Elders As Watchmen — James Jennings

Into the spiritual realm and, Lord, to no longer be in darkness. Father, thank you. Lord, thank you so much for the great mercy that you have shown. And Lord, I just pray that you would help me now as I share this message.

Lord, to those, the few right in front of me, and then to the brethren through the internet, Lord, we just pray, would you bless and own and be in our meeting today. Lord, we need you. We want your presence.

Elders as Watchmen in the New Testament

Lord, we long for your nearness. And so we ask for your help. In Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, I want to speak on elders as watchmen. Elders as watchmen. And we're ultimately going to end up in Ezekiel chapter 3.

But I want to start in the New Testament and work our way back briefly. And the Bible uses different metaphors to talk about the elders in the church and the roles that those elders have. It calls us pastors, shepherds, workmen, stewards, do the work of an evangelist.

So the Bible takes a real-life task to illustrate and describe the elders' spiritual tasks towards those in the church. And the different metaphors the Scriptures use, they give us a certain example that we can take to heart with the role that God has given us.

And so one of these that Paul alludes to from the Old Testament is that of a watchman. And the clearest place we see this in the New Testament that this idea is true is in Hebrews, Hebrews 13, 17. It's the first verse we'll look at.

Just briefly I'll read this. Obey your leaders, submit to them. Why? They are keeping watch over your souls. Keeping watch. That's the idea of a watchman. And we're doing that as what? As those who will have to give an account.

So we're watchmen and we're going to have to give an account for the job that we do as we're watching. This is an extremely important task to be alert, to be watching out for the safety of the entire church and to give warnings from God's Word to God's people.

And then let's turn to Acts 20. Let's go back a little. There's two places in Acts that are going to ultimately lead us to Ezekiel 33 and chapter 3, Acts 20. And you think about warnings. Even this morning, my daughter put oatmeal in the microwave without water.

And before you knew it, we had a massive amount of smoke in the kitchen. But we did not have a fire alarm in the kitchen. I thought we had a fire alarm in the kitchen. We did not. And so we were not warned.

Now that's on a small scale. The house didn't burn down. No one perished. Right? But on a smaller scale, we wish we had something there to warn us. We needed to get an alarm and an alarm that works. But Acts 20, verse 17, Paul here in context, Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and he called the elders of the church to come to him.

So you could say, as some say, this is a pastor's conference. And Paul then goes on to say, verse 25,. And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

So he doesn't think they're going to ever see him again. Therefore, in view of this, I testify to you this day, I am innocent of the blood of all. Paul implies there he could have guilt rather than innocence for the blood of these people.

Why is Paul innocent as a watchman? Verse 27, he's innocent because he did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. It's not just that he declared something. Many people, they speak.

He declared the whole counsel of God. And then he says to these elders, verse 28, You need to pay careful attention to yourselves and, be watchmen to who? To all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Even that word overseers, you have that idea of you're giving watch. You're looking over. Overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his blood. Verse 29, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you.

They will not spare the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, in view of this, be alert. Don't fall asleep. And remember that for three years, I did not cease night or day to admonish.

That's the idea of warn. To warn everyone with ears. So Paul is saying for three years, I was a watchman over you. And I did not fall asleep. And I sought to warn you and to admonish you. And he's saying to these elders who he's leaving there, He's saying you need to do the same thing.

You need to pay careful attention to yourself and to all the flock of whom God has made you overseers over. And as he said in verse 26, there's an issue here of I want to be innocent of the blood of all these people.

There could be guilt that I would have for the failure to do the task. And so Paul says something similar, one more place in the New Testament, Acts 18. Acts 18, verse 5. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the Word.

Testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when the Jews opposed and reviled Paul, he took out his garments and he said to them, Your blood be on your own heads. I'm innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.

So here again, Hebrews 13, we hear about giving an account. Acts 20, we hear about Paul being innocent. And Acts 18, Paul talks about being innocent. Meaning Paul could have been the opposite of innocent.

