Well, this evening, our confessional lesson comes from the Canons of Dort. The Canons of Dort. The third and fourth head of doctrine, which is on human corruption, conversion to God, and the way it occurs. You can find this in the back of your hymnal on page 907 and 908. And this is part of the third and fourth heads of doctrine. And I want to read Articles 8 and 9 this evening. Again, on page 907, there at the bottom of the right-hand page is Article 8, and then we'll turn over and also read Article 9. Article 8, the serious call of the gospel. Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are called seriously. For seriously and most genuinely, God makes known in his word what is pleasing to him, that those who are called should come to him. Seriously, he also promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who come to him and believe. And then article nine, human responsibility for rejecting the gospel. The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ who's offered through the gospel, nor on God who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some, in self-assurance, do not even entertain the word of life. Others do entertain it, but do not take it to heart. And for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse. Others choke the seed of the word with the thorns of life's cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower. Well, it's worth remembering that the five heads of doctrine that are taught in the canons of Dort weren't the result of some reform guy sitting around and saying, you know, we really need to summarize this Calvinism thing. No, in 1610, The Armenians created a document of protest, a remonstrance, because there were five areas where the Armenians disagreed with Reformed orthodoxy. So the five articles in the canons were a response to the five Armenian errors. Now the Arminians were convinced that the doctrine of election, as the Reformed understand it, created a fatal flaw in our system of theology. If God predestines the elect and only the elect to be saved, and if man's totally depraved and completely dead in his trespasses and sin, and can't so much as take a baby step toward God in a saving way, If all those things are true, what's the point of preaching the gospel to everyone? And the Arminians thought with this line of argumentation, they had the reforms backed into a corner. They thought they could use simple human logic to dismantle the doctrine of sovereign grace. But here's what the fathers at Dort understood and what we need to grasp as well. God doesn't submit His ways to our human reasoning. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. And so Article 8 makes this stunning declaration that all who are called through the Gospel are called seriously. And did you hear the repetition of that word, seriously? In other words, the Gospel offer when it's made is never a sham. It's not some kind of divine trick where God pretends to offer salvation all the while secretly withholding it from most people. That was the caricature the Arminians presented. Now when the Gospel goes out, It goes out with the full weight of divine sincerity behind it. And this is what theologians call the well-meant offer of the Gospel. When the Gospels proclaim, God seriously promises rest for souls and eternal life for all who believe. It's a real offer to real sinners. But here's where it gets interesting, and here's where our finite minds start to stretch. How can God sincerely call all sinners to himself while at the same time, he is sovereignly chosen to save only some? Well, the canons don't give us a full systematic answer, but they do point us in the right direction. And this is where reformed theologians have found it helpful to distinguish between two aspects of God's will, what we'll call his decretive will and his preceptive will. God's decretive will, that's what he sovereignly decreed will come to pass. It's his eternal purpose, his plan of election, his determination to save a particular people, all those upon whom he chooses to show mercy. This will cannot fail, and it certainly will accomplish its purposes. But God also has a preceptive will. That's what he commands. It's where he reveals what's pleasing to him, what he prescribes in his word. And here's the stunning truth. God's preceptive will genuinely expresses that he desires all sinners to repent and believe. So on the one hand, God has chosen whom he'll save from before the foundation of the world, and his decreed of purposes, according to election, will stand. Nothing will thwart God's sovereign plan. On the other hand, the gospel call is genuinely extended to all, and God's preceptive will truly reveals a desire that sinners would repent and believe the gospel. And the fact that we can't perfectly reconcile these two aspects of God's will in our mind is just an acknowledgement that God is God and we're not. Think of it this way. When Jesus stood overlooking Jerusalem and wept saying, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing. Was Jesus being sincere there? Of course he was. And this evening, we're gonna hear this in Ezekiel 33. As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his way and live. Was God being insincere in that offer? Absolutely not. The gospel call is serious, genuine, and sincere. And that brings us to article nine. which addresses the hard question. If the gospel calls sincere, why don't all people respond in faith? And our forefathers in the faith wanted to make it abundantly clear that the problem with unbelief isn't with the gospel. The problem wasn't with the Christ who is offered in the gospel, and the problem certainly wasn't with God who planned out the gospel. The problem rests solely on sinners who hear the well-meant offer and reject it. And to drive this point home, the canons point us to Jesus' parable of the sower in Matthew 13. It's a parable that reveals an uncomfortable truth. The problem isn't the seed and the problem isn't the sower, the problem is the soil. In other words, the problem isn't the saver, the problem is the sinner's heart. Some hear the word and it will bounce right off their Teflon heart. Satan will swoop down and snatch that seed, and they're lost forever. Others receive the word with gladness, at least initially. They get very excited about the gospel. They seem to be growing into faith. But in reality, all they possess is a superficial religion, and when first real trouble comes, they wither away. So others seem to be growing right alongside genuine believers for a while, but then the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures that surround them, slowly but surely choke out real spiritual life, and they produce no fruit. You see, in each of those three scenarios, the fault isn't with the gospel message. The seed is good. The sower is faithful. The problem is the soil of the human heart. And this is both instructive and liberating for us as Christians. It's liberating because it reminds us that when our neighbors, our coworkers, or our family members reject Christ, We mustn't ultimately blame ourselves, assuming we're actually witnessing to them. Yes, we should examine our witness. We should consider whether we're faithful in how we present the gospel. But in the end, if someone rejects Christ, it's because of the condition of their own heart, not because there's something deficient in the gospel we've shared. And it's also liberating because it frees us to be faithful sowers. We don't have to manipulate people. We don't have to use worldly tactics to make the gospel more appealing. We simply scatter the seed trusting that God has prepared hearts to receive it according to his good purposes. And here's the glorious truth that undergirds all this. God does prepare some hearts. The Holy Spirit does make some soil fertile. If you're a believer today, if the gospel's taken root in your life and it is producing fruit, you can only credit God's sovereign and miraculous grace for that work. He prepared the soil of your heart. He made you willing in the day of his power. He opened your eyes to see, your ears to hear, your heart to receive. And this is the good news and the great comfort. If he did it for you, as bad as you are, he can do it for anyone. Well, this evening when we return to our study in Ezekiel, we're gonna learn that the prophet will be called to sow gospel seeds. But for now, let's praise the Lord. We'll stand to sing number 425. Number 425, how sweet and awesome is this place. Well, let me ask you to turn in your copy of scripture to Ezekiel 33. Ezekiel 33, and we're gonna read verses one through 20. Ezekiel 33, beginning in verse one, this is the true word of God. Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, When I bring the sword upon the land and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and 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. 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. 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, and his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, oh, 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. 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've delivered your soul. 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? 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. Turn, turn from your evil ways. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 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. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins. 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 work shall be remembered. But because of the iniquity that he's committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right. If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he's stolen and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins which he's committed shall be remembered against him. He's done what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. Yet the children of your people say, the way of the Lord's not fair. But it is their way which is not fair. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. Yet you say the way of the Lord is not fair. Oh, house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. May he bless it to our hearts this evening. Dearest congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are looking at what is a pivotal chapter in the book of Ezekiel. You'll recall that the first 24 chapters of Ezekiel are dominated by messages of judgment against Jerusalem and Judah. The prophet's been announcing God's verdict on His covenant people for their persistent idolatry and rebellion. And then in chapters 25 through 32, the focus shifts to God's judgment against the surrounding nations, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, and most recently, our last two studies, judgment that would fall on the mighty city of Tyre as well as on her king. We didn't look at all those nations, but here we are now in chapter 33, and something significant happens. This chapter marks a transition. in Ezekiel's ministry. You see, up to this point, a great many scholars refer to Ezekiel as the prophet of doom because he spends so passionately and descriptively explaining