A Watchmen Warns

we attended the central Texas mens retreat called the watchmen. so today we are stepping outside our normal exposition of the word and examining the teaching we were blessed by at Camp Buckner in the hill country of Burnet. by way of introduction lets look at our central text

Ezekiel 33:1–6 NKJV

1 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

this is where we got the blood on our hands saying.

now god shares this heavy responsibility with Ezekiel, reminding him that he is to always share the warnings that God has given, because if we don’t share the whole truth of Gods word with people, we aren't warning them of the danger to come. Some ignore the truth of judgement, the eternal hell that is to come. We forget to warn believers who flirt with sin, the dangers of they might face from the consequences of their actions.

we began the retreat with

A Watchmen Warns - Deception - with Pastor Bunjee Garret

the primary text for this was in

2 Peter 2:1–3 NKJV

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

There will be false teachers: Just as there were, there will be, as long as people will keep seeking them out and enabling them.

denying the lord: look with me at 1jn 4 the biggest teaching of the denial of notice though, the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ was sufficient for all, but effective only to those who believe. Jesus redeemed (bough them) everyone through His blood if they would receive it. 1 John 4:1–3 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

No one in this time denies jesus existed they deny that Jesus was the Son of God and incarnated to save us.

Many will follow: Look - at 1 tm 4 with me. 2 Timothy 4:1–5 “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

most of this deception comes inspired by greed/power/control. and it feeds to our flesh and desires. He told timothy the incredible power of contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6 “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” when we arent always trying to get ours, we can truly rest in Crist and find truth instead of seeking to be rich.

Now the conviction we have in the scriptures isn't that God cant stop false teachers but false teachers reveal the heart of those that call on the name of the Lord. We see this in Detuteronomy 13 (turn there) where God reveals what the drill is with following Christ in the midst of these times.

Deuteronomy 13:1–4 NKJV

1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.

You walk after the Lord and fear Him, obey his voice. Jesus said the same thing. If you truly heard the father, you heard Him. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15–20 ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

the best answer to deceptive teaching, is truth. you will know the truth (Jesus) and the truth will set you free. what we teach, matters. what we believe is important.

Division - Steve Westfall

Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Pastor Steve began with a word , that word was allegiance. The word allegiance is loyalty to a sovereign, country, idea or the like. Some of us have allegiance to our nation (as do I), many seem to have more allegiance to sports or politics than the Lord. The questions he asked was if our allegiance to Jesus such that would resist sinful division and be willing to live in Godly division (separating over teaching, sin, etc).

1 Corinthians 1:10–17 NKJV

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

in examining these, we need to ask are we breakers or builders. Breaking is always easy. Building is hard, requires planning, preparation and hard work. Demo is usually hulk smash.

the contentions or divisions in Corinth (one of them) are that some are “loyal” or give their allegiance to the one that brought them, Paul. Others liked the style and presence of Apollos. Some bragged of their allegiance to Jesus as another was to divide from the others. When they should all Paul said, have simply worshipped Christ

He also taught us that those that are saved get baptized, not that baptism saves. He was glad he didn't do the act with them. If it were equated with salvation, it would've been of greater import. Here he is more concerned with their sinful divisions. Mark 3:23–25 “23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

turn to Philippians 2, Paul encouraged them to be a unified church check this out, Philippians 2:1–8 “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Distraction - John Newberry

John taught through 1 kings 13:1-3, for sake of time we wont go through the entire chapter. To summarize, Ahab is playing priest in the northern kingdom, ignoring the word of Yahweh. An unnamed prophet comes from Judah to rebuke the king, and the kings arm shrivels when he tries to point at the prophet to have him taken. the prophet prays, the kings restored and he lets the prophet go. now the prophet had specific instructions, go to bethel one way, come back on a different road. while in the land dont eat or drink. go in, get out. Now an old former “prophet” lived in bethel and he really wanted to get a real prophet to come visit. So he lies to the man and tells him to ignore his personal revelation from God to follow this guys new one. Because he refused what God clearly told him for a comforting, easy prophecy (stop, relax, eat, drink, sleep, all flesh) he ended up, dead on the road. killed by a wild animal.