He could have had some guilt associated with a failure to be alert and warn the people. Or a failure to give the people the whole counsel of God. Now the New Testament will either quote, where it's very clear it's quoting the Old Testament, where it says something like Isaiah said, as the prophet Isaiah said.

But a lot of times, the New Testament authors, hundreds and some say 4 ,000 times, they allude to an idea from the Old Testament Scriptures. An allusion is a hint. They're hinting at that idea from the Old Testament.

Specifically in Acts 18, he says, testifying to the Jews, and he says, your blood be on your own heads. There's many places in the Old Testament that a Jew, they would have thought about when they heard that verse.

And one of these places is in Ezekiel. So we're going to turn to Ezekiel, and that's where we're going to spend the rest of our time. And in Ezekiel, there are two places. We're going to be in Ezekiel chapter 3.

But in Ezekiel 33, which is some say six years later, after what the Lord said to Ezekiel in chapter 3, in Ezekiel 33, it talks about an actual watchman. The actual position, meaning not some figurative or not a metaphor, but there was an actual position of watchman in Israel.

That the Lord spiritualizes that and says, that's how you are, Ezekiel. In the spiritual sense, you're going to be a watchman. But Ezekiel 33, it says this, The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, they make him their watchman.

And if he sees the sword coming upon the land, and he blows the trumpet, and he warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, the sword comes, takes that person away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, and he did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and doesn't blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

And then the Lord says this, So you, Son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. He's putting this idea of an actual watchman. And then he's saying, look, this is how you are in the spiritual realm.

And Paul, in the New Testament, he speaks in similar language about accountability, that if I do not speak, I'm held accountable. And he speaks about being alert. And he says that we are those who are keeping watch over your souls.

And so Paul, in the New Testament, he directly puts this idea that an elder in a church, they're an overseer, they're a watchman, similar to that of those in the Old Testament. And so we get more of this idea of what does it mean, this aspect of being a watchman, as one of the leaders in the church.

We get some of the weight of the responsibility here in Ezekiel. And so we're going to look specifically at Ezekiel 3 and point out some things. In Ezekiel, in chapter 1 of the letter, it says, verse 3, Ezekiel is a priest.

He is a priest in the Old Testament. And here the Lord is coming to him. The Lord is calling him to go and ultimately to prophesy to these people in chapter 2. But in chapter 3, we see this example here of a watchman.

So let me also read from chapter 3, verse 16. And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, notice the source, you shall give them warning from me.

Who are we speaking on behalf of? On behalf of God. From me. Verse 18. If I say to the wicked, the Lord says to the wicked, you will surely die. And you, the watchman, give him no warning. You don't even speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way.

In order, why do we speak? In order to save his life. That wicked person, he will die for his sin. But his blood, I will require, I will make you give an account at your hand. Verse 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. Verse 20. Again, so he just talked about warning a wicked person, now he talks about the righteous. Verse 20. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness, and he commits injustice, and I lay, I, the Lord, lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die.

Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin. And his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered. But his blood, I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live.

Because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul. So, this is a very weighty passage. This idea here, this passage really stresses, honestly, it stresses man's responsibility in a way that a lot of people don't want to stress.

And it also stresses the fact of our accountability to God. And again, Paul, he points this exact same idea of accountability for the watchman not speaking, he points that out in the New Testament. And so we can't just look at this as some idea from the Old Testament.

Now, there's obviously differences here. When it talks about, you know, his blood I require at your hand, well, when you look in other places, it's talking about physical death. The watchman would die for not doing his job.

He would lose his life. And David says, I require your blood, when they got back from, I think it was Ziklag, and they killed the people, because they failed at the task. So we're going to look near the end at how does that warning specifically apply to elders in the church, and even, in a way, to all of us.

