The Watchman

God called Ezekiel to be a watchman to the house of Israel.  He told him they were not going to hear him because they would not hear God.  God said, they are a stiff necked and a hard hearted people.  He let Ezekiel know right from the start that his preaching was not going to be adhered to, and they would not believe him, but God said, you've got to tell them anyway.

God said, don't you be rebellious like that rebellious house; but to give them the word of God, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear for they are a rebellious house, yet they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.  And thou son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns be with thee, and thou doest dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed of their looks, though they be a rebellious house.  And thou shall speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.  Ezekiel chapter 2.

In Ezekiel chapter three, God said I am not sending you to a people with a strange speech and of a hard language, but to your own people.  God said if I sent you to a people of a strange language whose words you couldn't understand, that surely they would have harkened unto you.  But Israel would not hearken to you, because they would not hearken to me.  God said, they are so rebellious they won't hearken to me.  The word of God meant very little to them.

God told Ezekiel in the third chapter of Ezekiel, son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me.

When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and you don't give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked ways, to save his live; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hands.  But if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.  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 have not given him warning, he shall die in his sins, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hands.  Therefore if you warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not , and he doth not sin he shall surely live because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.

God has not changed his mind about sin.  Preachers standing before a vast audience, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, and don't warn people that the righteous don't sin; don't warn of the consequences of sin, will have to stand before God at the judgment, and the blood of the people that they have not warned will be required at their hands.

Preachers need to wake up and realize what a great responsibility that they have before God.  It's not the preachers job to tell the people what they want to hear all the time, instead of warning them of their sins.  Beware of the prophet that always says everything is all right, and never warns people that there is a hell, and that sin will send a man to hell.  When I was a young person, preachers preached hell so hot that you could almost feel the flames.  But you hardly ever hear hell mentioned anymore.  Jesus preached hell more than anything else because he knew it was a real place, and he didn't want people to go there.  He said hell was so terrible, that it would be better to reach into my eye socket, and pull my eyeball out, and cast it from me than to go to hell; where the fire never shall be quenched, and the worm dieth not.  Or if my right arm will cause me to go to hell; cut it off, because it is better to go into life halt and maimed than to go to hell with two hands, where the fire never shall be quenched, and the worm dieth not.  Jesus said, hell hath enlarged herself, because of those who are going there.  Jesus was asked, Lord, will there be many saved?  And he said, no there will be a few saved, because straight is the way and narrow is the way that leads to life eternal, and few there be that find it; but broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in therein.  But we don't hear about the severity of God anymore, we only hear about the love of God. 

The Apostles continually warned the people in their day.  They warned that after their death false prophets would come, not sparing the flock, because of advantage.  Preachers had better quit worrying about money and realize that they are going to stand before God one day.

In the thirteenth chapter of Ezekiel, God told him to prophecy against the lying prophets of Israel, and say to them that prophecy out of their own spirits, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirits and have seen nothing. 

Ezekiel 13:1-16, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man prophecy against the prophets of Israel that prophecy, and say thou unto them that prophecy out of their own hearts, hear ye the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord God; woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirits, and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert, ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, the Lord said: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.  Have you not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, the Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?  Therefore thus saith the Lord God; because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord.  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, peace;  and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: saying unto them which daubed it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, o great hailstones shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is falling, shall it not be said unto you, whereas is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?  Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.  So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Lord.  Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, the wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the prophets of Israel which prophecy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace saith the Lord God.  It is a serious thing to handle the word of God. 

In Ezekiel chapter 18, God asked the question, what mean ye that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, the father's have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?  As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel. 

Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die.  In other words every soul is an individual soul.  Every man will give an account for his own sins. 

Israel was saying, the ways of the Lord are not equal, or God is not fair because these calamities that have come upon us is because of the sins of our fathers, that are dead and gone. But God rebukes them for saying, that his ways are not equal.  God said, you don't have to answer for the fathers sins.  The innocent don't have to suffer for the guilty, but every man will stand innocent or guilty before God for himself.  The soul that sinneth, keeps on sinning, and dies in those sins, then the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him but if that same wicked man would turn from his wicked ways and repent, he shall not die, he shall live, because he turned away from his wickedness. 

