Intro: “Consider the wisdom. Consider the madness. Consider the folly”. Ecclesiastes 2:12. “Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom and also madness and folly.” Today’s events, Paulorrow’s realities at www.consider.info.
Video: When I say to a wicked man, you will surely die and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life. That wicked man will die for his sin and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways he will die for his sin but you who have saved yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin, and he not sin; he will surely live because he took warning and you will have saved yourself. (Ezekiel 3:18-21). The Consider Podcast, examining today’s wisdom, madness and folly. www.consider.info.
Timothy: We’re going to look at that in detail here in just a moment but on our way to Ezekiel let’s swing by Romans chapter 12 verse 9. There’s one reason why we don’t preach the gospel in its full entirety to a point that people have to repent and understand that repentance. There’s a one reason why we don’t do it a John the Baptist preaching or even a Jesus preaching and why we always want to be accepted by the world. And it’s pretty simple that one reason is we don’t love. We don’t love God and we don’t love other people. We’re not talking about a hell and brimstone just get out there and just pound the pulpit so to speak. I’m not telling you there are people that are called to do that but it has to come from love.
Romans 12:9 says, it’s kind of obvious but God has to tell us the obvious. “Love must be sincere.” It has to come from a pure heart. It has to come from God and really everything about the Consider Podcast is putting that to the test and encouraging it on. That if you have some love of the Jesus Christ and love for other people because of that, you’re going to begin to live the full message, you’re going to begin to repent in your own life but since we don’t really love God, we don’t love his commands. You don’t find an overabundance, obedience in the church, do you, Jacob? I mean, would you say, oh, there’s just too much obedience. I’d love to have a church where you got to go. No, no, slow down everybody. You went too far in your obedience and you’re running ahead of the Lord. I’ve yet to run into that problem or even seen anywhere where that’s at
“But love must be sincere”, Romans 12:9 says. And you’ll see right here he’s kind of I know everybody likes to quote first Corinthians 13 about love and that’s an equal scripture full of power. But look at what he goes to, “Hate what is evil.” Why do you think there’s so much activity and zeal among governing authorities and in our public education that hatred in and of itself is somehow evil? Not so, there’s a reason why I hate what is evil and then there’s of course the flip side you can get some people to hate some evils. I know it’s kind of sad to watch, but with this Nashville shooting there were other people on the other side of the trans issue calling for us to hate trans people. So, you’ve got people each one hating each other.
There’s not that love that’s sincere that says, hey, what is evil and cling to what is good and praying for those people and laying down your life for them being persecuted on top of that. So, love must be sincere. Must come from the purity of the Holy Spirit. Well, how do you know whether you have sincere love? One may of that and there are several we won’t be able to go into a lot of detail today. But in first John chapter 5 verse 2, John is very clear. “This is how we know that we love the children of God.” What’s the measurement? “By loving God.” Okay, well that’s kind of obvious, right? Loving God, and that’s where most of the church would leave it because people then could run around and go, why I love God, God knows I love him he knows my heart I don’t obey anything. You can point out these scriptures, do you do this? No. Do you do this? No. And then they go eventually just shut up and go away.
He goes, “By loving God and carrying out his commands.” Carrying them out. Actually, doing these things. If you’re upset at this podcast, you’re barely in Jesus Christ if you are at all. Because what we’re looking at here, we’re not even up to the hard part yet. Seriously, we are not up to looking at how Jesus actually walked and how we should walk. We’re only preparing to get to that point. This is how we know that we love the children of God, “By loving God and carrying out his commands.”
So, the more obedient I am by the Holy Spirit following the Holy Spirit, following the Holy Spirit making those scriptures alive is to the degree that I love other people. This is love for God. Look at this. First John 5:3. Jacob why don’t you go and read that one?
Jacob: “This is love for God; to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome.”
Timothy: Now think about the attitude shift on that. If everybody understood or at least let’s just say they intellectually accept okay, yeah, I obey God’s commands because I love him. And then you just start looking at scripture and go well how does this come out? How do you live this? How do you do this? They ought to be able to say well I live it this way. I live it this way. I need to live this. I need to be changed here. Instead, everybody fights against whatever it is you point out. You could go to specifics in scripture. There are plenty we could go to and the immediate thing is what? It doesn’t apply today. You’re being legalistic. I don’t know or they just ignore you.