and announcing the coming judgment against Jerusalem. But in verse 21 of this chapter, and we didn't read that, that judgment's going to take place. News will come from a messenger that Jerusalem has fallen, the city's destroyed, the temple is in ruins, and that everything Ezekiel has prophesied has indeed come to pass. And from this point forward, what we're going to see in Ezekiel's message is a shift He's still going to say some hard things, but it's not gonna be all judgment. We're gonna be introduced more and more to the hope of real restoration, to the promise of reconciliation for the people. So in that way, chapter 33 serves as a kind of hinge upon which this transition turns. And our text this evening lays out the theological foundation for everything that's going to follow. It's going to ground much of that restoration and nothing less than genuine repentance. Well, in verses 1 through 9, we're given an illustration of what a watchman is. And it begins with the illustration, and it'll eventually move into the fact that Ezekiel was called to be this watchman. And we should understand, this is not new material in Ezekiel. You may remember way back in chapter three, God called and ordained Ezekiel to be a watchman. And so one of the questions that ought to come to mind is, why does God repeat the message here? Well, it's because, as I said, I think we're at a critical juncture in this book, that the judgment that Ezekiel has warned about has now fallen. Jerusalem is destroyed. And it seems to me that God is now reestablishing Ezekiel's prophetic authority for what will be the next phase of his ministry. Now this watchman imagery would have been immediately understood by Ezekiel's audience. In ancient cities, watchmen stood on the wall scanning the horizon to see if there's any approaching danger. And when they saw an enemy army coming, their job was to blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to warn the people. That's really the role God assigns to prophets. Again, look there at verses 2 and 3. 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 their land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people. Now, notice something important here. The watchman doesn't create the danger. He doesn't control whether or not the enemy comes or not. In fact, the text is clear. It's the Lord who brings the sword on the land. The watchman's job is to warn when he sees the enemy approaching. He's not responsible for stopping the invasion. That's beyond his power. He's only responsible for sounding the alarm. And this is precisely what faithful gospel ministry looks like. Pastors, elders, those who proclaim God's Word are not called to save anyone because you don't have that power. We can't stop the judgment that's coming upon the unrepentant. We can't force anyone to believe. But we are called to sound the warning. We're called to blow the gospel trumpet. We're called to say, thus says the Lord. And as that ministry unfolds, we're told what happens in this illustration that's found there in verses 4 or 5, that whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but he didn't take the warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes the warning will save his life. You see the responsibility here. The watchman sounds the alarm, but each person is responsible. for how they respond to that warning. Again, I hope you can hear echoes of our lesson in the canons of Dort. If someone hears the trumpet and ignores it, if they hear the warning and refuse to take action, their destruction is on their own head. They can't blame the watchman, they can't blame their circumstances, they heard the warning and they chose to ignore it. Some of you will remember the hurricane that fell upon New Orleans, I don't know, probably 25 years ago now. Which one was it? Which one? Yeah, Katrina. And they knew this was going to be a devastating, devastating hurricane, that the city ramparts weren't going to hold, that the community would be flooded. And they said, get out, get out, get out. They heard the warning, and people stayed. And they died. And that's just a microcosm of what's being presented to us. The person who ignores the warning, it's on them. And then God gives the flip side. In verse six, if the watchman sees the sword coming and he 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'll require at the watchman's hand." This is a sobering word for everyone who stands behind a pulpit or those who have responsibility to teach God's word, even if it's in your home to your children or in a Sunday school class. If we see the danger coming and we fail to warn, If we know that judgment awaits the unrepentant and we remain silent, God will not hold us unaccountable. You know there's so much pressure in our culture today for pastors to be positive or maybe to use the language of our Sunday school class to be empathetic, to be encouraging, to make people feel good about themselves. And I'm all for encouragement. I believe in the comfort of the gospel. But if all I ever do is tell you how wonderful you are, and I never warn you about sin and judgment and hell, if I never actually call you to repentance, then I would not be a faithful watchman. I'd be a hireling who cares more about your approval than your soul. This is why Paul could say at the end of his ministry in Acts 20, 26, I'm innocent of the blood of all men for I've not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. You see, Paul understood if he had failed to warn, if he had held back hard truths, blood would be on his hands. And the Lord makes sure Ezekiel knows