There are truths here that are for all of us. You don't just want to put it on just the church leaders. There are ideas here and truths here that are for all of us. But Paul, in the New Testament, he specifically is putting part of the weight of this on the elders in the church as watchmen.

So, that's what we're going to look at. So first, I want to make a few considerations about the watchman, and then about the warnings. First thing is this. The watchman has the hard task of warning people.

And you say, what do you mean? Meaning he's the bearer of what type of news? Bad news. Weighty news. Right? Is it easier to warn people or to encourage people? I find it a lot easier to encourage people.

Right? I could go encourage you guys. That's easy. But if I'm watching, and I'm alert, and I see something off track, and I've got to warn you, that's more difficult. And so, we want to recognize the watchman has a hard task.

Encouraging someone is easy in comparison to telling them, praise God, good job. And we warn, verse 18 says, in order to save his life. We're giving them a warning in order that they might respond. Right?

This is a very important reality. Colossians 1 .28, Paul says, Christ we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom for what end. In order that we might present everyone mature in Christ.

So we're warning people in order to present them mature in Christ. We're warning people because God uses the warnings as a means to get you to the end. And we've got to get to the end. Now, why do I mention this is my first point?

Because some have said they're concerned that we have too many sermons dealing with sin. That there's too much warnings that have been happening. And I realize, in a way, I'm adding to that by this message.

But I'm bringing this message because it's all I had as I was studying this week. And two, I think it's important. If you want to look and say, is our church focusing too much on sin? And are there too many warnings?

You want to look and step back and say, wait a minute. For one, the Bible is loaded with warnings. And number two, us in the leadership, one of the metaphors to describe our task is that of a watchman.

And that's a weighty task. And it's difficult to warn. It's very difficult. And look, if at a certain section of a road, it's extra dangerous as we're driving through that, and there's an increased amount of warning signs, we shouldn't despise that.

We should take heed to those warnings, get past that part of dangerous road, and then there might be less warnings because they're not as necessary at that season. But put yourself in the place of a watchman.

I'm going to give an account if I fail to blow the trumpet, there are consequences. And it's very easy to want to fail at times because you're afraid of the response. And fear of man is not helpful. We want to be faithful to the truth, right?

So sounding the trumpet is not easy. Some people, they're tired of war. They're tired of the constant threats of enemies. The fact is, when in this life are we not going to have threats from enemies? What season in the church are warnings not going to be necessary?

It's not going to come. Could we become imbalanced where there's too much of a focus on sin and warnings? Sure. But where did the vast majority of the churches become imbalanced in the world? The vast majority of churches become imbalanced in that they don't warn enough and there's not enough rebuking and reproving of sin.

And that's why there's so many false types of professing Christianity out there. Now look, I never want to sound a false alarm. But I don't want to be a coward and not sound the trumpet when there's a valid concern in your life or the life of the church.

None of us who are elders in the church want to do that. We don't want to be the one who doesn't sound the alarm and people perish because they didn't have that opportunity to heed that warning in order that they might have their lives saved.

So some people would say, well, I mean, the warnings, the sin, that's not an issue in my life. If we're dealing with it, it's an issue on someone's life in the church. And therefore, you can pray for whoever that is.

Even if you don't know who it is, you can pray for them that God would help them to overcome. And we're all members of a body. So if I say, well, I don't struggle with that sin and it's being preached on so much, the fact is, one of my members of my body is struggling with that.

And they need to get that resolved. I'm going to pray for them. So that's one of the reasons I felt like a truth I could pull out of this for people in the church. We have a great responsibility. We're going to give an account if we fail to blow that trumpet.

And we are not wanting to lead the church in a way where there's too many warnings. But the fact is, the warnings that have happened are necessary. I don't think anyone would say, wow, the leaders are blowing the trumpet too much and there's no wolves, so to speak, and we're the boy who cried wolf.

That's not the case. They're valid concerns. And we need to be alarming those. Blowing the alarm for those. So that's the first point. The watchman has a hard task. I love to encourage people. I would have loved to have maybe a more encouraging sermon this morning.

But I don't. Now, there's an encouraging truth at the end. We're seeing something about God's character. And at the end, I'm going to point out how this applies to God. If we see this truth of Him holding people accountable for neglect, there's a glorious truth we're going to see about our Lord.

God's Sovereignty and the Watchman's Responsibility

So second point is this. The watchman has a necessary task in that even though God is sovereign, the position of the watchman is required. This really stresses man's responsibility. Listen to this. Psalm 127.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Wait, wait, okay. That verse makes it sound like I can stay awake and it's in vain because ultimately the Lord's watching over the city, right?

I mean, if it's ultimately the Lord watching over the city, why do I need to stay alert? Well, you need to stay alert because God uses means. Just because the Lord watches over the city doesn't mean the watchman is not required to stay awake.

It's as the Lord is watching over the city and the watchman is awake and alert that the Lord shows that watchman something to see and he's able to go and blow that trumpet. God uses means. Verse 21. It says, But if you warn, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he'll surely live.

Why? Why does he surely live? Because he took warning. Where do warnings come from? People. Mouths. Speaking. A loud trumpet. Using my voice to warn people, to admonish people that they might be presented pure in Christ.

So man is responsible, even though God is sovereign. I mean, we know that reality, but this text, it really stresses it in a unique way. The responsibility of man. Okay, third thing. The watchman does not get to pick or choose what to say.

And we see that in 317. Son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, the Lord's going to speak to Ezekiel and give him prophetic words to say, then you shall give them warning.

Now that's not the New Testament reality. We're not waiting for a prophetic word from God. We're going to our Scriptures, we're reading what the Bible says, and we're using the Scriptures to warn people.

We have our standard right here. Not that God might not at times give an insight of discernment into some specific situation to refute that. But the watchman doesn't get to pick and choose what he says.

How does the watchman even... how do they view the Word of God? Look at Ezekiel 3. Verse 1, He said to me, son of man, whatever you find here, eat this scroll and go and speak to the house of Israel. So Ezekiel says, I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat, and he said to me, son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you, and fill your stomach with it.

And real fast, before we read the next phrase, what's he filling his stomach with? Chapter 2, verse 10. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.

So what he's about to take in is full of lamentation, mourning, and woe. Look back at verse 3, verse 3. Then he ate it, and it was in my mouth as what? Sweet as honey? Alright, this guy Ezekiel's taking it too far.

Lamentation, woe, and mourning is sweet as honey? No, no, no, we understand it. For the Christian, even the judgments and the warnings of God are sweet as honey because it's God's Word. And we want whose perspective at the end of the day?

We want God's perspective. And even you get the reality in Isaiah and Luke where there's the idea that in heaven the righteous might even look upon the damned in hell. And you could think how could that be right?

How could I praise God seeing family members in hell? Because it's right, and God is just for having put them there for their rejection of Him. And so Ezekiel shows us here he's not letting his emotions get in the way of what God's Word says where he has a distorted perspective.

The Word is sweet even though it's lamentation, mourning, and woe written upon it. And so the point is the watchman, he doesn't get to pick or choose what to say. And a lot of people, they are picking and choosing what they want to say, right?

And that's what we don't want to be. We don't want to be the watchman who say, you know what, that's a really offensive time to blow the trumpet, so we're not going to do it. And there's many out there who do that.

Ezekiel 13 even speaks of them. 13, 9, My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions, who give lying divinations. So they're speaking, they're blowing the trumpet, but it's wrong. They shall not be in counsel of My people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel.

And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, precisely because they have misled My people, saying peace when there is no peace. You see, who wants to be the watchman who says peace when there is no peace?

Who misleads, and guess what? Keeping watch is one who's going to give an account to God. I'm going to be held accountable on how I do as a watchman. And blowing this trumpet and warning. Ezekiel 2 .80, he says here, but you, O son of man, hear what I say to you.

