Well I can't wait to turn back to that passage of scripture which we read together in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 33. And I'd like to share a few thoughts with you this morning on the whole subject of evangelism and this passage where Ezekiel is commissioned by the Lord to be a watchman unto the house of Israel and to warn the people about coming judgment and the importance of sounding the alarm. We hear a lot in our own generation today about winning souls for Christ, being a soul winner. But you know there's a warning attached to being a Christian and telling people about the way of salvation. And as Christians we need to sound the alarm and warn others about the danger that they're in if they don't repent of their sins and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. There were many judgments which came upon Israel during the course of their history. Many times the Lord would raise up heathen nations to chasten his people, but there were many times when they slipped away from the Lord into idolatry. Well, every believer today ought to have a deep love for souls and a real desire to evangelise and to share their faith with others and long to see that others too may experience their joys and their peace. which they've experienced within their hearts. If a person makes a glorious discovery today, they should certainly want to share it with others. If an archaeologist digs up some very precious treasure, they can't wait to share with others this great discovery which they've made and the good news which they'd love to share. If a scientist or a doctor was able to discover a remedy for a terrible disease which is claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people round about him. If that doctor kept the remedy to himself, most people would think he must be one of the most selfish scoundrels that this world has ever known. Well, every believer today has embraced the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. And you know, this news is so precious and so priceless that we don't keep it to ourselves. We should love to share it with others and tell them of how they too might know and love the Lord Jesus Christ and be at peace with God. Every church today should be evangelistic. Yes, every church has a responsibility to reach out into its neighbourhoods, trying to tell the people in the flats and the houses and the streets round about the way of salvation. And every believer is called upon to be a witness for the Lord Jesus. Not every believer is an evangelist, but every Christian is a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a verse in Corinthians that says that we are ambassadors for Christ. We are God's representatives and God wants us to share the good news of the gospel with our neighbours, with our friends, with our relatives, and with our colleagues at work. You see, an ambassador today represents their home country abroad. And what type of ambassador would be embarrassed and ashamed to stand up for the interests of his country and his citizens? The Lord doesn't want us to hide our light under a bushel, or to feel awkward or embarrassed or ashamed of that dear friend on whom our hopes of heaven depend. The Lord wants us to be bold, faithful, noble, true witnesses to the work of grace which he's done within our hearts. You see, our colleagues at work should know that we are a Christian. It shouldn't come as a surprise to them to see us reading the Bible or to see us going along to a church meeting. They should know that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ because we have told them. Now we have in our hearts today the most precious and priceless news that this world has ever heard. We have good tidings of great joy to share with others who are perishing in their sins without a Saviour. I'd imagine it must be a very pleasant job today to knock on somebody's door to inform them that they've won hundreds of thousands of pounds or been left an enormous sum of money or property in somebody's inheritance. But you know, the news which we have to share with others is infinitely better and far more precious than that. You see, mankind's greatest need today is to be at peace with his Maker. It's not to have more money, it's not to have more property, it's not to have better health or a longer life. Man's greatest need today is to be at peace with Almighty God. And there's only a small remnant of people in our nation today who are acquainted with the biblical way of salvation. There are many professing Christians today, but those people who are trusting in the precious blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sole grounds of their acceptance before God are really few and far between. Isn't it wonderful to be able to tell people about a Saviour who was able to deliver them eternally from the penalty and the power of their sins, give them peace with God and give them a place in that happy and holy place that God has prepared for them to love Him. It's so good to be able to share with others what we believe concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'd think, well surely we should be shouted at from the housetops. Why should a Christian be ashamed or embarrassed to confess their Lord and Master before others? We should be like the disciples in the New Testament who couldn't but speak of those things which they had seen and heard. They were so occupied with the Lord Jesus that they couldn't keep the blessed tidings to themselves. They had to share it with all and sundry. There was a violent criminal many years ago who has been led to the gallows for crimes he has committed and he reproved the prison chaplain who was walking before him in a cold and formal way just reciting various theological phrases from the Bible. And he said before he died, if I believed what many Christians say that they believe, that your eternal destiny in the world to come, whether you will be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable, was all dependent upon your response to the message of the gospel, Even if the ground was made of broken glass I'd crawl upon my hands and knees up and down the length and the breadth of this