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The Watchman and the Watched Over - Pastor to 60+ Dave Skorupa - September 6, 2026 · Chapter and First- Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Pastor Jacob.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, choir.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, everyone.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful to be back with you again on a holiday weekend.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: How many of you have been following along with our chronological Bible study?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to give me a hand, look at that.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: That is fantastic.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Today in our chronological Bible study, we are in the book that as a seminary student, I believe, almost broke my brain.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: We are in the book of Ezekiel.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: The book of Ezekiel is filled with amazing visions, pictures, symbols, things that are very difficult to understand, things that are very difficult to absorb.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you are nodding at me saying, Oh, thank you, Pastor Dave.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I feel so much better about my time in Ezekiel.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Early in the book of Ezekiel, in chapter 3, as a matter of fact, the prophet Ezekiel is presented by the Lord with this very unique situation.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord presents Ezekiel with a scroll that is written on the front and the back.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he tells Ezekiel, Eat that scroll.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Eat that scroll.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: The prophet is obedient.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: He says that as he eats the scroll, it tastes kind of like honey.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And for the rest of the book of Ezekiel, we see the man who ingested the words of God, proclaiming the words of God to the Israelites there in his time period.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: In that same chapter, chapter 3, Ezekiel is told that he will be a watchman for the people of Israel.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so we see that, and then we read all of these other amazing pictures in the book of Ezekiel.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to forget about chapter 3 a little bit.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel is warning the Israelites that the Babylonians are coming and that they're going to take over and wipe them out and move them to a new land.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: As we read the book of Ezekiel, that happens.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then, strangely, well, perhaps not strangely, because nothing that God does is strange, it's just unusual to us.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: In chapter 33, God revisits this declaration that Ezekiel is to be a watchman.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easy enough, one would think, if you were an Israelite, back in chapter 3, when Ezekiel was telling people, I am the watchman, you must listen to what I have to say, that after the Babylonians came, Israel would have said, Well, he was right, and I guess we don't need to listen to him as a watchman anymore.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: We can take that little illustration and just put it to the side.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But even after the Israelites were conquered by the Babylonians, nonetheless, God uses this picture for Ezekiel that you will be a watchman.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so in today's message, we're going to be in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, which is one of your readings if you're following along today in the chronological Bible.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the title of this morning's message is The Watchman and the Watched Over.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Before we begin our time in God's Word, let's go to the Lord once more in prayer.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the fellowship that we've been able to enjoy with one another, the friendships that exist here in this, your church.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that as we go to your word now, that we remind ourselves you have inspired this word, you've protected this word down through the centuries, even to the point where we're reading it in this place on this day.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, if we've been saved by Jesus Christ, then your word tells us that this same Holy Spirit resides within us, dwells within us, lives within us.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, as the Spirit within us encounters the Spirit-inspired words of your word, any good thing that happens today, any anything that we learn, anything that we're reminded of that we have forgotten, anything that causes us to grow closer to you, it's a supernatural work that's done by the power of your Holy Spirit.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so we will give you the honor, the glory, and the credit.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: We pray this in the matchless name of the King of kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's in his mighty name that we pray, and God's people said, Amen.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: The passage we're going to be looking at contains 20 scripture verses.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've sort of blocked off groups of scripture verses for us to take a look at.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And as we look at the first block of scripture verses, it's uh I've entitled this the traditional watchman, because in the first six verses, what God does speaking through Ezekiel is he just sort of describes the regular relationship between a watchman and the people that are being watched over.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, back a long, long time ago when I was, before I got into ministry, when I was still working in the nonprofit sector, I worked in this very large building in downtown Memphis.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was 14 stories high.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I worked on the 10th floor, had a great view.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: A great view of Memphis, but it was a great view nonetheless.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And on the weekends, sometimes I would have to come in and do some work.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And every time I came in on the weekend, I had to check in at the night watchman's desk before I could go up to the tenth floor to do my work.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so I got to know the night watchman a little bit because back then I thought that you the way to succeed in life was to do more work than everybody else.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as I would go to that night watchman's desk, he would be sitting there and he had a bank of about four different TV monitors, and he always had a book.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: He was always reading a book.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, this is a great job.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can go in and read a book and still get paid.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then I realized, wait a minute, if he's reading a book, who's watching out for me on the tenth floor all by myself?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And but I got to know the night watchman, and being a watchman is a hard job.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, despite what I just said about reading, it is a job where you are charged to be in one place, in a stationary position, and watch over an area of land or offices or a business building or what have you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Back in the days of Ezekiel, the watchman would normally have a position in a tower or on a wall, and he was in charge of looking out over a particular area of land.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And if dust clouds started to gather over on the land, he might think, well, is that a trade caravan, or is that perhaps an army that is coming to cause trouble?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the watchman had to be ready at any moment to signal to the people of the town, the people of Jerusalem in this case, to signal to them that they were under attack.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so the watchman would often have a trumpet or some other type of instrument to make a loud noise to warn the people.