Be not rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. Some people don't want to eat certain passages in the Scriptures. Much less share the passage. They don't want to eat the passage.

But if we're going to be faithful watchmen, we've got to eat this whole book. We've got to, like Job, say this is better than my portion of food. And I need to open my mouth. The Lord says if I don't open my mouth, it's equivalent of rebellion.

I'm rebelling. I'm opposing God's way by not saying what God's going to do. It's just like the police forces right now that say you have a law and the cops don't want to enforce it. Well, they're opposing the lawgiver.

And that's what we could do. There could be people who are overseers in a church or professing church, and they're misleading people. They're not warning them. They're rebelling and not opening their mouth.

God's Help, Human Hearing, and the Scope of the Watchman's Charge

Okay, a fourth thing. The watchman, as he does his task, should expect God's help and power. And I found this very encouraging here. You have verses 16 -21, where the Lord is giving Ezekiel this task, and it's a weighty task.

And you know what we have right before the task? He has this manifestation of the glory of the Lord. And you know what we have right after the message is done? He has more isolation and another manifestation of the glory of the Lord.

And so look at verse 12, chapter 3,. Then the Lord lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake. Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels besides them, and the sound of the great earthquake.

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went in the bitterness and the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strawn upon me. And I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv who were dwelling by the Chabar Canal.

And I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there, overwhelmed among them for seven days. And then we have our passage, and then verse 22. And he refers to the Chabar Canal again. Verse 22, The hand of the Lord was upon me there.

And He said to me, Arise, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you. So I arose and went out into the valley. And behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chabar Canal.

And I fell on my face. So he says, I'm at the Chabar Canal, and I'm seeing glory. God's power and presence. And then he gets this message, and then right after that, he has another experience. And it's interesting because in Acts 18, when Paul is speaking about this idea of warning and testifying even when they oppose you, and Paul says, I'm innocent.

You know what happened verses later in verse 9? And the Lord said to Paul, Acts 18, 9. The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are My people.

So here you've got Paul. He's being bold. Here you've got Ezekiel. He's given this bold message. And in the midst of it, you don't have a watchman who is abandoned by God. You have a watchman actually who has more of the nearness of the presence and the power of God in their life.

And so the point is, as the watchman is seeking to do the task, they should expect God's going to help me even in a unique way to do what is necessary that's going to honor Him. And our danger is fear.

Ezekiel 2 says, v. 6,. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words. Though briars and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions, be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

You see, so fear could grip us. And here we have the power of God. And here Paul is speaking and warning and being reviled, and the Lord gives him a vision and says, don't be afraid. Wow, that's encouraging.

We want that. We want greater manifestations of the power of God in our life. We want the Lord sustaining us. That's what Ezekiel had. That's what Paul had. A fifth point. One of the difficulties, I guess it's a difficulty, of the watchman is that he needs a miracle for the people's ears to be open to hear the warning.

I say that's a difficulty because you know what happens? You want to warn someone and you want them to listen. Right? I mean, you want them to listen. And you wish you had that power. And you don't. But look at v. 5 -7.

Chapter 3. Look at this difficulty here. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but you're sent to the house of Israel, not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language whose words you cannot understand.

Surely, if I sent you to such a people, people with a foreign language you can't even understand, they would listen to you. Wait, what? You're saying if I go to the Nepali who I don't even know their language, there's a greater chance they're going to listen to me than these Jews who I speak their language?

V. 7, but the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you for they're not willing to listen to me because the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. Isn't that an interesting thought?

There's more hope of an English-speaking person going to Nepal and speaking to a Nepali of them heeding the warning than an English-speaking person going to self-righteous hardened Americans with their false Christianity and warning them.

Wow, that shows ultimately if someone hears the message, it's like Ezekiel saying, it's not even the fact that they've got to understand the language, it's that God has to open their heart to give them an understanding.