Jacob: Context, oh that’s not that, yes you always hear that one.
Timothy: Yeah. I hear you. I’m agreeing with you. “This is love for God; to obey his commands and they’re not burdensome. For everyone born of God overcomes the world.” In other words, truly being in Jesus Christ means you can obey scripture. One reason among many that people don’t obey scriptures, they’re really not born again. And so, who could possibly go to all the scriptures that God has in mind and all of them that are there. Old Testament, New Testament. Let’s just say the New Testament and actually live all of those things. It’s impossible. And that one reason God has laid it out that way is because he wants us dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit and he has to come along and break us of where we think we’re doing okay.
There’re those teenage years in Jesus where you think you got it all together and you get on with it but you’re not. You look at and shake your head and you go, well, you got a few lessons ahead of you. I’ve been there. But most people will say God’s commands are burdensome. And they do that by persecuting you, ignoring you, shutting you up, whining, protesting that they already do good. At best. At best, they’re children in Jesus or teenagers and you go to King Go clean your room and then do they do that anymore? They make people kids clean their room anymore?
Jacob: I don’t know. I don’t even know. Yeah, a lot of people don’t.
Timothy: So, let’s just safe for fantasies level. You tell your kid to clean your room. He goes in. Very few of them know how to do it perfectly or how it should be done. Perfect to strong word. And there you go pointing things out. They’re going to go if they don’t have an attitude that’s teachable it’s going to be, well, I did do this and it’s not as bad as it was and you spend more time whining and arguing it out than actually just cleaning the room. That’s what most people who claim to be Christian. That’s generally their or they just ignore you or go, well, I’ll obey it when I’m ready. I’ll clean the room when I’m ready. I’m just not ready right now. I’ve got other things to do.*
“For everyone born of God overcomes the world.” This is let me back up. First John 5:4. “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” Anything else is not the victory in Jesus Christ. Where you do not see a hunger and thirst for righteousness. A willingness to obey all scripture to avoid those people who would whitewash it or excuse it or say it was cultural and then they don’t have to obey it or women are set free to do preaching in all manner of things. Whatever it is that everybody winds about, they’re just not born again. They don’t know what the victory is that overcomes the world. You got to wrestle it out. The commands of God are like the cross of Jesus Christ. You have to go into the garden and you have to wrestle it out until you surrendered to the will of God. That’s how demanding it is and that’s how holy it is. Any comments on that, Jacob?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: Many times, God has to take us through a breaking process to even get there. You’ve experienced that in your own life. We all have to wonder another in a different level. So, keep in mind I want to repeat it again. This is the victory that has overcome the world. Even our faith. Jacob, I’m going to put you on the spot. What do you think mean that it even our faith that overcomes even our faith?
Jacob: I think is he pretty much talking about just like how broken and pressed you’re going to be like even your faith. Like there’s just this sort of, there’s this testing process. There’s just a huge amount of suffering and effort and work and before you’re going to have that victory and I’m sort of guessing here.
Timothy: Well, no that’s actually pretty close. There’s a lot more to it too. Think of it as when I first came to Jesus Christ, my faith was pretty weak. So, my faith and being saved was totally tied to the level of faith I had there’s not much salvation involved. I’m putting this in human terms, but what he’s saying is that the victory of God even overcomes our doubt would be another way to put it. This is the victory that’s overcome the world. You can be obedient, you can do these things, you can walk in his joy and his rest. You can also walk in the sufferings of Jesus Christ and when your faith goes up and down and kind of all over the place and when you have dry times, he even overcomes that. So, the victory overcomes my failures, my weakness, my time for growth, which is going to lead us right in our next scripture. Think of your own children. You love them for where they’re at. So, you’re overcoming and making allowance for where they are not at. You understand they’re just not at that level yet.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: So, they have a victory of being in your house. They feel your love. They have your love. And you don’t badger them. You don’t exasperate them. You don’t just pound on them. You realize well this is where they’re at. This is who they are. This is their age. This is their spiritual quality. This is their understanding of scripture. This is where they’re at. These are their personal problems. This is their limitation. This is physically how they’re made. You understand when God looks at us and goes, well, Timothy isn’t made to do this very well over here and he doesn’t do that over here and his faith can go up and down here and he can do this or he moves ahead or he lags behind, whatever.
