Eze 33:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
Eze 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 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.
Eze 33:6 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 [any] person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
Eze 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
Eze 33:8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Eze 33:9 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 his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Eze 33:10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins [be] upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
Eze 33:11 Say unto them, [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Eze 33:12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his [righteousness] in the day that he sinneth.
Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, [that] he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
Eze 33:14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
Eze 33:15 [If] the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Eze 33:16 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.
Eze 33:17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
Eze 33:18 When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
Eze 33:19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.
Eze 33:20 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways….
Fruitful Musings 
Well, based on the books you’ve read, I can say we have a lot in common. Ray & Kirk’s ministry has broadened my walk with Christ through Biblical evangelism. I am a member of a group based out of Denton, TX called The Great News Network. There is a link for them at Way of the Master.org If you get a chance to check them out, consider joining. You get to network through the message board with thousands of Christians like us who hold fast to Biblical truth and the committment to share it with the world. Nice to hear from you and thank you for your comments. God bless you…
Chris
Hey Chris, I appreciate your comment. Actually, I have been to 2 EBC’s already. I went to Evangelism Boot Camp 6 in L.A., and I went to Reignite EBC-9 in L.A. They were both a blast and a challenge.
I enjoy gathering with so many believers who share the same passion I do: preaching the Biblical Gospel. I have been involved with WOTM since April 2004 (not bragging). And I am now involved in a ministry called Zeal4theLost with my brother Josh and our good friend Troy. We go into different “churches” and train them in Biblical Evangelism. We had our first One-Day Seminar in August and it went well.
Anyway, God has really shown me a lot through Ray and Kirk, Mark Cahill, and Paul Washer! God has given me a renewed passion for evangelism, an anguish for souls, a new desire for digging deep into His Word, and more spiritual discernment over false gospels, teachers, and heresy! I thank God every day for who He is and what He has done. I thank God for you Chris and pray that we can edify and encourage each other through our blogs and maybe help point each other closer to knowing God and doing His Will.
May we bring Glory to His name by conforming to His Son Jesus Christ and always desire for His will to be done!
Great blog, Jonny! God’s Word speaks for itself! I’m amazed that I’ve never read these passages before. I’ve read the first few about the watchman, but after that, it gets even better! I’m surprised these verses (especially 13-15!) aren’t used more often in sharing the true gospel. And isn’t verse 17 just so true for today?! You hear that all the time: “I don’t believe that God would be so unfair as to let ‘good’ people go to hell”! People don’t believe God is fair in sending people to hell, but He DOESN’T send people to hell….people send themselves to hell!! He gave us a way OUT!!! I so wish people would see that. Anyway, thanks for the blogs. I don’t respond that often, but I really enjoy reading them and they always convict me. Thanks for what you’re doing for the Lord!
Allie
Does not this passage also refer to the church? Speaking of the house of Israel? Is there a call to speak against the iniquity in the church?
Well, it is in Ezekiel which means it immediately applies to Israel, God’s chosen people. I’m not entirely sure if it would wholly apply to the church of Christ or not. I think at the least it would be a fair warning that the church is greatly responsible to carry the weight of souls on her back. Like Paul in Romans 9 had agony over his kinsmen according to the flesh, being willing to go to Hell for them; even though he knew he couldn’t because he was saved.
As far as the iniquity of the church, two things:
First, the church is positionally spotless. In God’s eyes, the church is perfect because He sees the pure and holy blood of Christ covering her sins.
Second, however, the church still fights with the battle between her flesh and her spirit. Like Paul spoke of in Romans 7. So the iniquity of the church should be non-existent but also exists and will so until glory. But God does require holiness. So the church is not only holy in God’s eyes but is also called to refrain from sinning, to not sin.
The witness to the world is not when the church stops sinning but when the church preaches Jesus, repents, and lives a life of grace and forgiveness amidst her struggle with sin.
Thanks for stopping by.