33, and I've entitled this message,
The Word of God's Watchman. The Word of God's Watchman. The scripture here begins and
says again, The Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man,
speak unto the children of thy people. and say unto them when
i bring the sword upon the land if the people of the land take
a man of their own coast and set him for their watch if when
he see it the sword come to the land he blow the trumpet and
warn the people then whosoever here at the sound of the trumpet
and take it not warning if the sword come and take him away
his blood shall be upon his own 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 away 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 under the house of Israel. Therefore thou
shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. when i
say into the wicked all wicked man thou shalt surely die if
thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked
man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will i require
at thy 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 has delivered thy soul." The Word of God's watchman. Now,
the prophet here was given the Word of God. The Word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, he was given a word for the people
of his nation and of his generation. And this prophet was faithful
to his generation to declare the Word of God to them. But
God the Holy Spirit did not limit His Word simply to that generation. And thank God He didn't. The
Holy Spirit intended that the Word given to the prophet should
not only be for his generation, but for every generation following. That it should be written in
the pages of Holy Scripture. For our benefit, for our benefit,
Paul says to Timothy, all Scripture, all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now, you're the apostle
Peter. who walked with our Lord Jesus
Christ, saw Him face to face. You remember that he was brought
up into the mount with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he saw the
Lord transfigured before him, saw His deity unveiled. And then he heard a voice from
heaven. He heard the voice of God. This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Now does that not
sound like a sure word? To hear the very voice of God
and yet Peter says this in his epistle. He says we have a more
sure word of prophecy. A more sure word, whereunto you
do well to take heed. What is he talking about? He
is talking about the Scriptures, about that which was written
by holy men of old. He said this, knowing that the
prophecy of Scripture is not of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
This is a more sure word of prophecy right here than if you ever heard
a voice. You know, somebody heard a voice
and another person heard a voice. How do you know which voice is
which? Which voice is God and which
person needs to be getting some medication? The only way you know the difference
is what is written in the Word of God. The word spoken only
testified of what was written. It's a more sure word of prophecy. And so in this chapter we have
the Word of Prophecy, the Word of God. And this is where we
get our doctrine, isn't it? We get our doctrine from the
Word of God, not from man, not from creeds, not from preachers we get our
doctrine from the word of god and so as we go through this
doctrine much i pray that god would enlighten as i have four
things that i want to see in this chapter four things here
in this in this chapter want to spend uh... the majority of
my time on the first three and then uh... first first two and
then the last two uh... i'll go over briefly The first
one is this, the Word of God to the watchman. What is the
Word of God to his watchman? That's verses 1 through 9. Secondly,
the Gospel of God to his people, which is verses 10 through 16. Thirdly, the answer of the people
to God's Gospel, which is verse 17. These are the natural people. This is what the world says concerning
the gospel. And then in the fourth thing,
in verses 17 through 20, is God's answer to those natural men. So let's see these things in
order by God's grace. I hope the Lord will bless us
tonight. I hope the Lord will open our eyes in understanding.
God says, in these first six verses, He gives an illustration
He gives a visual illustration of what he's going to be teaching. He said, the Word of God came
to him and he said, if I bring a sword upon the land, If I pronounce
judgment upon the land, which he did many times, he did by
the Philistines, he did by the Assyrians, he did by the Babylonians,
he brought the sword upon them. He said, when I declare my judgment,
he said, the people do what? They take a watchman and they
put him on a high tower. They put him on these walls and
these towers of these walls, and he has a great vantage point
as to see the army of the enemy. So as when the army comes, he
may blow the trumpet, warn the people so that they may flee,
so that they might escape with their lives. And now, if the watchman has
done his duty, If the watchman has done his duty, and yet the
people will not hear him. God says, look, he's not to blame. If he blow the trumpet, and you
don't pay any attention to him, then it's all your fault. You
will die because I passed judgment, and you will die because you
did not heed the warning. But on the other hand, If for
some reason the watchman does not sound the trumpet, maybe
he's mad at the people. I ain't going to blow that trumpet.
Those people deserve it. He just sits up there with his
horn not saying anything. Maybe he's lazy, maybe he fell
asleep. For whatever reason, he does
not blow the trumpet and the people die. God says this, listen,
they will die because of their iniquity. But then he gives a
stern warning to the watchman. He said, look, if you don't blow
the trumpet, I will count you as a murderer of these people. you will be as one who murdered
them for not blowing the trumpet." The God. The people will die, not because
of the sin of the watchman, but because of their own iniquity.