And you know, one application from this could be an encouragement for missions. It's like if you're going to some country and you don't even know the language, it's like, Lord, there's got to be some way I can order an argument in Ezekiel 3.

You said if I went to people of foreign speech, they couldn't even understand me, that You could open their eyes. You could allow them to listen. So we see here, this is a difficult task. He's going to people who speak his language and the Lord is telling them they're not going to listen.

Not going to listen. And sadly, people hearing a warning of a physical army take it more serious. We can warn people about hell and people tend to not take it seriously. You warn people about, say, some bomb or something that's going to happen, people tend to take it serious.

Because men in this world are not looking at the spiritual realm. They're just focused on the physical. Jeremiah 6, 17, I set watchmen over you, saying pay attention to the sound of the trumpet. But what do the people say?

We will not pay attention. We don't want to pay attention. You know what? You blow the trumpet long enough and people don't like hearing the trumpet, you know what they do? They get out of your distance.

They move cities. And that could be misinterpreted. I'm not saying if someone moves cities that that's why they're doing that. I mean, if someone's moving cities and leaving the church, I'm not saying that means you're upset at all the trumpet blowing we're doing.

Okay, point 6. The watchman is not directly responsible for the entire world. Verse 17, Son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Right? I mean, he's God. And some idea, you get this illustration, there's a city.

Okay, same idea in Acts 20. The immediate responsibility for us elders as watchmen is this church. Right? This flock. It's not every flock. It's the same idea that when Tim's preached on Hebrews 13 and 17.

You don't take that and apply that to the universal church. This specific local church is the big thing binding on my conscience as a watchman. That I might be faithful to this flock in which the Holy Spirit has made me one of the overseers.

And Paul said, he said he was innocent in view of what? He said I'm innocent of your blood as he was leaving and he said in view of the fact I will no longer see you. Meaning Paul knew I'm not going to have an opportunity to have an impact on their lives.

God is not holding me accountable for people that I don't even have an ability to impact with the truth and speak to. And so we see here this idea God is reasonable. Ezekiel 3 is not painting this idea that if I go into the HEB down the street and I don't evangelize to everyone that everyone in that store, their blood is on my hands and I'm accountable for them.

That's not the idea. I think that's taking it way too far. Again, the specific way Paul alludes to this is referring to church leaders and the elders in Acts 20. But in a broader sense, are we all responsible to speak and not be afraid?

Absolutely. And we know the times when out of fear we do not open our mouth. And we should recognize the Bible teaches neglect is sin. It's not just sinning is sin, but neglect, knowing the right thing to do and failing to do it.

The Scripture is James 4 .17. In many passages it teaches that's sin. It's missing the mark. So, but God's reasonable. Okay, so I want to think about a few considerations on the warnings in the passage.

And there's basically three, a warning to the lost, a warning to the professing believer, and a warning to the watchman. So first, the warning we give to the lost. Does this passage teach that the lost have an excuse before God because no one warned them?

Alright, some people want to say, I'm excused because no one actually warned me. Look at verse 3 .18. If I say to the wicked, you shall surely die, so that's God speaking, and you, that's the watchman, you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, what happens?

Look what it says. That wicked person shall die for his sin. So can the wicked blame the watchman for being quiet? No, they die for their own sin. They're held accountable for their own sin. You cannot blame your teachers for failing to warn you for your damnation.

And you know what that tells us? That's why we want to walk in the counsel of who? The godly, right? I want to put myself around people who will warn me because the warning is a means that God can use to help me think correctly.

But whether I get warned or not, I die, it's for my own sin. You can't blame your teachers. Lost men cannot trust in their ignorance, their lack of knowledge as an excuse. Right? So I go out there, I don't want to hear the truth, that's not going to be an excuse in the final day.

What should lost men do? They should turn. As it says in Ezekiel 33, turn from your wickedness and practice justice. So turn from unrighteousness. Turn to righteousness. Turn ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ.