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Transcript 564A
Are We Accountable For Not Witnessing?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: If we fail to witness to someone, and he dies unsaved, will his blood be upon our hands?
HC: The question is raised, if somebody dies, let's say somebody came into our life, and we had opportunity to witness to that person, but for some reason we did not witness to that person, and then that person died. Would that person's blood be upon us?
The question is raised on the basis of what we read in Ezekiel 3, for example. In Ezekiel 3:17 we have this: "Son of man (God is talking to Ezekiel, who is a prophet of God), I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word of My mouth and give them warning from Me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul."
Now I think that is the reference that is in view here. Actually, if we are an unsaved pastor (and there are unsaved pastors), if we are an unsaved Christian (and there are many, unsaved Christians), we may be attempting to witness, or we may not be attempting to witness. But the likelihood is that we will not bring the whole counsel of God.
I think, for example, of a lot of the Gospel witnessing today, and it really scares me, Gospel witnessing that emphasizes the love of God, and that's perfectly acceptable, but never emphasizes the wrath of God or the judgments of God, or hell and damnation. Every attempt is made to make the Christian life as palatable, as acceptable, as enticing as possible. The idea is, we are salesmen for Christ and we are trying to get as many names on the dotted line as we can. And therefore we don't want to emphasize the negative, we want to emphasize the positive.
And as a consequence we are not warning of hell and damnation. We are simply getting people excited about the idea that they too can get on the bandwagon for Christ. But when they're on the bandwagon, when they say they're saved, they really don't know what they're saved from. And these people are going to die in their unsaved condition, that is, these who have been witnessed to, because they have never been told what the true Gospel really is. And those who have brought this kind of a Gospel indicate they don't know what the true Gospel is, either. And so they have been blind leaders of the blind. They have given stones for bread. And the wrath of God will be visited upon them as an additional punishment, because they have led these others astray. That I think is what's in view.
Now if we're truly a born again believer, and this is going to sound a little awesome, and it's something that, let's see if I can put it correctly. I hope I can. But the fact is, if we're truly a born again believer, we will be compelled within our soul to try to be as accurate in our Gospel offer as we possibly can, because we have a high regard for the holiness of God, the holiness of the Word of God. And under no circumstance do we want to sugar coat the pill if the Bible will not allow us to. We have a clear indication of what we are saved from, that we are saved from eternal damnation. And so we don't hesitate to tell those to whom we are witnessing that they are subject to hell unless they turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the nature of being born again. We want to be, one of the characteristics of being born again is that we want to obey the law of God or the commandments of Christ. And that would indicate then that in our witnessing we will want to be as faithful as possible. We will be disturbed in our soul if we discover that we've been exaggerating, that we've been emphasizing an aspect, let's say the love aspect, to the detriment of the wrath of God aspect.
Now obviously, if we're bringing the whole counsel of God, we're going to talk about the love of God just as much as the wrath of God. But by the same token, we're going to talk about the wrath of God just as much as the love of God. If we're really honest before the Lord as we read the scriptures and then share this with others, this is going to come out. And if you would like to check this out, read the Bible. And start keeping count of the verses that talk about the wrath of God, and keep keeping count of the verses that talk about the love of God. And you're going to find that there are at least as many verses talking about the wrath of God as the love of God and maybe a lot more.
Now if as a born again believer we meet somebody, and we kind of feel that yes, I ought to witness to this person, but the situation doesn't open up and we don't, and the next thing we hear, that person died, is his blood upon us? No. No, not a bit. We didn't take the opportunity to witness to that person, but in our life we are witnessing to people. We aren't able to seize every last opportunity. Sometimes the door isn't opened. Sometimes the conditions aren't right. Sometimes we aren't prepared. But that is not what God is talking about here. What God is talking about here is someone who comes as a prophet. Remember, "Ye are the watchmen." You are recognized as the watchmen. You have a duty to warn. And therefore, if you just give good tidings and don't give the rest of the story, that the enemy is coming, and then city is taken, then their blood is upon you.
And so the moment you begin to witness, then you have declared yourself as the watchman. At that point the question arises, how am I going to witness? Now I have declared myself. I am the watchman on behalf of this person. Do I dare bring less than the whole counsel of God? That I think is the point that has to be made right now.