Warn the Wicked

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.

Warnings. We all know what warnings are. We start out learning about warnings when are growing up. Our first warnings probably come from our mother or father. We won't remember that first warning but we'll recall later ones. As parents we might remember giving warnings. In fact we might have heard or have been given a warning just today.


Don't do that…or…
If you do that…this will happen…
You better watch out or…


You understand what I'm saying. We aren't unfamiliar with warnings we live with them. We have warnings on packages, warnings on signs, warning lights on cars, when we drive we see warning lights on the road, we live with warnings. Even our bodies give us warning signals, a slight pain here warning of something more serious. A rash heralding an underlying disease, a persistent headache warning of a brain anomaly, you know what I mean.


Warnings.


'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'


Warn the wicked from their ways.
People don't like to be warned by others do they? Do you like to get warnings? Being told we're doing something wrong is NEVER fun.


It's not bad enough that we have to worry about our own eternal life we have an obligation to warn others about theirs. People who do this are liable to face a lot of ridicule, a lot of hassle because NO ONE wants to be told their eternal life is in jeopardy. No one wants to be judged and in reality we have no right to judge any one's eternal life, but we have to be able to judge actions don't we? If we didn't judge actions we wouldn't know right from wrong.


So yes, we have to warn the wicked from their wicked ways… we have to preach Jesus and salvation, right from wrong. And you know what, others might be preaching to us and we need to listen too. We can NEVER be holier than thou, NEVER. If our faults are made known to us we are obligated to fall to our knees and pray for forgiveness, repenting. Sometimes we are so caught up in looking at our own faults we don't take the time to warn others. It's not FUN to warn others. It's actually dangerous to warn others. We need to pray, to seek our Lord and Savior and ask for His loving guidance in our lives.


We want to be used of the Lord, we are accountable for ourselves to the Lord. By the grace of God may we be compelled to warn others as He would, not as we would, whether His way is more direct or less direct, let HIS will be done not ours. We just need to be aware that we are guilty of not warning others- even if the warning is the knowledge of Christ's soon coming and their need to prepare. While we don't want to be called fanatics you know what… a lot of Christ's followers are considered fanatics, troublemakers, rabble rousers, dissidents, crazies, freaks, abnormal. The Apostles were chased out of cities for their preaching, they were killed for their beliefs. We worry way too much about what others think of us when the only one that matters is God and what HE thinks of us.


Please Lord show us how to live for You. If there are those that need warning let us have the courage and faith in You to warn as You would have us do in Your way, not our way. Bless us Lord, keep us Lord, help us Lord. By Your grace, Your mercy, Your love now and forever!


Amen.