But God will not permit an unfaithful watchman to be unblamed. He said, the blood of those people
shall be upon his hand. Now, who is the watchman? That's
a good story, it's a good illustration, but what does it mean? Look at
verse 7. God begins now to explain why
He went through all of this story. He said, So thou, O son of man,
I have set thee a watchman under the house of Israel. The prophet of God was God's
man for the house of Israel. God set up this man for one purpose,
one purpose, and that is to simply declare the Word of God to the
people. Prophet means mouthpiece. That's
what a prophet is. He's a mouthpiece. He speaks
the word of God to the people. Isn't that what he said? He said,
therefore thou shalt hear the word of my mouth and warn them
from me. Every prophet was an ambassador
of God to the people. And listen, so is every gospel
preacher who is sin of God. We are nothing more than a mouthpiece
for God. It is a weighty, heavy responsibility,
but it is one that we are set of God to perform. We are to
preach and to declare the Word of God. We are ordained of God
for one purpose, one aim, one end, and have one message. And that is the gospel of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. We preach and declare the gospel. We are not counselors. We're not doctors. were messengers, messengers. Paul told Timothy, I charge thee,
I charge thee. Therefore before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick living and the
dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word Be instant, be ready, always
in season and out of season. When the Word of God is popular
among men and when it is not, that does not matter. Preach
the Word. Preach it, declare it, simply
and plainly. Why? Listen, judgment is coming. I charge thee because God will
judge. God will judge. Just as it was a solemn duty
of every watchman to stand fast his post and warn the people
of God's coming carnal judgment, how much more is it the responsibility
of God's man who is sent to preach His message to warn men of the
coming judgment? It is our responsibility. It is our solemn duty. to declare plainly, boldly, the
Word of God's judgment, to warn them of its coming. Paul said,
because we know the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We must warn them in the stead
of God as His spokesman. What do we warn them? Sinner
flee, the wrath to come. Sinner flee, the wrath to come. I am not set to debate the gospel
with men. God did not send me to argue
with men. He sent me plainly to declare
unto men His Word, to declare His holiness. I simply declare this, God is
absolutely holy. God is absolutely holy, and therefore it is true, the
soul that sinneth it shall surely die. Now men may not like that,
they may not believe that, they may want to debate that. I'm
not here to debate that. That's just solid truth. That's
just solid truth. God is holy, and he will judge
men, and the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. Without
holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Period. What does that mean? That means
without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. I don't understand. Without holiness, no man shall
see the Lord. I'm saying this, that you must
be as holy as God. You must be as holy as God or
you will not see the Lord. You will not see any of His mercy.
You will only see His justice. God says this. Men say, oh, I
don't like that. That doesn't matter. God says,
every soul belongs to Me. Ezekiel 18, verse 4, Behold,
all souls are Mine. What is that? That means everybody
belongs to Him. You belong to God. As the soul of the father, so
is the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. I tell you according to the plain
word of God that every man who has sinned against God, who has
broken the holy law of God, will and must suffer the eternal wrath
and judgment of God. Except you be as holy as God,
you will perish under the sword of God's justice. This is the
trumpet I'm sounding to you tonight. I'm sounding the trumpet. I'm
warning every soul under the sound of my voice. God is coming. He is coming in vengeance. He
is coming in judgment. And He will reward the sinner
with eternal, everlasting damnation. That is the warning. I do hope
I've made that clear. And if the wicked will not hear,
and he die in his iniquity, I want you to understand this, you are
responsible to hear my word. You are responsible. I know this without a single
doubt that no man has the ability to hear my word. But I'll tell
you this very plainly, you have every responsibility to hear
my word. Well, how do you reconcile that?