nation crying out for people to turn away from their sins and to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know the reality is that as Christians we do find it hard at times to share our faith with others And we're not living in a nation where there's acute persecution. You know, some nations in the world today, you get thrown into prison for sharing your faith with others, you get cruelly tortured and persecuted, and may even have to forfeit your own life. But you know, most people over in this country The greatest thing they have to lose is their own pride and their own reputation. You know, we don't want to meet with rejection. And we assume today that people aren't going to be interested in the Gospel at all. They don't want to hear what we have to say. And if we're honest, we would have to say that in certain company, we do feel awkward, we feel embarrassed or even ashamed to be associating ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. For people will think that we're odd. People will think that we're strange. In speaking about knowing and loving and trusting and serving and following a person that they cannot see. They cannot really grasp it at all. But there's another reason why it's easier for us to hide our lights under a bushel. And that's because there's a warning attached to the gospel message for those people who reject it. Those people who live without God and without hope in this world are in great danger if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinners. And before we can tell people what they're saved to, we have to tell people the unpalatable truth about what they need to be saved from. We need to tell people today that they're heading for a lost eternity in hell, that the wrath of God is abiding upon them, that God's judgement is waiting before them. Now some people may be greatly offended by what we say, Even if we try to put it across in a very polite, a very courteous, a non-judgmental way, proud flesh and blood often feels very hostile towards the message and the Christian who shares it. You see, Jesus said that the world hates me because I testify to the world that the deeds thereof are evil. Many people hated the Lord Jesus Christ, not because of his miracles so much, but because of his teaching, because he reproved people for their sin and he warned people about a coming judgment. Human pride doesn't like to hear the news that their sinners, that their lives are not acceptable to God as they are. How often we hear people say, well I've lived a good life, I've not done anybody any harm. Why should God have a controversy with me? Surely my life is neat and acceptable for God as it is. Why do I need to repent? What sins do I need to repent of? And many Christians find that the Gospel is rejected and Christians themselves are often spoken against and despised and hated. Oh, it's not easy being a believer these days, particularly if you're going out into the highways and the byways telling people of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Having to warn people about the danger that they're in isn't always a very pleasant or a very palatable task. We heard this past week about a teenage girl, she was only 18 and she was killed in a car crash because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt. And yet she'd been warned many times about the dangers of travelling in the front of a car without having her seatbelt on. But we read that she despised all these warnings and felt that people were nagging her and almost had a go at many of these people. Even when the police stopped her on one occasion and said that she should be wearing a seatbelt, she despised the advice and the counsel of the police. When she was travelling with her friend, the friend was driving and wearing a seatbelt and the friend survived the crash, but she went through the windscreen and she perished and she was only 18 years of age. She was given so many warnings, but she just didn't take any notice of the warnings. In fact, she was getting agitated with the person who was telling her to belt up in the car. She despised the council, and she paid a very hefty price for her behaviour. Well, I'm sure that God's servant, Ezekiel, in this passage, found it very hard warning people about the dangers which they were in. You see, it takes courage today to nail your colours to the mask, particularly amongst those people that you mingle with, because you value their opinion of you. You see, if you're speaking to somebody in the street and they give you a mouthful of abuse, well, you don't know the person, they're a stranger. And for the most part, it's just water off a duck's back. But if you're working in an office environment and somebody gives you a lot of abuse because you're a Christian, you've got to continue in that environment and it makes it so much more challenging. That's why many of us as believers find it much harder speaking to non-Christian relatives and work colleagues about what we believe than we do speaking to complete strangers. When we tell them that they're in great danger, that they need to repent of their sins, they may accuse us of being a killjoy, of spoiling their happiness and their enjoyment in life. How often people have said to me, you Christians ought to have a live and let live type of attitude. If people are interested in God, if people are interested in religion, then they'll come along to your church to find out more. There's no need for you to be going around knocking on their doors or speaking to them in the street, ramming religion down their throats they say. Well I know a man, he told me that he never witnesses to anybody at work, He says, I don't believe in sharing what I believe with others. If they're interested, they'll come to me and they'll ask me some questions about the way of salvation. He said that he doesn't want to risk causing any offence. If they're interested, let them inquire, let them take initiative. And I said to this man, how many people have come to you during the past month or the past year, and they say that they're concerned about their soul, they want to be at peace with God, and this man replied that nobody had come