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's this type of relationship that Ezekiel is describing under the Lord's instruction in the first six verses.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's look at the first two verses.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel says, Again, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: 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 a watchman, let's move forward.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: When he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet, and if he warns the people, 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.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll pause right there on verse 4.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we see in verse 4 the explanation's pretty simple.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: If the watchman does his job, if he sounds the trumpet, and the people choose to ignore him, and they lose their lives, then that's on them.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's on them.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: But then the Lord continues.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: We see here, continuing in verse 5.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: He heard the sound of the trumpet, he didn't take warning, his blood shall be upon himself, but he who takes warning will save his life.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 6 says, 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 away any person from among them, he's taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And this was an issue in the ancient world.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: It continues to be an issue today.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the watchman can be bought off by the enemy.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the enemy is sneaky.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the enemy says, Well, there's the watchman.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Go and bribe him not to blow the horn as we are sending our men into the city.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now to take that bribe, to not blow the horn, to allow the enemy into the camp, was seen not only as a bad thing, but you were actually a traitor against the nation where you lived.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: You were seen as not just someone who took a bribe, but rather you were guilty of all the people who lost their lives because you failed to sound the trumpet.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: You were a traitor to the state, and back in that day the penalty for being a traitor is the same as it is in most countries around the world.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: You suffer the death penalty for being a traitor to your nation.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, the penalty is required at the watchman's head.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, having explored in the first six verses the traditional role of a watchman and people, beginning in verse seven, God begins to define something a little bit differently.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: And here we move from a traditional watchman to an explanation of a spiritual watchman, beginning in verse 7.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: In verse 7, God says, So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: We'll pause here for a minute.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Warn them for me.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Notice in verse 7 that God calls Ezekiel son of man.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now those of you that know your Gospels are familiar with that phrase, because that is a phrase that Jesus uses to describe himself repeatedly throughout the Gospels.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So what's going on here?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Why is God calling Ezekiel son of man when that's what Jesus is going to call himself in the New Testament?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is one of those areas where I think this type of thing is fascinating myself, because also in the book of Daniel, which we're headed to in a few weeks, by the way, in the book of Daniel, Daniel uses this phrase son of man, but he uses it to describe the coming Messiah.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: A much clearer picture, a much clearer connection to the phrase son of man and Jesus the Messiah that we see in the Gospels.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: But what's going on here?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Why is Ezekiel called Son of Man?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mentioned earlier that Ezekiel had that vision where he ate that scroll, right?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he had the words of God within him.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And everything that he was telling the people was the word of God coming out of him as he was being obedient to what God had called him to do.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when we read the words of Jesus in the Gospels, every word that Jesus speaks is a word of God.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: The words that come out of Jesus are the words of God.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so using this phrase Son of Man, we see a connection, an Old Testament connection, with a New Testament reality that's going to take place during the Gospels.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus has the Word of God within him.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the Word of God according to John chapter 1.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And therefore everything that he has to say, everything that comes from the mouth of Jesus is a word of God.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so when Jesus describes himself as son of man, not only does it fulfill what we read in Daniel about the coming Messiah, but it actually helps point us back to Ezekiel, where this man is speaking the words of God.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: You got that one for free, okay?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's not part of where I'm focusing here.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: What I want to focus here is on the next part.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: You son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move to verse eight.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: When the Lord says to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Pause here.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Here we see the illustration of the watchman taking its spiritual turn.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Just as the watchman traditionally was responsible for blowing the trumpet to warn the people that disaster was coming, Ezekiel is responsible to warn the wicked that if they continue in their wicked ways, if they do not repent, if they do not turn to the Lord, that they are going to have disaster come upon them.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: If Ezekiel does not sound the warning, then God says, His blood I will require at your hand.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move to verse 9.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like the traditional watchman, if the watchman blows the trumpet, but the person chooses not to pay attention, if the person chooses not to be alert, and the enemy comes in, then that man dies, but since the watchman blew the trumpet, he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's continue in verse 10.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, before we get to verse 10, verse 10 begins our next block of scripture.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because now we've talked about the responsibility of the watchman.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're going to talk about the responsibility of the watched over.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is a big difference between chapter 3 and chapter 33.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: In chapter 3, the focus was on Ezekiel and his responsibilities as a watchman.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: In chapter 33, we get a little bit of information of what's the responsibility of the people who are being watched over.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we begin in verse 10.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, you, O Son of Man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you say, if our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Great statement here.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same statement that's been carried on through human history even to our day today.