I HATE TO TELL YOU ...

A few questions for believers to consider:

1. Is God holy and perfect in all His ways?
2. Does God expect us to be holy? To "go and sin no more"? 
3. Are not the wages of sin death?
4. Has He made a way through the death and resurrection of his Son for us to be reconciled to Him and to be filled with the Holy Spirit? To become a new creation through faith? 
5. Are we not to warn others that sin leads to eternal death?

If you are like me, you were nodding along with the first four questions, maybe giving an "amen!" or two. 

But then #5 gave you pause. "Wait a minute - It's not my place to judge other people!" And that is correct. We are not the judge. 

But that doesn't mean we can't anticipate the verdict. And then give appropriate warning before the Day of Sentencing.

In fact, giving warning is in the Believer's job description. It goes against every overly-tolerant bone in our modern American bodies, but it's true. 

Need to see it in Scripture?    (Good!)

In Ezekiel 3:18 & 19, The Lord says to the prophet:

If I (the Lord) say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you (Ezekiel) do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you (Ezekiel) responsible for his blood. But if you (Ezekiel) warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.

Ezekiel isn't responsible for the wicked man's response - he can't control that.

But Ezekiel is responsible for giving a warning. He is responsible for calling a sin a sin. If he doesn't, God says he will hold Ezekiel responsible for the man's blood!

If we take this seriously, this is a very hard teaching.