God overcomes even my faith which is very reassuring because if it’s just, I think more people walk in law by, hold on to your faith, hold on to your faith, hold on that you’re saved. And all you’re doing is by self ever trying to hold on to what you think you are or have when trusting a God that no matter when I’m up and down and feeling rejoicing or when I’m depressed or whatever things I’m struggling with that he is Lord of all, no matter how small or how big. Does that make sense or do I need to dig a little deeper with that.
Jacob: No, that makes sense.
Timothy: Alright, well let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 18 and this will kind of pull all of this repentance and preaching together a little bit. Ezekiel 3:18 says, “When I say to a wicked man.” Alright, I need to stop right there, and if you’re highlighting mentally or in your heart or sitting in your room listening to this. I want you to highlight, “I say”. Read that first section Jacob before you get into what is being said. What does it say?
Jacob: “When I say to a wicked man”.
Timothy: Okay, this is all by the power of the holy spirit I can’t emphasize enough that you have to be a disciple of Jesus, you have to be sent out when he sends you out, you have to come back when he commands you to come back, you have to do the things that he calls you to do. This can’t be us deciding to create a religion or an aspect of Christianity that rings us some truth we like. It’s when I say to a wicked man, we’re to repeat it. That’s why Scripture says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is the new life working within us. I’ve seen so much damage and so much harm done because people will just say what they think God would have them say or what they think scripture means but it’s when God says and how he tells us to say it and how he wants us to say it and when we’re supposed to say it.
Sometimes you can go, I hate to say this because people use an excuse. But you can sometimes go a decade or so before you’re really honing in on what God would have you to say. It’s just a matter of his timing. It’s same thing with a child. It’s pretty simple if you discipline a 3-year-old as if he was a 10-year-old. You got problems on your hand. You’re bad parenting. So, we can see it on a human level. Why don’t we see this in scripture? That’s why Paul says, when he came to the Corinthians he came with fear and trembling. What was he afraid of the Corinthians? No. Was he afraid of preaching the gospel? No. What he was afraid of was speaking on his own. Or preaching sermons he wanted to preach or preaching what they wanted to hear. He needed God’s words in him moving when he said they need to be done.
Remember Moses got in trouble for striking the rock twice. Jesus doesn’t need our help. He needs our obedience which is two different things. And I think so often because while we get glory for it or we want to build a ministry or we want to be thought of as popular. We do the word for Jesus and tack on the name Jesus, but the crucified life is God working these things within us. So, it’s “When I say to a wicked man”, not when you choose to rebuke a wicked man. One of the safeguards to this is we all have our personal opinion what we think are worse sins and other sins until you’re dead enough in Jesus Christ and all sins become equal. And so, we’re eager and fast to, oh you’re wrong, you’re a cult leader or you did this or this sin or I don’t like this particular sexual morality sin they’re doing over here, or I don’t like who they are or what they were. We have our own judgement.
So, it’s us using the Word of God or using the name of Jesus to really badger people with our own self-righteousness. That’s why Jesus says, “Get the plank out of your own eye and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” We’re not going to see clearly until self is gone enough that we can hear God say it is time to try and stop somebody from sinning. Otherwise shut your mouth or pray for them or whatever the holy spirit is working at that time. “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die.’” You see now when God is speaking it’s solid. It’s clear. It’s a John the Baptist thing. Do this. Do that, act.
In Acts 2:38 right around in there, Peter will say, you crucified Jesus Christ. You put him on the cross. You conspired together. There’s no abstract hinting around this could be a problem. “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die.’” That’s clear. “And you do not warn him. Or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways.” Now let me stop, so we go, okay, I’m supposed to say something, right? We’ve all had, no I shouldn’t say all. We’ve had those times and we know we should say something and we don’t.