I don't. And I don't have to. God says,
your iniquity is the reason you perish. If they perish, it will
be not because of the watchman. It will be because of their own
iniquity. Look at that in verse 9. 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 whose iniquity? His iniquity. You're responsible
to hear. But I know this, let all who
preach the word, who profess to be called of God If we do
not warn men, if we fail to warn men, if we out of some sentimental
desire not to offend men, or out of some sense of greed trying
to keep men in our congregation, We, for whatever reason, whatever
morbid and wicked and self-righteous reason, keep back the whole Word
of God from the wicked. God says this, I will require
their blood at your hands. Now what does this mean? Does it mean that if he does
not preach the whole counsel of God that he will die in his
iniquity like those that he did not want? That's not what it
means. It means this, that God will count him as though he had
committed the sin of murder. How many men stand up and fail
to warn men of God's judgment because it's not popular? How many men fail to preach Jesus
Christ and Him crucified? The sovereign election of grace,
the depravity of man, the limited atonement of Christ, if they
fail to preach the Word and its whole full counsel of God. God
says, if a man perish, I will hold you as though you murdered
his soul. And He will chasten his men. He will chasten us if we fail
in our work. I know this, I feel so often
to fail. I feel as though I often fail
in this. I'm so thankful that I am covered
by the blood of Christ. I'm so thankful that God, like
we had talked about earlier, God had had those men in the
Old Testament who had committed such great atrocities and yet
they were God's men. So this does not mean that he
would perish, because all God's men, if they are truly His, if
they are truly saved by Him, then they are truly cleansed. They're being cleansed, even
of their failures. Yet, I know this, every preacher
should not view, let us not view this great sin lightly. We should not view our office
lightly. It is a very solemn office. Paul
said we are not worthy. There's no one
worthy of this office. We are a saver of life unto life
to some and a saver of death unto death to others. Who is
sufficient for such things? Yet we must declare plainly the
Word of God, which is our authority. My authority to be in this pulpit
is that book. My authority for you to hear
me is not because of me, but because of this Word that God
has given me to tell you. That's my authority. And I tell
you this, we should do it with all understanding of our responsibility. It is a responsibility. Woe is
me if I preach not, what? The gospel. The gospel. One commentator wrote this, God
here admonishes us of the great responsibility of the charge
he has given us. And as the blood of the souls
becomes infinitely more important in this high trust than the watchman
of the city or garrison in warning the people entrusted to him of
the danger of their bodies, the subject riseth higher to a higher
degree of magnitude. With what holy fear and trembling,
if this thought were duly considered, would the spiritual watchman
of the church of Jesus enter into the priesthood. Oh, how
we all should cry such aloud and spare not in admonishing
sinners of their danger and holding up Christ as the only city of
refuge. We have the authority, we have
the responsibility, we also understand something of the urgency of this. Why? Because there is no promise
of tomorrow. Pay attention, there's no promise
of tomorrow. We must press concerning the
urgency of repentance and faith toward Christ. We must press
that, because it is urgent. It is urgent. listening to a street preacher
i've got a video street preachers are uh... if they are god's preachers
i hold them in my regard because it is a very hard ministry they
must preach only they only have like five to ten minutes to hold
the attention of the crowd and they have to get forth doctrine
in the gospel very simply very plainly in a small amount of
time this one man was preaching on the street and he foolishly
put out a microphone for people to ask questions. I say foolishly
because anybody that grabs a microphone is looking for a platform and
not to ask questions. And surely that came to pass. A woman stood up there and she
began to object. She began to object. He talked
of the holiness of God and the necessity of Christ. She objected. She said, I won't hold to such
a narrow gospel. To think that someone somewhere
in the world could have not ever had the opportunity to hear of
Jesus Christ and be saved, and yet you're saying that they'll
die in their sins. And then he began to wobble.
He began to try to appease. Oh, what a mistake. What a failure
as a watchman. That's a failure as a watchman.
No, we do not He began to wobble and tried
to use earthly wisdom in order to fetch her, to bring her back
into it. As a watchman, we are called
never to explain God. God is. I am never to try to reconcile
what God does. What God does is good, it's right,
and it's holy. I don't care if men can see it
or not. if they can feel it or not. We're not to try to appease men
and change his character, his nature, so as to appease and
make him palatable in the minds of men. No, a watchman is to
simply, plainly declare to men the truth, this truth, thus saith
the Lord. There's my authority. My authority
is the word of God, thus saith the Lord. Preach what God says. The preacher should have told
her, well, thus saith the Lord. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not, what, shall be damned. I
don't care if he ever heard the word of God or not, if he ever
heard a preacher or not. He is just and holy to send that
man to eternal damnation. because all men are without excuse.
