Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
WATCHMAN ON THE WALL, WHO IS THE SAFEST OF US ALL?
Ezekiel 33:2-11, "Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"
ILLUSTRATION:
In 1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people was preparing to have a "hurricane party" in the face of a storm named Camille. Were they ignorant of the dangers? Could they have been overconfident? Did they let their egos and pride influence their decision? We will never know.
What we do know is that the wind was howling outside the posh Richelieu Apartments when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark. Facing the Beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments were directly in the line of danger. A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, "You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm is getting worse." But as other joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta’s order to leave. "This is my land," one of them yelled back. "If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me."
Peralta didn’t arrest anyone, but he wasn’t able to persuade them to leave either. He wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty or so people who gathered there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. They had been warned, but they had no intention of leaving.
It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille’s wind speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high.
News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels, go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, Mississippi, where some twenty people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation; the only survivor was a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the following day.
Those people died because they failed to heed the words of the watchman!
As we look at the verses for this message, I am reminded that there is a storm coming on this world the magnitude of which, has never been since the foundation of the world and will never be again. That storm is already beginning to arise on the horizon. We can see the storm clouds gathering. We can see the lightning flashing and hear the thunder roll as the nations of the earth are aligning themselves and preparing for battle. It doesn’t take a prophet to see what’s coming. All it takes are opened eyes and ears that will hear. God is sending forth His warning to the human race through the voice of His true ministers of the Gospel and through His written Word.
God has placed a number of watchmen to warn his people of the impending storm. The job of those watchmen is to warn sinners of their condition and to speak to them of the danger that lies ahead.
In the story of Hurricane Camille and those who died, who would you have to blame for the deaths of the party crowd? Was it the fault of the Police Chief who went to warn them? Was it the fault of the apartment owners or builders? Was it the fault of the storeowners who sold them the liquor? Was it the fault of the storm?
I have to say that the real fault of their deaths was due to their own lack of obedience and heeding of the warnings. True enough, the storm did eventually kill them but I want you to remember that there were multitudes of other people who lived and worked in that same building who were not killed because they heeded the warning.
The duty of the watchman is to sound the warning but it is the duty of the hearer to hear and prepare himself for what is coming. The watchman is accountable for his actions because if he did not sound the alarm or if he neglects his duty, he brings guilt upon himself.
The Police Chief did his duty but they wouldn’t listen. God will do everything in His power to reach us but it is still up to us to hear and obey.
ILLUSTRATION:
The story goes that there was an old hard headed, Christian farmer who became stranded one day during a great flood. He managed to climb up on the roof of his shed as it floated along with the floodwaters and began to pray for deliverance.
As he sat there, a boat with two men in it came by and tied up to the shed. The men in the boat asked the farmer if he wanted to get in and be rescued but the farmer said, “No, God is going to deliver me.” After trying to persuade him to go with them, the men in the boat finally left the farmer on the shed roof and drove away.
A little later there came a helicopter that dropped a rope ladder for the farmer to climb up but, again, the farmer refused to go with them so they flew away leaving him on that shed.
The shed began to break apart and the farmer soon fell into the floodwaters and drowned. When he stood before God he asked, “why didn’t you deliver me God?”
“My son, I sent you two opportunities to be rescued but you wouldn’t listen”, was God’s answer!
The moral of that story is that God doesn’t always deliver us in the way that we are thinking He will, but He never fails to keep His promises.
Just as surely as those party goes in Mississippi and the farmer on the roof died because of their rejection of God’s warnings, so will many of those who claim to know Jesus as their Savior, one day be left behind when the Rapture comes.
People, in their natural manner, always provide for their peace and safety.
We have an alarm system on our church, our homes, our automobiles and we carry insurance that will enable us to survive in most eventualities, but how many people don’t carry their eternal life insurance and don’t go to church to listen to the voice of the watchman?
No one every says, “I won’t listen to what you have to say because I don’t care what’s coming.” Everyone wants to be saved so Christians go to church and claim to have a watchman to guard over their souls.
But, they are offended if ministers obey their Master’s command, and give a faithful warning! They would rather perish, listening to smooth talkers and enjoying an entertaining message.
If we believe in the fact that Jesus is alive and that He is the Son of God, then we must also believe in the rest of the Word of God for it all stands together as a faithful testimony of God’s Word of all humanity.
Because we believe in the Word of God, we all, by consensus, agree that the Word of God is true and will never fail. And if we truly believe that then we must heed the warnings that are found in that Word. The truth of God’s Word is our signal that we all agree upon. When God’s Word speaks of impending judgment, then we must hear and prepare for that time that is coming. If not, then we can blame no one but ourselves.
