Ephesians Part 102

INTRO: In the last message I mentioned that it is a pastor's job to warn when there is danger. In the previous message we read Isaiah 56:10 which says:

10 His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

The shepherds of Israel, the spiritual leaders, had the task of warning when danger came. But Israel's shepherds had become, not like dogs that would not bark, but they could not bark. Well why could they not bark? They were blind and couldn't see the danger. And second, they were ignorant. They could not discern the problem.

Ezekiel 33:1-9 was read for us earlier. The spiritual leaders of Israel were likened to watchmen on the wall. When the enemy came, it was the watchman's job to see the danger and blow the trumpet of warning. When the trumpet sounded and the people outside the city heard it they were to flee into the city walls. If they heard the trumpet and did not flee for safety, his blood was on his own hands. If the watchman failed to sound the trumpet, the blood of all those that lost their lives was on the watchman's hands.

The pastor's responsibility to warn is one of the unpleasant tasks he is called on by God to do. When he does not warn and people fall into things, he will give account for that someday. If he warns and people do not take warning, they will give account for that.