All men have the law of God written in their hearts and every man
has defiled the law of God. Every man is broken and they
deserve nothing but eternal damnation. That's what men deserve by nature
because of our sins. And I tell you this, I would
have said, what about you? Why are you trying to supposedly
help men that you don't even know? Haters of God, despisers
of God, and yet you would defend them so as to mock God. What about you? Do you need mercy? You just heard the Word of God,
and yet you will not bow. You will not bow. So the woman
will die in her sins just like the heathen in the other nation
that never heard the gospel. It is my desire that every sinner
hear my warning. I would long for every sinner
to hear our warning. That men would not mock and plug
their ears and turn their backs to our warning, but they would
come and ask us if there's any hope. That's what she should
have needed. If she needed hope, she said,
is there any hope for me? That's not how she came. Came
in objection. Would to God. that everyone who
hears our warning would ask for mercy but i know this that no one will
let god give them the great here no one will except god give it
and i know this only the elect will hear Only God's elect will
hear the sound of this warning. Look at verse 10. Look at verse
10. And this now begins the gospel. The gospel of God's grace. Look at verse 10. It says, Therefore,
O son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. If God would ever give you the
grace to hear, it would be that the Holy Spirit should come and
take what our warning perpetually apply to your heart. Otherwise,
no man will ever hear it. No matter how plain we are, no
matter how simple it is, no man will ever hear it or believe
it. So I know this, that only the elect will hear it. Therefore,
He says to the prophet, Speak thou, son of man, to who? Okay,
verse 10, who is he speaking to? The house of Israel. The house of Israel. At first
the prophet was commanded to speak to his people. Look back
at verse 2. He said, Son of man, speak to
the children of Israel. This is talking about a general
call. of thy people, it goes out to
all men." It's a general call. But now
see, God tells His preacher who He's really talking to. He said,
you are not sent to the children of thy people, but you are really
sent to the house of Israel. And tell the house of Israel. Thus, what will be then response
of the house of Israel? He said, thus, speak to the house
of israel thus you speak talking about the house of israel saying
if our right our transgression and our sins be upon us and we
pine away in them how should we now these are some people
that heard the trumpet these are the people that heard the
trumpet they're going to speak like this if that's true richard
what you said is true god demands holiness i know this i know this how shell uh... and have any hope at all god's people hear this warning
and it becomes a factual to out when i talk about the depravity
of man You know who understands that? God's people. They're the only people who truly
understand depravity. And I'm not talking about in
your head. A lot of academic people understand depravity.
I'm talking about a real sense of your own depravity. When we hear of justice, when
we hear of God's justice, we know this, we deserve it. All we deserve is hell. Who? Oh, if our transgression and our
sin be upon us, we consume away in them. Isn't that how you feel
about sin? That it just consumes you? That it's like a rotting corpse
consuming away at your soul. if you leave me i know this all
right away and uh... how then shall we live here's
the gospel of god look at the bird look at verse eleven say
into them say it again as i live say at the lord i have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked but this is what he has pleasure
in that the wicked turn from his way and live. Now hear what God says. Are you interested in what God
says? God said, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. What
does that mean? What does that mean? That God
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked? What it means
is this, if I were to punish you in your sins, my justice
would never be satisfied. I would never be pleased with
your death. This is why hell is eternal,
because God is never pleased with one of your deaths. Constant, eternal death is what's
required, and He's never pleased with that. Yet the justice of God rightly
and justly will execute judgment. Make no mistake, God is not at
conflict with himself. Now this is what most men will
take this scripture and try to use it for. They say, well, see,
God, He just don't like people going to hell. He just don't
like it. He wants everybody to go to heaven.
He really don't want you to go to hell. They twist that scripture
that says God is not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. No, if you read the context,
it's about the coming of Christ and God not being slack. He said
the Lord is not slack concerning His promise of returning. As
some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to who? To
everyone? No. Paul said He's long-suffering
to us, to believers. Not willing that any of who? Us should perish. Why do you
think Christ has not returned yet? Because there are still
more that He is not willing that should perish. But that they
should come to faith and repentance in Him. That's what the text
means. And so God here is not in conflict with His nature. His elect children is who He's
talking about. This surely pleases the Lord. What pleases the Lord? Look at
this. The death of the wicked doesn't please the Lord. But
what does? That the wicked should turn from
His way and live. This is pleasing to the Lord.
