Word of God means life. For in Christ there is forgiveness, there is salvation for repentant sinners. In the blood of Christ there is life. That is the message of the watchman. Says Paul again: "So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Note: "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” [Gen. 9:5-6]
Therefore if we do not warn the wicked, as God commands us, we render ourselves guilty of a deadly sin, for which God will take vengeance on us as on the murderer of the shedding of blood.
Illustration: First of all, let's consider what God's response is to the watchman. He will judge the watchman for his faithfulness. Since God gives His people a watchman to protect their life that means that the watchman who doesn't do his job properly is endangering the life of the people. The city with no watchman or a blind watchman is in great danger. To illustrate this, let's take the example of a smoke detector. There it is on your ceiling inside your house, it's got a battery in it, and it's fully functional. Now to work properly, that smoke detector has to do two things. It has to detect smoke. And it has to sound the alarm when it does detect smoke. Two things: watch ... and warn. Now imagine that something in the house catches alight. Your family is asleep in bed, and first there's just a little spark. Then a flame. Smoke curls up towards the ceiling, up, up, towards the smoke detector. Now if your smoke detector's working properly, it will detect the smoke, and before you know it, the piercing sound of an alarm is echoing off the walls, and you'll be wide awake. Now you have two options. You can be sensible, and make sure the whole family gets out of the house as quickly as possible, call the fire department, and have the fire extinguished. But you can also stay in bed. You can ignore the sound of the alarm, put your head under your pillow and go back to sleep. But: at the cost of your own life. Only a fool would do that. Only a fool would ignore the sound of the trumpet blasted by the watchman, the warning of danger, at the cost of his own life. Only the fool would ignore the God's message of life and death announced by God's watchman. Only a fool would sleep through the alarm of a smoke detector - only a fool would sleep in church.
Now let's imagine that the smoke detector isn't working properly. Perhaps the battery is flat. Perhaps some of the wires are corroded. Anyhow, when the smoke wafts up toward the ceiling, the smoke-detector doesn't detect anything. And by the time there's a thick layer of smoke, and the flames are burning fiercely, there's no sound of an alarm to warn your family, there's no announcement of danger ... and you are all still sound asleep. By the time you wake up, it may already be too late. That smoke-detector is there to protect your life. The watchman is there to protect your life. And that's why it's very important that the smoke-detector, that the watchman, functions properly.
2. Warning the Backslider (vs. 20-21)
God does not want His people to die that's why He sends His watchman - to protect their life! God is concerned with His people's life. Take careful notice of what we read in verse 18: the words of the prophet, the warning, are given to the wicked "in order to save his life." "in order to save his life." God is busy with life here! My life. Your life. The watchman's words, God's words, brothers and sisters, are concerned with your life. The message the watchman must bring is a serious one, it's a matter of life and death. God holds out life to His people. It's a gift, a gift of grace. And that life is true life. True life isn't about winning $21.8 million dollars in the lottery. True life is fellowship with God, restored communion with Him through Christ's blood, the way the truth and the life. In Christ, those sins are removed, they are washed away.
Result: Brothers and sisters, that watchman who fails to blow the trumpet, who fails to warn the people of danger, is responsible for their life. The responsibility involved here, is overwhelming. If the watchman fails to give the word of warning as a true watchman, the sinner will die because of his sin, but God will also hold the watchman accountable for the sinner's blood. He is responsible. The watchman will have blood on his hands - the death of the sinner is also his fault. The watchman can't make someone repent. The watchman can't work faith. And he doesn't have to either - that's the Lord's work, that's the work of the Spirit through the Word. But what the watchman must do is this: bring God's Word.
The watchmen of the new covenant, the overseers, the minister as well as the elders, are no less responsible. Hebrews 13:17 says about the leaders that "they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account." Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16 "For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" That means "I will be condemned if I do not preach the gospel." Brothers and sisters, this responsibility weighs heavy on me. And so it should. For the watchman has enormous responsibility, and unfaithful watchmen will have much to answer for at the last judgment. Their job involves serious business, matters of life and death, eternal life and eternal death. It is by means of His watchmen that God condemns the wicked, and restores the lives of sidetracked believers. They must faithfully declare the message of the Word in all its boldness and harshness to God's people. Only in this way can they say with Paul "I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:26, 27).
Illustration: I am told that there was a rock on the North Sea, just off the Firth of Tay, Scotland. This rock proved very dangerous to many ships, because when the high tide came in, the rock was hidden just below the surface. There was a warning bell attached to the rock by the Abbot of Aberbrothok, so when tide came in the huge warning bell floated and rang out a warning to all ships that passed: there was hidden danger. This warning bell was stolen by a sea pirate.
History records about a year after the said warning bell was stolen, there was a terrible pirate ship crash at this rock, and the pirate perished in the icy waters. It appears the pirate that stole the warning bell, perished on the hidden rock one stormy night. Why? Do we remove the ancient landmarks and warning bells?
Application: And this duty is not a maybe or sometimes. It is a must. God's Word must be proclaimed faithfully, in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). Not just so that the watchman can save his own skin. No way. God sends watchmen for the sake of His people. God's people depend on faithful watchmen. The life of God's people is at stake. And so you must also ask yourself: what is my response to the watchman? Or better: What is my response to God's Word? And then, by God's grace, you will take warning. You will seek life, life that comes through the blood of Christ, life that comes through submission to God's Word in a life of thankful obedience.
God gives His people a watchman to protect their life. Brothers and sisters, in the weeks, months, and years that lie ahead, let us both, you and I, listen to the Word of God. And let us take heed to these warnings. So there will be life - eternal life. God's warnings are to protect us, not to punish us.
