Daily Devotions
Ezekiel
"If you warn the wicked"
Text: Ezekiel 3:19
WARNING THE WICKED
The Watchman must only watch the city. He must give the alarm if he sees anything that poses potential danger to the city.
“When 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, to save his life,
that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood I will require at your hand.
Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness,
nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity;
but you have delivered your soul.”
Ezekiel 3:18-19
1. God’s word to the wicked.
a) God begins with a word of warning.
b) “You shall surely die”
i) This will eventually come to pass.
ii) The wicked will come to a bad end.
iii) This was a divine word of warning.
2. Ezekiel’s ministry.
a) He must sound the alarm.
b) He must warn the wicked.
c) He must seek to “save” the wicked from his evil ways.
i) He must not have bitterness of spirit.
ii) He must understand that God is still willing to forgive and save the wicked.
iii) He must fulfil his ministry with a genuine heart of concern.
3. Accountability to God.
a) Ezekiel is accountable to the LORD.
b) If Ezekiel does not warn the wicked and the latter dies.
c) The prophet is held responsible.
d) He had failed to do what God had commanded him to do.
4. If Ezekiel had done his part in giving God’s word of warning:
a) But the wicked refuses to listen.
b) He continues in his wicked ways.
c) Consequently, he dies.
d) But Ezekiel is not held responsible for he had faithfully done his part
to warn the wicked.
e) He has “delivered his soul” and will not receive any divine judgment.