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: The statement basically says, if we are sinners, and if we in our own selves can do nothing to solve this problem of sin, then how are we to live?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: How are we to live in this world if we are trapped in our sin?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: What should we do?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Where can we go if we have this problem of sin?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: How can we live?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 11 might be the most important verse in the verses that I'm reading to you today.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 11 is a verse that to me carries tremendous weight.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of people, might be some in this room today, there are a lot of people who think that the God of the Old Testament is so significantly different than the God of the New Testament that it's almost like they're two different gods.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: That always makes me scratch my head because I know they're the same God.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're in the same Bible, it's the same God.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: But people say the God of the Old Testament is filled with plagues and wrath and anger and judgment.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: But the God of the New Testament is nicer and calmer and easier to get along with.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And yet here we have in the Old Testament, deep in the Old Testament, deep in one of the most challenging books of all the Old Testament, we have this statement.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: God says, as I live, there's no greater promise God can make than when he swears by himself, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: God doesn't want people to die and go to hell.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Here in the Old Testament, God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: But what he wants people to do is he wants the wicked to turn from their evil ways and live.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Turn, he repeats it, turn from your evil ways.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: For why should you die, O house of Israel?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move to verse 12.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: In verse 12, Ezekiel says something that probably shocked his listeners, the people that were listening to him all those years ago.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: They were probably say, I don't understand this.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: In verse 12, Ezekiel says, Therefore, you, O Son of Man, say to the children of your people, the righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: What's happening here?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this can be a little confusing, but the righteousness that Ezekiel is talking about is a self-righteousness.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is the type of righteousness people have before they turn to Jesus.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're still in their sins, but they think, you know, all in all, I'm a pretty good person.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I obey the laws, well, except for those speeding tickets that I got.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm a good person except for the tax thing that I pulled last year.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm a good person, uh, except for what I said to my kids, or what I said to my parents.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm a good person.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my dog probably doesn't feel that way after I kicked him yesterday.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm a good person.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it goes on and on.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Most people, most people think that they are basically good.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's a country song right now that says, I believe most people are basically good.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Makes me grind my teeth flat every time I hear it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because nobody outside of salvation in Jesus Christ is good.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has sin.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has sins of varying degrees and varying numbers, but everybody has sin.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're one of those people that have walked the straight and narrow so much in life that you think you've gotten away without sinning.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus in one of his earliest sermons says, even if you think the wrong thing, you're guilty of sin.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel tells the Israelites, the righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: That would have been a shocking thing for many of the Israelites to hear way back when.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because just like us, there were a lot of Israelites who thought, well, basically I'm a good person.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And God's going to let me into his heaven because compared to most people, I'm pretty good.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, that has never gotten a person into heaven.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot be good enough in your own self for God to look at you and say, well, that person's perfect.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: I can welcome them into my perfect heaven.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Come on up into heaven, you good person.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, we cannot rely on our own self-righteousness.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a point that Ezekiel is making.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Again, he's making this point in the Old Testament.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: In the Old Testament.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's look at verse 12.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel's making it real clear.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you've had one day where you've had a sin, you are separated from God.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: You need to repent.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: You need for God to save you.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: But because of the iniquity that he's committed, he shall die.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's a sobering thought.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: No matter how many plaques you have from different charities thanking you for your giving, no matter all the good works that you can point to and say, I did this, I did that, I did this other thing, I even did this thing over here, they didn't ask me to do.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a good person.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you've got one strike against you, not two, not three, but one strike against you, you're out.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're out.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Your righteousness is canceled because of the one strike against you.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it is easier as a minister to talk to people about sin who have committed serious sins.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's easier to talk to the person who knows that he or she is a thief.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's easier to talk about sin with people who know that they've been involved in deep, deep sin and nearly wrecked their lives.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: The people who have that, they are easier to talk to about sin than the person who actually thinks that they're pretty good.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: The person who thinks that they're pretty good has a different approach to hearing about the fact that they're a sinner.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked person usually has no trouble at all saying, yes, I'm a sinner.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I've been wicked.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I've done wrong.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: The person who thinks they're basically good gets evasive.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know if I'd call myself a sinner.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've had some sins.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've done some things I wish I hadn't done, but I don't know if I would call myself a sinner.