It’s sad to say many times in the church that’s the case. I remember sin would need to be dealt with and somebody go, yeah, I knew about that three months ago. It’s like, and you didn’t say anything. No wonder the church gets to be a mess. Alright, you will surely die and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways. Now look at this let’s put this in parenthesis. Go ahead and read the next three or four words there Jacob.
Jacob: “In order to save his life.”
Timothy: You can’t just repeat the words. You have to be a full heart of love. Love has to be sincere. There’s no gameplay about it. It is the spirit of Jesus. It is the image of Jesus. There’s no, he may speak in a parable but they’re all going to walk away knowing that he was talking about them, correct? So, “It’s in order to save a life.” That’s how much unction I think is a term that people used to use. That’s how much zeal is in the heart to dissuade somebody. The reason we don’t go there of course is we’ll be persecuted. We could lose our job. We could lose our reputation. We could be known for all kinds of things. That’s what Jesus said would happen. But you have to do it in such a way to save his life. You can’t hint at it. You can’t go.
Well, here’s a scripture. Go home and read it and see what you think. If God’s telling you I’m not telling you not to do that. What I’m telling you is if God is saying, okay, go speak clearly to that person and this is what you need to say. You need to say it or you don’t love them. It’s really that simple. But you have to do it in a way that will dissuade him from his evil ways to save his life. It would be like watching somebody taking a selfie and they’re backing up on a cliff. Are you going to go, that’s probably not best, right?
Jacob: Oh, stop. Wait. Come back. No. Or you’re going to be like, ah.
Timothy: I would think. I would hope or you might go, well, it was in the news the other day that now might be too wise. You’re going to say or let me give you a better example. Your kids running out in the middle of the street. Are you going to go?
Jacob: Yeah, I was going to say your kid, correct? Yeah. You’re going to be frantic. You will, you know what I mean? Then people have, right? There’s plenty of videos of people grabbing, reaching, moving. There’re stories of mothers lifting cars off their children.
Timothy: That’s true.
Jacob: Superhuman strength, but just the example of the amount of effort, zeal, concern to save your child’s life. People will stop at nothing.
Timothy: It is a selfless love. Reminds me of Jude where it says snatch other people from the flames. They’re just a grabbing onto him. Alright, “So his evil ways, in order to save. Wicked man will die for his sins; and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” So many people Jesus think they’re going to stand before me and just get on in, but they didn’t try to dissuade anybody or to save their life. Usually, we’re so wrapped up in our self-righteousness. Well, I’m not like them or I know I hate to keep bringing up prosecutors, but Seattle’s King County has just given me a treasure trove of examples. They think they’re doing so much good putting everybody in prison and slandering everybody and all the vile things that they do.
They’re not trying to save anybody’s life. They’re trying to puff themselves up, and God will hold them accountable for blood. He brought them in if they’re truly guilty. He brought them into their life to try and dissuade them not just to prosecute them. It is the opposite of love. Got sidetracked but I always get sidetracked.
Ezekiel 3:19, “But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sins but you will save yourself.” Kinda obvious. And what God is dealing with there is it’s a lack of love. It’s just selfishness that doesn’t warn somebody. Jonah’s a good example that. He preached it but he wasn’t particularly in love with Nineveh, was he?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: “But if you warn him and you do are obedient, you’ll save yourself.” Verse 20, God repeats it. We should always pay attention when God repeats it. “Again”, God even says, I’m going to repeat it. “When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil.” Now here’s something we’re going to get to and focus in. “And I put a stumbling block before him, he will die.” Now think about that for a moment. Are you willing as someone who loves Jesus Christ to be a stumbling block to your neighbor? Is Jesus Christ not a stumbling block?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: Are we not to walk as Jesus walked?
Mid Point
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: Are we willing? Are we surrendered? Are we dead enough to self? That we are willing to be the stumbling block in that person’s life. Think of John the Baptist. He was a stumbling block to Herod, wasn’t he?
Jacob: Yes, he called them out for his sin.
Timothy: That’s right and it cost him his head. It gained him a lot of enemies. He lost his ministry as if that would be a big thing. But he lost his life and he had to spend time in prison, and he had to go into some real dark times. He even sent messengers to Jesus saying, “Are you the one or should we look for somebody else.” That’s a man with some serious doubts. That’s struggle. Do we love our neighbor enough that when God calls us to speak to dissuade, we’re willing to be the stumbling block? Talk about heavy persecution, because clearly Herod didn’t repent. The Israelites even when Jeremiah preached, they didn’t repent. The prophets faced all kinds of struggles, because why? God was using them and putting situations in their life and they were the image of Jesus Christ. They were a stumbling block.
