Ezekiel 3:16-21 “Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, (17) "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: (18) 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. (19) 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. (20) "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. (21) Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
In this section we want discuss the disturbing truth that ministers that are disobedient to their calling to preach the gospel are at risk of incurring eternal damnation. And so unlike the saints who can only lose their salvation if they deny the Lord Jesus, the Lord’s ministers have an added avenue to losing their salvation, which is being disobedient to their call to minister the Lord’s gospel. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Lord warned the prophet Ezekiel of this very thing, when He told him that if the Lord’s ministers did not warn either the righteous or the wicked to turn from their wickedness then He would hold the minister accountable for their blood. In this passage the Lord tells us that the only way the Lord’s minister can deliver their own souls is to be obedient in preaching the gospel. So what does the Lord mean when He says that He will require their blood at the hands of the ministers that choose not to warn those who are perishing? The Lord simply means that He will require life for life, for the life of the man is in his blood (Leviticus 17:10), which explains why the ministers’ souls can only be delivered if they are obedient in this area. Some would foolishly accuse the Lord of judging His ministers too harshly by condemning them to eternal punishment for their disobedience. However if we just look at it logically, it would be unjust of the Lord to allow His minister to inherit eternal life while they are guilty of condemning others to eternal torment because they refused to be obedient in warning those who were perishing. And so God is not unjust in giving His minister the same sentence His minister had passed upon those he refused to warn.
Acts 20:26-27 “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. (27) For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”
Clearly the apostle Paul was fully aware of the danger that ministers place themselves in when through disobedience; they do not preach the full counsel of God. And so we see something else that ministers of the gospel need to be aware of, which is the content of the gospel that they preach and teach. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul stated that God would not hold him to account for the blood of others on that day. The reason Paul could say that was because he had not been selective in what he taught the church, for he taught the whole counsel of God even when certain parts of the gospel were not well received by certain believers. We have already seen earlier that Paul was so diligent in teaching the full counsel of God that towards the end of his ministry there were many churches that would not allow him to preach in their churches anymore. And so ministers that are selective in that which they teach the church are in great danger, for they cannot as Paul did, proclaim before the Lord that they are innocent of the blood of all men.
Michael E.B. Maher
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