to him. You see, it's not natural for a person to be concerned about their soul. This idea that we need to wait for others to take the initiative is not really biblical. What would have happened if the disciples all just stayed within the upper room, waiting for people to come and inquire with them as to what they believed? No, they went out into the streets and the lanes of the city, they went out into the marketplaces where the people congregated and they told them about the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. You see, after the weekend, when you return back to work again, you often hear colleagues at work discussing what type of weekends they had, what programs they watched, how their football team fares, or what relatives they visited, or the places of amusement they went. But why shouldn't the Christians speak about their weekends? Why shouldn't the Christians say, well I went along to church and I discovered some lovely truths from the word of God which were a great blessing to my heart? Now in the Book of Acts we're told on one occasion that the Apostle Paul appeared before the governor Felix and he reasoned with him concerning righteousness and temperance and judgment to come. Oh yes, there's a judgment to come today. And Felix trembled at those words but he put it off to a more convenient season. And it takes courage for us today to tell people about the judgment to come, to tell them to flee from the rocks to come. Well God's word we're told in this passage came to Ezekiel in verse 2. And he was told, speak to the children of the people and say unto them, when I bring a sword upon the land, if the people of the land take a men of their coasts and set him for a watchman when he sees the sword come upon the land he blow the trumpet and warn the people and he goes on to say that if people hear the sound of the trumpet and if people heed the warning then they must respond to it but if they hear the warning and don't take any notice of it well the blood is upon their own heads it's their own responsibility oh they had the warning but they took no notice However, if the watchman saw the danger coming, saw the enemy approaching, and the watchman decided he couldn't be bothered blowing the trumpet and warning the people of the city, then if the judgements came upon the city unexpectedly and people perished, then God says that that watchman is accountable for what he has done. You see, the watchman has got a very important job in the city. He may not be looked upon as being as important as the king, may not be as wealthy as the king, but the fate of the whole city often lay in the hands of the watchman, for he would be the first person to sound the alarm to let people know that danger was approaching. If the watchman was looking along the fields and saw an enemy army coming, He would have to blow the trumpet in plenty of time to warn the people in the city. Many of the cities in those days were wall cities or fence cities. They would close the gate, they would set up a guard, they would have all the archers on the walls, they would make sure that they had plenty of food, they would make sure that their soldiers were all prepared, so that they wouldn't be taken by surprise and they would be able to defend themselves. Well, all armies during times of combat know that the element of surprise is oh so important. If they can catch their enemies unprepared, then they have a much better chance of victory. Just before the D-Day landings in 1944, this government of this country arranged for lots of inflatable tanks to be assembled in Dover and Folkestone area and allowed some of the enemy planes to fly overhead, so that Hitler's armies would believe that the D-Day landings would take place in the Pader Kalle, the shortest crossing across the channel. But it was all a deception, for the D-Day landings took place on the Normandy beaches. And at first, Hitler refused to move his armies, thinking that it was a slight diversion. And as a result of that deception, maybe thousands of lives were saved by the element of surprise. One of the most responsible jobs when the Titanic was sailing was the person who was the lookout, the person who sat in the bird's nest, and he had to look along the horizon to see if there was any signs of any dangers. Now the lookout may not have been as famous as the captain, and may not have been as looked upon as being that important as the captain. But in his hands, in many ways it could be said, lay the fate of the entire vessel. It's even reported that that night he didn't even have any binoculars to use. It was no big deal for him after all, he's just a nobody, he's just one of the lookouts. But you know, when the iceberg suddenly appeared out of nowhere, suddenly this lookout became the most important person on board the ship. And by the time he sounded the alarm, it was too late. One of the plagues which afflicted the Egyptians in the time of Moses was the hail. Moses warned the people about it. But many people didn't take any notice about the hail coming down upon them. We're told that there were some people who regarded the word of God, and they gathered their families and their livestock into the barns so that they might be safe. But those that regarded not the word of the Lord, they didn't take any notice of the warning. They left their livestock out in the field. They took no precautions at all. And when the plague came, all those people who had not responded to the warning perished. If only they'd listened to the word of God! But Moses had warned the people about what to do. But sadly, many people had just taken no notice at all, and judgements fell upon them. Now, to each one of us today, we have a responsibility to warn people about where they stand in the sight of the Holy God. We're not responsible if people don't take any notice, but we are responsible if we do not blow the trumpet. As soon as Ezekiel here had blown the trumpet and sounded the alarm, that the judgment was coming, the ball was very much in the people's court. And people would have to pay a terrible, terrible price if they took no notice. Ezekiel is not charged by God with any wrongdoing as