this too. In verses seven through nine, God applies this directly to his prophet. So you son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel, therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. Notice the language, hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. This is something we've seen over and over in our study of Ezekiel. The prophet, in this case the watchman, he doesn't make up his own message. He doesn't share his opinion, his ideas, his preferences. He hears from God and he declares what God has said. And that's really the prophetic formula for every generation. Thus says the Lord has to be what the Lord has said. And God gives Ezekiel this charge, when I say to the wicked, oh, wicked man, you shall surely die. And you do not warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I'll require at your hand. 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've delivered your soul. Think about that. If a watchman doesn't faithfully communicate the warnings of Scripture, his soul is in peril. Ezekiel's responsibility is to be able to deliver hard messages. The people's responsibility is to respond to it. If Ezekiel warms them and they refuse to listen, Their blood is on their own heads, but if Ezekiel fails to warn them, God will hold him accountable. Now we come to verses 10 and 11, and we see the people's response to all this. And it's not what you might expect. I mean, up to this point, Israel has been defiant. They've actually mocked the prophet. In fact, they've made no indication up to this point that anything that Ezekiel has said or taught or done had an impact on their lives. But now, they're despairing. As Ezekiel communicates truth to them, their heart is beginning to be sore on account of their own sin. Look there at verse 10. Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel, thus you say, so this is Israel, what Israel is saying. If our transgression and our sins lie upon us and we opine away from them, how then can we live? This is incidentally is referencing the law in Leviticus 26. But you can hear they're starting to despair. And this is the kind of, this is gospel good news. Because before you can hear the good news, you have to be able to receive the bad news. Before you can know that there is a Savior, you have to know you're a sinner. And for the first time in Ezekiel, there's a sense that some are hearing that. This is the first time in Ezekiel's ministry that there's evidence that he's impacting people. And all along, his call was to be faithful. with Jerusalem falling and the temple getting destroyed, it seems that the people are seeing these things and they're aware of now why they're in exile. Our sins are so great, so heavy upon us, we're wasting away under the weight of them. How can we possibly live? There's no hope for us, we're finished. We're undone. And that's a wonderful, wonderful place for a person to be. Your sin has to undo you before the gospel can restore you. That's what's happening on a national level in Judah. When we truly see the gravity of our rebellion against God, when we understand the weight of our guilt, alarm us. It ought to cause despair. The good news is that Ezekiel is going to tell them they're not beyond hope. Look there at God's response to what they're saying in verse 11. 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. Turn, turn from your evil ways. For why should you die, O house of Israel? This is one of the most beautiful verses in all of Scripture. God takes an oath, as I live. That's a divine oath. And what he's declaring under a divine oath is that he doesn't delight in the death of the wicked. That's not what ultimately brings him pleasure. What brings him pleasure is when the wicked turn from their sin and live. And notice the urgency. Turn, turn. In fact, if you read through this passage, I think that word shoo in the Hebrew, turn, shoo's like 10 or 11 times. This whole passage is turn, turn, turn. And every time you hear that word turn in this passage, it's God pleading with his people. It's the Almighty calling sinners to repent through his prophet. Why should you die? Why should you perish when I'm offering you life? You see, this is important because it helps us think rightly about who God is. God isn't waiting in heaven, just sort of counting the moments till he can get you. That's not his disposition. He's holy, he's just, and he will most definitely judge sin. But his heart, his pleasure is in showing mercy to those who turn to him in repentance. And you see, if we understand this, this demolishes any caricature of God as some angry deity who's just waiting for an opportunity to smash sinners. That's just not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is the one who says, turn, turn. Why will you die? I don't want you to perish, I want you to live. Now in verses 12 through 16, God begins to explain how the principles of repentance work. And it's important we understand this correctly. He says there, 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. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins. So what God's teaching here is the principle of basically present moral accountability. Past righteousness doesn't give you credit to sin now. I preached a sermon a couple months back that was a warning not to be a used to Christian. You know what a Eusta Christian is? I used to go to church regularly. I used to be in the Bible faithfully. I used to evangelize. I used to give of my times and ties. I used to serve the Lord. I Eusta, Eusta, Eusta. Probably a great many people are on a Eusta path and don't realize it's a path that leads to hell. And that's what they're being told. The good news is past wickedness doesn't necessarily disqualify you from turning to God at any time. Let me explain it this way. Verse 13 says, 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. But because of the iniquity that he's committed, he shall die. So here's a person who's been living righteously. They've been walking with God, but when they start to trust in their own righteousness, rather than God's grace, they begin to commit iniquity. And God says all their previous good works will not save them. They're used to Christians, aren't they? And we have to be careful here because we want to make sure we don't think this passage is teaching some form of salvation by works or that we lose our salvation every time we sin. That's not what this text is trying to teach us. What it is teaching us is that genuine faith produces genuine repentance and it will produce ongoing obedience. If someone professes faith but then turns away and lives in persistent, unrepentant sin, it reveals that their faith was never genuine to begin with. One of the tenets of Reformed theology is that the greatest miracle we'll ever experience in this dispensation of time is not grandma getting cured from her cancer. It's not getting that new car you need because your other one broke down. The greatest miracle we experience in this dispensation is regeneration. When God calls dead sinners to life, when he takes out the heart of stone and gives us a living and breathing heart, That is a divine miracle, and where that miracle takes place, there will be transformed living. And if there is no transformed living, there's no expectancy that that heart has been changed. That's what's behind this. That's what is behind 1 John 2.19. When the apostle says, those who went out from us, they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were with us. And then we see the flip side of this in verses 14 through 16. Again, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. If, if he turns from, by the way, This word, if, is probably not the best translation. It probably should be since, but we'll deal with that another time. If he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he's stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity. He shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his sins which he's committed shall be remembered against him. He's done what is lawful and right, and he shall surely live. You see, this is the glorious truth of the gospel. No matter how wicked someone may be, no matter how deep into sin they've gone, if they turn from their sin and turn to God, which is repentance, they will live because it's repentance unto life. Their past sins won't be held against them. They won't be remembered, they'll be forgotten. And there will be genuine evidence of repentance. It's not just feeling sorry, it's not saying I'm sorry. It involves things like restoration, giving back what was stolen. It's obedience, walking in the statutes of life. It's transformation, doing what is lawful and right. You see, true repentance, which is a sovereign grace of God, it's not something you do, true repentance always produces fruit. It changes how we live. And if someone claims to have repented, but their life shows no evidence of change, no fruit of righteousness, it could very well be that their repentance isn't genuine. But if there's a genuine turning from sin and turning to God, if there's real fruit of repentance, then that person will live, they will live. That person will live, regardless of how wicked they may have been before. Now we come to verses 17 through 20, and here we see another complaint from the people. Yet the children of your people say, the way of the Lord's not fair. Isn't that interesting? God has just offered them hope. He's told them they can turn and live. He's promised to forgive their past sins. And their response is, that's not fair? And see, what they're objecting to is the idea, if this person's been walking righteously, and they fall into sin and they never turn back to the Lord and you're saying that person will die. That's not fair. And these wicked people? You're telling me they can live a life of wickedness and then turn to God and they'll live? Are you kidding me? That's not fair. You probably heard this argument. And apologists get this all the time. When you're talking about the free grace of the gospel, they will inevitably say, so you're telling me if Hitler repented on his bed, he would go to heaven? And they think they've got you. Yes. Yes. He absolutely will, because God's gracious and merciful. That's what they're objecting to. And they think that's unfair. And so what's ironic is here's what they're hoping for. They think past performance should determine present standing. But God turns the accusation back on them. But it's their way that's not fair. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what's lawful and right, he shall live because of it. Again, what's being distinguished here is genuine repentance versus false repentance. And then he concludes with this powerful statement, yet you say the way of the Lord is not fair? Oh, house of Israel, I'll judge every one of you according to his own ways. You see what he's saying? You think my ways are unfair? Those who make that argument don't realize the predicament they're putting themselves in. If God were fair, And God gave you what you deserve. If He judged you based on His perfect standard of righteousness, you would spend eternity in the miseries of hell. And here's the thing, 10 billion years from now, as you're in the agony and torment of hell, God would be fair. because you're getting exactly what your sin deserved. And the Lord is trying to help them understand what mercy is. He's trying to communicate to them that there is a way for sinners to be reconciled to him. And what's astonishing is that they have the audacity to call that unfair. Friends, whenever we start to think that God is being unfair with us, we need to check ourselves. Because if you are breathing right now, God is not being fair with you. Because you know what you deserve? You deserve to be consumed in this moment. Because I guarantee you, everyone has had sinful thoughts in the last two minutes. The fact that he's still giving you breath is a demonstration of his radical. So what does all this mean for us? How does this ancient watchman oracle give us lessons for our day and for our time? Well first, this passage reminds us of the serious responsibility that comes with knowing God's truth. If we know the gospel, if we know the way of salvation, We have a responsibility to share that with others. And I'm not suggesting that everyone's gonna be an evangelist. What I'm saying is everyone has a circle of friends and family that they belong to. And if they never know what you believe, that's a very dangerous place to be. It's certainly dangerous for those who teach publicly in ordained offices, ministers. One of the things that strikes me when I hear sermons is that I can tell the men who are preaching have never trembled at the fact that they're preaching God's word. They see it as a vocation, not a calling. We're called to be watchmen, sound the alarm, warn people of the judgment to come and point them to Jesus Christ. Whether you're a pastor, elder, or simply a mom or dad, everyone in your sphere of influence should know what you believe and should know that there's a way to escape the wrath of God. to come. Second, this passage really ought to demolish any excuse someone might have for remaining in sin. The people are saying, our sin's too great, how can we possibly live? And you know what, their sin was great. Think about what we learned over the last couple years as we finished up the book of Kings and studied those events that precipitated the people being led into exile. They were perverse, wicked, immoral, idolaters. They were in exile because that is exactly what they deserved. And yet God is saying, turn, turn. I don't want you to die. I want you to live. There is no sin so great that God can't forgive it. There's no past too dark for God to redeem. If you turn to him in genuine repentance and faith, he'll forgive you, he'll cleanse you, he'll give you true life and life abundantly. Third, this passage teaches us that present obedience matters more than past performance. You can't coast on yesterday's righteousness. You can't live in sin today because you were faithful yesterday. God judges us according to our present ways. Fourth, this passage reminds us that genuine repentance will produce real change. The wicked who turns from a sin doesn't just feel bad about what he's done. He restores what he's stolen. He walks in obedience. He does what's lawful and right. I think so in a desire over the last 40 years to see churches filled, we have made the gospel simply an insurance policy. Believe this, you don't have to do anything else, doesn't matter how you live, just sign the heavenly insurance policy, then go about your business and you're good to go. And you know, hell is gonna be filled with people who believe that lie. And it's gonna be filled with men who propagated that lie. Where there's gospel belief, there will be transformed living, because every single believer is a new creation in Christ. Well, finally, and perhaps most importantly, this passage points us to Jesus Christ. Everything we've been talking about, the watchman who warns, the God who desires life not death, the offer of forgiveness for those who repent, all this is ultimately fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He's the faithful watchman who perfectly declares God's word and who perfectly warns of judgment. You've probably heard this and it's true, Jesus spoke more of hell than he did of heaven. He's the one through whom God demonstrates that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. At the cross, we see both God's holy judgment against sin and his passionate desire to save sinners. When Jesus died, he bore the judgment we deserve, the sword of God's wrath that we should have endured fell on him instead. And when he rose from the grave, he demonstrated that all who were united to him by faith will also live eternally. And so now risen and exalted, Jesus calls out to sinners, turn, turn. Why will you die? Come to me, all you who are labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. That's the gospel comfort, amen. I'll give you a moment, if you have any questions or observations, All right, let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thankful for this passage, difficult as it is and poignant and piercing. But behind us is the incredible mercy and grace of God, who cries out through Watchman, turn, turn and live. That's the message we've embraced. That's the message we know has secured for us everlasting life. We pray that message fills us with comfort as we go from here this evening. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Let me ask you to stand, brothers and sisters, to receive the Lord's benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And all of God's people said, amen.