That His people should turn from their wicked ways. And so he
compels the people of Israel. He says this, turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways for why will you die? Who? The world. Is that what it says? Is he talking
to the world? No, he's talking to the house
of Israel, to his people. I like this. How does God describe
the house of Israel? Wicked. Wicked. That's how God describes
his people. Wicked. Oh, you wicked! Why will you die? Why will you
not turn? What does this mean? Does it
mean that we need to reform our lives? Is that what he means
by turning? Turning over a new leaf? That's what most the world believes
that this turning is. Some kind of reform of the old
man, the old nature, get religious. No! It simply means turn to faith
in Jesus Christ. The gospel. It's the only way
by which God can be pleased and make the wicked can be acceptable
before God for only in him is the justice of God satisfied
only in him is their mercy and justice meet together now with
the script says surely his salvation is not to them that fear him
that glory may dwell in our land mercy and truth met together
righteousness and peace You see, the only way that God
can be just and justify the ungodly is in Jesus Christ. This is what
He means to turn. Turn to Christ. Believe on Christ. And what? You shall live. Isn't that a
wonderful statement? It is to the wicked. It is to
those who deserve hell. And yet He promises life. He
promises life. Oh, you wicked men, why will
you die? The Son of God was ordained of
God to be the Savior of Israel for all His elect people. And
He had obtained, as their High Priest, for all the elect of
God as their representative, He had obtained eternal redemption,
eternal righteousness for them. And when He took on human flesh,
He came and fulfilled the righteousness of God, both in obedience and
by His sin offering. Therefore, when Jesus hung upon
the cross, He was the only sinless man. Yet it was there that God
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It was there that He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. It was there that God made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Why? That you and I might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. When he hung upon the tree, God
said, Awake, O sword, and smite the man that is my fellow. So you who are wicked... Am I
speaking to wicked men? Because that's who the trumpet's
sounding for. Wicked men. Behold the Lamb of God, who bore
the sins of his people, who pleased God by his death, that a million
of your deaths could never do. He, by his one death, satisfied
God. Satisfied God. He did it for
all his people. And who are his people? They
are the wicked man. Look at verse 12. Therefore thou
son of man, say unto the children of thy people, Now this is speaking
again back to natural man. He said, saying to thy people,
the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in that
day, in the day of his transgression. Let a man be righteous his whole
life, if it were possible, if it were possible for a man to
obtain Adam's likeness and be without sin. Say he lived a million
years and sinned one time, God says this, his righteousness
will not be remembered anymore. So how do you suppose any one
of us who are born in sin should ever obtain righteousness by
being righteous. It's impossible. God is telling
you, you, in that day you sin. It is impossible for you to ever
be righteous. and so we've all failed in that
regard to obey god therefore he said by the deeds of the law
shall no place be justified in his sight all but here's hope
here's hope for the wicked but as for the wickedness of the
wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day he turn it from his
wickedness first fourteen again when you say it to the wicked
thus thou shalt surely dot When you warn the wicked, if he turn
from his sin and do that which is lawful and right, if the wicked
restore the pledge, give again that which was robbed, walk in
the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall
surely live and not die. How can that be? How can that
be done? To do that which is right and
lawful was only done by Jesus Christ. And the only way that
this wicked man could ever do that which is right and lawful
is to be in Jesus Christ. The only way that I could restore
what I robbed was by Christ who restored the glory of God. We
robbed the glory of God. And what did He do? He said this.
He said, then I restored that which I took not away. Oh, and look at verse 16, you
who do believe. Now, this is going to be a comfort
to you. This is going to be a blessing. Look at verse 16. None of his
sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him. He hath
done that which is lawful and right. He shall surely live. I had this on my phone here.
I wanted to read it for you real quickly. When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of my guilt within, upward I look and see Christ
there, who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior
died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied. to look on him and pardon me. Now listen, anyone who has ever
heard the warning, aren't you glad you heard the warning? Aren't
you glad that you were convicted by God the Holy Spirit? Aren't
you glad that God so moved you to cry and pine in your sin so
as to ask, is there any hope? And so give thanks unto God for
sending His man not only to warn you, but to give you the gospel
of Jesus Christ by which you are delivered free. Now what's going to be the answer
quickly? What's going to be the answer to all of the religious
man? Look at verse 17. This is going
to be the answer of all those who despise it. He said, Yet
the children of thy people. See the transition again? Not
the children of Israel, the children of thy people. This is what they're
going to say. The way of the Lord is not equal. Isn't that
exactly what the woman said? They had the microphone. She
said, That's not fair. What'd she say? The Lord's not
equal. The Lord's not just. There they are, wallowing in
their sin, despising the grace of God, and yet they call Him
unjust. You know what God says to them?
Look at this. But, as for them, they are not
equal. God says, no, you hypocrite,
you're not just. You're not just. When the righteous turneth from
his righteousness and committeth iniquity, he shall die. Isn't
that just just? Isn't that just right? If a man
is righteous, so long as he's righteous, sure, he would receive
heaven. But the day he sinneth, isn't
it just right that he die? but isn't this also right but
if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and
right he shall live thereby if a man turn and come to christ
seeing that christ actually paid for his sin isn't that just that
he's free? see god says i'm not unjust but
you are you are unjust I pray that I have been clear
as a watchman of God to warn you of the coming judgment, to
warn you of your sin, of your inability to save yourself. I
hope I've been equally clear to tell you that all who come
to Christ and believe on Him should be saved. And I hope I'm clear in this,
that God alone is just, and right, and good, and gracious. You know who knows that? Those
to whom He has been gracious. And I know this, we do not need
to reject the sovereign grace of God. Because He delivered us from
the sword. He delivered us from injustice. I thank you for such
a grace. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.