Distraction can lead to destruction. Media, Social Media, family, friends, so many things can distract us from the Word of God. Turn to Gal 1. Now, for the unnamed prophet, he had clear instructions from God as to what he was to do. Just as we do. Paul told the Galatians, Galatians 1:6–9 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

God has give us over and over, very clear instruction on what we are to do in our walks with Him, Colossians 3:15–17 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Depression - David Reynolds

David also used a text from 1kings,

1 Kings 19:1–8 NKJV

1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” 5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

now pastor presented a lot of statistics to show that depression is an equal opportunity exploiter. here with elijah, whose fear drives him to desire death, to Paul in 2 corinthians 1 (turn there) gets into this. he also relates that there is a solution always to this issue. 2 Corinthians 1:8–11 “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.”

We might say, trusting in Christ, is the first and best deliverance from Depression. Remembering that even in death, we will live again.

Elijah prayed to die, but never did. Literally. And technically we wont either. And this Word we have in the scriptures and in Christ, ring to us that though we might experience these things, we wont have to be ruled by them. Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When you feel your faith is weak, turn to the Word. When its feeling wrong, get to where you can hear the Word being taught and take every word to heart that you might be healed.

Dissipation - Aaron Eichelberger

Last but not least, Pastor Aaron went with looking at the life of Samson in Judges 14, but as you turn that direction, let me define Dissipation. In the greek its asotias. incorrigibility, debauchery, drunkenness (substance abuse of any kind), sexual immorality, etc. The word appears mainly in 3 different verses. Contextually its exactly as this sounds. Ephesians 5:18 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,” So drunkenness, is sin, is immorality and not for the believer. Titus 1:6 “if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.” so someone that has the reputation even having blame, immorality, drunk, high, is not to be an elder/pastor. Finally we see it in 1 Peter 4:4 “In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.” how many in the communities that the church was in regularly had bacchanalias, immorality, etc. which we stand out because we don't. So the word really just describes multiple instances and types of immorality. Now, lets look at the amazing direction and blessing that Samson had in his life. Jump back a little to: Judges 13:2–5 “Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. 3And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.””

The nazarite vow, found in Numbers 6:1–21 states that they set the number of days they will do the vow, then they cannot drink anything from the grape. Not even vinegar made from wine or even grapes, they cannot go near a dead body or cut their hair. Then when the time is over, they offer a ram, unleavened bread, both bread and wafers with oil and drink and grain offerings. Then they shave their heads to show their consecreation as over. While in it he is Holy, set apart for the Lord. Here we see Samson shall be this from conception to…a time is never set for his consecration to end. But the blessing and power Samson has the blessing, etc. We also have this! We have a blessing in our lives for our walk with Christ. Forgiveness of sins, acceptance in the beloved, we know the mystery, we have a guarantee of inheritance in Jesus. We can also be tempted, sin, fall, much like samson.

His begins in Judges 14:1–4 “Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” 3Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 4But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.”

Now, don’t mis-understand. Samson would be used in this but God didn’t encourage him to sin in any of this. His first mistake was going down where he wasn't supposed to be. He also isn't supposed to marry a non-hebrew but he doesn't care he just wants to feed his flesh. I don’t care who she is v3 she sure looks good to me. Samson never ceases to be right on the edge to actually breaking his vow/birthright. Some scholars think he told delila so many different things about how to trap him because he got him drunk. He was like many of us, well since I’m already in sin. And God keeps blessing me with this crazy power, so…until she has them cut his hair. He completely sins against every part of his vow. We often think the same thing. Well I am already saved so I can just sin! There can be serious consequences for the believer in sin. Even death!

Samson is captured, they burn or gouge his eyes out of his head and its so sad, look Judges 16:20–21 “And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 21Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.”

Yes as with us, the story ends with Samson pulling down the columns where all the leaders of the philistines sit and they all died. But we know, we’ll meet Samson later. Because our God is savior, redeemer, deliverer and friend.

allowing ourselves to be caught in the lies of the world, to do what feels good, to be caught in the flood of sin. Suffering utter devastation. One moment of sin can cost everything. Let us not revel in this. Let us keep watch, let us warn our brethren and the world about sin and the coming judgment of God. Let us remember to be in the light, to light up the dark and Ephesians 5:15–16 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

watch church! lets pray.