long as he's blown the trumpet and sounded the alarm. If he told people that the sword was about to come, that the people were in danger of perishing, Ezekiel had fulfilled his responsibility. Now, we can't make people embrace the message of the gospel. We can only tell people about it. We can only warn people about it. You see, it says in Corinthians that we can sow the seed of God's Word and water the seed of God's Word, but we can't bring the increase. We don't have the ability to do so. Only God can give life unto the seed and enable people to become children of God. We've got to sound the alarm and warn people. Recently there was lots of publicity in the media about a Pitbull terrier up north that savaged a young girl to death. The owner of the Pitbull had been warned about his dog's behaviour. It had already attacked before and he'd been warned about it. He should have kept the dog muddled, should have kept the dog away from young people, certainly. But sadly, no notice was taken of this warning and a child perished as a result. In one of the laws in the book of Exodus we read, If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, that ox shall be stoned, but the owner shall be quit. But if the ox were known to push with the horn in time past, and it had been testified to the owner that that's the type of animal he had, if the owner had not kept the ox indoors, and it had killed a man or a woman, And the law of Moses said that the ox should be stoned and put to death, but the man, the owner of the ox, must also forfeit his life because he was told about the behaviour of this beast and he did absolutely nothing to prevent this awful tragedy. Suppose it's like being warned today by the police that the tyres of your car are all worn, that you're in danger of having a terrible accident. And not replacing those tyres, then it would be very dangerous. And if there's an accident, then the person who's been warned has to take responsibility for their actions. And if a person doesn't take any notice after they've received a warning, they will be dealt with more severely. And in the same way today, there are people who've heard the gospel over and over again. Oh yes, some people tell me that they're in Victoria Street every Saturday, and some people tell me that they've got a whole collection of tracks which they've got indoors, and they're trying to get a complete set. And I say to this person, You know, God's not interested in having a nice little display of tracts indoors. He wants you to respond to the message, to embrace the good tidings of the gospel. And if you refuse to do so, all those tracts within your home will one day count against you. For to whom much is given, much shall be required. And those people who've received the greatest amount of light are the most accountable to God. Now once we've spoken to people about where they stand in the sight of God, once we've pointed them to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only saviour of sinners, we don't need to be tormented with guilt or feel really bad if we're not successful in getting them to respond to the message in a positive way. Ezekiel was charged with blowing the trumpet, and once he had done that, he had fulfilled his responsibility. I remember Mr Paisley in Northern Ireland when he was a young preacher. He said he felt very concerned about the soul of an influential man within his home city. One night he couldn't sleep. He put off speaking to this person about the gospel for a long time because he was a man of reputation. Mr Paisley feared him to a certain extent. Well one night he got up at 11 o'clock and went to this person's house and this person said, why are you calling at my house at such a late hour? And he said, I need to speak to you about your soul and get your blood off my raincoat. He said, I don't want you passing into eternity, having known me for so many months or years, and not being acquainted with the way of salvation and how you might be at peace with God. I don't want you pointing an accusing finger at me on Judgement Day and saying, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you warn me? Mr Paisley said he felt a tremendous amount of peace after that conversation, for that man shortly afterwards passed away. Well, people disregard many warnings today and have to pay a heavy price. There are some motorists who disregard some warnings, fines and speed restrictions. Smokers go into shops and they buy a packet of cigarettes and along the side of the box it has smoking kills or smoking seriously damages your health and they continue to buy them on a regular basis even though they're warned about the damage which they may do. Well the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Oh that the wicked might turn away from their sins and repent! And don't we as Christians want that to happen? We have no delight in people passing into a lost eternity without a saviour. Oh we long to see people saved. We long to see people getting off that road that's leading them to a Christless eternity and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ and the biblical way of salvation. But all around us today, there are so many people. The number of churches seems to be diminishing. The harvest is so plentiful, and the labourers are so few. What can just one person achieve? Well, somebody once penned the words, I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do, I ought to do. And by God's grace and with God's help, I will do. You see, Spurgeon was only one. Wesley was only one. Whitfield was only one. Moody was only one. In fact, B. L. Moody at one stage in his life, He said to the Lord, Lord, every day from now on, I'm going to speak to one person about the way of salvation every day. And one person said to him, well Mr Moody, one person a day doesn't seem very much. But he said, oh, it's seven people a week, and at the end of the year, I will have spoken to almost 400 different people about the way of salvation. Now we can't reach everybody. There are millions of people living in London today. But maybe we can take responsibility for those people living in close proximity to ourselves. People we work