Watchmen
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Will you take your Bible and turn to Ezekiel 3:17-19? Please search the Scriptures with us.
If you don't have a Bible but have a smartphone, download the YouVersion Bible App, tap "More," tap "Events," find Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, and access today's sermon notes.
Series Connection
Series Connection
This is week five of "Hidden Hesitations"—exposing the heart-level barriers to bold evangelism.
We've dismantled four evangelistic excuses:
Week one: Hezekiah chose personal peace over others' destinies. Week two: Aaron loved people first instead of God first. Week three: We believed we need perfect words instead of trusting God's perfect Word. Week four: We feared rejection instead of recognizing it as a mark of faithfulness.
But one final hesitation lurks beneath all others.
The Hidden Hesitation:
The Hidden Hesitation:
We avoid evangelism because we think God won't actually hold us accountable.
We avoid evangelism because we think God won't actually hold us accountable.
"God wouldn't really hold me responsible for someone else's salvation, would He?”
“After all, only God saves. I'm just supposed to live a good life."
Context
Context
In Ezekiel 3, God calls Ezekiel to be a watchman over Israel. But this isn't just about prophetic ministry. It establishes a principle about personal responsibility that will shatter every excuse for evangelistic silence.
The Question
The Question
What if the people God has placed in your path aren't there by accident, and their blood is on your hands if you stay silent?
Bible Verse
Bible Verse
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me. If I say to the wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.
1. God Appoints Every Believer as a Watchman (v. 17)
1. God Appoints Every Believer as a Watchman (v. 17)
The Divine Appointment
The Divine Appointment
"Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel."
Ancient watchmen stood on city walls, scanning for approaching armies.
Their job wasn't fighting—it was seeing danger and sounding the alarm.
If they saw the sword coming and stayed silent, every death would be their responsibility.
God transfers this image to spiritual warfare.
He positions people to see spiritual danger and sound the warning.
The approaching enemy is sin. The coming sword is judgment. The threatened city is the human soul.
Notice: "I have made you." This was God's sovereign appointment, not personal choice.
Your Appointed Sphere
Your Appointed Sphere
But here's where it gets uncomfortable:
God has appointed you as a watchman within your sphere of influence.
Paul understood this appointment:
We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you.
We are not boasting beyond measure about other people’s labors. On the contrary, we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged,
Paul says God "assigned" him a boundary of ministry.
The Greek word (kanōn) means "measuring rod."
God had drawn a line of accountability for his apostolic mission.
But Paul acknowledges there were gospel works outside his direct responsibility—churches he did not plant, converts he did not win.
These included co-laborers like Apollos, Epaphras, and ordinary believers scattered by persecution.
Luke tells us:
So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.
Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.
These weren’t the apostles—they stayed in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1).
These were unnamed, ordinary Christians.
Yet, Luke deliberately uses the same preaching vocabulary for ordinary Christians that he uses for apostles.
He doesn’t downgrade their witness—it’s the same words, the same activity.
They were unnamed believers who felt the weight: We are here, therefore we must preach here.
And Paul shows that such proclamation carries accountability before God.
Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.
Paul says he would have been guilty before God had he stayed silent.
If Paul bore the responsibility before God to proclaim, and we too also proclaim, then we too bear the responsibility before God to proclaim.
Every Christian carries the watchman's responsibility: silence is guilt, proclamation is faithfulness.
Who Are Your People?: Four Biblical Spheres of Evangelistic Responsibility
Who Are Your People?: Four Biblical Spheres of Evangelistic Responsibility
God has appointed you as a watchman over a specific sphere of people. Not everyone in the world—but definitely someone in your world.
You became God's appointed watchman over those He has sovereignly placed in your path.
The question isn't whether you have evangelistic responsibility.
The question is: where has God drawn your boundaries? Who Are Your People?
Sphere 1: Your Family
Sphere 1: Your Family
Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
Paul explicitly states that one purpose of remaining married to an unbeliever is the possibility of their salvation.
If you are married to an unbeliever, you are their watchman.
“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Parents, you are your children's watchman—not the Sunday school teacher or youth pastor. You.
This moves beyond moral instruction to Gospel proclamation.
Parents must tell the story of God's redemptive work.
Sphere 2: Church Family
Sphere 2: Church Family
My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Within the church, you bear responsibility for wandering members.
Do you not think their blood can be required at your hands if you stay silent while they drift toward destruction?
This isn't just pastoral work but a mutual responsibility of the church.
Sphere 3: Coworkers and Neighbors
Sphere 3: Coworkers and Neighbors
All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed.
Believing servants bear evangelistic responsibility in workplace relationships.
God has positioned you among people who desperately need to hear the gospel.
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
True neighbor-love includes concern for eternal welfare.
To withhold the Gospel from a neighbor heading toward hell is to do them ultimate harm.
God sovereignly places people in your regular path—coworkers, neighbors, service providers. You are their watchman.