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty harsh term, Pastor Dave.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you throwing that on me?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you calling me a sinner?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm overall, I'm pretty good.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm probably better than you, Pastor Dave.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you probably are.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: But in God's economy, one sin makes you a sinner.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: One sin makes you a sinner.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what Ezekiel is unpacking here in these verses.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: None of his righteous works will be remembered because of the iniquity that he's committed.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: This takes us into our next and final block of Scripture that begins in verse 17.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I call this block the reality of the watched over.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: The reality of the watched over.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's begin in verse 17.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yet the children of your people say, the way of the Lord is not fair, but it's their way which is not fair.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move to verse 19.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yet you say, the way of the Lord is not fair.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: O house of Israel, I'll judge every one of you according to his own ways.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: We'll pause here.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Has anyone ever told you God's not fair?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times you'll talk to people about salvation, and uh and you get this argument, this people create these fake arguments because they want to sort of put you on your heels, and they'll say, You mean a person can live their whole life as a sinner doing wicked things, doing atrocious crimes, and yet if they will repent and trust Jesus as their Savior, they'll go to heaven.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's not fair.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: I've lived my whole life trying to do what's right.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've lived my whole life walking the straight and narrow, and you're saying that unless I repent, I'm going to hell.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: But that wicked person who did all those terrible things, you say that if they repent, they can go to heaven.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Just like that.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's not fair.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you've heard that before, just give me a head nod or something like that.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: People have been making this argument even since Old Testament times during the book of Ezekiel.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is nothing new.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is nothing new.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: People have said that the way of the Lord is not fair, as far back as this.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you what's not fair, ladies and gentlemen.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just listen up here.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to tell you what's not fair.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's not fair is that a perfect and sinless God came and performed miracle after miracle to prove who he was, and yet the reaction of this world was to crucify him on a cruel cross.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's not fair.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's not fair.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ, who never committed a single sin, Jesus Christ who proved himself and proved that what he said was true again and again and again in the Gospels, nonetheless took upon himself voluntarily the sins of all mankind and suffered a brutal death on a cross to pay the price for our sins.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: That is not fair.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: That is not fair.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love the fact that when it came to the matter of sin, God decided that it was so important that he was going to handle it personally.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: God did not take the matter of our sin and farm it off to an angel to fix.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: God did not take the matter of our sin and farm it off on some prophet to fix.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, hey, Moses, fix this problem of sin.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, what he did is he came to earth and settled it himself.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: An infinite and eternal God died to pay the penalty of our sins.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Since he's infinite and since he is eternal, his death is greater than the sum of all of the sins of humanity.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I get this question: how does one man's death atone for the sin of all mankind?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that one man is infinite and eternal.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: And there is going to come a day, believe it or not, when the last sin on earth will be committed.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I don't do it, but there's gonna come a day.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna come a day when the last sin on earth will be committed.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, we will see the end of sin, and that will be a limited amount of sin.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Granted, it's great, but it's limited.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: An infinite and eternal God, who is unlimited, died to pay the penalty for sin.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's how one man's death is able to cover all of the sins of mankind.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: Aren't you glad that God settled it himself?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's humbling when we realize what Jesus came to do to die for our sins.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Today I've got three takeaways that I want you to think about as we conclude this time of the message.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway number one: everyone, no matter how wicked and sinful, can repent and find salvation in Jesus Christ.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I will hear people say, Pastor Dave, you don't know what I've done.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you knew what I did, you wouldn't be telling me that I can be saved.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need to know what you did.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know what Jesus did.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, infinite and eternal, died to cover sin for all mankind.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have that much sin that the blood of Jesus can't cover it.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone, no matter how wicked and sinful, can repent and find salvation in Jesus Christ.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway number two.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone, no matter how good and self-righteous, nevertheless has sins, can repent and find salvation in Jesus.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone, no matter how self-righteous.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do a small, take a small detour here for a moment, because this is something I've seen in every church that I've served at.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes among the saved, there is this unspoken, invisible dividing line between people who were very wicked and got saved, and people who were somewhat self-righteous and got saved.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the ones that were somewhat self-righteous tend to look at the ones who were very, very wicked, and they look at them differently.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even though both have been saved by the same Lord, both have been saved by the same blood that was shed at Calvary.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: If that's you, if you've looked at people that have been saved who've come out of great wickedness and you've looked at them a little bit differently, you need to repent of that.