Ezekiel
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Ezekiel Chapter 33
Now we see in an easy to understand example, a spiritual truth. If a person was appointed a watchman literally to watch over a nation and blow the trumpet of alarm if the enemy comes, yet when they saw the enemy coming, they did not warn, the blood of the people would be required of him. This example was given in a practical sense but it is referring to watching for souls or watching against evil and warning people to get right with God by repenting of sin and living in righteousness.
This is a repeat of the warning God gave Ezekiel in chapter 3 and chapter 18. The watchman is to warn the wicked of his death if he sins and does not change. If the watchman does not warn but is afraid of being rejected, then the blood of that soul is required at the watchman's hand. The church is the watchman now. Are we warning the wicked or trying to lure them to church with entertainment and false love hoping that a little gospel will eventually change their lives? The church of today must not lose it's power and if it has, we must seek to receive again the power to do what Jesus instructed us to do. Preach the gospel, teach His words, heal the sick, warn, correct, comfort, pray and believe in the power of God to change lives. We need the convicting power of the Holy Spirit when we teach or preach the gospel. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that changes lives. I'm not talking about the watered down gospel of "Just accept Jesus in your heart" without warning of sin and the need of genuine repentance. The powerful gospel that the apostles preached was a gospel that delivered people out of the love of the world and out of the bondage of sin and caused them to repent and be filled with the Holy Ghost and fire. This watered down stuff some of us have been
giving people has not changed their lives. They are still getting
divorces. Their young people are still getting into drugs and
alcohol. They are still having sex outside of marriage. They still
are supposedly coming to Christ but they still do the same things
and act the same way they did before supposedly coming to Christ.
The danger is that they think they are saved because they've been
told that all they have to do is accept Jesus in their hearts and
they are saved for eternity. There is no real change and they have
not been born again by the spirit of God. If God's spirit causes one
to be born again, there will be a change in their lifestyle. I
realize they have to grow in the Lord and learn of His ways by those
the preach the whole counsel of God through the bible that God
provided for us. After that happens they too can obey the calling of
God on their lives and the gospel spreads to others in the coming
generations. Some preachers have stopped using the word, born again or repentance. How in the world are we going to get anyone saved any other way? We need to get filled with the Holy Spirit and the in-depth study of the word of God. We need the power back if we've moved away from depending on the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our message is to preach the word of God. If they do not listen, it will not be held against us.
I believe God is speaking of spiritual death, not natural death. All of us will die a natural death of the body if we do not live until the coming of the Lord. He is speaking of the death that refers to the spirit. If we die in our sin, we are lost and separated from God eternally. Since there is really no annihilation and the soul is alive in some place, the soul that dies in sin goes to hell. Heaven is only for those that repent and die in Christ. In the Old Testament they had to repent and trust in the Christ that was to come and die for their sins. That is why they had to have animal sacrifices and ordinances to point to the one to come. We who live today have come to the knowledge of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so we do not need to offer animal sacrifices. Our perfect sacrifice already came and did what God called Him to do. Now our faith in Him is what saves us. True faith in Him though is like this: We know we have sinned and we need to be saved. We repent (turn from our sin) and believe in Jesus Christ to save us from sin. We then receive God's grace and mercy and can be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is simple but there is no accepting Jesus in the heart without repenting of sin because it is the sin that is separating us from God. It is the sin that is causing us to need a savior in the first place. It doesn't make sense for us to receive Jesus and then still live in sin since that is why He came and that is why He died and took our sins upon Himself nailing them to the cross. We are not to pick them back up again and then claim to be saved by grace. When I say sin though, I don't mean opinions, traditions, or things people add to the word of God. Sin is transgression of the law of God.
Jesus came and made the way possible than anyone can be saved. The moment we believe and turn away from our sin, the blood Jesus shed covers every sin. Our soul is clean and we receive the very Spirit of God. It happens in an instant the moment we believe. We do not do great deeds or do a bunch of ordinances to earn this grace. It is free the moment we believe. After we believe though we continue in Christ and live for Him. Our will power to choose is never taken away and we still can return to sin but we have access to the power of God that can keep us from returning to sin.
Paul makes it pretty plain in the book of Romans. Although we are saved by grace and not by religious rituals, good deeds, and even living in moral purity without Christ, still grace never gives us a license to commit sin purposely. Most who are truly saved learn to love God and do not want to willingly commit sin.
