We Are the Watcmen

16  And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17  “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house 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 at 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 his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 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.”

Ezekiel 3:16-21 (ESV)

The scripture opens with the calling of Ezekiel to his role as a watchman. In this role it is your responsibility to give warning to all those who you around you and behind you of impending danger. The newer term for this is for a sentry someone assigned to give warning of an attack. If a sentry is not performing their job people will die unaware of what is happening to them. If that happens the watchman or sentry is held responsible for the failure to warn the others. I have heard stories of soldiers and service members who were court martialed for falling asleep at their post during war resulting in the loss of life to those they served with. We are all watchmen for Jesus.

Today as Christians we are often guilty of failing at this responsibility. Most of us though deny that it is actually our job. We will often say that is what the pastor is for or the evangelist does. Who am I to give warning that a life lived separate from God will lead you to hell? Let me try explain why this is also your job. In Jesus sacrifice He allowed you and me an opportunity to be forgiven. In that forgiveness we are made righteous not of our doing but because we are included in His righteousness. He has called us in Matthew 28:18 to go unto the entire world sharing the Gospel. We have received a commission as Christians to tell those around us the truth that there will come a day when all of us will be judged the righteous and the unrighteous. The dividing line is our belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; not just belief in Him, the devil knows Jesus is real; it requires we trust Jesus with our lives and put Him in the proper place in our lives. I want to close by telling you that you have been called to serve as a watchman were you are there are people all around you that need to be warned that without Jesus they are lost and dying. They need to be warned that the only way to avoid Hell is to accept Jesus as There Lord and Savior living a life that brings Honor to His name. There is a warning for us to those who refuse this role those who are lost are accounted to you; we are resposible for giving the warning. I challenge you today and I pray God gives you a spirit of boldness so that those who are stumbling can be given a new hope for their lives.  Remember when living in our dark world we have the only true source of light found in God’s word have a blessed day.