with. People we mingle with. Ezekiel, we're told, was made a watchman under the house of Israel. He wasn't given responsibility for the Amorites or the Moabites or the Syrians. No, Israel was his responsibility. That was his field of mentors. People may despise him. People may dislike him. People might think that Ezekiel is some type of doom or gloom merchant. But what does it matter? People's souls are at stake. Many pass into eternity at a moment's notice with no time to prepare at all. And I'm sure we've all heard of people whose lives have been taken very suddenly. We may get a telephone call one day and say, well have you heard the news about such and such a person? They've been taken with a massive heart attack and they've died. And we're kind of shocked. This person wasn't ill. There was no symptoms of some type of illness. And suddenly they're gone and they're no longer with us. The idea that there's plenty of time, that there's no real urgency, that lots of opportunities will come in the future is folly. Can you imagine Ezekiel reasoning with himself? Well, the enemy armies are such a long way off. I don't really want to make too much of a fuss at this stage. I don't want to alarm people unnecessarily. I don't want people to think that I'm some type of fanatic. No, he had to warn them straight away. Time was of the essence. The more preparation they made, the better chance they would have of being spared. I think it was D.L. Moody again who was preaching in Chicago on Sunday morning. about heaven and what a wonderful place it was and he said to that gathering, come again in the evening and I'll speak to you and give you a sermon about hell. But shortly afterwards the Chicago fire took place that afternoon and many people perished and that gathering never reconvened. And he said afterwards, I'll never ever put off warning people about the judgment to come to another time. Well Ezekiel was told in verse 7, hear the words of my mouth and warn them from me. Yes, God wanted the alarm to be sounded, he wanted people to be acquainted with his words. A friend of mine was driving down the M1 many years ago, And a warning light came on in his dashboard, it was the oil pressure warning light. And he knew that he ought to stop straight away in order to check how much oil was there. and he ignored it and he carried on driving and the engine started making more and more noise and he began to lose power and he was pushing his foot down on the accelerator to see how close to London he could get and eventually he had to pull over to the hard shoulder and all smoke started coming out of the engine and he said he just got out of the car in time before the car burst into flames. He had a very narrow escape. If only he had pulled over at the beginning that problem could have been easily rectified. But he didn't take any notice of the warning and had a terrible price to pay. Or do we have a love for souls this morning? Do we have a concern to reach others with the way of salvation? There was one famous missionary evangelist who said, give me souls or I die. Couldn't bear to see people perishing and would spend hours in prayer upon their knees that people might be saved. Do you pray every day for people to be converted? You know, we often pray for people to be saved, but we need to ask, are we telling them the message of the gospel? If it's through the foolishness of preaching that God has chosen to save them that believe, it's a little bit hypocritical praying for a person's salvation and at the same time withholding the message which they need to embrace in order to be saved. It would be like praying for people to be delivered from a burning building I'm not telling them where the fire exits are. In case they might accuse you of ramming fire regulations down their throats, they may accuse you of being some type of fanatic. You see, on a ship, nobody takes any notice, really, of the lifeboats. But if the ship starts to sink, they become all-important. In a church, people don't take any notice of where the fire extinguishers are situated. If I was to ask people in this church today, could they write down where each and every one of the fire extinguishers are to be found, I'm sure most people have passed them dozens of times and just haven't taken any notice of whether they're present or absent. But if a fire breaks out, the fire extinguishers become all important because people can see the danger that they're in. Well God has given us a trumpet, each one of us today, and that trumpet is called the message of the gospel. God's judgement is coming. People may be indifferent to the message of the gospel, but we must tell them about it anyway. We are his witnesses in our generation today. We're often inspired and encouraged reading biographies about Christians in the past, how bold and faithful and zealous they were, how much they suffered for their faith. But you know, we're called upon to be witnesses for God in our generation today. Maybe we might be the means of one person being saved. Just one conversation, one fact given out might be the means of somebody passing from darkness unto light. What a tremendous privilege that must be. The Apostle Paul said to the people of Ephesus, Wherefore, I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you the gospel of God. You see, if Paul had held back that which was profitable for the people, he would have been responsible before God and accountable for his behaviour. But he said, now I'm pure from the blood of all men. I've given you the counsel of God. Oh, Paul was persecuted for it, but at least he was living with all good conscience before the Lord. And he could stand before his maker on that day and say, Lord, I've imparted to them the words which you laid upon my heart. May God give us the grace and the courage in our generation today to be good witnesses for the Lord Jesus. May we look to him to save many precious souls, and may we be enabled to tell people about where they stand in the sight of a holy God. Whosoever here is, shout, shout the sound. Spread the blessed tidings all the world around. Spread the joyful news wherever man is found. Whosoever will, may come.