Look at verse 13 again. We cannot trust in our past righteousness if we return to the same sin Jesus died to save us from. It is how we are now and when we die that counts. We trust in Jesus yes, because we can't keep from sinning on our own but now that we have Jesus, we are not to return to sin willfully without repenting and expect to be saved.
The gospel of Jesus Christ and even the law in the Old Testament is really simple. Its not hard at all. Both the Old and New Testaments teach repentance for salvation.
It doesn't matter what good we did in the past, it is how we are now that counts.
That is how fast salvation comes to one who repents. The past is gone and he is free from sin and made righteous.
The stories of Israel is a pattern and an example. God promised Abraham the land of Canaan because the Canaanites were very wicked. When their wickedness went past the point of no return, God allowed the children of Israel to take the land of promise. It was their's but with conditions. Israel later lost that land because of sin and idolatry as we see in these scriptures. They will get all the land back one day but the sin question has to be taken care of in order for them not to lose it again. To this day, they still have not changed their old ways. They have rejected the one who can save them. There is a terrible time of Jacob's trouble coming in the latter days just before the coming of Christ for the 2nd time. In that day the armies of the antichrist will attempt to take their land away once again. He will almost succeed until the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords returns to deliver them. That land is Israel's land and we have no right to take it away from them. God may allow a wicked nation to take it away temporarily but they will get it back permanently when they turn to the Lord permanently. Sin separated Israel from God many times. Repentance brought them back in His favor. We are no different. We cannot get rid of sin by animal sacrifices or by our own will power. We need a savior from sin and the Holy Spirit to keep us out of the sin that separated us from a Holy God. If we return to sin we will be separated from God again. It is that simple. The simple act of repenting and turning back to God is the remedy. God can see though whether our repentance is genuine or fake. Jesus came so that faith in Him brings the help we need to not return to sin. He puts the Holy Spirit within us to convict us when we sin and bring us to repentance. He will cause us to desire to be holy as God is holy. We still have the will power to return to the old ways but we do not have to. Fellowship with other believers, the study of the word and constant seeking God is prayer and worship is necessary. That doesn't mean we are trying to be saved by works. The phrase that we are saved by grace and not works is referring to trusting in keeping the ordinances and rituals of religious acts to save our souls. Trusting in things like communion, someone praying over us, Old Testament rituals and ceremonies is what is meant when we are trying to be saved by works instead of trusting in God's grace. We are saved by grace alone but we must remember that we are saved from sin. How can we say that we are saved from sin if we are still living in sin? Some think if they feed the poor, do good deeds and such they will earn the right to salvation. That is also what is meant when we try to be saved by works. It does not mean that we are saved one time and then can return to sin and expect to be saved. That is nonsense as the above scriptures from both Paul and John warn of us of. James gets it right when he says:
Being saved by grace is being saved by faith in Jesus Christ and then giving our lives to Him. We then seek to walk in the spirit and in holiness without which no man will even see the Lord.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Hearing brings faith.
Here we see that they heard the word and expressed faith in the word showing much love but their heart was into covetousness which is a form of idolatry. They hearts were far from God. We need faith in Christ to bring us salvation but we need the works of faith to follow. The works that accompany true faith is brought about by genuine repentance and turning away from sin and giving ourselves completely to God. If we go to church and go through the motions only in order to make us think we are saved and make an appearance of being saved yet we go away and act the same, do the same sins and think we can trust in a pastor or priest to do some ritual to cause us to enter heaven, we are mistaken. We trust in Christ alone and allow His Holy Spirit to change us and make us new creatures in Christ.
Remember this isn't hard, its a new and living way. It is joy unspeakable, it is a way of peace and a way of eternal life.
If we say we believe, we are to live like we believe. If we say we believe that the bridge across a certain road is not safe and will fall if we go across it, and still go right ahead across the bridge and it falls that is not true faith. True faith in the knowledge that the bridge would fall, would keep us from going across it. True faith brings action.
This is the mercy of God. When He sends messengers, pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles, and watchmen who warn of evil to come. He doesn't have to send anyone. We have the written word but He sends His messengers also. Look at the mercy of God. He gave us:
All these things are given so that we are without excuse. There is no reason for us to return to sin and be lost. The right equipment is available. If we do sin however, we are to repent, turn back and accept God's forgiveness. We don't have to go away and stop believing.
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