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: You need to repent of that.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because if anything, you should be looking at those folks and saying, there but for the grace of God go I.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: If God had not rescued me from certain temptations, if he had not rescued me from being placed in certain positions, if God had not rescued me from being introduced to certain things, I would have been just as wicked, if not more, than the most wicked person here in this building.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's the attitude we should have.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, takeaway number three.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you're saved by Jesus, I've been talking to the unsaved a lot today.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk to the saved here as I close things up.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you're saved by Jesus Christ, you are called to share the gospel with people who are clearly wicked and clearly still living in self-righteousness.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get to pick and choose.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: All too often we think, well, God has called me to witness to people who are kind of like me.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel was called to be a watchman to both the wicked and the self-righteous.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise, us.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: We don't pick and choose who God is going to send our way.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: He does that.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have somebody in your life that keeps popping up in your life?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, they just pop up at the strangest times, and you have nothing in common with that person, but they continue to pop up in your life.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: It very well may be that God wants you to share the gospel with that person.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: That person isn't like you at all.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to be like you at all.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: God is giving you the ability to share the good news that we all need to repent and we all need to be saved.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Second, if you're saved by Jesus Christ, you are being changed by him every day to resist lives that are like the wicked and also to resist lives that are like the self-righteous.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think the first one's pretty obvious.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're all called to live lives that don't look wicked.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: But all too often, I think, even as saved people, we can forget that Jesus saved us and we can pat ourselves on the back for all of the changes that He's produced in our lives.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Never call yourself a good person.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Recognize that the only thing that's good in you is a result of what Jesus has done.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Give him the honor, the credit, and the glory.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, our last point.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you're saved by Jesus Christ, you are called to live like a watchman for him.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be like a watchman who is sharing the gospel with people that are clearly wicked, and yes, sharing the gospel with people who seem to have it all together because of their self-righteousness.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: Both the wicked and the self-righteous are in desperate trouble if they aren't saved by Jesus Christ.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: They're in more trouble than Israel was with the Babylonians.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: They are actually in a place where someday they could die and face a God who will say to them, Why should I let you into my kingdom?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they will have no answer.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: If, like Ezekiel, you do the work of the watchman and you share the good news and they ignore what it is that you say, then like Ezekiel, you are blameless in that situation.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: But if you see that they are wicked and you keep your mouth shut and you don't warn them of the danger to come, then like Ezekiel, you will have failed and their blood will be on your head.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: What does that mean exactly?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't want to find that out.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think the best way to avoid finding that out is to share the gospel with people, wicked and self-righteous.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: As I close today, Ezekiel was a prophet of the Old Testament, and yet we see in this message New Testament truth.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: We see in this message that Jesus called us to share the good news, to share the good news with a lost and dying world.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we don't share the good news because we don't think the outcome will be what we would like.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: We think people might ignore us.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: We think people in this busy world, if I share the good news with them, they'll just think that I'm silly and they'll go the other way.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like Ezekiel, that's not the focus.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: God's focus is on are you sharing?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Are you warning?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Are you being a watchman calling people to the danger that is ahead?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you share the good news and someone receives Jesus as Lord and Savior, praise God.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: We have a saying in our world, we talk about planting seeds.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: And what we mean by that more often than not is that every time you share the gospel with someone, you are perhaps bringing them a little bit closer to that day when all the dots will connect and they will receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're worried about the outcome, like Ezekiel, our outcome is not whether or not the person gets saved.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Our outcome is have we planted a seed?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Have we shared the warning?
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Have we been a watchman who cares over the watched over?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Let's bow in prayer.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: At this time, there may be people in this auditorium who see themselves as lost.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: They may see themselves as lost and having lived wicked lives.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: They may see themselves as lost, but having lived self-righteous lives, your word makes it clear to us that no one is truly righteous until they repent of their sins, trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, and receive His righteousness over their lives.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so we pray that during this time, anyone who needs to needs to be saved by Jesus, that they would come forward, talk to one of the ministers or deacons here at the head of these aisles to learn more about how to be saved.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, also at this time, I suspect there are people in this auditorium who have judged others based upon the life that they lived before they were saved.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: People who need to repent of that.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, I pray that during this time that they would be talking to you, praying to you, confessing to you, and getting this matter solved once and for all in their lives.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we be a people who come to you and instead of judging each other, we judge ourselves and we thank you for the salvation that we've received through Jesus Christ.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's in his name that we pray, and God's people said, Amen.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's stand during this time of invitation.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.