Sphere 4: Spiritual Seekers
Sphere 4: Spiritual Seekers
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
When God opens doors for spiritual conversation, when someone asks about your faith, when crisis creates spiritual hunger—these are divine appointments where your watchman's duty becomes urgent and unavoidable.
2. God Holds Every Believer Accountable (v. 18)
2. God Holds Every Believer Accountable (v. 18)
If I say to the wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.
The Wicked Man's Danger
The Wicked Man's Danger
Who is this wicked person?
Someone who has heard God's commands and chosen to ignore them.
But notice with what kind of death God threatens us all.
This isn't inevitable physical death—this is eternal conscious torment for sin, unending punishment for rebellion against God.
But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
To "die" means die unforgiven, unreconciled to God.
It means standing before a holy God with no righteousness to cover your shame.
It means experiencing the full, unshielded wrath of God against your rebellion.
This is not a scare tactic. This is reality.
The Weight of Blood Guilt
The Weight of Blood Guilt
"I will hold you responsible for his blood."
William Gurnall warns: "The guilt of blood is the greatest guilt; and of all blood, the blood of souls."
When someone within your sphere perishes without Gospel warning, God holds you accountable for their spiritual blood.
Paul explains:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.
Think about this weight.
When that wicked person stands before God's judgment seat, God will judge not only their rebellion but also your silence.
When you stay silent while someone heads toward eternal judgment, their blood stains your hands.
The Blood of the Silent Church
The Blood of the Silent Church
Spouses who avoid spiritual conversations will give account.
Parents who never share the gospel with their children will answer for their blood.
Your coworker who spends forty hours a week near you but never hears about Jesus.
Your neighbor who waves every morning but dies without knowing salvation.
Their blood is required at your hands.
3. God Delivers Every Believer Who Warns (v. 19)
3. God Delivers Every Believer Who Warns (v. 19)
But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.
The Comfort of Faithfulness
The Comfort of Faithfulness
When you fulfill your watchman duty, God delivers your soul from blood guilt.
Notice what delivers you: warning them, not converting them.
William Gurnall observes: "God never laid it upon thee to convert those he sends thee to: no, to publish the gospel is thy duty, to receive it is theirs."
Success isn't measured by conversions but by courage to speak.
Paul could say "I am innocent of the blood of all" because he "did not avoid proclaiming... the whole plan of God."
Every faithful evangelist in Scripture warned of judgment and eternal consequences.
They didn't just share "good news"—they explained why it's needed.
They preached heaven and hell, grace and wrath, salvation and damnation.
Anything less than the whole counsel of God leaves you guilty of blood.
The Greater Watchman: Christ Our Perfect Warning
The Greater Watchman: Christ Our Perfect Warning
As heavy as this truth is, there is gospel comfort here.
Our text points beyond judgment to grace.
Why does God appoint watchmen at all?
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?
For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “So repent and live!
And, of course, Ezekiel points us to the ultimate Watchman.
Jesus warned more about hell than anyone in Scripture—not from cruelty but from love.
He spoke plainly about the broad road leading to destruction.
And, the same God who threatens to require blood at our hands provided a Substitute to shed His blood for ours.
On the cross, Jesus took the second death upon Himself.
He experienced darkness, forsaken from the Father, the full weight of God's wrath against sin.
He died our death so we wouldn't have to.
Christ took upon Himself the blood of every unfaithful watchman.
He bore the guilt of every silent Christian, every negligent parent, every pastor who failed to warn.
He satisfied the blood debt we owe for our evangelistic failures.
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, even the sin of unfaithful watchmanship.
And now, from His position as risen Lord, He continues His watchman's work through us.
He places us strategically among people who need warning and empowers us by His Spirit to speak boldly.
Summons: The Crushing Question
Summons: The Crushing Question
Let me make this personal.
Right now, think of one specific person God has placed in your life whom you're not sure has heard the gospel.
Picture their face. Say their name in your mind.
What if they died tonight?
What if that phone call or text message comes tomorrow morning?
What if you're standing at their funeral next week?
Have you warned them? Or have you been a silent watchman?
If they die without warning, their blood is on your hands.
Repent, Believe, and Be Baptized
Repent, Believe, and Be Baptized
Charles Spurgeon understood this burden: "I dare not play with you, sinner; I dare not tell you sin is a trifle. I dare not tell you that the world to come is a matter of no great account... I have these words ringing in my ears, 'His blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.'"
"Dear Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner deserving judgment. I cannot save myself. But I believe You love me, came for me, lived perfectly, died for my sins, and rose again. I trust in You! Please forgive me, come into my life, and grant me everlasting life. I surrender to You. In Jesus' name, amen."
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A Prayer of Response
A Prayer of Response
Heavenly Father, we confess we've acted as if evangelism were optional, as if You wouldn't hold us accountable for others' souls. You have appointed us as watchmen over specific people. Open our eyes to see whose blood You will require at our hands. Give us courage to warn faithfully, knowing that in warning others, we deliver our own souls. For any here who need warning—may they heed it today. In Jesus' name, who was the faithful watchman. Amen.