God doesn't have any pleasure in the death of the wicked.  It's not his will that any perish, but that all should come to repentance.

If a righteous man turn from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live?  No, all his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.  Eternal security is absolutely not true.

Yet you say the way of the Lord is not equal.  Hear now, O house of Israel; is not my way equal?  Are not your ways unequal?  If a righteous man turn away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity he has done shall he die.

Again when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he has committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.  Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Yet saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal.  O house of Israel, are not my ways equal?  Are not your ways unequal?  Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, saith the Lord God.  Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.  Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God:  wherefore turn yourself and live ye. 

There is a teaching that if a person accepts Christ or is born again, that they are the righteousness of God, whether they live a righteous life or not.  We need to study the book of Ezekiel, and if it doesn't make us to see how much God loves righteousness and hates iniquity, how he hates sin, then Jesus Christ himself couldn't convince us.

Example:  Matthew 23:1-9, Jesus couldn't open the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees.

Ezekiel chapter 33:1-33, God is repeating what he said in Ezekiel 18 again.  You can't be the righteousness of God and be a sinner at the same time. 

When God says something once, we need to sit up and take notice, but he goes half of the book of Ezekiel and repeats the same thing again.  When God repeats the same warning two or three times we had better listen.  God isn't playing games.  Men play their little games when Satan has deceived then, but O my dear friend, God does not play games with the souls of men. 

There are some people so blinded by tradition that they will never see.  Those are the ones that have their minds made up, and don't want to be confused with the facts.  There is no hope for them, just like there was no hope for the Pharisees.  Jesus said, you have eyes to see but you see not, you have ears to hear but you can't hear.  Your house is left unto you desolate; no hope, a sad predicament to be in, but there are millions in that predicament today.  No hope unless they allow their eyes to be open to the complete truth of Gods word.

God has a great anointing for the man that will stand in the gap, and make up the hedge for his people.  Matt. 23:12 - whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.  Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

God said, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then shall I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and heal their land. 

When King Saul was little in his own sight, he was made the King of Israel.  He was exalted to the highest office in Israel.  There is no higher office than a true God called preacher of the gospel, but we must stay humble and be led by God, and declare the whole council of God.  Paul said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the council of God, or the whole council; the whole gospel.  Notice Jeremiah 23:1-40. 

Notice how serious God is about our absolute obedience to His commands and statutes.

Samuel said, Saul, the Lord sent you on a journey, and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them till they be consumed.  Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly  upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?

And Saul said unto Samuel, yea I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord hath sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 

But the people took of the spoils, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. - A people pleaser. 

And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.  And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 

We had better search the Bible and make sure we are doing it right, or we are going to stand before God at the judgment speechless, and hear those awful, final words, depart from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you.  We are not saved by the Love of God, it is a contributing factor because God loves the whole world, and the world is lost.  We are not saved by the grace of God, it is a contributing factor.  We are not saved by the mercy of God, it is a contributing factor.  We are saved through obedience to the doctrine Ephesians 2:20, we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.   The Apostles doctrine must be our doctrine because we are built upon that foundation.  No other foundation can be laid than the one that's already laid.  I Corinthians 3:10,11.

And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words; because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.  I wonder how many are preaching a false doctrine and know that they are preaching a false doctrine, and won't change, because they fear what people would say or do if they preached what they knew was the absolute truth and clear command of the Lord.  My God have mercy!

Saul said, now I pray thee pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.  And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel.  We can't obey part of the commandment of God.  We must obey it all from Genesis to Revelation.  We must study to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing the word of truth.  We must always keep the word of God in its proper context, and never preach or teach something because it lines up with the traditions of men.  We must preach the plan of salvation exactly as the Apostles preached and taught, because they got their instructions from Jesus Christ himself.  Ephesians 2:20.