We’re not really available to God today we talk about facing persecution. But what we’re talking about here is a love that’s willing to be thoroughly hated, thoroughly hated because the person doesn’t want to repent and you’re a stumbling block that men revile. I put a stumbling block before him he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sins. So, there’s certain things see in our neighbor’s life or religious life or whatever, and you know God is doing it and you don’t come in on that situation and go, you got cancer for a reason or that accident happen or consider the violence that’s going on. There may be some aspects of that’s a stumbling block and God’s trying to stop people from sinning. This whole whitewashed, this whole thing well just trust God in the end and all these things, there’s no love there. Clear God is allowing all of these things to happen to put stumbling blocks in people’s lives so that they repent. I probably need to expand on that a little bit more, don’t I, Jacob?
Jacob: Yeah,
Timothy: Alright. I’m going to kind of expand on it, but we’re not going to go too far because I would have to pull in a bunch of their scriptures. So, let me ask you a question. Today, how much thought did you give to people in prison?
Jacob: I didn’t give any thought to people in prison today.
Timothy: Okay. Especially all those that are guilty. They’re in prison. Were you concerned about what they ate?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: The miserable food that our country seems to think is about going to reform people but whatever. They’re in prison, right? Solitary confinement.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: They can’t smoke. They can’t do anything and you give them lousy food. I don’t know why they come out all bitter, but alright. So, but did you give it any thought? I know I’m asking something it’s not a really a trick question. No, of course not, because why? In our minds, they’re criminals. They deserve the punishment and they deserve all the things all the obstacles in their way and all the way people look down on them we think they deserve all and they probably do deserve it. That’s not the issue of whether you deserve or not. Do we not realize that the whole world is captive to sin? There isn’t anybody in this world that is due from God, goodness. He does bring good and he does bring mercy, but those are acceptance. When he looks at the whole world, the whole world says these people have made themselves worthless. They deserve the prison they are in. They’re all headed to hell. So, what does he care? “Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sins, and the righteous things he did will not be remembered and I will hold you accountable for his blood”.
Verse 21, “But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin; he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” This is all really just a matter of love and God is giving us that example in the book of Ezekiel. Any thoughts before we kind of go on there? Let’s play a Selah moment too Jacob, after you kind of answer that question.
Jacob: These passages in Ezekiel 100% apply to individual’s life, my life. But then as we’ve talked about the heavy burden upon the supposed church today and the pastors who say they’re pastors and yet are not only they’re not living the gospel themselves but then they’re not pointing out people’s sin. So, it’s just, I don’t know there’s two thoughts and again specifically my own heart. But then if you read these passages and even if you don’t, even to look around at the church again like, whoa. The amount of people say, they’re pastors and are not calling people to repentance. All of these church members blood is on their heads.
Timothy: Better never to be a preacher. That’s the botPaul line.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: Better to go out and say I’m a pagan, unbeliever, or I’m just going to indulge my flesh than to ignore this and treat it as something light or something just for study.
Jacob: And so, I’m just going to go and ask it though real quick. So, why did we pivot so quickly to these passages in Ezekiel?
Timothy: Well, because love would, the example I was trying to get that it’s a good point because we covered a lot of points. That we don’t have the love of Jesus in us or we’d be speaking like this.
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: That’s the main reason we pivoted. The problem is there’s so many sub issues, for example the whole point about if a righteous man turns from his righteousness none of his righteous deeds will be remembered. That happens we’ve seen that a lot where people will turn their back on God, and then everything that they did was tainted and you see it. But as long as you stay faithful in Jesus Christ and you go, well, you’re moving forward and you see you’re doing good there. So, there’s a lot here to this passage, but the main reason we pivoted here was because yeah, it’s one thing to look at John the Baptist. It’s one thing to look at Jesus. This I think Ezekiel brings it down on a very personal level like was my heart in it like this. Do I have that kind of flame of love for God and for other people? It’s one thing to go to first John and go, well, if you love God, you obey his commands. You can get a lot of lip service. But then when you go to Ezekiel 3:18, you go, well, how has the Holy Spirit caused this to be lived in your life? I want to hear that. I want to see that. Prove it. Prove it.