If I did not preach to you the truth of the Word of God as God reveals it to me week after week, and if I failed to preach the message that He gives to me, then your blood will be required of me in the Day of Judgment.
I want to be clean of that guilt. My greatest desire is that I will preach the truth to you, without compromise, without regret, without apology and without watering it down to make it more palatable. I desire to preach it exactly as the Word of God says it because that’s the only way that I can be innocent if any of my congregation is not ready to meet God when the time comes.
My greatest fear is that I will not speak the right words or that I may somehow miss the direction of the Holy Spirit and some soul won’t hear the message of deliverance and warning as a result.
Too many people have been taken so very quickly in their iniquity. If that happens, I don’t want to know that they are taken in their sin and iniquity because I failed to preach the truth to them. I don’t want their blood on my hands. I pray that I will deliver the message that God wants given.
How terrible it is to see a soul taken into eternity without making it right with God and yet it happens many times each day. One moment they are walking and living upon this earth as though they had a long life ahead and the next moment they are snatched into the pits of hell by the hand of Satan. How horrible that must be! One day enjoying life and then suddenly, in a flash, you are in the pits of hell. There is no coming back, no changing anything – but we there forever and ever!
The watchman that fails to shout the warning shall be punished for not doing his duty and for not giving the warning of danger. Because the watchman fails, that soul was surprised with the enemy, and taken away unawares; and therefore the sinful condition of his death shall be blamed on the watchman, and he must be answerable for it.
ILLUSTRATION:
Some years ago a fearful railroad wreck took a dreadful toll of life and limb in an eastern state. A train, loaded with young people returning from school, was stalled on a suburban track because of what is known as a "hot-box." The limited was soon due, but a flagman was sent back to warn the engineer in order to avert a rear-end collision. Thinking all was well; the crowd laughed and chatted while the porters worked on in security. Suddenly the whistle of the limited was heard and on came the heavy train and crashed into the local, with horrible effect.
The engineer of the limited saved his own life by jumping, and some days afterwards was hauled into court to account for his part in the calamity. And now a curious discrepancy in testimony occurred. He was asked, "Did you not see the flagman warning you to stop?"
He replied, "I saw him, but he waved a yellow flag. I took it for granted all was well, and so went on, though slowing down."
The flagman was called, "What flag did you wave?"
"A red flag, but he went by me like a shot."
"Are you sure it was red?"
"Absolutely."
Both insisted on the correctness of their testimony, and it was demonstrated that neither was color-blind. Finally the man was asked to produce the flag itself as evidence. After some delay he was able to do so, and then the mystery was explained. It had been red, but it had been exposed to the weather so long that all the red was bleached out, and it was but a dirty yellow!
Oh, the lives eternally wrecked by the yellow gospels of the day -- the bloodless theories of unregenerate men that send their hearers to their doom instead of stopping them on their downward road!
People of God we must listen to the voice of the watchman! Too many are not hearing the message of judgment that is surely coming. Too many watchmen have allowed their “flag” of the gospel to be watered down and made ineffective through the traditions of men and for the sake of reaching people who will not make a true commitment to Christ.
We have catered to the entertainment hungry Christians long enough. We have weakened the message to keep from “offending” those who come to visit. We have made “living for Jesus” too easy and have not taught the true ways of holiness, righteousness and sanctification. No, works can’t save us, but if we truly love Jesus, we will want to be more like Him. If we truly believe and trust in Him then we will heed the warnings of His Word and preach the truth no matter who is “offended”.
Isaiah 8:14, "And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
Romans 9:33, "As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
1 Peter 2:8, "And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."
According to these scriptures, Jesus and the message of the Cross, the shed blood of the Lamb of God, and of living a holy, sanctified life, are a “rock of offense” and a “stumbling stone” to those who refuse to hear and obey the Word of God.
The preaching of the truth of the Gospel is offensive and will cause many to run from God, but the truth must be preached so that souls can be delivered who will hear and turn from their sin.
As the watchman, myself, and all who serve Jesus (for we are all watchman for those we influence), must be ever vigilant to speak the truth. Tell others of the Love of Jesus Christ. Tell them about His saving grace and the washing away of sins by His shed blood. Tell everyone you meet about Jesus!
Shout it out! Blow the trumpet of warning! Let people know that Jesus is coming soon! Either shout it, blow the trumpet and preach the truth of the time that is coming, or face God with the blood of the lost souls that you could have reached dripping from your fingers! Which will it be for you?