Jacob: Yeah, prove it. As we talked about earlier the deeds. Like okay so what deeds are you doing? Oh, are we doing Ezekiel 3:20? And if you aren’t doing that, then okay well.
Timothy: Yep, to such a degree that the persecution is hot and heavy. Not this minor thing that lawyers can handle or the basic battlegrounds that go on where everybody talks about and reads the news. No, this is your neighbor or a friend or whatever or somebody that’s coming to your life and God has put a stumbling block. I guess I’m glad you’re slowing me down on it because it’d be like you got a friend who’s in the hospital, Christian or not, and you can sense in the Lord, the Lord’s telling you, “I sent the sickness as a stumbling block so that they would repent. Would you go in and tell them that?” It’s not even considered.
Jacob: Oh, how many in, no, in the church oh so and so is in the hospital or so and so has to say, pray for them. All the church ever does is to pray for that healing.
Timothy: Correct.
Jacob: Instead of we’re all going to pray that this individual not only would you be praying it but then okay well who’s going to go talk to so and so who’s in the hospital. Because this was sent by God. God allowed them to be in the hospital.
Timothy: It’s a matter of discernment. Absolutely. I remember there was a guy I was talking to or really, I was listening to him. He talks so fast. Which is obviously in scripture is a problem but he says, yeah, I’ve seen. He must have known who I was. He was trying to justify himself. But so, he’s going on about, yeah, we get together pray. I’ve seen a lot of miracles. I’ve seen people healed. He’s just going down the line. I go, so what about in Corinthians when Paul prayed for the demons to be taken away from his eyes to be healed but God left it because he might fall into pride. And there was this dead silence. And then of course he lied. He goes, oh yeah, I’ve seen that too. Very sheepishly. So, there’s not even any sense of the offense of the cross and where is this going? Or Paul will write and go, there’s certain Christians when they’re judged in this world, they’re judged in this world so they won’t be condemned with the world.
So, to think that just because somebody’s sick in the hospital that we’re supposed to go pray for them to be healed. Why? Well, first of all, maybe it’s time for them to actually go home. Like everybody goes say goodbye to so and so because they’re on their way out. Praise God. They’re heading out. They’re not even that kind of aspect. But let alone the fact that let’s get our lives in order. Is there anything that needs to be confessed? Is there anything’s we know about that person’s life that needs to be done? So, I don’t know. Some of the greatest lies are at funerals and you think everybody was going.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: He was a lovely person. He was kind. Yeah, I know. It’s amazing how, the whole world’s headed to hell but somehow they’re all just good people and we’re all going to miss him.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: Anything else because I know, go ahead.
Jacob: No, only that we could do multiple shows that branch off just from these three scriptures.
Timothy: Oh yeah.
Jacob: And that’s where it’s all good stuff. I just you know. Yeah.
Timothy: Wait a minute.
Jacob: We just went to it pretty quick.
Timothy: Yeah, it does seem that way, doesn’t it? I know. And we’ll come back to it, as we build on.
Jacob: Yeah, there’s nothing, yeah exactly. There’s nothing wrong. But yeah anyways.
Timothy: That’s the problem with this podcast. That’s why the first one was I apologize, because we’re just laying the word of God out and if somebody just jumps in like an episode 12. You’re going to be hard pressed, because you really got to back up and seek the Lord along the way. But that’s okay. I say this in love, but that’s their problem. They need to get up to speed and stop persecuting and humble themselves before God.
Jacob: And I guess the only other thing is Ezekiel 3:18 and you sort of mentioned it. But like I guess one of the points too I think aren’t you trying to make is you have to have the repentance in your own life, walking by the message of the cross to then be able to point it out in someone else and then like we’ve talked about before Jesus, the words given and how to say it. Which is a huge like responsibility or like a huge…
Timothy: Yeah, it’s not careless words.
Jacob: No, it’s not careless words because you were talking about, when you first start talking about Ezekiel 3:18 it’s not just this oh, I think this sin is bad, or oh I see this thing in somebody’s life. I’m going to go tell them, I’m going to go dissuade them. At Best at the very best. That’s maybe what some people in the church do today, right? You’re pointing the finger.
Timothy: Oh, that’s mostly what goes on and usually it’s one group over another group. If I was invited to a Baptist Church, I talked about how bad the church Christ is, I’d be a popular man or if I went to Catholic Church and talked about how bad the Baptist are, I’d be a popular man. So, yeah, it’s always pointing to everybody else. There’s a level of maturity walking in the light, understanding what’s going on. That’s why I think it’s in the book of Timothy where Paul warns people that, “If you try to rescue somebody from sin,” I think it’s book of James. “Be careful that you’re not overcome by it.” There’s been many a failure and I’m putting that in quotes, because it is a failure where a pastor go minister to a woman or whatever and then they’re overcome by sexual sin or whatever. It’s like there’s no maturity, there’s no basis, there’s not enough obedience to protect them in that or they’ll dive in to go rebuke somebody and since they’re not really dead to the approval of man. It goes south, and they wind up compromising.
You see that a lot in the church people or something. You see that a lot on the internet where somebody will say something truthful, they get a lot of flak and so what do they do they apologize and so the gospel just gets beat down there’s not a standing up against this stuff. Anything else, because we’re kind of a little, got a little bit of time left but not enough, I think to really go into all this other stuff.
Jacob: Sure, and I’m just sort of in some ways almost kind of just like processing what we just went over because like again there’s a lot in Ezekiel and like three or four verses because it’s also, he’s dealing with two different sets of people. There’re wicked men, so this would be people who aren’t church goers right, who don’t even claim to be Christians.
Timothy: Correct.
Jacob: And then there’s the people who were Christians and have turned away from righteousness. So, they were righteous they were we’ll say a Christian and then they’ve turned and now they’re sinning and doing other things. So, even right there there’s also two large chunks of people and how you deal with them and what you do.
Timothy: Correct, and what you’re really saying is God saying there’s no loophole here. Christian or not Christian in church, out of church, doesn’t really matter. When I say to a wicked man, deal with it. Then we have to deal with it powerfully and effectively with the greatest amount of love and wisdom and face the music when they refuse to repent. Because if you’re really willing to be the, well, what did they do to the stumbling block of Jesus? We hear it all the time. They crucified him. They didn’t just crucify him. We don’t have time today for it. They publicly shame. He was denied justice in court, gee. He was led through the streets. It inconvenienced a lot of other people. Soldiers ignored him. Gambled. His thoughts. His crown of thorns were pierced. He had been whipped. He’s bleeding. It’s a slow death. God hid his face. Oh yeah. We really have the love of Jesus Christ that wants to walk that way?
It’s rare. It certainly is out there. It’s just rare. You’ll notice too that God says, “I will hold you accountable for his blood.” This isn’t just like I will hold you accountable for a mistake. Or hold you accountable for some aspect of where you didn’t speak. “I will hold you accountable for his blood.” And then obviously it’s a warning to people who claim to be Christians that God will send stronger Christians, or it doesn’t have to be stronger send at least as Christian he’s using it that time to stop a Christian that’s falling into sin or falling away or just stumbling along to confront them. Why do you think all these churches has so much sin that just kind of explodes? Nobody’s available to go in and say, hey, this has to stop and it has to stop now, and in such a powerful way that it is the Holy Spirit doing the work.
It’s just no surprising to all the sin that’s there and the like of love because well, I’d be repeating the whole show if we did that. So, let’s go ahead and wrap it up, Jacob.
Outro: This has been the Consider Podcast at www.consider.info where yesterday’s folly is today’s madness. In the beginning, the unrepentant sinners words are folly. At the end, they are wicked madness. Ecclesiastes 10:13. Judgement begins with the house of God. Therefore, let everyone who loves the Lord with an undying love pick up their cross and walk the talk. As Peter the wrote. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Be self-controlled”. First Peter 1:13-14. The Considered Podcast, examining today’s events and Paulorrow’s realities. www.consider.info.
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